Links in the Chain
By Lacey52
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
This chapter dedicated to Elwood Hutton. My Great Uncle Buddy and brother of my Grandmother. He never took any crap off of anybody, was one of the most honest people I have ever had the privilage of knowing, and was as stubborn as the day is long. I'll always be your little 'Re-Pete' Uncle Buddy, no matter where you might be. I'll love you forever and miss you dearly, as do the rest of your loved ones still here. God keep you safe at home up there with Him until we meet again.
Lacey
aka Re-Pete
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
A note: Well, here's how the link got started back! Have you been wanting to find out? I know I liked writing it! Oh…and so now there's the question all over again of what the infamous 'accident' was. Danny mentions it again at the end…
Anywho, hope you enjoy the chapter!
And a quick explanation; they can 'feel' each other, but only when they are feeling an emotion very strongly. Danny wouldn't necessarily feel Sam being 'happy', but he would definately feel her if she was 'estatic'.
They can also do something they refer to as 'broadcasting'. Basically, if Sam wanted to, she could use their link to let Danny know what she was feeling and vice-versa.
This can be used to influence the other slightly, like what Sam did two(?) chapters ago with her 'smugness'. She basically drove him to the point of distraction because he couldn't figure out why the heck she was feeling so smug, therefore keeping him from worrying about what would between him and Lancer.
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
Chapter Twenty Three: Pursuit
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
"What are you doing?" Sam asked an out of breath Danny, who was currently looking like a cat trying to escape a bath. It was the same look that he got the time he was hiding from his mother last week after Matches had chewed through a new pair of her shoes. That hadn't turned out pretty...
"Trying to run away?" Danny shot back, while wildly looking around him.
"Why?" she asked curiously as she shut her locker, crossing her arms and enjoying him looking like a chicken with its head cut off, 'And why did you sound like you were asking a question instead of stating a fact?'
"Um, because I don't want to die from being talked to death?"
'Interesting,' Sam thought to herself again, 'Another question instead of a statement. Something is definitely wrong with the boy.'
"And you make that sound like a question because…?" Sam was going to get answers about this little turn of affairs. He definitely looked like something was wrong.
"Uh," Danny shrugged and shot her that smile that could have girls melting if he ever got up the nerve to smile at them, "because, I'm already half-ghost and I'm not sure if I can actually die, or if I'll just suddenly go ghost and stay that way?"
Sam shook her head. Too bad being his friend for years had never given her an immunity to that smile, she still got caught in it every time, "Alright….so what are you running from?"
Danny winced. It was obviously something good…or bad, depending on your frame of reference, "Paulina."
Sam's eyes widened dramatically as she slapped the back of her hand to his forehead, "You're running from Paulina and you don't have a fever. Alright, who's in there overshadowing Danny?"
"Knock it off," he pushed her hand away from him, slightly disappointed that he had done so, "I just…"
But Danny Fenton never got to finish that sentence.
"Yoo-hoo! Danny? Where did you go? I wasn't finished talking to you yet," Paulina's voice echoed around the hall, her shoes tapping against the floor as she neared the corner. A few more seconds and she would make it around the bend.
"Hide me!" Danny squeaked. It was rather pathetic, Sam decided, what with the giant blue eyes, and trembling bottom lip, and panicky tone in his voice. Not pathetic enough to get him out of this without her being sarcastic, however.
"Why don't you, oh I don't know," Sam brought her finger to her lip, "go invisible, moron?"
"Uh…right," Danny replied sheepishly, fading before her eyes. She felt him move around behind her and rest his hands on her shoulders, to keep himself out of the way and to give himself a sense of security he told himself. The other side of his brain told him he wasn't fooling anybody and just wanted to touch Sam's shoulders.
"Where's Danny?" Paulina directed at Sam, as soon as she latched eyes onto the girl, "I thought I saw him go this way."
"Why do you want to know?" Sam glared at the girl, "Better yet, why would you ask me?"
Sam crossed her arms and leaned back against her locker, like she always did. Only she felt a warm body behind her this time, as invisible hands clenched her shoulders in surprise. Paulina didn't seem to notice that Sam's back took much longer to meet the metal than it should have.
'Oops,' Sam winced to herself, 'Sorry, Danny! I'm glad you decided to go intangible, but why are you're hands on my shoulders still? Are you trying to drive me nuts? Why is everything so complicated? Why am I asking so many questions?'
Paulina had been fuming to herself in this time, before flipping her hair and nearly growling at Sam, "I ask you, because you two always know where the other is these days, yes? And I want him to tell me more about the ghost boy, and see if he can tell the ghost boy to come and talk with me tonight."
