Catalyst: A Story about Change

Chapter Three: Summer Begins

May 21, a little over 5 months after

Danny stood in his bedroom, getting dressed for a night out. Jazz was back, in all her glory of having finished her first year of classes at an Ivy League school, with honors, and the whole family was going out to celebrate her good grades tonight, along with Tucker.

She had yet to find out about Sam's disappearance.

Actually, the subject of Sam had become taboo. Danny didn't like to think about it, but he knew it was because of him. Sam was on his mind more than anyone else's, it seemed, and when she came up in conversation he either got excited or depressed. Excited that maybe her name was mentioned because there had been word on her location; depressed when he realized it had nothing to do with the search, or was simply someone confirming its continued failure.

And he knew his parents didn't want to send him on an emotional roller coaster ride all the time, so her name had come up less and less over the past several weeks. Maddeningly, this only made Danny more high-strung, because it gave him the feeling, however misguided, that everyone else was trying to forget her. It felt like they were trying to sweep his best friend under the rug, as though she'd never existed! Even Tucker avoided talking about her.

In the back of his mind Danny acknowledged that Sam's parents, who were worried sick, were still doing everything they could to locate their only daughter. They'd hired several private detectives, the FBI was on the look out, the local and federal police had her information, and her face was being printed on milk cartons across the United States.

But it wasn't enough! They hadn't found her, and here he was, going to school, going out to eat, celebrating (the word twisted into a hiss of disgust in his mind) while Sam was gone, maybe hurt, maybe in need of rescuing! Despite all of the evidence, somewhere deep down Danny still hoped that she hadn't left of her own free will. She'd been forced to leave, somehow, kidnapped, anything as long as it wasn't her decision to go. He couldn't stand the thought that she'd left them all behind…voluntarily.

As a result of this desperate hope, the horrible thought of Sam in trouble and in pain would spring into his mind at odd times, and tonight his worry over her was starting to consume him. Didn't they all understand that he needed to bring her back here; he needed to go and get her, not go out to eat! And he couldn't stop the tiny ball of resentment he felt welling up inside. Only two months had gone by, and they were already forgetting her. How could they? How could they go on with their lives as though she had never been here?

Danny was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of his mother's voice calling from downstairs, and he slowly tuned back into his surroundings. His fists were painfully clenched, and a moment ago, now that he thought about it, he could've a sworn he was growling.

He glanced into the mirror, and saw that his eyes were glowing green as well. He stared into his reflection, willing himself to calm down. This had been happening more recently. When he became upset or angry his eyes would flash green, and over the past several weeks these emotions had become more and more prevalent. He sighed, closing his eyes, and concentrated on clearing his mind. He wasn't going to blow his identity any time soon, and he wasn't going to ruin the evening for Jazz. She didn't even know about Sam, so it wasn't like he had a right to be angry at her.

When Danny opened his eyes they had returned to their usual striking shade of blue, (though not quite so striking as their green alternative) and he made his way toward the door.

He was met at the top of the stairs by Jazz, who was coming up to check on him. She was smiling widely, so happy to be done with work for a while, and content in knowing that she had done a good job with it. Now she had time to be with her family and relax, which was a wonderful feeling.

"Hey Danny, what's taking so long?" She smiled good naturedly. "Tucker's downstairs, by the way." They started heading back down together.

He put a hand behind his head and gave her a half smile as they walked.

"Oh…nothing. Just zoning out." He couldn't hold her gaze for some reason, and looked forward instead, which was a big mistake with Jazz. She already had one of those 'knowing big sister smiles' forming on her face, and he wasn't in the mood for it.

"Ooookaay, if you say so. You're such a puzzle sometimes, Danny." She paused then added conversationally, "By the way, where's Sam? Is she coming along tonight? You two and Tucker are usually inseparable." Her smile broke when she saw the look on his face, and stopped dead, turning around to face.

"Danny…? What's wrong?" She watched as his face went through a range of emotions; first surprise and distress, then anger, until it landed on an anguished sadness that radiated off of him.

