Danny reached out and took the door knob, his heart perched in his throat. The idea that Vlad now stood behind the door and was waiting to come inside his home was frightening to him. He might seem like he had good intentions, but Danny could not help it –he still thought of Vlad as malicious and heartless. When he imagined Vlad, he saw him possessing his father in an attempt to turn everyone at their college reunion against him. He saw him luring his mother and he to his chalet in the woods and sending his freakish assortment of wild animals after him to destroy him. Vlad might attempt to be kind now, but he was still Vlad. And Danny, with remorse, knew that, no matter what Vlad did to prove his kindnesses, he would never be able to completely overlook that side of him. That side of insidious cruelness which had created the monster that had been the cause of his family's deaths.
Danny stared at the door, feeling sickly indecisive. He realized something else now as he thought of Vlad's evil –if he let Vlad in, was he ensuring the creation of Dan? If Danny went to live with him, and the pain became too much for him to handle, Vlad did not know about Dan. There would be nothing to stop him from separating Danny's ghost and human halves if he begged him enough. If he opened the door now and let Vlad in, into his life, would he be dooming the existence of the future with the creation of Dan?
"Danny, please open the door," Vlad called again from outside. "I promise they've left."
Danny continued to stare at the door, his mind racing. He wondered if he could prevent the creation of Dan by simply refusing to open the door for Vlad. It seemed logical to him. If he didn't let Vlad into his home so he could whisk him away to Wisconsin, he wouldn't be faced with the possibility of separating his two halves simply because there would not be the temptation of the Ghost Gauntlets. If he hid inside his home and refused to let Vlad in, he could prevent the creation of Dan. He could save the future.
"Daniel, please don't be… I'm not going to hurt you, if you're concerned about that. I just want to help you. Please let me in, little badger."
Danny could hear how sincere he sounded, and was almost tempted to open the door. But then, he thought of Vlad's malevolent nature, and he thought of Dan, and he took a step back and removed his hand from the door knob. He sat down on the floor in the corner of the living room again, curled into himself tightly. He felt awful, but the evil Vlad possessed and the effects it would have if mistreated outweighed any good that might come out of attempting to build a relationship with him now.
"Danny, I'm going to phase through the door, alright?" Vlad called.
"Would you get out of here?" Danny snapped. He hadn't meant to say it so rudely, but he was irritated that Vlad, though he would have no way of knowing, was insisting that he come inside when there was so much at stake and doing so could jeopardize hundreds of people.
"Daniel, I just spent the full night traveling to here on three separate but equally crowded and inadequate airplanes with unsatisfactory service. You can't just leave me out here," he said, attempting to sound humorous.
"I can, and I will," said Danny.
"I can phase through the door."
"No, you can't."
"Technically…"
"No."
Vlad paused. "Alright, I'll be in in a minute."
"No, Vlad! Don't come in here! I'm serious!"
"Why can't I, Daniel?"
"Because."
"Because why?"
"Because, Vlad! If you do, you're going to endanger everyone in the world!"
"Daniel, what are you talking about?"
"You wouldn't understand, and I wouldn't expect you to, but you can't come in the house!" Danny said curtly.
"Danny-"
"Tell me you're not coming in my house!"
For a long moment, Danny heard only silence. He thought Vlad had gone, but then he heard, "Alright, I won't come in your house."
Danny sighed gratefully. "Good. You don't need to stick around here either. You should go back to Wisconsin."
"I'm already making the arrangements."
Danny sighed again, relief flooding him. He let his head rest against his knees and he closed his eyes, savoring the darkness, watching white dots dance in front of his eyes.
Outside, Vlad sat down on the steps of Fenton Works and stared into the street. He shooed away the awaiting taxi driver and sighed slowly as he watched it barrel down the street. He placed his elbows on his knees and held his head in his hands, hunched forward.
"I wonder when I should try to get back in again?" he said dismally, and chuckled humorlessly.
He did feel very worried for Daniel. He was in a worse state than he had anticipated. It was understandable to desire to be alone after the death of a loved one but to insist that if this was not attainable there would be certain doom was delusional. Vlad feared that Maddie and Jack's death might have driven him into a state of schizophrenia. But he had talked to him the night before, and he had sounded sane then. Perhaps Daniel had had a nightmare of some sort that had led him to believe this nonsense? Either way, when he found a way inside that would not upset Daniel, he would get to the bottom of it.
He sat there for a while, staring at cars as they passed, contemplating what the best way would be to approach Daniel when he did finally get inside the house.
After an hour, he stood, his patience run dry. Whether he upset Daniel or not, he could not leave him to sit inside that house all day without anyone to take care of him. He turned intangible and phased through the door. Then, he turned invisible and crept around the corner into the living room where he'd heard Daniel's voice coming from earlier.
There, he found Daniel sitting in one corner of the room, curled into himself. His head was down and his eyes closed. From him, Vlad heard soft, even breathing. His mouth was open slightly and he was drooling as he slept.
"Well," Vlad said quietly, "if it is nightmares that are causing his odd behavior, they can't be too bad."
Vlad went to him and picked him up gently, so as not to wake him. Danny did not stir. Vlad contemplated bringing Daniel to his bedroom to put him in his bed, but decided that would invoke his wrath further when he woke to find him inside his house and himself where he had not been when he nodded off. He laid him instead on the couch and covered him with a blanket he brought from the hall closet.
Vlad stood and watched over him, unsure of what he should do next.
Then, his eyes found the kitchen.
