12/6/24: I can't believe it ya'll…Taken, including the prologue and epilogue, was a total of 30 chapters. Here we are…30 chapters on the sequel and not quite done yet!

Chapter's song theme is "You Are the Reason" by Calum Scott–except it's NOT his version. I've never actually heard the original. I prefer the cover by Olivia Penalva.

TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter contains a health condition that many people have. I have included it in the story for several reasons:

One: It furthers the plot

Two: It brings awareness to this illness

Three: It is a natural and logical consequence of recent events, and is quite common

It is in NO WAY meant to offend anyone, and my apologies if I do. I have done some research on the subject so I hope my information is accurate. Please inform me if it is not. If you are sensitive to it, please skip the section.

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.

–

Chapter 30: Repercussions

–

It was New Year's day. It had officially been a year since Sam had found Danny. Well, a year and two days. Sam could not believe how much had changed in just one year: from finding him, to unlocking his human half, to the epic battle against the Headmaster, to losing him…then him coming back and finding out she was pregnant, and then her being kidnapped and forced to be half ghost. Now they had twins and were engaged. She sometimes had a hard time wrapping her head around it all.

The entire group staying at Vlad's were becoming a pseudo family unit; it was actually pretty amazing. The only real person missing was Dash's mom. Dash and Bruce had decided against telling his mom until things calmed down. They didn't want to put her in danger as well.

Sam had been getting along swimmingly with Do-hee. Really, all the women were getting along great. Do-hee was still nervous around Vlad and Danny, and tended not to say much when they were around, but she was opening up quite a bit when it was just the women, or the men she knew weren't ghosts.

On that note, Sam hadn't yet told Do-hee of her half ghost status. She wasn't deliberately trying to hide it, but she agreed with Ki-oh that too much too fast might spook the poor woman, and she thought maybe if Do-hee got to know Sam first, it would soften the blow.

The goth was currently outside with Danny. Why were they outside in the freezing cold with snow halfway up their calves? Sam was going stir crazy in the house for so long. Now that she could walk–albeit a little wobbly–she was dying to get out and just walk. She couldn't fly just yet–she wasn't strong enough–but she could use her legs and that was enough for now.

They were on the outskirts of town. Sam didn't feel like dealing with people, just nature, so Danny had graciously taken her out this far so she could enjoy the open area.

Sam, however, was beginning to feel the cold. Her hot core, while it liked the coolness of Danny, didn't care much for below freezing temperatures. Danny didn't seem to care about the cold due to his cold core. He honestly barely felt it and Sam was envious that he could walk around in the snow with just his jeans and a t-shirt.

"You know, Shade always put on a brave front, but deep down, we were freezing our ass off," she said.

"We?"

She sighed. "Sorry. It's weird sometimes trying to differentiate the two. It's like I had a split personality and they constantly bickered like siblings. I'd put on a coat to leave, but as soon as I was out of the room and Shade took over, she would take the coat off because it 'didn't look cool," she said with air quotes.

Danny would like to have it added to the record that he tried not to laugh, he really did, but it slipped out. He was promptly pelted on the back of the head by a snowball. When he slowly turned around with an impish look on his face, she immediately knew she was screwed, especially as she couldn't run well in the snow.

She turned to try and make a run for it, but promptly lost her footing and fell face first into the snow. As she brought her head up, covered in ice crystals, she could hear his howling laughter.

"It's not funny, Phantom!" she growled, but was trying not to laugh at herself.

She pushed herself up, brushing the snow off herself and shivering. They walked some more in amicable silence before she fell back. It took Danny a moment to realize she wasn't next to him before looking back and raising a brow at her standing there. "What are you doing?"

"Getting some space between us," she answered.

"For what?"

"To do this," she said, body lighting up brightly.

Danny covered his eyes and stepped back more. Her transformation was even more blinding against the bright white snow, especially as it whipped around in a mini tornado around her.

Finally, it died down and she stood there, looming over him in her dragon form. "Why the long face?" he joked as she turned her muzzle to him. Really, he was nervous of this form and trying to hide it.

She scoffed, but it came out as a snort, smoke billowing from her nostrils. "It's warmer in this form," she explained. "My fire bladder is like my own personal furnace."

He smiled, but there was a note of sadness to it. "I'm sorry I can't warm you up."

She rolled her eyes–an odd gesture on a dragon. "Stop apologizing for that. You can't help it."

She didn't wait for a response and instead conjured her flame, the slots between her chest and neck plates lighting up, and let out a gentle flame from her maw, spinning in a circle to melt the snow around her. She didn't notice the way Danny shied away from it.

