Hi, hello, how are you.

I am...so sorry.

I do have reasons for my absence, which I'll include down at the footnote for those interested in reading it. Otherwise...

My bad.

Chapter fourteen is here, though, and I want you to know that it cost a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to get it here.

But it's freaking here now, finally.

Okie dokie. I don't own Danny Phantom. (:

Enjoy!

Wide Awake

Chapter Fourteen

August 11, 2013

It took every ounce of self-control he possessed to tear his gaze away from the door of the cabin, but he managed to force a fairly convincing smile on his face when Kee and Eams drew up beside him.

"You two looked cozy," Kee said excitedly, glancing rapidly between him and the closed cabin door.

"Yeah, I was wonderin' who she was waitin' on. Thought it was Tucker at first, but then I spotted him arranging firewood. Should'a known it was you!" Eams punched him lightly on the arm. "Good for you!"

"What are you talking about?" Danny asked, gingerly rubbing the place Eams hit.

"You and Sam are, like, a thing now, right?" Kee asked, an undeniable hope glimmering in her eyes.

"What?" Danny shook his rapidly, panic shooting through his veins. "N-no, we're just friends, nothing more! I just met her, like, two or three days ago!"

"Kee and I only knew each other for a week before we was shagging." Kee's fist was a blur as she landed a well-aimed punch in the center of Eams' stomach. Eams wheezed and doubled over, eyes streaming and screwed shut.

"Please excuse my idiotic boyfriend." Kee said loftily, shooting a glare at Eams when he flashed her his middle finger. "He's right, though. We'd only known each other for a short time before everyone knew we were together. Relationships - intimate relationships, mind you - work differently here than they did before. Now, if you like someone, you've gotta tell them, because they could get eaten tomorrow. Don't tell me you haven't been with anyone since before the plague?"

"Um," Danny hesitated, glancing between Kee and a suddenly recovered Eams. "No, I haven't," He felt himself blushing as both of their faces flashed with incredulity.

"Come off it, mate. You're a good-looking guy, I don't believe for one second you haven't gotten a good shag in over a year. You're lying." Eams glanced at Kee, who was still eyeing Danny. "He's lying, right?"

"No, I don't think he is," Kee said softly. "In fact, Seth," Please don't ask, please don't ask... "Are you a virgin?" Shit.

"Ah...um..." Danny winced at Eams' shout of laughter.

"Oh, you poor sod. don't you worry, I'm gonna get you laid." He threw his arm around Danny's neck. "Half the chicks in the camp would prolly bang your brains out right here, right now if you asked politely. The other half will after the bonfire tonight. You're coming, right?" He stepped back, reclaiming his place beside Kee.

"Yeah, of course," Danny nodded, still feeling himself blushing fiercely. He still managed a grin, however sheepish it may have been.

"Excellent. Come help us haul firewood, then," The couple started back in the direction they came, but paused when they realized Danny was still stationary. "Seth?"

"I'm gonna wait for Sam. I'll catch up with you guys later." Dann waved them off. Eams wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at him before Kee forced him to turn around. Danny snorted and carefully lowered himself to the ground. With a heavy sigh, he let his head fall back to rest against the wall of the cabin and his eyes flutter shut. distantly, over the sounds of people calling out to each other and wood falling against wood, he thought he heard the sounds of a shower starting.

The bonfire was a surprisingly cheerful affair. The fire itself towered several feet above their heads and was even wider around, smoke and glowing particles spiralling heavenward in a hypnotic dance. Nearly every member of their little band of survivors was present, chatting merrily among small groups around the rows of logs set up circling the fire. Two small children Danny had not noticed before were playing chase around the fire, the boy laughing jovially as he attempted to get as close as he could to the fire without getting burned before his sister could catch up to him.

Danny sat on the back row, mesmerized by the dancing flames. Men and women flitted by, their bodies melding with the flames, nothing more than blurry shadows from where he sat. He tore his gaze away from the fire at the sound of a pleasant uproar from the crowd, toward the house, where a man whose name he did not know was carrying three guitars toward the group. Danny wondered where they managed to find the guitars; apart from one baring heavy scorch marks, they appeared to be in perfect condition. Danny wondered if the scorches came before or after the group found it.

He became aware of a person's approaching body heat on his back, and as it grew closer, he realized that he recognized it. He was already grinning when he turned his head.

