10/16/2024: I can't believe I'm on chapter 10. If I dedicated as much time to my novel as I have to Taken and this one, I would be so far into that novel LOL. As it is, Taken has more pages and words than the novel I want to publish. And I started that novel about the same time I started writing Taken in 2006. _ Let me put it this way: Taken has 320 pages. My novel has 144. Oops.

Guest who reviewed: Oh my goodness, thank you so much for your review! I love it when people tell me they like these stories. It really makes me feel so happy to know that something I wrote was enjoyed by someone else.

10/21/2024: The website finally fixed some issues and I was finally able to respond to yall's reviews. Thank you so much!

Okay, the last chapter was pretty deep. It was more angsty than I had originally intended to write but while I was writing, that song came on and the idea just hit me.

I intend for this chapter to be a little lighter, but be warned: this one and the next are the last lighter chapters for a while. It starts getting pretty intense beyond this. You might be able to guess what this chapter is about based on the title. ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom, but I wish I did.

–

Chapter 10: The littlest Phantoms

–

Six weeks passed with very little incident, which was setting Danny even more on edge than he'd been after his initial run in with Mira.

Vlad had been correct, Danny's regenerative core and high level of power meant he healed extremely quickly, and without so much as a scar. This made Sam very happy, especially with the impending birth of their children, but emotionally, she was struggling.

Danny had become more withdrawn since this latest encounter with the Headmaster's daughter and the goth had no idea how to help him, especially since he refused to really talk about it. Her only hope was that the birth of their children would bring him out of it.

That also seemed to be getting to the ghost. Now at 36 weeks, the poor man freaked every time Sam so much as sneezed, instantly grabbing the overnight bag and rushing around the house. It's why she was banking on their birth helping him out of his funk, because these days, it seemed to be the only thing that got him to show any emotion other than guilt and melancholy.

Sam was sure ready to be done with pregnancy. She felt huge, and was absolutely sure she looked it as well. Carrying twins was no joke, and she could hardly sleep at night. At least one twin was always awake and kicking around. The goth was thinking she might need to ask the hospital to make sure her kidneys and liver were still intact.

Danny currently was walking DJ as she couldn't walk terribly far without her back hurting a lot. She still, surprisingly, hadn't made it to her goal weight of 135 pounds for the pregnancy, so she was still fairly thin–other than her belly, of course–, but most of that weight was her stomach and it was pulling pretty hard on her back muscles. Dr. Dorr assured her the babies were developing perfectly, though, so they weren't terribly concerned about not making her goal weight. She had made it to 125, and that felt like enough for Sam's back.

The nursery was put together and, in Sam's opinion, perfect. She was concerned about the hardwood floors, so they got a plush area rug that covered the entire floor. It was a series of different sized circles, all different shades of black, gray and white. The wall's they painted in a dark gray, except for one purple accent wall behind the cribs. There were two wooden, black cribs side by side against the back wall. The sheets in one of the cribs were geometric shapes in varying shades of green and the other crib had the same sheets, but in shades of purple.

There were two black rocking chairs, one next to each crib. One had a neon green throw blanket and the other had a purple colored throw blanket. There were matching black dressers with changing tables on top on either side of the room. Then against the front wall were black bookshelves filled with baby books and toys. Each cubby in the bookshelf was painted in a pattern or green or purple. Cute little pictures of dogs and ghosts adorned the walls.

Sam smiled at the nursery, content and thrilled with how it turned out. She placed her latest purchase on one of the shelves for now: neon green letters they would use to spell out the names of the babies above their cribs. They still did not know the genders, so they didn't want to assume. They would put the names up after the twins were born.

The goth ran a hand over her belly before looking down at it. "All ready for you to enter the world."

She took a last look around the room with a smile before toddling down the hallway to the living room. Then she felt something…odd. And then she realized her pants were wet.

She stared down incredulously. "I didn't mean right this minute!" She groaned then when she suddenly felt some pain through her lower abdomen. "Okay, I guess now is good."

Danny opened the door and walked in with DJ, only to stop dead in his tracks at seeing his girlfriend doubled over. He dropped the leash, eyes wide. "Oh God, is it for real this time?!"

Sam nodded, breathing through the contraction, before it stopped. "Okay, that wasn't so bad," she said, straightening up.

She barely had time to register anything as Danny flew around the house in a panic, darting this way and that, repeating "Shit, shit, shit!"

The goth rolled her eyes. "We just need the bag, Danny."

