Fine lines by MM

disclaimer: The characters of Emergency do not belong to me. As foreshadowed in previous disclaimers I'm inflicting an 'original' character on the unsuspecting reader and Johnny is rather fragile. As always I'll help 'em up, dust them off, give 'em a smooch and send them back when I'm done.

rating: T

Note: This is a sequel to "Phantom Fears"

Note #2: Borrowing/extrapolating from all the writers that penned an abusive childhood for John Gage.

Chapter 1

Fire Captain Hank Stanley pushed past the insistent nurse and into exam room 4. Dr. Joe Early followed him in. The captain's young paramedic was sitting on the table, shoulders hunched, leaning forward, looking shamed and dejected. Standing over him, wearing a stethoscope and a gloat, was Dr. Hamilton, head of trauma for Rampart Hospital.

Early was confused by the sight. The cocky paramedic rarely was depressed and the look of shame was completely alien. Stanley immediately went to his man, positioning himself between him and the gloating doctor. He surreptitiously opened his turnout jacket and allowed Johnny Gage to hide his face against his side.

This seemed to please the attending physician. He looked as if he'd scored some great win in cowing the younger man. The look of victory dropped from his face as he swept his eyes over the older fireman and the angry, protective glare waiting there.

"Dr. Hamilton, what is happening?" Dr. Early decided someone should at least attempt to be professional. Hamilton picked up the chart and made some notations.

"Nothing, Joe. Mr. Gage was scraped up a bit but he's free to return to work," Hamilton stated.

"Nothing?" growled Stanley. "NOTHING?!" Johnny entire body flinched. This disturbed Early more than the shame. Gage was afraid of his captain? He watched as the older man rubbed his hand on the paramedic's arm. He then lowered his voice.

"Dr. Hamilton, I watched as this man was flung bodily into wooden crates by an explosion at a chemical plant. Attending paramedics believe he has cracked ribs and maybe a mild concussion. The wound on his side needs to be cleaned out and stitched. There is no way 'nothing' is wrong," his face hardened even as he forced the rest of his body to calm down.

"I am a doctor," Hamilton stated in an authoritarian voice. "If I decide nothing major is wrong, then nothing major is wrong! His side is tender and slightly bruised. He has a long scratch which I cleaned out with alcohol. Nothing major is wrong." Alcohol? Early could only stare. They never used alcohol to clean out wounds as it actually damaged the area more and hurt like crazy.

"Then I will take Johnny over to Memorial and have another 'doctor' look him over and decide if nothing 'major' is wrong," Stanley stated in a deep, challenging tone. "And when that doctor decides to treat him, I will be filing a complaint with Rampart's administrator and governing board."

Not wanting to cause that kind of problem, feeling that he should at least offer to mediate before real trouble could be generated, Early stepped in.

"Now Hank, I doubt that'd happen. Hamilton is the head of trauma..." he began only to be cut off by the angry captain.

"No! I will not let Johnny be treated this way. He's a valued member of my crew and he shouldn't be dismissed simply because YOU don't care for his 'type'." Stanley hissed.

His 'type'? Early didn't spend long wondering exactly what that meant although he had not experienced much prejudice among most of the hospital ER staff. Hamilton did not approve of the paramedic program. It was one of the reasons Dr. Kelly Brackett was the head of the program.

To be honest, Kel hadn't be particularly enthused about the program until Johnny and his partner Roy DeSoto began doing runs for Station 51. They were an amazing team that had saved many accident patients' lives. The team set the bar and standard for all teams in less than six months and Brackett had changed his tune becoming a staunch supporter and leader for the paramedic program out of Rampart.

"OK, then why don't I check Johnny over? Would that be satisfactory?" he asked carefully not wanting to drag the hospital into a situation that would reflect badly on its good name.

Hank considered this, looking down at the cringing paramedic. Johnny nodded slightly. With an exasperated hiss Hamilton slammed down the chart.

"Of all the childish things! There is nothing wrong with you John-ny," he said as crossly as possible, emphasizing the man's name. "When Early tells you that I'll be expecting two apologies!" He angrily stomped out of the exam room.

