Chapter 7

The following morning Johnny made his way home. He'd shower and change into something cool. Then off to Disneyland.

Joy.

He was still sore, but not really tired as he had been woken up only once, around eleven, for a short rescue involving a bar fight gone a bit sour. Once in his home he smelled freshly brewed coffee and made a bee line to the kitchen.

"Good morning, John," Kel said.

"'morning," Gage snagged a mug and poured out the hot liquid.

"How's the leg feel?" the doctor queried.

"Better," he said. "Got enough sleep last night." He looked in the fridge then grabbed the peanut butter and jelly. Soon a sandwich had been assembled. Sitting down across from his room mate Johnny took a bite, savoring the taste and texture. Brackett watched in amusement as he sipped at his own coffee.

"What's your day like?" he asked the paramedic.

"Well, I was going on a date with the washing," Johnny wryly replied, "but I've been tapped to chaperone the teenage crowd at Disneyland."

"Chaperone?" curiosity piqued, Kel leaned forward and snagged half of Gage's sandwich. He'd never admit it, but he'd come to enjoy pb&j sandwiches.

"Yeah, Itora's wife is over-protective and doesn't want to let her daughters roam the park without supervision," John said. "Want one?"

"I'll make 'em," Brackett offered. He snagged the sandwich fixings and brought them to the table. Soon two more pb&j's were ready. They ate in companionable silence.

Kel thought about the last time he'd been to Disneyland. He'd just been accepted to medical school and had taken his girlfriend. He couldn't remember her name! Ten years? 15?

Was he that old?

Gage excused himself to go shower, wishing Kel a good day at work. He set out his clothes and comfortable tennis shoes before heading into the bathroom.

Fifteen minutes later the paramedic was surprised by a tap on his bedroom doorway. Looking up he saw Brackett, now dressed in much too casual clothes for work. There was a sheepish grin on the older man's face.

"Think I can come along?" he asked, a little nervously. Johnny just shook his head, a crooked smile gracing his face.

"Sure, doc," he simply said.

"I figured I could go around with the Hawaiian contingent and get to know them a little better," he started to explain, "make it easier to work over in their territory."

"Sure, doc," a bigger grin now. Kel blushed.

"And I haven't been to Disneyland since I started med school," he admitted.

"Was it even there?" Gage teased. "I mean, there were saber tooth cats and mammoths and stuff." Brackett did the mature thing and stuck out his tongue.

The Hawaiian paramedics and captain were a bit surprised to see Dr. Brackett sauntering in next to Gage. Glancing at the other adults no one seemed surprised in the least. Suddenly the two DeSoto children took off like matching rockets.

"Uncle Johnny! Uncle Johnny!," they chorused, "Dr. B!" The younger man was mauled first but the physician wasn't left out. Kel easily hoisted Jenny up on his hip as Chris clambered up on Johnny's back as they continued towards the group.

"Are you coming with us?" the young boy asked.

"No, I'm going with Jake and Ruth," Johnny said. "But we'll see each other over at the park later."

"What about Dr. B?" he followed with another question.

"I'll be staying with you," Kel assured him, "at least for the morning."

After a round of hand-shaking and a couple hugs, the teenaged contingent prepared to leave. Of course, Carole Itora had to fuss with her girls, even spilled a few tears over their growing up.

"Mo-om!" Lilly whined, "I'm 16! I think I can handle Disneyland."

"Yeah, Mom," May jumped in. "We'll be just fine!"

"You'll remember to meet us at 2?" she pressed. Johnny gave his most winning smile.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Itora," he said. "We'll be waiting in front of the Castle a little before two." With that the small group managed to depart.

"Ready for breakfast?" Roy asked the remaining group.

"Yups," Matt replied. "How does this work?" The Itoras, Stanleys and Brackett opted out of the buffet-styled meal, heading for the coffee bar/bakery instead. That left Matt's brood and Roy's to enter the restaurant.

Cissy's eyes couldn't get much bigger when she spied Eyore and Tigger. The larger than life characters happily allowed the small girl to hug them, Beth snapping pictures. Jenny joined her new friend and snuggled into Eyore.

The two boys were a bit put off. The girls were being too silly! They hung back with the adults refusing to greet the Disney characters. That was until Captain Hook came up from behind and tapped Jeff on the shoulder. The Mad Hatter showed up next and soon the boys were as thrilled as the girls.

Matt was pleased. It was a bit pricey, but this was something his kids would always remember. The way Beth was snapping pictures he knew he'd never forget, either! From there they were brought to their table and were able to get breakfast.

