Title: Passing Shadows

Genre: Romance/Hurt/Comfort, with a bit of Angst and Tragedy though not too much.

Rating: T

Pairing: Dawn and Scott, Dott

Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama.

A/N: Okay this starts of a bit dark, I don't know what it is with me and near tragedies at the moment, but it gets better…in fact by the end its stuffed with fluff once again. Slightly set in an Alternate Universe.

And let the Sun rise…

"Perhaps this is Mother Nature's wish; maybe it's not meant to be."

Screw Mother Nature, if this was what the earth wanted then he was going to start polluting.

He didn't voice his thoughts; he knew she wouldn't approve of them. Instead he observed her silently from his spot in the doorway. She was knelt in the centre of the room, her head hanging forlornly as she stared unfocusedly at her hands, which were held limply in her lap.

Her hair draped loosely around her face, its platinum blonde colour tainted with grease and grime; clearly she hadn't bathed in a while, and he noted that she appeared to have been wearing the same clothes for a few days straight. Her attire consisting of only her favourite tatty evergreen jumper – the one which her nan had knitted for her when she was only a small child – it still didn't fit her petite frame, covering her body and reaching far past her thighs so that it was more of a dress than a jumper, the neck sagging over one shoulder leaving it bare and exposed, her fingers the only visible part of her hands poking out from the long baggy sleeves. Her only other item of clothing being his old jacket, the one he had given her and she'd found so much pleasure in.

The material of the clothes had already begun to wrinkle. Three days her parents said she'd been locked up in the little tree-house she called her home. Three days when he should have been there. Why hadn't he been there?

Oh yeah, because he was too busy getting pissed at the local bar. He had consumed an unhealthy amount of alcohol which had not only caused serve damage to his internal organs but also made him pass out every so often. He was pretty sure he'd been unconscious for at least one of those days, the other he'd probably spent trying to get sober again as he was so far out of it you could have told him he was a female tap-dancing cow who liked to dress up as a fairy and he would have believed you, then probably gone on to prove how you were correct.

It had been Lightning and Sam who'd found him; unable to stand without instantly collapsing onto the floor. They were the closest people he had to best friends out of the bunch of losers he hung around with. He imagined they had attempted to haul him out the building, with Lightning probably doing most of the heavy labour. Once they'd gotten him safely back to Sam's apartment they'd gone to work trying to snap him back to reality.

He assumed that after repeatedly failing at that they'd recruited Jo and Anne Maria who were more than successful. After becoming fully sober he'd instantly set out to find Dawn, when he found her he almost wished he hadn't.

Looking at the state she was in he found himself feeling guilty and ashamed – two emotions he rarely ever felt – that he had left her on her own for so long. Whilst he was out drowning his sorrows in heavy doses of alcohol she was curled up alone, waiting for him as she tried to cope with the trauma she was going through.

How could he have been so selfish to just leave her? To forget that she was the one that would be suffering the most from what had happened, and simply abandon her for the sake of a cowardly escape in the form of beer and whisky?

He wanted to punch himself, though Anne Maria and Jo had probably done enough of that to him already. Still, what kind of boyfriend was he? Completely deserting her without a second thought.

He had always been considered a jerk, as well as many other ruder words meaning the same thing, and often he would agree, but now he knew he deserved to be scorned far worse than by names as weak as those, none of them expressing the true evil that he was. And yet Dawn still saw him as her Prince Charming, even at his wickedest. That just made things worse.

When he had walked into the room he saw her head raise just an inch, as a form of recognising his presence. Whilst that wasn't much, from what he'd heard from the others it was certainly a better response then any of them had gotten.

Zoey had described Dawn as being like a zombie; the way she moved, how she looked, everything about her seemed dead. She would spend hours on end just sitting in the exact spot where she was now, just staring blankly, only moving to use the bathroom when she had to – though none of them had actually witnessed this, but they assumed she must be going. She couldn't just sit there forever, right? She had to move at some point, didn't she?

Had she been eating? Scott wondered.

Looking now he saw the pile of plates that rested upon the many surfaces in the room, still filled with untouched food that was now starting to rot. That concerned him. Not that he hadn't already been concerned but the fact that she wasn't eating… well, that directly affected her health.

