Clockwork kept the growing smile to himself, trying not to give any reaction that he knew she was there. The young halfa crept closer, still invisible as if that would do any good. When she was but a metre away, Clockwork decided to break the silence.
"No, Danielle. They are not here yet."
Danielle huffed as she dropped the invisibility and landed on the floor with a soft thud. "I thought I almost had you that time." She mumbled to herself.
Clockwork chuckled again, his amusement making Danielle blush. "So, when are they gonna be here?" She asked, changing the subject.
The Ghost of Time turned from his screens and gestured towards the door as he started floating towards it. "Very shortly. We should go downstairs and prepare to greet them."
The halfa's eyes lit up with her body and she flew out the door and towards the stairs. Ever since they'd found a way to safely and permanently stabilise her, Danielle had been alternating between bouts of energy where she used her powers non-stop, and moments of continued wariness from the past. Today, it was the former, mostly due to the fact that she was excited to see her siblings.
Daniel and Jasmine didn't visit as often as they would like. They tried to come every weekend, but with their busy lives it was more like every second weekend. Though Danielle was happy for every visit, glad that they were able to take the time regardless. She'd been a bit worried at first, that they would no longer see the need to involve themselves in her life after being taken in by Clockwork. She was ecstatic when he'd offered to be her guardian and give her a home, of course, but she didn't want to be left behind by her siblings.
Those fears were quickly erased though, as both older children made it abundantly clear that even if she had a new home far from them and they weren't able to see each other as much as they used to, they would still be family.
The two didn't have to wait long at the front of their lair for the Spectre Speeder to come into view and Danielle was twirling in excitement by the time they came to a stop at the tower. The moment the doors opened, and their visitors stepped out, they were both being squeezed by their youngest sister.
"Hey Elliebean." Danielle grinned, as she always did, at her brother's nickname for her.
"How've you been Elle?" Jasmine asked, smiling at the girl.
"Great!" Danielle's face lit up in excitement, "Ooh, ooh, yesterday, Clockwork took me to see the Eifel Tower getting made, and I tried an éclair. They're really good."
"Was the subject architecture or French pastries?" Daniel asked sarcastically.
Clockwork floated towards them with a chuckle, "Neither. French history. The éclair was a reward for answering all the questions correctly."
Danielle didn't attend a public school. They were still discussing whether or not she should or if she wanted to, but she still had a lot of gaps in her knowledge due to her lack of an education. Clockwork was filling in those gaps through their version of home schooling and once she was all caught up to what was expected of her age group, then she could decide how she wanted to further her education.
"Acing all your tests already." Jazz sent her sister a proud look and held up her hand for a high five, "Nice job."
As Danielle reciprocated with a giggle, Daniel came up to Clockwork and gave him a hug. "Hi Clockwork."
"Hello Daniel." Clockwork held the boy tightly, "How were your travels?"
Daniel shrugged as he left the hug, "Uneventful. Seriously, not even Walker bothered us."
"I'm pretty sure he's given up." Jazz smiled with a shrug.
"Well that is cause to celebrate." Clockwork gestured to Danielle, "And Danielle has the perfect thing she's been wanting to show you two."
At the reminder, Danielle's face lit up, "Come on, I made cookies, you have to try them." She dragged her laughing siblings inside, followed by a smiling Clockwork.
The Ghost of Time had never expected to have anything close to a family, but he thanked the Ancients every day for these kids.
Boy, was this hard to write. I restarted this about three times before I stuck with something and finished it. I'll admit, I'm a little burnt out from writing after all this, which is why this is several days late, but I've committed and I will finish. I already have something for the final prompt and I will be posting it shortly after this.
But first, I want to talk about a Guest review I got recently. They told me to give a good review on a fic by Zim'sMostLoyalServant, or they would troll me and my followers. The author reached out to me a few days ago to say that they did not leave that review and that a troll had been leaving reviews like that on several other people's stories in the DP and other fandoms. They said this reviewer (maybe more than one) had been leaving links to other writers' fics in the Invader Zim fandom with their insulting reviews. I will delete the review, but I just want to let all my readers who are writers know that if you come across something like this, please PM the author to ask if they know about it or let them know what's happening. This isn't fair to anyone and we shouldn't let trolls get the satisfaction.