Doctor Dash

Chapter 17

Dash slammed the door shut after Xander bounced out, happily clutching a small wrapped gift in his hands that he insisted he needed to hold onto until they reached the Fenton house. A grin slipped onto his face as Dash grabbed the gift from the trunk. Xander was overly eager to give his handmade present to his friend. They walked up to the front door that had colorful streamers decorating the frame and balloons tied to weights on either side of the door. Dash wondered what sort of crazy decorations Fenton put up inside the house as he rang the bell. In a moment, the door opened, and the person that greeted him left him with his jaw dropped in surprise.

"Dash!" The auburn haired woman threw her arms around him, giving him a big hug before she released him then stepped aside to allow him to enter the house. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"That makes two of us," Dash said with an awkward laugh as he and Xander passed through the doorway. "It's good to see you again, Jazz."

"I only just arrived this morning. Kind of a surprise for Danny." Jazz smiled, which Dash returned. He owed a lot of thanks to Jazz for tutoring him freshmen year of high school, even if she thought she wasn't getting through his thick skull every time they studied together. "So presents are supposed to go on the table in here," she explained as she led the way into the front room. There was a long table added to the far wall where other presents were already piled from the previous guests' arrivals. More streamers were drooping from the ceiling and draping down the wall in colors of green, red, white, and black. Balloons of similar colors were tied at either end of the table.

"Who's that, Daddy?" Xander asked, tugging on his father's pant leg.

After he added the present to the table, Dash crouched down before his son. "That's Jazz. She's Lex's aunt."

"Hi," Jazz greeted him with a friendly smile as she bent over with her hands on her knees. "Your dad and I used to go to high school with each other."

"I thought I heard the doorbell," Fenton said as he entered the front room. "Hey there, Xander. Lex is out back with the other children if you want to join him." The mention of Lex got an immediate big, face cracking smile from Xander, but he paused and glanced back at his father.

"Go on," Dash encouraged, giving his son a little nudge. "Go have fun." With a bright grin, Xander darted through the house toward the back door. Dash stood up with his hands on his hips.

"So you had a kid," Jazz said with a half a smirk as she eyed the blond man. "Danny failed to mention that."

"I was busy getting the house all ready for the party," Fenton argued. "You kind of caught me by surprised. Did you want me to ramble on about Dash living here, and Kwan, and apparently Paulina as well? And you know," he pointed a finger at his sister, "you're one to talk about keeping things quiet. I still can't believe you and Tucker were dating without saying anything. Then you go and get engaged and sit quiet on that for two whole weeks before saying anything to me."

"Whoa!" Dash cut in, waving an arm between the siblings. "You," he pointed at Jazz, "and the techno geek? Together? Getting married?"

"Jealous you missed your chance?" Fenton questioned with a teasing grin.

"Oh yeah," Jazz said slowly, waving a finger at Dash like it suddenly hit her. "You had a crush on me back in high school."

"What? No!" Dash snorted, but a blush crept onto his cheeks. He wasn't exactly discreet about things like that in freshmen year. During their tutoring sessions, he used to hit on Jazz pretty obviously. He flirted with plenty of the other pretty girls in their school, though Jazz might have stood a notch above most of them. "Anyway," he continued before either of them could call him on that quick denial, "I'm happy for you, Jazz." He pulled the woman into a hug of congratulations. "Not sure what you see in Foley," he added when he let her go, "but as long as he makes you happy. And since Fenton," he tossed a thumb at the raven haired man, "is probably too buddy-buddy with Foley to say it, I will make Foley pay if he ever hurts you."