Chapter 2!

Okay, I'm going to clarify some things. First off: this is an AU where the events of Phantom Planet didn't happen, except Danny and Sam did date.

So, the only ones who know about Danny's powers are still Jazz, Sam and Tucker. This also takes place about 2 and a half years after then, during their senior year.

I am going to include how Rachel met everyone, just a little bit later in the fanfic.

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom; I only own my Fan Characters.

02:

"...You can't stop yourself

Don't want to feel

Don't want to see what you've become

You can't walk away

From who you are

Never give in..."

-Where is the Edge?, Within Temptation

"What does it look like? I'm trying to kill myself."

My words hang in the air, silence between us. "W-what? Why...would you do that?" Danny asked. I felt my eyes narrow. "Why do you even care?" I snapped. Danny was silent and I sighed. "Just...please leave me alone. I...I have nothing to live for."

"What about your friends?"

I sighed again, a fake smile placing itself n my face. "They'd get over my death. They'd move on...everyone would." I said, my voice fading. my fists clenched together. "I'm...I'm just a waste of space anyway."

"No you're not." Danny said softly. I noticed that he...he actually seemed concerned about me. "How would you even know? You don't know what I've gone through, you don't even know what my life has been like!" I said, my voice rising with each word.

Danny sighed himself. "That might be true...but I can promise you at least one thing." he said. "Yeah? And what's that?" I asked, rolling my eyes. "I'd miss you."

I scoffed. "And just why would you miss me? I'm just...I'm just nobody to you." I said. "That's not true." Danny said, landing on he roof. "Oh really? Then what is?" I asked. "Get off of the ledge and I'll show you why it's not true." he said. "How do I know that this isn't just some sort of plan to distract me from killing myself?"

"You don't." Danny said, a smile on his face.

I bit my lip before stepping backward, off of the ledge. I turned to face the ghost boy behind me. "Okay, now spit it out." I spat. "Okay just dont...promise me that you won't freak out." Danny said. I raised an eyebrow and his shoulders slumped. "Just...please."

I nodded and waved for him to go. Danny took a deep breath and a light surrounded him, changing him into someone else.

A very familiar someone else, with black hair and blue eyes.

I felt myself step back. "D-Danny...?" I asked, my voice a shaky whisper. Danny looked at me, concern and sadness in his eyes. "Rach, please don't do this." he pleaded. I took another step back as I felt myself start shaking. "Y-Y-You..."

I stepped back, only to find nothing under my foot. I looked behind me and realized that I had just stepped off of the roof.

As I started falling, Danny scrambled to try to catch me. He reached out to grab my hand, but I had already fallen too far for him to catch.

I felt the whoosh of cold air rushing past me and I saw a quick, bright green light. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "This is it..."

I felt myself stop falling and I slowly opened my eyes. Danny, or the ghost Danny, looked at me with a relieved expression on his face. I, however, felt tears in my eyes.

We landed in the alley behind the building and I shoved him away angrily. I glared at him through angry tears. "Why?" I asked. Danny looked at me, a cross between hurt, worry and concern on his face. "Why what?" he asked. "Why didn't you tell me that you're the ghost boy? Why did you have to stop me? Why couldn't you just let me-?"

"I couldn't let you because I don't want you to die!" Danny snapped, changing back to normal.

I shook my head as sobs escaped and Danny put his hands on my shoulders. "Rach, there are people who care about you. You're just too deep into your depression to see it." he said softly. I shook my head as my sobs continued. "It's true Rach! Stop trying to push us away, when all that we do is care about you!"

I looked at Danny, and managed to speak. "P-Push you away?"

"Rachel, recently when any of us have invited you over to hang out, you say that you have something better to do or that you're not allowed to. We know you better than that. We're your friends." Danny said. I stopped sobbing, trying to wipe the still streaming tears.

Danny let out a sigh and hugged me, pulling me close. I tried to push him away but he just tightened his hold on me. "Stop trying to shove us away from you." he said into my ear. I shook my head, trying to get out of his grasp.

