Links in the Chain
By Lacey52
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
A note: Well, damn the internet for not being up at my dorm, damn my computer for not wanting to work and for all the times it tried to shut down my word processor as I was writing, and damn me for getting distracted when I should have been typing.
I'm finally posting it, as late as it may be…argh, this has not been a good week…one of the horses at the camp I work at died, and everyone's in a tizzy right now…I have a headache from hell, and I really need a shower….
Anywho, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter…it's a serious dream, and a cute make-up…though it might be a little cheesy for you guys. Give me a break, I'm damned near reaching critical right now with all the stuff that's been happening… . ! I need the cheesiness of it dammit!
Heh, mental breakdowns aside, I didn't check this puppy over, so forgive me the grammatical errors that might show up…(sighs) I'm going to go die for about four hours now and it's then up and off to camp! Woohoo…
Oh, and it's a dream chapter...hope you guys enjoy it. I know it's not my best, but it's a necessary evil. Heh...
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
Chapter Forty Eight: Interlude: Dream Rides
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
"I'm home," Sam called out, closing the door and not expecting to get an answer from anyone other than the butler, or perhaps one of the maids, "I had a horrible day, blah, blah, blah, I'm going upstairs."
"Sammy-kins?" came her father's worried voice, "You had a horrible day? What's wrong sweetie?"
"Dad?" Sam walked in a puzzled state towards the kitchen, "Why're you home?"
"Took the day off," he smiled towards his daughter, "It's Valentine's Day after all. Usually you and the boys are out somewhere, doing something like you usually do ignoring the fact that this is a romantic holiday. That's the reason I'm home…I'm hoping to catch your mother off guard with a nice dinner."
"Nice…dinner…" Sam could almost feel her eye beginning to twitch. After her horrible fight with Danny she had seen couple after couple acting as sickeningly sweet as they could. She had kept that stupid little blue flower, which was still clutched desperately in her hand, but was suddenly wishing she had stuffed it in her mouth, chewed it up, and then handed it back to the halfa.
Chuckling, the elder Manson watched his daughter start to get flustered by his statement and decided to help her out, "Yes, a nice dinner. Of course then we have a flight scheduled to New York at seven, so we won't even have much time to eat. Shame really."
Scooting in on her chair, Sam's grandmother decided to take notice of the, as of then, slightly hated blue flower, "You've got a flower in your hand and it's going to wilt if you keep manhandling it like that. Get a vase and put some water in it, then trim the stem. Go on!"
Hustling to do her grandmother's bidding, and trying to keep the blush off her face as her father watched her, Sam waited for the inevitable question. Just as she finished placing the carnation in a small vase, her father gave her a gentle smile, "So…how's Danny doing?"
"It's not that type of…flower…wait," Sam turned to look at her father, a fierce scowl on her face, "Did you just ask about Danny?"
"Uh, yes I did," Sam's father took a look at her, before deciding that maybe 'Danny' wasn't the best subject at the moment, "but more importantly at the moment, you said your day was unpleasant?"
"Yeah," Sam looked like she was about to wilt the poor little flower with her glare, "and the unpleasantness' name happens to be Daniel Fenton."
"Getting a flower from a boy is a bad thing now a days, Sam?" her grandmother questioned her, "I always thought that getting a flower was a sign of affection."
Blushing, Sam quickly settled herself down, "It wasn't the flower, Grandma, it was the giant fight that we had in the cafeteria in front of the whole school. He's such a jerk, he even told me that he didn't like me sitting at a different table. Then he had the never to just walk away, right out the door, didn't even say he was sorry or anything!"
Mr. Manson's eyebrows couldn't have receded up his forehead any farther without having met with his hairline, "Daniel? The same you always are with and talk to?"
"Yeah him," Sam set the vase down and crossed her arms, leaning against the table unhappily, "It all started right after he gave me a book I've been wanting…and the flower. He told me he read my diary. Can you believe the impudence of that jerk?"
"Well," Sam's grandma replied as she started out of the room, "that wasn't very nice, but it reminds me of another young man I know…"
Raising her eyebrow, Sam turned to her father, "What did you do?"
"Well," Sam laughed to herself as she watched her father blush, "I snuck into your mother's apartment once to try and find out what she wanted for a birthday gift. She caught me and gave me the lecture of my life. She dressed me down the next day in front of all our friends as well. I will never forget that day, and I learned to respect her privacy."
"You did that?" Sam asked in disbelief, "You freaked out when Danny walked in with a CD once…"
"And I had every right," he nodded, though his blush was still apparent, "I wasn't ready to think of my little girl being around hormonal boys who liked the same music as them…you know where music leads and that one time with him in his room…"
"Dad, that is so 1950's and 60's with the music thing," Sam crossed her arms again, "Me and Dannyaren't that way."
