Roy and Johnny left Rampart after picking up some supplies. They head back to the station and Roy notices Johnny is not himself, he seems a little down.

“Hey Junior, you feeling okay?” Roy asks him.

“I’m fine, Roy,” he says unconvincingly as he looks at the window.

“Well, you don’t seem fine to me, and that worries me,” Roy replies.

“It’s nothing, Roy, really,” Johnny says.

“If it is nothing, then tell me what has got you so down,” Roy inquires.

“Okay, I give. I just got a Dear John letter from Sharise. She moved to Florida two weeks ago, and I just thought she was busy.”

Roy chuckles, “ Yeah, packing. Chet is going to have a field day with this Dear John letter.”

Johnny says, “Great, just what I need. Chet ribbing me for the next week.” He rolls his eyes, just as the tones break in.

“Squad 51, man down, at the Winston Jewelry store, West Alameda, cross street, West Hampton. Possible, gunshot victim. Time out 0930,” the dispatcher announces.

Johnny responds, “ Squad 51, 10-4.”

Johnny hits the lights and sirens, just before he jots down the address.

*****

Fifteen minutes later, they arrive at the jewelry store. Police and SWAT were found all around.

Johnny contacts dispatch, “ L.A., Squad 51 on scene.”

Dispatch returns, “ 10-4, Squad 51, 0945.”

Roy tries to gather his thoughts, “ Johnny, we better try to find out what is going on here.”

They get out and immediately see Vince. He stays low as he runs over to them.

As Vince approaches, Roy says, “ Hey, Vince, what’ve ya got?”

“It started out as a 2-11, we think. Now we have a hostage situation. One of the hostages has been shot.” Vince offers.

“ Do you know how bad?” Johnny asks.

“All we know so far, is its a chest wound.”

“We’d better get our gear.” Roy interjects.

They go back to the squad and start gathering their equipment. Vince and another man approach the squad.

“Hey guys, I want you to meet Special Agent Mike Davis. He is in charge of hostage negotiations.”

“Mike, this is Roy DeSoto, and Johnny Gage, his partner.” They shake hands.

Mike says, “ Sorry we have to meet under these circumstances. Let me brief you on what we have so far. We were able to talk to the assistant. The gunman allowed her to call for medical help for the injured manager. Apparently, this was all started while the manager and his assistant were preparing to open the store. An ex-employee showed up and demanded his last paycheck. To avoid a conflict, they let him in to cut him a check. The gunman has agreed to let the paramedics come in to treat the manager, Mr. Walker.”

Roy says, “ I think we’ll need the gurney from the ambulance.”

“I’ll go get it,” Johnny replies as he runs off to the ambulance.

Johnny tells the attendants what is going on, so they permit him to take the gurney.

It was only seconds later when Johnny shows up with the gurney. They load their equipment on the gurney for easier transport.

Mike says, “ Before you go in, there is one more thing to be aware of.”

Roy asks, “ What?”

Mike continues, “ I can’t guarantee your safety. Once you’re inside, you’re on your own.”

Johnny responds, “ We know the risks, we need to take that chance.”

Mike calls into the Jewelry store, and tells the gunman, “ The paramedics are coming in.”

He hangs up, and yells to Johnny and Roy, “ You’re clear to go in.”

Roy says, “ Let’s go, Junior.”

As they near the entrance, the door pulls open for them. They push the gurney in first.

The first person they see is the gunman, Kyle.

He demands, “ Hold it right there.”

They hear the click of the gun, a 357 mag, and Kyle points it right at them.

They respond by raising their hands above their waists in a non-threatening manner.

Roy says, “ Look, we don’t want any trouble. We just want to check the manager out and get him out of here.”

Kyle replies, “ You can see him when I say you can.”

Johnny adds, “ Com on man, the sooner we can check him out, the sooner we can get him the appropriate help and get him out of here.”

Kyle, while motioning the gun towards the wall, says, “ Get up against the wall.”

“Okay, whatever you say,” Roy says.

Johnny gets up beside Roy as they put their hands against the wall.

“I don’t believe this,” Johnny whispers.

