Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom

The next week passed quietly, with no sign of Sam's secret admirer. Danny and Sam were both relieved that the guy had apparently given up, and things were back to normal, well as normal as it could be when you live in a town filled with ghosts. Danny was currently fighting Skulker who was trying once again to capture the halfa. Danny picked himself up from the ground holding his side, and breathing heavily.

"What's the matter ghost child, tired already?" Skulker laughed evilly as he readied his ecto-gun, preparing to blast Danny Phantom again. Danny gathered his energy enough to put up his shield and managed to deflect the blast.

"Not likely" Danny said, his glowing eyes glaring at the ghost. As soon as he dropped the shield, Danny shot forward into the air drawing his fist back, punching the ghost hunter, and sending him smashing into the dumpster against the nearest building. Danny landed in front of the dumpster and powered up another blast but suddenly Skulker reappeared directly in front of Danny grasping him tightly by the front of his jumpsuit.

"It is time to end this ghost child."

Danny braced himself but a loud musical sound emitted from Skulker's wrist. Skulker stopped and looked down at the screen.

"Huh? Go to the department store and buy underwear, what? No! We'll meet again," Skulker yelled angrily as his suit fired up and blasted him into the sky.

Danny sighed in relief and raised his hand to scratch the back of his neck.

"Dude, you would think he would learn to take that thing off."

Danny turned to see Tucker come from behind the dumpster with his PDA still in his hand. "Thanks Tuck."

"No problem, man you look wiped."

"Yeah, that the third ghost today" Danny said tiredly. Tucker, who had been distracted when a couple of cute college girls had walked by smiling and winking at Danny Phantom, just gave a vague wave.

"That's great man, I gotta go. I know those girls were giving me the eye and I wouldn't want to disappoint them, you know how it is."

Danny shook his head and laughed. "Good luck" he said to the young man who was already jogging down the street calling to the girls. Danny took off into the air feeling somewhat restless despite how tired he was. As he flew enjoying the night, he decided spur of the moment to visit Sam. When he neared her house, he saw that all the lights except for Sam's room were off. He flew to the window and peeked in. Sam was asleep at her large mahogany desk, obviously having been working. Danny phased through the window and landed softly on the floor next to her chair. Changing back to his human self, he gently slipped the pen from Sam's hand before reaching over to shut the desk lamp off. Danny brushed her hair back from her face gently and then easily lifted her into his arms. Sam shifted her head on his shoulder and opened her eyes sleepily. "Danny?" "Ssh Sammi, go back to sleep. I'm just tucking you in," he whispered to her. Laying her down on the bed carefully, Danny slipped off her slippers and pulled the covers up. Sam turned on her side and smiled as she drifted off to sleep.

"Mm, g'night Danny" she said as she pulled up the covers under her chin.

"Good night" he whispered back leaning down and kissing her hair. He watched for a moment as she slept and then turned out the lights, walked to the window and changed back into ghost mode. "Sweet dreams" he said as he phased through the window and flew toward home.

Sam rolled over and flailed her arm around hitting her nightstand, trying to shut off the annoying buzzing sound that was coming from her alarm clock. Managing to hit the off switch, she rolled back over and buried her head underneath her pillow. She hated mornings. Just as she was about to doze off she thought wait a minute, how did I get into bed? She sat up running her hand through her tousled hair and noticed that she still had her black silk robe on. Frowning she tried to remember last night. I know I was working on the English paper that's due next week and I was thinking about quitting for the night because I kept nodding off… She had a vague memory of someone carrying her, and a familiar voice telling her to go back to sleep… Danny's voice. Sam blushed, realizing that Danny must have come in to her room last night and found her sleeping at the desk. Great, Sam, way to impress a man – letting him find her asleep drooling on her books. She got out of bed, grabbed her clothes, and headed for the shower when another thought hit her. Why would I want to impress Danny? He's my best friend, not a romantic interest and anyway even if I wanted him to be he doesn't feel that way about me. Sam felt a sadness grip her and shook herself, deciding it was way too early in the morning to be getting depressed.

Danny and Tucker met Sam on campus for lunch that afternoon and Sam immediately noticed how tired Danny looked.

"Danny, are you all right? You look exhausted."

"I'm fine" he said, his voice muffled as he crossed his arms on the table and laid his head down. "Every time I turn around lately there's another ghost that's escaped from the portal and then I didn't get much sleep last night." Danny picked his head up and looked at her. "How about you, did you sleep okay?"

Sam felt heat creep up into her face and avoided his gaze. "Yeah I did, um thanks… for last night."

He smiled softly at her. "Anytime."

Tucker was watching the conversation with interest, looking back and forth between his two best friends.

"Last night, is there something I should know about? He asked slyly raising his eyebrows suggestively.

"NO!" Danny and Sam shouted together.

"I stopped by Sam's on my way home last night after the fight with Skulker and she was asleep at her desk, so I tucked her into bed, turned out the lights and left." Tucker just looked at Danny with a grin on his face.

"Really? Hmm, interesting." Danny gave him a warning look.

"Tucker…"

"What? Hey, I'm heading over to get another Super Steak sandwich, you guys want anything?" he said changing the subject and quickly leaving the table when the Danny shook his head and Sam just gave him a disgusted look.

A tense silence sat between them before Sam asked Danny a question about his fight with the ghost hunter the previous night. By the time Tucker got back with his food, they were discussing how Skulker kept getting his weapons and technology, agreeing that the most likely culprit was Danny's archenemy Plasmius. Sam looked at her watch and got up from the table, packing up her stuff.

"Well, I'm outta here, I'll see you guys later" and waved to the two as she headed for her car.

As she opened the door, she noticed something lying on the seat. It was a single red rose, almost dead but not quite. She reached down and picked it up not realizing that the stem still had thorns on it. Sam hissed in pain as the one of the thorns sliced into her finger and she dropped the flower and stuck her finger in her mouth sucking on it. She glanced around the car for a note but there wasn't one. Weird she thought. She carefully picked up the wilted rose and looked at it. Her first thought was that the secret admirer had left it, but he had always left a note before and they were always on the outside of her car. This was inside on her seat. I thought I locked my car door this morning when I got here, but I was in a hurry so maybe I forgot. Another thing that was off was that the admirer had always given her expensive gifts; the flowers and candy were top quality, and the earrings that were still sitting in their box on her dresser at home were flawless. This rose was the cheap kind you could get at the corner store and was wilted. Sam took the flower over to the trashcan nearest her car and dropped it in. Probably just some prank. Some kids were probably putting them on people's seats so that they would sit on them without noticing and get jabbed with the thorns.

As she drove off a man sitting in a car a few spaces down got out and walked over to the trashcan reaching in and pulling out the ruined flower. He raised it to his nose and breathed in the faint scent that still clung to the petals, caressing it with his fingers. He then walked back to his car got in and carefully wrapped the rose in tissue paper and placed it on the seat next to him. Until next time Samantha.