I'm Still Here
A Danny Phantom FanFiction by Cordria

Chapter Four


Danny sat in the old kitchen, gazing around at all of the things Sam had collected throughout her life. The whole place had a slightly creepy vibe to it – it wasn't the average kitchen that had 'spiders' as the main decorating theme. Sam, though, fit into it perfectly.

He glanced down at the cup he was fiddling with. It was chipped and worn from use, a lot like his best friend now was. She was eighty-six years old and, despite the fact that their voices were the same and they made the same gestures and were (really) the same people, his Sam and this Sam didn't quite mesh in his mind. If he didn't look at her, he could almost image his almost-girlfriend sitting across the table from him.

"So what are your plans?" Sam asked softly.

Danny shrugged, still fixated on the cup in his hands. "Erase Danny Fenton, start over," he said after a moment. "Pick a new name, maybe. Move someplace."

"That's it?" Sam shook her head a little, sitting back in her chair. "Just… start over? No fighting it? No trying to go back and change the past?"

"The Ghost Zone's gone," Danny said sourly. "Clockwork's gone. Vlad's gone. My parents are gone. Tucker's gone. The portals are gone. Unless you have a time machine in your basement, I'm stuck here. There isn't anything else to do." He set his cup down on the table. "I don't think there's a fix to this."

Sam took a deep breath, then hesitated, unsure of what she was going to say.

"What?" Danny asked, looking up.

"That's not… technically all true," Sam said slowly. She looked into Danny's eyes, a pensive smile on her face. "Vlad's not dead."

Danny blinked at her, startled. "But… I read…"

"Vlad Masters had a funeral five years ago after, according to the news, dying from a massive heart attack. Coincidently enough, Vlad's 'long lost son' appeared a few days later to claim Vlad's fortune and retire in a billionaire's lifestyle." Sam leaned forwards on the table to tap the center of the table. "Computer, display picture of Matthew Masters please."

"Yes ma'am," the computer stated just before a small hologram of a man, about sixty years old, fizzled into existence just above the tabletop.

"If that's not Vlad," Sam finished with an arched eyebrow, "I'll wear bright pink every day for the rest of my life."

Danny's forehead wrinkled as he studied the picture. "That can't be Vlad. Vlad's more than a hundred by now, isn't he? This Matthew person isn't that old."

"I can't explain how it works," Sam said, "but it's Vlad, somehow. It fits all the facts that I've found of him. Matthew won't allow for genetic testing at all, my guess is because it would show that he's a perfect genetic match to Vlad. Most of Vlad's personal information has vanished mysteriously – fingerprints, DNA samples, iris prints, stuff like that." Her eyes narrowed as she studied the man. "It's Vlad, I'm sure of it."

"So maybe Vlad knows a way back to the past?" Danny asked, a glimmer of hope in his heart as he stared at his ancient arch-enemy. It wouldn't be the first time Vlad, as an old hermit, would have helped him return to the past.

"If there's a way, I'm sure Vlad knows it," Sam said darkly. "If nothing else, he always had eleven different ways to back out of any plan. I'm sure it's to be known, he knows it." She grinned, making the wrinkles in her face crease heavily. "And… about the basement."

Danny looked at her, freezing for a split second. "You don't… a time machine?" he asked incredulously.

Sam laughed, her voice sounding more like that of a young woman than the old lady that she really as. "No, no. But I do have the Fenton Portal."

"I thought the Guys in White had the portal," Danny said.

"The Guys in White were dissolved almost fifty years ago. The portal came up on auction a while later and I ended up with it." Sam shrugged, her smile tipping into something a little morose. "The Ghost Zone is nothing but blankness, but we've got a portal that gets you there."

The ghost portal was nothing but an empty hole. The short tunnel lead to nowhere, the power cord was unplugged, and at least a dozen spiders had taken to calling the thing 'home'. "I had it powered on, at first," Sam said softly, sitting on the basement steps. "I kept hoping you'd step through it one day. Then it just got depressing to look at, so I turned it off. It's been off every since."

Danny walked up to it and touched the cold metal of the machine that changed his life. "Where does it lead, now?"

"To nothing." Sam shrugged. "At least, last time I checked. The Ghost Zone was a completely blank void. No doors, no lairs, no ghosts… Nothing."

"No Clockwork."

Sam gave a sad smile. "No Clockwork."

"And you just kept it, all these years." Danny turned and gave her a quizzical look, raising one of his eyebrows.

"I kept it for my son," Sam said so quietly that Danny barely heard her. Then she blinked, seeming to remember something. "Speaking of, he's coming over to visit. You'll get to meet him."

"Oh." Danny twisted back around to study the ancient Fenton Portal. He wasn't sure how he felt about Sam having once been married… and he really wasn't sure about the idea of her having a son. For a moment, he struggled to remember what Jazz had told him about Sam's son. Adopted, he remembered with a sharp stab of jealousy, named, coincidentally, 'Danny'. "Danny, right?"

Sam didn't answer. When Danny glanced over his shoulder, Sam was gazing at him with her old, violet eyes. "You okay?" she asked, concerned about a note that she'd heard in Danny's voice just then.

"I'm fine." Danny said shortly.

"You were always 'fine'," Sam whispered, "and I highly suspect you always will be. But are you okay?" It had been a codeword the two had developed years earlier – 'okay' meant something totally different from 'fine'. After his fight with his alternate-future self, he'd been fine. The persistent nightmares, however, meant that he had been far from okay.

Danny started to nod his head. Then, rather to his amazement, his head moved in the other direction. "I'm fine," he said again. "And I'll be okay."

