~Chapter 27~

The halfa felt the blood rush down to his feet. Subconsciously he knew there was a blank expression on his face; he honestly didn't know what to think. He...he wasn't really sure if he was ready to be father to a third child. Twins were a ton of work as it was, and to top that they were exact opposites despite being identical twins. Now there would be another child...and that might prove to be too much to handle. He struggled to find time for everyone as it was, and now Sam was pregnant again, and he just didn't know whether he was ready for this or not.

When she was pregnant with the twins, it was completely different. Not only was it something beyond her control, but he wasn't the one who did that to her. Of course...he might not be the actual father of this child. The rapist was still there, somewhere. He might as well have vowed to find and kill her. It was possible that the reason she was so upset...and she was still shaking terribly... She was completely distraught...she even called him begging him to come back, even though she knew he was smack dead in the middle of school.

"Oh, God...Sam, who's the father?" he breathed, knowing it was possible that the real reason behind this could be that she was raped for a third time.

She dropped her head back in her hands. "You."

No, that...that couldn't be right... How was that even possible? She was on birth control, she couldn't have gotten pregnant from him! Then again, being as she was on birth control, she couldn't have gotten pregnant even if she had been raped. She couldn't have gotten pregnant from anyone. It didn't make any sense... Just...how exactly did she...? Did she happen to skip a day or...? Maybe this whole thing had to do with a woman's menstrual cycle, in terms of the way it fell or the date she last had her period? Did she miss her period? Was that how she knew? Either way, if he was the father, why was she so upset? If anything it should be the opposite. This wasn't under the same circumstances as with the twins. This time it was him, this time it was with someone she loved, and who loved her back.

"Danny, I'm so sorry!" she strained.

"Huh? For what?"

She used one of her hands to wipe away some of the tears. Others just fell down. "I didn't know I was ovulating and I should've taken that into consideration but now I'm pregnant again and..." She hiccuped, breaking her rant.

"No...no, don't be sorry," he cooed, gently taking her into his lap.

"How do you feel about this?" she choked out.

He frowned, unsure of what to tell her. He didn't want her to know that in no way was he prepared for this. He wasn't even sure he wanted another child yet. Yes, he did want one eventually, but when they were older and not this busy. Preferably when they were married. Er...well, unless she said no, but he really didn't want to think about that. He opted to sidestep her question for the time being. "How did- No, when did this happen?"

She sniffled and leaned into him. "The only time I wasn't on birth control."

"When was that?"

"Our first time together," she shakily replied.

He bit his lip hard. It only took one time for this to happen? Again? And it was the only time she hadn't been on birth control; ever since that time, she had been on it. Neither of them thought she would already have conceived. And it wasn't her fault, she didn't know. He really wasn't sure how to feel about it though.

It looked like stress hadn't been from the twins. As he had learned in Anatomy, her mood swings were being caused by extremely high levels of progesterone and estrogen. Both hormones piqued during ovulation, which would explain why she was so...eh...'cuddly' at the time. He should've seen that one coming, being as he had actually just been studying the female reproductive system. It helped explain a lot of things about how and why Sam, his mother, and his sister changed their behaviors at certain times during each month. Sam especially was prone to irritability, which would easily explain why she had become so harsh at times lately. She didn't have as much patience with the twins as before, and when it began wearing thin, she got stressed and emotional. He had probably gotten stressed simply because she had, and because of the confusion she caused him when she turned all snappy.

Her estrogen levels, now that she was pregnant, were spiking beyond belief, which was causing her constant and rather severe mood swings. The progesterone was what was causing the nausea she had from time to time, although he honestly believed she was throwing up without telling him; that hormone also spiked during pregnancy, and too much of it caused morning sickness. Though unlike with the twins, her morning sickness had been more at night than in the morning. Then she was tired all the time. There was now a baby growing inside her, and it couldn't exactly use its own energy yet, which meant it had to use hers. Add that to keeping pace with the twins' hyperactivity, and you had yourself one exhausted Sam. That probably helped out with the moodiness.

And maybe it was that same moodiness that was upsetting her so much.

Crap he would be having so much to deal with...

"Have you told anyone else?" he asked her softly.

She shook her head, and he felt it through his shirt. So she hadn't told anyone else, which was probably why she wanted him back here so badly. She wanted to tell him first since he was the father. She knew she would end up having a breakdown at some random place in the house and accidentally tell someone else first, and she didn't want that to happen. She had holed herself up inside their room to make sure that no one had a chance of knowing until he got home.

