Links in the Chain
By Lacey52
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
A note: No, I didn't forget that Jazz wanted to talk to the trio or anything else…just go with it, I promise I won't forget to tie up loose ends from the last chapter!
This chapter spans three days. I have it all worked out, I just forgot to tell you guys:
Sam's birthday was on the thirteenth. That makes the last day of school the 19th of December. That makes last chapter the 20th and this chapter will be the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd.
Blah, that was a bit of work to get it all down on paper, lol. And I didn't proofread...don't hate me...
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
Chapter Thirty Eight: Invite
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
"So you and the other two are going out today, Danny boy?"
Danny's hand stopped on the doorknob, the cool metal soothing against his warm palm, "Yeah, Dad. We're going to try and find a movie to watch or something. We'll probably be gone all day."
"You know that Jazz still wants to talk to you. After Tucker and Sam hauled it out of here last night when she started her psychobabble, well…she mentioned something to me after you went upstairs about repressed emotions and over stressful situations finally causing a mental breaking point to be reached, yadda, yadda, yadda…"
Danny cracked a small smile at his father, a quiet chuckle escaping from his chest, "I'll talk to Jazz sometime if she wants to talk that bad. Sam asked her about depression in teens a couple of days ago, so she's probably worried about our mental stability or something like that."
Jack grabbed his son's shoulder as he started out the door, fatherly worry clear in his face and voice, "Danny. You know that if you ever need to talk that your mother and I will listen. We may be distracted by our research often, but if it's anything serious…well, we love you. Just know that."
"I know Dad," Danny nodded his head, feeling a little lighter about everything that was happening to him, "There's just some things that I have to sort out for myself," and with one last small smile he was out the door, Matches barking from the doorway as his boy went walking without him.
"Jack dear?" Maddie came up and stood beside her husband, lovingly patting the small dog on the head, "Is everything alright with Danny? He seems so down about something."
"I think he's alright, Maddie," Jack turned to his wife and gave her a kiss, "Just that typical teenage angst stage. He's working through it though….maybe a family ghost hunting trip will cheer him up!"
"No Dad," Jazz walked down the stairs, arms full of research and books, "He needs to be with his friends right now, whatever might be happening. I've been looking into the leading causes of depression in thirteen to eighteen year olds and I've found that…"
"That's nice, Jazz dear," Maddie gently cut off her daughter, "but I don't think that this is a case of teenage depression. All three of them were upset last night. They'll work it out."
The Fenton family went about their business then with one thought on all their minds, 'I hope they'll work it out.'
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
"Thank you for shopping with us today, and Happy Holidays!" the overly cheerful cashier at the local bookstore handed Danny the bag with his purchase securely inside, "Please come again!"
"Yeah, thanks," Danny gave a half smile as he headed back to the food court to find where Sam and Tucker had gotten a table. Hopefully they had picked up some cheese fries for him and a drink as well, but today he could totally understand if they hadn't, 'I'm so spaced out today I barely remembered that I wanted to get Jazz this book. I really need to stop thinking about Valerie and what might happen…'
"Danny," Sam gently poked him in the back, "I know you're spaced out, but you just walked right past us. That kinda' puts you in a new category of worrying, and I can barely think straight because you're stressing out."
"Sorry Sam," Danny winced, "I just…" he moved to sit at the table with Tucker as Sam sat beside him, "I can't help but wonder, what if Valerie decides that she still needs to get rid of me? What if that puts you guys in danger too?"
"You can't worry about things like that man," Tucker picked up a fry, "What you should be worrying about right now is the fact that these fries might get cold before we finish them off. Worry about things you can control, not things that are out of your hands."
"Tucker," Sam turned to him and shook her head in amazement, "how is it that you can be a jerk one second and sound like Gandhi the next?"
"Simple my child," Tucker tried to imitate an Indian accent and failed miserably, "I am one with myself. I know all, see all, and have unlimited…"
"Amounts of bullshit," a voice cut in from the table beside them. Three heads turned simultaneously to find Dash sitting alone, sipping at a soda, not even acknowledging that he had said anything to them.
"What's your problem?" Sam snapped at the boy as she glared, the feelings from Danny causing her to react, "Don't take your misplaced frustration out on us. It's probably a good thing that you now have a chance at life without the shallow-squad hanging all over you."
"What do you know, Goth?" Dash stared right back until Danny leaned even farther in front of Sam and blocked her from view, "Just keep your mouths shut about things you don't know."
