Chapter 6

Danny's heart broke as he watched Sam waking up with tears streaming down her face. He had woken up a few seconds before her and remembered everything that had taken place. Everything that he did, and he said in the dream world was for Sam.

It was true. He was willing to go through hell and back just to get her out of there. The thought of hurting a child, most importantly, theirs, killed him from the inside. He knew that was something he could never go back from. He loved her. He would do anything for her.

If they could be together in another world, in another timeline where he wasn't chased up and targeted by all the shitty, manipulative creatures, maybe there was a possibility of Sam and him, and building a family. If they do, he would never do anything to harm them. He would love them with all of his being, and he would do everything they want. He would go with them to the places they want to visit. He would do anything for them.

Danny watched as Sam got up to leave and stopped. She looked back and was shocked. Danny suddenly realized that he was back to his human form, stinking and basically homeless. He would've thought that it was the source of Sam's expression, but she didn't look that disgusted.

Danny traced her line of sight and saw his arm was elevated and handcuffs joined their hands.

Danny scrambled to sit up causing Sam's left arm to be jerked back. "S-sorry." He quickly raised his hands in a placating manner and it automatically raised her left hand as well.

The door opened and Tucker came in. He was surprised for a second, but he recovered quickly. "Oh, thank God, you're both awake!"

"Tucker?"

Danny observed the exchange between the two people he valued the most. Tucker looked genuinely happy to see them both up and about however Sam's expression shifted to suspicion then pure hatred.

"I knew it! I should've known better than to trust you!" She pointed a finger at Tucker who unconsciously took a step back. "You were behind this after all! What did you do to me? Was Danny even in the ghost zone all this time?!"

Tucker raised both his hands in the same placating manner while cautiously keeping an eye on Sam and her legs. Danny started to see green, Tucker was getting married why the hell was he checking out Sam's—

A sharp tug jolted Danny from the bed and his eyes bulged at the sight of Sam trying to kick her way into Tucker's nether regions. Tucker on the other hand, knew what was coming and instantly jumped back. He then circled away from Sam, but he forgot that Danny was linked to her, literally and he was surprised to realize that Danny was dragged to the edge of the bed. He was within arm's length, but instincts still took over and Tucker took a step back and hit the wall.

"I swear, Foley, if you try to get away one more time, I'll put your neck between the handcuffs."

Tucker stared at Sam helplessly and looked behind her to see Danny with a poker face. "D-danny." He gulped. "Can you please help an old friend out?" His eyes darted between Danny and Sam.

Danny pinned him with his cold eyes for a few seconds that felt like a lifetime. Tucker knew that he was a dead man, if Danny decided to follow Sam's orders, which Tucker knew would most likely happen as he was still head over heels for her, then they would be the power couple everyone feared them to be. Danny then stopped killing him with his dagger eyes and shrugged. "Nah, I think I'm going to sit this one out."

Oh, fuck. That was even worse.

"If I were you, I'd start praying or explaining." Danny waved a hand on Sam's direction. "I'm pretty sure you don't want to make her mad."

Tucker swallowed. Sam didn't react from Danny's words and she continued to burn Tucker with her purple laser eyes. Tucker wiggled his right foot. If he could just jump sideways and hide in the nearby bathroom—

"Danny." Both Danny and Tucker snapped out of their own musings. Sam's gaze at Tucker was unwavering but she continued to address Danny. "Are you part of this?"

The air became charged and Tucker guessed that whatever happened while they were out in dreamland probably made matters worse.

"No."

Tucker waited if Danny would even try to explain himself, but he didn't. He knew that Sam was also giving him a chance to do so. Danny remained tight-lipped.

"Are you telling the truth?"

"Yes."

Sam seemed to weigh Danny's answers for a bit. "Then if Tucker tries to move his little foot again, hold him down. By his neck."

Silence. Then Danny replied, "Sure." He stood and loosened his stance, training his eyes on Tucker. Without looking back at Sam, he asked, "Anything else?"

"Alright! Alright! I'll talk! Just please, don't hurt my face. The wedding's in four days and I don't want to be remembered as the bruised groom."

"What four days? Isn't it about two weeks more or something?" Sam's brows furrowed further.

Tucker sea green eyes scanned the two again and paled. "Guys, I hate to break it to you but you two have been in coma for more than a week now."

"WHAT?!"

Tucker raised his arms again instinctively and cowered behind. "Please, please, don't hurt me. God, why do I have to be the one explaining this. God, please." He closed his eyes.

"Tucker, tell us what happened. Tucker. Tucker!"

