CHAPTER 3- OLD MEMORIES

It had been two days since Johnny's surgery. The first 24 hours had been intense. Several moments Dixie had to encourage Dr. Brackett to keep going and not give up on their friend, that there was still hope. Brackett wasn't even sure if he had slept at all since the surgery, he had been too consumed with closely monitoring Gage and adjusting medications and draining fluid from around his brain. Johnny had made drastic improvements now, however, and Brackett was very optimistic about his future.

Roy had finished his shift with Bellingham the day of the surgery and had spent every spare moment he had at the hospital in Johnny's room in the ICU. He had just woken up and was stretching out the cricks in his back from sleeping in a chair when he saw Johnny begin to stir. He quickly ran to his bedside, ready to be there when his partner opened up his eyes. He also flipped the switch to alert the nurse that someone was needed.

What's that smell….. it smells like antiseptic…. Whats that noise….. a low rhythmic beep… who's voice is that….. they're saying 'Johnny' …. Is that me? Am I awake…. I can't see anything…. I need to open my eyes…. C'mon… try harder…. Open your eyes….

"That's it Johnny….. come on back to us…" Dr. Brackett was encouraging the young paramedic to wake from his deep sleep.

Just then Johnny's eyes flew open, in a panic he began to gag and cough and claw at the intubation tube still down his throat.

"Woah, woah, woah…" Brackett reached and gently held Johnny's arms down "If you can calm down I'll take that out for you…. Okay" Brackett looked for confirmation in his eyes and a nod to proceed before he let go of his arms.

As Brackett removed the tube from Johnny's throat, he began to cough.

"That's okay…. Just give it a few good coughs and get those lungs going again.." He smiled at Johnny and began checking his vitals.

Roy moved over to the bed again after Brackett had finished.

"Hey partner… how you doing?" Roy asked

Johnny looked up at Roy and didn't speak.

"Well partner?..." Roy asked again

"I …. Uh ….. feel kinda rough…." He said in a raspy voice

"Well that's expected after the couple days you've had." Brackett smiled and sat at the foot of Johnny's bed. "Do you remember what happened to you John?... we've all been kind of curious if you remember hurting your head at all?"

"My….. my head? ….. uh….. I don't know …. I don't know why I'm here…. I thought maybe a fire went wrong….. I can't remember….I know I've seen you a couple times around here doc .. when we've gotten injured on the job….. who are you though?" Johnny looked over to Roy "Where's Steve?"

Brackett looked over at Roy and saw the fear and sadness in his eyes.

"It's okay Roy, this can happen sometimes with an injury that bad …." Brackett assured him "Johnny… what do you remember? Who is Steve?"

"I know who I am… I'm John Gage…. I'm a firefighter at station 10… and Steve… Steve Bergman is my partner on the search and rescue engine…" Johnny looked at the exchange of face Roy and Brackett made to each other. "What? What is it?..."

The heart monitor began to show an increase in the heart rate. Johnny sat up a little straighter in his bed.

"What's going on?" He asked as his breathing became labored and his nerves began to shake his hands.

"Johnny…. I'm a paramedic…. My name is Roy… I'm your partner…" Roy could feel tears stinging in his eyes knowing his partner had no memory of him.

"What? Partner? … since… since when….. aren't you that guy that was trying to recruit a bunch of us for some stupid new program….aghhh" Johnny reached up and grabbed his head at the pounding of his brain being wracked with a flood of thoughts. He noticed he was shaking more now and having a difficult time catching his breath.

"Johnny….." Brackett said his name as he grabbed his wrist and checked his pulse… "Johnny… just breathe for me… okay… deep breathes …. Its okay …."

Noticing he wasn't going to co operate with him though, Brackett grabbed a nurse in the hallway to get him some diazepam to administer to Gage through his IV.

"Johnny… I'm going to give you some medicine to relax you a little bit.. okay…you're going to be alright pal" Brackett nodded at him and watched Johnny begin to relax as the medicine coursed his veins. Seeing his shut and go to sleep, Brackett motioned for Roy to join him out in the hallway.

The two men stepped into the hallway and down a few feet away from Johnny's room.

