How Feelings Change
Chapter 25: Thanksgiving Dinner
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom, only the stories plot is mine.
I'm not dead! And I finally have another chapter for you! I'm sorry this took so long (a whole week longer than expected) but now the newest chapter is hear for your enjoyment!
I love you guys to pieces, so I won't bore you with details of the crap that's going on in my life, so lets just get onto the story.
ZZZ
Jazz marveled at Danny's determination as he stared at the chess board between them, never in her entire life had she seen her little brother more focused than he was right at that moment. It was only two hours ago that she had begun to teach him chess, explaining how each piece moved, several of the more common strategies, and the overall objective of the game, and he had soaked it all up like a sponge. They had played 4 games already, and even though she had beaten him every time, he was getting closer and closer to victory.
She gazed at the board anxiously, she could clearly see the move that would allow her brother to finally win. She almost couldn't believe that she hadn't seen the strategy he was employing, but now it was too late and she was one rook away from loosing for the first time ever.
Danny reached out and picked up the rook, moving it into position and jazz groaned, "You are the first person to ever beat me at chess."
"Well I had a great teacher and plenty of motivation," he smiled at Jazz before shooting a glance at Sam, who was reclining on the couch while reading from one of her textbooks.
"I have to agree there," Jazz chuckled, but suddenly her face became very thoughtful and her gaze shifted from her brother to Sam. "I just thought of something," she told him softly, "Is it possible that Vlad doesn't know that the Fright Knight failed?"
"He might not know for a little while," Danny replied, rubbing his eyes in an attempt to relieve the headache that he was beginning to get from concentrating so hard on the chess game, "But he has so many minions running around, that before long he'll know that the Fright Knight failed, and he'll change his game plan accordingly."
"You're right," Jazz groaned, smoothing her long red hair back agitatedly, "That bastard is too damn smart for his own good!"
"Since when do you swear?" Danny asked his sister, an eyebrow raised incredulously.
"Since I got pregnant," she narrowed her eyes at him, a clear sign that a mood swing was coming on, "And since I learned that a psychopath is after my unborn niece or nephew!"
"Relax Jazz," Sam called from the couch, lifting her eyes from the page that she was reading to shoot the redhead a glance before returning to what she was reading.
Danny shook his head slightly, "How can you remain so calm through all of this Sam?"
"Not sure," she replied, flipping the page, "I guess that I'm just trying to go with the flow. Stress isn't good for anyone."
Danny chuckled to himself as he began to reset the chess board.
ZZZ
For their first normal Thanksgiving in nearly two decades, Sam had to admit that the Fentons had done a pretty good job. Not only did they have all the traditional foods, but they had also prepared vegetarian alternatives to the meat dishes. Everyone had dug into their food appreciatively, and now as the meal neared completion it was beginning to become obvious that the male portion of the table's occupants may have appreciated the meal a little too much.
"I think I'm going to explode," Gary groaned, leaning against Jazz with his eyes closed tightly.
"Well don't explode on me!" she giggled, pushing him away slightly, causing him to sway in his seat, a nauseous look coming over his face. Danny and Jack, who were in similar states, looked at Gary sympathetically as the nauseous expression slowly left his face.
"Maybe that will teach you boys not to eat so much," Maddie scolded, waggling a finger at them, "Just because it's Thanksgiving, doesn't mean that you can magically fit in an extra twenty pounds of food!"
"You're exaggerating mom," Danny whined slightly, "It was only about 10 extra pounds of food."
"That's beside the point," she told him, a grin on her face telling everyone that she wasn't mad and was just having a little fun at their expense. Standing up she began to gather the dishes, "All of you go pass out in the living room and I'll clean up in here."
"I'll help," Jazz and Sam said at the same time, before laughing in unison at their speaking in tandem. The guys all glanced at them oddly before slouching into the living room.
"Honestly you two," Maddie laughed, placing her armful of dishes in the sink before beginning to put the food away, "I can do this myself, it isn't to often anymore that I get to be a domestic. Sometimes I like acting like a housewife instead of a scientist. And besides, I want the two of you to take it easy while you're here. I know that both of you work very hard back home so this should be a vacation for you!"
"But Mom!" Jazz whined, sounding much younger than she actually was, "I'm going to be here until next semester! If I don't do something I'll go nuts!"
"You'll be doing all your schoolwork for the rest of the semester on your computer," Maddie countered, narrowing her eyes at her daughter, "You know that you're predisposed to panic attacks, and that's the last thing you need in you condition." She turned to Sam before the raven haired girl even had a chance to open her mouth, "And you need to take it easy too missy. So the two of you march your butts into the living room right now and relax while I finish up here!"
"Yes ma'am," the girls chorused as they turned and headed for the living room defeated.
