Links in the Chain
By Lacey52

.o.O.o.o.O.o.

A note:And inspiration has struck in the form of a review telling me how someone no longer wished to be so confused and so, I have decided to take care of a little of the problem…ya' know, get rid of some of the suspense in the form of humor and slight angsty-ness! Yay me, I think…Anywho, the title to this chapter is from one of the most fun things to sing on earth:

'Double your pleasures, double your fun, that's the statement of the great mint with double mint gum!'
-Doublemint Gum Commercial

Yes, I have the whole thing memorized and can sing it at the drop of a hat. You see I have the misfortune of memorizing T.V. commercials without meaning to…it's a trait that I and my Aunt share…funny, no?
Oh, and can you say 'foreshadowing'? Say it with me now, 'Four-shaa-doh-ing'. Very good! (Claps!) Tee-hee!

Also, lots of things are explained in this chapter so you shall not be as confused ….hopefully. That's what I am intending anyways, and this way I can answer any questions you throw my way (with, like, three minor exceptions). Happy? Good, I thought you would be… :D

P.S.-I don't own Doublemint Gum…so don't sue me!

.o.O.o.o.O.o.

Chapter Seven: Doubled

.o.O.o.o.O.o.

Danny strode purposefully into his room, dropping his backpack and moving to grab his phone from his bedside. All the way home thoughts about Sam had bombarded him.

The thoughts had started out nice enough. Things like the way she had been blushing, or the hide and seek they played this afternoon. Soon enough, though, they had turned to the way they had been talking more and more in sync. How their train of thought seemed to be along the same line, or rather, more than it should have been anyways.

Talking to Tucker was the best thing that he could think of doing at the moment, just like he had promised himself he would do when he had been walking with Sam.

Life was becoming so confusing with all of these…things starting to resurface. Tucker would be the outside viewpoint that he desperately needed to keep himself from blowing things out of proportion like he had a tendency to do.

'I could just be getting paranoid like Tucker's been teasing me,' Danny sighed to himself as he headed over to his door, checking to make sure no one was around, 'I can't do this on the net, I need to be able to hear him, but I really don't want him to be able to see me. He'd tease me for forever for some of the stuff I'm going to be talking about if he could see the shades of red I'm going to turn. Phone it is then!'

Dialing the number, Danny slid down against the wall in his nearly empty house. Jazz currently occupied the living room, leaving him to the privacy of the second story and his room. Hopefully he wouldn't shout about anything and alert her to his distress. She had an annoying habit of getting overly protective since discovering his status as a halfa.

"Hello, Foley residence," Tucker's voice came over the phone.

"Hey, Tuck, it's Danny," he closed his eyes listening to Tucker say his salutations back before asking what was happening, "Oh, um…"

'How to put this?' Danny pondered while Tucker waited patiently on the other end, "I was just thinking about something you said today Tucker, and it's really been bothering me."

"Hey man, whatever it was I'm sorry if I upset you," Tucker said as he sunk into his computer chair and put up his away messages. This was definitely going to take a while if this was about Sam and Danny talking more in sync than they had in a while. He had had a hunch this conversation was going to happen sooner or later.

"No, you didn't upset me…you noticing it upset me," Danny winced, "And that totally didn't make any sense did it?"

"Nope," Tucker chuckled as he swung his feet up onto his desk, "but I think I know what you're trying to get at. You're getting worried over you and Sam talking at the same time and finishing each other's sentences aren't you?"

"You know me way to well, Tucker," Danny's mirthless chuckle came over the line as he sat blushing, "It's just, I don't really know what to do. Me and Sam agreed to not let our link come back. We both agreed to not do the old games and stuff we used to do, no matter what, and the fact that it's back is messin' with my head."

"So what's the part that's got your panties in a twist?" Tucker began plucking at a fraying thread on his shirt in slight boredom, "The fact that you and Sam are starting with the whole 'psychic' thing again, or the fact that I could tell?"

"Both," Danny said heatedly, "If other people start to notice…" but he trailed off shuddering. He did not want to go through it again.

"Are you still stuck on fifth grade?"

"Yes, but it's not just that. It's not natural!"

"What does that mean?" Tucker asked incredulously, 'Well, that's a new argument. Never thought I'd hear that coming from the guy who's half ghost…'

"Look, Tuck, it's just driving me insane because it's not healthy for us to be doing it again," a sigh sounded over the phone, "It shouldn't have started again but it has and now I'm worried that it'll start happening all over and lead to another incident!"

"Okay," Tucker sighed, "I even know what you're talking about and this is starting to get confusing. Way too many 'its' for my taste. Let's recap shall we?"

"Uh," Danny nodded, before remembering he was on the phone, "Alright, what do you want me to go back over?"

"You just listen for a minute," Tucker rubbed his eyes, "and tell me yes or no when I ask."

"Alright," Danny said in slight frustration. He had wanted to talk about Tucker noticing and other's noticing and what they thought, but obviously Tucker had other ideas. However, Danny realized that Tucker was concerned about he and Sam and decided to go along with him. Perhaps he had seen something that Danny was missing…

"You and Sam had that so called 'psychic' connection since an accident in second grade right?"

"Yes," Danny passed a hand over his eyes, bright colors replaying in his mind at the thought of the accident.

"You had the link from second to fifth before anything really bad began to happen. A lot of the kids thought it was cool and only a few were scared of what you could do. You and Sam used to play games and everyone got along fine until a couple of the parents starting talking about the link you two had being 'unnatural'. That's when things started to happen, right?"

