Disclaimer: Not the big man…just a fanfic author.
Story: Danny Fenton, best friend of Sam Manson and Tucker Foley, sophomore at Casper High, and very much a tomboy. That's right, Danny is as female as they come. Well, minus the clothing and attitude.
Set as an AU, genderbending fic.
Spoilers: For episode S2.1 ("Memory Blank", series continuity order) and mention of future episodes.
Warnings: Allusions to rape, violence, cursing, sexual situations...
Pairings: Danny/Dash, Danny/Kwan, one-sided (most of the time) Danny/Ghosts, various odd smidgens of Danny/OCs, sort of Vlad/Danny, future pairings to be announced...

Chapter Sixteen: Beatae Memoriae –Of Blessed Memory

Danny Fenton's Divine Comedy
Chapter Sixteen: Beatae Memoriae

"Your posture's wrong," Danny straightened Agent K, real name Kayden, out, who groaned because the new position had him almost doubled backwards.

Agent O, also known as Oliver, whimpered.

"Ma'am, why are we doing this again?" Oliver gasped out.

"Because yoga will improve your health and reduce stress. It will improve your breathing and to learn to control it. It will balance your mind and body. It will calm your mind; teach you poise, balance and strength. Hell, you might even become enlightened," Danny sneered, staring down at them. "Your minds will be mastered. Your ability to concentrate will be improved. You will be flexible both in mind and body, and grow a stronger discipline physically, emotionally, mentally, and morally."

"Which type of yoga are you teaching them, drill sergeant?" Ames asked.

"Hatha," she snapped at him. "It will better serve my teachings, especially in regards to their bodies. And Raja, becomes it comes hand and hand with Hatha. Stop showing off, Ames."

He held up his hands, "Sorry, sorry."

"Oliver, Kayden, return position!"

Both agents snapped up straight, fast and ramrod. Danny sighed.

"No! In yoga, you have to be smooth and move back in normal position slowly and relaxed, not rigid and stressed out. Remember, breathe in and out. Relax. Slowly, be patient. Be serene. Tranquil. Peaceful," she lectured and then demonstrated for them.

"Better. I'll see you two in three hours time for Wing Chun practice. You better have had the first ten taolu memorize. I don't care if you can't do it right, at least be able to know them," she dismissed them, before waiting until they left to turn to Ames grumpily. "You, mister, are entirely too much of a show-off."

He shrugged, grinning at her. "Sorry. I was just trying to irritate you."

"You wanted to irritate me?" she glowered.

He laughed, "Of course. I was trying to get your focus off of them for a second, even if slightly. I was hoping to channel your frustration from them to me. I'm guessing it worked."

She faltered, looking at him confused.

"Danny," he tugged her closer and kissed her lips lightly, "You can be a bit harsh. They are trying, you know. But you have such high expectations, for such a little girl, and they're a little intimidated. They're trying all they can to keep up and please you, sweetheart."

She flushed red in embarrassment, "I hadn't realized I was being so demanding. It's how I work myself, so I assumed they would be able to handle it. I adjust my teaching pace to suit Kwan and Dash, but because Kayden and Oliver are older I'd automatically thought they would be able to do more. I should have adjusted for them."

"Hey, no worries. And about Kwan and Dash…" he laughed in amusement.

Danny groaned, "I am so sorry about them. I had no idea they would try to corner you like that."

"No, it's fine. They're worried about you, so it's understandable."

"Still, I wish they would've come to me first about any of their concerns. I'm sorry, Ames. They're just being overprotective, idiots that they are. They're just looking out for me."

Ames nodded, smiling, but he didn't tell her he had a feeling that the boys were also jealous.

"You want to practice now or do you want to wait until tonight?"

"Mm, sounds good now. I want to move up soon and I need practice for it."

They were just getting into it when Danny's cell rang and she rolled her eyes.

"Aren't you going to answer that?" he asked, wiping sweat off of his forehead.

She sighed, heading over to the bench and taking a towel to wipe off her own sweat, looking for her phone at the same time. He watched her listen in exasperation, muttering some things back, before hanging up.

"A problem?"

"Yeah, by the name of Jazz. She's decided that she's going to try a trust experiment with me to help my 'trust issues,'" she held mimicked quotation marks with her fingers.

