Chapter Text
The morning of Danny’s birthday, Vlad roused the Fentons bright and early. Danny had of course complained that not even the sun was up as early as they were, but Maddie did her best to reassure him that it would be worth it. With breakfast and coffee to go, the three left Vlad’s mansion and headed to the airport to meet up with Jazz, who Vlad had flown in for the day.
Maddie was somewhat concerned about this reunion, considering how tense her leaving had been. She was pleasantly surprised when they entered the private plane and Jazz leapt off her seat to instantly wrap her brother in hug that obviously startled him. She gave him a quick squeeze before moving on to hug Maddie as well.
Jazz looked great. She was beaming even, excitedly sharing how her internship was going as they took their seats on the plane and settled in for the flight. Maddie had planned on making space for Jazz and Danny to maybe talk privately and resolve whatever had caused the rift from last time, but it seemed it wasn't needed. Jazz was positive and inviting and Danny looked stunned at first by it, but Danny's somewhat guarded intensity settled and relaxed, and he followed her lead in engaging as if nothing had ever been wrong.
That had been a massive relief for Maddie, and she, too, was able to relax. The four settled into an easy and relaxed two and half hours of small talk and playful banter. Jazz caught them up on her internship, which was unsurprisingly going well. She was impressing her bosses with her unending enthusiasm and knowledge to the point that they had begun discussing something more permanent once she graduated.
Maddie smiled proudly at her daughter who was practically glowing with excitement as she shared her experiences. The only thing that seemed to not be going well for her was relating to the other interns, who, according to Jazz, were projecting their own insecurities onto her by excluding her from any casual activities.
This, too, didn’t surprise Maddie in the slightest. Fentons always had difficulty making friends. Vlad was the only friend Maddie really had.
The only exception was Danny, who had managed to double the Fenton average.
She frowned to herself, the conversation a disappointing reminder that she had failed to get Sam and Tucker to come on the trip. Apparently Sam had been grounded for vandalism during some small protest that hadn't even made local news, and Tucker’s parents had not been comfortable with their son making such a trip without their supervision, which struck Maddie as somewhat sudden and odd considering Tucker had attended weekends and camping trips with Danny without any concern about supervision. Despite her best efforts, neither set of parents had been willing to budge or compromise with her.
She had dreaded having to tell Danny they wouldn't be coming and had been prepared for some kind of regression from the contentment he'd had for the past few days. She had prepared herself for yelling, attitude, anger, frustration... Anything, really.
But he had just nodded. That was it. Like he had been expecting it. She had stared dumbly as he'd continued his breakfast like she'd told him it might be a little cloudy.
That had worried her, but she wasn't sure how to address it, and ended up deciding it was best to drop it for the time being. She didn't want to cause any unnecessary drama around his birthday of all days, but it remained in the back of her mind, and she started wondering if his good attitude warranted a little more... skepticism...
That had been the only concerning thing she'd seen from him, though. As far as she could tell otherwise, Danny looked like he was in a great mood since starting football practice. There had been only once, the morning after Vlad took him out to practice, where she had seen some tension in him; like he was anxious about something. At first, she'd chalked it up to being sore and tired, but as the evening went on and his anxiety got worse, she started to suspect and worry that it was some misplaced guilt for having a good time. But the very next day, he was perfectly calm and content, even a little playfully snarky, which she hadn't seen from him in a while, and it didn't recede as the week went on.
Vlad later confirmed her suspicions, telling her he'd had a chance to ask Danny about it. Apparently it had taken some careful prying on his part, but eventually, Danny had admitted to him that he did have a good time, and just hadn't known how to accept it. Maddie didn't know how Vlad did it, getting past her son's defenses, getting him to communicate with him, but since she was consistently failing so miserably on that front, she was both embarrassed and grateful to have Vlad reaching out to him where she couldn't.
So she'd dropped her worries. She hadn't been sure why Danny had asked to come to Wisconsin after the incident, but now... now she understood. For whatever reason, Vlad and Danny had a connection she didn't truly understand, but it really was helping him.
When the plane landed, Danny once again badgered her for details on where they were going, but Maddie insisted he wait and not spoil the surprise. She even had him close his eyes during certain parts of the drive so that the exits wouldn’t give away the destination.
