Author's Note & Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom, nor any characters or places there in. Butch Hartmen retains full ownership of all that.
This story takes place after Reign Storm, but before The Ultimate Enemy. I am trying to stay as true to the characters and the series as is possible. That being said, this story is one that I have posted elsewhere under the name SayerSong (see my bio for more info), so before anyone thinks that I might have "stolen" this, I did not. I merely started it on another website, but plan to continue it here for personal reasons. If you have questions, feel free to ask. I hope that I am able to to get the third chapter of this up soon, but can't guarantee anything.
That being said, I hope you all enjoy and that you will take the time to review! Thank you!
Ormandria
Casper High School, Amity Park, Saturday, 8:45 a.m.
"Oh man!" Tucker exclaimed as he threw himself back against the cold, concrete wall. "This bites! Explain to me again, why we're doing this?"
"Because Danny's still sick," replied Sam, barely able to conceal her exasperation at Tucker. "And we promised him that we'd take care of any ghost activity that got out of hand." She bent down and quickly grabbed the silver thermos that had dropped from her hands mere moments ago, scrambling to get the lid off.
"Yeah, but I mean, that was when we thought the worst we would see was that stupid Box Ghost. I'm sure that Danny wouldn't want us trying to fight off the tiny tyrant and his merciless menace all by ourselves."
Tucker peered around the corner of the school to ensure that Youngblood the Pirate Ghost was still there, but the ghost was nowhere to be seen. Tucker was about to turn back to Sam when a bluish-green face suddenly appeared before him.
"Boo!" yelled Youngblood. Tucker screamed and fell backward in surprise, barely missing Sam. Youngblood started laughing hysterically as he watched Tucker try in vain to regain his composure. "You scream like a girl!"
Tucker sat up immediately, shaking his fist in anger at the ghost. "I do not!"
"Do too!" Youngblood continued laughing. So engrossed was he with Tucker's antics, he failed to notice that the slim, Goth girl dressed in a purple and black plaid skirt and black tank-top, standing behind the African-American boy, was pointing her thermos directly at him.
"Eat thermos, Parrot-boy!"
Youngblood stopped laughing long enough to look at Sam and the now glowing item in her hands. Light shot out of the end of the object as he felt himself sucked into slowly into the Fenton Thermos. "No!" he cried, trying to claw his way out…. It was no use, he was unable to escape the swirling vortex. When he was finally sucked all the way in, Sam turned the thermos toward the two lone skeleton ghosts that Youngblood had brought with him, scooping them into the thermos as well. When she was done, Sam closed the lid tightly and, leaning her back against the wall next to Tucker, slid down to the floor to sit.
"I do not scream, like a girl," Tucker huffed under his breathe.
"Well, that's done," Sam remarked, ignoring Tucker's statement. "We can go back to the Fenton's and put these ghosts back into the Ghost Zone where they belong. And we can visit Danny while we're at it. Poor guy is probably going nuts being stuck at home under his mom's care." She pulled herself up and started dusting herself off. "Come on Tuck, we'd better get going."
Sam looked down at her second-all-time best friend in the world as he sat and sulked. She had known Danny and Tucker for years and had never been able to imagine too better friends then them. Oh there were times that they had their differences, like when Sam had accidentally wished she had never met Danny, or when Tucker had thought he was permanently jinxed and tried going Goth, but in truth she wouldn't give either of them up for anything in the world. Sighing, Sam Mason held her hand out to her friend and spoke to him in the same upbeat manner she had used when he was going through his mid-teen crisis.
"Don't listen to him Tuck. He's a ghost. He just wanted to get you all riled up."
"You think?" Tucker asked. He accepted Sam's hand as she helped him up.
"Of course. Besides, you don't really sound like a girl when you scream."
Tucker smiled at this as Sam started to walk across the school yard toward Danny's house.
"Yeah," he said. "I don't sound like a girl." His spirits lifting Tucker started following Sam.
"More like a …" Sam paused for dramatic effect. "A tortured cat. Yeah, that's what you sound like when you scream. A tortured cat."
"What?"
Sam stopped completely and lifting her hand to her forehead, shook her head as if remembering something important. "Oh wait, that's when you sing that you sound like that. Sorry. Got the two confused there for a minute."
"Sam!"
Laughing, Sam gripped the Fenton thermos tightly and took off running as Tucker raced off after her.
Fenton Residence, Amity Park, Saturday, 9:15 a.m.
Danny let out a long low groan as he shifted his position in bed. He had been sick for the better part of two days and there didn't seem to be any end in sight. It wouldn't have been so bad, except for the fact that his mother had taken this opportunity to hover over him almost twenty-four/seven. Even his father had taken an unnatural interest in Danny, assuming that whatever bug he had caught must have somehow been planted by a ghost.
