Links in the Chain
By Lacey52

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

A note: Hm…another dream…wonder what's up this time….Hehehee, you get to learn a bit more about the 'incident' from fifth grade, though it isn't detailed, and you don't know exactly what happened. And there's a bit of SxD fluff for you guys. Here's a hint:

Haven't you wondered how Sam knew about the fake-out, make-out the first time they ever supposedly had one? It was Danny who came up with it in the first place, as demonstrated by Memory Blank…

And yes, I believe a ten year old Danny would cry. So there… : P Remember, in this chapter all the characters are about five years younger than my fic currently has them at.

Oh…and it's Sam's turn to loose her emotional cool…so to speak! ;D Again, didn't proofread...please don't hate me...it's the first day of classes!

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

Chapter Forty: Interlude: Converse

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

"Please just let me explain, I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Young man, keep quiet and go to your room, your mother and I are very disappointed in you."

"But Dad! I swear, I was just trying to keep them from hurting Sam!"

"Danny, please stop. You shouldn't have been in the girls' bathroom, you shouldn't have gotten into a fight, and you shouldn't be making such ridiculous claims. It was good that you wanted to keep Sam safe, but you should have found an adult. Do as your father says and go to your room."

"But Mom!"

"Now, Daniel James Fenton, before I loose my temper!"

For a ten year old boy, tears were a shameful thing. Boys didn't cry, they weren't weak or anything like that. Crying was for girls, crying was for babies, but right then, Danny didn't care. Sent to his room unfairly and feeling as though he had been disowned, he sat on his bed and cried.

The most unfair part about the whole situation was the fact that Sam was currently sitting on his bed beside him and bearing witness to his moment of weakness. It was degrading, and yet, at the same time he felt an odd amount of comfort from her being there with him.

He was thanking God right then that they hadn't had to separate for the remainder of the day. He didn't want her out of his sight after the scare from that afternoon and Sam didn't particularly want to be away from him either.

As soon as they had been found in the bathroom, they had been dragged to the nurses office and lectured. Their parents had been called and Danny's had come to pick him up. Fifteen minutes later, however, found the school secretary, nurse, and vice-principal still on the phone, just having contacted Sam's parents, who were about to board a cruise ship to Alaska.

Having no other way to get Sam safely to the hospital and then home, permission was given to the Fentons to take her as well, with much grumbling and a few choice words. It was decided that they would head to the Fenton house to pick her up as soon as they were back.

From school to the hospital, to get Sam fixed up and both children looked over, and from the hospital to home, where Danny and Sam had quietly sat on the couch, listening to Maddie and Jack fuss, worry, and rant. They avoided questions as best they could, knowing that the adults simply didn't believe in their connection to one another.

The problem had started, however, when Jazz arrived home and asked what had happened. Seeming to break some momentary lull, Jazz's simple question had unleashed a storm of questions on the part of the Fentons. Danny answered as best he could, but things quickly turned ugly when he refused to say he was wrong for getting into a fight.

Danny sat on his bed, face buried in his hands, shoulders shaking, and his breath coming in great gasps. He felt lost, confused, and completely unsure of himself. The feelings rolling off him prompted Sam to try and do anything she could to get him to calm down. She did not like the way he was feeling right then.

Edging closer to his side, Sam lightly leaned against Danny, letting him know that she was there for him, both psychically and emotionally. He began to calm and even lean back against her when a quiet knock and Jazz's soft voice was heard through the door.

Wiping his eyes and sitting up straighter Danny watched as the door opened a crack and Jazz's voice once again was heard, "May I come in? Mom though you two would want a snack and I wanted to talk to you…"

At Danny's small nod, Jazz entered, balancing a tray with a plate of cookies and two glasses of milk. While she placed it on Danny's desk and placed herself in Danny's chair, she watched Sam shift away slightly from Danny, but not far enough to be in their own personal space zones, 'They're still upset about whatever happened…'

"Danny?"

