:AN: Sorry for the delay everyone! Semi-Important Author's Note at the end!

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom, all the credit for him and related characters belong to Butch Hartman.

-

Title: Spider's Web

-

Chapter Nine

-

The spider's web falls to the ground

On it I fall without a sound

Down far into the black abyss

And here I meet my demon's kiss

-

Sam Manson sat on her couch, almost alone in her apartment.

"You talk a lot, but so far you haven't exactly said anything even remotely helpful," Sam remarked lazily. She had become accustomed to speaking to the empty, darkened room. "So you must understand my being skeptical."

"Hey, all I'm asking is for you to have a little faith," the room retorted with an attitude unfitting of its atmosphere. Sam could almost imagine the formless, faceless being pinching its thumb and forefinger together for emphasis… supposing it even had a thumb and forefinger.

"See, here's what I don't understand," Sam adjusted her position, sitting up a little more. "I don't see any fathomable reason why I should have any faith it you. In fact, I'm pretty sure I don't need what ever help you have to offer."

"So you're saying there's no big conflict you're going through? No secrets you're keeping from anyone?"

She leaned back. She could see her breath and feel a concentrated cold just hanging before her. If she had to guess, the ghost was just inches from her face. It unnerved her, but no more than the ghost's awful, truth-laden words.

The cold receded. "I know more than you think I do, Baby-cakes."

"Why could you possibly want to help me? I mean, did I used to know you or something? I just don't understand. It makes no sense."

"It makes perfect sense," the specter reasoned with a far off quality in the disembodied voice. "I just want to save you from making the same mistakes I made."

It wasn't long after those ominous words that Sam felt the heaviness of the room. She was left alone in the dark and shadows. The darkness held no alluring quality for her tonight. Regardless, it never occurred to her that she might turn on a lamp. No, she sat paralyzed in an unfamiliar attitude. She sat suspended amidst a dark reality; a cold, dank hole.

A knock at the door forced her to move and with a surprising swiftness. She leapt to her feet and flicked on a few lights before standing on her toes to peer through the hole that was situated annoyingly above her eye level. She pushed her self back and cocked her head to the side. 'Well I wasn't expecting him,' she thought pleasantly, forgetting all about darkness and the frightening things it hid.

She twisted the deadbolt latch and opened the door. She leaned lazily against the frame. "Hello Danny, what brings you here?"

"I just wanted to apologize for taking off on you like that earlier," he said sheepishly as she moved over to let him in.

"I can't exactly blame you for taking off," she replied. "I was ready to bolt myself… the whole thing was a bit awkward, wasn't it?" She led him to the couch where they both sat down.

"Yeah," Danny agreed. So many questions just swam through his mind, but he didn't think Sam would appreciate the attack. "So Lancer was your teacher, huh? What was that like?"

Sam thought for a moment. "Annoying," she said. "But he was one of those annoying teachers that cared. Everyone hated Lancer, but most of them loved him. I know that doesn't make any sense, but since when has that mattered?" Danny smiled and she continued. "Anyway, when were you planning on showing me your pictures? Aside from that blur today, I haven't actually seen a ghost up close. I'm not as lucky as you."

"Well, I was planning on showing you earlier, but the whole Lancer and you thing kinda distracted me," he replied. "Sorry. I could take you back another time if you'd like. But really, you should count your blessings. Ghosts aren't the most fun thing to deal with; they are temperamental, dangerous, unpredictable… You shouldn't go near one unless you know how to protect yourself," he warned her. Cruel irony laughed; he was making her prejudice against himself.

The advice bothered Sam. She thought of her own little ghostly problem, the ghost who claimed to want to help with some random issue or other. Surely, surely they all couldn't be bad. It occurred to her that she was talking to the closest thing she'd ever get to a ghost expert. If there was ever a time to be curious, she realized, this was it. "They can't all be bad, can they? I mean, am I right?"

"Well yeah," he grinned. "Of course they aren't all bad. They are like people, scratch that- they are people, only dead and a little more single minded and uninhibited. If they want something, they don't bother to think of consequences. Of course, some of them want nothing more than a peaceful existence, but you rarely hear about those because they don't like to come out much."

