Did you miss me? When I say that I've been trying to figure out the best way to do this chapter for ages…well, those of you who have been waiting for this update will probably believe me since you've been waiting a little over a year. Thanks for hanging in there and believing that Chapter 23 was on the way. This chapter's a little different because it had to be, but you'll see why and the next chapter will resume as usual. As always, let me know what you think.
He was going to tell her. No more excuses, no more concern about whatever, he was going to tell Sam that he was Phantom. He was going to find her as soon as he got to the mansion, take her into another room and he was just going to tell her. W—well, no. He wasn't just going to spring it on her like that and just tell her. He had been formulating a plan, a speech of sorts.
He was going to start off with how she was the most important thing in the world to him and how much he loved her. He was going to explain to her that lying to her had been the hardest thing that he'd ever had to do and that he would prefer to never have to do it again, that he never would do it, lie to her, again.
He was going to tell Sam that yes, he was Phantom and that yes, she had almost gotten killed because of him, that yes, that he had inadvertently put Lynne in danger and that obviously yes, while he knew that he hadn't been flat out lying to her, that leaving out this very, very important omission was maybe not the best protective strategy—
…He stopped himself before he could talk himself out of it again. He'd done that already, several times. He'd talked himself out of telling her before, but this time he was going to tell her.
"I'm going to tell her." Danny declared to the redhead sitting in the passenger seat beside him. The only response he received was a silent eye roll.
"Hello? Did you hear what I just said?"
Lynne rolled her eyes again, unaffected. "Oh, I heard you." She answered.
"And I'm sure that you are. Just like you were going to tell her last month, and the month before that, and the day after I left you a perfectly good opening after I almost told her."
Danny shot her a particularly dark look as he merged into the left lane, reminding himself that cursing at children, even teenage ones, was frowned upon. He didn't need this from her, especially after the morning he'd had. He had spent most of the morning with his sister, Jazz, and had narrowly escaped meeting her new boyfriend, who he didn't need to meet since he already knew him.
Another reason to thank Lynne for her loose lips, Danny had recently discovered that his sister was dating his high school tormentor, Dash Baxter. Luckily, Sam had already asked him to pick up Lynne and drop her off at the mansion on his way back and it was the perfect reason to escape. As far as he knew, his wife had been with her mother and grandmother for most of the morning, packing up Jeremy's office.
"If you're referring to the night that my secret was saved only by the fact that the consonants 'Ph' and 'F' make the same sound, then yeah. Thanks for that. You're lucky Sam thought you were drunkenly trying to say 'Fenton'." Danny told her, merging over again. "Can you text Sam from my phone and tell her that we're close?"
Lynne grabbed his phone and scrolled briefly only to slam it back down onto the console, melodramatically clutching at her eye sockets.
"Wh—oh…right. Sorry. I mean, nevermind. We're basically there anyway." He remarked sheepishly.
"First of all, my sister is someone's daughter and you should both be ashamed that you text such filth to each other. And secondly, you're lucky that I don't come with closed captioning and that I haven't told my sister that she's been casually dabbling in necrophilia." Lynne retorted sassily.
She pretended not to see the even darker look that Danny shot her as she continued, "And you'd better protect me when she does find out since it's not my fault that I'm the only one intelligent enough to have figured the whole thing out. You have the same first name as your alter ego, for God's sake. At least change your other name to Doug."
"Doug?" Danny questioned his younger sister-in-law dryly. "You want me to start running around calling myself 'Doug Phantom'?"
Lynne gave a nod. "Yes. It goes much better with the theme song. 'Young Doug Phantom, he was just fourteen when his parents built a very strange machine—'" She rapped, banging her fist in rhythm on the armrest.
"One," Danny cut in sharply. "I've told you more than once, I don't need a theme song and two, if no one's figured it out yet, they will once they hear you rapping my entire life story."
It was Danny who rolled his eyes this time as they finally pulled into the long winding drive of the Manson mansion. Danny saw that Sam's car was parked off to the side along with several other cars.
"Fine." Lynne replied, deciding to be agreeable. "You are going to tell her. When? After this?"
"Well, yeah…as soon as we find out what this is." Danny remarked, his eyes finally catching the sight of balloons, banners, and several boxes outside of the mansion doors.
