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The way they move around each other is too purposeful to be natural. Like every touch is calculated. Every glance deliberate. Planned.
Maddie bites her lip and grips the armchair tighter. She's thinking about things again. Things she shouldn't be.
Ever since learning about her son's powers she thought they would be closer than ever. And while it has helped a lot in understanding Danny, helping them become a better family, there is still a distance between them. And she can't pinpoint what's causing it. Or she can. But she doesn't want to acknowledge it.
She sets the champagne glass down and tries to focus her gaze out the window. Vlad's private jet was currently escorting them all to New Zealand. All previous family vacations had taken place within the United States. But this year they wanted to do something special. She was looking forward to it.
Or at least she had been.
Somewhere to her right, across the aisle, Danny yawns. Danny and Vlad sit facing the opposite way so that they're in the full view of Jack and Maddie. Her son is drooling Vlad's shoulder. The older man looks slightly annoyed but other than that he doesn't shove Danny off of him. It should be a picture of innocence.
Beside her, Jack takes a picture of them with his phone. He liked documenting bonding moments between his best bud and his son.
Danny suddenly snorts. He's eyes open groggily. He looks up at Vlad who raises a pristine eyebrow. Danny looks at the drool connected to the man's expense suit and smiles sheepishly. He tries to wipe it away and Vlad rolls his eyes. He still doesn't move away from Danny.
It doesn't sit right with her. And it frustrates her. That she's starting to dissect all these little moments. Trying to make them into something they're not.
Danny had quelled her suspicions that day when she'd so rudely burst into Vlad's home. She hadn't given it a second thought since then until today. They'd made the drive up to Wisconsin and greeted the pair at the door. Jazz had yet to arrive so they had had a couple hours to kill before take off.
She'd been washing up in the bathroom when Vlad's phone had gone off. She paused, seeing it on the counter. Maddie wasn't the kind of person who pried into others private lives. She would have ignored altogether it if it hadn't of been for the background picture that lit up with the buzzing phone.
It was of Danny and Vlad in some city. New York she thinks (when had they gone to New York?). But that wasn't the thing that had stopped her. Maddie had gripped the phone a tight hand as she looked at the picture of her son is kissing Vlad's under chin as the other man grinned.
She hated that the old suspicion from a year ago had immediately pooled in her gut. Hated that she hadn't put it to rest as she previously thought.
Vlad thought of her kids as his own. It wasn't unusual for uncles to have pictures of their family on their phones. Even though Vlad wasn't Danny's uncle. And even though nephews didn't kiss their chins like that. And go on secret vacations.
She set the phone down and banished her thoughts away. Accept now that the doors have been flung open once again, she can't seem to shut them. She watches them interact around each other. She knows that they've always been different when it came to the other. But she knows it was because of the powers now. She's reading too much into this.
There was nothing wrong with them being close. (Closer than Vlad had ever been with them even in college it seemed.) It's not even the way they were so comfortable with each other that bothered her. The casual way Danny sleeps on Vlad's shoulder or how Vlad ruffles Danny's hair. It's the way they didn't touch that did. How Vlad's hand would pause on Danny's head before removing it. How Danny would reach for Vlad's arm then switch to tug at his sleeve instead. How they had to decide how much space to have between them whenever they sat down next to each other.
Maddie downs her drink. She needs to stop thinking.
She spends a minute too long in the toilet. Her hands grip the edges too tight. She breathes in. She exhales. All in her head. It was all in her head.
There's a shout from the other side of the door. Maddie freezes. Another shout comes, louder this time. She slams open the door and races outside.
Vlad is grappling with the pilot. A gun hangs loosely from his hand as Vlad grips the man's wrist in a violent hold. The struggle is over in seconds.
It's only after the man is on the floor screaming that she comprehends what had just taken place. Vlad had gathered energy into his palms, placing one hand tight around the man's throat while the other burned his face.
"When will they learn to get better assassins?" Vlad snorts, running a hand through his immaculate hair.
Danny turns to Vlad in a glare, ignoring the man on the floor. "What did you do now Vlad?"
Vlad's eyebrows raise in surprise before falling into a scowl.
"Blaming the victim, Daniel? That's really mature of you. Once again everything is always my fault."
"He didn't attack you for no reason!"
Vlad throws his hands up and goes to the cockpit to steer the now pilotless plane. Danny is hot on his heels.
Maddie doesn't pay any attention to them. Doesn't register Jazz kneeling to perform CPR on the man or Jack rushing beside his daughter to help.
She can't stop looking at the would-be hijacker's face. It's red and ugly. The skin is peeling of the bone, oozing onto the floor in blackened crisps. The stench nearly makes her double over. Jazz presses onto the man's chest. She's crying, desperately trying to save his life. Vlad and Danny and shouting in the cockpit.
This scene is familiar.
She steps closer. The man is nearly unrecognizable. His breathing is haggard and rough. Part of his lips have burnt off. She can see his teeth.
Something sparks in the back of her mind. This scene is familiar.
Maddie stumbles towards the front of the plane. Vlad has taken a hold of the controls. Danny stands on his side, hands fisted and jaw tightened. Although he is clearly displeased, he doesn't seem shocked at the brutality on the floor.
She looks at her son's face. Imagining a burn there. She stares at his arms, his hands. Bright red burns all over his skin.
This scene was familiar.
The gun is in here hand before she registers it.
"Mom what are you doing?!"
So many times she'd passed it off. So many late nights and questionable excuses.
