Copyright: May 2001 By Robin R. Neher

THIS STORY IS WRITTEN FOR PLEASURE AND IS NOT INTENDED TO INFRINGE ON ANY PREEXISTING COPYRIGHTS THAT MAY BE VIOLATED. FEEL FREE TO SHARE WITH FRIENDS, BUT NOT FOR PROFIT.

THIS STORY IS FICTIONAL, A WORK OF THE WRITER'S IMAGINATION. THE CHARACTERS AND INCIDENTS USED IN THIS STORY ARE PURELY FICTIONAL AND ARE NOT BASED ON ANY PERSON AND/OR PERSON'S ACTUAL EXPERIENCES.

Title: Passing The Buck

Author: Robin R. Neher

E-mail: NRobin1027@aol.com

Rating: PG

Pairing: N/A

Archive: Yes

Summary: Let's say that in the emergency episode "Kidding" Johnny and Roy had switched jobs and Cap finds out about it.

Content Warning: Harsh Language.

Passing The Buck
by Robin R. Neher

John Gage and Roy DeSoto stood at attention as Captain Hank Stanley paced in front of them.

"I thought I could trust you guys." Cap began. "I thought that when I gave an order, it would be obeyed, instead, I find out that Roy conducted the school tour while Johnny put the squad in the shop. That's a real stab in the back!"

"Cap, I just thought that since I had kids, it would be better if I did the tour." Roy explained. "Johnny has no experience with kids."

"Roy, that's all well and good, but the trouble is, I ordered Johnny to do it!" Cap yelled. "I wanted Johnny to get the experience! Thanks alot, guys! Nice to know that you all trust me!"

"Cap, you shouldn't have volunteered me in the first place!" Johnny yelled.

"Okay, fine! I won't volunteer you for anything anymore!" Cap yelled. "You just do whatever the hell you want! Just keep passing the damn buck! Get the hell out of my sight, both of ya!"

Roy and Johnny hung their heads as they left Hank's office. After they left, Mike entered.

"Why did I become a Captain?" Hank asked. "How can I have any authority here after the stunt that DeSoto and Gage pulled?"

"Cap, I think Roy was the better choice for that tour." Mike soothed. "Roy has kids and knows how to deal with them, John doesn't. On the other hand, Johnny probably could've related to the kids better."

"Mike, it's just that I need to know that when we're on a call, that I can trust you guys to carry out my orders." Cap told his Engineer. "How can I trust that now?"

"Cap, I think that this happened because you ordered Johnny to do it instead of asking him if he'd like to do it. You know Johnny doesn't like being made to do things." Mike replied. "Cap, you'll have to rebuild their trust."

"Mike, I don't think that's gonna happen." Hank sighed. "I'm stepping down as Captain, effective immediately."

***

A few minutes later, Cap made the announcement to Roy and the rest.

"Cap, if this is because of what we did, we're sorry!" Johnny sobbed.

"John, I'm doing this cause after what happened, how can I have any authority here?" Cap told the young man. "You guys don't take me seriously. Bye, Guys."

All the guys watched as Hank cleaned out his office and his locker, then left the station.

***

Two days later, Johnny and the rest arrived at the station and encountered their new Captain.

"Hi. I'm Captain Chuck Daniel." The new Cap introduced himself.

The newly promoted Captain was five feet four with honey blonde hair about the same length as Johnny's and also sported a goatee.

"Hi." Roy grinned, "I'm-"

"I know, Roy DeSoto." Cap Daniel smiled. "I'll get you know ya'll in time. I think you all should know I don't believe in a bunch of formalities. I'd prefer if you'd all call me Chuck, not Cap or Sir. Those titles make me feel old."

"Okay, Chuck." Mike agreed. "I'd better go check the engine."

"Mike, relax. I'm sure the engine's fine." Chuck laughed. "I'm sure the squad is too. What do you say we just lighten up?"

"Chuck, Chief McConnikee's coming for an inspection." Roy said. "We have to get ready."

"Roy, don't you think the Chief could better inspect us on the job?" Chuck asked. "I think McConnikee could get a better idea of how we do our jobs that way. I mean, the station's just a
building, why does he need to come here? So, I've arranged for the Chief to observe us during a run."

