Chapter Seven

Two Months Later

"Danny, stop poking him!"

"He won't stop sleeping. I want to play with him." Danny pouted cutely, looking over the crib to see Sam looking at herself in the mirror in her own room several feet away from both him and Aliel. She was trying to put on a tight Goth skirt, but she still hadn't lost all the weight she gained and it was driving her nuts. "Forget the skirt. You look good. I don't see fat anywhere."

"Are you blind?" She walked up to him in her panties and bra and for a second Danny was very grateful for her sudden lack of modesty. The scar of the cesarean was completely gone now, he noticed. "This skirt is size 6 and I can't get in it! I used to wear size 4!!!"

"I know, I'm just saying that you look good to me anyway." He shrugged and she blushed madly. She opened her mouth to speak, but Aliel started crying. "I get him." Danny said, picking Aliel up and rocking him lightly on his arms.

Sam stood there for a moment watching Danny and Aliel. She wondered why Danny had never said anything about how alike they looked. Even Jack noticed! Aliel's face was filling out, getting more expression already, with chubby cheeks and his big blue eyes wide always excited to see his parents. Either Danny was really blind about the possibility of he being his son or he had realized it already and didn't want to tell her. But the second possibility wasn't very likely.

Aliel fell asleep on Danny's arms. Danny smiled and put him back on the crib. He was doing an awesome job as a father. Sam's pregnancy and the two months the baby was with them had been the happiest moments of Danny's life. He had realized just how important Sam was to him. He was madly in love with her and he had never insisted on kissing her again, even though he was dying to taste her again. She told him to wait and so he'd wait. It was ridiculous how she had him in her hands. If she wanted him to climb the Mount Everest he'd do it with a lovey-dovey face.

Danny turned around to look at her face, but she wasn't there anymore. He went to her bedroom and he felt like he had been stabbed in the heart. She was sitting on her bed, pressing a hand over her mouth so he wouldn't hear her sobs. Panicking, he climbed on the bed, next to her and put a hand on her naked shoulders, but she pulled away from his touch. He couldn't take her rejection anymore. He needed to know what was making her so terrified of touching him.

"Hey... what's wrong?" He asked gently.

"I'm horrible. I'm evil." She managed to choke out between her sobs. She couldn't hide the truth anymore; it was slowly killing her to keep such important thing from him. She couldn't lie to the father of her child anymore. It was her fault it all happened. She shouldn't have hidden it from him. It was just like a snowball, the further it went, the bigger it would get.

"What are you saying? You're just a few pounds fatter, so what? I think you filled out quite nicely like this." He still thought it was about her weight. Poor clueless Danny. He had been by her side for so long, he had trusted her for so long and now she betrayed him.

"I'm sorry." She cried, leaning forward and sneaking her arms around his neck, taking him completely by surprise. "I love you so much it hurts." She said, making Danny go numb and warm. He carefully put his arms around her waist and she didn't reject him this time.

"Everything will be all right." He said in a soothing voice. He kissed her forehead and her cheeks. Her eyes were closed so he took his chance to kiss her mouth softly. She didn't respond, but she didn't move away either. Danny held his eyes open, seeing the expression on her face go from sad to blissful. Then she completely surrendered into his kiss.

Again he was surprised by her taste. He felt like he had explored her mouth so many times that he was familiar with the taste and how hot it felt. He left her mouth to kiss her jaw and neck. She didn't stop him, just encouraged him by making involuntary sounds that was slowly driving him to insanity.

He reached one hand up and slowly put the straps of her bra off. She still didn't stop him. She felt so hot she was practically on fire. Feeling encouraged, he tentatively reached up to cup her breasts, but she whelped in pain. He had forgotten she was nursing. She was very sensitive and he had to be careful and touch her lightly so he wouldn't hurt her.

He kissed her lips again and moved lower, laying her down on the bed and placing sweet small kisses over her stomach and down until she screamed out his name. Had the doctor said she could do it already? Wasn't she supposed to take a time to heal and keep herself away from men? He wanted to ask her, but he was very scared of the answer. He decided to continue until she stopped him.

She was lying down under him, with nothing on. He phased out of his clothes, surprising her, and resumed his work of worshipping her. He looked up to her face before he took the last step. She was smiling! She still had traces of tears on her cheeks, but she was smiling. That was enough for him to go on.

"I love you, Sammy." He whispered gently in her ear.

During their lovemaking, Danny could predict every moan, every cry; where he had to touch to make her squirm and where to bite to make her go boneless. But realization just came to him when they exploded around each other in a thousand shiny spots.

He was horrorstruck when he looked down at her. He saw her laying there, crying and bleeding on his kitchen table. It was just a quick flash, but now he was certain of what had happened that day. He had been with Sam and she didn't want to tell him!