The ghost stopped mid flight and spun around in circles. "Right, bag! Shit, where's the bag?"

Sam took a deep breath, keeping her patience. "It's on the floor next to the bed, where it's been for weeks," she said with a forced smile.

"Right!" he yelled as he dashed off.

Sam shook her head and noticed DJ still had his leash on. She rolled her eyes again at Danny's sudden propensity for losing all common sense in this situation and took the leash off before going over to slip into her shoes.

As she was doing that Danny flew from the bedroom with the bag and straight out the door without even opening it.

Sam sighed heavily before grabbing her jacket, as it was now mid October, slipping it on, and heading out the door. "You forgot something!" she yelled as Danny was getting in the car.

The ghost went wide-eyed before phasing back out of the car and to Sam. "Shit!" he said again as he scooped her up bridal style, eliciting a shout of surprise from her, and flying back to the car, gently placing her in the passenger seat before landing back in the driver's seat.

The goth gripped her seat, concentrating on her breaths to slow her heart down. She had NOT expected him to just grab her and take off.

"Nothing's happening," he said confused.

She glanced over to him to see his foot on the pedal and nearly facepalmed. "You have to start the car."

Danny hadn't learned to drive before he was taken, and it wasn't something the Headmaster taught him. For the last several months, Sam had been teaching him how to drive for this exact moment. But his nervousness and franticness was making him forget important steps.

His cheeks tinged green. "Right," he grabbed the keys and started the car, but before he could do anything else, he felt a hand on his arm.

Sam squeezed his arm and said in a gentle, but firm, tone, "You need to calm down. You only just learned how to drive, if you stay like this, we're going to crash. I know you don't need to breathe, but it might help to take some deep breaths right now and calm your nerves."

He closed his eyes and took several breaths, feeling his muscles begin to unwind. He loosened his grip on the steering wheel a bit and felt the pulsing in his core begin to slow. After a moment, he opened his eyes and smiled at her.

When she saw his body relax and that the glow of his eyes had dimmed, she released his arm and put her seatbelt on. "Now, remember what I taught you. And you shouldn't need to rush, labor can take hours. My water only just broke."

He nodded before putting the car in drive and carefully pulling out. It was then that another contraction hit her and she groaned a bit.

"Are you okay?" he asked. At her glare he looked sheepish. "Sorry, standard question."

Thankfully it wasn't very powerful yet and didn't last long. "I'm not looking forward to this pain," she commented dryly.

She saw the sympathetic look that crossed his face. "I'm sorry. If I could take the pain from you, I would."

She reached over and placed a hand on his leg. "I know," she said fondly.

The goth then pulled out her phone. "I'll let everyone know we're heading to the hospital, but it'll probably be a while."

–

Several hours later, they were in a room and settled for the wait. The contractions had gotten steadily stronger, but Sam was handling them like a champ, in Danny's opinion, and without painkillers.

Sam felt like a glutton for punishment but had decided against an epidural or any real painkillers. She did, however, enjoy Danny's cold hand on her forehead when the contractions hit.

The waiting room was absolutely packed with their family, each taking their turn in the room. Maddie had been driven to tears when Sam revealed she wanted the mother-like figure in the room with her and Danny for the main event.

Sam never did contract her parents, not wanting to add that stress to her life, especially now that they knew there was still a large element of danger in their lives. Besides, Maddie and Jack felt more like parents to her than her own ever did.

Currently Jazz and Tucker were in the room. They'd left Chase with Tucker's parents, along with a key to Sam's place so one of them could go over and walk and feed DJ.

Jazz had actually brought Checkers with her and was playing with Sam, the goth very grateful for the distraction.

Tucker and Danny were talking about what to expect, the ghost soaking up Tucker's advice on the subject.

"Have you decided to breastfeed or formula feed?" Jazz asked, moving her red checker.

Sam shrugged. "I think it depends on if I can breastfeed, or even make enough for two. We did already get formula so we can at least supplement if need be."

The redhead smiled. "Good thinking. And either way is fine. Don't stress it if you can't produce enough. I couldn't, and I only had one."

Sam jumped her black checker over one of Jazz's. "Formula is so expensive though," she grumbled.

Jazz raised a brow at her. "Have you forgotten the money Vlad gave us?"

The goth made a face. "No, but I don't want to use much of it. I want to save it for the twins."

