A/N: Remember when I said things were going to get hot from now on? Well, I kinda lied! This chapter just wanted to be told here. And since I'm such a sucker to giving into the demands of my chapters, here it is! But don't forget that the Red Huntress has just shot Danny and has uttered as shocked, "YOU!" to Sam after finally recognizing Sam as the kid with Phantom. Here is Chapter 19 with the IDNOAC stuff. Enjoy!

TrueHeart—Chapter 19—Snags and Disentanglements

Sam was angry at what had just happened to her boyfriend; but, of course, she couldn't let on to Valerie that she was upset about what the Red Huntress just did. And she definitely could not let on that she knew that it was Valerie under that red suit.

Instead, she immediately put on a 'the-jig's-up' kind of face, pretending that she had just been caught doing something bad. Still, she knew that Valerie would expect her to be on the offensive; and she was more than ready for that, especially since Valerie had not only hurt Danny, but had also screamed out with such vile just now.

"Yeah? What about me?" Sam defiantly hissed, thrusting her hands on her hips and narrowing her amethyst eyes at the huntress. Internally, however, she was very worried about Danny and she threw a quick side-glance to where he had been thrown, before glaring at Valerie once more, ready for any retort the huntress might come up with.

But Valerie didn't answer her and turned to face Phantom again. She gasped when she found that he was no where in sight.

Fortunately, Sam's distraction gave Danny enough time to recover from his hard introduction to the tree. He had instantly turned intangible and had phased through the ground.

Valerie turned back around to confront Sam and jolted once more. Now Sam was gone!

But, of course, Valerie didn't know that Danny had almost instantaneously phased back out of the ground, grabbed his girlfriend, made her intangible and phased back underground before Valerie had a chance to look back at Sam.

The Red Huntress continued to hover in the spot where Sam had been, blinking in disbelief. She asked herself, "What was Sam doing with Phantom? They did look like they were….were going to kiss when I interrupted them! I don't get it! What does this mean?"

She flew away, very confused about the entire situation.

When Danny and Sam finally rematerialized, they were in one of the small underground caverns. Danny lit up the area with an ectoplasmic energy orb.

"Are you all right, Danny?" she asked, her face lined in worry.

Just seeing her expression and that her first concern was for him, Danny knew she was no longer upset with him. He wiped any and all of his suspicions totally away.

"I'm fine, now that you're here with me," he said as he gently took her into his arms. "And where were we before we got so rudely interrupted? Oh, yeah, I was just about to apologize. I'm sorry I ever had one little doubt."

He leaned down toward her and softly kissed her.

And Sam felt the hurt completely roll off when she could tell from his kiss how sincere he was. She reached for him and returned the kiss, quickly allowing herself to forget that all those bad things had ever happened. And as they continued, she felt herself blend right into the warmth emanating from his green energy orb that embraced her as gently as his warm lips and arms.

When they parted, Sam said with a wry smile, "Well, looks like Valerie's going to think I'm cheating on you, too!"

"Yeah, I know," he chuckled a little. "I guess that every couple has its days when people want to test them with all sorts of fireworks."

"As long as they don't blow up our relationship, then let 'em rip," Sam quipped back.

They smiled warmly at each other and then Danny glanced at his watch once more. "Oh-oh! We'd better hurry back and get those two bites of lunch we only now only have time for before the next class!"

"You're right, Danny! Just as well. It's the mystery red stuff day for you and overcooked spinach for me, so two bites will actually be too much!"

They both laughed before Danny wrapped his arm around his girlfriend, turned them both intangible, and soared up to the school once more.

For the rest of the day, however, the fuses to even more fireworks were lit and on a slow burn.

Al was still upset with Sam; Tucker was still upset with her as well; and now Valerie had joined their ranks.

As for poor Armen, he was the most troubled of them all. Having lost so much conscious time in the past couple of days--and still totally clueless of how it all happened—had him rattled. He just hoped he could get through the day without any other incident--and with his sanity.

The only ones not in a tizzy were, of course, Danny and Sam, though Sam could somehow feel the tension among those already upset with her. Still, she tried to slough it off. After all, she hadn't done anything wrong—well, not counting her reaming out Tucker about Valerie—and they would get over it.

But as the day wore on, Sam couldn't ignore the negative vibes she kept getting from Tucker any longer. It bothered her so much, she grumbled with her next thought. It was time to corner him and apologize to him about her comments she had made about his girlfriend. After all, she had promised Danny she would. She looked for him between classes, but couldn't find him, now definite that he was purposely avoiding her.

She finally met up with Danny at the beginning of one of the few classes they had together. And he could tell she was very frustrated. She mumbled under her breath, just as they headed into their class, "I can't believe I haven't been able to apologize to Tucker and…"

"Sam..," he gently chided her. He knew she was uncomfortable about that, so maybe she hadn't tried…

But she inadvertently answered him, "I really, really tried the whole friggin' day, but I just didn't get the chance! Honest!"

