It's morning now, and I've sort of accepted the fact that I'm stuck in the year 2007. Surprisingly enough to me, it feels like the least of my problems compared to last night's incident with Shane. Then again, that's an American teenager's priorities for you. The last thing I remember from last night is crying in Sam's arms until I fell asleep. She must've put me in bed because that's where I woke up. I actually woke up about an hour or so ago, but I just laid there, thinking. Hoping yesterday was just a dream. But by the look of my still fresh puffy eyes in the bathroom mirror, it wasn't a dream.

Still clad in my pajamas, I wander downstairs for a snack. I'm not particularly hungry, but I feel like I should get something into my stomach. To my surprise I see Sam downstairs cooking breakfast. "Sam?" I ask, wide awake all of a sudden.

"Oh, morning sleepy-head," she greets, making pancakes. "About time you got up."

I walk over, seeing her flip one in a pan. A bowl of batter and some pancake mix power litters the counter. "I didn't know you cooked breakfast for everyone." I pause. "And I thought you weren't a morning person. I was sure I'd be the first one down here."

"My folks already left for work two hours ago, so I'm not cooking for them. Like I'd be caught dead showing them I can cook breakfast by myself," she scoffs. "Besides, after last night I figured you could use a nice breakfast."

Aw, Sam. "Thank you," I say ever so quietly, with the tiniest hint of a smile. Even back home, Mom never cooked breakfast unless I was down. She liked to cheer me up with a special 'Manson-made breakfast' as she called it. It was so corny, but it always got me smiling. Even here when Sam least knows it, she had the attributes already to a great mother. I peek into the pan of the half cooked pancake. "Let me guess, Tofu Pancakes?"

"Chocolate Chip Tofu Pancakes," Sam corrects, tossing in a handful of chocolate chips before flipping it over with a utensil. "You don't seem like a tofu person to me; so putting up with my food choices all this time I felt like you deserved at least some of these."

"Add more please?" I squeak as Sam pushes me the bowl of chocolate chips, and I sprinkle some more in, us laughing together.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"This sucks," Nett says, tired as ever. Eye bags were visible under his eyes and his hair was unnaturally kept. "How come Jazz never cooks breakfast for you?"

"Because Jazz hates me," Danny reasons. As of right now, he, Nett, and Shane were walking through the super market early in the morning, shopping for food. The Fenton Parents were out for 'work', and Jazz refuses to cook for the three boys, so they were stuck buying groceries for ready-to-eat food. Danny was in between the two, being the one to push the kart. "Just grab what you guys want and put it in the kart."

"Careful what you say man, I'm an eater," Nett warns.

"Go for it," Danny laughs. And with that Nett sprints off into the depths of the super market to claim his free food. Danny sighs, wondering if his parents' credit card will regret it but, at the moment the Fenton's attention is hooked onto his friend Shane. "So, you've been pretty quiet. I know Nett called you the silent-guy a lot but this is ridiculous."

"Sorry. I just have a lot on my mind right now," Shane replies, this being the first he's talked since we were at the park.

Danny's face narrows into one of concern as he pushes the kart. "Is this about you and Wendy's little outing yesterday? You came back pretty sour. You guys okay?"

"We're fine," Shane lies. In a way he hopes we're fine.

"You didn't fight or anything did you?" Danny asks, to be sure. His tone sounds protective and defensive, so much that Shane can't help but flashback to grown-up ghost Danny's protectiveness over his daughter concerning boys.

"We broke up," Shane lets out. Danny's eyebrows raise. "It was a mutual thing."

"Ouch," Danny frowns. "Sorry man." Not looking where they were going, Danny's elbow accidentally bumps into someone else, causing the two to stop as the girl drops her shopping basket. "Oh, sorry my ba-" Danny stops himself when he realizes who he was helping. "Paulina!"

"Huh? Oh. It's you," she frowns, though Danny 's grin stays. Shane arches his eyebrow at the strange scene, but is especially caught when Paulina's gaze wanders over to him. He sees her eyes light up. "Danny who's your friend?" she smiles flirtatiously. No.

"This is Shane, my-" Danny pauses, "family friend staying over for a bit."

"Ooh. No wonder I never see him around school. I would've noticed a face like yours," Paulina compliments, walking over to Shane.

"Thanks, I think," Shane says, not smiling back.

"You know, if you want I can show you around Amity Park this afternoon," Paulina offers, taking a piece of fruit into her shopping basket.

"Uh..." Shane make a face upon seeing Danny in the background. Danny is silent but by the motions of his arms and face and mouth, Shane guesses he's supposed to say yes. "Um, yes?"

Paulina gasps, faking her surprise. "That's great! Here." She takes out a marker from her pocket and pulls Shane's hand out of his pocket. Writing her number down, Shane remarks in his head how girls never do that anymore unless they're in an old early 90's movie. "Here's my number. Call me okay?" She turns around to walk away, only to look back once more with a quick hair flip, emphasizing her long and soft wavy locks. "My name's Paulina by the way. Welcome to Amity Park."

When she's finally gone, a dumbstruck Shane looks down at his hand to the inked number in his palm. Danny looks over his shoulder to see. "Dude, I think we've just found your ticket out of glooms-ville."

"Did you just set me up on a date?" Shane asks.

"Look I don't have any dating experience but, I know that in order to get over a girl you need to just, find someone else right?" Danny tries. Shane glances back to the number, unsure. "Trust me, Paulina's a catch. Every guy at Capser High loves her."

