Chapter One: Why This One

Tucker walked with an extra bounce to his step as his friends smiled behind him. They could not remember another time in their lives as friends when he was happier. Although, they had to make the exception for the day he got his precious PDA. His smile has never left his face since Valerie had accepted his invite to Prom, and for some reason he couldn't stop talking about it either. Even if his friends had decided to block him out after fifteen minutes of his rambling.

"I mean, it's been- what? Three years? After two years of being friends, and her finally being accepted in the group, the day has finally come. I actually broke through the rough outside shell and to her warm gooey center-" Tucker continued.

Sam chuckled and whispered to Danny, "He makes her sound like a new kind of candy bar."

Danny nodded and chuckled too.

After finishing Lancer's class they were heading for lunch and for Tucker, that was a blessing. As they made it into the cafeteria, Valerie waved them over to a side table.

"You guys ready to get in line?" Tucker looked at Danny and Sam who immediately held up bagged lunches. Sam looked surprised and looked at Danny who only smirked back as if he was proud of himself.

"O…k…" Tucker said looking strangely at Danny since the ghost kid never brought his lunch to school. Then something registered in his mind. Danny was trying to impress Sam once again. He's been trying to send subtle hints to her since the end of sophomore year. So far the message hasn't been recieved, "Well, it's off to line with me."

"You don't have to," Valerie came up to them and touched Tucker lightly on the shoulder, "I all ready got you a plate of meat so we could get a jump start on our plans."

All four of the friends sat down at the table and Tucker slid in next to Valerie. Danny and Sam sat next to each other and across from Tucker and Valerie, watching as Tucker sat simply amazed by Valerie and all that she was doing for him.

"All right, Tucker," Valerie pulled out a magazine full of dresses and material splotches, "What color should I be looking for?"

"I've always like yellow or gold on you," he smirked and stuffed some hamburger patties into his mouth.

"Okay…" she blushed and turned the page, "Let's look for gold then, shall we?"

Sam rolled her eyes and gave a disgusted face at the two. She just didn't know if it was because of the fact of the dead bovine being chewed upon in Tucker's mouth, or because of the flirting between the two. Danny looked at her with a flustered look. How could they be getting along so well together?

"Are they… dare I say it?…flirting?" Danny grimaced and Sam put a finger down her throat in a fake gagging motion. He prodded her in the side playfully and chuckled. Sam finally looked down to find that Danny had brought out a salad from his bag. A salad!

"Danny? Is that actually green in that bowl?"

"That's the color salads actually are suppose to be right?" he joked.

"What happened? Run out of cash to buy hamburger?"

"Don't get too excited or surprised, Sam," he tossed the salad and poked something in the salad with his fork and showed it to Sam, "It's a chicken salad."

Sam shrugged, "At least it's a step in the right direction."

"Yeah it only took you fourteen years," Tucker joined in the conversation while Valerie kept flipping through the magazine, "And even then he's still eating meat."

"His choice," she shrugged, "I'm not going to force him to eat veggie if he doesn't want to."

"You'll just force the rest of the school," Tucker earned a glare from Sam from mentioning the meat fiasco in their freshman year. The glare was cut off as soon as Valerie shoved another picture in front of Tucker, "Hey I like that one."

"In your dreams, I'm not showing that much skin. I meant the one next to it."

"Was worth a shot," Tucker shrugged and picked a hot dog off his plate.

Suddenly Sam's cell phone went off and she answered it right on the spot as if she was expecting it. As Sam was busy on her cell, Valerie was shoving the magazine over to the other side of the table to show Danny some of her dress choices, trying to get his opinion. He gave his honest opinion and earned some annoyed glances from Valerie.

"You asked, Val," he reminded her and looked at Sam after she got off the phone, "Who was that?"

"I have an interview after school today."

"I didn't know you were even looking for a job."

"I put in a few applications here and there," she popped in more pieces of her salad into her mouth.

"A job? Why would you need one?" Tucker asked, stuffing yet more meat down his throat.

"Because, it would help me earn my own money instead of relying on my mother and father. Of all people, they are the worst to go clothes shopping with. My mother buys me at least five pink dresses each time. And I spray paint them all by the end of the night. I wouldn't be caught dead in something from her collection," she cringed from the memory of the last dress her mother had gotten her.

"So where is it?" Danny asked interested.

"I burned the last two. Maybe the third is in my closet after I painted it and did a few 'touch ups'," she grinned at the memory.

"No Sam, I meant where's the job?" Danny said slowly and rolled a carrot around in his plastic bowl.

"I don't want to say yet," Sam said in finality. That's all she was going to say about it for now. Danny knew it and decided not to push it.

