Okay so I know I haven't updated in a while, but I've been busy and all that. I'm just glad to be uploading this right now. And I hope you guys will review it! Reviews are always really encouraging :P

Chapter 22: Christmas Nearly Here

"Happy afternoon, sunshine!" It was Sam's flaky red-haired mother. Beside her stood her husband and Sam's father.

Sam groaned. "What is it now?" Sam asked with a tone.

"Oh sweetie we just wanted to see what you were doing!" Sam's mother peered over her notebook and Sam pulled it away.

"I know that lately you've been spending a lot of time writing and I'm just glad you're making happy little stories rather than spending time with that bad influence of a boyfriend you used to have." Sam's father smiled, oblivious to her emotions.

Sam lowered her eyebrows and placed her notebook in between her parents and herself so she wouldn't have to look at them.

"Put your holiday dress on, honeybuns!" Sam's father, Jeremy, opened her closet. "You know we bought that especially for you. It'll help brighten up that attitude of yours."

"And speaking of brightening," Sam's mother opened the drapes to Sam's windows. Sam cringed at the light. "How about this warm sun? Isn't it wonderful?" Pamela Manson had a voice that was so high and surged upward as if being zapped by electricity. And Pamela's laugh was right about unbearable.

"Will you please…just leave." Sam said through her clenched teeth.

Sam's parents walked out the door. "Bye sweetycakes!"

Sam quickly shut the door, happy to be away from them. She curled back up on the couch. Then she realized that a page of her notebook was sticking out. She pulled it out and studied it. She smiled full-heartedly. "I remember this." She whispered to herself.

It was many drawings she had done of the Danny Phantom emblem that she had made years ago. Somewhere in the depths of her mind she remembered how she'd always wanted a necklace like that. She'd have to get it custom made, and she just didn't have the means of getting that. Money was no object, but Sam really didn't know any good jewelry stores around. So it was somewhat impossible.

Christmas was nearing with each passing week and Danny was all the more un-cheerful. And the worst part was that he couldn't figure out why. Maybe he didn't want to admit it to himself. He had spent the past few days all alone up in his bedroom sleeping away his life. His family and friends had tried to include him in their holiday traditions, but every time he had refused. He just didn't feel in the Christmas mood. Christmas surrounded him and everyone around him was happy. He couldn't help but feel just a little lonely.

And then at school, he tried to make things right with Valerie but just didn't know the right words to say. He could tell she really didn't know what to say either. He wondered if she even forgave him at all. Oh well, school would soon be over for the beak and then Danny would get some free time to hang out with his friends and not have to deal with the extra responsibility that school promised him.

A ghostly messenger wore a red Christmas hat and flew around the neighborhood while he was intangible. His purpose was to deliver letters to the ghosts in the town and one he placed silently in the mailbox before the Fenton house.

Soon, a gigantic, overbearing man in an orange jumpsuit reached into the mailbox and pulled out an armful of Christmas cards and walked into his house. "Honey, the mail's here!" he announced. His wife, a red-haired woman in a blue jumpsuit came down the stairs and the man handed her the entire pile.

"Look at all of these Christmas cards!" She exclaimed as she put them up on the wall. "Danny, there's a letter for you!"

A thin black-haired boy came up from the basement. He took the letter. The letter was addressed simply "Danny and Danielle". It was a formal invitation to a party in the Ghost Zone hosted by a man named Mr. Jingle. Danny took the letter up to his bedroom. "Danielle!" he called his little sister and she phased through the wall between their bedrooms.

"Yes?" she asked in her light, upbeat voice.

"We've been invited to a party on Christmas to honor the treaty of ghosts."

"Cool!"

"We should assume all ghosts have been invited, since they knew where you and I lived."

"What's it say?" She took the letter from his hands. She read it quickly. "All it says is that we are invited in honor of the treaty. It doesn't give an address or anything else."

"I'm sure we'll be able to find our way." Danny determined.

"What do we do once all the relatives start coming over?" Danielle asked curiously. "They haven't all met me yet and I'll feel so awkward."

"You just hang around Jazz."

"Are you going to invite her to the Ghost Zone party? What about Valerie? And Tucker and Sam?"

