Links in the Chain
By Lacey52
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
A note: And Happy Birthday to Danny!….I have no clue when his actual birthday is, so this shall be his birthday for the purposes of this story…just because I want him to be the oldest of the three…and because the day I use has meaning to me. Five bonus points to anyone who can tell me what the date means to me…;) (I promise you can find the answer!) (I haven't proof read this chapter, so don't hate me for glaring mistakes...just point them out to me, and I shall fix them.)
Oh, and the dog is mine! He's one of the many animals we have out here on our 25 acre piece of land…lol.
One more thing! Is Sam OOC? Dear lord I am so worried about it! Please tell me and if she is I shall fix it!
To Jea Kinnaran: I would love to respond to your reviews, they truly mean so much to me! Is there an email address I can email you at? You can always go to my profile and private message me, that way you don't have to put your email in a review. I'd really like to talk with you, but have no way to respond to your reviews!
That goes for anyone else as well, who review, but give me no way to respond to them. I'd love to be able to respond, even if it's just to personally say a thank you!
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
Chapter Twenty Two: Celebration
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
"So…." Sam slammed Danny's locker shut, "What do you want for your birthday?"
Danny responded by rolling his eyes, "Every year I tell you what I want and I get it. Even the year I named some ridiculously expensive concert tickets that I wanted. I don't want anything Sam."
"You're just saying that so I don't buy you anything," she huffed as the boy did a quick check then phased his hand into his now shut locker to gather the things he needed, "Why won't you just tell me something you want? Today's the twenty first! I only have eight more days. "
"Come now," he smiled good naturedly as he withdrew his hand from his locker, "I tell you every year. If you really want to get me something, then you figure out what I might want. You always make me and Tucker work for it, its about time one of us make you do the same."
Sam sighed, "And that won't ever be Tucker because he likes his presents too much…especially the PDA's I always end up getting him. That and the upgrades…"
"Heh," Danny smiled as they began to walk the hall, "You got that right. I think that Tucker is…"
"…just a bit materialistic sometimes when it comes to technology? Yeah, me too."
A passing kid in the hall paused at their strange interchange, shook his head, and thought to himself about how unlikely it was that Manson and Fenton were still trying to pull that old prank. Maybe they really just understood each other, they had been friends for years after all.
Danny didn't miss the slightly confused, but amused look the boy gave them. Watching him shake his head with a patronizing smile on his face and then walk away, Danny allowed his surprise to show, 'Could they all be right? Maybe no one will care…or maybe it's just that they don't believe it, even when they do see it.'
"So Danny," Tucker patted his friend on the back as he walked up and interrupted his line of thinking, "What do ya' want for your birthday?"
"Nothing other than my two best friends at my birthday party and lots of food and cake," Danny pretended to think for a second, hand on chin before adding, "And no ghost attacks. That would be the perfect day."
"Dude, it's your sixteenth birthday!" Tucker began to wildly wave his arms around him, "You absolutely have to get a present from everyone around you. It's like some sort of teenage law! You can't go against the law, man!"
"Tucker," Sam said quietly, blocking his arms as he swung around a little too fanatically, "stop swinging your arms, you ape! Ever heard of over dramatic?"
"Come on, you guys," Danny stepped between the quarrelling pair, "It's my birthday week, it's supposed to be laid back, easy, and most of all fun!"
Poor Danny. He sure liked to jinx himself.
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
"I can't believe it," Danny plugged the thermos into the portal and released the tenth ghost of the week back into the ghost zone, "Do they spy on me just to find out when it would be most inconvenient to attack me and then get together and plan it out?"
"What's the matter little brother?" Jazz asked as she made her way down the stairs, "Your party is about to start in an hour, you should be happy. You know, your birthday and all…September the twenty ninth…although your guest list wasn't very big."
Tiredly rubbing his eyes, he turned to face his sister, "No, I didn't make a big list on purpose. I know sixteen is supposed to be a big deal and all, but I just want a peaceful birthday for once. Too many people causes too many problems."
Jazz smiled moving to stand beside Danny, nudging him with her shoulder, "You know, I can't really call you little brother anymore. You're taller than me now. Come to think of it the only one of your little group that I can still call little is Sam, but even then I can't get away with it. She hates being reminded she's the shortest now."
