Links in the Chain
By Lacey52

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

A note: Yes, the title word usually has a negative connotation, but I'm changing that. 'Repercussion' can mean: outcome, impact, aftermath, consequence, result, and a few other words that I could list from the thesaurus. Not all of those words have negative meanings….so don't judge a chapter by it's title…lol.
I'd like thank to thank all those people who have been sending anonymous, 'signed' reviews. I can't reply to you, though I would love to, and I just wanted to let you all know that you're reviews are greatly appreciated! Lots of love to you all!

Hm…did I kinda' cop out on this chapter…maybeeeee, but I don't really care. I like it!

And HURRAH! I earned twenty points from Nonny! I feel so special!
(Cough) Get on with the story (cough). Oh, right…that's the muse(s) who are poking me so we'll start now!

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

Chapter Fifty Four: Repercussions

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

The last few days of March were going to drag on as slowly as they possibly could, Dash could just feel it. Why, when he was trying his hardest to stay out of their way would he always end up running into them? Sam jogging at the park, Valerie in the hallways at school, Tucker at the library working on a report, and then last but not least, Danny at the Nasty Burger.

It never failed, he would run into them and they would try to strike up a conversation about how things were going. They would try to get him to join them to meet the others and go out to do something. Try to get him to eat lunch away from the comfort of the other 'A-list' people who were normal, average, everyday teenagers.

Not teens with weird attitudes, skills, or superpowers.

As Dash sat listening to a lecture in the most boring place on earth, a.k.a. school, he did something he was not often want to do. He was thinking.

No, thinking wasn't what he wasn't use to doing. Rather it was what he was thinking about. Dash thought about everything that he had done wrong within the last few days. Then he thought about the last few weeks. Then months. Then years.

'Why can't I just stop thinking about this?' Dash fumed silently to himself as he tapped his pencil and observed his eraser leaving small marks behind on his paper, 'I hate thinking about mistakes, they don't get you anywhere.'

Dash Baxter was not one to admit that he was wrong unless he was wrong in a big way. Telling Danny and Sam that he was sorry had been due to a major effort on his part, and slight prodding from Valerie…and if he was going to be honest with himself, slight fear as well.

'I don't fear them,' Dash frowned to himself, viciously repeating the phrase over and over, 'I am not afraid.'

It didn't take long for the teen to stop trying to delude himself and accept the truth of the matter. He had been afraid when he was watching them fight, and then talk, and then 'clean up' as they called it. When he had realized just who he was hanging out with and who he had been messing with for all those years, it had struck him hard that he was very lucky they were more the 'hero, save the day, protect people' types than the 'villain, run amuck, kill, maim, destroy!' sort.

He might not have survived so long otherwise.

Now though, as he got over having to admit to himself that he had been afraid, and it took him awhile because he so hated admitting to such a weakness, Dash was sitting and contemplating what he had done. The most heinous of the heinous being the things that popped into his mind first.

'First I let Sam get beaten in fifth, then I torture people like Danny until this year,' Dash frowned as his mood darkened and his day started to go downhill, 'Then I get between the two lovebirds and cause a major fight, even though I didn't mean to. Now I know Danny's secret and nearly got him killed by blabbing it to people. Great, what next? Do I get to nearly end the world…'

As Dash continued his mope fest, Sam noticed his mood, balled up a piece of paper, and beaned him on the back of his head. When that didn't work, she settled for reaching out with her left foot and kicking his chair. Hard.

That sufficiently caught his attention as he whirled around to glare at the unfortunate boy behind him, who was cringing and pointing frantically in Sam's direction. As Sam finally caught his eye, she mouth, 'You okay?'

Dash simply nodded his head in the affirmative and settled back into his desk, making sure all the while that their teacher had not taken notice of their interaction. It would be poetic un-justice, he figured, that he'd get poor Sam detention for worrying about him as well.

Karma, Dash decided, hated him for some reason.

"Mr. Baxter, Ms. Manson," their educating professional spoke up with a nasally drawl, "Is there something you would care to share with the rest of the class?"

"No," Sam politely shook her head, "I was just wondering why he looked so upset and asked if he was alright. I'm sorry I interrupted your class."

"Yes, well do try to keep the social exchanges at a minimum, will you?"

"Yes, sir," Sam replied as she smiled slightly and settled back down in her own seat, doodling on her notes as she tried to pay attention to one of the less than thrilling lectures they received daily.

Shaking his head at his own luck, Dash began to wonder if all the bad luck that Danny seemed to experience was rubbing off on him, 'Nah. Even his luck couldn't be this bad.'

Thinking about Danny's bad luck led him to think over everything about the boy, er…halfa in general. Dash was still getting used to thinking of Danny Fenton, target of bullies school wide, as the infamous Danny Phantom, his complete and total opposite personality wise…or so it had seemed.

Thinking back over his time spent with the trio, he could see now that overlaying Phantom and Fenton wasn't such a hard thing. Sure, Phantom appeared to be more confident, but once you truly got to know Danny, he was a pretty confident person himself.

'They all are,' Dash's thoughts returned to the four people who he had discovered new aspects of recently, 'They all act like they want me to hang out with them, and they probably do, but where do I fit in? Why would Danny even want me around...I nearly ratted him out.'

Dash scribbled something relating to what his teacher was saying on his paper, hoping to at least appease the man with having something down before continuing with his thoughts, 'I'm just a jock, there really isn't much I can do. Sam's the cool head, Valerie is a fighter, Tucker's the tech guy, and Danny's the hero. What place is there for a jock who's a jerk?'