Kel sat by Frank sipping his coffee. From the conversation he gathered they'd be meeting up with the rest of the Hawaiian crew in the park as well as the Stokers at noon. The men talked shop; Kel wanted to know all of the pitfalls he and the 51s faced. He was glad Itora was so forthcoming in his personal assessment of the situation in Hawaii.

When the brunch families joined them they walked to the monorail. Johnny had explained the two types of entrance fees. Gage had suggested the all-day pass if he'd planned on going on many rides. If he planned to just wander about the ticket package would be his best price.

Looking at the marquee, Kel decided on the all-day pass. All the "good" rides required 'E' tickets and the coupon book only had five of those.

So far, so good. They wandered up main street, stopping in to watch Mr. Lincoln. The audio-animatronic character was ok, a little stiff, but ok. He felt like Chris DeSoto, a bit bored. The child squirmed in his seat the entire time.

The kids were slightly more enthused about the horseless carraige and the antique fire engine. Slightly. The firemen were much more interested! Kel noted that the DeSoto children were pulling on their parents towards the large castle. Joanne was the queen of calm. No matter how agitated her children became, she simply kept moving in a slow, deliberate manner.

"Hi guys!" Mike Stoker called out as he and his family joined them at the bridge. The four Hawaiian firemen also appeared and after handshakes they continued into Fantasyland.

"Yeah!" Chris and Jenny cheered as they entered the village-like area. Little Becky Stoker pointed at the carousel, eyes wide. With a little coaxing all the children agreed to a ride on the white horses.

Kel felt a little left out, not having a child to be with. He smirked as he thought about adopting one of the younger firefighters that was there. They looked a bit out of place as well.

Then there was a flurry of rides. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride was enthusiastically embraced. Kel found himself paired off with Chris and was swept up in the child's thrill. They hurried to Peter Pan's ride and then on to Snow White.

Which was a little too intense for Cissy and Jenny. Becky had dissolved in tears.

"Babies!" Chris said scornfully. "Dumb old witch isn't real!"

"Guess they thought she was," Kel said, now glad that he didn't have a kid at that point.

"Let's go on the carousel again," Roy suggested.

"Naw, let's go on the Mad Hatter!" Mike said with a grin.

"All right!" Chris was all for it.

"I wanna ride the horsies!" Becky wailed.

"I wanna ride the white horse!" Cissy demanded.

"Calm down!" Roy waded into the breach. "We don't have to do everything together. Mike, why don't you take Chris and we'll watch Becky with Beth."

"Yeah!" Chris was all grins.

"Hey, Doc, want to ride the tea cups?" Mike gave one of his easy smiles.

"Ah," he began as he looked over the spinning cups.

"It'll be fun, Doc," Mike wheedled. "Fast and fun!"

"Count us in! declared Chen and Samuel. With a shrug Kel acquiesced. It was a pretty tame ride.

Or so he thought until he slid into the cup with Chris and Mike.

"Bet we can spin faster than you!" Mike challenged Chen.

"You're on, bruddah!" Chen grinned as he gripped the large disk in the center of his tea cup. As the machine began cranking, sending the cups in lazy, sweeping orbits, the men began pulling as hard as they could.

30 seconds into the ride Kel doubted his sanity.

And the health of his inner ear.

As the cup spun the background sound and colors blended into a chaotic cacophony of noise. He willed his stomach to remain in the place it belonged. He was aware of the laughter and taunts floated between the two competing teams, but didn't join in. Happily he felt the cup slow down.

"Wow, Doc!" Mike said in awe. "You bring a whole new meaning to 'white as a sheet. You gonna be ok?" Kel thought about it for a long moment then slightly nodded. Chris tugged on his hand and together they got off the ride.

Somehow the dizzy man made it to a bench and sat down. The others headed off to yet another ride. Brackett willed his stomach to stay in place, wishing he hadn't eaten those pb&j's, even if they were long gone. Frank Itora came and sat by him in commiseration.

"You'll be ok, Kel," he sympathized. "My daughters pulled that on me once, too. I thought I was gonna die." He spoke in calm tones until a little color came back to his face. Carole approached them.

"Honey, it's almost 2!" she exclaimed. "We gotta bag to see if the girls are ok!"

"You ok?" Frank asked. Kel nodded.

"Yes, better anyway. I'll come with you, walking will help," he determined. They moved back through the castle to the drawbridge. Carole zipped ahead seeing her daughters looking into the moat. She greeted them enthusiastically, much to their dismay.

"Hey Doc, you ok?" Johnny could see Kel looked under the weather. Itora grinned.

"Stoker conned him into going on the tea cups," he said. Johnny suppressed a smile.

"Man, I'm sorry, Kel," he patted him on the shoulder. "Mike got me one time, too. The guy has an iron stomach."

