Hey, it's a new story! Danny is lucky that he knows how to bribe Charlie.

Un-beta'ed, so quibble away.

- o – o -

Tattletale

Danny loved and adored his older sister. He really did. He would be the first to say he almost worshiped the ground she walked on—and who wouldn't? Charlie was kind of cool. And she was athletic and had beaten Uncle Miles in an arm-wrestling match once.

There were times, though, when he wished that she were a lot more discreet and way less into people who had the unfortunate name of Jason Neville. (Danny liked Captain Neville and Miss Julia. Their son was a different matter.) The nine-year-old was pretty sure his sister was only fooling around with Jason because it annoyed Uncle Miles and dad all the time. (Danny was pretty sure Uncle Bass didn't care, just as long as Charlie didn't get sick or pregnant or something equally gross like that.)

That Danny worshiped his sister wasn't going to prevent him from making sure Charlie couldn't hook up with Jason without incurring a lot of trouble.

So he told dad. And then Uncle Miles found out. And then it passed to Uncle Bass. And Uncle Jeremy.

Danny was pretty sure he was going to need a bigger bribe than usual to keep Charlie from actually murdering him.

Chocolate torte was Charlie's favorite treat. Given that chocolate had to be smuggled in by someone who's name Jeremy refused to give up—even when Uncle Bass and Uncle Miles bribed him with anything they could think of—it was kind of rare. Danny had the special ability to get anything he wanted from the cooks. Even Uncle Jeremy couldn't beat him for pitiful, pathetic looks that made people give him what he wanted. (Danny had promised his uncles that he would only use his powers for good. In this case, "good" meant "Charlie doesn't commit murder".)

Charlie found out, of course. She always did. Danny knew he'd been found out as soon as she crawled back in the window, buttons on her shirt done up wrong and hair messy out of her usual tight braid. Danny's nose wrinkled in disgust as the smell of horse and leather oil hit his nose. Gross. Horses were cool and all, but did Charlie really have to smell like them all the time?

Danny sat on his bench under the window, chewing nervously on his lower lip as he tried not to show how anxious he was. His book—the one he was supposed to be reading for school, but didn't really want to because it was boring—lay open on his lap. He hadn't read more than a few words. Charlie was stripping off her horsey-smelling clothes and pulling on the nicer ones she always wore while she was in the manor. Yellow was not a good color for her, but dad said she looked pretty in it. (She looked better when she was running around in jeans and a torn t-shirt, as far as Danny was concerned.)

"Am I allowed to have friends?" Charlie asked, sitting down at the small breakfast table. She picked up the fork and tapped it against the table as she waited for an answer.

"Yeah…" Danny replied, voice quivering a little.

"Does it really matter who my friends are?" Charlie continued, tone still pleasant, but somewhat more forced now. Danny winced.

"Um…no?"

Charlie growled something she'd probably heard Uncle Miles say under her breath. "So why are you always on my case about Jason?"

"He's creepy," Danny replied, picking his book up again.

Charlie sighed and dug into the torte. Around a mouthful of chocolate, she said "I'm going to kill you after I finish this."

Danny got away with a black eye.

Charlie was grounded for two months, and Jason Neville was banned from setting foot on the manor's grounds again, unless it was on urgent official business.

It was probably for the best.

- o – o -

So, what did you think? Good? Bad? Does Danny deserve Charlie beating on him? Drop a line and let me know.

Author's note: This is set in Steph-Schell's For the Girl Who Has Everything 'verse.