Disclaimer: This is a fictionalized version of the Southern California area just as it is a fictionalized version of the L. A. County Fire Department in which all Emergency! stories are set (including the show). Although this accident really did happen, the names, location and situation have been changed for the story.

Cassie Kelly walked into Room 414 of Rampart General Hospital. She was carrying a gym bag in one hand and a long, thin box tied with a ribbon in the other. The room already looked to be over its quota of visitors. Not that anyone would say anything. The people at Rampart were fond of firemen -- especially Johnny Gage. Johnny was sitting up in one of the beds. A fresh cast was on his arm. His partner, Roy DeSoto, sat on the chair next to the bed. In the other bed was her brother, Chet Kelly. There was a small bandage on his head but other than that, he looked fine. Both Chet and Johnny were lucky to be alive. The rest of the men from Station 51 were also in the room, either standing against the wall or occupying the other chairs.

Everyone greeted her as she unceremoniously dropped the gym bag on Chet’s bed.

“Ugh. Hey, be careful. I’m an injured man,” Chet grouched at her.

“Your stuff from your apartment. I fed Ember but she’ll be expecting you home tomorrow and you’d better come bearing cat treats if you know what’s good for you,” Cassie reported. She dug into the pocket of her jeans, pulled out a set of car keys and tossed them to him. “Your gas hog is parked downstairs so you can get home tomorrow morning. Oh and you owe me 10 bucks for gas. What in the world were you thinking when you bought that fool thing?”

“Fool thing?!! That happens to be a 1968 midnight blue GTO convertible. It’s completely loaded with options. I always wanted one of those, and I got it for a song, I might add. Can’t imagine why the guy wanted to sell it,” Chet informed her.

“Maybe because it takes half a tank of gas to drive across the parking lot,” Cassie suggested sarcastically.

Captain Stanley got up to offer her his chair but she waved him off and sat down on the end of Chet’s bed.

“What’s in the box?” Chet asked curiously.

“A present.”

“Great! Lemme have it.” Chet put his hand out expectantly.

“ It’s not for you. It’s for Johnny.” Cassie yanked it back out of his reach.

“Wha? Why him?” Chet was in shock.

“Because he always brings me a present when I’m in here and you never do,” Cassie told him smugly and handed the box to Johnny, who seemed a bit embarrassed.

“What is it?” Johnny asked.

“Looks like a tie,” Marco laughed.

“Open it and find out,” the cap suggested.

Johnny shrugged and carefully untied the ribbon, using only his good hand.

“Come on, Gage, quit foolin’ around and hurry it up,” Chet said impatiently. He couldn’t image why his sister had brought a present to Gage and not to him. He didn’t know which annoyed him more.

Johnny finally got the box opened. He looked just as perplexed as he had while he was unwrapping it.

“A knitting needle?” Roy asked for him as he peered over Johnny’s shoulder into the box.

“I have the other one from the set. It’s a very handy device for scratching an arm in a cast. You’ll really appreciate that in a few weeks,” Cassie promised.

“Thanks, I think,” Johnny said.

“You’ll really thank me when you need it. Then maybe I’ll collect that kiss you owe me,” she teased.

“WHAT?!” Chet demanded. Roy also had a strange look on his face.

“Johnny promised us all a kiss,” Cassie said innocently while Johnny tried to slide down and hide under the covers.

“Who’s us?” Chet wanted to know.

“Station 18 -- only lucky for Johnny, Captain Tacy wasn’t with us when we found him,” Cassie teased.

“I was so damn cold and Chet was so damn heavy that I swore I’d kiss whoever found us -- even if it was Sammy the bull,” Johnny vowed.

“I’d have paid money to see you kiss Sammy the bull,” Marco laughed. “You were pretty lucky it was the only women in the department that found you.”

“He has that kind of luck,” Roy complained.

“I was just lucky anyone found me. Found us,” Johnny remembered with a shiver.

Everyone was quiet for a minute but a blushing candy striper came into the room carrying a bouquet of flowers that had a silver Mylar balloon attached to them. The balloon had a naked women in a provocative pose painted onto it. “Is there a Mr Johnny Gage here?” she asked nervously trying not to look at the balloon.

Everyone pointed to Johnny so she handed him the flowers and scurried out of the room.

“Who’s that from?” Chet demanded, again feeling slighted by not getting one himself.

Before Johnny could get the card, Roy snatched it. “Let me help you out there, Junior,” Roy laughed.

“Hey Gimme --” Johnny objected.

“It’s from Mrs. Meyers,” Roy giggled. “See, I told you she had a thing for you, Johnny.”

Johnny was trying not to blush. He was failing miserably but he did manage to snatch the card away from Roy who was in hysterics by this time.

“What does it say?” Marco asked.

“None of your business,” Johnny insisted as he read the card to himself. A big smile lit up his face that he finally explained after much cajoling on the part of his co-workers. “Seems the Willobys are moving out. Mrs. Meyers has rented their apartment to a pair of stewardesses. And I should be out of here just in time to help them move in,” he said with a big grin.

“With one arm?” Chet scoffed.

“Don’t worry, Chet, Johnny will manage to turn that to his advantage. He always does. Some guys just have all the luck,” Marco complained.

“Right you are, Marco,” Johnny said with a laugh. He leaned back against his pillows curling his good arm under his head for additional support. “Right you are.”

Cassie looked at her watch. “Well guys, I’d better be hitting the road,” she said.

“What’s your hurry?” Chet asked.

“I have a date. Toodles,” she said ducking out of the room before she could get the third degree from that nosey Chet.

It wasn’t really a date but she had run into Officer Cutie Pie in the elevator. He was on his way up to visit Vince. He’d asked her if they could meet for coffee after visiting hours so he could find out more about the dojo where she studied martial arts. She’d agreed even though she didn’t drink coffee. She figured at the very least she’d drum up some business for the dojo and at the very best....well she didn’t want to think too much about that but it could be promising.

When she reached the lobby she found Officer Cutie Pie already waiting for her. “That was a short visit,” she commented to him. She had thought she’d have to wait for him.

“I just wanted to say hello. Besides he had a lot of family there already. To tell you the truth I wasn’t really too sure what to say. I don’t have this partner thing down yet. Are you tight with your partner?”

“Tight? Not sure that’s the right word. We’re friends and all but I sometimes think Pidge thinks of me as more of a wacky sidekick than a partner.”

He laughed for a minute but then looked at her with a more serious expression on his face. “I think there’s a lot more to you than that. In fact, I’m betting that the whole wacky routine is a variation on the drunken man maneuver.”

“Oh, you’ve learned that one, have you.” Cassie was impressed. That was an old time martial arts move designed to lull your enemy into the false belief that you were no threat. “But sometimes all you want to accomplish is to put people at ease in an awkward situation. On the other hand, I might just be that wacky.”

“That matter requires further investigation before I can draw any conclusions,” he said with a smile. “How about that coffee?”

