A story challenge by Bluegoo2.

Like my other challenges that I did this will take place in the Parade universe.

Please read and review.

DISCLAIMER: ME NO OWNY DANNY PHANTOM!

Remember

Danny Fenton sighed as he looked at his calendar. It was October fourteenth again; one of the worst days of his life. It was still hard to believe that it was only six years ago…

"Come on Danny, I want to enjoy our first date that we've had in a while," Samantha Fenton née Manson called out.

It had only been a month and a half since world renowned hero Danny Fenton/Phantom married his two year girlfriend and lifelong friend, Sam Manson. They had married a mere week before their friends Tucker Foley and Valerie Gray did.

Danny and Sam were now in their freshman year of college in Spooky Town, Washington; they were currently enrolled in Poltergeist College. Tucker, as he was still mayor, was enrolled in Casper University with Valerie.

Danny had decided to go to Poltergeist College for two reasons. One was to get away from his family so that he could spend more time with Sam without constant interruptions. The other was to give Amity Park a bit of a break from ghosts by luring most of them there.

Even though it had only been a month and half since school started, Danny had been quite busy. With classes, fame and ghosts his schedule has been quite full, so the extra time he planned to spend with Sam was put on hold. But, tonight they finally had enough free time to go on a real date rather than a "we're kicking ghost's butt together" date (as Sam had deemed it).

Since Danny had come out about being the Danny Phantom, Sam had come out from backup to full time partner. She didn't become a half-ghost like him (she knew how much it hurt to turn into one from his screams), but she figured that if the Fentons, Guys in White and Valerie could fight ghosts as human then so could she. Tucker was much too busy with mayor work to come out in the field very often so Sam decided that this was just another way for them to call it a date.

But, this time Danny was wearing his blue suit with red tie and brown dress shoes. This time Danny wasn't taking Sam out for a patrol. No, this time they're going to a nice restaurant to enjoy themselves.

Sam was waiting for him since unlike most girls, she was always ready for him. She was wearing a black and purple dress with her ever present pink bow in her hair. Sam was no longer Goth like in high school, she still preferred the dark colors but her doom and gloom attitude that she tried to project was gone.

The change had come from her parents, Pamela and Jeremy Manson being killed in a car accident in their junior year. Just before her date with Danny that led to their demise, they had given Sam something she claimed to hate.

A pink bow.

This bow was actually a very dark pink, one that Sam would have worn if it had come from anyone but her parents (well them or Paulina Sanchez). She had blown up at them as a way to rebel against them. Pamela and Jeremy had blamed Danny for this and they decided to spy on them. It led to a truck driver who had fallen asleep at the wheel hitting their car and killing them instantly.

Sam was devastated. She never got along with her parents since going Goth, but she still loved them very much. She felt guilty for her attitude over the last four years and had decided to stop her Goth attitude. She no longer had anyone she needed to rebel against and her parents wanted her to be happy. Since then she had worn that very pink bow everyday to show how sorry she was.

"About time slowpoke," Sam said jumping Danny out of his thoughts. She laughed lightly when Danny rubbed the back of his neck and apologized. "So, where to my Knight-in-Shining-Jumpsuit?"

"It's a surprise," Danny said with a slight grin as he led her to the car. Danny would always prefer to fly but he had learned in his senior year that people didn't expect him to drive around and thus didn't bother him. Of course, in a worst case scenario he would just make the car invisible and intangible.

The drive was pleasant enough with Sam talking about her agricultural class. She was trying to find greener ways of creating energy that would be much easier for people to use than pollutants. No luck so far though.

Soon they pulled up to a nice restaurant called Nightmare Restaurant it was dead center of Elm Street. Opening Sam's door, she got out and gave him a slight smile. Grabbing his arm, they walked up to the host.

"Reservation?"

"It should be under Danny Fenton," Danny said and unfortunately the host's head snapped up to get a good look at him. He gasped in shock.

"Mr. Fenton! I am so sorry for not recognizing a figure such as yourself," the man said apologetically and fearfully.

