I deeply apologize for my (very) late update, but I was so bust during the week trying to catch up on Christmas Shopping (bah humbug -_-) and trying to finish up any school work that I needed to get finished due to being absent from school for 3 days after surgery. I have finally gotten the time to do this chapter and post it up for all my loyal and eager readers out there. I hope you all enjoy this chapter (because it was a pain in the ass to write).

~I Do Not Own Danny Phantom or the Teen Titans~

Chapter 32 - Opportunity of a Life Time

Danny's POV

When I woke up again, there was thankfully no more beeping sound, and my throat felt normal again. The bright lights from the room were still shining down into my eyes, though. I slowly looked around the room, finding it empty. I shifted my head to the side and tilted it back some so that I could look around for a clock or anything that could tell me the time. But as soon as I shifted my body, meaning my chest area, I hissed in pain when the movement irritated the healing wound under the gauze and wrapping. I paused for a second, allowing the pain to diminish before attempting to move again, slower this time.

I located a clock hanging on the wall to my right. It took me a fee seconds for my eyes to adjust to the distance and make out where the hands were pointing. It said 6:13 but I couldn't tell if it was morning or night. I looked down to see that someone, probably Cyborg, had detached all the wires from my body and that most of the equipment was off.

I almost jump out of my skin when the door slid open with a hiss and Cyborg walked in. He paused with mild surprise on his face when he saw me awake. A grin slowly split across his face.

"Well good morning sleeping beauty." He said teasingly. "Glad to see you awake and okay."

I smiled weakly back at him. "Hey Cy. Glad to be okay. Better then the alternative, right?" I chuckled softly.

Cyborg nodded. "Man, isn't that the truth."

"Hey is he awake?" called a familiar feminine voice, from down the hall.

I saw Cyborg turn and poke his head out of the room and looks down the hall. He smiled widely. "Oh! Hey! Yeah he's awake now, but just be-WOW!" Cyborg yelped when a black and white blur shot past him into the room before tackling me into a monstrous bear hug. I yelped in pain and discomfort when the stitches started getting pulled and strained but that quickly dimmed into surprise at who it was that was now giving me a hug that could rival Frostbite.

"DANNY! Oh Danny I'm so glad you're okay! I was so worried that you weren't going to make it! Well, we all were worried, but still! I'm also so sorry for not getting here in time to help you beat the crap out of Vlad, but if it makes you feel any better I got to beat the heck out of him after Raven did! I so happy you're okay! I-"

I cut her off with a weak chuckle of laughter and surprise. "Wow, wow there! Calm down! Dani? What the heck are you doing here?" I asked with a smile looking down into the white furry hair of my 14 year old female clone. "How did you find me anyways?"

Dani looked up at me with a wide grin. "I followed your ecto-signature, you silly goose!" She told me, her bright electric green eyes staring up into my own.

I chuckled and gave her a gentle hug, being mindful of my own resent injury. "Well anyways, it's good to see you again Dani." I told her with a smile. I looked back up at the door to see all the Titans filing into the room, all wearing a smile, minus Raven who was watching with a bored expression but I could see the happiness in her eyes. "Hey guys," I greeted them with a smile. "How long was I out?"

Cyborg looked at the clock on the wall. "About...two days, four hours, and thirty-six minutes."

I blinked at him. "I was out that long? Dang." I said with surprise. "What happened anyways? I don't really remember that much except for fighting Vlad...then it gets foggy after that..." I asked, slowly releasing Dani from my hug allowing her to step back, even though her grin never left her face.

Robin spoke up. "I don't really know what happened during your fight against Vlad, But I know you defeated him using your...Ghostly Wail?...Anyways, after that, Slade took off so we all gathered around and were getting ready to tell us about you most hardest battle when..." Robin looked a bit hesitant to answer, but he slowly pushed up. "Next thing we know, it there was a dagger buried in your chest and... it was all a rush from there. We apprehended Vlad and tried to get you fixed up before you...well..."He trailed off.

"...died?" I finished for him slowly. Robin nodded.

Cyborg nodded. "You were hurt pretty badly and you lost a lot of blood. Dani here, your uh...clone...donated some blood for a transfusion." He said pointed to my clone floating a few feet away from the bed beside me.

I looked at all the Titans faced, taking in their expressions, noticing just how relieved they were. It must have been pretty bad for them to be this happy. "I'm sorry about worrying you all." I said softly.

He said, just before walking over. "But now that you're awake, I need to check you physical status and see just how well you are healing."

