"Gin and chandelier hangovers"

Summary: Second in the "Dreams of a Concussed Mind" series. An injury at a restaurant sends Ralph on a trip where things aren't quite as they seem, especially a few friends.

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"Pam, Bill, isn't this great?"

"It's terrific, hun. You look good in a wool suit and a slouch hat .."

"And you in that flapper outfit, especially the fringes and..."

"Kid, I never thought you'd make me do this in a million years," said Bill
as he got out of the car in his outfit: plus fours, a shirt and newsboy hat.
Ralph had invited him to join the two for dinner at The Emerald Lion, a
themed restaurant and bar where everyone dressed in 1920s outfits. Bill at
first didn't want to go along, however, that day he suddenly changed his
mind, much to the other two's surprise.

"Bill, it was all they had left, besides, you look great. Now come on, we'd
better get inside before they cancel our reservation," said Ralph as he
opened the door for Pam. They were taken to a large room designed along the
lines of a speakeasy, complete with chandeliers and grand pianos. It was
early in the evening that Friday, so there were about 30 guests in the whole
restaurant.

After placing their drink orders, Ralph looked at Bill again and frowned.
"OK, partner what's up?"

"What do you mean...."

"We know that look, you're here for something else as well... and it's
something that'll need the jammies," said Pam.

Bill, realizing that he'd been caught, nodded. "All right Counselor, I am.
We got word at the agency that there might be a money-laundering scheme here
in the restaurant, and it might be the owner.

"The owner?" asked Pam.

"Yeah, her. We got reports from one of the dames here - a waitress - that
she saw the owner and some men gather bottles of moonshine and the
counterfeit money to send elsewhere. And so, I was wondering if you could
get a holograph of the area. It'll only take a sec...."

Ralph rolled his eyes and, after putting his hand on a peppermill, loosened
his collar to reveal part of the jammies. "OK, I'm getting something. There
are a bunch of men in the office and the owner. They're arguing with a
waitress, and just struck her. Oh no, now one's drawing a gun..."

"Kid, you better get there now and stop them."

"Right," said Ralph as he ran toward the office, unbuttoning his shirt to
reveal the front of the tunic of the jammies. Once he arrived he crashed
through the door, startling everyone. The men drew their weapons and fired,
but Ralph covered his head and deflected them. He then picked up the men and
threw them against the wall, knocking them out.

As Ralph dispatched the gunmen, the waitress ran out of the room. The dirty
blonde-haired owner followed and drawing her revolver, fired a shot in the
air. The guests, realizing this wasn't part of the festivities, panicked and
fled out of the restaurant. Pam ducked underneath a table while Bill pulled
his revolver out to protect people. He cursed under his breath when people
would get in the way of a clear shot at the other gunman.

Ralph left the office just as the owner aimed a shot at the red-haired
waitress. Ralph took three steps and jumped taking a short flight and
crashed into the owner. She fired a shot in the air as she fell before her
head struck the clawed foot of a table, knocking her out. Unbeknownst to the
group, the bullet hit a rope attached to an oak chandelier, tearing off a
chunk of the rope. Bill ran over and handcuffed the insensible woman and Pam
got up from under the table.

Ralph turned and walked over to where waitress was standing nearby. "Are you
all right, miss," he said gently, only to catch her when she slumped to the
floor in a faint.

"Kid, is she hurt," asked Bill, concerned as he watched Ralph lower the
woman to the ground.

"Not sure, just fainted from shock I think," said Ralph as he checked her
vitals and then for wounds. After finding she was uninjured, he stood and
started to walk over to get his coat from his chair to cover her. Ralph had
only taken a few steps when the rope to the oak chandelier snapped and fell,
crashing over the top of his head. The chandelier shattered into hundreds of
pieces, but Ralph stood as though he was hit by a piece of Styrofoam.

Hearing the crash, Bill and Pam rushed over to Ralph's side. "Kid, you OK?"

"Yeah, fine," said Ralph, a bit surprised himself. His head hurt, but he
felt fine otherwise. He then turned to Bill and frowned. "You know, I think
we ought to quit taking you out to dinner Bill. All you ever do is get Pam
and me into crazy scenarios."

"Ralph, I don't always get you two into crazy scenarios. Ya sound like all
we go do is chase people making bathtub gin."

"Oh, come on, will you two knock it off," said Pam.

"Counselor, you stay outta this..."

"No Bill, Ralph's right...."

