As the composition in her speakers swelled and faded repeatedly the raven haired beauty continued to type, the words filling the monitor as her fingers flew over the keys. Around her the sun faded and grew bright again as clouds moved in the skies outside her balcony window. The petite woman put all her feeling into the keyboard, her story coming to life before her eyes as she once again relived her upbringing, her adolescent years and up until the point she was now in life. It was hard and so easy to go back to a time when nothing had been like she had wanted it to be while other aspects of her life had seemed perfect.

Now it was like looking through someone else's eyes, their view different from what she had seen at that day and time. Her life as an infant, an heiress to a large fortune, had been easy as long as she progressed faster than other children. She had to be a genius and fortunate for her she was an apt learner. When it was time for school she was tutored, her lessons rushed from day to day, hour to hour, not a moment of rest allowed for her. At that point she had been three, her skills far beyond a six year olds skill.

"Mommy?" a small voice called, the sound drawing Sam out of her work, her amethyst eyes falling to the clock on the computer screen. When she realized that it was past four she quickly saved before heading for a room next to hers. Entering the room, the space bright with light green walls that held animals painted on with such expertise that most would think they were real. In a small crib a child no older than a year stood, her own amethyst eyes wide with happiness as soon as they landed on their mother, her own eyes shining with adoration.

Though this child had been a mistake, an accident, Sam had loved her, the small girl her anchor to life. Said girl lifted her hands to be picked up, her mother moving to take the child in her arms. Her raven hair was like her own and Sam was thankful that her daughter had inherited her looks and not the father, his existence one that the Goth wanted to forget every second, but she knew she would never get that peace. "Hello, Jade."

"'Lo mommy," the girl whispered. The small girl had picked up on words early in life as Sam had talked to her when she had been pregnant and every day after. She told her everything, the raven haired child her best friend as well as her beloved daughter. The Goth spoke to no one, knew no one around her as she kept to herself. Her parents never visited, not that Sam had told them where she lived, but even then they never would. She had disappointed them, but the Goth didn't care about them anyway. Sure, it had hurt when they had found out about her pregnancy and demanded that she abort.

"Hello, my sweetness, what's going on today?" The child didn't answer. She knew enough to talk to her mother, but not enough to always understand. The Goth smiled as she changed her child's diaper and clothing, getting her ready for the day. Sam didn't have to work, the inheritance from her grandmother vast in amount, but she did work none the less as she knew that money never lasted forever. She also wanted her daughter to know that even though they were wealthy they were just like others; normal and yet not. Sam had never been normal. Sure, she was human, but she had always been different and with that she had friends that were different. There was one that she still kept in touch with, but it had been a several months since talking to him or his wife.

Tucker Foley. He had stuck with her after finding out that she had gotten pregnant at the age of seventeen, one night of fooling around leading to one very big decision. The father of Jade didn't know about her, not by Sam's mouth anyway. She had sent a letter, but had yet to hear back from him. That had been when she first found out. Over a year ago. Valerie had been just as supportive, but Sam had gotten tired of seeing the pity in their eyes. Moving away after six months of enduring their stares she had only made phone contact with them on an unlisted cell phone.

No matter how many times they had begged her to come back or tell them where she was Sam had remained firm. Smiling down at her happy baby she failed to notice the shadows that danced over the window.

"Sam?" The Goth shot around, her eyes wide at the familiar voice; the one that she had thought she would never have to hear again. "So it's true." She held Jade close to her, the small child squirming to see who was at the open window. "Why didn't you tell me in person?" Amethyst eyes narrowing the Goth squared her shoulders.

"Mommy?" the child questioned as she tried in vain to crane her head around as the shadow took a step into the nursery.

"Because I didn't think you and I needed to be anywhere near each other." The man stepped forward, the wounded look in his eyes making her heart ache. She had loved him, there was no denying that, but it hadn't been enough, not for him. "You do remember what you said to me that night." Her eyes narrowed and although her voice wasn't full of hate it was as cold as ice.

"I didn't know what to think at that moment. It was something I had never planned to happen." She huffed, her lips twisting disdainfully as her child finally gave up trying to see the man behind her, her focus on her mother who looked rather upset.

"Yeah, like I just walked up to you and said fuck me," she spat. "If you didn't know, Danny, I loved you, but not anymore. I made that mistake of thinking there was something more and now I know that it could never be that way." The halfa before her shook his head as his mouth opened to make a rebuttal. "No," she said firmly as she stepped back. "That love is dead, no, not dead," she said as she looked down at her daughter and Danny could see love enter her gaze, the gaze that just moments ago had scorched him with the ugly emotions that danced in it. "That love goes to my daughter, the only person that will share my life."

