9/24/2024: I have a trip tomorrow back to my hometown. My job is having its 20th anniversary party Thursday (my father started this IT company 20 years ago. He's now retired and I work there. We just became a large business and are now competing with Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing and the like), and my nephew's 5th birthday party is Saturday. I'm not entirely sure how much time I'm going to have to write.

This chapter is a strong rated T just for a few things mentioned in the beginning.

And while it still took me forever to write this chapter, I want to give a HUGE shout-out to SamXDanny for helping me through my writer's block with this one! She gave me ideas when I got stuck. This chapter is dedicated to you!

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.

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Chapter 7: The Three F's

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Six weeks later and Sam was definitely showing. She was 18 weeks along now, and it was still a small bump, but a bump nonetheless. Dr. Dorr said she was carrying well because she had a strong core, but at some point, her muscles would give in and she would suddenly look bigger. The family was absolutely thrilled to learn that she was carrying twins.

She was also having a hard time dealing with her hormones. If there were two things she was constantly feeling these days, it was hunger and desire. She was quite thankful she was over the nausea stage, but now she was eating everything in sight, poor Danny having to make late night trips to the convenience store for snacks.

He was also…tired. She jumped him just about every chance she had, and when the urge hit, she did not care where they were. Lets just say Danny had to keep them invisible several times to avoid being caught. The whole thing made Sam feel like a schoolgirl, the thrill of getting caught only increasing her desire.

At first, Danny hadn't minded in the slightest, but now he was finding it hard to keep up with her. How someone who was exhausted all the time could then have that much energy for…well that, he didn't know. He had begun to call her Vixen when it was just the two of them. He thought for sure she would kick him in the shins for it, but quickly discovered that it turned her on.

Two more hybrids had shown up in the last six weeks, both quickly discovered by Danny and subsequently dispatched. They didn't put up much of a fight, much to Danny's relief, but it also made him nervous. That feeling that something was wrong kept getting more intense and he was beginning to feel like this was the calm before the storm.

Currently they were heading over to his parents for a day filled with family, fun and food. The three F's, as Tucker called it. Danny had agreed to go so long as they did not play monopoly. His sister and girlfriend were far too competitive for that game.

The group arrived and piled into the house. "Something smells good!" Jazz announced as she put Chase down and took her shoes off. Her arm had healed well and she now had minimal pain. DJ bolted through the house with a case of the zoomies from his excitement of being there.

Maddie entered the living room from the kitchen. "We're having spaghetti and meatballs for dinner later. I already have the meatballs in the crockpot," she explained as she dried her hands with a hand towel.

"Oooh, your spaghetti and meatballs are the best!" Tucker said, practically drooling.

Chase practically ran to his grandmother with his little arms up, begging to be picked up for a hug. Maddie obliged with a smile, picking up the little boy as the rest made it into the house and closed the door.

Jack came downstairs and everyone exchanged greetings. Sam snuck off to the kitchen to steal some cheese from the fridge, Danny shaking his head. Jack enthusiastically greeted his grandson with a game of peek-a-boo. Vlad shared a laugh with Jazz over Tucker's excitement for meatballs.

Then the doorbell rang. Danny raised a brow, looking around the room. Everyone was here…so who could that be? He opened the door, surprised to see a slightly bashful Dash on the other side. "Hey," Danny greeted. "This is unexpected."

The blonde gave a small smile. "Tucker invited me over, if that's okay."

The ghost nodded. "Sure," he said before stepping aside to let Dash in.

"Yo, Dash! Glad you could make it," Tucker greeted with his hand in the air.

The jock grinned and waved back, coming inside and removing his shoes. When he looked up and noticed there was a second ghost in the room he froze. "Uhhh…"

Sam looked over at the man's unintelligible utterance and realized the poor guy hadn't been warned. She smiled and clapped him on the back of the shoulder. "No worries, Dash, he's with us."

