Waking up in the morning on Friday was less of an annoyance than usual for Sam since she actually had something to look forward to later. After showering she opted for black jeans and a light sweater, also black of course. She slipped on her combat boots, one of the few things she kept from her goth days. Although back in high school she was into the goth scene, now that she was older she had toned it down a bit. She still refused to wear any bright colors, but she discontinued her dark makeup and got rid of most of her old, over the top, gothic clothes. She still wanted to look dark and edgy, but without looking like a vampire. Leaving the bathroom, she made her way down to the kitchen where Ida was at the table eating and watching television. She spared Sam a glance before shooting her a flirtatious look.

"You look nice. Friday already?" She asked, causing Sam to roll her eyes.

"Stop it," she told her, walking over to the fridge and taking out the orange juice, "and just because I'm wearing a sweater doesn't mean I'm trying to look nice."

"It's better than what you usually wear," Ida stated, causing Sam's jaw to drop slightly at the sudden jab.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked amusingly, pouring herself a glass of juice before placing the carton back in the fridge.

"You usually look like a homeless person who also happens to be a fan of Marilyn Manson," Ida responded, making Sam practically choke on her juice.

"That's a bit dramatic, don't you think?" She said, causing Ida to laugh.

"I'm just joking, deary. No matter what you wear, you look beautiful."

"I know," she said cockily, but also in a joking manner. Finishing her cup, she placed it inside the dishwasher for it to be cleaned. As she turned around, Ida spoke up again.

"You know, your parents are coming home tomorrow. You should spend some time with them." Sam only rolled her eyes.

"Why, so they can nag me about the future that I know nothing about? Not exactly my idea of a good time."

"In their own way, they really are trying, though. They just want to make sure you'll be okay without them."

"I know," Sam paused to let out an exasperated sigh. "I love them and all, but we're completely different people. It's hard to relate to them when we want entirely different things."

"They're trying for you. Just do the same for them," Ida said, and the sentimental look on her face made Sam sigh in defeat.

"Yeah, yeah. I will." Ida smiled and rolled over to Sam to pat her hand.

"I'm glad. You'll make them happy." I feel like I never make them happy, Sam thought to herself, but she didn't want to say it out loud to Ida. The last thing she wanted was for her to feel bad about the way she and her parents' relationship made her feel, so she just smiled and grabbed her backpack.

"I'm going to head to work now. I'll see you tomorrow." She reached down to give her a hug before she headed for the door.

"Oh, have fun on your date!" Ida yelled after her.

"Not a date!" Sam shouted back over her shoulder before closing the front door. When Sam arrived at Fenton Works, it was just the same thing, different day. She cleaned until both Maddie and Jack left, and to her disappointment, Danny didn't come down after they did. It wasn't until six o'clock when she was just finishing up that she heard footsteps on the stairs, and looked up hopefully to see Danny, dressed in a black long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans. He smiled as he approached her and she found herself smiling back.

"I just finished if that's what you're wondering," she told him as she walked into the kitchen where her bag was sitting on the counter.

"I'm ready whenever you are. I was thinking we could go down to the pier. They're having a carnival down there if you're interested," Danny said. The pier was a nice place to go even without a carnival there. There were little shops and restaurants and docs for people to keep their boats at, not to mention a small beach.

"Sounds like a plan to me." She reached into her bag to pull out her keys but paused to turn around and face Danny. "Just curious; do you have a license?"

"Don't tell my parents, not that you would, but," he reached into his back pocket to fish for his wallet, pulling it out and opening it to reveal his driver's license, "Jazz taught me how to drive then took me to the test without telling our parents. I used to drive with her a lot," he answered, and Sam held up her keys.

"Want to drive?" She asked with a slight smile, and Danny raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"You trust me to drive your car?" He questioned, but Sam only shrugged.

"Only if you trust yourself. It's a Hyundai Accent. Think you can handle it?" He only held out his hand with a smirk on his face, and Sam dropped the keys into his palm. "Let's get to it then." He followed her out to the car where he got into the driver's seat, and even though it felt weird being in the passenger seat of her car, Sam knew she could trust Danny. Sam buckled her seatbelt as they took off, and she couldn't help but be curious at a number of things.

"When did you get your license?" She asked him, but he kept his eyes on the road.

"When I was seventeen."

"When's the last time you drove?"

"Over the summer when Jazz was back from school."

"You probably miss her, huh?"

"Eh," he responded, causing Sam to raise an eyebrow in amusement. Danny cracked a smile and spared her a quick glance before directing his attention back onto the road. "Of course I do. She can annoy the shit out of me sometimes, but I couldn't ask for a better sister. We have that typical sibling relationship, you know?"

"Not really. I'm an only child," Sam answered, leaning the chair back and putting her hands behind her head.

"Did you ever want a sibling?" Danny asked out of curiosity.

