Dan was waiting in the utilidor, crouched and dozing against the wall. The doc shook him awake and his head snapped up, his hand catching the doc's in a lightning-quick reflex. It was easy to forget Dan's old line of work here in the Magic Kingdom, but when he smoothly snagged the doc's arm and sprang to his feet, eyes hard and alert, I remembered. My old pal, the action hero. Quickly, Dan released the doc and apologized. He assessed my physical state and wordlessly wedged his shoulder in my armpit, supporting me. I didn't have the strength to stop him. I needed sleep. "I'm taking you home," he said. "We'll fight Debra off tomorrow." "Sure," I said, and boarded the waiting tram. But we didn't go home. Dan took me back to my hotel, the Contemporary, and brought me up to my door. He keycarded the lock and stood awkwardly as I hobbled into the empty room that was my new home, as I collapsed into the bed that was mine now. With an apologetic look, he slunk away, back to Lil and the house we'd shared. I slapped on a sedative transdermal that the doc had given me, and added a mood-equalizer that he'd recommended to control my "personality swings." In seconds, I was asleep. ========= CHAPTER 7 ========= The meds helped me cope with the next couple of days, starting the rehab on the Mansion. We worked all night erecting a scaffolding around the facade, though no real work would be done on it -- we wanted the appearance of rapid progress, and besides, I had an idea. I worked alongside Dan, using him as a personal secretary, handling my calls, looking up plans, monitoring the Net for the first grumblings as the Disney-going public realized that the Mansion was being taken down for a full-blown rehab. We didn't exchange any unnecessary words, standing side by side without ever looking into one another's eyes. I couldn't really feel awkward around Dan, anyway. He never let me, and besides we had our hands full directing disappointed guests away from the Mansion. A depressing number of them headed straight for the Hall of Presidents. We didn't have to wait long for the first panicked screed about the Mansion to appear. Dan read it aloud off his HUD: "Hey! Anyone hear anything about scheduled maintenance at the HM? I just buzzed by on the way to the new H of P's and it looks like some big stuff's afoot -- scaffolding, castmembers swarming in and out, see the pic. I hope they're not screwing up a good thing. BTW, don't miss the new H of P's -- very Bitchun." "Right," I said. "Who's the author, and is he on the list?" Dan cogitated a moment. "_She_ is Kim Wright, and she's on the list. Good Whuffie, lots of Mansion fanac, big readership." "Call her," I said.