How Feelings Change

Chapter 21: Visiting the Family

Disclaimer: I don't own it.

I know that it is not advisable for pregnant women to ride on planes after a certain point, but I'm not sure what it is. I believe that it's seven or eight months but I could be wrong. Also about the age at which a baby begins to move around, I've had friends that could feel it as early as three months, and others who couldn't until eight months, so I'm just using it as I see fit.

NOTE: In order to keep the story progressing I have skipped ahead to November.

ZZZ

Sam toyed with the long silver chain around her neck as her eyes staid trained on the small window to her right, watching the clouds passing below them; Danny, who was asleep to her left with his head on her shoulder, shifted slightly, his hand coming to rest on her slightly bulging stomach. A smile danced across her lips as she glanced sideways at him; ever since she had begun to show in the slightest, he had become infinitely fascinated with her stomach. It was annoying at times, but mostly it brought a smile to her lips. His behavior was the single thing that kept her from freaking out again, like she had when she first had found out that she was pregnant.

His unwavering acceptance of the whole situation had kept her from going to pieces over little things, though for the most part, besides being tired a lot, her pregnancy so far had been very mild. She hadn't even had morning sickness, only the occasional craving for meat and dairy, which annoyed her greatly with being a vegetarian and all. But after a talk with Jazz about cravings being her bodies way of telling her what her baby needed, she had gritted her teeth and grudgingly allowed herself to start eating dairy foods, instead of her soy based substitutes, and had even went as far as to include eggs in her diet. Placing a hand on her stomach next to Danny's, she sighed, if this was what it took for their baby to be healthy, she would do it, she just hopped that she could avoid actual meat.

Danny shifted slightly in his seat, mumbling something incoherent under his breath, and the loud speaker crackled to life, "We will be landing at Amity Park Municipal Airport in a few minutes, thank you for choosing our airline and have a nice day." The pilot's voice faded out and Sam placed a hand on Danny's shoulder to shake him awake.

She had barely placed her hand on his shoulder when he shot upright, his eyes flaring green briefly before settling on his normal blue after he realized where he was. "Sorry," he mumbled as he slouched backwards into his seat, "I was having a really weird dream right before you woke me up."

"It's alright," she smiled, placing one of her hands over his, "I'm used to you occasionally waking up like that."

"Well you shouldn't have to be," he stated seriously, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Quit it," she said, pushing his shoulder playfully with one hand, "You know that it doesn't bother me, and it shouldn't bother you. You are what you are, and there is no changing that."

"Well because of who I am, our kid is going to grow up being the same kind of freak as me," he sighed, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the seat, "And they won't have friends that know about it like I did."

"Don't be so hard on yourself," she told him firmly as she gave him a kiss on the cheek, "Our baby won't have to depend on their friends to help them get through it because you'll be there for them every step of the way, knowing exactly what they're going through is like."

"What if I'm no good at being a dad?" he asked softly, never opening his eyes.

"Well it's a little late to be worrying about that!" she joked, taking his hand and placing it on her stomach, before continuing much more seriously "Just don't worry about it Danny, you're going to be a great dad."

"I wish that I could be as sure about it as you are," he opened on eye and peered at her, ignoring the turbulence that was beginning to shake the plane.

"I know you Danny," she stated, "And I know that when you set your mind to it you can do anything. So why should this be any different?"

"You know why," he replied, opening his eyes a split second before the plane touched down.

"Danny we have four more months to worry about that stuff," she took his hand in hers and gave it a reassuring squeeze, "So let's just try and relax. Thanks to your grandmother's pendant the baby is safe so let's just try not to worry too much."

"Alright," he replied with a heavy sigh as he stood, pulling her to her feet and grabbing both of their carry on bags, before beginning to follow the disembarking passengers. Within minutes they had made it into the main airport, both looking around blinkingly at their surroundings as they tried to force their eyes to adapt more quickly to the bright light filtering in through the giant windows the circled the airport, as apposed to the dim lighting on the plane.

"We should get the rest of our bags and then head over to Gate G, your sister's plane should be landing in ten minutes," Sam said, lacing her fingers through his.

"It was smart for you and Jazz to book flights that landed around the same time," Danny said, as he allowed her to pull him through the crowd of people, towards the luggage claim.

"Well we figured that that way we could all just share a cab to your parent's house, being that we're all staying there," she said matter-o-factly before she yawned slightly, "Jazz also reminded me to pack the blowup mattress, seeing as how your bed is sitting in our guest room in Spirit Haven."

"Ah, the bonuses of having smart women in the family," he grinned as he stretched languidly. Sam giggled and continued to pull him towards the baggage claim, where they quickly collected their bags and headed for Gate G.

