Chapter 7

This chapter is for all my reviewers who keep asking me when Danny is going to reveal that the prince and the gardener are the same person.

But it is especially dedicated to Rose Garden twilight because the opening scene of chapter 6 was her idea. And also to the lovely Me the Anon One, cuz some of the things in this chapter were her idea. So, thank you both very much! And also to ALL of my reviewers because you have given a girl with some rather low self-esteem a huge ego boost! YAY!

So, since I don't want to drag this along and lose everyone's attention, this chapter is a bit shorter, but I think most of you won't mind cuz there are quite a few nice plot developments! Yay plot developments!

Anyway, here's chapter seven of Lilacs!

Edit! This chapter is now EXTREMELY dedicated to Me the Anon One because she is superbly awesome! Now, I didn't change any crucial plot elements, so you don't have to read the whole thing over again if you don't want to, but I suggest you do, please.

Danny sighed as the sun gleamed in through his navy curtains, signaling the morning. The only thing he'd done all night was toss and turn and wish that he could go back to Sam's room, but he physically couldn't. Vlad had put some kind of modified ghost shield around Danny's room and he couldn't leave it, not as human or as a ghost… at least until seven am, as Vlad told it. Danny glared at his clock. Five am. "Damn it…"

He angrily jumped up from his bed and started slamming himself against the door, hoping to maybe break it down. It didn't work and Danny finally fell to the floor and fell asleep.

About two and half hours later, there was knock on his door. "Danny, dude, you awake in there?" Tucker's voice broke Danny's fitful sleep.

"Hang on!" Danny called back. He stood up and opened the door.

"Dude… what happened?"

"What?"

Tucker gestured to Danny's left arm, which was oozing green ectoplasm. There was a matching mark against the door that made it look like the door was also oozing the green slime. "What happened?"

"Vlad locked me in."

"How? Couldn't you have just gone intangible?"

"He modified the ghost shield, so now ghosts and humans can't get out of it."

"Why did he lock you in?"

"He doesn't want me to see Sam. It's obvious that he's just taking revenge on my dad by taking revenge on me. I tried to break down the door; I guess it did a number on my arm…"

"Why exactly did you think you would win a battle against a ghost-shielded door?" Tucker asked, almost bemusedly.

Danny sighed heavily. "I don't know… I just hate being locked up by Vlad of all people…"

"Bet you wouldn't mind being locked up by Sam…" Tucker muttered under his breath.

"What?" Danny asked.

Tucker smiled at his best friend. "Nothing. Didn't say a thing."

"He has control over me now, Tuck. He can just throw me in my room whenever he feels like it, that on top of this stupid contest, I bet it he has his way, he'll be the one who decides who I marry…"

Tucker smirked. "Hey, don't knock the contest. Without it you wouldn't have met Sam."

Danny rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean. And then it was like… last night… I couldn't sleep, Tucker."

Tucker smirked again. He began bandaging the ghost hybrid's arm using the ever-handy first aid kit, mumbling something about never wanting to be a medic and that Danny was a mess. "Yeah… dude, it's called hormones," he said out loud.

Danny glared at him. "No, Tucker, that wasn't it. I couldn't sleep without her… I just couldn't. I closed my eyes a million times, but they just wouldn't stay closed. I tried to think about a thousand different things, but my mind just kept going back to Sam." Danny gripped Tucker's shoulders and looked at him intensely. "Tucker, seriously, I could literally not sleep without her!"

Tucker gazed back searchingly at his friend. "Dude, I see this three ways. One, you've either totally lost your mind, which is very likely. Two, you're so madly in love with this girl it's actually killing you," he grabbed Danny's bandaged, bleeding (or oozing, depending on how looked at it) arm, "or three, it's both… which I think is most likely… yeah, actually, I think it's choice three…"

Danny got a look in his eyes Tucker had never seen before. "You know, you're probably right."

Tucker's jaw hit the floor. "Wait… say that again."

"You're probably right?" Danny repeated.

Tucker grinned. "Good, just checking." He pulled out a tape recorder. "One more time, for the record, you know."

Danny shook his head and sighed. "You're right, Tucker."