I nodded slowly in understanding. Cyborg ran a few test, like my reflexes, temperature, blood pressure and a few other vital readings, I just shook my head in confusion. "Why didn't you just leave the other equipment attached to me and use those to get my readings?"

Cyborg looked at me amused. "Because you kept ripping them out or getting tangle in them. You're a very violent sleeper, you know that right?"

I blinked in confusion. "No... I didn't know."

Cyborg chuckled. "After the 3rd time you took out the IV's and got tangled up in the heart monitor wiring, I decided to leave them off you to keep you from harming yourself. You slept pretty smoothly after that."

I nodded slowly, taking it all in. When Cyborg finished his check-ups, he sat back on his heels and nodded with a wide smile. "Well Danny, you seem to be healing very well. A lot faster than a human of course, but then again you're not fully human so that's understandable."

I smiled at him in gratitude. I smiled at all the Titans. "Thank you all so much." I told them honestly. I felt that I had already given them my thanks, but I felt like doing it again. "I don't know what would have become of me if I hadn't met you."

They all grinned, just then Starfire and Beast Boy ran forward and gave me a hug, but not a bear hug like Dani gave me, thank god. I don't know how many bear hugs I could survive in one day. "Anytime, Friend Danny!" Starfire said happily. I noticed she called me 'Friend Danny' instead of 'Not friend Danny'. I raised a curious eyebrow at her but didn't comment on it. I didn't feel like it, or want to, to be honest.

"Thanks Starfire. You too Beast Boy."I said, giving them both a gentle, but awkward, hug back.

When they let me go, I looked around at all the face, one small - very major question in my mind. "How did I survive?" I asked them. "If it was as bad as you said it was-which it feel bad too, how did it not kill me?"

They all shrugged. All but one. Raven looked away at the floor, looking a bit unsure of something. I raised an eyebrow at her. "Raven..."I said softly to her. Everyone soon turned their attention to the sorceress that was, surprisingly, looking nervous and unsure of herself. "Do you know something?"

Raven sighed softly and nodded slowly. "Yeah...someone helped us..."

I looked at her, my eyebrows creased with confusion. "Who?"

Raven looked up and meet my eyes. "I believe you know him...he called himself-"

"Clockwork." A voice said from one side of the room. I quickly whipped my head around towards the voice, as did the rest of the Titans. Everyone but Raven, Dani and I, got into a battle stance.

I felt a wide grin split across my lips as my heart leapt with joy. "Clockwork!" I yelled an ecstatic greeting to the Time Master.

When everyone saw that I was happy to see the purple cloaked figure, the slowly dropped their stance and looked with confusion. "Clockwork?" asked Robin. "I've never heard of you."

Clockwork gave the Titan leader and sly smile. "Of course you haven't Mr. Grayson. I'm sure that the only ghosts you know of are young Daniel here-" he gestured calmly to me. "-and the Box Ghost. But I am the Master of Time, also Daniel's guardian." He told them.

Everyone, minus Dani, Raven and I (again) stared at him with shock and awe.

"How did you know my name?" Robin asked with surprise.

Clockwork smiled calmly. "I know everything. But back to other matter at hand. I do have a schedule to keep." He chuckled softly. "Would you all please give me and Daniel some privacy please?" he asked.

The Titans all looked hesitant but I gave them a nod in reassurance. "It's okay guys. Clockwork's on our side." They nodded and reluctantly left.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Clockwork turned to face me with a very serious and very stern expression on his face, almost causing me to hide underneath the blankets on the bed. "That was a very serious thing you almost attempted three days ago, Daniel." He told me, his expression unreadable as he glared down at me. "Trying to go back in time and meddle with the time stream."

I swallowed thickly and opened my mouth to say something to defend myself, but I could think of nothing. I bowed my head in shame, tearing my eyes away from Clockwork blood red ones. "I'm sorry, Clockwork." I managed to whisper out, just loud enough for him to hear.

I could feel Clockwork's eyes on me as he continued to stare at me. I started playing with the bed sheets nervously waiting for whatever punishment the Master of Time was going to dish out.

Instead I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder giving it a comforting squeeze. I looked up in surprise at Clockwork's calm smile, his eyes caring. "But I understand why you did it." He told me softly. "You miss your family very much, and you were also worried about what the future might hold for you after knowing what happened last time they were killed."

I looked back down at my lap and nodded slowly in agreement. "Yeah...but it was still foolish of me to even try that."

Clockwork chuckled softly, causing me to look back up at him again with confusion. "Then I guess I'd better let you in on a little secret." He said with a knowing grin. "Contrary to what Vlad and Slade thought, the portal didn't work. It was never a 'Time Portal' to begin with. I personally saw to that." He said with a wink at me.

