The Art of Science
By Lacey52

.o.O.o.o.O.o.

A note: Think of the beginning as a mini-comedic-horror, just for kicks. I think it's pretty funny…

As for Sam and her behavior thus far, in this chapter, and in chapters to come:

She is under a ton of stress if you think about it. She's normally fiercely independent and is suddenly having to rely on other people to take care of her and her problem. She's a living ghost magnet and not enjoying the dangerous attention in the least. She's having problems with Danny, in the Valerie way and in the Phantom is freaking her out for some weird reason way. And to top it all off she doesn't understand anything that is happening to her. I'd be acting weird too if I were in her position!

Anywho, you guys enjoy and tons of love to you. Stick with it, I promise that in…three or four chapters things will begin to right themselves. We've only got eight chapters left by the way!

.o.O.o.o.O.o.

Chapter Nine: Base

.o.O.o.o.O.o.

"Danny, sweetie," his mother's voice barely roused him from his sleep, the feeling of her fingers slipping over his forehead just registering as he let his eyes slide open. He'd stayed up far too late, having only gone to bed around an hour before, "Just wanted to let you know we'll be down in the lab today, doing the final setup and turning on all the equipment today. Tell Jazz and Danni when you wake up so no one worries where we are."

"M'kay," and with that the boy rolled back over, wanting another three hours of sleep before getting up to face the day and Sam who would be coming over then. By the time Maddie had made it to the door Danny was out again, completely forgetting that he'd even had a conversation with his mother that day.

He'd certainly be regretting it later…

.o.O.o.o.O.o.

A knock, followed by the doorbell, followed by another impatient knock.

'Door…that means that Sam's here!' and Danny was shoving past Danni, Jazz, and Tucker in a bid to reach the door as quickly as he could, "I'm coming! Hold on, hold on!"

He had to ignore their sniggering as they figured out what was going on, deciding it was a bit more important to reach the girl waiting on his front porch. As soon as his hand was on the doorknob and turning the deadbolt another knock came, the rapping quick and sharp and making him wince slightly.

'Why the heck is the door locked?' Sam pounded on the door once again, frustrated that she couldn't simply walk in as she had planned, 'They never lock their door unless they're all gone…'

"Hey, sorry about that," the boy pulled the door open quickly and stood with a hand behind his head, grinning a bit too cutely for his own good, "Parents locked the door so people couldn't just randomly come in. They're down in the lab doing…something. I can't really remember Mom telling me what, though."

"They never mind when people randomly come in though," she made her way in and headed towards the living room, giving the other three a wave as soon as they were in sight, "Hey guys, what gives? You trying to keep the ghost magnet away now or what?"

"Something like that," Tucker teased back, grinning with Danni as they both stuck out their tongue at her. Sam just rolled her eyes and moved to sit with them, opting to sit beside Danni on the floor rather than get stuck with the other three on the couch, "Nah, seriously it's just 'cause the Fenton parental units wanted it that way."

"That's what Danny said," Sam agreed, then rolled her eyes as Danny grinned at the mentioning of his name and Danni looked up at her, confused over something she'd never said, "Danny with a 'y' not Danni with an 'i''."

The round 'o' form of the younger halfa's lips had everyone laughing and feeling a little better. Sam settled herself more comfortably, and found herself leaning on the couch between Danny's legs. He immediately took advantage of the situation by tapping on her head, trying to get her to look up at him, but Sam remained in her original position, ignoring him completely and fighting off the smile on her lips. Things were definitely feeling better between them, even if neither had apologized about anything yet.

Then of course, the electricity flickered, leaving them all in the dark for a few seconds, during which a strange whirring could be heard as something began to glow dimly all around them.

As soon as the lights came back on, the five adolescents in the living room found themselves surrounded by a rather large amount of ghost hunting equipment, nearly all focused on Danny and Danni, though a few were seemingly keeping track of the other three beings in their sights, most specifically on Sam. Danni let out a muffled scream a half second before all the machines fired; some shooting beams, some nets, and some gooey looking slime.

