Chapter Six

Vlad had been thwarted. He admitted that freely to himself. What he couldn't figure out is how Danny figured out that Sam was being overshadowed. It was Princess he knew, but what had she let slip? He looked over at her dancing across his ballroom. He wished he had been able to talk someone else into his plan, Ember maybe. But she told him she had ghost fish to fry elsewhere, and besides she was not about to go into business with Vlad Plasimus, all of Ghost Zone knew his plans and there were mighty few ghosts who would be willing to join him, even if it was against Danny Phantom.

"I have to think of a new strategy, " Vlad now Masters said to himself as he watched the Princess dancing with herself to the music of the imaginary ball Vlad had set up, as promised. She didn't seem to care as long as he took a few turns with him across the floor. Of course he'd had the ballroom built with the beautiful Maddie Fenton in mind. He imagined how lovely it would be to skim with her across the floor, waltzing the night away. He sighed to himself and walked to the window. A new plan. A new plan. He had to think of something else to turn Danny to his side. But what? Disrupting his friendships didn't help. The kid just had too much goodness in him. Vlad's angry expression softened. Danny's goodness was obviously thanks to his Maddie. "My Maddie." He growled to himself. "How do I win you?"

So, Danny wasn't much like Vlad. He wasn't set aflame with jealously. He felt too strongly about his friends to let anything get between them. "Come on Vlad old boy," he said to himself. "Think! Think! Think!" Another grin spread across Vlad's face. He knew what he needed to do. "Daniel is the good boy and his friends are the glue. Take them away and he'll turn into you!" Vlad said in a sing song voice. He stretched out his arms and laughed as he turned into Plasimus. The time for thinking was over. He had to strike and strike fast, while Danny and his friends were still off balance.

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Tucker woke up with a start. He was still in Danny's room. He looked at the clock. "Man," he said. "Those love birds have been gone a long time." He picked up his cell phone and called home to let his parents know where he was and that he'd be staying over at the Fenton house for dinner. He hadn't been invited of course, but Tucker could smell the delicious scent of meat loaf drifting in and Maddie always made plenty.

"Where's Danny?" Maddie asked as Tucker sat down at the table, at the place she'd sat for him. She was quite used to Tucker inviting himself to dinner. She had an inkling that he'd go home and eat there as well. "And Sam?" she continued.

"Ummm," Tucker started, at a loss for words. Where were Danny and Sam? They hadn't run into any trouble had they? He was about to make up some lie about the library when the duo in question bounded down the stairs, both looking a little flushed.

"Hey Mom," Danny said as he sat down at the table. Maddie eyed her son suspiciously then looked at Sam. Who was eyeing the meat loaf on the table with horror. Maddie patted Sam on the back and placed a nice green salad in front of the girl. She looked back and forth between Sam and Danny for a moment then called Jack and Jazz to the table.

"Where did the pink go?" Tucker asked as he leaned toward Sam.

"It's been severely shredded," came Sam's reply. "And is now laying desolate at the bottom of a trash can."

"Aww," Danny said as he jumped in on the conversation. "But you looked so pretty dressed up all in pink." He grinned at the sour expression on her face. Tucker got ready to duck but nothing happened. No retaliation from Sam. No flying apples, books, boots, silverware or salad. Just a smile.

"What?" Tucker said, "No retaliation? No smack in the head?"

"Nope," Sam replied. She opened her mouth to say something else but the sound of the door bell ringing interrupted her.

"Oh dear, who could that be?" Danny's mother said as she started toward the door. Danny stood up and stopped her.

"I'll get it," he said. Maddie patted Danny's shoulder and turned back to the pot boiling on the stove. Sam and Tucker looked at each other then ran after Danny.

The door bell rang again. "Hold on to your shorts!" Danny yelled. "I'm coming." He swung the door open and who was standing there? None other than Vlad Masters himself.

"Good evening, Danny," he said, his eyes gleaming evilly.

"What do you want?" Danny growled.

