She had done it to herself.
Alessandra Rossi had voluntarily signed up to direct traffic the night of the big game.
Of course, as she had signed up several weeks in advance there really was no way she could have guessed that she would be sick or that it would be raining dogs, cats, and rather large field mice.
And that is exactly in what she had been standing for the past several hours. The freezing cold rain had been pouring down on her while she stood directing traffic as she hacked and wheezed and sneezed.
Thankfully, she had been released to go home some thirty minutes ago and returned to the station to retrieve her car.
Thus she walks to her vehicle and, after unlocking it, she climbs inside, puts the keys in the ignition, and turns…
Nothing.
She tries again, slight panic setting in.
The engine won't start and no one she knows is on duty to help her.
Nearly screaming in frustration, she lets her head fall to make contact with the steering wheel, triggering a coughing fit.
After a few moments to compose herself, the young woman sighs.
She really has no other choice. Standing out at a bus stop at this late hour is not even an option and neither is sitting in a cold car all night.
Barely restraining a sneeze, Aly goes into the station and dials the number, already feeling awful for calling on his day off.
He had been staring out the window for several minutes, simply watching the rain pour down on everything. Taking a sip of his coffee, he is silently thankful that tonight is not his shift. Of course, part of him feels badly for C-shift, but… not bad enough to trade places.
He chuckles quietly at the thought.
"Daddy?" he hears one of his girls call to him.
Turning to face her, he smiles. "Yes, Lori?"
"Sue and Mom and I want to know if you wanna watch a movie with us…" the teenage girl questions.
How blessed is he that both of his teenage girls still enjoy sitting down for a movie with their parents?
"Of course I do," he answers. "What's the movie?"
"We were thinking Casablanca. That okay with you?"
"Fine with me. To the living room!" he jokes, taking off at a mock run toward where his other daughter and his wife are waiting.
"Daddy… You're so weird," he hears Lori say as she follows him, but he knows that she doesn't really mind.
Walking behind the sofa, he leans down and kisses Emily.
"Well, hello there, Stranger," she giggles, smiling up at her husband. "Glad you could make it."
"Hello, Gorgeous. I'm glad I could, too," he grins before straightening up and looking around at his girls. "Popcorn anyone?"
"Oo! I want popcorn!" Susan exclaims from her place on the sofa.
Yet just as he turns to enter the kitchen, the phone rings.
Pausing in the doorway between kitchen and living room, he reaches around to pick up the phone and answers.
"Hello?"
It seems an eternity passes and she is nearly resigned to calling Johnny or Roy but at last she hears the call be taken.
"Hello?"
"Ah, hey..."
"Aly?"
The man sounds confused, maybe with even the slightest bit of worry laced into his tone.
"Yeah i's me, Cap" she begins, addressing him as she always does though he is not her captain.
"Is everything alright?"
"Well… Nah really… I mean! M'fine!" she quickly adds, hearing the sharp intake of air on the other end of the line."s'jus'… M'stuck at-a station 'cause m'car won' star'…"
"You're what?"
"Stuck at-a station. I knows'ya day off an' all an' I hate-a call an' bother ya, but no un else's on du'y righ' now of-a officers dat I doh an—" A loud sneeze suddenly interrupts her ability to speak.
"You sound terrible. Are you sick?"
"… No… well… yeah…"
"And you've been out in this weather?" he questions, voice bordering on a reprimand.
"… Yeah… was workin'… Direc'in' traf'c f'a game…"
"I thought today was your day off."
"I'was bu' I sign' up-a work ovatime an'… I… c-coul—" another violent sneeze escapes.
"Look, Aly, you don't worry about a thing. I'll be right there, alright?"
" 'kay…" she replies, feeling more than a little guilty for disturbing him.
"Alright. I'll get there as soon as I can."
" 'kay… Bye."
As he ends the call, he mutters, "I'm going to kill her."
"What is it?" Emily worriedly asks.
"Yeah, dad. Is Aly okay?" questions Sue.
Sighing, Hank nods.
"She's alright except for the fact that she's sick. She's sitting at the station and her car won't start."
"Oh, the poor dear," Emily murmurs, clearly concerned for the young woman. Her husband's furrowed brow and deep frown already answer her question but she asks anyway. "How bad did she sound, Hank?"
"Probably better than she likely looks after being sick and standing out in the rain directing traffic," he replies before sighing, his shoulders slightly slumping. "I need to go get her and take her to her apartment."
"Oh no you don't," his wife says, scowling.
Shocked at the response, he blinks. He knows it's family night, but he also knows Aly needs help and she doesn't have anyone else to look after her or help her. He thought that Em understood that, too, since they had been helping her get adjusted to LA County once they found out no one else could.