"Trust issues?" he tilted his head, looking at her.

She looked away, "It's…nothing. It's just a long story."

He opened his mouth, but instead closed it and shook his head. He met her at the bench and comfortably settled his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder. Turning his head, he kissed her cheek.

"Okay. Whatever you say, Danny. So when are we leaving?"

"Leaving?" she asked, closing her eyes as she leaned back against him.

"You should just humor your sister. Sounds like fun anyways. I'll go with you," his breath tickled first her ear and then her neck when she tilted her head back to rest against his shoulder.

She pouted, "Oh, alright. As long as you're there."

That's why, half an hour later, the two of them were in her basement with a whole group of others, Oliver and Kayden following like puppies. With a circle of chairs, and Jazz, Sam, Tucker, Dash, and Kwan sitting in them, Danny was set in the middle with a grumpy smile.

Jazz blinked at Ames, "Sorry, who are you?"

He smiled awkwardly, but it was Danny who answered.

"He's a friend. He's one of the Guys in White, the leader in fact –Agent W. Um, it's a long story as to how we became friends," Danny explained, seeing Jazz's eyebrows shoot up.

"Oh, well, sit down, sit down. Danny, you stay there. This is how this works. I'll start and say something I want for Danny and then I'll touch Agent W's shoulder and he'll go, and so on. We keep touching so that it becomes a symbol of unity for Danny."

"Jazz, this is ridiculous," Danny scowled.

Jazz waved her off, "It might work, Danny. Or at least give you a warm feeling. Okay, so I want Danny to confide more with the people in this group, or at least with anyone."

The red-head touched Ames' shoulder and he uncomfortably cleared his throat, seeing everyone (read Danny's close friends) staring at him.

"I want Danny to be able to believe she can trust others," 'Most specifically, me,' he added in his mind, though he knew Danny guessed.

And it went on like that until it went full circle to Sam, who sat on Jazz's other side.

Sam gazed at her friend, offering a sad smile.

"I wish you were never raped by Madden," Sam murmured, it just coming out as she stared at her friend. Her eyes widened when she realized what she revealed out loud, glancing over to a confused, then shocked, and then stone-faced Ames.

But then Desiree appeared, laughing gleefully and looking powerful.

"As you wish it, so shall it be!"

And then bright light flashed brightly and everyone was knocked out. When everyone awoke, it seemed to be the next day and each one of them was in their homes.

So they went about their daily routines.

Ames immediately got ready for the day, before giving orders to Oliver and Kayden to keep familiarizing themselves with Amity Park and then going to Danny's. He saw her waiting at the sidewalk, strangely not with her bike, wearing a pale pink blouse and a gray skirt, knee-high socks with black Mary Janes. Her long hair was pulled back in a high ponytail and she was wearing a slight smile on her face. She was actually wearing a varsity jacket around her.

"Hey, sweetheart," he greeted, coming over and pecking her cheek. "You look cute today."

Danny actually recoiled from him, backing away and staring at him warily.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" she frowned at him, clutching her bag to her chest.

He stopped short, staring incredulously at her. Then he remembered the events of last night.

"Danny, that ghost did something. I swear, you have to remember me. I'm your boyfriend," he pleaded, taking tiny steps towards her.

Then a car roared and parked near the sidewalk, the top open and showing a slightly older than Danny male at the driver's seat. The dirty blond male stepped out of the car, scowling at him as he took his side by Danny.

"He bothering you, Dee?"

"No, Jack. Let's just go," Danny tugged at his sleeve. The couple went into the car and drove off, leaving Ames to stare behind them in disbelief.

"Agent W?" Jazz whispered, peeking out from behind the door.

He slowly turned to face her, dazed at the moment.

"We'll have to talk about that peck to my sister's cheek, as well as what you really are to my sister…but right now I need you to come with me. Sam and Tucker are already here, we're just waiting for Dash and Kwan."

He nodded slowly, "Okay…let me just call Agents K and O and tell them to come as well."

It wasn't long until the group was gathered solemnly and Sam was the one the most miserable.

"Last night, during that trust exercise, Sam made a wish. Desiree, if everyone has been briefed about her, is a ghost who grants wishes, but distorts them in some way. Well, you can see what happened. Jack Madden is still in town and still together with my little sister. He never…forced himself on her, so they never broke up, he never moved, and he's still in her life. In fact, he's attending Amity University and they're engaged," the grimace on Jazz's face showed how much she thought of that.

