Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom – I never have and I never will, simple as that. You know exactly what would happen if I owned Danny--oh wait, it did happen! Silly me. ;)

Author's Note: All right, I am very excited that I am more than halfway through with this challenge. I only have nine left! I'm very excited about that. There are a couple more that I plan on going through before I start the sequel to "Ten Things..." so we'll see how that goes. Thank you for reading, my lovelies!

PS, "Craven" means being a coward or being scared about something.

021 : Mommy?

Rating : PG

Theme : 14. Craven ; Democracy ; Aristocrat

June 27, 2007

The pregnancy test was placed delicately on the edge of the sink, and the young woman of only twenty sat on the side of the bathtub, her head between her knees.

She had paced back and forth, absolutely about to rip her hair out and scream if time did not go any faster than it was at that present moment. After (probably) wearing a small hole in the bath mat, she resorted to sitting down as she waited anxiously.

Sam knew that Danny was lurking outside in the hallway to hear her reaction, of course. She knew she would either break down and cry or scream in glee–she didn't know which reaction would be for which conclusion, however.

Part of her wanted to stay completely silent just to piss him off, just to spite him, but she knew that would be too mean, even for her standards of cruelty. The part of her that wanted to break down and cry was winning over–she was scared, plain and simple... scared of what could happen, scared of how she could scar whatever may be growing inside of her when it grew up, or just... scared of how she could possibly run her own life into the ground as a result of foolish behavior.

She felt like she wasn't ready for the responsibility of being a mother; she didn't think she'd even do a well enough job to raise half-normal children. She was even ashamed at the fact that she was sitting there stressing about something like this; they should have been more careful. That thought ran through her mind almost constantly, and she blamed herself for where she was presently.

After pacing the bottoms of her feet raw, she resorted to the position she was currently in, sitting on the side of the bathtub, staring at the tiled floor, spacing out. She made Danny promise not to come into the bathroom unless she screamed bloody murder, and that it was actually a bloody murder she was screaming at. She was scared, she knew that; she knew he must be absolutely petrified. What would they do if she found out she was pregnant? How could they be stupid enough to believe that her being on the pill would be absolutely foolproof? It was stupid, definitely not foolproof. Everything is only a certain amount effective. Did she forget a pill one day and it threw the whole cycle off? Millions of questions zoomed about in her mind, and she was so close to pulling her own hair out because of it. She didn't know waiting a half hour for something like this would be so excruciating.

She was scared. Ghosts, vampires, and monsters couldn't scare her, but this could.

She was such a coward; she knew she would be relieved if she wasn't pregnant. She knew that everything would be easier, happier. If she was, it would put a strain on everything... they were only dating, still young. Not babies themselves, of course, but still pretty young. The selfish part of her was torn; part of it wanted her youth back, to live completely carefree and happily. The other part, however, wanted this baby, wanted to take care of it and prove to it that nothing would go wrong with Danny, or even herself, around to protect it.

She was sure the time was almost up when she heard a knock at the door.

Choosing to ignore the knock and wait for her cell phone alarm to go off, since that would be a bit more accurate, she continued to stare at the floor tiles.

"Sam? Is everything okay?" Danny's concerned voice filtered through the closed door, and she sighed; she felt awfully morose. Did she already feel the outcome before she even looked at the results?

"Sam, please answer me," Danny said, much softer, now. Hearing a soft thud outside of the bathroom, she figured that he sat down near the door in the hallway.

"It's not the end of the world if it does happen," he spoke, knowing that she was listening, even if she wasn't responding. "You know I love you, and no matter what happens, I'm with you. Granted, children weren't so soon in the cards for us, they are and you know it. I'll get a better job so you won't have to work as much, and we can work things out, I promise. I won't let you down–I hope I never will. Please don't be scared, Sam," he pleaded, trying to get through to her, "because I know you, and despite what you think about individuality and independence, you will always have the option to lean on me for support. I–"

The door swung open, and she looked down at Danny's curious gaze. He guessed that he wasn't able to hear her alarm go off, so he waited patiently (as patiently as he could), and waited for the verdict. She could see the worry, anxiety, and even a little bit of hope in his eyes. Reaching behind her, she took the test off of the sink, refusing to look at it, and handed it to him, along with the box.

"Tell me," she said, her voice wavering with nervousness.

"I can't read this thing, Mommy," he joked poorly, then winced when he received a sharp kick to his side. "All right, all right," he paused, trying to read the stick. She had already memorized what the colors meant, by staring at the box in her hands, but she refused to look down at the reality of what was.

"I know you hate this color, but what does pink mean?"

The box which she had held promptly fell to the floor.

"That good, huh?"

End Note: Well, I hope you enjoyed that, and I hope to get more out this weekend, before I head away for a few days. Please review! You know those make me happy.

- A