Here it is...chapter 5. And there's a nice little surprise for you guys -a certain someone you've all been waiting for finally makes an appearance. Doesn't show up till a little later in the chapter, but hopefully it will have been worth the wait! Also, this chapter starts off rather calmly, but there's quite a bit more emotion as it goes on- just thought I'd give you the heads up. Okay, enjoy for now, and I'll talk to you at the end!

Chapter 5: Unwanted Visits

"Well, your temperature seems fine," the tall, broad chested doctor announced. He removed the thermometer from Danny's mouth, shook it off, and placed it back in his bag.

Danny had been feeling too ill to get out of bed when he awoke, so his parents had asked the teen's doctor if he'd be so kind as to perform a house…er, school call. Luckily, Dr. Fletcher was a friend of Maddie's from her old high school, and had agreed to come in and check on Danny. The boy himself had been less-than-willing to let the rest of the students see him under such serious care, but Maddie's insistence on the matter was firm, and he ended up undergoing the check-up.

"You seem fine, physically. I guess that nightmare gave you quite the scare though, kiddo?" Dr. Fletcher chuckled.

Danny smiled nervously. "Heh, yeah..."

"Well, I'm almost done here. I just need to check your breathing," the man said as he pulled a stethoscope out of his bag. Danny sat up, legs dangling over the side of the bed. Doctor Fletcher positioned his stethoscope under Danny's shirt, pressing the cold instrument against his bare back.

A few moments passed before the doctor made a 'hmph' sound and gently tossed the instrument back in his carry-around bag.

"Is there a problem?" Danny asked.

"No, actually, you're fine…I do suggest you get plenty of rest for the next few days however- you've really worn yourself according to the tape I saw."

Danny cringed. His doctor had seen the tape? Great, so everyone he knew who hadn't seen him royally freak out firsthand had gotten to experience it courtesy of Casper High's infallible security system. Honestly, didn't he at least have the right to some privacy?

He pushed away his feelings however as he suddenly realized something. "Wait, plenty of rest?" he repeated his doctor's words. "But what about the Insomniathon?"

The man just chuckled. "Oh no, Danny, I'm afraid you'll have to go home early. You can't handle another day of sleeplessness."

Danny sighed. Not that he was particularly upset about the rightful return of the rest of his weekend…but there was one thing that worried him slightly...

Claire's going to kill me.

"I will prescribe some painkillers though, just to relieve the muscles you strained. Those convulsions really took a toll on your stomach and abdomen muscles." Dr. Fletcher reached into his white coat's pocket to pull out something, but his hand emerged empty. "Hmm, must've left my notepad in the car," he mumbled to himself. "Give me a moment, will you, Danny? I'll just go grab it."

Danny nodded, watching his doctor leave the room. He jumped off the bed, sick of having been glued to it for the past several hours. Feeling rather dehydrated, the teen went to get himself a glass of water.

Meanwhile, Dr. Fletcher had stopped along the way to his car to talk to Danny's parents and sister. "Physically, he's absolutely healthy," he told them. "Just a bit of muscle pain from all the wriggling. I'm going to prescribe some painkillers. Till then, he should rest easy and avoid any physical exertion."

"But, Matt, if there's nothing wrong with him, then why did he…?" Danny's mom trailed off. The doctor simply shook his head. "It's nothing medical, Madeleine. I'm afraid that's all I can tell you." With that, he took off towards his car.

Back inside, Danny was returning to his bed, a glass in his hand, when he heard Jazz speaking in loud desperate tones outside the office. Upon closer inspection, he realized that she was speaking to his parents about him…naturally, his curiosity got the better of him and he paused in his tracks, listening intently to his sister's words.

"See Mom, I told you a doctor wouldn't do anything! I really think Danny would benefit from some time off school and some professional help."

"Oh, I don't know, sweetie. It sounds a bit extreme…"

"Yeah, Jazzypants," Danny's dad's voice joined in. "No one in the family's ever needed that sort of…help."

