3/12 of the Home for the Holidays Arc.
xXx
Cranberry Sauce
Thursday, November 23rd
"Just make sure you're home by four, Danny. I don't want to have to explain that you don't understand that concept of a curfew at seventeen."
"I said I'd be back," Danny said evenly, wondering if he dared roll his eyes behind her back. He decided it was better not to. His mother seemed to have eyes in the back of her head. And just about anywhere else that you could imagine. More than once he'd wondered if she had a surveillance system rigged through the house.
With a fiftieth and final reminder Danny bolted out the door making tracks for the park. It would have been the Nasty Burger, but halfway through the day, it was closed because of Thanksgiving. Of course he hadn't been to the Nasty Burger more than a handful of times since Halloween. He'd only managed to squirm his way out of grounding because he'd managed to save practically the entire senior class—with the help of Tucker and Sam.
And Cujo, who was still rolling in Milkbones.
Tucker had predicted it when he'd said that his mother would kill him. She'd wanted to kill him when she'd managed to spot the silver hoop in his ear the first day of November. She'd nearly sent him into the Fenton Stockades when she realized that he'd done it months before and it was now an irreversible hole in his body. The only reason he'd managed to get out of trouble after two weeks was because someone had supplied his mother with a few video clips of the now infamous dragon battle from their cell phone.
More than one cell phone if he recalled correctly. When word got out across school that he was on complete lockdown, something that Danny had never thought would happen happened. His fellow seniors banded together to show his mother what he'd done, to get him out of trouble.
Tucker was right when he'd said they'd rearranged the social order of Casper High. Hanging out with the A-List was still cool… But it was cooler to be seen with Danny Fenton and his friends.
Danny didn't really care. Sure, they might have made some new acquaintances along the way, but he knew who his friends were. And he didn't think it was fair to make friends with someone that he wasn't going to be very honest with over the course of their friendship. Sam hadn't batted an eyelash when he'd told her how he'd felt about it, she'd agreed with him. And then teased him about being a pod person because the Danny Fenton she knew wasn't that insightful.
The park was in sight before Danny realized it, and he saw the slim figure in black kicking at the cold ground. All they needed was a good flurry of snow to make it picture perfect, but anywhere was perfect to Danny so long as Sam was there. "Sam!" he called as he broke into a jog. "Hey, Sam!"
She turned and he smiled when she did, loving the way just seeing her happy made him feel like his world was perfect. When he got to her he wrapped her in a hug, burying his face in the silky dark hair that slipped over her shoulder. "Missed you," he mumbled, and she laughed.
"Danny I just saw you this morning." She paused and ran a careful hand along his back to feel the pad of a bandage along it. "How is it?"
He straightened and shrugged, not even wincing. "It's alright, it'll probably be healed before I have to go back home." It was a not very painful reminder that brick walls and backs do not mix; he'd gotten tossed into one the night before when he'd been trying to avoid losing bits and pieces of himself to Skulker, who was still trying to regain his honor since the Friday the thirteenth debacle in October.
It had given Danny good cause to show up in Sam's room at three in the morning, but she'd gone in to full out first aid mode when she'd seen the way the skin on his back was ripped at and seeping blood. He wouldn't have bothered her, but bandaging his own back was just a little more than he was capable of, and besides, it gave him an excuse to see her. Which had given him an excuse to talk her into lying down with him so that he could hold her and watch her as she drifted back to sleep.
It was something he'd wanted to do for weeks but hadn't had a reason to see her that late, no excuse that was valid enough for him to be in a place to even suggest it. It had been, in a word, heaven, and Danny nearly fell asleep himself before realizing that his grounding would be reinstated if he was found missing from his room before breakfast without a word to anyone. And that a new restraining order would be in order if the Manson's found him curled in bed with Sam, even if nothing happened.
"You're coming with me, right?" he asked, suddenly nervous. Sam had been to a few of his family occasions before, but none of them in recent history. Christmas had never been a huge Fenton holiday mostly because of the ongoing argument between his parents, but since that problem with the Ghost Writer in freshman year, his mother had taken to inviting family for Christmas as well as Thanksgiving.
But Thanksgiving was a Fenton holiday to be blown out of proportions. Family flying in from all across the country, though most of them apparently lived in the northeast. They'd done the Fenton Family Thanksgiving for as long as he could remember, and it was a frightening thing.
Sam was smirking up with him and he cocked his head to the side. "I said I would. Even Tucker is coming," she reminded him. "Besides, Mom and Dad aren't going to be home, and…"
A shadow crossed her face and Danny held her tighter. The only extracurricular Danny had been allowed to participate in while he was grounded for his two weeks was for a funeral. Sam's grandmother had gone to sleep after Sam had talked to her the night of the Halloween party and, as best as anyone could tell, had never woken up the next morning.
Danny had been there when Sam had found her; he'd walked her home while his parents were still trying to deal with the massive dragon body they'd left for the authorities. She'd invited him in with a smile for the bag of cherries in her hands. But when she'd left him in her room to tell her grandmother she was home, Danny had heard her scream and immediately gone ghost.
But there was no ghost, and it wasn't something he could protect her from, no matter how much he'd wanted to. He'd done the only thing he could think of: drag her back to her room while she cried hysterically and call 911, then his parents. They'd come of course, and his mother had sounded relieved to be leaving the scene of the battle. He got the feeling that she didn't like thinking that Danny could be ruthless enough to kill something, even if it wasn't human.
The fact that Sam had been a complete wreck and sobbing wildly was the only thing, he was sure, that saved him from the stockades. He'd been grounded immediately after her parents picked her up from his house—they'd caught a redeye from New York. But his mom had still let him got to the funeral. She thought he hadn't seen the pitying glances she sent Sam's way, and his too when Sam sought refuge from preparations for the funeral with him.
Sometimes he wondered exactly how much his mother knew. But most of the time he was content that she suspected nothing and knew less. It was especially effective since he'd had two almost major ghost fights as Fenton and both had been witnessed. He could only hope his mother didn't figure it out. That thought still had him terrified.
"You'll come home with me," he said as he pressed a kiss to her temple. "You don't have to go home, you can come with me, and we'll put you to work doing something stupid and menial and potentially dangerous."
She leaned back and arched a brow at him. "Like I don't do the stupid and potentially dangerous every day?"
He grinned. "Peeling potatoes is infinitely more dangerous."
She smiled and tucked herself beneath his arm. "When's Tucker meeting us?" she asked, and she snuggled against him as a chilly gust of wind flipped her scarf around.
"Would you be mad if I told you he's not coming until two?"
Sam glanced at her watch and frowned. "But Danny, it's not even one yet."
"I know," he said. "I just wanted to spend some time with you first." He chuckled and she leaned into him happily. "Besides, he'll be teasing us all night long."
"True, too true," she replied. "We need to get him a girlfriend."
