Oneshot requested on my tumblr. This was supposed to be a 500 word drabble. :) It maybe, kinda, sorta got away from me.
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Bees
A Danny Phantom Fanfic by Cori
Being the son of next-generation scientists, Danny had seen many things most people wouldn't believe. After the accident when he was fourteen, Danny had seen things nobody - living or dead - would believe could happen. After seven years of ghosts, government agents, time traveling, and attempted world-domination… Danny would have sworn he'd seen everything.
This, though, was new. And Danny wasn't sure if he should be chuckling in delight or gripping the edge of his seat in terror.
Vlad Masters - the Vlad Masters, the great and powerful and rich - was shifting nervously in his chair. "Daniel…" the man trailed off, ending his fourth attempt at starting whatever this conversation was going to be.
Danny decided to solve his mental dilemma by slumping in his chair and looking put-upon. The slumping was somewhat mitigated by the handcuffs holding him in place. "I have class, Vlad," he said. "Spit it out or let me go."
The man straightened his shoulders and sat up a little more. Danny wondered if Vlad was trying to undo Danny's slouch by vicariously sitting ramrod straight. "I know our relationship has been rocky-"
A snort from Danny brought that sentence to a halt. "You tried to kill my dad. You tried to enslave my sister. You tried to steal my mother. Not to mention the numerous times you attacked me and my friends. And cloned me, let's not forget that one. 'Rocky' is perhaps an understatement."
Vlad's smile was cold. Red swirled in his eyes. "Be that as it may," the man snapped, "we have a conversation that needs happening."
Danny wiggled his arm, allowing the glowing chains attached to the handcuffs to jingle and clang. "Great start."
"I have been trying to get a hold of you for months, Daniel. If I had to resort to kidnapping, it's hardly my fault." Vlad was practically vibrating in anger.
Danny sighed and slouched a bit more. Seven years of ghost hunting had honed Danny's skills, but he knew Vlad probably still had him in experience. Besides, Vlad seemed extra-touchy today. The normally very-collected man was switching from nervous to furious at the smallest provocation. Danny decided to hold off on the torment for a few minutes. "Fine," he said with a shrug. "I've been sitting here for almost ten minutes and you haven't said two words to me. Excuse me for not realizing there was a 'conversation that needs happening'." He couldn't quite help the sarcastic repeat of the man's words.
The older hybrid hesitated. "Yes…" he trailed off again.
After a full thirty seconds of silence, Danny started to drum his fingers on the arm of the chair. "I really, honestly do have class. And, as much as I love sitting here and… not talking to you… I can't miss class again."
Vlad squared his shoulders, raised his chin, and seemed to steel himself for whatever it was he needed to say. Then, in tight, pointed words, he said, "I hear you and Samantha are something of an item."
Danny stared at him. "What?"
"You and Samantha Manson," he repeated.
"We've been going out for five years," Danny said, incredulous. "You only just now noticed?"
Vlad scowled at him, losing some of the rigidity by crossing his arms over his chest. "I noticed, Daniel," he said caustically. "Only, lately, I have noticed that the 'going out' is becoming somewhat more permanent."
Danny's insides froze at that. "What?" This time, the word come out terse. "Why should that matter to you?"
In fact, Vlad was quite right. Their relationship was becoming 'somewhat more permanent'. Danny had bought an engagement ring a few months ago - black gold, with little roses and ghosts carved into it. He hadn't found the right time to try to con Sam into marrying him, but he figured he'd come up with something. Eventually.
How Vlad knew that - and why Vlad cared - were two questions Danny very much wanted answered.
"It doesn't," Vlad said flatly. "Marry whomever you'd like. However…" The nervousness returned.
"However what?" Danny was sick and tired of the odd back-and-forth. "Spit it out, old man."
As predicted, the 'old man' comment made Vlad scowl. "This is not a conversation I ever wanted to find myself having," Vlad said, pushing his hands down on his desk and standing up - as if looming over Danny somehow made the situation more appetizing to him. "However, there isn't anyone else who feels like standing up and saying what needs to be said."
Danny ticked an eyebrow up. Then waited. Then said, "And…?"
Vlad's fingers curled into fists on his desk, wrinkling a few of the papers. He didn't look angry. The strange nervousness was back. "You were heavily dosed with radiation when you were fourteen."
The other eyebrow ticked upwards. "Duh. And…?"
Vlad slowly sank into his chair. "And I know you, Daniel. Perhaps not as well as I would have hoped, but I do know you."
Danny was absolutely lost. What in the world was Vlad trying to spit out with this meandering, pointless conversation? So he took a stab in the dark - really, the only logical explanation for Vlad's behavior and disjointed sentences. "You've got a mental problem?"
"I do not have a mental problem!" Vlad seethed for a few seconds before visibly calming himself by straightening the piles on his desk and lining up a few pens and pencils.
"I don't understand what you're getting at," Danny said, exasperated, once it seemed as though Vlad had calmed down enough that he wasn't going to leap across the table and strangle Danny. "You're just saying random crap."
Muttering under his breath, Vlad didn't look up at him. Taking a deep breath, Vlad let it out slowly, then steepled his fingers. The epitome of calm and collected - finally looking like Vlad Masters again - the man spoke. "If you'd take a few seconds to think it through, all my comments are related."
"Uh-huh." Danny nodded, hoping to move the conversation along.
