Ferris Wheels
The sounds of the carnival as kids ran around, laughing and screaming, surrounded the park. Lights flashed and the smells of traditional carnival food drifted from stands where at least ten people were already lined up. It was a beautiful summer night, the kind that were only portrayed in movies and books.
Danny took in everything, smiling as he walked through the carnival. The thought that this may have been a little childish for him at twenty-one was pushed out of his mind. He and his friends had been coming to this carnival ever since it had started. Amity Park had been skipped over when he was young because of the town's small size. It had grown over the years and other carnivals had eventually come, but when he had been six the parents of his neighborhood and other neighborhoods had gotten together and come up with and organized the event. Every ride and stand was owned and worked by a family. His parents had come up with the Fenton Screamer. Danny compared it to rides he had seen at other carnivals called The Octopus. Of course, his father and mother had added things to make it uniquely theirs. Amazingly, the ride was safe for everyone to go on it. Nothing had exploded yet, anyway.
Danny glanced to his left. Sam was looking around with a happy smile that she rarely gave to many people. Coming to the carnival was a tradition the three had set up a long time ago. She caught his gaze and her smile grew. They had been going out for awhile. It seemed surreal, especially in this atmosphere that brought back so many childhood memories.
"What do you want to do next?" The question was to all three of them, but when he looked around Tucker was gone. Sam pointed and his eyes followed her finger to a game stand where Tucker was now talking to a girl. She looked embarrassed with her friends behind her giggling, but he hadn't been shot down yet.
The two sent each other a knowing smile and Danny directed the question to her. "So what do you want to do?"
She shrugged noncommittally. "Whatever you want."
Danny glanced around at the different attractions around them. A tall structure caught his eye and he glanced at Sam. The sun was just starting to set. The different colored hues falling on everyone and Danny admired how beautiful they made Sam look.
If it was just going to be the two of them then he might as well make the moment romantic.
He grabbed her hand. "Come on. There'll be a line and I want to get on before the sun totally sets."
"Where are we going?"
He pointed to the Ferris wheel and she matched his pace.
Danny was in luck, which rarely ever happened to him. The Ferris wheel was being loaded and, as Danny turned on to the ramp, the last carriage came down for them. The Ferris wheel was owned by a nice old man named Mr. Tuddle who lived a few houses around the corner from Danny. Danny wasn't sure where he had gotten the Ferris wheel, but Mr. Tuddle was seen often taking care of it. Over the years, the ride had acquired little rust.
"Hello, Danny." Mr. Tuddle gave the two a smile as he opened the last carriage for them and the two slipped in.
"Danny gave Sam a sly grin before responding. "Hello, Mr. Tuddle. You remember my fiancée, Sam, right? I just proposed and we thought the first thing we'd do was take a long ride on your Ferris wheel. You hear me, a very long ride."
Mr. Tuddle winked at him. "I'm not that old. One long ride coming up!"
Sam was still staring at him incredulously as the ride started. Finally, she asked. "Why did you do that?"
"Do what?" Danny leaned back as the two rose up to see the carnival from the Ferris wheel's large height. It wasn't as big as other Ferris Wheels they had ridden on, but that was fine.
"You know what. Tell him we were engaged! I may be wrong, but I don't believe we are."
He glanced at her shyly. "Would you like to be?"
Her face lost a little color. "Are you proposing to me, Danny?"
"No," he admitted. "I don't have a ring."
She mulled over that. Did that mean that he wanted to propose to her? That he wanted to get engaged and become married? She wanted to, but she hadn't thought he would bring up the subject so soon. They had been going out for awhile, but…
She felt Danny take her hand in his and smiled. Their carriage came back up to view the carnival again as the sun started to finally disappear, but she turned towards Danny. The two leaned in and shared a kiss.
When the two finally had to part Sam gave him a shy smile. "I don't need a ring."
His eyes widened, not expecting that response. "Really? You mean it? You want to?"
She nodded. "If you do."
"I do," he whispered. She moved closer to him, laying her head on his shoulder as his arms went around her. It seemed weird, though. Nothing had changed. You would think that a decision like this would start drastic changes. Instead, it just felt right. There was a sense of completeness was the only way she could describe it.
"I'm still going to get you a ring," he said into her hair, his smile faraway as he thought of the future. "You deserve it. And we'll get married and have kids and-"
"And grow old together?" She raised an eyebrow at him as she pulled away to face him. "And we'll live in a house with a white picket fence?" She teased.