Walking around the side of one of the Fenton's couches, Sam threw herself down heavily next to Danny and leaned against him. While Jazz moved to the vacant armchair next to the one occupied by her dad, stepping over Gary who was laying face down on the carpet, in the process.
"I'm never eating again," Gary groaned, his voice muffled by the thick blue carpet.
"Like that promise is going to last long," Jazz rolled her eyes as she poked Gary in the side with her foot, "As soon as mom brings out the pumpkin pie later you'll be singing a different tune."
"I forgot about pie," he replied, propping himself up on his elbows to look at her.
Sam chuckled, "No wonder you get along so well with everyone Gary, you're just like the rest of the guys in the family."
"Yeah he is," Danny agreed, "I think that Tucker is probably the only other person I know that can keep up with me and dad once we dig in."
"Oh shoot!" Jazz said, jerking her hand up to look at her watch, "I forgot to tell you guys, Tucker called earlier to see if it was alright for him to come over after dinner. He should be here any minute."
"That's great!" Danny said excitedly, "I didn't think that he was going to be able to come home for thanksgiving because of that stupid computer project."
"Well thanks to you little bit of help this summer, they were able to finish it on time," she told him, as she closed her eyes leaning back into the armchair.
"I didn't know that you were good with computers Danny," Gary said, rolling onto his side and looking at Danny expectantly, "So what kind of problem was it?"
"Well," Danny answered, rubbing the back of his head nervously, "It wasn't exactly a computer problem…"
"Was it their server? Or network problems?" Gary was now sitting up and talking animatedly. Danny briefly recalled Jazz mentioning something about Gary being a closet computer nerd.
"Actually the problem was more of the ectoplasmic nature," Sam chuckled.
"What?" Gary asked confused.
"Don't tell me you don't know about our family business, my boy!" Jack said leaning forward, and patting Gary on the back, nearly knocking him forward, "The Fentons are the world's best ghost hunters!" Danny sighed heavily, he was eternally grateful that Jazz had got him to tell his parents about the little excursion to the Virgin Islands, minus the part about him being a halfa.
Recognition suddenly donned on Gary's face, "That's right; Jazz told me that you guys were pro-active paranormal investigators! I completely spaced on that, you'd think after what happened here the other night I would have remembered that!"
"Gary, for such a smart guy, you can be a total space cadet," Jazz groaned, covering her face with her hands.
The room fell silent for a moment before a slight chuckle came from Sam, craning her neck to look at Danny she began laughingly, "Maybe will actually find out how much money he's made off of those bets about us!"
"From the way he took the news about the baby, I'm assuming that it's a lot," Danny replied.
"Wait a minute," Gary said holding up his hands, "Let me get this straight. Your best friend made money off of bets he placed about the two of you? Didn't anyone think it could be rigged? I mean he is your friend, wouldn't people think that he had insider information?"
"That's the thing Sweetheart," Jazz giggled, shaking her head, "These two are so stubborn that it took them years to even admit that they like each other. Tucker spent a better part of high school trying to get them to fess up, but these two knuckle heads just had to take their own sweet time about everything." She paused for a minute, chuckling to herself, "Everyone knew that they were going to get together eventually, but no one, not even Tucker knew when that would be. He's just a good guesser."
"You make us sound hopeless and clueless!" Danny huffed at his sister, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Are you trying to tell me that your not?" Jazz responded, an eyebrow raised questioningly.
Danny was about to reply when the doorbell rang. "That must be Tuck," he said, groaning as he stood up and headed to the door, returning moments later with Tucker.
"Oh my gosh, Sam!" Tucker said, his eyes widening until they looked ready to pop free of their sockets, "You're huge!"
Sam rolled her eyes, as she stood up to give her friend a hug, "Gee thanks Tuck."
"I didn't mean it like that!" he said, suddenly realizing how what he said sounded, "It's just you look ready to pop!"
"I'm not even due until March," she told him, putting her hands on her hips.
"It's not twins is it?" he asked, eyes locked on Sam's abdomen.
"Honestly Tucker," Jazz scolded, from her seat across the room, "You haven't been around many pregnant women have you? Sam's just as big as she should be for five months."
Tucker finally turned to face Jazz, whom he knew to be due next month, and did a double take. "I guess my perspective is a little off," he admitted, seeing just how much bigger Jazz's stomach was than Sam's.
"It's okay Tucker," Sam said patting him on the back, "You've always been a little off, but we've gotten used to it by now."
ZZZ
A/N: I finally finished this chapter! Yay me! I have been working on it for the past week in between classes, and college stuff. It would have been up this morning, but FFN was having problems and I couldn't upload it until now. Hopefully the next chapter will come faster than this one did, but I can't make any guarantees because I have a really heavy course load this semester. But I will do my best to have the next chapter up by next week.
Y'all are my inspiration and your reviews keep me going, even as college crushes me into the ground.
Please R&R,
Dirty Thoughts of Bliss