Tucker grinned more. "Thank you." He turned off the tape recorder. "I just wanted to record this historic moment…"

"Yeah, you bet it's historic, 'cause it's never going to happen again," Danny said with a smirk.

Tucker just gave him a sly look. "Well, you know, I could just start talking about how much I love Jazz and how great of a kisser she is and see how you like it."

Danny made a face. "Oh god, no! Please! My ears! My poor ears!"

Tucker rolled his eyes and Danny just grinned at him. "So anyway, you'd better get ready for the brunch."

"What!"

Tucker sighed. "There are only twenty girls left. Apparently, participating in your contest has drummed up a lot of offers for the girls in it… so… a lot of them left. The only ones left are the ones that really just wanna get their hands on Sam."

Danny stifled a laugh. "And here I thought she was kidding when those girls said they were out for her blood."

"Danny, I told you. These are females you're dealing with here, their minds work differently than ours do. You're eccentric, you know. Girls are just plain psycho."

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

Sam sat patiently while Cherry and Madison fussed endlessly over the dark circles under her eyes.

"Did you even sleep at all last night, Sam?" Cherry asked.

"Not really…"

"Why?" Madison said.

"I don't really know… it's kinda weird though, I slept perfectly the night before, but last night I just couldn't fall asleep… all I kept thinking about was how much I missed Danny."

Cherry and Madison, once again, looked at each other and giggled.

Sam just sort of grinned. She liked the two assistants, but sometimes… well, she wondered if maybe the Fenton craziness wasn't contagious. And maybe if Sam wasn't catching it herself…

No sooner did they have her in her normal day dress than Tucker knocked on the door. "Hey, you ladies decent in there, because if not, I'm coming in!" He said with a grin.

Cherry and Madison laughed and opened the door. "We're all fully clothed. Sorry to disappoint you, my lord."

Tucker pretended to look entirely crestfallen. "Ah well, there's always next time!"

Sam just gave him a joking glare. "Don't even think about it. You know who my heart belongs to."

"No I don't. I don't even think you do," Tucker retorted.

The princess was taken aback for a moment. "Touché," she conceded quietly. "But then… I know who your heart belongs to," and she gave him an ironic look. Neither noble minded speaking this way in front of the two maids. Sure, both girls were rather giggly, but they knew when to keep their mouths shut.

Tucker and Sam walked amicably down the hall to the grand dining room, where both of their seats next to Danny were reserved, Jazz to the left of Sam's empty seat, to protect her from the many other jealous females in the contest.

"Hi Danny," Sam said rather brightly as she sat down. "Did you sleep okay last night?"

Danny gave her grin. "Want the truth or one of those white lies I tell the my parents' court?"

Sam looked at him rather strangely. "The truth, always."

Danny had to stop himself from wincing. "Didn't even get a wink."

"Really? Any idea why?"

Because my arch enemy locked me in my room… because I wasn't near you? Danny thought, but replied,

"I had a lot on my mind," which wasn't technically a lie.

"Mm… I didn't sleep very well either and I have no clue as to why…" Sam confessed.

Tucker gave Jazz a pointed look and the red-haired princess snickered behind her palm.

Danny, on the other hand, was slightly taken aback. Had she somehow vaguely noticed that he had been there the past few nights and missed him last night as much as he missed her? He barely dared to hope…

Shortly after, the food was served and Sam's was accompanied, again, with a note. Gardener Danny, again, asking her to meet him in the lilac grove. Her violet eyes lit up as she read the sweet words he'd written.

This didn't go unnoticed by the prince. Danny's green eyes flashed brightly again. He knew that she would react that way. He knew that she would sigh and giggle when she read the note that he himself had written just a few minutes ago and slipped to the cook. He knew that her violet eyes would light up like that. He knew that it was, again, himself who had sent the note and he himself she was so eager to go meet again, but… he couldn't help but be a little jealous of his human half and he also couldn't help but wonder… did she really love his human side and was merely only attracted to his ghost side? He mentally shook himself. It shouldn't matter, really. He was being ridiculous, but some part of him couldn't help it. He wanted so desperately for her to love both sides of him and he just couldn't help what he was feeling now… On the other hand, he was the one who started the charade, so he really had no one to blame but himself for his ridiculous jealousy. "Another note from my dear old friend?" He didn't have to fake the envy this time.