In all it looked terribly lethal and as Sam sat huddled behind the shield that Danny had thrown up and was barely able to maintain, gripping his right calf so tightly she was probably leaving bruises, she had to wonder inwardly over how very strange her life was becoming. It was something straight out of a science fiction horror movie set in the future where the houses were artificially intelligent and decided they wanted to murder everyone inside of them. As the shield cracked a little further, Sam decidedly pushed those thoughts from her head and held tighter, closing her eyes as she huddled closer to the halfa and hoped that he'd figure some way out of this mess.

"Everybody hold on!" and they all lunged for either Danny himself or Sam who was already clinging to him, grabbing whatever they could hold in order for Danny to turn them intangible, "Here we go!"

At that instant the shield dropped, things whizzing through them and all around them, completely destroying the couch where they had been sitting and relaxing scant moments before. Sam opened her eyes and pulled away slightly, relieved to see that Danny hadn't even broken a sweat over what he'd done, though earlier he had seemed quite exhausted from the exertion of maintaining such a large shield.

The boy himself was staring fixedly at Sam, fearing that what he'd done had something to do with her. He shouldn't have been able to hold such a large shield for so long against his parents' machinery, especially since they'd so carefully upgraded everything. He shouldn't be feeling this good after putting that much energy into it, but he was, 'Okay, think about this later…everything is still focused on us and even if something weird is going on, there's no way I can do this for forever…think…where can we go?'

"Danny, do something," Jazz pleaded with him, hanging onto his arm tightly in her fear of what was happening, "Mom and Dad must have turned on all the equipment! They're not going to come up until lunch because they'll be too busy working on things down there to think to check up here!"

"I seriously doubt they're having as many problems as we are right now Jazz," Tucker pointed out from his spot beside her, holding onto her elbow and looking around frantically, "Isn't there somewhere in this house that isn't booby trapped?"

"Jazz's room wasn't a couple of days ago," Danni pointed out, looking far more scared than any of them, happy when Danny nodded his agreement, "Danny, please, let's go there!"

"No, wait!" Jazz tugged him to a stop, worrying over how much longer he could keep up the intangibility, "Mom came in yesterday and put some new gadgets in…"

"Then where the heck…can we go?" the halfa was finally starting to feel the strain of rendering them all untouchable for so long, "Can we just go outside?"

"How will we get all of this stuff to stop then?" Sam finally spoke up, looking around at all the waiting equipment, "Wait a second…go outside Danny, I have a plan."

Thankful that someone had finally managed to think of something to do, the boy happily did as requested, depositing them all on the doorstep. A second later he had to flip himself out of the way, pulling Sam with him as he went and using just a touch of his powers to make it up and over with the girl in his arms. Sam stood dazedly for a second, then relaxed when she was released. The entire situation was making her far too jumpy.

Danni had moved in much the same way, scooting as quickly as she could backwards on her rear, feet pushing her along as a few shots fired at her until she was far enough away from the house. Jazz rushed over to her, as did Tucker to check her for injuries. There were thankfully none, though she was more than a little shook up and was shaking, a few tears sliding down her cheeks, "I am never going in that house again until someone stops the madness!"

Sam chuckled at that, happy that Danni hadn't lost her unique sense of humor even in such a dire situation.

"What am I gonna' do now?" Danny huffed out and kicked a rock towards his house, frowning when it actually hit the door and nothing reacted, "Great…it's just me and Danni that can't go in there. Perfect, I can just see it now. Mom standing on the steps demanding that I come inside and me getting fried in the process. Wonderful!"

"Calm down, dork," Sam pushed him, breaking his concentration completely as he turned on her with a frown which she ignored, hesitantly pushing forward with her thoughts, "I told you I had a plan, so just listen for a second."

"We're listening," Jazz nodded, still sitting on the ground beside Danni as Tucker knelt beside them, nodding his agreement and still looking a little shocked himself.