“We could go down to the cafeteria here but I have it on good authority that that stuff is actually recycled crank case oil.”

“Let’s go somewhere else, in fact, we could grab dinner if you like,” he said hopefully.

“We could but it has to be kinda of quick. I have two classes at the dojo tonight.”

“You couldn’t skip them?” He flashed that smile at her. “Who’d know?”

“Everyone, I’m afraid. I’m the instructor.”

“I never argue with a sensai,” he said holding his hands up in resignation. “We do have time for something quick, though, right? Can you recommend any place?”

“Do you like Chinese?” she asked.

“Are you kidding? As a teenager I ate my way across Hong Kong.” He flashed one of his thousand watt grins at her as they headed out the door. “Where are you parked? I’ll just follow you.”

“Well -- er -- I was here to drop off my brother’s car to him. I was going to take the bus back.”

“In that case, my chariot awaits,” he said dramatically bowing from the waist as he opened the passenger side door of a brand new silver Datson 280Z. Hardy the kind of thing one could afford on rookie cop’s pay but Cassie had admired the look of them from afar.

“After we eat, I’ll take you to the dojo so you can show me where that is. I can give you a ride home after your class if you need one.”

“No need. I live at the dojo.”

“Really?!” He started the car but still kept eye contact with her.

“It used to be a YMCA so they have rooms upstairs. It’s a trade off for me -- cheap rent in exchange for teaching a few classes. Works out fine. Hang a left here, then a right at the light. Panda Garden is on the corner. There’s a parking lot on the far side.”

Once they were seated and had ordered, he started to talk again. “Look, I should have asked before. You said that you were at the hospital to visit your brother. What’s wrong -- unless it’s none of my business.”

“He’s okay. He got slightly hurt at the fire last night is all.”

“This wouldn’t be that big country club fire, would it? I saw that on the news last night.”

“Yes that’s the one.”

“Man, too bad he drew that one. It looked dangerous.”

“It was dangerous but not too bad he drew it. If there’s a good fire you want to be there. We were all glad we were there.”

“A good fire?”

“Well, that’s just what we call them. There are no fires that are good but in a situation like that, people really need help and you want to be there to help them. It’s what we train for. It’s what we do.”

“You were there too?”

“Yeah, it went to five alarms. It seemed like half the county was there. It was a real madhouse. We did all we could but we still lost some people,” she added sadly.

“They said there were 17 fatalities,” he said sympathetically.

“19. Two of criticals didn’t make it but everyone else is stable now.”

“Your brother wasn’t badly hurt, though?” he asked by way of encouragement.

“No. He and another firefighter were trapped when the roof collapsed but they were not too seriously hurt once we found them. They were really lucky this time.”

“I don’t know how you do it. I doubt I could go into a burning building.”

“We’re trained and we have the latest equipment. We’re as safe as anyone could be. Okay, my turn to ask you something,” she said as she took a bite of her dinner which had just arrived.

“Let me guess, you’re trying to find a polite way to ask me where I got such a weird name,” he said with a laugh.

“I never worry about being polite and that wasn’t what I was going to ask but go ahead and answer that one anyway,” she told him.

“Okay the short version is -- my mother’s maiden name was Glade and Southern tradition dictates that the first child be named the mother’s maiden name.”

“You don’t sound Southern.”

“Neither does my mother any more thanks to a very good voice coach. And I am really one of those L.A. anomalies. I was actually born here.”

“Me too,” she said extending her hand to him to shake hands. Native Angelinos were a rare breed. “But I got the impression that you were new in town. And what’s all this about eating your way across Hong Kong?”

“You sure you’re not a detective?” he laughed.

“No, just a humble firefighter,” she vowed, deciding her adventures as part of the John Gage detective agency could wait for another day.

“You have an eye for details and you remember what you hear. Those are good traits for a detective.”

“So, do you hope to be a detective one day?”

“Maybe. But right now I just want to learn to be a good cop.”

“Well, you have a good training officer. Vince can be an old fart when he wants to but he knows his stuff. Now back to our regularly scheduled program, how did a kid born in L.A. find his way to Hong Kong?”

“After my old man kicked the bucket my mom  got remarried to a guy who wasn’t in the business. He worked for CocoCola -- still does actually. He’s the head of the Pacific Rim division so we moved there.”

“The business? You mean THE business?”

“Left that bit out, I guess. My mother was an actress. My dad was an actor too. It’s not easy having a dad that half the kids in the country would love to have as a dad but the reality is not as great as the fantasy, believe me. The guy behind the hero was a little on the tarnished side. Booze will do that,” he concluded not cloaking the disgust he felt.

“I think I know where you’re coming from. My dad was a hero one day in three. The other two days he wallowed around in a bottle too. But that was a long time ago and he’s dead now so it’s best to just let it go.”

“What did your dad do?”

“He was a firefighter.”

“So it’s in your blood?”

“Guess so. It’s all I ever wanted to do but it was out of the question until they came up with the idea of an all female station. So your dad was an actor? Would I have heard of him?”

“Ever hear of Woody Logan?”

“The cowboy star? Are you kidding? We were all glued to Nevada Territory every week. It was about the only thing my whole family agreed on. Wait a minute, wasn’t he married to the women who played Widow Hanson?”

“Yes Annalisa Glade.”

“Then that means you were that horrible brat Chip who kept dipping the girls pigtails in the inkwells and putting stink bombs in the jail cells!”

“Guilty as charged,” he laughed.

“So why in the world are you a cop and not a TV star?”

“Because I know that life is not as glamorous as it seems. I was the only regular who was a kid so it meant that all those hours between takes I was bored to death. I used to hang out with the studio guards who were all retired cops. They had some great stories about people who are real heroes not pretend heroes. I wanted to be a cop ever since then. Acting is just something I did once when I was a kid and a little in college for spending money -- mostly commercials but I have no desire to pursue a career in it.”

“Just so you’re nothing like that Chip. He reminded me too much of my brother.”

“Just the name. Chip is what my family has always called me. I guess 'cause my dad was Woody but that’s almost as bad as Glade. To tell you the truth I got used to being called Logan when I was in the Orient. I think I prefer it.”

“Yeah you should have been Logan Glade there. Okay, Logan it is then. We should probably be going if you’re finished eating.”

“What about the question you wanted to ask me?” he asked as they got ready to go.

“I did. I wondered how you got to Hong Kong. I can pay my share --”

“Not on your life. I just wish we had more time. Say, you don’t happen to be free next Saturday night do you?”

“Well, I’m not working, I’m supposed to be helping my partner and her date celebrate her birthday but I feel like kind of a fifth wheel -- unless you’d like to come along.”

“Love to if I’m not intruding.”

“You’re not. I just have to figure out someplace that is far enough off the beaten path. They’re kind of trying to keep it quiet that they’re dating. Don’t look at me like that. It’s not like either one is married or anything. They just want to avoid the rumor mill.”

“I know the perfect place. It’s called the Hideaway. It’s up in Topanga Canyon. Might as well be the far side of the moon though in terms of the likelihood of running into anyone you know.”

