Danny Phantom Fan Fiction ❯ Save Me From The Darkness ❯ Chapter 6

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

The family sat down at the table, Sam sitting close to Maddie when she noticed that Danny was absent. While Jack failed to notice that his son was missing from the dinner, his mother did, her attention turning to ask her daughter and Tucker where the halfa was. "Danny was in the room with you, was he not?" she inquired. Her daughter nodded, Tucker following suit while stuffing another piece of meatloaf in his mouth. Maddie waited. She knew there was more and when her daughter or even the male at her side failed to answer she prodded further. "Where is he?"

"Off fighting a ghost," Jazz said, though her eyes refused to meet her mother's purple gaze. The red headed adult raised a brow at her answer. She felt that her daughter was hiding something, but noting that the young raven haired female at her side was poking around at her food she decided to wait to get that answer later.

"You okay, Sam?" she asked, the girl jumped slightly, her hand moving the food stopped for a moment before she nodded. "Did you want something else to eat?" Shaking her head she took a bite of some of her mashed potatoes, her stomach growling with impatience. Silence fell over the small group as everyone refused to talk, the tension in the air thick around them. Just when they thought that no one would say a word, the air chilled and Danny appeared from above, taking a seat between Tucker and Sam, the small girl glancing at the male to her side with worry. Maddie took note of this, information that she could investigate later, while noting that her son seemed rather ticked off. He said nothing, taking his fork roughly before digging into his food. Again, there was not a word spoken as the sound of utensils scrapping plates filled the air. As Jack rushed off when his plate was emptied for the second time, Jazz and Tucker taking their own plates to the kitchen, Maddie was left with the two teens, neither of them saying a word and while for Danny that was because he was shoveling food into his mouth, Sam had barely made a dent in her own meal. "Sam, sweetheart, you need to eat."

The girl in question nodded, but made little effort to eat more than a few more bites of her food before shoving it away from her. "I, um, I'm not really all that hungry," she muttered. Danny raised a brow, but not saying a word pushed the food back toward her, repeating what his mother had said and to the shock of both members of the Fenton family the small girl shook her head. "I think I'm not feeling all that great," she said, turning away from Danny, her eyes downcast. "Can I go?" Maddie wanted to push her, since she really did need to eat, but seeing the nervousness of the raven haired teen she nodded, Sam moving quickly to leave the room. As soon as she was gone Danny began to rise from his chair, his plate empty, but his mother reached out and with a firm grasp of his shoulder forced him back into his seat.

"Danny, I can see something is bothering you," she said, pushing her own empty plate to the side as she turned to him. "Is it Sam? Are yo-" Danny growled, his eyes flashing green, but he said nothing. "Danny, you know that she went thru some terrible things at the hands of her parents, but we can't force her to do something she doesn't want."

"It's not that," he muttered, turning to face his mother and in his blue eyes she could see that fire, that anger that was burning in them. When he made no move to explain himself she let out a sigh of resignation. He was a teen, and teens were not known for being anything but moody at that time in their life. She worried that he would keep it all in and for a kid of his age that was normal, but with his powers that would cause more problems and not just for him. "I know what happened." Her red brows rose in shock. "I heard it all."

"How?" she hadn't felt a chill in the air when she had been speaking to the young girl earlier that evening, so he hadn't eavesdropped on their conversation. When he explained it with one word, she felt her heart constrict. Danny was a good kid, very clueless like his father, but still he was a soft soul. He didn't know much about such vulgar actions, save for bullies, but for him to hear about another human treating a child the way that Sam had been... Well, she was sure he was angry. That girl had seemed to find a space in his heart in such a short amount of time, but she herself had felt such a pull from the raven haired teen as well. Not just because of the abuse, but something else seemed to draw her to Sam. For her, it might be her motherly instincts to protect someone who could not protect herself, but for Danny, it was something she couldn't even begin to figure out. "Oh, Danny, you should not have had to hea-"

"And she shouldn't have gone thru it!" he spat, his tone cold, the air seeming to grow colder around them. "I can't even begin to fathom what those bastards were thinking!" Her eyes narrowed at the vulgar language and the tone that her normally kind child was using. She had never heard him speak like this, but then again, he had never had to hear such things.

"Danny, there are sick people out there, you know this." He nodded, his body going lax as he let out a frustrated sigh. "It's not fair that it happens to anyone, let alone a child, but some people never get out of such a situation." He said nothing, his eyes dropping at the thought that Sam would have had to deal with that until her parents sold her off to the highest bidder, possible that she would have had to continue to live like that when she married whomever they had given her to. "She's lucky," his mother said, placing a hand on his shoulder, his eyes meeting hers again. "You found her when she was still young, still able to have a chance at a semi-normal life." She smiled now. "For you to be there, on that day, in a place that I am sure you had never even been before... That was Fate. You were meant to help her and for that, I'm sure she is grateful, but she is also scared. She didn't want anyone to know what was happening to her."

"Why didn't she leave?" he asked. Maddie shook her head.

"She may have tried, we don't know anymore than you do, but if her parents are wealthy then I bet they hold enough influence over others that Sam would never be able to get far from them." Danny seemed to take that information in, twisting around in his mind to examine it from every angle. "Sam might not look it, but I have a feeling that she is stronger than even we know. She might have been beaten into submission, those natural tendencies pushed down to keep her more mailable, but she will eventually find that she can protect herself."