"First off, what happened exactly?" Sam looked back towards the house, though the house seemed to be looking back and leering at them, daring them to try entering, "Not that I don't like the remodeling your parents have done or anything."

"Yeah, real cute," Danny shot back, still irritated with everything that had just happened, "They finally turned on the…aw man. Mom woke me up this morning and told me they were turning all the new security features on today…crap!"

"So…security features, as in…a type of ghost burglar alarm or something?" Sam spun on her heel to look at Danny who was standing behind her, "That means there's some way to turn it off right?"

"I…guess so…"

"There is," Jazz nodded as she stood, pulling Danni up along with her, "Down in the lab, but that's where Mom and Dad are. Besides we don't want to turn it all off. They put them up specifically because Vlad…er Plasmius has been threatening Mom."

"When did that happen?" Danny was starting to near critical at that moment and desperately needed something to make some semblance of sense right then, "Why didn't you tell me Jazz, I could have done something!"

"I didn't find out until they started putting stuff up in the living room, and then I accidentally heard them talking about it," Jazz held up her hands placatingly, trying to cool Danny off a little, "I figured they had everything under control and there was no way I could have known it would have turned out like this. They've never made anything this sensitive to ecto-signatures, and you know it."

"Okay, so we can't turn it off," Sam frowned and looked towards the asphalt street below her, thinking hard on what could be done, "Is there anyway to disable just enough of the equipment for Danny and Danni to be safe in the house?"

"No, because we'd have to disable it all," Tucker was thinking too, using Sam's idea as a springboard for his own, "But, we could recalibrate all the guns and everything so they didn't bother Danni or Danny! It would be even easier because Danni and Danny have the same signature since they're clones."

"That would make it really specific," Sam chewed on her lips, already knowing that problems could arise from that, "which would mean that any clone of Danny would be safe. Didn't that story about Danny have other clones in it?"

"Yeah, there were other ones, but they all melted," the girl shook her head, a little sad that she had lost her siblings even though they'd never treated her as such, "Vlad said it wasn't difficult to clone Danny at all."

"That means that anyone with enough knowledge could clone me again," Danny nodded, following Sam's line of thinking. Danny's fist hit his open palm, surprising everyone at how forcefully he'd done so, "So that means we're going to have to get even more specific than that."

"How?" Tucker puzzled, glancing between all the other confused faces around him and Danny's nearly crazed grin, "Dude, what are you thinking, and do I even want to know?"

"All we have to do," he began, looking back towards the house with a happy smile on his face, "is make sure all the equipment is calibrated to Plasmius' ecto-signature. Two problems solved in one go."

"How are we going to do that?" Jazz started, being the voice of reason as always, "For one thing, it would take way to long to go room to room and try to correct all the equipment, which would also be putting Danni or Danny in danger, and for another, Mom and Dad are down in the lab, where we'd need to go to input the information into their main computer."

"Well," Sam looked humorously back towards the house, a sardonic grin spreading across her face, "They do need a new couch…"

.o.O.o.o.O.o.

An hour and much argument later found Jazz and Tucker swinging their heads to look at the entryway of the house of horrors that they'd just come out of. In their minds they knew they were the logical choice, Danni and Danny couldn't get within ten feet of the house, and Sam was probably safer where ever Danny was until her problem could be sorted out, which left them to go through with their carefully constructed plan.

In their minds, they also knew that they had nothing to fear as they were completely human and the house only honed in on ectoplasm and whatever being was using or being held together by it. It was unsettling to be shot at by a house you had known for years to say the least.

'Okay, just up the steps and to the door,' Jazz was mentally preparing herself as she walked besides Tucker, memories of Danny's freshman, and her senior year, when her father was hunting her not helping in the least with her nervousness, 'Just open the door…'

"Jazz," Tucker shot her a strange look, not sure whether the girl beside him was alright or not, "I can just go in by myself. It's not a big deal."

