"A.J., what are you doing, it's 2 o'clock in the morning!"

Rick sat up, startled, as his brother turned on the bathroom light, then groaned.

"Oh, this is just fine!"

"What?" Rick stiffly got out of bed, then followed A.J.'s grousing to the bathroom doorway.

It took a moment, but there it was.

Or there they were. Pox, Chicken Pox.

Five of them on A.J.'s face.

The older Simon didn't know whether to laugh or what. "A.J….dang it, you had the chicken pox, when you were eight. I remember, Mom babied you something awful." And I did, too, Rick added mentally.

"I know! But they say you can get them again as an adult if you didn't have a regular case, and I was only sick two days, I had only a couple of them to boot." His little brother groused, then blanched.

"Rick, I just hugged and kissed and ate dinner with two hundred people, what if I just infected everyone?"

"Wait a minute, let's look at this..." Rick gazed at A.J.'s face, then tilted it into the light.

"You aren't feverish, are you?"

"No, just itchy." He complained, scratching his arm.

"Well, I don't think you're contagious until you have the fever or something, so let's head for home so you can be germy with the rest of the clan!" Rick joked, managing to bring a laugh to his brother.

Deciding to leave before A.J.'s symptoms got worse, the brothers packed then bid a hasty farewell to their Aunt, who put together a few things in a basket for breakfast, along with dire warnings about driving on 2 hours sleep.

Managing to get out the door with her words in their ears, Rick breathed a sigh of relief as they pulled away from the house.

"We'll stop and call the girls when we get closer to home, A.J. I don't want them to worry."

"Second best idea you've had today." The silver and blond head nodded sleepily then burrowed into the blanket their Aunt had foisted on them.

"Night, A.J." Rick whispered, settling in for the long drive home.

As he drove along through the desert and over the mountains, Rick had time to think about what all had happened in the last few months.

He was a grandfather again, and with the addition of little Katherine Christine and David Ronald, he and Laurie were in demand more then ever with their children. Thankfully, he had the time now to spend with them, and with Robin opting to take a leave of absence from the hotel and Robbie cutting back to thirty hours a week, he looked forward to real quality time for both generations. Unfortunately, Ramona's mother, Angelina, was more difficult to deal with then ever. Laurie had almost kicked her out of their house the past week after some of her cutting remarks to Ramona made her cry. Thank goodness it was Laurie who dealt with her and not him…..

As the sky started to lighten over the horizon, Rick decided to stop just over the border to gas up and stretch his legs. Pulling into Quartzite, he stopped at a truck stop and parked next to several big rigs.

"Rick….oh, where are we?" A.J. started to groan, then Rick got a look at the new spots that were dotting his brother's face.

"Just over the border, little brother. How do you feel?" He put a hand on A.J.'s forehead, then was relieved to note that he was cool but sticky.

"Itchy, but, uh, okay. Let me change before we go on, I'm a little …"

"Sweaty, yeah, I figure you were running a fever then it broke. Go on, I'll pull into the pumps then meet you inside." Rick unobtrusively helped him out, then caught his brother's sheepish look.

"Some things never change, Rick. You took care of me when I was eight, and now that I'm…

"Old enough to know better, yeah. That's what I'm here for." Rick patted his shoulder.

As the two men went into the gas station, a dark jeep pulled up unobtrusively and parked, its lone occupant watching the Simons as they disappeared inside.

After having an early breakfast, Rick felt energized and was glad to see A.J. seemingly feeling better.

"We'll be home in just a couple of hours, we'll call the girls about Glendale so they can have a fresh bottle of calamine lotion ready for you." He teased.

"Very funny, Rick. Save it for the kids." A.J. groused, then took another aspirin and went back to sleep.

Just as the sun started to peek over the mountains, Rick noticed a jeep behind them, seemingly coming at high speed. Pulling into the slow lane to let it pass, he suddenly heard a loud pop, and the truck started to fishtail.

"Aw, damn it, come on. I just bought these tires!" Rick cursed, then A.J. raised his head, a strained look on his face.

"Rick? I'm afraid I'm going to …whoa, we've got a blow out!"

"Hang on, little brother, I'm going to try to slow down on the shoulder here." Rick went to apply the brakes, only to find his foot go to the floor.

"No brakes! A.J., call for help!"

As he inched his way toward the rock and gravel edge of the road, A.J. had the presence of mind to manually shift into park, and the truck started to slow down.

Just then Rick spotted a curve up ahead, and he decided to use the natural shape of the road to stop the truck.

Abruptly the Jeep that was behind them was there again, almost tailgating the truck.

"Rick, what's this guy doing, he must be crazy….Look out!"

Just as Rick turned his head, the other vehicle crashed into the truck, sending it heading over the shoulder of the road and down an embankment. Luckily the road was only a few feet off the floor of the desert, so as Rick's truck landed, it didn't roll, but the airbags immediately deployed.

"Rick!" His name sounded in his ears, then ….nothing.

"Laurie, honey, wake up!"

Dazed, Laurie opened her eyes. "Linda? Oh, what a bad…. dream, Linda, the guys…."

She sat bolt upright, then saw her sister-in-law's worried face. "Oh, I'm sorry I woke you."

"Must have been pretty scary, you were screaming Rick's name, sis. It's okay, they'll be home later today, remember?" At that, Laurie sighed, then smiled. "Thanks, hon. Go back to bed, the kids…."

"Mom?"

"I guess you spoke too soon…Ceci, what is it?" Linda held out her arms and the little girl climbed onto her aunt's bed.

"I had a bad dream, then I heard Auntie calling for Uncle Rick." She whimpered, burying her face in her mother's lap.

"I'm sorry, Ceci. Looks like we miss your Daddy and Uncle. What did you dream, sweetie?" Laurie asked, then gasped as she replied, "Uncle Ricky was driving, then his tire blew up. A big balloon went off in the truck and hit Daddy and Uncle Ricky."

"Uh, honey, it's okay. Why don't you go back to bed and in a little while I'll bring you breakfast, would you like that?" Linda spoke calmly, but her stomach turned at the terrified look in her friend's eyes.

"Can we have pancakes? Rob and I love pancakes!" Ceci declared, her bad dream forgotten.

"Sure, we'll make pancakes for everyone. Go back to bed now." Linda urged, then waited until her daughter had left the room.

"Sis? What is it?" she asked apprehensively.

"Linda, that's what I saw, I saw Rick's truck, he had a blow out and he was struggling with the steering wheel. I heard A.J. yell "lookout", then another truck or jeep hit them and made them crash! Honey, I need to call them, warn them…."

"Here, you call Auntie and I'll start breakfast. Don't worry, hon, we'll warn them in time!" Linda assured her, trying to sound convincing.

"You're right, sis. What bothers me is that Ceci saw what I saw, how did that happen?" Laurie mused worriedly.

Linda was quiet for a moment, then whispered, "I don't know."