Kyle pats them down. He takes Johnny’s scissors.

“Hey, I need those,” Johnny says.

Kyle then puts the gun up to Johnny’s head.

“ Hey that’s okay, really, we don’t need them. Keep them if you want,” Roy attempts to appease Kyle.

“I will,” Kyle says as he moves the gun away.

Johnny lets out a sigh of relief.

Roy inquires, “Where’s the manager?”

“Back in the storage room, that way,” he answers.

He walks behind Johnny and Roy. Roy opens the door and sees the manager on the floor with blood all over his chest, as the assistant is holding direct pressure on the wound.

“I’ll take over for you,” Johnny offers.

He smiles at her. She smiles back.

Roy sets up the bio-phone. Johnny takes his vitals.

“Who are you calling?” Kyle asks.

Roy answers, “I’m calling Rampart General Hospital to talk to a doctor.”

“Rampart, this is Squad 51.”

“Go ahead, 51,” comes the reply from Dr. Brackett.

“Rampart, we have a 55 year old male, with a gunshot wound to the right side of the chest. We are attempting to control bleeding at this time.”

“Do you have vitals?” asks Dr. Brackett.

Roy answers, “Yes.”

Johnny hands Roy a piece of paper.

“Vitals are: pulse 120 and weak, respirations are 12 and labored. Breath sounds are diminished on the right side. Blood pressure is 90 over 62. He is diaphoretic,” Roy reports.

Roy adds, “ We’ve got oxygen started.”

“ 51, continue the O2. Start IV ringers and transport as soon as possible,” Dr. Brackett orders.

“51, Keep monitoring those breath sounds," he adds.

Roy replies, “ 10-4, Rampart.”

They place the manager on the gurney. They strap him down and cover him with the blanket.

Roy says, “ We’re ready to transport.”

Johnny responds, “ Just a second, Roy.”

Roy gives him a confused look.

Johnny explains, “ I want to make sure the girl is not hurt, alright?”

He walks over to her, checks her pulse, and with concern Johnny says, “ Are you okay?”

The assistant, Anissa, replies, “ I’m fine.”

He looks at her disheveled clothes and hair.

“Have you been hurt?” Johnny asks just to make sure.

Anissa says, “ No, I’m okay, please get Mr. Walker to the hospital.”

Johnny looks her into her eyes, and knows she terrified. He wishes he could take her with them, but knows he can’t.

Johnny responds, “Alright, let’s go Roy.”

They start pushing the gurney toward the door. And Roy yells out, “ We’re coming out.”

Roy lifts the front of the gurney, where the manager’s head is, over the doorframe.

“Roy!” Johnny exclaims.

Roy looks behind him. He sees that Kyle has grabbed Johnny from behind. He is holding the muzzle of the gun against Johnny’s neck. He sees the terrified look on Johnny’s face.

Roy asks, “What’s going on?!”

Kyle says, “I lose one hostage, I take one to replace him.”

Roy works to get the second set of wheels over the doorframe.

Kyle shuts the door.

Roy gets the manager down to the ambulance.

Mike comes running to meet them.

“DeSoto, where’s Gage?”

Roy replies, “He was forced to take the manager’s place as a hostage. I have to get the manager to the hospital. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

After Roy gets in the ambulance and they leave for Rampart.

Back inside the jewelry store, Kyle takes Anissa and Johnny to the storage room in the back. Anissa enters first. Kyle brings Johnny to the doorway. He shoves him as hard as he can, and Johnny falls to his knees, and then face down onto his stomach.

Johnny slowly turns over on his side. He sees Kyle pointing the gun at him.

“Don’t try to be a hero, fire boy,” mocks Kyle.

“I wouldn’t think of it,” Johnny returns.

Kyle turns and shuts the door and leaves. Johnny takes a deep breath and lays his head on the floor and closes his eyes.

Anissa asks, “Are you okay?”

Johnny opens his eyes, and raises his head. “Yeah, I’m alright.”

He gets up and feels his neck where the muzzle was. He feels the indentations, which hurt to the touch.

