Links in the Chain
By Lacey52

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

A note: Yay! A dream chapter. I adore writing these…teehee. Hope you guys like this one, it was one of the much anticipated chapters you guys kept asking about and for. Hope I live up to your expectations and the explanations aren't too confusing! Ask if you think you're missing something!
Eh, it's a little short, but like I've said from the beginning, the chapters will only be as long as I need them to be to get the point or informationacross...
Oh, and EVPstands forElectronic Voice Phenomenon. It's a recording taken in supposedly haunted places. The recordings sometimes have voices on them at extremely low frequncies that usually aren't audible to human ears, and most of the times they are thought to belong to ghosts trying to communicate with the living world. Need more info? Just ask me and I'll direct you to a few websites...

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

Chapter Twenty Eight: Interlude: Fireflies

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

"Hurry up Sam!"

Running, she was running, down the hall, down stairs, sliding across a kitchen floor in her socks, out of breath and ready to run down more stairs.

"I wanna' see what Mom and Dad are doing," a blue eyed boy lit the world with his sparkling smile, "Let's sneak down and watch!'

"Okay!" Sam grinned back at her best friend, "But we gotta' be quiet so we don't get in trouble again. 'Member last time? We couldn't have cookies and milk for a whole week!"

Danny nodded his head furiously as the pair began to quietly make their way down the stairs to watch his mother and father at work.

"Jack, be a dear and hand me that soldering iron," Maddie pulled her goggles down, "I just need to make a few last adjustments so the alpha waves will sync properly between the two link recipients."

"Here you go sweetheart," Jack handed the iron to her before turning back to the computer, "Alright lets go over this one last time to make sure of everything."

As Maddie nodded her head and began her work, Jack began to go back over their data, "Out theory is based on the many sightings of ghosts in which they were unable to make audible noise, and had to resort to moving objects or EVP or other such things. Therefore, ghosts are incapable of communicating directly in an audible manner."

"Based on this information, our Fenton Communication Device will hopefully allow a type of link between a ghost and a human to form, so conversation is possible. Using alpha waves from our minds and whatever electronic signal a ghost may give off," Jack stood up to pop his back, "we will hopefully be able to talk."

"Well," Maddie sighed as she finished one last adjustment, "this should do it, but the only question is, will the link be a permanent thing? In theory, the link should end as soon as the machine is turned off and the ghost let out of the electronic field."

"Well, honey, there's only one way to find out," Jack smiled at his wife as he took the small machine from her hands, "but we'll have to catch a ghost first!"

Pointing it towards the wall, Jack pressed a small red button and a multitude of colors appeared to be dancing in midair between the wall and the two scientists. It seemed as though a rainbow had been caught and was tumbling in a swirling vortex.

"Well, the containment field and transmitter seem to be working properly," Maddie frowned, "but I'm still not comfortable about testing this out. I think we should run a few more simulations and look for possible bugs in the system."

"How 'bout we do that after we whip up a batch of cookies?" Jack grabbed his wife and began to make his way towards the stairs, "You know I've been dying for some, baby!"

Danny and Sam scrambled back up the stairs and ran into the living room, climbing over the back of the couch in their hurry, "Think they saw us?"

Out of breath and full of nerves and adrenaline, Sam shook her head, "Nu-uh. They were talking too much to see us…I think."

"Kids!" Maddie called out as she poked her head into the room, "Danny, there you are. I'm going to run into town to grab some more eggs. We're going to make some cookies! Your father is upstairs if you need him, so you two be good."

"'Kay Mom!" Danny smiled and nudged Sam in the side, "Best behavior!"

"Yeah, Mrs. Fenton," Sam smiled eagerly, happy at the thought of cookies, "We'll be good."

As soon as she was out the door however, the eager pair raced back down the stairs into the lab, "Too bad Tucker isn't here! He'd love the new thingy your Mom and Dad made!"

"Yeah," Danny said as they edged down the stairs, just to make sure the lab was unoccupied, "He'd have a good time."

