A/N Hello everyone and welcome to part 2 of A Ghostly Christmas, which I personally loved even more than part 1. I put a few of my own personal life experiences and desires into this chapter and it was so much fun as a result. I would have loved to be posting this chapter actually around Christmas time but it's my own fault for not getting to this part of the story around that time frame and also because when I originally mapped out the story I didn't even have Christmas as part of it. I decided to add it while I was taking my break and thought the story needed more moments where Danny and Ember could just be together and happy and not constantly dealing with chaos. Basically Chapter 18-21 is content I decided to add while I was resting and as a result a LOT of stuff is now coming that I personally think is one of the best sections of the story, ESPECIALLY chapter 21. But enough about that, we're on chapter 20 which I also really love so I'll stop yapping and hopefully all of you love it as much as I do. Please remember at the end to leave a REVIEW, I really really want to know what you all thought of it.
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December 25, 2004
Danny was floating along the clouds with a dreamy look on his face, looking in every direction for the source of his heart's desire. Looking to the left, nothing there. Looking to the right, nothing there. But he could still hear a soft and sensual voice calling out to him, drawing him closer.
"Danny, I'm over here," said the voice, sounding like a siren and commanding all of his attention, eager to locate it.
While flying through the clouds Danny couldn't see anything for a few moments. But when he emerged on the other side he saw a beautiful girl with her back turned to him. Smiling at the sight of her beauty, Danny called out to her.
"I'm here," said Danny simply, as the girl started to turn around slowly, meeting his gaze with her bright green eyes.
Ember turned to face him and she looked more beautiful than ever, wearing a gorgeous robe that matched the color of her hair with purple trim along the edges to match her lips.
"You found me," said Ember, smiling happily while floating to Danny.
The two ghosts had loving smiles on both of their faces as they embraced each other, sinking into the most amazing feeling either of them had ever experienced. Bringing their faces back to one another their lips met in the most passionate kiss either of them had ever shared, feeling as if their body's had become completely weightless. Danny cupped Ember's cheek tenderly as his lips melted against hers, Ember gently placing both of her hands on the back of his neck and pressing herself against his chest. There wasn't anyone or anything around them that could break this moment up for them. Nothing but the two of them and the white clouds. Who knows how long they spent kissing with pure passion before their lips separated and they gazed into each other's eyes, both of them shining as bright as the sun.
"I love you Ember," said Danny longingly.
Ember brushed her thumb across Danny's cheek before she spoke herself.
"Oh Danny, I...
"I told you Jack, he didn't come once again because he doesn't exist," came the shouting voice of Maddie from downstairs.
Danny snapped awake from the most amazing dream he'd ever had, jumping to a sitting position and cursing everything that currently existed. Looking around for Ember, he realized he'd been dreaming because she wasn't there. He was alone in his bedroom, it was Christmas morning, and he'd just been frightened awake by his parents downstairs, once again fighting over Santa Clause. Danny groaned loudly and slammed both of his fists into the bed, furious that such an amazing dream had been ruined by this pure absurdity.
"Are you freaking kidding me right now?" Danny asked himself in a rough whisper.
He had just been on cloud nine (possibly literally) with Ember in his dream and pretty sure she was about to tell him that she loved him, and it had just been snatched away from him. He'd never hated Christmas more than he did right at that moment. Turning over to press his face into his pillow, he smothered himself with it as if he was trying to suffocate himself.
"Damn it damn it damn it," shouted Danny under the pillow, muffling his voice but still loud enough to be heard just outside the door where someone just happened to be passing by.
Not even knocking, Jazz slowly opened the door to see her little brother twisting and turning on his bed like a mental patient. Less than 24 hours ago she'd tried to comfort him on the whole Christmas debate between their parents, yet here she was again and it was probably even worse than yesterday since it seems he'd just been woken up against his will.
"Hey Danny, you okay?" asked Jazz lightly.
Danny sat up straight and put his pillow back down behind him, trying to keep himself from blowing up the house with a spontaneous ghost blast.
"No Jazz I am not, I cannot stand this craziness anymore," said Danny a little roughly, even though his frustration wasn't with Jazz.
"Yeah, I know what you mean about mom and dad, and I've been dealing with the whole thing two years longer than you have," said Jazz lightly closing the door.
"Well you didn't get peed on by a dog as a baby while they were having their debate so I think you still got off easy on the whole thing," said Danny as he stood up aggressively.
