Twelve Days of Christmas

Wednesday, December 20th

(Five days until Christmas)

It had been years since Sam had felt uncomfortable climbing the stairs to Danny's room. He'd been fourteen, it was just after Pariah Dark, when Sam had been afraid that Danny was dead and no one wanted to tell her. That was a secret that Sam had never confessed to anyone, not even Tucker who had to have been as afraid. It was an unspoken pact between them not to speak of the fear whenever Danny got seriously hurt; it was too hard just to go through the everyday act of pretending that Danny wasn't constantly putting himself in mortal danger to let fear of past dangers rule them.

The fear that ruled her now wasn't past, but very much in the here and now. it was fear that a stranger was driving a wedge between them, driving them apart and stretching the friendship more than it ever had been. The stairs creaked a little under her feet, and then the wooden hall as she approached his room, but she didn't let her unease stop her until she was in his open doorway.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she breathed out as the sight of him brought her up short. It shouldn't have, she'd seen him in varying stages of undress for years as his primary nurse, a nickname which Jazz had given her when she learned that Sam had to deal with the injuries since Tucker not only feared needles and hospitals and doctors, but would pass out at the sight of blood.

His head whipped around and Sam's eyes were drawn to the neat black stitches along his jaw. It was the first time she'd actually seen them, and the healing wound effectively drew her attention from his lack of shirt and the wet hair that made her see the dangerous man the rest of the female population at Casper swooned over.

"Sam," he said to her. "What are you doing here?"

She frowned at him, her customary snark coming through and killing the nerves and fear. "I don't know, Danny. Maybe I wanted to hang out with my best friend?"

He flushed and she felt immediately guilty, but he gave her a sheepish grin. "You surprised me is all. Usually I know when you're coming. You wanna help me tape it back up?"

"Right, nurse time," Sam groused, but she didn't say no. she collected the first aid kit on his desk on her way to his bed, sitting and waiting for him to hunt a shirt out of his closet and pull it on before sitting next to her. "Does it still hurt?"

"Nah." He shook his head as she grabbed a pillow and dropped it on her lap, patting it until he lowered himself so that his face was stitches side up. "It's nothing I can't handle."

"Yeah," she said softly, then teased him. "You're a superhero; you can handle anything."

"Sometimes," he replied while she laid gauze across the stitches and taped the edges.

"I wanted to talk to you," Sam finally confessed. "Are… Are you okay with this?"

One blue eye flicked up to look at her as he quirked an eyebrow. "It really doesn't hurt anymore, Sam. I'm fine."

She smoothed the tape one last time before he sat back up and looked at her. She didn't meet his gaze instead picking at the roll of tape. "Not that, Danny." She paused, breathing in once before jumping in feet first. "The presents. This whole secret admirer thing."

"Oh. That," he said. It was like watching a door close in her face for a moment as he turned from her and lay back on the bed.

"Are you alright with it?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Danny asked her. It seemed like the life had leeched out of his voice making the guilt come back, pricking at her like a hundred needles in her heart.

"Tucker said—He thinks you might be jealous."

And like that it was on the table between them. A chance for him to confirm what Tucker liked to tell her, or to prove that she was right. In her heart, Sam couldn't believe that Danny loved her as more than a friend. She couldn't believe that he would hide it from her—lie to her—for as long as Tucker tried to tell her that Danny had been. Danny wasn't that good, his acting was far from slick. She would know.

The smirk that he gave her was both cynical and jaded. "There's nothing to be jealous about, Sam."

The words hurt, but before Sam could say anything Maddie was calling up the stairs. "Sam? Are you here?"

She swallowed, staring into Danny's eyes as she answered, raising her voice to be heard. "Yeah, Mrs. F. I'm doctoring Danny."

The footsteps neared and Sam turned away from Danny before Maddie entered the room, a cardboard box with a bright red bow on top in her hands. There were holes cut in the sides, and Sam looked at Maddie curiously before it dawned on her that her secret admirer must have struck again, and this time at Danny's house. It surprised her because she hadn't even known she was coming to Danny's house until twenty minutes before she arrived.

"This was just delivered here for you, Sam," Maddie said as she handed the box over. She stayed as Sam took the box and set it on her lap, her fingers plucking at the tiny card tucked beneath the bow.

It was what she expected, the old fashioned artwork printed small was of eight girls carrying pails. Whether or not they were actually milk pails or not didn't matter; the sentiment was understood and Sam laid it to the side as she lifted the lid and laid it to the side. On a small blue towel was a tiny bundle of deep gray fur. A sleeping kitten, Sam realized, and exhaled shakily. Her parents would flip out, they'd never allowed her a pet.

She'd keep it anyway.

It was Danny's hands that reached in and lifted the tiny thing out, making its head lift as it twisted it around and meowed in its small voice. A strong hand lifted the kitten's hind legs, cradling it securely in the careful cage of fingers. When Maddie moved the box and Danny settled the little mewling bundle in her arms he smiled at her and said, "It's a boy. He looks like a little shadow."

"Then that can be his name." Sam smiled back.