A/N: Tiptoeing quietly into the fanfiction room, head down, and hoping nobody notices how late I am….

I am so, so sorry that this story hasn't been updated for MONTHS! It was not intentional. I PROMISE this story WILL be finished, even if there are occasional long breaks.

As I posted on "My Dark Knight in Shining Armor," I won't bother you with the 89,000 things that have been happening in my life. I know we're all busy and that life is crazy for you guys, too! Let's just say that in my house, real life has been more action packed than fanfiction lately! ;) If you want the gory details, feel free to message me. Otherwise, on with the show! :)

A great big thanks to stephfan6511 and Karren! I appreciate your help in getting this chapter out, Babes! ;)

Lester was bouncing around, high on the thrill of pranking one of his friends. "Wasn't that awesome, Beautiful?" he crowed.

"Yeah, awesome." I answered, my heart pounding in my chest. "If you tell Tank I helped you do that, I'll kill you!"

"It's gonna cost you!" he grinned.

"Cost me what?" I growled, eyes narrowed.

"Just a little favor!" he answered innocently.

I sighed and leaned back, banging my head on the headrest. Because what could possibly go wrong when Les called in his little favor? I thought sarcastically.

Chapter 23

Sunday, October 15, 1995- continued

We were headed back to Carlos's house, as promised, so that we could have dessert with his family. I was hoping for something chocolate. Or maybe Mrs. Manoso's flan again. Oh, who was I kidding? It was dessert! I'd eat it no matter what it was! And since it was Carlos's mother who was making it, I was pretty sure it would be delicious no matter what it was.

Lester turned to grin at me. "Thanks again for your help, Beautiful!"

I gave him a wry grin. "I'd say no problem, but now you're blackmailing me!"

Lester gasped. "Whatever do you mean?" he asked, feigning innocence.

I rolled my eyes. "I believe you're only promising to keep my

involvement a secret from Tank if I help you with some other, horrible prank!"

Lester started laughing. "Oh, Steph! Wait 'til you see what it is!"

I buried my face in my hands. "I'm afraid to ask!" I mumbled through my fingers.

"Shit!" Les swore, and I snapped my head up to see what was wrong just in time to see headlights right in front of us.

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Lester's POV

I couldn't believe that Stephanie and I had actually pulled a prank on Tank! That man was just about impossible to get! There was almost no way to sneak up on him, and he wasn't gullible enough to fall for much.

I had half expected him to come home while we were in the middle of the sporking. That's what has happened to me every other time I've tried to get his house. And every time he's made me clean it up before his parents saw it. But not this time! Maybe Steph was my lucky charm!

Hmmm… if she really was lucky, I needed to start including her in on some of my plans. And I had some major plans for this year! After all, you're only a high school senior once, and I wanted Trenton High to remember the class of 1996 as the ones who pulled off the best practical jokes in history. The ones that were legend. The ones every other class tried to top but couldn't. Oh yeah. That was my destiny. I could feel it in my bones!

I had to laugh at Stephanie's reluctance to play along. She was a Burg girl, and no matter how often she said that she didn't fit the mold, there was still an awful lot of 'playing by the rules' going on there. I could tell that she wanted to be a little bad every now and then. I could tell that she got a rush from it. Now I just had to encourage her to do it more often!

I snickered as I watched her bury her head in her hands.

I swung my eyes back to the road, and my heart stopped at what I saw. Two pairs of headlights headed right towards us. There was no time for me to try to swerve out of the way. By the time I saw the lights, they were on top of us.

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I gripped the steering wheel as hard as I could, willing away the shaky nerves that were bouncing through my body. My knuckles turned white from the effort, and I forced myself to calm down and take deep breaths. Panicking was not going to solve anything right now.

I mentally assessed myself. I felt a little pain here and there, but nothing major. I didn't think that I had any broken bones or any serious injuries.

Allowing myself a small exhale of relief, I turned to look at Steph. She was slumped forward, holding onto the dash with both hands.

"Steph?" I asked, panicked.

She lifted her head, and I felt my breath catch in my throat. Her face was covered with blood. Where was it all coming from?

I unlatched my seatbelt and reached towards her, brushing her hair out of her face. God! I knew head wounds bled a lot, but this was ridiculous! I needed something to wipe her face with. I needed to know where she was injured and how bad it was.