"Why Daniel, since when do I need to want something to pay a visit to my dear, dear friends, the Fentons?" Danny gave him a warning look. He was fully prepared to slam the door in Vlad's face, or better yet go ghost and kick his a...

"Vlad?" Maddie called as she came up behind Danny. "Come in! It's so good to see you." She pushed Danny aside and motioned for Vlad to enter. "Jack," she called over her shoulder. Guess who is here to see us?" Vlad shot Danny a triumphant look and followed Maddie into the house.

"Vlad!" Sam whispered as Danny walked by. "What's he doing here?"

"Causing more trouble no doubt," replied Tucker as he poked at his PDA. Danny said nothing. Sam gave him a worried look as they went back to the kitchen.

Vlad was sitting in Jack's spot laughing at something Maddie had said. Jack was sitting in Danny's spot and Jazz was sitting at the table looking wide eyed. She looked at her brother and stood.

"Danny!" Jazz squeaked. "I forgot! There is something I need to show you!" She grabbed Danny by the arm and dragged him out of the kitchen. Sam and Tucker looked at each other then jumped up and followed after Jazz and Danny.

"What is Vlad doing here?" Jazz after Sam and Tucker appeared in the room. Shutting the door behind them.

"Causing trouble no doubt," the three friends said in unison.

Jazz sighed in disgust. "Sometimes I think you three all share the same brain!"

"I wish we did!" Tucker said. "These two were gone forever! If I shared a brain with them I'd know what they were up to."

Both Sam and Danny blushed. "I needed to change. I couldn't run around fighting evil ghosts in pink." Explained Sam.

"Yeah," Danny said as he nudged her. "They might think she's a lady in distress and take off with her." Sam socked Danny in the arm. "Ouch!" he said and rubbed the spot she hit.

Jazz crossed her arms across her chest and tapped her feet as she glared at Danny and Sam. "I'm glad you two can be so cavalier about the fact that Vlad is downstairs…flirting with Mom."

Danny, Sam and Tucker looked at each other and sighed. Yes they needed to get serious about the issue of Vlad being in their house, but a certain amount of tension which had been building up between the three friends was gone and now that it was, they could barely contain their happiness.

"Okay. Okay," Tucker said as he whipped out his PDA. "If it's all right with the lovebirds we'll get down to business now." He looked up at Danny and Sam.

"We're not," Danny and Sam said together then stopped and smiled at each other. "We're not, not lovebirds!" They said together, almost as though they'd realized it for the very first time.

"Yeah yeah yeah!" Said Tucker who sat down and turned his attention back to his PDA.

Jazz narrowed her eyes at the two, lovebirds. She put her hands on her hips as she looked at them. "So you two are together now? Officially? A couple?"

Danny looked questioningly at Sam. She opened and closed her mouth a few times and shrugged her shoulders. Danny followed suit. Tucker rolled his eyes and Jazz sighed. When they were together earlier they really didn't have the time to explore the issue. Well no, they had the time, they were just too busy exploring other things. The way Danny saw it, they were together. He just didn't want to say anything in front of Jazz.

Sam felt her face flush. She'd assumed that they were together, but given Danny's hesitance she wasn't so sure now. In light of what happened that afternoon, she certainly considered them to be together, and if he said they weren't then…she'd rip his head off. She smiled sweetly at Danny who smiled back and blushed a little.

"Like I said," Tucker announced as he cleared his throat. "All we have to go on right now is that Vlad, for some reason." He cast a hard look at Danny and Sam. "Decided that Danny would turn evil if Sam and ummm I were a couple."

"But that didn't work." Jazz said as she eyed Danny for a moment thoughtfully. "I mean what makes Vlad think that anything he could do would turn Danny evil? Danny certainly wouldn't turn evil. Look at him. He's just too good to go bad." Danny gave his sister a look that said he was going to gag if she kept going.

"He wants Danny to turn evil because then Danny might be on his side," Sam said. "But there's no guarantee that Evil Danny would do anything to help Vlad. Danny would never destroy Vlad. He's had a few opportunities and well, just hasn't done it. Evil Danny wouldn't have any problems disposing of an enemy."

