Pocket Watch
Reunion Un-Welcome

"We come here thinking you're in trouble and we see you get all BUDDY BUDDY with Vlad?" Sam screeched the moment the three concerned figures of Tucker, Jazz, and herself entered the main living room with Danny, Vlad having left to give him time alone with them, "He came in here with his ARM around you!"

"Well, if he didn't, I'd have collapsed, I don't exactly have the energy right now." Danny cried out.

"E-Energy, for what?" Sam reared her head back, "D-Did you and Vlad do something in private that you don't want to tell us?" With the tone in her voice and the flustered cheek she possessed, Danny hankered on Sam's thoughts and immediately objected.

"NO! Not like THAT! I-It's a long story, but Vlad's cool."

"Vlad's…cool?" Man, are you hearing yourself?" Tucker asked.

"Look, he hasn't tried to kill you guys or anything, has he?" Danny shrugged.

"That's not a good enough reason, Danny. He could be playing along and could kill us when we least expect it." Jazz's turn, although her voice remained the softest and most sympathetic.

"Maybe Vlad somehow has you under his control…like…like with some techno-chip or something. Tucker, examine him or something!" Sam demanded. Wincing, Tucker whipped out his trusty PDA and examined Danny for any signs of a mechanic device hidden around his body, ultimately revealing nothing.

"He's clean."

"Then maybe Vlad successfully manage to overshadow him or something. We brought some Fenton device that I'm sure can work--" Sam spoke as she dug in her bag.

"SAM! KNOCK IT OFF! I don't have a techno device, I am not possessed, I'm JUST ME!" Danny shouted, enough that he exhausted himself to require him to sit down on the nearby armchair where he took in deep breaths. The worried Jazz approached him and felt his forehead, gasping at the raised temperature.

"Danny, you're sick, what happened?" She asked.

Slowly, the boy lifted his head up and eyed his worried sister, the same expression she mastered over the years, the very same he himself mustered when he watched over the three children from the general store. Should he tell her? Tell his friends and sister about his most kept secret? After all, he would die eventually and having all three of them left in the runt, unable to figure what killed him could puzzle and bewilder them for the reminder of their lives. With a heavy heart, he took a deep sigh.

"Danny, what's wrong with you, why are you acting like this?" Jazz basically repeated, "Vlad and you together? Acting like you're close friends? You have to be hiding something."

"Jazz…"

"But I understand, you must have a reason to keep it, just like you did when you first became a superhero. You never told me or mom and dad."

"Jazz…"

"I trust you, little brother. I'm sure you have a good reason to why you're keeping this a secret. We all just came here because we're concerned. We love you, all of us."

"H-How did you find me?" Danny got his answer when Tucker lifted the old newspaper article of him rescuing people from the burning farm, "…Oh."

"Until you do tell us, we're not leaving and if that means having to put up with Vlad--who, by the way, we're going to be watching--then so be it!" Sam crossed her arms.

"There's no need to do that, Sam…my fate is inevitable as far as I know, so I might as well confess." Danny stood up, positioning himself in hopes he wouldn't trip from exhaustion, "Guys…what I'm about to tell you might be shocking, but it's the truth. I'm…"

He watched in as all three, eyes wide open glared in anticipation. They prayed their hopes for Danny's news wouldn't be as faltering and terrible as they suspected, unfortunately, they got something much worse.

"I'm dying."

Silence fell with only the sound of a nearby grandfather clock rhythmically ticking as the three took time to let this all sink in, all of them frozen in the same spot they'd been in before Danny confessed: Jazz with her hands held together, Tucker clutching his PDA, and Sam with her arms down, hands balled into fists. They prepared little for the bombshell that dropped on their faces, so much so that Tucker let out a hearty laugh. Danny didn't react, knowing predictably that would be Tucker's first reaction to bad news, that or budding sarcasm.

"Oh, man! You almost had us! Good going, Danny, but seriously, what's wrong with you?" Danny almost smiled. Tucker may not take everything seriously, but the lighthearted nature definitely felt needed in these grave times.

"No jokes, I'm really dying." Danny softly smiled.

