Chapter Three
Sam entered the lunch room after Tucker. She looked around for a moment then sat down. "Where's Danny?" she asked. I haven't seen him all day.
"Me either," Tucker answered. "I don't think he came back from the principal's office. You don't think he's still in there do you? Should we mount a rescue operation?"
Sam was just about to answer when her cell phone rang. She answered it then exclaimed, "Danny? Where are you?"
"I'm at home Sam," Danny answered. He hadn't been able to rest, but simply watch the clock, hoping that Sam would have her phone on so he could call at lunch.
"They sent you home?" Sam exclaimed in horror. Her heart dropped in disappointment. She was really missing him and was hoping they'd at least get to see each other at lunch.
"Well not exactly," Danny said. "Mom came. She forced me to come home. Can you guys come over after school?"
"She forced you to come home? Your mom?" Sam asked in shock.
Danny took a deep breath, "She said that fighting ghosts all night was taking it's toll on me and I needed to rest."
"Holy cow!" Sam gasped then said to Tucker. "Danny's mom totally knows!"
"Oh shit!" Tucker cried. He leaned forward wanting to hear more.
"I miss you Sam," Danny said his voice softening. "I'm so sorry about this morning."
Sam closed her eyes and cradled the phone close. "I miss you too. This has been a really sucky day." she said as the feeling of tears stung her eyes. Tucker took a look at Sam's face and backed away from her. He didn't want to be part of some mushy conversation between the love birds. He looked up and his embarrassed facial expression changed.
"Oh crap!" he said as he tugged on Sam's arm. "She's back!" Sam turned and saw the princess approaching. But before she could say a word to Danny on the phone. A flash of red appeared.
"Valerie!" Tucker exclaimed as he pulled on Sam's arm. "She's going to toast the princess!" Tucker found himself full of mixed feelings. On one hand he would be glad to get rid of the annoying ghost, on the other hand, he didn't want the creature hurt. And then again he felt it was a little thrilling to be rescued by none other than Valerie.
"Danny!" Sam said. "The princess is here and so is Valerie. She's going to totally destroy her! We have to do something!" She listened for a moment. There was no answer. "Danny?" She asked. "Hello?" The line was dead.
Everyone in the cafeteria was screaming and running for cover as Valerie shot at the princess, who was trying desperately to get to Tucker. Tucker was desperately trying to stay away from her.
"Don't move ghost!" Valerie cried as she leveled her plasma gun at the confused being.
"I want to go to the ball!" The princess said urgently as she pointed up to a banner hanging across the cafeteria proclaiming a dance on Friday. She saw Tucker and started toward him. "I want to go to the ball!"
"You ain't goin no where!" Valerie declared as she prepared to pulled the trigger.
"Oh no you don't!" Danny Phantom yelled as he flew in and threw Valerie's aim off course. Sam had to resist squealing in fan girlish delight. In fact she couldn't believe she had the urge to swoon at Danny's appearance.
"Ghost boy!" Valerie growled. "How did I know you wouldn't be far behind? This is it! Both of you are going down!" She turned and looked at the princess ghost who had just about reached Tucker.
"Stay away from him you wretch!" Valerie screamed and shot at the ghost. Danny didn't have anytime to lose. He moved as fast as he could, grabbed the princess and flew her out of the school. Valerie cursed then ran out of the cafeteria.
Sam looked down at Tucker who was still hiding under the table. "Are you all right?" she asked.
"Yeah," Tucker answered. "That princess is getting on my last nerve!" Sam nodded her head in understanding and sighed. She wished Danny could have stayed, or at least taken her with him.
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Danny flew to his house and put the princess down. He wished he could have stayed and talked to Sam, or better yet taken her with him, but he needed to get away from Valerie, and it would raise too much speculation if he kidnapped Sam. "Don't you have anything better to do then bug Tucker?" he asked the princess. "You're making things really hard on us."
The princess pouted, "But I just wanted to go to the ball."
Danny ran his fingers through his hair and took a deep breath. There was no reasoning with this ghost. He was about to say something else when he looked up at his house. He could have sworn his mother was looking out the window. "Oh boy" he said and turned back to the princess, but she was gone.
Danny flew up to his bedroom and phased through the window. There was no one in the room. He materialized, changed back to human form and sat on his bed with a thump. "This day is just getting better and better," he said sarcastically.
"Perk up Sweetie," Maddie Fenton said as she entered the room. "It's not that bad is it?" Danny gave her a deer caught in headlights look. She sat down on the end of the bed. "I think it's about time we had that talk."
"Uh," Danny said as he looked around for a means of escape. There was none. "Okay."