"Guys, trust me. I know it seems a bit much, but it's much more common than you might believe. There's one in Amity…I'll call and ask if he can do anything."

Danny's eyebrows creased. What were they talking about? 'One' what? And 'professional help'? What exactly was Jazz going on about?

He had little time to ponder the issue however, as his doctor chose this moment to re-enter the room.

"Here we are," he said jovially, waving the notepad in the air. Dr. Fletcher pulled a pen out of his pocket and scribbled something illegible on the paper. He ripped it off the pad with ease and handed it to Danny. "This is a refill prescription in case you need it; I'll give you a sample until then," he said, handing his patient a small bottle.

"Thanks," Danny replied, taking the medication as he jumped back onto the bed. He read the dosage on the back of the bottle. When he looked back up, he noticed that his family and friends were re-entering the nurse's office upon Dr. Fletcher's permission. Maddie and Jack were taken to the side by the doctor, who was telling them about the medication he'd prescribed to Danny, while Tucker and Sam approached Danny's bed. Jazz was nowhere to be found.

Sam cleared her throat before saying awkwardly, "So…you feelin' better?"

"I have a killer headache and my stomach still aches like crazy, but yeah…I think I'll live," the teen laughed nervously. Both Sam and Tucker gave each other uncertain smiles, but the odd expressions on their faces upset Danny, and his own expression turned to one of irritation as he realized what was going on.

"You know," he started, suddenly cross as he stuffed his meds and prescription into his jeans pocket, "You don't need to act like I'm some sort of freak."

The two friends' expressions quickly changed to ones of surprise. "What? What are you tal-," Sam began.

"I can see the way you guys are looking at me. You've been acting weird since yesterday. You think I'm a lunatic or something."

No, Danny, we don't think tha-," Sam said quickly, waving her hands for emphasis.

But he cut her off again. "It was just a bad dream, okay? I don't want you guys to look at me any differently." The teen rose off the bed and headed away from his friends, towards the door.

"We don't," Tucker assured Danny, quickly catching up to him. "We're just…worried."

"Yeah," Sam added cautiously. "We've never seen you like that before...Are you sure it was just a bad dream?"

Danny stopped in his tracks, letting out a small sigh as his gaze dropped to the ground. The boy shut his eyes tightly. He was overreacting and he knew it- letting his pride get in the way of his ability to think clearly. That scene from yesterday had really wounded his ego. He'd allowed everyone to see him at his most vulnerable, and he knew that his defiant attitude now was only a compensation for his previous display of weakness. He could so easily avoid all of this if he had someone to talk to…

But…he just couldn't tell Sam and Tuck the problem. They wouldn't understand his fears. How could they? They hadn't seen even a fraction of his evil future self's possible power.

They hadn't seen Vlad, his most powerful enemy, in the pathetic state he was in after Dan- after he'd- destroyed him. Shredded clothes, skin and bones and unable to so much as step foot out of his underground laboratory for fear of stirring Dan's fury…they hadn't gasped at the look of trepidation on his face. His sunken eyes, his tired stare and his deep wrinkles…only Danny had experienced it.

Nor had they seen what had happened to the ghosts in the Ghost Zone. Ember, Johnny, Skulker…all of them wasted, all because of him. And Amity Park in ruins…also because of him. They hadn't felt their own future self's deathly grip on their wrist as Clockwork's time medallion was violently thrust into their chest, leaving them powerless and unable to rescue their friends from a mess they'd caused. And they hadn't watched helplessly at the Nasty Burger as their loved ones were torn away from them, while there was nothing they could do about it.

And even though Danny had already retaken the test and hadn't cheated…even though Clcokwork had fixed everything, his fate was not sealed. It was like Clockwork had said, wasn't it? Time can take many twists and turns to arrive to a different outcome…or to the same one. It no longer mattered whether he'd cheated or not on the test, because that was only one possible route to the same disastrous result: Dan. He had to be careful from now on. He couldn't go around savouring power the way he used to, he had to make sure he never, never did anything that could turn him into Dan.