"I mean, I would think about it at times growing up, but in the end, it's better off that my parents didn't. They shouldn't have even had me considering what their job is and how little they're home."

"But isn't that lonely?" She only shrugged, glancing out her window for a moment before turning to look at Danny.

"You learn to be lonely." The tiny wave of sympathy that came over Danny didn't surprise him, but he could also relate to her. Being isolated most of the time wasn't so pleasant either, but at least he had his parents and Jazz; Sam had almost no one.

"Don't you have your grandma?" He asked, glancing over just in time to see her nod.

"Yeah, she moved in with us when I was in high school. She's the main reason I didn't lose my sanity," she added with a small chuckle, and Danny nodded in empathy.

"Same with Tucker. He was always there for me, but after the accident, it's like he went into maximum overdrive."

"Accident?" Sam questioned, and Danny's light smile dropped, not realizing what slipped out until after he said it. He was obviously aware Sam knew there was something wrong with him, but he didn't mean to say what caused it, even if 'accident' was still vague. Sam was incredibly smart and he knew she would be able to figure it out with enough information, but he wasn't sure if she was trustworthy to know yet.

"Yeah... he was there when it happened," he said, but Sam noticed the hesitation in his voice. Assuming he didn't want to reveal too much, she didn't continue on the subject.

"Tucker's a really good friend. You're lucky to have had each other all these years," she told him, and he nodded in response.

"Definitely." They pulled into one of the parking lots for the pier which was a bit crowded, but it was expected on a Friday night, especially since the carnival was in town. They decided to start with that first, challenging each other to different rides to see who would choke first, but they both persisted and had a great time without feeling sick in the end. After they were done with all the rides they wanted to go on, they decided to play some games. As they passed different booths, a basketball one caught Danny's eye. There was only one single hoop, but it was very high up and farther away than it should be to make it harder to win.

"You want to do that one?" Sam asked, noticing his eyes lingering on it.

"I mean, I'm not going to be able to do it, but I'll give it a try," he answered, fishing out a five dollar bill to pay the employee. Grabbing a basketball, he paused to examine the distance and height before shooting. He let out an exasperated sigh as he watched it hit the rim and bounce off. "So close. Want to try?" He asked, causing Sam to shrug.

"Yeah, I'll give it a shot." She handed the same employee five dollars before he handed her a ball, which she noted was inflated quite badly. She eyed the hoop before she shot it, getting it in on the first try. Danny's jaw dropped as he turned to look at her, and she only shrugged dramatically.

"Why are you better than me at almost everything?" He asked, half serious but also curious.

"Definitely not everything," she commented, and the employee's voice distracted her from their conversation.

"You can pick anything from the top row," the teenager told her, so she looked at Danny and nodded towards the rewards.

"What do you want?" She asked, causing him to scoff.

"You're getting me something now? Shouldn't it be the other way around?"

"Do you want something or not?" She questioned, rolling her eyes amusingly. He looked up to examine the stuffed animals before pointing to a blue shark.

"That one." Sam held out her hands as the teenager handed her a decent sized shark before she gave it to Danny.

"Thanks a lot," he said to him as they both started to walk away.

"So what are you going to name him?" Sam asked, watching as Danny tucked it under his arm.

"Sharky," he responded, causing Sam to scoff.

"Real creative," she stated sarcastically, causing Danny to laugh.

"It's fitting," he defended, causing Sam to shake her head as she chuckled. "Hey, there's a comic book store around here. Want to check it out?"

"I'm down," she agreed, walking side by side together as they left the carnival. The store was right by one of the docs which wasn't too far away from where they already were. "Just curious; do you go to college? You know, online?" She asked, and Danny let out a small laugh.

"You seem to be curious about a lot."

"Probably because I don't know much about you," she said dryly in response.

"Fair enough. No, I don't. My parents want me to have a real college experience, so we've been postponing it until I get back to normal, but if that doesn't happen by next year, then I'll be doing online classes."

"What do you want to do?"

"Science. Astronomy specifically. I always found stars, planets, and space in general really fascinating."

"It's good to pursue something you'll enjoy doing," she said as they approached the comic book store. Danny took the lead to open the entrance door for her, using his left hand to hold it open and keeping his shark tucked under his right arm. "Me, on the other hand-" she was interrupted when Danny pulled her out of the store as soon as she crossed the threshold. She looked up at him with a confused look and he had an apologetic look on his face. Shaking his head, he started to walk toward the docs with Sam following by his side.

"I'm sorry. I can't go in there. I didn't know she works there," he said vaguely, causing Sam to look back briefly.

"Who?" After a brief silence, he gave her an answer.

"Valerie Grey."

"Valerie? I remember her from Casper. Why don't you want to see her?" He rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand before they stopped at the edge of an empty boat dock.

