Author's Notes: I know I'm updating pretty fast, but that's because this story is already written on paper, and I'm just typing it up, and reviewing it before I post it. Please let me know what you guys think, and as always I ask that you enjoy the story.

Warning: Character deaths!

(Next Morning: Saturday)

[Time: 08:00, Time for the C.A.T.]

Danny could feel his heart hammering in his chest, was he mad? Had he lost his mind? All he wanted to do was study the answers, so he'd have a better chance, but now he actually was cheating! Danny had very little progress absorbing, and remembering all the answers, so here he was with the answer booklet hidden in his lap under his desk.

He tensed as Mr. Lancer walked down his aisle, passing his desk without a second glance.

Students all around him scribbled out their test answers, finally satisfied that he does not see anyone with the answer booklet, Mr. Lancer sits down at his desk, and opens his book of poetry.

Danny sneaks a peak at the answer key under his desk, then randomly starts filling in correct answers. He knows this is wrong, deep down he knows he should come clean now, but Mr. Lancer had no proof, as long as he got rid of the test answers once he finished the test; he was golden.

He chanced a glance at his friends; Tucker looks shocked, and Sam looks disappointed.

"Danny, don't!" Tucker whispered. "Sam's right you're better than this."

"Shhh!" Sam warned, not wanting Danny to get caught. Sure she was mad at him, but that didn't mean she wanted him to get in trouble.

Mr. Lancer looks up from his book "Mr. Foley, Mr. Fenton. Is there a problem?"

Sam, and Tucker look at Danny hopefully.

"No Mr. Lancer." Danny said quickly. "No problem at all."

Mr. Lancer looks away, and back down to his book of poems, reading on.

Danny watches him a few moments, before he starts copying answers from the answer sheet again. He feels like there is a frog in his chest climbing up into his throat. Still there is no turning back now. He has already started cheating if he's caught now he could be expelled! He scribbles in his last few answers, and closes his booklet.

He was finished, he had done it!

Danny slipped the answer key back into his bookbag unseen, and stood shaking only slightly; before he walked as calmly as possible up to Mr. Lancer's desk, test booklet in hand.

The aisle seemed to drag on before him, like it would never end, like he would never reach the teacher's desk.

But he does, and he lays his test booklet down before Mr. Lancer.

"Finished already, Mr. Fenton?" He asked flatly.

"Is that a problem?" Danny inquired fearfully.

"How should I know?" Mr. Lancer responded. "I don't have all the answers. Do you?"

Danny almost crumbled at that question. Did Jazz tell on him after all?

No, he was just being paranoid. "May I go?" he asked.

"Yes of course." Mr. Lancer stated, and shook his head as Danny left the classroom. He then sighs reaching for his cell phone and dials for Fenton Works.

It rings once!

"Hello?" Maddie asked on the other end of the phone line.

"Mrs. Fenton? It's Mr. Lancer." Mr. Lancer said, talking low, but Sam and Tucker still heard his every word. "Could you meet me at the Nasty Burger at say, 5 o'clock?" He looks out the window and sees Danny walking across the school lawn. "And bring Danny."

"Why, is something wrong?" Maddie asked.

"I'm not sure." Mr. Lancer admitted. "But maybe you can help me find out."

"We have to warn him." Tucker whispered.

"Why should we, he made his choice." Sam said flatly.

"He's our friend Sam, he'll get expelled for this." Tucker reasoned.

"Good, maybe next time he'll learn." She said. However, she openly bit her lip in worry, Danny's future could be over. They had to do something. "Ok well go to the Nasty Burger at 5 and we'll try to convince Mr. Lancer to go easy on him."

"Thank you Sam." Tucker said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Don't thank me yet." Sam warned.

"There is still time." Melk piped up.

Clockwork sighed. "Yes, if he comes clean before 5 there is still a chance for him to fix this."

"No, I meant there is still time for you to fix this." Melk said.

"It is not my mess to fix." Clockwork said, but his tone was not as unmoved as he like it to be. In truth he usually was the one that would be begging the Observants to allow him to intervene, but not this time. He would teach them this lesson; besides, they were right, he was right.

The laws were there for a reason.

Danny turned intangible, and slipped the answer key back into Mr. Lancer's office. 'There now he'll never know it was me.'

'But you'll know.' Sam's words cut through him like ice. 'Will you be able to live with the fact that you cheated?'

