A/N: Um... short, again. Chapters don't seem to want to get any longer...

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.

Rescue

Sam was sitting in her usual spot at the Nasty Burger, waiting for Tucker. He had taken off right after school, stating he needed some computer supplies but it would only take a minute. So she had gone ahead and now she was sitting by herself, staring idly at the cashiers behind the counter. Danny wasn´t there of course, he had been fired a week ago, because of Dash. Dash had bragged about it all week until Sam had accidentally dropped her lunch in his lap.

She wondered where Danny was. He had been hanging around the school at the beginning of the week to talk to her and Tucker, keeping a wary eye out for Dash. He hadn´t volunteered any information about himself other than that he had a night job. He even handed back her twenty although she insisted he keep it.

"Alright," she had said, "But if you need anything, come to me, don´t... you know."

Tucker had stared at them in astonishment. She hadn´t told Tucker about how she had caught Danny but he could put two and two together as well as the next guy.

"You were stealing," he accused Danny.

"What of it," Danny had answered angrily and had left just like that. She hadn´t seen him since.

And now it was Friday again and she was thinking about a black haired, blue eyed punk her parents would never approve of. The door of the restaurant opened and a brown haired woman in a blue jump suit stepped through the door. Sam thought she looked familiar. The woman looked around the restaurant and when she saw Sam, she walked over to her.

"Hello Sam," she said pleasantly, "Do you remember me?"

"Mrs Fenton," Sam stuttered, "I thought you were..."

Maddie smiled. "I´m fine now," she said and sat down at Sam´s table. "I would like to ask you something," she said earnestly.

"OK." Sam wondered what it was about.

"See, people at the school have seen you talking to a boy this week and I´m trying to locate him. Could you help me please?"

Sam now looked at her warily. "What do you want with him?" she asked.

Maddie sighed. "I want to help him. He is all by himself, and the last time I saw him he didn´t look too good."

Sam though about that. Danny really hadn´t looked well the last time she saw him. Maybe he was sick.

"I know where he lives, approximately," she said, "I can take you to there."

Maddie´s eyes lit up. "Let´s go then," she said brightly, "Come on, the GAV is just outside!"

Just as they were leaving they met up with Tucker who decided to tag along. Sam gave Maddie directions as they were driving through the shabby streets.

"So um," Sam said, "Why are you looking for him?"

Maddie smiled at her. "He came to visit me in the... hospital and he made me realize I needed to help myself before I could help him. He said he'd see me when I got out but he never showed."

"I haven't seen him in two days either," Sam admitted, "I thought he was mad at us."

Tucker grunted from the back. "You mean me."

"Why?"

Tucker sighed. "He...I.. I said something. He just stomped off." He was silent for a minute. "He was asking about you the other day. He seemed upset when we told him you were...sick."

Sam nodded vigorously. "Very upset. I honestly thought he was going to hit you when you kept asking him why he wanted to know where Mrs Fenton was."

Maddie glanced at her. "You mean he was... aggressive?"

Sam sat very still for a moment. She didn't want to admit it, but she felt very protective of Danny and wanted to defend his actions, even if he scared her sometimes. But he hardly seemed to be able to control himself when he got angry.

"He beat up Dash the other day," Tucker volunteered. Sam glared at him and Tucker shrugged. "Hey, it was pretty cool. Dash deserved it."

Maddie muttered something to herself but Sam heard her anyway, "Danny, Danny, what happened to you..."

After that they were quiet. Sam was looking outside uncertainly. She didn't usually come in this part of town.

"Turn left, I think," she said.

After they had taken a couple of wrong turns, they finally stopped at the burnt out house in the narrow street.

"This is where I last saw him the other day," Sam said, "He went in there but when I followed he wasn´t there."

They all stepped out of the GAV and entered the house. Maddie looked around.

"What a terrible place," she said.

Sam walked to the back of the house and peered outside. "There is nothing here," she reported, "He couldn´t have gone out this way, it´s a dead end."

They were all quiet for a moment as they stared at the blackened walls. Then, suddenly, the silence was broken by a grating cough. Tucker looked up in surprise.

"It came from up there," he whispered.

They listened. Again somebody coughed.

"How do we get up there," Maddie said urgently.

Sam rushed outside, followed by Tucker and Maddie, and started banging on the neighbor´s door.

"We need to go through your house," she yelled at the grumpy man who answered the door and before he could do anything she already passed him.

"Hey," he yelled as Tucker and Maddie followed but they paid him no heed.

They rushed up the stairs, running through the long hallways with doors, until they reached the top floor, which was in fact one floor higher up than the burnt out house. Sam opened a window and climbed on the roof, followed by Maddie and Tucker and a fuming neighbor yelling obscenities. Carefully they made their way to the hole in the roof and lowered themselves to the top floor of the house.

Maddie was ahead now, her heart pounding. She made her way through the rubble as she searched the top floor and looked in the rooms. Finally she made her way to the front of the house with some difficulty, edging past the hole where the stairs should be and entered the front room. A boy with black hair that was falling over his face was lying on top of a sleeping bag in the corner. He wore a dark green jacket that didn´t look warm enough for this time of year and black cargo pants. His eyes were closed, his breath was rasping.

"Danny," she choked, rushing over to him, picking him up, holding him close to her.

He woke up. "Mom," he said weakly, "I´m sorry mom."

Sam and Tucker stood in the door opening, staring.

"I don´t believe this," Sam muttered to herself.

Mrs Fenton was holding a boy named Danny, which she had claimed her son´s name to be. And Danny called her ´Mom´. Something tugged at the back of her mind but she couldn´t lay her finger on it.

"We have to get him out of here," Maddie said decisively.

Tucker rushed up as Maddie tried to lift Danny. Together they heaved him up, each taking an arm and putting it over their shoulder. Sam looked at his things.

"Leave it," Maddie said, "He won´t need this anymore."

Sam silently agreed and was about to leave when she saw something out of the ordinary. She walked over and picked it up. It looked like a thermos, only it had the name "Fenton" on it. Maddie looked at it in surprise.

"Take that with you," she ordered.

They had considerable trouble getting Danny up on the roof, as he was in no condition to climb for himself. Finally they convinced the grumbling neighbor that it was in his best interest if Danny left and he helped them by supplying a rope, and then helped them get the boy down to the GAV.

They put him down gently on the floor in the back and Tucker and Sam sat beside him to keep him in place, as Maddie drove home. He was muttering the whole time but he didn´t open his eyes. Every now and then he had a violent coughing fit and Sam and Tucker looked at each other worriedly.