Sam glanced at the reflection of her daughter sitting in the back of the car in the rear-view mirror with a soft smile. The girl was dutifully holding the takeaway pizza boxes. Melinoe had aced a test in school and although she was only seven, Sam wanted to reward the achievement. It was a dreary rainy night in early winter, too early for snow yet but summer was definitely over.
"Hungry?" Sam called over her shoulder. Melinoe grinned and nodded eagerly. Sam smiled as she turned her full attention back to the road, just in time to stop before she hit a dark figure picking themselves up from the middle of the road. Melinoe cried out in alarm as the wheels squealed on the flooded road but the vehicle came to a full stop, illuminating the pale, frightened face of a man in the headlights.
Sam swivelled in her seat to check on her young daughter who was clutching the hot pizza boxes and shaking in shock.
"Are you alright Mel?" Sam inquired.
"Ye-yeah mommy. I'm-I'm okay. I don't think I squished the pizza," Melinoe answered. Sam's concern for the girl evaporated with an amused roll of her eyes. If the girl was more concerned by their dinner, she was fine.
"Stay in the car. I want to check that whoever is out there is okay," Sam informed her daughter, waiting for an obedient nod before she flicked her raincoat's hood over her hair and kicked open her door, ignoring the dinging from the dash complaining that the driver's door was open while running before she slammed it shut again behind her. Sam squinted through the heavy rain and gloom cast by the dim streetlights and her headlights.
"Hey! Are you okay?" Sam called worried.
"Sam?" a voice responded. Sam blinked in surprise as she recognised the voice despite not hearing it in years.
"Danny?" she returned, following the voice to find the man near her car.
"What are you doing in the middle of the street!" Sam shouted over the rain.
"Er, out of power. Sorry, are you okay?" Danny admitted rubbing the back of his neck with a nervous grin. Sam shook her head, her knowing smirk hidden in the darkness.
"We're fine. Got a scare but Mel's more worried about dinner than anything," Sam assured.
"Mel? Wait… is…?" Danny questioned turning to the car.
"Yeah, she's with me," Sam confirmed.
"I should go," Danny decided and turned away from the car.
"Hang on Danny. If you're out of power, you're stuck walking home. In this weather, you'll get sick. Where's home? I'll give you a lift," Sam offered, holding up a hand as though to grab him despite not being close enough.
"I don't think it's a good idea," Danny replied.
"Danny, can't I give an old friend a lift home during a storm?" Sam remarked with a raised eyebrow. Danny hesitated and Sam knew she had won him with that comment.
Sam strode back to her driver door and got in, flashing a reassuring smile to her daughter in the back.
"Are they okay?" Melinoe asked.
"You can ask him yourself. We're going to drop him home. He's an old friend of mine from high school," Sam answered, pulling down her dripping hood. Sam waited from Danny to stop hesitating and get in the car. She rolled her eyes and lowered the front passenger window, ignoring the sudden stream of water falling inside the car.
"Are you getting in tonight?" she called out impatiently.
"Ok. Ok. I'm getting in," Danny grumbled as he clicked open the handle and nervously eased himself into the car. Sam grimaced as she saw how soaked Danny was from standing out in the rain.
"Maybe you should come home with us first and I can put those clothes in the dryer," Sam suggested.
"You don't have to do that. A lift home is plenty," Danny protested. Sam frowned before reluctantly nodding.
"Okay… where's home?" she asked. Danny blushed as he rubbed his neck, ignoring his dripping hair.
"I'm back with my parents for now," he confessed. Sam's eyes widened in surprise.
"I thought you had an apartment," Sam admitted.
"I did a few years ago but er well, holding down a job hasn't been easy. I missed the rent a few times and got kicked out. I didn't really have anywhere else to go," Danny muttered. Suddenly his stomach rumbled loudly causing his face to darken. Sam's worried frown deepened.
"Have you eaten today?" she asked, guessing the answer.
"Er…" Danny responded, holding an arm around his middle, hoping to drown out any further stomach grumbles.
Sam glanced at her daughter through the rear-view mirror, the girl looked worried about Danny too.
"Mel, do you mind if Danny joined us for dinner?" Sam asked, ignoring Danny's shocked face and shaking head.
"Sure. We have plenty of pizza," Melinoe agreed. Sam smiled at her daughter gratefully. She knew Danny well enough to sense he had skipped breakfast, lunch and dinner and maybe even the day before as well. She had noticed a lot of ghosts around recently. And with the strain of living with his parents again who as far as she knew didn't know about his ghostly nature, Sam knew Danny wouldn't be looking after himself properly.
"Don't worry Danny, it isn't all vegetarian," Sam muttered with a smirk before continuing their journey home.