It was around four when Sam separated from the guys as she made her way down the road toward her interview. She had changed her clothes at school with the ones that she had stored neatly in her locker. Danny turned to Tucker who was being dragged off by Valerie toward her house. He wanted to go with Danny since he knew that Danny was going to follow Sam with his ghost powers. Unfortunately he would have to wait for Danny to tell him. Danny looked around, checked his surroundings and turned ghost. Swiftly, he turned invisible and followed Sam close behind.

As Sam neared a large building, taking up the corner of an intersection. Danny looked at the title of the company printed on the building. He just floated there in amazement, 'You have got to be kidding me…'

Sam looked down at her clothes; they were corporate casual; a nice dress jacket and slack combo. Sam entered the building and talked with the woman at the desk. After a few moments she was led to the back room with a group of people and sat down by a table in what she guessed was the break room. Other people were also in semi-casual wear even with a few guys wearing ties. Danny floated above the table and watched the proceedings.

A man with a red shirt and black pants walked into the room and was followed by two women with the same outfit, "Welcome everyone. Thank you for a applying and I hope you will find that here, at Toys-R-Us we are happy to have you join our family. I'm David, this is Chrissie and Jenna. Now, what I want you to do is to pick an adjective that describes you that starts with the same letter as your first name. We also need an impersonation of your favorite cartoon character."

Sam suddenly raised her hand to be the first one. Danny grinned wide and zoned in on Sam, 'I gotta see this.'

Sam swiped a piece of hair behind her ear and took a deep breath, "I'm Superb Sam. And my favorite character sounds something like this-"

She took another breath and did the perfect impersonation of Mandy from the Grimm Adventures of Billy and Mandy. Others clapped and Sam sat down. Danny began to laugh and clapped along. He decided that this was enough and went to wait outside the store for Sam to finish. After another hour or so, Sam strolled out of the store with a smile on her face. She was now employed and was starting next week.

"So, I'm thinking you got the job?" Danny asked from the side of the building.

"Danny! What are you doing here?" she asked, turning around to see him hiding the Toys-R-Us booklet behind her back.

"Oh come on, Sam," he chuckled, "It's okay. It's a job, right? And hey, it's one of the best places to work. You get to play with toys all day."

"Well, not toys exactly…"

"You're working at Toys-R-Us!" Tucker laughed out loud as the three of them walked home. Sam gave an aggravated glare at him and pouted. It was the day after her interview and they were walking to Danny's house to study for the new exam in Government, "What are you going to do? Play with the dolls? Surrounded by all that pink…"

Danny turned to her and smirked she smiled back and put a sweet tone to her voice, "Actually… they put me in electronics. I get to play with videogames all day. Well, at least the new ones."

Tucker stopped in his tracks and watched as Danny and Sam began to laugh, "I'm sorry Sam, I'll be good. I promise! Just please…. Please get me the new Kingdom Hearts when it comes in! Please!"

"Oh, I don't know…" she looked at Danny who was starting to laugh at his friend's begging. Suddenly a blue mist floated from his mouth and he turned to his friends.

"It looks like it's ghost time," they sheltered him as he transformed and flew toward the empty field were they noticed a strange glow. Tucker and Sam turned to each other and ran after him.

In the field they found Valerie on her rockets sled firing at a new ghost. It had a masculine form to it and it had muscles and a nice build as if he had worked out every day when he was alive. He turned around at one point and Danny noticed his eyes glowed red. This ghost had a yellow-green tint to his glow and had very different kind of clothing. Almost futuristic. Danny saw the ghost blast Valerie back into some shrubbery at the other end of the field.
"Hey you! Get lost in the time line?" Danny asked as he punched the ghost from the behind.

The ghost turned to him and growled, "I am timeless, mortal. Time means nothing to me. I am in every age in the world."

Danny dodged a blast from the ghost and chuckled, "And in all that time you never learned how to shoot?"

Danny shot an ectoplasm ray at the ghost and hit him in the chest, sending him crashing to the ground. Danny landed on his feet and watched his foe stand up and return fire at him. The yellow beam grazed him on the arm and Danny turned abruptly to the right, dodging another blow from the ghost. The new threat looked over his shoulder and looked back at Danny who was charging for another shot.

"Enough of this primitive 'shooting' as you call it," the ghost rose in the air as Valerie charged at him from the other side. She flew right under him and right into Danny, stopping him from releasing his ghost ball. They landed in a bunch of limbs in a patch of dry grass, "Let's get down to business."

Sam and Tucker ran toward their friends, but before they could reach them, they became frozen in mid stride. Danny and Valerie tried to get up, but as soon as they stood apart, they too were frozen. They were all still aware what was around them and the situation they were in, but couldn't move their limbs. The ghost came down and stood in front of Danny.

"So the you're the young halfa," he smiled and tilted his head to the side, "I've heard rumors of you. They do not lie, you are quite powerful."

