Rock The Boat: IA Coaching

[Kelle Lindsay, EMTP]

"Oh, well, remember, we have lights and sirens..." she strapped on her seat belt, then added, "and a defibrillator!  They get in our way, we'll zap 'em!"

Laughing, she grabbed the MEDS computer to get some of the dreaded paperwork done as they made their way to the cafe.  It was funny, Kelle thought, how you could be completely exhausted, but as long as you kept going, you, well, kept going.  And once you stopped, that was it...you crashed and burned!

"Man, this shift just needs to be over...I'd be happy not to see another patient for...forever!"  She laughed, then sighed.  "'Course, this beats being stuck in an office filing files...or 'crafting," air quotes, "coffee beverages."  Heck, there were a ton of things she'd rather not do over this!  And honestly, there wasn't much she'd like to do over this that was practical, besides being a veterinarian.

[Steven Hudson]

“Great minds think alike, nothing comes between us and Starbucks.” He said grinning as he buckled up, the only thing that would change it was another call though he hoped and prayed at least until the end of shift that Chicago could take care of itself.

Steven drove as Kelle did the paperwork, he knew once they stopped then the day caught up with them. You did the work and you managed but once the day was done, it was all over. The tiredness set in and the getting home, throwing the keys on the table and sitting down. It never mattered how hungry or thirsty you were once it caught up there was little to do other than rest and sleep.

“I hear you on it, I wish I was at home, feet up, bowl of soup and not a care about another possible call.” He said smiling at the thought before he realised he had just turned into his father. “I take it back; I want to go clubbing and beer.” It was better to revise his almost ‘I’m too old for this’ statement before he turned into his grandfather. “Then again ‘crafting’ coffee beverages at least means we would get a chance at one. Instead we choose to craft our patients in getting better or at least getting to a hospital.” He joked still wanting to smell the coffee to at least stay awake for however long it was to the end of a never ending shift.

[Kelle Lindsay, EMTP]

"Ugg! Seems like most of the patients could just take a Tylenol and get better," Kelle grumbled. "No one seems to be able to do for themselves anymore, and they even want a smile from us!"

While she understood that there were some things that were completely routine to them, they could be frightening and feel like emergencies to those involved, but for heaven's sake, who really thought that a sprained ankle or a little puking was an emergency?!

"'Course, I guess I wouldn't know what to do if I hadn't gone into this business, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be the sort to freak out...a couple things happened when I was a kid, and I think I handled it pretty well, but then..." she shrugged and deadpanned, "I'm exceptional!"

[Steven Hudson]

“Well I mean who wouldn’t want us at their door to tell them that two aspirin and a smile will make it all better for them?” He said smirking though he knew she had a point. Now a paper cut was made out to be life threatening and the things they were called out for could be the slightly little thing.

Steven knew where he scaled things and he was hardly turning up to the hospital with anything less than life threatening injury. Mostly because he knew not to panic over the small stuff but even then, a sickness bug was liveable and not something to go to the ER with unless there were other conditions, though he knew far too well that people were strange when it came to getting the care they felt they deserved.

“Yes you all, Kelle the exceptional one.” He said though he did mean it despite his teasing. “You’ve a point though, I mean if we took away the nuisance calls we would actually have a pretty good amount of spare time. “So what things happened to you as a kid that you handled? Me I had two sisters to watch out for so if a spider cross the room I was lucky if they didnt call 911.” He joked though he had to stop them from doing that at one point when the kitchen sink broke and water had started to pour out everywhere.

[Kelle Lindsay, EMTP]

"Well, I guess you're right, that if they didn't call us for every little thing we'd be out of a job." Kelle grinned and shrugged. "But ten years from now, when I'm at the top of the seniority list, then I can complain, because, heck, they need at least one unit on the road, right? So if people stop calling all the time, it won't effect us!" She laughed, "Or our walkers!"

“So what things happened to you as a kid that you handled? Me I had two sisters to watch out for so if a spider cross the room I was lucky if they didn't call 911.”

"Oh, dunno...I mean, I remember when I was a kid...second or third grade, I think, I was at a friend's house and her brother fell off the swing, split his lip, blood everywhere..." She shrugged again. "Their mom came out, dabbed the blood and gave us popcycles, crisis averted! Other things, too, sensible...my cousin dislocated her knee, Aunt Jenn put her in the car and took her to the doctor..."

She rolled her eyes, then laughed. "Spiders, huh? I'm not a huge fan, but I knew my cousin hated them, so I'd suck it up and pick them up and chase her around the house!"

[Steven Hudson]

“See you’ll get the walkers by that age, I’m in the nursing home dreaming of being back out here.” He said with a smirk, “Then again with you as my boss, I’d vote for less nuisance calls, more happy time and only take calls within twenty feet of a coffee shop.” So in the grand scheme of things it was a fun job but when he thought about all the aspirin they have out in a day it was hardly worth the fuel to get to some of the calls when a trip to a corner shop could solve the problem.

