~Chapter 12~
Sam sighed heavily as she laid impatiently in bed. Danny had been acting a little strangely around her ever since he got home from school. She wasn't necessarily tired...okay, maybe a little bit...but she wanted him to stop being so shy all the time. He didn't need to anymore! But Danny was intentionally taking as much time as he could on his homework. The twins were asleep, and the only other person awake in the house was Jazz.
"Danny," she said. "Can't it wait?"
His head shot up and he blushed. "Uh...no..." He laughed awkwardly. "Lancer's really killing me lately...and...there was a ghost..."
"Danny, come on," she drawled. "I can read you like an open book. I know there wasn't a ghost attack. Get in bed. I need to talk to you."
He smiled nervously. "N-Now? You need to talk to me now? A-About what?"
She sat up and pushed the covers away, patting the empty space next to her. "Come and find out."
He swallowed. She wasn't quite sure why. He seemed even more uncomfortable than when he'd asked her if he could stay in the birth room while the babies were being born. He was very hesitant and he seemed...almost reluctant. She was starting think she was the one making him this way. All the flirting had clearly taken its toll. Now he didn't know what to do anymore. Or...so she assumed. It was starting to look that way. Maybe she should lay off a bit, give the poor guy a break.
After what seemed like forever, far too long for her liking, he climbed into bed with her, consciously leaving the lamp on. She quickly pointed to the little thing and he got back up to turn it off, and had to get back in bed. Their little light source had been turned off. If Danny needed light, he could flash his eyes. He cleared his throat.
"Y-You...wanted to talk to me?" he whispered, his voice small and unsure.
Sam pulled the covers over the both of them and nodded. "Yeah. I want to ask a favor..."
He swallowed again.
"Kiss me."
His entire body seemed to go limp. Either he'd passed out, or he had relaxed himself. "Huh?"
Putting a hand on his shoulder, she repeated herself. "Kiss me."
"Wha...? Why?" he mumbled.
"Does there have to be an occasion, Danny? Just do it. Kiss me."
He opened his mouth but refused to move his head forward, refused to get closer. Refused to kiss her. She didn't know why. He kissed her goodbye every day before he went to school. Sure, it was on the cheek, but it was a kiss nevertheless. Although...it wasn't really the kiss she wanted. Now they were completely alone in the dark where no one would barge in...and he couldn't do it. A simple kiss, that was it! And he couldn't do it.
He never kissed her. Not once. She was always the one kissing him, never the other way around. This had been a test, and she was proven right. He wouldn't kiss her, not even now. Not even when she told him to!
"Why do you keep doing that?" she asked quietly.
"What do you mean?"
She sighed. "You never kiss me."
He seemed to be taken aback for a second. "Yes I do."
"No you absolutely do not," she retorted. "I always kiss you, you never kiss me."
For a minute the only sound to be heard was their breathing, and one of the twins rolling over in their crib. The silence lingered there for awhile. A long time. Two eternities would've covered the length of that silence. And with each passing second it just grew thicker and thicker, more and more uncomfortable. She still refused to speak until she had a reply from Danny. He was so confusing. Yes, he leaned over to kiss her, but she was the one who kissed him. Why couldn't he just kiss her every now and then? Was it really that hard?
"I..." He was trying to say the words, but he wasn't having much luck in getting them out there. "...I'm sorry, Sam."
"Why won't you ever kiss me?" she asked, almost begging him to kiss her for the first time.
She didn't need any light to know he was looking away right now, for reasons unknown to her.
He took a deep breath and said, "I made a promise to you."
She propped herself up on her elbow.
He continued. "Back when I first showed you those moon flowers, back when I tried to kiss you for the first time, you got scared and ran away from me. I promised I would never try to kiss you again."
That's right... He had promised that. She had struggled against him despite his gentleness and fled, not knowing where she was going or how to get back. Back then, she had, for some reason, been scared for her life, even though she knew all too well that Danny would never hurt her. She didn't let him kiss her. When he caught up to her, she tripped and he'd taken that chance to apologize and say how stupid he was and how he knew he shouldn't have done what he did...and how he would never do it again, he promised. She didn't even remember that promise, but he had kept it all this time, for nearly two years.