"Are you guys getting married again?" Lynne asked, also staring at the very crowded driveway.
"Dear God, I hope not…"
Danny opened the driver's side door and stepped out just as Sam hurriedly ran out to greet them. "Hey!...I thought you were going to text me when you were close!" She said, seeming more nervous than usual. "Why…didn't you text me first?"
"Because he's a sexting, lying coward." Lynne muttered under her breath.
"Because I figured we were close and it wasn't a big deal." Danny spoke over Lynne. "What's all this, what's going on?"
Danny eyed his wife as she fidgeted anxiously, her eyes darting wildly around them. What the hell was she looking a—and then he saw it. The silver and black banner that read, "Vlad Masters for Governor" in a sweeping and almost menacing script.
"No. There is no way. There is no goddamn way in Hell—" Danny nearly growled.
"Okay!" Sam interrupted, grabbing his arms that looked to start swinging violently in defiance. "For the record, I didn't know that's why she called me here at first and then, then I got here and I figured this would be good for her. You know how lonely she's been since the separation. Dad already packed up his office."
Sam cast a glance over to her younger sister as she mentioned the separation and Danny figured it was because it was still a sore subject for the younger Manson. Pamela and Jeremy had decided to take a trial separation a few weeks before and though the story was that they both felt a division was good for them to work out their marital issues, Danny had seen them both respectively and they both looked more miserable.
Lynne, to her credit, did not seem to flinch at the mention of their separation as she was too busy inspecting the large portrait sized campaign posters that were currently being marched through the front doors.
"Sam." Danny said, in his no-nonsense, 'unwilling to budge' voice. The last time he'd used that voice was when Jazz had finally fessed up to dating his aforementioned teenage bully. He should have known. He escaped one arch-nemesis only to be forced into the same room with the other.
"Danny," Sam sighed. "Hon..."
Danny fixed his face into one of steely resolve. That sigh was the same sigh that had almost gotten him roped into an evening with Dash Baxter. Go see your sister, she said. It'll be a nice morning, she said. Just to talk to her about it, she said.
"Look. I know you've got your weird thing with the mayor, which to this day, I still do not entirely get, but can we just do this for my mother? Please? I promise you that we have much more pressing matters to deal with today than this guy's bid for governor." Realizing that Danny was not going to be easily swayed, she also added, "And if we stay for this fundraiser you can throw away the chess set!"
"I already threw away the chess set." Danny sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Fine. But as soon as this is over—"
"We leave. Yes. Now come on, before my mother's temporary insanity fades and she tries to put one of us in a dress." Sam smiled, standing on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. Danny forced a smile, staring the banner down as they took steps closer to the mansion doors.
Danny, for the record, did not feel more at ease once he'd gotten into the mansion. It had been at least three hours and he'd busied himself helping with mundane campaign chores like filling balloons with helium, stuffing envelopes and hanging banners, never letting Vlad leave his line of sight. Now more than ever he felt that it was impertinent to tell Sam his secret because if Vlad was this involved with the Mansons, it meant that all of them, especially Sam, could have been in grave danger.
"It's getting a little creepy." Lynne offered, watching her brother-in-law watch the older man. "Like…a little stalkerish."
"You do remember who he is, right?" Danny asked darkly, forcefully tying a knot in a balloon. He'd been watching Vlad's every move but noticed that he hadn't looked at him once.
It was almost as if he were pretending not to notice him, which put Danny even more on edge and even more suspicious of his motives. Of all of the socialites he could have chosen to back his campaign, Danny felt that it was not a coincidence that he'd not only buddied up with Pamela Manson, but that he'd done it well enough to earn an invite to their wedding.
Lynne rolled her eyes. "How could I forget the creep who dropped me from a ceiling. It's only happened to me once. Except right now, that's not him. Right now, he is not the ghost creep, but he is the weird old man who my mother keeps hosting brunches for, who always smells suspiciously like boxed raisins."
At this, Danny turned away from his balloon duties. "Your mother's been hosting brunches for him?"
Lynne nodded, gesturing at the older man who was now laughing with Pamela and some person she didn't recognize as he placed a hand on the small of the Manson matriarch's back.
