Author's Note: I had to make a minor change to Chapter Three because of this chapter. It's incredibly minor, but it's a small matter of continuity. So, yeah, feel free to re-read that chapter if you'd like. (Or not. It's not extremely pressing.)
Chapter Five:
(Thousand Miles.)
"Holly, please be on your best behavior."
"Mom!"
"I mean it, Holly. Be polite and respectful; remember you are their guest. If I hear one word about misbehaving, I will be there within five minutes. Do you understand me?"
"Good-bye, Mom!"
"I love you, sweetheart."
"Love you too. I really have to go!"
Sighing, Sam ended the call, glancing down at her napkin.
"They grow up so fast, don't they?"
"God, it feels like just yesterday that she was in diapers," she answered, leaning back in her chair. "I can't believe she's at her first sleepover."
"The first of many, I'm sure," Jazz Fenton laughed. The older girl reached for her drink, eyeing her friend. "Maybe one day it'll be you hosting the slumber parties."
Sam laughed. "Ha, so that her friends can see our train wreck of a home? No thank-you. Seriously, have you ever talked to those women? It's all, 'Oh, I'm so sorry for the mess. What must you think of me?' and there's not a single thing in sight. There are probably hospitals that are dirtier! What would they think of casa del Manson with all our dirty dishes piled in the sink?"
"Oh, so whatever happened to the I-don't-care-what-people-think-about-me act?" Jazz asked, arching a brow skeptically at her friend.
"That was before Holly was born. If Holly wants to impress those people, then I'll do everything within my power to help her," she said. "That's the best I can –"
"Hello, welcome to the Mabel Street Café, my name is Jess. I see you've already got your drinks, so what can I get you to eat? Or do you need a little more time to look over the menu?"
After placing their orders, Sam turned back to Jazz, a wicked grin on her face.
"So how're things working out with Tuck? You guys adjusting okay?"
The red-haired girl blushed furiously. "It's still weird living together. I mean, I haven't shared an apartment with someone since college. But it's good weird, you know?"
"You two are so precious!" Sam said. "Just so you know, I expect to be Maid of Honor at the wedding. But I draw the line at pink dresses."
"Sam! No, there are no wedding bells in the near future. We've only been dating for a year; that's way too soon," Jazz remarked.
"Nah, you've known him for over twenty years," Sam said. "Besides, I only knew Simon for a few weeks. A year is nothing in comparison."
"That was different, Sam."
And it was.
In the months following Danny's death, Sam hadn't handled her emotions all too well. She had spiraled out of control, letting her emotions dictate her every action. And that included Simon Jones.
She had met Simon, fittingly enough, at a bar in downtown New York City. The two had hit it off almost instantly, and had swiftly exchanged numbers, both under the assumption they would never meet again. The next night, they ran into each other against the odds. Nine months later, precious Holly was born.
The two had been "talking" for a while when Sam first discovered that she was pregnant. To Simon's credit, he did the "right" thing by their parent's standards, and dropped down on one knee shortly after the discovery. It wasn't true love, they weren't destined to be together forever; at the time, though, it had seemed so appealing. Sam may not have loved Simon, but she certainly liked him, and marrying him would provide stability. Stability for her and the baby that was on its way. The shotgun wedding promptly followed and Holly Manson-Jones was born shortly after.
And for a while, things worked – they were happy.
Then the leukemia hit and the dam finally burst. Simon made minimum wage at a book store in the mall while Sam worked two shifts at the supermarket. It was enough to survive on, but only barely. And when the medical bills started streaming in, things became strained. They couldn't survive on their own and Simon's parents were little to no help, so they turned to Pamela and Jeremy Manson. Sam promised to return to school following the cancer's remission; something she'd been meaning to do for a while.
When Holly's cancer was finally beaten, the marriage broke to the point of no return.
The pair had never been destined to stay together, had always seen the end in sight.
It didn't change the fact that when it came, though, it hurt. Quite a bit.
Simon was still relatively involved in their lives, but he had been given a position at a publishing company in California – an opportunity he couldn't pass up. He called Holly almost every night and kept up regular correspondence with Sam, though, refusing to fully abandon his daughter.
Ultimately Sam couldn't even regret her relationship with Simon. He had taught her many things, had helped bring her beautiful daughter into the world, and he had helped her heal. He had picked up the pieces that Danny's death had left.
"Don't you ever think about it, Jazz?" Sam asked, leaning on the table. "Marriage, kids…"
"One day maybe," her friend said. "Right now, though… Tucker's on the brink of a promotion, I'm so close to opening my own practice, and, of course, there are the ghosts. It's just not the time."
"Marriage doesn't necessarily mean kids, Jazz. And besides, the ghost situation is nowhere near as bad as it used to be. I mean, yeah, it's not great and all, but it's manageable," Sam said.
Jazz nodded. "I know it is. I'm just… I'm not quite ready yet."
"Okay," Sam grinned. "But when you are, there better not be any pink involved."
By the time the pair left the restaurant, darkness had descended on Amity Park. With a laugh – assisted by the wine they'd shared at dinner – both went their separate ways. While Sam went east, Jazz went west towards the center of town and her apartment with Tucker Foley.
Honestly, even after a year of their dating (and a few years of their flirting prior to making it official), Sam was still a little amazed at the relationship that had sprung up between her two best friends. After all, following Danny's death and Sam's relocation, they were all each other had. Sometimes Sam actually found herself jealous of their relationship – happy and in love – but above all she was happy for her best friends. They had made something out of the darkness, had made something and were still making it work. Despite Jazz's denials of marriage, Sam couldn't help but think it was only a matter of time before she was standing next to a blushing bride.