His thoughts continued thus for much of the afternoon, and even through lunch he was distracted. Star and Kwan tried their best to drag him from the somber mood he had buried himself in, but seemed to have little effect with their joking and lightheartedness.

Something was wrong with their friend, and they could only hope that whatever it was, was worked out quickly so he could be his normal, confident self once again. The new Dash was way too quiet…they wanted the old one back.

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

"I think it went this way. It's that ghost that Valerie'n'me have been trying to find," Dash heard from around the corner as he was on his way to the restroom. Peeking his head around the row of lockers, he found himself observing Danny Phantom grabbing Sam and Tucker and phasing them into the storage room near the back of the school.

'What the hell are they doing?' Dash let his curiosity get the better of him and moved to follow, 'I may not be good for anything, but the least I can do is be a look out and keep people away.'

Feeling a little more confident about what he was doing and why, though he was only fooling himself, Dash moved towards the supply room. It was the one room where all the teachers supplies, from pencils to staplers to glue, were kept. The door, he found, was slightly ajar, suggesting that even though Danny had phased them through someone else was inside. The jock found out soon enough who it was.

"Worst Case Scenario Survivor's Handbook!"

"Mr. Lancer?" Dash was caught off guard as the man slammed into him after hurrying out of the doorway, throwing the door shut behind him as he went, "What's going on?"

"There's a ghost in the supply closet," the man said as he found himself steadied by the young teenager beside him, "I suggest we both leave the area quickly."

'Wait, wasn't it Danny that went in there?' Dash questioned himself before working out a way to word it so he didn't have to worry about Lancer figuring out just who Danny was, "I thought I saw that Danny Phantom guy going in there…"

"Yes," Lancer nodded as he seemingly sized up the blonde teen before him, "He's currently fighting with the other ghost, and I was told rather sternly to leave. There's some rather sharp objects flying around in there and I was pretty much shoved out before I got hurt. Rather generous of the ghost, don't you think?"

"Yeah," Dash nodded his head, "I'll uh, just be getting back to class then…"

As his vice-principal nodded and moved back down the hall, distractedly picking staples out of his tie and goatee, Dash turned back quickly and ran to the storeroom door, flinging it open and stepping inside, only to find the room in absolute chaos.

"Damn it!" he found Tucker struggling against the wall nearest the door, "I really liked this shirt too!"

The poor boy had been pinned to the wall, outlined with staples, thumbtacks, Exacto-knife blades, and dozens of other sharp objects. Trying to free himself, Tucker had only managed to rip part of his shirt and was looking ready to murder the ghost that had caused his clothes to be ruined.

"Dash?" Tucker shot him a confused look, before his eyes lit up, "Get over to Sam and help her with the thermos!"

"What?" Dash asked in confusion, before he had to duck and roll out of the way of a rather large roll of butcher paper that was swirling around in the pseudo-wind the ghost had whipped up somehow, "What the hell is going on?"

"A ghost," Danny growled out over the wind as he knocked a stapler that was flying for his face out of the air, right at Tucker. Fortunately for the boy, it thumped gently against his stomach before floating back off to join the ranks of other school supplies that were attacking the halfa, "Whoops, heh, sorry 'bout that Tuck!"

"Aim, Danny!" Sam shouted at the teen, holding a glowing thermos in front of her and following the fighting pair in the air, "You are working on your aim tonight, even if it means I have to do your homework for you! You're getting really lazy!"

"Hey!" Danny looked at the girl, distracted for the moment, "I am not getting lazy, I've just had other things to deal with."

The other ghost took the opportunity to knock Danny out of the air, the halfa slamming into a bookshelf rather hard, "Weak, pretentious ghost-child, thinking you could take I, the master of all office supplies, on as you have been! When I am finished here with you, I will proceed to take over this place of work, then move on to other businesses!"

"Whatever," Sam rolled her eyes as she moved to stand beside Danny, "Have you been taking lessons from Technus or something?"

"Nicholi Technus?" the ghost paused in consideration, "No, as a matter of fact I haven't seen him in nearly a year since that ghost convention with the magnet drew us out of hiding…"

"I knew you looked familiar," Danny frowned as he busted the ghost's chin with a sharp upper cut, "It's time for you to go back where you belong!"

A green ray was fired from Danny's left hand, but it was blocked by a group of flying pencils, which then rained down on Sam, covering her with wood shaving, "Gee thanks Danny, you're really on a roll today…"

"What," Dash looked over to Sam, "Is he having an off day or something?"

"Yeah," Sam sighed in annoyance, "He got Tucker stuck to the wall almost as soon as we came in here."

"I guess everyone's just having a bad day then," Dash shrugged, feeling a little less gloomy, "I know when I'm having an off day, my aim sucks…guess that's what's happening with Fenton."

Grimacing, Danny tried to focus himself more on the fight, only to find several hundred erasers flying his way, 'This I can take care of.'

As Danny swatted them out of his way, he laid back into the ghost, having a few hits make it through and taking a few hits as well. A frustrated squeak from Sam had him pushing the ghost back with a quick blast and whirling around…apparently the erasers had missed him, but found another target.

"Way to go Danny," Sam crossed her arms and frowned, "I'd be tapping my foot right now if I could, but since I obviously can't I'm going to settle for glaring at you for a while."

