A/N: Well, are you ready for an update already? I am! And that updraft is over and it's time for everything to plummet downward in a tailspin again. In fact, just to warn ya, there's some serious stuff below. Not too intense, but it's there. But there's also that IDNOAC thing that still gets in the way of the story! Oh, well, here's Chapter 36, anyhow! Hope you enjoy!

TrueHeart—Chapter 36—Anxious Situations

Tucker wondered why Danny and Sam hadn't showed up at their usual rendezvous point yet. He didn't think he could get through the day if they weren't there to help him—not that they really had been able to do that in the past several days. But, just having them be with him would be a kind of support for him. And he sure needed that now.

But he didn't know, of course, that his two best friends had been delayed by the entrance of the ghost animals into their lives. He looked at his watch and knew he'd have to hurry if he wanted to arrive at school in time to get to his locker. His locker. That would mean he might see Valerie. But this time, he had to go to it. He was already behind his school work because he hadn't gone to it since he broke up with her. He started off to school, but even though he was hurrying, he was surprised how slow he was actually going.

Finally, he arrived at school and headed toward his locker. When he got there, he was thankful that Valerie was no where in sight. He started to open his locker when it got stuck on him again. He growled and yanked it open. He stared into the locker, not at all sure what he would need for his first class.

Danny and Sam arrived at the school just a few moments after Tucker, compliments of Danny's supersonic flight power. They landed just behind a large tree and Danny quickly morphed back to his human form.

"You okay?" he asked her as he reached for her hand. He knew that she was still shook up about the animals. And he was sure that their unresolved conflict didn't help matters.

"A little," she began, before pausing. But then, she decided that she was just going to say it. "But when we get the chance, can we…."

"…try to talk it out?" he said, completing her sentence and thought.

She smile a little with embarrassment, but nodded.

They walked into the school, hand-in-hand and went right to their lockers. When they saw Tucker at his, both of them gasped when they saw how awful he looked.

They went right up to him and Danny reluctantly said, "Uhm, hi, Tuck, we're sorry we're late. We got hung up, and you're not going to believe why. But, uhm, so, how…are…you?" He unconsciously winced when he realized how lame a question that was, and winced even more when Tucker hammered that point home.

Their bespectacled friend turned and frowned in irritation at them. "How do you think I am? I haven't hardly slept or eaten for over a week and I don't think I'll ever be able to sleep ever again! And even the thought of eating makes me ill. I'm history!" He slammed his locker as hard as he had done when he told Valerie off and it shook several lockers. He turned away from them and stomped off.

Danny and Sam were at a loss for words, and had forgotten about why they had been delayed in coming to school. They had never seen their friend this bad-off—ever! Even his 'Desiree-induced' monster seemed as tame as one of those irritatingly cute little teddy bears at the spellbound Gotha-palooza compared to this. They went right after him.

They were just passing a janitor closet when Danny had an idea. He looked around and seeing no one but he and his friends were in this area, he quickly became intangible and grabbed both of his friends' hands. They also became intangible and found themselves within the closet before they could blink again. Danny turned on the light and then faced Tucker again. "C'mon, Tuck, is it that bad?" Danny began, but immediately cringed at his friend's heated response.

"How would you know?" he charged, thrusting an accusatory finger at his friend. His breathing was already beginning to accelerate as he then pointed just as angrily at Sam and added, "How would either of you know? You both have managed to stay together in spite of what I saw between Sam and Armen way back when; and here I am, having broken up with Valerie, and her only crime was that she hates Danny Phantom and can't even know that he's been right in front of her all along!" He could suddenly feel his heart beating loudly in his ears.

"Now, wait a minute, Tucker," Sam just as suddenly seethed, instantly taking on her 'being on the offensive' mode whenever it concerned her boyfriend.

