Author's Note:
Thank you very, very much to these people for reviewing!
kjhjhvjv -here's more!
seghen- um. Definitely the next chapter will be up MUCH faster than this one...
TDG3RD- thank you very much. And...bwahahahaha.
Permanent Chaos- awww, you like Nathaniel:D Wish granted.
- thanks!
cardinal- analytical, as always. ;)
YumeTakato- arigato gozaimas! (um...I probably spelled that wrong...)
Chaos Dragon- ouch. Don't hurt me? I'm sorry, really I am...I'm such a perfectionist, and life is so busy...
kaydreamr'girl- lol, what can I say? I love your reviews. :D
Catalyst: A Story about Change
Chapter 20: Conversations
"I'm worried about Danny." Maddie's voice filtered through from the kitchen, muffled by the unusually heavy doors in the Fenton household. Danny stood silent on the other side of the door, her words having stopped him from entering at the last moment.
They're talking about me.
Danny wasn't even sure who "they" were yet. This sounded like a parental conversation, but maybe Jazz was there too? He stood nervously, already invisible and intangible, his tense hand still raised as if to pull open the door.
"He's coming out of his shell, Mom. He just…he's had a lot on his mind, is all…" So Jazz was there. And it sounded like she was being grilled for information on him.
"But why did he need a shell in the first place, Jazz?"
There was a nervous pause. A drop of cold sweat made its way between Danny's shoulder blades. "I…it's like I said…"
"Sweety, you haven't said anything. Telling us he's in shock, or working through surprise, or…" He could hear his mom sigh; clearly this wasn't a new topic. "I know how protective you are of him, and I think that's a wonderful thing, but your father and I need to know if we're doing everything we should, and if there's something you're not telling us…"
"Mom." Jazz had found her center again, it seemed. "Please, things will calm down, I promise. But you need to give it time. He's just, well…," she sighed, "in shock right now."
"Well, but about what?"
"Isn't it obvious Maddie?" That was his dad, confident as ever. The whole family, then. "It's like I've been saying." His voice carried the tone it had when he was playfully elbowing someone in the ribs. "And I think Jazz is old enough to hear it too, Maddie…" he paused for dramatic effect, and Danny felt himself leaning closer to hear what he would say…
"We're grandparents!" Danny stifled a shocked choke. What? What? And why did his dad sound so, so...enthusiastic? Danny only half listened, as the assumption his father so easily made about...everything, sank in. "Jazzy-pants is just too embarrassed to admit that Danny and Sam were getting ahead of themselves…" His father dropped off, his lighthearted tone shifting to annoyance.
He thinks it's my baby. He thinks Sam and I were…
Maddie spoke up, sounding pensive. "Sweety, I agreed with your father for a while, but now I'm not so sure…you said that Sam is overjoyed to see Danny, right?" Danny focused avidly on Jazz's answer, morbidly curious as to what she would say…
"Yes! I can't tell you how happy she is to be…around him again." Something in Danny's chest fluttered excitedly at this. Sam had said the same thing only days ago, but his hope was still so brittle that her words might be real…
His father's energetic voice broke in again. "Well, of course she's happy to see him again…"
His mother interrupted, sounding far from convinced. "But he spent the first week back home in his room. And he seemed so upset and depressed. You were with him on the trip, and when you found Sam again. And you still have no idea what's going on?" A long uncomfortable pause stretched out.
Jazz finally answered, sounding nervous and exasperated. "He just…he didn't expect things to happen like they did. He really missed Sam- you know how much he missed Sam! And it just caught him by surprise, finding her, um, like he did."
Danny could feel his face heating up. She was skirting the real question, but their mom wouldn't let that last long- not that Jazz could really tell them the truth, of course. And even if she did…
He felt his brain melting at the thought.
"…it is…the thing is, sweetheart…" Danny tuned back in, the tense tone in his mom's voice catching his ear. "The baby is Danny's, isn't it?"
Five seconds of silence ticked away. Then everyone talked at once.
"Of course it's…".
"What? Mom! I…"
"What I mean is…" Maddie paused until everyone else had stopped talking. "What I mean is, maybe that's why he's depressed?" She sounded so worried, and underneath that, so miserable. It made Danny feel suddenly very guilty, as his mother did not get upset easily. And he could just picture the dark look on her face.
For the first time he was seeing things from his parents' point of view, and the possibilities running through his mom's head could hardly be good. Look at the facts. Sam runs away, Sam comes back with a baby, I stay in my room for a week…
Sam had been his best friend for years, but maybe his parents didn't know what other fiends she had? Maybe his mom was re-thinking all the assumptions they'd made about her character, reshaping her into a, a…little tart, like his mom would say- someone who might easily get in trouble with some random boy and then run away in shame….
