It wasn't lost on her just how different or intimidating they may seem. After all, she did stand taller than most of the other people they've met, as well as Charles seeming ability to stare into the souls of those around them.
Being the ghosts that they are, it did take quite a bit for them to blend into the human world. Learned to present themselves as human as possible without catching any wrong attention from a hunter. Once their human persona was completed, and with the help of their other friendly ghosts, they all manage to implement their lives into the human world.
An odd fleet for ones that have already left the world of the living, or never lived in it. However, it was something they all found they needed to do. All for a halfling that wormed his way into all their hearts.
Danny.
Pandora knew even as Danny grew older, and his need for them was diminishing, she was always going to be there for him. The years that she has known him for, and all the things they went through together wasn't something that would be lost easily. Charles was no doubt on board for the long haul. In all the time she has known him she never once saw him pour so much time, and effort into another being. Sans his family.
All she wanted was the best for her boy, even if it meant possibly scaring off his boyfriend.
"First impression, you're like a giant golden retriever." Pandora smiled, speaking once their hands departed. The slightly confused look that followed her statement pulled a small chuckle from her friend. "That aside, I'm Pandora. I'm sure Danny told you about us."
"And I'm Charles." He spoke up, tipping his head in greeting. She shift her gaze towards Danny, who looked ever so slightly worried on how the interaction would go. It made her smile, she knew full well Sam was something good for Danny. And with what Charles was able to share, it seemed like their future was a good path.
"Sam Winchester." He smiled, pulling charm out of thin air. That was impressive, he's bounce back was not what she had expected. That was a small point on his end.
"Now relax, it's not like I'm going to bite the poor boy's head off... yet." Pandora smiled, wink towards Danny who shook his head, even with a small smile. Making her way towards the kitchen, her mind already settled on a drink to ease the tense. "Are you boys all for a drink?"
"That would be nice." Danny spoke, waving off Sam's slightly worried look. "How's Cujo been?" Danny asked settled next to Sam on the counter stools.
"Surprisingly well, aside from his insistent need to slip into my office and disrupt my work." Charles spoke, sliding the glass of brown liquor towards Sam. "Whiskey?"
"Yes, thank you." Sam smiled, taking a small sip from the glass. Pandora smiled, sliding Danny his own glass of clear liquor instead. "I'd hope one day I get to meet Cujo, Danny tells me a lot of stories about him."
"I'll make sure next time we visit, or you do, we'll bring him." Pandora mused, before focusing her full attention on the couple. "Now just so you know, we aren't here to get on your case Sam, we simply wanted to meet you."
"I would drop a threat of what would happen if you were to hurt Danny, but I'm just your imagination would fill in the blanks." Charles smirked, one eyebrow ever so slightly raised. Pandora smile slightly at the slight tense that seeped back into Sam's shoulders.
"I can promise you, I have no plans in hurt Danny, ever."
"And we believe you." Pandora reassured. "However, I need my private chat with you, so will you join me in the study?"
"This isn't going to be threats, just warnings." Pandora sighed, settling herself against the window sill, motioning for Sam to take a seat at the armchair. "I want Danny to be happy, and you make him happy, but there are things you need to understand."
"I know he already has opened up to you about his past, and I'm sure in the time you have known him, you've noticed his..." Pandora paused, trying to place the best word to describe it. "His scars, how deep they run, but there is something I need to understand. There is always more to it than Danny will let on, and he'll pretend he's okay until the day it gets him killed. I hope you are aware of the fact that this won't be light, and it will mean a lot more to him that it seems to."
"I get it, I know I won't know everything about Danny, but I can promise that I will always be here for him. I don't plan to ever leave him." Sam responded, his words steady and even. His tone left little room to argue, which was another point for him in Pandora's eyes. She wasn't going to let someone play with Danny, not she thought Sam would. She just needed to be sure.
"Danny's life is one filled with trouble, in the past and more to certainly come in the future. I know the life of a Winchester isn't an easy feat either, but I want you to understand what being in a relationship with Danny could lead to. Life won't every, truly, be easy." Pandora warned, watching something final and stony settling in Sam's eyes.
"If your expecting me to wave a white flag and leave Danny, that won't be happening." Sam reaffirmed, not wavering eye contact as he spoke. "I plan to be with Danny through it all, I don't scare that easily." Pandora felt a sad smile sliding onto her lips, a looming reminder of a very dangerous secret hung over her head.
All she cared about is Danny being safe, being happy, being okay for once after years of bad luck. Even if the thing that made him happy could be his downfall some day, she wasn't going to stop him. Sam seemed like a good boy, and it wasn't easy to miss the way Danny's eyes smiled when he interacted with the other man. What's the point of living a life where you never take risks?
If you never felt pain, how would you know what bliss felt like?
Being ghosts, being dead, didn't mean they forgot what it was like to be alive. This wasn't something she would ever try to take away from Danny, she could still remember her first love, it was something every creature in the world should experience. Even if it often ended in heartbreak. When the inevitable day came when Danny fell from Cloud nine, you could bet your ass she'd be there to catch him.
"For Danny's sake, I hope that's true."
"We both know I don't need to talk to the young man to give my approval." Charles smirked, watching the couple off to the side of the room. They distract them with an old photo album the ghostly beings had. It was a collected sort of photos they did steal from the Fenton household. Most of them was of just Danny, occasionally with Jasmine, or with his two best friends.
"That doesn't answer the question." Pandora gave Charles a pointed look. "Being involved with Sam, doesn't hold heartbreak and pain in the future."
"You already know that answer, Pandora." Charles features darkened, if he were in his ghostly form Pandora was sure she'd be met with an elderly Charles. "Young Danny's life is one that will be filled with tragedy and sorrow, however, they'll be enough in that life to keep him happy." She sighed, running a hand through her hair. It wasn't answer she loved, even if she already knew it in her heart.
"Happiness, that's all I can ask for the boy." A pregnant silence followed, the two smiling slightly at an embarrassed Danny trying to hide a particularly embarrassing bathtub photo. "Have you heard word from your brother?" Pandora finally asked the question, a question that was needed to be asked at some point.
"No, I wished I had a better answer." Charles sighed, taking a drink from his glass. "I want an answer just as much as you do, mayhaps even more." A familiar feelings of stones in a bag settled on Pandora's heart. She hated when her friend pulled this sort of vagueness on something so important.
"That doesn't hold high hopes for the future." Pandora replied. "How long do have?" The context to the question was oddly funny, at least to her. She didn't know what was to come exactly, she didn't know what this situation would call for. All she knows in that Charles is closing keeping on eye on the timeline, preparing for it. A fixed point. Something he couldn't change, but that didn't stop him from trying to soften the blow of it all. All she knew for sure, was it involved Danny and he would need all their helps.
"A year." Charles replied. "Now, no need to dampen the mood and be ungracious hosts." His fake smile was just as convincing as always.
AN: This chapter isn't nearly as long as I would like, but I couldn't quite get it any longer.
Fair warning the next few chapters are going to have a lot more larger time jumps, just following small, important things happening for Danny and Sam along the year time frame that C.W. gave Pandora.
I originally tried to write the chapter in the perspective of Danny to follow the story order, but it just wasn't flowing right for me, so I decided to break it up, similar to how I threw John in for a chapter.
I hope you guys like my rendition of Pandora and Clockwork so far, and I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Let me know what you thought in the reviews!