Disclaimer: Don't own DP.

Thanks to Invader Johnny, Little Missy, Gerren, Domination of the World, mzscarlettstarlet, Crystalmoon39, Bree, BatWingteenavenger, ZoneRobotnik, Silverstone007, Askioelsi, Trish, SweetestChick, Cookieplzandthnx, ShadowYashi, and too enigmatic 2 b urs for reviewing last time!

Askioelsi: Thanks for reviewing! Based on your review, I didn't know which month your birthday's in. But I will try to have an update for Aftermath for you soon, once this Valentine thread is complete.

Little Missy: Good question! In the canon episode The Ultimate Enemy, Dan Phantom was able to shapeshift into the image of 14-year-old, human Danny. So we know he can take on a human illusion. What this story assumes, however, is that he can take an adult human form. Which I honestly don't know for sure that he can do, but I enjoy the concept of. Hope that helps!

Enough people asked for this concept to be expanded, so here's a part two!

Summary: Dan's Secret VALentine Plans (Part Two): Dan uses a familiar human appearance to "spend more time" with Valerie, and to keep her safe from her stalker. Chaos and adult-type touching ensues. Rating: T, Genre: Romance/humor


Deliverance

Shot 21: Dan's Secret VALentine Plans Part 2


Valerie's immediate response to Dan's false-human appearance was to conjure her battle suit. Tight circuitry and advanced weapons systems wove over her body, locking into place. Within seconds, she stood before him in her sleek armor. The edges glinted harshly in the fluorescent street lamps.

"You." The word strangled from her mouth. She'd known for some time about Dan's real past, but it was painful to think of. She usually tried to forget it. And yet, now he stood before her, shape-shifted to mimic his old skin. Her heart pounded in deep fear. "How did—How did you get in here?!"

Alarms were firing in her mind. Oh my god. Oh my god. Dan is on my fucking front step. Holy shit. She raised her hand, prepared to fire off several rounds of explosives from the reserves in her arm sleeves.

Phantom inhaled deep on his cigarette, closing his eyes. Then he breathed out the smoke, and it puffed along the winter wind in tendrils. "Do you like this disguise?" he asked, avoiding her questions. "I have appropriated the stereotypical 'bad boy' image, which I thought would be most advantageous for this stretch of our chess game. Truly, any boyfriend of Valerie Gray the Ghost Slayer would be just as misguided as she is."

For a time, she simply stood there—in awe or horror, she didn't know. She had not seen Phantom take on a human image for years. His black hair was much longer now, pulled back in a messy ponytail that ended at his shoulder-blades. The wind had pulled loose several strands, whipping them about not unlike his usual fire hair. His blue eyes nearly glowed. His toned body filled out the lines of his leather jacket and jeans in ways that belied the danger beneath.

This was what Danny Fenton would have looked like, had he lived. But his face was twisted with too much calculation and arrogance. The way he carried himself oozed with some kind of inhuman darkness. And that damn cigarette, jauntily tilting from his lips—Danny had never smoked.

"Where the hell did you even get that outfit?" she demanded.

He smiled. "Stole it off some soldier a long time ago. Lucky me, he even had the cigarettes with him."

Something about that sparked deep anger in Valerie, overriding her fear. She stomped forward and pulled the cigarette from his mouth without so much of a warning. "You are desecrating Danny's image," she spat, furious. She threw the burning cigarette onto the snowy concrete. "Stop playing pretend and change back. Now."

He looked down at the cigarette, the spark of which had sputtered out. "I was using that to raise my core temperature," he pouted. "Do you even understand how difficult it is to fake human warmth?"

"No, and I don't care," she hissed. "Change back."

He leaned forward to close the space between them, blue eyes glinting dark. "Absolutely not," he said. "Valerie Gray has a boyfriend from beyond the Shield, whom everyone is talking about. She also has a stalker, whom this boyfriend attacked. I have appropriated Fenton's image again so that I may save you from several…concerning social issues."

She looked somewhat horrified and tongue-tied. "You are not my boyfriend."

Was Dan Phantom really standing there in a human disguise.…Calling himself her boyfriend?

He gently grabbed onto one of her armored hands, sinking his strong fingers between hers and tightening his grip. She nearly flinched in surprise. "You did date Danny Fenton for a while, so it's not entirely a lie. And if I played the concerned family friend," he said, "then my disguise would be less fun." He pulled her closer and whispered, "We wouldn't be able to touch each other like how I know we want to."

Her face flushed a deep red. She backed up and snatched her hand away, despite the strange skip of her heart. "Stop it," she said, voice hard. "This isn't funny."

His thin lips spread wide again. Although his voice had lost its ghostly echo, the deep baritone of his voice still rumbled through her in ways nothing else could. "I suppose not. But your blush is."

If it were possible, her blush deepened and spread over her whole skin. She was thankful she wore her battle suit to hide most of herself from him, because she was sure he would laugh and mock her for her "innocent" reactions. Before they dived down an even more awkward argument, she switched subjects and demanded, "You never answered my question, you know. About how you got in here. The Shield should have stopped you, cause there's no way you can hide your ecto-signature."

Dan smiled cheekily. He rummaged in his coat pocket for a lighter and another cigarette, which he carelessly lit, as if he'd had a lot of practice. "Our close combat encounters over the last days gave me an advantage. Notice anything different about your suit since last week?"

Cold, wavering horror began to seep into her. She quickly glanced down at herself, turning her arms sideways to glance at the circuits. "No?"

He boasted, "I gave your suit an upgrade with a little device. It emits a frequency that interrupts Amity Park's ability to recognize my ectoplasmic signature. Try behind your neck."

The cold horror within her bloomed into full terror. Her shaking fingers reached up to the base of her neck, and some part of her nearly cried when she felt an uneven bump, right at the lines between the suit's panels. "What the—?"

She pulled it away, and then she stared at it in awe. It was a simple circuit the size of a quarter, painted black to blend in with her armor. But its design was entirely foreign.