"Or we could just get him that new PDA he wants and he'll be occupied for at least a day."
xXx
The first batch of Fenton's arrived at four on the dot. Danny had just been walking up the drive with Sam and Tucker in tow when the minivan his Great-Aunt Matilda insisted on renting for the durations of the trip pulled to the curb with several honks. He'd waved and found himself ordered to help her and the other family members drag various food-filled dishes into the brownstone that already smelled like stuffing and turkey. How they'd managed to fit so many large people in the minivan—for it was his father's Aunt Matilda—none of the three could figure out.
In the end they'd decided that it would be safer not to try and unravel the mystery and had thrown themselves into the preparations wholeheartedly. Sam had, as he'd said, been put to potatoes, Tucker had joined Jazz with his mother at the second turkey. Danny had been doomed to amusing the relations and being at their beck and call. A frightening thing given exactly how many people were crowded into the house by six that evening.
Danny was all for some new random threat that he could throw himself up against as human. At least then the worst thing possible was that he'd end up dead, and that was infinitely better than the cutesy remarks that kept getting tossed his way anytime someone caught him trying to have a moment alone with Sam.
Not that there were many of those. But he did try.
"You certainly have a lot of family," Sam said to him with a surprised smile as she passed him yet another covered dish to be placed on one of the tables set up just for the occasion.
"Yeah," Tucker chimed in as he lifted the foil and pulled out a piece of sliced ham. "Ah, meat. Glorious, glorious meat." He sighed with appreciation as he savored the honeyed meat. "So good, who made this? I want to marry them."
"My cousin Brian made it," Danny said dryly. He smirked at Tucker's pained look. "On the plus side, he's not into ghost hunting."
Tucker laughed. "I was surprised that your entire family tree didn't dress in hazmat."
"Tuck, not even his mom and dad are dressed in their hazmat." Sam gave Danny a considering look. "How many dress in hazmat when it's not a holiday?"
"Just Mom and Dad," Danny answered as he considered snagging a piece of the ham for himself.
"No," Sam said as his fingers started to under the foil. "You have to wait. I won't have you two eating the food before dinner time."
"Fine," Danny sighed. "Slave driver. When is dinner, anyhow?"
"Your mom says we're waiting for someone else. It's your fault, she said you invited a distant cousin who was going to be in town just for tonight."
"Oh, right." Danny smiled. "Danni is flying in."
"Your clone?" Tucker asked only to be smacked upside the head as Danny and Sam both looked around to see who'd heard the remark. There was no one close by and Tucker gave them hurt glanced as he rubbed his head. "Dude, she looks just like you so calling her your clone doesn't mean people are going to automatically assume I mean for real."
Sam gave Danny a shrug. "It's true enough. She does look like you, except for the whole being a girl thing."
"Don't care," Danny said. "There's enough insanity in my family that we don't need to have that overheard. I've got a couple cousins a billion times removed that are actually geneticists. Or something like that. Too many relatives, not enough brain cells."
They followed Danny as he wound his way around various relatives as they caught up to slide the dish of ham in one of the few still open spaces on the many tables. It reminded Danny too much of a zoo, with the unbridled talk and gossip as everyone talked to everyone. It was a low roar with occasional volume changes as this person or that roared in laughter over some joke or related anecdote that was shared. There were too many pitying glances sent from the ones near Danny's own age as this cousin or that was summoned to be shown off and made much of.
"I've never noticed how many of my cousins are guys," he said in a musing tone as he took a glance around. In fact, as far as he could tell, Jazz was the only female progeny of his generation. He was sure that she could make a whole hour long lecture about that one realization; it made him grateful that she was still trapped in the kitchen with his mother and various aunts.
Better that she stayed there anyhow, because she was the only one making the active watch for ectoplasm infused cooking utensils. There were way too many things in his parents' kitchen for Danny to feel safe eating randomly. After all, how many times had they had to kill their food before trying to eat it? It really was safer eating at the Nasty Burger all the time—at least there the worst thing he had to worry about was clogged arteries. That was ten times better than being afraid his food would rise up and try to eat him.
"And to think, I chose you out of this wonderful selection," Sam interjected with a roll of his eyes. "Your gene pool is so wide spread."
This time the laughter that cut through the chatter was Danny's, because the sarcasm had been so unexpected. He had to admit it, the majority of the relatives were from his father's side. He'd never really appreciated before how prolific the Fenton's were, even when he did have his mother's family to compare them to. Two kids and the Glenn's were done. Not so with the Fenton's, they believed the more the merrier.
Or scarier.
"You guys want a rundown?" Danny asked, almost malicious humor in his eyes. "It's about time you had a break anyway."
The telling took the better part of an hour, with much laughing involved. Though, and Danny wasn't surprised, he fancied something of a new respect in his friends' eyes once he'd told them about the greater percentage of his relatives. There were a lot, and none of them were less than geniuses. Even Danny himself was something of a genius, though so far he'd yet to see it improve his academic standings. He supposed it would help if he actually managed to spend time in class, and quote possibly on homework. He did have to admit that when he managed to crack a textbook for some real studying, it stayed and he knew whatever it was he'd studied forever.
An almost eidetic memory—if only he didn't have to do the actual studying to retain what he was learning. But the line of genius was long. His sister was a psychological prodigy, even her professors agreed on that. His parents pretty much single-handedly pioneered a new field of science, and the paranormal was widely accepted with scientific fact now. He had the geneticist cousins, twins the both of them and in completely different families. Most of his family was in science, in one form or another. Mostly it was medicine, which he supposed was good if ever he really needed medical help. Familial incentive to fix him would have them flying back to Amity without food and holiday bonding.
There were doctors, a neurosurgeon, someone who specialized in designing prosthetics. There was the odd researcher or two if he excluded his parents. No one else, much to his father's chagrin, who specialized in paranormal. There were the odd one or two he never seemed to have any ambition, but they were both female and introverted and had found their niche in running familial offices by handling paperwork and bookkeeping. The one time Danny had asked about it he'd damn near been bored to tears, though he'd never again think of their jobs as being anything less than work.
But the family description was interrupted by the doorbell ringing again, and since no one else made a move towards it Danny took the obligation. It didn't hurt that he knew who it had to be because Danni was the only person expected who hadn't yet arrived.
His smile was wide as he opened the door to the blue eyes as familiar as his own, and Danny was glad he'd told her to come the last time he'd seen her. She looked scared to death, but he hugged her and dragged her into the house.
"Alright, you're the daughter of Theo and Ari Fenton, they died about ten years ago in a car accident so no one will bother to check and see if it's not true. It was overseas and there are records of their only child—a girl—being sent back and taken in by her mom's relatives," Danny said quickly.
"What if she shows up?" Danni asked, her nerves still showing in the hunch of her shoulders.
Danny shook her head. "Only if she's a ghost. I went and checked personally a few months back. She died shortly after her tenth birthday, but there are only paper records in some backwater morgue. You're safe, Danni."
She brightened visibly at this and smiled as she saw Sam and Tucker, giving them a small wave and Danny drew her into the fray. "It certainly doesn't hurt that I look just like half the people in here."
