~Chapter 36~

It was Thursday. The first half of the day was spent in silent dread of what was to come. The fact was, Sam would be uncomfortable. She was pregnant, so that emotion could intensify. If that happened, there was no telling what she would do. Even when she was pregnant with the twins, she had been unpredictable. So far this time was proving to be a smoother ride, but he also had a good eight months to go before another Fenton would greet the outside world. It was impossible to tell what would happen during what would undoubtedly be the roughest ride of Sam's life.

And of course, there was Tucker to deal with. It didn't help when he was guilted into feeling like a dead man when his friend told him that the meeting could stress Sam out. With the experiences from her previous pregnancy, stress was the last thing he wanted to burden her with. But it was set up and done now, meaning there was no backing out.

He was so ready to let a tear slip out, not because of Sam, but because of the pressure being put on him and the resulting frustration. It could also be due to his gut feeling that Sam wouldn't be in a compromising mood when he got home.

The doorbell rang. It had to be the worst timing since the twins always ran to the door thinking it was a member of the family. Family had become very important to them and they would only play with their friends if someone came with them, or if their friends came over to the house.

Sam held back the twins while Maddie answered the door. She couldn't see past the woman but somehow recognized the voice of the other person. She was expecting it to be Danny but hadn't truly counted on it since he never came to the house during school hours. Although she recognized the voice, though, she just couldn't put her finger on who it was no matter how hard she tried. It was weird... She knew the voice... She knew it but she just couldn't-

Her eyes narrowed in confusion at first when Maddie moved out of the way and invited the person in. That voice was familiar.

But it was the appearance of that person that snapped her memory in gear.

The gender. The slim figure. The height. The sandy hair. The chipped tooth. Sandra.

Sandra. Sandra. Why did it have to be Sandra, of all people?

She felt her eye twitch just once with the nightmare that she-demon had created for her at Other Ways. If it was Amber, or even Jenna... But no...it was Sandra.

The girl stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Sam. The fuming, glaring Sam whose eyes were swimming with memories.

"Samantha," she said coldly.

"Sandra," Sam returned.

Maddie gently closed the door and walked away, taking one last glance behind her as she made her way past the two girls and down to the basement.

Once Maddie was well out of earshot, the tension in Sam sharply increased. Part of her was glad Danny wasn't here. If she decided to beat the crap out of Sandra, he wouldn't be here to stop her.

The two girls stared each other down, both caught in a deadlock. For several moments they stayed that way, standing stiffly in front of each other.

"What are you doing here?" Sam finally spat, breaking the silence when she felt a small hand cling to her jeans.

"What's it to you?" she retorted, crossing her arms as if to prove some undetectable point.

"Uh, oh, you know, how should I put thi- I LIVE HERE!"

"Pfft. Figures you'd live in a house with a huge neon sign." She quickly looked at Lilith and Sam was just as quick to push her behind her leg instead of beside it, where she wanted to be.

"Guess the stress of your 'problem' cost you the other one?"

Sam scowled at the complete lack of concern in Sandra's tone. Junior was most likely hiding nearby, probably behind the couch, too shy to peek around it. He only hid when there was a stranger in the house, but he gradually warmed up to them and would appear from wherever.

"More like the other just hates your guts," she replied, a slight smirk on her face.

The girl scoffed and said, "At least I'm not a young mother of twins! And where's the daddy, hm? Dumped you? Or did you convince a different guy that he's the father?"

The goth's smirk returned to a hateful scowl as she answered, "When did my personal life become your business?!"

"And I'm guessing he's leading a normal life while you had to drop out," she continued.

"Oh please, like you know anything about my life! So what if I had to drop out? Why does that matter to you?"

"Well we lived together for a good while."

"Yeah, about three years ago! And in case you've forgotten, I hated you! I still hate you! How can a person like you have a friend like Amber? I was lucky to have her and Jenna there to help out; you just made everything worse." Sam pointed an accusing finger at the girl. "I was miserable enough without you, and then I got the pleasure of meeting you. Do you have any idea just how horrible you are? My best guess is that Amber secretly hates you but she's too nice to admit it."

"Miserable? Really? Amber suffered with me, she was there for me. I like Amber because she doesn't exaggerate. I like Jenna because she actually had problems! But you! You brought this on yourself! You were practically begging to get knocked up when you-"

Sam immediately cut her off with, "Look, I never took you to be the violent type, but trust me when I tell you, I am. Keep this up and I swear, I'll beat you into next week!"