"You plan on making your relationship with Samantha permanent." Vlad's eyebrows wrinkled as he drew them together on his forehead. "You're the loving, family sort. I expect you wish to…" Vlad hesitated again, then kept going, "have children at some point." Little bits of red drifted into the man's pale skin.
Danny waited for the other shoe to drop. But, as much as he searched his head, he couldn't even find the shoe. "If this is some sort of safe-sex conversation, you're a few years too late." Danny was too confused and exasperated to worry about being embarrassed.
"You were heavily dosed-"
"I know!" Danny sat up in his chair, pulling the chain on the handcuff as far as it would go. "You already said that." He waved his hand in a little circle. "You're talking in circles, Vlad. I lost interest a few orbits ago. Wrap it up."
Vlad looked horribly uncomfortable. The little bits of red were spreading. "You've taken enough biology courses to understand what happens to a biological organism when it is irradiated. You were exposed to a high dosage when you were fourteen, and smaller doses every time you change to your ghost form."
Danny was too fascinated by Vlad's face to really think through what Vlad was saying. Was Vlad blushing? Was this what Vlad looked like when he was embarrassed by something? "Uh… sure," Danny hedged.
Vlad sighed, and apparently decided to just be blunt. "You're infertile. You can't ever have kids."
It took two blinks for Danny to process what those words meant. "How could you know that?" Danny asked, his mind suddenly jumping to the various ways that Vlad could possibly know that factoid - all of them illegal. Anger bubbled up from his gut. The world took on a greenish tint as ectoplasm swirled in his eyes. "What did you do to me?"
Vlad held up a hand. "Nothing. I know that you've been exposed to much more radiation than me-"
"Let me go."
"Daniel-"
The world buzzed. Danny could hear it in his ears - a droning, insect-like sound. "Let. Me. Go."
There was a click and the glow of the cuffs vanished. A heartbeat later the handcuffs clattered to the ground. "Listen-"
"Don't touch me," Danny hissed. "Don't touch any part of me." There were too many memories of Vlad's 'experimenting' in his head already - he didn't need another. He turned and stalked past the chair.
"I didn't touch you." Vlad's voice barely broke through the buzzing. "I haven't tested you."
Danny hesitated with his hand on the doorknob. Vlad was a lying, manipulative bastard, but Danny had the distinct feeling Vlad was telling the truth this time. "What, then?" he said. He didn't turn around to look at Vlad, instead choosing to stare at the grain pattern in the door.
"I've tested myself a number of times."
"You don't deserve kids of your own anyways." It was sort of a low blow, but Danny's head was still full of bees.
"Daniel…"
"Why did you tell me this?" Danny's fingers tightened on the doorknob. His mind was racing forwards to that ring in his drawer at home. To the half-dreams he sometimes had, of growing old with Sam and playing with kids and being happy.
Vlad's voice sounded - somehow - sympathetic. "I am sorry, Daniel. But you needed to understand-"
The door slammed shut behind him, cutting off whatever else the old man was going to say. Danny stood in the hallway, fuming. He was a little too young to really be thinking about having kids and a family and such things. But still - a part of him hurt, deep inside, to think that it wouldn't ever be a possibility. That was his future he'd sometimes dreamed of. Whenever he pictured a life with Sam, it was usually with them having kids.
And to think that he'd lost it before he was even old enough to care…
The bees were too loud again. Danny vanished in a flash of light, headed towards the sun.
Birds
There were several places in life Danny refused to go. Vlad's mansion had gone at the top of the list three years ago when the man kidnapped him and had that forced conversation about the fact that Danny was sterile. That chat had been the final straw in a long list of grievances - Vlad's phone number had gone on the 'do not answer' list, his emails and texts were automatically junked, and he even managed to con his parents into building a Vlad-only ghost shield for his apartment.
Danny was extremely pleased with the fact that he hadn't spoken to, communicated with, or even seen Vlad Masters in nearly three years. It was an accomplishment he had been hoping to extend.
Now, though, Danny found himself standing outside Vlad's house. It had a looming, creepy quality, like mansions tended to do in horror movies. The immaculate lawn and perfectly manicured landscape added to the slightly unreal atmosphere. Danny thumbed the letter he'd gotten in the mail, made a choice, and then stalked forwards to push the button on the gate.
"Can I help you?" Vlad's voice was mechanical and electric.
"You sent me a letter," Danny replied, arching an eyebrow at the fact that it was no longer his mother's voice greeting visitors. What was the man playing at? "You wanted to see me."
There was a long silence, then a, "Do come in."
Most visitors had to wait for the slow-moving gates to trundle out of the way; a carefully calculated maneuver to increase the effect of the pristine mansion. Danny was not most visitors. He gave up on the gates before they'd moved even a few inches and just walked through them.
Vlad was standing at the door. The man looked considerably older than he had three years ago. Lines criss-crossed his face and dark bags hung under his eyes.
Danny stopped at the bottom of the front steps. It was slightly too far from Vlad to hold a decent conversation, but it was as close as he wanted to get to the manipulative bastard. "What do you want?"
"Come in." Vlad took a step back, holding out the door.
Danny didn't move. He crossed his arms over his chest. "While it was nice of you to invite me instead of kidnap me, I think I'll stay out here." His mouth twisted into a grimacing smile. "What do you want?"
Vlad frowned. "We have a lot to catch up on-"
"We're not friends," Danny cut in. "We're not companions, allies, or even distant acquaintances. I hate you. If you have something to say, it's gonna happen out here."
