Spy Guy: Here is the next chapter of the babysitter. I know the ending is abrupt, but Zimmers is still in a transistion period right now. sorry it if's awkward. Dur to my dial-up connection, I'm keeping day one and two seperate. Sorry. heh.
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or Monopoly.
Day 2, Part 2
Zimmers held Danny tight to his chest, watching as the child heartily sucked the milk from the bottle he held in his hands. The ectoplasm seemed to have done nothing to upset the child, which was a good sign.
He would take better to it later on.
Zimmers sat down on his cot, waiting patiently for Danny to finish his meal. Beside him, his plate of eggs sat, empty except for a few desolate blobs. He hadn't had food like that in years. It was amazing.
For the first time in years, his stomach felt bloated. It was a pleasant feeling…
One he would surely miss.
There were things he had missed all over the house. T.V., radios…music in general…food, cozy bathrooms, inviting furniture. He missed the warmth of sun on his skin, and the natural glow it emitted.
It wasn't the fake fluorescent lighting he had seen for so many years. The sun made everything look beautiful. He had even found beauty in his pallid face as he had glanced at himself in the bathroom's mirror.
The sun seemed to make his cheeks rosy and healthier. Even his eyes were more brilliant.
"This is what a world away from him is doing for me." Zimmers thought to himself, gently pulling the empty bottle from Danny's small pudgy hands.
"I should have grown up in this world."
The child cooed softly as the teen lowered him into his crib, twisting the knob of a rocket mobile above Danny's head. A small smile flickered over Zimmers' lips as he watched the boy's weak attempts to reach the stuffed objects swirling slowly around him. A gentle tinny melody played softly…
One that Zimmers could remember well.
Rock-a-bye, baby.
He could remember his mother, holding him in her arms, singing softly in his ear, urging him to sleep.
Sadly…he could only remember a few depressing lines from it…
"When the bough breaks, the baby will fall…"
The memory shifted and changed, his mother's kind embrace fading away, leaving him huddled in the corner of his cell at Axion, whimpering pitifully.
"I can sing you to sleep if you want. You don't need your mother." Vlad's angered voice hissed. He shrieked the song, striking Zimmers' flesh with his whip after each word.
Back in reality, the teen's hand grabbed the mobile, stopping its movement…
Forcing the memory away.
He looked down into the crib, staring at Danny's sleeping form, his gaze hardening.
" Douglas." A voice called from the doorway.
It was Jazz
Zimmers turned his cold eyes to her, his lips drawn into a thin line.
"What?" He snapped, turning away, undoing the clasp that held the mobile to the crib. He caught it as it separated from the railing, and carried it over to a closet on the far side of the room.
"What are you doing?" Jazz asked, "Danny loves that thing."
The teen didn't even reply. He threw the mobile onto the closet's floor, and shut the door with a soft click.
"I need someone to play a game with me." The girl continued, pulling a square cardboard box out from behind her back.
"Monopoly?" Zimmers asked, staring at the object with growing curiosity.
"Yeah. Daddy and me used to play it all the time." Jazz smiled. "I want to play it with you."
"Really?" the boy mused, taking a few steps forward. His master's words from the night before rang in his mind.
"Be nice to her. Make her think that she's safe. Don't let her know that you're preparing her brother to be a weapon."
Keeping Jasmine oblivious was the key. She would have to keep her away from Danny as much as possible…
And maybe…detach her from him.
"I'll play with you, but I may take a while to learn the rules." Zimmers said, yawning. He switched on the baby monitor attached to Danny's crib, and took the speaker with him as he followed the girl down the stairs. Jazz was skipping, singing happily to herself as she headed into the living room and began setting up the board. Zimmers sat on the carpet across from her, taking the instructions in his hands, reading them slowly, trying to absorb it as fast as possible.
"I want to be the puppy." Jazz grinned, taking the small metal dog in her hand. "What do you want to be?"
Zimmers looked down at the pawns, trying to decide. His mind kept screaming at him, 'race car!' Finally, he decided on that one, and placed it on the board.
Jazz doled out the money with practiced ease, plopping the multi-colored pile down on the carpet. Zimmers picked it up, leafing through it.
"I'm rich." He thought darkly, separating it into different piles around. "This is as close as I'll ever get to holding this much money."
"You should just keep it in a pile." The little girl announced, flipping through her cash. "That way, it looks bigger."
Zimmers stared at her for a moment, before complying, unwilling to argue with the child's logic. In truth, she was right. Piling them all together did make them seem greater.
Zimmers held them close to his face, waving the papers back and forth just as Master always did.
"Money is power, Zimmers." Vlad had said long ago. "Do you have any money?"
"No." The boy had timidly replied, staring forlornly at the green folds.
"Then you're powerless against me." The man sneered.
"So, we both have the same amount of money?" Zimmers asked, looking out at Jazz.
"Yep." She replied, giggling slightly.
"So we both have the same amount of power." He mused silently, looking at the directions again. "Having money is power, and whoever has the most money at the end, wins." He watched as the little girl rolled the dice, moving her pawn five spaces.
"I'll pass." She said sagely, handing over the dice. Zimmers took them, rolling them across the board.
Four.
The boy moved the racecar over the spaces, coming a halt right on top of a space that made his blood run cold.
"Oooh." Jazz said. "You have to pay 200$."
Already he was losing his power.
About five hours later, Zimmers stewed in Monopoly jail, leafing through his meager handful of colored paper. Jazz's puppy passed by, and he could imagine her staring at him through the bars of his cell.
He grumbled irritably, fed up with the child's foolish game.
"I have to go feed Danny." He announced suddenly, getting up off the floor.
"Okay." Jazz said sadly. "You'll be back right?"
Zimmers didn't answer. He simply ascended the steps, refusing to look back...
The sun was just a red splotch against the horizon when Zimmers again ventured from the room. He noted that Jazz was still seated by the game board, waiting for him to continue playing. He scoffed slightly, making his way back into the kitchen. The boy's stomach was growling, so he had to be sure that the girl was hungry as well.
"What do you want for dinner?" He shouted, poking his head into the refrigerator. When he heard no answer, he shrugged, assessing the inventory with careful ease.
"There isn't enough in here." He thought, frowning deeply. "Maddie didn't leave enough for the week."
Turning to the freezer, Zimmers sighed, digging through shards of ice, managing to come up with two frozen lasagnas. The only other things inside seemed to be brown frozen meat, and some dead glow sticks…nothing he could prepare without needing a stomach pump after consumption. Closing the door, Zimmers read the food's packaging, setting the microwave for the correct time. After poking holes in the plastic over the food, the boy set them inside, shut the door, and pressed start.
Ten miniutes later, he took them out, setting Jazz's on the counter. Then, he wordlessly took his own, along with Danny's bottle, and headed back into his room, ready to carry out the second night of the child's treatment...
End of Day 2