"Are those peaceful ones the only good ones?"

"Not exactly," he decided after a moment. "Rarely, very rarely I've come across some ghosts that are active and are genuinely good. But again, they tend to stay away from the limelight because publicity causes nothing them but trouble." He hesitated, "But then again, I've also heard of a very active good ghost. Maybe you've heard of him, Danny Phantom?" 'Stupid, stupid, stupid,' he berated. If he could have gotten away with it, he would have smacked himself.

Sam struggled to remember, "It seems familiar, but I really don't keep up with the news at all. I mean, occasionally I'll watch the news for the weather, but that always turns out to be a disappointment." She leaned back and stretched her back. "You really know your stuff don't you?"

"Uh… heh, yeah," he grinned, "Comes with the territory what with my parents and all."

She stared at her ceiling for a second, "Maybe I should start reading that tabloid, I could probably learn a thing or two… I mean, ghosts are becoming a lot more common around here, so I would be good to know."

"Yeah, you're right," he nodded. "It's always good to know what you're up against. Plus, you'd get to see more of my pictures every week."

"Hmm, speaking of the tabloid, Mr. Lancer was pretty much shell-shocked into a believer this afternoon." She glanced at him. "It's funny how strong a person's resolve can be, isn't it? I mean, he's held out all this time thinking that there weren't any ghosts, even with all the evidence and sightings… and he was still shocked out of his wits when he found out he was wrong."

Danny shrugged. "It's understandable. It's hard to have faith in things; he probably thought it was a government ruse to take people's minds off of the real issues."

Sam thought about it, "That makes sense."

They sat in silence.

"Oh!" Danny exclaimed, startling Sam. "I almost forgot, I've got something for you!" He began rummaging through his messenger bag.

"Really? Because I-"

"Here it is!" He proudly held up what looked to be a very technologically advanced thermos.

"What?" Sam blinked as she tentatively accepted the odd… 'gift'. "You brought me… soup?"

Danny laughed. "No, it… well… Okay, the thing is… You know how my parents were all into ghosts? Well, they kind of invented a lot of ghost-related stuff. Like that thermos, in fact, it's called the Fenton Thermos."

"So… this is ghost soup?"

"No! It catches ghosts," he explained. "Um, it kind of creates this vortex that sucks them in. It's hard to explain, I don't really understand how it works or why it works, my parents were the inventors, not me. But the point is, you can use it to protect yourself… if ever, you know, you happen to find yourself in a bad situation with a ghost."

Sam studied the device and arched an eyebrow. "A thermos? You'd think they'd find a snazzier… I don't know…" She glanced at the thermos.

"Those are my parents for you," he replied with a nostalgic smirk.

-

"It was a real pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Manson," a smart looking businessman shook Mr. Manson's hand with a bright, nearly genuine smile.

"Yes, well I can tell you that the sentiments of Axion Labs are mutual, if not more so," Mr. Manson replied with fervor. "Dalv Corp has literally pulled it from the jaws of ruin!" He chuckled. "It would be Enron all over again and I highly doubt the economy could handle that kind of blow right now."

"Well, what can I say?" the man casually shrugged. "I'm always looking to assist a worthy cause. It would be a shame for a company with a history like Axion Labs to just be given the cut. Besides, I'm certain that with a slight shift in direction, Axion Labs will prove more than profitable, for all parties involved." He sent Mr. Manson an implying look.

"I couldn't agree with you more, Mr. Masters," he grinned. "I couldn't agree with you more."

"Please," he implored, "call me Vlad."

The two men bid their farewells with a wishing of "Happy Holidays" and went their separate ways.

Vlad Masters retreated to his office. The business merger had gone very smoothly. Everything was going exactly as planned… and as a bonus, young Daniel Fenton had unwittingly found his fellow business tycoon's long lost daughter. This would work nicely if, later on when things got messy, Manson wanted to cop out.

It was impossibly convenient.