"I…um…yes. Well, maybe not the white picket fence, a, um, black picket fence?"
She laughed. "You expect our lives to turn out like a fairy tale. Since when have our lives ever turned out 'Happily Ever After?'?"
"Not often," he admitted. "But this will work out. You'll see. Trust me?"
"I trust you." Danny leaned in again for another kiss, this kiss holding a promise. The kiss deepened, but the two had to finally part as they felt the ride slow and then finally come to a stop.
Three years later
Sam glanced down at the now sleeping infant in her arms. She gave a smile and closed the book she was holding, placing it on the bookshelf in the nursery where a small amount of books had already been placed for their baby when he was older.
"And they all lived happily ever after," she whispered, placing their son in his crib. Caleb Alexander Fenton was ten months old. She could already tell that he would grow up to look like his father. Though, and Danny mentioned this almost daily, he had her eyes.
She closed the nursery door quietly and headed back to the kitchen where her dirty dishes were still sitting out. She glanced sadly at Danny's empty plate, but shrugged it off. It wasn't like she hadn't expected these sorts of nights to happen.
She heard the door open as she placed the dishes in the sink and smiled. She didn't bother to turn around as a voice carried over from the kitchen's doorway.
"I missed dinner again, didn't I?"
She pointed over to his plate that was still on the table. "Help yourself. It's probably cold, though."
Danny surprised her when arms wrapped around her from behind. He placed a kiss on her neck. "I'm sorry."
"For what? I understand, Danny. You can't tell the town you can't save them this time because your wife has made dinner at home. You didn't get hurt, did you?"
"No, I didn't get hurt. It wasn't any ghost I couldn't handle. I really am sorry, though. This is happening way too often. It won't happen again. I promise."
She turned around to face him. "Like you promised you would have my art studio ready last week?"
"I'm sorry," he apologized again. "I'll work on that as soon as I can. Is Caleb already asleep?"
Sam nodded. "I just put him to bed."
"Will he still not say Mommy?" he teased.
She shoved him playfully. "Why don't you go work on my studio?"
"But I haven't fully apologized." His tone was also playful as leaned down and they shared a kiss. The kiss deepened as he pressed their bodies together. The moment was cut short when he felt Sam flinch. He pulled away concerned.
"What's wrong?"
She touched her abdomen lightly. "Nothing. I just had a clumsy moment today. Bumped into the table while I was setting it. I guess that spot is just a little more sensitive than I thought. I'll probably get a bruise."
He brushed his hand tenderly over the spot she indicated before looking back up at her. "I guess I'll just have to be more gentle then, won't I?"
She gave a small squeal in surprise when he suddenly picked her up. He leaned down and kissed her again, stopping her protests, as he turned around and headed towards their bedroom.
Danny jogged up to the register, handing the item last to Sam before helping her to unload everything from the cart. Caleb sat in the cart's seat, playing with the toy that Sam brought along for him. Danny glanced down as the toy hit the floor for about the twentieth time since the three had entered the grocery store and bended down to pick it up. When he stood straight again, Sam was holding one of the packages of diapers. Danny narrowed his eyes, silently handing Caleb his toy before turning back to Sam. Their attitudes were as if they were squaring off for some big contest.
"So," he started. "You lied to me."
"Lied to you," Sam challenged. "When have I ever lied to you?" The gossipy cashier at their register raised her head as the conversation became more heated.
"Don't give me that," Danny hissed. "I've known about it for quite awhile. At least you could be honest to me. You're lucky that I don't walk out on you right now."
"And what about the baby," she demanded.
"The baby?" Danny gestured to a random guy in another register. "How do I know it's mine? For all I know, he could be Joe's over there." The cashier's mouth dropped open as she listened.
"Well, he's probably better in bed," Sam shot back.
Danny started to chuckle, but tried to cover it up with a cough. Sam noticed, however and gave a grin of triumph, throwing the package of diapers at him. "You cheater! You laughed. You get diaper duty this week! Ha!" He grinned, tossing the package back to her and she turned to place it on the conveyor belt. He turned around to again retrieve Caleb's toy from off the floor. He turned back around curiously when he heard the cashier gasp to find Sam kneeling down on the floor, clutching her stomach.
"Sam?" He was at her side in a second and knelt down beside her, trying to see what had happened. "Sam, what's wrong?"