Or maybe her character wasn't the problem, which left…what? Maybe his mom was suspecting something closer to the truth- that Sam had gotten into real trouble, walking home alone some dark night…
Danny realized his hands were in his hair, pulling softly in silent panic. It was obvious, now why he, Danny, was the best candidate for "dad" in their eyes. But…but…where did that leave him? He clenched his teeth, hands temporarily fisting in his hair. Yet even now the dark possibilities were turning around in their heads…
"No." Jazz's voice broke the silence, her tone strongly refuting Maddie's suggestive question. "No. You're wrong, mother." Mother, not mom; Jazz was upset. "That is not what's going on."
The tension broke. "I knew it. It's Danny's." That was his dad, confidence fully restored, tone triumphant.
"Jazz?" That was his mom, still pushing for a solid answer.
He heard Jazz groan. "I can't say!" She was clearly fraying at the edges. "It's not for me to say, Mom! Just, please let things work themselves out." She paused, probably cooling down. When she spoke again her tone was strangely hesitant, almost guilty. "I…I will say that…Sam really loves Danny, and he loves her too. A whole lot. He's just…he needs time to adjust. He's only seventeen, Mom! There are a lot of things running through his head right now. But things will work out." Danny stood stalk still at this statement, totally consumed by what she'd just implied.
You're practically confirming for them that I'm the father, Jazz! His thoughts slowed down, as this all pervading fact slowly settled in.
His mom finally spoke up again, the dark edge of worry gone from her voice. Mom's convinced it's mine… "Oh, sweety…we're sorry for running you through the ringer like this…"
"Speak for yourself." His dad interrupted in a low tone. Danny could imagine the brief glower his mom threw him. Dad's been convinced it's mine…
"…we've just been worried."
"No, it's not a big deal…"
Yes it is a big deal!
"I mean, of course you're asking questions…" Jazz was embarrassed.
How did I miss this? How could he not foresee the humiliating assumption his parents would make…
It could have something to do with everything else that's been on my mind…
"I'm sorry your vacation wasn't more fun, though. Danny's so lucky to have such a sweet, understanding sister…" The conversation didn't matter anymore; wasn't interesting anymore. Now he was consumed by what he'd already heard.
Danny floated away, literally, as Jazz said something hopeful about how the summer holiday would be much better for everyone, when things got more settled…
They all want Sam's baby to be mine.
Danny glided up to his room, and passed through the closed door, feeling shell shocked. He slowly lowered himself to the floor, letting himself become tangible and visible again. Even Jazz, who knew the truth, wanted him to…
She wants me to pretend to be Nathaniel's father. He was, after all, the perfect candidate. Even a DNA test might show up positive…
Somehow it was frightening to even voice the scenario in his head, though. That would mean he'd have to confess to an act he didn't commit, not to mention Sam…
But his parents already thought they'd been messing around, right?
A weird, embarrassing idea occurred to him. Maybe…Sam would prefer…maybe it would actually be easier for her, if he pretended….
But it hardly seemed decent to step in and claim they'd been doing…things, especially when they shouldn't have. To openly state they'd had a, a…
a son…
out of wedlock. But it would be so much more...wouldn't it be easier on her, than having to admit what really happened?
Danny hugged himself tightly; he felt deeply confused, and all those dark emotions he'd been battling for weeks were threatening to well up again. He'd been holding them at bay the last few days, since the…talk with Sam, when she'd straightened a few things out. When he'd straightened a few things out for himself.
I'm not the enemy here.
And he had just promised to be a friend to her again…
Danny's face twisted in nervous confusion. But even so, that didn't mean Sam would jump at the chance of smearing her reputation. But then, she did already have a baby, and her parents had to be wondering were it had come from.
But even if she did want to play along, not that he'd have the nerve to suggest it; but if somehow it came about…that would mean proclaiming that he and Sam were…a couple. And that they already had a kid.
His mind cringed at the idea, and his face, still pink from earlier, quickly turned scarlet. But even through the incredible embarrassment a tiny hope was growing.
Something about the whole idea was strangely attractive.
No. No way. That was never going to happen. Besides, something about it was so insidious. It sounded almost like a Vlad-ism. His subconscious mind, geared toward all his wants, was trying to angle the situation to his advantage somehow….you know you'd love it, "pretending" to be Sam's boyfriend. You know you'd want it to be more than that…
Danny's face hardened. No. He wasn't going to spend any more time even thinking about this. He needed to let go of that dream; it just wasn't fair to Sam. Even if she still cared for him, there was no way she could want him like that, not after what she'd been put through by his…by that bastard.