Once she carved out a suitably sized area and it was dry, she settled down, hip cocked to one side and her front legs stretched out in front of her. She tucked her wings in and head back, neck in a graceful 's' shape befitting a swan.

Danny watched her, realizing how odd it was that she was doing something as mundane as laying in the snow in this form. He was much more used to it trying to kill him.

She shook her head a bit as a dog might and he chuckled, drawing her attention. Very large, amethyst jewels with vertical slits settled on him. "Now what are you laughing at?" she asked.

"It's just…different," he answered with a shrug.

He walked over, a little cautious, and settled down next to her, staring at her onyx colored scales before finally leaning himself against her side. She lifted her wing on that side in response to give him room.

He needed to get over his nervousness of this form. So, he reached out and gingerly began to run his hand over her shoulder as if he was petting an animal. The ghost expected her to yell at him, but instead he found her eyes drooping closed and a…was that a purr? There was a deep rumbling vibration coming from her chest that reminded him very much of a happy cat.

"Are you purring?" he blurted.

Her eyes snapped open. "No." The rumbling stopped.

"You were!" he accused. "You were totally purring just now!"

She turned her great head and playfully snapped at him once, startling him, before bringing her eye to his level. She blinked, the scaled lid closing with a snick. "And what of that growling thing you do when we're engaged in certain…activities?" she asked.

He laughed and shook his head. "Alright, you have me there."

He then heard a rhythmic growl from her throat, a rolling rumbling that sounded like thunder, and he realized she was laughing, but not as she would in humanoid form. It was odd and intriguing at the same time.

"Why not just laugh out loud?" he asked, curious.

Sam stopped and tilted her large head, obviously thinking about his question. "I'm not sure, actually. It just seemed…natural," she answered. "I seem to do a lot of dragon-like things in this form without realizing it." She lifted her head back up into the serpentine 's' shape and then raised her eyes to the sky.

It was late afternoon; the sun had yet to set, but would very soon. Clouds hung heavy overhead, making it look like dusk and threatening even more snowfall. Danny watched her, realizing that he found beauty even in this form–now that it wasn't trying to snap him in half, of course.

From this close he could see details he'd missed before. Like how each delicate scale perfectly overlapped the next, a light pulsing violet glow between each, just bright enough to see from afar in dim light. The pulsing started at her chest plates and then rippled outward across her body. He realized it must have been pulsing in time with her core energy.

When she breathed it sounded like a deep thrumming sound, like a horse that's just raced the Preakness, only deeper and far louder. It was certainly befitting a creature so large.

There was a grace to her as well, a finesse that was more easily recognized in her calm state. Her irises, while amethyst from even a short distance, were actually a myriad of different shades of purple, all coming together like facets of a gemstone to create that beautiful color he loved so much.

Danny began to feel the trauma induced by this form ebb slowly away. She was Sam now, not Shade. She wouldn't hurt him.

"I have this cool power in this form," she said suddenly, eyes still on the sky, muzzle towards it ever so slightly.

Danny heard the tell tale whistling sound and he stood quickly, stepping away from her as her chest puffed. He instinctively covered his ears as her fireball shot out, the sonic boom sending out a shockwave that sent snow flying outward. The fireball raced towards the sky above their heads, exploding just below the clouds and sending sparks out in a circle, not unlike a firework.

She grinned and showed her fangs, another odd gesture on a dragon. "Pretty cool, huh?" She asked before turning to Danny.

He wasn't able to hide his pensive face in time. "What's–" she started before her face went slack. "You've already seen this power," she answered her unasked question.

She gazed at him in sorrow. "I used it during the battle, didn't I?"

Danny decided maybe trying to lighten the mood about it would help. "On the bright side, you're a really good shot," he quipped.

It didn't work. She looked horrified. "I hit you with one?"

The ghost facepalmed. 'I have got to learn to shut up!' he berated himself.

"I'm obviously fine. Please don't think on it too hard," he pleaded.

He had never imagined what sadness would look like on a dragon before, but now that he was staring at it, he wished he didn't know. She turned away from him, head low in shame, a high pitched rumbling in her chest that sounded suspiciously like a keening noise.

Danny didn't quite know how to comfort her in this form so he watched her for a moment, deep in thought. Finally, he walked around to the front of her.

Her eyes were closed as if she was trying to shut out her guilt. She didn't notice him there at first, not until she felt a cool hand on her snout. Her eyes popped open and those slits watched him anxiously, her remorse reflected in them.