There was a long beat of silence before Vlad nodded and stepped out of the house, closing the door behind him. "Very well," he said. "Although hate is a strong-"
"I'm not getting into that," Danny interrupted with a slice of his hand. "It's not why I'm here. Say your piece so I can leave and never see you again."
Vlad moved forwards, stopping on the top step and standing in the bright afternoon sunshine. "Of course, of course," Vlad said, crossing his arms over his chest with a smirk. Teeth glittered in his crocodile smile. "Right to the point, then."
Staring up at Vlad, Danny was stunned to see that the older hybrid looked… fragile, almost. The domineering, manipulative aura was still there, the dangerous edge to his personality was present, but there was a sallowness to his skin that made Danny hesitate. Bones poked out of his face a little too strongly. The man's eyes looked a little too sunken.
Danny had to squash the instinctive, Are you okay? that wanted to cross his lips.
"You and Samantha are looking into adopting a child."
Danny refused to be impressed - or surprised - that Vlad knew something about it. They'd been getting information on the topic for several months and it wasn't a secret. Why Vlad cared enough to talk to Danny about it was a different question. Vlad wasn't going to try to talk Danny out of having a family… was he? "So?"
After Vlad's little revelation three years ago, Danny had gotten a fertility test. The knowledge that Vlad had been correct… Danny hadn't taken it extremely well. For months following that news, his nightmares had featured little children.
Sam, however, had taken the news in stride. She'd just commented that she'd really preferred to adopt anyways, patted him on the head, and that was that.
"I…" Vlad hesitated, the squared his shoulders and plowed onwards. "I have no wish to meddle in your life," Danny arched a disbelieving eyebrow at that, "but I feel the need to let you know there are… other options."
"Other options," Danny repeated. "Like what? Kidnapping? Cloning? 'Accidents' that aren't really one?"
Vlad scowled. "One would think you'd move on eventually."
"Attempted murder and illegal cloning labs don't fall into the category of 'forgive and forget'."
Honestly, Danny had moved on. He'd accepted what had happened a decade ago, determined that it was not something worth brooding on, and rarely thought about those disastrous few years anymore. But he wasn't about to clue Vlad in. Vlad could hold onto whatever fragment of guilt he had that Danny was trapped into a morass of worries about the past.
"Perhaps," Vlad said. "Regardless, I have another option available that fits into your moral sensibilities."
"Another option for adopting?" Danny said. Sam had already picked out the agency she wanted to go through, what could Vlad offer-
"Another option for having a child."
Danny's brows knitted. "I don't understand."
Vlad looked almost uncomfortable. "I did a lot of genetic testing on you ten years ago. I still have several… samples."
"Samples." His voice was dull and empty. "You kept… part of me." Nobody on the planet made Danny so quick to anger as Vlad Masters. The man knew how to push all his buttons in just the right order. But in this case, Danny's mind was torn between being furious at Vlad and not quite understanding what was going on. "Why?"
Vlad's lips thinned. "That is not the point-"
"It is the point," Danny interrupted. The growing anger in his chest made his voice crack slightly. "You kept part of me!"
"I-"
"What part? How much?"
Red crept into Vlad's eyes. "If you would stop interrupting me, I would be able to explain."
"Please do," Danny shot back. Green nibbled at the corners of his vision, but Danny fought it back. He was twenty-four, for Christ's sake; he refused to allow Vlad to goad him into reactions anymore. He kept his feet firmly planted at the base of the stairs.
"The cloning process required the use of a certain type of cell known as a stem cell. I got them from your skin," Vlad added, his voice conversational and light despite the topic. "Those stem cells were eventually used to create viable germ cells."
"I'm not a biologist," Danny said when Vlad seemed want confirmation that Danny was following along. "What are germ cells?"
"In males, germ cells are known as sperm."
"You have…" Danny trailed off, stunned. "You used…"
Vlad waved his hand. "Germ cells have only half the genetic material. In the early cloning process, I needed to use your entire genome. However, I had planned-" he stopped.
Danny's chest felt tight. "You had… planned," Danny repeated. "You were going to continue your experiments on me."
Vlad's mouth opened, then shut. "No," the man said, but the denial sounded fake.
"That's why you kept your samples." Fury made Danny's voice clipped. "You were going to try your hand at cloning again."
"No," Vlad repeated. "Believe it or not, I've moved on-"
"Then why did you still have it?" Danny's voice was raised - nearly a shout. It took effort to rein in his temper so his next sentence was more controlled. "You are going to destroy whatever samples you may have of me. And anyone else."
"Daniel-"
Danny twisted on his heel. "I'm not talking to you anymore."
"Daniel-"
"Destroy them."
Danny was halfway down the driveway before a hand closed on his arm and jerked him back around. Green flared in his fist as he spun, fist raised to land a solid punch to Vlad's face. Despite Vlad's sick appearance, the older hybrid easily caught the punch, twisted it around, and Danny ended up on the ground. "Listen for a second, you foolish child," Vlad spat.
"I'm not a-"
"You're acting like one," Vlad hissed. "Control that temper of yours and listen."
Danny glared at at him, shifting his body into a crouch. "You have-"
"Yes. I still have samples of you. In the grand scheme of life, it's yet another thing you and your pretty little family can happily hate me for later." Vlad's eyes burned red.
The green didn't fade from his eyes, but Danny forcibly closed his mouth and waited.
Vlad straightened, pulling a wrinkle out of his suit jacket and smoothing his hair before speaking. "The sample I still have is viable sperm cells."