Of course, it didn't help that he'd made such a noisy entrance by almost breaking the door in two. That wasn't likely to attract attention.

But he was glad she'd called him back here instead of telling him over the phone. This was the kind of news that was meant to be told in person rather than over some device. He would've hated being told about this over the phone, and even more so in front of half the school.

"Do you want to tell anyone else?" he asked.

She shook her head again.

"You're being awfully quiet," he pointed out. "Is there something else bothering you?"

She didn't move.

Yes.

He inhaled and said, "You know what? I think you could use a little ghost zone trip. Hm?"

She nodded, but still said nothing.

He got up and held out a hand for her to take. Once she took it, he led her down to his parents' lab, where the Specter Speeder hovered leisurely above the ground. The ghost zone was unique, abnormal. Sam loved anything that defied its own rules. Ghost zone? Perfect for her. It was almost like her little sanctuary, despite being home to infinite numbers of the very beings they fought. Or at least he did. He rarely allowed Sam to accompany him when fighting ghosts. He was too worried something might happen to her and wasn't anywhere near willing to take that risk. She hated it, and often protested against it, but he still wouldn't let her come.

He started up the Speeder and, once she was safely inside, shot off into the ghost zone. She went in here whether he wanted her to or not anyway, so it wasn't much of a big deal. In fact, he'd learned to let her do it so long as no one else found out. They would find it suspicious that a human would want to enter the ghost zone. An interrogation would arise and it would be complicated, maybe even impossible, to keep his secret.

It was scary to know how easily your own family could reject you, simply because there was a half to you they didn't understand. His family hated that half so much that they hunted it. Getting shot at by the people who say they love you... Those same people then talked about hurting a ghost like it was nothing to them. He didn't want to be seen as nothing. He wanted to remain their son, and in order to do that, he had to keep Danny Phantom an entirely different person. His parents could hurt him, and it was all too possible that they would.

But then...Sam's family had done the same thing to her. They didn't hunt her, and she didn't have a double identity, but they had rejected her, hurt her. It had been a crushing blow.

Upon entering the ghost zone, he decided to simply drive around, letting her have a ride and hopefully perk up a little.

It didn't go as planned, though, and for an hour she stared out the window, her head turned away from him. It was at an angle where he could see one side of her face, and if she was feeling any better then she sure wasn't showing it.

He held back a sigh and moved his eyes down to her stomach. He'd already seen it swell up to a size that looked painful, but like the first time, he just couldn't imagine a huge belly like that on her.

The halfa reached over to her and held her hand. "You okay?"

Tears leaked out. "Danny, do you want this baby?"

He didn't know if he could answer that question. It was his, and he knew she wasn't going to get an abortion. He wouldn't want her to get an abortion. However, they both knew that adoption was an option. Maybe it would be better off being raised by someone else, someone who wasn't as busy as he was. And Sam...she was busy with the twins and would have to recover from labor. His family would undoubtedly help her handle the twins while she rested, but they had made it very clear that they wouldn't raise any of the kids. Another baby would cause so much stress on her; it had to be unhealthy. She was a mom, yes, but she was also just a teenager. Eighteen, and a mother since fifteen. It would be so hard on her if they kept the baby...

He really couldn't answer her question. It was the second time she'd asked him a question he couldn't answer. So he merely rubbed a thumb over the top of her hand.

Another hour must've passed, or at least it felt that long, before Sam said, "I've never forced you to take care of the twins. I won't force you to take care of this baby if you don't want to."

At some point he had taken his hand away from hers and put it back on the wheel. Now he only gripped it tighter, wishing that she would drop the subject altogether. Maybe it was selfish thinking, but if she wanted answers to her questions, she needed to give him time to think about this. Right now his thoughts were jumbled and just...everywhere. He had yet to sort them out. And Sam...she wasn't making it any easier by bringing up the baby.

It was actually very hard to believe she was pregnant. And with his child.

That realization finally slapped him square in the face. Sam was...she was pregnant... She was pregnant... Sam was pregnant with his baby. That was his baby in there. It...It was his. His... His baby, he hadn't really been able to say that for the twins.

He let his foot off the gas, letting the rockets die down in seconds. Soon the Specter Speeder stopped moving altogether and just sat in the middle of the ghost zone, floating.

His kid, that was his kid, it was his, his kid, his kid...! H-his... It was his. His! His kid was inside Sam, and...and it was his.

"Danny?" the goth nervously mumbled.