Her breath hitched as she crushed it in her armored hand. Then she allowed the broken circuit to fall to the ground, where it sizzled against the snow. She looked horrified. "Oh my god. Oh my god."

Dan laughed. "By now, that virus has been uploaded to all of Amity Park's systems. You'd have to offline your entire defense protocols, including the Shield, to reset it." He looked over at her lazily. He dragged on his cigarette again, even though it did little more than puff hot air into him. His lungs were already dead. "Did you know I have an army in the Zone on standby to attack the very instant you turn off the Shield?"

She nearly hyperventilated. "What the—how the hell could—?!" Words failed her. She suddenly felt as if the man before her was a stranger. Dan must have been planning this for a long, long time. Learning source code here and there. Stealing technology on the side. All of their daily fights were just fronts for a deeper, more insidious war—in which he now stood as the veritable Trojan horse to take Amity Park down from the inside.

(When had Dan ever worked with other ghosts? Had the Fright Knight finally decided to serve him? When had Dan learned to hack?!)

She suddenly felt horribly violated and naked in her battle suit. He'd crippled Amity Park's defenses through her. "Y-you…"

"Check and mate," he said, blue eyes twinkling with great excitement as he watched her melt down. "Nothing like a little fun behind enemy lines to spice up the war, huh?"

Her fingers shook as she grabbed the blaster at her hip and raised the barrel to his heart. "I'll tell everyone who you are," she promised, voice wavering. "I'll destroy you before you can shed that skin."

He laughed genuinely. "Then I will simply retaliate in kind against your precious town. Mutually assured destruction." He breathed in the toxins from his cigarette. Heat rushed through him again in a way that nearly made him smile. "As it stands, my motives are not to destroy Amity Park. So you would do well to let me walk among you and complete my business."

For a time, she maintained her blaster level at his chest, knowing instinctively that it would not stop him. She also knew she could not risk angering him into attacking. While Dan Phantom was rarely ever explicit in his meanings, he was usually true to the motives he expressed. And he was right—he appeared entirely unconcerned with everything but her. She asked slowly as she lowered her blaster, "And what is your business here?"

"Don't look so terrified. This is all for your benefit."

"Like what benefit?" she demanded. "Besides giving me a heart attack?"

He huffed, "I need to mitigate your life issues and maximize your time spent fighting me. I do know that one of the issues in my way is Nathan's obsession with you."

In other words, Phantom was suggesting he actually had her in mind. It was not unlike Valentine's Day, when he had sacrificed his time so she could fight him instead of fighting off Nathan. She swallowed hard. "You're here to destroy Amity Park. This has nothing to do with me. Or Nathan."

He smiled something terrible. "Valerie, you must understand. I am immortal. I will conquer Amity Park one day, if not simply because you are so finite. But for now, I appreciate your mildly amusing attempts to stop me." Some kind of sadness overcame him. "I'll have no one to banter with after you die. Which is why I became quite concerned when I realized that much of your time here in Amity Park is spent not thinking about me and our games, but avoiding one Nathan Green."

Her eyes narrowed. "Between the egotistical narcissism and monologuing, I could've sworn I heard concern. That's rich, coming from you."

He stepped forward, ignoring the insult. He said in great seriousness, "You fear your pathetic stalker more than you fear me. I never realized this until last Valentine's Day. But it's true, isn't it?" He threw his cigarette to the ground, his eyes remaining locked with hers.

"You're littering," Valerie pointed out.

"So did you. And you're avoiding my question."

"Your question sounded rhetorical."

He crossed his arms, raising a brow. "Which means that you are quite terrified of your stalker."

Valerie began to feel boxed by the truth and the ever-enclosing circle of their argument. Her eye twitched. "Look, I don't know why you're so 'concerned' for me, but I can handle—!"

He moved closer, physically gaining ground against her. "—And I don't think you realize how dangerous it is to allow someone to stalk you for ten years. You have insects here who want to hurt you in ways I never would, to hide you away for their own purposes. I can't allow anyone to interrupt our chess game and kill you before your time." His face shadowed a bit with some kind of psychotic anger. "No one can steal you from me. Especially not someone like Nathan."

She backed away. "I'm not yours."

Dan ignored her. "And how long?" he demanded. "How long before he would have snapped? In time, he would have lost control. And with your morality, you would have let Nathan kill you."

"No, he wouldn't!"

"You have no idea how obsessions work," the ghost said dryly. "Take my word for it, they define your life. You breathe for them." He crossed his arms, his face twisting a bit darker. "Even though I have temporarily…convinced Nathan otherwise, he will return to his ways without my presence to remind him."

The concept was one that placed an inkling of fear back into Valerie. "I don't need you to fight my battles for me," she said, voice rising.

"Don't you want your stalker to leave you alone forever?" he asked.

She did. He saw her hesitance. "Then let me help you. Play along with me," he tempted. "Together, we'll stop Nathan for good—if he's smart, he'll learn to leave you alone. If he's not smart, then I will ensure that you enforce measures against him." He smiled evilly. "Or I'll enforce those measures for you."

She huffed a bit, feeling fully caged. The options were few, considering Phantom was oddly adamant on helping her. She supposed she could give in, especially since telling Nathan "no" and threatening restraining orders hadn't worked. She rubbed her temples with her hand. "I don't trust you," she deadpanned.

"I'm already here," he laughed lightly. "And yet your town still stands. I entered the resistance, and yet the building remains unharmed. I faced your father earlier, and he not only continues to live, but he enjoyed my presence. No one will know the truth."

She paused, feeling trapped. She began to quickly weigh and measure the consequences. Was there a downside to this? If she allowed him to parade about as her boyfriend, would she suffer under it somehow? If he pretended to be her boyfriend, would he try to kiss her, touch her?

…And would that be so bad, considering how much she thought of it anyways?

