Chapter 5: The Recovery
December 4, 2010, 7:35 CST
Danny could feel the floor creaking under his weight as he lowered himself to it. With a slight grunt, he began to lift himself back up, allowing his muscles to burn as they stretched. A light cloaking of sweat cover him from the dip in his lower back to his forehead, a single drop running down the side of his eyebrow to the tip of his chin where it dripped to the floor, adding to the small puddle that had begun to build over the last half hour. Danny could feel the weight of his bandages as they became soaked in his perspiration, making him heavier and making his pushups harder to do.
"55," Danny said, his gaze to the floor beneath him. He paused for a moment to let his biceps and shoulder muscles adjusts to the pain that he still had yet to heal from, and took a couple of deep breaths before allowing himself to speak. "I'm surprised to see you up so early."
Light footsteps approached before coming to a stop just pass the doorway to his bedroom. Red fuzzy slippers could be seen from his peripheral vision as the owner of said slippers watched as he prepared to do his next push up.
"You're a freak, you know that, right?" she said before covering her mouth as a yawn made its way out. "I've told you to stop doing that every time I'm around."
"Noted. Though you seem to forget that since you were made from my DNA, that would make you a freak too. Not to mention super sensitive hearing," he said, dropping to the ground once more. Danielle rolled her eyes as she watched him strain to do yet another exercise while his body continued to protest the strain. She carefully crossed her arms, being wary of the brace her left one had been put into, and gave Danny a quick look over, wincing every now and then as she took in his still visible injuries, though she knew many of them were no longer as server as they had been.
"You're such an idiot. Why can't you just take it easy and relax? I mean, you've got four broken ribs that still haven't finished healing, Danny."
"Because I need to be ready for anything that comes our way, and sitting around isn't going to get anything done, Danielle," he said as he completed his 56th push up, and, with a sigh, looked to the young girl. "Did you need something?"
"Not in particular, no. I figured since I was up I'd watch you put yourself into more pain by trying to "workout", which is pretty damn ironic since you can't even use your left leg completely yet because you have a grade 3 sprain," Danielle said with annoyance as the sarcasm seemed to drip off of her every word.
Danny said nothing as he lowered himself to the ground once more. Danielle wasn't the first person to tell him that he was pushing himself too hard, and she definitely would not be the last. In fact, literally everyone he knew who came to see him had told him the same thing, and everyone continuously berated him for being stubborn and not listening.
The week had been a very busy one for everyone except Danny who had been ordered to stay home and to rest up. This, of course, didn't sit well with Danny. Being cooped up in his house was something he was not used to doing, though it did have its advantages.
With him having missed so much of school, Danny had no homework to do or to catch up on. Sure, he would probably have to do a lot of tutoring with his sister when the next semester started after winter break, but it was one less thing he was going to have to worry about right now.
Another thing he was glad about was that he had time to help Danielle to adjust to having a permanent home and family, especially since she was so rough around the edges. Danny could often hear the sounds of Danielle getting into an argument with someone in the house; most often with Jazz, as the two were always butting heads over something. Danny attributed it to Jazz's natural over protectiveness and Danielle's natural need to feel independent. Their arguing seemed harmless at first, but by midweek, he was really starting to believe that he had been cursed since he had to put up with the two by himself the entire week while his parents seemed to have been busy with various things.
Danny was beginning to believe that they were doing it on purpose to annoy him just as he thought his parents were leaving on purpose to avoid the two girls as they always seemed to have somewhere to be and would often leave the three siblings home alone. Whenever he asked where they were going, they would often say that they were running errands.
Danny would spend a good amount of his time, when not playing referee to his sisters, training and working out. This, however, proved to be difficult as he could only do things that didn't involve him to use his legs so that he wouldn't hurt his ankle anymore than it already was, and nothing that was too strenuous on his chest because of his broken ribs and still open wounds. Though Danny could see where the others were coming from, he paid it little attention as he tried to do so. Needless to say, Sam was extremely pissed to say the least when she got a call early one morning because Danny had popped his stitches. After the chewing out he had gotten from her over the phone, he had settled on doing light exercises to help keep his strength up.