"Engaged?" Ames, Kwan, and Dash asked in unison, their faces matching in disgust and upset.

"Yeah, I saw the ring on her finger," Jazz sneered. "The marriage age is 18 and Danny is 15."

"But it's 16, with parental consent," Sam added unhappily.

"And Danny's the baby of the family, so she probably could have gotten permission for the two of them to marry on or after her next birthday. Especially since, before the…incident, Jack was a big part of our family. We all really liked him," there was a bitter edge to Jazz's voice.

"The varsity jacket she's wearing…it belongs to him, doesn't it?" Ames' voice was calm, but everyone could see the turmoil inside him. For once, Kwan and Dash could sympathize and give the guy a break.

Jazz nodded tiredly.

"She didn't say anything to us. She just greeted us politely and walked passed us. I don't get that," Tucker was also plainly frustrated.

"I think," Sam started reluctantly. "That since she stayed with Madden…she drifted from us and probably stayed closer to him and maybe his friends."

"I could find out," Dash muttered. "My brother…my brother was on the same team as Madden, and my parents said that he was friends with Danny before the…incident."

"Rape, okay? Everyone keeps saying 'the incident.' Just say the damn word. It happened, we can't change it," Tucker uncharacteristically shouted.

"But we did change it. I changed it," Sam said quietly.

"We need to go to school," Kwan interrupted. "And when we're in school, we can have a better chance of talking to Danny and a better chance figuring out what's going on, and maybe figure out what we're going to do."

"What can I do?" Ames asked miserably.

Jazz was uncertain, "There isn't much you can do now. The others have a better chance of reaching and talking to Danny because they go to school with her and she knows them. Maybe you and the other agents can go keep a lookout for Desiree and maybe capture her."

Ames reluctantly nodded and the three agents went to go do their jobs, as the teenagers anxiously went to school. It was worse than it had been that morning. Any attempts to talk to her were thwarted by the seniors, most of which were popular –more popular than Dash and his group. Danny was also, to their utter amazement, a cheerleader and the cheer captain at that. She was still quiet, smart, and almost entirely the same, but she was less abrasive and she smiled more. She seemed happier…

"There has to be something wrong," Jazz stated in frustration. "Desiree messes up all the wishes she grants. Why would this one be any different?"

"Why does something have to be wrong?" Sam asked defensively, strangely very quiet about the whole thing.

She was stared at. She frowned back at them.

"Danny's happy. Isn't that a good thing?" Sam stated quietly, before turning and walking away unhappily.

"It most certainly isn't a good thing!" Tucker shouted at her back before stomping the other way.

Jazz sighed, "Alright. Kwan, Dash, I'm counting on you two."

"Um, okay, Jazz. If we can actually do anything. We have a more horrible history with her than obviously Tuck and Sam," Kwan winced. "We may not have bullied her before high school, but we didn't know each other at all."

"It would be strange if Kwan and me just suddenly popped up, trying to talk to her," Dash added.

"It's not implausible," Jazz insisted. "The two of you, even Kwan now, are popular and jocks. And boys. Danny's a pretty girl, cheerleader, and popular now. It wouldn't be a stretch for the two of you wanting to talk to her. And even if she mistakes it as interest in her, Danny's too much of a sweetheart to refuse you two entirely. At the least, she'll humor you or let you hang around her."

"Fine," both boys agreed reluctantly.

"Good. Now get out of here and go do your jobs!"

It wasn't as easy as Jazz made it out to be. The seniors, all who had lived under Madden's reign as practical high school king when he was a senior, all abided by him still and knew that Danny was his girl. So that meant blocking off all boys who looked and acted like they liked or were too interested in all but crowned high school queen Danny Fenton. And unluckily, both Dash and Kwan were obviously crushing on her and they were no match for the sharp eyes of the seniors who guarded after Danny like a lion with her cubs.

"This sucks," Dash muttered, pushing around his food.

"Tell me about it," Kwan muttered, equally as unhappy.

"Can I join your misery party?" Sam walked towards them, her plate loosely held in her hands.

Tucker walked behind her stoically.

