~Chapter 34~

The halfa sighed heavily after he was sure Sam was asleep. He was happy the she was pregnant and after having finally come to his senses, was excited to have another child in his life. It didn't matter to him whether or not the baby shared the same blood, as was proven with the twins, so long as he or she was healthy. He was happy the Sam had said yes when he proposed, something that wracked his insides when she was still reading the poem. He would have to get used to calling her fiancee and after they were married, his wife. He was happy that he screamed at Paulina and spoke what he'd been wanting to say for a long time. Hopefully there would be no more incidents with her and Sam would stay sane.

But there was something missing.

Normally when a daughter was engaged to be married, there was only one person who would be walking her down the aisle on her wedding day. Well Sam didn't have her dad to walk her down the aisle and give her away. And he never got to ask her father if he could take her hand in marriage, like he was supposed to. Her dad never got to meet his grandchildren, including the one on the way. In fact, Sam had never had any contact with either of her parents since the day they kicked her out back when she was just fifteen and pregnant. He once asked her about that, probably about two years ago, and to this day he remembered the answer she gave him. "I'm over them." No. She said that, sure, but people could say a lot of things. It didn't make it true. He knew for a fact that she wasn't over them. She cared about them and he knew she still missed them. The problem was, she was torn between wanting to see them and wanting to stay away from them. She wanted to see them, but was it the best idea?

It was a decision he knew she couldn't make on her own. But ever since he'd let her live with him and been the one to take care of her, he'd played a significant role in her life. He'd been the father of, what was back then 'her', children since before they were born. And she had let him. He couldn't recall a single time when she said that he couldn't be the father, that he couldn't be a part of the twins' lives.

And as of today, he was her fiancee. He would be her husband soon enough. Now he played and even more important role. Husbands were supposed to protect their wives. Fathers were supposed to protect their children. As both, he was supposed to protect the entire family. Well this meant two kinds of protection: physical...and emotional. Right now Sam was still confused on a very touchy subject that only he could get away with discussing about to her. He wanted that confusion gone, whisked away into thin air.

He sighed again and scratched his head, casting one more look at Sam to make sure she was still asleep. His parents had been in the lab all day working on a very delicate machine or doohickey...or whatever...and they didn't know about the engagement yet. So tomorrow they would have to suffer the excitement of his parents. Yippee, couldn't wait for that.

He picked up a pen and, giving up on trying to solve that stupid Pre-Cal problem, dug out a photo album from a drawer dedicated entirely to family photos, the twins' first coloring pages, and yes, even a picture printed a long time ago...Sam's ultrasound when she was pregnant with the twins. The drawer was basically a bunch of cluttered family things.

He rummaged around in it until he found a more recent picture of himself, Sam, Lilith, and Junior. He and Sam were squatting down with the twins right in front of them. No, they weren't hugging their parents and no, they weren't even looking at the camera, but they were smiling. He didn't exactly know what Lilith was looking at but she was actually bending forward to look past her brother. Junior's eyes were so close to looking at the camera but he was looking a little towards the left, in the opposite direction Lilith was looking in.

He flipped it over and uncapped the pen with his teeth.

Sam moved in the bed and he tore his eyes away from the picture to look at her. Sam was going to kill him, dance on his grave, then revive him just so she could kill him again. Exaggeration, yes; non-exaggeration, he would get an earful. But it would be worth it in the end, as long as her parents got this and at least considered it.

Deciding that she really was out cold, he began writing on the back.

Mr. and Mrs. Manson, I will not lie nor will I sugarcoat anything I say. I'm positive you've noticed the two children on the picture. They're both your grandchildren. They're twins, but they strive to prove people wrong about twins being the same. The girl is Lilith and the boy was named after me, Daniel Junior. Yes, we did decide to shorten his name to Danny, but we just call him Junior to avoid that kind of confusion.

You've missed out on some of the most beautiful moments in life. You kicked out your daughter. You hurt her. She could've given you two amazing bundles of joy and mischief. You would've loved it. But you never spoke to her since you kicked her out. You contributed to a depression she had at the time and you have no idea how much it's put her through. Even now, even after three years, Sam still misses you. She still loves you and honestly I don't know why. I thought being a parent would help me understand why you did what you did, but it helped me understand something deeper. How could any parent do such a thing to their child? I would sooner kill myself than do that!

There are some things I feel you should know. I'm sure Sam won't be too happy to know I wrote this. I'm sure she won't be too happy that I'm saying this, but she can yell at me all she wants and unlike you, I won't care. I have her best interest at heart. That's all I've ever had. I love your daughter. Unlike most teenage fathers, I love these twins. But it's the twins I need to talk to you about. No, scratch that. Even if I don't talk to you about it, you still need to know something about them.

I need you to promise me two things before I can bring myself to say anything further. Promise me you won't see the twins any differently unless it's for the better. And promise me you won't see Sam any differently unless it's for the better. Think of me however you want, but don't expect me to care about your opinion of me anymore.

