The Art of Conversation
By Lacey52

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

A note: A nod to the fans of Ranma ½, such as myself, in this one. Chaos factor is the only way to explain the crazy coincidences sometimes, lol…
Um, the very first part of this chapter ties back in at the very last part of this chapter. Think of the middle part as a sort of flashback, I guess…

Enjoy!

.o.O.o.o.O.o.
Chapter Eleven: Intelligent Conversation
.o.O.o.o.O.o.

Sam Manson was never one who would 'freak out', as people might term it. She looked at the odd or unusual with delight generally, enjoyed the strange and macabre, and took part in the subcultures that lurked in Amity Park with glee. She had faced down ghosts, both small and large, and had managed to keep her cool, so why was she now in such a panicky state?

'I can handle this,' Sam dropped onto her bed, her leg throbbing and a huge bruise taking up part of her calf, much worse than the one that had been on her shoulder blade a few weeks ago, 'I don't need to be pacing around like a crazy person because I am not freaking out and because my leg hurts. I am not freaking out.'

'This is just too weird,' Sam fell backwards and pulled a pillow to her chest, 'Why me? I've already determined there's nothing special about me to attract ghosts, so why am I, and what the hell was up with Phantom?'

Sam shook her head and buried further into her pillow, 'This has to rank up there as one of the weirdest days ever…'

.o.O.o.o.O.o.
Earlier That Day
.o.O.o.o.O.o.

"See you later!" Tucker pulled off his cap and nodded his head to Sam with a serious look on his face, which soon turned into a pout, "Are you sure you can't come? Eating with Danny is so boring without you now! Please, please, please?"

"Hey, I'm not the boring one," Danny retorted, then twisted away from a rather violent swipe of a hat from Tucker, "Seriously Sam, come with us, pretty please?"

"I can't you guys," Sam rolled her eyes as her two friends rushed her, Danny grabbing her bag away, Tucker slipping the book from her hands, and both taking off down the road. Sam gave them a head start, feeling bad that she would overtake them so quickly, then was off after her things, "Get back here, right now!"

She easily overtook the boys, who were huffing a bit by the time she got to them, then passed them up and started running backwards with careful glances over her shoulder to make sure she didn't trip or run over anyone. The boys slowed their run, then stopped altogether as Sam kept jogging in place, "Don't stop now, we were just starting to warm up."

"You're nuts, absolutely crazy, woman," Tucker leaned over with his hands braced on his knees, "That's it, I have to start exercising."

"I'll take my stuff back now," she expectantly held out her hand, the other over her stomach as she stood and waited. Danny looked at Tucker and grinned, at which Tucker turned to look between Sam and the other boy and grinned as well, "What?"

Sam wasn't at all liking that little smirk on Danny's face as he stood up straight and started walking towards her, both his own backpack and hers handed off to the manically grinning Tucker who seemed to be on something she wasn't aware of.

"Always wanted to kidnap someone," Danny grinned as he suddenly ran at Sam and lowered himself to set his shoulder in her stomach, then lifted to heft her in the air, his arm wrapping around legs to keep her from off balancing herself, "Think she'll get me a ransom or something? She's pretty enough."

"Danny, put me down!"

"Oh yeah," Tucker laughed and waved a hand in the air as both boys started off and Sam hit Danny's back twice before giving up on that idea, "She'll get you something. Definitely. Now, on to the Nasty Burger!"

"Put me down or else! I'm serious, Danny, I have a skirt on!"

"Onwards!" Danny echoed his friend and they headed to their destination. Sam tried hitting one more time, as her pleas were falling on deaf ears, and realized that under his t-shirt, Danny had a wiry, muscled frame that sported more strength than he ever showed off, 'Obviously he can hold me like it's nothing…he must work out, but he doesn't seem the type.'

Sam's thoughts cut themselves off as an idea flashed through her mind, and the only warning Danny got was a confused, "Why are you smiling, Sam?" from Tucker.

The next thing he knew, Sam had her wickedly sharp teeth sunk into his back, right below the shoulder blade, though honestly she didn't bite hard. His arm clamped down even harder around her legs in his shock, thankfully remembering to not drop the girl. Tucker stood watching from behind as Sam didn't just bite him, but kept biting him while Danny twitched slightly, 'At least he didn't drop her on her head…'

'Well, he didn't drop me,' Sam thought as she decided to just give up and removed her teeth, leaving Danny still standing shock still, 'If he didn't let me go with me biting him like this he probably won't….'