"Come on, Val," he tempted. "I'll be on my best behavior. If we both play our parts, we'll both get what we want. I won't even kill anyone." The psychotic darkness that covered him began to lighten with a bright smile. "Why, I can even deceive people into thinking I'm quite charming."

She hesitated, and she stared at him for a long, long time. The resolve upon her face began to visibly wear down. Defeat and tiredness began to creep into her face and the lowering, protective stance of her shoulders.

Dammit, she really did want to stop Nathan for good. Pretending to have a boyfriend around would dash his hopes and make him finally believe that he wasn't the one for her. And something about using Dan—

It made her heart pound, but not in fear. She'd always remained lightly attracted to him, even after he'd gone insane. And maybe this situation had more advantages than he had described. He would have to submit to normal human morality and culture, if only for a time. Maybe she could convince him to…enjoy it? To see that Amity Park was worth saving? That maybe their chess games could morph into something more of a positive rivalry? (With some added benefits?)

She pointed her finger at him. "You gotta swear you won't try anything funny."

Dan's face split into a wide, dark grin.


As they entered back into the resistance building, Dan passed by the multiple cameras and ecto-sensors (technology designed mostly for him) without one blip of suspicion.

Valerie felt apprehensive. "I can't believe I'm doing this," she breathed as her armor retracted, exposing her military fatigues—her unarmored body. Everything was real. Dan wasn't attacking her or anything else. The virus he had uploaded was everywhere. Her heart was beginning to pound harder.

"Believe it, Valerie." He intertwined his fingers with hers and squeezed. It was not unpleasant to feel the cool of his calloused skin against hers. "If you don't, Nathan won't either."

She looked down at their hands and blushed. "It's just…weird," she complained. She'd never really held hands with anyone since the last time she'd held hands with one Danny Fenton. Whose dead body was now back to haunt her.

She suddenly worried that could feel her heart pounding through her hand.

He looked at her, his blue eyes deceptively innocent. "Then perhaps we should practice being believable," he asked. "Since your long-lost lover has come to visit you, I would think you'd be ecstatic enough to kiss him. And yet you look quite displeased."

She set her jaw. He was toying with her and probably trying to manipulate her into giving him some action as compensation for his time. She snatched her hand back and continued walking forward without him. If he wanted to play like they were really dating, then… "No. I'm still mad at you for beating up someone and then not telling me you were in Amity Park days ago. So if you want me to act 'ecstatic' for you, you'll have to work for it."

He blinked, surprised. He'd been expecting her to flat out deny him any chance. She'd just insinuated otherwise.

Valerie looked back at him with a glint in her eye.

Then a great attraction overcame him as he realized that Valerie had just begun to truly play along. "Oh," he said. He smiled something devilish as he began to catch up with her, walking alongside her. "So if you're mad at me now, then this just means we'll have makeup sex later, right?"

"No."

"I bet 'D' and Val would have great makeup sex," Dan said, as if fascinated by the thought, scratching his chin. "Especially if they fought often, as we so often do."

She blushed angrily, looking around to make sure no one was listening or wandering around where they could hear. "Stop," she said.

"What?" he said innocently. "I'm just trying to get our stories straight. I'm analyzing our relationship."

"We don't have a real relationship to analyze," she snapped.

"Oh, but we did," he said. "We've just been estranged for a while. Conflicting life interests, apocalypse, you know." He grabbed onto her hand, intertwining his bare fingers with hers again. "But 'D' realized he couldn't live without you. And he got very, very jealous when he learned that other men were trying to steal his girl."

"I'm not yours."

"D has to win you back, of course. You'd broken up with him, per the aforementioned life conflicts."

"You are referring to yourself in third person, and it's weird."

"…My temporary identity of 'bad boy with good heart' is in conflict with my worldview." He sniffed. "This is how I keep my sanity in such trying times."

"You don't have sanity," she deadpanned. "Ever."

Suddenly, he spun her around against one of the pillars and pressed himself against her. "No," he admitted, warm breath mixing with hers. She'd frozen, eyes wide at his actions, but she did not flinch away. He leaned against her, his blue eyes glinting dark as he smiled. "And I love that you know me so well."

She breathed shakily, trying to fight off the conflicting instincts of kicking him off and pulling him closer. She whispered, voice wavering, "The hell are you doing?" She looked to the side, blushing with great paranoia that someone would see them like this. Anybody could walk down the hall at any time.

He gently turned her chin so that she faced him. "I think I'd rather like to kiss you," he whispered back. Scant inches were between them. "Practice, you know. For when we really do have an audience."

Valerie swallowed hard. Her heart was racing even harder now. Dan's hand was resting on the swell of her hips, while the other still gently caressed her jaw line. A large part of her wanted him to kiss her, and the feeling was beginning to spread down her belly. "I, uh…I—"

Suddenly, a new voice interrupted them.

"…Valerie?"

At the sound of another voice, she startled away, pushing Dan back. Her eyes were wide, her face flushed. "Uh—!"

Her father stood towards the end of the hall, arms crossed.

Although Damon Gray wore an eye-patch, his one good eye was narrowed in a mix between good-natured humor and fatherly concern. He looked to Dan and called, "Don't get too fresh with my daughter now, or we're gonna have a much different talk, ya hear?"

For a second, Dan looked greatly irritated by the intrusion. His blue eyes nearly bled red. But then he turned around to face the father, and he jauntily saluted. "I look forward to that talk, then." His smile suggested he would very much get fresh with Valerie. Perhaps in ways that would redefine "fresh" for future generations.

Damon grunted in displeasure, but then some kind of old humor won out over his concern. He knew his daughter could handle herself. "Well, I was about to offer you a tour of the place. But I see that Valerie is already acquainting you quite well with the main entrance." He gave her a pointed look that made her blush harder. "Dear, why don't you show him around like an actual guest and save the romance for behind closed doors?"

Valerie stood there, gaping. "Uh, y-yeah. Sure."