He chuckled a little and said, "It's OK, Sam. I believe you!"

She smiled weakly and then they sat down at their desks.

Finally, it was time for Sam's last period class, and her last chance to catch Tucker. But it didn't look like that was going to happen, either. After stewing throughout the class when she still couldn't get Tucker's attention, she made it a point that she was going to get him after class no matter what.

Getting to Tucker had become the focus of all of her concern again especially since her argument with Danny had been a mega-distraction. Still, for all practical purposes, she had now forgotten the 'Armen' affair. Once she had smoothed everything over with Danny, she hadn't wanted to expend any more energy on worrying about all the craziness that had happened about the foreign boy. She quickly—and decisively--dismissed the incident from her thoughts—along with all the emotional turmoil it had caused her. And now that that snag was gone, Tucker had become the other important issue. That worry had now been nagging her as much as it had been before her and Danny's blow-up. If she had to wait any longer to resolve it, she knew she would just lose it.

At last, the dismissal bell rang and Sam made a beeline to Tucker. "Hey, Tucker," she said, clearing her voice as she did. "Got a minute?"

He looked at her not knowing what to say. But she didn't give him a chance to refuse. Grabbing his arm from behind, she pulled him to the nearest vacant corner just outside the classroom.

She let go of him and sighed, trying to steel herself.

Tucker, meanwhile, didn't make eye contact with her at all. He was not only still bothered with how she had treated him and Valerie this morning; but he also was even more upset with how she had treated Danny with the whole 'Armen' thing. But he was so troubled, it didn't occur to him to ask her why. Still, he didn't know at this point that she had already seen Danny and they had already resolved that issue. And, of course, Tucker didn't know that she knew he had seen her kissing Armen.

Tucker was so distressed about everything that he really didn't want to talk with her at the moment. Yet, he managed to mumble, "So what do you want, Sam?" But his voice definitely sounded irritated.

Totally catching his drift, she resisted the urge to throw some stinging words back at him. Instead, however, she stammered, "L-look. I was, uhm, way out of line and…" She paused and swallowed hard before continuing. "I was way out of line insulting you this morning….And Valerie." But she had not done a good job in masking her continuing distaste for Valerie as the 'Red Huntress' when she had said her name.

Tucker caught that last bit of her sarcasm and looked up in surprise. Even though the way she said Valerie's name still stung, that was quite a bit of apologizing his friend just did. He knew she was sincere, but that still didn't solve his problems. He could tell she still didn't like Valerie, and there was still the issue with the new boy in the school.

Sam just looked at him and began to panic. Why didn't he say something? She finally said, "Uhm…."

But he interrupted her. "But, what about…" But he couldn't continue with that train of thought. His mind was too befuddled with all his failure to be honest with Valerie; and that had thrown him way off balance when it came to being honest with his friends.

Instead, he added with an unconvincing smile, "I mean, it's OK, Sam. I understand. Really. So, let's just forget about it, OK?"

Sam was so relieved! She was able to get her apology out without screwing it up too badly, and still succeed in getting Tucker to understand and forgive her. But, she had been so wrapped up in feeling that relief, and even being emotionally drained from all that had happened to her today, that she hadn't noticed that he was still upset. She grabbed him in a quick hug and said, "Thanks!"

But just as she did that, who should round the corner on her way to her locker just in time to witness Sam's hugging some boy? Why, Al, of course! But she could not see that it was her friend Tucker whom she was hugging.

"Why, that little witch!" the new girl grumbled under her breath, immediately turning away from the scene with disgust. "Now she's after another guy! That's enough! She obviously wants to play all the boys!" She angrily shoved her hands into her pockets and winced when one of her fingers jabbed against something firm within one of them. She frowned in remorse at her next sudden thought. "And especially my poor Armen! How could he possibly understand most of what she had said and done to him—literally?! Oh, I should have known better than that and not have treated him like dirt! Oh, please let him forgive me for all that!" Knowing that both she and Armen had a free period right now, she quickly ran off to search for the Croatian boy.

She finally found him all alone, sitting on one of the lunch benches in the empty cafeteria. He was turned away from anyone coming into the room, and had his face in his hands. The blonde girl bit her lower lip in regret, and tried to slow her breathing. She also slowed her pace as she approached him, hoping that that would help her compose herself as well. If he saw her like she was right now—puffing, flushed and disheveled--after running all over the school trying to find him, she just knew he would think she was still angry at him.

She succeeded in both controlling her breathing and nearing him without his noticing her. Nervously giving her hair a quick and blind primp, and wiping off her sweaty brow, she stepped as close as she thought she should and quietly cleared her throat.

