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A Family for Daniel
By: Lalaith Quetzalli
Lyta Hall was so afraid for her son, of losing him to the King of Dreams, that she fled. She ran and never looked back. Years later Rose Walker learns that her friend is dead, has been for years, the question is: where is Daniel? No one knows, no one can find him. What’s become of Daniel Hall and will he ever get the family he deserves? And in the meantime, Dream of the Endless has wishes for a family of his own, wishes he’ll never admit to.
The usual calm and peace of the palace in the Dreaming is interrupted unexpectedly as a young woman appears abruptly right in the middle of the throne and starts calling loudly:
“Dream! UNCLE DREAM!”
It takes a little while, but eventually Dream of the Endless shows up in the throne room, walking around the throne and down the stairs towards the woman.
“Rose?” He asks, confused. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Where’s Daniel?” She asks, abrupt.
A part of Dream wants to feel annoyed at her demanding tone; yet he can tell that she’s just trying to hide her fear behind it, so he doesn’t take offense. Also, he’s not quite sure what’s going on, other than whatever it is, it’s really affecting her.
“Daniel,” Rose repeats. “Lyta’s son?”
“Is he missing?” Dream blinks.
“You don’t know?” Rose seems taken aback by that for some reason.
“No.” Dream admits. “I… haven’t seen young Daniel since he was a baby.”
It’s until he says it, that Dream realizes how odd that is.
“You… you don’t think he’s dead too, do you?” Rose asks, very, very quietly.
“Too?” Dream blinks.
“Lyta’s dead.” Rose sighs, then drops onto the bottom step leading up to the throne. “A lawyer came to see me today. Apparently she was just declared dead, and since I was listed as her next-of-kin,” something she did after Daniel was born, just in case. “I was notified.”
“You did not know.” Dream realizes.
“I knew that the company she worked for declared her missing, years ago. Some people went looking for me back then, asking what I knew about her whereabouts. I told them… mostly the truth. That she’d gone on vacation with her son. I didn’t declare her missing because I wasn’t surprised by her not coming back. I thought it normal, for her to want to move away, start over, after the loss of Hector and all that. I’m sure that at least one of them knew there was something I wasn’t saying, I was asked several times if Lyta might have been involved in something dangerous, something she might need to run away from, if she’d been in an abusive relationship… in any case, that was that back then.”
“And now they declared her dead? How did they do that?”
“Well, apparently they know she’s dead, or at least have pretty good reasons to believe so. Some PI or something managed to track her and Daniel to New York, where they took a plane to Miami. And once there, they got on a cruise to the Caribbean. That’s where the trail officially ends.”
“Officially?”
“According to the investigation, while there’s no record of when or where Lyta got off the cruise. They did find a woman and a baby boy fitting their description, who boarded a ship headed to South America in Puerto Rico. Different names, but still. The thing is, said ship never made it to its destination. Apparently there was some sort of issue, poor maintenance, or a storm, or some criminal organization, the rumors do not agree on what exactly, other than they never made it to port. A cargo ship from Brazil found a few survivors but the majority are believed to have died.”
“Including Hypolyta Hall and young Daniel.”
“Y… I, yes.”
“You did not know this.”
“No, I didn’t. I…” Rose pulls at one of her dreadlocks. “You know how I told you that Lyta was terrified of you?”
“I remember.”
“She never got over what you said, about how you’d one day take Daniel…”
“As I tried to explain to her, I did not mean that I’d one day steal young Daniel from her. But that since he’s a child of the Dreaming…”
“I know Uncle Dream, I know.” She hurries to reassure him. “I don’t hold it against you. I know you’d have never stolen Danny or anything like that. The thing is, Lyta didn’t believe that. She was absolutely terrified still. And when she found out that you and I were getting along, that Jed was calling you Uncle Dream and all…” She took longer than her little brother, to warm up to their uncle, but eventually she did too. “I think she felt betrayed. She also felt very, very afraid.”
“I do not understand.”
“Well, she probably thought that I’d help you take Daniel away from her, especially… well, she wasn’t doing so great. Worrying all day, hardly resting, seemingly always on the edge of freaking out… I told her more than once that it wasn’t good, for her or the baby. That she needed to sleep more, look after herself. I think she might have feared that I’d find her unfit to be a mother and taken Danny away from her, give him to you.”
