The next morning
Danny woke up and realized he'd fallen asleep at Jason and Kellie's. He noted the time, got up, grabbed his bag, and cracked open the door.
All was quiet and he didn't see anyone up. He snuck downstairs and made his way to the front door. His hand reached for the door knob.
"I thought you might try something like this," Kellie's voice startled Danny. He froze as the light in the study came on. He looked to find Kellie standing in the doorway.
"I have to get to school," Danny said, unconvincingly.
"I might believe that in another hour," Kellie said, "And by the way, your mom was going to let the school know not to expect you today."
"So what I'm like stuck here," Danny said, "For how long."
"That's between you and your dad," Kellie said.
"Where is he?"Danny asked.
"Upstairs asleep," Kellie said.
"So you what staged an all night stake out to see if I tried to leave?" Danny asked.
"No," Kellie said, "I've only been awake for about a half hour."
"You know I don't have to stay here," Danny said, "I'm just going to walk out the door and."
"And get stopped by the guard," Kellie said, "You can go ahead and try it. It's up to you. Or if you want there'll be breakfast in the kitchen soon."
Kellie left Danny at the door and went to the kitchen. Danny contemplated his options, dropped his bag and followed Kellie to the kitchen.
"How did you know I'd try to sneak out," Danny asked.
"It's what I did" Kellie said, grabbing items out of the fridge to make breakfast, "When I was your age."
"Wait what?" Danny asked, "You ran away from Uncle Sonny's as a kid."
"No, foster homes," Kellie said, "Sonny didn't even know I existed until I was an adult."
"Were you successful?" Danny asked.
"Multiple times," Kellie said, "Until the cops found me and I had to go back or they found me a new home."
"What's your secret?" Danny asked, "How did you get away?"
"I'm definitely not telling you that," Kellie replied, "So why do you want to run away so much?"
Danny didn't answer.
"Because you're pissed off at the world in general," Kellie said, "Nothing is how you think it should be. No one asked your opinion about anything. I can keep going. By the way, running away doesn't make the hurt and the anger go away, you just take it with you."
"You lived in foster homes why would you care if the hurt and anger came with you," Danny asked, shifting uncomfortably as Kellie's words struck a nerve.
"I tried it when I came Port Charles," Kellie said, "I never wanted to come to Port Charles. I never had any intention of telling anyone who I was. But things happened and the truth about Sonny being my dad came out. There was no going back and I had to figure out how to deal with that when it wasn't what I wanted at the time or planned on. I was angry at Sonny, the world, you name it. So I left town. But eventually I came back to deal with all the hurt and anger. Even though I'd so much time pushing my dad and siblings away, they waited me out. So you can push and try to run away all you want, but we can wait you out. Because that's what this family does."
Danny looked unconvinced.
"Do you have any idea how lucky you are?" Kellie said, "I know you're angry at your dad and me and the whole situation feels unfair. But do you have any idea how much I would have loved to be in your position at your age with parents that care about you?"
"Then why did Dad leave town last year if he really cared about me?" Danny blurted out, "I don't understand why he had to help you with security when you'd always taken care of your own."
"I know some people believe that's why your Dad went down to the island," Kellie said, "But that's not why he came to the island. After being held prisoner for five years, he had somethings he needed to figure out and he couldn't do that here."
"Why?" Danny asked.
"That's all I'm going to tell you," Kellie said, "If your Dad wants to discuss that with you that's up to him. But him leaving last year for a months was never intended to be a reflection of how he feels about you or Jake. I'll let you in on a secret, sometimes adults we don't have our shi…stuff together together. We just try the best that we can. Your dad is trying to do better with you. But it's a two way street. The more you push him away the harder you're making it on both of you. Just think about that next time you consider bailing on a visit with him."
Kellie hand Danny a plate with a breakfast sandwich. He eyed it warily.
"I'm not the evil queen from Snow White," Kellie said, "I don't go around poisoning people, Squirt."
"No one's called me that since I was little," Danny said.
"I was the only one that ever called you that," Kellie said
"Well I'm not a squirt," Danny said, cautiously eating his breakfast sandwich.
"That's debatable," Kellie said, standing at the fridge with the door open. She went to grab orange juice and stopped.
"Are you okay?" Danny asked when he noticed Kellie just stood there, holding the door.