"I'm sorry you had to be there for that Roy…" Brackett looked into the senior paramedics eyes with compassion "Its not uncommon for memory loss to take place, especially in head injuries as serious as the one that Johnny sustained.." He curled his bottom lip in.

"Will… will he ever remember Doc?" Roy was afraid to ask, but he had to.

"I wish I could give you a straight forward answer, Roy, but truth is that only time will tell… listen… why don't you go home and get some rest…. He's stable now and on the way to recovery…. You could use the break though…. I'll let you know if there are any changes in his recovery… okay." Brackett tried to pawn off a smile at Roy.

"Yea… I do need to go home for a bit… I'll uh… I'll call the guys at the station and let em know he woke up…." Roy nodded a goodbye and began to head down the hall way.

"Oh and Roy…. Tell the guys to feel free to come and stop by… the more he sees and talks with you guys the more he might begin to remember…" Brackett smiled and returned back to Johnny's room.

Two more days went by. Every man from station 51's A-shift stopped by at some point or another… all left with the same empty realization that Johnny couldn't remember them. Johnny ended up having to be sedated several more times because he couldn't deal with the thought of the chunks of memory he had lost and the sadness etched on every face of the men who 'loved' him most.

I can hear a voice… its soft and sweet…. I know I've heard this voice before… she loves me….but who is she…. Her touch is warm on my hand… she says my name so soft and kind…. Then she calls me Tiger…. I like that name….. I'm trying to put a face with her voice… a name with her face…. I can't remember… why can't I remember… Where am I ? What happened? Why aren't my eyes open? Why am I not talking? …..

"It's okay Tiger… I'm here…. You're alright…. open your eyes.." Dixie talked soothingly to Johnny as he stirred in his bed.

Johnny's big brown eyes slowly opened and he looked up at the nurse. A tear trickled down his face followed by several more and slow smile spread across his lips.

"What's wrong Tiger…" Dixie sat on his bed and pushed aside a lock of hair from his face.

"You're… you're Dixie …." Johnny choked over his tears "I … I remember … I remember now…." He began to laugh and cry happy tears and Dixie joined him with tears streaming down her own face as she leaned in the bed and gave Johnny the biggest bear hug she could muster up.

She reached over and hit the call button to alert Dr. Brackett to the room. Moments later he came rushing in, sedative in hand.

"No… no we don't need that Kel.." Dixie smiled and brushed his hand down as she wiped away some remaining tears from her cheeks.

"What happened? Is everything alright…" He looked past her and to Johnny on his bed.

"Yea Doc… I was just wondering….. could I see Roy? … I've got some catching up to do with my partner" He smiled a huge grin

Brackett then realized why Dixie had been crying and that Johnny's memory had returned to him.

"Sure thing… I'll get right on it!" Brackett smiled and patted Johnny's legs under the blanket at the foot of the bed.

Later that evening Roy Desoto strolled anxiously into Rampart General. You couldn't call it a run, but you certainly couldn't call it a walk that he was doing to make his way to his "fully awakened" partner.

He slowed his roll as he approached the door… now in the main section of the hospital and no longer in the ICU ward. He gently pushed it open and saw Johnny laying still.

"Johnny…." Roy whispered as he moved cautiously into the room

Johnny slowly rolled over and their eyes met.

"Hey partner" Johnny manage to get out, holding back another round of tears behind his eyes.

Roy smiled back even wider "Hey there Junior….. glad to have you back.." Roy gulped in his own overwhelming emotions. "You scared us there for a bit…"

"Yea, sorry about that….. Dix told me everything…. That must've been hard on all the guys…. And.. you…." Johnny looked sympathetically at his friend.

"Don't apologize, we're all just excited to have you back with us….. I mean REALLY back" Roy let out a small nervous laugh… "Just… next time you bump your head… I don't care what on or how bad you think it isn't…. tell someone would ya…" Roy smiled at Johnny

"Yea…. That's a deal for sure." Johnny held his hand out to Roy and shook on it.

The two spent the next several hours catching up and Roy telling Johnny the story of the past few days there at Rampart. Roy was glad to have his partner back and that life was back to normal again.

The end. Thanks for all of the reads! ….. (I know I probably could've drug this story out a bit longer if I wanted… but I'm going to be gone on vacation for a while and decided was probably better to go ahead and wrap things up! Thanks again for reading!)