"Made up then, the two of you?" Dash asked without interest.

"Yeah, something like that," Tucker grunted.

The group sat at the table, all quiet and miserable, and then looked over to see Danny surrounded by seniors all the way on the other side, laughing and smiling.

"She doesn't smile and laugh like that with us," Tucker noted dejectedly.

"Because we got the Danny that was messed up by Madden," Sam snapped at him. "Since he didn't do shit here, she's fine. She's happy. She's – " she stopped suddenly, gasping. "Oh no…I think I might know what Desiree changed."

"What?" Kwan sat up straight, staring at her.

"Look, I don't have proof now, but I need to make sure before I share what I think with you guys," Sam explained really fast, before abruptly standing and leaving them to look for Jazz.

The young man, enjoying life at college, was currently picking up his girlfriend from school. Green eyes blinked in confusion, seeing two jocks shyly and nervously talking to Danny, who was smiling politely and nodding every once in a while. Getting out of his Corvette, he strode over to them, gazing at the boys coolly.

"Problem, Dee?" he scowled.

Danny smiled at him and he relaxed.

"No. We're ready to go?"

"Yeah, come on," he secured his old varsity jacket around her, staring at the jocks suspiciously before leading her off.

"Bye, Kwan, Dash," Danny said over her shoulder. "It was nice meeting you two!"

"Popular today, aren't you?" Jack frowned to himself.

"Jealous?" she teased, a playful smile dancing across her lips.

"Oh yeah. I can't wait until you're in college with me. I can stop worrying about all those other boys," he pouted.

"Cute, Jack," she rolled her eyes. "Just don't be too possessive. You don't want me to be wary of you, now do you?"

He huffed, "I can't help it. It's just…you're really pretty and popular, Dee. And everyone likes you. And I mean everyone."

His quiet tone put her off and she stopped, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Hey now, where's my cocky idiot? I don't want to hear you moping, you hear me? I demand you take me to the mall and serve all my needs," she grinned at him, and her grin widened when she saw him relax and start to smile.

"Okay, okay. Let's go then."

After they hung out in the mall, he took her to the park where they just strolled around. He grinned teasingly, grabbing her by the waist and swinging her around, pushing her up against a tree and kissing her. Hearing her moan, his tongue assertively touched against her lips, waiting for them to open. Once she obliged, his tongue touched against hers, wrestling for control.

His hands moved from her waist to the hem of her shirt, slipping underneath them.

Danny broke away, face flushed.

"Hey, a little too much for the park? We are still in a public place."

He kissed and nibbled at her neck, slightly shaking his head.

"The fun is in all the risk."

She laughed huskily, one arm wrapped casually against his lower back as the other drifted to his head to hold him in place, encouragingly threading her fingers through his hair. His fingers glided against her smooth back, stopping at her bra. Unclasping it, his hand was about to move to her front and had lightly brushed against one of her breasts when a throat cleared and they were interrupted.

The two broke away from each other, looking in the direction at where the noise had come from, seeing the blond man from that morning. Jack scowled at him, more so when Danny slipped away and hid behind him, clasping her bra and smoothing the front of her clothes down.

"Public place, kids. No inappropriate activities in the park," he growled at them.

Jack barely refrained from sneering, "And who the hell are you, old man?"

The sunglass-wearing man twitched and didn't bother to stop himself from sneering.

"I'm with the government, Special Agent W. Don't let me catch the two of you fooling around again, you hear?"

Jack grunted, grabbing Danny's hand and stomping off with her.

In half an hour, an odd group had assembled at the Nasty Burger. Ames had reluctantly related what he saw at the park.

"…Danny was raped by Madden…I wished she never was…so…what if she wasn't raped? What if she's…you know…having sex with him?" Sam explained uncomfortably.

"That's illegal," Tucker hissed.

"I know that," Sam frowned at him. "But it doesn't mean it's not happening."

"How old is he anyway?" Dash huffed, glancing quickly at Ames and remembering a similar time he'd asked that question about the man.

"They're five years apart, so Jack's 20," Jazz answered.

"Which means, if he's sleeping with her he's committing aggravated criminal sexual abuse," Ames stated firmly, scowling.

"They're engaged," Tucker pointed out.

