Bank On It

“H’lo?” She mumbled sleepily.

“Ms. McCall? This is Ted London, the building manager. I just got a complaint from your downstairs neighbor that there’s water leaking into her apartment from above.”

Now Dixie was wide-awake. “WHAT?”

“That’s right, water. You wanna explain that?”

“Uh…I doubt it,” Dixie said as she sat up. “I’m not sure what it could be.”

“What about that ocean you have in your living room?”

“My fish tank?” Dixie sat up straighter. “I don’t know…”

“Well, if it is your fish tank, you’re gonna have to pay for the carpet cleaning and any repairs to the building as a result of water damage. I’m gonna send maintenance up there today to see what the trouble is. He should be there within the hour.”

Dixie swore softly as she hung up the phone. She got out of bed and got dressed. She headed out into her living room and saw what she dreaded--the fish tank, the one that she thought was such a good idea after seeing the one Kel had delivered to his office by accident, was cracked and most of the water had leaked out. The fish were floundering in water that was almost too shallow for them to survive. She swore again and went in search of a bucket to put the fish in until she could figure out what to do with them.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Dixie had just captured the last unfortunate fish and dumped him into the bucket of water when there was a knock at the door. She opened it and admitted the maintenance man.

He surveyed the damage and collected a check for $250. That was in addition to her security deposit, which had already been accounted for. She sighed ruefully as she let him out and was halfway back to her bedroom when she suddenly remembered something. She ran for her purse and opened her checkbook. Her paycheck was still there--undeposited. She swore yet again as she realized that she wouldn’t have time to go to the bank before work.

********************

Dixie swore yet again (her 4-letter vocabulary was getting quite the workout!) as she got back out of her car in the parking lot after realizing that she had left her lights on that morning and her battery was dead. How was she supposed to get to the bank now?

Just then, she saw Kelly Brackett heading out to his car.

“Kel! Hey, Kel!” She called to the handsome doctor.

Brackett turned and smiled at the nurse walking towards him. “Hi, Dix. How’re you doing?”

“I’ve had better days,” she sighed. “My fish tank sprung a leak and flooded my apartment and the one downstairs. I had to write a check to cover what my security deposit didn’t and unless I get to the bank with my paycheck today, that check is going to bounce.”

“Sounds like you’ve had a rough day,” Kel said, with a sympathetic smile.

“That’s not the worst part,” Dixie said, rolling her eyes. “I was stupid enough to leave my lights on this morning and now my battery’s dead. I don’t suppose I could trouble you for a ride to the bank? I’ll buy you lunch," she said hopefully.

“How can I refuse?” Brackett answered with a wider smile. “Which is your bank?”

“First National. The branch on Main Street?”

“I know where that is,” Brackett said as they reached his car. He opened the door for her. “Hop in.”

She smiled as she sat down in the passenger seat. He shut the door and moved around to the driver’s side. Within seconds, they were on their way to the bank.

*********************

As they pulled into the bank’s parking lot, they saw the drive-through line around the building. Dixie grimaced and pointed to an open parking spot.

“You wanna wait here or would you like to come in and stand in line with me?”

“Conversation’s probably better if I come in with you,” he said dryly.

The two of them exited the car and went to stand in the long line in the bank.

**********************

They had been standing in line for about fifteen minutes when the sound of a gunshot and a loud voice from the door shattered the staid atmosphere of the bank.

“ALL RIGHT! THIS IS A HOLD-UP! NOBODY MOVE AND NOBODY GETS HURT!”

Dixie whirled around to see five men in ski masks holding rifles and/or handguns. Her eyes widened for a moment before she rolled them.

“That’s the last time I say things can’t get any worse when I’m having a bad day.”

Kel looked at her in surprise. “When did you say that?”

“I didn’t say it out loud. But it appears Murphy’s Law applies to your thoughts as well…”

Brackett gave her a rueful smile and they went back to watching the gunmen. Hoping no one would get hurt.

***********************

After about five minutes, the sound of sirens could be heard getting closer. The gunmen looked at each other and immediately ordered everyone onto the floor.

“Can’t one thing go right with this job?” one of the men shouted as the police cars screeched to a halt outside the bank.

“I know the feeling,” Dixie muttered under her breath. Brackett chuckled mirthlessly.

***********************

Within less than an hour, the police realized that they had a good old-fashioned standoff going and neither side was willing to compromise.

Brackett and Dixie were sitting on the floor of the bank silently. Somewhere along the line, her hand found his and that’s where it stayed.

After a few minutes, Brackett looked at his watch.

“We’re late back from lunch. Think they’ll miss us?”

She sighed. “Probably. Not much we can do about it though.”

“You two! Shut up!” yelled one of the gunmen as he waved his gun in their general direction.

Brackett’s hand tightened on hers and Dixie allowed herself to lean into him with a sigh.

*********************

Joe Early looked at his watch for the third time in as many minutes. Kel and Dixie were due back from lunch nearly half an hour ago. It wasn’t like either of them to be late.

'Good thing it’s a slow day,’ he thought to himself.