Danny let out a slow sigh, and unclenched his unconsciously fisted hands. He breathed in slowly through the nose, forcing his thoughts away from the dark anger.
Besides, it wasn't like Sam even needed a boyfriend. Her family was rich and could take care of her.
Mostly. Speaking of which…
He glanced at the clock, and grabbed up his backpack. It was time for his nightly vigil on Sam's roof.
It had been two weeks since Jazz had left for school, and Danny's parents had yet to say anything about his supposed relationship with Sam. Maybe they wouldn't bring it up? Maybe they'd taken Jazz's words to heart and were waiting for "things to work out."
Danny let out a slow, silent sigh. That's so not going to last. His dad had been way too eager about the whole grandparent thing…
Danny lay atop Sam's roof, using his backpack as a makeshift pillow for his head. He was in the middle of his nightly guard duty, and was currently reading through what had to be the worst short story ever. The literature book lay on his chest, propped up by his hands as he read.
Unfortunately, the horrible story, combined with mild sleep deprivation, was pushing him dangerously close to sleep. And as always, his thoughts kept wandering back to the girl sleeping just below…
Danny put the book aside and shook his head, trying to clear it. He could just imagine it; his falling through the ceiling, accidentally intangible, to land softly on Sam's bed…and they'd both be sleeping soundly side by side when her mother came in the next morning and….
Urgh. The scenario brought up an even more terrifying question. Did Sam's parents suspect the same thing as his own? If so, had they mentioned it to her, or kept quiet too? Maybe he should ask her about it? Yeah, right.
A soft cry sounded from below, distracting Danny from his thoughts. He glanced briefly at his watch, a newly formed habit.
Yep. It was 2:30 a.m., time for Nathaniel's nightly feeding. The kid was strangely punctual, for such a tiny baby. Danny could hear Sam moving around, and after a few moments the crying stopped. It was still very strange, even after all this time- what, nearly two months?- to think of Sam breastfeeding.
Danny picked up the horrible short story again and started reading it in attempt to submerge his discomfort under boredom. He got through several pages before sleep started overcoming him again. His vision grew hazy, the sentences blurring together, and slowly the book drooped downward…
He snapped awake suddenly. Had there been a sound just then…? He sat up carefully, feeling unaccountably nervous. Any vestige of sleep was gone. He waited for a moment, listening…
Spack.
He focused on the noise, his eyes instantly widening in dismay. A ladder! Someone was climbing up onto the roof!
You know exactly who it is.
Danny stared, frozen in place. He really wanted to hide, but…there was only one reason she'd be coming up here, and he was it!
She planned this! How does she even have a freaking ladder?
Sam's face appeared a moment later, skin pale and hair shining softly in the light of a gibbous moon. Her eyes glittered, a brief smile lighting them up.
It took a moment of watching her struggle to get on the roof before the shock of seeing her was overridden by the fear that she might fall. He flew to her side immediately, picking her up almost instinctively around the waist and knees. Bridal style. He could feel himself blushing as he placed her sitting next to his backpack. Thank goodness the chimney's shadow covered them both just here!
Danny felt ridiculously flustered. Sure, he'd known she'd known he was up here, after the pencil incident, but he'd thought there was a sort of unspoken agreement to pretend…
What to say, what should he say…
Thankfully, Sam spoke almost immediately, before Danny could say something guaranteed to be stupid.
"Hahhh…I haven't done this in way too long." She sounded elated.
Danny digested this. What, scared me witless? No, you've done that plenty.
She obviously didn't mean that. But they had used to sit on rooftops together, sometimes, before…everything. Although Tucker had typically been there too…
He swallowed nervously. "Um…is there a reason you came up here, Sam?" He paused, then kicked himself mentally. "Not that I don't enjoy your company." Arg! If I wasn't such a klutz, you wouldn't even know I was up here!
"Couldn't sleep." She sounded so happy and excited, but also at home just sitting here with him. "And I've been meaning to come up here for a while anyway." She sighed softly and slowly. It was a soothing, contented sound. Danny's fear lessened slightly.
Sam continued on. "So what're you working on right now, anyway?"
Danny ran a hand through his hair, and thought about how he'd been nearly asleep a moment ago. "Just reading, actually. The worst short story ever." Sam stifled a snort, and Danny felt his heart lift a little.
"Um, would that be "The Heart of Darkness"? I finished it last night. It has a deceptively good title."