As Pam and Bill continued arguing, Ralph's head began to throb and he began
to feel lightheaded. When he started getting tunnel vision, he knew
something was very wrong and he'd better get help - fast. "Uh guys..." he
said faintly, then stopped.

"What is it now kid," said Bill in frustration as he and Pam turned. Ralph
just stood there staring straight at them with a blank, slightly pale, face.
Bill frowned, having seen that look many times before, both in Korea and
over the years, just before. ...

"Ralph?"

"Kid?" started Bill, about to give him a hand to a chair when Ralph's
eyelids fluttered and he collapsed. Bill caught Ralph just before his head
could strike the grand piano.

"Ralph!" gasped Pam as Bill lowered him to the ground. He checked Ralph's
pulse and looked into his eyes, frowning when he saw they were rolled back
in the younger man's head.

He turned to Pam. "Counselor, you'd better call the paramedics, he's
completely out cold. Probably had a delayed reaction to the chandelier
falling on him," said Bill.

Pam nodded and rushed over to the phone booth to call the paramedics. Bill
tried to bring the unconscious man around, but was getting no response.
"Kid, come on say something. Ralph come on.... Kid...."

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Ralph slowly opened his eyes and found he was lying on a bed of some sort.
Blinking, he realized he was in a murphy bed.

Sitting up on his elbows, he grimaced when he felt a slight pain in his
head. He was still wearing the suit he had at the restaurant as well as the
jammies underneath. 'Great,' he thought groaning, 'Must've crashed into
something again and Bill brought me to his place so he wouldn't have to
explain how I was knocked out.'

Shaking his head Ralph tried sitting up further, but he felt dizzy and
leaned back on his elbows again. "Kid, ya really oughta remember not to do
that," said a familiar voice. "All that does is put your lights out again."

"Bill, how long have I been out?" said Ralph, groaning.

"Whatdaya mean, kid? Don't go by Bill and ya know that. You usually call me
William."

Ralph sat up as best he could and frowned. "Come on Bill, quit fooling
around. I want to know..." he stopped as he looked around. He was on a
murphy bed, but it wasn't Bill's apartment. It looked a lot like an office
of some sort. Turning, he saw where the voice came from. The man was the
exact image of Bill, but he was now wearing a wool suit similar to Ralph's.

Looking at a calendar, Ralph saw the date: Aug. 15, 1927. "What the hell?"
he said out loud. "How did I get here?"

William stood up and poured a cup of coffee. "Well, I'll tell ya. We were
working out a case near one of the local speakeasies. There was a fight, and
you got hit over the head with a bottle. Brought ya here and waited for you
to come around."

Ralph groaned. "Bottle? I wasn't hit with a bottle..." he said softly.

"OK, what then?"

"Well, I..." he stopped, frowning. "I don't know."

"Hmmm... bet it's just a temporary memory lapse. Being knocked unconscious
will do that to ya, and I should know," said William as he walked over to
the bed and handed Ralph the coffee. "Sorry I can't get ya anything
stronger. Prohibition's been a pain to keep in line here. Lotta cops aren't
even enforcing it. We're probably the only two who do, then again we're
gubmint agents."

Ralph took a drink and coughed, realizing for the moment he'd have to play
along. "So, were we at least successful in breaking up the speakeasy?"

"Not quite. The leader and some of her goons managed to get away and took
your bunny with her."

"Bunny?" asked Ralph, confused.

"Yeah, just you normally call her Pam," said William as he pointed to a
picture on what was presumed to be Ralph's desk. Sure enough, it was Pam,
dressed in 1920s clothes.

"Oh no, we need to get back there and..." he started to stand, only to have
the room spin around.

William caught Ralph before he could fall and helped him sit back down. "Not
yet, kid. Ya need to rest a little more before you head out and help her.
We've got someone on the inside too, a Marcella Niobium. She's supposed to
come by in a few minutes to give us the details of where Lauren Seaborgium
is."

Ralph nodded and stayed seated. As he sat, he tried to figure out what he
was doing here, but except for hearing gunshots, his mind drew a blank.
'Something odd's going on here,' he said. 'But what is it? Well guess right
now, I better rest so I can figure out how to get out of this scenario.'

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Across town, Lauren Seaborgium sat behind her desk and looked at her
henchmen. "All right, we were lucky today that we stopped that raid," she
said. "Now, I want you to keep an eye on Maxwell to see what they're up to
so we can get them before they raid this new speakeasy."

