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! I don't know where this story came from, but it's here, and I hope you enjoy it. It's not directly D/S in this case, but there is a whole lot of talk about it. Next chapter, I believe, will be a bit more steamy. ;)

009 : Comforting Words

Rating : PG-13

Theme : 35. Forget-me-not ; memory ; photo

March 17, 2007

Sam sat at the Fenton's kitchen table, drumming her fingers along its edge as she watched Mrs. Fenton busily move around the kitchen, fixing together all types of breakfast foods. Despite her lack of skill in the culinary arts, Maddie was the queen of breakfast, and she held herself high in her mind's eye when it came to making breakfast for her family. Sam wasn't exactly bored sitting there, listening to the cheerful hum of her boyfriend's mother as she made pancakes, but it wasn't the most exciting thing to be doing on a Saturday morning, either. Despite the fact Sam wanted to help out, she was instructed to sit and make herself comfortable.

Comfortable equaled her sitting there, tapping her fingers rhythmically along the table as she allowed her thoughts to wander to a certain raven-haired male that was currently in the shower. The beads of water cascading down his muscled flesh, down his firm abdomen, past his defined, sculptured... legs. Her face flushed a light pink when she started thinking about that part of his anatomy. Whenever the object of her desire came into her mind it was a rather dangerous playing field; however, when water became involved, her thoughts became very dangerous, especially because she was sitting in a "comfortable" silence with his mother.

"Sam, honey?" Mrs. Fenton asked, shaking Sam from her thoughts of her son. Sam's very, very naughty thoughts about her son.

"Yes, Mrs. Fenton?" she asked, smiling warmly in response to the smile that was bestowed upon her.

"I've always wanted to ask you something, but I've never had the opportunity to, with Danny always being around," she began, every so often allowing her eyes to dart back to the pancakes, making sure they wouldn't be over-browned. "I just wanted to see if it matches up with what I already think, and I don't know how willing you would be to answer this in front of Danny."

Sam's curiosity was piqued, although she was definitely unsure as to what the question could be that Maddie would want to ask her. It could range from anything, from Danny (which she had sincerely hoped it had nothing to do with their more intimate moments), her home life, or possibly even school.

She didn't appear to be nervous to Mrs. Fenton, who took her silence to be pensiveness, but waited patiently for Sam to make up her mind.

After a few seconds, she shook her head, "Ask away, Mrs. Fenton. You can ask me anything, you're like a second mother to me."

Nearing Sam, she patted her shoulder with an adoring smile, "That means the world to me dear, I'm glad you feel that way."

Sam blushed, but then queried, "So, what is it that you wanted to ask me?"

"What I want to ask is... what is it that attracts you to Danny?"

When Maddie finished asking the question, she turned to Sam, waiting to see what she would say. Truthfully, she always compared her son to someone else, someone who was one of the most important people in her life... and she just wanted to see how alike they were in actuality from another woman's point of view.

Sam appeared to be in deep thought, but in all honesty, she didn't know where to begin. She didn't want to come off as crude, squealing that her son was just about the most gorgeous creature, with the most gorgeous body, she had ever seen roam this earth; however, she didn't want to come off as being mushy, either, by swooning over his other amazing attributes. Either way, she just felt that she could bond with Mrs. Fenton, so she decided that she would be truthful, despite the image of propriety she wanted to maintain.

"What attracts me to Danny would probably be..." she trailed off, trying to collect a string of words that would prove to be useful for her argument. "...besides the obvious of being extremely good-looking... probably, just the way that he treats everyone in comparison to himself; he always looks out for a friend in need, and always treats them with kindness, even if he doesn't feel like it. He watches out for me and Tucker like you wouldn't believe, and just the way you know he would risk everything for you if you were ever in trouble makes you know he was brought up right. Also, I can't deny that he has charm... albeit it may not be a well-honed skill, he does have it. It comes off as goofy, but I know it's genuine. It's the look in his eyes..." she trailed off, glancing over at the other violet-eyed woman sitting across from her at the table. "Er–sorry about that, I tend to get a little carried away, it's embarrassing..."

"Oh, don't be embarrassed at all. You remind me of someone, actually," she smiled, covering Sam's tapping fingers with a warm hand.

