Danny Phantom Fan Fiction ❯ Danny Phantom: Hearts and Minds ❯ Danny Phantom: Hearts and Minds ( Chapter 1 )

Danny Phantom: Hearts and Minds

By Aaron

 

“We've got our backs against the ocean. It's just us against the world.”

Theory of a Deadman (“All or Nothing”)

 

It was a dark and stormy day. Streams of lightning tore open the sky as rain and hail viciously pummeled the earth below and winds blew with such ferocity that they threatened to tear the roofs off of buildings like tin can lids. Of course, for Vortex, the Weather Ghost, this was little more than a mild drizzle. As he floated in the skies over Amity Park, watching its panicked citizens flee in terror, he could only laugh madly in anticipation of what was to come. If they thought THIS was wild, he couldn't wait to see their reactions when they saw what he had in store for them NEXT. But his enjoyment of the moment instantly faded as a sharp pain suddenly drilled into his back. Whirling around with a growl of anger, he quickly saw where the sensation had come from as his eyes caught Danny Phantom just a few feet away, floating defiantly alongside Sam Tasma, Sam Manson's ghostly form.

 

“I don't know how you got away from the Observants again, Vortex…!” Danny called out, his hands blazing with ecto-energy.

 

“…But we DO know you're going BACK!” Sam shouted, finishing Danny's thought as she lashed out, forming her ecto-energy into a giant spiked ball and chain that flew straight towards Vortex. But Vortex only laughed in amusement as he twisted out of the way of Sam's attack, snapping out his arm and grabbing her Ghost Ray chain.

 

“FOOLISH LITTLE GIRL…! YOU CAN NO MORE STRIKE ME THAN YOU CAN STRIKE THE WIND!” Vortex declared between rasps as his free hand crackled with electricity…

 

“NOW LIGHTNING, ON THE OTHER HAND…!”

 

Before a stunned Sam could even think to dispel her ecto-energy, Vortex struck, sending streams of lightning slithering along the Ghost Ray chain towards her. Luckily, Danny was quick to act, snapping the chain with a Ghost Ray blast and severing the connection before streaking in and pulling Sam to safety. But that wasn't about to do anything to deter Vortex, who threw out his hands and blasted both Danny and Sam with a gale force wind, sending them both spiraling out of the sky and slamming into the wall of a nearby building.

 

“Uunnh…okay,” Sam groaned as she and Danny struggled to recover, “So that wasn't one of my smarter ideas.”

 

“Gee, you think?” Danny replied sarcastically. Sam instantly tossed an acid glare his way, but before she could think to argue…

 

“Danny? Sam?” Jazz called through their earpieces, “Uhhh…have you guys seen Mom and Dad anywhere?”

 

“What? No, why?” Danny immediately responded, “You mean they're not with YOU?!”

 

… … … …

 

“Faster Jack, faster,” Maddie shouted desperately from the passenger side of the Fenton RV, “Danny needs us out there!”

 

“I've already got the pedal down, Maddie! But it's like we're going around in circles!” Jack shouted back looking out his side window. Unfortunately, between the flying debris and the pair's unified desperation, neither one of them seemed to notice that the Fenton RV had been caught inside the swirling mass of a giant tornado.

 

“We must have passed that same house three times now!”

 

… … … …

 

“Hey Jazz, come here,” Tucker noted, checking a nearby monitor, “I've been trying to run some scans of Vortex to see how Danny's weather attacks were able to weaken him so much the first time they fought and check THIS out. These are some FREAKY infrareds.”

 

“Whoa,” Jazz uttered under her breath before turning her attention back to Danny through the com system, “Hey Danny, Tucker may have something. This thermal scan of Vortex shows this funnel of hot and cold air circulating through his entire body. It's…well, I can't really describe it. It's almost like a candy cane. It's actually kind of neat.”

 

“Jazz, please tell me you're going somewhere with this,” Danny replied dryly, cutting her off.

 

“What Jazz is TRYING to say is that this spiral pattern is completely uniform through his whole body,” Tucker pointed out, “It's perfectly balanced, no variations. It MAY be some kind of internal system that regulates his functions.”

 

“Well, maybe,” Sam mused, “All those weather attacks you hit him with before could have thrown his system off balance. That might have been what shut him down the first time.”

 

“Well, we don't have anything else to go on,” Danny replied, “But NOW what are we supposed to do? I mean, I was able to actually DO weather attacks BEFORE. And now, I'm kind of, well…weather…attack…less.”

 

“Wait a minute,” Tucker thought out loud, “Danny, what about your freezing powers?”

 

“Hey…Danny, Tucker may be onto something,” Jazz noted, “Think about it. You can generate cold and Sam can generate heat. When you break it down, that's all weather basically IS…hot and cold air circulating with moisture. It may not be the EXACT same thing, but with your freezing powers and Sam's flame powers, it SHOULD produce the same results.”

 

“Well, I don't know about anyone else,” Sam chimed in, casting a worried glance upward at Vortex's devastating handiwork, “But at this point, `should' is starting to sound pretty good to ME right about now.”

 

“Well…it's better than nothing,” Danny agreed with a shrug, “Let's give it a shot.”

 

Meanwhile, Vortex was already putting the brief skirmish with Danny and Sam out of his mind and had turned his attention back to the fruits of his labor with demented glee. So it wasn't at all surprising that he paid no attention when the pair flew back up to confront him. Danny still wasn't entirely sure what he was going to use his freezing powers for to take on Vortex. But as he looked up at the black clouds spread across the sky like an endless sea and unleashing torrents of rain, he suddenly became thoughtful.

 

“I think I've got an idea,” he mentioned to Sam, putting his hand on her shoulder as his eyes turned blue, showing that he was activating his freezing powers, “Can you hold him off for a few seconds?”

 

“Actually, I think I can do more than that,” Sam replied, looking over at Danny with a wicked smirk, firing up her flame powers as her eyes glowed a bright orange, “How about you hit him high…and I'll hit him low?”

 

Answering Sam back with a confident grin, Danny burst straight up and disappeared into the clouds. Sam, meanwhile, turned her attention back to what she had to do and made a beeline straight for Vortex, the orange glow from her heat aura glowing even more brightly.

 

“Hey Blowhard!” she called out, interrupting Vortex's enjoyment once again, “What do you say we find out what happens when one of you guys is REALLY full of hot air!”

 

With a growl of aggravation, Vortex hurled a stream of lightning directly towards Sam. This time, Sam was prepared for a counter attack as she entered her phasing state. But she still had another surprise in store as she passed not only through Vortex's lightning strike, but continued on and flew right inside him. At first, Vortex couldn't understand what was happening, but within moments, Sam's strategy became abundantly clear as intense jets of steam began to rupture from every part of Vortex's body.

 

“W…WH-WHAT?! WHAT…A-ARE…Y-Y-YOU…D-D-OING T-TO…MEEEEEEE!?!” Vortex's voice echoed on the wind as his body exploded into vapor. Moments later, the haze lifted, revealing only Sam floating in mid-air, encased in a spiraling sphere of flame. As her flames dissipated, Sam couldn't help but feel quite proud of herself. For a few seconds, it appeared as though Vortex had been dealt with. But Sam's gaze upward soon told a different story. Vortex may have disappeared and the rain may have stopped, but the storm clouds still remained, blotting out the sky. Suddenly, the steam that had erupted from Vortex's body mysteriously began to re-emerge, swirling and taking shape until eventually, Vortex reappeared, lightning crashing all around him.

 

“HAH! SILLY CHILD! DID YOU TRULY THINK YOUR PUNY FLAMES COULD DEFEAT A TRUE FORCE OF NATURE?!” Vortex gloated menacingly. At first, Sam could only give a scowl of frustration as Vortex towered over her, seemingly unharmed. But the situation wasn't as dire as she'd originally feared. The rain returned as soon as Vortex reformed, but it definitely wasn't coming down at the same intensity as it had been before. Apparently, Sam's attack HAD done something.

 

Meanwhile, Danny was putting his own plan into motion. Floating in the midst of Vortex's storm, he focused as much of his ecto-energy as he could spare and with a yell, unleashed a freezing pulse throughout the entire cloud bank. Just then, as Vortex and Sam remained locked in their standoff, the rain instantly ceased. And Vortex could only look on in shock as the punishing water was instantly transformed into large, delicate tufts of snow.

 

“Well, it WAS a nice thought. But just in case I was wrong…,” Sam replied smugly to Vortex's boast, pointing upward at Danny's newly formed blizzard. Right then, Vortex was ground to a halt by the sudden change, his entire body shivering with cold as he clung to himself in a desperate bid to stabilize his temperature.

 

“WH-WH-WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!” Vortex chattered as his body began significantly shrinking in size, “TH-THE WEATHER IS M-M-MY…D-D-D-DOMAIN…!”

 

“Sorry, Weather Man!” Danny replied, bursting down from the clouds with his arms crossed and a defiant smirk, “But it looks like we've just changed your forecast! Not that you guys ever get the weather right anyway!”

 

No doubt about it, Danny and Sam's alternating hot and cold attacks were clearly having the desired effect. Still, no sense in letting up now. After all, who knew how quickly it would take for Vortex to recover? Thinking quickly, Sam decided to take a trip into the clouds herself while Vortex had his attention focused on Danny. Within seconds, she was inside, breaking into a spiral as her heat aura once again flashed with intensity. And before Vortex or Danny knew what was happening, a wide hole was bored straight through the cloud bank, bathing Vortex in warm sunlight.

 

Vortex cried out in shock as he was once again bombarded by a wave of heat, weakening him even more. But that was only the first part of Sam's new strategy. Her form lost in the bright sunlight, she wound to a stop as the flames from her heat aura swirled around her arm, transforming a newly formed Ghost Ray blade into a fiery weapon. Then, without warning, Sam dove out of the sun, straight down towards Vortex, her Ghost Ray blade blazing even hotter. And with a yell, she flashed her arm downward, the tip of the blade hitting its mark and sending a wave of flame tearing through Vortex's entire body, actually splitting him in half. Danny, meanwhile, wasn't about to let Sam's attack go to waste, charging his fists with freezing ecto-energy and firing the strongest blasts he could. At that moment, Vortex's two halves were trapped in cocoons of ice just as Danny pulled out the Fenton Thermos, sucking him away before he had any hope of recovering. With Vortex defeated, the clouds immediately began to part, returning Amity Park to the calm, temperate weather it was previously enjoying.

 

“Nice moves,” Danny remarked as Sam flew back to rejoin him.

 

“You weren't so bad yourself,” Sam replied, looking around at the sky returning to normal, “Wow, you'd almost think we actually knew what we were doing, huh?”

