Hello everyone! Welcome to chapter two! I know I said I would work on updating my other stories, but I will still get to the DP stories, because I ended up focusing on the Zelda stories instead. Thank you to all my reviewers thus far- curiositykilledthesquirrel111; Danny fangirl lover; Iluvdolphins; Spirit; serena4ever2006; Raven of the Night676; and DarkAngel1318.

Danny woke up to find his wife without any clothes on, standing before the mirror. Normally, this would be enough to beg her to come back to bed, but he could see the distress in her face as it was reflected in the glass.

"Sammy, what's wrong?" he asked, rubbing the lingering sleepiness from his eyes.

"I'm getting too fat," she whined, making a sour face in the mirror.

"Well, you're going to have a baby, remember?" Danny chuckled.

Sam shot him a dirty look. He was supposed to support her, not laugh at her. She was six months along now, and felt like she'd swallowed a whole watermelon, rind and all. She was past the point of morning sickness, and thank goodness because she now knew all too well that "morning sickness" was quite a misnomer. But she was still constantly running to the bathroom, feeling her bladder would burst. And she couldn't even remember the last time she was able to look down and see at her feet. Not that she particularly wanted to, because they were swollen, anyway.

Danny immediately stopped laughing and got out of bed, going over to Sam to hug her from behind, securing his arms between her fuller breasts and her bulging belly. "I'm sorry, babe. You know I'm just teasing. You look beautiful," he whispered, pushing her long hair aside to kiss her neck. "I love you."

Sam could feel the baby kick, and moved Danny's hands to her navel, so he could feel it, too. "The baby's happy to hear your voice, Daddy," she told him. It was still "the baby" to both of them because they had chosen not to learn of the sex until it was born. Although that's not to say that hadn't heard all the tales of how to determine the sex, such as the position of the belly, etc.

Danny let go of Sam to stand in front of her, kissing her lips before bending at his waist to kiss her belly. "I love you, Little One," he said. "Mommy and I can't wait to meet you."

Sam couldn't help but smile as the baby kicked again. "I love you, too," she added. "And I also love Daddy."

As Danny excused himself to the restroom, Sam padded over to the closet, opening the door and flipping on the light. She dug through the racks of clothing until she found what she wanted to wear for the day- a lavender sweater and black slacks. A lot of pregnant women went for frumpy clothes, but not her. After laying her clothes on the bed, she went to the dresser and took out her undergarments. Danny came back into the room at that moment and helped her into her clothes.

After he got dressed, he helped her put on her socks and shoes, then both went downstairs to eat breakfast. Sam's ravenous hunger caused her to eat a huge meal, while Danny stuck to pancakes and juice. When they finished, Danny cleaned up while Sam brushed her teeth, styled her hair, and put on her make-up.

Once the two were ready for work, they locked up the house and went out to their cars. Sam worked as a PR assistant and could easily work from home, provided that she made it into the office at least once a week until her maternity leave started. But much to Danny's chagrin, she not only went to the office every weekday and some weekends, but insisted on driving there by herself. What made it even worse to him was that his job as an aerospace engineer was clear across town, a good half-hour drive from Sam's work in rush-hour traffic. But he knew better than to argue with her- she was stubborn enough without the fluctuating hormones.

Just as Danny pulled into his reserved parking spot, Sam called to let him know that she'd gotten to work alright. After they hung up, he went inside, whistling happily as his thoughts went to the baby. His and Sam's baby.

When they first started liking each other several years back, they were too shy to even own up to their feelings. Danny couldn't help but smile; it was funny to him now, thinking about how long it took just to ask her out on a real date. But they ended up being so right for each other that even four years of separation only strenghtened their bond in the end.

And Danny couldn't even put words to how much he loved her, and how much she and their unborn baby meant to him. Now they could kiss, and hold each other, and be intimate without giving it a second thought. And they made sure to enjoy every moment of it, knowing that once Sam gave birth, they wouldn't even be able to sleep through the whole night for awhile.