Danny pushed away his thoughts as he squeezed his eyes shut, clenching his fists tightly. "I'm fine. I promise…I just need to be alone for awhile." He continued forward, towards the door, barely noticing Jazz walking in at the same time as he'd tried to go out.

"Ow!" the two of them cried simultaneously as they bumped into each other.

Jazz rubbed her head before looking up to see who she'd bumped into-her little brother. "Oh, Danny, it's you. Are you alright?"

"Uh, yeah," he said, disconcerted as he watched his sister quickly stuff her cellphone into her pocket; he couldn't help but catch a glimpse of the glowing screen on her phone before she pushed it out of his sight. It read: Last call 945-8845 : Dr. Kelly.

Why is she calling a doctor at this hour? Danny thought to himself, perplexed. Dr. Fletcher is already here anyways...

Jazz's voice however, interrupted his thoughts. "Good to hear, little brother. Oh hey, looks like Mom and Dad are done with Dr. Fletcher." Danny turned to see the doctor shaking hands with his parents. He made for the door, and before leaving, stopped to ruffle Danny's hair. "You take care, okay kiddo?"

Danny managed a weak smile and nodded, straightening out his hair the moment Dr. Fletcher turned around.

"Danny, would you come here, sweetie?"

Danny's attention was averted towards his mother. "Yeah?"

"Sweetie, I think it's time you go home. You'll be able to rest better there."

Danny gave a tired sigh. "Yeah, I guess so."

Jack turned to Jazz. "Jazzykins, will you go get Mr. Lancer so we can tell him we're taking Danny home?" The girl nodded and ran out into the hallway to find the teacher. She was apparently good at tracking people, because no more than a few minutes later, she, Danny, and their parents were standing at the school doors while Mr. Lancer handed Danny the backpack he'd left in the locker room.

"Take care, Mr. Fenton. And don't worry about your extra credit…I'll come up with a makeup assignment for you."

Danny took his backpack from the teacher and nodded at his offer- though he wasn't too sure whether he was thankful or just annoyed that he was being given more work. He turned to leave, following his family out of the school, but was stopped by Tucker's hand on his shoulder. Behind him stood Sam.

"Take care, 'kay dude?" his techno-geek friend said.

Danny managed a smile at the sight of his forgiving friends. With a small sigh, he said, "I'm sorry for before. I was overreac-,"

But Sam interrupted. "It's okay, Danny. We're used to your blown-up ego and massive pride. You're forgiven."

He rolled his eyes amusedly. "Good. So we're cool?"

Tucker gave him a fist bump. "Totally." Sam smiled and waved as he left the school.

Danny made for the RV, where his parents were already waiting for him. Jazz climbed up into her seat, and as the boy entered the car behind his sister, he distinctly heard her whisper to their dad,

"I called him, but I have some bad news. I'll tell you at home."

About two days had passed since the Insomniathon, and things had returned to normal at the Fenton home. Well, relatively normal, anyways. After two days of not blowing up again the way he'd done at the school, Danny's family figured that everything had gone back to normal…or at least, that's the way Danny had chosen to interpret it.

In truth however, Danny was still being treated like a king. His mother was still worried about him, letting him stay home from school (at least until he felt better) and watch television all day as she brought him pancakes and cookies and milk. In the midst of this princely treatment, he'd almost forgotten about his dream and about Jazz's mysterious conversation with their parents at school.

Almost.

At the moment, he was watching cartoons in his room and trying to see if he could do that thing where a person throws popcorn up in the air and catches it in their mouth. According to the mess of kernels around his bed though, he wasn't succeeding. A commercial appeared on the screen, so he muted the TV and kicked off his covers (gently- so as not to aggravate his still aching muscles), deciding to take a bathroom break.

As he wandered out into the hallway, he heard his parents' voices downstairs, along with Jazz's.

