Author's Note: BAM! I took a break, I read some fan-fictions, and now I'm back, though to all of you it seems like I never left, because I'm an update junkie! Woo! Anyway, all you people who were sitting there reading and thinking, Yeah, yeah, but when do Danny and Sam make out? Here's your treat. As I always say, fluff heals the soul.

Chapter 10- Revelations

Where were they?

Vlad gazed into a swirling pool of water, a magical looking glass into the world. He had been watching young Daniel and his friends for three years now; observing, noting, and looking for weaknesses. He had found Danny's in his new girlfriend—that Sam girl—and Tucker's in his humorous search for knowledge. Sam's he had not found, but he could imagine what it was.

Love. All girls were obsessed with it, and she could be no exception. That fit wonderfully into his plans, or it had until Tucker and Sam began disappearing all the time.

There could only be one solution; the two had a relationship behind Daniel's back. Vlad smiled at the evilness of it, but frowned at what it did to his goal. If Dan found out and broke up with Sam, it would eliminate two of three weaknesses. That did not bode well.

Knight would have to work harder. He had to lure Sam from both Tucker and Danny, and into Vlad's grasp. He stared into the water, and watched Danny sit by himself.

They were gone again.

Danny cradled his head in his hands, thinking of his two best friends. Over the last few weeks, they had disappeared almost every day for at least a few hours, Tucker more so than Sam. If he didn't know better, he'd think they were playing him behind his back, but Sam loved him too much and Tuck wasn't that stupid. Besides, they fought too much.

You've gone to her as Danny Fenton. Now go to her as Danny Phantom.

He had to see her. Danny transformed and flew to her room, prepared to wait for her, but she was already there. For a moment he floated, simply staring at her. She seemed tired but beautiful, and his heart filled.

He became visible, but stayed as Danny Phantom.

"Sam."

She spun around in surprise, but when she saw him, her eyes swept up and down in appreciation. Inside, Danny thrilled that she liked the way he looked.

"Danny, hi."

He began walking forward, slowly approaching her. "I love you, Sam. I hope you know that by now. We've only been together for a short while, but we've known each other much longer, and I'd like to think our relationship will last." Sam was forced to back up from Danny's advances; he was very close. "Do you realize, Sam, that you haven't told me you love me in over two weeks?" Her back hit the wall and he pressed in, grabbing her hands and pinning them above her head. They looked into each other's eyes, and Danny saw that Sam was breathing heavily. "I want you to say it."

He kissed her roughly, mercilessly pinning her to the wall. Sam was weak in his hands, and Danny was surprised by her submission. He pressed closer, inching up the bottom of her tank and grasping her with his ghost-cold fingers.

"Danny…" She didn't finish, sighing instead.

"Say it," he commanded coarsely, and he reached back to nibble and kiss around her ear. "I want to hear you." His mouth trailed down, agonizingly close to her breasts, but then veered the other way. He crushed his hips to hers. Sam's back was shifting on the wall, as if she wanted to writhe but was unable to. She moaned. "Not good enough," he said, lifting his lips from her skin.

"More…" Sam managed to gasp hoarsely.

"Not until I hear you say the words." Danny backed up almost completely, only touching her hands so she remained pinned. She slouched, as if in physical pain from his loss. She opened her violet eyes and stared into his, now green. "Say it," he said almost pleadingly.

"I…Danny, I love you. I've loved you for so long that I can't remember a time I haven't felt it. I always will, no matter what happens. I love you… and I want you." She looked down momentarily. "The space between us is too large."

Danny smiled and met her again, just as hard but less angrily. The moment they touched, Sam's leg came up to catch around Danny's hip, forcing them to meld together seamlessly. Their lips together were hot and hungry, making up for lost time. He let go of her arms, instead placing his hands on her ribs and putting more pressure on her. Sam's head rolled back when he lowered his, once again to her chest. He resisted kissing her breasts, instead brushing his thumbs along their sides.

There would come a day when officially, they would be as one forever, and then they could discover each other's secrets together. But until that day…

"I care about you too much to ruin what we have," he said, running his hands up and down her sides.

Sam came down from her euphoria gently. She nodded, but motioned to the bed.