"Believe me I think I know her type," Shane assures, thinking back to Crissy. He can't help but find an uncanny personality-resemblance in the two. Then again, if Shane was able to fall for Crissy at one point, maybe he can distract himself with this Paulina girl long enough to get a certain someone off his mind. "Guess it's worth a shot."

"That's the spirit," Danny smiles, moving forward with the cart - just in time for Nett to arrive with am armful of snacks and goodies. Danny's eyes bug out as he tries to see past the mountain in the cart. "Dude you eat just as much as Tucker does."

"Why doesn't that surprise me," Shane remarks, though Nett glares back, mouthing shut up as Danny moves the cart along.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

By afternoon, Sam and I are back at FentonWorks to meet up with the guys for Danny's ghost lesson. When we walk in, Danny, Tucker, Nett, and Shane are all in the living room. "Oh, everyone's here," Sam says, expecting them all to be down at the lab.

"Just waiting for the girls," Tucker smiles. "So Wendy, you ready?"

"Hopefully," I smile confidently. Everyone gets up and moving into the kitchen for the basement except for Shane on the couch. Inevitably I lock eyes with Shane, and he catches me. I don't know how to feel so I try walking over to him. "Hey."

"Hey," he replies a little too quickly, standing up as I near him. "Um, h-how are you?"

"I'm good," I nod. Definitely a lot better than yesterday, but I wouldn't dare tell Shane that. "You?" I ask.

"Mhm yeah," Shane assures, scratching his neck. "Uh, good luck with Danny today."

Hm? He's not coming downstairs? "You're going somewhere?"

"My man's got a hot date!" Tucker springs up out of nowhere, an arm hanging around Shane. A irritable expression befalls Shane as he finds this very reminiscent of Nett's behavior. "With Paulina can you believe it?"

My round blue eyes blink twice in question, while Nett sticks his head out from the kitchen with a totally stuck-on expression of his own. "'Paulina'?" I repeat, my heart giving me this new foreign feeling. Not jealousy or sadness but, something totally different.

Blind to the tension, Tucker just keeps going on, hanging off Shane. "Heheh, yeah. She's like the cutest girl in Capser High. Danny tells me he helped your friend here score her number and they'll be spending the afternoon together! Isn't that awesome?"

I can only blink again as an instant reaction, Shane's face looks unsure and bewildered too, but at the moment I'm too distracted by Tucker's words. Is it true? When I see a couple of numbers written under the palm of Shane's hand, it nails me a bit. "O-Oh. W-Well, that's great Shane! She sounds pretty cool. You show her a good time okay?"

Behind us from the kitchen walls, Nett's mouth hangs open as Sam glares with crossed arms. Danny himself is a bit unsure of how to take this whole unfolding and sort of wishes he could tape Tucker's mouth shut.

Shane's pretty good at hiding emotions, to others and himself. But he can't help but feel a little guilty and he can't figure out why. "Thanks," Shane smiles to me, appreciating the support. He then turns a glare to Tucker. "You can get off me now."

"Oh - sorry man," Tucker grins, letting him go. Shane makes his way to the front door as I stand there, staring at where he once stood. I can hear the others' footsteps approaching from behind, and Tucker's still obliviously unaware of what just went down.

"It's nice to know romance still exists in the future," Tucker states, hands on hips and head held high.

"So uh, you ready to head down Wendy?" Danny asks nervously.

At that, a loud 'whack' sound comes up from Sam as she hits both Danny and Tucker with a rolled up newspaper from the kitchen. "You boys are so insensitive I swear!" Sam barks.

"Ow- what'd I do!?" Tucker freaks out as Danny rubs his head.

"And you!" Sam threatens, pointing a close finger to an already nerve-wrecked Danny. "How dare you set Shane up right after a break up! You don't DO that what kind of cold human being are you?!"

"Wendy," Nett says warily, coming up behind me. I bet he's wondering why neither of us told him. I don't blame Shane but now I'm left here with the responsibility of answering question I really don't want to deal with.

"Okay!" I yell, forcing everyone to just, stop for a second and look at me. I breathe out, remembering where we are. "Look I'm alright. So Shane's on a date big whoop. Let's just, go downstairs and get started with the training. Can we do that?"

Everyone looks at one another and without a word we all unanimously head down to the Fenton Basement. Danny, Sam, and Tucker go first, me intending to follow at the back. But Nett touches my shoulder and I see him with the most serious expression. "We're talking later," he whispers under his breath before following behind Sam. I sigh. There's no avoiding Nett when it comes to me and Shane, I guess. Or, what used to be of us.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Down at the lab, all of us are in position. Tucker, Sam, and Nett are sitting and observing from the sidelines, while Danny and I stand in the center.

Danny was already a ghost, so all I had to do was tell him what we were doing. "Today's lesson is on Intangibility and Invisibility," I state out loud, stone hard into my role as a teacher. I've drilled that straight into my head to keep distracted from Shane. This is what's happening now; not Shane.

"Um," Danny starts, a little confused. "No disrespect intended Wendy but, intangibility and invisibility?"

I smirk, walking over to a nearby table. I pick up a 30 pound weight and a textbook. Walking over to Danny, I hand him the textbook. "Here, hold this and turn invisible for me, will you? Hold it out for as long as you can. I'll time it," I offer, holding a stop watch.

Seeing Danny's clueless face reminds me of mine, but he does so without another word. And I start the stop watch. About ten seconds in, Danny turns visible before me once more, still holding the textbook.

"Good," I smile. "10.4 seconds. But the book. How much did it weigh?"