Danny ignored the guilt and slipped back out into the school yard, and begins his walk home.

Jazz stops by Mr. Lancer's door window giving the teacher a hopeful look.

Mr. Lancer gave her a sad look and shook his head.

Jazz's eyes widen, and she takes off running down the hall, tears streaming from her eyes. 'Danny why!?'

Clockwork presses the button on his staff, and pushes time forward once more. Trying his best to ignore his own guilt. 'Nothing I would have done would have change this.' He knew this, and he had seen all the possibilities of this story flash before his eyes in an instant. Sure, he could try to manipulate time, but a thousand different scenarios could take place if he mess with the time stream. And in the end, his meddling could have the same outcome, or an even worse one.

It was best not to get involved.

The time rift stops zooming forward and shows the wreckage of the Nasty Burger, the tanks are still over heating; and the indicator needle shudders higher.

Mr. Lancer stands before the restaurant, Danny's C.A.T. test in hand. His perfect score has furthered his suspicions, and even though he found the answer key in his office moments after the rest of the students left; he was still convince that Danny had cheated somehow.

A car pulls up, it's the Fenton RV, and its head lights illuminate the parking lot. Maddie parks a good ways away from the Nasty Burger, looking unsure. "Mr. Lancer sounded urgent on the phone. Danny, is something wrong?"

"Yeah Danny?" Jazz asked, "Is something wrong?"

Danny bit his lip as he looked at her.

Her eyes were puffy from crying so much, and the look she gave him was one of pure disappointment.

"No everything is fine." Danny lied.

"You're unbelievable!" Jazz snapped as she opened her door and marched out of the car.

"Well let's go see what this is all about." Jack said. "I've got a very explosive invention on hold because of this."

Maddie nodded and watched as he got out, she then turned to look at Danny. "Are you sure nothing is wrong."

"You're guess is as good as mine." Danny lied, clearing his throat.

"Okay well let's go see then." His mother said, and they both got out of the car.

Danny's legs felt unstable, as they all walked up to Mr. Lancer.

Mr. Lancer cleared his throat before beginning. "Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, Daniel, Jazz this is the Nasty Burger. When people fail, this is where they end up. Whether they fail because they don't study, or because they cheated." He holds up Danny's test for his parents to see.

Jack and Maddie gasp.

"Danny! Is this true?" His father asked.

"Did you cheat?" His mother cried.

"I…I…" Danny tried to find the words, he looked to Jazz hopefully.

"Just tell them the truth Danny, it's the only thing that can help you now." Jazz said.

Danny sighed. "Yes…" he admitted. "I…I cheated."

"Daniel!" Maddie exclaimed.

"Son, Fentons are geniuses! We don't need to cheat!" Jack shouted.

"But you don't understand." Danny tried to explain. "I had to!"

"Save it Daniel." Mr. Lancer said. "Once I return to School on Monday I will let the school board know of this, and you will be expelled." He vowed.

"Wait!" Sam exclaimed as she and Tucker rushed over. "You can't do that!"

"Sam? Tucker?" Danny asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Saving your butt." Sam said.

"Please Mr. Lancer, Please give Danny a second chance." Tucker begged.

"I'm sorry Mr. Foley, but I gave Danny time to come clean, and so did his sister." Mr. Lancer explained.

"Danny I can't believe you would cheat like this." His mother was dumbfounded.

"Mom I…" Danny began.

"No just go to the car." She said. "While I try to fix this."

Danny bowed his head in shame, and dragged his feet towards the car.

"Isn't there some other way to punish him?" His mother said hopefully. "How about Detention or Community service?"

"No, this is a serious offense." Mr. Lancer explained. "This is a state issued test Mrs. Fenton, his punishment is out of my hands."

"But he's 14!" Jazz exclaimed. "Couldn't the state let him off with a warning?"

"They might." Mr. Lancer said. "But I wouldn't count on it."

Danny reaches the car, and opens his side door. "Way to go Fenton." He scoffed at himself. "You really blew it this time."

"You don't know the half of it child." Clockwork whispered.

And that's when it happened,

It started with a slight tremor of the ground around them.

"Hey, did you guys feel that?" Jazz asked.

Danny turned towards the sound of her voice, only to be blinded by a brilliant white light. His force shield goes up in defense without him meaning to.