"Yeah," Danny shut his eyes. He didn't want to think about it anymore than he was, "somebody started that rumor when we were in third grade. Then their kids would start calling us names and some of the teachers ignored the name calling, 'cause they thought the link was wrong or evil or something…"

"So the worst thing that happened before the fight in fifth was name-calling right?"

"What's your point Tucker?" Danny was loosing what little patience he had.

"My point is that since the fight in fifth grade, people have kept calling you and Sam and me names, but never really tried to hurt us," Tucker frowned then, "I started the rumor about you and Sam's link being a big prank and people believed it because they wanted to. If people still cared, they'd be all over you two by now, don't you think?"

"I guess, but…" Danny swallowed hard, "but what if the link starts to develop? When the accident happened…the link grew as we grew, you know. It got stronger and we could feel more and.."

"Let's just keep recapping alright?" Tucker cut him off. Danny had every right to worry, but there wasn't anything any of them could do except deal with it, "If it's a question of the link being unnatural, well, we already knew that because it started after an accident with something your Dad and Mom made. No worries there."

"But we don't know that!" Danny said, remembering at the last second to keep his voice down, "What if it has some weird effect on our brains or gives us a tumor or something?"

Tucker tried his best not to get to frustrated with Danny. It wasn't working very well though, as Danny refused to see reason and calm down, "Danny. If the link was going to cause damage to Sam or you, it would already have happened or you would have symptoms. Think about it man, the accident happened almost eight years ago."

"It's still not good to start doing this again," Danny calmed somewhat. What Tucker was saying made since, but he couldn't help the growing knot of dread clenching in his stomach.

"I know, but no one really cares," Tucker shrugged on his side of the phone, before leaning back and stretching, "If worse comes to worse, you can always beat the crap out of whoever tries anything. You did a pretty good number on Dash back in elementary…"

Danny chuckled wryly, "Yeah, back in fifth grade when we were all scrawny little boys who barely knew how to throw a punch. That fight was ninety-five percent luck on my part, five percent instinct."

"You aren't exactly lacking in the fighting skills department anymore, Danny," Tucker grimaced, "Two years of fighting ghosts makes you an honorary veteran."

"I guess," but Danny wasn't so sure. It wasn't that he doubted his ability to fight or his strength. No, it was revealing the fact that Danny Fenton, the guy who got shoved into lockers occasionally and beat on, could hand the star quarter back his butt on a silver platter.

That would definitely arouse some suspicion that he wasn't sure he wanted. Valerie, especially, was a smart cookie who could put two and two together.

"See? Worst case scenario; the link strengthens again, you two get into trouble, you kick the butt of whoever is messing with you or Sam, the end. I, of course, will be in the background valiantly cheering you on, and meeting my groping quota on the girls openly gaping at you."

"Oh ha, ha, ha," Danny replied with a smirk, "Do I have the sudden feeling that we have a new running gag and or inside joke?"

"You got it man," Tucker grinned. This was the less worried, normal Danny that he liked hanging out with talking to him now, "Feelin' better?"

"Kinda'," Danny said, "but I could really go for some mind-numbing, stress relief in the form of brainless fighting. Are you up for a couple of levels of our favorite online 'kill everything in sight' game?"

"Yes! All-nighter here we come! I can't wait," but he was cut off at the beep sounding in his phone, "hold on man, I got another call, I'll be right back."

Danny was already up and at his computer, ready to have multiple fights to the death and more than ready to forget about the summer reading he was supposed to start. The phone made a slight click as Tucker came back on the line.

"You ready man?" Danny asked, a boyish twinkle in his eye.

"Uh, I'll have to postpone this for about thirty minutes or so. I just got a call I have to take," he sighed and hung his head, "Just get online and be ready for me to kick your butt."

"Alright," Danny laughed, "Later man."

"Later," Tucker said tiredly, before clicking back over and taking a deep breath, 'I really, really love my friends. A lot. An unusual amount. They owe me,' he shook his head, 'I can't believe I'm doing this.'

"Hey Sam, I'm back," he said tiredly, "What was it you wanted to talk about?"

"I, uh," he could almost picture her fidgeting by the tone of her voice, "I was just thinking about something you said today Tucker, and it's really been bothering me."

'Oh God,' he rolled his eyes, 'I just heard this! How can they say the exact same thing? How? Okay, stupid question, might as well get this over with, then…'

"If I said anything that upset you, I didn't mean to Sam," he slumped onto his desk, waiting for the reply.

"It wasn't anything you did…it's something me and Danny have been doing….is this making any sense?"

Oh yes, this was going to be a long night. And a long week. And, Tucker realized with a groan, if things kept up, it was going to be one heck of a summer as well.

"No Sam, believe it or not, you're making perfect sense," he nearly laughed at how pitiful he probably looked right then, dejectedly slumped over his desk, "Just keep talking and I'll see if I can help you out…"

'Damn,' Tucker thought to himself as Sam started the exact conversation he had just had with Danny, 'and I actually used to believe that anything that happened twice was a good thing…stupid, misleading Doublemint commercial from my childhood!'

.o.O.o.o.O.o.

(Another Note: Tucker is my plot mover and shaker. He rocketh mine toe socks! Everyone should cheer the marvelous character that is… Tucker Foley! Oh yeah!)