One month later Johnny let his two older brothers into his apartment. "Are you sure about this?" James Gage wanted to know. Kidnapping was illegal now, not that the white men had every really been happy with their traditional way of widening the gene pool.

"Coyote wants his son adopted into the tribe in the traditional way. Don't ask me why, maybe it's because I'm the Phantom's favorite target for practical jokes. Remember, Coyote wants this done traditionally. So when you get him back to the Rez, turn him over to Grandfather," Johnny instructed.

"Sure, no problem, we'll just walk right up to him, hit him over the head and drag him off to the reservation. No one will even notice," Charlie Gage said sarcastically.

"No they won't. Chet has been putting his affairs in order for the past month and he's been getting jitterier by the second. He doesn't know it, but I've already had him sign an extended leave form for the fire department. All you have to do is help the very drunk Irishman back to your plane," Johnny grinned. This was perfect. He would get his revenge for all of the soaked uniforms, shaving crème bombs, etc. that Chet had launched at him over the years and still save his annoying brother's life in the process. "Listen, the long winter is almost here. If there is anything we don't have that's on the lists, we need to really make a push on it now. When Chet's gone I'm going to tell the rest of the crew what's going on. They'll be able to help get the rest of what we need quietly." There was a knock at the door. "Well, that should be Coyote's son now."

Less than fifteen minutes later Johnny was checking out Chet's vitals as the drugged fireman listed on the back of his couch. "Every thing looks good," Johnny said as he hung his stethoscope around his neck. "The drug I gave him will wear off in about eight hours. By then you should be back on the Rez. Don't worry; I've taken care of everything on this end." Johnny turned to Charlie. "You can explain the situation then but don't be too hard on him."

"Don't worry, we'll tell him all about the stupid idiots over in Russia who set off a nuclear winter by not maintaining their nuclear weapons properly." James shook his head in disgust at the idiots who had wanted the things built in the first place. Wasn't it enough that they had enough to destroy the entire planet once? Did they really need to have enough to destroy it several times over?

Johnny drove his brothers and Chet out to the airport where James kept his old cargo plane. The old plane had been abandoned out at the small airport where James worked. Between the gold that some of the tribe panned out of the streams and the tiny mine that the tribe maintained and the Gage brother's jobs, the tribe was able to maintain and fly the cargo plane once a month to various destinations to pick up supplies that they would need to survive the long winter ahead. Loading Chet into the extra seat in the cockpit, Johnny was surprised to see that there were several sheep in crates along one side of the plane.

"Who is getting the sheep?" Johnny asked.

"Mom," his brothers chorused in defeat.

"Well, does she have that loom set up yet?" Johnny asked chuckling.

Charlie nodded. "Johnny you wouldn't believe what she's got set up. Goats, rabbits, those long haired cattle and horses you sent us information on. I swear the woman has an entire ranch bulging with animals and all of them produce something she's going to turn into clothes. I swear she's paranoid about how deep the snow is going to get. Heck, even the birds she's been making into pillows, feather beds and down comforters."

"Well, you know how Mom is about the cold," Johnny said with a laugh.

"Well, we've got food supplies and greenhouse windows this trip. You wouldn't believe how cheap the fresh vegetables, fruit and other stuff is out here." James shook his head. "Basically we're loading up as much as we can on everything. Umm, Johnny, if the spirits are saying we should start raiding again, do you think you could look around for a child? Only if the spirits move you to, I don't want to get you into any trouble." James hastened to reassure his little brother.

Johnny sighed. "As much as I hate to say it, James, but I think there is one child that we can raid tonight and get away with it. Yesterday my partner and I found a baby dumped in the garbage behind a restaurant where there was a fire we were called to. Charlie, could you stay here while we go get the baby?"

Charlie nodded and watched as his older and younger brothers ran back out into the night. He looked over at the one Johnny had called a son of Coyote. If he really was a son of Coyote, he should appreciate this practical joke.

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"Hey, Dix!" Johnny whispered as he stuck his head in the nurses' lounge.

Dixie looked up and Johnny saw that she had been crying. She held up her hand. "It's not as bad as it looks Johnny. It's just that poor little girl down in the nursery. No one wants her because she's a mixed race child. The social worker told me bluntly that if we were to 'lose' her it'd be better for everyone. Johnny how in God's name can anyone say such things?"

James was startled by the fact that this white nurse was protesting the murder of a mixed race child just as a woman of his own tribe would be. "It's ok, Dix. That's actually a good thing. Because I found someone who does want her, but no social worker would ever let them have her." Johnny said as he slid into the seat across from her and took her hands. "Nurse Dixie McCall, meet my brother James. He and his wife can't have anymore kids thanks to someone a lot like that but they'd sure love to have another child anyway they can get one."

Dixie looked at Johnny. Johnny was one of her favorite people and more than that, someone she considered family. If it was his brother that took the child she would be more than willing to 'lose' the baby! "Are you sure you want her?" she asked as she hurriedly got up and started pulling James down the corridor.

"Yes we do," he answered honestly. He would love to have a daughter no matter how she came to live with them.

"Good! You make sure she grows up running around with lots of fresh air and sunshine and love!" Dixie said fiercely. She scooped the small bundle out of the basinet in the nursery and handed her to James. "Come this way!" She continued to drag James by the sleeve, hardly noticing that he was even taller than Johnny and much broader across the shoulders. She opened a closet and pushed the three of them inside before following them. "Here are some supplies. This is the formula we've been giving her. She still doesn't have a name. Pick something beautiful, just like she is! Here are some extra clothes, blankets and diapers." Dixie shoved the supplies into a bag and shoved the bag at Johnny. "Good luck!" Then she slipped out the door.