Vlad raised a brow before going over to Dash and inclining his head in greeting. "I am Vladimir Plasmius, formerly Vladimir Masters, but you can call me Vlad." He held his hand out for the jock. "You are Dashiel Baxter, I assume?"

"Uhh, yeah," the blonde answered, reaching out and shaking Vlad's hand, feeling a bit of a shiver from how cold it felt. "Wait, Masters?" he asked, suddenly confused. "Are you that billionaire who died?"

"The one and the same," Vlad answered.

"You guys knew the Vlad Masters?" Dash asked incredulously, looking at Danny.

The white-haired ghost shrugged while Jack answered. "Vladdie was a friend back in college."

"He was also the first half-ghost to exist," Jazz chimed in.

Dash's eyebrows reached his hairline. "You were also half ghost?" he asked the billionaire, but before he could answer, the jock raised his hands. "You know what? I'm good with questions for now. I think my brain has met its shock quota for the day."

After things settled a bit, Jack clapped his hands together once to get everyone's attention. "I have been working on upgrading a game we used to play when Danny and Jazz were little. I made enough for everyone to play." The older Fenton went over to a box in the corner and started taking out items.

"We used to play Ghosts and Hunters, a game we invented when the kids were little," he explained as he pulled out several rifles and harnesses. "We used to play with nerf guns, but I decided an upgrade was in order!"

"Danny used to tell us about this game, but we never got the chance to play it," Sam said as she took an offered rifle and harness.

Jack grinned. "It's some of my favorite memories from when they were little," he answered, handing out the rest of the equipment. "I made these rifles. They're similar to a laser tag set, but a bit more sophisticated. You wear the harness with the sensors over your chest and back," he explained while putting his harness on as demonstration. "The rifles shoot an invisible beam and the sensors pick up the rifle shots. They'll light up when you're hit."

Dash situated his harness, snapping the buckles in place. "How do we play?" he asked.

"One person is the 'Ghost'," Maddie started. "The rest are the 'Hunters'. The Ghost needs to tag as many players as possible. Those tagged players then switch teams and become ghosts. The Hunters need to take out all the ghosts before the time limit. The Hunters win if all the ghosts are eliminated before time is up, and the Ghost wins if there's still any ghosts remaining at the end of the round."

Jazz nodded. "The Ghost isn't allowed to use the rifles, he or she has to physically tag the Hunters, while the Hunters can use the rifles."

Dash furrowed his brow. "Seems like an unfair advantage to the Hunters."

Jack nodded. "It used to be, but with these new upgraded rifles and harnesses, each side now has an advantage. The rifles have a screen," he lifted his and pointed to the screen on the side. "And these screens allow you to see where the other Hunters are. However, the Ghost's tracking is turned off so the Hunters can't see where the ghosts are. They'll know how many ghosts there are based on how many they can see on their screen and how many they've taken out."

"You'll need to be sure to hit this button to turn the tracking off if you're tagged," Maddie added, pointing to a button in the middle of her harness. "You also aren't allowed to bunch up in a large group. You can be solo, or in groups of two only, so we can prevent one side from ganging up on the other."

"If you're out of the game completely, come back to the living room and sit on the couch. Your harness will remain lit up," Jack explained. "You can go anywhere in the house and the backyard, but everywhere else is off limits."

Maddie looked around the room with a smile. "Now, who wants to–"

"Me!" Danny said excitedly with his hand up, interrupting his mother. "I want to be the ghost!"

"Hitting it a little on the nose there, huh?" Dash asked with a smirk.

Jazz put her hands on her hips with a raised brow. "You can't actually use your ghost powers, Danny."

"Aww, come on," he complained.

Sam crossed her arms. "What are you, ten?"

Jack chuckled. "I will allow you to fly, Danny-boy, but you can't go invisible or intangible."

"I'll take it!"

Tucker picked up his son, who had been playing with a very patient DJ's ears. "What about Chase?"

"One of us can sit out each round, or he can follow us around," Maddie suggested.

