Author's Note: I just wanted to thank you all for your wonderful reviews and for favouriting/following this story! I've had some medical/personal problems lately, but I finally managed to get something out with which I'm mostly happy with. Thanks again for reading!

Christmas went by without any ghostly incident, leaving Danny to somewhat enjoy the holiday. When his sister went back to university he couldn't help but wish she would stay. Having Jazz back in their house had established almost a sense of normality back in his life. It was silly wanting her to stay, though, how old was he, five? Danny had no idea if his parents knew how much he wanted his sister to not go and if they noticed the abnormally long hug between the two siblings before Jazz left, they didn't comment on it.

The holiday season passed and Danny's busy life continued. The ghosts went right back to making his life more difficult than it already was. Tucker and Sam were as helpful as ever, accompanying him to fight ghosts at almost all times of the day, and Danny couldn't be more grateful to have such great friends.

Danny also didn't need to drink more ectoplasm for another three months. The time span had been shorter than he had expected, but that was alright with him. At least he had gained some time. The vials were both empty now and so he had had no choice but to go to Vlad's place again and ask him for more. Surprisingly, he had received two more without any issues. Vlad really did seem to want to help him.

But things got worse again.

Where the fuck is it?

Danny dropped the box onto the floor, glaring at it. It was empty. Completely empty. He could've sworn he had one more vial. So where was it?

Next he searched the bag he had also hidden underneath his bed containing the empty vials. Glass clinking together could be heard as he rummaged through the bag. As a side note he noticed that he had accumulated about a dozen of empty containers now. How long had it been since he had started taking them? Ten months? No, that didn't add up. It didn't matter anyway. All that mattered was that Danny couldn't find another full vial.

He put the box and bag back under his bed and tried to remember when he had last drunk ectoplasm. First it had taken three months until he needed more, but he felt like that timespan had shortened. He couldn't remember when he had emptied the last vial. It should be at least a month ago, but...he got the feeling that wasn't the case.

Then he remembered that school started in half an hour, so going to Vlad's to get some more ectoplasm was out of the question. Just fantastic. He grabbed a handkerchief and blew his nose, throwing the used tissue into his rubbish bin. His nose had been stuffy all night long so maybe he was getting a cold.

Danny took his rucksack and went downstairs, quickly saying goodbye to his parents before he left the house. On his way to Casper High he kept thinking about going to Vlad's mansion. He desperately needed more ectoplasm. He was still a bit surprised that the man was giving him the stuff for free. Maybe even more surprising was that they hadn't fought each other in what seemed like forever. They had been at peace for nearly a year now. Time sure flew by.

"You okay?" Tucker asked him as they waited in line to get their lunch.

"Why are you asking?" Danny replied and frowned. Did he not look fine?

Tucker took a good look at him before responding. "You seem like you're getting sick. Your eyes are kinda red."

"I'll be fine. It's probably just a little cold," he said and got his food. He waited for his friends before they sat down at their table. Hopefully the cold would pass soon, being sick was the worst.

"My mum is driving me crazy." Sam said suddenly and stabbed her salad with her fork forcefully, making Tucker look up at her.

"Why? Is she buying you pink clothes again?" Tucker chuckled and got an eye roll from his friend in return. "No, thank God, but she's trying to get me to take sewing classes with her."

"I thought you liked sewing?" Danny entered the conversation, not looking up from his untouched lunch plate.

Sam sighed, "yeah, but I don't want to take classes with her. I hope I can find a way to get her to drop the idea."

"And how about you actually take the classes with her?" Danny suggested and looked at her.

"What? Why?"

"Because it sounds like your mother actually wants to spend time with you. She cares, but you push her away, so how about you start appreciating her efforts for once? Even if she doesn't like how you dress, she lets you dress like that. She doesn't force you to wear something else. So to have a better relationship with her you could try to spend more time with her. Instead of constantly complaining, how about you try to fix your relationship," Danny told her angrily, knowing his words seemed harsh, but once he had started talking he hadn't been able to stop himself.

Sam averted her gaze and stared at her tray.

"Dropping some truth bombs, aren't you?" she murmured, obviously upset and Danny immediately felt like a complete jerk.

Tucker was looking at him, the disapproval showing on his face. He kicked Danny's leg under the table. I totally deserved that, he thought.

"Sam… I'm sorry. I didn't really mean that, I was just-"

"No it's fine. If you didn't mean that you wouldn't have said or thought it," she replied quietly, still not looking at him. "You're probably right anyway."

Danny sighed, "no, I'm not. If you don't want to do it that's fine. I don't know why I said it. I...I don't know." He was acting like such a jerk. He hadn't meant to snap at her like that.

"Anyway, how about you do whatever you're most comfortable with," Tucker said to Sam. "You're your own person. If you don't want to take sewing classes with your mum that's totally fine."

"Okay. Yeah, I'll think about it some more," she nodded.

Why had he reacted like that? He knew Sam didn't have the best relationship with her mum. For no reason at all he had been annoyed by her problem. For a second he had honestly thought she was being whiny.

He looked back at his untouched food, deciding that after that he definitely wasn't hungry. The bell rang, announcing the end of their lunch period.

Danny stood up, trying to ignore the guilt he was feeling for now. He knew that even if he tried to apologise more, Sam would just say he had nothing to be sorry about.

Maybe the worst part of his sudden outburst was that if he was being honest he didn't think he was totally wrong. Sam had a mother who obviously loved her and who tried to do more things with her. That was great, wasn't it? Danny wished he could do more stuff with his own mother. A year or more ago that wouldn't have been the case. He used to think it was stupid to do more things with her, but after Jazz moved out he had begun to feel more lonely at home. His parents were usually working and if they were free to do whatever they wanted, Danny had to take care of ghosts. It wasn't fair.

Danny looked out of the window, wishing school would end already. He needed to get some more ectoplasm from Vlad. If he didn't get more then he'd get these hunger pangs again.

He watched as people left the building, already finished with their school day. Sam and Tucker were in another class right now, which sucked. There weren't a lot of people he was friends with. Valerie was another friend of his, but she also wasn't here. Now that he was thinking about it, he really didn't have many friends. Well, that's what you got for being weird and having the social skills of a shoe.

"Mr. Fenton, can you please explain why our polynomial function of the third degree cannot look like the one I just drew on the blackboard?" Lancer's voice suddenly cut through his thoughts.

"I really don't give a shit," Danny said, then froze when he realised he had just said that out loud. He felt the eyes of the other students on him as well as his teacher's glare.

"Is that so? Then you also won't 'give a shit' when I send you to the principal's office," was the reply.

Danny heard the door shut firmly behind him. Why had he said that out loud? Jesus, what was wrong with him today? He started his walk of shame, hands stuffed into his jean's pockets. He hoped Lancer wouldn't stay mad at him for too long. Math wasn't exactly his best subject.

When he got to the principal's office – Danny still thought sending him to her had been a bit overkill – she made him recite the incident, told him how immature he had been, that he should pay more attention in class and told him if he continued being a distraction in classroom and carried on with making such comments she would call his parents. Danny promised her this would not happen again and also told her he would apologise to Mr. Lancer. Not only because she expected him to do it, but because he actually liked him and respected him.

Class was over by the time he got out of the principal's office. All he wanted was to quickly leave and forget all about this. First he had been a total dick to Sam and then he had showed no respect to the only teacher who deserved it. Oh yeah, and he was sick. This was not a good day.