"Yeah, just a hundred pounds lighter." Danny chuckled and gave her sage advice. "Stay away from fudge, Danni, and you'll be safe."
"Should be fine considering how much energy I burn fighting ghosts," she replied in a dry tone. Danny gave her a commiserating look and gave her a shove towards the massed people.
She went and Danny headed back to his friends with a pleased grin. "It's about time she had the family forced on her, don't you guys think?"
Sam shrugged and gave him a kiss on the cheek before grabbing a piece of celery from one of the veggie platters while Tucker just stared after Danni. "Tuck?" Danny asked before looking back towards his clone to see what could possibly have taken Tucker's attention the way it had.
There weren't any ghosts, and the girl didn't seem to be having a meltdown. In fact, she looked great. Of course, Tucker hadn't seen her in more than two years, so maybe the fact the she'd grown up so much had hit him hard. Danni was biologically fifteen now, so the changes were enormous. In fact, she looked older in the slim jeans and dark sweater she wore, so Tucker's surprise was more understanding because of it.
"Dude. Tucker." Danny poked him.
"Dude, she's hot," Tucker said, his eyes still trained on the younger girl.
Danny's jaw dropped and Sam snickered a little behind her hand. "Tuck, you do realize that Danni is Danny with boobs, right?"
Tucker didn't miss a beat. "Danny is hot with boobs."
xXx
"It's almost time to eat, Danny," Maddie said as she found her son with his friends in the fray. "Start getting everyone to the dining room."
"Finally," he muttered as he started moving through the crowd of relatives. It didn't take very long—most everyone was close because of the good smells and the by now very empty stomachs. Especially his dad's side. They all seemed to be ringed around the dining room already with all of the full dishes in place.
"I'd like to say a few words," Jack's booming voice cut through the chatter and brought the house to silence.
Danny couldn't help the cornered look he gave his friends as he wondered what, exactly, his father wanted to say. Something related to ghosts, no doubt, something that Danny wanted to forget on this so far quiet day. Hell would break out sooner or later, but until it did he didn't want to be bothered with it. He was only left to seek the sympathetic eyes of his friends as his father opened his mouth again.
"Since it's Thanksgiving, I wanted to tell everyone what I'm thankful for," Jack said, and Danny's nerves twisted a little tighter as he imagined his father pulling out the newest Fenton whatever and proclaiming his thanks for so many ghosts to practice with.
"I am," and Jack's voice grew solemn, "thankful for my family. All of you gathered here tonight, I am thankful for. My world and life would not be the same without each and every one of you in my family. But I am most thankful for my beloved wife Maddie, and my wonderful children, Jazz and Danny. Without them, I wouldn't be able to survive."
Danny felt Sam's hand slide into his and her head lean against his shoulder as his eyes grew hot with tears that threatened to fall. He squeezed hers tightly before letting go and sliding his arm around her shoulders as the silence drew itself around them all. Even still Danny could hear the movements as more people did what he was doing, drawing the one he loved best nearer.
Then Jack broke the solemnity by lifting the silver lid on the turkey up and saying, "Let's eat," his voice once again jovial and booming.
And then the turkey hopped upright and let out a roar from the mouth that split itself across the turkey's breast.
"Jazz!" Danny cried as he pulled Sam close and twisted them away from the people suddenly rushing back towards the walls and the doorway. "I thought you watched Mom cook!"
"I did," he heard from somewhere across the dining room. "Danny, get it, it's trying to fly!"
"Get them out of here, Sam," Danny said tersely before he pushed through a couple of cousins he could barely put name to.
Once inside the ring he saw the table and the greasy spots where the turkey had made tracks off of it. There was a cry, someone yelled, "It bit me!" and Danny dove beneath the table to slide back out on the other side. He caught site of a basted and roasted rear end trying to push through a sea of legs, another cry, and Danny made a lunge at it.
His hand caught the turkey on a leg but it twisted and slipped out leaving Danny scrawled inelegantly on the floor. Quickly he got his hands and knees beneath him and followed. "Move," he yelled and nearly laughed as the sea of legs parted before him. "Great," he grunted as he made another lunge forward. "Not I'm Moses."
But this time he got a good grip on the turkey and when it wiggled his fingers held tightly. It roared again as Danny tugged it, the turkey falling so that Danny could pull it towards him. He winced at the stain he left streaking along the floor but decided it didn't matter as the turkey flipped over and sank sharp and pointy teeth into his free hand. It was reflex that tugged his hand from the mouth, but the teeth had sunk in and flesh tore.
He cursed and lifted the turkey to slam it against the floor, injured hand tight to his chest as blood stained his shirt. "Any other time," he slammed the turkey again, "someone would have an ectogun." He slammed the turkey again and it squawked. "But noooo, not today, because today is Thanksgiving."
"Can someone please get something to kill this?" he called out. The turkey twisted in his hands just as a blast hit the floor where it had been a second before.
"Oh, your mom's going to kill me," Sam said as she dropped to her knees to rub at the blast mark.
Danny grunted as he lifted himself and the turkey up, his face twisting in a grimace as he tried not to move. "Sam? Not to be a jerk, but it's chewing on my arm. Can you kill it now? Please?"
It wasn't Sam but another ectoblast that made the turkey quit twitching, it's teeth still buried in Danny's arm. Tucker came forward, a smoking ectogun in hand, to take most of the weight of the possessed turkey off of Danny's arm as he tried not to twitch. Sam abandoned her gun on the floor to help Danny pry the teeth out and let the now dead again turkey drop back to the floor as she pressed her hands against the bleeding wound.
"Oh, Danny, I'm sorry," she said softly as Tucker grabbed one of the linen napkins to pass to Sam. She pressed it against the wound, wincing as she saw what was beneath her hands before pressing them, too, back against it. "We'll get you patched up."
He gave a disgusted snort. "Got enough experience with that, don't we?"
A shadow fell across them and Danny looked up to find his father, his mother not far behind, both handling serious ecto-artillery, and he sighed. Tucker spoke up. "It's cool, Mr. Fenton. Turkey's dead. Again. But maybe we should see if we need to kill anything else before we eat?"
xXx
Barring the turkey, the rest of the food seemed to be completely dead and safe to eat. At Danny's insistence the meal was begun without him and Sam, though Tucker abandoned them quickly so that he could get a plate. He spent the entire four minutes with them asking if there would be anything left to eat by the time he got back until Sam threatened to make him be the next person to require bandaging if he didn't shut up.
"Am I going to live?" he asked sardonically when she'd finished taping him back together and bandaging it.
She threw a roll of gauze at him before scooping the garbage up to throw away as Danny looked at his blood ruined shirt with regret before throwing it to her to be added to the garbage. "Lost cause," he told her as she looked up at him.
He shrugged and headed for his closet to rifle through the hanging shirts so that he could try and find a replacement. He settled on a similar dress shirt in a dark red before closing his closet. He was lucky, according to Sam, to be able to wear reds. She claimed that most reds made her look washed out and that was why she avoided wearing them, but that he had the complexion to carry it off. He could remember how he stared at her because it was most girly thing he'd ever heard her say.