Sam was buried up to her waist in the erasers and a few other school supplies, holding her immobile, the thermos conspicuously absent. She was glaring, yes, but the nervous feelings that were knotting in the pit of Danny's stomach told him she didn't really mean it harshly, 'She's worried because the fight is going bad. Where did that thermos get to anyways?'

"Sorry Sam!" Danny ducked under his opponents arm and tried to get in another hit, but found his arm going through the ghost instead, "I'll phase you out as soon as I'm done here! I'm really, really sorry!"

"Two days of aim practice!" Sam threatened as Tucker laughed from his place on the wall, "And no me doing your homework…"

"Aw, I said I was sorry!" Danny made a go for the thermos, but had to pull up short as a pair of scissors knocked the thermos from his reach and began threatening him, "Stupid obsessive ghosts!"

"You could say that again," Sam rolled her eyes, then spotted the thermos in the hands of a very confused Dash, "Dash! Use it!"

"Huh?" the teen replied as he looked from the girl to the thermos and then up to the struggling Tucker, who had also noticed that he had come into the possession of the thermos, 'What's so great about a thermos…'

"Use it," Tucker said hurriedly as he tried to explain in a whispered voice, "It's the Fenton Thermos and it's designed to catch and hold ghosts, no matter how powerful they are. When you get a clear shot, just aim it at the ghost and suck him in!"

Holding the thermos up, Dash aimed it, but nothing happened. Sending a confused look to Tucker, he cautiously made his way over to Sam who was beckoning him with sharp hand motions. Ducking and weaving were apparently useful in situations other than just sports, and as Dash finally made closer to Sam's side another thought came into his head, 'Maybe this is why Danny liked dodge ball so much…it's good practice.'

Totally irrational thought of the moment over with, Dash turned back to trying to get over to Sam to let her use the ghost catching device, but found himself blocked by a rather menacing pile of math books, 'I knew I hated math for a reason…stupid math!'

"Dash!" Sam called from where she was, "Just trust us and believe that it works, I promise you it does. Just aim it and it will work. Do it!"

The boy hesitated until he saw Danny get knocked back again, and looking back at Sam once he nodded and held the thermos up. He began thinking over all that had been happening and wanted so desperately for it to work, so he could prove that he wasn't just some dumb jock that wasn't useful to them. He wanted to show them that he was good enough, even though they all already thought he was.

'I have to do this,' Dash concentrated, then stopped and just started believing like Sam had told him to, 'I can do this. If ghosts are real, then I can definitely do this.'

As soon as the thought came to him, the thermos began to hum slightly, almost too low to hear, and turned a bright blue, like the color of the rings around Danny when he moved from human to ghost or vice-versa, 'It's working…'

The beam of light from the thermos formed a strong vortex around the office supply loving ghost, trapping him and pulling him in. As soon as he was in, Sam tossed the lid to the boy, who slammed it on and screwed it on as tightly as he could. Dash felt as though his heart were going to beat right out of his chest. Even at the championship game he hadn't felt so nervous and out of sorts.

As soon as the lid was on, objects began to rain from the air, beaning them all on the head and making Sam begin to laugh loudly as a jug of glue that had been opened and floating in the air, fell on Danny, covering him in the sticky paste.

"Yeah, yeah," Danny said as he shook his head, then phased the glue off of him, "laugh at the halfa covered in glue. Go ahead, it's only fair since I got both of you stuck with my horrible aim."

"It was pretty bad," Sam folded her arms again, even as the teen grabbed her and phased her out of the eraser pile she had been stick in.

"You have to admit," Tucker said from his place on the wall, "you're not having a good day in the aiming department."

"Whatever," Danny answered, only halfway irritated at the two goading him as he pulled Tucker off the wall, saving the rest of his nearly ruined shirt by turning the boy and his clothes intangible as he had with Sam, "I deserve it, make fun of me."

"Spoil-sport," Sam frowned and stuck out her tongue, "It isn't any fun if you just let us make fun of you."

"Good job," Tucker smiled at Dash, who was still trying to get his heartbeat back under control.

"Yeah," Danny smiled as he moved over and clapped a hand on the other teen's back, "congratulations on your first successful ghost hunt."

"Thanks," Dash managed as the adrenaline began to leave his system, "It was pretty intense."

"It only gets worse," Sam said in a sing-song manner, "Trust me, with Danny around life is never boring. You'll have plenty of opportunities to catch ghosts if you hang around with us."

'Is that an invitation?' Dash thought, then nearly laughed, 'Duh, they've only been trying to get me to hang out with them for the past couple of weeks.'

"Hey," Danny smiled, then turned back to his normal self in a flash of light, "Let's skip out and get something to eat at the Nasty Burger. I'm sure Lancer will understand, besides I'm hungry after that fight, and I'm sure Dash needs a break."

"Lancer knows?" Dash's confusion showed clearly on his face as he tried to puzzle that bit of information out.

"Yeah," Tucker laughed slightly as he moved towards the door, "how'd you think we got out of always skipping school without getting in major trouble. I used to be grounded all the time for skipping school until Lancer found out. Now he doesn't call our parents to report our truancy anymore."

"He knows," Dash stated slowly, a lot of things beginning to make sense. He knew that Tucker and Sam and Danny often got after school detention for being tardy to classes and such, and he knew that they stayed after school, but more often than not, they'd head to Mr. Lancer's office. Then after only a few minutes, they'd all be out and free to do as they wished as long as they stayed in the school building.