Jazz looked at Sam incredulously. "Even if you lived off that the rest of your life, you'd never be able to spend even close to a fraction of it." She could tell that made Sam a little uncomfortable so she backed off. "Alright, I digress."

Sam had come from money, of course, but had never let it define her. Vlad had given each of them a billion dollars in inheritance, which meant each couple had 2 billion between them. That was far more than even she was used to, but she still didn't like living as though she had money. Yes, it would come in handy for a lot of things, but she still wanted a career…at least eventually when the twins were school aged and, you know, there weren't a bunch of half ghosts bent on revenge coming after them.

She just wanted a normal, human life. Well, as normal and human as it could be with a powerful ghost as her boyfriend and father of her children.

The game paused when a contraction hit her. This time she struggled to stay quiet. They had been getting much stronger over the last hour, and definitely coming closer together. She held her stomach as Danny left his conversation with Tucker and used one hand to keep her cool, and the other to rub her back.

Tucker stood there with a concerned look on his face. "Should I go get the doctor? That seems like a strong one."

"When was the last time they checked?" Jazz asked.

Danny looked at the clock. "About an hour ago," he answered. "She was five centimeters dilated then."

"The contractions are pretty close together, too. It seems to be progressing fairly quickly," Jazz commented before turning to her husband. "I would get the doctor just to be on the safe side."

Tucker nodded before heading out the door.

Finally, the contraction abated and Sam laid back, panting and thankful for Danny's cool hand against her forehead. It didn't take long for Dr. Dorr to shuffle in with a gentle smile on her face.

"Sam, you are one strong woman. Are you sure you don't want pain killers?" she asked as she cleaned her hands and grabbed fresh gloves.

The goth shook her head, determined to see out her birth plan. Even so, Danny throttled up his ice powers in both hands to help keep her cool. She was already sweating, and seemed to relax more when he cooled her down.

The OBGYN chuckled. "Having a ghostly partner comes in handy, doesn't it?" she commented before sitting down in front of the bed.

Jazz and Tucker respectfully left the room to allow Sam some privacy. Dr. Dorr checked and raised a brow. "Goodness, they want out! You're eight centimeters. It won't be long now," she said as she stood, pulling the sheet back over Sam and then discarding her gloves.

She then turned and put her hands on her hips. "I hate to say it, but it's going to get a lot more painful from here on out. And don't be surprised if they decide to show up in the next couple hours. Please hit the button or have someone come get me once you start to feel like you need to push."

"We will," Danny replied with a smile.

–

An hour later and Sam was beginning to regret her decision to forgo painkillers. When Dr. Dorr said it was going to get a lot more painful, she was not exaggerating.

Jack and Maddie were in the room with them now, but Sam hadn't really been able to hold a conversation, as the contractions were coming quickly now. She was in the middle of one now, and was pretty sure Danny's hand would've broken a while ago if it weren't for him being a ghost.

Now that one hand was occupied, he used the other to cool her down. He'd surprised everyone when he'd held his hand up and ice crystals formed. They then gently went to Sam and started circulating her head and neck. She groaned at the relief from the heat. "Why didn't you do this earlier?" she asked.

He smiled sympathetically. "I didn't know I could do it, honestly. I just decided to try and it happened."

As this contraction finally released its grip on her, she realized she felt a pressure. "I think I need to push," she said, causing Danny's anxiety to rise.

Jack stood from his chair. "I'll head out and grab the doctor. Good luck!" he said with a thumbs up before leaving.

"I don't know if I'm ready for this," Sam said, voice strained.

Danny leaned down so he was face to face with her and gave her the first real sincere smile since his first encounter with Mira. "You're stronger than anyone I know, and I'm right here with you."

Maddie nodded. "You're stronger than me, that's for sure. I took the epidural for both of my kids."

The goth let out a breathy chuckle. "I'm not stronger than you, just more stupid."

No one had a chance to reply before Dr. Dorr came in with several nurses. "I heard it's baby time!" she said cheerily. Sam really wanted to punch the woman.

After sterilizing and 'suiting up' as the doctor liked to call it, they were all in position and ready for Sam to start pushing.

"Okay, Sam, it's time for the main event! I want you to push on the next contraction," the doctor said calmly.

That didn't take long, as mere moments later, the goth winced before she pushed. Her wince quickly became a near scream as the pain intensified. Danny did his best trying to keep her cool with his ice crystals, and whispering reassuring things to her. Maddie was on the other side holding Sam's other hand.

Several more pushes later and Sam was panting hard. "Get these damn things out of me!" she yelled.