"Have you have hurt my son before?" Her voice is low and hateful.
"Mom, I don't know what's wrong, but Vlad is literally flying the plane right now. I really don't want us all the crash and die so if you could please put the gun away…"
She tightens her grip. Vlad looks back at her with a weary eye.
"Madeline now is not the time!"
She finally tears her gaze away from Vlad onto Danny. "Has he ever hurt you?"
Danny is speechless. He blinks roughly. Looking her up and down. Like he's never seen her before.
"You always seemed to favor sweaters." She whispers. "You put band-aids everywhere. Told us it was some new fashion craze at school and I believed you. But I saw them. They were burns weren't they?"
Her son pulls away from her. Shrinks into himself. She sees the truth in his eyes.
"Has he ever hurt you physically?"
Danny isn't looking her in the eye anymore. Her gun hasn't wavered from its aim on Vlad's head.
"Mentally?"
The mysterious glances she'd catch from time to time. The way they stopped talking the moment she walked into the room.
"Or emotionally?"
The distrust Danny used to openly show towards the older man. The hatred. Now suddenly they're close. Too close.
Danny finds his words.
"Of course not mom."
Behind them, Jazz stabilizes the man. Wet, gurgled breathes fill the cabin.
The floor tilts as the plane begins its descent.
"Hold on." Vlad says.
Behind him, Vlad urges Jack to call an ambulance over his shoulder. They'll be touching down soon.
Maddie lowers the gun. But she doesn't move from her stance.
The second the plane stops moving she takes Danny by the arm and drags him to the exit.
"Mom what are you doing? Stop!"
"Jazz! Jack! Let's go!" Maddie calls to them.
She forces the door open and runs down the steps, her son in tow.
"Mom?" Jazz follows after them.
"Mads where are you going?"
Vlad comes out last, not a hair out of place, as he calmly walks down the steps.
Danny tries to pull away from her grip. "Mom stop!"
He looks at Vlad. Tries to go over to him and Maddie's self control shatters.
"No!" She points a shaking finger at the billionaire. "You are never coming near him ever again!"
"Maddie…" her husband's voice reaches her. Sad and confused. She grits her teeth.
"He's hurt him Jack! He's hurt out boy!"
The accusation makes Danny go still in her hold. Jazz gasps. Jack blinks wildly at her. Exchanging glances between her and his friend.
Vlad stands still. Hands up in a placated manner. Trying to soothe a raging mother. But she will not be taken in.
"Jack, when Danny turned 14 he'd constantly get injuries and bruises!"
"Yeah but Danny told us that was from his ghost powers. He just had trouble controlling it!"
"What about after?" She tries very hard to keep her voice level and not to start screaming like she wants to. "Like he couldn't get basic control over himself for four years? He was fighting something! Fighting someone!"
"Maddie Vlad would never--"
"He'd never hurt another person?" Maddie gestures wildly towards the jet. "That man in the plane is practically dead!"
Vlad finally speaks up. "That man would have killed me. Of course I defended myself."
Maddie narrows her eyes at him. There was a difference between defending yourself and what he'd done. He could have easily imcompacitated that man without maiming him.
"Jack call a cab! We're going to--"
"It was other ghosts!" Danny blurts out.
And finally the storm rages to a still.
Maddie turns to her son but he's looking at his shoes. He pulls his gaze up to look at her. Shame on his face.
"They targeted me because I was the son of ghost hunters. I knew you guys would blame yourselves if I told you. And I didn't want you to worry because I had my powers to defend myself with."
Something cracks in her gut.
"W-what?"
Her son, her baby boy, had had to fight off ghosts alone?
She strokes his cheek. "Why didn't you tell us? We could have protected you!"
"Not all the time." Danny whispers. "You can't be with me 24/7. Besides, I got pretty good at defending myself. They eventually stopped picking on me after they learned I wasn't an easy target."
The glass in her chest twists into her heart. Bleeding her inside out. Just how long had Danny suffered alone? How much more had he endured without wanting to worry them?
"Danny," Jack says sorrowful, "it's our job to worry about you. Of course we want to know about your problems."
Danny nods. Swallowing hard. Unable to take it, Maddie hugs him to her chest. Jack's arms surround them both in a warm cocoon. She feels Jazz join in a moment later.
"Danny, you know I love you." He nods in her arms. "But please baby no more secrets."
No more secrets. She couldn't bare it.
"Okay Mom."
She opens her eyes to look back at Vlad. He watches their family hug from a safe distance. She doesn't know what's wrong with her. This is the second time she was ready to assume the worst only to find out she was jumping the gun. Why did she feel the need to suddenly over analyze everything? Why was she so determined to find Vlad at fault? He was her friend! She'd known him for years! Sure they'd had ups and downs (the stunt in the Rockies comes to mind) but they were past all that! Weren't they?
Maddie knows she should go apologize to him. Hope that he accepts and she doesn't have to feel like a terrible human being for accusing him of something so foul. Except, for some ungodly, confusing reason, she doesn't want to. Part of her is screaming that something is still wrong but she doesn't know what.
The hug breaks and Danny smiles at her. Maddie doesn't understand how he can when she had been more neglectful than previously believed. It was one thing to not take notice your son had ghost powers. It was another to not realize he was fighting dangerous beings every other night. How could she overlook his apparent exhaustion? She'd always chalked it up to homework or the like.
They can already hear the sirens wailing in the distance and Danny walks over to stand next to Vlad. Maddie doesn't understand the guilt in the other man's expression.