Hey, as long as I'm stuck here at home with really nothing to do, I figured I might as well write Chapter 3. I guess if you guys really want to know what happens to Sam... I do too! (except that I know already, ha ha!) Here you go. I do not own the Danny Phantom characters, or the song. All I own is Carrie and the storyline. Sorry I couldn't get this out sooner...


Chapter 3

How have I been, how have you been, it's been so long...

(Danny thinking) How will I save her? She's going to die, and it's all by fault of me. If only I'd called her back, told her the truth, told her why we couldn't be together. But of course I fell for my childish feelings for her instead. Now that she's here, there's not much I can do for her... oh if only my powers would let me spare her.

"So Sam, how is it for you?" Carrie asked her friend, trying not to let Danny's mood get to her. Yet, she herself knew what he was thinking at that very moment, the very same as she sat quietly and thought, trying to find her way around it. In the end, everything came down to the point where Sam would have to know.

If only it weren't true, and everything was the same again. Sam would be with Danny, I'd be with my band, and everyone could live through it. But for this curse, someone has to die, and every pain in my heart says it's Samantha. There's so much to it, not only Danny's alter-ego issues but the job applications he's signed, where he's headed to. And what now that I have to dedicate myself to not the music industry but something much, much harder. Now that Sam's back in Amity there's so much more at stake than just the future of Danny Fenton.

Carrie blankly stared at the white headlights cutting through red dust and forests and brush. She watched the rabbits scurry across the road, headed for somewhere unknown, trying to get back to shelter. It was funny how she could relate that to her life, and at the same time, it scared her. It could be my last breath that I take before this is resolved. Unless Danny has any ideas, we might all very well be doomed.

(Sam's POV) Carrie and Danny are acting rather peculiar. And I can't remember him ever having an Air Force sticker on this car. No, this is too strange. I can't piece it together, it's- impossible.

"We're here!" shouted Carrie,though the fake enthusiasm was noticeable in her voice. Everything she was trying to act out here was a lie, but Sam ignored that and tried once again to act happy. Sam ignored even the fact they just maybe, there was a reason she should not be here. Why else should Danny, once her best friend, her soul-mate, be so hesitant to react happily to her being here?


They sat quiety under the yellow lamp, watching the moths fly pointlessly around the car. Sam sighed, but there was no other noise, besides the music drifting quietly from the speakers over head. "where I wrecked my first car, I tore it all to pieces..." It was Sam and Danny's favourite country song. As Sam thought about it, she remembered a lot about why they liked it. It was all back in highschool, when he got his license, and then crashed right down the red dirt road they'd passed not more then five minutes ago... How carefree they were back then, she thought, pulling herself to the present.

The trio sat in near silence, waiting for the food to get there. Carrie tried again with her small talk, but it never amounted to much. How could anything erase the terrible things she and Danny had to tell Sam? Some part of her wished itcould just be over with, that she wasn't ever here, that Sam didn't have to suffer because two of her best friends had their own stupid issues.

They wolfed down the food when it came, then, at last started to converse. "You know guys, the other day, it was pretty funny. I ran into the box ghost again, like, the first time in years... He looks all old now. He could barely say 'I'm' before I punched him down and sucked him up into the Fenton thermos."

"Oh dear God you still use that thing?" Sam asked, trying to keep the conversation going. "Ya, well, I kind of have to. My parents never thought of anything better and I can't really just go visit them and say "Gee, hi mom, hi dad, guess what, I'm that superhero you called InvisoBill and I really need something new to fight ghosts with!" Danny continued to make imitations of his mother, making them all laugh.


After dinner they all went to Danny's place, leaving all their stuff in his car. Hey, it blended in perfectly with all of his own belongings that were shoved in there. The apartment was small, a bathroom with a sink, shower and toilet that barely fit, a kitchen with only a microwave, cabinet sized refridgerator and another sink, and a bed room, complete with an old, small cable tv, a coffee table, and a fold out couch. "Home sweet home, number 021! Comfy, ain't it?" said Danny.

