Expectations
Danny wasn't about to give up. He wouldn't let Sam die. Even though Jazz warned him there was little hope and the situation looked grim. Even though she told Danny that she didn't believe Sam would make it to the hospital alive, Danny refused to give up.
He made his way to the Ghost Zone. He found Clockwork. He cried, begged, threatened, bargained and pleaded to no avail. The keeper of time could not be moved.
"The decision is out of my hands," Clockwork had told Danny.
"Take me instead of her!" Danny demanded.
Clockwork sighed as he shifted his form from young to old. "You seem to think that I can hold sway between life and death."
"You've done it before!" Danny yelled his heart filling with rage and panic. "Who knows how many times you've done it. Why can't you do it now?"
"Meddling in the proper timeline is not something I can treat with a cavalier attitude," Clockwork replied calmly. "The cards have been set. This is something I cannot change."
Clockwork watched patiently as Danny raged and roared. He understood the boy's agony, sympathized with his plight, but his hands were tied. Even so, if he changed things for him now, Danny would come to him every times things didn't go as he wished and the demands would never end, as hard at is it was, the keeper of time was forced to deny Danny his wish.
"I apologize," Clockwork said as he gave Danny a courtly bow. "But I am simply unable to comply with your request."
Danny's shoulders dropped and he hung his head. He muttered something which sounded like, "Thanks for nothing."
"I'm sorry," Clockwork told him as Danny turned his back an began to walk slowly from the great hall in which Clockwork resided.
Danny turned and looked at Clockwork one last time. "If you cannot live up to my expectations," he said. "Don't expect me to live up to yours."