"Maybe not to you," the girl muttered under her breath then straightened and put her hand on the doorknob, "Besides it won't be right if you went and told my parents that the couch was destroyed if I'm supposedly somewhere in the house. They'd get suspicious about what was going on and want to check on everyone."

"You sure?"

The question came too late though as Jazz twisted the handle and pushed the door in, confidently striding ahead towards the kitchen with Tucker hurrying to catch up in her wake, 'Geeze Jazz, you're walking fast today…must be scared.'

That thought brought a brotherly smile to Tucker's face as he followed her through the kitchen and down the stairs of the lab, barely casting a glance to where Plasmius was caged in the corner before redirecting his gaze. He never wanted to be leered at that way again, though today was going to bring about many opportunities for the ghost to do so.

"Mom, Dad?" Jazz questioned as she took in the lab and couldn't find her parents, "Don't tell me they're in the wigwam again…"

"No sweetie," Maddie's head finally appeared from behind a set of consoles, Jack's hand appearing to snag a screwdriver that was hanging from her hand that she had pulled herself up with, "We're just trying to realign the stabilization compartment on this one operating system. It messed with the power for a few seconds, but we seemed to have straightened it out. How are things upstairs?"

"Everything's fine now," Jazz shrugged, trying to play her part well as she watched Tucker roll his eyes and frown, "but um…the couch is obliterated."

"The couch?" Jack's head appeared, joining his wife as they both looked horrified, "My sitting and eating fudge while watching the Greenbay Packers place?"

"Um yeah," Jazz winced, knowing that her father was going to be in quite a mood for the next few moments, lamenting the fall of the couch he so loved, "We just thought that you should know. Danny and Danni and Sam are all up in his room and me and Tucker thought we should probably tell you before we head up too."

"Jazzy-pants," her father rushed and pulled her into a hug, "You're such a good responsible girl…and the couch…"

"It's okay, Mr. Fenton," Tucker patted his back hesitatingly, Maddie watching on with an exasperated, if not slightly fond, smile, "You can always buy a new one."

"That's right, dear," Maddie stepped forward and detached Jack from their daughter, pulling her hood down as she walked him toward the stairs, "We can go right now. The consol is about as good as it will get for now and everything is working well with the minor glitch of the couch…it might have had too much ectoplasmic residue on it and the tracers picked it up."

"But I liked that couch," the man whined while they disappeared out of the lab door and into the kitchen, "Can we get one just like it, it was so comfy?"

"Yes, yes…," but Maddie's voice faded out and soon the pair heard the front door closing. It was time to get to work, and as Tucker started for the computers and quickly shut the new security down, Jazz walked calmly back up the stairs and to the back door, where the two halfas and Sam stood waiting, well away from the house.

It was time to get to work.

.o.O.o.o.O.o.

"Alright, one recalibration process," Tucker stretched his arms forwards with his fingers linked, a rapid succession of popping indicating his moment of loosening up, "Coming right up…"

Jazz knelt beside one of the other computers, carefully unscrewing the metal casing so that access to the wiring system and computer chips could be had in case Tucker would need them in order to reroute the information he was currently inputting. Sam sat on the other side of the lab with Danni, well out of harms way and at the opposite end of the basement from the ghost zone portal. Both girls were feeling a little left out as the other three went to work, Danny's job being the most simple.

All he had to do was hold still for Tucker while in the form of Phantom, when it was easiest to trace his ectoplasmic signature. This let Tucker find the correct coding in the computer to change it to their specifications. It was also a perk, in Danny's case, because it gave him time to watch Plasmius who had sat placidly watching the ensuing activity the entire time. He was thankfully quiet, as were the rest of them…all straining to hear the sound of a door upstairs opening.

The quiet nature of the ghost, however, was both a blessing and a curse. It meant he was watching, plotting, and scheming, and Danny didn't like that at all, 'Fruit loop thinks he's gonna' pull a fast one on me today? No way, buddy…you'll be fried extra crispy if you try anything while everyone is here with me.'