“Dr. Early?”

The white-haired doctor turned at the sound of his name. A young nurse was approaching him. “Yes...Mary, wasn’t it?”

“Marie, yes,” she answered. “I just thought you’d like to know, the LAPD just called. There’s a bank hold-up going on and we should prepare for gunshot victims. They estimated there’s about 50 people in the bank.”

Early’s eyes widened. “FIFTY?”

She shrugged. “It’s a Friday at lunch hour. A lot of people cashing their paychecks.”

“It’s a good thing we got paid on the fifteenth and thirtieth of the month,” he said with a smile. “We don’t have to fight the bank crowd except when they fall on a Friday.”

She chuckled. “You’re right. We have the news with the hostage situation on in the nurse’s lounge if you want to see how it’s going.”

He nodded. “If we’re going to get fifty gunshot victims, maybe I should see what’s going on. Let me know when Dr. Brackett and Miss McCall get back from lunch will you?”

Marie nodded and headed off to another section of the ER.

**************************

“This is the police!” a voice came from outside, echoing slightly as it was projected through the megaphone. “Put down your guns and come out with your hands up. This has gone on long enough.”

“What do we do?” one of the gunmen asked.

Before anyone can answer, the telephone rang. The men looked at each other.

“That’s probably the police negotiator,” another man said. “You wanna answer it?”

The apparent leader of the gang reached for the phone, but stopped with his hand on the receiver. He thought for a moment before picking it up and putting it back immediately, cutting off the line.

“Let ‘em sweat,” he said with a smile.

********************

Joe Early stretched as he came out of the treatment room. He looked around and didn’t see Brackett and Dixie anywhere.

‘I hope nothing’s happened to them,’ he thought to himself. ‘They wouldn’t be late back from lunch if everything was okay.’

He sighed and then decided to check on the hostage situation. He headed for the nurses lounge.

***********************

“What do we do?” one of the gunmen asked their leader.

“First we give them our demands,” he answered, busily writing something on a deposit slip.

“How do we do that if you won’t talk to them?”

“We’ll go out with the white flag and hand them over.”

“Are you NUTS?” one of the other men yelped. “We can’t go out there!”

Suddenly, the man spotted Dixie in her nurse’s uniform. “So we’ll send the white flag out without us.”

“What?”

The leader walked over to where Brackett and Dixie were sitting. He grabbed Dixie by the arm and hauled her roughly to her feet. Brackett was also on his feet, forcing himself between Dixie and the gunman.

“Leave her alone!” Brackett shouted, only to find himself looking down the business end of a pistol.

“Lady, you tell your boyfriend here to back off, or his blood is gonna get your nice white uniform all stained.”

“Kel, it’s okay,” Dixie said quietly, trying to keep the quaver out of her voice. “I’ll be okay.”

Brackett slowly moved away, watching the man with the most intimidating look he could muster.

The man wasn’t intimidated as he dragged Dixie over to the door of the bank. He handed her the deposit slip.

“These are our demands. You go out there and hand them to the cops and you come right back in. If you ain’t back in two minutes, we start shooting people, you understand?”

Dixie nodded and the man shoved her over to the door.

********************

Early was sitting in the nurse’s lounge, watching the news when the reporter in the field suddenly cut into the news anchor’s report.

“I hate to interrupt you John, but it appears something’s happening here. The door is opening and it looks like someone is coming out.”

The camera panned over to the doors of the bank and Joe Early stood up in shock. Dixie McCall exited the bank as though she had been shoved. She immediately put her hands up and started walking towards the police barricade.

Just then, Mike Morton stormed into the nurse’s lounge. “Where the hell is Dixie? There’s a delivery guy out here with vital supplies and he won’t take anyone else’s signature.”

Joe just pointed to the TV. Morton turned to look and his mouth dropped open. He stepped in for a closer look.

“I think we know why Kel and Dixie aren’t back from lunch yet,” Joe said ruefully.

********************

Dixie walked slowly out to the police barricade and as soon as she was within reach, she was grabbed and dragged towards the police cars.

“They wanted me to bring you their demands,” she said once she had identified someone who appeared to be in charge.

“I’m Detective Martin Newhart. What’s your name?”

“I’m Dixie McCall. I’m a nurse at Rampart. But at the moment, I’m a white flag.”

“What?”

“They wanted to run up the white flag to deliver their demands. I’m the closest thing to a white flag they had.” She said, gesturing to her white uniform.

“What are their demands?” Newhart asked.

Dixie shrugged and handed him the piece of paper she had been given. The detective read the demands with a snort.

“Car! Helicopter! Safe passage to Mexico! These guys have been watching too many movies.”

“I think there’s something written on the back,” Dixie said as she looked at the paper in the man’s hand.

He flipped it over and laughed again. “They want some sandwiches while they wait for us to get the other stuff.”

“Look, I have to get back in there,” Dixie said. “What should I tell them?”

“What do you mean you have to get back in there?” Newhart exclaimed. “You can’t go back in there! It’s too dangerous!”

