Capítulo 18: Chapter 18
Summary:
Danny is finally home! Maddie and Jack have a talk about what -really- happened during the accident, and strange things are afoot.
Notes:
Sorry for the delay in posting this. I've been working on some artwork for this chapter, and I just couldn't get it done in time. I decided to post the art later and just link to it.
Also, thank you to the many who have left comments and kudos!
I couldn't do what I do without you guys!
:-)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Danny ran to his bed and took a flying leap onto the mattress. It felt so good to be home! He lovingly took in the room around him that had been his sanctuary for years now. The astronomy posters plastered everywhere accented the rocket models hung from the ceiling. His brand-new galaxy-themed bedspread had been lovingly spread out by Jazz. He looked at the pictures of his family and friends. The picture of Jack, Maddie, and Jazz, all together hugging him on his first-ever birthday party was probably one of his favorites. He looked up at the glow-in-the-dark stars gracing his ceiling, lovingly put up by his dad. He was home, and it felt good—really good. It almost helped erase the memories of that first horrible week at the hospital. He shuddered and decided to think on other things.
Like dinner, which was currently being prepared by his mom and Jazz. His dad was down in the lab, where he had scurried off to right after he gave Danny a hug. Danny had to laugh at the serious way his father had told him that the basement was officially off-limits until better safety measures were in place.
Danny took a deep breath and just breathed. The worst part was over. He could handle the weeks of occupational and physical therapy that were ahead of him. High School was starting soon, and that was totally exciting. He was looking forward to learning more advanced subjects. Especially math. Danny was a whiz at math. He had already started working on the basics of algebra and trigonometry with Jazz. He hoped to test into the advanced classes once he got the basics down.
Soon enough, Jazz called Danny down for dinner. The family took their first meal together at home in weeks just enjoying each other's company. Everything was fine—until Jack dropped the salt shaker.
The man stared at the spilled salt with complete confusion, causing Maddie to look up at him and tilt her head. "You ok there, honey?"
Jack just opened his mouth and then shut it. He blinked a few times, and then he poked at the salt shaker with a trembling hand. When it inched across the table, he jerked back and set straight up in his chair. He put both of his hands in front of his face and turned them over, scrutinizing them as if they held the answers to the universe.
"Honey, what's wrong?" Maddie's tone was concerned this time.
"I…" Jack started. "I didn't drop it. I didn't. One second, I'm holding it, and the next, it just slipped through my hand. This isn't the first time today that it's happened, either. Something weird is going on."
Maddie's mind immediately went back to the accident and Jack's arms in the portal up to his biceps, trying to pull Danny out. Her stomach dropped; nausea churned in her stomach. "Jack, how much to you really remember about the accident? We really need to talk about it. I think that maybe we should go to the lab for some tests." And privacy.
Jack looked away from his hands. His face was scrunched up in an amalgamation of confusion and fear. "Yeah," He took a deep breath. "I think you're right." He turned to Jazz and Danny. "You two go ahead and finish up dinner. Stay out of the basement! Your mom and I are going to get to the bottom of this; there's nothing to be worried about, ok?"
Jazz looked at her father and frowned. She had no intentions of ever going down into the room that nearly robbed her of a father and a brother. She nodded to Jack and looked away.
Danny looked nervous. Dad's not the only one dropping things… The teen's mind was awhirl with possibilities—each more dire than the last. He swallowed heavily and dug deep for courage. "Um, Dad? You're not the only one dropping things. As much as I want to stay out of the lab. I think I need to be tested too…" He looked away and turned his face to the floor. He totally missed the look that his parents shared.
"Danny, sweetie," Maddie's voice was hesitant. "We'll run some tests on you tomorrow, once we've figured out your father's issue. Try not to worry too much; just finish your food and take it easy, alright?"
The teen was still looking at the floor. He mumbled his assent and started poking at his food, never raising his eyes.
Jazz took pity on her brother. She stood up and gently took Danny's plate as she quickly cleaned up the kitchen table. When she was done, she put her hands on the other teen's shoulders. "How about we go watch a movie and get you into a better headspace, Little Brother?"
Danny looked up with tears in his eyes. "Jazz…I'm scared. I don't know what's happening to me."
