Origins of a White Cat and a Space Trip

(Danny's P.O.V)

"Why don't you have a tree up yet?" I curiously asked Vlad one cold, winters' morning. Outside the windows I could see the snow from last night, like a big white blanket and it was a nice change to have natural snow and not snow that I'd made through out-of-control ghost powers. Less tiring too. The fire was crackling in the centre of the closest wall and we were both sitting in the comfy arms chairs around it.

It had been months since the sitting room had been destroyed by the Observants and even after a week, Vlad had somehow manged to get it all fixed right back to the way it was, down to the tiniest detail, like the small crack in the west wall on the bottom, and the slight dent in the small, old wooden coffee table...even though I had seen that piece of furniture blown to smithereens, there it was. Like nothing had ever happened; sometimes, living with Vlad was weird.

"Why would I?" he asked in his weird fruit loopy way of answering a question with a question, he didn't even look at me over his newspaper to speak.

"'Cos it's Christmas," I said, wasn't it obvious? Well, it wasn't obvious in this house; there was nothing here to suggest that it was the holidays. Not a thing. And y'know how, most people, when it's Chritsmas, make an effort to see their families more, well it seemed Vlad didn't even do that.

The cleaning people had been yesterday and they'd only left about an hour ago, but Vlad had holed himself up in his study with 'work', and since I'd got up really later this was the first time I'd seen him all day. He was reading his newspaper while I was supposed to be listening to the tv...but I wasn't. It was mid December and there wasn't a single string of tinsel or a bauble, or even a singing santa to be seen anywhere in the manor. It was just wrong!

Even the good doctor had noticed the lack of Christmas-y vibes and she'd tried to do something about it. Last week she'd brought in some lights to hang around some of the downstairs windows but after a ghost red glare from Vlad she'd stopped and hidden them. Like me, she knew that it was best not to get Vlad angry unless there was a very, very good reason for arguing with him.

That wasn't to say we were both his obedient minions or anything, no way, I always told him when he was being a jerk, but I respected him more now, since...well...y'know. But he still had serious anger issues, and it wasn't worth getting him worked up over a few Christmas decorations...or serious lack of.

I don't know what made me ask him about it now. I'd been thinking about it for a while of course, after all I'd never had Christmas with Vlad before. Hell, up until a few years ago I hated the holidays, maybe part of me still did but not for the same reasons. Now I missed my family and it brought back so many memories that I'd rather not think about; it'd only send me to a very dark and lonely place that I didn't want to be in.

"Your point being?" Vlad asked as he turned a page in his paper. I blinked as I remembered the half-hearted conversation I'd started.

"You're supposed to put decorations up at Christmas," I told him.

"I'll take your word for it, Daniel," he said emotionlessly.

"Don't tell me you've never celebrated Christmas before? Where've you been living - mars?"

"No," he answered, clearly not amused at all, and I stared at him, "I believe I've told you once before; in my family, holidays had to have a purpose..."

"What kind of purpose?"

"For the benefit of business relations was a favourite of my father. Christmas wasn't the reason our family 'parties' were organised, nor was Easter, or Halloween, or Thanksgiving or any other holiday you can think of."

"But then...you did have a Christmas?" I asked and he rolled his eyes and sighed, I think he was bored of the conversation.

"From the time the guests arrived to when they left; yes, for all intents and purposes the house was decorated by the hired help," he said.

"...And...when they left?" I asked, dreading the answer, I had a feeling I knew what was coming,

"My father had it all removed," he shrugged and turned another page in the newspaper which must have been really interesting to keep his attention all this time.

"Wow, and people called me a scrooge," I muttered. It was hard to imagine a young version of Vlad being ordered around by a total jerk of a dad.

I looked around the room again and it made me a bit sad to see it so plain this time of year, I missed the decorations my family would put up really early so we could keep them up for longer. I even missed my parents fighting over the existence of Santa!

I'd never thought I'd miss Christmas things, but I did, not getting presents or money; I missed the family stuff. I wanted mom to try and cook a huge turkey with all the trimmings, I wanted dad to shake the presents and beg to know what was in them before he was 'allowed' to open them, and I wanted Jazz to tell me why the holiday had gotten too commercial like she did every year...I'd never listened once, but I still missed it.

...But of course I'd never see or hear any of that again. It wasn't that I didn't like how things had changed between Vlad and me, but I was allowed to miss my family, wasn't I?

I sighed and told myself that I'd have to get used to not having a real Christmas again. It wouldn't be so bad. Maybe having a proper one would only bring back bad memoriesm so maybe this way was better. As I leaned back in the chair I heard Vlad sigh and fold up his newspaper. After a really long silence he turned to me and started to speak.

"Daniel..." he began...

