So, summer and Netflix has rekindled my love for Danny Phantom, and I have 17 ideas swirling around in my head, in addition to things I never got around to doing. *Sigh* I'm not good at following through. Anyway, on with the show.

"It's complicated."

I hate when people say that. Not because I don't believe that it is complicated, but because, it's become such a cliché now. It's like, no one can own up to the stuff going on in their lives you know. It's all just "complicated."

But, I guess that's the best way to describe certain things. Things you don't have any control over, like your feelings, or your stuff that's happened to you in the past. Mix it all together and that's what you get, this healthy serving of complications.

I can close my eyes and picture it like it happened an hour ago.

She sat on a swing, and I stood in front of her.

"I don't know what to say," she said.

"I'm not expecting you say anything," I replied.

"Why did you ever say anything to me?"

"I-I-I, I couldn't. I couldn't tell anyone. Having Sam, Tucker and Jazz know was bad enough. Not because I didn't trust them, or that they didn't help me, but I hated worrying about them all the time. I couldn't risk putting anyone else I cared about through that."

"All the things I tried to do to you, I-"

"Valerie, once I realized that it was Vlad who gave you the ghost-hunting equipment, I stopped worrying about you doing any major damage to me."

"Huh? Why?"

"Vlad gave you that equipment to track me. I'd be of no use to him if you killed me."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'll save that for another day," I told her as I placed a hand on her shoulder. "Just know I didn't consider you much of threat once I realized that."

Valerie scowled when she saw my smirk. Any chance to get under her skin, I took.

"This is all a bit much to take in Danny," she said, getting serious again.

"I know. Trust me, I know."

"I-I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it."

How can you say don't worry about it? Do you know what it's like to have that kind of guilt on your conscience?"

"Actually, I do."

She stared at me, like she was looking at me but staring past me at the same time. Oh no, I've confirmed what she thought of me before; that I'm just a monster.

"I'll tell you everything, soon. I don't think you can deal with anymore right now, and honestly, neither can I. It's a lot for me too."

We stayed there in silence. The sun was setting. I needed to get back home soon, and I'm sure she did too.

"So, I'm going to now," I said, failing at not being awkward.

"Yeah, I should be on my way too."

She stood up from the swing and looked me square in the eye for a few seconds. I don't know why, but I felt the urge to hug her. I resisted though, it didn't seem like the time for that.

"See you later Valerie."

"Later Danny," she said with a faint smile.

Maybe it's not so complicated after all.

So the next chapter will go further back in time. More drama, the real revelation, not just this fluffy piece here. This is just a teaser, lol.

I don't plan for this story to be very long, so I hope to finish it soon, and have my first finished story on FFN. :P

If there are any glaring grammar or sentence mistakes, please don't hesitate to let me know. :) And I plan to start working on the older stories, (like the YYHxDP story) eventually...

Until next time.