Tucker didn't seem to hear them so Danny, with Sam right behind him, approached Tucker and with one hand, removed Tucker's arm while Sam removed the other. "Foley!" Danny's voiced boomed and this did the trick. Tucker's eyes snapped open and fear clouded his face.

"Tell us what happened. Now."

"Start from the top." Sam warned.

"Please let go of my arms." Tucker said in a squeaky voice. Danny looked at Sam for approval before she gave a small nod and they both let him go. Tucker pushed himself backward and remembered he was trapped. He took a deep breath and recounted what occurred.


"Babe, I'll make sure Danny will be there even if I had to resort to some undignified help."

The female voice on the phone could be heard sobbing and panicking, "What do you mean? Tucker? Don't do anything stupid!"

"Babe, I love you and I want Danny to be there too. I just need to make a few bad decisions and we'll have him back by that day.

"Are you crazy? He won't listen to you! He doesn't listen to anybody aside from Frostbite and Clockwork! But even them cannot persuade Danny directly." She paused. "Tucker, you're not thinking of going ahead with that plan, are you?" Tucker scuffed the toe of his shoe. "Tucker! No. You're not contacting them. This will just end up in more trouble. Danny will surely hate us after this—"

"Babe, we both know there's one person who can always change Danny's mind."

"Oh, God, Tucker. I like her. But please, don't drag her back into this."

"Babe, I love you. I'm sorry. I have a meeting." Tucker didn't give her a chance to answer as he ended the call and pocketed his phone. He turned to the table behind him and looked each member in the eye. "I just want Danny back on my wedding day. We've asked for Ember and maybe a simple love spell for the mean time. Why isn't she here?"

A mechanical chuckle emitted from the right of the table and a grown Skulker came into view. His helmet was bigger and nastier, and his suit armor looked heavier and his artillery was packed. "You, annoying geek, I already told you she's busy with our kids and the tour. We like the little punk to show some of his humanity back as well, but we can't risk a fight with him when we have everything to lose and he doesn't give a shit."

Tucker was obviously displeased, but he said, "Fine. Box Ghost?"

The box ghost who have put on a lot of bulk over the years and his overalls dirtier than ever, huffed, "What, you think I'm still stupid enough to prank that boy? One look from him and I can dissolve into ectoplasm. I have a family too, you know."

Tucker pinched the skin between his eyebrows. "Desiree?"

A sultry laugh echoed, and the vixen of a ghost came into view. "My dear, I've tried and tried. I almost drowned your friend in a wish-come-true pool, I even threw in some other gypsies, and he didn't even budge. He only has eyes for the same girl ever since and until now. What makes you think any of us can do something and won't suffer from his wrath afterward?"

"I- I just need for him to be with us on that day. I'm just asking for a bit of a spell, or a kidnap and dump thing, or even locked him in a 24-hour wish-thing on earth.

The ghosts around the table were silent and for the first time in a long while they felt pity on the kid who used to have the halfa around him 24/7. Now that they grew and moved on, the techno geek looked as if he was 16 years old again, begging for his friend to come back.

Desiree let out another chuckle. "I mean it's not that I cannot grant it if you just say the word. We can but we just don't want any backlash. The zone's been kind of quiet nowadays that everybody was just minding their own business. The ones that roam the earth are immediately taken down by his parents or come back on their own accord after not getting any reaction from him. Challengers whether human or ghosts are still being accepted but they disappear afterward with no witness to any fights. Ghosts started to assume that he's taking them down silently and destroying their essence, so they won't reform. It's like Dark Dan all over again."

The ghosts gasped. "Don't you say that again." One of them reprimanded.

Desiree shrugged. "Well, you monkeys are hiding your tails between your legs. Nobody wants to admit it but either there is no point in chasing him or you're too afraid to provoke him."

"Well, there's always someone that you can snatch, and he will be provoked. There's always the other ghosts who have a bone to pick with him." That velvety voice suddenly came from the opposite end of the table.

Tucker clenched his fist. "Plasmius. I don't remember inviting you to this meeting. This isn't even known."

"Foolish child, you think I don't have eyes and ears all over the place? You and I know that Daniel isn't all stoic and frozen as he wanted us all to think. Just find the girl and bother her enough for him to come out."

The box ghost chimed in, "You know, kid. The man's right. Grab the girl and the halfa will show up. We all know he claimed her but didn't actually claim her."

"No."

Suddenly, Tucker's wrists were locked behind him and his head was pushed to the table. The box ghost towering behind him and Skulker waiving a gun on his face. Desiree floated with glee. "Don't you lay a finger on Sam. It's not just Danny you'd be worrying about if you dare touch her." Tucker gritted out.