Danny looks to the book and plays with it for a second. "It felt like it was barely there when I was invisible."

I give him a nod. "That's because when you're invisible, you and anything you're holding onto become as light as a feather."

"Really," Danny says. "I never noticed that before."

I take the book from him and exchange it with the 40 lb weight. It's tiny and fits right in your palm, so Danny isn't expecting it o be as heavy as it is when he almost drops the it, but he has it. "Now turn invisible while holding this and tell me the difference."

Sam and Tucker pay attention to my teaching methods, as curious as ever. Nett says unusually quiet, sitting amongst them, but he notices Sam taking notes in a notebook. The future Fenton Journal.

"Go," I signal, and I watch Danny fade away before me. The timer is running, and just as it hits five, Danny reappears as a faint outline that's hard to see. But I hear a loud 'ding' hit the ground', and in a snap Danny reappears fully. The 40 lbs. weight is on the ground by his feet. "Five seconds," I announce. "So?"

"Whoa," Danny pants, looking at me like I had two heads. "Could've warned me, you know?"

"I could've. But you didn't exactly warn me when I was training under you," I smile, having a little fit of revenge at the moment, ot that this Danny deserved it. Still, it served a good lesson. "Notice how the book is a lot bigger than the mass of the paperweight weight, yet the paperweight is a whole lot heavier than the book."

"No kidding," Danny says, scratching his neck in embarrassment that he probably failed the test.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. Like you said if I'd warned you, you probably would've done better. It's all about anticipation and reaction," I assure with a warm smile. Something Danny didn't really do. If I failed, he rubbed it in my face about how wrong and incorrect I did something. I pick up the weight with ease in my hand. "You managed to hold your invisibility with this for a couple of seconds, but then you started to lose it and you turned intangible instead of remaining invisible. So the ball fell through your hand."

"So that's what happened," Danny blinks, looking at his hand.

"Often times when you're confronted with a problem a certain way, your powers of invisibility and intangibility tend to waver back and forth," I warn. "It's impossible to rule 'surprise' out of your brain, so the best way to avoid this is to just train your ghost body into knowing the distinct difference between intangible and invisible."

"Alright. So, how do I do that?"

I bring out another pal-sized marble marked 55 lbs. "You just keep testing your invisibility timing - with this."

I can see Danny trying not to look as upset as I feel happy. Mm. Maybe being a teacher does have its perks. "Do I have to?"

"Interestingly enough, you can't learn intangibility until you master invisibility," I say with a sly smile as I role the marble into his hands. "Think of it as a work out for your ghost muscles."

"She knows so much about this," Tucker notices, amazed by the short demonstration. "Like a science."

"Wendy had only a year to master all of her ghost powers," Nett tells him and Sam. "It was hard enough learning them, training every day. But she had to understand and master everything in such a short span of time."

"Why so fast?" Sam asks, writing stuff down still.

"Circumstances," Nett sums up, not wanting to go too much into detail. "At the time I never realized how much Wendy put into this, though. Not just by training but by studying the science behind it all. How to do this, why you do that - and despite having no powers for such a long time, it seems she drilled it all into her head so much before that it's become common sense for her."

"That's amazing," Sam says, unable to comprehend. "I watch Danny try to get a handle on this stuff all the time. I can't imagine having only a year to get it all down."

"Well Danny's learning this all from scratch, and he doesn't exactly have a time limit here," Nett points out with a smile. Despite the training session, Nett still wants to know what happened between Shane and I. And seeing Sam and Tucker, it would seem that these two would be okay sources. "Say, Danny might be here a while doing his sets. You guys wanna go out and grab a bite to eat? We kind of missed lunch."

Danny and I see the others walking out of the lab, apparently to go grab lunch. Sam calls out saying that they'll bring something back for us, and with that it's just Danny and I, which we're totally fine with.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

While Danny and I are alone, I'm more or less monitoring Danny turn invisible over and over, timing him. These exercises are helping, though. I can see the progress the longer we go, but it tends to linger on. Time. So being here with just Danny, I can't help but think back to my own training session...

"As light as a feather right?" Danny asks after I do a demonstration under him. "When you turn things invisible, they can become incredibly light."

"That's good to know," I say with a bored expression, Shane and Nett looking on.

"Now turn invisible and touch the door," Danny instructs, pointing to a large door stand in the middle of the room. So that's what it was there for. I frown, not wanting to be here. "Come on just do it."

With a final roll of my eyes, I touch the door with my finger and turn invisible for Danny, only for me to feel a huge weight over my chest that almost knocks me to my knees. I'm forced to turn visible again with a hand on the ground and another on my heart. "What the heck was that?" I demand.

"It comes with the whole invisibility thing Miss I-already-know-how-to-do things," Danny smiles, flying over me. "The heavier things are, the more energy it takes out of you."

"Well that stinks."

"Hey come on that shouldn't bother you. It's an easy thing to take care of. Kinda like working out, just, in ecto-energy instead of in muscle flab."

Stubborn, I sit on the ground with my legs crossed underneath me, refusing to do this anymore. "Fine. I'll practice later at home. What about the intangibility thing let me work on that instead."

"Nope, can't learn intangibility until you master invisibility."

"Since when!"

"Since I said last we met 'practice your invisibility'," he replies back plainly.

Mm. Now that I look back on myself during my early days as Danny's student, I realize how much of a brat I used to be with him. Then again, I didn't exactly want the responsibility of being a Halfa, either. As I'm reflecting, I try to think of the spot where my mindset changed and I went from lazy ghost student to determined super girl in training. Images of Shane and Nett appear in mind. Nett was a good friend. Good back up. But Shane. He's saved my ass more times than I could count. And the only way I could repay it was saving his when he needed it. And to do that, I had to really up my game with Danny. I guess, my turning point was when I realized I had something to protect...