Danny took a deep breath. He wasn't so sure what Sam was saying was true. He certainly felt like destroying Vlad earlier today, and he would have even without letting go of his human side and going evil. He didn't even like the thought or the term, going evil. Everyone said "going evil", like it was just as easy as "going ghost". Since his confrontation with Evil Dan the subject of his potential evil had come up a lot. It made him unhappy. It wasn't like he was an unstable person. It wasn't even like he couldn't control himself. Ok, he could name a few instances where he had difficulty controlling himself, but those didn't count. He felt a blush rising to his cheeks and looked up to find Sam, Tucker and Jazz looking at him expectantly.

"What?" he asked as he rubbed his hand on the back of his neck. Both Jazz and Tucker smirked.

"Danny?" Sam asked. "Is something wrong."

"Yeah," he answered. "Vlad is downstairs and he's here to try to get me to turn evil. So yeah I'd say there's something wrong."

"Hey at least we've been ghost free!" Tucker said, trying to lighten up.

"And Valerie free," Sam added.

Danny groaned, "Don't say that. The minute someone says that all hell usually breaks loose!" As if on cue, a great crashing and banging came from downstairs. A blue mist floated from Danny's mouth and he shivered. Danny raised his eyebrows at his friends. "See what I mean?" he said.

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Everyone ran downstairs. They stopped short in the kitchen. The table was flipped over. Everything was scattered on the floor. There was no one in site. Tucker sobbed at the sight of the poor meatloaf, laying on it's side on the cold floor.

Maddie's yell of "Ghost! Duck!" drifted up from the basement and Jack yelled, "Don't worry Honey, I'll save you."

"No! I'll save you!" Maddie yelled.

"I guess that's my cue," Danny said. "Going Ghost!" He changed into his ghostly form and took off down into the basement without a backward glance at his sister or friends. He was sure Vlad had changed to Plasimus and was trying to take off with is mother. But he was wrong. When he made it downstairs. He found his mother standing on a counter and Jack trying to catch none other than the Box Ghost.

"Beware!" The box ghost cried. "For I am The Box Ghost. Master of all things card board and cubical! Fear me!"

"Give me a break," Danny said as he floated a few feet away from the ghost. He looked down at his parents who were busy gathering together more gear. The Box Ghost looked at Danny and panicked. He feinted left, then right then left again. He looked Danny straight in the eyes then turned and vanished back into the Ghost Zone.

"It's Ghost Invis-o-Bill!" Jack yelled as he pointed at Danny then moved to grab the Fenton Thermos. "Let's get him."

Maddie grabbed Jack's arm. "No," she said. "Let him go." They both watched as the ghost disappeared.

"Aww Maddie," Jack said.

"Don't aww Maddie me. Help me clean up the mess then we'll get back upstairs to our guest."

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Danny returned to human form when he made it upstairs and looked around. It was quiet. Too quiet. Were did Sam, Jazz and Tucker go? He slipped from the kitchen through the living room. The living room was almost completely destroyed and he slipped into panic mode. He couldn't help thinking how mad his mother was going to be when she saw this. But he was more concerned for his sister and his friends.

"Sam?" He called frantically. "Jazz? Tucker?"

"Over here Danny," came Jazz's muffled voice from the closet.

Danny ran over and opened the door, nearly ripping it from it's hinges in the process. Both Jazz and Sam were sitting on the floor huddled under a bundle of coats. "What's going on?" he asked a sense of relief flooded him at the sight of Sam. He felt weak and shaky inside. He looked further into the closet. "Where's Tucker?"

Sam stood up and tried to escape from the coats she was wrapped up in. Danny reached out helped her. "Vlad took him," Sam answered trying not to sound as shaky as she felt.

"He tried to take Sam too," Jazz said as she exited the closet. "She shot at him with the Fenton Ghost Zapper and he took off."