"Danny, you're smiling, people don't smile when they're about to die." Tucker suggested.

"I've seen accepted it." Danny shrugged, "I don't really know why I did so quickly. Maybe I'm part ghost, I don't know."

"You're only part ghost because your DNA was infected by ghost strands of it, it's not like you're half dead." Jazz corrected. Danny made another smile and a small chuckle, nodding.

"Danny…please tell me you're joking." Sam asked after a fit of silence, her voice now soft and breaking. Danny stared at those lavender eyes, the very same eyes that often gazed over Danny in a deep, profound manner, one Danny did not notice until right now. Even then he put on a sincere smile and nodded.

"Sorry, but I'm dying. I'm not exactly sure why, but Vlad thinks it might be due to my ghost powers." Danny answered, letting Sam let off a small squeal of agony.

"He might be right." Danny spoke seriously, "Every time I use my powers…it drains me of my energy and I get weaker and weaker. That barn fire, I was in bed for like a weak because of that, recovering my strength back, but I felt a sense of death crawling and trying to gain a hold of me."

"Danny…" Sam whispered.

"Vlad's trying to find a cure, but I'm not hoping." He shook his head, "I mean, I know he's smart to find one, but…I've accepted my coming death and I just wish to finish what I need done before I go."

Another added silence. Tucker kept a sad, yet stoic face while Jazz seemed more accepting, but sorrowful. Sam's face however proved her stubbornness again as she yelled at Danny's face.

"WHY? WHY CAN'T YOU ACCEPT VLAD'S HELP THEN?" She shouted.

"Geez, Sam, just a minute ago, you were against him!" Danny sighed.

"He's trying to find a cure and you DENY it? Hell, we should call your folks, maybe they can help, too!"

"I'll tell mom and dad soon, when the time comes, so please don't say anything to them. I want to be the one to tell them."

"IT'S NOT FAIR! IT'S NOT FAIR!" Sam stomped her foot like an irritable child, "You're NOT suppose to die! YOU'RE NOT!"

"Sam…" Tucker tried to step in to prevent her from going any further then she should, but she already stepped into tears.

"IT'S NOT FAIR!" With that, she ran off for parts unknown.

"SAM!" Tucker cried out.

"Oh-No." Was Jazz's only response while Danny sighed, then sat back down, tired.

Knowing of Sam's temper often leaving her as a rather unpleasant person to be with, Danny and the others left her alone. She wondered into the garden greenhouse somewhere around the back of Vlad's manor, surrounded by her fellow plants, ones that did not fortunately possess her as they did two years back. Danny meanwhile went to his room to sleep, to further recover his energy while Tucker and Jazz, hungry from the long travel entered the dining area where Vlad asked if they wanted any dinner.

"We're ordering." Tucker stoically responded. He may be trying to help Danny with his dying dilemmas, but that served only as round one out of the dozens Vlad scored against Danny and his beloved ones, "Damn, all the fast food joints are like hours away!"

"The nearest neighbor does not hold those buildings of greasy death." Vlad muttered.

"What? Not even a Nasty Burger?" Tucker screeched to which Vlad shook his head. Tucker let off a groan and smacked his head down the dining table.

"Now, I can make you something--something much healthier if you all cooperate with me." Vlad suggested, "I know I've never given you a reason not to, but for Daniel's sake, I rather not start an argument, let alone a battle. You children are mature enough to handle civilized behaviors."

"Technically, I'm 18, so I'm more of an adult then child and--" Jazz stopped correcting Vlad when both he and Tucker glared at her, "…Right. Dinner."

The three stayed in Vlad's manor for the time. They planned on this by having told their parents they wished to attend a computer camp, an institute for the intelligent, and a proper etiquette class (the latter having to further her lie by stating she'd go somewhere her parents would willingly let her, both of them too happy for their daughter turning over her Goth lifestyle in their eyes to suspect her motives) for a full week. The Fentons dealt with this the most, having already lost a son, now fearful Jazz, too would runaway. It took hours of convincing to prove otherwise before they released her.

