Links in the Chain
By Lacey52
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
A note: Let's see the chapter starts out with a week left of school and then the last portion is the last day of school…just so no one gets confused when it jumps. I tried to make it clear enough, so I hope I did well.
And these lucky people get five kudos points for guessing what December 13th was to me! Congrats to you three:
Jea!
Still Trying to Fly!
chaotic pink chocobo!
The correct answer was: December thirteenth is the anniversary of when my fiancée and I started dating four years ago.
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
Chapter Thirty Six: Closing
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
"Man I hate end of the year," Tucker complained, "There's only a week left of school, counting the two days we sit around taking midterms or doing nothing! That means we're bored out of our minds and…"
"I'm not bored out of my mind," Danny glanced up from the hand of cards he was holding, "Rummy is an awesome game."
"Yeah, awesome," Sam rolled her eyes and picked up the entire pile to start laying down a run of clubs and a set of nines, "if you're like over forty and have five cats…"
"Hey you guys told me to pick a card game, so I did," Danny grinned when Sam discarded and began to play his own, "and…I'm out, count up what you lost!"
Groaning both Sam and Tucker laid their heads on the table they were currently occupying. Danny's taste in card games was fun on occasion, but he liked to play this game far too much. They'd played it twice today already. The only good thing was that it could last half the class period, and as there was nothing better to do besides study, which could be done at home, it was an acceptable game.
"Can't we just play something else?" Tucker looked up from his arms, "I already know you creamed us again, you've won every time."
"Lets play something without cards this time," Sam pleaded, "Like a word game or something. I'm not the most intelligent person, but I need some mental stimulation to keep me going."
"Alright, I get it," Danny gathered his cards and put them up, "No cards. So lets play Truth or Dare or something…"
"That's a little cliché for me," Sam raised her eyebrow, "Why not Twenty Questions or the Reminds Me Of game?"
"What's Reminds Me Of?" Tucker looked up, "We've never played that one before. Unless you and Danny played it at some point in time that I wasn't around…oh, I know, like on your birthday Sam! I wasn't there when Danny gave you his present…"
"Tucker you've been trying to get that out of me for the pasttwo days," Sam glared at him, "One, it wasn't any big deal, it was just a birthday present and two, why do you want to know so bad? What do you think Danny gave me for my birthday?"
"I think Danny gave you a night you'll never forget," Tuckersaid dramatically and then winked, "or he would have been in trouble when he got home. So, did you have the time of your life Sam? You know, with Danny…alone…wherever you ran off to…"
"Shut it, Tuck," Danny grabbed the other boy's hat and threw it on the table, "It wasn't anything like that. We're still in high school for goodness sake! Do you know the consequences for doing that at our age? What if something happened?"
"What?" Tucker grinned evilly as he readjusted his hat, "I was just going to say wherever you ran off to to play Scrabble…I never mentioned anything like that."
"You…" Danny pointed angrily at the young man across from him, but he was at a slight loss for words. Sam, however, was not and helped her halfa out a little, for the most part ignoring the interesting mental images that were trying to finagle their way into her mind.
"You're not very kind Tucker," Sam frowned, "You're not just making fun of Danny by saying something like that, you're insulting us both by insinuating we would irresponsibly have sex before either of us were really ready. You know I'm not like that. I know Danny isn't either. I'm hurt you'd try to make us out to be hormonal teenagers with a grope quota to fill."
As Tucker sat in shock at Sam's completely serious and dead-pan face, Danny tried his hardest to not laugh from the feeling of smug humor emanating from Sam…not to mention the funny little picture he'd thought of combining Sam, Scrabble, and well…the weirdness of trying to seduce one another. It was really pretty funny when he thought about it.
'At least he didn't picture us having sex,' Sam shook her head and thought on her friend's very strange thinking process, 'I'm getting better at blocking him out when he sends images without realizing. Thankfully they feel different or I'd never know what he was purposely trying to show me or not…'
"So, seriously then, what did Danny get you for your birthday that you had to leave your party for?" Tucker's serious question interrupted her musings…as apparently it did Danny's as he jumped slightly at his voice.
"Well," Sam started, trying to figure out whether or not she should tell the boy, 'I tell him and he'll tease us about it, I don't tell him and he's still gonna' tease us about it. I don't mind getting teased, but it was really sweet of Danny and he shouldn't be bothered about it.'
"We went flying," Danny answered for her, noting her growing anxiousness and deciding to just get it over with, 'Great time to have an internal debate Sam…'
"Flying?" Tucker's face was the picture of surprise, "That's what you gave her for her birthday? You could have just told me and I wouldn't have pestered you about it so much."
