Author's Note: This is one of those stories that hit you and no matter what you do, you can't shake it off, and you just get that feeling like you have to write it right now. So here it is!

Okay, so before I begin... I just wanted to let you know that I've never been to America, and I know nothing about transportation there and plane flights and such other than that I see in movies. And the last time I went to an airport was like six years ago, so I don't remember anything about that either. So if you find anything that's wrong with any time differences or plane references or transportation details - and I'm pretty sure you will - just know that I did as much research as I could to make it seem as valid as possible, but research is nothing in the face of experience, which I don't have. So now you know.

Also, I always have trouble keeping the characters in character because it's been forever since I watched the show and read any other fanfics, so again I apologize if they seem OOC. And this time I'm pretty sure they're OOC, but for their behavior to be plausible and for me to be able to write the scenes in my head, I based this entire story around a timeline in which they're in a fight, so I hope that justifies it a little.

Okay! I won't keep you now. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: This is like the fourth story I'd written for DP and so far I STILL hadn't found a way to get myself the rights to the show. *sighs* WHY.

Chapter 1

"Sam, I know you're really pissed right now, but I'm asking you nicely, please don't slam the door – no, Sam, don't give me that look, just don't slam the–" Slam! "… She slammed the door."

Jazz patted Tucker's shoulder sympathetically. "In hindsight, I think your conviction skills are good."

Tucker glared at her as he, Sam, Jazz, and Danny got out of the Jeep he'd received as his sixteenth birthday present and loved dearly, and started heading to the beach house. They'd just gotten back from the beach, and it was their last day in California at Tucker's aunt's beach house.

"Hey kids!" Tucker's aunt was a really old, fifty-something-year-old woman who'd lived in LA alone for her entire life. She'd been married three times, divorced two times, widowed one time, and the only kid she'd had was some kind of genius and had headed off to live alone in college since he was fourteen. Despite all of the hardships in her life, she was a sweet, cheerful woman who was always smiling. Tucker had told Sam that she could learn a thing or two from his aunt, only to receive a glare and a kick in the shin.

"Hey, aunt Maggie," Tucker and Jazz were the only ones to stop and return her greetings, as Sam and Danny went their separate ways to their rooms without uttering a word.

Aunt Maggie noticed the lovebirds' uncharacteristic silence. "Trouble in paradise?"

Tucker snorted. "What paradise?"

Aunt Maggie chuckled as she led Jazz and Tucker to the kitchen. "So, kids. Who's hungry?"

"No. No." Sam was shaking her head vigorously over dinner that night. "I am not spending 33 hours in a car with him."

"Well, technically it will be a lot more than 33 hours, if you count the gas stops, whether we decide to rent a motel room to spend the night, eat breakfast somewhere, and there's also the traffic–"

"Well, and I'm not spending all that time with her either," Danny cut her off, causing Jazz to glare at him when she realized that no one was even listening to her.

Sam rolled her eyes at the halfa and turned to Tucker and Jazz. "If you guys want to extend the fun with a road trip back to Amity Park, then that's your choice. But I'm taking the first flight back to Indiana tomorrow."

"Yeah, me too," Danny said. "I've had it up to here with California sun and open roads."

"Are you a moron?" Sam scoffed at him. "The whole point of me taking a plane is because I don't want to associate with you."

"In case you haven't noticed," Danny pointed his fork at her for emphasis, and in the process caused some rice grains to be flung and hit Sam in the face, "There's an average of 200 seats on a plane, and I plan to sit in the seat that's farthest away from you."

Sam seemed to realize he was right, so only scowled at him as she said, "Fine."

"Even more fine by me," Danny glared, and then turned to Aunt Maggie with a softer look as he said, "Thank you for dinner, Aunt Maggie, it was delicious."

"Yes," Sam got up as Danny did, both holding their half-empty plates, "your cooking is sublime."

Danny and Sam glared at each other once more and started heading to the kitchen. They seemed to realize that they were heading to the same place, so both rushed into the room. The two were obscured by the walls of the kitchen as the silent three still sitting on the dinner table waited, and flinched when they heard bangs and slams in the kitchen. Seconds later the two emerged, still glaring at each other, and Sam took the stairs to the room she shared with Jazz and Danny headed in the opposite direction to the room he shared with Tucker.

Aunt Maggie gave Tucker and Jazz a look. "Lovebirds, huh?"

Jazz ignored her and went on as if she hadn't commented on anything. "Okay, so Danny and Sam are taking a plane home, so I don't see the point of us not doing the same."

Tucker dramatically dropped his fork in his plate. "What? What about my Jeep? And didn't you want to stop in a lot of places along the way anyway?"

Jazz sighed. "Right. There is that."

"I don't see a reason you should change your plans," Aunt Maggie sighed. "Let those two take a plane if they want. It's their loss." Tucker and Jazz nodded in agreement. Aunt Maggie paused, and then finally asked, "So. Anyone willing to tell me what happened at the beach?"

They told her.

The only thing Aunt Maggie could do was chuckle and say, "Well, I guess they are lovebirds after all."

Sam and Danny had booked a plane that departed at two in the afternoon. Jazz and Tucker decided that they didn't want to wait for them and their bickering and decided they would leave at ten, right after breakfast with Aunt Maggie. Aunt Maggie also had work afterwards, which left Danny and Sam in the beach house, alone.

Even though Danny had been at the breakfast table, when Sam passed his room on her way to the laundry room, he was fast asleep. She thanked God that she wouldn't have to share the house with him for the next few hours and started getting ready for the flight.

