"Winter in Amity," Danny sighed. "That's some scary shit."

"I mean, I thought …" I trailed off and started again. "I thought that it was way earlier than that. Even when we saw Tucker's … date, I didn't believe it. I can't believe it's snowing out."

"That doesn't necessarily mean anything. I've known it to snow early November in Amity."

"Last year it didn't snow until almost Christmas," I pointed out.

"Yeah," Danny agreed, he then turned his head on the pillow and looked at me. "But this isn't last year."

I groaned and pulled my own pillow over my face, trying to block everything out. We had been in here too long. It was time to get out. Unfortunately, we still didn't know where to start with that. Yes, we had resolved to start trying – and I was more than willing to just start shaking the cell bars until they eventually fell down – but that didn't mean that we had gotten anywhere. And now, knowing that it was snowing in Amity, knowing that even more time had passed than I had thought, I was feeling more hopeless. I didn't think that we were ever going to get out of here.

I released a scream into the pillow, trying to rid myself of these negative emotions and replace them with hope. I needed to believe that I would be leaving the cell soon, under my own power. I had to believe I was smart enough to get myself out of here, because then I magically would be. I just had to pull faith out of somewhere, because the moment I believed in myself, was the moment things would happen.

The only problem with that logic was that I didn't believe in myself and the odds of escaping were just as bad as they ever were.

I screamed again.

"Are you okay?" Danny inquired when I was finished.

I put the pillow back under my head where it belonged. I then carefully maneuvered onto my non injured side so that I was lying facing him and answered, "Not at all."

"Yeah, I get that." He was splayed on his stomach, his arms under his head, and he was facing me as well.

"Let's not talk about it."

"What's 'it'?"

"All the bad stuff," I replied. "Let's talk about something that'll make us think about happier things."

"Okay. Uh, ask me anything."

"How did you meet Tucker?"

Danny frowned. "I don't know."

I frowned back at him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, it happened when we were really little kids, but I honestly don't know where he came from. One day he was just in my life and he never really left. I'm not complaining. I just wish I had treated him the way he deserved."

"What do you mean?"

"I never gave Tucker enough credit, not once. It got a lot worse when I became Danny Phantom, though, because all of a sudden, we both knew that I was a fucking hero. The only role I let him play after that was sidekick. And then it went downhill again when I started dating Paullina, because I was popular and he knew that the crowd didn't like him as much as they liked me. Except for Kwan, but that's because Kwan literally loves every person he comes across; he's a champ like that. Tuck knew Paullina would give anything to get rid of him and that everyone was following her. I was such a dick to him, too. I was a dick to a lot of people, but Tucker was the least deserving of it."

Danny closed his eyes and then opened them again. "Tucker and you, I should say. But, he knew everything that was going on. He knew about Paullina, he knew about you, he knew that I was going above and beyond dumb-assery and that I needed to stop. He stuck by me for longer than he should have. I never got the chance to tell him how sorry I was. I mean, I said sorry, but I didn't mean it the way I should. I realize that now. Jazz, Tucker, Mikey, so many others, they deserved so much better than what I offered them and …" he trailed off. "I'm rambling. I'm not making any sense. I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay," I answered.

"How about you talk now?" Danny suggested.

"Sure. Ask me anything."

"Tell me about the last girl in the photos, the one with the baby."

"That's Leslie and her baby, Gavin. She was one of the girls that used to tease me in high school, but having him changed her for the better. She's just a really great friend. Actually, we connected when she was still pregnant and it was one of the most hilarious experiences ever."

"How so?"

"Well, your average teenager is pretty hormonal and crazy, right? Leslie was off the chart originally, but Gavin was screwing with her pretty badly. She was eight months when I got back to Amity, so I didn't really get to experience a lot of pregnant Leslie, but there was one night where I stayed at her house. No joke, it was four in the morning and she wakes me out of a dead sleep. I have a panic attack, thinking that she's going to give birth while I'm asleep next to her and instead she says, 'I'm hungry'. I follow her down to her kitchen, thinking that hungry and pregnant is pretty normal, right?"

"Right," Danny confirms. "Not that I've spent a lot of time around a pregnant person."

"So, guess what she makes?"

"Chocolate chip cookies?"

"Close."

"Really?" He asks, surprised.

"No. Well, kinda. She boiled spaghetti, melted chocolate over it, and still covered it in parmesan cheese."

"Gross!"

"That's not even the best part," I laughed, thinking that this story probably sounded rather dumb as I was retelling it, but it was still hilarious in my memory.

"Then tell me the best part!" Danny urged.

"She goes down to the den, puts on The Notebook, and then laughs her way through it."

"Isn't that a go-to cry movie?"

I giggled. "Usually, but she just found everything hilarious. I like her so much."

"And what about Tara?" Danny pressed.

"She's my favourite too. She and Leslie don't always get along – Tara's a little bit like a pit bull and Leslie can still act like a princess – but they can still be really good friends when they remember that they like each other."

"A pit bull and a princess?" Danny snorted. "What does that make you?"

I thought about it. "Hmm, I suppose that would make me perfect."

Danny lifted his head a little to look at me. His messy, knotted black hair fell in a chunk over his pale forehead. His blue eyes were glinting from the ugly florescent light we'd had to become accustomed to. I watched as the barest hint of a smile tugged at his lips and his thoughts wandered somewhere. It transformed his whole face into something very sweet.