“Sounds great. It’s a date then,” Cassie agreed. Well what do you know? I have got a date with him; too bad I’ll end up sharing it with Pidge and Morton.

The following Saturday night Cassie and Logan met Pidge and Dr Morton in the resident’s parking lot at Rampart General Hospital. Since Morton didn’t actually have a car, no one wanted to fold themselves into Pidge’s Honda Civic, and no one believed that Cassie’s VW bus could actually make it up some roads in the canyon, Logan ended up driving.

“It’s probably for the best anyway since I know where this place is and it can be a little tricky to find,” Logan said as they pulled out into the Saturday night traffic.

“Yeah but now they get the backseat so they can neck,” Cassie complained.

“You shut up, Girl!” Pidge snarled.

“Hey, you better be nice to me or you won’t get your present,” Cassie teased. She liked having the upper hand for once. It was bad enough she had to get semi dressed up for this occasion. Although she had chosen black jeans, they were fancy jeans and she’d topped them with a hand embroidered Mexican peasant blouse. Crenshaw usually accused her of dressing like a 12 year old boy so it was some improvement, she supposed. The birthday girl was wearing a little black dress of which Dr Morton seemed to approve a great deal, Cassie noticed. Pidge’s usual Afro was styled into something closer to what you’d expect to find on one of the Motown girl groups. Cassie just wore her long hair down which was a nice change from the long braid she wore both at work and at the dojo. She had Pidge’s present in a large tote bag by her feet but she noticed that the delicate gold chain that was around her partner’s neck was new and suspected that it was from the good doctor.

The Hideaway lived up to its name. Not only was it hard to see from the road, but it was fairly dark inside as well. Logan had made a reservation for them and the Maitre'd seemed to know him. They were led to a booth that was so surrounded by plants that it could have been in the middle of the jungle. The only real light in the room seemed to come from the small red lanterns on every table. The table they sat at was made of thick planks that looked like redwood. There was a very earthy feel to the place. Cassie was delighted to see that they had vegetarian entrees on the menu. She might decide that she liked this place if she could actually see it. Pidge sure couldn’t say this place wasn’t discreet enough. They couldn’t see any of the other patrons so it was unlikely anyone could see them.

After they had eaten, Cassie made a big deal over giving Pidge her present. She had wrapped this a little more carefully than she had Johnny’s if only to watch Pidge struggle to open it. She had gotten her the running shoes Pidge had wanted but decided were too expensive. Pidge had a whole household of people living with her but Cassie wasn’t responsible for anyone but herself so she figured a little splurging was no big deal. When they had excused themselves to the ladies’ room Pidge starting in on her right away.

“Those shoes are too expensive,” she told her.

“Now you’ll be beholdin’ to me, as Crenshaw would say,” Cassie grinned. “Besides, what else have I got to spend my money on. My car is paid for, I live for next to nothing, I have no costly vices, I hate to shop.”

“I know that Payroll is always after you to cash your checks but still ---”

“But nothing. The shoes are yours. I lost the receipt so I can’t take them back besides no one is getting me into a mall again for a while so you’re stuck with them.”

“Well, I appreciate them,” she said giving Cassie a hug.

“So where did you get that nice little gold chain -- from Michael?” she asked using the name that Pidge called Morton away from work. It seemed odd to her to call him that.

“Yes,” she said looking away so Cassie wouldn’t see her blush. She looked back in a minute after composing herself. “Now spill it about Officer Cutie Pie. You know Crenshaw will kill you for landing him.”

“She doesn’t scare me -- besides she liked that Malloy guy Johnny sicced her onto.”

“You’re avoiding the question. How long have you been seeing him?”

“I ran into him a few days ago when I was at the hospital visiting Chet.”

“Chet or Johnny?” Pidge teased.

“I keep telling you, Johnny is a friend, that’s all. He likes to fight with Chet and so do I. So we gang up on him whenever we can. That’s all. Men and women can be just friends, you know.”

“It’s just that all we heard about Johnny from Dixie doesn’t really jive with that.”

“Oh, he can be like that. At the moment he’s salivating over a couple of stewardesses who just moved into his complex but that’s Romeo Johnny. It’s much better to just be friends with him, I think. I could never put up with that other crap.”

“What about Officer Logan crap?” Pidge teased.

“Haven’t seen that yet. He came into the dojo for classes a couple of times and so far so good.”

“He’s not into all that ninja stuff too, is he?”

“He studies martial arts, if that’s what you mean.” Cassie suddenly felt defensive but she wasn’t about to let on to Pidge.

“Girl, if he can put up with all that, you’d better snatch him up!”

“Hey, it’s our first date. No one is snatching anyone up. We’re just out to help a poor old lady celebrate her birthday,” she said with a grin and hurried out of the ladies’ room before Pidge could retaliate.

When they got back to the table there was a very expensive bottle of wine waiting for them. They all had a toast to wish Pidge many happy returns.

“I’m not all that big on wine usually but this is good,” Cassie said with surprise.

“You’d better take it easy on that. You know how plastered you got on your birthday,” Pidge laughed.

“I told you I wasn’t plastered. I was uninhibited.”

“You sure were. Propositioning fireman and discussing bra sizes with Dr. Early,” Pidge remembered with a laugh.

“Now I’m really sorry I had to work that night,” Dr. Morton said. “I did hear all about it though.”

“That Dixie always does blow things out of proportion,” Cassie complained as she let Logan pour her a second glass of wine. “Must be the cork,” she said out of the blue.

“What?” Logan was not yet used to Cassie’s whiplash inducing changes of subject.

“Why this tastes better than the stuff I’ve had before. Boone’s Farm has screw off caps.”

“Boone’s Farm?” Morton said with a groan. “How could you drink that stuff?”

“Hey, it was high school. We used to put the bottles in the freezer and make slushies. I went to more drive-ins that I can’t remember the movie for than you can imagine.”

“Your ill-spent youth?” Logan asked with a laugh.

“She’s still ill spending her youth,” Pidge sighed.

“Just because yours is fast slipping away doesn’t mean I shouldn’t enjoy mine,” Cassie retorted.

“Hey, I thought partners were supposed to get along,” Logan said, pouring everyone another round of wine except himself since he was driving.

“We get along,” Cassie said with surprise.

“Yeah, if you want to know what it sounds like when Ms. Kelly doesn’t get along with someone you ought to hear what happens when she and her brother are in the same room. World War III,” Morton told him.

Eventually Dr. Morton’s need to be on duty at 7 AM made them call it a night. As they were driving down the winding canyon road they caught a glimpse of the city spread out before them.

“Wow! What a view!” Cassie said. She’d had just enough wine to be happy with the world.

“Want a better look? It’ll only take a few minutes,” Logan offered, pulling into a roadside overlook. They all got out of the car and stood for a few minutes enjoying the lights that stretched out below them.