"You are," he began to set the table, "but you won't admit it. You have a relationship with one another, but it's different than anything that I've encountered. I can tell because you're so upset over the fight the two of you had."
Sam walked over to the refrigerator, rummaging through it for a snack, and chewed her father's words over in her mind, 'But we don't have a relationship do we? I mean, other than friendship, it's not like Dad is talking about. We're just friends…but I do like him…'
"I do like him," she said out loud when she had made it halfway through her snack, not even blushing at the admission, "I just…I don't think that now is a great time to tell him that. I think he knows…but he's worried about stuff getting in the way."
"I think you're onto something Samantha," her father smiled at her while she finished her snack, "but don't get so worked up over everything. If I know Daniel like I think I do, he's going to be feeling horrible, even after he apologizes to you, which I'm positive he will."
"Yeah," Sam took her plate to the sink, "I'm gonna' go upstairs for a while…I'm not in the best of moods, but you kinda' made me feel better. Thanks Dad."
And with a quick kiss to her father's cheek, Sam was out of the kitchen and heading up the stairs, taking her book bag with her, 'I wish things were as simple as Dad makes them out to be. Like when we were kids.'
Finally making it to her room, Sam wearily plopped onto her bed and curled up with a sigh, 'When we were kids, we'd run around for hours just making up ways to play or pull pranks on each other. When we were kids we could laugh about anything and life was just fun. When we were kids, I loved having my link with Danny…'
'Danny,' Sam sighed to herself as she remembered a particularly fun afternoon, his smiling face and laughing eyes forever imprinted on her memory, 'I don't want to fight…I care about you too much…'
Drifting into a light sleep, the events from the day still swirling in her mind, Sam remembered a time when they were younger, yes, but it wasn't happy. It was after all the fuss in the nurses office of trying to get a hold of her parents and then the Fentons fighting with the principal to get their son released for the day also…
…and it had to be the only memory she had of Danny's parents being that upset with their son in front of another person…
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
"Get in the car, right now," Maddie Fenton's voice brooked absolutely no argument, "I cannot believe that you would get into a fight, Daniel, and you Samantha, what were you thinking? Why in the world would you provoke five kids into doing this?"
"We didn't provoke them," Danny tried his best to instill the idea in his parents, as he buckled first Sam's and then his own seatbelt, "They trapped Sam in the restroom and I had to find her! That's why I got in a fight, to protect Sam!"
"Danny," his father sighed as he started up the vehicle, "I'm not upset that you were protecting Sam. I'm upset that the two of you even got into this situation."
"Jack," Maddie sounded extremely upset, "Danny should not have gotten in a fight, he should have found a teacher or someone."
The rest of the car ride to the hospital was spent in silence, punctuated only by Sam's soft sniffs to keep her tears from starting again. The pain in her arm was horrible, but the thousands of emotions flying in her mind made her dizzy and kept her distracted well enough. She was too tired to do anything except lean her head on Danny's shoulder and close her eyes.
Finally, finally the bumping and jarring of the moving car came to a stop and the deep fire that ate at her arm receded into a throbbing ache that only burned when she moved too quickly. She didn't mind hospitals, but she didn't like the thought that she would be away from Danny while someone prodded and poked. She didn't want to be away from Danny at all right then…
Checking into the hospital was a nightmare for the Fentons, as they weren't Sam's legal guardians, but several phone calls later had Sam sitting on a doctor's bench, desperately clutching Danny's hand for support. She hurt, and she wanted this all over with as quickly as possible.
"It's gonna' be alright Sam," Danny gave her good hand a quick squeeze, "We'll…we'll figure something out. We always do. Maybe the doctor will even give you a grape lollypop if you're good."
"Not funny," Sam gave a watery chuckle, the adrenaline and emotional high she had been on finally letting her down, "I like cherry better anyways…"
The X-rays seemed to take days, when really it took two hours, and the casting was unbearably long to the suddenly hyperactive Sam. She wanted to move and run and play andwrite, but as her writing arm was broken in not one, but two places, that was a little out of the question, 'No more stories for a while…'
Danny was stoically by her side all the while, ever watchful and seemingly always on the lookout for trouble. The nurses had to keep reassuring him that Sam was fine and no one was trying to hurt them...he looked that shook up. He also was sending her so many feelings, she didn't quite know what to think and seemed almost too distracted to the doctors that were treating her. She did not want them to think she had a concussion, and so tried to ignore everything and focus...that only brought on a rushing headache behind her eyes.
