Danny and Sam woke up at the same time. Too weary to want to move, the two snuggled closer to each other and sleepily opened their eyes. They found themselves on the road again, this time with Jack driving the GAV. He was still wearing his sleeping bag, which made the young lovers think that he had started driving as soon as he woke up. "Oh, thank God you're awake," he said, pulling over. "My internal clock got me up at 5:00 this morning and wouldn't let me go back to sleep, so I decided to get a head start on the road and I've been driving for the last three hours straight. Danny, do you mind taking over for me while I get some shut-eye in the back?"
"Sure, Dad, no problem."
"You're the greatest, Danny," the large man said as he lumbered into the passenger area of the GAV. Danny reluctantly extricated himself from Sam and crossed over into the driver's seat. The minute he sat down, Sam reached over and pressed the button that brought the barrier down between the front and the back, and soundproofed the front.
"What was that for?"
"We need to talk, Danny."
"About what?"
"This," she said, gesturing to her swollen belly."
"What about it?"
"I spoke with your mom and sister last night. They made me feel a lot better, but they also said that I should talk with you."
"Okay," he said. He noticed her swollen eyelids and spoke gently in order to get her to calm down slightly. "What do you need to talk about, specifically?" Her response was in a softer tone and filled with emotion.
"I'm afraid that you won't treat me the same way once I have the baby."
"Duh! I can't go around making out with you if there's a child present!" She laughed weakly at that.
"That's not what I mean. I don't want us to lose what we already have."
"We have each other, Sam, and I don't plan on losing you anytime soon."
"I know that, Danny."
"So what are you afraid of? I don't expect you to give up your career and independent lifestyle to be a stay-at-home mom. If you want to, then I'll accept your decision without hesitation, but I would never force something like that on you."
"Thanks, Danny. That means so much to me," she said. She looked down, her eyes welling up with tears.
"Sam, how long have we known each other?" he asked as he put a hand underneath her chin and forced her face upwards so that they were looking into each other's eyes. "You were always independent and tough, and you still are. Even if it means me quitting my job at Axion so that I can stay at home and take care of our child, I know better than to force you into becoming some 1950's yuppie mom (cough-since you'd kick the crap out of me if I even tried-cough)." She giggled.
"Well, these boots were made for kicking."
"But is that what they do?" He replied, quoting the old Jessica Simpson song.
"But if you don't be careful then they'll kick the crap outta you," she sang, changing the song to fit the situation.
"Are you feeling better now?" he asked.
"Just one more thing."
"What's that?"
"It's that thing I was trying to articulate earlier, about losing what we already had. I was talking about stuff like just now. That spark of life that we share that always seems to cheer both of us up. I don't want that to diminish over time because we're too preoccupied with raising the child."
"Sam, that spark will always be there. Don't you worry about that. I think what you're trying to say is that you don't want us to become like every other forty-something couple with kids whose lives revolve around them."
"Yeah, that's what I'm trying to say."
"Don't worry about it. You have to understand; almost every forty-something couple with kids was once a twenty-something couple about to have kids, just like us. Even though it seems like a quality of their lives has diminished over time, that's not true. It's just changed and matured. What you call the spark of life will just express itself differently as we get older."
"But I don't want it to! I want things to stay like they are now!"
"Sam, you know that's impossible. It's true that the expression of our spark will change, but so will we. And both changes will be so imperceptible that you'll barely notice as they go by. I guarantee that you'll be happy with who we become because we'll become that together and it'll be totally natural. I know it's weird, thinking about middle age already, but we'll gradually grow into it. I'm sure that it won't be so bad, especially because it'll slip in silently and we'll be living happily before we notice that it's even there."
"Okay, Danny, but only if you promise me that we'll be together for all of this." He took her hand in his own and held it tightly.
"I promise, Sam."
At that point, the intercom that connected the back to the front came on with a click, and Jazz's angry voice could be clearly heard coming through from the other side. "I know that you two lovebirds have a lot to talk about, but could you try and drive while you're talking? The rest of us kind of want to get there already." Danny looked around and was startled to find that they were still pulled over in the same place that Jack had left them in; he had been so preoccupied with talking to Sam that he had forgotten to start up the GAV again. Still holding Sam's hand tightly, he pressed the accelerator and merged his family's RV back onto the highway and drove it into Wisconsin while driving with only his left hand on the steering wheel.
When they arrived at Vlad Manor, the Fentons found that they weren't the first guests to arrive. The cul-de-sac driveway in front of Vlad's castle was already packed with cars. The family unloaded their bags from the trunk and approached the front entrance. Jack reached over and knocked on the cheese-shaped knocker. The door opened a crack, and after a second the gap widened to fill the entire doorway as Vlad and his fiancée welcomed his college buddies and their family into his home.
"Welcome, welcome, I trust that you had a safe trip over?" he inquired jovially.
"Yeah, V-man, the drive was pretty good. Now tell us, who's the lucky girl?" Vlad disappeared into the recesses of his mansion for a moment and returned, his arm around the waist of a tall, blonde woman wearing a blue dress, a large green ring, and a green amulet whose center contained an emerald shaped like a dragon's eye.
