40. Rated
The heavy steel doors closed behind him
"So, did you find him?"
"Yup."
"And?"
Silence in the lab, as two white rings frizzled around the teenage ghost's waist, restoring him to his living, breathing, human counterpart. Green eyes changed to blue, white hair to midnight black, black and white jump suit to an ordinary t-shirt and jeans. His feet landed on the floor with a soft thud, and somehow no one was able to tell that the tall, lean boy was the same tall, lean ghost hero of Amity Park.
"Danny, come on, did he have it?"
Anxious anticipation in the goth's voice now, looking in amazement at her ghostly friend as he remained silent. He didn't look at her, but instead looked at the stairs leading up, as if looking for an escape. To her surprise, he blushed.
"Are you going to tell me what happened?" she asked, now slightly annoyed.
"I don't think so," Danny said.
He still avoided her eyes.
"Come on, Danny, I just want to know if you found my scrapbook. Did he have the box?"
"I don't know."
With that, he brushed past her and almost ran up the stairs. With a growl, she followed him, overtaking him before he had reached the top. She grabbed his arm.
"What's with you! Why won't you tell me what happened? He didn't... he didn't destroy my scrapbook did he? I'll kill him all over again if he did that! It took me years to get all those articles, all those pictures together! Remember when you didn't remember knowing me, and I convinced you you were a super hero with it..."
"Sam!"
She stopped, her mouth hanging open, staring into the exasperated face of her almost but not quite boyfriend. He had a strange, almost haunted look in his eyes... and something else too. She couldn't place it. He reached out and closed her mouth. She got angry.
"Fine. Don't tell me."
She let go of his arm, stomped to the living room and sat down on the couch with her arms crossed. He followed her, but stopped in the door frame and leaned against it.
"Look," he said, "It's not that I don't want to tell you, it's just that I don't know how..."
Again, he blushed. Sam frowned. The last time she had seen Danny flustered like that was when his father had started trying to explain about the birds and bees right in front of her and Tucker. Danny had pushed them out of the kitchen, and they had been laughing at his red face the whole day.
"What did he do, talk about his love life to you?" she asked him.
He let out a short laugh. "Something like that."
He came into the room and sat down on the couch next to her, leaning his elbows on his knees, looking down.
"Um," he said, "Remember Box Lunch?"
"Ew," Sam said, "The daughter of him and the Lunch Lady? Who Clockwork sent back in time to fight you two years ago... wait, that sounds weird. She doesn't exist yet. Or does she?"
Danny didn't look up, but kept his gaze steadily on the ground.
"Not yet," he muttered, "But she will soon."
Silence in the room as Sam processed that statement.
"You mean..."
"Yes."
"When you..."
"Uh huh."
"And they..."
"Yup."
"Oh, my..."
They sat in silence, each processing and trying to push out unsavory mental images.
"Danny! Where's the fudge... Oh, you're with your girlfriend!"
Jack Fenton barged into the room, moving his bulk swiftly from the front door to the kitchen. Moments later, he reappeared, chewing something. He eyed the two teenagers on the couch, sitting close together, red faced.
"I wasn't interrupting something, was I?" he boomed, and then a sly grin spread on his face. "I remember dating your mom, we always used to cuddle up on the couch at her place, of course we didn't have parents to barge in on us there, just roommates, but we knew when they were gone for hours so we could..."
Danny and Sam fled.
