Danny opened his eyes and turned on his side, quickly falling back and slamming them shut once again as a severe pain pierced his right half. He opened them once the sting became bearable and let out a long shaky breath. He didn't dare try getting up again just yet, the dull throb reminding him he was injured and needed to take his time crawling out of his bed.
"What the hell?" He asked the silent room, his voice echoing off the blue walls and back to his ears. He stretched his left hand outward and was shocked when it reached the edge of the mattress. He shrugged softly and tried again in the opposite direction, thinking his bed partner and he managed to switch during the night. Fear settled in when it, again, reached the edge.
He quickly shot up, ignoring the blinding pain and pushing it to the back of his mind as a more important issue was being stressed. He looked the room over and fear sunk to the bottom of his gut. This wasn't his room, well not anymore anyways. He hadn't seen his old room like this since he was eighteen and moved out of his parents place to head for college.
"Sam?" He questioned the silence. "Sammy?" He tried again, hoping that by using the pet name she hated she'd coming bursting through the door with a smile on her face at a prank well done. He was greeted by silence and remained glued to his spot on his old bed.
A sudden knocking on the door brought him out of his deafening silence and to the still room. He called out a 'come in' was went wide-eyed as his voice sounded cracked and slightly high pitched, as if he were still going through puberty. He expected to see Sam standing in the doorway, Lilith in her arms and an explanation on her tongue. What he got instead surprised him.
"Oh good, sweetie you're up." Her hair was as red as ever, no grey in sight. Her face was free of the very few wrinkles he knew her to have. She looked young, thriving and all the more motherly.
"Mom?" He questioned wincing as the shock threw him from the bed and to the floor.
"Are you alright, Danny?" She asked throwing clean clothes on his desk before rushing over to him and helping him up. He was shocked because the landing didn't hurt as much as it should have, it didn't feel like all his well distributed weight fell at full force, but instead it felt like his old hundred and something pound body from before all the years of ghost fighting managed to define a muscle tone.
"Fine mom." He said standing to his feet with her help.
"No, you're not." She gasped quickly. She lifted his shirt and stared at the rather large bruise on his right side. It started where the elastic on his boxers began and climbed up to just beneath his belly button.
Where did that come from? Did I get into a fight with Skulker? Had I been drugged and dragged here?
"It's fine mom." He brushed it off pulling away from her and heading into his bathroom, closing the door on his way in. He was too tired and confused to full take everything in. What the hell was going on here?
"No it's not Danny, where did you get that giant bruise? Are the kids bullying you at school again?" Concern ruled her voice as she waited for him to exit the bathroom.
"No mom, the kid's haven't bullied me in years. I probably got it fight with a ghost last night or something." He muttered softly.
"Danny, I can't hear you." She said loudly, heading towards the bathroom door in hopes of getting a better listen.
"Have you seen Sam this morning?" He asked a little more loudly, hoping she could hear him now.
"No, why? Did she do this to you?" She asked trying to open the door, but found it locked. "Danny?"
There was silence on the other side. Danny stood looking himself over in the mirror for the first time since waking up. It couldn't be. His teenage-self stood staring back at him from the mirror. He raised his right arm and watched as his reflection did the same. He touched his face, feeling to see if what the mirror revealed matched what he felt, sadly it did. He opened his mouth and screamed.
What the hell was going on? What happened? Who did this? A million thoughts ran through his head in the seconds it took his mother to burst the door down. His father could be heard screaming from downstairs as he promised his entrance with a ghost weapon at hand. He looked at his mother, shock, concern and pure fright on his features.
"Danny? What's wrong?" She asked looking to him hurt and confused. From behind her he saw his dad poised to attack. They looked the same. They both looked the same as they did when he was just a teenager. HE even looked the same.
"Is everything alright?" A young female voice entered the room and Danny pushed his way past his parents and out of the bathroom to see a seventeen year old version of his sister looking to the three of them worried.
"JAZZ!" He spat out harshly. He hadn't seen her in almost five months. Not since the birth of his daughter. She was supposed to be in Africa on 'Doctors Without Borders' and not supposed to return for another seven months.
"Jeeze, little brother, you scared me." She said holding her hand over her heart. She looked ready to comment on his attire, but instead looked to his side in shock, his undershirt had been dispose of on the bathroom floor only moment ago. "What happened?" She asked rushing over to him and examining him like the natural born doctor she was.
"I ugh, I slipped." He said quickly. Not sure how far in the past he was and not sure what his parents did and did not know.
"Did Sam do this?" Maddie asked quickly, causing everyone to look at her oddly.
"What? NO!" Danny spat out wondering where she could have gotten that idea.