"More like claustrophobic." Sam remarked, Carrie mumbling something of the same kind behind her. "Not that it couldn't be any worse." She knocked off her boots and took her hair out of it's tie, letting the thick jet black locks fall loosely over her shoulders. She stretched out her arms and yawned, turning her head over her shoulder to look at Danny. "Just getting comfortable, if you don't mind."

"Go right ahead." They smiled at each other, the same stupid way they always had, as kids, as teens, all their lives. "Uhh" Carrie groaned "I'm stuffed."

"Me too. Hey guys, come over and sit on the couch. I have a heated blanket somewhere around here..." He walked to the radiator at the far end of the room, and grabbed a blanket off of the pile he had next to it. "Not as good as electric, but it's ok, right?" He reached out blindly for the remote off the floor, pointing it towards the black tv. It slowly flickered on, the audio coming before sound, saying something about a snow advisory. "Everyone prepared to get snowed in?" questioned Carrie, looking to her right, straight at Sam. "Ready as I could ever be. Hey, Danny, got any sleep pants I might borrow? These jeans are killing me."

"Ya, probably on the floor here somewhere, or in the bathroom." He looked around. "Here you go" he said, throwing a worn, patched up pair. "Thanks. I'll just go change in the bathroom." When she came back, Danny and Carrie were watching Punk'd. "So, what do you guys want to watch. I have the news, MTV, or Cartoon Network on here, not that anything other than this is very interesting." Sam looked at him. "I don't know, it's your own damn house why don't you choose?" He could tell she was just trying to mess with him. "Or I have a whole bunch of movies here that I never returned to Blockbuster- The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Star Wars, Monty Python and the Holy Grail,Corspe Bride- tons of crap... guys, come over here!" Carrie and Sam walked towards the white cardboard box, looking down at the 30 or more movies in there. "And you dont own any of these?" Sam asked Danny. "Well, only the VHS stuff, but all the DVD's are rentals..." Sam shook her head, thinking, God, when would the guy ever learn? He was as bad as he was long ago...

"Here guys, why don't we watch Corpse Bride? I haven't seen that in forever and a half." Carrie pulled out the scratched up, pirated copy Danny owned out of it's case and popped it in the DVD player, hearing it whir inside as it loaded. The tv screen didn't work well, but you could still see what was going on. It was good enough for them. And even better, it kept Carrie and Danny's explanations and confessions out of the way for a while. Danny stood up, coughing as the movie came on, and said "Anyone want egg nog?" Both girls stared at the television intently for a second, then said "Sure" in union, still not averting their eyes. Danny came back with an almost-expired carton of the drink, three blue plastic cups and a lighter. "Well, this is my fancy dining guys. Over used plastic stuff that you're supposed to throw away." Sam knew he was trying to make a point, he was poor and not too pleased about it. She started to mumble something, but no one heard it over the speakers blaring a song out of the movie. Sam just felt removed and distant now, there was no other way of putting it.

Danny pulled a cigarette butt out of the ash tray next to Carrie and tried lighting it. "Dangit! Ow crap." Sam watched as he flailed his burned finger around, biting his lip. He put the cigarette to his mouth and took a drag, exhaling the bitter, stale smoke from between his pale lips. He shuddered. Sam guessed it was his way of pretending not to notice the blue smoke that he breathed out when there was a ghost around. Taking a box off the ground, he offered Carrie and Sam two new ones. Carrie looked at him and shrugged, then plucked one of the cigarettes out of Danny's hand. Sam shook her head. She'd never liked smoking much, though both her parents had smoked all her life, as well as her little sister. Carrie held hers by Sam's mouth, and she took it out of her fingers with her mouth. She sucked in a little then coughed it all out. Carrie dumped it in the ash tray, remembering why she hadn't drank or smoked in a few months.


