Note: Thanks for all the positive feedback so far! Sorry I was a little delayed in posting, I decided to add a little extra to the end of this chapter. I hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.
Everyone in the lab stood in stunned silence for a moment, until Tucker snapped to his senses.
"Sam!" he cried, rushing forward towards Danny.
"Do NOT touch him!" Frostbite growled. Tucker froze with a hand hovering over Danny's arm. "Get back," Frostbite commanded, and Tuck was quick to comply.
"It is worse than I feared," Frostbite continued, pressing buttons on the machine Danny was hooked up to and frowning.
"Where's Sam?" Jazz asked, "What's happening to Danny?"
"The Great One is emitting his ghost powers at such a high frequency it seems some were transferred to the girl. She's accidentally overshadowed him."
"What does THAT mean?" Tucker frowned, looking from Frostbite to Danny to the dazed Jazz.
"It means we have even less time than we thought, and two lives at stake," Frostbite growled. "I am sorry friends, but I will need you to relocate somewhere out of the way." Jazz and Tucker opened their mouths to protest, but were grabbed by two large yeti-like snow monsters. "Please take them back to the waiting area and make sure they stay there," Frostbite ordered as they were dragged away. "I'll send word when I know more!" he promised, but Jazz and Tucker were not consoled.
As the door slammed shut in front of them, they began to realize they might lose both Danny and Sam. And there was nothing they could do.
For a moment, Danny was distracted by her voice. And then everything changed - the sun disappeared, replaced by dark clouds. Worse, Sam was gone, turned to smoke and swept away by the wind, replaced by several of Danny's least favorite ghosts - each hundreds of feet tall.
He was knocked over from an ecto blast, coming to a crashing halt as his back collided with a tree. He shook his head, trying to will his body to rise up in flight - but found himself locked to the ground.
Then there was a flash of light. He turned to see Sam back, sprawled on the ground and looking dazed and confused. "Oh great," he thought as a blast missed her by inches. Even if she was just a dream, he couldn't let her get hurt - but he could barely help himself. He leapt to his feet and dragged Sam behind the cover of a tree. She put a hand to her head.
"Danny?" she asked, trying to focus on his face. Then, her eyes widened as she looked around.
"Ohmigod, Danny, am I in your dream?!"
"Uh," Danny was completely taken aback. What a strange thing for someone in your dream to say. He was distracted, however, by the many ghost rays raining down. As the tree they were hiding behind was blasted to smithereens, he grabbed the still-confused Sam and darted to hide behind a new one.
"Geez, I know they say 'dream big', but this is just ridiculous," she said peering out to the giant ghosts in front of them. "Why aren't you fighting?"
"Nocturne," Danny explained grimly. "He's messing with my powers, I can barely use them!"
"Danny, unless I'm the one dreaming here and I'm pretty sure I'm not, this is YOUR dream. You can do whatever you want!"
"No, I can't," he argued, "I can't even fly!"
"You can fly if you want to! Heck, you could even make ME fly because it is YOUR dream," she repeated, shaking him for emphasis. His eyes strained in thought for a moment, and suddenly Sam was levitating off the ground.
"Oh wow, I was definitely joking!" She said nervously, holding her hands out for balance.
"Yeah, well I'm not. Let's get out of here!" With another grimace of concentration, Danny managed to lift off the ground. Taking her hand, he sped them off in the opposite direction of the ghosts.
"Okay, so tell me how you know this is a dream again?" Danny asked as they flew.
"Um, Danny, it's me, Sam," she said, lifting an eyebrow.
"Duh," he responded. "But you're just part of my dream. How does a dream know it's in a dream?"
"Because I'm not a dream, Danny! I'm the real Sam! I was - we brought you to Frostbite, because we needed help treating your sting, and then I..." she faltered, embarrassed. "Then I...touched you...and now I'm here. But I was just with your body at Frostbite's lab."
Danny stared at her, flabbergasted, and they went crashing to the ground.
"Great," Sam sighed. "Just great. I end up in the dream where you have no powers and we get chased by giant ghosts. Joy."
"Now hang on," Danny pulled her up, frowning. "How could you possibly be the real Sam, here in my dream? And even if that were possible, how do I know you're not just another trick sent by Nocturne to torture me?" He asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
"First of all, it's possible because it's happening right now. Second, you know Nocturne isn't the reason this is going on, right?" Before she could continue, another blast landed barely a foot away, causing them to crash back to the ground. The ghost giants, it seemed, had caught up. Suddenly, the teens realized they were on the steps of Casper High.
"Huh," Sam commented, "that's a neat trick." She and Danny darted up the steps, hoping to find safety in the building.
