~Chapter 24~

Something between a screech and a buzz startled the two awake. It was complete and utter blackness outside.

Because Danny was known for scornfully ripping out the alarm clock and throwing it across the room, Sam had moved the nightstand out of his reach. He had two choices: either let the alarm keep echoing in his ears or get up to turn it off. He got up but never really turned it off. He would hit the snooze button and get back in bed, only to have the alarm go off again five minutes later. Sometimes he repeated his little routine three times before finally giving up and actually turning it off.

He groaned behind her and buried his head into his pillow, as deeply as it would go. As the little thing continued screaming, she felt him roll over and prop himself up on one elbow.

"No ghost rays," she said, her eyes still shut. He'd blown up alarm clocks before.

He grumbled something to himself and plopped back down, obviously not eager to get out from under the covers. He'd made a little cocoon and it was nice and warm. Outside was cold and bleak and he didn't want to emerge like a butterfly. Because if he did, he certainly wouldn't look, feel, or act like one.

"Why'd you move it all the way over there?" he whined.

She turned to face him. His back was to her but she knew he was glaring at the clock. "Because you do horrible things to your alarm clocks when they don't shut up." She propped her self up and peered over him to see the small, faint scorch mark on the nightstand from the violent death of the previous clock. "Go turn that thing off."

He lazily reached out, having no success in touching the snooze button. "Mmmmm...can't reach it..."

"Then get up, Girly Green."

He sighed in defeat and reluctantly sat up. The evil little thing wouldn't stop making noise... He prepared another ghost ray from his finger and aimed it at the clock.

"No," Sam reiterated, her voice stern and commanding.

Sighing again, he put down his hand, got up, walked three unfair feet to the nightstand, and hit the snooze button.

She shivered as he slipped back under the covers, his reduced body heat chilling her. He snuggled up against her and pushed himself all the way beneath the covers. All she could see left was a few white tufts of hair. He lay comfortably in the warmth of the cocoon for five more minutes. Everything was quiet and peaceful...

Something between a screech and a buzz went off again.

He groaned.

"Mr. Fenton!"

Danny's head shot up from his desk. "Sixteen over pi!"

Thankfully, he hadn't been the only one to fall asleep in class. Unfortunately, he was the one who had attracted the teacher's attention. Couldn't pass this one off as 'acting like a father'...

"Dude, we're not talking about math!" Tucker whispered to him, his words not escaping Lancer.

"Mr. Foley is right. My classroom is not a napping spot for teenagers!"

Excuse, excu- Wait...

The halfa put his hands up defensively. "Sorry, Mr. Lancer. My child stayed up really late for some reason. Sam and I had our work cut out for us last night. We missed out on a lot of sleep. We're kind of tired today."

It wasn't exactly a lie, especially with that forsaken alarm clock. Sam forced him to get up earlier than he should, even on Saturdays. She kept saying he needed to get in shape for college. He also had an ACT coming up; two weeks from now actually. At least when he got to blow up the clock, he felt better and more awake. No, not this time with Sam as tired as she was. It would be really fun to blow that awful thing up. Payback for screaming at him.

And it probably wasn't one of her better ideas to 'want' him during the school week. So she was partly to blame. Partly. And he would never admit to that. At least not to her. Actually, not to anyone. Love life wasn't exactly the kind of thing you went around talking about.

As for Lancer, he couldn't help but notice that his student had once again referred to a single child, and had not given anyone a clue to its gender. Sam didn't want anyone to know anything, or so he had told him. He was a very dedicated person. The teacher knew he was a good father to his children despite how young he was. And somehow he made it seem so easy even though he'd clearly stated that it was hard.

"I'll let it slide..." Mr. Lancer muttered, pretending to be annoyed for the sake of the rest of the class. After all, if an eighteen-year-old could cover the tracks of twins of opposite genders, he could help out a little bit. It was the least he could do for a young father who had been willing to work all the harder for his kids.

Lunchtime, at long last. Everyone was still ravenously piling slop onto their trays...except Danny and Tucker. They had been two of the first people to take off in the epic life-or-death race to the cafeteria. It paid off, and they placed in the top five. That feeling of accomplishment, the one you get when you see the line behind you and not in front of you, was amazing. It was satisfying to know that Dash had been too slow. He was now stuck all the way in back.

Thanks to being in the top five, they got to choose their table, which wasn't usually the case since they were classified as geeks and losers. However, even with the privilege of table options, they chose their usual table near the edge of school grounds. This allowed Sam to help spy and shoo away Mosquitoes. It also forced Mosquitoes into more open areas, where they would, needless to say, be more easily spotted.

Valerie was never actually considered a Mosquito. Like everyone else, she did have unanswered questions about the 'baby', but unlike everyone else, she didn't want to know just so she could go blurting it out to the whole school. She asked merely out of curiosity and nothing else. Sam held a grudge against here, though, because she was still the Red Huntress and thus, Danny Phantom was still having to avoid another enemy wanting to skin or dissect him. In the process, he would be exposed. So Sam had her under the classification among the Mosquitoes, and she still didn't want Valerie to know anything.

"Hey, guys!" Sam's voice rang moments before she sat next her boyfriend.

Almost immediately, Danny leaned over to kiss the goth. He didn't seem to realize Tucker was sitting right across from them, and unfortunately he failed to notice that the kiss was a little more passionate than he intended. But Sam didn't seem to object.

Tucker cleared his throat, obviously a little uncomfortable. "The broom closet in the school probably isn't occupied," he said suggestively.

The halfa's eyes shot open and he pulled away. "Sorry, Tuck. Just tired is all."

"From last night?" he mumbled, making sure no Mosquitoes were around to hear it.

