Darker London

To pick her up, Cai would have to drive the ridiculous distance to Zoe’s house and then all of the way back toward Danny’s, which was only a mere twenty minutes (on a good day) from Cai’s church. It would have been faster for Zoe to get a ride to Danny’s house with Liz, and though Zoe was worried about Rachel… speed didn’t feel like the most important thing.

She waited outside, across the vast lawn from the house, shivering in her coat near the gate. Cai gave her a very unimpressed ‘why aren’t you waiting in the warm?’ look as she piled into his car, pulled off her gloves with her teeth and pushed them up against the heater. “Turn off your face,” Zoe said, not looking at him.

( ... )

( Self harm mentions )

Despite the fact that Thomas hated breaking Danny's confidence, he just didn't feel comfortable not telling Val her son was coming to see him. He was a parent and knew how he would feel in Val's shoes. Danny's abduction had happened less than a year ago, and she didn't know Thomas at all.

He just couldn't do that to her.

He was nervous when he knocked on her door, hoping she wouldn't panic when he explained what was happening. He figured she would recognise him from Danny's trial and that might be enough to gain him at least a tiny bit of good will. It didn't help though that when she answered, his first instinct was to ask, "is Danny here?" His eyes widened and he realised what it might sound like, so he quickly rephrased. "Sorry, I- I came to speak to you. My name is Thomas Littleton. I was hoping to be able to speak to you without Danny around."

Two days before Christmas Danny had been released from the Priory. There had been a party for him, including well wishers and a cake. Danny hadn't felt much like celebrating, but he'd eaten the cake dutifully enough. Leaving time was a looming, terrifying thing and when it came Danny went forward with a whimper.

It had been six months since Danny had set foot in his own house and reintegrating to real life again seemed impossible. Thankfully he had his dog, Wolf with him. He had taken to hiding in his room and only coming out for food or the bathroom. He muttered occasionally at his mother and returned to his hiding spot.

Christmas was different. Christmas was the day his Uncle Max was coming to visit. Danny hadn't seen his uncle since his sister's funeral, and he hadn't really spent time with the man in over a decade. If he didn't stop hiding, he was worried his mother might try to cancel and Danny didn't want to put it off. He dragged himself out of his room and down to the kitchen, Wolf hot on his heels. "Hi, mum," he said, smiling slightly. "Everything smells awesome. Can I help?"

Danny was still tied down, since the hospital feared he might try to remove his feeding tube if he wasn't. It was not an unfounded fear, since he had demanded no less than four times that they do exactly that. Being confined anywhere wasn't going to make Danny feel fantastic after his time with Greg but now he felt trapped in a life he didn't want, in a body he had quite significantly damaged.

It was all rather shite.

At least he was spending most of his time asleep, since the kind of trauma he had been through was taxing on the body. When he woke up to find only his mother in the room though, he tried to at least not look angry for her sake. "Mum," he mumbled, trying to stretch in the restraints. "Hey. Have you gone home at all?" He was worried about her. She needed to sleep too.

Ever since being rescued and arriving at the hospital, Danny had been unconscious. Greg had drained him so effectively, that Danny's body needed time to recuperate. There were tubes and needles sticking out of him all over and his scrawny body seemed dwarfed by the bed and the machines surrounding him.

After two days though, Danny started to stir. A low moan escaped his dry lips and for a moment, it looked like he was going to wake up slowly. Instead, however, he panicked. All of a sudden he sat up and looked around frantically. A shriek escaped his lips and he tried to pull the IV out of his arm. He hadn't even realised his mother was in the room.

Val felt like she was ready to rip someone's head off, and as she drove to her ex-husband's house that was evident in her slightly reckless use of the road. It had been a long time coming, but Ross had finally reached the point where his usefulness to Val financially far outweighed the mental trauma he was inflicting on their son.

She'd thought about this for an hour or so and that had been enough. She wanted Ross out of their lives, especially right now when she was trying to keep her criminal brother at bay.

( did you sail away with some distant notion? )

Val had no outlet for her current stress. Usually she would just run a little more than usual, but she wasn't going to leave Danny's side even for small sections of time, let alone to take off around the block. And so the world had become just her and Danny, and for now Val was okay with that. She knew that she would give her life to protect Danny from having to come into contact with her half-brother again.

When Danny slept, Val watched him, not reaching out to stroke his forehead, not wanting to wake him. But she wanted to hold him all the time, keeping her arms strong around him like an unbreakable wall. It couldn't ever work like that though.

