A/N: I won't be able to update until next week, so I rushed to get this chapter done. I'll update as soon as I return. Don't forget to leave reviews! I love hearing what you have to say!

-HopeLiterature

Chapter Twelve

"Hadley!" Danny called, jogging after her. "Hadley, wait!"

She didn't slow her pace or even turn, "I'm not going to agree to his terms. You heard him! My job is done."

"No it's not!" Danny said. "Hadley, please stop."

She stopped in her tracks.

"Maybe a compromise can be made," Danny suggested. "You could be a consultant or something. Just please don't leave Amity Park."

"Why?" Hadley turned around to face him. "Why should I stay here? There's thousands of other cities across the country that are just as fucked up as this one!"

"But what about the people you've met here?" Danny asked. "Tucker and Sam, even Vlad. You can't annoy him if you leave."

Hadley waited, knowing he wasn't done.

"And what about me?" Danny added in a quieter voice. "Would you really leave me, Hadley? After all we've been through?"

Hadley looked into his eyes, appearing unmoved. "This is the life I've chosen, Danny. I show up, I kill the monster, I leave. Do you think I've never met another person before?"

That hurt, Danny couldn't deny it. "You'd leave a town to fend for themselves? You and I both know that nobody here will know what to do if something other than a ghost, vampire, or werewolf shows up."

"Your creepy mayor is going to make sure another hunter will be here to take care of that," she replied bitterly. "One that will obey him."

Danny felt his argument slipping, "Anyone he brings in won't be good enough."

"With the size of his pockets, I doubt that." She crossed her arms over her chest.

Danny's temper was beginning to get out of hand, "Damnit, Hadley, if you'd stop being so hard-headed for five fucking minutes—"

"Hard-headed?" she interrupted.

"— you'd see that I care enough about you to not want you to leave," Danny finished, fuming.

Hadley didn't yell back, didn't even fume. The anger drained from her face, leaving an expression Danny couldn't read.

"You don't even know me," she responded calmly. "I spared you of that burden."

"Don't do me any favors," Danny countered, stepping closer.

"Danny, you're a great guy. You care about people and people care about you. Don't fuck that up by getting involved in this life. There's a reason nobody's heard of us," Hadley said quietly. "You know where the bar is if you need any more help."

She turned on her heel and walked off.

"Don't you want a lift home?" Danny's aggravated voice echoed in the immaculate grounds of Vlad's property.

"I can manage on my own," she snapped.

Danny watched her go, frustration boiling inside of him. After cracking open her stone exterior, getting her to loosen up a little when he was around, she could just pack up and leave. Did he really mean so little to her?

He didn't bother following her. He was too absorbed in the anger that covered his hurt to risk more of her harsh words. He flew to Tucker's instead.

"Hey, man," Tucker greeted from his desk chair. "You look awful."

"It's nice to see you too," Danny replied sarcastically.

"What's eating at you?" he swiveled fully around as his friend sat on one of the bean bag chairs, returning to his human self.

"Hadley's leaving," Danny spat. "Vlad's going to get another hunter."

"What?" Tucker's voice portrayed an irritated shock. "Vlad's an even bigger fruit loop than we thought if he thinks he can just replace Hadley."

"Well, he does," Danny replied.

"Wait," Tucker read further into it. "Why is she leaving? Did something happen?"

"Vlad wants her to become a police officer so she can train APPD to deal with these things. Apparently she doesn't get along well with law enforcement," Danny answered.

"Why does she have to be an officer to do that?" Tucker asked.

"I don't know," Danny answered. "Those were just Vlad's terms. I suggested they meet somewhere in the middle, but she's so fucking stubborn…"

Tucker studied his friend for a moment. He recognized all the idiosyncrasies long ago, and a familiar smile stretched beneath the black frames of his glasses.

"Why are you looking at me like that," Danny's brows were low. He didn't like Tucker's expression. Not one bit.

"You've got a crush on Hadley!" Tucker exclaimed, proud that he'd figured it out.

"Grow up," Danny snapped.

"Well, you do," Tucker replied smugly. "You really aren't a one-night-stand kind of guy."

Danny threw a pillow at him, "Shut up."

Tucker caught it easily, "Oh, come on, Danny. You brought this on yourself. Hadley of all people? She could kill you with a toothpick. She's not what anyone would call 'date material'."