__________

Meanwhile, Firefighter Henry Stanley had arrived at his new post, station ten in Topanga Canyon where he'd serve under Captain Bob Robertson.

"Stanley, I hear you stepped down as 51's Captain. What I don't understand is why." Cap Robertson said.

"Cap, I realized two days ago that I have no business wearing those bars." Hank replied, then told Bob of what happened two days ago with Roy and Johnny.

"I see." Robertson nodded.

"Roy has the most influence in that station, the guys listen to him." Hank stated. "They don't respect me. They never have."

"What makes you say that?" Robertson asked.

"Cause I'm not Dick Hammer." Hank shook his head. "Those guys loved him cause he didn't expect anything of them. He let them have run of the station. Me, I tried to make it clear that I
was the boss."

"Hank, every Captain commands differently." Robertson soothed. "I have my own style of command, so does Hookrader, the problem is, how do you find a healthy balance of friendship and making sure departmental policies get upheld and followed?"

"I never found that balance, so I wouldn't know." Hank whispered. "I worked with those guys for five years. I thought they trusted me."

"Sometimes, they can turn on you." Robertson replied, sipping his coffee.

"Well, I'm just a fireman now. Station fifty-one is someone else's headache now." Hank smiled.

***

Back at station fifty-one, Roy was already not sure of their new Captain. He was afraid that the station was going downhill.

"Johnny, let's go inventory the squad." Roy said.

"Roy, Cap said we didn't have to." Johnny shrugged. "The squad's fine."

"Johnny, that squad has to be checked at the start of every shift. You know that!" Roy insisted.

"Roy, I don't take orders from you!" Johnny hissed. "If Chuck orders me to, I will! Until then, leave me alone!"

"Dammit, Johnny!" Roy yelled. "You will do as I say!"

"No he won't, Roy." Chuck said, entering the bay, "You are not Captain here, I am. You have no seniority over Johnny. As Senior medic, checking the squad is your responsibility. Also, Johnny drives from now on."

Roy just turned and started inventorying the squad. Chuck took Johnny into his office.

____

Once in the office, Chuck shut the door, he then sat down at his desk and looked Johnny in the eye.

"Gage, I'm a pretty nice guy, aren't I?" Chuck asked.

"Yeah," Johnny replied.

"Yeah, I am." Chuck nodded, suddenly grabbing the young medic and slamming him to the floor, hard.

As Johnny tried to get up, Chuck stepped on his chest, pinning him on his back.

"Johnny, I can be nice, or I can be a son of a bitch!" Chuck hissed in the young man's face. "Which one depends on you! Got me?!"

A gasping John nodded as he struggled to breathe under his Captain's heavy boot.

"Glad we understand each other so far!" Chuck hissed. "Cause if you so much as argue with an order, I will break your skinny carcass in two, understood?! I'm a black belt in Karate, so I can
do it!"

"Yes, Sir!" Johnny gasped.

Chuck nodded and let Johnny get up. The Cap then grabbed the fingers on Johnny's right hand and broke each and every one. As Johnny went to scream, Chuck gagged him with a rag.

After he was done, Chuck removed the rag.

"Did you feel that, Gage?" Chuck asked as Johnny sobbed in pain. "That was for disobeying Captain Stanley! It will get worse if you cross me, got it!?"

Johnny nodded through his tears.

"Good boy." Chuck smiled. "Dismissed."

Johnny turned and left the office. Chuck then called for Roy. Roy came in, a grave look on his face.

"DeSoto, you saw your partner's hand?" Chuck asked.

"Yes, Sir." Roy quietly replied.

"I hope you took notes. Dismissed." Chuck finished.

 _________

"Cap. you didn't have to break Johnny's hand to get the message across." Roy said.

"Roy, Sit down." Chuck invited.

Roy did so.

"Roy, you have kids, right?" Chuck asked.

"Two." Roy answered.

"Roy, as a parent, you know that when they do wrong, they must be punished." Chuck stated.

"But, I don't break my kid's hands when they do." Roy replied. "I spank them sometimes, but I never do it so they're injured."

"My problem with Gage is that he's dense. You can talk til you're blue on the face, but you won't reach him. Now, if you smacked his face a time or two, he might just learn." Chuck stated. "I'll bet if a nurse smacked him in the face when he asks for a date, Johnny might just learn no fast.."