However, once the front doors shut behind them, they realized they'd walked right into Lancer's classroom. "This really is a nightmare," Danny sighed. "I think I'll take my chances with the ghosts, thanks."
"Ah Mr. Fenton, Ms. Manson, thank you for joining us," Lancer greeted them sarcastically. "Care to explain why you are 20 minutes late to class?" Wondering how Lancer knew he was Danny Fenton when he was definitely still in his ghost form, Danny was spared the trouble of answering when the roof was torn off. A giant Technus peered in.
"Hello children," the ghost said evilly as everyone darted from their seats, running and screaming.
"Uh, we were dealing with that," Danny replied to the now empty classroom. "But I think now would be a good time to run." They quickly followed the others out into the hall.
"Danny, remember this is YOUR dream," Sam reminded him again as they sped through the halls, heading towards the back exit. "Your dream, Danny, you're the boss!" They burst out the doors as Fenton Works materialized in front of their eyes. "That's more like it!" she smiled.
Just as they reached the door, Danny stopped her. "Wait," he said. "Before you come in I need to know you're not just some trap sent by Nocturne."
"Are you kidding me?" she cried. "There are like four super-sized ghosts all about to crash in on us and we're going to do this now? I already told you, I am the real Sam!" she insisted.
"Then what's something only the real Sam would know?" he asked, frustrated.
"Uh, when you were five you wanted a puppy?" she replied, looking panicked.
"No! I know that you know that, you could still be my subconscious. It needs to be something...I wouldn't know you know..." Danny ignored the ghosts closing in, staring intensely at her instead.
"Oh come on," Sam protested, making a move to open the door, but Danny barred her way.
"You don't understand what I've been through," he said earnestly, "I need to know for sure." His eyes were glowing fierce green, and she gulped at his seriousness.
"I..." she paused, her heart racing. "I...know you've been coming to see me at night while you ghost hunt," she finally blurted. Danny's eyes widened in shock.
"Wow, yeah, that'd do it," he said yanking her inside. "Ghost shield on!" he cried, just as the ghostly monsters closed in on the house. They could hear their wails of pain and frustration as they were zapped by the ghost shield. Danny and Sam were both breathing heavily, relieved to be safe, and also nervous about what had been revealed.
"You knew?" Danny asked quietly after a moment.
"Well, yeah," she said. "Come on, I've been with you since you first got your ghost powers, I know how it feels when you're around in your ghost form."
"Why didn't you say anything?" he practically whispered, and Sam melted at the puppy dog look on his face. She almost didn't answer him, but then felt nauseous at the thought that she'd never tell him - that he was still in danger, and she might never have another chance.
"I was afraid if I told you, you'd stop," she explained, eyes downcast, "and...it made me feel...safe." They were both quiet for a moment, Sam refusing to meet Danny's eyes.
Finally, Danny put a hand on her arm and turned to walk upstairs. "Let's go to my room," he suggested. She nodded, following him.
"So, you're actually here. In my dream," he repeated as they sat on his bed.
"Yeah," Sam agreed, "but I'm really not sure how it happened."
Danny looked away for a moment, and then asked the question that was burning away at him. "What's wrong with me Sam? Why can't I wake up?"
Sam frowned and sighed. "Like I said, we took you to Frostbite to heal your sting," she started. "But even though he gave you the antidote, you still weren't better." She looked away from him, unable to meet his eyes. "Frostbite thinks you've been spending so much time in your ghost form lately that your ghost cells are starting to attack your human ones. That's why you're stuck in a coma and you can't change back to human. Your body is attacking itself." She met his eyes finally. "Frostbite is trying to save you, but his best idea failed right before I ended up here..." she admitted bitterly, trailing off.
Danny sat for a moment, straining to wrap his head around the situation. He rubbed his hand over his face, trying to understand it all. "I...okay, but how did you get here?"
"I'm really not sure," Sam repeated. "Like I said, I just...touched you, and then I was here. It felt a lot like when you and I overshadowed Nocturne though," she added thoughtfully.
"Hm," he replied. "If my ghost half is starting to get that powerful, maybe just touching me transferred some of my powers to you and you overshadowed me accidentally," he suggested. Sam stared at him.
"That actually makes a lot of sense," she said. "Since when has my C-student gotten so smart?" she teased.
"Ha, ha," he replied sarcastically. "I'll have you know I'm a solid B minus student now!" They both smiled, until Danny realized something.
"Sam," he said, looking up at her gravely. "If Frostbite is right, you shouldn't be here. If I die, and you're here, I don't know - "
"You're NOT going to die," she cut him off, "and I'm NOT leaving. You obviously need my help. I can't let you face Nocturne and his bullies alone." He could see she was resolute - there would be no changing her mind.