He was not going to have her starve herself to death. He would make sure that she ate something while he was there otherwise he wouldn't leave till she did. But then was he going to leave anyway? He certainly didn't want to leave her, not now, not after what had happened, and especially not after seeing her like this.

He grabbed a fairly clean looking apple which had yet to be affected by passing time, and approached her where she knelt on the uncarpeted wooden floor. He briefly wondered why it was that spot she had chosen to stay fixed in, but on further observation he realised it was because that was the spot where they had performed the deed only about nine months ago; it hadn't exactly been comfortable but that hadn't stopped them – besides, he preferred things rough.

"Maybe it's because she thinks I should be devoting my attention to the environment instead of more personal matters."

He didn't bother to respond to the load of bullshit that she had just said. Instead he crouched down directly in front of her, holding out the apple into her line of sight.

"Eat."

The order was clear but she still tried to refuse, like he had actually given her a choice.

"I'm not hungry."

He shoved the apple closer to her, his expression hardening.

"That wasn't a suggestion. Eat."

Knowing she wasn't going to win an argument with him, especially not in her current weak-minded state, she reluctantly took the apple from him, grudgingly gripping it in her hands.

He watched as she stared at it, as if hoping that if she waited long enough he would grow impatient and she could avoid eating the fruit.

That wasn't going to happen.

"Eat."

A brief glare flickered across her dead expression (good, at least she was showing some emotion now) and she hesitantly pressed the ruby skinned fruit to her pale pink lips – which had withered from the lack of hydration – biting into it with a loud crunch, juice trickling from the mark.

Scott waited until she had finished chewing on the chunk she had bitten off and swallowed before he spoke again.

"Good. Now I want you to eat the rest of that and also drink one of those glasses of water; you have enough of them in here to fill a bathtub."

Dawn glowered and stuck her tongue out at him.

A small smile found its way onto his lips as more of the girl he knew and loved began to show on the living corpse that she'd become.

They sat there in silence for a long time, neither of them speaking; neither of them needing to. The only sounds were that of Dawn's munching on the apple and her slurping as she downed the glass of water Scott had forced into her hand.

When she'd finished Scott took away the glass, placing it back on one of the surfaces in the room, and chucked the apple core out the open window, down to where he knew the compost heap rested. He wondered if the window had been open all the time she'd been there or if one of her visitors had opened it to let some fresh air in, forgetting to close it and leaving the frail girl to face the bitter breath of the blowing breeze.

"Did you open the window?"

"Zoey did, she thought the fresh air would help, it did." She replied, no emotion in her tone.

Scott frowned and stood up, crossing over to the window and pulling it close. "It's cold in here; you don't want to get sick."

Dawn didn't shift, if it hadn't been for the small movement of her lips he wouldn't have believed that it was her speaking; her voice sounded so unlike herself, dead and empty, two thinks Dawn never was.

"I'm already sick."

Scott turned sharply towards her. "What!"

A twisted smile graced her face. "Sick in the mind and sick in the body. Poison flows through my blood, how else would it be that I am in capable of producing life?

Scott stared at her in horror as she continued to speak, a chilling laugh lacing her words.

"I am Death's toxin, his kiss my own, and all that I create withers and dies, this is I, this is I-"

Scott cut her off, grabbing her chin and raising it so she met his eyes.

They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, and in hers he had always seen a blossoming Springtime filled with life, but now as he stared into them he only saw a chilly Winter, the frost killing all that it touched.

He searched her expression in shocked dismay, her sickly grin growing as she saw the distress in his eyes, knowing what he could see. Her eyes framed with heavy black bags from her lack of slumber, the whites stained raw red, the tears still leaking from them even now.

She whispered the words as the icy burning inside pierced through her heart, again and again and again.

"There is a sickness within my soul."

And then she broke, releasing all the pain she had kept inside her into her banshee screams, the wails muffled against Scott's strong yet soft shoulder as he pressed her head there, arms wrapped around her body and stroking her gently, cooing kind words and cradling her crying form.

