Warmth of a Ghost

Disclaimer: Yea right, I cannot draw that quality drawings for that extended amount of time and I am not witty enough to come up with scripts for the show. Butch Hartman owns all. All I own is the plot, the song "You" belongs to the incredibly talented Amy Lee of Evanescence. Not me. The poem in chapter 2 is mine though.

A/N: I found myself talking to my friend on MSN one night and he asked if there were any songs/albums I would like. I immediately said Origin by Evanescence and then rattled off a load of songs by Evanescence that I knew existed but didn't have, one of which was 'You'. He delivered (thank the lord for him) and I found that he had indeed managed to get 'You' I was overjoyed. Only to find that half the song burnt and the other half was presumably still on his computer. After listening to only half of the song a plot bunny began to nibble on my ear. This same friend then got back in contact and asked how the c.d .was ('cause he gave it to me the day we broke up for Easter hols) I said great but I only had half of 'You', so he sent it to me, I listened to it and that plot bunny bit me good and hard. This is the result. Hope you like it.

Obviously a D/S fic and yet again it's a songfic. I'm sorry but songs are the sourse of my inspiration. the rating is for some mild swearing. Sorry if they seam a bit OOC but hey, my fic, I shall write them however I like.

Blah is song words 'Blah' is thoughts "Blah" is speaking

Sam lay awake in her room, it was well past midnight and her parents had gone to bed hours ago but she couldn't sleep. She didn't care anyway, it was a Friday night, she could stay awake as long as she damn well pleased thank you very much. The reason for her being unable to sleep was what was bugging her rather than the fact that she was awake.

As much as she tried to push him out of her mind, she just couldn't do it, he stayed dancing around her thoughts like a beautiful butterfly, sometimes he had black hair, sometimes white, but always he was smiling and looking at her with his bright eyes.

He refused to leave her mind so Sam did what she always did whenever she found herself in this situation; she got up from her comfy bed, crossed to her desk, retrieved a pencil and her notebook and returned to her bed. There she sat, covers pulled up to her waist, legs crossed beneath the blanket, notebook balanced on her knee.

No one knew about this notebook, this notebook contained her personal pride and shame. In this notebook were photos of the source of her frustrations and her attempts to deal with the conflicting emotions she had when she thought of him. In this notebook she had all of her poems. No one knew she wrote, 'they would probably laugh' she mused but she did. She was quite proud of the poems (even if they did mostly revolve around a certain head of raven hair and pale blue eyes) and she had found that they worked as a brilliant coping strategy.

Whenever she got depressed or angry or felt the loneliness that came with being an individual in a school full of clones, she would pull out a pencil and paper and begin to write. She was alwayscareful to never let anyone see, and always transferred them into the notebook the first chance she got, hiding the originals in a shoebox under her bed. She wrote to relieve stress and to help her to work through her mess of confusing emotions concerning her best friend. The more she wrote the more she realised, her feelings had grown beyond that of mere friendship but what could she do about it. Easy, she could write, and maybe, one day, she would gather the courage to show him her collection of poems, stand back and watch the penny drop. Until then, she would write.

The words have been drained from this pencil
Sweet words that I want to give you
And I can't sleep, I need to tell you...goodnight

She wished she could see him, talk to him, try to work out what she was feeling so she could finally get a wink of sleep. 'But wishes never come true do they?' she thought miserably as she continued to write

When we're together I feel perfect
When I'm pulled away from you I fall apart

She thought she knew what the problem was, she knew that when she spent time with him she was blissfully happy (even if she hid it behind her sarcasm) but when she was alone in her room, away from him, she felt miserable. Even surrounded by her music and possessions, her DVD's and the bowling ally in the basement she couldn't find solace. She had to be near him. 'But that's not going to happen anytime soon is it?' She shook her head and continued but she was sure she could hear it, a quiet, muffled tapping. Like a gloved hand on a window. 'Gloved? It couldn't be, could it?' her heart fluttered at the possibility and her head whipped round to the window.

There he was, the reason she was still awake at gone midnight, the reason she was writing in her treasured notebook. The glowing green eyes, the snow white hair and sure enough, the gloved hands. He waved and pointed at the latch, she was all too happy to rise up and shuffle the short distance across her bed to open the window and allow him entry. He flew in, sat on her bed and transformed back while she closed the window. She shuffled back over to her original position, trying in vain to hide the notebook and praying he didn't notice her. He did.