Steven listened to her story and nodded, “See mums know what to do, at least the sensible ones do and it sounds like you have one of those.” His mum had been sensible in his eyes until his father passed and she refused to leave the house. He never pretended to understand it but it was her, his dad usually solved all medical questions for them even down to a sprained wrist or ankle but then he had been a paramedic too so he had an advantage on most parents there though sense came into it a lot.

“That’s cruelty to your cousin.” He teased with a grin, “Yeah, I used to tell my sisters I’d put spiders in their beds if I found one. I swear they would sleep with one eye open and then I’d pay for it for weeks afterward.” He said smiling as he remembered the screaming and hysterics that surrounded a spider that might have been no bigger than his finger nail.

[Kelle Lindsay, EMTP]

"Daddy long legs are awesome!" Kelle grinned as they pulled into the parking lot of the coffee shop. "I mean, they look bad-ass but they're harmless." At that, she laughed. "Kind of like us, right?"

Well, it was what it was, but that didn't make it any less annoying, and she suspected that the system was only going to get worse, that emergency rooms and ambulances were going to be the clinics of the future.

"Heck, I'd be surprised if they don't put body-cams on us at some point that are connected to a bank of doctors, so we're their eyes in the field." She glanced at Steven, shrugging. "We take the vitals, interview the patients, then they tell us what to prescribe...no transport needed!"

Well, for most the patients, anyway. There'd be a few who really did need transport to an emergency room, the traumas, heart attacks, strokes...but really, even now, there were a good number who could be treated on scene and released, like diabetics, but that was just part of the changing dynamics of medical care.

"Let's go get that coffee before we fall asleep!"

[Steven Hudson]

“So we’re bad ass and awesome.” Steven said nodding in agreement, “Not sure about the harmless part though.” Mostly they were harmless, the only harm came from the people they tried to help which was always another fun part of the day. Steven could only imagine was the future was going to be, maybe he would retire to an Island somewhere by then or win the lottery... possibly but as likely as looking at retirement he thought.

“You know they will replace us with robots one by one... soon instead of this handsome specimen.” He joked, “You’ll be working with R2D2 saying, please press draw one for meds, draw two for gauze, draw three for malfunction.” He could see it happening even down to the body cams and being told how to do their jobs by people who were sat behind a desk looking through a lens.

“You speak a language I understand.” He said as he grinned getting out of the ambulance as he stretched for a moment before heading around to Kelle’s side. “How much caffeine is too much caffeine?” He asked her with a grin.

[Kelle Lindsay, EMTP]

"Is there such a thing as too much caffeine?" Kelle laughed, then shrugged. "And you know that old show, 'Night Rider'? I can just see 'Kit' ambulances..." She raised her wrist to her mouth. "Kit, code three to Chicago Med!" She laughed again as she stood back and let him open the door for her.

"After all, they got doctors who do their 'rounds' with those remote controlled computers that kind of remind me of Captain Pike...you know, the Enterprise captain, before James T Kirk?" She laughed, starting to get a little giddy from being up so long. "Just a bodyless head...they can give a monkey a helmet cam and patch it through to a doctor who can tell them what color box to give." Then she winked at him. "Or firefighters!"

The warm aroma of coffee greeted them and she perked up. "Oh, man, it's already good!" It was nearly 0400, so there were only a couple other people here, it would be a good place to run out the rest of the shift!

[Steven Hudson]

“Good point, never too much caffeine.” He said grinning as he nodded to her mention of the show Night Rider. “Okay now that I can live with, an ambulance that talked back... can you imagine how cool that would be?” He said not having such an issue if it was like the Kit Car then they would have the state of the art one he thought. It drove itself and there would be no need for use of a horn because the driving would probably be a little smoother than his.

“Beam me up Scotty, the monkeys are taking over or have done already.” He joked feeling that the end of shift was going to be good. Steven laughed as she spoke about Star Trek and then fire-fighters. “Oh yes, pick the red box for an axe, the blue box for a hose and look at that the neighbours put it out already... who needs them.” He teased, so there was a little rivalry at times and yes the fire-fighters were annoying quite a lot of the time to him. Mostly when they assumed that paramedics did nothing to get in harm’s way but then everyone knew different to that.

When the warmth and smell of the coffee greeted him it was like a warm blanket as he smirked and nodded. “Already good but it will be great, fantastic and lots and lots and lots of chocolate, sugar and coffee.” He said as he sniffed the air, “It’s like a home from home.” He stated with a grin as he motioned toward the counter. “My treat, what do you want and you can have anything or it all because I feel like eating a fair amount?” He said with a grin as he already started eyeing up a chocolate muffin.