If anyone had seen him now they would have thought they were dreaming; Scott Davis did not console, he didn't need to be consoled and he refused to console others. But Dawn was a different matter. He cared about Dawn; he didn't like seeing her sad, with so much angst and so little hope. That was him not her. He needed her to be happy, he needed to see her smile.

"It's because of ME! There is something wrong with ME! I'm not HUMAN! Why else would I not be capable of producing another of that species!"

Scott didn't raise his voice, he didn't get mad, he just held onto her just as she needed him to.

"No." His voice was firm and she could not argue with that tone. "This is not because of you. There is nothing wrong with you. You are the most human person I've ever met. If anything it is because of me, I'm a monster and evil isn't capable of forming something so good. You are beautiful. You are pure. You are the most wonderful creature on this Earth and if anyone is capable of producing such a precious soul it's you. It's my fault; this is MY punishment, a burden you shouldn't have to bare."

She cried, unable to stop and not wanting to. Holding it in hurt too much, she had to let it out. Three days she had gone, three days without relief. She needed this, she needed this so badly.

"No it's not! You are GOOD, you are really GOOD. You are not evil, you are GOOD. How you treat me, how you take care of me, everything you have done is GOOD. You are not bad, you are GOOD, you should be rewarded because you are so GOOD!"

Despite the circumstances Scott couldn't help but let out a little chuckle at this. She truly was something; never letting him put himself down. For some reason she saw something good in him, something he had never seen, but then he supposed he couldn't read auras.

"I got my reward when I got you, a gift I didn't deserve but something I am grateful for all the same."

He was never good at talking about his feelings, maybe that was why he'd chosen to date a girl who could read auras, but when he felt strongly about something somehow he managed to get the words out, and…well…he definitely felt strongly about Dawn.

She smiled slightly at this, sniffling a bit as the tears were still falling though they were starting to slow down now. The pain was still there but not as strong, not as suppressed. "It just hurts, you know."

Scott tightened his grip. "Yeah, I know."

He had spent at least a whole day getting drunk in order to numb the pain; he definitely knew what she meant.

"I'm sorry this happened; it shouldn't have happened." He pressed his face into her hair, breathing in its scent; he loved her hair.

"Don't be." She murmured, moving her face so it was pressing into the crook of his neck. "It's nobody's fault, it was simply Nature's will."

They stayed still for a moment, just holding each other until Dawn spoke again. "Why did this have to happen?"

Scott sighed, unfortunately that was a question he couldn't answer. "I don't know. But it did and we will live with this."

She nodded her head slightly. "We don't have much choice but to."

"People in these situations never do."

No words were spoken after that.

Words could not truly express what they were thinking, what they felt.

Words would never be enough to show the pain, the agonising pain and sorrow, the heart wrenching, soul chilling sorrow that the loss of someone so precious, so unknown, and still so loved, could cause.

"Scott, I'm pregnant."

The said male who had formerly been standing so relaxed instantly toppled over upon hearing what his girlfriend had just said.

They were both young, very young, Scott was nineteen and Dawn had only just turned eighteen, and while it was good that they were both of legal adult age it didn't make their situation much easier.

Their parents had had mixed views on the matter. Whilst Scott's family were more than understanding – considering this type of thing happened to them all the time and they absolutely adored Dawn – her parents weren't as open-minded on the matter. They had suggested she get an abortion, however she'd refused, hating the thought of killing any living creature, and they'd almost disowned her, until Scott had stepped in and given them a piece of his mind – which was a bit more colourful then they were used to. It had taken awhile for them to come around but eventually they were just as supportive on the matter as Scott's family had been.

He had suggested she move in to his apartment which she had agreed to, both of them happy with the housing arrangements. Their friends had come to visit, all of them willing to help much to their appreciation. They had even started to decorate one of the rooms, ready for when the baby came.

Now it all stood there, collecting dust.

He could still remember that moment, its memory permanently burned into his mind.

"I'm sorry." The doctor said, with a sympathetic expression.

Like that changed anything.

He was sorry, she was sorry, they were sorry, everyone was sorry.

Sorry didn't mean anything.

Sorry wouldn't remove the pain.

Sorry wouldn't bring her back to life.

