I own none of the rights to the characters of Third Watch, or to the Yankees, their stadium, their franchise or anything. This is just for fun and in keeping with my love of the Yankees and Third Watch. Hope you enjoy and GO YANKEES!!!

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A Day At The Stadium - Chapter 1

It's a beautiful day for a ball game as the group from the NYPD and FDNY converge on Yankee Stadium with their families. There is laughter, teasing and awe. There is a big crowd today because the Yankees are taking on the Boston Red Sox in game one of a best-of-three home stand.

"You know, I never get sick of coming to this place," said Jimmy Doherty to Kim as he looked around the massive stadium and then down at his son. He nudged Kim and laughed at the look on the Joey's face as he took in the enormity of the stadium for the first time. Joey stood with his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide, weighted down with his souvenirs, his ball glove, and his baseball cap.

"Joey," Jimmy repeated to his son with a smile on his face and chuckle in his voice. "Buddy, let's go find our seats," he urged, putting away his camera after taking a picture of his son's face with the beautifully- manicured diamond behind him.

"Okay," he finally agreed, finding his voice again. As they turned to follow the rest of the group, Joey looked down toward the Yankees' dugout and noticed Jason Giambi, Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada talking to some of the fans and signing autographs.

"Dad! Dad!," Joey yelled, pulling on Jimmy's shirt. "Look! Can I go down and see if I can get an autograph? Can I - or just even get a better look at the guys?! Pleeease?!" Joey was jumping up and down. "I don't think they'll let us down in that section Joey. You have to have special tickets to get into that area. See the security guys?" Jimmy said, trying to see if he could spot any of the other Yankees around the field in a better position to get to.

Sully was walking just in front of Jimmy, Joey and Kim and explaining the history of the "House That Ruth Built" to Tatiana who was smiling at the sparkle in her husband's eyes as he spoke of this place. She had heard his stories about him coming here with his Mom and Dad, but mostly with his Dad when he was growing up. Sully overheard what Joey was saying and looked around at the NYPD officers that worked overtime duty at the stadium for home games. He knew that Ty Davis and Bosco were working the detail today. He remembered that they were both bragging about the fact that they were going to be stationed very close to the Yankees' dugout, protecting the players in the event the crowd got out of hand during the game.

"Hey Joey, come here," he said, motioning to Jimmy and Kim that he had spotted Bosco and Ty. Joey moved closer to Sully and he picked him up. He whispered something in Joey's ear and set the boy down again. Joey handed his things over to Sully, hanging onto his souvenir baseball, and with a big smile on his face, headed down toward the dugout. "Hey, take that smile off your face, Joey. Make it an Academy performance," advised Sully as Joey took off.

"Where's he going?" asked Kim, worried about letting Joey get that far away from them by himself. She started to follow him, but Sully held her back.

"It's okay Kim. I've got my eyes on him the whole time," he reassured her, with a smirk on his face. "What are you up to Sullivan?" asked Jimmy. "Just watch how it's done, Bucket Boy," Sully answered, shoving Joey's belongings at him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Joey got nearer to the dugout, the very young security guard working that section put up a hand to stop him. "Whoa, little guy. You can't go down there unless you have tickets for this section. You'll have to go over to that side - see where all the people are? - and try to get an autograph over there. Sorry."

"This is it," Joey thought to himself. "Better make it convincing."

"But, I need to get down to my uncle," he said, showing some fear on his face and adding a little bit of a whine, as he tried to push past the guard.

"Oh yeah? And just who is your uncle?" asked the young guard, having heard just about every excuse for people trying to get past him to where they didn't belong.

"Right there," said Joey, crying a little. "That policeman is my uncle," he said, moving so that the guard would see the NYPD logo on his t-shirt he happened to be wearing today. "I got lost. I can't find my Mom and Dad and they told me that if I got lost I should go get my uncle because he would be working down on the field here today," he explained urgently. "Please," he said again, managing to make some tears.

"I'll take you up to the security office and they'll find your parents for you," said the guard as he signaled to one of the other guards to come and take over his post while he brought Joey upstairs.

"No!" shouted Joey, as he pulled away from the guard. "My Mom and Dad told me to never go with strangers. They said I should only go to police officers," he argued louder, beginning to cry again.

Just then, Sully and Tatiana (who Sully had filled in on the plan) came up behind the boy and Sully said, "Hey, what's wrong? Are you bothering this kid?"

"I got lost from my Mom and Dad and he won't let me get to my uncle that's working right there! He's a cop!" answered Joey proudly, trying to remain serious as he looked up at Sully and Tatiana.

"Oh Sir, you must let this boy get to his family," said Tatiana, patting Joey on the head. "He must be so very frightened." Now a crowd was gathering and the guard was beginning to get a little flustered.

"Which officer?" asked the guard looking toward the two police officers standing together down by the dugout.

"Him," he said again, pointing at the officer on the left. "All right," said the guard, taking Joey by the hand and bringing him toward the dugout. Joey looked over his shoulder with a big grin on his face and Sully shook his head as if to say, "Don't blow it now kid."

The guard walked up to the wall by the dugout and called over to the two officers. "Hey, Officer! I got somebody here that needs to see you," he said, pointing to Bosco. As Bosco was walking over to the wall, Joey managed to free his hand and climb over the wall.

"Uncle Bosco!" he said, making himself cry as he ran and jumped into Bosco's arms.

"What the.," said Bosco, trying not to drop the boy as he flew toward him through the air. Joey threw his arms around Bosco's neck and said in his ear, "It's me, Joey Doherty. Sully sent me over and said you could get me in to meet the Yankees!"

"And I can't find Mom and Dad and they told me that you'd be working today, Uncle Bosco, and that if I got lost I should find you and you would take care of me until we found them," Joey said out loud, breathlessly and sobbing at Bosco.

Bosco still had a confused look on his face as he looked past the guard to see Sully gesturing to go along with it.

Bosco gave Sully his 'really annoyed' look and said, "Okay, Joey, calm down. It's okay. I'll find Mom and Dad for you."

"Thanks," Bosco said to the guard. "I'll take him from here," said Bosco, shaking the guard's hand. "My cell phone's over here and I'll just call my brother and let him know that I have Joey with me. I'll bring him over to the NYPD office here in the stadium."

"All right," said the guard heading off in the direction of Sully and Tatiana, who were now surrounded with Jimmy, Kim, Alex, Doc, Carlo and Faith.

"You did the right thing, young man," said Tatiana as they all went toward their seats.

TBC..