Chapter Nine
"So, what happened with Valerie?" Sam questioned once Danny stepped into the living room. His ghost sense went off shortly after they spoke near the front door, so while he handled that, she went into the living room to finish reading her book.
"I couldn't find a way to bring up the topic." He sat beside her on the couch and moved his hands behind his head. "That, and she seemed so happy today. I wasn't going to ruin that by bringing up such a dark subject."
"That makes sense," she murmured, frowning. "So then, you're good on apologizing?"
"Yeah. She wasn't acting strange around me, so I don't think that comment bothered her too much."
Sam smiled faintly at that. "That's good, I guess. Just push it out of your head for now." She turned to the side and leaned her shoulder against the couch. "I kind of regret snapping at her like that yesterday. Especially in front of Amaya, you know."
Danny squinted at her for a few seconds before scooting closer to her. "You like her," he accused, his eyes penetrating hers. "And you were worried about her not liking you. Look how much she's warmed up to you."
She scoffed at him, averting her gaze. "I don't know what you're talking about." In response to her, he chuckled.
"Oh, please. You bought her a doll."
"So? I buy you things, but that doesn't mean I like you," she playfully retorted. He raised an eyebrow at her and smirked, causing her to laugh. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. She's honestly not so bad. She's cool."
"Really? Nah. I don't believe you anymore."
"I'm serious."
"Mhm."
"No, for real! If we have a daughter, I want her to be just like Amaya," Sam unconsciously admitted. Once she realized what she said, her eyes widened and slid over to Danny, who looked just as shocked as she did.
"What did you just say?" he asked, though she was certain that he had heard her loud and clear. Despite that, she still chose to act oblivious.
"Hm?" Her eyebrows rose high and she casually raked her fingers through her hair. "I don't remember."
"No, no. You don't get to 'hm' me and then fake amnesia after saying something like that," Danny replied. "You said if we have a daughter. Does that mean you somewhat changed your mind about that subject?"
Sam briefly closed her eyes, mostly because he was staring at her a little too long for her liking. "Uh, sure. Somewhat. That was a strong 'if', you know," she answered, flicking her hand out dismissively.
His expression brightened and a toothy grin formed at his lips, causing her heart to skip a beat. "Hey, I'll take that over nothing!" He excitedly leaned forward and crashed his lips against hers, catching her in an off-guard kiss.
She lightly curled her arms around his neck and returned the kiss with additional passion. Before their make-out session could escalate, though, they heard Amaya exclaim, "Yuck!" from the side.
Instantly, they split away from each other and blushed a bright shade of crimson. Danny awkwardly cleared his throat and stammered, "Uh, w-what's wrong? Weren't you playing with your new doll?"
Amaya nodded. "I was, but then your phone started to ring from your room." She handed over his cell phone and grimaced. "It stopped ringing, but I saw mommy's name pop up on the screen."
He frowned, but swept his attention to his phone. "Er, yeah. She did call me." He turned to Sam and held up a finger. "I'm going to take this. I'll be right back."
Once he got up and left the living room, Amaya walked over to Sam and placed a hand on her knee. "Do you think my mommy's calling because she's coming to take me away from you and uncle Danny?"
Sam didn't know how to react to that, so she merely sighed and replied with, "She's your mother. She's not taking you away from us because you were hers to begin with."
"Yeah, but I don't want to go back home. I like it here. Mommy's always busy and never wants to do anything with me the way you do," Amaya responded, sounding like she was on the verge of tears.
"Amaya..." Sam drew a deep breath, placing a tender hand on top of her niece's. "She may get busy sometimes, but that doesn't mean she doesn't want to do things with you. She loves you more than anything in this world."
Amaya sniffed and wiped at her right eye with her wrist. "I love her, too, but will I still get to see you after I leave?" she asked.
A surge of pain shot through Sam's heart after she heard that question. Like a goldfish, her mouth opened and closed because she wasn't sure what to say. She wasn't used to a child actually wanting to be around her.
Before she could blurt out an answer, Danny entered the living room again with his cell phone held out towards Amaya. "Your mom wants to speak to you," he told her.
She took the phone from him and raised it to her ear, shuffling away from the living room. He watched after her for a few seconds before turning to Sam. "She's sad already? I was gone for a minute."
