Danny approached the door at the end of the corridor warily. Logically he knew that there was no reason for him to be so nervous, he lived here after all. But his mother's room was not somewhere he visited very often. It was the biggest room on the third floor, and was situated at the very end of the corridor. He stopped outside the room and hesitated for a moment. He had rehearsed what he was going to say to convince his mother repeatedly in his head, but now that he stood outside her door he was suddenly doubting whether asking her was even worth it. He could hear his mother moving around in the room, 'probably getting ready for yet another very important meeting or social event', Danny thought bitterly. He knew it was now or never. His mother tended to stay out late when she went to events like these, and if she did come back earlier, she was either drunk or in a bad mood. He knocked twice on the door before he could overthink what would happen and waited patiently as he heard the movements inside stop.
"Come in" she said softly. Danny took a deep breath and entered the room. Nothing had changed from the last time he had been here. The walls were the same light grey colour they had always been. The queen sized bed was perfectly made, not a single crease in sight. His mother's various bottles of face cream and make up were all arranged neatly on the dressing table. Danny breathed in and smelt his mother's perfume. Rose. He took one last quick look around before sitting on the edge of the bed so he was opposite his mother.
"Daniel, to what to I owe the pleasure?" She said with an air of surprise as she took a seat at her dressing table.
Danny hesitated a bit and looked down at his fingers. "Well mum I was just thinking, you know how you're going to lecture at NYU in a couple weeks?"
"Yes" she said, slightly confused at her son's sudden interest in her work schedule.
"Well I've never been to New York you see…. and I was wondering if I could maybe… If it's not any trouble…..If I could come with you?" He finished quietly. Penelope raised an eyebrow as she studied her son curiously. He was running a hand through his hair, something he had always done when he was nervous. It was a habit she hated.
"And why would you want to do that?" She asked, Danny squirmed slightly and looked up at her.
"It's just…. we never spend any time together" he admitted quietly, now looking back down to his feet "And I'm on half term break then so I won't miss any school…. And we haven't been anywhere together in ages." He looked back up to his mother.
"I guess that wouldn't be a bad idea" she admitted after a moment of silence, both amused and slightly saddened by the look of surprise on her son's face.
"Really?" He asked hopefully, a huge smile breaking out on his face.
"You're right Daniel, we haven't done anything together in a very long time have we?" She sighed as she regarded her son fondly. He was now looking up and smiling ear to ear, she couldn't help but smile too.
"You can come with me, but I'm lecturing for two days. What are you going to do while I work? You could never keep up with the material I cover."
Danny ignored the insult, he needed to be in her good books.
"Well actually that's what I was going to ask you about…. Ummm, well obviously you're going to be working, and you're right, I won't be happy sitting in on your lectures. so I was wondering if maybe…well…If maybe-"
"Spit it out Daniel I don't have all day" she said, growing tired of his hesitating.
"Can Katie come too? We'll behave I promise and she can keep me company when you're working. We'll do all of our holiday homework as well" He bit his lip as he looked up at her, pleading for her to say yes with his eyes. Penelope looked at her son thoughtfully. Being an only child herself she knew full well how lonely it could be.
"And would Katie's parents allow her to come with us?" She asked after a moment of thought.
"Yes mum, they're not doing anything so she's free, can she really come mum?" he asked quickly, a hopeful smile forming on his face.
"Yes I guess she can" she said, smiling at her son's excited face. "But you have to promise to behave Daniel, I don't need my reputation in tatters because you two decide to cause a ruckus."
Danny jumped up and hugged his mother round the middle without really thinking about it, he hadn't expected to convince her so easily, or at all. Her arms came around him in an awkward sort of way, somewhat stiff. An outsider could easily tell she was a woman not used to these sorts of displays of affection. She patted him slightly awkwardly on the head before drawing back and walking to the chest of drawers on the other side of the room.
"I mean it Daniel, you have to behave and do work while I'm lecturing, I will not stand for any trouble. Do you understand me?" She missed the moment of hesitation and guilt that flashed across her son's face. He knew full well that going to a house in the suburbs to tell complete strangers that you thought you were their long lost son wouldn't come under her definition of behaving. But it was a lie he would have to tell.
"I promise mum" He assured her, not quite meeting her eyes though.
She smiled slightly before ushering Danny out the door. "I need to get ready now" she said as Danny walked into the corridor "I'll be back late"
Danny stared at the now closed door with a mixture of glee and disbelief. Who knew it would take so little convincing? He grinned widely and ran down the stairs and into his room. He couldn't wait to tell Katie the good news.
"I'm going to New York" He whispered to himself, hardly daring to believe his luck. He laughed slightly. "I'm going to New York… I'm gonna meet the Bings"
He flopped onto his bed and closed his eyes, thoughts of Matthew Bing and his parents running through his head. He'd managed to convince his mother to go to New York, but how the hell was he going to convince the Bings he was their son?
"Guess what!" Danny exclaimed, dumping his books on the desk with a loud thud. Katie barely looked up, her head still resting in her arms on the desk.
"What?" she moaned, her voice muffled slightly.
