Heylo! Welcome back to chapter ten of Hotel Paper. –Cries—This story is actually coming to an end. There's only a three more chapters left after this.

Thanks to my wonderful reviewers. By the way, I wasn't going to update this, but this is a present since I'm going to be gone for a while.

Olivia, blackphantom13x2, Lacy, DannyPhantom66, Johann-son, PhantaBaby13, Unlikely-to-bear-it, cakreut12 x2, ANIME FAN ANGUS, Hopeless4life, Soon-to-be-Yami'sgirl, ArcherofDarkness and Callie, yinyang-shadow, Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet, Panthera, Sqweakie the Wonder Mouse, Valecia92, Lucifer, JNgirl

Chapter Ten

Where Are You Now?

Sam gasped, her heart thudding loudly against her chest. Did she really want to know what was lurking further into the room? So far, she couldn't see anything from her view, but that didn't mean someone or something wasn't waiting for her around the corner.

She held out her fists, prepared to fight. At least she wouldn't go down without one. Cautiously, she walked more into the room.

But there was nothing there. She put her hands down, confused. Then what had—

Her heart gave another lurch. Praying it wasn't real, she peered around at the edge of the bed closest to her. But there was no mistaking what she saw….

A slender, bloody hand sticking out from the corner of the bedside. She felt the blood drain for her face and traced carefully along the edge of the bed.

It was Danny, lying unconscious on the carpet on his side. He had several deep gashes and cuts across his face, arms, and neck, and the blood stains on his shirt signaled he was probably hurt underneath it too.

"Danny!" she yelled, rushing to him. She gently rolled him over onto his back and he let out a pained sigh, but didn't wake up.

"Oh my gosh," she whispered, panicked.

She stood up and made her way into the bathroom, hurriedly, a thousand thoughts racing through her head. She pulled a washcloth down from the towel rack and turned on the sink faucet full blast, soaking it.

Running back to him, she grabbed a pillow from her bed and sat down beside him again. She put the pillow in her lap and inched his head onto it.

Pressing the cloth against his forehead, she wiped a line of blood from the gash over his eye.

"Danny, wake up. Can you hear me?" she said earnestly.

He groaned weakly and his eyes fluttered open an inch or two, a pair of pained blue eyes staring back blurrily.

"Sam…." he whispered, closing his eyes again.

She started to cry out of shock, confusion, and happiness. He'd said her name, yet she was sure he really hadn't known it was her. Sam wiped a tear from her eye.

"Yes…it's me Danny," she replied, taking his hand. "I'm here."

"I--" he began. But his eyes opened barely a second before closing again as he slipped into unconsciousness.

……………………………………

Drifting back slowly, Danny's eyes opened just barely. He found himself lying on his back on a bed, and not to mention a great deal of pain. Finally, his focus cleared at last and light amethyst eyes stared into his.

"Hey," Sam greeted, relieved.

"Hey," he replied hoarsely. He shook his head to clear it again and sent a short wave of pain through it. "What happened?"

"That's a really good question. I came here and found you like this. Luckily, I had help," she said. She moved and Danny saw a familiar face.

"Tucker," he said.

"How are you feeling dude?" he asked, sitting on the dresser against the wall.

"Like hell," he replied honestly. He sat up slowly, leaning against the wood of the headboard.

"I remember standing in the stairwell," he said, digging back. "Karissa was there and then Jarod came in and started attacking us. I got hit by something and my powers shut down."

Sam bit her lip at the word, "powers" but didn't say anything. She didn't know what to say besides that.

"And that's why you aren't healing," Tucker realized.

"Probably," he agreed. "Jarod hit me with some weapon after that too and I just kind of ran and came here. And then I don't remember what happened."

"That must have been a while before we found you. You must have passed out from exertion or blood loss or both," he guessed. Sam gave Danny a concerned look, gently brushing her hand across his scratched arm.

"I'll be okay," he assured her. A part of him didn't know however. He wasn't sure what had happened to his ghost powers…and whether they would return or not.