“But you were her friend, should she not have trusted you?”
“I…” She still hurts at that thought. “Yes. Yes she should have.”
“I’m sorry Rose…”
“I mean, don’t take this the wrong way Uncle Dream, but I’d have been behind Lyta 100%.”
“I know. You’re a good friend.”
“And you’re a good uncle.”
“Thank you.” Dream actually blushes a bit at that, it’s so precious!
“So the point is.” Rose continues. “I knew Lyta was running away. I tried to convince her that she didn’t need to, but she wouldn’t listen. So I let her go. And now she’s dead.”
“And young Daniel?”
“I do not know. I… apparently most bodies were recovered eventually, but none belonged to children.” It’s always possible that his body just couldn’t be recovered, but Rose is an optimist above all, she really wants to believe that Daniel is alive and well somewhere. “That’s why I…”
“That’s why you asked me where he is. You expected me to know.”
“Or, barring that, to be able to find him doing your… your ‘thing’.”
Dream smirks a bit at the hand gestures and the tone she takes when she talks about his ‘thing’. But still he focuses on the part of him that is fully connected to the Dreaming, that Is the Dreaming. Nothing. Daniel is nowhere to be found. Something must show in his expression, as he need not say a word, before Rose says it for him.
“He’s not here, is he?” She starts to feel truly afraid then.
“No, but you must remember Rose, not all humans sleep at the same time.” Dream points out. “He may simple be in the Waking at this time.”
“True. That’s… that’s true.” Rose tries to convince herself, she needs to stay positive. “Will you, will you keep looking for him? Please?”
“I will, I promise you Rose.” Dream assures her.
She goes to say something else, but before she can she feels the pull in the back of her head, the one that signals she’s about to wake up.
“Go Rose,” Dream tells her. “I will keep looking for young Daniel. We will meet again.”
xXx
A week passes before Rose and Dream get to meet again. She doesn’t even need him to say a word before she knows the answer:
“You haven’t been able to find him, have you?” She murmurs quietly, pained.
Dream can only shake his head.
“Does that mean he’s dead?” Matthew blurts out, horrifying everyone by the mere idea.
Dream would really like to say no. That it’s not possible. That he’d know if Daniel Hall, a boy that was conceived in the Dreaming; that, much as his mother might have hated it, might have been in absolute denial about it, is part of Dream himself (he’s, in fact, more Dream’s son than he was ever Hector’s, as dead men cannot beget children, not even in the Dreaming, especially not with someone still alive); Dream would really like to say he’d know if the boy were dead, but the thing is, he just doesn’t. He doesn’t know and he hates that.
“What about a hideout?” Jed, who’s found his way to the palace (one of the few times he’s even cared to, as usually he’s happy visiting with Gauld and other dreams), suggests.
Everyone turns to look at him, like not quite understanding what he means.
“Yeah like, I know this is your kingdom Uncle Dream,” Jed elaborates. “But is there some place here where you like, never go? A place that’s maybe for one person. Like a superhero’s hideout?”
Rose can mostly understand why that makes sense to Jed, when it doesn’t for anyone else. While her brother no longer dreams about being the Sandman, she knows he’s working towards turning those childhood dreams of his into a comic-book. He’s pretty good, if she does say so herself. Still, that does not mean it’s in any way relevant… except for how it apparently is, judging by the considering look Uncle Dream’s directing at him.
“There’s one such place.” Dream admits eventually, though before anyone can question him further on it he adds: “I’ll need to think further on this.”
“Of course,” They all understand that’s meant to be a dismissal.
“Just wanted to help Uncle Dream,” Jed shrugs as he turns to leave.
“And you did Jed, more than you know.” Dream assures. “Now go, get some rest, I do believe you have a test due tomorrow.”
Jed groans but does walk away.
Rose is the only one who decides to be stubborn and stay. Neither her nor Dream are really surprised about this.
“Uncle Dream?” She asks quietly, hesitantly.
“Come niece,” Is all Dream says, as he walks out of the palace himself.
Rose, not knowing what else to do, follows.