"No, you wait a minute, Sam!" Tucker hotly interrupted. "If you would have had one ounce of understanding with Valerie, maybe she would have changed her mind about Phantom! But, no, you just couldn't and…"

But Sam forcefully interrupted him back. "You had better stop there, Tucker! You can't blame me for her hating Danny Phantom! She's done a great job of doing that all by herself! And if you think for one millisecond that I'm going to roll with her hating your friend and my boyfriend, well, then,…." But she didn't want to finish her threat. It was true she was hurt by his words; but they were both still friends and she didn't want to lose control of herself because of that. She growled under her breath. She didn't like being opened to this hurt. But it did come with the territory.

However, Tucker wasn't about to have Sam have the last say, "And you wanna know what's worst? I let her get too close to me, and now my heart has busted right open now that she's been ripped out of it! And I know now that I can't ever let any girl close to me—ever—as long as I have to lie to her about all our secrets!"

All three friends fell to an awkward silence after that, with the only sound pounding in their ears' being Tucker's still rapid breathing. And then, Tucker abruptly turned away from them and bolted out of the closet.

"Sam," Danny quietly began, "Maybe…"

She immediately twisted around to him and pointing her own accusatory finger at him, hotly replied, "And don't you go and defend him this time, Danny! He was way out of line with this one!"

She also abruptly turned away and stomped out of the closet, leaving Danny all alone. His let his shoulders drop in disappointment, and he suddenly became upset about what had just happened and everything else that had happened in the past couple of weeks all over again.

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After losing the two ghost animals, the battle-weary Bertrand limped back to Spectra. Even morphing back to his human form didn't make his aches go away. He groaned as he tried to increase his speed. But then, he remembered that he hadn't gotten those supplies he needed. He both groaned in pain and irritation. He altered his path away from the shadow ghost's lair.

Spectra, meanwhile, was impatiently pacing back and forth in her lair, waiting for Bertrand to return with the two ghost animals, and trying not to panic about her plans.

Finally, she grunted, irritated with herself. How dare she let two insignificant ghosts be the key to any plan! But then, another idea surfaced and she smirked in self-satisfaction. Those two ghost animals were most definitely hot-tailing it 'out of town' as fast as possible, probably never to return.

Maybe she shouldn't even bother herself about them anymore. Maybe Bertrand had been right! They had proven to be really useless in the end, and it would be too much work to keep them subjugated, especially that wildcat. Besides, like Bertrand said, there was the complication on what to do with them after she had accomplished her plans. That would have been a real mess. Just as well they were gone, then. No sense worrying about those two miserable little ghost animals any more.

Bertrand and she could finish off the Ghost Kid's relationship on their own.

She folded her arms in front of her and grabbed her chin in thought. Finally, she brightened. That would definitely do it! Why hadn't she thought about that before? But she quickly threw away her self-chiding thoughts, useless prattle that they were.

She smiled at these fresh plans. It would be the coup de gras for that ghost hybrid, she just knew it! But the final blow wouldn't be in the least merciful. It would be as vile as her own central core.

But she growled at her next thought. Where the blazes was Bertrand?

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The day didn't go any better for the three best friends.

Tucker and Sam were still steamed with each other—again!—and Danny, of course, was right in the middle and upset with the whole situation. He tried to think of what could be done to make things all right again—if anything could. But he couldn't think of anything that could help them; and he was hardly able to comprehend what any of his teachers were saying as the day progressed.

Finally, the day ended. All three friends were so miserable, they didn't meet each other at all after school and headed their separate ways.

Sam immediately slammed the door shut when she got home and plopped on the nearest lounge chair in anger and…misery. Misery. That made her suddenly think of the hurt wildcat. She made her way upstairs and to her bedroom in order to check on the lynx. She frowned with worried when she saw his still unresponsive form within the cage. That cage! Ugh! She still didn't like it! Even so, from the looks of it—that he hadn't touched his food or water yet—he was not sleeping like she thought he had been when she came into her room, but must be still unconscious instead.

She bit her lower lip and knew that Danny was right. They needed to bring him to the zoo—and help. She should have known better than to keep him.

"Don't worry, little fella," she softly said to the still silent wildcat. "We'll get you some help soon. My boyfriend didn't mean to hurt you." She paused with that thought. She didn't think Danny's ectoplasmic ray would've hurt the lynx that much. But, of course, Sam didn't know that Danny hadn't hurt the cat any more than what he had received in his fight with Bertrand. Danny's blow had merely pushed the enchanted lynx beyond his remaining strength.