"I've got just the thing!" Jack said excitedly, pulling out a little pistol from the box. He gave it to Tucker. "It's the perfect size for small hands! For now, it doesn't really do anything, but as he gets bigger and learns how to play, I'll make it work."

The dark-skinned man showed the small toy pistol to his son. "You can play, too!"

"Okay everyone," Maddie started, "make sure your vests and rifles are on. Hunters, we're going to close our eyes and let the ghost hide."

Sam rolled her eyes at how giddy Danny seemed, the ghost hardly able to contain his excitement as he dashed off while everyone closed their eyes.

After a minute it was time to start. When Tucker went to his wife to form their group of two, he realized quickly that Sam and Jazz had teamed, the girls smirking at him. Then he noticed Maddie and Jack had teamed up as well, leaving him solo. "Aw, come on, that's not fair!" he complained.

"You snooze, you lose!" His wife laughed as she and Sam made their way upstairs, rifles at the ready in case Danny showed up. DJ followed them up the stairs, tail wagging.

Maddie and Jack chuckled at Tucker's dismay before making their way down to the basement, while Dash shrugged at him and headed towards the backyard with Vlad. The dark-skinned man looked at his son. "I guess it's you and me on this floor, peanut."

Chase responded with "Dada!" and a giggle, before toddling around the living room.

Tucker shook his head at Chase before crouching and heading for the kitchen, rifle up and ready. He kept an eye on his son while he searched for any sign of the ghost. It was very quiet in the house save for his son's babbling and the pitter-patter of DJ's paws that he could hear through the ceiling.

He carefully navigated the area, the rooms fairly dark despite the sun shining outside. Once he completed a round through the kitchen, he returned to the living room, a smile on his face at his son babbling at seemingly nothing.

Tucker learned, however, to trust that Chase was not babbling at just nothing, when Danny suddenly appeared from the corner of the living room and tagged him. It was the direction his son had been talking to.

"Dang it!" Tucker exclaimed, lowering his rifle in defeat. "I'm always first out," he complained as he turned his tracking off.

Danny chuckled, holding his sides. "If you know that, you should be more observant. Your son is!" The techno geek groaned and the ghost clapped him on the back. "Hey, at least you're not out of the game yet. You get to be on my team!"

Tucker sighed. "I guess there's that," he conceded. "And I do know where the others went."

"Sweet!" Danny grinned wickedly before picking up his nephew. "Do you wanna find your auntie?"

Chase babbled happily, his little hands grabbing at his uncle's white beard.

"Okay," Danny said, "But you'll need to be quiet so we can sneak up on her."

Tucker pointed his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the stairs. "She and my traitor wife teamed up and went upstairs."

The ghost tickled Chase's sides, earning a giggle from the small boy. "Mommy might be a traitor, but Daddy had the best teammate. Too bad he doesn't listen to you, though, huh?"

The dark-skinned man rolled his eyes before setting off in the direction of the stairs, Danny following with Chase on his hip. Tucker smiled at the pair. "You're getting really good with him," he commented. "You're gonna be a great dad."

Danny's cheeks tinged green. "Thanks. I hope so," he said with a small smile. "I still can't believe we're having twins."

"Sam's anatomy scan is in two weeks, right? Will you find out the genders then?"

Danny lowered his voice a bit as they ascended the stairs. "We want it to be a surprise, so other than making sure they're okay with the scan, we don't want to know the genders."

Tucker paused on the landing, peeking around the corner up the rest of the stairs. "I don't know how you can wait that long," he said in a whisper. "I wanted to know the second I could."

"Patience is a virtue."

"Yeah, yeah," Tucker responded, waving his hand. "But wouldn't it be nice to know? At least so you know how to make up the nursery."

Danny shrugged. "It really doesn't matter their gender, you know Sam is going to decorate the nursery in black and shades of gray and purple."

Tucker paused for a moment in his stair climbing before conceding. "You aren't wrong."