"Hey, Dan, I gotta get home or my butt's grounded," Tucker said.

"I'll stay with him," said Sam quietly.

"Righty then. I'll see you later," he said. He gave a small wave and headed towards the door.

"Thanks Tuck," Danny called.

"No probs," he replied. The door clicked closed.

Sam turned back around, sitting on the bed near Danny's knees, chewing on her fingernails. She gave a nervous laugh. "So…ghost powers huh?"

"Yeah," he replied. He stared into her eyes. "Sam, I want to tell you everything."

She finally met his gaze. "How…are you like this?"

"I was in an accident when I was fourteen. It was a stupid mistake. Tucker and I were upstairs in my house when my parents came up from the lab downstairs. They had been working on a new project, the Fenton Portal. At the same time, I really wasn't interested in ghosts, but they had showed me what it was anyway. It was supposed to be a portal to the Ghost Zone, where most ghosts live. They were pretty upset that day."

…………………………..

"What did you get for number fourteen?" Tucker asked, staring down at his math paper.

"Fifteen-oh-three," Danny replied, glancing up at his homework.

"Really?" Tucker teased thoughtfully, writing suddenly.

"Cheater, cheater," Danny muttered, not pretending he didn't know what his best friend had just got him to do.

"Oh, like you haven't done it before. In fact, I think I learned it from you," he pointed out.

Danny heard noise from within the kitchen and looked up to see his parents walk into the room, coming from the lab downstairs. Their facial expressions was the first thing that he noticed.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"Your father and I just tried the Fenton Portal. We didn't have any luck I'm afraid," Maddie Fenton replied.

"All that work for nothing," Jack grumbled grumpily.

"What's the Fenton Portal?" Tucker asked. Danny fought the urge to kick him underneath the table.

"It doesn't matter anymore if we can't get it to work," Maddie sighed. "It'll just be a wall again."

"I need a break," Jack groaned.

"I think we both do," she agreed. "Come on. Let's go upstairs. Danny, if you need us, call."

"Okay," Danny replied, watching them tread up the stairs miserably. They disappeared around the corner, into their room.

"Going upstairs to do what?" Tucker asked, raising his eyebrows. He laughed as Danny shoved him in the shoulder.

"I did not need to hear that."

"So what's the Fenton Portal?" he repeated.

"A hole in the wall that's supposed to prove that there's a Ghost World or Zone or whatever," he replied.

"Whoa, cool. Really?" he asked. "Let's go check it out."

"Are you serious?" he asked.

"Yeah, come on. Just for a sec," he pleaded. "Please?"

"Okay, but if my parents catch me, I'll never hear the end of it if they think I'm trying to be like them," he said. He stood up and stretched, then both boys passed the kitchen and headed down the stairs into the lab.

"Dude, why didn't you show me this before? That is awesome," Tucker stated, walking over to the far wall.

"It's a hole in the wall," Danny said again.

"Yeah, but have you ever walked in there?"

"Well, no--"

"Then how do you know?"
"Okay. If I go in there, will you leave me alone?" Danny asked.

"I dare you," he challenged.

"Alright, alright. Just hold on," he said, walking over to a desk. "One thing first." He found what he was looking for and pulled it out.

"What is that?" Tucker asked.

"Safety issue," he replied, holding up a white and black jumpsuit. He stepped into it and pulled it over his regular clothes. Glancing down, he saw an odd peel off attachment made to look like his father's head, right square in the middle of his chest. He pulled it off, rolling his eyes.

"Safety issue?" Tucker asked. "What do you think you'll do, blow this place up?"

"No, but at least if my parents do find me like this they won't flip out on me," he said.

"Oh, okay," he said. "I didn't even think about that."

"Didn't think so," Danny teased under his breath.

"I heard that," he retaliated.

Danny stepped up to the edge of the portal and slowly walked the entire distance in. Staring around, a grin spread across his face.

"Tucker, you're right. Who knows what awesome, super cool things exist on the other side of that portal," he called out. His eye caught something and he gave a laugh.