"Yeah," he murmured softly, his pale lips barely moving. "And so much more."

My stomach churned, but not in a bad way. It wasn't in the way that felt like acid and vomit; the way he had made me feel for so long. It felt like there was something slowly beating against the inside of my stomach; something like trembling butterfly wings. It almost felt like something I used to experience when I looked at Phantom, when I was happy with him.

"You're looking at me weird."

"You're weird," I retorted instantly. I didn't know what else to say. I was thinking crazy, insane thoughts.

"You're weirder."

"You're childish."

He stuck his tongue out at me.

"That only proves my point."

"Eh," Danny muttered and flopped his tongue out at me once more.

"Really, your parents must be so proud of your maturity."

"They have Jazz to be proud of; I don't need to do anything." I watched his face fall and he buried his head further into the crook of his arm. His next words were muffled, but I was still able to make them out. "I guess I'll have to step it up when we get home."

"Speaking of home," I ventured, not sure if this was the right time to ask, "What's the story we're going to tell?"

"Huh?"

"When the police ask me what happened, I can't exactly reply with: Officer, once upon a time I accidentally dated a boy who was half ghost. He somehow angered the only other half ghost on the planet, who was not only stalking him but is a maniac, with a mysterious master plan. Did I mention that the older halfa ghost is the well-known, well-respected, billionaire businessman, Vlad Masters? Well, Vlad kidnapped us and kept us locked up in a cell, because God knows why. Oh, and, Vlad also made a clone of the boy I accidentally dated and then convinced that clone to date me because he's a little screwy in the head. And, while I'm at it, the clone is a murderer too."

Danny raised his eyebrows at me. "I can see your point."

"It was a difficult point to see," I agreed.

"I guess the best thing would be to play dumb," he suggested. "No one is going to believe us if we try and point the finger at Vlad. And clones? Stalking me? Stalking you? It all sounds too crazy to be real."

"I wish it were too crazy to be real," I sighed, "but this is the life we're in."

"You're cute when you're feeling pessimistic."

"I'm exhausted too."

"Then we'll figure this out quickly," Danny decided. "So, yeah, we'll play dumb. I'll say that I went to find you at Vlad's party because I thought Tucker was with you. I remember going out into – Wait, where were you when they got you?"

"Out in the garden. Elliot strangled me long enough for me to black out, but I think they gave me drugs to keep me under longer."

"That son of a bitch," he muttered. "So, I go out into the garden, see you unconscious, and then I feel this pain in the back of my head. We wake up in a totally dark cell and we barely see our kidnappers except for when they want evidence from us."

"And when they gave us a change of clothes," I added. "It's too dark for us to see their faces."

"And they wore masks."

"Masks are always a good touch."

"See, Sam?" Danny asked. "Just because I'm immature doesn't mean I'm completely idiotic."

I rolled my eyes. "I am living proof you're completely idiotic."

"There's that."

I flipped onto my back, staring up at the ceiling. "So, what were you doing when they grabbed you?"

"I was with Vlad, in one of the mansion rooms, and we were fighting. Tucker walked into it and Vlad started attacking him. I, of course, went to help Tucker and Vlad … he out-maneuvered me, basically, and I ended up unconscious. I woke up here, before you did, but just before."

I turned my head to the side again, studying him with concern. "So, you were there for what happened to him?"

Danny shook his head. "Not really. What I saw in that picture," here his voice broke, shattering with the remembrance of what Tucker looked like right after being savagely attacked, "was not what he looked like when Vlad got to me. They attacked him after; they only did it to hurt me. They only hurt him further because they wanted him to die, Sam. They were planning on this the whole time."

I had no words. He was right. Whatever was going on in Vlad's sick twisted mind, he had been planning these deaths. Whatever he had against Danny, he had gone above and beyond to make sure that Danny was emotionally and physically tortured. He wanted Danny to suffer, but I could think of no good reasons to go to the lengths that Vlad had. As the one person who had the right to despise Fenton the most, I couldn't understand why Vlad would want to harm innocent people in his quest to hurt Danny. I had thought Jack and Maddie were Vlad's friends. Why would he orchestrate the death of their daughter?

"He's a psychopath, he has to be," I said aloud. "There's something beyond wrong with him."

"I should have been able to stop it," Fenton sniffed.

"Aw, no, there's no way you could've known that."

I slid across the mattress, closer to him. He was still lying on his stomach, burying his face away from me. I poked at him, prodded him to move so that I could pull him into a hug. His tears were wetting my shoulder, and I ran my hands across his back, trying to calm him down with a familiar touch. Like they had so often lately, words failed. There was nothing to be said; nothing to be done. I knew that the wounds caused by Tucker's and Jazz's deaths would never heal and that grieving would feel endless.

"I could have," Fenton insisted.

"No, you couldn't have," I repeated. "Trust me."

Fenton was quiet for a long time. I thought that he had fallen asleep when I felt him mumble, "I do trust you, Sam," against my arm.

I ran my hand absently through his hair, and closed my eyes, praying for rest.

I don't own anything recognizable. Thanks to my betas: Foreversky.

~TLL~