Chapter Text
Danny hides his face in school. Between the physical and emotional exhaustion, the last thing he needed was mental exhaustion from his peers. Unfortunately, Danny has never been a particularly lucky omega. No, instead he gets to hear all of the gossip going on behind his back.
“Is he pregnant?”
He catches whispers between the A-Listers. Star murmuring to Paulina and Dash while staring right at him. They aren’t doing a great job at hiding their gossip. Danny knew his scent would smell different. Of course it would. It didn’t take a week for the popular alphas to catch on. He rubs at the scent patch that’s strategically placed on his neck. At least that’s helping somewhat. Yes, he is pregnant, but that was nobodies business but his own.
Lucky for him, Sam and Tucker haven’t mentioned it. His scent or the gossip. Even during the New Year’s festival they didn’t seem to notice. Not yet at least.
“It looks like it’s gonna rain soon.” Tucker looks up at the sky, taking in the crowding clouds as wind pushes by.
Even if it was cold, they went outside for lunch. The cafeteria was too full of stares. Of mockery. There’s no way the beta’s haven’t noticed, but they really haven’t brought it up. Any of it. His capture, the weird box ghost incident, his clear exhuastion. It was weird. Actually, maybe not. They all have a habit of dancing around huge traumatic events that happen. Brushing off things to be forgotten until they caused a problem again.
“Maybe it’ll snow hard enough for another day off.” Sam pulls out her vegan sandwich and home grown vegetables.
“Maybe.” Tucker murmurs while pulling out the complete opposite of her lunch. Chicken wings, and mini corn dogs. Tucker has interesting taste. He looks down at the lunch Vlad had sent him with- insistent that he now eat well for the pup. The pup.
His stomach turns and he closes his lunch box. Maybe he could eat later. Even if he is eating for two, the thought makes him less and less hungry.
“So your mom and dad are cool with you living with… your alpha?” Sam asks as she glances around. Sure no one else dared to eat out in the frigid temperatures of the New Year, but you can never be too sure.
“Sort of.” He swallows. Glancing around as he tries to reaffirm that no one is around. “They’re not thrilled but they’re coming around…” Probably just for the pup. If not for it, they may just disown him again for daring to mate with someone thrice his age- not to mention a notoriously evil ghost. Danny knew that they had promised a truce for him before they knew that but something in him felt like it was true. That the truce would crumple under the weight of a feather if not for this thing growing inside of him.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it.” Tucker sighs, “and when you two have kids-“ Danny takes a deep breath of air and chokes, coughing into whatever sentence he was about to say. His cheeks darken and Tucker grins at him. “Because we know that can happen, I don’t think I’ll be able to get over it if they look like him.”
“THEY.”
“Yeah, don’t male omegas tend to make litters?” Tucker teases more and Sam swats at him.
“Tucker! Don’t freak him out.”
“Actually…” Well, he may as well come out with it. They look at him in dead silence a moment. Both wide-eyed, like deer in headlights. Their brains have both come to a simultaneous screeching halt.
“Dude… Don’t joke around like that.” Tucker doesn’t say it in his playful voice. That’s when Danny just forces a smile, cutting his eyes to the side as he braces for impact.
“You’re… really?” Sam’s nails dig into the wood of the picnic table they sit on, black nail-polish chipping against the hard grain.
“Don’t freak out okay? Everyone is already looking at me weird.” He mumbles, eyes gazing down at his lunch box.
“I’m not freaking out- who’s freaking out- CERTAINLY not me.” Sam takes her paper bag to breathe into to find a moment of solace. Tucker is frozen in place for a moment before groaning.
“Dude I thought you were like- on birth control or something?”
Danny just smiles sheepishly. Well, he and Vlad hadn’t exactly been safe. In his mind it was an impossible thing that could never happen to him. Of course it couldn’t happen to him! Why would it? He’s only ever had unprotected sex with an alpha who knot inside him every single time! What could go wrong?
“Well, you know it’s… it’s complicated.”
“How far along are you?” Sam is putting down her bag, seeming to have calmed herself for the time being.
“I only found out two weeks ago.”
“Two weeks- Danny,” Sam growls in frustration at him, “no- how far along are you- how long have you been pregnant?”
“Would you keep it down?” He snaps back at her and glances around. It’s not like he’ll confirm it to anyone else, he knew his scent had changed. Maybe it hadn’t been enough for betas to pick up on yet. Just the A-lister alpha’s. “I- Vlad and I are taking a trip to the far frozen later to see Frostbite.” He explains.
“Vlad says he can try a scan on me but doesn’t know how useful that will be for the pup- or if it’s even dangerous.” Because who knew what kind of baby it would be. “But I think… maybe a month?” The last time they had sex during his heat Danny was on suppressants from the previous Dash incident. He thought it meant he couldn’t get pregnant while on them. Apparently not. Even if he can get pregnant outside of heat, it was more likely the time it truly happened.
