Links in the Chain
By Lacey52

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

A note: Paradigm: Pronounced 'pair-a-dime'. Just thought you should know in case you didn't already. It's a good word. You should use it in a sentence sometime!
Alright so…it's a couple hours late, but it's here at least! I promise I'll post today's chapter still…lol.
Oh and Valerie…I'm having trouble with her character, as a few of you have noticed…I either make her too apathetic or way too frantic about things…HELP ME PLEASE. Any suggestions or such would be greatly appreciated. I am trying so hard, but it's just not flowing like I want it to…(cries).

So basically this chapter is me halfway making fun of myself and what I've been doing so far. Try not to take it too, too seriously, and feel free to comment on anything! I'm trying to get myself back into the writing swing of things…lol.

And…ohmahgah…ten…thousand….hits….oh my. (Hyperventilates and faints)

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

Chapter Thirty One: Paradigm

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

"Paradigm, paradigm," Danny chanted to himself as he watched out his window for Sam, "Geeze, I swear I just looked this one up! I hate flashcards…"

Hurrying to the stack of cards he had made, Danny picked up the one labeled 'paradigm' and flipped it over, only to discover he hadn't written the definition on it, 'Aw man! I can't believe I didn't write this one down!'

At Matches' happy and near frantic barking, Danny grabbed the whole pile of cards and began to make his way downstairs, "I'm coming Matches…"

More happy sounding yips and the little dog scratching at the door and Danny knew exactly who it was, "I'm coming, I promise I won't let Sam freeze out there. Hold your horses, pup."

"It's about time," Sam said dryly as she stood shivering in the doorway after Danny had finally opened the door, "I thought Matches going crazy would have tipped you off sooner."

Danny chuckled as he resumed flipping through his flashcards, searching for more he had not completed, "Yeah, I should have been paying more attention, huh Matches? You were telling me to hurry up and get Sam inside, weren't you?"

The puppy, however, was paying Danny no mind as he playfully attacked Sam's jeans trying to gain the attention of his second favorite human, "You know, I think he likes me for some reason."

Too distracted by his cards, Danny said the first thing on his mind, "He's a really smart dog."

"Oh?" she responded in surprise as her coat and gloves were shed and she began to untie her boots, "You think he's smart because he likes me?"

"Well, uh," Danny's brain caught up with what his mouth had said, "Yeah…it means that he knows who saved him from the shelter and gave him to me. He remembers you…"

"You don't sound convinced," Sam tied her boots together and hung them with her coat to save them from the terror of the still-teething puppy, "but I'll let it slip this one time. My brain is too fried from all this studying to analyze anything else. Remind me again why we have to go to school…"

"Job in the future," the halfa answered half mindedly, glaring at his cards, "Out of all these stupid flashcards, the only one I don't know is the only one I didn't write the definition to. The least I could have done is written an example!"

Peeking over his shoulder and spotting which word he was talking about, Sam had to stifle her laughter, "You really shouldn't worry about not having an example…it's practically one itself after all…"

"Huh?" he scooped Matches up to hand to Sam, as the poor dog was going to have a fit if he didn't get attention from her soon, "Here, take him, and then you can tell me what you mean."

Sam sat Matches down on the ground as she lowered herself and grabbed one of the socks that Danny left out for him, "Man, he's getting heavy…and the word means something along the lines of 'example'. Maybe you didn't write down an example because you thought you'd remember what it means…"

"Probably," Danny shook his head, "I really am not liking school right now."

"Me either," Tucker walked through the door, nearly tripping over Sam and Matches, who were currently engaged in a game of tug-o-war, "Whoa, didn't expect a welcome party on the floor though…"

"I didn't say hello yet so you've technically not been welcomed," Sam smiled at the puppy, "Should I?"

As the puppy yipped, Tucker watched Danny smile fondly down at the dog and the girl, 'Man, they've got it so bad for each other, but they're gonna' take forever to figure it out. Geeze, they better do it before the end of Senior year, or I'm gonna' owe a lot of money to a lot of people.'