The girl frowned with worry once more when the black wildcat still was not responding. And he didn't look like he was in a very comfortable position. She drew her lips in. She still hated that cage. Maybe she could chance it. She stepped closer to the cage, then hesitated, thinking better of it. She turned back around and made herself go back downstairs, away from her temptation.

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When Danny got home, he was so upset with all that had happened today that he went right up to his room. He was about to slam the door in his frustration when he spied the cage. He had forgotten about the dove! Instead, then, he shut the door with hardly a sound and went right over to the cage.

He cautiously peered into it and now frowned in worry about the dove. It didn't look as if she had touched the water or the handful of dry oats he had hastily retrieved from the pantry and had put in her cage before he left this morning. That could only mean that she still had not wakened up. And now that he was peering more intensely at her, he wasn't certain again whether she was dead after all, since he didn't see her breathing.

But then, the bird unconsciously shuddered again and he was confused. How could she do that and still seemed not to be breathing? But maybe her breathing was so shallow that it looked like she wasn't breathing?

He studied her again. From this angle, at least her wound seemed to be gone. There was no blood or blemish in her feathers. Maybe his healing powers might have worked after all? But he was afraid to inspect her more closely; and he wished she would recover soon.

Still, he didn't know that, in reality, his healing powers had partially worked on her. The reason why he thought he had partially failed was because she and the lynx were bewitched, and that was what had weakened, or, more precisely, had really slowed, the effects of his healing powers. Though her main wound was essentially healed, she had not fully recovered her strength yet.

Still unsatisfied over the condition of the dove or his friends, Danny sighed in sadness. What else could he do now? He didn't feel like doing anything else in here, least of all lying down; so he went back downstairs to check on his family.

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Tucker was more than edgy. He felt his skin would crawl right off of him with how exhausted and troubled he was. Not only was he still upset about Valerie, now he and Sam were on the warpath again. And he was sure that he even ticked off Danny. This day—and week—couldn't get any worse.

He went right up to his room when he got home and didn't come out for the rest of the night.

Meanwhile, his parents were getting more and more worried about him. Especially his mother. In the past few weeks, her usually sweet, overly-chatty son had been growing more sullen and silent; and, more importantly, he had virtually stopped eating. Something had to be very wrong for Tucker to even pass up his favorite dish. And she couldn't help but feel that this had to do something with Valerie, especially when she hadn't seen the girl for quite a few days now.

Mrs. Foley bit her lower lip. Tucker was acting very chillingly like his father had acted when she had….She swallowed hard, trying to goad herself into talking to him. This had to be the right time. But still, she hesitated.

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Valerie, too, was still down in the very bottom of the dumps. She had only seen Tucker, Danny and Sam during their shared classes. But that was it: she had only seen them. They hadn't even so much as glanced her way. And she had been so upset about everything, she had actually disconnected her ghost radar. She didn't care at this point if her whole other world would be turned upside down. She was eager for it to join her upside down life in this world.

When she got home, she went right up to her room. Her head ached as much as her heart right now. And with every thump, she was feeling herself drift right into total despair. But then at the next dull ache she suddenly grew angry. Danny and Sam were being so unfair to her! All they had to do is say that they didn't want to hear any more about her 'secret' life and she would be willing to never mention it again!

And what about Tucker? She felt a sharp ping in her heart. Why hadn't he cooled down yet? It had been more than a week since her party, and as about as long since he had told her they were through. She jolted at her next thought. He hadn't 'cooled down yet' because he had been dead serious about breaking up! She swallowed the lump she felt forming in her throat. That was not enough for her to accept it. This was all just a big misunderstanding, that's all.

She sucked in her lower lip and bit down on it with her decision. This would be it—the final test. She would try one more time to get through to him. If she failed, she would know it was over and that would be that!

She went downstairs to dinner with a little more hope, but she didn't so much as touch her food.