"I said guess"
Katie sent him a withering glare as she shuffled in her seat slightly, trying to get more comfortable. "Dan it's too early for this" She whined with a huff. Picking up Danny's maths textbook she placed it under her head to use as a pillow, before sighing heavily and closing her eyes. Danny just rolled his eyes. Katie had never been a morning person.
"Oh come on Kate"
Katie cracked open one eye and squinted at him. "You finally taught Gatsby to rollover"
"Nope"
"You got out of that detention with Mr Briggs?"
"No" He replied a little sadly
"What then?" Katie asked impatiently, now fed up with the game. She glared at Danny, who responded with his trademark cheeky grin.
"Somebody got out of the wrong side of bed this morning" He remarked, his smile widening when she groaned something incomprehensible. "I guess I'll just take someone else to New York with me then"
That got her attention. She looked up at Danny, studying his face to see if he was joking or not.
"Come again?"
"You heard me"
Katie grinned widely, laughing slightly as she watched her best friend, who was now rocking on the balls of his feet, giddy with excitement.
"Seriously?"
"Dead serious"
Katie laughed and jumped up, tiredness forgotten, and hugged Danny in excitement. Danny laughed loudly when he suddenly found his vision obscured by bushy black hair, and his arms full of Katie. He barely noticed the boys at the back of the room wolf-whistling at them.
"How the hell did you get your mum to agree to that?" Katie asked once she had released Danny from her bone-crushing hug. Danny breathed a laugh and ran a hand through his mop of messy brown hair.
"I honestly don't know, I was expecting to have to do some serious begging and pleading, but all I had to say was that I wanted more mother-son time, and she agreed." he explained as he and Katie sat down behind their desk.
"So when do we go then Dan?" Katie questioned
"First day of half term, and then we return on the 17th of June"
Katie started counting the dates on her fingers. "Dan half term starts on the 9th, that gives us ten days to get as many pictures, information and whatever else we can find of you to properly convince the Bings that you're their son"
Danny paused, he'd been so distracted by trying to see the Bings he had forgotten completely to think about how he was going to convince them.
"Well we best get started as soon as possible then" Danny replied, pulling out his notebook as their teacher walked into the classroom and started the lesson.
"So we have old photos, videos and a copy of your adoption certificate" Katie said as she paced Danny's room, ticking off each item on her fingers. "Anything else?"
Danny thought for a moment "I don't think so. Can you think of anything that would be useful?"
Katie stopped her pacing to think for a moment. "Nope." Then let out a breath as she sat next to Danny on the edge of his bed. He was fiddling absentmindedly with the corner of his phone case, and although his face didn't show it, Katie could tell he was troubled. He sighed heavily and ran a hand through his tousled hair.
"I can't believe we're actually gonna do this" He said, laughing slightly, as if disbelieving of his own nerve. "I mean neither of us are exactly goody two shoes-"
Katie snorted and Danny couldn't help but grin. The pair of them did seem to have a certain talent for trouble when they were together.
"But this is a bit far even for us" he continued. Katie smiled sympathetically at her best friend, but remained quiet. She couldn't even begin to imagine what was going through his head.
"Do you know what you're gonna say to them?" Danny stayed quiet. Did he know what he was going to say to them? No. Had he thought about it? It occupied his thoughts almost all the time.
"No idea."
The pair sat side by side silence for a moment, Katie opened her mouth as if to say something, and closed it again quickly. Noticing the confused look Danny was sending her she hesitated.
"Have you asked your mum anything about how she got you… Where you came from?"
Danny paused. He knew what Katie was getting at. Did he know if his mum was involved in his kidnapping at all? He hadn't asked her, he didn't dare. But he thought about it almost as often as he thought about what he would say to the Bings. Sure his mum was distant, and annoying, and old. But he couldn't imagine she would ever be capable of something as illegal and wrong as kidnapping a little boy. Still, when someone puts an idea like that in your head, it sticks. The idea burnt inside him like one of those trick birthday candles that are impossible to blow out.
"No.. I can't, I just" He ran a hand through his already disheveled hair. "I can't imagine her doing that… and if she did…then I don't want to know. I want to find the Bings first. Then I'll get into all that."
Katie nodded. "How much do you know about your dad"
"It wasn't him either." Danny replied sharply
"How would you know?"
"I don't… I hate the man, he abandoned mum and I. But I don't want to believe… I can't believe that he would do that… Can we just drop it. Ok?"
Katie nodded "Sorry"
There was beat of awkward silence.
"What time does the plane leave" Katie asked.
Daniel smiled to himself, knowing full well that Katie knew exactly what time the plane left, but wanted to change the topic.
"Leaves at eight, the cab'll come in ten minutes."
There was another moment of silence
"Help me get my case downstairs?" Danny asked
Katie nodded quickly and the pair lugged the last of their luggage down the stairs then loaded them into the waiting cab.
"You ready?" Katie asked as they slid into the back seat.
"Yeah" Danny replied, although he sounded somewhat unsure. He stayed quiet as his mother got into the cab an he watched the house get smaller and smaller behind them. "No turning back now"