Okay, guys, here's chapter four. Um, thank you to all my awesome reviewers. You all have given me a desperately needed ego boost and I can't stop smiling. I genuinely appreciate all of your wonderful comments in ways you can probably never understand.

Rose Garden twilight, the wicked end, Phantomgirl13, the sleep warrior, Rakahn, Sam-n-Danny1, ilikedan, Soccordiva, yuskefan, Miss.Redi, hhrallways, Kuki Salazar, LilAriezAngel, Starrobin4eva, glossy3. Sailorsun144, tennis turtle, Me The Anon One, Galateagirl, kaibacorp345, RoseGirl from planet Pluto, Criticizer101, Fanficaholic, CherryBlossem16, Mama Agwe, Blackbird Revived, cottongirl619, PhantomAl

This particular chapter is dedicated to RoseGirl from planet Pluto because she said she was sick and in need of updates and I know how that is, so I feel for you, girl! This one goes out to you!

It also goes out to a very good friend of mine called C. He's hyperknucklesgc on deviantART and he makes me laugh a lot.

Also, I don't own Danny Phantom. Sorry, no witty comment this time; Mr. Hartman owns all those too. Heeeeeee….

So, without further ado, here is chapter four of Lilacs:

"Oh, but you fit so perfectly right here."

"What?" Sam pulled back from him, looking at him as though he were from another planet.

'Shit, you moron, you're going to mess up everything,' Danny mentally cursed himself while trying to give Sam the best innocent smile he could. "What what?" Play dumb. That was the plan, play dumb and maybe her own mind would excuse it. He would never survive a direct question from her about this if she asked. Danny was nearly physically incapable of telling a direct lie. He smirked to himself, 'which is why I said what I just said to her… I had to, it's the truth.'

Sam gulped. What was she supposed to say? Yes, the boy you call your competition for me gave me the exact same utterly sweet and romantic sentiment you just did. But how could two people say almost the exact same thing… twice? She remembered that they'd done it before. This was giving her a headache… Sam backed off from the prince, shaking her head. Maybe… maybe there wasn't anything to it, maybe they were just really similar people. She took a deep breath and smiled back at Danny. "Nothing, nothing at all. I'm just going insane."

Danny grinned back at her. "Good, you'll match perfectly with everyone else in the castle," he left it at that, but was implying something else entirely.

Sam just sort of let herself be dragged to her seat next to him, letting the insinuation sink in. "You're going to get me killed…" she grumbled.

Lunch went rather smoothly. From the glares Sam was getting from Paullina, she was beginning to seriously consider using the blackmail she had on the so called Lady.

Halfway through lunch, Madison ran up to Sam and handed her a note.

"Another one?"

"Yes…" Madison smiled secretively at Sam. "I'll see you later, Sam. Have fun!"

Sam opened the note.

Princess,

I will be in the grove after lunch, please come see me, I can't stand to be away from you for this long. And yes, I know it's only been a day, but I need to see you.

Danny (the one you shouldn't be seeing)

Danny just grinned at a disapproving Tucker as she read it.

Sam looked up, trying her best not to smile like the lunatic she wanted to, but no facial expression in the world was going to hide the excitement in her violet eyes or the glow around her.

"Who was that from?" Danny asked.

Sam took a deep breath and turned her gaze away. She couldn't lie to him. She just couldn't. One look into those damn green eyes and she just couldn't bring herself to lie to him, especially since he was always so honest with her. (Ha… irony…)

"It was from the other Danny, wasn't it?" He asked, not half as solemn or jealous as Sam expected.

Her only answer was to look up quickly at him and put her head down again in a small, barely detectable nod.

Danny and Tucker laughed a little. "Sam," Danny began, "it's okay. You don't have to feel so guilty. I shouldn't expect that just because I like you, you have to like me back and only me, it's cool." But again, had she really been infatuated with someone else, Danny would have been jealous to the point of insanity and would have had to stop himself from immediately ordering the capture and beheading of the other man. He had only barely known her a week, but was already starting to feel a little possessive of her.

