Soap suds and steam floated into the misty air as Sam opened the glass door of her walk-in shower. She sighed in content as her toes made contact with the fluffy bath mat and wrapped a large lavender towel around her petite frame.
Ever since last week's incident (her new term for the nightmare), Sam had decided to put more effort into lulling her mind before bed. She was a pragmatic person, after all; the nightmare was just a fluke, but she knew doing this wouldn't hurt.
She padded over to the bathroom sink and slid her hand over the foggy mirror. Condensation clung to her fingertips as she warily took in her reflection.
Underneath the makeup, edgy clothes, and snappy attitude was a version of herself that no one ever saw. A young woman who had more insecurities and fears than she ever let on, paired with one of the most tender and fiercely loyal hearts that could be found in Amity Park and beyond.
Almost as though to physically free her from her thoughts, she shook her head and looked away from the mirror. Her bed suddenly felt like an urgent place of solace, and she hastily brushed her teeth and threw a comb through her damp hair before throwing on an oversized Dumpty Humpty t-shirt and some small black cotton shorts.
Another sigh of relief escaped her as she crawled into her purple oasis of sheets and pillows. She fell asleep with the tiniest smile; she was proud of herself for getting a firm handle on such a strange week.
The feeling didn't last for long. It felt like her eyes had just closed when a small, persistent rattling noise woke her up.
Really?
Frustration bubbled in her chest, and it took all of her willpower to get her body to start waking up. Instinctively, she knew it was probably Danny; he sometimes stopped by her room after an intense night of ghost fighting, when he was too wired to go home and too eager to share his war stories with his trusted, lavender-eyed friend who was always there to listen.
But Sam was really not in the mood tonight. Tossing her forearm over her eyes, she muttered "Danny, I'm way too tired to hear about what happened—"
And suddenly, realization dawned on her with the force of an ectoplasmic blast. Danny was usually hovering over her at this point, gently shaking her shoulder and teasing with her despised 'Sammy' nickname until she would open her eyes…
Sam shot up in her bed, her body rigid as her vision turned to the large window in her room. Her stomach turned to ice.
Outside of her window was her familiar halfa, except that she barely recognized him. His face was covered in scratches and bruises; his ghost uniform was torn in several places, with deep wounds showing through. He was hovering in the air, barely. Her heart almost fell out of her chest when he dropped a few feet, hardly able to keep himself up anymore.
He can't turn intangible, she realized with horror. He was trying to get my attention to let him in.
As if he read her mind, Danny's searching eyes suddenly found Sam's and she shuddered. There was real fear and terror in them.
"Danny!" Sam leapt out of her bed and ran to the window in record speed. With shaking hands, she pushed her window open and lunged for his arm, pulling him in with all of her might. Once he was through the window, Danny slung an arm around her for support and practically collapsed on top of her.
Sam's knees buckled from his weight. Thinking fast, she quickly weaved an arm around his waist and used all of her strength to slowly bring him down to the floor, until his head and torso were leaning underneath the window sill. Her muscles trembled from the exertion and her fear.
A sliver of moonlight peaked in, serving as the only source of light in Sam's room, and the open window let in a welcomed breeze to her face. Her heart rate calmed considerably as she crouched down and gave all of her attention to her best friend.
"Danny." She said it so softly, she wasn't sure he heard. Her voice was still in quite a choked state, so she resorted to a different way of getting his attention. Raising a shaking hand, she gently pushed some stubborn tufts of hair away from his face. Danny's electric green eyes immediately opened, as though her touch had sent shockwaves through his body.
"Sam…" His body seemed to be losing its ghostly glow by the second and he was bleeding in several places. Panic surged through every vein in her body, and she lowered the hand on his forehead down to his bruised and tattered cheek. The dire urgency of the situation seemed to bring her voice back.
"Danny, we need to get you help. I'm going to get you to a hospital, I'm also going to call Tucker and Jazz, but I just need to wrap up some of these wounds first because you're bleed—"
Her plan was cut off by Danny's gloved hand gently covering the one that was still on his face. He closed his eyes and leaned into her touch, tenderly grazing his thumb over her hand. It was as if he was trying to remember this moment before it was gone.
"Danny…" Tears welled up in Sam's eyes. She furiously blinked them away and used every ounce of her strength to hold onto the thread of sanity still left in her. "Danny please, you need to keep your eyes open for me."
Though it looked like it took a great deal of pain to do so, Danny obeyed. Feeling the smallest burst of hope, Sam released her hand from his face and was about to jump up to grab the first-aid kit in her bathroom—but Danny caught her wrist midair and held onto it with a death-like grip.
His eyes were filled with horror in a way that Sam had never seen before, and he was looking at something—or someone—behind her. Before she could turn to see what he was looking at, a thick black smoke wafted over her and began to cloud her vision. The smoke almost had a sinister soul to it; it felt like it was trying to permeate through her cells and rip open the fear inside of her.
The last thing she saw was Danny's green eyes glowing through the smoke. The last thing she heard was a melodic and icy laugh, followed by someone screaming…
DSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDS
Sam awoke violently to almost complete darkness. Her heart was beating a mile a minute and a light sheen of sweat was covering her body. She raised a shaky hand to her face and found that it was completely bathed in tears.
Immediately, her eyes darted to the large window in her bedroom. The same sliver of moonlight was there, but the window was closed and the floor below it absent of any signs of bleeding or trauma…
She was at a loss.