"Tell me we can raid her little brother!" James said in Lakota as they walked out of the hospital. "That is one woman I could trust with my children. John, I have a daughter!"

Johnny laughed at the look on his brother's face and said, "We have to get her back to the Rez first James!" All in all, this was turning out to be a good day they both decided.

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Smiles was waiting at the private air strip the tribe had built by hand for James' plane. She was a short stout woman who almost constantly smiled but rarely said anything. She knew that James and Charlie Gage would be bringing the last of her windows with them on this trip. She had adapted the 'modern' underground home style of building with the light bouncing practiced by the Egyptians when they built their pyramids for her greenhouse. If the experiment worked well, she would be able to grow some winter hardy vegetables as well as the leaf crops that were essential to maintaining the vitamin C levels in their diets. Fortunately it was more the light that was the problem rather than the heat, although it was probable that would change when the long winter came.

When the plane landed James was the first to get out. He was carrying a small bundle and went directly to his wife. He laid the small bundle in her arms and gently guided her to his grandfather. He bowed his head in respect for the tribe's shaman and said, "Grandfather, may I present my daughter to the tribe?"

As tears ran down the smiling face of Dawn Gage, cheers rang out from the watching crowd. As Grandfather Gage presented the girl child to the tribe in the impromptu ceremony, Smiles noticed that Charlie Gage was half carrying a stumbling white man out of the plane. She hurried over to help him and got a shock. It was one of the firemen that Johnny worked with!

"We need to take him to Grandfather," Charlie whispered. Smiles nodded and threw the man's other arm over her shoulders. She had a sneaking suspicion that this was the Coyote's son that Johnny had talked about in his letters. When Grandfather was done with done with the presentation of the child, Charlie and Smiles brought Chet forward. By this time the drug that Johnny had given him was wearing off, so he was somewhat aware but unable to really control his body. "Grandfather, this is our new brother. He is Coyote's son and Coyote has asked that he be brought into the tribe in the traditional manner."

Smiles knew that this meant that Johnny had helped bring this man here. "Then we will do as Coyote asks," Grandfather said. Smiles turned them and helped lead the stumbling man over to her cart. She wasn't the only person with a cart and horse meeting the plane, but hers was the only one that was padded. She could come back for her windows later. Now was the time to prepare for the feast to welcome the new members of their tribe.

Chet finally came all the way awake when he realized he was being washed in an ice cold stream by a group of women in American Indian costumes. "AAAH!" he yelped, shivering from the cold water. Then he took a second look at the women. These women weren't white, and their clothes weren't costumes. He also saw that one was a mature woman with a distinct resemblance to one Johnny Gage. When he tried to talk, they merely giggled at him and dosed him more with the cold water. Soon they hauled him out of the stream although it wasn't soon enough for Chet Kelly. They dried him off and dressed him a set of leathers. Then they dragged him down into a set of caves. It was obvious from the number of things in the caves that he was led through that these caves were being lived in. He was led quite a long way down and found that he was in a large cavern with a small bonfire in the center. Around the fire was looked like an entire tribe of Indians, although he had no idea how many that would be. They weren't all dressed in leathers but all of the clothes looked worn and old. It was obvious that none of these people had very much in the way of worldly possessions, or rather that they were pouring what money they had into other things since the wool rugs and pillows they were sitting on were brand new.

The four women sat him down in between James and Charlie Gage. Chet knew both of them from their visits to the station. "Don't tell me, Johnny's behind this," Chet sighed. Both men laughed.

"Johnny said that Coyote wanted you to be adopted into the tribe in the traditional way," Charlie explained from beside him.

"And here I thought he meant that I was going to get hurt in a fire," Chet shook his head. He caught the looks that the people were giving him. "Johnny knows things. He has for as long as I've known him anyway. He told me about a month ago that I should put my affairs in order. I thought for sure I was going to die. Man he got me good!"

"Yes and no, Phantom," Grandfather said from his place beside the fire. He passed the new baby back to James and Dawn. There were nine days left to figure out a name for her. He would have to be especially watchful until then to figure out what it would be. "Yes, Coyote told Johnny you needed to be brought into the tribe in the traditional manner. You are now a member of the Gage family and my grandson. And yes, Johnny did get a kick out of this. But, this is also a very serious situation. For the last five years Johnny and I have been having vision dreams of the long winter. The white men call it a nuclear winter. It is coming, and very quickly now. That is why we have moved the tribe down here. Johnny was sent by the spirits to LA to help our tribe prepare. We shouldn't get any radiation poisoning here because the cause will happen on the other side of the world. You have been chosen by the spirits to wait out the long winter with us as a member of our tribe. I suspect many of your shift mates will be joining us as well."

The news rocked Kelly's world. As he sat there stunned by the implications of Grandfather Gage's words, Smiles sat down next to him, shoving Charlie Gage over and handing him a plate of food. The other women smiled or giggled, but all of them accepted her choice. She had not been able to find a husband among the men on the reservation and hadn't wanted to travel to other reservations to search for one. The spirits had brought this man to her and the other women were grateful on her behalf. Chet was too stunned to realize that he had been claimed not only by the Gage family as a son and brother, but by a woman as her husband to be as well.