"Oh! There's Val!" Tucker cried, his face instantly lighting up as he spotted his fiancé. "I'll be back." He looked over at her again and she winked coyly at him. "Or maybe I won't…" he added before dashing over to her.

Danny and Sam both laughed at the young lord's antics. "There are some days when I feel really sorry for Val," Danny said, "but I think that both of them are very in love."

Sam grinned. "I think the both of them are very lucky to be so in love. It gives me hope."

Danny gazed at Sam for a moment, as though seeing her for the first time. Against the background noise and clutter and clank of lunch, no one noticed Danny reach across to stroke Sam's cheek. She tensed up for a moment before deciding that it actually felt nice and subconsciously leaned into his hand, her hazy violet eyes closing and fluttering very slightly. A small sigh sifted through Sam's lips as Danny ran his thumb over her cheek bone.

And then, suddenly, he pulled his hand away.

Sam's eyes flew open and she met Danny's. Another hazy feeling washed over her as she drowned in their luminescence. She'd never seen eyes as green as his… there was something definitely inhuman, and yet human-like, in them. They expressed emotion and all that, but the color and brilliance were irresistible, intolerable and without question: paranormal. Even though his hand was no longer on her face, he was still caressing her. Sam suddenly shook her head to clear it. She looked at Danny, who was now staring back at her, extremely confused. "I… I… I have go."

"Why?"

Sam shook her head again and fled back to her room, leaving an even more befuddled Prince Danny wondering what exactly it was that he had done to make her leave because it was the polar opposite of his intention.

The second Sam caught her breath in her room, there was a knock at the door. "Danny, I don't really feel like talking to you right now," she called out, not caring which Danny was out there.

"Samantha, it's me, Mom."

"And you use the term loosely," Sam replied disdainfully. "I don't want to talk to you either."

"Samantha, there's something you need to know," Stella said. "Please let me in, we need to talk about it."

Sam scoffed. "Don't even try to start being a good mother now."

"Samantha, it's about your illness!"

"Computer, music!"

"Samantha!"

"Preference, my lady?"

"I don't care, just make it loud!" The computer began blasting rock music.

"Samantha!"

"Can't hear you!"

"Samantha!" Stella tried one more time before the music got louder. She stopped trying and leaned her head against the door, on the verge of tears. "Samantha… please… I don't wanna lose my baby…"

"Computer, please teleport me to the lilac grove."

"Certainly, my lady, right away."

"Princess!" Danny cried, embracing her with all his might when she appeared in the garden. "What's wrong?"

Sam looked up at him and smiled. "Nothing… not anymore anyway."

"I heard that you ran out of the lunch today, why?"

She frowned for a minute before kissing him hard and fast on the lips. "It was nothing… I just spazed out."

"Are you sure?"

Sam touched his cheek softly. "Yes, I'm sure. It was just one of those things, you know? Besides, I wanted to get out here sooner to see you."

Danny wrapped her in his arms and pulled her close to him, nuzzling her neck with his cheek. He deftly trailed his fingers up and down her spine, delighting in the quivers that coursed through her and the way she kept pressing her body closer to his, as though trying to connect with him somehow. Danny groaned quietly at how her slight frame fit so amazingly against him. He continued to run his fingers along her spine while kissing her neck softly. "Princess…" he murmured huskily.

Sam couldn't get over how easily he made her forget anything else that was going on in her life. Wrapped up in his arms, she forgot any awkward moments with the prince, anything that was wrong with her and her mom, her illness. She could forget anything bad at all as long as he was holding her. The fingers of her left hand sieved through his black hair encouragingly and pressed her lips to his ear whenever he moved his head the right way. "Oh, Danny…" she whispered breathlessly. "Danny, please…" she begged.

