This chapter is dedicated to mi guard who had the idea for Danny's costume and encouraged me to write something about it. I hope you like it!

„You can't be serious."
A laughter, poorly hidden in coughing, was answer enough.
Danny shook his head. "Never."
"You said he could choose, Danny. You said you didn't mind." Joe's voice shivered with malicious joy.
"Now, come out, princess! Jamie's waiting! Get out or I come in!"
"Come in and I'll kill you!" Danny roared back – and bit his tongue immediately. He couldn't say these words anymore, not that way, not as the joke they had used it before. He had killed. He had actually taken other people's lives, lives that could have just like his own.
"Joe?" Slowly he opened the door to his room and stepped away from it, to make clear he was no danger for his younger brother. "I'm sorry, Joe, you know I'd never…"
"Yeah, I know, I know, Danny. Calm down." Still, Joe's voice was different now, cautious, as were his steps into the room. "Turn around, Danny. Look at – oh my god…"

Whatever distance or fear there had just been between the brothers was carried away by Joe's laughter, so loud and heartily that Danny couldn't help falling in.
"Mom! Erin!" Joe gasped between laughing, "and is Linda here? You gotta see this!"
"Not Linda!" Danny begged, helpless himself to sound serious now that his whole body shook with laughter. "Oh god, please don't let her be on the streets tonight!"

"Shouldn't be that much a problem" Erin said smugly, trying to restrain laughter as she reached her brother's room. "Not everyone's so hot on going out for trick or treat."
Danny glared at her. "You knew it."
"That?" Erin shook her head. "No. I knew it would be good, but… that great…" She grinned wider every second. "Good job, Joe."
"Thanks, sis!"

One floor deeper Linda was worried, though she tried not to show it.
After two minutes of chattering about nothing, Mary decided to release the young woman. "We all heard it, Linda. Are you okay?"
Caught, Linda shrugged. "I just… don't understand it. We're good, really, I… I…" She looked at her boyfriend's mom, unsure how much she could and should tell her.
Mary nodded encouragingly. "We struggled a lot at first. He had nightmares, and sometimes it would take till noon for him to fully accept he's home again, and there's a lot he wants nobody to know about, and I don't know how to… prove to him that what he is is so much more than enough, but still… I don't understand why now…" She stopped as Mary gently took her shivering hands into her own. Her eyes were shining.
"Linda, this is one of the most beautiful things a mother can wish to hear. Thank God my son has found you. I know it won't be that easy with my Danny, but" and now even for her it was hard not to laugh, "let me explain this to you. You know, when Danny went to Iraq he promised Jamie that he would accompany him at Halloween once he'd be back. And when Jamie asked what he would want to dress up as… Danny made the big mistake to say he didn't care. They got partner costumes, and…"

"Mom? Mom, can you help me with the zip?" Jamie walked into the living room. "Hi, Linda."
The nurse was speechless, and Mary smiled. "Of course, honey, come on. You're looking good."
"Yeah you do" Linda gasped, still stunned. "it fits you. My little superman." She giggled at the word. "You said partner costumes, Mary?"
"Partner costumes", she confirmed. "Your boyfriend is Supergirl tonight."

It was not as bad as he had expected.
It was worse.
Automatically, Jamie had chosen the same route for getting his sweets as the previous years, when he had gone with friends and their parents, or with his own parents. A route that included his school, their grandparents, father Matthews – who had no problems with Halloween as long as he saw every child who got sweets at mass for All Saints' Day – and… cops.
Danny swore under his breath. Of course. Safety precaution. Don't go to dark houses you don't know, try to keep to those where you know the owners. Or at least – before you enter an unknown road, make sure you get to a cop first so he will know where you got lost at.
Basically, Danny liked the idea. He wanted his siblings to be safe, and if he was in dad's position he wouldn't have done it any other way.
But it meant that he would make a fool of himself in front of all the police officers his father knew. His future bosses, if he made it.

