Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. Whether or not that goal can be reached, we'll see... This is The 365 Project, 5 February.

This story actually owes part of its genesis to DanPhan1324's "Future Accident" which has a good 'Sam Finds Out' scene that inspired this story.

Disclaimer: "Danny Phantom" and all associated characters and situations are created by Butch Hartman and used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

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"That Would Be Telling"
By; J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

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"Danny, we need to talk."

If 'I love you' and 'Let me help' are considered by some to be the most powerful collections of words in the English language and 'I am from the government and I'm here to help' was considered to be the most frightening, then 'We need to talk' most likely fell somewhere between the latter and 'Hey y'all, watch this' for preceeding bad things about to happen. That was especially true when a female said them to a male as it usually involved their relationship in whatever form it took in some way. Coming from Sam Manson, however, Danny Fenton would probably consider it to surpass the statement about being from the government and there to help and most likely rank just below the most dangerous thing the goth girl had ever said to him; 'Take a look inside, you could probably fix it'. Yeah, she had a habit of getting Danny in trouble whether she meant to or not - not that meaning to or not meant anything once he was in the trouble - and the third member of their trio, one Tucker Foley by name, wasn't much better in that regard.

As he turned to face Sam, Danny could almost hear something dark and foreboding like the instrumental score of his life playing.

"Tucker, turn that off," Sam groaned as their tech-geek friend had his PDA playing music that everyone could hear.

"Sorry," Tucker rolled his eyes as he paused the 'Imperial March' from Star Wars, "Big, life-changing moment, I'm sure."

Sam turned narrowed eyes on him, "Tucker..."

"What?" Tucker shrugged, "I'm just trying to lighten the mood."

"The mood does not need lightening," Sam informed him through clenched teeth, "The mood is fine."

'Wait five minutes, that'll change,' Tucker thought to himself as he shook his head and took a couple steps away from the other two - out of the blast radius as well, he hoped, since he had a feeling of what Sam wanted to talk to Danny about and he knew something about Danny's position on the subject that she didn't. He just hoped the new heavy-duty metal casing with locking cover and shock-resistant rubber trim would be enough to protect his PDA when she learnt of it.

Strangely enough, Tucker wasn't as concerned about his own well-being. Funny that.

"Danny," Sam bit her lower lip nervously before turning to face the boy, "We've been friends a long time, right?"

"Uh, yeah, sure," Danny rubbed the back of his head, "Good friends."

Sam frowned at that discription, accurate though it was, she was hoping more towards him calling her one of his best friends or closest friends so that it would be easier to lead the conversation where she wanted it to go.

"Well, this might come as kind of a shock, but I've given it a lot of thought lately..." Sam went on, "It's something that I can't ignore any longer..."

Off to the side, Tucker shook his head though neither of the two noticed. Someone else, however, did and scowled at Sam.

"We've been friends a long time," Sam repeated, then added, "And the thing is, sometimes, when people are friends that long, friendship opens the door to other... deeper feelings."

"Uh-huh," Danny made the non-committal noise distractedly, his thoughts focused on the feeling he had, like something important was about to happen.

"I've been trying to be friends and I've been getting jealous," Sam continued, "Jealous of Paulina if you can believe it. It's just not... right... It surprised me when I figured out what reason I could possibly have to be jealous of Paulina, and, well..."

A laughter broke into Sam's rambling statement, followed by a voice adding, "What she's trying to say, dipstick, is 'Goose, you big stud, take me to bed or lose me forever'."

Sam growled, "I am not."

A figure faded into view, perched on the limb of a nearby tree with her guitar strapped to her back, "So-rry, it was either that or 'For what it's worth, I think you're a great captain', and I didn't think you'd get the joke with that one."

Ember McLain, rock star ghost extraordinare, dropped out of the tree and walked over to them, "So, if that's not what you're trying to say, oh-gothic-one, what are you trying to say?"

"It's none of your business!"

Ember jerked a thumb at Tucker, "It's probably none of his business, either, but he still gets to listen in."

"That's because he's our friend and you're just an evil ghost," Sam snapped at her.

