A/N - A huge thank you to Natchez for being my beta and knowing what I was trying to say even when I didn't. I would also like to thank her for her patience. Any remaining mistakes are mine.
This is my first E! fic. Please be gentle. I don't own 'em but I sure enjoy borrowing 'em. OC's are mine.
Disclaimer: Always be careful when playing practical jokes on anyone ;-)
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Mike Stoker, Firefighter Specialist at Station 51, quietly made his way to the dorm after the station's latest run. It was 2:00 in the afternoon and the full station had already been on five runs. That wasn't counting the additional two the squad had been on. Granted, most of the full station calls had been little fires that took under 30 minutes to put out, from start to finish. Still, it was enough to make everyone at the station a little grumpy and he needed to hear a friendly voice.

He picked up the dorm phone, selected the correct outside line and dialed. The voice he was hoping to hear finally answered after four rings.

"Hello?" The female voice he longed to hear answered the phone.

"Hello, angel," Mike's mood instantly improved.

"Hi!" He could almost see her smile through the phone. "How's my favorite firefighter?"

"Better now," Mike relaxed into the chair at the desk. He was careful to keep an ear out for the guys, though. "What are you up to?"

She could hear a little frustration in his voice. "Not much, just watching a couple of kids while their mother runs to the store and their father works. The usual."

"And are they behaving?" He could tell by the lack of noise in the background they probably were, "Or do I need to get their father?"

She laughed and he smiled. "They're fine. Playing out back on the swingset with a friend and actually getting along. But I doubt you called to hear about my cousin's kids."

He was busted. "No, I didn't. I just needed to hear a friendly voice."

"Have a bad run just now?" She knew it was a possibility. He sometimes called in the middle of the day if things were not going well. Good thing it was Saturday or he might have had to wait a couple more hours for her to get off work to talk.

"More like a bad morning of runs. We've had five so far." He recounted them for her. "All of them dumpster fires or something equally stupid. I think we've spent more time in Big Red than in the station today."

"Poor engine. Are you being extra nice to her?" She was teasing. "Should I be jealous you're spending more time with her than with me?"

Mike laughed, "Callie, angel, you know you rank above even Big Red in my heart."

"It's good to know I'm still in first place," she laughed right along with him. "If that ever changes I might have to paint Big Red jealous green."

Mike laughed even harder. "Jealous green? Is that a new color?"

"It's what color I'll be if Big Red ever becomes the most important lady in your life," Callie continued, still teasing. "I'll have to paint her green to get your attention again."

"As long as you don't dye that lovely auburn hair of yours green," Mike wished he could run a hand through her hair just then to emphasize the point. He loved her thick, long hair.

"Oh! That would be even better! Then you could see the green monster of jealousy in person." Callie joked. "That would be a good idea for a Halloween costume."

"Don't you dare color your hair green!" Mike was still trying to control his laughter. "Maybe you could just wear a green wig."

Callie thought about it for a moment. "It would be easier to undo at the end of the day, wouldn't it?"

"It would," He dropped his voice suddenly when he heard one of the guys in the locker room. He had to be careful. No one outside of Callie's cousin and his family knew they were dating yet.

"Mike?" Callie asked when she didn't hear anything. "Did you get toned out?" She realized that was a silly question because she would have heard the tones through the phone.

"What?" It took a moment for her question to sink in. "No! Someone was in the locker room."

Callie understood. "We should be more careful. We'll get busted, otherwise."

"Would that be so bad?" The question slipped out before Mike could stop himself.

Callie considered it before answering. "I don't know. There's that whole protective thing going on with the guys but I see the potential to have some fun at Chet's expense."

Now Mike was intrigued. "What kind of fun?"

"I don't know quite yet. I think I still owe him for that water can he left in Johnny's locker a couple of weeks ago. He got me instead of Johnny when I went to borrow that grease remover stuff Johnny keeps in there for my hands." There was a hint of anger and revenge in her voice.

"The day you stopped by to get Roy to fix that part in your car?" The engine had been out on a call but he heard all about it from Roy and Johnny when they got back. Captain Stanley was not happy that the object of the practical joke turned out to be family and not one of the guys.

"Yeah. How many shifts did Cap have him on latrine duty for that one?" Callie wanted to get back at Chet in the worst way.

"The rest of that week and all of last week." Mike had taken a secret pleasure in the fact the Phantom was finally caught getting the wrong person. Roy, for his part, didn't talk to Chet for the rest of the shift outside of business, since the Phantom's mistaken target was his cousin.

Callie glanced at the clock on the wall. "You'd better go before you get in trouble or get toned out. I'll fill you in later on what I come up with. I might need yours and Roy's help."

"I'm looking forward to hearing all about it," he answered, and he really was. He had no idea Callie could be evil and he thought he kind of liked it. "I'll try to call you again before lights out."

"Deal. Be careful Mister Engineer." Callie said, a smile in her voice.

"Bye, angel." Mike hung up the phone and went back to his duties. He was looking forward to helping Callie get back at Chet. This was going to be good.

-E!-

Callie spent the better part of the afternoon trying to make list of practical jokes, once Joanne returned from the store. Joanne took one look at the list and asked who the intended victim was.

"Chet Kelly! Who else?" Callie exclaimed. She was dead set on getting even with him.

The one thing saving Chet from the full brunt of her anger was the fact that only Roy and Johnny had seen her after it happened. They were also the only ones to hear the stream of profanity she had spewed at the absent lineman. Johnny was fairly certain he had never heard a woman swear like that before in his life. He half jokingly told Callie she made the dock workers in Long Beach blush. She laughed at his attempted comic relief, but she was determined to get even.

"You're going to have to come up with a better list," Joanne mused as she examined it. "How are you going to get into the station to put his hand in a bowl of water in the middle of the night?"

Callie grimaced, but nodded. "I know. That one won't really work unless one of the guys does it for me. Kind of defeats the purpose."

"The same would be true of short sheeting him." Joanne pointed out, but a sly smile crossed her face. "Sure would be fun hearing about it from Roy the next day, though."

"I think I can find a way to actually be the one to fix his sheets. That way, Mike and Roy won't get in trouble with Cap." Callie's evil grin caused Joanne to laugh at - and with - her.

"I don't think Roy has ever mentioned anyone getting short sheeted before." Joanne thought about it for a moment longer. "We'll have to ask him tomorrow to be sure."

"I still want to come up with some more ideas. I want to be able to witness at least one thing in action. This is payback. Somebody needs to teach Chester B. Kelly a lesson!" Callie smacked her hand on the table for emphasis. She really was determined to see this through, and Joanne was now really determined to help her. The intrepid "Phantom" had finally pranked the wrong person. Too bad he didn't know it yet.

TBC...