Phanniemay15 Day #5 - Dream

Dreams do come true! Decided to give a dream come true to my favorite DP Princess, Dora! Because she never got to go to the ball. *shakes fist*

Characters/Pairings: Danny Fenton & Princess Dorathea (Friendship), Sam x Danny (Canon Based)

Rating: K+

Summary: The Valentine's Dance is coming up, and Danny's spending time in the ghost zone to practice asking Sam to go. Before Danny knows it, he's got a date and it's not quite the one he was expecting.

Dream Ball

"Sam, would you like to go to the dance with me?" Danny asked the nearest puff of green swirl. The floating ectoplasm didn't answer him of course, but Danny nodded all the same. "Great! Awesome! I'll pick you up around five then? Cause I figured we could get dinner before the dance and no! No, Danny! She'd already know that."

Danny covered his eyes with his palms and floated back. He stared up at the endless abyss of this empty corner of the Ghost Zone and huffed. "Why is this so hard?"

The Ghost Zone hummed around Danny as he floated there. There was no reason he couldn't just go up and ask Sam to the dance. It wouldn't even have to be a date! She went with Tucker when he asked for that last school event. Danny ruffled his hair and groaned. Valentine's Dance. Had to be a Valentine's Dance!

That almost immediately implied romance.

Which meant this would be a date. Which is why Danny was practicing asking in the Ghost Zone so Tucker couldn't tease him when he found out.

Danny pulled over another cloud to get his wording right one more time when he heard it: Crying.

Instincts taking over, Danny listened for the source of the tears. Deciding on the general direction, he flew over a few floating rocks and under a few doors before finding a small floating island. The crying grew louder, and he flew faster until he found himself under a bunch of apple trees growing from the rocks.

Sitting at the base of the largest tree, was Princess Dora of all people. She sobbed her eyes out, her hunched over shoulders shaking.

"Dora?" Danny asked, floating down next to her. "Are you okay?"

"Phantom?" Dora asked, looking over. She sniffed, and quickly rubbed away the tears around her eyes. "What are you doing all the way out here?"

"I was looking for someplace to be alone," Danny said. He glanced around and back to Dora's wet eyes. "If you were looking for the same, I can leave?"

"No," Dora said. She straightened out the bottom of her dress, and reached up to play with the pendant on her necklace. "It's alright. I was being silly."

Danny took a seat next to her and crossed his legs. "Want to talk about it?"

"I want to go to the ball," Dora whispered.

Danny blinked. "The ball?"

"The Princess Ball!" Dora said, standing up and shouting. "I want to go but my mummy still won't let me!"

"Is this the same ball you wanted to go to when we first met?" Danny asked, trying to think of the first time the dragon had appeared. She had been yelling about a dance, hadn't she? Danny crossed his arms. "Wait, I thought things were going better since you kicked Aragon off the throne?"

"My brother can't push me around any more, that's true," Dora huffed. She stomped her foot and growled. Her eyes glowed, as did her necklace, but there was no sign of a dragon change just yet. Dora threw her hands up. "But my parents are another matter altogether and they won't let me go to the ball!"

"Oh," Danny said, rubbing the back of his neck. "That's rough."

"I know I'm being petty, but I really want to go!" Dora said, turning around. She paced back and forth, steam coming from her nose as she threw up her arms. "I even have a dress and everything! But they keep saying I'm not allowed! It's not fair!"

"Why not?" Danny asked, floating up. "It's just a dance, right?"

"I wish I knew," Dora said, pouting. She sniffed and crossed her arms. The tears threatened to fall again and Danny sucked in a breath. "It's been my dream to go to a dance forever, but they keep saying 'no' and I can't fight against them like I can Aragon. So, I'm stuck and I have to miss this one, too. Again."

"Does it matter which dance you go to?" Danny asked, surprising himself at the offer. "I mean, if you just want to go to a dance my school is having one and I know you can disguise yourself as human, so there's no reason you can't go?"

"Are you asking me to go to the dance with you?" Dora asked, biting her lip to hide an amused smile.

But it was also a hopeful one.

"Yeah," Danny said, continuing on what was surely a bad idea. His insides screamed that he was supposed to be asking Sam to go. But his instincts were beating him over the head about the hopeful girl whose dreams he could help right now with an invite. "Would you like to go with me to my school dance?"

"Yes," Dora said, giggling. She clapped her hands and hopped on one foot. "I'd love to go! My first dance! I can't believe it!"

