I know I shouldn't be starting a new story, because I've got Thirst and Doppelganger and like a bajillion assignments to do, but meh. Now, I know this chapter seems a lot like a one-shot, but it's not, I swear.
Tom leapt back as Dan took a swing at him with his right arm. While the blonde was still recovering, Tom managed to shove him back a few steps, an action that filled him with pride. That was tangible proof that he was getting stronger – only a week ago, he would have done the exact same thing and Dan wouldn't have budged.
Tom's self-pride ended up being his downfall. By the way Dan was fighting, he'd been thinking about Zoe before training – his fighting was more aggressive, his blue eyes slightly wild. While Tom was bathing in his small victory, Dan shoved him backwards so that he landed on his back.
"That was good." Dan said, helping him up and then grabbing his drink bottle.
"Good?" Tom asked. "I got pummelled. Again."
From their spot against the wall, Keri and Aneisha snickered, hiding it behind their hands.
"You'll get better." Dan told him, flopping into a chair. "It just takes time."
"Right." Tom said sarcastically, massaging a knot out of his shoulder while Aneisha glanced over at Dan curiously.
"Are you okay, Dan?" Aneisha asked.
"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" Dan asked, throwing his drink bottle up in the air and catching it easily.
"Zoe." Aneisha said quietly.
Immediately, it was as if Dan had had a complete personality switch. He went from being Dan, the carefree teenage boy, to being Daniel, the young man who'd lost his first love. His jaw tightened and Aneisha could see pain behind his blue eyes and he may have even shed a tear.
Then, finally, he said, "I don't care about what Zoe thinks of me anymore."
Then Keri piped up; "That's a lie and you and I both know it."
"You know what else I know?" Dan asked. He leaned forward towards the girls, blue eyes glinting. "I – am not – talking to you – about her."
"And that proves you still care." Aneisha said. Dan glanced over at Aneisha, his eyes glinting dangerously. "How the hell does that prove anything?"
"If you really didn't care about Zoe anymore, you'd have no issues talking to Keri about her." Aneisha said. Dan clenched his jaw and looked away. He didn't need other people telling him that he still loved Zoe and that he missed her like she'd taken part of him with her when she left. He already knew that.
Suddenly Tom got up and started to walk out the door.
"Where are you going?" Aneisha asked.
"Hot date?" Keri asked, grinning.
"Something like that." Tom muttered, walking out.
An hour later, Dan was still sitting in the training room, although Keri and Aneisha had left ages ago, not that long after Tom. He was drowning in his own sorrow, mourning the love he'd lost, for the love that could have been.
Dan blinked away tears when he heard footsteps, his hands gripping his chair tightly. "Neish, if you're here to bug me about Zoe some more, I really don't –"
Dan broke off when he looked up, his train of thought crashing into the inside of his skull. His eyes quickly grazed over the slim auburn-haired girl standing in the doorway, wearing blue skinny jeans, a white top and white flip-flops. Her auburn hair was worn loose and it settled on her shoulders, framing a delicate face with big green eyes and a soft mouth.
"Zoe." Dan breathed, causing a sad smile to grace the girl's mouth. She didn't say anything, she just stood there, watching him for a long time. He looked older than she remembered – there was a maturity in his blue eyes that hadn't been there before.
"Dan." Zoe breathed suddenly, her eyes filling with tears and it was like something snapped in both of them. Dan stood and Zoe ran to him, her body colliding with his as Dan wrapped his arms tightly around her. Zoe found that he'd grown taller too – he was now a whole head taller than her. Somehow, this made the threat of her tears more prominent and she squeezed her eyes shut in an effort to keep them back.
"Hey, hey." Dan whispered against her hair. "Shh, Zo. It's alright. You're back."
She hadn't even realised she was crying.
"I shouldn't have left, though." Zoe whimpered, burying her face in his shirt.
"Hey." Dan said softly, taking her face in his hands and making her look up at him, so his ocean-blue eyes bore into her own. Zoe allowed herself to get lost in his eyes and then she summed up the courage to do something she'd always wanted to. She reached up and pressed her mouth against his, resting her hand on his neck. Dan was surprised, but he placed his hands on her hips and drew her closer, crushing his mouth against her's.
Somehow, they ended up in the main part of HQ, where Dan slid his hands down Zoe's sides until they reached her thighs and then he swung her up on top of the circular table. Zoe grinned, her mouth finding Dan's again in a passionate kiss. When Dan moved his mouth down to her throat, Zoe placed her hand on his chest and pushed gently.
"Dan, no. I'm not doing this with you here right now." Zoe told him. Dan sighed, but he smiled at her as she hopped off the table and stood beside him, leaning on the table. Dan took her hand, lacing his fingers through hers. Zoe smiled and looked down at the tabletop, noticing a black-and-white photo of three teens who looked quite similar to Tom, Aneisha and the blonde standing beside her.
Dan picked up the photo and pointed to each teen as he said their name. "Jack Watkins, Emily Cartwright and Billy Backshaw. The original M. team."