The father eyed Dan once more, as if to measure his intentions, and then began to walk back to his office, feeling awkwardly too old to be so protective over his now-grown daughter. Eventually, his door opened and closed, and they were again the only two people in the main hall.

They stood there in silence, both still surprised at being caught in the middle of an almost-intimate moment.

"…I think he likes me," Dan said with a solid nod.

Valerie jabbed him with her elbow. "He shouldn't," she said, voice still strangled.

"Don't worry," he readjusted his leather jacket with a signature smile. "I've already established trust with him, so I'm sure his concern is minimal at best. When we spoke previously, your father seemed quite ecstatic that I'd punched Nathan in the face."

Valerie face faulted. "He's not supposed to approve of that kind of stuff," she grumbled under her breath. Damn her father. Now Dan would likely attach to such approval.

As suspected, he did. "And what a delightful thing the human justice system is," he said. "If your father agreed with me on more things, perhaps I would not hate him so."

"Even if my dad's overprotective of me, which clouds his judgment," Valerie said, voice flat, "you know he doesn't approve of how Phantom killed half the world population and continues to terrorize everyone's who left."

"A truly unfortunate situation," he sniffed, although no concern wavered in his voice. "If only the rest of the world were dead; they would no longer feel terrorized."

Valerie glared at him. "You're horrible."

"But I should like to keep you alive," he corrected himself. "Everyone else can die. Except you."

Something about that made her want to laugh or cry.


As Valerie led Dan through the main hall and to the various commonplace areas, they continued to banter back and forth in their usual, married-couple way. Some part of Valerie felt suffocated by the attraction she couldn't shake since he had leaned her against the pillar and nearly kissed her. It made her more grouchy and snappish, especially when he reminded her that he was in fact an arch villain out to destroy the world.

Dan seemed to enjoy her discomfort.

"Why don't you show me behind the scenes?" he complained. "You know, where you hide all the experimental technology that you hope to stop me with?"

Valerie rolled her eyes. Then she smiled a painfully false smile. "Oh no. It appears that 'D' doesn't have the security clearance necessary for that kind of tour."

"And how do I get that security clearance?"

"You don't."

"I could probably forge something."

"I'm not letting you out of my sight," she promised, voice hard. "And even if you tried to forge something, I could reset those codes without turning off the Shield."

Check and mate. He frowned a bit, realizing he'd lost a small battle. But then his eyes glinted with a new idea. "Then how about a different kind of tour? Can I get a tour of Valerie Gray?"

"…A tour of…?"

"As she's going to be a large part of my life during my stay, I'd like to understand her more." He smiled lazily. "And I'd like to get more acquainted with all of her high-security areas so that I can…better navigate under the circumstances."

She flushed and turned away to hide the red of her face. "You just want to get in my pants so you can take over the resistance."

"Did I say anything about pants? Tsk, tsk, Valerie. You dirty mind, you."

She spun on her heels and poked him in the chest, face flaming with a blush that would not end. "That's entrapment, and you know it. What am I supposed to think when you talk about 'high-security areas'?!"

He eyed her. Then he smiled, his eyes falling down to her chest.

Her eye twitched. She shoved him away, and he laughed, the baritone sound a pleasant ring against the walls. For the first time ever, the sound was completely genuine and without darker motive.

He leaned forward and waggled his eyebrows. "Does anyone else have access to these…high-security areas?" he asked seriously.

"No."

"Has anyone previously had access?"

She hid her face in her hands and groaned. "Oh my god. I think I preferred you more when you were trying to kill me."

"So, that's a no, then." He looked at her with great desire, realizing that this woman before him was a virgin. "Oh, Valerie. You have no idea how sexy that is."

A strangled noise, like something between a huff and a scream, escaped her throat. She felt she would melt out of embarrassment. The last thing she wanted was to give Dan one more reason to tease her, especially because her heart was already pounding out of her chest. "Seriously, stop. Or I will shoot you point-blank, and it'll ruin everything."

He smiled. A worked-up Valerie was fun to mess with, and a blushing Valerie was even better. "Well," he said, scratching his chin, "I guess this means 'D' and Val have never had makeup sex, then. That's something we'll have to put on our list of things to practice. You know," he tilted his head, "once D gets that high-security clearance."

She gaped at him. She'd blushed harder in ten minutes than she had her entire life. Surely, this was a new kind of warfare that he was experimenting with on her. She clenched her fists, her nose scrunching in disgust to hide the traitorous sparks of her mind that were actively creating an image of him and her on a bed and his hands—

"—You're not gonna get that kind of clearance," she promised him, eyeing him and trying desperately to remember, That face and body is a lie. His flirting is a lie. Dan wants to kill everyone. He doesn't really want you. He just wants to use you.

Now I'm talking to myself. Dammit.

He leaned in merrily. "Then it looks like I'll just have to work for that clearance and—"

"—Ooh, is this the secret boyfriend?!" called out a heavily accented, nasal voice that was rapidly growing louder, along with footsteps.

For a second, they both froze.

Dan's face faulted. He was quickly learning that privacy did not exist within the resistance, which was excessively irritating. He turned around to see a tall Latino woman with black hair and blue eyes. Although she wore similar military fatigues as Valerie, she'd pulled up the arms and stomach to show off her skin, as per usual.

The infamous Paulina Sanchez.

Valerie looked terrified, as if she'd been caught doing something horrific. "Uh, h-hey, Paulina."

"You know," the woman called out, her voice loud and excited, "your boy toy kinda looks like that Fenton kid before he died!" She eyed him up and down as she walked up to them, then smiled sweetly. "But much better. And way less nerdy."

Dan sniffed, disinterested and irritated by the reference to his past. "He was my cousin," he lied smoothly.

Paulina gazed at him in awe. "How could that family ever have someone like you in their genes?"

"…We didn't talk much."

The Latino woman turned to Valerie and whined, "Chika, why did you not tell me he was so caliente? Is that why you didn't talk about him?!"

