I kept quiet until the movie ended and then I felt like I had to talk. She couldn't leave in the middle of a conversation, could she?

"So, the other night you sounded pretty upset. How are you feeling now?"

Sam looked at me. "I try not to let what happened to us overwhelm me. Like, I try to be stronger than it – but sometimes I can't. Sometimes, it just gets to me, you know? And then I freak out."

That feeling, I knew too well. I ran my hand along the edge of my blanket, trying to keep myself from touching her.

"You want to know what I think?"

"Yeah."

"Well, first off, I think you are stronger than anything that life could possibly throw at you. That being said, I think that trying to pretend nothing happened would be a mistake. If you try to stuff it away, then it's only going to be worse when it comes back up, right?"

She was quiet and I wondered if she agreed with everything that I said. I wondered if she was going to argue with me but Sam arguing was better than Sam ignoring.

"I can see your point. But who can I talk to – other than you – about the truth of what happened? We even have to lie to the police. I can't exactly go see a therapist."

"Anybody here, I guess," I said. I mean, Mom and Dad would have more sympathy for Sam than they would for me. I was a probably possessed, demonic entity. She was just an innocent girl that had gotten caught up in the world that they were trying to understand. It didn't mean I would rather her talk to my parents, though, and I quickly added, "I mean, Jazz is nearly a real psychologist and she's who I talk to."

"I might try that."

I had gotten used to the feeling of guilt and I knew when I was feeling it and that was now, for limiting Sam's choices. "Mom will always listen if you need to talk to her about anything but she's very mom-ish, if you know what I mean. But, not Dad, 'cause when you ask him for help, he'll just offer you fudge. He's not very good with advice stuff."

And, maybe, I didn't want her to talk to Dad. Maybe he'd just stay angry enough at me.

Sam nodded and then she squinted at me. "Your parents don't know about your other half."

I tried to smile, like it wasn't a big deal. "What do you think I was doing while you were in Mexico?"

"You told them?!" I understood her shock. "Aw, how'd that go?"

"About as well as you can expect but I haven't been kicked out or strapped to a lab table yet so we're doing good." Actually, when I put it like that, things were actually going better than expected.

"Maddie seemed normal when I walked in."

"That's because Mom's still in denial," I said, distilling what I was really thinking about my parents. "Bet you didn't see Dad."

"Neither have I," I sighed. I usually saw him all the fucking time. Too often, sometimes. It was weird to not have that anymore. It felt like it had been years since I'd seen him.

"That's harsh."

"No, I mean, I get it. It's a lot to take in. Especially since they're ghost hunters and they've tried to uh, terminate me before." It was hard to make some things sound casual.

Sam's hand rested over my own, her fingers feeling heavy. "Are you okay?"

Sam had the truth spilling out of me and it wasn't until I said it to her face that I realized that I believed it, "Yes. They love me. We'll figure it out."

"That's good. It wouldn't be fair for them to disown you because of something you can't control."

Her optimism made me laugh. Not, like, at her, or anything, but just out of happiness. I turned my hand over and, to my surprise, her fingers threaded through mine and she held my hand tightly.

"When I told them, I said I was more afraid of being disowned than dying."

"I think we escaped that particular fate."

Her head rested against my shoulder, like it was nothing. Maybe it was, to her, maybe it was just a bit of human contact. I fought not to say anything about it so that I didn't slip up and tell her point blank that it was everything.

"Well, there's that … I'm really glad you came over."

"I'm glad too."

She was glad. Well, that was fucking something. When I looked over, Sam was staring back at me. Shit, she was pretty. And then, before I could think about what to even say to that, she was kissing me. I froze for a moment, had I done something? Had I done this? Was she going to yank herself away from me? But she wasn't. She was really, honestly, kissing me. My hand touched her waist and I wanted to pull her closer. I wanted to drink her in completely but my hands shook and I knew that I couldn't. I knew that couldn't be me now.

I pulled my lips away from her but I couldn't get myself away from her completely. I curled my head against her shoulder, listening to her heartbeat. I couldn't hurt her gain. I couldn't be that person for her. I had made myself promise. It was all about her. It had nothing to do with me. Sam's fingers were in my hair and I wanted to do nothing but melt down against her and never leave.

I heard the question that she didn't ask.

"I can't do this. I can't risk hurting you again. I won't do it."

"What if you don't hurt me again?"

"I'm a fuck-up, Sam. It's not a question of 'if' but 'when'." I knew that. She should know that.

"But consider this, when you hurt me the first time, I didn't know the truth about you. I didn't really know who you were. When two people enter a relationship, they know there's a risk of getting hurt, because life isn't sunshine and daisies all the time, you know? But the two people know one another and they evaluate each other's character and decide if it's worth the risk of getting hurt. The first time, I didn't have the chance to think about that, because I didn't know you. I know you now. I'm not saying I'd be okay with getting hurt again, because that's not it. What I'm saying is, this time I know the truth about you. This time, I know you. And this time, I accept the normal risk of being hurt in a relationship. I don't know if I explained it well … does that make sense?"

