Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom – I never have and I never will, simple as that.

Author's Note: I'm starting this collection up again, and I'm absolutely positive you will be able to find a lot, lot more from me coming up in the next weeks and whatnot. I hope you don't mind and all!

008 : Limitations

Rating : PG

Theme : 11. Mission Impossible ; limitation

February 3, 2007

He sat there, watching her as she stared at her salad, her hand gripping the plastic fork, an obvious look of dislike crossing her features. She wasn't fine. He could see that in her eyes.

He had seen this all week, up to this day; she would make a lame excuse and refuse to eat, or she would take a bite of something, claim it wasn't that appetizing, and say she'd eat when she got home (which he doubt she did, in all honesty). The sandwich in front of him was looking extremely tasty, but he didn't want to eat if she wasn't eating, it would be obnoxious. Tucker sat across from them, eating at the speed of light–––and that was obnoxious.

He didn't know why she was doing what she was doing. She was already perfectly thin, definitely weighing less than the majority of females he saw pass by every day; and, she was very beautiful, from her violet eyes all the way down to her feet. Why couldn't she see that? Why could she see what he saw through his eyes? She didn't have to limit her intake of food and starve herself. If this is what she was really doing, drastic measures were going to be enforced.

"Is there a bug in your salad or what?" he asked, breaking the silence between them. Trying to start up a casual conversation was his best bet in getting her to say something to him. He wasn't going to try and be the shoulder to lean on in this case, just yet. He didn't want to have it come down to this, but he was going to force-feed her if she was going to try and bullshit him. He was too perceptive when it came to her, and he knew what was wrong.

"Or what. I'm just not very hungry," she spoke softly, her eyes never leaving her salad. She swallowed, then reached out with her hand with her bottle of water, taking a long sip. Placing the bottle back down, she turned her head to Danny and smiled a false smile, hoping to reassure him.

"I'm not stupid, Sam. It may seem it sometimes, but I'm not," he said, his tone dangerously low, not wanting Tucker to catch on. That tone made her skin crawl.

He knew, and she knew that now.

"What? Danny, I have no idea at what you're trying to get at," she replied, grabbing her water bottle nonchalantly, using it as a device to block her face as she drank. Danny was having none of that, so he grabbed the nearly empty bottle and placed it on the table with a light 'thud'. She looked at him with wide eyes, her insides tying in knots. Inside her mind, she kept repeating, 'He knows, he knows, he knows, he knows...'

"I will make a scene," he affirmed her fears, speaking in a calm, low, yet stern voice, "if you do not follow me right now." He stood immediately, after speaking, and she found herself doing the same, not wanting the scene he had promised if she didn't follow his lead.

Finding a janitor's closet in the hallway, he opened the door and pulled her in after him. Flicking on the light, he closed the door tightly behind him, locking it. Turning to Sam, his look was not one of anger anymore, but of sadness, "Why?"

She leaned on the wall for support and looked away, staying silent. She was stupid enough to believe Danny wouldn't notice.

Placing his hand on her shoulder, he spoke again, knowing she wasn't going to answer his question before just yet, "You know you're beautiful, right?" When she didn't answer, he prodded, "Right?"

She looked at him with sad, tired eyes; the eyes he knew he had fallen in love with. Seeing Sam in so much internal pain, it made his heart break little by little. Without any warning, Danny wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly to him. He was just waiting for something to interrupt this moment, but nothing occurred to disrupt them. She clung onto him for dear life, wanting nothing more than to just be in his arms. The emotion overwhelmed her; she had begun to cry, more like choking back sobs into his shoulder; she felt ashamed for being so weak.

He patted her back and allowed her to let it all out. Without even clarifying it verbally, she knew he'd always be there for her. She'd never need to ask, he'd be waiting. After a few minutes of her letting it all out, she pulled away, and turned her teary eyes to him, and said, "I'm not beautiful, Danny. I'm invisible."

"Who said you were invisible?" he asked, looking at her like she grew two heads.

"I feel like I'm invisible, intangible. All I want is for you to notice what's in front of your face; you don't see who supports you most. You don't see me; therefore, I am invisible. So, why not literally vanish and get rid of me once and for all?"

His grip on her tightened, and it took him all of the strength in his body to not slap the sense into her. "You listen, and you listen good. I don't see through you, I see only you. You're the only thing that's in my mind, and it scares me sometimes. You're absolutely gorgeous, and I'll repeat that fact over and over again until it passes through that thick skull of yours, okay?"

She nodded, her bottom lip trembling.

"Will you eat something now? Please?" he asked in a more gentler tone, lifting a hand to wipe away a fallen tear.

She nodded again, feeling ashamed of herself even more so than before; her emotions were torn, she didn't know how to react. She didn't know what to do with herself, and that's when she gave in–she couldn't fight anymore, it had gone on for way too long. The limitations that she had put on herself, the way she was slowly killing herself...

And he would be the one to save her, no matter what it took.

End Note: I'm switching back and forth with the genres of these, I've noticed, but I actually began writing this a while ago when I was going through something related to this. However, there will be more lighthearted and sweet installments coming along shortly. ;)

- A