Dash had seen them enough times, sneaking around and trying to avoid the teachers, that he had begun to think that Lancer left them in his office to go and do other things, and they had snuck out. He never imagined that Lancer was in on it with them.

"That's pretty convenient," Dash stated as they headed out of the supply closet and towards the vice-principal's office.

"Yeah," Danny nodded as he knocked and the door was opened, "Uh, I took care of it Mr. Lancer, but the supply closet is a pretty big mess…"

"When are the rooms you fight in not 'big messes'?" Mr. Lancer questioned with slight humor, "Or for that matter, rooms that you are in in general…"

"True," Sam smiled as she got in on the teasing action, "His room is a mess, and whenever he's over at my house it gets trashed…"

"Same here," Tucker raised his hand, the a mischievous look crossed his face, "It's a conspiracy…he does it on purpose so he doesn't get in as much trouble when he trashes places in fights."

As the pair laughed, Dash found himself face to face with his vice-principal, "Dash Baxter, I thought you were heading back to your class. You are quite alright?"

"Yeah," Dash nodded, "I'm fine. I just thought that they could use some help."

"You know then?" Lancer sent a worried look to the trio that had been under his protection for a while, but relaxed when he saw all three of them smiling happily back, "That's a relief. Daniel can use all the friends he can get in his adventures in ghost hunting."

"Uh," Danny cut in, "We wanted to cut and go get something to eat…I think we kinda' traumatized Dash with his first ghost fight."

"You are aware that you're going to owe me an actual detention?"

"Yeah," Danny smiled, "but it was all my idea, I'll do extra for all three of them. I'm forcing them."

"Whatever," Sam rolled her eyes, "Would you mind Mr. Lancer?"

"No," Lancer gave them a stern look while trying not to smile, "just be aware of the consequences."

"Oh we are," Danny smiled as he began to move off with the other three, "Dash may not be yet, but we are…"

"Consequences?" Dash echoed worriedly as he moved away from the school with the group that he had let himself be reaccepted into.

"They're just trying to bully you," Sam said, her statement tinged with amusement, "Don't listen to them. It'll be fine."

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

Much to Dash's amazement it was fine like Sam had said. They had an enjoyable time at the Nasty Burger, receiving knowing looks from the workers there and then headed back to school, right in time for the last period of the day. Dash had to resist the urge to smirk when he was given his detention by a rather neutral looking Lancer right before the bell rang.

The four spent the first ten minutes or so just sitting in Lancer's office, talking about what had transpired over Spring Break, and the past few weeks in general. After the first ten minutes was done, they were free to do as they pleased, and Dash, being late for practice ran there immediately with apologies from Lancer to his coach.

"Rules are rules," Lancer had said as he handed Dash a note to let him off the hook with his team, "but I'm letting you out of detention early so our star athlete doesn't get into more trouble."

Danny, like he had promised Lancer, had stayed until nearly five o'clock, serving actual detention and helping to clean the supply room on behalf of the three that he had managed to make go truant with him. Imagine Danny's surprise and pleasure when he walked out of school and found Sam sitting on the steps waiting for him.

"Hey," Danny sat beside her casually, "you didn't have to wait for me you know."

"Yeah," Sam shrugged, "I guess I just wanted to. Thought you could use the company after having to spend so much time in Lancer's presence."

"He ain't so bad," he grinned, then stood and watched as Sam did the same, "So this afternoon…something's been bugging me since then…"

"What?" Sam asked as Danny's curiosity, which had been resting on the edge of her mind since the ghost fight, moved in tighter around her, peaking her own curiosity as to what he was going to ask.

"Why did you tell Dash to trust us and believe that the thermos worked? None of you ever had any trouble with it…is it some kinda' psychological thing that you picked up from Jazz?" he looked at her with curious eyes as the walked down the sidewalk, heading towards her home and his.

Sam remained silent for a moment and thought before shaking her head slightly and answering the young man at her side, "No, it wasn't a psychology trick. It was…it's just something that I realized. The thermos wouldn't work for your dad because you hadn't imbued it with your powers yet. After that, I had only ever seen it work for people who believed that it would."

"So that works how?" Danny asked slowly, still very confused as to what she was getting at. Slight embarrassment gently rolled in his stomach as he watched Sam bite her lip, trying to figure out what to say, "Whatever you're gonna' say, I won't make fun of you or anything. I promise."

That seemingly did the trick as Sam's face took on a more determined air, "Well, I just think that it takes a little magic to make things happen."

"Magic?" Danny echoed, even more confused now, "How does magic have anything to do with the thermos?"

"It's just an idea," Sam shrugged, "but I mean, if ghosts are real and I'm standing beside a half human, half ghost hybrid, and there are alternate dimensions, and stuff like that, then isn't it possible that magic is real? Not magic like the kind you see in movies, but something more realistic."

"Like, me being able to float and turn invisible and stuff?"

"Yeah, that too," Sam nodded her head, "You didn't get control over your powers until you started to believe in yourself. Then you got it no problem. I just thought that maybe if Dash just believed that it would work…then maybe it would."

"And it did," Danny smirked as he looked towards the ground, impressed by Sam's line of thinking and feeling her reaction of happiness as she felt how proud he was of her, "That's pretty smart Sam."

"I guess," she shrugged again, the happy feelings still wafting around her, "Believing is a major part of making magic work. Remember when I used to love all that supernatural stuff?"

