A/N: Decided to put my notes up here for once. It feels kind of funny. Humm…
Well, I found this little story in my scraps, and to my surprise found it complete. I just did some editing and decided to post it up here…. *realizes something* Is this my first song fic?! *Looks around wildly* Holy cow! Well… this is long overdue!
Song: Walking Her Home by Mark Schultz—don't own.
I don't own Danny Phantom either, but I think that's obvious by now.
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Walking Her Home
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He knew he wasn't really there, but it felt like he was. Finding himself on his feet was what gave it away. He hadn't been on his feet in months. It felt good though. He also knew that their house had been sold years ago, but he found himself standing in their old room, decorated exactly the same way it used to be. And he understood. It was his chance to say goodbye.
He could feel its emptiness. It wasn't it wasn't really home, with the kids moved out, with her not there. It was just a house, filled with phantom memories. His tired eyes traced the room he had become so familiar with one last time. Their closet… her dresser, still full of her clothes, untouched… it even still smelled like her: a mixture of lilacs and earth. His failed attempt at growing a small plant. He smiled wearily. She always poked fun at him for that, but neither of them dared throw it away. His eyes continued. Their bed still unmade, as it always was. His nightstand with the broken lamp they never bothered to replace. The mirror.
He paused, looking over himself. He was unrecognizable from the boy he once was, with a shock of wispy white hair in place of shaggy black (or silver), wrinkles showing his age and hardships. Then, in the reflection, he saw her jewelry box. He smiled soberly, and turned around.
Relying heavily on his cane, he carefully walked over to it. He gently brushed the dust off of the top looking at his children's colorful handprints painted all over it. Then he opened it slowly. The old tune played back, along with all of the memories.
Looking back
He sees it all
It was her first date the night he came to call
Danny believed he had never been so nervous in his entire life. He fidgeted with his shirt, trying to make sure there were no cresses in it… and then remembering his uncontrollable raven hair, quickly tried to smooth it out.
Suddenly he smacked his forehead. This was a date he was going on! It's traditional for the man to bring a gift! He looked around on the ground, and quickly spotted a dandelion, growing out of the crack outside her door. He scooped it up.
Then he was at her door, looking blankly at it. "Oh get a grip!" He moaned. "You've been here a thousand times! Why is this so different!" He knocked.
He heard some scurrying behind the door. Then he looked at his sweaty hand, and saw the dead weed wilting there. He threw it over his shoulder just as she opened the door.
She smiled. "You look nice," she commented, a playful smile pulling at her lips. Danny, however, was speechless. "Wow… Sam…" he managed to gasp.
She was wearing black jeans, and tight a violet short sleeved tee shirt. It was fairly simple, but Danny suddenly felt like she was completely out of his league.
A figure stepped around her, and Danny tore his eyes away from Sam. "Sam, can Danny and I have a quick chat?" Mr. Manson asked quietly.
Sam gave her dad a look, but Mr. Manson looked civil. She hesitated, "… sure… just… be nice," she commanded. Her dad smiled gently, and closed the door behind him. Now it was just him and Danny.
Her dad said son
Have her home on time
And promise me you'll never leave her side
Danny gulped. Mr. Manson smiled warmly. "Don't worry, Danny. I trust you. Even though Pamillia and I found your character… questionable sometimes, you always turned out alright in the end."
Danny shoulders visibly slackened. He smiled carefully. "That means a lot, coming from you," he said seriously.
Mr. Manson nodded. "Don't betray my trust. If she's home one minute past midnight, I'll have to give you the prison speech, got it?" He winked.
Danny chucked. "I'm sure your not afraid to go back to prison, out of the many times you've been there. I'll keep that in mind."
Mr. Manson nodded, "You got it, kid." He started to turn the knob, but then stopped. He looked back at Danny. "I like you. Please don't break my babies heart, because then I'm going to feel bad when I have to break your face afterwards."
"I would never even think of hurting Sam," Danny said, all the playfulness gone from his voice.
Mr. Manson smiled. "Good," he paused again. "Where are you planning on taking my Sammie anyways?"
Danny just smiled.
He took her to a show in town
And he was ten feet off the ground
"God, Danny, this is beautiful!" Sam gasped, her eyes wide. Fireworks boomed in front of them, their colorful lights reaching out to them gracefully.
