Oh my word, you have no idea how much I had to rush to finish this chapter tonight but I'm pleased with the way it turned out. Thanks for your pacience and though I can't promise anything, I'll try updating again as soon as possible but in the meantime, thanks to nightfall349, Jakkeirafan223 and Yami-sama42 for adding my story to your list and Turkeyhead987, TurnDreamsIntoReality, Oak Leaf Ninja, VampireFrootloopsRule, seantriana and Chad's Shortstackfor the reviews.
Chapter 13: Cold Pleasure
Sam was relieved to escape the mansion without being forced into one of the nightmarish dresses her mother so desperately wanted her to wear. Not that her mother hadn't tried of course, it was just that Sam could run a lot faster than her mother and she didn't have new heels to worry about. She'd changed into more formal clothes before she'd run away and was now wearing her favorite purple leggings and underneath a simple black strap dress and her signature black combat boots. The black choker around her neck sported a single purple gem and her hands were covered with a black pair of fingerless gloves. Purple and green clips held her hair out of her face and drew attention to her purple eyeshadowed and lipglossed face.
It made Sam feel good about herself as she climbed out of the car upon its arrival at the Connors' house. It was true that Sam had once owned a wider variety of Gothic dresses but unfortunately her mother had burned them all while Sam had been at school and unable to prevent it. The only reason this dress had survived was because it had been in the wash when Pamela had gone on her rampage.
"Oh, my dear, I just called your mother but she said you'd already left. I'm afraid Zack isn't here at the moment, he surprised me by deciding to go to the movies with some of his friends, said he needed to relieve some stress," Mrs. Connors explained, and, was it Sam's imagination or did her eyes sparkle as she said the last part, as if she was somehow excited about something that only she knew of. "I'm afraid you'll have to entertain yourself for a while. The remote is on the coffee table if you want to watch some TV," Mrs. Connors continued as she adjusted a vase perched on one of the tables in the hall.
"Oh that's okay, I think I'll just go sit outside," Sam informed her with a slightly forced smile. Mrs. Connors gave a hurried nod before marching off in the direction of the kitchen leaving Sam to wonder outside as she pulled her phone out of her combat boot, well she had to keep it somewhere didn't she? Sam was planning on using her phone's internet browser to do a search for Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom when she walked onto the porch and gasped.
Standing by the pool with his back to her, was "maid" Danny. He seemed to be cleaning the pool but Sam hardly noticed considering he was doing it while wearing a pair of blue cargo pants and no shirt! Sam watched with wide eyes as he spun around to look at her but regrettably lost his footing and went tumbling backwards into the pool.
Finally jarred out of her daze, Sam hurried over to the side of the pool and was surprised to find steam rising from the water, had the Connors decided to turn their pool into a steam bath of some sort? Danny emerged from the water, his hair and shorts dripping wet and making him look better than an normal guy should, a pair of extra dark sunglasses perched on his nose. Sam blinked, glancing up at the weak April sun that was barely visible through the clouds. Why the heck would Danny be wearing glasses?
"Um, Sam, are you okay?" Danny seemed rather hesitant to ask and Sam suddenly felt like kicking herself for staring at him for so long without saying anything, he probably thought she was a retard.
"Yeah, fine, just, surprised," Sam managed rather breathlessly. Danny grinned as he started twisting the pool water out of his right pant leg before moving on to the other one. Using Danny's distraction to her advantage, Sam quickly surveyed him once more and frowned. "Um, are you okay?" Sam shot back upon realizing that Danny's usually tanned skin was practically glowing red, as if he'd been out in the sun for too long.
"Yeah, just, you know, cleaning the pool," he said with a nervous laugh as he rubbed the back of his neck. He suddenly winced and two drops of water trailed down from underneath his sunglasses, causing Sam's brow to furrow as she contemplated the likeliness of the drops being tears instead of pool water.
"Are you sure, you seem a bit-" Sam started, her hand instinctively going out to touch his forehead but her words died on her tongue when he cringed away from her. Sam was slightly upset by this but managed to pull herself back to her senses. Forcing her face not to show the hurt she was feeling, Sam dropped her hand to her side and pulled herself up to her full height in an effort to appear stern. "You look sick," she said stiffly before she spun around and marched to one of the longue chairs, determined to ignore Danny.
Unfortunately she knew that her determination couldn't possibly last long, though she was stubborn, she just couldn't seem to muster up enough courage to stay angry at Danny for more than a few minutes. Trying to ignore what she knew to be true, Sam unlocked her phone and started taping away, attempting to look busy while silently berating herself for what she'd done. She couldn't believe she'd actually reached out to touch him, she was Sam Manson, she did NOT mix well with physical interaction with other human beings. Why did people with the name Danny affect her like this?