 

“Well, it looks like the dance is still on tonight, at least,” Danny noted, “You're still not going to tell me what you'll be wearing, are you?”

 

“Sorry. You'll just have to wait and see for yourself,” Sam answered teasingly, tracing circles on Danny's chest with her finger. Danny, meanwhile, couldn't help but smile at her in response as the two leaned in for a quick kiss. But just as their lips were within millimeters of touching, a giant shadow suddenly loomed over them.

 

“Oh, great…NOW wha…huh?!” Danny blurted out as he and Sam turned to see the mid-afternoon sky around them suddenly transform into pitch-dark night. And before Danny knew what was happening, he found himself suddenly being surrounded by complete blackness…

 

… … … …

 

“WHOA!!!”

 

Danny snapped up from his bed with a start, his eyes darting about in panic, only to find himself safely inside his own room. What a dream he'd just had. He was…doing something…with someone…and then…something happened…he couldn't…already the images were starting to fade from his mind. Funny how dreams had a way of doing that, being so vivid one moment and then just vanishing the next. Oh well, if it was something important, he surely would have remembered it.

 

Just then, Danny's alarm clock sounded right next to his bed. Without even looking, he reached over and switched off the annoying drone. If nothing else, that dream woke him up on time at least. Shrugging his shoulders, he realized he might as well get up to face the day.

 

“Danny?! Danny, wake up sweetheart!” he heard Maddie calling from downstairs.

 

“I'm up, Mom! I'll be right down!” Danny replied, walking out of his closet already dressed. But as he walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, his parents were oddly nowhere to be found. They could almost always be counted on to be at the kitchen table tinkering with this or that first thing in the morning. Of course, he could have just missed them too and they had gone down to the lab for something. No reason why it should slow down his day. Just then, his Ghost Sense suddenly kicked in as the strange icy chill crept through him. But strangely enough, as he looked around, even out the windows, no ghost was in sight and there were no signs of panic.

 

“A false alarm?” he thought out loud to himself, “THAT'S never happened before.”

 

“Danny, get up!” Jack's voice sounded off in the distance before Danny had a chance to wonder about what it meant.

 

“I'm up already, Dad! Can't you hear me in the kitchen or what?!” Danny answered back, assuming his parents were still down in the lab. Still, that incident with his ghost sense had him worried and he could only let out a heavy sigh. It looked like today was going to be one of those days, alright. He didn't even notice the sinister grin appearing in the reflective surface of the window as he turned to leave…

 

… … … …

 

“Tucker, Jazz! Meet us back at the house! We've got a problem!” Maddie shouted into the Fenton's RV's com system as it tore through the streets at top speed. Jack, meanwhile, was in the back with Danny and Sam, both as Jack and Maddie had found them just minutes ago after the fight with Vortex, unconscious and changed out of their ghost forms. And Jack could only look on with worry as nothing he did seemed able to awaken his son.

 

“Danny? Danny?!” he exclaimed, shaking Danny's shoulders firmly, “Come on son, you've got to get up. Get up!”

 

… … … …

 

The halls of Casper High were in their usual bustle as Danny made his way to class. There was absolutely nothing to suggest that anything was out of the ordinary. Yet Danny found himself looking around pensively as though he were looking for some kind of sign that something wasn't right. He'd had this feeling ever since his Ghost Sense was triggered back at Fenton Works. Usually, it would come in one quick burst and then go away, just to let him know a ghost was in the area. But this time, for some strange reason, it hadn't. He could still feel a tiny shiver at the back of his neck, like a small part of his ghost sense had stayed behind, buzzing constantly. This had never happened before and Danny couldn't help feeling worried. Were his powers going haywire? Or was this a warning of something worse?

 

Just then, his icy breath passed his lips again. No ignoring it THIS time. Something was DEFINITELY up. Breaking into a mad dash, he whipped around a nearby corner in a desperate search for a secluded place to transform. But just then…!

 

“WHOA!” Danny exclaimed as he nearly ran over a girl coming around the same corner with an armload of books. As they both tumbled to the ground in a hail of books, Danny immediately looked up to apologize to the person he'd almost ran into.

 

“Hey! Why don't you watch where you're going…!? you…jerk…” Sam started to yell, but as she looked up into Danny's eyes, time just seemed to stop. Danny, meanwhile, was looking just as stunned as she was. He could only kneel there, looking into the eyes of this odd, grungy dressed girl with jet black hair. Lost in her gaze, Danny could swear he'd never seen this girl before in her life. So why couldn't he get up or look away? Sam meanwhile, was lost in the same moment. He was just some plain, skinny guy that she knew she'd never seen before in her life. One of those wannabe's that she always dismissed as being mindless sheep. So why, as she knelt on the ground, staring directly at him, was her heart pounding so violently?

 

“I…I'm, uh…really…,” Danny tried desperately to apologize, still frozen in the moment before he finally managed to shake the cobwebs out of his head, “Oh man, I'm TOTALLY sorry! Let me help you with those!”

 

“Oh!” Sam exclaimed as she finally managed to snap out of the moment herself. Realizing where they were, she immediately scrambled to pick up her books before the herd of students ended up kicking them halfway around the school. With Danny's help, they soon had everything collected except for one book. Instinctively, they both reached out to grab for it, only to have their fingertips lightly brush against each other. But suddenly, at that instant, their eyes went wide as a brief image flashed into their heads…

 

… … … …

 

“Can a ghost get frostbite?” Danny's voice trembled as he shivered and rubbed his hands inside the Specter Speeder in a desperate attempt to warm up.

 

“Oh here. MY hands are warm,” Sam replied with a smile as she reached out and folded her hands over his. At that moment, the two of them looked over towards each other and their eyes met…

 

… … … …

 

“Whoa,” Danny uttered as he and Sam reared back, both shaking their heads. The image that had been so clear just a moment ago had suddenly vanished from their minds just as quickly. But Danny COULD remember that something had DEFINITELY just happened the moment he touched her. And as he looked up at Sam, who was staring back into his eyes with the same perplexed look, there was only one thing he could bring himself to ask. He knew it was going to sound like a line, but he had to know…

 

“Do…we…know each other?”

 

Sam could only remain frozen, unsure of how to respond. Just then, the moment was instantly interrupted as Paulina walked by, tossing Danny a flirty look.

 

“Hey Danny,” she cooed in a seductive voice.

 

“Paulina!” Danny responded as he snapped to his feet, his eyes following her as he passed, “I was just…I mean, I…”

 

CLANG!!!

 

Danny's gaze was so transfixed on Paulina, he didn't even notice his face turning around to slam right into an open locker door. Falling flat on his back again, he looked up in a daze to see Dash Baxter looking down over him with an evil smirk. Paulina herself appeared to have the same wicked grin as she walked over and lightly slapped Dash a quick high five.

 

“Told you he'd fall for it. What a dork!” Dash gloated as the entire hallway of students burst into a wave of laughter at Danny's expense.

 

“Dude, you are a GENIUS!” Dash's buddy Kwan replied, giving Dash a congratulatory hit in the arm as the other students continued shrieking with sick delight. As Danny focused on nursing his face and the back of his head, Sam meanwhile, suddenly found herself overcome with an intense wave of rage. As her face twisted into a deathly scowl, she was about to unleash her fury on Dash and the entire student body. But suddenly…

 

“A-HEM!!!” the gruff, thin voice echoed through the hallway as all the students turned their attention to none other than the infamous Mr. Lancer, who was looming over Dash like a potbellied vulture, the look in his eyes clearly demonstrating his disapproval.

 

“Did I just hear the word `genius', Mr. Baxter?” he remarked at Dash, with a voice of contempt, “Am I to understand that there is something your recent TEST SCORES haven't been telling me?”

 

“Uuuuuhhhhhhhh,” was all Dash managed to utter, his eyes darting back and forth as Kwan and Paulina quietly slunk away. With the situation sufficiently quelled, Sam's cool head slowly began to return. But as she looked down at Danny, who was still lying on the floor, she couldn't help but wonder what had just come over her. Sure, what Dash had done was totally unfair, but it had never made her so incensed like this before. And yet, at that moment, for some crazy reason, she had just felt so…furious. For those few seconds, she was completely out of control. Suddenly, Danny's eyes chanced to dart up and meet hers and at that moment, Sam could feel her heart skip, frozen in time once again. This, however, was far beyond the notice of Mr. Lancer, who had turned his disdain away from Dash and had now begun targeting the rest of the student body.

 

“Since you all seem to have nothing better to do than play childish pranks on one of your own classmates, I can only assume that all of you managed to finish reviewing the chapters I assigned yesterday,” he announced bitterly, “So it shouldn't be the least bit unfair for me expecting to see every single hand raised whenever I ask a question in class today…RIGHT?!”

 

Of course, as he looked out over the hallway, Lancer was hardly surprised to see nothing but scratching heads and faraway glances, with not a single pair of eyes looking up to meet his gaze. Just then, the school bell blared through the halls and the students were all too happy to use it to escape, all stampeding to class. Even Sam trotted away, but it was impossible for her not to look over her shoulder, giving Danny another passing glance as she walked off. For some reason, she just couldn't stand to not look at him.

 

“Mr. Fenton, time for class,” Lancer noted sternly, “You're not going to learn anything lying on the hallway floor all day.”

 

“Uh, right,” Danny uttered nervously as he picked himself up. What a morning it had been. First his Ghost Sense starting acting up and now all the weirdness around this strange girl. Speaking of which, why was he even still thinking about her? He'd never seen her until now, and yet, for some reason, he just couldn't get her out of his head. It kind of made him wish Tucker was around as he made his way to class. Somehow, talking to him always seemed to make Danny feel at least a little bit better. Where WAS Tucker anyway? But Danny was so focused on getting to class, he never even noticed a sinister hiss of laughter sounding off behind him.

 

… … … …

 

“So…you just found them like this?” Tucker asked down in the lab of Fenton Works as Danny and Sam lay beside each other on separate gurneys, both covered head to toe in scanning electrodes.

 

“But they both sounded fine when they were fighting Vortex,” Jazz added, “What happened?”

 

“Well, the good news is, they're not hurt,” Maddie replied, checking a nearby monitor as the computer revealed its findings to her and Jack, “But these readings of their brain activity make no sense. There are no signs of injury, but they're both unconscious. It's…almost like they just…fell asleep.”

 

“Fell asleep?” Tucker blurted out as he looked over at Jazz, the two of them sharing an equally worried expression, “Oh no.”

 

“What was that?!” Jack piped up, “You know something! Are you saying this is some ghost's doing?!”

