A/N: And… viola! Another day, another chapter. Thank you for all of your reviews! I'd be lying if I said that I don't want more, but I do really appreciate the ones I got. Now, Galacta, I don't know when, or even if Danny will get better. If that is a breaking point for you, then I say with great sadness that this story might not be the one for you. It pains me to say that, but this Danny will always be a bit distant, even after he gets better. It won't be like, 'Oh! I've been stupid! I'll be all better now!' Exaggerated, I know, but still.
As another note, I put up a poll on my profile. I want to know if you guys think that I should get a beta reader. The updates won't be as fast, and I can't guarantee that the story will change much, (I'm very stubborn when it comes to my stories) but with any luck it would improve the story. So; read, review and vote!
-Shy Shay

Play Time

"Danny, I know that you have been through a difficult time…"

"Difficult? Difficult? Ha! This isn't difficult! It's impossible!"

"Danny, I need you to listen…"

"Why should I listen to you? What have you ever done that is good for anybody but you?"

"I put on that specter deflector." Danny was quite at this. Vlad was right, loath as he was to admit.

"I'll listen."

"Danny, you have been through a difficult time. I will not ask you to live with me. All I ask is to be your legal guardian…"

"Like hell!"

"So that you won't have the government breathing down your back. You can have and do anything you want. I will take care of the legalities."

Danny was thoughtful for a few minutes. What did he want?

"I want your credit card."

Danny looked over his bookstore from behind his counter, a sad look on his face. It had been three days since he told Starfire to leave him alone, and her sad face still bothered him. 'Shake it off, Danny! It's for the best.' He looked at the green belts he was wearing. 'This way, she… and I… won't get hurt.' He shook his head. 'Shake it off, Danny! Just shake it off.' He sighed as he looked up…just in time to see a rather full bust. 'Oh, great. Just what I didn't need. Her.'

"Hey, Danny. I was wondering if you reconsidered my offer." The girl that he was talking to was, obviously, a goth. She had long, straight black hair that reached down to just above the chest area which, as was already mentioned, was rather plentiful. Her clothing was rather form fitting. She had on a black corset, which was covered by a thin black dress that barely covered it and went down to her knees. She also had long black fingerless gloves on, and combat boots that were very similar to Sam's'. Her face was like an angle from hell, with heavy black and purple makeup accentuating her pale face perfectly. Her name was Donna.

"I did."

Donna waited for a moment. "…Well?"

"I decided to decline. Again."

"Oh, Danny, come on." She said as she pouted. "You would be the perfect person to run our group! You know about everything in this store!"

"My decision remains unchanged."

"You know, if you do this for me, I could… well… return the favor." She said as she jiggled her chest in a very… convincing manner. Danny sighed.

"For the tenth time, Donna, I will not run your group."

"Oh, come now. You know you want to see what's beyond the mundane." She now squished the bust on the counter. A lesser man would have folded. And by lesser man, I mean anybody attracted to the female goth populace that wasn't Danny.

"Donna. Did you come here to flirt or do you actually want to buy something?"

Donna frowned a bit. "Oh, you're no fun. I'd like this book," she said as she held out "Theories on the Phantasm Sector."

Danny bit back a smile. He made sure that everything in the bookstore was relatively accurate (as accurate as you can with myths) except on ghosts. Every accurate book on ghost he got immediately went into his lab. "That'll be twenty dollars."

Donna smiled as she put down a twenty dollar bill. She put her mouth next to his ear. "I'll be back." She minced off, making sure that Danny had a good look at his posterior. When she was at the exit, she turned her head to look at him, winked, and then proceeded to walk off.

Danny shook his head. He had sworn off all close personal relationships ten months ago. Unfortunately, this city seemed to challenge every comfort zone he had, from heroes to romance. In the past four months, he had been approached by countless girls and more than a few guys. Apparently his skin tight black shirt that he wore didn't help. He had picked up more than a few muscles since he got his powers, and a skin tight shirt plus a six pack did not drive the girls away. Donna was just the most persistent and, unfortunately, the most attractive of the girls that joined his fan club. He wondered when they would get the hint. As he mused on his fate, he heard the bell door jingle.

It had only been two days since the team got its' tower back, and Raven was already annoyed with them. She needed a break and decided to go back to the new bookstore, despite the annoying owner. After all, she still needed to read that book.

She reached the store in time to see a goth turn around and wink at Danny. She raised an eyebrow. When she entered, she gave Danny a questioning look.

"Fangirl."

"Ah. Where's 'Trigon the Terrible'?"

"Same place it was last."

