I think there was also another week when I skipped posting a chapter, so I'm posting the last three chapters in one day to hopefully make up for that hahaha ~Ms. Oregano
xxxxxx
After what seemed like forever of processing what had just happened, someone finally made a sound.
"Tara!" Vanessa cried out in joy. "Your body!"
Tara stirred. She slowly opened her eyes and lifted her hand in front of her face.
When her vision cleared, she gasped. Her thumb was back.
She touched her stomach. Solid flesh.
A body crashed into her.
"Tara!"
"Oof, Vanessa! Ouch, you're crushing me…"
"Oh my gosh, Tara, I thought you were a goner," Vanessa said, allowing the tears to freely flow.
The room was quickly filled with the sounds of happy crying, cheers, and laughter.
Older Tucker ran to Vanessa, and they hugged each other tight.
"I'm so relieved you're okay, Dad. You have no idea."
"I'm sorry I scared you. I'm so, so sorry. But I'm so proud of you, baby girl. I couldn't be prouder."
"Thanks, Dad."
Tara spotted her mother helping her father up, and she cried.
"Mom! Dad!"
The pilot-side door of the Specter Speeder opened, and Megan fell out.
"Daddy! Mommy!"
Picking themselves up, the girls sped towards their parents and knocked them back on the ground with the weight of their hugs. Tara cried like she had never cried before.
"It's okay," older Danny said soothingly. "It's going to be okay now."
"We love you," older Sam said, wiping away each of her daughters' tears as well as her own.
"I love you both too," Tara said.
They remained in the calming embrace for a while longer before older Sam suddenly spoke.
"Danny...I'm remembering…"
"Remembering what?" older Danny said.
"The reason why they're alive. Why you're still here. Even though your younger self is still-"
She gasped.
"Sam! Tucker!" she screamed back. "You have to get Danny to a hospital!"
"What?" younger Sam said.
"He needs a doctor! Hurry before he-"
"It's over now, right?" younger Danny whispered, and his two friends looked back at him.
"Is it finally...over?" he mumbled again as his vision tunneled and turned once again into blackness.
xxxxxx
The first sense Danny regained was his sense of hearing. He heard the steady electronic beat of a cardiac monitor.
Next, he could feel the scratchiness of a cheap blanket on top of him. He willed himself to move his hand, and his fingers wiggled.
Then, he tried to open his eyes. The bright fluorescent-white lights blinded him, and he turned his head down towards his chest. Where the blanket ended, he could see he was in a blue and green-spotted gown, with wires attached to his chest.
Danny began to realize he was more constricted than he realized. He looked over at the strange sensation coming from his right arm and saw a needle with a tube leading up to an IV bag hanging above his bed. The room stank of hand sanitizer.
"Danny," came a whisper.
He rolled his head to his left. There was Sam, lying on the couch next to him.
"You're awake."
She immediately hopped off and brought a nearby rolling chair over to his bedside.
"How do you feel?"
Danny took a minute to think.
"Like crap. My head hurts."
"They did a head CT on you, and the doctors said your ghost powers must've healed you, because there's no internal bleeding or anything. It's kind of a miracle."
"Yeah, no kidding."
"The rest of you, however…"
"What?"
"Well, you fractured three of your ribs. And you're bruised and scraped up pretty bad. A lot of cuts. You also sprained your ankle."
"Oh jeez."
"Yeah. They also had to give you stitches on your right leg."
"Oh my gosh."
"But don't worry, your parents are going to help Dani with ghost fighting while you recover. Which shouldn't be too long anyway since your healing powers are kicking back into gear. But, you know, you've been through a lot emotionally, and I think you need time to recover from that, too."
"Wait, what do they think happened?"
"Tucker and I told them and the doctors that you got into a nasty fight with Satya on the edge of town."
"Tucker went inside a hospital?"
"A lot of miracles have happened lately." She smiled.
"Where is he now?"
"Downstairs in the cafeteria with your parents."
"Wait. Don't tell me the press got a bunch of pictures of you and Tucker dragging me-"
"No, snuck you in. And I paid the doctors off to not tell the tabloids."
"You've thought of everything." He sank back into the pillow with a weary smile.
"How long have I been out?"
"Almost a full 24 hours."
"Dang."
"You needed the sleep."
Danny closed his eyes.
"You two saved me. Like, literally saved my life. That fight back there...it was overwhelming."
She reached for his hand and gently squeezed. "We did it together."
Danny squeezed her hand back. "I don't think I could ever repay you both for what you did for me. Thank you."
Sam rubbed her eyes. "Just, you know, keep being you. Keep doing the right thing, always."
