Four Call of Duty-filled hours later, the young teens lay sprawled on the floor of Danny's massive room, resting their eyeballs from the fast-paced, gory action.
"You two move your battalions like little girls," Sam taunted.
"Hey, I would have had you in that gorge but for that one RPG that took the bridge out when my infantry was on it," Tucker protested.
"Nice try, Tuck, but I had an entire armored division waiting just over the hill. You wouldn't have stood a chance."
"I'm telling you guys, air power is the only way to win an intense battle like that!" Danny asserted.
"Yeah, right" Sam scoffed. "Air power works unless an opponent, such as myself, happens to have a couple of hundred flak cannons at my disposal"
"So what? All I have to do is take my bombers above the range of your flak-"
"So that they can be totaled by my fighters" Sam finished for him. "face it, you can't just have air supremacy or a strong infantry. You need to have a little bit of everything."
"Oookay, Sam."
"Whatever you say, Sammykins."
"Fine, don't take my advice. But when I wipe the floor with you both next time, remember that it could have at least given you a fighting chance." Just then, Maddie's voice floated up to the room.
"Kids, dinner," she announced.
The three of them went into the kitchen for dinner that night, since the dining hall was being preserved for the reunion the following night. Everyone had filet mignon, except for Sam, for whom Maddie had requested a large salad be prepared.
"So," Vlad began, trying to make conversation, "did you two bring clothes for tomorrow night, or should we order something for you?"
"It's okay, Mr. Masters. Both of us made sure to bring everything we would need."
"How many people are going to be there, exactly?" Jazz asked.
"Well, there were about 2,000 in our graduating class, but only a couple hundred RSVP'd," Maddie answered.
"But most of them are going to bring their spouses, so we can estimate around 500 total," Vlad added.
"Any kids?"
"No. Nobody told us that they would be bringing their children with them." The room fell silent save for the soft clinking of cutlery. After a little while, Danny, Sam, and Tucker asked to be excused, saying that they were finished eating.
"Okay, kids, but don't stay up too late," Maddie warned.
"Don't worry mom, we won't," Danny promised as he and his friends brought their dishes to the sink and then returned to his room. They played some more Call of Duty before bed; this time, Danny and Tucker experimented with mixing up their forces like Sam had advised, and they did slightly better this time, but Sam ended up creaming them both anyway. Afterwards, she unrolled her black sleeping bag, pulled a crumpled black thing out of her duffle and went into the bathroom across the hall while Danny and Tucker changed into their sleepwear. Danny usually slept in black sweatpants and a wife beater, while Tucker preferred his pajamas that were decorated with little PDA's.
"And you wonder why girls never go out with you," Danny muttered.
"Wha'd you say?" he asked as he unrolled his sleeping bag on the opposite side of Danny's bed as Sam's bag.
"Nothing, forget it." Just then, Sam walked in wearing a thin black nightgown that ended just above her knees. She put her clothes into her duffle bag and stood up to see the guys shocked facial expressions.
"What?" she asked. Tucker recovered first and elbowed a blushing Danny in the arm. Danny gave his head a slight shake and climbed into bed, his face still burning.
"We should get some sleep," he said. "It'll make a great impression on all of my parents college friends if their kid and his friends look as though they were up the whole night partying. Good night, guys."
"Good night," Sam said, then added, "I'll be dreaming about kicking your butts at video games all night."
"Whatever…"Tucker mumbled, already half asleep. "G'night…" The other two followed suit and soon drifted off into slumber.
At around 3:00 AM, Danny was woken up by someone lightly tapping his shoulder. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Sam standing next to his bed. He sat up in bed to get a better look at her, and couldn't help but admire her gorgeous figure in the moonlight.
"Danny, I keep dreaming about that RV, about almost dying today."
"Yeah, same with me, I can't get it out of my head."
"But you've been able to sleep at least." He shrugged.
"I'm partially dead, remember? Death doesn't scare me as much as it probably should."
"But death does scare me, Danny." Danny had only seen this sensitive side of Sam very rarely, and so he knew that whenever she allowed someone to penetrate her tough Goth exterior, whatever she was worrying about was affecting her deeply.
"Of what?" he asked.
"Mostly of meeting Jack Fenton tomorrow. What if he does something stupid to scar us for life, or worse?"
"Sam, I won't let him do anything to you. Don't you worry about that."
"But I still feel a little insecure…Danny?"
"Yeah, Sam?"
"I know this might sound kind of weird, but can I sleep with you tonight?"
"Sure, Sam." He moved over to the side of the bed and when she lay down next to him, offered her the pillow. She refused.
"Don't worry, Sam. I won't let him hurt you," the halfa assured. Sam pressed her head against his chest and gave him a bone-crushing hug, which he hesitantly returned. As he lay there, he felt her grip become softer and softer, until she finally drifted off to sleep, her arms wrapped around him and her head resting on his chest. It wasn't much longer before he nodded off as well.
They were woken up the next morning by a bright flash.
"What the…what's going on?" Danny muttered tiredly.
"Tucker, is that what I think it is?" Sam accused. Danny opened his eyes fully and looked into the lens of a digital camera. His gaze moved from the camera to the hand grasping it, to a dark-skinned arm, and finally rested on the face of his best friend, which was currently contorted in an evil smirk.
"Why'd you do something like that, Tuck?" Danny asked.
"Proof," Tucker explained. "I needed to get proof that you two liked each other before everyone at school would let me collect my winnings."
"Winnings? How much are we talking about here?"
"Well, let's see…" Tucker said as he pulled up a list on his PDA. "I've got immunity from all bullying in any way, shape, or form for the rest of my high school career coming from Dash…Star bet me her dad's Rolls Royce…exclusive rights to all of Butch Hartman's productions, thanks to his nephew who's in my math class…and Google."
"No. Freakin'. way."
"Yeah! Remember when the Google guys came to talk to us about business management? I told them about you guys after the lecture and they thought it was hilarious. They said that they'd bet Google inc. you two would never get together. You're both allowed to co-own it with me, of course."
"Tucker, your ability to make massive sums of money out of something as abstract as a relationship never ceases to amaze me."
"Oh, yeah. I rock. I rock out loud."
Sam went into the bathroom to get dressed, still chuckling to herself at her friend's antics, while Danny and Tucker changed into day clothes, and afterwards the three friends went down to breakfast.
Like it? I figured thatif Tucker owned rights to DP then he'd ensure that it wouldn't be cancelled. I also didn't know quite how to bring this chapter to an end, so sorry if it seems a little abrupt. I'll try and get to the reunion already, but there's still a whole day left to enjoy Masters Manor. Who knows how many chapters that'll take?
Also, this tears me apart, but I won't be able to see the premiere of Masters of all Time, the new DP episode tomorrow that in some ways resembles this fic. Key phrase: in some ways. My parents are making us go over to a family friend's house that evening, but I'll try my very best to see it when it comes on again this Sunday.
By the way, I've never played Call of Duty and don't know anything about it, except for the fact that it's on Xbox 360. So if the way I wrote about the game isn't at all related to how it's actually played, blame me for being video-game deprived.
SAVE DANNY PHANTOM!