A quiet chuckle and a fond smile got out of Danny before he could stop himself. Realizing his sister was still standing there looking at him knowingly he blushed, "Uh, yeah…she really hates that…my shin was introduced to her boot for that once, and I never tried it again."
"I think I know what you want for your birthday Danny," Jazz chuckled as she grabbed his arm to drag him back upstairs, "Too bad you're the only one who can get it for you. Well, you or the present could possibly get itself for you, but I doubt it. You're present can be just as shy as you are…"
"Oh, get over it Jazz," Danny said in annoyance as they walked up the last few stairs and opened the door, "I couldn't get…"
"SURPRISE!" the previously dark and empty kitchen erupted into light and life, "Happy Birthday Danny!"
Danny looked down at his boxers and undershirt and was tempted to start swearing in every language he knew. Instead he blushed a bright red as Sam was directly in his line of vision and was smiling knowingly at his heart and teddy bear covered boxers.
"Hey," Tucker prodded Sam and spoke loud enough for everyone present to hear, "Aren't those the pair of gag boxers we got Danny for Valentine's Day last year and told him they were from a secret admirer? We told him they weren't right?"
"Yep," Sam gave him the once over again, "I guess he just liked the way he looked in them too much to actually get rid of them.."
The entire room burst out laughing, his family who were in attendance included, "Oh thank you so very much, sister of mine, for coming and getting me so I would be on time for my party," Danny ground out through clenched teeth.
"No problem," Jazz smiled back at him wickedly, walking over to Sam, "And you're right, he does look pretty good in those doesn't he Sam?"
It was Danny's turn to laugh at Sam blushing and then chasing Jazz into the living room, threats of severe bodily harm floating in the air. Tucker grabbed a bowl of salsa and some chips and took off after the pair, muttering about how girl fights were always awesome.
"I see that exposing your boxers isn't just a school affair," Mr. Lancer's voice appeared beside Danny, who was currently trying to work his way through the crowd of people to the stairs so he could get dressed.
"I was getting ready to take a shower for the party when I got a call for my job," Danny smiled back at the man's slight barb. From the day he found out until now, the entire two weeks had been amazing for Danny. No 'real' tardiness, no 'real' detention, and best of all, a teacher who was slightly more understanding and apparently had an interesting sense of humor.
'Thank you God for small favors,' Danny shook Lancer's hand before making it to the stairs and up to his room to change. Slipping into a pair of jeans and a nice shirt with a button up thrown on over it, Danny hurriedly tried to get his hair into some semblance of order, though he knew it was hopeless.
Finally giving up, the now sixteen year old boy headed back down to his friends and family. The turn out surprised him as members of his family from out of state were even present and several of the friends he had invited without expecting them to actually make it, did. A smile lit his face as he looked down on the crowd of people he cared for, immediately picking out his mother, father, Jazz, Sam, and Tucker.
Smiling and joking his way through the crowd he headed to his two closest friends in the world, "See?" he stated over the music that was now playing, "This is what I wanted for my birthday!"
"Aw," Tucker's face fell dramatically, "It's just too bad that we already got you presents! Guess we'll have to take them back now…"
"Oh no we aren't," Sam pinched the boy's arm, "Do you know how long it took me to figure out what to get the guy? He is taking my present and liking it or he's getting it shoved where the sun doesn't shine."
"I like it Sam," Danny backed away slightly, "Whatever it is I love it. I'll keep it forever…I…"
"Knock it off Danny," one of his older cousinsjumped onto hisback lightly, "We don't want to hear you talk about your undying love for your girlfriend."
"Hey," he knocked the boy off, "I was trying to keep myself from getting killed over here, not confessing undying love."
"Yeah, 'cause you can really tell the difference with you two," Tucker laughed as their faces both flushed.
"Cake and present time!" Maddie called out from the kitchen entrance way, "Everyone gather around so Danny can blow out his candles!"
Candles were blown out with a teasing whisper from Sam to be careful about his wail so as to not take the cake out, which caused him to start laughing as soon as he was finished, which caused several smart-aleck remarks about Sam's whisper and what it could be.
