Of course, I do not own the Emergency! characters. I'm just borrowing them for a while, and having some fun. All credit goes to Jack Webb, R.A. Cinader, and Universal Studios. I hope you enjoy!

I realize that, to some, this story may seem implausible or even impossible, but it is fiction, after all. Please no hate comments. Also, from a medical standpoint, it is not impossible. According to the timeline of the show (not Julie London's actual life), Dixie would have been 39 years old in 1981.

Chapter 0:

You are invited to a baby shower! Come speculate and celebrate the arrival of baby Brackett. 2:00 pm on Saturday, January 31st, at the Desotos' home, 1726 Walton St. Gifts are welcome but not necessary. Please remember that this is a surprise; don't let Dixie and Kel in on the secret!

R.S.V.P. to Joanne at 483.9376

Chapter 1: May

Thursday, January 29th, 1981

"Hey Dix," Roy Desoto addresses Rampart Emergency's head nurse, "you and Kel are coming over on Saturday, right?"

"Yeah," she replies. "Joanne called me last night. Anything special planned?"

"Oh, no," he answers, trying to be subtle. "Jenny and Chris were asking about you two."

"Oh, really?" she asks, not quite convinced but not really suspicious either.

The alarm blares over his handie-talkie. "See you later, Dix," he says as he turns to leave.

"Saved by the bell," Roy mutters to himself as he jogs towards the exit.

Dixie watches them go, still a little confused by Roy's evasive answer. What was he doing there, anyway? He rarely ever stopped by Rampart when he was on shift anymore. Once he was promoted to captain, he had other things to do.

"Mrs. Brackett," one of Rampart's newer nurses, Kelly Cable, walks over to Dixie at the nurse's station. "Dr. Early needs some help in Treatment 3. He asked for you specifically."

"Thanks, Kelly," Dixie answers, heading for room 3.

She walks into the treatment room to find Joe Early, Mike Morton, and her husband all surrounding a small boy sitting on the exam table.

"What is going on?" she asks Joe, quietly.

He pulls her away from the exam table, over to a corner of the room. "He won't talk. His parents are here, but they speak very little English and we have no one on staff who speaks their language. He is in second grade, and, according to what I got from his parents, can speak English fairly well. But he won't talk."

"Well of course he won't!" Dixie exclaims under her breath. Now she knows why Joe asked for her. She has quite a history of getting even the shyest patients to speak. "How would you feel if you were surrounded by three big men, asking you questions in a language that was not your native one?"

"Huh," Joe sighs. "You're right once again, Dix. I hadn't even thought about that. Come on, guys," he says, motioning to Kel and Mike. "Let the lady work her magic."

They leave, though not fast enough to miss the eye roll that Dixie casts in Joe's direction.

"Numbskulls," she mutters to herself," 'didn't think about it', ha. Geez."

She shakes herself out of the mental tyrade and looks at the situation at hand, the small, dark-skinned boy sitting on the edge of the exam table. He catches her eye, but quickly looks away. She smiles slightly, and walks over to him.

"Hi," Dixie greets him, gently. "I'm Dixie. What's your name?"

"Mycah," comes the quiet reply.

Within minutes, Dixie has all the information the doctors need to treat the boy. She pokes her head out of the room, and motions Joe inside.

"Okay, Mycah," she says to the little boy. "This is Dr. Early. I'm going to tell him what you told me, and he's going to do all he can to make the pain go away. Is that okay?"

Mycah nods, looking at Joe curiously.

"What's that?" he asks softly, pointing at the stethescope around Joe's neck.

Dixie slips out of the room, smiling. She walks over to the nurse's station, where Mike and Kel are waiting.

"How do you do that, Dix?" Mike is looking at her with a mixture of curiousity and jealousy on his face.

"She's special, this one," Kel says, wrapping his arms around his wife's shoulders. She grabs his hands.

"Look at you two. Happily married, happy in your jobs, happy with a baby on the way. You guys are adorable. It disgusts me." With that, Mike turns and walks away.

Dixie turns to look over her shoulder at Kel. Their eyes meet, and they crack up. She spins around in his arms, and hugs him. "I am happy, Kel," she says. "I'm excited about the baby."

"Me, too," he says. "Only a few more months."

"May," she replies.