"Alright, I got your signature," Tucker nodded to the boy, who turned to stand more fully facing Plasmius, "All we need to do now is hone in on the one signature we want it to find and I'll rewrite the code. It should keep the weapons trained on him at all times, but would probably only fire if he made it outside of the containment unit."

"Tucker, do you need into this part?" Jazz called from across the way, looking at the panel she'd just taken off, "It doesn't look like what you described."

"Nah, sorry," he shook his head, glancing between the screen and her, "Your parents did this system a little differently. I can rewrite everything from right here and not have to mess with any of that."

"Great," Danny smiled briefly, then looked over to where the other two girls sat, "Um…you don't need me to be right here at this spot anymore right?"

"No man," Tucker waved him off, more focused on what he was doing at the moment.

Danni, the older halfa noticed, was looking more than a little uncomfortable right then and with good reason. When Plasmius' attention was not focused on Danny, it was split between Sam and Danielle, making the younger girl extremely nervous after her previous encounter with him, which she still had not told in detail to anyone. Danny was beginning to wonder though, if she'd perhaps told Sam, as Sam had positioned herself so as to block her from the ghost's view after a few moments of his unwanted attention.

"So you two young ladies," the boy strode up, standing tall and confident as ever while in the guise of a superhero, "Is there anything I can do for you today? Personal ghost type hero, at your service."

The cheeky grin on his face should have made Sam laugh. It should have made her feel even more attracted to him in that moment or set butterflies winging through her stomach. It should have, but instead she found herself uncomfortable in his presence, not wanting the attention for no apparent reason at all. She was honestly having a hard time looking him straight in the face, but she forced herself to, desperately wanting to appear normal right then.

"How about some ice cream after this?" Danni piped up quickly, hoping that the younger Fenton sibling would be just as willing as the older. Jazz had finished with her task and walked over to Tucker, watching as he input script and offering suggestions every now and again when she heard the question.

"Don't listen to her Danny," Jazz teased, then turned back to helping Tucker, "She'll eat you out of your entire allowance and your savings before you even realize it. She's done it twice to me already."

"Sneaky," Danny nodded his approval, making the younger girl laugh, "Very good, young grasshopper…"

"Yes, very good," Plasmius' voice finally made its way to them from the corner, "The two of you are getting so close, so very close, to being so very much like myself. First the bribing, then the twisting of words to get your way. Sneakiness is always a plus, as you said Danny Phantom."

"Shut it fruit loop," both Fenton siblings growled out, leaving Tucker laughing, Danni with a tiny grin on her face…and Sam backing away slightly, holding the edge of her skirt and looking away from Danny.

"What's up Sam, too cold around a ghost?" the boy teased gently, holding his palm out to her with a small ice crystal standing on end, "Just for you…"

Her hand inched out, and she tried her hardest to ignore the fact that she was trembling, not truly wanting to take the crystal from the cupped palm in front of her for no other reason that her mind kept screaming 'Ghost!' at her. The slight shake to her hand did not go unnoticed by the halfa in front of her and he took the initiative to pick the crystal up with his own gloved fingers and gently place it in the girl's waiting hand, "Do you like it?"

"It's nice," Sam spoke softly, more relaxed now that she had the object in her hand, "Why isn't it melting?"

"Because I don't want it to," Danny smiled, then threw a nasty glare over his shoulder to Plasmius who was leering and jeering them all as he'd been speaking with Sam, "Give it a rest."

"Not until I get out," the ghost smiled maliciously, insanely, then retreated to a corner to sit and watch them all.

"Danni, why don't you head back to my room and play games for a little while?" the older of the two halfas gave her a sympathetic smile, knowing full well how Vlad's taunting had effected him when he was younger, and still managed to hit a nerve at times, "It's gotta' be boring just sitting around down here. I know I'm bored."

"Okay, and I'll even beat your records on Time Crosos Two O!" the girl happily proclaimed as she ran up the stairs, the door to the lab making a metallic sound as it closed. Sam was left alone on her side of the room with Danny, who was still standing as his alter ego, cocky and smiling as always and moving to sit beside her.