Danny grinned slightly, and relaxed a little more. "Of course you'd think so, being a Goth." Belatedly, he realized that her former style had softened substantially. Her hair was black again, temporarily dyed until it grew out naturally, but her clothes were more conservative, and usually only the infrequent necklace or bracelet would even suggest her previous devotion to the Goth style.
Her tone came softer. "Yeah well…not so much anymore, I guess."
"Um…" Danny suppressed a dark grimace; of course her style had changed, she'd been hiding from them all. She'd even died her hair blonde…
"Why the change, right?" Her thoughtful tone caught him off guard. He'd been expecting pained silence, or a bitter comment about this, one of many changes she'd been forced to go through. But she had never behaved as he kept expecting her to, ever since they'd gotten back to Amity. Especially when it came to him. Joy, instead of fear; tenderness instead of anger; thoughtfulness instead of pain and bitterness.
He was slowly growing convinced that just maybe it wasn't all just an act…
Sam repositioned herself, lying back on the roof as Danny had done earlier, with her hands behind her head. She lay still for a moment, staring up at the stars, before answering her own question. "I…grew up, I guess. It's not that the style is just for teenagers, exactly…" She sighed. "For me, though, I guess I realized that I could still be myself, be whatever I want, without driving my parents up the wall in the process." Her voice suddenly held a laugh. "You know how much they hate everything Goth."
"Yeah." He nearly smiled, thinking of all the times she'd complained about that.
"I still really love it of course, but…I don't have to use it to define myself anymore. If I want to go that way any given day of the week, great. But I don't need to." She paused. "Egh. I'm blathering. I only ever do that with you, you know." Her voice turned suddenly gentle.
He found himself blushing, again. In the back of his mind, he couldn't stop thinking about what his parents thought about them…
Arg, don't think about that!
Sam kept her gaze on the stars, and tried to think of something interesting to say. He doesn't want to hear about your fashion sense. Danny was so tense, and it was starting to get to her. It didn't help that being up here like this with him…it was pushing all sorts of buttons. She looked covertly up at him, sitting so still, holding himself so carefully. She brought her eyes up to his shadowed face, in profile to her.
So striking. So handsome. She found herself wondering what Nathaniel would look like as a teenager…
Danny glanced down, thoughtlessly drawn by the feeling of someone's gaze.
Their eyes met.
It felt electric. They almost immediately jerked their eyes elsewhere.
But the afterimage of Sam's eyes stayed in Danny' mind, as if burned there. They were liquid in the darkness, and so full of some strange emotion….
Her eyes were so…intoxicating, drawing him in, making him feel so, so…
Danny realized he could feel her body heat, from where she lay. Why did she have to be so freaking attractive?
Sam stared into nothing, and tried to control her heart rate. Just that one look…she was shivering slightly, and it wasn't from the cold. The mood had shifted so suddenly. She'd come up here to work away at Danny's emotional shell a little more, and instead they'd jumped to this…wow. This…
Did the guy even realize how hot he was?
Not that this was necessarily bad, exactly. She had expected some tension, secretly hoped for it, but somehow things had jumped forward a lot.
Sam raised her eyebrows and, struck by all the crazy curve balls life had thrown her, she couldn't help smiling. She felt it grow into a crazy grin, then suddenly she was laughing, while trying to keep her volume down…
Danny was sitting stiff as a board, too panicked to think straight, when her laughter started. He looked over, disbelieving, but when he caught sight of her face his tension just…broke. An involuntary smile lit his face in return, and their eyes met again; Sam already had tears in hers, she was laughing so hard, while trying, insanely, not to make any noise.
And something about that was utterly hilarious. They were up here, hiding in plain sight, laughing their heads off very quietly…
A long drawn out snort escaped from Sam, and they both went into spasms of laughter.
Snooooorrrrrrttt….
Sanity returned very, very slowly. Danny finally drew his knees up for his elbows to rest on, his shoulders still shaking from laughter as he rubbed his face aggressively. He rested his face in his hands. Don't think about the snort…
….
After several more involuntary spasms of laugher, Danny finally looked down again. He was still slightly out of breath. "W-what's…what's so funny, anyway?" Somehow, while laughing maybe, he'd managed to remember that this was Sam, his longtime best friend. This was the girl who had seen him accidentally laugh mustard up his nose.
Sam shook her head, a grin still pasted on her face. "Search me. The insanity of life?"
Danny grinned. "Yeah…but that snort…" He made a snorting sound, imitating her, and to Sam's mortification she copied him a moment later as she attempted to suppress more laughter. He doubled over, quaking with glee even as she sat up to smack him repeatedly on the arm in humiliation. He fended her off weakly, and she relented after a moment.