They drove in silence for a few minutes before Sam decided to start a conversation.
"So… how's Jazz?" Sam asked.
"Jazz? She's doing great. She's gone back to college for her doctorate but she's doing volunteering in homeless shelters as a psychologist for the experience. She's dating too," Danny informed the woman with a shrug.
"Anyone for you to worry about?" Sam prompted with a knowing smirk.
"I haven't needed to talk to any of them yet," Danny answered with a roll of his eyes. Sam chuckled before glancing at the girl in the back.
"Do you want to ask anything Mel?" Sam encouraged. The girl shrugged.
"I dunno. How come I've never met him if you two are good friends?" Melinoe wondered. Sam blinked at the question, glancing at Danny who gave her a look she understood to mean that she should have listened to him.
"We lost contact when I left for college," Sam lied.
"Oh. Where did he go?" Melinoe pressed. Danny cleared his throat uncomfortably.
"I never actually went. I didn't… I didn't have good enough grades," Danny confessed. Sam sighed in sympathy. Danny's ghostly activities had stolen a lot from him, especially a good education. Not that he wasn't willing to learn or provided with the tools and teachers, but as he was stretched so thin by Phantom's obligations, he regularly fell asleep in class or didn't turn in homework completed. All the missed assignments and classes did irreparable damage to his grades and had destroyed his chance at getting a degree.
"Oh," Melinoe breathed. Sam chewed her lip as she searched for a new topic, hating the silence filling the car.
"Speaking of school, what's your favourite subject Mel?" Danny offered. Sam smiled at him appreciatively. She hadn't anticipated how awkward this reunion would be and was struggling to hide their shared history from her ignorant daughter.
"I love science. I got an A plus in a test today so mommy said we could have pizza for dinner," Melinoe bragged.
"Oh wow. Congratulations," Danny praised with a genuine smile. Melinoe beamed at him.
"Did you like science?" she asked.
"Some of it I did. I'm bit of an amateur astronomer actually," Danny admitted.
"Amateur? You could find constellations with your eyes closed," Sam scoffed.
"Could you show me?" Melinoe requested with an eager grin. Danny and Sam faltered.
"Tonight's not good for star gazing. Maybe another time," Danny muttered gently. Melinoe deflated but nodded in understanding.
"What other subjects did you like?" Melinoe asked. Danny shifted in his seat uncomfortably.
"I didn't really like school. I enjoyed bits of subjects though. Erm, some English stories. Parts of history. The occasional lesson in geography. But I didn't really like any subject completely," Danny revealed carefully. Sam and Danny both knew that Danny's opinion of his classes didn't reflect on what those subjects taught, but which were easier to scrape passing grades in with the minimal amount of study. Melinoe on the other hand loved school deriving great pleasure in learning whatever her teachers taught her, she had her favourite and least favourite subjects but generally she did well in school.
Sam pulled up outside her house and turned off the engine and headlights. She flicked her hood up and searched for the house keys in her deep pockets.
"I'm gonna open the door first then I'll come get you okay Mel?" Sam explained, glancing at the girl who nodded. Danny shook his head.
"Tell me which key and I'll open the door. You can bring Mel behind me and your dinner," Danny offered.
"You're soaked. I have a coat," Sam pointed out.
"Yeah, I'm soaked. A few more seconds out in that won't make a difference," Danny agreed holding out a hand. Sam smirked at the man before pulling a key out of the bundle and handed it to him, letting the rest of her keys dangle. Danny gave her a curt nod and got out of the car.
"He's really nice mommy," Melinoe commented, watching the dark figure jog through the rain, hunching his shoulders, to the front door. Sam shook her head at the man when he tripped over the front steps in his haste before fumbling to find the lock in the dark for the key to fit in.
"He is," Sam confirmed.
"Why aren't you friends still?" Melinoe asked with a confused frown. Sam hesitated, chewing her lip as she came up with a believable lie.
"Sometimes even really good friends drift apart. We lost contact when I left and when I came back, my life had changed a lot. It wasn't long after college when I had you," Sam answered.
"Will you be friends again now?" Melinoe wondered. Sam frowned to herself as she watched Danny finally find the lock and open the door.
"Maybe," Sam lied.
Sam kicked open her door and slammed it shut behind her. She hurried to the back of the car and opened Melinoe's door, helping the girl carry the three pizzas boxes as well as pull up her coat hood. Sam blinked in surprise when Danny returned to them and offered to help Melinoe into the house, using his own body to shield her from the worst of the rain. Sam allowed him, taking back her keys and locked the car before following with the steaming boxes. Once in the hallway, Sam flicked on the light and frowned at Danny. His thin shirt was sticking to chest and his jeans were weighed down by the amount of rain they'd absorbed. His shoes squelched on the wooden floor and his hair was still dripping, leaving small puddles wherever he walked. He looked worn out and malnourished. Sam dropped off the pizza in the kitchen before turning to Danny.
