Copyright 1999, by Rachel Roquelaure

This story is written for pure pleasure and is not intended to infringe on any preexisting copyrights that may be violated. Feel free to share with your friends, but not for profit.

Your opinions and reviews are highly appreciated.

Rated R

Johnny's Twins

by Rachel Roquelaure

The morning was proving to be quite for the men at Station 51. Roy was talking to Joanne on the phone as Mike and Marco set at the table reading the paper.

"Is he alright? . . . That's good . . . Sure . . . No, we'll put Sharon and Susan in our room, and we'll sleep on the sofa bed . . . Ok . . . Well, I'll see you then . . . Ok . . . I love you, too . . . Bye." Roy said and hung

up as Chet and Johnny came into the kitchen.

"Come on, Gage . . . Remember last month when you roped me into covering your shifts, so you could go home for that shindig on the reservation . . . It lasted a week and you said that if there was anything that

I ever--"

"Damn it, Chet . . . I know what I said . . . And I meant it, I'll do anything else . . . But I can't date Saturday or any other night!" Johnny exclaimed.

"What's this . . . John Gage swearing off women?" Marco said with a grin.

"You get VD or something, Gage?" Chet ask.

"Grow up, Chester." Johnny roared.

"What's going on in here?!" Captain Stanley asked as he walked in.

"Nothing . . . Nothing." Johnny sighed as he jerked open the refrigerator door and quickly slammed it, he just stood there and starred down at the floor. *Should I tell them? . . . No . . . They'll never understand . . . Never.*

"Hey, Johnny, all kidding aside . . . I mean, if you've caught something or . . . Or--"

"Look, Johnny . . . What Chet's trying to say is and I'm sure we all agree . . . We're you're friends, we'll understand." Roy interrupted Chet.

"Yeah." The others quickly agreed.

"Thanks, Guys, but I ain't caught anything . . . I just can't date and if I tell you why, you won't understand . . . Hell, I don't understand." Johnny replied.

Suddenly the claxon sounded.

"Squad 51 . . . Child stuck in railing . . . Cafeteria, Rampart General Hospital . . . Respond non code R."

*

Johnny and Roy rushed through the hospital and into the cafeteria with the porta-power in hand.

"Chris!" Roy gasped as his eyes fell on his seven year old son, Christopher Desoto in the middle of a cluster of Doctors, Nurses and concerned bystanders was with half his body stuck between the railing.

"Dad . . . I'm dead." Chris mumbled.

"Don't worry, Dad . . . Doctor Brackett said he's not hurt, he's just stuck." His twelve year old daughter, Jennifer said as she stepped out of the cluster of people.

"Uncle Roy, this is my fault . . . Aunt Joanne let me bring Chris and Jen to lunch and I just wasn't watching close enough." A pretty, golden haired teenage girl said.

"We wasn't watching." Her twin quickly put in as Johnny checked out the railing.

"Girls, I'm sure you were watching plenty close enough . . . Chris is always doing stuff like this, ain't you?" Roy replied as he knelt down beside his son.

"Chris, what were you trying to do?" Johnny asked with a crooked grin.

"Jen said I couldn't fit through . . . I said I could and--"

"So, you decided to prove her wrong." Roy interrupted him with a bit of a smile.

"Yes, Sir." Chris sighed.

Johnny and Roy quickly placed the porta-power in between the rails and within a few minutes had Chris free.

"Am I in trouble?" Chris asked as he got up and straightened his clothes.

"We'll talk about it at home, Christopher Desoto." Roy said.

Chris frowned up and instantly tugged on Johnny's pants leg. "Uncle Johnny, does that means yes?" he asked.

"Maybe, but you're brave aren't you?" Johnny asked as he knelt down.

"Yeah." Chris replied.

"Uncle Johnny, he's got the heart of a chicken." Jennifer said as she walked over and laid her arm on his shoulder.

"Squad 51, available." Roy called into his handy-talkie as he shook his head. "Johnny, you don't want to get in the middle of the chicken debate." he added with a laugh.

"You know, what I think?" Johnny asked as he looked at Jennifer and Chris.

"What?" both kids replied.

"I think your Dad's absolutely right, I'm staying out of this one." Johnny said with a chuckle and quickly stood up.

"Uncle Roy, aren't you going to introduce us to your friend?" Sharon asked with a shy smile.

*That fatal Gage charm, it never fails* Roy thought. "Susan and Sharon, this is Johnny Gage . . . Johnny, these two kids are my nieces Susan and Sharon McKendric." he said as he motioned to Sharon and then to Susan.

"I'm Sharon and this is Susan." Sharon corrected as she offered Johnny her hand.

"And we're not kids . . . We're already dating." Susan said, more for Johnny's benefit than Roy's.