"Like I said, I called Dr. Kelly, but he's retiring in a month," his sister was saying. "He's no good to us if he'll be out of the business in a few weeks."

"Then we only have one other choice," another voice- his dad's- said.

Danny quietly tiptoed to the staircase and crouched down on the floor, peering through the banister bars to see his family. They were sitting in the living room, all of them on sofas with their backs to him. Jazz was talking about that call again…was this conversation about him then?

Maddie seemed to sigh, her form melting slightly into the couch. "I'm not convinced about your 'other choice', Jack. I don't really believe he just offered all that, just to help Danny."

So they were talking about him! But just who was offering what to him?

"Oh, come on Maddie, he's a good guy! He's offered to pay for the treatment and give Danny a place to stay until he's cured."

Maddie seemed unsure. "And he just called you this morning out of the blue?"

"Well, yeah. He was checking up on his old buddy, and when he asked me about the family, I told him about Danny's problem. He suggested it was stress and offered to help us."

A few moments of silence passed, during which Danny further pondered the mysterious conversation. Just what was his family talking about?

"I don't like this, Jack. I don't like being in anyone's debt…especially his."

"Relax Mads! We'll pay him back! Think of it as a loan."

Jazz chimed in, "Come on, Mom, the plan's foolproof. And this is the only way to help Danny, especially since he refuses to tell us what his dream was about. We just have to make sure that we don't tell him about the idea just yet. You know his pride issues; he'd never accept it. We'll have to show Danny how good this will be for him …then maybe he'll agree to the idea."

But Maddie seemed determined to find a problem with Danny's mysterious benefactor. "Well what about school?"

"Oh, Danny can miss a few weeks of school," Jack waved a hand. "He'll catch up quickly."

"Yeah," Jazz agreed. "His health and well-being matters most. And even if that means sending him to live with a creepy old Packer's fanatic in Wisconsin so that he can get professional psychological help…well, I think we should do it."

Danny's grip on the bars loosened considerably as his eyes widened in fear.

Vlad? They wanted him to go live with…VLAD?

Danny rushed back to his room, shutting the door behind him.

No, no, no, no, no! This wasn't happening! His family wasn't down in the living room, plotting to send him off to his archenemy's house! As if it wasn't bad enough that they wanted him to see a psychologist because they thought he was unstable; but they were shipping him off to Wisconsin to do it! Several frantic, fragmented thoughts ran through Danny's head as he desperately tried to piece together what was going on.

Suddenly, a thought hit him.

Wait a minute. I don't have to go…Jazz said herself that they would keep this from me for awhile, because otherwise I might make the wrong decision. But that means that ultimately…it's my choice if I go or not…so I can just say that I don't want to go!

The sheer simplicity of the the solution was foolproof, and the thought eased Danny's nerves for awhile. However, there was one thing that bothered the teen…His dad had said that Vlad's call was out of the blue. Nothing was out of the blue with Vlad. Danny pondered this for awhile, but then decided, well, whatever… as long as I don't have to go, I won't have to worry about that frootloop's plans.

Content, Danny turned to check the time on his dresser. Seeing that it was time for another painkiller, he pulled out a bottle of medication from his drawer. He rubbed his sore stomach before popping a pill in his mouth and returning to his television program.

Danny slept uneasily that night. He tossed and turned relentlessly, but he was at least thankful that there were no nightmares to freak him out. The following day was rather eventless, besides his dad pestering him about helping him try out his new invention: the Fenton Annihilator. Luckily, he got out of that one by pretending that he had some chores to do. He'd stayed home again because his muscles were still immensely sore however, so the excuse was rather flimsy. Nonetheless, it worked.

Danny had briefly considered bringing up the ordeal his parents were talking about with Jazz the previous day, but then decided it would be best not to talk about it unless they said something first; he didn't want them to know he'd been eavesdropping.