"I hate having to study," Danny finally gave up his 'Sam watching' from Tucker's point of view and went to sit on the couch, "It's not bad enough that I have to fight ghosts, and worry about my parents hunting me down, and now worry about if Valerie saw anything or not at the rally…."

"But there isn't anything you can do about it and you're little pity party for yourself isn't all that pitiful so I suggest," Sam ruffled the puppy's fur before standing, "you just give it up."

"Give up?" Danny posed heroically, or rather…in what he thought was a heroic pose, "Never! I'm a paradigm of a good guy. We don't give up!"

Tucker and Sam simply looked to one another before they said a single simple phrase and burst out laughing.

"Hero-complex!"

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

"Oh yes," Vlad Masters happily chuckled to himself, "I do appreciate a good little pawn with a severely over inflated hero-complex and sense of revenge…"

Re-reading the email he had just received, Vlad set about ordering a few things from his provider and carefully examining data he had collected over the years. After retrieving a cup of coffee, he settled back down in front of his computer and began a very important email.

'To my dear Ms. Gray,' he typed out the words as he thought to himself, 'I am pleased to hear of your recent discovery on your local specter and am delighted to help you in any way I can…'

"And in doing so you will be helping me," Vlad brought his hand down hard on his computer desk, laughing all the while, only to spill his hot coffee on his person, "Cranberry scones! That burns!"

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

'To my dear Ms. Gray,' she scanned the email she had just received from her supplier, 'I am pleased to hear of your recent discovery on your local specter and am delighted to help you in any way I can.'

"Well, that's nice, but not what I needed to hear," and Valerie continued to read.

'I have decided to create a very special device that will allow you to separate a ghost from a human while they are 'overshadowing' a person. I have, in my possession, a pair of gloves that can do this already, however, it would be to your advantage if you could stand further back while removing the ghost. I will also be attaching a small ecto-laser to the device. All together it will be compact and extremely light.
I hope that this is what you were wanting to hear, as much as I hope you enjoy it when it arrives.'

'Oh, trust me Mr. Masters,' Valerie smirked to herself, 'I'll enjoy it when it gets here, more than you'll ever know…'

'I regret to inform you, however, that the items I need to create this device at the size I intend are extremely hard to acquire. I beg you forgive me for taking more time than you are accustomed to in shipping you what you've requested. The device will be ready, though, in less than a month. Dare I say in three weeks at the most?'

"Why so long?" Valerie exclaimed in a rasping whisper. She had chosen to check her email in the school's computer lab during lunch, and wanted to draw as little attention to herself as she could. Checking email in school could get you after school detention, and Valerie did not want to be in more trouble with her father.

"Hey Valerie," Danny cautiously approached her from behind, "What's long?"

"D…Danny!" the hunter turned quickly in her chair, blocking as much of the screen behind her as she could, "What are you doing here?"

"Uh, well, I was going to check my email," his hand shot to the back of his neck, "but I saw you over here so I thought I'd chat for a minute before I did."

'That and I'd thought I'd see if you tried to shoot me on sight,' Danny was currently a ball of nerves, 'I really hope not…'

"Oh, that's normal of you…" and her eyes widened slightly, "I mean, uh, that's nice of you."

'Great,' Valerie smiled in what felt like a terrible impression of an actress in front of paparazzi, 'Now he'll think I'm insane…'

"Uh, yeah," Danny smiled back obliviously, his nerves dissipating, "So…what was too long? You waiting for something or writing a paper or something?"

"Waiting to hear from someone, I guess you could say," she toned down her smile and her nerves as well, 'Right girl, play it cool, he probably isn't possessed by that Phantom character all the time. Think things through…'

"That always sucks," Danny nodded as he moved to sit in the chair next to her, "It can be a good thing or a bad thing and not knowing makes it kinda' exciting. At least, that's the way I see it."

Quickly closing out of her email account she turned her attention back to the boy, trying to determine what exactly was going on, "Yeah, I feel that way too, but I'm sure what I'm waitin' for is good news."

Smiling, Danny began to log on to his email, 'Might as well just get this over with, I'm pretty sure she saw Tucker and Sam at the least…'

"So you were at that rally, right? I thought I might have seen you in the crowd, but there was so much going on I wasn't really sure."

