Chapter 49

It had to be a mere fifteen minutes—during which time he'd gone to check on Sam and Faye to find that both were asleep, with Sam lying on the outer side of the bed and Faye lying in the middle beside her mother's head. He'd covered them both up with the blankets and despite what Sam said about waiting until Faye was asleep to have her looked over, he decided to let her get the rest she should've been getting hours ago. And if he woke Faye, well….to the gallows with him.

He would've gone to sleep himself but he'd been too concerned about this mystery person and kept himself on high alert, and had decided that Danny Phantom would look like a better defender, and possibly opponent, than Danny Fenton.

He'd just had his first child with Sam, in the ghost zone where it wasn't safe, with no medical supplies, completely alone and stranded, and now Sam was way too exhausted to do much else than sleep. She also refused to go to a hospital, begging just annoyed her, and she wouldn't eat or drink anything even though she probably really needed it right now. And him? He couldn't force her to do anything.

His family and Tucker were all still down in the lab rejoicing in the arrival of their newest niece or granddaughter. He wanted some excitement and happiness to remain in the house. Besides, he could handle humans.

He was stressed and didn't want to have to deal with anything else for the rest of his life! BUT NOW THIS!

And now he'd elected to stand right outside the front door, as Danny Phantom, and wait impatiently for a person, car, bike, whatever. Even fifteen minutes felt like two hours. Or maybe three. Or four. Because why not. But finally, after said feeling of four hours, a luxurious car appeared, pulled over next to his house, and parked.

Please let Cole's girlfriend be rich…

But of course not. This mysterious woman with long, light red hair and a pink dress got out of the passenger's side and excitedly ran around to the driver's side. At first he begged the universe to be Cole and his girlfriend, because right now strangers were not at all welcome, but curiosity turned to fury in a snap when Jeremy got out. The woman, however, he didn't recognize. He ground his teeth. Who cared about the woman, but how could Jeremy dare show his face anywhere near this vicinity. Had he not already done enough damage? Had he not sent a clear message to Sam? Had he not completely destroyed her?!

He could probably just kill Jeremy now and Sam would never have to know. Until later when she was bound to find out, somehow. Agh! She was his only protection, and hopefully he realized that.

"You better have a good reason to show up here…" Danny growled as the man came nearer.

"I am Sam's father—"

"Father?! Hah! You're not her father!" he shouted, grabbing the man by the collar of his shirt. "A father protects his daughter! A father loves his family! A father sacrifices everything for his children! A father would never throw his vulnerable daughter, pregnant with twins, out onto the streets and never bother to contact or help her again! You're no father! You're just an insect—" He threw Jeremy to the ground. "—disguising itself as a pathetic human being!"

The man stayed down but stared angrily into Danny's flaring eyes.

"You honestly think I hate my little girl?!"

"You don't hate her, you don't feel anything towards her," he replied, on the verge of blasting this man into bloody pieces and cleaning up the remains so Sam would never find them, then personally making sure she would never know what happened to this…this bag of garbage she once called her dad.

"I feel nothing but love for her!" Jeremy argued—feebly.

Danny scowled. "And I suppose that's why you let her roam around with nowhere else to go?"

The man stood up and dusted himself off. "You might think you're a father but those kids are practically babies still, and one of them is! You have no experience raising teenagers who by the way are independent and can take care of themselves. You obviously have no idea what a child's best interests are."

"NO IDEA?! BEST INTERESTS?! Do you have any idea how many times your 'little girl' nearly died?! How many nightmares she still has?! Maybe I don't know what it's like to raise a teenager but at least I know better than to cause the same heartbreak you caused Sam! I'll make sure none of my kids ever go through what she did and I'll never do to them what you've done to her!"

"Oh where is that girl…" the woman mumbled behind him, trying to hear through the front door.

He'd been so focused on Jeremy that she just…snuck right by, looking for Sam. There was no doubt in his mind—this was definitely the woman from the phone.

"Uh…so I guess…you're not really paying attention to this trash right behind you?" he asked her, this time sincerely.

"You're not saying anything I haven't already said," she replied. "He deserves every word and worse!" She scoffed. "He doesn't deserve our daughter's love…"

Her…daughter…?

"Pamela…?" he said.

"You know he set up an entire meeting with her without even telling me?! Now I'm seeing my little grandbabies if it kills me!"

"You… I thought… Y-You're not on his side…?"

"She's never been on my side…" Jeremy grumbled. "I told you, we almost divorced over this."