...And so, that conversation was the reason why, half an hour later I was walking in the upscale, shopping district of Amity Park, with the half ghost mayor of said town, creepy dude extraordinaire, otherwise known as my guardian 'let's-not-talk-about-that-'cos-it's-kind-of-awkwa rd' Vlad Masters, looking for a Christmas tree in mid December.

Out of all the weird situations I'd been in since the accident, this one was definitely in the top 10 of my 'list of weird and totally awkward situations'.

I didn't understand why Vlad had let me have my own way so easily, he clearly didn't want a tree or any other form of festive decoration in his house, but for some reason, here he was shopping for them. I'd never be able to figure the guy out, I thought for sure I'd seen the last of his surprises...I guess not. He'd said once that I'd always surprised him...well guess what fruit loop, the feeling was mutual.

I remember the last major time I'd surprised him. It had been about a month after the whole thing with the Observants and I'd just come home from school...after a little detour...and told Vlad that I'd got a job. He stared at me like I'd just told him the Box Ghost had won the Nobel price for astrophysics.

"You don't need a job," he'd told me when he'd finally found his voice. I'd told him that I did, since I didn't want to just keep having him give me money for things I should be able to pay for myself. It was easier to keep a job now because my life was less hectic. I didn't have to hide my ghost powers from the person I was living with, for one thing. And Vlad never nagged me about my grades or my homework, he just let me get on with it, which was a lot less stress for me to deal with.

Also, it was kind if strange, how it seemed like there was a lot less ghost attacks for me to deal with. I mean, there was still weird things with the usual stuff that I had to deal with, but a lot less of it seemed to happen lately. And I didn't get hurt nearly as much as I used to. Weird, huh?

"Daniel!" I heard Vlad shout and I just about managed to move aside quick enough to avoid walking straight into some woman's back. She turned around and glared at me, clearly not happy I'd almost walked into her.

"Heh heh...sorry..." I said nervously to her and ran back to walk by Vlad.

"Something wrong?" he asked me.

"Nope," I shook my head as I dragged out the 'o' sound and we continued to walk through the crowded mall, and little by little I could see Vlad's patience slowly fade away making him irritable and grouchy. Like I said; he wasn't exactly a saint but it was a work in progress. So I decided just to pick the tree I could see in the large department store we were in as his eyes shone red for a millisecond at a shop assistant who ran past him.

It wasn't long before I was practically running to keep up with Vlad as he stormed back to the car, then with some help, I got the tree and decorations into the back seat and then we were speeding away from the increasingly busy mall.

As soon as we got back to the manor I had no idea where he'd ran off to, but I was happy enough as I floated around the huge tree with the bag of decorations floating next to me as I slowly emptied it and filled up the tree. I'd searched for hours around Fenton Works until I'd found my parents old decorations. They had a bag of about two dozen small ghost shaped tree decorations that had been used every year for as long as I could remember.

Maybe it had been childish of me to want a tree so badly, and maybe it was even more childish of me to decorate it like this; in a sort of explosive mess of tinsel, baubles, glittery snowflakes and stars. But part of me said that - just for christmas - it was okay to be a kid now and then.

I also had a major problem which the time alone would give me a chance to think about...was I supposed to get Vlad a present? Of course I was. But what in the hell was I supposed to get? What did you buy for a dude who had all the money in the world? It wasn't like he needed anything anyway.

Stupid, no good fruit loop! One way or another he always had to make things difficult, didn't he?

...Then the idea suddenly came to me...I could get Vlad a cat! The idea was just too good to ignore...but how would I keep a cat hidden in my room until Christmas day? I bet the doc would love to help me; one of her favourite past times was annoying the hell outta Vlad, and buying him a cat after all those taunts I'd shouted in the past would definelty make him twitch. I did feel sorry for the cat that would get stuck with him as an owner, though...just a little.

I flew quickly over to the phone and dialed the woman's number. In one of her rant-like panics she had made me memorise both her mobile number and Vlad's in case of emergencies. It hadn't seemed right at the time to point out that if there was an emergency, I wouldn't have time to pick up the phone and call for help.

The good doc would be at work now but hopefully she'd still have time to answer her phone and I smiled when I heard her say, "Hello, Doctor Grant, how can I help?"

"Hey, doc, guess who," I smiled.

"Mr President?"she asked, perfectly seriously.

"Yup," I laughed, "And I have a very important mission for you citizen doc."

"Do tell," she replied.

"You up for surprising the heck outta Vlad for Christmas?"

"Mr President, sir, I do believe you can count me in," she said

"Good," I smiled, and quickly told her my plan. Needless to say; she loved it, especially after I told her about all the taunts I'd used in the past.

