Disclaimer: Come on, if I owned Danny Phantom, you'd know

Wass up? Oh yeah, anyway, here's chapter 13...

"There are a lot of things I'd do for my friends. I'd give up a limb; I'd take a blow torch, a hammer, anything if it meant I could save them. Because that's what friends are, and if you can't say right in your head that you would do that for someone, maybe they're not really your friend. Maybe you're too cold to admit."

-Kwan Lokins, 2004

Chapter 13

May 19th, 2004

It is when Dash, Paulina, Star and I come to Sam's house that I truly see what damage has been done. I can see it in the way her mother smiles, the way her shoulders sag as she calls Sammy's name, knowing it may be one of the last few times.

When Sammy comes downstairs, her eyes are red. I know she hasn't been crying, because everything else about her is beautiful, but the white filling in her eyes is gone and replaced with a deep red. She smiles at us, but it is not her usual sarcastic outgoing smile, it is distant, knowing.

"Hey," She says, and her voice is weak too, like she can't hold herself together. "So…um…" She blinks, biting her lip and trying to compose herself, but even as she talks she is thin, her voice cracking until I am waiting for her to cry. She doesn't, only gives another weak smile. "Today's the day huh?"

Dash sets a hand on her shoulder. And she smoothes out the imaginary ruffles in her purple dress, tightening the black bow at the front, and adjusting the diamond broach. She makes it casual by putting on a pair of dark blue jeans underneath. She looks very beautiful, her blonde hair forming small girlish subtle curls that make her look innocent, and probably what she was going for. Through the red background of her eyes, her amethyst color shows well.

"We're here for you Sammy," I say, and because it is true, I'm not smiling. "For always."

She smiles, as I grab her hand for support, her eyes shimmer for a brief second. Her lips are glossed, making her smile look more radiant, not that she needs it. She sets her other hand on my hand which holds her other one. "For always." She repeats.

Paulina hugs Sammy, and so does Star. "Are you ready?"

Sammy nods, and we ride there together. I watch as Sam's mother drives, and it isn't until we are there that Sam looks at us, and I can see a frown on her face. As we get out, she reaches out to touch me, and it is so gentle that I blink at her, afraid if I do the same she'll break in front of me.

"Something's wrong." She said, and she swallowed. I looked at her, but she looked fine, and I could see no flaw in her. She saw my expression and trembled. Her eyes go wide and for a minute I'm afraid she'll scream. "Kwan, something isn't right, something's off."

I look at the others, waiting for us. She pressed herself tight against the door as I try and pull her out. She says words to me. "Kwan, I think someone's in trouble. I…I can feel it…in my skin…in my bones…"

"Here," I say as she falls into me. "I'll check everyone you know for you. Go out there and win your father's case okay Sammy? I promise, I'll find out what's going on."

She nods and allows Dash to lead her inside the courtroom, where a whole event is waiting inside. I flip open my cell phone and the words I see from my new text message are so shocking that I have to bite my tongue to keep from screaming.

'Fire'

-Caller Unknown

I walk in just as the prosecutor is ending her opening statement, and her words echo as I take my place on the bench with everyone else. Sammy watches me as I sit down next to her, her red filled big eyes blinking. When I sit down next to her, I show her the message, and I mouth the words, Danny Fenton.

She stops, and her whole body goes numb, I can feel it that way. She swallows hard, and as Walker grabs her arm and leads her to the witness stand; her eyes are glistening, making her look fragile, soft, broken.

"Tizarah…"

"Samantha."

"Samantha," Walker begins, and she makes no move to acknowledge him. He breathes. "Are you alright?"

She nods, and rubs her eyes, and then turns to him, nodding again. He walks back and forth, his big boots like a pound that send tremors through me. "How old are you now?"

She swallows. "Fourteen." She says, and I notice she looks at Dash, and by then all he can give her is a sad look. She looks back at me, and I realize that she is shocked that for once, Dash doesn't have all the answers for her.

Walker nods. "Do you know why you're here?" He asks, and I want to take her off of that stand the moment her face turns soft, and I know that her whole world filled with denial has crashed down as she looks at her father. He is in chains, and his handcuffs make raw marks on his wrist. I can see by her face that she realizes this is not a dream.

"My father is being accused of stealing me." She said, and her whole chest shakes in pain as her lips form a tight frown, trying to block the full on ball she's wanting to have. But it's no use, and tight, ugly tears slip down her face as she cries, holding her face in her hands.

It isn't until a few seconds later when she pulls her hands away, and I can see the blood pouring out of the very corner of her eyes, making bloody tears. I gasp as Dash comes to her, pulling her out of the witness stand as he holds her in his arms.