“It’s even more dangerous for me to stay out here! They said if I wasn’t back in two minutes they’d start shooting people.”

“Think they’re serious?” Newhart asked. “I mean, how’d they seem? Would they start shooting?”

Dixie shrugged. “I don’t know. They’re pretty scared. They were expecting to be long-gone before you guys got here. Either way, I can’t take the chance that they won’t start shooting. I’m going back in.”

Newhart sighed. “Okay, but be careful. Tell them if they want to negotiate, they have to answer the phone. The white flag isn’t going to work.”

“Hope they don’t shoot the messenger,” Dixie muttered.

Newhart put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Hey, we’re not gonna let you guys get killed, okay?” Then he turned to one of the officers behind him. “Better have paramedics standing by.”

Dixie sighed, patted the hand on her shoulder, and turned to return to the bank.

*********************

‘Squad 51, Bank robbery in progress. First National Bank, 310 Main Street, 3-1-0 Main, cross street Hamilton. Police on the scene. Time out: 13:21’

Roy and Johnny looked at each other. They had been watching the robbery unfold on the news and were horrified when they saw Dixie leave and then re-enter the bank. Both men took off for the squad.

********************

Kelly Brackett was sitting sullenly on the floor as he watched Dixie being shoved roughly out the door. Secretly, he hoped she wouldn’t be back. Even though he knew they had threatened to start shooting people if she wasn’t back in two minutes, he didn’t want her walking back into the danger.

‘I can’t lose her now!’ he thought to himself. Then another thought struck him. ‘Where did that come from? Lose her? My God!’

The thought that Dixie could die created a stabbing pain in his chest and he suddenly realized that his feelings for her had grown beyond friendship. Well, if he had to be honest, they had always been more than friendship. He had even tried dating her for a while, but she broke it off when he couldn’t say the three words that she wanted to hear most.

**************************

* Dixie’s living room, 3 years earlier *

They had been arguing about the merits of the paramedic program and he had just admitted that he really DID think the new paramedics deserved the chance to practice their arts, if only because they worked so hard to learn them.

Dixie leaned into him. “I love you.”

As she started kissing her way up to his ear, he said, “Uh…Dix?”

“Mm-hm?” she purred, nuzzling his neck.

“You’re spilling your martini on my shoulder.”

She reached around and felt his dry shirt. Her face took on an exasperated expression. “You’re not only a liar; you’re hopeless!”

He kissed her at that point and she temporarily forgot that he still hadn’t said what she truly wanted to hear. At the time, he thought it a lucky escape.

**********************

Back to the present, Brackett was replaying the scene in his mind and kicking himself for it.

‘You’re spilling your martini on my shirt!’ He cringed at the memory. ‘Three little words! Four if you count her name--Dixie, I love you. Is it really so hard to say?’

He sighed to himself and watched the door.

‘If we get out of this alive,’ he promised himself, ‘I’m going to tell her how I really feel. I can’t take it for granted anymore. I see that now.’

He looked up as he heard the door open. Dixie walked back in and was roughly pulled into the lobby by one of the men.

“What’d they say?” the leader demanded.

“Answer the phone next time,” she said simply.

“I don’t need any smart-ass remarks lady! What’d they say?”

Dixie stood her ground and Brackett stood up. He started walking towards her, deliberately keeping his movements non-threatening.

“I told you what they said! They said if you want to negotiate, you answer the phone next time.”

“Damn bitch! You put them up to it!” His hand came up and then back down, connecting with Dixie’s face. She reeled but didn’t fall. Kel ran forward.

“Bastard! Don’t you touch her!”

Dixie recovered from her fall just in time to see another man raise his gun to aim at the rampaging doctor. She moved forward to intercept.

“KEL!”

The sound of a shot rang out through the small lobby. Both Dixie and Brackett went down in a heap.

“What the hell did you do that for?” the leader yelled at the man who had fired a shot. “I coulda handled him! I ain’t goin’ down for murder!”

************************

“I hate to interrupt again, John,” the reporter said on the television. “But it appears something has happened.”

Early and Morton, as well as about a dozen doctors, nurses and hospital personnel crowded around the television, all clamoring to see what the reporter would say next.

“A shot was fired within seconds of Dixie McCall re-entering the bank. We suspect that they didn’t like the answer the police gave to their demands and took it out on Ms. McCall. However, there is no confirmation of this theory and it is unclear who, if anyone has been shot.”

Early closed his eyes for a brief moment. “Please, God, let them be all right,” he said softly.

“Amen,” Morton finished for him.

Just then, another nurse poked her head into the lounge. “Dr. Early? We have an accident victim coming in.”

Early reluctantly pulled his eyes away from the television. “Okay, Helen. Thank you. Tell them to get treatment room two ready.

***********************

The first thing Dixie was aware of was a burning pain radiating through her left arm. The next thing she was aware of was a pair of shoes stuck in her gut. She looked down and realized the shoes were on the feet of Kelly Brackett and he was sprawled out beneath her.

“Kel? You okay?” she struggled to sit up. “Kel? KEL?”

