There was little in the world capable of rattling Maddie Van Pelt. Lots of things set her off, sure (though she'd gotten better at controlling her temper), but as far as unnerving her, throwing her off, freaking her out? The Head Panther of Iridium High was pretty unmovable. Other people freaked out over tests; Maddie cast a focus spell and studied. Other people panicked when the fire alarm went off; Maddie marched her way through the crowd and was the first one out the door. Other people spazzed over not having a dress to the Christmas ball coming up in two weeks; Maddie went shopping with her Panthers and within an hour she had the perfect outfit.

Walking into her living room to find her absentee father sitting on the couch, however? That rattled her.

Maddie had been mid-scream, letting her mother know she was back and had purchased an adorable dress, when her vision focused on the man across the room. Instantaneously, her heart rate dropped to zero. The bags in her hands dropped onto the expensive carpet. And her stomach dropped out from under her.

"Dad." The voice that spoke the foreign word did not belong to her, and yet it had come from her lips. She swallowed once and tried again. "W-What are you doing here?"

The man stood and beamed at his daughter. "Maddie-Winky! So nice to see you."

He walked toward her, arms outstretched, and Maddie wanted to run or tele-transport away but her brain had completely turned off. She stood there as her father engulfed her in a hug. His dress shirt was tucked into her dress pants, his blonde hair was short and spiked, and his touch was strange. He smelled like pine needles and cigars, same as he had the last time he'd shown up, and it triggered far too many memories Maddie wanted to forget.

"Steven! I found them! I-I found—" Ursula huffed into the room, papers in her hand. She stopped when she noticed her daughter standing still as a statue, being hugged by the man who was half responsible for her birth. "Maddie-Winky," she squeaked. "You're home."

Steven pulled away from the one-sided hug, seemingly not noticing his daughter's lack of responsiveness.

"What's going on?" Maddie asked quietly.

"I was just showing Steven my and your step-father's wedding papers. See?" She hurried over to her ex-husband, waving the thin stack of papers in the air. "I explained that Francisco's in the military so he's not home a lot—"

"I'd love to see the papers, Ursula." Steven smiled, outstretched a hand.

Maddie could only imagine how fake whatever her mother had come up with looked, so she quickly cast a spell to change the papers into actual wedding papers, complete with a certificate and everything.

When Steven flipped through the stack, he seemed impressed. "Wow. You weren't making it up!"

Thank you, Ursula mouthed at her daughter.

"Dad." Maddie's voice was louder this time, but not because she was gaining strength; because her emotions were becoming harder to control. "What are you doing here?"

The man blinked up with his topaz eyes and smiled that dazzling smile of his, the one that undoubtedly charmed tons of women Maddie and Ursula would never know of. "To spend time with my little girl, of course!" He released the papers without warning and Ursula scrambled to grab them before they scattered onto the floor. Steven wrapped an arm around his daughter's shoulders. "I was in town on business and it made me realize how much I miss you, Maddie-Winky."

Maddie's brain decided to communicate with her body again. She stepped away from the man and said, "Really." It wasn't a question; it was a statement, a word. A word that meant nothing, like the empty lie he'd just told.

The change in the atmosphere showed on Steven's face for a split second before he recovered. He retracted his arm and said, "Really. I'm here for the next couple of weeks; I'm staying at the Shambrolay down the street." He started to reach for his wallet and said, "My number's changed since the last time I stopped by—"

"Shocking." The sarcasm wasn't nearly biting enough for Maddie's taste, but it was the best she could muster up right now.

He dropped his hand to his side and said, "Actually, screw business cards; I'll just come over tomorrow at six and we can go out to dinner. Sound good?" But it wasn't a question. He was already walking toward the door and tomorrow he'd be walking right back through it at six. It wasn't negotiable. It never was.

And yet Ursula still felt obligated to act as though it was.

"Sounds great, Steven! Maddie can't wait!"

The door clicked shut behind him.

Maddie began gnawing at her bottom lip, getting a mouthful of sugary lip gloss.

Her mother exhaled. "Do you think you could… ya know," she waved her hand around, "write me a resume and conjure up a work award or two?"