“His name is Hob Gadling and he’s… a friend.” Dream explains after what seems like forever.
The woman picks up on the hesitation before saying friend, yet she doesn’t think it’s because her uncle doesn’t like the man, the whole opposite in fact. Dream sounds like… like he’d like to use some other word to describe him, yet doesn’t dare. Or maybe, maybe he’s just afraid of it. He used to be afraid of calling her niece, Rose knows. Like he shouldn’t, like he didn’t deserve to… Rose doesn’t know all that’s happened, but she knows enough to realize that her great-grandparent, the one due to whom she gets to call Dream uncle in the first place, is to blame. More than once Rose has wished she could punch them in the face, whoever they might be, for what they did to Unity, and to Uncle Dream, and even for what they did to Rose herself (for its clear to her that they have to be connected with the whole Vortex mess in some way and Rose almost died because of that! Unity did die!)
“How long have you… known each other?” Rose changes her choice of words in the last moment.
Because she knows her uncle. He still calls Lucienne his Librarian, or his assistant, half the time, even though everyone knows they’re more friends than employer-employee.
“Over six hundred years now.” Dream reveals. “I… haven’t been the best of friends to him.”
“But you’re trying, aren’t you, uncle Dream?” She asks.
“I… not as hard as I probably ought to.” Dream admits, and there’s an infinite sadness in his voice. “I’m not even sure if he’ll be willing to see me.”
“I’m sure he’d love to see you.” She tries to comfort him.
“When last we spoke…” Dream sighs. “It was but months after… after we settled things. He’s immortal, as you might have been able to surmise. But he’s not… he’s human.” At Rose’s shocked inhale he clarifies a bit. “He boasted, one day, about how he’d never die. My sister and I happened to overhear him. I could not fathom how any mortal would want to live forever and… Death proposed we find out. She’d withhold her gift from him until he asked for it, and I could ask him what he thought about getting to live forever. I was so sure he’d be begging to die before the end of the first century.”
Rose has a pretty good idea where this was going, and not just because her uncle already mentioned he’s known this man for over six centuries.
“You lost the bet, didn’t you?” She’s almost laughing in delight at the idea, at the thought of her uncle losing a bet due to a human’s love for life…
“I did.” The smallest of smiles forms on her uncles phase. “I’ve never been so happy to do so.”
There’s something special about that smile. It’s different from any other Rose’s ever seen. Smaller but also… more genuine somehow. Rose likes it. Likes knowing that there’s someone out there who can make her uncle so happy just with him thinking about them.
“The last time I talked to Hob, we didn’t part in the best of terms.” Dream admits then. “I… when we first reunited, following my captivity, he invited me to visit more often. And I did. He was there when I had trouble dealing with my time away, the knowledge that so many of my own creations abandoned me, had no faith in me, and then…”
And then her, and the Corinthian, and even Calliope… Rose knows about Calliope. Accidentally drew the muse to her while she was writing her second novel. The two of them are friends, but not too close. Rose is glad to hear that her uncle had someone in his corner, that someone was there for him when he needed it most. She does worry though, that apparently he’s not anymore.
“I couldn’t understand for the longest time why, why when everyone that knew me could believe the worst of me, believe that I’d abandon them, abandon my function! Why when my own creations had no faith in me he still…” Dream has trouble putting his thoughts into words. “He still believed. Even when I failed to meet him for our last appointment; even with how badly things went the time before that, with me walking out and ignoring his calls for me to return, when he called me on my loneliness… Even with all of that, he still believed that I’d return one day. That we’d meet again eventually. He would still call me his friend, even when I had refused to call him mine…”
Rose has a feeling she knows where this is going.
“I’m… not good with relationships.” Dream admits. “I’m cold, and intransigent, proud, distant, work too much and I can be very, very cruel… And yet…”
Yeah, she knows exactly where this is all going.
“I told him he couldn’t love me.” Dream states simply. “That he was human and couldn’t possibly understand the folly of loving an Endless. I’m not human, I cannot love him…”
“Except that you do,” Rose cuts him off, very, very gently. “Don’t you, uncle Dream?”
Dream just exhales, and that’s answer enough. And suddenly they’re there.