Fifth door of the night. Renzulli. Through the spyhole he saw the young officer looking at him. There was a muffled sound to be heard behind the door, and the waited a bit longer than it should take to out a key into the keyhole and turn it around. "Hey guys" the police officer grinned, "how you're doing?"
Jamie beamed. "Trick or treat", he yelled, "and we're gonna fly you up into the sky!"
"Really? I think I'd love that" Renzulli mused as he took some sweets from a bowl behind his back. "Especially with the young lady here."
Danny smiled through clenched teeth. "Officer."
Renzulli nodded politely. "Supergirl." He was not at all impressed by the boys' famous name, and especially not by Danny. Probably because his first year had been Danny's last year in high school, when he had done… well, things that weren't quite what the law required.
Renzulli was ambitious but he was honest, straight and brave. And like his father had said, he didn't "bow to a uniform but to people". And even if this was somehow against his beliefs – people were made by the uniform they wore, and vice versa – Danny knew that Renzulli currently was one of the best cops on the street.
That didn't help him now, though. For heaven's sake, he was Supergirl.
"Thank you, officer!" Jamie said happily, and Renzulli smiled. "Pleasure, young man. You're looking good. That'll be your job one day, uh? Superhero?"
"Kind of" the young one nodded earnestly. "I'm gonna be a police officer just like dad and grandpa. And you!"
Astonished, Renzulli looked at him. "Will you, uh? Well, I'd love to see a superman next to me." He blinked at Danny. "Or any other kind of heroes. I heard you enlisted for the academy."
Danny straightened. "I got accepted, officer. You'll see me soon."
"Well…" Renzulli's face didn't give his opinion away. "Then I guess I'll see you soon. Take care, guys, and don't eat everything at once!"

"Danny?" Jamie looked up to him. "How you're doing? You're so silent." He looked a bit frightened, and Danny hurried to smile.
For his little brother, the question "how you're doing?" wasn't the set phrase it was for everyone else. Jamie was afraid he would do anything that could hurt Danny, not understanding that it was just this over-cautiousness that hurt.
"Yeah, of course, superman, I'm okay."
Jamie smiled in relief. "As long as we don't get too close to kryptonite."
"Well, really? I'm not sure. Is supergirl allergic against that, too?"
"She's your character, how should I know?"
"But you searched her out!"
"No, that was Joe."
Danny snorted. "Of course."
Jamie stopped. "You don't like being here" he said, not a question.
Those puppy eyes. Why couldn't it be as it had been once? Danny had managed to restore most relationships to the point where he had been before joining the army.
Most. Though Jamie had been the first to hug him, now he was the least secure around his big brother, and Danny didn't know why. All he knew was that he hated it.
"I do like being here" he tried to explain, "I just… okay, look, I really don't like being supergirl, I mean, look at me" – he turned around, his fake long hair whirling around like his red cape, "I'm looking totally ridiculous, just because of Joe, and…"
"Danny, that's the point."

"What?"
"That's the point" Jamie repeated, and with immense relief Danny heard a trace of know-it-all in his voice. Came time, he would break this habit of Jamie, but right now it showed him that his little brother was finally starting to feel comfortable. "Halloween was a feast of the Celts in Europe, they would put pumpkins with candles in front of their houses and disguise to get rid of bad spirits and the spirits of the dead would go home. That's one theory, at least."
"Okay" Danny murmured, his mind already moved on.

"Of course" Jamie went on, "I'm not sure if ridiculous equals terrifying, because that's what they tried to look like. But I guess… I guess there's unicorn coming our way and you should get off the street before it hits you and Cindarella will fall off it!"
"Yeah, sure." Danny quickly led his younger brother off the street, then he looked up, bewildered. "What did you say is coming on the street?"
"A unicorn!" Jamie yelled, "you didn't listen to me at all! That's the worst Halloween I've ever had! What's wrong with you, Danny?"
"A lot!" Danny shouted back, "and being dressed as this won't make it better!" He stopped as he saw the glassy look in his little brother's eyes.
"I'm sorry, Jamie. I'm sorry. But there is something wrong with me, you know that. I'm not really and entirely sure who I am anymore." He hunkered down so his and Jamie's face were – not at the same height anymore. Jamie had grown. He was ten years old. Danny sighed.
For the first but very not last time in his life he found himself looking up to his baby brother. "Jamie, I'm sorry I wasn't there for you, and I'm sorry we still got some problems. I've still got to think things through, and there are parts of me that I… "
"That you hide?"
"That scare me, Jamie." Danny's eyes never left his brother's face, searching for the slightest trace of fear or closing up. He would not clear his conscience on Jamie's shoulders. "I try to find myself again, okay, but it's not so easy. There are few things that I really know belonging to me."
Jamie nodded bravely. "Like you know you're not supergirl."