 

“Well…” Jazz trailed off nervously as her eyes darted back and forth, unsure of exactly what answer to give. But that was all the response Jack needed as he grabbed a nearby bazooka, pointing it straight down towards Danny's face.

 

“Alright, you slimy, ecto-freak!” he shouted threateningly, “You've got `til the count of THREE to get out of my kid's head, you got that?! One, two…!”

 

“DAD!” Jazz interjected, shoving the barrel of the bazooka away before flashing an annoyed look, “You're not going to help your son by shooting him in the face.”

 

Maddie walked over and calmly took the bazooka out of Jack's hands a moment later, trying to calm him down with an understanding grin. Jazz, meanwhile, walked over to the monitor in order to get a better look at the readings for herself.

 

“Well, Mom's right,” she remarked, “I've seen these kinds of patterns before. They're just like the ones you see when a person is in REM sleep.”

 

“REM? So, you mean…they ARE sleeping,” Tucker asked.

 

“AND dreaming,” Jazz added, turning back to Danny and Sam with a concerned gaze, “The question now is what they're dreaming ABOUT. Unfortunately, the only two people who would have been able to help us find out are the ones doing the dreaming.”

 

Jack and Maddie could only look on, worried at Jazz's words. Tucker, meanwhile, suddenly became very thoughtful.

 

“Hmmmmm.”

 

… … … …

 

The morning's classes were just about to begin, but for Danny, school was the absolute LAST thing on his mind. Ever since he got up that morning, nothing seemed to make sense. It felt like he was walking around in a daze. First his Ghost Sense wouldn't stop going off and now there was the weirdness with that girl he'd just met. What in the world could have come over him when he saw her in the hall? After all, Paulina was the one he'd always had a crush on. Just seeing her voluptuous form would always make his heart race. But with that other girl…that skinny, grungy, odd girl…he experienced something else. It felt similar to a Paulina-type reaction, but for some reason this seemed so much…more. It was…deeper, more intense. Could it be related to his Ghost Sense problem somehow? Too much strangeness was happening for it all just to be random coincidence.

 

Sam, meanwhile, was having the same problem. All morning, she could feel her own Ghost Sense lightly shivering at the back of her neck, but that was hardly what she was focused on at that moment. She just couldn't figure out what happened to her when she ran into that guy in the hall. This wave of giddiness just washed right over her. She'd never felt anything like it before. It was like, when she saw him, her whole morning just seemed…brighter somehow. For those few precious seconds that she was lost in his eyes, the world suddenly just didn't feel like such an unbearable, suffocating place to live in. But…why would she feel this way? It was like one of those shiny, happy love songs on the radio that she despised with every fiber of her being. And why did it have to be HIM, of all people? Sam knew that on the surface, he was just like every other outcast guy in school, the kind of guy who'd blindly give his left arm to be with the popular crowd. She HATED people like that. So why did THIS boy seem so different?

 

As if unable to control herself, Sam chanced to look up and shifted her eyes towards Danny, who was sitting in the next row, just a few desks up. Within seconds, Danny could feel the hairs stand up on the back of his neck, but it had nothing to do with his Ghost Sense. As if he could feel someone watching him, he looked over his shoulder. Once again, his eyes met Sam's and once again, they both felt this wave of…SOMETHING…surge through them. Immediately, their eyes went wide and both immediately turned away. They still weren't sure what they were feeling. But for some reason, it felt kind of…nice. Blushing slightly, they managed to toss each other a few shy glances, fortunately without either one of them noticing.

 

“Alright class,” Lancer announced, snapping Danny and Sam out of the moment as he moved the sliding panel of the chalkboard to reveal what he'd written, “For the first part of class today, we're going to take a moment to review the scene we read yesterday from Romeo and Juliet. Did anyone happen to understand the true meaning behind this quote?”

 

Lancer motioned his hand to the chalkboard, but just as he did so, Danny and Sam both felt their Ghost Sense kick in again. Just what was CAUSING that? This was getting ridiculous. They HAD to find out what was going on.

 

“Mr. Lancer, I…!” They both blurted out in unison as they snapped up from their chairs. Naturally, this was enough to give all of their classmates a cheap laugh, but neither Danny nor Sam seemed to notice as they chanced to catch each others' gaze once more and suddenly felt very nervous.

 

“Something wrong?” Lancer inquired, the tone of his voice indicating that he was hardly as amused as the rest of the class.

 

“Uh, well…it's just I…have to go to the bathroom,” Danny replied sheepishly, almost under his breath as he trotted out the door, followed by the stray giggles of the other students.

 

“And you, Miss Manson?” Lancer added once Danny as out the door.

 

“Oh…uh, I…just forgot a book in my locker. I've gotta go get it,” Sam answered, heading quickly out the door herself. Meanwhile, Danny, once in the bathroom and confident that he was alone, quickly transformed and phased outside, flying up and scanning the immediate are for anything that might have triggered his Ghost Sense for the umpteenth time.

 

“Alright, you creep,” he muttered under his breath, “I'm getting REAL tired of this `hide and seek'. So where ARE you?”

 

“Ex-CUSE me?! And just who are you?!” a voice called from the sky behind him. Whirling around, Danny's eyes widened in shock as he saw a…Ghost GIRL flying behind him? Her costume was almost identical to his except for the army style boots, the bare midriff, the middle-fingered gloves and the long black coat with lace-trimmed sleeves. But her hair was white and her eyes were green, just like his. The only other person he knew that had powers like his was Danielle, but she got those powers by being cloned from him. What did THIS mean?

 

“Who am I?! Who are YOU?!” exclaimed, his voice a mixture of confusion and anger. Sam Tasma, meanwhile, could only glare at him, feeling every bit as aggravated.

 

“Okay pal, I don't know WHO'S idea of a practical joke this is,” she shouted, her voice getting angrier as she gritted her teeth and pointed an accusing finger in Danny's direction, “But they just put you into a WORLD of trouble…because in case you haven't noticed yet, I'm in a REALLY bad mood today!”

 

“Sister…that makes TWO of us!” Danny answered back, his hands blazing with ecto-energy…!

 

… … … …

 

“Good thing we managed to salvage a few of these dream helmets. This SHOULD let us be able to see what's going on inside their heads,” Tucker noted as he helped Jazz fit a pair onto Danny and Sam's heads. Jack and Maddie, meanwhile, were completing a few last second hookups between Danny and Sam's helmets, a nearby computer and a third helmet that currently had no wearer. That is, until Tucker lay down on a third gurney next to Danny and Sam to put it on himself.

 

“Tucker, are you absolutely sure you want to do this alone?” Jazz asked, her voice showing a hint of concern, “You don't know what you're going to find in there.”

 

“Look, right now, the fewer people we're putting at risk, the better. Right now, we don't even know if this is going to work,” Tucker replied, “If it does, you should be able to see what's happening on the monitor. Which is good, because I may need you guys to pull me out if things get too hairy.”

 

Satisfied that he'd made his point, Tucker turned to Jack and Maddie, with Maddie giving a firm, yet cautious, thumbs up. With that, Tucker took a deep breath as he prepared to enter…wherever he was going to end up.

 

“Well…here goes,” he uttered with a sigh, lying back as he activated the helmet. A second later, he was almost instantly unconscious.

 

With what seemed to be a flash of light, Tucker instantly found himself standing in the middle of a downtown street. Taking a moment to get his bearings, he quickly realized that he was in Amity Park, just a few blocks from Casper High. For the moment, it looked like the experiment had worked, but he would only know for sure if he found Danny and Sam first.

 

“Well, so far, so good,” Maddie remarked, her eyes glued to the monitor screen with Jack and Jazz as Tucker trotted off to find his friends. Suddenly, the sky turned green as a Ghost Ray streaked through the air over Tucker's head. Instantly, Tucker's eyes lit up with hope. There was only one person he knew who could throw Ghost Rays like that.

 

“Danny,” he blurted out in relief as he ran towards the school as fast as he could. He became even more at ease as he managed to see Danny and Sam floating over the school even from just a couple of blocks away. But Tucker's calm would soon be shattered a second later as Danny reared back, charging up a sphere of ecto-energy and hurtling it straight towards Sam. Sam, however, was quick to react, unleashing a web of Ghost Ray strands which caught Danny's attack and slinging it back towards him. Fortunately, Danny was able to dodge the sphere, allowing it to fly harmlessly away. But it wasn't enough to ease Tucker's shock at what he was seeing.

 

“Are…are they fighting?!” he exclaimed, breaking into a run again as he tried to get their attention, “Danny! Sam! What are you doing…?!”

 

“What are YOU doing here, geek?” an all too familiar voice sounded off behind him. Whirling around, Tucker saw Paulina, standing in the street behind him with her hands on her hips and an irritated frown. But…how did she even get behind him in the first place? The street they were on was completely empty. And Tucker knew he'd never passed her.

 

“Paulina?” he couldn't help but blurt out, “How…how did you…?”

 

Instead of answering, Paulina simply flashed a wicked smile. But the real horror was to come as she suddenly turned green and her figure melted away, transforming into the all-too familiar form of a Sleepwalker…one of the minions of…!

 

“Answer the question!!!” a hissing voice rasped through the air as a jet black form rose up from behind the groaning Sleepwalker. It's silhouetted cloaked form looking like a starry night, all save for its long, pasty white face and curled down horns.

 

“Nocturne!” Tucker could only blurt out in fright as the Ghost of Sleep towered over him. Nocturne, however, was hardly amused by Tucker's reaction, as evidenced by the scowl across his face and snarling voice.

 

“What…are…you…DOING HERE!!!”

 

… … … …

 

 

Meanwhile, Danny and Sam, each convinced the other was the enemy, were completely unaware of Nocturne's presence as their battle continued. Danny was first to act with a searing Ghost Ray, but Sam quickly responded by converting her ecto-energy into a whirring chainsaw blade, standing firm and slicing Danny's ghost Ray into two halves which flashed harmlessly past her.

 

“Okay, THAT'S a neat trick,” Danny muttered under his breath. But Sam wasn't done yet as she went on the attack, forming her ecto-energy into a giant spiked ball and chain and sending it flying straight towards Danny. This time, however, Danny was the one quick to act as he formed a shield of ecto-energy around himself, completely protecting him from Sam's offence. A second later, an ecto-energy pulse ripped from Danny's body, not only smashing through his shield, but completely dispelling Sam's Ghost Ray weapon.

 

“But you still swing like a girl!” he added as a little taunt.

