Welp, I've been a little distracted lately with another story of mine so it took me a little while to actually come back to this one. Sorry! Here's the newest chapter! Happy 4th of July!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

It had been a little more than a week since the incident with the tourists. Much to Danny's delight, Sam had managed to convince them not to return to the forest. When he had asked her how she had managed to accomplish such a miracle, she just motioned to a large bag filled with memorabilia, journals, art, t shirts, and other such items. In answer to his confused look, she simply handed him a sharpie and his face dropped. It took him over five hours to sign everything by that accursed name and he swore that if he even heard the word Invisobil one more time, that person was going to get an ectobeam to the face.

At this time, he and Sam were having a race to see who could reach the top of the tallest tree in the forest fastest. He wasn't allowed to fly or use any sort of powers according to Sam and he was completely fine by that. It was more fun when the odds were even. At least he thought they were even until he reached the top while she was still about halfway up. He laughed realizing he had the unfair advantage of both extra speed and experience climbing this tree. A nervous laugh escaped him as he slowly let go and floated down to her level.

"Guess I won that one," he said with a small smile. Sam glared at him as she pulled herself onto a rather large branch. She sat down and leaned against the tree to rest for a small moment.

"You little cheat," she muttered breathlessly. He let out a small chuckle and came to rest beside her just far enough so that they wouldn't touch. The distance was actually beginning to bother him though he didn't exactly know why. She looked over at him as she regained her breath.

Danny stared upwards as the sunlight glinted through the leaves of the tree they currently sat in. In the peacefulness of this moment, he let his mind drift to the thoughts that had haunted him for the past week. Most of the thoughts were not exactly positive.

The first was Clockwork's visit. The ghost of time had been one of Danny's closest friends since he had arrived in this forest so many years ago. The white haired spirit could almost say that the cloaked ghost had become a sort of father figure to him over the time. Danny trusted Clockwork but he wanted more than anything to not believe him this time. He didn't want to believe that staying with Sam would end up in his vanishing. Both the thought of staying away and vanishing scared him beyond belief.

Speaking of Sam, she was the other thing that plagued his thoughts. They had only known each other for a little over a month at this point and yet they seemed to be the best of friends. He didn't know why he had actually decided to talk to her when they first met. Most of the other times something like that had happened, he stayed silent and simply led the person back to the gate where he let them go on their marry way. It didn't go that way with Sam though. He had led her to the waterfall which had been his little safe haven ever since he had discovered it seven years ago. He had spilled his secret and told her his story. He had no idea why he had done such things. Something about Sam just made him want to have her around.

As the time went by, he had found himself opening up to Sam even more than he had to most of the spirits in the forest with him and Danny couldn't help but want to stay with her. The sad thing was, he knew he couldn't. He was pretty much an immortal spirit. She was a human, something he would never be able to even come in physical contact with. Human grew up. They grew old. They forgot. Summers don't last forever. Sam would have to leave him and even if she returned to the forest the summer after that and the summer after that and so on, she would grow older while he was left frozen in eternal youth. Eventually, he would probably become nothing more than a dream to her, an imaginary friend to get over summer blues. Then one day, she will leave this world… The thought scared him more than he would like to admit.

Next on his list was the village or mainly just humans in themselves. Danny had never known the human culture until Sam had come along. He had been forced to watch from a distance as he watched people his physical age run around and hang out with each other in the valley just outside the forest boundary. He watched from the sidelines as people went on with their lives, living happily together with that special someone. It wasn't until Sam had begun sharing the human culture with him that it made sense why humans did what they did. When he had visited the village, even though he had been running for his life, he saw what humans did and how they got to interact. He saw it all and in all honesty, he actually began to envy them. They lived a life he would never be able to have no matter how hard he tried or how much he wanted it…

The last and probably most depressing thought on his mind was the thought of vanishing. Ever since meeting Sam, the thought had been on his mind and after his close encounter in the village, the thought was a lot more prominent. Danny didn't know what would happen to him if he disappeared. Would it be a pit of nothingness or would something be waiting for him on the other side? Would it hurt or be painless? Would anybody actually care?

The questions that ran though his head were not unlike those of a human's when they think of death as for Danny, it was basically the same idea. One would never know until it happened and until that moment it would haunt the edges on the subconscious, slowly picking away at the person's sanity. There was no way to prove any specific concept and there was no way for one to even begin to think of what may lay on the other side. It made his head spin as he thought of it.

"….nny… Danny…. Danny!"

The boy jumped, almost falling off of the branch he rested on. Danny looked over to Sam who had a worried expression on her face. It was obvious she had been calling him for some time now. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked over to her sheepishly.

"Yeah?"

"You've been sitting there staring off into space for the past ten minutes," Sam stated after a quick check of her watch. She looked back to him lavender eyes shining. "Is something wrong?"

Danny blinked before quickly shaking his head forcing a smile on his face. He didn't want to worry her with his thoughts. "No. It's all fine. Just daydreaming," he said simply.

Sam raised an eyebrow that clearly showed that she didn't believe him but she said nothing letting the subject drop. Danny let out an inward sigh of relief. He watched as Sam slowly pushed herself into a standing position, holding onto the trunk of the tree for support, before beginning to climb upwards once more. Danny watched confused.

Before Danny could actually ask anything, Sam broke in. "I'm going to finish this thing whether you have already won or not."

Danny let out a small chuckle and floated off the branch to watch her carefully while pushing his thoughts away. He should have expected as much from her. He watched her climb up branch by branch a little worried that she would fall.

"Sam… Please be careful. I can't catch you if you fall," he warned as she pulled herself up even higher. She waved a dismissive hand at him as her combat boot found a sturdy foothold.

"I've got this. You don't need to worry," she said flashing him a small smile. He let out a sigh and continued to watch her carefully.

Sam climbed well and for a moment Danny thought that she would actually make it to the top. That was when she stepped on what looked to be a strong branch. It snapped under the weight and she began tumbling though the air. Danny's eyes widened and he immediately shot down after her, a hand outstretched to grab her. Sam saw this and let out a loud scream.

"Don't touch me!"

Danny froze and drew back his hand before reacting with his powers. He created an ectoplasmic net at the bottom which she fell into with a slight bounce and groan. He zipped down to float in front of her worry distorting his face.

Sam looked fine minus a couple cuts and bruises from hitting branches on the way down but at least she was alive and didn't break anything. However, she did seem to be bothered as her knees had been drawn up to her chest with her head laying on them. She looked as if she was trying to make herself seem as small as possible.

"Sam…?" Danny asked a little hesitantly reaching out to rest a comforting hand on her shoulder before quickly drawing it back.

"I want you to promise me something." The statement was quiet and muffled and Danny had barely caught it as it was being said. He nodded and Sam continued.

"Please… Don't ever touch me."

The request shocked him a lot more than it should have and he opened his mouth to say something. She cut in before any words were able to leave his mouth.

"I don't want to lose you… So promise me. You won't ever touch me…" Her words were soft and sincere. Sam looked up and he saw how much this actually meant to her in her eyes. Slowly he let out a sigh and nodded.

"I promise…"