I stared at him with shock and surprise. "W-what? You serious?" When Clockwork nodded with a smile, I felt my eyes grow wider. "So…so it was basically just a regular Ghost Portal?" Again Clockwork nodded. "That means...that if one of us, me or Vlad, went through the portal...we would just end up in the Ghost Zone..." I said softly with disbelief in my voice.

"Yes, you would have just ended up floating into the Ghost Zone looking like a complete fool." He said teasingly. "But sadly, I didn't get to see that happen. That would have been very amusing."

I blinked in confusion before remembering that I had destroyed the portal and smirked softly at my guardian. "Oops." I said casually with a small wave of my hand. "How foolish of me to not think of bringing the Great, Almighty, Time Master some comedy into his boring life." I said teasingly back. "Oh well." I chuckled.

Clockwork smiles and ruffled my white hair. "Cute." He said. "But there is one other thing I wanted to bring up with you." He told me, turning serious once again.

I looked up at him curiously. "What's that?"

Clockwork looked me right in the eye. "Would you have been able to go back and change everything if you could have?"

I paused and looked down at the bed sheets in my lap thoughtfully. Could I have? Would have been able to go back and change everything? If I did, I would never have met the Titans. The mixture of different types of teenagers working together like one, big family. Could I have done something like that? Now that I think about it, I'm not quite sure I would have been able to...I truly did enjoy meeting the Titans. They reminded me a bit of my own family in some strange way. I no longer feel alone when I'm around them. Could I have given all of that up?

I sighed softly and looked up at Clockwork. "No...I don't think I could have- no scratch that, I know I couldn't have done that." I told him honestly. "I'm glad I meet the Titans. They're great people." I said with a small smile.

Clockwork nodded him head, smiling softly back. "Good, than I guess you've earned it." he said.

I looked up at him confused. "Earned what?"

Clockwork gave me a warm smile. "I'm giving you a chance to go back in time and snag one person before the explosion, and bring them back here, all without changing the time stream."

I stared at him shock, my whole body frozen in place. "W-what? You mean...you're allowing me...to...you going to let me save someone? Anyone I want?" I asked with shock and hope.

Clockwork nodded his head. "Yes. You have earned it."

I quickly jumped off the bed and threw myself at Clockwork and hugged him as tightly as I could, ignoring the burning pain in my chest. I buried my face into his chest, feeling tears of joy running down the sides of my face. "Thank you, Clockwork! Thank you so much! I don't know how I could ever repay you!"

Clockwork looked down at me shocked at my reaction before the surprise melted away into a warm smile as he hugged me back. "Like I said, Daniel. You've earned it. To know that you could never have gone through the Portal and change everything ( that is my job after all) and allow yourself new friendship with the Titans, even when given the opportunity to get your old ones back. It's the very least I could do for you."

I looked up into his red eyes that held fatherly warmth, and grinned at him through my tears of happiness. "The least you could do? Clockwork, this means the world to me! Even though it is only one person, it's still someone that I love and cared for. To know that there is still someone from my past that knew about me, and that I protected is still alive...that's just..." I cut off, choking up on my own tears and squeezed my mentor again in a final grateful hug before letting him go and taking a step back. "Thank you so much." I said wiping at the tears with a big smile of my face.

Clockwork nodded his head and mussed my hair again. "No problem. We had better get your friends together and get you dressed. Call for me when you are ready to go, and I'll come and pick you all up and bring you to my tower. Till then." He said, then he teleported away in a blue swirl of clock hands.

I grinned widely and called all the Titans back into the room.

End Chapter 32!

Me: Wow, this was a very touching chapter! I just wanted to join in on the hug, didn't you?

Dan Muse: *points his finger at his mouth and makes a gagging noise* No thanks. I'll pass. I want nothing to do with my younger self and the Old Timer.

Me: *glares* oh hush up, before I go over there and hug you myself.

Dan Muse: *smirks teasingly* you would have to catch me first, Little Mouse.

Me: *raises and eyebrow* is that a challenge? You do know how I love challenges. *smirks back*

Dan Muse: *chuckles* Oh hell yeah it is.

Me: *grins evilly* Challenge accepted! *suddenly tackle Dan Muse in a hug* Group Hug everyone! Join in and hug my evil Muse!

Dan Muse: GAA! NO! GET AWAY! *wiggles around trying to get away* HELP!

My Christmas list (bah humbug -_-)

I want all my favorite authors to UPDATE THEIR BLASTED STORIES!

That is all

TATA!

Rae

DanPhantomsApprentice