At around six PM, after a short power-nap, he rose out of bed and headed to the washroom to freshen up. As he passed by the staircase however, he changed his mind and decided to go get himself some food first- he hadn't eaten in hours and was more than a little hungry. Still in pain, he hobbled down the stairs and made his way into the kitchen, totally unprepared for what greeted him.

At the table, was seated a man in a crisp black suit. His greyish-silvery hair was combed back in a neat ponytail, a few solitary strands falling around his face at the front. He wore a devious smile as his eyes caught a glimpse of Danny in his black sweats and his white pyjama t-shirt.

Vlad.

"Ah, Daniel, my dear boy! How wonderful to see you," he drawled, his eyes glinting.

Danny's initial reaction had been utter shock- seeing Vlad sipping tea with his parents in the kitchen had been the last thing he'd expected to see... But noticing that Vlad's smile had grown in satisfaction at his reaction, Danny instantly put his guard up. He couldn't let his archenemy think he had the upper hand.

"Hiya, Danny!" Danny's dad said suddenly. Looking up, the teen saw that his father was at the fridge, getting fudge, and his mom was at the coffee machine. The sight of his archenemy at his kitchen table had made him lose notice of his parents' presence in the room. "Look who came to pay us a visit!" Jack continued happily.

Danny pressed his lips together. "Yeah. I see."

Maddie, apparently noticing the sudden rise in tension in the room, quickly addressed her son. "So, did you have a nice nap, hun?"

"Well, it was nice, until I came down here. You want to tell me what's going on exactly?"

"Danny honey," Maddie smiled uneasily, a cup of steaming coffee in her hand, "why don't you have a seat?" She pulled a chair out for him at the table as Jack took a seat near Vlad. Danny limped over to the chair his mother'd pulled out for him, though he tried to minimize the appearance of his aching abdomen. He wasn't too enthusiastic about Vlad knowing about his currently weak state. Nonetheless, he couldn't help but wrap an arm around his stomach for support as he scooted his chair towards the table.

"Are you alright?" Maddie asked, noticing this.

"I'm fine," he responded swiftly, keeping his voice barely above a whisper. Danny sat silently in his spot, watching Vlad with an annoyed expression.

"Well Danny, m'boy, we need to talk to you. V-man here," Jack said, giving his old college buddy a slap on the back that caused him to choke on his tea, "has made us an offer we think you'll appreciate."

"Really?" Danny cocked an eyebrow, his gaze still locked on Vlad. "What offer?"

"Well, dear…" Maddie cut in, "we've noticed that you've been very, er…stressed out lately. And if your stress was so strong so as to cause you to get sick the way you did at school and still be in pain three days later…we've decided that maybe you should get some help…"

"Psychological help," Vlad corrected, a smirk on his face.

Danny growled at the swipe at his pride, his eyes momentarily flashing a bright green.

Jack however, continued what Maddie was saying, completely oblivious to the halfas' interaction. "Problem is, the only psychologist in Amity is retiring soon and he won't be able to take any new patients."

"And that, my dear boy, is where I come in," Vlad spoke, his smile growing. "It would be much too difficult, expensive and time-consuming for your dear mother to drive you to a neighbouring town's psychologist on a weekly basis. The nearest one is almost two hours away, and he only works on weekdays. Thus, it's been decided that the only solution to the problem is for you to live in the same city as your psychologist."

"But, to have you live alone is out of the question…" Jack continued, oblivious to the fact that Vlad hadn't mentioned his name, but only Danny's 'dear mother's', when speaking of the effort needed to accommodate the teen.

"…And since we've got no close relatives around…"

"Nonsense, Maddie," Vlad waved his hand lightly, "You know that Danny is like a nephew to me."

Maddie made a sniffing noise. "Yes, well…"

Vlad continued. "I've offered for you to come and live with me for the time being. Just for a few weeks while you get the treatment you need. I know a psychologist near my mansion in Wisconsin- he'll have you stress-free within just a few sessions."