It was really difficult, what, with the doc's busy schedule and me trying to sneak out without Vlad knowing, but somehow, with just over a week until Christmas, I managed to meet up with her one morning and we made our way to the first pet shop we could see.

I saw all sorts of animals and for a moment I thought it'd be really funny to buy Vlad a lizard, but somehow I really didn't think he'd appreciate it. Eventually I found a small pen with a dozen kittens dozing inside and I picked up the only white one. It 'meowed' softly at me as I stroked its soft fur.

"I think it likes you," the doc said to me.

"Yeah, maybe it's too nice. We should get Vlad a feral one," I laughed.

"So...what'd we call it?" she asked me as I held the cat in my arms.

"I dunno..." I shrugged as the cat purred into my shoulder. I was really liking this cat. Was it too late to forget the plan and buy it for myself?

"If it helps, it's a 'she'," a shop assistant said to me with a smile and suddenly I knew exactly what to call her.

Before I knew it, it was the night of Christmas Eve and I was up late in the sitting room with Vlad and a roaring fire making the whole room feel toasty warm. The lights on the tree had been on all night, every night since I'd put them up but when I'd asked about the amount if electricity it must be wasting Vlad had scoffed and laughed at me.

For some reason I'd found myself leaving the Grinch film on the tv, hey it wasn't my fault, they put it on every year and it wasn't like there was anything else on to watch.

"I don't understand why you insisted on watching this ridiculous film," Vlad frowned.

"I know," I smiled, "I could've put 'A Christmas Carol' on...actually I think it's still on..." I added as I started flicking through the channels.

Vlad rolled his eyes and sighed, "If that is indeed the case then I'm going to bed," he said and started to stand up.

"No, okay, no more Christmas movies, I get it!" I said quickly, not liking the thought of being left on my own; I wasn't needy, I just wanted the company. So instead I put the boring-ass news channel on that he seemed to use more than anything else, and thankfully he just chuckled and sat down again.

I honestly wasn't expecting Vlad to get me any presents; I mean what else did he need to give me that he hadn't already? He'd already given me more than enough so I wasn't the least bit disappointed when I didn't get even the slightest hint of Christmas presents. I think he found that strange but he didn't actually say anything about it to me.

I don't think he understood that just not being alone was all I wanted. I don't think he knew that for a kid, having someone around to talk to was more important than having stupidly expensive, unnecessary things because he'd been surrounded by stuff, rather than people, for too long. Which was really really sad.

It was around two in the morning when I started to doze off in my really comfy armchair, I had no idea what was on the tv, and I could barely keep my eyes open; so I figured it was time for bed. So I floated up out of the chair and it wasn't till a minute later that I realised that it was Christmas morning.

Vlad still looked wide awake reading a book like he usually did this late; I swear half the time he never even slept like normal people.

"Night, Vlad," I yawned, and I didn't give him a chance to reply as I flew up through the ceiling. I would've said 'merry Christmas', but I knew that he didn't like the holidays so would saying that just make him mad? I didn't want to risk it; it was late and I was too tired to think it through properly.

Now usually on Christmas day I'd be up really early because my dad used to run through the house singing songs and claiming that Santa had paid us a visit. But not this year; I couldn't even imagine Vlad doing anything like that, and on the days when I didn't have school or anything he usually just let me go to be and get up whenever I wanted; he was the loose parenting type. That's not to say he didn't shout at me when I did something stupid, but he didn't nag at me for my homework or to clean my room or do any chores or brush my teeth or anything like that. I kind of liked it.

So, this Christmas I wasn't even out of bed before midday and even then I wasn't even dressed properly. Oh, right, that was like one of Vlad's few rules; no dossing around in pyjamas. You sleep in 'em, not lounge around in 'em. If he came into my room in a morning and I was sat watching tv on my sofa or playing games in my pj's he wasn't happy. It was weird but it was his house. Which was why, when I did finally get out of bed, I went into my bathroom and got dressed.

Since this was my first Christmas with Vlad I didn't have the first clue what I was supposed to do. Y'know how most families got up early and opened presents round the tree...yeah...I didn't know if Vlad did that, it just didn't seem very Vlad-like. There was only the two of us - the doc was supposed to be coming later on I think - but it wasn't as though I'd asked for anything to open.

Around 20 minutes later I finally plucked up the courage to go downstairs and I found Vlad in the sitting room, reading in his chair a though he hadn't moved all night. If if weren't for the fact that I could see he'd changed his suit I would've seriously asked if he hadn't moved.

Like usual he said 'morning' to me and I said it back, and also like usual I sat down and turned on the tv. It was an unusually normal routine we had despite the fact that we were half ghosts, in way I guess it was kinda funny. If it weren't for all the Christmas stuff on tv and the tree I'd put up I'd have said it was just another normal day.