Sam grinned widely despite the embarrassment. "At least I made you laugh."
"Yeah. I want that to be the sound my computer makes when it starts up…"
"Danny!"
"Snnnnnoooorrrrrrrrtttt…." They both started cackling again.
Sam got out a weak protest. "S-stop it, m-my ribs are aching…."
Danny got himself under control, and let out a long sigh. He put his arms behind him, palms flat on the roof, elbows locked, and stared up at the sky.
Sam moved to imitate Danny's posture, looking up at the stars as well. A comfortable silence fell between them. She shook her head slowly, happy that things had somehow gotten comfortable between them again, if only for just a few minutes. How long before the nervous tension descended again? She drew her knees up close to her chest, and clasped her hands in front of them. She took a long, deep breath of the crisp, almost too-cold air.
"Danny…when is the last time you laughed like that?" An ironic half smile touched her lips, even as a dark frown creased her brow. She wanted to laugh, and cry, and give him a hug. She hugged her knees instead.
But she couldn't stop the words from emerging, low and a little too desperate, a little too sad…
"I think I'd be happy if I could just make you laugh more…"
Danny looked down, taken aback by the intensity in her voice. Deep embarrassment threatened to well up…
He snorted in self defense. "Yeah, I could just see it, me laughing all the time- it'd be kind of like catching the permanent hiccups. I'd be laughing while Mr. Lancer was trying to lecture, when I'm reading bad short stories, when I'm at meals…"
Sam snickered slightly, her grin returning.
He went on, feeling strangely goofy. "Dad would love that- he'd probably think I was possessed by a ghost…then, who knows, maybe after all these years they'd actually figure out the truth…"
Sam raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "That you're half ghost?"
"Yeah."
"B-because you're laughing too much…?"
"Um…yeah. Ironic, right?" He grinned.
Sam just groaned, put her head on her knees, and tried to spare her already aching abdomen from anymore laughter. She breathed out a shaky sigh. "Well…that would be the ultimate anti-climax, after all the other scares we've had…"
Danny snorted softly. "No joking." His grin faded slightly. She was right, though. Laughing like this, for a few minutes, had felt unbelievably good. When was the last time…? He didn't care. He just wanted to forget a little longer, let the all the pain drift away, let his mind continue to float back to how he'd been at fifteen, before everything started going wrong…
Danny shyly glanced over at Sam, catching her profile as she gazed up at the sky. Her eyes were bright, but wistful.
What's she thinking about?
He looked away, afraid to stare at her too long, and joined her again in stargazing. His heart fluttered as his mind skipped ahead to that forbidden idea, the one that had occurred a few weeks ago after he'd overheard his parents talking about him and Sam. What would it be like, to go along with their assumption…to pretend to be her…
His crippling shyness held the fantasy safely in check, though.
Besides…
A pang of guilt went through him, along with a sense of loss. Hello, reality. Didn't stay gone long, did you…
He knew it was wrong to think seriously of a romance with Sam, even a pretend one. It crossed too many lines, after everything she'd been put through. That was why he'd been so terrified when he'd realized she was joining him on the roof.
It was such a potentially romantic setting, after all.
Danny's gaze fell as a movement caught his eye; Sam was rubbing her bare hands together. He realized belatedly that it was a chilly night, and even with the boots and coat she'd donned, she was bound to be getting cold.
"Maybe it's time to head back in? You look like you're getting cold." She looked over at him, and he couldn't miss the slight disappointment in her gaze. He wilted slightly, and tried to squelch the guilty feeling. He knew she didn't realize it, but she could influence him so strongly, with the tiniest look…
"Yeah…you're right. And I'm…actually getting a little sleepy again, anyway. Will you, um…take me down?" She smiled at him hopefully. His heart fluttered again.
"Yeah, of course." He opened his arms to her, trying not to feel embarrassed, and leaned over to scoop her up again as he'd done earlier. She put her arms around his neck, and he started phasing through the roof.
They were…so close, like this. He couldn't help noticing how good her hair smelled, or the feel of her arms clasped comfortably around his neck. The urge to pull her closer swept through him suddenly; to press his face to that hair, to never let her go again, to watch over her always…
Stop. It.
He floated slowly down from the ceiling of her room, taking a little more time than necessary. Only to get his mind straightened out, of course, before Sam could see his face again. Not to smell her hair an instant longer…
He set her carefully down by the foot of the bed, and they separated, regaining their personal space. Danny felt cold for the first time that night.