"Uh Laurie, ya just told us to keep an eye on Maxwell. What about Hinkley?"
said one of the men.

"Him, oh well, he's cute. I have plans to have some fun with him before you
get to kill him. Now, first things first, we need to stop Marci from
squealing on this current location too soon. I want you to grab her and
bring her to me."

The group nodded and exited. Seaborgium then smiled, thinking about what she
was about to do. She had always fancied the duo of Hinkley and Maxwell to
begin with, as they always were on her case. The newspaper stories of her
escaping their clutches had only made her speakeasy more popular. Over the
course of time, however, she started having stronger feelings for Ralph.

She smiled when she thought over her plan again. They had already kidnapped
Ralph's girl Pam, chloroforming her in an alley nearby during the fight. Her
henchmen brought Pam to the new location, tied her up and locked her in a
closet. Seaborgium knew that Ralph would stop at nothing to find Pam, so
that would bring him closer to her.

After that... her thoughts drifted off to how much fun she'd have with
Ralph, and once she was done, she'd let the men have their fun and kill him
and his girl. 'Soon, I'll have everything I want,' she said, smiling. 'And
who says that men should have all the fun?' Smiling, she stood and began
preparations to put her plan into motion.

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It was about half an hour until Ralph started to feel better. He stood up
and headed over to his desk and picked up the picture of Pam, trying to get
a holograph. He frowned when all he saw was green.

"Getting anything, Kid," said William as he entered the office with a cup of
coffee for himself.

"No, nothing," said Ralph. "My guess is my bunny - Pam - was drugged.... How
did you..."

"Kid, I was there when you got those pieces of fabric," said William as he
pointed to the suit. "Been a pain to deal with, but still it's helped us
bust quite a few speakeasies. It's just Seaborgium who seems to have found a
way around it."

Ralph was about to inquire further when they heard a knock on the door.
Opening it, Ralph was shocked to see the woman who ... well, she was
familiar but he couldn't figure out where he had met her.

William noticed Ralph's reaction and frowned. "Kid, come on you're not gonna
faint again are ya?"

Ralph snapped out of his thoughts and shook his head. "No, feel OK. Sorry,
won't you come in miss?"

The woman entered the room and sat down on one of the chairs. She was tall,
had red hair and was wearing an emerald green flapper outfit.

William brought her a cup of coffee. "Miss Niobium, thank you for coming
here," he said.

"Please, call me Marci, most people do," she said after taking a sip.

"All right, Marci. So, what do ya have for us this time?"

"You were right, she had us move again to another speakeasy, and this time
she's added money laundering to the list of crimes."

Ralph frowned, vaguely remembering something about ... "So, where's the new
one, how do we get to it?"

"Well, it just opened a coupla days ago, and Laurie's goons know what the
two of you look like so..."

Just then, there was an envelope slipped under the door. William rushed over
and opened the door, trying to find the deliverer, but he had already fled.
Sighing, he picked up the envelope and looked at it. "Hey, Kid, this is
addressed to you," he said.

Confused, Ralph took the envelope and opened it. "'Dear Mr. Hinkley, I know
you and your partner have always been after me to close my business and you
want your bunny back. After thinking about it, I wanted to discuss with you
a possible solution that would make us both happy. Meet me at my speakeasy
tonight and we can discuss it over dinner. Don't worry about my men, I'll
tell them I'm expectin' you. I'll send directions the same way in an hour
and a half. Signed Lauren Seaborgium,'" Ralph read outloud. "Guess we have a
way to find the speakeasy."

William took in the words and frowned. "Nah, Kid, it could be a trap. She's
been known to set people up and put them in cement shoes afterwards."

Ralph frowned. "Now listen, William, you and I both know that they have Pam,
and we want this speakeasy to close as they seem to elude us all the time.
If this is the best way to do it, I say we take the chance."

Bill sighed. "All right Kid, so long as we first scope out the scene and
tonight I stay nearby to give ya cover. I still don't entirely trust her
intentions."

Ralph turned to Niobium. "So, can you take me over to where the speakeasy is
later, say in about an hour?"

"Sure, Mr. Hinkley, just so long as you remember to be careful. Buzz around
there is that she's got a thing for ya, and I don't mean the platonic kind."

Ralph groaned but nodded. "All right, I'll be careful. Thank you for your
help."