Raven, having gotten all that she needed out of Danny, just gave a slight nod before going to get the book. She grabbed it and then sat down in the most out of place chair that she could find. She settled in and began to read it from the beginning.

Meanwhile, Danny was doing his best to not let Ravens' presence annoy him. He reached under the desk and started reading his next book; "Forces of Nature". Danny resolved to read the whole thing beginning to end, regardless of how silly it might seem. And indeed, it was very silly. It talked about how the forces of thunder and lightning were, in fact, personified as super teens. Danny got to the next chapter. It talked about how if these two teens took part in a very complicated ritual, then they could create a giant fire beast. The only way to stop it is if Thunder and Lightning worked together to create a rain storm.

Danny snorted. This was ridiculous! There was no way that this was true! He closed the book and debated on whether to put it on sale or not. It was ridiculous, but nothing he has read contradicted it. At least, nothing reliable. He closed the book and stared at the cover.

"Excuse me."

The cover was old and tattered, so it wasn't made recently. That added credence to its tale.

"Excuse me."

It could be real… Danny sighed. He needed to double check with someone else.

"Excuse. Me."

"Huh? What?" Danny looked up into the eyes of Raven, who could feel his annoyance. Not that she cared much, as she was pretty annoyed herself.

"I was wondering where you got this book," Raven said as she put down 'Trigon the Terrible'.

"Oh. I don't remember."

"You must keep a record of all transactions. I need to know where this book came from."

"Why? Because you're a 'hero'?" Danny knew that that was uncalled for, but his patience was wearing very thin. He didn't like meeting the Titans every other day and dealing with fangirls the rest of the time. He just wanted all of this madness to end.

Raven was shocked, though she didn't show it. He came off as cool and collected, but that was completely uncalled for. She had dealt with people who weren't fans of her and the Titans before, but she had never met someone with that much contempt and disbelief in those that fight villains. She decided that it was worth it to show her annoyance.

"No." She said in a curt voice. "I just need to know."

Danny eyed her calmly. He sighed. "Ok, look. Give this book a quick skim and tell me what you think. If you do, I should be able to tell you where I got the book by the end of the day." He said, as he handed her 'Forces of Nature'. He normally wouldn't have given in that easily, but he was feeling guilty.

Raven raised her eyebrow. He wasn't expected him to just conceded after that little confrontation. She picked up the book and gave it a quick skim. "I have not read anything that said this, though it is feasible."

Danny sighed again. He was doing that a lot lately. "Ok, thanks. If you come by later I'll tell where I got the book from. Assuming, that is, that it isn't confidential and that it is in my records. No promises."

Raven nodded her head, put the book back on the shelf, and proceeded to walk home. She put her hood back up because of the heavy rain clouds in the sky. As indifferent as she seemed to the world even she did not want to get wet.

Danny looked outside and saw rainclouds gathering. He did not want to get caught in that rain and he was certain that his customers didn't want to, either. He stood up to make a short announcement.

"It looks like it is going to start raining soon, so if you don't want to get wet get out now." Danny knew that normal stores did not make such announcements, but his store was very community based. It was what made him different from the other stores, and he needed that difference.

Danny surveyed his store, watching everybody file out. A few nodded to him in appreciation, a few personally went up to thank him, and a few bought their books. But they all filed out.

Danny walked up to the door, changed the sign to closed, and locked the door. He headed up to look at his written archives.

As he was walking up stairs, thunder started playing in the background. And as the thunder played, a sole man with a black and orange mask with a single eye snuck into the store and took the book that Danny left on the counter. "Perfect."

"Did I… do something wrong?" Starfire asked as she was splattered with oil. "This is… punishment?"

"No, Star! It was meant for Cyborg!" Beast Boy, the originator of this stunt, flustered.

"Oho! You're in trouble now!" Cooed the intended recipient.

"Oh… I see…" Starfire said. She was still upset from her latest encounter with Phantom, so she did not react as she normally would; with anger. "This was… meant to be a joke?"

"Yes! It was meant for laughs." Beast Boy sighed in relief. He was expecting an explosion.

"This… is not funny." Starfire said quietly. "I will go clean up now."

The rest of the Titans just stared at her, completely surprised. They all knew each other very well. Not completely, but mighty close. As such, Raven, Cyborg and Beast Boy were all surprised at Starfires response. She was the energetic one of the group, never letting a bad thing keep her down for more than a second; Beast Boy knew he had gone too far. "Uh, I think I'll go apologize."

Robin came out from the shadows. "No time. Titans, trouble!"

