I do not own Danny Phantom.
Danny lay in bed throwing a ball up in the air and catching it repeatedly, trying to figure out what exactly had happened.
She knew, and she had tricked him into validating it for her.
She was smart.
As the ball came down again he held it, looking at the marbled design of the soft material.
The rest of the night had gone semi-normally. She hadn't asked about his powers, they instead worked on their project, asking about each other's lives. Danny watched her carefully, to be sure she wasn't going to pull out some sort of ghost catching device.
Sure he was being paranoid, but he had every right. Some how she had known, or at least had a hunch…
But how?
She never asked him to go-ghost, or shoot a ray beam; instead, she just let him be, let him set the boundaries. And when he insisted that he fly her home instead of making her walk all alone on a Friday at ten-o-clock at night, she didn't object.
When he had settled her on her balcony, after getting over the fact that she was the richest girl in town, and possibly in all of Minnesota, she touched his face, running her thumb across his cheek, over the scar he had gotten a couple years ago right on his cheek bone, smiled at him, and retreated into her house.
He floated there, wondering if she was on the phone telling the Men In White that the most powerful ghost of all was hovering right outside her window, and that she knew his secret.
But when no one came, he made his way home, turning back into Danny Fenton, and walking in the front door.
It was quiet.
His parents were out of town for the weekend, and Jazz was in college on a full scholarship. So he was alone.
He had always had a love/hate relationship with being alone. He loved the quiet, and the calm that settled over an empty house. But he hated the alone part.
I wish Sam was here, he thought before he could stop himself.
No, no. He most certainly did not wish Sam were there; Sam was the root of his dilemma at the moment.
He threw the ball against the wall and grabbed his remote forcefully, turning on the television to the news.
Danny loved the news.
Call him vein but he loved being on the news.
No, not because he wanted attention, but there were still skeptics out there, and he wanted to prove to them that he wasn't the bad guy and he wanted to help. He had lots of hecklers that wanted to get him arrested for being a ghost. As he let those thoughts pass and he focused on the news, he suddenly wished he hadn't turned on the TV.
"… The police dispatcher got a call not long ago from our local heiress, Samantha Manson, who was hysterical, telling them that her father had killed her mother and grandmother and that he was also dead. Police arrived on the scene as soon as they could and found Miss Manson sitting on her doorstep, shaking and telling them that she wouldn't go into the house…"
Danny's eyes were saucers, and he flew out of the house and towards Sam's mansion. Deciding it was best that he show up as Fenton and not Phantom he changed behind a tree, running over to the police tape, only to be stopped by a burly fire man.
"I'm sorry, we can't let anyone through, this is a crime scene." He said, putting a hand on Danny's chest.
"Sam's my friend, please!" Danny yelled, trying to see around the man. Danny was tall, standing at a full six foot one, but this man was huge.
"Danny!" Sam must've heard him because she ran over to them, in tears, and dragged him under the yellow tape, before hugging him tightly.
He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and rocked her side-to-side. "How could he do this to me?" she sobbed against him.
Danny had no answer. So instead he just pet her hair and tried to soothe her. He, of course, avoided making any noises, because when someone was using you as a human pillow, it was instinct to say, "It's okay, and it'll be okay."
But this wasn't okay.
Nothing about this situation was okay.
"What am I going to do?" she whispered, when she calmed, her hands taking fist fills of his shirt. Danny stayed quiet another moment, running his fingers through her hair.
"You could stay with me." He said. Sam pulled away from him so she could look him in the eye. "You're eighteen, they can't tell you no." Danny said, using his newfound knowledge of her because of their project. Her swollen eyes glazed over as she thought about this possibility. He took the time to wipe her cheeks with his sleeve, trying to be rid of her tears.
"You're only seventeen." She said quietly. It was true, Danny was seventeen, and he would be for another eight-and-a-half months. He was the youngest senior that Casper High had ever seen, having been born on September first; he just barely missed the cut-off date.
"So?" he asked, not seeing a problem. Sure he was only seventeen, but she wasn't. She was an adult. She could do what she wanted. He watched as she retreated back into her mind, trying to come up with reasons that this plan wouldn't work.
"Miss Manson?" A female police officer came up to them, Sam turned in Danny's arms, not letting go of him.
"Yes?" she asked, her voice nasally from her tears, she sniffled and blinked, trying to regain her strong composure.
"Have you thought about where you will be staying? Since you're technically an adult you have the choice." She said, touching Sam's arm. "Are you going to stay with your boyfriend?"
Danny stiffened, about to correct the officer that they weren't a couple, and that they had just met today, well technically yesterday by now. But he decided against it, not wanting to make things more complicated.
"Yes," Sam said quietly. "I would like to." The officer nodded, looking from Danny and back to Sam.
"Okay, your house is quarantined for the next month, at least," the officer said carefully, Danny felt Sam's hand tighten on his shirt behind them, and she drew in a shaky breath. "So I hope you have everything you may need. We'll keep you posted, and here's my card," the officer handed Sam her business card. "Call me if you need anything, okay, hon?" Sam nodded; she felt a wave of tears crash over her and turned back into Danny's chest.
"Do you two need a ride home?" A male officer came up to them, resting a hand on Danny's shoulder; he nodded down to the short man and led Sam to the cruiser.
The rest of the night was a blur.
The officer dropped them off at the Fenton household, Danny held Sam on the couch until she cried herself to sleep, which took a while, he carried her into Jazz's old room, which was now the guest bedroom, tidied up the house, and flew.
And now he was in Sam's room gathering clothes for her.
He wasn't really sure what had brought him to do this, but for some reason it felt like it's what she would've wanted anyways. As he put the last article of clothing in the large suitcase he surveyed the room, looking for something else she may want.
Grabbing a backpack, he put a small photograph of her and her parents and grandmother in, a few stuffed animals, and what he hoped was her purse in the bag. He knew that she had her school backpack with her because it was leaning against the wall next to the front door of his house. Taking one last glance around her room he decided he had what he needed and took off, flying quickly back to his house.
Looking at the clock, he sighed. It was almost three, he hadn't even felt tired, but when his eyes met the green glow of his microwave oven's numbers, the sleepiness hit him like a brick wall.
Changing back into Fenton, he slowly trudged up the stares, opening the guest bedroom door and setting the suitcase and backpack next to it. Glancing at Sam he smiled a bit. She was snoring softly because of all the tears, and her makeup was all over her face, but Danny couldn't help but feel something for her.
He thought she was so beautiful, even in this horrible state she was in.
Yawning, he closed the door and went to his own room, not even bothering to change out of his clothes, or get under the covers for that matter, and fell asleep as soon as he hit the pillow.