Niobium nodded and left. As she walked out, Ralph turned to William.
"Listen, my mind's a bit hazy from the knock. Can you tell me more about
Seaborgium? I mean I know she's part of this speakeasy, but..."

"Gee, that bottle must've done a number on that garbanzo of yours," he said,
frowning in concern. "Seaborgium has been one of the most wanted people in
the U.S. of A. She not only has one of the most popular speakeasies here in
LA, we got word that she has a serious moonshining business and now possibly
a money laundering scheme."

"Well, with my special clothes, why haven't we caught them?"

"From my best guess, she doesn't run the business from the speakeasy, and
anything that has the potential for you to get visions has either been
shattered or blown up in the fight that ensues. The gunmen also plead the
Fifth, so we usually don't get anything from them either."

As William talked, Ralph started getting an image in his head. William
stopped talking, realizing Ralph was getting a vision. "Kid, whatya gettin'?
Is it your bunny?"

"No, not Pam. I see Marci walking down the sidewalk in the alley. Two men
just grabbed her and one's got a hand over her mouth, I think they're trying
kidnap her..." he said as he started to strip down to the jammies.

"You'd better get out there and stop them," said William, only to see
Ralph's retreating form as he took three steps and jumped out the window. As
Ralph was flying, he tried to get another holograph of Niobium, but it
was growing dimmer. He frowned, realizing that when the man had his hand
over her nose and mouth, he might have been drugging her with a cholorformed
rag.

Before it completely faded, Ralph spotted the men as they placed the woman
in a Model T. Ralph crashed right in front of it, much to the humor of the
gunmen. "What is this? Yous gonna stop us in your red underwear?" said the
taller of the two, who reminded him of Tony. Come to think of it, Ralph
thought, the other one looked like Paco.

"Yeah, so I suggest you put your hands up and I'll take you in."

The gunmen just laughed and fired off their guns, but Ralph covered his head
and deflected the bullets. Panicking, the two climbed into the Model T and
tried to drive off. Ralph punched a hand through the hood, which also
crushed the engine. Realizing that he could very easily do that to the two
of them, the gunmen raised their hands in surrender. William ran over and
handcuffed the men while Ralph checked on Niobium. "Is she OK Kid?"

"Yeah, William. She's been drugged, my guess from the lingering fumes using
chloroform, but she should come around soon," said Ralph as he picked up the
woman in her arms. "Why would they want to kidnap Marci if Seaborgium wanted
me to join her for dinner?"

"Don't know kid, but I think you're gonna haveta go to dinner after all,"
said Bill. "I'll take Marci here back to the office until she wakes up. Just
remember to keep the suit on and watch your head." Ralph nodded, handing
over the drugged woman to Bill and flew back to the office. As he was
changing into the wool suit, he started thinking about Pam. He still hadn't
gotten a holograph of her, so he knew she was still drugged, and wondered if
this was actually an elaborate set up. Adjusting his hat, Ralph realized
there was one thing to do: he had to get Seaborgium to get to the bottom of
this case.

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Later that evening, Ralph arrived at the location of where the speakeasy was
located. He knocked on the door, and the sliding panel slid open. "What do
ya want, G-man?" the voice growled softly.

"Name's Ralph Hinkley, and Lauren Seaborgium's waiting for me," said Ralph.
The panel slid back and the door opened. Ralph walked in and was surprised
that the room looked familiar to. ... Shaking off the similarities, Ralph
was escorted to a woman talking to one of the waiters.

She wearing a peacock blue flapper outfit, complete with cloche hat
decorated with a large feathered and bejeweled hat pin. "Mr. Hinkley, glad
to see you accepted my invitation. I am Lauren Seaborgium, but call me
Laurie, most people do," she said. "We'll be done in a couple of minutes and
you and I can have dinner."

Ralph nodded and once Seaborgium finished her talk, the two walked over to a
table and sat down. Seaborgium pulled out a bottle of champagne that had
been chilling in a bucket of ice. "Mr. Hinkley..." she started

"Well, if you insist on me calling you Laurie, you can call me Ralph," he
said, taking a quick glance around at how familiar the room looked.

"OK, Ralph, I hope you don't mind having a glass of champagne. Been dealing
and drinking so much of that bathtub gin and bourbon that sometimes it's
great to have some of the real stuff," she said as she poured two glasses.
She also discreetly slipped a second liquid into Ralph's glass before
handing it to Ralph. "Well, here's to the start of a way to make us both
happy," she said as a toast.

