A/N: I know I don't usually write an A/N at the beginning of a chapter, but as both an announcement and a reminder, the baby name poll is up on my profile! There's plenty of names to choose from and as a bonus, if you can't decide which names you like the most, that's okay because you can vote 40 TIMES! You'll notice that both male and female names are there. Why? Well because if there's only one-sex names, you'll already know the gender(s) of the baby(ies). Wouldn't be a surprise now would it?

I also know that in the last chapter there would only be boy names but my girl name which I already had picked out, Vanessa, is out and I want to decide on a new name. Therefore, the names consist of both boy and girl names.

~Chapter 37~

The walk down to the park was nothing but one strange, neverending silence. The air was uncomfortable to the both of them-which said something since Sam still had no clue why she was being led to the park in the middle of the day.

The twins were under Grandma and Grandpa's care for the moment. Danny hadn't told either of them why he'd left other than to take Sam to the park. Tucker had texted him right in the middle of the walk saying, "You're a dead man." And he was probably right. Sam would not be happy to know what he'd done. Plus, depending on which way this went, she wouldn't want to talk to him-and therefore would not talk to him-for days, maybe even weeks! To top that, she might never forgive him for this. He was already half ghost but at this rate no amount of intangibility would help. Phantom/Fenton really were dead men, or at least would be after this. Looking back it might not have been the wisest idea to set something up without Sam's consent. Then again she would never consent to it if she knew and dragging her here would be futile because she wouldn't have come along to begin with. He wouldn't put it past her to simply call off the whole thing whether her parents knew or not. But she couldn't call anything off if she was already there, now could she?

Plus he had to factor in her pregnancy. Her previous pregnancy had been...shaky. She had been emotional, testy, and at times, fickle. She had legitimate reasons for every feeling she had, including when she got ticked off at him for something she said wasn't his fault, but her mood swings were severe and tended to last for a nice little while. In fact, some of them had lasted weeks.

"What are you thinking about?"

Oh...you know...just what she would do when she found out he had secretly set up a meeting with her parents behind her back.

"Sam, when we get to the park...don't kill me-"

"Why, what did you do?" she asked warningly.

"It's for your own good," he replied.

"Danny, what are you up to?"

"You'll probably get ticked beyond words-"

"Danny!"

"I swear, I'm trying to make things better for you, just keep that in mind when you attempt to claw my eyes out."

He grabbed her hand as he approached the picnic table where a man with very light blonde hair sat.

"Danny, who's that?"

"Don't hold a grudge, if possible."

"Danny, what are you doing?!"

She began to pull away from him. He knew she was recognizing this man to be her dad.

"No, I don't want to do this," she choked.

He kept silent, knowing she was scared now and if he let go, was likely to flee despite her stubborn nature.

"Danny, no, please, let me go!" she begged, yanking back one last time.

"We're putting an end to this, Sam," he said firmly.

Begging from her wasn't normal. Hormonal or not, she preferred to keep up a strong image and never begged. So to hear this coming from her, of all people, was making it hard for him to do the right thing, even if that right thing seemed stupid and dangerous...because right now he was playing with fire.

"Stop! Danny, no!" she cried.

Jeremy looked their way, which was when he felt Sam stop struggling. It was the exact opposite of the reaction he was expecting, but at least it was positive...hopefully.

He suddenly felt her looking at him like he was sort of despicable person with equally despicable intentions. Tucker's blunt "You're a dead man." ran through his mind and he started to realized just how right his friend was. Sam wouldn't just kill him after this, she would annihilate him. She would hopefully thank him later. Assuming, that is, that he was by some fortunate chance still alive.

The man waved them both over, and Danny tightened his grip on Sam as he followed the gesture. He would never hurt her but he knew the goth's wrist was probably turning red by now.