Danny wasn't looking at them though. He couldn't seem to tear his eyes off of her. Sam finally seemed to notice this, and she looked at him and felt her cheeks heat up. She looked down. They were sitting on top of a huge tree, overlooking the city. It was Amity Park's Founders Day, and the entire town seemed to be alive.
Danny was elated to hear that. He looked down at his hands. "You like it?" He asked.
Sam reached over and squeezed his hand. He looked back up, into her eyes, her pale face were reflecting the color of the fireworks. "I love it," she said quietly.
He smiled, and turned to look back at the fire works, and laced his fingers through hers. They sat and watched the city celebrated, and the feeling of being there with her made Danny feel like he was flying over the city.
After a few hours, Sam looked at her watch and her face fell. "Oh shoot. It's 11:30. We'll only have just enough time to walk home."
Danny shot her a look. "I could always just fly you."
Sam shook her head. "No. I'd rather walk and talk. We can't talk when you're flying so fast." Danny took her hand, and turning to his Phantom form, he flew her down from the tree, and they landed on the road.
Sam didn't let go of his hand.
He was walking her home
And holding her hand
Oh the way she smiled it stole the breath right out of him
He would never forget that walk home. They talked about everything. They stopped at a fountain just outside her road, and they talked and talked. Danny sat down on its lip while Sam danced and twirled around him, humming a new song they were talking about.
Danny laughed. "C'mon! It's fun!" Sam exclaimed, grabbing his hands and pulling him up.
"You know I can't dance Sam…" Danny started jokingly but he hand already placed a hand on the small of her back and held her hand gently in his.
"Just try," Sam said, as she twirled out of his grasp and back in again. Rocking gently to the music she was humming softly, they looked into each other's eyes. Her smile made his breath hitch in his throat. With her so close he felt like he couldn't breathe.
Danny sent her into a gentle dip, and Sam squealed. Once back up she said jokingly, "Don't you ever tell anybody about the sound I just made. It would ruin my Goth reputation." Danny's smiled, and placed his forehead on hers. Her eyes sparkled like the stars above. "I wouldn't dream of it," he whispered. Sam leaned up and their lips met.
Just then a star shot through the sky.
Down that old road
With the stars up above
He remembers where he was the night he fell in love
Sam ran up to her house, nearly dragging Danny behind her. They were both laughing. It was 11:59. With one last frantic goodnight kiss, Sam slipped inside. They were both beaming. No words had to be exchanged.
Danny had to sit down. Every nerve in his body was a live wire, and they were all shooting him the same message. This was the way it was supposed to be. He knew it in his heart.
He never forgot that night.
He was walking her home
Danny was exhausted. He still had the nervous habit of running his hand through his hair whenever he was worried. Sam always kid him about how his personality hadn't changed since he was a teen. His hair was only slightly less shaggy than it was from his teenage years, but it was still uncontrollable.
He looked at the walls, which reflected happy pictures of painted sailboats back at him. He tiredly glared at them. What business did they have, sitting there carefree on some lake, while he thought he was going to die with worry?
He thought about it briefly, and then decided that he had never been more scared in his entire life. Bring on the Ghost King- he could deal with it. He would even try out his alternate future self again, instead of having to wait in this damned waiting room.
Ten more years and a waiting room
At half past one
He had been sitting in the same white washed superficial room until the doctor kicked him out of Sam's room. That had been and hour ago… but it felt like an eternity. There was another scream. He stopped his pacing and sank into a chair. He couldn't stand this much longer… he was sure he was about to go crazy with fear.
He held his head in his hands for God knows how long, trying to contemplate what he was about to become. He couldn't quite seem to wrap his mind around it.
When the doctor came in, he jumped to his feet and ran to the poor man with nearly inhuman speed. Keeping his secret was the last thing on his mind at the moment.
There was silence for a heart beat of a moment, and Danny was sure something had gone wrong- terribly, terribly wrong. Then the doctor smiled. "Would you care to meet your son, Mr. Fenton?"
And the doctor said come in and meet your son
Before, Danny had pictured himself bursting into the room, blinded with panic, but when faced with the actual door, he turned the knob so gently that it would have Jack Fenton wondering if Danny really was his son. He crept into the room on tiptoes, scared to disturb Sam or the baby.
When he finally got far enough in, he saw his beautiful wife holding his radiant son. Tears silently poured from her eyes as she looked at their child who was gripping the blanket he was wrapped in with his tiny fingers. Danny was sure he was going to faint right then and there.