On the other side from Fiddler’s Green, out of sight and near impossible to find unless one knows its there, is a special place. To those on the outside it looks like a wooden construction, a tavern, out of time and space. The inside though, looks however the dreamer that place serves as sanctuary for, wants it to. It was Dream’s gift to Hob, before pulling back, staying away, believing that loving the human would condemn him somehow… Also, unknown to anyone but Dream himself; even (or specially) Hob, that place has since become the heart of the Dreaming. It used to be Fiddler’s Green but well… he abandoned the Dreaming, abandoned Dream. Even if he came back, and had a good excuse for his absence, that does not change the fact that he walked away. Hob’s never done that…
“I don’t even know if he’ll want to see me…” Dream mutters.
Rose hears the warning in his words, but she also thinks that it’s his fear talking. He’s terribly close to backing down, walking away. And she cannot allow that. Even if visiting this guy doesn’t help them at all with finding out what happened to Daniel, she wants to be able to help uncle Dream. Rose doesn’t even know Hob Gadling but she can tell that her uncle needs him… So she opens the door to the tavern and steps right in…
The inside looks more modern than the outside would indicate actually. There’s a bar in the middle and a door leading… somewhere. There are tables all around, rather eclectic, like they belong to a variety of places rather than the one pub… or maybe a variety of time periods, would fit the description better. In a table beside one of the fireplaces sits the man. He’s the only one who seems to be truly there (unlike the shades on a number of other tables, and manning the bar). There’s a beer on the table in front of him, and he has in his hands a book that looks really, really old… He raises his head as she approaches, speaking before fully looking at her.
“You’re late… oh…” He trails off. “I’m sorry miss, you’re not who I was expecting to see.”
He looks like he’s going to say something else, or perhaps try to, but that’s the exact moment when her uncle finally catches up to her. She can see the exact moment when the man notices him for the way his eyes widen, and there’s suddenly such a bright smile on his face… Before that moment Rose would have said that while the man wasn’t ugly by any accounts, neither was he especially handsome. Only when he smiles… it’s like the sun. And she has no idea if that’s them being in a dream, how much her uncle clearly loves him, or just something that’s all him (is he entirely human? Rose doesn’t remember if she asked that…).
“Hob Gadling…” Her uncle murmurs, and it almost sounds like he’s saying a hundred different things, rather than just those two words.
“My friend…” Hob tilts his head to the side, smile softening but not disappearing, and the way he’s still staring at her uncle…
“Still?” Has Dream ever sounded quite so… disbelieving? Hopeful?
“Always.” Hob reassures him.
All of a sudden Rose cannot help but feel a bit like a voyeur. She almost wants to walk out and let them have their privacy. Except… they’re here for a reason, aren’t they?
None of them gets the chance to ask any question, as right then a voice interrupts:
“Daddy!” It’s a boy’s voice.
All three adults turn to the door leading to some kind of backyard at the same time, seeing a small boy with strangely sparkly green eyes and messy dark hair dressed in simple jeans, a blue tee and sneakers rush into the place. The moment she sees him… she doesn’t even need to hear his name to know who exactly he is.
“Wha…? Danny!” Hob’s cry confirms her thoughts. “I’ve told you not to run in here, young man…”
Everything happens too fast, as the boy trips over… something (a chair? A tablecloth? His own feet?) He starts falling, and all three adults are on the move instantly, reaching to catch him, even though none of them are truly close enough to reach him in time. Except Dream’s suddenly there and does manage to catch the kid before he hits the ground.
“Daniel Hall…” He pronounces.
Daniel’s eyes go wide at that. And not just that, but Hob’s too. A moment later, they’re both gone. Leaving Dream and Rose standing in the middle of an empty pub.
“That went well,” Rose states, sarcastically and entirely unnecessarily, as far as Dream’s concerned.
“At least we now know young Daniel is safe, and well.” Dream points out calmly.
“True.” Rose admits. “Still don’t know why he’s with that guy, though.”
“I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation.” Dream assures her.
“Sure,” Rose isn’t too sure, but still, her uncle’s right that things have improved. “Can you find the guy in the Waking World?”
“I can.” Dream nods. “You must be aware Rose. He does not reside in America.”
“No, I did not expect him to.” Rose nods.
