The worst is over now and we can breathe again

I wanna hold you high, you steal my pain away

Theres so much left to learn, and no one left to fight

I wanna hold you high and steal your pain

-Seether feat. Amy Lee-

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Maddie Fenton waited patiently downstairs as her son was cleaning up. Her mind was buzzing with a million thoughts, most of them were of what other people's reactions would be. She got up from the couch and went to tidy things up in the kitchen, she needed to sort her thoughts.

She immeditately thought of the young goth girl. She had heard all of her woes and her beliefs, and she knew that Sam of all people deserved to see Danny. Those two fought bravely along side each other and it took herself, Jazz, and Jack to pry the girl off of Danny's body. Even then the girl refused to let go, she never would accept his fate.

Maddie immediately dialed th girl's phone number. She would be so excited.

"Hello?" A sad voice on the other line rang.

"Sam could you come down here for something?" Maddie asked she could hardly contin her excitement.

"Sure Mrs.Fenton I'll be right over." With that Sam hung up.

Maddie could just see the two now with sparkling eyes and laughter and smiles. She knew her son and Sam would be so happy to be with each other, she knew that those two shared a bond. None like she'd ever seen, and without Danny Sam had seemed so lost and empty. They needed each other, this would be a pleasant surprise.

Well she was wrong, so very wrong.

Sam knocked on the door and Maddie called for her to come in. Just as the girl opened the door Danny happened to be walking down the stairs. They both froze at each other's sight, and what Maddie expected to be joyful shock turned out to be the opposite.

"You!" Sam gasped starting to back out the door.

"Sam wait..."Danny began cautiously moving slowly towards her.

"No, no...Never!" She screeched and she ran out the door.

Without thinking Danny darted after her, both of them leaving Maddie confused and stunned. Sam ran as fast as she could through the streets her eyes streaking tears as she tried desperatly to escape him. He followed as close behind her as he could, ignoring the shocked faces of the pedestrians.

All that mattered to him at the moment was to get the message clear to Sam, they couldn't keep avoiding this. He wanted so badly to stop her from fearing him, because he was finally coming to terms with all the confusion he ever had about her. Now he just had to catch her, why did she have to be so fast?

But Sam was like every one, she was no different, she was predictable. And they both knew she couldn't run forever, it was obvious that she was going to hide. And the moment the girl felt safe enough she ducked off into a wooded area and fought her way through the vegetation. She finally crumpled to a scared ball in a clear area in the thicket. She positioned herself up against a large tree trunk.

She sat there her head lowered to her knees which were pulled up closely to her chest. She sat trying her hardest to not make a sound. He couldn't hear her, he couldn't see her, she wasn't going back.

"Sam! Sam!" He called, his voice was desperate and frightened, almost like he was scared for her.

Something deep within her screamed for her to call back. She refused and sat quivering, praying that he wouldn't find her, that he wouldn't see her, that he wouldn't hurt her anymore.

Danny pushed his way through the bushes and thorns, he was sure that Sam had come through here. He'd seen her. He tried to steady his breathing and was aggravated with the pounding in his chest, it wasn't something he'd quite gotten used to yet. He'd never imagined that something that simple would be so unfamilar to him.

"Please Sam..." Danny's voice was reduced to a pitiful whisper as he hung his head. Another branch whiped across his face and left a mark on his cheek.

Finally a very faint whimper caught his attention. He followed the direction it was coming from and hurried towards it. Finally he saw her huddled against herself and crying. He hated to see her cry, it hurt him.

"Sam."

She heard his voice and shook violently. Her eyes flashing with the memories of the what she'd seen. "Please..." She moaned. "I don't..."

"Take it easy Sam, I'm not here to hurt you. I promise you."

"How, how can I trust you?" She asked defensively, although her tone deceived her attempt at strength.

