58. Kick in the Head

"We should wait for the pizza." Sam was adamant as she dropped down onto the couch next to Danny.

He shrugged and shot a smile at Tucker. "If you want to wait an hour and fifteen minutes, fine. But I want to watch it right now."

Sam snorted as Jazz tossed a bag of M&M's her way. "I could have TiVo'd it, you know."

"And then it wouldn't have been so fun," Danny said as he pressed play. "It's tradition, Sam. Dr. Who, my house, Friday nights. Tradition."

And so it had been, for the entire season, because none of them ever managed to watch it when it aired on Sunday nights. That was mostly because Sam was riding herd on Danny and Tucker to force them to do their homework before school on Monday, and she always complained that she had to wait an entire week to watch the newest episode because of them. At least her complaints were more affectionate than not. Danny knew that she was doing her best to help him and Tucker prepare for the midterms that were only weeks away, and then the finals that would be their last set of high school tests.

"I really hope that Rose and the Doctor get together," Danny heard Jazz murmur to Tucker, and he rolled his eyes as the credits started rolling and he hit fast forward.

Blurring images of the stars, the characters, the show itself, and then a commercial that Danny happily zipped through before hitting play just in time. Rose and the Doctor were on screen and his attention was fully absorbed by it. And then the tape skipped, and annoyed groans rode the living room as Danny arched an eyebrow as it settled back into proper order, and the world of Dr. Who was normal again.

Except that the tape suddenly skipped again, and then blanked into snow.

"I thought you taped it," Sam said as she tugged the remote from Danny's hands. Jazz and Tucker were glaring at the screen and Danny, and he could only shake his head.

"I did tape it! I swear I did, it was a new tape."

"Then where is it?" Sam asked before the snow flickered on the screen.

"Oh my god."

None of them would ever be able to figure it out, who exactly had said it. Sam was sure it was her, and Tucker and Jazz the same. Danny somehow thought it had been all of them, and his mother. Because where Dr. Who should have been playing on the tape, Dr. Who had gone the way of being recorded over, and Danny's parents were starring in a home movie of their own.

He felt distinctly lightheaded as the blood drained from his face and his mother's voice came through the speakers murmuring, "Oh, Jackie, yes," and he started pressing the stop button on the remote.

Except he didn't have the remote, Sam had the remote, and she was just as shocked as he was. It took him a few seconds to realize it, and then he was yanking the remote out of her hands and mashing the stop button like it was the vilest insect he'd ever seen and staring at the television, wide eyed, as the tape stopped playing and he turned it off.

Silence reigned until Jazz's voice cut through it. "Let us never speak of this again."

---

This did actually happen to me. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hush was the episode, and it was Friday afternoon at my house with four friends… Needless to say I was mortified. I chose to go a slightly tamer route and not detail the happenings of Jack and Maddie's tape, but I'm sure you get the idea. :D