"Sit with me. I have things I need to tell you."

He did so, and she took his hand in hers. When, after a few moments, she didn't say anything, he helped.

"Is this about why you're always disappearing?"

"Yes," she replied. "I'm being trained, Danny, in swordplay. A friend needs help of the unusual kind, and I agreed."

Danny was startled. "What about Tucker?"

"He's with me in order to be sure that I'm safe."

"Safe? What's going on? Why couldn't you tell me? I mean, it's not like I'm ignorant of the paranormal."

Sam smiled and squeezed his fingers. "We promised not to tell, and it's been killing me. Today, I was ready to walk out, because I couldn't take it any more, but I was told that you could know some things."

"Does this have to do with Emlyn?"

Sam paused for just a second. "Yes."

"What's she doing?"

"Avenging her dad's death. She didn't tell us a lot."

"Where do you guys do this?"

"The Spirit Realm. It's almost like the Ghost Zone, but for magic."

Danny stopped to take in all the news. "So you've been going off with Emlyn and Tucker, learning to fight with swords, and leaving me out of the loop?"

She could hear the anger in his voice. "Yes, but don't think we didn't want to tell you. We did."

"So now that I know, what's going to happen?"

"I'm not sure. Emlyn said she didn't want too many people involved, so I'm thinking that things might stay very much like they are now."

"That's where the bruise came from?"

There was silence for a long time.

"Yes. I got sloppy and blinked."

"Are you ready?"

Emlyn walked back to him after dropping Sam off at home. He nodded and stood, bushing imaginary dirt from his pants. "What are we working on today?"

"You're going to do your own magic."

He stopped dead. "What?" Until now, Emlyn had been feeding him small bits of heat and magic—not enough to hurt her—in order for him to learn small magic.

"We need to find your trigger, the thing that enables you to perform magic."

"What's yours?"

"Sadness."

…Wow. Tucker stared at her a moment, thinking of how much her parent's death must have hurt her. He shook his head though, knowing Emlyn would prefer to concentrate on business. "So how do we find my trigger?" he asked.

"I know it seems silly, but guess and check. It's usually an emotion felt powerfully, or a specific memory that sparks the emotion. I need you to think, and think hard, of what it could be. When you come up with something, we'll try it. From there we're playing it by ear."

"Um… okay."

Tucker closed his eyes and thought back; trying to find a strong memory emotion he had felt in his life. There was the anger when he fought with Sam… but that was always more in fun that actual malice. The fear when he fought ghosts with Danny, but the knowledge that Danny would win kind of drowned that out. The day his fish died?

When the day your fish died is brought up in the 'strong, devastating memories' file, you know there's something wrong.

He shook his head, deciding he was looking at this wrong. Maybe it didn't have to be a bad feeling. Instead, he thought back on good times. Getting the highest score in school on the standardized test in eighth grade. Watching Amity Park flicker back to reality when Danny won against Pariah Dark. Watching a spider try to crawl up Paulina's nose.

None of it was good enough.

But something may be.

Tucker immediately blushed, and Emlyn noticed. She sent him an odd look, but Tucker wanted to do the magic so badly that he knew he had to ask her.

"Er… Emlyn? I know this may seem strange and completely inappropriate, but could you brush my cheek with your hand?"

She didn't want to. Well, yes she did. But she forced herself to not want to, because if she did, the heat would come. And as much as she craved heat, with Tucker it unsettled her. Damn.

"Very well." She stepped forward and gently placed her hand on the side of his face, brushing his cheekbone with her thumb.

As Emlyn tried not to faint from the heat that coursed through her, Tucker concentrated like she had taught him to do. He closed his eyes and held out his hands imagining energy seeping from every part of him to his chest. He then pushed the energy forward through his arms, and when it reached his fingers, he let it go.

His eyes opened as a glowing ball formed above his cupped palms. He spread and tilted his hands, making the light stretch and twist. Enjoying himself as heat filled him, Tucker smiled and began forming the light into shapes.

Emlyn had been forced to stop touching him. The feelings were too much. As Tucker formed his magic into a heart, a strange sense of pride and admiration filled her. She didn't need to ask what his trigger was; she knew.

Desire.