When nothing more seemed to be coming, Danny ground out a short, "And?"
"Daniel, you have had basic biology," Vlad said blandly. "What is the purpose of sperm cells?"
"To have…" Danny trailed off as Vlad's comment about adopting earlier curled through his brain. "Kids."
Suddenly he realized what this convoluted conversation was about. The anger popped like a balloon, falling to a low simmer in the back of his mind. He could have kids. His own kids. Biologically his, rather than adopted.
Vlad's lips thinned. "I have another option for you, if that's something you would be interested in."
"I-"
"At the end of the month, I will destroy all the samples I still have," Vlad said, his voice hard and undeterred. "You have until then to let me know if you want something else done with them." With that, Vlad twisted on his heel and stalked back up the drive. The door slammed shut behind him, leaving Danny alone in the yard.
Snails
Danny wanted nothing from Vlad Masters. He wanted even less to come from those badly-planned 'cloning' experiments. He had decided years ago that he would go to his grave without asking the bastard for even five dollars.
His fingers drummed absently on the table during breakfast, his eyes focused on the calendar. Every night before Sam went to bed, she carefully crossed another day off. Twenty-nine X's dotted the calendar. Today was the last one before she flipped to a new page.
Today was the last day Danny had to chose whether or not to accept Vlad's offer.
Warm fingers covered his to stop the drumming. Danny tore his eyes off the calendar to stare down at the hand. The fingernails were painted lilac with little green stars. A gold ring graced one of the slim fingers.
"You're driving me nuts," Sam said. She was leaning back in her chair, feet on the table, paging through the newspaper. "You going to tell me what's wrong?"
"Vlad," Danny admitted.
Sam frowned, set down the newspaper, and put her feet on the ground. "Why did you go see him, anyways? You've been nothing but broody since you got back."
Danny gave a little half-shrug. "I wanted to see what he had to say."
"If you're still waiting for an apology…"
Danny snorted. "No. I gave up on that." His eyes trailed back over to the calendar.
Fingers curled into his hair. A warm body pressed against his back. Danny tipped his head back to stare at Sam, never having noticed her get out of her chair. "Speak, boy," she said, her fingers gently massaging his scalp. "I'm done having a husband that mopes around."
Danny let out a short breath. "Remember Vlad's cloning thing?"
"Remember?" Sam said archly. "How could I forget?"
"Vlad kept some."
The fingers stilled for a moment, then went back to their slow movements. "Some…?"
"Genetic material." Danny's voice was flat and dull. His arms crept across his chest.
Sam's fingers vanished. "What?" she breathed. "I thought… but we… he…"
"He says he wasn't going to use it," Danny said, not bothering to add that he didn't believe Vlad.
"Then why'd he keep it?" Anger and disgust dripped from Sam's voice. "Did you make him get rid of it?"
"He's going to destroy it today."
A beat of silence. "Today? Why not three weeks ago when you went to talk to him?" When Danny didn't answer right away, Sam moved around the chair and peered at his face. "Danny?"
Danny stared at her for a beat. "He's got viable sperm cells."
Sam's forehead wrinkled. "What does that have to do with anything? He needs to-"
"Sam, we could have kids. Our kids."
Her lips pressed together. "We can adopt a child, Danny. And he or she wouldn't be any less ours…"
"But I wanted to have kids," Danny said, slumping down in his chair a little and picking at his fingers. "My kids." He never told Sam about the nightmares he'd had after finding out he was infertile. "And now… there's a chance."
"With Vlad," Sam said. There was a strange twist to her voice that made Danny look up at her. She looked incredulous. "You're thinking about trusting Vlad."
"No. It's my genetic material."
Sam shook her head. "But there's no telling what Vlad did to it, Danny. Or if it's even yours."
Danny's gaze dropped back down to his fingers. That was true. And with Danny's unique genetic code, it would be impossible to send off to be tested without revealing his secret to the world. Using it would require trusting that it was exactly what the man said it would be.
"It's a life you're talking about. A baby. Are you really willing to bet a baby's life and welfare on Vlad's promises?"
No, Danny didn't. He wouldn't even entrust a cockroach's life to Vlad's slimy hands.
"And there's no telling what sorts of things Vlad would make you promise just to get it."
Danny's eyes closed, feeling his stomach drop.
"Besides, isn't this all a bit opportune? You start looking into adopting a child and Vlad suddenly remembers he has some of your genetic material locked up in a safe? And then he puts a time limit on your choice."
Those were all good points too. Danny rubbed at his face, feeling slightly sick.
"Come on, Danny. This screams plot. Vlad is manipulative and evil. There's no way you can trust him with this."
"Yeah," Danny said softly. His eyes opened. He stared at the calendar with it's twenty-nine little X's. It was a little disturbing how quickly she had come up with points to rattle off - and how, in three weeks, Danny hadn't thought of any of them. "You're right."
"Of course I am." Sam's fingers worked their way back into his hair, scratching at his scalp. After a few seconds, the hands left to settle onto his shoulders, then slide down his chest into a hug. Her cheek pressed into his ear. "It'll be okay to adopt a kid, Danny. You'll love him or her just as much."
Danny turned his gaze on her and forced a little smile onto his face. "I know."
Her eyes glittered. "We have an appointment with the placement agent next week. Try to forget about Vlad and his sticky promises until then."
"Okay," he said as she kissed him gently on the cheek.
"I've gotta go to work," she said. "Don't sit around and brood over this all day."