Sam sat down heavily in on of the uncomfortable plastic airport chairs, a sigh escaping her as she settled both her hands on her stomach, "I just realized that this'll be the first time that I meet Gary." She spoke with her eyes closed as she turned her head slightly towards Danny, who had just sat down beside her.

"I've met him a couple of times," he yawned, laying is arm over her shoulder, "He's a nice guy. I think that you two will get along pretty well, in his spare time he works on getting environmental issues noticed on the Harvard Campus."

"Well Jazz seems to think that he's pretty great, and I've always trusted her judgment…" Suddenly a strange look spread across Sam's face, and she squirmed slightly in her seat before speaking again, "Oh, I need to get up."

"What is it!" he asked slightly panicked as he leapt to his feet to help Sam stand.

"Your kid is moving around again," she said slowly as her face returned to normal, "No kicking, but a kind of scooting." Sam grabbed Danny's hand and placed it on her stomach, where the baby could still be felt shifting positions, "The baby seems to enjoy pushing on some of my internal organs."

"But everything's fine, right?" he asked, a concerned look on his face.

"Yep," she nodded smiling, "It just kind of makes me a little nauseous when the little bugger starts shifting around like that." She laughed slightly, a warm smile spreading across her face as she leaned her forehead against Danny's shoulder, completely content in the moment until a very familiar voice cut across the airport.

"Danny! Sam!" Jazz shouted excitedly, before rushing over and hugging them both awkwardly around her burgeoning stomach, "I'm so excited to see both of you!"

"Where's Gary?" Danny asked, looking around for his soon to be brother-in-law.

"He offered to go get the bags while I looked for you two," she said with a smile, as she held Sam at arms length and looked over her appraisingly, "Goodness you've grown. I just hope that you two are taking good care of my niece or nephew." She waggled her finger at them in a mock scolding motion.

"Of course we are," Sam chuckled.

"Have you had a doctor's appointment yet?" Jazz asked, switching into her all business manner.

"Well about that," Sam said laughing slightly, scratching the back of her neck nervously, a habit that she had picked up from Danny, "There's a slight problem with going to a conventional doctor."

"Please tell me this isn't one of your weird vegetarian things," Jazz groaned, covering her face with her hands.

"Not exactly," Sam replied, "You see, the baby takes after its Daddy… a lot."

"Should have seen that one coming," Jazz admitted, nodding in acceptance, "But how did you figure it out this early."

"We'll tell you back at Fenton Works," Danny answered, "I'd rather not accidentally spill my secret in the middle of the airport."

"Good idea," Jazz replied, glancing over her shoulder towards the baggage claim. Where a tall, well built, brunette man had just finished grabbing luggage and was heading over towards the group, "Here comes Gary." She smiled sweetly at the man.

He walked up to the group slowly, totting several large duffle bags and two rolling suitcases, "Hey Danny." He smiled broadly with teeth that seemed oddly white for his skin tone, as he sat down enough of the luggage so that he could shake Danny's hand, before turning to Sam, "You must be Sam, Jazz has told me loads about you. From what I heard you were really there for her before her parents found out about the baby."

"She's like the older sister I never had," Sam said, grinning at the redhead who had to begun to bounce excitedly on the balls of her feet after Gary had joined them. Once the words were out of Sam's mouth, Jazz grabbed her, pulling her into an awkward hug, both of them having to lean forward over their stomachs to do so.

"That's so sweet," Jazz sniffled, as she pulled back wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. But as quickly as the change between excited and sappy-sentimental had occurred, Jazz shifted into her all business mode, "We should really get our stuff together and get a cab. Mom and dad know when our flights are supposed to get in, so they'll probably go spastic if we're too late." She paused, "Danny have you talked to them lately?"

"I talked to mom a little last week," he said as he and Gary gathered the luggage and began to head for the door, "Why?"

"Well mom has been calling me at least once a day for the past month, her and dad are going a little crazy with excitement over them soon becoming grandparents," a soft smile spread across her face, "They actually promised that we're going to have a normal thanksgiving this year. Dad said that once we get to the house, he's locking the lab and isn't going to go back down there at all this week unless it's an emergency."

"Wow," Danny said surprised, "I guess we won't have to worry as much about his inventions going nuts on us."

"We won't have to worry at all," she said, sounding like she was still in shock about the entire situation with there parents, "Mom is locking everything with the word Fenton on it in the basement."

"Man, becoming grandparents is sure changing them," Danny said, pushing the door to the airport open and holding for the others, before following them outside.

The group stopped on the sidewalk as Gary began to hail a cab, but before a cab could show up, Sam felt herself being suddenly hugged from behind as a very preppy voice announced loudly, "It's good to see you creepy goth girl!"