"What?" Tucker asked.

"I wonder if my dad forgot to plug it in," he said, bending over. He picked up an extension cord and stepped over to the outlet on the wall. "Knowing my dad--"

He never got to finish. The plug had just barely inched into the sockets and energy crackled around him.

Bolts of pain shot through his entire body and a strange cold feeling smothered him. He cried out and his body gave into the pain, darkness sweeping over his vision.

"Danny?" Tucker exclaimed, standing up. The sudden blast from the portal had forced him to fall. Now that it had appeared to have stopped, he now saw that the Fenton Portal was glowing; green light shone from every direction and icy smoke poured from the base.

"Danny?"

Tucker's voice wasn't clear at first, but if finally crept into Danny's mind. Groaning slightly, he was confused. Where was he? And why did he feel so strange? Then everything flashed through his head. His eyes snapped open very fast and he stared around.

He stood awkwardly on his feet. His legs felt like lead. "Tucker? What happened?" he asked.

"Danny, are you alright? I heard a really weird noise and then you yelled." Danny stepped back onto the lab floor, feeling slightly lightheaded and piercingly cold.

Tucker had his glasses off, cleaning them. "Are you alright?" he asked again, slipping the frames on. He gasped, suddenly, his green eyes widening.

"What?" Danny asked.

"Oh…my…god."

………………………………..

"And then I was half ghost," he finished.

"Wow," Sam said. "You must have had to go through a lot of therapy after that, huh?"

He laughed. "Actually, no. I kind of liked it. Having powers made catching ghost easier obviously."

"So despite not wanting to become ghost hunters like your parents, you did anyway?" she asked.

"Yeah, I guess so," he replied. "A couple times my parents hunted me. That was always fun. My dad let me go, sometimes by accident, but usually so he could catch me more. I always had to escape from my mom."

Sam touched his hand. "I'm sorry…about your mom."

"She died in a car accident about two years ago," he said. Because of me, he added silently.

"She must have been wonderful," she guessed.

"Yeah, she was," he agreed quietly. He tried sitting up straighter, and a blast of pain shot through his chest and arms. He groaned softly and grimaced, clutching the side of his stomach.

"Hang on, I think there's a first aid kit in the bathroom. I'll go get it." She stood up and walked rather hurriedly into the bathroom. Ducking underneath the sink, she pulled a small metal box off a hook. Opening it, she was glad to see bandages and peroxide. She grabbed the whole box and walked back into the room.

"You don't have to do this," he told her as she kneeled down on the floor beside him.

"Why wouldn't I?" she asked. "You might went to lie down so I-I can…you know." She broke off, blushing. He pretended not to notice, sliding slowly down to position himself flat.

"This might hurt," she said, dabbing a cloth from the box with peroxide. She carefully placed it on his skin, slightly underneath his shirt.

"Nah, it's just kind of cold," he whispered. "Of course, now, yeah, it kind of hurts."

She laughed. "Sorry."

"Oh, it's fine," he said. She leaned closer to get a particularly large scratch across his chest and found herself very close to him, her face a few inches from his.

Once again, she found that her heart seemed to split in two. She had never seem someone as beautiful and sweet as Danny and she was falling in love with him all over gain. But this isn't what she had come for--- she had come to get answers.

Danny lifted his hand and touched her cheek softly. She turned her face away a little and his fingers found the necklace at her throat. She closed her eyes.

"You aren't…aren't seeing someone else are you?" he stammered, averting his eyes.

"Who told you that?" she asked, opening her eyes.

"Karissa. She said something about someone named Mark," he explained.

"She would," Sam grumbled, angrier than she meant it to sound. "It's not true."

"I didn't think….I didn't want to think so," he said. She bit her lip, edging the cloth closer to his neck. Finally, he looked back. "But who is he?"

She froze, easing back down to the side of the bed. She absentmindedly fidgeted with the mixture of bandages within the first aid kit.

"You—you don't have to tell me," Danny said gently.