She smiled tenderly, knowing he wouldn't be able to see it. "Danny...it's fine."
He shook his head violently. "No! No, it's not fine! I can't believe I actually tried to kiss you after everything you'd been through! I was such an idiot! And I knew you weren't ready!"
She gently cupped one hand around his face. "I wasn't ready back then, but I am now. You have my consent to break that promise. Now, kiss me." She lowered herself back onto the bed, her head closer to his this time.
"I...I don't know, Sam..." he murmured.
She moved even closer to him, determined more than ever to get that kiss. By force if necessary.
He hesitantly bent his head down, and carefully angled it. He seemed to be having a hard time kissing his girlfriend. His. Girlfriend. In light of what had happened back in the moon flower field, it was understandable why he would act like this. But they were together now, and boyfriends kissed girlfriends. Vice versa was also true, but in this instance, Danny would be undergoing serious training if he couldn't go through with this one tiny kiss.
But he did it. He kissed her. And he didn't break away after the first second either; it was a genuine, loving kiss. One that only he could give her. And suddenly any and all problems he had with it evaporated.
It was Sam who pulled away first. However, she kept herself at such a distance that their lips weren't two inches from each other.
"Another favor?" he laughed.
"Actually, yes. I don't know if you remember this, but you used to call me your dove when you were delirious with moon flower pollen. You declared that you 'couldn't go to sleep without your dove'. And that was my name for as long as you stayed that way. I wouldn't mind if you called me that again," she whispered.
"Well..." he breathed. "Now might be a good time to tell you that I've been secretly calling you my dove ever since."
"I didn't think you remembered."
He chuckled. "I didn't think you knew."
"So does this mean you'll start calling me that?"
He smirked. "Maybe..."
He kissed her again in that instant. Two in one night. Maybe he wouldn't need training after all.
Sam woke with a start, shooting up as if she was a weed in the summertime. The bed shook violently as she turned around, straining every part of her body as she thoroughly scanned the room. The door was closed. It was pitch-black. It was silent...except for breathing. She heard breathing. Heavy, rugged breathing. She looked to her side. It wasn't Danny's breathing. She looked toward the twins' crib. It wasn't their breathing. She looked down at herself. It wasn't her breathing. She wasn't alone. There was someone else in the room.
She slowly reached her hand out and tapped Danny's shoulder. He kept sleeping, snoring softly. He was laying on his stomach. One of his arms was pinned beneath his body; the other hung limply over the side of the bed.
She tapped him again, harder this time. He still didn't wake up. To be fair to him, he'd stayed up pretty late considering how hard he worked during the school week. Then she'd made him stay up even later so they could talk.
The breathing became louder. She covered her ears, fear dwelling in the pit of her stomach. It wouldn't go away; it was in her head now! She couldn't get it out; it was there and it wouldn't leave! She shut her eyes tightly and tried to whisper comforting phrases to herself, even going so far as to slowly rock herself back and forth. She heard the breathing stop, and felt something move around her. She opened her eyes.
She saw a dark shadow move across the room.
"DANNY!" she screamed.
He jumped and almost fell out of bed. "What?!"
She kept her eyes locked on where the shadow had moved. It hadn't just moved...it had slithered eerily across the wall. Maybe it was a ghost...maybe it was something else... Maybe it was someone else...
"Sam?" he mumbled as he cautiously looked over the room.
"I swear, I swear I saw something. It moved over there!" She directed his attention to a corner in the room that, especially at night, was extremely dark and could hide anything...or anyone.
He got up, barely concerned. That corner was usually the corner where all the mysterious shadows went. It was likely nothing more than a figment of Sam's imagination. He fell asleep with his arms around her...so why...? As he got closer, it became evident that once again, it was just a dark corner and harbored no shadow people. No evil to be found here.
He turned around and got back into bed. The goth was still tense with fear.
"There's nothing there," he sighed. "I thought you said the nightmares were gone."
She leaned into him, eyes still wide and watery. The last thing Danny wanted was to see the girl he loved cry. But she would. She always did after having these kinds of nightmares. She would wake up scared stiff, survey the room, swear to the high heavens that she saw someone, and then cry even when he checked for these clans of horrifying shadow people that scared girls while they slept. And Sam hadn't had a nightmare in months. She told him they were gone for good but...apparently they weren't.