It was time to tell Samantha what was going on. Danny didn't want to do it, but he couldn't keep lying and ignoring his once soulmate. He put an arm over her bare shoulders, letting her lay her head back on his chest. She curled up next to him, and Carrie positioned herself to lay on her. Danny took a deep breath, shakely breathing it all out. This was probably the last time she would ever want to lay this close to him. "Sam" he began "There's something Carrie and I need to tell you. We... uhh, we, are..." Carrie let a warm tear run down her cheek, letting it fall on Sam's back. Sam got up, instinct kicking in to comfort her immediatley. "We're having a baby" Danny blurted out, looking away, out into the distant dark of the kitchen. "I neverwanted to hurt you this way. It's just, ok, well, you still gonna listen to me?" Sam looked up, trying to act like she wasn't mad, jealous, or annoyed, not any of it. "I'm listening." She wanted to hear what he had to say. "Well, I'm so poor, right? Working minimum wage, as a dishwasher at McDonalds. You know that's not my fault." She nodded, agreeing, it wasn't his fault he had an accident that turned him into this. Carrie was starting to weep. "Well, I signed up for work in the Air Force, and, well, they're sending me away to fight in Iraq." His face was emotionless, scary. Sam couldn't stop staring into his baby blue eyes, seeing if that emotion would change. Carrie sobbed hysterically on her shoulder, like it was the first time she'd heard it. Sam was too shocked, she didn't know whether to scream, or cry, or ask when the baby was due or what sex it was or all of that at the same time. Thinking about it, she didn't know much anymore. Her life was being rendered pointless. Her heart was braking. She just wanted to jump up and run, run away from everything. She was no longer in control.

Danny started speaking again, though he knew Sam wouldn't want to hear anymore. "It's just- one day I saw Carrie, and she was so sad. Her lead singer had just been hit by a drunk driver and killed, and she'd come back to Amity in search of comfort and escape." He brushed his hair out of his face, removing the sweat from his forehead, then continued. "She seemed so glad to see me, and when she told me to take her to shelter, and stay, I did. I stayed in my car in the dead of night with her. And because of that, she freaking pregnant!" Sam felt the burning lump in her throat, tears stinging her eyes open. Danny leaned his head closer to her quivering lips. "I never meant to hurt you this way Sam, never. It was torture not talking to you for all those years. I- I'm so sorry. Tell me it might still be okay between us." Sam needed time to think, time to cry, to drink her pain away. "I think I'll go take a shower, and maybe then I'll feel better." Danny rose as if to follow her, to say something more, but she didn't care anymore. She just wanted to go to sleep. Carrie had cried her self to sleep. Sam had nothing more to say.


She stepped into the steaming water, letting it burn her cold skin. She slid down the wall of the small shower, kneeling down on old, empty bottles of beer and shampoo. She watched all her dark make-up slide down her body, into the drain, discolouring the already ruined yellow-white floor. She stepped backwards, cutting her foot on a broken brown glass. All she did was bite the inside of her cheek and watch it bleed, a song popping into her head. It took her a second to realize Danny was playing Stone Sour in the next room. It was the song 'Choose'. That's when she heard the trigger click outside the door, the shallow, boyish weeping. Fear crept into her veins, making her move suddenly, grabbing an old towel and shoving open the door, or trying to. She appeared to have been locked in. She had to think fast. "Danny! DANNY! I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU ALWAYS!" She picked up a half bottle of beer off the side of the sink and lugged it at the door. "DONT DO THIS! STOP FOR ME IF NO ELSE!"
Sorry about the part where I just rambled on and on, I was thinking of how to get to the last part. Please review people! I think I've really got the story going now. Thank you my reviewers: the sleep warrior, Krista, butterBiscuits (Did I answer your question:)), azngirlchibi, C.E. Hobbit, and phantominsideofme. Thank you so much for reviewing, u guys rock my socks. - Mistress Amity