He gave her a light smile of reassurance. "We've all done things we regret. The difference is, you weren't yourself; you can't be blamed for anything you did while you were Shade. The only one to blame is Mira," he said with conviction.

Danny could hear her take a great breath, the air then rushing out through her nostrils in a chuff. It was yet another foreign sound that the ghost didn't quite understand. "You say I can't be blamed, yet you carry that burden in your heart from your time with Eden," she countered.

Her fiance lifted one corner of his mouth in a sardonic smile. "We've gone over this before; that was different. I didn't have my brain artificially altered, what I did was all me. And you didn't murder anyone as Shade, but I ended the lives of countless people, including what I thought was yours."

She snorted, pulling her head away from his hand and raising it above him back into the 's' curve. "The lesson should still be the same," she countered. "We may always carry the guilt, but perhaps we could both benefit from learning to forgive ourselves."

He tilted his head. "Alright, how come you sound so wise?"

Sam snorted again, this time in disbelief, wisps of smoke escaping her nostrils. "I wasn't wise before?"

He chuckled. "That's not it. You just…how do I put this?" he asked himself, bringing his hand to his chin. "You have a different way of talking, almost like you're an old wise dragon."

He thought for a moment that he'd offended her again, but instead she shifted her head back further while deep in thought. "Honestly, I do feel like there's an ancient well of knowledge stored somewhere in the depths of this form's memories. Sometimes it's like I pull directly from it and something old and knowing comes out of my mouth. Other times I try to grasp it intentionally but it eludes me," she blushed. "I know that sounds weird, but even I have noticed that I speak differently while a dragon."

Danny held his hands up. "It's not a bad thing! It's just different."

She watched him with those big eyes, and again, Danny thought she was beautiful even in this form. Sam tilted her head. "I must also admit that I shifted not only because I stay warm in this form, but also because I feel comfortable in it. Of course, the form I was born with will always be home to me, but this feels like a second home, like I was always meant to be this way."

He smiled. "It suits you," he responded. "And not just because it's black," he added with humor.

Sam gave him a gentle smile, her look softening, before her smile fell. "If I could go back and do it all again, I'd make sure the light defeated the dark. I'd do everything in my power to keep you safe."

Danny floated up until he was level with her muzzle. "You took my line," he said tenderly. "And I'm the man, I should be keeping you safe."

She raised one eye ridge, making the ghost chuckle. "I don't need no man to protect me," she said smugly.

"Not anymore, that's for sure," he agreed.

He floated back as she stood, towering to her full height. Even at 6'4, Danny could easily walk under her belly. She shook like a dog, dislodging any snow that may have stuck to her scales, and walked over towards a ridgeline. Danny landed and walked along beside her.

"I wanted to come here to show you the view. I found this place while you were in China and fell in love with it; not just for the nature, but also for the view of the landscape around it," she explained.

They stopped at the end of the ridge, Sam allowing Danny to walk to the edge in front of her. His eyes widened in wonder.

From this ridge they could see the whole of Amity in the distance, as well as the surrounding forest and gentle rolling hills. The clouds had cleared just enough in the west that the setting sun was casting rays of varying shades of yellows, oranges and pinks across the landscape.

"When I come here I feel so small," she said softly.

"I can see why," he replied breathlessly.

They were quiet for a moment before she looked down at him. Finally, she lowered her head behind him, gently reaching out with her muzzle and touching his back, and began to sing just one chorus. "I'd climb every mountain and swim every ocean just to be with you and fix what I've broken. Oh, 'cause I need you to see…"

Danny turned around with a sad smile and reached out, placing his hand on her snout.

"That you are the reason."

"You haven't broken anything," he said lovingly. "All you've done is heal this broken soul and make me whole."

Sam's form lit up then, the light bouncing off the snow. After a moment, she stood there in her human form with a smile. Danny walked to her and swept her up in his arms, giving her a single twirl before setting her back down. His hands came up and cupped her face before he captured her lips in his. She eagerly returned the kiss, arms going around his neck. They kissed deeply for a moment before Sam smiled into the kiss, unable to stall her laughter. Danny pulled back, chuckling with her.

Then Sam stopped and she got an odd look on her face. His brows furrowed. "Sam?"

Suddenly, her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she began convulsing. "Sam!" Danny yelled, catching her as she went rigid and started to fall. He kneeled, getting her as low to the ground as he could just in case. "Oh, God, Sam," he said, holding her tightly.

He did the only thing he could think of and flared his core to call for Vlad. Within seconds, the billionaire appeared in a magenta cloud of smoke.

"Oh no," Vlad breathed when he spotted them. He rushed over to the pair and gently coaxed Danny to set her down on her side with his hand under her head for protection.