"Your grades have been slipping Sweetie," Maddie started. Past the C average? Danny wanted to ask. "You're always tired. I don't think you relax with your friends enough. I know you spend a lot of time with Tucker and Sam, but fighting ghosts is hardly relaxing."
"Fighting ghosts?" Danny said then laughed nervously. Maybe playing dumb would get him out of this situation.
"Now, now," Maddie said as she patted Danny's leg. "Don't try to play dumb with me Sweetie. I'm your mother."
"Uhh," Danny said trying to think of a way to get out of this conversation. His mind was blank.
"I'm not as clueless as you might believe," Maddie started. "I might get caught up with your father in our ghost hunting crusade, but I'm not oblivious. I've known for months and months that the affection between you and Sam was growing into something the two of you could no longer deny. If I could pick up a secret that subtle, do you really think you could hide any secret so big from me?"
"Ummm," Danny said then sputtered. "There's nothing going on between Sam and I!"
Maddie laughed. "Don't try to distract me Danny. You know I know."
Danny looked down at his hands, "What exactly do you know?"
"That you're Invis-o-bill," Maddie answered.
"Danny Phantom," Danny corrected.
"And some how you are a ghost? Part ghost?"
"Ghost Hybrid," Danny said.
"How did this happen?" Maddie asked "When did this happen? Why didn't you tell us? How long did you think you could hide this from me? I am your mother. Mother's know when something is not right. It's instinct."
Danny went hesitated to tell his mother what happened. He hoped he could trust her not to duplicate the accident, but he wasn't so sure. She and her father could go a little overboard at times. He decided not to give her the details but simply told her that he was scared that if she found out that she wouldn't love him anymore and would experiment on him endlessly or worse exile him to the Ghost Zone or expose him to the world.
"Oh Sweetie!" Maddie cried as she pulled Danny into a hug. "How could you think that of me? I am your mother! I love you! No matter what!"
"But, I'm part ghost," Danny pointed out. "You hunt ghosts." He shrugged his shoulders. I just drew the most logical conclusion.
Maddie laughed. "You really are so much like your father Danny! Try to become more observant. I've been running experiments on you for months now."
Danny nearly jumped up and away from his mother. "What?" he asked. "You have? When?"
"Both you and Jack," Maddie said softly. "So clueless." She chuckled for a moment then said, "Every new gadget of your father's gets tested on you. Of course your father is too focused on his mission that he just doesn't see that all the devices work. He thinks they're broken until I do a little tweaking on them and assure them they are fine. He's a brilliant, brilliant man. He's just a little thick headed sometimes."
Danny scratched his head. He couldn't believe it. His mother knew and she didn't care. Or rather, it didn't change her feelings or opinions of him. It didn't make her turn him into a lab animal nor exile him. Nor, did the outing of his secret make her crazy or make her want to tell the world her son was the ghost boy. Danny frowned. "What about Dad?" he asked.
"I think there are some things your father is better off not knowing about Sweetie," Maddie said. "Now tell me about the ghosts you've been fighting. Something bad happened on Friday and over the weekend. What was it?"
Danny wished she'd given him time to process the fact that she knew he was a ghost hybrid before she started asking him about ghost fighting. He wondered how much to tell her and really wish Sam and Tucker were there to help.
"Well..You see," Danny started. "There is this evil ghost named…Plasimus and he has been making plans to dominate the world."
Maddie settled herself and watched her son with interest. "Go on! Go on!" She said. "I want to hear it all." So Danny told her everything, well…almost everything. He did leave out the part about Plasimus being Vlad Masters and his obsession with Maddie and plots to kill Jack. He did tell her that he'd almost killed Sam. His story fired Maddie up.
"We'll get that rotten ghost!" She said angrily. "Just leave it to me! You have Maddie Fenton on your side now!" She ruffled Danny's hair and abruptly changed subjects. "Now I need to go get dinner started and check on your father's latest gadget" She kissed his forehead and left the room. Shouting over her shoulder. "Be sure to tell Sam and Tucker I said hello." Danny was left speechless with his mouth hanging open.
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Danny was very disappointed when Tucker came over without Sam later that afternoon. Tucker felt really bad for his friend. He wished he could do something as he observed the crushed expression on Danny's face.
"It's not that she didn't want to come," Tucker told Danny. "But her parents came and picked her up from school. I guess they are leaving for the next two weeks and they wanted to spend some "quality time" with her."
"Figures," Danny said. "They abandon her half of the time and then they want to give her their attention at all the wrong moments."
"Yeah," Tucker said. "The other thing is, they wanted her to meet the new staff member they'd hired. They were calling her the new governess."
"Governess?" Danny asked.
"High class term for Nanny." Tucker clarified.
"Nanny!" Danny screeched. "Sam doesn't need a nanny!"
Tucker laughed. Sam agrees with you.
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