"So…how has the weekend been?"

It was that same nervous smile, the hand behind his neck, and the familiar gleam in his eyes that let Sam sink further into a more relaxed mood, the ice crystal slowly rotating in her fingers as she thought over what she would say and how she would say it, "It was a little boring really. Not as many ghost though."

"Well, you know wh-"

"Thank you," Sam cut him off, not meaning to be mean but afraid that she wouldn't manage to get it out, "for…I though that maybe you had been doing it."

"That and playing games at the arcade all day," Danny sighed heavily, then reached for the ice crystal in Sam's hand, grinning when she playfully pulled it out of his reach, "Fine, I'll just make more."

"Fine," Sam laughed, then watched as he did just as he said. Some were smaller, some were larger, and some were of a completely different shape or color, which impressed Sam the most. The second he made a crystal swirling with green energy though, Sam's heart started to race and she couldn't bring herself to move, 'What's wrong with me…why am I…'

"Check this out," Danny smirked, all self confidence and arrogance in that moment as he started to make all the crystals float, concentration clear on his face, "I've been practicing and-"

"I need to go."

The rustle of Sam's skirt and the thud of her boots hitting the metallic floor brought Tucker and Jazz's attention around to see Sam literally running up the stairs with Danny standing at the base, a confused, hurt look crossing his countenance. Pleading green eyes turned towards the pair and both immediately knew what he was asking of them.

"Hurry up or she'll get away, she already runs faster than you do anyways," Jazz pointed towards the door, Tucker nodding his agreement, "We're nearly done anyways."

An echoing, "Thank you!" was all that remained of Danny, already gone to catch the girl on the run, his mind only concentrating on what could have possibly happened.

.o.O.o.o.O.o.

"If she got on the track team, the couch would weep with joy," Danny lamented to himself as he hovered over the streets of Amity Park, finally having spotted Sam about three blocks from the Nasty Burger where she appeared to be heading. Taking a risk, Danny landed in the alley beside the fast food restaurant, changing quickly and moving to lean on the brick wall, arms folded and a frown on his face, 'What is up with that crazy girl anyways?'

Right on time, Sam came around the corner, finally having slowed from a full out run to a jog, and, apparently at the sight of the building, deciding that a walk would suit her well. Until she saw Danny standing there and waiting patiently for her arrival. Figuring it was now or never, the girl calmly walked up to the young man, surprised that she no longer felt the over ridding need to get away from him.

'But why?' she smiled tightly, then moved to stand against the building with him, 'He's Danny, anyway I look at him. It doesn't matter if he's Phantom, because that is not a different person…why can't I make myself see that?'

"You okay?" Danny asked softly, turning to face her and feeling slightly uncomfortable with the entire situation, "You wanna' go in and get something to eat? We haven't gotten to go out in a while…"

"Sure," Sam heaved a sigh, releasing all the whirling thoughts and trying to just take the moment for what it was, "I am hungry. We were supposed to eat lunch at your house, but with the whole house trying to kill us all thing…"

"Yeah, that sucked," the halfa nodded, then held the door open for her, both slipping inside and ordering, a malt and a salad for Sam, a soda and a hamburger for Danny, though neither was really interested at food at the moment. Their minds sat on what had happened in the lab.

'We're going to talk about this,' Danny promised himself as they sat down, a ticket in his hands with their order number, 'We have to.'

"Listen Danny, about what happened," Sam had beaten him to it, impressing him that she was so willing to talk with him. It made him feel good, as though even though it was going wrong at that moment, she wasn't just going to give up on what they had, "I know I've been acting strangely lately, and I really don't know why. I'm so-"

"Hey Danny," Valerie's voice came from the doorway before she spotted Sam in the booth, a tense, wearied look on both their faces, 'Wow, either I picked the wrong moment, or I just saved them both from some huge fight in public. Good for me.'

