New Partners-New Adventures

The wind was blowing fiercely and the snow was quite deep. Everything had been cancelled, schools, government offices were closed even many of the local churches had given worshipers a day off using the rationale that, "God wouldn't want you to risk your life in this weather just to worship him." It made perfect sense. So, what to do? The kids were home and entertaining them was first and foremost. Rich had decided that video games would do the trick. Bridgett was 9 and LOVED Super Mario Brothers. They had an old Nintendo. Stephanie had wanted to get rid of it, but Rich felt too much nostalgia and when Bridgett discovered it, Rich took the opportunity to say, "Nyah nyah."

Bobby was easy. He was only three years old and could easily be entertained.

So, here it was a horrible February. Rich said that he had shoveled so much he figured a coal miner might take pity on him. They were all sick of the snow. The kids were even starting to miss school and were dreading the number of make-up days they were facing, well not Bobby, pre-school had no makeup days. Bridgett said, "I want to go back because I can't stand it anymore, AND I'm scared of how many days into summer vacation we'll go into." Steph fully understood. Bridgett had also wanted to get back to her friends. She had been given plenty of opportunity to see them since driving was allowed, but it was still becoming a burden on everyone and with this latest storm, everyone was ready to lose their minds.

Once ten o'clock came, the kids were getting tired but Bridgett insisted he stay up to watch the rest of a movie she had started. Rich couldn't find a reason to say no and neither could Steph so; Bridgett was up until almost midnight. Once she finally got to sleep Rich and Steph could relax as well, but since they both had to go to work in the morning, relaxing was just going to bed.

At about four a.m., the phone rang scaring Rich out of a deep sleep and in the middle of a strange dream where he was shooting monsters which were playing Super Mario. He leapt up and grabbed the cordless and answered. "What?" It was more of a moan than a word.

"Hi, Rich? Sorry to bother you this early but this is Gordie down at Bay State EMS, is Stephanie there?" came the voice on the other end.

"Well Gordie, where else would she be at...what time is it?" Rich was slightly more alert.

"Four in the morning," replied Gordie, "and frankly, where she might be wouldn't be any of my business. I was just told to call." Rich had to admit, it was a good reply.

"Hold on," and Rich attempted to wake Steph up. He caught her in mid-snore and she sat upright, quite confused. Rich handed the phone over and Steph.

As deeply as she would sleep, Steph had spent too many years working nights and being woken from a sound sleep with the need to be fully functional to be as groggy as Rich. She took the phone and answered. Gordie on the other end said, "Steph, is there a chance you could come in early? We're getting swamped with calls. The fire department is off with a big working fire, plus plow guys are falling asleep and hitting things and even at this hour, maintenance guys all over the place are having back issues, strains, slip and falls and so far, two heart attacks."

"Why ME? Why is it always ME?" She thought aloud. She knew the reasons. For one thing, she lived only a few miles from the garage and always had the best luck getting there and also, she would get there. Steph would never offer and excuse unless it was legitimate and serious. She was known to be dedicated to a fault and the fault was her own. "Ok, I'll be there as soon as I can. Any chance someone could pick me up? I'm not sure what shape my driveway is in and it could take me over an hour to dig out, especially if the plows have been by more than once."

Gordie agreed to have a crew swing by her house in twenty minutes or as close to that as possible and thanked her. Steph grumbled a somewhat sarcastic 'you're welcome' and hung up. She wasn't due to be in until 8, so a few hours of overtime wouldn't hurt. She got dressed, kissed Rich so long and stood in the doorway awaiting an ambulance. Rich had already told work he wouldn't be in and they were cool with it, so Steph had no worries about the kids. Bobby had insisted that at 12, he could definitely take care of himself and watch over his sister. Both Rich and Steph commended his responsible attitude and immediately danced around the idea, thanking him profusely in the meantime.

Rich never even noticed she had left. He had no sooner handed over the phone, he fell back into a coma and began to snore so loud, Steph was beginning to look forward to leaving.