"Thanks, I'd like to think so," Danny struggled with his voice to talk, "What do you want?"

"It's about what you want," he laughed at the halfa's expression, "Join me and help me become powerful and I will grant your deepest desires. Just think of it, everything that you have ever wanted will become yours. Permanently."

"No dice," Danny squinted, "I don't help ghosts."

"Except yourself," Valerie shouted from next to him.

"This does not concern you, ghost hunter," he waved his hand and sent Valerie flying over the tree line and Danny growled.

"Who are you?" he almost yelled at the ghost.

"I'm Desire," he held out his hand, "You scratch my back and I'll grant you all of your wants."

"Very original name, but I said no. Besides, you can't give me what I want."

"I can't?" Desire looked at him and stared into his eyes, "We'll just see."

His powers probed the young teenager's mind where he found pictures of him and a young woman kissing and holding one another at a dance. Future thoughts of his life to come with the same woman by his side and his best friend standing with them flooded his thoughts.

Desire turned and looked at Sam who was frozen next to Tucker. He stepped toward her and abruptly turned his hand and arm intangible, ramming them into Sam's chest and held to her heart. Sam screamed out in surprise and pain. He began to chuckle at the pained expression upon her face.

"Get away from her!" Danny yelled at him and tried to fight against the invisible binds that held him in mid air. Desire paid no heed to Danny and also saw images of her and a man being married. But instead of future plans of children and growing old, he saw a brief glance in her past and a small black haired boy handing her a flower. A third child joins them and they begin to play.

"You have similar desires of the heart," he whispered to the girl and let go of her heart and turned to Tucker, "But the two of you may be hurt the most by knowing the friendship will never last. Not without the glue that binds you together."

As he turned to Tucker he raised his hand in the air and charged a powerful blast. Sam raised her head ever so slightly to see the huge ball of light. She turned to Tucker and tried to shake her head.

"No…"

"Tucker!" Danny screamed as the ball of light was thrown into Tucker's gut and he was thrown back against the brick wall of the building over and slid down slowly, "NO!"

The back wave from the impact was so powerful that it sent Sam flying away from the scene. She landed with a hard thud, frozen on the ground. Danny couldn't do anything but watch as Tucker dropped to the ground and Desire laughing hysterically.

"Let's see how long you last without that bond, halfa," he smirked in triumph, "I'll be seeing you."

With that the ghost vanished and Danny dropped to the ground, finally able to use his arms and legs again. Sam was the first to reach Tucker and found him unresponsive. She turned when Danny reached them and couldn't talk. Danny held out a hand.

"Phone!" she stumbled a little while the request was being processed, "Sam, your cell phone! Now!"

She quickly gave it to him after the harsh tone he used in his voice and he called for help. Sam sat by Tucker, trying to get him to wake up, "Come on… Tucker…"

"They're on their way," Danny said as he placed the phone back down. He needed to say something in a time like this, some kind of comforting sentence. Unfortunately, that's all he could think of at the time. He looked at his friend unconscious and didn't know what to do. He only knew simple first aid, nothing like this. He quickly transformed back into his human self as he heard the sirens in the distance. He looked at Sam who could only sit and stare with shock. He did the only thing he could think of. He took Sam into his arms and let her cry herself out if she needed it.

She promised herself she wouldn't cry. She'd be strong for her friend. She would be brave. Even when Danny put his arms around her as the ambulance took Tucker to the nearest hospital she still couldn't cry. She sat there in shock as her best friend brushed back her hair with his hand and pushed her head beneath his chin.

"Sam?" Danny asked, his voice trudging through tears and the urge to cry.

Only then did tears begin to flow. Only then did her vision get blurry and her legs began to go out. Danny was holding back for her just as she was holding back for him and Tucker, "Danny…"

"Whoa there, Sam…" he quickly picked her up bridal style as she began to drop to the ground and looked her in her eyes, "Let's get to my house and get the car. We'll get to the hospital, okay? He's going to be okay."

"How can you be so sure?" she mumbled and sniffed. She knew he was going to be the strong one now. He would hold his tears for later. For her, to take care of her now, he would be strong.

"He just has to be," Danny shook his head and held her tightly to his body as she began to go into shock. She didn't even notice the now silent tears flowing from her eyes, as her head lay limp on his shoulder.

'He just has to be.'

A/N: Another note from me. Yes, I know I'm evil, but that's the way my mind works at times. It seemed to me that Sam would be a little OOC if I had her sobbing uncontrolably in Danny's arms, but she has to show a strong emotion. I mean, we are talking about one of her best friends. I don't know. If you read the bad summary I put up weel enough you probably know what's happening next. But just to humor you, I"ll pretend this is a ciffe. Yay! Please review and I'll see you next update!