"Sam," he said. "She's my daughter too." The Goth shook her head at that, a denial that he knew was false since she had slept with him alone, no one else had graced her sheets until he had that night and although it had shocked him he had also been strangely pleased. "You can't deny that."

"I can because I didn't put a name on her birth certificate, her last name being Manson from her birth." Danny's eyes narrowed now as he glared at her. His green orbs flashed and that was a sign for Sam that the halfa before her was angry, but she didn't care since she was just as hurt from the aftermath of their one night encounter. "When you told me that it was a mistake and then just disappeared, what did you expect? Did you think I was going to hunt you down?" Shaking her head she continued, "I was tired of hunting you, Danny. I went through too much to deal with any more." She had waited for him to call, not that she was going to tell him that, but she had sat by her phone for a week after that and then when it hit her that he wasn't going to call and change those words she had forced herself to move on.

It had been hell from that moment when her nightmares were filled with his words echoing in her mind, the darkness that had once been full of dreams. She had such wild dreams full of happiness and a family to call her own, but those words had crushed that happiness and then she had found out her one night of passion had given her a small gift. Whispering something to her child she placed her daughter back in her crib, the small girl's eyes falling on the man across from her mother as the pair of adults stood off.

"Sa-" She held up her hand.

"You can't call me that anymore. You can call me Samantha, but not Sam. That person no longer exists for you. She disappeared and remerged as Samantha Manson, single mother." She stood there, her amethyst gaze bearing into him. "You can go now." Danny shook his head venomously. There was no way he was leaving, not now, not when he had been searching for her for forever.

"No, I will not leave you."

"Yes you will because as far as you and I are concerned…. That is over. We're not friends, not anything. We're just strangers now." The doorbell rang and Sam's eyes moved toward the door in the distance. "You need to go now." Hustling to grab the door she left Jade with her father, the small girl still eyeing him with interest. "Hi, so nice to see you." Danny moved toward the nursery door to see a male with black hair standing with Sam, his black eyes falling on Danny in an instant.

"Is that who I think that is?" the man muttered, his dark gaze taking in the halfa before him. Sam frowned at the white haired male still in her house. "Danny Phantom, right?" That shocked the halfa, but when he saw the look that entered Sam's eyes he knew she had never thought she would ever see him again. This man was something to her. "Samantha has told me so much about you and yet she said you were gone, never to be seen again." The man walked over to stand before Danny, his hand held out to take the other male's. "My name Christian VanDorian." Danny took the hand offered as he shot a look at Sam.

"Danny Phantom, otherwise known as the father of Sam's child." That was the bomb. The air stilled, all appearing different with each person. Sam looked horrified and pissed all in one, Danny was glaring at Christian, his green eyes narrowed and Christian, he looked perplexed.

"Ah, so you're the father. I wasn't aware of that." He didn't look to Sam and for some reason the halfa couldn't read the dark eyes that looked to him. "Because I will be her stepfather in a matter of weeks." Another bomb and this time the reaction was different as the Goth behind them let out a frustrated sigh.

"Danny is not Jade's dad. Her father left us and therefore no longer exists." She stepped up next to Christian. "Danny is just someone I knew in school. I told you about how he and Tucker fought ghosts to protect my hometown." She looked to Danny now, pointedly. "Doesn't the town require you?" The halfa shook his head.

"My parents have that covered for as long as I need." He felt Christian release his hand, or try to as Danny had made sure to practically crush the human male's hand. "I came to see Sam since she failed to tell me about our child." Again Sam reiterated that he was in no way the child's father. "I will be filing with courts to have a paternity test and you should know that won't take long so be prepared to find me back here." Taking off through the ceiling he left the pair standing in shock.

"Are you okay?" Christian inquired of the Goth standing next to him, her eyes so blank and yet glittery that he thought she was going to cry. She didn't say anything her eyes finally spilling over. She didn't have the emotional strength to go through this. She turned to him now, the man that had helped her through so much, a man she had agreed to marry even if she didn't love him.

"No. No, I'm not okay." It was a confession; one that she knew would tell him all he needed to know. She hadn't ever told him who the father was because it was in the past and she had been so sure Danny would never come back, that he would never want to have anything to do with his mistake. "I can't do this again, not now… not ever." The dark haired male pulled her close as Jade called out for her mother. Releasing her he watched her go to her child. He wouldn't allow her to be hurt, but what could one to against a ghost?