The shirt was in his hands and he unbuttoning it when two warm hands settled themselves at his hips before sliding up. The shirt was forgotten as he turned to face her, a smirk on his face as he pulled her closer. "So, Ms. Manson," and she glared at him before shoving him back against the closed door. "How long have you wanted to push me up against a wall?"
She quieted him with her mouth on his. "Does it matter?" she breathed against his mouth before kissing him again, this time letting her tongue slide along his lower lip as he groaned. "I'm your girlfriend; it's my right to want you pressed up against walls."
"So it is," he agreed as he pulled her tighter to him, his mouth sliding from hers to slide hotly at her jaw before teeth found purchase on her earlobe. "My entire family is downstairs, Sam."
She moaned softly as he sucked at the sensitive flesh just beneath her ear, her hand's fumbling for purchase across his chest. His own hands were at her waist and slipping beneath her shirt, warm skin chilling in the cool air as he lifted the shirt ever so slightly. She moaned again, this time a breathy whimper that sent blood pooling well past his belt line.
"Don't care," she breathed into his ear as her thumb flicked against one of his nipples. "They're all eating."
He grimaced a little at her choice of words before pushing himself out from the closed door to walk her back to his bed. The edge hit her just behind her knees and with a startled sound she fell back, only to find herself pinned by his body and arms. Danny face was a study in satisfaction he leaned down to her, a possessive glimmer to his eyes as he captured her lips with his own once again.
"Mine," he murmured as his hands found her waist again, this time fingers grasping for the buttons that ran up the front of her sweater. He undid the first, eyes locked on hers as he waited for her answer, wondering if she was going to hurt him or not.
Her eyes slid to a darker shade of purple, body arching a little as his fingers danced across the now bare skin of her stomach. "Yours," she agreed with an almost drugged nod if her head.
He leaned down to kiss her again, tongue playing against hers as his fingers found another button, and then another until none were safe and the sweater fell open to show off a black lacy bra that held her breasts for him to admire. He pulled back from her, watching her eyes slip closed as his hands moved across the sensitive skin hidden by the silky material, and when he lowered his mouth to suckle at one through it she moaned lowly, her back arching to push the breast more firmly against his face.
"Danny," she whimpered.
His hands sat at the waist of her jeans and for a moment Danny wondered if he would undo the button to them, too. Shaking fingers had just begun to fiddle with the metal button against denim when he heard his mother's footsteps on the stair and her calling to him, "Is it alright, or do we need to take a trip to the emergency room?"
It was better than an icy shower—something that he'd had to suffer through a great many times since he and Sam had started dating, and even before. It was almost certainly more worthy of passion-killing than Mr. Lancer in a Speedo or Ms. Tetslaff in a bikini. Nothing, Danny realized at the panicked look on Sam's face as she pushed him back and her hands flew across her sweater to redo the buttons he'd only just gotten undone, could kill anything like the possibility of your mother walking in on you in a compromising position.
His eyes met hers with something like regret as he cleared his throat and answered. "It's fine, we just finished." Just started is more like it, his mind added rebelliously, and Danny wiped a hand over his face before getting off of the bed and heading for the forgotten shirt resolutely. "I'm just getting a new shirt—we'll be there in a minute."
"Maybe we should hurry," she offered as she finger combed her hair into a semblance of neat.
He gave her a shrug and then another kiss that left her smiling before taking her hand in his and dragging her back downstairs. "Now you have to suffer through eating with my family. I promise there's a salad with your name all over it."
Despite the way the bandaging pulled at the skin of his arm, Danny dug in with gusto. He was sandwiched between Sam and some uncle or another who would periodically ask Danny if he was going to eat his food. By the time the various rounds of food had begun slowing down Danny had become more than a little paranoid with one arm guarding his plate while the other ate. He was sure that he'd had a turkey leg from one of the non-possessed turkey's, but if he had then Danny hadn't eaten it. He figured his uncle must have snagged in when Danny was distracted, which were regular instances with Sam seated next to him.
He was just beginning to look forward to dessert—pumpkin pie with whipped cream being the best and most wonderful of Thanksgiving desserts—when he felt the tingle at the back of his throat that heralded the imminent blue mist of his ghost sense. He barely got his mouth covered in time and at that was forced to start coughing to dissipate the chilled air that streamed past his lips, with Sam whacking his back firmly several times until she realized exactly what Danny was coughing because of.
"Couldn't we have called it quits with the attack turkey?" Danny whispered as he grabbed for a glass of water and drank a sip before excusing himself from the table with a polite request that not a soul heard.
Sam and Tucker followed him, more from habit than the belief that he needed help. But Tucker was all for breaking out the ectoguns and going after whatever had decided to interrupt the holiday feasting. "Come on, Danny. They ruined the best meal ever."
"You're just saying that because you've eaten twice as much turkey and ham as anyone else," Sam said with disgust. "One day you'll be on the receiving end of your mindless cannibalism. You'll see."
Tucker checked the charge on the ectogun he'd had earlier, now stashed behind a couch. "Sure, Sam. Because aliens will invade because I am the next white meat."
Danny couldn't help but laugh along with Sam and Tucker went about his weapons check without any humor. "Alright, Tuck, you're with me. Sam, you're playing cover. Jazz'll help once she figured out why we're missing."
"What do I tell them?" Sam asked with a sigh. "My boyfriend and our best friend decided to go ghost hunting in the middle of supper? Because it certainly sounds better that way than if I tried to convince them you were having a round two."
"Round two?" Tucker asked, fingers inching towards the PDA in his pocket as he bent a perverted leer at his two friends. "So, what happened during round one?"
Sam stuck her tongue out at him and flipped a pillow in Tucker's direction before Danny shook his head and shifted to ghost. "Shut up, Tucker. Trust me, you'll live longer that way."
Without another word Danny sent an almost apologetic glance Sam's way before grabbing onto Tucker and lifting them in the air and through the ceiling and the roof. "See anything?" Danny asked Tucker as he glanced around and above him, wondering where the ghost was hiding at. He'd gotten a much better grasp of his powers since he was fourteen, regular use had all but guaranteed that, but he still couldn't sense the ghosts any more accurately than the general alert that they were in the area.
"Um, Danny?" Tucker asked as Danny studied the night sky to try and find a telltale smudge that was a ghost invisible. It worked. Sometimes. Not usually because if a ghost were intangible as well he was at a loss.
"Danny?" Tucker's voice again, more insistent as he jerked on Danny's hazmat to force the half ghost to look down.
Danny grimaced in irritation at having his search pattern interrupted. "What, Tuck?"
Tucker only pointed down, and Danny's eyes followed the other boy's finger to see what Tucker so enthralled. It wasn't a ghost, or at least it wasn't just a ghost. Beneath them, coming in droves as they vacated houses through doors, windows, chimneys, even walls, were hundreds of steaming and basted brown turkeys. Some left trails of stuffing, others yet left greens or bits and pieces of carrots and potatoes. Danny only blinked a couple of times as he tried understanding what his eyes told him.