Ralph raised his glass and took a sip. "So, Laurie, what do you propose that
will make us all happy?" he said. "You know that I want Pam back, and
Maxwell wants the speakeasy closed. We've almost caught you several times."

Laurie sighed, though inwardly chuckled at his honest - but futile - plea.
"Well, it's getting tougher to escape you two's clutches. We've been at this
for more than seven years, and you two haven't brought me in to jail yet.
So, what I thought about was to make an agreement with the two of you to
work as a team. You stay out of my hair, and I'll give this area not only a
place to have drinks, but some protection from the gangsters."

Ralph took in the offer. "What makes you think we'd accept your offer," he
said.

"Thought about it, and I knew that just wanting to talk with you might be
futile, hence why I caught your dame. She's all right, little groggy, but
pretty much slept off the chloroform. You can see her in a little while."

As she was talking, Ralph noticed that he felt a little giddy and his vision
blurred slightly. 'That's odd,' he thought. 'Champagne never does that to
me, and I haven't been dizzy from the blow for some time.' He blinked a few
times and continued. "Good, Pam's pretty special, guess you knew that, and I
don't want..."

Laurie smiled inwardly when she noticed that Ralph stopped to rub his eyes.
"Is something wrong, Ralph," she said with a mock worry, knowing the chloral
hydrate she slipped into his drink was taking effect. "You look like you
might faint."

"Fine ... I just need to get some fresh air," said Ralph as he stood up. He
got halfway to the door when he saw the world grow black and he started to
tumble over backward. Ralph felt someone catch him under the arms and
another pick up his feet to carry him before he lapsed into unconsciousness.
....

Laurie watched as her two henchmen picked up Ralph's limp form. "Good ....
took longer than I thought, but we got him. Now, I want the two of you to
take him to my room and take his clothes off. I'll be up there shortly."

"But boss, you said that..."

"I said you could have your fun killing him after I had my fun. Now go
before I get mad." The two men nodded and started taking Ralph up the
stairs.

As they carried him, Ralph began to have a strange dream about the
speakeasy, gunfire and a chandelier falling on his head... though he was
wearing the jammies. He tried to shake off the dream, but it kept coming and
started to include Bill and Pam shaking him and telling him to wake up. He
stirred and opening his eyes a fraction, was confused to see that the men
were still carrying him. Ralph kept quiet as he listened in on the ensuing
conversation.

"Ya know, Nick, I wish Laurie drugged this G-Man closer to her bedroom. He's
heavy," complained one of the men.

"Look at it this way, you'll get to pay him back after she's had her fun,"
said the other.

"Yeah..."

When no one reacted to his stirring, Ralph reclosed his eyes. 'Well,
whatever it was she put in my drink I didn't drink enough of it or the suit
protected me from it and I passed out from my head injury ,' thought Ralph.
'I'd better let them think I'm still out of it and get Seaborgium. Something
in that dream isn't right, and I need to figure out what or it could harm
all three of us.'

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Seaborgium's men, not realizing their passenger was awake, proceeded to take
him to her room and layed him on the bed. They started to take off the wool
suit, only to see the jammies underneath. "What in the world is this Nick?"
said the taller of the two, chuckling.

"Must be one of those fancy sets of longjohns that they've been advertising
in the Sears Roebuck catalogs Brian," said the other man. "You want to draw
for who gets them?"

"Nah, I'll let you have them. Much rather have his hat. Always wanted one,"
Brian said grabbing the hat.

"Well, I'll be the cat's meow with these suit threads," said Nick as he
started to reach for Ralph's belt. He was surprised, however, to have Ralph
grab his hand before he was thrown against the wall. Brian, shaking out of
his surprise leaned over to strangle Ralph, only to be thrown as well.

Ralph then stood up and looked at both gunmen and the room. "OK, that
teaches you to listen to someone who has more than money on the brain," he
though bemusedly. Hearing footsteps outside, he realized that Seaborgium
probably was coming up to have some fun with him and turned invisible.

"Well now Ralph, I hope you've feeling better so we could finish with
discussing my plan..." she said only to stop to find Ralph wasn't lying on
her bed, but both her gunmen lying on the floor out like a light. "And what
plan was that," said Ralph as popped back visible, causing Seaborgium to
stagger back a few steps.