"Jack, Maddie, Daniel, Samantha, this is my princess, Saphira." The girl curtsied to each of them in turn.
"Isn't she a bit young for you, Vladdie?" Jack asked rather obtusely.
"Oh, don't be deceived by her appearance, Jack. I didn't marry some Playboy bimbo half my age; Saphira is older than she looks, she just takes great care of herself. Isn't that right, princess?"
"That's right, I have a strict exercise regiment that keeps me in tip-top shape."
"I'd love to know your secret," Maddie said. "I practice karate in order to stay fit, I'm a ninth degree black belt. What do you do?"
"Oh, pretty much the same. Maybe after these formalities are over we could spar in the training room."
"That sounds lovely!" Maddie said. Jack and Vlad caught each other's eyes and each bit back a grin.
"We'll both accompany you in order to referee," Vlad said.
"Yeah, we wouldn't want this little catfight getting out of hand," Jack added. The two women rolled their eyes.
"Uh, I don't mean to interrupt, but can we put these bags down somewhere? They're kind of heavy," Danny interrupted.
"Of course, Daniel. Since you and your parents are our guests of honor, you'll be staying on either side of the master suite on the fourth floor. It's the room with the large "V" engraved on the door. You and Samantha are in the room to the right, and your parents are in the room to the left. By the way, Samantha, how are you feeling?"
"I'm in very good shape, Mr. Masters, thank you for asking."
"Oh, please, dear, you don't have to be so formal with me. Just Vlad is fine."
"Thank you, Vlad."
"Anytime, anytime. Oh, by the way, I specifically set it up so that your room has an adjoining bathroom, in case you get the morning sickness. We wouldn't want you getting lost running around the mansion looking for a bathroom, now would we?"
"That's very considerate of you, Vlad, thanks again. Come on, Danny, let's get these bags up to our room." They each took a bag and brought it up the three flights of stairs. They were exhausted by the time that they reached the fourth floor, and barely staggered into their room. They placed the bags down on the floor and lay back on the queen-sized bed to rest their aching limbs.
"Vlad's been really nice to your family lately," Sam noted.
"Yeah, I think that he's finally given up being evil. After all, he did say that he was done chasing after us at the ghost's wedding, remember? And he paid for our honeymoon and everything."
"I know, I know, I'm just not entirely sure that we can trust him."
"Why not?"
"Don't forget, his ghost vultures tried to attack Axion Labs."
"That was six months ago. But I'll have a talk with him anyways, just to make sure that there's nothing wrong. I'm sure that it was just an accident of some sort."
"I'm happy that you can be so forgiving of him, Danny. It's really mature of you," she said, giving him a soft kiss on the lips.
"Hmm, maybe I should be mature more often." She hit him with a pillow.
"Or not," he said, grabbing another pillow and retaliating, thereby starting a small pillow-fight. However, all good fun must come to an end, and Sam ended the fight after a couple of minutes.
"Come on, we should go meet the other guests."
"Now who's being mature?" he asked sarcastically. She hit him one more time with the pillow and leading him out of the room and downstairs.
Danny knew that, as Plasmius, Vlad had a lot of influence in the Ghost Zone. He also knew that Vlad Masters was a world-famous billionaire. However, he had never really thought of Vlad Masters as a connected, influential person in the human world, at least not to the same degree that Plasmius was in the Ghost Zone. He had always imagined as him more of a Bruce Wayne personage-reclusive and eccentric. Therefore, Danny was surprised to find himself being introduced to legions of politicians, dignitaries, authors, scientists, businessmen, and other prominent members of society whom Vlad had connections with. He had even caught a glimpse of Sam's parents, who apparently owned a large amount of shares of Dalv Corp. However, Sam pulled him away quickly to meet the head of NASA before he had time to approach them. They were surprised to find that, as an up-and-coming agent of Axion and his wife, both of whom were on personal terms with Vlad, they were held in almost as high regard as some of the more influential guests, although they could not determine whether this was because of Danny's position or his friendship with Vlad. For example, it was slightly awkward for the couple, who had been invisible on their high school's social circuit, to be bowed down to by the Prime Minister of Chad. However, they were able to make the best of all the attention, and Sam even managed to best the CEO of a major tobacco company in a debate over the ethics of animal testing in front of a gaggle of senators who had, until that moment, supported the tobacco industry. Around midnight, the guests were given an itinerary. The ceremony would be held the next morning after breakfast, followed by a quick lunch then a golf/tennis tournament, and the reception would be held that evening. On Sunday, there would be a brunch before the guests had to go back home. After everyone was briefed, they all filed into a massive dining room for dinner. The meal (luckily for Sam) was dairy-intensive, although several people did notice that Saphira had eaten nothing but the little meat that was available. Once dinner was complete, everyone went up to his or her room for the night. As they undressed, Danny and Sam discussed some of the people they had met, trying to remember most of their names and wondering how Vlad could possibly keep track of so many connections. At the conclusion of the long, eventful day, Danny and Sam cuddled up together and fell asleep in each other's arms.
SAVE DANNY PHANTOM!