They remained in place for a long moment then Stanley patted his paramedic and gained eye contact.

"Ok, John, let Dr. Early look you over," he waited until the younger man pulled himself away from the protection of his captain and almost sheepishly looked at the doctor.

"Sorry, Dr. Early," he whispered.

"You don't need to apologize, John," Stanley said gently. "You know that Craig Brice couldn't possibly be wrong on everything." The older man referred to the attending paramedic.

"According to Brice? He probably caused the bruising by prodding me so hard," Johnny groused good-naturedly. Early had to smile. This was the paramedic he knew. He carefully began his examination. He helped remove the bloodied t-shirt exposing the bruised side.

This wasn't minor bruising. Nor were the cuts, plural, just a scrape. He gently probed the largest cut and discovered it was deep and still had dirt and splinters in it. His patient tensed in pain.

"Did Hamilton use much lidocane when he cleaned this out?" Early asked so he could adjust the dosage he would use. The paramedic's eyes dropped.

"No lidocane, Doc. He just poured the alcohol on top and used some gauze to clean it. Didn't think it needed a bandage."

"I'll be right back," Early said as he stepped out of the treatment room to gather supplies and order an x-ray.

An hour later complete with stitches and taped ribs Johnny was released. Early watched as Roy DeSoto herded his partner out to the squad. The younger man was pulled off shift for the rest of the week. Now the older doctor had the unenviable job of speaking with Dr. Hamilton.

Hamilton was initially angry at the impudence of Early: lecturing him on how to treat patients! But he changed his stance once he saw the x-rays and read the notations on the debris in the multiple cuts on the paramedic's side. Satisfied that the head of trauma recognized his mistake, they parted with a handshake and an assurance of treating the paramedics better. The older doctor decided to keep an eye on Hamilton when he worked with any of the paramedic teams. Hopefully he'd see how valuable they were and would accept them as Kel Brackett had.

Several months passed. Hamilton showed no more poor behavior towards any paramedic; at least as far as Early was able to discern. But he didn't see all of Hamilton's cases.

Dixie McCall and her nurses, on the other hand, saw all of his work as well as all of Early's, Bracket's and any other doctor in the ER. In fact, one of Dixie's practices was to meet weekly with her working staff (as many as possible) and discuss procedures. She chaired this meeting and available staff attended.

The part her staff enjoyed was that no doctors were invited; it was a place to discuss and blow off steam if need be. Several nurses had indicated they were uncomfortable working with Dr. Hamilton at times. The common denominator on those times always had to do with the DeSoto-Gage paramedic team.

It wasn't that Gage and DeSoto were incompetent at what they did. It was rather the reverse. The team simply performed above and beyond any of the other teams. Statistics weren't actually collected to determine this, but each month the ER cases were tabulated for treatment, level of success, and patient survey; their team always came out on top in many, if not most areas. Whereas these stats were used for recognition among the doctors and hospital staff, nothing was officially recognized for the paramedic and EMT crews that serviced the hospital.

Not officially, but the nurses knew. That was why complaints were raised on the less than polite interactions between the head of trauma and the young paramedic John Gage. Worse was the treatment of an injured Gage by Hamilton. Of course the nurses knew if they wanted to lodge a complaint it would have to go directly to the Hospital Administrator since the doctor in question was a department head. This could affect them directly as well if Hamilton was found innocent of any complaints they leveled.

They all knew a doctor of his calibre was more important than an RN.

So with Dixie's guidance they developed an unofficial policy: any runs by the DeSoto-Gage team would be discretely given to any other doctor on duty and Hamilton avoided at all costs. If Gage were to come in hurt, even a little scratch, then he'd be shuttled to one of the other available doctors; if there were none but Hamilton then one of the senior nurses would stay in the room at all times to monitor and deflect. It wasn't the best solution, but it was a workable one. It was put into effect immediately and all ER nurses were quietly notified.