The trio prayed in that week's time, they could bring Danny back home. Jazz, in keeping with the of sort of promise with Skulker and Danny's letter he wrote when he left, she had yet to tell Jack and Maddie; but she still claimed herself the more responsible of the two siblings so she went to talk to Danny once he felt good enough to eat properly to discuss when their parents can know.

"Soon, Jazz, soon."

"When is soon? Mom and Dad have to know." Jazz asked as she sat on a chair next to Danny's bed where he sat, blanket covering his lower half.

"Letting them know I die would require telling my secret, so I need more time on how I will go about this approach." Danny sighed, despite the fact that his parents accepted him during a fiasco involving the Reality Gauntlet and Freakshow. It still embalmed him with fear over how his parents will go through should he ever confess. Two years passed since that incident and while nothing dramatic occurred in both Jack and Maddie's life to change their opinions, today was not two years back.

"That's a risk you have to take, Danny." Jazz placed a caring hand on her brother.

"…I know." Danny muttered softly.

While both Tucker and Jazz easily warmed back into Danny's good grace, even going further to helping him until his energy fully recovered, Sam spent the majority of her time in the gardens, refusing to remain contact with him. Bad enough he and Vlad could be skipping around in a rainbow field with talking flowers, but the fact that the young boy would be dead soon refused to leave her mind. As try as she might, Sam knew denying would accomplish nothing, but she played the avoidance card very well.

She liked him. She really liked him. She developed a small crush on him over the years they've known, only fully manifested during the first incident Danny fought through with Ember McLain in which her crush grew from there. Over the years, that newfound love she held for him only grew as the boy himself turned from this skinny, shy naïve boy into a full fledged hero. Love? Is it love? Is that how she felt for him or just deep admiration? Sam manage to survive years living with the fact that no one officially took Danny as a boyfriend, the closest being Valerie herself in which the two suffered a sort of on and off relationship, marred by each of their own personal duties, but now he was dying. Worse then a girl trying to take his heart, Sam knew now or never, she must confess how she felt for him or never get that chance again.

She left the garden greenhouse around day five of their stay, walking over to the main living room where Danny and the others dwelled sans Vlad who seated himself in the next room nearby, working, stepping in only when he felt Danny needed something.

"Sam!" came the cries of the three. Only Jazz and Tucker got up to greet her properly while Danny stayed on the couch to preserve his energy.

"Danny…can I talk with him alone?" Sam asked Tucker and Jazz as if seeking their approval, "I need to tell him something." As if on cue, Danny stood up and slowly walked over to Sam, gesturing her to walk with him. Jazz placed a hand on Danny, indicating he shouldn't move so much, but he let it assure he'd be all right.

Down the expensive hallway the two walked, both in fits of silence, unknowing who should speak first. Danny eventually started the conversation.

"You wanted to tell me something?"

"Oh, y-yeah." She placed a strand of hair behind her ear, "Well, first off, I'm sorry for acting so angry. You're my best friend and I hearing you about to die soon, well--"

"I know." Danny confidentially stepped in.

"I need to tell you something."

"I'm listening."

They stopped, eyeing each other, Sam more nervous and jittery, which only increased upon seeing how relatively calm Danny currently was.

"Well?" He asked.

"I…well…see, the thing is…"

"…Sam?"

How sincere Danny's face looked. How worried, concerned, and peaceful he gazed back towards her. This is a face where anyone can confess anything and they would be completely all right with it.

"N-Never mind. It's nothing big and I-it can wait."

She immediately walked off, hiding her face with her hand, her brain mentally beating herself for being so stupid as to once again walk the cowards' way out. Even with him potentially leaving the mortal world forever, she could not tell him her true feelings…
To Be Continued…

Author's Note: Poor Sam. It's only going to be complicated when Valerie gets into the mix in the future. Ahaha. Poor girls. Danny's not gonna end up with anyone, bwahaha.

Curiously, I got a lot of responses stating Jazz, Sam. Tucker, and anyone other then Vlad and Danny should never appear in the story which in a sense does not work--well, this story anyways. The primary focus will always be Vlad and Danny here, but we NEED the others. I mean, they cannot be completely ignorant to what Danny is going through and considering how they are close to him; they are needed in his life. Whether you like it or not, they will play some parts in the stories.