Author's Note: It's been crazy couple of weeks and just took longer to write this chapter than I had hoped. Between adjusting to working from home and other non-pandemic related events, I wasn't in the head space to write productively. I will be updating when I can. I hope you're all staying safe out there. Fair warning: Danny is still a jerk in this chapter. but it'll back fire on him in the next chapter. I can tell you that much.
Danny turned face down on the bed, "You can go away now."
"I think we should talk about this," Jason said.
"There's nothing to talk about," Danny said, "You and Jake will get killed, kidnapped or disappear one day or I will and getting close to each other is pointless."
"I can't guarantee that something bad won't ever happen to me," Jason said, "That's not the way life works. But that sounds like a pretty miserable way to live, not getting close to people because you're afraid of losing them."
"And grieving someone dying again is any better," Danny said.
"Look you can't live life being afraid of what might or might not happen," Jason said, "The truth is anything can happen at any given time. I wish I could tell you that wasn't the case. But if there's anything the last couple years have taught us between Oscar and Jamie, Jared' and Alyssa's dad is that nothing's guaranteed. I think we need to cherish and enjoy the time we have with each other when we have it."
"Easy for you to say," Danny replied, "At least you have a family unit of some sort. I just have bits and pieces of, I don't even know what you'd call it."
"What does that mean?" Jason asked.
"Drew's with Oscar all the time now and he should be," Danny said, "But Mom's off with Shiloh half the time. So it's not like I can rely on her either. I don't see why I should bother with any of you when it's very obvious no one has room for me and could be gone again just as easily."
"So let me make sure I understand this," Jason said, "On one hand you feel cheated for not feeling you like you have a family. But on the other hand you want nothing to do me and Jake and maybe your mom because we'll just leave you anyway
"Danny," Jason said, "I don't know what more I can do for you. You'd be welcome over here anytime. I've made every effort to spend time with you. Most of the time you don't want to be there. Tell me what else can I do to help you."
"Just go away and stop trying," Danny said.
"Is that what you really want?" Jason asked.
"I said go away," Danny said, laying on the bed and turning away from Jason.
"Danny," Jason said.
Danny grabbed the pillow and put it over his head.
Jason looked torn, but reluctantly left. Out in the hallway, he thought he saw someone dash in to Alyssa's room.
He looked in the room and found Kellie with a guilty look on her face.
"Alyssa wanted…" Kellie tried to offer up.
"You were eavesdropping, weren't you," Jason said.
"I might have stopped outside the bedroom door on my way to grab a jacket for Alyssa," Kellie said, "I'm sorry I know I shouldn't have. I just thought I might get some insight to help you. I just wanted to help you and Danny and Jake."
Jason pulled against him, "I will take any help I can get. You seem to be able figure out Danny better than any of the rest of us."
"It's like looking at a teenage version of my twenty something year old self," Kellie said, "I heard the part about pushing you and Jake away because he's afraid of losing you. That's what I did to Tyler."
"Do you think you might be able to get through to him even a little bit?" Jason asked.
"All I can do is try," Kellie said, "But until he decides he's done fighting, I don't know how much good I can do. Not to mention, he's got some sort of issue about not thinking he has a complete family unit of any kind or feeling excluded. We kind of need Sam and Drew to help with that part of it."
"Drew's tied up with Oscar," Jason said.
"As he should be," Kellie said, "I'll talk to Sam tomorrow about all the developments we've had with the foundation. Maybe she'll see we're making progress with Shiloh and the connections to the foundation, she'll back off Shiloh."
"I hope so," Jason said, "For Danny and Scout's sake otherwise…I…"
"You what?" Kellie asked.
"I don't know," Jason said.
"When Danny's timeout is up," Kellie said, "I'll feel it out and see if I can reach Danny in some way. In the meantime, why don't you go spend some time with Jake. Trina should have him happily roasting hot dogs or marshmallows by now."
"How do you do it?" Jason asked.
"Do what?" Kellie asked.
"Make navigating all this stuff with the kids tonight look so easy," Jason said, "A whole bunch of kids invited themselves to our house and Danny's being Danny and it doesn't faze you."
"Considering that fact I could hold my own with you and Dad and any of the families and I just launched an investigation into the foundation with no help from them at all,," Kellie said, "Dealing with a posse of kids all dealing with various strife and drama, that's easy."
"I'm glad one of us finds this easy," Jason said.
"Somehow we'll get Danny through this," Kellie said, "I'm not sure how but we will. In the meantime, if I'm going to talk to Danny, I'll need you to take Alyssa her jacket."
Kellie grabbed the jacket off the floor and handed it to Jason.
Out in the backyard, Jason gave Alyssa her jacket and then sat next to Jake.
"Is Danny joining us?" Jake asked.
"If he wants to," Jason said, "But he's in time out."
"Isn't he too old for a time out?" Jake asked, roasting his marshmallow, "Not that he doesn't deserve it."
"No," Jason said, nodding at the bag of marshmallows next to Jake, "Are you going to share the marshmallows?"
Jake handed Jason the bag of marshmallows.
"Alright, now I heard there were hot dogs and marshmallows," Drew said, "Do you have a preference Oscar?"