"I've wanted to see my Samantha for a long time!" she yelled. "But no, she had to 'figure things out on her own' so she would 'make a wonderful mother'."

So this was why Pamela never came to that little event at the park—Jeremy never let her know, wanting to see Sam himself first. He didn't know why, and he didn't care why. Maybe her mother was pushy but Pamela did care about Sam. So that was Cole and Pamela—two Mansons who loved her. And that fact alone was enough to pull him from Jeremy. Her mom, at least, deserved to see Sam and all her grandchildren. And he was positive that Sam would be elated to see her.

He glared back at Jeremy for a moment. "She is a wonderful mother."

There was a sharp pain in his ear as Pamela yanked his head down. "Good, now let me see my wonderful grandbabies that my wonderful daughter made!"

"Yes, ma'am," he squeaked. Suddenly Sam's hormones made sense…

He unlocked the door and this woman did not hesitate to rush inside, thankfully releasing his ear first.

"Yes, please do come in…" he muttered under his breath.

He would've gladly—very gladly—stayed behind to perhaps throw in a little accidental violence followed by a series of unfortunate coincidences involving Jeremy, but with someone in the house who had no idea everyone was sleeping, it was best if he kept Sam's mom occupied and quiet until someone woke up. He just had no idea how with her being this excited.

He closed the door as he walked into the house, ignoring Jeremy's demands to let him in.

"So, um, Pamela…" he started as he changed back to his human form.

"Oh where are the little ones!" she exclaimed.

He grabbed her arm and shushed her before she bolted towards…anywhere.

"Listen, Sam is asleep with the baby and the twins are napping. I beg you do not wake any of them up."

At first she had a blank expression, like she was trying to process that everyone needed sleep. Because apparently that wasn't completely obvious. He just took a breath and sat her down on the couch, preparing an explanation along with an interrogation of how much she already knew.

So in the mean time… "How much did Jeremy tell you?"

She huffed in annoyance. "Enough to infuriate me!"

Yeah okay… "A little more specifically?"

She huffed again. "He told me after months that he'd talked to my little Sammykins and everything was explained. It was horrifying! He told me all about you. He told me all about the twins. I didn't even know there were twins! I kept telling him I didn't care who their real father was, I was just happy to have someone taking care of my daughter and now my precious little grandchildren. And then! He told me that the last time he saw Samantha, she was pregnant again. But this time by choice."

Actually she'd been very upset about that but better to let Pamela believe otherwise.

"And this time it was with someone she loved," she continued. "I was so happy I kept track of it all and finally I just knew today was the day! I called earlier but everyone said you two were busy and I know how babies can be, needing all that attention, so I left it alone for a while. And now here I am, waiting to see my little Sammykins and her babies."

Yeah. Because he had nothing to do with this. Especially with Faye. Wasn't like he played any role in that.

"Ooohhhh…" she groaned impatiently. "When will they wake up?"

Hopefully not soon. This was the only time he would have a chance to savor the luxury of silence.

"I don't know. But let's try not to wake them up."

"Were you that busy trying to put them to sleep?"

He took a deep breath and only hoped she wouldn't overreact. "Sam wasn't supposed to give birth today, she was supposed to be induced. Something about the growth of the baby and whatnot. She got bored and kept nagging me to let her come along and help map out the ghost zone. Finally I agreed and took her pretty far out. I planned to go farther but the ship broke down—still not entirely sure what happened. Anyway I was trying to fix it so we could turn around and go back, but suddenly she started yelling at me and at first I thought it was just more complaining. Nope, she went into labor. She was supposed to be induced so we didn't carry around any medical supplies. I tried to call Tucker to see if maybe he could help, then my folks were called and they couldn't help. I could've tried to carry Sam but I had no idea where we were, plus she was already in labor and I didn't know when she would actually give birth. In the end my mom helped me deliver our new daughter. Our ship got fixed and I drove us all home. My family's still down in the basement probably telling stories about each other. Sam never got to rest after she gave birth so now I'm really trying to let her sleep. She was so exhausted I don't think she would've been able to make it all the way to my room on her own."

Pamela smiled and took one of his hands in her own.

"Thank you so much for taking care of my little girl. It means a lot to me, to know she had someone watching over her all this time…" She breathed a sigh of relief. "There were so many times I worried about her but I made the decision to try to be a good wife to my husband…but then I find all this out. I should've simply ignored his 'logic' and made her stay with us. He thought he was trying to be a good father." She sighed again, this time one of regret. "I still remember those weeks she spent locked away in her room writing all that dark poetry. I kept wondering what happened to her… And then you showed up. I remember thinking, 'This boy is the miracle she needs.' I suppose in the end, I was right. You helped my daughter so much while I hung back unaware of anything that was happening." She looked down. "Jeremy showed me that picture you sent after he told me about the meeting with Sam, and with you. I was heartbroken. Sam has a family now and…I haven't been part of it."