It was only when they sat down across from her father that Sam's arm went completely slack. She looked down, probably more of an attempt to avoid looking at Jeremy rather than being depressed. That kind of body language signaled her fear of rejection and Danny felt it. He didn't like doing this but hopefully the fear she felt now would later turn into understanding of what he was trying to accomplish by doing this. It wasn't something he was trying to burden her with, it was something he was trying to help her through. And, being Sam, she wouldn't see it that way. Not at first at least.

"Sam, your dad and I agreed to talk civilly. Nobody will lash out," he explained. "The reason we're here is to talk about the twins. I think it's time he knows what really happened."

"And if I don't feel like talking?" she muttered, just enough so Danny could hear her.

"Then I'll do it. This ends today."

Jeremy cleared his throat to get their attention.

"I was told that basically, you've hidden something from me," the man said, clearly trying to get straight down to the point.

"So what if I have?" Sam hissed, still refusing to look at anyone. "Maybe I had my reasons."

And this was taking a quick turn. This would probably end with Sam getting riled up and screaming until either she left or Jeremy left. It would have the opposite effect and this was proven by how she indicated in her tone that she was trying to chase her father away. She could act like she didn't want to be here all she wanted but as long as he'd been with Sam, Danny could see through her deceptions. Hopefully Jeremy could too. It may be wise to simply add to this conversation that she was pregnant. It could alter the course and perhaps make Jeremy understand why she was so quick to anger. Then again it would give Sam yet another reason to kill him...

"Samantha, if you've hidden something all this time... You could've at least told me they were twins. On top of that we didn't even know when or where they were born."

She scowled at the trigger words 'at least' but remained surprisingly calmer than he had anticipated.

"You didn't deserve to know," she bluntly replied, crossing her arms and leaning back a little. "You still don't deserve to know."

Yeah...this wouldn't end well...

"And why am I undeserving to know anything about my own grandchildren?"

"Your grandchildren..." she growled. "You really want to know the truth about your ever so precious grandchildren? You really want to know why I wouldn't tell you anything about them when I went into labor?"

"I do believe I deserve to know why I've been kept in the dark about it, yes," her father said as he meshed his fingers together, put his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his hands. In all honesty, it looked as though he was interested in this conversation after all but had put on quite the poker face. It was possible that he may have been interested even when the two boys were talking on the phone to even set up this meeting.

She ground her teeth for a bit before saying, "You would've screamed at Danny for something he never did. He wasn't the one who got me pregnant. He didn't do anything wrong. He never even tried anything funny!"

Not until more recently anyway, but he wasn't about to let the whole world know that.

"Was it that Tucker fellow?"

He saw her flush a new shade of red.

"No it wasn't Tucker!" she shouted. "Not that you would care but I have no idea who it was!"

"Samantha-"

"Sam."

"-how do you not know who impregnated you?"

As much as he wanted to intervene and attempt to calm her down, something in his gut told Danny that now just wasn't a good time to do it. Nothing was fully blown out of proportion yet and Sam had enough sense in her to talk without ruining her lungs. Note the word 'yet'. Her mood swings were vicious sometimes and depending on how stressed she already was, it could turn into the killer instinct of a tigress. Insert scary roar here.

"You figure it out! Try to think outside the perfect world you live in and you'll see the dark side of the moon!" she hissed.

It was then that Danny decided to simply come out and ask the real question Sam wanted to know the answer to, and the real reason they had come here to talk to her father.

"Mr. Manson," he said, wishing he had it in him to spit out the bad taste the name left in his mouth, "the reason we came here was because of the twins and yes, we do have something to tell you about them, but first we both have a question that needs to be answered and that deserves to be answered. Do you want to have anything to do with Sam and the twins? I know you hate me, but consider them."

He raised his head and put his hands on the table, sighing.