"Wendy!" I hear Danny call, snapping me out of my thoughts. He stands in the middle of the floor, tired and exhausted. "How many more of these do I have to do before I can break?"

Oops. Forgot about Danny. "You can take a break now. Sorry Danny," I apologize with a sheepish grin. Heh.

Danny drops the weight and walks over to where I'm sitting, hands on hips. "You okay? You looked like you were spacing out for a minute there."

"Sorry," I apologize. "Just thinking, that's all."

"About?" Danny asks, sitting next to me like a curious child, despite how similar in age we look right now. "Oh, it's about Shane isn't it." No. Well, technically but him and other things. "Sorry Wendy. I didn't know you were still hung up about it. If I'd known I wouldn't have set him up with Paulina."

"No it's fine," I say, laid back. "Thank you actually."

This time Danny looks distraught, as if I'm confusing him. "You're thanking me?"

I smile, a little embarrassed. Would he understand my reasoning? "Have you ever cared about someone before so much that, you were willing to throw away your own happiness for theirs?"

That question sounds so foreign to Danny, but he tries to reason through. "I can't say I have. I think. Dunno." Danny laughs. "Sorry. But, I can you really care about that guy. He's really lucky."

"I'm the lucky one," I smile, reaching into my shirt and pulling out the small pocket watch. I dare not open it in fears of Danny seeing the picture of him in it, but I know Shane's image is in here as well. "Shane was there for me through everything, even before I got my powers. And, somewhere along the lines I..." fell in love?

"Say no more," Danny smiles, understanding that much. "But, if you guys like each other so much then why'd you break up?"

"It's complicated, Danny," I say. Ew. It's complicated? I used to despise girls who said that phrase, where the situation is never as complicated as they make it out to be. Is mine really that complicated? "I know we may not look it now, but Nett, Shane and I are 18. And back home we're all going to college soon."

"Really?" Danny asks. "Wow."

"And, as much as I'd like to stay with Shane," I hug my knees. "I can't hold him back from his career. He should be free to try new things, without me holding him down." Would Shane really go to his dream school if he and I were still together? If he met his soul mate, would Shane go after her if he was till tied down with little old me? "I'll never admit it to anyone, but Shane's too good for me."

"Gosh," Danny sighs out, resting his back against the wall like me. "That's such a twisted love story."

I laugh at that, surprising Danny enough. "Wait to you go through the rest of high school."

"Hope I can find a girl who'll like me like that one day," Danny grins, looking up and
imagining it. And at that moment I can't help but think of Mom. Sam. I'm guessing right now they can't even imagine their future together. So I decide to poke some fun with my 'student'.

"What about that Sam girl?" I ask with the same look Nett used to give me when he'd tease me. "You guys seem pretty close."

"Sam?" Danny blinks. "N-Nah. Sam's my best friend. It's weird to picture her in that kinda light, you know?"

"I know," I smile, understanding. I guess Danny and I were more similar than I thought. All these years, I never did get to know Mom and Dad's love story beyond me being born, but I leave it at that. It's nice, having these talks with Danny again.

All of a sudden again, our ghost sense comes up. A small strip of cold visible air escapes from my mouth and Danny's, and we exchange similar reactions. A ghost is nearby.

"Wow," I blink. "Haven't had one of those in a while."

"Then you know what it means," Danny says, standing up. The alarm on the Ghost Portal is sounding off, and I pull myself to my feet. Something tells me we already know who's coming through the portal.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"So you're a cheerleader," Shane says, trying to be enthusiastic and polite.

Paulina grins. "Yeah. Captain."

Mm. Wendy was a co-soccer captain. He was thinking of her again. "Casper High must really be into sports then." He and Paulina are at a nearby mall, eating in the food court and hanging out. This was the type of date Shane used to go on with Crissy, and he figured the same would suit someone like Paulina. And for a while the 'date' was going alright. But Shane just couldn't bring himself to be further interested than he was already pretending.

"We are. Mr. Lancer says Casper High is on the brink of making all the Fall championships."

Heh. Figures Lancer would still be a teacher around this period. "So uh, what kind of guys are you normally into?"

"Mm," Paulina thinks. "Normally muscle guys. Athletes. You know."

"So you're that type," Shane says. "I don't think I really fit that category."

"Perhaps," Paulina says with a finger to her chin. "But you do seem cool, and you are pretty cute." Her blue-green eyes light up all of a sudden. "Hey! Why don't you come with me to my school dance as my date? I could really use one."

"Dance?" Shane repeats, caught off guard by the forward request.

"Yeah. In a couple days our school's having this retro style dance in our gym. It's going to be pretty fun I think. Would you be willing to tag along?"

"I..." Shane thinks for a moment. Normally he'd turn things like this down but, he had to remember why he was out on a date in the first place. I need to get over Wendy. "Sure. I'd love to."

Paulina does a cute little gasps as her hands fly to her face. "Really? Oh my gosh you have no idea how scared I was you'd say no."

"Why would I say no?" Shane smiles politely.

Paulina looks like she's about to say something else, but her phone rings off an she goes to see what it is. Shane can't help but think mentally how her flip phone reminds him of mine. Old and retro. "I've gotta go. But, if you want you can come over later? My dad's out of town for the week," she offers flirterously.

"I'll uh, keep that in mind," Shane says, unsure how to take the invitation.