There were so many words to wade through but I nodded anyway. I think I understood the essence of what she was trying to say.

"And I honestly don't think you'd hurt me again."

I looked up at her face. Pretty, honest, sweet. So beyond anything that anyone could offer her. "But, Sam, we both know that I'm not a good guy and that you deserve so much better. I just don't see –"

She put an abrupt stop to my babbling. "Do you like me?"

I shut my eyes against the truth. "You know it's more than that … I just can't put you through that again."

I'd put her through something again. Life wasn't sunshine and daisies, as she'd said, but, particularly, my life wasn't. I was Danny Phantom. To some people, some things, it was going to mean something terrible.

"You won't." Sam grabbed both of my hands up in hers and, even though I knew better, she felt like the stronger one."If you want us, and I want us, why hurt us by running away?"

I just touched along her skin. "You're amazing."

"I know."

She knew that now. I was glad that she knew that now. She was Sam, with her ability to forgive, with her understanding, with her ability to love beyond all else. It was why I had loved in the first place and why I had never stopped.

"Can I kiss you again?"

I almost hoped that she would say 'no'. I almost hoped that we could save ourselves hurt and all else that was going to come with pretending that we could be okay. But, what if she was right? What if she was right and it was supposed to be us? What if we got it right this time because we knew better and we understood each other?

Sam tilted her head toward me and I sucked in a breath. No, I was not in the mood for anticipation. I wrapped my hand around her arm and pulled her to me. She wanted this kiss and if it was the last kiss that I ever gave her, then I knew that it was going to be the best kiss that I could possibly give her. I pressed my mouth to hers, her body falling heavily into my arms, but I could support her. I couldn't kick Fright Knight's ass as well as I wanted to, but I would always have the strength to hold Sam. With my heart thundering, I ended the kiss and stared down at her.

"Sam …"

"Danny."

The way she said my name could light me on fucking fire.

"Be my girlfriend?"

After that big speech she had given me, there was no way that she could fucking say 'no', but she took her sweet time.

"Only if you ask me in a cheesier way."

The girl was demanding, I would admit that. She was also stretching my brain function to its absolute limits. What was this going to prove, anyway? Finally, I thought I had something.

"Roses are red, violets are blue, I want to be yours … please say you'll date me too. That rhymed, right? I think it rhymed."

"You're cute," Sam said, but the laugh she gave afterward mattered to me more. "And, yes, it rhymed."

"Good."

I kissed her again, because I was sure that I was allowed to and that she wanted me to. She grabbed at me, pulling me closer. I was just starting to really get into the kiss, when a pain shot through my body. I wrapped my hands around her waist and quickly moved her off of me.

"Sorry, but you were putting pressure on my leg."

"Are you calling me fat?" I smirked and shook my head. "Too thin? I know."

"You're perfect," I said, because I could finally tell her that again when she stand to listen to it. I pressed a kiss to her jaw and waiting for her to push me away but she just curled up in my lap, her head close to mine. I tilted my head down and gently went to kiss her.

Then, my bedroom door flew open. Sam crawled away from me as Tucker flopped down next to me.

"Sam! Jazz … said you were here."

I could hear the change in his tone and I knew what he was thinking. Luckily, he was right.

"And canoodling."

I could have smacked him on the head for it, if I wasn't too afraid of rattling his brain around more. Instead, I fell onto him and wrapped my upper body around him.

"I would never cheat on you, my love!"

Anything to distract him from mocking us.

"Oh, my honey pot!" And Tucker was always happy to play along, probably because he knew what expression was on Jazz's face.

"What'd I tell you about that?" I said, trying to sound really fucking annoyed.

Tucker pouted at me and I just tried to keep my laughter down. "But you're my honey pot."

I heard Sam get off the bed but I just muttered something to Tucker about being nothing like that Winnie The Pooh motherfucker and he bolted upright.

"Don't insult Winnie The Pooh."

"Fuck you, Tuck."

Out of his words, he tried to lick my ear and I nearly shoved him off the bed for that.

"Danny, Tucker, once you're done with each other, the girls will be eating!" Jazz announced, but Tucker was too busy whining at me.

The left and I could hear the two of them talking. I shushed Tucker once their conversation turned to us, Sam saying, "They're going to yell food in a minute, aren't they?"

"On three," I whispered to Tucker, "yell food as loudly as you can."

I don't know why I thought it would be funny but he nodded as I counted down.

"FOOD!" we shouted together before we scrambled toward the stairs.

So, on tumblr I'm: we are all of legend now (with dashes between every word). If you want to find my replies to anon reviews, add backslash tagged backslash anon dash replies. If you want to see anything I post about Superman or the Reflections Universe, go to my tumblr URL and add backslash tagged backslash reflections dash universe. Punctuation is spelled out due to Fanfiction's restrictions. If you're having any trouble accessing the tumblr content please send me a pm and I can format it for you in a different way.

~TLL~