When the ambulance pulled up, Steph made her way through the deep snow. Thanks to constant attention by both of them, Steph and Rich (and to a lesser degree, the kids), the walkway and the driveway was only 7 inches deep as the snow continued to fall. The driveway was about the same though the drift on the side closest to the neighbor's yard had to be about 2 feet and thanks to the relentless attention to the street clearing efforts, the end of the driveway had a 2 and one half foot pile of ice across it. Steph slipped as she traversed the alpine range that poor Rich would have to tackle later. She hit the ground but felt no pain as the snow cushioned her fall. Both the EMTs in the truck jumped out but Steph was just laughing and cursing and found it ironic that this hated snow had been not only the cause of her fall, but the cause of her not being injured. She climbed in back and buckled into the jump seat and off they went to the garage.

"Been a lousy night, eh?" She asked the crew.

"FUCK ME! FUCK THIS SNOW!" bellowed Ernie, the driver. "I am so bloody sick of this. TWO STINKING WEEKS AND NO END IN SIGHT!"

Francine, his partner, just shook her head, then added, "He's been a joy to work with all night."

"WELL I'M LOSING MY MIND!" came Ernie's reply.

With that, the dispatcher came over the air with a call for them. "Ambulance 3, are you available?"

Steph nodded that she could accompany them if needed. Francine took the mic and answered, "We're still on that transport for one of ours but could respond if needed. What have you got?"

"Report of a maintenance man at the college having slipped on the ice sustaining a head injury. He's conscious but bleeding. Police on scene report he's a bit disoriented. Police advise to enter through the Front Street Entrance."

"OK, we have that and will respond." Answered Francine and on went the overhead lights. Traffic was so light due to the snow that the siren was only needed now and them, mostly to get plows out of the way. Ernie kept the speed below 30 the entire trip. When they arrived they were met by a cruiser at the College Drive/Front Street intersection which led them to where a small Pilipino was sitting covered by a blanket and with gauze being held in place by one of the cops. Steph immediately recognized Sgt. O'Meara and greeted him as she and her partners approached. O'Meara exchanged pleasantries and then explained what had happened to Luiz as he was trying to scrape some ice away from the door. Luiz's English was excellent, but he would get partway through his story and then seem to lose track of what he was saying.

"NOT GOOD!" said Ernie and the three EMTs wrapped up Luiz's head, bundled him up for transporting to Mt. Ida Hospital.

Just prior to leaving, Sgt. O'Meara pulled Steph aside and said, "How did you get roped into a night shift?"

Steph replied, "I just started after being called in early, and I'm THRILLED. How's Stew, I haven't seen him in a few weeks; conflicting shifts and all."

"Oh, he's great, he and Sherrie are in Aruba, the bastards," came his reply, dripping in envy. "They're gone for two weeks, left Tuesday."

Steph shook her head as she entered the back of the truck to assist Fran with looking after Luiz. She patted O'Meara on the shoulder and thanked him for helping and passing along such wonderful news then closed the door and off they went.

Once Luiz was deposited Ernie and Fran took Steph to the garage where she would be working with Carla, the other EMT who was lucky enough to live within a five mile radius and who, like Steph, had a difficult time saying 'no'. Carla was a good kid, 23 years old, just out of EMT school and eager to learn. Prior to being an EMT, she had been a mechanic at a local garage after graduating from the regional vocational high school. "I have enjoyed fixing cars, now I'd like to fix people." She had declared when applying for the job at Bay State.

Steph had worked with Carla a few times and was essentially one of her training officers, well, when her regular partner, Ralph, was off and Ralph got her when Steph was off. Joel got her twice but he immediately went into Jack O'Lynch's office (Jack being the Day Shift Supervisor) and said he couldn't work with someone so green. Jack had tried to talk him into being a good man and setting a good example and help Carla learn the ropes, but Joel was like a mule and would not budge, even after being threatened with discipline. "Go ahead, you can even fire me. I feel like a career change anyway," was the response. Nothing was done and Carla never worked with Joel again. He really was a good EMT, so, he slid by on that one.

Carla and Steph jumped into the number 6 ambulance and headed out to 'satellite' the city common. The first priority was to avoid snowplows and let them do their job. Second, be totally available for any calls which may occur. Third priority, breakfast. "They headed for a 24 hour diner near the common that had parking (to get off the street) and went in, PRAYING that they didn't get a call. After a lovely breakfast of eggs, bacon, hash browns, cinnamon toast, coffee and a small grapefruit juice, Steph was content. Carla had enjoyed her fruit and granola. "Sure," Steph thought to herself, "NOW you can eat like that. Wait until you're older and NEED better nutrition, you skinny little...." But her thoughts were interrupted by the radio.