Sparing one last glance in Jazz's direction, Sam made her way down the opposite end of the sidewalk. Whereas Jazz was heading home to a loving boyfriend, Sam was on her way to an empty house.
Tonight marked a momentous occasion, after all. The night of Holly's first sleepover.
Which, along with serving as the beginning of her daughter's maturity, it also marked the first night Sam had had to herself since her relationship with Simon ended.
Time to bring out the popcorn and cheesy sci-fi flicks!
She was half-way home when she first spotted him.
Honestly, she almost walked past him. After all, it had been almost ten years since she had last seen him. Ten years since he had died.
She could not deny, though, that the man standing before her bore a striking resemblance to her deceased best friend, Danny Fenton. But that wasn't possible. So not possible. Sam could list all the reasons – and there were hundreds of them – that it was not possible.
But it was.
Seconds passed, but Sam could not move; could not look away.
Then he looked up.
The man's eyes widened almost imperceptibly, his mouth opening in surprise. But only seconds later his eyes narrowed, a scowl already forming on his face.
"What're you looking at, freak?"
And her heart broke.
This wasn't Danny, couldn't be. The Danny she knew and loved would never call her a freak no matter how angry he was with her. Above all else, though, Danny was dead. Ghost powers or no, she was sure that if he had survived the explosion, he would have returned.
No, he was long dead. This man wasn't Danny, even if the appearance was uncanny (if a little older).
"Certainly not you, douche-bag," she snarled, stepping aside him. "Like I would spare a glance on the likes of you."
Her breathing shallow, she rounded the corner before finally breaking into a run, pieces of her heart trailing behind.
"Bailey, what exactly are you doing, honey?"
Bailey Smith glanced up, a smile spreading across her face. "Just getting ready for the lab today, Ms. Manson."
"Why don't you take a seat so I can take attendance first?"
The little girl's grin widened. "Actually, ma'am, may I go use the restroom?"
Ms. Manson glanced to the clock, her lips thinning, "If it's an emergency. Try and be back before the bell, though."
Bailey grabbed her bag, slipping quickly out the door. Logan had given her a time limit after all; had told her to be out of the room when the Incident occurred. They didn't want any of the students (or Ms. Manson) placing blame on Lukas's precious daughter, Bailey.
She still had five minutes to spare, though, and Ms. Manson would get suspicious if she was gone –
WHAM!
With a shout of surprise, Bailey fell backwards, with nothing but her bag to help cushion her fall.
"Ohmygosh, I am so sorry!"
Bailey glanced up, her cheeks flushing, to meet the gaze of a girl that was even smaller than herself. The girl hovering over her couldn't be very old – ten years at the most – and was rail, almost sickly, thin. A girl that young didn't need to be in a high school of all places…
"Did you just leave my mom's room?"
"Um, yes? Your mom?"
"Yeah, that's my mom's room! She teaches science!"
"Oh, you're Ms. Manson's daughter?"
"Yep!"
Oh, no. Oh no oh no oh no.
Her father was going to kill her.
"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at your own school?"
"School's over! Duh! Usually my Aunt Jazz picks me up and takes me home, but mom told me to ride the bus today. Something about Aunt Jazz and Uncle Tuck needing some alone time…"
"Well, how 'bout I take you to the vending machine. Would you like that…"
"Holly!"
"…Holly. Would you like that?"
There was absolutely no way she could let the kid go in her mother's classroom. Her dad would be absolutely murderous. He would –
Her train of thought was cut off by the sound of an explosion as the foundation of Casper High shook. It had happened; the reactant had been triggered.
"MOM!"
Bailey whipped her head in the direction of the little girl; the girl she had subconsciously grabbed at the sound of the explosion. Holly was struggling in her arms, desperate to get free. "MOM!"
By now teachers and students had started swarming the halls; some were screaming, others sobbing, while some seemed to be almost catatonic.
The town's worst fear had been realized.
For the second time, on the anniversary of the first incident, a chemistry classroom had been the brunt of an accident.
An accident that had robbed thirty more lives, including the mother of the little girl she was holding.
Author's Note: Gah, so much OC interaction in this chapter. Seriously, the entire last quarter is all OC. I do apologize for it, but it was necessary to begin the first arch for the story.
Oh, did I mention we're officially in the first arch? I'm not sure how long I plan on stretching this (the outline says at least twenty chapters or so), but we have successfully gotten to the actual action. The next chapter should hopefully answer all your main questions thus far (seriously, it's practically the explanation/exposition chapter). But above all else, Chapter Six will have a nice little proper reunion scene. Yay! And then the real action begins. Be prepared! ;)
I'm hoping to get the next chapter out sometime this weekend, though if my weekend is as full of as much nerdy goodness as I'm expecting, we'll see how that actually plays out. (Seriously, The Hunger Games midnight showing, a new Young Justice, and possibly the online Legend of Korra premiere all air on the back end of this week.) So, amidst real life + all my little fandom nerdiness, we'll see how quickly I post. Hey, I cranked this one out pretty quickly, so there's hope.
A big tremendous thank-you to Laora, Elle Aitch, Oak Leaf Ninja, tehphantomwolf (Yeah, Kentucky weather has been insane. It's been eighty degrees for the past two weeks when we usually have snow at this time. Not that I'm complaining of course!), Fluehatraya, and KP100. You all deserve massive props and cookies. Lots and lots of cookies. Joking aside, though, you are all my motivation to keep writing!
I'm hoping that I managed to catch all the typos, but the battery on my laptop is on the brink of death and the charger isn't exactly in the vicinity, so please feel free to let me know if you spot some massive grammatical/continuity errors.
Don't forget to review, guys, and if you're curious about updates, etc, please feel free to follow me on Tumblr too. (Same URL: inkyperspective.)
And, to quote Hank and John Green, don't forget to be awesome.