Sam rolled her eyes as Paulina started talking about the 'ghost boy', "Look Paulina, I don't know what you're talking about, we don't always know where the other is…"
A tiny puff of cold air in her ear as Danny whispered, "Liar," caused a shiver to run down her spine. She started praying in the back of her mind that neither Danny nor Paulina noticed.
"…and besides," Sam continued, "even if Danny knows something about the ghost guy, why would he tell you? You probably wouldn't talk to him for any other reason, and wouldn't understand half of what Danny would say. You're just that shallow."
Another puff of cold air, "You shivered," and of course Sam shivered at that. Apparently only the half of her prayers about Paulina not noticing was answered, because Danny certainly had, "What? I'm not that cold yet, am I?"
A third shiver rocketed down her spine, as Paulina gasped and began looking around her, "Did you hear that? It sounded like Danny!"
"Maybe he's around the corner," Sam replied hurriedly and pointed.
She had to get Paulina out of her face so she could get Danny out from behind her so he would quit whispering to her so she would stop shivering so he would stop asking questions.
'Argh! Daniel Fenton, you are driving me insane! I can't believe I just thought that giant incoherent jumbled ….thought! Stupid Danny and his stupid cold breath on my stupid ear!'
"Whatever," Paulina sneered, before giving chase once again, "Just stay away from him, Goth girl, so I can get my ghost boy!"
"Whatever," Sam on the outside, was far more composed than her mind, "It's safe now, Danny. The hall's empty and she's long gone."
Danny's hands disappeared from her shoulder and the next thing she knew he was standing beside her, as if he had been there the entire time, "Thank you Sam! I owe you one."
"Nah," she shrugged him off, "Just being a good friend. Although, I did have to talk to that shallow prep that you guys always drool over, immediately forgetting my presence no matter where we are…"
Danny chuckled nervously, "C'mon Sam, it was just an infatuation. That doesn't exactly last after you figure out you're being used, even if it's to get to your secret, other half…"
"Wow," Sam raised an eyebrow as she also took in the fact that he had used past tense, "You sounded intelligent…"
"You mean," Tucker walked up and put his arms around the pair's shoulders, "he sounded like you. I hate to tell you guys this, but its getting worse between you two."
"What do you mean?" Immediate blushing and embarrassed glances were passed after the two simultaneously asked the question.
"That is exactly what I mean," Tucker sighed, "only more so."
"Right," Danny said, his hand going to the back of his neck to rub, as was his nervous habit.
"And you would know this how?" Sam asked Tucker, removing his arm from her shoulder.
Tucker simply held up his PDA, "I've been keeping track of everything since March, and what I don't see others do. I just ask around to my reliable sources."
Danny leaned against the locker he was previously occupying in his prior, intangible state, "So…others have noticed more? They realize what's happening?"
He looked as cool and calm as he always did, but a sudden, sharp twist in Sam's gut told her otherwise. That definitely wasn't her worry she was feeling. In truth, she could care less if their 'link' was starting to form again.
"Calm down, Danny," Sam frowned, "No one's done anything or said anything. Maybe no one cares anymore. I certainly don't and I think you need to start realizing that everything is okay."
"You sound like the one who needs to calm down," Danny shot back, frowning back at the girl in front of him, 'She just doesn't get it. I won't let fifth grade repeat itself. I never want to see Sam hurt again.'
"Yeah?" she challenged him then, as she felt his worry grow and become tinted with a hint of regret and anger, "Don't think I don't feel…"
But Sam shut her mouth as Danny's eyes widened, and the worry and regret and anger, turned into a full out 'upset' feeling, "Feel what, Sam?"
"Feel?" Tucker put in his two cents, "What are you two talking about?"
Sam stoically ignored them both, "Look, no one cares, right? So they still tease us, but they've always done that, 'connection' or not."
"You don't get it Sam," Danny focused on her, "It's growing. It's back to the way we were in fifth grade! You think it was bad then, when half the people thought it was just a game between us? People at this school are even more cruel now, and with all the ghosts, there's no way they won't go right back to thinking it's occult or witchcraft or…"
"Wait, back up a minute!" Tucker cut him off, moving to the side to see both Sam and Danny's faces, "You two are back to where you were in fifth? That means that she felt your emotions!"
Danny frowned and turned his head. He was not happy with this development. It had taken three years from the time of the accident to when they had been able to 'feel' each other this clearly. Why was it happening so quickly now?
Sam just nodded to Tucker, confirming his belief. Danny was getting worked up over nothing. If worse came to worse, she could defend herself enough, and Danny could definitely protect her. He needed to calm down and look at this rationally, but she was afraid he was still stuck on what happened in fifth.