“Well, since it looks like we’ll be here awhile, let’s introduce ourselves. I’m Johnny Gage,” he says.

“My name is Anissa Larson. How long do you think Kyle will keep us like this?” she says.

Johnny, stunned, asks, “ You know this guy?!”

Anissa admits “ Yes, he used to work here, but Mr. Walker had to fire him.”

“Why?” Johnny inquires.

“He...he…” she stammers, “…kept harassing me here at work. I finally had to do something. I told Mr. Walker what Kyle was doing, and he fired him. It must have been about 2 days ago. Kyle came here to get his last paycheck. Mr. Walker thought it would be fine to let him in. When he did, Kyle immediately pulled a gun on him. When Mr. Walker tried to take Kyle on, Kyle shot him.”

She starts crying, “This is all my fault. If I hadn’t refused his advances maybe this wouldn’t have happened.” Johnny put his arm around her to console her.

“ This wasn’t your fault, okay? Everything will be alright,” Johnny tries to comfort her.

“I am so sorry you got caught up in this mess,” Anissa says.

“I’d rather be here with you then at the station hearing Kelly rib me about the Dear John letter I got today,” Johnny says, trying to lighten things up.

*****

Back at Rampart, Roy goes to the nurse’s station to use the phone. He dials the fire station, and Captain Stanley answers, “ Station 51, this is Captain Stanley.”

“Cap, it’s me, Roy,” he says, “ You need to take the Squad out of service.”

“Why, what is wrong?” he replies.

“That call to the jewelry store,” he explains, “It is a hostage situation. We started to remove the manager who was shot, the gunman grabbed Johnny to take his place.”

“Are you okay?” Captain Stanley probes.

“I’m fine, and I want to get back to the scene,” Roy answers.

“Okay, if you need any help, call us,” Captain Stanley says.

“Thanks, Cap. Oh, by the way, can you have Kelly come down to Rampart to come get me?” Roy asks.

“Yeah, Kelly will be there in about 10 minutes.” Captain Stanley assures.

As Roy started to leave, Dixie stops him. She asks, “Where is Johnny? I thought he’d be here by now?”

“He won’t be coming. He’s being held hostage at the jewelry store,” he informs her.

“Oh, my God!” Dixie exclaims. “I saw the news report about it,” she continues, before Roy interrupted.

“ Dix, I really have to go. Chet should be here any minute to give me a ride back to the jewelry store. I’ll see you later,” Roy says.

*****

Several hours have passed without any progress with negotiations. Kyle has been drinking over half of a bottle of Jack Daniels during that time.

Kyle is getting frustrated with the negotiations finally he explodes over the phone to Mike, “ You don’t seem to be taking me serious, so I’m going to show you just how serious I am!”

Mike questions, “ Kyle, what are you going to do?”

“Watch and see,” Kyle says as he slams the phone down.

*****

Roy returns and stands next to Mike; he clearly hears Kyle’s response through the phone over the speaker.

Roy asks, “ What do you think he’s going to do?”

Mike holding back his real concerns, simply answers, “ I’m not sure.”

*****

Kyle goes to the storage room door and kicks it open.

Anissa and Johnny, startled, jump.

Kyle taunts, “Get up, fire boy!” as he points the gun at him.

“What’s going on, Kyle? Maybe we could talk about it?” Johnny says.

“I’m done talking,” Kyle answers just before hitting Johnny with the butt of the gun.

Johnny falls sideways, hitting his cheek on the corner of the desk. The blow stuns him briefly.

Anissa yells at Kyle to stop as Johnny goes down.

Kyle then shoves Anissa to the couch and points the gun at her.

“ Your turn is coming,” Kyle threatens.

He turns and grabs Johnny by his shirt collar. Johnny’s cheek is bleeding. Kyle forces him out of the storage room and shoves him up against the window while he calls Mike on the phone.

“You see your paramedic?” he yells into the phone.

“I see him. What are you going to do?” Mike tries to ask calmly.

Roy notices that Johnny’s been hurt. It is clear even from afar.

“Maybe this will prove how serious I am.” Kyle barks.