"What's happening?!" Danny cried.

"She's seizing," Vlad said. "Just make sure you protect her head and keep her on her side in case she gets sick."

Danny was panicking and the billionaire could see it, but the directions seemed to focus him on the task. "Why is this happening?" he asked.

Vlad sighed. "It was always a possibility, Daniel. It means she didn't come out of her cardiac arrest unscathed."

His eyes met Danny's. "It means there's brain damage."

–

"I don't understand, why is it just showing up now?" Danny asked, desperation lacing his tone.

After Sam had stopped seizing, he and Vlad had teleported her back home where Bruce immediately started assessing her. Danny was a wreck and full of questions that the doctor had refused to answer until he had determined she was stable.

Bruce removed his glasses and began to clean them on his shirt, a nervous habit of his. "This is what I meant when I said it could take weeks for brain damage to show itself. Seizures are a symptom of brain damage after a prolonged cardiac arrest. Generally the timing on when they show up correlates with how severe the damage is. The sooner they happen, the more severe. Hers waited just over a week, which, while a good sign, still doesn't mean she's out of the woods," he explained.

"Is it permanent?" Tucker asked.

The doctor put his glasses back on. "It is very possible. She needs to go to the hospital for tests; it's the only way to get a look at her brain and see what areas are affected."

Danny was sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. Maddie was rubbing her son's back comfortingly, but she could feel the tension in his muscles.

Jazz and Tucker were holding hands, both leaning on the other for support. Do-hee was holding onto an upset Ki-oh. His wife was slowly getting attached to the goth, but Ki-oh was also devastated as he considered Sam a good friend.

"Alright," the young ghost said, lifting his head. "Let's do it."

–

Hours later and Danny was nervously sitting in a room waiting for Sam to come back from her latest test. So far she'd had an EEG and a CT scan, and she was now getting an MRI. Bruce had been allowed in as he was a doctor and could help explain Sam's history, and Danny because he was her fiance. Everyone else had been forced to wait in the waiting room, except for Dash and Jack who had stayed behind with the twins.

The ghost looked up when the bed was wheeled back in and he was surprised when Sam was up and talking with the nurse. He stood quickly, the worry overtaking him. "Sam?"

"Ah, there's the worried fiance," the nurse said with a smile. "I was just telling her we had to threaten to sedate you to keep you out of the rooms during the tests," she joked.

"I really hope she's wrong," Sam said, noting the green blush on his face.

"You're okay?" he asked as the nurse situated the bed and locked the wheels.

"I feel fine," she replied with a shrug. "I was pretty out of it for a few minutes, but I'm okay now."

"She came around right as we got into the room to do the MRI. I explained what happened to her and where she was and she took it all in stride like a champ," the nurse explained.

"She's the strongest person I know," Danny said proudly.

"We did have some trouble with the tests and I hoped you could enlighten us."

The ghost was nervous now and looked to Bruce who nodded.

"We had to do each test at least twice to get decent images. It's like something was messing with the machines," the nurse said, looking between the three in the room.

"Ah," Bruce said, nodding. "We informed you of her half ghost status. Along with that comes some anomalies, likely from her ghost core situated in her chest," he explained.

The nurse tilted her head. "Ghost core?"

This time Danny spoke up. "It's a ghost organ. It works like a human heart by circulating ecto-plasm, but also generates our energy."

"It's likely the anomalies are due to her core as it pulses her energy," Bruce finished.

"That makes sense," she commented. "Sam's the first half ghost likely to ever be treated in a hospital setting, so we have a lot to learn on how to treat someone who is both human and ghost."

"Just know that I won't tolerate any kind of experiments," Danny said warningly. "And if the Guys in White show up, I won't be forgiving."

"Danny," Sam admonished.

The nurse held her hands up with a friendly smile. "I wouldn't dream of it, Mr. Phantom. You'll find most people in this town think you're a hero, so you shouldn't find any trouble."

There was a knock on the door frame then as the doctor walked in, a tall blonde man with brown eyes and a goatee. He had a gentle disposition and friendly demeanor about him. Sam instantly felt at ease.

"Ah, here's Dr. Montenegro now. I'm going to go check on some other patients as he explains your test results," the nurse said before she left.

The doctor went to Danny first, stretching out his hand. "You must be Mr. Phantom. It's a pleasure," he said kindly.

Danny shook the man's hand. "Nice to meet you."

"And you are?" Dr. Montenegro asked when he reached out for Bruce's hand.

The short man stood, and shook the doctor's hand. "Dr. Bruce Tanning. Sam has been in my care since her cardiac arrest."