I reached into the glove box and pulled out some leftover fast food napkins.

"Lean back, Steph." I ordered her in a quiet voice.

Stephanie had been uncharacteristically quiet this whole time, and that scared the crap out of me. I would have felt much more comfortable if she were screaming and waving her arms around hysterically. That was the Steph I knew and loved. Not this pale, wide eyed girl who was frozen in place.

She gave me a slight nod and scooted back in her seat, tipping her chin up.

I carefully mopped the blood off her face, grimacing when I saw the source. There was a large gash on her forehead that was causing the blood loss. It was a couple inches long and looked pretty deep. She was definitely going to need stitches.

I fumbled around and reached into the backseat. My gym bag was back there, and I was hoping that I could find something clean to press against Stephanie's forehead. I pulled the bag into my lap and quickly unzipped it, rooting around through the contents. I found a pair of clean gym socks and yanked them out. I pressed one against Stephanie's forehead and grimaced as I watched the white fabric immediately start to turn red.

Stephanie had her eyes closed and was breathing erratically. I didn't think she had passed out, but I was worried that she was going to end up going into shock.

"Stephanie! Open your eyes!" I commanded in a deep voice.

She jumped and glanced over at me, her eyes wide.

"Stay with me, Beautiful. I need you to be alert and responsive when the paramedics get here, OK? I need you to be able to tell them what hurts."

She bit her lip and nodded wordlessly.

I folded the gym sock over on itself so that there were two thicknesses pressed against Steph's forehead, and then I started to look around the car.

How had she gotten the gash? What on earth had cut her forehead like that? The windshield was shattered and cracked but mostly still intact. There weren't any sharp pieces of metal on the frame that I could see. My eyes roamed her side of the car. The sun visor.

It was dark, so it had already been flipped up, but evidently the force of the crash had jarred it loose. The visor was hanging down, and I could see a section along the edge with just a trace of blood. Who knew a sun visor could cause so much damage? Certainly not me.

Stephanie had slid down in the seat just slightly, still holding my makeshift bandage over her wound.

Suddenly from outside the car, I could hear shouting. I looked down at Steph.

"Hey, Beautiful. I need to see what's going on, see if everyone in the other car is alright. You stay put, OK?"

"K" she answered quietly, her eyes still closed.

I didn't really want to leave her, but I truly believed she was OK. I needed to see what was going on. Had someone already called the paramedics? Were there people here who could help Steph?

I climbed out of the car and surveyed the scene in front of me. There were guys running around everywhere. I recognized a few of them- underclassmen from Trenton High. I was pretty sure that one of them was Dominic Rosolli, Connie's younger brother, and heir to the Rosolli "Family" business.

One of Dominic's friends was waving his hands around, screaming. "The car's gonna explode, man! Look at all the gas leaking all over the road! Get Tim out of the car!"

Two of them ran over to the car in front of mine and wrenched open the passenger door. I could hear someone inside moaning and screaming about how much pain they were in, but the guys outside evidently didn't care. They grabbed the kid under the arms and yanked him out of the car. He howled as they threw him, rather unceremoniously, into the ditch across the road.

I shook my head and jogged over to them. "What are you guys doing?"

A blond kid with a pale face and wide eyes looked at me. "The car's gonna blow up! We gotta get everybody outta here!"

I raised an eyebrow at him, planted my feet, and crossed my arms over my chest. "Why do you think the car's gonna blow?"

He gestured wildly at the liquid dripping out from under the cars. "Look at all that!"

I shook my head. Stupid fuckin' sophomores. "Listen, moron, there're a lot of fluids in a car. Not just gasoline."

I walked closer to where the two cars were smashed together and crouched down.

"This green stuff is radiator coolant; the blue stuff is washer fluid; and the red stuff is power steering fluid. There's some oil over there, and there's probably some brake fluid mixed in here somewhere."

The younger guys looked at me kind of sheepishly. "You mean the cars prob'ly aren't gonna catch on fire?"

I stood up and glared at them. "Not likely. And you guys are idiots for chucking your friend in a ditch. He sounds like he's hurt, and the two of you are throwing him around."

One of the other guys nodded. "He thinks his leg his broken."

