Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Danny Phantom.

Note (10/3/2020): Warning, some heavy themes ahead and mentions of suicide! Also, sorry for the delay guys, I was having a bit of writers block, feeling down in the dumps, and busy doing story research but at this point, it's better to just keep writing and not worry too much about the nitpicky stuff. Lastly, to "Dp-Marvel94" I'm really glad you guys seem to like Whisper! I've been excited to add her to the story since for a random oc I drew I've grown pretty attached to her so I revised her introduction scene several times before it felt right. But the best part is she's not alone! I'm going to be adding a second oc before too long as well! And that one is gonna be even more fun to write since it's an antagonist I'm adding to the story just for Valerie!

Chapter 30: Girl Talk

(Chapter inspired by Fight Another Day by Addison Road)

Valerie's POV

Sadly my plans for lunch turned out to be a bust since yet another ghost attacked and I barely had enough time to eat before it was time to head to class. But I could always try again to talk to Jazz tomorrow or even tonight about how to break the news to Sam and Tucker and Danny's recovery. Then again if she's already told him by now maybe there's no point in worrying about it anymore. Anyways back to the ghost problem, you'll be surprised to hear that this one managed to get inside the shield by phasing under the ground so I'm going to have to tell dad about that since it could become a huge problem if more ghosts realize the anti-ghost shield ends at ground level...

After that, the rest of school went by in a blur and before I knew it Sam and I were being escorted back to the storage room for another round of cleaning. And yeah after how many times she's had to cover for me I could tell the grumpy look on her face was more than just a goth thing because she was dreading it too. But I did go the extra mile during lunch trying to check the area for stray ghosts so hopefully, she wouldn't have to cover for me because one way or another I REALLY needed to talk to her about the whole Danny situation.

As soon as the storage doors were shut behind us, just like the past week we dropped off our bags and set to work in silence. We figured it was easier to just clean our own sides of the room and stay out of each other's way, but eventually, we were going to have to work together to move some of the bigger things out of the way. Today I was in charge of inflating all the basketballs or well, all the balls in general which was going to take forever so with a sigh I reached up to the rack to grab the first row since I figured I'd start from top to bottom when it slipped and bounced off the floor in Sam's direction.

"Oops, Sam heads up!" I called when in bounced up high enough that it was about to hit the back of her head but to my surprise, she turned pretty fast and caught it with both hands inches from her face.

Lowering it Sam frowned and said, "Hey, be careful up there. The last thing we need right now is for you to cause an avalanche of sports equipment like last time."

Tossing the ball back to me which I caught just as easily, I laughed nervously, "Yeah, that was a pain in the butt to clean up when the tennis rackets got all tangled up. Nice catch by the way." Sam only shrugged before turning back to what she was doing but after setting the ball down again I asked, "Look, can we talk for a second? There's something I want to ask you."

Sighing heavily, Sam turned around with a hand on her hip and replied, "Can't it wait? The sooner we get this started the more we'll have finished before Friday and with any luck, after that we can go on with our lives and I won't have to keep covering for you so much. I didn't mind doing that for Danny. But I didn't sign up for it again with you."

Frowning a little at her accusing tone, I took a deep breath too since I didn't want to lose my temper again so I told her straight up, "I'm sorry but it really can't. This is important. And ok yeah I am sorry you had to cover for me so much, I really am. I'm also sorry for getting us into this whole mess but to be fair I had every right to be angry with you guys. Danny's my friend too you know even if you don't like it. Same goes with Tucker if he still feels the same way."

Sitting down on the nearest bench, I invited her to sit down too but as expected she crossed her arms and stood there stubbornly. Hey, at least I tried right? Anyways, after taking a minute to sort out my thoughts I continued, "Sam, I've talked about this a little already with Tucker but there's something you HAVE to understand about what happened to Danny. This town, you and Tucker, his parents, his sister, even me, we all mean the world to him. I know you think we were just hanging out a lot before he left but that's not it. Even though he had to leave for the sake of his mental health...Danny STILL wanted to protect this town and everyone he cares about more than anything.

