Chapter Text
On the worst day of her life, Sam Manson did not cry. Tucker did. Tucker cried and screamed and did everything that Sam wanted to do. But she couldn't.
Maybe it was being thrown against the wall that sent her emotions far away. Maybe it was the fact that Tucker was having a panic attack and someone needed to be calm. Or maybe she didn't want Danny to see when he opened his eyes...if he opened his eyes.
When Danny did wake up, Sam maintained her detached, inexplicable, calm. Her ears were still ringing when they finally got Danny upstairs to his room and she locked the door behind them. Even as the true horror of what had happened began to sink in, Sam stayed calm.
The trio of friends would come to the conclusion that some part of Danny died that night. It wouldn't be until weeks later that Sam would start believing that a small part of her died too. Something indefinable, but precious, crumpled within her and when she reached for it later, it was gone. She never did get it back. It was a fitting punishment, she supposed, considering the accident was all her fault.
Sam's thoughtlessness on a quiet summer afternoon with her friends came with catastrophic consequences. All three of them knew their lives were changed forever that day. What they didn't realize is that the lab accident was only the beginning.
In the years that followed, Danny, Tucker, and Sam would each be pushed to their breaking point. They would be forced to fight against insurmountable odds and rely on each other as never before. At just fourteen, each of them would experience the certainty that they were about to die and would find a way to keep going anyway.
On the worst day of her life, Sam Manson did not cry. But had she known what was coming, she certainly would have.
"Tucker baby, are you up? If you don't hurry, you'll miss breakfast!"
A shirtless boy in too-short pajama pants sat up in bed and frantically fumbled for his glasses on his nightstand, "Um, yeah, mom! I'm up! Just give me-" He winced when he heard his glasses clatter to the floor, "-Just give me five minutes, I'll be right out!"
Three blocks over, another boy was rubbing his dark-ringed eyes as he stumbled down the stairs to his kitchen.
"Good morning Danny!"
"g'mornin mom." He mumbled sleepily.
His sister glanced up from the kitchen table, "Your shirt's inside out."
"What, no it's-" He looked down and groaned, "I'll be right back...."
Across town a dark-haired girl stood in her large en-suite bathroom adding the final touches to her makeup. She practiced her smile in the mirror.
"I used diplomacy and...no wait, diplomatic channels, that's right. I used diplomatic channels to garner positive results." She put down her eyeliner and looked herself over. "Diplomatic channels. Garner positive results. I got this."
On the surface, it was a normal Monday morning. All three teens were working hard to convince themselves, their families, and each other that nothing had changed over the summer. By the end of the week, the events set in motion by the lab accident would come to fruition. It was the last normal morning any of them would have for a long, long time.