I snorted. "Well if it wasn't before, it probably is now!"

They grimaced and looked over at their friend who was laying on his back whimpering and holding his leg.

"Anybody have a car phone?" I asked.

Dominic nodded. "Yeah, I do!"

"Did you call the paramedics yet?"

He hung his head. "Not yet."

I walked towards his car, and sure enough, he had a bag phone sitting on the floor, plugged into his cigarette lighter. Without asking permission, I punched in 911 and hit send. I gave the dispatcher our location and asked for several ambulances. I knew at least Steph and Tim needed medical treatment.

Ending that call, I scrubbed my palm across my face. Steph's parents were going to need to be informed of what had happened, but I didn't know her number. Carlos would, though.

I let out a frustrated sigh. That was a call I really didn't want to make right now. I knew that Carlos wouldn't blame me for the accident. It clearly wasn't my fault that the other car had gone left of center and hit us head on. But that didn't mean that he was going to take the news well.

I dialed Carlos's number and hit send.

"Hola, Manoso residence!" Tia Maria answered.

I groaned. Fuck! Why did Tia have to answer instead of Carlos? Because Carlos never answers the phone, dumbass! I chastised myself.

"Hello?" she repeated louder.

"Tia Maria, this is Lester…"

Before I could get any further, she interrupted me loudly. "Lester! We've been waiting for you and Stephanie! You were supposed to be back here already! Carlos is pacing in his room. He thinks I don't know, but I can hear him walking back and forth, back and forth. Where are you?"

I covered my eyes with my hand. "There's been a little accident, Tia." I said calmly.

"An accident?" she shrieked. "Where? What happened? Is Stephanie OK?"

"I'm just fine. Thanks for asking." I told her sarcastically.

She let out a loud huff, and I could just picture her with a hand on one hip, glaring at the phone. "Well, of course you are OK, idiot! I'm talking to you! Now answer me! What happened? Is everyone OK?"

"There was a car accident. A guy from school crossed over the yellow line and hit me head on. We're waiting on the paramedics now. Steph's gonna be OK. She's got a pretty nasty gash on her forehead, but I think that's all."

"Ohhh!" Tia sniffed. "Poor Stephanie! You're OK? Are you hurt?"

I answered her softly. "I'm fine, Tia, but I need you to call Steph's parents. I don't know how to get a hold of them, and I need them to meet us at the hospital."

Tia cleared her throat and sniffed loudly. "Of course, honey. What hospital?"

"Probably St. Francis."

"I'll call your mom and dad and Stephanie's as soon as we get off the phone." Tia promised.

I cleared my throat. "Thanks, Tia."

"Lester, take care of Stephanie. Please?"

"I will, Tia. Bye."

I hit end and stuck the car phone back inside the bag.

Crawling out of the car, I saw all of the guys huddled around Tim, the friend they had thrown in the ditch. Evidently he was still in pain, and they were trying to "medicate" him with a bottle of vodka.

I crossed my arms and leaned back on my heels. "You guys do realize that they're gonna send a cop car with the ambulance, right?"

They looked up at me, confused.

"They send a cop every time an ambulance is sent out. In case they need to document anything."

The guys just stared at me, not getting it.

I gestured at the bottle of vodka. "TPD may not be in favor of half a dozen underage high school students passing around a bottle of vodka."

Recognition finally dawned on their faces, and one of the guys grabbed the bottle off of Tim. He ran further down the road and dumped the contents into the ditch before throwing the bottle into a neighbor's trash can. He had just made it back to the group when the sound of far off sirens reached us.

I jogged back over to my car and saw Steph sitting against the seat. Her eyes were closed, and she still had her hand pressed against the gym sock, but it wasn't doing much good. The front of her sweatshirt and jeans were now covered with a fair amount of blood.

I sucked in a breath. At least I hoped all that blood was from her forehead. I hadn't really checked her over very well once I noticed the blood on her face. Crap.

I yanked the other gym sock out of the bag and carefully put it on top of the first one.

Steph gave a little groan when I pushed it against her forehead.

"I know, Beautiful, but the ambulance is on its way. I can hear the sirens now. Does anything else hurt? Just your forehead?"

She made a sound that I guessed was her answer; I just had no idea what it meant.