"She's…not here, Jazz. She's…" He couldn't look at her, and was ashamed of it. He didn't want to have a breakdown in front of his sister, but it was like all the worry and upset began welling out of him in response to her innocent questions. She would be the last person to find out, and then everyone around him would give up, would try to help him "let go", "calm down", and all those other things he wasn't capable of doing in this situation!

He huffed, and tried to stop himself from losing it. He was not going to cry. "She disappeared almost two months ago, o…over Spring Break." He could feel his face stretching, causing his teeth to show in a grimace from the effort it took him not to shed tears. They had stopped halfway down the stairs, and he had turned around to look back up them, to avoid Jazz's questioning eyes.

"I…she." He swallowed, voice rough. "She left over the break, and we only realized she was gone when everyone came back, the week after. Her parents are searching for her, of course." He waited to hear what Jazz would say. After a moment he felt a hand on his shoulder, slightly hesitant. Then she gave him a hug from the side.

"I...had no idea." They stood for a moment. "Danny? Do they think she was kidnapped, or did she run away?"

He sighed, and let go of his forlorn hope in the face of logic. "She wasn't kidnapped; it looks like she had it all planned out, actually." He looked away from her, feeling crushed inside.

"The reason I ask is because, well, running away is hard, Danny. And it's only been a couple of months. That's less than eight weeks. She has a wonderful family and friends, she's been provided for all her life, and now she's on her own." He tensed up as she talked, so she hastened to add, "What I mean is, she has no reason to stay away that we know of, so don't…don't give up hope, Danny. I bet she'll come back before too long. She has so much here, after all. Her parents, all her good memories, her friends. You."

"But…why, Jazz? Why would she leave in the first place, if there's so much for her here?" His voice was wobbly, and the tears he'd been holding back were making trails down his cheeks.

She was silent for a moment, and then spoke as though she was still searching for an answer herself. "Maybe she's going through something we don't know about. Maybe there's something in her life she's dealing with? A member of the family died, maybe. Or…maybe she just really needed space and wanted this experience. Some people really want to get away and show their independence at this age."

He snorted gently, and looked up at the ceiling. "Jazz…you know Sam, you know she isn't that stupid. She doesn't just 'run away to show her independence'! She wouldn't do that to us." Something, however, was shifting in Danny's mind; there was something right in what she had just said. He could feel it. And when he figured out what it was, maybe that would help him find Sam…?

He had tuned out for an instant, and when he tuned back in he realized Jazz was still talking about what Sam's motivations for leaving might have been. "…independence, you're right, she's not the type, but sometimes…"

He pulled away from Jazz, wiping his face on his shirt, and gave her a shaky smile, interrupting her impromptu speech.

"Jazz…sorry. I didn't mean for this to… Heh, this is your big night, right?"

She gave him a surprised look, then raised an eyebrow at him, frowning softly. "Don't be silly; this is way more important than a night on the town." Jazz paused, and sighed. "Danny…I understand what you must be feeling; here we all are having a good time when Sam's out there somewhere. You know we don't have to do this tonight if you don't want. It can wait." She smiled at him.

But somehow just hearing someone acknowledge his feelings helped calm him down even more. Actually…Jazz isn't too bad at this psychology stuff.

He gave her a big smile and one big sniff to get rid of his runny nose. "No way, Jazz. I'll be fine. Actually, just talking to you helped a lot. Besides, I'm starved." He was about to start down the stairs again when something important occurred to him.

"Er…wait. Are my eyes puffy?"

She squinted up at him (he was finally taller than her now.) "A little bit, but it's not a big deal, Danny." She pursed her lips, then grinned and linked arms with him. "Come o…"

Their Mom was at the bottom of the stairs, smiling up at them softly. It looked like she'd been there a while, and Danny felt himself blushing as they made their way down.

"Come on, sweethearts." Maddie ruffled Danny's hair when they got to the bottom of the stairs. "It'll all turn out all right, Danny, you just wait and see."

The three made their way outside to join the others, who were waiting in the Fenton RV. And for the first time in weeks, Danny felt hope spring back up again.