"He might, but if he was hit, it could also make him afraid of people and afraid to trust. Abuse is never the way to discipline someone." Roy told Chuck. "I believe that Johnny and I work well together because he knows that he can trust me not to hurt him. When I correct him, I do it lovingly. I chew his ass sometimes, I yell at him sometimes, but I NEVER punish him physically.."

"Roy, I believe that mollycoddling can only get you so far." Chuck disagreed. "Johnny must be shown who the boss is."

"Chuck, Johnny knows you're in charge here and that whatever you say goes." Roy replied.

"Then why did he disobey Stanley?" Chuck countered.

"Because Stanley was a wuss!" Roy replied. "What Chief thought that Hank Stanley was capable of commanding a crew?"

"Probably someone who just wanted to fill the vacancy here quickly." Chuck replied. "I mean, what Chief could think that a guy capable of burning a Captain's dress hat could lead a crew? A Captain has to establish firm authority in a station."

"I agree." Roy nodded. "But you don't have to be abusive to do it. If Johnny does something, give him a reprimand or warning, if that doesn't work, you can suspend him for a shift or two or have him transferred. You don't have to injure him to make your point."

With that, Roy left the office in search of Johnny.

"Johnny?" Roy called, going through the station.

"Roy, I called Johnny's mom and asked her to come and take him to Rampart." Mike Stoker informed the senior medic. "A replacement's on the way."

"Okay, Mike." Roy replied.

_______

An hour later, Johnny had his hand casted and was relaxing with his mom, Tina Gage, on the balcony of her sixth floor apartment.

"You okay, Dear?" The Native American woman asked.

"Mom, I was wrong to disobey Cap, but I didn't deserve what Cap Daniel did to me!" Johnny told her.

"No, but did Hank Stanley deserve to be humiliated the way he was?" Tina asked. "When you disobeyed him, what do you think Chet and the others thought?"

"What do you mean?" Johnny asked.

"Johnny, when the others saw what you and Roy did, they might've thought, well, if they can do that, then we can too." Tina replied. "Whether you like it or not, you and Roy are the examples to the others in that station. You owe it to Chet and the others to be positive role models to them. Think of it this way, one day, you and Roy may be Captains yourselves and may have to deal with another DeSoto and Gage."

"Yeah, I never thought of that." Johnny told Tina. "It's just that I didn't join the department to be a tour guide."

"I know, but when you and Roy took Paramedic training, because you were the first two certified, you became unwitting ambassadors to the program. That's why the department has you do tours and such." Tina smiled, putting an arm around her Son. "Johnny, think of the tours and such like this. Suppose Dr. Parsons had someone in the restaurant who knew what to do because the were inspired to take a first aid class by a fireman who visited their school or wherever and gave a CPR demonstration, he might still be alive now."

Johnny nodded as his mother talked on.

"Suppose that your Son or daughter were amongst those children who didn't get that tour. Sometime later, they may be in a fire or medical emergency and a fireman comes in, decked out in all that gear you wear to get them out. What do you think would happen?" Tina asked.

Johnny's eyes widened as his mother's point hit home.

"Cap still had no business ordering me to do that tour." Johnny insisted. "If he had asked, I might have done it."

"Okay, but is he supposed to give you a choice at a fire? Johnny, would you like to go save that victim?" Tina countered. "How well would a station function like that?"

"I can see in a situation like that, but the tour still should've been my choice to make." Johnny yawned, the pain meds starting to take effect.

"John, why don't you go lay down on the couch? You're about to fall asleep!" Tina laughed, but Johnny was already dead to the world.

Tina just left her Son there to nap. She then grabbed her keys and leaving the apartment building she got in her car and made her way toward Topanga Canyon and station 10 to have a talk with Hank Stanley.
__________

At station 10, Hank Stanley had just put on a clean uniform, fresh from a shower after returning from a house fire. As he left the lockeroom, Cap Robertson stopped him.

"Stanley, you have a visitor in the office." The gravel voiced Cap informed Hank.

"Okay, Cap." Hank replied, heading toward the station's office.