Sam blushed badly. "Um… I told you already, if you don't want me to see him, I won't."

Danny was powerless against her soft tone. "No… I just want you to be happy."

Of course, he'd said that just a little too loud and the girls immediately began to whisper, mostly things along the lines of "What's so special about her?" and "God, I wish I could get my hands on her neck…" and "Why's the prince paying so much attention to her anyway?"

Danny immediately thought of an answer, which was that Sam wasn't a gold-digging, shallow, obnoxious little twit like most of them were, but he dare not say it, knowing that somehow it would get back to Vlad.

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"So… he's planning on having his human half meet her in the lilac grove again, hmm…" Vlad mused.

The Fright Knight stared restlessly at his boss. "Please, my lord, please let me fight him."

"No," Vlad answered sharply, before considering the possibilities. "On second thought… go ahead and rough him up a little bit. Use the new invention that forces him to maintain his ghost form."

"How badly do you want him roughed up?"

Vlad smirked sinisterly. "Just enough so our beautiful little Samantha can take care of him…"

The Knight looked at Vlad with curiosity. "Are you trying to push them together?" He asked incredulously.

"Of course. It's crucial to my plan that they be impossibly in love with each other. Now go, carry out your orders and question me no more or there will be consequences."

The Knight bowed and left, glad to have done so with his head still in tact.

Vlad watched the monitors of the dining hall a little more, reveling in the sheer, simple genius of his plan. It had taken a long time to get to this point, but it would all be worth it. "Soon, my boy, you will know exactly what it's like to have the love of your life ripped away from you…"

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Danny felt his ghost sense go off and immediately dashed out of the dining hall and flew outside, looking around he saw the Fright Knight, terrorizing some of the real gardeners. Danny swooped down and shot a blast of ectoplasm at the sinister knight. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Plasmius' main lackey. Why so upset with the gardeners today, lackey?" Danny taunted. "They forget to plant your favorite flowers?

"Whelp!" The Knight lunged at him, but Danny dodged.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. And now you're too lazy to make up your own pet names for me. I'm so hurt, Fright-y Whight-y. I thought I meant something to you."

"Do you ever shut up!" The Knight demanded, lunging at Danny again and not missing.

The two exchanged blow after blow, only landing a few, but both becoming worn out after awhile.

Finally, the Knight had pinned Danny to the ground and raised his sword.

Danny's face paled. He knew what that sword did… and he didn't want to go to a realm where all his worst fears were enacted in front of him. "NO!" He cried, shooting ectoplasm at the offending ghost.

The Knight slashed him with the sword. "Relax, whelp, if I wanted to drive you insane, I certainly would not need my true sword to do so. That will only keep you in your ghost form for the next six hours, convenient, no? Especially since you promised your little girlfriend that human you would meet her in the lilac grove. Oh! And here she comes!" The Knight pointed to where Sam was wandering through the lilac trees. "Have fun explaining this one."

Danny gulped and walked toward Sam.

"Danny? What are you doing here?"

The prince gulped again. "Uh… you see… the other Danny couldn't make it… he's… uh… busy today."

Sam was visibly disappointed. "Oh… well… that's okay then… I'll just go back to my room."

Danny grabbed her wrist. "No. Please stay… I know I'm not as good of company as he is, but…"

Sam frowned worriedly at him. "I never said that."

"But you like him more."

"No I don't."

"So you like me more?"

"No I don't."

"Well, you can't have both," he said, laughing in his head at the sheer irony of what he'd just said. Of course she could have both… all she had to do was say the word and she could have both.

Sam put her hands on her hips and gave him her best "look." "Do you want me to stay or not?"

Danny gazed at her eagerly, putting on a slight puppy face. "Yes."

"Then I suggest you stop patronizing me."

Danny gave her his best grin. "Deal." He took a step toward her and winced. "Oh… ow…"

It was only then that Sam noticed he was hurt. "What happened to you? You left early at brunch."

"Yeah… well… you see, there's this little thing about the Fenton Clan I haven't exactly told you… or anyone for that matter…"

"What?"

"We're ghost hunters… I ran off to… go fight a ghost… and I guess he got me worse than I thought…"

Sam took this bit of news surprisingly well. "That sort of explains a bit…"

Danny looked at her incredulously. "Really?"