"I'm not stupid. I can tell a bluff," she replied, arms still smugly crossed.

"You're stupid if you think I'm bluffing!"

"You're stupid to try to fool me."

Sam closed her eyes and clenched her fists, feeling the urge to show Sandra the difference between a bluff and a threat. She was just asking for another chipped tooth, one that wouldn't make her look cute.

To take precautionary measures, she pushed Lilith out of the room. Her brother diligently followed, seeming to have zero curiosity for what was happening. Lilith, on the other hand, was just dying to know what was going on even though she couldn't understand it. She was three; she wasn't expected to understand. Heck, she wasn't even born when Sandra made her intentions clear at Other Ways. Well, 'intentions' probably wasn't the right word but there was no other way Sam could think to put it. She couldn't help but wonder what would happen if Sandra never knew she was pregnant at the time. The girl seemed fine with Jenna, and Amber was her best friend. For some reason it was Sam alone who got all the crap that girl had to offer. It was a good thing Amber offered consolation, which unfortunately wasn't much appreciated at the time. Looking back, it was a blessing to have Amber around.

No sooner than Sam opened her mouth to speak did the doorknob turn with a click. Sandra turned around but, as Sam caught at the last moment, she was putting on a much more professional face than she had when they were 'talking'.

Danny peeked his head through a now slightly cracked door and practically shrunk back when he saw Sam's furious expression. A business woman and a very furious pregnant woman. It wasn't an everyday sight.

"Um," he started.

"Danny, get in here before I kill this woman!" Sam snapped.

She did look pretty serious about what she said and being pregnant, tired, and now stressed, he wouldn't put it past her to show a little violence. She was small but dangerous, and could hold one heck of a grudge for months on end. And she wasn't afraid to remind him of it. Sam had wrath in abandon and this woman would soon suffer from it unless he did something...and even then it wasn't a guarantee.

The woman moved closer to him and she come in, shutting the door behind him as silently as possible. It was at times like these, although he had no idea what was going on, that Sam became a land mine. The slightest nudge in any direction could and would set her off and he didn't want sound to be one of them.

The woman cleared her throat and said, "I'm actually here to ask Samantha a few questions."

"About what?" he replied as quickly as he could, succeeding in stopping Sam from doing anything rash.

"Danny Phantom," she answered.

He frowned, along with Sam. He wondered if she knew this was why the woman was here and if this was why she was set in kill mode.

"Well...what do you want to know about him? Nobody really knows much. He shows up to fight, then he disappears," he said.

"Oh, trust me, someone knows him very well," she countered.

Turning to face Sam, she continued, "And she's standing right there."

"Wha-?! Why would I know anything about Danny Phantom?!" she yelled, more angrily than panicky.

The woman crossed her arms over her chest and replied, "It's amazing how I seem to be the only one who remembers that little incident at Other Ways."

"Incident...?"

"And I have my suspicions about it being a chance encounter. I firmly believe that he'd hung around with you, and that's why I saw him with you that one time," she said.

Danny was quick to grab her shoulder and pull her back to face him. "You said this was at Other Ways?"

She nodded. "Yes, but why would you be so interested in it? Do you know him too?"

Considering 'he' wasn't even a different person, then more than she knew, yeah.

"I'm just surprised that he would show up there is all. And how do you know Sam went to Other Ways?"

The goth grunted and coughed out, "Sandra."

Sandra... Sandra... The name rang a bell but he couldn't place his finger on it.

"Samantha and I were roommates-"

"And not on friendly terms, you she-devil!"

"Oh will you just give it a rest already?! I came here strictly on business-"

"And you're still here! Get out or so help me I'll make you regret ever looking at the 'big neon sign'!"

Well this kind of fighting seemed familiar. The only time she fought like this was with Paulina, but this wasn't Paulina so...

"Oh sure, kick me out when I'm just doing my job!"

"I am not your job!"

"Actually, you are my job! You're the only one who knows anything about Danny Phantom and I'm here to gather that knowledge."

"Even if I did know him, give me one good reason why I should tell you."

"We lived together once. Sure don't want those precious memories to go to waste."

"Uh-huh, yeah. 'Those precious memories' need to be burned until their molecules are driven out of existence."

"Look, just set your little grudge aside and cooperate already!"