Going inside, Hank was delighted to see Johnny's mother.

"Mrs. Gage, how nice to see you again." Hank smiled as he sat down in a chair in the corner, opposite her. "What can I do for you?"

"Hank, have you heard about Johnny's hand injury?" Tina asked the former Captain.

"Yes, I can't say John didn't deserve that." Hank said, frankly. "Maybe he'll learn from this. Tina, your boy is not a bad person, he just doesn't think before he acts."

"I don't disagree with that." Tina replied, softly. "My Johnny did not deserve to be abused that way."

"Tina, I know you mean well, but Johnny was wrong, Roy too. It's not the fact that DeSoto did that tour that bothers me." Hank countered.

"It's the fact that they didn't come to you first." Tina understood. "What they did was wrong, but Captain Daniel shouldn't have broken my Son's hand."

"What can I do? I'm not a Captain anymore." Hank replied. "Captain Daniel should be able to command as he sees fit. Tina, maybe the broken hand is a good thing for John. I hope that during his recovery, Johnny will think about why a Captain has to have respect. Look, Johnny is an excellent medic, he just needs to work on his attitude toward those in authority. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to work."

With that, Hank left the office. Tina sighed in frustration.

_________

Back at his mom's apartment, Johnny lay in a drug-induced sleep. As he slept, he dreamed. He dreamed of Cap Stanley leaving the station a few days before.

"Happy now, Johnny?" Hank asked, in his dream. "You cost me everything I worked for! I'll never make Battalion Chief now, thanks to you!"

Johnny was standing in fifty-one's apparatus bay in full turnout gear.

How did I get here? Johnny wondered.

"Cap, I'm sorry!" Johnny yelled.

"Sorry? Sorry's not gonna bring back my dignity or the authority I once had! Authority that you and Roy ruined because you wouldn't follow my orders! A crew has to trust it's Captain and he them or there is no station!" Hank hissed. "Every job must have someone in charge or nothing gets done! How do you think Rampart would function if there were no Dr. Brackett? How would it's nurses function if Dixie weren't there for one day?"

"Cap, we know our jobs!" Johnny argued.

"Yeah, but some folks need someone to prod them or they would do nothing! Let's say that a Paramedic was sent out without field training or supervision. What do you think you'd have?" Cap asked.

"Maybe a better Paramedic." Johnny answered.

"Or maybe Ed Marlowe." Cap countered. "Maybe even a John Gage. Johnny, you're alot like Marlowe, you just don't wanna admit it."

"Okay, How am I like Ed?" John queried.

"Johnny, you want the action and caring for people, but you don't want the paperwork or other responsibilities of being a paramedic." Cap explained. "You want the action and only the action. When it comes right down to menial tasks, oh that's Roy's job."

Johnny hung his head.

"When is it ever Johnny's job?" Hank finished. "Where's your responsibility?"

With that, Cap turned to go.

"Cap, wait!" Johnny called.

Hank just waved John off as John tried to catch up to him.

"Cap!" Johnny called again. "Please, wait!"

"Go away!" Hank ordered, shoving Johnny backwards.

Johnny fell into a room full of fire. He screamed as the flames surrounded him, leaving him no way out. Johnny then realized that he had no airtank on his back and no turnouts on.

"How does it feel, John?" Hank's voice asked from everywhere in the room. "You're just a victim now!"

"Please, Help me!" Johnny screamed, then coughed as he inhaled smoke. "Help me!"

"Sorry, Johnny. Your rescuers have no idea what to do." Hank's voice came back. "You're on your own. Good luck."

Johnny realized now what it was like to be a victim. He was scared as he crawled through the dense smoke. Johnny's heart sank as he realized death was inevitable. A second later, Johnny found himself sitting on the ground. His whole body hurt as firemen walked by him.

"Please, I've been injured!" Johnny cried.

One fireman stopped and took off his air mask. Johnny was shocked to be looking at himself.

"Sorry, I'm just a fireman. The other Johnny shrugged. "The ambulance should be here any minute."

"Dammit! You're a Paramedic!" Johnny screamed.

"A Para what?" The other Johnny asked. "Look man, you're nuts! I'm a fireman on engine ten!"

With that, the fireman walked away and Johnny screamed.

END PART 7