He didn't even take his time to catch his breath. He stood up, his eyes wide, stepping away from her. She noticed he was gone and looked at her side. The satisfaction vanished as soon as she saw his expression. She sat up, wrapping herself around her bed sheets.

"It was you in my kitchen." Danny accused and she looked away guiltily. She looked incredibly small and defenseless, but he didn't let that get on his way. He had slept with her before he even realized he loved her! "Oh fuck..." He said, sitting down on the floor. His legs no longer had strength to hold him up. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

"I was scared." She whispered, letting tears fall freely from her eyes. "You and Emily had just broken up and we weren't talking." She tried to explain, but she knew explanations were useless now.

"You should have told me!" He spat, angrily. He was actually making her a little scared.

"That was my first time." She cried out helplessly.

"Shit..." He shut his eyes tight, taking deep breaths. He didn't even know how he should react to that situation. He had taken his best friend's virginity while he was drunk as a pig and she had kept it from him. "I hurt you, didn't I?"

"Does that make any difference?" She asked quietly, finally seeing that he was calming down.

"Yes! I remember a lot of blood. Shit..." He put his hand in his hands.

"You hurt me..." She said, standing up and then crouching on the floor near him. "But it was my fault, too. I could have stopped you, but I didn't."

"It's no wonder you didn't want me to touch you all this time." He avoided her eyes, looking out of the door into Aliel's room. He had been too rough on her. He had done worse than that Josh guy even if he had her consent after much insistence.

"Danny..." Sam whispered, making him took up at her. "That day... you hurt me, but you gifted me with my child."

Finally she said it.

Danny hadn't thought that her pregnancy was related to the events recently revealed. He had thought she was pregnant with another man's child, not his! He quickly counted the months and weeks. There was no mistake. She was telling the truth.

"I'm sorry!" She started sobbing again when she saw the hurt look Danny had on his face. She stood up and ran into Aliel's room, locking the door behind her. She had expected him to be angry, furious beyond comprehension, but never, ever, she had expected him to be sad.

Sam cried for hours, holding Aliel in her arms. She heard Danny walking around her house, until he finally stood up and left, slamming the front door on his way out. She lost him. Just as she predicted, he had been too furious to forgive her.

Danny's world suddenly came down around him. He had never thought he would despise himself so much. As much as he wanted to blame her for lying he completely understood why she did it. He had hurt her. Instead of giving her a sweet first time, gently working to stop her pain, he had given her a rough drunken sex on his kitchen table he wouldn't even remember!

And she hadn't put the blame on him. She could have shouted he was a jerk for doing that to her, to get her pregnant when she was so young, but no, she was glad she had Aliel, he was too, but still he should have been the result of their love not some brutal physical need!

And after all he had done, she hid the truth from him so he wouldn't blame himself just like he was doing at that moment. After all the pain he caused her she still tried to protect him! That stupid girl was so noble sometimes.

He had been a coward and left while hearing her cry in their child's bedroom. He couldn't stand the sound of her crying, not when she was doing it like an inconsolable little girl. He let her think he abandoned her and left for his own house. He had gone straight to the kitchen to get a beer, but when he saw the table, he turned around and went straight for his room.

He was so angry that indeed all he wanted was to go away and never see her again, but his heart would pang painfully just when he thought of that possibility.

While she was hurting in her house, he was sitting on his bathtub, not knowing what else to do. He was the jerk and she was the one who had apologized. He decided that he had to make it up to her somehow. He had to go there and show he wasn't mad at her, tell her how much he loved her.

She had lied and made him suffer for several months, made him think Aliel was someone else's. He was blind with jealously all this time and there was no need to be jealous in the first place. She was scared he would be angry at her and eventually leave her, he could understand that part and really she was right. He was so angry now as he would have been if she had told him from the start. But he was mostly angry at himself for what he had done to her. Even drunk, there was no excuse for hurting the innocent girl he loved.

Just like that, his madness was gone and he forgave her for lying as much as he wanted her to forgive him for practically raping her.

He wanted to marry her. But he couldn't propose to her at the moment. Knowing her as well as he did, she'd think he was feeling obligated to give her a proper ceremony and status just because they had a child together.

If there was something Danny hated it was planning exactly what to say and what to do to make Sam his once for all. He didn't like to have to predict her thoughts and moves, but if he wanted this to work and put the fight behind them, he had to be careful with what he did and said. She was hurt and she'd assume a lot of things, just like she assumed his reaction about the baby. He would like to let it go naturally, with the flow, but she was far too smart and he couldn't let her do things her way this time.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Sam had fallen asleep on her bed that night after changing the sheets. She didn't dream, but there was something in her sleep that made it painful. She woke up three times crying her heart out; when she got herself together she would check on Aliel and then go back to bed.