"But, Em, I—"
"Henry Stanley. You are not taking that poor girl home to an empty apartment in as bad a section of town as she lives in. Not to mention she could get worse with no one there to watch her!"
Ah, yes. Now it makes sense.
Though, he can't say the thought hadn't crossed his mind, he already knows how Aly would respond.
"Em," he sighs. "You know she wouldn't agree to that. She's as bad as Johnny about this sort of thing."
"Then you can treat her like Roy treats Johnny and tell her that she has two choices," Emily begins, hands coming to rest on her hips. "She can either come here so that we can keep an eye on her, or you can drop her off at Rampart General."
Nearly laughing at the sheer genius of the wonderful woman he had married quite a few years ago, he grins.
"Emily."
"Yes?" she smirks, obviously pleased with herself.
"I'm glad you and I play for the same team. Even I would hate to oppose that lovely, evil genius mind you have," he chuckles, pulling her into a hug and kissing her.
Giggling, she playfully swats his shoulder before nodding. "You better believe it. Now go get our girl."
"Yes, ma'am," the tall man answers, throwing a salute. He then looks to his two girls and feels a little guilty.
Here they are, both teenagers, both wanting to watch a movie with their parents—they don't get to see him as often as most kids—and he's interrupting their movie night. He knows they wouldn't complain because they had never been kids to complain, but still… "Lori. Sue… I know—"
"It's cool, Daddy," Sue interrupts, knowing what is coming. "We're fine."
"Yeah," smiles Lori. "Go get Aly so she doesn't catch pneumonia. Or magically twist her ankle. Or run into any burning buildings."
With a laugh—Aly does have something that everyone lovingly refers to as 'Gage Syndrome': the uncanny ability to find trouble—Captain Hank Stanley gives his wife another kiss before hugging both of his baby girls, then he picks up his raincoat and starts toward the door.
She starts at a loud knocking from somewhere to her left. Sitting up, she blinks, trying to clear the sleep from her eyes—when had she fallen asleep?—and looks out her window.
'Cap?' she thinks, seeing the older man standing outside and staring at her with concern. 'But what is… Oh!'
After she unlocks her door, the captain of Station 51's A-shift nearly throws it open and holds his umbrella in such a way as to shield her from the rain.
Even as she reaches a hand up to rub her eyes, she can see the concern on his face.
"Come on, Aly… Let's get you home…"
Without a word, she nods, grabs her keys, and gets out of the car.
"Here, hold the umbrella a minute," the man instructs as he passes it to her. He then takes something that she hadn't noticed was draped over his arm—why hadn't she noticed that? She must be sicker than she thought…—and he wraps it around her, pulling the hood over her head. "There. Em told me to bring this for you. Good thing she did. Now let's get you out of this rain."
She nods once more, gripping the coat and pulling it tight around her, as much for warmth as to keep it from falling off her shoulders.
"Th-th-thank y-you," she stutters at last as he takes the umbrella from her, shuts her car door, and ushers her to the passenger side of his green FORD pickup truck.
He smiles in reply to her thanks and opens the door, helping her inside and then jogging around to the driver's side door.
After taking care of the umbrella and climbing inside, he slams the door shut behind him.
"Well, Aly, you certainly picked some beautiful weather for this," he jokes, trying not to seem overly concerned.
He had been knocking on the window for nearly three solid minutes before she had heard him and woken up. If she hadn't woken up when she did, he had had every intention of walking into the police department and getting someone to help him force the door open.
Looking at her now, he can see a nearly feverish look in her eyes and he tries not to frown.
"Yeah, guess I di'," she replies, still a little hazy.
"Well. You have two choices, according to my wife," he begins, now more decided than even when he was at his house talking to Emily.
"Choices?" the brown-eyed woman asks, hand flying to her mouth to cover a cough.
"That's right," Hank replies, keeping his voice calm but stern. "The first is that you allow me to bring you home for Em to take care of you…" He sees the beginnings of a protest and quickly continues, "Or I can take you straight to Rampart General Hospital and let Dixie and Dr. Brackett take care of you."
"B-but, Cap, I—"
"No 'but's. Those are Em's orders and your ultimatum. Can't go home if I let you do anything else."
"W-well… I… But… Dat's… Why can' I…."
"Well? Which is it? Em or Rampart?"
He watches her closely as stubbornness and exhaustion wage their war and then her shoulders slump and she sighs, nearly coughing as she does so.
"Emily, I guess…."
Smiling at the small victory, he puts the truck in gear and pulls out of the lot.
"Alright then. We'll stop by your apartment so that you can pick up some clothes and then we'll take you to Em."
"Okay…" she sighs, knowing there would be no escape.