I literally thought today was Wednesday, but of course it's not. I don't want to officially post on Thursdays though in case I forget and then start posting on Fridays. Yikes! Better luck next week?
In the last chapter we're given a glance at how Sam is homeschooling Dani. Often times Sam brings Dani out to see local sights and uses them as an educational opportunity. While visiting the town's art museum they are met with a ghost who Dani duels, but she's a bit rusty. Although not hurt as badly as Sam knows is possible, it was pure luck that Sam had an old Fenton invention to save the day. Are ghosts going to be a normal occurrence again now that Sam has welcomed a halfa back into her life? Then, while caring for Dani, Sam accidentally finds an unopened envelope with Dani's name on it. What information could be in an envelope of a halfa who couldn't read?
Chapter 7: Envelope
Sam's Bedroom
September 25th
1:13 pm
Dani was pleasantly awoken to the soothing feeling of her hair being played with. Knowing that only two people had ever bothered to comb through her messy mane and that she currently lived with one of them while the other she studiously avoided, Dani smiled upon opening her eyes to unsurprisingly find Sam sitting beside her. Dani remembered fighting the ghost and she also remembered blacking out at the end of the fight. She hadn't realized how much energy she had exerted and how tired she would be as a result, but she was happy to know that she had someone who would care for her and lookout for her while she recuperated from now on.
Yet her smile quickly diminished as she took notice of the item sitting oh so innocently on Sam's lap. It was her envelope with Frostbite's research. The same envelope that was supposed to be sitting at the bottom of a drawer in her room—out of sight and out of mind while she enjoyed living her new life. Why did Sam have it? Had Sam read it? What did it say?
"Hey sleepy head," Sam softly greeted to the now awake Dani, moving over slightly to cross her legs as Dani sat up with a fixed stare at the item in her lap. Sam ignored the elephant in the room for the moment being as she first asked, "How are you feeling?"
Dani didn't even bother for small talk as she pointed to her envelope and asked instead, "What did it say?"
"I don't know. I haven't opened it," Sam honestly answered, confused that Dani didn't seem relieved in any way. Her shoulders stayed tense and the fear hiding behind her beautiful blue eyes stayed put. Sam feared she may begin to hyperventilate if left alone with her thoughts for too much longer so she explained, "I want you to know that I found it when I went to grab your hair brush. I didn't go searching in your room for hidden secrets or anything." Sam hadn't had the luxury of privacy in her home when she'd been younger. Both her mother and father were prone to searching her room for anything that could be unseemingly or psychologically harmful until Sam had turned sixteen. They had a harder time adjusting to her Gothic personality than she had anticipated and it often left Sam feeling lonely, hurt, and unloved. She didn't want Dani to feel that way, especially when it came to their friendship.
Neither spoke again for a few minutes to allow the silence in the room to settle. Sam wanted to ask Dani about the envelope but she also wanted Dani to want to tell her. She wanted Dani to share when she felt comfortable to do so, so Sam focused on maintaining a neutral facial expression while showing her care in her eyes. Dani went from tapping her finger on her knee to picking the nail polish off her thumbs to twisting the ends of her hair all with an impatient three minutes passing by.
When the silence became too much for the younger, anxious girl she blurted, "Frostbite gave that to me. I stayed with him for a while and we did some research about me; about what I am." Dani continued to stare at the envelope, cutting Sam off as she further explained, "This is why I went to see—you know who—because I couldn't read the papers and they're supposed to be the answers to the questions we shared."
At that bombshell, Sam turned her gaze back onto the envelope resting heavily in her lap. The two didn't say anything as they realized what exactly this could mean for their new lives. What if the documents told of a horrible mutation that would lead to an early death for the girl? What if the results were inconclusive and Dani never had the answers she desperately looked for? What if—and Sam feared this the most—the results of Frostbite's data had information Danny would need to be privy too. They would have to contact the elder halfa then, and that would lead to nothing less than drama on his behalf.
Yet Sam knew that fear could not be reason alone to stay ignorant towards important information. "Dani, would you like me to help you read what's inside?" Sam quietly asked, eyes lifting from the envelope to the pale complexion of the younger halfa. She could see how petrified Dani was upon realizing she could no longer ignore confronting her unknown, but Sam could also see how excited Dani was at the prospect of hearing the answers she so frantically craved.
Dani could only nod numbly as she reached to grab the envelope from Sam's lap, delicately sliding her thumb nail under the seal after briefly looking over the envelope as if seeing it for the first time. Inside held a stack of papers, but a few were stapled in the front of the thick pages with what looked to be a summary of the experiment: why the experiment was taking place, what questions they hoped to answer, how the various experiments had been conducted and measured, and what the results of the experiment turned out to be. Dani only had to glance at the headlines of each paragraph before she found what she was looking for on the last page, above Frostbite's official signature.
