A thin woman in her early twenties rushed around her living room, putting together her things and picking up the small messes that littered the apartment. All of her thick black hair was pulled up into a messy bun on the back of her head, and she moved quickly from one task to the next. Her calf length black skirt swayed and billowed as she moved. She used one bare foot to kick up a stray tank top off the ground and toss it into the air where she caught it. The tank she'd just caught was identical to the plain purple one she wore except that it was green in color.
Hearing a knock on her door the twenty-one year old woman dropped her pile of clothes she was holding into a laundry basket and skipped over to the door. All five feet and six inches of the woman were smiling in anticipation of seeing her boyfriend she pulled open the door, chastising him as she did so, "What? Forget your keys again?"
Samantha Manson stood in her open doorway, amethyst eyes staring at the tall man standing in the hallway outside her apartment. Right in front of her was a messy head of raven colored hair and shining blue eyes, all hidden behind an all to familiar grin that was plastered on Daniel Fenton's face whenever he was embarrassed or feeling shy. The once goofy looking halfa had packed on some muscle and anyone with eyes could see his well defined body moving nervously underneath his black t-shirt and dark blue jeans. The goatee was new. As well as a scar on Danny's left cheek, just beneath his eye.
"Uh…Hi Sam. Miss me?"
Sam did the only thing could think to do at the time, she slapped Danny. The crisp sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed through the hallway, getting the attention of one of Sam's noisy neighbors who suddenly decided to linger outside their door with an armful of groceries a bit longer than necessary. Danny stood in shock, staring at Sam blankly, a red welt slowly forming on his cheek. Sam slammed the door in his face, slumping down against the wooden support as she sunk her head into her hands.
Oh…what did I just do? I don't see him in three years, I think he's dead and what do I do? Slap him and close my door when he shows up. No, I didn't just close my door, I slammed it, in his face!
Sam quickly stood back up, yanking her door open again, afraid that her 'back-from-the-dead' friend might have left after her scene. Much to her relief Danny sat against the far sided of the hallway, head hung low as he waited. He waited for her. She could feel the sting of tears biting at her eyes as Danny looked up at her with that lopsided grin once again. He remained seated though, back against the wall, arms propped on top of his knees as he leaned his head back until his dark blue eyes looked blankly at the ceiling and his smile faded.
"Dose 'Sorry' even begin to cut it?"
Sam drew in a sharp breath, cutting back any tears that threatened to form, "That depends."
"On?" Danny's voice was flat, blank….sorrowful even. Sam knew that Danny thought he could never make it up to her, and she wanted to tell him that she forgave him, but she hadn't just yet. His head sunk into her hands she he sighed in regret.
"On what you do next." Sam caught herself smiling a little in spite of herself as Danny looked once again at the beautiful woman she had become while he was gone. She held out a hand towards Danny and felt her heart flutter when he accepted it and stood. "Come on," she told him, "Let's get inside before my neighbors decide to make some popcorn and get a video camera."
Danny nodded, as Sam turned back into her apartment. It didn't go unnoticed by her that Daniel refused to let go of her hand as she led him to her living room. Part of her didn't mind, the part of her that thought this was just another dream and she would loose him again once she let go of his hand and woke up. Finally she pulled her hand away from Danny and gestured towards the couch as she went to grab two beers from her fridge. Evan wouldn't mind. No. What he'd mind was a six foot two inch man sitting on his couch talking to his fiancé. It wasn't that Evan wasn't the jealous kind, he just wouldn't like this, and Sam knew it.
Sam plopped down on the arm chair across from Danny, handing him a beer over the coffee table.
"I thought you hated beer?" Danny twisted the cap off his drink as his gaze avoided Sam like he was afraid to meet her eyes.
"Yea? Well, I guess a lot changes in three years." Sam followed suit, twisting the cap off her beer, only she kept the hem of her violet colored tank over the top so she wouldn't tear up her hand on the cap. Pulling her legs up into the chair with her, Sam tossed the bottle cap on the table and took a huge drink from the bottle, making sure she didn't show her disgust for the drink. Right now, the taste of beer was the last thing on her mind, she just needed something.
"I guess so…Sammy…I'm so sorry Sam." Danny looked up and caught Sam's own eyes with his blue ones. His mouth was moving, trying to offer word after useless word to soften the anger building inside of her. His mouth was moving, his eyes were frozen in sorrow and…was that…horror? Horror of what? Was Danny afraid she'd throw him out now? Sam shook her head, almost laughing to herself. Her light chuckle cut off Danny and his repeated apologies.