 

Seething in anger at Danny's remark, Sam surged forward at top speed, a set of Ghost Ray claws forming around her hands. Danny immediately responded with a volley of Ghost Rays, but Sam, still flying towards him like a shot, managed to zig and zag her way between every one. His eyes widening in shock as Sam bore down on him, Danny had just barely enough time to dodge as Sam slashed past him, her claws just missing his body by millimeters.

 

“Whoa…she's fast. Faster than ME,” Danny thought out loud with a hint of surprise as Sam managed to grind to a stop in mid-air, “We're going to have to do something about that.”

 

Whirling around with a wild glare, Sam scanned the immediate area for any trace of Danny, but found the skies completely empty. Suddenly, a calling whistle pierced the air and Sam looked down to see Danny standing in the street, flashing a smirk in her direction and waving a “come here” motion with his finger. Sam was only to happy to oblige, charging towards him as fast as she could fly. But this time, Danny made no attempt to counter or evade, firmly standing his ground. And it wasn't hard to see why. The split second before Sam reached him, Danny phased out, allowing her claws to pass harmlessly through him. Sam was quicker on her recovery this time around, readying herself to land on the street just a few yards away. Little did she know that she was doing exactly what Danny wanted her to. Whipping around and becoming tangible again, his eyes took on a bright blue glow as he fired a pair of his freezing Ghost Rays, aiming right towards the spot where Sam was landing. And Sam gasped in shock as her feet became trapped in icy restraints forming all the way up to her knees.

 

“Sorry, sweetheart!” Danny called over to her, firing a second larger freezing Ghost Ray directly at her, “But I'm putting you on ice!”

 

“Don't bet on it, pal! I'm just warming UP!!!” Sam shouted back, her eyes turning bright orange and unleashing a column of flame around her body, not only melting the ice around her legs, but completely canceling out Danny's freezing attack. Once again, Danny's eyes went wide with surprise as Sam's powers managed to completely cancel out his own.

 

“Okay…you're just FULL of surprises, aren't you?” he thought out loud. The longer this fight went on, the more curious they both started to become. Their powers might not be exactly the same, but it was becoming obvious that they were virtually equal in every conceivable way. And yet, as they stood across from each other in a heated staredown, neither one of them could resist flashing the briefest, tiniest smirk of amusement. If they weren't so focused on fighting for their lives, on some bizarre level, this whole thing might be almost kind of…fun.

 

… … … …

 

“Just imagine. Both of them trapped in a prison they don't even know they're in,” Nocturne gloated, still looming menacingly over Tucker, “It would almost be tragic if it weren't so amusing.”

 

“What did you DO to them?!” Tucker shouted, still reeling from the shock of seeing Danny and Sam at each others' throats, “It's like they don't remember each other.”

 

“Oh that…that was just a little something extra I threw in,” Nocturne replied, “After all, what's a prison without at least a TINY bit of suffering? I could easily sense it from them in our first encounter. Those two, their feelings for each other are so pure and untainted. You cannot even begin to imagine how rare that is. And yet, once I'd entered their minds, it was so easy to use their shyness and insecurities and fears to seal away their memories of each other. And now look at them. Just inches away from each other, and yet they might as well be worlds apart. I'm sure they can both feel it…that void in their hearts where something used to be. Such a shame they'll never know.”

 

Angered beyond words, Tucker could only glare at Nocturne in contempt. Of course, knowing that Tucker was really able to do little else, Nocturne showed not the least bit of concern.

 

“Oh, don't worry. They won't be like this much longer. You see, under normal circumstances, it takes only a small amount of dream energy from a dreamer to sustain me,” Nocturne explained calmly. Suddenly, his eyes gave a wild gaze as his mouth curled into the most twisted smile.

 

“But in the case of THOSE two…I'm going to be taking it ALL! By sunset, they'll both be lost in their sleep…and they will be unable to awaken…EVER!!”

 

Tucker gasped in shock at Nocturne's words. Somehow, he HAD to get to Danny and Sam to wake them up. But before he could even think to turn and run to them, Nocturne struck, flashing out his arm and grabbing tucker in his hand as though he were nothing but a small toy.

 

“You understand, of course, don't you? They were the only TRUE obstacles in my way,” Nocturne continued, binding Tucker in the palm of his hand, “The rest of you are already mine…you just don't know it yet.”

 

Tucker could only let out a cry of pain as he found himself squeezed by Nocturne's crushing grip. But just as Nocturne was about to do away with him, Tucker's body mysteriously turned to white light and faded away, with no sign that he had ever been there. Realizing that this could only mean one thing, Nocturne glared with an angry growl. Meanwhile, in a flash of light, Tucker found himself back in the Fenton Works lab, sitting up with a start as Jazz pulled the dream helmet off his head.

 

“Are you alright?!” she exclaimed.

 

… … … …

 

Back in Nocturne's dream world, Danny's battle with Sam was already back on. Charging towards each other at top speed, Danny prepared a searing Ghost Ray while Sam formed a hardened cocoon of ecto-energy around her fist, about to deliver a crushing blow. Danny was just about to fire as they reached each other, but Sam managed to grab his wrist and pull it aside, sending his Ghost Ray exploding into the curb. But Danny wasn't about to give up so easily, snapping his hand up and grabbing the wrist of Sam's free hand as she swung at him, keeping her from caving in his skull. Lost in the moment, the two locked their hands together in what could only be a last ditch test of strength, although even in this, they appeared nearly equal. But just a brief second or two into their struggle, their eyes went wide as another image flashed into their minds.

 

… … … …

 

“Still friends?” Danny asked, standing outside Casper High.

 

“Psshh…the best,” Sam replied with a dismissive hand wave and a mock European accent…

 

… … … …

 

At that instant, they both pulled away in shock. Again, the image faded from their minds just as instantly as it came. But there was still the lingering feeling that something had just happened.

 

“What was THAT…? Hey, wait a minute…,” Danny muttered as he and Sam suddenly looked at each other, their eyes widening even larger than before. They both recognized this feeling. They'd both felt it before, back at Casper High before class, right when they almost ran into…

 

“It's…”

 

“…you,” Sam added under her breath, completing Danny's thought. For what seemed like forever, they could only stand paralyzed, locked in each others' gaze. Suddenly, they both managed to force themselves out of the moment and quickly flew at top speed into a nearby alley. Whatever was going to come next, they both knew it wasn't for prying eyes to see. Unfortunately for them, one pair of prying eyes had already witnessed what was happening as Nocturne emerged from the nearby shadows.

 

“It can't be,” he uttered in surprise, “Could they actually be…remembering?”

 

Meanwhile, feeling secure enough that they were out of sight, Danny and Sam could only look into each others' eyes once more as they both transformed and stood there in their human forms. In that moment, all they could do was stand in there, both lost in a haze of surprise and confusion. None of this made any sense for either of them. How could another person just appear out of nowhere one day with ghost powers like they have? But as the excitement of the moment faded, a new feeling came into play. It was just like when they first saw each other in the hallway that morning, but there was something else now too. A strange sensation of…warmth…of comfort. Lost in each others' gaze, both Danny and Sam felt as though being close to this person standing across from them just made everything seem to feel better somehow. And THAT was the confusing part. How could ANYONE feel this way staring into the eyes of a total stranger?

 

“Who…are you?” they couldn't help utter in unison, both of them almost entranced. But before either one of them could say anything more, Jack and Maddie suddenly appeared from around the corner.

 

“Oh sweetie, are you okay?” Maddie asked dotingly, caressing Danny's cheek.

 

“Come on, son!” Jack announced slinging Danny over his shoulder before he even had a chance to answer, “We've gotta get you to Decontamination…STAT!”

 

Before Sam even knew what was happening, Jack and Maddie hauled Danny around the corner and disappeared. Just then, without warning, Pamela and Jeremy Manson came trotting into the alley towards Sam.

 

“Oh Sam, what are you doing in this filthy alley with those two ghost children tearing apart the town?” Pamela exclaimed worriedly.

 

“Come on, angel, we're taking you home,” Jeremy added, “That must have been so horrible for you.”

 

At any other point, Sam would have protested her parents' overprotective actions. But at that point, she felt so confused that having a little bit of time to sort out her thoughts was almost a relief. But as Pamela and Jeremy led her away, Nocturne reappeared out from the darkness of the alley.

 

“That was too close,” he muttered under his breath, observing the situation closely. Sure enough, as Pamela and Jeremy guided Sam out of the alley, she chanced to look over her shoulder to see Danny being loaded into the Fenton RV by Jack and Maddie and their eyes chanced to meet again. And for that brief moment before the RV doors slammed shut, they both flashed each other a longing gaze.

 

“Hmmm, they're stronger than I thought,” Nocturne noted grimly as the Fenton RV roared off down the street, “At this rate, they could remember everything. They might even become strong enough to escape this dream world.”

 

Pausing with a wave of his arm, Nocturne willed a new dream version of Paulina to appear before him. A copy he formed just as easily as he'd created dream forms of Danny and Sam's parents just moments ago.

 

“We're going to have to do something about that,” he added with a hiss as his dream form of Paulina opened her eyes and flashed a most wicked grin.

 

… … … …

 

“Tucker, forget it! You're not going back in there!” Jazz argued as she held the dream helmet up over her head, keeping Tucker at arm's length.

 

“Jazz, we don't have time to argue!” Tucker exclaimed, “If we don't do something soon, Nocturne's gonna…!”

 

Before Tucker could finish his thought, however, an ominous groan echoed through the lab, getting everyone's attention. Suddenly, without warning, a bloated green form came seeping through the walls.

 

“It's Nocturne's Sleepwalkers!” Jazz shouted out, “He must be trying to stop us from getting in again!”

 

Luckily, Jazz's reflexes were faster, grabbing a cold gun from a nearby table and freezing the Sleepwalker dead in its tracks before it could even think to launch an attack. But stopping one Sleepwalker was hardly a cause for celebration as more eerie moans surrounded the lab on all sides.

 

“Here! You have to freeze them!” Jazz instructed, tossing the gun to Maddie, “It's what Danny did to stop them the last time!”

 

“Jazz, your father and I will handle this!” Maddie declared, running to the weapons vault and emerging with an armload of weapons before heading for the stairs, “Just keep your brother safe!”

 

Jazz replied with a simple nod as Maddie and Jack charged up the stairs. But as she turned around, her eyes went wide as she saw Tucker back on the gurney, trying to put the dream helmet back on.

 

“Tucker, stop it!” she yelled, ripping the helmet out of his hands, “Look, I know you want to help, but this isn't going to work, okay? Nocturne will never let you get CLOSE to Danny or Sam. It's not a video game in there, Tucker! You won't have anything to fight him with and you don't get extra lives!”