He pulled his lips off her neck and set them into a seductive, not-quite-submissive smile as he looked up at her. "Yes, my princess?" he asked, voice still husky.

"Please, Danny… I-" she was unable to finish because…

"My lady, it is time for you to get ready for dinner tonight," her bracelet interrupted.

The two lovers stepped back from each other and Danny took a deep breath. Sam, meanwhile, sent death glares at the silver bracelet.

"Screw it, I'm not going anywhere."

"No, it's okay, you can go."

"No," Sam said firmly. "I want to stay here with you."

'Shit. If only I could perfect that duplication technique,' Danny thought bitterly. "No, Sam, you have to go. If you don't the prince will come looking for you and if we get caught, we're going to be in a lot of trouble."

"I don't care."

'Yeah, I kinda figured…' "Princess, please, I'll be executed if we're found. I don't want to die because then I'll lose you and I don't want to lose you."

Sam kissed him softly and tenderly one last time. "Okay, I'll go, but I won't enjoy it."

"My lady, I will be transporting you in -zero- minutes."

Danny touched his fingers to Sam's intimately as she was whisked away from the grove.

------------------------------

Sam had told Paullina that if she kept making a fuss about Sam's sitting next to Danny at meals, Sam would disqualify Paullina. So now, Sam was sitting quietly and comfortably in her usual spot next to the prince, listening to Tucker go on about how amazing Valerie was and occasionally laughing at him.

Danny, on the other hand, was going insane. It was hard for him to act normal around Sam with what had happened earlier. If her bracelet hadn't gone off when it did, he had no idea what would have happened, but the possibilities both enticed him and scared him at the same time. Part of him wanted to see how far she was willing to let his human side go and the other was afraid of himself; he would have felt like he was taking advantage of Sam if things had gone any farther. Right now, even, he wanted to hold her in his lap, pet her, touch her, kiss her, and call her Princess and purr sweet nothings in her ear. Seduce her. It suddenly became clear to him that that was his unintentional goal: to seduce her, make her fall in love with him. But he was in his ghost form currently and she would kill him if he tried anything now, especially after he had made her feel so uncomfortably comfortable at lunch. He knew that much. But he wanted her so badly. No matter how much water or wine he drank or how much bread he ate, he could not get the taste of her out of his mouth and no matter how much he tried to pay attention to Tucker and the rest of the clatter in the hall, he couldn't get the sound of her pleading to him and moaning his name out of his ears.

Suddenly, a blue smoke burst from his mouth.

Tucker gave him a look.

"Shit…" Danny mumbled. "Tuck," he whispered, it didn't go unnoticed by Sam. "Take care of this one for me, okay?"

"Right."

Danny ran off down a corridor to the back of the hall.

"What's going on?" Sam asked.

"Nothing," Tucker replied. "Something just came up is all. Danny will take care of it." A clamber rose among the girls down the table. Tucker stood up and commanded their attention. "Ladies, in case you haven't noticed, the prince has left the hall briefly. It is most likely that he will return shortly, so please do not leave, just continue eating."

"Tucker, tell me where Danny went," Sam said.

"I don't know."

"Yes you do."

"No, I swear on my life, Sam, I have no idea where he went," it really was the truth. Tucker knew why Danny had left, but he didn't know where he had gone…

The lab. Danny hated that lab almost as much as he hated Vlad Masters. It wasn't because the lab was where the Fenton Portal, the device that had turned Danny half-ghost, was. It was because the lab was where all of Danny's enemies came from.

Danny raced off to the lab that he hated so much, but when he arrived, he found no one and his ghost sense confirmed that there was no ghost there. "What the hell?"

"Daniel!" He heard a voice behind him exclaim. "What are you doing in the lab?"

Danny turned around to face Vlad Plasmius, Vlad Masters' alter ego. He immediately slammed the elder halfa against the wall. "YOU! What are you up to!"

