Chapter 11 - Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven:

“Danny,” the boy in reference heard his name being called in a sweet sing-song manner. “Danny, wake up,” the voice of the woman called again. Danny opened his eyes and a smile immediately fell to his lips as he was met with a pair of green eyes. “Hey, you,” Valerie said with a smile before she kissed his chest.

“Hey there yourself.” Danny wrapped his arms around the woman laying on top of him, his fingers tangling in her long dark hair as he did so. Danny was a bit confused. Though he knew this woman was Valerie, she looked different. She looked older, maybe in her late thirties to earlier forties. “What are you so happy about?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Nothing,” was her answer. “You up for some breakfast?” Danny nodded before she rose. She was already fully dressed and looked as if she had been up for hours. “Alright, get ready while I wake the kids.”

“The kids?” he whispered, but it went unheard by her as she left their bedroom. Danny rose as he looked around the room. His surroundings felt familiar, but at the same time they didn''t. His feet seemingly knowing the routine, carried him to the bathroom connected to the room. That''s where Danny caught his reflection in mirror above the sink. He was older as well. His hair slightly gray around the edges. He reached up to touch his face and as he did so he noticed the wedding band around his ring finger. Danny didn''t know what was going on, but so far, he didn''t have any complaints.

He then quickly took a shower and once dressed headed downstairs to the dinning room. There he was greeted by three children in their early teens. “Morning, dad.”

Danny only smiled and nodded as he realized he didn''t know their names. He took a sit at the head of the table when one of his two boys, sitting to the right of him, spoke. “Look, dad, I worked on it all night. I think I finally got it.” Danny then watched as his son''s black hair, done in cornrows, turned white and his eyes, which were already green, turned an electric blue.

What struck Danny as strange was that his cloths remained the same and when he entered his ghost form their weren''t rings of blue light, but a swirl of blue smoke instead. His son''s hand then stretched out on either side of them and an energy, not green, but blue like his eyes, shot out and formed a shield around table. “See, I''ve stabilized it.” He looked to his father. “I can hold it for about three minutes now.”

Danny looked at the shield. “Is this your max circumference?” he asked causally, but when he didn''t receive a response he turned to his son to find him lowering his head. “No, it''s good!” Danny said immediately as he realized the boy had been trying to impress him.

“Really?” the boy asked.

“Really,” Danny reassured him. “I''m proud of you, son.” He smiled at him.

“Shield down,” suddenly said his daughter to the left of Danny. “Here comes mom.” His son quickly obeyed and lowered his shield not a moment to soon as Valerie stepped into the room.

She looked curiously at her son with the wide eyes. “L.D., what are you doing?” she asked as she sat a plate down in front of her daughter and another in front of their other son, who had his nose in a book.

“Nothing,” the boy named L.D. lied.

“Then why are you in your ghost form?” she asked putting her hands on her hips. “How many times to have to tell you not inside the house?”

“Stupid,” his sister whispered to him.

“Sorry,” he said softly as he turned back into his human from.

“Ow!” Danny suddenly yelled, not expecting Valerie to hit him upside the head. “What did I do?” he asked.

“You probably encouraged him,” she accused before turning around back towards the kitchen.

“Great,” spoke Danny''s other son from behind his book. “Now, we''re all in trouble. Nice going L.D.”

“Bite me, Damon,” L.D. said to his brother, finishing the piece of bacon he stole from Damon''s plate before he noticed.

“You''re so immature, Little Dan,” Danny''s daughter spoke with a forkful of eggs. Danny only smiled as he watched his children bicker, it reminded him of him and Jazz before she. . .

“Sissy, stop!” Danny was broken from his thoughts by L.D.''s protest. He looked to L.D. as one of his braids was being undone roughly. “Not the hair. Not the hair!”

Danny frowned wondering what was happening. If Sissy had gone invisible it would had made sense, but she just sat, in her human form, quietly in her seat as she finished her eggs.

“Sissy?” Danny called, he then gasped silently as his daughter''s head turned towards him, but she didn''t look at him. Her eyes were all white and it was then that Danny realized his beautiful little girl was blind. “Uh- stop messing with your brother,” he said trying to sound unfazed by the discovery.

