Daddy's Little Heroes

By Prenn

.

Chapter 34: Unhindered

To Taylor's great surprise, Leo joined her in her dreadful stance of shame. "Our names aren't Jacob and Amanda. They're Leo and Taylor."

Muffled gasps splattered across the room. In all, it was Danny and Cecelia who were the most appalled. Cecelia's tan face went white as paper and her scraggly dark brown hair seemed to stand on end. Danny's wide blue eyes met Danielle's gaze. She nodded to him. And at that, he knew it was true. Those were their names.

"Coincidence." Danielle mouthed the word to Danny, but he hadn't realized she meant it as a question. Danny looked at Taylor and Leo really hard. So hard he almost squinted. It was Taylor's eyes that really struck a blow to Danny. Those are Cecelia's eyes, he thought. He knew. He just didn't want to believe it was possible. It wasn't possible. His and Cecelia's twins Taylor and Leo Fenton had died on the train crash.

Danny even saw the remains. At some point when Cecelia had been unconscious, the babies had fallen away and been crushed. There were multiple crashes of the trains. The first one had Danny and Cecelia out cold. And then there was Aiden, Danny's little son, who had slipped away to go get some ice cream and never returned. The crash left many dead and many crushed. Three of those that had died were Aiden, Taylor and Leo Fenton. And poor Danny and Cecelia cried themselves to sleep for a year. By that time, they were forced to move into the ghost zone because the war had begun…but Danny saw the corpses for himself, at least, what was left of them.

But…those eyes…Cecelia's perfect purple eyes…Danny racked his brain to come up with some possibility. But there wasn't any. None at all.

Garth looked all over the room for Sam Manson. But there were no goths present. He asked Tucker, "Where is Sam? She's not still living in that miserable little apartment, is she?"

"As far as I know." Said Tucker with a shrug.

The more appetizers that were being served, the more Garth was itching to get away. He needed to go visit Sam. He just had to. All this about facing death in the past few weeks had really made him re-think his life over and over. Would he have done some things differently? Yes.

First of all, he would have never have fought with Sam. But wishing's not going to get her back. He needed to go and see her face-to-face.

As Violeta continued to honor the war heroes by name, Garth decided it was time to slip away. "I'll be leaving now. I'll need to take my aerocar." Garth whispered to Cecelia, who was sitting next to him. She nodded, almost as if she was in a trance. Her gaze never broke from the twins. Garth followed Cecelia's gaze, and he suspected something which was never confirmed.

Second of all, he would have never have hurt Sam.

He departed, alone.

He knew the way to her apartment. He'd visited it before. Sometimes he used to just swing by, wondering if she was home but when he was around she never was.

Third of all, he would always be there for Sam.

Soon he found himself knocking on the thin door. Its brown color faded into grey. Garth faded into an image of his past.

It was a Monday evening. Something was up with Sam. Every day now, when he'd go to visit her, she seemed distant and cold. He didn't know why. With every visit and every effort he made, it seemed, she was just pushing them farther and farther apart. She wanted him to be here for her. But she knew this was an impossible request he could not live up to because he was dragon Prince and she refused to come and live with him in his castle.

And so, on this one day, came the final blow. Garth looked into those purple eyes of hers. They were very beautiful and very cold. He remembered kissing her one more time as they said goodbye. This was their permanent goodbye. Neither expected to see each other again, that with the war coming up. And Sam had been doused with an intense case of morning sickness as it was, so breaking up was not at all the solution she craved.

Compromises would need to be made, and that was that. Imagine her shock when she opened the door to see him, now that they haven't spoken in nearly—what is it—fourteen years now! "Come in, come in…Garth." Sam said the name as if she couldn't believe it was him.

She closed the door quickly and stood in front of it so that neither of them would be able to chicken out and make a quick exit.

If it were possible, Sam grew frighteningly pale the moment Lolita tiptoed in the room. "Mom? Why are you sneaking around—" Lolita gasped when she saw Garth standing there in the living room. She paused awhile to catch her breath. "Hello, Prince Garth. Nice of you to stop by." She said politely. And then she noticed her mother and worry filled her face. "Mother? You allright?"

Garth's stare at Sam was one of confusion and betrayal. Why was Lolita calling Sam her mother? Before Garth could concoct any conspiracy theories, Sam said, "Allright? Yes, I'm sure I'll be fine once we all sit down and have a little talk." She stepped away from the door and landed uncomfortably on the dark brown couch. Though Sam was skinny, she sunk right into the cushion because it lacked proper stuffing.

Lolita sat next to her mother. It was remarkable how much Lolita and Sam looked alike. Lolita was even wearing Sam's old clothes. Garth sat on the sofa opposite them. Lolita was surprised that it didn't break under all that man's weight.

"I…um…who wants to go first?" Sam said softly.

"Why is she—who—you—me—I thought—"Garth stammered out of confusion. "You and I, after we—"

"Yes. Yes. She is. Yes." Sam seemed to know what he was thinking enough.

Garth's eyes closed as if he was holding back a terrible gulp of pain, or frustration.

"I should've gone back with you when you asked me to." said Garth. "Now that I know, I wish I had. I was wrong. You were right."

"No, we were both wrong. It's all about Lolita now. It shouldn't need to be about me. I was always a little selfish. But either way, Lolita had to be protected. So I left her back in Amity Park. With the Baxters. She grew up as if she was Dash and Paulina's daughter. Lolita grew up alongside Casey Baxter."

"I understand he's here now." Garth said in a low tone. He still hadn't opened his eyes. Part of him wished that this wasn't happening. Part of him was just happy to be seeing Sam again. She hadn't really changed after all these years. He'd missed her very much. Too much for words to describe.

"Please don't let this hinder our relationship." Sam pleaded.

Garth was silent.

"What's going on?" Lolita chirped.

Garth opened his eyes. He and Sam both stared at the girl. They were both beginning to realize just how much she resembled the other. Garth wondered why he hadn't seen it before. Maybe he was just denying it the whole time. Of course, there was no way for him to know, because, she had never actually told him directly that she was going to have a baby.

"Lolita," Sam began but couldn't finish. She was about to cry.

Garth stood up, and the girls copied him. "Lolita, you're my daughter." Garth said gently.