"Hey," Sam murmured, a smile turning the corner of her mouth up. He returned his gaze forward as she rounded the log, claiming the seat beside him. "This seat taken?" She asked cheekily.

"Well, now it is." Danny chuckled. She laughed, a genuine sound, and it was better than anything he'd heard in a long time.

"So, how are you liking your first bonfire?" Sam asked, eyes glued to something behind Danny. He turned to find her staring at the children, who were seated on the ground with their backs to the fire, facing three men with the guitars. All of the survivors seemed to be gravitating toward them, the buzz of conversation dying down as the men began to strum.

"It's definitely interesting," Danny said, leaning forward to brace his elbows on his knees. He laced his fingers together and twiddled his thumbs. "Have those kids been here this whole time?"

Sam tilted her head back and laughed. "They know how to hide, don't they?" Her laughter slowly faded, leaving an easy smile on her face. "They like to play in the barn. We try to keep them distracted, you know? Try to help them forget what's going on."

"Are their parents here?" Danny asked. He waited several seconds before glancing at Sam, to find her grin gone and her gaze on the fire.

"No. We never met the parents. We found them holed up in the stock room of the gift shop in a zoo in the middle of no where. A grizzly bear was trying to get to them. Neither one would speak for the first month they were with us."

With a surprising amount of difficulty, Danny tore his gaze away from Sam's face to stare at the children's backs. "We still can't get them to tell us what happened to their parents." She murmured. "I have a theory that they lived near the zoo and when one of the parents turned, the other grabbed the kids and headed to the zoo. I don't know if you heard about it, but apparently the animals could smell zacks coming for miles. I think the uninfected parent thought that it would be safer at the zoo, since all the animals would start going nuts if a zack got near and they would be able to hide with the kids with plenty of time. Of course, then all the animals got loose. I think the uninfected parent was probably offed by a tiger or something."

"That's horrible." Danny whispered. He wondered if she could hear the pain in his voice; pain for the kids, for everything they lost, and for himself and her and Tucker, who were not much older than those two kids with their world fell apart. "What are their names?"

"Elizabeth and Charles. But we call them Libby and Charlie." He glanced at her to find her smiling softly again. "I was never much of a kids person, but those two have grown on me."

Danny snorted, opening his mouth to remind her he knew exactly how anti-kids she used to be. But before the ill-thought-out words could fall from his lips, one of the guitarists stood. "Sam, c'mere!" He waved her over.

"Just a sec," She called back. With a soft smile, she turned back to Danny. "You gonna be okay by yourself for a while?"

He returned her smile as genuinely as he could and nodded. She stood and briefly touched his shoulder, fingertips grazing against the bare skin of his neck as she picked her way toward the mob. He watched her go with a strange, peaceful sense of melancholy.

Another body filled the seat beside him, but he did not bother looking away from Sam. "I almost told her just now. I wasn't thinking and I almost said something." He murmured as Sam fell into the seat between two of the guitarists.

"But you didn't," Valerie murmured. He shook his head slowly. She sighed heavily, her hand drifting up his arm to squeeze his shoulder. "I know it sucks right now, but -"

"But what, Val?" He interrupted, shooting a hard glance up at her. She tensed and withdrew her hand. "People already thing Seth has a thing with her, which can only end badly! Either she figures out now that we've been lying to her, or she figures it out in the future. When they found would we've been lying, they'll...they'll..."

"What?" She asked harshly. "You think they'll kick you out? Need I remind you that the only person we've ever kicked out tried to rape someone else? Worst case scenario when they find out is they don't talk to you for a while. But I can pretty much guarantee that they'll understand why you did it. They'll imagine themselves in your place and realize that they would do the same damn thing."

He growled in frustration and buried his face in his hands. "I didn't ask for this," He mumbled into his palms.

"What?" Valerie asked sharply.

"I said I didn't ask for this." He hissed between clenched teeth, head whipping up from his hands to fix a venomous glare on her face.

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Valerie whispered, her eyes narrowed to slits.

"I'm saying that i'm thankful for everything you've done for me, but I wish you hadn't lied to my best friends about who I am."

"They are not your best friends. Not anymore." Valerie snapped. "They've changed. They're different people. And, frankly, so are you. Right now, you and Sam hardly qualify as friends, and you and Tucker are barely even acquaintances. If you think for one second that everything is just gonna go back to the way it was before when they figure out who you are, you're wrong. I just thought that if you waited until Seth gained their trust and became their friend, they might not get as mad when you tell them later."

