For Lack of a Happy Ending (Emergency Fan-fiction)

Chapter 6

When he awoke he was tucked into the clean white hospital bed all bandaged up. His eyes were puffy and his head was pounding. He saw Doctor Brackett sitting in the corner, waiting for him to wake up. No, that was wrong. It should be Johnny in that chair waiting for Roy to wake up. This was all wrong.

"Hey there," Said Brackett smiling weakly. Roy just looked back at him. "I'm sorry," he said after a pause. "Truly, I am." Roy didn't doubt that he was sorry at all. "We did all that we could..." Roy was nodding blankly. "Johnny knew the risks," said Brackett. Roy knew that he was just trying to help, he knew that, but right now he wanted to scream at Brackett. What does he know about risks? Helping the paramedics from his little safe box of a hospital.

He regretted even thinking it as soon as it had crossed his mind. Brackett had done all that he could. He knew that. He just wanted to be alone right now, alone or with Johnny. But seeing as that wasn't really a choice he just wanted to be alone.

People kept coming in and going out, Doctor Early, Doctor Morton, it all became a blurry mess. Roy stopped paying attention. They were all saying the same things. 

"He's in a better place," They said. "He knew the risks," They said. But Roy didn't care what place he was in, better or not. He wasn't where he was supposed to be, by Roy's side.

He thought of the promise they had made to each other when they'd first started working together.

"I'll always be there for you," They'd said to each other. Johnny had broken that promise, the world had made him break their promise.

Roy was shaking, at last alone in his room, he put his hands to his face and tried to wipe away the memories of the past day, to wipe away the sadness, the pain. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, it hurt. Good, he thought. He let himself feel the pain, anything to distract him. He stood by the window looking out into the parking lot below. It was pouring rain, even the world was crying with him.

He heard the door creak open, he closed his eyes tightly. He didn't want to talk to anyone but Johnny right now.

He felt the hand on his shoulder, he turned to look. It was Dixie, he looked at the tear stains on her face, the redness of her eyes. He let the walls crumble down. He was crying, she was crying. Together they stood and they cried, holding each other so tightly it hurt. Embracing to dull the pain.

"He's gone," Said Roy through the tears streaming down his face. "Gone." Dixie nodded as she pressed her face into Roy's shoulder, creating a tear stain. The door opened again, this time it was his friends. The firemen filed in slowly. They saw the two crying, they didn't know what to do. Roy looked up at them, the tear stains all too visible on his face.

It started with Chet, he stepped towards Roy and Dixie and wrapped his strong arms around them. Tears began to stream down his face too. Marco joined them, then Mike, and lastly Cap. It was a huge hugging mess of tears. They missed him, they all missed him so much. They held on for what felt like hours, supporting each other, just like a family should. When they broke away at last they all had puffy eyes and tear stains. Dixie's mascara was running, giving her black marks on her rosy cheeks.

Roy looked around at his friends, his family. They may be broken, but they were broken together.