Chapter Fourteen: Now That You Found It, It's Gone
Danny stared at the card in his hands, strangely numb. Sam was pacing the room, biting at her thumb. Her nervous energy filled the room, making the walls and ceiling seem closer, tighter. He felt as if he were slowly being entombed.
"Danny, you can't go." Sam said over her shoulder, for probably the fifth or sixth time since they had read the letter.
"I have to." He said simply, resigned. "It's the only way to know exactly what this man wants. I need to know how much of a threat he is." He explained patiently, trying to be pragmatic about the whole thing.
The initial panic of Vlad possibly knowing who he was had been replaced by the stoic calm of knowing that was exactly the case. For some reason, having that clearly spelled out was a relief.
"What if it's a trap?" Sam asked, attacking her nail again with the veracity of a wild animal. Danny stood, holding the card in one hand and catching hers in the other.
"You're going to hurt yourself." He chastised. "And besides, what trap? We don't even know what he wants yet."
"He's a former ghost hunter!" Sam said urgently, her eyes wide. "What about the GIW?"
"Vlad hates them, remember?" Danny said. "He had them thrown out of the gala. My parents always disliked them, so I'm sure he felt the exact same way."
The GIW had always been supreme nuisances to his parents and their research. They frequently interfered, demanding his parents turn over patents and projects and research notes. His mom used to rave about what brainless thieves they were. His dad used to angrily shout about red tape and bureaucracy whenever the GIW would shut down a project for weeks at a time while they "investigated" for breaches of anti-ecto laws. Danny was positive that Vlad must have hated them too, if he had ever been involved in studying ghosts.
"That doesn't mean he's not dangerous." Sam warned, her violet eyes burning with protectiveness. "He's a rich and powerful man with infinite resources."
Danny let her hand go, shrugging tiredly. He felt the beginning of a migraine threatening to split his skull. The whole night had been exhausting.
"Unfortunately this is a problem that won't go away, even if we ignore it." He said solemnly. Seeing what Vlad had to say seemed like the only real option. The man was formidable, he knew exactly who Danny was and how to find him. "Besides, it's not just me involved. He knows that I'm with you, that you know about my identity too."
Sam scoffed.
"What could he possibly do to me? You're the one I'm worried about!" She protested.
"I can defend myself if it comes down to it. I can also just disappear. You can't do either of those things. You actually have something to lose." He pointed out.
"Yeah, I could lose you." She said, closing the space between them. She held his arm, looking up into his eyes. Danny turned away, unable to face her without hearing Jeremy's words echo in his mind. Here they were, an enigmatic rich and powerful man holding this horrible secret over both of them, and Sam still couldn't see that he was no good for her.
"Sam, I couldn't live with myself if you got even more caught up in whatever this is." Danny mumbled, frustrated. "What would happen to you if you got in the middle of me and whatever scientist or government agency wants to dissect me?" She tugged on his arm, stubbornly coercing him to look at her in the eyes.
"So you acknowledge that something like that is a possibility?" She pointed out. "This is why you can't go! We can get on the first available flight back to California. I'm not without resources myself, we could figure something out."
Danny let his arm go intangible, Sam's hold on it immediately slipping away. He took several steps back, ignoring the sound of betrayal she made at the action. He scowled at their beautiful view of the Chicago skyline. His brief moment of peace, the cruelly short amount of time he had shared with her since confessing their feelings, had already been shattered.
"I need to at least know what exactly I'm dealing with." He said quietly. He could sense her tense up behind him.
"Just you?" She asked, clearly hurt. "I? Not we?"
"It's my secret, Sam." He sighed, eyes traveling to the floor. He gazed at his shoes, blindingly polished and smooth. He only just realized that in all the chaos, neither one of them had changed out of their nice clothes. "I can speak to Vlad on my own- which is what he wants- and he will most likely leave you alone. He'd only bother you if you got in the way of this happening."
"You mean if I protect you?" She asked, anger beginning to color her words.
"Protect me?" Danny said with a sharp laugh. An ugly feeling roiled inside of him. "I can destroy city blocks with just my voice. I can lift cars and survive buildings collapsing on me. I can vanish into thin air, walls can't stop me! I don't need you to protect me!" He raved, volume rising with each word. He felt horrible, somewhere in the back of his mind he was pleading with himself to stop. It was like something had taken hold of him and now he was powerless to stop it. It was like he was outside of himself, watching it happen.
