I woke up in the back of an ambulance on the way to the Ingalls clinic yet again. Mrs. Giacomo was sitting at the back, looking my way every now and then, I guess, as I caught her doing it the next time and heard her quiet gasp which alerted the paramedic that I was awake.

The paramedic, a somewhat plain looking woman of about thirty maybe, took a minute or two to check my blood pressure and temperature, and then grabbed a stethoscope to listen to my heart and lungs, just to make sure they were working properly, I suppose.

I can't really fault her for checking all of that, as they had no idea why I had blacked out or fainted earlier.

Less than five minutes after she had looked me over, we arrived at the clinic, and I was quickly wheeled into the emergency area.

It was a long three hours or so before they were willing to concede it had only been a fainting spell. Then they released me again.

Mrs. Giacomo was dealing with some hospital admin person who was giving her a hard time about my last name being different. I could just hear Mrs. Giacomo snap back at the idiot that she and her husband had just taken in three children who had very likely been badly abused.

Then she added that one of those children, she pointed my way at that point, was brutally raped many times by two young thugs. She went on to rip the poor admin guy up one side and down the other about reactions rape victims have after the attacks have ended, primarily the fear that even though the person or people responsible may have been caught, they might be at risk of being raped or hurt again by others.

By that point, I was hiding a giggle behind my hand. It was seriously cool to have her defending us, no, defending ME.

The billing process took another five minutes or so for them to sort out, then Mrs. Giacomo sat down beside me and gave me a hug. I was quite willing to accept such a gesture, and we stayed like that for several minutes before she remembered to call her husband at their home.

I guess he was waiting for the call, as it was answered almost the moment it started ringing. "Giacomo residence, to whom am I speaking?"

Mrs. Giacomo giggled, then answered him, "Just me calling, love. We're done here, can you come by and pick us up, please?"

"Not a problem, we'll be there in a while. The girls have been up all this time worrying about DeeDee, so they'll be with me," he replied.

While we were waiting for them to get there, a young boy about my age came out of the emergency entrance and leaned on a wall.

He wasn't a hunk yet, but there were signs that he might be headed that way, he was several inches taller than me and already quite muscular, giving him a bit of a rugged youth look that drew me like a moth to a flame. Uh oh, I think I like boys went through my surprised mind.

That was when he noticed me checking him out. He straightened up, walked over and squatted near the end of the bench where I was sitting.

That was when I got another shock, I hadn't recognized him because there weren't any lights by where he was leaning on that wall.

Oh, gosh, I'm face to face with Sandy Carmichael, who has been the assistant captain of our junior high football team the last two years. I was just about to burst into tears because of recognizing him when he gently laid a hand on me and flashed that gorgeous smile my way.

Then I received yet another shock when he spoke, "I know who you are, or rather were, DeeDee, and what you lived through. I had no idea you felt this way, even though you were likely the nicest, sweetest guy in our classes over the last few years, but it's fine by me. You're cool."

"You're wondering how I knew who you are? Well, my mom works here, and sometimes I come in when she works. The folks here all know me, and some of them let me help them out by doing some of the cleaning around the place. It's a way to help folks, you know?

"Well, I was just about fifteen feet down the hall, doing a bit of floor mopping, someone had dropped one of those paper cups filled with coffee and made a right mess, so it was fairly easy for me to hear you say you wanted to be called Denise Deirdre and my mom use DeeDee."

Then he leaned forward to hug me, and gently kissed me on the cheek before he let go.

He continued talking, "My mom will be off duty in about twenty minutes, so I'm just chilling until she's done. You stay safe, you hear me?"

As he turned to walk away, it dawned on me that the only person who fit the woman he had mentioned had been Dr. Cullen.

I managed to blurt out, "Hey, Sandy... is your mom Dr. Cullen? Because that is who I was talking to at that time."