But now, for his first order of business as the new CEO of Axion Labs, a subsidiary of Dalv Corp was to employ Jackson and Madelyn Fenton to kick start this weapons and defense company's newest line of products…

Yes, everything was meshing together so nicely.

-

It was a couple days later. Danny had returned to his and Tucker's home from "work" to somewhat of a surprise. A professionally dressed, yet harried looking young woman stood waiting for him in the formal sitting room.

"I'm guessing from the look on your face that you weren't expecting me."

"You could say that," Danny choked.

"Do you know why I'm here?"

He shook his head.

She sighed, "Little brother, I'm here to take you home."

"Jazz," he said upon finding his voice, "You… you know I can't go back." It wasn't a matter based on ability, for clearly it was physically within his means. No, it was a matter of principal, it was a matter of survival.

"No," her stare hardened. "No, I don't know that. If I knew that, I wouldn't be here right now. Everyone misses you Danny. Mom and dad, do you even know the last time you saw them? The last time you saw me?"

"I… I…" he stammered. "Well… if you wanted to see me so badly, why didn't you come sooner?"

"Oh, Danny," his sister sighed. "You haven't exactly made it easy, have you? No address or anything? You've even got your friends lying for you! I tracked down Tucker's work number a few weeks ago and he told me he had no clue where you were!"

"He wasn't lying!" Danny cried in defense of his best friend. "You and mom and dad aren't the only ones I tried to leave."

"But you went back to Tucker," Jazz quietly rebutted.

"That's because I…" he paused.

"Because why?" his sister prompted, readily awaiting his explanation.

"Because… someone saved my life," he said finally. "I almost died on my own, and this girl just saved me. It was amazing really, in one day she pretty much changed everything. Hell, because of her I have a job that I can actually keep!

"I went back to Tucker because I knew that I wouldn't be a burden on him much longer," he explained. "I'm sick and tired of just bringing everyone down, putting everyone in-"

"At least come home for Christmas," she begged. "Even Tucker went home for Christmas! We don't want presents, we don't want to interrogate you to within an inch of your life; we just want you. No strings attached."

"I… I'll think about it."

"Danny Christmas is in two days! You don't have a lot of time to think about it! Besides, I'm sure Tucker won't be sticking around. Did you really want to spend Christmas alone? Again?" She asked. "Look, you can even bring that girl who saved your life if you want, whatever gets you home. They've got something to tell you, Danny. Please come?"

"Alright, alright, fine," he relented with a sigh. "You've twisted me arm." He gasped slightly as his sister pulled him into a strong hug.

"You have no idea how much this means to all of us Danny," she whispered. "I just knew you'd come around."

"Hey Jazz?"

"Yeah?" her reply was muddled by her brother's shoulder.

"How'd you get in here anyway?"

Jazz grinned.

-

Sam studied her friend with reserved amusement. "Let me get this straight. You want me to come and spend Christmas with you and your family?"

"Yes?" he requested with pleading eyes. "Come on, please Sam? I mean, you know… unless you have plans or something."

"Danny, I don't know how to break this to you," she grinned. "But I'm Jewish."

"Oh," he replied. But he didn't let that shake him. "Well… then don't think of it as Christmas, think of it as… a cultural study! Yeah, you can just observe it… with my family… and eat with us… and yeah, you might have to wear a sweater and be forced into the family picture…"

Sam took his little tirade to think things over. When she was younger, the holiday season had been her favorite time of the year. Warm feelings, smiling faces, holiday specials on television. Everyone was so nice and together. Everyone took a little time to be nice. The feeling deteriorated over the years though, with the ever growing turmoil in her family. She hadn't celebrated anything in years… unless you counted the "traditional" Chinese take-out night she had with Lydia every year on Christmas. She tried to fight it, but her lips twitched into a grin. Lydia always claimed it wasn't a "Christmas tradition" because it only fell on the 25th of December coincidentally… Maybe… maybe this year she could…

"Fine," she said with the utmost finality. "Fine, I'll go with you."

"Wait… you will?" His eyes lit up. Sam laughed at his enthusiasm.