"I'll call you later okay?" Paulina is about to stand and go up to leave, but much to Shane's surprise she leans over the table to kiss him . Saying yes to a dance. Yes. Saying yes to an outing or date. Okay. A kiss? Shane wasn't particularly ready. But, alas, he was a guy. And a fairly attractive female was learning over to kiss him, and she wasn't particularly bad, either. Direct contact, the lip gloss taste he never really got with me, and the short clear line of cleavage he saw when his eyes were open. He couldn't help but kiss back.

Then just as quick as it happened, Paulina retreats back. "Oh, sorry Shane. I don't usually kiss on the first date but, you were really a gentleman today."

"I-It's no problem," Shane assures, wondering what just happened. Paulina says goodbye one more time before she walks away from their table and into the mall crowd. Shane sits, taking in the events that just occurred. "Did I just...?" Shane loses his voice, and he sits back. Did he enjoy the kiss? Yes. Was he thinking of Paulina? Her body, yes. But mentally, he couldn't help but just compare her to his ex-girlfriend, nearly a polar opposite.

Unlike Paulina, and even Crissy, Shane's hormones automatically remembered the soft touch and charm I had as compared to Paulina's or Crissy's direct approach. How soft and smooth my lips were in a kiss as opposed to slippery and rough as those who used lip gloss and went straight into tongue. How with me, it was more than just making out with a girl you liked - it was with someone very special, whereas Paulina was just eye candy with a bigger bra size and a more obvious bottom curve.

These wavering thoughts between 'Paulina' and 'Wendy' further frustrated Shane to the point he just laid his head on the table. So much for getting over Wendy. "Stupid hormones," Shane muffles into his sleeve, only to hear his phone vibrate. Without lifting his head, Shane is able to retrieve his future-like phone and open and activate it without looking. When he finally looks up, his heart beats even harder upon seeing my picture on the screen.

"Aaah!" Shane jumps, startled. He realizes it's a call and hurries to answer, pushing away dirtier thoughts to the back of his mind. "Wendy?"

"How the heck do you use this- Shane? Shane is this you?" Danny's voice calls desperately instead.

Was that Danny using Wendy's phone? "Danny?"

"Hey yeah what's up - sorry for interrupting your date and all but we could really use you back here in the labs-!" CRASH. EXPLODE. "AAAAH! WENDY! Shane it's Plasmius hurry! Ack, and get Nett too I can't use this thing-!"

The phone cuts off with static, and Shane's mindset automatically turns off and into a different mode. He's running across the mall with a single thought and sets to call Nett, wherever he went. Wasn't he supposed to be at FentonWorks too? "Dude, get your ass to FentonWorks quick! I think Danny and Wendy are in trouble! It's Plasmius again!" Shane hangs up with that simple message, dodging people as he scurries to get to his destination. One thing is on his mind, and he won't rest until he's sure I'm safe. Wendy!

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"WAHH!" I fly back, attempting to soften my land as my head nears the floor. Flipping myself over, I dart right back up into the air to hit Plasmius. Only it's a copy, and suddenly that duplication power is the epitome of my nerves. "Never before have I hated a ghost power with such passion before."

Danny lands and slides on his feet, ending up below me. "Something's not right. All of them are copies - not one of them is the real Vlad."

"Can't be. He has to be here somewhere. Just keep blasting them, Danny!" Danny doesn't question my order and we continue taking out clone after clone. It can't be. One of these has to be the original. He's not that powerful is he?

"You're coming with us!" one of the Plasmius copies says, catching me from behind with a second clone. So they were after me.

"Let me go!" I shout, turning in a tornado line spin and shaking them off, only for three more to tackle me.

Meanwhile outside, Shane is running down the street from one side while Nett, Sam, and Tucker are running from the opposite direction. As they close in on FentonWorks, they see the Fenton RV parked out front, and all four teens skid to a stop on both sides of the vehicle.

"What the heck is this?" Nett asks, bewildered by its huge and intricate design.

"Danny's parents' ride," Sam whispers. Just on cue, the front doors open. On Nett, Sam, and Tucker's side. Jack and Maddie exit to greet the kids. Meanwhile on the opposite side, a third man exists on Shane's side, dressed in a suit with long white hair and dark circles around his eyes. Shane stays still with a defensive face to the apparent stranger, until something hostile clicks in his head.

"Hey kids!" Jack greets. "Here to meet up with Danny?"

"Yeah Mr. Fenton!" Tucker agrees, nervously chuckling.

"Well don't let us keep you. Come on in, Vlad," Maddie calls, as the kids see a third man walk around the front of the RV. Tucker and Sam try their best not to look too surprised, but when the three adults disappear into the house, they're free to talk.

"Who was that?" Nett asks.

"That was Vlad," Sam glares. "I thought Shane said Plasmius was fighting Danny and Wendy downstairs."

"That's what he told me," Nett says, confused.

"Who the hell was that?" Shane's suddenly up toned voice speaks, startling the three. Shane steps out from the other side of the Fenton RV, a slightly intimidating expression on view.

Nett blinks, all the more clueless. "Um-"

"That was a ghost, wasn't it," Shane says, trying to keep his instincts under control. Shane looks to Nett, hoping he understands. "My Ghost Blood instincts are kicking in. He's a ghost, right?"

Nett's worry rises as Tucker scratches his head. "Yeah but, how'd you know?"

"Long story. Special bloodline we need to get downstairs now," Nett rushes, the four teens rushing into the house. However Jack, Maddie, and this 'Vlad' are seated in the living room, shaking tea and cookies. And by the looks of it they won't be leaving any time soon.