Dan's face twisted with legitimate confusion. "…Caliente?" he whispered to Valerie out of the side of his mouth.

"It means hot," Valerie deadpanned, arms crossed.

"Oh." Dan suddenly looked pleased. "Well, then. I approve of this title." He smiled back at Paulina disarmingly. "I'm D."

"Just D?"

His pleased expression faltered at the thought of having to repeat himself to educate the bimbo. "…Just D."

Paulina gave him another look. "Kinda makes sense with the leather jacket and all," she said slowly. "You've got that dangerous streak to you."

Something about that upticked Dan's lips. "I do enjoy danger."

"What kind of danger?"

"Usually the life-threatening kind."

The woman smiled. "Ooh, I felt the bad boy vibes off that."

Valerie narrowed her eyes at the way that Paulina was circling Dan with a predatory look. "Are you done looking at him like a piece of meat?" she asked, voice carrying an unnatural edge. "Seriously, we got better things to do."

The other woman rolled her eyes playfully and whined, "Chica, I'm checking out the merchandise. I have to make sure he's up to standard for you."

He looked over at Valerie and realized that her face was twisted with something he had not seen on her before. It was a dark look, pointed at Paulina moreso than himself. Was it jealousy?

His blue eyes glinted. Oh. He could have fun with this.

And so he turned to Paulina, suddenly giving her more attention. He flexed his bicep, his steel muscles bulging against the leather sleeve of his jacket to strain the seams. "Is this up to standard?"

Valerie's eye twitched.

"Ooh, you're so strong and handsome!" Paulina cooed, her lithe fingers reaching out to touch his arm. "I bet you could give Valerie a good time." Then she pulled away, wagging a finger at him and raising her eyebrow. "But I know you bad boy types. Do you treat her right? Make her feel loved? As her friend, I'm obligated to interrogate you and ask you about your history."

Dan pouted, making his hardened lines more sultry and vulnerable. Paulina nearly melted at the sight despite her attempts to fight it. "She hardly treats me right," he complained. "Ten years ago, she broke up with me so she could fight Phantom without ties. But we've…stayed in contact. So I travel halfway across the country to see her again and patch things up for real, and she's still angry with me because I had a run-in with her old stalker. I can't win no matter what I do."

Paulina then turned to Valerie and asked in shock, "How can you possibly be angry with this hot mess? Especially since you broke his heart but he still braved the Wastelands and stood up for you!" Her whine was high-pitched enough to make even Dan wince.

Valerie crossed her arms and said, voice dry, "I'm mad cause he thinks he can just waltz right back into my life and beat people up in my name."

Her heart felt uneasy. Dan's lie of a past was based off of a lot of truth. She had originally chosen to break up with Danny Fenton to keep him safe. Apparently, from himself. Which hadn't worked.

Surely, he was making some kind of underhanded point with all of this.

Dan simply shrugged. "At least I didn't kill your stalker," he said. And then he rummaged through his pocket to find his pack of cigarettes and a lighter. If he waited too long, his ghost temperature would begin to leech out at more noticeable chills. He tilted the cigarette a bit between his lips, smiling wide at Valerie. "Just trying to watch out for you. If you won't stand up for yourself, then I will."

That did it. Paulina suddenly had stars in her eyes. "I officially approve of you. You have no idea how much of a problem Nathan's been. Oh my god, there was one time that we were washing up at night and—"

"—He does not need to know that," Valerie hissed, stepping forward to pull Dan away from Paulina.

"I believe I should know," he said, offended and lightly trying to pull his elbow from her vice-like grip. "Nathan was already lurking outside of her window when I found him. I'm quite interested to know what else he's done."

Something odd dropped into Valerie's stomach. My window? She hadn't known that. "…It doesn't matter," she said quickly, pulling him along.

"I believe it does," he said, voice growing hard. He began to resist her, for he realized he could learn quite a bit about Valerie's life through this bimbo who couldn't keep a secret if she tried. Perhaps that's why Valerie was so intent on dragging him away. "Paulina, right? Tell me more about what Nathan's done."

Valerie began to drag him harder. "Seriously," she said, voice raising between a complaint and a beg. "Drop it."

Her sudden noncompliance made him irritated. He could not afford to miss out on gaining information, and so his eyes flashed red quickly before settling back to baby blue.

Within seconds, chaos broke loose.

Valerie's Phantom Tracker, which manifested as a slim bracelet on her wrist when not in battle suit mode, began to beep. Valerie blinked in surprise and then looked down, instinctively pushing the button. A small, LED screen expanded across her arm. The blinking coordinates and ectoplasmic levels were suggesting that Dan Phantom had tripped the perimeter sensors of a distant town, known as Jasper.

She looked up and gasped. "That's impossible. But you're—!"

"—Perfectly capable of behaving myself while you run off to save the world." He smiled something sneaky. "With our past, I know better than to keep you from your favorite hobby."

Valerie gaped at him. How was he doing that when he was standing right in front of her?

The beeping began to grow louder, picking up significant ectoplasmic outputs. She looked down and cursed. Whatever was happening, Dan was actively attacking Jasper city—a town without as strong of a shield to protect it.

"I gotta go and stop this," she said hurriedly, voice rough with frustration. With a groan, she called forth her battle suit. The familiar, sleek panels stretched over her skin and curves, locking into place. She gave Dan a pointed look. "Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone."

"I'm never stupid, Valerie."

"And you." She pointed at Paulina. "Don't tell him anything."

Her friend rolled her eyes lovingly. "I won't."

"Good." And then she jumped into the air, and the nanoparticles of her jet sled solidified beneath her. The whine of the circuits echoed into the air as she stormed off in a metallic whirl, heading for the main exit out. The exhaust from the jet sled ruffled their clothes.

And the hall fell silent.

The instant Valerie was gone from sight, Dan turned to Paulina. "So. Tell me everything I should know about this Nathan kid."