She was on her feet before he could respond, storming off to toe other side of the fire, out of his line of vision. He groaned in irritation, massaging his temples.

"Seth, mate you owe me so majorly!" Danny jumped at the sound of Eams' voice, spotting the British survivor practically sprinting toward him, his face was bright with delight. He leapt deftly over the first two rows of logs, but nearly tripped over the third, catching himself ungracefully before promptly dropping to his knees before Danny. "See the chick Kee's chattin' up? Right behind me?"

Danny was leaning away from him, snorting at his lack of coordination. He peered over Eams' shoulder, spotting Kee several yards away from where they sat, her back to them, hands flying in animated conversation with a woman Danny vaguely remembered from his first morning. She had a long, wavy blonde hair and a smooth, tanned face. Danny nodded.

"Alright, her names' Juliet and she's definitely interested in you. She's seen you 'round and thinks you're cute. Whaddya say, mate, want me to introduce you?"

A sudden burst of laughter momentarily drew their attention toward the house. The three guitarists were still playing, and the children were dancing, but between the two of them, Danny had a perfect view of Sam. Who was singing.

"Seth? Hello, Earth to Seth?" Eams snapped his fingers inches from the tip of Danny's nose. Danny jumped and shook his head roughly. "D'you want me to introduce you to Juliet?"

"Um," His gaze drifted back to Sam. She was still singing through a broad grin, and it looked as though she was desperately trying not to laugh. As he stared, her eyes suddenly found his, and her grin broadened. "No." Danny said firmly, turning his gaze back to Eams' suddenly shocked face. Thank you, but...I think I'm good."

He stood before Eams could say anything else, carefully picking his way toward the mob. Sam was no longer singing; he peered up to find her watching his approach instead. He stopped a few feet short, shoving his hands deep in his pockets. He glanced at her again, smiling sheepishly when she grinned at him.

"C'mon, Sam, sing another!" A woman called. A general sound of agreement and encouragement rippled through the crowd, and even in the limited, flickering light, he could see her blushing furiously.

"Alright, fine, keep your pants on," Sam waved them down, shooting a furtive glance at Danny before turning to the guitarist to her left and murmuring something Danny could not hear. The guitarist nodded and turned his attention down to the strings.

She ended up singing for several hours, all different kinds of songs. Some he recognized from before The Event; others he'd never heard before. He wondered if they wrote a few of them during the time they'd spent there on the ranch. But eventually, Charlie and Libby were nearly asleep on each other, though they desperately tried to stay awake.

"I think it's time for someone to go to bed," the guitarist on Sam's right, whose name was Ben, sang. Charlie threw his head back and groaned as Libby yawned sleepily.

"We're not tired," Libby murmured, rubbing her eyes pitifully behind her fist. Sam snorted.

"Come on, time for bed," Another woman named Ana-Lucia stepped forward and cooped Libby up as Ben did the same with Charlie.

"Sam has to sing," Charlie mumbled sleepily over Ben's shoulder. Ben paused and turned to look back at Sam, who was rolling her eyes in mock exasperation.

"Fine, but this is the last time," She said, but her eyes were twinkling merrily. "Let's go." She grabbed the neck of Ben's guitar, before turning to glance back at Danny. Wordlessly, she jerked her head toward the house and smiled, inviting him to come along.

He did not waste any time in rounding the group. He jogged to catch up with Sam, who glanced back at him as he reached her side.

The children slept in a third bedroom, beside the kitchen, that Danny was not aware existed. There was a full-sized mattress balanced on a bed of cinderblocks, covered with tattered blankets. Libby and Charlie climbed inside slowly, stretching their arms as they went. Danny leaned against the door frame, smiling politely at Ana-Lucia when she leaned against the wall beside him, arms crossed over her chest.

"What would you like for me to sing?" Sam asked.

"That song with the funny words." Charlie said sleepily. Libby nodded in agreement, eyes drooping already. Sam smiled, glancing across the bed at Ben and nodding.

Ben began picking a slow tune, already lulling Danny into a sense of safety within the first few notes. "Oh, this is my favorite one," Ana-Lucia whispered in delight.

Sam began singing, and it took a few bars for Danny to realize that she was not speaking English. He watched in wonder as she sang in perfect French, slowly stroking the hair across Charlie's forehead as his eyes fluttered close. Ben joined in harmony in a few parts, but for the most part, the song consisted of the guitar and Sam's voice.