"Who?" Sam asked, curious as to who she was thinking about.

"You actually remind me of myself when I first met Jack."

"...I do? Should I be worried?" she joked lightly in a jovial tone, leaning back in her chair a bit.

"Not at all, dear, not at all," she grinned, removing her hand to place it on her cheek while she spoke wistfully. "Danny, even though he really hates to admit it, is so much like his father. They're both goofy, but good-natured men at heart, and they both have strong, independent women backing them up when they do something stupid." Suddenly, she got up to check on the pancakes, and when she realized that they were doing fine after she flipped them, and walked over to the refrigerator and tugged a picture from underneath a small magnet of a ghost.

Nearing the kitchen table once again, she placed the photo directly in the center of it. "When he was younger, he would always follow his father with everything that he did: fishing, camping, or just tinkering around in the lab, Danny would always be his right-hand man. Jazz followed me around during her childhood, and when Danny was born, Jack certainly felt like he could have a little buddy of his own, not that Jazz didn't show him any affection, though. She was his little princess, but it wasn't the same as having a son of his own."

Sam smiled, feeling overly touched that Maddie would divulge this information specifically to her about Danny; she knew some of this already, from him grumbling complaints about how he was compared to his father, but part of him loved the attention he received.

"I wish I could've known what it's like to have a sister or a brother," she started, putting her own two cents into the conversation, "but being the only child kind of gets rid of that possibility. Jazz feels like an older sister to me, now, since we've gotten past our differences, and," she smiled, "even though I complain about my parents and how they're never around, I'm glad that I've been able to come over here through high school and be welcomed so warmly into this household. I really appreciate everything you've done for me, and I appreciate you especially for not kicking me out of your house the first time you saw me in my all-Gothic attire."

Chuckling, she pulled the photo closer to her, fingering the edge as she looked down at the picture of a young Danny tinkering around in the lab, hard at 'work' with his father, "I wish I could have a child as cute as Danny was when he was younger; I'm sure you had fun showing him off to anyone that would look."

Maddie, now up and placing the finished pancakes on a plate on the stove, turned back briefly to smile at the young woman of nineteen, "Maybe you'll get the chance to have a child just like that when you're older." Sam felt the emphasis on the world 'older' as it came out of Mrs. Fenton's mouth.

Sam blushed, knowing what she was getting at, "Oh, I don't know..."

"When he brought you home, and even before he knew it, I knew you were the one that was going to hang around the longest out of everyone. Even though there were some rocky times between the two of you, you stood by, although biting your tongue to some situations, but not starting a riot. You're here to stay, Sam, and the both of us know that even more so than anyone else does."

"Amen to that, mom," a new voice was heard as it entered the room. Danny, clad in jeans and a loose-fitting white t-shirt, came bounding into the kitchen, towel-drying his hair as he walked. Kissing his girlfriend's cheek with a coy grin, he sat down next to her. Watching his mother's movements, his smile grew as his stomach growled, "Yum, pancakes! What's the special occasion?"

"You don't need to have one to have pancakes!" Jack Fenton exclaimed as he came into the kitchen from down in the lab. He kissed his wife emphatically on the cheek before sitting down at the table, excitedly chanting with his son about the need of pancakes at the table and in their stomachs.

Taking the picture that was on the table, she got up and walked over to the refrigerator and placed the picture back up with the same magnet that held it there beforehand. Glancing over at Maddie, she grinned, "I see what you mean entirely."

"And with that, I wish you good luck," Maddie laughed, placing the steaming stack of pancakes onto the kitchen table, while Sam placed plates and cutlery in front of the two Fenton men. They immediately dove into the pancakes, complaining about the lack of maple syrup almost simultaneously.

Grabbing the maple syrup out off the counter, Maddie placed it on the table, shooting a fleeting glance back at the younger woman, a grin on her face, "You're going to need it."

Sam laughed and rolled her eyes at her boyfriend who grinned at her, licking the maple syrup off of his lips. "Oh, yeah I am."

End Note: I hope you enjoyed that, and please don't forget to leave a review. When I get reviews, it gives me a reason to keep going with my writing, and I enjoy hearing what my readers have to say. Thanks!

-A