"Then why were you asking me if I've seen her this morning?" She asked again, her hands crossing over her chest. The firm 'I'm not buying this' look on her face.
"Did Sam spend the night?" His dad asked, a glint of pride in his eyes that died out when his wife looked him over.
"No, I just…" He stumbled, he wasn't used to making lies up. Back home everybody knew his secret, and back home he had every reason in the world to want his wife in the morning.
"It's just Sam promised to be over this morning." Jazz sensed his struggle and quickly shot out an answer. "She called, said she's running late." She then directed this to Danny who silently thanked her with his eyes. He needed help here, he knew nothing about this time or why he was here. He only hoped he was dreaming.
"Well, you better get dressed kiddo, don't wanna scare your little girlfriend away." He said chuckling as Maddie and him exited the room. He let out a big breath of air, relaxing his back against the wall and verbally thanked Jazz once he was sure his parents were long gone.
"Who are you?" Jazz asked grabbing onto his wrist tightly, taking him by surprise as she ripped him from the wall and brought him to his knees before her.
"What?" He asked confused and thrown back by her action. "I'm your brother."
"No you're not. My brother would have yelled at my parents for calling Sam his girlfriend." She got out tightening her grip.
"Jazz, it's me I swear." He got out; upset he wasn't as strong as he was used to. "Ask me anything."
"What did you get me for my birthday last year?" She asked.
"Ask me anything else." He said a smile spreading across his face. She didn't find him funny and instead took this as confirmation that he wasn't who he said and started to dig her nails into him, keeping him in place as she reached for a ghost weapon on her hip. "What's the year!" He yelled begging for her to stop. "Tell me the year, I'll tell you your answer."
"Two-thousand Five." She got out through gritted teeth. This violent side of her always scared him, and he was always happy to not be on the receiving end of it. Now, he wanted nothing more than to be away from her. He was so lost in thought he failed to think of just phasing his arm from her grasp.
"I gave you a 'How to…' book on not being a snobby know-it-all. You took one look at it and started laughing, stating you already knew it all and didn't need a book repeating information. I didn't get the joke." It was twelve years later and he still didn't get it. He surprised himself over his memory being so good. He was satisfied when her nails exited his skin, leaving behind crescent moon indentations, and released his arm.
"What the heck little brother?" She asked leading him over to sit on his bed where she then left him to enter his bathroom. She exited moments later with a first aid kit in hand. "You almost gave away your secret to mom and dad."
"You have no idea how close I really was." He said remembering that if he had said anything even a decibel louder everything would have been known. Not that it mattered, he knew how his parents would react. Proud and understanding, but he still had yet to find out if this was a nightmare or if he really was in the year 2005. He'd be fifteen all over again, who knew what the smallest thing could do to change his future.
Who had brought him there was still a mystery as ever, but had several ghosts on a list of suspects already. Nocturne was at the very top, and if it wasn't a dream, then Clockwork was next on the list.
"There, I bandaged it up as well as I could." She said looking him over. Their eyes locking and suspicion once again clouded over. "Are you hiding something from me?"
"No." He said dryly, not yet sure if this was reality or not. If it was he didn't know who he could tell what or even if he should.
"Whatever, Danny." She said standing up to her feet and throwing her hands in the air, clearly frustrated.
"Jazz," He called as she reached his doorway. She turned and looked him over. "If I had something to tell, you'd be the first." She smiled softly and gave a light blush before nodding softly and exiting down the hall.
The only reason he promised that was because he knew he'd need her psychological analysis should this turn out to be real. He'd need someone to talk him down before he did anything drastic. He looked down to his bandaged side and ever so quickly brought his hand up to slap himself in the face. Nothing. He was still here, and his cheek stung.
He only hoped things were alright in the future and nobody was harming his wife and child. He looked himself over once again in the mirror. Hoping he could get back to Lilith and Sam soon.
He closed his eyes softly and allowed his ghost half to take over. He looked the scrawny version of himself over and scoffed at the image. He never thought he'd see that Danny again. He quickly turned intangible and took off through the roof, heading to the one person he hoped was still around.
As he raced to the old address of his future wife he started to get a familiar feeling of butterflies in his stomach. He would be lying if he said he didn't miss the feeling, but he also didn't like it. He shouldn't be feeling like a school boy again, he should be able to handle it. It just served as a constant reminder that he was not in control of his teen hormones, which upset him to no end. He'd battled them once and hated the thought of going through it again.
When he finally reached her bedroom window, he phased through without even knocking. He hovered above her bed, but noticed the blankets were thrown off to the side and the bed was empty. His brow furrowed in confusion, wondering if someone had taken her from him. Was this a new ghost? Threatening his future by throwing him in the past? Were Sam or Lilith in immediate danger?
