A/N: The beginning may seem a little confusing, but it will come together as you read. Enjoy.
She opened her eyes to the sunlit room. She sat up in the bed and noticed a small box sitting on the bedside table. She took the box and the card under it.
To my beautiful daughter, Danielle. A Christmas present that arrived a little late.
She opened the box to find a gold necklace. She crawled out of the bed and rushed to the mirror hanging on the wall. She clasped the necklace around her neck. Her fingers ran across the cursive letters spelling Danielle.
"I am Danielle Stone," she said, beginning to comb through her hair with her fingers. She stops as she watches the door open behind her. She smirked at the reflection of the blonde standing in the doorway.
"Get dressed," Dustin ordered, observing the girl still wearing the clothes she slept in. "You have to leave."
Danielle turned. "Well, good morning to you too, sunshine."
"Just get dressed," he repeated, not amused.
Danielle shrugged. "I don't know what I should wear," she admitted, sitting on the edge of the bed.
"I don't know. I don't care. You have hundreds of dresses. Put one on," he impatiently barked, earning another shrug from the girl. He stormed to her closet, pulled out a dress, and threw it at her. "Put it on."
"No," she declined, making a disgusted face at the dress in her hands. She watched Dustin pick out a few more dress for her to turn down.
Irritated, Dustin began to grab random dresses and toss them onto the chair in the corner. Halfway through the closet, he felt a hand on his back.
Danielle laughed at the blonde in front of her. "I was just messing with you. Calm down." She slowly moved her hand up his back to his arm. "Loosen up," she ordered, squeezing his bicep.
"No," he rejected, turning to her. "You need to get dressed and leave."
"Not until you smile." She smiled, knowing she was wasting time. "Smile," she sung, playfully tapping the wide chin of the blue eyed male in front of her.
"Danielle."
She turned away from Dustin to James standing in the doorway. "What?" she asked with attitude.
"I'm leaving in 30 minutes," James admitted. "You are coming with me; dressed or not."
"Okay," Danielle shrugged.
"Okay. You can have breakfast when you're done." James allowed Dustin to exit the room in front of him before closed the door.
"Do you not trust me enough to sit in the front seat?" Danielle asked, resting her head on the side of the passenger seat's headrest.
"No, I don't." James answered, not looking away from the road he drove on.
"Then why did you even let me out of the house?"
Instead of answering, he eyed her though the mirror. "Sit back and put your seatbelt on," he ordered. He watched Danielle follow his command before concentrating back on the road.
He like how obedient she has become over the past few days. Danielle, come here; stand there; do this. She might have a attitude doing something, but she did it.
Danielle looked out the window, watching the buildings pass. "I'm sure we've passed this building twice before," she admitted, eyeing the three story brick building.
James did not respond as he continued to circle the same New York blocks. He just had to get the girl out the house long enough for Dustin and Jason to do what he had asked of them, but now he just wishes she would be quite.
Bothered by the silence that was created by James's failure to respond, she begins to study the side features of the man in the driver seat. She notices the tightness of his temple. "You're mad, aren't you?" Before James could acknowledge her, she continued by asking, "Is it about this morning? I was just kidding. I don't like Dustin." She shrugged before saying, "I don't like blondes."
"You dated Sam Evans," James reminded.
The young girl shook her head. "Mercedes dated Sam," she corrected.
The night Jason burned her diary was when Mercedes accepted the fact that she was stuck with James. She began to immerse herself into becoming what she would want Danielle to be. Mercedes was still there, but tightly wrapped into the life and personality of Danielle E. Stone.
A ringing sounded through the the vehicle.
James eyed Danielle through the mirror, warning her to be quiet then he answered his phone. "Judge Stone." He listened to the person on the other end of the phone. When the person was done talking, he exhaled and asked, "How long will this take." He stopped talking so the person could answer. He sternly nodded as if he was talking face to face with the person. "Sure, I'll be there soon. If that's all you're calling for, you can leave for the day… Yes, I'm positive. Go home. Goodbye." He hung up the phone.
"Who was that?" Danielle nosly asked. "What did they want?"
"None of your concern," he stated, feeling no need to explain the conversation he just had with his receptionist. He looked into the mirror to see the disapproving look from the back seat. "I have something to handle at my office, and I have to take you with me. You're going to go in, sit down, and not say a word. I..."
James's sentence was interrupted by sirens.
James pulled his vehicle to the side of the road as blue lights followed. "Right now, I just want you to sit back and be quiet, so I can handle this," he explained before letting his window down. "Morning, Officer Porter." He pronounced the name on the officer's tag with confidence, making it seem like he naturally knew his name.
"Morning judge," the police officer nodded. "I just wanted to warn you was speeding back there."
"I apologize for that. I was handling a call," he admitted. "It's a busy time for me."
Porter nodded. "I understand. You're busy, but being distracted by your phone is unsafe, for you and other drivers."
"Are you going to write a ticket, or are you going to waste time," Danielle chimed in from the back seat.
"Excuse my daughter. She's having a bad morning," James explained to the officer.
"You can go, but remember the speed limit," he said before stepping back.
"I will. Have a nice day." James rolled his window up and drove off. He looked into the mirror to see Danielle's facial expression mixed between questioning and amusement. "The world revolves around money and power. That kid was right about that," James acknowledged, remembering how Connor would constantly point it out. "I have both, so I have everything I could want. But let's take a small town dentist as an example," he said. "Of course, he might have a little money, but he will never have power. He can't control people and them do what he wants."
Danielle sat in silence before admitting, "I don't care." She turned back to look out the window.