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Tucker's mother woke with a start. She turned to the clock. It read one-thirty in the morning. Then she heard it again. A noise downstairs. She turned in her bed and looked at her sleeping husband. Sometimes, she wished he wasn't such a heavy sleeper, or that she was a light one. But, he also had a rough day at work today and she didn't want to alarm him.

She slowly and silently got up and crept downstairs, glancing into her son's room as she passed it. Once she was on the first level, she checked the front door. It was unlocked! She quickly locked it, her heart suddenly racing. Then she heard another noise. In the kitchen. She slowly made her way to it, and heard a sound. Then, she saw that the light was on. And then she was at the doorway….

Prior to that, Tucker had been tossing and turning. He opened his eyes and brought his alarm clock so close that he almost hit his nose with it. "Only quarter after one?" He groaned. He could swear that he hadn't even had thirty straight minutes of sleep yet.

He reached for his night stand light, turned it on, and then pulled on his glasses. He slowly rose, thinking to himself, "Oh, man, I probably can't sleep because of being cooped up all night in here!" Then he groggily pulled himself out of bed, but didn't really know why he was headed downstairs.

Just as inexplicably, he went to the front door in autopilot, opened it, and peered at the snow-laden sidewalk. The cold night wind suddenly pushed against him, as would an intruder insidiously and blatantly invading his house; only that this cold stranger had intended all along to encroach upon his heart.

"What am I doing?" he suddenly chided himself, closing the door and shaking his head in an effort to clear it. His eyes then drifted to the kitchen door, which was not to far from the front door. He finally thought, "Maybe a cup of hot chocolate will help me to relax."

He entered the kitchen and flipped the light switch. He quickly retrieved the necessary items and warmed up his cup of milk in the microwave.

The bell on the microwave rang and he had just retrieved the cup when he turned and startled a little at the form that suddenly appeared in the doorway…

"I'm sorry, honey! I didn't mean to startle you! Are you all right?" his mother asked, her form coming into the sharp focus as the light hit her when she entered the room. "I thought I heard someone down here…You know how sensitive my 'are-you-in-my-kitchen?' radar is."

Her son chuckled a little, but his frown remained on his face.

"You're not sick again, honey?" she asked again.

"Well, not really sick, just a little down," he mumbled.

She walked over and took the cup of hot milk from him. Motioning for him to sit down, she completed the task and then placed the hot chocolate right in front of him.

"You know you didn't have to do that, Mom," he quietly objected. "You have to get up early tomorrow, uhm, I mean, today." He was speaking of the latest church function she was in charge of—as usual.

"Yeah, I know, but it can wait," she said with a wry smile, knowing what he had meant. She sat next to him and paused as he took a sip of hot chocolate. Now was her chance. "Do you want to talk about it?"

He looked at her and blinked in surprise. How did she always know that he was upset? Maybe it was linked to that 'are-you-in-my-kitchen?' radar of hers.

"No, not really," he lied, just before taking another sip from his mug.

"That's okay, son. Just wanted to let you know I'm here if you need me." Angela knew something was wrong, of course, and somehow now knew by his response that it did have to do with Valerie.

He looked up at her when she said that and saw the genuine concern in her face. She and his father were two-of-a-kind. And suddenly, he knew how lucky he was that he had them as parents.

He debated whether to say anymore, but suddenly, it just happened. "Mom? Have you ever kept any secrets from Dad?"

Her eyes widened a little at the unexpected impact of that question. Could she even think clearly enough right now to be able to give him a decent answer, even when she had been yearning to tell him this ever since she noticed how upset he was? But she could tell by the look on his face that he was….unmistakably serious.

Angela swallowed a little; but then, made her decision. Sure, her son was still young, but he had matured so much within the last year, so maybe he could handle it. She wanted to let him know that she understood what he was going through with all his obvious pain and hurt. And he looked as if he needed a definite answer to a definite problem.

"Well, only one—a big one. But I was young and very, very selfish at the time."

This time, Tucker's eyes widened at her reply. Selfish? His mom? No way! But he resisted the urge to say anything.