"But they're not married yet," Jazz scowled with Ames. "They have some time before Danny's 16 and they can marry, in which case they shouldn't be sexually involved at all until then."

"We don't have proof," Sam interrupted. "We know they have heavy make outs, and have gone near, if not already touched, third base. We don't know if they'd gone all the way now and we certainly haven't caught them at it."

"So what? We're just going to spy on Danny until we do?" Kwan asked sarcastically.

"You know, that's not a half-bad idea," Jazz said, a glint in her eyes saying she was actually considering it.

"No, no, no," Sam held up her hands. "We are not invading Danny's privacy."

"I'm in," the guys all agreed.

Sam groaned, "You guys have to be kidding! This is Danny we're talking about. She'll be pissed off. You're lucky she doesn't know any of you, she would be even worse!"

"Not if she doesn't find out," Jazz smirked. "I'll take her out, leave the back door open for one of you to sneak in. I'll warn you when we're heading back, so you have time to sneak out. The rest of you can spy on her while one of us is snooping around her room."

"What about your mom and dad?" Kwan was wary.

"Working. They get so into inventing new ghost inventions that they sometimes forget to even sleep."

"I'll go, since I have experience in this kind of thing, and just in case your parents decide to be aware beyond work," Ames volunteered.

Kwan and Dash reluctantly agreed while Tucker looked like he was thinking about something.

"…Why do we remember? Everyone and everything has been changed to fit with the changes for Sam's wish, but we still remember how it really was," Tucker furrowed his eyebrows.

Everyone realized that as well.

"I think, because my dad was making me wear that Spectre Deflector because he thought I was being haunted by ghosts that day, that's why I wasn't affected. And when we were touching during the trust exercise, the thing included the rest of you as well. So Desiree's powers couldn't change us," Jazz guessed.

"Alright, are we clear on what we should do?" Dash asked.

Everyone nodded, Sam reluctantly so.

So the next day, Jazz took Danny out to the inner city for more expensive and posh shopping. The group of teens trailed behind in one of Sam's vehicles, a nondescript van. Ames took that time to sneak into Fenton Works, heading into their home and straight to Danny's room, his footsteps not making a sound. While he worked, he really hoped Kayden and Oliver were doing their jobs, because he really wanted to get his hands on that ghost and for this whole thing to be over. And for Danny to be his girl again.

This was the first time he'd been in her room and it sucked that it was this way instead of clandestine romantic meetings, stolen kisses in the dark of her room, holding her on her bed…

He sighed in aggravation, starting his search. He first started through her drawers, shifting through clothing, and pausing when he reached her underwear drawer. Feeling like a pervert but not being able to help himself, he slowly shifted through it, blushing as he saw a lot of lacy boy short panties and matching bras. Relieved and at the same time not that he was finally done looking through it, he turned his attention to Danny's bed. He kneeled down and was about to look at a box he found there when he heard footsteps quickly heading to the room.

Panicking, he darted to the closet and kept it opened slightly for him to peek through. He frowned when he saw Danny and that old boyfriend of hers come into the room, immediately making out and falling onto the bed. He spared time to put his cell on silent so it wouldn't accidentally ring and alert the two to his presence, but he started to feel more upset and like a voyeur when he saw the two begin to become really serious.

Danny had taken Jack's shirt off and he was working on slipping her baby blue shirt off of her slim shoulders, when Danny had pushed him onto his back and had climbed on top of him. She kissed down his chest, reaching his belt and taking it off.

Ames sat still and stoic, unmoving and growing more and more depressed and distressed as he watched the two going at it. Each gasp, each moan was like a stab to his heart. He hadn't expected to grow so seriously in love with her this fast, but he did and now he was watching his heart being torn apart and strewn into pieces all over the place.

"Jack, Jack," she chanted breathily.

"I love you, Danny," he murmured staggering into her ear.

Ames put his head in his hands, hung it between his knees and started crying, clutching onto his head and feeling his heart clench in his chest in pain.

Unable to leave anyway, he stayed there the whole night, practically unmoving from his position. The next morning, Danny got ready for school and left, Jack in tow to drop her off. Ames just stayed in the closet, lying against the wall in exhaustion and grief, blankly staring in front of him as he slumped his shoulders and his head lolled to the side. Sighing, he threw himself out of the closet and forced himself to crawl towards the door, pulling himself up and then walking through the house like a zombie, uncaring if he got caught. He ended up at the park, where he found a bench and laid down on it, just still blankly staring up at the sky until his mind shut down and he fell asleep.