"Um, hey Val," Danny grinned nervously, not wanting to completely dismiss the girl, but definitely not wanting to get on Sam's bad side, "What are you doing here?"

'Of all places and at all times, too,' Sam bitterly thought to herself as Valerie made her way to the table and stood by its edge, "Hello Valerie."

"Hi," Valerie answered in kind, noting that Sam was not at all pleased and Danny seemed perfectly alright with her presence. Once again however, Valerie had jumped the gun, wanting to see something that wasn't there, 'Perfect. Maybe my being here will be a good thing.'

"Are you here for dinner?"

"Yeah," Valerie smiled Danny's way, ignoring the girl whom she had just spoken with, "Dad's working late tonight and I don't feel like cooking. Figured this was the best place to go."

"Probably," the halfa was stuck, trying to keep up the friendly rapport that had been building between himself and Valerie, not wanting either of them to lose a good friendship, "Um, listen…"

"Hey Danny," Sam cut in quickly when she heard his hesitation, sending a quick, thin lipped smile his way as she stood, "I have to get home. I'll call you later alright?"

"Why?" he stood too, forcing Valerie to take a step back, "I thought we were talking?"

"I'll call you and we'll talk then," Sam moved towards the door, not noticing that Danny was partially following her until he found himself blocked by Valerie.

"Let her go cool down," Valerie suggested as she pushed him back towards the booth, "We can sit and chat alright?"

"Maybe some other time, Val," Danny glumly moved forward again, handing his ticket to Valerie, "You can have the burger and drinks. I'm gonna' head home, so I'll see ya' later."

"Okay...um, bye Danny," and Valerie was left alone with the ticket in her hand, Danny walking quietly away and through the door.

By the time Danny had arrived home, the changes had been made and the system restarted. Everything was working perfectly, it seemed, 'Except for my relationship. Why do my relationships always have to go down the drain because of something ghost related?'

Really though, the harder Danny thought the less he found it 'going down the drain' as he so glumly had thought before. Sam had been trying, and so was he, and if anything he knew the old adage, 'Where there's a will, there's a way,' was very true. It would just take time to smooth out the kinks, he was sure. He would just have to wait patiently.

And he did, right beside his phone for the rest of the evening.

.o.O.o.o.O.o.

Sam hadn't gone home like she thought she would. The longer she walked the closer to the park she seemed to wander and it didn't take long before she was seated on a bench right inside the park's always open gates. It seemed odd that the place even had gates at all when the walls were short enough to hop over.

'Today has been horrible, just like the last few days,' Sam thought sadly to herself, tracing a pattern on the park bench beside her with the tip of her pointer finger, 'I should have said that…not just 'boring' when Danny asked me. I missed him.'

Getting up, Sam let her feet take here where they pleased, though this time it seemed it was straight to her house and into the kitchen. The girl was pleasantly surprised to see her grandmother there, enjoying an afternoon cup of coffee while she read a book at the table. Her smile met Sam as she walked through the door, and the young woman felt her day brighten.

"Sam, where have you been?" the book was set gently upon the table, well loved and worn pages crinkling softly, "What's wrong, Bubeleh?"

"Just a really long day, Grandma," Sam sat in the chair beside the older woman's wheelchair, leaning against the table as she talked, "Something's wrong with me."

"Well, it's one of two things," Ida Manson slowly turned her chair to the side, fully facing Sam as she spoke with all her years of wisdom behind her, "You're either in love, or you're trying to decide if you should start wearing more girly clothes like you mother wants you to."

"Grandma," Sam frowned and chastised her, Ida laughing gently as she did so, "The day I wear pastels is the day you give up bowling. As for Danny…"

"Ah, so I finally learn that handsome young man's name," she nodded, pleased that Sam was talking about what was bothering her.

"I can't really talk about it," Sam frowned, wanting to explain everything to her grandmother and get her opinion on things, "I promised I wouldn't and it's not the kind of promise I can just break…but things are getting harder and harder, and then Valerie showed up, and everything's just getting worse as far as I can tell."