"We didn't start talking to you Dash," Danny turned his head back to the cheese fries and continued eating.
"Yeah," Tucker frowned, "You're the one who was desperate enough for conversation to start something with us."
"Shut your mouth, techno-geek," Dash glared and stood to leave, speaking more to himself as he walked away than to the trio, "I can't go any damn place without someone reminding me…"
"Think we hit a sore spot?" Danny grinned maliciously.
"Danny," Sam frowned in disapproval at both the boys' and her own actions, "We shouldn't make him feel bad because he got kicked off of the 'A-list'. He got kicked off for standing up for people for once instead of bullying them. I…"
Sam stood, surprising the boys, "I'm going to apologize. He didn't deserve us bring that up, even if he shouldn't have been so rude."
"Sam!" but Danny was too late, she had already made her way through the crowd of people, and the determination rolling off her in waves told Danny he didn't stand a chance in convincing her to come back, 'I swear, if he's even the tiniest bit of a jerk or touches one hair on her head, he's dead meat.'
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
"Dash?" Sam finally found him leaning against the wall right outside of the mall. He looked lost in contemplation, a strange thing to see from the boy who was known to be far more prone to immediate action as opposed to thinking things out.
"What, Manson?" the boy sounded like he was growling almost, so low and upset was his voice.
"I came to apologize for bringing up the whole 'A-list' thing," she winced as his frown deepened, "You didn't have any right to cut in our conversation…but I went a little out of bounds, too. So…I'm sorry."
"Whatever," Dash looked over at her, "You gonna' stand around again and try to get me to talk like that time in the park? 'Cause I really don't want to this time, Goth."
"No," Sam bristled, "I came to apologize, you jerk. I thought that maybe you had finally started to mature a bit, seeing as the rumor was you were starting to stand up for us unpopular kids, but I guess I was wrong. Excuse me for trying to be adult about the whole situation. I thought maybe one of us should."
Sam's rant over she turned to walk away, but Dash's quite, "Thanks," stopped her. Turning back, it appeared that the boy had never said the words, but the smile he was trying to stop was still starting to show on his face.
With a tiny smile of her own that the jock saw, Sam rolled her eyes, "Whatever. See ya' 'round Baxter."
'Why?' the young man questioned himself and sadly shook his head as she left him alone once again, 'She shouldn't apologize to me. She's right. Time to be an adult…'
As the people continued rushing this way and that in the holiday spirit, or holiday panic if they had forgotten to buy something, Dash joined in with them on the sidewalk, heading for home. There was no point in sitting and feeling sorry for himself any more today.
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
"Danny!" Jazz opened the door to the halfa's room, letting his dog be the alarm clock for the day, "Tucker just called, woke me up, and told me to wake you up."
"Ack! Matches!" Danny sputtered as his face was covered with dog slobber from an overly affectionate and excited puppy, "Jazz! You could have just woken me up…"
"Hm," she moved to ruffle his hair, "Still in a sour mood little brother? Care to talk about it?"
"No," he shook her hand off with his head, "Matches, attack! Come on boy, attack my sister…"
With a lopsided look of question, the puppy sat on Danny's lap, happily panting and patiently awaiting his boy to pet his head, "I don't think he knows what 'attack' means, Danny. Besides, he wouldn't attack me, would you Matches?"
Danny just shook his head again, "Whatever Jazz. I'm up now, so can you get out of my room so I can change? And take Matches with you, or he'll want to play tug-o-war with everything I try to put on…"
Door shut and puppy gone, Danny hurriedly dressed and headed downstairs when his mother yelled up the stairs that Tucker was waiting for him. Rushing down the stairs, the boy nearly tripped over his pet, and stumbled for a few steps before scooping up the rapidly growing dog and continuing to the kitchen.
"You're going on a diet, pup," Danny said in disapproval as the puppy's tail began to wag madly at sighting Tucker, "Who else has been feeding you?"
"I think everyone gives that dog treats," Tucker said around a mouthful of bacon that had somehow survived Maddie's cooking methods.
"He's getting spoiled rotten," Sam appeared behind Danny, causing the aforementioned puppy to begin wriggling desperately in Danny's grasp, trying to get to the beloved girl, "See? Spoiled rotten. You carry him all the time, that's part of his problem."
"Just take him already!" he thrust the dog towards her, "He wants to see you and I can't hold him forever."