"No, no, it's fine," she assured him. "I owe you an explanation for all the questions I asked you." She stopped and then stared off the other direction before continuing.

"Mark was my first boyfriend. We dated for two years, and I don't know why I didn't realize it until now, but Karissa was always trying to steal him from me," she said. "But Mark was an actor. He made me believe what I wanted to believe. He made me believe he truly loved me. A couple months ago, I caught him kissing another girl, fortunately not Karissa. I told him off and he got so angry because I'd been spying on him. He shoved me into his car, locked it from the outside and then set it on fire. Karissa was the one who got me out. The worst I got was smoke inhalation. But if she hadn't have…been..there…"

Sam broke off, a single tear rolling down her cheek. Danny placed his finger on her skin and wiped it off, taking her hand.

"I promise you that I will never, ever hurt you," he declared. "I couldn't hurt you."

"You….you aren't evil?" she asked, sniffling.

"No, I'm not," he said, shaking his head.

"That's what—oh my gosh!" she suddenly exclaimed, smacking her forehead. "I completely forgot Danny, I found…I saw Jazz."

"What?" he asked, sitting up again.

"She was in the middle of the road and she was acting really weird. Like she was scared and she looked awful. But after I picked her up, she seemed fine. She told me to take her to the police station. I don't know where she is now, I bought her lunch and she disappeared after that. She was acting really strange. I think she might be in trouble."

"I have to find her," he said, placing his feet on the floor next to her.

"Danny, you're hurt," she said, rushing to him. He tried to stand, but his legs were cut and bruised.

"I…just have to find her," he said, trying again. He took a shaky step and found he could walk, but not very well.

"I know," she said, helping to support him.

"Sam…one thing," he said.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Where….how do you feel about us, now?" he continued. She pulled away just barely so that she could face him. "What are you going to do?"

"There's only one thing I can do Danny."

………………………………………………..

HAAAAAA! HAAA! How evil is that! Hee hee, now that is a cliffhanger! And there's no sneak peek. But I can tell you one thing. I have decided to make a sequel. So, what's really bad is that, I could not have them get back together in this story and torment you for the next one, Eternally Yours….ooh, I'm bad.

Here's a sneak peek from Modern Day R+J (And this update is coming soon, I only have a small part left to finish. The next chapter is very very long) I'm also changing the age of Danny, Sam, and Tucker (and others in their grade) to sixteen.

Act I: Scene IV

"You know if they see us, we're dead," Tucker stated.

"I'm very much aware of that," Danny said, stepping out of the car anyway. Tucker groaned, making a face and followed him.

"We…will…be…screwed," Tucker added.

"I know," Danny said. "But honestly, Tucker, do you think that I wouldn't turn us invisible if we do end up getting caught?"

"Oh…" he said. "I forgot about that."

"I figured," he said.

"So what's the plan…are we stealing something?" Tucker asked.

"Yeah, like I need another reason for the Whites to hate me more. And if I get thrown in jail, things could get ugly. My mom flipped out last night just because I mentioned her name. Something about trying to steal dad away from her…" He shook his head. "Whatever game this is, it's getting annoying."

"It's the Fentons vs. the Whites now….this story's getting oddly familiar. I think it would be funny if you and Sam started dating and then it would be even more like Romeo and Juliet," he teased, not realizing how right he was. "But it's not like you and Sam will ever be able to date now."

"You think?" Danny asked.

"Well, you don't like her do you….?" he teased. "Cause I can totally see you two dating. Except not now with the whole feud thing going. The only way you two could be together is if you pulled something totally random like proposing to her or something."

Danny suddenly stopped and Tucker almost ran into him from behind. "What?" Tucker asked, side stepping.

"What did you just say?" he asked.

"Could you be a little more specific?" Tucker asked. "The whole marriage thing? Yeah, that's funny. Kind of weird if you ask me….What?"

"Nothing," Danny replied.

HOW IS THAT FOR A SNEAK PEEK FOR ALL OF MY LOVELY FANS? HEE HEE! Coming soon!

Lateraina Wolf