Chapter Six: I'd Kill to Tell You

Danny spread out on his bed after school. He had planned to invite Sam into his room to help him put his senior portfolio together before next week. Knowing him, he will be up until three or so in the morning right before class. Sam already had hers done, along with most of her other senior projects. Danny, on the other hand, still had over half of them to do. She told him that she wanted to talk to Jazz for a little bit before she had to go to work. She's been down there talking with Jazz ever since they got home and now he was bored out of his mind.

Everything was beginning to slow down as far as classes went. Students were getting hyped up about the Senior Prom that was still a good month away. Everyone was roaming around the school, looking for possible dates. Some students were looking for just a body to take so they wouldn't miss a once in a lifetime occurrence. Others were looking for that perfect person to spend all the slow dances with and gaze deeply into their eyes.

A goofy grin had plastered itself on Danny's face as he began to daydream. He had a dream version of Sam in front of him, in a dark evening gown. There was a faint sound of music in the air and the faint mumbling of other couples around them. He gazed into her eyes and put his hands on her hips and just began to sway at their own pace. Those amethyst eyes just pierced into his soul and he couldn't feel himself leaning in toward her until his lips made contact with…

"A pillow?" Danny asked as he woke from his reverie and realized the harsh truth that it was only just a dream. He tossed the pillow to the side and put his hands behind his head, interlacing his fingers.

'Maybe I should ask Sam to Prom,' he smiled again. It had been quite a while since they went to a dance together. And they never went as more than friends. It would be a first for them both. Their first date.

A deep sigh made it's way out from Danny and he turned on his side. It was a great thought, but the problem was having the courage to ask her. Just like he had to have the courage to tell her about how he had fallen for her. And that courage had failed him the night before after they had dinner. He was ready and willing and then the courage and the right words fled off into the night, never to be heard from again.

From the first floor he heard Jazz's voice telling someone to have a good day and heard Sam's voice call back and the front door opening. He sat up and looked out his window to see Sam walking out the door and to her car. She hasn't driven it lately, since they usually just took his car wherever they needed to go. She looked up and saw Danny staring out his window. She smiled and gave him a wave. Her red shirt was hanging on her arm along with her nametag and walkie-talkie headset. She was on her way to work. He smiled and waved back and watched her drive off.

He lost track of time. He couldn't have been out of it for that long, could he? Taking a quick glance at the clock at his bedside he found out he had spent a good hour just thinking about Prom and Sam. More Sam than anything else. That was mostly thanks to Jazz for making him realize he was in love with his best friend. He probably didn't even hear her knock on his door to say good-bye before she went to work.

"This is ludicrous!" he said a loud to himself and jumped off his bed. He grabbed up his sweatshirt and pulled it over his head, only to stop midway, "How do I even know that word?"

He pulled the shirt the rest of the way down and just pushed it off as something that Sam would say and he just picked it up. He nearly tripped over some pictures and paper he had on the floor next to his bed, "Okay, I feel really strongly for her, why should I just sit here and let it get the best of me? I mean, if I feel this way and she feels the same, then shouldn't we be together? I mean…"

He slapped his forehead with his palm and grabbed his car keys, not really minding where his own feet were taking him. Suddenly his head had a meeting with his doorframe as he turned to leave. He stepped back a few steps and just shook it off. He rubbed the injured spot as he closed his door behind him and went down the stairs.

'Great now I gotta tell her with a bump the size of the Himalayas on my forehead,' Danny thought to himself and called out to Jazz that he was going to be out for a while. He closed the front door before she even had the chance to ask why.

After a good three hours of arranging overstock, Sam felt the need to change pace. She stood by a cart full of boxes from the last truck shipment and began to cut open the tape and stick the electronic security tags on the merchandise. Thank God for box cutters and the handy printer to help her find places on the shelves for all the new accessories. Although, truth be told her mind wasn't totally focused on unwrapping and opening boxes. Her mind was still drifting in and out of reality. She found herself thinking back to the night before after dinner. After dessert Danny asked her to come to his room so they could talk.

Flashback

Danny walked ahead of Sam and opened the door for her. She nodded in appreciation and saw that he had pictures and papers piled on his bed. She walked over to the bed and looked over the mountain of memories, silently noting that he had closed the door to his bedroom behind them.

She picked up a very old picture from the middle of the pile and smiled. It was a small picture of a little girl, maybe three years old, with her hair in a half ponytail and in a sundress. She had a few band-aids on her knees and one on her cheek below her right eye. To her left there was a small boy the same age with black hair and a plain tee shirt and jeans on. They were sitting, or in the boy's case hanging, on the jungle gym in a small park for kids. Sam absentmindedly rubbed her fingers over the aging photo. It wasn't that long ago, was it? The chance meeting that bloomed into a life long friendship… it felt like it was only yesterday.