"No arguments. You are getting out of those wet things. Come on, I think I have something you can wear," Sam decided. Danny managed to get out a few mangled words of protest before slumping in defeat and followed the woman upstairs.
Sam led him straight to her bedroom and dug through the wardrobe ignoring the growing damp patch on the carpet as Danny hovered by the door. Sam smiled when she found a musty shirt and a pair of dusty jogging bottoms. She turned and handed them to the waiting man who raised a surprised eyebrow.
"You still have these?" Danny remarked, gesturing the men's clothes she had given him.
"We were together for a long time Danny. You didn't take everything when you moved out," Sam retorted with a shrug before pointing to her on-suite.
"Shower and change. Dinner will be ready for you in the kitchen," Sam ordered. Danny frowned at her, but she didn't wait for him to argue and left her bedroom to return to her hungry daughter in the kitchen. Sam smiled at the girl as she opened the three boxes and got out four plates. She put the garlic bread on one plate by itself. It was a feast of food, but they were celebrating and Melinoe couldn't decide between a pizza or garlic bread. Sam was now glad for the extra food for their unexpected guest. She then divided up the two pizzas and a bag of chips. She put half of Melinoe's meat pizza on Danny's plate, knowing his dislike of veggie pizza. She put her own choice of vegan pizza on her plate and took a few slices and put them on Melinoe's plate with half of the remaining meat pizza. Sam then carried Melinoe's plate and the garlic bread to her daughter who had already scrambled into her seat at the small round breakfast table with three chairs in the corner of the room.
Sam smiled loving at her daughter as she cheered and dug into to the pizza. She grabbed her own plate and sat opposite the girl, leaving a seat between them open for Danny. A few minutes later Danny came downstairs and ventured into the kitchen. He had messily towel dried his hair, leaving it a tangled bird's nest. Now dressed in dry clothes, Sam frowned. The clothes were a lot bigger on him than she remembered. He spotted the plate and slowly took it and joined them at the table. Melinoe grinned at him with a tomato sauce covered face. He offered her a weak nervous one.
"Where did you leave your clothes?" Sam asked before biting into a new slice. Danny glanced at her before rubbing the back of his neck, still not eating.
"They're pretty wet. I left them in the sink. But I'll clear it all up," Danny admitted.
"It's fine Danny," Sam soothed before she reached over and pointedly shoved his plate a little closer to him.
"Eat. We bought plenty," Sam encouraged. Melinoe nodded in agreement, her cheeks bulging with garlic bread. Danny smiled in gratitude as he picked at the small pile of chips.
Sam smiled as Danny made his way through the meal and soon Melinoe was finished.
"Mommy, I've done all my homework, can I watch TV?" Melinoe asked hopefully.
"Sure. I'll help you put on a movie," Sam offered and left the table, having finished eating shortly after her daughter but Danny was still eating with Sam nonchalantly putting the rest of the meat pizza on his plate. Sam left Danny in the kitchen and followed her daughter into the living room next door. The black fabric couches were littered with black and white cushions facing a large flat screen in the corner. A large window faced the generous garden which Sam kept well-tended, including a couple of vegetables patches in a back corner. Sam flicked on the light and closed the curtains before perusing the bookshelf filled with DVDs. With a smile she spotted one of Melinoe's favourites and handed it to the girl who cheered. Scampering to the DVD player and hitting the eject button, she pulled out the previous DVD and popped in her one. Sam took the DVD case and spare disk from her daughter and grabbed the remotes to put on the film. Melinoe settled on a couch in her favourite seat and Sam found the case where the free DVD belonged. Once the film was going, Sam left her daughter to go upstairs and found Danny's sodden clothes bundled in a dripping pile in the sink as he said. With a frown, Sam tried to wring them out a little before taking them back downstairs and into a back room that housed her tumble dryer. Honestly, she didn't mind Danny keeping the clothes she had given him, they were his at the end of the day, but she knew he would insist on returning them.
Finally, she returned to the kitchen to find Danny washing the dishes. She rolled her eyes but didn't argue. He had finished the meat pizza while she was gone.
"Full?" she asked, propping herself against a cupboard, folding her arms causally. Danny flashed her a grateful smile.
"Yeah. Thanks. Living with mom and dad isn't easy, especially when there's a lot of ghosts around," Danny admitted.
"I figured as much. You've lost weight," Sam remarked. Danny frowned as he grabbed a tea towel and started drying the plates he washed.
"I put your clothes in the dryer," Sam informed him.