He didn't hear her and ran a hand through his hair, already tangled from his desperate flight to get home from school.

His. His. His. It was his. The baby was his. That was his. Baby. And it was inside his. Girlfriend. They were both. His. Both of the were his. But now there were two of them, and now one of them literally had a Danny stamp on it. And it was his, it was literally his; his genes were inside her. The kid. Was. His. Wait, his? Yes. His. No...this had to be like, a-a dream...or- No, it wasn't a dream. Couldn't be a dream. He'd never dreamt about anything like this before. It was only the twins, those were the only kids he ever dreamt about. There wasn't a baby in there, right? She was playing with him, had to be playing with him. No she wasn't playing with him! But she had to be! There was no way, it was only one time! It couldn't have actually resulted in a baby, no, yes, no, yes, yes it did... It couldn't have done that! But it did do that... HOW?! The birds and the bees, that's how. NO! Yes. IT HAD TO BE A DREAM! No, it's real.

There was a baby in Sam? Yes. And it was his? Yes. Why? What? Whyyyyy was there a baby in her...? It didn't make sense! It didn't make any sense! Yes, it does. No, that wasn't possible! Yes, it is. LIES... Truth... NO! Yes. This wasn't right, this just wasn't right, it didn't add up...! Moron, the baby's yours. No it wasn't, it couldn't be! What the heck was going on?! You're mentally cracking. No he wasn't! Yes you are. NO! Yes. SHUT UP! Truuuth... NO! Yes.

"Now we will begin discussing th-" Lancer paused, scanning the classroom. Daniel's seat was empty.

His friend Tucker seemed to notice and answered his mental question. "He said he had to go."

Lancer frowned. "Did something come up?"

The geek shrugged. "I'm not really sure... But he looked pretty scared."

"Scared?"

"Yeah, I think something happened at his house. He didn't tell me what though."

Lancer hoped everything was fine with young Daniel and his family. Deep down he knew something had happened. His student never missed school unless he had to. And this time, he actually left in the middle of the day. It had to be serious for that to happen. And then to not come back? He didn't even call anyone to say what happened, or why he had to go. It was unlike him in almost every aspect.

Lancer thought for a moment about calling his parents. Obviously Daniel wasn't keen on phones right now, but his parents might pick up and answer. Then he could find out why his student had left so suddenly, and without a proper explanation as to why. It didn't even have to be a thorough explanation! It could just be, "I had to go because..." and whatever went in the blank.

He felt sick, honestly. And cold. He didn't realize that he was shaking every now and then. All that ran through his mind was the baby. Well, the unborn one anyway. He had been warring with himself for at least ten full minutes now and just...he didn't know what to do, or even what to think. He didn't know what to make of this. It was sudden, so powerful that it had pulled him from school. He would undoubtedly be out for the rest of the day and possibly tomorrow.

And Sam was still expecting him to answer her questions. He couldn't. He didn't know what to tell her. Did he want this baby? Did he really want it? He didn't know! He loved the twins, and ever since they came into his life he'd loved kids. But...now there was a baby unlike any other in the fact that it had his genes. No other child had his genes. Plus, this time it was him who got Sam pregnant. Everything was so different with the twins, but now...now it was like there was going to be a little Danny, or a girl Danny that couldn't be called a little Danielle since Danielle was his cousin.

And unlike with Junior and Lilith, there were already other kids to take care of. Plus, Sam and Danny weren't married. He had yet to get his high school diploma, and what would happen to college if there was another baby? The twins were three, and still very dependent, but they were less dependent than when they were when they were babies. So in a way, they didn't need to be watched in such a cautious way. Only slightly less, but still...

He also just couldn't accept the fact that there was his baby inside Sam. It had been so different with the twins! So different! But now...just... And he didn't know how to feel, what to think, what to say, and definitely not what to do. He didn't want to hurt Sam, especially because she was already so upset about being pregnant in the first place, but at the same time he couldn't risk lying to her by saying it was fine. It wasn't fine...not yet at least. And adoption...he didn't know about adoption... What if they tried for another child in the future? They couldn't live with the feeling that they had dumped one of their children off on someone else while keeping the rest of them. Of course, there was no way either of them would even consider abortion.

Even if the baby was unwanted after all, even if they couldn't keep it, it was a living being growing inside its mother. It was alive; who were they to kill it?