But much to Al's chagrin, she startled the boy and he jumped up, twisting around to see who--he wrongly thought--had hissed at him. When he saw it was Al, and that her face was still red, he immediately threw up his hands as if in surrender. He was so anxious over everything that had happened today, he blurted out exactly what he was feeling, but not exactly in the way he had thought, "Al, to je vama! Molimo, nemojte se ljutiti sa mnom! J-Ja ne mogu objasniti što se dogodilo, ali nisam znači da to napravite. Ja mislim da sam luda ide! Nema tijelo će mi vjerovati, pogotovo vama! Ja želim da mi vjerovati! Molim vas!" (1)

She blinked at him, totally, of course, at a loss at what he just said. She bit her lip again, not wanting to embarrass him about this newest blunder. Then she got an idea. The thing she had just jammed her finger on! She quickly pulled out the small book from her pocket and began to flip the pages.

Speaking haltingly in her thick and halting American accent, she replied, "Ja..ispri-čavam… se za sve. Znam.. trebali.. znati.. bolje. Ne.. mislim… si.. učinio krivo…Učiniti krivu. Bio.. sam pizdun!"(2) She then uttered, "Pizdun! Jerk! That's the word!" But then, she continued, "Oprosti mi?"(3) She ended with a weak, hopeful, smile.

He responded with his own weak smile, both relieved and especially touched on the way she had apologized. He quietly asked, "Oprosti mi?" (4)

"Oprosti… obje!"(5) she answered, frowning sincerely in repentance and embarrassment.

She motioned for him to sit down. When he obliged her, she sat down next to him. She hesitated, but then made her decision. She nervously slid her hand into his, and smiled weakly once more in hope when he didn't pull away. She finally continued in English, making sure that she was speaking slowly and clearly. "And, uhm, I guess, I get jealous—uh, obviously, hotly jealous—a little too much."

She suddenly wanted to make sure he completely understood her. She pulled her hand away and he startled again. But he calmed when he saw what she did.

Flipping through her book again, she said, "Ja do-biti ljubo-moran puno! Loše ljubomoran!...(6)…But I'm sorry. I'll try to do better. It's just that, well, I've felt so alone since I came here. And…and I li--, I mean, you were, too, and you have been so nice. I was, uhm, afraid that I would be….alone here, again, when I thought…."

But Armen didn't let her finish. He turned to her, scooping her hand and cupping it with both of his and gently squeezed it. He was both thankful that they were getting through this and that he had understood her in both languages. He smiled a little as he replied, "You..get ljubomoran a lot, uh, I…get confused a lot! Uh, …we can understand other—always, Oh. Kay?"

She softly chuckled, both embarrassed and touched by his reply. She quietly said, "Oh. Kay! We will try to do that! Thank you for 'understand other', Armen."

"Tank you, Al! You,..uh, sorry…I reelly needed that!"

She brought her other hand up, cupped it under both of his hands and squeezed and agreed, "Yeah. You were right. We both really needed that!"

They both looked at each other, uncertain of what to do. But then, Armen stood back up and because he was still nervous about everything, had forgotten to let go of her hand. He accidentally yanked her up as he did.

She gasped in surprise, and he gasped in alarm as she was pulled off balance and fell into his arms.

They looked into each other's eyes, both nervous and yet, strangely, comforted.

"I sorry!" he immediately said, as he began to pull away from her.

"I'm not!" she quietly replied, pulling him gently closer.

He looked down at her in surprise and grew nervous at her look. Still, strangely, he felt the same. He leaned closer to her.

And Al smiled underneath when she felt their awkward, yet sincere, kiss.

In the meantime, Sam hurried toward her locker after Tucker had left, feeling a little more light-hearted. But her heart especially leapt a bit more when she saw Danny headed for his locker.

"Hey!" she beamed as she neared him.

Danny noticed that right away, and privately relieved that she seemed to be in good spirits, asked, "What gives?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, bewildered.

"I mean, you look so happy. So, what gives?" he asked with a slight, impish smile.

"Sorry. Forgot the 'scowl of discontent'. I must be slipping!" she feigned a scowl before smirking back at her boyfriend. She then continued, "I guess I'm feeling better now that I was finally able to bury the hatchet with Tucker. It just took all friggin' day, that's all!"

"So, which hatchet did you use? Must've been a real mess!" Danny teased as he opened his locker. He frowned when a bunch of books fell out—again.

"Fun-ny. Better watch it or else I might just get 'another' one from the 'Shop' class!" she dryly replied, shoving him slightly as she teased back. "But it's a real relief just the same."

Danny smiled as he quickly finished placing the books he didn't need in his locker, and slammed the door before they could all fall out—again. Through it all, he could feel that she wasn't as tense as she had been.

Danny pulled on his locker door to make sure it was shut and Sam said, "Well, I'm glad this day is over! Could anything worse happen?"