Danny made his smile bigger as he got to his feet and wrapped her up in a proper hug, trying to ignore the twinge in his heart and the queasy feeling yanking at his stomach. "I never brood," he said. "I ponder."
Sam laughed as she pushed away from him. "Of course you do, Danny." She snagged her lunch off the counter and her keys from the hook. "Love you."
"Love you too," Danny said as the door clicked shut. His gaze turned back to the calendar.
Four hours later, he was standing on Vlad's front step. His toe tapped and his arms crossed as he waited for Vlad to answer the door. His heart beat loudly in his ears. Being here was a bad choice. But Danny's brain simply wouldn't allow him another option. It picked and poked and demanded to be here.
When the older hybrid pulled the door open, they stared at each other in silence. Without a word, Vlad stepped back, heading down the hallway.
Danny followed. "I don't trust you," he said at one point.
"Probably smart," Vlad commented. The man shot him a look over his shoulder. "Smarter than your father in that regard, I suppose."
Danny's fingers tightened into fists. "Don't bring up my dad."
Vlad made a dismissive gesture. "I'm surprised Samantha agreed to this."
"Yeah," Danny muttered. He wanted to put his hands into his pockets, but didn't dare around Vlad. Being free and allowed to move was the safest option.
Vlad stopped. "Samantha did agree to this…?" He turned to stare at Danny. In the light of the hallway, Vlad's face looked skeletal and gray. Darkness ran around his eyes in this smudges.
"I'm not here to talk," Danny said tersely. "Just… give me your stupid samples and I'll be gone."
Vlad's eyes narrowed slightly. "Fine," the man said, then turned and kept walking. "Although I don't see you as the type that would go behind your wife's back."
"It's mine," Danny shot back defensively. "And I'm going to make sure it's destroyed."
He saw the muscles tense in Vlad's back. "So you are going to destroy it."
"I can't trust you," Danny said. "And I can't trust anything you give me."
It was impossible to read Vlad's thoughts from the back. "Probably smart," the man said gently, an eerie repeat of a minute earlier.
Danny stalked along in silence. He could feel emotions bubbling around in his stomach, demanding to be freed. What was it that Jazz always said was the best way to get your thoughts across - I statements? "I hate that you kept this," he said. His voice was dark and twisted, echoing oddly in the huge hallway. "I hate that you even gave me this option. I was happy, Vlad. I was going to adopt some kid and have a wonderful life."
Vlad flinched, ever so slightly.
"Having my own kids wasn't even an option," Danny said, trying to make his voice dig into the space between Vlad's shoulder blades. "I hate that I have to be here. I hate that I have to hold onto my chance to have children of my own. I hate that I have to destroy it."
"I can destroy-"
"I don't trust you," Danny said harshly. "I don't want another letter in ten years telling me that 'oops' you forgot and now I have some psuedo-child running around."
Vlad's shoulders dipped a touch. Then he paused before a hand-scanner and pressed his palm to it. "My lab is just through here." The words were still clipped and professional, but Danny thought he caught a bit of a break in the tone.
Danny followed. The lab was like he remembered - just a bit more empty and a bit more dusty. It was obvious Vlad didn't spend as much time in his lab as he used to. A positive point, in Danny's opinion. Most of the bigger, more illegal equipment had dust-covered blankets thrown over them. The only space that looked regularly used was a smallish table in the corner covered in wires and little electronic bits.
"This way," Vlad said. The man ghosted over to a device that looked something like the R2-D2 droid from Star Wars. A few buttons pressed and the top whirred off. Mist bubbled out of the inside and dripped to the floor.
Danny watched as Vlad pushed a button to raise the contents, then used a pair of tongs to retrieve a small vial. He set it in a thermos-like device, screwed the lid closed, then held it out. Danny took it gingerly. "This is all of it?" On the side of the thermos, a little red clock was said 47:59.
"Yes," Vlad said. "I know you don't trust me, but you'll have to trust that."
A few quiet seconds of staring at Vlad, weighing the thermos in his hand, and Danny nodded. "If I find out you still have some of this, I'll kill you."
"I don't have any more." Vlad stared at the machine that had been keeping Danny's genetic sample frozen and stable all these years. The man sounded almost forlorn. "Do with it what you want."
Vlad looked… broken. The man's shoulders were hunched. There was an emptiness to him that Danny couldn't place. Even in the glow of the lab lights, Vlad's skin looked dull and faded.
For a few seconds, Danny wondered what was wrong with him. Then he wondered if he should care. Then he said, "I hate you," and turned around and walked away and never looked back.
Puppies
There weren't many secrets Danny hid from Sam. She was too perceptive to make it worth doing for any length of time. This one, though, Danny was carefully keeping from her. She still didn't know he'd gone to see Vlad. She still didn't know he'd taken Vlad's sample with him. She still didn't know he hadn't gotten up the nerve to destroy it.
The thermos had spent three days under their bed, cleverly disguised under an old blanket. Today, when Sam had vanished off to spend the afternoon with some of her friends, Danny had dug it out and went to see the one person Danny could count on to not overreact.
The timer on the side of the thermos had ticked down to 9:17 before Tucker walked through the door to the small cafe and settled onto the bench. Danny - having already ordered for them both - pushed the tray of fries across the table. Tucker picked up a few, tossed them into his mouth, and then reached for the thermos.
"This is it, huh?" he asked.
