The Art of Science
By Lacey52

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

A note: Ah! It's so short! But at least I got out what I needed to get out and this chapter is done. Now we only have seven left! I'm so excited!
Typos? Let me know, I did this chapter rather quickly…

Love you all.

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

Chapter Ten: Acid

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

The wind was refreshingly cool against Danny's face that particular evening, the feeling of condensed water in the form of clouds washing away all his thoughts over his recent troubles as he skimmed through a cloud, then headed back earthward in order to continue his patrol. He had heard from Sam not ten minutes before, saying she was sorry she hadn't called, she couldn't talk long because her parents were after her for something, and she'd call him again that day.

He was hoping she meant evening as it was already five o'clock.

Things had gone well so far that day. Only the Box Ghost had been sighted, which gave Danny the opportunity to release some pent up stress on the poor creature before he'd captured him. In all, Danny considered for a moment as he hovered in place, things were going far better than he had expected them to. There should have been at least one other ghost heading towards Sam's house today, but nothing had happened thus far.

'I feel like that should bother me,' the boy still hovered as he thought, taking in his surroundings and carefully monitoring the world around him, 'but it doesn't. Guess I'm a little too thankful for the break right now.'

Taking off again, Danny flew for another five or so minutes before spotting the silhouette of Valerie on her hover board, more than likely also out on patrol for the evening. She was flying low to the ground and scanning the area, and the halfa was just thankful she hadn't caught sight of him yet. Dropping to the ground quickly, Danny hurriedly changed behind a few bushes that lined a neighborhood sidewalk, then continued on his way as Fenton, pleased that he'd managed to avoid a run in with the huntress.

"Hey, what are you doing out so late?"

Valerie had managed to spot him after all, it seemed, and Danny turned with a shrug to answer the girl as her battle suit retracted itself, "Just out for a walk. It's a pretty nice evening."

"Yeah, I was just out flying around," the girl smirked, pleased that she could talk openly with the boy about her hunting now that she knew he knew about it, "I was kinda' on patrol but it felt too good flying to really pay attention."

'Tell me about it,' Danny nodded in agreement, then looked back over his shoulder, wanting to continue his walk at the very least, if not his patrol. Valerie picked up on this easily and started to move forward, grinning to Danny as they both started walking.

"So, wanna' head to the Nasty Burger and grab a quick drink?" the girl beamed, making Danny slightly uncomfortable in the face of everything that had happened between them, "Just on friendly terms Danny, I know you don't want anything else from me right now. Besides, we both probably have places we need to be."

"Um, I guess," Danny nodded, not able to shake the feeling that he was doing something wrong, but not able to rationalize just what that was, 'It's just a drink between friends. Me and Tucker go and do that, and before we were together me and Sam would too. It's fine as long as she doesn't think it's anything else.'

"Good," and they continued walking, chatting about how summer had gone so far, the strange increase of ghosts, and the fact that the council had finally started to publish the lists of ghosts according to Phantom's recommendations. Valerie had a great deal to say about the last subject, but the halfa mostly tuned her out.

He was used to doing so whenever she'd start to rant about 'that ghost kid', though he found this time it didn't bother him quite so much.

After ordering and receiving their purchases, Valerie chose a table near the side of the restaurant where they could watch the main street from the windows as they talked. Thirty minutes and two sodas later still found them in the same place, enjoying each other's company and reminiscing over old times.

Another twenty minutes later had them laughing their heads off about something that had happened on one of their dates, and fond smiles being shared between the two. Sitting back to sip at his drink, Danny was pleased that he still had such a wonderful friend, thinking on how nice it was that they could just talk again without the stress they'd felt before when dating.

Valerie on the other hand was feeling hopeful, all the good memories far outweighing the months of bad feelings and bad times in her mind. Taking a chance, she leaned forward and snagged Danny's hand across the table, smiling at him, "I'm glad we decided to chat, I really missed talking to you Danny."

"Yeah, this is nice," he gave her hand a gentle squeeze, then pulled back, not completely comfortable with sitting and holding her hand, "I'm glad too."

"Danny, I know I've asked you before, and I know you just want to be friends and I respect that," Valerie was looking him straight in the eye, building herself up to asking him what she considered a very important question, "but do you think we could ever try being together again?"