The thought of either his wife or child injured or in jeopardy sickened him. His heart started racing and before he could even think a ball of ectoplasm flew from his hand and struck a chair in the corner of the dark room. He looked down, shocked and slightly embarrassed. Clearly he didn't have full range of his powers as he did back home. He would have to keep his temper and emotions intact if he wanted to survive this ordeal with as little injuries and casualties as possible.
"What the -?" Her voice called from the bathroom and he made himself invisible as she walked out cautiously wearing only a black bathrobe.
"Danny? Is that you?" She asked the silence, pulling the robe tighter around her body to maintain some modesty.
"Yeah Sam. It's me." He said, trying to become visible again, but only succeeded in letting his human half take over and fall the ten feet from her ceiling to the floor with a loud 'ooff'.
"Sammy? Is everything alright in there?" Her father called from down below. She quickly stepped over Danny and opened the door a crack before yelling down the stairs.
"Fine dad, I just tripped." She answered slamming the door and locking it incase either parent decided to come barging in and investigate. "Danny?" She said turning to him, holding the robe tighter now as she realized he was only in his boxers. In his haste he had forgotten to change or cover up.
"Hey Sam." He said coyly from her floor, his left hand holding up his head as he looked her over. Embarrassment never once crossing his mind. And why should it? He'd seen her naked plenty of times before, hell he'd been there when the doctor's ripped their daughter from her womb, he'd been there when he got her pregnant.
"Get up." She said lightly kicking him with her bare toes. He snapped up, only too happy to meet her demands. "What are you doing here?" She asked noticing the goofy grin on his face.
"Just thought I'd check up on you, see if anything seemed out of place."
"You mean besides the half-naked ghost boy in my room?" She shot back sarcastically. He looked down at his attire, only now understanding why she was looking at him oddly.
"Oh, must have forgotten to change." He said allowing his ghost half to take over once more, trying to alleviate any more awkwardness between them.
As the rings raced over his body and he was once again clad in his hazmat suit, he noticed her relax a bit and loosen her grip on her robe. She looked him over now, her eyes asking the same question her mouth did moments before. What was he doing there anyways? He knew he came to make sure if she was alright, if she was a teenager as well. But what excuse he'd give her, he never thought through.
"So?" She pressed, her foot took to tapping the floor boards beneath her and he knew he had better come up with an explanation. The foot tapping was never a good sign; he made a mental note to one day tell their daughter before it was too late. That was assuming he could get home to Lilith.
"Right, sorry." He said taking flight and heading for the window. "Just thought I'd come and wish you a good morning."
"Next time knock Danny, I could have been…" She trailed off and a blush crept across her face. He loved it when she did that, even more so when he knew he did it to her. "I'll see you and Tucker in a few hours." She said heading back for the bathroom.
Tucker? He wondered if Tucker was also a teen, and started his journey for his best friend's house. He needed answers, but before he could start to look, he had to know the severity of the situation. He rushed to Tucker's house and phased through the wall, again without knocking.
There he found his best friend, face down in his pillow and his arm falling off the bed, in his grip rested his PDA. The love of his life until Sarah would walk into his life. The only woman to ever pull him away from his PDA long enough to propose to.
Back home Tucker and Sarah had just been married and Sarah was already six month's pregnant with their child. Tucker constantly joked how he wasn't sure how he and Sam had made it through the first five years of their marriage without a baby, when within the first month he had already knocked Sarah up. Danny had always told him it wasn't the lack of sex, far from it. Sam and him were unable to keep their hands off each other and doubted there would ever come a day when they actually could. But instead, protection. When they had kids they wanted to be sure they were ready to devote all their time to them and not be side tracked with other things.
The day when they sat down and discussed children was the best day of his life. Nothing says 'I love you' more than sharing a child with them; a piece of them both that would forever bind them together. Tucker had laughed at his answer. It wasn't as if Sarah's pregnancy was unwanted, oh no! Tucker wanted to be a father as much as Danny did. It was just humorous how Danny and Sam had been friends since grade school and high school sweethearts and waited so long, whereas Tucker had only known his wife three years before settling down completely.
Danny flew out of the room and headed back home to change and get ready. In a few short hours he would meet up with his friends and try to figure out what was going on. He only hoped whatever the cause was, he'd be able to fight it.
Ok guys that was my next chapter. I must regrettably inform you all I will be taking a small break from my writing, hopefully no more than a week. I am beginning to exhibit signs of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and must refrain from writing for a while until the flares die down.
I appreciate everyone staying by my stories at this time and the patience until a new chapter is updated. I hope not to spend too much time away and will return as soon as I get the green light. Thank you all for understanding.
Please review!