"Well, I can't hold him either," and she sat the puppy down, where he began to pester Jack and Tucker for a bite of food, and both obliged, "See? Spoiled. End of story."
Jazz yawned as she came in to grab a cup of coffee, but quickly shook off her tiredness as she spotted all three of the trio in one place, "Hey you three, I've been meaning to talk to you about…"
"Oh look at the time," Danny grabbed Tucker by the collar to get him up and moving, and nudged Sam back towards the entryway with his shoulder, "We've got a lot to do today, so we'll just be going before it gets too much later."
Rushing out the door, the trio left Maddie and Jack chuckling softly as they retreated to their lab, while Jazz pouted silently. Matches took the momentary distraction as a chance to hop onto Tucker's empty chair and finish off the bacon left on the table, "Matches! No, bad dog! Get off the table, and no! Aw..."
'Danny won't talk to me, everyone is doing something they want,' she glared as she dragged the puppy away from the overturned milk pitcher, 'and I get to clean a table and wash a dog. Joy…'
Matches just woofed happily up at the girl who was showing him so much attention all of a sudden.
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
"Is that Dash?" Tucker asked from his spot on the bench eating his triple scoop strawberry ice cream cone, "I would swear that was him, but he isn't wearing his letterman…"
'How can he eat that ice cream that fast without getting a brain-freeze?' Sam was lost in silent contemplation over Tucker's amazing ability, gently licking her own soy-based, one scoop, vanilla ice cream, "Huh?"
"He was wondering if that was Dash," Danny pointed by jerking his head in the jock's direction, all the while, trying to keep his ice cream from melting any more than it had, "Alright, who's smart idea was it to buy ice cream today? It's freezing outside, and like a hundred degrees in here…"
"What?" Sam said, "I was hungry for some soy-based food, so sue me."
Both the boys simply rolled their eyes at that, before the trio turned their gaze back onto Dash Baxter, sitting across the open foyer at the food court, drinking a soda and eating what looked to be a foot long chili-cheese dog.
"He really doesn't have anyone to hang out with now," Danny's eyebrows raised, "I figured that at least someone would have been with him…"
"They're all too afraid of being 'unpopular'," Sam said dramatically and rolled her eyes, "He's been outcast, and the peer pressure keeps all his so called 'friends' from hanging out with him. At least he isn't trying to beg his way back into those idiots' good graces."
"I guess," Danny said as he turned to Tucker, watching the boy take the last bite of his waffle cone, "How do you do that?"
"Do what?" the boy looked around in question, "What did I do?"
"Never mind, Tuck," Sam laughed as she finished her own ice cream, "Let's head over to the movies again. There's a lot of shows I've been wanting to see."
"Fine by me," Danny said as he took their trash and threw it away, "but let's avoid Dash. He's probably in an even worse mood today."
"Agreed," Tucker and Sam nodded with half smiles, both standing to join Danny and make their way to the movies.
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
"Ah, December the twenty-third…the day before the day before Christmas," Jack said as he made his way to the door, which someone was knocking on in quick rapid bursts, Matches dancing around his legs, "Coming, coming!"
"Mr. Fenton?" Sam called through the door, "Why is the door locked? It usually isn't…"
"No one's gone out yet, my dear," he opened the door, only to find Matches rushing past him to get to the girl, "Whoa! Easy there, boy…that's a good dog."
"Honey?" Maddie called from downstairs, "I need some help down here!"
"Coming, baby!" he turned back to Sam, "Danny's still upstairs, so you'll probably have to wake him up. Jazz usually gets him up by now, but she was up all night looking over her research…she's actually still asleep on the couch…"
As Mr. Fenton trailed off and made his way downstairs, Sam headed upstairs, Matches happily accompanying her and every so often licking her dangling hands to get her attention, "Come on dog, let's go wake your owner up."
Opening the door carefully and calling the halfa's name, lest she intrude on him changing, Sam entered the normally semi-clean room to find it a complete disaster, "What in the world happened in here?"
Matches leapt to the bed to once again wake Danny.
"Jazz!" the halfa whined as he covered his face with his pillow, "Do you have to wake me up the same way twice in a row? I wanted to sleep in today!"
"Well, you aren't going to," Sam laughed as Danny sat straight up in bed at her voice, "We are going to get Tucker and do some walking around the town. Like your dad said, it's the day before the day before Christmas."
"Joy," Danny glared at his best friend, "Christmas Eve eve…now get out so I can change!"