"It's kind of a long story," he answered. Sam only sat down with her legs dangling off the edge and patted the empty space next to her. Danny let out a small chuckle before joining her, placing his carnival prize next to him. "After I got pulled out of high school freshman year, it took Valerie two years to even notice. She messaged me out of the blue one day and chatted me up. I was really excited because I kind of always had a crush on her and it turned out she liked me too. We started dating and I would sneak out to see her, but after six months she broke up with me. She couldn't trust me especially since I wouldn't tell her what was wrong with me in the first place. I guess she just got tired of the secrets," he finished, turning his head so he could see her.

"So you still aren't over her?" She guessed, assuming that's why he wouldn't go in the store. He just scoffed and shook his head as he stared off into the already setting sun.

"No, I'm definitely over her. I mean, that was three years ago. I just don't want her to see me out, especially with you. I'm sure she'll message me with a bunch of questions and I just don't want to deal with it," he answered with a roll of his eyes. "It didn't really end well. She was pretty angry with me meanwhile I was just heartbroken."

"I think I can one-up you," she said, causing him to turn his head to look at her. "My first and only boyfriend was a liar. He lied about where he was from, who he was, even his name. I didn't find out until eight months later; he made me feel like a fool for trusting him." She sighed and laid back onto the deck so she was staring up at the sky. Instead of judging her or commenting, Danny did the same thing but turned his head so he could still see her. "After that, I kind of swore off relationships. I figured doing something casual with guys was a lot easier than opening up and getting your heart broken," she finished, and Danny's heart ached for her, knowing the feeling.

"All guys aren't like that, you know," he finally spoke up, causing her to look at him.

"I know. I kind of just don't trust myself when it comes to relationships. I already fucked up once, so what's stopping me from doing it again?"

"That's the thing about relationships. You learn what you want and you learn what you don't want. You learn from your mistakes so you don't make the same ones with the right person." She only nodded, looking back up at the sky as the sun nearly disappeared.

"You're definitely not wrong," she said, her stare lingering at what was above her as Danny's stare lingered on her.

"You deserve better than that," he told her, but despite the compliment, she only laughed.

"How can you say that when you don't know much about me?"

"I know enough to speculate my opinion, and I know for a fact that you do. You care about others and their feelings and the first sign was you coming up to my door and wanting to befriend me so I didn't feel lonely. Everything you've done so far has only proven my suspicions," he finished, causing her to crack a smile. He was pretty much on the money and she was surprised at how well he was able to read people even after being secluded for so long.

"You got me there," she said as she sat back up with Danny doing the same.

"Now how about it's my turn to get you a prize? Maybe another shark so we can match," he told her with a crooked smile, one that she returned.

"Agreed. Let's go." The rest of the night consisted of more carnival rides and games where Danny managed to win and give her the same shark, only purple considering it was her favorite color. Afterward, they journeyed to a couple of different shops that piqued their interest before heading back to the house, not wanting to cut it too close with the time. Sam parked in front of the curb and they were both pleased to see the Fenton RV was still nowhere in sight, signaling they were home free.

"This is your stop," she stated, looking at him as he smiled at her.

"Yeah, I guess so. I had a lot of fun tonight. We should do this more often," he suggested, causing Sam to nod.

"Yeah, me too. I really like hanging out with you," she told him, and he pointed at her shark that was in the backseat.

"If you ever miss me just let that be a reminder of me," he added jokingly, causing her to smirk.

"Or I could just call you," she quipped, making him shrug.

"You got me there. See you Monday?"

"You bet."

"Cool," he opened the door and stepped halfway out before he paused and took a second to look back at her. "I don't think I told you this, but I'm really glad you ever knocked on my door in the first place," he told her. She was caught a little off guard and she could feel her heart flutter in her chest a bit, but she ended up giving him a warm smile.

"Me too," she said, and he mirrored her grin before finally stepping out of the car.

"Goodnight," he wished her, closing the door softly right afterward. She only pulled away from the house after she saw him safely enter, making sure he got in okay. The ride home consisted of their time together replaying in her head, and the only thing she could think was how happy she was to have agreed to a night out with him. They had a lot of interests in common and she really liked the kind of person Danny was, and judging by his statements tonight, he must have felt the same, too. Once she got home, she decided to talk to Ida in the morning instead of tonight and headed straight to bed. Facing the window so she could see the moon illuminate the room, she wondered just how many nights Danny would continue to be on her mind.


Sorry for the long wait, but I basically just finished this chapter ^^'

I love you guys so much and thanks for all the support on this story :D

Invader Johnny: Yo Ida is honestly the best lol I feel like she just gets Sam in a lot of ways her parents don't

Chloee0x0: I'm glad :D

MidnightWriter44678: Lol I hope it lived up to your expectations

Guest: Thanks dude!

Fan12: I hope you liked it!

KorrieChan: Thanks so much!

Mallory: LOL for sure

guineagirl: I appreciate that so much!