"Ladies." Johnny said with a brief smile as he shook each of their hands and picked up the porta-power. "Roy, I'll be waiting in the--"

"Squad 51 . . . Engine 51 . . . House fire, 1404 Wild Horse Rd . . . Time out 11:15." the dispatcher called over the handy-talkie.

"Ami." Johnny gasped, recognizing his own address and rushed off.

"Squad 51 . . . KMG 365." Roy said into his handy-talkie as he ran behind Johnny. "Who's Ami?"

"My wife." Johnny replied, solemnly.

*

Johnny married . . . Married . . . He sure hasn't seemed very happy, and why didn't he tell us . . . My God, why can't I say anything . .

.

He my best friend, my partner . . . Hell, he more like a brother* Roy thought as he drove out of the city and into the hills, leaving Johnny to his thoughts.

"Dear God." Johnny said as the squad pulled onto Wild Horse Road and could see the smoke billowing skywards.

"Johnny, the Engine should already be there . . . I'm sure she's fine." Roy said.

"I hope so . . . God, I hope so." Johnny sighed.

*

Several minutes later, the squad pulled up in front of the two story, ranch house and Johnny saw Chet laying a raven haired, young woman on the grass beneath a large pine, well away from the flaming house. Roy no sooner parked the squad, than Johnny leapt out and ran to her side.

As Johnny reached her, he could see she was unconscious and covered with soot. "Ami." he gasped as his heart fell and he collapsed to his knees, beside her. *Think, damn it, think . . . She needs a Paramedic, not a friend . . . A husband, damn it . . . You're her husband* he thought as he realized, he'd forgotten the equipment.

"Johnny, this one's mine . . . You're too close . . . Chet, I need your help." Roy said as reached them and instantly put the oxygen on the young woman.

"You got it." Chet replied.

"Ami . . . Ami, you're going to be alright." Johnny whispered as the young woman begin to come too.

"Johnny, the baby? . . . Please . . . Johnny, please, don't let me loose the baby." Ami cried, hysterically.

"Shh . . . Shh . . . Ami, you've . . . Ami . . . Amitola Gage, you've got to calm down . . . For the baby's sake." Johnny whispered in a soothing voice as he took her hand and caressed her hair.

"Johnny, is there someone else in there?" Roy asked as he took her vitals.

"No, Ami's three months pregnant." Johnny replied, simply as Roy picked up the bio-phone.

"Squad 51 to Rampart . . . Rampart, we have a victim of a house fire . . . Victim is a Native American female, approximately fifteen years of age--"

"I'm . . . I'm seven . . . Seventeen." Ami mumbled.

"Correction Rampart, seventeen years of age and in her first trimester of pregnancy . . . BP is--" Roy said with a smile as Captain Stanley walked over.

"Johnny, the . . . The house?" Ami asked.

"Shh . . . Shh . . . Ami, the house isn't important." Johnny replied as Marco and Mike joined them..

"Mrs. Gage, are you in any pain?" Roy asked.

"No, I'm . . . I'm just tired." Ami replied.

*Internal . . . Internal bleeding . . . Dear God, this can't be happening* Johnny thought. "Ami, did you fall?" he asked as his mind hit Paramedic mode.

"No." she replied as Roy checked her out.

"Rampart, the patient is coherent, but drowsy . . . There's no physical signs of trauma . . . The young lady's husband's here and I'm sure, he'll sign the consent forms . . . Ten-four, Rampart." Roy said as he hung up the bio-phone. "Johnny . . . Johnny, I need to start an IV?"

"Yeah . . . What . . . What ever she needs." Johnny stuttered as he heard the ambulance coming up the road.

"Marco, you drive John and the squad in . . . John, I'll call in for a replacement." Captain Stanley said as he crouched down beside Johnny.

Johnny only nodded as he got up, stepped back and watched Ami being put on the stretcher.

"Johnny! . . . Johnny!" Ami called, frantically as they started to roll the stretcher to the ambulance and Johnny ran to her side. "Aren't coming?"

"Of course, but I have to ride in the truck." Johnny replied.

"But he's a . . . A--"

"Ami, not all white men are bad . . . Roy's my friend, he'll take good care of you." Johnny replied as Ami tried desperately to get up.

"Promise, Johnny Gage?" Ami asked.

"Promise."

*

*Cradle robber . . . That what they're all thinking . . . A thirty year old, creep that knocks up a little girl . . . They'd never understand the truth* Johnny as he and Marco stood in the hall outside Ami's room, some

thirty minutes later.

"Can I ask you a question?" Marco asked.

"Let me guess, you want to know why Amitola's afraid of white men?" Johnny replied.

"Well, that's one thing . . . But I was going to ask when you got married?"

"The seventeenth of last month . . . Marco, she's my life, so much in the last month . . . If anything happens to Ami and her . . . Our baby, I'll die." Johnny mumbled and stared down at the tiled floor.

