Epilogue ho!

Here we have a touching moment, a psychiatric analysis of Riley's crazy head, and when reading this chapter you will lose The Game.

Like you did just now. Ha.

--Phanny

Jazz Fenton was growing frustrated with the skinny brunette in front of her, staring at her innocently.

"You gonna shrink my head, Jazz?" She asked, "if you do and it like falls off, can I keep it?"

"Yes, you can keep it," Jazz mused, "now, how would you describe your relationships with people you meet?"

"Uh…" Riley thought for a moment, "…clingy, annoying, unbearable and yet surprisingly adorable and charming at the same time."

Jazz blinked, "you're very…observant."

"I know, right?"

"Anyway," Jazz pressed on, "why do you think you're clingy?"

"Iunno," Riley shrugged, "when I moved here I just got that way."

"Anything special happen when you moved here?"

Riley sighed, thinking, "…my mom died."

Jazz felt a pang of pity, having never seen the girl looking so sullen before.

"Maybe that's it," Jazz said, "if you don't mind me asking, how did she die?"

Riley shook her head, "she was driving home form work…and some idiot drunk just hit her. I was at summer camp, though."

"I think that is it," Jazz told her, sounding sympathetic, "you were away from her, and when you came back, she was gone. Are you afraid that if you get too far away from someone you like, they'll be gone when you come back?"

Silently, Riley nodded, drawing her knees up to her chest and resting her chin on them, "I know it's stupid, but I can't help it. I get scared."

"It's not stupid," Jazz told the younger girl, "it's in most of my books, it's normal to be anxious about that sort of thing. But you're letting it control you, and that's not good for you."

"So I should stop. How do I stop?"

"Well, I'm no professional yet, so maybe you should find one," Jazz shrugged, "ask you're dad or someone. You're dad's okay, isn't he?"

"Mhmm," Riley nodded, "and my sister."

Suddenly, the girl brightened, "I feel kind of better now. Can I go?"

"Yup," Jazz nodded, "remember--" Riley had already exited the room, and Jazz sighed. That was probably the longest time she'd ever sat still.

"Hey! Hey! Hey Danny? Danny I know you can hear me! Danny! Don't ignore me! That's mean! You're not asleep!"

"Yes I am," Danny frowned as he lay on the grass on a hill in the park, Sam and Tucker on his left, and Riley on his right, shaking him vigorously.

"You are not!"

"I talk in my sleep," Danny told her, not opening his eyes, "stop shaking me. Cease. Cease the shaking."

"Don't use words I don't understand!" Riley exclaimed, "that's even meaner."

"Mean is in the eye of the beholder," Sam said, "I think it would be mean to go up to someone who's trying to rest and shake them."

"Who asked you?" Riley murmured, "just wake up or something! I gotta tell you something!"

"What?" Danny asked, his eyes still closed, "and if you tell me I lost The Game I will roll you down this hill."

"No, it's not that!" Riley said, crossing her arms, "it's more of a question."

"Shoot."

"You guys know Danny Phantom, right?" All three teens tensed, but Riley didn't notice, "well…see…"

"Go on," Danny said apprehensively.

"And he can go into the 'Ghost Zone' place, right?"

"Yup," Sam nodded.

"Well, next time you see him…do you think you could ask him--I mean, if he has time--if he could say hi to my mom for me? Tell her I miss her?" She pulled out her wallet, "this is her picture."

Riley handed Danny the picture of her mother.

"She looks like you," Danny murmured, "do you want the picture back, or…?"

"I got more," Riley said, "just ask him, kay? He doesn't have to."

Danny looked at her, then at the picture, then back at Riley.

"I think we could manage that."

Riley tackled Danny, Sam, and Tucker with suffocating hugs before looking at her watch, "I gotta go home. Thanks guys!"

Danny was silent for a moment, "I guess I could find the time to do her a favor."

"Just hope she doesn't try to pay you back." Sam replied, smirking.

Even though they'd only known Riley for a week or two, Danny could call their experiences…interesting. In a good-bad way, depending on how you look at it. Danny looked up at the sky and decided that hey, he'd met people much worse than her.

'…Eh, she's not so bad. Not really.'

"And you did lose The Game!" Riley shouted from far off.

"Oh, just go home!" All three teens chimed in, and there was silence. She did listen when she wanted to.

A few days later, Riley awoke in her bed, yawning and stretching before flopping back down on her pillow.

She heard the sound of crinkling paper when she shifted her head on her pillow and reached under it to find…a note?

A glowing note. How cool was that? Glowing paper! Riley unfolded the note and read it.

There were only three lines of curly writing that she recognized instantly. She took a deep breath as her eyes watered. She smiled.

Riley,

I miss you too. All of you.

Love mom

Riley left the note on her bed while she fetched a thumbtack and pinned it to her wall and ran down the hall.

"Maya, Dad, come see! Come see what I got!"

She instantly woke up her father and sister and brought them to her room--she loved them both, but the note was special, she didn't want it to get lost.

When her father asked where it came from, she answered vaguely.

"I know a guy."

Danny Phantom was definitely her hero. The best hero in the world.

After a moment of thought, she added, "I know three guys, actually. And a girl."

Danny, Sam, and Tucker were pretty cool too, after all.

Sooo...if Riley pops up in another story you can't say I didn't warn you.

Kthnxbai.