 

“Video game…? That's IT!! Jazz, you're a genius!” Tucker shouted delightedly, throwing his arms around Jazz and kissing her cheek before snuggling against her. But his display of affection was only met with Jazz gently pushing him away and flashing an irritated glance.

 

“Okay, first of all…don't EVER do that again,” she commanded dryly.

 

“Sorry,” Tucker replied, instantly shrinking back.

 

“And second, what are you talking about?” Jazz continued, “All I said was…”

 

“I know what you said, and it was brilliant!” Tucker chimed in excitedly, “Don't you see? We have to come at this as if it WAS a video game!”

 

“O-kaaaaaay,” Jazz replied, her eyes darting back and forth uneasily as Tucker made a beeline for the nearest computer, “And just how are we supposed to do that?”

 

“By doing what every good Game Designer does,” Tucker answered with a confident smirk, his fingers already rattling away on the keyboard.

 

“We need some cheat codes.”

 

… … … …

 

Danny was lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling in a completely blank state. Spending who-knows-how much time in a man-size centrifuge was NOT his idea of spending most of his day constructively. Eventually though, his parents decided that he was clean from his ghost fighting experience and were kind enough to release him from their tender mercies. And it couldn't happen too soon for Danny, who desperately needed some time to think. It seemed like all day, he just hadn't had time to do that. First, his Ghost Sense starting going crazy on him. At least that had stopped a while ago, although he still couldn't figure out why started or what made it stop. Did it have something to do with that strange girl? Oh, and that girl! Where did she come from? What was she doing with ghost powers? Why, even when he didn't know her name, did she just seem so familiar to him? And for that matter, why did he suddenly feel this rush of emotion whenever he saw her? One thing was for sure, none of this was making sense. He was going to have to get some answers…and SOON.

 

Suddenly, just as he was just getting to a point where he could try and sort his thoughts, the doorbell rang. Phasing through his bed to the main floor of the house, he walked down the main hall and headed for the door.

 

“It's okay! I've got it!” he called to anyone who might be listening. But as he reached for the door and opened it, his eyes went wide as the last person he expected to see was standing on his doorstep.

 

“P-Paulina?”

 

“Danny, I just wanted to apologize for that horrible trick Dash played on you at school this morning,” Paulina murmured softly with a pouty tone and a moist, puppy dog gaze, “It was so out of line.”

 

“Uh, okay…were…we in the same school this morning?” Danny asked, his eyes nervously darting back and forth. After all, he seemed to recall Paulina being in on that little stunt with the locker door.

 

“I know. I was being insensitive. But I've learned my lesson, believe me,” Paulina asserted, flashing Danny a seductive glance, “Besides, anyone as cute as you doesn't deserve to get picked on like that.”

 

“Cute”? The word danced through Danny's brain like the soft flutter of a butterfly's wings as he stood in the doorway, a goofy smile wiggling across his lips. Paulina, meanwhile, let out an evil grin that was beneath Danny's notice as she sidled up closer and moved in.

 

“Let me make it up to you. There's that big dance tonight that everyone will be going do,” she cooed and purred in Danny's ear, sending shivers down his spine, “Do you want to be my date? It'll be fun. Please? Pleeeeeeeeeeease?”

 

“Uh… uuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhh…,” Danny stammered and chuckled bashfully as the gentle touch of Paulina's breath on his ear slowly stripped away his defenses, “Yeah…sure.”

 

“Perfect!” Paulina declared, sealing the deal with a tender kiss on Danny's cheek and another flirty look, “See you tonight.”

 

With that, Paulina was down the steps and skipping away down the street. For Danny, it wasn't until Paulina was long out of sight before he managed to close the front door, still lost in a daze.

 

… … … …

 

The evening had come and Danny was already in the middle of getting ready for his date with Paulina. Fumbling in the closet as he tried to get his tie straight, the craziness of the morning had already become a distant memory for him. But he was about to get a heavy reminder as Sam suddenly phased in behind him through his bedroom wall.

 

“Uh…hi,” she said simply with a wave, trying to disguise the jitteriness in her voice. But it still wasn't enough to keep from shocking Danny, who let out a yelp of shock as the earlier events of the day came rushing back in a flood. Acting on instinct, he went into transformation, readying himself for anything.

 

“Whoa! Whoa! Hold up!” Sam exclaimed, throwing up her hands in submission as she turned back into her human form, cutting Danny off in mid change, “I'm not here for trouble. I just want to talk, okay?”

 

“Okay,” Danny replied, still thinly suspicious, but unable to escape the swell of emotion just by being alone with her in his room, “So…how did you find out where I live?”

 

“Well, let's just say that caterpillar treads and armor plating isn't exactly standard on the average family motor home,” Sam replied with a shrug. But after that, there was a long awkward pause as she and Danny shifted their heads around, trying to think of exactly what to say.

 

“So, uh…what did you…want to…talk about?” Danny finally asked, trying to hide his own nervousness.

 

“Well…I don't know,” Sam muttered, rubbing her arm nervously while pacing back and forth and trying to avoid Danny's gaze at all costs, “I guess…I'd like to…know your name…what kind of music you like…movies…maybe…how you got your powers…?”

 

“W…where are you going with this?” Danny asked, feeling more than a little uncomfortable at that moment.

 

“I don't know!” Sam sighed, throwing up her arms in defeat as she turned to leave the way she came, “I'm sorry, okay? Coming here was stupid.”

 

“Wait!” Danny blurted out just as Sam had one foot through the wall, “Don't go…please?”

 

“Don't go”?! What was he thinking?! He had a date with a voluptuous teen goddess coming almost any minute now and here he was asking some strange girl to stay in his room?! And yet, as Sam turned to look at him, he felt a strange relief that she wasn't leaving.

 

“Just…just tell me,” Danny managed to force out of his mouth, “Why…did you come here?”

 

“I don't…because…because I wanted to get to know you better, okay?!” Sam shouted. Danny's eyes went wide in surprise, but he wasn't nearly as surprised as he was going to get as Sam continued talking.

 

“Look, I just…I just want to figure this out,” Sam kept going, trying hard to keep her voice from cracking, “I mean, you show up today, you have the same powers I do and…! And I…haven't been able to stop…thinking about you.”

 

Danny's jaw dropped as his eyes became slightly wider. Was she really feeling the same things he was feeling? It wasn't until Sam looked up at him, with tears welling in her eyes and her hand clutching her heart, that he knew it was true.

 

“I'm looking at you right now…and my heart is pounding so fast, I can't stop it,” Sam continued, her voice breaking beyond her control, “We…we walk away from each other…and I hurt…and I don't know why…”

 

Sam immediately turned away, not wanting to show Danny what she was going through. But what little she had shown him was already more than enough as Danny felt his heart being wrenched inside his chest. All he seemed able to do was swallow hard, trying to force back the lump in his throat as he could still hear Sam sniffling, even with her back turned to him.

 

“I know it's stupid, okay? I guess…maybe I was hoping that…it was the same with you, you know?” Sam gulped hard, trying desperately to regain her composure, “It's just…I've never felt this way before. I just…want to know that it's not just me…that I'm…not going crazy or something.”

Still looking away, trying to center herself, Sam had no idea that Danny was slowly walking across the room towards her. His eyes were filled with sorrowful emotions as he reached out to put his hand on her shoulder. But just as he was mere inches away, Maddie's voice suddenly sounded from downstairs.

 

“Danny, come on sweetie! Your date's here!”

 

“Date”…the word seemed to pound through Sam's head like a deafening echo as her eyes went wide and her bottom lip trembled. Danny, meanwhile, had instinctively turned his attention to the door, in the direction from where his mother's voice had come. For a few brief moments, he'd actually forgotten that he'd made a date with Paulina. And now, on some level he couldn't explain, suddenly, it just didn't feel right to go. But just as he turned back to Sam to try and explain, all he found in front of him was a blank wall. Sam was long gone. Instantly, Danny dashed for the window, but it was too much to hope for that he should see her there. With only an empty street to greet his eyes, all Danny could do was let out a heavy sigh of guilt.

 

… … … …

 

Back at Fenton works, Jazz kept a nervous vigil over Danny and Sam, armed with a freezing gun as Tucker continued his program writing. Upstairs, the sounds of laser blasts and unearthly moans could still be heard as Jack and Maddie continued fending off Nocturne's Sleepwalkers.

 

“Ha HAA! Take THAT, you stitched up FREAKS!” Jack could be heard from the kitchen, “I guess a cold shoulder gives you guys cold feet, huh?!”

 

“Hey, that one was pretty good, Hon!” Maddie could be heard replying enthusiastically.

 

“Thanks Baby!” Jack replied, “Never thought I'd get a chance to actually use it!”

 

“Oh man, this doesn't look good Tucker,” Jazz commented nervously, “I just don't know how much longer Mom and Dad can keep this up.”

 

“Either way, we're running out of time,” Tucker answered, his attention entirely focused on finishing up his final writing commands. A moment later, his work was finally complete as he began uploading the programs he'd created into the Dream Helmets' processing system. But as he watched the files copy, he couldn't help but put out a worried look.

 

“I just hope this works.”

 

… … … …

 

It wasn't long before the dance at Casper High was in full swing and the entire gymnasium was jumping. But Danny clearly wasn't enjoying himself. He didn't even have to ask himself why, he already KNEW why. He was at a major event with one of the hottest, most popular girls in school who was wearing a skintight, strapless red dress with three-inch heels to match. This should be the greatest night of his life. But he wasn't happy. In fact, he had never felt more depressed. All he could see in the back of his mind was Sam looking at him, forcing back her tears and all the bright enjoyment he should have been feeling was suddenly swallowed up into a dark pit of guilt. But he still couldn't stop wondering where were all these feelings coming from towards a girl he'd never even met before that day.

 

“Come on, Danny,” Paulina called over the music as she ran up to him, “You haven't danced even once tonight. Come on, let's go.”

 

The music had changed to a slow dance song just as Danny and Paulina hit the dance floor. Just as conveniently, every student who was dancing suddenly walked off the floor and circled around the pair. And a bright spotlight completely hid their audience from view, as if Danny and Paulina were the only two people in the entire world. But even though Paulina was dancing with her arms around Danny's neck and her head rested on his shoulder, Danny's thoughts were still a million miles away. He knew that logically, he should be loving every minute of this. But he was hardly at a point where he was thinking logically.

 

“Oh, Danny, this night is so perfect,” Paulina sighed, pulling away and looking deeply into Danny's eyes, “I'm so glad I came here with you.”