Still, at least now they know that Daniel is alive. Everything else will come in due time…
xXx
Much like Dream expected, they find Hob Gadling at the New Inn… that’s about all that goes as expected though.
There are a few tense moments what with Dream and Rose wanting to know exactly how her friend’s son ended with a man she’d never even heard the name of before the night prior.
“I knew her as Diana Trevor.” Hob doesn’t actually get to giving any explanation whatsoever until Dream promises him that Rose is good and won’t hurt Daniel (or maybe it’s hearing she’s his niece). “On a ship bound to Argentina. See, I needed a bit of a break, and since I have some business over there I thought, why not? I met her on our second night on board. She was beyond exhausted, almost falling asleep on her feet more than once, yet she couldn’t seem to rest. I noticed right away that something was very wrong.” He pauses before adding. “To be honest, and with how close she kept baby Danny at all times, I thought she might have run away from the boy’s father. That maybe he was violent, or dangerous, or something and she was fleeing.”
Rose could have laughed at how right and how wrong the man was, all at the same time.
“I’m… not actually sure how it is I managed to earn her trust.” Hob admits. “Though I suppose it might be simply that she really needed someone. And… I needed to keep busy.”
“Were you…?” Rose begins, then trails, off, not quite sure how to ask the question she’s thought of, or if she even wants to ask it at all.
“Together?” Clearly Hob understands anyway, and doesn’t hesitate at all when answering. “No, not at all. Like I said, at times I thought she was running away from a bad relationship. And then she’d talk about her husband and… it was clear to me that whatever was really going on, she wasn’t over it. And I… I wasn’t in the right place for a relationship either. I…” He abruptly seems to remember Dream’s right there and freezes for a moment. “Anyway, no, we were just friends. Or whatever you wish to call me when when I’d regularly take Danny for a walk, or a run, around the deck of the ship, giving her time to take a nap, have a long soak, that sort of thing.”
“I’m glad she had you there to help her.” Rose says quietly.
She tried so hard to be there for Lyta… but while at first her friend allowed it, when she found out that Rose had forgiven Dream and was getting to know him, was becoming friendly with him… Lyta refused to so much as leave her alone with her son after that. As if she expected Rose to kidnap the baby and take him to Dream. As if she believed Rose capable of something like that…
“I did what I could,” Hob shrugs. “And then… things happened.”
“Things?” Rose repeats, not sure what that’s supposed to mean.
“I cannot tell you for certain but I think it was either one of the cartels, or maybe the authorities thought our ship was with the cartels?” Hob contemplates, then decides it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. “Either way, there was fighting, at least a couple of explosions, and before I quite knew what was going on, the ship was sinking. I cannot die, so I had that in my favor. I tried to help your friend but she just… she went absolutely crazy. Wouldn’t stop kicking out, yelling obscenities. Almost sunk me more than once, and Danny too.” He shakes his head. “It’s quite likely that if I could have, she’d have ended up drowning me. In the end all I could do was stay out of her way, and keep Danny with me.” She looks straight at Rose. “I’m really sorry. I tried to save your friend, I swear I did, I just…”
“You cannot save someone who doesn’t want to be saved.” Rose finishes for him.
Just like one couldn’t help someone who didn’t want to be helped (it’s what she keeps telling to herself at least, to avoid her own feelings of guilt).
“So Lyta died, and you just… chose to kept Danny?” Rose’s still a bit disbelieving at that.
“I suspected from the star that Diana Trevor wasn’t her real name.” Hob points out. “Not just because of her hesitation when introducing herself but… she didn’t actually have all the papers she needed. I helped her out a bit, but still. And it always took a few tries before she’d answer, when called. Making it clear she wasn’t used to answering to that name. To either of those.” There’s a reason why he keeps choosing variants of the same name, so he has less of a hard time remembering to answer to it. “I wasn’t exactly planning on ‘dying’ just yet myself. But considering how few actually survived, it was just easier. And Danny… I couldn’t exactly leave him in a foreign country, with no one at all. And… I could tell he was special, even if I didn’t quite know how much. I couldn’t help but wonder, if someone truly was after the boy, what if they found him? So I decided to keep him with me. Keep him safe. I’ve done the best I could to do that.”