She packed the few things she'd gotten on the trip, which wasn't that much, since they'd only stayed a week at Tucker's aunt's house. She washed the dishes in the kitchen, and cleaned up the room she and Jazz had been staying in.

LAX was only a few miles from Aunt Maggie's house, but at 12:30, Tucker decided to call Sam and see when she and Danny would leave.

Sam had been in the laundry room when Tucker called, so she balanced the phone between her ear and her shoulder as she loaded the clothes from the dryer to a basket and answered. "Hey, Tuck. How's the road trip?"

"Brilliant," he answered sarcastically. "About that later. You and Danny on your way yet?"

"I called a cab and it should be here in ten minutes," she told him, loading the rest of her clothes. Even though Danny's clothes were in the same cycle, she left them in the dryer.

"Did you wake up Danny?" Tucker knew that mentioning his best friend wasn't the best idea if Sam was still pissed off, but he had to make sure both of them were together at the airport for their flight.

"He's a big boy," she was making her way up the stairs to her room to pack the rest of her clothes, "he can wake himself up and get himself to the airport on time."

"Sam," Tucker sighed. "You do realize it's Danny you're talking about, right?"

Even though Sam knew Tucker couldn't see her, she shrugged. "If he missed his flight, it'll be his own fault."

"Can you just go wake him up?" Tucker paused, then hastily added, "Please."

Even though Sam didn't like it, she wasn't in the mood for another fight either. "Fine. Later."

She didn't wait for him to say anything before she hung up on him. Even though their cab would be here soon, she took her time packing the rest of her stuff. When all of her packing was done and she was ready, she made her way downstairs. She paused at Danny's door, and her eyes went towards the laundry room. She rolled her eyes at herself, but went in there anyway and collected Danny's stuff from the dryer.

She made no effort to be subtle when she pushed the door to Danny's room open and said, "Fenton. Wake up; it's time to go."

The only response she got in return was a moan and a shuffle in the bed. She eyed the clock above the bed and realized that if he didn't get up soon, they'd be late for their cab. "I'm not kidding, Danny – get up."

Danny still didn't move. Sam started to get pissed at the halfa, and even more pissed at herself for not leaving him there. She shook her head at the limp body on the bed and then started flinging the clothes in her hands at his form lying on the bed.

At the first flying clothing items, he still made no move to get up, but when Sam perfectly aimed one of his jeans on his head, he sat up in shock and yelled, "Ow!"

He'd been on the edge of the bed when the jeans had hit him, so the sudden movement caused him to fall right onto the floor.

Sam couldn't help the satisfied grin on her face at the groan he let out and said, "Oh, good, you're up."

"What?" He sat up, rubbing the back of his head and grimacing. "What time is it?"

"Time for you to finish packing because we leave in ten minutes," Sam told him, and, eyeing the rest of his clothes in her arms, she shrugged to herself, walked over to him, and dropped the clothes all over him.

"Sam!" she heard Danny yell from behind her as she walked out of the room. "Why?!"

"You know why!" She yelled back at him.

"I hate you so much right now."

Danny snorted. "That's what you said yesterday."

"Well, I still mean it," Sam folded her arms across her chest defiantly and glared ahead.

The stupid genius had gotten them both so late that the cab Sam'd called had left, so they had to spend a long time on the street trying to call another one. By the time they did, it was already 1:20 and they only had forty minutes to reach the airport. Sam wasn't worried, at first – Aunt Maggie's house wasn't that far away from LAX.

That was until the taxi cab came to an abrupt stop and Sam realized they'd gotten stuck in an afternoon traffic jam.

"Good for you, Sammy," Danny said sarcastically. "But hating me won't make the traffic go away."

"Don't call me that," she snapped at him. She leaned forward in her seat, and tapped on the window separating them from the driver. "Excuse me," she used a gentler tone than the one she'd been using on Danny, "but is there any other way to get to the airport?"

The driver shrugged at her. "Only way is through here, ma'am, but I can't control traffic."

"Perfect," Sam muttered. She tried to calm herself down, tell herself they still had plenty more time to get there, but when she glanced down at her watch, her eyes widened. "We're going to miss our flight!"

Danny noticed the time too, but as he surveyed all the cars in front of them, he got an idea. "No we won't. Come on."

He got a twenty out of his jeans pocket and gave them to the driver. "Hey, wait, where are you going?" Even though the taxi driver got more money that he deserved, he still stared at them in confusion as they got out of the car. Their bags were in the trunk of the cab, so Danny opened it and got out his bag and Sam's. Even though he was mad at the Goth, he only let her carry her and his carry-ons and he carried both of their suitcases.

They took off running towards LAX, the clock ticking. Both him and Sam were fairly fit from all the years of ghost-hunting, so even though the run left them breathless after a few minutes, they maintained.

"We're never going to make it!" Sam said. Danny ignored her and they kept running. Finally, after what felt like forever, LAX came into view.

They rushed towards their terminal and towards the computer lady to verify their tickets, which Sam had bought online last night.

"Two tickets to Indiana, name is Sam Manson," Sam panted to the lady. While the woman typed away on her computer, Sam and Danny used the moments of peace to regain their breath after a long, fast run. Danny's arms were aching from the suitcases, and Sam's legs were on fire after all that running.

Sam's beating heart started to calm down, and relief washed over her instead as she realized they'd made it on time. She was even more relieved at the fact that she was finally going home where she could be away from the stupid Ghost Boy for a while without worrying about bumping into him in the same house at night.

However, that relief was soon diminished when the woman tsk-ed at them and said, "I'm afraid you just missed it. The plane just took off a few minutes ago."

A/N: First chapters always kind of suck. But even if the first chapter sucked, hopefully the others will make up for it!

So, what do you think so far?