-- Author's Note -- Hello again. I would like to thank all of you so much for your wonderful reviews, and I'll try not to leave you hanging too long. I got a comment that this story is kinda confusing, well it's sorta supposed to be. What can I say, I can't tell Danny everything otherwise there might be some time-space thingy that would be bad. I'm not into sci-fi and know I would stink at writing it, so yes, I'm taking the easy way out. Besides, this way you the reader can add in whatever else you want. I'm really looking forward for the holidays to be over, yeah I know that sounds really bad, but I do love Turkey Day and all those Yule-tide holidays, however my spring semester is going to be really great. I'm taking a lot of classes, but most of them are like 2 weeks, and most of them are on writing. LoL. So hopefully I'll be able to update a lot more, and that will give me more time to do drawing that I want to do, like my character designs I've been trying to get done for ages. However, with all this extra time also gives me the option to do something I have been thinking about doing for a while now, and that's commission art works. Before I do that I'm thinking I need to get my website up and running again, so you can see my stuff other than my Danny Phantom fanart. LoL. If any of you are interested in having me do something, e-mail me and I'd love to talk about it. I promise it'll be cheap, like less than $10. Okay, that's all I wanted to talk about. LoL. Oh, and since I won't talk to you all until next weekend, HAVE A HAPPY TURKEY DAY!

Chapter 5 Where I Belong

After the scene at the mall Sam and Danny went straight home. Danny couldn't believe how stupid he was. Of course things were different, but it wasn't so easy to forget the past. Yes, it was the past, he told himself. But it was less past then now. Did everyone expect him to just accept things?

The two of them were silent during the car ride, and then they unpacked the groceries in silence. It was so eerie to Danny, but what was he supposed to say? He didn't know any different. All he could remember was battling ghosts, fighting teachers, and yes, sneaking into closets to make out with his girlfriend.

Once the food was put away, Sam dropped onto the couch and put her feet up on the coffee table. He took a seat next to her. "Sam, what do you want me to say?"

She gave him a questioning look. "Say? What do you mean? It was my fault. You didn't know, and I should have known there was a chance we'd run into someone at the mall."

"So what else am I missing out on?"

This caused Sam to rub her hands together. "Danny, you have to understand, I've told you a lot already. I don't know how much more I can, nor should tell you. There is so much that you need to learn on your own."

"I need to learn? Sam, I'm stuck here and unless we want another scene like the mall you had better tell me what I need to know. I don't know how much longer I can sit quietly by while you chat it up with our enemies."

"Danny you're not looking at the whole picture. One of these days you're going to wake up back in high school. How do you think I knew what had happened? You wake up and tell me, and Tucker, and Jessica all about it. I can't tell you everything you want to know because it might change all of this," she said motioning to the room around them. "And I don't want that. I don't want to change a single moment."

"And work? What am I supposed to do there?"

"You have sick time saved up, and I'm sure the guys at work will understand that you need time off."

"Sam I don't know if I can take all of this. When I see Valerie all I can think is about how she wanted to hunt us down and kill us. When I see Dash I only think of the rumors and problems he caused for us. Skulker, and any of those other ghost turned Halfas, will make me think about the fighting."

"I know, Danny, I know. But we'll get through it. I promise that we will. Anyway, I need to go pick the kids up from school. I'll be back in a few minutes, all right?"

"Yeah, sure Sam."

She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the lips before getting up and leaving. Once the door had closed behind her Danny let out a sigh. This was too much for him to take in right now.

Danny paced around the living room looking at most of the pictures he had ignored earlier. He stopped when he came to the wedding pictures. They looked so happy. Everyone was smiling and seemed to be laughing. Were things really that different? Danny doubted he had ever seen his parents take time off from ghost hunting for anything and really enjoy life like they seemed to be in the photo.

Turning away from the wall, Danny went and plopped down on the couch again. He gave a loud sigh. Could he really do this? He wasn't sure how long he was going to be here and he really doubted he could be a responsible adult.

A few minutes later the car pulled into the driveway and Sam, Sanjiro and Yuri came in the front door. The two children ran over and jumped into his arms shouting their greetings. Danny smiled and hugged them back. Well, maybe he could get used to this.

Yuri sat on his lap and Sanjiro sat next to Sam when she sat down and the kids began showing them what they had done at school.

"I painted a picture," Sanjiro told them, "It has lots of bright colors like Mommy uses."

"I learned to write my name!" Yuri cried out with a bright smile.

"Really? Can we see?" Sam asked with a smile on her face as well. Danny noticed that the two girls had the same smile.

Yuri's pigtails bounced as she climbed down to get a paper out of her bag. She came back over and proudly showed off her work.

"That's wonderful, Yuri," Danny told her with a big hug. It was at that moment that Danny thought that he really understood his parents. Why they pushed him so hard to do well in school, and why they encouraged him in everything else he did.

Once the two children had shared their day, the four of them sat down to watch cartoons. Danny held the small girl close to him and laughed with the others at all the right times. He felt whole with Sam near him, but like this he felt complete.

He nearly laughed at himself. That sounded so stupid to him, but there was no other way to explain it. For a moment it felt like the whole world had fallen away and it was just the four of them. It didn't matter that Dash and Paulina were hurting, or that Tucker was giving Jessica a hard time, or even that he didn't really belong there, because Danny knew that deep down he did.