"Don't worry about it," Danny assured the man. "Can you find my wife and I a table though?"

"Yes, yes of course," the host said quickly. "I'll get you the best table we have to offer. Right this way."

Leading them up to the second floor patio and outside, he sat them at a table right by the edge. "Please make yourselves comfortable, a waiter will be with you shortly."

Danny had to admit, the view was breathtaking. It was right next to a park so there were trees all around and they were just starting to change colors. The lake in the middle seemed to sparkle all the brighter underneath the light of the moon and stars.

But, the most impressive had to be Sam. The light reflecting off the leaves and lake seemed to make her glow like a goddess. Once again, he was reminded just how beautiful she truly was. How could he ever have thought Paulina was the most beautiful person he had ever seen when Beauty herself was next to him the entire time?

"What's you staring at Danny?" Sam asked playfully with a raised eyebrow.

"Just the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life," Danny said smoothly and Sam beamed at him. "See, I think I just saw Paulina walking by the lake."

"You idiot!" Sam playfully fumed as she threw a breadstick at him. He dodged it and turning intangible from the waist down slid across the table.

"Yeah, but I'm your idiot," he said and gave her a light kiss that felt like it was hot enough to burn the sun.

"Ahem," someone coughed from behind them. "Are you ready to order?"

"Huh?" Sam said with half lidded eyes until realization hit her. "Oh, oh yeah! I'll take a salad with the meatless lasagna."

"Tomato soup with the meatless lasagna," Danny told her and the waiter walked off to fulfill their requests. Danny, still intangible, slid back to his seat.

The next hour was spent talking about whatever they felt like came to mind. The topics ranged from how many times Danny had caught the Box Ghost (4,763) to when they were going to start having kids (Danny sweated through that one). As if Fate decided she owed him one, no one bothered them tonight about his celebrity status and no ghosts attacked.

It was perfect.

They had returned shortly only to head back out to walk through the park and see it with a more personal view.

"This is so beautiful," Sam said with her arm wrapped around Danny's. He was glad she was enjoying herself because he knew that her energy research failures were getting to her. He made a mental note to ask his parents about how they handled their own failures later. For now, it was just him, Sam and nature.

The lake was very beautiful, but it was even more glorious when he picked up Sam and carefully glided across the top of it. Close enough to feel the cool water, but not enough to actually get wet. He stopped dead center with the moon hanging directly above him. He could feel Sam's eyes sparkling and the soft smile that graced her lips. Looking down, he slowly bent down and kissed her. It wasn't passionate or desperate. It was soft and feathery, but explained how much he loved her. How his promise to give her his eternity was one he would never regret and make sure that she would never regret it.

Slowly, he flew them home high in the air so that it felt like they could touch the stars themselves. Not a word was said as they were both more than content to bask in the mere presence of each other.

It was by far one of the best dates they had ever had.

Later that night, as Danny prepared for bed, he was on Cloud Nine. Everything for once had gone right. That's when the phone suddenly rang.

"Hello?" Danny asked surprised since most people did not have his number with the whole world celebrity thing.

"Danny," Tucker said on the other end.

"Oh, hey Tuck! How's it goin' dude?" Danny said still on a high from his date.

"Danny," Tucker said again. Danny immediately sobered when he heard that tone. He sounded upset and grave.

"What's happened?" He asked seriously in his Danny Phantom hero personality.

"Pariah Dark's back," Tucker told him.

"What?"

"And, he's left a challenge for you," Tucker said more serious than he has ever been. "Listen Danny, there's more."

"What?" He asked as he prepared himself mentally to face the ex-ghost king again.

"He left the challenge on where the remains should be," Tucker said sound very, very upset.

"R-remains? He killed someone?" Danny exclaimed in disbelief. I should have been there, he thought.

"Yeah, V-Valerie—"

"NO!" Danny yelled his good mood instantly killed. But, that was nothing compared to those last four words that Tucker said. Those next four words that would haunt him better than any ghost had ever done. Those four words that caused the entire night, one of the best he had ever had to come crashing down.

"—and, your parents too."