"I love you," he whispered.
Before she could say it back, Jazz ran into the room.
"Danny!"
"Jazz?"
Jazz bent to try to hug him but pulled back once she saw how difficult it would be with all of the wires and tubes on him.
"Danny, Mom and Dad told me what happened over the phone. I can't believe that Satya ghost did this to you. These new ghosts, I swear! I emailed my professors and told them I had to take the week off because of a family emergency, and I took the next plane home!"
"Thanks, Jazz. It's good to see you."
Jazz's eyes welled up with tears. "You have to be more careful with these ghosts now that I'm not around! Do you hear me? You've got to be more careful!"
"From now on, I will. I swear."
"Hey, he's awake!" Tucker said from the doorway.
His family soon piled in and surrounded his bed.
"We were so worried about you!"
"Feeling any better, son?"
"Don't crowd him so much!"
"It's fine, I'm fine, everything's fine," Danny said with a chuckle.
"Hey, folks," a tan woman in a white lab coat said. "Uh, mind if I squeeze in here for just a moment?"
"Oh, sorry, Doc," Jack said.
"It's quite alright. Hello, Danny. I'm Dr. Silva. It's nice to finally make your acquaintance."
"Hi, Dr. Silva. Thank you so much for taking care of me."
"You're very welcome. Now, Danny, I need to take you back for just a little bit. We just want to do a brain MRI, just to see how your head's doing."
"Oh, okay."
"I wouldn't worry, you're looking better already. We're just taking precautions. We'll keep you for the rest of the night tonight, but honestly, I think you might be ready to go home tomorrow morning."
"Wow, that's great."
"Ordinarily, I'd recommend a lot of physical therapy after injuries like that. But we'll see how you do through the night."
"Okay. Thanks, Doc."
"My pleasure. Now, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, if you could just sign these forms here…"
Danny smiled and closed his eyes. Still holding onto Sam's hand, she squeezed his hand once, and he squeezed back twice to let her know he was alright.
xxxxxx
"Hold still, Danny!"
"But it hurts!"
"Danny, you do not want an infection. Now bite a pillow or something, and keep still."
Sam rubbed the remaining wounds on his bicep with a cotton round of rubbing alcohol, then quickly wrapped a new bandage around it.
"There."
"Thank you," Danny said.
Sam threw out the cotton and sealed the bottle of alcohol. "You should fly back home soon."
"I've got a clone of me sleeping in my bed. If my parents check on me, they won't know the difference."
"You heard what the doctor said, Danny: be human for the next month. Don't stretch yourself out so much."
"I'm fine. Besides, I always feel better when I'm with you. Now, are you going to come here or not?" He expectantly tapped the empty space on her bed next to him.
Sam rolled her eyes but acquiesced.
He rolled over to his side and placed his head on her chest, listening to her heartbeat.
"I could sleep like this," he said as his eyelids softly floated down.
"I could not. Your head's too heavy."
"Shh. Sleep time."
"Danny, you've got your own side!" she laughed. "Stop!"
"Be quiet, Sam, or your parents are going to come up here and kick me out."
"Good! Maybe you'll listen to what I've been telling you for the past hour then!"
"If you really mean it, I'll go."
He moved to get off the bed, but Sam pulled his arm back.
"I knew it."
"Come here so I can kiss you."
With a chuckle, he closed his eyes and reached for her lips.
The only sound that could be heard in the room was the popping sound of their lips. Danny licked her bottom lip, and she moaned as she allowed his tongue to enter her mouth. Sam traced her fingertips down his arm, being extra cautious with injuries.
He moved down to her neck, making sure to lick her pulse point. Sam sighed and moved her hands under his shirt. She lightly scratched across his back, and he moaned softly in response.
He glided his hand over her shirt towards her breast, but Sam grabbed his wrist. Tentatively, she redirected it underneath her shirt. He experimented with squeezing her soft, squishy bra. Then, he moved his hand a little higher and found her smooth, warm skin.
Sam's phone lit up and rang on her nightstand.
"Call from Tucker," a robotic voice said.
"It's Tucker," Sam said as she grabbed the phone and accepted the call. Danny grumbled.
"Tucker? You okay? It's like...11 at night," she said.
"I know, but it's an emergency."
"Is everything okay?"
"Um, well...Tara's here."
Danny sat up.
"What?" Sam asked. "Is she okay?"
"She's fine, but she said Clockwork sent her here to get us."
"Oh, greaaaat. Okay, we'll be there in five minutes."
She pressed the red button to end the call.
"Maybe he just wants to thank us in person for stopping Dark Danny?" Danny said.