“Yes, sir,” was all she said before taking a deep breath and everything went back to normal, or as normal as things could be in their home. It was then Danny felt stupid as he realized what she had done. While in her human from, she projected her ghost self. Danny had only done it on a few occasions. It was something he found he could only do under extreme stress. He smiled, despite her age, Sissy was very powerful.

It was then than Danny started to wonder about Damon and if he had inherited any of his ghost powers. He didn''t seem to please when his siblings had expressed their powers. Danny wondered how he could ask without sounding too suspicious, but before he could, he heard the shattering of glass. “shoot!” Danny rose for his seat when he heard Valerie curse.

He made his way to the kitchen to see what was wrong. “Val,” he called as he turned the corner and entered into the kitchen. “What''s wrong?” he asked, though he could see the problem. She had dropped the plates she had been preparing to carry to the dinning room.

“I ran into the counter. I cut myself,” she explained as Danny walked over the spilled food towards his wife.

“Let me see,” he reached out for her hand and examine her hand. “Oh, you big baby,” he teased. “I''ve seen you survive worst,” he told her as he guided her to the sink to wash the blood from her wound.

“Danny?” Valerie whispered as he went about his task.

“Yeah?”

“I''m sorry,” she said sadly.

Danny looked to her and frowned. “Sorry? About what?”

She said nothing at first, as she lowered her head. “We could have been so happy.” Danny''s frown deepen as he realized that his hold on her was fading, no, that she was fading. “Val?” Worry instantly arose as he tried to hold on. “Val?” And then before he had another chance to blink, she gone. But Danny wasn''t given a chance to figure out what had just happened as he heard his children screaming for him.

He then ran out the kitchen towards the dinning room. He paused in the doorway. “Where''s Damon?” he yelled when he wasn''t in sight.

“I don''t know,” Sissy shook her head, fear in her voice. “L.D. said he- he just disappeared!” She grabbed on protectively to her remaining brother who had left the table and was now standing on the other side of the room.

“How can he do that, dad?” L.D. asked. “He couldn''t have gone ghost, our ghost sense would have gone off. Plus,” he shook head, “he''s never had ghost powers.”

“It''ll be okay,” Danny began walking over to his children. “We''ll figure this out.”

Then without warning, L.D. slumped into his sister. “I don''t feel so well,” he stated as he began to faded away.

“L.D.?” Sissy cried, as she tried to hold her brother, but couldn''t as they slowly slid to the floor. That''s when a strange feeling started to take over her too. She then looked in Danny''s direction. “Daddy. . . I''m scared,” she told him. “Daddy, are you there?” Danny was completely frozen in fear for a moment as he watched the same thing that happened to Valerie happen to his children. “Daddy!” Sissy yelled snapping him out of his daze.

Danny didn''t know what he was doing. He knew he couldn''t stop it, but the instinct to save them somehow took over and so he ran towards them anyway. Everything was going in slow motion as he jumping on and over the table as L.D. disappeared and Sissy realized she was alone. “Daddy!” she screamed again.

At that moment, something snapped into Danny''s head and he called out his daughter''s name. “Ceacily!” And as he reached her, the last thing he saw were the tears running down her face before she dissolved away and everything went black. “Ceacily!” Danny then fell out of his bed and crashed onto the floor. He bolted up to his feet quickly as he looked around, breathing heavily as his eyes searched his room within his parent''s home frantically.

When he realized it was just a dream he crashed back to the floor and took slow deep breaths to calm his racing heart. “Valerie? Cooking?” He slightly shook his head, "Yeah, should have known that was a dream," he said to himself as he closed his eyes. Had it only been just a dream? He wondered. It had seen more real than anything he had ever experienced before, but yet still one of the strangest.