Doc Evelyn said she was visiting her brother but she'd promised to come round later on in the day and bring the cat with her. I sure hoped she did otherwise my Christmas fun would be a no-go. But I was spared the disappointment when I heard her car pulling up outside at around three in the afternoon when I'd been sat in the living room for a while, and she came into the building with a smile, immediately walking over to Vlad and handing him a box.

When Vlad pulled the cat from the box he spared a moment to glare at me and I laughed at his expression, but as the feline purred at his touch even Vlad seemed to fall victim to her charms. He didn't even seem to want to tare off the pink bow the doc had tied round the cat's collar as she licked his hand. Clearly this cat liked Vlad even more than it'd liked me.

"I take it this means you're not gonna kill me," I said after a minute. I'd been expecting him to blow a gasket not fall in love with the animal at first sight. But then...stranger things had happened.

"I did give the idea some consideration," Vlad replied, and once more the cat nuzzled against his hand with a continuing 'purring.'

"But you're not going to?"

"I don't believe so, no," he raised an eyebrow.

"Good...Y'know I honestly thought that cat was gonna run for the hills," I said to the doc who smiled at me. "I guess you're not as scary as you used to be, V-man," I then said to Vlad. "You can even scare one little cat anymore."

"Is that a challenge, Daniel?" he asked me and I shook my head quickly.

"Nu-uh," I quickly said holding my hands up in truce and I tried really hard not to laugh when he finally looked down at the silver name tag I'd got for the cat.

"Vladimíra," he read, shaking his head, "Daniel, what on earth..."

"I couldn't help it," I laughed and the doc chuckled with me, "Besides, she likes the name!" I added pointing to the cat. "We can even call her Mìra for short!"

"I don't doubt it," he rolled his eyes and floated over a while envelope to me and one to the doc.

"What's this?" I asked.

"Open them," Vlad said simply, and when I did I honestly thought it was an out of date April fools joke.

"...You're serious?" I asked after a minute.

"Not the reaction I was anticipating, I'll admit," he frowned as I stared down at the small ticket in my hand.

"...But these are like $200,000...each!"

"Yes," he shrugged as continued petting the cat.

"But that's nuts!" I yelled, the doc still said nothing, as she still stared at the ticket in her hand.

"Well, what would you rather have?"

"...That's not the point!"

"Then , pray, what is the point?"

"Did you forget how much $200,000 actually is..."

"Since I bought three of them it's actually $600,000, but by all means do continue," Vlad interrupted me.

"...See...that...that's just worse!" I said, "People can't afford to go into space unless you're an astronaut...'cos this is just..."

"Really sweet," the doc said when she finally found her voice, "But Danny's right, it's way, way too much money. How could you even think of spending that much on..."

"Not for me it isn't, I thought you wanted to go to space," he said to me, ignoring the doc.

"I...I did...I do...but..."

"And now you can; aren't children supposed to get what they want on Christmas?"

"Well...I guess so...but that's not..." I muttered. It was frustrating how it was just that simple to Vlad; he got me something I wanted regardless of the ridiculous amount of money it cost because it was his way of showing he cared...And regardless of the fact that he could feed a third world country with the same amount of money he'd just thrown away.

But on the bright side...I COULD GO IN A REAL SPACE SHUTTLE! THAT WAS SO TOTALLY AWESOME! Getting used to a nice, considerate Vlad hadn't been an easy job...but I liked this Vlad. He was a good guy...under all the insults and stuff, I mean.

"Thank you, even though it was a ridiculous idea," the doc said as she walked over to him.

"Keep it," he said, thinking she was going to give him back her present.

"Oh, I'm not giving it back," she smiled and leaned over him. "But you do know I'm never gonna be able to pay you back if I had a hundred years;I'm not a heart surgeon, you know," she said. I watched as the cat took one look at them both and jumped off Vlad's lap and ran over to mine; I suddenly got the feeling like I wanted to run and hide as well. And my funny feeling was right, as usual, when she actually kissed him. Not like the kind of kiss on the cheek either.

"I'm gonna pretend I didn't just see that," I muttered and looked back at the tv as I tried to ignore the laughing I heard from both of them.

"Fine by me, now...I hope you're hungry..." she said and suddenly I couldn't stop myself from shouting "NO!" Fortunately though she and Vlad just laughed and she added, "Because my mom happens to be a great cook and when I told her I was coming over she sent me down with a lot," and I sighed in relief.

"Well...maybe I am a bit hungry," I said.

A.N. I bet you thought I was gonna name the cat Maddie didn't ya? Well I just couldn't :) Anyway, the space trip idea was really a spur of the moment think that I think really worked out well. What'd you think?