Trying to hold onto the semblance of emotional strength still inside of her, Sam somehow managed to get herself out of bed and to the bathroom. She purposely avoided her reflection as she washed her face and cleaned herself up. Her heart sank further and further with every splash of water over her skin.
It happened again. It really happened again.
Her pulse was still racing as she shut off the bathroom lights, but her bare feet stopped in its tracks from the sight in front of her.
Danny, completely unscathed and glowing as brightly as ever, was hovering outside of her window, looking at her with a gentle smile on his face.
Seeing him was almost too much for her body. A wave of relief hit Sam with such an unrelenting ferocity that she began to feel dizzy from it. She put a hand over her mouth before a strangled sob could escape from her throat and felt her knees begin to buckle. In that moment, she knew that all of her strength was officially leaving her system.
Danny's eyes widened. He phased through the window in record speed and caught Sam before she made full contact with the floor. Shock coursed through him as he realized that she was trembling in his arms.
"Sam? What's wrong?" To his complete surprise, she had completely leaned into him. He was basically holding her up at this point.
"Danny…" Slowly, Sam brought her face up to look at his; he was now almost a foot taller than her, so the action required some extra effort from her end. Through all of the devastation and delusion she was feeling, the shred of sanity inside of her needed to search his face for answers.
She peered into Danny's increasingly widened and concerned green eyes, only to find zero traces of terror or knowing in them. Bringing her gaze down, she further inspected his arms and chest, where most of the awful wounds had been—there were none.
She suddenly felt extremely exhausted and unable to hold herself up anymore. Feeling her energy dissipate, Danny tightened his arms around her small frame.
"Sam, what happened?" But the question was useless, because Sam had officially placed her head on Danny's chest, closed her eyes, and completely given into his embrace. Being in Danny's arms was the only way she'd feel okay.
That, and…
"Danny?" Her lavender eyes were barely able to stay open as she peered back up at his inquisitive expression once more. "Could you turn back into your human self?"
A million questions ran through his mind—Sam had never asked him to do that before—but, without breaking their eye contact, he immediately complied. Halo white rings passed over the two of them as he turned back into her dark-haired childhood friend.
Silently thanking him with a soft smile, Sam returned to her former position of resting her head on his chest. Where she could now hear the most wonderful sound of all—his beating heart.
Her body was all but led against his; Danny wouldn't be surprised if she quickly fell asleep on him. Eyeing her bed, which was less than an arm's length away, Danny rubbed a comforting arm up and down her back as he tried to keep her awake for a few more moments. "Sammy," he leaned down to gently whisper in her ear. "Let's get you to bed."
She didn't put up much of a fight to his request; the drowsiness that had come over her from being in Danny's arms temporarily outweighed the fear of falling asleep again. Before she knew it, she had made it to her bed and sprawled herself on top of the covers; after everything she had just experienced, going under them felt too suffocating to consider.
Danny grabbed the dark purple coverlet on Sam's bed and laid it over her. He tried not to pay attention to her slender legs and her tiny black shorts that had revealed themselves when Sam's oversized t-shirt crept up; she usually stayed under the covers when he would spontaneously visit and tell her about his nighttime adventures.
He was about to straighten up and walk away from the bed when an iron-clad grip took hold of his shirt.
"Danny…" His heart lurched from the sound of her voice; she seemed so scared.
Embarrassment coursed through Sam like wildfire, and she quickly released her grip as she turned her head down so that he wouldn't see her blush.
"Danny—" she was surprised she had found her voice. "Danny, will you sleep here with me? I… I really don't think I can do it alone tonight."
Her face remained shielded from him as it continued to radiate heat. She hated how feeble and needy she sounded, but the temptation of Danny's presence beside her was far too appealing to ignore.
Unbeknownst to her, the decision had been made in Danny's head the moment she'd asked. Sam's head shot up in shock when she felt the bed dip from his weight.
Wordlessly, he joined her on top of the covers. He was conveniently in his plaid pajamas and a white t-shirt, since he had been getting ready for bed himself before his ghost senses went off. After flying through the city several times in search of the culprit, he had decided to stop by Sam's place to tell her about the foreboding feeling coming over him with his ghost senses and the lack of ghost…
The spiraling thoughts in his head were interrupted by the sound of sniffling beside him. The two of them were both on their backs, laying shoulder to shoulder. Looking over, Danny's heart broke at the sight of Sam staring at the ceiling and furiously trying to hold back tears.
"Sammy…" he said gruffly. "Come here." It was all she needed to hear. Without waiting a second longer, she turned and gingerly placed her head on his chest, directly over his beating heart. Her arm naturally wrapped itself around his torso and she took in a deep, shaky breath.
Danny wrapped an arm around her and absentmindedly pulled her closer while deep in his thoughts. Her damp hair left a small blotch of moisture on his shirt, but he didn't care. He just wished he knew what was causing all of this…
But his train of thoughts was interrupted once more as her breathing slowed and the tears she had been trying to hold back came to a pause. She inadvertently snuggled closer to him, and he realized she had finally drifted off. She had also inadvertently pressed her smooth and virtually unclothed legs closer to his, which he was trying very hard to ignore.
Sighing, Danny squeezed her closer and gently placed his chin on top of her head. He didn't know what had just happened, but he knew he needed answers in the morning. She had to be okay.