"Well, it was a near thing," Brackett said. "I wondered why he looked so smug."

Ruth and Jake came by the men and watch Mrs. Itora as she fussed over her girls. Frank just shook his head.

"She's kind of over-protective," he said lamely.

"Kind of?" Jake rolled his eyes.

"What have you done this morning?" Frank asked. "We've done most of Fantasyland and Main Street."

"We started on the Matterhorn," Ruth smiled. "Six times! That was a blast! There was no line and they let us keep going."

"Johnny flirted with the ride operators and they kept letting us go through," Jake explained.

"Then we headed over to Frontierland and did the Jungle Cruise in Adventureland," Ruth continued.

"Johnny figured they would want to go on as many rides as possible and the some of those rides get kind of busy in the afternoon," Jake finished.

"We're going to do Pirates and the Haunted house then eat in New Orleans Square," Johnny added. "I want to see who's playing on the Jazz stage." Kel edged closer to Gage.

"Can I join you guys?" he asked, looking hopeful.

"What do you two think?" the paramedic asked the teenagers present.

"Fine by me," Ruth said. Jake agreed.

"Even out the group," the teenager said.

"You know, Cap, you and Mrs. Itora might like to go through the shops in the different areas," Johnny suggested. "Cap Stanley and his wife took off to do that. It gets a bit old following the kids around."

"Yups," Itora agreed. "I mean, if it were our two, then it'd be fine. But the bevy of kids we have are easily contained by their parents." He glanced over at his wife.

"And it makes her more fretful," he whispered.

"It must be hard being a mom," John said. "Letting your babies go out on their own."

"It is," Carole said as she forlornly joined them. "Where do you want to meet next?"

"How about 7 tonight, right here?" Gage suggested. "It's pretty central to the park."

"I noticed in the brochure they have a nice restaurant over by the Pirates ride," Itora commented. "We'll check it out and if it looks ok make some reservations. Our treat."

"Sounds like a plan," Gage said, "but we'll see about the check." Brackett could tell the Hawaiian captain wasn't about to take 'no' for an answer but he wisely held his tongue.

Soon the teenagers were corralled and they skipped over to the Haunted Mansion. Kel was amused by the girls; they'd definitely had bonded! Arms linked, heads together, gossiping about the cute guys that were around them.

"See? We needed another guy to balance out that dreck!" Jake exclaimed. "Girls!"

"I suppose," Kel allowed. "Although they're lots easier to deal with than the other kids crying on the Snow White ride!"

"For sure!" the teen snickered. There was a short line for the attraction and they waited patiently.

"Hey, Kel, was this ride here back in the dark ages?" a sly grin graced Gage's face. The doctor had to settle for a glare.

"No, it wasn't!" he growled. This interested Ruth and Jake. They were old Disneyland veterans. It seemed the Mansion was always there!

"Really?" the girl asked.

"Really. The Pirates ride you were talking about wasn't here, either," Kel loosened up. "In fact, there was no New Orleans Square for that matter."

"Cool! This is your first time just like May and Lilly!" she gushed. "You're gonna love it!" The line began moving and they soon entered a dimly lit hallway that led to a large room. Jake positioned himself next to his sister and nudged her. They were going to 'enhance' the experience for the 'firsties'. As they listened to the canned speech, they waited for the scream at the end. Then they grabbed the two Hawaiians.

The screams enhanced the 'experience' and they laughed. Johnny smirked, but also provided a calming hand to his friend. As the group moved off to the awaiting cars, he checked Kel's pulse.

Fast.

"Leave me alone!" Brackett exclaimed as he shook off his friend only to be captured by Lilly. She was younger than her sister and needed a little adult... comfort? May had latched on to Johnny.

"Dibs on Dr. B," Lilly said a little breathless.

"Yups, dibs on Johnny," May agreed.

"Ewww! I have to ride with you?" Jake and Ruth exchanged disgusted looks.

"Payback is a... pain," Johnny said. "Shouldn't have scared the wahinis!" Both girls giggled and relaxed somewhat as the crowd started down the hall to the awaiting ride. Soon they were transported through the haunted hallways and graveyard beyond. Kel had to admit the effects were great, down to the crows hunching as they cawed.

Fear forgotten, the girls once more linked arms leaving the men to bring up the back. They headed around the lake to the Pirates of the Caribbean. It took a lot of convincing on Gage's part to convince the girls, and Kel, that there was nothing frightening to worry about.

Once inside the structure the line wove up and back. It took nearly 10 minutes to finally get into a boat. They managed to get the two front rows and happily settled in.

"Look, there's the restaurant Itora was talking about," Johnny pointed to the tables along the edge of the river. Before he could get a good look they plunged down into the ride.