" Well, Johnny, in that case . . . You're going to live a long, long time." Doctor Brackett's voice came.

Johnny's head instantly popped up to Doctor Brackett and Roy smiling. "Doc, is she--"

"She's fine . . . It's just a little smoke inhalation . . . She was quite upset, I had to give her a light sedative . . . So she'll sleep several hours . . . I want to keep her over night for observation and have an obstetrician check the baby thoroughly." Doctor Brackett interrupted.

"I've been trying for a month . . . Ami's kind of old-fashioned, she says her great grandmother didn't need one and she don't either . . . Doc, she won't hear to an obstetrician." Johnny replied.

"Johnny, maybe Joanne should talk to her." Roy said.

"Yeah, maybe another woman can make her realize that it's your baby too." Marco said.

"But it's not . . . If it were, I could order her." Johnny sighed as he leaned against the wall. "Ami lived a sheltered life on the reservation, until the reservation's school burned and she was transferred to a public school in a nearby town. Then--" he stopped short as Dixie opened the door to Ami's room.

"Perhaps, we should speak in my office. Dixie will let you know when she's in a room." Brackett said and Johnny nodded.

*

A short time later, the four men was setting in Doctor Brackett's office.

"Now, I don't know how to say it." Johnny said as he walked over to the window.

"Johnny, look we're all friends . . . So maybe, you should just spit it out." Roy replied.

"Yeah, but what I say doesn't leave this room." Johnny said and Roy, Marco and Doctor Brackett, all nodded. "Ami was raped and severely beat by four of the white boys."

"It's no wonder she's so scared." Roy said.

"Has she talked to a Councilor?" Doctor Brackett asked.

"Doc, she wouldn't even tell her Father." Johnny replied.

"Is he abusive?" Doctor Brackett asked.

"No, but it's a matter of honor." Johnny sighed.

"Johnny, I don't understand." Roy said.

"Ami's family are pure Indian and Chief Mantotohpa is very proud of it . . . When Ami came home beaten to a pulp, the Chief went berserk . . . My Father said the Chief would've killed those boys, if Ami hadn't

convinced him that she was alright . . . She didn't dare let him find out that the Bastards raped her and then last month she found out she was pregnant . . . Ami was about to kill herself, when I went home last month." Johnny explained.

"Johnny, you didn't--"

Suddenly someone knocked at the door.

"Come." Doctor Brackett called.

"Johnny, she's in room 211." Dixie said as she walked in and Johnny instantly headed to the door, but stopped short as Dixie grabbed his arm. "Congratulations." she added with a smile.

"Thanks, Dixie." Johnny replied with a somewhat forced smile and quickly left.

*

"Well, I for one don't believe it . . . Johnny wouldn't knock up a seventeen year old girl and have to get married, there's got to be another explanation . . . Maybe it's some kind of a joke or something." Chet said as Roy and Marco walked into station's kitchen.

"It's no joke, Johnny's married . . . Johnny knocked her up and had to get married?" Marco replied.

"Come on, Marco, we all know what a loose cannon Gage is . . . What else could it be? . . . He's probably

ashamed of her and the baby." Wheeler said.

"How are they?" Mike asked as Roy and Marco set down at the table.

"Doc Brackett says they're fine, he's just keeping them for observation and he wants a obstetrician to check

the baby." Marco replied.

"Did Gage say why he didn't tell us? . . . I mean, we are his friends." Chet asked.

"He . . . A . . . A--"

"He had other things on his mind." Roy interrupted.

"Meaning, you two know something." Wheeler said.

"Yeah, but we promised Johnny we wouldn't say anything." Marco replied.

"And we're not." Roy added.

*

That night Johnny set beside Ami's hospital bed, attentively watching his wife's breast rise and fall, knowing that with each breath the sedative was wearing off.

*Damn it, why did this have to happen to you . . . To us . . . Things have happened so . . . Damn fast, since

last month . . . When I lied to our folks and told them, we'd fallen love and wanted to get married . . . God, they were so happy . . . It was what they'd always wanted a marriage between their kids, of course they thought it would be Tommy and Chenoa . . . I only planned on taking care of you and the baby and now . . . I've messed up and fallen in love--*

Suddenly Ami begin to toss and turn.

"No, stop . . . STOP!" Ami yelled as she bolted up right.

Johnny was immediately up and holding her.

"Shh . . . It's alright, you're safe . . . It was a nightmare, just a nightmare . . . You're safe." Johnny

whispered as he stroked her hair. *God, help us* He thought as he savored the silkiness of every raven strand.

Ami's eyes opened. She realized that it was just another nightmare and that she was safe in Johnny's arms.

She began to sob quietly. "Johnny, is our baby ok? At that moment Johnny knew that their marriage was complete.

THE END