They were about to get back into the Datson when a Chevy Malibu full of teenagers pulled into the overlook. “Uh oh, looks like we’re in somebody’s makeout spot,” Cassie laughed.

The kids in the car spotted them and decided to find a better place to park. The driver threw the car into reverse and stepped on it intending to impress the girls that were with him with his ability to throw up a wake of gravel and lay down some rubber when they were back on the paved street. Unfortunately he managed to slide the floor shift into drive instead and the car shot off the side of the overlook to the rocky cliff below.

At first they just stared in disbelief for a moment but the sound of the car crashing below snapped them out of it. Cassie instinctively walked toward the edge. Both Logan and Pidge pulled her back.

“Where do you think you’re goin’, Girl?” Pidge demanded.

“Someone has to get down there and help those kids.”

“It’s pitch dark. You can’t see a thing,” Morton told her with authority.

“Have you got a flashlight?” she asked Logan.

“Yeah. I’ll flip on my headlights too. Maybe that will help.” He ran back to the car but Pidge kept a firm grip on Cassie’s arm to keep her from climbing into the abyss.

The headlights illuminated the overlook but shed little light over the cliff where the crash was. Cassie snatched the flashlight from him and walked closer to the edge after a quick flick of her wrist released her from Pidge’s grip. Logan went with her, ready to grab her if she slipped.

The beam of the flashlight seemed to be consumed by the darkness of the hillside. It stabbed at the darkness as Cassie shined it down to the place where the car had come to rest. It was on an outcropping of rocks about thirty feet below the overlook. The front end of the car had ploughed up a lot of loose sand and rock against which it was resting but it looked none too stable.

There seemed to be no sign of life around the car but Cassie played the beam in ever widening arcs in the area of the car.

“Help! Please help!” the terrified voice of a teenage girl called out.

Cassie followed the sound with the beam of the flashlight. She saw a girl laying on a rock about ten feet above the car. There was a boy laying on the ground next to her.

“Just hold on. We’ll get some help,” Cassie assured the girl. She felt completely helpless which was a feeling she hated.

“Please don’t leave. Jimmy is bleeding so much, I’m sure he’s dead,” the girl sobbed. She sounded like she was on the verge of panicking.

“If he’s bleeding, he isn’t dead,” Dr. Morton called down to her. He meant to be reassuring but his brash bedside manner was not the approach to take in the field.

“I’ve gotta get down there,” Cassie said with determination.

“Are you crazy, Girl,” Pidge hissed. “Don’t you even think about going down there. You don’t have any equipment.”

“I have a first aid kit in the car,” Logan offered.

“Well you can’t fly down there!” Pidge shrilled.

“I have to try,” Cassie told her.

“No. It won’t do them a bit of good for you to break your neck. You need ropes and a safety harness.” Pidge was firm.

“I have ropes and climbing gear too. I love to climb.”

“This isn’t hobby climbing,” Cassie told him. “Are you experienced?”

“I did El Capitan last weekend. I’ll get you down there if you can help those kids,” he told her in his best cop voice. “That is, if you can climb with a broken arm?”

“No problem at all. It’s just about healed. Get the stuff.” She walked back over to the side of the cliff. “Hang on, we’ll be right down.”

“Are you crazy? We need to get in the car and get to a phone and call for real help,” Morton ordered. He was used to nurses who obeyed his every command. He was not ready for a headstrong paramedic.

“There’s nothing to tie off to up here. We’ll have to use the car,” Logan said as he crawled under and anchored the rope to the front axle.

“No,” Morton insisted. “Those kids need real help. People who have the equipment to treat them. If we delay calling for help they could all die.”

“Doc, I took a gander at that kid who is bleeding. He’ll bleed out before anyone can get here. He needs someone now and I don’t even know what condition the other kids are in but they can’t wait for help to arrive. We’re here. We have to do it!” Cassie told him.

“Her mind is made up. There’s no point in arguing,” Pidge said with disgust. “The important thing is that those kids get help.”

“Yes they need help but the best way to help them is to call for the fire department and paramedics with ---”

“I’m gonna go call for help,” Pidge told him. She walked back to the car and he followed.

“How, if you can’t use the car? That restaurant must be a couple of miles back up the highway and I didn’t see anyplace else to call from on the way here.” Morton was so angry he was ready to spit nails. He hated it when his orders weren’t obeyed and he hated stupidity, which this surely was. Stupidity that could well cost lives!

Pidge opened up the door and reached into the back seat for the shoes that Cassie had bought her. She sat down on the passenger’s seat and began to change into them. The heels she was wearing were definitely not running shoes.

“What are you doing?”

“Gonna run back to the restaurant and call for help,” she said simply.

“It’s miles from here!”

“Michael, I run 5 miles everyday when I’m not working. I can do this.” She had the same determination in her voice as Cassie had.

“Make sure you tell them we’ll need a light truck or something. It’s dark as hell down there,” Cassie called to her.

“Liz, you’re dressed in black. Someone could run you over without even seeing you,” he tried to argue logically. Didn’t either of these girls have any sense of self preservation?

“There’s a white windbreaker there in the trunk. Why don’t you put that on? And there is a spare flashlight in the glove compartment,” Logan called to her as he set up the ropes so they could rappel down the side of the cliff.

Morton reached in and grabbed it. He shoved it into her hand. “At least with this you won’t be as apt to run off the side of the cliff but I think you're nuts to do this,” he said with disapproval. He was sure that Liz, Cassie and the cop were going to end up in as bad a state as those kids were and no one would listen to him.

Pidge just nodded. “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” she called and took off at a run going back to the Hideaway.

Morton ran a nervous hand through his hair as he watched her go. These people were all nuts. Then he went back to where Cassie and Logan were getting ready to walk off the cliff. “What do you want me to do?”

“Try and flag down anyone that goes by and see if they can help,” Cassie said as she disappeared over the edge after Logan. He carried the flashlight and she carried the first aid kit.

“Yeah right,” he snorted to himself. “Like someone is going to stop on a lonely stretch of highway when a black man tries to flag them down.” Sometimes Cassie Kelly was as naive as she was pigheaded. He began to pace nervously around the parking area of the overlook. He did not like this at all. He knew time was of the essence but he didn’t think that putting themselves at personal risk was the answer till it suddenly dawned on him that they did this all the time.

Logan reached the girl first. He shone the flashlight on her and her boyfriend for a minute. The amount of blood that surrounded them made his stomach do flips. He was glad he’d only had one glass of wine.

“Help us, please.” The girl was sobbing.

“That’s what we’re here for. I’m Officer Glade Logan. This is Cassie Kelly. She’s a paramedic with the fire department. Don’t worry about a thing. We’re going to get you out of here,” he assured her with a confident smile. He hoped that his officer presence would calm her down.

Cassie was sure it was his good looks that had calmed the girl but they needed all the help that they could get on this one. The first aid kit was a joke compared to what she was used to working with. She grabbed a bunch of bandages and pressed them to the deep gash on Jimmy’s head. “Here,” she said grabbing Logan’s hand and putting it on the bandage. “Apply pressure to this while I check him out but try not to move his head or neck at all.”