Kyle puts the gun to Johnny’s temple.

Roy says under his breath, “Oh no.”

Mike says, “Kyle, don’t do it!”

Johnny tries to get his thoughts together as he feels the muzzle of the gun at his temple. Just then he hears Kyle cock the gun.

Johnny begs, “No, Kyle, no.” Then he hears a click. He flinches thinking he’s been shot, but feels no pain in his head.

Kyle says to Mike over the phone, “ Next time there will be a bullet in his head,” ending the call.

He grabs Johnny and takes him back to the storage room. He shoves him to the floor.

“Start saying your prayers, fire boy,” Kyle says sarcastically.

Kyle leaves the storage room. Immediately, Anissa goes by Johnny’s side. “Johnny, you’re hurt. Let me try to find something to stop the bleeding,” Anissa offers.

She starts rummaging around the storage room. To her surprise, she finds a first aid kit.

“I’m sorry about all this,” Anissa says as she tends to his cheek to stop the bleeding.

“This isn’t your fault, Anissa. Kyle is the one who started all this,” Johnny replies.

Johnny leans his head back on the couch. Anissa is able to stop his cheek from bleeding with the gauze she found in the kit.

“How bad is it?” Johnny inquires.

“It is about an inch long. It’s not too deep, but you may need stitches,” Anissa offers.

“Maybe a scar would give me more character,” he says with a grin.

“I don’t think you need a scar to have character,” she says as she smiles at him. “I think you’re pretty good looking without a scar.”

He turns his head away, grinning again.

“Are you blushing, Johnny Gage?” Anissa jokes.

“I’d never admit if I was,” Johnny replies.

She stops tending his cheek, and looks at him. He notices she is staring at him. He questions her, “What, why are you staring at me? Is there something wrong?”

“This may not be the right thing to do under these circumstances, but I don’t care,” she says she leans towards him on the couch. She unbuttons several buttons of his shirt uniform while she kisses him.

After a couple of minutes, Johnny breaks the kiss. He feels uncomfortable with the situation.

“I’ve never been kissed like that before,” Johnny says.

“And I’ve never kissed anyone like that before,” Anissa responds.

He touches her cheek and as she turns away, Johnny says, “Now look who’s blushing.”

Anissa tries to deny it and says, “No I’m not.”

“Your cheeks are as red as a fire engine,” Johnny laughs.

She laughs quickly, but when her eyes meet his, she stops smiling.

Johnny, confused, asks, “ What’s wrong?”

“If we get out of this alive, can we go on a date?” Anissa asks.

“You bet we will,” he gives her his famous, crooked, Gage grin. “I never just kiss and run.”

She runs her hand through his hair, as tears run down her face. Johnny wipes them from her cheek.

“I’m scared, Johnny. I know this sounds crazy. I’ve only known you for 5 hours, but I hope we get through this so we’ll have the time to get know each other better,” Anissa says.

Johnny sounding hopeful says, “ Don’t worry, we will. Remember, I don’t kiss and run.”

*****

Meanwhile outside Roy is listening to Mike call in another agent over his radio.

“Joel? It’s Mike. What’s your 20?” Mike asks.

“Hey Mike. I’m down at CHP Headquarters giving a demo. What’ve ya got?” Joel responds.

“A hostage situation. I need FOX now,” Mike informs him.

“I’m on my way,” Joel assures.

“Great. We’re at the Winston Jewelry store. You know where that is, right?” Mike asks.

“Yeah, no problem. I know where it is.” Joel responds.

Mike sets the radio on the hood. Roy is still standing there, watching and waiting patiently.

“I bet this is pretty hard on you, isn’t it?” Mike asks Roy.

“You could say that. Seeing Johnny hurt like that, and not being able to treat him is worse,” Roy says.

“I’m doing everything I can to get them out safely,” Mike offers.

“I can see that. I have one question. Who is Fox and how is he going to be able to help Johnny and the girl?” Roy wonders.

“ FOX is a robot we use for hostage situations and bomb squad. He has a camera in his face. We see the images he looks at on a monitor. Joel maneuvers the control panel to cause FOX to look left, right, up or down. He has a built in mic so we can pick up what’s going on around him,” Mike explains.