"Yeah… sometime around yesterday I heard this guy running through the halls screaming angrily about ghosts and for them to get out of the palace."

Danny laughed. "That was my dad… he's very passionate about what he does…"

"Obviously."

Danny laughed harder and put a hand on his ribs. Pulling the hand away, he was lucky enough to see red blood and not green ectoplasm. When he was in his ghost form, it was a toss up as to what he would bleed.

Sam winced. "Oh, let me help." She sat him down against the trunk of a lilac tree and started trying to tear off strips of the base of her skirt.

"No! Sam, you don't have to ruin your dress for me."

"Nonsense, don't be a dumb male," she succeed in ripping off a couple of pieces, which quite impressed Danny because the skirt seemed to be thick and well made and not easy to tear. With one piece, she gently cleaned the blood on his side and with another larger one, she bandaged his torso and then proceeded to the other wounds.

Danny watched her work. She was obviously just making whatever she was doing up as she went along, but she was doing a damn good job of it. Every move was graceful and caring and Danny didn't even flinch once. He was mesmerized until she pulled away.

"There, that should hold until you can see a doctor," she told him.

Danny shook his head. "Right. Yeah. Thanks."

Sam gazed up at him. "Of course."

Danny couldn't help himself anymore. He kissed her, just tentatively on the cheek and backed off when she blushed. "Sorry… I… I just wanted to thank you… and… sorry."

Sam didn't say anything, she just kissed him full on the mouth. Danny's eyes widened for only a second before he relaxed and kissed her back.

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Valerie had been instructed by her parents to go visit with her fiancé, so she and Tucker ended up in a private study, sitting in chair opposite each other.

After a long time of awkward silence, Tucker took a deep breath. The soon her got this over with, the better. "Valerie… I have to ask you something and I want you to answer me honestly."

"Okay, shoot," she grinned at him.

"Do you love me?"

Valerie's face faulted for a minute. "Well… of course I do, we're engaged."

Tucker held up his hand. "No, I know that. But forget all that for a minute, forget your parents and my parents and expectations and… everything. Do you love me?"

Valerie looked down. "No… but… I mean… I'll still marry you and-"

"You don't have to. You're calling off the engagement," Tucker grinned at her.

"A-are you sure? I mean-"

"It's okay. I like you a lot, Val, but we could never be married. We'd kill each other!" Tucker told her.

Valerie laughed. "You're right! You know, I know this sounds really mean, but the only reason I agreed to marry you was because I thought I'd never be able to be with this other guy, who's the son of my parents' friends… please don't be mad."

"I'm not… the same thing sorta happened to me, too."

Valerie looked at her former fiancé knowingly. "Jazz?"

"How did everyone notice except the two of us!" Tucker demanded.

"You're clueless?" Valerie suggested with a grin.

"Oh dear god, it's finally happened… the Fenton Insanity has rubbed off on me!" Tucker declared dramatically.

"Yeah… that's it exactly," Valerie said sarcastically.

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

Sam glared irately at the sun that peeked through the crack in her curtains. She looked at the vase of lilacs, the one little sprig still tucked safely in with the rest. She sighed longingly. She cared so much about Danny and the Prince, and they were so similar to each other… They looked alike, they said the same things, they kissed the same… she sighed heavily again. "Why can't they be the same person?" she muttered to herself and then somewhere in the back of her mind, it clicked.

"How…?" Sam breathed. Even though she'd had the hunch, she was still really surprised to find out her hunch was right. What an impossible thing it was to assume! That the two boys she had a crush on were really one and the same. "How…? She breathed again. A whole range of emotions swept over her at that moment. First came numbness and as the shock wore off more shock took its place. How was it even possible? How could two people, though both similar, be the same? And… if they were the same person, then what kind of games had this boy been playing with her head, exactly? A twinge of anger poked at her side: how dare he! How dare he toy with her like that! But at the same time, an overwhelming, completely intoxicating ecstasy took over the anger. She didn't have to choose. She really didn't have to choose between Danny and Danny. And then came more shock. HOW was it even possible!

And then she fainted.