"Ah, so you're the expert!" the doctor grinned. Finally he turned to Sam. "And how is Ms. Manson feeling?"

"I feel fine," she answered with a shrug.

"No doubt a side effect of being half ghost," he commented. "From the history I read, you had a pretty bad seizure, so it's good you bounced back." He went over to the computer and started pulling images up on the large screen on the wall.

"The images are a little odd, no doubt the nurse explained that. But here's a few images of your brain, Ms. Manson." He went over and started pointing to different sections on the images. "It's pretty obvious from your scans here that you have some abnormal areas in the hippocampus and amygdala. Your EEG also indicates altered electrical patterns in your brain consistent with epilepsy. What you experienced was likely what used to be called a grand mal seizure, where you experience loss of consciousness and stiff jerky movements. We now call those tonic-clonic seizures," he explained while gesturing around with his hands.

"Wait," Sam said, "Epilepsy?"

Dr. Montenegro sighed. "Yes, Ms. Manson. Unfortunately, your prolonged cardiac arrest has permanently damaged parts of your brain. You now have epilepsy. You'll likely have it the rest of your life."

The goth's eyes went wide and she looked at Danny. She could see the sadness and worry on his face.

"Can we treat it?" the ghost asked.

The doctor gave him a kind smile. "It is treatable with medication. It may take some time to find the right dose, but with treatment, many epileptic patients can go months, or even years, without a seizure. You should be able to live a relatively normal life, and it is possible that the condition could improve over time."

"Can I ever fly or drive again?" Sam asked softly.

Dr. Montenegro waved his hand in a 'sort of' gesture. "State law says you can't drive until you're at least six months seizure free. So that's off the table for a while, but neither I, nor the state, can prevent you from flying. All I can suggest is that you wait to fly until we find the right dose of medication and you're seizure free for at least a month. Even then, I would fly lower to the ground and short distances until you're seizure free for longer."

The doctor watched the emotions play across the goth's face, noting sadness seemed to dominate. "I understand you wish that you had no complications from your cardiac arrest, but honestly, if this is all to come out of it, you're really lucky. So many people don't come back from being gone as long as you were, and a large percentage of those that do, never wake up. This is treatable and manageable, and I believe you're strong enough to get through it."

Sam sniffed before she chuckled lightly. "You have a really good bedside manner."

He smiled. "I wouldn't be a good doctor if I didn't." He turned back to everyone in the room. "I'm going to prescribe some medication; you'll leave with it today. You need to start with a low dose and work up to one that works. I'm also going to give you a referral to an epileptologist, which is a neurologist that specializes in epilepsy."

"Will this affect having children?"

The question caught Danny off guard. They hadn't revisited the possibility of having more kids since her transition to half ghost, but Sam was apparently still thinking about it.

"You can still take the medication while pregnant, so that shouldn't be an issue, and it's actually recommended that you do. Having a seizure while pregnant could cause harm to the baby," the doctor explained.

Sam nodded before the doctor took his leave. Danny immediately went to Sam and put his hand around the back of her neck, pulling her to him.

"We'll get through this, just like we get through everything else," he assured her.

Sam pulled her head back and looked up at him. He was surprised to see no tears. "I'm scared and nervous, but we've been through worse, right?" she said with a small smile.

Danny brought a hand up and cupped her cheek, the goth leaning into his touch. "You never cease to amaze me," he said softly.

–

12/10/24: Almost done with my work trip–I go home tomorrow. It's slowed my writing down a bit.

I always feel a little weird adding in song lyrics randomly here and there, but in this universe, Sam and Danny have used music as a way to bond and comfort each other ever since the portal accident. (If you remember from Taken, it was mentioned Danny would go to Sam sometimes and just lay with his head in her lap while she sang to him on the hard days) It's become an important part of expressing themselves in their relationship.

So Sam did not come away unscathed. As I said above, this, from what I researched, is quite common. It's a logical consequence. Also, life isn't necessarily easy and it has its ups and downs. I want to explore those ups and downs because I feel like it adds more realism than just "Oh she was dead for 6 minutes, but came away perfectly healthy".

I've had a really hard life myself. I've been through hell, honestly. I'm a sexual assault survivor (multiple times over), was in a bad snowmobile accident that permanently damaged my spine, I have 4 chronic pain conditions, was saved from my own suicide attempt…I could go on. It really sucks sometimes, but at the same time, I wouldn't be who I am without that background. I am stronger for it, and I want to explore some of those real life hardships with Sam and Danny because their bond is so strong in this story.