Reunions, Reminiscing, and a lil' Rendezvous

by Frankie'N

A/N- Hello! If you've already come across this fic... I'm posting this yet again because I wanted to make a few changes, though they may not be very noticeable. I also felt like breaking down this story (originally a long oneshot) into a couple of chapters. If you haven't seen this yet... enjoy!

Also, here are some important notes from before:

While this story can stand on its own, it is really a sort of in-between scene from Lovebird Watching. If you haven't read it yet (what're you waiting for?), it basically tells the story of Danny and Sam's relationship through the years (although not in chronological order), from the eyes of Amity Park's various inhabitants (No PP). While this oneshot is taken somewhat from Danny's perspective, it takes place somewhere at the start of Paulina's story in LW, during (or right before?) their 20th High School Reunion. (Short recap: Paulina and a bunch of other alumni catch our happy couple in the middle (or right after, you decide) a little tryst inside the janitor's closet.

There is also a brief flashback here that references an incident Dash mentions in his story.

I may be posting other one shots that belong in my Lovebird Watching timeline, but don't necessarily fit into the way I want LW to play out.

I know I should update LW and I'll get to it eventually! I'm trying to finish several character stories so that I can update in quicker succession. And then I still do have work and grad school to take care of. But if you think about it, this is kind of a part of that series, in a way. Hope you like it!

This story is dedicated to ShadowDragon357, who requested it! I can't thank you enough for the support, I wouldn't have even experimented with this kind of writing otherwise :)

Blanket Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom, else we'd all have that 10 years later version by now!

XXX

"Sam!" Danny hollered from the foot of their staircase. "You ready?"

Danny Fenton knew his wife like the back of his hand, having had the pleasure of being her friend for practically his entire life. But even to him, who understood her better than anyone else ever could, she was still a notoriously unpredictable person. For instance, there were times when she would take fifteen minutes, tops, to get ready— then there were times when she would take just about forever. This was one of those times.

"Yeah, I'm out on the porch!" she yelled back.

Startled, Danny whipped his head around, turning away from the stairs and toward the direction of her voice. Okay, so maybe this wasn't one of those times. How the hell did she manage to climb down the stairs, cross the entire living room— where he had been waiting— and slip out the front door without making a sound? He shook his head. Only Sam would be able to get past him like that.

Once outside, Danny found Sam standing right next to their front door with her back to him, all bundled up in her favorite winter coat. She had her cellphone in one hand, pressed firmly to her ear. "…well, if you're sure everything's fine…" she was saying. Too absorbed with the conversation, she didn't so much as bat an eyelash when he sidled up to her. He slid his arms around her waist, rested his chin on top of her head, and soaked up her familiar warmth.

"Okay, bye… call us if there's any trouble. And thanks again!" Sam ended the call and stuffed her phone into one of her coat pockets. Finally, she tilted her head to acknowledge him, silky midnight-dark hair tickling his nose as she moved. "That was your mom."

He nodded, having suspected as much. "And? What's the damage?"

"Minimal." she assured him, and even if he couldn't see her face, he could tell she was smiling. He couldn't help but smile a little bit himself. "Kids are fine but the backyard took a serious beating again." She sighed. "Maybe we should just go over to your parents' and ditch this whole reunion thing."

Danny laughed lightly. "Relax. They'll be fine. Hell, they're probably having the time of their lives over there. This is the most ghost catching they've done in a while."

"Those ghosts are our children!"

But he only laughed louder. "Come on, Sam. You can't put this off forever."

Sam grunted in response. "I don't know why you want to see everyone again so badly after we've finally, successfully gotten rid of them. They were assholes to us in high school." She turned her face up to him so he could bear witness to her smug, knowing expression. "You just wanna laugh it up because you know you're doing a lot better than them."

Danny grinned as he released her from the cocoon of his arms. The woman knew him well. Just as well as he knew her, if not better. And it was because of this that he also knew explaining himself would be unnecessary— yes, a part of him was looking forward to that, but at the end of the day he was nothing but a huge sappy sucker of a man who had a soft spot for the familiar faces of Amity Park. In his own strange way, he missed everyone and wanted to see if they were all doing okay. Even if they were assholes to them in high school. He didn't have to tell her that, though. And she didn't have to tell him that she was proud. She liked to act all grouchy, but she was the one who taught him that sweating the small stuff isn't worth it; that everyone deserves to be treated fairly in spite of their… less admirable qualities. Although, he often had to remind her of the same thing.