"Why would Vlad take off with Tucker?" Danny asked. "He knows it's just going to piss me off and I'll come after him."

"He didn't just come for Tucker," Jazz said wondering if Danny even heard her the first time. He was too busy looking at Sam. She signed in exasperation and pinched. Danny's arm.

"Ouch!" Danny exclaimed as he rubbed his arm and turned his attention to Jazz.

"He wanted to take both of them Danny." Jazz told him slowly. "At least I don't think he was after me too. He doesn't know I know about you does he?" Danny shook his head and watched as Sam walked to the center of the room and picked up Tucker's PDA.

"Forget Danny being pissed," Sam said wryly. "Tucker is going to be unbearable without this thing." She pressed a few random buttons then laughed as a picture of Valerie appeared, she was glad it wasn't Paulina. She shuddered at the thought of Paulina.

"Sam," Jazz said as she watched the girl playing with Tucker's PDA. She thought that maybe Danny, Sam and Tucker were a little too accustom to facing ghosts. They'd become very blasé about it. "I don't think you are aware of how close Vlad came to getting you! Weren't you scared." Sam slid the PDA in her pocket. "A little," she admitted. She was trying not too look at Danny who was trying not to look at her. Sam was afraid that if he said or did anything she'd start crying. Man she really didn't want to cry. Danny just wanted to grab her and hold her and not let go for as long as possible.

Jazz sighed in exasperation then grabbed Sam and then Danny by the arm and made them face each other. "Man you guys are really useless without Tuck to think for you."

"That's not true." Danny and Sam said in unison as their eyes finally met.

Jazz smirked at them. "We really don't have a lot of time you two," she said. "Are we going after Tucker or not?"

"We're not going after anybody," Danny said as he stared into Sam's eyes. "I'm going. You two are staying here."

"Nuh uh!" Sam said as she shook her head. "You're not going into Vlad's lair without me. No way no how. Tucker is my friend too. And you're my…ummm friend and we stick together! Besides, Vlad might decide to come back for me. I'm safer with you."

"I think I should go too," Jazz said.

"No!" Danny yelled. "It would be safer and quicker if I went by myself." He put his hand on the side of Sam's face. "You'll be safe here. We can turn on the Fenton Ghost shield."

Sam blinked slowly. She was trying not to get mad at Danny. She loved him yes, but she certainly didn't need to be over protected. She could kick butt all by herself and he knew it, after all, that was the reason she was still here and not off with Tucker as one of Vlad's abductees. "You're forgetting one really important point." She said softly.

"What's that?" Danny asked. His mouth twitching as he held back a goofy grin. Why did just being near Sam make him feel so happy? He shouldn't feel so happy. Tucker was in danger and all he could think about is kissing the angry expression from Sam's face.

"The Fenton Ghost Shield can't keep Vlad out!" Sam informed him as she raised her eyebrows and dared him to tell her she had to stay. She could tell from the look of dawning understanding in his eyes that she'd won. She reached up and kissed his cheek. "Don't worry Danny. I've always taken care of myself before. Haven't I?

Danny rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, "Yeah sure," He said then shot a glance at Jazz who shrugged her shoulders. "Are you still going too?" he asked.

Jazz's eyes brightened. "You want me to go too?" she asked excitedly. She ran up to Danny and Sam and gave them a big group hug. Just wait a few minutes. I need to go change.

"Don't worry," Sam said to Danny. "We're going to get Tucker back and kick some Vlad Plasimus butt!"

Danny had his reservations. Everything was different now. At least things between Sam and he were different now. His stomach began to twist in knots. Damn Vlad. Why couldn't he just leave them alone?

Jazz came running downstairs in a teal haz-mat suit not unlike her mother's. Sam rolled her eyes and looked at Danny. "What is it with your family and haz-mat suites?"

"Haz-mat suites are cool." Danny and Jazz said together then looked at each other and laughed.

Sam picked up the Fenton Thermos Tucker had dropped and slung it her shoulder. "Lets go get Tucker back!"

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