"Sam," Danny ground out, stuck between surprise and amusement, "Did you just…did you bite me?"

"Well, you won't put me down, and your shoulder is bony," she retorted and folded her arms as best she could, ignoring Tucker's laughter, "I had to do something, but it obviously didn't work."

"I could have dropped you on your head," Danny leaned down with a frown and set Sam back on her feet, one hand on her waist until she caught her balance and stepped away, "I'm sorry I made you mad and didn't put you down…"

"I wasn't mad," Sam looked to Tucker for a little help, and the boy smiled and nodded once, showing his support, "I was just…playing. I'm sorry."

"It's fine," the halfa twisted around funnily as he pulled up part of his shirt and tried to catch sight of the bite mark that had surely been left, displaying to Sam that she was correct in her assumption of muscles on his frame, "Well, that'll be fun to explain to anyone who sees it."

"Aw, you should be proud," Tucker poked it hard, earning a hiss for his efforts, then grinned up at Sam, "First hickey…we should take a picture."

And he did so with his phone as Danny tried to pull away, but failed, "Tucker I swear you ever show anyone that and I'll skin you. I know where you sleep…"

"Idle threats," the brown eyed boy laughed, wiping his eyes as tears came with his mirth, "I'm so posting this on the internet…"

"You do and I'll find out where you sleep and help Danny," Sam ground out, her cheeks darkening to an unnatural hue of red, "I was just playing and I needed down, because unlike boys, girls wear skirts…"

She let that sink for a moment as both their faces tinged with pink, realizing what she was talking about. Sam finally got the chance to snag her book from Tucker's hands and her backpack from Danny as the two young men tried to apologize and fight down their blushes. Sam just laughed and waved them off, once again ready to head towards home.

"Are you sure you can't come with us," Danny recovered first and caught up, "I'll even buy you a strawberry soy milkshake."

"You drive a hard bargain Danny Fenton, but I really can't," Sam smiled as she stood at the street corner where they would part ways, "My parents finally noticed that I wasn't getting home as soon as I should, and for once all they asked was that I come home on time today. I'm cutting it close as it is just playing around with you…two. You two."

"Oh, well," Danny's hand snuck up to the back of his neck without permission as he shot her an contrite grin, "You'd better get going."

"Yeah, we don't want you to be late," Tucker grinned, making shooing motions with his hands, "So get going, I'll just have to die of boredom."

"Alright, I'm gone," Sam laughed and started for home as Danny and Tucker headed to eat. She stopped on the opposite side of the street and gathered her nerve, "Hey Danny?"

"Yeah?" he wheeled around, causing Tucker to pause, "What's up?"

"I'll take a rain check on that milkshake," and with a shy smile Sam turned once more and walked. Danny smiled and turned back too, rolling his eyes at Tucker's grinning face.

"Shut up, Tuck," and they were off as well, both boys looking forward to a meal, but only Tucker really thinking about it. Danny's mind was more on the promised milkshake for Sam and the smile sent his way.

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

"We've really…got to stop…meeting like this," Phantom ground out as his shield started to crack against the onslaught launched by Technus' latest suit. Sam stood with her back to the wall, wondering if perhaps she should have listened to Tucker and Danny and stayed with them. She was certainly wondering just how unlucky a girl had to be to find herself in such a situation, though on the bright side she had her own personal superhero to rescue her.

'Okay, if I'm starting to think of him as a superhero and sound like some teenage pop bubblegum girl in my mind, something is definitely wrong,' Sam shook her head as she edged further along the wall, trying to give Phantom more room to do…whatever it was he needed to do, 'He is a hero though, that's for sure. He deserves more recognition.'

As Sam found herself pondering the young ghost's lack of good PR, Danny found himself wondering just how often Sam could get into trouble and how she had managed to survive in Amity Park before that fateful day of the seafood attack had brought him into her life, 'I knew it, the more a person gets involved with me, the worse they get sucked into the craziness…it's like some weird chaos factor or something!'