They finally made it to the top of the stairs, waiting while they watched the hallway for any signs of movement. Tucker peeked at the ghost from the corner of his eye. "So, you gonna pop the question now that she's pregnant?"

The dark-skinned man was surprised when Danny simply smiled instead of getting flustered. "Sam already did, in a way," Danny started. "She said she wants to eventually, but I think it's pretty obvious we're going to be together until she dies. I don't think there's any real rush," he explained before moving forward, eyes darting between the doorways.

Tucker raised a brow, not missing the fact that he said 'until she dies' and not 'forever', but decided not to comment on that part. "I can't wait to be there for it."

Danny grinned and then suddenly ducked as his super hearing picked up the click of a trigger from the other end of the hall. Tucker's vest lit up. "Aww, come on!" the techno geek complained, arms in the air. "I didn't even get to fire off a shot!"

The ghost chuckled as Tucker sulked and grabbed his son from Danny, walking back down the stairs to sit on the couch.

Danny returned his attention to the end of the hall where his enhanced sight could see the barrel of a rifle sticking out from Jazz's bedroom door. While he couldn't use invisibility or intangibility, his sight was far better in the dark than theirs, and, if he was quiet, he would likely be able to sneak up on them before they saw him.

He carefully crawled up over the lip of the stairs, taking extra care not to make a sound. When he saw Jazz's head peek around the door frame, he stopped and held still, feeling the adrenaline of possibly getting caught shooting through his veins. But she didn't see him and, instead, she carefully came around the doorframe, and headed towards Danny's room, which was mere feet from where Danny was pressed to the floor. As she walked by, he reached out and tapped her foot, eliciting a scream from her, which only made him chuckle.

"Dang it!" she said, hand to her chest from fright. "I didn't even see you there!"

The ghost didn't get up from his position in case Sam came running from the commotion. "You snooze, you lose!" he said quietly with a grin.

His sister scoffed, hand on her hip. "You want my help up here, or do you want to split up?"

He thought about it a moment before answering. "Let's split up."

She nodded. "Will do!" she replied as she made her way past him and down the stairs. Danny had to suppress another chuckle at Jazz's "Ha!" at seeing her husband already out.

The ghost carefully crouched now and moved forward silently, his eyes and ears trained ahead of him. He peeked through the doorway of his room, but had a feeling Sam wasn't in there. Then, he heard the pitter patter of feet coming towards him from the end of the hall, but could tell it was not human.

He watched as DJ came out from the guest bedroom and padded over to him, tail wagging. Danny smiled and patted the collie before getting an idea. "Hey, where's mama?" he asked.

DJ got excited at the mention of mama and darted off to the spare room, the ghost following behind. Danny peered around the doorway and watched as DJ pounced on someone, presumably Sam, hiding in the closet. He heard a soft, "Ouch, DJ, seriously?"

He grinned and darted for the closet, tagging his girlfriend before she even knew he was there. She stared at him wide-eyed before sighing. "I knew this dog would give me away," she grumbled.

Her boyfriend gave her a big lopsided smile. "On the bright side, you're with me now!" he said excitedly.

Sam rolled her eyes but couldn't help her smile at his antics. He really had been acting so much more like the carefree Danny he'd been before his abduction and she couldn't begrudge him that. It was so much better than the guilt-ridden, angry Danny that was full of anxiety they had gotten back. He'd been such a mess and so depressed. She was thrilled that he was coming out of that and feeling better.

The goth reached out her hand. "Help me up, you scary ghost. I'm starting to feel like a blimp and I'm not even halfway through this pregnancy."

Danny chuckled and did as asked before gently placing a hand on her growing stomach. He couldn't feel anything yet, but he still liked to think they could feel the hum of his energy. He hoped it was calming.

Sam watched him with a smile. He always got this wistful look in his eyes when he did this. She had no doubt he'd be a doting father.