He frowned and realized that Pamela really did care about Sam all this time. She never sent him to Sam's room all those years ago just because he could 'talk' to her, she sent him there because she was worried—because she cared. Would the circumstances have been different if Sam had told her? Would she have fought for Sam's custody if Jeremy still refused? His refusal was highly unlikely but anything was possible. Anything.

"I once asked Sam what she would do if she was ever given the chance to go back in time and change things. She said she wouldn't change anything. She said she loves her life now. She loves living with me and the twins and she didn't want to change these circumstances. I don't think she has those kinds of regrets anymore," he said. "I've also never heard her blame you. I blamed Jeremy but…is that what the fighting was about? I was looking for Sam that night and when I checked her room I heard fighting between you two."

She nodded. "Oh that was us all right. I demanded that he go out there, find our daughter, and bring her back immediately. He told me to remember when we were young and a bit reckless ourselves, and how difficult it was to raise a baby when we weren't ready. We were never trying for a baby when I got pregnant with her. Our parents were ashamed of us. We did what we thought was right and got married. But we were still young and when Jeremy got a job to support us, I was left alone with a newborn. It was a struggle to be by myself all day, every day. And it wasn't as though Jeremy didn't want to help but he did what needed to be done and we were able to keep our baby safe, sheltered, and fed. He got a promotion when Samantha was very young. He had to be away from us even more often. I had to figure things out myself. Finally Jeremy was able to stay in our hometown and our family had a stable environment at long last. He'd seen me turn out to be a good mother to Sam."

"So when the same thing happened to Sam, he thought the best thing to do was to make her do what you did…and make her a good mother like you." Because even though she was pushy and a bit stuck up, she did love and care for Sam and she only ever wanted the best for her. He saw that now.

"I was slightly torn when he reminded me of what I had to do to figure out what was best for a child so young when we were both so unprepared. It's true that I ended up knowing exactly what Samantha needed and exactly how to give it to her. And at the time we both thought you were the father. Even I thought this would turn out to be the same situation. So there was a lot of doubt whether or not this was the right thing not just for her, but for the baby too."

So in his own way Jeremy wasn't lying at all… He did have Sam's best interest at heart but took a twisted meaning towards "tough love". There were definitely other ways—no pun intended—to go about dealing with this but his past experiences had convinced him that his daughter must replicate his wife to be the caring mother he wanted for her and the baby she carried. It was extremely stupid but he was trying that whole time. Again. Very stupid. But in a way this was kind of understandable now—his daughter was turning out to be his wife and his wife in that past had been alone to discover all this, therefore if his daughter was left alone to discover the same things then the cycle would repeat itself and in the end everything would be okay. It took a long time for the end to come but ultimately he did kind of predict the truth. Sam did figure things out on her own and in doing so, despite making all those horrifying mistakes, she had provided her children with a family in a stable environment.

Jeremy…Jeremy was right about this… It was hard and seemed cruel—it still seemed cruel—but the end did turn out for the better. He probably knew he would receive hatred in return and that would make sense as to why he showed no emotion when he met with Sam. Still. He could've done things differently. And yet, if he had, Faye wouldn't exist. The worst had to happen so the best could take its place. Unfortunately…

He put his free hand in his hair and forcibly ran it through.

And hey, just in time—he heard some kind of shuffling/bouncing in a different room. Any chance of leisure he'd hoped to have was gone. As in, gone gone.

"I'll be back in a minute, just sit tight," he said.

He got up and exchanged a tired face for a joyful one before opening the door. There they were. Two precious bundles of unbridled energy simultaneously jumping around next to each other waiting to be taken out of their crib to play, and probably loudly. Maybe Sam was so knocked out she wouldn't hear them…? The likelihood of this was…very low.

He took them each out of the crib and handed Junior his old blanket, which he called his "blankley". Lately he held onto that thing like his life depended on it. Jazz explained—in an excruciating amount of detail—how it was his security item or something like that. It really annoyed him when Jazz acted like she knew more than he did about parenting. Especially three children, seriously. And Faye, before she was born, all these completely unnecessary speeches while he was already getting a constant earful from Sam. She had to stop before he duct taped her mouth or cut her hair or some kind of payback.

