Chapter 25

Disclaimer:The characters of Danny Phantom are not mine. I don't own any of the colleges mentioned either.

Danny's POV

It's now Valerie's seventeenth birthday. I wanted to do something really special for her, but it took me a long time to figure it out. Finally I came up with something that I thought might work okay.

I took her to a chick flick, I can't stand those things, but it was her birthday. I took her the day after her birthday so she could spend her actual birthday with her dad. I then took her to her favorite restaurant, which I found out from Sam. I gave her a dozen long-stemmed red roses and diamond earrings, they're fake diamonds, but they look real.

Tucker wasn't sure what to get Val for her birthday. I said she'd probably be happy to get anything. I don't know though. Sam got her a purse which Valerie absolutely loved. I don't get what the big deal is about a purse, but I'm glad that Val liked it and I'm glad that Sam somehow knew. Tucker ended up giving her a pink PDA. She wasn't quite sure what to do with it, but she appreciated the effort he was making.

Tucker's really nervous. Sam decided she's ready to tell their parents that they're dating. I think it's been too long in coming. I mean they've been dating for five months now. Shouldn't their parents have had a little more warning? Valerie tells me that it's none of my business. I know that, but it's just my opinion. I'm not going to tell either of them for fear of getting beat up. I mean Valerie has already hit me for it.

Tucker's POV

I asked Danny what Valerie wanted for her birthday and as usual he wasn't any help. I ended up getting her a pink PDA. She had no idea what to do with it. I'm glad Sam told me pink was her favorite color because otherwise I probably would have screwed that up as well.

Sam got her a purse. She freaked out over it. I don't get it. It's a purse. Sam told me to think of it like if I got a double deluxe T-model Titanium PDA in teal. (A/N: Not real as far as I know.) Now that's a language I understand. That girl knows the way to my heart. Of course she's already stolen my heart.

I'm really nervous. Tonight's the night that Sam and I tell our parents that we're dating. She had thought that once we told our parents that it would jinx our relationship. I'm afraid that she'll keep thinking that. I don't want to lose her, but at the same time I feel like I'm hiding a part of myself by not telling my family. It's weird but after I came back from boot camp, my parents and I became really close, closer than ever before.

We're going to tell her parents first. We decided to tell both sets together. I'm almost positive that her parents will try to talk her out of dating me. They're probably wondering what I could possibly offer her. I figured my parents would take it a lot better than her parents which is why I thought we should go to them second.

Sam looked gorgeous as usual. She wore one of those frilly dresses that they're always trying to make her wear. She thought they'd take it better that way. Her grandmother gave us kind of a funny look probably because Sam was wearing that dress.

"Mom, Dad, Grandma. Tucker and I have something to tell you."

"Oh my Gosh, you're pregnant! I never thought I'd see..." Mrs. Manson said.

"What? No! I'm not pregnant. Geez! I just wanted to tell you that Tucker and I are dating." Sam interrupted indignantly. I never thought they would have reached that conclusion.

"Who's Tucker? Isn't he that black boy that always wears that tacky beret?" Mr. Manson asked. I haven't worn a beret since last school year. Has it really been that long since I've seen Sam's parents? Why yes it has.

"Yeah, that's who I'm talking about. He doesn't wear the beret anymore though. Mom, dad, this is Tucker, my boyfriend." Sam said gesturing to me. They raised their eyebrows at me. Probably because I towered over Mr. Manson by at least a couple of inches. Also I look kind of bulky I guess, since I'm keeping up with my exercises that I've done since boot camp.

I didn't really know what to expect from them at this point. Sam grabbed my hand and held on for deal life. She was really nervous about their reaction, but she didn't show it on the outside. I wouldn't have even known if her hand wasn't shaking so bad in mine. I squeezed her hand and she calmed down a little bit, but not much.

I tried to appear nonthreatening. Her grandmother smirked at me. I tried to figure it out, but her grandmother is just like Sam, hard to read sometimes. "Well I guess we can be glad it's not that Fenton boy. We still won't have to associate with those freaks. So how long has this been going on?" Mrs. Manson asked. Sam and I gave each other a look at their view of the Fenton family.

"We just celebrated our fifth month anniversary." Sam said proudly. I couldn't help but smile that she was happy about that.

"Five months? Five months? You've been dating this delinquent for five months?" asked Mrs. Manson shocked. She wasn't asking so much as yelling.

"Yeah, I thought I just covered that. Tucker's not a delinquent either." Sam defended.

"Really? What could this lowbrow social outcast possibly offer you?"

"No disrespect ma'am, but I can offer Sam a lot in the way you're thinking of. I see that you're thinking that I'll never amount to anything, but I've gotten offered scholarships to five different universities: MIT, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, and Georgia Tech. I've also been offered paid internships in three Fortune 500 companies," Sam looked at me surprised, "I've haven't had a chance to discuss it with you yet. I was going to wait until tomorrow because I didn't want to increase the tension of tonight."

"Well, I for one think it's very impressive. You've been good for my granddaughter, young man. I haven't seen her so happy in a very long time." Sam's grandmother spoke up.

