I own nothing. Nope Not Danny Phantom..nothing

This is a series of angsy/ fluffy DxS one shots for Chaos Dragon.

Read Finding Courage first.

Losing Faith

Sam brushed her hair then frowned as she looked in the mirror. She was hardly a vain person, but the big glaring red zit on her nose was going to drive her crazy. Why did it have to appear today of all days? She wondered at the chances of having it disappear by this evening.

Danny had called her last night and asked her out…on a date, and she was still in complete disbelief. It was almost funny, imagining dating Danny. What would they do that was different than anything they usually did? Would he hold her hand? It's not like they'd never held hands before. Would he put his arm around her? That wasn't uncommon either. A date. A date with Danny. She took a shaky breath and looked at the zit on her nose again, knowing that he wouldn't care. He'd seen worse.

Her problem was, she didn't know why Danny asked her out. She'd been dating lately, she'd decided to try and get over Danny, facing the fact that her feelings for him would never be anything more than friendship.

Her cell phone rang as she was on her way out the door and she frowned at the number on the i.d. screen. She sighed heavily knowing it was Will, one of the two boys she'd been dating for the last few weeks, well no it had become only Will the last three weeks. He'd become very attentive lately and after the kiss at the end of their date last night, she was sure he was going to ask her for a commitment. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment then answered.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"What's wrong with you?" Tucker asked as Sam leaned against Danny's bed as she sat on the floor, fiddling with the game controller in her hand instead of looking at the game she was supposed to be playing.

"I don't know," Sam said as she looked at the door. Danny had gone downstairs for some snacks. She'd been quiet most of the afternoon, deep in thought.

"Well, even Mr. Clueless has noticed something is wrong and he's starting to look all doomed and sad," Tucker started as he started a new game.

"Where should I start?" Sam replied. "I don't know which is…the bigger problem."

Tucker gave her a tired look. "If this is more angst over Danny," he told her. "Can you please spare me? I'm seriously on an angst overload."

"He and I have a date tonight," Sam said quickly and Tucker's face lit up.

"Really?" he asked happily. "A date date? A real date? Not just a let's go hang thing but a romantic let's go hang thing?"

"Yeah," Sam answered as she watched Tucker's face light up further.

"When did this happen?" He asked as he put aside his controller.

"He called last night," Sam said then sighed. "And I said yes and I was really excited until today."

Tucker's eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean? What changed?"

Sam looked at Tucker a minute. "Will called and wants me to be his girlfriend, you know date exclusively." Tucker opened and closed his mouth a minute.

"You said no right?" he asked. Sam only looked at him sadly.

"Tell me you said no, Sam!" Tucker demanded. Sam looked really guilty and Tucker put his hands on his head.

"I didn't tell him yes," Sam said softly. "I just didn't tell him no either."

"Sam," Tucker began as he put his controller on the floor and crawled closer. "You need to tell him no."

Sam looked at Tucker a minute. "Why? Because Danny asked me out on one date? It's a date Tucker and I don't even know why he asked me. I think I know why he did and it's really nice of him, but….But well you know,"

Tucker rubbed one eye and sighed tiredly. "So what you're going to go out on this date with Danny, then what?"

"Then I'll probably tell Will yes," Sam said. "I like him Tuck. He likes me. It's as natural as that."

Tucker rolled his eyes in disgust. "I've heard that line somewhere before." Sam rolled her eyes in return.

"Can we just drop this?" she asked. Tucker shrugged his shoulders and picked up his controller. Sam focused her attention back on the game while meanwhile, out in the hall, stood Danny, holding a bowl of popcorn with his forehead resting against the wall, feeling incredibly weak and sick.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jazz paused as she looked at Danny who was standing with his head on the wall. She walked up quietly then peeked in the room at Tucker and Sam then looked at her brother.

"Danny," she whispered. "What's wrong?" Danny looked up at her in a daze and the bowl of popcorn began to slip through his hand. Jazz caught the bowl then pulled her brother into her room.

"Is it a ghost?" she asked. "Are you sick?

"No," Danny answered as he composed himself. "I'm fine." Jazz put her hand to the side of his face and looked at him for a moment.

"I'm fine!" Danny growled as he pulled away. "I'm just fine. I'm going to be fine. Don't worry about me."

"Danny," Jazz called as she grabbed his arm and forced him to stay instead of walking away.

"Talk to me," Jazz ordered as she put her hands on the side of his face and made him look at her.

Danny sighed in irritation, looked down, sighed then let his shoulders sag in defeat. He sat down on Jazz's bed and she sat with him, her face filled with worry.

"I've lost her," he said softly.

