Chapter Five

"I feel so much better," Sam said as she walked back into her bedroom after changing out of the pink concoction she'd been overshadowed into wearing. She was back in her black tee, black skirt and big clunky black boots. She felt happy. Danny was laying on her couch, eyes closed snoring lightly. "It didn't take me that long to get change," she whispered as she stood over him. After taking a few deep breaths, Sam decided she should let him sleep. She pulled a blanket over him and kissed his forehead then walked over to her desk and pulled out her journal, wondering what she should write.

Thirty minutes later, Sam absorbed in her journaling felt a gentle tug on her hair. She jumped, grabbed and attacked. She'd ask questions later.

"Ouch!" Danny said as she tackled him to the floor. "Was that necessary?"

Sam laughed wickedly as she pinned Danny to the carpet. They both knew he could over power her at any moment and turn the tables, but they preferred to let things stay as they were. Sam's breath caught as she looked into Danny's eyes. She's always loved his beautiful baby blues. She bent down and mussed his hair. He laughed and her toes curled. This time he took the initiative and pulled her down to him and kissed the tip of her nose. Sam gave him a wry smile.

"Is that it?" she asked. "Is that all I get?"

"You want something more?" Danny asked as he pulled Sam down to lay beside him on the carpet. Sam didn't have time to say anything at all before he gathered her into his arms and kissed her gently. "My Sam." He said. Sam closed her eyes and he kissed her again. They savored the leisurely exploration of their lips sliding against each other. No Jazz or Tucker to interrupt them. The only problem they faced was the threat of Vlad Plasimus lurked in the corners of their mind. Both worried about the irritating hybrid.

Danny loosened his hold, "Are you thinking about Vlad too?" He asked.

Sam took a deep breath and sat up, "Yeah. I can't help but worry about what he's up to right now. He wants you to turn evil Danny. He's going use everything he can against you, to make sure that you do. Especially me."

Danny sat up and put his arm around Sam's shoulder. She sighed and leaned into him. "I'm a liability aren't I ?"

"No Sam, " he replied. "You're an asset. You make me stronger." He feathered his fingers through her dark hair and she shivered. She turned herself and looked at him. He didn't shy away from her gaze this time. Sam's breath caught as he placed his hand against her face. He ran his thumb lightly over her mouth and she closed her eyes. Danny leaned in and kissed her. Again. Again? He was kissing Sam? Yes he was, and not for the first time either. And to top things off she wasn't mad at him for it and this was no fake out make out. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears as he pressed his lips against hers. He could also feel himself trembling. Danny steadied himself by holding Sam closer. Her lips parted beneath his and the kiss deepened. Sam wrapped her arms around him and returned the kiss with heart stopping intensity. At least Danny felt like his heart was going to stop simply from the joy and pleasure of it all. He never wanted to let her go. But thoughts which shouldn't have been intruding on a tender moment like this began marching through his head. Danny's heart squeezed painfully at these intrusive thoughts. He knew what would happen if he ever lost her, and that scared him almost as much as the thought of losing her did.

It was almost imperceptible, but Sam could feel that Danny had withdrawn from her. She knew what was going to follow his mental withdraw. She didn't want to face that. At the moment she didn't care about Vlad or any other ghost, including his secret of being Danny Phantom. It had taken a long time to get Danny where she wanted him, and she wasn't about to let him go so easily. Sam knew there was a point where emotions, wants and well, hormones could take over from reason. The very person who had lectured her on that was Danny's mother. But she didn't want to think of Danny's mother and the assumptions she had made about her and Danny oh those many months ago. Sam just wanted to drown in the emotions and the pleasure of being in Danny's arms. It wouldn't take much to push out what ever thoughts were pulling him away from her and refocus him back to her.

Sam slid her hands down Danny's back then under the hem of his shirt. His skin was warm beneath her hands as she slowly skimmed them up his back. Sam lightly traced her fingers around to his sides, trying not to tickle him enough that he pulled away. Danny trembled again and the distancing kiss flamed to life. Sam would have smiled if she could have. His undivided attention was hers again, and she knew it was her decision on how far to take things. And with that her thoughts skidded to a halt. Exactly how far did she want to take this? All the way! All the way! Her body screamed at her as Danny's hands began a caress of their own, against her bare skin. But it was now that the lecture Danny's mother gave her came back to her.

"Emotions generate desire, Sweetie," Maddie Fenton had told a blushing Sam who at the time wondered why Danny's mom of all people was talking with her about the birds and the bees. Sam knew about the birds and the bees. She wasn't stupid. But it seemed Maddie Fenton needed to have her say, so Sam listened. "Desire will cause you to do some things you may not be ready for. Once you leap over that chasm Sweetie, you just can't go back. It complicates and changes everything. It generates even more emotions and can cloud the clarity of your relationship and situation." Sam of course assured her that things between her and Danny were on a friendship only basis and Maddie Fention simply smiled knowingly. "Just promise me Sam Sweetie, that if that time every comes when you're standing at that precipice, you know what you're doing. You'll never be able to go back and things will never quite be the same again."

This time it was Danny who felt the change, the distancing from Sam. His thoughts were clouded with the pleasure of her mouth on his and the feeling of her warm hands on his skin, and the tingling warmth that rushed through his whole body. Even though he felt as though his blood was on fire and each beat of his heart seemed to scream out for more, he still was able to logically see where all of this was going. But, for the life of him he knew he couldn't stop, he was on a run away train. It was Sam who would have to decide whether to stop or go forward. The stronger part of him begged her with his touch, with his kisses to go forward, but the other part of him the weaker sensible side begged her to stop. It was then that they pulled away and looked at each other questioningly.

"I love you Sam," Danny told her. "So very much."

Sam took a few deep breaths to calm herself. All she needed to do was kiss him and they would have plunged past the point of no return and their lives would be changed for good or for bad, forever. Sam ached to jump off that cliff. The blood singing in her veins and the tingling warmth spreading down her stomach ordered her to move forward. The look in Danny's eyes begged her.

"I love you too Danny," Sam said as she let her arms around him relax and he let her pull away from him. "So very much." She looked down at her hands feeling slightly embarrassed. "I just don't think that now is the right time to…"

"I agree," said Danny quickly stopping what she was going to say. "We have our whole lives to make decisions about that. Right now we have other things to worry about."

"Yes" Sam agreed. "It would be wrong to add another complication to our situation.

Danny paused. "You've been talking to my mother, haven't you?" Sam laughed and nodded her head. "I'll have to get even with her some day." Danny growled and the smiled a little, "Or thank her maybe." Though neither of them were thankful that his mother had some how intruded on such an intimate moment. They were always being interrupted some way or another.

Sam stood and straightened her clothes. "We should get back to Tucker before he thinks we…"

"Tucker is going to think we did no matter what we say or do," Danny warned her. Sam shrugged her shoulders and gave Danny a look that said she wasn't above making Tucker pay for teasing remarks. "I'm going ghost!" Danny called. Sam shielded her eyes against the flash that would change Danny Fenton into Danny Phantom. Sam took his hand and they flew away, back toward Danny's house.

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