Work Text:
At the base station at Rampart, Roy was closing up the drug box after finishing their restock when he noticed his partner seemed preoccupied.
"Johnny? Come on, let's grab a cup of coffee before we hit the road."
"Huh? Oh, sure, Roy."
Johnny followed along behind Roy quietly until Roy pushed through the break room door.
"Roy? Have you ever seen Dr. Brackett lose his temper?"
Roy gave Johnny a puzzled look as he chose one of the mugs and picked up the coffee pot. Luckily, the coffee looked fairly fresh.
"You know I have, Johnny. You have, too."
" And Dr. Morton?"
"Sure. Plenty of times."
"Dixie?"
"Yep. And I wasn't too proud to turn and make a run for the door when it happened."
Johnny chuckled at that as he claimed his own mug and filled it with coffee.
"Now, how about Dr. Early?"
Roy opened his mouth to answer, then reclosed it with a frown. Thinking, he took a sip of coffee before finally shaking his head.
"Uhmmm. Huh. Nope. Never."
"Me either. How does he do that? I mean, that's not natural."
"Seems to be natural for him. Maybe he was just born with a mellow gene."
"Or maybe he rants all the time when he's away from here?"
"Nope. I've seen him off the job. Still mellow."
"It's just not natural."
Johnny didn't hear the door opening as he spoke so he almost spilled his coffee on himself when Dr. Early's voice spoke up behind him.
"What's not natural, John?"
"Oh – hi, Dr. Early – Dix. Uhm –"
Roy stepped in to save his partner.
"What my partner is trying so eloquently to say is that he doesn't think it's natural that you never seem to get angry."
"Oh, that? Well, that's because it isn't natural, John."
"Huh?"
"You see, back in the late 1950s, they were doing experiments with synthetic blood. I was an early trial volunteer and they replaced all of my natural blood supply with the synthetic stuff. Turned out that one of the side effects was that I simply can't get angry. Strange, isn't it?"
Dr. Early smoothly moved past the two paramedics to get himself a cup of coffee as Johnny shot a look over to Roy, who looked as puzzled as he did and just shrugged. Before Johnny could say another word, a call came over their HT. They each gulped down what remained of their coffee, waved a hasty farewell and departed.
Once they were out of the door, Dixie and Dr. Early both burst out laughing. When she was finally able to catch her breath again, Dixie swatted him on his arm.
"Joe, how on Earth can you say the most outlandish garbage and manage to keep a straight face while doing it?"
Dr. Early just grinned and shrugged.
"Must be another one of those side effects, Dix."