Sam drew an invisible hair back behind her ear, trying to ignore the fact that they were in her bedroom in the middle of the night. Danny swallowed, and clamped down on the growing urge to flee once again, as every moment grew more uncomfortable.
Sam crossed her arms, and moved slowly over to the crib where Nathaniel lay sleeping, if only to have something besides Danny to focus on. "Um…you know, you really are welcome to study with me any time, since you're here every night, anyway…" Her voice was nearly a whisper.
Danny followed her reluctantly, trying to think of how to politely lead the conversation to a close so he could escape back to the roof…and maybe conveniently misplace that ladder…
"Yeah, maybe…sometime." He looked hesitantly down into the crib, where Sam's gaze was transfixed.
He watched as she reached down, with infinite tenderness, to brush away a lock of hair from the baby's forehead. The gesture was simple, but filled with love. He could imagine his mom doing the same thing when he was little…
Danny felt his throat tighten, and his ears and cheeks turned red hot. He struggled to keep his breathing normal, a telltale sign of the near panic washing over him.
A single thought echoed through his mind. I don't belong here.
The baby let out a quiet sigh, a teeny, tiny little noise, and his lips opened slightly. Danny glanced up to Sam's face; her eyes were so soft, her whole countenance radiating comfort, protectiveness…
She smiled up at him briefly, before looking back down again. Welcoming him.
His tension melted away slightly, and he found himself looking down again, taking in the sleeping child, trying to see with Sam's eyes…
Several moments passed, and it slowly dawned on him that this was the first time he'd ever really…looked at the child. Just to see.
He's so…tiny. The kid looked distressingly fragile, with those teeny little hands and feet, his little chest moving up and down as he breathed, the air whistling softly through that tiny mouth…
The kid was actually…kinda adorable, wasn't he? Well, this was Sam's kid, after all…
Cute little tyke.
"I'd…let you hold him, but he's just fallen asleep." Danny looked up into Sam's face, and blinked a few times, feeling dazed. She was almost glowing, and that soft smile on her face from a moment ago was again directed at him.
He raised a hand in a clumsy, embarrassed gesture, as if warding off the suggestion. It came out looking strangely half-hearted. "I…no, that's okay. I'm sure I'd do something wrong…"
Her smile widened, and she laughed softly. "It's not rocket science. I'll show you how, sometime." She looked down again, her hand returning to Nathaniel's brow. "Feel his hair. It's so soft."
Danny found himself reaching down. His fingertips brushed along the black, wispy hairline. Warm. The baby radiated warmth. And his skin was so soft too, almost impossibly so. His own skin seemed amazingly course in comparison. And he's just so tiny…
Sam watched covertly as Danny caressed Nathaniel's head in a gentle, repetitive motion, and as he moved to run a thumb softly across his cheek. She'd known, she'd known he would like Nathaniel, if he'd just let himself see her baby for what he really was. But this was so much more than she could've hoped for in one night, and she stood transfixed, just watching boy and child, almost like…
Father and son.
Sam lowered her gaze back to Nathaniel. You wish. She found herself struggling to school her face so that it didn't reflect any distress. She had no right to foist her dreams on Danny, however much she might wish…
He's only seventeen.
But…so was she. Sam thrust the thought away, and forced herself to calm back down. She let out a soft sigh and brought a smile to her lips, concentrating until it became real.
I really wouldn't trade Nathaniel for the world. And Danny's happiness was just as sacred to her. She waited silently, refusing to interrupt the tender moment, although she realized that she was starting to get sleepy again. That probably explained her crazy thoughts.
Danny's hand paused, and slowly dropped. He looked calmly up at her, and breathed a deep, slow breath. His face was mercifully serene, but it also held subtle signs of darker emotions, of all the pain and heartache that went along with that tiny child.
"I'm…sorry I never, um…I've been so distant about Nathaniel…"
She shook her head, tilting it to the side, and her smile grew. "No, I understand, Danny. Just…" She paused, as her sentence got cut off by a jaw cracking yawn. "Um. I think I'm getting sleepy again." She smiled, slightly embarrassed. "But I knew you'd think he was adorable."
They were silent for a moment, then Danny stated the obvious.
"Well…I'd better let you get back to sleep, so…good night."
Sam found herself suddenly thinking of all the things she'd planned to say, jolted slightly more awake when she realized he was about to take off. And he'd probably hide that ladder too, if she knew him….
She said the first thing that came to her. "Um, you know if you need to use the restroom in the night, or you get thirsty or something, feel free to drop down here, anytime. Just…cautiously, obviously."
"According to my dad, Fentons have bladders of steel." They both grinned involuntarily.