“Thank you.” Rose eventually murmurs.
Then it’s her turn to tell their side of things. Hob already knows about the Dream Vortex, in very general terms. However, he knew nothing about Lyta’s baby, or Dream’s connection to him…
“So she truly was running away from someone,” Hob concludes, looking at Dream. “From you. I’m so, so sorry my friend.”
That definitely takes Dream by surprise.
“What? Just like that?” Rose blurts out. “Not gonna ask him what he might have done to make her afraid? What he might want with Daniel?”
“Well I might not be an expert in things, and I might only know the bare bones of what happened with you all years ago.” Hob points out calmly. “But I do know two things: I know my friend, that he’s not a bad person, whatever he might insist on saying sometimes. And I know that Danny’s special, in a way humans rarely are… So if you tell me that Danny is a dream-child, I’ll believe that, if you tell me he’s connected to Dream, I’ll absolutely believe that. If you tell me that your friend got so terrified over the safety of her son and refused to listen to reason… I will totally believe that. Because see, I remember being a first time father and fearing that everything around was a potential risk to my baby boy, fearing that anyone and anything could potentially take him away from me. And knowing as I do how bad this one,” he points at Dream,” is at using his words, I have no doubt he must have said something he thought perfectly logical and which your friend took in the worst possible way.”
“I’d never hurt young Daniel…” Dream begins.
“Of course not,” Hob scoffs. “However, a young, new mother, confused, deeply traumatized, and who just discovered the world is so much more complicated than she ever imagined possible? Well, it doesn’t really surprise me that she reacted as she did.”
The way Hob denies it, his confidence that of course Dream would never hurt Daniel… it leaves Dream absolutely breathless. Has anyone ever believed in him like that? So absolutely? So effortlessly?
“So, I suppose if you came all the way here from wherever you might have been you want to see Danny.” Hob offers then.
Rose nods immediately.
“Okay, just so we’re all on the same page.” Hob states as he stands. “Currently we’re Robbie and Danny Gadling. We own this place, inherited it from my cousin: Bob Gadlen, who died unexpectedly in an accident in South America a few years ago. Because Danny doesn’t look much like me we’ve been telling people that he takes after his mom, who died when he was still a baby, we’ve never given any details as to why, letting everyone make assumptions.” He looks Dream up and down. “You resemble him enough that you could claim to be his uncle, if you wanted. If you’d be interested in sticking around. Dropping more often. To see Danny, I mean.”
“I would,” Dream blurts, almost before Hob’s finished speaking. Then, more quietly he adds: “I’d also like to see more of you too.”
They’ve just made it to the backyard, where Danny looks to be having a lot of fun just running around, doing nothing at all. He’s such a happy boy… tears almost come to Rose’s eyes. She’s so happy…
“That option’s always been open to you dove,” Hob says softly as he goes to sit on a picnic table, not quite turning to look at Dream. “You’re the one who walked away, not I.”
“I… I’m sorry,” Dream murmurs, because what else can he say?
“It’s okay,” Hob exhales. “You know when I told you I love you, I wasn’t trying to make you do something you do not want, right? Me loving you, it doesn’t mean you have to reciprocate. I swear my friend, I am capable of keeping myself to… well, myself. And if you forgive me if sometimes my dreams get away from me… I’m happy being your friend. I will never ask for more.”
“And what if I…” Dream hesitates, clears his throat. “What if I do want you to ask for more? What if I’d ask for more myself?”
Hob can barely believe he’s hearing what he thinks he is… still, he has to try, doesn’t he?
“Then I would tell you I’m still here, I will always be here, love.” He says with a small smile.
Dream just cannot help himself, as he moves just the right way to place a single, short, sweet kiss to Hob’s lips. The human looks taken aback for a moment, then he smiles, brighter than ever.
And that… well, that’s that.
The rest of the afternoon is spent with everyone laughing, having fun. Danny might not remember Rose and Dream, not really, but inside he can feel a connection to them both. He likes them. Also, when they introduce themselves, and explain their connection to him (both the real one, and the one they’ll pretend for the sake of the humans), Daniel is so very excited, his family’s growing! And for that matter, so is Dream’s. And nothing, nothing at all could make him happier.