"I fully understood, and still understand, the consequences for my actions regarding Sam and her pregnancy. I felt she needed to mature and learn responsibility immediately in order to care for a child. However, what you don't know is that Pamela disagreed. We had the worst argument we've ever had on that day and nearly divorced because of it." He turned toward Sam and continued, "Samantha, your mother knew what could've happened to you, and I knew you needed to grow up. We didn't help you, nor did we contact you, simply because you had to learn on your own. Being parents ourselves we already knew the responsibilities and duties needed to provide for a child. You were always incredible at adapting to situations and surroundings and unless it involved a frilly pink dress and the morning sun, you never once complained about it. We both knew you were more than capable of this, but we couldn't raise a child for you or you would never learn. What would you have done if you wanted another child yet knew nothing about parenting? We wanted the best life for both mother and child."

"Best life?! I was fifteen!" she growled, clearly straining to keep herself under control. "Do you have any idea what my life has been like because of you?!"

"I knew you could handle it, Samantha, and you did."

"I..." She took a deep breath to 'calm' herself down. "If Danny and his family hadn't taken me in, I wouldn't have a life to handle. Do you know how straining that was on my body? The twins could've been born with complications and for over half my pregnancy I had no prenatal care!"

"Why did you have no prenatal care?"

And the tensions were running high...again.

"Because the stress was too much for me to handle on my own. I'm downright lucky I had Danny to help me through it because if not for him, the twins would not be here right now and trust me, neither would I."

"Suicide..." he mumbled.

"No. No, not suicide. I put myself in danger on more than one occasion but unlike you, Danny never gave up on me. My life was a wreck and at the time, unfortunately, I didn't much appreciate the help he offered. At one point I even thought he was just trying to make me more miserable but he wasn't. He was trying to help me."

She tugged on the ends of her sleeves at the comment and he remembered that awful little pocketknife. He also remembered how often she kept distancing herself from everyone else, like she was starting to detach from the world. He knew she was remembering the same thing, as well as when he sent her off to Other Ways.

"My pregnancy after you kicked me out wasn't what you would call 'fun'. Do you want to know what happened the same day you kicked me out? As in right after you did that?"

"I remember the downpour and knew you had taken shelter elsewhere," Jeremy answered.

"Shelter?" she said. "I wish! I was too upset to think about shelter. I didn't go anywhere of my own will. I don't know who the real father is because I was raped that day!"

Both the boys took a sharp breath merely at the word itself. Danny tried to sneak a hand over hers but she yanked it away. Yeah, it didn't look like comfort was an option right now...

"For the second time!" she added just as Jeremy opened his mouth to speak. "The first time was what got me pregnant, the second time was what got me amnesia! I have no memory of what he looked like, I only remember how it felt! Danny was the one who came looking for me even though it meant going out into that storm. He found me unconscious and yes, naked that day, but the only thing he tried to do was cut off the ties around my wrists and the gag around my face. My clothes had been completely torn apart so he gave me an oversize shirt he had in his closet."

"Why didn't you tell me about what happened the first time, when you still remembered?"

"Well if you were a woman and you were violated, would you want to talk about it?" she retorted.

"That's a fair answer," he quietly replied. "Is this what you wanted to tell me about the twins?"

"Uh, yes!" the half quickly interrupted. "That's...that's what we came to tell you."

"I'm very happy to see that you've taken care of my daughter; I really, truly am...but are you yourself fit to be their foster father at such a young age?"

"Blood doesn't mean anything," Danny replied, relaxing at the knowledge that this conversation was finally turning to him instead of continuing to rile up a hormonal Sam. "I've been Sam's partner in taking care of them and I've always thought of myself as their father. I've never seen them less simply because I didn't...uh, partake in the...um...'making' of them. It doesn't matter to me where they came from, I don't think it's possible to love anything more than your children."

"It's highly respectable what you're doing but you're still not their biological father. Kids have a way of sensing that and they'll eventually want to know who their real father is. What will you do then?" the man asked.

"I...I don't really know. I guess I'll just have to cross that bridge when we get there."

It was at that moment that Sam stood up and shoved Danny out of the way. This time she meant business, otherwise she wouldn't have looked her father in the eye so readily.