"Come on, it's still Christmas and we're still a family, we can still go downstairs and enjoy opening up presents together," said Jazz, trying to diffuse the situation.
But Danny just wanted to get the morning over with as quick as possible so he could go find Ember and she could take him to whatever this surprise of hers was. Maybe then he'd be able to actually enjoy Christmas. Odds are his parents would be so absorbed in their debate they wouldn't even notice if he left.
"I just want to go downstairs, try to keep myself from breaking something, and get out of the house until this day is over," said Danny walking towards the door.
Jazz watched Danny walk out of his room and couldn't blame him. Though she wasn't showing it she was furious too about her parents being so childish about the whole Santa Clause debate. She planned on having some real tough love conversations with them later once Danny left to go see Ember. Enough was enough.
Once Jazz joined Danny downstairs they both walked past their parents who were still going at each other. Neither Danny or Jazz could tell what they were saying since they were trying to talk over each other, nor did they care. Walking over to the Christmas tree Danny halfheartedly looked at the presents underneath, taking note of which ones were for who. Danny would pass a present to Jazz and Jazz would set it in a different pile around the room for each of them. Danny was grabbing the last few gifts when one caught his eye that was for him. He recognized it as the one his dad ran into the house with last night after it had been delivered by the mailman. He hadn't taken a very close look at it because his dad ran straight to the tree to set it underneath, making Danny want to just stay away from it actually. But now he was actually observing it and wondering who it was actually from. Giving it a little shake, he couldn't hear anything rattling around inside, and it was a simple rectangle box shape so that didn't offer any clues.
"Come on you two, can't you at the very least put the whole Santa thing on hold for us to open our presents?" Jazz shouted towards her parents as they were in between shouting matches. Both of their parents looked over at their daughter and took note that all the presents had been divided out for opening.
"Oh, well, yes of course we can Jazzy, after all I want to see which of these presents was left by Santa without us realizing he was here," said Jack happily, causing everyone else in the room to face palm themselves.
Without further ado everyone started attacking their respective piles of presents, tearing wrapping paper apart like crazy to see their gifts. Danny was moving possibly the fastest of all four of them since he wanted the earliest excuse he could to get out of the house. Tearing open presents from his parents, Jazz, Tucker, and even one from Valerie, he found himself on the last present marked from Santa. He knew whatever he was getting from Ember would be later since she had been so clear that she wanted to wait until they were together, and he still had her present with him here at the house too. Slowly giving the package one more look over, he started to slowly tear the paper off of it, little by little revealing the box underneath and what was on it. The more of the paper he tore off, the more his eyes started to light up as he realized it was some kind of space shuttle. His mouth dropped from excitement as a picture of Neil Armstrong became visible on the box in his space suit. Starting to tear faster, Danny tore the rest of the paper off to fully reveal the box for a scale model figurine of the Apollo 11 space shuttle.
"Holy cow, this is amazing," said Danny, completely ecstatic as he stared at the box. It was one of the most beautiful things he'd ever seen, his eyes lighting up like most kids get when they unwrap a new video game system a month after it was released.
"What is it, oh wow," said Jazz, looking over and realizing what it was, understanding why Danny looked like a little kid in a candy store. Both of Danny's parents looked over and saw what it was, also looking really amazed at the fancy looking figurine that didn't seem like it was made out of cheap plastic, but quality material.
"HA, there you have it, only Santa would be able to get something for someone that makes them that happy," said Jack, laughing in his wife's face, which Maddie took offense to.
"Excuse me Jack, but are you saying we are not capable of getting our children something that makes them happy?" said Maddie, crossing her arms.
Danny was not in any mood to listen to anymore of their childish Santa debate, he just wanted to take his new figurine upstairs and open it. Standing up and carrying the box upstairs, he walked into his room and sat at his desk to slowly open the box. Very carefully pulling out the figurine in it's Styrofoam padding he set it on his desk, seeing that it was made out of heavy diecast material and the details were magnificent. Danny stood it upright and looked all over it, taking in every last detail of the shuttle and he couldn't believe it. It was as if someone had taken the real Apollo 11, shrunk it down to miniature size, and given it to him. He stayed sitting at his desk for ten whole minutes just looking at and admiring the figurine, all of his space fantasies flooding his mind throughout that time. He didn't have any idea who actually gave it to him, but he couldn't wait to tell Ember about it when he saw her. In fact he didn't want to wait any longer, he was going to go see her now.