"You're in no position to make demands, or threats. Or lack of thereof." Plasmius hovered in front of him, phasing through the table. He leaned in. "Boy."

Desiree laughed. "Don't lay a finger on Sam? So, you wish it. So, shall it be!" Her laughed echoed and wisps of green smoke filled the room.

"Noooo!"

Box ghost held up Tucker by the hair. Plasmius looked at him directly in the eye. "You'll have Daniel on your wedding day. Samantha won't be harmed. My client has already agreed to help, and he doesn't worry about the nonsense 'backlash' these ghosts claim. Plan will commence next week. Samantha will be out of commission for quite some time so prepare an excuse for her. Get a safe, secluded location for them. Understood?"

Tucker just stared at Vlad, trying to digest all the information and realizing his earlier words did ring true. He just made some stupid decision. What would happen to his friends?

"Also, it doesn't matter whether you actually cooperate or not. The plan will go through with or without you. Samantha won't be harmed," Vlad repeated and paused. "At least not physically."

Tucker's eyes bulged. "What do you mean?"

"I'll get both of them together. The question is if both of can come out unscathed and whether if they can come around."

Tucker swore there was an inside joke that he just missed but Plasmius' evil laugh reverberated and before he could even think further, someone struck him in the back of his head, and everything shut down.


Danny and Sam did not utter a word even after Tucker related the whole story. Tucker knew Danny would pulverize him to the ground for his stupidity and actually going through the so-called plan with Vlad. The three of them now sat on the bed and the two kept watching him with straight faces. Tucker fidgeted. These two were so good with tension and manipulating it to their own advantage.

"Remind me not to cross you again." Danny suddenly said. "You could have just told me to go to your damn wedding, you didn't have to go through all these hoops."

"I did! Remember? But you freaked out on me!"

"I was shocked and mad! What do you want me to do? Congratulate you for—"

The door burst open and came in a very pregnant lady with auburn hair down to her waist. "Danny!" She dropped her bag and flipped the door shut with her foot then came barreling down on Danny. She tackled him in a bear hug. Danny couldn't move, afraid that he might accidentally burst her stomach and kill her and the oh, God, the baby.

Sam watched the whole exchange in amazement. She couldn't help but smirk when she realized the cause of Danny's reaction when Tucker and Jazz broke the news to him. Damn, Tucker got his best friend's older sister knocked up. She had to give Tucker some credit. He had guts.

First, even thinking of being in a relationship with Jazz Fenton, of all people, then getting her knocked up and scheming in a kidnapping operation with ghosts to get back the bride's brother and his best friend. She still had the strong urge to pummel him to dust but for the sake of the unborn child, she chose to let it slide. Certainly not all of it, but enough for Tucker to attend his own wedding, the birthing of his child and once everything was settled, Sam would take her sweet time in giving him a hell of a payback.

Sam's thoughts were interrupted when she felt Jazz's bear hug focused on her. She awkwardly patted her now-wide back. Jazz became huge with the pregnancy, but she still looked gorgeous. Damn Fenton genes.

And she said my genes are worthless. Sam stilled, that voice. She turned to Danny who raised a brow at her. His lips not moving. Did she just? Jazz was still excitedly speaking and there were tears in her eyes and Tucker made space for her on the large bed and the four of them now sat together. Tucker doted on Jazz, but Sam couldn't shake the feeling that she just heard Danny's voice in her head.

She hadn't heard a word from the conversation. Sam knew what she actually heard from her head, but she needed to test it.

Your fly is open. From the corner of her eye, Danny stiffened, and he casually put a hand over his fly to check.

What the actual f—Danny's eyes flew to her and Sam knew she was caught.

"What's going on?" Jazz's chatter stopped to question them. Her eyes darted calculatingly. "Are you two having a silent conversation?"

Sam and Danny opened their mouth to explain but nothing came out. Jazz turned to Danny. "Danny, what did you do to Chris?"

The line of Sam's body tightened. Danny blankly looked at Jazz. "Chris who?"

Sam immediately pictured Chris's blond hair and blue eyes. Danny's eyes sharpened, and his jaw was set.

"Aha!" All three of them looked at Jazz like she lost her mind. "You can access each other's thoughts!"

"What?"

"No."

"Shit."