"There you kids are why don't you join us?" Jack invites enthusiastically. "I'm sure Danny will be down in a minute."

The teens exchange looks, unable to argue with the elder Fenton. But just being in the room with this other man, they felt uncomfortable, if not at all confused.

"Um, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton? Where's the bathroom?" Shane speaks up.

"There's a laboratory in the kitchen, lad," Jack offers, pointing into the room nearby.

"Thank you Mr. Fenton!" Shane says quickly, but not before whispering to the others to keep the adults stalled upstairs. But as Shane runs out of the room, he can't help but feel this Vlad guys' stare on his back.

Shane takes a turn downstairs to the basement, where he can hear the battle and struggle taking place. Boxes are everywhere and the view before him is astounding that he has to stop at the base of the stairs.

Danny is trying his best to keep the Plasmius duplicates from carrying me through the Ghost Portal. If anything this whole ordeal has turned into a game of tug of war, and it's been getting on my nerves. And where the heck is our so called back up anyway!? "That's enough!" I scream, sending out a huge wave of ghost energy all around. It's enough to blow even Danny away, as well as obliterating all the Plasmius duplicates. If anything it only shows that all of them really were clones, with the original not even here.

Shane falls back as well, and sadly the outburst of ghost energy is enough to send a huge box of parts falling to its side, ending with a huge crash.

"What was that?" Maddie jumps, having heard the crash.

"I'm sure it was nothing," Tucker tries to distract, but they can't explain the second crash coming from below. "Uh, ghost mice?"

"Ghosts?!" Jack exclaims with excitement.

"Nice..." Sam glares. Jack and Maddie stand up and go to rush to their lab, and the kids inevitably follow, leaving behind their mysterious guest to wait in the living room.

"Agh..." Danny groans, already turned human from exhaustion. Looking up, he and Shane see my limp levitating body floating downwards. The two boys don't hesitate to run and catch me before I reach the floor. Shane beats Danny to it. "What the heck was that?"

"I dunno. She never used that power before," Shane says as he holds my light and unconscious ghost body. Hearing a stampede of footsteps, Shane and Danny look up, seeing shadows coming along and downstairs.

Danny panics. "Not good not good she's still a ghost!"

"Well what do we do?" Shane panics, his voice lowering as the shadows close in down the steps.

Danny looks left and right in a panic as Shane shakes me to wake me up, until an idea strikes up in the teen Fenton. "I have an idea but you have to go along quick."

"What's going on down here!" Jack announces as he and his entourage arrives. However all of them gasp in the sight before them.

In the middle of the lab in front of the ghost portal, Shane stands holding me leaning over, kissing me in my human form with Danny standing nearby in 'apparent shock'. Turns out when the kiss woke me up, the shock of my body's exhaustion was enough to turn me human.

"Whoa," Nett blinks.

Danny fake gasps, seeing their audience. "And cut!" Danny yells. What?

Eventually Shane breaks off the sudden (yet not unwelcome) kiss and I'm held there in complete and utter cluelessness. "What was that?" I blink.

"Danny calls it a fake-out-make-out," Shane whispers as he holds me, just as confused.

"You guys were great! Now my play for Romeo and Juliet is perfect! Lancer just has to give me an A!" Danny claps, walking towards us with this convincing demeanor that this was all planned. Was it all planned? I just woke up. Danny turns around, acting surprised to see everyone. "Oh, hey guys! I was just borrowing Shane and Sam's cousin for this script I wrote for school." Wow.

"Wow," Tucker laughs quietly.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Alright," Danny says as he leads me, Shane, Nett, Tucker, and Sam into his room. "You guys stay in here while I go down for some 'family time' with my parents and Vlad."

"Hurry back okay," Sam bids as Danny closes the door, as if keeping up in some protected safe. "That was close."

"No kidding," Tucker frowns. "What I don't get was that I thought you guys were fighting Plasmius."

"We were fighting Plasmius. All fifteen of him," I say, a little beat up. "And I have the scars to prove it."

"But he's in the living room right now with Danny and his parents," Tucker says.

"Don't you get it Tuck?" Sam asks. "Vlad's downstairs but he sent clones of himself to get Wendy from the Ghost Zone."

"Who's Vlad?" I ask, the only clueless one in the group.

"Apparently a Halfa," Shane says with a hardened stare. "Vlad is the real identity of Plasmius."

"And apparently Danny's arch enemy," Nett adds in.

Sam nods. "I don't know what he's up to but he must've been trying to keep us all separated. And his plan almost worked, too."

"No kidding," I say, feeing as sore as ever. One thing I so don't miss about being a ghost is the beat ups. You take damage as a ghost, but when you turn back into a human, the damage feels like it's doubled.

"Hey guys! Can you come down for a sec!?" Danny's voice begs.

"Ooh. I know that call. It means come down here and make the situation less awkward," Tucker reads, standing up next to Sam. "We'll go down and stick with Danny. You guys can wait in here is that cool?"

"Yeah. Thanks Tucker," Shane says, sitting next to me as a lean post. When Sam and Tucker leave, the three of us are left alone and Shane says something that sounds really urgent. "You guys I don't trust that Vlad person one bit."

"No duh. He tried to kidnap me," I grumble, not liking this stranger either.