Through the whole outburst, Sam just watched him. She seemed to deflate a little, dropping her angry, rigid posture. Her hands hung limply at her side.
"I don't need you to- to save me! Someone found out about me, so what?" He forged ahead, pacing frantically. "It was bound to happen! Look at me!" He whirled around, certain that his eyes were blazing green. He could feel the cold burn of the change, losing his grasp on his human mask whenever his emotions surged and swelled. "Anyone can see." He said, pleading.
He needed her to see it, how obvious it was that he wasn't alright. She wanted so badly to hide him, to trick the rest of the world into believing their lie. She wanted him to lie to himself, she was lying to herself. Of course Vlad had seen through it, he only put the pieces together faster than everyone else. Sam's dad had been right about everything.
"Danny…" She began. "Where is this all coming from?" She walked towards him slowly, carefully. Her hand raised to touch him, undeterred from how he had escaped her grasp moments earlier.
"Nowhere. Myself, I don't know." He answered lamely, shrugging. He rubbed his eyes, trying to will them to return to normal. His anger was fizzling out quickly, guilt taking over for losing his cool. They were going in circles, having the same argument over and over. Pathetically little had changed in the months that he had left Amity. Sam softly touched his arm, reeling him in for a hug.
"You're scared." She murmured. The scar on his chest tingled, a phantom memory of metal slicing through flesh.
"Yes." He answered honestly. He pushed his nose into her hair, breathing in the smell of lilacs from her shampoo. He had seen it in the shower, a cute little purple bottle that declared its lack of artificial ingredients and its status as cruelty-free.
"But you're still going to see him?" Sam asked, worry in her eyes as she looked up at him. He really hated making her fret over him. If he were a better man, he'd bring her peace and happiness, not constant distress.
"I have to." He repeated quietly. "We can't just ignore this. We need to know what his intentions are. And I don't want you to get mixed up in it by convincing me to run away from it."
"Why is it so hard to believe that I can take care of myself?" She asked him with raised brows. Yes it was true, she was the toughest girl he'd ever known. She was brave and stubborn and never backed down from a challenge. But he couldn't turn off his over-protectiveness, his obsessive need to keep her safe.
"I know that you're capable…" He said, trailing off. Sam frowned.
"We fought ghosts together. Vlad Masters is just a man."
"I know that." Danny sighed. Except that this man had the power to turn their lives upside down. Besides, Danny couldn't bring himself to say the actual obvious issue: that if he were dragged away for experiments, it would destroy Sam. So would it if he had to run, if he had to disappear and leave her behind. He couldn't voice these things because she'd selflessly declare that she'd follow him anywhere. But this had the potential to get too messy for the both of them. He had made a promise to Jeremy earlier that night.
"I'll hear him out. If something is off about the meeting, I'll leave." He cracked a tired smile. "I can walk through walls, remember? It's not like the man can hold me hostage there. Then I can come back here and we can leave. We'll manage from there, I guess."
And by that, he meant that he'd scheme to slip away, far from Sam, freeing her of all the baggage that he carried with him. She'd be upset for a while-she'd be livid in fact- but at least she'd be safe. He didn't know where he'd go, but he could figure it out.
"What do you think he wants?" Sam asked in a small voice, withdrawing from him. She nearly started in on her thumb again, but Danny snatched her hand away from her mouth.
"Stop." He said gently. "And I have no clue. He sent a polite card asking to meet. At least he didn't send some goon to beat the door down."
"It's strange, isn't it?" Sam agreed. "I still think he's dangerous, I definitely don't like or trust any of this. But I wonder what he actually wants to talk about. Probably something to do with your parents, I'd imagine."
Danny shrugged, his head hurting from all of this.
"Maybe he's just curious about my condition. If he studied ectobiology, then I'm sure I would make a fascinating case study. Maybe he'll be nice about it. A friendly mad scientist, if you will."
"Danny!" Sam scolded, lightly punching his arm. She frowned at him. "Don't even joke about that!"
"Sorry, I joke when I'm nervous." He said automatically. It was a trait he'd gotten in trouble for since he was a kid. It must have somehow been his dad's fault, with Jack's inability to ever be serious about anything. Jazz would have said some annoying bullshit about it being a coping mechanism or something.
"Maybe he doesn't know that you're a ghost." Sam said. "You're older than you were when the accident happened, you look human."