One thing that bugged Danny, however, was that the media had taken to ripping him apart while he was gone. Of course it was no big secret or surprise that Vlad was behind it all. Of course the crazed up Fruitloop would take any chance he could to make Danny look bad and to get under his skin. Danny was, however, surprised that Vlad hadn't tried to pull anything while he had been gone. Surely Vlad had heard about he and Danielle being in the Ghost Zone for as long as they had been, and that's not including the Vlad Bugs that he had used all over town. Either way, Danny was just glad to see that the worst that Vlad had been able to do was to make him look like the cause of all the ghost attacks, which, more or less, may be partially true.
"Look, I get it. I should be resting and letting my healing powers do their thing, but I'm sure words going to get out soon that we're not in the Ghost Zone anymore, if Vlad doesn't already know, and I wanna be ready for anything he may try to throw at us," Danny said.
"I get that, I really do, but how can you be ready to fight him if you're not letting yourself heal?"
"Look, I'll be fine, alright?" Danny said, fed up with the same speech he had heard all week long. "I've got work to do, so, beat it, squirt."He dismissed her, going back to his pushups.
Danielle could feel her own annoyance growing at his constant disregard for her warnings as well as the nickname he had given to her. Though the two were close and cared for each other, being stuck with each other constantly for two months had taken its toll on their patience for each other. She quickly turned on her heels, flipping him the bird as she did so.
"Screw you then, jerk. I'm going to get ready to go with Mom and Jazz to the mall, and I'm gonna tell Sam that you're too busy being an asshole to hang with her." Danielle heard the sound and yelp from her brother as he fell and landed hard on the ground. Danny groaned as the pain from his ribs flared, but sat up, looking at his little sister who held a smirk on her face with a raised eyebrow, glad that her words had her desired effect.
"Don't say it," he warned before she could say anything. "And what do you mean hang out with Sam?"
"Sam called like for you like five minutes ago, which is why I was up so early. I think Mom or Dad forgot to put the phone back downstairs after they moved my furniture back into my room because it was ringing really loud, and when I woke up it was under my bed. I almost threw it out the window, and-"
"Dani, getting really off topic here," Danny said, wrapping his right arm around his torso.
"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, she was calling to see if you were awake because she wanted to come see you since she hasn't had the chance to since she left after we woke up. Well, after hearing the constant grunting and the squeaking you were making in here, I told her you were busy and to just drop by later. But since you insist on acting like you don't want to be around anyone, I'll just call her back and-"
"Ok, ok! I get it! Just, don't call her and tell her that, alright?" Danny said as he pushed himself up onto his bed. "I haven't seen her in almost a week, and it'd be nice to see her since I've spent the last week here with you and Jazz driving me into the nuthouse with all the arguing."
"Sorry, but that's not how it works, big bro. If you don't want me to call her back, then you'd better apologize really nicely," Danielle said with an evil smirk on her face.
Danny narrowed his eyes at the dark hair girl as she stood with her hands on her hips. "Fine. I'm sorry."
"Um, I don't think so, Daniel James Fenton. Who are you apologizing to, why and what exactly are you sorry for?"
"I'm sorry, Danielle Lilith Fenton, for being a jerk-"
"Ah, ah, ah," she said, waging her finger at him. "You know what you have to say."
Danny could feel his blood heating up as his face turned red in an annoyed blush at the way the girl was manipulating him so easily. He vowed, though, that one day, she would pay for this. This little brat! Should the day ever come that I let her have a boyfriend, so help me, she will pay for this. He thought.
"Fine. I'm sorry, Danielle Lilith Fenton, for being an asshole and calling you squirt. Satisfied?"
"Sure thing, lover boy. She'll be over at 8," Danielle said as she turned around and headed for the door.
"Wait, 8!? That's in less than twenty minutes!"
"Yeah, I know. You would've had more time if you had listened to me and stop working out. Have fun making out with your best friend who you have a crush on but won't admit that you guys like it each other," she called from down the hall. Danny heard the sound of her bedroom door close, but ignored it as he jumped up before quickly falling back on his bed in pain as his leg protested the weight he put on it.
"Ow, damn it! I swear I'm going to get her for this!" Danny said, transforming into his ghost form and allowing himself to float over the floor. He quickly made his way over to his dresser, grabbing a pair of boxers, some shorts and a t-shirt before speeding down the hall and slipping into the bathroom just as Jazz was about to, an action that not only surprised the older girl awake, but angered her as she pounded on the bathroom door, yelling at him.