Danny entered his office and set his stuff down in the corner before sitting at his desk to check his phone and e-mail messages. He was surprised to hear a message from Sam's boss; if she'd gotten to work already, why was her boss calling him?

The message was very vague and sounded extremely rushed. Instead of wasting time playing it over and over to try and understand it, Danny decided it was best to just call him and see what happened. The phone rang only twice before someone picked up. "Amity Park Communications."

"Yes, I need to speak with Mr. Bowen. This is Daniel Fenton."

"Are you Mrs. Fenton's husband?"

"Yes."

"Oh, dear. Mr. Bowen is en route to Amity Park General Hospital with Sam. She suddenly collapsed in his office not five minutes ago. He attempted to call the emergency number, but the line was busy, so he decided to drive her himself, since she quickly regained consciousness. He said he'd tell the ER staff to expect you."

Danny swallowed hard, tears stinging his eyes. "Thank you so much."

Not bothering to collect his things, Danny raced out of his office, nearly running into his supervisor. Stammering out a hurried explanation, he decided it would be best just to fly to the hospital. His secret having been revealed years before, no one in his workplace seemed bothered when he suddenly had to "go ghost." After he morphed into Danny Phantom, with white hair, transparent skin, green eyes, and a black and white jumpsuit, he phased through the wall and took off in the direction of the hospital.

Sam groaned as she awoke later that evening. Danny had been sitting in a chair next to the bed, and upon hearing her, he immediately stood up and squeezed her hand to let her know he was there. As he leaned over her, he noticed little bumps on her skin that looked like pimples.

"Oh, please, no," he hissed, immediately paging the nurse and asking her to get Dr. Williams. When the doctor arrived, Danny gestured towards the marks on Sam's face, whispering something so Sam wouldn't hear. As the doctor examined her, he nodded in agreement. Something that had afflicted Sam in her teen years had returned.

Danny's parents, Jack and Maddie, had started studying ghost nearly two decades before he was born, when they were in college. They had worked with another science student, Vlad Masters, on a portal that would allow them to access to the Ghost Zone, where spirits with unfinished business were housed. It was similar to the portal that made Danny half-ghost. But long before he became a "halfa", an accident in that college lab created another halfa.

Jack, Maddie, and Vlad had succesfully managed to get the portal to operate. But the calculations were off, causing a blast of ectoplasm to shoot out of the Ghost Zone. Jack pushed Maddie out of the way, saving both of them from being impacted by the gelatenous substance. But Vlad wasn't so lucky; it hit him and caused a mysterious skin disease, ecto-acne.

Vlad survived, but the condition hospitalized him for many years. The ectoplasm also led to something that no one ever could have anticipated- it caused him to become half-human, half-ghost. Now, roughly thirty years later, Vlad Masters/Vlad Plasmius still reigned as one of the most powerful spirits in the Ghost Zone, made worse by his ability to turn human at his will. And he was still in love with Maddie Fenton.

Danny had been fighting Vlad for years. Many other ghosts had backed off, seeing Danny was too strong for them now. But Vlad just refused to give up. In fact, nearly ten years before, his ecto-acne had returned, and he also infected Sam and Tucker with it. Danny had traveled through time to find what he thought was a cure, and the three healed.

Or so Danny thought. It was apparent that the concoction that Vlad, Tucker, and Sam drank wasn't a cure after all. Something had brought back the ecto-acne, and he had every intention of determining the cause. But first, as the doctor continued to examine Sam, Danny had something else to do. As much as he hated leaving Sam's side for even a second, he knew he'd better call Tucker to make sure he hadn't been re-infected, too.

"Hello?" Jazz answered.

"Jazz, I'm glad you're home. Is Tucker there?"

"He ended up having to go to work after all. What's up? You sound scared."

"I am. Sam's ecto-acne came back. We're at the hospital."

"Oh, my gosh, Danny, is she alright?"

"The doctor said she should be fine. He's going to mix the medicine right now and give it to her. Thankfully, the doctor said that the medicine shouldn't hurt the baby."