"Most of the time." Danny said dryly, thinking of how his eyes had just been blazing green only moments ago. Sam glared at him. His damn mouth was going to get him in trouble.
"We should be prepared to have some kind of story ready if that's the case." Sam reasoned, ever cool-headed. "It's possible that we don't need to worry about him thinking that you're a ghost."
"The Danny-faked-his-death-for-eight-years story?" He asked, still trying to wrap his head around that. Why or how else would any of this make sense if there was no ghost stuff involved? He just couldn't see this Vlad guy coming to that conclusion.
"He describes you as alive and well in the invitation." Sam pointed out, gesturing to the card. The gears seemed to turn in her head, and she perked up. "We could say you were afraid to come forward because of your parents' reputation, or even of the GIW. Maybe if it's unavoidable that ghosts get brought up, you could say that you were stuck in Amity this entire time, just trying to survive."
Danny tried to consider it, really he truly did. He wanted to be optimistic.
"We can cobble something together, just in case he's totally in the dark and asks. But something tells me that he knows what I am. Or that he at least has a good idea." He said after a moment. He had never really considered himself to be a particularly intuitive person, but right now something inside of him knew that Vlad knew. The look of fear that the older man had given him was just too charged, too loaded with something. As much as he dreaded having to deal with this, he also couldn't fight his blossoming curiosity. What was this guy's deal?
Sam sighed, tucking a piece of hair that had fallen out of her up-do behind her ear. She looked beautiful in her dress, stunning despite how tired she clearly was. He could see some smudges of black under her eyes, where she had obviously started to tear up. Silvery-purple glitter shimmered on her eyelids, catching the light every time she blinked. Danny loved her so much, more than he could ever articulate. He did not want to lose her again.
"Come here." Danny said softly. She looked up at him, surprised by the sudden fondness in his voice. She inched towards him, hesitant as if he might vanish into thin air. He hugged her to him, wanting to treasure any time that he had left with her. He didn't want to argue anymore, not when the future was so uncertain. "You're my best friend." He said.
He had known her since they were both little, cried his eyes out when she announced that she was moving, and then been teased relentlessly by Tucker about that for weeks. Of course, Tucker's eyes had been wet too, his voice catching in his throat whenever they talked about Sam. To Danny, even now he saw the stubborn girl he had grown up with, with scraped up knees and a bleeding heart. Who had apparently never stopped thinking about him, dreaming of him and Tucker at the same time that he had been alone in the remains of Amity, wondering what had become of her.
"Don't start doing that." Sam said, holding him tightly. Her voice trembled, balancing on the precipice between angry and sad. "Don't do the farewell thing. We don't know what's going to happen."
Danny sighed now, feeling drained.
"No, we don't. That's why I have to see him." He said, daring her with his eyes to disagree. She met his gaze, but didn't protest. There was a stubborn set to her jaw, a determined gleam in her eye. She knew the truth too. He was going to meet with Vlad tomorrow and talk to him.
"If he tries anything, you should blast him into a million little pieces." Sam said, poking him in the chest. "I won't tell a soul." Danny grinned, letting out a tired laugh.
"That's awfully violent advice from someone who's supposed to be a lover of peace." He pointed out.
"Yeah, well I never said I was a pacifist." Sam said, growing quiet again. Her eyes were wide, locked on his face. She watched him carefully, likely trying to read what he was thinking. Danny wasn't really all that sure himself what he was thinking. It was hard to gather his thoughts when she was so close, beautiful and wonderful and just so Sam with her dark lipstick and heavily-lined eyes. He saw something ever so slightly shift in her expression and the air between them grew heavy.
Danny swallowed, averting his eyes.
"Look at me." Sam commanded gently. He glanced back at her, unable to deny her. He could see that she felt it too. He felt horribly vulnerable at that moment, nervous about what this all meant for them.
"You said you didn't want to do the whole farewell thing." He mumbled, feeling his cheeks and ears burn red. Sam's fingers found their way to his bow tie, fiddling with it.
"I don't need a reason to do this, I already want to." She said firmly. His mouth went dry at that.
"Oh." He said dumbly. He felt like a stupid little thirteen year old boy again, awkward and very uncomfortable in his own skin. What was wrong with him? They were together. They were both adults. It was going to happen eventually. If their whole situation wasn't so fucking weird, it would have happened much sooner.