“I’ve heard some of the police stations are starting to use them. But what if someone shoots at it?” Roy questions.

“Robots are close to being indestructible. The only way to get a good shot to incapacitate it is to shoot the power cord. But the camera will still function.” Mike responds.

“That’s unbelievable,” Roy says in amazement.

“It really is. If the situation is life threatening to an officer, we’ll send in a robot such as FOX. If he is shot, we can fix and replace it. We can’t replace human life.” Mike adds.

Roy looks away from Mike to the jewelry store, thinking of what could happen to Johnny.

*****

Joel arrives on the scene with FOX, the robot. It takes just moments to get him ready for action. It seems like an eternity to Roy.

Joel relays to Mike over the radio, “FOX is set up.”

“Great. Take it nice and easy. Let’s not spook this guy,” Mike interjects.

Joel works the controls to get FOX to the front door. He watches the monitor closely to see what is going on.

Joel sizes up the situation, “ FOX is in the right place. I can see Kyle on the floor, a half empty JD bottle next to him.”

“Can Kyle see Fox?” Mike is curious.

“Negative,” Joel replies, “He’s out of his line of sight.”

“Let me know if Kyle moves,” Mike says.

“10-4,” Joel replies.

“Mike, Kyle just got up. He’s headed towards the back room,” Joel reported.

Mike instructed, “ Have FOX open the door slowly, then enter.”

Joel replied, “ Alright,” while he maneuvered Fox to open the door, makes him go inside to the counter. FOX moves his head side to side, and sees Kyle open the back storage room door.

*****

Anissa says to Johnny, “ I wish I had met you sooner.”

“All that matters now, is that we met,” Johnny replies.

Johnny pulls her close to him and kisses her lightly on her forehead.

They don’t notice Kyle is watching them and getting furious.

Kyle at this point yells, “Anissa!” As they look over at Kyle, he is standing there with gun in the front of his waist holding the near-empty bottle of JD. He staggers over to them, grabs Anissa’s wrist and pulls her towards him, and sees Johnny’s shirt unbuttoned. He slaps her hard across the face causing her to fall to the floor. Johnny goes to her to help her up, and gets himself between her and Kyle.

“I won’t let you hit her again, Kyle,” Johnny exclaims.

“Fine, then I’ll hit you,” Kyle says as he hits the bottle on the chair.

Johnny pushes Anissa behind him to guard her.

Kyle grabs Johnny by his shirt and pulls him close to his face. “You’re a dead man, fire boy,” Kyle threatens.

He shoves Johnny to the floor and straddles him, hitting his head against the floor. Johnny is dazed. Kyle takes the bottle and slashes Johnny on the left side of his neck, causing blood to go everywhere. Annisa screams just as Kyle is about to finish Johnny off.

As Johnny gets a sudden burst of adrenline, he grabs Kyle’s gun and fires off 2 rounds. Kyle falls, dead to the floor.

*****

Joel and Mike hear Anissa’s screams and the two gun shots. “Everyone in now—shots have been fired,” Mike orders.

Roy runs to Mike. “DeSoto, you can’t enter until the scene is secured,” Mike says.

Roy replies, “ By then someone could be dead.” He heads to the door as he hears Joel on the HT.

“We have a code F and a code I. Send paramedics,” Joel’s voice crackles through the HT.

Roy and Dawson, one of the other paramedics called to the scene after Johnny was taken hostage, run to the back room and see Kyle lying next to Johnny. He has blood all over his shirt, and not moving. Roy checks for a pulse. Kyle has no pulse. Then he notices Johnny is unconscious with blood all over the left side of his neck. Anissa is applying direct pressure to Johnny’s wound. Roy then sees the bruise on Anissa’s cheek.

“Ma’am, are you okay?” Roy inquires.

Anissa answers, “I’m fine. Please help Johnny, he is hurt bad.”

Dawson sets up the bio-phone, and hands it to Roy.

“Rampart, this is Squad 51,” Roy reports.