Technus began to monologue, much to Danny's relief as he lowered the severely cracked shield and stepped back, pushing Sam faster than she had previously been moving. As soon as he had them far enough away from the tentacles that had been his biggest obstacle, Danny leaned over to whisper to Sam, trying to not alert the ghost that no one was listening to him.

"He's crazy and he likes to talk, so while he's talking, get out of here," he moved slightly to the left to cover Sam more fully from Technus' sight, "I'm sorry you keep getting caught up in my trouble."

Sam didn't respond, just reached out a hesitant hand and laid it against Phantom's cold back. Unfortunately, it was also in the same place she had unknowingly bit the halfa that same afternoon. It hadn't really hurt when she first did it, but after Tucker's unkind prodding and poking all through their afternoon snack and the walk to his house, it had become more and more sore, to the point where it was actually starting to bother him.

"Geeze," Phantom jumped, much to Sam's surprise as she laid her hand on him, causing her to jerk away and Technus to realize what was going on, "Get out of here, he's going to be pissed!"

"Sorry!" she shouted as she took his advice and started to move away, only to find an angry looking ATM machine blocking her path. She quickly dodge the cumbersome contraption and was scooting along nicely, until Phantom went shooting along in front of her, and not of his own volition. He had been backhanded hard enough to send him flying backwards, and Sam brought herself up short as he crashed to the ground in front of her and rolled a few feet.

Sam swore that he had to be unconscious after such a hard hit, but the phantom boy surprised her by popping up on his feet, a grimace making his features look darker than they normally did and a green line marking a bleeding cut on his cheek, 'He's bleeding green…'

"Technus, you seriously need to stay trapped in level zero when I put you there," Phantom took a slightly unsteady step forward, then another and another, and soon he was walking just fine, "You're nothing but a pest."

"If I were a mere pest, child," the nasally sounding machine smoothly slid forward to meet his opponent, "I'd not have knocked you on your rear, ha ha!"

"Shut up," the halfa spit out as they started trading blows, Sam ready to make her get away again as soon as the ATM stopped eyeing her…or whatever it was doing as it didn't have eyes, 'This really sucks.'

Sam lunged to the left and darted around it once again, but a tentacle from Technus shot out and hit the back of her calf, forcing her into a rolling fall which left her a crumpled heap until she managed to figure out which way was up. Her spin left her more disoriented than hurt, or so she thought until she tried to stand, only to find a sharp pain biting through her calf and she sat back down promptly.

"Chill out!" Phantom grabbed the tentacle flailing in front of him and froze it, easily snapping it off the main body after that.

"You really need to work on your banter."

Technus and Sam shot each other a weird look for having echoed one another in their verbalized thought, which had Phantom blushing at both his friend's and enemy's criticism, "Well you guys try to come up with something off the top of your head."

Sam tried to keep from laughing at Phantom's pout, at the same time as trying not to cry from the pain in her leg. Technus shrugged his shoulders, in a very mechanical way of course, and offered up his own wit, "Why not 'freeze'?"

"That's even worse," Sam grimaced as she put a hand to her bruise, feeling the heat already coming from the wound, "I don't think you should even try witty banter when you're fighting. It usually sounds corny."

"I find it an enjoyable pastime," Technus folded his remaining 'arms' over his mainframe of a chest.

"Actually, I kinda' agree with Sam," Phantom had once again moved to stand in front of the girl, realizing that something was wrong and she wasn't able to stand. He had the thermos open and it was charged, ready to pull Technus in, "and I'm getting really tired of this fight."

Technus, unlike the other ghosts that Sam had witnessed Phantom pull into the thermos, screamed like someone was killing him. Sam started to wonder how crazy Technus really was, and how much of him could be listed under 'drama queen'.

"You alright?" Phantom knelt down beside Sam, looking her over to try and see where she was injured, "I didn't even see you get hit. I'm sorry."

"He kinda' snuck the hit in," Sam admitted and shifted to sit more on her side so she could show her forming bruise, "I was trying to run like you said, but he hit the back of my calf. I ended up tumbling and couldn't get up afterwards."

"Your 'witty banter' saved the day," Phantom laughed as he gently placed an ice cold finger to her wound, watching as she winced and pulled away slightly, "Sorry."

