Chapter 4: Scream-Over

"So, you guys have any movies in mind?" Tucker asked while scrolling threw his PDA's movie database. "I was thinking Blood Zombies 4: BloodFest."

"Ooh, yeah! That sounds great! I heard that if you watch it in complete darkness, you're guaranteed to wet your pants!" Danielle said as she walked in front of the group.

"Um, yeah, no," Sam said, giving Danielle a quick eye as she walked side by side with Danny. "There is no way you are watching an R rated movie, especially not Blood Zombies 4. Plus, I don't want ANY of you guys peeing all over my family's theater chairs."

"Ah come on, why not?"

"Well first off, you're twelve, at least physically, but in actuality, you're only a few months old. Your mind may not be able to handle all of that gore, and it could scar you for life. Second, R rated movies have explicit material like cursing and nudity that you really don't need to see. And third, it'll give you nightmares, and if you're anything like Danny was when he was a kid, you're probably prone to bed wetting, and that could be a real problem," she finished, smirking at the light pink color that painted Danny's face.

"Ah, jeez Sam. I was like seven when that happened. Can't you just let it go?" Danny said, rubbing the back of his neck with his left hand as his right was being held by the same Goth girl poking fun at him.

"Actually, you were 11, and I highly doubt that you would let it go if someone peed in your bed, that you were sleeping in as well, during a sleepover all because he couldn't handle a PG-13 horror movie, that wasn't even that bad."

"Ew, gross!" Danielle said as she laughed at Danny's more than slightly awkward disposition. "But I still don't see why I can't watch the movie. I'm way braver, and there's no way I'm gonna let some fake movie scare me like it did him."

"I agree with her," Tucker said.

"Hey!" Danny yelled.

"Not about you, though that's probably true too. I meant about her being ok to watch it. I mean, she's fought against people like Vlad and Valerie before she was helping us. If that's not the stuff of nightmares, I don't know what is."

"See? Tucker agrees with me," Danielle boasted as she crossed her arms in what she thought was victory.

"Well, considering that thanks to him, everyone except me, Valerie and Sam failed the parenting assignment, and the fact that out of everyone in the class, Sam was the only one who got an A, I'm pretty sure we can all see who is the better parent," Danny said, smiling at the scowl his friend gave him. "Besides, it's Sam's house, and she's is your mother-"

"It's gonna take some time getting used to being called that," Sam said with a sigh.

"Tell me about it. Anyway, she gets final say. I mean, I'm sure you can handle it, after all, you are the bravest kid I've ever known, but I'm leaving this one up to her. Whatever she decides, I'll support her."

"Aww, thanks Danny," Sam said, placing a kiss on his cheek,

"Eww, ok, can we refrain from doing that when I'm in the immediate vicinity?" Danielle said, scrunching her face up in disgust. "And thanks for your help," she said, giving Danny a small glare to which he simply shrugged his shoulders. "Come on, please?" She pleaded.

"Danielle, I said-"

"Pleeeeaaaase?" She said again with her fingers interlaced and puppy dog pout on her face, complete with big, sad eyes. Sam bit back the urge to "Aww" at the cute display on the young girls face, knowing she'd never hear the end of it, especially from Tucker. Although she was ready to deny the young girl just a moment before, her resolved was breaking very quickly.

No, Sam. You can't give in. This is for her own good, and if you give in now, she's gonna take advantage of it, and think she can just throw those eyes at you whenever she wants something. You have to resist the eyes…Danny's eyes…the same eyes he gives me…Damn it. No! Stay strong!

But before Sam could finally put her foot down, the last wall of her defenses fell as tears started coming to Danielle's eyes. That was all it took for Sam because before she could even fully process what was happening, she sighed and looked away from Danielle.

"Alright! Alright! If you it really means that much to you, we'll watch the movie," she said in defeat.

"Yes!" Danielle cheered instantly cutting off the crocodile tears she had started.

"Wow. I didn't think Sam was gonna fall for that. She must be getting soft," Tucker said with a smirk.

"What did you just say!" Sam yelled, turning around to her friend, a look of death on her face.

"Who me?" He said nervously. "Nothing being said here. Just me and my PDA, minding our own business."

"That's what I thought. And let me make myself clear now," she said, pointing a finger at the other three. "If this movie is too much for her, it's over. I will not be cleaning up pee from anyone, got it!" she yelled, scaring them as they nodded their heads in response.