Danny exchanged a slightly nervous look with his mother. "You can do this, Sam. You've got this," he said in what he hoped was a calm and reassuring tone.

She glared at him. "I'm going to get a burning hot wrought iron fire poker and shove it up your–" she was cut off as she yelled again.

Danny's wide eyes went to Dr. Dorr's at her light chuckle. "Don't hold it against her," the doctor started. "A lot of women get a little vulgar during this stage. She'll completely forget it once they're out."

"Like hell I will!" Sam managed to shout between pushes.

A few more pushes later and the doctor exclaimed, "I can see the head of the first one!"

Danny made the mistake of peeking, the ghost instantly getting queasy and a little dizzy. "Oh, God," he said as he wobbled a little.

"Danny Phantom, you faint on me and I'll have your head!" Sam growled.

"I'm good, I'm good!" he assured her, making a mental note to absolutely not look again.

"Alright, Sam, one last good push for this one!" Dr Dorr said excitedly.

Sam pushed herself up a little and braced, pushing for all she was worth. Finally, she laid back, panting hard.

Then they heard a cry.

Tears sprang to Sam's eyes unbidden, hormones instantly taking over as she realized it was the cry of her child.

"This one is a boy!" the doctor exclaimed, handing him off to be cleaned up. She repositioned herself and gave Sam a smile. "Alright, mama, one more. You ready?"

Sam, now bolstered by the cries of her son, pushed herself back up and nodded, a look of determination on her face.

A few minutes later, the cry of their second twin rang out clearly through the room.

"It's a girl!"

Danny squeezed Sam's hand, a grin lighting his face. Despite her exhaustion, the goth returned his smile, glad the worst of it was over.

Then they heard a light gasp. "Oh, my," said one of the nurses.

Danny went rigid. "Is something wrong?" he asked, voice betraying his sudden fear.

Dr. Dorr gave him a smile. "Apologies, Danny. Your children are fine, if a little special," she replied cryptically.

One of the nurses brought Sam their son and gently placed him on her chest. He had since quieted and was now looking around, bleary and confused. The goth stared in wonder at the little newborn.

He had a full head of thick black hair already, with a little spot just at the hairline of the right side of his forehead that was stark white. But it was also his eyes that gave her pause.

"Normally, especially in caucasian infants, their eyes are blue and change to their permanent color after several months," Dr. Dorr said. "This little one decided to be different."

A slow grin spread across Sam's face at her son's amethyst eyes. "Oh, honey, he's perfect," Maddie said, smiling down at the newborn.

Danny watched his son in awe before he realized a nurse was trying to hand him his daughter. He swallowed hard, nervous about holding such a tiny newborn. Being twins, they were smaller than most.

The ghost tentatively held out his arms for his daughter and marveled at how light she was when the nurse handed her to him. He brought her in close, a wistful smile on his face.

She had the same white spot in her hair that her brother did, only her eyes were sapphire blue. And she didn't seem to mind how cold he felt in the slightest.

Dr. Dorr watched them with a kind smile. "It may be premature to say this, but I believe you may have the first two natural born half ghosts."

If the white spot of hair was anything to go by, she was probably right.

–

A short time later, Sam was cleaned up and settled back into the bed comfortably. This time, the nurses allowed everyone in the room to see the infants.

Sam was still holding their son, watching Danny go around the room, introducing his daughter to the family with an excitement she'd rarely seen in him. It made her heart feel light at seeing how in love he was with his children.

But now it was time to reveal their names and the goth found herself nervous at what their reaction might be.

After showing off his daughter, Danny gently placed her in his mother's arms, the grandmother excited to hold her first granddaughter. "Her name is Aurora Madison Fenton," the ghost said.

Maddie's head shot up and she looked at her son with wide eyes, tears welling up in them. "Oh, sweetie…" was all she could manage.

The ghost then went to Sam and carefully took his son from her. He showed off his first born just as he had his second, before placing him in his father's arms. "His name is Jackson Leo Fenton."

"Aww, son." Jack said, tearing up as well.

Danny grinned at the scene before him, looking over every person he considered family, finally feeling like it was complete.

–

10/17/24: Two days for this one. I was surprised I managed to do it that quickly. I didn't sleep at all last night and I'm not feeling well. I might be getting sick, but I'm not sure.

Hopefully you guys enjoyed this one. I'm not terribly happy with it, I definitely feel like it could be better, but again, running on no sleep and not feeling well.