He ran another hand through his hair. He had a biological kid, one that actually shared his blood, his genes. In a very literal way, it shared him. It didn't feel right though... With the twins, he never felt obliged to do anything, yet had come to love them and eventually wanted to be their dad. But now, with his baby, he did feel that pressure. It was more a feeling of 'he had to take care of it' than 'he wanted to'. Sam had already made it clear that she didn't want to force him into this.

But it was still his baby. And he still felt like he would be forced into it if he told her it was fine. And now it felt like he had to tell her it was fine just because that was his kid. But...it just wasn't fine. Maybe it would be in time, but for now it just... For now, none of this was okay. None of it was 'fine' or 'alright'. It just wasn't. He didn't want to feel guilty about this but...

"Danny, are you okay?" she softly asked him.

No... No, he most certainly wasn't okay. He knew he was probably upsetting her even more by not answering, and he knew she was taking it as a sign of 'I have no desire to take care of this thing but I won't hurt your feelings by saying that', but he just couldn't bring himself to answer her. He didn't know what to say, and he didn't want to risk saying the wrong thing. It wasn't that he did or didn't want to take care of it, it was just that he didn't know anything right now. The only thing he knew was that this morning he was comfortable, and now he was definitely not.

God, he wanted to tell her something! Anything, so long as it calmed her nerves. She was probably upset because of his silence. He at least wanted to tell her that he loved her, but...no words would come forth. It was like his body had just stopped functioning all of a sudden and wouldn't allow him to make a gesture or movement or...or anything! Even if his voice sounded like he was lying through his teeth, he wanted to tell her something! He wanted her to know that, pregnant or not, he still loved her and always would.

God, what did he do to her?!

A/N

Poor guy, he just doesn't know what to do anymore.

THANKS SO MUCH! :'D You guys are amazing! I can't believe I got 373 reviews! I never expected anything beyond what I asked for! :'D Oh, thank you so much!

Uuuummmm, don't really have much else to say soooooo...moving on.

Review quota will be three hundred eighty-one (381).

And replies:

Alisi Thorndyke- Heheheh, no kidding he snapped. ;D I had so much fun writing that out! And no, he would never lay a hand on a girl; he's pretty gentle in show and I didn't want to change that. He would never have actually beat up Dash, he only said that because of how angry he was at her. ARWP is constantly on hiatus, and I'm sick of it. So yes, chore or not, I do stress myself over updating it.

HeroAce- ;P Danny's ghostly justice shall prevail! In the epilogue he got the death sentence after Phantom Planet had passed. Phantom Planet hasn't passed yet.

ShadowDragon357- Yeah. :P And triplets, people were so mean! XD I mean poor Sam...! I was going to make her cry but I didn't want to overdo it. I'd already pushed it by making Danny give this elaborate, prolonged speech.

AJ- :/ Well of course he won't be angry. But he's not happy, I can tell you that much. He's not really sad either, but fearful? Yes. He's a wreck right now lol! He's a mixture of confusion, anxiety, shock, and just a bundle of stuff like that. He's sort of busy freaking out right now so yeah, that's his reaction. :P lol I gave the twins my looks, and gave Lilith my personality. :3 I have fun kinda playing around with her and I'll have no problem keeping her in character.

puppets4ever- lol Thanks! :)

Magicalghostgirl- Not many people saw that coming, if any at all. ;) You're not alone. XD Poor Sam? Just look at Danny!

princessbinas- "Still in the oven." lol That's one way to put it. A miscarriage would destroy him, seeing as how much he adores his family. He has a whole new view of children now. *smirks* Besides, I'm already putting him through torture! XD

Inuyuke- lol I enjoyed putting that witch in her place. :3 Danny loves Sam and the twins too much to her do anything more. Relax, RELAX! Do I need to get out the tranquilizer again? *raises eyebrow*

Harmony's Entropy- lol Thanks! I won't say how many babies there are or if it'll be a miscarriage, but Daddy Danny is Daddy Danny all over again (even if the baby/babies can't be kept).

Favorite Daughter of Hades- Thanks! :D

Looka'sMagicHell- Aw, thanks. :') Fangirling is more than welcome.

I'm. Only. Human. Dude.- There was unseen dialogue.

sammansonrepilica- It's his kid. :) But remember that the kid in his notebook was for after they were married (his sketches weren't in chronological order, remember? He just drew whatever happened to pop into his head.)

Sammi- Seems like no one was. :P

AngiePangie0593- Pfft, it's far from perfect, but I'm glad you liked it. :)

LittleBoomBoom- XD Most people voted yes, and second place was triplets.