"Uh, yeah. And as you can see, it's getting really weird, so I'm going to need you to hurry up and tell my sister because the last thing I need is another dad. I've already got a rich one and a blackmailing one. I don't need an evil one."
"I'm going to tell her." Danny said.
"More snitching and less stalking." Lynne retorted, walking away as Sam walked in their direction.
Danny finally took a moment to look away from Vlad to actually see Sam. She was walking toward him in her battered Converse, wearing an off-the-shoulder black top and jeans and her hair was down and pulled to the side of one of her exposed shoulders. It never surprised him how effortlessly beautiful she was, even when she was approaching him with a raised eyebrow and a look of concern.
He glanced at Vlad again as Pamela busied herself elsewhere, before looking back at his wife.
"There you are. You look miserable. We're halfway through it, if that helps." She offered, looking up at him with a smile. He would never get tired of that smile and how she could instantly calm him without even knowing it.
She'd been doing that since the moment they met, when she came up to him at the bar at Club Baja. She'd been understanding and patient and taken everything thrown at her with immediate ease.
They'd had a rough start, but he couldn't imagine being anywhere except right there and with anyone except her. He didn't want to make the mistakes that he'd made with Valerie, but he had to realize that Sam wasn't Valerie. Sam was fiery and dependable, she welcomed being a Fenton and loved both his parents and Jazz as though it were easy, and he knew damn well it wasn't easy. Again, his sister was dating a man who had once thrown him in a dumpster...twice in twelve hours.
He and Sam had found each other at just the right moment, under strenuous and damn near insane circumstances, survived a drunken wedding, a really extravagant wedding, both of their exes, both of their families and had somehow decided that it was all worth it. She was all worth it. He had to tell her. He had to tell her right then.
"Sam, I have something to tell you." Danny said, trying to push through the pit in his stomach.
"I have something to tell you too, but first…I have got to know. Am I going to end up a politician's wife?" Sam blurted out.
Danny blinked. "…what?"
"I just, I have been watching you watch this man for hours and I have never seen you like this before. I mean, I know you don't like the guy, and I get it. He's kind of weird, he's got a really old-timey name and he kind of smells like raisins, but I mean, knowing you and the fact that I have never seen you dislike anyone…except Adam…the only thing I can think of is a political rivalry?" Sam guessed, biting her lip.
"Sam." Danny said, not even sure where to begin.
"No, no. Do not get me wrong, I will support you no matter what but—have you thought this through? They do background checks and my sister is a lovechild and I don't know if hazmat suits are really suitable for public office and I am pretty sure that Gram has committed, at the very least, one felony. So—"
Danny cut off Sam's rambling with a slight smile. That was the other thing he loved about her. "Babe, I have absolutely no interest in running for anything. The reason I don't like Vlad is because…" He trailed off.
It was now or never. He would never have another more perfect opportunity to tell her than right now. He would have to tell her everything, about the accident, about the powers, about how only Jazz, Tucker, Valerie and now Lynne, knew. He would have to tell her about Vlad. He was about to open his mouth when something caught his eye over her shoulder.
It was Vlad himself, staring right at him. His eyes bore into Danny's and he wasn't sure whether it was the anticipation of finally meeting his gaze, but Danny immediately felt a chill down his spine. Danny felt it more so as Vlad Masters made a slight beckoning motion, as if teasing him toward him. He tried not to show in his expression that he could feel his eye twitching as he looked back at an expectantly waiting Sam.
"I'll be right back." He said stiffly, meeting Vlad's gaze again around all of the people walking between the two.
"I—okay, but I still have something I have to tell you. It's really impor—"
Danny didn't catch the rest of what Sam said as he had already begun striding toward the other man. He could barely hear the chattering of the people around him. It all sounded like low static compared to the thumping in his own ears. His blood felt rushed and hot and he could feel every breath he took swirling in his lungs before being carefully released. Moments felt like ages, but he finally finished the short stride across the room and stood face to face with Vlad.
Vlad smiled an eerily warm smile that did not suit his face as he casually asked, "Daniel. It's great to see you. Will you be a lad and help me break down these boxes? We're a bit short staffed today, I'm afraid."