Sorry meant nothing.

"Scott…" Dawn's voice dragged him out of his bitter thoughts. He looked at her.

She seemed so frail, so breakable, and yet she had proven herself to be so strong. She was beautiful.

"I love you."

They'd said those words before but not very often. The rarity made them that much more precious and meaningful, and hearing them at that moment, from Dawn, nothing could have eased his soul more.

"I know Dawn, I love you as well." He whispered as he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

Their eyes locked for a moment and they read the messages that words could not express.

And then it happened.

Just like before.

The two of them became one, connecting and sharing their pain, lying on the tree-house floor.

Together.

xxx

"Scott, I'm with child."

Her words had momentarily stunned him however he quickly recovered. He looked up at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Again, and so soon, wow, really need to start using protection."

"I prefer things natural."

"And I prefer not to have my girlfriend getting pregnant every time we have sex."

Dawn stuck her tongue out at him.

"How far gone are you?"

"About a month."

A month. That would pinpoint to the tree-house. The same spot again, maybe there was just something about that place.

"Scott, I'm scared."

"Why, you've gone through this before?" He instantly regretted his words from the way Dawn's face dropped. "I'm sorry…I didn't mean to…"

"It's okay, and you're right, but that's just why, I'm scared it will happen again. What if I'm just not meant to have children?"

"Then we'll live a happy but childless marriage, hmm doesn't sound so bad."

"Children are wonderful things and…wait did you just say marriage? But we're not married."

"Oh right, I forgot you needed to say yes first." Scott suddenly pulled out a small box and handed it to her.

Dawn gasped in surprise as she stared at it in awe. "Oh…Scott…is this…?"

"If I had known all you needed was the box I wouldn't have spent all that money on buying the ring."

Dawn opened the box to reveal a beautiful, sparkling ring; the encrusted jewel glittering the same colour as her eyes. "It's beautiful."

"You're beautiful." He mumbled but she still heard.

Smiling brightly Dawn threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck in glee.

Scott chuckled as he placed his hands around her waist. "Is that a yes?"

"Of course!" She practically screamed as she continued to hug him for dear life.

She slammed her lips onto his and they kissed with fiery passion.

When they broke apart they were both panting desperately.

"I love you." Dawn informed between gasps.

Scott grinned. "You've said."

Dawn smiled back. "Just making sure you know."

"Oh I do." Scott remarked, leaning in for another kiss. "And I love you too."

Then he reclaimed her lips. Their feelings so much brighter then when they had last spoken the L word to each other.

It was nice sharing the happiness.

And they weren't alone in that happiness.

Their family and friends were overjoyed at the news, each one wishing them there congratulations. Nobody brought up the incident.

Dakota was ecstatic; as it turned out she and Sam were also expecting, meaning she and Dawn were "Preggy-buddies" as she put it. She had already made Dawn promise that if their babies turned out to be of different genders then they would be betrothed. Scott wasn't so keen on the idea and he could see that Dawn wasn't either but they decided not to say anything to the thrilled girl, neither of them wanting to deal with a disappointed Dakota, especially not when the soon-to-be-Mrs-Maxwell was currently experiencing an overdose of pregnancy hormones.

However, it wasn't all complete joy, they still had to deal with the possibility that they might lose this child as well.

They were only a few weeks away from the due pregnancy when Scott found his fiancé crying, on the bedroom floor, hugging her swollen belly.

"What if it happens again?" She sobbed. "I don't think I can cope with losing a second child."

Scott sat down next to her, and wrapped his arms around her. "It'll be okay, I promise."

She just nodded, and rested her head against him. The two of them sitting like that for a while, hands entwined, the other ones resting on Dawn's stomach.

Losing their new-born baby daughter had shown them that even though they had lost a child, they still had their family and friends who were all willing to support them, but most importantly they still had each other.

And as long as they had each other they knew everything was going to be okay.

xxx

"I still cannot believe we are actually here."

"I know, I'm still surprised I managed to walk over the church threshold. I was expecting to burst into flames or something."

Dawn looked at Scott, un-amused.

"You are not the devil, Scott."

He shrugged. "Closely related."