"What..." she stammered, surprised to see Ralph not only conscious, but
wearing a funny outfit. "You should still be out like a light."

"Don't you know, champagne gives me headaches," said Ralph with a smirk.
"Now, about your plan, is it the one where you drug, then have your way with
me and afterward have your goons kill me? The one that lets you get one of
the two of us out of the way so you can continue with your moonshine and
money-laundering schemes? Well, let me tell you something, you picked the
wrong one."

Recovering her thoughts, Seaborgium pulled out a revolver from her purse.
"Don't move, or I'll shoot."

Ralph smiled. "Lady, I think that it won't work on me if a mickey didn't."

"All right, but I don't think that your bunny's as strong," she said as she
opened the adjoining room, and Pam was inside. She was awake now, but tied
up and scared. "You have a choice, Ralph. Either you let me have my fun or
the dame gets it."

The blonde-haired man took in the thought. "OK, but you don't harm her," he
said softly. Seaborgium didn't buy it, and came up with another idea when
she saw one of her gunmen stir. "No, I think it's best if we dump the
garbage first. Nick, why don't you take Ralph's dame to the docks and drop
her into the ocean. Don't worry about Ralph here, we're going to have fun."

"You got it boss," he said, picking up Pam into a fireman's carry with
Seaborgium covering him. As Nick walked out the back door, Ralph backed up
and was hoping William was as smart as his partner ... as in full of
surprises. Laurie smiled and toyed with the revolver. "Now, Ralph, why don't
we continue where we left off with our discussion? I promise this time I
won't drug you."

Ralph started to sit on the edge of the bed, working out a scenario, only to
hear the bedroom door bust open. "Don't move dame. Maxwell, gubmint agent,
you're under arrest for kidnapping, assault, running an illegal business,
among other things."

Seaborgium started to pull the trigger of her revolver, but Ralph removed it
from her hands using telekinesis. Shocked, she turned around and Ralph
grabbed her by the wrist, only to stop. Noticing Ralph's look, William
realized the kid's chivalry was taking effect. "Kid, you're gonna have ta do
it."

"William, I'm not going to knock out a woman," he said only to see a
derringer, which had been hidden in Seaborgium's sleeve, pop into her right
hand. Ralph swung his arm around and Seaborgium flew into the air. She
crashed into a table, striking her head on its clawed foot and relaxed,
unconscious.

Ralph went over to check the woman, and rolled his eyes when he heard
William chuckle. "All right, so I did, you happy now," he grumbled and
handcuffed the woman with the cuffs William gave him. "Now, I need to get to
Pam. Laurie sent a henchman to dump her in the ocean."

"Well, is your bunny awake?"

"Yeah... do you have anything I can get a holo... uh vision from?"

"Gotcha covered, here," he said as he pulled a brooch with blue paste
crystals from his pocket. Noting Ralph's curious look, he shrugged. "This
was found near where she was kidnapped. Come on you'd better hurry."

Ralph took the brooch and saw an image phase into view. "All right, I see
them, they're going walking down a pier. Pam's putting up a fight, and ...
great, the guy just hit her over the head. I'm outta her," he said as he
took three steps and jumped out the bedroom window.

It was only a matter of moments before Ralph arrived at the pier. Ralph
crashed into the man, knocking him out, but not before the man dumped Pam
into the ocean.

Ralph dove into the water and, finding her, brought her back to the surface.
Getting out of the ocean, he found Pam wasn't breathing. Ralph dragged her
onto the beach and began artificial respiration. After a couple of breaths,
Pam coughed up water, and after Ralph turned her to the side to help her
clear the water from her lungs, she began breathing again. A few moments
later, her eyes opened and she saw Ralph. "Ralph? What are you doing here,
and wearing just your under clothes," said Pam a bit groggily.

He smiled. "Well, hun, I was trying to save your life. The gunman dumped you
into the ocean just before I crashed into him. Are you OK?"

"Will be once I get back to my place," she said, then she remembered
something else. "Ralph, that girl, is she..."

"William and I stopped her," Ralph said gently, helping her sit up. "She's
on her way to the jail. Now, I don't know about you, but I'd like to get out
of this cold air and into a nice warm suit. You up for some flying?"

Pam was a bit hesitant. "You sure, Ralph? Last time you tried it is when you
found that last speakeasy you busted... literally."

"Yes, I'm sure, and I'll be sure to watch out for walls," he said chuckling
and picked up Pam in his arms, taking flight.

