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Peja's Wonderful World of Makebelieve Import
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Published:
2020-11-05
Completed:
2008-08-06
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6,391
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9/9
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Guilty Heart

Summary:

Roy's anger at Johnny could mean the end of the partnership.  A different look at the episode "Helpful".

Chapter 1: Chapter 1

Notes:

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author.  The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise.  No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter Text

Guilty Heart

 

By Lizabeth S. Tucker

 

 

1.

 

           John Gage could no longer feel his legs from the knee down.  He idly wondered why his partner, Roy DeSoto, didn’t seem to be affected by the icy cold water.  Maybe there was a disadvantage to being skinny and wiry.  Taking a deep breath of the filthy air, he pushed his helmet back slightly, wiping the sweat off his brow.  It didn’t occur to him to wonder why he was sweating so profusely when he was freezing.  At least they had found Kirby and Charles, the missing boys, on a raised concrete platform.  All four of them would soon be leaving the dank tunnel rapidly filling with water.

           

            Reaching the platform first, Roy handed him the nearly unconscious boy.  Johnny shifted the child’s dead weight in his arms to better support the boy’s head.  He then laid the air mask on the child’s face, relieved when the boy began to move about.

           

            “Let’s get out of here, we’re running out of dry land.”  Roy motioned back to the ladder leading to the manhole; now open thanks to Chet Kelly and Marco Lopez.  Their fellow firefighters had followed the storm drain line with the squad.

           

            Roy walked through the water gushing from the run-off pipe, turning his back to the heavy flow.  Johnny followed, going in sideways.  The water hit him like a linebacker, causing his feet to slide out from under him.  He struggled to keep the child’s head above the water while trying to regain his footing.  Suddenly, his arms were empty.  Momentarily panicked, he soon realized that Roy had returned and taken the child from him. 

           

            Johnny pushed his way through the water.  The speed of the current combined with his inability to actually feel whether his feet were touching concrete made his movements slow and awkward.  He reached the ladder and grabbed for the metal, losing it as a rush of water once again threw him off balance.  He went under, swallowing the filthy water before he could close his mouth.  He fought back to safety.  Gasping for breath, Johnny finally locked his fingers around the painfully cold metal of the ladder that led to safety.  Looking up, his vision was blurred by the rain falling into the opening.  He reached up, searching blindly for the rim of the exit, only to have a hand grab his and help pull him out.  He knew without looking that it was Roy.

           

            Once out of the storm drain, Johnny saw Roy standing by the squad’s passenger door.  Kirby and Charles were in the dry squad.  Johnny looked at his partner, but Roy’s eyes slid away after a quick connection.  Johnny slumped to the pavement by the manhole, staring back down at the rushing river of rainwater below.  He felt a twinge in his chest and wanted to cough, but it was too much effort.  Water dripped off his dark hair into his face.

           

            He struggled to his feet, surprised to feel a hand under his elbow, even more surprised to see that it wasn’t his partner helping him, but Chet.  He nodded his thanks, smiling weakly.

           

            “You okay, Gage?”  Chet frowned at him, watching Roy walk around the front of the squad without looking back.

           

            “Yeah, just a little wet.”  Johnny shrugged.  “I’ll be fine.”

           

            Chet’s frown deepened.  To anyone who knew John Gage, whenever he said he was fine, alarm bells went off as it usually meant the complete opposite.  “You better get Roy to check you out.  You’ve gotta be freezing.”

           

            “Yeah, sure, no problem.”  Johnny wasn’t certain if his partner would ever talk to him again after he stuck his nose into Roy’s personal business.  All he wanted was for the two best people he ever knew to not fight.  He only wanted to help.  Instead, everything he did made things worse.  Now Joanne and Roy were both mad at him.

           

            “Johnny, if you’re done daydreaming…” Roy sat inside the squad, the two children sitting next to him.  He had the boys wrapped in blankets. 

           

            “Uh, sorry…I…I’m coming…s-sorry.”  He hurried to help check the children out medically as the ambulance drove up behind them. 

           

            Chet and Marco closed the manhole cover and, huddled into their turnouts against the rain, trudged back to the engine.