As they'd rappelled down the cliff, Logan’s flashlight had shined on the car. The two rear doors were open and it appeared that these two kids had been ejected as the car bounced down the cliff. The boy was deeply unconscious. She could feel serious misalignment in his left leg which he appeared to have landed on but it was his head wound that worried her the most.

“Is he going to be okay?” the girl asked nervously. “He’s not dead. The man up there said so.”

“And that man’s a doctor so he should know,” Cassie said pleasantly. If this girl flipped out she could fall the rest of the way to the floor of the canyon. “Are you hurt anywhere?”

“My arm. What if I broke it?! I’m a cheerleader. I can’t cheer with a broken arm?!” She was starting to panic.

“Of course, you can,” Logan told her with another reassuring smile. “Cassie here has a broken arm and she’s working as a fireman.”

“Firefighter,” Cassie corrected him lightly. “Were there two other kids in the car with you?”

“Four other kids. Where are they all?” The girl suddenly realized that she hadn’t heard anyone else moving around.

“You stay calm and I’ll go look in the car,” Cassie told her with authority in her voice.

“Take the flashlight. We don’t need it for the moment do we –ah...”

“Nancy. Nancy Wells.”

“Okay, Nancy, we’ll just sit here quietly and let Cassie take the light so she can see what’s going on down there at the car. Okay? So where do you go to school?” he asked conversationally.

Cassie took the flashlight and went down to the car. As she approached the driver’s side, she lost her footing for a minute and started to slip. She grabbed onto the front fender to stop herself. Somehow she managed to hold onto the flashlight. She played it around the ground for a minute. She had thought that she had slipped on a rock but it turned out that it was one of the many beer cans that must have fallen out of the car. If the driver had helped empty them, it was no wonder he couldn’t tell drive from reverse. Kids did stupid things just as she had when she was in high school.

“You okay?” Logan yelled with concern.

“Sure. Just overshot a little is all.” She pulled herself back up the car to the driver’s seat. She reached in the window and checked for a pulse on the driver. She couldn’t find one. The steering wheel was bowed in slightly where he had hit it and the windshield was spiderwebbed.

There was a girl slumped next to him. Cassie noted, when she shined her flashlight into the car, that the girl was wearing her seat belt. Cassie couldn’t reach her from the driver’s side so she made her way around to the front of the car, hoping that it would stay in place. She knew Pidge would never let her live it down if it managed to run her over.

When she got to the other side she had to really work at the dented in door to get it opened. She was surprised to find a second girl curled up on the floor. She checked her first. Amazingly, this girl was conscious. She was sobbing quietly.

“Hello,” Cassie said in a gentle voice. “My name is Cassie and I’m here to help you.”

“This can’t be happening,” the girl mumbled. “It just can’t.”

“Are you hurt anywhere?” Cassie asked.

“I ruined my sister’s blouse and she doesn’t even know I borrowed it. She’s gonna kill me. You know the way sisters are.”

“‘Fraid not. I just have brothers but I think she’ll let it go this time,” Cassie assured her. This girl was bleeding from her head also. She may have made the spiderwebs in the windshield. She was not bleeding as badly as Jimmy but it was clear that they needed more supplies ASAP. Logan’s first aid kit could not cope with massive trauma.

Up at the overlook, Dr Morton was pacing around nervously. Without a radio he had no way of knowing what was going on down there. Logic told him that it could be nothing good. He had spoken to one girl so there was at least one survivor but he could do nothing to help anyone at the moment. The thought made him angrier than ever. He kicked a few loose pebbles out of frustration and glanced at his watch. It had been almost 25 minutes. What was keeping everyone? He knew that Liz was a runner but it was a long way back to the restaurant and those kids didn’t have much time.

Suddenly he heard a car engine and ventured out into the road. Maybe he could flag someone down. The car was coming from the direction of the restaurant. Maybe he could convince them to drive back and call for help. He waved to them and the large old convertible pulled into the overlook. He ran toward it to explain the problem. Before he got there the driver’s door open and someone stepped out. The driver looked familiar but he couldn’t place him. His attention was diverted when the passenger side door opened and Liz and Suzy Parker stepped out.

“Help’s on the way,” Pidge told him.

“Have you got any flares, Doc?” the driver asked.

“I -ah- I don’t know. It’s not my car.”

“I got some,” the man he suddenly realized was Chet Kelly said. He went around to the trunk of his car and got out some roadside flares.

Chet set them up on the road while Liz and Suzy came over to join Morton near the edge of the cliff. “Any news?” Pidge asked nervously.

“No. Nothing yet. Ah, how– ”

“They were at the cash register paying when I came in to use the phone so they came to help,” Pidge explained.

“How many victims?” Suzy asked.

“Two that I know of but there could be more,” Morton told her.

Chet joined them at the edge of the cliff. “Cassie’s down there,” he surmised.

“Yes but they do have ropes and climbing gear,” Pidge assured him.

He just nodded, non committally. He had brought a powerful flashlight from his car. He shined it down to the accident site. “Holy shit,” he muttered. “How the hell did they end up down there?”

“It looked like he threw it in the wrong gear and went forward instead of back,” Morton told him.

“I don’t see any skid marks so he didn’t try the brakes,” Chet commented after shining his light around the ground.

“Happened too fast. He never knew what hit him,” Morton commented.

“Jeez,” Chet said shaking his head. They all stood in silent contemplation as they tried to hide their impatience.

Suddenly the sound of a vehicle turning into the overlook parking lot got their attention. They turned around to see a light colored Mercedes pulling in next to Chet’s GTO. They were surprised when they saw who got out of it.

“We were eating at the restaurant up the street and we heard there was an accident,” Dr. Brackett told them as he and Dixie joined them by the edge of the cliff. “Whatdya got?”

“Carload of teenagers,” Morton answered.

“How in the world did they end up down there?” Dixie asked with a shudder.

“Got drive and reverse mixed up, I guess,” Chet told them.

“Has anyone got any blankets in their cars?” Nurse McCall took charge. The very least they could do was to keep those kids warm till the fire department arrived on scene.

“Look at us, two doctors, a nurse, two paramedics and a fireman and there’s not a damn thing we can do to help those kids,” Brackett snapped angrily.

“Three paramedics,” Pidge corrected him. “And a cop. Cassie and Logan are down there with them at least, instead of just sitting on their hands. Let’s look for blankets,”she suggested to Dixie and Suzy. She hated feeling helpless as much as Brackett did but thought doing something, anything was more productive than just bitching about things.

“Who's Logan?” Chet asked but no one answered him as the sound of a siren in the distance indicated that someone with equipment was on the way.

Engine 45 pulled into the overlook followed by the squad. Chet ran up to it. He was a little surprised to see Capt. Hook climb down from the engine as this was not a normal A shift work day but shifts sometimes did trade off to accommodate each other or the training facilities. Just because it was Capt. Hook, Chet tried to imagine what he could be doing or even wearing that would bug the man. He was on his own time but he doubted that would stop the hypercritical captain. He shook his head and tried to convince himself that he wasn’t afraid of this man.