"Paulina!" she choked out, prying the Latino girl's arms off of her and turning around to face her, "What are you doing here?"

"My grandmother surprised me yesterday with a plane ticket home so I could spend thanksgiving with Mama and Papa," she suddenly stepped back and looked Sam over appraisingly, "You've gotten fat."

"No," Sam corrected patiently, "I got pregnant."

The girl screeched with excitement and pulled her into another hug, "I'm so happy for you!" The honking of a car horn could be heard and Paulina turned her head to see the car, "That's my Papa, I gotta go." Waving cheerily she ran off to where her father was waiting for her.

"That's the second time I've been mauled by a prep," Sam said, turning back to face the group, "And the scary thing is, I'm actually starting to think that she's not such a bad person. Take her out of a high school environment and she almost becomes a semi-normal human being." Sam paused, "Me and her actually used to be fairly good friends in elementary, she would come over to my house and we'd play dress up and stuff when we were in first grade. But somewhere around Junior high we kind of just started hating each other."

"I actually remember that," Jazz said, looking thoughtful, "You came over looking really pissed, and I had asked you what's wrong." Jazz chuckled, "You and Danny had always been really tight and Paulina had just been a casual friend that you hung out with once in a while when you needed a break from Danny and Tucker, but when she told you that she had a crush on Danny in seventh grade you two just started to fight none stop. It was around then that we started calling you, Danny, and Tucker the golden trio, because where you saw one, you also saw the other two."

"Paulina had a crush on 'me' in seventh?" Danny asked incredulously, one eyebrow raised. A cab pulled up and Gary and Danny began to load stuff into the trunk.

"Don't sound so surprised," Sam crossed her arms over her chest, "But I told her to back off. I actually think that I may have punched her in the shoulder for it. It was after that that she started that whole 'lovebirds' thing. It really embarrassed me at first because she had figured out that I liked you," Sam was blushing as she spoke, "But she never came out and told you, she just got everyone to pick on us."

"Wait a minute!" Danny said, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation as Gary slammed the trunk shut, "You had a crush on me then too."

"Does 'Clueless One' ring any bells?" she asked with a laugh as she, Jazz, and Danny climbed into the backseat of the cab, and Gary climbed into the front.

"Man!" he whined, "I really was completely blind, wasn't I?"

"Yep," Jazz chimed in, patting her brother on the head with a laugh, "But you wised up and that's the important part."

"Took him long enough," Sam huffed jokingly as she crossed her arms over her chest, a smile creeping onto her lips.

The four continued to talk as the cab headed into the city, and within what seemed like just a few minutes it pulled up in front of Fenton Works. No sooner than the cab was completely stopped, the buildings front door burst open and Jack and Maddie rushed out to great them, pulling everyone into her arms for a hug.

Finally releasing them, Maddie took a step back and looked at them beamingly, "Oh, I can't believe that both my babies are going to be parents!"

Jazz smiled warmly at her mother, "You better believe it."

"Well everyone come in!" her smile widened as she looked at the two couples, before pushing the door open and ushering them inside.

"Yeah, and say hello to our other guest," Jack interjected the smile on his face broad as he placed a hand on his daughter and son's shoulders. "Hey V-man!" he shouted in the direction of the stairs, "Come down, the kids are here!"

Danny, Sam, and Jazz all bristled slightly as the man whom had been Jack's college rival came strutting down the stairs of Fenton Works as if he owned the place. Coming to a stop in front of them, he smoothed his gray hair and shot them all a devilish smile, "My it seems that the Fenton Clan just keeps growing. Dear sweet Maddie, you are far to young to be a grandmother." He gave Maddie his best attempt at a charming smile, which came across more like a sly scowl, before turninging back to the ones in front of him, "My young Daniel, we simply must catch up. You must tell me all about this wonderful school that you're going to." Reaching out, Vlad caught Danny by the arm and began to drag the young halfa off.

Entering the next room, Danny pulled his arm free and glared at the other man, "What do you want Plasmius, and why are you staying with my parents for thanksgiving?"

"Why Daniel, I simply want to talk," he smiled, "And as to why I am here, your oaf of a father invited me."

"I don't buy it," Danny growled, "You always have an ulterior motive for everything."

Ignoring Danny's comment, Vlad moved across the room, picking up a vase and turning it over in his hands to inspect it before speaking again, "What I really want to talk about is you and the Manson girl. Surely she didn't offer to bare your part ghost offspring."

"You leave Sam and the baby out of this!" Danny snarled, his eyes flashing green as he leapt over the couch that was separating them, "I swear that if you do anything to either of them I will kill you." His voice lowered to an even more threatening pitch, "Do you understand me?"