"Mom, Dad, Jazz, I'm going out to see my friends for a while," said Danny while throwing on his jacket and beanie. He didn't even give them a moment to respond to him as he was out the door like a cheetah, leaving three stunned faces behind wondering what had just happened, though Jazz less so because she knew exactly who he was going to see.
Danny quickly ran down the sidewalk to duck into his usual alley to transform in. As soon as he did he went ghost and was about to fly away towards the warehouse when he realized something.
"Oh crap, I forgot Ember's present," said Danny to himself while smacking his own forehead.
He quickly flew back to Fenton Works so he could faze into his room to get the present, but not before peeking to make sure nobody had gone snooping in his room after he ran out of there. He moved over to the closet so he could retrieve the present, having moved it from the sofa last night after everyone had gone to bed, and took back off into the sky. While flying overhead he saw plenty of kids outside playing with their new toys, flying lower so he could wave to several of them and give them a friendly smile. Suddenly he felt so much more jolly just by being out of his crazy house. He even heard one of the kids call out to him as he was flying by.
"Danny Phantom, you're my hero, is that a present for your girlfriend Ember?" called out the boy, who looked to be about seven years old and was playing with a brand new baseball bat.
"You bet it is, and just you wait until next week, something big is coming," said Danny, winking at the kid. Though there were still those that were skeptical of him, his parents for example, it was so reassuring to know that he did have fans that supported him and he was seen as a hero to many.
The boy looked so excited at Danny's words as he smiled big at him, waving again as he flew off into the distance.
And just like that Danny felt so much happier. He was away from his parent's childish Santa debate, he was enjoying the fresh winter air, happy kids were waving at him, and he was on his way to share a happy Christmas with the girl of his dreams. It was already turning into the best Christmas of his life.
Less than five minutes later he was arriving at the warehouse and fazing into it, landing in the middle of Ember's set up and looking for her. When he didn't see her he smirked to himself, figuring she was again hiding somewhere to try to catch him with his guard down. His ghost sense went off as soon as he landed, so he knew she had to be nearby. With is eyes darting back and forth he braced for anything.
"Merry Christmas Danny Phantom," came a sweet voice from behind him.
Quickly flipping himself around Danny braced for whatever Ember was planning, but instead froze to the spot, his eyes shooting wide open, and his mouth almost dropped to the floor at the sight of her. She was wearing a Christmas outfit, but it definitely was not the most modest one available. It was a dreamgirl Santa baby outfit that showed off all of Ember's features from head to toe. Hugging her slim figure with a black belt around her waist, sleeves that were clinging to her arms, low cut just enough to show off a bit of her breasts without overly exposing them, and the bottom stopping right at her thighs to show off her amazing legs that were in knee high white stockings rather than her usual hardcore boots. Instead she was wearing elegant black shoes to perfectly compliment the stockings.
Danny was at a complete loss for words and on the verge of drooling from his open mouth, wondering if he was still in his dream from last night, his new space shuttle figurine now the furthest thing from his mind.
"Everything okay Mr. Phantom? You seem to be at a loss for words," said Ember softly as she stepped towards her boyfriend, making sure to deliberately put sway on her hips with each step. Walking right into Danny's body she wrapped her arms around his neck and smirked when she could feel him shivering from having his socks knocked off, exactly the reaction she was hoping for.
"Ember...wow," was all Danny was able to get out as he forced his mouth to close and set her present down on the bed beside him, moving his own hands to her hips. The material of her outfit was so smooth it was like his hands were touching heaven. And right now he felt like that's exactly where he was.
"Glad you were able to get here pretty early, I've been pretty eager to celebrate Christmas with the cutest ghost in Amity Park," said Ember softly as she leaned in for a deep kiss, pressing her tongue into Danny's mouth with all the passion she could muster. She figured that Danny had opened whatever gift Sam had gotten him, and was going to make damn sure that once he arrived he forgot all about it. Safe to say she completely succeeded.
Danny was still completely floored at first but after a moment responded to the kiss, brushing his own tongue against Ember's and letting his hands lightly roam around Ember's back. They kept kissing deeply for several long seconds with their hands touching each other gently before they separated their lips and gazed into each other's eyes longingly.
"I love you so much Ember, I don't know what I did to deserve you, but I'm not complaining," said Danny deeply, a huge smile returning to his face.
"Well you need to pull your face together Baby Pop, because we've got somewhere to be right now and it looks like you've got something on the bed to give to me," said Ember, gesturing to the present that Danny had put down.