Maddie and her shopping bags had tele-transported to her room before she heard the end of the sentence. She dropped the bags on the bed then hurried to her closet. She locked herself in, slid down the door, and hugged her knees to her chest. Sobs began wracking her body but no tears were happening. Which meant she wasn't sobbing; she was hyperventilating.

With one shaking hand, she extracted her phone from her pocket. She needed someone to talk to immediately. She needed to calm down before this episode became hospital-sized.

Her most recent incoming call had been from her boyfriend, Diego. No. No way.

Sophie. She could probably be convinced the cause of Maddie's freak-out was something petty, but she would also probably forget it was a secret by tomorrow and blab in front of Gigi.

Katie. Pfft.

Names, names, useless names of people Maddie had accidentally answered the phone for scrolled past her eyes until—

Daniel.

The last time Maddie had called Daniel was during freshman year to beg him to take her back. Under other circumstances, the memory of how desperate she used to be would make her cringe. Under her current circumstance, her current I-can-barely-breathe-and-can't-calm-down circumstance, all that mattered was Daniel knew.

She pressed the call button.

Each ring was Maddie's breath growing shallower. Each ring was her heart trying to escape up her throat. Each ring was—

Muffled sounds of children yelling filled her ear. And then, "…Maddie?"

His voice had never been so comforting.

Maddie opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn't form words. The only sounds she made were shaky inhale-exhales. Not to mention he could probably hear her rabbit heartbeat.

"Maddie, are you okay?"

Words, Madeline, use your words!

"My dad." Her voice broke the same time the floodgates did. Hot tears burned her eyes, choked her. "My dad, Daniel."

"Hey—hey! Shut up!" A few rustling noises, a door clicking shut, wind in her ear, feet running up stairs, another door click, and then quiet. "Sorry about that," Daniel said, his voice taking on a new sense of urgency. "Your dad?"

"He… He's back."

Pause.

"Are you alone? D-Does your mom know you're—"

"What do you think!" Yelling wasn't helping. Yelling made everything worse. But she couldn't be quiet anymore. She couldn't be still for one more second. She yanked off her heels and threw them across the closet as hard as she could. One knocked down a box of shoes; the other pierced the plaster wall closing in on her and hung there.

"Please come over," she demand-begged. "Right now. Please. I can't be alone right now, Daniel, I-I can't—"

"I'm out the door." He wasn't kidding; Maddie heard his bedroom door slam shut behind him. "Take deep breaths, Maddie, okay? I'll be there in two minutes."

"Hurry!" She hit the end button and threw her phone at the mirror. She did not take deep breaths. She wasn't able to. It's hard to take deep breaths when you feel like you're having a heart attack.

The two minutes felt like two hours. She could hear Daniel throw open her bedroom door and call, "Maddie!"

She crawled out of the way, shot a spell at the door to unlock it, and managed, "Closet."

The door flew open and Daniel hurried in. "Maddie!" He dropped to his knees and grabbed her shoulders. "Look at me."

The blonde did as he said.

"Deep breaths, okay? With me now…" He slowly inhaled and she followed; he slowly exhaled and she followed. He repeated the process until her breathing was back to normal.

"You need water," he announced.

Maddie cast a spell to make a bottle of water appear in her hand, but she was shaking too badly to open it.

"Here." Daniel took the bottle, twisted off the cap, and brought the drink to her lips. "Sip it slowly, okay? Don't gulp."

Maddie sipped at the water until the bottle was nearly empty. Then she pushed it and Daniel's hand away to catch her breath.

"Now close your eyes and go to your calm place."

She closed her eyes.

"Tell me what you see."

"It's the beach," she said, still trying to keep her breathing normal. "It's sunset at the beach and there are flowers and a single dining table. Proxy and I are eating dinner. The waves are crashing in the ocean and the tide is just hitting our feet. It's quiet and romantic. I'm happy."

"Open your eyes."

When Maddie opened her eyes, she was surprised to find everything was alright. Her body was back to functioning normally. The room wasn't trying to swallow her up. Daniel was in front of her, waiting to see if she was okay.