He turned back toward us, smiling and nodded. "Yes, her medical degrees were all under her birth surname. She married my dad, Brian, while she was still working on her medical degree, but it didn't last very long. He ran off with someone else about six months before she was done, leaving her with me to raise. Mom filed for divorce, then met my step-dad, Christopher Carmichael, about two years after that."

"So I'm guessing that your step-dad adopted you to formalize him taking you as his own child, or something like that?" I asked.

"That's about the way it happened, although it wasn't until about a week after they married that he received the adoption notifications."

He turned once again to walk away, but I wasn't quite finished with him yet. "Hey, Sandy, what do you do for hobbies?"

He pivoted until he was facing me once again, shaking his head and chuckling. "Well obviously football, you know I've enjoyed playing for the school the last couple of years. I don't mind it, but touch or tag football just for fun is a lot more enjoyable for me than full-on contact.

"Other than that, I like to sing, I've been told I have a nice mid-tenor voice. Oh, I also play a mean fiddle, and guitar, too, I guess."

I grinned as an idea whisked through my mind, then asked him, "How would you like to be a starting member in a garage band?"

He flashed a big smile, saying, "Sounds cool. Where would we be practicing?"

"At their house," I replied, pointing to Mrs. Giacomo beside me. She'd been sitting there watching us, ready to help if it was needed.

Mrs. Giacomo looked at me, a slight smile on her pretty face, then asked me, "You sure he's safe, kiddo? You've been through a lot."

"Heck, yeah, Mrs. Giacomo. This is Sandy Carmichael, he's one of the big guys on the football team at school, but a good one. Like your husband, he doesn't like it when people bully others. If he'd known what Jerry and Walt were doing, they might have ended up in hospital."

Sandy chipped in when I finished speaking, "My dad spent a lot of time learning mixed martial arts and he's taught me quite a bit since I was about seven, I think. I'm in the ninth grade this year, a year ahead of DeeDee here, but the town's schools are all in one big building."

Mrs. Giacomo nodded and pulled a small pad from her purse, then a pen and wrote down the address and phone number for the house. With a slightly bigger smile showing on her face, she ripped the sheet from the pad and held it out toward him as he walked over to take it.

Sandy nodded as he accepted the bit of paper, then read the info on it and said, "Thanks, Mrs. Giacomo, for taking in DeeDee and her sisters."

Mrs. Giacomo sighed, shook her head, then replied to him, "After what my husband saw in their former home, he couldn't leave them there."

Sandy smiled again as he backed away a bit, then spoke, "I'll give you a call after supper tonight, we can talk about the band stuff then."

I grinned up at him as I replied, "Okay, Sandy, hopefully I'll be awake for it. Thanks for being nice about what I'm doing with my life."

Mrs. Giacomo giggled, saying, "Well, if I have to wake you up to be sure you answer a call from your boyfriend, I guess I can do that!"

Sandy and I both groaned when she said the boyfriend bit, then he waved, turned around and headed in through the entrance.

We sat there for a few more minutes waiting for Mr. Giacomo and my sisters to get there to take us home, I could sure use some sleep soon.

While we sat there, I was thinking about having met Sandy here and learning that he could sing, play a fiddle and guitar, too.

It looks like we have the fourth member of our band, thanks to Sandy. I wonder how many we'll have once we fill the various positions?

I was still think about band stuff when an SUV pulled up beside us and a horn honked just as a side window opened. "Hop in, girls."

We were glad they had finally arrived, Mrs. Giacomo had to wait a moment until Jill stepped out from the front passenger seat so that she could sit there. Jill and I piled into the back seat next to Jenny, everyone buckled in, we closed the doors and we were headed home once again.

While we were going home, I quietly informed my sisters that we had a fourth person for the band. They erupted into high-pitched squeals that had me sitting there covering my ears with my hand because it hurt. They settled down a moment later, only to ask who the person was.

I told them that it was Sandy, and they squealed again. Damn, that hurts, especially when you're right next to the people doing the squealing!

It didn't take too long for us to get back to the house. We were all very tired, so after a quick snack, we headed off to our own beds to sleep.