Results
First and foremost, we are relieved to find that the mutation to the Young One's DNA shows no harm capable of fatal ends on its own. Though growth has been stunted, it is of our hypothesis that Plasmius had manipulated the ghostly genes of the Young One to speed towards the age of prepubescence before freezing her cellular growth with magic stolen from the Master of Time. With "mid-morph" DNA supplied by Great One early on in his relationship with the Young One, the hope has been confirmed that the Young One is healthy and will continue to progress normally upon her twelfth year.
It is of our firm belief that the data was conclusive in the relation between Young One and Great One. A 50 percent match has been acquired between Great One's DNA and the Young One's DNA. Upon testing added probable DNA donors for the missing percentages, the only conclusive match to Young One came from Sam of the Very Vegan. It is with great confidence that we believe Young One is not merely a clone, but a child born of unnatural scientific arrangements. This then discriminates against further testing for superficial unknowns such as gender and minor physical details.
It is with honor and optimism that the Far Frozen congratulates the Young One, Great One, and Sam of the Very Vegan with this miraculous news.
Dani thought she understood, for the most part, that she was somehow related to Sam. It wasn't until she shared the paper with the Goth, who read it aloud with slow comprehension, that Dani came to understand she wasn't simply related; she was only related. She came from Sam (and Danny). She was…
"My daughter?" Sam questioned into the silent atmosphere surrounding the shocked duo. Sam reread the findings and even browsed through some of the research as her mind feverishly tried to catch up with what she had learned. She had a daughter? She had a daughter! She and Danny had a daughter. And it was Danielle. "O my goodness…"
As Sam mumbled to herself, Dani sat rigidly watching. Of all the possibilities she had imagined, never had Dani thought Sam would be included in her biological history. Nothing she and Danny had ever hypothesized on their own had included Sam or even another donor! Vlad truly had been maniacal and crazy to have done such a thing as metaphorically impregnate Sam with Danny's baby all in hopes of having a "perfect son" to raise for the purpose of evil. Yet even scarier than thoughts of Vlad, thoughts of what might happen next filled Dani's conscious. She could tell Sam didn't know how to respond with what they had read. Would she be mad and angry at the world for forcing a daughter into her life? Children were an awful lot of responsibility, and though Sam had already been taking care of Dani, she'd only been doing so as a friend. Dani feared their friendship would be awkward now and she would have no choice but prepare to run away from home again.
Home. That's what Sam's apartment and their shared lives represented to Dani. Though she had never thought this could happen to her, Dani wasn't entirely innocent of dreaming about wanting to have a family and wanting Sam to be part of her family. She'd even begun to fantasize about being adopted by Sam one day. The longer Dani lived with Sam the more she found herself wishing she was Sam's real family. She loved the older woman and truthfully wasn't upset at all with any of Frostbite's findings. She really hoped Sam wasn't upset with the findings either.
The two were confined to their own little worlds for a few more minutes before Sam startled, looking at Dani with widening eyes. The younger girl couldn't tell what Sam was thinking which put her on edge as she nervously grinned, glancing back towards the envelope. Sam saw the anxious look in Dani's eyes before she could hide it, and Sam knew then that she wouldn't have to worry about Dani being unhappy with the results. Sam's doubts about being able to love Dani and having her love returned would be no issue as she threw the papers off to their side and lunged forward in a massive hug with her daughter. "Dani, this is wonderful news!"
It wasn't long into the hug that Sam found Dani eagerly returning the affection. The two were so pleased to learn they would no longer need fear being left alone ever again now that they had each other. They decided this needed to be celebrated, so Sam took Dani out for ice cream and a walk through the park before nighttime could fall across their city. The two had smiles so large their cheeks hurt, but they didn't mind. They were so blissfully happy that it wasn't until Sam was tucking Dani into bed that she momentarily frowned as she looked down at her daughter. Dani wasn't only hers, as she'd thought previously.
"What's wrong?" Dani's comfortable grin faltered as Sam slipped beside Dani with a thoughtful and slightly unpleasant look as she thought about what needed to be said.
With a sigh Sam answered, "Danielle, I think Danny has a right to know." A frown marred Dani's face as well as she realized her mother was right. Not only was Danny her original, he was technically her father, and she was sure he'd want to know even if he didn't want her as part of his life with Maci. It wouldn't be fair to keep this hidden from him, especially if word got around the Ghost Zone and he found out from another ghost instead of from one of them. No doubt would Danny be furious with not only Dani, but with Sam too!
Even with this new development, Dani didn't want to see him and she told so to Sam. "I'm not ready to face Danny. Please don't make me do it?"
"I won't make you do it on your own, but this is one of those times in life where you have to be brave Dani," Sam answered, even if she wasn't happy about it. Honestly? Sam didn't want Danny to know either. She didn't want to have to share Dani with Danny. She didn't want to speak with him or see him or face him if she could help it. But she knew it would be unethical to hide this from him. He was just as much Dani's family as she now knew she was. Sam wasn't about to let her fears and hurt impede her from doing what was best for her daughter's life. "I think we should talk with him tomorrow, after breakfast." No sense in holding off and making the wait worse.
Reluctantly, Dani agreed, and then the two snuggled close and fell into an uneasy sleep.