Danny then finally picked himself off the floor, Valerie still on his mind as he prepared for work. It was the week before finals and he hadn''t seen in her in two days, but truth be told that wasn''t strange. Last year he hadn''t seen her for a week and that''s when they lived in the same apartment. He figured she was spending her free time at the library and so he decided he would call her when he got off that afternoon.
OoOoO

Valerie sat silently on a plush chair within the room she was being held in as she watched Nathan change the sheets on her bed. She sat in nothing more than her pajama top as Nathan had released her from her chains only long enough to removed undesired items. “Hmm,” he mused to himself as he shook the pillow out it''s case. “Seems your dosage will have to be lowered again,” he told her.

“Just another so I can go to the bathroom on my own, but not enough to fight you off, right?” Valerie asked acidly.

“Well, of course, my sweet.” He dumped the sheets on the floor. “Can''t have you having another energy to try to escape, can I?” He then walked into the bathroom. Valerie then heard the running of bath water for a few minutes before Nathan approached her. He bent over her as he removed the only clothing she had left. “Lean forward for me,” he instructed and Valerie slowly obeyed as she had learned, evident by the bruises on her body, that disobedience would not be tolerated by him.

Nathan smirked at the shudder that Valerie''s body emitted as his hand slid down her arms as he removing her top. Once it was well discarded, he rolled up his sleeves and picked her up before walking into the bathroom, careful not to trip over the chain that was still securely around her ankle. He then lowered her into the warm water of the bath he had made for her. “I believe I got it just the way you like it this time, yes?”

“Yes,” she responded with a little nod, keeping her head, along with her gaze, downward. “Thank you.”

“You''re welcome,” he replied as reached for her wash towel. He then dipped it into the water and lathered it up with a bar of soap that had been resting at the edge of the tub and gently began to wash her. “You''re behaving well this morning,” he commented. He had never seen her so docile.

“I was just hoping,” she finally meet his eyes, “if I were really good. . . if you''d let me go home.”

Nathan frowned. “We''ve discussed this. You are home. This is your home. With me,” he made clear.

“I''m worried about my father,” Valerie confessed.

Nathan''s smiled returned to his features. “Well, I could make it so, that he never worries about you again.”

Valerie''s eyes wideen, quickly recognizing the threat behind his simple words. “No,” she whispered shaking her head. “I won''t bring it up again. I promise, I''ll be good.”

“Don''t fear,” Nathan began as his wet hand stroked her face. “I''m not that cruel.” He shrugged. “Not today anyway.” His fingers ran patterns on her brown skin. “So tell me, what would you do to see your father again?” At the question, Valerie took a deep breath before leaning towards her captor. Nathan found his eyes on her lips as she pursed them together and licked them. She hovered for only a moment before closing the gap between them. Nathan slowly closed his eyes as he felt her tongue beg for entrance before it was greeted by his own. When they broke the kiss, his expression, much to Valerie''s surprise, was darker. “Good answer.”
OoOoO

It was nearing six o''clock as Danny prepared to get off work. He had just serviced his last car for the night and was heading towards the employee room to grab his things to head home. As he said good night to some of his co-workers he heard the bell above the door of someone entering the shop. He was in the middle of turning towards the customer to tell them they were closing up when he heard. “That''s him officer.”

Danny was caught off guard as he was slammed hard over the counter and his arms were forced behind his back. “Daniel Fenton – You are under arrest for the violation of your restraining order against Valerie Gray,” he heard one of the officers. “You have the right to remain silent. . .” he began Danny''s Miranda Rights.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Danny asked angrily. “Valerie is my girlfriend! She dropped that restraining order!” he barked.

“No, she didn''t,” Danny recognized the voice of Damon Gray. “She disappeared before she had a chance to.”

Danny looked at him in a shocked awe. “What?”

“Where''s my daughter, Danny?” Damon asked gently at first. “Where''s my daughter!” he demanded to know.

Danny looked Damon straight in the eye and told him the truth. “I don''t know.”

“You damn bastard!” Damon marched towards him ready to beat the information out of him. “I know you know!”

The other officer held on to Damon. “Mr. Gray, please, let us handle this.”

Danny''s brow was creased in heavy thought as he tried to think of where she could be, but then his dream came back to him and the image of her fading away. He now feared it''s meaning as a sense of lost started to invaded him. Danny''s eyes then flashed a vivid green as he swore he would find her, no matter what the cost.

To Be Continued. . .

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