Danny rubbed his eyes as he looked through his recodes. He had already gone through it three times, but he still could not find a record about 'Trigon the Terrible'. It just didn't make sense. Every week, after shop closes on Saturday, he goes through his computer and writes down where he got every book. After that, he deleted the data. A lot of these books were very valuable, and his clients were very private, and he found computers easier to hack then a safe. If he got it, there would be a paper record here. He yawned, and began to look through it a fourth time.

As he sorted, he began to think. Why was he going through so much for a hero? Was it because she looked like Sam? No, that couldn't be it. That only upset him. It could be because she was cute. But, no, that couldn't be it. Donna was much cuter, and she practically threw herself on him. Danny reviewed his scant few meetings with her. There was a certain finality in how she walked, as if her days were numbered. She was similar.

Danny violently shook his head. No! No! He could not get close in any sense of the word to anybody! Danny finished this go through and put his files back. He headed back downstairs to overlook his store.

"Hey, Raven, are you sure Danny can help us?" Robin asked as Raven flew towards Dannys' shop.

"Yes. He had a book that described Thunder and Lightning. He's the best bet we've got."

When they landed, they were faced with a closed, locked door. Robin read the name of the store. 'Fenton Works Book Store? Why does that sound familiar?'

"Come on, Raven. We really need to get going."

Raven, undeterred, phased them through the front door. Danny was relaxing, reading a book on ancient curses and their counters, behind the counter. He was momentarily surprised when the two teens entered, but he quickly masked it. "Robin and Raven. What do you two want?"

Raven cut through all the small talk and stormed up to the desk. "That book you wanted me to read. Where is it?"

Danny pointed to a spot on his counter. "It should be right," he noticed that the counter was surprisingly empty. "There…?"

Raven stared at him, sensing his confusion. "We need that book. Where could it be?"

Danny recognized that no nonsense voice and instantly straitened up. "Ok. You two check out the shelves and the tables. I'll check in my book stores." Danny didn't like helping heroes, but he knew that getting in the way would just make things worse. He ran downstairs to check on the books that he deemed unreliable.

Meanwhile, Robin and Raven were making a mess of the store. After they checked on and under all of the tables, they tossed books off of the bookshelves. When they couldn't find it, they checked behind the counter and rechecked the books on the ground. They both hoped that Danny had more luck.

Danny did not. He simply couldn't find it. He checked and double checked and triple checked. It wasn't there. He quickly headed back upstairs. "Did you two find it?" He saw them looking at the books on the ground. Danny quickly repressed his irritation at finding his store in such a mess. "I take it that you did not. What do you need it for, anyway?"

Raven, without turning, answered Dannys' questions. "The book was accurate. Thunder and Lightning are real; they're attacking the city. We need to know how to beat them."

Danny sighed. "I read the entirety of that book, and the simple answer is that you can't." Robin and Raven stood up and stared at him. Robin spook in the silence.

"What do you mean, we can't?"

"Just that. Those two are forces of nature, whose only goal is to have fun. If you can't convince them to stop, then just hope that they don't…"

Danny heard some noises from a hill that was relatively far away. He saw a flame monster rise up.

"…do that. Hell. Ok, look. You can't beat that monster, but you can slow it down. You're only hope is to convince both Thunder and Lightning to make a rainstorm to put it out. If you can't, that thing will burn everything on the continent, and keep burning, until those two put it out. You have to hurry, and hope that you have a convincing person on your team. Otherwise, the city is doomed."

Raven and Robin nodded to each other, phased out of the door, and proceeded to get to the hill as quickly as they could.

Danny shook his head and began to reorganize his books. Heroes were bad, but Thunder and Lightning were worse.

Robin flopped back on the Titan's coach. After a rough battle, Beast Boy managed to convince those two that just because it's fun, doesn't mean it's right. Starfire was in a better mood, too. Though she wasn't back to her usual self, she was better. As he sat, his mind drifted back to his fight with Slade. Slade… why did he want to destroy the city? Why did he use Thunder and Lightning? What was his goal?

As he was thinking of Slade, he mind went to how he used Thunder and Lightning. He thought about how stupid those too were. His mind made a connection.

Phantom seemed to think of the Titans as the Titans thought of Thunder and Lighting. As he was thinking about this, he suddenly bolted up. 'Now I remember! I heard Fenton from the news article! He is Danny Fenton!' All thoughts about Slade gone, Robin thought about what to do about this new discovery.

Slade was sitting in his hidden base, thinking about what to do. "Hmm… Robin is not as… occupied with me as I would like. Something else is distracting him. I guess I'll just have too… kick it up a notch."