"Yeah," Danny laughed, "You'd spend hours reading myths and then try to force me and Tucker to learn it all so we could play along with you. Pretty lucky for me you liked all that stuff. You and Tucker've helped me out a lot over the past couple of years with your knowledge of the supernatural."

"Yep," Sam tucked her hands into her pockets and nudged Danny's shoulder with her own, "That's why we could use the thermos so easily. We believed it would work. Dash just had to trust us and himself and it worked for him too."

"You're getting smarter," Danny laughed as he bumped her back, "I think I should be worried, who knows what evil plots you might come up with…"

"No more evil that what I normally do," Sam smiled as she began to walk down her own street, "I guess I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah," Danny smiled happily as he began to head to his own house, "I'll call you."

'This has been one heck of day,' Sam thought as she walked the rest of the way and in her house, being happily greeted her father and mother, who were once again home, 'Wonder what else is gonna' happen, 'cause it ain't over until the fat lady sings…geeze I hope I didn't just curse myself…'

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

One Daniel Fenton, also known as Danny Phantom, apparently didn't sleep deeply and definitely didn't take to being woken up in the middle of the night by rough, cold hands. Walker stood back, nursing the slight bump that was forming on his face from standing too close to the halfa while waking him. The boy had one heck of a right hook.

"What the hell are you doing now?" Danny changed quickly and was floating in font of three of his worst opponents in the middle of the night, in his own room none-the-less, "Leave my family out of this, I'll fight, but let's go somewhere else!"

"Easy dipstick," Ember folded her arms and frowned at the green-eyed teen floating in front of them, "We didn't come to fight…this time."

"You didn't?" Danny asked in slight disbelief and relief, then frowned as a new thought took over, "You weren't driven out of the ghost zone again were you? No Pariah Dark or anything?"

"Nay," Fright Knight answered from where he stood near the door, "We have come of our own accord, and on behalf of a few others like ourselves."

Danny lowered himself to the ground, still tense and ready to fight should he be forced to, but no longer letting the energy gather around his fists. If they wanted to talk, that was more than fine by him. One thirty in the morning wasn't exactly his favorite time to have to brawl anyways…

"We have heard what has recently happened between the ghost hunter known as Valerie Gray, yourself, and Vlad Plasmius," Walker stated as he saw Danny stand down slightly, "and several of us feel that some sort of agreement should be worked out between you and the residents of the ghost zone."

"What?" Danny took a slight step back to stand a bit straighter, "I thought we had one worked out. You guys come out, try to wreck the town, I kick your butt, sometimes with help, and then send you back into the ghost zone."

"We ain't always out lookin' for trouble," Ember frowned at the halfa again, "Sometimes we just want out for a change of pace. It gets boring looking at swirling green stuff and floating purple doors…"

"We've long felt the presence of Plasmius," the ghostly knight chose to speak again as a slight pause settled over them, "I was in his service until thou freed me by destroying his ghostly self, and now feel the need to free myself from any obligations to thine own self."

"You don't owe me anything," Danny nodded to the Fright Knight, "I didn't do it to free you or save the ghost zone or anything. He's been after my family, and I was sick and tired of it."

Noticing Danny's eyes burning a brighter green than normal, Walker wisely steered the conversation away from the subject of Vlad, "Let's just get down to business. I've gotten reports that you've been allowing ghosts to stay out in the real world so long as they agree to not cause any trouble."

Seemingly pulling his rule book from thin air, Walker began to read to the halfa, "Kitty and Johnny 13 were allowed to stay out on July fourth of last year, and a new resident to the ghost zone, a ghost by the name of Huey, was also left to roam around in the fall and winter until he decided to leave."

"Yeah," Danny nodded tersely, still not knowing what to expect, "I did let them out, but they aren't exactly you guys. If you want to get out, I'm not going to let you cause any trouble."

"Haven't you been listening, you dork?" Ember moved closer to the boy, only to receive a snapped reply in return.

"Hey, only Sam gets to call me a dork!"

"Always knew you two had a thing for each other," she smiled saucily at his blush before continuing with what she had been saying, "Anyways, we aren't here to fight. Everybody wants out of the ghost zone, and sometimes they do get out, but you've always been there to stuff us right back in."

"Indeed," Walker nodded, "it seems that you have your own book of laws that you create and follow."

"I don't just create laws," Danny tried to keep his cool, opting to grind his teeth rather than grind Walker's face into the floor, "I just want to keep my town safe. If all of you were out and trying to take over the world and scaring people it would be bad."

"T'would be disruptive," Fright Knight agreed as he spoke again, "but if thou would grant the ghosts leave to enjoy themselves in the real world from time to time, I feel as though an agreement could be reached. Many others feel as I, also."

"You want to make a truce?" Danny asked in amazement as he sank into his computer chair, looking from ghost to ghost to ghost, "Are you serious?"

"It ain't a truce by any means, string bean," Ember leaned back against the wall, "We just want out, and I'm gettin' tired of you always sending me back in. I won't take over the world if you just let me out. But that's as far as I'll go on any sort of deal with you. I want power, and I want fame, but I can't get it if I'm stuck in that stupid green and purple nightmare!"

"The other ghosts get restless too," Walked adjusted his hat, a small smirk on his face, "They may not be on their best behavior, but quite a few seem to think that you'd be willing to compromise."

"So what's the deal then?" Danny asked as he narrowed his eyes and examined them all carefully. These particular ghosts weren't generally taken with lying, and they still admitted to having their motives for doing this, but Danny was nothing if not cautious around them. Too many fights had taught him to be thus.