He bit his lip and looked over at Sam. Her cheeks were reddening and she was probably on the verge of biting her own lips.

She laughed nervously. "Uh, I'll be right back. I'm gonna go get a drink."

Once she had disappeared in the crowd of students still buzzing around the kitchen area, Tucker eyed his friend. Thoroughly. Unnervingly. Knowingly.

"I can't believe this," he said after about two full minutes of staring his friend down.

"Can't believe what?" Danny asked. "You know how little ones can be, and the twins wouldn't-"

"Dude, you did Sam!" he quietly yelled, trying to keep his voice down.

The halfbreed couldn't help but look away and try to focus on his face turning into a tomato rather than his friend's accusations. "I-I didn't-"

"Okay, first of all," Tucker said as he began listing off the evidence, "you practically attacked Sam as soon as she sat down, and you've never done that before. Then you kissed her, which is fine, but the way you kissed her wasn't something I've ever seen you do. Then, she didn't punch you when you did it. And finally, she's got a hickey on the front of her neck...the lower part of it, right above her collarbone. Mind telling me what that's about?"

Everything inside him turned to ice and he felt something drop down into his stomach. Sam would kill him if she heard what Tucker had just said... And the fact that he gave her a hickey... He didn't even notice it! Obviously she didn't either, otherwise she wouldn't have worn a V-neck to school. Was it really that noticeable? Then again, he was called Clueless One for a reason. Of all the times to be clueless...! And of all the things to overlook! At least he could've passed off the kiss as something else but when it was combined with a hickey...

"Didn't think so," Tucker grunted.

A/N

:( I feel so bad about this chapter AND making you wait so long for the darn thing only to find a short skimpy lil' chapter with a really crappy ending. I swear, I've spent like a whole week trying to get ideas into my head but nothing's coming! I'll have to do a time skip and get onto the next chapter... *sigh* Sorry, everyone...

If you noticed that Danny was still Phantom when the alarm went off, that's because he was Phantom when he went to sleep. And in the show, Danny changes back to Fenton ONLY if: 1. he does it purposefully (such as after he's done fighting a ghost), 2. he's too weak to maintain his ghost form. So he can go to sleep as Phantom and stay that way without changing back. That's why he woke up as Phantom instead of Fenton.

RRRGH! Youtube and fanfiction, the two sites I get on most, WON'T MAKE UP THEIR MINDS ON WHAT THEY WANT FOR THEIR SITES! Why can't they just go back to how everything was before? Like when there was a "review" button on fanfiction, and the summaries weren't inside the story (now it makes some of the older stories look stupid because the authors put in the summary), and there was no cover photos! The cover photos get me the most because now everyone searches for a picture that catches their eye, whereas you couldn't do that before. People had to look at the summaries to decide whether it was something they want to read, and they would look at ALL the stories, not just the ones with the pretty pictures. It's really unfair to the authors who don't have pictures that everyone likes or ones that won't properly fit the story.

And then youtube...! What the heck? They got rid of the 5-star rating system? And when you look through your playlists it now takes you to the video page? And now I can't message anyone except through videos?!

STOP CHANGING YOUR STUFF, JUST GO BACK TO THE WAY THINGS WERE AND STOP ANNOYING PEOPLE!

Excuse my tantrum. :l

Well, no review quota but remember about the poll! It's still open, still on my profile, and obviously still accessible. Please vote if you haven't already.

Review replies (for those of you who are catching up on the new version of Flowers Will Bloom, I'm SO sorry that I forgot the replies!):

Sdgcat- I don't either, which is why it made me uncomfortable, and why I wouldn't go into much detail.

LittleBoomBoom- XD I was going for a nice Shakespearean tone. ;) Someone's doing well in his English courses. And thanks!

xLa Reyna Phantasmax- *whistles* Hyperactivity...never gets old. :)

Alisi Thorndyke- Better late than never. lol! Well yeah, the first time she shared a real (sorta, I guess) kiss with him was when she was drunk and called him anything but his name. XD Poor lil' guy.

AJ-It's fine. :) And thanks! Danny's personality change (thanks to my dysfunctional head) wasn't very obvious or noticeable, but he's now willing to get more physical with Sam and not be shy around her in public. He used to hug her and kiss her but the hugs were loose and the kisses were more like little pecks on the lips. Now the hugs will be tighter and the kisses stronger. I don't think your nuts. Whenever I review a story (which is rare for me cuz I'm usually too busy working on my own stories) I end up talking to the characters.

ShadowDragon357- XP I know, I was enjoying myself, writing about him being scared half to death. Thanks!

I'm. Only. Human. Dude.- :D One of my favorite parts was him playing dead. :3 They are! So fluffy!

sammansonrepilica- She is. Well I figured she wouldn't simply stay away from Danny (in that sense) forever, and it's been a LONG time. Plus he's been doing everything he possibly can for her and he's never once tried anything. So she was never pressured to do something she knew or thought she wasn't ready for. It gave her time to move on from what happened and mature certain aspects of her life, both romantically and physically. And yes, I do think that's the proper healing process too because it lets them see that sex isn't a bad thing.

Favorite Daughter of Hades- Thanks! :) Your chapter's up next. ;)

PlasticPencils- :P HOW did I know you were gonna mention that line? Of course he is, he's Danny. XP

Inuyuke- Oh boy, you got overexcited. *readies tranquilizer* Stay still, this oughtta mellow you out.

ChristinCC- Thanks and thanks again. :D

puppets4ever- Thanks! I will!

princessbinas- LOL! Why's he an idiot?

Looka'sMagicHell- Cuz he's Danny. ;)