Links in the Chain
By Lacey52
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
A note: I have never felt so loved, as I did after I got all the reviews of the past two days. Thank you to all of you who read my stories. I truly appreciate every word of encouragement and praise I get. You'll never know how huge my smile was when I went through all the reviews for this story and 'The Deal'. So, here's a fluffy chapter, just for all of you….but not too fluffy, we've got to work up to it, we can't rush things.
Also, as I have it planned out right now, this story ends at chapter 61, the last day of their Junior year. My question to you, is that acceptable? Please let me know how you feel. Thank you.
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
Chapter Five: Eventide
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
Sam shrugged off her backpack before sinking gratefully onto her plush bed. There were many reasons why she was extremely thankful that she was filthy rich, even though she didn't like advertising it. Plush beds were one of her many, many reasons, especially after having chased Desiree across half the city with a math and an English text book in her backpack. Poor Tucker, he had carried Danny's bag for him.
'I wonder if those two made it home yet,' she thought drowsily to herself, 'I know they wanted to play games, but I seriously doubt they ever made it to the arcade.'
At her mother's call, she forced herself to move to the hallway and find out what she wanted. Of course, it was just another frilly dress that her mother couldn't wait five more minutes to share with her, and her father's unmistakably voice droning on from the stairway about how she shouldn't be staying out so late with her friends.
In all reality it was only 11:55, and she had gotten home about three minutes ago. She had been surprised that her parents were even home to mention her breaking her curfew.
Mr. Manson finally decided that his daughter had learned her lesson and would be more considerate about coming home late, and his wife was finally done trying to dress their daughter like a Barbie doll. He moved carefully towards her doorway as she retreated into her room
"Sammy-kins?" he called out to her.
"Yeah, Dad?" she yawned, obviously very tired.
"Are you alright? You always seem tired when I see you lately. I know that Daniel is not that bad of a young man, but if you're staying out with him is causing you problems I really will have to put my foot down."
"No, Dad," Sam smiled tiredly, "me being tired is just from trying to get all my homework done with Danny and Tucker. We've got so many projects and papers to get done, that we usually try to do them together. Kind of a support group thing. Anyways, we always end up going over our study times, its not that big of a deal."
"Alright Sam," he smiled, "I was just concerned. Night sweetie."
"Night Dad," Sam sighed as she shut her door. It was nice that one of her parents was finally paying attention to her, but he really didn't have to worry so much.
The young girl yawned as she moved to grab her pajamas, rubbing her arms at the slight chill in her room. Her parents generally liked to sleep cold, so this wasn't too unusual in her opinion.
Sam hurried to her bathroom, and after a quick face wash and tooth brushing, she was changed and ready for bed. Oh the glory of her nice, plush, soft, luxurious bed.
Which had a slight indentation in it shaped kinda' like a butt.
Sam blinked.
'Alright,' she began to reason to herself, 'Either I'm going crazy or there's a ghost in my room. Or a halfa. Which would be strange because I royally chewed him out at school for this just last week.'
"Um," she began, oh so intelligently, 'Yeah Sam, that'll really impress Mr. Ghost.'
The indentation lifted, and a startled gasp was heard.
"Uh, Danny?" Sam started, not sure if she should bolt or move closer, "If that's you, you're really freakin' me out. Not that I mind you being here, but not being able to see you puts it on a stalker-ish lever."
A quite chuckle and slowly, Danny came back into view, hand on the back of his neck, rubbing nervously as was his habit in awkward situations, "Guess you caught me, huh?"
"Yeah, I guess I did," Sam sighed as she sat on the edge of her bed, "Why do you keep coming at night like this? You aren't stalking me are you?"
"No," Danny frowned, "That would just be weird. Would you believe me if I said I just wanted to make sure you got home alright?"
Sam eyed him for a moment, before nodding to him, 'Why is he asking me if I would believe him?'
Danny's lips tugged into his familiar half smile, eyes sparkling happily, "Good, 'cause I was worried you'd get mad at me for doing this. I just got worried. The ghosts don't try to mess with me too often anymore, and Desiree being out was just strange. I wanted to make sure you were alright."