"Well…" Danny started, waiting to see if Sam was done ranting. Once sure that she was, he continued. "We might as well get this movie night started. Besides, how bad could it be?"

Two hours later, a young girl's screams were all that could be heard as they filled the halls of the Manson's home.

"NO! Don't go in there!"

Danielle screamed at the movie as she clutched tight onto the right side of Danny's shirt and buried her face into his ribs, trying desperately but failing to muffle the screams that continued to come from her mouth. On the right side of the room, Tucker sat in a recliner, fingers digging into the plush armrest like his life depended on it as he shook like a weak leaf in the middle of a storm. Danny, who according to the death grip his daughter had on him, seemed to be the only thing protecting her from the gory onslaught happening before her very eyes, but jumped up from his seat for what must have been the fifteenth time from the constant screams he heard, whether they were from Danielle, the movie, or, to everyone's surprise, Sam, who was seated on the left side of him and hugging his arm for dear life.

"Ok! That's it! This movie is over!" Sam declared as she pressed the power button on the remote, effectively shutting off the TV. She quickly got to her feet and paced around the room while rubbing her arms, trying to steady and ease her nerves.

"Well, that was…" Danny said as he finally found his voice, but soon lost it again.

"The absolute worst thing we could have shown to an 8 month old young girl in a 12 years body?" Sam finished for him in annoyance as she walked back over to the couch and picked up a very hysterical Danielle who instinctively curled up into a ball in her arms, muttering to herself about zombies, blood and chainsaws. Sam held her as she paced around the room even more, hoping to calm her. "Jeez, she's shaking worse than California during an earthquake. This is exactly why Tucker is never a good argument point. This is all his fault."

"Noted. How's she doing?" Danny asked as he got to his feet and walked over to them.

"Zombies…bloody zombies…chainsaws…body parts everywhere…" Danielle said quietly.

"That answer your question?" Sam said sourly. "It's ok, Danielle. There are no zombies with chainsaws anywhere. There may be blood and body parts though because once I get my hands on Danny and Tucker, well…" she turned to glare at them both, but mostly at Tucker who had yet to realize that the movie was no longer playing and was still holding onto the armrest. "Clueless."

"Look, Sam, I'm sorry. I didn't know it was gonna be that bad," Danny said.

"I know you are, and I know you didn't know about the movie. But it's not me you should be worried about. What are we gonna do about her?" she asked as she looked at Danielle.

"Here, let me try," he said, holding his arms out. "You know, for not knowing how you were gonna react to all this, you're actually a natural born mother," he said with a toothy smile.

"Um, yeah, I guess I am," Sam said with a blush and a smile as she handed the small girl over to her father.

"Hey now, what are you so scared of? Remember, you're the toughest kid ever? You've faced things way scarier than anything in that movie. You used to live with Vlad!"

"Ye-yeah…but ghost don't bleed like that or have decaying goop coming from their bodies," she muttered, calming as Danny started to rub her back.

"Yeah, but is any of that really scarier than having lived with Vlad? And don't forget, it's just a movie, so none of its real."

Danielle couldn't help the giggle that escaped her lips. "I guess you're right. Nothing is scarier than having to having to put up with that fruitloop," she said, snuggling up to him and yawning from the long day she'd had.

"Well we'd better get going. It's almost midnight and you should have been in bed almost two hours ago."

"Whatever," she said, rolling her eyes a little, but kept her head against his chest, the sound of his heartbeat soothing her.

"Actually, why don't you guys crash here? My parents are still out of town for a few weeks and my grandma won't mind," Sam said, placing a hand on Danny's shoulder. "Plus, it might be good to have Danielle spend her first night with her family together. Especially after a movie like this."

"Good for her or good for her over protective mother?" Danny said with a grin that made Sam, once again, blush. "That sounds good to me. What do you think, Ellie?"

"Don't call me that," she grumbled tiredly.

"Ellie?" Sam smiled.

"A nickname I gave her. She doesn't like it as much as Dani, but I think it fits. Plus, it can help get rid of some of the confusion with our names."

"Aww. I think its acute nickname, Danielle."

"Whatever," she said with another eye roll, but smiled despite her dislike for the nickname. "Anyway, I'm in for staying."