When the private car finally pulled into the lot and she let him open his eyes, his mouth dropped open in shock as he gazed out the window.
“Surprise!” Maddie squealed excitedly.
“Happy birthday, Danny!” Jazz chimed in.
Danny slowly opened his eyes, looking between the three of them in the limo before glancing out the window. The moment he did, he did a double-take, staring wide-eyed at the massive building they were parked in front of, but his eyes seemed fixed to the enormous NASA logo. It took him a while to tear his eyes away to look back at her and Jazz with disbelief. “Are you serious?” he asked, almost breathlessly. “Really?”
Maddie's smile grew brighter at the excitement in Danny’s dazzled blue eyes as they were let out of the car and approached the entrance.
“Take your time, sweetheart. We’ve got a full weekend ahead,” Maddie told him as he started rushing towards the front of the building.
His eyes grew even bigger. “Weekend? Are you serious?!”
Maddie smiled and nodded. “Vlad got us rooms on site.”
It had felt like too much, when Vlad had offered. She had pitched the idea to drive here over the weekend, and Vlad had not only loved the idea, but had insisted they take his plane and that he purchase them a hotel to stay for the weekend.
She'd tried to protest, but Vlad wouldn't hear it, asserting: "He needs to be reminded what his future could look like."
She'd felt a little guilty letting Vlad do so much for them, but now, seeing Danny stare with wide eyes full of wonder and passion, all of her anxieties, guilt, and concerns washed away.
Danny’s eyes flicked to Vlad, then back to her, seeming conflicted for a split second before his excitement won out over whatever hesitation had struck him.
“Thi–This is–I–” he stammered breathily.
“Hurry up, Danny, let’s get in there!” Jazz ushered.
Maddie stepped out of the limo shortly after Danny burst out of it, then glanced back in at their luggage, but Vlad placed a hand on the back of her shoulder and smiled reassuringly. "The driver will take our luggage. I have everything taken care of."
She smiled gratefully. It was strange having all of the details of the trip handled for her. It had been strange since the first day they'd arrived in Wisconsin, having everything handled. She supposed she should see it like a vacation, but she wasn't used to having nothing to do. Still, she couldn't deny, seeing how much effort and care Vlad put into making them all comfortable and handling the details; it was refreshing.
She didn't remember Vlad being so caring in college. He had been... intense. And a little fragile in the ego. She was glad he was so...different.
As they entered the lobby, she watched Danny’s eyes grew comically bigger as he absorbed the sights around him, and he almost started to absently wander away to look at some displays when a small group of men and women in business attire approached the four of them, the man at the head of the group leading the way and making a beeline straight for Vlad.
“Mr. Masters!” the man greeted, shaking Vlad’s hand amiably, “How was the flight over?”
“Mr. Garcia,” Vlad greeted in return, “The flight was comfortable, but as you can see, my godson is eager to start our tour today.”
Mr. Garcia looked over at Danny and extended his hand to him. “Oh, you must be Danny. I heard you have aspirations of being an astronaut?”
Danny’s cheeks took on a reddish color. “Uh… y-yeah... Y-yeah! Uh, I'm uh... yeah, I... I do.”
“You know, we’re on course to making the first trip to Mars here in the next decade or so. If the timing’s right, that could easily be you.”
Danny got even redder, but it was overshadowed by a wide, excited smile.
“Now, I won’t take up too much of your time,” Mr. Garcia told the group and began handing each of them a pamphlet. “We have your itinerary here. If you have any questions or concerns, I have given Mr. Masters my personal number, please don’t hesitate to reach out. There is room for some adjustments for a few items if we need to rearrange anything, however we do ask that you arrive at the dinner on time. As you’re aware, our astronauts have strict training regimens and we want to be respectful of their time.”
“Dinner… with an astronaut?” Danny muttered in awe, flipping open the pamphlet to scan over its contents. “Oh my god, we’re having dinner with Robert Behnkin?!”
Maddie exchanged a puzzled expression with Jazz; neither of them apparently knew the significance of the name.
"And this here is Amanda Walsh. She'll be your guide for the day," Mr. Garcia said, making way for the woman amongst the group next to him. She approached and shook Vlad and Maddie's hands.