It was Sam's turn to smile at the halfa, "I made it home alright. I always do."
"Yeah," he shrugged as he shifted himself to sit mid-air, "but I just wanted to make sure. Me and Tuck split from you by the school, and that's a long walk for you by yourself."
A pillow came his way, only to pass harmlessly through him, "Stop worrying so much, Danny Phantom. You don't have to play hero all the time, I'm a big girl and can take care of myself."
"Sam," Danny frowned, standing and changing back to a human, "Its not 'Phantom' versus 'Fenton', its just Danny being worried about you."
"I know that," she scooted over and patted her bed for him to sit, "I'm just saying that you don't have to worry all the time. The world didn't blow up before you got you're powers, and it probably won't if you take one night off from worrying every now and again."
Danny just chuckled and fell backwards onto her bed, "I love this bed. If I were rich, I would get a bed like this, but with blue and green as my color scheme. Just for kicks."
"You're so weird sometimes," Sam shook her head, "You just like to avoid talking about your hero complex."
"Maybe," he answered slyly with a wink and rakish grin, "We could talk about my villain complex, though."
At Sam's raised eyebrows, he courteously explained, "Well, I mean, I sneak into this one girl's room quite often, and she didn't know until recently. I think she's upset with me, but I just keep coming every night anyways. It's in not a stalker-ish way though," he winked again, "its more of a place I can go to relax."
"You use my room, in the middle of the night, while I sleep, as a sanctuary?" she watched him nod, "You're weirder than I thought."
With that out of the way she plopped down beside him and grabbed her second pillow to rest her head on, only to have half of it stolen by the boy currently occupying part of her bed.
"You know, usually when a guy is laying on a girl's bed something interesting is about to happen," Samteased as she faced him slightly, "And all I get out of you is fake snores."
"You're absolutely right," he wrinkled his nose, 'pretending' to wake up, "I will fix that right away!"
Danny rolled on top of Sam and she swore her heart would stop.
But it didn't. It actually sped up a few notches.
'What is he doing? He's not going to do what you think he is because he isn't that type of guy and you're his best friend and he doesn't think that way and you shouldn't be thinking this way!'
Harsh metal scolding over, Sam dared to peek open her eyes. Only to be met with bright blue and a Cheshire cat grin.
"What's the matter Sam?" he cocked his head to the side, making himself even more adorable than before, "You said 'something interesting' right?"
She swallowed hard and thought it best to nod. It wouldn't do for the Gothic best friend to suddenly develop a very fan-girlish, high pitched voice.
"You asked for it," Danny said and then he began to…
"DANNY!" Sam shrieked and thanked God that her room was soundproofed last summer after her parents couldn't stand listening to her music anymore, "Stop it right now!"
…he was tickling the daylights out of her.
Not exactly what Sam had originally had in mind, but not so bad either. At least he was close to her, as a matter of fact he was on top of her and…
'…and that train of thought stops at the station and all passengers get off and I think about retaliating,' and with a loud half-laugh, half-grunt she somehow managed to roll them over and began attacking his sides.
"Hey!" Danny managed to choke out, as he grabbed the pillow and started to fend her off, "You're not supposed to be able to fight so well!"
"I learned from watching you," Sam laughed as she hurried to snatch the other pillow from the floor, "You're a decent fighter, even if I don't always approve of fighting your way out of a situation."
"Hey, it was either fight or be killed or let the world be taken over," he pouted, "I had to be a quick learner or else."
"Whatever," Sam laughed as she smacked him with her pillow, only to watch him fade from view with a very evil look on his face, "Danny?"
Sam began to look all around her, cautiously treading towards her bed. She suddenly found herself caught up in two strong arms and, literally, swept right off her feet and into the air.
While slightly disconcerting that she was suspended mid-air, the feel of Danny holding her close far outweighed the strangeness of the situation. She laughed and snuggled her face into his chest, closing her eyes.
"You alright Sam?" the halfa holding her asked quietly, reappearing and peering down at her with intense green eyes. The temperature in the room had begun to drop again and she shivered.
"I'm okay," she said, "It's just a little…odd, to be floating in mid-air without seeing what's holding you up."