The explosion shook the ground around him, and rubble flew by him at what looked to be the speed of light. And when the light of the explosion cleared, Danny's jaw dropped open as he fell to his knees, his hair flowing back with the aftershock, as his shield dropped. "NOOOOO!" He screamed.

"When his heart grows dark you will be the one to blame!" Melk hissed.

"I do not command time." Clockwork said. "She does what she pleases, and this is the fate she has decided."

"What's the point in having all that power if you don't use it?" Klem asked.

Clockwork merely turned off his many rifts with a wave of his staff. "It is finished!" He told them. "Now leave."

"Fine we will!" Melk hissed, and the two observers turned and walked away, but not without a final word in. "But mark my words Clockwork, you will come to regret this!"

However, what they didn't know is he already did.

Clockwork sighed, but what could he do?

Nothing; he could do nothing to stop this! No one could; not even Danny could change things now. "I hate this job." Clockwork said walking away.

(Back with Danny…)

He was alone,

Alone and afraid next to the burning remains of the Nasty Burger.

"No please, no!" Danny screamed, he runs forward to try and save them, hoping that maybe they were still alive under all the debris.

Someone grabbed him from behind, it was a passerby, who had also witnessed the tragedy. "Are you crazy you can't go in there it's too hot."

"Let me go!" Danny screamed, "My family is in there!" he can hear sirens going off in the distance, but he knows they won't make it in time.

He tries to go ghost, but fails, the blast must have shorted out his powers somehow. The realization hits Danny like a shock wave, and he gives up the fight. He was powerless to stop this, he was powerless to save them. "This is all my fault." He whispered.

The passerby shook his head, as Danny cries in his arms. "What could you have done?" he asked.

'I could have given the test an honest effort.' He thought. 'I could have been honest about cheating.'

But the realization comes too late.

'Cheaters never win.' Jazz's words consumed him.

"Make it stop!" he screamed, as the pain and the guilt filled him. "Make it stop!" The sirens drown out his words. And soon firemen are rushing out of their trucks trying to get the flames under control. A squad car stops beside Danny and the Passerby.

"Sir, can you tell me what happened here?" The officer, a young man in his twenties asked.

"My family, my friends, Mr. Lancer!" Danny exclaimed, bursting out of the other man's hold, and grabbing at the cop's collar. "You have to help them!"

"Son calm down." The officer insisted.

"But they're still in there!" Danny screamed.

"You mean there are people in there?" The officer goes ghost white. "Who's in there kid, tell me!"

"Danny?" Danny turned to see half the town, or maybe even the whole town standing behind him.

Tucker's parents step forward.

"Danny." Tucker's mother says again. "Please tell me Tucker is with you!"

Sam's parents rush up as well.

"Daniel have you seen Sam?" Sam's mother asked.

Danny can't find the words, he feels sick.

"Danny where are they!" Mr. Foley exclaimed.

"I…I'm sorry." Danny said, looking towards the roaring flames. "I'm so sorry."

"NO!" Tucker's mom falls to her knees, "My baby!"

Her scream made him forget how to breathe, he gasped for air, but found he had none.

"Oh no he's going into shock!" The officer said. "I need a Medic!" He shouts, but no one can hear him over the chaos. "Can someone help this boy?"

"I can!" A voice screams out.

Danny watches, stunned as Valerie Gray comes rushing to his side.

"Miss I can't let you help him if you're not certified." The officer said.

Valerie ignores him, and stets to work. "Danny?" She asked. "Fenton are you ok?"

"It's ok I'm certified." Her father Mr. Gray said, as he stepped forward from the still growing crowd.

The officer still looks unsure.

Mr. Gray puts a hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay they're in the same class. He'll feel better with her then some stranger with a PHD."

The cop seemed to nod at this. "Yeah you're probably right." He agreed, as he watched Valerie as she continued to look him over, and try to get him to calm down. "That poor kid."

"It's okay Danny just breathe." Valerie insisted, but Danny was still gasping for air.

Valerie threw her arms around him, holding him close. "It's going to be okay." She promised him. "You'll see it's going to be okay. Just match my breathes okay?"

Danny nodded, his mind going into auto pilot, he begins to take deep long breathes, and soon he manages to breathe easier.

"There you go." She whispered, pulling away slightly. "Now you're doing it."

Tears steam down Danny's face. "Why." He asked. "Why help me?"

Valerie sighed, looking around at the chaos that surrounded her. "Because…" She said. "I've been here before."

-To Be Continued