I don't Own Danny Phantom. I just lurve the show to pieces!

Chapter Ten

Pancakes and Lessons

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It was declared, finalized, and without much of Taylor's will, that she was to learn to fight ghosts.

"If you're going to help me, you need to learn how to protect yourself too," Danny had said firmly, arms crossed, head straight up and full of purpose. She knew he meant business. At least he was starting to lighten up on her will to help him in his quest.

"And you're going to need all the right banter!" Jazz had said with enthusiasm. They all groaned at that comment.

Taylor Hecter was currently in her kitchen, stirring a cup of coffee with a polished silver spoon. It was early in the morning, and snow was falling like heaps of cotton on Amity Park. She was hoping for a school closing or delay, and she wanted to be the first to hear about it. The 5:00 news always carried the information, so now she was waiting. Slowly she watched as the flakes hit the window in the kitchen, drifting down heavily, spraying her house with it's coldness. It made her coffee taste all the more hotter. She took a sip and thought deeply.

If today school is closed, I can devote all of my time to learning how to fight ghosts.

She smirked to herself as she thought of the perfect plan she was just waiting to happen. Shivering, she pulled her black robe closer to her. Her curly hair was done up in a messy bun, leaving strands of spiral curls to fall down her face and the back of her head. Her skin looked very pale, and her lips were slightly blue.

It was always times like these, in the cool quiet, that she could think. She knew that Vlad was planning something indeed, but what it was she was not certain. Taylor leaned on her elbow, head tilted to the side as she bit her bottom lip in thought.

What could it possibly be?

For one thing, it had to do with Danny. Vlad was obsessed with him, that much she could tell. Though she could see hatred between them, she could also sense a bit of a desire from Vlad. It was almost desperate and angry, and she was sure that part of Vlad's anger was that he even cared about Danny. She could see that he almost thought of Danny as a son, in a sick sort of way. Taylor's face began to tense as her concentration level was at an all time high as she thought even deeper about the relationship between the two. She knew that Vlad saw potential in him, even though at the moment Danny was weak and thin, nowhere near his full capabilities. Danny was perfect to Vlad in every way, a breath of fresh air, and an opportunity.

Taylor took a sip of her coffee, eyes staring blankly ahead as she focused. She was so lost in thought that she didn't feel as a ghostly figure appeared behind her from air.

"Tayylorrr," it whispered in a creepy and airy voice.

Taylor screamed and stumbled, causing herself to slip off the chair and hit the hard blue tiled floor. The sound of Danny's laughter followed, and she looked up angrily to see the familiar face of her friend, his eyes wide with amusement.

"Ah man! I really had you going there!" he said, holding out a hand to her. Taylor narrowed her eyes and smirked, pulling Danny down with her in one fluid action.

"Hey!" he said with mock insult.

Both of them laughed, until they heard the creaking of the stairs.

"Is someone there?" came the stiff and slightly alarmed voice of her father.

Taylor gritted her teeth and put her arms around Danny as he made them both intangible, both of them sinking into the floorboards and into the basement. They drifted down and down until they both collapsed on the coach Danny straddling her partially as they both looked up. Tensely they listened for the slight creaking, signaling that Taylor's father had gone back to bed. As soon as the soft music of it stopped, the sound of their shallow breathing was all that could be heard.

"Phew. . ." Danny expressed as he looked down at Taylor.

There was a brief moment of realization when Danny realized the compromising situation they were in, and he turned a bright red, not sure what to do. Taylor on the other hand smirked a bit. It was so fun to see Danny in so much discomfort sometimes, especially his very cute discomfort.

"Do you mind Danny?" she asked in a slightly amused voice as Danny's eyes grew round.

"Uh yeah, sorry. . ." he said quickly as he clamored off of her, trying not to look at her long legs that had been partially exposed. Taylor quickly covered them and moved farther back on the couch.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" she asked as she adjusted her robe.

"Well, I just got done my patrol for the night. . . and I just thought I'd stop by," he stuttered slightly, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Taylor smiled good naturedly, feeling a bit bad that she was making Danny squirm.

"Well, I think that we'll have plenty of time to fight ghosts today," she said, signaling that school would most likely close.

" Yeah. I don't think we're going to have school with this kind of snow." Danny said with a yawn. He stretched out, turning back into Danny Fenton with a few rings of light. With a gasp, Taylor noticed the blue rings under Danny's eyes.

"Danny. . .! You need some sleep!"

Danny scrunched up his face and looked at her with slight annoyance.

"Does everyone have to keep telling me that?" he seethed moodily.

"They're telling you that for a reason Danny! You're a wreck!" Taylor explained as she crawled over to him to get a better look. Danny felt his face turn red as the warmth of her body came near him.

"I can't help not getting sleep! I'm helping ward off ghosts!" he explained angrily, looking at Taylor with narrowed blue eyes.

"Or maybe you forgot?"

Taylor brushed off his moody comments. He wasn't really trying to be an idiot, he was just tired. Slowly she reached for his head, placing her cool hands on either side. Danny's breath hitched in his chest as he looked at her, her brown eyes boring into his.

"It's okay Danny. . . now you need some sleep."

He felt himself shiver, and suddenly become very tired as she slowly leaned him back onto the couch.

"But-"

"Shhh." she whispered ,putting a finger to his lips as he felt his body sink into the soft fabric and sweet smelling scent of his makeshift bed.

"Not another word."

He never felt her place the warm black blanket over him as he drifted into sleep, the smell of her skin drowning him.