About fifteen minutes later, Cherry was rubbing a damp cloth across Sam's forehead, but when Sam shakily stood up and got dressed, she said nothing to either young maid. "Computer, can you tell me where to find Lord Tucker?"

"He's in his study, my lady, just down the hall and on the right. The door is open."

"Thank you." Before Sam could confront Danny, she needed to know that it was the truth, so she walked

shakily down the hall, muttering about how the Fenton Insanity was definitely contagious and that she needed to be admitted to the nearest hospital. ASAP. "Tucker?"

"Yeah, come on in Sam. Jeez, you're white as sheet, what happened?"

"Nothing, I just have one question. Are the Prince and Danny the same person?"

"So… you figured it out did you? I knew you would. I told him you would."

"Then it's true?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"I'd rather he be the one to tell you. I'm sure that's what he'd want."

A smile slowly spread across Sam's face. "So… I don't have to choose?"

Tucker grinned broadly at her. "Nope, you don't have to choose."

"I think I'm more happy about that than I should be…" Sam admitted, blushing.

"No reason for that. You just found out that the two people you care about the most are the same person. I think anyone would be happy about that."

And then Sam did something very out of character. She threw her arms around Tucker. "Thank you," she quickly released him. "I have to go find Danny!"

"Hey, Sam!"

"Yeah?" Sam called as she jogged down the hall.

"Make sure you mess with his head, you know, get a little payback!"

Sam smirked. "Oh you bet I will!" Sam teleported to the garden, where she found black haired, blue eyed Danny, tending to a lilac tree with his back to her. Calmly and coolly, she leaned against the trunk of a lilac tree, while he worked. "So Danny, how awful was it to dance with all those girls the other night?"

Offhandedly, Danny replied, "Oh, kind of boring, I really missed you, though."

Sam smirked at him, of course knowing that he would deny it, that he would say that the Prince had told him that it was boring and that he missed her and it was merely a slip of the tongue, which she would know was a lie. "And, you know, yesterday. With your arm… is it feeling better?"

"Oh yeah, loads better. I'm a really fast healer. And I'm really sorry about ruining your skirt…"

"That's good, I was kind of worried about you."

Danny smiled, not even realizing that he was blowing his cover little by little. "Well, how have you been since that Dr. Li showed up at that one ball? You kinda scared me there."

"Oh, I've been alright."

"And did you sleep better last night? I know you told me at brunch yesterday that you hadn't slept well," Sam smirked.

"Oh, I slept much better last night, thanks."

Sam nodded. "Mm-hmm. Danny, I didn't even see you yesterday."

Danny dropped the tools he was working with and his face paled. He whipped around to see Sam smirking almost wickedly at him. "Oh shit…"

"Oh shit is right, Mister."

Danny's fist pounded against his forehead. "Oh god… no…" Danny grinned sheepishly at her. "You're extremely intelligent," he stated. Two rings ran over his body and he changed into his ghost form. "You caught me, first person ever to do it all on their own. I'm impressed."

"Mmkay… so… wanna explain this to me before I freak out again, because it's coming, I can tell. I already fainted before in my room." Although she thought she'd gotten over it, it was different to hear it from Danny than it was from Tucker.

The gardener/prince took a deep breath. "Amity is plagued by ghosts, as you know. When my parents decided to get involved with the hunting of the beings themselves, my dad created a portal to the ghost zone. At first, it didn't work until I walked in on accident and turned it on. My DNA was fused with ectoplasm and I became half-ghost. For some reason, I decided to use my ghost half to be the prince and my human half to be a commoner…"

Sam raised an eyebrow at him, suddenly feeling a bit dizzy again. "Really?"

"Princess, if I was lying, don't you think I could have come up with something better than that?" Danny retorted, hoping to God that her skepticism wasn't a precursor to rejection. She'd already fainted, but he'd rather that than her reject him. Hell, he'd rather be forced to remain in his human form, have all his limbs broken and then be thrown in a locked room with Vlad Plasmius than have Sam reject him.

Sam mulled that over for a second, still trying desperately to keep shock from robbing her of her consciousness. "True. Can you show me any proof?"

Danny turned invisible and intangible and walked right through a nearby tree trunk. He then shot a small ball of ectoplasm at the ground. "I can also fly, among many other things."

Sam gaped.

