Disclaimer: Danny Phantom belongs to Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon, not me.
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"I don't wanna goooooo!"
The high-pitched wail carried down the hallway. Kate winced slightly. It was her first day as a preschool teacher's assistant, and she wasn't quite prepared for separation anxiety. The other four or five little ones had entered the class without a fuss, but apparently this one wasn't going to do so well.
"Mommy, Mommy, Danny no go!" the toddler wailed. A slightly frazzled woman with a little boy clinging to her neck came into the classroom. "Mommy, mommy, please!"
The woman sighed heavily and patted the little boy's back. "Mrs. Prewitt's class?" she asked.
"Yes. I'm Kate Newton, the teaching assistant," Kate said.
"I'm Maddie Fenton. This is my son, Danny," she said. "Danny, honey, you have to go to class now."
The little boy sniffled, his blue eyes teary. "Please, Danny stay?" he pleaded.
"No, sweetie," Maddie said. "You need to go with Miss Kate. Come on." She handed her small son to Kate. Danny sniffled hard again, his little mouth trembling as he looked at his mother.
Kate adjusted Danny with one hand and reached for his paperwork with the other. "So…Daniel John Fenton?" she read from the page. She checked the information while she patted his back. "All right, just sign here."
Maddie signed Danny in. "Oh, you should know," she said. "Danny was born two months premature and his lungs were never fully developed. If he has trouble breathing, there's an inhaler in his backpack. And if you have any difficulties, he has an older sister in Mr. Howard's first grade. Danny adores Jazz; he'll do anything she says." Maddie brushed back Danny's hair and kissed his forehead. "Bye-bye, baby."
As soon as Maddie left, the little boy burst into tears. "I want Mommy!" Danny wailed. "I want my mommy!"
"Sweetie, sweetie, it's okay," Kate cooed. "Let's go find something to play with, okay? Let's go play." The little boy buried his face in her shoulder, sobbing. She sat down on the floor and settled him on her lap. Danny was like a soft warm plushie in her arms, limp and cuddly. "Would you like to play with the blocks? Do you like the blocks?" Mildly interested, Danny sniffed and poked at a blue wooden block. Kate sneaked a red block on top of the blue block. Danny stacked the yellow one on top. The tears stopped as the raven-haired toddler stacked the blocks.
Suddenly they toppled over with a humongous crash. Startled, Danny looked up at Kate, on the brink of tears. She began to laugh, hoping it would give him the signal that it was okay. It worked. Instead of crying, Danny burst out into a happy baby giggle, clapping his tiny hands. He continued to stack blocks and knock them over, amusing himself immensely. Kate patted his little tummy. He was skinnier than a child of his age ought to be, but she supposed it must be from his premature birth.
Another little boy toddled over to stare at them. "Hey!" he said loudly. "Can I play?"
Danny's tiny fingers abruptly gripped Kate's sleeve. "Yes, you can," she said. "Danny, honey, this is Tucker. Tuck, this is Danny." She pinched Danny's little cheek lightly. "How about you and Tuck play with the blocks, okay?" Kate picked him up and set him on his feet.
The two little boys stared at each other for a moment. Then, all of a sudden, the two preschoolers plopped down, grabbed the blocks, and started throwing them at each other, laughing loudly.
After that, Danny and Tuck were best friends. Danny was still painfully shy, but Tucker was loud enough for the both of them. At some points Danny would simply poke Tuck, and Tuck would announce whatever it was that Danny wanted. But the trio was still not complete.
Two weeks into the school year, Mrs. Prewitt pulled Kate aside. "We have a new transfer student coming in," she said.
"A transfer?" Kate repeated.
"She was expelled from Ivy Morgan Select," the older teacher said as she pulled out the file. "Apparently she's a bit of a hellion."
"Well, Ivy Morgan can be strict," Kate said. "It's where the rich people send their kids, isn't it? Who's the little girl?"
"The Manson's daughter," Mrs. Prewitt said. "She'll be arriving tomorrow, and I'd like you to be the one to introduce her to the class, all right?"
The next day Kate met the Mansons in the school office. "I'm Kate Newton, the teaching assistant," she introduced herself.
"Jospeh Manson," the blond man said, shaking her hand. "This is my wife, Frances, and our daughter, Samantha."
"No, no, Daddy," the tiny girl corrected. "I Sam now, Daddy."
Frances Manson rolled her eyes. Her small daughter was wearing a lacy lavender dress, but her right knee was skinned and her hair ribbon was already untied. Kate smiled. "What beautiful hair you have, Sam," she said.
"She takes after her grandmother," Frances explained. Long thick hair the color of midnight hung down to the little girl's waist, looking oddly heavy against her small frame and pale skin. At the compliment, Samantha looked up at Kate, beamed, and babbled in a foreign language. Kate blinked.
"Yiddish," Joseph said wearily. "Samantha-"
"Sam, Daddy."
"-spends a great deal of time with my mother, who taught her Yiddish," he continued. "We're trying to remind her to speak English around other people."
Kate grinned. "Well, I'm sure we can help with that," she said. She held out her hand. "Come on, Sam. Let's go meet the other children." The little girl hopped off the chair and followed Kate without even looking back at her parents.
The preschoolers were having free-play, but there were two certain toddlers that Kate wanted Sam to meet. "Hi, Danny," Kate said, ruffling his dark hair. "Hi, Tuck."
"Hi, Miss Kate!" Tucker shouted.
"I have a new friend for you to meet," Kate said. "This is Sam. Sam, this is Tuck."
"HI!" Tucker said.
"Shalom," Sam answered politely.
"And this is-" Kate looked around. "Where did Danny go?"
"He's hiding under the table," Tucker tattled, pointing.
Before Kate could coax him out, Sam had dropped to her knees and crawled under the table. "Shalom!" she said cheerfully. "I'm Sam!"
The little boy blinked at her.
"I got a secret," she announced. "I got espelled!"
Danny blinked. "Espelled?" he repeated.
"I got ahf tsores and they called my mommy and daddy and then they said I was espelled!" Sam giggled.
He tilted his head. "What ahf tsores?" Danny asked.
"Biiiig trouble!" Sam said. She started to lean back, then realized that her head was bumping the top of the table. "Wanna come play?"
"Okay," Danny said shyly. He followed Sam out from under the table.
After that day, the three of them were inseparable.
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Author's Notes:
Why did I write this?
I love children (I want five!)
I wanted to know how the trio met.
Danny is precious!
Also…how cool is it that Sam's Jewish? I think it's awesome. Someday I want to speak Yiddish.