Author's Note: I made a few changes in chapter 4. It wasn't anything major, mostly just descriptive details in regards to Dani(Elle) and Lex.
Chapter 07
Dash sighed as he strolled through the grocery store to pick up a few ingredients for that night. Maybe he made a mistake offering to bring dinner over when dropped Xander off at Fenton's house for a sleepover. He was starting to second guess his agreement to that, too, but Xander was bouncing with excitement after hearing about the sleepover. Dash could hardly take it back after that. It was still strange to him that his son got along so well with Fenton's son. He never would have dreamed of things turning out this way, but he was happy that Xander finally had someone in class that he liked.
Picking up a red bell pepper, he turned it around in his hand, checking for any signs of rotting or bruising. When he found it satisfactory, he added it to his basket. How long had it been since he shared a meal with someone other than Kwan, Dash wondered? He looked over a few more bell peppers in colors green, red, and yellow. After Xander landed on his doorstep, Dash didn't bother much with dating. His line of work didn't exactly lend him much of a chance to meet anyone to ask on a date. Most of the parents of his patients were married, and the single parents weren't exactly looking to date either.
"Daddy!" Xander appeared at his side, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he held a box in his hands. "Can we pwease get this?" He wore a hopeful smile as his blue eyes sparkled.
Dash frowned down at the box with a ridiculous cartoon bear on the front, advertising the tasty jelly filled cookie crisps. It was one of the reasons he preferred leaving his son at home with Kwan watching him whenever he went to the grocery store. When he came along, Xander always found something sweet to beg to be added into the basket. Dash tried not to keep too much in the way of sugary treats within his house, but he supposed every once and while it would be okay. This was a special occasion as well, with it being his son's first sleepover at another boy's house.
"Just this once," Dash said as he lowered the basket enough for Xander to drop the box into it.
"Your boy is just the cutest thing."
Dash glanced up when he heard the woman's voice. She stood before him dressed in far too short denim shorts and a loose white shirt that slipped down one shoulder to show the strap of her bra. The basket she carried held a bottle of wine and few selections for making sandwiches as well as a small pizza. She smiled at him as she twirled a lock of long blonde hair around her index finger of her free hand. Xander immediately ducked behind his father's leg, his hands curling around the rough fabric of one pant leg.
"Thanks," Dash said awkwardly, reaching down a hand to rest upon his son's head. He never considered using his son in some ploy to get a date with someone. His son wasn't some tool to use to get someone's attention, gain their sympathy, and lure them into a date with him. Before Xander became a part of his life, Dash probably would have eagerly gone on a date with the woman standing before him. She was beautiful. But currently in his life, he simply didn't have any interest in a woman randomly coming up to him in the grocery store while he was with his son.
"Daddy," Xander said in a whiny tone as he tugged on the pant leg he held. He turned his pout up to his father. "Can we go? I want to see Lex."
"Just as soon as I pay for this," Dash explained as he held up the basket. When he turned back to the woman, he offered an apologetic smile. "Sorry. We're on our way to meet up with his friend's family."
"Oh, well," she said, still smiling as she dug around in her purse. When she pulled at a pen, she grabbed hold of Dash's hand. "Give me a call sometime when you're free." She quickly jotted down her phone number on his forearm, not even bothering to give a name of any sort, which didn't make Dash feel all that willing to actually phone her at any point in time.
"I'll," Dash struggled to keep the fake smile on his face, "do that." He nudged his son toward the checkout lines, which were thankfully fairly short.
"You're not really going to call her, are you?" Xander asked, frowning as he tugged at his father's hand. He reached up and scrubbed at the forearm like he was trying to erase the numbers written there by the woman.
"Don't worry about it, little guy," Dash told him, extracting his hand so that he could place his items out for the cashier to ring up. "Wasn't even thinking about it." He ruffled his son's hair, waiting on the young woman with short, straight dark hair to total up his purchase.
"Good." Xander nodded firmly, raven hair flopping about with the action.
Dash chuckled as he paid for the groceries. "All right, little guy." He picked up the bags and headed for the exit of the store with his son trotting along behind him. "Ready to go see your friend?"
"Yes!" Xander hopped along in excitement, not quite managing the art of skipping yet.