“Go ahead, 51,”Dr. Brackett replied.

“Rampart, we have an unconscious male, 30 years of age, with numerous lacerations from broken glass,” Roy began.

“He has a 2 inch laceration on the left side of his neck that is bleeding profusely, though no sign of major arterial or venous bleeding. Vital signs are: pulse 120 and weak, respirations 24 and shallow, BP 94 over 76. We are applying direct pressure to the wound and have started O2,” Roy finished reporting.

“51, start IV with ringers. Continue with O2 and pressure. Transport as soon as possible,” Dr. Brackett ordered.

“10-4, Rampart,” Roy acknowledged.

Roy and Dawson got Johnny loaded up on the ambulance.

Anissa was staring at the ambulance. Roy saw her.

“Maybe you should come to the hospital and get checked out and then you can see Johnny,” Roy suggested.

“I owe him my life,” Anissa responded.

Roy helped her onto the ambulance and continued to monitor Johnny’s vitals.

*****

Roy paced nervously about the waiting room.

Johnny had been in the treatment room for almost an hour now. He looked down at the cup of coffee he held in his hand. It was cold and untouched. Shaking his head, he dumped the cup, coffee and all into the trash. He looked again down the hall. Dixie had shooed him out of the room as soon he was done helping transfer Johnny to the hospital gurney. He wanted to stay and watch, but one look at Dixie and he knew he wouldn’t win an argument with her. “Johnny, why did you have to play the hero?” he wondered aloud, with an audible sigh.

“Because that’s who Johnny is,” Brackett answered, entering the room.

Roy turned quickly, startled by him.”How is he?’ he asked.

“We got him stabilized,” Brackett answered, burying his hands into his lab coat’s pockets.

Roy nodded gratefully and listened as Brackett continued, “ We put 18 stitches into his neck. Damn lucky, that partner of yours. Another half inch and his Carotid would have been cut. Other than that, he has some minor cuts and bruises. Looks like he got banged up a bit. He’ll probably have a hell of a headache, too.”

“Concussion?” Roy asked.

“Very minor. Nothing to worry about,” Brackett replied.

“So he’ll be alright?” Roy asked.

“It was a nasty cut. We’ll be watching it closely for infection. As long as the antibiotics work and he gets plenty of rest, he should be fine,” Bracket answered.

“Thanks, Doc,”Roy said, “ Can I see him?’

“No problem, Roy,” Brackett responded. “You can probably still see him down here. I don’t think they found a room for him yet.”

Roy starts to proceed to the treatment room and Anissa sees him. She asks “Did the doctor come, Roy?”

He responds, “Yeah, he said he’ll be alright. I’m going in to see him now. Would you like to see him too?”

“Better see him alone. I’ll go in after you,” she replies.

“Okay, I won’t be long,” Roy says. He goes in and Johnny opens his eyes.

Roy questions, “ How ya doing partner?”

Johnny replies, “ Tired…my head really hurts.” As he touches his neck he asks Roy, “ How bad?”

Roy replies, “18 stitches, another half inch and your carotid would have been cut.”

Johnny looked away from Roy.

“What’s wrong,” Roy wondered.

“How’s Kyle,” Johnny asked as he looked back at Roy.

“ He didn’t make it,” Roy informs Johnny.

“Anissa, is she okay?” Johnny asks.

“She’s fine,” Roy replied, “ Dr. Early checked her out.”

Roy noticed how tired Johnny looked. Johnny could hardly keep his eyes open as they were talking.

“You know Roy, maybe I’ll see her a little later. I’m getting tired,” he says as he yawns. “ …from the medications…they’re making me feel…..” He falls asleep in mid-sentence.

Roy turns to leave and looks at his sleeping partner one more time. “ You’ve been through a lot today, Junior. You deserve a long rest.” Roy says quietly, opening the door.

He sees Anissa as soon as he gets the door open.

“ How is he?” Anissa asks.

“He’ll be okay. He fell asleep talking to me. He’s pretty out of it with the medication they’re giving him for the pain. Best thing now is for him to sleep and let his body heal. How ‘bout I buy you a cup of coffee? It will give us a chance to talk.” Roy offers.