"I wouldn't let you fall," Danny assured her, only to mentally slap himself, 'You cannot get any more cliché than that, Fenton. Way smooth.'
"I know," she chuckled at him. She was about to point out that he still was holding her, but for once she let herself not worry about it. She wanted to be here, as strange as that was to her. She only hoped Danny could feel the same way. Maybe he did, after all, he was still holding her too.
Danny waited patiently to see what Sam might do to him if he didn't set her down. When nothing happened, he took it as permission granted to hold her up in the air a little longer. He watched her face, as he moved her to be 'standing' beside him.
"So, I never really got to ask you or Tucker before," he grinned, "How does it feel to stand on air?"
"Like standing on air," Sam replied dryly, clinging to his arm. She was a little sad that he had put her down, but was surprised to find herself still in his arms and still in the air.
"I like it," Danny closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "It makes me feel Zen."
Sam shook her head and rolled her eyes, gently elbowing him in his stomach…strike that, in his very well toned stomach, "You couldn't be Zen if Zen smacked you in the face and gave you an instruction manual."
Danny laughed again, and then looked at her carefully, "You wanna' go to the roof?"
"Uh, I guess," and at that a blanket off her bed was in his hand and they were phasing through the rest of her house to the roof.
He set her down and handed her the blanket before stretching and admiring the stars, "Much better. I miss getting to look at the stars."
Clouds chased one another across the half moon as stars twinkled merrily down at the two on the rooftop. The cool March air caused Sam to pull the blanket around her shoulders as she admired the boy admiring the stars.
"Danny?" he turned to her immediately, green eyes glowing softly in the night, "Do you think you'll ever get to be an astronaut like you wanted to when we were younger?"
A sad, soft smile made its way to Danny's lips and eyes then, "No. I think I'll be here forever, actually. I don't want to have to be, but what would happen to the town if I left?"
He moved to sit beside her as she huddled further into the blanket, "But we could just destroy the door to the ghost zone, right? It would make life a lot easier on you."
"There would still be ghosts I would have to fight. Vlad has his own gateway to the ghost world, other ghosts can cause rips between the two dimensions, and my parents would just build another one. I'm kinda' stuck Sam."
"So you're just going to give up your dreams?"
"To save the world?" his smile reappeared then, "No. But to save the people I care about, I'd give up everything."
He was so close.
She looked so beautiful in the moonlight.
He had that dashing grin on his boyish face.
She smelt like fresh cut grass and licorice.
He was looking at her like she meant something.
She was leaning closer.
But it wasn't supposed to be, yet. It was far too new a feeling and more than one anxiety ran through both their minds about what could result from…whatever might have happened.
Danny wasn't quite sure what was going to happen or what he wanted to happen. It was Sam. Beautiful, smart, funny Sam who he had grown up with and who meant the world to him. Who he would give up everything for.
He tilted his head and smiled once more, running his hand through her hair, taking it all in, "You've been my best friend for so long. I'd be lost if I didn't have you, you know. I never would have survived Freshman year."
Sam melted into his hand as he brushed her hair back one last time, "Same here. I'd probably turn into a mindless popularity zombie. Can you imagine the horror?"
They both shared one last laugh at that.
Sam knew what could have happened, but was content with what did happen. Danny, who saved the world and the people he cared for and even those he didn't. Danny, who gave up his greatest dreams, who was her best friend, who was the most special person in her life was here with her.
Theyhad had a special moment to add to the list of their special moments. It was good enough for her, and appeared to be good enough for him, as they silently sat watching the sky. A shiver and sniffle from her, and before she knew it she was back in her room, saying good night to the ghost boy who had…what? Stolen her heart?
'No,' Sam thought to herself as she watched him head towards home, 'He already had it, from day one. The way he holds it though, that's what's been changing. And I really don't think I mind, just like I don't mind him visiting me in the middle of the night.'
Another smile came to her lips as she crawled into bed, 'Even if I'm not awake to enjoy his company, I like the thought of him coming here to rest. Its…peaceful, relaxing…' and she was asleep. A deep, relaxing sleep.