Vlad laughed. "Daniel, you're becoming paranoid. This is as much my lab as it is yours and your parents'."

"Please, Plasmius. You're always up to something. It has something to do with this contest, doesn't it?"

"You're close, Daniel, think more specifically."

Danny stared at Vlad searchingly for a moment, fear apparent in his eyes. "Sam…"

Vlad merely smiled wickedly.

"WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO TO HER!" Danny bellowed angrily.

"Nothing, Daniel."

"Liar!"

"I swear to you, Daniel. I'm not going to do anything to your precious Samantha," Vlad swore. That isn't to say I haven't already done something…

"You're lying."

"I have never lied to you, Daniel. I have hid the truth from you, yes, but never lied. I'm not going to do anything your princess."

As much as Danny hated to admit it, it seemed Vlad was telling the truth. He relinquished the older man and went to the door, ready to make his way back to the hall to finish his food and drink in more of Sam.

"However, Daniel, there is something you might like to know about her."

Danny whipped around to look Vlad in the eyes. "What?"

"No. I won't tell you now. You're keeping a secret from her, she's keeping one from you. Perhaps, if you're a good boy, I'll tell you another day." With that, Vlad disappeared.

Danny just rolled his eyes and made his way back to the hall.

"Where'd you disappear to?" Sam asked the second he sat down.

"I just had something to take care of, don't worry about it."

"But…"

"Sam, please, it's not really something I want to talk about."

Sam backed off, but questions still lingered in her mind.

"I'm beginning to think that all of this is a waste of time," Danny said.

"All of what?"

"All of this…" he gestured out to the table. "It's just a waste of time and it was Vlad's idea and that just makes me hate it all the more."

Tucker looked at him like he was crazy. "Dude, you have, like, at least forty girls all trying to win your heart, one is already succeeding," Sam blushed at that, "what the hell are you complaining about? Most guys would kill for a chance like this."

Danny blushed slightly. He didn't really care about the other girls, well, just not in the way that he would want to make any of them his queen. It was no secret that he liked Sam. No… like wasn't strong enough to describe it. He was attracted to her. No, it was definitely more than that. He wanted her. Well, yes, that was accurate, but that wasn't it either. Could it be possible that… he… loved her? Blood rushed to his face. No… that couldn't possibly… but it was the only thing he could think of to describe what he felt about Sam.

"Danny!" Tucker called. "Dude! Earth to Danny!"

"What, Tuck?"

"You totally spaced out."

"Sorry… what happened?"

"Dinner was declared over, all the girls went back to their rooms and your lover, presumably went off to the lilac grove."

"Shut up, she is not my lover," Danny protested. 'No matter how much I want her to be…' his mind finished.

"Whatever dude, she's probably expecting human Danny in the garden."

"Probably?"

"Well, you didn't give her a note today, right?"

"No, but it can't hurt to go check." Danny did so; she wasn't there. Yet he still wanted to see her, so he went up to her room.

Sam heard a knock on the door. "Computer, who is it?" She wanted to make sure she knew which Danny it was this time.

"Photo-recognition says the prince, my lady. Should I let him in?"

"Yes."

"Hi, Princess."

"Danny?"

"Yeah."

"But the computer told me you were the prince."

Danny mentally cursed himself but smiled at Sam on the outside. "That happens sometimes. It's dark in the hall and the prince and I do look similar."

Sam stared at him for a moment. "Yeah, I can see that."

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine, why?"

"No reason, I just worry about you. It's ridiculous really. I just… care about you." He wanted to say he loved her, but the words got stuck in the back of his throat.

Sam walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "You're really sweet, you know that?"

"Princess… I-"

She looked up at him, violet eyes shining against the dim light of the evening moon that streamed in through her window. "Yes?"

"I-" Danny gulped. It shouldn't be so hard. He brushed her raven bangs back from her eyes. "Never mind. It's not important."

