Hank's oldest daughter is about to go on her first Date, will Daddy survive? Has he taught his little girl all she needs to know to survive? There will be moments when everyone wonders.

The first Date

Hank sat in the living room of his home watching his daughter dance around him in her first formal. There had been the special Sunday dresses over the years, for Easter and Christmas but this was her first real formal.

Frankly, Hank couldn't really tell the difference, but the reason for this dress was very different than he had ever experienced before. His oldest daughter was going out on her first date.

Oh he had gone through this dating thing with his children before; both of his older sons had been on several dates. Before they were old enough to drive, and even a few times after they got their driver's license, Hank drove them, He had made a point to dress in his suit and wear his dress firefighters hat as he would act like a hired chauffer, opening the door not only for the young lady his sons were dating but for his sons as well. His wife had driven them a few times but most of the time he had been able to do the driving, he'd had to trade shifts a couple of times but that was before he became a captain.

Most of the time he would hang around in the parking lot reading a good book by flashlight while his sons and their dates enjoyed themselves but he knew they knew he could decide to walk in and check on them at any time so he was sure they'd behave themselves.

In Kristen's case her date's older brother would be doing the driving. He had his own date so it was to be a foursome and Kevin had told him that there were several other couples that would be meeting up with them at the dance.

Hank had met Kevin; he came around every once in a while to have Kristen help him with his research papers. He left a good impression when he came, he always used the words please, thank you, yes ma'am, Yes sir, and such.

Kevin had actually asked Hank if it were alright to ask his daughter out before he asked Kristen. He explained that he didn't want to hurt her feelings if she weren't allowed to date yet. The young man's respect for him as Kristen's father went a long ways toward Hank's agreeing to let him take his daughter to the high school dance. It didn't hurt any that his oldest son was going to the same dance and Hank knew he'd keep an eye out for his little sister.

Hank somehow managed to keep a genuine smile on his face as his daughter pirouetted around him on her toes. The real reason for this fashion show was that Hank would be on duty the night of the dance and he wouldn't be here to make the young man sweat while he waited for his date to put the last minute touches on her makeup and hair. That was something he was going to miss but to have his daughter seeking his approval in her choice of dress ment the world to him.

That night, while Hank and Emily were in bed just chatting before sleep, Hank suggested that maybe Kristen could invite her young man home for dinner one night and he could serve and the chef and waiter.

"Honey, I know the boys at least at one point had to deal with you as their driver and you did a wonderful job of making the best of it. Most of their dates thought you were pretty special. But the truth of the matter is that most teenagers are totally embarrassed to have a parent around on their dates."

Emily rolled over in bed and snuggled into her husband's side. "I'll make that suggestion but please don't be hurt if she doesn't take you up on it."

"But Krissy wouldn't be embarrassed to have me around would she, I mean having me serve their dinner couldn't be anywhere as embarrassing as dancing on stage with me could it?"

"Dating is a lot different, and you know it, but I will let her know that you offered."

-0-

The next morning Hank reported for duty a little less rested than he wanted to be and feeling slightly foolish about his inability to sleep the night before. It was just a date and the young man certainly met with his approval, what did he think he was going to do, keep his daughter a little girl all of his life?

Mud all over the engine and squad from an early morning fire and plenty of said mud all over the bay floor and tracked through the station. The A shift had their work cut out for them. During report Hank learned that the squad had actually gotten stuck and had to be pulled out of the mud with the engine. A tired and slightly injured Captain Hookraider apologized for the mess but claimed it would have been a lot worse had he not insisted his men be hosed off before they climbed it the trucks. "Once we got back to the barn everyone was chilled to the bone. We had to deal with that first before we could clean up the equipment, to keep the men from getting sick."

Hank understood well, he could hear the grumbling of the first of his crew to arrive but he would just remind them of the three times this month they left just as big of a mess for their replacements.

The rainy season was upon them and some people just didn't have enough sense to stay out of the rain. Mike had just pulled the engine onto the apron in preparations of hosing it down when the first call came in. At first glance the accident looked to be among the worst they'd ever had but once they'd checked out all of the occupants of the three cars, they were relieved to find that everyone had been wearing their seatbelts and there were only minor injuries.

There was the possibility of internal injuries on one of the drivers but he was stable. It took nearly forty five minutes with the Jaws of Life and other extrication tools to get all of the victims freed. There were two minor head injuries, one possible broken arm and a dislocated shoulder and then the victim with possible internal injuries. Three patients went in ambulances without paramedic follow up while Roy climbed into an ambulance with the possible internal injuries and the dislocated shoulder.

Johnny had just loaded up the last of the equipment and was getting in the squad to follow his partner into the hospital when the sound of crumpling metal caught their attention.

One of the police officers had stopped a car to allow the first tow truck to move into position. Unfortunately the second car didn't stop nor did the one after that. Once again they had a three car pileup and the doors on the middle car were jammed shut.

Hank called it in and Johnny managed to get started on checking all of the passengers.

Johnny had just managed to squeeze his way through the back window of the middle car to work on the driver, a woman complaining of neck pain while the rest of the guys pulled the extrication equipment out again and made short work of getting all of the doors open. Fortunately the ambulance that arrived had a back board because they had used all of the ones off the squad for the last accident.

Hank was helping to calm the teenage daughter of Johnny's neck injury as she watched her mother being pulled from the car and placed on the ambulance gurney. As he walked the young girl over to talk with her mother before they moved to the ambulance Hank noticed the formal gown hanging in the back seat of the car. He only hoped that the young girl he was holding onto was going to a different dance than the one his daughter was going to because it was the exact same dress his daughter had modeled for him the night before.

