Save Me from the Dark (A John Gage 'Emergency!' love story Fanfiction)

Chapter 15

The next morning Scarlett woke in a strange bed, in a strange room, with a familiar pleasant aching in her wrist. She yawned and stretched in her bed as the memories of the previous day came back to her and made her smile slightly. Yes, she had finally gotten the relief she'd needed during her annoyingly long hospital stay. She only felt a little guilty as she knew Johnny wouldn't approve of her coping mechanism, however what he didn't know couldn't hurt him, right?

Pushing thoughts of Johnny from her mind, Scarlett padded to the bathroom and quickly located the bandages Dixie kept. She'd need to be extra sneaky about hiding her wounds, especially in this time period. The last thing she wanted was for people to think she was crazy, especially Johnny. His opinion meant everything to her after all.

Doing her bathroom business and dressing in clothes Dixie had lent her, as they were similar in size and build, she exited the bathroom and headed towards the kitchen. Stopping short, she could hear voices from the dining area, a conversation clearly in full swing. Scarlett's heart fluttered as she heard the unmistakable voice of none other than Johnny from her hiding place behind the wall. From what she could tell, he was in the middle of telling some kind of story and his voice was like sweet music to her ears.

Scarlett wondered if Dixie had indeed told him of her whereabouts or if this was something he always did. Of course he had come to see her on his days off, but maybe he came over to Dixie's and had breakfast with her sometimes. She honestly had no idea and this worried her. What if he wanted to talk again? Scarlett wasn't so sure she was ready to be alone with him again.

Taking a deep breath to prepare herself, Scarlett moved from her hiding spot and entered the room as all eyes turned to her.

"Hey there, sleepyhead. We didn't think you'd ever get up." Dixie good naturedly teased her. "I saved you some breakfast although with Johnny here it was pretty difficult."

"It was not! I didn't get dinner last night!"

"Tough night?" Dixie enquired. "Scarlett, you can have a seat next to Johnny and I'll get you a plate."

Scarlett could've sworn she saw a smile as Dixie turned her back to her. Slowly, almost reluctantly, she made her way to her seat. Next to Johnny. The voice inside her head was screaming a little and she wished it'd shut up.

"You're tellin' me. Everytime I sat down to eat we'd get a call and by the time we got back, Chet had eaten the rest of the food and naturally had to rub it in my face. One of these days he's gonna get it." Johnny replied, shifting his focus onto Scarlett. "Well hey, Miss. Scarlett. Heard you got out of the hospital. How are you doin'?"

Scarlett felt herself immediately blush at being addressed by Johnny and he hoped he didn't notice. He was uncomfortably close and it was almost unnerving.

"I'm fine. How are you though? Sounds like you had a rough night." She lamely replied trying to shift the focus off of her and back onto him. Surely he'd rather talk about himself.

He ran a hand through his already mused hair. Did he even own a hair brush? Did they all burn in a fire? What happened to them? The world may never know.

"Yeah it was rough but it wasn't as bad as it coulda been. Only had several calls through the night and one of them was for a cat in a tree. At midnight. I'm not even making this up." The infamous grin made a reappearance. "We get the weirdest calls sometimes. Although it is hard sometimes telling little old ladies that we can't get fluffy out of the tree. It's not our job to rescue cats, ya know? Don't tell Cap but sometimes we do anyway though."

Scarlett found herself giggling. She could actually picture Johnny on a ladder rescuing a cat from a tree for a little old lady. That was just the kind of person he was.

He was about to say something when Dixie walked back over and sat a plate in front of her.

"There you go. I'm sure you'll like this a lot more than the hospital's food." She grinned at her and Scarlett found herself returning it.

"Yeah, thanks Dixie."

"Ugh, don't remind me of hospital food. I've had enough of that stuff to last me a lifetime." Johnny interjected. "I don't see how you can even call that stuff food."

"Well, let's just hope you aren't a visitor to Hotel Rampart again anytime soon then. After all, I don't think my nurses can take it." Dixie grinned at him and it made Scarlett wonder just how many times Johnny had been in the hospital as a patient.

"Hey, I'm a great patient! I just get bored, I'm only human."

Dixie rolled her eyes.

"Don't I know it. Half of my nursing staff refuse to attend to you because of your relentless attempts at flirting."

Scarlett coughed, nearly choking on her food. Yes, she knew he flirted and it annoyed the nurses but she didn't know most of them refused to care for him. If she wasn't so jealous she'd laugh at this.

"Whoa, easy Miss. Scarlett. You okay?" Johnny's attention had turned back to her. Damn.

"Y - yeah, I'm fine, just went down the wrong way is all." Scarlett meekly replied. It was always uncomfortable being the focus of his attention and she wished he'd resume his conversation with Dixie.

"Here, drink some water." He handed her her glass of water and she could tell he was in paramedic mode for sure. Double damn.

Thankfully Dixie came to her rescue and the knowing smile she gave Scarlett didn't go unnoticed by her. Of course Dixie would know why she almost choked to death at the mention of Johnny flirting with who knows how many nurses.

"So Johnny, what are your plans for today?"

Johnny watched Scarlett a moment longer before turning to Dixie.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure yet. I was hoping Miss. Scarlett here would join me though."

Suddenly she was the victim of the damned smile again and she fought back the urge to choke on her water at both the smile and his words. Why did he want to hang out with her? Was this like his way of asking her on a date? Could she refuse?

Quickly she turned to Dixie, who only offered her an encouraging smile, which honestly made her wonder if she had anything to do with this. Clearly she couldn't count on Dixie to save her from this man who had her completely awestruck.

Sighing to herself, Scarlett knew there was no way out of this. To reject him now could potentially mean ending any chance of them ever dating, and she knew she couldn't risk it. She knew she'd have to just try and deal with her nervousness of being alone with him.

"Yeah, of course, I'd love to." Scarlett found herself saying and the best part was that she wasn't even lying.