Sam pecked him lightly. "Okay. You should probably go. Paullina's in the next room, she could hear you."

Danny looked outside. "Yeah, you're right, it's getting dark anyway," he said, as though feeling like he was being kicked out and turned to leave.

"Danny," Sam grabbed him by the hand to stop him

"Yeah?" He replied, not turning around.

"Just know… I don't want you to go."

A grin spread across his face until his cheeks hurt. "I know."

"There are no events tomorrow, not even lunch and dinner, so… I'll-"

Danny turned now to smile at her. "Meet me in the lilac grove when you're done with your breakfast," he said.

Sam's entire face lit up. "Good night, Danny."

He opened the door. "Good night, Princess." The second the door closed behind him, the words that had gotten caught in his throat were released. "I love you." Danny resisted the urge to bang his head on the door. Why couldn't he say it to her? He took a deep breath. Maybe it was for the best, maybe she wasn't supposed to know yet. Yeah, it was for the best, especially since she didn't know the truth about his identity… strike that. Identities. When she knew that, he could tell her, even if having to look at her and not tell her would probably kill him in the meantime…

------------------------------

Sam sprung out of bed the next morning, hardly being able to contain her excitement. Cherry and Madison were not present, Sam assumed it was because there were absolutely no events going on that day. She was actually kind of glad that she wouldn't have to answer any of their questions; she really just wanted to enjoy her day with Danny, free of any of the disruptions that being royal usually brought her.

"My lady," the computer chimed as Sam finished pulling on her plainest pair of clothes. "Lord Masters is at the door, he requests entry."

Lord Masters. She'd only met him once before and the prince never had anything nice to say about the royal advisor and Sam really didn't want to let him in, but when she'd met him, he didn't seem a man to be refused unless you had the power to back yourself up. Sam had no such power, not here. "L…l… let him in," she stammered out, more nervously than she wanted to.

The door swung open, revealing the suave, nearly sinister man. "Good morning, Samantha," he said politely enough, but something in his voice still asserted control over her and everything else in the room. It made Sam uneasy.

"Good… morning, Lord Masters," she replied hesitantly, curiosity overpowering her.

He smiled unnervingly at her. "Please, my dear, call me Vlad."

"…Okay," Sam stared at him for a moment, waiting for him to say something; when he didn't, she asked, "I'm sorry, but was there something you wanted?"

The older man advanced on her. "Yes, my dear, there was," he waved his hand over her and immediately, the princess collapsed to the floor, her face flushed and her body heating rapidly. A cough escaped her lips and Vlad smiled. "I just wanted to test something. After all, I can't have Danny thinking you actually do love him. That would just ruin everything." He carefully picked up the sick girl and placed her in her bed, placing a cool cloth on her head, then with one swish of his cloak, he disappeared into the lilac grove.

"Sam!" Danny cried happily when he saw the familiar mist of a teleportation appear in front of him. "Vlad! What are you doing here?"

"I saw Samantha in the hallway, she won't be able to make it today."

"How would you know that? There's no way she would have told you."

"She was talking about calling some other boy she knows in Casper, or something like that."

"What?"

Vlad stepped forward and put his hand on Danny's shoulder. "I'm sorry, my boy, it appears that Samantha has been leading you on."

Danny was stunned for a moment. None of this made any sense. Sam had been so excited about today when he'd spoken to her last night and… she had told him that she hated all the guys in Casper and they hated her. He shook his head, hating himself for actually believing Vlad. "That's not true."

"It is," Vlad answered.

"Stop lying to me," Danny went ghost and flew to Sam's door, leaving Vlad behind cursing that he had neglected to plan that Danny might actually go see Sam for himself. "Sam?" He knocked on the mahogany barrier. There was no answer. He fazed through the door and what he saw horrified him.

Sam lie in the middle of her bed, clutching at her sheets. The quilt was kicked off of her and her whole body seemed to shimmer from sweat. Her face was flushed horribly, eyebrows and eyes clenched tightly and she was writhing in agony.