"No," Shane whispers, not meaning that. "You know how the three of us were at the FentonWorks lab? Before we ended up back in this time period?" Nett nods, and I arch an eyebrow. "While we were split up in the dark, I could've sword I saw a face." Shane saw something? Was it the same light I saw from the windows that day? "I'm willing to bet anything that that Vlad-guy was the same person I saw down in the labs that night."

"Vlad Masters?" Nett asks to be sure.

"You think he could've been the one who sent us back in time?" I ask.

"I don't know yet. But he's here, in the house right now. We can't ignore this information."

"Believe me we won't-" Nett stops abruptly. Now what? "Wendy you're bleeding."

... What that's it? "What?"

"Y-Y-Your head, it's bleeding!" Nett panics. I bring up my arm to touch the side of my temple. Some blood is on my finger but, it's not like it hurts majorly or anything. "Nett chill out it's alright I'll just-"

"No no no we need hot water- no cold water no we need gause and water and bandages and antibacterial wipes and- AGH you, you stay put I'll be right back!" Nett panics as he sprints up and almost trips on his way out the door.

Shane and I sit on the bed alone, completely lost at today's events. Especially the one right now. "I knew Nett could be pretty panicky about a lot of blood but..."

"Foley's Foley," Shane finishes, and nod. However realizing we were alone in company, we look at each other and I feel my face grow warm and we urn away from each other. I blame the cut on my head. With the quick turn, a sudden migraine shoots through my head and I react pretty vocally, holding my head. "H-Hey are you okay?"

"Yeah, just moved too quickly," I say clumsily. Soon enough I see Shane in front of me, pulling up a seat in front of the bed. He pulls out some tissues from the bed stand and begins to gently dab my cut. Mm, I can always count on Shane can't I. "Thank you."

"If you were smarter you would've done this earlier before Nett freaked out," Shane lectures, making us laugh a little. Shane continues to clean up the blood. "Geez. That ghost must've really roughed you up back there. Just how numb are you that you can't feel this thing on your head?"

"Pretty sore," I admit. "I haven't fought that hard in a long time. I kinda miss it."

"Well don't miss it too much. We need you in one piece when we get home or else Sam'll kill me." I laugh again, and Shane takes one last tissue, holding it to my head for me since I can't. "Alright, we'll just hold this here until it stops." I nod gently, and we sit there in silence in this position, waiting. I thought Nett was in a hurry. "Sorry about earlier, with the kiss down in the lab," Shane apologizes, reminding me of the scene. "We couldn't' figure out how to make you change back before everyone came down."

"No I understand. Besides it was Danny's idea," I reason, unable to hide my unconscious blush. "And it worked didn't it? I woke up right?"

"Well you did kiss back," Shane lets me know, and I look away shyly.

Stop it Wendy you can't feel this way anymore remember? "So how was your date with Paulina?" I ask, changing the subject. Why the hell I changed it to this one I'll never know.

"It went well," Shane nods, keeping hold of the side of my head with the tissue. "She uh, asked me to her school dance."

"School dance huh?" I smile, happy for him. "That's nice." Kinda fast, too...

"She's, pretty direct," Shane says, trying to think of a word. I produce a flat smile to show my enthusiasm, but I look down too. Shane closes in his head as his hand holds my head back up. "Keep your head up. You'll start bleeding again-" All of a sudden his face and mine are pretty close. And my emotions run wild all over again.

Normally when this happens, my mind blanks out and something or another happens, but I can't let it happen here. We're not dating anymore, remember? And he's already courting this other girl for kicks. I can't get in the way of that - I practically pushed him towards her. "H-How's my forehead now?" I ask, feeling light headed. I can't tell if it's from blood loss or the fact he's so close.

"Uh, still bleeding," Shane smiles sheepishly, removing the tight tissue and realizing it was soaked with blood already. He stands up to throw it away and get another one, only when he turns back towards me, Danny's mess of a room gets a better of him and he loosing footing over a piece of paper on the floor.

Shane slips forward towards me and I lean back in an attempt not to clash heads with him. And in a swift motion, one of his hands manage behind my head to soften my fall back into the bed as his other hand rushes to my wound to protect it from getting hit with any of the other clutter on Danny's bed - like this pointy toy airship near his pillow. Geez Danny really?

I can feel Shane's weight over my sore figure, but I'm already sore from battle, so this feels like nothing. The only pain I feel is the dizziness in my head from the swift fall. But, Shane's catch with my head did help a little. And I can feel my gash covered with that new tissue already. "Are you okay?" Shane whispers, lifting his torso off me.

"I-I'll manage," I say, feeling the room spinning and my head getting even lighter. Stupid battles. But Shane's face is so close. The last time he was this close was during that wake-up kiss in the lab. Just when I readied my mind for the fact I'd never be able to kiss Shane again, bam it happens. And now...

Shane leans closer, and I see just how bright his eyes are once more. "Shane." He closes the gap and kisses me softly, and suddenly my sore body and bleeding head - I can barely feel them. Shane's hand beneath me elevates my head a little, and my arms wrap about Shane, and this entire day's bottle of negative emotion is thrown away.

He rolls off me but his hand remains firmly pressed at my temple, where the tissue holds over my wound. And the his other hand holds the bottom of my chin as I run my hands through his hair. I've taken this for granted, too. I've missed Shane. I will miss him. Eventually I take his hand at my temple and glide it off - the tissue and the blood being the least of my worries. This leaves his hands with more freedom.

We inch closer and closer until I feel Shane's hand going form my shoulder down my arm and side, then it rests on my hip. When I feel his cold fingers slowly going up and under my shirt, I remember my place. My mental stance that I can't... I can't do this anymore.

"Shane," I breath out in between kisses. "Shane stop."

