Dateline: Wednesday, July 8, 1981, 9:58 AM, Pacific Daylight Time.

Violet parked rather hastily before she rushed into the hospital. She quickly explained to the nurse who she was and why she was there. The nurse, in turn, told Vi to fill out a few forms and "wait over there, please." It was at that very moment that she had an epiphany: the only real difference between the general hospital and the Department of Motor Vehicles is that the DMV really doesn't care. Hospitals care, but they're still stuffy, they're still bureaucratic, and they still smell like linoleum. Violet felt kind of lonely just then. She really wanted to see a friendly face before she went under the knife. As if on cue, Dash walked in and sat down next to her.

"Hey there, short stuff," he said.

Violet elbowed him. "You know how much I hate when you call me that!"

"Yeah, but I just can't help myself!"

"Well, it's nice to see you anyway. What made you decide to come here?"

"I thought you might like a little company before your operation. Don't worry, nobody saw me use my powers, I took the bus."

"Thanks for caring, Dash. You know how nervous I get about surgery."

"That's true. I remember the appendectomy you had ten years ago…wait, was it ten?"

"Let's see, I was eleven then, so yeah, ten years."

"Right. Anyway, you were so scared, you had my wrist in a death grip for two hours. After that I couldn't feel anything for a month. Oh, and after the surgery, Mom and Dad spent three weeks trying to convince you that you weren't going to die!"

Violet scoffed and began to shift her eyes. "Oh, Dash, you're exaggerating!"

"Nuh-uh! You wrote out a will and everything! Oh, you said you wanted your ashes scattered over the playground at the elementary school, remember that?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she lied.

"What's the big deal? It's not like anybody we know is here!"

Violet pulled her brother close and whispered in his ear, "If anyone on the team finds out about this, you're going to regret it!"

"But, I'll have to tell Kim. It's not healthy for a marriage to keep secrets from your spouse."

Violet was surprised. "Where did you hear that?"

"From this book Kim made me read."

"Of course! Well, if you tell her, I'll have to tell her about what you did the summer of '75!"

"Go ahead, she already knows about that!"

"You're bluffing."

"Do I look like I'm bluffing, big sister?"

"Miss Parr," said the nurse, "the doctor is ready for you."

Violet wanted to die right then and there. Dash could feel her trembling with abject fear.

"Relax, Vi. You won't feel a thing, remember? Now, come on, the team needs you to be at your best when we battle Omega Force."

"Okay, here I go," she said.

"You're not moving."

"Give me a pull."

"Okay." Dash yanked on Violet's arm and dragged half the way to the OR. Dr. Gibson was there, scalpel in hand. That only made it worse for Violet.

"Good morning," he said. Violet cowered behind Dash. "Is, uh, something wrong?"

"Oh, no, doctor, Vi's just a little spooked is all. She's never been too thrilled to have an operation, trust me."

"Well, don't worry about that. In the thirteen years I've been in medicine, I've never botched up an operation. Now, let's have Violet come to the operating table, please. Dash, if you'll wait in the recovery room…?"

Dash slowly backed away as Violet was being prepared. Superdoc began to walk Violet through what he was going to do.

"All right, I'm going to give you a shot of local anesthetic just inside your arm. Your whole right side should go numb. Then we're going to make a small incision in your skin, just above the energy converter vessel, so we can access it. Lucky for us, it rests above your muscular system, so we won't need to be so invasive. Next, we're going to patch up the damage by sewing the two ends back together. That should make it good as new. Then we'll close everything up and you'll be good to go, okay?"

"Um, doc, I didn't understand half of what you said, but the half I did understand sounds nice. Let's get this over with."

"Okay, here we go." Superdoc gripped the needle as slowly inserted it into the patient's skin. She winced. "You okay?"

"I'm fine, it didn't hurt too much."

"Good." Dr. Gibson injected her with the drugs. Not sure when they would take effect, he poked her and asked her if she felt it. He repeated this until he got a "no".

"Scalpel," he said. "We've only got half an hour until this stuff wears off, so we have to be fast."

"Um, doc," said Violet, "this would be a whole lot easier if you didn't talk."

"Sorry."

The doctor slowly made his incision, careful not to accidentally sever any major blood vessels. Once he did that, he reached into her body and felt around for two small tubular things. He found them rather quickly. He pulled the two ends of Violet's energy vessel outside where he could see them. He inserted one end into the other.

"Suture," he said. The nurse handed it to him. He stitched up the damaged vessel rather quickly.

I hope this won't affect her stature, he thought to himself, not wanting Violet to freak out. He shoved the vessel back inside and stitched up the incision. "Okay, we're all finished. The anesthetic won't wear off for another ten minutes yet, so don't get up."

"Okay," said Violet, who was too relieved to argue.

Dr. Gibson wheeled her bed into the recovery room where Dash was waiting for her.

"How's my girl?" he asked.

"I'm okay, but since when am I your girl, Dash? I thought you only had eyes for Kim."

"I do, but you're my sister, and you always will be. I love you no matter what, Vi."

Violet smiled. "Thanks, Dash. That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

"I mean it."

Violet reached up and kissed her brother. "I love you too, Dash. OH!"

"What? What's wrong?"

"I just remembered, Jack-Jack's birthday was yesterday, and we didn't even say happy birthday to him!"

"Uh-oh. Eh, what's the worst that could happen? So, should we go back home now?"

"You go ahead, I have to get back to work."

"Ah, right. I'll just run home so fast that nobody can see me."

"Nobody better see you, Speedo!"

Dash kissed Violet once more before he departed. Slowly Violet walked back to the parking lot. But when she got to her car, she had a most unwelcome surprise waiting for her on the windshield.

"Damn it! Why didn't I take the time to find a legal parking spot? Oh, well, at least it wasn't towed this time."

(A/N: There are few things in this world funnier than seeing a superhero getting a parking ticket, right? God, I hope so, because I plan to milk this gag for a very long time. If it's not funny, please tell me now, before I make a complete fool of myself.)