So, I noticed that this site had a format change, and I apologize if that led to any confusions in my earlier chapters. I'll go through and put in the line-breaks when I have the time, but for now I'll just start doing it from now on. Thanks for being loyal readers up to this point. ~ Zone
Chapter Seventy-Nine: Lucretius
With fatherhood on the way, Danny had been much more focused in his lessons, and kept saying things like "If dad finds out…" and "Not going to let him take it". It gave Dan confidence that he wouldn't stop him from taking his revenge after all. While waiting for the six months to pass, they all did their best to ensure Sam was comfortable, safe, educated, and healthy. Dora had been only too happy to stay by Sam's side when Danny was away, and they grew even closer than they were before.
Danny did favors for the ghosts they'd angered, usually delivery of something or giving them something they wanted (though he never stooped as low as Phantom did!) and by the eighth month there was hardly a ghost that wouldn't help Danny if asked.
"Almost time, huh?" Daniel said softly to Danny as they left their lesson with Dark for the day.
"Yeah." Danny sighed. His birthday had come and gone, but being seventeen didn't make him any more experienced and he was worried he'd be a bad dad.
Daniel gently took his hand. "Don't worry, you'll do fine. He did." He nodded towards Dark.
"Yeah." Danny smiled. He'd been told of how the meeting with Samuel went and surprised that Dark had been so gentle, so sweet. He didn't think he was capable of it anymore.
Daniel nodded, gently patting his hand. "You should head to your next class, now. See you on Monday."
Danny nodded, flying off with the other three.
"I'm worried about Sam." Dani admitted.
"Why?" Danny blinked, looking at her.
"She looks like she ate a whole watermelon!" Dani looked at her. "How is it going to get out without killing her?"
"You know what, maybe you can be there to help with the childbirth and then you'll know." Dan remarked. "I mean, Danny's just going to be seeing her face."
"And where will you be?" Danny asked.
"Probably sitting with Vlad in the den all anxious about it and wishing we were there but knowing that Sam said she wanted a female doctor for it." Dan replied. "Don't worry; I'll feel your pain. Sort of."
"You jerk." Danny playfully punched him.
Dan chuckled. "Just keep the screaming in your head while grimacing next to her and only I will hear it."
"Okay, now you're being a jerk!" Danny dove at him, the two flying around Dani and Plasmius while the other two rolled their eyes.
"And these are the baby's role models." Dani remarked.
"Oh, I'm sure the child will be just as obnoxious and bratty as Daniel." Plasmius said, smiling at the prospect.
They arrived at Ghostwriter's place and Danny briefly paused to have a talk with Johnny outside it – or rather his shadow? Apparently Danny could still understand the shadow – until Plasmius pulled him away to go to class before he was late.
Class sped by, and then they were heading back home with homework. They got through the portal and Danny had to stop himself from flying straight up to the den, where Sam had taken over a couch lately.
"Welcome back!" Dora greeted as they entered the den.
"Hi, guys." Sam smiled. "Tucker arrived while you were gone."
"Where is he, then?" Dan looked around.
"Right here!" Tucker said as he entered the den with a tray of tofu sandwiches. "And since you weren't here, I had to handle tofu! Yuck!"
"We do have chefs, Tucker." Sam laughed a bit.
"So, how is everyone back home taking Sam's disappearance?" Danny asked as he sat on the chair closest to the couch and took her hand, smiling.
"Well…her parents are going crazy, the cops are having a field day, and everyone is blaming the Guys in White or ghosts. Since, y'know, you were Danny's friend and then he was killed but Jack still didn't learn his lesson and…yeah." Tucker handed her the tray and sat down in his usual chair. "Jack's also been getting a lot of flak, but mostly because he did nothing to stop it and they suspect he may know something but isn't telling."
"Wow, sounds like fun out there." Dan remarked, going to the bookshelf.
"Yeah. Especially since her parents are still questioning every boy in town about if they touched her daughter. I decided to mess with them a bit and said that three months ago she was out of town on a camping trip so it most likely wasn't anyone in town." Tucker grinned. "Now they're really panicking and think Sam snuck away to her out-of-town boyfriend!"
"Which she did." Danny smirked a bit.
"Oh, stop looking so smug." Dani whacked him with a book.
"Careful, Danielle!" Dora chided.
"Why? He's not the one carrying the baby. I can whack him all I want." Dani proceeded to do it a couple more times.
Sam laughed. "Oh let her, Dora. She needs the stress relief as much as everyone else."
"Where's the Masters of the house?" Tucker spoke up.
"Who knows?" Danny shrugged. "Most likely Vlad is actually doing business and Plasmius is getting some kind of mission from him."
"I thought they weren't doing that this month?" Sam asked.
"Then I have no clue." Danny shrugged again.
"Maybe they're making sure the crib is positioned just right, and that nothing is out-of-place in the baby's room." Tucker suggested.
"You'd think it was HIS kid with all the fussing he does!" Dan laughed, sitting down with his book.
"You still haven't finished that one?" Danny looked at the cover.
"Uh, yeah. History takes a while to read and this is all of Ghost Zone history up to when it was completed. I expect there's a Volume II somewhere." Dan settled down to read.
"Wanna watch a show?" Tucker asked, picking up the remote and turning on the TV.
"What's on?" Sam asked.
"Some kind of drama on the drama channel, cartoons on the cartoons channel—"
"Not in the mood for cartoons." Sam cut him off. "Turn on the music channel or something."
