Do not own Danny Phantom.

It started like any other Monday. Danny Fenton, clutching his backpack, entered Caspar High and approached his eleventh grade homeroom with his best friends Tucker Foley and Sam Manson. Sam, dressed all in black with bits of purple on her outfit, was walking with a smirk on her face as Tucker complained that he had bummed out on getting a date for the dance, once again. Danny was too tired to know what his friend was saying, let alone care. That is, until Sam spoke.

"What about you, Danny? You got a date to the dance yet?"

Before he could answer, Tucker grinned manically. "Why Sam? Do you want him to ask—OW!"

"Whoops," Sam apologized falsely, having stepped down hard on his foot with her thick combat boots.

They were sixteen now, almost seventeen, and Tucker still wouldn't stop hinting at things, but Danny never understood. He was too busy keeping Tucker from revealing his feelings. His fear was renewed when Tucker asked to talk to him and Sam went ahead into class.

"Yeah Tuck?" he asked, bracing himself for anything. Knowing his friend, he'd do anything to get Danny to admit his feelings. That's how it had been since a year ago when Danny figured it out and confided in him.

"Danny, I'm going to make you a proposition," Tucker revealed, serious. Danny sighed. 'Here it comes,' he thought, knowing that Tucker's idea of a proposal was really a threat of some sort.

"Shoot."

Tucker smiled slyly. This was a deal, or should I say, threat, such as Danny had expected, that he couldn't reproach. "You have until next Monday at three to tell Sam how you feel about her."

Danny's jaw dropped. It was official, and it had been proven. His best friend was either on something, or a mad man. "Tuck, I can't do that!"

"What do you mean you can't?" Danny tried to stutter out a response, but Tucker didn't let him due to his bewilderment. "Danny, you can beat any and every ghost that comes your way, even the most powerful of them all, but you can't admit to a simple girl that you like her?"

Danny blew out some breath. "This is no simple girl, Tuck…this is Sam. You know, best friend, Goth girl who punched the last guy who got near her…"

"…and the one who is completely in love with you? Yeah, I know. You didn't let me finish, okay? You'll see it my way…" He sounded proud, and he really was pleased with his cleverness. This was a win-win situation for him, Sam…and even Danny. He just didn't know that yet. "Look, Danny, you can tell her by Monday dismissal…or I will."

Danny's eyes widened. He couldn't let Tucker tell her. He didn't particularly want her to know at all, but if she was going to hear it, it had to be done the right way. And Tucker would not say it the way that it desperately needed to be said.

In that instant, Tucker knew he had him. Just as Danny was thinking that it was a lose-lose deal for him, Tucker was seeing him with Sam. They really were meant for each other. Danny groaned.

"Fine!" And with that, he stomped into homeroom, determined to get this task behind him. "Sam, there's something I've got to tell you."

She looked up from her doodles skeptically. Probably expecting him to tell her that he had asked Paulina out again. Over the past year, he had continued to fake crushing on Paulina so that Sam didn't figure out the truth. He started, "I—" when Ms. Kroeger entered to begin class, asking everyone to take a seat.
He sighed. So much for getting it over with. Despite his frustration, he did as his teacher asked, resolving to try again later.

Unfortunately, his next attempt worked just as well as the first. He waited until Wednesday when Tucker had to stay after school and gave Danny an opportunity when he and Sam would walk home together. He started to say something but, out of no where, a green ectoblast pushed him into a building.

"Danny!" Sam exclaimed. He grumbled at the unfairness of it all. Here he was, trying to prevent his life from being ruined, and Skulker still wouldn't leave him alone.

He shot a ray of green light at Skulker, again and again, then punched him to the ground, the middle of the road, where a crater formed and cracks sprouted out of it. Before he could take any more of his anger out on the ghost hunter, Sam sucked him into a waiting thermos.

"Now, what did you want to tell me?"

He shook his head, not able to go on with his earlier subject. "Not now. I'm gonna go home and empty the thermos. I'll tell you later, okay? Do you want me to fly you home?"

She shook her head, her eyes disappointed. "Nah," she answered. "I'll walk. I'll call you when I get home. Okay?" To this, Danny nodded and flew off, while Sam walked home with her head down.

The time increments between and the success of the attempts got longer and worse. His next try was Saturday. The two of them were laying on their back son the hill in the park. Danny had spent the last two days rehearsing what he was going to say and his plan was to simply squeeze his eyes shut and say it.

"Sam," he began. She looked at him expectantly and he spoke quickly after closing his eyes tightly. "We've always been best friends, and I don't know what I would do without you, so don't take anything I'm about to say offensively. I just think that I—Sam?"

He chose this moment to open his eyes and he saw that his friend was no longer in front of him. "Sam! Where are you?"

Next he heard a scream and, switching to ghost mode, he flew as fast as he could to the origin of the sound where Sam was stuck in a ghost-shielded metal cage, guarded by Plasmius. The anger he felt then stemmed from more than just his hatred of this man, more than just his protectiveness towards the people he cared about. This was rooted in the love he felt for this girl and the frustration he experienced at having gotten so far only to be interrupted as well as from the previous things, and it was white hot. He shouted angrily, first from irritation, then from hidden fear.

"I do not have TIME FOR THIS! I have got to tell her something and YOU STUPID GHOSTS WON'T LEAVE US ALONE! I swear, if Tucker humiliates me Monday," he blasted him after each half of a sentence, and none of it did much good due to the shield Plasmius had up, but Danny kept at it. "I'm coming after you! And if you have hurt her at all, I will hunt you done, separate your ghost half from your human half, kill you, and destroy the ghost you!"