The resulting blushes were quite fantastic and captured by Tucker a la camera phone. Sam decided she hated camera phones and made a mental note to look into getting them banned from Amity Park. Surely that was a good law to advocate…
Cake handed out and ice cream scooped into bowls, Danny settled down to the business of opening presents. Clothes, cds, hats, a various assortment of ghost fighting tools from his parents, and to everyone's surprise from his sister as well, and three rather…interesting pieces of jewelry, Danny was down to Sam and Tucker's gifts. He stood up to thank everyone before turning back to his friends.
"Alright," he mock-glared at his two best friends as he sat back down, "I told you two not to get me anything. Are you going to explain yourselves?"
"Nothing to explain, Danny," Tucker smiled at him, "You deserve it."
"Yeah," Sam crossed her arms and shoved Tucker's present at him, "Just hurry up and open it already."
Ripping into the wrapping paper on the small square box, a clear container was revealed. A beautifully crafted silver watch was held inside. Waterproof, scratch resistant, and best of all, as stated by a tiny note attached to it, ghost proof. Danny smiled at the watch and looked up at Tucker who leaned a little closer.
"It's also a mini-locator and can be used as a two-way radio," Tucker winked at him, "I have a few friends who know a bit about miniaturized stuff and I did a little work myself. I'm pretty proud of it myself."
"Awesome!" Danny gave him the standard pat-on-the-back-guy-hug, "That's great man, thanks."
Slipping on the watch, he admired the blue and green color-scheme of it, shooting Sam a suspicious glare as he remembered teasing her about redoing his room with such a theme, 'Wonder if she had anything to do with that, or Tucker was just trying to be a wise guy.'
His look of suspicion soon turned into a look of expectancy, but as the seconds passed and Sam stared right back at him, he couldn't figure out how to ask where the present she got him was without sounding like a total jerk.
"Wondering where your present from me is at?" Sam raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest.
"At the risk of sounding like a materialistic type of guy," Danny grinned, "then yeah, I was."
"You told me you didn't want anything," Sam hardened her gaze, "You said I had to figure it out and work for it and all this other nonsense that was a total load of bull. I know you wanted something, but since you wouldn't tell me I didn't buy you anything."
Danny's face went from shock to confusion, and finally fell into the look of a beaten puppy, "Oh, I thought you said…well…"
"I made you something instead," she interrupted him to pull out a small envelope, "Just remember it's the thought that counts. And when people say that it usually means the cheesier the better, so I guess this is going to be the best present you get all night. I had to do a lot of brain work to come up with this, and it's beyond cheesy. Don't you dare laugh."
The envelope was shoved into his grip as a tiny grin exploded into a full out, thousand watt smile, "Thanks Sam. I'm sure I'll love it."
Another glare was sent his way, "And I promise I won't laugh!"
Danny slid the envelope open, as the lip was just tucked inside it, and pulled out a small, handmade booklet with the title 'Coupons' written in Sam's interesting cursive style. Flipping through the book, the halfa's face lit up, and the smile became more amused.
'I hope he likes it,' was Sam's first nervous thought until an undeniably strong feeling of….affection seeped into her, like the warmth of entering a heated house after being in the wind and snow all day, 'Okay, so he does like it. Thank God…it took me long enough to figure out what to do. I can't believe what a bad Goth I am for being so girly…people are going to start thinking I've gone soft, and start trying to get me to do my hair and wear pink. Bleh!'
"This is great Sam," even Danny's eyes were smiling as he grinned up at his best friend, "I'm gonna' use every one of these. Probably in a week…"
They both laughed at that. With as much trouble as he got into, the 'Get homework done free' coupon and the 'Keep my sister off my back free' cards would be gone within a day.
Danny began to thumb more slowly through the sixteen page booklet of coupons, 'Let's see. Get out of trouble free, Good for one new movie, Get homework done free, Get an ice cream free, Good for one new cd, Keep my sister off my back free.'
Danny chuckled as he looked through the multi-color pages, noticing with a grin that no pink was present and that blue, black, and green were the dominant colors, 'Get a surprise free, Good for one day of no sarcasm,' Danny laughed at that one, 'Good for one day of whatever I want to do, Exchange this for one secret, Free advice on whatever, Good for a day of picking on Tucker.'