"Well, if you ever need to relieve your bladder of steel…"
Danny glanced down shyly. "Right. Thanks. Er, maybe once in a while…" Truth be told, he'd already used one of the downstairs restrooms once or twice, not that he'd tell her that. "So…good night?" He smiled down at her, and rubbed the back of his head self consciously.
Sam grinned again, and found herself stifling another yawn. She snorted self consciously, and waved him away. "Goodnight, Danny." She watched as he slowly ascended back up through the ceiling, presumably to settle back on the roof. Then she headed back to bed, feeling completely beat.
The next morning, the ladder had mysteriously disappeared.
Danny floated in place, suspended inside a globe filled with the shimmer of a thousand stars. Light danced and shifted all around him with every flicker of his own flaming hair. Despite his ghostly appearance he was still a boy; slender, with a slight build, and baby cheeks.
But no one who looked would see an innocent child.
Something about the human psyche didn't allow the association. An innocent didn't possess glowing red eyes and flaming hair, or vampiric incisors. Innocents didn't have the terrifying ability to overshadow you, and thus control your every move. They didn't have the destructive force of a run away locomotive literally at their fingertips.
The ghost community saw things differently of course, but they didn't matter to Danny. Few things did, anymore.
He stared around the glittering cavern for a few moments, thoughts drifting. A memory, unbidden yet impossible to repress, rose strongly in his mind.
Sam's smiling, carefree face, hinting of mischief. He could only imagine what it might've looked like if she could've seen this place…
For an instant, something twisted inside him, a piercing, chillingly familiar pain…
Deep anger rose up like a shield from an increasingly familiar wellspring, burning away all thought, all other emotion. He gathered energy into his right hand, and the reflecting light around him grew painfully bright as he let loose the ecto-blast meant for the destruction of this place, which too beautiful to be allowed…
A moment later there was complete darkness.
Vlad sat in his study, tea in one hand, pencil in the other. A rather thick manuscript lay in his lap; it held a proposed change to part of the business plan for DALV Mechanics, Incorporated. He'd started the side company a decade ago for his own personal use; namely, production of components for Plasmius' lab. And later, he'd used the company for the production of Valerie Gray's ghost hunting equipment, among other things…
Someone took a seat nearby, shifting around for a moment as they got comfortable. Vlad looked up. It was Daniel, who was supposed to be studying.
"Question?" Vlad put down his tea, and sat up a little. The ghost held a bag which dangled conspicuously from one hand. "What is that?"
Daniel's red eyes lit up. "My first attempt at a get rich quick scheme. You keep mentioning that you're not helping with that one, so…" He grinned, and tossed him the bag.
It was heavy. If Vlad wasn't super-normally strong, even in human form, he would've strained his arm. He raised his eyebrows. "It feels like a bag of rocks…" Ah. "Precious stones?"
"Maybe. You tell me." Daniel stood up, walking over to look down as Vlad opened the bag and reached in to pull out a sizable chunk of…
Something shiny, anyway. Vlad turned it over, surprised at how much of the stone glittered, since it appeared to be completely in the rough, untouched by a jeweler's tools. It was quite unique. "Where did you get this?"
"The Ghost Zone."
"That's rather…vague." Vlad frowned as an unpleasant thought occurred to him. "This doesn't belong to someone already, does it?"
Daniel crossed his arms, pursing his lips in thought. "The place strikes me as one of those odd niches nobody actually knows about, so no, I don't think so. And if anyone ever did live there, it's been abandoned for a long time." He paused, voice brightening. "So, what do you think? Could these be diamonds? Or something?"
"Maybe. Or they could be completely worthless." Or dangerous, considering where they're from. "I'll send this off, if you like, and have a jeweler look at it for you. It could, hypothetically, solve your money problem, I suppose."
"Great. Thanks." Daniel put his hands behind his head, stretched, and started for the door. "Back to studying, then…"
"Just a moment." Vlad frowned sardonically. "When, exactly, did you venture out to retrieve these stones? And how?"
Daniel turned his head, not bothering to face him completely. Vlad could see the grin. "Oh…I've been going out for the last few weeks, on and off. I was splitting my form; one stayed here studying, albeit badly, while the other was hunting around."
Vlad's frown deepened into a scowl. I've been a fool. He'd grown accustomed to calling this ghost Daniel, even in his mind, and somehow their identities had begun to merge. He'd even forgotten that this Daniel had the ability to create an opening to and from the Ghost Zone at will. It was how he'd escaped from the Daniel of this time just a few months ago.