Danny dashed back over to her and hugged her tightly. "Don't faint again, Princess, please."

"I'm trying not to Danny, really, I'm trying. It's uh… kind of a lot to take in, you know?

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

"No, I'm really not sure that would have helped that much. I mean, I'm not… I still care about you a lot… I'm just… in shock. To put it lightly."

"I'm so sorry, Sam… I never meant to- I thought that you might take it differently… I mean, you're taking it quite well, but I-" Danny babbled. "Please tell me if there's something I can do- I mean, the last thing I want is to lose you… gah… It's just that when I first met you, out here, I… I couldn't help myself and… ugh…"

Sam smiled and shook her head. She didn't know which of them was freaking out more. She watched Danny babble on for a moment before putting a finger to his lips. " I only have one question. Why did you-?"

"Why did I try to court you using both personas?" Danny smiled, finally getting his breath and most of his brain back.

"Yeah."

"I knew that I could never have a queen who couldn't love both sides of me. I was planning to wait until you found the library to tell you, but… you're too smart for me, Princess. Tucker told me you would be angry at me when you found out… is he right?"

Sam shrugged. "I'm in shock. I'm a little upset that you lied to me, but… I can understand where you're coming from. I'm not saying yes to any proposals yet, but I can understand why you would want to make sure a girl liked you for all of you before you married her."

Danny took Sam's hands in his, again. "Sam, I have something else to confess…"

"What?" Sam asked, not sure how much more deception and surprise she could handle before she really went off the deep end.

Danny smiled and kissed her softly. "I love you. I love you, Princess, and I don't ever want to be without you… Everything about you just makes me so happy and… I'm in love with you."

Sam's face softened into a muddled smile. "You… love me?"

Danny nodded, blushing a little.

Everything suddenly became so clear to Sam all at once that it seemed hazy. She didn't have to choose between the two boys she cared about and she couldn't ever be mad at Danny for lying to her because… she loved him too. Ordinarily, she would have been so angry with someone for lying to her as he had, but somehow, it didn't seem like he'd done anything wrong. Sam kissed Danny quickly. "I love you too."

And then she fainted again.

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Danny burst into Vlad's study, commanding attention immediately. "Vlad!"

"What is it, my boy?" Vlad asked.

"I want the contest ended."

"So you've told me from the very first time I mentioned it."

"No, I really mean it this time," Danny declared. "I've already found a queen."

"Oh, let me guess!" Vlad cried with mock enthusiasm, clapping his hands together. "Your precious Samantha?"

"Yes," Danny replied firmly.

"Daniel, do you really think it wise to focus solely on her?"

"Why the hell not? I'm in love with her, she's in love with me! She knows that I'm a halfa and doesn't care. She's smart and kind and," Danny sighed, "she's perfect. And I want the contest ended!"

"No, the contest will continue."

"Why! I'm just going to choose Sam at the end!"

"How can you be so sure, my boy?"

"Did you not just hear me, I'm in love with her!"

"She knows your secret, Daniel, but you don't have any inkling of hers."

"What are you talking about, Vlad!"

Vlad smirked wickedly at Danny. "You'll see, m'boy, you'll see."

Danny saw red. If there was one thing he absolutely could not stand, it was Vlad calling him "my boy." Danny shot a large ball of ectoplasm at Vlad, knocking the older man against the wall. "Tell me what's wrong with her!"

"I didn't say there was anything wrong with her."

"Come on, Plasmius, I'm not stupid. I know something isn't right."

Vlad smirked. "There's nothing wrong with her that won't reveal itself in due course."

Danny knocked Vlad out with another blast of ectoplasm and stormed out of the study. He hated how Vlad could always make him so angry, make it so easy for Danny to resort to violence. He let the vision of Sam smiling enter his mind and started to become calm again. The thought still nagged at him though: what could possibly be wrong with Sam? And what the hell was Vlad planning?

Okay, so this chapter totally goes out to Me the Anon One. She rocks. You will all bow down to her. I hated the scene where Danny and Sam finally confessed that they loved each other, and the whole Sam figuring out that Danny and Danny were the same person. So I rewrote it using Nonny's ideas because they go with what's going to come next… so yeah. Thank you to EVERYONE who gave me ideas! I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOO MUCH!

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