"Ambulance 6, meet the fire department at Joseph Road and Common Street due to an MVA with minor injuries. Plow versus Smart Car."

Steph replied with, "Plow versus SMART CAR? MINOR injuries? Ok, if you say so." And off they went.

Not much was left of the Smart Car, but the driver only had a small cut on his left hand. He was complaining of back pain but had been out and walking around when the fire department had arrived. A police cruiser had arrived about the same time and they all saw the driver of the car walking around like he was fine, however he would occasionally yelp in pain and as time went by, began to curse the plow driver. According to the plow driver, Smartie had zipped by him as he was pushing a snow bank up on the corner. "I ask you, what kind of asshole goes between a plow and a snow bank instead of waiting and going behind?" the driver had asked, "Especially as I was moving forward?"

No one had an answer, especially not Smartie. He was bundled up and transported to St. Mark's Hospital. Mt. Ida had reported that they were temporarily not accepting new patients as the Emergency Room was bogged down after a house fire in the neighboring town had sent three occupants and two firefighters in.

Carla and Steph left the hospital and parked in the parking lot of a bank near downtown. It had already been plowed so they figured they'd be safe for the time being. Carla sighed looking at all the snow, which was still falling, though not as hard.

"I'm so sick of this," she began.

"You, my friend, are NOT alone. I'm sick of looking at my kids, God help me, but there's nothing we can do with them. I love them, but....oh my GOD, enough is enough." Steph also sighed.

"Must wreck your sex life." Carla said matter-of-factly. "Having the kids around to hear you could be a real drag."

"Well, now that you mention it..."

"My boyfriend and I have talked about what it would be like if we got married and had kids. I'd love a few, but they seem like so much damn work," added Carla. Then she continued with, "and what would we do if we couldn't screw around? I'd lose my mind. I guess when you hit your age, screwing around isn't such a big deal though, right?"

Steph was really taken aback by that. Her first reaction was to tell Carla just how much screwing around she and Rich had been doing in the past year, and with whom, but she stopped herself. "No, that's OUR business," she thought, but DID say out loud, "Uh, Rich and I have a very healthy sex life, thank you. Damn it, I'm only 42."

Carla shrugged. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply you were old, but don't things kind of cool off when you get that old?"

She was doing it again. "OLD MY ASS!" She spoke in a very deliberate manner when she said, "Carla, people well into their 70s are known to have nice healthy sex lives. People in their 40s are in their, OUR prime. I know things that you haven't even heard of and I have plenty of energy in bed. Twenty three is a great age but if I had even a third of the experience at 23 that I have now, well, porn stars would be jealous."

Had she said too much? Carla seemed to barely notice. Then Carla said, "I've had a few threesomes. I'm not sure you're into that stuff. One was with two women. It all started when I told a friend that my clit was pierced and she wanted to see."

"Your CLIT is pierced?" Steph was focused on that part of the statement. "Why in hell did you do THAT?"

"Spur of the moment type of thing. Not sure really," said Carla.

"It must have hurt. Was it worth it?" asked Steph, truly curious but deep in her mind, she knew damn well she'd never do that.

"I think so. Great conversation starter and it HAS kind of given me a little more of a thrill down there. Wanna see?" Carla actually seemed to WANT to show it off. Steph was intrigued. She'd seen a few in movies but never in real life. When she hesitated, Carla read her face and said, "I'm guessing the sight of another woman's vagina might freak you out, but really, it's not a big deal. You've seen plenty here at work, but it's different when it's not a 'medical' thing. Really, I don't mind showing you." Then she added, "Don't worry, I'm NOT hitting on you," and she smiled.

"If only she knew...." Steph thought to herself and smiled as well, then said, "Sure, let's jump in the back."

Crawling through to the back from the cab of the rig would have been worse than braving the storm outside so, out they jumped out and went and into the back. Once in, Carla sat on the edge of the squad bench and Steph sat in the jump seat. Carla took off her left shoe then lowered her pants and panties and slid them off over her foot. Once exposed, she spread her legs for Steph to get a good look. They had purposely left the overhead lights off and Steph was using her penlight. Why give any passers-by a show? Carla spread her lips to expose her clit which had a small sterling silver stud through it, each end capped with a small silver ball.