"Ah, young Daniel," he sighed, rolling his eyes, "You become more ghost-like with each passing day. You are so defensive over things that you consider yours. Honestly, you are going to be just like me before long…" he paused, "At least after you get rid of those blasted emotions."

"Plasmius…" Danny growled threateningly, his clenched fists suddenly become surrounded with a glowing green ecto-blast, despite still being in his human form.

"Alright, I acquiesce," Vlad said, holding his hands in front of him to show surrender, "I will leave the girl and your spawn alone." he began to leave the room, "At least for now."

Danny was about to chase after him and demand an explanation, when a shriek from Sam in the front room reached his ears. Running to the front room he saw her standing by the window next to the front door, peering out it in disbelief. She turned to face him, her eyes wide as she barely managed to speak. "It's my parents," she whispered, "They just pulled up and are heading to the door now."

He came to stand beside her, "We have to face them sometime."

"Could we face them later," she asked, her face the picture of nervousness, "Like when the baby is six or seven years old?"

"No," he chuckled slightly, "The sooner the better." He turned to his mom who had also arrived to investigate Sam's shriek, "Can you keep everyone in the other room for a while, Sam's parents just showed up."

"Sure honey," she smiled encouragingly at them before heading into the kitchen where the others were.

A knock sounded at the door, and Danny opened it tentatively. On the front step, the Mansons stood, with arms crossed over their chests and identical frowns etched onto their faces. "Why is it that we are the last to know that our daughter decided to come home for thanksgiving break?" Sam's mother asked, her eyes flashing with barely contained anger.

Sam crossed her arms over her chest and glared back at them, "I assumed that you didn't want to see me, seeing as how I'm such a disappointment to you both." A smirk suddenly crossed Sam's lips, "I also didn't want to run the risk of you trying to hook me up with another of your friend's children. I have every intention of staying with Danny and nothing you two say will change my mind."

"You see here young lady!" her mother pointed a finger at her as she took a step forward, "As a Manson, you have certain responsibilities. And as soon as that bastard child of yours is born, you are to put it up for adoption and we'll cover the whole thing up. Then we can hopefully find a suitable husband!"

Danny was about to cut in when Sam's father caught him by the arm and began to pull him into another room, he was about to break away but one glance from Sam told him that it was better for him to talk to her father in the other room than stay for the fight that was about to ensue. With how loud Sam was known to be, he'd surely hear it in the other room anyway.

Sam's hands were clenched at her sides and her entire body was shaking when she finally lifted her amethyst eyes to meet her mother's gaze, "How dare you." She hissed, before her voice quickly began to gain in volume, "I am not going to give up my baby for your asinine ideas of what is right! I love Danny and nothing you do is going to change that! I have spent the last 18 years as a Manson and I don't plan on being one any longer than I absolutely have too!" She was shaking much more violently now and was barely keeping the baby from changing her eyes an electric green to reflect her anger. "I want you out of here now!" she pointed at the door, barely acknowledging her father and Danny coming out of the living room to join them.

"Come on dear," her father soothed, catching her mother by the arm and leading her towards the door, "Being this angry is bad for your digestion." The door closed behind them with a snap.

Turning to Danny, Sam buried herself into his chest as he hugged her tightly. They stayed like that for a moment before Sam glanced up at Danny's stunned face, "So what did my dad say?"

"He offered his blessing once I explained to him that we plan on getting married," he chuckled slightly at Sam's confused expression, "Apparently your mother hasn't been telling him the truth concerning the two of us. He's going to talk to your grandmother when they get home and the two of them are going to try to get your mom to accept that we're together."

"Thank goodness for small miracles," she sighed into his chest as he kissed her softly on top of her head, "I just hope that they change her mind before she does something really stupid."

"Don't worry Sammy," he whispered into her ear, "Things are going to work themselves out."

"I hope you're right," she replied, closing her eyes as one of Danny's hands left the small of her back to rest on her stomach. 'I really hope that you're right, for all of our sake's.' she continued in her mind as she allowed herself to relax a little, content in the fact that at least right then, things were going to be okay.

ZZZ

A/N: Guys I'm really sorry for the long gap. I had finals last week and half of this chapter was written virtually a sentence at a time whenever I had a spare second. But finals are over and I have a couple of weeks until I start summer classes so hopefully I'll be updating more frequently until the story is over. I can honestly say though, that I love this story and won't abandon it so have no fear.

If everything goes right I should have the next chapter up by the end of this week, but I'm not making any promises. I have a horse that I need to get back into shape and a heifer that will be dropping her first calf any day now, so something might come up and postpone an update.

Thanks for putting up with me, you guys are seriously the best.

I'll see you next time.

Please R&R,

Dirty Thoughts of Bliss