Some sort of smell drifted into Danny's nose, a sweet smelling and familiar aroma. Slowly Danny opened his eyes to see slight light radiating from a basement window, and he woke up with a real start. His body shot up from the couch, and he fell on the floor with a soft dud. He did not immediately remember how he got to be in this odd place, then he fuzzily remembered his early morning visit to Taylor.

"Ughh." he moaned tiredly as he tried to stand up. He still felt tired, but he wanted to see what that smell was.

Grogilly he turned intangible and slowly drifted up into the kitchen. He spotted Taylor, fully dressed in her usual tight black jeans and turtleneck, her long curly brown hair halfway down her back as she was cooking something.

Danny smirked a bit and started to come over to her in another scare attempt when he was stopped in his tracks by her voice.

"Pancakes Danny?"

She turned around and smiled brightly at him, happy to see that he didn't look as tired as he did before.

"Yeah. . . sure." he said with a pleased smile.

"Sit." she said, not looking at him as she pointed to the neat marble table.

Danny took a seat and watched as she scooped his breakfast onto a clean blue plate, and put it on the table before him. On the table already was blueberry sauce, maple syrup, and hot butter, and a tall cold glass of milk.He felt his stomach growl as the intense scents filled him, making him realize his hunger.

Taylor took a seat in front of him and placed down a huge plate of fruit for herself. She was a runner, and always was eating tons of fruit to keep up her energy, and he knew this.

"Well, don't just look at the food Danny." she said, indicating that she had every intention of him stuffing his face.

Danny obliged quite readily and began shoving food down his throat. Taylor smiled and watched him eat with pleasure and happiness. It really was an honor that he enjoyed her cooking, and that she could be helping someone she cared about so much regain strength and health.

When he was done, he pushed his plate away and looked at Taylor with a smile.

"Thanks! That was really good!"

Taylor shook her head.

"Anything for a friend. Besides, you and I need our strength if we're going to be fighting ghosts."

Danny nodded in understanding.

"We can go to my house today."

"Already arranged it. Sam and Tucker are meeting us there." Taylor informed as she began to clear off the table. Danny watched her with slight amazement. She really did plan things out very well.

"Go get dressed. We'll be meeting in an hour."

Starting to feel like he was in the prescence of his sister, Danny stalked off to the bathroom where he found his clothes neatly folded and laundered.

"Wait. . . where did she get my. . ."

He gasped as he realized he was standing in his boxers.

"This, is the Specter Deflecer," Danny informed as he showed Taylor a belt like tool.

"And it works too." Sam said sarcastically.

Apparently the Fenton's had a whole array of ghost hunting tools.Though some of them were poorly constructed, Taylor felt a bit excited to see them at first. Now it was wearing off. They had spent hours in the Fenton lab looking over things, and now she wanted to see some action.

"We've been over the tools thousands of times " Taylor complained.

"I want to learn some moves now!"

Tucker nodded fervently, looking to Danny pleadingly.

"Yeah! Let's see some fighting!"

"Alright alright. . . I just want to make sure Taylor knows everything first."

"I do! Can I learn now?"

"Fine!" Danny said, giving in to her persistence. She did after all have a firm idea of what everything was used for.

"Now. . ." Taylor watched Danny's every move, eyes wide with interest.

"The first thing you have to realize, is that ghost's aren't physical. All they are is energy, even the halfas. Therefore, they have energy and give energy. . . You need to too."

Danny threw an ecto ray at her, and she barely caught it.

This allows you to attack them with energy too, now, go ahead. . .shoot.

Tucker pushed a button on his PDA, and a ghost like structure shot up from the ground. Taylor smirked and aimed, fired, and missed by a few inches.

"It's hard to get used to . . ." Sam said reassuringly upon hearing Taylor's scowl.

"Just try again."

For the next thirty minutes, Taylor used to ecto gun. Each shot it became easier and easier.

"Alright. . . " she said confidently, her breathing even as she looked back at Danny.

"What else do I have to do?"

"You need to learn blocking too." he said as he turned into Danny Phantom.

"Run."

Taylor's eyes widened as Danny charged at her with immense speed. She knew he was going slower, but to her it was still mach 10.

Taylor ducked, and blasted at Danny who coiled up and fell to the ground. The ecto ray they were using was low voltage, so he wasn't hurt.

"Nice one." he said with slight annoyance as he stood up. He didn't expect her to be so good at shooting yet.

"But can you avoid this?"

He quickly shot a low ecto beam at her, which she blocked with a glow shield he had given her before with slight ease.

"Is that all you got Phantom?" Taylor asked cockily.

"No. It isn't." Danny said, feeling himself grow competitive at her taunting.

"Is it just me. . . or do I sense a fight about to happen?" Sam said to Tucker with a slight frown.

"Yeah. . . I think so." Tucker said with a grin as he watched the two begin to battle.

Taylor flipped backwards, sending several rays at Danny who blocked them all by turning intangible. Scowling, Taylor pushed the belt Danny had given her, sending out an ecto pulse that rattled the room. Danny came back into view with a yell, hitting the ground . Taylor persisted, flipping into action and firing several more rays at him, Danny not missing a few and getting hit. Danny responded by yelling, the ghostly wail as he called it. It hit her head on and blasted her into the wall.

"DANNY!"

Danny laughed jubilantly, until a ray hit him head on in the stomach, knocking him roughly into his dad's beakers and glasses, onto the cold hard floor.

"Ugh" he groaned, turning back into Danny Fenton.

Taylor stood over him with a smirk.

" I think I'm ready to help you close that ghost portal now."

And she was right.

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Wow. I am TIRED. I would have made this longer, but I NEED sleep. It's almost one in the morning, but this is the only time I have to really write a chapter.

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