"I'm probably just dreaming about Nocturne anyway..." he sighed.
"I don't know," Sam countered. "You both seem to be really fighting for control over your dream. I think he might actually be here."
They sat in silence for a moment, contemplating what it all meant. After awhile, Sam noticed a book on Danny's desk.
"Hey," she said smiling, "that's your scrapbook!"
Danny frowned as she got up to get it. "I definitely don't keep it there," he grumbled.
"Well maybe I have some control over your dream too, because I was just thinking we needed something to cheer us up." She sat the book between them, opening to the first page. There were pictures of Danny as a little kid - Danny and Jazz, Danny and his parents, Danny and Tucker. She flipped through the pages, cooing at the cuteness.
"You were such a cute little kid," Sam smiled, "why haven't I ever seen these pages before?"
"My mom made them for me," he muttered, embarrassed. "I keep these pages separate, mostly so I can't get blackmailed..."
Sam laughed softly to herself, turning the pages until she started recognizing pictures. There was Tucker and Danny on the first day of middle school. A picture of smiling faces on Danny's 12th birthday. And then she saw the first picture of her, Danny and Tucker, taken at a theme park a few weeks after she'd met them. Even though she'd been dreaming about that time over and over, she was still a little taken aback by her startlingly different appearance.
"Danny, why were you so nice to me back then?" she asked, sighing.
"What do you mean? You were the coolest," he said.
"I mean, I was pretty scary looking," she pointed out.
He laughed. "When you have parents like mine, you get used to not taking first impressions too seriously. Besides, I thought you were pretty. And you were entirely responsible for my B+ in science that semester," he pointed out, smiling.
"You thought...I was pretty...back then?" she asked, a little stunned. His hand jumped to the back of his neck in embarrassment.
"I still do, duh," he chuckled, then grimaced as a wave of stabbing pain washed over him.
"Are you okay?" Sam asked, concerned.
"I'm fine," he reassured her, trying to block out the pain. After a moment, he resumed the conversation about the pictures, trying to distract Sam from his discomfort.
"Remember that?" he asked. It was a picture of Danny, Sam, and Tucker at their first high school dance.
"Well, I was a dragon for a large portion of the night, so yes, I do." They laughed.
"Besides that, it was a good night," he agreed. "We had our first dance together."
As if waiting for this cue, music began drifting up from below. It sounded like an old time record player, sounding an old fashioned jazzy waltz.
"Huh," Sam said, surprised. "I guess I do have some power here."
"What do you mean?" Danny asked.
"When I was a little girl, my parents used to throw a lot of dinner parties. They'd always play music like this," she explained. "I used to love falling asleep to it..." she drifted off, yawning a little.
"Sam," he said suddenly, "have you slept?"
She froze mid-yawn. "Uh," she stammered. "Of course," she lied.
"When?" he asked skeptically, narrowing his eyes.
"Um," she started, "I took a nap, this morning." She looked down, guilty. Danny sighed.
"You need to sleep," he insisted. "Just because you're in my dream doesn't mean you don't need sleep."
"Danny, I'm not going to sleep," she argued, "you need me to keep you focused or Nocturne will kick your butt." She smiled as a thought occurred to her.
"Hey, wanna dance?" she asked, hoping to distract him. The music swelled in response, surrounding them with its sweet melody. "You know, seeing that picture of us at the dance and the music and all, I feel like if this were a normal dream we'd be dancing right now."
Danny smiled. He knew what she was playing at, but he wanted to anyway. "Well, if it's a dream dance you want," he said taking her hand in his, "then that's what you'll get."
As they began to sway in time, the floor slowly disappeared beneath them - and then the walls, and the roof, until they were floating in a starry sky.
"Now THAT'S more like it," Sam agreed, secretly delighted. It wasn't very "goth" to enjoy something as gooey romantic as this, but she couldn't help it. "When did you learn how to waltz?"
"I haven't," he shrugged, smiling, "but as you keep reminding me, this is my dream, so I can do whatever I want."
"I should hang out in your dreams more often," she smiled. Danny flashed his lop-sided grin. What could he say? She already did.
A few minutes of spinning and twirling left Sam feeling dizzy and breathless, a feeling amplified when Danny sank her into a perfect dip. It made her light-headed, looking upside down at the starry view. He slowly raised her back up, until they were face to face, both out of breath, his hands on her back holding her close.
She hardly noticed they'd stopped dancing. She was full with the music and the stars and his eyes. For a moment she thought she saw a flash of blue in them, but all thoughts floated out of her mind as his face inched closer to hers. She tilted upwards to meet him, her eyes fluttering shut.