And just like always, Shane always listens to my words first. He stops, and his hand moves away from my side. By the look on my face, he can tell that we weren't supposed to do this anymore either. Being together...

"I," Shane didn't know what to say for himself. "I'm sorry. I didn't..."

I shake my head, feeling a cold trickle of blood once again from my head wound. My hand flies to it in reminder, and I feel a whole sense of guilt to what just happened.

Shane looks horrified, and we hear his phone ring. Shane looks to answer the text and I can't help but look, too. I see a girl's picture, and reading the name upside down, it begins with a 'P'. Paulina. My eyelids lower a little, feeling this horrible pain inside somewhere. "I-," Shane starts again.

"You should go," I cut off.

"Wendy."

"I'm sorry, too," I say abruptly, not looking at him. Why is this so hard? Letting him go.

Getting a second text from this girl as a reminder, Shane turns around swiftly and leaves without another word, and I lower my head ever more so my bangs cover my eyes. Shane almost bumps into Nett on the way out, but he gives no explanation as to where he's going. Nett tries to say something but, Shane's gone. "What was that?" Nett asks, but I sit where I was on the bed, head turned away and a hand beside my head.

"Wendy?" Nett smiles, walking over. "I found a first aid kit." He sits in Shane's chair, and he lifts my head up to see me crying. Nett of course goes into panic mode once more. "H-Hey what happened? What's wrong what happened?" He takes more tissues to wipe my face of the tears, like a mom. Heh. "Why're you crying, Wen? Does it hurt that bad?" Nett asks in a frantic tone, not knowing how to deal with this.

"Yeah..." I whisper as Nett opens his first aid kid with all this medical stuff inside. He starts pulling out different things in a umped mess like a spray and cotton. But, it really does hurt. So, so much inside.

I can't blame Shane for what just happened. It was partially my fault too. It takes two to kiss, doesn't it? But hormones are hormones. And with Shane going to college, well, I just have to get used to the idea that he won't be interested in me forever. There're prettier girls, smarter ones. He'll find his match soon enough.

And when he does, he'll finally be able to be with that person and... forget about me. Just imagining it, another lone tear slides down my face as Nett tries to repair my wound.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Elsewhere, Shane walks along the night streets of Amity Park., mind cluttered with images 'Wendy Manson'. Come on Shane hurry up! Shane, you're so weird. You jerk! Shane, that was awfully nice of you. You know, Shane, you clean up pretty good; you know, for a jerk. Shane thank you so much! Shane! Haha!

The boy shuts his eyes. "Stop it," he forces. As if they didn't have enough major problems to deal with. Now silly love-problems have to revolve as well.

Shane makes it to his destination that night and he rings the doorbell, resting against the door post. I have to forget about her, he thinks. We're over, remember?

"Hello?" The door finally opens, and Paulina opens the door in a teenager's version of night pajamas. A see-through blouse and booty shorts. She looks surprised to see it's Shane, and he can't tell if it's an act or not, but he takes out his frustration here anyway. "Oh Shane. It's you. Guess you accepted my invitation after all."

"Can I come in?" Shane asks.

Paulina smiles, eyelids lowering. She leaves against the back wall behind the door, arms crossed and squishing against the sides of her chest to show off her not-so covered cleavage. "That depends, how long are you willing to stay?" she asks low and seductive.

Shane stands outside, consciously knowing this was wrong. If he did this there was no going back to who he was now. But it was the only way he'd be able to forget about his feelings. "How long are you willing to keep me?" he responds, face as emotionless as he wishes to feel.

Shane walks through her door and straight to Paulina, mouths connecting and his hands aiming right to her barely covered hips, pelvises leaning and arms moving. Breaking the kiss only temporarily, Paulina manages to quickly remove Shane's shirt, tossing it aside to the shoe-wrack before she wraps her arms back around his head. Hearing his deep moans through the kiss, she smirks. Shane then aims at her neck, feeding of her moans as one of his hands lower her bra strap over her already slipping see through shirt. Hormones rage over his mentally 18-year old mind as Shane feels her chest pressing against his own, which he was very new to. And despite knowing this was wrong, he couldn't stop. Wouldn't stop. Paulina's legs wrap around his waist as Shane holds her up, pressing her against the wall as he deepens the kiss every chance he gets.

He can feel everything, from her lips to the smell of her long hair, from her pressing chest to the smooth feel of her legs around his bare sides and his hands grasping her soft butt, barely covered anyway from her 'shorts'. He carries her like this, and not breaking the kiss, Shane closes the door behind him.

November! Haha, new birthday! New whole year! Fresh start and suffs :3
Thought I'd update - shake things up a little. Soooo, Plasmius/Vlad is up to no good, but what exactly is his plan, anyway?

And SHANE! I know, huge turn around lots of burns tears shall be shed. It's all part of the plot so sorry if anyone's mad! But the next chapter will be up soon enough! But I hope all us Danny Phantom fans are doing well in school this season, or elsewhere!

PREVIEW:

"Yo Danny, Tucker come'ere."

"What is it?"

"Shane here is going to ask Wendy to our prom back home and we need prom-proposal ideas," Nett announces with a smirk, waking Shane up from his emotionless shelled coma.

"What-?"

"Ooh prom?! I'm in!" Tucker immedietly agrees.

x-x-x

You okay?" Danny asks. "Still thinking about guy troubles?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"You know, if you really like the guy then I don't see why you can't just get back together with him."

"It's not that simple, Danny. Besides, you set him up and with Paulina, remember?"