She used her right arm to gently roll the doctor over. She gasped as she saw the red stain spreading over his shoulder. It was with great difficulty that she managed to remove her sweater and press it against his wound in an effort to stop the bleeding.

After a few minutes, he came around with a groan. His eyes fluttered open and he looked up into the concerned face of Dixie McCall.

“Hiya, Dix,” he said softly.

“Hi yourself,” she said. “You know you scared the hell out of me just now.”

“What happened?”

“You picked a fight with the wrong guy.”

Brackett furrowed his brow for a minute and then remembered. “The robbery! He hit you! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Kel,” she said soothingly. “You’re the one with the bullet in you.”

He struggled to sit up. Dixie leaned against the nearest wall and pulled him into her so that he was sitting against her. She put her right arm around him, holding the sweater over his wound and her left hand found his. That’s when he noticed it.

“Dixie! You’ve been hit!”

Dixie looked down at her left arm and saw the blood staining the sleeve of her dress. She immediately understood what had happened. The bullet had passed through her arm and gone into Brackett’s shoulder. She closed her eyes for a brief moment and thanked every deity she could think of for the fact that the bullet wasn’t through his heart--which was where it was aimed at the time.

“Just a scratch,” she said, hoping her voice sounded more confident than she felt. “I’ll be fine.”

He struggled to turn around. “Let me take a look at it.”

“Kel, you’re in no shape to be playing doctor! I said I’m fine!”

“Dixie, the bullet could have damaged an artery! You could bleed to death from that little scratch and you know it!”

“Like you’re in any better shape?”

Brackett reached up with his good hand and began loosening his tie.

“What are you doing?” Dixie asked him as she helped him remove the paisley-patterned cloth from around his neck.

“You used your sweater to try to stop my shoulder from bleeding; this is the least I can do.”

Dixie smiled and between the two of them, they managed to get the tie securely wrapped around her wound.

**************************

After another hour, the leader of the robbers came over to the wounded couple. He knelt down in front of the two of them.

“Hey, look,” he began hesitantly. “We didn’t mean for nobody to get hurt. Ya know? We were just in it for the money.”

Dixie looked the man in the eye. “You can’t do something like this and expect to get away without hurting anyone. You bring a gun into the situation and this is what happens. Deal with it.”

The man shrank back involuntarily. Inwardly, Dixie was pleased that her no-nonsense-nurse persona was just as effective on people who weren’t patients or fellow nurses. Abruptly he stood up and put some distance between himself and the intimidating woman.

Dixie chuckled softly and looked down at Brackett who was still leaning against her on the floor. He was only semi-conscious and Dixie knew that he was still bleeding, even under the pressure that she was holding on the wound. She also thought she heard a vague rasping in his breathing that could be indicative that the bullet had injured his lung.

“You just hang on, Kel,” she said softly as she rested her cheek on the top of his head. “We’re going to get out of this.”

Brackett moaned softly and Dixie tightened her hold on him.

Just then, the telephone rang.

The gunman walked over and picked up the phone. “Yeah? Well, I’ll tell you. We shot a doctor.” He pulled a leather wallet out of his jacket pocket. “Dr. Brackett. His girlfriend the nurse took a hit too. You gonna give in to our demands? I figger they ain’t got too long before they bleed to death. You don’t wanna be responsible for that, do you?”

Dixie looked over at the man with eyes wide. Not only had the man lifted Kel’s wallet while they were unconscious, but they were going to use their injuries as bargaining chips!

***********************

“We interrupt this program for a live news update on the First National Bank robbery situation. We take you now to our reporter on the scene, Harry Stratton.”

Joe Early had just returned from the treatment room to hear the introduction. He quickly found a place in front of the television.

“This is Harry Stratton coming to you live from in front of the First National Bank on Main Street where a hostage situation has been going on since about 12:30 this afternoon. Earlier we reported a shot was fired inside the bank. The police have been in contact with the gunmen and we now know what has happened.”

Early closed his eyes and prayed. Morton crossed his fingers. The rest of the people in the room leaned in closer to the television set.

Apparently, one of the gunmen panicked when someone stepped up to defend Dixie McCall, the nurse from Rampart General who had delivered the robbers’ demands to the police, and fired at him. Ms. McCall pushed him out of the way and the bullet hit both her and the other man, one Dr. Kelly Brackett--a doctor at Rampart. It is unclear at this time as to how badly either one is hurt, but the gunmen have not yet allowed paramedics in to treat them. Hopefully, they can be persuaded to allow medical treatment for the injured people. We’ll be bringing you live updates as they happen. For Channel 12, this is Harry Stratton.”

As the television went back to the daily soap operas, Morton stood up and began pacing--not an easy task amid all the people in the room.

“DAMN!” He finally exclaimed. “What are we supposed to do? Kel and Dixie are there, possibly dying, and we can’t do a damn thing!”

Early sighed heavily. “There’s nothing we CAN do, Mike. We just have to wait--as hard as that’s going to be, it’s all we can do.”