"You remember that?" Danny asked from over her shoulder. She jumped a little in surprise, thinking that he was still at the bedroom door. She smiled a bit and looked at the picture again, forgetting the present all together let her feel more relaxed. Let her reconnect with the past and forget everything raging war on her conscious.

"Yeah, that was the day we met. I still can't believe that your mother just happened to have a camera," she chuckled and put the picture down back on the pile. She saw other pictures of the years following. She found one and picked it out of the pile with a light laugh.

"I can't believe you actually saved this one," she showed it to him and he groaned.

"I thought I burned that one…"

"I'm glad you didn't."

It was a picture when the three of them where in the first grade. They all had the same class together and in the picture there were suppose to be painting a picture of an imaginary creature with their fingers. In the photo Tucker was trying to walk around Sam and Danny when he accidentally tipped his cup of paint too far to the side and poured it all over poor Danny. Sam was oblivious to the accident and was smiling for the camera, showing her messy fingers covered in paint. It was a miracle she didn't get splattered too with how close she was sitting next to Danny.

"You were so upset that your unicorn was destroyed you didn't talk to Tucker for the rest of the day," Sam tossed the picture back down and looked all the others over. She found other notes, and cards that she had sent him over the years.

"It was a dragon…" he mumbled.

Years seemed to pass by before her eyes and Sam never noticed how many experiences and good times they all had together. Or even when it was just her and Danny in the pictures, she always knew it was a good time.

"What is all this, Danny?" she sat at the end of his bed and looked up at him.

"I just felt like sharing some memories," he sat on the floor, just next to her, "And… I wanted to make sure you knew something."

"What's that?" she looked down and knew that he was struggling with what he wanted to say. He always made that low sound from the back of his throat when he was thinking of how to say something so it wouldn't get screwed up when it came out.

"I'm sorry for how I acted earlier. I just want you…" he paused, shook his head and looked at her, "You're special, Sam. You're important to me. Just know that, okay?"

End Flashback

She sighed and picked up more of the merchandise and walked it out on he floor where she could find a place for it. She has been so wrapped up in her and Danny's trip down memory lane and the apology that he gave her that she didn't really notice that she was almost done with the freight from the truck the night before. After cutting down the boxes, she put them on a cart and waited by her register. She would find something to do at one time or another. Hopefully…

David suddenly hopped around the corner and walked straight up to Sam, "What's wrong, Sam?"

"Nothing," she gave a small smile, "I just finished with the freight, and now I'm just waiting for some one to come along so I can help them."

"You all ready re-labeled the games?"

"Yup."

"The accessories for the systems are all in order?"

"Yes sir," she stopped him from taking another breath by answering his next question before he even had a chance to ask her, "And I cleaned and dusted the shelving units. Alphabetized all the games in all their pricing categories, swept up the booth and scraped the old tags off of the empty slots."

"Glad to see some one on top of things in here," he smiled and looked around the surrounding area near the registers, "Now how many hours until you go home?"

"I'm here until closing," she sighed and he turned around laughing.

"Now, you make that sound like it's a bad thing," he winked at her and walked back toward the director's office, which was located at the side of R-zone. She rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. The only thing with closing at Toy-R-Us is that you may have been scheduled until thirty minutes after closing, but you don't get to punch out and leave until everything is cleaned and all the re-shop is put back on the shelves.

Sam sighed and walked around the registers to look at the area right in front of her. She didn't feel like playing more of the video games, because she has all ready played all the games on the demo disks to begin with. Besides, she didn't really feel the incessant need to play, even if she may be really close to being bored to death.

David bounced out of the director's office and had a piece of paper in his hand, "Hey Sam, just to tell you, you got a good report on your last survey."

"Thank you," Sam took the piece of paper and began to look it over a bit. A good score will always help her. David looked up and found someone walking into the electronics.

"It looks like you're suddenly going to get busy."

Sam picked her head up from the piece of paper and saw that Danny walked into R-zone, "Okay, well, I better get to work then."

"That's the spirit," he patted her hard on the back and walked back towards the accounting room to go over the counts made earlier that morning. As he passed Danny he bowed his head a little in greeting and flashed a toothy grin, "Good evening, sir."

"Hi," Danny picked his hand up in a half attempt at a wave. As soon as David passed him he walked over to Sam and chuckled a little under his breath, "I never thought you would want to work in a place where you have to be so happy all the time."

"I don't have to be happy all the time," Sam put a hand on her chest, "He's my boss, he's been here for years. He's just used to it by now. I don't know if he even knows how to frown."

"Yeah, that's weird," Danny rubbed his arm and looked away. Sam quirked an eyebrow at her friend.

"You okay Danny?" Sam asked and touched his arm, which didn't help him at all.

'No, I'm crazy,' Danny thought, but instead heard himself reply, "Yeah, yeah! I'm okay."

