Positive Direction

Cassie's mouth felt beyond dry in the afternoon summer heat as she knocked rapidly on the Foleys' front door, itching to get into the air-conditioned town house. Even the ring on her finger seemed like a traitorous ally of the heat, the sweat beneath it making it all too easy for her to spin it around with her thumb. At least the extra layer of the swimsuit underneath her clothes provided reassurance of the relief to come at the pool park later.

At last, Tucker's mom, Angela answered the door, smiling down cheerfully at her son's girlfriend. "Hi, Cassie. Come on in!" She moved to the side to let her pass.

"Thanks, Mrs. Foley," Cassie answered, letting the cool air of the AC fall over her as she walked into their living room.

Angela closed the door, ushering the new arrival towards the stairs. "Tucker should be back in his room soon. You can go on up though. I'm going to bring some lemonade up in a bit for you guys as soon as I finish making it."

Cassie grinned to herself. She couldn't help but love the way Angela was always so friendly and inviting, and always made something if she knew Tucker had friends coming over. "Sounds great! I'll head up now then."

She began the trek up the stairs as Mrs. Foley disappeared into the kitchen. She couldn't wait to see Tucker, and Sam and Danny again. The Apple Store had changed her hours around this past week, so this was her first real chance in a few days to hang out with them. That, and to cool off from the massive heat wave that had swept over Amity Park by taking refuge in a nice cold pool.

Tucker's door was closed in a way that suggested vacancy, but Angela had given her permission to wait for him in there. Without another thought, Cassie turned the knob and opened the door wide to see the technogeek's haven. The bed was barely made and there was the pervasive hum of a handful of electronic devices surrounding his desk. Ah, Tucker.

Halfway to the bed to sit down on the mattress, Cassie let out a shrill squeak and stumbled backwards into the wall.

The infamous Danny Phantom had popped up out of nowhere through the floor, eyes closed as he rambled on, "Tucker! I brought your goggles! Again! And Sam should be here in five."

What had she just seen? In one second, her fury had begun to instantly grow behind a more instinctive defensive stance at the intruder, confused as to why the ghost was talking so casually to an absent Tucker. And in the next, a pair of blinding white rings of light had enveloped Phantom, leaving…Danny Fenton in their wake?

Wait? Fenton was Phantom?! Danny Fenton, her boyfriend's best friend, was Phantom? Is that what she had just seen? They had started dating nearly three months ago, and Tucker had failed to mention that his best friend was the destructive ghost boy?!

Danny caught sight of her finally, the goggles dropping from his hand in surprise. "Oh shit. Cassie, wait, I can explain. I can-"

Tucker bounded into his room. "Hey guys, I thought I heard a voice, and–oh. Oh god, no." He saw the look of anger on Cassie's face, which was now directed at him, and the nervous, caught-in-the-headlights expression on Danny's.

Cassie didn't hesitate to poke Tucker firmly in the chest, her glasses reflecting light from the hallway. "How in the world could you not tell me Danny is Phantom?! Huh? We've been together for a few months and you didn't bother to mention that your friend is…is a ghost?!"

"Technically a half-ghost," Danny chimed in.

"Shut it, you freaky jerk," Cassie glared at him from over her shoulder. "How could you not tell me this?"

"Hey! Don't call him that!" Tucker defended.

She brushed off the warning, crossing her arms. "Explain yourself. And him."

Tucker's back was now against the wall. His eyes shifted between hers and Danny's, which gave him a "might as well tell her" look. He sighed, then straightened himself up so that he was towering a few inches over her. "Okay, yes. Danny's Phantom and Fenton. Same dude. There was an accident a few years ago in his parents' lab, and…he became half-ghost somehow." He took ahold of Cassie's shoulders. "Look, I'm-we're sorry we didn't tell you. But we didn't want to put you in any danger!"

"But we're all in danger around him!" She jerked a thumb over her shoulder, gritting the last few words out between her teeth. Her brain was still processing the situation, but she stood resolute in her perception of Phantom.

"No, we're not! He's a good guy! He doesn't hurt people!"

"Yes, he does!"

"No, he doesn't!"

The couple stared at each other, neither refusing to back down. Tucker was upset that she had jumped to conclusions so quickly, while Cassie felt the heartbreak of betrayal looming near. Danny stood silently, legs braced against Tucker's bed, giving the two their space.

Cassie spoke up first, her voice quivering. "You know, if I can't trust you to not keep secrets like this from me, then maybe I should just go-"

"No," Tucker cut her off, sounding slightly miffed that she wanted to leave over this. "Don't leave. Listen, I'm sorry you found out like this, but Danny is a good guy. He fights off the bad ghosts and protects Amity Park." He took her hand gently and guided her to sit in his desk chair. "Why do you think Danny's such a bad guy?"

