Disclaimer: Danny Phantom doesn't belong to me. (Both the TV show and the actual person, which is why I cry. *sobs*)

Chapter 11

Oh my God, Paulina closed her eyes and braced herself. I'm going to die.

Paulina could see the green light growing closer behind her closed eyelids, frozen in place, unable to move. She barely heard someone yell out her name – no, Sam's name – and Paulina braced herself for the pain.

It came, but not in the way she expected it.

Instead of a pain coming from her chest, the pain came from pavement scraping her arm as she was knocked off her feet and shoved to the ground. Paulina let out a breath she didn't know she was holding when the ectoplasmic ray collided with the pavement, burning the asphalt into black ashes. Paulina was vaguely aware of when the rays stopped sprouting everywhere and Danny overcame his opponent as she stared up at her savior.

It was the last person on Earth she'd expect to see: Valerie Grey.

She had no time to stutter out a confused thank you when Valerie yanked her off the ground and into a run as another ray made its way towards them.

"Tucker!" She vaguely heard Danny yell in panic, and as Valerie pulled her to where the Techno-Geek stood, typing commands relentlessly on his PDA, Skulker suddenly stopped seizing. He froze in mid-air, steam coming out of his suit.

Before Skulker was able to regain focus and retaliate, Valerie took the coffee can away from Paulina and aimed it at Skulker. The ghost was sucked into the thermos in flashes of blue and objecting screams and just like that, the mass panic in the air was gone.

"Stupid huntress," Paulina almost jumped seven feet in the air from shock when the voice came from the coffee can.

Valerie only rolled her eyes as Danny flew back down to the trio and changed back to his human form, ignoring the whoops and claps of all the bystanders. Paulina was still out of breath from all the running and the almost dying, so when Danny pulled her into his embrace all at once, she felt like her heart had stopped.

"Are you okay?" he whispered in her ear, then let go of her to look into her face. "What happened back there?"

Paulina was still too confused about everything – Valerie, the ghost attack, Tucker putting her into the line of a ghost ray, almost getting killed – so the only thing she could do was stare up at him and say nothing.

"Oh God," Danny cupped both of her cheeks in his hands and grimaced. "Do you think she has a concussion?"

"She would have to hit her head to have a concussion," Valerie said somewhere behind her. "And she didn't hit her head when I knocked her over." A pause. "I think."

"Just take her home," she heard Tucker mumble from behind her. "She's been acting all kinds of weird lately, so maybe this is one of the weird phases."

Paulina let out a soft yelp when Danny lifted her up bridal-style and went ghost. "Come on, Sammy," he told her softly. "Let's take you home."

When Danny took off into the air, it was all Paulina could do not to scream in terror. She tensed in his arms and held on to his torso tightly, squeezing her eyes shut and prayed to God that he wouldn't drop her.

Danny noticed her sudden tension, but said nothing. He knew his girlfriend was having a bizarre phase at the moment, but for whatever reason, he didn't know. It was like she had weird mood swings on and off and they hit him when he least expected it. He wondered if it was a female thing that he was better off not knowing…

Paulina's stomach had settled back into place as the rhythm of Danny's flying became consistent. She dared a peak at the ground below them and instantly wished she hadn't. They were flying over two hundred feet in the air, and Amity Park below them consisted of mere dots and haphazard colors arranged in greenery and pavements. She wanted to sarcastically remark that Danny could fly a little closer to the ground, but her throat wouldn't croak out the words.

Instead of looking back down to her possible impending death, she stared up at Danny. Instantly, she was captivated – the high cheekbones, the glow in his green eyes, the determined line his mouth was in but also the worried creases around his eyes; the way his glowing white hair ruffled in the wind. It was only then that Paulina actually realized that her dream of flying off into the sunset in Danny Phantom's arms was becoming a reality.

So, okay, they weren't flying off into the sunset but to Sam's house; and it wasn't actually Paulina who was supposed to be flying off with him.

Too soon, and yet after what seemed like forever, Danny arrived at the Manson mansion, turned intangible and phased them both into Sam's room through her closed window.

Paulina expected him to set her down as soon as they entered, so was a little surprised when he carried her to the bathroom and set her down on the sink. Paulina frowned as he turned back to human and started searching through her cabinets. "Um," she said, "what are you doing?"

"You seriously don't notice the huge scrape on your arm?" Danny asked, his head in one of the cabinets.

Paulina thought he was kidding at first, but now that the adrenaline was out of her system, she could feel the slight pain coming from her left arm. She looked down, and almost threw up in her mouth. Her skin that had been smooth minutes before turned rough and red with blood oozing out. Now that Paulina had realized that she was hurt, it was like the pain suddenly hit her.

She was used to getting injured – being a cheerleader required a few broken wrists and ankles every now and then – but seeing all that redness and all that blood made her feel woozy.

Danny noticed her sudden paling and dropped the First Aid kit he'd gotten out of the cabinet onto the counter and stood in front of her. "Hey," he cupped both her cheeks and forced her to look at him. "It's fine, you're going to be fine."

Paulina had never before felt such comfort as she did then staring into his big blue eyes. Even though she was still panicking over the blood and the pain, she managed a small nod to tell him she was okay.