 

Danny wasn't entirely sure he knew what to say in return. But before he even had a chance to reply, Paulina closed her eyes and leaned in for a tender, romantic kiss. Acting on instinct, Danny began to close his eyes and leaned in himself. But suddenly, he saw Sam's tortured face in his mind once again and gasped as he found himself slowly pulling away.

 

“Danny? What's wrong,” Paulina asked, as the students murmured around them, “Isn't this what you always wanted?”

 

At that moment, Danny's eyes went wide. Everything his hormone driven mind had ever taught him to believe was that this was the perfect night for him. The girl, the dance, the kiss…it all should be perfect. It DESERVED to be perfect. But it wasn't until Paulina's words reached him that he realized the answer to why it wasn't. Was it REALLY what he wanted? It only took a second for Danny to realize the answer to that question as well as he let out a heavy sigh, gently putting his hands on Paulina's shoulders and taking a step back.

 

“No…it's not,” Danny answered apologetically, running towards the crowd. But he stopped just as he reached the edge to take one last look at Paulina's confused expression.

 

“Not anymore.”

 

Before anyone knew what was happening, Danny was out the door, leaving a room full of stunned faces. But seconds later, every student in the gym turned an eerie green and melted away to nothing, followed immediately by Nocturne rising from the shadows. Looking every bit as dumbfounded as the dream students he'd created, a hideous scowl crossed his face before he finally managed to let out a bellow of rage.

 

… … … …

 

The gentle rush of the water from below was all that could be heard as Sam stood looking out over the bridge that crossed the ravine into the north end of Amity Park. Propping herself onto the railing by her elbows, she had never felt more alone in her life as she stared at the moonlight shimmering off the gentle stream. No, that wasn't true. She'd been alone before, too many times to count. A lot of the time, she actually liked being alone. But this was probably the first time ever in her life that she actually felt…lonely.

 

In truth, leaving Danny's room was the best thing she could have done after hearing his mother mention a date. After all, she had no right to be mad at him. For all she knew, he'd made that date days or even weeks ago. And it didn't matter who it was with. Who was Sam, a complete stranger to him, to even THINK that she could take precedence over his time? She didn't even know his name, for crying out loud. But if that was true, why did it still feel so unfair? Why, after just thinking about Danny with another girl, did all she want to do was cry? Feeling the tears welling up in her eyes again, all she could do was put her head down onto her arms, hiding her face so the world couldn't see her pain. Suddenly…

 

“Hey! HEEEEE-EEEEEY!!!” Danny's voice instantly twitched in her ears as she raised her head slightly to see him off in the distance, running towards her. For a second, she was surprised, but a second later, she rubbed her eyes and looked away, trying to regain her composure. After all, how could she let him see that she was so hurt over him? She was sure she'd never hear the end of it. A few moments later, she could hear Danny gasping for air as he held himself up on his knees, trying desperately to get his breathing down to normal.

 

“I've been…looking all over for you…,” he rasped, still panting and swallowing hard. Sam, meanwhile, didn't turn to acknowledge him, not even as Danny fell to his knees just a few yards from the bridge, exhausted. But whether she was looking at him or not meant little to Danny at that point. All that mattered was that she heard him.

 

“Look, I…I just had to find you to say…you're not crazy,” he uttered, finally getting his breathing under control, “You were right.”

 

Sam's eyes snapped open wide at what Danny had just said. Whirling around with a mixture of shock and confusion, she saw Danny on his knees taking another moment to try and collect himself before looking up at her. But as she finally saw his face, all Sam could see was a deep pleading in his eyes.

 

“I haven't been able to get you out of my head,” he continued, a slight break in his voice, “When I saw you this morning, I…I wanted to kiss you more than I ever wanted anything else. I…”

 

Danny cut himself off as he noticed Sam still looking at him wide-eyed, as if she couldn't believe what he was telling her. Feeling like what he said wasn't getting through, he felt completely helpless as he slumped his shoulders in submission and hung his head.

 

“I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm doing this,” he groaned, “I don't even know why this is happening. I must sound so stupid right now.”

 

At that point, Danny could just keep his eyes locked onto the ground, unsure of what else to do. Suddenly, he heard a soft rustling on the ground in front of him and looked up to see Sam kneeling just a few inches away looking at him with gentle eyes and a weak smile etched across her lips. For that brief moment, time seemed to slow to a crawl as they simply stayed locked in each others' gaze.

 

“Does it…really matter why?” Sam finally said, shrugging her shoulders slightly before reaching her hand out to Danny.

 

“Can't we just…let it happen?”

 

As Danny remained frozen in the moment, just being able to see Sam smiling at him seemed to lift an unbearable weight off his shoulder. Coming back with a tiny smile of his own, he slowly reached his hand up towards hers, their fingertips just millimeters apart…

 

“RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Nocturne's roar shook the night as he burst up through the bridge in a column of water. Danny and Sam, meanwhile, were instantly torn out of the moment as they look up in complete shock at Nocturne's enormous form looming over them.

 

“NOCTURNE?!”

 

“HOW DO YOU KNOW NOCTURNE?!”

 

“Okay…that was just weird,” Danny remarked as he and Sam came out of their unified moment. Sam, meanwhile, could only nod in agreement.

 

“I was perfectly happy to let you fade away blissfully in your sleep!” Nocturne growled angrily down at them, “But you two just HAD to do things the HARD way, didn't you?! Fine! If I have to destroy you both the old fashioned way, then so be it!!”

 

“THAT'S WHAT YOU THINK, PAL!” a familiar voice echoed through the air as a flash of white light suddenly appeared in front of Danny and Sam before they had a chance to transform. Within seconds, the light dissipated, revealing Tucker standing defiantly between them and Nocturne's fury, much to Danny and Sam's surprise.

 

“TUCKER?!”

 

“YOU KNOW TUCKER?!”

 

“RRG! STOP DOING THAT!”

 

“Danny, Sam! Listen to me!” Tucker exclaimed, whirling around to face them, “If you guys don't wake up soon, you're never going to! Nocturne's trapped you guys in a dream here!”

 

“Gee, you think maybe?” Sam replied with wide-eyed sarcasm as she pointed up to Nocturne glaring down at the three of them.

 

“You again,” Nocturne hissed, clearly aggravated by Tucker's second intrusion into his dream world, “Did you learn nothing from our last encounter, boy?!”

 

“Funny you should ask!” Tucker answered back with a smirk, “Okay Jazz, Code One, activate!”

 

“Inputting code now!” Jazz replied, her fingers deftly typing one of the codes that Tucker had provided for her.

 

COMMAND/OPTIONS/INPUTCODE/DOOMDTUCK + Enter

 

A second later, another brilliant flash illuminated Tucker's body as Danny, Sam and Nocturne could only look on, none of them sure what to expect. Once again, the light faded as quickly as it came, but it was not the same Tucker that greeted their eyes. Now Tucker stood before them in the cyber armor of his online character from the game “Doomed”, FRYERTUCK. Before Nocturne had any chance to react, Tucker quickly mounted a missile launcher he had strapped to his side onto his shoulder and fired three powerful volleys that exploded into Nocturne's body, sending him toppling backwards across the bridge with a deafening yell of pain. No doubt about it, Tucker had definitely won the first round with the element of surprise. But Nocturne wasn't about to let himself be brought down so easily.

 

“Sleepwalkers, FORM!” he demanded, waving his arm as dozens of his minions appeared to do his bidding. Tucker, however, was prepared for this as well, tossing aside his missile launcher and pulling out a pair of automatic laser pistols, tearing into the Sleepwalkers with countless shots and taking them out just as quickly as they formed. But this was only a stop cap measure. There was only one way he knew Nocturne wasn't going to win.

 

“Danny, Sam, come on! I can't keep this up forever!” he hollered over the din, “You've GOT to wake up!”

 

“And just how are we supposed to do that?!” Danny argued. Just then, Nocturne, taking advantage of Tucker's distraction, loomed up behind Danny and Sam, a clawed hand preparing to strike.

 

“Look out!” Sam shouted as she grabbed Danny's jacket and pulled him away, just barely evading Nocturne's slash. But the impact from Nocturne's hand still sent them flying onto what was left of the bridge, with Danny landing on top of Sam. But as Tucker leapt to their defense, tearing into Nocturne's arm with a hail of laser bolts, both Danny and Sam gasped in shock as just like earlier, a third image came into their heads…

 

… … … …

 

“…And I don't care what's coming next,” Danny declared after taking Sam's hand and putting on the class ring Jack had given him, “I just hope that…whatever it is…you're there to share it with me.”

 

“I will be,” Sam answered immediately, forcing the happy tears from her eyes.

 

… … … …

 

“Whoa,” Danny blurted out as he pulled himself off of Sam, both of them shaking the cobwebs out of their heads. It had happened again, another weird vision that left their memories just as quickly as it came.

 

“Tucker, something weird just happened on the monitor!” Jazz called in from the lab, “We just got a major spike in Danny and Sam's brain wave activity for a few seconds! What happened?”

 

Instantly, Tucker looked over after eliminating out a wave of Sleepwalkers to see Danny and Sam still picking themselves up from the ground. A moment ago, they had just been in physical contact. Could that have done something…?

 

“Jazz, I've got a theory!” he replied, “Input Code Two, NOW!”

 

“I thought we were saving that as a last resort!” Jazz argued, not sure what Tucker was thinking.

 

“Change of plans! We've got to buy Danny and Sam all the time they can get!” Tucker replied, sure of his call, “Just do it!”

 

“Okay, inputting code now!” Jazz agreed, inputting Tucker second code.

 

COMMAND/OPTIONS/INPUTCODE/TUCKRBOT + Enter

 

As soon as Jazz entered the code, Tucker's body winked away in a flash of light. But a moment later, Nocturne had regrown to his gigantic proportions, rising up from the ravine below and towering over Danny and Sam, who were still on the bridge.

 

“THIS ENDS NOW!” he bellowed angrily. But before he had a chance to attack, something massive grabbed his shoulder and whirled him around. And Nocturne only had enough to gasp in shock as an enormous black metal fist smashed into the side of his face, sending him falling over and crushing the row of houses overlooking the ravine. Danny and Sam, meanwhile, were equally shocked to see what looked like Tucker's school/ghost fighting robot, with Tucker's face on the monitor screen in its chest, only this version was as many time larger, as gigantic as Nocturne was now.

 

“Danny, listen!” Tucker shouted from the monitor, “I can keep him busy, but you've got to do what I'm telling you! Hold Sam's hand!”

 

“What?” Danny asked as he and Sam looked at each other, both clearly confused, “What good will that…?”