"I'm fine, Danny." Her response didn't fool him at all and, as she tried to get up, he placed his hands on her shoulders.
"No, you're not. Just stay there, Sam. You need to see a doctor. I'll be right back, Sam, just please stay there." He quickly went to go get Caleb, their groceries forgotten.
Danny stared at the doctor. They were at the hospital and, after doing a few tests; he had finally been told what was wrong. The answer, however, had sent him into a numb shock and he stared at the x-rays that the doctor had put up to show him. Finally, he squeaked out a meager, "What?"
"Your wife has cancer, Mr. Fenton. It started out in the pancreas which is why it went undetected until now. It's unfortunately spread and performing surgery, I'm afraid, would not help. I'm sorry, Mr. Fenton."
He didn't sound sorry. In fact, to Danny he sounded bored. But Danny didn't have the energy to get angry. He just stood there, wide-eyed.
"What…what about chemotherapy?"
The doctor frowned. "We can try chemotherapy, but it has rarely worked in the past. We can give her the treatments, but I can't guarantee anything."
Danny's resolve hardened. "Rarely" didn't mean never. It would work, he knew it would. They had survived overwhelming odds in the past. And Sam would be fighting the cancer all the way.
She couldn't die. He had so many things he still wanted to do, so many dreams they hadn't done yet. Dreams he could only do with Sam.
The chemotherapy would work. Sam would live. As long as he believed that, it would happen.
The weeks that turned into months that went by were tense. Both families and friends were notified and everyone said how sorry they were. To Danny's irritation, they talked to him as if Sam was going to die. But she wasn't! He wouldn't let that happen. True, the results of the chemotherapy treatments were not positive, but at some point they had to start working.
The thing that irritated him the most, and broke his heart at the same time, was that he was afraid that Sam was starting to believe she was going to die. How could she think that? She had been there all those years fighting ghosts. She had seen, that even though things had seemed tough, that they had eventually worked out in the end. And usually it had been from the three of them working together. He was sure that Tucker was with him. Why had Sam given up?
Perhaps she was just having doubts. That was all right. He could just show her how everything would turn out fine, how all she had to do was believe, how he needed her so much….
Sam walked in to the room that was supposed to one day be her studio, looking around before facing Danny as he dipped the roller in the white paint again. "Danny, what are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm making you your studio. Just like I promised I would."
"Danny, you don't have to now."
"Of course, I do. I made a promise to you. And you can't keep using the kitchen for your paintings."
"I haven't painted anything in a while, Danny."
"I noticed. Not much inspiration you can get out of a kitchen anyway. Maybe you'll have more luck in here once I-"
"Why are you doing this, Danny?"
He finally stopped to turn around and face her. "Doing what?"
"Lying to yourself."
"Sam, I-"
"I'm not going to be able to use this studio. You know that."
Danny frowned. "Sam, if this is about the cancer then it's going to be okay. The treatments will work. I believe-"
"You can't just believe the cancer away, Danny! It's not going to go away because you, I or anyone else wants it to. Don't you see? You can't protect me from this, Danny."
"No!" The roller was flung out of his hand at his outburst. "You can't just give up, Sam! This can't happen! You can't just be taken away from me! I've worked too hard, I've done everything I could do. Why can't something go right for once? After everything we've done we deserve to happy. I deserve this! I…." He faltered as the emotional strain was too much and he started to cry. "I need you," he whispered.
Sam embraced him. Holding him as he let everything finally come to the surface while holding in her own tears.
"Momma."
Both turned towards the doorway. Jazz stood there holding Caleb. She'd been coming over to help take care of Caleb, insistent that she needed to do something for them. She gave them a small smile as she shifted Caleb, who had an arm outstretched towards the two, in her arms. "Guess who he wanted?"
"Momma."
Sam stepped forwards, arms lifted up to take Caleb who happily latched onto her. She looked down at her son. "Mommy's here," she whispered. "Mommy's here, Caleb."
A few tears slipped out from her eyes, but no one was sure whether they were because she was happy or sad.
Danny woke up late one night to crying. His immediate reaction was to look to Sam's side of the bed which he found empty. He quickly sat up trying to find her as he tried to pinpoint where the crying was coming from. He could already tell that it wasn't Caleb who was crying, it was Sam.
The noise led him to the nursery anyways. Sam was perched against the crib, crying. One of her hands had maneuvered through the bars to hold onto Caleb's tiny hand.