"We get out and don't over run your little human lives," Ember smiled, "and you let us have some fun. That way everyone's happy. We get out, you don't have to fight us."

"Be forewarned ghost-child," Fright Knight stepped closer, "Not all spirits shall abide by this pact. Many still wish for power, but the great number wish only for freedom to be in your world. It would be prudent to accept this, but thy defense still need be vigilant, as it ever were."

"So if I let you guys out to just mess around," Danny repeated back, making sure he was getting everything correctly, "You won't try taking over the world or anything like that…'cause I'm getting really tired of having to fight all the time."

"Yeah, well," Ember sniffed, "so are we…with Vladdie gone, we can do more stuff now, so why waste our time fighting with you?"

"Fine," Danny nodded as he stood and moved carefully towards the three entities, "but there are ground rules when the ghosts come out."

"Like what?" Ember demanded.

"Like there can't be more than four of you out at a time," Danny grimaced, "because if there are I wouldn't be able to fight them all if they turned on me…"

"Anything else?" Walker asked as he noted Danny's stipulation in his law book.

"You're actually taking me seriously?" Danny asked, curiosity shining intensely from his eyes and face.

"Anyone who can do what you did to Vlad Plasmius is someone I would take seriously," the warden answered, "Now is there anything else, before I get too impatient?"

"Yeah," Danny nodded, "A lot actually."

"Hurry up dip stick," Ember growled out, "I'm getting tired of standing around in your smelly room."

Ignoring the 'smelly room' comment Danny went on to list what he thought was fair, "Okay, no more than four out at a time, for no longer than three days…"

"For one full turn of the moon," the knight cut in.

"For two weeks, but that's as far as I'm willing to go," the halfa ground out as the three ghosts nodded their acceptance, "Um…no trying to take over the world, or the town, or people….uh, scaring anyone…"

"That's half the fun," Ember let her tongue hang out with a scary hiss, "It's just part of being a ghost."

"Fine, scare away, just don't over do it," Danny sighed, "if I think you're doing it too much I'll give you a warning or something. And absolutely no messing with my family or friends, got it?"

"This seems acceptable," Walker nodded as he snapped his book shut, "We will not intrude on your territory without forewarning, if you do not intrude on ours without notification. Is this acceptable ghost-child?"

Danny nodded his consent as Walker handed him the book to read over. He nodded once more after reading over what had been written, "Will you keep up your end of the deal?"

"Yes," Walker nodded and smiled maliciously, "because I'm sure there will be many who try to break this and that means more prisoners for me. Don't think that I won't toss your hide in jail the next time I catch you in my area though."

"Right," Danny nodded uneasily, making a note to himself that he should steer clear of the ghost zone for quite a while so all hell didn't break loose. He then watched as Walker turned towards the other two ghosts.

"Do you think this agreement will be acceptable?" the other two nodded their consent, as the warden then nodded back to them, "Good, that's final then. We'll go back and post the new laws."

"Can we wait until tomorrow to start this ghosts getting out thing?" Danny asked uneasily, "And can they come see me first as soon as they come out…I want to know who's going to be here."

"Wise move," the Fright Knight commented as he faded out, "I hope to see you again ghost-child."

"We'll tell them, loser," Ember smirked before fading out, "Don't think I'll go easy on you the next time we end up fighting though."

"Smart," Walker chuckled as he eyed the young man before him as he too left, "You'd make a fine probation officer. Too bad you're jailbait, boy."

As soon as they had gone, Danny sank onto his bed to take it all in, staying in his ghost form just in case it was all a big plot, 'They seemed serious enough, and none of them attacked me, even though it would have been a really bad fight with three on one…did I really impress them that much dealing with Vlad?'

'Maybe my luck is finally starting to change,' Danny dared to hope as he stood gazing out his window. Soon though, the halfa couldn't help it, and found him flying towards a very familiar feeling, 'Sure hope she doesn't try to kill me when I wake her up…that would really suck…'

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

'Okay this might be a bad idea, but I'm already here,' Danny took a deep breath as he phased into the sleeping girl's room, 'And I gotta' tell someone about this!'

"Sam, Sam wake up," Danny gently shook her shoulder, "Come on, wake up!"

Shrugging the disturbance off of her, Sam simply rolled over, mumbling in her sleep about finding a pie, and lay still once more. With a wicked smirk, Danny pulled down the covers slightly and slipping his ice cold hands down the back of her night shirt through the collar.

"WAH!" Sam scrambled up right and bolted off of her bed, trying to get away from the cold that had so rudely interrupted her sleep, "What the hell was that?"

"Just your favorite person in the whole world who just so happens to be the friendly resident halfa giving you a wake up call?" Danny asked in a pleading voice, stressing the word 'favorite' as much as he could, hoping to spare himself some trouble.

"What in the world, could possibly be so important that you have to shove your freezing cold hands down the back of my shirt to wake me up at two in the morning?"

Sam was obviously not pleased.

"Please don't kill me!" Danny cringed and threw his hands in front of him as Sam got up and advanced, 'Thank God she has sound proof walls, or I'd be dead meat!'

"Oh, I'm not gonna' kill you," Sam picked up a Fenton thermos that she had forgotten to take back to his house, "I'm going to suck you into this for a few hours and teach you a lesson!"

"No, please!" Danny caught the thermos and removed it from an extremely annoyed Sam, "How about you just yell at me and then I apologize profusely instead?"