Danny nodded, crossed his arm, and sat back. Normally the two of them split the order of fries, but Danny wasn't hungry. He chewed on his tongue while Tucker spun the thermos in his hand and stared at it. The little vial inside clinked softly as it shifted position.
"What are you going to do with it?"
That was the million dollar question. Danny narrowed his eyes slightly, watching the timer switch to 9:15.
"You have no idea." Tucker sounded like he was about to chuckle.
"It's not funny, Tuck," Danny said darkly.
"The situation? No. Me pegging your problems with just two questions? That's hilarious."
Danny scowled at him.
"What does Sam think?" Danny barely had time to open his mouth before Tucker froze, fry halfway to his mouth. "Sam doesn't know," he said. "God, Danny…"
"The next time someone accuses you of being psychic," Danny muttered, "I'm just going to stand back and laugh."
"Sam doesn't know? Danny, this is kinda huge. Like, a really big deal." Tucker set down the fry and rubbed a hand through his hair. "Why haven't you talked to her about it?"
Danny put his arms on the table and rested his chin on his arms, staring at the small thermos. The little numbers now read 9:14. "She doesn't trust Vlad."
"None of us do," Tucker said. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Sam's okay with adopting a kid," Danny said.
Tucker shook his head. "I don't get it - you're okay with it too. We've talked about this at least a dozen times."
Danny fell quiet, just staring at the thermos. The thoughts in his head were too hard to put into words without coming across as stupid. The sunlight glinted off the metal.
"Danny, you've got to tell me something."
"I could have my own kid," Danny said quietly.
The thermos moved. Danny blinked, sat up, and looked at his friend when Tucker put the thermos on the seat next to him and out of Danny's line of sight. "You have no idea what Vlad's done to it. You have no idea what would happen if you used it."
Danny's mouth moved a few times, trying to find something to say. "But-"
"You're not actually thinking of using it." Tucker sounded stunned by the thought. "Danny, I thought you called me here to help you figure out how to get rid of it."
"Tuck… I know. Trust me, I know." His chin went back down on his hands. "But…"
Silence descended upon the table. The fries sat there, ignored and mostly forgotten. Tucker was staring at him like there was a screw loose in his head. For a few minutes, Danny wondered if maybe there was.
It was so easy - just open up the vial and wash the contents down a drain. Or bury it in the back yard. Or blow it up. Or a million other things.
He couldn't. He wanted something more than to just destroy the possibility the thermos held.
"If you want to use this, that's kinda something you need to talk to Sam about. Having a kid is a two person process."
"I can't use it," Danny said. "We both know that." He slowly sat up. "I just don't know what to do."
Tucker was quiet. "Well, you've got two options and that's it. Use it or don't."
Danny muttered a soft, "I really, really want to." He pulled the basket of fries over and, simply for something to do, picked through the fries for the super-crispy ones. "Tucker, I wanna have a kid of my own."
"But this came from Vlad."
Danny nodded, pulling the fry to pieces with his fingers. Soon, little bits of destroyed fried potato covered the table. "If this came from anyone else. Literally anyone else…"
"It didn't, though," Tucker said. "And you have to remember that."
"I know," Danny said under his breath, grabbing another fry to demolish. "But that doesn't change what I want."
Tucker grabbed a handful of fries and set them on his part of the table, likely to prevent them from being destroyed before they could get eaten. "Can you have what you want?"
"No."
The fries Tucker had rescued disappeared, one by one, as Tucker popped them into his mouth. It wasn't until they were gone that Tucker spoke. "Why'd Vlad give you this, anyways?"
"To torture me." Danny chuckled darkly. "I was happy Tucker. I was just going to adopt a kid and… be happy. And then Vlad…" The fry he was holding glittered with green light, burning to a crisp in his hand. Danny blinked at the fry a moment before sighing and setting it back down. "He did this on purpose, I just know it."
"Vlad hasn't gone out of his way to torment you in years. Why now?"
"Because he always wanted a family, and never could get one. I'm about to get everything he ever wanted."
Tucker arched a dubious eyebrow. "Not to disagree with you, but isn't that kind of petty? I mean, this is Vlad Masters we're talking about. He doesn't really do petty."
Danny scowled, crossed his arms over his chest, and slumped in the seat. "What does it matter why an evil megalomaniac is doing something to me?"
"If we knew the reason behind what he's doing, we'd know if we could… trust him." Tucker winced at the glare Danny leveled in his direction at that statement. "I'm trying to help-"
"I don't want to try to trust him. I don't trust him. I don't care what he says or what his motivation is." Danny sighed. "There's too much history between us. Vlad knew I wasn't ever going to trust anything he gave me."
Tucker nodded. "Well, Vlad knows that. He knew that going into this. So… why?"
"How cares?" Danny said, throwing up his hands. "It doesn't matter. No matter what the… I don't… I can't…" He stopped, annoyed that his words were tripping over themselves. "I'm destroying it. That's it. End of conversation."
"Then why am I here?"
Danny looked up into Tucker's inquisitive eyes. "Huh?"
"If you were just going to destroy the thermos, you could've done that on your own at any point. Why am I here?"
With a frustrated sound, Danny buried his hands in his hair. "I don't want to. I don't want to destroy it. I…" He trailed off, then shook his head. "I wanted you to talk me into doing something with it," he said dully. "And I wanted you to talk me out of it, too." A caustic chuckle dripped from his mouth. "The thoughts in my head don't make a lot of sense right now."