"I'll admit that I'm surprised at your choice for a boyfriend. He does have good prospects if something comes of this. I guess I'm happy for you?" Mr. Manson asked kind of unsure. Sam then did something totally uncharacteristic and surprised everyone. She shouted a thank you and then launched herself into her parents arms. They definitely didn't know how to react. Sam's grandmother was just laughing the whole time. After Sam let go of her parents she hugged her grandmother tightly.

"Okay, we're going to tell Tucker's parents now. I'm just going to get changed first." She said and then ran upstairs. We all just kind of looked at each other. None of knew what to say. I just stood there awkwardly waiting for Sam.

She came down five minutes later. She looked stunning as always. We went to my house next. I wasn't nearly as nervous about telling my parents as I was about telling hers, but it was still rather nerve-wracking.

"Mom, Dad." I called.

"We're in the kitchen." my mom shouted at me. We went into the kitchen. "Oh, hey Sam. We didn't know you were coming. Did you want to stay for dinner?"

"No thanks, Mrs. Foley. Tucker and I just stopped by for a minute." Sam said politely.

"Okay. Did you kids need something?" my dad asked.

"We just wanted to tell you something," they looked at us curiously, "We just wanted to let you know that Sam and I are dating." They really didn't look that surprised. "Are you going to say anything?"

"Congratulations! We figured we'd hear the news sooner or later. We knew that you liked Sam, Tucker. We just thought you'd ask her out a lot sooner." my dad said.

"Oh, that's my fault. Tucker did ask me out a lot sooner, but I didn't want to tell anyone until we knew whether it would work out or not. I hope you don't get mad at him; he wanted to tell you right away, but I talked him out of it. We just celebrated our fifth month anniversary." Sam explained. My parents looked speechless. That doesn't happen often.

"You've been seeing each other for five months already? Hmm. Well, I do wish you would have told us sooner, but I am happy for you." my mom said. Sam and I both breathed a sigh of relief. I hadn't even realized I'd been holding my breath.

"We're going to go to a movie now. I'll see you later." I said. My parents waved goodbye to us and Sam and I left. "I'm so glad that they all know now."

"Me too. I was so worried. I'm so glad they all accepted us." Sam said and then she stood on her tiptoes and kissed my lips. I was surprised because usually she just kisses my cheek. Hey, I'm not complaining though. We then headed to the movie.

Sam's POV

Valerie's birthday came up. I got her a purse that she's been eying for like the past month. She completely flipped when I gave it to her. Tucker asked me what her favorite color was and I told him. He ended up getting her a pink PDA. He felt really stupid because he couldn't figure out anything else to get her.

She told me all about the date Danny took her on to celebrate her birthday. She showed me the diamond earrings that Danny got her. I've got to say they did look pretty real. He even took her to a chick flick. He must really like her. He asked me to find out her favorite restaurant and then he took her to it. He took a cue from Tucker and got her a dozen long-stemmed red roses. Valerie was absolutely gushing about it for like the next week.

Tucker and I have reached the fifth month mark in our relationship. I decided that it would finally be alright to tell our parents. Tucker told me that we should tell my parents first because he figured their reactions would be more dramatic.

I put on one of those stupid frilly dresses that they keep giving me. I figured that would help them accept us. My grandmother kept giving me weird looks because I'd willingly put it on.

I told my parents that Tucker and I had something to tell them. Right away my mom figured that it meant that I was pregnant for some reason. I kind of freaked out, but can you blame me?

Then my dad asked me who Tucker was. If he was the boy who always wore the tacky PDA. I almost wanted to start laughing at that, but I didn't. I then introduced my parents to Tucker, or rather reintroduced them to him. They looked shocked.

After they thought about it for a minute, they said they should be glad that it wasn't Danny and they wouldn't have to worry about socializing with the freaks. Then they asked how long we've been dating. I told them and then my mom started freaking out.

She was pretty much like 'what could he possibly offer you? He isn't going to amount to anything.' Then Tucker stood up for himself and told my mom quite politely, I would have been yelling in her face but that's just me, that he in fact did have a lot to offer me. I was curious as to what in the world he was talking about. He told about all of the scholarships he'd been offered as well of the possibility of paid internships. I looked at him surprised because that was the first I'd heard of it. He said he was planning to tell me about it the next day since he didn't want to add to the stress of the present.

My grandmother spoke up then saying that she was very happy for us. Apparently I've been a lot happier lately by being with Tucker. Then my dad said that he was happy for us; he said that as more of a question but it still counts in my mind. I went kind of crazy because I broke away from Tucker and hugged my parents for probably the first time in at least seven years. Then I hugged my grandmother.

We left for Tucker's after I got changed. We found his parents in the kitchen. We told them and they didn't seem surprised at all. They said they could tell that Tucker really liked me, but figured that he would have made a move on me, my words not theirs, before now. I explained the situation to them. They said that they wished we would have told them sooner, but were happy for us anyway.

When we went outside both of us were so relieved that now both of our parents knew that we're dating. It seems pretty surreal. Anyway, I was so happy I couldn't help but to kiss Tucker. I kissed him on the lips. He seemed happily surprised. I usually just kiss him on the cheek. We usually don't kiss on the lips unless he asks me if he can first. I know that seems weird since we've been dating for five months now, but I appreciate it. Then we went to the movie.