"I'm fine," Kellie said. Danny wasn't convinced.
Kellie shut the door to the fridge, slowly turned around, and put both hands on the island counter.
"No you're not. You look really pale," Danny said, "Do you have like morning sickness or something?"
"Yeah," Kellie said.
"But you're like kind of showing," Danny said, "I thought morning sickness went away after the first few months."
"Not for me," Kellie said.
"Maybe you should sit down," Danny said. The next thing Kellie knew Danny was next to her, easing her on the barstool at the island.
"I'm umm…going to get Dad," Danny said. He took off before Kellie could stop him.
"Danny, I just need…" Kellie said before realizing Danny hadn't heard her and was gone.
Upstairs, Danny shook Jason to wake him, "Dad, wake up. I think Kellie's really sick."
It took Jason a moment to focus and realize what Danny was saying.
"Sick how?" Jason asked, moving from the bed.
"The kind of sick Mom was when she was pregnant with Scout, but worse I think," Danny said.
"Where is Kellie now?" Jason asked.
"In the kitchen," Danny said, "I made her sit down and then came to get you."
Jason went in to the bathroom, opened a cabinet and grabbed some medication.
"Is she going to be okay?" Danny asked.
"She will," Jason said as they headed downstairs, "Kellie gets sicker than most pregnant women. She just needs some medication to help her feel better."
"But isn't medication not always good for babies?" Danny asked.
"The doctors made sure to give Kellie medication that was safe for the baby," Jason said as they arrived in the kitchen. Kellie hadn't moved from the barstool.
"Danny, can you get her a glass of water?" Jason said, "The glasses are in the cupboard by the sink."
Danny didn't respond, but went to get a glass of water.
"Danny said you're sick this morning," Jason said, standing next to Kellie, "What's going on?"
"I umm…. I think I forgot to take my medication with everything that went on yesterday," Kellie said as Jason opened the prescription bottle, grabbed a pill, and handed it to Kellie.
Danny handed Jason the glass of water. Jason set the glass down in front of Kellie. Kellie took her medication and drank some water. Danny meanwhile went to work finishing his breakfast.
"What time is it?" Kellie asked, looking at the clock, "I have to get the boys and Alyssa ready for school."
"I'll make sure they're ready," Jason said, "I think should you take it easy today."
"I have things to do today," Kellie said, "I have a meeting with Curtis and I need to talk to Kristina."
"Talk?" Danny muttered, "More like rake her over the coals."
"Have Curtis meet you here," Jason said, "You can deal with Kristina another day."
Kellie didn't reply.
"I know that's the last thing you want to hear right now," Jason said, "But it was only a couple of weeks ago you were in pretty rough shape. Even the thought of seeing you like that scares me. I'd feel better if you'd take it slow, make sure the medication gets working again before you keep doing what you need to do."
"Okay…. I will ask Curtis if he could meet me here," Kellie said, "And do what I can from here today."
Before anymore could be said, Alyssa came running down the stairs, "Danny, you're still here."
She hugged him excitedly. Danny didn't exactly hug her back, but he didn't push her away either.
"Your mom made you breakfast," Danny said, eventually trying to pry Alyssa off him as she chattered at him.
"It's not put together," Alyssa said, seeing the English muffins sitting out and the eggs and bacon on the stove. She grabbed the English muffin, "and It's not warm."
Danny rolled his eyes, but grabbed the English muffin and put it in the toaster.
Jason meanwhile had convinced Kellie to move to couch in the family room.
"Before I forget to ask," Jason said, "What were you doing up so early."
"Not sure," Kellie said, "But then it occurred to me Danny might try to sneak out before everyone else was up."
"Did he?" Jason asked.
"Tried to walk right out the front door," Kellie said.
"The guards would have stopped him," Jason said.
"I know," Kellie said, "But I couldn't sleep as it was. We had a good talk or more like I talked to him. Maybe something got through."
"Anything you care to share?" Jason asked.
"Nope," Kellie said, "Privileged information."
After Jason made sure the boys were up and moving, he noticed Danny had disappeared back to his room.
Once the kids had left for school, Jason looked in on Kellie and saw she'd gone back to sleep on the couch. He turned the tv off, grabbed a blanket, and put it over Kellie.
Then Jason headed upstairs to talk to Danny.