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get a lot of presents on Christmas, but they were all purchases by my mother's assistant. She never actually took the time out for something as trivial as shopping for her own kid."
"You never really had a childhood," she observed in a small voice. "That's so sad."
     
He shrugged, uncomfortable with the sympathy. As far as he saw it, he hadn't had it half as bad as Dylan and her. "I managed. No biggie."
     
"It is a biggie," she declared before giving him another bone-pulverizing hug. "But that's all changed because now you have me and Dylan and we're all the family you need."
    Kaleb became glad that her face was buried into his chest so she couldn't see the way her words affected him. How was it that this small girl could give him more in five minutes than his own parents had managed in his lifetime?
Chapter Five
    Dylan finished the last of his taco before balling the greasy wrapping up and throwing it into the plastic bag they were using as garbage. While the rig came equipped with a small trashcan, he and Lisa had been so busy, neither of them had bothered to empty it. As a result, it overflowed with empty bottles, tissues and candy wrappers.
The pre-holiday rush just hadn't been limited to the stores and mall. The mess spilled over and now the ambulance crews and hospitals were overwhelmed with accidents, heart attacks, strokes, low blood sugar and various other calls. "Is this day from hell over yet?" Lisa asked from the passenger seat as she finished off her own dinner.
    Even with as greasy and unappealing as the food had been, Dylan still considered it good fortune that they'd managed to eat it all in one sitting without having yet another call interrupting them.
"We have another hour," he glanced at the clock on the radio.
    He'd be willing to bet his favorite stethoscope that they'd be on for much longer though. There was no way in hell they'd make it through the next sixty minutes without getting another call. Then they'd be stuck until they treated and transported the patient. After that would be the paperwork and cleaning of the rig before they could finally clock out.
She made a hissing noise through clenched teeth before declaring, "We're about to get a long, drawn out car accident call. I can just feel it."
     
Most EMS workers were at the very least a little superstitious and Dylan wasn't about to buck the trend. He let out a low curse. "Great, you just jinxed us. Now we'll get on for sure."
     
"Sorry," she sang out in that Lisa patented airhead tone of hers.
    For the millionth time, Dylan wished for his old partner, Sue, back. While Lisa was sweet and everything, she had the intelligence and attention span of a gnat at times. Sometimes Dylan wondered how she even managed to keep her job. There was a good reason why he drove to the calls, but she had to drive once they got the patient in the back. To say Lisa didn't have the best medic skills would be a vast under telling.
    That didn't mean her driving skills were any better. In the short time they'd been partnered together, she's hit three poles, two parked cars and one very unfortunate squirrel. Not that most drivers hadn't committed vehicular squirrel-cide at one time or another, but she'd been the only one who managed to do so while the animal had still been in a tree.
When the radio crackled to life and dispatch hailed their rig number, he shot her his filthiest I-told-you-notto-fuck-with-the-fates look. "This is Alpha-245."
     
"Be advised you have a priority one call. It's a multiple causality MVA with possible injuries at the 175-north 475 split. Fire and police are already
     
enroute."
    Dylan had to resist the urge to beat his head against the dash in anger. MVA stood for Motor Vehicle Accident. In other words, Lisa's prediction had come true. He didn't know whether to give into hysterical laughter or just go with a couple soft whimpers. In the end, he just settled with responding to dispatch, "Copy, we're on our way."
    With quick, practiced