It seemed so much longer, somehow. "Right…hunting around…so you just hoped to come across a treasure trove, or were you relocating one?"
Daniel (this is not my Daniel, curse it!) turned around a bit more, but, rather curiously, wouldn't meet his eyes. "Ah…the latter. It was something I found quite a while back."
It couldn't have been that long ago, unless… "In the other timeline?"
"Yes, actually."
Vlad raised his eyebrows. "It must be nice to be able to use the same resource twice…"
"Not exactly. I…wasted it, last time." He hesitated a fraction of a second. "Literally." An uncomfortable silence settled for a moment.
"I see." Vlad leaned back, and sighed. "Temper, temper, Daniel."
"I've…changed. As I've said." He crossed his arms again, finally turning to face him fully. He looked pensive, as though he wanted to say more, but didn't know how.
The look made Vlad uncomfortable. Somehow, again, the guard he always held like a shield was dropping, as it only seemed to do around Daniel- either one of them.
He knew why. Daniel was the only other half ghost, the only other who could truly understand his situation…
"I…understand. Perhaps better than you think." Vlad shifted nervously. What am I doing?
Inside he was panicking even as the words kept slipping out. His voice was eerily calm, his face impassive. "I….as a teenager, I lost my parents, you know." Why was he sharing this, this personal piece of background…he'd never told the younger Daniel…even Jack and Maddie didn't know…
Because they had never suffered the loss of the only family they had ever known.
Vlad looked up, to gauge Daniel's reaction. The younger ghost's arms had loosened, along with his jaw, and his eyes reflected the very discomfort Vlad himself was feeling. He suddenly felt impelled to give more of an explanation, to make him understand this was real, not some attempt at manipulation…This isn't an attempt at manipulation, is it?
Vlad looked down, steepling his fingers restlessly. "It was a car wreck, ironically. So…simple. I was away at college at the time." Not quite true… He glanced up, afraid of what he'd see. Anger? Surprise? Sadness?
Deep discomfort. It was focused in Daniel's eyes, and pulled down at his mouth, forcing a painful frown. "I…already know, actually." He stood still for an instant longer, then nervously hastened over to a chair several feet away.
Vlad followed him with wide eyes, distantly aware that for once his own emotions were showing clearly on his face. This…distressed him deeply. Such a private thing, and the boy already knew. "How?" It came out a little high, and soft.
Daniel looked down at his hands, palms held up as if for inspection. "You…told me. When I was fourteen. Not long after everyone…had died." A dark look crossed his face; every feature reflected pain. Vlad was caught by surprise. His heart rose to his throat in an instant, nostrils flaring in an attempt to shut down the sympathetic pain attempting to cross his own features.
Don't you dare cry on me, boy, don't do it…
But thankfully the look vanished almost instantly. Daniel rubbed his face vigorously with both hands for a moment, and when he looked up his features were only mildly sad, and apologetic. "I'm sorry if I scared you. It…means a lot though, that you were willing to tell me…again." He looked down. "You're right. We do have a lot in common."
"I…" Vlad swallowed, trying to marshal scattered thoughts. Of course, I would've told him then… "Yes. Well, I critiqued you about your temper, and I…well…"
Out of the blue, Daniel broke into laughter. He stopped quickly, still smiling ironically. "I know all about that. Or at least I can guess- I mean, twenty years is a long time to hold a grudge…"
Vlad's thoughts curdled, slightly. "Perhaps." Jack Fenton had much to answer for…the complete idiot. He breathed out slowly, and the old, tired anger mostly faded. He glanced down at the bag of maybe-precious-stones still in his lap. "Perhaps." Did he really still want to kill Jack? Somehow that obsession had fallen by the wayside over the years, especially after he'd discovered that Daniel, Jack's own son, had befallen the same fate as himself…
Vlad looked up again, and met the younger ghost's eyes. They shared a long, thoughtful look. If either had felt the need to vocalize, they might've said something like "We've been through pain, we've been through hell, but we're still here." Or perhaps, simply, "You, I can empathize with."
Vlad broke the moment first, voice soft. "Well…back to studying, as you said."
Daniel sat up straighter, smiling faintly. "Right. Back to stocks and bonds." He stood up, gave Vlad a mock salute accompanied by a lopsided grin, and left the room.
After he had gone, Vlad sat for several minutes, lost in thought. Something had changed between them.
He was no longer certain that he could use this ghostly Daniel as a tool, anymore. Truth be told, he wasn't sure if he ever could.
Author's Note: Tune in next time for more exciting adventures (aka, more action), and possibly a little comedy...bwaha... Oh, and I love reviews! They help speed along my chapters!