Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.

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A quick note: 22 reviews. I got 22 reviews for Chapter 2 alone! Wow, you guys must really, really like this story. Thanks, all, and sorry I couldn't write a personal reply to each review, but um... yeah.

Reviews: dannychic, Summers Rage, Samantha-Girl Scout, Erin, catgirlversion3.0otakufan, MysticLady3, Van Uber, phantomshadowdragon, Chaos inducer, Anabelle Carter, ghostgirl4027, Moon Cosmic Power, SkyAngel429, Arica, Princess of Rivendell, dg19, LesMiserables, meow, That Bloody Demon, Red's-Fury.

Special thanks to Red's-Fury and Philly.

Chapter 3: A simple game of Tag

Danny was still sore when he woke in the morning. At least the stitches had remained in place; the wound was healing nicely. After all, Sam was an amazing nurse. Unfortunately, the shock that had shorted out his powers had done more than just that. He was stiff all over, and it was an effort to walk back downstairs to eat breakfast in the morning. Noticing his struggle, Sam offered to go alone and bring him back something, but he refused. What if Vlad changed his mind and decided to create his own half ghost child instead? Danny would rather die than let Vlad hurt her in such a way.

"Ah, young love," the white-haired billionaire said as Danny and Sam walked in with Danny almost completely leaning on Sam for support.

"When we get out of here, you die," Danny growled as Sam helped him into a chair.

"Oh, come, come, Daniel. That's a rather harsh thing to say to the man that's going to be raising your son," Vlad said with a wicked smile.

Danny growled, one hand closing into a fist. "Not if I can help it," he muttered under his breath.

After breakfast, they returned to the room so Danny could rest.

"Stay with me until I fall asleep?" Danny mumbled sleepily, sounding like a little kid asking for his mommy to stay with him.

"I'll stay," Sam promised, climbing up onto the bed beside him. She had nowhere to go and nothing to do anyway.

"I'm not going to do what he asked," Danny said softly, sleep slurring his words only slightly. "I don't care if we're stuck here forever, I won't do it."

"Danny, we can't stay here forever," she reminded him, laying down beside him.

"Then I'll just give him what he wants," the poor halfa muttered. "He can have me instead."

"No, Danny—"

"I don't want to talk about it anymore." He curled up further in the blankets. "I've made up my mind. He can take me instead."

Sam fell silent, watching him as he finally drifted off to sleep. She couldn't let him sacrifice himself like that. She wouldn't let him give up everything he had fought for—everything he believed in—because of a deranged madman with a psychotic idea. She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. Her hero couldn't fight for himself, so she had to fight for him. She wouldn't let him do this no matter what it took.

She was holding something. What was it? It was a baby boy: so beautiful, so fragile, and so innocent. Someone took it from her! Who did? That man there with the evil smirk on his face. "Danny!" But the cry never reached her lover's ears, and the man disappeared with the baby, her baby. There was a man sitting in a chair in a red suit. Who was it? She stepped closer. It was Danny, her Danny, but that wasn't a suit! It was blood, his blood. He was dead.

Sam sat up straight, gasping. Beside her, Danny stirred but didn't wake. She wrapped her arms around herself, rocking back and forth slightly. The dream had seemed so real; she could even feel the weight of the child in her arms—her child, Danny's child. She choked back a sob, a single tear trailing down her cheek. She turned to the sleeping young man beside her, gently tracing her fingertips down his cheek. That baby had been a spitting image of Danny.

Danny… She sighed softly. She'd had a hidden crush on him for years, and now, placed in this predicament, her secret wanted to burst out of her. She wanted to tell him how she felt, to hear him say that he felt the same. She wanted them to make love, to create the child she had seen in her dream, but she didn't want to give it to Vlad. She'd be damned if she ever gave that bastard anything. She lay back down beside her best friend, snuggling close to his warm body.

"I love you, Danny," she whispered, drifting back to sleep.

The young man opened his eyes, smiling softly. "I love you too, Sammy," he whispered back, knowing she probably wouldn't hear. What really mattered, though, was that he had finally admitted it to himself.