But for now he decided to play along with her harmless teasing. "It's just too good of an opportunity to pass up," he insisted as he proceeded to usher her down their front porch steps. "I've got everything they thought I'd never have. I've got the glory, I've got the fame… a cool job, a happy family, a hot wife…" He wiggled his eyebrows at her and she snorted. "Bragging rights all around."

Her responding sigh was dramatic, but she begrudgingly followed him to their garage, treading carefully so as not to slip on the icy pavement. "Tucker's not even coming. It feels wrong going without him. It should be the three of us," she huffed.

They climbed into their car— car being a loose term to bestow upon their monstrous, bulletproof, ecto-bazooka-packing Fenton RV— and as Danny pulled out of the driveway, he tried not to laugh again at the petulant look on her face. Sam, the mother of his children, was sulking much like a child, herself. Well… the bitter, grumpy, Sam-version of sulking, anyway.

"Tucker's got a reason not to be there." he pointed out. Their perpetual third wheel and best friend was currently out of town on yet another important business trip. It was a good thing the guy kept about three different phones on his person at all times, else they'd hardly ever get to talk to him.

Sam opened her mouth to protest, but he beat her to it. "No, all you've got are excuses."

"I've got a reason!" she snapped. "How about Paulina-fucking-Sanchez, for starters?"

"Excuses, excuses!" he sang, earning him a good old, good-natured punch to the shoulder.

XXX

Danny and Sam trudged through the snow that coated the path from their parked car to the school. Casper's familiar grounds were buried underneath layer upon layer of ice. It was less than ideal weather for a party, but their former classmates had insisted on scheduling their reunion nearer to Christmas, given that more of them would be visiting their hometown. On the plus side, Danny's Hanukkah-and-Christmas-loving-wife adored the snow; it always reminded her of the holiday season. She liked to describe scenery such as this as a Winter Wonderland, even back in his pre-Christmas-truce-mister-Scrooge days, when he would've called it nothing more than a frozen wasteland.

True enough, Sam seemed to brighten up a bit upon taking in her wintery surroundings, and her mood lifted even more after Danny pointed out the old monkey bars and swing set they used to play on when they were kids. "That old thing's still there?" she scoffed. "Are they trying to kill off this generation of kids before the ghosts can get to them?" But she was grinning broadly as she said it.

"Complain all you want, baby. You don't fool me! You'd be pissed if they got rid of those rusty old monkey bars."

"True. Too many fond memories. Mostly of me whooping your sorry ass."

Danny pretend-winced. "Pretty sure I still have a permanent crack in my forearm from when you pushed me off those things."

"Sure it's not a crack in your skull?" She rapped her knuckles on his head for good measure.

"Ha, ha."

One of the best things about marrying your best friend— your childhood best friend at that— was that you never grew out of the habit of laughing together, playing and goofing off together. And you had an entire lifetime's worth of material to tease each other about. At least, that's how things were for Danny and Sam.

Danny grinned as he nudged her lightly with his elbow and nodded at the shady-looking building on the far left of the school. "Look, they didn't bother to renovate that or anything, either."

"I'll say." And then it was her turn to nudge him. "I bet I could still scale that building faster than you, Fenton."

"When you can fly, you don't have to stoop to climbing, Fenton." He shot back, grinning at her. "So you're right, if I tried to climb that thing now I'd probably break my spine."

Sam threw her head back and laughed— a loud, hearty sound that, till this day, warmed Danny's heart to hear it. He gazed upon her smiling face with awe— something he didn't do as often these days as he did in his youth. Over the years they'd grown accustomed to their own version of a routine, one that Danny was wise enough to recognize as happiness. And while their life was still more exciting than most couples' lives by miles (what with the ghosts and all), today was still special. Being back here for the first time in years, the place where they spent a large portion of their youth, was just… different. High school was a time when Danny had found himself often longing— although he wouldn't admit it to himself yet— to be with the beautiful, ebony-haired best friend he'd always had at his side; to be with her in a way that he'd only never even dreamed was possible.

And now, here they were.

And just like back then, his thoughts were veering toward the soft and mushy. He watched her unabashedly now, amazed. She was still just… incredible to him, if not more so, after all these years.

He draped one arm over her shoulders, both out of affection and as a means to shield her from the cold. Her coat was almost comically large and bulky, but she was still shivering just a little bit underneath it. She snaked her arm around his waist in turn and together, they entered their old school.

XXX

to be continued

XXX

A/N- There's chapter one, let me know what you think! For those of you who've read this before, please bear with my repostings ;)

Also, is it just me or has there been a recent decline in AmethystOcean fics? I can't be the only one that still ships them, right?