They left the grocery store, heading through the parking lot toward his car. Dash kept a tight hold on Xander's hand once they stepped outside to make sure his son didn't go running out into the parking lot where drivers might not see him in time to stop. Once he got Xander strapped in, Dash climbed into the driver's seat and started the car. Xander kicked his little legs as he mumbled along to the music playing from one of Dash's CDs of what he decided were acceptable songs for a child to hear. There were quite a few oldies on it, classic music that was never truly out of style, and songs off cartoon soundtracks.
When he arrived at Fenton's house, Dash parked the car, staring up at the simple house. He almost laughed at his own imaginings that Fenton would have some strange contraption atop the house with that terrible neon Fenton Works sign bolted to the front of it. He shook his head as he climbed out of the car. Fenton wasn't like his parents in that respect. After grabbing the groceries and helping Xander from his seat, handing his son his book bag packed with his overnight clothes, Dash led the way up to the front door and rang the doorbell. He could hear movement beyond the door, the sounds of feet coming closer.
"Hello," greeted the woman that opened the door. She smiled pleasantly up at him, her long ebony hair tied back in a ponytail.
"Uh, hi," Dash responded numbly as he stared at her, confusion creeping into his mind. He was fairly certain this was the right address that Fenton gave him, and he had to admit there was a sort of family resemblance between this woman and Fenton, but he had never met her before.
"Danny, your friend is here," she called, half turning back into the house.
In a moment, the tall, lanky limbed man appeared with a pair of glasses perched upon his nose. Fenton blinked in surprise when he spotted Dash through the open front door. He glanced at the watch on his wrist. "I didn't realize it was so late," he mumbled as he reached back to rub his neck. "Come on in. Er," he glanced into the front room off the side of the hall. "Sorry the place is kind of a mess."
"That's fine." Dash nudged his son into the house. "My house isn't exactly the tidiest place in the world either. Especially when someone likes to play Picasso." He placed his hands on his hips as he frowned down at his son, who didn't even have the sense to look guilty about the times he accidentally got paint on the floor or on the walls.
"Where's Lex?" Xander questioned immediately, excitedly glancing about for the other boy.
Fenton lifted his gaze to the ceiling. "Upstairs. Why don't you go get him, Elle?" With a nod, the woman jogged up the stairs to the second floor.
"Who was that?" Dash questioned as he watched the woman leave.
"Cousin," Fenton answered, like it was an automatic reflex. His gaze dropped to Xander, and something passed through his blue eyes, but Dash couldn't be sure what the look meant with the slight creasing of Fenton's brow.
Dash lifted an eyebrow. "You sure have a lot of cousins I've never heard about."
Fenton laughed, a bit forcefully. "And why would you know about any of my cousins? I mean, it's not like you ever had reason to meet them before."
Dash nodded, realizing that was true. It was simply strange for him to uncover these new facts about someone that he thought he knew in high school. But they were hardly friends. Naturally, he wouldn't know all that much about the other man. That only served to make the whole situation seem all the more bizarre to him. Yet here he was in Fenton's home with a bag of groceries ready to be turned into a delicious meal.
Footsteps thundered down the steps as more than just Fenton's female cousin and son came down them. Dash regrettably recognized the man as Fenton's other cousin from yesterday when he stayed over at Dash's house for dinner. He wasn't sure if he should find it strange that the three of them shared the same raven hair and blue eyes, though Dan's were slightly darker. They were related, so he thought maybe it wasn't that really all that weird in the end. He blinked in surprise when he saw who else was with them. His mouth parted, but he couldn't find the words to speak as he stared at Valerie Gray. She had buffed up over the years, not in that body builder way but her toned muscles were more noticeable than the lean muscled build that Fenton possessed. She kept her hair cut short now, and there was a slight curl at the tips of her hair.
As soon as Lex hit the bottom of the steps, Xander broke away from his father's side. His book bag hit the ground with a thump as Xander darted over to the other boy and threw his arms around Lex in a hug that nearly knocked them both to the ground, if Valerie wasn't standing right behind them and caught them in time to stop them from hitting the floor.
"I never thought I'd see this," Valerie said, chuckling at the pair of boys. "A Fenton and a Baxter actually getting along and being friends?"
"That's the first sign of the apocalypse, right?" the other woman Elle joked.