"Okay." Tucker turned it on and music filled the room as they watched the music videos on-screen.
They hung out for hours until dinner, and then after dinner Danny carried Sam up to their bedroom. "Their bedroom", not "her bedroom", because Dan had kicked him out of his room and said that now that he had a baby on the way they may as well act like a married couple and sleep in the same damn bed.
"I'm so nervous. It could be any day now." Danny admitted as he lay her down in the bed and pulled the covers over her, climbing beside her. The bracelet sat on the nightstand, where it always was when they didn't have a need for him to hide who he was, and as they turned off the light it reflected the soft moonlight onto the wall.
That night, he was woken by Sam shaking him. "Huh? Wha?"
"Danny…I think we need to get Vlad." She breathed. "No time to wait for the other doctor."
"Wait, now?!" Danny woke up fully and pulled back the covers, lifting her into his arms. "Yeah, we'll get you to Vlad!" He flew out, going intangible to get through the floors.
He found Vlad in his lab with Plasmius, as expected. The man hadn't been sleeping the past month. "Vlad, we got a situation!"
"Already?" Vlad set down what he was working on and went to change into something proper. "Alright, put her on the table there. Plasmius, get the others! Miss Manson, do you think you have time to change?"
"It hurts!" Sam cried, gripping Danny's hand as she was laid down. "Get it out, it hurts!"
"It's okay, Sam, I'm here!" Danny assured her, wincing as she held on tighter. "I can handle it, hold on as tight as you need to!"
"Yeah, I know." Dan was already up and dressed when Plasmius arrived at his door. "He's been screaming in my head since it started." He tapped his head with a finger and headed out of the room. "Better wake Dani and Dora."
"It's going to be noisy down there." Plasmius sighed.
Dan went to Dani's room and knocked on the door. "Dani, wake up! It's time!"
"It's time?!" He heard her cry out from inside and a bit later she was running out in her human form, hastily dressed.
"Now to wake Dora." Dan went to the room they'd given her and knocked. "Dora?"
The door opened, Dora looking frazzled. "Is it time? Already? Oh my!" She quickly flew down the hall, catching up with Dani as they went down the stairs.
"Very noisy. How about a game of chess?" Plasmius suggested.
"Sure, we'll see how well I can focus with Danny screaming in my head." Dan nodded, walking up to the den with Plasmius.
Danny gently stroked Sam's flushed face with a slightly-damp rag as she held on tightly to his other hand, listening to her scream and cry out for it to be OVER already. Tucker had found his own way down, hearing all the doors opening and closing, and was there with Dani and Dora to bring things over when Vlad asked for them.
Finally, they heard crying and Vlad was cutting the umbilical cord while Dora wrapped the baby in a clean towel and then Danny was looking into beautiful amethyst eyes as he and Sam held their son together. "He's beautiful." Danny breathed.
"Mmhm." Now that the ordeal was over, she was in much better spirits and focused on feeding the baby while the others cleaned up around her and Danny.
"He's got your eyes." Danny kissed her forehead, stroking the baby's tufts of black hair fondly. "So beautiful…"
She smiled, nodding. "Our beautiful son."
Tucker came over and smiled. "May I see him?"
"He's feeding right now. Pictures and stuff later." Danny shooed him away. "Go tell those cowards upstairs it's okay to come down now."
"Do you have a name for him?" Dani asked.
"I was thinking 'Lucretius'." Sam looked at Danny. "What do you think?"
"Luc? Sure, that's a good name." Danny smiled dreamily at the baby. "Our little Luc."
Tucker smiled and then ran off to tell the other two, meeting them on the way down. "Oh yeah, your connection."
"Mmhm." Dan nodded, looking like he had a migraine. He approached the two and looked at the baby. "Just so you know, you made me lose my match against Plasmius. You were just born and you've already started to make my life fall apart." He said, playfully poking the baby gently.
"His name is Lucretius." Sam smiled. "Danny, would you help me move from here to the den? It's more comfortable there."
"Actually, I'd rather you wait on that." Vlad walked over to her. "You're still bleeding, so it's better you stay put."
"So give me some ecto-healing stuff and I'll be fine." Sam rolled her eyes.
"Sam, you don't know what that will do to the milk the baby has to drink." Tucker frowned.
"Well, it's already got ectoplasm in its DNA and I'm sick of lying on this table." Sam huffed.
Vlad laughed a bit. "I might be able to make something, if you'll be patient a few more hours."
"I've already been here for hours!" Sam looked at Danny. "Danny, please?"
"He won't let me." Danny shrugged. "I can get you a pillow real quick, if you want."
"Can I hold Luc?" Dani walked over, holding out her arms hopefully.
Sam smiled and nodded. "Danny, would you?"
Danny nodded, gently lifting Luc from Sam's arms and handing him to Dani. "Mind his head."
"I know; I've been studying up on this stuff since I learned she was pregnant." Dani raised an eyebrow at them, then smiled at the baby. "Aww, little Luc…so cute…" She cooed, gently rocking him in her arms.
Vlad set to work on some kind of liquid, occasionally asking Plasmius for things in the lab or the kitchen. Dan and Tucker stood by the bed, taking pictures of Dani holding the baby and Danny holding the baby and even one picture of Dora holding the baby before Sam allowed them to take one picture of her and the baby from the waist-up.
Finally, Vlad told everyone but the parents to clear out because they were just plain distracting and he and Plasmius needed to work. They left the room, retreating to the den swiftly.