And thus, Sam's endurance ended when fury got the better of her and she slapped Sandra hard on the cheek. The resounding force of the contact was enough to catch Danny's attention and set his body on autopilot. This rescue was a damsel in distress, and it was from a distressed damsel so...not exactly your typical rescue mission. But with Sam past her limits, this called for immediate action.

He pulled the woman away from Sam and ushered her out the door, probably being a little rougher than he realized.

"Okay, my sweet little Sam is now set to kill, so unless you want to be the victim of a homicide, you should leave and come back never," he whispered as he pushed her out of the house. He slammed the door behind her before she had a chance to respond.

"Danny, what happened?" Sam asked him as he was turning around to face whatever metal-on-metal music she had to offer.

"Huh?"

"What happened? Why did she come here, of all places, to look for information about you?"

"Are you wondering if this has anything to do with the Guys In White?"

"No, not really." Sam sighed heavily and sat on the couch. "Somehow I can't see Sandra taking up a government role. She was right though. She did see you at Other Ways. Er, to be more specific, she saw Danny Phantom. You wanted her to quit stressing me out, which by the way didn't work at all, so you showed yourself right in front of her and honestly, you could've done a better job at pretending you didn't know me."

"I think I'm starting to remember it now... I usually came to see you at night though, remember? Of course, I came to see your ultrasound. Couldn't miss that. But other than that I don't think I came out during the day and when I did I was invisible."

"Hm... Well, it wasn't necessarily during the day... It was really early in the morning. Amber actually walked right past you but thankfully she was too drowsy to notice you. Kind of awkward... But you did show yourself to Sandra and you talked to her, basically telling her you knew my secret and that you were tired of her giving me all that crap. It was sweet at the time but like I said, you could've done a better job at pretending you didn't know me."

"So that's why she figured you knew me. My ghost half anyway," he mumbled.

"I know this is random, Danny, but while we're on the topic of your ghost half, what are planning with the kids?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean are you planning to tell them, keep it a secret, what?"

"I'm going with secret on that one."

"Why? They're your kids, don't you think they should know?"

He shook his head and sat down beside her. "No. Even the adults think Danny Phantom is so awesome and cool and the paparazzi is always at my heels. I could fill a whole pool with a different newspaper for every heroic deed I've done. And that's why the kids can't know. They can see Danny Phantom but they can't know I'm the one they're seeing."

"Again, why?"

"Think about it, Sam. All kids think the world of superheroes. What do you think would happen if they found out Fenton and Phantom are one in the same? They would try to follow me into battle and I couldn't live with myself if I let something happen to them. And something's bound to happen if they put themselves in harm's way. If it's someone like Walker that I'm up against and the kids try to help me... I mean, their intentions would be good but Walker has his goons by his side everywhere he goes. I could be battling three different ghosts and I wouldn't be able to protect them if they got caught. And what do you think would happen if anyone in the Ghost Zone found out that I have kids? How many ghosts do you think would come after them? Maybe it sounds mean but I can't put them in danger like that."

And speaking of danger... He still had to convince Sam to come with him for whatever excuse he would make up to get her to see her parents, at least one last time.

But before anything else, he needed her to calm down and get some rest. Hopefully after a nap, she would be more cheerful and lenient, which would give him a much better chance of convincing her to go with him.

A/N

...I...I just... I'm so sorry! I've neglected this for a LONG time, I know. I started up a new Inuyasha story called Sepia and as with all stories, my interest was piqued beyond belief. I chose to write out my ideas, get the story started up and stuff, and then get back to this when I had to attention span to focus on it long enough to finish the chapter. Well, my interest has decreased enough to let me write FWG again, so voila! ...I know I don't have a right to sound happy. T_T I'm sorry, everyone...

As I usually do with my A/N's, some news is posted. The gender-of-the-baby poll is finished and will be taken down. For those of you who didn't vote yet, I'm sorry but you snoozed so you loozed. I did keep up the reminders though. Instead, a new poll will be posted and I think you'll all like this one! ;D BABY NAMES! I already have a girl name picked out, which means that all names will be boys' names. Before I post it though, I will ask you through this A/N to review your ideas. Any name you want will be in the poll for everyone to vote on as well as my own names, just to get things going. The poll won't be posted until the next chapter. This way, everyone has plenty of time to think of and suggest their own ideas.

No guarantees the baby will be a boy. ;) Sorry.

