Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any of the elements of the show.

Hi again! I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO happy with the number of reviews for only the prologue and Chapter One. YEAH!

I give special thanks to the sleep warrior, who is my beta-reader, for helping me with this chapter. You should all get on your knees and give praise!

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Chapter 2 – Unpleasant Surprises

"Naomi?" Sam and Tucker exclaimed at once.

"You know each other?" Maddie asked, surprised by the outbursts. Sam nodded and Tucker drooled, but Danny remained silent. He watched quietly as the woman next to his mother, the one Jack had called Patty, turned to Naomi.

"How do you know these people, Nammy?" Patty asked. Naomi's eyes went wide at the nickname.

"Mom!" She hissed. "Could you not call me that?"

"I'm still waiting for an answer, Nammy," Patty said, tapping her foot. Sam and Tucker were trying hard not to laugh at Naomi's nickname, Jack was still standing in the doorway grinning, Maddie and Jazz were watching Patty and Naomi argue, and Danny just stared at them all.

"We met at school," she said. "Now could you please drop it?"

"Well, isn't that interesting," Patty said, turning to Maddie. "That's exactly how we met, remember, Maddie?" Maddie put a hand to her mouth and chuckled.

"Oh, you're right, Patty!" She said. The two women started laughing and Jack left the room, seemingly bored with the conversation and muttering something about a "ghostly sandwich attacking". Sam and Tucker stopped laughing and sat down beside Jazz, who was reading a book and had been ignoring the conversation. Danny finally snapped out of his stupor and glared at Naomi and his friends.

"What is she doing here?" He practically hissed at his mother.

"This is Patty Cohen. She was my best friend in college and she's also a fellow ghost hunter," Maddie said proudly, ignoring her son's tone of voice. Patty blushed at Maddie's glorious introduction, while Sam, Tucker, and Danny raised their eyebrows in confusion. At Maddie's statement about ghost hunting, Naomi snorted with a laugh.

"Who are you guys fooling? There's no such thing as ghosts," she said. Maddie started arguing with Naomi, while Patty yelled at her daughter for disrespecting her career. Danny, Sam, and Tucker shared a look and sneaked off to his room so Danny could get his money for the movies.

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Danny waved goodbye to Sam and Tucker as they reached the door of the Fenton residence. The movies had been a lot of fun, but Danny was wiped out from the day's events. Too bad I still have to go ghost hunting. He thought. He walked into his house and was surprised to find Naomi and Jazz curled up on the couch, watching a documentary on psychology.

"Hi, Danny," Jazz said nonchalantly. Naomi looked up from the television screen to find Danny's gaze upon her. Jeez! She thought. If looks could kill.

"Hi," she said, worried about how he would react to her being at his house this late in the day. Danny didn't answer her; instead he turned to Jazz, his right eyelid twitching in fury and his fists clenched tight.

"What is she still doing here?" He hissed though clenched teeth.

"Oh, Patty forgot to do something with the paperwork for their house, so they're staying here until everything's straightened out," she answered, not taking her eyes off the TV.

"WHAT!"

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Danny sat in his room, grumbling angrily about the new houseguests. Why, of all places, do they have to stay here? Were all the motels booked! Why Amity Park? Why my house? Why me!

Danny jumped as someone knocked on the door, snapping him from his daze. He was about to tell them to leave him alone when the door opened. His face darkened into a scowl as he saw Naomi in the hall.

"May I come in, Mister Grumpy?" She asked, moving no further than the doorway so as to not infringe upon him further. Not saying anything to her, Danny turned his back to her and looked out his window. Sighing, she stepped inside his room and closed the door. Sitting down next to him, she shoved his arm off of his bed and he toppled to the floor. He hastily sat up, almost hitting his head on his desk in the process.

"What was that for?" He shouted at her. She sat on the bed with her knees folded under her and looked down at him.

"I pushed you 'cause you're acting stupid," she said. He started to protest but she held up a hand to silence him. "I'm not finished yet."

"Fine. Go on," he said, standing back up. He leaned against the wall opposite of her and folded his arms across his chest.

"I want to be your friend. And I thought that was what you wanted too," she started.

"I do," he interrupted, "but…"

"Then why are you acting angry and spiteful around me? I just met you today and you're acting like I've hurt you personally. How could I have possibly offended you? I mean, I usually end up offending people, but not this quickly," Naomi said, laughing. Danny couldn't help but crack a smile; her laugh had a strong uplifting tone to it.

"You haven't offended me. It's just…I don't like it when things change. I don't like it when new people and situations come into my life that I can't control," he explained.

"Well, how do you think I feel? I had to move to a completely different town and school, away from all of my friends and everything I have ever known. My mother uprooted both of our lives just so she could go ghost hunting with her college roomie!"

"Uh…that sucks," Danny said, not knowing how to respond.

"Thanks for the oh-so-infinite wisdom," Naomi said sarcastically. "Nobody likes change, Danny. Not you, not me, not anybody! But just because we don't like it doesn't mean we can stop change from happening."

Danny sighed and sat down next to her on the bed. "You're right. I'm sorry I was so rude to you." She smiled at him.

"Don't worry 'bout it," she said, shrugging. "I'm just glad we understand each other now."

"You're gonna be one tough friend," he said.

"Hell yeah!" Naomi said, raising her fist in pride. They both burst out laughing but were interrupted by the shouting that emanated from Jazz's room.

"Darn folding bed. MADDIE!" Jack yelled. Naomi giggled a bit longer before standing up.

"I'd better go help your dad with moving my crap into Jazz's room," she said. Danny nodded. "Thanks for being my friend, Danny. You don't know what it means to me."

She leaned down and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, then walked out of the room humming some random song. Danny blinked in surprise. Did she just kiss me? She just kissed me! Tucker is gonna be so jealous!

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Danny quietly crept out of his room and down to the basement, not wanting his family to know that he was going out after curfew. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he groaned at the sight his gaze fell on.

The lab was perfectly empty, except for one thing: Naomi. She stood at the end of the lab, examining the ghost portal in the wall. Danny quietly snuck up behind her, hoping to startle her.

"I thought you didn't believe in ghosts," he said, waiting for her to jump and when she didn't, he became deeply confused.

"I would never ever tell my mom this, but I actually do believe in ghosts," she said.

"Why do you believe in ghosts? And, how come I didn't scare you?" He asked.

"You groaned over by the stairs. I'm not deaf, you know," she looked at him skeptically, raising one eyebrow. "And there have to be ghosts. How else to you explain all the strange things that happen in this world?" Danny shrugged, secretly agreeing with her but not wanting to let her know.

"If you don't mind my asking, what are you doing down here?" He asked.

"Hey, ask away. It's your house, after all," she said grinning. "I just needed a break from your dad's fight with the folding bed. That, and I wanted to see your parents' ghost fighting stuff."

"There's not that much to see. Most of this crap doesn't even work," he said, gesturing around the room. "But then again, my dad invented it, so of course it doesn't work." Naomi giggled.

"Well, I'm off to go watch your dad wrestle with inanimate objects." The two laughed and Naomi headed for the stairs. As she reached the bottom, she turned around and looked at Danny.

"Goodnight, Danny Fenton."

"Goodnight, Naomi, and welcome to the Fenton household." Danny said.

She smiled at him again and walked up the stairs and out of sight. Shaking his head to clear it of thoughts of Naomi, he transformed into his ghostly form, the bright rings of energy traveling up and down his body. Grabbing the Fenton thermos, he flew out of the lab and into the night.

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