Danny looked away, shaking his head, "And who is? Sam?"

Tucker looked a little surprised by Danny's words, "You don't think so?"

"You know I feel about her, Tuck. But she's never been 'girlfriend' material. She's my best friend, and I love her, but can you really see her tucked under my arm at a movie? Or dressed up for a fancy dinner with me?" Danny argued.

"Sam loves that stuff, she just pretends not to," Tucker argued.

"With me?" Danny countered. "Tucker, look at me. I'm a beacon for abnormality. I could never give Sam all of that romantic bullshit that you see on TV."

"That's why you liked being with Hadley," Tucker concluded. "She couldn't have it either."

Danny bit his tongue about her secret. If Hadley didn't like him knowing, Danny doubted she would want Tucker to know. "It was easy. I wasn't Danny Phantom then Danny Fenton. I was just Danny. I could help her in ways she didn't even think of, and she never looked at me like I was something special. I was just someone she was working with. I was just an ally. It was easy."

"Being with Sam isn't easy?" Tucker asked.

"No. Not since the accident," he answered. "There's tension. Like she's scared of me."

"Sam isn't scared of you, Danny," Tucker replied as if it was a ridiculous thought.

"She is, Tuck. She's terrified," Danny responded. "I can feel it. It rolls off of her whenever I'm around her in my ghost form."

"Why would she be afraid?" Tucker asked. "She knows you'd never hurt her."

"I don't know," Danny responded. "I wish I did."

"Go talk to her," Tucker advised. "You can't just leave things like this, Danny. You've been friends for way too long."

Danny sighed, looking down at his lap. He shook his head and gave a short, bitter laugh. "Way too long."

Sam was awakened that night abruptly. She sat up in her bed, looking around for something to credit her slam back into consciousness.

A figure stood in the corner of her room, black in the dim light that peeked through the heavy curtains.

Sam looked to her alarm clock. It was just past one in the morning. She looked back as the figure stepped into the thin beam of light that poked through the drapes.

Sam squinted into the darkness as the figure took shape. Black hair hung shaggily over ocean-blue eyes. A white t-shirt set loosely over broad shoulders, and denim jeans hugged narrow hips.

"Danny?" Sam rubbed her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

Danny didn't say a word as he approached her. She threw off the covers and met him halfway.

"Shouldn't you be out with Hadley?" she snapped.

Danny touched her face, and she swore she saw an apology shining in those deep blue eyes that made her so weak. He reached for her hand, taking it in his own. He pulled it up to his face, turning it gently and kissing her palm.

Sam felt herself being lulled out of reason as he planted gentle kisses up her arm to her shoulder. When his lips touched the skin connecting her shoulder to her neck, her knees wobbled. As he worked his way to her earlobe, she had to latch onto his shoulders to keep upright.

Sensing this, he wrapped his arms around her and guided her back to the bed. He laid her down gently on her back, locking eyes with her. He brushed her nose with his, as if asking permission to kiss her lips.

Sam tangled her fingers in his night-black hair and pulled him in. The instant his lips met hers, she lost all of her thoughts. Every memory of anger, jealousy, pain, every doubt about why he was here, every sensible response to his surprise visit was lost. She reveled in his embrace, and thought nothing of his gestures as he removed every article of their clothing with painstaking caution.

She felt the soft, coolness of his skin against hers, without the shame that should've accompanied her nakedness. His lips never left her skin, and she sighed contently as his hands made their own path across her body.

Sam felt the muscles rippling beneath the skin on his back as she dug her nails in with pleasure. Her moans echoed in the dark room, and she couldn't find the sense to care about being quiet.

She didn't think Danny minded that he was making her whisper his name. What guy would?

Sam woke up to her alarm a few hours later. She stretched, recalling the night before. Danny had come to his senses and chosen her. She felt like she was walking on air as she made her way to the bathroom to get ready for school.

The hickey he'd left just lower than right behind her earlobe was still visible, and the bite mark on her breast would have to be covered if she wanted to escape the house with her life.

She still didn't question anything about the night before. Why would she? It was perfect. Danny had given himself to her without the need of whiskey. He'd caressed her lovingly, yet there was no question that he was driven at least a little by primitive instincts.

Danny was hers. End of story.