June 1st, 5 ½ months after

Sam had a guardian angel; there was no other explanation. (A certain Wisconsin billionaire sneezed.)

She was sprawled out on her bigger, better new mattress in her nice new apartment. It had more than two crummy little rooms, like her previous apartment. Actually, it had a kitchen (with a tiny dining room), a bedroom, a bathroom, and a living room, all decently sized and nice. It had good carpeting you could sink your toes into, and it even came with a washer and dryer in a very small room next to the bathroom. It was a nice place, and as of a week ago way out of her price range.

This was no longer the case. Amazingly enough, she'd won the lottery. It was crazy, really, because she hadn't even known her name was on the list. Specifically it was a lottery for Target customers nationwide, and as a favour a fellow employee had added her name, along with several others, to the huge pile of names being drawn. They'd apparently felt it would be completely awesome if a lowly employee were to win.

So in essence, Sam had been handed 35,000 dollars out of the blue. Of course, the government had confiscated about one third of it, but that still left her with enough money to upgrade certain things. And she couldn't resist getting a better apartment (which was paid for a year) and a few pieces of furniture, like a better bed, a couch for the living room, and a table and chair for the tiny dining room next to the kitchen. She'd also picked up a few more cooking utensils.

She'd blown over half the lottery money already as a result. Still, that left her about eight thousand dollars ahead of where she was before the lottery. This meant she had twice as much money stored up (about 14,000 dollars) than she had hoped to have at the time she would need to quit work to have the baby. And she didn't have to make payments on the apartment, which had been her biggest monthly expense before. So even though she'd blown a lot of money in the last week, she was still doing really well.

And she had to admit having a bigger space made a huge difference in her life. She had grown up in a big house, after all, with all her needs and comforts provided for. It felt nice to get a little of what she had left behind back again, even if it was only material.

The extra money also meant she didn't have to feel bad about occasionally buying something that caught her eye. She'd like to decorate a little, for instance, so was on the lookout for a few nice looking inexpensive paintings for the walls. Also, she was buying better food now, allowing herself an added one hundred dollars every month for her spending. Sam hadn't realized when first starting out how expensive healthy food would be, and hadn't been as good about that as she promised herself she would be. None of her future meals would consist of three minute ramen, or breakfast cereal (expect maybe for breakfast, heh.)

She wasn't dropping her jobs, though. Her co-workers at Target had wondered at this, but she'd just told them it was important not to let a little money go to your head.

That was true enough, but her real reason was that she needed to keep busy. The last thing she wanted to do was sit around all day, just thinking. There were too many things she didn't want to think about, so she couldn't afford to be idle and let her mind wander.

Actually, it was strangely gratifying for Sam to know that she was capable of being as focused as she had been these past months. She'd made every effort to block all negative things from her mind, and it had worked amazingly well. Aside from a handful of hard nights, her life had been, if not great, at least not too bad. Certain things were off limits, certain thoughts, and occasionally she wondered if she had suppressed things a little too much. But Sam felt like she could handle her life right now, and that's what she needed to do. She couldn't afford to be depressed, or afraid, or anything else negative, and maybe her body and mind understood this fact. No one was looking out for her, so she simply didn't have the luxury of going to pieces.

Sam sighed and shifted onto her side, which was getting a lot more comfortable than sleeping on her back lately due to the weight. That was one thing she couldn't ignore. In three and a half months she'd be giving birth, and that scared her.

But at the same time she was strangely excited. In the last several days the baby had really started to move. It even kicked occasionally, which always made her pause in wonder. She had a little person growing inside her, and at odd times this miracle of life would strike her profoundly. She smiled to herself, and made a mental note to buy a book of baby names after her next work shift at Borders.

Author's note: Sorry, this chapter is kind of filler, though it is starting to build some stuff up for later. And it's a tad short. I'll probably update again in a few days. I'd love reviews, though, none the less! But seriously, please let me know if I'm anywhere in the ballpark with Danny and Jazz as far as characterization goes. (And Sam, of course.) I thrive on constructive criticism. :)