 

“Just trust me!” Tucker argued as his robot's massive frame kept Nocturne pinned down against the wall of the ravine, “I promise, it'll all make sense, but the two of you HAVE to be in physical contact! Just take her hand and whatever you do, don't EITHER of you let go!”

 

“NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” Nocturne shouted, trying desperately to reach out at Danny and Sam, who were already lifting their hands to each other. They still weren't sure what Tucker thought was going to happen. But as their hands made contact and their fingers locked together, their eyes went wide as their minds suddenly exploded into light.

 

Within seconds, Danny and Sam's minds became awash with images. They could see everything they'd ever done together…every movie, every hangout. They could see every shy smile they'd ever given each other, every blushing moment. They saw their first kiss at the South Pole and every kiss they'd shared since. They could see every hug, every cuddle, every hand held and every time one of them dragged the other into a locker or closet or out of the way place for a quick, but spirited, makeout session. But they weren't just seeing things, they were hearing them as well…everything they'd ever said to each other, although some things were clearer than others.

 

… … … …

 

…“Can you…make room for me?”…

 

…“Sam, I could never have done any of this without you.”…

 

…“Danny, this is a really great night.”…

 

…“Well…I'm already with the prettiest girl in Amity Park.”…

 

…“…I just wish…it was a LITTLE easier…you know?”…

 

…”Yeah…I do.”…

 

…“I miss you, Danny.”…

 

…“Sam, look at me. I am not going to break up with you.”…

 

…“I need you so much, it hurts!”…

 

…“…I just can't help worrying about you.”…

 

…“I can't live without you, Danny!”…

 

…“…I'm not going to lose you, Sam…”…

 

…“You Mean Everything To Me!”…

 

…“…I need you too much.”…

 

“DANNY!!!”

 

“SAAAM!!!”

 

… … … …

 

Just then, Danny and Sam tore their hands away, looking at each other in disbelief. As Tucker continued holding Nocturne at bay, wondering what just happened, it wouldn't take long for him to get his answer as Danny and Sam finally opened their mouths to speak.

 

“D…Danny?”

 

“Sam?”

 

Without a moment's pause, Danny and Sam surged forward, wrapping their arms around each other as tight as they could. The two of them almost on the verge of tears, they stayed locked in their embrace, clinging to each other desperately as the struggle between Tucker and Nocturne suddenly seemed somewhere else. At that moment, absolutely nothing else in the universe mattered.

 

“I knew it,” Sam sniffled, shuddering in Danny's arms as she buried her face in his shoulder, “I knew I knew you.”

 

Seeing his plans unraveling before his eyes, Nocturne lunged forward, roaring in anger as he slammed Tucker's robot against the opposite wall of the ravine. Within seconds, he drove his clawed hands into the robot's chest and with titanic strength, ripped it in half, snatching Tucker from the rubble.

 

“YOU MISERABLE INSECT!!” Nocturne snarled, holding Tucker's tiny form in his crushing grip, “DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU'VE DONE?!”

 

“GUUUUUUUUUYS!!!” Tucker shouted in panic. At that moment, Danny and Sam were instantly pulled back into the moment. Still holding each other as tightly as they could, their eyes suddenly snapped open, glowing green with rage. A second later, two familiar white rings surrounded them, and within moments, Danny Phantom and Sam Tasma stood ready. But they weren't ready to fight. They were ready to HURT.

 

“NOCTURNE!!” Danny's cry echoed down the ravine and he and Sam flew towards him at top speed, glaring at him face to face. Nocturne, meanwhile, simply scowled in contempt, realizing that the real fight was just about to begin. But he wasn't about to get the kind of fight he wanted as Danny and Sam remained floating in front of him, both of their bodies blazing with ecto-energy.

 

“Uh, Jazz? You might want to get me out of here!” Tucker called out before blinking out in a twinkle of light a second later. Nocturne, meanwhile, still towered over Danny and Sam's ant-like forms. But as he looked on, Danny and Sam's combined ecto-energy was increasing to searing levels. In fact, their output was so intense that Nocturne couldn't even reach out to grab them.

 

“Mister, we are only going to say this once…” Sam menaced through gritted teeth as she and Danny reached out and held each others' hand, their ecto-energy intensifying even more. Nocturne found himself backing away slightly, the look on his face showing how nervous he was as to what exactly was going to happen. But a second later, he got his answer as a wave of ecto-energy surged from Danny and Sam's bodies, laying waste to Nocturne's entire dream world like a nuclear explosion as they shouted into the sky.

 

“GET…OUT!!!”

 

“EEEEYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!” Nocturne howled in agony as the psychic backlash from Danny and Sam's resistance literally tore him out of their bodies. With his concentration broken, Nocturne's Sleepwalkers that he had sent to attack Fenton Works instantly vanished, giving Jack and Maddie a well-deserved breather. Tucker and Jazz, meanwhile, could only look on in disbelief as Nocturne lay writhing and shouting in pain on the floor of the lab, clutching his head. But a few moments later, the pain eased enough to become bearable as he struggled to rise, glaring at Tucker and Jazz with furious eyes.

 

“You two…” he growled in rage, already know who he planned to unleash his vengeance on. But before either side could think to do anything, Danny and Sam's eyes suddenly snapped open…!

 

… … … …

 

“I don't understand. It's like they just…went away,” Maddie remarked, standing out onto the street with Jack after the two managed to take the fight with the Sleepwalkers outside. They weren't complaining about getting a break, but nevertheless, it was still confusing that a siege would just end like that. Suddenly, an enormous Ghost Ray ripped through the side of the Fenton Works' building, taking Nocturne with it as he went flying through the air before landing hard onto the street. Jack and Maddie were around the corner in seconds to see what happened. But it didn't take long to figure things out as Danny and Sam became visible in the settling dust, both transformed, with glowing eyes and blazing hands.

 

“You…,” Danny hissed furiously as Nocturne righted himself. Nocturne, meanwhile only sneered back at them in defiance. He couldn't lose now, not when he was so close. Somehow, he had to find a way to turn this fight back around.

 

“Sleepwalkers, For-oolph!” Nocturne's summons was cut off as Sam caught him with a flying tackle at top speed, sending them both rolling along the street. Within moments, Sam had Nocturne pinned to the ground as the ecto-energy around her fists formed into a spiked ball and a giant sledgehammer head. And with a wild yell, Sam began raining countless blows into Nocturne's face, viciously driving his head into the street.

 

Nocturne wasn't going to be taken down so easily, however. Slithering his formless body out from under Sam as she continued her assault, he regenerated and loomed behind her, preparing to strike back. But Nocturne's attack was cut off as Danny streaked down from above, unleashing an ecto-energy sphere into the ground in front of him, which exploded into a column of ecto-energy, shearing through Nocturne's body.

 

Within moments, Nocturne's chances of victory were fading fast. Danny and Sam were attacking faster than he could react, dealing more damage than he could heal. And on top of that, his dream energy was rapidly dwindling away. Before long, he would be completely defenseless. But this was far beneath Danny and Sam's notice as they maintained their relentless assault. Bursting towards him with a set of Ghost Ray claws, Sam lashed out, nearly shredding off half of Nocturne's face. Danny immediately followed up Sam's attack, blasting a full power Ghost Ray into the other side of Nocturne's face at point blank range. As Nocturne clutched his head in pain, trying desperately to regenerate as fast as he could, Danny and Sam both landed in front of him, Danny's eyes glowing blue and Sam's glowing orange. And with each charging a fist to the maximum, they both rocketed into the sky, tearing through Nocturne with a freezing and flaming uppercut that left half of Nocturne's body encased in ice and the other half bathed in flames.

 

As Nocturne cried out in anguish, Tucker and Jazz came running in, sucking what was left of him into the Fenton Thermos and bringing the fight to a merciful end. Merciful for Nocturne, at least, if not so merciful for Danny and Sam, who glared over at Tucker and Jazz with nostrils flaring. Looking into their eyes, it was as if a seething cauldron of rage had built up inside them both that seemed almost impossible for them to release. It wasn't until they both reared back and yelled into the heavens that they finally managed to start calming down. The crisis was over, Nocturne was beaten. In the end, that was all that mattered, right?

 

“Danny?” Sam finally spoke after several moments of her and Danny trying to calm their breathing. But even with all said and done, as Danny met her gaze, they could still see so much pain in each others' eyes. Sighing heavily, they both moved in and gently pulled each other close, trying with all hope to find at least some comfort in each others' arms.

 

“Sorry about that…`swing like a girl' crack,” Danny mentioned quietly, reaching up and gently running his hand through Sam's hair. Sam, meanwhile, simply murmured in response, nuzzling into the crook of Danny's neck. That was all that was going to be said by anyone for a while. Or at least it had better have been. Because one thing was for sure at that moment…Danny and Sam weren't going anywhere anytime soon.

 

… … … …

 

“Aw man, that must have been pretty heavy,” Valerie remarked, sitting offside at the dance with Tucker and Jazz after hearing what happened, “Are they okay?”

 

“I think so,” Jazz answered optimistically, “I really don't think this is one of those things that's going to scar them for life.”

 

“Speaking of which, where ARE they anyway?” Tucker had to ask, “I don't think I've seen them even once since we got here.”

 

While, Tucker, Jazz and Valerie were wondering where Danny and Sam were, Danny and Sam themselves were standing on the roof of Casper High, looking out over the schoolyard. One look said that Sam had definitely gone all out for the dance. Removing her ponytail, she'd combed her hair down like a veil over the right side of her face, complete with dark eyeliner and just a hint of dark glitter blush on her cheeks. She was wearing a purple tight sheath dress that fastened up around to the back of her neck and had a long split up the side, along with evening gloves, a silk shawl draped over her arms, fishnet stockings and heels. The dress, gloves and shawl also had been decorated with sparkling sequins in a spider web design. Of course, after what had happened to them just a few hours ago, Sam's ensemble seemed pretty trivial. So did the dance, as a matter of act. In fact, neither one of them had said a word, since they'd gone up to the roof. They simply stood staring in silence.

 

“Danny,” Sam finally spoke up sheepishly, breaking the silence, “About what happened today…I just wanted to say…I'm sorry.”

 

“YOU'RE sorry?” Danny replied with a curious tone, caught off guard, “Why should you be sorry about anything? Nocturne was the one who did all that.”

 

“Yeah…but maybe it wouldn't have worked out so well for him if I'd just…you know…said…something…about…,” Sam's voice trailed off to a murmur, leaving an awkward moment of silence between her and Danny. Danny, meanwhile, tossed her a few shy glances that anyone who saw would have been able to understand. They could both feel it, they knew what they wanted to say. But was the other one going to say it? Was that maybe why they felt so uncertain about it? OR were they afraid about committing to something that might hurt them down the road?