Danny's laughter was growing as he went through them and, with Tucker reading over his shoulder, his pain tolerance increased as well, as said boy bopped the back of Danny's head for laughing so loudly at that particular coupon.
'Get out of trouble free (thought you might need another one of these), One free night at the movies snacks included,' Danny's smiled turned thoughtful for a second, before he resumed turning through the booklet, 'Two hours at the arcade with no complaints, and a one time only privilege card for usingSam's special hotline to get whatever I want delivered.'
"Sweet," Danny nodded as he looked back up at Sam, who was examining his reaction carefully, "This is actually gonna' come in hand you know. And I'm so gonna' hold you to them."
Sam winced, "It's not too cheesy then?"
"Nah," Danny smiled, even as he disagreed with himself, 'Why would she go to all this trouble? She knows what I like, she could have just gotten me a cd or something. It is a really great idea though. I can't wait to use a few of these. Actually, I don't think I've gotten a better gift…'
"Good," Sam smiled, "because I've got one more thing, though Tuck was in on it too."
"Come on," Tucker laughed, "we got to get you outside for a few minutes. Think anyone would notice if we slipped away?"
"I'll cover for you," Jazz smiled at them, "though I really want to see his face. I can't believe Mom and Dad agreed to it."
"I can't believe Sam agreed to it," Tucker laughed, "I thought she'd kill me after I suggested it. Guess a couple of years can soften a person up to an idea…"
"You shut up," Sam turned to grab Danny's sleeve, "and you come outside with us."
Sneaking out was easier than they thought with the party going on, no intangibility or invisibility needed this time around. Outside his front door, Danny found a small plastic animal case on his porch. The case yipped in happiness as people came into it's line of vision, or rather, the creature inside yipped happily.
"No way," he shook his head with a disbelieving smile, "Nice try, ha ha, you almost had me. No way you two would get me a dog. Sam hates dogs for one thing and my parent's wouldn't let me have one when I was…"
"…five, yeah I know. I don't really like dogs, but this one just kind of grew on me. I volunteer down at the pet shelter sometimes, and this little guy really needed a good home," Sam opened the front and a bounding black and white puppy leapt into her arms, nearly bowling her over, "His name is Matches because of his eyes."
Danny knelt down beside Sam to peer at the small dog in her hold, 'He has a blue eye and a brown eye…how cool is that?'
"He's great. I always wanted a dog," Danny smiled when the puppy started licking his hand and moved away from Sam to firmly plant himself in the lap of the new attention giver, "Where'd you get the idea and how'd you convince my parents?"
"I got the idea after the first Ember fiasco," Tucker chuckled as death glares were sent his way, "Sam said that when she asked you to open your window, you took her words 'open up' the wrong way and told her about how you wanted a puppy when you were five, but your parents shot you down. I told her we should get you a puppy for your birthday one year, and here we are!"
"Your parents were easy to convince, especially with Jazz on our side," Sam stood back up and enjoyed the sight of the boy and his dog, "She told them that a pet would help reduce the amount of stress you've been feeling from school this year. We just told them that we would help take care of it and take care of the food and vet expenses. You've got the house-training thing though."
"This is great you guys," Danny stood up with the puppy sniffing around by his feet, to throw his arms around both of them for a two sided hug, "Best birthday ever and there haven't been any gho…mphsm."
Both Sam and Tucker had a hand firmly in place over Danny's mouth, "Don't even, man."
"Really Danny," Sam smiled as she removed her hand, "You'd think you'd know better by now with how often you jinx yourself. I really need to tell you about Murphy's Law sometime."
"If I give you a card from the coupon book, say the 'no sarcasm for a day' card, does the word 'day' mean a full twenty four hours, or is itdaylight hours only?"
"Shut up Danny."
"Oh, burn Sam, he got you good…"
"You shut up, too…"
Thus went the next few hours of a wonderful birthday party, full of friends, family, and newly included happy puppy. Life was actually starting to look up, and Danny prayed with everything he had that night, that it would keep doing so.
Danny was his favorite plaything, but even Mr. Murphy could get tired of teenaged halfas. Maybe things really would be getting better…