“What’s the situation, Kelly?” Captain Hook barked.

“Car over the embankment. At least two victims with injuries,” he reported.

“Higgins, Divino we’ll need the lights. Brice, Bellingham – full safety gear.” The captain didn’t even look to see that his orders were being carried out. He just walked over to the edge of the cliff to eyeball the situation.

Chet and 45's engineer, Ron “Leadfoot” Moody went to help the crew with the extra large lighting units that 45's carried.

Doctor Brackett, who was used to being in charge of every situation, approached Captain Hockrader but before he could speak the captain just motioned him to stay a safe distance away from the edge. He didn’t need any damn civilians getting in the way of a rescue.

“Look, I’m Dr. Kelly Brackett, head of Emergency Medicine at Rampart General Hospital. This is Doctor Mike Morton ---”

“That’s just fine, Doc. I expect you two will be a great help once we get the victims up here but right now it’s the Fire Department’s job to do that and you’re both gonna be in the way unless you stand back over there by the rig. It’s too damn dark to even think about using a chopper. We’ll have to bring them back up here. We have an ambulance rolling – suppose you go co-ordinate some kind of a triage area back there – OUT OF THE WAY.” Captain Hook let him know whose authority counted on the scene.

Dixie steered both flabbergasted doctors back to the area that the captain had indicated and she managed to do it without cracking a smile even though she was laughing on the inside.

Pidge and Suzy identified themselves as off duty paramedics and volunteered their services. Captain Hook took one look at Pidge’s little black dress and Suzy’s brown and yellow paisley broom skirt and shook his head. “That ain’t exactly climbing gear you’re wearing and we don’t want to put too many people down there on unstable ground anyway. Suppose you go help the doctors set up. Grab what you need from the squad.”

He had treated them with little more respect than he had the doctors. Pidge suspected that he was one of the many firefighters who thought that women had no place in the department. “My partner is already down there,” she told him defiantly; begrudgingly understanding a little why it was so damn hard to get Cassie into a dress. She enjoyed the flash of anger that appeared on Hockrader’s face. She felt she could almost read his prejudiced little mind. “She’s no civilian and her date is a cop, so neither is he.” With that she and Suzy turned their backs on him and strode over to the triage area. Pidge was sure that Captain Tacy would have never approved of her disrespectful treatment of a captain but that fool deserved no respect, if that was his attitude.

“Are you crazy?” Suzy whispered. “That was the famous Captain Hook we’ve heard so much about.”

“He don’t scare me.”

“You’ve been hanging around Cassie too long.”

“Just wait till she gets a hold of him,” Pidge laughed. After all, they weren’t on-duty, why should they have to bite their tongues? They both noticed that Chet was gearing up from Engine 45 and was going to aid in the rescue but they would do whatever they could to help too once the victims were brought up. They had set all hard feelings aside and were prepared to do their job.

Brice and Bellingham made their way down the cliff. They reached Logan first. The large lights that were now shined on the cliffside helped them see what was happening. “What’s the situation here?” Brice demanded.

“Nancy isn’t too badly hurt other than her arm but I need something else to help stem this bloodflow,” Logan said in a business-like manner. He knew it was his acting ability not his police training that was allowing him to appear much calmer than he felt. His hand was now soaked with the boy’s blood and the smell was starting to make him a bit queasy. He also knew all about the current reason to not want to be in contact with another person’s blood. He noted the two paramedics were wearing latex gloves.

“Bellingham, you relieve him. Are there any other victims?” Brice asked. He had correctly assumed that these two had been ejected through the open rear doors of the Malibu. If they had been in the rear seat then there must have been one or more people in the front seat.

“I think so. My date is down there by the car. She’d have probably come back here if there was no one there,” he said quietly so as not to upset Nancy.

“I’m going down to check it out. I’ll report my findings to the captain,” he told Bellingham then he made his way to the car. If he was surprised to find Cassie there, he didn’t let it show.

“What’s the situation, Kelly?” he asked in an all business tone of voice.

“It looks like two priority ones, two possible priority twos, one fatality and one I haven’t even found yet,” she told him in a hushed voice.

Brice just nodded and raised his handy talkie to his mouth. “Engine 45 this is Squad 45.”

“Go ahead Squad 45,” came the tinny sounding response.

“Captain, we have six victims. Due to the terrain I advise using stokes baskets for all of them. We will also need back boards. We do have one code-F and one of the victims is still missing so we will require some assistance with both transport and search. Also, we will require additional ambulances.”

“10-4, Squad 45. Engine 45 out.”

Brice put the handy talkie back into the pocket of his turnout coat and came closer to Cassie so that he could assess the situation more fully.

Since he had equipment, Cassie stood up and got out of his way. She was getting a little stiff from squatting in one position for so long talking to the girl on the floor of the car. She couldn’t reach the other girl without climbing into the car herself and she thought it was too unstable. She couldn’t see any major wounds that were hemorrhaging and the girl appeared to be moving air well.

“We really need to get this car tied off,” she told him.

Brice nodded in agreement and relayed the information to the captain.

Up at the overlook, Chet and Ron Moody went back to the engine to get some heavy chain. There was nothing to tie the car off too except the heavy engine. Jack Higgins and Joey Divino had gathered up the stokes from the engine and the one from the squad and were filling them with backboards and spare ropes and harnessing.

“I’ll go tie it off,” Chet said. He was the most experienced man here except for Hockrader. “Once it’s secure we can get the other stuff down to them.” He wasn’t going to wait for Captain Hook to countermand him. He had a rope and harness on already. He tossed the rope to Higgins to tie off. Once both the chain and he were tied to the engine he started over the cliff. It wasn’t that he actually enjoyed this kind of thing but if his fool sister was down there then he was going to be down there too. Somebody had to keep an eye on her.

Once he’d secured the heavy chain to the rear axle of the Malibu he made his way to Cassie and Brice. Cassie looked surprised to see him but said nothing.

“Can I get out now?” the frightened girl on the floor of the car asked. Cassie had insisted she stay where she was until the car was secured. She also wanted the girl to be secured before she got out of the car but she didn’t mention that to her.

Cassie stepped back so that Brice could give the girl a cursory examination and check her vitals. She appeared to Cassie to be in fairly good shape but the only thing she had been able to check had been her pulse which was racing because she was scared.

“She can probably be upgraded to Priority Three,” Brice said, taking the stethoscope from his ears. He placed a c-collar on her as a precaution but decided that a backboard was unnecessary as she had already been moving on her own. “If you think you can get out, Miss, that would be helpful. Allow Kelly to help you.”

“Which one of us?” Cassie asked Chet under her breath. She wondered for a moment if having two Kellys there would cause Brice to re-think his last names are less confusing stance. She doubted it.