"Really?" Danny and Sam both asked in shock, "Are you serious?"
Laughing at them talking in sync once more, Tucker grinned at them, "Of course not. I'm just gonna' tease you more now. So where did the two of you fly off to? Into the sunset? A comfy little haystack?"
"None of the above," Danny answered in exasperation, "Hey Sam?"
"What?"
Danny reached into his back pocket, withdrew his coupon book, and tore out a page, "I want an ice cream when we go to lunch. I deserve something after all this torture…"
"Fine," Sam took the coupon from him, then lay her head down, "but I get half."
"Deal," and Danny copied her as they both listened to Tucker go on and on and on…
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
…and on and on and on.
It was lunch, Sam had finished her half of the ice cream, and he was still teasing them. It was just flying! Sam couldn't convince him of that though, but trying one more time had it's appeal. Maybe he'd listen this time.
"Tucker," Sam felt like bashing her head into the table repeatedly, "all we did was go flying. I swear, up and down, until I'm blue in the face. We went flying, sat on the roof, and talked for a while. That was all."
"I'm gonna' need more detail," Tucker's eyebrows went up and down twice.
Or maybe not.
"There aren't anymore details," Danny said around a mouthful of ice cream, "if there were I would have told them to you just to shut you up, no matter how mad it made Sam."
"So you're saying you'd kiss and tell?" Tucker tried to corner Danny.
"Nope, besides, there was no kissing and we've already done the telling," Danny finally finished his half off, "What more do you want?"
"He probably wants a complete recounting of every little detail," Sam sighed, "So let's get started. It was cold outside, probably around twenty degrees or so. Slightly cloudy, but not so you couldn't see the stars and moon, which was a quarter, waxing moon by the way. I was wearing what you saw me in at the party, plus a pair of nylon, black and purple gloves, my black cotton hoodie, and a pair of purple earmuffs. Danny was in his clothing that you saw him in, and for part of the time was in his black and white…"
"I get the point!" Tucker waved his hands frantically, trying to stop her, "The only details that I needed to know have already been told. But you are making it a little suspicious you know, denying me a good recounting."
"Tucker!" Danny was nearing his boiling point, "There isn't anything else to tell! Seriously, all we did was go flying, sit on the roof, and talk. End of story!"
"Danny's gonna' blow," Tucker snickered as he stood, "and I'm gonna' head to the restroom before I have to endure fifty minutes of math. See ya'!"
"At least he's gone," Sam gently bumped her head against the table a few times before Danny's hand slid under her forehead to stop her.
"You're gonna' get a headache, and you're giving me one from feeling so frustrated, so stop it," the halfa chided gently, "What do you say to a movie backslash study party at my house tonight?"
"Do we have to invite the techno-geek jerk?"
"Yep, but it's all good," Danny smiled, "I've got a threat about haunted houses that makes him behave, but," Danny once again reached for his coupon book, "I'd like to redeem the 'Good for one new cd' coupon. You know, as a 'I've been a good halfa' reward…"
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
"When'd you get that cd Danny?" Tucker asked as he moved to turn the stereo up a bit, "It's awesome. Great guitar…"
"Got it on the way home actually, after you ran to your place to grab your study notes and extra battery for your precious PDA, who you give pda to a little too often..." At Tucker making a face at him, Danny tried to keep from laughing as he noticed Sam was doing, "Actually I got a new movie, too…"
"When did you get money? Did your dad start giving you that allowance he's always promising you?"
"Nope," Danny finally started laughing, "I've got coupons. Good for one new cd and good for one new movie. So let's break the new movie in!"
"Of course, then we'll study," Sam said sternly to the two boys, while Matches lay happily at her feet, "Or I'm reneging on my coupons and taking the movie back. And the cd."
"Bet you're wishing you didn't make that coupon book for him now…" Jazz's voice came floating into the room in a singsong manner, "But Sam is absolutely right. You need to be studying Danny, because you're grades still need more improvement. I mean, sure you've managed to bring them up since Freshman year, but it's still not enough."
"Hey Sam?"
"Yeah Danny?"
"Can I use another coupon? Pretty please?"
"Which one?" she asked tiredly.
"This one," and he handed over the coupon labeled 'Keep my sister off my back free.'
"If I could growl at you in an appropriately menacing way," Sam glared and stood, "I would."
Letting her statement and the sentiment sink in, she went off to her mission, "Hey Jazz? I have a question about people going through depression. Do you have any theories about how it would affect boys as opposed to girls?"