Very late into Saturday night, unable to sleep, Val crept out of the living room where they had dragged their mattresses to sleep. Val couldn't even stand the idea of him sleeping somewhere where she wasn't that close by. She picked up the phone in the kitchen and looked back to Danny again. He slept, and Val was glad.

Outside the air was still and warm and Val dialed as she pulled the door closed behind her, resting against it. Cars on streets that weren't hers were one of the only sounds Val could hear as she listened to the dialtone of her older brother's phone.

After spending the afternoon with Cai, and talking to Melissa at the graveyard, Danny was feeling a little more brave. He had broken down and cried in Cai's car, and maybe that meant he could face his mother's fear when he told her his news.

A few weeks ago, Danny had thought he might have seen his uncle from afar. Yesterday he had seen him again in the park, and he was now 95% sure it had really been his uncle Gregor. He had run the moment he had spotted the man, and made sure he wasn't followed at the same time. Then he had notified the police, who had found no one matching his description.

Oh god, his mother was going to panic.

Danny went to find her in the kitchen and instead of calling her name, he simply moved over to her and touched her hand. "Mum," he said gently. "Mum, I have to talk to you."

A full half of Zoe’s grade in Art lay before her on the table; her portfolio, staring back at her with eyes that said I’m not good enough. “Dammit,” she muttered under her breath, reaching across the table to rearrange a couple of pieces to see if changing their juxtaposition would have an effect on the layout of the rest of the work. It did help a bit.

Her theme was displacement, though she’d spent too long at the start of the term changing from theme to theme before she worked this one out. She’d started with war but lots of other people were doing war, and had done war in the past, and besides had parents or older siblings in the army so could tie personal stories into the narrative. Zoe had plenty of personal war stories but a lot of them were a little too fantastical to explain, and she wasn't going to touch the theme of the shooting with a ten foot pole. She’d considered putting some heavy religious imagery to symbolise the Templar but was afraid of pissing them off. Not that the Templar would probably ever see her portfolio but still. The markers would interpret it wrong.

( ... )

When Danny walked through the door on Thursday afternoon, he was carrying a large chocolate muffin in his hands. "Mum!" he called out to her, hoping she was actually home. He really wanted to talk to her, and the muffin was apparently to soften her up. He didn't really know why it was necessary, but he had gotten it anyway. He planned to hide behind it a little bit.

"Mum, can you meet me in the dining room?" he called out and then he went to grab a glass of water before taking a seat.

"I was glad you called back," Ben told Val after the waitress had taken their order. The restaurant they'd decided on was surprisingly full - Ben usually saw it half empty most nights when he walked past from the university - but the tone of the place was comfortable.

Val lifted her wine glass as she admitted, "I almost didn't. But I have made this habit of cancelling a lot of dates recently, and it feels rotten."

( BE PEOPLE! )

In an oak frame in the living room, on the wall that caught the best light, there was a silver medal. Some people might not have kept theirs so prominently on display, but Val was too proud of that single accomplishment to hide it away. She wanted to see it every day and remember that, just for one day, she had done everything right.

It didn't feel like she'd done much right since then. No, she corrected herself, feet pounding against the damp grass of the school oval as she ran, I did two other things right. Her children were perfect. Danny and Melissa had been such joys to her and for the short period of innocence Val had truly believed that she was doing okay at this mother thing. But now Danny was hurt almost beyond repair and Melissa was dead. Those were the legacies she had left for her children. Violation and death.

( Five fast laps around the oval )

Since the day she, Danny and Zoe had skipped school, the fog surrounding her thoughts and her moods had continued to hold. Every day Imogene had got her out of bed and taken her to school and every day she had sat in her classrooms feeling numb and blank and stupid, and frustrated with herself for all of this. Frustrated that she couldn't shake it. Frustrated that she couldn't find anything interesting or funny to say around Danny and Zoe. Terrified that any day now they were going to get bored with her, tired of her.

One night the terror of losing them grew stronger than the fog, and she was up all night, pacing the halls till Indigo-Hope yelled at her to stop being so mentally challenged, so she went to pace her room instead. Back and forth, bare feet flattening her fluffy rugs. Back and forth till everyone else had gone to bed and she could sneak into the games room where the liquor cabinet was and find something to take the frightening edges of her mind.

( ... )

Danny was already feeling stressed when he arrived home from therapy. He had gone for his weekly session directly after school and the entire hour had been brutal. Dropping his bag inside the door, he made a beeline for the sofa so he could relax, and the phone rang and interrupted his plans.

( Pls stop )