A little, sympathetic smirk ticked at the corner of Tucker's mouth. "You're driving yourself nuts."
With a huff, Danny reached for the few remaining fries. He grabbed another one to destroy.
"You're like the doom of fries today," Tucker muttered. "Look, Danny, this isn't really that complicated. Are you going to use it?"
Danny shook his head. He couldn't. Sam and Tucker were right - there was no way he could trust what Vlad was offering.
"Then that's that."
The final note in Tucker's voice made Danny flinch.
"I'm gonna go."
Danny looked up from the fry he was destroying, to see Tucker slide from the bench. The thermos was in his hand as he stood up.
"And I'm gonna take this with me."
Danny's eyes widened slightly. "I-"
Tucker shook his head, cutting Danny off. "No. This is tearing you apart. This is why you called me, whether or not you even know it." He smiled. "This is what best friends are for." Then he leaned forwards, grabbed the last fry, and said, "Call Sam."
Danny watched him go, feeling that strange, buzzing feeling in his chest vanish as the thermos walked out the door. His one chance to have a kid of his own, even if it was a false chance. That wish that had grown in his heart since Vlad had tracked him down three weeks ago - gone.
It hurt. It hurt more than Danny ever could say.
Brushing the fry crumbs into the empty basket, Danny emptied it into the trash, walked out of the cafe, and headed home.
Storks
About a week later, Danny found himself sitting on the couch next to Sam, listening to the 'placement agent' rattle on and on about their impending adoption.
"-all mostly formality at this point. You've taken the classes and passed the registration requirements. Just a short look around your house and you'll be put on the waiting list."
The placement agent was an annoyingly bright-looking older woman that went by the name of Lisa. Her clothes were just shy of the day-glo neon Danny's parents had favored when he was younger. She smiled at them, flipping through the forms on her clipboard.
"How long after that?" Sam asked. Nervousness tinged her voice. Sam had been on edge for days leading up to this last, most important meeting.
Danny reached out and patted her hand, trying to get her to relax.
"Since you are willing to accept a child of any race, it shouldn't be too long. Six months, most likely…" the woman trailed off.
Danny felt a wave of relief. Ever since Vlad had gotten into his head with that genetic sample thing, Danny had found himself wanting to push off this adoption idea. It was probably just Vlad's mind games talking, but Danny's thoughts kept jumping back to the idea that he could have kids of his own someday. If only they tried again. If only he didn't go ghost for awhile. If only his parents-
"That's odd," Lisa murmured.
"Is there something wrong?" Sam asked. Her fingers found his hand, tightening almost painfully tight. "If there's something wrong, we can fix it. You can just leave any forms-"
Danny squeezed her hand - somewhat to get blood flowing to his fingers, but mostly for moral support. "Relax," he whispered.
Sam shot him a harried look.
"It's nothing," Lisa said with a gentle laugh. "We often allow our birth mothers to look through the list of active adoption proposals. They have the option of requesting where their child goes - all without names becoming involved, of course. Just basic information." She took out a piece of paper and held it out to them. Danny took it as she continued. "What's odd is that you two aren't officially on the registry just yet, and you seem to have already been requested as parents."
"What?" Sam said.
Danny looked down at the paper. It was a listing of information about a infant girl, born less than two weeks ago. 'Baby G9' it said, along with a small photo of a wrinkled baby with bits of black hair.
"In the case of a request like this one, you'd get the chance to look the information over. We would generally allow ten days before you would need to make a decision. And of course you'd have access to the mother's records-"
"Who's the mother?" Danny asked.
"It would be an anonymous adoption, so I'm afraid I can't tell you. All her records would have her name and identifying information removed." Lisa's hand reached out and took the paper back. "Don't get your hopes up too much with this," she said, sounding sympathetic. "This was probably a filing error. Like I said, you're not even on the registry yet; it is highly unlikely that you've been requested already. Let me look into this and I'll get back to you."
Sam nodded. "If we got a request like this, and agreed to it, how long would it take?"
"It would take about two weeks for all the paperwork to go through before you'd be allowed to bring the child home. Then you'd be monitored by our social service department for six to nine months before being allowed to go before a judge to make the adoption legal and finalized."
"Okay," Danny said. "That makes sense."
Lisa smiled and flipped through the last of her forms. "You two seem like wonderful individuals and I'm sure you'll make great parents. If you'd just show me around your home and answer a few more questions, I'll be on my way."
"Right." Sam got to her feet, smoothing her clothes. "This way?" She gestured towards the kitchen - which she had immaculately cleaned no less than three times this morning.
Danny stood up too, intending to follow behind, but his phone buzzed. He hesitated, watching Sam and the placement agent walk into the kitchen, discussing something about organic food, and slipped his phone out of his pocket. Sam would kill him if she saw him texting during this meeting, but Danny needed to make sure it wasn't Tucker sending a message about a ghost.
He pressed the button to retrieve the message. The number was one he didn't recognize. 'Did you get the adoption request?'
Danny looked up, then back down at his phone. Who…? 'Yes,' he typed back, curious.
It was only seconds later the response came. 'You should take it. That little girl needs you.'
'Who is this?' Danny waited, but whoever it was seemed to be determined to remain anonymous. 'Why are you texting me?' he typed, sending the second message.
This time, he got a response. 'That number is no longer in service. Please check the number and try again.'
Danny scowled and stuffed the phone into his pocket just as Sam poked her head back into the living room. "Are you coming?" she asked. Her tone sounded pleasant, but there were little fires burning in her eyes.