"Stop asking me all these questions Danielle! I'm trying very hard not to get annoyed because I'm not really feeling Christmassy right now!"

"Why not?"

"Hello! Cecelia just died trying to save our lives. And I can't even tell my parents about it. You can't even imagine how upset I am right now." Although it felt good for him to finally let it all out, Danielle was a bit scared. "I'm sorry I went off on you like that Danielle." He pulled her into a hug and she hugged him back.

"It's allright bro." she smiled. "Cecelia was my friend too."

"Jazz is here!" Danny and Danielle heard their father shout from the first floor.

Danny and Danielle rushed downstairs to see their orange-haired college sister standing in the front doorway they both engulfed her in a squeezing hug. "Danielle! Danny! I missed you so much!" she smiled and took off her coat.

Jazz hugged her mom. "Merry Christmas, sweetheart!" Maddie said.

Next she hugged her father. "Welcome home Jasmine!"

"So what have you all been up to ever since I've been gone?" Jazz asked.

"I've been working on a Christmas song." Danielle said.

Danny walked back upstairs in his grouchy mood and everyone was too focused on Jazz to ask him why he was mad. He sat at his desk and turned on his laptop. He saw that Sam was online.

"Hi. Jazz is home so if you wanted to come see her you could come over sometime." He chatted to Sam.

"I'd like to but not right now. I'm packing for France." Was Sam's reply.

"When are you leaving?"

"January third. So what's really bothering you? I know you too well to see that every time you chat with me on the computer it's because there's something wrong."

Danny knew he couldn't deny that she was right. "I'm still upset about what happened with Cecelia."

"What you need is time. And there isn't a happier time in the world than Christmas day! It's the only time of the year when I'm not perpetually dark and ominous. And I don't even celebrate it."

"Yeah."

"Your parents stopped that Santa/No Santa fight, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I hope you find the happiness you're looking for."

"Oh that reminds me. What do you want for Christmas? I've been keeping a list of what everybody wants so that I know the perfect gift to give them."

"Well it'll be a little hard for you, then, because I don't want anything."

"Nothing at all?"

"No. But, just out of curiosity, what does everybody else want?"

"Well, Tuck wants that new Gyro-Sage PDA."

"Figures."

"And Val wants this pair of Vidani heels. Danielle wants some new music-holder thing. I'm going to get Jazz a friend for her Bearburt. And Garth, well, I haven't gotten a chance to ask him yet."

"Yeah, you can't just walk up to a guy like him and ask such a personal question. Hey, I gotta go. I'll see you at school tomorrow. Happy last-day-of-school-before-Christmas-vacation."

Danny and Sam signed off. "Maybe this Christmas won't be too bad after all." Danny said to himself.

"Danny! Danny!" Danielle came into Danny's bedroom. "I just saw the present Jazz got you and you're going to love it."

"Thanks for telling me that." Danny smiled.

"So you should really invite Tucker and Sam to the Ghost Zone party. And Valerie too. I'll assume Garth will be coming, since he is a ghost as well?"

"Slow down, Danielle. I'm sure Garth will come, but the party is for ghosts only. The invitation didn't say we're allowed to bring friends."

Danielle sulked. She looked around the room. "You really should wrap that present you got for Valerie. How much did that cost you anyways?"

"None of your business." Danny said as he pushed his little sister out of his room. They stuck their tongues out at each other in a childish way, and then Danny shut the door in Danielle's face.

Danny put the red high heels in the Christmas box they came in and put a bow on top of it. He sighed and looked at them. "Geez. I'll never understand why a girl would pay a hundred-eighty for a pair of shoes."

It was school the next day, and everyone was happy that it was the very last day before they would be out for Christmas. To set the mood, Dash was doing his annual holiday bullying, in which he not only did the regular routine but stuck a bow on their face with his name on it. The bow was super-glued, to be exact.

Paulina's idea about spreading holiday cheer was actually writing a holiday cheer.

"I'm Paulina, I'm so hot

You're all losers and you're not

I've got spirit yes I do

Merry Christmas, New Years' too!

Maybe one day you'll be me

Looking shapely and pretty

But right now you're all a mess

I hope you clean up well for Christmas!"