Only Jazz seemed to have any real sympathy for Danny. When Mr. Lancer had taken it upon himself, the night before, to bring Danny his homework from the last two days, Jazz had tried desperately to convince her parents and Mr. Lancer that Danny had plenty of time to worry about homework later and for now should be getting some much needed rest. Much to Danny's dismay, and Jazz's obvious disappointment, she failed and Lancer gleefully handed Danny a pile of homework almost a foot high.
"Danny's a Fenton!" their dad had declared with pride. "And Fenton's don't let a little thing like a cold come between them and their homework!"
"But Dad," Jazz had retorted rather quickly. "What if it was a ghost that caused his illness? Then it's out of Danny's hands, right?"
"By golly, you're right! I can't let some ghost get the better of Jack Fenton's son! I must track down that scurrilous creature!" With that, Jack Fenton had rushed from Danny's room to the lab down in the basement leaving a very relieved Jazz and Danny, a very concerned Maddie and a very confounded Mr. Lancer in his wake. Jazz took the moment of silence that lingered after that to usher her mother and Mr. Lancer out of the room, sparing Danny a wink as she closed the door behind them.
Danny had been lucky enough afterwards to only have a few nocturnal visits from his mother. At one point he even dreamed that Jazz had come in and sat in the chair next to him for a few hours, as if she was trying to watch over him and protect him in his vulnerable state. It had been a very realistic dream, even including their mom coming in to wake Danny up to give him some anti-ghost treatment that she suspected might get rid of any supernatural creatures attacking Danny from the inside-out. Somehow though, Jazz had managed to talk their mom into leaving him alone for the rest of the night on the promise that she would let them know if any ghosts showed up. Most of the rest of the dream was simply of Jazz sitting, watching and sleeping a bit next to Danny's bed until she finally went back to her own room.
When he finally woke up that morning, for all the weird dreams he had had that night, he actually felt like he had gotten very little real sleep. His throat screamed in pain and his eyes were watering terribly. He was about to reach over for his baseball bat – to bang on the floor to get someone's attention – when Jazz opened the door and walked in with a try of soup and a glass of orange juice.
"Hey, Danny," she smiled. "I heard you rustling around up here and thought I'd bring you something to eat. I know it isn't much, but it should help you get better." She waited for him to sit up and placed the tray on his lap, taking a seat in the chair next to his bed.
'Strange,' Danny thought. 'I thought it had only been sitting there in the dream … oh well.'
"Thanks, Jazz," Danny croaked out. Grimacing in pain, his hand shot up and immediately clutched his throat.
"Don't talk Danny. You need to get your rest or you won't get better in time to get that homework done and back to Mr. Lancer by Monday." Jazz nodded at the pile of papers that still sat on Danny's desk. Danny chuckled a little.
A knock sounded on Danny's door and Jazz stood up and walked over to open the door. Sam and Tucker stood on the other side. Danny noticed Sam was holding something behind her back. "Hi, Danny," she said, waving her free hand at him.
"Hi, Danny." Tucker pushed past both Sam and Jazz, plopping into the chair that Jazz had just left. He swung his legs up so that his feet rested on Danny's bed.
"Tucker!" Sam yelled. "Sorry about that."
"That's okay," Jazz replied, shrugging. "Remember, I've got Danny as a brother, so I'm kind of use to being pushed aside when someone's in a hurry."
"Oh yeah," laughed Sam as she glanced nervously toward Danny. "Hey, what's with the giant Dream Catchers downstairs? There are two of them on either side of the door when you come in." She was anxious to change the subject. Something about Jazz had been putting her off for a few months now and Sam sometimes found herself wondering if Jazz knew more about what Danny did in his spare time then she let on. Sam had been wanting to ask Jazz about this for a while now, but couldn't, just in case she was wrong. It wasn't her place to tell Jazz about Danny being half-ghost. That was something only Danny had a right to do.
"Oh for the love of…." Jazz bent her head, cupping her face in her hand as she let out an exhausted sigh. "I told them not to put those up! People are going to think we're a bunch of freaks!"
She looked up at the trio. "Sorry about that. I'll see if I can't get mom and dad out of the house for awhile so you guys can have some privacy. Otherwise next thing you know they'll be up here with the ghost peeler in the hopes that using it on Danny will make him well." Jazz turned from the room and rushed downstairs, her long red hair flying behind her. After making sure that Jazz was gone, Sam closed the door, pulling the Fenton Thermos out from behind her back to hand to Danny.
"Youngblood," she said by way of explanation. "Caught him at the school. We wouldn't have even known he was there if it hadn't been for Tucker deciding to let his precious PDA take a swim in the parks fountain."