*****************************

“Man, I hate waiting!” Johnny said impatiently as they stood behind the police barricade. “We gotta get in there! Dixie and Doc Brackett could be seriously hurt! What’re we gonna do if they…if they…" He couldn’t finish the thought.

“They’re not gonna die!” Roy said, trying to sound more confident than he felt. He knew if he lost it, his partner would follow very quickly and they couldn’t afford that. “Brackett’s too stubborn to die, and Dixie would send the angel of death running for cover before she’d give in. They’ll be okay! We gotta believe that!”

Johnny knew what his partner was trying to do and shot him a grateful look. “Thanks, Pally.”

******************************

Brackett groaned and opened his eyes. He looked up into the very worried and--in his opinion--very beautiful face of Dixie McCall.

“We still in the bank?” he asked weakly.

“Shhh…don’t try to talk,” she said gently. “We’re still in the bank. You need to save your strength.”

“You okay?” he asked, weakly trying to get a look at her arm.

She gently pressed him back down--a move he wasn’t strong enough to resist.

“I’m fine, Kel. I told you, it's just a scratch.”

“Dixie,” he said weakly. He knew that he had to say it now or never. “I love you.”

Dixie’s eyes slid closed. When she opened them again, they were brimming with tears. She leaned down and gently kissed his lips. When she sat up again, she realized that he had passed out again.

She struggled to stand up and walked over to the lead gunman, who was watching the police through the window blinds.

“You have to let the paramedics in here! He’s going to die if he doesn’t get medical attention and soon! The cops are calling your bluff! They’re prepared to wait it out and let you go down for murder! Please! He needs medical help!”

Just then, the telephone rang. The gunman looked at the blood-covered woman in front of him and made a decision. He walked over to the desk and picked up the phone.

“Send the paramedics in. You try to send cops in masquerading and the medics’ll have more patients than they can handle, you understand?”

The man replaced the receiver and looked at Dixie. “You know the paramedics?”

She nodded.

“You tell me if anyone that comes through that door isn’t a medic. If you lie, I’ll kill your boyfriend before they can arrest me, understand?”

She nodded again and returned to Brackett’s side.

*************************

Detective Newhart looked at the two paramedics. “Okay, they’re gonna let you go in. We want to send a couple of guys in with you.”

Roy and Johnny looked at each other and the turned on the detective.

“No,” Johnny said firmly. “They’ve seen us and they know what we look like.”

“Dixie especially,” Roy said. “She wouldn’t intentionally give it away, but they might notice something in her demeanor.”

Newhart sighed. “Fine. But be careful, would you? We don’t need any more casualties.”

“Don’t worry,” Roy said with a smile. “Johnny can handle bank robbers--right, Junior?”

Johnny smiled at the memory. “Right, Pally.”

With a deep breath, the two men gathered their equipment and headed into the bank.

***********************

As Roy and Johnny approached the bank, the gunman dragged Dixie over to the window.

“Are both those guys medics?”

“Yes,” Dixie said, trying to keep a tremor out of her voice.

“Okay, go open the door for your friends.”

Dixie approached the front door and opened it carefully. Roy and Johnny walked in. Johnny took one look at Dixie and immediately grabbed her by an arm and led her to a chair.

“I’m fine, guys,” she said impatiently. “Just a scratch. Take care of Dr. Brackett; he’s worse off than I am.”

Johnny continued treating Dixie while Roy ran over to examine Brackett.

“Johnny! Go help Roy with Dr. Brackett! I’m telling you I’m fine!”

“Now you let Roy handle Dr. Brackett,” Johnny said in his best imitation of Dixie’s no-nonsense voice. “I’ll get this ‘scratch’ of yours taken care of and then I’ll go help Roy, okay?”

Dixie started to argue when Johnny said, “Hey, I ever tell you about the time Roy and me were held hostage in a bank robbery?”

**************************

Meanwhile, Roy picked up the bio-phone. “Rampart, this is Squad 51, how do you read?”

Joe Early heard the dispatcher send 51 to the bank robbery and he dove for the radio. “Read you loud and clear 51, go ahead.”

“Rampart, we have two victims, Dr. Brackett is the first and Dixie the second. First patient suffered a gunshot wound to the left shoulder with considerable blood loss. He is semi-conscious and in considerable pain. Vital signs are: pulse 110, BP 97/60, respiration 10.”

Early took a deep breath to collect himself and then turned back to the radio. “51, start an IV with Ringer’s Lactate, administer 10 mg MS and transport as soon as possible.”

“IV Ringer’s, 10 mg MS, roger that Rampart. Second victim has been winged by the bullet on her left arm. There is considerable bleeding. A pressure bandage has been applied. She is conscious and coherent. Vital signs are: pulse 90, BP 100/65, respiration 14.”

“51, start an IV with Ringer’s lactate, administer 10 mg MS if needed and transport.”

“Roger that,” Roy said as he turned to relay instructions to his partner, one of the gunmen put himself between the two partners.

“No,” he hissed. “You can take him, but we’re keeping her.”

“WHAT?” Johnny jumped up. “She needs to get to a hospital too!”