Danny didn't respond, but he did cautiously nod, reaching out for one of the empty cardboard boxes nearby. He took a chance to glance at Sam, who was still giving him a strange look, but who was now turning back to her mother and sister. He felt better that they were all together and was already planning on how he'd escape with the Manson women if Masters tried anything.
"So how long did it take you to worm your way in with Pamela Manson?" Danny asked, still watching Sam carefully.
Vlad ignored him and looked over at what the younger man was looking at before calmly remarking with a drawl. "The Mansons have such a lovely home, don't they?"
Danny immediately felt his heart thud. "I swear to God, if you try to lay so much as a hand on any of them…"
Vlad smiled to himself before cutting a box open, continuing as if Danny hadn't spoken to him at all. "But as lovely a home as the mansion is, I did find that your house was much homier."
Danny grit his teeth, but now it was he who refused to dignify the other man with a response.
"It was just this morning," Vlad continued, "that I observed the new curtains your lovely bride bought on Tuesday and I thought to myself, now this is a lovely home with such a lovely couple. And that wedding photograph above the mantle, my dear boy, it just does not do her justice, not compared to how she looked at the wedding, of course."
Danny felt like his blood had now run ice cold. He felt himself crush the cardboard in his hand as it practically disintegrated. Loosening his grasp, he realized that it had, in fact, begun to disintegrate. His hands were beginning to glow a faint green as they radiated in clenched rage.
"I don't know…what kind of game you're playing but—" Danny tried to breathe through his rage. Vlad had been in their house…again. He'd been there just this morning. He'd left before Sam. Sam could have been there alone with him and because she didn't know anything, she could have been in danger…again. This was why he needed to tell her. He needed to keep her safer.
"Daniel." Vlad interrupted enthusiastically. "The kind of game doesn't matter, though this is absolutely a game. I thought I made that clear with my wedding gift. And all games have rules, son."
"I don't give a shit about your games or any of your stupid rules. Stay the hell away from my family." Danny growled, beginning to walk away. He needed to talk to Sam, he needed to keep her safe from him. Vlad, however, kept speaking.
"Your rule, Daniel, is that if you tell your blushing bride anything, anything at all, I will not hesitate to snap her pretty little neck with my bare hands and I will make sure the very last thing that she knows is that her husband could not protect her."
Danny instantly stopped in his tracks. He hadn't made it very far from the man before he turned slowly to face him as Vlad continued.
"Oh yes, Daniel. I will kill her. I will destroy your little family. You see, this isn't something that I wanted to have to resort to, but seeing as you seem so adamant about coming between me and what I want, nay, deserve, I think it's time we lay down a few ground rules. Because what fun is a game without a bit of a challenge for us both."
Danny stared at him, unable to speak or more or process what he was supposed to do next. It was all he could do to refrain from blasting him across the room when he put a hand on his shoulder.
"What was I expected to do, son? You tried to take my leverage away the night you ended things with Ms. Grey. But as I've told you before, the difference between you and I is weakness, Daniel. You always end up exposing your weakness." Vlad tutted.
"I'm not your son." Danny barely spoke above a whisper as Pamela began to cross the room, announcing that it was almost time for dinner.
"Oh, no. Perhaps in another life, maybe. I'm being beckoned, but do say hi to the missus for me, young Daniel." Vlad smiled, clapping him on the back.
Danny barely remembered Sam grabbing his hand gently and leading him to the large dining room. He had a suddenly fuzzy memory of being in this room the night of his first gala in the mansion, but he could barely focus on anything except the singular thought that Sam's life was at stake. This was exactly what he hadn't wanted.
This was why he hadn't told her in the first place, because the idea of putting her in danger or at risk was not acceptable for him. And now he had tried to take matters into his own hands and somehow, somehow Masters was ahead of him again. This was why he had pushed Valerie away. This was exactly what he did not want to happen to Sam, for her to end up as a chess piece in his never-ending battle against Masters.
His head, his entire body really, felt like it was spinning. He barely remembered Vlad getting up to speak and how he had to force himself not to lunge himself at him, exposing who he really was. He was not Vlad Masters, he was Plasmius. He was evil, he almost hurt Lynne and now he was threatening his family, and not for the first time. He wasn't sure when the speeches had ended, but he was brought back to reality by a soft nudge. It was Sam. He could barely look at her.