"I'm getting my strength back, I could probably have dried them myself soon," Danny muttered. Sam shrugged.
Danny sighed, putting the last plate back in its place, Sam wasn't surprised that he remembered where they went.
"Are we going to avoid the elephant in the room?" Danny asked.
"What? Mel?" Sam prompted. Danny frowned and nodded.
"What do you want to know?" Sam returned. Danny seemed to have an internal debate before sighing again.
"Mel? What's it short for?" Danny eventually replied.
"Melinoe," Sam answered readily.
"Melanie?" Danny repeated. Sam chuckled.
"A lot of people get it wrong to start with. No. Melinoe. Mel-lin-o-e. It's Greek," Sam corrected.
"Greek? I thought you would have gone with something Jewish," Danny pointed out. Sam shrugged.
"I learnt about the Greek goddess while I was pregnant and thought it was perfect," Sam revealed tight-lipped. Danny frowned at her.
"It has a hidden meaning doesn't it?" he realised. Sam smirked knowingly. Danny shook his head.
"I'm not gonna ask. I can sense I don't really want to know," Danny muttered. Sam's smirk grew.
"How is she? I mean like in general," Danny asked instead.
"Healthy. Happy mostly. She's a bit of a loner at school. She has asked about her dad a few times though," Sam answered with a shrug.
"And you told her," Danny prompted.
"That he had to go before she was born, and I didn't know where he was now. She wants to know more but I've always told her I'd explain when she's older," Sam admitted. Danny nodded slowly.
"Her birthday is coming up by the way," Sam remarked, nodding at the calendar on the fridge. Danny glanced at the calendar, noticing a note in red marker labelling a day in the next couple of weeks as Melinoe's birthday. He memorised the date.
"I know what you're thinking. And I can't," Danny muttered.
"Not even as a family friend," Sam challenged with a slight scowl.
"Sam, it isn't a good idea. You know why I've kept my distance all these years," Danny retorted with a frown. Sam sighed sadly before nodding.
"I miss you Danny," she mumbled. Danny sighed.
"And I miss you. Every day. But it has to be this way," Danny returned with a helpless shrug. Sam nodded again.
"I shouldn't have agreed to this. I should go," Danny commented as he turned to leave.
"Wait Danny. At least wait until I put Mel to bed. She's only going to ask where you went," Sam interjected. Danny sighed before nodding in agreement.
"Come sit down in the living room," she encouraged as she led the way into the living room, dropping into a seat beside Melinoe who was giggling at her movie. Danny chewed his lip in indecision for a moment before dropping into a seat on the other couch. He glanced at the movie and blinked in surprise. The movie was about the cartoon ghost, Casper the friendly ghost. The ghost was searching for the ghost of his father, finding friends along the way before eventually finding his three ghostly uncles. As the movie credits ran, Sam glanced at the clock. It was still twenty minutes before Melinoe's bedtime. If the mother tried to bring the dreaded time forward the girl would only argue.
"Your mother mentioned that your birthday is coming up. Do you know what you want yet?" Danny ventured. Melinoe nodded with a grin.
"I want a puppy!" she announced. Danny blinked and turned to Sam. She shrugged.
"I've told her that puppies are a lot of work and she has to wait until she's older," Sam admitted. Melinoe slummed in disappointment.
"But I've been really good," she whined. Danny smirked at the girl as Sam rolled her eyes.
"Having a puppy isn't about you being good Mel. They are a lot of work. You have to walk them every day. Play with them. Feed them. Clean up after them. I don't think you're ready yet for that kind of responsibility," Sam decided.
"How can I prove it if you don't let me," Melinoe complained.
"Maybe you should go get ready for bed," Sam suggested noticing that it was only ten minutes before the girl's bedtime. Melinoe spun around to check the time before deflating and obediently heading upstairs.
"A puppy?" Danny commented when the girl was gone. Sam scowled at him.
"Don't you dare get her one," Sam growled. Danny laughed and shook his head, holding up his hands to soothe her.
"I won't. I don't even have that kind of cash," Danny assured. Sam frowned at him before he realised what he said.
"I don't need any charity Sam. I'm okay. Free bed and food. I'm looking for a new job. Just… going through a rough patch," Danny muttered. Sam nodded slowly before getting up to put Melinoe to bed. When she returned Danny was gone, the tumble dryer was beeping in protest and the old t-shirt and jogging bottoms were folded on top. Sam sighed as she returned the items of clothing to the dark corner of her wardrobe, hidden from Melinoe.
A little snapshot of Danny Fenton's life, at least as it was a few years ago.
So just to clear up any questions on exactly when this is, it's in November when Melinoe was seven. You'll see why I've clarified this later on.
But we're back with Melinoe in our present next.
Until the next chapter.