"It's just sore, I'm sure I can get up," Sam said as she tried to and stood heavily on her uninjured leg, "Or maybe I can get up and not move…"

"Well, at least I already know where you live," Phantom smiled as he moved to wrap an arm around Sam and lifted them both into the air, being careful of her leg, "We can get there pretty fast, and get you some ice or something."

"My parents are home and that means all the staff are there," Sam shook her head, hanging on tightly as Danny started on his way quickly, hoping that it really was just a bruise and not something worse, "I won't be able to get to any ice, and I can't exactly sneak in like this."

"Did you sneak out?"

He sounded so surprised that Sam almost lied to him and told him no, but decided at the last second to just tell the truth like she always did, "Yeah, I really wanted a strawberry soy milkshake."

"Oh really?" his chuckled question had Sam blushing and turning her head, remembering her earlier conversation with Danny, "Why a milkshake?"

"I just had a craving for one, alright?" she turned away from him as best she could while being held by the boy at least fifty feet in the air, "How in the world am I going to get past my parents…"

"Well, if you snuck out they probably still think you're in your room right?" he waited for her to nod before nodding himself, thinking up a plan as her house came into view, "I can just phase you through your window, but you do need ice…"

"Can you sneak down for me?" Sam winced as her calf gave a twinge, then felt Phantom laugh rather than heard him as he chuckled silently to himself, "Alright, what's so funny? You're lucky I wasn't stubborn for once and insisted on walking."

"It's just, for one thing, I'm sure you don't want a haunted house, because no matter how fast I get your ice, people are still going to get chills and feel like something's watching them and all that stuff," he turned glowing green eyes in Sam's direction and gave her a blinding smile, "For another thing, I'm kind of a personal ice machine."

"What you did the other night?" Sam frowned as she shook her head, "I don't have any water in my room and my bathroom is down the hall."

"Here we are," Sam found herself eyelevel with her window, and suddenly passing through it, the strange pins and needles feeing washing over her for only half a second. Phantom looked around for a second before he decided to set Sam gently on the edge of her bed, then knelt to start unlacing her boot.

"What are you doing?" Sam growled as she folded her arms and pulled her leg back from Phantom's soft hold, trying not to wince as her calf protested the movement.

"Your leg and foot might swell and I don't think you'd like having to pull your foot out then," he pulled her leg back and started once again, ignoring her this time as she tried to free her foot, "It's just in case, and I'm pretty sure you'd be more comfortable without it anyways."

"Do you have a towel or an old shirt or something in here?" he stood and started looking around her room, grabbing up an old throw tossed over her computer chair, "You don't mind if this gets wet, do you?"

"No, but the water…"

"I don't actually need water," the ghost produced a handful of ice cubes, perfectly shaped and laid them on part of the throw, then repeated the process twice more, "I can just make ice. Personal ice machine, at your service."

"Wow," Sam watched as his gloved hands wrapped the ice tight, thinking over the power he had displayed and truly impressed, "So you didn't need the fire hydrant the other day?"

"I did," he nodded seriously, "You wouldn't have figured out its weakness otherwise, and it saved me a lot of energy and effort."

Gloved hand carefully lifted her leg and held the ice filled blanket to the bruise, which was swelling as he had predicted. The cold came not only from the ice he had created, but from his hands as well, the soothing cool washing over Sam's abused leg and making her realize it wasn't just her calf that was aching. She hurt all over from her tumble.

"How'd you even end up with Technus yelling at you anyway?" the boy floated in front of her cross-legged as he held the ice and her leg in one hand, the other supporting his chin and resting on his knee, "I was just flying around and making sure everything is alright when I hear him yelling, and then I find you yelling back at him to stay away. Kinda' weird…"

"Yeah, well," she shifted and moved to take the ice from him, but found a firm refusal as he shook his head and kept hold of the make shift icepack, "Like I said I wanted a milkshake and on my way to the Nasty Burger a wall blew out in front of me. The next thing I knew, that ghost was yelling at me for being a 'puny human in his way' so I figured he wasn't someone I wanted to be around."

"You can say that again," he huffed then laughed as she mimicked him to get the hair out of her face, "Still falling in your face?"