"She won't have to do that," the halfa stated. "I will protect her."

"Oh, hon, she won't have you by her side all the time," Maddie said sadly. "She will ev-"

"No!" he growled. "I will never allow her to be hurt again." The red head knew it was useless to argue with her son when it seemed that he wasn't going to let it go. Not with Sam. She was someone he felt the need to protect and while she was proud of what he had done for the small female, she knew he would find out that Sam would leave them at some point, move on and live her life. He got up, stomping off as his mother watched him go with sadness in her purple orbs.

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Danny headed for his room, sure that the raven haired teen was there, probably sleeping, but when he entered his room he found that she wasn't there. The room was empty, the ice from his earlier outburst still clinging to the sheets of his bed, and with worry clenching his heart he rushed out, looking in the bathroom and the closet that she had been in earlier only to come up empty handed. Where had the Goth gone? She hadn't left the house, had she? That's when he heard voices coming from down the hall, his sister's door closed to her room. Heading toward them he could hear Tucker now, the male's voice low as he spoke.

"So, what are you going to do?" he asked. Jazz could be heard speaking, though it was the sound of Sam's voice that made the halfa move to open the door. In the room three pairs of eyes turned to meet his blue gaze. Jazz and Tucker were sitting on the end of the bed while Sam was leaning against the headboard, her legs pulled up close to her chest as she stared back at him. Her eyes were wide, fear and uncertainty reflecting in the amethyst orbs. She looked away from him as he entered the room, the teal walls filled with posters about science and quotes from books, but what he noticed was that the small Goth was clutching Bearbert, the small toy worn out from when Jazz had been smaller. He had been stitched up several times over the years, and his little white coat still had stains that would never be removed no matter how many times he was washed.

"Hey," he said, moving to sit next to her. She didn't look at him, her small fingers playing with the bear's grey mustache. "You okay?" She nodded, her fingers still moving as she clutched the small toy. "You didn't eat much."

"My stomach hurt," she murmured. When silence filled the room again, Danny unable to think of anything to say and the other two seeming at a loss for words, Sam continued. "Jazz said that is normal when you don't eat much. It can make you sick to overstuff yourself to make up... for that." She seemed embarrassed again, like not eating had been her fault.

"That's okay. You'll be able to eat more when your body gets used to it." She looked at him now, his demeanor seeming more relaxed then it had been earlier. He was still upset, but something told him that she was feeling his mood and had withdrawn because of it.

"Danny's right. It will take a while, but you will be able to enjoy eating normal when your body gets used to larger portions." The raven haired girl nodded. Tucker stood up at that moment, the bed shifting with the movement. He informed them that he had to leave, his parents would be worried if he stayed out too late, but that he would see them tomorrow. With him gone the siblings were left alone with the Goth. No one said a word, the siblings unsure of what more they could say until Danny finally spoke up.

"Are you ready to sleep?" he asked, the small girl shaking her head just as a yawn broke out from her lips. He smiled, the girl flushing. "Are you sure?"

"Um, your bed... it has ice on it," she said softly. Blinking he realized why she didn't want to go to bed. His bed wasn't usable at the moment. "Why did.. I mean..." He got what she was asking and found that he was embarrassed about what he had done in his anger.

"My powers are," he said, his hand falling to the back of his head with a blush. "They are connected to my emotions and well, I got a little upset." It was out there, the reason for the burst of his powers in his room, but not the full reason either. Her mouth formed a little 'o' at his explanation. "I can fix that and then we can go to sleep." She nodded and Danny headed off to do just that, unaware that she was questioning why he was upset. Once he was gone she turned to Jazz, those questions in her amethyst orbs.

"Did.. um, is he mad at me?" she whispered, clutching the bear harder. The red head looked at her in shock.

"No, he's not mad at you, Sam. He's just upset at what happened in your home." Sam seemed unsure at her response. "He's a good kid, but unlike me, he doesn't know much about that kind of thing. For him to find out that parents are abusing their kid with starvation or violence, well, that upset him."

"But, your mother said that kind of thing happens to lots of people," the girl whispered, her gaze flickering over to the door, as if to make sure that Danny didn't come back just yet. She didn't know why, but he made her nervous. It wasn't a bad nervous feeling like when her own parents came to call on her, but she felt so worried about his feelings for her. "He doesn't even know me." Jazz smiled.

"I don't know what to tell you, but for some reason he seems..." she faded off, truly at a loss for words to explain her brother's extra protective behavior. "I don't know. Maybe it's because you are his age or maybe it has to do with his status as a protector of the town." She shrugged. She didn't think it had to do with either reason she had listed, but then again, she felt that it was a connection between the pair that neither seemed to see. Danny chose that moment to come back, a smile on his face as he told her that the bed was usable again. She crawled off of Jazz's bed, Bearbert still held tightly in her fingers. Looking down at the toy she went to lay it on the bed when the red head stated, "You can hold onto him, Sam."

She went to protest that it wasn't hers, but Danny's sister shook her head and with a smile the Goth headed off to bed. The halfa threw his sister an appreciative smile before following Sam back to his room.