"Pretty neat, huh?" asked Carla, obviously very proud of what she had done. "It wasn't even all that expensive. For the procedure and the sterling silver, only $100. I've removed it a couple of times but only a couple."

Steph was leaning in looking close when Carla added, "Go on, you can touch it. It won't bite!" And she giggled as she said it. "It's ok, it doesn't mean you're a lesbo or anything." Steph just looked up and grinned, or grimaced, she wasn't sure which she had done. Oh, the secrets she could tell. She leaned in and spread the lips with her right index finger and thumb and flicked it slightly which caused Carla to gasp a bit. "Oh hunny, that's certainly going to start something if you do that again."

"Sorry, I was just curious. I have to admit it looks pretty," said Steph as she sat back.

"My pussy or the stud?" asked Carla with a grin.

"To be honest, both. But I can't get my mind around doing that to yourself. The times you took it out, was there any special reason?"

"One time a boyfriend just was grossed out by it but he not only got used to it, he grew to love it. Then, another time a girl with a pierced tongue was going to town on me, but the clacking sound was driving us both nuts, so I took it out. You're not grossed out by the thought of a girl going down on me, are you?" Carla asked, leaning forward and taking Steph's hand.

"No, not at all." Stephanie started to chuckle, "Really, I'm fairly open minded, believe me so you can stop with all these cautionary remarks."

As they spoke, Carla was lightly rubbing herself, especially after she took Steph's hand. For a moment after Steph's reply, Carla just held Steph's hand, rubbed herself and looked into Steph's eyes. Steph was a bit turned on, but knew that this was neither the time nor the place and she wasn't even sure if she was attracted to Carla. Carla was cute and all, VERY cute, but she was just a kid and....Steph was just not really sure what to think so she simply gently removed her hand from Carla's and said, "I think we should just be ready for whatever might....." and she didn't even have a chance to finish the sentence when they were called.

"Ambulance 6. Base to Ambulance 6" Carla began pulling her pants back on with a slight look of disappointment on her face. Steph noticed, said nothing but grinned as she acknowledged the dispatcher. She had the portable radio since she was senior EMT.

"Ambulance 6, possible cardiac arrest at 322 Chesterfield Avenue, FD Paramedic unit is en route."

Steph acknowledged the call and she and Carla braved the storm once again to get back in the cab. They rode in silence, lights and sirens going in spite of not being able to reach a speed of more than 26 mph due to the horrid road conditions. Regardless of the slow going, plows and snow banks and pedestrians all blocking the way, they got there in 8 minutes. The Fire Department was already there working on the patient, a 92 year old man who had insisted on shoveling his own driveway. Steph and Carla were essentially back-up for the Paramedics and did more assisting than actual work on the patient. He was in the back of the FD's rig in minutes, CPR being done by two firefighter/paramedics with the third driving. The man's 88 year old wife sat in the front seat and was torn between worry for her husband and giddy over riding in the FRONT of a 'fire truck'. Carla and Steph made sure they had all their equipment, closed up the rear doors and sent them on their way just a police cruiser pulled up.

Carla walked over to the cruiser where the cop was refusing to get out. "Too damn cold and wet to get out when the job is already done. Need anything?" Asked the rather cheerful cop.

Carla was very cold and wet from the snow and not in a mood for this guy so she said, "I really need you to look at something. There's a risk involved here if it's not checked." And she motioned for him to follow her. The cop reluctantly got out of the cruiser, squished his faux fur hat onto head and followed Carla into the driveway, grumbling the whole way. Carla's hair was getting matted down with snow and it was going down her neck, but she felt this was worth it. She led him to the front walk which the man had cleared prior to his heart attack. She pointed to it and asked, "When they get home, will they be able to negotiate this walkway? It's very narrow and I'm thinking of the mailman as well. The safety of the public is seriously at risk here!"

The cop, luckily was good natured and didn't push Carla into the snow bank. He turned and walked back to his car, calling over his shoulder, "The shovel is right over here, feel free to alleviate the problem and save all mankind!" He then got into his car and maneuvering around the ambulance, drove off, sliding back and forth as he did.