Post-Phantom Planet One-Shots Presents:
Matter of Family
"Are you absolutely certain that you want to go through with this?" Sam Manson, the longtime best friend and now girlfriend of Danny Fenton, aka Danny Phantom, asked her now ex-rival, to which one Valerie Grey, aka the Red Huntress, rolled her eyes. "Again, YES!" she practically yelled, "Geez, I've lost track of how many times you've asked that." "I haven't: 19, not counting the 23 times she did yesterday when she first heard the news," a young black-haired girl who looked to be torn between amusement and exasperation. Looking a bit sheepish, Sam replied with, "Sorry, Danielle…err, I mean, DANI."
The sole surviving member of Vlad's attempts to clone Danny Fenton with a "Y" rolled her eyes, but kept her smile. "Its fine: you're allowed to call me Danielle to avoid confusion if you'd like." Nodding with a smirk, Sam turned her attention to Valerie. "I get the part of you being willing to give up going to college to give a homeless girl off the street, but…," she began, but paused, having trouble deciding how to bring this up. Valerie, deciding to show a little pity on the girl, smiled and stated, "You're wondering why I had my dad pull some strings to have her go through a blood test?"
Rolling her eyes, Sam scoffed and declared, "Oh no, I understand THAT just fine: I'd have to be pretty dense to think that any CLONE of Danny would end up as a GIRL." Wincing at the realization of what she just said, she turned to the female halfa and stated, "No offense." Shrugging, Danielle replied with, "None taken, really: I'd often wondered myself how badly Vlad screwed things up, not to mention the curiosity I often felt on who or what my MOM was supposed to be, since I don't think he'd resort of incest or anything like that."
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," replied another female in the room. Groaning, Sam jerked her thumb towards none other than Paulina Sanchez and declared, "Yes, ignoring the disturbing image Danielle cooked up, what I don't understand is why SHE has to be here?" Valerie sighed before stating, "I know what you mean, but let's face it: Vlad was using ME to gather information on DANNY for his cloning experiment, and unless I'm some sort of sleepwalker, the three of us are the most likely candidates for a FEMALE whose genetics could be accidentally collected alongside his own."
Nodding, Dani replied with, "Yeah: shortly before I introduced myself to my "cousin", Vlad DID saying how he had added a bit of "foreign DNA" when I was born, for lack of a better term…as a bit of an experiment, I guess." "And your just telling us this NOW!?" Sam shouted. Wincing, the female clone answered with, "In my defense, it didn't seem all that important at the time; plus he never told me where that foreign DNA came from."
Mulling it over in her head, Valerie declared, "Well, there are multiple possible answers there: for one, my original suit was keyed into my DNA, so I can easily see him using my genetics as some sort of sick joke. Also, sometimes my fights with him would coincide with meetings he made with other people, so there IS that." To this, Paulina scoffed. "I can see the logic in the sick joke idea with Miss Huntress over there," she said, gesturing to Valerie, before pointing to herself and declaring, "but the ex-Mayor wanted the perfect half-ghost son, right? How can you get more perfect then THIS?"
Needless to say, nobody was prepared for what Danielle said next: "(scoff) Yeah: 'perfection' means being from the shallow end of the gene pool." Blinking, Paulina asked, "Wait: what did you just say?" Giving an eerily familiar cocky smirk, Dani replied with, "Oh, I'm sorry: it's just that I could probably stand in a puddle full of you and not get my feet wet."
It took a couple of seconds for her to realize that the room had fallen silent. "What?" she asked, more than a little confusion in her voice. "How did…that's what I said to her before the spring dance Freshman Year!" Sam declared, a bit of panic in her voice. "Really? Huh: great minds think alike," Dani remarked with a smile, which quickly turned to a look of intrigue, "You don't think…"
"I don't THINK: I KNOW," declared one Damon Grey, handing them a piece of paper that held one simple statement that stood out: "Genetic connection to Samatha Faith Manson." This got a round of responses from the trio of sixteen-year-olds (author's note: see if you can guess who said what): "This is JUST LIKE the cheesehead!" "I'm not sure whether to be relieved or…wait: your middle name is Faith? (Shut up!")" "WHY? What's so special about that goth freak?"