"Yeah, well, this only took five seconds." She crossed her arms and leaned back against the couch. "So? What did Jazz say?"
"She said that she's probably coming back sometime next week. She's still tackling a lot of work. For the most part, though, she only called to talk to Amaya."
"Did you tell her that we stopped doing the screen time rules?"
"No. I agreed to listen to an update from her, not a full-blown lecture."
Sam chuckled once before slightly bowing her head. "Poor kid doesn't want to leave us," she said softly. "That's what she's so sad about. She thinks that Jazz is too busy for her."
"That's not true," Danny denied, smiling faintly at her. "Jazz is a mom first and a business woman second. She's a fantastic mother to Amaya, Sam, and I know that one day, you'll be a fantastic mother, too."
She knew he was about to dive into the children topic yet again, so she groaned and held up a hand to stop him. "Danny—"
"Wait. Let me finish," he interjected, his demeanor becoming much more serious. "I'm not saying that to coax you into having a child. I'm saying it because it's true. You knew how much work Amaya was going to be, yet you still chose to partake in this."
Sam drew a deep, shuddering breath. "Danny, I—"
"You're mom material, Sam, whether you think so or not. You went from having doubts about her to warming up to her, comforting her, and protecting her," he continued. "If you're this good with our niece, then I know you'll be a natural when it comes to our own child."
She raised her eyes towards the ceiling as moisture began to gather in them. "You know, I hate that you're so sweet. Seriously, it's sickening," she laughed, blinking away her tears. "I need more time to think about this."
Danny's lips curled into a warm smile. "There's no rush. Take as much time as you need."
The following day, Sam hastened around the house with her right hand gripping her cell phone against her ear. "For the millionth time, Danny, no. I don't see your red ball anywhere around the house."
"Are you sure? Because I know for a fact that it was somewhere in our room the last time I saw it. Please check again."
She rolled her eyes and lightly kicked one of his shoes to the side. "No. It's not in here. I literally tore up the room searching for it, so because you wasted my time, you're cleaning this mess when you get home."
"Fine, but wait. I already told Amaya that you were bringing that ball to us at the park."
She huffed in annoyance and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Well, why would you tell her that if you knew the ball was missing?"
"Hey, in my defense, I was still half-asleep when she dragged me out of the house."
Currently, Danny and Amaya were at the park while Sam was at home. She was getting ready to leave, however, as she had a few errands that she wanted to run before they arrived back home.
That was a little difficult to do when he wanted her to hunt down a ball that she wasn't even sure existed.
She checked each room upstairs for no particular reason before heading over to the staircase. "What, do you want me to swing by the store and get you a new ball, you big baby?" she teased, smirking.
Though they were on the phone with each other and not face-to-face, she pretty much saw him roll his eyes at her. "No thanks. We'll manage. Are you getting ready to leave, though?"
"Yeah," she answered, getting ready to head out of the house. As she went to grab her keys from the key rack in the kitchen, she heard someone knock softly on the front door. "Hey, I'll call you back in a few."
"A few? A few what? Seconds, minutes, hours?"
She laughed into the phone before hanging it up and moving towards the door to answer it. She half-expected the person who knocked to be the daily mail delivery man, but when she noticed who it actually was, she flinched.
"Valerie?"
Valerie smiled and waved rather awkwardly. "Hey. Sorry to drop in randomly like this, but I was hoping that we could talk for a minute or two."
Sam blinked twice before forcing a smile onto her face. "Yeah, no problem." She reluctantly took a step back and motioned towards the inside of her house. "Want to come in? I can spare a few minutes before I have to go."
Valerie shook her head and pointed over at the rocking bench on the porch. "Over there works."
"True." Sam walked to the right and took a seat on the bench with Valerie following suit. "So, what brings you here? I don't recall telling you where I lived."
"That's because you never did. Danny gave me his address when I saw him yesterday. You know, 'in case of an urgent emergency' or whatever," Valerie explained, shifting uncomfortably.
"Oh." Sam pressed her lips together and averted her gaze. "Is there an urgent emergency?"
"No. I, uh, wanted to apologize for how I've been acting towards you lately," Valerie said, sighing. "I guess I was still holding a grudge against you from high school."
"High school?" Sam scoffed, though she wasn't truly surprised. This was the same woman who took her grudge against Phantom and rode it until the wheels fell off.