Zoe pursed her lips and took the photo from him, studying it thoughtfully. "I wonder . . ."
"Not that look." Dan said.
"What look?"
"The look that says 'There's something mysterious here and I'm going to find out what it is'." Dan told her. "Zo, seriously, just leave it. It's just a coincidence that I look like him."
"Yeah, but Dan, you could be the same person reincarnated, for all we know. Aren't you the least bit curious as to why?"
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I want to know." Dan replied.
"Well I want to know." Zoe told him. Dan smiled down at her, reaching out and taking her hand, squeezing her fingers tightly, just as the lift doors opened and Keri, Aneisha and Tom walked out.
"Oh my God he smiles!" Keri shouted with a grin. Then, upon noticing the reason for Dan's smile, which was so rare these days, her grin faded and she said, "Oh – my – God."
"ZOE!" Aneisha shouted, barrelling towards the auburn-haired girl. Zoe laughed as Aneisha tackled her in a hug. When Aneisha released her, Tom stepped forward and hugged Zoe, which she found surprising. When she was released again, she turned to her sister. Keri had heard so much, not from Dan, but from Aneisha and Tom and Frank, about this mysterious Zoe, this girl who'd been trained by SKUL, who Dan had fallen in love with and who had broken his heart when she left. The 'breaking Dan's heart' had been emphasised a lot.
"I'm Zoe." Zoe said quietly, slightly unsure of how to act around Keri.
"I know." Keri said, her blue eyes cautious.
Zoe's eyebrows rose as Dan watched the two sisters cautiously. Suddenly the tension in the air was so thick, Dan could have grabbed his pocket knife and cut it with it.
"What else do you know?"
"That for a while you thought you were Mastermind's daughter. That you spent most of your life at SKUL and you hated it. That you and Dan fell in love last year. That you left and broke his heart." Keri said, crossing her arms over her chest. Zoe looked taken aback and immediately, Keri felt guilty. This was her sister and she was being horrible to her, just because of things she's been told about her. How did that make Keri any better than Preston, who liked to say she was stupid, just because she was pretty?
Keri sighed. "I'm sorry. It's just . . . Dan's my friend and I've spent the past couple of months being upset and withdrawn because you left him to go find our sisters."
Now it was Zoe's turn to look guilty. "That's not entirely true."
"So you weren't looking for your sisters?" Dan asked.
"No, I was." Zoe said, turning to him. "But that's not the reason I left. I left to protect you, Dan."
"I don't need protecting." Dan said.
"But I do." Zoe said. "I hate to admit it, but I do need protecting. And you can't help protecting me, Dan, and at Sternum, that could have gotten you killed. So I left to protect you from me."
"So why are you back then?" Keri asked.
"One, you're the last of my sisters I haven't met yet." Zoe told Keri with a smile. Then she turned to Dan and her expression sobered. "The other reason is that it was killing me, Dan, to stay away from you. Every time you called and I didn't pick up, I wanted to. So badly you wouldn't believe it. And Dan, I know I don't deserve your forgiveness. I don't deserve your love. But I love you. Even if you tell me to go – and if you do, I will. You'll never see me again, I promise. Even if you tell me to go, you need to know that because I know you felt the same way once."
Suddenly, Zoe didn't care that they were surrounded by people and that she probably should have waited until they were alone to tell him all this, but she didn't care. She needed him to know this.
All through her confession, Dan had been watching her with an astonished expression. That expression didn't change in the slightest as Zoe stood beside Keri, her green eyes glued to his face.
"Say something." Zoe whispered.
Without a word, Dan walked around the table to Zoe, some unknown emotion swirling in his blue eyes.
Then he took her face in his hands and pressed his mouth against hers.
This kiss was different to the one they shared before – it wasn't completely driven by passion. This kiss was driven by love and tenderness – the kind of epic kiss they showed at the end of a romance movie. As it was, Tom and Aneisha and Keri were whooping, but Dan and Zoe barely heard them – they were too wrapped up in each other. Zoe was revelling in the fact that this wasn't in the heat of the moment and he was still kissing her with everything he had, with every ounce of love he had in his body.
Finally, reality set in in the form of the lack of oxygen. Both gasping, Dan and Zoe separated – barely. Dan's rested his forehead against Zoe's as she looked up at him, her green eyes shining.
"Zoe, I don't want you to go anywhere. It's been hell without you because I love you."
Zoe smiled up at him, her eyes shining with happiness. She felt like she was on cloud nine, her heart soaring high above them. Even after everything she'd done to him, he still wanted her. Even after everything she'd done, he still loved her.
"Well, if he forgives you . . . I'm willing to give you a chance." Keri said, from behind them. Hearing those words leave her sister's mouth made Zoe feel as if she could burst with happiness. Practically sobbing with happiness, she pulled Keri, Tom, Aneisha and Dan into a group hug as the hole in her heart that had been there since she left filled again. She'd been all over the globe, but this was where she belonged. With Dan, with her friends, with MI9.
With her real family.