“And I need our demands met. I keep her and the cops’ll speed things up in order to get her outta here faster.”

“She’s not gonna drop dead anytime soon,” Johnny said smugly. “Her injury is fairly minor.”

“Yeah, well you know that and I know that, but the cops don’t know that. You go out there and tell them that she’s at death’s door and they’d better hurry up and cooperate.”

“I can’t lie to the cops!” Johnny exclaimed.

The gunman nodded to one of his compatriots who came up and put his gun to Dixie’s temple. “You don’t tell them that and she’s as good as dead. I expect the cops to deal with us as though her life depended on us getting outta here quick. If I even suspect they’re gonna call our bluff, she gets it! You understand?”

Roy peeked around the guy to look at his partner. Johnny seemed torn. Dixie made the decision.

“It’s all right, guys, I’ll be okay. Just get Dr. Brackett out of here, all right?”

Johnny shrugged and Roy took a deep breath and nodded. He turned back to the bio-phone.

“Uh…Rampart, this is Squad 51. Negative on the transport of the second victim. They’re not letting her go.”

Early looked at Morton who had joined him to see what was going on. Morton swore silently. Early closed his eyes in prayer for another moment before turning back to the radio.

“Understood, 51. Bring Dr. Brackett on in. We’ll be waiting for you.”

*************************

As Roy and Johnny brought Brackett out of the bank on a stokes (the ambulance attendants weren’t permitted into the bank), Newhart ran up to them.

“What’d they say? Where’s Miss McCall?”

Roy and Johnny looked at each other, neither one wanting to give voice to the lie they needed to tell. Finally, Johnny bit the bullet.

“They didn’t want to let her go. They figure you’ll work faster to meet their demands if they kept the more seriously injured one.”

“So, she’s badly hurt then?”

Johnny unconsciously shook his head ‘no’ while answering, “Yeah, she’s in pretty bad shape. I don’t know how much longer she’s gonna last. She lost an awful lot of blood. I’d say she’s at death’s door...wouldn’t you, Pally?” Johnny looked at his partner for help.

“Uh…yeah, I guess. She’s pretty bad,” Roy said hesitantly. He hated lying to the police. He hated lying in general, but he consoled himself with the thought that he really had no choice at this point.

“DIXIE!” Brackett’s voice startled the three men. They hadn’t seen the doctor wake up, nor had they been aware that he had heard their description of Dixie’s ‘dire’ situation. He started struggling in the stokes.

“We better get him outta here,” Johnny said to the detective.

“NO! I can’t leave her like this!” Brackett’s struggles became almost frantic and for a moment, Johnny and Roy were afraid they hadn’t strapped him in securely enough. “DIXIE!!”

“Doc, you just relax, all right?” Johnny said to the semi-coherent man. “She’s gonna be fine, don’t you worry about it, okay? We gotta get you to the hospital, understand? Dixie’s gonna be fine.”

Brackett struggled for a few more seconds as Roy and Johnny carried him to the waiting ambulance attendants and then went limp. Roy climbed into the ambulance and Johnny took off for the squad. Almost reluctantly, they pulled out and headed to Rampart.

****************************

Joe Early was standing in the ambulance-bay doors when the ambulance bearing Kelly Brackett pulled up to the door. As they unloaded it, Roy stepped up to Early.

“He was in and out of consciousness all the way here,” Roy said to the white-haired doctor. “The gunmen forced us to tell the cops that Dixie was at death’s door so the negotiations would progress faster. Unfortunately, Brackett heard us talking and now he’s convinced that she’s dying. Could you reassure him that she’s fine?”

“Sure, Roy,” Early said gently. Then he was all business. “Let’s get him into treatment room two.”

*****************************

Dixie sat lost in thought. Brackett had said the three little words that she had always wanted to hear. The real question was, did he mean it? Or was it just the sort of thing one said when one thought they were dying?

She sighed. If this thing didn’t end peacefully and soon, she might never find out. Then her thoughts turned to what Johnny had been telling her about the time he and Roy had been stuck in a bank hold-up. She smiled to herself at the way Johnny talked the robbers into giving themselves up.

‘I don’t suppose I could do that,’ she thought to herself. ‘He said, ‘Just make it look conversational’. Act like you’re really interested. Maybe I could.’

She took a deep breath, fixed a friendly look on her face and stood up to talk to the gunmen.

*******************************

Kelly Brackett came to slowly. The first thing he noticed was that the pain in his shoulder was down to a dull throb. The second thing he noticed was the feeling of being in a fog. The third thing he noticed was the face of Joe Early bending over him.

“Joe?” he said weakly.

“Hey, Kel,” Joe said gently. “How’re you feeling?”

“I’ve been better,” Brackett said with a small wince. Then he remembered. “DIXIE! I heard Johnny. He said she’s dying! Where is she?”

“Dixie’s not here, Kel,” Early said softly. “She hasn’t come into the ER.”

‘She hasn’t come into the ER?’ Brackett’s fogged mind put two and two together and came up with five. ‘If she hasn’t come in here, they must have taken her…to the morgue!’