The responses came all at the same time from Tucker, Sam and Danny respectively. Before any of them could follow up, Jazz held a finger. "Alright, just because I'm pregnant, doesn't mean I'm reduced to a brainless woman fueled by hormones. We acknowledge that my fiancé here did something stupid in the name of getting back my brother, A.K.A his best friend—And," Jazz glanced at Sam since she knew that she was about to retort. "Sam, you're not collateral damage or whatever. You're here because you have an important part on our lives and I really, really like you. I like you so much that you're like family to me, to us and, okay, I'm rambling. Sorry, what was I saying? Oh yeah, right. We admit it's our fault. I share the blame with Tucker. We're sorry and we didn't know that it would go this far. We never thought that Nocturne was involved, and we did try to put him in place.

Turned out, Nocturne is already weak from the last time he fought Danny, but his body can still do damage if it's injected into the bloodstream. In fact, it's highly dangerous and ghostly coma is real. Danny managed to wake up from it on his own the first time, we think it's because of his powers.

Sam on the other hand, never showed any signs of waking up. That is until when Tucker put you both in this room and your skins accidentally brushed. We didn't know it at the time, but the signs of struggle were there. It was only after a few days that we realized the connection between you two needs to be a literal link for us to try and get you back in the waking world."

Sam's head was spinning with all of Jazz ramblings. "Sorry, what?"

As usual, Jazz was at least five conversations ahead of everyone else. "The handcuffs were made by our parents, it's made so that Danny won't accidentally phase through and to connect your brains' frequency with each other even if you're not physically touching. You see, the cuffs can turn invisible but once you take them off without the skin contact with each other, you'll fall into another deep slumber that will eventually result to ghost coma. Ghost coma is lethal to humans not just because it's basically depriving the body of food, fluid and air but it's also damaging the mind and eventually transforming the human body to ghost."

Silence filled the room until Danny asked quietly. "Did you just say Vlad and Nocturne conspired to turn Sam into a halfa?"

Jazz turned her teal eyes to her brother. "No. They conspired to kill Sam and turn her into a full ghost."

Danny's fist tightened. His eyes flashed a glowing yellow.

"Before you go ballistic, little brother, listen to this. Sam's body didn't turn because she's already used to ectoplasm. She's getting ectoplasm somewhere other than the induced coma and the type of ectoplasm she's receiving is balanced enough to have human DNA in it."

The statement didn't elicit the reaction she anticipated.

Jazz sighed. "She's getting the antidote from you, Danny. You're a halfa. Your body's blood and ectoplasm are equal. So, when Nocturne's starry essence invaded Sam's body, she already had her half-ghost, half-human antibodies. That was the only reason she didn't die within the first few hours of being injected. We have to keep you both in IV drip for the body fluids for the first few days. There are times we thought you or Sam's gone for good but I'm guessing your subconscious was fighting and was aware of what transpired before and that you had to go back and wake up. What puzzles me is that even though you're physically together, it wasn't enough, and Sam's vital signs would drop but it would come back up and stabilize again. The only theory that I have is that the contact between you and Sam continued to happen even in your subconscious."

Danny froze and he had fought to keep the blush from his cheeks appearing. Sam averted her eyes. Jazz watched the two of them and cleared her throat. "Erm, as usual. I'm right."

Neither of them had the gall to deny.

Tucker looked between the two and his eyes twinkled. "Well, aren't one of you going to question my wife's theory?"

Jazz narrowed her eyes at Tucker. "Fiancée." She corrected. "We're not yet married, and I think they are both smart enough to know what I'm talking about."

"What's wrong, Sam? You look like a cross between constipated and nauseated?" Sam glared at Tucker for bringing this up and now all eyes were on her.

"Nothing."

"You have a question…" Tucker chided in a sing-song voice.

"No."

"Yes, you do."

A short glaring contest went down between Tucker and Sam while the Fenton siblings watched. Danny's fist tightened. "Leave her alone, Tucker."

"We all know she has this little question bugging her mind."

"And we all know the answer." Danny snapped back.

"No, we don't. We kind of don't have access to her thoughts, like you do."

Danny was at loss for words. Sam beat him to it when she asked Jazz directly, "You said that I already have ghost DNA even before I got the injection. I don't."

Jazz paused as she measured how to lay it down without making it more awkward. "Yes, you do." She could feel Danny's eyes on her. Tucker's too.

"I need some air." Danny tried to stand to dissipate the tension.

"We're handcuffed, Fenton. Sit. Down." Sam's acidic voice burned him on the spot and Danny slowly sank back on the bed.

"I could just give you the answer and save us all this conversation."

"I don't want to hear it from you."

Danny zipped his mouth shut. He leaned back on the headboard, tried to cross his arms over his chest and realized they were cuffed and stopped. He tipped his head back instead and closed his eyes.

"Jazz?" Sam prompted.

"It can be transferred by intravenous or bodily fluids exchange."