"Somehow, I don't think that's the case," she said.
xxxxxx
The four phased through the walls of Clockwork's tower, Danny holding Sam and Tara holding Tucker. They saw older Danny, Sam, and Tucker, along with Vanessa and Megan, already in the room, and they landed in front of them.
"Hey," older Danny said. "Good to see you all again."
"Older me, what's going on?" younger Danny asked.
"We're honestly just as in-the-dark about this as you are. Clockwork didn't tell us anything other than to show up here."
"You're not starting to remember any of this?"
"No. It's weird."
"Well...how've you been since the last time we saw you?" younger Sam asked.
"I think we need therapy after what just happened," older Sam said.
"Same," older Tucker said.
"If anything good has come out of this-you know, besides defeating the worst ghost to ever exist-it's that Megan seems to be following in her grandparents' footsteps," older Danny said.
Megan popped out from behind her father's legs. She donned a t-shirt of the periodic table over her capris.
"Mommy bought me more chemistry sets!"
"She's even been asking to watch me down in the basement," older Danny said with a chuckle and a shake of his head.
"I'm sure she'll do a much better job of making stuff than our parents," younger Danny said with a smile.
"Knowing the future, only I can tell you for certain if she'll do a better job," a voice said.
Clockwork, in his old form, appeared.
"Don't want to spoil anything, but…" He winked at the younger trio.
"Clockwork!" younger Danny said. "What are we doing here?"
Clockwork turned to older Danny and Sam.
"Your majesties," he said with a little bow of his head.
"Nope," older Danny said.
"Nuh-uh," older Sam.
"Excuse me, what?" younger Sam said.
Clockwork raised an eyebrow. "You haven't pieced it together yet?"
"No, no, no. This is a big misunderstanding. Hang on," older Danny said. "Sam, when Tara drove the Specter Speeder to the past to take my younger self, you, and Tucker to the hospital, and get her stuff out of the AirBnB with Megan, Vanessa, and her father, we-" he motioned to older Sam and himself "-were left alone, right? Well, not long after you left, someone found us."
"Bertrand," older Sam said.
"He saw us with the Ring of Rage and Crown of Fire, and...I mean, it was as if we hadn't been fighting with him only a few hours prior."
"He thought we had single-handedly taken Dark Danny down."
"And then he just took off. Told anyone and everyone he could find that Dark Danny was gone, and we were now-"
"The King and Queen of the Ghost Zone," Clockwork finished.
"What?" younger Danny said.
"That's...too much," younger Sam said.
"My thoughts exactly," older Sam said. "Too much responsibility."
"And, like I've said before, that's just not me," older Danny said. "That's never been me. I'm happy with the life I have now."
"So, we gave that title over to Pandora. We thought she would be better suited for the job and rebuild a more peaceful Ghost Zone," older Sam said.
"Does she have the ring and crown, too?" younger Danny asked.
"That's the part no one knows about...except for you all right now," older Sam said.
"We destroyed them," older Danny said.
The younger trio's mouths fell.
"I didn't even know you could," younger Danny said.
"They were hard to destroy, I'm not going to lie. But with persistence, Pandora, Sam, and I did it. It's better this way. No one should have that much power."
"That's...amazing," younger Sam said in awe.
"We're hoping this creates a safer future for everyone," older Danny said as one hand took Megan's hand and the other took older Sam's.
"And speaking of the future…" Clockwork said.
He then sighed and shook his head.
"For the first time in my existence, I wish I didn't have to do this."
He turned to younger Danny, Sam, and Tucker.
"I'm sorry, but your memories have to be wiped."
"What?" Tara said.
"No!" younger Sam screamed.
"I'm sorry. I truly am. But you three know too much."
"There has to be another way, Clockwork!" younger Danny yelled.
"There isn't. I'm sorry, but you three could permanently alter the timeline."
"We promise we won't do anything to change the timeline!" younger Sam pleaded.
"Everything has to happen organically," Clockwork said. "That's why I brought you all here. I wanted you all to have a chance to say your goodbyes. I wiped Danielle's memory while she was asleep, but I decided not to do that to you, seeing how close you have grown with your future eldest daughter."
"So, they won't remember me? Or anything of what happened?" Tara asked, wiping her tears with the sleeve of her ghost suit.
"They won't remember 'Tara'. Although, I did hear of a Tanya who came to visit from Canada." Clockwork gave a wink. "I'll keep the fun memories."
"So that's why we only remembered bits and pieces," older Sam said.
"By the time you return home, you three will have fully regained your memories," Clockwork said to the older trio.
"So we have to wait another 25 or so years to remember everything that happened in the past few months?" younger Tucker said.
