Author's Note: The fourth movie installment after the series finale has our boys being promoted to Captain together. They reminiscence about their paramedic days before going off to their new, separate, assignments. But the two movies after that have them back as paramedics. Now... maybe they simply got themselves demoted. However, I prefer to imagine that "The Greatest Rescues of Emergency!" just never happened. This is what really happened.

Call me Captain

John Gage woke with such a sudden start that his brain automatically kicked into work mode and he bolted upright in bed. There was no klaxon sounding. He held his breath as he looked over at his partner's bunk just a few feet away.

Roy was laying on his belly with one fist curled up under his chin and the other arm shoved under the pillow. He made a sleepy sound and rolled onto his back, but didn't wake. Johnny cast a quick eye around the dark, quiet dormitory, then breathed out a little sigh when no one else moved.

He laid back down, wincing when the metal bed frame creaked. Johnny looked back over at Roy, who was usually a very light sleeper. The man was apparently in a coma. His face was still covered in soot from the last call, but everyone had been so exhausted that they'd all just collapsed into their beds. The dorm had a lingering scent of smoke that clung to their skin and turnout gear.

Johnny was every bit as tired as everyone else, but he suspected he wasn't going to get any sleep now. He'd just had the strangest dream, and he knew he wasn't going to be able to stop thinking. The large window between the two paramedics let in bright light from a lamppost that was irritatingly close to the fire station. Johnny rested the crook of his elbow over his forehead to block it out as he stared up at the ceiling.

The dream had started off nice enough. It was a dream he used to have fairly often, when he'd first signed on as a firefighter. He'd been ambitious, determined to prove himself and move up the ranks to be the youngest captain on the force. That ambition had started to fizzle out when he found his calling as a rescue man in the very lowest rank, and later vanished altogether after joining the paramedic program. He hadn't had the dream in years.

It was different this time. Instead of just himself shaking hands and basking in the admiration of his peers, he and Roy were both being promoted to captain. They stood off together at the back of the room after the brief ceremony as everyone else chatted and congratulated each other. They'd gotten coffee like they always did, sitting at a table like a thousand times before, just talking.

In the past, Johnny had always looked forward to his new assignment in the dream. But now the two of them were given separate crews. It was a dream, so Johnny dismissed the inconsistency that they would surely have been assigned to different stations as soon as they made engineer, not to mention somewhere along the way of the other ranks before captain. But it was a dream. His heart started to beat slower as he reminded himself of that again.

Because by the end of the dream, Johnny was beginning to feel a sense of dread. He looked over at Roy again, just to reassure himself. The light from the window was enough to see the pale gauze on the hand that lay across his partner's chest. Johnny had bandaged the burn himself. It wasn't anything spectacular, just a little bit of smoldering debris that had found its way under the thick leather glove.

Roy hardly ever got hurt. Roy was methodical and careful, professional and calm no matter the circumstances. Johnny used to rush into every situation, believing that seconds could mean the difference between life and death. He didn't like to admit how many times Roy had pulled him out of trouble. Over the years, Johnny had learned that becoming a liability wouldn't help anyone. He climbed ladders a bit slower, scaled cliffs with more care, and stopped saying he was okay when he wasn't. He'd long since lost the feeling that he needed to prove himself.

Roy had taken the engineer's test ages ago. Johnny had been surprised and, if he was honest, a little hurt that Roy hadn't mentioned it. Johnny had assumed that he'd taken the test because he wanted the promotion, so he tried to be an encouraging friend. But Roy had kind of hinted that he wanted to be talked out of it, so in the end that was exactly what Johnny had focused on.

It hadn't really taken much convincing. Roy truly loved being a paramedic. It was just that it was the lowest pay grade in the entire department and he had a growing family to take care of. Roy compensated by picking up extra shifts whenever he got the chance. It was starting to take a toll.

That was five years ago, and Roy hadn't taken the test again since then. He'd aced it the first time, in the top ten. The entire crew knew that if something happened on a job, Roy would be able to step up if needed. He would sometimes find Roy with the fire engine in the station's bay, when he thought no one was looking, admiring the gauges and levers with a kind of sad longing that broke Johnny's heart a little.

It wasn't right that a paramedic couldn't also be an engineer.

Johnny had tried to cheer his friend up that first year by starting a campaign to change policy. Tradition was practically carved in stone, though, and the paramedic program was still barely out of its infancy. On some level, Johnny knew it probably couldn't happen until at least some of the top brass retired and were replaced by firefighters that had themselves served as paramedics.

Johnny no longer had any ambition for captaincy, and Roy was holding out for the rules to change. The two of them were the last of the original paramedics to be trained. Everyone else had moved up. Every year, Johnny and Roy renewed their petition. Doctor Bracket and the medical staff at Rampart were always the first to sign, and every year more firefighters of every rank joined the cause.

It was that time of year again now. For the first time, Johnny was seriously considering trying to talk Roy into taking the test and accepting the promotion. Stoker was about to make captain. If they played their cards right, he and Roy could continue to serve together on the same crew, right here at station 51.

Just not as a paramedic team.

Johnny turned his head as Roy coughed in his sleep. Roy coughed again, harder, and woke up with an annoyed mumble. He swung his legs over the edge of the mattress, blinked a few times, then stepped into the turnout pants and boots.

He glanced at Johnny as he stood and pulled a suspender over his white undershirt. "Oh, sorry," he whispered when he saw that Johnny was awake. "Ate some smoke is all," he added at his partner's raised eyebrow and cleared his throat. "Gonna get a glass of water."

Johnny made a little noise of agreement, and sat up. His own throat was parched, and that did sound like a good idea. Roy waited while he got his pants on and then they both made their way quietly across the dorm and out into the bay. Roy ignored both vehicles as they passed behind them towards the kitchen, but Johnny gave a hard stare first at the squad and then at the fire engine beside it as they walked. He still hadn't made up his mind.

"I'll be glad when this shift is over," Roy confessed as he flipped the light switch and led the way to the sink. "I think—" he winced as he reached for the cupboard door, having forgotten why his hand was bandaged.

"Lemme see," Johnny said.

"It's fine," Roy said, reaching for the cupboard again.

Johnny snagged his hand out of the air. "Humor me."

Roy didn't bother to argue. He used his left hand to get out a glass, set it on the counter, then get out a second. Johnny carefully peeled back the bandage while Roy filled both glasses from the tap. The angry red welt hadn't gotten any worse, and there was still a nice layer of cream. Johnny carefully pushed the tape back into place. He'd insist on changing the bandages after they got cleaned up, but it was fine for now. He picked up the glass Roy had filled, and they both turned around to lean with their backs against the sink, drinking the water.

"You're awfully quiet," Roy said eventually.

"Just thinking."

Roy heaved an exhausted sigh. "Oh, no."

Johnny ignored him. "Listen, have you ever thought—"

The alarm sounded, jolting them both. Johnny closed his eyes with irritation for a second, then snapped them open and turned to set his glass down so hard that half of the liquid sloshed onto the counter. He doubted Roy would go for it, anyway. They both loved this job too much, even on days like this.

Roy quickly chugged the rest of his water while the details of the call were announced.

Johnny shook both fists in the general direction of the speaker on the wall as he ran past it. "Aha! HA! We weren't asleep, so THERE!"

Roy's tired laugh followed him to the squad.

~ Fin