She smiled sweetly, enraptured by the concept of this dark knight sweeping in to save his old flame. Valerie desperately needed someone who could keep an eye out for her. "Anything you want, sweetheart. Just don't let Valerie know that I told you."

"Deal."


Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.

Several other curse words and impressive strands of insults ran through Valerie's head as she grumbled. "How the hell does he do this?" She was racing over the Wastelands at top speed, her body curled in on itself to streamline through the winds. "He's such a…freakin' pain in the ass!"

In truth, most of her anger came not from having to fight, but from the fact that this was all a distraction so Dan could learn her secrets and everything she hadn't told him about Nathan's, er, obsession. And then there was the whole "showing off in front of Paulina" thing that made her blood boil. And the way he'd tried to gain the sympathy vote by making her seem like a total bitch—!

"That jerk," she seethed. At this rate, all of her friends would take his side. But she supposed she couldn't think too hard on it. Currently, Dan Phantom was complicating her life in a more serious way.

As she sped over the land, she realized that Jasper city's shield was down, and above the chaos was one Dan Phantom, casually blasting at the skyscrapers.

"Of course," she groaned, eyes wide. "Of course he'd try killing people today."

The city of Jasper, a poorer town still perfecting its shield, was often a victim of Phantom's rampages. He usually attacked it out of boredom or some need to fulfill a bloodlust, for Jasper city had no ghost hunters half as competent as Valerie Gray. They were therefore something of a protectorate of the stronger Amity Park, which meant Valerie had a responsibility to protect them too.

The image that was Dan Phantom in full ghost glory looked up as she appeared on the horizon. "Did you forget I can clone myself?" he called to her in amusement.

Valerie blushed at her oversight as she leveled a blaster at him. "That doesn't make me feel any better with leaving you alone back at the resistance. "

"Aww, worried I'll get lonely?"

"No—just worried you'll kill someone."

"Well, we all have our appearances to keep up," he said, waving a hand around them. Below him, crowds of humans screamed and cried at their decimated shield, and they flailed about for safety within the rubble and below-ground transport pods. "You should know that restraining my homicidal tendencies for several hours on end and working to gain the approval of your friends has made me feel quite constricted." His palms began to glow, as did his eyes. "I could use a little exercise."

"By exercise, do you mean me kicking your ass? Cause trust me, buddy: you've been asking for it all morning."

He smiled too wide and tilted his head. "And how can I further elicit your anger? Shall I try to increase my death count—or just generally soak in the fear of my victims? I'd like your opinion, so that I may infuriate you more."

Her blaster began to whine up. "I don't get this. How the hell can you float there and flirt with me and have a clone gossiping with my friend—I'm still pissed about that, by the way—and yet you still shoot people up like they're nothing, just to create a distraction?"

"Our personal situation is irrelevant," he said casually. "You're not like the rest of humanity." He waved below at the now-silent streets of Jasper. "These are insects to be eradicated. Pawns in our chess game. Expendable resources."

She gave him a hard look. His own sickening worldview was one reason why she had never allowed herself to feel much for him. "Those people have value too. Maybe they can't play your stupid chess games, but each one has someone who cares about them. Each person is irreplaceable."

He rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. Not the preaching again—we covered this years ago. You can't change me."

She nearly groaned at his stubbornness. Maybe it was time to switch up tactics and throw a hard ball of her own. "I know. But you infiltrated my town just so you could stop Nathan from stalking me. You said you didn't want me to die before my time." She stared at him, eyes hard. "That means you've put some kind of value on my life, right?"

He narrowed his gaze and then nodded slowly. It suddenly fell silent between them with an unspeakable pressure.

He realized for the first time that perhaps his desire to rid Valerie of Nathan had exposed something about himself. Which was a dangerous and terrifying thought.

"So say I died tomorrow." She kept her blaster raised at him. "Say I broke my own neck flying on my jet sled. What would you do?"

His face twitched. He looked excessively uncomfortable with her questions, and he began to back away. "You will not die on your jet sled," he said, voice slow and strangled. "Your battle suit is damn near indestructible and designed to protect you."

He was missing the point. And so she did something entirely unprecedented in battle. With a hard swallow, she lowered her blaster and re-holstered it on her thigh. Then she recalled her battle suit. The panels swept back, and her visor disintegrated back into nanoparticles in her bloodstream until she stood on her jet sled in her plain, military outfit. She crossed her arms.

Dan's eyes tightened. Suddenly, he was looking at her vulnerable body, and the way she was tilted precariously on her jet sled. They were floating high above even the skyscrapers. If she fell, she'd die.

"You said it yourself," she said. "I'm gonna die someday. So what would you do if I died right now?"

Her question brought forth strange emotions. Dan felt constricted by them. His mind was conjuring images of a world without Valerie Gray, and it felt aimless. His own power core flickered in hesitance at the thought.

Feeling adventurous and a bit wicked, Valerie forced one of her feet to slip from her jet sled. The jet sled swung hard at the imbalance, and with a half-real yelp, she fell back in the open air—the world spinning in angles and lights, her ringlet hair flying up in rays, her life tumbling towards the earth—

In a blur, he stormed for her, grabbing onto her body and pulling her close to him, cradling her in a tight hold as he swooped them both up from a free fall. Her fingers tightened on his jumpsuit out of surprise. For a few seconds, he said nothing. Only the strange possessiveness with which he held her close spoke between them that he would not let her fall. "Dammit," he hissed, red eyes wide with barely constrained fear. "Are you truly that clumsy without your suit?"

She looked up at him, realizing that they had again transgressed far beyond the boundaries of ordinary enemies. Here she was in the arms of the true visage of Dan Phantom and all of his demonic coloring. And yet, it felt good. His strong arms supported her as if she weighed nothing. Despite the darkness within him, she felt entirely safe.