The vehicle went dark as James pulled into a parking garage. After parking, he stepped out the SUV, and opened the child locked door beside Danielle. When she was outside of the vehicle, he pulled her close, so no passing bystanders could hear him.
"When we get to my office, you're going to sit down," he whispered. "You're not going to make eye contact with anyone. You're not going to speak unless spoken to, and when you do, you better watch yourself. Understand?" He watched the girl roll her eyes. "Danielle."
Danielle waited a moment before nodding. She kept her head down as James lead her through the building and into his office. She sat in a chair in the corner, where she couldn't be seen because of the large bookshelf beside her.
She continued to sit in the corner as time passed slowly. She pinched the end of the dress hanging over the leggings she wore. Her eyes fixed on the floor. Her mind filling with 'Danielle thoughts'. "If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?" she questioned in her mind.
"Morning Judge," a voice greeted causing Danielle to sit straight with wonder.
James looked up from his work. "Good Morning, Peter. How are you?"
"I'm good." A tall man stepped up to James's desk, allowing Danielle to only see his back. "You said you were done here after New Years. I didn't expect to see you working New Years Eve."
"They're going to milk as much as they can before I go." He took a moment to sign off a sheet in front of him then looked back at up. He glanced past Peter to Danielle. "After today, it's just me and my daughter, Danielle," he said, raising his arm to point at the girl in the corner of the office.
The man turned and smiled when he noticing her. "Well hello," he greeted. He held out his hand and began to walk towards Danielle.
"Don't talk to me," Danielle ordered, looking at the floor.
"Well." Peter stepped back and ran his hand through his salt and pepper colored hair. He turned to James, thinking of something to say. "I've met your son a couple of times, but I never knew you had a daughter."
The two men continued to communicate through small conversations for several more minutes.
"Where are you going?" James asked after Danielle stood from her chair and started to walk.
She turned to the men and closed her hands in front of her. "Father, may I go to the powder room?" she asked with sarcasm oozing from every word.
"Can it wait?" he asked. He didn't want her wandering around his place of work alone, when she could be reconsidered, or say anything to anyone. "We'll leave soon."
"No," she lied. "I'll find it myself."
"I can show her," Peter volunteered.
James took a long pause to think before approving. James always thought of Peter as a twit. If the man didn't have pictures he wouldn't remember his own kids.
Danielle followed behind the suited man as he lead her down the hall. "Thanks," she mumbled after he pointed to the bathroom door. As the door closed, she could see Peter still standing outside. She peeked out the door and said, "I'm not a child. You don't have to wait for me to come out." She shooed Peter away before stepping back in.
Minutes later, when Danielle exited the restroom, she collided with another person.
"My bad," a light skinned young man said, picking up his cellphone that landed at Danielle feet. He stood straight and froze.
"Can I have my face back, please?" Danielle sarcastically asked, irritated by the boy's stare.
"I-I'm sorry," he apologized. "You look familiar." He studied the girl's face. "There was a girl that went to my old school. You two look alike."
Danielle chuckled. "Well, she's lucky. She gets to look like me."
"Mr. Rutherford."
"Hey, Judge Stone," the young man greeted.
James approached the two. "How are you? Why are you here?"
"I came to see my mom," he admitted.
The judge nodded his head then looked at Danielle. "It's time to go," he said, earning a nod. "Goodbye, Matt."
"Bye, Judge," he returned as the father and daughter turned. "It was nice meeting you," Matt said to Danielle.
"I wish I could say the same," Danielle said over her shoulder as they began to walk away.
"What the hell?" Danielle asked, seeing that every room in the mansion was empty, except for the brown boxes that were stacked in them. She turned to her father. "What's all this?"
"We're leaving," James answered. "I got a new place for us."
"Where?" she asked unamused.
"Everything's finished," Dusten announced, joining the two.
"You can go back up those stairs, and unpack these ugly ass boxes. I'm not going any damn where," Danielle loudly declared. James stepped towards her with his hand out, and she stepped back. "Don't touch me."
Mercedes was beginning to shine through the cracks. She didn't want to leave. She was willing to be Danielle, but deep down she wanted to be found and taken back to Ohio. If they left, than she might not be ever be.
Dustin threw his arm around the girl's shoulder and began to lead her away from James. "Go get some water, and calm down," he softly ordered. "Glasses are on the counter." He released the girl to go to the kitchen. When she was out of the room, he turned to James. "She's taken care of."
Mercedes took small steps towards the kitchen as she tried to get back into character. When she walked into the kitchen, she finds Jason pouring himself a drink. "Of course you're drinking," she sarcastically said as she walked by the table where he sat.
"How's the view from up there, princess?" Jason asked. He laughed at the girl's glower. "I bet that you never had a drink. You were just a goody two shoes that did everything that was asked."
Without a word, she took the glass from between Jason's fingers. She tilted the glass back against her lips without hesitation. She slammed the glass on the table and turned, trying to hide the burn of the alcohol. It was nothing like what she drunk at Rachel's party. Unable to hold it in, she began to cough.
Jason laughed at the girl in front of him. "Congratulation. You just had your first real drink," he said as she finally stopped coughing. "Bourbon."
She rolled her eyes and continued through the kitchen. She reached inside the box for a glass. As she turned, the glass slipped from between her numb fingers. She squatted to pick up the shards, but fell backwards in a daze. She saw Jason enter her view before she was blinded by blur.
Jason scooped the drugged girl into his arms and carried her out of the kitchen. "She's ready to go," he announced.
Thank you for reading.
I had to write most of this chapter alone, because my cowriter is a little busy.
I want to lastly think all the people who've reviewed, followed, favorited, and just simply read my story. I'm glad y'all are sticking in there Thank Y'all.