Once they arrived at the speakeasy, Ralph quickly changed back into his
suit, wincing at the pain in his left arm. 'Maybe it's from hitting that
buoy rescuing Pam,' he thought chuckling. Once he was ready, he left the
room and found Pam. "Well, you ready to go home?" he asked.

"Yeah, well anywhere but here. I don't want to talk to that partner of
yours, he's always getting you into trouble," said Pam rolling her eyes.

"Come on, he doesn't always get me into trouble, in fact this one was
partially my fault," he said shrugging. "But, still won out and have my
dignity intact, well outside of wearing the jammies."

Pam gave him a funny look at the word "jammies," but chuckled. As they were
walking, Ralph slipped on a bottle and stumbled, letting go of Pam. He
crashed into a pile of laundry that had been thrown into the corner,
apparently used to get rid of the dirt in the moonshine, and struck his head
against the wall. Ralph smelled a sharp, strong odor, and just before he
blacked out, he barely could make out Pam's voice. "Ralph, come on hun wake
up.... Ralph?..."

---------------------------------------------------

"Ralph, come on wake up," said Pam as she saw one of the paramedics wave a
broken packet of spirits of ammonia under his nose. Bill had taken off the
tunic of the suit, replacing it with the dress shirt, before the paramedics
arrived so they didn't think Ralph was crazy and knocked himself out. It had
been hard on Pam to see the paramedics treat Ralph, but she realized that
this must have been how Ralph felt a couple of months ago when she was
knocked out by the fiberglass dragon at the mall. 'Good thing he didn't hit
the piano as well,' she mused. 'Could have been a lot worse than what
happened to me.'

Ralph stirred, trying to knock the spirits away with his left arm only to
have the paramedics hold his hand down because he nearly pulled out the IV.
"Sir, you need to keep your arm down," said the paramedic.

"Come on bunny, I don't need those. I'm fine," he said groggily, making the
paramedic blink in surprise.

Pam turned to Bill. "Bunny?"

The agent shrugged. "Don't know Counselor, haven't heard anyone called that
in a long time."

Ralph opened his eyes a fraction and tried to brush the paramedic away
again. "William, will you quit bugging me with this stuff too? You made Pam
leave. I feel fine."

Pam, realizing what was going on, smiled. "Ralph, come on hun wake up,
you're dreaming. I'm still here, and Bill's not bothering anyone."

Ralph blinked a couple of times and focusing, realized he was back in the
restaurant with Pam and Bill, only this time they were with paramedics. He
tried to sit up, only to fight a bout of dizziness. The paramedics eased him
back down to the ground and Pam chuckled softly. "Always have to be gung-ho,
huh?" she chided.

"Guess so. How long was I out?" he said, wincing as a paramedic flashed a
penlight in his eyes.

"About nine minutes or so. Ralph, we've been worried about you, when
everything happened..."

Bill cut her off, only because he didn't want to have her slip about the
chandelier and suit. "Yeah, when you hit your head on the grand piano saving
Miss Niobium's life when the chandelier fell, we were worried that you
might've hurt your neck as well. Good thing all it looks like you have is a
bump on the head."

Confused, Ralph glanced at the paramedics. "Yes sir, it looks like you have
a moderate concussion, so we're going to take you to the hospital for an
exam and observation. And, we'll let your wife ride in the ambulance with
you."

Ralph nodded, only to groan when his head protested the movement, and was
put on the gurney. Before being loaded up in the ambulance, Niobium came up
to him. Bill had filled her in about what happened just prior and during her
faint, but not exactly everything. "Listen, I just wanted to say thank you
for saving my life. And, I wanted to say sorry that I said 'thanks' the
first time by fainting on you."

Ralph smiled softly at the irony. "That's all right, I probably would've too
given everything that happened."

Niobium smiled at the irony as well and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Pam's
eyes flashed slightly in anger, but realized that since Ralph let the man
she saved kiss her, it was only fair. Then the paramedics loaded Ralph into
the ambulance and, after Pam got in the front, it sped off for the hospital.
Bill followed in the Hinkleys' car, working out the best way to explain to
Ralph exactly what happened.

----------------------------------------------------

The next day, Bill entered Ralph's hospital room, blushing slightly when he
caught the two kissing. Clearing his throat, he turned and started to exit,
to the surprise of the two.

Ralph chuckled from his bed. "William come on in, we've been expecting you."