Once more the animatronic figures were funny and the song extremely catchy. By the end they were laughing and singing the chorus. Jumping out of the boat the exit dumped them in a shop devoted to pirate gear. Immediately the four teenagers descended on the hats.

There was a lot of giggling as one hat after another was tried on. Johnny was interested in a machine against the wall leaving Kel on his own. He looked over all the stuff designed with children in mind. He acted as an impromptu judge as the teens chose hats. As they went off to pay for their things, Gage sidled up beside him.

"Here, a token to remember the day," he grinned. He put a fake gold doubloon in Kel's hand. It had a hole in it, probably for a key ring. Flipping it over he read the inscription: 'I survived the tea cups'. This caused him to laugh as he slipped the coin into his pocket.

Properly attired in pirate hats they departed for lunch. Rounding the corner they heard jazz music coming from an open courtyard.

"Here we go!" Johnny rubbed his hands together. "They have your traditional hamburgers and fries over there," he told the kids, pointing out the eatery. "And here is your traditional southern fried chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans as well as jambalaya and fried green tomatoes. Get your food and we'll grab a table by the combo."

All of the teens headed off for burgers and fries. Johnny headed for the chicken. Kel decided on the spicy jambalaya. When the adults reached the table the doctor noted three glasses of iced tea on the paramedic's tray. He didn't have a chance to ask why when the bass player looked down at them.

"Well, Johnny Gage, you old puppy dawg!" the big man boomed.

"Hi ya Zac!" he waved.

"Tony, it's Johnny," Zac called over to the piano player. Another big smile and wave.

"Johnny! We have two more then we're free for thirty!" Tony called out. Gage gave them a thumbs up and lifted two teas. Big smiles and the musicians began a lively tune.

The four kids selected a different table, nearby but separate enough for their tastes. The adults enjoyed the music as they ate. Once the set was over the two musicians came down off the podium and sat at their table.

This caused the four teenagers to sit up straight and look over. The guys knew Johnny! The Stanleys had been to the park often but they never knew any of the performers or workers. This elevated Gage to super neat status. Their heads fell together as they wondered how he knew them.

"Well, Johnny, how did we rate a visit?" Zac asked as he picked up his tea.

"I was tapped to chaperone those four," he jerked his head towards the whispering teens. "Doc decided it sounded like fun."

"Until a mutual friend talked me on the tea cups," Kel growled, causing the three men to chuckle.

"Glad to see ya again, puppy dawg," Tony grinned. "You still doing your medic thing?"

"Yup, and Kel Brackett, here, is my boss," he introduced his friend around.

"So you the man, eh?" Zac's eyes danced with mischief. "Bet you have your hands full with this one!" Kel laughed.

"Oh, yes, Johnny always keeps us on our toes at the ER," he easily agreed. "But he's good at what he does and we're lucky to have him." This caused a slight blush on the paramedic's face.

"You know how we met?" Tony asked with a bigger grin. "He was here minding his own business when Zac here decides to have a little heart attack. He was just a scrawny little thing, jumped the rail and started cpr. Surprised the hell out of all of us!"

"Yeah, and I ended up at the ER with 'em and missed my ride home," Gage said. "My aunt was furious!"

"She mellowed out, puppy dawg!" Tony teased. "When I dropped you off and explained everything."

"I was a senior in high school, Doc," John explained, "with a group of friends. They made me go in the ambulance 'cause I was the only one with cpr training."

"I'm very glad he was there!" Zac said, hand over heart. "Saved my lady from a river of grief!"

As they talked the teens finished up and bussed their table. Once done they shyly came over to their chaperone.

"Johnny?" Jake was the brave one. Gage grinned and introduced the kids, explaining the two girls from Hawaii.

"Well, they finally figured out you were the best!" Zac gloated. "Always knew that, puppy dawg!" Four sets of teenage eyes swiveled to the paramedic.

"Puppy dawg?" Ruthie asked, a small grin forming.

"He was a cute little puppy dawg when he saved my life," Zac stated firmly. Still is. But y'all can't call him that, it's our personal name for him!"

"Yes sir!" the teens replied.

"You're ready to go?" Johnny asked.

"We want to go on the pirate ride again!" Lilly said. "We could go and come back here."

"Oh no, I don't want to get on your mother's bad side!" Johnny exclaimed.

"Tell you what," Kel jumped in. "I'll take the group and then you can visit a little more with your friends."

"That'd be right neighborly, Doc," Tony grinned. Kel got up, bussed his tray, and followed the kids off to the ride.

Twenty minutes later, still chattering and laughing, the teenagers with alternate chaperone in tow returned to the courtyard. The band had just climbed back on the stage and waved to the group.