By the time Ben picked the very last notes of the song, both children were asleep, cheeks a rosy red. Sam stood silently, flashing a smile at Ben before carefully tiptoeing toward the door. The four exited as quietly as they could, Ben easing the door shut behind them.

Two hours later, Danny was standing on the outskirts of the group, hands deep in his pockets yet again as he kicked aimlessly at the dirt beneath his feet. The rest of the group was slowly migrating toward the back of the house, several already sound asleep in their cots. He nodded politely in response to a few people waving to him as they passed by. the fire was considerably smaller now, casting a dim, romantic glow across the empty rows surrounding it.

"It'll be dead by morning," A voice murmured behind him. He turned his head and smiled at Sam, who returned his smile with one of her own. "I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to reconnect after putting the kids to bed, I got caught up with some drama. Did you have fun?"

"Yeah, it was great. I had no idea you were such a good singer." She snorted and turned her gaze toward the fire. "What?"

"I never sang before all of this happened. I was too self-conscious, you know?" She glanced at him, and he nodded. "I wasn't exactly popular before. But then we found the kids and...they used to get so scared at night, and the only thing that would calm them down was music, and one night, I just kind of said 'screw it' and I went for it. We found the guitars and...well...the rest if history."

"Hm," He grunted. From the corner of his eye, he could see her glancing at him, but he ignored it. "I'm glad you decided to stop being so self-conscious. You really have a lovely voice."

"Thanks," She said softly. He turned to look at her, the corner of his mouth gravitating upward subconsciously. They stood quite still for a moment, the only sound reaching them the quiet crackle of the fire dying. He was just plucking up the courage to close the gap when a terrible screech tore through the night air. Sam jerked away from him and whirled around, her body visibly tensing at the sound.

"What was that?" Danny asked breathlessly though he already knew the answer, his eyes flickering from the back of Sam's head to the darkened trees beyond her.

"A female zack must have gotten in. Don't worry, we'll get it in the morning." She turned back toward him, the panic gone from her eyes.

"Okay," He said softly. He stepped backwards, toward the cots. "Goodnight, Sam."

He was fully turned around, a good ten feet away from her, when she suddenly called out to him. "Seth, wait," She panted.

He turned to watch her jog toward him, glancing toward the cots before she reached him. "Listen, if...if you wanna sleep inside, I, um...I have an extra bed. Tuck stopped sleepin' in there a while ago, and...I dunno. You don't have to, I just...I figured I'd offer."

He was nodding before she even finished speaking. "Absolutely. Yes."

"Her face lit up with a grin, before faltering. "Are you sure? You can say no if -"

"I don't want to say no." Danny interrupted, voice firm. She studied his face just a moment longer before smiling and stepping around him. She gestured for him to follow her, which he did immediately.

As he stepped into her room for a second time, he decided he would never get tired of seeing it. Her essence was everywhere, every particle of dust, every ounce of space within the tiny room so loudly screamed of her. It was comforting.

"That's Tuck's old bed," She said, gesturing to the dusty bed he'd sat on before. He ran his hand over the footboard as she busied herself with the clothes spread across her own bed. "I'm gonna change, d'you mind?"

"Oh, no, not at all," He quickly turned his back. He heard her snort. "What?"

"I didn't mean to make you turn around, I was just wondering if you minded if I changed in front of you," She explained. He turned around slowly, to find her arms crossed and her fingers gripping the hem of her shirt. "I mean, if it makes you feel better to turn around, then by all means, turn around. I just want you to know that I don't mind."

"Oh," Danny grunted. Unable to form a coherent thought, he simply teetered back around, facing the wall, waiting for her to give him the okay. He heard her chuckle, followed by the sounds of clothes being discarded haphazardly on the floor. A beat of silence, and then -

"You can turn around now," Sam called softly. He turned slowly, finding her sitting in the center of her bed, wearing nothing more than his old shirt, watching him with an air of amusement. "You're a funny little dude, you know that?"

"I didn't realize respecting women's privacy was considered 'funny,'" He snorted. Her grin faltered. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean -"

"No, you're right. I haven't been offered privacy in a long time. I should have been thankful, I'm sorry," She murmured. Awkwardness welled up between them, a thick, tangible wall, made none the better when Sam glanced down at her sheets. "D'you want me to turn around while you change?"

