Once again, the theory-bug bit me. While I was writing the first one, I thought: "What if Vlad used Sam's DNA to create a more stable Dani, because obviously to get a female child one would need the presence of more than one X chromosome... preferably an XX, if Punnett Squares are to be believed." Then it turned into questioning if Danny could even HAVE children. I've read Fanfics where both happens - he can either have children, but they all have some sort of ghostly aspect, or he can't have children because of the accident. As children's shows are for children, and it took Danny and Sam SO DAMN LONG to get together, then it would stand to reason this was never addressed. Whelp. My time to shine, I guess.

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom. We all know DP is the wonderful product of Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon. I can't afford to be sued because I am a #graduatingcollegesenior.


It started with a passing comment from Sam earlier in the night.

Eyes wide and innocent, despite what they had just finished doing together, his dark-haired girlfriend turned her face up to look at him while nestled in the crook of his arms and said:

"Would you want kids?"

Danny — as a newly-turned 17-year-old boy in high school — reacted as one would expect he normally would. Eyes wide, a sudden jerk that propelled him out of his girlfriend's bed and onto her, thankfully, carpeted floor, with a blush that would make a tomato pale in comparison staining his normally vampire-pale face, and attempting to find and answer her question but stammering so much that he almost bit off his tongue. After letting him flail for what seemed like an eternity, Sam just laughed, said she was kidding (because wanted to see what would happen) and cajoled him back into the empty space under her comforter.

He thought his, admitted, extreme reaction to the question was understandable.

The two had been dating for about six months and had been sleeping together for about four. They were careful, as neither of them wanted to end up a statistic and give Sam's strict parents ANOTHER reason to possibly file a restraining order against him — and this time, one that might actually stick. He was also a teenage boy and, although he saw himself growing old with the girl once again tucked into his shoulder, he knew he wasn't emotionally mature enough for the type of commitment kids would bring.

Plus, he was a half-ghost with A LOT of enemies... some of whom were vicious and apathetic enough to hurt any children Danny would possibly have to hurt him.

But, long after Sam had fallen asleep, Danny was still up thinking about the question: "Would you want kids?"

He knew he liked kids, and he knew he was good with them. Unlike the rest of his immediate family, who were so smart they sometimes forgot to show empathy, Danny had a natural inclination toward that mothering, nurturing and protecting instinct which meant that dealing with children came naturally to him. Just look at how awesome he was with Dani? There was also some animalistic instinct to see Sam — the girl he loves and the woman he will marry one day — round with his child. It was so distinctly MALE that he would never mention it to Sam for fear of another lecture on feminism.

So, would he have kids if the circumstances were right? Absolutely, yes.

However, COULD he have children? He didn't actually know.

In addition to everything else the portal accident he had when he was a freshman did to his system on a fundamental level, Danny was quite certain the accident had fundamentally changed his ability to procreate... and not in a good way.

The way Danny saw it, the high amount of electricity that blew through his system could have killed off all his sperm. Even if it didn't immediately kill off the entirety of his ability to father children, it would have killed off all the Y chromosomes which means he would never have a male child to pass along the family name, and it meant that the only time he would have been extremely fertile would have been in the month or so following the lab accident where all of his swimmers would have been super-charged and produced at an alarming rate.

But, as a "little freshie" who was still cowardly enough to hide his growing crush on Sam and superficial enough he thought he had a chance with the hottest and most popular girl in school, these super-charged sperm were continuously wasted.

And, considering his theories on how he is actually half-dead, he was pretty sure that the child-bearing abilities were intricately connected to him being alive. So, while he was still able to produce sperm, it could very likely be dead sperm. If that was even possible. Once again, he didn't know. The only other person he could really talk to about these things was Vlad, but Danny didn't want to have anything to do with the fruit-loop.

Especially after the cloning incident.

Where the hell did Vlad even get some of Danny's DNA to MAKE a legitimate clone in the first place? OK… maybe there was that one time Danny and his mom stayed with the fruit-loop when he was a freshman in high school. Danny guessed Vlad might have gotten DNA from hair left behind in a brush or somewhere else Danny might had shed.

That explained how Vlad had gotten his hands on Danny's DNA. But… where did he get the female DNA for Danielle?

In biology classes, his teachers had explained you needed the presence of a female XX chromosome to even have a CHANCE of making a female progeny. Danny's scientifically-charged mind started whizzing. Maybe that was the reason Danielle was successful where all the others failed? By introducing female DNA to balance out the presence of male DNA, and thereby naturally creating a "child" instead of just outright trying to asexually reproduce something that was – by nature – meant to be sexually reproduced, Vlad added more stability into the clone's DNA. It was only when Dani had tried to use her powers that she began to melt, but that was fixed with a giant hit of electricity to her core.

If Danny's theory was correct…. then he and Sam didn't have to worry about having children when they got older, as they already had Dani.

He turned to look at his girlfriend – deeply ensconced in the Sandman's embrace. They were always close, and she took to Dani like a duck took to water almost immediately. Sam was always making sure Dani was OK, if she was eating enough, if she was sleeping somewhere safe… and, when Danny thought about it, the shapes of their faces and some of their mannerisms were similar as well. And, honestly, there was no other female (except for his mother and his sister) that Vlad would have had the chance to grab any sort of DNA from, and even Vlad wouldn't stoop to that level of sickness.

Clearly, Danny needed to run some tests to make sure his theory was accurate. And if it was, then he would let Sam know the answer to her question. And then he would protect his unconventional family until the day he turned full-ghost… possibly beyond that.

But first, sleep.


As always: constructive criticism only. No flames. Hope you enjoyed! Please leave a review *hint, hint, wink, wink*