Cassie glared ruefully at Danny, before letting her hands grip her knees as she talked to the carpet beyond them. "I don't think, I know. It was during that town meeting a couple years back, you know, during that huge ghost invasion? Well, my mom was there, and she brought my little brother, Harrison, along, because my other mom was working and I was at a friend's house."

Tucker sat down on the edge of his bed, nodding for her to continue as he took the information in. Danny was looking fastidiously down as he scoured over the events of the invasion, trying to foreshadow where her story was going.

She continued, "My mom said that when Phantom came in and started attacking the mayor, everyone was running around trying to get away from him and the other ghosts and that there was a lot of pushing and shoving. And…she and Harrison got stuck in the crowd at some point, and all she saw was Phantom flying past her into the ground before part of one of those big ceiling lights fell down a-and hit them. Crushed them. My mom took the brunt of it. It fractured her shoulder-blade and she broke some fingers somehow covering Harrison, and he sprained his arm. He was so afraid for weeks afterward. But all my mom said she could keep thinking about was that damned Phantom ghost flying around so recklessly trying to break everything in sight."

Cassie looked up at her audience, finally realizing that she'd started to tear up at some point, her glasses fogging up a bit. She still couldn't get over what happened to her little brother, but now that she was in front of the culprit himself? She had to physically and mentally restrain herself from lashing out.

"Dammit, Walker," Danny sighed. Tucker shook his head in disgust at the memories, before Danny began explaining, "Cassie, listen. I swear on my own half-grave that it wasn't me that broke the light. I was trying to stop the bad ghosts. The mayor was overshadowed by this jail warden ghost, Walker, and I was trying to get him out. I didn't break the light though, that must've been one of his goons."

"It's kinda funny actually," Tucker quipped, before hastily explaining the humor. "Walker's original plan then was to get the whole town to hate you, Danny. Two years later, and it's still working."

"Heh, yeah. But I swear to you, Cassie, I didn't break the light." Danny looked at her hopefully.

Unfortunately for him, Cassie still seemed unconvinced. "Well, if you're such a good guy, then how come you didn't save my mom and brother?"

This question elicited another sigh from Danny, his hand going to the back of his neck awkwardly. "To be honest, I didn't even know about the light. When I disappeared through the ground, I was chasing Walker into the basement. You said the light dropped after me. I had no idea about it. But you gotta believe me, if I had known, I would have saved your family first. Now that I know, I hate that I couldn't. I'm sorry, to you and them." He kicked at the ground.

Cassie's expression softened slightly. Apparently she had been too quick to jump to conclusions and assumptions. The fact that he would have saved them if he knew eased her grudge immensely. It must have just been a wrong place, wrong time moment. "I-thank you, Danny. And I'm sorry. That I jumped to conclusions."

She smiled apologetically at Danny, before turning to Tucker with a distrustful look back on her face. He seemed to cower into himself. "As for you, Tucker…I still don't know why you would keep such a bombshell secret from me!"

"Like I said earlier, we wanted to keep you safe and out of danger. I'm sorry we didn't tell you, but it was for your own good," Tucker answered. "And besides, no one outside of our group is supposed to know about him, and I…I wasn't sure where exactly we…us…were going yet." He picked nervously at the edge of his shorts, refusing to meet her gaze.

Cassie's eyes widened in surprise. They were boyfriend and girlfriend, but they had never really talked too far into the future. She smirked to herself at Tucker's adorable awkward gestures, before walking over to him and firmly planting her lips on his. "I'd like to think we're going in a positive direction now. Sorry I lashed out."

Tucker shyly searched her eyes, finding genuine truth in them. "It's okay. And good, 'cause I already bought your ticket to the water park." He was met with a playful slap on his shoulder, before he hugged Cassie vigorously.

"I'd hate to interrupt this week's soap, but we should get going to said water park." Everyone jumped at Sam's voice, who was standing in the doorway. She shrugged herself off the frame and made her way over to kiss Danny, before turning to Cassie. "Welcome to Team Phantom, Cassie. Glad you can trust Tucker again, but now you need to worry about mine. Fair warning and rule number one: you can't tell another soul about Danny. We all have to protect his identity. But if you do, then…Tucker will suffer because my boyfriend is."

Tucker half-laughed, half-yelped at Sam's bold statement, but knew she was serious when it came to Danny. He turned back to Cassie. "What do you say, baby? Can I trust you to keep Sam's trust?"

She pecked his nose protectively. "Absolutely."

This was a mix of an idea I had for revealing Phantom to Cassie and a prompt for Cassie and Tucker's first fight.

If you're lost as to who Cassie is, she's my OC girlfriend for Tucker from my "Never" series that you should totally read. ;P

A sort-of sequel coming VERY soon!