"Sam?"
"I want my baby," she sobbed as if she had never heard him, her body shaking. "I want my baby!"
Danny reacted instantly. He left the nursery for a moment. There was a minute of silence except for Sam's crying and then the sound of something being dragged. He appeared a few seconds later, dragging their mattress into the room and laying it down next to the crib. He slowly disentangled Sam from Caleb and the crib. She had no energy from crying to fight him and he gently picked her up, placing her down on the mattress. Caleb was taken out just as gently and he placed the infant in Sam's arms. She clung tightly to him as Danny left the room again. He returned much quicker with their sheets, spreading it over the two before climbing in beside her. Wrapping his arms around his wife and son, he stayed awake listening until the sounds of Sam's crying decreased in volume and finally died.
Jazz stopped in the doorway to the kitchen, watching Danny as he went about his kitchen and made himself a glass of milk with Hershey's syrup. This, Jazz knew, was one of the ways he reverted back to childhood. She gave a sigh. She hated to see her brother go through this. She walked into the room, sitting down in the chair opposite Danny as he lazily stirred his milk with a spoon.
"Danny, are you all right?" She wasn't able to meet the stare he gave her and looked away. "Sorry."
It's all right," he replied scornfully. "It's a standard question for me."
Danny, please talk to me," she pleaded.
"What's there to talk about? The treatments aren't working. Sam is going to die and I'm trying to figure out how I'm supposed to live without her."
"Danny," Jazz soothed. "I know things seem bad, but you can't-"
"What? Give up hope? I tried, Jazz. I thought that maybe if I believed enough than some God up there would smile down on me and give me one little miracle. One! That's all I wanted. But I should have figured out that nobody gives a piece of crap about me or how I feel. They didn't care when I was fourteen, and they don't care now." He glanced down at his chocolate milk. "We stopped the treatments."
Jazz processed all of this with patience. Finally, she spoke. "Danny, can I give you an analogy?"
"Jazz," he whined.
She kept going anyways. "Life is like…a Ferris wheel. You have your ups and downs, the turns are short and long. And it usually ends much too soon. What you have to do is make the most of the high points. Those are the reasons we're here. The high points are the reasons we keep riding."
"Jazz," he interjected.
She quickly reached across the table and grabbed his hand. "But the ride doesn't end when you die."
Danny gave her a skeptical look. "What are you saying, Jazz?"
"We both know about the Ghost Zone. That's where a person's spirit goes when they die, right?"
"Yes," he replied slowly.
"So you'll see her again. The ride isn't over. You just have to take it alone for awhile."
"But I don't think I can," he whispered back.
"It won't be easy," Jazz confessed. She took hold of both of his hands, squeezing them. "But I believe you can do it. This is just another test, Danny. I know you can pass it, you just have to know it, too."
His face was stoic as he took everything in. Finally, he got up without saying a word and left.
The tears flowed quietly down his cheeks as he sat next to their bed. Sam lay there, her breathing labored as she smiled at him. She was so weak and he hated to see her like this.
But she was still just as beautiful as she had always been. He squeezed her hand that he held onto. If he kept hanging on, maybe her spirit would stay for just a little bit longer.
"I love you," he whispered.
She was still able to give him a brilliant smile. "I love you, too."
"Do you want me to get Caleb?"
"Don't wake him up," she whispered. "Tell him I love him, though." He could tell that talking was taking away her strength and nodded, promising himself to stay silent from now on. Anything to keep her here.
The silence was uncomfortable, though. He glanced back up when she gave a sigh, but she was smiling.
"I'm happy." It came from out of nowhere and Danny blinked. What could she be happy about now?
Her smile didn't fade. "Thank you, Danny. I really am very happy. And I promise not to come back as some malevolent ghost. I'll just stand near the portal and taunt the ghosts when you kick their butts back into the Ghost Zone."
Danny smiled in spite of himself. That sounded so much like Sam. "Or you could come out every now and then. Let me see you."
"She shook her head. "That wouldn't work. It would make you miss me even more."
"I miss you now. Don't go."
"I love you," she replied.
"Love you, too." He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "I'll see you again."
And Sam closed her eyes.
Hello, Mr. Tuddle. You remember my fiancée, Sam, right? I just proposed and we thought the first thing we'd do was take a long ride on your Ferris wheel. You hear me, a very long ride