Hey all, Sparkling Patronus here! This is actually my first real Danny Phantom fanfiction, even though it's not my first fanfiction in general. I'm hoping my friends don't see this now that they know my username on here, 'cause I'd never live it down :P Anyway, off that topic, let me give you some info.

Summary: Danny Fenton is shifting through photos one day, photos from a life he left behind almost two years ago. Now he has a choice to make, should he go back or not? And will it be that easy a choice to make?

Seventeen year old Danny Fenton had been shifting through some of his old photographs out of sheer boredom. He froze as his eyes lighted upon a certain photo. He picked it up slowly, with great care, and looked it over. Memories swam through his head as he studied it. It was a picture of Sam, Tucker, and himself standing in front of his old house. The big 'Fenton Works' sign flashed in the background as they smiled at whoever was taking the picture.

The photo wasn't the greatest ever taken. Their eyes had turned a strange shade of red and there was a glare in the corner, signifying that whoever had taken the picture had not checked the light before snapping it. Danny would bet anything it had been his father on the other side of the camera, but he couldn't quite remember anything about when it was taken.

He appreciated the photo all the same, even though he couldn't even remember the last time he had looked at it. The three of them were still in their freshman year. He looked them over. He was wearing the same red shirt with an oval and the same pair of jeans he still wore to this very day. There was Sam, her old black and purple outfit, her hair pulled back in a small pony tail on the top of her head. And there was Tuck. He wore his yellow shirt and his green pant, his red beret still in place on his head. Tuck had eventually stopped wearing that old thing. Had he ever thought it had actually looked good?

They had moved out of their old house not long after this picture was taken. It couldn't have been long after anyway, since they had moved halfway through his freshman year. His parents had decided they needed a bigger workspace, and they had moved a few blocks away to a larger house when they had saved enough money. It hadn't affected his life much. He had still attended the same school, it just felt odd to be in a different house. It had begun to feel like home though, especially once his parents had installed their gadgets and built their lab.

He had walked past his old house again a few months later. He hardly recognized it. The large machinery had been taken down. Well, a lot of it had been taken by his parents, but whatever had been left behind had vanished. It had been completely redone. The orange paint had been changed to beige shingles. It was wider and had been turned into another boring, ordinary old house. If the address hadn't been the same address he wouldn't have even been sure it was the same house.

He hadn't thought his old home was small or strange, or different in anyway. It was just where he lived, and it was just that, his home. The fact that there was always an explosion rocking the house, or green ectoplasm splashed over something meant nothing to him. To everyone else his parents may have seemed strange. Even his sister Jazz seemed to think it was too weird. Danny had never thought of it that way. They were just his parents; it was what he had grown up with.

He shifted through the photos until he found another that made him stop. There was another picture from his freshman year. Jazz was in this one too. The four of them were standing on the outside of his old school. The big sign in the background read 'Casper High'.

He remembered the school well, despite the fact he hadn't been there in a while. He remembered the long, white hallways, the bullies, the classes that never seemed to end, the nagging teachers, the stress of homework and tests as he tried to maintain his C average. He had hated going to that school each day. His friends Sam and Tuck were the only things that brightened his school days at all. However, school had always seemed to be the least of his troubles.

He'd been in trouble for showing up there a few times, but not in the way that was expected. He'd been there in his ghost form, which was usually less than welcome. He'd kept a low profile, and usually no one noticed him, but he'd been caught a couple of time before he could grab whatever ghost he was after at the moment. That had always made school even more stressful than it should have been

Danny stared at the school in the picture again. He had left more than a year and a half ago, halfway into his sophomore year. Things had become too

complicated, and he had felt that he couldn't handle it anymore. His work was piling up, his parents and Valerie were hunting his ghost side, more and more ghosts were coming through the portal. The stress was too much to bear.

He made his decision. He had left the town, leaving a short note of goodbye to his parents. He hadn't explained much. Just that the stress was too much and he had to get away. Jazz, Sam and Tuck were bound to be the only ones who could fully understand what he meant, even if they couldn't understand exactly why he meant it.

He had gone to another small town not so far away, but far away enough so that no one could track him down. He had acquired a false ID, and got a job at the local supermarket. He used every penny he had saved since he was three years old and bought a small, run down apartment in one of the worst parts of town. It wasn't much, but it had a roof and a toilet.

Other than that he had made no contact with anyone as Danny Fenton, but instead protected the town as Danny Phantom. There were not nearly as many ghosts here, just whatever ghosts strayed out of Amity or Wisconsin. Other than that he acted as more of the towns patrol squad, stopping robberies and car crashes and such. He had been much more careful not to be spotted here. He doubted anyone in the town even knew that Danny Phantom existed.

However, through it all he had missed everyone and everything so much. Now he couldn't help but wonder if he should go back. His friends would just be in the very beginning of their senior year now, since it was only late September. Jazz would be off at college. He wondered briefly where she had decided to go. She'd had so many options; so many colleges wanted her. She was always so bright.

If he went back, could he possibly catch back up? He hadn't been in school for more than a year. He saw now that his choice was so rash, so stupid! Why had he left? It would be so hard if he decided to return.

He no longer felt so much stress as a ghost hunter. He had spent his entire time away training, strengthening his powers. He was not anywhere near his full potential, but he had gone much farther than he would of at home. His new found powers made his job much easier.

He had also learned to manage his time better, since he needed to keep his job in order to maintain his meager abode. He had been able to fight ghosts and crime, while putting his other priorities first. He would most definitely be able to keep up with his school work. He could work extremely hard to catch up on what he'd missed.