"Why would you even ask about their bloodline? What does it matter to someone who obviously didn't care about me or the twins for the past three years? It's been three years, Dad! I'm pretty sure you would know that they've been born by now!"

Crap...

"And you were talking about having another child earlier? Right?" she continued. "Then you're sitting there going on about...about biological fathers and stuff? Right?! Well newsflash!"

Ooohhhhh, this wouldn't end well...

"In about nine months Danny will be a biological father!" she screeched, drawing the attention of several nearby picnickers. "There's your bloodline if it means so much to you!"

Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap...

He dropped his head onto the table and tried to look apologetic to the man despite the circumstances under which this news was told and to whom this was told. Honestly Danny didn't regret ever having slept with Sam in the first place but the freezing cold glare Jeremy was giving him made him regret this meeting. He was also pretty sure the blush on his face wouldn't allow him to lie about anything.

"Congratulations, dude!" some random guy in the background yelled out.

He ran a hand through his hair, for some reason feeling the need to justify himself.

"Look, Mr. Manson, I just... I mean, Sam and I, we love each other a lot and something was bound to come from that eventually. It just... It came now, is all..." he said, squeaking out the last part.

"And you know what? I don't think either of us regrets it," Sam growled.

She quickly grabbed the collar of Danny's shirt and pulled him into a forceful kiss in an act of sheer defiance, looking at her father and daring him to say otherwise.

The man stood and dusted himself off, his face showing no expression whatsoever.

"Very well," he said. "I will take my leave now. Goodbye, Samantha."

She let go of Danny and slipped out of the table herself, not bothering to dust herself off, as if there was even anything to dust off.

Each person went the opposite way. As he'd anticipated, this conversation didn't end well and now that another, unexpected baby came into play, he somehow doubted Jeremy and/or Pamela would be willing to see the twins.

He caught up to Sam and put a hand on her shoulder only to have to slapped away. Her kiss had been anything but loving. She kissed him not out of affection, but to challenge her father to be protective of her. He instead ignored that challenge and chose to back out of the entire situation, which Danny knew killed her inside. She was fuming at him right now and wasn't very likely to talk to him for the next few hours. Not to say he was okay with it, but he accepted it with ease, especially since he knew from the beginning she would act this way. He would just have to play the waiting game until she simmered down enough for him to talk to her and get her to hear him out.

A/N

I sort of posted everything before this chapter so I don't have much to say. Considering that I had to get everything in this chapter down JUST RIGHT, I really wouldn't call it delayed...just very hard to do. I mean, I know it might not seem like it, but having the tension start off with distress and changing into anger is a lot harder than it looks, especially since I'm trying to keep a steady pace.

Oh, right! The reason Sam's mom didn't show up was because of their disagreement. ;) Don't worry...you'll find out...

I do want to ask a review quota this time because again, I put a LOT of effort into this chapter. So new quota is five hundred twenty-seven (527) reviews.

And now, review replies:

Alisi Thorndyke- Updated. Just...not as quickly as I'd have liked.

princessbinas- I also ship InuKag. I've also seen the entire series plus Kanketsu-Hen, but for some reason I still hate her. Although I do like that she gave Kohaku a second chance at life. And yes, it was Mt. Hakurai that she SEEMS to die, but never did die. She needed Kagome's spiritual powers to heal her wounds but was alive the whole time.

Guest- No, there's more chapters. :) I just have a hard time updating as frequently is all...

darkangeloflove15- Done and done! :)

Mirlyinda- Since SEPTEMBER?! Ah...geez... I'm so sorry! D:

HeroAce- I was never really gone, but I suppose this story was gone for a while. Darn this brain.

Hey, guys? Remember that I can't keep these polls up forever so don't procrastinate. You have until Sam reaches 6 months, when her ultrasound will reveal all. After that, I'm sorry, but if you didn't vote it'll be too late.