“Both,” Chet said, stepping forward to assist the girl out of the car.

When she was out, Cassie checked her over for possible broken bones that they had been unable to detect due to her position in the car. “She seems okay but she needs to be in a harness or something.”

Chet pulled a spare belt out of his pocket and strapped it around the girl. He had stuffed one in there in case Cassie was not tied off to his satisfaction.

“This is my brother Chet,” Cassie told her. He’ll walk you back up to the overlook. There’s a doctor up there and he’ll check you out some more.”

“Actually there's two doctors up there. And a nurse and a couple of more paramedics,” Chet told her. “Not to mention a bunch of firemen. You’re in good hands,” he assured her.

Higgins and Divino had started making their way down the cliff as soon as the car was tied off. When they reached Bellingham they stopped to see what he needed.

“We need to get the boy topside ASAP,” Bellingham told them. “Help me get him onto a backboard and into one of the stokes baskets.”

It was difficult to do on the almost vertical terrain but between the three of them they managed. To their surprise, Nancy stood up as soon as they got ready to bring Jimmy up. “We’ll be back for you, Miss,” Higgins told her. “You’d best stay right where you are.”

“I’m going with Jimmy,” she told them firmly. “I can walk.”

“We don’t have time to argue,” Bellingham said.

“I can take her up,” Logan told them.

Bellingham had immobilized her arm already. He gave it one more quick check then nodded his approval to Logan.

“Okay,” Higgins said digging a spare belt out of the equipment that they had now transferred to the other stokes. “But she needs to be tied off. This is a hell of a climb.”

While Logan was strapping her off, Higgins leaned toward Bellingham to confer. “We’ll bring the boy up. Since the place is lousy with medicos why don’t you go down and help Brice? We’ll be back as quick as we can and bring the other stokes and stuff down to you.”

Bellingham nodded. “Okay, you guys go first. Give them enough head start so that if they fall they don’t take you with ‘um,” he added quietly to Logan. As far as Bellingham knew he was just a civilian.

Logan just nodded. There was little point in telling this guy that he had been climbing for over 10 years.

Higgins and Divino had just started up the slope when Chet and the girl from the car reached them. “Give them a head start,” Chet told Logan.

“I know. I know,” Logan really had to fight to keep his patience. He just waited till Chet told him to go ahead. He noticed that Chet stayed behind him in case he fell. He’d climbed Denali on his 18^th birthday. This cliff was a slight incline to him but he did admit that the girl was probably inexperienced so he decided a little back up might just be a good thing.

When they got to the top the fire captain pulled them up onto the overlook parking lot. “Take her over there by that Mercedes. That’s where the doctors are,” he said gruffly.

Since the large lights were pointed down to the accident site, the overlook was comparatively dark. It took a minute for his eyes to adjust then he spotted the Mercedes and headed that way. Pidge met him just before he got there and steered him to the near side of the car. “We’ll take care of her here so we don’t get in their way over there,” she told him. One of the ambulance gurneys had been set up here and they walked her to it. “I’m Liz,” she told the girl in a friendly manner. “This is Suzy. We’re both paramedics and nurses and we’re going to take good care of you.”

“How’s Jimmy?” Nancy asked fearfully.

“The doctors are looking at him right now. Let me take a look at this arm, okay?”

“Look, I think I’ll go back and see what else I can do,” Logan told them. “I’ll see you later, Nancy,” he called casually. It had taken him a long time to get her calmed down and he hoped that she would stay calm so that the more seriously injured could get most of the attention from the doctors. He was actually feeling a little out of his element and wanted to get back to the cliffside where he was more comfortable.

Chet was just bringing his girl up. He was congratulating her about how well she was doing. He really meant it too. He had slipped three times but the girl had kept her footing the whole way.

“I’m a gymnast,” she said off-handedly. “I have a good sense of balance.”

Logan helped them climb up as the captain was now waving in a second ambulance and pointing to where he wanted them to park. “They want them over there where Liz and the other girl are,” he told Chet.

It took Chet a minute to realize who Liz was as he had always heard her called Pidge. But he did understand that they wanted the less seriously wounded separated from the more seriously wounded. That was how triage worked.

“Candace, these ladies are paramedics. They are going to check you over,” he told the girl. “I’m going to go back and help get the other kids up here.”

“Okay, Chet, thanks a million.”

Candace completely surprised him by giving him a kiss on the cheek. He shot a quick panicked look at Suzy. Most girls were not too thrilled when their dates were kissed by someone else but Suzy looked cool with it.

He walked back over to the edge. The other guy was waiting for someone to tell him what he could do next.

“Let’s go back down and see if we can help,” Chet suggested.

“I was hoping you’d say that. I’m Logan, by the way. Glade Logan but most people just call me Logan.” he extended a quick hand to Chet as they got ready to rappel down the cliff.

“Chet Kelly. Are you Vince Howard’s partner?”

“Yeah how did you know?”

“Saw you on TV explaining how he managed to get a cruiser on top of a mall.” Chet neglected to say that he’d made fun of his first name at the time. “You’re here with Cassie?”

“Yes,” he said as they made their way down toward the car. They stepped out of the way as Higgins and Divino carried another stokes with an unconscious girl in it. Brice kept pace with them.

Chet and Logan went down to the car where Cassie and Bellingham stood. They could see that the driver was still in the car and it seemed odd that neither paramedic was tending him.

“He’s gone,” Cassie said by way of explanation, “but there was one more kid with them. We’re going to have to beat the brush for him. His name’s Mickey. Logan and I will go this way. You two take that side of the car.” Cassie wasn’t about to get stuck with Chet as a search partner. This was neither the time nor place for one of his grand inquisitions. Although she was more than a tad bit curious about what he was even doing here.

She had Logan’s flashlight and Chet and Bellingham each had their own. They looked all around the car and then started up toward where the other kids were found. If they all fell out at the same time he might be near where they had been.

Soon Higgins and Divino joined them. There was no sign of anyone near the car or near where the other kids were. They began searching farther and farther from the car but there was still no sign of the missing boy.

Suddenly the HT that Bellingham carried crackled to life. “Squad 45, this is Engine 45.”

“Squad 45,” Bellingham responded.

“Call the teams in, Bellingham.”

“But we haven’t found the missing kid yet.”

“He must have wandered up to the road somehow. A civilian just dropped him off.”

“10-4, Cap. We’ll be right up,” Bellingham reported and then called out to the other teams. “We’re being recalled topside. They found the kid.”

The three teams made the climb back up to the overlook. Chet was concentrating on not puffing like Bellingham was. He didn’t want Suzy to think he was out of shape. He still couldn’t believe she had agreed to go out with him.

When they got up Higgins and Divino began gathering up what they could of their ropes and equipment while the other four went over to the triage area. Things were well in hand here. Brackett and Brice had left in one of the ambulances. Doctor Morton and Dixie were checking over the other three victims before putting them in the other waiting ambulance.