"What?" he looked towards her sadly, "Oh…snack. Want some Sam?"

"Sure," Sam looked over towards Danny, then to Jazz, "but it's gonna' be messy. I've never done anything with this hand before…"

"That's alright," Jazz smiled for the pair. Danny wasn't the kind of kid to care if there was a mess made in his room or on his bed, 'They probably don't even realize their on his bed. They look like their in lala-land.'

"You, uh, wanted to talk about something?" Danny broke Jazz from her line of thought as he watched the milk stream back from his cookie to the glass he held it above.

"Yeah, I wanted to know what happened at school," she stood and took a cookie from their plate before continuing, "All I got out of yours and our parents' conversation was you got in a fight in a girls' bathroom and Sam got hurt. I didn't get much else from anything you all said."

"Well, there was a fight and I did get hurt," Sam winced as she sighed tiredly, "and no offense but I don't want anymore cookies. I just want to lay down for a while."

Hopping up quickly, Danny took the plate and their two glasses back to the tray sitting on his desk beside Jazz. Gabbing a pillow off the floor, Danny offered it to Sam with a tight smile, "Then lay down. I swear I don't have cooties."

Sam gave the boy a small, wry smile and rolled her eyes, "Thanks."

"So what did happen?"

"W…well," Danny nervously tugged at the collar of his shirt before his hand found its way to the back of his neck, "I was out on the playground when Sam…she, uh, called…that is, I knew something was wrong and went looking for her."

"The 'psychic' thing again? Danny," Jazz said in disapproval, "don't you think you and Sam are getting too old to be playing this game still?"

"It's not a game, Jazz, but believe whatever you want," Sam said as she sat up, "Let's just say Danny got a bad feeling and noticed I wasn't back from going to the bathroom yet…and I should have been. He got worried and went looking for me. That better for you?"

"Makes more sense," Jazz nodded to the girl, then frowned at her brother, "Why couldn't you have just said that in the first place?"

"Because you wanted the truth," Danny said under his breath, before answering her more audibly, "I don't know, Jazz. Look, I went looking for Sam and found her and bunch of jerks in the girls' bathroom. They were messing with her, so I went in and stopped them. That's all. That was the fight and that was how Sam got hurt."

"Why were they hurting Sam?" Jazz's eyes roamed from one face to the other.

"Because they're jerks," Sam answered back coolly, though Danny could clearly feel the fear as she talked about it, "and they actually were stupid enough to believe that me and Danny are 'psychic'. They just got a little rough trying to make me prove it…"

"So people were hurting you and getting in a fight with Danny because they believe that stupid little game you two played?"

"Pretty much," Danny winced, hating every word she spoke, and hating the fact that he was agreeing with her even more, "They really believed us. Everything just got so out of control, and I don't know what to do. I don't want to fight…and I don't want Sam to get hurt again…it's all my fault…"

Jazz watched as her little brother looked over at Sam, his eyes watering at the sight of her beaten and battered form.

"You know," Jazz spoke softly, so as to gently break the moment between the best friends, "You could always stop being 'psychic' and make people believe it was all just a lie…"

"What do you mean?" Sam demanded, opening her eyes to look at the older girl, "Pretend it never happened? Pretend we don't have some sort of connection, which we do whether you believe it or not."

"I don't know what to believe, Sam," Jazz answered back just as hotly, "It just seems stupid to keep something that causes you problems or gets you hurt. It makes a lot more sense to get rid of it or stop doing it or whatever. Pretend it isn't there, that should end everything bad that's happening!"

Danny and Sam both sat in silence, not even bothering to look up as Jazz stood and picked up the tray, "Look, I'm just trying to help you two. It's time to grow up and stop pretending. If you stop, you won't have to worry about it anymore, alright?"