“ I’d like that,” Anissa accepted the offer.

*****

Five days later, Johnny is released from the hospital. During that time, Johnny has thought a lot about what has happened between him and Anissa, his feelings for her, and how much he doesn’t want to lose her. But the thought of what he did to Kyle gives him nightmares. He is so torn up, he can’t even confide in Roy. He knows his silence is hurting both Roy and Anissa. He just can’t tell them what he’s feeling about what he’s done. After a lot of soul searching, he makes the only decision he knows that he can make.

He shows up at the fire station when Roy is out on a run with Dawson.

He goes directly to the Captain’s office. Hank looks up as Johnny enters.

“Hey, Cap,” Johnny says.

“John, it is good to see you,” Captain Stanley says as he shakes Johnny’s hand, “ So you’re ready to go to work?”

“No, I just stopped by to give you this,” He says as he hands him a piece of paper.

The Captain takes it and reads it. “This is your resignation,” he says matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, I quit,” Johnny confirms.

“You can’t quit,” challenges Captain Stanley, “ You and Roy are the best we have.”

“Not anymore,” Johnny quips. “I’m sorry Cap.”

Johnny leaves.

*****

A half an hour later, Dawson and Roy return. Captain Stanley calls Roy into his office.

“Hey, Cap, you wanted to see me?” Roy asks.

“ You’d better take a look at this,” he says as he hands him Johnny’s resignation letter.

“He can’t do this. You can’t accept his resignation,” Roy replied.

“ I don’t have any intention on doing that. You better talk to him and find out what is going on,” Captain Stanley ordered.

“Can you get someone to cover me?” Roy asked.

“Not a problem. Get going,” Captain Stanley responded.

Roy leaves and heads over to Johnny’s. As he pulls up he sees a car he doesn’t recognize. Upon walking up to the door, he hears Anissa and Johnny in a loud conversation.

“You resigned? Why?” Anissa asked.

“Because I don’t want to be a paramedic anymore. I’m tired of helping people,” Johnny replied.

“That’s a lie and you know it. Roy told me the reason you became a paramedic. You wanted to make a difference and help people, who wouldn’t stand a chance without your training,” she challenged.

“You don’t know me. You’ve only known me for five days,” Johnny debated.

“I may have only known you for five days, but I’ve learned five years of information about you. You’re not the kind of person to give up on a patient or yourself. You have fought hard to save a lot of people. Why won’t you fight now to save yourself?” she rebutted.

“ I don’t want to talk about this with you!” Johnny yelled.

“Well, I do, and you’re going to listen to me,” she yelled back, “ You’re a fireman paramedic. You go out on dangerous rescues and fires. There has been times when someone has been hurt badly and you haven’t thought twice about risking your life to save theirs. You won’t give up to save their lives, but you’ll give up your own dream to be the best rescue man you can.”

“My dream never included killing a man. I’m supposed to save lives, not take them,” he refuted.

“You had no choice. If you hadn’t killed Kyle, he would have killed you. He almost succeeded in that. Once he was done with you, he would have killed me too –just not as fast. He would have made me suffer the most degrading way he could have,” she said as she started to cry, “You saved me and I am so grateful for that.” She wiped away the tears. “If you hadn’t helped me and comforted me like you did, I wouldn’t have the feelings I have for you. You didn’t give up on me in there, I’m not going to give up you now, Johnny Gage. You mean too much to me. You are a brave and special person. Don’t let Kyle win. There are too many people who love and care about you to see you throw it away because you had to save us from Kyle.”

Johnny then turned around and faced her. He was crying too. He pulled her close to him and kissed her.

“ I am so sorry, Anissa. God, I’m sorry,” he said as he wiped his tears away.

Roy wiped his tears too as he headed to his car. He returned to the station and visited the Captain.

“Well what happened?” inquired Captain Stanley.

“Well, I say Johnny will be wanting his resignation back. I would guess he’ll be here in a little while,” Roy replied.

Roy smiles as he leaves the Captain a little confused.