“Thank you very much, Mr. Garcia. Ms. Walsh, a pleasure to meet you,” Vlad said amiably. Once Mr. Garcia left them, Vlad turned to the group and clasped his hands together. “Now, I believe our first visit is the… hm… Daniel, would you take a look at the itinerary?”
Danny looked at the top of the pamphlet. “Introduction Day…” he read, read a little further along, then looked up at Maddie excitedly. “Whoa, we’re going to get to do astronaut training?!”
“Hey, no reading ahead!” Jazz teased him.
Ms. Walsh smiled with amusement at Danny's excitement, then gestured for the four to follow her. "If you'll follow me, Mr. Masters, Fentons, we have a shuttle waiting for you just outside to take you to our first event."
They were almost late to the shuttle, mostly due to having to corral Danny away from exhibits and displays that caught his attention—honestly, Maddie had never had so much difficulty keeping Danny on track, but it didn’t bother her in the slightest. Every time she had to pull him away from a rocket ship replica or a documentary on the latest mission, it made her sure that, finally, she had made a good call.
“I promise we’ll see everything, honey,” she assured him.
Once on the shuttle, Amanda began pointing to various buildings and complexes and shared their significance, use, and history, but Maddie didn’t find any of it that particularly engaging. While she certainly acknowledged the scientific importance of space exploration, it never really called to her and admittedly, even bored her a little.
Danny, though, was enraptured, practically buzzing in his seat as his head swiveled this way and that and occasionally pointed something out to her or to Jazz and told them some history or interesting little factoid behind it.
It only struck her now, watching him soak in every boring tidbit the guide offered like a star, his excitement burning brighter as he added to every comment she made with more details no one else but him seemed that invested in, just how much of a Fenton he was. She knew he wanted to be an astronaut, but she had never seen it shine quite like it was now. She actually didn't realize how much mental space he had reserved for it. It was dazzling. She had seen that same excitement in Jack about ghosts, in Jazz about psychology, and now she was finally seeing what sparked Danny. To be honest, she had thought he just didn’t have that same level of interest in anything that the rest of their family did. He had gotten so distant in his teenage years, she had never really had an opportunity to view him this way.
She couldn’t have been happier to listen to something so dull.
About a quarter way into their drive, Amanda began passing out paperwork to each of them.
“While we get to our destination, we’ll need you all to sign these waivers before you can participate in the activities.”
“Waivers?” Jazz asked, reading it over scrupulously. “What for?”
“Mr. Masters has reserved a very special VIP experience for all of you,” the guide informed her. “We will be doing flight simulations and training courses today to prepare you for a sub-orbital flight tomorrow!”
Danny’s eyes grew to the size of saucers and he nearly dropped the pen he had handed her.
Maddie, too, looked just as surprised and she whirled to direct the expression at Vlad.
The billionaire merely shrugged as he took the paperwork and signed it. “They had a flight planned for this weekend. I couldn’t resist.”
“Vlad, that’s… it’s too much!” Maddie breathed.
“Not even close!” Danny butted in, signing the paperwork messily and eagerly before he passed it back to the guide like it was a timed test. He then settled into his seat about as calmly as a paper bag on a windy day.
Even the guide’s constant commentary throughout the drive did little to quell the anxious energy emanating from him.
With a reaction like that, Maddie knew she couldn't protest any more, despite her reservation about accepting such a massive gift. She couldn't imagine how much that must have cost. She sat rigidly, unease settling in the pit of her stomach, but looking over at Vlad, at the smile that crossed his lips as he watched Danny's reaction, she realized that Vlad seemed to be taking almost as much joy from this as Danny was. It stole her breath away, how much he cared about her family, how hard he was working to get Danny (no, all of them) through this. She couldn't take this away from either of them.
The group eventually arrived at a preparation site that looked like a small, domed amphitheater meant for many more guests than the four of them, where they began with a lecture by a former astronaut Maddie didn't catch the name of. She regaled them with stories from her own trips to space, instructed them on what to expect over the course of the training, and gave a presentation on astronomy; complete with a dazzling planetarium show full of lights and 3-D imagery.