"What's that Sam?" Danny asked as he turned and noticed her trying to shove something away

"Nothing…just some…school work" 'School work! He'll bust you for sure' Sam internally berated herself

"Don't lie, no-one does school work even when their supposed to, never mind at two in the morning, and especially at two in the morning on a Friday, now come on what is it?" he said while trying to twist his line of sight round her to see what it was she was trying so desperately to hide.

"I told you it's nothing" she insisted. He seamed either satisfied with her answer or preoccupied with something else because for some reason he let the matter drop. They sat staring at each other for what felt like an eternity before Sam decided she could take it no longer and broke the silence.

"So…if you don't mind, would you kindly explain what you are doing in my room at two in the morning, wearing only a vest and your boxers? And why I had to get up and open the window when you could just fly through it?" she asked with an amused smile on her face.

"Well, I don't now why you had to get up and open the window when I could just have flown though it. I just wasn't thinking. I guess I was distracted" he said with a smile and a slight distant look in his eyes.

"Okay…now, why are you sitting in my room at two in the morning in your boxers and vest?" she asked again. She couldn't help but smile at him, 'even when he isn't fully dressed he still manages to be cute.'

The playful smile left his face and he grew solemn, even while an embarrassed blush crept onto his face with the realisation of how little he was wearing. "Sam…I know this may come out of no-where…I haven't been able to sleep and I've been wrestling with myself over whether or not to think this let alone say it…but here goes…Sam, I…I…I can't say it, I'm sorry"

"It's okay Danny"

"No it's not, I flew all the way over here, disturbed you, gave us both sleep deprivation and for nothing, I'm sorry, it's probably better if I just go." He rose up and prepared to transform when Sam reached out her arm, took hold of his hand and pulled him back down onto the bed.

"Look, you're tired, I'm tired we could both use some sleep…and this bed is more than big enough for both of us" Sam said the last part of the sentence while looking down at said bed.

"Sam, are you offering…"

"To let you stay here tonight, yes"

"Are you sure" Danny could hardly believe what he was hearing, not only was she saying he should stay, but in her bed…with her.

"Wouldn't of offered if I wasn't, now come on" she threw back the covers, crawled under them herself and patted the pillow on the other side of the bed, closest to the window (for easy escaping should her parents come in before she left the room in the morning…unlikely but still) as an invitation for him. "hurry up and get in before all the heat gets out."

Danny gladly accepted. He crawled under the covers, laid his head down and just watched Sam as she turned the light out and lay down facing him. There was enough light filtering in from the window for them to be able to see each other clearly.

All that you say is sacred to me
Your eyes are so blue,
I can't look away as we lay in the stillness

All was quiet and still. The only sounds were of the two friends breathing, and they had yet to take their eyes off each other. Neither one of them felt uncomfortable under the other gaze, quite the opposite, they felt at home. Finally, Danny worked his courage back up, and shattered the stillness with his voice, barely above a whisper.

"Sam?"

"Yea?"

"I think I can say it now"

"Say what now?"

Danny propped himself up on his elbow before continuing which made it hard for Sam to see him so she turned, switched the bedside light on again and propped herself up on her elbow facing him. "Sam, I've been thinking long and hard about this. I don't consider you one of my friends anymore…I think you've become more…I think…I think I…might…love you Sam."

You whisper to me,
Lady, marry me,
Promise you'll stay with me

She just sat in the stillness, silent, letting the words sink in. 'Has he just said that he loves me, no he couldn't have, could he'

"You don't have to return my feelings; I just felt that you should know. Just do one thing for me. Please don't totally reject me. Don't let this spoil our friendship. Promise you'll still be my friend. Please"

Sam just sat listening to him breathing, trying to process what he had just said to her. 'He loves me? Good lord he said he loves me. Is he genuine, does he know what he's saying. Is that sleep deprivation talking or is it him? Why did he have to do this to me? Should I tell him? What if he's not serious? But why else would he say it, he's not the kind of guy to joke around about something like this. DAMN IT what do I do!

While Sam was fighting her internal battle, Danny was sitting in the light of the bedside lamp watching her, fearing for their friendship and wondering what was going through her mind. 'Does she hate me? Does she believe me? What if she doesn't believe me? No, I don't care I just hope we can still be friends' after what felt like an eternity Sam hadn't said anything so Danny decided to split the silence himself.

"Sam, I'm sorry to put you on the spot like this, but could you at least tell me one thing…are we still friends?" he asked tentatively.

Sam sat up further in the bed and Danny followed, expecting to be thrown out into the night and left to find his own way home. He turned his eyes to her, waiting for the verbal assault that never came. Sam just looked into his eyes and melted.