Pidge and Suzy approached them and motioned them away from the kids. “So far they haven’t thought to ask about the driver. Maybe they think he’s in the other ambulance,” Pidge told them. “They’ll bring him up when these kids are safely away. They’re gonna go ahead and send him to Rampart so his parents get a call from them instead of the coroner’s office. This whole thing is such a waste,” she added sadly.

“What a freak accident,” Logan commented. “If I hadn’t seen it, I wouldn’t have believed it.”

“Not as freaky as a cop car on the roof of a shopping center,” Chet teased. “I mean I can see how this one happened, at least.”

“This has been one freaky week,” Logan agreed.

“Look,” Pidge stepped in before Cassie could lambast Chet. “I had a really great time tonight, but Michael is going to ride in with the next batch and I promised Dixie I’d help her drive Brackett’s car back to Rampart since my car is there. No point in you guys having to make the trip in.”

“Maybe he and Brackett with get a better feel for how much fun it is to try and do things in the back of a speeding ambulance,” Cassie suggested gleefully as she watched Morton and Bellingham getting the kids into the second ambulance.

Dixie came over and joined them. She was still shaking her head in disbelief at the accident but she was nodding in approval at the idea that her suspicions about Morton and Pidge had proven correct. However, the idea that Cassie was dating the good looking cop and that Suzy was dating Chet was brand new fodder for her. They didn’t call her gossip central for nothing. Not that she told anything that she knew, she just liked knowing.

“What was it you were saying about that place being like the far side of the moon in terms of meeting anyone we knew?” Cassie teased Logan.

“Well..ah I guess the place is more popular than I thought,” he said helplessly then he brightened. “And besides, we didn’t actually meet them at the restaurant, did we?”

“He’s got ya there, Sis,” Chet laughed. Logan came up in his estimation. Getting Cassie was no easy task. As far as he knew, he was the only one who could do it.

Cassie ignored him and turned to Suzy. “You’re with him? He’s almost as bad as Disco Duck.”

“Mind your own business, Cassie,” Suzy told her in no uncertain terms.

“I feel kinda like I’ve been on M*A*S*H* here,” Logan interrupted them looking down at the blood that was still on his hands.

“Let’s go get you hosed off,” Cassie said slipping her hand on his elbow and steering him toward the engine.

She climbed up onto the rear bumper to grab the reel line. Moody was around the other side stowing some of the ropes and climbing gear they had used for the rescue. “Hey, Lady,” he objected. “Whatdya think you’re doin’ there?”

“Pulling a reel line,” she answered evenly.

“I can’t let you do that?”

“You try and stop me Leadfoot and they’ll be calling you Onefoot,” she threatened picking up an ax meaningfully.

Just then Hockrader arrived.

“Cap,” he complained. “This civilian is messing around with the engine.”

“Can it, Moody. She knew more about engines when she was eight years old than you ever will. Go gather up the rest of the gear,” Hockrader snarled.

Chet had seen Captain Hook go over to the engine while Cassie was there. He decided he had to go over too to try and avert disaster. He told Suzy he was going to go return the turnout gear he had borrowed. Hook approached him. “You done real good tonight, Kelly. Maybe be you got some of your old man in you, after all.”

Chet froze in his tracks. It wasn’t only the fact that Hook had complimented him, it was the fact that he knew who Chet’s father was. He’d never mentioned anything about that at Station 51. “Not as much as Spitfire there. She was born with a hose between her teeth. I figured she’d get into the department somehow but you, you I had figured as being more like your Uncle Dennis, the used car salesman.”

Chet was speechless. He was only barely aware that Suzy had come with him. “There’s nothing wrong with being a used car salesman. That’s how my dad started out,” she confided in him hoping to avoid a Kelly outburst. She’s witnessed plenty of those since she’d met Cassie.

Chet appreciated what she said but there was no outburst in the offing from him. He was too stunned. How had Hockrader known his father? How did he know his uncle? Why did he call Cassie Spitfire? That was what the guys at his dad’s station had called her as a kid. She had always hung around at the station. Did that explain the special interest Hockrader had always shown in him at 51's? He’d always insisted that everything be perfect and it had always seemed to Chet that he was especially hard on him. Was he trying to make him into a firefighter like his dad had been? Not that his dad had ever had any interest in following the rules from what he could remember. Cassie was much more like his dad in that regard than he was. He just snuck around the rules. They had both completely disregarded them. He decided he’d have to ask Smokey about that. Smokey had worked with his dad for years.

He was still mulling all this over when the four of them walked back over to Brackett’s car. The second ambulance had just left. A third ambulance was just pulling in along with a heavy duty tow truck. Two policemen were in the street directing traffic. Another car pulled into the lot. There was a large PRESS sign in the front windshield. A reporter from the LA Times got out and started asking questions.

“Maybe we should all go,” Dixie suggested, thinking that all the discretion they had each used in dining at such an out of the way restaurant would be for nothing if they all ended up in the Sunday Times. “This is going to be like driving a tank after my beetle,” she sighed, looking at Brackett’s Mercedes with some dismay.

“Don’t worry. Pidge is great at riding shotgun and giving lots of driving advice,” Cassie told Dixie with a grin.

“Only to people who need it,” Pidge returned as she got into the car.“See you on Monday.”

“You too and happy birthday. I gotta admit this is even more spectacular than mine was,” Cassie said with a laugh but she turned and glared at Chet who had poked her to remind her that she wasn’t supposed to know exactly how spectacularly her birthday party had ended.

“Anybody interested in a nightcap? I don’t live too far from here in Hollywood Hills,” Logan offered. He could sure use something after this experience.

“Sorry, but I have to work in the morning,” Suzy apologized."I traded with C shift to be off tonight."

Cassie could have kissed her. The last thing she needed was Chet horning in on her date.

“Guess we’d better go then,” Chet said somewhat reluctantly.

Cassie and Logan said good-bye, then walked back to the Datson. Logan crawled under it and untied their anchor rope. Together they rolled everything up and packed it back in his trunk.

“You ready to call it a night too?” Logan asked as they got back into the car.

“Actually, I’m really kind of keyed up now,” Cassie admitted.

“Maybe a couple of laps in the pool would help,” he suggested. “I’m sure my mother had something you could wear. Don’t worry the woman has more clothes than a department store and since she’s in Tokyo at the moment she’s not using them.”

“A moonlight swim would be great,” Cassie told him. Now maybe she’d get to spend some time with Officer Cutie Pie and get to know him. She liked how he’d handled himself at the accident. Most of the guys she’d dated in the past would have fallen apart in a crisis like that but he hadn’t. Maybe he did have the makings of a real hero. The old studio guards would have been proud of him tonight. And the night was young yet, she told herself with a smile as they pulled out of the overlook. Apparently, Pidge and Morton weren’t the only ones who wanted to keep their private life secret. She’d think about Dixie and Dr. Brackett some other time. She sure didn’t want to think about Chet and Suzy at the moment. She didn’t want to think at all. She just wanted to enjoy the rest of the evening with Logan.