He slumped, out of breathe, and Vlad, calm and not tired at all, asked, "Are you quite finished, my boy?"

Danny heaved a few breathes, then sent an extremely powerful red blast at Vlad, who was caught off guard and forced backwards. Danny flew over to the now Vlad Masters and grabbed his collar, getting in his face and speaking in a low but deadly voice.

"No, I'm not. Just because you're bitter and alone doesn't mean I have to be. And I don't know how many times I have to tell you, but if you ever do anything to Sam, you will wish you had never gotten your ghost powers by the time I'm done with you."

He glanced down to man's waist and was glad he did. A glowing key was attached and Danny picked it off. "I'll bet this is the key to Sam," he thought out loud.

Then he looked back into Vlad's eyes and said, "Now go back to Wisconsin and stay away from my girlfriend, cheese head."

Under normal circumstances, Vlad would have laughed at the boy's attempt at forcefulness, or questioned his reference to Samantha as his girlfriend, but Daniel's eyes were glowing yellow, and he knew how angry a man could become when his love was in danger. Funny. He figured he was wrong about it being just puppy love.

He didn't have much of a choice of his next action, as it were. Danny, still holding his collar, spun him quickly and then released him with all hi might, throwing him high into the sky. Changing back he walked to where Sam was unconscious, unlocked her, and came out of the cage before re-becoming Danny Phantom and flying her home. As he put her to bed, he sighed.

"There's always tomorrow, I guess."

But tomorrow he wouldn't see her. Her parents had planned a surprise day trip to New York City and, though she called once while she was there, he knew this wasn't something to be said over the phone.

Alas, Monday came and Tucker reminded Danny that this was his final chance. He knew there was nothing he could do about it so he accepted it and gritted his teeth for one last try.
"Sam, I really need to tell you something and I've got to say it right now," he said bravely. She shut her locker and he was surprised at what he saw.

It was Sam, but something was different, something he couldn't quite place a finger on. Then he saw it. She was smiling much wider than was usual for the Goth.

"Me too."

Being the gentleman he was, or, perhaps, the coward that he was, he allowed her to go first. She practically squealed out, "I've got a date for the dance!"

Needless to say, Danny was crushed, but he attempted to hide it by saying, "Congratulations. I'll see you later."

He was at the cafeteria before she called, "Wait, Danny! What did you need to tell me?"

He ignored her and wallowed in self-pity at their usual table until Tucker came over, but he wasn't first. Sam was. And he only said one thing to her.

"Who is it?"

She blushed. "I don't know. It was Tucker's idea. He said I'd know by the end of the day. Why? I thought you weren't going."

Brilliant, Danny realized. Evil Tucker, certainly he was, but brilliant nonetheless.

"No. I mean, yes, I am. I'm going. I just decided yesterday. I haven't even told Tucker yet."

"Told me what?"

Right on cue, the evil mastermind sat next to Danny, who sat across from the girl of his dreams. Sam conveyed the fine point of their conversation and Tucker started to laugh. Danny knew that Sam was smart and decided to imitate something she had done seven days earlier. Under the table, he stomped on his friend's foot, making sure to get Tucker's and not Sam's. After looking pained, his gaze settled questioningly on Danny, who shook his head. The cafeteria was filling up quickly and Tucker rolled his eyes. Before Danny could ask what he was doing, he stood and stepped onto the table, kicking Sam's tray to the side and tapping Danny's hamburger plate out of the way with his toe. Lancer and some of the other faculty members glanced at him suspiciously, but let him go on.

"Teachers and students, geeks and A-listers, listen up for a minute."

Usually, no one would listen to the techno-geek, but something about the way he was standing demanded everyone's attention, especially Danny's, who had gotten a hunch as to what he was doing and was muttering, "No, no, please no."

But Danny's protests went unheard, or else Tucker simply ignored them, and continued, "There are two among us who are meant to be together. He doesn't know it, she doesn't know it, but the rest of us do. In fact, they also don't know, but they're going to the dance together."

Yep. Good ole evil Tuck.

"Anybody know who I'm talking about?" Tucker asked the masses, and they replied in bored unison.

"Fenton and Manson."

"I cannot believe you're doing this to me," Danny murmured, his face buried in his hands as Sam turned bright red. He didn't notice her blush as he banged his head on the cafeteria table.

And yet, Tucker went on. "I know, for a fact, that Danny Fenton is in love Sam Manson. Anybody else know that?" Everybody shouted in agreement, but Sam got angry. She stood.
"Danny? Can I talk to you? Outside? Now?"

Danny closed his eyes for a second before standing and letting himself be led out by the wrist by an angry Goth. When they reached the shade of a tree, Sam threw his hand down.

"Is any of what Tucker said true? Do you love me?" She sounded mad and it was all Danny could do to tell the truth. He had a feeling that lying would only worsen her condition, so he spilled his heart.

"Sam, I don't know what exactly it is I feel for you, but I do know it's something more powerful than any ghost, any spell, or anything I've felt for anybody else before."

Sam's indifferent exterior melted at his heartfelt sentiments. She smiled at him sweetly and stepped right in front of him.

"I love you too."

He had needed a little push, but it had been done within the allotted time. At 3:10 Monday afternoon, Tucker met them in front of the school and they were already kissing. The funny part was that the secret Danny had worked so hard to hide for a whole year had been revealed within seven days. And when it was done with, Danny wished he had told her sooner.