The teen's eyes narrowed. He couldn't believe the frootloop had the nerve to do this. To come into his house, suggest he was the one in need of mental help, and somehow convince his parents that it would be okay to live with him? Well, he'd show him! Drawing himself up in his chair, Danny took a breath and firmly replied, "No."

The three adults looked at each other in mild surprise, though Vlad's expression was not without derision.

"Sorry?" Maddie asked.

"I don't want to go," Danny repeated bluntly.

A tense silence hung in the room as Jack and Maddie exchanged looks. Maddie bit her lip nervously before looking up into her son's eyes.

" Danny hun, I'm afraid it's not a choice."

"Okay, well I'm glad that's settl-," Danny began, but he suddenly paused halfway through his response as the full effect of his mother's words dawned upon him. "Wait, what?"

"We're worried about you, son…and we want you to get help…" Jack explained.

"Dad, I'm fine. Really," Danny assured his father, though he was slightly startled at the seriousness with which his parents were addressing him. "There's no reason for you to worry."

"Sweetie," Maddie said softly, "I'm afraid you have to go."

The room was dead silent as Danny tried to process this. Finally, he gave a nervous laugh. "This is a joke, right? You're joking...I don't actually have to go…"

As his parents responded with silent, solemn looks, a wave of panic rushed through Danny's body, immobilizing him in alarm. They weren't joking. They were dead serious.

This wasn't part of the plan…he thought fearfully. They're not supposed to be forcing me to go with Vlad; it's supposed to be my choice! Why aren't they letting me choose?

The teen stared anxiously at his parents before desperately stammering out, "B-but…N-no! Guys, I'm fine! R-really!"

"Well according to that tape, sweetie…"

"Mom, it's nothing serious!" Danny urged, his eyes pleading.. "It hasn't happened since then…I promise I'm fine!"

"That's the whole point, Danny," Maddie argued desperately. "We don't want it to happen again…There's nothing wrong with you physically- we've already established that. But there does seem to be something wrong with you, and a psychologist can hel-,"

"You can't force me…I don't need to go! Mom, please!"

"Danny!" Maddie insisted, trying to speak over her son's pleas. "Please just listen!" She took a breath before continuing. "We care about you dear…we want you to get better….the way you acted back there wasn't natural…you need medical attention, and I'm afraid this is the only way."

Danny shook his head in disbelief, whispering quietly, "No. No, you can't do this…"

"Sweetheart, please don't make this more difficult than it needs to be. It will only be a few weeks- it's really not a big deal…"

A sickening feeling spread through Danny's chest. His throat tightened as the thought he'd been trying to push back since the appearance of Vlad in his kitchen finally surfaced to the top of his mind.

It's happening…I'm being forced to go to Vlad's…just like in the alternate time-line with Dan!

Feeling nauseous, Danny bolted off his chair and dashed up out of the kitchen, running to his room at top speed. Slamming the door behind him to silence his parents' cries of 'Danny! Come back here!', he slid across the floor and grabbed his backpack from under his bed; luckily it was still packed from his weekend at the school. Strapping it over his shoulder, he opened his window, and after crying his signature catchphrase, he flew out into the skies of Amity.

"Sam, I'm not sure about this…"

Tucker sat at his goth friend's desk in her lavishly furnished bedroom. He was slurping a kiwi lemonade drink that Sam's butler had brought up as his goth friend paced about the room. The two friends had decided to meet up, (actually, Sam had dragged Tucker home with her after-school), in order to discuss Danny's…problem.

"Listen, aren't you worried about Danny?" Sam asked, stopping in her tracks and spinning to face her techno-geek friend.

"Of course I am!" Tucker said, "But you heard him. He said it was just a nightmare…he doesn't want us to think any differently of him. Shouldn't we respect that, Sam?"

"I do respect him!" Sam protested. "But you saw him…he was practically foaming at the mouth! We need to- I dunno- stage an intervention or something. We're his best friends, and the only ones in the world who can fully understand him. It's our responsibility to help him."