Meanwhile, lunchtime at school, Danny was sitting alone for once. Kwan immediately started towards her, and she let him sit with her in surprise. Dash hesitated, glancing between her table and the table he usually sat in with his group of popular kids. They were staring at him expectantly.

"You got to choose what's more important –your reputation to a bunch of nobodies or being with a girl who makes you happy."

He made up his mind and joined Kwan and Danny.

After school, the group met at the Nasty Burger to update their progress, watching uncertainly as Ames staggered through the doors and continued to walk unsteadily towards them.

"Special Agent W?" Jazz nervously asked.

"Ames. You're all Danny's friends, so you might as well know my first name," he blankly said, sitting himself down heavily.

"What can I get you?" a waitress appeared to take his order.

"Vodka, straight," he grunted.

The waitress stared at him apprehensively, "Um, we don't sell alcoholic beverages here, sir."

Ames stared at her.

"Ice cream. Lots and lots of ice cream."

He'll deal with a sugar overload for now.

"What happened to you?" Dash smirked, still in a good mood from his lunch.

"I can arrest him, right? I'm with the government so I can arrest him?" Ames muttered, thumping his head to lie on the table.

The group all looked confused. Ames sighed, straightening up and forcing himself to concentrate, wiping a hand down his face.

"Jazz, I didn't get your messages about Danny coming home early –they kind of came late anyway. She was already home by the time you'd text me," Ames started. "She went into her room and I had to hide in the closet. She wasn't alone. She brought him. They went and did it several times on her bed."

His earlier words made much more sense and everyone paled.

"Wait, you saw them…" Kwan didn't know how to finish his question, so he just looked helplessly at the government agent.

Ames stared blankly at him.

The group winced in pain for him, each knowing on some level how close he was to Danny. His ice cream came in a huge bowl, overfilling it with chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry flavors. He dug into it and blocked out the world, focusing on his comfort food, ignoring especially that of Sam telling him he couldn't arrest Madden because then he would have to explain how he found out and then why was he snooping around Danny's room in the first place…

Jazz cleared her throat, turning to Sam, "Um, what exactly is Spec –er, Ames to Danny?"

Sam's eyes widened, "He's…Danny's boyfriend. Or he was."

Jazz glanced sharply at him, but her gaze softened, unable to muster up any ill feelings at him at the moment with the way he was.

"Things will go back to normal. It has to," she swore.

"Paulina's birthday is tonight," Sam brought up.

Dash grunted, "Yeah, I'm invited to that thing."

"It's also the night of the meteor shower."

"So?" Tucker glowered at the floor.

Sam sighed, "People wish on shooting stars, and the majority of people will be at Paulina's birthday party."

"Desiree will be there!" Kwan immediately brightened up.

"Finally," she rolled her eyes. "Kwan, Tucker, and I will be at the outskirts where she will probably be. Dash, you'll be at the party so try to do damage control and do what you can to make sure people's wishes don't wreck havoc there. I'll talk to Jazz and Ames about what they can do."

At the same time as Sam started planning, Jazz had entered her baby sister's room quietly, watching her sister brush her hair on her bed.

"Danny, can I talk to you?"

"Sure, Jazz."

Jazz took a deep breath, "You've been sleeping with Jack, Danny."

Her little sister whirled around to face her with outraged eyes.

"How would you know that? Were you spying on me?" Danny didn't even bother to deny it.

Jazz lifted her chin up defiantly, "So what if I was? Danny, he shouldn't even be touching you like that! You're not married and even if you were, you would be too young to be married!"

Danny quickly got to her feet.

"What would you know? I love him and he loves me! We're not doing anything wrong," she hissed, glaring at her older sister.

"You don't know him, Danny. What if you'd said no that day when you went to check on him in the locker room?" by the paling of Danny's face, Jazz's guess was correct. "What if you had said no and didn't give in? He would have raped you. I know he would." Because it actually happened. "And you two wouldn't still be together, like you are now because you gave in and slept with him."

Danny shook her head in denial, ignoring the tears rapidly dripping from her eyes.