Valerie was also in the holiday mood. She hadn't lost her smile all day and for some reason she just didn't feel like beating up her punching bag this morning.

Sam wished "Merry Christmas" to everyone she met. And Tucker, well, he had a few unsuccessful runs with his mistletoe hat. Danny tried to ignore the sudden happiness that slowly covered the school. But try as he may, it just wouldn't go away.

"Cheer up Danny. School's almost over. Then we can all go home and be with our families. Or in my case—going to Garth's house to play video games since you told me you're not in the mood!" Tucker always tried to put a positive spin on negative statements.

Danny groaned. "So now I'm being replaced?"

"Well, Garth also invited all of us to go over to the lab he works at to eat the leftovers from their holiday dessert party, but you didn't want to come."

"I already told you—that lab reminds me too much of Cecelia."

"We all miss her dude. You just need time, and distraction. Why don't you come with me over to the lab and we'll gorge ourselves in those lemon squares and chocolate covered cookies and ice cream platters."

"Allright." Danny agreed. "But I still hate the holidays." He said. The bell rang and all the students cheered and ran out the doors of the classroom hugging one another and releasing exclamations of anxiety.

Someone tapped Danny from behind as he was standing at his locker.

"I couldn't help but overhear you hate the holidays."

Danny turned around to see a blond-haired boy with brown eyes and dark circles around his eyes.

"Who are you?" Danny asked.

"I'm Wenn. I'll talk to you later." Wenn walked away creepily. "Phantom."

Danny looked back but Wenn was already gone. Did Wenn actually say that? Danny couldn't be sure. There were overlapping voices all around him so he could have heard something else.

"Are you ready to go Danny?" Danny turned around to see Tucker and Sam standing there with their backpacks, all ready to leave. Together, the three of them walked to the lab where Garth works.

Garth saw them approaching and let them in. "Sorry guys, the staff actually consumed the entire dessert buffet."

"Aw!" Tucker whined.

"What do you do for Christmas, Garth?" Sam asked him out of the blue.

"Excuse me?"

"Well, everybody else likes to go home to their families. And you told me you'd be taking on a few extra shifts to earn more money on Christmas." Tucker remembered.

"Yes, I'll be working on Christmas."

"Why?" Danny asked.

"Because those shifts pay more, that's why! And besides I don't have anything better to do."

"Don't you have a family?" Tucker asked.

"No. my brother's dead and my parents got separated and never got back together and besides that, my mom is chronically ill anyways and my father, well, he's the worst."

Sam took an interest because this was the first time Garth talked about his family with them.

"Did you get the letter?" Danny asked.

"What letter?" Garth asked puzzled. Danny insisted Garth take them to his home. "Here it is—and I live alone." Garth announced. Danny, Sam and Tucker now faced an old little townhouse near the edge of Amity Park. One of the windows had been busted a long time ago but was never fixed. The shingles were rotting in someplace but the lawn was full of snow that covered up the brown grass.

"That's…nice." Tucker lied.

"It's all I can afford." Garth admitted bitterly. He unlocked the door and they all went inside. Surprisingly, the inside walls were all nicely maintained and the house was generally clean.

"Aren't you ever going to go to college?" Sam asked concerned.

"I want to, and I was going to, but right now I've just recently been re-introduced to a whole new part of my life. I hope you all aren't forgetting about December 31st: the day I have to challenge Lyon for the dragon's throne."

"We couldn't forget even if we wanted to." Danny said. "So about that letter."

"Oh, right. I haven't gotten a chance to check the mail yet." Garth walked over to the small dining table which was in the kitchen because there was no dining room. Garth only had many items of junk mail. "Here it is!" Garth found a letter addressed to himself. He opened it and read it. "I'm invited to a Ghost Zone party?"

"Yup." Danny said. "It's only for ghosts, and it has to do with the treaty they all made a long time ago. This is a new thing, so I really don't know yet what it'll be like."

"Wow." Garth smiled. "It's been a long time since I've been invited to a Christmas party."

"Well get ready. If you want, you can come with Danielle and me." Danny said.

"Who's up for playing some video games!" Tucker waved the controller in the air.

Everyone agreed simultaneously. But since there were only two controllers, they had to share. It was Danny and Tucker versus Garth and Sam.