——
Vlad is going to be a father. A real father. To a pup. With a mate. No experimentation or cloning needed! Vlad is typing out something on is keyboard, mindlessly replying to some big important email or what not. But he’s not thinking about work at all. The only thing on his mind is his pup. The one Daniel is finally carrying. Their pup.
He switches from his emails to his camera feed from home. There’s Daniel, lounging on the sofa with a bunch of pillows and blankets that Vlad had scented for him. It had been the first week of school, so he knew it wouldn’t be easy for him.
“Mr. Masters? There’s someone here to see you.” Judith calls over their intercom. He rolls his eyes at the distraction.
“Tell them we don’t do walk-ins.” He almost growls. That is something he would need to work on containing. His short temper when something gets in the way of his obsession. He presses a nail into its own palm, pressing to keep himself level headed. Daniel doesn’t even know he’s watching him. It’s not like he could know.
“They say they’re from some place called Fenton Works?”
Butternuts….
“Send them in.” He hated to see them again so soon, but he supposed it can’t be helped. They were now a part of his family. The grandparents to his pup. And, unfortunately, his mate's beloved parents. It wasn’t all that long ago that they had a chat in private. That stormy night that Vlad left to confront their pitiful worries. That night he held back Plasmius’ murderous hands. That’s all he seems to be doing these days. Then again, the night he was saved by the Fentons and his mate had almost made up it. From the cookies, to the conversation about ecto-sensing pup equipment.
When the door to his office opens he closes the camera feed tab and puts his computer to rest. Glancing up at the Fentons who look a lot less happy and cheerful than they had last night. Jack has that pavlov reaction at seeing him, smile caught and fixed to a stern look in under a few seconds.
“Jack, Maddie, to what do I owe the pleasure?” He tilts his head innocently. They could want to talk about numerous things, he’s sure.
“We wanted to talk about Danny."
“Not the weather?” He gestures for them to sit. After taking the prompt he decides to open for them. After all, even if they were making progress in their relationship, Vlad saw them as a potential threat first and foremost to his mate and pup.
“He’s not like other omegas, he’s a ghost so he won’t be able to have a normal OB.”
“Not to worry, I have that covered.” Vlad assures them and leans back in his chair. They have on their hazmat suits. Good. Seeing them in anything else like the other night almost felt unreal. When had he gotten so used to that? “There’s a place in the Ghost Zone with quite the advanced medical technology.”
“The ghost zone?” Maddie’s brow furrows. “No way am I letting you take him in there for that!”
“What I do with my mate isn’t subject to your approval.” Vlad scoffs, arms crosses as his brow raises. “Do you believe that having him simply inside the Ghost Zone will hurt the pup?”
“It’s other ghosts that are dangerous Vladdy,” Jack tries, “Phantom has a lot of enemies, he’d be vulnerable if he’s pregnant, just like on New Year’s Eve.” Right. New Year’s Eve had been a complete disaster. In hindsight, he thinks he should have had a duplicate on Danny at all times. Maybe even now. One could never be too safe.
“Other ghosts would rather dare face the ancients themselves before trying to lay a hand on Daniel while I’m around.” He rises, eyes flashing that warning red glow.
“We know you're powerful, but if his enemies knew he was going to have a pup…”
Vlad shakes his head. The ideas they put in his head made a strange unease turn in his heart. What if they’re right? What if Daniel’s enemies did come for him? It says. Making his heart race while all he can think of is to protect what’s his.
“Then what is there to be done?’ He half laughs. “I can do an ultrasound but anything that we could use for his ghost half would need to be rather advanced.” He reminds them. Even Vlad doesn’t have perfect technology. He never needed to make a machine for pregnant ghosts because he didn’t think he’d need to. The most he could ever do was experiments on himself or other ghosts he had captured that were weaker than him anyways.
“And… another thing.” Maddie says and uncloaks her hazmat hood.
“What could it possibly be?”
“The guys in white know Danny’s pregnant and want to capture the both of you.”
Ah, that. Vlad just looks at them for a moment before sighing while his head shakes. Slowly sitting back down. Why did they feel the need to meddle?
“We think it’s time to equip your place with security for Danno and the pup.” Jack explains, grin widening, “from ghosts and the guys in white.”
“My security is plenty.”
“What if they find him?” Maddie tries and he shakes his head.
“I assure you they won’t.” They won’t be finding either of them anytime soon.
“Forget about your pride for a minute, you’ve seen what their technology can do-“
“Once again thanks to the Fenton’s-“ he cuts in.
“Take this seriously Vlad.” Maddie snaps. If she were an animal her hair would be raised as she points accusingly at him. “If you don’t take our son’s safety seriously I’ll call the authorities right here.”
Vlad scoffs. “What would the two of you know about safety?” He leans forward, glaring at the pair of them as a bit of deja vu waves over him. “I assure you, the guys in white are dealt with already.”
The room goes silent as the two stare back at him. He huffs and fixes his tie.
“Honestly what do you take me for? The only reason they weren’t dealt with more promptly is because you two were in the way.” And he couldn’t have their blood on his hands if Daniel was around. Even if he wanted to, he isn’t sure he could do it.
“What did you do?”