"No, you don't understand," she cried out, her arms flying to wrap around her shoulders as she curled into herself. "I loved him…I didn't want him to leave me. I just wanted him to stay with me, to love me back…"

Jazz didn't hesitate, coming closer and holding onto her sister, letting Danny cry onto her shoulder.

And when Sam called to tell her of the plans, she had a feeling that everything was going to be all right.

That night, Sam and her group were scouting the area as Dash fidgeted in his suit, glad that he didn't have to wear a tuxedo. He'd save that uncomfortable mess for Prom. He caught sight of Danny, looking beautiful as always, wearing that sexy halter dress he remembered she wore during the Spring Dance with that Aragon dude. Her hair was similarly curled and piled up.

Unfortunately, she was hanging onto the arm of Jack Madden, who looked as unwelcome as always.

Then the stars started shooting and he geared up for work.

He missed Danny disappearing with Madden off somewhere closer to the woods.

But Ames didn't. He had been assigned to deal with Danny and he would. So he trailed after the two, watching as the two laughed and walked through the grassy plains and followed the path up hills to a nice clearing.

"Dee…Danny, I love you so much," the young man murmured.

Danny smiled brightly, "I love you too. I can't wait until we get married."

Forcing away his sneer but letting himself scowl, he broke cover and stomped towards them, catching the couple's attention and who stared at him incredulously and in disbelief.

"You again? What the hell are doing? Perving on us?" Jack snarled.

Ames ignored him, taking them by surprise by grabbing Danny's wrists and pulling her closer to him.

"He doesn't love you, Danny. I do," he said desperately, kissing her soundly the next second.

Jack angrily started towards them, yanking the two apart just as he disappeared. Danny faltered, stumbling a couple steps away from Ames as she clutched her head. And then she straightened up, taking deep breaths.

"I guess Jazz and the others got Desiree," Ames' voice cracked.

"Ames," she murmured softly, coming closer and reaching up to grasp his face. "Oh, sweetheart…some way to find out what happened to me, huh?"

But he didn't echo her smile, tugging her closer as he held onto her, burrowing his face into her neck.

She hummed into his ear, swaying with him as she brushed her fingers through his hair.

"I wish you would love me forever," he murmured.

"No more wishing," she pouted, but he was being entirely serious so she kissed him again in reassurance.

"I think I'm falling too fast for you," he sighed against her skin.

"…" Danny sunk to the ground, pulling him with her. "I might be too," she admitted softly. "It's been awhile since Jack, Ames. And this…this is new. It's a little…scary. I didn't think I could fall for someone after Jack either…"

"I won't hurt you like him," he promised more vehemently, now that he knew who he was. Everything he'd noticed before about Danny made more sense too. Her flinches, their first meeting, the 'he' she mentioned in her sleep…but it was in the past, and he was very confident he could be and is her future.

"I know. I believe you," and she was sincere. "You were there then, weren't you? When Jack and I were…doing that. And that's how Jazz found out about it. I'd ditched her behind in the city and there was no way she could've gotten to the house before me and hid in my room."

"Closet specifically," Ames added miserably.

"I'm sorry," Danny sighed.

"Don't be. There was nothing you could do…"

"Stay with me tonight," she suddenly demanded, looking at him. "Come with me now and stay with me."

He hesitated, "In your room? What if someone or your parents find out…?"

"Everyone's at Paulina's. My parents are either working or most probably sleeping by now. I'll sneak you up."

Ames sighed in fondness, "Okay. Like I can deny you anything."

And that was how, in the middle of the dark night, they were slowly creeping up the stairs before trying to enter Danny's room without too much noise to alert her sleeping parents. The door creaked and they paused, wincing. They waited a couple seconds, a little worried when they heard Danny's father mutter loudly in his sleep before turning over and making the bed groan.

Slipping inside, they comfortably settled onto her bed, Danny relaxed in his arms. They stared out the window, watching the falling stars that still hadn't fallen yet. Her fingers lightly brushed against his arms, rhythmically moving back and forth.

"I love you," she declared suddenly, never stopping her fingers.

He squeezed her gently, feeling happy and lighter than he had in the past days.

"I love you too," he murmured.

Started 3/5/10 –Completed 3/9/10