"Who?" Jazz asked.

Danny closed his eyes. "Sam," he answered. "Sam. Sam. I've lost Sam."

"Oh," Jazz said. "I didn't know you had her to lose." Danny looked at Jazz a moment then shook his head.

"I guess I didn't," Danny said. "But I'm stupid. I asked her out and she's just going through the motions before she tells the guy she's been dating that she'll be his girlfriend."

"Oh," Jazz said again the smiled. "You asked Sam out on a date?"

"Yes," Danny growled. "Now will you leave me alone? I need to…" He looked at the door. "Go back in there."

"Well if she's going out on a date with you," Jazz said almost teasingly. "Then you haven't lost her Danny. I'm assuming you're finally admitting your feelings for Sam are deeper than friendship."

"Yes," Danny admitted almost grudgingly. "But it doesn't matter…."

"Of course it matters," Jazz said, her expression filling with happiness. "You have a chance. One chance, little brother. Don't blow it!"

Danny gave Jazz a thoughtful look. "What should I do?" he asked.

"Make the choice between you and anyone else, easy," Jazz said then grinned. "Wow her Danny. If you want to win Sam's heart, then show her that dating anyone other than you, will be boring. I'm sure you'll have no problem in that department."

"I don't know," Danny sighed. "Maybe it's just a lost cause." He stood and took the bowl of popcorn from his sister's hands.

"What do you mean?" Jazz asked worriedly.

Danny shrugged then answered, "Maybe I should just let her go. Sam and I will always be friends. Nothing will change that." Jazz opened her mouth to say something then sighed, deciding Danny was hopeless.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"So," Sam said as Danny walked beside her on the way back from Tucker's house. She looked at her watch. "It's five thirty."

Danny looked down at the sidewalk as butterflies fluttered away in his stomach. He had tried to act cheerful the rest of the afternoon. He thought he'd carried things off well as he looked at Sam and made decisions.

"I'll walk you home," he began, keeping his eyes on the sidewalk. "Then I'm going to go home and I don't know, take a nap or something, I'm tired."

Sam opened her mouth as she looked at Danny who was still looking down at the pavement. She bit her lip and was tempted to remind him of their date. Had he forgot or was he hoping she had? As if.

"You're forgetting something," Sam said as her heart jumped up into her throat.

"The date?" Danny asked as he looked up at her with an uncertain expression. "Do you still want to do something?"

"Yeah," Sam answered shyly. "Don't you?"

Danny shrugged his shoulders and looked away from the hurt and disappointment in Sam's eyes. "I'll give you a call tomorrow or something ok?"

Sam bit her lip for a moment, blinked back her tears, cleared her throat and said, "Okay, fine." By the time Danny looked back up at her, her expression was arraigned in apathetic blankness.

They said nothing as Danny walked with Sam to her house. He shoved his hands into his pockets and Sam looked at him a moment. She wanted to say something, but what? She didn't want to know why Danny suddenly changed his mind about their date.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Danny said. "Hang out like usual?"

"Well if you're not too tired," Sam replied almost acidly. "I wouldn't want to disturb you or anything."

"You won't be disturbing me," Danny told her as he kept his head down. "It's Sunday. We always hang on Sunday." Sam folded her arms across her chest and glared at him.

Danny looked sideways up at Sam and winced at the upset look on her face. She schooled her emotions back again then sighed. "I'm going in, Danny. I'll talk to you tomorrow I guess. Call me when you wake up."

"I'll probably be up before you…" Danny started as he tried to mentally put things back to normal between he and Sam.

"You'll have to call me. Later Danny," Sam said as she turned and walked away. Danny watched her for a second then turned and walked away, feeling like a jerk for being such a coward.

His mind wandered as he walked. He realized that he had a choice, to have Sam as a best friend who kept his secret and always had his back, or an ex-girlfriend, who would keep his secret but, well there would be tension between them and he didn't feel he could afford to have anything come between them.

Danny sighed, knowing Sam was hurt and upset, but he knew she'd get over it, he'd make it up to her somehow.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tucker was walking down he street listening to some of the new tunes he'd downloaded, headed for Danny's house intent on sharing the newest Dumpty Humpty song with them when he spotted Sam he ran up to meet her, hoping to hear a few details about her date with Danny, he was sure now that things would fall into place for his two best friends and he could finally be done with the angst they generated between them, which at times he felt was going to suffocate him.

"Hey, Sam," he called cheerfully.

"Yo, Tuck," Sam replied as she smiled at her friend.

"So," Tucker began. "How'd it go?"

"It didn't," Sam answered as she looked down at her feet.