"It was shortly after I started dating your father, which you know was when we were in high school. We were about your age at the time. I mean, he was nice and I liked him, but at that time, I really didn't want to get labeled as 'his girl'. But I also liked the idea that I had someone who paid attention to me."

"But then, one day, a new guy showed up at school; and, man, did he ever knock my eyes right out of me!" She gasped. Did she just say that? She instantly blushed.

Tucker smiled a little at her comment. He had never seen this side of his mom before, but he was amused by it.

She paused, trying to get back into her 'mother' mode again before she continued. "Well, I started talking to him and we hit it right off! I thought this was really cool and easy. And I really liked him. But I didn't want to hurt your father's feelings, because he was very nice. So I started seeing Jimmy behind your father's back. And I also continued to date your father."

Tucker's eyes widened again and he unconsciously put his cup back down after having just retrieved it to take another sip.

His mother paused again. Should she tell him more? Well, she already had done it! Maurice, of course, knew all about this, and she felt her son needed to hear it. And, besides, it was all ancient history.

She continued, "Everything seemed to go sort of well in the beginning. Jimmy and I had some great times. He was exciting and wild, not at all like your father. But I had to hide it all from your father. Not that I stopped liking your father, because we also had such fun together. But, you know, I kind of had the 'I-want-my-cake-and-eat-it-too' disease back then. I didn't want to give your father up, because I knew he really liked me and was, and still is, the 'very loyal' type. But I didn't feel the same about him. I didn't want to be tied down to anything or anybody at that time in my life. In fact, I was even afraid of that happening. So, I even talked down about your father to make Jimmy feel like I liked him over your father. And to make Jimmy think I wasn't serious about your father."

"And then, all of the sudden your father and I started to get into all sorts of petty fights, when we hadn't had any before I started going out with Jimmy. And that including criticizing your father over just about everything that I didn't like about him. I told him that I thought he was just so…so 'boring', and too goody-goody…. And I thought he was so predictable…I didn't even feel that guilty about what I was doing to him, because I was so attracted to Jimmy."

"But it wasn't like you were married or anything, Mom," her son objected, trying to give her an 'out'. After all, he understood that part. He didn't want to feel particularly committed right now…he thought. And she did end up marrying his father.

"Hear me out, Tucker," she said, and he bit his lip on how serious she sounded just then. "But then, something went terribly wrong." And this time, she said that in a remorseful hush.

"Your father found out about Jimmy. I don't know how, but it didn't matter. And I'll never, ever forget the look on his face when he finally got the nerve to ask me about it, and I told him the truth. I didn't know it then, but I know now that he had felt betrayed. But I didn't think about it all back then because, well, I wasn't even capable of knowing at the time how much in love he was with me—even then. I was too into myself and just wanting so much to just have a good time all the time to realize all that."

She didn't notice the smile that she suddenly had on her face when she thought about her husband again. He was really quite special even then. And he still was. And she knew what she had mistaken as 'boring', 'goody-goody' and 'predictable' about Maurice were qualities that every good person should have: level-headedness, patience and loyalty. She also hadn't noticed that she had drifted in her thoughts, reliving those events, or that her pause was longer than Tucker thought it should be.

"Uhm, then what happened?" he blurted out, snapping his mother out of her musings.

She frowned more seriously this time and continued, "Well, of course, your father was devastated. He thought that I had felt the same about him all along. But I wasn't in love with him at all, or at least, I didn't think so. Still, he didn't get angry. He just sat there, stunned, nodded oddly with understanding, and then left the room without another word."

Tucker began to shift in his chair with uneasiness. Did he really want to hear any more?

But his mother pressed on nevertheless. Somehow, she needed to finish this. "At first, I thought that was the end. Your father avoided me like the plague after that. And you know, for the first time, I was kind of upset about it. I didn't know why, but I was. But, of course, I understood why he did avoid me, and I didn't blame him at all for it. I would have done exactly the same thing."

"But I still had Jimmy. Still, somehow, it wasn't the same between him and me anymore. I hadn't seen it at first, because I was so distracted by everything else in my life, and by the excitement of this new relationship. I wish I had seen it earlier, but I hadn't. But he was getting more and more possessive. He started becoming more demanding of my time, and my grades began to slip because of it. And I could finally see that he had a very bad temper."