"Why are you here, Val?" Dash's question came out a bit more rudely than he meant, but he couldn't squash his curiosity. He remembered there being a time when Fenton and Valerie dated, but he never realized that they would stay friends after breaking up. He never kept much in contact with any of the women he dated, except Paulina but she was pretty much the exception since they were always good friends.
"Came to check up on this knuckle head," Valerie answered as she pointed a thumb toward Fenton. "He'd never get anything done if left on his own."
"Hey!" Fenton protested as she grinned teasingly. Frowning, he folded his arms over his chest. "At least when Tucker visits, I'll have someone on my side."
"Yeah, keep thinking that, Pops." Dan wore a smirk which earned a dark scowl from Fenton.
"Dan, stop. You're going to make his head explode one of these days," Elle scolded as she stood between the two male cousins. "We should probably be going now anyway." She lifted her hand, checking the time on the watch she wore. "Got plans for tonight, remember?" She snapped her narrowing blue eyes at Dan.
"Yeah, yeah," Dan grumbled as he walked to the door, not looking entirely pleased with whatever plans they had for the night. Elle followed after him with a bit of a skip in her step.
"It was nice seeing you again, Dash." Valerie smiled at him as she passed, no hint of bitterness toward him in her green eyes. Dash wasn't exactly the nicest person in the world to her after her father lost his job and she dropped in social standing at Casper High. But like with Fenton, it seemed time washed past grievances under the bridge with Valerie. "Maybe we can hang out some time later." She gave a wave before she followed the cousins out the door.
"They seemed like they were in a hurry to get out of here," Dash commented after the door shut behind the three adults. His gaze drifted back to Fenton.
"They wanted to check out the town." Fenton shrugged. "Uh, so dinner?" He pointed at the grocery bags in Dash's hand as he lifted a questioning eyebrow. "When you said picking something up, I thought you'd get like a kiddies meal at McDonald's or something."
Dash shrugged. "I decided to cook instead." He still couldn't explain why he was doing this beyond wanting to have someone new to talk with, who wasn't some weirdo like Fenton's cousin. And if their sons were going to be friends, the least they could do was try to get along with each other.
"Right." Fenton gave him a strange look, and Dash guessed that the man was as clueless about this whole dinner thing as Dash was. "The kitchen's this way." He led the way through the house toward the kitchen.
Lex tugged his friend into the front room, which Dash noted did look like a disaster zone when he passed it on the way to the kitchen. They would be close enough playing in the front room for the two adults to hear them if they caused some sort of accident. The kitchen was nice and spacious with enough room for a table to be placed within it and not encroach too much into the work space for cooking.
"So pans," Fenton explained, showing where everything was for Dash. "Cooking utensils. Knives. Cutting boards. Oils. Spices." He turned around to face Dash. "Uh, anything else you need?"
Dash shook his head. "Nope. That's all I should need." He set the bag down on the counter, first removing the box of cookie crisps and placing them out of sight behind some white ceramic jars on the counter so that Xander wouldn't be able to spy it right when he entered the kitchen. The boy had some sort of radar when it came to sweets. If it was within view, he immediately zeroed in on it.
"Well, I'll just stay out of your way then." Fenton headed out the door to the kitchen to go check on the children.
Dash got to work on preparing their dinner, slicing up the bell peppers and seasoning the slivers of steak. He got used to cooking his own meals during college and medical school, having to get creative sometimes when he had hardly anything in the refrigerator. Kwan was a big help in teaching him to cook because his friend came from a large family that usually cooked their meals together. From an early age, Kwan spent a lot of time in the kitchen with his mother. Dash laughed under his breath as he thought about his friend. He always imagined Kwan would settle down and have a child long before he, himself, did. Kwan was totally the family guy type, yet he continuously failed to find someone to share his life with.
Dash frowned as that thought circled through his head while cooked the food. Sometimes he thought Kwan wasn't even really trying to find someone with the string of terrible women he dated. He could imagine his friend right that moment hanging out at some stupid club and chatting up some airheaded woman that he would probably date once before never calling her again. That thought brought back the memory of what happened earlier in the grocery store. Dash stared grumpily at the numbers marking his forearm. He simply didn't have the time, or the desire, to play the dating game with some random woman that approached him while he was shopping. Walking over the sink, he quickly scrubbed the numbers off his arm.