"I know, I know. That was a long time ago, so I'm sorry. I'm also sorry about all of the children remarks I shot at you," Valerie apologized, frowning deeply. "Those were insensitive."
"Yeah," Sam replied, the pitch of her voice raising slightly. "What was up with that?"
"Honestly? I don't know. I really don't know. I guess I noticed that it bothered you, so I kept bringing it up to push your buttons."
"Oh. Well, don't worry about it. It's fine."
"Thanks."
They both lapsed into an uncomfortable silence for about a minute before Sam quietly said, "I heard about what happened, Valerie." In return, Valerie cast a curious glance over at her. "You... had a son."
"Who told you about that?" Valerie demanded, twisting towards Sam so quickly that the woman almost jumped up instinctively. Her face scrunched into a scowl and she pointed a finger in Sam's face. "It was Foley, wasn't it?"
"Uh," Sam drawled, her eyes slowly flicking left and right in an awkward manner. She then raised her hand towards Valerie's accusing finger and lowered it. "No. Actually, it was Danny."
"Really?" Valerie seemed more shocked than surprised. "But I never told him I had a son. I only told Foley."
"And who do you think told Danny?" Sam asked, resisting the urge to say, "Duh," afterwards. "That's not important, though. I just wanted to tell you that whatever happened with your son, I'm so sorry about it."
Valerie looked away from her, choosing to stare down at her feet instead. "You know, I used to be just like you. Stubborn, bossy, overbearing, annoyingly outspoken-"
"Is there a point to this?" Sam impatiently interposed. Valerie wrapped her forearms around her abdomen and smiled weakly.
"Yeah. I also didn't want a child like you, but I ended up having one anyway. He was a mistake, but he was the best mistake I ever made," she admitted, her tone of voice gentle. "He changed me."
Sam's features softened, her expression taking on more of a compassionate look. "Changed you?" she questioned. "How?"
"Well, he more so changed my life for the better. Everything I knew and did before him faded away. I was living for someone else, and that someone else was the most important person in my world."
"Valerie," Sam replied, "you don't have to talk about it."
"It's okay. I want to." Valerie closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. "I matured as a person. I started to worry about all the things I once gave a passing thought to. I was more tender, more compassionate. It was both refreshing and terrifying for me."
Sam started to rub her hand over her chest in a slow, circular motion. She wasn't used to this open side of Valerie, which only interested her enough to make her want to tune in more.
"I don't want to get into his death. I'm not ready to share that story yet, but I will say that to this day, I still feel like I lost a part of me. The pain is just as fresh as it was back then, but do I regret having him? No."
Sam's gaze drifted away from Valerie and outward at nothing in particular. "And why's that?" she asked quietly, almost as if she didn't want to be heard.
"Because he was the best thing that has ever happened to me," Valerie responded. "You say you don't like children, but the way you act around your niece says otherwise."
Sam frowned. "Well, yeah, because she's my niece."
"That's my point. You don't necessarily have to like other kids just as long as you love your own unconditionally. If that day ever comes for you, I already know you'll be a fantastic mother."
"But what if I'm not?" Sam blurted out. "What if I'm not loving enough, understanding enough, empathetic enough-"
"Sounds like you're just scared of being a bad mother. I was like that, too, but the only thing I can say is that you'll never know how good of a mother you'll be until you go through the experience," Valerie advised.
Sam didn't say anything, but only because she didn't know what to say. She had never received that much advice about a subject she was sensitive about, especially not from her former nemesis.
"If it's any consolation," Valerie continued, "Paulina used to hate children, too, but now she has two daughters of her own. I have to admit, she's great with them."
"You're kidding." Paulina was the dead last person that Sam pegged to be compassionate and motherly. "I can't believe that."
"Yep. Star told me." Valerie scratched the back of her neck and let a long sigh roll away from her mouth. "Look, if she's a good mom to her children, then you'll be a good one to yours. You're not evil. You know right from wrong. You'll be amazing."
Sam smiled gently. "You think so?"
"I know so. You'll do fine. You and Danny both," Valerie replied, glancing down at her wristwatch. "I have to go." She stood up and straightened out her shirt before glancing back at Sam. "Parenthood is a wonderful experience. Don't let fear block it for you."
"Thanks, Val. I really appreciate that."