After a shower and repeated threats from a certain red head, Danny floated in his room trying to quickly get dressed, when he heard the doorbell ring throughout the house. Danny wasted no time trying to get to the door, but was beat there by Danielle who was still in her same red tank top and blue pajama bottoms. She had a wide smile on her face as she and Sam talked while the older girl handed her a bag to which she accepted happily. Danny descended the stairs which finally caught both girls attention as he lightly landed on the sofa. Sam smiled to him and waved Danielle off. The preteen gladly left the room, taking her present with her as she went up the stair.
"Hey there, hero," Sam said as she walked over and sat next to Danny.
"Hey. What was that all about?"
"Oh, nothing much. I just got her a little something special that I know she'll like," she said, before, picking up the second bag she had and handing it to Danny. "I got you something too."
"Sam, you know you-"
"Save it, Danny. Just open it." She said, smile still on her face. Danny nodded his head and opened the bag which held a white box in it. Danny gave Sam a confused look, but continued to open the box.
Danny's eyes grew wide as he looked upon the contents of the box, but before he could even process anything to say or think, both teens jumped at the loud, excited shriek that bounced off the walls of the upper floor.
"I love it!" Danielle screamed. "Thank you, Sam!"
Sam chuckled before calling back, "You're welcome, kid." Turning to her friend, she looked at the expression on his face, waiting for his reaction. "Well? What do you think, Danny?"
"I…I don't know what to say, Sam…" Danny said as he lifted the material from the box it was in. "This is amazing. Absolutely amazing, Sam. Thank you."
Sam beamed with pride as Danny pulled his new suit out of the box and held it up so he could see it better. She had spent all week working on their costumes, especially Danny's. She had taken into account everything that they had asked for as well as putting in some personal touches, and then, using her family's vast wealth, had them ordered and made in less than two days. All of her free time, she had spent trying to think up the perfect design for the two hybrids. Or that's what she liked to tell herself.
In actuality, she had been avoiding coming back to Fenton Works. Ever since the kissing fiasco, she couldn't face Danny. Her actions had been impulsive, irrational and oh so wonderfully addictive. As she sat around her bedroom, thinking about the boy that was her best friend, her mind would constantly wander back to the kiss that they shared. The gothic teen could still fell the warmth of her blood as it pumped faster and faster every time she thought about it, which would then distract her from finishing her ideas on her friend's costume as she would need to find a way to calm herself down and gain focus again. But now that she was finally done with the suit and here with Danny, she knew she was going to have to face him and the repercussions of her actions. That didn't mean she couldn't delay it though.
"Why don't you try it on?" Sam said, taking the box from him. Danny nodded his head, and transformed into his ghost form before lightly floating and heading into the kitchen. As he exited the room, Sam took a few deep breaths to try and steady herself. "Why am I so nervous? It's just Danny. Plain old, ordinary Danny who is my best friend and the greatest, cutest guy I know…" she mumbled before groaning and placing her head in her hands. She had to get it together fast or else she might lose it. As she looked up, Danny came back into the room in his new costume, and Sam was stunned. "My god…it looks even better then I imagined."
Danny floated in front of her, examining the new padded white gloves that were thick for protection, but beyond comfortable. The matching pair of white boots that adorned his feet were virtually weightless and yet Danny could feel that they would not be torn or ruined easily. The belt that she had given him had multiply pockets to house any assortment of object as well as hooks for his thermoses. Said belt was looped through the top of black cargo pants that were comfortable to the touch and hung over the tops of the boots just enough for the boots to be seen. The final touch was the one that truly caught Danny's eye. Sam had honored his wish for a sleeveless jacket and expanded upon it. The hoodie he wore was made of some type of material that not only allowed his body to breath, but moved with him with ease even though it was skin tight. On the back rested a hood with white silk on the inside of it. On the front, dead center of his chest rested a white phantom logo that shone bright like the symbol that it was.
"I'll say. I never imagined that you'd come up with something this extravagant, Sam," Danny said, looking back to her with a smile that caused the girl to blush. "This is unbelievable. Thanks, Sam. I don't know how to repay you for this."
"It's no problem, Danny," she said, trying to recover from nervous fit. Taking a deep breath, she looked him in the eye, and set her focus. She had to do this, and she had to do it now. "But I do need to talk to you about something." Danny, seeing the seriousness in her features, took a seat next to her.
"Ok. So, what did you want to talk about, Sam?" he asked.