Dawn rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the front of the church.

Noticing her slight irritation he tried to smooth things over, leaning in to whisper in her ear. "By the way, you look absolutely stunning in that dress."

"I suppose you too look rather dashing in that suit." She replied, trying to sound indifferent but Scott noticed the hint of a smile playing upon her lips.

He smirked and turned his gaze forward, just as the organ struck up a wedding march. Immediately, everyone was stood, all eyes turning to the back.

Slowly, in pairs, the groomsmen began to walk down the aisle, each with a bridesmaid on their arm.

"Doug seems nervous, don't you think?" Scott whispered to her, as they watched the second eldest McArthur child march down the aisle, shaking nervously.

Scott noticed the girl on his arm, Sasha Bolt (Lightning's daughter) was gripping his arm tightly, sharp nails digging painfully in – a silent threat to get himself under control, whilst she smiled pleasantly at the audience as if nothing was wrong.

"Well, he's hoping on rekindling things with Sasha tonight; he's just worried he's going to make a fool out of himself." Dawn told him, knowingly.

Scott gave her a stern look. "I thought we agreed no aura readings at the wedding."

Dawn smiled at him sweetly. "I made no promises."

Scott frowned at her disbelievingly. "You're…not as different from me as you'd like people to think."

Dawn's smile stretched further. "I'll take that as a compliment."

Scott rolled his eyes and then narrowed them as Doug and Sasha were steadily followed by Sasha's older brother, Heath, and his youngest child, Hope.

"Don't you think they're holding each other a little too closely?" Scott muttered, sending daggers at Lightning's eldest son.

Now it was Dawn's turn to roll her eyes. "Get over in, Scott. They're in love, and they've been dating since Hope was sixteen."

"I don't care. He's still not good enough for her in my books." Scott retorted, grudgingly.

Dawn sighed. "No boy is ever good enough for another man's daughter; but Heath makes her happy and you want her to be happy, right?"

Scott muttered something under his breath, but otherwise didn't reply. Dawn smiled, satisfied at taking that to mean acceptance and turned her eyes as the last couple – best man and maid of honour – made their way down the aisle.

Scott's glower darkened further and he glared at the blonde Maxwell boy as he strolled towards them, a fiery beauty upon his arm.

Luna Davis caught her father's glare and winked at him, only enhancing Scott's scowl.

Dawn watched him with amusement. "They make a good couple, don't they?"

Scott snorted at this. "Right…that's why she's constantly flittering between him and Cuthbert."

Again Dawn rolled her eyes as he childishly mocked C's name. It wasn't that Scott particularly disliked the Hill child; it's just he'd sort of had a rivalry (one-sided, since B wasn't nearly as bothered or immature as Scott) with C's father since…well since Dawn. It also didn't help that C, was the best friend (occasionally with benefits) of their wild-child daughter Luna; much to Scott and Troy Maxwell's (her on-off boyfriend) displeasure.

"By the way, are they on or off at the moment?" Scott inquired with honest curiosity, nudging his head in the direction of Luna and Troy as maid of honour and best man parted ways at the altar.

Dawn raised an eyebrow at him and smiled slyly. "I thought you said no aura readings."

Scott scowled at her. "It's common gossip, you hardly need to be psych to know. You just have to know Dakota."

Dawn grinned. "Well if you must know…Troy's going to propose to her tonight, I'm sure that will make it permanently on."

"What!"

Scott's cry of alarm was drowned out by the organ as Sam stepped onto the aisle, leading the bride with him.

"But- what- no- I…Dawn!"

Dawn laughed softly at his reaction and focused her gaze upon the bride. Peaches Maxwell looked absolutely breath-taking; dressed all in glittering white and auburn hair done up in a style that really put the do in hairdo. She supposed in really did pay to have Dakota Maxwell née Milton as your mother when it came to matters of fashion.

Peaches caught Dawn's eye, and Dawn smiled warmly at her soon-to-be daughter-in-law, the youngest Maxwell sibling smiling back, clearly nervous but also very, very excited.

She watched as Sam handed Peaches over to Sonny, who gazed at his bride with a wondrous sort of love that made Dawn's heart flutter with the beat of a thousand tiny butterflies.