Danny laughed. "Yeah, that's a point. I'm not supergirl." He stood up and put his hands on Jamie's shoulders. How could that kid have gotten so big and serious in those not even two years?
"One of the things I know, Jamie, is that I love you. You, Joe, Erin, Linda, mom and dad mean the world to me. Please don't forget that, okay? That might be the only true thing that… what are you giggling at?"
"You put Linda before mom, and she…"
"Okay, Mr. Perfect, you wanna tell me how to enumerate my heart? Did you even listen to what I just told you?" But Danny was giggling, too. With more energy than he had had the whole evening, he lifted Jamie up into the air and swirled him around. "Come on! Time for Superman to fly!"

Jamie squeaked with delight. At least he wasn't serious to the core. Danny would find the little, easy-going boy again.
And he would find himself again, as long as Linda was at his side he knew he could do it.
"Danny!"
"What? Airsick already?"
"No! But Linda!"

"Linda?" Jamie's flying lesson ended quickly as Danny sat him on the ground, his knees going suddenly going weak. Involuntarily his fingers wandered to the small box in his pocket. For the last two years he had carried it with him wherever he went, every day, every patrol. Given, he hadn't taken the ring with him wherever he went – it had been too expensive to risk losing it in the sand – but the box had accompanied him. And just as he had carried it through everything, it had carried him through the days, too. The dream it held inside. The dream Danny couldn't wait to bring to life.

Linda smiled. "Hey, my heroes. How are you doing?"
"Great!" Jamie smiled as he ran to hug her. "I've got two bags of sweets!"
"Really? Wow."
"Why did you leave before us? We could've gone together" the boy asked, his arms still around Linda's waist.
Danny frowned. "Leave?"
Linda opened her mouth but Jamie was faster. "She was there for tea, I saw her with mom when she helped me with my costume. And when I went to get you, she was gone!"
Help with the costume. Shortly before they left. Danny turned pale as he realized what Linda must have had to hear. What… the fingers around the box stalled.
"Linda… sweetheart, I…"
"I know, Danny." Gently and resolutely, Linda unwrapped Jamie's arms and stepped closer to her boyfriend. "It's okay. I understand your… insecurities about your costume." She looked him up and down and couldn't prevent smiling.

Danny swallowed. For a moment he just wanted to cry. He didn't know how, but somehow he had managed to forget it for a minute: He was wearing a blue skirt and long false blonde hair.

"Danny!" Linda touched his shoulders, just to make sure he was still with her. For Danny, she had never been more beautiful. "Actually" she whispered, "I think that skirt suits you well."

They both giggled like schoolgirls, and for a moment, Jamie was forgotten. The boy didn't complain, though, he was already half through the first bar of chocolate and there was nobody to stop him from eating.

Danny's mouth was dry, his pulse racing. His fingers found the box again, and opened it.
It was silly. He was Supergirl. He couldn't… but if he didn't ask her now, he would die.
This was what he had been waiting for since their fourth date.
"Linda Isabel Morris" he said seriously and took her hands, "you're the most beautiful, wonderful, understanding woman I've ever known. You're the best that ever happened to me. I love you with all my heart, and I… I…" He swallowed.
Linda's heart stopped. It was good that Danny had taken her hands for she felt dizzy. Was it there? The moment she waited for since their seventh date.

Danny knelt down on one knee, the box in his free hand. Linda gasped.
"Linda, there is no one on earth I trust more than you. You are… you've been there for me. You're the reason I made it back from Iraq. You're the reason I didn't lose myself completely. And you waited for me" now he had tears in his eyes, as had Linda. The box sprang open.
"Linda, you didn't have to. And when I came back there were moments when I… moments when I thought it would be better if you had found someone else. I wouldn't be the man I am now if it wasn't for you, baby. Without you, I don't think I … I couldn't live with you, Linda. I want you to know that. You're my rock, my angel, you're the one I want to spend my life with. You are my life. And I…"

"Danny!" Linda cried, loud enough to make Jamie look up from his chocolate.
Her eyes, however, wandered between her boyfriend's face and the elegant, golden ring. "Please just ask me so I can say yes!"
Danny stared at her. "You say yes?"
"Ask me" she begged, tears in her eyes.

Danny's hands shook. His voice was firm and warm, and filled with so much love that Linda almost couldn't wait for the question.
"Linda, will you marry me?"
"Yes. Oh my god, Danny, yes!"