"Alright, then it's settled. Why don't you take Ellie and help her get ready for bed. I'll give mine and Tucker's parents a call."

"Cool. And while you're at it, see if you can help fraidy cat Foley over there," she smirked. "There's a pair of pliers in the bottom drawer behind the counter if you need them."

Almost an hour later, everyone was showered, phone calls had been made, teeth had been brushed, and the feeling in Tucker's fingers was finally coming back. The four teens piled into Sam's room where she had laid out four sleeping bags on the floor. Danielle took the first one closest to the door, via Sam's recommendation, with Danny next to her, followed by Sam, and Tucker with the last one, closest to the window.

"How are the pajamas, Danielle?" Sam asked as she placed a few extra pillows around the room.

"A little big, but not too bad," she said as she walked into the room wearing a small black silk pajama set.

"Sorry, those were the only ones I could find that had a chance of fitting you on such short notice. We'll go shopping this weekend and get you some new clothes."

"Oh, it's ok. I kinda like them," she smiled as everyone sat in a circle in the center of the room.

"Oh great. As if one Goth in this family wasn't enough," Danny groaned, receiving a smack across the head from both girls. "Speaking of getting things, how soon do you think you can get that birth certificate and those adoption papers, Tuck?"

"Well seeing as I'm the mayor, I can get the adoption papers signed and together for you guys by the end of the day Monday. It'll only take me a few hours to hack into the government records and add her, so you guys should decide on the details quick," he said as he stood up and made his way to the door. "I'm gonna head downstairs and snag another slice of that pizza we were eating."

"Well, obviously we're gonna say she was born somewhere other than Amity Park," Danny said. "We could just say she was born in Colorado since that's technically true and since it was done in a remote forest area, no one will know she even lived out there."

"Ok, so now we just have to decide on her name," Sam said.

"What do you mean? I already have a name, duh," Danielle said, rolling her eyes.

"What I mean, is usually parents will decide on whether they will give their child a middle name, and depending on how their relationship is, if unmarried, they choose whose last name the child will get."

"Oh, ok. So…do I have a middle name?" Danielle asked, looking back and forth between Danny and Sam.

"Well, I hadn't really thought of one. What about you Sam?" Danny asked.

"Well, I was thinking Lilith."

"Lilith? Wasn't that the name you gave to the flower sack you and Tucker had during the parenting assignment?" he said with a laugh. "Tuck's right, you can't let it go!"

Before Sam could make a comeback, a loud crash erupted throughout the room as the door flew open, startling everyone. In the doorway stood a masked man, brandishing a chainsaw and laughing maniacally. Both Danielle and Sam screamed, the former grabbing a hold of her mother and crying into her chest. Before Danny could even finish getting to his feet, an Ecto-Blast shot across the room, hitting the chainsaw wielding maniac square in the chest.

Danny turned to see the green smoke still coming from Danielle's outstretched hand while her face was still buried in Sam's pajama shirt. Danny walked over to her and tried to quiet her before turning to glare at the person on the ground behind him.

"Jeez, Tucker, what the hell's wrong with you?"

"Tucker?" Sam said, looking around Danny to see that it was indeed the Techno-geek lying on the ground with the mask now situated on his head. "Tucker! What the hell! I should skin you alive for this!"

"Ugh. Hey, don't get mad at me! It was your grandma's idea!" he shouted.

"My grandma? What are you talking about?" she said, but turned her attention back to Danielle who still had tears coming down her face as she hyperventilated.

"After the movie, I ran into your grandma and she said she had found out your parents had installed cameras in your room to watch you and Danny in case you two were, "doing something awful that could result in something that would embarrass the family". Well, your grandma found the camera, and when she heard us watching the movie and all the screaming, she was planning on trying to scare us. Well when I ran into her and found out she was gonna do that, she paid me a hundred bucks to charge in here and scare the living crap out of all of you."

"Dude, that is so wrong," Danny said with a scowl.

"Maybe. But this makes it so right," he said with a grin as he held up the hundred dollar bill.

"Wow. I don't know who to be more pissed at; you and my grandma for this stupid prank, or my parents for spying on me," Sam said in a dark tone. Her parents were always doing things like this.