When he finished cooking, Dash served the food up onto plates that he set onto the table. Then he walked down the hall to the front room from where he could hear laughter. He stood in the doorway, arms folding as he watched Fenton tickling Xander who shrieked with laughter as he squirmed and struggled to escape. Lex had climbed on top of his father, tugging at the man like he could somehow pull his father away from his friend. Dash chuckled to himself at the sight. It was rare for him to see Xander getting along with another adult. Usually, Xander tended to hide behind him whenever some random adult approached to talk to Dash, though he didn't really care for his son to like any of those people anyway.
Fenton must have heard the chuckle because he looked up at Dash. "Dinner ready?" He sat back on his legs, giving Xander the chance to finally catch his breath after laughing so much. Lex slipped down off his father's back.
Dash nodded. "Time to eat, boys." He led the way toward the kitchen.
"What is that?" Lex asked, frowning at the food placed on the table as he climbed into his chair. His nose wrinkled up in a look of mild disgust.
"Dinner," Dash answered simply as he passed out some tortillas onto each of their plates. Lex glared at him, and Dash, in all his maturity, glared right back.
"It's either this," Fenton said as he came to table, placing small glasses of milk in front of where the children sat, "or I could make you some of Grandpa's famous pea soup."
"No!" Lex whined, looking sick at the mere suggestion of having to eat the soup.
"Works every time," Fenton whispered to Dash when a grin. "What do you want to drink?"
"Just water is fine," Dash answered as he took a seat at one end of the table.
"That's Dad's spot." Lex pushed at Dash, trying to shove him off the chair as he pouted.
"Lex, be nice," Fenton said firmly as he gave his son the "Dad Stare." When he glanced toward Dash, Fenton wore an apologetic look. "Sorry. We usually always sit in the same place, so it's sort of a thing. I guess." He shrugged awkwardly.
Dash got up, taking one of the glasses of water from Fenton's hand as he moved to the other end of the table. "I guess I should have asked first. We kind of our own little spots as well." Xander was already reaching across the table to fill up his tortilla with peppers and steak.
"What is this even?" Lex held up the tortilla, turning it around in his hand as he held it away from him.
"Something that's very good." Fenton took the tortilla from his son. After he loaded it with fillings, he rolled it up and offered it to his son. "Give it a try before you decide you hate it."
Lex stared at the rolled up fajita with a glower, like somehow it was offensive to him. Grudgingly, he took the fajita from his father. His gaze drifted to Xander, who already had his own, sloppy, fajita halfway gobbled with juices from the meat dripping down his hands. A frown graced his face, and he remained hesitant, eying the fajita like it might be poisoned. Then he opened his mouth, cramming one end into his mouth. His eyes squeezed shut as he clamped down, tearing off a mouthful of the fajita. There was a brief pause before Lex sat up straight, eyes springing open as he turned to his father.
"Doog yllaer si siht!" Lex said around his mouthful of food.
Dash stared at the boy, the peppers he grabbed for his own fajita slipping through his fingers. He swore Fenton tensed up when he heard his son speak. Fenton laughed awkwardly with a strained note to it.
"Lex, it's rude to speak with your mouth full. No one can understand what you say." It almost looked like a bead of sweat rolled down the side of Fenton's face.
After he swallowed his food, Lex said, "This is really good!" He grinned widely at his father, and Fenton breathed out in relief.
Dash eyed the pair with some suspicion after that odd moment. He decided to let it pass. Lex's words were probably simply unintelligible because he was talking around all the food crammed inside his mouth. That seemed like the most logical explanation. The rest of their meal passed with little incident as they talked about random things while the children happily put together their fajitas to eat, as messily as possible it seemed.
"Daddy, can we watch the movie tonight?" Xander begged when they were finished with dinner and wiping their children clean of the mess on their faces and hands.
"Movie?" Fenton inquired as he glanced toward the blond man.
Dash laughed awkwardly as he turned his head away. "Uh, yeah. It's just a little thing that Xan's pretty obsessed with watching. Of course, it would be up to you. I wouldn't want to expose Lex to anything you'd rather he didn't see."
"Well, as long as it isn't something that's not suitable for children, it should be okay," Fenton said with a small shrug. "But first, the dishes need to get washed." The children whined at that announcement. "You know, you don't have to stay if you have other plans." Fenton's gaze flicked toward the blond man before he got to work on cleaning the dishes.