She paused again and frowned with indecision. "I'm sorry, son. I don't know if I should tell you anymore."

"Please, Mom. I want to know," he replied, and she could tell he did want her to go on.

She paused a little, but then nodded slightly before continuing, "He was beginning to suffocate me with his demands. I didn't want to do the stuff he wanted, stuff I knew that I shouldn't do. But he was putting more pressure on me. And then, one day, I decided I couldn't take it any more. I waited to tell him after school. I told him to wait for me in the gym where I knew we would be alone. After what happened, I should have made sure that I had told somebody about my plans. But, like I said, I was so into myself I thought I had it all together."

"We finally met up and I told him I didn't want to see him anymore. But then, he got angry, and told me that I was 'his' and no one else's. Like I said, he had a bad temper, but I had never seen him that mad before, and he frightened me so badly. I tried to leave, but he wouldn't let me. He said that he was going to prove to me that I was only his. And then, he grabbed my wrist. And it really hurt when he did. But when I insisted that he let go of me, he refused. He started to drag me with him."

"And then, for some reason, your father came in. I didn't know at the time that he was there earlier than normal to practice basketball with his friends. And I didn't know that he saw what was happening. But without hesitating one bit, he stepped right in and was willing to do whatever it took to keep Jimmy away from me. And, yes, that meant coming to blows with Jimmy. Jimmy, of course, had thrown the first punch, even when your father tried to reason with him. And…and Jimmy made sure to make every punch hurt."

"Your father did get a few in himself, but he was no match for Jimmy. Jimmy could very well have killed your father because he was much bigger and stronger than he. But before Jimmy could do any more harm to him, a few more of the guys that your father had planned to play basketball with finally came in, along with one of the kids' father. They jumped right in right away and stopped Jimmy. Your father was pretty beaten up, but he was, of course, all right in the end. Jimmy was expelled after that, and eventually dropped out of school. Later on, I found out by accident that he had gotten so bad that he finally ended up in jail."

She paused again, thinking about all the turmoil she had gone through and all the turmoil she had made who would become her husband go through back then.

Tucker was glad she had paused. He was a bit shaken about what she had told him and that he had even asked her that question in the first place. Still, he had always thought of his father as being the quiet type. Not at all aggressive. But it was sorta nice to know that he was obviously quite brave underneath after all.

"But you know what, Tucker?" she finally and quietly said, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"What's that, Mom?" he barely uttered.

"Sometimes, we have to fall into the pits in order to let someone help pull us out. It was at that moment, I realized just what kind of man your father was. In spite of what I had done to him, he was still willing to do the right thing and help me, even when he didn't have to get involved and I hadn't deserved his help at all. He could have blown what was happening right off, thinking it was just a spat between Jimmy and me. But he didn't because, you see, he was so not into himself that he could see that what Jimmy was trying to do wasn't right…And realizing all that just gave me the jolt I needed to look beyond myself for the first time in my life…"

"But, you know, we didn't get back together right away after that. It took time for both of our wounds to heal." She suddenly chuckled, "Besides, I didn't blame him and understood why he didn't want to get back together. In some ways, I deserved all that trouble…Still, I couldn't help myself and I guess you might say that I actually pursued him after that! But in the end, you know we got back together. I am truly blessed to have him, just as I'm blessed to have you. After all, you remind me of him so much."

This time, Tucker unconsciously blushed. Secretly, he hoped he would be that good.

"Thanks, Mom," he said as he got up and reached over to give her a quick hug and kiss.

She sighed when he left. She was so glad she had changed for the better, so that she could have this wonderful family.

Tucker went back to bed, thinking about what she had said. He hadn't expected it in the least, and he wasn't sure if it really had anything to do with Valerie and him. Still, he did feel a little better, and an inkling of hope popped out of nowhere.

He lay there, staring at the dark ceiling. He still didn't think he could go to sleep. But a few minutes later, he was asleep before he knew it.