'Is he toying with me?' Valerie swallowed the lump in her throat, 'No, it's not that ghost boy's style to toy with his enemies…he doesn't generally fight unless forced to…'

"Yes, I was at the rally…I was searching for someone."

'Oh crap, now it's like we're playing with each other,' Danny thought to himself with a slight frown, 'I hate games…'

"Oh well," the halfa quickly shut his email, "I hope you found whoever you were looking for. I gotta', uh…"

"He's gotta' hurry up and get to the library," Sam cut in for him, lingering in the doorway, "'He still has to study some more for the test we have tomorrow in English and I'm not a very patient person."

"Right," Valerie shot her a look, "You're not a patient person. You know, Sam, I'd have thought you were a saint with the way you've been waiting for him to …"

"You," Sam nearly growled, a blush starting, "can stop right there."

"Waiting for who to what?" Danny demanded with a frown on his face, lots of emotions from Sam rushing around in his mind, "This isn't about Huey is it?"

"Get a grip Danny," Sam glared at Valerie, then the halfa, turning a lovely shade of red while doing so, "I don't like Huey, I've already told you that. Besides, how would Valerie, of all people, know Huey?"

"I don't know," Danny replied huffily, before smiling slightly, "Let's get going, alright?"

"Yeah," Sam rolled her eyes, "You still don't get the difference between dramatic and situational irony for some reason…"

"Nice talkin' with you Val," Danny grinned in her direction.

"Yeah, it was nice Fenton," Valerie smiled and turned back to her screen as the pair left, 'but why was it such a nice chat? All this time and he's never tried to attack me even though he knows who I am…he unmasked me to my father…I just don't get it…'

With a final sigh she began to pack up her notebooks, 'If he's really such a bad guy, why hasn't he taken the opportunity to get rid of me yet? Is…is he really so bad, or just biding his time? Ugh, that's not his style! I hate this, I'll just have to talk to him once I knock him out of Fenton.'

With a final nod, Valerie began to focus once more on things actually related to school. Now that she had at least part of the puzzle known as the ghost boy figured out, life could return to normal for her.

Finally getting her things together, she headed straight for the library, hoping to catch up with Sam and Danny to hopefully get some help on the upcoming test. She may not be certain of them when they were fighting ghosts or one another, but for the moment, she had determined that passing her sixth period English class was worth the risk of having to fight Danny Phantom before she was prepared.

Like a person in Amity Park could every truly be prepared for anything.

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

"How'd you know to come get me?" Danny knocked his shoulder into Sam's and smiled as she walked beside him, "Or were you just getting impatient?"

"You were feeling a little nervous about something," Sam rolled her eyes, "so I thought I should find you before you did something stupid. Tucker said something about emails and I, being the intelligent person I am, figured that you would head to the computer lab. Seeing Valerie made you're little anxiety attack make sense."

"Hm," Danny could only nod as he held the door open for Sam, "Yeah well, I thought she'd blast me the next time she saw me. I was so sure she saw me change at the rally."

"Maybe she's finally starting to realize that you're not a bad guy…"

But the rest of the conversation was cut off as the door to the library closed, and Valerie Gray stood perfectly still in the middle of the hallway, "Speaking of ironic…" and once again her mind started to race.

'Great! Just great!' she stomped her foot before heading off to her locker, 'Just when I think I've got things straight, I end up more confused than ever. They must be overshadowed all the time…or…he knows he's being overshadowed or something. And what did she mean by Danny felt nervous, are they doing that stupid psychic game again?'

Rolling her eyes heavenwards in despair, Valerie began to violently shove unwanted books in her locker, 'Gah, the more I think about this whole stupid situation, the more I think I am going insane. I need a shrink. I don't know what to do anymore…'

With a sigh, Valerie shut her locker and rest her forehead against it, 'I have three weeks. I'll just wait it out and see what happens. Watch them…God that sounds so stalker-ish, but there's nothing better to do these days anyways…'

And so Valerie Gray headed off to her next period, ten minutes early and mind running like a race horse. Too bad all her theories were either too close to home or way off base…with Valerie Gray there really were no shades of her surname.