His knees went weak
When he saw his wife
She was smiling as she said he's got your eyes
Sam looked up at Danny, and laughed wetly, "you should see your face right now."
Danny didn't feel the need to bother with rearranging his facial expression as he came over to the side of her bed. He was so overcome with emotions, he was sure he was going to loose control of his powers and turn intangible and sink right through the floor.
Sam held up their son to Danny, motioning for him to take the baby, but he hesitated, not sure if he was good enough to take the roll of this angel baby's father. However, when the baby let out a small whine of protest at being separated from his mother, Danny reached out and instinctually took his child into his arms. His son immediately hushed.
Sam beamed up at him. "He has your eyes," she said softly, and just as she said that the child looked up at him. Sure enough, they were a stunning blue.
And as she slept he held her tight
His mind went back to that first night
When the baby was taken to get all of it's medical needs, Sam laid her head back on her pillow, exhausted. Danny sat on the bed next to her and lovingly stroked the hair out of her face.
"So… do you want another one?" Danny asked jokingly. Sam winked open an eye and smacked his hand away. "Hey!" Danny put up his hands defensively, "I wasn't the one who insisted on natural birth!"
"And you weren't the one that had to go through birth. Never. Again." Sam stated, completely serious.
"That's what they all say," Danny laughed quietly.
"You should be glad you weren't here during it. I was trying to break away from the doctors so I could whip your ass," Sam mumbled. "I'm never going to forgive you for getting me pregnant."
"I think you'll forgive me in time. He's beautiful," Danny lowered his voice, as Sam started to drift off.
"He is," she agreed. Sam then scooted over and patted the bed next to her. Danny took the message, and reclined next to her.
"Ouch! Hospital beds are kind of hard to fit two into," Danny mumbled.
"Luckily you don't have to get used to it because I plan on never coming back to the wretched place," Sam yawned, throwing a hand over his chest, and snuggling into him. Danny placed his hands behind his head, staring up at the spotted ceiling.
"Goodnight," Danny whispered after a minute, but he could already tell Sam was gone, with her warm breath against his side. He couldn't believe how far they've come. He would have never guessed what it felt like to be this happy back when he was a teen. He smiled as the rush of memories came flooding back to him.
He was walking her home
Holding her hand
Oh the way she smiled it stole the breath right out of him
Down that old road
With the stars up above
He remembers where he was the night he fell in love
He was walking her home
Sam was wrong. Two years later and she was in the hospital once more… with twins nonetheless. Tucker nearly panicked when he realized what was going on when his two best friends sprinted out of his rehearsal dinner. They brought the two new borns to his wedding the next week.
He walked her through the best days of her life
Sixty years together and he never left her side
Together, as a united front, they raised their children, as Danny taught them one by one to master their individual powers. Jordan, their first born, could hover and turn invisible, and Lilith and Heather, the twins, both got intangibility and could make things colder. Sam taught them to be themselves and not be scared to show their opinions with the world.
Looking back, Danny could see very clearly the proudest and happiest days of his life, when his children graduated from high school, then college… became successful at their jobs, got married and had kids for themselves… and next thing he knew he and Sam were grandparents. It seemed like life had suddenly sped up and could now be recounted in a blink, but he held Sam's hand all the way through it, and he wouldn't have it any other way.
While Tucker got divorced and remarried, Sam and Danny's love only got stronger with age, and he knew that it was the way it's supposed to be.
A nursing home
At eighty-five
William briskly walked down the hallway in the dead of night, clad in jeans and a polo. He doubted any of his patients would be disturbed, considering most of them were going deaf anyways. Though he wasn't dressed to look it, it was a certified M.D. and worked in the Amity Hillside Retirement Home.
He saw the nurse exit a room, and write something down on the clipboard. When he young nurse finally looked up at the sound of his approach, her face fell at the elderly doctors grim face.
And the doctor said it could be her last night
"Please don't tell me…" she whispered, as not to wake the sleeping patients around them.
"Not yet. But soon… I don't know if she'll make it through the night…" William said somberly. The nurse winced. She already knew who he was talking about, considering they were favorites in the Home. "You knew this was coming…" The doctor reminded her. "It's incredible she survived with her liver failing this long."
And the nurse said Oh
Should we tell him now
Or should he wait until the morning to find out
The young girl nodded, and hiding her emotion asked, "When should we tell him?" The doctor hesitated. "Should we give him a chance to say goodbye… or…" she couldn't seem to get the rest out. She had seen many pass in her past year working at the Home, but this was different.