"Wow, listen to little miss tolerance spout bigotry," Ember rolled her eyes, "I'm a ghost and I tried to take over the world a couple times, so I must be evil. News-flash, Goth, I was bored... Hey, geek, you don't mind me listening in, d'ya?"

Tucker quickly engrossed himself in his PDA only to mutter, "Don't bring me into this..."

"What about you, dipstick?"

"Uh, well..." Danny's hand was back rubbing the back of his head.

"One against and two don't cares," Ember smirked, "Looks like I'm in the audience whether you like it or not, girl."

Sam growled and clenched her fists, muttering loud enough for the other three to hear, "Somebody needs to put her in her place!"

Danny mentally smirked, 'Why not?'

"You're absolutely right," he nodded at Sam before turning to face Ember, "Time to put you in your place, Ember..."

Sam didn't see the look that passed between them just before Danny threw a punch that went ridiculously wide and right past Ember before he opened his hand and pulled his arm back, catching the rock star ghost when he did and pulling her to him so that they were so close that one couldn't slip a sheet of paper between them.

"I think right about here's a good place," Danny commented, looking Ember in the eyes, "What about you?"

"Danny!" Sam snapped, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Hm, well in about two seconds I'm gonna be kissing my girlfriend," Danny tilted his head and leaned down to plant a kiss on Ember's waiting lips before slowly pulling away, "I was wrong; it was only one second."

"What!" Sam shouted loud enough to cause birds nearby to take flight in fear.

Danny turned so that with his arm still around her waist, both he and Ember were facing Sam, "Me..."

He pointed his free hand at himself, then towards Ember, "My girlfriend..."

Now he leaned in and gave the rocker a quick kiss on the cheek, "Kissing... uh, okay, got it now?"

"Sorry, girl, but you missed out," Ember smirked as she shook her head at Sam, "Well, tough luck - the boy's mine now. We are more than just 'good friends'."

Danny looked at his girlfriend sideways, "So does that mean you're the one who wants to tell me 'take me to bed or lose me forever'?"

He grinned as ectoplasmic energy flowed to Ember's cheeks, causing milky-white skin to flush a soft green. They both know that while it might be a few years before he could take her to bed, there was little to no chance of him losing her forever in the meantime.

"Danny!" Sam shouted, then snarled at Ember, "Whatever spell you've got him under, let him go!"

"Sorry, goth," Ember smirked, "Can't do it."

"Fine, then I'll make you," Sam snarled.

"I said can't, not won't," Ember rolled her eyes, "Clean the peanut butter out of your ears, missy, 'can't' because there's no spells involved... unless you call this a spell.."

Smirking, Ember turned to Danny and put her hands on his cheeks, kissing him with all the force she could muster behind it before stepping back.

"Mm," Danny muttered in a dreamy voice, "New flavor of lip-gloss, Em? I approve..."

"Dipstick," Ember shook her head affectionately, "You just kissed me yourself a minute ago, didn't you taste it then?"

"I was too busy thinking of you."

"Thinking of me?" Ember scoffed, "You were thinking of you - I know where your hand went during that kiss, Baby-pop."

Sam growled at that statement and looked at the second boy present, "Quick, Tucker, the thermos!"

Tucker distractedly reached back into his backpack and pulled out a thermos, tossing it through the air towards Sam. As it's trajectory changed to a downward angle, however, the lid came off and unleashed the contents of the thermos - which turned out to most-definitely not be a Fenton Thermos as it ended up splashing Sam with pink lemonade.

"Oops, wrong thermos," Tucker commented unabashed, looked away from the others and shrugged, "Hey, my best friend and my favorite rock star? Forget being invited to the wedding, I'm hoping to get free concert tickets out of the deal."

Sam growled again and this time added in a glare that she swept across all three of them for good measure, "You're all in this together, aren't you? Fine, I know when I'm not wanted."

'That would be a first,' Tucker thought to himself as Sam turned away and began to stomp off.

"Sam," the coldness in Danny's voice stopped her in her tracks, if she had turned around and known of him, she might have sworn she saw the spectre of Dan hovering behind Danny, "Don't try anything stupid. Don't try to hurt someone I care about... You won't like what I become if you hurt someone I care about..."