"Why did you wake me up, Danny?" Sam pouted as she sat back down on her bed, sleepily rubbing at her eyes and trying to gain her bearings, "Is something going on that I need to know about?"

"Yeah actually," Danny nodded as he hovered right in front of her, crossing his legs to sit in the air, "Ember, the Fright Knight, and Walker woke me up about thirty minutes ago and told me they wanted to make a deal."

Sam gave the floating boy one look and flopped back onto her bed, "Danny, I know I said I believe in magic, but I think you're delusional. They wouldn't just come and try to make a deal with you."

"No?" Danny asked in amusement as he moved so he could take a peek at her face, "Show's what you know. I'm a very happy halfa right now, if things work out according to plan."

"What plan?" Sam sat back up, intrigued, and motioned for him to sit beside her.

"Basically," Danny grinned, his luminous green eyes dancing before her, "if I let the ghosts out, four at a time for two weeks, they've agreed to not try to take over the world or any of that nonsense."

"What's the catch?" Sam asked suspiciously, "There has to be a catch knowing the three you made the deal with."

"Just the fact that there weren't any real promises that all the ghosts would behave or cooperate," Danny shrugged, "but I've been there, done that. Just think, I've got a deal with the ghosts and I may actually get even more of my homework done on time."

"You do realize that Skulker is probably still going to hunt you?" Sam frowned.

"Yep," Danny smiled as he lay back against her bedding, "but we've dealt with that a thousand times. The ghosts are still gonna' try to scare people and all that, it's in their nature or something like that…"

"Yeah, just like you like to be a little imp," Sam frowned as she shivered slightly, "Do you know how cold you are? You're like an ice-cube, and that isn't a very nice way to wake up."

"Sorry Sam," Danny moved away from her slightly, still in the form of Phantom, "I guess I'm just a little nervous. I really want to trust the ghosts, but I don't want them to try and cheat me or anything."

"It sounds pretty reasonable," Sam paused to yawn widely, shaking her head and blinking when she finished before continuing, "but you should probably let Valerie know so she's on her guard too. Why don't you talk to everyone about it tomorrow?"

"Sounds good," Danny said, pacing about five feet above her bed, "Do you think they're taking this seriously? 'Cause if they are, this could really work out for all of us…I wouldn't have to fight so much, they'd have time out of the ghost zone…"

"Why'd they approach you now?" Sam asked as she snuggled back down into her blankets, "It seems kinda' sudden."

"They said it was because I took care of Vlad," Danny smirked cockily, then wrinkled his nose, "with the help of Valerie of course."

"Oh," Sam just accepted it, hoping that everything would work out for Danny's sake and falling back towards sleep, "well, that's good then…"

"So, what do you think…"

"Danny, just shut up and go to sleep," Sam curled up in a ball, trying to block out the emotions bouncing around in her mind and gut, going from anxious to excited to weary to hopeful to fearful to happy and back again over and over.

"But Sam I.." but the halfa never made it any farther as a wave of annoyance crashed into him and he had a mental image of Sam strangling him. The girl herself sat up and wadded up a blanket and pillow, took aim, and threw them at Danny, who caught them and drifted to the ground in surprise.

"Go to sleep…" Sam fell back over, "I don't care if you do it here or at your house, but I'm tired after being buried in erasers today. Good night!"

Danny got the hint as she rolled over and covered her head with her pillow. Still too hyped over the possibility of a true semi-truce to think about what he was doing, Danny curled up on the carpet with the blanket over him, and pillow under his head.

'I'll just hang around for a few more minutes,' Danny thought tiredly with a yawn, his eyes betraying his mind as they slowly shut, 'Just until I get…too tired…'

Danny was out within minutes, following Sam into slumber and sleeping a great deal heavier than he normally did. He didn't notice that he was sleeping on the ground, or the fact that the music he usually had playing on his computer wasn't there to lull him asleep. He didn't notice that his alarm clock didn't go off at its normal time, or that no one came to wake him up. Didn't notice the absence of Matches scratching at his door because he was too far gone, the security of having Sam so close washing out everything else with the emotional barrier their link was creating.

He and she were both out for the rest of the morning, and never even heard the phone ring.

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

"Jack?" Maddie's head peeked into the kitchen as he was getting his morning cup of coffee, "Have you seen Danny this morning? I didn't think he got up already, but he isn't in his room. Matches was having a fit because his door was still closed, and the window wasn't open so he didn't sneak out…"

"Haven't seen him," Jack shrugged as he stirred the amoretto flavored cream into his coffee and added his normal four spoons of sugar, "Maybe he headed over to Tucker's early for something school related?"

"He usually mentions it if he needs to," Maddie sighed as she moved towards the phone, "but I suppose it's a possibility. He can be forgetful at times, like someone else I know."

After getting a charming smile and a lovely kiss from her husband, Maddie moved to the phone and dialed the Foley's home. Tucker answered the phone, and much to her surprise said that they didn't have anything to do other than head to school and he thought they were going to meet at the usual time on the corner.

Thanking the boy, Maddie hung up and decided that maybe Danny had headed over to Sam's early for something, though what she could only guess. Dialing the number, she was rewarded with the butler answering, who then went to take the phone to Mr. Manson per her request.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Mr. Manson, this is Maddie Fenton," she paused for a moment as the man replied politely to her, "I was just wondering if Danny is over there to pick Sam up early? I haven't seen him this morning and I already called Tucker."