"Sam, look, I'm sorry if I offended you in some way it's just that…well, I am sick so skin to skin contact is really uncomfortable at the moment," Danny apologized as he approached Sam, a shy smile playing on his lips. Sam studied him, looking into his eyes as she tried to figure out if he was lying or not. Finally, she let out a sigh of defeat as she lowered her gaze to her phone.
"No, it's fine, I just thought you were disgusted by me," Sam said as she studied her phone with fake interest while waiting for him to confirm her fears. There was a burst of laughter, as if Danny found it to be the funniest thing he'd ever heard. Sam's head snapped up and she shot Danny an irritated glare that he easily ignored, causing Sam to fume silently as she watched him.
"Why would I think that, Sam?" Danny questioned, launching into new laughter at the stunned look that Sam was sure had settled onto her face.
"You wouldn't be the first," Sam muttered darkly, halting Danny's laughter.
"You're cool, Sam. It's great talking to you and you're actually smart. What does it matter if you're Goth?" Danny said, the compassion in his voice making Sam blush.
"Thanks, Danny," Sam grinned. The boy grinned back and Sam couldn't help but chuckle quietly to herself.
"What's so funny?" Danny asked, looking curious at Sam's sudden change of mood.
"It's weird, ever since you came, I've come to know of fo-three Dannys and it's all because of something you said," Sam said, her smile broadening at the look of confusion on the teenage boy's face.
"Who are they?" he asked after a minutes of silence.
"Well, there's you, then there's Daniel Statford-" again Sam was careful to watch Danny's reaction as she said the name and was quite surprised by the look of disapproval that flitted across his face. "-and Danny Phantom" Sam finished, withholding her knowledge, or rather, theory, regarding Danny Fenton.
"Oh," Danny murmured as he retrieved the pool vacuum from inside the pool.
"Do you know Phantom?" Sam asked, intrigued by his lack of a reaction when she'd mention the ghost boy. Danny froze in the middle of cleaning the debris out of the vacuum.
"Sort of, he sometimes helps out in my town with all the ghosts you know?" Danny admitted while rubbing the back of his neck.
"Oh. Where do you live anyway?" Sam questioned, not quite believing his story. Why would Wikipedia claim him to be missing if he had just moved on to another town, besides, there was no way that Phantom would've willingly left Amity while it was still being attacked by ghosts. It definitely didn't add up. He seemed panicked for a minute before calming down enough that a teasing grin split across his face.
"For me to know…" he left the sentence hanging which caused Sam to glare once more and she was suddenly annoyed with the extra dark sunglasses that completely obscured Sam's view of Danny's icy blue eyes.
"What's with the glasses?" Sam demanded as she stared accusingly at the offending object.
"I, um, have to wear them…my eyes are sensitive at the moment," Danny stuttered out but it was obvious he was lying.
"Don't lie!" Sam snapped and watched as his feverish red skin paled slightly.
"I'm not lying! I need them for my eyes!" Danny exclaimed and Sam narrowed her eyes, noting the fact that he had changed his wording. It was something Sam herself did when she was trying to avoid lying without giving away that she was dodging the actual question or promise. Sam was just about to call him on it when he clamped his hand over his mouth and mumbled something about the bathroom before dashing inside.
Sam blinked, frowning when she realized that he might've just used his sickness as an excuse to get out of the hole he'd been digging for himself. Her thoughts were cut off by a strange metallic roar that suddenly filled the air.
Sam's head snapped up towards the source of the sound, which Sam found to be a motorbike. It was black and the type of motorbike that Sam herself would ride even if it was just to freak out her overbearing mother. A guy with blonde hair, a pale greenish complexion and a black overcoat was perched on top of it and smirking down at her. Sam glared when she realized that the guy was the famous Johnny 13 Phantom had told her about.
"Hey babe, where's the kid?" Johnny questioned, causing Sam to glare harder before her faces twisted into confusion. Was he talking about Danny?
"Johnny, leave her alone," the familiar echoing voice of Phantom said and a few seconds later, the ghost boy himself appeared in front of Johnny. "Ah, that's just great, you're still the same to," Phantom complain but he didn't get any further than that because at that moment, Johnny sent him flying.
"I heard you were back in town but I'm not gonna let you steal my girl again!" Johnny said, and Phantom, having recovered himself, just rolled his eyes.
"Would you get over that already, we both know she was the one who sought me out," Phantom said and, was it just Sam's imagination or did he give her a worried look.
"Whatever, shadow, attack!" Johnny exclaimed and a black shadow slid into view and shot towards Phantom.