"Hey, Tucker?" Danny asked, a laugh wanting to bubble up at the absurdity of it all.
"Hmm?" was the only response that Tucker gave.
"I have no idea what to do."
Tucker's eyes flickered for a moment, and then his mouth turned up into a devilish smile. "I do, Danny. But we're going to need lots of cranberry sauce."
xXx
"That's your idea? You really think you're going to try and eat hundreds of turkeys?" Sam's voice was incredulous through the phone where Danny and Tucker stood on the top of the Ops Center trying to figure out a plan. "You're insane, Tucker."
"I was only planning on eating enough of each one to make it dead!" Tucker shot back with some heat. Somehow he seemed to take offense at the idea that he couldn't eat several hundred pounds of turkey.
Danny shook his head. "I don't have any ideas, Sam. I really don't. But hey, remind me to tell Jazz that the turkey wasn't possessed from my mom's cooking." He sighed as he glanced back towards the street where the turkey's seemed to be massing before starting to hop their way towards the park.
"Your mom's going to be a little freaked if Danny Phantom pops in to borrow the rest of the cranberry sauce anyway, so maybe we should try something else?" Sam was resigned.
Danny looked at Tucker and then back to the street. "I vote that Tucker heads back downstairs and I go do some recon to see if I can figure out what the hell is going on."
Tucker sighed and mimicked Danny's early shrug. "You take my cell and call when you have an idea?"
"Danny," Sam interrupted, "you can't just disappear. People will wonder. They're almost done eating and they think we're all hanging out in your room."
He cursed again, this time more colorfully than when his arm had played bait for a demented reanimated turkey. "Alright, regroup in my room."
"I'm already in your room," was Sam's tart rejoinder.
Danny didn't bother answering as he flipped Tucker's cell phone closed to end the call before looping his arm through Tucker's and phasing them both directly down through the roof. Sam was indeed in his room, lounging on his bed with her boots off and tossed on the floor, one of Danny's many half finished model planes in her hands as she tried fitting a piece to it. Her ear piece was on the bed next to her and she barely glanced over at them as Danny dropped Tucker down onto the floor before landing himself.
"So you have a plan," she said, a statement and not a question because she knew him too well to doubt his regrouping order. The very tone of his voice had told her he had a plan, and now she only wanted to know what it was.
"I'll leave you guys here with a duplicate. If anyone asks, we were playing a game," and he dropped to his knees to pull out an old monopoly board from beneath his bed to shove at Sam, "and I fell asleep."
"Do you remember what happened the last time you tried duplicating yourself?" Tucker asked incredulously.
This time Danny smirked. "I do." He closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment, feeling the ectoplasm inside him stretch and grow thin before snapping to form a perfect replica. "You guys weren't here for it."
"Could have told us," Sam grumbled as she dumped the game set out and started setting it up.
Danny shrugged. "It kind of sucks." He concentrated for a moment more and the duplicate from ghost to human in a silvery blue flash. Its eyes were vacant but it followed Danny's unconscious order for it to stretch out on the bed and close its eyes. "I haven't quite figured out how to split my consciousness yet, so what you see is what you get. A living, breathing, completely useless doll."
"Didn't you split yourself four times back when you fought with Pariah?" Sam asked as she poked the duplicate's side. It didn't budge.
"I also had the ectoskeleton helping me out that day, and really, I don't know how I pulled that off," he answered, hand on the back of his neck as he rubbed it sheepishly. "The, uh, heat of battle and all kind of gave them their momentum, I think."
"Oh," was all Sam said as Tucker passed her a stack of play cash.
"Anyway, I'm going to see what I can find out. If worse comes to worse you can unleash Tucker—I'll get him all the cranberry sauce he needs if he has to eat us out of these turkeys," Danny said as he lifted back up off of the floor and then drifted through the wall.
The turkeys were still making steady progress to the park; Danny could only assume that the Lunch Lady was behind it. Without a second thought he headed for the park himself, eyes peeled for any type of ghostly interference as well as gauging the reactions of the owners of said turkeys. He thought himself reasonably lucky that so many of the residents of Amity Park took all ghost activity in stride. In fact, most of the houses he investigated seemed to be moving right along with their Thanksgiving meals, despite the lack of turkey and the telltale signs of the vanished fowl straight from table to exit. The ones who weren't feasting on were mostly peering out their front doors after their meals. Most likely wondering when they'd be back—or if they would be back at all.
The people that saw him offered waves or scowls, one unfamiliar face offered him the middle finger. Danny only sighed as he put a little speed on now that the park was coming in sight. The turkeys were massing but Danny's attention was drawn away from them to a faint blue glowing figure hunched on the roof of the Nasty Burger half a block away. He spared a glance at the turkeys but they didn't seem to be a threat just yet, even if he knew they would be before too long. At any rate, it was the Box Ghost he was heading for. Even with the timelines all screwed up from Clockwork's help, some things were—however gross they were—set in stone, and it was right on time for the Box Ghost to be trying to woo the Lunch Lady.
The Box Ghost didn't even look up as Danny lit on the edge of the roof, body angled to he could watch both ghost and the growing mountain of turkey. "So would you have any idea what this is all about?" he asked, trying his hardest not to sound like he was accusing the blue ghost for it. He looked down enough and, ghost or not, Danny could sympathize. He'd screwed things up with Sam and him often enough over the years to know that any male, living or dead, deserved support when he'd screwed up.
Especially this badly, since the Lunch Lady looked well on her way to trying to destroy Amity. Again.
The mumbled, "Beware," was far from what Danny expected. He was so accustomed to the Box Ghost's laughable enthusiasm, despite his complete lack of menace that Danny's jaw dropped, not for the first time that night.
With a sigh he dropped down to sit on the roof, back leaned up against the ledge. "Alright, if it means we can get this done with quickly, what the hell happened?"
There was no answer.
"Dude, come on. I really would like to get back to my house soon," Danny said with a tired tone. "Can you just tell me what you did so we can try and figure out how to fix it? I have pumpkin pie screaming my name."
"They aren't cubical. They are circles, and I am the Box Ghost," the Box Ghost said with a little heat behind his words. "I am the Box Ghost—the ghost of all things cardboard and square!"
Danny lifted one eyebrow in disbelief. "You do realize that I have no idea what you're talking about, right?" he asked, ready to jump ship and head for the Lunch Lady if this route didn't help any.
"They are rings. They are circular, not square," the Box Ghost said, his eyes glowing blue as he stared at Danny. "I asked her without one because they are not square. She said no and took your edible birds."
"Right. Can you hang on a second?" Danny dug his cell phone out and dialed Sam's number from memory. "Sam, I need help. I don't understand what he's saying."
"What do you mean, 'he's' saying?" she asked, her voice tinny through the speaker. "Lunch Lady, female."
"And apparently she's feeling a little violent towards her Romeo," Danny explained. "He screwed up and he's going on about asking her without something because it's round and not square and I really have no idea what the hell he's talking about."