Danny groaned as sunlight played across his closed eyelids, as if wanting to wake him. He rolled over, putting an arm over Sam's waist and snuggling close to her. "Too early," he murmured.

"I'm a creature of the night doomed to live in a world with that bright globe they dare call a sun," Sam muttered, agreeing with him.

She sighed softly, just wanting to spend the rest of the day cuddled up with Danny like this. Danny obviously had the same idea as he rested his head on top of hers, taking a deep breath then letting it out slowly. For a moment, Sam thought he might have heard her last night, but she brushed that thought from her mind when she reminded herself that he had been asleep. She giggled as his fingertips tickled the bare skin showing at her navel.

She playfully slapped his hand away. "Come on, lazy. I'm hungry," she said, not revealing her reluctance to get up as she stood.

"I'm not lazy, I'm injured," Danny whined, pouting.

"Aw, poor baby," Sam said, before bopping him on the head with her pillow. "How do you expect to regain your strength if you just spend the day lying around?"

"Everyone knows that rest is the best healer," Danny reminded her.

"That and food," she corrected, "and you haven't eaten since breakfast yesterday." They had slept straight through lunch and dinner yesterday.

"I don't want to face Vlad," Danny muttered, grabbing a pillow and sticking it over his face. He was highly considering suffocating himself and glared at Sam as she took the pillow away.

"Do you want me to go get you some food?" she offered.

"No." He immediately sat up, ending up smacking foreheads with her. "Ouch…." He rubbed his forehead. "Okay, a headache was not something I wanted to add to my problems."

"You're telling me," she muttered, rubbing her own forehead. "It's unbelievable sometimes just how big of a klutz you really are," she teased before grabbing his hands and pulling him to his feet.

"Hey, Danny?" Sam looked up at the young man walking beside her.

"Yeah?" He looked down at her.

She smiled then pushed him over, looking down at his startled expression as he lay sprawled on the floor. "Tag, you're it!" she cried then ran off down the hall.

"Oh, I see how it is now!" Danny shouted after her before leaping to his feet and running after her.

Sam glanced back then let out a shriek as she saw Danny gaining on her. She slipped into a room, slamming the door behind her. She stifled a giggle when she heard a muffled "oof" behind her. She guessed he'd run into the door. She glanced around the room then quickly dropped down, crawling under the table. Danny finally managed to open the door, rubbing his nose. She huddled beneath the table, peeking glances at Danny between the legs of the chairs. She stifled a giggle as he crept around the room, searching for her.

"Come on, Sammy. You can't hide forever," he called out.

She giggled then let out a startled shriek as Danny bent down and reached for her. She backed away from his outstretched hand, sticking her tongue out at him before making a run for it. He chased after her, shouting out playful threats as she threw a napkin at him. Sam couldn't even count how many rooms they ran through—back and forth, back and forth. There were times that Danny almost caught her only for her to slip out of his grasp, spinning around gracefully like a butterfly teasing a bug collector with a net.

They ran into a dining room, and when Sam went left, Danny went right. When she went right, he went left. Sensing they had come to an impasse, Sam took a chance and ran for a door on the other wall. She let out a startled shriek as the halfa tackled her to the ground. They tumbled around on the floor, battling for dominancy. Danny flipped her over, pinning her hands over her head while Sam struggled to flip them back over. He grinned cheekily at her, blue eyes alight. Vlad, his deranged plan, and everything else was forgotten. Now, they were just friends playing a silly game of tag because they were bored and stuck inside a mansion where they didn't want to be.

"Pinned ya'," he said happily.

Sam shook her head, smiling up at him. "Maybe I let you."

He laughed before quieting after a moment. The position they were in was very intimate, and Danny had a strange desire to kiss her. He leaned closer to her, sensing the shiver that went through her body. "Sam," he whispered.

"Danny," she whispered back.

He hesitated for a moment then pushed away from her, releasing her. "Sorry," he said, getting off of her.

Without a word, he left the room. Sam sat up, watching him with sad lilac eyes. He's afraid to get close to me, she thought to herself, because he's going to give himself up to Vlad…