As Dora celebrated just off to the side, it hit Danny that he just asked a ghost to the dance.

And that Sam was going to kill him.

Sam could not believe she was at this dance.

Pink hearts were everywhere, sappy couples were drooling over each other, and Tucker had camped out near the punch bowl to look for other stag ladies that might have showed up.

Danny wasn't even there.

Sam straightened out her dress, and sipped the punch. She had honestly thought Danny had just kept getting cold feet about asking her to go. So Sam had helped herself with dressing up and going to pick up Danny only to find out he'd already left for the dance according to his parents. He'd left with some adorable blonde girl that was "Just the sweetest!" according to Danny's mother.

It was some mixture of anger, jealousy and curiosity that had Sam going to the dance alone. There was no way she was going to let some mystery girl steal her man! Friend. Her best friend.

Sam groaned, rubbing between her eyes. Valerie kept popping into her head with comments about another girl stealing Danny away if she didn't make a move. Sam always assumed Valerie was her only competition but now there's some blonde girl she had to look out for too?

Not that she liked Danny that way.

Sam walked to the snack table and poured a cup of punch.

Who was Sam fooling? She had a crush on Danny. She'd had a crush on Danny for nearly a year now and the only thing she felt right now was jealousy. That grew worse by the second the longer it took Danny to show up at the dance. He'd left his house a good twenty minutes before Sam showed up which meant he'd been out alone with this mystery girl for close to an hour an a half already!

"You keep glaring at that punch and you're going to light it on fire," Tucker said. He had a cup of his own and his suit was pressed. "I take it you haven't found Danny yet?"

"No," Sam said. She sipped the punch and glared at the sea of couples. "I hate to say it, but he might have lied to his parents about coming."

"Maybe he had a ghost to fight and just made a lie up on the spot?" Tucker shrugged.

"Then why wouldn't he tell us?" Sam asked. "And he apparently introduced them to some new blonde girl."

"I'm sure he'll explain everything when he gets here," Tucker said. "Relax."

"I'll relax when I see him," Sam said. She looked around the room and huffed. "Assuming he shows."

"Wow, did you see that girl Fenton was with?" Dash said to Kwan as he walked by. "How does a dork like that score a babe like that?"

"I don't know, man," Kwan said. "But there is no way she goes to our school, or we would have met her before. She could give Paulina and Star a run for their money!"

"Well," Tucker started as the two jocks past. "That might explain why he didn't let us meet her."

"Let's go find him," Sam said. She grabbed Tucker's arm and headed in the direction Dash and Kwan had come from. Sam shoved through the masses of teenagers looking for a familiar mop of black hair. "You see him?"

"Yeah, I see him," Tucker said. His jaw dropped and Sam followed his line of sight and hers did the same. Tucker whistled. "Wow."

Danny Fenton, dressed in his best suit, had on his arm a beautiful blonde girl. Her hair was pulled back in a braid over her shoulder, and she had crystal clear blue eyes. Her dress looked like it was straight out of one of Sam's mother's fashion magazines, and the corsage on her wrist matched the flower on Danny's lapel.

"Who the heck is she!?" Sam asked, crushing her cup of punch in her hand.

"Oh! Look at all the lovely decorations," Dora said, holding tight to Danny's arm. He had to admit, she looked great as a teenager. Danny had no idea she could adjust her disguise for age, but it was sure coming in handy now. Dora squeezed his arm. "Look at all the hearts!"

"Well, it is a Valentine's dance," Danny chuckled. He walked Dora through the room, and tried to ignore all the stares. Though, it was nice to be the center of attention for something other than being a dork or clumsy. "Having fun?"

"Yes!" Dora said. She tugged on Danny's arm and laughed. "Let's go dance!"

"After you!" Danny laughed. Dora's excitement radiated off her in waves, Danny felt he made the right choice asking her to come. After all, Sam would forgive him.

"Danny!" Sam shouted.

Or rather Danny hoped Sam would forgive him. He swallowed as his goth friend stomped over. She looked furious, and Danny hunched in on himself.

"Oh! It's Sam!" Dora exclaimed. She waved her arm and said, "Hello! It's so good to see you again!"

Sam stopped in her angry march and jerked. She stared for a full moment at Danny's date and asked, "Dora? Is that you?"

"Yes!" Dora said, still holding Danny's arm. She grinned wide and grabbed the edge of her dress to hold it out and show it off. "Danny asked me to a dance! Isn't this amazing? I've always wanted to go to a dance! This is a real dream come true!"