With this one change things settled down. Hamilton was a good trauma specialist and he certainly benefitted the hospital. Keeping him away from Gage was relatively simple and none of the doctors caught on to their unofficial policy.

Unfortunately, Hamilton was more than a little prejudiced against Gage. He found other ways to undermine the young paramedic's self confidence every chance he got. His partner, Roy, bristled at these jabs, but given they were both told many times that Hamilton actually was in control of the paramedic program because he was over Brackett in the hospital, they felt they had no real recourse to stop the harassment.

Captain Stanley attempted to intercede, but he was also shot down. He then appealed to his fellow fire captains for help. No other paramedic team had any problems dealing with the head of trauma, although they had offered that Hamilton had said he had ultimate say in the running of the paramedic program. No one wanted to jeopardize such a beneficial program by lodging such a minor problem. After all, it only affected one man and by extension, one team out of many.

But it was agreed Captain Stanley could compile evidence of the alleged harrassment and when sufficient documentation was accepted by the fire captains they would collectively go to speak with their chief who would then see what could be done.

Stanley was not happy with the lack of support. He had the best team in the county and yet no one would stand up for them. He could go against his peers, but if it failed he would not have any support and might earn discipline himself. Not to mention Gage could be released from the paramedic program.

Rampart's nurses understood the feeling of frustration. They stepped up their efforts to protect their Johnny, and quietly monitored interactions with Hamilton. Gage himself worked harder to act respectful of the trauma doctor.

Now throw into the mix Dr. Kelly Brackett, head of ER. Professional, reserved, he worked with the paramedic teams and held monthly workshops to teach and review techniques used in the field. He was extremely pleased with the progress of the program, especially since he'd initially disliked the notion of hose jockeys playing doctor.

There had been a very shaky start to the entire program at Rampart. It nearly didn't become reality until Roy and John used their training, without approval or sanction, and stabilized three accident victims giving them the time to get transported to the ER. One had been Dixie herself. Their disregard of Bracket's own insistence they do nothing and wait at least 45 minutes for the "approved" personnel, saved her life.

Brackett heeded the wake-up call and gave his support to get the program approved by the legislature.

Which meant more techniques were taught. The next improvement to care was being trained to insert esophageal airways. Which meant being able to discern between the airway and the gastric passage. So when the first airway was utilized successfully, it happened to be Squad 51 that performed the procedure.

Johnny was bouncing in excitement after the rescue; even Roy was exuding pride in his young partner. Of course, the younger man wasn't taking full credit, but he was thrilled the intervention had worked so well and the patient was resting comfortably in the ER exam room waiting to be moved up to ICU. Dixie and Dr. Early certainly enjoyed the exuberance after a difficult morning in the ER.

Brackett joined them, letting them know they'd done a good job. Praise did not come easily or often from the head of ER and the happiness increased (including a slight blush) on both paramedics' faces. Secretly the doctor enjoyed Gage's enthusiasm as much or more than his colleagues.

Until Hamilton sauntered up and added his two-cents worth.

"So, you were able to get an esophageal airway in all by yourself, eh Johnny? Given your track record you were lucky, We should all be glad you didn't perforate anything on the way down!" he smirked sarcastically at the man. Brackett uneasily crossed his arms and leaned back.

"Well, Johnny does have the record for accidents I suppose, but those are accidents, Pat, and usually involve only himself. He and Roy trained hard on using those airways," he defended the two paramedics who's smiles had dimmed.

"Yeah, guess so," the head of trauma allowed with a snort. "Let's see how the other teams do, Johnny's an aberration." He tossed the chart he'd held onto the counter and walked away with a smile on his face. He gloried in the fact he'd stripped the smile off that face. Before Early, Brackett or Dixie could react Roy picked up the squad's supplies and called to his partner.

"Come on, Junior, no rest for the wicked." Gage gave a half-hearted lop-sided smile and dragged himself off behind his partner, their pleasure gone. Brackett called after them, further congratulating them, but only received a partial wave as they moved out the door to the squad beyond.

"What the hell was that all about?" Brackett demanded of his colleagues. "Why did Hamilton just insult my paramedics?"