Danny came within inches of her and kneeled. He stared at her softly, his blue eyes took in her features slowly. Finally his gazed locked with her terrified violet eyes, she didn't turn away. They stayed like that neither one making a move, time seemed to pass slowly between them.

Danny managed to inch closer to her untill he was able to sit right next to her. She didn't acknowledge his presence she simply stayed straight into the woods ahead, as if it would make him go away if she did. He sighed lightly and stared with her.

"We've been through everything together." He announced breaking the long interval of silence. "Sam, I can't take back what happened, I can assure you that it wasn't me. I bet on my life that it wasn't me."

He turned his head to face her, his raven locks sweeping across his his eyes. She cought the movement in the corner of her eye, but tried not to recognize it. She wasn't even sure if she recognized him anymore.

"What..." She stopped and collected her thoguhts. "What do you expect from me?"

Danny cocked his head slightly, the goth still refused to make eye contact with him again. "I'm not sure. I'm not sure about anything right now Sam. All I know is that I'm alive. I never ever hurt you."

"I can't trust you."

It was funny how four words could break his heart in that sequence. And he wasn't at all sure of how to fix things, he was just trying to make sense of this all for himself. He wanted nothing more than to have her understand and trust him. But she wouldn't yield to him, and he cursed himself for not catching Shapeshifter earlier.

"Do you remember how you got out from the Ghost Zone?" She turned her head slightly at the question.

"No, not really." She replied quietly.

"I got you out of there, I over shadowed you." He said.

"Why didn't you just show yourself, so that you could prove it wasn't you. Why did you have to over shadow me?" She interrogated with a cross tone.

"I couldn't touch you. I don't exactly know why, but you guys couldn't see, hear, or feel me while I was a full ghost. And another reason was because if I hadn't overshadowed you, you would've died."

"Why?" She questioned again, this time in a gentle voice.

"You were hit with a very powerful ecto blast, if I hadn't taken over you, your weakend body would've failed." Danny explained, he remembered how much he longed to touch her at that moment. He remembered kissing her cheek before he retreated back into the ghost zone.

"Thanks, I guess." Sam sighed and let her head fall to her knees. There was a huge gap between them that she could feel and she knew he could feel it to.

For some reason Danny had thought this would go a lot easier. He thought that by now she would've gushed all over him and finally realized she was wrong and they would walk back together. But here they sat, inches apart, but emotionally they were miles away. His blue eyes peered through the thick canopy of the trees and caught sight of the gray sky, it still didn't rain.

Danny could hear her breathing become fractured while she hid her face. He knew that she was trying not to cry, he knew she wanted to seem strong and brave. He knew she was, she never had to prove a thing to him. His first reflex was to hug her and try to comfort, but he stopped himself because that would only make it worse.

While he was lost thought he didn't notice anything. Sam had grown sick of the gap and began to realize that she'd been foolish. This Danny wasn't like the other one, the one that leaned over his own tombstone with a grin. No this one sat solemnly reflecting, and seemed sorry for everything. This was the real Danny this was her Danny. Abandoning all er pride and strength she fell into him and cluthched him tightly while sobbing.

The first thing the girl noticed was the beating of his heart, and although she felt like he was a stranger she immediately recognized the rythm. A secure feeling washed over her and she clinged tighter to him. If this was all a dream she didn't want to let go and she made sure he wasn't about to leave her again. So Sam did the only thing she knew how to do, she held on.

Danny was taken a back and stared down at the girl. He blinked in confusion but then slowly gathered her into his arms and held her tightly. His hand ran through her messy black hair tenderly. He sighed roughly and shut his own eyes in fear that he would cry too. And at that moment Danny silently vowed never to let go again.

Yay another chapter! Hmm my computer's acting kinda wonky...wonky? Gah I need to stop watching DP so much. But anywho, for some reason I'm not getting the emails for the reviews but they still show up on the site. It's kinda frustrating because I have to wait a little longer to see all my lovely reviews, but I still love them all. So I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, it took me longer than I thought to bring it forth.