Meanwhile upstairs, Kellie knocked on Danny's slightly open door before entering. She leaned against the door frame. Danny ignored her.
"Your time out's over," Kellie said, "So are you going home or are you going to try and have fun for once?"
Danny rolled his eyes.
"It wouldn't kill you to go have fun with Jake and your dad," Kellie said, "What's your deal that you can't play nice even for Jake?"
Danny shrugged.
"I asked you a question," Kellie said.
"It's not like we're actually close or anything," Danny said, "Helena kidnapped him for years."
"Do you want to be close with your brother?" Kellie asked.
"What's the point?" Danny asked.
"That's not what I asked, " Kellie said, "Do you want to be close with Jake? I didn't ask what you what you think makes sense."
"It's the same thing," Danny said.
"No it's not," Kellie said.
"What would you know about it?" Danny asked.
"Plenty, Squirt," Kellie said, "What exactly have you heard over the years about me and my relationship with Tyler?"
"You were high school sweethearts," Danny rolled his eyes, "That eventually were reunited after you found your dad. You had the all American family dream until Tyler died."
"Story time, Squirt," Kellie said, ignoring Danny's glares, "Once upon a time there was a girl who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks and her mom died without telling her who her dad was. She bounce around from family to family until one day a lawyer helped her get a job and permission from the courts to live on her own while going to school. The lawyer had a son and she and the son fell in love. On her graduation night, they were going to elope and get married. Before that could happen, she was kidnapped and hurt. Her attacker didn't end up going to prison. Fearing he'd try to hurt her fiancee, she decided to fake her death in hopes of protecting him. She lived on the run from her attacker until she happened to find her father."
"If your mom didn't tell you who your dad was how…"Danny interrupted.
"That's another story," Kellie said, "Our girl's attacker dies in a police bust and she goes off and becomes a spy. Eventually, she comes back to help her dad with his business."
Danny looked sideways at her, "Uncle Sonny let you work with him?"
"You can wikipedia the rumors around it later," Kellie said, "Some of it anyway. It turned out her fiancee worked for her Dad's Miami office. When she saw him again, he didn't realize who she was and she didn't tell him."
"Tyler sounds like an idiot for not recognizing his ex-fiancee," Danny muttered.
"A whole bunch of other things happened including her thinking he was dead because her uncle killed him and frame her dad for it," Kellie said, "But eventually she told him the truth about who she was and he decided to stick around for awhile. Our boy and our girl still had feelings for each other, but wouldn't act on them. Then our girl needed a lawyer while trying to rescue you and Molly. Somewhere in the middle of that adventure or drama, they needed to get information from a priest who needed to meet his wedding quota for the month."
"What kind of priest has a wedding quota?" Danny asked.
"I don't know," Kellie said, "I really didn't have time to ask a lot of questions and Robert Scorpio and Luke Spencer were involved. But we got married to get the information and would annul the marriage later. After you and Molly were rescued, Tyler got hurt and his dragon lady mother showed up to take charge of his life."
"You stayed married to Tyler because you don't like his mom?" Danny asked.
"He didn't like her either," Kellie said, "She did kidnap us on our first date. Again, beside the point. We decided to see if we could stay married for real and I was about to commit to it when my brother got shot and ended up in a coma. I decided at that point my life was too dangerous for Tyler, skipped town, and served him divorce papers."
"Wait you tried to divorce Tyler?" Danny asked. "I thought you had some fairy-tale romance when you were reunited."
"Not in the beginning that's for sure," Kellie said, "Because I was my own worst enemy, same as you. Even after Tyler refused to sign the divorce papers, crashed my hideout and I had a mental breakdown, I still wasn't ready to let myself be happy with him. I made myself and him miserable continuing to push him away. I loved Tyler, but thought I should push him away so I wouldn't get hurt if he should get hurt because of the choices I made, the life I led."
"Or Dad and Uncle Sonny's business," Danny said, "Since you were involved I assume that Tyler would have been a target because of that."
"In the end, Tyler didn't die because he got caught in the crossfire,"Kellie said, "It was Leukemia and could have happened to anybody. It took me almost dying to be able to finally let go of all my fears about Tyler getting hurt and losing him again. What's it going to take for you to get you're hurting yourself more than anybody?"
"He still could died because…" Danny started.
"and I still would have grieved his loss," Kellie said, "even if I'd continued to push him away. I can't change the circumstances of my past and what our dads do for a living. Neither can you. That's the cold hard truth, Danny. I can't tell you not to push your dad and Jake away. But what I can tell you is pushing away people you love just makes you miserable and losing them won't hurt any less. I spent years trying to pretend I didn't care. As much as I tried not to hurt my siblings, I still did just like I did Tyler. I'm just glad mine were patient enough to wait for me to figure out my stuff the same way Jake is waiting for you to figure it out."
"What is this?" Danny asked, "An after school special where you expect us hug and make up."
"No," Kellie said, "I know better than that. Just think about what I said. It's a choice only you can make. I hope you'll make the choice to be happy regardless of your circumstances or what you fear might happen. In the meantime, your time out's over. If you want to have hot dogs and marshmallows, you can join us in the backyard. If you want to go home, let your dad know."
Kellie walked out of the room leaving Danny to his thoughts.