"When are you going to learn that holidays are meant to be with loved ones?" The tone of her mother’s voice left a sting in her ears. "I don’t understand why you insist on working under these conditions. I really think that it’s time you give some thought to your future and settle down. Your sister Breanna understood that early on. I don’t know why you can’t."


There was silence on Danni’s part, and she wished now that she had never felt compelled to call in the first place.


"A young woman like you shouldn’t have to be around all those drunkards tonight."


"But I won’t be, I’ll be spending my night with Garrett and we should be flying pretty high by midnight," her words came out in a rush, "that’s why I was calling now instead of later. I may be a little too busy to get to a phone."


"Well, there’s nothing that I can do about that now. I suppose your mind is already set on it. I just hope that you know what you’re doing with this Garrett before it gets too late."


"I’m a trained nurse, of course I know what I’m doing." Danni was confident in her own knowledge.


"I hope that you’re right, dear. I wouldn’t want to see you get hurt." Her mother hesitated and thought about what her daughter had meant. ‘Trapped men don’t stick around in today’s society like they did in my day. That’s all I need is for her to saddle me with a bastard grandchild. What would everyone think?’ Then she continued, "You…you will take all the necessary precautions, won’t you, Danielle?"


The nurse thought of all those hours spent learning safety procedures and rehearsing them. "Yes, Mother, I know how to watch out for a spinning tail rotor." Danni chuckled slightly. "And Gar is pretty good at keeping that head down and protected when the lower hatch opens. See, you won’t have to worry, we’ve already practiced it to the point that we could do it in our sleep."


The shock of what her daughter had just told her registered. ‘I guess that’s what they’re calling it today with that high tech language. Thank God she has the decency not to say that word to me…Pe...pen…I don’t even want to think it.’ Mrs. Bossard closed her eyes and made a horrible face at the thought. She couldn’t believe that her daughter would be so open and cavalier about it, especially to her own mother. ‘It’s time to put an end to this conversation before she gets into any more details.’ "Happy New Year then Danni, from all of us." Her tone was sharply final sounding.


"I’ll pass that on to Garrett for you and Daddy. Bye." Danni didn’t wait for an answer. She pulled the receiver from her ear and laid it on its cradle. ‘Well, it wasn’t the conversation that I was hoping for but at least it’s over with now, for another year.’


The sight of the advancing figure coming down the stairs sidetracked Danni’s thoughts. "Hey, Gar! Did you get any sleep?"


"Yeah, a little. I think I’m getting kind of excited…about being on-call for the next six months. How about you?" The surgeon rubbed at the back of her neck as she tried to work the kinks out.


"Me, too, I guess." The petite woman’s brow furrowed with thought.


"Something the matter, Danni?" Garrett stood in front of her, letting her doctor-mode assess her friend. "You look a little worried."


"It’s probably nothing." She shook her head in denial. "Did you ever have a conversation with someone and after it was over think that you both weren’t talking about the same thing?"


"Hmm…can’t say that I have." Garrett thought for a moment longer. "No, not that I’m aware of. Why do you ask?"


"It doesn’t matter." She looked at her watch. It was 2230. "Gar, look at the time, we’d better be on our way back to the hospital."


The surgeon nodded and reached for the jackets that they had left on the couch. "If we’re lucky, we’ll be back home by 0030."


Danni nodded as she put on her jacket. "Hey, I gotta get lucky sometime. Maybe it will happen this New Year." The young woman sighed as she headed for the door. ‘Don’t I wish!’



* * *

The pilot had been laboring long and hard over the mandatory pre-flight safety checklist. His painstakingly intense attention to every aspect of the aircraft was obvious in his diligent double-checking of every detail. Nothing would slip by him. After all, it could be the possible downfall of the craft and those onboard if it did. He was never ready to accept that form of defeat.


Cowboy was making his last pass around the tail section when he saw the rest of his team approaching. He held out a lone arm raised high in the air and waved his hand. The pilot made the last check mark on his clipboard full of paper work when they were close enough to exchange greetings. "Good evening, ladies. Looks like one fine night for a little fly by of the town. What do you think?"