And another norm for my A/N's, review replies. You definitely deserve it this time and as a bonus, no review quota. Anyway, the replies:

ChristinCC- Thanks. :) Not often that I get a comment saying a filler was all right.

princessbinas- You know...I don't think Inuyasha does swallow his pride... -_- He should! I mean, if he's gonna keep bouncing back and forth between Kikyo and Kagome...! And poor Kagome! Kikyo's a clay pot living off HER soul! So, Inuyasha, you've got a choice here: a dead girl made of ashes and dirt, or a sweet living girl who sticks by your side no matter what you say to her. HMMMM. HARD DECISION. Kikyo needs to die, she's a scourge to the series! I always feel so bad for Kagome, especially when she tries to take it in stride KNOWING that he went to see Kikyo AGAIN. ...Excuse my rant... Well, I can't say whether Sam's mom will or will not suck it up.

Mirlyinda- Nobody ever wants to go to school. But...trust me...enjoy ONLY school while you still can. Gas prices and taxes will hit you before you know it. And I have an old car so let's not forget car repairs. And semi-repairs. We had to disconnect a door and one of the windows no longer works. Plus, the bulb behind the dashboard died so now I can't see the gears at night. Oh, and try not to get your fingers stuck in the trunk if you get a 1990's Lincoln. 'Kay? 'Cuz...it hurts like crap. Especially if you find out it's all in vain because the air conditioning still won't work. Hurts even worse then... T_T

Mata Nui- XD Okay. Okay. That just cracked me up! LOL! Sam might start adopting a tough love policy with him.

HeroAce- ...Ummm...huh? I don't think you bypassed the system. Nothing's showing. I don't have an Android, I have an iPhone. In FWB, it tells us that her grandmother died. Hence the reason Sam never gave thought to being comforted or understood by her parents. Yay! I made OCs enjoyable! :'D That's something most authors don't achieve in their FF lifetime...! I feel like I've been awarded a medal or something!

Radiant Celestial Aura- :/ Sam's parents are where they've always been... But to be fair, we haven't seen them a very long time so I can understand why you'd ask that. D'awwww, thanks. :D

puppets4ever- I feel warm and fuzzy now. :3 I'm so glad you like my story!

sammansonrepilica- See that's the thing. He IS lucky. XD He's given her crap before, like all men, but he hasn't done anything that bad...until now... Muhuhuhuhuhuhwaaaaaaaa... Oh trust me, Danny WILL get his after this is over with. XD His intentions are good though, let's just all hope she realizes that. You know...for his sake. Well technically, by legal standards, she was never disowned in the first place. However, when she turned 18, she had the power to choose where her life could go, and she chose Danny. But you are right in that as her parents, they can try to talk her into leaving him despite how she feels about the twins suddenly being moved to a new environment while they're still so young. You're the first to wonder about Pamela. XD Nobody else cared, it's like she could die and they would leap with joy.

jim89- Well, the dad talking is really just because he picked up the phone...or is it? X3 In FWB, it tells us that her grandmother died, which is why Sam found no consolation in coming home. lol Do not worry, young padawan. All will be revealed... Next chapter that is. :P

Dara999- Aw, thank you. :) I do try to get the chapters right, but I know people won't like every little thing I do. And that's okay, because I try to make up for it one way or another.

Chloee0x0- Awwwwww! :D Your review is love enough. ^.^

sunchaser2234- Yeah, I've been writing and now have a few years of experience under my belt (you must factor in the hiatuses everyone has endured). Well I won't lie. He's grown up pretty fast and taken on responsibilities most adults would have a hard time managing. He's thinking more like an adult, acting more like one, and frankly, doesn't think much of it. As for Sam's parents...they seem to be constantly trying to change Sam from goth to frilly flower, so yes, I figured they wouldn't stand for anything that they know they can't change, and a baby would be something they can't change. And yes, Danny was looking for closure with her parents, knowing that she feared feeling cast out again, but also knowing Sam couldn't really move on unless she got to see them and talk to them and ultimately ask "Why?". He might but only if the circumstances get too nasty. Going against her parents to that level during the time Sam meets up with them after YEARS of complete separation wouldn't be in Sam's best interest. It would have to be after she calms down. Even in the show she's not entirely sensible when she gets into fits of anger, like in Memory Blank when she got so mad she didn't think about what she was doing and saying. Nah, I like long reviews as long as they don't come in too frequently. I'm really glad you like my story enough to give me that review though. :D I feel honored!

Looka'sMagicHell- At this point you really shouldn't expect anything. XD Yeah...this chapter didn't show what happened (YET) but Sandra will play an important role later on (between you and me...and whoever happens to read this).