"Hey…what's going on with you? You haven't eaten anything since we sat down." Sam murmured, putting her hand over his and gently caressing his fingers with her own.
Danny could barely focus on her over the thought of losing her.
"I need air." He answered quickly, knocking the table a bit as he hurriedly got up to leave.
He headed for the door, only slightly aware of the fact that Sam was right behind him. He needed to figure out what to do. Where could they go? Sam was calling his name with increasing anxiousness, still hot on his heels as they both finally made it out of the mansion doors.
"Danny, will you slow down and talk to me? What is going on?"
Nowhere was safe. Telling her wasn't an option but not telling her was also not an option. She was the most important thing to him. He loved her. Lying to her had been the hardest thing he'd ever had to do. His speech suddenly seemed very empty and hollow. It wasn't enough. It wasn't enough to say that he was sorry that he had no idea of how to protect her. That he didn't even know what he was protecting her from.
"Danny!"
He would never be able to push her away the way that he did with Valerie. Valerie wasn't…He wasn't supposed to be with Valerie and he'd known that for quite some time. Everyone had known that. But it was easier to stay. She already knew his secret. He didn't have to escape into the night while she was asleep and then phase back into her arms before she woke up.
He didn't have to explain the random cuts and bruises away as accidental or make excuses as to why he was exhausted. He didn't have to hide a part of himself in fear of what her reaction might be. But he also didn't love her. He didn't love her the way that he loved Sam.
"Goddammit, Danny. I'm pregnant!" Sam yelled desperately.
Danny finally out of his own head, turned around, only able to quietly ask, "What?"
Sam nodded slowly to make sure he comprehended. "Yes. I found out this morning and I've been trying to tell you all day. I—We are having a baby. I am pregnant and I swear to God, Daniel Fenton, you are acting like a complete a—"
Danny pulled her to himself gently and kissed her. He hugged her closer to him than he ever had before, memorizing the way that she fit against him, the way her perfume smelled, the feeling of her hair in between his fingers. When he did manage to pull away from her, she was smiling up at him softly.
"Babe, you're going to pop us. And if you think I had trouble thinking of you and I as an 'us', you have no idea what my head has been like all day. But I'm an 'us' now…and we are starving. Can we go back in now, are you okay? I know we need to talk more."
Before he could assure her that he was okay, Lynne ran at them, her red hair bouncing with her as she took giant leaps. "Congratulations! I was eavesdropping."
"Of course you were." Sam remarked dryly, rolling her eyes. "I'm going inside before Governor Raisin tries to date our mother."
Danny was proud of how well he did at not reacting. His little family. Did Vlad already know?
Lynne waited until Sam was a few paces ahead of them before she held an arm out to stop Danny. "You can't tell her."
"You're a little late." Danny remarked. "I'm not telling her anymore."
"Ooh. Big surprise there. But good. You can't tell her. If you tell Sam now, she will never trust you again."
She swatted away Danny's attempt to interrupt her saying, "Look, I was wrong, okay? Maybe this whole separation thing really is starting to get to me, but I saw her with Mom and she was saying how you made this big sacrifice by being here tonight and how much she loves you." Lynne took a shaky breath, blowing her bangs out of her eyes.
"And all I could see were my parents and this big secret that came out and destroyed everything. I thought that my parents and Gram were wrong to keep that secret from me, but since it came out all it's done is ruin everyone's lives. I would have been better off not knowing. If you tell Sam the truth at this point, she will never trust you again and you'll end up just like my parents. You have to promise me. You have to promise me that you will never—"
"—ever tell anyone. This is my biggest, my only secret, Sam. But I don't ever want to hide anything from you. We're married now." Danny drunkenly cleared his throat, holding both of Sam's hands in his own. The minibar door was strewn open, not that it mattered because all of the contents were empty and scattered across the carpeted floor where the pair were kneeling.
"I won't." Sam promised, her slur becoming more prominent. "I won't tell anyone that you're Phantom."
Lynne snapped at him in annoyance. "Hello? Are you listening to me? I just bared my soul to you! Are we or are we not in agreement that you have to keep this from Sam?
"Yes, Lynne." Danny said, with a heavy sigh. "Only one problem. I already did. She just doesn't remember yet."