She slowly realized she could feel something. At first, she thought maybe it was the energy Danny pulsed into his hand when he touched her stomach, then she thought maybe it was indigestion. But as it continued, it felt more like a flutter of butterfly wings in her stomach.

Then it hit her. That's exactly what Dr. Dorr said it might feel like when she first started to feel them move. "Danny!" she called excitedly, bringing the ghost out of his wistful look. "They're responding to you," she said happily with a grin.

He furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"

Her eyes met his, excitement sparkling in hers. "I can feel them moving."

She saw as it dawned on him and a wide grin split his face. He pulled his hand from her stomach and pulled her into a hug, picking her up and spinning her around. He couldn't help his near shout of excitement.

"Wow, you guys are loud."

Danny stopped spinning Sam to see Dash in the doorway, gun up. The ghost put his girlfriend down and used her as a shield as Dash pulled the trigger, causing Sam's vest to light up. The goth stood there in shock a moment before it set in and she spun on her boyfriend, eyes fire. "Daniel James Phantom! Did you just use your pregnant girlfriend as a shield?!"

Downstairs, Jazz looked at her husband. "Someone is in trouble."

"Ehheh heh…maybe?" he said, looking both guilty and nervous. Then he bolted, Dash scrambling to get out of the way as the pair ran past him, DJ hot on their heels and barking.

"Get back here! I need to beat my children's father!" she yelled.

Danny flew down the stairs and nearly collided with a startled Vlad, before darting behind Tucker. Sam followed, albeit slower in her state, eyes full of rage. She stopped before Tucker, who looked like he was trying to get out of the way, but Danny had a firm hold on his shoulders. The leaner man was no match for the muscular ghost.

"Using your friends and girlfriend as human shields now, Danny?" Jazz asked, Chase in her arms. She had a look of accusation on her face, but it was clear she was trying not to smile at the scene.

The commotion got the attention of the rest of the house, Maddie and Jack coming up from the basement, and Dash finally making his way down the stairs. He looked at Vlad who shrugged.

Sam tapped her foot. "Come out from behind him so I can kick your ass!"

"No, thank you!" Danny said, trying not to laugh at the expression on her face.

Her eyes narrowed before she looked at Jazz. "Do it."

The redhead nodded, going over to her brother. She held out her son, who reached happily towards his uncle. The little boy had a big grin on his face, little hands clenching and unclenching as he practically begged his uncle to take him. Finally, Chase said "Unckie Danna!"

While Chase had come a long way with his words, it was the first time he'd attempted to say Uncle Danny and the ghost's core melted. Danny looked between his girlfriend and his nephew, knowing he was going to lose this battle. He conceded and took Chase, Tucker quickly moving out of the way once he was set free.

"You wouldn't use your nephew as a shield, would you?"

The ghost sighed. "No." He gave the child a hug before handing him back to his mother.

Sam nodded with an evil smirk. She stalked over to him, grabbing a throw pillow on the way and clocked him with it. Thus began a pillow fight as the two started chucking the cushions at each other.

"Me too!" yelled Dash as he grabbed a stray pillow and chucked it at Tucker, hitting him square in the face.

"Not my beautiful face!" the dark-skinned man cried before launching it back at the jock.

Vlad floated away from the mayhem, over to where Jack and Maddie were standing and watching the display. "Ah, the games of children," he said to them fondly.

"Games of children? Ha!" Jack said before whacking his college friend with a pillow.

Maddie giggled at the shocked expression on the billionaire's face. "All's fair in pillow fights!" she stated before running into the fray.

Vlad blinked a few times before seeing the smirk on Jack's face. He sighed, giving in, and launched himself at the larger man, only to miss. Jack laughed and smacked him with the pillow again.

"Oh, butter biscuits!"

–

10/9/24: this took far longer than I wanted. I'm a little burnt out from life so I've been sleeping a LOT. I won't bore you with the details, just know I've been working 10 hour days with no days off and a toddler at home.

We have a major player showing up in the next chapter, along with one of the main plot points.