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When the ambulances arrived, I climbed in the back with Steph. At first the paramedics weren't going to let me ride along, but once Steph grabbed my hand in a death grip and absolutely refused to let go, they had no choice but to allow it.

The paramedics had done a quick assessment and immediately decided that they needed to cut off her clothes to determine exactly where all the blood was coming from. Steph was mortified and tried to convince them that she could at least take them off versus having them cut off. The paramedics flatly refused, saying that they needed to keep her as still as possible. They couldn't risk any further injuries by having her take off the sweatshirt and jeans she was currently wearing.

I promised not to look and even held a sheet up while they shredded her clothing and bagged it. When they determined that all of the blood was solely from the cut on her forehead, I let out a huge sigh of relief.

The ride to the hospital flew by, and before I knew it, we were pulling into the ambulance bay at St. Francis. The paramedics moved quickly and efficiently, pulling out the stretcher and wheeling it inside.

We entered the building, and Steph was wheeled past the waiting room and into the ER area; Tim and the other ambulance crew just seconds behind.

When Steph and Tim were wheeled past, practically the entire waiting room emptied out and funneled back into the ER. It was absolute chaos.

Stephanie's parents were on one side of her gurney. Her mother was crying and hanging onto the railing; while Carlos and Tia Maria firmly held the railing on the other side. The nurses were trying to get everyone to go back into the waiting room when Sal Rosolli stormed back into the ER. His wife was hanging onto his arm and whispering urgently, but he wasn't listening to her at all.

He scanned the room quickly and found Dominic. Glaring, he strode over to him.

"What the hell did you do?" he growled between clenched teeth.

Dominic cleared his throat nervously. "It was an accident, dad."

"What. Did. You. Do?" Sal repeated in a lower, menacing voice.

"There were two cars of us out tonight. We were headed to that new BBQ restaurant that everyone keeps talking about. Jeremy was in front, but he didn't know where it was, so he slowed down and motioned for us to get in front and lead the way."

Another kid cleared his throat and filled in. "We were on Niles Road. You know how curvy and hilly that road is."

Sal stared unblinking at the two of them, and Jeremy rushed to continue.

"I motioned Dominic to go around, but then I saw a car coming. I sped up so he'd fall back, but he didn't."

"I sped up." Dominic whispered guiltily. "I thought they were playing around."

"I sped up more and waved him back, but that didn't work either." Jeremy whispered.

"I sped up even more. I didn't see the other car until it was too late. We were both coming up opposite sides of the same hill, and I was completely in their lane."

Sal lowered his head, his hands clenched into fists. "You hit them head on? In their lane?"

Dominic swallowed and nodded nervously.

"Idiots!" Sal raged.

The other adults in the ER stared at Sal, openly shocked as he began directing nurses and doctors away from the boys and towards Stephanie.

"But, sir!" one of the nurses protested. "They appear to be in pain; that boy over there especially."

"It serves them right!" Sal growled. "They can just wait until you've seen to Miss Plum's injuries!"

The nurses gaped at one another as Sal stood directly in front of the two boys, physically blocking the nurses from attending to either of them.

The nurses finally decided that it would just be easier and quicker to follow Sal's wishes than to try to argue with him, so a whole group of them swarmed down on Stephanie. They wheeled her into a curtained area and transferred her to a bed, returning the gurney to the waiting EMT's. Pulling the drapes around her to give her at least a small amount of privacy, they quickly examined her.

I guess the saying 'many hands make light work' is actually true, because it took only a few minutes for them to assess Steph's injuries and determine a plan of action.

They stepped out and scanned the large crowd. "Family of Stephanie Plum?" one nurse questioned.

Mr. and Mrs. Plum stepped forward and nodded at them.

"Would you like a private update?" the nurse asked, glancing at the large crowd that still refused to return to the waiting room.

Mr. Plum spoke in a brisk and no nonsense voice. "No. We'd just like to know what's going on. And we'd like to know now."

The nurse nodded. "It appears that your daughter has a pretty good sized laceration on her forehead. It is about two to two and half inches in length and fairly deep. One of the nurses is headed to call for a plastic surgeon now."

The nurse paused when she saw Mrs. Plum's wrinkled brow. "Yes?"

Mrs. Plum spoke in a whisper. "A plastic surgeon? I don't understand."