"I haven't seen or heard from him," the man replied, "but I'll go and check. Give me a moment, if you would, and I'll call you back."

"Thank you," Maddie smiled on her end, "that's very kind of you."

As they both said their goodbyes and hung up, Sam's father moved sleepily towards his daughter's bedroom, the single cup of coffee he had had that morning still not in his system enough to make him more alert. Opening her door, it took him a full minute before he truly registered what he saw.

Sam was sleeping soundly in her bed, ebony hair feathered across her pillow and looking as though her dreams were pleasant. He paused a moment to wonder at the beautiful woman his daughter was maturing into as a fatherly pride overwhelmed him. She may have been different than what he and his wife had expected from a child, but she certainly wasn't disappointing in anyway.

As his eyes swept over his child, he noticed that one of the blankets that she normally slept with had gone missing, and walked around to the other side of her bed thinking she had kicked it off somehow in the middle of the night. Doing the fatherly thing, he was going to cover her back up and let her sleep until her alarm went off…

…only he found himself looking at a bundled up Danny on the floor, snuggled into the missing blanket and nearly suffocating himself from burying his face so deeply into one of Sam's pillows.

'Interesting,' he raised an eyebrow at seeing that Danny was obviously in his nightclothes and laying on his daughter's floor, 'I suppose that killing him would make a few people very upset…'

Walking back out quietly, Mr. Manson called the Fentons back and told them that yes, their son was with his daughter, and that no, nothing was wrong, they'd be back over to the Fenton's residence shortly because Danny appeared to still be in his night clothes.

At Mrs. Fenton's worried and hurried questions, he assured her that more than likely nothing had happened, it looked as though he had just come over to sleep for some reason and hadn't opted to change first. With a devious chuckle, Mr. Manson informed Maddie that he'd be waking them up shortly. Taking the hint, Maddie laughed as well, and told him to go easy on them, it was hard to be young, in love, and living in a constant state of denial.

Walking quickly back up the stairs after his phone conversation, the elder Manson had to fight the urge to laugh as he thought of all the ways he could scare the young man into not going into his daughter's bedroom randomly at night. Perhaps it was time to have guard dogs installed on the premises?

"Daniel James Fenton!" he opened the door and thundered in, enjoying the show as Sam shot upright and blearily looked around, then watched in worried confusion as Danny was on his feet in seconds, hands up and in fists, and eyes wide open, "Easy Danny, I'm just waking you up."

The boy relaxed instantly for a few seconds, before realizing that it was Sam's father who was waking him up, "Mr. Manson! I can explain…I didn't do anything, I was just sleeping and uh…"

"Geeze Danny, take a breath," Sam frowned as she looked over to her alarm clock, "Why so early Dad? And please don't say you're going to put another restraining order on him…he was just having a bad night and came over here to sleep…"

"Nothing wrong at home is there?" he asked worriedly as Danny sank down into Sam's computer chair.

"No sir," Danny said nervously, grabbing the blanket to hold over himself, even though he was quite covered by his boxers and sleeping shirt, "I just couldn't sleep. I've had a lot on my mind lately with school and stuff."

Nodding once, he sat on the edge of Sam's bed, set on embarrassing the living daylights out of them and discouraging this from ever happening again. He knew they were good kids, but even good kids could let their hormones get the better of them.

"Daniel, if you have done anything with Samantha there will be a wedding," Mr. Manson sent a stern gaze the boy's way and watched as about five different shades of red passed over both their faces and a suddenly deluge of sentences came from both teens, surprising him as they spoke on after the other, nearly in unison.

"Mr. Manson, I'd never do anything to hurt Sam and…"

"…we didn't do anything Dad, I promise Danny just…"

"…needed to talk about some stuff so I came over and then I guess…"

"…he fell asleep on the floor and I did too. I swear…"

"…that nothing happened, honestly sir, I would never disrespect Sam or you like that."

Raising his eyebrow as he watched his daughter turn with eyes wide in horror to look at Danny who was looking equally shocked, he almost couldn't contain his laughter. The two were sometimes so in sync with one another that he could almost swear those rumors about them being psychic were true. Not that he'd believe such nonsense of course.

"Come on and get up you two," he shook his head as he stood, turning to leave the room before he lost control of his humor in front of the pair, "I'll have Bailey drive you to the Fentons so Danny can get dressed and you," he turned to the boy, "can explain to your mother why you ran off in the middle of the night."

Sam was up in seconds, hurrying to do as her father bid lest Danny and herself get into any actual trouble. Danny was standing nervously in front of Mr. Manson, well aware that the situation he had been caught in could have been interpreted very badly.

"Mr. Manson," Danny swallowed hard as he willed himself to catch up to the older man and speak, "I didn't…I mean, I care too much for Sam so I wouldn't…"

"I understand," Mr. Manson answered him kindly as he lay a hand on his shoulder, "You two have been friends for as long as I can remember, even though I didn't know you, and still don't know you very well. It all looked pretty innocent to me, and I feel as though I can trust you. Just don't break my trust or my daughter's heart or you will be regretting it to your dying days…"

"No need to tell me that twice," Danny answered the man, surprisingly looking him in the eye, "I'd never break her heart…or your trust, Mr. Manson."

"I know," he answered, catching the small slip from the young man. Sam's father just smiled to himself and gave the teen's shoulder one last pat, then headed off to round up Bailey, their driver. This had certainly been one interesting morning….he could only imagine what the pair were in for.