"Yeah, but didja have to be kissing when I came in? And quit calling me
William, that was the dream me. I hate that."

"Why Bill, I never thought you to be a blusher," said Pam when she noticed
he had a slight red tinge to his face.

Bill rolled his eyes. "Well ... I've been out in the sun all day. Anyway, I
thought you'd want to know that we nailed Seaborgium. Doing a search of the
joint after her arrest, we found $4 million in counterfeit bills and quite a
few casks full of moonshine."

"Good, that'll get her for trying to drug me," said Ralph. Noting the two's
confused look, he shrugged. "Sorry. She did that in my dream, but it didn't
last long. Odd thing too, you two and Tony and Cyler were a part of it, but
not as yourselves."

"Yeah, I was your bunny," said Pam, raising an eyebrow. Ralph started to
apologize when she smiled and gave him a kiss. "Don't worry, hun, I actually
think it's cute. But, Bill don't get any ideas, I still am at times
uncomfortable with Counselor."

"All right, ya don't have to paint me a picture," Bill said.

"I just feel sorry for the paramedic who I said that to when I was coming
around," said Ralph. "He came by and kidded me about it..."

Bill cleared his throat to interrupt the two. "Anyway, Niobium came by the
office and told me they were closing the restaurant for a few weeks. They
want to be sure that there isn't a drop of that moonshine around that could
be accidentally served to the guests. Labs tested it, and it's loaded with
lead, probably from the solder in the stills. Still doesn't remember the
whole truth about what happened just before her faint."

"Well, at least she didn't see the chandelier fall on my head, or that'd
been really fun to explain," said Ralph. "You know what was odd about it
though was that it didn't knock me out immediately. I mean that happened
when I crashed into the train."

Bill sighed. "Kid, ya had a delayed reaction to the hit, and my guess is you
were so stunned that it fell on you at the time the rest of ya didn't react.
I also bet the suit tried to protect ya this time but couldn't and combined,
you passed out. Found out those things weigh about 300 pounds."

"Huh, well remind me I can't kid about you getting hit with a brass
chandelier again," said Ralph chuckling.

"True, and Kid, I want to say I'm sorry for causing your injury. I mean, if
I didn't intrude none of this woulda happened."

Ralph started to say something, but was interrupted by Pam. "Bill, I know
the two of you argue about scenarios getting snuck into our normal plans,
but we did invite you to the restaurant."

"Yeah, besides in this case, you helped save Miss Niobium as well," Ralph
continued. "She would've been murdered if you didn't follow the case. I just
helped out with the holographs. Now the chandelier, while it hurt to get hit
by it, at least it fell on me and not one of you. After all, I do have some
protection wearing the suit."

Bill nodded. "Especially with that hard head of yours too. Now when can ya
get outta here?"

"In a few minutes. The doctor wanted to do one more neuro check before..."
he stopped when he saw a package on the table. "What's that hun?"

Pam went over and picked up the box. "Don't know. Miss Niobium came by the
emergency room last night and gave it to me. Said it was the least she could
do to say thank you for saving her life."

Ralph gave a curious look as he took the package from Pam and opened the
box. Inside was a brooch with blue paste crystals. ...

"Pam, I don't believe it. This is the brooch I saw in my dream."

"Hun, come on, I know I got a ring that was like the one I had in my dream
when I was injured, but. ..."

Bill rolled his eyes. "Come on kid, it probably was on the floor from the
mass exodus during the gunfight. Probably saw it when you were helping
Niobium. Anyway, I'm gonna go to the nurses' desk and see if we can get ya
outta here faster. Getting tired of this drivel about knights and broads
running speakeasies..."

After Bill left the room, Ralph turned to Pam. "You know hun I still think
he doesn't believe us. I mean I know we've had a concussion within a couple
of months of each other, but still, no reason to be rude."

Pam smiled. "I know hun, it's probably because he's been worried about the
two of us both times. And, seeing you collapse like you did really scared
the both of us."

"You're right. Listen, how about after Bill manages to spring me out of the
hospital, why don't we go to get lunch and then go home for a nice quiet
evening."

"Sure hun, I'll even rent a movie... how does 'Bonnie and Clyde' sound?"

"Pam..."

"Just kidding hun," Pam smiled and gave him a kiss.

"OK, hun. How about instead a 'Tom and Jerry' cartoon," said Ralph, and
hearing Pam chuckle, he kissed her again.

The end.