Just as she said that, Danny's ghost sense went off. "You just had to say it, didn't you?" he dryly remarked. But his little smile that accompanied his words told his girlfriend that he was kidding. "Meet you at the usual place?"

"Of course," she wryly quipped. "Waiting with a hatchet, that is." But underneath, she hoped he would be careful.

He chuckled as he dove into a nearby closet and converted into his ghostly form once inside of it. His face grew more serious as he became invisible and intangible and soared out of the school. Hovering, he searched around and finally saw the small green blob of a ghost in the near distance. But before he could alter his course, the Red Huntress flew by him in a blur.

And before he knew it, the poor little ghost was obliterated by Valerie. It never knew what hit it.

"Man!" Danny couldn't help but think, unconsciously gritting his teeth with worry. "Her beef with ghosts is getting tougher every time. Better get out of here before…"

But he was too late!

Valerie's newly enhanced ghost-vision feature in her helmet worked perfectly, as she scanned for the next ghost about whom her ghost radar had alerted her. And her readings confirmed that that ghost must be invisible at the moment. With her special feature, she caught a faint outline of one not too far from her. She knew her readings were right. It was Phantom! She quickly raised her gun up and fired.

Danny yelled as the blow penetrated him and gasped, "What the…? How could she see me?" But he knew he had no time to think about it, especially when Valerie followed up that blast with a larger missile.

Danny reacted instinctually and threw up an ectoplasmic energy shield. It protected him, but the force from the exploding rocket was so strong that he was propelled downward toward the school. As he saw the school charge closer to him, he became intangible and phased right through the roof, finally landing with a hard thud in one of the empty classrooms.

"Better cut this off before the trail gets too hot—for me, that is," he groaned as he got up. Quickly ignoring the pain as he did, he reverted back to his human form and limped out of the classroom.

He hurried as fast as he could, trying to work out the pain as he made his way to meet up with Sam at their rendezvous point. Just before he got there, he was feeling better but was still a little sore. Then he saw his girlfriend in the near distance. And her back was to him.

Suddenly, a mischievous little thought crossed his mind and he slowed his pace. Creeping more slowly to her, he squelched his chuckle at the thought of how perfect this was. He couldn't wait to scare her.

He was just about to pounce on her when she sidestepped him and stuck her foot out, effectively tripping him. He landed in a very disheveled and embarrassing heap. He groaned at the renewed pain in his side.

Sam chuckled as she helped him up and smirked, "You deserved that, you know. And you've been on my mind way too much since you went looking for that ghost. So, I kinda knew you were there! And then you were thinking of scaring me? As if!...." Then she immediately added in a more serious tone, "Now, how did it go?"

He smirked to himself this time. He just loved how she could change gears so easily. First she was teasing him, and now she was serious about what happened. And he knew she was talking about that ghost that had pulled him away in the first place.

"Valerie took care of it again. Looks like she's been on overdrive lately, and she almost got me again, but I got away." He then told her all about what happened.

She frowned but hearing Valerie's name again made her squirm, especially after he told her about that newest feature he guessed she must have. "Well, that would explain that new mask covering her face," Sam said. Still, hearing the Red Huntress' name reminded her about something else. She added, "And, that's good and bad!"

"Huh?" Danny asked, bewildered.

"Good that you're OK. But bad…And bad!"

He scrunched his face in confusion and shrugged.

She answered, "'Bad' because now she can find you wherever you are."

"Yeah, I know. But, I'll just have to be more on the lookout for her whenever I come upon any other ghost in the future…..Now, what about the other "bad"?"

"Oh, yeah. I don't know about you, but I forgot that it was Valerie's birthday and her party's tonight! I haven't gotten anything for her yet. Have you?"

He rolled his eyes innocently and lied, "Of course I didn't forget! But we'd better get to the mall so that we—er, I mean, you—can get something before tonight!"

She smirked at his ruse. "Yeah. Right. We better be…Oh. I mean, I better get going right now and, uh, would you like to tag along just for the heck of it?"

He grinned wryly as he took her hand and together, they headed toward the mall.

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A/N: And, BTW, NO! I don't know any Croatian! But it is REAL Croatian. I looked it all up, so I claim TOTAL IGNORANCE if there is even an ounce of poor grammar in the Croatian translation!

1. "Al, it's you! Please don't be angry with me! I-I can't explain anything that happened, but I didn't mean to do it. And I think I'm going crazy! Nobody will be believe me, especially you! And I want you to believe me! Please!"

2. "I sorry… for all. I.. know… should.. know better. I…don't.. think… that you… have done wrong. I.. do.. wrong. I.. was… a jerk!"

3. and 4. "Forgive me?"

5. "Forgive…both!"

6. I get jealous a lot! Bad jealous!