"At least you two haven't done that weird giggling thing yet," Tucker broke into their thoughts while tapping furiously at his PDA, "You two used to drive the teachers insane with that, you know."
"I kinda' missed doing that," the halfa replied, a glazed look telling his friends he was stuck in a memory.
Sam finally felt him relax, his feelings finally settling down to a level she couldn't quite feel unless she searched for them, "Me too," she smiled, "I wonder if we still can do that."
Danny sighed, as Tucker ignored them, "Sam, I just don't want you to get hurt again. I still remember seeing you and…"
"I remember it too, you know," the girl in question shook her head.
"So do I," Tucker looked up, "but Danny, things are different now. You two got a gift, man. Why not use it?"
"It wasn't a gift. We didn't just naturally get this ability. And it's not like we have a choice, we didn't choose to start again."
"We just kind of fell back into it. Maybe it's not something we can ignore anymore, because we've been shutting it out for so long. Maybe its back as some sort of protective instinctual thing cause from all the stress of the situations we get into. It just happened. There's no blame in it…," but Sam cut herself off and cut her eyes to Danny.
He was feeling overwhelmingly guilty. It had been building since he had said they didn't choose to start it again, "Why do you feel so guilty Daniel Fenton?"
Tucker sniggered and commented on how handy Sam knowing what Danny was feeling could be, as Danny went wide-eyed, "I, well you see," Danny cleared his throat and started again.
"The first time I went into your room, it was about four…almost five I think, and I saw your light on and so I stopped by to see why you were still up and I saw you asleep on your desk, so I phased in to move you to your bed and…"
As Danny trailed off, it was Sam's turn to go wide-eyed, "Whatever you are thinking you had better not say it if you want to remain a halfa, instead of a full out ghost," and Sam smacked Danny to emphasize her seriousness.
Danny grinned, and teasingly stated, "But it was so cute!" which caused an immediate blush to spread across Sam's pale cheeks.
Tucker just stared at Danny, "You just said Sam was cute and didn't blush…"
"I didn't say Sam was cute…" of course at the look on Sam's face and the sudden feeling of…something, Danny quickly backpedaled, "Uh, well I did, but the action was the part that…and I'm going to shut up before I get myself in more trouble or I get laughed at."
"And what action would that be?" Tucker quickly grabbed Sam, holding her arms behind her, so Danny could answer safely without fear of impending doom. She looked ready to throttle him.
"She was drooling," Danny then proceeded to cower behind his own arms, "Please don't kill me! I'm too young and good looking to die, not to mention that half the inhabitants of the ghost zone really don't like me!"
"Hurry up and tell me how this relates to why you felt guilty and I might consider letting you live," Sam pouted, relaxing into the hold Tucker had on her.
"Well," Danny began to rub his neck, "you just looked so peaceful, and I wanted to feel that way, and then I, uh…reached…for it?"
"You're the one who brought the link back and you're fussing at me for not being afraid of it, you hypocrite?" Sam narrowed her eyes as Tucker backed away, "And what is with all the question-like statements? Just say what you mean, don't ask us like you're waiting for our judgment!"
"Why'd you let her go?" Danny shot a frantic look at Tucker before quickly focusing back on Sam, "And I am waiting on your judgment, I don't want to be mauled to death! It wasn't like I did it on purpose. It just happened before I even realized it."
"Why didn't you say anything?" she sounded so hurt. She didn't mean for her voice to come out like that, but it had, and she was feeling that way. There was no way she could conceal it from Danny now, anyways, without actually trying.
"I thought you'd hate me," Danny hung his head, "I…just realized it a couple of months ago. I talked to Tucker about it, but we couldn't be sure…but I'm pretty sure now."
"I'm upset Danny, I don't hate you," she looked at him, "C'mon, you would know if I hated you."
"Yeah," Tucker interjected, "You two feel each other's emotions when they're strong, right? Hate has gotta' be a strong emotion, so you'd definitely know if she hated you. If she's just a little upset it would barely register as a blip on your Sam-dar."
"Tuck," Danny groaned, "don't start that again."
"What? I thought Dan-dar and Sam-dar were snazzy names for it!"
"We don't have radars built into our heads Tuck," Sam chuckled, "Though Paulina sure thinks we do, and if she's the worst that we have to put up with, then we'll be just fine."
As Tucker and Sam laughed, Danny just sighed, 'Will it really be alright Sam? I don't want you to get hurt again, and I really don't want us to get into more trouble than I already cause with my ghost fighting. Why couldn't that stupid accident have been just a pretty light show?'