Danny laid a small kiss on her forehead and headed towards the First Aid kit. He started pulling out medical gauze and bandages and alcohol and started getting ready to fix her up.

When the small towel he was using hit Paulina's skin, she refrained the urge to scream. Why did healing the injury hurt even more than getting it? She thought to herself.

She took a deep breath and started rambling, trying to distract herself from the pain. "I could've died if Valerie hadn't done that. I didn't even know Valerie could do that. She just swooped in like freaking Superman and saved the day. How did she even do that? I didn't know Valerie could do something like that."

She felt the towel on her arm falter, and then the pain came back again as Danny said, "Sam, are you sure you didn't hit your head?"

"Yes," Paulina answered automatically. "Why?"

Danny shook his head, his eyebrows furrowed in both concentration and confusion. "Are you sure, though? Because if you hadn't hit your head and were completely fine, then you'd remember that Valerie had spent our entire freshman year hunting down my ass. And then when she found out about my secret with the rest of the world, she decided she would help me instead." He looked from the gash on her arm to the confused look on her face. "Remember?"

Paulina vaguely saw her reflection in the mirror behind her, and remembered. "Oh! Right, of course!" She laughed nervously. "I totally remember. How could I forget?"

Danny just frowned at her and said nothing more. Even though whenever Paulina had a doctor's appointment, she talked through the entire ordeal to distract herself from the pain. But this time, she refrained from talking, afraid she'd get herself into an even bigger mess and have to answer even more questions.

And then Paulina channeled the pain she was feeling into a feeling other than absolute uselessness: anger. She was pissed. She almost freaking died today, just because she was forced to pretend to be someone she wasn't. She was forced to pretend she was someone who knew all about ghost hunting and put her life in danger every single day. Sure, her boyfriend was a ghost, and it was probably an occupational hazard – but it wasn't Paulina's occupational hazard.

She wondered why she'd stayed silent about telling Danny all this time. He was right in front of her now, his features twisted into one of confusion, and it was because his girlfriend wasn't really his girlfriend, and he couldn't pinpoint exactly what was wrong. And Paulina knew exactly what was wrong.

Sam had been a huge bitch to her that morning, and all Paulina was trying to do was make things between them okay and normal again. Paulina got even angrier when she remembered the way she sneered at her at school. How dare she? Who the hell did she think she was?

Paulina made up her mind, and was about to confess everything to Danny when he snapped her out of her thoughts when he said, "There, all done."

Paulina had been too distracted by her thoughts to notice that Danny had bandaged her arm and was all done. Paulina could vaguely feel the throbbing anymore. She looked up at Danny, said a brief, "Thanks," and was about to launch into an explanation about what had happened when he interrupted her again.

"No need to thank me," he stood directly in front of her so that her breath caught from how close he was. She could feel his breath on her cheek and his heart beating in his chest. "You've patched me up in much worse situations."

Paulina swallowed, all thoughts of telling Danny the truth dimming in her head. "Yeah. Sure."

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked her, and she barely even heard the words he was saying as his hands started snaking their way onto her waist. If Paulina didn't know any better, she'd think he was a tease.

She couldn't stand it anymore. She ignored his question and kissed him, bringing her hands up to his neck and pulling his face closer to hers, spreading her legs wide on the counter so that he was pulled up against her. Danny's hands roamed her back, caressing it, sending shivers down Paulina's spine.

When Paulina started kissing his neck, she heard him mumble, "You're definitely fine now." She laughed and brought his mouth back to hers. Moving at a pace she was all too familiar with, she tugged Danny's shirt off and her hands started exploring every inch of the body she'd been dying to get her hands on since she'd first laid eyes on Danny Phantom.

Paulina saw that Danny was making no further move, and she remembered that the body she was in belonged to a prude, so she refrained the urge to roll her eyes, deciding to take matters into her own hands. She brought Danny's hands away from her waist and further up until they snaked a bit below her t-shirt.

Danny paused and brought his lips away from her. Paulina smirked at his shyness and whispered in his ear, "Take it off."

Danny's eyebrows went way up. "Really?"

Paulina had run out of patience, and took her shirt off herself so that she was only in her black bra. She felt a little self-conscious at how small her chest felt compared to how it would've felt had she been in her own body – and that's kind of where she realized what she was doing, who she was doing it with, and in whose body she was doing it.

Danny had taken the hint about digging deeper and was kissing her neck, but Paulina couldn't focus on the tingling in her body from his lips from the sudden nauseas feeling she was getting. She was supposed to tell Danny about everything and get back into her own body right now – she didn't know whether it was the feeling of Danny's mouth and hands all over her that was stopping her or the sudden feeling of guilt that suddenly overtook her.

Paulina didn't have to make her own decision on the matter, because suddenly the door to the bedroom pounded and an angry voice yelled from the other side, "Paulina! We need to talk! NOW!"

A/N: Do these cliff-hangers get you excited or pissed off? I'd bet it's 'pissed off' since I go out of my way to squeeze one into every single chapter. Hahahahahaha sorry not sorry about that xD.

Anyway, revieww xx