Her head was checked, and apparently not bad enough to warrant stitches and the words, 'Thank God!' rang through her mind. Her face, while still sore, also wasn't bad enough to merit treatment other than an icepack. A small bruise on one side, a black eye on the other, and several bumps, bruises, and scratches on her face, arms and hands. She definitely looked as though distraction was the least of her worries, and so she was released as soon as her cast had begun to harden.
The ride back to Danny's home had been just as silent, and strange. The Fentons were usually so bubbly and happy and made Sam feel that she could be happy because of them. This…this just seemed wrong on such a deep level.
Getting home, finally, finally home, the pair sat on the couch, oh so close and not having any thought to getting further away than they absolutely had to. Nothing seemed right that day, nothing at all.
Questions flew, but the pair wouldn't answer, and at first Maddie and Jack just wrote it off as the trauma of the afternoon still affecting them. When Jazz arrived home, however, was when the dam seemed to break. When it seemed that the whole world refused to believe them about their special connection, their link. When it seemed that it was two on everyone else...
"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!"
It was the first time that Sam had ever seen Danny cry…and she hated every single second of it more than anything she had ever experienced…
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
"Nn…"
Sam felt herself shaking…only not. It was such a strange experience, shaking but not, moving only not moving yourself. Someone was shaking her awake, but upon opening her eyes there was no one there. Just a strange tingly feeling…wait a minute…
"Danny?"
Shivering and sitting up, Sam looked all around her before swiping at her eyes. Her clock beside her bed only readsix thirty. More than likely it was a good thing she had been woken by her ghost boy best friend…who she was currently pissed with.
'Oh yeah,' Sam thought dryly as she managed to focus her thoughts more, 'I'm a bit upset. Right. Stupid dream...'
Shivering again Sam looked angrily around her room, "I know you're in here. It's freezing in here and you're really nervous. Just come out already…"
Above her bed a note popped back into existence…or was that sight? She could never be sure if Danny had made something intangible and invisible or just invisible. Floating down gently, it landed near her knees on the side of the bed. Rolling her eyes Sam snatched the note up, another wave of Danny's nervous energy brushing over her.
'I know you don't want to see me right now, so I guess I'm really, really lucky that I can turn invisible or this would be really hard. So, I thought that since you don't want to talk to me, I'd make it easy on the both of us and write instead. And don't frown at me, I know you're going to.'
Catching herself frowning, Sam had to give her best friend a wry smile at knowing her so well. Looking around she tried to locate her wayward halfa, but found him to still be invisible. Shaking her head slightly she started to read again.
'You're probably going to hate me, but…go to your mirror.'
"Danny," Sam started to whine, even as she threw her covers off her and stood up, "Do I have to?"
Finding no answer she made her way over to her mirror, to find a note already attached to the surface with tape, "You planned this didn't you? And I don't hate you Danny…I just really, really don't like you right now."
'Yeah,' the note read, 'you probably figured it out with this note…it's a note hunt. Remember that one time we had Tucker running all over the house looking for the notes? Man, that was hilarious…I don't think he even found the book we hid from him. You had to give it to him. That's a good memory.'
Smiling, Sam found herself remembering her younger days again, running around, joking, laughing, just like she had been remembering before she had fallen asleep. That day had been one of the last times they had planted notes for one another, and had definitely been one of the most fun.
"Yeah, Danny, that is a good memory," Sam smiled, though a bit confused where he was going with this. She was still upset, but definitely more calm than she had been earlier, "Where do I go next?"
Hearing a tiny movement behind her Sam whirled around, hoping that Danny was going to appear for her, but was disappointed to find only her closet door opening, "You're being really weird today, just to let you know."
Moving over to her closet, Sam pulled the door open completely, pulling down another note, "You'd better pray you don't make me do this for too long, or I'll have to start threatening bodily harm…I'm already mad at you, you're starting to make it worse."
Suddenly her arm moved up by an invisible hand at her elbow, the paper appearing in front of her face, a nervous chuckle sounding as the hand retreated, "Stupid, impatient halfas…"
'I remember you making a wish once that was granted. Afterwards, when I could recall not knowing you, I realized how much my life stunk without you around. I don't want some stupid fight to drive us apart…and I want the chance to tell you how sorry I am…go to your diary Sam.'
Sighing heavily, Sam frowned slightly as she moved over the book, now hovering in mid air, "Danny…"
Taking the diary, Sam once again found a note, and began to read…
'I'm sorry Sam. Really sorry. I was a jerk. A royal, grade-A ass to you. I am paranoid, but can you blame me? Bad luck seems to follow me…like I've got Johnny 13's shadow on my tail. I don't want anything to happen to you because of me or something I've done. I drag you into my problems enough as is. Should be a note on your pillow by now.'