"Kel, Dr. Hamilton has never supported the paramedic program," Early began. He was surprised when a normally level-headed nurse jumped in.

"The hell with that, Joe! You know he's been treating Johnny like crap since the first day he walked into Rampart," Dixie spat out furious. "The nurses noticed it right away."

"Why didn't you say something?" Brackett asked, taken aback.

"Who would listen to us? I alerted Joe to the problem over four months ago hoping he'd do something about it," Dixie said. "Joe, I even asked you what you were going to do. Did you even write it up?" Now Early was on the defensive.

"I didn't see the point. I spoke with Hamilton and pointed out his mistakes," the doctor said carefully. "He was not pleased with me at all but he did allow he hadn't treated Johnny correctly. He assured me he would not let it happen again."

Dixie growled and folded her arms defensively over her chest. Early switched to placating.

"I watched his interactions with all the paramedics when they came in; he didn't treat any of them callously after that."

"But did you watch his interactions with Johnny?" Dixie asked pointedly.

"Why? Hamilton did not support the paramedic program at all. But after our talk he at least listens to them and treats them with respect," Early was confused.

"It's not paramedics he's after," Dixie's voice dropped low. "It's just Johnny. I won't let him alone with Hamilton if I can possibly help it."

"Dixie, that's a serious accusation you're making," Brackett said sternly.

"Look, Kel, that is precisely why none of the nurses want to file a complaint," Dixie said. "We know we have our place in treating patients. We also know how widely respected Dr. Hamilton is and how inconsequential one young paramedic is. But none of us like the discrimination. We've handled it the best we can trying to keep those two apart."

"But Gage hasn't complained to me, nor has any other paramedic or fire captain," Brackett argued.

"Can they?" Dixie challenged. "Rumor has it that Hamilton told all the paramedics at one time or another he was ultimately in charge of their program and he could release any of them that didn't do their job to his satisfaction."

"WHAT?!" that certainly got Bracket's attention. Hamilton had absolutely no say over HIS program. The board of directors had specifically put Brackett in charge and he only answered to them and Rampart's administrator in regards to the program.

"You might consider that when you work with his paramedic teams," Dixie turned and walked down the hall leaving two confused and concerned men.

"Joe, what happened?" Brackett asked. Early suggested coffee and the two men went in search of a more private corner. In detail the older doctor related the treatment of the paramedic.

To say the head of ER was concerned was evident. And a little ashamed of himself. He'd been more upset that Hamilton was taking credit for his program than by the problems the paramedic had been experiencing. Addressing who was actually in charge of the program would be simple. Trying to intercede in a discrimination matter was more problematic given the accused.

Brackett himself would need to correct both problems. He would talk to his paramedic teams at the monthly meetings and assure them he was in charge and refer to the policies set in place at Rampart. He would re-assert his position as head of the paramedic program.

He would also begin to quietly investigate the relationship between doctor and paramedic. A few trusted sets of ears and eyes in place and he would get to the bottom of the problem. Depending on the actual severity he would choose the appropriate solution.

It didn't take long to start his list. The next day a second team of paramedics were able to insert an esophageal airway with no problems. Hamilton was immediately all over the team praising them highly. When Bracket pointed out Gage had placed the first airway he was ignored. He waited for privacy.

"Don't get me wrong, Pat," Brackett gave a reserved smile at the doctor, "but yesterday you weren't quite as certain the airways were a good idea." He'd waited for the paramedics to clear out as well as the nurse.

"Oh, Kel, that was Johnny. He's a screw-up from the word go," Hamilton waved off the concern. "This team did a much better job. They should be written up and their work shared as a positive example."

"Both teams should be praised, not just the one," Brackett stated.

"Whatever, Kel," the head of trauma dismissively waved his hand as he walked alway.

Now that he was attuned to the problem, Brackett began seeing and hearing many small and subtle digs directed at the paramedic. He also ascertained from several other squads about the supposed chain of command at the hospital. He began to share the job chart with each team he met and planned to review these at the monthly meetings.

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