"Score!" Tucker smiled at Danny, "Let's pop in the movie!"
"Sure," the halfa smiled as Matches climbed into his lap and began to fall asleep as he rubbed the puppy's belly, "Just as soon as Sam gets back. Let's start on history in the meantime."
"Aw man," Tucker pouted, "I've been tricked into homework!"
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
Twenty minutes later Sam came back into the room, a smirk firmly upon her face, "She'll be busy for the next three weeks. You won't be hearing from your sister as she's suddenly found an interesting side project on identifying depression and the theories behind it all."
"Rock on," Danny smiled absentmindedly and shifted the puppy in his lap so he could get closer to the study sheet he was working on, "Want to pop that movie in now, or wait until after we get done with these history study sheets?"
"After," Sam groaned as she sat on the young man's bed, "If I don't make myself study it now, then I never will. Where's Matches?"
"He's taken over Danny's lap," Tucker chuckled, "Too bad, huh Sam? I'm sure that's where you wanted to sit while you studied."
A pencil hit the back of Tucker's head and Danny glared at the boy as he turned around, "You've been teasing us about me and Sam going flying by ourselves all day. When are you going to stop? It's getting really, really annoying!"
"Fine, I'll stop," Tucker turned back around to find the answer to number sixty-two, "…tomorrow sometime…"
"TUCKER!"
And as the boy ran to hide from both Danny and Sam, Matches watched his humans play with his ears askew and his head tilted. Humans could be so strange sometimes…
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
"Yes," Danny smiled happily, "Yes, yes, yes!"
"Happy are we?" Tucker looked up from his PDA at the halfa, who was about to float right out of his seat if he wasn't careful.
"School is going to be over in less than ten minutes," his eyes twinkled, "and it will be Christmas break. Thank God for breaks from school…there will be food, and cookies, and presents, and fireworks on New Years, and…"
"Down boy," Sam shot him a confused look, "Since when did you decide to get all happy about the holidays? You weren't this happy about them last year, and you'd already learned your lesson from that ghost writer you keep insisting made you talk in rhyme. You sound like me, you're so excited."
"Maybe the link is progressing even further and melting your personalities into one!"
At Tucker's excited postulation, Sam rolled her eyes and heaved a heavy sigh while Danny burst out laughing, "Or maybe not. So give, what's the reason for you being all happy?"
"I dunno'," Danny shrugged, "Maybe Sam's good mood is influencing me or something…or maybe I've just finally gotten over my holiday blues. Either way, it doesn't really matter."
"You know, now that we're on the subject of the link," Tucker lowered his game and looked to Sam, "did you ever figure out what was going on with Danny sending you pictures?"
"No," Sam looked up in consideration, "but it's getting easier for me to just block them out. It's gotten to the point of them being like background noise. You know, when you're doing homework and you have your music on just for the sound it makes. It's like that."
"Great," Danny huffed as he turned his attentionaway fromtheir principal, who was on stage giving them a lecture about safety over the holidays, "Now I'm background noise. Think I'll ever get to be foreground?"
At Sam's surprise and Tucker's eyebrows shooting up, Danny blushed and turned away, "That didn't come out like I meant it to…"
"Did you just ask Sam out in a weird, round-about way? Sam Manson, our own sweet, Goth girl?" Tucker looked like the cat that ate the canary as he watched Sam blush a brilliant red.
"I don't think he did," Sam tried to save Danny from too much embarrassment. He was already feeling enough of that as it was, along with nervousness on what she might do. The nice little mental picture of her trying to kill him was coming in strong enough that she couldn't just ignore it, "I think he meant in general, not just in my eyes."
"That so didn't sound like it did in my head," Danny groaned as he tried to will the blush from his face, noting that Sam wasn't having any luck in that department either, "I just meant it in a general, will I ever be popular sort of way…"
"Sure you did," Tucker patted his back by reaching across Sam, "Freudian slips mean absolutely nothing…you just keep telling yourselves that you don't like each other you two. Maybe it'll finally sink into your subconscious."
"Leave it alone Tuck," Danny said from his hiding place in his hands, "Please just leave it alone."
"Whatever you say," and the boy smiled with a slightly evil chuckle as the bell rang and the students left their seats for the greener pastures of winter vacation, "but the more you deny something, the worse things get."
Danny and Sam couldn't look each other in the face without blushing for the rest of the day, much to Tucker's delight, 'Oh, I am so going to tease them for the rest of their lives for this…'