"I…"

And I could have saved us from this awkward conversation.

Sam smacked Danny in the chest, hard. "Oopmh!" He choked and coughed. "Hey!" He tried to shield himself and they both struggled. Tucker put a protective arm in front of Jazz and eased them backward.

"You are such a jerk. Ass—"

"Sam. Sam! Stop, hey—" Sam continued to try and pummel Danny with one hand and use the handcuffed one to pin him. Danny continued to block her without making any effort to actually stop her.

Damn it, Sam! Stop hitting me with Jazz here. This is not good for her.

Sam clenched her fists and lowered her arms, her eyes still blazing.

Thank you. Hit me all you want. Once they leave.

I will.

"Fine." Sam said for the benefit of Tucker and Jazz. "What's the plan?"

The couple blinked. Jazz recovered fast. "Alright, this is the first time that you both are awake, and I don't want any of you letting your guards down. The thing is still in your bloodstreams and can grab your consciousness away and for good if we're not careful."

"So, we just stick with each other for the mean time. Got it." Danny was about to get up.

"No!"

"You have to be physically and mentally connected all the time. The only thing that's keeping you in that state now are those handcuffs. If you remove them, we're doomed."

Danny started to get tired. This had been the first time he went out of the Zone for a long time and it had been a series of interactions and it was draining him out with all the conversation and tension. Being unable to tell reality from fantasy was hard enough but being with Sam and his family with all that had happened and was still happening was really leaving him powerless. He couldn't tolerate feeling powerless much less about their circumstance. He had to regain some sort of control. Starting with himself.

"Jazz, we get it. I know you're worried, but we have to move on our own."

"What move on your own? You can't do that!"

"For Pete's sake, Jazz, I need to take a bath!"

"Then you and Sam take a bath!"

"Jazz!"

"What, are you going to tell me that nothing happened while you two were in dreamland or that you don't have any feelings—"

Danny put his face on his hands, he hated how Jazz can always see through him and he hated how frank and blatant she was being with him and Sam right now.

She's pregnant, let it go. Sam's voice brushed with his thoughts and Danny held his breath. I believe all of you. I'm going to go with the flow and … whatever happened between us would have to wait until this is all sorted out.

Danny sighed. "Fine."

Silence greeted him and he looked up and realized he replied to Sam outloud. He cleared his throat. "Sorry, mental conversation back there, courtesy of ghost handcuffs." He casually reasoned.

Jazz and Tucker still hadn't said anything. "What?"

"Um, dude, the handcuffs don't give you mind reading powers."

"What?"

"It cannot affect your thoughts. The mental conversation is purely between you and Sam. Your psychic abilities must have been heightened during the time your subconscious battled against Nocturne's mind tricks."

Sam started to argue. "A while ago you said we have access to each other's thoughts—"

"Yes, I did but I didn't say it was a side effect of the Fenton handcuffs. I just stated it and you kind of confirmed it. You and Danny have learned to rely on each other's mind and build a connection since you've struggled to identify which was real and wasn't."

"Hmmkay."

"Okay?"

"So, you can read each other's minds but all you have to say is okay?" Tucker watched Sam and Danny in disbelief.

"Let it go, Tuck."

"But hey, this is great! Now you know whether Danny's telling the truth and—"

"Tucker. I -I get it. Can we just let Danny take a bath? Can't believe we've been sleeping together here for more than a week. God, we stink."

"Sure."

"Should we try to remove the handcuffs?"

"Are you two dumbasses not taking my words seriously?" Sam, Danny and Tucker glanced at Jazz with their jaws hanging open. "We remove the cuffs, the link disappears. You sleep and you die! What part of need-to-be-connected-at-all-times don't you get?" Jazz eyed Danny and Sam furiously. "If you want to remove the cuffs, fine, but Danny, don't you come running to us for help if Sam won't ever wake up. You both got lucky with whatever you did in dreamland but it's not a guarantee that doing the same thing will get you out. Ghost's ectoplasm doesn't leave the human body the same way as bad bacteria does. It stays for a long time. Unless you do something to counteract it permanently."

Jazz pinned Danny with her eyes. Sam knew even if they don't share the same psychic link, siblings have a way of silently communicating with each other. Danny finally relented. "Fine, handcuffs stay."

The tension finally evaporated.

Danny turned to Sam and scratched the back of his head. "Uh, Sam, I really need to take a bath."


A/N: Hello there! Apologies for the long delay. I hope everyone is okay, safe and sound.

Please read and review. I appreciate your responses though I'm unable to reply to each of them.

Thank you for being there and if you're still reading, thank you very much for your support.

I would really love to hear from you.