"Val," the boy paused with a frown on his face, thinking of Sam and what she'd have to say about the situation, 'Probably something along the lines of 'No way in hell' and then we'd both get an earful.'

A tiny grin and chuckle had pulled across his face, then it fell again, a nervousness which wasn't uncommon making his lips twitch downwards again, 'Then again, if she walked in right now, I'd probably be dead meat, especially with everything going on. At least it would prove I wasn't just with her because of her problem…'

"Danny?"

Her voice snapped him from his thinking and he quickly shook his head 'no', standing with his drink in one fluid motion, "No Val, I'm sorry. We're great as friends, but not so much when we're together. I really wish you'd stop asking me."

'But you hesitated,' Valerie was thinking to herself, not sure what to do next as she watched him leave with a strange look on his face, 'What's going on Danny? It has to be something between you and Sam…and I'll be here when you need a friend to lean on. I just hope you realize that I could be more when it finally ends. Seriously, how much longer do you think the two of you are going to last?'

Shaking her head at whatever was running through Danny's head, Valerie threw her trash away and headed out the door, quickly changing and hopping on her board to make it home before her father did that evening. She didn't wish ill for Danny, but she certainly wouldn't mind if their relationship fell apart, even if it was little by little and took longer than she might have liked. She'd just have to keep making her presence known…just in case.

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

'Alright, I know you have your cell on you,' Sam thought as she bent over to tie her tennis shoes, getting ready to talk to Danny and prepare for an evening run at the same time, 'You've been keeping it on you just in case, and I talked you about an hour ago…'

"Hey, Sam," Danny's voice finally came from the other end of the line, sounding slightly off for some reason or other, "What's going on?"

"Just getting ready to go for a run; down to the park, around it, and back," Sam sat back up, stretching her back as she did so.

"This late?" Danny glanced around, the sun hadn't set yet, but it would start sinking soon. It was nice and cool however, so he supposed it made sense, "Do you think that's smart Sam?"

"It'll be fine," the girl grinned triumphantly, patting her short's only pocket as she stood, "I'm taking the Fenton lipstick, so I'll at least be able to take care of myself. Plus I finally talked Tucker into letting me borrow his thermos."

'You asked Tucker? Why not me?' the boy had pulled the phone away with a frown, glaring at the ground for a second as a wave of jealousy rushed over him, "You could have just asked me…"

"I would have…but we haven't exactly been talking lately," her tone clearly indicated she was upset by this, and Danny winced as he realized that he was partially at fault, "Besides, you've been doing a lot lately, and I want to be able to do some things on my own."

"I guess," but the halfa didn't like that idea at all, his own tone making that clear as it came out in more of a snort than reassurance. Danny held his breath until he realized Sam was letting it slide, thankful that she was either not paying that much attention to him or purposefully ignoring his remark, 'That was stupid Fenton…don't insult her, idiot!'

"So what are you up to?" Sam's voice was a little more dry than it normally was when she was speaking with him, bringing about the realization that she had indeed heard his smart aleck comment, "You sound like you're still out and about."

"Yeah, just got done at the Nasty Burger," a loud slurp was heard as he proved it, setting a small smile on the girl's face, "See? Soda…yum."

"Uh huh," Sam rolled her eyes and started to stretch out her legs, enjoying the feeling greatly and relieved that she was finally going to get to exercise outside, as she'd been wanting to do for a while, "Did you meet Tucker there?"

"Um, not exactly," the young man swallowed hard, figuring it was best to just put the truth out there before Sam thought he was hiding it from her, "I actually sorta' saw Valerie while I was walking around and we ended up getting a couple of sodas and talking for a while."

"Oh," Sam sounded genuinely surprised, and actually sat on the floor to concentrate more fully on what her halfa was saying, "So…did it go okay?"

'You don't even like her,' Danny smiled to himself, knowing that Sam only asked because it mattered to him. She was definitely one of a kind, "Yeah, it was nice. We talked a lot, and had a good time. The only part that really bothered me was when she held my hand."

"You held hands?"

Was it Danny or was her voice growing more quiet…was it with anger or fear…?

"Just for a second, sort of like a friendly gesture?" he didn't sound confident at all and he was well aware of it, even before a very un-ladylike snort was heard from Sam's end of the line, "It wasn't a big deal."