As for discussing the twins, we'll need to meet up somewhere. This kind of news isn't meant to be told any other way. We can work something out if this doesn't work for you, but shall we say the park, Thursday at around noon? I'll be bringing Sam no matter where we go. Contact me any way you feel necessary and we can set everything up.

-Daniel Fenton

He refused to write 'Sincerely' above his name being as it was his turn to hate them. And although the message really was sincere, it wasn't meant to be nice and polite. It was meant for the brutal honesty that they deserved. If it sounded polite, then great. If it sounded impolite, then too bad.

He sighed once more, this time in relief, and went to put the picture in an envelope, write out who it was to and stamp it, and take it to the mailbox with the hopes that her parents would read it and accept his offer. Sam would have his head if she knew about this so he would have to be discreet and not let her know until it was too late to turn back. Would she like it? Probably not. But just like he said in the note to her parents, he had her best interest at heart and she needed to see her parents again, at least one last time; for closure if nothing else.

He slowly and carefully got into bed, completely blowing off that accursed Pre-Cal problem, and wrapped his arms around her. Hopefully she wouldn't have another nightmare and wake up in a panic. He had a few extremely vague memories of clinging to Sam when he was intoxicated with the moon flower pollen. He did call her his dove, and he couldn't sleep unless she was right there in his arms. But almost everything aside from that was either blank or one big blur that he couldn't quite make out. Well apparently she had really liked it when he did that because he finally realized, a few weeks after he was sane again, that the reason he kept waking up with his arms around her was because she had been the one pulling them around her at night once he was asleep. And she had to confuse him like that because...?

Oh! Right!

He climbed over Sam and kissed her stomach, the only way he could kiss the new baby goodnight until it was born. Sadly, she woke up from it and got the wrong idea of his true intentions.

"Not tonight, Danny," she sighed out.

He smiled and quietly laughed. "I wasn't trying anything like that. Besides, I'm just as tired as you are."

"Then go to sleep," she muttered. "And don't kiss me again unless it's my forehead or cheek."

Why did he get the feeling he had just been cut off?

"I wasn't kissing you, I was kissing the baby," he clarified.

She just snorted. "Yeah, of course you were."

He frowned and dropped back over to his side of the bed, re-wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close to him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you were asking for some and didn't get any," she replied.

"That's the furthest thing from the truth. I kiss you and the twins goodnight every night...even if you and I do end up staying awake a little longer. We both want the baby. It's already a part of our family. I was just kissing it goodnight. We both know I won't have that opportunity forever; I'm taking every chance I get," he said.

True. Eventually the twins would reach an age where it just wasn't cool to kiss their parents goodnight, and they would stop. Well Danny loved it when they kissed him. Right now the kisses were on the lips because that's what Mommy and Daddy did, but later it would move to the cheek. And one day that would stop entirely. He really wouldn't have that opportunity forever and it was all too easy to believe he cherished all their little kisses.

He pulled her even closer and whispered, "Go to sleep, dove. You need to get some rest."

"No, you don't get it, this is it, Tuck, I'm drawing the line here," Danny growled. "I'm tired of seeing Sam suffer like this! You know she mumbled something about her parents in her sleep last night?"

"Okay, first off, calm down. Getting angry won't get you anywhere," the geek said. "Secondly, I don't know if it's such a good idea to force Sam to meet up with her parents. I mean, what if she doesn't want to see them?"

"What if-?! Tucker, she misses them. She still loves her parents. I don't know why, I don't know how, but she does. Besides, it's time they met their grandkids after three years of having absolutely no involvement in Lilith and Junior's lives," he shot back. "Now they're gonna have another grandkid and this time, it really is mine."

"Why would it matter to them if there's another one of 'that Fenton kid's offspring'?" Tucker countered. "They already think the twins are yours, what difference would another baby make?"

"This time, I'm convincing Sam to tell them what happened and who their real father is." Danny sighed. "And you know, it would be awesome if they were mine biologically but, you know, it didn't happen like that. I actually talked to Sam about it once and she said she'd go through it again even if she had the chance to change the past."

"Wait, so you plan on telling Sam to meet her parents, who she hasn't seen in three years, and tell them that you aren't the actual dad-"

"Anyone can be a father. It takes a real man to be a dad," the halfa interrupted.

"Okay, fine, the actual father. You plan on making Sam do that?"

"No, not make her. I won't force her into anything, but I will do everything I can to get her to tell them. This has gone on long enough, Tuck."

"You have any idea what her answer will be?"

"She'll personally wipe the floor with me," he said. "But you know what? I could care less. It's something she should at least think about and if her parents say yes to a little family reunion, then I'll be bringing her along."

"Does she know about all this?"

"No, not a single clue. She doesn't even know I contacted her parents."

"She'll kill you, man."

"I'll sleep with one eye open," Danny grunted. "But this is for her own good."

"This really doesn't sound like a good idea, Danny. And I'm dead serious! What if it only ends up hurting her worse? Did you even think about that?"