Very reluctantly letting go of Ember's body, Danny reached to pick the present back up and held it up.
"Yes I do, but it'll have to wait until we get to wherever it is you're taking me," said Danny, getting a little of his natural complexion back, though Ember still had him in the palm of her hands.
"You sure I can't convince you to give it to me right now, I mean I have been really (*kiss), really (*kiss), good lately," said Ember in the sweetest voice she could use, making Danny weak in the knees. But as severely tempted as he was, he was going to hold strong a little bit longer.
'Holy shit I think I'm dying, I really think I'm dying,' thought Danny as his brain felt like mush. If Ember had done anything like this when they were still enemies she would have taken over the world without a challenge. Thank everything that did not happen back then.
"Sorry Ember, you'll just have to wait until we get there, but I have never been so tempted in my life," said Danny with his toes curling inside his suit.
"Well let's get going then so I can show you off the way I've been wanting to for quite some time," said Ember winking. Grabbing her guitar and slinging it over her shoulder, Ember rose through the roof of the warehouse to wait for him outside, knowing she was still driving his mind absolutely insane.
"I take back everything I've ever felt or said, I love Christmas," said Danny to himself ecstatically as he rose up to follow, meeting her outside the warehouse so they could fly off together with Ember leading the way.
As they were flying together they held hands like they enjoy doing whenever they fly, looking down at the town beneath them. Danny was getting a little curious as they where she was taking him and raised an eyebrow because it seemed like she was taking them back towards Fenton Works. But there was only one reason she would be heading in that direction. Looking at Ember with a bit of concern on his face he asked her a question he was afraid to have answered.
"Um, Ember, are we going to the ghost zone?" asked Danny slowly, wondering if he should stop flying any further.
Ember looked at Danny and understood why he sounded so worried. Naturally he didn't know about the special event that took place today and was concerned going to the ghost zone with their current status. They still didn't have any idea when this truce they were promised would end, or if it already had and they just didn't know it yet.
"Worry not Baby Pop, the odds of us being attacked today in the ghost zone don't exist, I can 100% promise you nothing bad will happen today," said Ember smiling with complete confidence.
Danny was still hesitant, but she sounded so sure. By the sound of it there was something that happened in the ghost zone on Christmas that he didn't know about. Since he'd only been a half ghost for about six months so far there was still plenty he wasn't aware of in ghost culture.
"Okay, I'll take your word for it since you know so much more about ghosts than I do," said Danny with a nod as they were approaching Fenton Works.
Going intangible and invisible, the two ghosts flew into the basement unseen and headed to the portal. Still hesitant, but trusting his girlfriend, Danny allowed himself to be steered through the portal and into the ghost zone. He hadn't come here since the morning he and Ember were attacked, so he was bracing for anything. Upon entering, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. No ghost army standing by waiting to blast them, no Skulker waiting to claim his pelt, no Walker ready to slap him in ecto cuffs, everything seemed normal (ghost zone normal). The two flew further into the zone for a while with Ember still leading the way, taking about fifteen minutes for them to get where she wanted to take him. Ember pointed towards a large mansion looking building sitting on an island sized rock.
"That's where we're heading, better put your party face on," said Ember smiling as she stopped them right in front of the door and took his hand.
"Well, if anything goes south I guess I can just turn human so nobody can touch me," said Danny lightly as Ember and him pushed the door open together, causing the music inside to go instantly silent with every head turning to look at them.
For the second time that morning, Danny froze where he stood, but this time it was due to fear rather than pleasant shock. Almost every single ghost he'd even known and fought since he became a halfa was present in this mansion. Skulker, Walker, Desiree, the Lunch Lady, the Box Ghost, Spectra, Bertrand, Technus, Sidney Pointdexter, several others that he'd met/fought at least once, too many to count. He also spotted Kitty, Johnny, and Klemper among the crowd, so there were some friendly faces here. In fact the only enemy that seemed to be absent from this party was Vlad Plasmius, who Danny didn't see anywhere among the crowd.
"Um, he he, hi everyone, Merry Christmas I guess," said Danny nervously, bracing for an ambush. Peeking over at Ember though, for some reason she seemed completely calm and was smiling, walking forward and pulling him with her.
"Merry Christmas to one and all, hope you all don't mind if my boyfriend and I join in on the festivities," said Ember smirking, knowing nobody would dare cause trouble today of all days.