"Well…it's about that kiss, last week," she said, looking him straight in the eye. Recognition came to Danny's face and he too started blushing at the memory that had plagued his dream and thoughts often during the week.
"Ok…what about it?"
"First, let me just say that I am so, so sorry for ambushing you like that. I don't know what came over me, and it was stupid of me to do without worrying about how it would affect our friendship, and-"
"Easy, Sam. It's ok," he said, holding her hands in his left one and using his right to wipe a few tears that were in her eyes. "I know that it was a spur of the moment kind of thing, but even a spur of the moment thing is different. What we did wasn't like our fake-out make-outs. But I gotta know, why? What was behind that kiss?"
"Well…" she said, trying to compose herself from looking like a gigantic baby. "I think that…it's gotta be pretty obvious now that I like you. A lot. And to be honest, I have for a long time, but…I never had the courage to say anything because you never seemed like you were interested in me other then when you saw me with another guy."
"Well, I never thought you were interested in me. I mean, why would you be? I was just a geek on the bottom of the food chain who was always trying to climb a latter that I had no business being on in the first place."
"Don't talk like that, Danny," Sam said, looking him straight in the eye. "You might be a geek to everyone else, but to me, you're the sweetest, kindest, most resourceful person I've ever known. And you were all those things before you even got your powers, so don't try and use that as an excuse."
"Even so, I still never noticed why you were always getting so mad whenever I dated other girls. I guess I finally understand why everyone called me clueless for so long," Danny said with a chuckle. Sam couldn't help laughing along with him. As their laughter finally died down, a quiet silence feel over the two as they looked each other in the eye. Danny leaned forward, placing his forehead against Sam's, their noses touching lightly and their lips just a ghost of a touch away. "So…where do we go from here?"
"Well," Sam said, her cheeks turning a light pink color. "I'd like to give dating you a try. That is, if you're willing to date an ultra-recyclo-vegetarian Goth who's headstrong and gets really jealous easily."
Danny smiled and placed a hand on her cheek. "So long as you're ok with dating a geeky human ghost hybrid with an annoying hero complex and a tendency to get hurt often for being way too clueless. But let's make a promise that no matter what, if this doesn't work out, we'll still always be friends. I can't lose you in my life, Sam, and I won't let my own stupidity be the cause of it. Agreed?"
Sam smiled as she leaned in, pressing her lips against his quickly before pulling away. "Agreed."
"Finally! Captain Clueless gets it!"
Both Danny and Sam turned toward the stairs as Danielle came into view, also in her ghost form. Neither were surprised to see the young girl, now clad in her own new uniform, as she floated down the stairs and landed in front of them.
Sam and Danny looked over the young girl's new suit with nods of approval. As requested, her suit had been made of spandex, but had been reinforced with the same material as Danny's to make it more resistant to wear and tear. The top was short sleeved and tight, giving her full mobility. The main color was white, but down the middle was a black stripe that went right in between her still developing bust, leaving her phantom logo in the middle of her chest. The neckline followed the black color scheme as it went up to her neck and stopped at her throat. Her pants were as tight as her shirt, but didn't restrict her at all as the legs of the pants flowed out at the bottom. The black fingerless gloves went up to her forearms and matched her boots that were similar to Danny's in material, but similar to the design of her old ones. Her belt was an exact replica of his, but was black to match her other accessories. The most surprising thing to Danny, however, was the hooded cape that she adorned. The inner material shone like white snow and held white loops on the inside for her to grab onto to allow it to flow in the wind like bird wings, while the outside was pure black. The hood rested on her back, connecting to the front, which Danny took note of, meaning that it only came off by going over her head.
"Wow, Dani. Nice cape," her brother said with a bit of skepticism.
"I gotta say, I'm really glad that both your suits fit so well," Sam said.
"It's perfect! Thanks again, Sam," Danielle said before looking at her brother. "You know, you don't look so bad without sleeves, bro. Now you can show off the results of all those pushups."
"Yeah, it's great. But you're still in trouble for eavesdropping, squirt."
"Don't call me that!" she said, sticking her tongue out at him. "And I wasn't eavesdropping. It's not my fault you two were talking so loud that I was able to hear you with my super sensitive hearing. But anyway, congrats on the new relationship you two. Now you can finally act like the lovebirds you are."
Both Danny and Sam smiled at her, lacing their hands together.
"Yeah. I guess we can," Danny said, looking at Sam.