Disclaimer: I own nothing!
A/N: Hey guys sorry for the long hiatus. I'm afraid that updating will still be inconsistent and I'm sorry about all of the formatting issues as well. That issue should be fixed now but if not just let me know. I also have this story posted on Wattpad and ao3, I tend to update on wattpad a little bit earlier than the others. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!
Warning: Mentions abuse and neglect and bullying
Dani had managed to get in a few more hours of sleep before the sun decided to bother her and she decided to look at the time and see that it was 11. She decided to make a quick meal, she knew that she wouldn't be allowed to eat it but she made it for everyone else for when they would get home so she wouldn't get yelled at. When she's done with that she decides to bake a little bit and also make fudge and knew that it would gain her a few brownie points.
Just as she finishes up the last batch of fudge everyone walks in. They look exhausted but also angry as well. They throw their things inside creating a gigantic mess. Dani dishes them all out a plate and sets them down in their respective places. Jack has the largest helping and Dash has the next biggest but only half of what Jack has. She also grabs a piece of brownie for all of them and has that on their plates. She then starts to silently clean up her mess as they eat. Before long they all finish and Dani cleans their dishes as well as the serving dishes. There were no more leftovers and she knew that she wouldn't be allowed to eat until dinner that night.
Jack and Maddie go into the living room and sit down and relax for a little bit before going to the town hall meeting. Jazz, Paulina, and Dash go up to Jazz's room and do what all mates do. Maddie and Jack knew what they were about to do but they didn't care enough.
When Dani finishes cleaning the kitchen and the dishes she starts to take care of the bags amongst other things that they had all just thrown on the ground. There were many ghost weapons in the mess and so she had to start separating those from everything else while also making sure none of them misfired as Fenton inventions were prone to do. Once everything is separated she starts to take things down into the lab and puts them in the right spots. Once she's done with that she starts to deal with the other half of the mess. Most of it was clothes so after separating everything she starts on the laundry and finishes putting away everything else from their trip. She avoids Jazz's room and just sets that stuff in a pile and sets it outside of her room.
As soon as she finishes up the mess Maddie calls her back down and demands that she cleans the lab to which she nods and heads down there. The lab wasn't too messy as she had seen earlier but there were still plenty of unfinished projects. Even with the Disasteroid, their experiments and inventions didn't stop.
The lab takes the longest to clean, albeit ectoplasm wasn't anything that could hurt her, even in its rawest state, she still had to be cautious. She had to make sure not to ruin any of the inventions out in the open and had to make sure that none of the weapons would misfire. Eventually, Maddie and Jack come down the stairs right as she's finishing up and then they kick her out. As she walks up the stairs she hears the two adults clamoring around, it didn't take long for it to get messy once again.
It was only three in the afternoon and Dani had nothing else to do. She knew that Vlad was busy and was still working, added to the fact that if she were to leave they would somehow notice despite them all being busy in their own ways. She also knew that if she left there would be the possibility of them coming to look for her. Even though she made lunch two hours ago she could at least start to gather ingredients for their dinner and if she had to go out she could, she could also make something that has a longer prep time but then if they all came to the kitchen and she was only half done they would be even angrier.
She just decided to go with something that takes longer and they could be upset all they'd like, at least this way it would be edible. Jack was always hungry and after the three mates that were upstairs were finished they were bound to be hungry as well. So she could make a three-course meal and that way there were bound to be leftovers and if the main course wasn't quite done they'd have something to eat while it finishes.
As she checks over the ingredients, she notices that she'll have to make a run to the store and makes sure to leave a note in multiple different places that way she could say that she left a note. She knew regardless they'd be mad at her but hopefully this would lessen the anger, if not she could always risk going to Vlad and just telling him that she didn't care if anyone discovered them or what they thought. They were mates and even if everyone tried to dispute it and they had to go to court, there was nothing they could do to disprove of the two being mates, if anything it would only prove that they are and that everything between them was consensual and that they loved each other. With that being thought she decides to leave for the store after leaving all of her notes.
...
When she returned it seemed as if no one had noticed her departure because as she opened the front door she didn't hear anything. How wrong she was because once she was able to set the stuff down in the kitchen the others had all pounced and succeeded in making Dani jump once they made their presence known.
"Where did you go?" Maddie demanded.
"I had to go to the store to grab a few things for your dinner," Dani tells them and starts to put the things onto the counter. The things she doesn't need right away she puts away but this only angers them more.
"Face me when answering me!" Dani does just that and casts her eyes to the floor and repeats what she just told them. "With what money did you do this?"
"With the money that you leave on the side of the fridge for the daily groceries, the stuff that I'm allowed to touch and use."
"Are you sure about that? Dash said that he was missing fifty dollars and we have to be sure that it wasn't you, after all we don't know your mate. Maybe you stole from Dash to give your mate some money. He may be powerful but that doesn't mean that he's rich like my dashy-poo," Jazz interrogates.
"I have no use for Dash's money nor any one else's in this house and neither does my mate," Dani keeps her voice even and quiet as she speaks making sure to not let any anger enter her voice or face.
"Then where is Dash's fifty dollars?" Maddie asks.
"I don't know, I did the laundry and made sure to check all of the pockets and didn't find a fifty, I did find plenty of pocket change which is in the bowl on the washer like it usually is."
Dani then felt them approaching her and felt a slap that resulted in flinging her head to the side and throwing her off balance causing her to fall to the floor. She glares at the ground as a result before she stops and stands back up and continues to put away the groceries but this time she puts all of them away and the others continue to blame her and throw insults her way. When she's done they still weren't finished and if she walked away they would hit her again.
This wasn't their first time ever hitting her and if she went to Vlad or told him about it, he would be angry and would probably retaliate, in a way he has before plenty of times, whether its messing with their equipment or destroying their plans or even denouncing the Fentons at a town meeting or in front of the public. Eventually they all tire out and let her be, by that time it's about five and she just decides to make something easy and fast rather than what she was originally planning. She was ready to get away from them all and that escape would only come after dinner when she was allowed to go to her room.
On a normal day that would be when the ghost attacks would start but with them just saving the Earth and Ghost Zone from the Disasteroid they were bound to take a break, even if they returned tomorrow, she knew that she had tonight off. She may go for a night flight especially since the idiots in white were grounded from hunting any ghosts unless they were proving to be a threat. She may have also heard a rumor about them having to possibly stop hunting her altogether.
She would get through this week, this month, however long it may be. She would survive and she'd eventually get to meet back up with Vlad once again but for now she had to get through this weekend and then she'd have to get through school but at least with school it offered her a bit more protection as no teachers tolerated abuse during their classes regardless of who it was towards. The spitballs and the other things being thrown at people they didn't care too much so long as the perpetrators and victims could repeat whatever it was the teacher had just said.
The teachers just didn't want someone being punched or kicked in their classroom and they didn't want fights in their classrooms either which is why they discouraged that kind of abuse. It wasn't the best system but it was better than the abuse that was suffered out in the hallways of being punched, slammed into lockers, or even being pushed into the locker and not being allowed out.
She could do this, at least that's what she kept telling herself. She wondered if it was because of Vlad that she was more willing to push on or if it was just her sheer stubborness.
TBC...