"Oh, um, I've actually been sleeping in this," He glanced down at his clothes, scarcely recognizable beneath a thick layer of filth.

"Well that won't due. I think Tuck left some clothes in here, hold on," She crawled off the bed, giving Danny the briefest view of her butt. He turned his gaze up to the ceiling and swallowed hard. "Yeah, here. I think you two are about the same size, you should be able to fit these," She shoved white basketball shorts and a red t-shirt into his hands. "So, d'you want me to turn around?"

"Um, no, it's okay," He said nervously. She grinned slyly before slinking back to her bed and jumping on, turning to face him. "Okay," He choked.

Despite the fact that he was hugely embarrassed, he enjoyed making Sam smile. She teased him for a good five minutes after he crawled into Tucker's old bed, peeling back the sheets and sliding inside. She was still chuckling as she fell back against her pillows, rolling to her side to flick the lamp off. The room was suddenly plunged into darkness, save one small patch of moonlight flooding in, landing on the edge of Sam's mattress.

"So you speak French, huh?" Danny asked sharply, desperate to make her stop laughing. Her laughter faded.

"Uh, yeah. My parents made me learn it over my eighth grade year. We were gonna move to France, to Paris, for my dad's business. But it ended up falling through. I'm still fluent, though. That was a lullaby I wrote a few weeks after we got here."

"Wait, so, you were gonna move to France?" Danny asked, careful to keep his voice detached from the panic he felt in his stomach. "Did Tucker know?"

"No, I never told him. I was going to, I was gonna tell both of them, but at the last minute. I didn't want them worrying about it over the summer since we were supposed to be starting high school and things were stressful enough as it was," He could hear it in her voice; that was the summer he got his powers. "A lot of things were happening then and I just...I dunno. But it ended up not mattering, since we stayed."

"Wow," he whispered. He stared up at the ceiling. "You said you wrote that lullaby?"

"Yeah," Her voice was different, almost happier.

"What did it mean?"

"Um...it didn't really mean anything. It was nonsense, really. I was just looking for words that rhymed." He could tell she was lying by the way her voice shook, but he decided not to press it. They were quiet for a while, their breathing the only noise in the room.

"It was really cool." He whispered. He heard her chuckle under her breath. "Really, it was. Did you write any of the other songs you guys were playing out there tonight?"

"Yeah, Ben and I wrote most of them. We get bored sometimes," She laughed again. "It sort of makes us feel like the pioneers back in the old days, y'know? The ones that used to roam around in covered cabins and sing folk songs around the campfire. It's kind of cool."

"It's really cool." Danny said earnestly. She chuckled again. "I'm kind of intimidated, actually."

"No need. I'm just me," she murmured. "I'm just Sam."

He fell silent, her words sinking in. He could not bring himself to respond, for a large lump had suddenly risen in his throat. They were quiet for much longer now; so long, in fact, that Danny suspected Sam was already asleep.

"Sam?" He whispered.

"Hm?" A sleepy voice answered in the darkness.

He swallowed the lump in his throat. "What if...what if I told you that I'm not who I've been saying I am? What would you do?"

She did not answer him immediately; in fact, she was silent for so long that he was almost positive that she was asleep. He was just about to whisper her name again when she spoke.

"I would say that...it doesn't matter who you were before. It doesn't really matter what you did." The springs of her mattress squeaked as she rolled to her side, her face suddenly revealed in that small square of moonlight, facing him. "I'm not who I was before. Why should you have to be?"

"Sam..." He said softly, the ghost of a sob in his voice. "I'm...I'm..."

"You're Seth. That's all I need to know right now. Okay?" She whispered.

He swallowed hard, gripping the ratty, dusty sheets hard in his fists. "Okay." He whispered back.

I'm gonna type this fast because my computer's crashed twice in the process of me writing the footnote. Basically my laptop's a piece of garbage and wouldn't let me update so it was in the shop for a while and I didn't have access to a computer. I handwrote this chapter, with pen and paper, while that was going on. They weren't able to fix it so I have to replace it except I have approximately $0 so that won't be happening any time soon. Thanks for keeping up with this story, and I swear I will see this through to the end.

Also, I'm about to make a Twitter account dedicated to this fanfic account. I'll put the info up in my bio when I get a chance, so keep an eye on that in the near future.

Okay. Done. Let's see if it crashes this time...