"I guess," Sam moved to stand and rolled her shoulders, ready to go, but not ready to end her conversation with Danny yet. She was feeling particularly insecure at that moment, and as she walked down the stairs towards the front door, she decided she'd just have to suck it up and put all her cards on the table, "Did anything else happen?"

"Yeah," and he was quiet for a moment, making Sam's heart thump heavily in her chest and her breathing slow as she listened, "She asked again if we could…if we could be more than friends."

'Doesn't she know that me and Danny are together?' Sam fought the urge to stomp her foot and settled instead for grinding her teeth as she listened to Danny on the other end of the line, her face falling with every word out of his mouth, 'What…?'

"I think she might have gotten the wrong idea though, 'cause I sorta' paused before I answered her," Danny was rambling, nervously pacing beneath a streetlight as he talked, silently praying that things wouldn't be misinterpreted by Sam, "I was just thinking about us and everything that's been happening to us and between us and I told her no, but then I left, so I'm not sure exactly what she was thinking…"

"You were thinking about what's happening between us?" Sam swallowed hard, wanting to think that Danny hadn't meant anything other than the issues they were working through. She couldn't help as doubt began to creep into her mind, 'What if he means he doesn't want to work it out…that doesn't make sense, Danny works things out no matter what, I know how hard he tried with Valerie. Than again maybe this is different…it is a lot more stressful I'm sure…I need to clear my head…'

"Danny," Sam cut him off before he could start talking again, taking a deep breath to try and cover the nervousness that was pervading her entire body, "I'm going to go for a run. I…I need to clear my head and I'll talk to you later, alright?"

"Sa-"

She snapped her phone off and tucked it into her pocket along side the lipstick. The thermos was firmly in her left hand, and as soon as she had opened and shut the door, she was running, trying to sort out all of the emotions running through her at that moment. It was going to take some time, and Sam just hoped that Danny had the good sense to leave her alone until then. If not, he was probably going to get the browbeating of his life, which she doubted would help things between them at all.

'Stupid boys…stupid ghosts…stupid Valerie!' Her mantra kept repeating in her mind the entire way to the park.

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

"Fancy meeting you here in the middle of a sunset," Phantom had popped up out of nowhere in Sam's path and she'd barely managed to maintain the frightened squeal she'd almost let out, twisting out of slamming into him at the last second and sliding to a stop with a scared look on her face, "Sam? Oh man, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you…"

"N-no, it's fine," she was breathing far more heavily now than she had been a second ago, having been scared senseless by the one person she thought she'd never fear, "I…I didn't want to talk to you right now, Danny. I just….wanted to cool down a little bit first."

"I know," he took a step closer and puzzled as she took a step further away from him, "But I think we really need to talk. There's too much going on right now Sam."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sam crossed her arms, frowning as several thoughts raced through her mind and she voiced them all, "Too much going on for us to be together, or too much going on with ghosts, or too much going on with Valerie?"

"Why do you automatically think Valerie has anything to do with it?" Danny stood with his arms folded also, ignoring the setting sun and the rapidly cooling air. He figured it was just his presence in the area, 'Please don't act like Valerie and jump to conclusions…please, please, please.'

"Because you just talked to her, Danny," Sam pointed out, "Because you said that you had to think about 'us' before you answered her question about the two of you getting back together. Usually when that happens it means the boy is considering his options, and I do-"

"Crap!" Danny lunged for Sam, noticing too late his breath coming out in a mist as she was pulled up into the air with a tiny scream ripping from her throat, "Sam!"

"Let me go!" the girl was demanding even as she hovered several feet in the air, swinging the hand with the thermos so as to try and hit the ghost's face, "Right now, or I swear you'll regret it."

"How so, little human?" the ghost appeared, a long face with distorted features curiously looking down on her, "I doubt you have any way to utilize what you have."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sam shot back curiously, then grew angry as the ghost simply laughed at her. Struggling found his grip tightening on her, and Sam began to have trouble breathing. Thankfully, Danny had taken the ghost's distraction as a chance to sneak up invisibly to Sam, phasing her out of his hold and rocketing away to set her safely on the ground, "Danny?"