"Check and mate," she said triumphantly. She patted his face in amusement and mock sympathy. His skin was cold and smooth, his flickering hair brushing against her knuckles. "I coulda called my jet sled back to me, you know."

Green stormed across his face in a strange blush; his face twitched in irritation and realization that Valerie had in fact played him. He suddenly released her, and she yelped out a laugh as she fell through the air once more. The smooth panels of her battle suit fanned over her body, and her jet sled flew toward her. With a graceful swoop, it aligned itself to her, and she twisted so she landed perfectly on the foot locks, straightening up to eye Dan. Then she put a hand on her hips and called to him, "Aww, you tried to rescue a human."

"Not funny," he hissed, face still twisted with conflicting emotions. "Don't ever do that again."

"Why not?" she challenged.

"Your death does not entertain me. Keep that damn suit on next time you think about free falling. As a matter of fact, keep that suit on all the time. Then you can't die."

A sad amusement twitched up her lips. "And yet you're entertained by killing other people. You really make no sense to me."

"I've told you before that you're different," he huffed. "I've killed billions and maimed more. I destroyed this world's cities and laughed, and I regret nothing. Do not confuse my illusion of a human skin as a sign of humanity."

She said, tilting her head a bit. "Oh, I know you're screwed up. But wanting to be with people who understand you? That's kind of…human."

He blinked. He looked almost uncomfortable with the thought—that some part of him really was still human. That his defining need for Valerie was not some evolved behavior but something quite primal or instinctive.

Then suddenly, something else distracted him. His face twisted with amusement and disgust, his eyes unfocusing into the distance. "Speaking of human, your friends have an excessive interest in your sex life," he declared suddenly, surprised at the turn of conversation between his clone he'd left back at the resistance. A wicked smirk overcame him. "They're concerned that you need a little…loosening up. They'd like to know in what ways I please you at night. I'm afraid such conversation just entirely derailed my attention from your miserable attempts to reform me."

She blinked. "…What?" She clenched her fists, feeling her heart begin to pound again in sudden uncertainty. "The hell are they telling you? What are you telling them back?!"

"Well," he said slyly, "you admitted you're a virgin, so it would not do to lie. That could make things too awkward for you to fake."

She blushed as she face-palmed. "Oh my god," she whined. "Seriously, why are you even talking about this with them?!"

"And now they're telling me that I need loosening up," he said, voice turning with something between a laugh and an uneasy strain. "How—"

His mouth suddenly clicked shut. Then his eyes widened, and a strange, green-tinged blush dusted across his horrified face. "Oh."

Valerie stilled on her jet sled, a hand on her hip. She asked dryly, "What now? Finally found a conversation boundary not worth crossing?"

"…My clone just got man-handled by a group of women." His blush deepened, and his face twitched in disgust and confusion. His fingers clenched tight into a fist as his stomach muscles flinched at the ghost feeling of hands upon his copy. "Those insects are touching me."

Valerie's eyes widened. An image of girls pulling at Dan's hair and trying to tear off his clothes came to mind. And she almost laughed, until she realized the psychotic darkness upon Dan's face as his horror gave way to fury. She pointed at him. "Stop," she demanded sharply, as if she were scolding a dog. "I know what you're thinking, and don't do it. I'll get you away from that, okay? Just give me like, 15 seconds."

"10," he bargained, red eyes glowing orange in his anger. "Now. Or I will kill them all."

Valerie spun around and shot towards Amity Park to save Dan from his own conspiracy. At least she knew he would likely be too frozen to get one last shot in at the city of Jasper. "You better thank me later!" she yelled back.

The clone nearly snarled. "And you better thank me."


In short order, Valerie found herself storming through the front entrance of the resistance. She flew low on her jet sled, body curled to navigate through the tighter passages. She could hear the noise of laughs and giggles as she neared closer. The image of women pulling on Dan's clothes again came to mind, and she nearly smirked—she was gonna have to save Dan from a group of women!—but then she rounded the corner. A gaggle of women had surrounded the newcomer, some in general curiosity and others with far more forward intentions. He was backed against a wall, one woman's hands in his hair, another poking his stomach to feel his abs, while yet another hung off of his arm, stroking his biceps. Paulina stood off to the side, giggling.

Dan looked truly petrified. Only the twitch of his hand alerted Valerie that he was pissed off and seconds away from killing them all.

Somehow, the image was less entertaining than she thought it'd be. As a matter of fact, something cold steeled in her against the women blatantly flirting.

"You know, if Valerie's still angry with you, you can stay in my place," one of the women said dreamily, leaning against him. "I got a bed. That we could share."

At that, a strange and jealous rage overwhelmed Valerie as she jumped down from her jet sled. "What the hell's going on in here?" she called out, announcing her presence with her usual tact.

Dan looked up. "Valerie," he breathed, his baritone voice straining with relief and barely suppressed frustration. Oh, thank god. "Get me out of here."

"But sweetheart," one woman pleaded, grabbing harder onto his arm, "Valerie doesn't need you. Come on, forget about her!"

Valerie glared at the woman. Dan was hers, dammit. Whether she was angry with him or not, whether she needed him or not, he was always hers. She owned his afterlife. And if no one understand that, then she'd have to make them understand.

A small blip of uncertainty struck her, but then she straightened her spine with false confidence. I know what would end this for good. She stomped up to him in a great huff, shoving aside a few of the women who'd infringed on her space. In a blur, she grabbed Dan's jacket's collar and pulled him down, planting a solid kiss upon his lips in front of everyone.

Dan's blue eyes flew open in surprise. His shock froze him, his mind blanking at the feeling of Valerie's lips against his—the warmth of her body seeping into his clothes and skin—the softness

Then Valerie pulled away, releasing his collar. Her breath was halted, the lines of her body vulnerable with attraction and possessiveness for him. It was part-manipulation and part-truth, as most things were for her. "I missed you," she whispered, batting her eyelashes. There was no way she'd let anyone leave without them knowing that she'd staked a claim on this man.