Tucker sighed, shaking his head. "Well, when you put it like that…"

"Okay, good." Sam jumped onto her bed and reached under her purple and black lace pillow, pulling out a small notebook.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm just gonna take note of all the stuff he's been doing lately so that we can have a better idea of how to help him," Sam explained. Tucker simply shrugged.

"Alright," she started, opening the book to an empty page. "He's been acting weird ever since the SATs. Remember? First there was the disappearing ghost incident he told us about…then the thing at school this weekend." She jotted this down in her book.

"Did you also notice that he kept screaming 'get away' while he was in the locker room?" Tucker added.

"Yeah, like something was attacking him…" The girl penned that in her book as well.

"And in the nurse's office- he said something about the Nasty Burger and not wanting to go there," Tucker continued as Sam added that to the list.

She chewed on her pen for a second, and was about to say something else when a loud thudding noise near the window startled her. She spun around in surprise and Tucker quickly rose from his chair to see what was going on. Their gazes fell to the ground in front of Sam's antique dresser, where they saw their friend, in ghost form, on all fours on the ground.

Breathless, Danny rose off the floor, leaning his weight on Sam's dresser with one hand.

"Danny!" Sam gasped, bolting off the bed and rushing to him, letting her notebook fall out of her hands and slide across the floor.

"Dude, are you okay? You look awful!"

Danny swallowed as he let his free hand rest on his thigh. Obviously, he'd been flying full-speed all the way to Sam's. He panted helplessly for a few more moments before coughing out, "Guys- you've got to help me!"

"What's the matter? Is it a ghost attack?" Sam asked hurriedly, grabbing for a thermos from under her bed.

He swallowed, dry air entering his mouth. "Worse…"

"Tucker," Sam ordered, "roll the chair over here!"

Tucker obeyed, pushing his chair towards Danny, but the hybrid motioned for him to stop with a wave of his hands.

"No time! I've got to get out of here…"

"Why? Danny what's going on?"

"It's my parents. Th-they've-," he stammered, stopping to take a breath. He steadied himself, and was about to continue when he caught a glimpse of Sam's open notebook on the floor. Seeing his name, Danny's eyebrows creased...he shot a tired, but questioning look at his friend. Sam, in turn, hastened to slide the notebook under her bed with a kick of her foot, but was unable to do so fast enough. Danny had already grabbed the book off the floor and his eyes were scanning over the list Sam had written out.

A few moments of awkward silence passed as Sam and Tucker exchanged worried glances. Finally, Danny looked up and spoke.

"You guys were talking about me?" he asked slowly. His quiet gaze drifted back from Sam to Tucker.

Only an embarrassed silence answered Danny's question.

Danny suddenly threw the book to the floor, startling his friends. "I thought I told you guys I didn't want to be treated differently!"

"Hey," Sam retorted, a slight bite in her voice; she was getting sick of Danny's constant outbursts at their attempts to help him. "We're just worried about you. Tone down the pride-o-meter for a few seconds, will you?"

"Yeah dude, we're not the bad guys here…and since you won't tell us what's the matter, we just wanted to-,"

"Well stop it okay? I don't want your help! I don't want anyone's help!" In a fit of anger, Danny turned invisible and shot out Sam's window, tearing through the sky.

Poor Danny- he feels so betrayed :( First his parents hand him over to his enemy (albeit unknowingly), and then when he goes to his friends for help, he finds out they've been talking about him behind his back… Atmosphere's certainly tensing up!

Anyways, this one was quite long- a good fourteen pages on Microsoft word…I considered splitting in two, but I really wanted to get Vlad in the story, so I left it as a long one. I can't promise my future chapters will be this length, especially since it makes the editing so much harder…Anyways, the story's picking up, and I hope you guys are enjoying it! I've worked really hard on this one, so please let me know your thoughts...Thanks!

The next one probably won't be for quite awhile- Till then!

Crystal