"Sounds like a plan to me." Danni was eager to get it over with. "You sure it’s not too dark for you to fly?"


"Little lady, you could paint my windows black and I could still fly this machine. Just like bats, we got us some good radar here." He winked at her, "Now don’t you go worrying, I’ve got everything covered.


"Great! That’s all she needs to hear. You better show her that your window glass is spotlessly clean." Garrett chuckled as the petite woman next to her pushed her in playful retaliation. "How you doing tonight, Cowboy?"


"A little cold right now, but otherwise, just fine." He slid the pen back into his outer jacket pocket. "Just as soon as you’re ready with your checklists, we’ll be on our way."


Garrett slid the hatched door open. "Just give us a few minutes and we’ll get to work." The tall surgeon waited for Danni to climb into the craft ahead of her, then followed swiftly, closing the door behind her.


The pilot shook his head. ‘Those two are just like kids, the way they tease each other. I wonder if they know…’ He stomped the snow off his boots before reaching for the door to his own compartment. ‘Nah, that would be too easy to tell them. Just have to see what happens tonight.’ Cowboy pushed back the cloth on the basket wedged next to his seat, checking to make sure that everything was as he planned it. Yep, this ride should be real interesting come midnight.’ The broad toothy smile lit up his face and set a twinkle to his eyes as he covered the contents of the basket then settled into his seat.



* * *

Garrett watched her friend as the lift-off started. This nighttime flying was a little unnerving to her team member and she knew it. The young nurse wouldn’t come out and say that it bothered her but at the same time she wouldn’t say that it didn’t. The pensive eyes and the subdued mannerism were an indication that a total zone-out was a good possibility.


The surgeon thought about ways to keep Danni’s mind from taking that first step off the deep end. She’d had no problem when there was something to keep her busy and her mind occupied. There wasn’t much that they could do here in the confined space of the helicopter. They’d already done all of their checklists and equipment preparation, leaving nothing but conversation and the scenery of the nighttime skyline of the city of Pittsburgh.


"It’s a couple of minutes before midnight. They wanted us high overtop of the Golden Triangle when it comes time for the New Year." Cowboy informed them of his instructions. "I’m going to buzz around the Point, it sure is a pretty picture down there." His right hand pointed down to the land below them as he watched the airspace they were moving into.


"The Point?" Garrett made a funny face as she craned her neck to see what it was he was referring to. "I don’t see no golden triangles. Well, maybe one, atop of that building over there with the red light at the tip."


Danni shook her head. She had forgotten that Garrett was relatively new to the area. The nurse loved her hometown and was proud of it. Smiling, she commenced to educate the woman from the West Coast.


"That golden-looking, illuminated, triangular-topped building is the old Gulf Building. It used to be their corporate headquarters. That little red light is a weather forecaster meaning fair tonight. If it’s blue, that means rain and if it’s blue and flashing that would be indicative of snow."


"Oh, I get it, that’s the point."


"Not really. The Point is the very tip of the land where the Allegheny and the Monongahela Rivers meet to form the beginning of the Ohio River. That’s why Pittsburgh is noted for its three rivers."


"Oh! So that’s where the name Three Rivers Stadium came from." Garrett nodded. "I remember that one from the football games during the seventies when the Steeler’s where the championship team."


"You remember back that far, do you?" Danni teased the surgeon.


"Yeah, my dad was a big football fan." Garrett rolled her eyes until something dark and lumbering in the shadows on the opposite shore caught her eye. "Hey, what’s that?" She pointed to a semi-constructed building.


Danni stretched to view the designated area. Pausing for a minute to get her bearings, she then began, "That’s the new football stadium next to the old Three Rivers Stadium, which will be torn down early in 2001." She pointed to an area just past it with a large sign that was lit. "And that’s the new PNC Park for baseball. I’ll have to take you to a game this summer."