Disclaimer: L4D 1 + 2 belong to Valve, these guys are mine though

…

"Why do we have to go again?" Hank asked Danny, watching as the smoker tried to clean himself up a bit.

"Because it's my birthday and she's my mom. I'm sure if I ask nicely she can send him off to go do something." He was referring to his father. The man had been quite cruel to Danny as he was growing up.

"Why don't you just tell her fully about what he used to do? Then you'd never have to see him."

"I don't… I just don't want mom to have to be alone out here. There aren't a lot of survivors anymore."

"If you say so," Hank sighed. "So, ready to go?"

The smoker grabbed his notepad and pens, before nodding. As the two headed out Danny smiled over his tongue down at his notepad, thinking about when he was retaught how to write.

…

The smoker hesitantly explored the area. Now that he was finally out of the labs he thought it would at least be good to learn the area he would be living in. As he wandered, he soon came to a boarded-up safe house. Knowing that meant people he was about to quickly leave, though he curiously watched when the two survivors came out to check things.

There was… something about them. He couldn't put his finger on it which annoyed him, with the infection making his brain foggy. Watching them from what he figured was a safe distance, he tried his hardest to try and think why they seemed so familiar.

He started thinking of the one female scientist who had taken care of him in the labs: how she would always remind him about things he had told her before he had turned, and how she told him about his own life stories to help him keep some of his memories. While he was trying to think, he wandered closer trying to get a better look at the two. The smoker was snapped out of his blurry thoughts when he suddenly heard a voice.

"Dammit, it's one of those ugly-ass infected." The smoker quickly started backing up as he watched the man grab a gun. He hadn't meant to go right up to the house while trying to think.

"Tom, wait," the woman said, heading closer to the retreating smoker. "You look kinda like… my little Danny..." The smoker's single yellow eye quickly darted to her when he heard his name. He knew it was his name. It was what the female scientist had called him repeatedly whenever she was around him. It had to be his name.

With the smoker's face looking right at her, the woman got a good look at him, even though his skin was a pale green, and had boils covering half of his face. From the side of his face that could be seen, she was certain now. He wasn't backing away anymore so she took a few steps closer. "…Danny? Danny is that you sweetheart?"

He liked the sound of her voice. It made him feel less nervous and was very familiar. He had a thought flash in his foggy mind of the same woman reading to him. He was snapped out of the memory? When he was suddenly aware she was cupping the boil free side of his face, before pulling him into a hug.

"Mandy! Don't get close to it like that!" Tom called from behind.

Mandy ignored him while pulling back from the hug to look at Danny's face again. "Sweetie, I'm so glad you're alive, I just wish…This, hadn't happened to you." She stroked his cheek with her thumb. "I'd ask how you've been doing, but I don't think you'd be able to talk with that..." she gestured to the long tongue hanging out of his mouth. He looked down, curling the tongue up slightly to look at it. Dropping it back down he shook his head, he was able to talk to other infected around the tongue, but forming regular words around it would be too difficult.

Mandy thought for a bit before taking her son's hand and pulling him towards the door, she had an idea. "You can't Seriously be bringing a smoker into the safe-house!"

"He's our son, Tom, plus he's not reacting hostilely." Mandy got Danny to sit down at the table in the safe-house, put some paper down, and handed over a pencil. "Maybe you can still write?" The smoker tried to grab the pencil but only managed to drop it. Danny gave a frustrated sigh through his nose. "Well," Mandy picked it back up. "It'll be like when you were younger and trying to first learn. Here, try to hold it like this." She demonstrated by holding it in a full fist, rather than with just the normal three fingers. Danny nodded and reached again for the pencil, he struggled at first but managed to keep from dropping it. "Good job, Danny. Before trying to write right away let's do some practice to just draw on the paper, to get you used to just that for now."

…

"Danny? Hey, Danny hellooooo?"

Blinking, Danny was snapped out of his memory. "Huh? S-Sorry." The smoker smiled sheepishly over his tongue.

Hank laughed a little and gave his boyfriend a playful nudge. "It's alright, just glad you've rejoined us on earth again." Danny tugged the hood on Hank's hoodie further down over his face, which only made the hunter laugh a little more. "C'mon, space cadet. I'm sure your mom's waiting." Hank gripped one of Danny's hands lacing their fingers as they headed the rest of the way to the safe-house.

Once they were there Danny's mother pulled him into a hug before he was even able to scribble a messy 'Hi Mom' on the notepad. "My sweet boy is 20. Or I should rather say my sweet young man is 20." Once she let go she gave a quick but warm hug to Hank as well. "It's good to see you too, Hank." She then started heading back inside. "C'mon in, I've been making something special for Danny's birthday. It took a while to find all the stuff and make sure nothing was expired."

Hank sniffed around a little and seeming to really like the smell rushed inside, followed quickly by Danny.