"What do you mean it didn't?" Tucker asked his voice filled with outrage. "What happened ghost attack?"

Sam shrugged her shoulders. "I really don't know what happened," she answered. "He backed out."

"What do you mean he backed out?" Tucker asked angrily then growled something under his breath.

Sam rolled her eyes. "It's no big deal, Tuck. I don't know what happened, but maybe it was for the better." Tucker muttered under his breath and Sam smiled then swiped his hat off his head. Tucker chased her down to get it back and then finally realized they hadn't been making their way to Danny's house.

"Sam," he said as he took her elbow and turned her around . "Danny's house is this way."

"I know," Sam replied. "I'm not going to Danny's house. I'm going to Will's." She smiled slightly. "I'd invite you along, but…"

Tucker stared at Sam as if she grew three head then said, "Sam. It's Sunday. We all hang out together on Sunday. It's like our thing."

"We hung out yesterday," Sam replied as she looked down at her feet. "Besides I need to go spend some time with my boyfriend."

"Boyfriend," Tucker choked then gagged and Sam watched him as he went through his dramatics. She smiled at him worriedly until Tucker calmed and leveled her with a very serious look and she sighed.

"I know what you're thinking, and I know what you're going to say, but you can just forget it ok?" Sam fiddled with her bracelet a moment then looked at Tucker who clamped his mouth shut and just continued to look at Sam.

She sighed. "It's just not meant to be Tuck." She frowned as the light went out of his eyes and he shrugged.

"I think you're both just, idiots," Tucker said. "But I don't run your lives. I don't want to run your lives." He paused. "But it's Sunday, Sam. We spend Sunday together."

"I spent Saturday with you guys," Sam groaned. "Didn't we already have this conversation?"

Tucker adjusted his hat and sighed. "Yeah."

"Come on Tuck it's no big deal." Sam said as she put her arm around him briefly. "Everything is going to be fine. The same as it's always been. I promise."

He nodded his head then walked a little further with Sam before telling her that he needed to head to see Danny. "So what do you want me to tell him?"

"You don't have to tell him anything," Sam said trying to keep the butterflies out of her stomach. There was nothing between them. She was determined to squash her feelings for him, feelings he obviously knew about, tried to return and couldn't. She just wanted things to go back to normal, and for the ridiculous tension between them to go away.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Hey," Tucker said as he walked into Danny's room. Danny looked up from his homework and smiled.

"I think I have this word problem beat," Danny said happily as he tapped his notebook with his pencil and smiled.

Tucker walked over and looked at the math problem Danny was working on then shook his head. "That was last week's homework."

Danny scratched his head then looked at his notes and frowned. "Oh, well great." He through the paper side and looked over at the door. "Where's Sam?"

"I dunno," Tucker said as he pulled his PDA out of his pocket and sat. "I'm not her keeper."

"Okay," Danny said. "But you guys usually come over together." Tucker didn't look at Danny who narrowed his eyes at Tucker.

"Don't bother calling her," Tucker told Danny as he began shifting through the books and papers on his bed in search of his cell phone.

"Why not?" Danny asked as he found the phone then looked at it like it was going to bite him.

"Just don't bother," Tucker growled shortly as he took the phone out of Danny's hand. He threw the phone on Danny's dresser. "She's with her boyfriend."

"Oh," Danny said then looked down. He sighed deeply then looked down at his homework. "I guess asking her for her notes is out."

Tucker looked at Danny a minute then sighed. "Yeah, cause you blew it you idiot." Danny shot Tucker an annoyed look.

"Dude," Tucker said. "What happened? You were supposed to go on a date. You asked her out. You ditched her. You'd kill someone for treating Sam like that."

"Tuck," Danny began. "Don't worry about it okay. It's not your problem."

"It is if we lose her," Tucker replied.

Danny's eyes flickered from anger to sadness. "We won't lose her Tuck. I promise. She's Sam. She'll always be Sam. We all have to live our own lives. She deserves someone who can love her freely."

Tucker opened his mouth then sighed. "So you've lost faith."

"What?" Danny asked as he looked at Tucker. "I'm just being smart. You only want us together because of some weird romantic notion you have about best friends. Well if that's what you want, Tuck, you date her."

Tucker sighed. "I'm not the one in love with her."

"Neither am I," Danny replied shortly. "So can we just let it die now, Tuck. I'm sick of your pushing."

"Okay fine," Tucker said as he held up his hands. "You don't have to bite my head off." Danny looked down at his homework then out the window. He was tempted to find her, to check on her, but he'd made his decision and it was better to not rub salt in his wounds. It was better to just let her go.