Danny could hear Jazz breathe a sigh of relief. "I'm glad to hear that," she said.

"Listen, Jazz, this is really important. I need to know if Tucker's ecto-acne came back."

"Well, he seemed fine this morning. But I realize the ecto-acne has a very sudden onset, so if there's any change, I'll let you know. Give my best to Sam, okay?"

"Sure will. Thanks Jazz. Bye."

"You're welcome, Danny. Bye."

The doctor called Danny into a private room to talk to him. "Mr. Fenton, I have good news and bad news."

"What's the bad news?"

"We're still not sure what caused the ecto-acne to come back."

"And the good?"

"The medicine worked. We'll have to keep an eye on her, but unless she relapses somehow, she should be released tomorrow."

"How's the baby?"

"The baby's fine."

Suddenly something occurred to Danny. "Uh, Dr. Williams, I think I might know why the ecto-acne came back. I wonder if perhaps the baby has something to do with it. I mean, theoretically, it shoud be one-quarter ghost, so perhaps it's affecting Sam."

"I'm inclined to agree with that, Mr. Fenton. In fact, I wanted to discuss that with you. If you and Mrs. Fenton give us permission, we can run some tests to see if we can detect the genetic mutation that you went through, to see if you passed it down.

"The baby could just be a carrier, meaning that it possess the genetic mutation, but the mutation is not expressed. Obviously we have no cases to examine, as you and Vlad Masters/Plasmius are the only known human-ghost hybrids. But I would assume that if the baby carried the gene, the trait could very well skip a generation, and only return if there is a mixing of genes with another hybrid."

"Now let's say that the trait was handed down. If the baby expresses it, instead of just carrying it, how will we know?"

"I'm really not sure, Mr. Fenton. Again, we do not have any cases to reference. However, I'm assuming that at some point your child would begin to display ghostly traits. I don't know if he or she would have them to the level that you do, but I can well imagine there would be some sort of indication, such as the ghost sense."

"Well, thank you for your help, Dr. Williams," Danny said, standing up and extending his hand. The doctor stood as well, and they shook hands. "And you have my permission to run the tests. I'm sure you will get my wife's as well," Danny added, as they returned to Sam's room.

Sam did indeed grant permission, but she and Danny were informed that they would have to wait until the next morning, to ensure that Sam could first regain some strength. After the doctor went away, the nurse went to get dinner. When the food arrived, Sam ate most of it, while Danny only had a little bit. He was starving, but he refused to leave Sam's side any longer than necessary.

As Sam ate, she noticed Danny eyeing her food. "Go get some dinner, Danny."

"I'm fine, Sammy."

Sam smiled weakly. "No, you're not, Danny. You can't be if hospital food is making your mouth water."

Danny had to chuckle. "Okay, you caught me. Are you sure it's okay?"

"No, Danny, it's not okay if you leave me. I'd much rather you sit here wasting away just so I don't have to be away from you for a few minutes," Sam teased.

Danny blushed a little. He loved when she teased him like that; she could do it so straight-faced. "Okay, okay," he conceded, bending over her and kissing her lips softly, then kissing her belly. "Be back soon, alright? I love you."

"I love you, too."

As Danny made his way to the small cafeteria to get some dinner, a weird feeling came over Sam. The whole room seemed to cool down, and she clutched the blanket closer. When she exhaled, she noticed a blue stream of cold air, so small that she almost missed it.

"What on-" she started to mutter, cutting herself off after a mysterious figure breezed into the room, floating above her bed.

"Ah, yes, young Daniel's wife. So the time has come for you to suffer the same fate that your father-in-law caused me to have."

Recognizing the phantom, Sam stared up in shock. She attempted to speak, but the words simply died in her throat.

Danny's ghost sense tripped as he neared Sam's room. He dropped the tray of food and hurried through the door to see his nemesis floating menacingly above his wife and their child.

"Get away from them!" he shouted, his eyes flashing a bright green as two rings of light passed across his body.

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