Danny sat next to her, entire being hyper-focused on the presentation like he expected a test afterward. She cast little glances at him throughout, not wanting to make him self-conscious, but basking in his excitement.
After about an hour and half for the presentation, it was time for some simulations, which was deeper into the facility. A staff member introduced them to a motion simulator that was really just a cockpit meant to be able to move with gyroscopic motion.
Danny was permitted the first ride after all of them got fitted for a flight suit, which they were told they would not only be using over the course of the weekend, but that they would be taking home with them. Danny looked overjoyed, hands idly moving over the material like he was memorizing it.
After providing him a headset, the staff helped strap him into the cockpit and get acquainted with the various dials and screens present in front of him.
Maddie stared at the screen beside the simulator, watching Danny's expression go from intimidated to determined as he carefully got the machine to spin and move, “navigating” his initial “launch”.
There were a few times he looked unsure, but he was surprisingly open to instruction by the staff, paying close attention as they explained how to turn right side up when he'd once spun out of alignment for the spaceport docking portion of the simulation.
It wasn't that she thought he was an obstinate student, but more that she was surprised he hadn't inherited her or Jack’s egos. She could admit she didn't like having it pointed out when she was wrong or didn't know something, but Danny was all humility; asking questions, following directions with a hunger for knowledge that superseded pride. It struck her somewhat painfully how...starved he was for this.
“He's doing well,” Vlad commented, sidling up next to her as they both watched his progress on the screen. “It's impressive what he can accomplish when he puts his mind to it.”
“I know,” she concurred, then added enthusiastically, “Did you see how he looked like he knew what some of the dials and buttons were already? I think he might have been studying some of this on his own.”
Vlad smiled. “I think it's more likely he's gotten his piloting skills from his mother.”
Maddie scoffed a laugh. “I wouldn't know the first thing about how to fly a spacecraft… This is all Danny.”
Vlad nodded, then opened his phone and started typing something away.
She looked at him, then flicked her eyes at the phone without being too nosy. “What’s that?”
“I'm letting Mr. Garcia know to send the prerequisites for competitive piloting programs. I wasn't entirely sure what aspect of astronautics Danny was interested in. This is giving me some valuable insight.”
Maddie blinked at him, then glanced at the phone again as he finished his message. “Why…?”
Vlad looked at her sideways, then smirked at the corner of his mouth. She didn't mean to stare so hard at the expression and quickly averted her face before the redness in her cheeks could be observed.
Vlad either didn't notice or let it slide past, explaining nonchalantly, “I've been working with his tutor to cater his education towards future admittance to the NASA program.”
She stared, dumbfounded for a moment before shaking her head to herself and clarifying, “You've been… what?”
Vlad looked at her and apparently noticed the slight unease on her face, smiling reassuringly as he explained. “He mentioned a few months ago that he's been struggling in school and was concerned how his grades would affect his chances of being accepted into the NASA program. I'm told the typical routes are through the sciences or mathematics, but apparently he's struggling with those. I thought having his tutor focus on those topics might help, but it seems that hasn't been the case. So… we'll have to adjust for his natural inclinations. Piloting appears to be on that list.”
She looked at him, then at the screen showing Danny's determined, excited face as he successfully docked in the simulation, pumping his fist in triumph while Jazz cheered him on from outside. Her daughter, back from her internship at New York, and her now fifteen year old son celebrating his birthday at the very institution he hoped to gain a career in one day. She looked back at Vlad, the orchestrator of the smiles on her children’s faces and felt a flutter in her chest.
Swallowing a tight lump in her throat, she crossed her arms over her chest, muttering only loud enough for Vlad to hear. “Thank you.”
Vlad seemed to hear the weight in her gratitude, turning to look at her fully and his expression softening. “It’s my pleasure, Maddie.”
She smiled again, feeling that flutter spread to her stomach and down her arms, and she ducked her head, feeling a sudden wave of shyness that felt both foreign and exciting.
She saw him grin out of the corner of her eye, then he clapped his hands and outstretched a hand to the similar Danny was vacating. “And now, Maddie, I think it’s your turn for a bit of fun… don’t you think?”
The flutter returned twice-fold, and she swallowed for a second before adorning a grin of her own. “Let’s see how helicopters compare to a space shuttle.”