"Not sure why you'd want me there to darken the festivities, but sure, why not? I could probably use a change of pace," she shrugged. The infamous Parlor would be closed for the day anyway. It always was, as a rule. Paul had a loving wife at home, after all.

"Oh I'm sure my parents would love you," he exclaimed. "Besides, my sister told me to invite you and… well… if you were my friend you wouldn't let me go through it alone."

"Alright, alright," she smiled. "Well I guess that means I'm your friend then."

"Yes, yes it does," he nodded matter-o-factly. "Oh, and before I forget, today was pay-day. So I wrote you a check." He pulled it out of his jacket's inner pocket and handed it to her. She tentatively took it from him. "Ha," he continued. "Since you've already promised to go, you can't back out of it!"

Sam rolled her eyes and dryly replied. "You trickster, you; I have been conned."

"Alright," he rubbed his hands together. "Well, you'd better get packing; we've got to go soon!"

"Yeah, yeah, keep your pants on." Sam pulled a duffel bag out from her hall closet. It was huge, but it was the only bag she had… bad memories. She decided to start with packing her toiletries.

While she was in the bathroom, a slight blue mist came out of Danny's mouth. The casual observer might have thought it was due to the cold, well, had he been outside that could have been the case. But no, it held a far more ominous meaning. Danny cursed under his breath. He had to get out of there. Fast. "Hey Sam?" he called.

"Yeah?"

"I just remembered that I really have to do something right now before we leave, so I'm going to go do that now. Meet me at Tucker's in an hour, will you?"

"What?" she came out of the bathroom just as her front door shut. Danny was gone. "Okay," she replied to no one. "I'll meet you at Tucker's."

One hour later, just as she had promised (or had she? He wasn't exactly there to hear her consent), the arrived at Tucker's. She nearly jumped in surprise as the door was opened by a fiery red-head she'd never seen before.

The woman regarded her with initial distaste, but she forced it down (not before Sam noticed). It was all the black. It was so dreary, this girl. So unlike what she was. It was just a slight shock to her system, but she'd dealt with plenty of the darker sort. They were always the most interesting people, albeit severely screwed up more often than not. "May I help you?"

"I'm looking for Danny Fenton," she replied coolly.

"Oh?" The woman asked. "He's not here right now."

"What! Have you seen him at all? I mean, is he going to be right back?"

The woman shrugged and shook her head.

Sam sighed. "He told me he'd meet me here. So… do you mind if I come in?"

"Huh, oh yeah, come in," the woman stepped aside. She studied Sam as she walked past. "I'm Jasmine Fenton, by the way. Who might you be?"

"Oh," Sam said as she processed the information. "Oh! You're Danny's… sister?" Jasmine nodded. Sam held out her right hand. "I'm Sam Manson."

They shook hands. "So you're the girlfriend?"

Sam froze and turned her head sharply to stare at her, "What? Did, did he tell you that?"

Jazz was taken aback from the somewhat hostile response. "Well, no. I just assumed there was something going on between you two from the way that he... I'm guessing I'm off base?"

"Yeah," she relaxed with a calming breath, "Yeah, I don't date."

"Hnn," Jazz remarked. She let herself relax on the couch. "So you do like my brother, then."

"Well, sure I like him," Sam replied with a defensive glint in her eye. She remained standing and hadn't put her bag down. Her posture was stiff.

Jazz smirked. "You know what I mean," she winked. "You don't seem the type to rush off to a family Christmas with a family you don't even know unless you've got a pretty good reason. Romantic feelings are a pretty good reason, I have to admit. The whole 'meet-the-parents' thing is very relationship-esque, don't you think?"

"Well," Sam glared, "don't you just have the whole world pegged?"

"I'm just making a speculation." Jazz arched an eyebrow, "If that's not the reason, then what is?"

"It just so happens that I like the holidays and miss celebrating," Sam snapped. "That, and the fact that my friend begged me to go. Besides, I mean, he's been so nice to me. I don't meet a lot of people like him, ever really."

"Yeah, he's something special."

"Yeah," Sam agreed, momentarily allowing a nostalgic smile to flutter across her face. It gave her whole appearance resonating warmth, but it didn't last long.