There were some frowns among ghosts in the crowd, most notably Skulker, but nobody was attacking them.
"We should have guessed you would come here today like this, but since we hold the Christmas truce so sacredly, of course you are welcome," said Walker who was frowning at first, but then smiled and held up his glass. Everyone else in turn joined in and smiled at the ghost couple, welcoming them to the party as the music started playing again.
"Wait what, Christmas truce?" asked Danny confused. He'd never seen so many ghosts looking so cheery and non murderous.
"That's right Dipstick, Christmas is more sacred to ghosts than any day, and every year we hold an unbreakable truce for 24 hours to party together," said Ember happily, pulling Danny right into the crowd and proudly holding his hand.
Danny still looked nervous as he maneuvered through the crowd of all his ghost enemies, but Ember kept glancing at him reassuringly. She steered him right through the crowd until they ran into Kitty and Johnny.
"So Danny, what do you think of our ghostly Christmas?" asked Kitty playfully as she handed him a drink and put an arm around his shoulder, Johnny nudging him in the side as well.
"Gotta say punk, it's a whole new scene now that you and Ember are here, and you just became the luckiest guy in the entire ghost zone if you know what I mean," said Johnny gesturing towards Ember, clearly hinting at how amazing she looked. Though Kitty agreed her friend looked off the charts amazing, she did not however appreciate her boyfriend being the one to point it out.
"Excuse me and Johnny for a moment Danny, but I might need to consider breaking ghost Christmas tradition," said Kitty as she took her arm from around Danny's shoulder and grabbed Johnny by the ear, pulling him away squealing.
"Ow ow ow ow, oh come on baby, you know I think you're way prettier don't you?" said Johnny pleading desperately.
Ember smirked while shaking her head at her best friend and her brain dead boyfriend as she tapped a glass against Danny's.
"You can set all gifts over on that table for later, but not too much later," said Ember gesturing to a large table against the wall.
Danny slowly walked over to the wall to set Ember's gift down while she was mingling with the ghosts he recognized as her band mates from when she first came to Amity Park. Not sure what to do or who to talk to, Danny just scanned the room and tried to keep a low profile.
"I know what my perfect present would be welp, your pelt," said Skulker who had just walked up beside him with a sinister grin, but he wasn't attacking. "But there'll be plenty of time for that tomorrow, tonight is all about being festive," said Skulker kindly as he put his large metal hand on Danny's shoulder and gave him a cheers with his glass.
"Well, um, thanks Skulker, and Merry Christmas to you too," said Danny with a forced smile, not really sure how to respond to that.
As the party went on Danny very slowly started to ease up on his defenses since it did seem that nobody would be attacking him today. There had been about fifty chances for someone to do so within the first fifty seconds he'd walked in the door, but nothing was coming of it. So Danny actually for once was able to casually chat with all these ghosts that were normally out for his head, and would be again once the clock struck midnight.
After Ember finished talking with her three band mates Danny took to opportunity to speak with them for a few moments too. In fact running into them was perfect as he had something really important to discuss with them while Ember was engaged elsewhere. After talking with them for a bit they all smiled and nodded their heads while Danny walked off to mingle elsewhere. Without seeing it he felt a delicate hand land on his shoulder. Looking beside him he realized it belonged to Spectra.
"Well I will say only today that I definitely get why Ember is all over you, I'm not so blind that I can't recognize a cute face," said Spectra, smiling while Danny was blushing furiously. Being come onto by a more adult like ghost was not something he thought would happen when he woke up this morning.
"Um, thanks a lot Spectra, that means a lot to me," said Danny looking at her hand, remembering what it could do to someone. Spectra noticed his glance and smiled.
"Oh don't worry, I won't be absorbing any misery from you today, besides you seem too happy for me to absorb anything from you anyway, pretty sure I know why," said Spectra knowingly.
"Back off there Spectra, he's spoken for and I'm not taking my hands off him anytime soon," said Ember smirking as she stepped beside Danny and looped her arm through his. "Besides the music is getting good and I think it's about time Danny and I shared a dance together."
Danny smiled as a slower song started playing over the room, Ember stepping in front of him and wrapping her hands around his neck. Danny's went around her waist and they leaned into each other's bodies, slowly starting to rotate on the spot to the beat of the music. As they sank into each other's embrace they forgot about everything that was around them and just enjoyed being in each other's arms. Danny closed his eyes and rested his head on Ember's shoulder, smelling her perfume which was warming his entire body.