The redhead cradled Danny's face with her hands. "I don't know either, but Mom and Dad are brilliant. They're going to get to the bottom of this—don't you worry, ok? Dwelling on things you can't change isn't going to do anything but make you feel worse." She shifted and pulled Danny into a tight hug. "What do you need, right now—tonight?"
Danny mumbled something into his sister's chest.
"What was that?" Jazz pulled back a bit.
"I think I just wanna go to bed." He admitted.
"Alright, then. Let's get you upstairs!" Jazz's cheery tone swirled something in Danny. He didn't like the fact that his feelings were being glossed over.
With one last look at the basement door, Danny reluctantly followed his sister out of the kitchen and up the stairs.
"Why don't you take a shower before bed?" She suggested. "It'll make you feel better." She sounded so sure.
Danny huffed and shook his head. "I'm gonna skip one tonight. I'll do it in the morning. Right now, I'm just tired."
Jazz sighed. "Alright, Danny. You do what you need to do. I'll be right across the hall if you need anything. Ok?"
"Yeah. Ok." He finally added. Danny slowly opened his door and walked into the dark room, not bothering to turn on the lights. He could see in the dark perfectly fine now. That was one of the many things he needed to discuss with his parents.
He methodically went through the motions of getting ready for bed, then crawled up under his covers. Tomorrow. He thought. Tomorrow may be the start of getting answers. A part of him wondered if he really wanted them.
Down in the basement, Jack and Maddie were having a different discussion. "Before we do any tests, we need to talk about the accident, alright?"
Jack's face scrunched up in concern—and a bit of confusion. "What about the accident?" He finally asked.
"How much do you remember?"
"Well…" Jack tilted his head, his hand gripping his chin hard. "I remember the portal not coming on. I remember Danny running for it, and us trying to disable it." His eyes grew haunted. "I remember the sound of his scream when it activated and thinking that I just had to get him out." He took a breath. "The rest is blurry. I don't remember anything else before waking up in the hospital."
Maddie sucked in a breath through her nose. It was confession time. "I deleted all copies of the footage from the accident. The only backup is on a small drive that I hid in the usual place."
Jack looked puzzled for a moment, then he realized that she meant that the drive was somewhere that he would never find. That woman could hide the moon if she wanted to. "Mads, why did you delete all the footage?" He dreaded her answer.
Maddie was quiet for a long moment before she continued talking. "Jack, you stuck both of your arms into the active portal while it was still booting up. You pulled Danny out of there."
There was nothing to hide there. He thought before she finished speaking.
"When you pulled Danny out, you got knocked into the wall pretty hard. I'm betting that's why you don't remember." She hung her head and bit her lip. "Jack, when Danny came out of the portal, he was different."
"What do you mean, 'different'?"
"He…he wasn't breathing, Jack. He didn't have a pulse, and his entire appearance was changed." She paused as her husband sucked in a huge breath of surprise. "Jack, he was dead in all the ways that matter, but he still was able to speak and respond to me. I…I can't explain it. He was only in the other form for a few minutes before there was a big flash of light, and he returned to his normal appearance…"
Jack looked at the love of his life. He knew that everything she said had to be true. She would never lie to him about such important things. "What happened then?"
"I wasn't sure what else to do, so I called 911. Then everything got crazy. They wouldn't come down without Hazmat checking to see if it was safe. Then the paramedics showed up and packed you two up for transport." She gave a humorless laugh. "The police were here too, and they kept trying to question me, but I wouldn't have it. I rode with Danny to the hospital, and I think you know the rest."
"Has Danny manifested anything else?" Jack's tone was wary.
"Other than an extremely remarkable healing rate, not to my knowledge." She looked Jack straight in his eyes, continuing. "But honey, the doctor told me that he literally has ectoplasm in his blood…he said it was probably the only thing keeping him alive—that it was probably healing him."
"Wait, what? Ectoplasm shouldn't heal people, Mads. Remember the proto-portal accident—how it almost killed Vlad? Vladdie was in the hospital for years. So, how could the ectoplasm be healing our son??"
Maddie looked defeated. "I don't know, honey. I just don't know."
Upstairs, alone in his bedroom, Danny stared at the stars on his ceiling. Slowly, he put his hand in the air above his face. He thought about the strange pulsing in his chest—which was one of the many things he had avoided telling anyone about yet—and focused on his hands. Just like the last time he tried this, his hands completely disappeared.