"Sammy," he whispered, his breath tickling her cheek. She smiled.
And then with a jerk on her navel, she fell. The music came to a shuddering halt and the stars disappeared, replaced once again by Danny's room. They crashed on the bed in a heap.
"Ooph," she groaned. She'd had the wind knocked out of her in more than one way.
"Ow," Danny agreed, rubbing his head. "Sorry, I lost focus," he apologized. They both blushed, embarrassed. Had they almost just kissed?
Sam sat up, swinging her feet off the bed and turning her back on the ghost boy. Her heart was racing, and she placed a hand over her mouth in confusion. What was that? Had they just been swept up in the dream, or did it mean something more? It wasn't like she'd never thought about it - she thought about it more than she cared to admit. But he was her best friend, and she was terrified to explore those feelings. What if it went wrong? What if she lost him?
The silence broke as Danny started coughing, and the reality of that possibility returned to her.
"Are you okay?" She turned back to him in concern.
He looked up, eyes half closed in pain, hand clutching his chest.
Not okay.
He'd felt fine only moments before, but suddenly Danny was overwhelmed with pain. His chest had tightened so much he could barely breathe. He gasped for air.
"Danny!" Sam cried, closing the space between them and grabbing his hand. As she did so, the constriction began to alleviate.
"I'll be...okay," he said in shuddering breaths, trying to calm down and breathe evenly.
Once he seemed better, Sam released the death grip she'd been keeping on his hand with a muttered apology. But Danny didn't hear.
"Agh!" A moan escaped as another wave of pain washed over, a pounding, stabbing ache that rolled down his whole body. Sam's hands jumped to her face as she watched his reaction in horror. He was sweating, heaving, barely able to breathe.
"What can I do?" she asked desperately. This was terrible; his body was in so much pain it was reaching his subconscious.
"You have to...get out of here... Please Sam," Danny begged.
"No," she said resolutely, taking his hand in hers again. "I can't leave you. Don't ask me to." He frowned, wishing he could change her mind.
After a minute, he felt himself calming down as the pain dissipated. Noting this, Sam withdrew her hand from his grasp. Immediately pain overcame him once more. He grabbed her hand back, and it subsided.
"If you're going to stay," he said quietly, resigned, "then stay close to me. It helps."
She frowned, and helped him lean against the pillows, sitting up so he could breathe. He closed his eyes and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.
A gentle rain began to fall, trickling against the windows. The rhythmic tapping and distant rolls of thunder was soothing, lulling them into calmness. After a few minutes, Sam began to tire. Danny's twin bed was small, and she found herself laying against his body, her head on his chest and arms around his torso. He sighed, wrapping his arms around her as well.
"Is this weird for you?" she asked, nervous she was making him uncomfortable.
"No," he replied. "Is it weird for you?"
"No." She shifted herself closer.
Danny felt better with every moment spent holding Sam. He took a deep, steady breath, watching her head rise and fall with his chest. It was comforting.
After awhile, music began to play again from the faraway phonograph. This song was sweet and slow like a lullaby, and mixed with the soft sounds of rain, relaxed him. Sam as well it appeared; he could feel her beginning to fall asleep.
"Aren't you cold?" He wondered suddenly.
"Hm?" Sam asked.
"You know, you say when I'm in my ghost form I'm cold," he reminded her.
"No, actually you're really warm..." She sat up half way, and they both looked down at Danny's body. It was human. Sam's eyes darted to Danny's face, hopeful, but then sighed in disappointment. "Still white and green." She bit her lip, thinking. "But, this is a really good sign! They must be figuring it all out." She smiled to him before returning her head to his chest.
"Don't fall asleep," she whispered sometime later, giving him a squeeze and fighting sleep herself. "If you lose concentration Nocturne might take over."
"I won't," he promised, placing his chin gingerly on her head. He felt so much better; so good he couldn't believe it. The rain and the music and Sam's beating heart against his all surrounded him, soothing him. It was hard to remember why he was there or that he was dreaming, though it was all strange yet perfect, as only dreams can be.
He sat like that for what felt like a long time, comforted and calm. He breathed in the citrusy flowery scent that was Sam – the scent he now realized was his favorite smell in the world. Slowly, very slowly, his eyes began to droop. He shifted to rest his cheek on top of her head, holding her a little closer. He wondered vaguely if it was even possible to fall asleep in a dream, before letting go of all thoughts.
He let his eyes fall shut. In that moment, it was just him and Sam. That was all that mattered in the world.
Note: I hope you liked all the fluff! If not, the next chapter will be a little more exciting. As always, let me know what you thought and thanks for reading!