"It's hard to imagine what you're going through." Sam tipped her head to the side, a serious look on her face. "Lost your whole life, have to start a new one. Nobody's who you remember." She gave a sad little smile. "You probably would have just passed me on the street, not knowing who I was. I couldn't image what that would be like. To have everything one day and lose it all the next."

"I'll be okay," Danny said again, firmly. He looked into her eyes, his own gaze hardening. "And who knows, maybe I'll get to go back to my own time."

With a smile, Sam nodded in agreement. "Never know, huh? But if you need to talk, I'm here for you Danny."

"Always have been," Danny agreed.

"Let's go make some supper."

Danny blanched, heading across the basement to help his friend to her feet. "I hope your cooking has improved. To me, those tofu hamburgers were just last week, you know."

Sam chuckled. "I don't remember you throwing up."

"I remember Tucker throwing up," Danny added with a slightly evil laugh. "And I'm not going to be subjected to that again."

"Don't worry," Sam said, climbing the stairs, "my son is a carnivore, same as you. I learned how to cook."

'Matthew' Masters stepped off the small plane, clutching his duffle in one hand and a small holographic transmitter in the other. His hologram fluttered around behind him, pointing up and the sky and pointing out interesting places and sights. "Oh, Honey, look at that skyline!"

"Yes, the pinnacle of human evolution, I'm sure," the man muttered darkly, glaring around the tarmac in search of someone to help carry his luggage. He was far too old to carry it himself, even if he really could carry it without any trouble. When a small robot finally trundled up to him, Matthew placed his duffle on the waiting carrier and told the robot which hotel he was staying at. His luggage would meet him there.

The hologram kept next to its master, its blue shirt 'blowing' in the breeze. "Where are we going first, Darling?"

"Check that stupid sensor," he grunted. "Then go to the hotel and not step out again. I don't want to run into a variety of people that call this place home."

"Oh, you're such a spoil-sport," the hologram chided happily. It was already searching for the best restaurant in town and making a reservation for that night. "We'll go out to eat, of course. Then we can go on a tour!"

"I already know this town," Matthew grumbled, but he didn't argue.

"TAXI!" The hologram waved down a passing car and ushered Matthew into the cab. Accessing its memory files took all of two moments. "Corner of Perennial Street and Third, please." With a chirp from the robotic driver, they vanished into Amity Park.

Danny slowly cut up the pepper he'd been given, clumsily chopping at the thick vegetable. "I thought you said you were over the veggies."

"It's just a pepper, Danny," Sam said with a regally arched eyebrow. "And stop mashing it – it's not supposed to be a pepper pulp. Chop it."

With a half-hearted grumble, Danny slowed down and started to slice more slowly.

"We'll get the guest bedroom set up for you," Sam said as she stirred the large pot of pasta. "You can stay as long as you like, of course. Mi casa es su casa and all that. A couple weeks, at the minimum. It'll take at least that long to get 'Danny Fenton' wiped out of all the computers and databases. And you'll have to get used to living in 2078." She shot him a vaguely evil grin. "All sorts of stuff to learn."

"All sorts," Danny repeated, rolling his eyes.

She bopped him on the head with her spoon, a grin on her face. "Don't act all teenager with me. I know that look."

Danny opened his mouth to shoot an answer back, but the door opened at that moment, drawing his attention. A middle-aged man, maybe forty years old, sauntered in the door. Not even noticing Danny, he walked up to Sam and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Evening, Mom."

Carefully cutting up the last bit of the pepper, Danny studied the newcomer. Nicely cut black hair, blue eyes, a little too pale, and a fluid way of moving that made it seem like he was more gliding on the floor than walking on it. Biting back on his jealousy and a spike of what felt suspiciously like anger, Danny pushed his chopped peppers into a bowl and then set down his knife with a bit more force than absolutely necessary.

The man turned and the noise, spotted Danny, and hesitated. "Hi," he said, blinking. "Mom, did you pick up another stray?"

Sam smiled. "Danny? This is Danny." She gestured towards her best friend. "Danny Fenton."

"The dead one?" the man deadpanned.

"Locked in a Thermos, thanks," Danny said and felt a shiver of recognition when he met the man's gaze. He'd seen those eyes before… but where?

"Ah," the man murmured, still obviously confused, but willing to roll with it. "And thus the odd uncle-father figure returns from the grave."

Danny blinked, rocking back on his heels. "What?"

"Danny," Sam broke in, a whisper of a laugh on her lips when both of the males turned towards her. She looked pointedly at her best friend. "Danny. This is Danny… Danielle's son."

Matthew Masters and his holographic companion crouched over the small transmitter still hidden on top of the apartment building on the corner of Perennial and Third. The old man was poking at the sensor, a look of clear disbelief on his face.

"It seems to be in perfect working condition," the hologram stated helpfully.

"I know," Matthew mumbled.

The hologram hesitated. "It's not sabotaged, like the others might have been."

"I know."

"So, we can assume the information we received was correct."

Matthew shot the hologram a glare, his hard gaze only softening slightly when he saw the digital earnest love in his hologram's eyes. "I already know that. You can stop stating the obvious."

The hologram grinned. "There's a new halfa in Amity Park."

Taking a deep breath, Matthew closed his eyes for a moment. "Yes. I deduced that, thank you."

"You're welcome, Honey," the hologram soothed. "You're so smart."

Matthew reached down and picked up the tiny sensor, turning it off before sticking it into his pocket. No doubt the poor thing was going crazy being so close to him. "Come on, Maddie."

The hologram got to its feet and watched its aging owner struggle to his own feet, wishing it could help. "Shall we go get something to eat how, Sweetie?"

"Sure."

To be continued...