Doctor Dash

Chapter 50

"So Steven's going to be all right?" Danny asked, relaxing back on his couch. They had just put the boys down for bed, which took a longer time than usual while their sons were still upset over everything that happened. He was already picturing being woken up several times during the night to Lex and Xander running into the room crying about nightmares. He was exhausted and drained, but he really couldn't blame the boys for being scared. Having Freakshow appear again trying to kill Lex was going to give him nightmares too. Danny almost just wanted to stay up there with Lex in his arms to reassure himself that his son was there, still alive and well. Right after Freakshow absorbed his powers into the gauntlet, Danny went into major panic mode the moment he noticed Lex standing at the top of the stairs. He was scared for his son, unable to fully protect Lex when he didn't have his powers. It was still a shock to him that Lex managed not only to create a shield but learned the Ghostly Wail, though it was still fairly weak compared to the adults' version.

"Yeah," Dash answered, tearing Danny away from his memories of that afternoon. "The bullet didn't hit anything vital, but he did lose a lot of blood, so he'll be in the hospital for a while."

"Good." Danny breathed out in relief. "I'm glad. I'm sure Paulina is relieved to hear that."

"She's still at the hospital." Dash looked just as worn and exhausted as Danny felt.

"Man, I really owe her. I don't think I can thank her enough for putting her life at risk to protect my son." Danny shook his head. "I could have avoided all of this. I should have taken Lex to someone else. Clockwork probably would have complained about being far too busy to play babysitter. He might watch over Lex through the time portals, but that's not exactly the same as getting to interact with someone. I think he would have liked the chance to babysit Lex. There are any number of ghosts that would have watched over Lex. I could have left him with Elle, Dan, or Vlad. I should have! I never should have put your son and Paulina in danger like that."

"Hey!" Dash grabbed hold of his face, shocking Danny into silence. "You're going to drive yourself crazy like that. What happened, happened. Lex is fine. Xander got a little scrape, but he's fine. Paulina is shook up and has some bruised ribs, but she's fine. Steven might have been shot, but he'll live. Things could have gone a lot worse, yes. Things might not have had to happen like that at all if you made a different choice, yes. But you can't let yourself go to pieces over what could have happened. I don't blame you for what happened. I blame that crazy freak for pushing his misfortunes onto you and making you suffer unnecessarily."

"Sorry about your house," Danny mumbled numbly, blinking at the doctor.

Dash rolled his eyes. "I'm not - Okay. I'm a little angry about the repairs that need to be done. But the whole house could have come down for all I care as long as everyone came out of the fight alive. Well," he shrugged as he sat back, "maybe not that Freakshow guy. I can't say I'd be disappointed if he ended up dead."

"It would have been very tempting to do something terrible to him." Danny ground his teeth as his hands curled into tight fists. Freakshow certainly didn't deserve any favors from him, and Danny couldn't find it in him to give the man another chance or even forgive him. Freakshow already proved he wasn't going to change. Danny was sorry that Lydia met with such an unfortunate end, but Freakshow allowed his grief to make him snap and turn into a vengeful lunatic. He frowned, turning his gaze onto Dash. "But killing him would have only felt like I was doing it out of revenge. I'm not going to let myself be led down that path."

Dash nodded at that response. "That's such a superhero response," he teased with a smirk as he lightly punched the raven haired man in the arm.

"Anyway, Darren plans to do a full investigation into how Freakshow managed to escape and ensure it will never happen again." Danny grunted as he shifted on the couch, placing a hand to his chest. So much happened all at once that the pain didn't catch up to him until just then. He knew energy balls hurt, but he didn't realize how much more painful they would be without his powers. Now that he was sitting down in a moment of calm, the aching in his chest and back hit him like fresh wounds.