"It's normal, and no, I don't want a clip," Sam rolled her eyes, knowing somehow he would have said something like Danny would have, "You really remind me of one of my friends…I think you might be related somehow."

"I dunno'," he shifted uncomfortably and took the ice away from her leg to look at her bruise. It was far worse than the one on her shoulder; at least twice its size and three times as ugly with a large bump rising in the middle. Phantom reapplied the ice and sat with a nervous look on his face. Sam interpreted this as a bit of a taboo subject so she decided to talk about something else.

"Have you heard about the new city campaign to raise awareness of ghost attacks?" The question was certainly out of the blue, but Danny didn't mind. He was just happy she had thought of something else for them to talk about while he held the ice on her leg.

"Yeah, actually," he smiled. This was a topic he knew a great deal about, "The city approached me about helping them write some sort of guide to friendly and dangerous ghosts. The only problem is all ghosts are dangerous, even if they are friendly, and the city council doesn't quite understand that."

"At least they're trying to open communications with you," Sam frowned thoughtfully, glad that he was finally getting some of the recognition he deserved, "It could lead to a better relationship with the public."

"Hopefully," Phantom laughed, rolling his eyes as he did so, "but it doesn't really matter. They're trying to keep people safe and that's the most important part. I just hope that people take it seriously and they listen to me when I tell them all ghosts are dangerous."

"Do you count yourself?" Sam asked the brazen question before she could stop herself and time seemed to slow as Phantom's eyes pierced her own. His gaze didn't break for a second as he furrowed his brow in thought. Sam suddenly felt very vulnerable and didn't want to hear his answer, but sat patiently, curiously awaiting his response.

"Yes," the boy nodded, serious and yet unsure, as though he were willing her to understand something, "I know you don't really know me that well, but you trust me a lot. I mean, I'm sitting in your bedroom with my hands on your leg, so I assume you trust me."

A quite nod was his answer and he sat a moment more to ponder her question, "The reason I think I'm dangerous…is because I know how strong I am. I've also visited an alternate future where I destroy Amity Park and everything I care for. I even ripped apart the ghost zone, which is where all my enemies, and a few of my friends, live. I've learned how to control ice and eventually I'll learn how to tear holes in the fabric of reality itself, if my older self is anything to judge by."

"So you think you're dangerous, even though you try so hard to protect Amity?"

"Yeah," he nodded sadly, pulling one of his hands away to hold up between them, a glow of bright green quickly forming into a tiny ball resting in his open palm, "This right here is enough to hurt you a little."

The ball grew from the size of a grape to the size of a baseball, "This could seriously burn you."

Again it grew hovering between them and over his hand, creating a wind of it's own as Sam watched in amazement, "This would probably kill you, but it would only hurt me a little."

The energy winked out of existence as quickly as he had produced it and left Phantom staring at his palm while Sam stared at the tired face of a boy, 'The weight of the world on his shoulders and he really is just a kid like me.'

"So you really are a superhero," Sam snapped him out his thoughtful trance, pulling a frown when he laughed lightly at her, "You protect this city and it's people, get hurt trying to save others, and know what you can become, but you chose not to. You've faced your 'evil' side and always do right and good in the name of justice and peace, blah, blah, blah. Sounds like superhero stuff to me."

"I'm still dangerous," he pointed out, feeling a little better as she pointed out the good he did, "I could still do horrible things and I'd be able to get away with it."

"But you don't do those things," Sam argued back, feeling refreshed as the debate started between them, "and besides that, anyone can be dangerous. Put a baseball bat in my hand and I'm pretty sure I could do some damage before someone could bring me down. No one considers me dangerous though, because I have never, and would never do that."

"I guess," the ghost shrugged, not able to think of another point and watched Sam smile smugly at her small victory.

"You know, that's the first intelligent conversation I've had since discussing Bronte with my vice-principal," Sam laughed lightly, eyes wrinkling at the corners as she did so. Phantom finally removed the ice with a satisfied nod and laid it on the floor beside them, the ice disappearing as he did so, then turned thoughtful eyes to the girl before him.

"What about your friend, from school? That guy you hang out with, or those two guys really."