"Bubeleh," a gentle, wrinkled hand turned Sam's face up, eyes identical to her own though older holding her in a stern gaze, "Sam. Listen to me very carefully. You are young, but that doesn't mean you don't know your own heart. The only problem is you are the most hotheaded, stubborn young woman I have ever known of, besides myself. You're going to get hurt, even by the people you care about and who care about you, but that doesn't mean you can't fix things if you really want to."

"I don't know how, though."

It had been a firm statement, not a plea for pity or sympathy and Ida smiled at how strong the young woman before her was becoming, "You'll figure it out. Now, go on upstairs and relax a little while. You said you had a long day after all."

"Thank you," Sam wrapped her arms around her grandmother and planted a gentle kiss on her head, "You're the best, Grandma."

"So I've been told," she chuckled and watched as Sam headed out the kitchen door, "And don't forget, sometimes when you need to cry, you should just get it out!"

Shaking her head slightly, Sam seriously considered what her grandmother had told her. Especially her last sentence, 'How did she know that I feel like that?'

"I wish…no, no I don't. I want life to make sense," the hurriedly corrected sentence had Sam cautiously glancing around for any signs of the wishing ghost, though none seemed apparent. The only thing that was apparent, as Sam finally got to her peacefully isolated room, was that nothing ever quite worked the way she planned, "Oh, not again."

There on her bed sat a happily smiling Youngblood, tapping away on the keys to one of her portable games and enjoying himself far too much. Sam simply shut the door and grimaced, knowing that the situation could go any number of ways, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to see you," the boy shrugged, then glanced up from the game, finding Sam far more interesting for some unsettling reason.

"Why?" Sam finally managed to get out, her frustration over the past few weeks' events finally starting to boil over, "Why are you so interested in me? Why are all the ghosts interested, why is Danni here, why did Danny…Why, Youngblood?"

The young child could only shrug as he helplessly watched Sam slide down the door to sit on the floor, curling in on herself as she hid from the world. She just wanted everything to go away and for it all to stop bothering here. Drifting closer, the ghost child realized that there would be no more out of the girl for quite some time, the sniffling sounds indicating that she was in no mood to play.

"Geeze, no need to be a crybaby," Youngblood backed towards the window, never sure of how to deal with a crying girl, and realizing that Danny Phantom could appear at any moment, "Aw, who wants to play with you anyways? I'm out of here."

The rest of the evening Sam spent in the solace of her room, ignoring anything that wasn't her music or her bed. She didn't touch her cell phone the entire night, though it was only from forgetfulness in the face of everything happening.

.o.O.o.o.O.o.

It was midnight when Danny stealthily made his way into Sam's room to find her curled around herself on top of her covers, the music still playing softly in the background and the girl herself still fully clothed. Her arms were wrapped around a pillow and grit stood out prominently in the corners of her eyes. She had been crying.

'At least she's alright,' the halfa very gently phased her heavy boots off, placing them beside the bed, then changed back into his normal, human self. She had seemed so fidgety and nervous around him whenever he was Phantom, that it seemed safer to be Fenton in case she woke up, 'I was worried when she still hadn't called, but I guess she…was upset and fell asleep or something. Thank God she's alright and there aren't any ghosts.'

Carefully, Danny moved an arm around Sam, tugging the pillow free with his other before finally scooping her up and laying her in what was a seemingly far more comfortable position. The blankets were then phased out from under her body and laid over her, Danny smiling a little as he did so, 'I'm sorry everything's so hard right now, Sam. It's got to be five times as hard on you though…'

Task finished, the boy pressed a quick kiss to her forehead, thinking everything over. No realizations, revelations, or concluding thoughts hit him and he bowed out as quickly as he came, wondering just how he was going to help Sam. He'd been ignoring the problem for too long, hoping that something would come to him. It was time he started thinking about who could help him and where he could research her rather odd problem.

He would have to think on it, and fell asleep feeling no less frustrated than Sam had earlier. In every way possible, they made quite the pair.