"The thought of leaving us behind, it made him so lonely and I hated seeing him like that. Danny is still worried his parents haven't fully accepted him and the same goes for me since he's terrified of our rejection. So when it felt like you guys were rejecting the hard decisions he was making it really hurt his feelings, because from what I understand it was a 'wrong choice' that created that evil version of himself that nearly killed us. We think Danny can do no wrong but Sam, he's still a person like you and me and I've accepted that about him, Danny has made mistakes too but his heart was in the right place."

Smiling sadly, I looked her in the eye and laughed weakly, "Guess that's why we fell in love with him in the first place, isn't it? Danny's always been loyal, kind, caring, selfless, and protective of his friends and family even before that accident that changed him. But that's the thing. I realize now that just because that portal accident changed him physically, it didn't change WHO Danny is."

Giving me a hard look that made me think she wasn't going to respond, I was surprised when Sam admitted, "You don't have to tell me twice. Danny's always been amazing so it pissed me off to see him get bullied so much by you and other people before they got the chance to get to know him. I guess that's why I've been so hard on you. I'm not...used to people actually putting in the effort to see Danny for who he is and it hurts that there are things he felt he couldn't share with us about Dan and what he was dealing with in general. This is the second time we've chased him off and I feel like such an idiot!"

Gripping her arms tighter, Sam growled, "This isn't even the first time Danny got the stupid idea in his head to sacrifice himself to save us. When we found him injured at Vlad's the first time we assumed the worst and I said something that must have triggered him because he lost control of his powers then too and that almost never happens anymore. Danny tried to commit suicide to protect us from Dan so when you said Danny told you to kill him too when that monster showed up again in person I hate myself for not being there to do anything or remind Danny that he's our hero!"

Blinking away tears Sam started to get hysterical after that and couldn't stop herself from blurting out, "Doesn't he know we still need him!? Tucker and I are totally lost without him and I hate feeling like he trusts someone like you and Vlad more than us because we've been nothing but huge selfish jerks since this all started! Myself most of all because, yeah, I loved Danny. There, I said it! I've loved him since the day we met when he told some brat off about me being gross for liking spiders and creepy things and even after getting beat up for that Danny asked me if I was ok!

"But did I even ask him if he was ok when the Dan thing was over? No, I just asked when he was coming home like the selfish person I am! And I didn't even get to say goodbye or tell him how I really felt and I'm going to regret it the rest of my life because who knows when Vlad is going to let me talk to Danny again if ever because of this stupid restraining order! I just wish I knew he was alright right now so I don't have to keep picturing him in that hospital bed like he was after the portal accident not sure if he was getting ghost powers because he was dying or what!" Swiping away the tears and smudging her eyeliner, I stared at Sam in shock, not entirely sure where this all came from or why she was telling me this.

Sniffling Sam moved to go grab a tissue from her backpack but I stood up and stopped her, asking seriously, "Sam wait, what restraining order are you talking about? Is that why you haven't tried checking on Danny?"

"Like you care," Sam replied, trying to shake me off. "You're probably happy you get him all to yourself now..."

Getting angry now, I stepped in front of Sam and gave her a hard glare before telling her, "There you go again painting me as the villain. Are we seriously going to have to go through this again? Look, I'm am TRYING to show you I've changed because news flash I actually do care! I care a lot because I know how much you two mean to Danny. And even if you and I can't be friends, I'd like to at least try because I don't want to be treated like I'm evil incarnate anymore just because you're jealous I was the last person to see Danny before Vlad brought him back to Wisconsin!"

Shouldering past me to get a tissue as she originally planned, even though Sam was ignoring me I continued in an exasperated tone, "All I'm asking is that you give me a chance Sam! I mean even Tucker gave me another chance when I was a jerk to him too and originally used him to get close to Danny so I could learn more about ghosts when they started to ruin my life! Unlike you two I didn't have Danny as my personal protector or a knight in shining armor, at least not more than anyone else did in Amity Park, and I didn't realize till later how wrong I was about him! I've been denying how wrong I was about Danny Phantom until the truth was shoved in my face almost too late that the person I care about most and the ghost I hated and blamed for everything are one and the same. But none of that mattered because I really thought we were all going to die that day and if it wasn't for Vlad, we probably would have.