"No plans." Dash helped with the dishes while their children played a game of tag around the kitchen table. "Since when do you wear glasses?"
Fenton blinked then reached up to touch one side of his glasses. "Oh! I forgot I was even wearing them." He chuckled, shaking his head. "I only really wearing them when I'm working at the computer or reading. I don't need them the rest of time, but sometimes I completely forget I'm wearing them."
"Dork," Dash mumbled quietly, not missing the flush of color that rose to Fenton's cheeks. It wasn't long before the final dish made its way into the washer, and they were free to return to the front room.
"Movie, movie, movie!" Xander chanted, hopping onto the couch with Lex.
"What is this movie anyway?" Fenton asked as Dash grabbed the book bag from the front hall.
Dash flushed with some embarrassment. It seemed silly to admit it to someone that he knew from high school that wasn't Kwan. "Uh, I told him it was called Inviso-Bill Rescues." He winced since Fenton, as someone else that came from Amity Park, would know exactly who Inviso-Bill was, though that wasn't the ghost's real name.
"What?" Fenton gawked at him, his hands tightening around the teddy bear that he picked up while trying to clear some space off on the couch for all of them to sit.
"It's just a collection of shots I took back in high school." Dash shrugged as he pulled out the disc from the book bag. "I was going through them one night when Xan came down, and he enjoyed it so much, so I just let him watch it every now and then." He walked over to Fenton's television and popped the disc into the machine. "No worries. There aren't any of the scary fights on here," he said when he caught a hint of worry flashing in Fenton's blue eyes. He turned on the television and joined the rest of them on the couch.
Newspace19: I'm glad you like the way I write Dan. 8D He's pretty fun. Always teasing people and trying to get a rise out of them. XD;;;
Spongebob Swagpants: *pets Danny* It's all going to be all right! D: Lex and Xan are just too cute together! Maybe~ =) Though Dash is just going to say it's all about his son. XD;;; Dash, you're in denial~
MsFrizzle: Mostly mature. Then you toss in Lex and maturity goes out the window as Dash gets into glaring matches with Lex. XD;;; Dan doesn't know anything about being mature. XD;;;
Snowleopard0: 8D I'm glad it caught your attention!
midnight: Thanks! =) It's pronounced with the Z sound. Like Xander in Buffy. XD;;; *shot because I totally always wanted to name a character Xander after first watching Buffy*
Lil Badass Kaulitz: Yay! =D *whispers* Dan, your good side is showing. I'm glad you like it so much! =D
Bananahsplit: Why thank you! *blushes* I try to update quickly~ *coughs* Though some of the stories I've posted up the starts of recently are sort of on the back burner to some other ideas.
Just Will: Haha, yeah, anyone that dares to mess with Lex better watch out because they'll have 3 pissed off half ghost, a very angry out of time ghost, and vengeful hunter on their tail! XD;;; Hm, I wonder if Danielle would actually learn the Ghostly Wail though. =( That has to be something that constantly haunts her though, being just someone's copy. It drives me crazy sometimes that Dan never returned in the series! I would have loved to see him, and Vlad too, getting a chance at redemption. And it's like, what purpose did Clockwork have in orchestrating the whole thing? Because he obviously had to have some reason for it and for having such interest in Danny's life. Haha, I subscribe to the theory that Sam dyes her hair. XD;;; Or it's a wig because geez, Tucker and her grandma both wore wigs exactly like her hair! Why does she have those wigs? XD;;; I can totally see Dan wanting a child though. I think Dan already has his sights on someone. XD;;
NikaStarlight: Yes~ The dinner~ =) And Lex is still being a butt to Dash. XD;;
Mischievious Kiss27: I can see family being an extremely important thing to Dan (once he, you know, stopped trying to destroy the world XD;;) after having lost his in his timeline.
chicaalterego: I hadn't actually considered Kwan and Dani before. XD;; Maybe I'll have to write them sometime. I usually see Dani and Valerie together. XD;; Kwan~ Haha. XD Yeah, so far, he keeps picking bad choices for dates in this story.
Monkeygirlz3: Nope, he doesn't. XD;;;
erikatristens: Yup. Same Dan from the series and 100% full ghost here.
jeanette9a: Haha, yeah. XD;; Dash is going to be very wary of Dan and probably won't like being left alone with him. Ever. XD;;;