Catching the pillow deftly, Sam turned on her heel and called Matches. He ran to her side immediately and both exited the room, shouts of 'Dog stealer!' and other such nonsense making their way to her ear as she shut the door.
A bright smile and a tiny blush lit her face as she noticed how happy Danny felt that she had woken him. Things were certainly changing, but for once it seemed to be for the better…and Mr. Murphy for once, decided to let things in that particular area be…for the time at least…
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
It was his third day of just visiting the mall and doing nothing, but this time around Dash Baxter wasn't so upset about it. Star and Kwan had seen him early and stopped to talk, much to his surprise, and he found that perhaps not being a part of the 'A-list', as Samantha Manson had implied, wasn't such a terrible thing after all.
'It's kinda' nice to just sit around without having to worry about anything,' Dash thought as he watched the holiday rush, people running around and smiling, people wishing other's a happy holiday, children waiting in line to see Santa, 'I never really just sat and watched people before…'
There was Star and Kwan again, walking towards another little shop enjoying one another's presence. There went Valerie Gray, yet another member of the 'A-list' who had been booted, trying to avoid some guy named Nathan. Dash wasn't too sure what was up with that, though, so he turned to look in another direction…
…and found himself looking straight at Danny Fenton and Sam Manson, the girl who had been bothering his conscious for months. They were sharing a table next to him, as they had the previous day, chatting about this or that and pretty much ignoring the world around them.
Tucker Foley soon approached with a tray laden with fries, cheese on the side, and three sodas. The happy trio started eating, all the while talking about what they were planning for Christmas, or in Manson's case Chanukah.
'The three biggest losers of Casper High,' Dash shook his head as he kept watching them with curiosity, a frown apparent on his countenance, 'and they're still some of the happiest people I've seen. They don't have popularity, they don't have the look, or the money…well after that party at Fenton's Freshman year and then Manson's party, I'm not so sure now…'
"Dash, why are you staring at us?"
Never having been caught in a situation quite like this before, Dash turned his head away and did the first thing that came into his mind. He answered the girl.
"I was just wondering why you and Fenton never show off. You both have money," and the jock was flabbergasted when Foley started laughing at him, "What?"
"I don't show off because my parents have money," Danny answered him warily, "I don't even get an allowance and if I need money I have to work for it."
"I didn't want people knowing I'm rich," Sam shrugged, "I wanted people to like me for me, not for my money."
"Yeah," Tucker mock glared at the girl, "You didn't even tell me and Danny until Freshman year. I was hurt Sam…"
"You got over it quick enough," Sam said dryly as she turned back to Dash and ignored Tucker's theatrics, "So what brings you here? Surely not the ambiance…"
"Just sitting," Dash answered back, still feeling awkward about having an actual conversation with the trio and not being about to stuff someone into a locker.
"If that's all you're doing today, why don't you come and see a movie with us?"
As soon as the words left her mouth, Sam could feel Danny's eyes burning holes into her head, the feelings of mistrust and jealousy sweeping over her and knotting in her stomach. Turning her head, she could see that the halfa's face clearly showed he was not happy. He clearly still had major trust issues, 'Danny...why can't you just get over fifth grade? You're so frustrating! You know exactly what happened...'
"Uh, that's alright," Dash said, also noting Danny's face, as well as Tucker's, who looked apprehensive about Dash joining their group, "Thanks for the offer though."
At Dash being civil, both of the boys turned their faces back to him, surprise written all over them. Danny looked to Sam, who sighed and shook her head, before making up his mind. If making nice with the jerk would make her happy…well, he'd do it, but he didn't have to like it.
"Hey, uh," Danny started not quite sure how to get it out, "The offer stands. If you ever just want to hang or anything, with the three of us, it's cool."
'Yep, I don't have to like it, but,' Danny thought as many very nice feelings, such as affection, pride, and not to mention gratefulness, came to him from Sam, 'it's definitely worth it. I think I just earned about fifty Brownie points there…'
Nodding his head, Dash stood and left, 'Why are they treating me this way? Do they think I'll become one of them, or are they still afraid of me...'
The boy had a great deal to ponder during the coming weeks, but the one point he found and stuck to was simple. He no longer knew anything and was having to relearn everything. Maybe being a loser wasn't so bad if it meant feeling free from the social constraints, or as Dash put it in his thoughts, 'It's like I don't have to worry constantly about what people think anymore…'