[Kelle Lindsay, EMTP]

"Oh, you're treat? How about a winning lottery ticket?" Kelle smirked, then laughed. "I'd share...I'd give you, like, ten bucks! Or...guess I'll settle for a white chocolate latte and a chocolate croissant." That should be plenty of caffeine and sugar, but...

"Man, could do with some bacon, too...on the chocolate croissant." She glanced at him and shrugged. "Odd 3AM craving, you know, or is it four? Don't matter, 'poor judgment hour', right? Besides, they make burgers with donuts, so who's to say what is crazy?"

Her stomach growled and she shook her head. "I pity the poor fool who bugs us now! There'll be no mercy, punitive ALS, like a sixteen gauge in the wrist!"

Yeah, they could inflict a little retribution while staying within the perimeters of the protocols, not that they actually did that sort of thing, right?

"Really," she let out a breath, "I'm so ready for this shift to be over and I hope what happened earlier doesn't come back to haunt us."

Of course, she was pretty certain there would be questions, after all, it had involved cops and loud noises, automatic grounds for investigation!

[Steven Hudson]

“Oh, I’d share it with you but I need to find one first though I hold you to the ten bucks, it could go for my retirement fund.” He said grinning, every week he played and every week he usually lost unless he managed to get the price of the ticket back. The strange thing was he still had the hopes of winning it one day. “Got it, white chocolate and chocolate croissant... good choice.” He added feeling like eating his way through half the store.

Steven stared at her for a moment when she mentioned bacon. Okay now he was hungry as he practically drooled over the thought of it. “Not odd, it’s bacon it should be a food source and since when do we have poor judgement hour? Awesome judgement hour if it involves bacon.” If there was one thing to be said coffee and chocolate now had a rival in the form of bacon that he felt like he could eat a few slices off right there.

“Amen, no muss no fuss just do the job and make any time wasters regret it.” He said with a sly grin, a sixteen gauge to the wrist that would hurt but then if it made people think twice why not. In with the rule book and problems would be solved or people would think they were crazy but still. It was all in a day’s work for them.

“It won’t, probably ten questions but after that we should be free and clear because we did nothing wrong.” He said though he had an idea that IA would be on their tail about things as soon as everything was laid out for those guys. “It’s not as if we could have walked away but thanks for being there.” He said meaning it, she could have turned tail or just stayed out of it but he was thankful that Kelle had chosen to go along with it.

[Kelle Lindsay, EMTP]

"Eh..." Kelle shrugged nonchalantly, "partners, right, it's how it should be." She smiled, "Besides, if it involves chocolate to maintain silence, it's all good!" There were things between partners that stayed there, just between them, so long as it wasn't something illegal or really off-base. And she really didn't think that Steven had intended for what had happened to happen, and she could forgive that.

"And besides that, it gives me something to hang over your head." She grinned. "Any time I need something I can just remind me of the huge debt you owe me, right?" She laughed. "Well, unless chocolate and bacon make up for it, then I'm back where I started."

[Steven Hudson]

Steven nodded when Kelle spoke about how it should be, he was getting used to her as usually the first sign of trouble and he would find another medic in the seat with him the next day. “Oh if that was all it took then I’d have bought you shed loads already. I at least owe you that.” He said with a grin, Steven was usually not the sort for illegal or nuts but the whole boat incident had gone sideways and once it started there was no stopping it.

He had Voight to thank for that and he would think twice before he said yes to any other ‘just wait around just in case’ jobs. Safer to just wait for the call out which is exactly what he would tell the guy if there was a next time. “No, the chocolate and the bacon is just a thanks for still being here.” He said truthfully, “You can hang this over my head for as long as you want and I’m good to be called on the huge debt which I owe.” He said grinning.

“Anything, any time you call and I shall answer. Even an ice cream run at three in the morning... but if we work shift the next day I make no promises about my happy personality making itself known. Could be a lot of coffee runs.” He teased though if she wanted ice cream at that time in the morning then he was more than happy to go get it for her given he knew he owed her big time for what had happened. That was not a debt that was paid in one go.

[Kelle Lindsay, EMTP]

"Don't know of any ice cream places open at O-three hundred anyway, so you're safe there!" She wrinkled her nose up as she glanced at him. "Not a morning person, are we?" Of course, it was no secret that she hated being up early for work, and was up all hours when she didn't have to be at work the next day.

She settled at a table with her early-morning meal, the plate of bacon between them. "Don't worry about it, I promise I won't hold any of this against you." She took a sip of her latte, then picked up her croissant and a piece of bacon, taking a bite together.

"Oh, man, this is Heaven!" She laughed at the absurdity of it, although she knew that the hour and the stress of the day had a lot to do with her giddy mood. "Hey, can I ask something?" Then she asked anyway. "They say you were arrested for assault a few years ago?" Of course, she was confident he had a good reason for it, but she'd rather hear from him than the rumor mill.