Oh you don't have to ask me,
You know you're all that I live for
You know I'd die just to hold you, stay with you

"Oh Danny, I'm so glad you said something. It was driving me mad. Of course we can still be friends…but I don't think I would be satisfied with just friends"

Danny furrowed his eyebrows while he tried to figure out her enigmatic statement. He looked so confused and cute that Sam couldn't help but smile at him. He was so transparent to her that she could tell the instant the penny dropped, his face lit up and he began to stammer.

"Sam…are…are…are you saying that…"

"You mean the world to me Danny Fenton, you don't know how many times I have cried myself to sleep wishing you would just stop obsessing over that witch Paulina and see me. I never thought I would hear myself say this but…I guess I'm saying that…I think…I love you too."

Somehow I'll show you that you are my night sky
I've always been right behind you
Now I'll always be right beside you

The smile on his face stretched from ear to ear 'she loves me too! Thank you GOD' he screamed internally. The only way he could express his joy externally was to throw his arms around her. She responded by wrapping her arms around him and squeezing him for all she was worth. She hugged him as if she believed that he would disappear if she let go (which he was fully capable of doing she reminded herself). She feared she would wake up to find it had all been a wonderful dream and she would be back at square one. A hiss of pain in her ear told her he was wonderfully solid (for now) and in pain for some reason. She let him go and looked into his eyes

"What's wrong?" she asked him, concern evident in her face and laced throughout her voice.

"It's nothing; I just had to deal with something before I came to see you that's all"

"Is it bad?"

"I don't think so"

"Let me have a look"

"Sam it's nothing" he tried to reassure her, she merely glared at him telling him that she didn't believe him for a second. He decided it would probably be easier to comply than argue with her so he lifted up his vest to expose a deep purple bruise on his left side that wrapped around to his chest. The sight bought an inhalation of sympathetic pain from Sam's lips. She reached out and gingerly touched it, trying not to hurt him but evidently failing from the look on his face when she looked up at him.

"Danny that looks really bad, I think you should really get it looked at"

"And say what when they ask how it happened 'yea I was fighting this big ghost snake and it whipped me with it's tail before throwing me into a building' I'm sure that would go down well, I'll be fine, I just need some sleep that's all"

"Fine, sleep, but in the morning you have to let someone look at it, you might have broken something"

"Okay I promise" he said with a smile while letting his vest fall back into place. He lowered himself down onto the mattress on his right side and pulled the covers back up to his chin, putting his left arm out of them to keep himself from getting too hot. Sam imitated his movements and they just lay staring at each other until Danny gave out and closed his eyes first.

"Danny?"

He opened his eyes before he responded, fearing that she might have changed her mind and throw him out anyway. "Yea"

"Promise to keep your boxers up?"

He smiled at the joke, it felt good to laugh with her again, all of the tension and worry draining from them after so much distress during the night.

"I'll do my best." He kept his eyes open long enough to see her smile and hear a soft laugh escape from her mouth. Fatigue caught up with him soon after and, almost against his will, his eyes drifted closed again.

So many nights I've cried myself to sleep
Now that you love me I love myself
I never thought I would say that
I never thought there'd be you

Before he could fall asleep a thought entered his mind, he opened his eyes once again and voiced his inquiry. "What was in that notebook by the way?"

"I'll show you in the morning" Sam replied with a smile. He seamed satisfied with that and closed his eyes again. His breathing levelled out and he finally fell into a peaceful sleep.

When she was sure he was asleep, she took out her notebook and pencil again and proceeded to finish the poem she had started before he had dropped his little bombshell into her life. She finished and set the notebook and pencil down next to her bed. She switched out the bedside light, got comfy, wrapped her arms gingerly around the sleeping form beside her (being careful to avoid the bruise) and feel asleep dreaming of the white haired benevolent spirit lying beside her.

'I never knew ghosts were so warm'

The End

So…what did you think, good, bad what? Please keep in mind that I wrote this over three consecutive days while trying to do home work as well. It was started at around midnight on the first night, left at 3.30 in the morning, picked back up again at about four in the afternoon the next day and finished at about midnight, then picked back up at 8.00 the following evening and finished at about 11 so there may be some incoherent rambling that makes no sense.

By the way, if you want to read what Sam wrote in the poem (which I never intended to write but found myself working on while writing the story and trying to do an essay for English…multitalented or what? ) then click on chapter 2. It started out quite crap and finished off not half bad, it even changed the title of the story (lol.)