The nurse shrugged. "Any time the laceration is somewhere very obvious, especially on the face, we like to have it stitched up by a plastic surgeon. They do the best job and can make sure that the scars left behind are as small and unnoticeable as possible."

Mr. Plum nodded. "That makes sense. Anything else?"

The nurse nodded. "Her pupils are not equal and reactive. We'd like to take her for a CT scan to determine whether or not she has a concussion."

Mr. Plum nodded again. "Of course."

The nurse gestured towards the waiting room. "If the two of you will just head out to the registration desk, we'll need one of you to fill out some insurance information for Stephanie. Then you can wait out there. As soon as we have any results, we'll be out to update you."

Mrs. Plum nodded, but Mr. Plum stood firm. "Bring me the forms, and I'll fill them out here. I haven't seen my daughter for more than just a few seconds when she was wheeled through here. I'm not leaving her until she goes for her scan."

The nurse looked surprised, but quickly headed off in search of a clipboard and some forms.

Mr. and Mrs. Plum walked back to Stephanie's curtained off area and began talking to her.

"Are you alright, Pumpkin?" her dad asked gruffly.

I could barely hear Steph's quiet answer over all of the commotion. "I'm fine dad. How are Carlos and the guys?"

"They're fine, honey. Just fine. Why?"

"Was Carlos hurt in the accident, too?"

Her dad sounded confused when he answered her. "He wasn't with you, baby. He and his mom were with us in the waiting room when they brought you in."

"Oh. Les and Tank? Are they OK?"

"Let me check." Her dad stepped out of the curtained area and pinned me with a look.

"Who was in the car with her?"

I swallowed hard. "Just me, sir."

"Why does she think Carlos and this Tank person were with her?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. We had just left Tank's house and were headed back to Carlos's. Maybe she's getting confused."

Her dad nodded and looked between Carlos and me. "You two come on back here. Maybe seeing you will help her remember what happened."

Carlos didn't need to be asked twice. He flew past the curtain and stood next to her bed. Rubbing her cheek gently, he whispered, "Hey, Babe!"

"Carlos?" she asked, confused. "Are you OK?"

"I'm fine, Steph. I wasn't with you, remember?"

"Oh. How are Les and Tank? Are they OK?"

I spoke up and moved closer to the bed. "I'm fine, Beautiful. Just a few scrapes and bruises. Tank wasn't with us. We had just left his house."

Stephanie looked thoughtful for a few minutes before she turned back to Carlos. "Do you have scrapes and bruises, too?"

Carlos's brow furrowed. "No, Babe. I wasn't with you."

We all looked at each other, concerned. The nurse who had just hooked up Steph's IV motioned us all out of the curtained room. "We'll be right back, honey!"

"OK, but Dad could you do me a favor?" Steph replied.

"Sure, pumpkin, what do you need?"

"Could you ask the nurses how Carlos and the guys are? I just want to make sure that they're alright."

Mr. Plum looked at the nurse, who nodded. "Sure honey! We'll be right back."

The nurse pulled the curtain shut and led us all a few feet away from it.

"What's going on?" Carlos demanded. "Why can't she remember who was with her or what happened?"

The nurse held her hand up for silence. "This is very common, especially in cases where the patient has experienced some kind of head trauma. We say they're caught in a loop. The patient asks the same questions over and over again until they have finally worked through what happened."

"When will it stop?" Mr. Plum asked.

The nurse shrugged. "It varies case by case. The best thing you can do is to just keep answering her questions. If you get tired of it, step out, and have someone else take a turn. She's not trying to be difficult; she's just confused right now. Stephanie needs all of you to help her work through this."

Mr. Plum nodded. "Could this be caused by the concussion?"

The nurse nodded. "It certainly could. In fact, this behavior coupled with her pupils makes it very likely that she does have a concussion."

We all exchanged concerned glances.

"What does that mean?" Mrs. Plum asked, twisting her hands. "What affect will that have on Stephanie? What do we need to do?"

The nurse just shook her head. "For right now, nothing. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let's wait until we find out for sure if she has a concussion. You are all welcome to wait with her until we take her back for her scan. Then we really need you all to head back out to the waiting room."

We all nodded in agreement and headed back towards Stephanie's curtained off area.

TBC