Walker looks at the judge. "I'm sorry your honor, but Samantha must be excused for today." He looks angry and reluctant, and I know why. Having the judge disapprove in any way meant this case would already be over.

"What's happening?" The judge asks. Walker clears his throat.

"Due to the recent discovery, Samantha has been crying many times. Well, if someone cries too much, the tear ducts in their eyes are stretched, and they can break, causing bleeding and fainting in some cases. We'll have to get her cleared up." He said, but even from the beginning of his explanation I can see the frown on his face.

"Continue Mr. Walker, if you will." He demands, and Dash lets go of her, so that she cannot see through the blood, and she must close her eyes, even then it runs like a small river over her cheeks and mouth.

Walker looks at Sammy. "Who told you about all this Sam?"

"My brother, he's twenty seven." She said, and she sighed. "His name is Soda, and sometimes, he does stupid things he shouldn't. He told me about it, and I freaked out." She searches for a familiar face as she talks, but through the blood we are all strangers to her.

Walker nodded. "Do you love your parents?" He asks, and Samantha nods, wiping a drop of blood that settled on her lips. Her skin glows under the light. "Have you even wished for different parents?"

Sam blinked. "Doesn't everybody? Of course." She said, as Walker smiled. Her eyes settle on Dash's, and she frowns. "I have a sister with leukemia, who's going to die tomorrow, who's been sick my whole life. Other times, I have wish them away…"

She turned to me, and blood runs faster, so that I know underneath she is crying. "Be careful what you wish for." She says, and I turn to Paulina, who looks away.

Walker blinked. "Do you want to live with Zepha and Richard?" He asks, and she wipes her eyes to look at him for a brief second. Her hair comes over her face as she looks down.

"No." She admits.

Walker crosses his arms over his chest. "But they're your original parents." He says, and we both know he's leading her into a trap, a trap that will help her. Sam snorts, and I can tell that she is deeply offended.

"So I've heard, everybody's told me that. What, just cause I started out being theirs? They made the embryo, they did nothing besides that." Her hands turn into fists. I know undernieth her eyes are blazing."They weren't there in anything. When I lost my first tooth, when I got off of my training wheels, when I broke my arm on the trampoline, my first….my first kiss."

She looks hard at the crowd before her. "Seems to me, they're not parents at all. How can they sit there and call themselves my original parents? How do you superficial idiots even know they would have handled that as well as mine did? How do you even know that I would have been happy with them? How do you even know they'd be good to me?"

I am beaming, and so is everyone else on our side. Walker grins. "Simple, they don't." He says, and he looks at an astonished prosecutor. "Nothing further."

"Samantha," Mrs. Wellinsworth starts, and I bet Dash twenty dollars she'll play nice before going for the kill. "Have you met Richard and Zepha?" And, to our surprise, she nods. "What did you think?"

Sam shakes her head. "They're so different, it's like their aliens. They are nice people, from what I've gotten to hear, but first impressions aren't always right, are they?" Sammy spits out, and I am proud. She is angry.

"Not usually. But, what if they are? What if you had the chance to have Zepha and Richard as your parents, and you saw they cared for you, that they were perfect parents?" She asks, and Sam looks shocked, even though I cannot see her eyes.

"There's no such thing as a perfect parent." She says.

Mrs. Wellinsworth nods. She looks at Adrian. "Yes, we know. Anyway, what if they just wanted to have a little girl to have their own? Do you know, Samantha, that you were their second child. They'd already lost one little girl, and though they tried, they lost you too."

Mrs. Wellinsworth grins. "Should it be fair, Samantha, to lose two daughters? Especially when one was stolen from you?"

Sam huffs. "That's what they get for trying to replace the girl they've already lost. Science can't bring back the dead, and it can't replace them either. The girl is gone, there's no point in trying to bring her back."

For a minute, the whole room is silent. Mrs. Wellinsworth looks at her before answering. "Using one girl to save another, sounds a lot like your father, doesn't it?" I can hear Mrs. Manson's sharp cry of anger and pain. Sam gasps too, but Mrs. Wellinsworth is smiling. "Nothing further."

REVIEW PLEASE! I'll need 143 reviews to continue. Oh, the supsence and turmoil is killing me! I think I liked this chapter, kwan wasn't too much like Dash was he? Ah well. Anyway, oh, what's happening? How's Danny? What will Sam do when she sees him? What did Sam mean when she said Scarlett's dying tomorrow? Is Danny alive? What about Dash and Sam? Find out next chapter!

Remember the immortal words of Audrey:

'Love, Kittens...and Cheese.'

-Gangstalicious624 (Yeah, that's right, I went there.)