Caution: Contains Hot Liquid (Unless You're a Fenton)
Somehow, Danny is not sure how the hell, Valerie left. With hackles down. No insistence on seeking out Cujo. Made it clear she was a flight away and that Danny had both email and phone number.
Danny touched his pocket where the scrap of paper was at with Valerie's number.
How the hell did Elizabeth pull that off in their time alone?
But also... Why?
Fighting off the sigh, Danny slumped his head over his desk. To where Cujo lay on his feet, napping and drooling over a shoe. A whole thing from Amity Park, from what felt like a lifetime ago, to be responsible for. He didn't want Cujo. To worry and stress and remember a different person who thought he ought to be responsible for the dog.
It was easier for Danny to take the kind of responsibility Valerie slammed onto him about Cujo.
Blame.
He shouldn't be the one placed as in charge of Cujo.
In charge of anything.
Shoving himself back from the desk, Danny stood and slid his feet out from under Cujo. The dog's head popped up, excited. Shooting up onto his feet to follow Danny's feet.
"No, Cujo. Stay. I'll be back."
Hoping the dog would actually stay, Danny slipped out of the bedroom and rushed down the stairs. After a quick trip to the bathroom, he made his way into the kitchen where he found Elizabeth and Katie at the stove. Not spotted by Katie, he snaked out an arm to the countertop to snag a banana for a late snack. But despite any careful slow opening for a water bottle from the refrigerator, Danny got spotted.
"Danny! Hey, hey!" Darting over to him, Katie tugged his sleeve. She quickly glanced around and lowered her voice, clearly not wanting someone to overhear. "Do you want some hot chocolate too?"
He blinked at the offer. "Um. I already got some water to drink."
It felt weak. Because hot chocolate actually did sound good right now.
But Danny didn't want to intrude on the sisterly time, now picking up onto how only the stove-top light was on with Elizabeth glancing over toward the stairs and the master bedroom. A late night sneak, just after bedtime, to make a hot beverage. And take it up to their rooms too with the thermoses sitting beside the stove-top.
He froze. Eyes latched onto the sky blue and pale pink set of thermoses. A thermos.
"We can split it easily. Grab another one out Katie."
Elizabeth cut off any of his protesting as Katie clambered onto the countertop to pull out another thermos. For him.
"You looked like you wanted one. It's fine."
"It's not like you're Jon." Katie declared. Danny found himself nodding, knowing how Jon had a tendency to take as much as he could (and more than he should) with foods he liked. A springtime green thermos was pressed into his hands. "Here. A thermos for you."
"For me."
"Yep!" Katie declared cheerfully and scampered back to the stove-top, going up on tip toe to peer inside the small pot. "Is it almost done?"
Danny stared at the thermos in his hands, on top of the banana and bottle of water.
A thermos.
A thermos.
For him.
"That's it," he breathed out. "Why didn't I think of this sooner?"
"Think of what?" Elizabeth asked, head turning toward him as she clicked the burner off.
"A thermos for me." He dropped everything in his hands onto empty countertop space. "I gotta call Valerie!"
Number put of his pocket and halfway through spinning the rotary phone on the kitchen wall, Danny paused, spotting Katie beside him with eyes full of curiosity. He quickly slammed it back on to hang. Gave a smile, laughed a little, playing it off. "Kind of late, isn't it? I can always email her tomorrow. Want to fill up that thermos for me?"
Momentarily diverted from curiosity, Katie beamed back at him and grabbed the green thermos, attempting to allow Elizabeth to let her pour.
"Who's Valerie?"
"An old classmate. A friend."
And a ghost hunter.
Why the hell didn't he think of this earlier? When she was here?
Taking the thermos of hot chocolate, Danny rushed back up to his room, vaguely pleased to see Cujo had stayed. Pulling out a fresh piece of paper, he wrote out what he'd email. Then, as Cujo made it difficult to forget the dog in the room as he clambered up onto his lap, Danny pulled out another piece of paper.
At least the dog seemed to like Elizabeth and Jesse seemed to be a fan.
Danny ruffled the top of Cujo's head and his eyes fell back to the green thermos on his desk.
"This is perfect." He whispered to himself.
Cujo thumped his tail on Danny's lap, tongue rolling out after a small yap to lick up Danny's face.
Danny laughed, feeling at ease with the answer to everything. "Ew, Cujo. Gross!" To which Cujo wagged his tail more and licked again, going to town as more laughter and token protests fell out of Danny's mouth.
And, clueless as to what Danny planned, happily curled up next to his side throughout the night.