Danny willed away the invisibility on his hands with distress. What was he now? What was he becoming? The teen wasn't sure that he wanted an answer to that question. He thought about some of the things that happened quietly during his hospital stay—the things that fell through his hands when he wasn't paying enough attention, the way his eyes sometimes glowed in the dark room when he was alone, and most damningly, the way a bright ring of light sometimes appeared around him—and felt like it was calling him to come home.
Honestly, Danny had never been more anxious in years since he became a Fenton. He wondered what his parents would think of the changes that kept manifesting. Then he thought about the way the salt shaker fell through his dad's hand and hit the table. Maybe he wasn't as alone in this as he thought. If it was happening to his father too, they couldn't hate him—right?
No closer to answers than he had been before he lay down, Danny closed his eyes and willed himself to sleep. That night, like every night since the accident, he dreamed of a strange world with green skies and purple doors floating in space. The dream was strangely comforting, and Danny found peace in the strange place. It was unfortunate that he never remembered his dreams…at least for now.
Down in the lab, both Jack and Maddie sat staring at the swirling neon-green portal. Neither one of them had words to describe how it made them felt. For Jack, the portal was a constant whisper in the back of his mind—it was a siren's call that he struggled to resist. Maddie didn't hear the whispers, just the thrumming in her heart that spoke to her of unlimited adventure and danger. Neither Fenton adult said anything, even as the clock chirped the hours that seemed to fly by in a fog.
They didn't move from their seats in front of the portal until a knock at the basement door shook them out of their daze.
"Mom? Dad? Are you still down there?" Jazz's worried voice carried over the thrum of the portal and broke the spell on the pair who had been mesmerized by the thrumming rip in reality.
Maddie recovered first. She swallowed thickly before replying. "We'll be up in just a moment, sweetheart!" Her voice seemed loud in her ears. She reached a hand out and gently shook her husband. "Jack, Jack! We've been down here too long. We need to get upstairs to the kids."
"Wha…? Maddie?" Jack tried to pull himself from wherever his mind had gone and shook his head hard. He blinked. "Mads? Um, what time is it?"
Wearily, Maddie looked up at the wall clock. It read 8:15 a.m. That couldn't be right! They hadn't been down there for over 12 hours…could they?
"Mads?" Jack's voice was laced with worry.
Maddie shook her head to clear it better. "Oh, it's 8:15."
"Huh." Jack looked up at the stairs. "I really thought we'd been down here longer than that."
"Jack, it's 8:15 A.M."
Jack whipped around to stare at his wife. "What??" He frantically looked around the lab. "We've been down here that long?!"
"Mom? Dad? Are you coming up? I've got breakfast started."
Jack's stomach chose that moment to rumble loudly. He let out a chuckle, everything else slipping through his mind. He'd worry about the lost time later; it was time for some food! That was currently the most important thing. They'd get to the bottom of the mysteries. That was what they did. "We're coming, Jazzipants! Whatcha got cooking?" The enormous man stretched as he got up from his chair. He listened to his bones crackle and pop in protest of the action.
"I'm doing pancakes. Danny requested them." The teen's voice echoed down the stairs. Jazz had said she was never going back in the basement. It looked like she was going to stick to her words.
"Alright!" Jack's raised voice carried up the stairs. "We're on our way up now!"
Maddie shook herself and stood. Today was going to be a long day, and they never did get around to doing the testing…
Jack reached over and entangled his hand in his wife's. Despite their swirling thoughts, they were still united as a couple and as parents. He raised the joined hands and lightly kissed his wife's knuckles. "I love you, Madeline Fenton." He said quietly.
"And I love you, Jack Fenton. We're going to get through this, right?"
Jack chuckled. "Of course, we will—we're Fentons!"
Maddie grinned. "You're right, honey. We are Fentons!"
Together, they made their way upstairs and into the kitchen where their children were waiting. "Hey kiddos!" Jack smiled at his brood.
"Good morning, Dad! Good morning, Mom!" Jazz was all smiles this morning. "The first batch is nearly up!"
The family started grabbing plates and utensils. The future was uncertain, but that didn't matter right now. What mattered was that they loved each other, and they were together. Everything else could wait.
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