When all was said and done (and everyone had calmed down), they were surprised to that, while she was wide-eyed for a short while, Dani's only response to this information was, "Meh." Blinking at their wide-eyed expressions, the female halfa only shrugged, "Don't get me wrong: I'm glad to have cleared the air, and this gives me plenty to tease Danny about later, but truth be told, I kind of already had a mother." Smirking as she directed her eyes to Valerie, she declared, "Why did you THINK I didn't put too much of a fight when you offered me a home?"
Wide-eyed at the implications, the Red Huntress meekly replied with, "I just figured you wanted a place to stay in close proximity to your 'cousin', and that it probably didn't hurt that I had food that was readily available." Nodding, Dani replied with, "True, but I ALSO knew you keep me safe and secure, like the mother I never had, especially when I was living with Vlad." Giving Sam a look, the ghost girl continued with, "Even when she thought I was 'just a ghost', she treated me with moderate dignity and respect: SHE never treated me like I was a MISTAKE."
Although the Goth wanted nothing more than to rebuttal her (genetically speaking) daughter, but she suddenly stopped as the memories of their few encounters came slamming into her. When she first appeared, she saw Danny's "cousin" as a nuisance. Sure, that got toned down a bit after she helped them to escape punishment, but she had secretly hoped she stayed far, FAR away. Then, when she DID return, she hoped that she would just disappear forever. In essence, in the short time she had known Danielle, she had seen her as just a mess that didn't need cleaning up…just…like…VLAD. The very idea was enough to make her sick to her stomach.
"You're right," she declared, making Dani blink a bit. Choosing to sit there and be patient, she let her 'cousin's' girlfriend continue: "I DID treat you like a mistake: I DID see you as a nuisance: I've been to you what Plasmius was always like to me and Danny. Unlike the fruitloop, however, I'm not going to pretend that my mistakes don't exist." Needless to say, everyone was rather surprised when Sam wrapped her arms around the young girl. "I won't ask you to forgive me: I just ask that you give me another chance," she whimpered. Sighing, she happily patted her genetic mother on the back. "For Danny, I'll try to forgive you." "That's more then I could've asked," Sam declared.
"HEY!" Paulina yelled out, catching everyone's attention, "What about me? Don't I get a say in any of this!?" "I'm sorry: have I met you?" Dani deadpanned, stopping the Latina right in her tracks, because she was right: she HADN'T met the young halfa before today. Deciding that she'd better not overstep her bounds, she gave Sam a glare that said, "Danny WILL be mine," before turning and walking out of the room, though not before noticing the Goth's "Challenge accepted" glare.
"Yeah, too bad you couldn't BUY a comeback!" Dani teased after the popular girl had left, before turning to the other occupants and stating, with a light giggle, "I've been meaning to take that stalker down a peg or two for a LONG time." Chuckling, Sam looked to Valerie and stated, "Yep: she's your kid alright." Noticing her former rivals wide-eyed expression, the youngest member of the Manson family gave an easygoing wave and declared, "Hey, all I want is to make Danny happy, and part of that entails that his 'cousin' be given a roof over her head: makes since it be yours."
Nodding, Valerie stated, "You'll make an excellent mother someday." Groaning, Dani declared, "This is getting WAY too sappy for my tastes: I need something more edgy right about now." As if on cue, her Ghost Sense went off and the words "I am the Box Ghost!" were heard from somewhere else in the building. Smiling Danielle transformed and flew off with a quick "That'll work." Blinking, Valerie suddenly started laughing. "I might be her mom, but she's DEFINITELY your daughter, Manson." Despite how embarrassed she felt at that moment, Sam couldn't help but agree.