"I hope this isn't because you're mad at your parents and you want to get back at them." He joked weakly, wanting to slap himself the moment the words left his mouth. His stupid, stupid mouth!
Sam glared at him, annoyed.
"Danny, I know you have a tendency to make terrible jokes when you're nervous, but this is so not the time." She chastised. "I'll do us both the courtesy of pretending like you didn't just say that."
"I'm good with that." He said quickly. Sam pressed into him, giving him a deep kiss. Her hands left his tie, finding their way to his hair. Well, he was more comfortable with this. They had made out plenty of times. And besides, there was no way he could blurt out something else embarrassing while his mouth was busy.
"Are you-" He said with difficulty between kisses, "sure about this?" There was no walking something like this back.
Sam simply nodded, not pulling away from him to speak. She gripped his hair tighter and Danny found it hard to form a coherent thought. The whole thing felt unreal, impossible. Her hair was half-way out of its bun by this point, so Danny boldly reached for it, undoing the rest. He watched as it cascaded over her neck and shoulders. That lilac smell intensified with it and any lingering indecision on his end disappeared entirely.
He swept her up and she gasped in surprise, before bursting into a fit of giggles when he tossed her onto the bed. His heart melted a little at the sound, moved by the pure joy in Sam's face. Yes, there was something really awful around the corner. But he would allow himself this little moment of happiness with her. He couldn't stand always causing her worry, making her brows furrow or her lip tremble. Nothing could ruin this for them right now, not Vlad, not the GIW, not her parents, not even himself. He had to get just one thing right.
Danny joined her, grabbing the sides of her soft face and pulling her into a deep kiss. He could feel the same stunning intensity from her, an obvious need to carve out their own peace and happiness, if only for the night.
"I love you so much." He said against her lips. She made him feel alive, warm and vibrant. All the pain and regret and shitty memories fell away when they were together like this. He was young and happy again, finding any excuse he could to hang out with the coolest girl he had ever met. He was back in that moment in Amity when he had seen her face for the first time in years, like seeing the sun again after years of darkness. He was hand in hand with her, finally leaving, with nothing but hope for what was to come.
"I love you too." She responded, eyes shining. She reached out for him and he fell into her embrace, leaving behind everything else for the night. All that mattered was her. Danny pulled her in tighter and the rest of the world slipped away.
Sunlight streamed in, creating gentle shadows in the curves of Sam's face, the hollow of her collarbones. Danny brushed his thumb across her cheek, wiping away some of the glitter that stuck to her skin there. They were both in need of a shower. He was pretty sure that he still smelled like the night air, like the city.
"Good morning." She said sleepily, not opening her eyes. He smiled, endlessly amused by how little of a morning person she was. His creature of the night, he thought to himself. "Am I as gross as I feel?"
"You look beautiful." Danny promised, absolutely smitten. She looked so small and fragile like this, wrapped in the thick comforter, nothing but her bare shoulders and head poking out amidst the mountains of pillows. He would do anything to keep her safe and happy, just as he had told Jeremy. She mattered more than anything else in the world to him.
Sam opened her eyes slowly, squinting against the sun. She swept over him with her eyes, as if last night's events were only just dawning on her. She smiled shyly at the memory, and he felt himself blush a little too.
"Hey." She said, the sleep slowly lifting from her voice. She stirred a little beneath the blankets, rolling onto her side and propping her head up with her hand.
"Hey you." He said back, all too fondly. He was utterly incapable of playing cool around her. "What do you say about taking a shower and then ordering some breakfast?" His stomach was unfortunately very empty and very hungry. His supernaturally large appetite already didn't appreciate waiting long for food, and he had worked up quite an appetite.
"I do need one." She said wistfully, echoing his earlier thoughts. "You?"
"I'm also in the market for a good shower." Danny said.
"Well, I think we should conserve water, don't you?" Sam asked playfully.
"Yeah, for the good of the planet and all." He agreed, trying to not sound too excited.
He stood up, trying to not think too much about the way Sam's eyes dragged across his body while he walked to the bathroom. He turned the shower on, making sure to get the water nice and hot for her. The temperature didn't really matter to him, but she seemed to like her showers on the scalding side. He had learned as much from hauling all that hot water up to her bathtub in the Manson's mansion.
He poked his head back out to see her sitting up, covers wrapped around her while she held the hotel phone. A moment passed and she replied to someone on the other end.