Clockwork nodded. "I'll give you 10 minutes."
Clockwork floated away, and the group was left with each other.
Speechless, all younger Sam could do was run to Tara's arms.
One by one, each hugged and said their goodbyes to one another.
"You be good, okay, Megan?" younger Danny said. He released his embrace on her and smoothed out her periodic table shirt. "You keep being that feisty little kid who tried to take on the biggest, baddest ghost around. You hear me?"
"Okay, Daddy."
"I love you," younger Sam whispered as she held Tara tightly. "I can't wait to be your mother."
"I'm going to miss you so much," Tara whispered back as she cried onto younger Sam's shoulder.
She peered over and saw younger Tucker, who had just shaken hands with his older self.
"Hang on," Tara said.
She walked over to younger Tucker.
"Hey," she said.
"Hey."
With a sad little cry, she threw herself into Tucker's arms.
"Hey, it's okay. Listen, this isn't a goodbye. It's just a 'see you later,'" he said.
"For me. But for you, it's going to be another 20-something years."
Realizing the magnitude of that number, Tucker's face fell. He held her tighter.
"You are the kindest person I have ever met. You are a genuinely good person. Don't ever doubt your strength, your bravery, or even yourself. Okay?" he said.
He could feel her nod against his shoulder.
As younger Sam talked with her older self, younger Danny walked over to his future self to have a conversation that he had been dying to have since the fight.
"So...you got everything and everyone you wanted?"
Older Danny smiled. "You're going to be really happy, Danny. Trust me when I say everything's going to fall into place."
Younger Danny smiled. "I'm going to trust you."
"Goodbye, Danny," older Sam said. She kissed him on the cheek, and younger Danny blushed.
"I'd wish you good luck on your future, but…" She took her husband's hand and smiled at him. "I already know you don't need it."
"Danny?"
Younger Danny turned; he saw younger Sam carrying Megan on her hip and Tara standing next to her.
He started out walking towards them. Then, he sprinted into their group hug. Their tears overflowed.
"This isn't fair," Tara said.
"I know. But listen, I'm so beyond proud of you both," younger Danny said. "I can't wait to meet you in the future."
"I love you. Both of you," Tara said. "Thank you for being the best friends a girl could ever ask for."
They held onto each other before Clockwork cleared his throat.
"I'm sorry."
Vanessa let go of younger Tucker and walked back to her father.
Younger Sam handed Megan back to her older self, and younger Danny gave Tara a kiss on the head before letting her go back to her parents.
Suddenly, younger Danny's eyes widened. As sneakily as he could, he pulled out his phone from his pocket and typed something into his notes app.
"Is it...is it going to hurt?" younger Tucker asked.
"No," Clockwork said. "It'll feel like you're sleeping. But…" He turned towards the older trio and their children. "You should probably get a head start on going home. I have a feeling you're going to want to see what's at home."
"What do you mean?" Vanessa said.
"Let's just say not everyone becomes a ghost when they die, and there's a door that not even my assistants know about. Think of it as a thank-you present for saving our world and yours."
Vanessa raised an eyebrow but didn't question it.
They piled into the sleek vehicle parked behind them-the Specter Speeder 4.0-with older Danny at the wheel.
As the door closed in front of Tara, she never took her eyes off of younger Danny, Sam, and Tucker. And they never did either.
"Bye," they could see her mouth.
They waved back at her as the Speeder floated up. They watched as the view of Tara got smaller and smaller, until the Speeder finally zoomed through a window of the tower and disappeared.
xxxxxx
"What do you think Clockwork meant by that? A 'present'?" older Danny said as he parked the Speeder in front of his and Sam's house.
"I don't know," Tucker said, unbuckling his seatbelt.
"You sure you don't want us to take you and Vanessa home?" Sam asked.
"No, it's okay...I think we need some time to talk. We could really use the fresh air. Thanks, though."
Suddenly, the door to the Manson-Fenton family home opened.
A slim woman with tight, natural curls stood at the doorway. Her brown skin was the same color as Vanessa's, along with her brilliant turquoise eyes.
"Wait...it's not possible…" Tara said, putting her face up against the window.
"Emma?" Tucker managed to choke out.
"Mama!"
Vanessa threw open the door and jumped out of the car along with her father. The woman at the doorway ran as fast as they could towards them, and Vanessa and Tucker sprinted towards her too.
They crashed into each other, allowing the tears to return all over again.
"Mama! Mama, Mama, Mama…"
"How…"
Emma kissed her husband, and Tucker cried even more.
"Clockwork. He found me and brought me home."
"Where, my love? Where have you been?"
"The afterlife."