Sam had to take a second to just breath. Swallowing hard to help calm herself down, she moved back to her bed, finding the last note laying on her pillow just as he had said. Sinking down to sit, she felt the bed shift beside her. Danny was sitting too.
'Sam, I know you're mad, how could I not know? I never should have read your diary, and I shouldn't have gotten jealous. I literally got some sense knocked into me. My head still hurts from meeting the locker. Sam, something happened with the link, like that time in fourth grade. You were mad, I got mad, and it just kept getting worse and worse. I shouldn't have started that stupid fight…you have the right to sit where you want. I can't believe I said that to you. We need to talk, face to face…if for nothing but keeping your resident half ghost sane…'
Sam stopped reading a moment to chuckle and look over at where she believed Danny's face would be, trying her best to see his features,thoughwhen she found nothing she turned back to her note.
'Please Sam, can you possibly, maybe, hopefully forgive me? You know, forgive your jerk, best fried who ends up treating you like crap, when he really doesn't mean to?'
A tap on her shoulder had Sam turning back to the suddenly not-so-invisible boy beside her.
"Sam?" Danny looked at her tentatively, "I really am sorry…"
Another flower was held in the hands of Danny for her to take, only this time it was a simple, white and yellow daisy, "Forgive me?"
The look on his face, the tone of his voice, the dimmed lightto his eyes, and the nervous anticipation and hope running through her mind, all of it just made him look so sad and tired and worn.
Could they just forget the fight they had? No. Could they still be friends and could they make up? Definitely. Was it really as bad a fight as they were making it out to be? Maybe…but that didn't mean that they had to let it ruin their relationship…whatever it might currently be.
"So," Sam took the flower with a gentle smile, looked it over and then lay it on her pillow beside the notes she had collected, "a few notes and a really nice flower…"
"…are supposed to make up for a really bad Valentine's Day," Danny sighed and ran a hand through his tousled hair, cheeks growing redder by the second, "I know, I know, really cheesy right? I just thought that maybe I could at least cheer you up a little."
"Cheesy," Sam said as she gave a small, sad smile, and leaned over once again to peck his cheek, "but really sweet. I'm sorry too, you know. I kinda' overreacted and that just made everything worse for the both of us."
"Guess we forgot about how our link makes us echo each other's emotions, huh?" Danny sent a small smile her way with a blush as she leaned on his shoulder before he shook his head slightly, "We need to talk about it…"
Crossing her arms, Sam sat up and sent her patented no-nonsense look his way, "Then talk. Sweet stuff gets you out of trouble, but not all the way…don't think I'm going soft or girly or anything."
"Heh, never," the halfa smiled a bit more assuredly this time, "I hate this, I'm no good at talkin' about feelings with a girl…I'm a guy for goodness sake."
Both of them chuckled quietly before Sam turned to face him fully, "Danny, it's not like we haven't been through this before. Just make me a promise alright?"
"Anything Sam."
He was so serious, Sam couldn't help but roll her eyes at the boy beside her, "Geeze Danny, it's not like you're on trial and about to be excommunicated or anything."
"Huh?"
"Never mind," Sam chuckled at the cluelessyoung manbeside her, "Just promise me that if we start to get all worked up again, you'll leave me alone to cool off, not chase me down in the cafeteria. I'll do the same for you so that our emotions can settle down."
"Sorry about that," Danny's seemingly permenate blush deepenedas he rubbed his neck, "I didn't chase you down exactly…I'm really sorry."
"Stop apologizing," Sam slugged Danny in the arm, shaking her head with another wry grin, "You've already don't it enough times. We both got carried away, alright?"
"Yeah, we gotta' give each other space…and time," he hung his head, then looked up sideways at the young woman beside him, "That's why I walked away Sam. I just remember getting so angry and frustrated and you were doing it too and it kept getting worse…I had to get out of there or I think I might've started yelling. I don't…like yelling at you."
"Yeah," Sam chuckled, mustering up as much sarcasm as she could, "You don't yell very well. Kinda' turns into a weird wailing sound...I...I wasn't very calm either, so I think it really was a good thing you walked away."
Watching the young man beside her, with the weight of the world already on his shoulders, Sam couldn't help but notice that he seemed to be sinking deeper into a blue state. His mood was quite clearly reflected by his face and posture. And she didn't like it.
"Let's just…" Sam grabbed his hand and once again leaned on his shoulder, content with the delicate moment they were sharing, "Let's just not fight like that again."
"That," Danny squeezed her hand and gave her a smile as he leaned his head against hers, "I can agree to."