That was another mistake and Danny knew it as soon as it came out of his mouth. It could most likely be attributed to the fact that his pride was smarting at Sam thinking him incapable of 'intelligent' conversation, 'That was really…that kinda' hurt! Except she doesn't know she's actually talking about me, to me, and I really shouldn't have said that…'

"You mean, Danny and Tucker? They're great to talk with, but with them it's easier to just play around and goof off. I didn't mean that we never have good conversations," Sam blushed slightly at being caught talking badly about her friends in an indirect way, "Danny actually can be really smart when he wants to, and Tucker is a whiz when it comes to computers…I really enjoy talking with Danny when I get the chance, but Tuck always teases us…"

She trailed off for a second as another blush rose in her cheeks, seeing a knowing smile steal over Phantom's face when she started talking about Danny, "Besides, how do you know about my friends? I never really told you about them."

'Caught again, Fenton, think fast,' the teen wrinkled his brow, then stood in the air, "I pass through the school sometimes to check in on it. There's a lot of ghosts that like to hang around there, so I see you around sometimes. You're with those two guys a lot now, so I figured you were friends."

Something in the way Phantom was standing, one hand to the back of his neck in a ridiculously familiar gesture that Sam couldn't place at the moment, was screaming at her that he was lying. The averted eyes and blush rising on his nearly colorless cheeks sealed the deal on Sam's thoughts and she gingerly rose to her feet to confront him.

"Are you lying?" Sam looked up at him, arms crossed. She realized as she stood that her leg was bearing weight far better, and managed a hobbled step forward, closer to the ghost, "You are, aren't you?"

"No," the young ghost shook his head and scooted away from her, hands up in a pacifying gesture, "I really do check on the school."

"What else do you do?"

A picture of the few times he had snuck into the girl's locker room flashed through his head before Danny realized she was trying to trap him, "Nothing, just pass through and see if there are any ghosts around. Honestly, that's it."

"You're not, stalking me or anything, are you?" Sam worriedly looked up at him, then glanced around her room. The lipstick was laying on her desk and if she lunged for it, she could grab it. Somehow though, it seemed silly to even think that, even if she had gained a ghostly stalker, 'One more really weird thing to top the weird things about me…just great.'

"I'm not stalking you," he frowned at her, completely earnest in his statement and nervous under her intense stare, "I just want to make sure you're safe."

"Me?" Sam squeaked out as she sank to sit on her bed, eyes still wide and on Phantom.

"I mean, you and…everyone," it went from bad to worse in less than a second, and Danny decided it was just time to jet, "Look, it's late, I think you think I'm some weird stalker ghost, and you need to rest your leg. I'm gonna' run, so later."

Without so much as a pin drop sound, the boy was gone and Sam was left in a state of glorious confusion and worry. She stood and started to carefully test her leg as she walked gingerly around her room, thinking over how strange the ghost boy had been in the past few minutes.

'Is he really stalking me?' the thought brought a slight shiver to Sam, but she wasn't totally afraid. He'd already proved himself trustworthy on many occasions, but somehow Sam just knew he was lying about the school for some reason, 'Does he really visit it to check on me? That's kinda' stalker-ish and a little possessive. That's not a good thing.'

A half hour later found Sam laying on her bed with a pillow to her chest after exhausting herself from pacing around her room and working herself into a tizzy. She had already recounted the day to herself and was emphatically, assuredly, most unquestionably not freaking out.

But maybe she was…just a little. As far as she could figure, a ghost stalker or peeping tom or whatever Phantom could be would be pretty tricky to catch. He most often found her, though it was during ghost fights that he did so. That pointed to him doing his job, and not being stalker like. She had also sought out his company once, so was it so strange that he did the same?

'No, but that's not what's really bothering me,' Sam pondered as she pulled her covers over her, not bothering with changing her clothes, 'What bothers me is that he was lying about something or not saying something. Like he's keeping some secret.'

"I don't know," Sam threw the pillow across the room in frustration and gave a satisfied grin when it hit the wall with a thud, 'I'll sleep on it and see what happens…and I have to remember to wear pants for the next couple of days…'

Sam was out like a light after that, with thoughts of Phantom and Danny echoing in her dreams. She didn't get much sleep that night, but what shut eye she had, was very peaceful indeed.