 

“Look, I just wanted to…” they both blurted out together, but were cut off by each others' words.

 

“Oh…well…you first,” Sam replied, inviting Danny to speak. Danny however, swallowed hard as he found himself backpedaling.

 

“Oh…well, you know…I…just wanted to say, well…you know…,” he stammered, the words falling out of his mouth like they were being shoved off a cliff.

 

“Yeah, yeah…and…I just…you know…wanted to…,” Sam answered, her voice fading again. But in the end, all she could do was let out a heavy sigh. Why did this still feel so hard? It just wasn't fair. But just then, as they stared back out over the playground, Sam's hand slid over and her littler finger chanced to brush against Danny's…

 

That was it. Just that one insignificant little touch was all it took for Danny and Sam's inner defenses to be completely smashed into dust. In that brief split second of time, no doubt existed…no insecurities…no fear. Without a moment's thought of hesitation, they both instantly turned to each other.

 

“Danny…”

 

“Sam…”

 

“…I love you.”

 

It was right then that the moment passed and time completely stopped. Danny and Sam could only stand wide-eyed, looking at each other in stunned silence. Did he just say…? Did she just say…? Even after everything that Nocturne had done to them, they still never could have seen this coming. But as their hearts slowed and their breathing stabilized, only one question remained. Why not? How could they not have gotten to this point? Why didn't it make sense? And gradually, a new feeling came into play. Shock became replaced with joy. Locked doors had now been flung open, allowing them both to see what never really need to be hidden or protected. And looks of alarm gradually turned in smiles of warmth as Danny reached over and gently took Sam's hands in his own. Sam was quick to give Danny's hands a gentle squeeze in return and it was clear that there had definitely been enough waiting as they leaned in pressed their lips together in a long, soft kiss.

 

Somehow, this kiss felt so much different than the kisses they were used to enjoying. It wasn't a passionate, makeout-type kiss. It was almost like their first kiss at the South Pole, but even that wasn't exactly the same thing as what they were experiencing at that moment. This kiss was so…gentle and so delicate…their lips were just barely grazing each other. And yet, there was something so profound taking place as well. It was as if they could feel all their emotions, all their true feelings, just pouring into each other through that one single, feathery touch. Eventually, their lips parted and as they gently pressed their foreheads together, it became obvious that any secrets they had left were no longer worth keeping. A moment later, Danny pulled himself back slightly and reached up, lightly brushing Sam's hair away from her face.

 

“What?” Sam asked shyly.

 

“I just…want to look at you. You know, I just realized I haven't told you how beautiful you look tonight,” Danny answered, following up with a warm smile.

 

“But then…you always look beautiful to me.”

 

Sam simply looked away with a tiny smile, fidgeting bashfully. But as Danny reached over and slid his hand down her face, guiding her gaze back towards him, she couldn't help but notice the serious eyes lingering behind his subtle grin.

 

“Sam…I'm…in love with you,” he uttered softly, his thumb lightly stroking Sam's cheek, “I know it. Every part of me knows it. I mean…I know there are a lot of things I'm never sure of. But…when it comes to you…I've never been more certain of anything in my life…”

 

“You make my heart glad. You always have.”

 

For a moment, Sam found herself overcome and hung her head as she tried to collect her thoughts. But as she reached up and lightly clung to the lapels of Danny's jacket, she looked back up at him and managed to form a weak grin.

 

“Danny…I meant it when I said I couldn't live without you,” she spoke softly, trying to keep herself from falling apart, “I never thought anyone could make me feel this way. I mean…usually when I look around, I have a problem with this, a problem with that. But, whenever I'm with you…things just feel…so…right. You make me happy, Danny. Sometimes…I think you're the only one who does.”

 

At that moment, Sam couldn't help but pull herself close, leaning her head on Danny's shoulder. Danny, meanwhile, didn't waste a second to reach up, slowly folding his arms around her. For those few precious seconds, it felt as though a warm barrier of comfort had surrounded them. But eventually, Sam pulled back away, looking back into Danny's eyes with absolute conviction as she smiled tenderly.

 

“I love you, Danny…with all my heart,” she whispered, reaching up to caress his cheek, “And I want to spend every…second…I have…loving you…if I can.”

 

Right then and there, Danny knew there was no longer any need for words, answering the only way that felt right as he leaned in and softly kissed her. At that moment, absolutely nothing more needed to be said as he and Sam put their arms around each other and melted into the moment, letting their kiss carry them to a place where only their love could take them…a place where nothing else in the universe had any possible meaning.

 

… … … …

 

“Are we absolutely sure they're up here?” Valerie had to ask, trudging up the stairs with Tucker and Jazz.

 

“Where else COULD they be?” Tucker responded as Jazz kept going, “We've looked everywhere else.”

 

“Yeah well, three-inch pumps were NOT made for scaling flights of stairs,” Valerie complained, already breathing hard.

 

Jazz, meanwhile, had already reached the rooftop door and opened it to look around. But as she caught a glimpse of Danny sitting by the corner of the roof, with Sam curled up in his lap, she immediately pulled back to avoid being seen, leaving the door open just a crack to see what was happening. For the moment, nothing seemed to be going on as Danny and Sam sat on the roof, holding each other and looking up at the stars glittering in the night sky. But a moment later, Danny reached up and once again pushed the hair away from the side of Sam's face as they both looked into each others' eyes and smiled.

 

“I love you.”

 

“You know, I've gotta tell you,” Sam added with an amused giggle, “I love it when we do that.”

 

“Yeah…me too,” Danny chuckled in reply before the two leaned in, letting a series of soft kisses pass between them.

 

“Hey, are they up there!” Tucker called from the foot of the stairs, doing what he could to help Valerie along while getting Jazz's attention, “Tell them to get down here already! They're missing a great dance!”

 

Jazz, meanwhile, turned and looked back at Danny and Sam having their moment. Watching them in the moonlight, she could see something on their faces, a look that had never been there before, even after they'd gotten together. And after a few more seconds, she could only give a warm smile of approval, now feeling absolutely certain that everything between them was going to be alright.

 

“No. Trust me,” she answered simply, heading back down the stairs and leaving Danny and Sam to cuddle under the stars, “They're not missing anything.”

 

… … … …

 

Saturday morning had begun pretty much as usual for the Manson household, with Pamela working to prepare breakfast while Jeremy sat at the kitchen table reading the newspaper. But a series of noises catching their attention showed that this Saturday was particularly UN-usual as Pamela and Jeremy looked at each other, realizing the sounds were coming from upstairs. What was going on? After all, it COULDN'T be Sam, could it? Not THEIR night owl of a daughter. It was like pulling teeth to get her out of bed in the morning on a WEEKDAY. For Sam to be up THIS early on a SATURDAY…Impossible!

 

“Gooooood morning! Beautiful day, isn't it?” Sam stated emphatically as she glided down the stairs with a smile that was practically beaming. Pamela and Jeremy, meanwhile, could only toss each other a bewildered glance as Sam grabbed an apple from the kitchen table, but not before placing a warm kiss on Jeremy's cheek.

 

“Don't worry about breakfast, Mom,” she announced enthusiastically, taking a quick detour to give Pamela a quick peck on the cheek as well, “Danny and I are going out for breakfast today. Gotta run.”

 

Pamela and Jeremy could only stare at each other, completely dumbfounded as Sam headed out. Luckily, as Sam threw open the door, she chanced to catch Danny walking up the block. And her smile only grew wider, leaping off the steps into his arms as he reached the house.

 

“Oof! Hey you,” Danny laughed happily, twirling around as he held her before placing a set of soft kisses along her lips.

 

“I missed you,” he added with a whisper.

 

“Mmmm, I missed you more,” Sam replied, gently nuzzling his nose before another gentle fluttering of kisses passed between them. Pamela and Jeremy, meanwhile, could only look out the window in wide-eyed awe as Danny and Sam's moment played out before the pair walked off, with Sam hugging Danny's arm and resting her head on his shoulder. But as they got a few steps away, Sam suddenly turned a suspicious eye back in the direction of her house.

 

“Come on, this way. I've been working on something I want to show you. It'll just take a minute,” she suddenly spoke, dragging Danny into the alley beside her house. Meanwhile, Pamela and Jeremy remained in the kitchen, still visibly stunned at what they had just seen from their daughter.

 

“Was that…OUR Sam?” Jeremy thought out loud, “She just seemed so bright…and chipper.”

 

“She was…practically glowing,” Pamela noted. Just then, she and Jeremy turned to each other, holding each other's hands as their eyes suddenly filled with hope and optimism.

 

“Oh Darling, can it be true? Do we dare to dream?”

 

“Has the day finally come?” Jeremy added, “Can we at last open…”

 

“…THE FORBIDDEN HOPE CHEST!?!?!”

 

Dashing to the basement, Pamela and Jeremy opened a little-known corner closet and pulled out a large pink trunk, laced with white ribbon and gold trim. Flipping the latch, they gazed longingly inside at the contents…sundresses, bows, ribbons…bright, flowery sheets, curtains and many other sunny, cheerful trappings. They'd been hoarding this collection almost as long as they could remember, hoping and praying for the day when Sam would finally come around to their way of thinking. Now, it seemed as though that day had finally come. While that Fenton boy may have been strange and his parents undeniably creepy, if his relationship with Sam had done THIS for her, perhaps he had a use after all.

 

“Oh Sweetheart, isn't it beautiful?” Pamela uttered, almost weeping, “We've waited for this for so long and now that it's within our grasp, I can hardly believe it.”

 

“Our daughter,” Jeremy stated proudly, “FINALLY our very own little ray of sunshine.”

 

Just then, a gentle rustle could be seen under the fabrics. But before Pamela and Jeremy knew what was happening, a legless, glowing green woman burst from the chest, sending its contents flying in all directions. Scraggly and hideous, she let out a piercing shriek as her bony, clawed fingers reached for Pamela and Jeremy, who both screamed in terror before fainting from the shock. Moments later, the woman dissipated into a swirl of ecto-energy that retreated back into a glowing hand, phasing up through the bottom of the chest. A hand that belonged to none other than Sam herself as she and Danny, both transformed, floated up through the floor, over her unconscious parents.

 

“Don't bet on it!” Sam announced defiantly, flashing a rebellious smirk before turning to Danny and placing a soft kiss on his cheek. Danny, meanwhile, simply smiled and shrugged.

 

“That's why I love her.”

 

The End