"Wanna see Grandma?" he asked.

"Gamma?" Junior attempted to repeat.

"Yup. A new Gamma, different Gamma. Mommy's mommy."

"Mommy's gamma?"

"Yup." They were three and couldn't comprehend the family system yet. They only knew "Aunt Jazz" because everyone always referred to her as that, but they didn't understand that Jazz was his sister. "Uncle Ducker"—they had yet to pronounce his name correctly—was also just a name for now, they didn't understand that Tucker was like a brother to him. Gamma and Papa Jack were kind of unknown—he had no clue where the twins placed them on their blurry family scale. They did seem to understand that Sam and Danny were their parents and trusted them more than anyone else. But beyond that…yeah, no, not yet.

He strategically picked up Lilith and walked out the door. Junior always followed behind and never ventured far without her, so having her take the lead was easier than picking them both up where they played and slapped his face in the process. They didn't mean to but it was still very irritating.

"Ready to see new Gamma?" he asked.

Her answer was reaching down for the floor as much as she could. It usually meant yes but she'd been known to trick people before and when set down, would run off somewhere else laughing. He didn't trust her.

He walked into the living room with Junior in tow and immediately the twin stopped moving. Per the norm Junior dashed to the nearest hiding place while Lilith was absolutely mesmerized by this new person.

Sam's mother didn't wait long at all before jumping up and squealing.

"Look at the little ones!"

He set Lilith down and made no attempt to stop Pamela as she snatched her up and snuggled her.

"You are so much cuter than your picture! Yes you are! Yes you are!"

Lilith looked at him with the most confused expression he'd ever seen her make.

"Gamma?"

He restrained his laughter and nodded. "Gamma."

"Awh! How cuteeee!" Pamela squealed. "She is just the most adorable little thing! Oh! I could just eat her up!"

While Lilith was still dumbfounded and trying to figure out what was going on here, Junior finally peeked from behind the couch to scope out this new woman, claiming to be his grandmother, crushing his sister with cuddles.

A/N

Sooo this fic has been forgotten by…probably all but a few. Those who do remember, I'm super thankful! Those who have just found this fic and decided they liked it, I hope you'll relay your thoughts on it. What can be improved? What ideas do you have? Things like that. (And yes, I have and do use reviewed ideas in the past, like Paulina's mother being the twins' teacher—that was LookasMagicHell's idea. I used ideas in Flowers Will Bloom as well.)

For those who don't know this is the sequel to Flowers Will Bloom and while it can be read on its own as a separate story, reading Flowers Will Bloom may help you understand this one a little better—like Danny's "sudden" fear of blood, the nightmares Sam has, what Other Ways was like, who Sandra is (and why Sam despises her), Sam's history with Paulina, what moon flowers are, and all the other things that you might've questioned.

I ask anyone who read this to rate it from 1-10; 1 being the worst and 10 being the best.

Review replies (as always, in the order of which they were posted):

LittleBoomBoom- I'm glad you didn't forget. :P And yes, I updated. I plan on trying to keep updating but my life's about to get busier so a once-a-week update cannot be guaranteed.

BountifulGames- *hands you a tissue* It updated, after years! Several years… ;-;

Radiant Celestial Aura- Next one has come! Yeah I like making cliffies. :3

Flyman123Oak- First off, I just have to say this, your name reminds me of Flygon and Professor Oak. XD Flygon is one of my favorite pokemon! I'm happy you're in love and what the what…binging a total of 81 chapters?! Lord child. O-o I am honored but very surprised.

Pinksamiam- You have guessed right! And I do plan on continuing this story. I'm just super disheartened by the review count. It used to be over 20 reviews per every chapter and it always tickled me, I always pushed myself to set higher standards and improve my writing specifically for this fic. And then…just, fewer and fewer people cared. This is the sequel to my very first DP fic so it hit me pretty hard.

SofiPhan29- I've always used reviews to push myself to improve. And I do plan on continuing.

There be the replies to all the wonderful people who took time out of their day to review! And I thank you all! Especially LittleBoomBoom and Radiant Celestial Aura, who have been with me since the beginning. Love you guys, and thanks for all the support for all these years—EIGHT YEARS, including Flowers Will Bloom (which started in 2010). That's a long time! Deserving of recognition if you ask me.

***I'm currently trying to update The Boy With the Rings along with Whatshisface, which I've renamed 'Stable Boy'. I'm not abandoning this fic though.