"Stay here Sam," it was a quiet demand, though unlike the last few weeks it was much more gentle, and filled with a pleading that Sam could easily recognize as he turned to face their enemy, "Please? I know I haven't exactly been the nicest guy lately when it comes to fighting these ghosts for you, but I just don't want you to get hurt…"

"Danny, you can't make me do anything," Sam put a hand on his shoulder from where she stood behind him, slipping the thermos into his other hand and surprising him greatly, "I'm going to try to help you because I don't like seeing you get hurt either."

A curt nod was Sam's answer as Danny rocketed up and towards the oncoming ghost, knowing he'd have to end the fight quickly before he drew too much attention. There was some event happening on the other side of the park and he'd flown over it on his way here. Unfortunately, it seemed most of the people at the gathering were very anti-ghost…even of the Phantom kind. There was no way he wanted to put up with anything of that sort at that particular time.

The fight was going great, until the other ghost got in a lucky upper cut and sent Danny tumbling end over end mid air. He finally got his bearings and halted his backwards progress, stopping to shake his head and clear the cobwebs that were gracing his line of vision. As soon as he did though, he wished he hadn't paused at all.

The ghost was four feet from Sam and reaching out, about to snatch her, 'No…'

Danny started to fly, pushing himself to reach her when he observed her calmly pulling a small silver tube from her pocket, pulling the cap off, and firing in one smooth motion. The ghost went one way, shocked and badly injured with burns on his face, and Sam fell the other way, landing hard on her back and winding her for a second.

Danny hovered between the two, then shook his head and uncapped the thermos. It was probably best if he took care of the immediate threat first, then checked on Sam, 'Speaking of which,' and he immediately landed beside her in a crouch. Her eyelids were rapidly moving as she blinked away the shock of being thrown on her back so forcefully, and as she pushed herself up into a sitting position, Danny realized she was a lot tougher than he'd been giving her credit for.

"Are you okay?"

His voice seemed to snap her from her temporary stupor and her head whipped around to face him. She was dazed, but managed to nod her head. Danny simply chuckled and stood, towering over her then and fairly glowing with energy that he'd built up but hadn't expended in the fight. A gloved hand came down in front of her offering to pull her up…

…and Sam could only stare at it, fighting inside of her own mind over what to do.

She looked away quickly as tears started to build in her eyes, though none fell, guilt over how she'd been acting around him and reacting to him washing over her as she found she couldn't take his hand. She couldn't take it…because she was afraid of him.

It didn't even make sense in her own mind. Here was sweet, shy, Danny Fenton, the hero in disguise with a heart of gold and a good head on his shoulders. He'd saved their town, the people, and according to some, the world. He'd been actively saving her for the past few months and she'd seen just how embroiled his life was. How in the world was she afraid of him?

"I-I just…I can't," Sam stood by herself shaking slightly and moving away, completely at odds with her own self, "Danny…I…I'm…"

'I can't just tell him though,' Sam thought, watching as he stood with hurt in his eyes at the refusal of his offered hand, 'He'll be so hurt…even worse than he is now. That's the last thing I want…for him to know I'm afraid of him, and I can't even give him a reason why…'

"Please, Danny," Sam pleaded, but wasn't sure why, torn between running away from him and comforting him, "Please…"

"It's okay," he soothed her, speaking softly and backing away, "It's fine Sam…I know you've been having a tough time. When you're ready to talk…we'll talk."

"Thank you," she was breathing easier now, forcing herself to look at the ground and not at the boy, listening to the voice of Danny and making herself think only on that, even if it had that eerie echoing quality. It was easier to be around him as Fenton and she was doing her best to keep calm at the moment, wondering what was wrong with her over and over again in her mind.

"Anytime," and he meant it, turning slightly as she started to move off, "Be careful."

"I will," and then she was gone again, running back the way she had come with the lipstick clutched firmly in her hands as it had been the entire time. Watching her leave was tearing Danny apart, but what else could he do?

'Patience,' he told himself as he blew out a breath, more bothered than he let on about what had just occurred, 'Patience, and time, and a lot more research than I've done…and…time!'

The halfa literally hit his own forehead with his palm as he shot into the air, 'And I've got just the guy to help me out.'

It was turning out to be a much longer night than he had expected, but that was fine. It was for Sam after all.