“Oh, Dixie! She’s dead, isn’t she?” he whispered.

“Kel, listen to me,” Early said firmly. “She is NOT dead. She’s still in the bank and she’s fine.”

Unfortunately, Brackett didn’t hear his friend’s assurances. He had already passed out again.

Early sighed and moved aside for the orderlies who had come to take the dark-haired doctor up to surgery.

******************************

“How’re you guys doing?” Dixie asked a small group of the gunmen.

“What’s it to ya?” one of them answered a little suspiciously.

“I’m a nurse,” she said in her friendliest tone. “I care.”

“Yeah, well, we’re a little stressed right now, so if you don’t mind...” another one said.

“I could show you some relaxation techniques if you like.”

The other bank customers watched in bemused amazement as Dixie started showing the gunmen various deep-breathing and stretching exercises.

*******************************

Roy and Johnny returned to the bank as soon as Brackett was taken up to surgery. As they pulled up, Newhart came running up to them.

“I’m glad you guys are back. According to the guys inside, Miss McCall’s fading fast. We can’t give in to their demands, but we can’t wait too long either.”

“You’re not going to give in?” Johnny asked, incredulous.

Newhart shook his head. “It’s not our policy to negotiate. We want them in custody or nothing.”

Johnny looked at Roy, who nodded. Johnny sighed in relief. “Then we can tell you, Dixie’s fine. The bullet just nicked her arm. She’s lost a fair amount of blood, but she’s in no immediate danger. Those guys threatened to kill her if we told you her true condition, but since you’re not planning on giving in to them, it don’t matter if we tell you or not.”

Newhart smiled, “NOW we have something to work with. If they let the seriously injured man go, they don’t want to go down for murder. They’ll give in, all right.”

“If Dixie does her part,” Johnny muttered under his breath.

**************************

“So, how much you guys get?” Dixie asked conversationally as she poured them all coffee from the employee’s pot.

The men looked at each other and shrugged. The leader spoke up as he waited for the hot coffee to cool enough to drink it. “I think we got a couple hundred thou.”

Dixie’s eyes widened and she whistled appreciatively. “That’s more than I’ve made in my entire working career! I don’t suppose I could see it, could I? I’ve never seen that much money in one place before.”

The leader shrugged and motioned to one of his men who came forward with a canvas bag. The leader took the bag from the man and opened in front of Dixie’s eyes. Her eyes widened even more and she just breathed one word: “Wow!”

“I know, impressive ain’t it?”

“Yeah, what are you gonna do with your share?”

“Dunno, thought about gettin’ a house in Mexico or somethin’.”

Dixie nodded thoughtfully. “That’s not a bad idea. I’ve always heard it’s easy to get lost in Mexico. Of course, you guys have gotta get outta here first.”

“Oh, the cops’ll give in to our demands. They ain’t gonna let a civilian die.”

“You wouldn’t really kill me, would you?”

The leader smiled under his mask. “Nah, we ain’t killers. Course, the cops don’t know that.”

“You sure about that?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you let them take Dr. Brackett out of here. You didn’t let him die. And you’re not gonna kill me. Eventually, the cops are gonna figure that out. There’s only so long you can tell them I’m at death’s door before they stop believing you.”

“Hey, she’s got a point,” one of the men spoke up. “I mean, we’ve been tellin’ ‘em that she’s dyin’ for the past hour. That excuse ain’t gonna hold up for much longer.”

Suddenly, as if on cue, the phone rang. The men looked at each other and, after a minute, the leader went over and answered it.

“Yeah?”

************************

Newhart winked at the two paramedics standing next to him. “How’s Dixie doin’?”

“She ain’t doin’ too good,” the gunman answered him. “Don’t know how much longer she can last. You guys had better hurry up.”

“Yeah, well, you’ve been saying that for the last hour, how do I know she isn’t dead already?”

“She’s almost dead,” the gunman answered, a hint of desperation creeping into his voice. “You gonna meet our demands or not?”

“We don’t negotiate,” Newhart said. “I don’t think you guys wanna go down for murder, that’s why you let the paramedics in earlier. I still think you don’t wanna do it, so the way I see, you got two choices, you can surrender now, or we wait you out. We can wait all day if necessary.”

Newhart put the phone down and looked over at Johnny and Roy. “They hung up. I think we got ‘em.”

**************************

The man slammed the phone back on its cradle. “DAMMIT!”

“What?” one of the other men said.

“They think she must be dead already. They’re gonna wait us out.”

Dixie sighed sympathetically. “You know, at this point, I’d seriously consider giving up. I mean, think about it. The cops aren’t gonna negotiate and if you try shooting your way out, you’re outgunned ten to one. You’ve moved most of the hostages behind the counter and into the vault, so they’re out of the line of fire. I don’t mean to be negative, but I think you’re out of options.”

The men looked at one another and then looked to their leader.

“What’s the sentence for armed robbery?” he asked Dixie in response to his men’s silent question.