"Mmmmm, this is a perfect moment," said Danny lightly in her ear, to which Ember nodded to against Danny's own shoulder.
"I couldn't agree more," said Ember simply while lightly scratching her fingertips against the back of Danny's neck.
The ghostly couple rotated on the spot throughout the whole song and just let their minds wander, not knowing or caring whether any of the ghosts around them were watching or talking about them. When the song ended Danny and Ember moved their faces in front of each other and shared a short passionate kiss.
With the ending of the song a bunch of green and red lights overhead started shining and rotating all around the room, putting on a little bit of a light show. Danny wasn't sure what was happening but Ember sure looked excited.
"That means it's time for everyone to exchange presents," said Ember gesturing to the light show over their heads. Smiling brightly Ember placed her lips right beside Danny's ear, lowering to a sensual whisper. "Why don't you go grab my present, and I'll be right back with yours."
Danny felt shivers going down his spine from Ember's warm voice, his knees almost buckling as she let go of him and walked away through the crowd for some reason, and Danny couldn't tell where she was heading. Not knowing what else to do, Danny walked back over to the table and grabbed Ember's present off of it, waiting for her to come back over to him. About two minutes later Ember came walking back proudly, but she didn't seem to have anything with her as her hands were empty.
"I know you're wondering what my present for you is, but you'll see soon enough, in the meantime how about you finally let me open mine?" suggested Ember, holding her hands out.
Danny smiled and handed the present over. It was really flat and square shaped, and extremely light. It wouldn't take Ember more than a few seconds to tear the paper off of it. Danny smiled happily as Ember started to tear into the paper. Seconds later Ember was now the one whose mouth was about to drop to the floor as the paper fell to the ground, leaving her holding a vintage looking vinyl record case. Her eyes were like saucers as she stared in shock at the record, her voice starting to shake as she looked back and forth from Danny to the record.
"Danny...Ba...Baby Pop, is this real?" asked Ember in shock, her hands slightly shaking. Danny smiled at his girlfriend happily, getting the exact response he hoped he'd get just like Ember had done earlier when Danny saw her in the Santa baby outfit.
Ember held up the record and revealed that it was an original Kiss album from 1975 titled Dressed To Kill. Since it was vintage there were some signs of wear on the cover, but it was still in pretty solid shape considering it was almost 30 years old. But that wasn't the main takeaway from the album. Danny smiled proudly at what was written across it in bright gold ink.
"To Ember, keep rocking and rolling forever, Paul Stanley"
"It's completely real and all for you Ember, I love you," said Danny smiling, loving how stunned Ember looked, like she was about to break down crying.
Ember kept staring at the album for several long seconds before she couldn't stop herself anymore. She launched herself at Danny and threw her arms around him, kissing him hard and not caring one bit how much PDA they were showing. She hungrily and greedily attacked his lips as she held the album in her hands behind his back, never thinking she would ever get such an amazing present in her entire life or afterlife.
"You are (*kiss) the most (*kiss) incredible boyfriend in history," said Ember deeply before crushing her lips against his again, refusing to stop kissing him.
Several ghosts were taking notice of what was going on between the two, but nobody did anything to stop them, even if the display was a bit much. Skulker felt a bit disgusted at what he was seeing, but smirked to himself as well. While it was going on as he casually sidestepped a bit more to his left where he could get a clear view of the table that held all of the respective ghost's weapons, including Ember's guitar.
"Perfect," said Skulker lightly to himself while nobody was paying him any attention.
Meanwhile Ember was still fiercely kissing Danny and pressing her body against his, things getting a little more steamy by the second. Finally, when Danny was on the verge of losing all feeling in his body, they separated their lips and Ember said three words she'd never said to anyone before.
"I love you," said Ember softly as she cupped Danny's face, having set the album down on the table behind him.
Danny, for the third time that day, froze where he stood and looked into his girlfriend's eyes that were on the verge of tears. He could see it in her eyes that she was happier than she'd ever been, and she meant what she just said.
"R...really?" asked Danny smiling, blown away by what he'd just heard.
"Yes, I was going to wait until New Years to tell you, but I couldn't wait any longer after you just proved to me how amazing you are once again. I love you Danny Phantom," said Ember brightly while kissing him again.
They once again kissed for several long moments and hugged each other, Ember not being shy one bit about pressing her body against Danny's chest or slipping her tongue into his mouth. When they separated again Ember just had one thing she had to know.