"Yes, good morning. We would like to order room service. Yes…yes. Um, one bowl of oatmeal with a side of berries and coconut yogurt. One supreme omelet, with an order of pancakes, an order of bacon, a side of toast, and…" She trailed off, her eyes meeting his.
"Anything else?" She mouthed. That all sounded good to Danny, but he was hungry.
"Hash browns. Oh, and sausages!" He whispered loudly. She wrinkled her nose, clearly disturbed by how much food he could stuff down. He laughed at her reaction, but she ignored him and finished ordering, adding two coffees and some juice for both of them.
"Okay, that should be done by the time we're out, right?" Sam said, hanging the phone up.
"I think we need to make sure that we're done before it's ready." He rebutted. "Come on, we're wasting hot water." He added. Sam ducked her head down, blushing a little before standing up from the bed.
Danny felt his voice catch in his throat. She was so, so pretty. She walked over to him, joining him in the bathroom. Both of them were suddenly quiet, but not awkwardly so. It was nice to just wake up and have the morning to themselves. Every time a worrying thought began to creep up in his brain, Danny strongly shoved it away. He would deal with it later, but not right now. He wanted to at least have a good breakfast with his girlfriend and just have some time to pretend that they were a normal couple.
They both stepped into the shower, and Sam looked positively overjoyed with the hot water. The steam was dense, rolling over the glass walls and door and fogging up the bathroom mirror. Danny watched as she started wetting her hair, running her fingers over her scalp and massaging it.
"Doesn't this burn you at all?" He asked, impressed by her tolerance. Her usually pale skin was bright pink, warmed and flushed from the water.
"Yes, but in a good way." She said, closing her eyes as she added shampoo to her hair. She scrubbed away, looking entirely relaxed. "Besides, you're a little chilly, no offense. My toes were frozen."
Well, that was true too. He winced, thinking of how she usually doubled up on blankets on the nights where they were just sleeping fully clothed next to each other. He was sure that last night had only been even colder for her.
"Sorry." He said sheepishly. Well, add that to the list of mortifying side-effects of being ghostly- freezing your girlfriend during sex. He had already accepted by this point that his mere presence was uncomfortably cold to others, but it still bummed him out sometimes to think about how he couldn't warm her up in his arms.
"It's no big deal." Sam said sweetly, opening her eyes again. "It's just something unique to you. Your touch doesn't feel like anyone else's- I think that's nice."
Danny started washing his own hair, mulling that over for a moment. He hadn't ever thought of it that way. He moved a little, allowing her to take the majority of the water while she washed her face. It was a little cramped in here, the shower clearly not meant for more than one person, especially when one of those people was his size. But he couldn't complain about the tight quarters, as it only gave him an excuse to be close to her.
"Let me help you." He said, watching as she struggled to get that hard-to-reach spot in the middle of her back. She handed off her washcloth to him and he gently scrubbed her back, eyes trained on her smooth skin. She had a little mole on her left shoulder blade, something that he couldn't help but to find cute. Just this quiet intimacy was nice to have with each other, distinct from what they had shared before this moment.
The rest of their shower passed quietly, both of them silently cleaning themselves. Danny pressed a kiss to her forehead a couple of times and she had squeezed his hands, but otherwise they simply showered. He turned the water off and let her step out first, watching as she went to grab a fluffy hotel towel. Danny went intangible and let the water pass through him, landing with a gentle splash onto the bathmat.
"What the hell was that?" Sam asked, her eyes wide. "Did you just phase yourself dry? That's neat!" She said, sounding entirely too excited. She dropped her towel to the floor. "Do me!" She demanded.
Danny went very red at that choice of words, averting his eyes quickly. He was still new to all this, he could only tolerate so much before getting terribly embarrassed. He stepped towards her, touching her and turning her intangible for a moment, letting the water drop off of her.
"Very cool." She said, shivering a little from the sensation of intangibility. He couldn't blame her, it had taken him a long time to get fully used to it himself. She touched her hair, checking to see if it was wet and finding it perfectly dry while he stepped into a pair of boxers.
"It's handy." He said, unable to stop himself from smiling at her excitement. Her enthusiasm for his powers was admittedly a good thing for him. It made him feel a little less like a freak show, a tiny bit less ashamed of himself. He loved her so deeply for it, realizing that she probably didn't even know how important that was to him.