An hour later, Johnny and Anissa showed up. All the guys were in the kitchen, and they welcomed Johnny back.

Chet calls out to Johnny, “So Gage, when are you going to grace us with your presence?”

“Will tomorrow be early enough for you, Chet,” Johnny replies.

“Tommorrow……hmmmmm. I’d better get busy,” Chet says with a twinkle in his eye. With that, Chet heads to the locker room.

Anissa shoots a look at Johnny and asks, “Busy doing what?”

“The phantom returns, Oh no!” Captain Stanley exclaims.

“Cap, can I talk to you alone in your office?” Johnny asks.

“Sure, John,” he responds as they leave for the office.

Roy and Anissa make their way over to the couch.

“I heard what you said at Johnny’s place. I didn’t know he was upset about what happened with Kyle. He never opened up to me about that. Johnny keeps a lot to himself. The only way to get something is to pry it out,” Roy said.

“I’m sure he would’ve told you sooner or later. I wanted to see how he was doing. I didn’t get to see him much at the hospital. He was either asleep or the doctors were checking his wounds. After you called me and told me he’d be released, I drove over to his place and I could tell by his mood something was bothering him. And he told me he resigned. I guess I lost it and gave it to him with both barrels. I’m sorry you had to hear me go off on him.” Anissa explains.

“I’m glad you did. It brought him back to his senses,” Roy responds as he gave her a hug.

Just then, Johnny and Captain Stanley return to the room and goes over to them.

“Did you get that paper taken care of,” Roy inquired.

“What paper?” Lopez interjected.

Johnny puts his hand around Anissa’s waist and responded with a smile, “ I burned it. Never mind, Marco. Anissa and I are almost ready to go.”

Roy goes, “I need to talk to Johnny for just a second, Anissa.”

Anissa replies, “Sure, Roy.”

Then Chet chimes in, “I’ll take care of her, Johnny. You wanna see my barbed wire collection, Anissa?”

Anissa looks at Johnny all confused.

Johnny replies, “Chet!”

Chet jokes, “I’ll bring her right back, Gage.”

Chet grins as he leads her out the door. Roy leads Johnny over to the table.

“You could’ve told me you were having a problem coming to terms with what happened to Kyle.” Roy starts.

Johnny replies, “Roy, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I’ve never killed some one before. I didn’t like that feeling. Thought if I quit, the whole thing would just go away.”

“You’re not the kind of guy to run away from a problem, Johnny,” Roy responds.

Johnny says, “If it wouldn’t have been for Anissa, I would have. She brought me back to my senses pretty quick. Besides, the thought of you being stuck with Brice also had me thinking of what a mistake I would be making. No one should be stuck with Brice.”

They both start laughing, as Roy puts his arm around Johnny’s shoulder.

“So tell me Junior, just how did you comfort Anissa?” Roy jokes.

Johnny answers, “ How did you find out about that?”

“ I was at your place when she read you the riot act. I was going to, but she beat me to it.” Roy explains.

Johnny grins and says, “Roy, a gentleman never kisses and tells.”

Roy shakes his head as Chet returns with Anissa.

Johnny takes a hold of Anissa’s hand. Chet heard the part about Johnny calling himself a gentleman.

Chet says, “Gage, a gentleman? Now that’s a laugh.”

“Chet!” Johnny says sternly.

Chet looks at all of them, and innocently says, “What?”

Then they all say in unison, “Shut up!” THE END

Author’s note: I would like to thank MadyBay for all her help on vitals and dialogue, not to mention her patience. If it hadn’t been for Mady, this story wouldn’t have been posted or even written. If I hadn’t stumbled on the Emergency archives then I wouldn’t have read her stories, Part of the Job and Hostages. I wrote her to tell her how much I enjoyed the stories. I told her how I was inspired to write my own and she supported my idea, and said I should give it a shot. And thanks to Jennifer Brogan for putting this in sentence form and her ideas of dialogue and story line. Thanks to both of you for making this possible. E-mail address: duhlyons@gateway.net. Let me know if you like this story Good or bad, I can take it.