Making their way across the floor to the worktable that had been set up near the wall, Danny and Sam pulled themselves up onto the two stools and looked in amazement on the small device.

"It made pretty colors when your Dad pushed the button," Sam trailed her fingers over it, "It looked like fireflies in a glass jar, only they were all sorts of colors instead of just yellow."

"Yeah it was neat lookin'," Danny said, "like when Ms. Dain showed us how the prism made a rainbow on the wall."

"We shouldn't do it though, huh?" Sam then picked it up, "Maybe we should just…ah!"

"I got it!" Danny leapt off his stool as Sam slid down hers.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to drop it! It's not broke is it?"

"Nah," Danny gabbed it and caught his finger on the button, "What?"

And the colors surrounded them. Danny dropped the handheld communication device again, but they were already caught in what his mother had described as 'containment field.' Doing the only thing he could think of, the young boy grabbed his best friend and tried to protect her from whatever was happening.

Sam clung to Danny just a fiercely as she could, her seven year old mind determining that whatever was happening was possibly very, very bad, 'Please let us be okay. I don't want Danny to be hurt!'

Peeking open on eye, Danny caught sight of the small machine beside them, and thinking quick, kicked it as hard as he could. As soon as it hit the wall, the lights ended and the show was over.

The hissing and popping of a frying electronic device was heard as Sam sat shaking with Danny on the floor, both their heads aching and a slight buzz sounding in their ears. Lights still danced behind their closed eyes and they clung to one another for sometime afterwards.

"Come on Danny," Sam finally stood up shakily and tried to pull him up, "We can't let your mom and dad see us! We'll get into big trouble and not be able to see each other anymore. We gotta' go!"

Grabbing the Fenton Communication Device, Danny placed it carefully back onto the table, "Let's get out of here. And you can't tell nobody!"

"I won't, I promise," Sam took Danny's offered hand as they made their way back into the living room, feeling scared and safe with one another all at the same time.

Confusion washed over Danny, causing him to trip on the rug by the couch, and then something inside him felt like laughing.

"I feel weird Sam," Danny sat on the couch, "I feel really weird."

"Me too," Sam curled up beside him, "I feel….sleepy."

"Me…too…" and the boy and girl were asleep until much later that evening when a worried mother shook them awake.

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

'Lights….' Sam hadn't thought of that day in such detail in so long, and slowly coming up from the depths of sleep, everything was a kaleidoscope of feelings and colors, 'they were so pretty.'

She lay in her bed, watching her clock change minute by minute, before gathering her thoughts enough to think back over the weeks following the accident.

'The accident,' she lazily blinked her eyes, 'We were so tired after that. Mrs. Fenton swore we were coming down with something and made us chicken noodle soup for supper when we kept falling asleep and wouldn't talk. Me and Danny couldn't figure out what was going on until I watched that cartoon and he was out of the room and knew that I was happy about something.'

'No one ever found out about it until we told Tucker a little of it…' Sam shook her head then, 'If we had told Danny's Mom and Dad…that would have been interesting, that's for sure.'

'The colors were so beautiful,' she turned onto her side, 'but the feelings were the best. Knowing what was going on, playing our games. So many people thought it was weird, but it wasn't. It was a good thing…it still is.'

Her door opened then and cut her musing short, "Samantha, dear, are you getting up for school today or will I have to have one of the butlers take you in late?"

Taking a peek over at her wall calendar and smiling at the large red circle on the day's date Sam sat up, "No problem Mom, I'm up. Today is going to be a big day."

'If and only if I can convince my two favorite boys to come with me,' Sam laughed to herself at that thought, 'And that's no problem at all. Should've done it yesterday with Danny, but today I'll be able to talk both of them into it at the same time. The element of surprise is on my side...'

"Oh?" her mother stepped more into her bedroom, "And why is it such a big day?"

"Oh, you know," Sam turned away from her mother to hide her mischievous smile, "School, after school, homework, the usual…for me that is…"