Doctor Dash

Chapter 18

"I can't believe that little monster," Danny grumbled as he cleaned up the mess on the floor, thankful now that there was no carpeting in the room. He didn't want to imagine the hassle that would come from cleaning up cake ground into the carpet because some little boy decided to be a complete brat.

"You probably would have been better off not inviting Jeremy," Dash said, wiping the floor with a wet cloth, trying to rid it of the stickiness from the icing. The last thing Danny wanted to deal with at this point was a bug infestation because they were drawn to the sugary residue. "And of course, his mother picked out such a great present." Dash rolled his dark blue eyes, annoyance flashing through his expression.

"I'm pretty sure it was a chew toy for a dog," Danny mumbled, thinking back on the gift. When his son opened the present, Danny was, admittedly, confused by the short twisted length of rope knotted at both ends, but thinking more on it, he was positive it was something picked up at a pet store. "That woman sure seemed to have a foul attitude." He sat back on his legs as he watched the blond man finish wiping down the sticky parts of the floor.

"Yeah," Dash glanced at him and winced, "that may have been in part my fault." He sighed as he stood up, absently folding the dirty, wet towel. "I ran into her when I was out with Xander to pick out a present, and I may have pointed out that her son is a brat." He glanced away with some embarrassment.

"Well, I can't say I don't think she fully deserved it." Danny frowned at the man before getting to his feet, putting his weight on his left foot. "But from that scowl on her face, she seemed to really hate you." Folding his arms, he lifted an eyebrow at the man.

"That wouldn't be our first time butting heads." Dash glanced down at the towel then back to Danny, halfway holding it out like he was uncertain what to do with it. "Pretty much ever since our children were in kindergarten, we've had confrontations with each other. Mrs. Duvall pretty much acts like she runs the school, but the decisions she makes aren't really what's best for the students. She seems to think she knows how best to budget the school's funds, but things like eliminating the lunch plan doesn't help things as a cost saving measure. For some students, that lunch is basically their only certain meal for the day. But of course, she's rich and doesn't think about what it's like for people without money."

"Sounds like a real winner of a woman," Danny muttered as he took the towel from Dash. "Well, this will, hopefully, be the last time I ever have to deal with her. I'm certainly not inviting her son to another birthday party." He headed through the house, limping as he walked, to toss the dirty towels into the laundry basket. "You know, you didn't have to stay and help me with the clean up."

Dash shrugged, having trailed after Danny toward the laundry room. "It's fine. I don't have work today, and no emergencies have come up." He reached over and knocked on the wooden doorframe. "Besides, the boys seem to be enjoying those super soakers."

Danny turned his head, glancing out the window to the back yard where he could see the two boys having fun squirting at each other with the soakers. "Seems like they're really enjoying squirting Tucker with them." He chuckled, shaking his head.

"And you're totally cool with your best friend marrying your sister?"

"Well, I mean," Danny shrugged. "Of course there's some weirdness to it. But I'm happy they love each other." He tilted his head as one eyebrow rose up toward his hairline. "It would be weird for you if Paulina and Kwan were suddenly dating, right? But you'd be happy for them because they're happy with each other, right?"

Dash laughed in response. "I really don't see that happening, but yeah, I would be happy for them." His gaze dropped to Danny's right leg that the man was once again avoiding putting any weight on. "How's the leg?"