She collapsed on the carpet and exhaled with relief. "Thanks."

"No problem." Daniel scootched himself back so he was against the wall. "Now, what's going on?"

Maddie sat up and repositioned herself so she was next to her ex-boyfriend. "Same as usual: he showed up out of nowhere; I'm being forced to spend time with him; he'll be gone without a warning. I have to go to dinner with him tomorrow night. I don't know how I'll survive…"

Daniel pointed at her in a way that said eureka. "Bring Diego with you!"

The witch's eyes grew twice normal size. "No way."

"But you just said your calm place was—"

"Me and Proxy having dinner alone. Not with my dad, who…" She picked a piece of invisible lint off her sweater. "Diego doesn't know about…"

"You haven't told him about your dad?"

Maddie shook her head.

"Why not?"

"What do you mean, why not?! I've never even told the Panthers! The only reason you know is because you were here the last time he showed up!"

"I know, but I just think this is something you should tell Diego about." Daniel stretched out his legs and tried to communicate his thoughts to Maddie in a way that was unlikely to set her off. "You know. Open communication and everything. Plus, if he knows, he can help."

Maddie snorted. "Proxy? Help? With my dad? Yeah, right. He's anxious on a daily basis; how could he possibly help with my… my…"

"Panic att—"

"THEY'RE NOT PANIC ATTACKS!"

Daniel raised his eyebrows and waited.

She sighed. "Fine; they're panic attacks… But Proxy wouldn't be any good with those. He's not calm or collected like you."

The captain of the Sharks snorted. "Somehow I doubt your dad thinks I'm calm or collected."

"What do you—"

"I practically ran him over a couple minutes ago. I was in such a rush to get to you, I tore through your living room and up the stairs like a madman."

Maddie's stomach lurched. "My dad's here again?!"

"What do you mean, again?" Daniel's brow furrowed. "I didn't know he left…"

"Come on." Maddie got to her feet, grabbed his hand, and pulled him up, as well. She led him down the hall, down the stairs, and into the front foyer. Sure enough, there was her father, chatting it up with her mom. Daniel's presence helped Maddie keep it together. "Dad. You're back."

Steven smiled in the pair's direction and raised one coat-covered arm. "I forgot my jacket." He motioned to the couch where he had apparently left it, as if Maddie had been paying attention to a detail as miniscule as that. "But I'm glad I stopped back in; it's nice to see you again, Daniel. I'm looking forward to catching up over dinner tomorrow night."

Maddie and Daniel's faces fell simultaneously. "What?"

Ursula stumbled up to the plate and explained, "I was telling Steven all about how you've been dating the most popular boy in school for the past two years, Maddie-Winky."

Once again, the exes were in synch: they both wore expressions of horror on their faces.

"I'm proud of you, honey." Steven bestowed upon her the most heart-warming smile he'd given her since before the divorce. "My little girl, dating the most popular boy in school. And for two years! That's a big commitment. You should be proud."

The exes didn't say a word; they weren't capable of speaking.

Luckily, they didn't have to; Steven was already headed for the door. He waved over his shoulder and called, "I'll see you both tomorrow night at six."

And he was gone.

The moment the door clicked shut, Maddie and Daniel turned to Ursula, mouths hanging open, silently demanding an explanation.

She offered up a sheepish shrug. "Surprise?"

A/N: I don't think this pairing is very popular in the fandom, so I don't know how many people will be interested in reading this story. Maybe I'd hope people would give it a chance just because they like my other stories, but I know a lot of you hate Daniel, soooo maybe not. I'm not into writing him out of character anymore, so don't expect anymore stories like that from me. This change was a really quick one that just sort of happened recently. Maybe I'll change my mind about it at some point, but at the moment, I'm over the jokes (a lot of which I'm aware I started).

That being said, I do hope some people will read this story and enjoy it. It'll be a multichap and I don't have everything completely mapped out but I have an idea of where I want things to go. I was so excited thinking about it yesterday and I hope I can make it at least somewhat as beautiful as what I envisioned.

Happy New Year, everyone. :)