There was silence for a moment before Sam said, "I'm lost, too." There was a click and then silence again as Danny heard Sam shrieking at Tucker for cheating. The telltale whump of a pillow hitting Tucker came across, followed by the louder thud of Tucker hitting the floor. "I am not selling or trading it; Boardwalk is mine, Tucker!"
Then there was his mother even fainter. "Children, is everything alright?" Danny tensed as he heard the squeak of his bedroom door opening, something that could easily be fixed but Danny had found it helpful to know when the door was being opened.
"Everything is fine, Mrs. Fenton," Danny heard Sam say and could almost hear the glare she must be giving Tucker in her voice.
"I thought I heard someone falling," his mother continued on and Danny almost laughed at the startled noise she made. Tucker had obviously reappeared from the other side of the bed where Sam had shoved him. "Oh, well. Is Danny asleep?"
Sam's voice a little forced as she answered, "You know Danny; he can sleep through anything."
That was all the warning he needed before Danny glanced at the Box Ghost for a second more and decided that there really was no danger coming from the depressed spirit. He dropped his hand and cell phone to his lap and closed his eyes. A bare moment and he was opening his eyes again to blink fuzzily at the bright light of his bedroom and the welcome shape of Sam leaning against him. He yawned in an approximation of waking up before stretching and then pulling himself upright.
"Fell asleep, didn't I?" he asked, making his voice thick and muzzy. He gave his mom a smile before yawning again.
Maddie smiled back at him, all worries gone. "We're having coffee in the living room if you guys want to… No, of course not." The knowing smile was returned by three teenagers and she shook her head. "Alright, if you guys need anything you know where we are. And Danny, I saved one of the pies just for you. It's in the oven."
The door squeaked again and clicked closed and Danny heaved a sigh before angling his head at Tucker. "If you touch my pie, Tuck, I'll…" He let the threat trail off, sure that anything that Tucker came up with on his own to finish that sentence would be worlds better than anything he might have actually threatened.
"Any ideas?" he asked with an abrupt chance of subject. "I'm thinking that if we can get the Box Ghost to solve this one there might be no actual fighting done. And I really don't feel like fighting," he added in an annoyed and tired voice.
Sam shrugged and Tucker started laughing. "You guys are actually kind of pitiful. I shouldn't be surprised, though. Look how long it took you two to get together." He laughed again. "I mean, come on, I'm the one that's single but even I can see this one."
Sam and Danny both shot dirty looks at Tucker. "At least we're not the ones lusting after Danny's clone."
Tucker flushed but ignored the pointed statement. "He's talking about a ring. Isn't it about time for the two of them to get married or whatever ghosts do? Boxed Lunch is in their future," he added with a shudder of disgust.
"He wants to ask her, but engagement rings are round, and he won't get one because he's the Box Ghost. So yeah, there you go." Tucker paused for a moment, tongue between his teeth as he thought. "Of course, I'm pretty sure that he told her all of this and that's why she's so pissed."
"It makes sense," Danny said slowly as he thought about it. "So how do we fix it?"
Sam fingered one of the few pieces of jewelry she actually wore, a square cut emerald set in white gold on the middle finger of her right hand. "Get him to compromise," she said as she held her hand out to show Danny the ring. "Make him get a ring but let him pick out a box cut for the diamond."
"It's after eight on Thanksgiving," Danny said. "Where the hell am I supposed to take him to shop for jewelry?"
Sam rolled her eyes. "You'll think of something. Now go back before something else happens."
xXx
Nothing had happened to his body and Danny was sure that the Box Ghost hadn't moved a muscle while he'd been inhabiting his duplicate. It would be so much easier if he could just split his mind as easily as Vlad, but the older halfa had a good twenty years of experience on him, so Danny had to bite the bullet and practice it. The results were sometimes highly entertaining and embarrassing, which was why he'd never done it with Sam and Tucker present. Of course, now that they knew about his little trick they'd insist on helping.
Not that he minded, of course, but sometimes he wondered if he'd ever live down the things that happened when his attempts at learning and controlling his powers didn't go as planned. If Tucker lived a long life, he knew he never would.
He groaned and stretched tense muscles as he reminded himself that next time he should try and relax before heading to a different body. And possibly lying down, especially when leaving his original body on a rooftop with only a two foot ledge protecting it. He'd never had the best luck, or really much luck exactly, so Danny figured it would go along with his usual brand of mayhem to have someone come along and pitch him from a few stories up. All the more reason to get this duplication trick sorted out and under conscious and unconscious control.
"Alright," he said as fingers pressed against his temples. The beginnings of a headache—he needed to get this done with fast. "I'm going to help you."
The Box Ghost looked up at him with a stunned expression. "You are Danny phantom," he said, his voice now a bit more booming as he realized that Danny was perfectly serious. "You help the humans; you do not help the ghosts."
"Uh-uh," Danny said heatedly. "Don't try that because you know that I help ghosts, too. Or did you forget about me stopping the Ghost Zone from being completely destroyed?" He snorted. "Just because I don't go in for taking over the world doesn't mean I don't help you guys. And besides, you're a schmuck in love."
The Box Ghost bristled and Danny saw the first glimmers of the blue ghost's powers around his fingers. His face was twisted with anger and his lips curled to bare teeth.
"Stop," Danny ordered, not even bothering to ready a defense. He smiled then, a stupid, goofy smile that he was sure the Box Ghost could recognize. "I'm a schmuck in love, too, and us schmucks have to stick together."
"I had heard about you and the spooky girl," the Box Ghost intoned sagely. Or rather, as sagely as he ever got, which wasn't very. "You took your time; Nicolai Technus collected many bets that night."
"He what?" Danny's voice was strangled as he realized exactly what the blue ghost had said. Then he jerked a hand up in a slashing motion. "No, wait. I really don't want to hear that again. In fact, I'm going to pretend it never was said."
He counted it as luck that the Box Ghost didn't so much as snicker at him as Danny pulled himself to his feet, trying to stretch the tightened muscles that transferring between bodies inevitably gave him. Then he hmmed thoughtfully as he stared at his hand. "Wow. Didn't know I could do that," he said before closing his fingers around the object within.
"Look," he said to the Box Ghost. "You need to fix it, which means you need to understand something. Rings—they only come in circles. Look at your fingers; are they square or rectangular or cubical or any of that crap you go on about?"
He smirked as the Box Ghost looked without even thinking, then jumped right in on the ghost to keep him off balance. According to Sam, and she was almost always right, off balance people (i.e. ghosts) were more susceptible to being steered to where you wanted them. Later, he'd be sure to grill and find out how often she'd done it to him and Tucker. And even later than that he'd try using the same precepts on Tucker for a little revenge. Revenge was always nice.
"No, they're not. But," and Danny's voice turned enticing, "the stones on the rings can come in any shape you want. Look." Danny held his hand out and the dark green emerald shone nearly black in the evening light. He pulled his hand back as the Box Ghost reached out to take the ring, shaking his head. "Nope, not this one, big guy. This is Sam's; she'll kill me if anything happens to it. But if you stay here, I'll bring you some rings and you can pick one and fix this mess, alright?"
