Chapter 14:

Danny POV-

Sixth period was another period when I was away from Sam, but Tucker, on the other hand, sat directly to me.

He studied me closely.

"Dude, are you okay?" he asked me.

"Yeah…" I said, unfortunately it didn't sound very convincing, Tucker sighed, closing his text book and glancing around at the other people in our study hall. Thankfully, no one was paying attention to us, aside from a few looks I got every few seconds.

He lowered his voice, "Man, what is it?"

I sighed, "I told you about that ghost right?" I knew that I had told Tucker about Hatchwork, because I had asked him to look into it.

"Yeah. Sorry man, I didn't find anything about him," he said.

"Yeah, that's the problem. He just appeared out of nowhere to mess with Sam and me," I said.

"And?" Tucker pressed.

"And I don't think that it had been his idea," I replied quietly.

Tucker's eyes widened in realization, "okay, so who do you think put him up to it."

"Who else? The only one who could benefit from Sam getting pregnant with ghost powered kids, but didn't have the ability to do it himself," I growled.

It took him a moment, but eventually Tucker realized who I meant.

"Vlad," he breathed quietly. I nodded in response. There really was no other explanation, Vlad had the motive, but he in no way had the ability that Hatchwork does to manipulate actions and emotions without me noticing.

"Hey, could you not tell Sam about this?" I asked him.

He arched an eyebrow at me, "Starting a relationship with lies, probably not the best idea Danny."

"I'm not lying to her, if she asks me I'll tell her, I just don't want her to have more stress than she already does. I know she'll worry if she thinks that she and the babies are in danger," I sighed. She is the one who has had to deal with the pregnancy, the cravings, the judgmental girls, and the parents who kicked her out, the last thing that she needs is to thin that Vlad might have had a hand in her pregnancy, and might still want to use her and our kids for his own evil purposes.

"Okay. Hey, do you want me to do a sweep of his system, you know, see if I can find out any of his plans?" Tucker asked me.

"No, I doubt he would have put these plans into his computer, plus, that would only let us know that we are onto him," I replied.

Suddenly, my ghost sense went off. I sighed, irritated, raising my hand. Mrs. Smith didn't even bother to look up; she merely waved her hand, excusing me.

…

After school, Sam and I walked home. Despite the warmer temperatures we had recently been having, a cold chill hung on the wind, but I could tell that Sam thought it felt nice as she closed her eyes, allowing the breeze to pass over her skin. I grinned, it's funny how at ease she can be, despite everything that is going on. I looked over at the horizon, dark clouds were beginning to gather in the distance because it was predicted to storm later tonight, but for right now, the sun blazed overhead, heating our skin and contrasting with the cool breeze.

But, when we were just outside of my house she froze, planting her feet on the sidewalk and looking at my front door with c combination of anger, suspicion, and wariness.

"What? What is it?" I wondered, I hadn't sensed anything, but I knew better than to challenge her just by the look on her face.

"Something's wrong…" she said, but she didn't specify. She took a deep breath and walked towards the door. I stopped her, stepping in front of her defensively. If she was right, I wanted to be the first one to face the danger, not her.

I pushed open the door, and was surprised when I was not immediately hit with anything. I stepped into the living room, and what I saw made me move defensively in front of Sam again.

Vlad.

Okay, now all doubts about his involvement are gone.

I hadn't been able to sense him because he is not in his ghost form, but somehow, Sam had been able to, maybe it's a pregnancy thing.

"Ah, Daniel," he greeted me and I clenched my teeth, "And Samantha, I heard you were pregnant."

Sam didn't react to his taunt; instead, she took my hand, pulling me upstairs. We almost made it, but my parents came out of the kitchen.

"Danny boy!" my dad bellowed, "Look, Vladdy is staying for dinner!" he put an arm around Vlad's shoulders, much to Vlad's obvious distaste.

My mom couldn't help but seem a little smug at Vlad's discomfort.

"Yeah. We're having steak," she replied through gritted teeth, her knuckles white around the kitchen utensil in her hand, like she was prepared to swing it at his arrogant face.

Ever since Vlad had revealed to my mom that he has been in love with her since college, she has hated him almost as much as I do. Unfortunately, neither of us had had the heart to tell my dad that his so called "best friend" actually hated his guts and wanted to marry his wife, which is why he is still welcome in this house.

"Great mom, we'll be upstairs now," I said, this time pulling Sam as quickly as I could, up the stairs to my room, closing the door behind us.

"Ugh! I knew it!" I exclaimed in frustration.

"Knew what?" she asked.

"Earlier today I realized that Hatchwork probably wasn't working alone," I admitted.

She was quiet, thinking this over.

"What could Vlad possibly get out of having another ghost get us together?" she wondered.

"Well, he has always wanted a perfect half-ghost son," I growled bitterly. Sam inhaled sharply, angrily, and put her hands on her stomach reflexively, "Also, getting us together gives him something else he can use against me."

"We could have Tucker run a check, just to see if we can find out what his plans are," she suggested, but I shook my head.

"I told Tucker earlier that that probably would not be a good idea. It's likely that he hasn't put this plan on his system, and also then he would know we are onto him. Believe it or not, he probably thinks that we are still suspecting Hatchwork, he is actually that arrogant," I said.

"Wait a minute. You told Tucker about this before me!" she exclaimed accusingly.

"I was going to tell you, I just didn't want you to get stressed out, there is so much you have to worry about already," I told her.

She sighed, and put her hand on my face, making me look at her, "I appreciate that, Danny, but I need to know these things. Don't worry, I can handle it," she kissed me lightly.

"I know you can handle it, but I don't want you to have to handle it," I said.

"Danny, Sam, dinner!" My mom called from downstairs.

"Well," Sam said, standing up, albeit a little shakily, before I put my hand on her arm to stabilize her, "This should be interesting."