doppelgänger --> there's never just one {sequel}

andy

^darby

The longer Ethan was gone, the worse Dani got. Andy had just hardly avoided a black eye when he and Scout had to drag her to the therapist the first few times.

She wouldn't be able to go on medication for a few weeks, until the prescriptions were ready to be picked up.

At least they were making an effort. Andy knew how his daughter felt mentally; he had been to the darkest of places himself. He was counting down the days until she took her medicine, so the pain would, overall, disappear.

Not all of Dani's rebellion was based off of anger and sadness, though. She had been diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder -- better known as its abbreviation ODD. She really couldn't help a lot of what she did or wanted to do to rebel of defy because of her ODD.

Most everything has quieted down with the family lately, after Scout had baby Ariel Amelia Biersack, with the exception of an occasional outburst from Dani.

But sometimes, the overall calmness fooled Andy, tricking him into thinking nothing would happen still, and when something did, shocking him because he didn't expect it.

Tonight was a time like that.

Tonight was a very good example.

After everyone had finally gone to bed and settled in for the night around eleven o'clock, and Ariel giving Scout a rest by falling asleep after a long time of crying, it was three or four hours of good rest before Andy was woken up by his ringtone. He turned over in bed and grabbed his phone off of his nightstand, answering it without even taking the time to glance at who was calling.

Before he could even start with 'hello', there was a lot of heavy breathing on the other line, and crying, and he could hear sirens in the distance in the background.

"Daddy?" Dani's voice asked as she continued to pant nervously. She let out a few sharp sobs before speaking again. "Daddy --"

"Honey, I'm here," he reassured her as he clenched his phone tightly, standing up to get out of bed. He held the phone between his ear and his shoulder as he quickly got dressed, knowing he would have to go. "What's wrong, did something happen?" he asked. He could barely keep his voice from shaking.

"I took your car out a while ago with Darby. I snuck out, and, I'm sorry, Daddy, I --"

"You took the car out? Danielle, you don't even know how to drive! You don't even know how to drive! Oh, Dani," Andy said with a sigh. "Well, what happened?"

"I -- I.... um, we totaled the car. A truck hit us --"

"What?" Andy yelled. He couldn't help it. "Are you hurt? Do you know if you're bleeding anywhere

"I don't know, I just have a couple of cuts and bruises I think...."

After Dani told her father where they were, he didn't hang up the phone until he got to the scene.

"I'll be there," he promised.

*

He parked a little ways down from where it all actually happened, considering he couldn't even get in with his car anyway because it was all blocked off.

Once Andy stepped beneath the caution tape and entered the scene, he didn't stop, and made a beeline for his daughter.

He hugged her tighter than he should have when he saw her, considering her possible injuries, but it was worth it having her in his arms again.

"Daddy," she cried into his shoulder, gripping him tight and pulling him closer, which made his heart melt. He was so grateful to be able to hear her say that again, that nothing horrible enough happened to her to stand in the way of that. "I love you," she told him, sobbing. "I'm so sorry --"

"Shh, that's okay. Don't worry about it. I love you, sweetheart." He pulled back to look at her, "Don't ever do that again, though. I don't know what I'd do if we lost you, Dani."

She nodded, sniffing, and he offered her a small smile, which she accepted and returned with her own her eyes shiny with tears.

"So, how's Darby?" he asked about Dani's best friend, who she happened to have chosen to go on this ride with her tonight, he supposed. Dani pointed in the other direction, in which they were loading a stretcher holding a seemingly unconscious Darby into the back of the ambulance.

Dani looked up at Andy, asking, "Can I ride with her?"

"I don't think so. You're probably going to have to go too, separately, just in case there's anything wrong."

"Will you ride with me, in the back?"

"Of course, Dani," he told her, kissing the top of her head.

It just proved that he often took everyone he had for granted, because the whole situation was a complete scare, but made him realize how important his family was to him. He never wanted to think about how he would try to go on without his daughters, or his sons, or his wife, or his parents or his grandkids. Did he lose something today? Yes, the Dodge Challenger. But was it a lesson? Of course, and was a car more important than a person? Absolutely not.

A car crash had actually made him learn something new, and taught him a few things.

One, to always be grateful for everything he had, and two -- to keep track of his kids and make sure they don't do anything stupid. Otherwise, he'd be blaming himself for the rest of his life.