I Still Believe

Summary: Sam has had one bad relationship to many making her question if there is even a point to anything and Danny is left trying to give her a reason for living.

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom. Butch Hartman dies.

Dedication: This one's going out by request to Rainbow Serenity, who wants to see a fluffy angst. Oh the Paradoxialness of it all! This was the first one that made me really stop and have to think to hard. Hope it turned out okay…

Danny stared harder at the Basic Grammar book, forcing himself to focus on the proper usage of commas despite the late hour. College was turning out to be a repeat of High School, lots of studying to pull of mediocre grades. He dropped his head back onto the pillow and sighed. Maybe he just wasn't cut out for this.

There was a soft knock at his door. He almost jumped. A glance at the clock told him it was way too late for any sort of visit. He paded to the door and peaked out. Sam was leaning heavily against the wall across from his door. Her face read and swollen, her eyes puffy and tear tracks still glistening on her face. "Sam?"

Her head jerked up as if the fact that he answered his door was a complete surprise. "Danny," she sort of choked out. "I thought you were asleep." She glanced down. She pulled at the flannel pajama pants she had on.

He opened the door and she slipped in. "Trying to cram for my midterm tomorrow. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she said just standing there sort of awkwardly in the middle of his dorm room.

Danny shot her an incredulous look. "Of course. That's why your crying in your PJ's in front of my door at four thirty in the morning." Sam looked down again taking a raspy breath as more tears welled up in her eyes. Danny fell back on his bed and patted a spot next to him. She sat down and he slipped an arm around her shoulders. "You want to tell me what's wrong?"

She sat there for a moment just sort of quivering. Something Danny had never associated with Sam before. "Danny, am I useless?"

He brushed her hair back behind her ear. "Of course, your not," he consoled gently. "What brought this on?"

Sam looked up at him a sort of fear in her eyes. "It's a long story and you have a midterm to study for," she trailed off as Danny shook his head.

"This is more important." She gave him a kind of grateful smile, but the tears that still clung to her lashes reminded him it was forced. "So we want to start with the cause?"

"Michael." He sighed. Somehow he wasn't sure he wanted to have this conversation now. He had been watching Sam go through one horrible relationship after another. It broke his heart every time it happened. Michael was the current 'friend-that-might-be-more'.

"What happened?" he asked gently.

She twirled the drawstring of her hoodie around her index finger, staring at it in fascination. "He got mad because he kissed me and I didn't feel anything."

He didn't know for sure how to respond. "You just haven't found the right guy yet, Sam." It killed him to say that. It physically hurt and he suddenly felt like he was going to cry too. Ever since his junior year in high school, he had decided Sam was the only girl for him but unfortunately Sam hadn't felt the same. Try as he might he wasn't able to make himself move on.

Sam shook her head. "I don't feel anything, Danny. I never feel anything." She wiped the tears of on the sleeve of the black sweatshirt.

"What do you mean?"

She sighed. "I never feel anything. I mean nothing no love, no lust, no nothing. Maybe I am just incapable of feelings."

He shook his head and squeezed her shoulders. "I know that's not true."

"What if it is? What if I am just a freak like Michael says?" she bit out harshly.

Danny forced Sam to face him. "Michael is a creep, Sam. Don't listen to a word he says."

"Every guy I get is sleaze, Danny. Why does nobody notice me for me?"

It took everything in him for Danny not to say 'I notice'. "Guys notice you, Sam. It's impossible not to notice you."

Sam shook her head almost imperceptibly. But that wasn't what Danny was concentrating on. Sam's eyes had a vacant hollow look that scared him deeply. In all the times he had known Sam she'd never looked this haunted before. "I'm tired of not feeling anything. I'm tired of going through life just getting by. If this is what life is like I don't want to do this anymore."

"You have to still believe in love," Danny whispered.

"Even when I don't see any point." Sam said bitterly.

Danny smiled slightly at the disbelieving young women. "That's what believing is, Sam. Having faith in what you can't see."

"I'm tired in having faith. I'm tired of people letting me down. I'm tired of being used. If that is what you believe in, Danny, you're stupider than I thought."

"Don't say that," Danny stated firmly. He wasn't upset just concerned. He sat there watching as Sam retreated further into herself. "Sam?" No response. "Sam!" In a moment of desperation, he did something that he wouldn't have done if he had stopped to think about it. Danny leaned forward and pressed his lips firmly against Sam's.

Sam seemed to wake up and kissed him back with as much feeling as she could put into it. When Danny pulled back Sam almost whimpered. "Don't try to tell me you didn't feel that?" Sam nodded, leaning back in but Danny pulled back. "Say it. Please, Sam, I need to hear you say this."

Violet eyes met blue. There were so many emotions in Sam's gaze Danny couldn't begin to figure them all out. "I felt it," she breathed, but he caught it none the less.

Danny smiled at the soft admission. Danny leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers, closing his eyes, hardly daring to believe that this was happening. "You still not believe?"

Sam smiled at him, the first smile of the late-night visit. "I will if you do." And with that she leaned forward and cut of his reply with a kiss.