They never liked her choices in clothes, her choice in music and decorations, or anything else she liked. But the thing that made her the angriest was that they never like Danny. It never made any sense to Sam. She's known Danny and Tucker since they were kids, and yet they always had something against him. First, they blamed him for the fact that she was Goth. She never understood that when he himself never wore black, with the exception of him Phantom costume. Then they blamed him and his parents because of the ghost attacks that happened in town. Her mother was always going on about how weird they were and how they were freaks, but never seemed to have any problem when he was saving their butts. And things didn't get much better, probably worse in fact, when Danny's secret came out at the South Pole and her parents discovered he was Phantom. Needless to say, her mother hit the roof, while her father, although feeling uneasy about the whole thing, saw that his daughter cared for the boy very much. Her mother demanded that she break up with Danny because it was too dangerous for her to be dating a half ghost freak, regardless of how many times he's saved everyone in town and protected her with his life. Sam shouted and screamed back and forth with her mother for almost an hour before storming off to her room and declaring that she would do no such thing and that her mother get used to it before she lost her and cut off all ties to them.

Sam's grandma was more than angry at Pamela for the way she acted and treated her daughter's friend. She knew that Danny was a good boy and that he'd never do anything to try to hurt Sam or anyone else, and that even though he knew how much her parents disliked him and disrespected his parents, that he was always polite and respectful of them and their home. Jeremy agreed with his mother on this matter, not only because everything she said was true, but also because of his love for his daughter. Though he hated having to go back and forth with her on everything, he never wanted to lose her, and he knew Pamela didn't either.

After some time, things did go back to normality in the Manson home, but Sam's relationship with her mother was still a bit strained, especially with Danny around. This of course was her main fear not only because of how her parents would react to Danielle, but also because she never wanted to have this kind of relationship with her. Contrary to what she's said about loving to piss her parents off, it hurt Sam. Sure, on small things like clothes, she didn't mind. But when it came to her friends and to the way she did things, it hurt her because she always felt as if it was only a matter of time before she drifted away from them, and that was the absolute last thing she wanted.

"You're mad? I'm the one who got blasted with an Ecto-Blast! And look at my shirt!" he said as he examined the new hole in the front of it where a new burn mark was starting to form.

Sam rolled her eyes and stood up to help her fallen friend. "I'll help the psycho over here and get him a new shirt. You keep Dani company."

Danny nodded his head and watched his friends leave before turning back to the still shaken girl. "You know, if you don't breath normally, you gonna go from a halfa to a full ghost," he smirked as he cradled the girl to his chest. Danielle pushed herself off to glare up at him, a glare equivalent to that of Sam's.

"Tucker. Is. Horrible!" she screeched.

"Yeah. Good thing he's only your godfather," Danny smiled before the concern returned to his face. "Are you ok? You want me to get you some water or something?"

"No…I'll be alright. I might have to kill Tucker though," she said as she stood up and headed to the door. "I'll…be back." Danielle quickly ran into the hallway and down to the spare bathroom as Sam and Tucker were in the other one. Danny stared after her, confused, before he heard the sounds of the toilet flushing. Danny couldn't help the loud sound of his laughter as it echoed down the hallway. "Shut up! It's not funny!" Danielle yelled back.

After everyone was back together and all taken care of, Danielle punched Tucker in the arm where a bruise was sure to form, and yelled at him about the prank. Tucker, still rubbing his arm, promised to make it up to her before they all went to bed.

Everyone was sound asleep except Danielle who kept waking up every time she fell asleep from the many nightmares. Looking at the nightstand, she sighed. It was 2 am. She'd only been trying to sleep for a little over an hour, and she was failing miserably. Trying to keep quiet, she crawled over to Danny and Sam, snuggling herself in between the two, and couldn't help the smile that came onto her face at the warmth and protection she got from her new parents.

Unbeknownst to her, Danny and Sam were both still awake. Danny couldn't help be feel like his life was somehow perfect in that moment as he looked into the eyes of his girlfriend and felt the warmth from his daughter, the two most important people in his life. Sam quickly pulled herself closer and wrapped her arms around Danielle as Danny wrapped his around her.

"Night, Sam. Night, Danielle," he whispered, kissing Sam on the lips and Danielle on the head.

"Night, Danny. Night, Ellie," she smirked.

"Don't…call me that…" Danielle instinctively muttered as she continued to slip into the dark void of sleep. Her parents smiled and too fell into the unconsciousness.