"I heard her mumble 'Mom' and 'Dad' several times in her sleep, even after the twins were born. She still does it. Granted, I can't guarantee this will turn out well and it probably won't go smoothly, but I'm so tired of knowing those freaking idiots are always on her mind. Yes, they're her parents, and yes, she loves them...but she also really misses them. I feel like she needs this, no matter what the outcome will be."

"And if her parents refuse your offer?"

"If that happens, then we're just gonna go about life as we always do."

The two walked through the school halls in silence for a while, both knowing what Tucker would say next.

"Ever since the twins were born your life's been pretty domestic," he mumbled.

Danny shook his head in dismissal. "My life used to always be about ghosts, that was my greater goal, that was my purpose in life, that was the very reason I existed. But you know, ever since I found out Sam was pregnant, there was something deep inside me that...just... I-I can't really explain it. I didn't really know what it meant at the time but as Sam got further and further into her pregnancy, when all that time just went by so slowly... I mean, I was confused because that little something was growing and I still didn't know what it meant. And then one day it's like I just woke up and suddenly wanted to be in the twins' lives forever. And it was so weird because I was seriously worried that Sam might give them up after they were born and since they weren't mine, there was nothing I could do about it. That whole time I kept wondering why I would want to be in their lives when I knew Sam didn't want them. It was like I knew I would end up getting hurt by feeling that way, but I wanted to have those feelings nevertheless. And then I came to this slow realization that I valued those twins more than I valued life itself. It struck me that I didn't just want to be in their lives, I wanted to be their dad. At that point it was an inner war; do I really want to be a dad at fifteen or do I want to keep my freedom and responsibility only to Amity Park? The choice I made is pretty obvious. Now my life doesn't revolve around ghosts. I know now what I'm really meant to be. The twins-and as of yesterday, the new baby-are my greater goal. The twins-and the new baby-are my purpose in life. It's like they're the real ones who define my existence, not me. I'm not just Danny Phantom anymore."

"Do you ever wish you still had the freedom you used to?"

...Honestly, he did. From time to time he thought about the freedom he'd lost when the twins were born. Er, technically, when Sam was late in her pregnancy. He was like a fly around her head at that time, always wanting to be near her just in case. But what Tucker said was true; he had lost a lot of free time. But whenever those thoughts entered his mind, he always reminded himself of the twins and how they needed him, and how he needed them. He reminded himself to weigh it out...and there was absolutely no competition. His kids won every single time. Those little 'lack of freedom' thoughts disappeared to be replaced by the same warm feeling he had when he first started truly loving the twins, despite them being still in their mother's womb.

He just hoped Sam's parents would have that warm feeling if and when they met up...

A/N

Before I say ANYTHING, I seriously can't believe the sequel is longer! XD I mean, Flowers Will Bloom had 33 chapters. This chapter marks the 'longer' status.

WOOHOO! Major cliffhanger, right there. XD Hahaha! We all know what Sam's parents did, so let us all see what they SHALL do. And heck, don't jump to the conclusion that they'll suddenly say "Oh, yeah, sure." and meet up. They kicked out their daughter, so we don't know what they'll do now. But it's been three years, so who knows? (me)

I made sure to compensate with an ACTUAL chapter rather than that crappy one I left you guys with last time, AND this is being updated earlier WITH 3,000 words. ;)

There will be a review quota to ease my weird mind, but I'm definitely not pushing it. Four hundred eighty-five (485).

Now, your review replies:

ShadowDragon357- lol We both know Sam would never push the kids to eat tofu BUT I can see her pushing them to eat healthy foods, like vegetables and fruits. I can't say nuts because I don't know if I'll make anyone allergic to nuts yet. And she breastfed the twins, so she'll be doing the same with the new baby Fenton. ^.^

HeroAce- XD I was just WAITING for someone to say something like that! Super mommmm~ LOL! Yes, the biggest child of all! :D

puppets4ever- No, you're not mean. Angry Danny equals funny Danny! :D

smallvillephantom14- :D I tried to make that funny. Hope I did a good job.

sammansonrepilica- He has and I just now realized that I actually DID do something right with this story. I paced his character development. Everyone's character development, actually, which is something I don't think I've ever done before. And yup, lime and vinegar! In the episode Micro Management, he throws his chips on Skulker, who says, "Lime and vinegar? Who eats those?!"

princessbinas- Next time I talk about the genetics of the baby, I'll make sure to correct it. :) How do you know poor Sam didn't puke in the bathroom?

AJ- AHH NUUUU! NOT A SQUARE PLANET! We make it round because we randomly stomp on the Earth. XD

ChristinCC- Thanks! I tried! :D I don't do humor all that well (do I...?) so that was pretty good, I like to think.

Alisi Thordyke- XD Couldn't help but laugh as I was writing that out. That, and him kissing her JUST to put lime and vinegar chip crumbs on her lips.

Samtastic V2.0- The rapist won't make an appearance in the sequel, I put the epilogue in at the end of FWB as a bonus chapter to FWG.

Hey, guys, don't forget to vote on the poll! :) Go ahead and vote so you don't have to worry about FORGETTING to vote. For all you know, your vote could be a tiebreaker! So vote now or forever hold your peace.