He wandered back to his house, tears flooding his vision, slamming the front door behind him. He ran past his mother and father, who were arguing over what to make for lunch, up the old rickety stairs and into his old bedroom. It was then that he decided that he was going to move as far away from that town as he could get. Maybe Africa would be nice this time of year. Or Iceland.

He slammed his bedroom door with such force he thought he might have broken it. He flopped back onto his bed, but jumped back up, too upset to relax. He was going to punch the plaster to his left when his cell phone rang, startling him.

"Yeah?" he answered abruptly.

"Yo, dude, what's wrong with you? We're supposed to go check out apartments today, and you sound like you want to throttle me."

Tucker. Danny blew out his breath and ran his hand through his hair. "I have no idea what's wrong with me—okay, yeah I do. Or, I did, but it's kind of over with now. I mean, it's over with on one end…"

"Danny, is this about Sam and Jesse? Because, if that's what's this is about, you have known about 'them' for a while now, and you've been fine with it. Or at least, you've pretended to. And I realize that you were in love with her when we were kids, but Sam's all grown up now, Danny." Tucker's reasoning just made Danny madder.

"I'm not going anywhere, today, Tuck. I just can't."

"You can't, or you won't?"

"I won't."

"Okay then. I'm going to go anyway, if you don't care. I'll just take Hannah instead."

"Hannah? Why would you take Hannah with you to look at apartments?"

"Well, she and I might get one."

"TUCKER – you just saw the girl yesterday. Things can't possibly be that serious yet," Danny practically fell off the bed.

"What's this about serious? She and I can have a place without being all committed. She and I are different from you I guess now, man, and I don't know why you're all of a sudden getting all religious on me, but lay off. I'll do what I want, and nobody's gonna stop me. Got it?" Tucker's voice was thickly laced with ice, and Danny knew when to let things go.

"Fine, Tucker. But don't expect me to bring a housewarming gift." And with that, he threw the phone across the room.

And broke it.

With that crash and shatter, his bedroom door swung open.

"Are you alright?" squeaked a familiar voice.

"Jazz!" he yelled excitedly, leaping off his bed to rush her.

"No, no," she started to say before he threw his arms around her and lifted her around in circles. He released her, letting her feet gently rest on the floor, and she looked up at him fiercely. "You always have to do that, don't you?"

"You'd better be extra careful with my girl, Danny, or I'll have to hurt you," called a male voice from the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh yeah? And why's that, Mr. Jackson?" Danny shot back, crossing his strong arms.

"Come down here, and we'll tell you together," the man called Mr. Jackson smiled.

Jazz grabbed Danny's wrist and pulled him behind her down the steps. Danny and "Mr. Jackson" hugged and laughed, beating each others backs.

"So, why can't I swing my sister around like I always do?" Danny asked, raising a dark eyebrow.

"Well," Jazz's eyes lit up. Her parents were seated on the couch, waiting patiently. "The reason you need to be extra careful with me, is because Evan and I are… well, actually, I am…"

"You're what?" Danny asked, frowning confusedly.

"She's pregnant," Evan announced. Mrs. Fenton was off the couch before he even got those words out, screaming and squealing and jumping, hugging her daughter as they both laughed excitedly. The two women then walked into the kitchen, chatting excitedly, a mile a minute.

"Nice going, you ol' charmer," Jack Fenton elbowed Evan in his side playfully, and the two men laughed and hugged.

"Thanks," Evan grinned, amused. "So, what do you think, Dan-Man? Which do you prefer – Uncle Dan, Uncle Danny, or Uncle Daniel?"

"I'll get back to you on that," Danny smirked. "Congratulations, man."

They exchanged a short, tight "man-hug", and Danny waved to the two fathers before walking out the front door.

"Where are you going, son?" Jack hollered after him.

"Nowhere," he announced.

And he pretty much believed it.

Feeling too down to even whistle as he usually did, Danny dragged his feet all the way to the small backyard, where he plopped down at the old picnic table.

The back sliding door opened with a squeak, and the pregnant redhead made her way over to his seat. She gracefully rested across from him, and stared at him until he lifted his ice blue eyes to her face.

"Hi, little brother," she smiled.

"Hi," he responded, dropping his gaze back to his hands.

"What's going on in that head of yours? Aren't you excited to be an uncle?"

"Of course I am, Jazz, it's just… nothing."

"Danny, look at me," Jazz scored him with a furrowed brow, and he looked up at her again. "You look like you've been punched in the face. What's wrong?"

"You know how I've always been in love with Sam?"

Jazz blinked in surprise. Of course she had known, it had gotten to a point where it was obvious to almost everyone (except Jack, and Sam of course). But to hear him say it so plainly was surprising to her. "Of course," she nodded.

"You did?" Danny asked her, looking almost shocked.

"Danny. You haven't dated anyone since the fourth grade. So, we all figured, either you were gay, or you were in love with Sam. We all went with the latter. It's not hard to see."

"I… you thought I was gay?"

"No."

"You just said you did. And who's we?" Danny put his hands on the table.

"Everyone noticed your undying affection for Sam, except her."

"You got that right."

"So what about her? Isn't she engaged to that rich Jesse kid?" Jazz stared.

"Yeah," Danny nodded.

"And?"

"And," Danny continued, "they're leaving today for London."

"I thought her wedding wasn't for another year!" Jazz's jaw dropped.

That was it. Danny leapt up from the table.

"I know!" He thundered, pacing a few feet from where Jazz sat. "It's the dumbest thing I have EVER heard of. What girl wants to get whisked off to London in a blue sports car at 11 AM for the ENTIRE SUMMER?" He spun and looked to his sister to agree. She smirked.

"Well…" Jazz rolled her eyes around, trying not to smile at his naiveté.

"Jazz!"

"Well, Danny, to be honest, I can see why Sam feels the need to run off with this guy."

"How can you say that? I thought you were on my side!" Danny looked at her, forlorn.

"Danny. I love you so much, but you're an idiot. You had a million chances to tell Sam how you felt, and you were so afraid of rejection that you didn't take the chance."

"YES I DID!" Danny screamed.

"When?" Jazz asked, shocked.

"THIS MORNING!"

"WHAT?" Jazz screeched.

"Yeah, I know, it was stupid," Danny threw his hands up. "But what else was I supposed to do? She was leaving me! I had no choice but to tell her!"

"Danny, that was a really selfish thing for you to do."

"What? Honesty is selfish now?"

"No, you moron, telling your best friend that you're romantically interested in her on her wed… elopement day is a pretty darn stupid thing to do. What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't! It's her fault! She's so freaking beautiful, and intelligent, and independent…"

"Oh, Danny." Jazz looked up at him, sadly.

"What."

"You've got it bad, don't you?"

"I thought you already knew that."

"I'm sorry, sweetie. But this is one thing that even I can't fix. She has a new life, Danny. And as much as I wish things were different for you, they're not. She's gone, baby brother, and if you really love her – you'll let her go." Jazz rose from the picnic table and extended her arms to him. He stepped into her like he was a little boy again, afraid of the ghosts in his closet. He always went to Jazz, because he knew his father would've gotten out his latest gadget to try, but Jazz just hugged him and promised him that he was safe.

But this time, she couldn't promise him that. And it hurt like nothing ever had.