As soon as Jazz left and shut the door, Danny lay down beside Sam on the bed, feeling like he should cry again, but he really didn't have any tears left, 'Doesn't anybody believe us? We aren't stupid, we aren't pretending, and I don't want to give this up…but if it keeps Sam safe…'

"Sam?" Danny lightly touched her shoulder, making sure she was looking at him before he continued, "I think Jazz is right. We need to pretend the link isn't there…"

"But Danny," Sam's brow wrinkled, "why would we do that? We can just stop playing games and talking about it with people."

"No," Danny shook his head, "We promised we wouldn't tell anyone about what happened in the lab, and we should have stuck with that. I don't want us getting hurt anymore. We'll get everyone to believe that it was a joke or something. Alright?"

"We could get Tucker to help us spread it around," Sam said thoughtfully as she sat up, Danny following her, "They'll believe him because he's our best friend…they'll all think it was a game."

"Do you promise though, Sam?" Danny looked at her seriously, his sense of responsibility for her becoming overwhelming for a moment, "You have to promise me Sam, you won't use our connection ever again."

"I promise," she answered him softly, before meeting his eyes, "and I swear it won't be like the promise we made in the lab when…"

The door creaking open alarmed the pair, and Danny prayed that no one had heard anything about the accident in the lab or what they had been talking about. They were in enough trouble as it was where the 'link' was concerned and if they had heard anything, life would be three times as bad for both of them.

They needed a distraction, something that would shock whoever was about to come through the door, and thinking fast, Danny did the only thing that came to his mind, 'Please don't hate me Sam…'

As Mr. and Mrs. Manson stepped into the room to retrieve their daughter they bore witness to the first kiss between Sam and Danny. A shocked Jazz squeaked her surprise as she peered over their shoulders and soon it was all chaos.

Cries of 'Hands off my daughter!', 'What do you think you're doing young man?', and 'Samantha, come here this instant!' floated around the room as both Sam and Danny jumped off the bed and stood together with blushes covering not only their cheeks, but the rest of their faces, ears, and necks as well.

Danny leaned over before anyone had a chance to drag Sam away from him, "I call that a fake-out, make-out…"

"Well, you certainly faked them out…" her voice replied breathily.

"Sorry if I scared you…please don't hate me."

"I couldn't hate you Danny…you're my best friend."

"See you later…I guess..."

"Uh, yeah...bye Danny…"

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

The light from his windowand a quiet woof woke Danny from his sleep, and the boy wondered over partial images that came to him from his night of sleep. Talking to Jazz, Sam being badly hurt, cookies and milk, and…kissing Sam.

A tiny smile crept over his face as he remembered the first fake-out, make-out and the subsequent bedlam that spread throughout his house. It was one of the reasons that the Mansons hadn't liked him for years afterwards, why they thought him a bad influence on Sam.

A small laugh escaped him as he stood and stretched, noting Matches was scratching at his door, "So you want in huh?"

And with smiling eyes, Danny opened the door to find not only his puppy waiting for him, but a shocked Sam, quickly turning red from embarrassment and a laughing Tucker, quickly pointing out that his boxers really were a joke pair, and he didn't have to wear them.

Looking down at the hearts and teddy bear boxers that had so embarrassed him at his birthday party, Danny once again started turning colors and swearing under his breath as he scrambled for a shirt….the first kiss he ever shared with Sam still fresh on his mind.

A mental picture from the shocked Sam, feeling as though she didn't mean to send it, had him sending her a strange look before he even got the shirt over his head. Turning even more red at the image of him with only his boxers on, with a particular emphasis on his abs and arm muscles had Danny in his own quiet shock, 'I guess she likes my muscles…'

Sam, soon realizing what happened, smashed one hand over her face and the other over Tucker's mouth. When both threatened the boy within an inch of his life, Tucker finally calmed down enough and their day went on as planned.

Of course, not without a few teasing comments from their favorite techno-geek, but the day still progressed as planned…two very nice images floating in two very embarrassed minds…