"Just….what happened?" Sam's voice was soft as she started, "What happened after that fight?" Her voice was gradually getting louder as she became more agitated. "Why did you just LEAVE?!? We- We all thought….we thought you were dead! OK! We watched you go into the ghost zone with Skulker….we waited Danny. I waited. Jazz and I…we spent three days sitting outside that damn portal, just…waiting. Tucker kept trying to get us to leave, but we wouldn't. Your mother kept crying. And Jack--" Sam sighed, Danny probably didn't know any of this, and she was about to tell him some very hard news. "Your dad….he, he just broke Danny. He wasn't himself after you disappeared. Jazz takes flowers to the ghost zone entrance every year, then she visits your father."
Sam's voice trailed off and she found herself staring intently at her grey carpet, and wondering vaguely if she should get the carpets steamed.
"My dad? Sam…what happened to my dad?"
Sam could hear the panic her Danny's voice. Part of her relished in that he came to her first, part of her hated it. "Ask your sister."
Her eyes looked up at Danny again, as cold and biting as her voice. She saw the look of panic on Danny's face as he sat on the edge of her couch, worry causing every muscle in his body to twitch. "And answer my question. Why, Danny?"
Danny sighed deeply, sinking into the couch and burring his head in his hands. Seemed like he'd gotten rid of his neck rubbing habit and formed a new one.
"I couldn't leave…ok? It's…..not that I didn't want to, or didn't try. I couldn't. I…" Danny shuddered at the memory of what had happened before drawing in a breath and continuing. "I killed Skulker. I didn't even know ghosts could die…I guess he didn't die persay, but he….faded. I got arrested in the ghost zone…."
"Arrested? So what?!?!" Sam stood up, throwing her hands over head as she turned away from Danny in an exasperated motion. She turned quickly around, facing Danny again, "You got out before, why not this time e?" she accused him.
"Sam, it's not that simple. Before they just had these stupid walls that are everywhere in the ghost zone, all I had to do to get out was turn back human. This time they had set up a cell just for me. Pft, cell.." Danny scoffed at the word like it tasted bitter on his tongue. "It was three feet by five feet, barely tall enough for me to stand straight, and it was a steel box with a grate over the top, and…it was laced with a ghost shield. I couldn't get out as a human because of the steel, and I couldn't even turn ghost without getting shocked from the shield."
His head had never left his hands until now, he slowly looked up at Sam, his blue eyes pleading. "I…I would go ghost a little bit each day, to try and get used to the pain. I would try to hold it longer every day. It was agony, Sam." Danny shook his head before returning it to his hands and continuing. It was all Sam could do to look at Danny right now.
"So, I spent every day hanging from the open grate, doing sit ups….and pressed against the walls in ghost form. There wasn't anything else I could do, and I knew I needed to get out. Finally, last week, I went ghost, and I blasted the steel, it took a lot, but I finally broke a hole through it, then I turned human and I ran."
He stopped, waiting. Sam couldn't tell what he was waiting for though. She just stood in awe, watching him for what felt like an eternity before she sat her beer on the table and stepped towards him all in one smooth motion. She dropped to the ground in front of Danny, wrapping her thin arms around his neck and shoulders.
"I'm so sorry Danny…..I'm so sorry. If I'd know…" Sam bit back a chocking sob as she realized she could have freed him long ago if she had only thought to go looking for him in the ghost zone.
"No!" Danny cut off her thoughts of self blame as he pulled out of her arms and grabbed her roughly by the shoulders, he shook her a little as he spoke, "Don't ever blame yourself Sammy. There was nothing you could have done. Understood?"
Danny looked into her amethyst eyes intently as she nodded slowly. She still felt to blame in some way, but she couldn't argue with Danny right now. Before she could think about what was happening she heard Danny whisper that he'd missed her so much, and then in what seemed like a split second Danny had his arms around Sam, and his lips pressed gently to hers.
Sam could feel her heart breaking and could see all the horrible ways this would end, on reflex she pushed Danny away and almost slapped him again.
"What the HELL? What the hell Danny!" Sam had stood back up, and was putting physical distance between the two of them as she backed up towards the wall.
"I-I'm sorry Sam!" Danny stood, arms outstretched and up turned in an apologetic show, "I shouldn't have done that! I'm sorry. I should have known not to come back after all this time and just….just think I'd get away with 'I'm sorry and a kiss', Sam…" He looked at her pleadingly.
"Danny, I'm engaged!"
Sorry about the confussion there for a while with the bold/italic font, for some reason the thing was uploading wierd, I actually had to go into the document on html and edit it out