After failing a couple more times, I dropped my arms to my sides and Danny released his hold on me. "Wy do you care so much?" I asked, my voice hoarse from crying. "I'm your friend Rachel, that's why." Danny said. I shook my head, wiping another stray tear. "I mean...you care enough to show me that you're the ghost boy. You care enough to jump from a building to save me. You...you even care enough to be here with me...why?"

Danny rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "W-Well...um..." he started. He mumbled something else and I felt curious as I watched his nervous reaction. "W-What is it?" I asked, wiping my nose on my sleeve. "I...sort of...um...have a crush...on you." Danny mumbled.

I felt my cheeks heat up and I stepped away from Danny. "W-What? Why me?" I asked, my voice squeaking a little. Danny sighed. "Rachel, I've known you since we were in grade school. When we met...you had this charm to you. I wasn't sure what it was at the time, because I was young, so I brushed it off. It wasn't until this school year started when I had gotten that feeling again."

I shook my head and put my hand on my forehead. "This...this can't be true. It has to be a joke." I whispered as I felt more tears fill my eyes. "What do you mean by that?" Danny asked. "This...can't be true. You can't like me. You...you dated my best friend..."I said, my voice fading at the end. "This has to be some sort of joke...I-It always is."

"How would this be a joke?" Danny asked. I hugged myself and bit my lip to keep myself from crying. "Rach?" Danny asked. I swallowed before I looked up at Danny again.

"It...it's happened to me before. People...people have done this to me before. They've...they've pretended to like me...and then they'd...they'd..." I swallowed and wiped a couple of tears away. "They'd...they've done things. And...I don't want it to happen again."

Danny stepped forward and set his hands on my shoulders. "Rachel, I'm not like them. I actually mean what I say. I...I would never do that." Danny said softly. "I...I'm sorry Danny...I...I know that you're not like them." I whispered.

Danny stepped back. "Alright then, let's do this over."

"What?" I asked. Danny smiled. "Rachel, I like you. As in, I'd like to try to go out with you. I understand if you want to take things slow, and if you want to work with me with your issues, I will." he said. "So, Rachel. Do you ...maybe want to see a movie Friday night?"

I was speechless. I had no idea what to say to Danny.

I mean, one moment he's trying to stop me from killing myself, the next, he's asking me out?

I looked down. "Can...can I get back to you on that?" I whispered. Danny nodded. "Fair enough." he said. "One question though." I said. "What?"

"Why ask me out now?"

Danny smiled shyly. "Well...I was going to do it earlier...but you didn't go with me and Tucker to his house. I figured that I should ask now...while I had the chance."

My face was burning by now and I heard the noise of a car driving up. I looked to my left and saw my mom's car driving to the front of the house. "Crap..." I mumbled.

Danny looked as well and he turned to me. "Want me to fly you to your room?" he asked. "I...I don't know Danny..." I said. Danny went into his ghost form and tilted his head to the left. "Do you have a faster way of getting there?"

I looked up the fire escape and sighed. It would take me about five minutes to climb it. It would take mom five minutes to figure out that I'm not in my room. I looked at Danny. "...fine. Just...please don't drop me."

Danny picked me up into his arms and kicked off the ground. I gasped and quickly wrapped my arms around his neck, making him chuckle. "I-Is...is it always like this when you fly?" I asked. "Sometimes." he said with a smile.

We phased through the wall and Danny set me on the floor of my room. "So you...you'll be alright tonight?" Danny asked. I nodded, smiling softly at him. Danny gave me another hug before floating into the air. "I'll see you at school tomorrow." he said.

I nodded as he floated close to me, kissing my forehead. He laughed as I felt my face burn and he disappeared through the ceiling.

I sat on the edge of my bed and touched the spot on my forehead where he had kissed. My cheeks burned even more and I bit my lip. I let out a sigh and layed on my bed, staring at the ceiling where Danny had phased through.

"That jerk...he was totally trying to distract me..."