The Box Ghost nodded fervently. "They're not all round; so there is hope?"
"God," Danny muttered. "I hope so."
It was a study in Danny's ability to tune things out that he didn't even glance at the now enormous pile of turkeys. The only thing he saw was a pile of roasted fowl that was beginning to vaguely resemble a turkey of gigantic proportions, something that made him push himself even farther as he headed unerringly for his girlfriend's house at breakneck speed. Sam had, just as planned, taken the ladder exit from his room. They could only hope that during the time it took her to meet Danny in her room and return back to his that no one, especially his mother or father, decided to come up and check on the suddenly quiet teenagers. Tucker was at least occupied; he had some new game that Sam had given him at his birthday and didn't think twice before installing it on Danny's computer to play it while he waited.
"Some lookout," Danny sighed as he eased through Sam's wall and dropped lightly to the carpet beside her. She smiled at him and rolled her eyes as she caught what he was saying before leaning in to press a light kiss to his lips. "You sure about this, Sam?" he asked even as she held a hand out to him.
She shot him a look that said, 'Do you even need to ask?' before dropping a handful of sparkling rings into his palm. "He can have one. Just one. And don't tell him that they're only semi-precious; I'm sure he won't care but if he lets it slip to the Lunch Lady we'll be back at square one."
He smirked painfully. "No, worse. Because he'll have slighted her twice and all that girl stuff. Oww!" He ducked back as Sam swung a hand at his shoulder. "Hey, cut it out."
"Just go, you big baby," she ordered, one arm outstretched and a finger pointing in the direction of what, Danny now saw clearly, was really a giant turkey made of all the smaller ones. "Before she starts something really nasty."
It wasn't the first time that she gave him exceptionally intelligent advice, and he knew that it wouldn't be the last time. Danny smiled and chuckled. "I know I'm jinxing myself by saying this, but she hasn't exactly been raring to go yet."
Sam's eyes narrowed into a glare. "Which is all the reason more why you should haul some serious ass right now, before she does start something. Or do you feel like getting your butt kicked tonight?"
"Alright, alright, I'm going," Danny said, giving her a smirk and blowing her a kiss before disappearing before she could retaliate.
He needn't have worried, Danny realized as he made his way hastily back to the Box Ghost for what he hoped would be the last time. The blue ghost was still sitting there, patiently now, not drooping and depressed. In fact, Danny realized, he wasn't the only one to make a quick retreat from the rooftop—the Box Ghost had to have taken himself back to his lair, and in record time, too. He was still wearing his customary coveralls, but they looked crisp and clean and pressed to Danny's eyes. The shirt beneath was brightly white against his dusky blue skin, and even his beanie hat had been traded for something that looked a little more new.
Danny made a mental note to discuss it with Sam—not the Box Ghost's fashion sense, of course. But this wasn't the first time the blue ghost had made a hasty exit that was completely inexplicable. Danny had wondered for a long time if the Box Ghost had talents and powers that lay outside the cardboard and cubical. And bubble wrap; after all, who could forget the Bubble Wrap of DOOM? Certainly not Danny, it was way too amusing when he saw that particular power in motion. But in the last year or so Sam and Tucker had started to agree with him, especially in light of how easily Danny himself could, albeit from an alternate reality that no longer existed, rip holes in the fabric between the mortal realm and the Ghost Zone. It was definitely food for thought—Danny only hoped that the help he was giving now would give him enough credit to ask the Box Ghost about it. Preferably before Boxed Lunch and his fourteen year old self came into contact.
"Alright," Danny said as he shifted back to human in an uncharacteristically trusting stance. "She said you can have one of them. I," and Danny blocked the Box Ghost from reaching for the hand curled around the jeweled rings that Sam had given, "am not so generous."
Unexpectedly the Box Ghost pulled his hands back contritely to fold them in front of him. "You aren't as young as you used to be," he said, and Danny arched a brow in surprise.
"No, I'm not," he answered slowly. "And you're not as dense as we thought you were." He shook his head before the Box Ghost could answer, and Danny spread his hand to let the faint light on the roof dance and glitter across the gold and colorful gems. "An even trade—one ring for information, to be given at a later date."
The Box Ghost looked at him consideringly. "Agreed," he said without hesitation.
Without any further hesitation Danny held his hand out. There were little more than half a dozen rings, seven to be exact, and each one of them was a useless bauble her parents had given her to try and buy her love. Not that they would realize it as such, they were always giving her things that she didn't want or need. It bothered her, though she never said anything he knew it, that they didn't know her well enough to know the things that interested her. Instead they only saw the dark gothic exterior and assumed that the things that pleased her must be dark and evil. A general assumption, Danny knew, though he had been guilty of it for a few weeks many years before.
The dresses, the jewelry, the stupid things that she never touched—Danny knew that all of them were really nothing to Sam. She'd trade all of them for her parents just to really look at her just once and see what he and Tucker saw. Hell, even his family, as dense as they were, could see more than the 'spooky' appearance she had. Well, sometimes his dad got caught up in it, but Danny knew that even his dad valued Sam for herself.
But these rings were nothing to her, really, and if one of them could buy peace in Amity Park for the night she wouldn't begrudge giving it up. Besides, it amused her to play matchmaker with the two ghosts.
The rings were pretty, Danny supposed. All of them square or rectangular cut, all set into yellow gold. None of them very expensive, though Danny knew Sam's idea of expensive and his own differed greatly. There was one in ruby, another in sapphire—both lab created she said. A citrine, two that were nothing more than cubic zirconia, another in some pale pink stone that Sam had hoped was taken. But Danny, if he were a betting halfa, would put money on the pale green jade. A hunch, he supposed. But then, it was the largest of them, and it wasn't transparent. For some reason Danny thought that maybe the Box Ghost would choose its solid appearance as a tangible representation of his love (and he really tried not to gag at the thought) for the Lunch Lady.
His thoughts weren't wrong and within a few seconds the Box Ghost's hand had reached unerringly for the squarish jade ring. "This one?" the ghost asked, though Danny wished it wasn't a question. He thought he'd made it clear already that the ring was the Box Ghost's to take and to keep. At least as long as it took for him to pass it on to his affianced.
Danny nodded and pointed at the giant turkey made of hundreds of the basted birds. "You have the ring, now go fix this. I'd like to go home."
It was all the encouragement that the Box Ghost needed and Danny watched as he shot off in a flash of blue to burst into the gathered fowl. Turkey flew, literally, and Danny wondered if he even wanted to regret not getting to watch the proposal. As it was, it would be one for the record books. Not that Danny was going to submit the happenings to anyone; how would they even begin to categorize it? Ghosts proposing to ghosts in the middle of animated turkeys? Well, stranger things could happen.
Like a halfa proposing to a Goth girl who wasn't as Goth as everyone supposed.
