Clockwork grabbed Danny's hand. "Time out." Danny looked up, confused. Seeing Danny, Clockwork said, "It's up to you. You decide. I am not sure you are ready for this, but you may be." Danny took a deep breath. "I think I am." "Danny. You need to know if you are ready, not think. Are you ready?" Danny wasn't sure. "Well… I guess…." Clockwork sighed. "Time in. Danny, you aren't ready. I will come again when you know that you are ready…" "No! WAIT!" But it was too late. Clockwork had disappeared in the eerie blue clock.
Danny couldn't sleep. He was so close. Clockwork had offered to show him, but he had been so stupid and didn't listen to him. "If only…. If only I could remember…." But all Danny could do was sleep. The next morning, Danny woke up, and turned onto his side, and screamed. "OHMYGOD! HEEEEELP!" But then he realized who it was. "Uh, Sam… don't you EVER FREAKING KNOCK!" Sam was taken aback at Danny's rude comment. "Oh, that's the thanks I get for saving you from falling off of your BALCONY?" Danny was shocked. "I…what?" Sam took a deep breath. "I snuck over here to see if you were okay, and I come in here and see that you are about to jump out of the window! I nearly fell down too when you jumped!" "Uh…. Why in the hell would I do that?" Sam was really pissed. "How should I know?" Danny was deep in though now. "Uh, Sam? Clockwork came and…uh….visited me last night….." Now he was in for it. "CLOCKWORK CAME AND VISITED YOU LAST NIGHT AND YOU DIDN'T CALL ME?"
"Sam, it was 2 a.m…."
"I DON'T CARE! Danny, you are really starting to scare me, you're not telling me anything anymore! Don't you…" But then Sam cut off. Danny looked at her. "Don't I what?" Sam's heart was pounding inside of her. "Don't you care about me?" Right when Sam said this, Danny took her into a big hug and whispered, "Of course I do… who do you think I am always trying to protect?" Sam's eyes grew wide, and they pulled away blushing. "Danny, you are right. You ARE always protecting me… I just want to protect you…"
Danny explained what had happened that night and what clockwork had said. He kept talking and talking. Then he asked about her sketchbook until he looked at Sam again. "Sam? Are you okay?"
"Huh? Oh! I'm fine… really!"
"You're lying."
"Danny….."
"Sam, I thought we had agreed no more secrets in the last five minutes…"
"Well, yeah… but….Look, Danny…. This isn't easy for me to say, but I would have to agree with Clockwork. You just…aren't ready for the truth."
"Sam…this is something major, I can tell. Why can't you tell me?"
"Danny, I'm you're best friend, I know what's best for you…"
"Sam….." But then he stopped. Tears were streaming down her face. "Sam…." He tried again. "Danny, I'm sorry…. I have to go…."
"Sam, wait…." But he hadn't said it fast enough. She slipped off of his bed and ran out of his house, sobbing. But Danny wasn't stupid. He knew that her sketchbook and the whole "mystery" thing that was going on just HAD to be connected. For two days he thought of how to get his hands on the sketchbook. He noticed that Sam was drawing in it a lot lately and that didn't help with his dilemma. So he finally decided to steal it.
At midnight Danny went ghost and flew over to Sam's house. He got sidetracked when he saw Paulina walking and waving at him, but he just kept flying. Eventually he came to Sam's house. He sifted through her drawers, but couldn't anything. Until he came and looked at her night stand. "Duh." Danny slapped himself for being so stupid. He reached for it, picked it up, and started looking through it. He was still in awe at the drawings. Finally he came to a disturbing one of him, Tucker and Sam. But he and his ghost self were apart, and his other self didn't look too friendly. Sam and Clockwork were right…. He wasn't ready for this.