She let out a soft sigh as all the happiness bubbled inside her. "Do you think we were ever that in love when we were married?"

Scott glanced at his wife, and his face softened, eyes gazing half-lidded with a love that shone with an honesty that seemed so out of character for him.

"I don't believe anyone can compare their love to another's," He told her gently, taking her hand. "But I know I loved you – that I still love you – and you loved me…and probably still do…I'm assuming...since you haven't left me yet." Dawn gave him a funny sort of smile and he grinned before continuing. "It's not so much about how far you fall in love but how far you'll go for that love."

Dawn beamed at him, her whole face lighting up the room (at least in his opinion).

Suddenly, they were distracted by the sound of cheering and they looked to see Sonny and Peaches sharing a tender kiss as a way of symbolising their marital love.

Guess Dakota got her wish after all.

The wedded couple looked to the whooping audience and smiled. Sonny's eyes drifting over to where his parents stood and grinning at them.

Dawn smiled, giving her son a thumbs-up.

"I'd go through Heaven for you." Scott whispered in her ear, softly.

Dawn's face furrowed in confusion. "Don't you mean Hell?"

"Same thing in my opinion."

Dawn frowned and turned to give her husband an unimpressed look as he smirked back at her.

She rolled her eyes and kissed him. For a moment Scott was stunned, and then he shrugged and returned the kiss.

It was hard to believe that about twenty-five years ago they were curled up on the floor of Dawn's old tree-house, embracing one another, filled with feelings completely opposite to the happiness of today.

But those grey days no longer hung in their minds; they still had each other and as long as the sun still continued to rise, and Dawn still continued to smile at him the way she did, nothing else would ever bloke out the light of their love.

"Hey, mum, dad; I can see you're busy so I'll make this quick. I'm pregnant. It's Troy's. Well, got to go before Sam eats all the cake. See ya!"

"Wait- what!"

Dawn and Scott promptly broke apart, in time to see their redheaded daughter speed away, dragging a somewhat apologetic Troy with her.

"LUNA!"

Dawn stared after her daughter, incredulously. Scott on the other hand was too shocked to even be furious, so instead he went on default and simply accepted it.

He looked at Dawn smugly. "So…you didn't read that in her aura, now did you?"

"You're lucky we're currently in church, otherwise I would kill you for that comment." Dawn hissed, sounding very unlike herself and extremely pissed-off.

Scott grinned. "Oh, I don't doubt it."

Dawn huffed. "Why the hell did we want kids again?"

Scott shrugged, wrapping his arms around his wife calmingly. "Beats me…but I think it was your idea." Dawn grumbled something un-Dawn-like "Just don't kill anyone; Dakota will go nuts if you get bloodstains on the decorations."

Dawn glowered and Scott smiled.

"You know you're cute when you're angry."

"Shut up."

xxx

"Grief can take care of itself; but to get the full value of a joy you must have someone to divide it with."

You know, initially I was tempted to write a much more tragic ending which would have probably provoked a lot of sad and angry reviews, but then I believe in happy endings; if they don't happen in fiction how can we expect them in reality.

I know the start was dark-ish, I don't know why I keep making Scott and Dawn suffer, maybe I'm just trying to show that they're the kind of couple that can survive through the tragedy as they'll always have one another to lean on. Oh and I know Dawn was probably out of character at the start but she was going through a lot.

Oh and yeah it wasn't Dawn and Scott's wedding, it was Sonny and Peaches'. I thought about writing it as Dawn and Scott's wedding and then figured I wanted to get a look in at the NextGen characters.

A few cameos of TDRotI characters, specifically the Davis family (Luna, Sonny and Hope). Maybe at some point I'll write a fic just for them. Anyway, I hope all the different names didn't make things unclear.

Well, I hope you enjoyed that ending, I know it sort of drabbled out after a while but my inspiration tap is currently on full-flow only it's quite inconsistent in what exactly. Also, hope I was too cliche...I have been seriously cliche with all this dark and light nonsense.

Anyway, may you fight through the shadows and dance through the light, for dark and day are all part of life.