He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer.
"It's alright," he cooed. "It was just a bad dream."
She sniffled.
"Nothing's gonna hurt you."
"How do you know? How do you know that man won't pop up again?" she cried.
"Sam-"
"You didn't know the last three times!"
He flinched. She was right, and he regretted being unable to help her. Three times she'd been attacked, and three times he'd failed to protect her. Ever since the first attack he'd been beating himself up over it, but then two more attacks happened and now...! She was like this because of him. She sat there silently, frightened beyond belief, and it was because he couldn't protect her. He promised he would, but it seemed to be the one promise he couldn't hold up. He tried to make it up to her in every way he could, but there was no way he could truly take any of this off her. He helped her through the cutting part of it, but that was all he ever did for her. He would give anything to make this right again...
A/N (MERRY CHRISTMAS...AGAIN!)
Okay, so I want to ask you guys something real quick: did ANYONE notice that Danny has never kissed Sam? Because if you look back, you won't find a kiss that he initiated; it was all Sam. And if you've managed to catch that, then now you know why.
Also, and this might be to your dismay, I was reviewing FWB (which by the way, there were a ton of mistakes I need to fix) and found out that those chapters had around 3,000 words each, NOT including the A/N's. This story has around 2,000 words each. Therefore, starting two chapters from now (I've written out the next one already, but it's mostly plot and outlining; needs a little fixing up first), I will be spending more time on these chapters so I can go back to writing 3,000 words per chapter (wpc, kinda like mph). I'll also focus on adding a little more physical detail, which I know I have a tendency to neglect.
And a little note to those out there who care: I realize this story has lost a TON of fans because of the ridiculously long hiatus, but I'm starting to wonder even now if I even have that many left. I used to get around twenty reviews per chapter, and THOUSANDS of readers. But now it's like, seven reviews per chapter and about 1,000 readers. Which, compared to Flowers Will Bloom, isn't much. People look at the number of reviews and tie it to how good the story might be, so if you like the story, please just take a second to review. If you love the story, maybe recommend it to friends. I don't want to whine about it, but I really do feel like people have lost interest, especially because this is a sequel and as we all know, the base story must be read in order for the sequel to be fully understood. So...please take a little time to review. And before I move on, I want you to know how much I love reading your thoughts about the story; they really pick me up, make me feel good, and motivate me all the more to continue on with this story. And that's all I have to say on that matter.
Now, to get this wrapped up so I can transform that next chapter into something worth your time, the review quota this time is one hundred sixty-one (161) reviews. Hope I'm not asking too much; just wanna see if I can make it...
And now for the review replies and we'll be done (which is good, because after this I can get crackin' on the next chapter and update quicker):
TheNinjaKitty13- ;) Yeah, I was trying to make it funny by doing that. Honestly the lipstick part was one of my favorites, what with her catching Danny just coming out of the shower.
Inuyuke- Now that she's in love? She's been in love all along.
Jaded Jimmie Productions- Family's good, and I don't know if you know this, but I have a baby sister now. :) I still have a FB, but I never really get on it anymore. lol! Danny will remain clueless through the ENTIRE STORY, so don't expect me to give him a break anytime soon.
MagicHecate- No problem. :) I had fun writing it. Well, I did promise everyone that read/reviewed FWB a sequel, and so here it is. You think they're cute now, just wait! :D Yes, the eye twitching. Well...right now the twins are just a year old, so...no, they don't. They don't even know what ghosts are yet. I won't give away NUTHIN'!
BrittneyluvsChrist- What did you mean when you said, "I personally LIKE this side of Sam"? Literally, because I mean, she hasn't been depressed. Well, as far as I can remember... Honestly I've written so many stories that the ideas tend to get mixed up in my head. I'll start working on a chapter for a Gravity Falls story and end up writing it as a Danny Phantom chapter. -_- Then I'll have to go back and change it all...
Looka'sMagicHell- Ah-ah-ah, you didn't SEE her. ;) You read her diary. Oh she knows. That's why she kept flirting with him so much. XD And she gets frustrated.