"Hey! I tripped! That's all. And it wasn't even my fault." Tucker interrupted huffily.
"No, I suppose it was that blonde chicks fault for being so beautiful that you simply had to trip over yourself to get to her." Sam was barely able to contain a smirk at the memory of Tucker making an absolute fool of himself before focusing back on Danny. "Anyway, Tuck just had to go to the school so he could get his back-up PDA and we ran into Youngblood. Would have put him in the ghost zone, but your dad's in the basement inventing some new gadget. So we thought it better to wait."
"Eh. That's okay. Knowing Jazz, she meant what she said and will have my folks out of the house in about 5 minutes. She's been doing everything she can to try to keep them out of my hair. I think she's worried that they'll make me even more sick then I already am."
Sam furrowed her brow in concern. "Danny, about Jazz…."
"What about her?" Danny tried to sit up a little straighter in bed and instantly regretted it as his head started swimming in a sudden onslaught of pain.
"Well…," Sam wasn't sure how to proceed. After a moment of thought, she decided the direct approach was best and went ahead, saying what had been on her mind for months. "Are you sure that Jazz doesn't know about you and you're … um … special talents?"
"Jazz?" Danny looked up at his friend in surprise. "Of course not. Not a clue." Danny could see that Sam didn't look totally convinced though. Come to think of it, Danny wasn't totally sure he was convinced either, but surely if Jazz knew anything she would have mentioned it by now.
"Listen," Danny continued. "If Jazz knew, there is absolutely no way she would keep it to herself. Heck, she'd probably start hanging it over my head as blackmail material in case I decided to do anything to ruin her perfect little reputation as the only sane person in this family."
"He's got a point you know," stated Tucker, who although totally engrossed in programming his PDA had been listening to the whole conversation.
Sam laughed.
"Yeah, you're right," she said, suddenly feeling more at ease.
A bang interrupted further talk and the trio suddenly heard the familiar voice of Maddie Fenton float upstairs.
"Danny? Your father and I are going to run to the electronic store to get some replacement parts. We might be awhile. Jazz is here though, so if you need anything, let her know okay?"
"And watch out for any ghosts that pop their head in to try to make you even more sick!"
"DAD!"
"Bye kids! Have fun!"
They all heard the door slam shut and the screech of tires as Danny's parents drove off.
"Hm," remarked Tucker from his seat by Danny's bed. "Guess Jazz didn't need to egg your parents to get out of here afterall."
Danny merely nodded.
"So any idea what Youngblood was doing at the school?" he asked.
"Nope." Sam picked up a baseball from Danny's desk and started lobbing it in the air, catching it and re-tossing it each time it came down. "Didn't even think to ask. But if you want you can let him out and ask him yourself."
"No way!" Tucker was suddenly standing on the other side of the room, as far away from the Fenton Thermos as he could get himself. "If he comes out, I go home!"
Sam immediately started laughing as Danny looked at both his friends, trying to figure out what was going on.
"Okay, spill it. What did I miss?"
Tucker glared at Sam, almost daring her to repeat what Youngblood had said back at the school. Sam stopped laughing and gave in to her friend's desire for secrecy.
"Nothing Danny. You kinda had to be there." She smiled at Tucker, who sat back down in relief.
"Tuck?" Danny asked.
"Don't wanna talk about it."
Danny shrugged his shoulders and gave up for the moment, knowing full well that one of his friends would spill the beans later about what had happened at the school between Tuck and Youngblood that had his friend so riled.
"So how are you feeling?" Sam asked, although she and Tucker were both already sure of what the answer would be. If anything, Danny looked worse then he had the day before.
"This flu is really kicking my butt," he replied, confirming Sam and Tucker's thoughts. "Fever, nausea, headache and sore throat all rolled up into one. I can't remember ever feeling this bad before in my life."
"What about when you had the chicken pox?" Tucker asked. "Or when you caught mono that one year during Christmas. And then there was the mumps back in '98, and the measles in '95 …."
"Alright Tucker. I think Danny's got the point."
"I was just saying …."
Sam walked behind Tucker and pulled his red beret over his eyes. It was one of the few ways she knew of to shut him up. The other usually consisted of an elbow in the stomach, a punch to the arm or a kick to the shin, none of which she was in a position to carry out. She turned to go stand by the wall again, when suddenly the door to Danny's room opened revealing the very familiar face of a young African American girl that they went to school with. She carried some magazines under one arm and a large covered Tupperware dish in her hands.
Sam felt the familiar sensations of hate, jealousy, and rage build up inside of her at the sight of her.
"Hey, Fenton," Valerie said with a smile, totally ignoring the other two occupants of the room. "Heard you were sick and thought I'd bring you some of my mom's famous chicken noodle soup. It'll have you up and at 'em in no time."