"Sammy..." The fourth time she woke up it was already morning. She instinctively reacted to the warm body by her side and the sweet voice on her ear. She opened her eyes and saw Danny sitting down next to her on the bed.

She sat up quickly, afraid of what was going to happen now. He had the whole night to think how to say how disappointed he was and that he had to stay away from her, even if he loved Aliel with all his heart. Would he ask to see Aliel on the weekends?

"What are you doing here?" She asked him quietly. She didn't sound angry, but it was like she had shut her herself to whatever he was going to say, ready to take the blows with dignity.

"I'm sorry." He said, watching her closely for any sign she didn't like what he was saying, but gratefully, there was none. She just sat there, quiet, waiting for him to continue. "I don't blame you for anything." She opened her mouth, but he silenced her by pressing a gentle finger to her lips. "Whatever your opinion on the matter is, I still think the greatest responsibility is mine. But it doesn't matter how badly we've hurt each other, I still can't picture myself leaving you. I never did and I don't intend on doing it now. I want to stay by your side, if you agree with it."

After saying that, he removed his finger from her lips and waited patiently for her to answer him. She had to say yes. Everything would stay the way it was before if she agreed with it. He gulped nervously as she sighed and blinked a few tears away.

"I'm sorry I didn't trust you." She finally said. "It won't happen again."

"So, we're okay?" He asked hopefully, giving her grin to loose the tense atmosphere.

"Yes." She smiled up at him, moving forward to wrap her arms around him. He let his head rest on hers and wrapped his arms around her feeling comfortable in her arms as he had always been. The perfume of her hair always made him relax. She had always used that same flower scented shampoo because years ago he told her he loved that smell on her hair.

Danny realized that at that moment they were best friends again. If he ever wanted to love her like a woman, he'd have to be patient and give her time, because while they were holding each other it was enough for her, she didn't need his lips to feel loved. But in a way, they were a family and that's all Danny was going to need.

"Can I kiss you?" He asked, looking down to meet her tired face. She nodded a bit uncertainly and he bent down, capturing her lips in a gentle kiss. He loved her lips and their honey taste. He smiled when she didn't push him away, but he didn't make the kiss any longer, she was tired and she needed to rest. He could kiss her again when he had the chance. She smiled at him with flushed cheeks when he broke their lips apart. "Now you go back to sleep. I'll be here when you wake up."

"Thank you." was everything she said before lying back against her pillow and falling into calm and pleasant sleep.

Danny smiled down at her, finally relieved that everything was clear between them. There was only one thing that he wanted to do. He had to marry her. But for that he'd be patient. Everything would happen in the right time.

Aliel started making some loud baby noises in the other room. Danny kissed Sam's forehead and closed her bedroom's door so she wouldn't wake up. He walked straight to Aliel and had his breath taken away.

Aliel was floating two inches from his pillow, laughing happily because like that he could reach the mobile and put it on his mouth. That was the final proof that Aliel was indeed his son. Danny quickly reached for the baby and took him in his arms. Aliel smiled when he saw his daddy there to play with him.

He was so tiny!

How come he never saw it before? They had the same eye color. They had the same mouth and nose. Aliel looked exactly like Danny had been when he was baby and he had pictures to prove it. They were truly father and son. It was a wonder how blind Danny had been.

Aliel had ghost powers. It could be dangerous for a baby. What if he went intangible accidentally and fell down the crib? How could he even raise a half ghost child? How could Aliel go to kindergarten and play with the other kids?

Aliel laughed softly – his first laugh! -, wrapping his little hand around Danny's finger. All the fears and doubts Danny was having suddenly washed away by that simple gesture.

Everything would be fine as long as he had Aliel and Sam.

"So you're tired of napping and finally wants to play with daddy, don't you?" Danny laughed, sitting down on Sam's chair and getting one of the teddy bears, he started teasing Aliel with it.

Danny was grateful for everything at the moment.

He loved being a father.

"Your first word better be 'daddy'."

This is not the end, there's still an epilogue to go. But I'd like to take this short time I have in my college's computer to thank everyone who reviewed from the start and thank you those who reviewed last chapter, kimonoprincesstheoneandonlydarkpowderpuffBlack JanuaryMyUsedRomanceDea-Jasmine-Geminipaulinaph, aLLgirl112, Kelli, b4k4 ch4nSummers Rageromanceroxhamanor12cutereviewgirlpsfcAnnabelle Carter, frumkin, Frodo01228, meow, Graywand, Amara-chan and Tech-Man. I also wanted to say a special thanks to Chaos Dragon. You all rock!

And I'll also answer a question from frumkin that might interest everyone: Aliel means Air Angel, it's a mystic name that I thought only Sam could think of.

Now, I hope all questions were answered.

Thank you everyone! I have to go now before the teacher kicks me off.