Not that he was going to do that anytime soon, but the thought was always there in the back of his mind. One day, in the not too distant future. He watched, half pleased, mostly relieved, as the turkeys suddenly fell apart of their own accord to scatter across the park in still steaming heaps. The two ghosts were still floating in the air, and god, were they kissing?
"Oh, gross. I didn't need to see that," Danny said as he pocketed the rest of the rings and stepped off the edge of the roof, light flaring silver around him before he took to the air as a ghost. He glanced back and choked. "Scarred for life."
He gave another shudder before heading home.
xXx
He made it back in record time, spurred on by the turkeys that seemed to be heading back to their proper places. Danny certainly hoped, as he phased back into his bedroom through the wall, that the proper owners would have more sense than to actually eat the things. Well, he hoped everyone but Tucker had the sense, because Tucker would eat anything meat. Well, Tucker's mom was a smart lady; she'd throw the bird right into the garbage.
Tucker was still glued to his game when Danny dropped onto the bed beside Sam, who had put the game away and was curled on her side around one of his pillows.
"Crisis over," he announced. Tucker grunted once and Sam rolled over to curl around him instead of the pillow. "I have the rest of your rings in my pocket. Want to dig them out?" he asked with a leer.
"I'm still in the room," Tucker grumbled from Danny's desk and Sam's shoulders shook with laughter as she shook her head and buried her face against Danny's shoulder.
"You can dig them out yourself, ghostly wonder," she told him. "I—"
She was cut off by the door swinging open and Maddie stepping in with a concerned look on her face. The concern quickly changed to an arched brow and a knowing smile while Sam and Danny scrambled back from each other on the bed. Tucker only laughed.
"Would any of you know why three turkeys just walked into the dining room and laid themselves down on the table?" she asked.
Danny glanced at Sam, who glanced at Tucker, who glanced back at Danny. "Not a clue," the three chorused, and then started laughing.
"But really, Mom," Danny said. "You should probably throw it out."
"I would," she responded wryly, "if your father and his family hadn't already started digging in. but it is getting late, Danny, and you've got an early morning tomorrow."
Danny grimaced. "Please don't remind me," he said and ducked the pillow Sam swung at him out of habit. "I really don't want to go shopping on Black Friday."
"If you'd already done your shopping we wouldn't have to worry about it," Sam said crisply as she stood up and smoothed her skirt down. "You can walk me home." The words were more like an order, but Danny didn't argue and followed Sam, one hand reaching out to snag Tucker and pull him unwillingly away from the computer.
"Come on, Tuck, time to go."
"But I just got to level three!" he exclaimed as he tried to twist out of Danny's iron grip.
There was a pause as Sam and Tucker both hugged Maddie and thanked her for dinner. Danny stooped to kiss her cheek and then followed his friends down the stairs. There was a chorus of goodbyes from amidst the feeding frenzy in the dining room and Danny called to his sister he'd be back before anyone left. The street was surprisingly quiet, though it did smell faintly of roasted turkey, and the short walk to Tucker's was uneventful.
"First person up is the first person who calls," was Sam's sentiment.
Tucker rolled his eyes. "How're we going to know who was the first up?"
She leveled a glare at him before tucking herself back under Danny's arm. "Because, moron, the first person up obviously hadn't had any phone calls."
"Oh, right," Tucker muttered, then brightened as he headed up the stairs to his door. "Don't' stay out too late, you two," he called before letting himself in amidst stuttered denials.
"I'm going to kill him," Danny muttered as he pulled on Sam and started them towards her house.
"Not if I do first," she replied.
They walked in a companionable silence, though it was over much sooner than either of them wanted. He didn't ask to come in, she didn't invite; they both knew that if he followed her inside then the odds of him getting home at a decent time were slim to none. Neither could forget the evening—she the way his mouth felt on her, him the way she tasted. So in the end Danny pressed a surprisingly chaste kiss to her lips, another to her cheek, before stepping back.
"I'll see you in the morning," he breathed as she reached a hand up to touch the cheek that he'd just kissed, a smile playing on her lips. She only nodded and watched as she glanced around, shifted and then disappeared.
It was a short flight home for him, but with the altitude he gained it was refreshingly cold. A harsh necessity; wouldn't do for him to walk back in to the family function looking like all he wanted to do was have some alone time. Despite the short flight he rounded the corner of the house form the alley just in time to see Great-Aunt Matilda and company on the stoop giving hugs and kisses and promises to be back at Christmas time. He insinuated himself into the group with relative ease and spent the better part of another hour saying goodbye to various relatives. It was a sigh of relief he breathed when his mother closed the door behind the last of them to leave his father poking at the turkey carcasses with one of his gadgets, and Danny and Jazz leaning against a wall side by side, apparently exhausted.
Maddie glanced at the clock on the wall and shook her head with a smile. "You two go on to bed. Your father and I will get what's left."
"Really?" Danny asked as Jazz wordlessly turned and headed up the stairs.
"Really," she said with a kiss to his cheek. "Why else do you think I didn't complain about the hoard staying so late? They helped clean up."
It was all the encouragement that Danny needed to turn and race up the stairs behind Jazz. With a grin he saw her close the door to her room so he only grabbed a clean towel before heading into the bathroom for a quick shower. The water had been running for at least five minutes before her heard Jazz's shriek of outrage and smirked. Another two minutes and Danny was howling at the suddenly hot water as he tried to dance out of the way of it.
"Evil," he called through the door. He thought he heard as satisfied laugh, but it didn't matter. He was done and she could have it.
It was nearly one in the morning by the time Danny got back to his room and looked at his bed longingly. But it was still scrunched from the way Sam had been laying on it, and his eyes found a dark hair clinging to his pillow. I'll see you in the morning, he'd said. Well, it was after midnight. That qualified as morning.
He didn't lock his door as he shoved a pillow under the sheet and fiddled with it for a moment. Unless someone actually walked in and peered at it, they wouldn't be able to tell it wasn't him, and Danny knew that his mother was too tired to do more than her customary glance in the door before she finally went to bed. A clean pair of jeans later and Danny was pulling on a black shirt that matched the one he'd worn for Halloween, and he was biting his lip nervously as he shifted and headed back out into the cool night air.
Her window was dark, but that had never stopped him before. It wasn't until he phased into her room that he realized that Sam's room wasn't as dark as he'd thought. There were candles, not many, but enough to give everything a soft glow, and softer music playing as he looked around for her.
"Sam?" he called before he turned to her bed.
Words failed him.
She was there, waiting for him, on her bed. Nothing but pale skin and sheer black silk and lace met his eyes as he looked at her, the very things that he'd halfheartedly tried to get her to try on for him little more than a month ago. The day he'd first kissed her, really kissed her, the day that he'd finally realized that she cared about him as much as he cared about her. Her hair was still damp, but her eyes were dark and violet in the candlelit shadows as she looked at him with a decidedly wicked smile.
"I'm glad you came."
xXx
Tucker's comment, "Danny is hot with boobs," is credited to Me The Anon One.