“Well, assuming Dr. Brackett doesn’t die...” Dixie felt a cold hand grip her heart at that thought. She pulled herself together quickly. “I’d say probably fifteen to twenty-five years. You can’t be that old, you’ll be out before you’re sixty.”

“Hey, man,” one of the men said, “that’s better than gettin’ shot to death by cops.”

The leader looked around at his men who were all nodding agreement.

“Okay, you go out first,” he said to Dixie. “Let ‘em know we’re leavin’ our guns in here and we’ll be coming out. We’ll give you two minutes and then we’ll come out, okay?”

Dixie nodded, making a mental note to do something remarkably nice for Johnny really soon because his plan worked. Then she took a deep breath and headed for the door of the bank.

*****************************

“We interrupt this program for a special news bulletin. We take you live now to Harry Stratton on location at the site of the First National Bank hostage crisis.”

“This is Harry Stratton,” the reporter said into the camera. “It would appear that the door to the bank is opening and someone is coming out.” He turned to look at the bank behind him. “It would appear to be Dixie McCall, the nurse from Rampart General. We had been told that Miss McCall was seriously wounded, but it would appear that her condition was exaggerated.”

The camera showed Dixie, her uniform stained with dried blood as she made her way to the waiting police barricade.

The doctors and nurses crowded around the television in the nurses’ lounge. Just then, Dr. Early walked into the room. Mike Morton gestured him over.

“Dixie was just let out of the bank!”

“What?” Early moved quickly around so that he could see the television.

Sure enough, Dixie was standing talking to the police and Roy and Johnny. She turned around to point at the bank and then it appeared that her adrenaline reserve ran out and she collapsed, falling backwards and taking Johnny down with her.

The camera remained on the comical scene of Johnny trying to get out from under the unconscious nurse for a brief moment before switching to the door of the bank where five men were coming out with their hands up.

“Well, it looks like the crisis is over,” Stratton said. “The gunmen would appear to have given themselves up. We’ll try to get an update on the condition of Dixie McCall as well as the rest of the bank customers that were held hostage. We’ll have a final wrap up of this story tonight at six. For Channel 12, this is Harry Stratton reporting.

As the programming returned to the soap opera, there was a feeling of celebration in the nurses’ lounge. Everyone had seen Dixie collapse, but they had also seen her walk out of the bank under her own power, so they all assumed (rightly so) that she’d be okay as soon as she was brought into Rampart for treatment. Early stood up and headed for the base station, knowing there would be a call from Squad 51 at any minute.

******************************

Kelly Brackett returned to consciousness slowly. The first thing he was aware of was whiteness all around. Then he saw her--Dixie.

“Dixie?” he murmured. “Am I dead?”

She smiled. “No, you’re not. You’re going to be just fine.”

“Oh,” he said blearily. “That’s good.”

Dixie leaned down and kissed him on the forehead. He sighed contentedly as he returned to unconsciousness.

******************************

The next time Brackett woke up, he recognized his surroundings as a hospital room. The whiteness he had been aware of earlier was, in fact, the ceiling. He looked around and saw Dixie sitting in a chair smiling at him. Her arm was in a sling, but otherwise, she looked remarkably healthy.

“Dixie? You okay?”

“I’m fine, Kel,” she said, using her good hand to brush a lock of hair off his forehead. “The question is, how are you?”

“I’ve been better,” the doctor said ruefully. “But I guess I’ll live.”

“Good, because we need to talk.”

Brackett knew what she was talking about. “You want to talk about what I said in the bank.”

Dixie nodded. “I just have to know one thing. Did you say it because it was true or because you thought we were going to die?”

Brackett decided he had to be honest. “A little bit of both, actually. I did think we were going to die and I knew I’d regret it if I never got to tell you anything. But as to WHAT was said, I meant every word of it.”

“Every word of what?” Dixie prompted.

“You think I won’t say it again because the crisis is over, don’t you?”

“The thought had crossed my mind.”

“Well, you’d be wrong,” Brackett said as he struggled to sit up. Dixie moved forward to help him adjust the bed to a comfortable position. When he was settled, he said, “I meant it Dixie. I love you. I’m sorry it took a bank robbery to convince me to say it, but now that I have, I intend to say it a lot more often. That is, if you still want me to.”

Dixie looked into his eyes and saw the fear there--the fear that he had waited too long and she was lost to him for good. She smiled and leaned in to gently kiss him.

“Of course I still want you to,” she said as she pulled back from him. “I love you too. I never stopped.”

“So, now what?”

“Now, you work on getting better so you can get out of here and I can show you how much I still love you.”

Brackett’s smile widened. “That sounds like a good plan!”

“I thought so,” Dixie murmured as she leaned in to kiss him again.

_____________________

"If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong--in the worst possible way at the worst possible time. If there is any way that things could conceivably get worse, they will. And, remember...the light at the end of the tunnel is only that of an oncoming train. Unless, of course, you have a relatively good-looking doctor involved...a good-looking doctor with the most sexy voice you've ever...wait a minute, where was I?"
--The expanded version of Murphy's Law, revised slightly (*grin*) by Kate Ravvin.