"How did you get this?" she asked picking the album back up and reading the signature written across the cover.
"Well, it wasn't easy and time was very delicate since I only thought of the idea a handful of days ago. Actually it was while we were snuggled together on your bed the other day," said Danny with his hands resting on her hips. "When you told me what you'd always wanted as a gift along with you telling me how much you were a fan of KISS and Paul Stanley, it just hit me and I knew what I had to do for you. So after I left I spent the whole night researching KISS and Paul Stanley. I learned their history, looked up their albums, and where Paul Stanley lived. While looking online I found a record store in New York City that sells vintage vinyl, and it also happens to be where Paul Stanley lives, Queens to be precise. I realized they weren't on tour right now so I stowed away on a plane and flew to New York City first thing the next morning and stayed beneath with the baggage. I would have just flown myself but my top speed is 112 mph, not fast enough to get myself there and back in the same day. Anyway once I got there I went to the record store, found that album, and bought it. Then with a little luck I found out that Paul Stanley was doing an interview that same day and went there. After the interview I fazed into his suite to talk to him. He was pretty surprised at first but I guess he liked my look and everything since he regularly has his outrageous costume whenever he performs. Anyway I told him all about you and how you were such a huge fan of his and how you told me he was one of your biggest inspirations to become a rock star. I asked if he'd sign the record for you and he did."
Ember couldn't believe her ears as she listened to Danny's story, almost dropping the album in her hands as he told it. Thankfully she didn't and felt another tear falling from her eyes as he finished. How is it possible that she went through so much misery and depression when she was alive, only to end up with the most amazing, thoughtful, and handsome boy that was better than anything she could ever imagine in her afterlife?
"You are...incredible," said Ember simply as she closed her eyes and buried her head against Danny's chest, savoring the most incredible moment of her entire existence, and she'd already had a couple of those since she met Danny.
"I don't know what your gift to me is, but as happy as you are right now, that's more than enough for me," said Danny while lightly hugging her against him.
Ember's eyes snapped back open as she remembered that she still had to give Danny his present, pulling her face back from his chest.
"Oh no you don't Dipstick, as amazing as this is, there's no way I'm not still giving you your gift," said Ember as she looked over her shoulder, nodding towards someone.
Danny looked in the direction she was looking and saw Desiree nodding back. He watched as the ghost genie raised her hands which started to glow. All of a sudden Danny also realized his own chest had started to glow, causing him to look down at himself.
"What's going on?" asked Danny quickly, not feeling anything bad but still concerned. Ember just simply smiled and watched it happen.
The glow on his chest spread to envelop his entire upper body down to his waist where the white stipe went around him. The glow was too bright for Danny to see what it was doing, but after a few seconds it started to fade, and when it did Danny realized his suit was different. It wasn't plain black anymore, there was a new addition to it.
"What happened, my suit is different," said Danny looking at Ember in confusion. Ember just smiled and put her hand on his chest, tracing the new logo with her finger.
"Well, for a while now I've been thinking about how your suit is pretty plain being just black with a little white trim," said Ember, liking how strong his chest felt when he was transformed. "So I thought you'd like a little upgrade to it so it'll feel like a part of me is always with you no matter what."
Danny stepped away from Ember, suddenly excited to get a better look at what had been done as he walked over to a large mirror on the wall. He took a good look at the new logo on his chest and smiled, thinking it looked so awesome. It was a large white D that was written at a slant, and it was surrounded by a blue flame that matched the color of Ember's hair. Ember had given his suit a logo, and surrounded it with a flame to represent herself. But that wasn't all, he looked at his white gloves, white boots, white collar, and the white stripe around his waist. They now all had a blue outline to them to give his suit more color and character. And lastly, Danny took a look at his hair. While still snow white, it now had blue accents to give him more of a punk look. The more Danny took it in the more he was falling in love with it. It made his suit and look ten times cooler and now it really was like she was part of him since she had made it happen.
"I love it so much, it's totally bad ass, just like you," said Danny as he turned to look at Ember, his turn now to capture her lips in a kiss.
"I'm so glad you love it Baby Pop, I had to wait until today to be able to wish for it otherwise Desiree might have blasted me before I could do so," said Ember looking over towards the ghost genie.