"You know, it's nice how you treat my powers like they're just something neat I can do." He admitted, feeling mature enough to actually express this thought instead of keeping it from her. "Like it's just, I don't know…a small part of who I am. That makes me feel normal." He finished lamely.
Sam's eyes softened, and she gave him a bittersweet smile.
"Really?" She asked, her voice stunningly tender.
"Really." He confirmed. She tucked her hair behind her ear nervously.
"Because that is how I see it." She said. "You're just Danny. All the things you can do or that are unique to you are just a part of who you are. It's not like you stopped being you when you changed. This is you, and well, I love you." She seemed a little shy saying it, unusually timid.
Danny felt his heart swell with her words, deeply moved. He couldn't entirely agree with her, having a lot of complicated feelings about his ghostly nature, but he appreciated her perspective regardless. She was grounding, reminding him that through this all, he was not alone.
A knock at the door interrupted their moment.
"Room service!" A voice called. Sam jumped, startled.
"Oh!" She said. She snatched a fuzzy white robe from the hook on the back of the bathroom door, tying it around herself and going to retrieve their breakfast. Danny smiled to himself, thinking of their night that they had shared and the pleasant morning they were having together. He pushed away the creeping thoughts once again, determined to not let them take over until later in the day.
He slipped into a pair of flannel pajama bottoms, exiting the bathroom and joining her at the little table in their kitchen. She rolled the food cart to him and the smell made his mouth water. He helped her unload it, dutifully setting the table. He was not used to such impeccable hotel service, having grown up with crappy continental breakfast buffets and early-morning runs to the nearest donut shop with his family on their vacations.
"This looks great." Danny said, settling into his chair. He scanned the spread in front of him greedily, unsure of where to start. The stack of pancakes looked perfectly golden and fluffy, so he decided to go with that. The first bite was heavenly, but anything would probably taste wonderful to him right now. Sam smiled, watching him eat.
"What's the verdict?" She asked, picking up her spoon.
"Delicious." Danny declared. He looked at her, studying her bare face and unbrushed hair. She looked younger like this, and softer. He thought of their night together and wondered how this would change things, what it meant for them both. It had been the last thing that he had expected after the events at the gala, but it had felt…right. And now that they were both here together after the fact, it wasn't awkward or weird. It filled Danny with a sense of longing for what life could have been like, what it was supposed to be like if the last eight years had never happened.
"What are you thinking about?" Sam asked gently, reading these thoughts play out on his face. She reached for his hand across the table, and he gave it. She showed no indication that she was bothered by his cold fingers, which only reminded him of what she had said about his touch being a unique part of him.
"Just that this is really nice." He answered honestly, his voice strained with emotion. He couldn't help it, hearing in his own tone the underlying notes of a goodbye. They had promised no farewells, but it was hard to not worry about this all slipping away. Danny had already lost so much, so fast and so young. He knew how easily things vanished, how soon happy days could come to an end.
"It is." Sam said, squeezing his hand. She gave him a watery smile. "I'm not going anywhere." She added, knowing that he needed to hear it. "There's nothing in this world or the next that could drag me away from you."
Danny laughed, breaking their shared gaze and looking down at his plate. She was preternaturally stubborn. If there was anyone who could face off with the powers that be, it was Sam.
"You are a force to reckon with." He said, unable to help the affection in his voice. Sam pointed her spoon at him emphatically, her violet eyes intense.
"You are the real force." She countered. "Dying couldn't even stop you. Don't underestimate yourself, Danny. You are full of life, more than you even know." He blinked at her, stunned by the conviction in her words. He had never thought of himself like that. He tried to see it, tried to see what she must see when she looked at him. He really gave it a good effort, but the image just wouldn't come.
"I love you, Sam." He said instead, seeing only her- beautiful and radiant and brave. He thought of when he had invisibly hurtled a bottle at her, in an attempt to scare her out of Amity. How she had instead whirled around, her face only giving away fear for a second before glowing with anger, threatening to fight back. It was the same expression he had always seen on her face as children, standing up to bullies, railing at her parents, crying out against injustices.
"I love you too." She said warmly, smiling at him. She lowered her spoon into her bowl, scooping a bite of oatmeal into her mouth. She savored the taste for a moment, before swallowing. "Now eat up. You've gotta kick Vlad's ass today."
A/N: sorry for the wait! I have been reading your lovely reviews and am so grateful for everyone who's been along for the ride so far. So here I am once again, I promise that this story isn't dead!