Sam and Phantom cried out in shock when the surface of Phantom's body exploded into heat and flames jumped into life around him licking at his skin and the air surrounding him but never seeming to hurt him.
"What the heck?" Phantom muttered before understanding seemed to brighten his green eyes. "Cool, I have a new power which explains my fever!" he yelled, seeming pleased with himself before he formed a large ball of fire and hurled it at the shadow. Both the flame and the shadow disintegrated upon contact causing Phantom to grin widely. Johnny growled in anger and the battle commenced. Sam watched with growing weariness as the two started exchanging banter and punches until Phantom finally grew tired of it and sucked Johnny into his strange thermos.
"Do you always have such an easy time winning?" Sam teased when Phantom started lowering himself to the ground.
"No, but did you see that new power I got," he said, still grinning and looking extremely happy as he landed in front of her. Sam couldn't help smiling at his behavior but the smile faded when she remembered that she still had to talk to him about his identity.
"Sam, what's wrong?" Phantom asked sounding and looking concerned as he studied her face, making Sam feel extremely self-conscious.
"Um, I-know-you're-Danny-Fenton," Sam blurted out so quickly that her words came tumbling out over each other but Phantom seemed to have heard her, because his already pale complexion lost all of its color and he stumbled back, looking like he'd just been trampled by a horde of elephant.
"Wha-what makes you say that?" he stuttered out looking absolutely terrified.
"Well, you're the s-same age as him," Sam struggled to explain and Phantom looked about ready to object but Sam cut him off. "And you two went missing at the same time. You also refer to Jasmine Fenton as Jazz and she's in most of the stories you've told me. And why the heck would she trust a ghost that her parents hate, if he wasn't her brother or somebody equally close to her? And besides, why would you react this way if it wasn't true?" Sam pointed out feeling half way hesitant and half way excited as she voiced her discoveries.
"Wow, you really thought this through," Phantom stated before sighing in defeat. "Okay, you're right, my real name's Danny Fenton," he admitted, his shoulders sagging and his head hanging as he said this.
"So, how'd you end up dying uh, fully?" Sam asked though she wasn't sure if she even made sense to him. Phantom…Fenton's eyes widened and he looked slightly baffled for a second before he recovered enough to answer.
"Well, I got uh, shot while in the Ghost Zone and sort of got stuck from there," Fenton explained, rubbing the back of his neck as he went to sit in one of the deck chairs.
"How'd you become a half ghost or whatever, in any way?" Sam questioned as she sat down next to him, her brows creasing as she tried to figure it out for herself.
"Wow," Sam breathed when Danny, she'd decided to stop calling him by his surname, finished telling her about the portal accident.
"Yeah, it was pretty weird at first but I got used to it after a while," Danny agreed grinning. Sam returned his smile with one of her own and found herself staring deep into his neon green eyes. It was weird but it felt as if there was something familiar about their shape and the way they shone. "I can't believe you figured it out when even my own parents." Danny's icy breath fell on Sam's face as he spoke, but for some reason Sam welcomed it.
"You didn't tell your parents about your ghost powers?" Sam asked, silently cursing her voice for the husky tone in it. Danny snorted and lowered his gaze, making Sam extremely aware of the way she'd been staring at him.
"Please, they probably would've torn me apart molecule by molecule the moment they found out!" he told her, pausing before finally looking up at Sam again. "Besides my sister and Peter, you're the only other person who knows my secret. I'm glad to know that I can trust you," Danny whispered and Sam caught her breath when she realized that they were mere inches apart.
The next thing Sam knew, he'd captured her lips with his cold ones in a passionate kiss, their bodies pressing slightly against one another and his gloved hands cradling her head. Sam felt as if it was charged up with electricity and Sam was pretty sure it was supposed to be illegal for someone to experience this much pleasure. Sam wanted it to last forever but it was prevented by someone calling her name from inside the house.
Sam and Danny broke away from each other at the sound of Zack's voice and Sam was about ready to strangle him for interrupting her perfect moment.
"I better go," Danny told her, looking both pleased and annoyed as he smiled at her.
"Wait, can, um, can I see you tonight?" Sam blurted, trying to keep her face from going red but failing. Danny blinked before grinning.
"Sure, how late should I come?" Danny asked.
"How 'bout midnight?" Sam suggested and they both grinned.
"Sam?" Zack called and Sam grinded her teeth together before answering.
"Out here," she yelled and Danny gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and a wink before disappearing.
Oh my word, I just kissed Danny Phantom! was Sam's last, excited thought before she turned to face Mrs. Connors' oh so annoying son.
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