"Yeah," Danny said, trailing after Sam and trying to look interested as Sam went on a spiel about the importance of home-made food rather than the stuff that comes in jars.
It took a full forty-five minutes for the placement agent to wrap up her 'few' more questions and excuse herself for her next meeting. As the door closed behind her, Sam dropped onto the couch, closed her eyes, and put a hand to her head.
Danny smiled. "That wasn't so bad."
One of Sam's eyes cracked open, just slightly. "Not so bad?" Sam said. "Not so bad? Says the boy who said about a dozen words the entire time. And most of them were telling me to calm down."
"Well, you needed to calm down," Danny said. He settled next to her on the couch, pulling her against his side, and resting her head on his arm. "Like she said. This was mostly formality. We've already been accepted. You didn't need to go on a crazy cleaning spree."
A scowl and a soft punch to his side was his answer. "Dork," Sam muttered. "You helped clean, you know."
"I was helping you not turn into your mother."
"Uh-huh," Sam said. She settled against him. "What's up with you today anyways?"
Danny stiffened. "Nothing."
She pushed away from him enough to send a disbelieving look his way. "And my name is Fred. You've been out of it for a while, just today was…" she trailed off. "What's wrong?"
"It's really nothing," Danny said. "Vlad just got into my head a little bit."
"Yeah, that's what Tucker said."
There was a beat of silence before Danny got out, "You talked to Tucker."
Sam shrugged, her head falling back to rest on his shoulder. "You weren't talking to me. So I went behind your back."
"And he told you."
"Of course he did," Sam said. "He didn't want to die."
Danny hummed noncommittally. "Remind me not to spill my innermost secrets to Tucker anymore. He's a sieve for secrets around women."
Sam let out a sigh. "You know you can talk to me. Even if it's about Vlad."
"I know." Danny gazed out the window.
"I don't like it when you keep secrets from me."
"I know." A slow-moving car passed by on the road. Someone was out for a walk. The sun was shining in a cloud-dappled sky.
"Are you ready to have a kid with me?"
Danny didn't answer for a long minute. Was he? A child of his own - biologically his - was out of the question. That was a fact, and it was redoubled when the 'sample' from Vlad had been destroyed. And he did want to have kids. And his parents wanted grandkids.
He snuggled his nose into her hair and said, "Yeah."
"Good," Sam said firmly. "Because I was adopting that little girl whether or not you wanted to."
.
Two weeks and three days later, Sam walked into their house, holding a baby girl gently in her arms. "She's gorgeous," Sam whispered, carefully tucking the blanket out of the way and tracing a finger through the black hair. "Aren't you? And you're mine. I'm going to keep you as far away from my mother and pink dresses as I can, I promise you that."
"Pink isn't that bad," Danny mentioned.
"Hell is painted pink," Sam said, still in that whispering, pleased voice, "and decorated with unicorns and pretty princesses."
Danny chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Can I ever get a chance to hold her?"
"No." Sam looked up at him with a teasing grin. Then she moved closer, holding the little girl out. "But I have to take my shoes off eventually, so you might as well."
Danny took her, cradling her head in his elbow. "She is cute," he admitted. "You made a good choice." He traced a finger down the side of her cheek.
And froze.
He could feel it, deep inside; the ectoplasm reaching out of his body and calling to something. It was almost like a bell had been rung inside of him, the echo vibrating out in all directions.
Something very small and very fragile answered.
"Danny? What's wrong?"
The little girl's eyes cracked open. They'd been open earlier when they'd picked her up at the adoption agency - her eyes were a pretty hazel - only now green flared and swirled inside her irises. She twisted in his arms, like she was trying to get her hands free of the confining blanket, and then she made a whimpering little noise.
Danny finished tracing his finger down her cheek, feeling the soft skin, soothing the tiny human girl back to sleep. Soothing the tiny ghost soul inside back to sleep. Her eyes drifted closed as Danny licked his lips.
"Did I just see that?" Sam's voice buzzed in his brain like bees.
'You should take it. That little girl needs you.' Just like that, Danny knew who had sent those mysterious text messages.
"Danny? Were her eyes glowing? Danny? Danny!"
Danny had never in his life figured out Vlad's little games until it was far too late. He still didn't understand what Vlad had been playing at a month ago with that letter. He definitely didn't know what the man was doing with this. He wasn't sure he really cared this time.
This was his little girl. By those forty-six signatures he'd signed this morning, this was his little girl. No matter what Vlad had to do with getting her into his arms, she was his. Danny was going to raise her how he wanted and Vlad could take any of his demands and promises and manipulating bullshit and stuff it.
And, just like that, he stopped caring that the girl in his arms wasn't biologically related to him. She was his - end of conversation. He looked up at Sam. "We're not giving her back," Danny said.
Sam blinked once. "Of course not," she said, sounding defensive. "I never suggested that." She reached out, picked the baby girl out of Danny's arms, and cooed at her. "Besides, she's ours. We can't give her back. Who knows who'd get her? They might force her into pink dresses and make her play with anatomically impossible toy dolls."
"Yeah," Danny drawled, "because that would be the biggest worry."
Sam shot him a look, then padded towards the kitchen, carrying the tiny baby with her.
Danny waited until she was out of sight before he took out his phone. He stared at it for a long few seconds, then scrolled through his settings to his list of blocked numbers. He picked out one of the numbers and removed the block just long enough enough to send a one-word text: 'Thanks.'