Hank guided the young girl to the cab of the ambulance as her mother was loaded in the back along with his paramedic. Once the ambulance pulled out Hank went back to the middle car and carefully pulled the dress from the wreckage and made Chet take his dirty gloves off before he handed it to him and asked him to take it to the hospital in the squad and make sure it was given to the girl who had just gone in the ambulance.

-0-

At Rampart, John and Roy were sharing war stories about why it took Johnny so long to get to the hospital when their attention was drawn to a dreamy sigh to see Chester Kelly walking in carrying a formal ball gown and looking as red as the fire engine. Seeing the young girl from the accident, Chet quickly carried it over to the girl and awkwardly handed her the dress. She screamed with joy, draped the dress over one arm and then used the other to wrap around Kelly's neck and after a quick hug that almost gave him a whiplash she kissed him on the cheek leaving behind a pink lipstick mark.

It took just a couple more minutes for John and Roy to finish restocking their supplies during which time Johnny kept looking at Chet and giggling and making him turn redder and redder with each smirk. Finally with supplies in hands the three firemen were on their way.

Before they arrived back at the barn the squad was called out on a cardiac and they were grateful to have Chet on board to help with CPR while they worked to get the drugs into the patient to regain a viable heart rhythm. Since the patient was still less than perfectly stable both John and Roy rode in the ambulance with him leaving Chet to drive the squad once again.

They were on their way back to the station when a call came in for the station to respond to a structure fire, "Finally the kind of response that will dry out my shoes." Chet shook his head as he pulled his helmet on in response to the call.

The fire was in the garage of an old boarded up house, it reeked of arson but they would have to let the investigators deal with proving it. A quick search of the house showed evidence that someone was living there but there was no one at the moment and no victims found from the fire.

When the fire was out and the hose once again loaded on the engine Chet was happy to claim his spot on the engine to return to the station. "Maybe I'll actually make it back to the station this time," Chet commented when he climbed on the engine.

"When you get there Kelly, be sure to wash that lipstick off your face," Hank ordered. "People are going to start wondering just what we're doing when we're not fighting a fire."

Finally around late afternoon the calls slowed down and the station was sitting down to their first meal of the day, dinner. While five men dug into their meal hurriedly not taking time to chew or even taste, Captain Stanley looked at his watch and gave a melancholy sigh. The young man named Kevin would be picking his daughter up to take her to dinner before the dance, just about now, and Hank was at the station instead of home making sure they young man didn't take any liberties as he pinned the corsage on his daughter's dress.

The tones were calm the rest of the evening allowing the men to finally get the station cleaned up. Hank then did look the other way while his men used the reel line hose to soak up most of the mud in the bay then bush it out in to the street with push brooms, both the engine and the squad were hosed down and then quickly washed up with buckets of soapy water and rags while the bay was quickly moped up of any mud residue there was, it did take mopping the floor twice but they finally got it clean, the same for the floors in the rest of the station. Finally around eight that evening the crew was enjoying a movie on TV while Hank made a quick call home to get a report from his wife on how things went when his daughter was picked up for her date.

The last of his concerns were laid to rest when his wife informed him that she was given the job of pinning the corsage to their daughter's dress.

Hank then sat down in the back of the day room while the movie finished. He felt like a fool but he would have rather been sitting in his cold car in a crowded parking lot trying to read a novel by flashlight.

The men had all trickled off to bed while Hank remained in the office, all of his paperwork was done but his wife had promised to have his daughter give him a call when she got home and give him a report on how her evening had gone. While he waited for that call he studied the manuals for his Chief's exam.

Hank had just leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head, it was now 12:30 p.m. and his daughter had been given a midnight curfew. His call should have come in by now, but his daughter was a good girl he was sure it would come any minute now.

The Klaxons rang loud and clear startling him out of his thoughts. Station 51, station 98, and snorkel truck 110 multiple cars off the road Palos Verdes Drive near mile post marker 19 between Hillside and Crenshaw Boulevard, watch for police, Palos Verdes Drive near mile post marker 19 between Hillside and Crenshaw Boulevard, Police on scene.

Before the men were falling out of the dorm room Hank was acknowledging the call. He was already preparing himself for the passengers of the cars off the road to be teenagers. There were several roads near there where dirt roads led up to areas where the more delinquent crowd gathered to consume whatever they legally couldn't and no one should. There was some kind of a call in that location any time there was an activity at any one of a dozen schools in the area, sadly there were increasing incidents were illegal drugs were being used.

"This is not going to be a good call." Hank shared with his engineer what he already knew as he climbed in his seat on the engine. Mike just waited for the garage door to open all the way and then pulled into traffic, with sirens blaring.

Engine 51 was actually the second engine on scene; before they pulled over and stopped they were advised by the captain of station 98 that they were needed on the east edge of the accident and to break out the forcible entry tools. Hank acknowledged the call as Mike pulled the engine into position and then climbed out of the engine calling out orders as soon as the door was opened.

Hank was aware of someone calling "Dad," several times before his men had things under control enough for him to turn in the direction the voice was coming from. What he saw there turned his blood cold.

Kenneth Stanley, Hank's oldest son, was being kept back by a police officer as his date for the evening clung close to his side; terror was etched on both of their faces. In a stunned daze Hank walked over to his son to hear him calling out the last thing he wanted to hear.

"Dad, Kristen was in that car!"