Danny nodded and rubbed behind his head. "I found out her parents wouldn't let her go to the Ghost Dance, so I figured why not invite her to this one?"

Sam's angry look vanished into something more knowing. They met eyes and she huffed, almost amused. "That's awfully nice of you, Danny."

"Well, it was the least I could do," Danny said.

"No, it really means a lot to me," Dora said, seriously. "Now come on! The night's still young and I want to do everything."

Dora dragged Danny out onto the dance floor, leaving Sam and Tucker behind. Her heels clacked on the ground as the students made way for the two of them as they passed by. She laughed, a sound Danny was growing more and more fond of, and grabbed Danny's hands as he pulled him to dance.

"I've got to warn you," Danny said. "I'm not very good at this."

"That's okay," Dora winked, placing one of Danny's hands on her waist. She held his other one and tugged him along to the music. "I've got sixteen hundred years of practice."

Danny found himself smiling in return and let Dora lead on the dance floor. This night was looking up and up all the time.

Sam sat on a chair at the edge of the wall. After finding out what had gone up with Danny, she had honestly considered leaving. Her best friend was doing a good deed, and there was nothing going on more than that. It's not like Danny was going to date Dora. She sipped punch and sighed.

Something kept her around. Maybe she didn't trust the whole "Danny had a Ghost Date" thing, or maybe she hoped someone else would ask her to dance. Whatever it was, the dance was almost over and Sam Manson was still there.

"Sam?" Dora asked, walking up to her side. Danny was nowhere to be seen and she had her arms behind her back. "May I sit here?"

Sam shrugged. "Sure, but where's Danny? Isn't he your date?"

"We're here as friends," Dora said. She sat next to Sam, pushing down her puffy dress. She smiled happily and cupped her hands on the bottom of her dress. "And I thought it might be time for a break, and just enjoy watching the dance."

"Oh?" Sam asked.

"Besides, I thought you might want a dance with him," Dora said. She leaned into Sam's ear and whispered. "After seeing the way you've been staring all night, I'm starting to think I might have stolen your date. It's only fair to give you a chance to steal him back, you know?"

"What? Date?" Sam said, blushing and waving her hands. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Are you sure?" Dora asked. "Because I'm more than happy to go back to keeping him company the rest of the night?"

"On second thought, I'm going to go find him," Sam said. She stood and looked around the room to find Danny talking with Tucker on the other side of the room. "And get that dance."

"I thought you might," Dora said. She waved and laughed. "Go have some fun."

Sam did just that. Finding Danny was easy, and getting a dance out of him was surprisingly easier. Poor guy was too exhausted to say no.

"Having fun babysitting the dragon Princess?" Sam asked, swaying with Danny to a light song. "She still seems pretty energetic."

"You have no idea," Danny said. He shook his head and looked at the roof. "If I knew it was going to be this exhausting, I would have fond her another date to drag around."

"Still though, that was nice of you Danny," Sam said. She squeezed his hand. "Dora seems really happy."

"Yeah, I noticed that, too," Danny said. "So it was worth it. You're not mad at me, are you?"

"Why would I be mad?" Sam huffed.

"Because I might have been thinking about asking you, and you might have assumed that I was going to, and that might have been ruined a bit when I found Dora crying in the Ghost Zone and asked her instead?" Danny rambled.

"Well, I was at first," Sam said, they turned in a circle and she sighed. "But it's hard to stay mad at a guy who's just helping someone out with their dreams."

"How about I owe you a rain check?" Danny asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"I'll take it," Sam laughed. She gave Danny a hug, and pushed him back toward Dora. The poor girl was now surrounded by every jock, geek, and other woman-loving student at the school. Sam bit her lip and and grinned. "Now go save your date before she's accosted by the rest of the student body."

"Thank you for a great evening, Phantom," Dora said, kissing Danny on the cheek. She let go of his hand and dropped her human disguise outside the Ghost Portal. She put her hands on her hips and smiled. "A whole night out and not a single emotional outburst! Now that's what I call a dance!"

"I'm glad you had a good time, Dora," Danny said. He opened the door and bowed. "Thank you for a lovely evening, my lady."

"Same to you, Sir Knight!" Dora giggled. She waved and disappeared through the portal. "Thank you for the wonderful memories!"

"Any time," Danny said. He shut the portal again and leaned against the wall. Now, it was time for a nap.

A long, long nap.