She may be smiling right now but both of the ghosts knew that it was only for today. They were both starting to suspect that this truce they were given would also end tonight with the Christmas truce. The two of them went back to mixing and mingling with the rest of the ghosts at the party, enjoying the peace of the Christmas truce while they still could. It sucked that it would only last until midnight, because both of them were actually having a really fun time together and socializing with everyone. Ember enjoyed shooting the breeze with the ghosts she used to associate with on occasion, and Danny actually got to talk to his enemies as if they were his friends. They could have stayed until it actually was midnight, but Danny had to be getting back to his house before it got too late and his family got suspicious. Plus he still had Christmas dinner plans, which he wished he could blow off and stay with Ember instead. As the hours wore on Danny very reluctantly told Ember he should be getting home around 4 pm human world time. Ember made sure to grab her gift, very carefully holding it and eager to put it on display in her temporary home, and later permanent home once one was established. Danny and Ember waved good bye to everyone, who made sure to let the two ghosts know that the next time any of them met the circumstances would be different.
"They really know how to make you feel special don't they?" said Danny as he and Ember flew back towards the human realm together.
"It's just the way ghost culture works Baby Pop, and you're half one of us so you better learn to adapt," said Ember as she once again admired Danny's new logo covered suit, thinking it looked really hot.
As they arrived at the Fenton portal, they peeked through to make sure the coast was clear before flying out of Fenton Works and to the top of the op center, embracing each other one more time before their amazing Christmas together ended. They shared one more passionate kiss with a tight embrace, making it seem like the whole world around them was lighting up.
"I love you," they both said in unison together as their lips separated.
Ember ran her hand across Danny's chest one more time with a wink before she flew off with her album and guitar, Danny watching her until she was completely out of sight, his thoughts and feelings about Christmas forever changed.
"Best Christmas ever," said Danny as he flew down to the sidewalk and changed back to Danny Fenton before walking in the front door.
He was greeted to his parents each swinging a weapon at a large cooked turkey that had somehow come to life. Jazz was standing just inside the front door with her arms crossed watching them.
"Wherever you were, you should have stayed there," said Jazz to Danny without even turning her head. Danny couldn't agree more.
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A/N Loved loved LOVED this chapter so much, and I have so much I want to say about it. What I had Danny do for Ember's gift is very close to what I did for one of my sister's recent Christmas gifts. Last November I went to Rhode Island Comic Con because I'm a HUGE collector, I have over 250 autographs in my collection on all kinds of memorabilia from going to dozens of conventions. My sister is a HUGE fan of Avator TLA, and she has the biggest crush/obsession with Zuko. Well Dante Basco was at the convention so I got his autograph made out in her name on a really nice Zuko piece, then had it custom framed and matted for her. I just had to tweak what I did a bit into the story for Danny to do something similar for Ember. And I went with KISS for a few reasons, one because I'm a huge fan of them myself, and two because of when I had Ember/Amberline alive in the story, which was when KISS was at the height of their popularity, though they're still crazy popular today. There's not a doubt in my mind someone like Ember would absolutely be a huge fan of KISS, so the gift I had Danny give her in my mind would rank as an 11 out of 10 in her eyes. Also I had the plan since the very beginning of the story for Ember to be the one that gave Danny his logo, except a different one from the show. That's why I made it crystal clear in chapter 1 that the story was starting while he still had his plain black suit. My original plan was indeed for her to wish for it through Desiree, but I kinda made it difficult for myself when I had the ghost invasion happen because that wasn't the original idea. When I changed my original idea I kinda screwed myself on being able to just have Ember simply wish for it because now she is just as much of an enemy to the ghost zone as Danny. But then I remembered the Christmas truce and that I could use that as the perfect excuse, which I think is even better than what I was originally going to do. Also with Ember finally telling Danny she loves him for the first time. I had her say that she was going to say it at New Years because that actually is what I was going to do. But as I was writing that scene I put myself into Ember's mindset. If someone gave me a gift that off the charts amazing I don't think I'd be able to keep myself from declaring my love any longer. So I just decided to scrap the original plan of New Years and spontaneously let it happen here and now instead, and I think it worked out perfectly considering. I still have so much I want to say, I could basically write a college essay on my thoughts for this chapter, but I'll compose myself and stop here. If there's anything you want to know about this chapter feel free to send me a PM, I'd love to tell you all my thoughts that I didn't address. And the crazy thing is that I think the next chapter is even better, it's by far my favorite chapter of the story and I CANNOT WAIT UNTIL NEXT WEEK. In the meantime thank you so much to everyone for your support, this has been one of my favorite chapters and please tell me what you thought with a REVIEW! PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW, I WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU THOUGHT!