Danny returned to his human form and ran to her side. "Sam! Princess! Wake up!"

Her eyes shot open and she stared at him as though she were ashamed. "Danny! What are you-! You need to leave!" She commanded.

"No! Not until I know what's wrong with you!"

"Look, I'm so sorry I couldn't make it today, I'm just feeling a bit under the weather."

He put his hand on her forehead and Sam knew she was blushing but Danny didn't seem to notice because her face was already so flushed. "You're burning up, jeez, Sam, I could cook an egg on you! Please," he begged softly. "I just want to know what's wrong."

"I told you, I'm a bit under the weather," Sam replied as fervently as she could. More than anything or anyone in the whole world, Sam hated her illness. She was a firm believer in independence and hated relying on anyone else for anything. She wanted desperately to be strong, but being sick was the one thing that made her weak and it angered her more than anything else. She didn't want anyone to know that she was terminally ill, that alone would kill her. She bit back the needle sharp pain that she felt all over and attempted to stare the boy beside her down. It didn't work, he just looked at her softly and fondly and… dare she think it? Lovingly?

"Princess," Danny said softly as he stroked damp hair back from her face. "Please, I care so much about you… and… you don't show up in the garden this morning and then I come here and you look like you're dying, please… I just want to help…"

Sam was stunned, to say the very least, so stunned the aching that consumed her body actually ceased abruptly for a second and then, of course, returned. In her entire life, no one had ever really cared for her or loved her or, really, even liked her and now… to hear this boy saying that he cared about her and wanted to help her with sincerity she'd never heard before when he'd only known her about a week was… strange to her. It was a completely abstract and foreign concept that anyone at all could actually care about her. For a split second, she considered telling him that there really was something seriously wrong with her… but saying it to someone out loud… that would make it real to her too. And it wasn't, not in her mind.

Danny stared at her as she was silent. What was she thinking about? Her face was changing emotions so fast it was unreadable. He just kept gazing at her searchingly, trying to figure out what was going on.

She suddenly smiled at him, which, to him, looked really adorable and yet tragic with her flushed, sweaty face and cloudy violet eyes. "I'm gonna be okay. I just need rest and plenty of fluids and such," she assured him with what she hoped was finality in her voice.

"Is there anything I can do?" Danny asked, still not assured. It was obvious she was in pain and he desperately wanted to do something for her, to help her.

Sam was torn. She didn't want anyone to see her like this, so weak, but she didn't want Danny to leave. Somehow, things would be worse if he left. "Could you… stay here… with me?"

Danny's face broke into an oddly relieved grin. He clasped her hands in his and looked straight in her eyes. "Of course." He could tell there was more to this than she was telling him, that she wasn't just feeling a little sick, but he never could have guessed what was really wrong. The idea that something was horribly wrong with Sam eluded him just slightly.

They sat and talked for awhile. Sam made Danny tell her his plans for the garden next spring, as it was summer now. She didn't want to talk about heavy things, she wanted to hear about normal things, like gardens.

After awhile, Sam's fever subsided as it always did and she got chills.

Danny immediately noticed her trembling slightly and without any hesitation crawled under the covers with her and held her tightly in his arms as she shivered.

Sam snuggled into him and eventually fell asleep like that. The sickness took a lot out of her and sleeping was also the only way to get the pain to go away; although, being in Danny's arms was definitely helping…

Danny was perfectly content to watch her as she slept, daydreaming that she was his wife and they were just spending the day curled up in each other's arms.

I'm not particularly fond of this ending. However, I do like this chapter quite a lot, even though I know there are a lot of things wrong with it, so please no flames.

Hopefully, next chapter some things will be explained. It should be up soon. I think I may have mislead some of you with this extremely rapid updating, but chapters 1-4 were already written. I've gotten some stuff written for Ch 5, so hopefully that will be up soon.