"We'll wait until morning," the doctor decided. "We don't need to make this harder on him than it already is."
But what they didn't know what that Danny, though frail and old physically, was still just as alert as he was when he was in his late forties. He woke up in the middle of the night with a gasp, and he knew.
It was time for Sam to go home.
When they checked her room that night
He was laying by her side
"William!" The nurse exclaimed. He jerked himself awake and against logic, jogged over to Ms. Fenton's room. He thought he knew what he would find, but he hoped that there still might be some way to save her. The nurse's awed face was what made him hesitate. Looking into the room, he saw what she was amazed by. Ms. Fenton's long time husband was cuddled next to her, with her head on his chest, asleep peacefully. The doctor looked closer, and saw that he was holding her hand.
Oh he was walking her home
And holding her hand
Danny, miraculously not needing his cane, found himself in a familiar road he had not been in a very, very long time. He looked around, and saw his wife, standing by herself for the first time in months, sitting on the side of the oh so familiar fountain.
"Sam," he whispered hoarsely, walking up to her with no problem at all. No arthritis, no stiff leg, no back pain, nothing.
"Danny," his beautiful wife whispered in the same tone, a sad, but accepting voice. He took both of her hands, which seemed to be growing younger by the second, and looked into her eyes. He tucked some of her hair that was blowing in the wind behind her ear. It was starting to turn black again.
"Do you understand what's going on?" Sam asked quietly. Danny nodded slowly. She looked in her forties now. She threw herself at him, and hugged him fiercely, and Danny hugged back just as strongly, never wanting to let go.
When Sam drew back, he face was stained with tears. "I don't think I can let go, Danny."
"Then don't let go. This isn't the end Sam… we'll see each other again. I promise," he choked up again, but resolved himself to be strong. For Sam. "This is just goodbye for a while," he finished. She smiled through her tears, and squeezed his hands.
Oh the way she smiled when he said this is not the end
And just for a while they were eighteen
And she was still more beautiful to him than anything
She looked in her early twenties now, and that's when Danny realized the same was happening to him. He looked sixty years younger, but he couldn't focus on himself for long, because he could barely take his eyes Sam. His Sam.
"Don't forget me," Sam whispered.
"As if I could," Danny replied, and then Sam flung her arms around his neck and they kissed, knowing it would be the last time. He wished it would never end. When they separated, Sam placed her head against his chest, and wrapped her hands loosely around his back, and Danny nestled himself in her raven hair, kissing the top of her head. They both seemed to stop aging at eighteen, and they were both wearing what they had wore on their first date, with Sam in her purple shirt, and Danny in his slightly wrinkled tee.
With a tremendous amount of effort, Danny stepped back, and tried for a winning smile. "One last time?" He offered, holding out his hand, and Sam looked up at him for a moment. Exhaling, she chucked sadly and took it. Keeping her close, Danny turned, and took a deep breath. Then he started to walk her home... started to walk her to heaven. Squeezing her hand gently, they watched as the road slowly started to disappear under their feet. They seemed to be walking in a black abyss, with a single white light growing brighter and brighter in front of them.
He was walking her home
He was walking her home
With a tug in his gut, Danny knew he could go no further. He knew the moment he let go of her hand, she would be gone. She felt it too. She looked up at him. "I love you," he whispered.
Sam smiled, her eyes calm, and then she let go. Suddenly the tunnel started getting darker, and Sam got further away. He felt her presents fading. Danny couldn't help the feeling of panic of losing her rise up within him, but then he saw her, suddenly in a white dress that was blowing softly in the wind. His panic was expelled by a force much greater than him. "I love you too," it was as if Sam was right next to him. Then the white light exploded.
He awoke suddenly. All that was now ten long years ago, and he was back in his room, staring at the ceiling of the Home.
Looking back
He sees it all
It was her first date the night he came to call
But he wasn't looking at the ceiling at all. When he blinked, he saw an angel, so beautiful it nearly paralyzed him. She smiled, and held her hand out to him, which he impulsively took. It seemed like the right thing to do. She helped him up, but as he got on his feat, he realized he left his body behind. He looked down at himself, and saw his eighteen-year-old self, holding hands with his beautiful Sam. As she smiled, he knew it was only just the beginning.
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The End
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Reviews much appreciated