"That said, if you think for one second I'm going to blindly trust Vlad like I used to you're wrong because guess what? I know for a fact that the only reason he bothered helping us is because that's what Danny wanted. He wasn't giving me any kind of special treatment, Danny just wanted to help since we both went through something horrible together and he thought it was the least he could do after beating the snot out of me while being controlled and since my dad was almost murdered in front of me. If it wasn't for Danny going out of his way to help us I'd still be getting grease stains from the Nasty Burger and living in a crappy apartment working my butt off to save for college AND try to help us move out of that place. But Danny and I, we've been working ourselves to the bone to keep our friends and families safe while trying to pretend we have everything under control when sometimes, even we get overwhelmed...

"At least he had you two to talk to about ghost problems! I don't have anyone like that because my dad only understands so much about what I'm going through like any parent. So I just...I don't want to fight with you like this anymore Sam," I huffed, rubbing my arm when they both started to tingle like it's been doing whenever a ghost is near but I ignored it for now. "I want to be able to say hi to Tucker without you giving me a death glare and I'd like try to get to know you. And look, I know it hurts that Danny's gone, believe me, but don't we owe it to ourselves to try and to him make the most of our lives that he sacrificed so much to protect?"

When Sam didn't answer me and silently went back to work, I decided to play my trump card to prove that I wasn't 'keeping Danny all to myself' and told her curtly, "Danny's awake by the way. Vlad told my dad this morning after he gave him instructions on how to get things set up with Danny's parents in the lab since he told them the news first. That's why I wasn't sure if Jazz got the chance to tell you guys herself before she left for work during lunch today. And I didn't know about any restraining order. That sounds extreme even for Vlad so when the heck did this happen...?"

At first, when she kept working away without answering again I sighed and was about to go back to work myself when- "Remember when my parents came to school after our fight? That's when they gave it to me. And...no I haven't seen Jazz all day so she didn't tell us anything. But I guess we haven't been very nice to Jazz either and she probably got fed up with us bugging her about her brother all the time wondering how he is. Guess that's all I'm good for, pushing people away with my goth indifference..."

I could tell Sam was relieved to hear the news but also very sad so without thinking I marched over to her and gave Sam a hug, a REAL hug because I felt sorry for her. Right now Sam was not only worried about HOW she was going to patch things up with Danny again, but now she's not even ALLOWED to talk to him which really sucks. And honestly, I think that's a low blow even for Vlad since it's bad enough Danny had to move away, but not being able to contact him any other way either is just cruel.

"I'm so sorry Sam. I had no idea," pulling away since I know her skin was probably crawling because I was the one who hugged her, I smirked and said, "But you know what? I'm nothing if not resourceful so I'm sure with Tucker's help we can figure out some kind of loophole so you can talk to Danny again. Besides, what's the worst thing Vlad can do? Fire me or put a random restraining order on me too? Pfft, I'm only working for him unofficially to show Danny I'm ghost hunting for the right reasons now. Either way, we're not going to let that jerk keep Danny away from his best friends without putting up a fight, are we Sam?"

Offering Sam my hand, I nodded at it and continued earnestly, "I know we have our differences but I'm asking you to trust me just this once. Let me show you I'm not the person I used to be. Don't give up on Danny or on yourself because you are still his best friend no matter what. And if there's one thing I've learned, it's that a friendship with Danny is something special worth fighting for."

"Alright, you win. And I guess it can't hurt to give you a chance since you did go out of your way to give me an update about Danny today," Sam answered, taking my hand but not before adding, "But no more hugs, got it? I'm willing to give this a try but we're not friends just yet."

Laughing I shook her hand and let go before heading back to start pumping air into whichever balls seemed to be deflated and agreed, "Deal. And yeah I think that hug was about as awkward as the first time if I'm being honest, but thanks for giving me a chance Sam. I mean it."

"Don't thank me yet," Sam snorted but there was less venom in her voice than last time, she was probably just skeptical about all this which is to be expected, "I still have a bad feeling about this since Tucker already pointed out how many ways things could go wrong if we try to talk to Danny before the restraining order expires. So I really hope you know what you're doing. So once we finish up here I'll let Tucker know about Danny and we'll go from there..."