Author's note: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, I had major writter's block! But now I finally got it done. Enjoy!
The next few hours were spent looking at old photo albums. The gang was gathered around, laughing at what Danny was like when he was little.
"And here he is at the park," Mrs. Perez said, "He didn't along too well with the geese." The picture was of a three year old Danny being chased by a goose. Everyone started laughing, except for Danny of course.
"No wonder I never liked those things!" he said as he looked at the photo.
"And here he was on his little tricycle," Mrs. Perez said as she pointed to another picture.
"Aww, he was so cute," Stell said, pinching Danny's cheek. Danny swatted her hand away. Mrs. Perez smiled and turned the page. Her smile faded slowly as her eyes set on one photograph in particular. It was of Mrs. Perez, a much younger Robert, much much younger Danny, and a man.
"Who's that guy?" Danny asked, looking at the picture. Mrs. Perez now had a sort of sad look on her face.
"That was your father," she said, still looking at the photo.
"Was?" Danny asked in confusion, "What happened to him?"
"He died of cancer when you were still a baby," Mrs. Perez told him, "I guess you wouldn't remember him, but he was a great man."
"I remember him a little," Robert said, "not much though." Danny was still looking at the picture. His mother had been right; he did look a lot like his father.
"I'm sorry Danny," Sarah said, seeing how Danny had not yet responded.
"Yeah man, that's awful," Vince added. Danny looked up at them.
"It's okay," he said, "it's not like I remember him anyways." Danny had always hated when people felt sorry for him, no matter how bad something was. "He doesn't look Mexican," he noted, hoping to lighten the subject, "Is some other heritage."
"Oh, yes," Mrs. Perez said, "Your father was a mixture of things. He had some Scottish, some German, and I think even a little Native American."
"So I guess I'm kind of a mutt then," Danny said jokingly. Mrs. Perez smiled.
"Most Americans have mixed heritage," she said, "You don't come across an actually American American very often."
***
Mrs. Perez was making dinner; spaghetti for nine. She had already run to the store to buy more noodles once, and was afraid that it still might be not enough.
"Don't worry," Sarah laughed, "it'll be plenty!" Mrs. Perez smiled.
"I guess I'm just an ol' worry wart," she said as she stirred the tomato sauce, "You know, this used to be one of Joseph's favorite meals."
"Please Mrs. Perez," Danny said from the kitchen table, "Call me Danny, that's the name I'm used to."
"I will when you call me Mom," said Mrs. Perez, "you don't have to address me like I'm a school teacher."
"I know, it just feels... weird calling someone Mom," Danny said. Sarah went over and sat at the table.
"You remember anything about living here yet?" she asked.
"Nope," Danny replied, "Nothin'. Not even the slightest Déjà Vu."
"Weird," Sarah said. Danny nodded.
"Dinner's about ready," Mrs. Perez said as she scooped a pile of noodles onto a plate, "Can you two go get everyone?" Sarah and Danny both got up to go track down the others.
"Hey Vince!" Sarah yelled through the bathroom door, "Get out here, dinner's ready!" The shower cut off and there was a loud thump from inside the bathroom. A few seconds later, the door opened and stream poured out.
"You could have gotten dressed first," Sarah said flatly, Vince had only bothered to wrap a towel around himself. In response, Vince shook his wet hair, getting water all over the place.
"Ugh! Wha are you a dog?" Sarah protested, holing her hands up to keep from being hit in the face with water. Vince merely laughed as he walked past Sarah to go get dresses. Sarah rolled her eyes. "I think Danny is a bad influence on that boy," she muttered to herself.
Author's note: Woot! I also have more awesome writting for you guys! I wrote a character profile for all the Flying Free series characters that have been mentioned so far. The profile is on my page, you should go check it out! It has some stuff in it that I may have forgotten or just didn't have enough room to write in the story, so go do that!