"If you say so," she shook her head and walked over to put the piece of paper at the side of her register, "So what did I do to earn a visit?"

'Your you…' he thought again and had to hit himself upside the head, "Um, nothing really."

"Another boomerang accident?" she inquired as she turned around and pointed to the small lump forming on his forehead.

"Oh- that? No," Danny said, "Nope, just wanted to see you."

He noticed that he made her smile- and, wait… was that a blush?

"Well, thank you for keeping me company," she turned around again and looked for something. What she was looking for was a mystery, even for her.

Danny took a deep breath. He had been sitting at the Nasty Burger across the street, trying to compose himself. He gave himself encouragement and tried to get himself to a level to where he could at least get in the store with out running away. Now that he was there, he had to take the next step and tell her what he came to say.

"Actually, Sam," Danny started, but stopped in his tracks when she turned to him and tilted her head to the side slightly, "…uh, can… Wh-when you get off of work, can you- I need to tell you something, okay?"

"Okay," she looked at him strange and put a hand to his forehead, "Just promise you look at that lump when you get home. You're acting really weird."

"All right," he pretended to look at a watch on his wrist, "I gotta get going. I'll see you when you get home."

"See ya," she smirked.

As Danny left R-zone David came walking back with a contemplating look on his face, looking over the papers in his hands. Danny smiled to himself and decided to have some fun before leaving. He tapped David on the shoulder.

"Yes, sir?"

"Hi," Danny grinned, "I just wanted to tell you that the girl in electronics is doing a great job. She answered all my questions and is very knowledgeable."

"Well, thank you sir. I'll pass on the news for sure," David grinned back and went in to tell Sam.

"Just three more hours to go…" Danny saw a clock on one of the price checkers and sighed. Just enough time for him to get his mind back in working order.

Around nine-fifteen Sam and Jenna were shooed out of the store after the clean up effort was finally over with. They both smiled and poked at David on their way out, in their own way playing around with him. He once again pushed them toward the door and laughed as they skipped off toward their cars.

"Sam…?" Jenna asked shyly, "Can you walk me to my car?"

"The street lights are still on, and as I recall you always park under one."

"Please," Jenna moaned and Sam sighed as they made the trip over to her friend's car, which in turn will only delay her to getting to her car and to the talk with Danny.

"You want me to drive you to your car?" Jenna asked, unlocking her front door while looking in through her windows just to make sure.

"No, I'll be fine," Sam smiled and hugged her friend briefly before turning and walking toward the side parking lot of the store. As she passed by the front entrance if the store again she saw a dark colored SUV parked in front. Sam just shrugged it off and kept walking briskly to her car. Some parents don't understand the concept of 'close at nine' and try to bribe or talk their way in to find the perfect gift before the birthday party the next day.

As soon as Sam got to her car she unlocked it and jumped in, only to notice that some of the branches of the bush in front of her car seemed higher than what she remembered. She sighed and put her bag and keys down to look around her car. And loll and behold, the tires were flat.

"Damn it," she cursed lightly under her breath. She was about to turn to get to her bag to find her cell phone when she remembered that today of all days she forgot it on the bed in Danny's guest room. She rolled her eyes and finally noticed something on one of her front-end tires. She knelt down and touched the tire only to find that the tire wasn't only flat, but it was slashed.

"That doesn't look good," she mumbled and looked around briefly before looking at the store to find that the lights were off and that David probably snuck off to his car in the few minutes she walked Jenna to her car and was probably half way down the road by now. She looked back at her car and it's pathetic tires and let out a deep breath, "Well, looks like I'm walking. I should have taken the ride from Jenna."

"Yeah, you really should have," a deep voice, said from behind her.

Before Sam could turn around to see her attacker, they wrapped their arms around her waist and held her hands down at her sides.

"You have just chosen the wrong girl," she growled and brought her elbow back hitting the guy in the gut. He barely flinched and she went for the second approach. She brought her combat boot from the ground and stepped him on his instep. He howled and took a step back with her in tow, but did make the mistake of loosening his grip around her arms. She brought her fist up and hit him square in the nose. He let her go and gripped at his nose.

"Now get out of here and leave me alone!" Sam yelled at him.

He stood straight once again with a little blood trickling out of his nose. The lighting was going out and Sam couldn't read all his features correctly. She was ready for him to charge at her again, what she wasn't expecting was another attacker. Before she even heard the approaching footsteps a hand hit her behind the head and she dropped down to the ground barely conscious. She tried to fight with her mind as the darkness totally clouded her vision. She felt one of the guys pick her up and carry her to what she supposed was a vehicle, but her mind stopped processing when she felt herself thrown into the back of a car.

"This one will be fun…" one of her captures whispered before she felt her mind surrender to an unconscious state.