"So, do you mind if I ask why you seem so opposed to dating my little brother when you seem to obviously have some feelings for him?"

Sam had a distant look in her eyes. "We'd hurt each other… so badly." Then she seemed to snap back to reality. "Not that it's any of your business. Besides, I'm sure he'd rather find someone more… I don't know. I'm not your typical girl."

"Danny's not a typical boy," she retorted. "Nor is he from a typical family, for that matter. You'd fit right in. We are a nice little bubble of dysfunction."

Sam smiled darkly. "You really have no clue."

-

Danny wandered into the apartment two hours later than he had intended. Red had shown up, again. And a news crew. It made the otherwise only slightly complicated situation altogether far more complicated.

The ghost was only a minor one; it didn't even have a stable physical form, like Johnny 13 for instance. It shouldn't have taken him long at all to take care of it. It didn't take him long to take care of it. But, as stated, Red showed up. As usual, she decided that today would be the day Phantom went down for good.

She seemed to have a renewed zest for the hunt, which meant that Phantom had a far more difficult time evading than usual. He'd taken a couple hits and was almost given a major blow… then the news crew showed up. That had actually been his saving grace.

The Channel 4 News team had successfully scared away Red.

She was able to make a clean getaway from them. Phantom however was destined to be the top story on the six o'clock news.

His mind rather consumed by the fight, he was caught off guard by Sam's presence when he made his way home. She was very clearly not pleased with him… until she saw noticed how ravaged he looked.

She asked him (in a very concerned way) what kind or errand would do that to him and make him two hours later than he'd said he'd be.

Jazz jumped to his rescue and the next thing he knew, he was all buckled into his sister's car being informed that they'd be arriving in five minutes. He leaned over and looked into the backseat. Sam just stared at him with an unreadable look on her face. She openly stared, yet there was nothing accusing about it. It was just… confused. He smiled at her and would have said something, but she cut him off with the simple action of looking out the window. She gave him the cold shoulder and it hurt.

He sighed and settled back into his seat. He glanced at his sister, who spared him a sympathetic look in return.

Danny sighed. Once again he was faced with the painful reminder that normal relationships were out of the question. He was forever plagued with a higher priority. True, some people cared enough about him to accept that, but in turn he cared to much about them to let them have the burden. It was his and his alone.

'This was a mistake,' he thought miserably. But, oh how he wanted to just forget, just for a little while. Oh how he wanted to pretend, just for Christmas at least, that he could have friends, family, love… He could see Sam through the side view mirror. She was staring at the back of his head, through the back of his head. She was thinking.

She'd already noticed something was wrong.

He would really hate having to lie to her.

'Maybe…'

-

:AN: I'll repeat myself: I am so sorry about the late update… things have been hectic and I have never been one to deal with stress well. In the past month I've had Prom, finals, graduation and related activities… and now I'm in the process of moving. To make matters worse, my relationship with my Dad has deteriorated to the point that the other night I spent the night at my best friend's house even though she wasn't there. My saving grace is that in about two weeks he'll be mostly out of my life for a long time.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Dad… it's just that I really hate him. But that's another story for another time.

Anyway, after the move I'm going to be going on a trip and it's doubtful I'll be able to update during that time period. I promise though that I will write (on my new graduation laptop!) during those times. And… due to the aforementioned laptop, summer time updates won't be as unrealistic as I thought. Especially considering that, for the most part, I'll be away from all of my friends with only my mom, step-dad, and a part time job to occupy my time.

Having said that, I should probably point out my track record (which isn't a good one).

On a more positive note… HOLY FREAKING CRAP! I'VE GOT OVER 100 REVIEWS! This is incredible. I am in hysterics about this. I've never had this before and it feels pretty freaking sweet, like I'm moving up in the world or something.

And I'm sorry I wasn't very good about responding to your reviews. I did a few but as I've stated… my life is pretty crazy right now. And I always tend to blow things out of proportion… right.

Oh, I'm sorry for this long Author's Note.

Well, I love of my readers/readers+reviewers!

-

R&R!

-

-DRC-