For a second, Dan remained truly, inexplicably speechless. His jaw had dropped, his face had tinged red in a blush. Valerie Gray had just kissed him. He knew what she tasted like now. She'd kissed him of her own free will. And nothing was sexier than how she'd just completely dominated him and usurped control.

His eyes dilated with desire, and he blurred forward, grabbing her hips and kissing her back hard.

A muffled note of surprise escaped her as she grabbed onto his arms for stability. The raw desire that bled off of him overwhelmed her. The exotic awareness that she was doing this in front of an audience made the fire she felt all the more enticing.

And before she knew it, he pulled away. "I missed you too," he whispered, eyes strained with hunger.

A very real attraction—that they could affect each other so much—spurned them both forward. Without thinking, Valerie wove her armored fingers into his black hair, pressing him closer to her instinctively, demanding to feel him kiss her again. He willingly submitted, humming in pleasure as his lips met hers.

So. This was the fire they'd suppressed for so long. That it'd taken so long to feel it made it all the sweeter.

A few men whistled as they walked by the crowd. A lot of women sighed. Some of them grumbled. It was hard to deny the stake that Valerie had just placed on the mysterious D. And, uh, was still placing.

And that he was placing on her…

They all began to quietly inch away, slowly growing more and more uncomfortable with the ongoing display of attraction. Eventually, even the women who had tried to move in on Dan blushed and left. Paulina sighed, as if greatly jealous, but then a twitch of sneaky humor rose her full lips up as she walked away too.

No secret boyfriend, indeed.


The instant everyone had left, the two reluctantly pulled away. Then Dan set his forehead against hers. "Hmm," he whispered, lips inches away from hers and stretching into a satisfied, lazy smile. "We might have our disagreements, but…" His large hand stroked down the swell of her hip, and the metal of her battle suit was hot with the heat from her body. "This is nice."

She panted shakily, her breath mixing with his. "Yeah." Her entire body tingled with heightened nerves and the vibration of his baritone voice. She could feel every line of his body against her. She was even beginning to think she wanted his hand on her thigh to move to other places, and she swallowed hard. It was probably a good thing she hadn't retracted her battle suit. "…What just happened?"

He hummed, his lazy smile growing with delight. "I used to call it a fake-out make-out. It's something that makes your continued existence far more desirable."

Valerie huffed, licking her bruised lips with a dazed awe. Holy shit. Forget that he wants world domination. I'll make him want something else. "…Aren't we a little old for fake-out stuff?"

He paused. "Why yes. Yes, I believe we are."

Then Dan kissed her deeper, and his lips stretched against hers instinctively. Valerie's fingers dug harder into him. He recalled the power of his clone, who returned to him instantly, for he wanted all of him to feel and taste Valerie.

And for the first time, thoughts of his past, of his bloodlust, of his death count, disappeared.

A couple of people still whistled as they walked by the two. But in such close quarters at the resistance, and with the end of the world always around the corner, such sights of intimacy were fairly mundane. And so they kept walking and thought little more about it beyond the simple surprise that Valerie Gray really did have a not-so-secret lover.


From down the hall, Nathan lurked, eyes wide at the sight of Valerie sweetly kissing her boyfriend. The man held her in an intimate hold, pulling away only to kiss her again in a mindless afterthought. The two of them were whispering between kisses, the man's face splitting with mischievous grins, a similar smile gracing Valerie's face as she wrapped her arms around his neck. And though great fear bloomed in Nathan's heart at the sight of the man who had beaten him, he stared at Valerie. Longing overwhelmed him—to feel her lips upon hers, her fingers tightening into the locks of his hair and the clothes on his back. Just like that.

He tried to listen in on their whispers and caught only bits and pieces.

"—should get a room or something before—" the man teased.

Valerie's whisper was full with just as much teasing. "—like that, wouldn't—?"

The man moaned. "—you heartless—"

In reply, she patted his face with a false sweetness. "—gotta work forretribution since you're still such an evil—"

After a moment, the man reluctantly pulled away from her. Her armored fingers had messed up his ponytail and loosened several more strands, and so he tried to push his hair back again with no success.

Then the man began to turn around, and Valerie fought back a mischievous smirk, reaching for the loose ponytail holder in his hair.

Nathan inhaled shakily as he quickly scuttled down the hall before either could see him, heart pounding. His fingers tightened around his clipboard and the various papers he carried with him.

ValerieValerieValerie—

Oh, the pain she caused him! He couldn't take it anymore. Watching her with another man made him steam in panic and his heart scrunch. It was one thing for the mysterious boyfriend to say he was a boyfriend—it was another thing entirely to see Valerie willingly kiss that man.

Surely, she knew that she was hurting him. Because this was all some kind of feminine ploy to make him jealous. And maybe all he had to do was prove somehow that he was more worthy than this boyfriend called "D." Because D was an arrogant and violent bastard. And Valerie deserved better. And she knew it.

Or maybe Valerie was truly deceived by this man. And she needed someone to save her from D and from herself.

Nathan bit his lip, mind racing.


A/N: So I'm writing the Valentine thing kinda off the top of my head, and I was a little nervous about how this chapter turned out. Okay, really nervous. I may revise it, depending on feedback. So please, give me all the critique you want. :)

But good news! So Silverstone007 talked about Human!Dan fanart in his last review, and when I went onto Deviantart to find some, I didn't find many that fit how I saw Human!Dan in my head. So I drew him! A picture of Valerie in her military outfit, of Dan lighting a cigarette and wearing his jacket and jeans, and of a face-shot where they almost kissed before Valerie's dad showed up are now on my Deviantart account, under LightningStreak (www. lightningstreak . deviantart . com). Just remove the spaces or google it. I also have links to the pictures up on my profile. Hope you enjoy, and let me know what you think and if you'd like any other kinds of Dan/Val fanart in the future.

Please leave a review with your thoughts, questions, critiques, and requests! Thanks.