However, that wasn't exactly what he was worried about. It was his friends, his family, everyone and everything he'd left behind when he had left Amity. He'd only been gone less than two years, but it felt like an eternity in his mind. Could they ever forgive him? Would they want him back after all he had done to them, all he had put them through? He wasn't sure he would be so ready to forgive if Tucker or Sam had put him in that position. How could he have been so stupid…

He still remembered the day he'd left quite clearly. Just as he was doing now, he had been going through his photos, trying to calm his nerves as the stress ate away at him. He kept glancing out the window of his bedroom, where he was seated on his bed. He had been thinking of leaving for about a week at that point. How easy would it be to just fly away and not look back?

He saw now what he hadn't seen then. He was a coward. He thought he could call himself a hero, but in truth he was just a scared little kid, running away when the going got tough. He was too wrapped up in his own problems to think about all of the people he was hurting in leaving.

His parents were down at the lab at the time. His sister was upstairs doing research about colleges. In a few quick movements, he emptied his room of all of the money he owned and the essentials he thought he'd need. He scribbled a short note and left it on his dresser.

Before he left, he went back to his bed and opened the photo album back up. He'd taken a few of his favorite pictures out and put them in his pack. These were the ones he was currently looking through on the floor of his shabby one room apartment.

He had taken one last, long look around the room. Then he took off and didn't look back again. He hadn't heard anything of his old home since.

Pushing these thoughts out of his mind, he picked up yet another photo. In this one he saw himself and Tucker fighting it out on one of the video games at the local arcade.

He actually remembered when this one was taken. They had just arrived and settled into their combat. Sam sat on the side and demanded to play winner. While the boys were absorbed in their game, she took out the camera and snapped the picture. She later gave it to Danny to show him 'exactly how absorbed in the game he was'.

He remembered taking trips to that arcade quite frequently. They would stop by after school sometimes. Danny would tell them he had brought all of his allowance, when secretly it was only half. The other half had been stashed away. He was always saving his money. He just felt good to know he had in case he needed it.

He remembered the cops that were always stationed outside the arcade. There were cops all over his town at that point, since it was overrun with ghosts. The cops didn't realize that they couldn't contend with the paranormal.

In the beginning of his sophomore year the arcade was caught in a fire, and it burned to the ground. They hadn't been there in a while anyway at that point, since there were too many other tasks, but it still seemed a shame. The cops said it was the work of some rebellious hoodlum, but Danny remembered fighting the ghost that had been responsible.

Another picture found its way into his hand. There they were, sitting on the stoop of Danny's newer house.

They had the radio out, and Sam and Danny were covering their ears as Tucker attempted to sing, using his pencil as a microphone. And there were his parents, standing by the door watching them. His father had his arm around his mother and they watched on with content smiles on their faces. It was one of those rare times when they came out of their lab to spend a bit of time with their children. He supposed Jazz had taken this picture.

Danny reminisced as he studied the photo. He remembered how they used to joke about how he and Sam would be famous singers, and Tucker would either work the microphones backstage or play a guitar. They said they would start a band together, even though they were never serious, since none of them could play an instrument and Sam was the only one with a half decent voice. He didn't even realize that his eyes were becoming a little watery at this point.

He picked up yet another photo, the last one that was lying on the moth-eaten carpet. His heart rate quickened and he felt as if it would break as he looked at the picture. There they were, he and Sam, sitting on the steps, both looking a bit red in the face. They were moved away from each other, as if they had scrambled into that position quickly.

He remembered the day so clearly, as if it had happened only yesterday. It was a strange feeling, because his other memories were all a bit fuzzy. It had been one of those carefree days during the summer after freshman year. It had been a clear sunny day, and he, Sam and Tuck had all gone for ice cream and then gone back to Danny's house. They were always hanging out at Danny's house.

Tucker had gone inside for a glass of water, leaving Danny and Sam alone on the front steps. He didn't even know what had happened at that moment. One second they were smiling awkwardly at each other, and the next their faces were moving closer and closer together, until their lips touched.

Of course, being the master of inconvenient timing, Tucker picked that moment to exit the house, only to find his friends locked in a kiss. He nearly fell down the steps at the unexpected site. He cleared his throat loudly, and the two of them jumped. They pulled apart, looking shocked at their sudden behavior. They moved apart, both burning red in the face, just as Tucker snapped a picture with his PDA.

Sam and Danny had been closer after that, but they never went steady. They sometimes would awkwardly hold hands, or blush at each other, but they never actually considered themselves boyfriend and girlfriend, though Danny had a feeling they might have eventually. Why hadn't he stayed? He'd had a good life; he had friends, a loving family, a warm home, and a possible girlfriend. Why had he seen fit to leave it all behind? Had he really been that dense?

Danny suddenly realized how much he'd matured over his time on his own. He now saw so much more than he had before he left. But was that the price to pay for losing everything he'd once loved? Was it to late to make amends? Should he even bother to take the chance?...

Then he though again about Sam. Had she found someone else when he left? His heart nearly broke at the very though. But it made sense. Sam was pretty, she was funny, she was smart, and so much more. Surely there were so many guys she could have. Had she completely forgotten him?

Then Danny realized exactly how much he missed his home. His life had been so empty since he'd left. He hadn't had any real contact with other humans, except for his manager and the criminals he captured. There was no one his own age to talk to, no parents to lean on when he felt upset, no overbearing older sister to confide in...

But then he once again thought about the period of time he'd been gone. Did his family even care if he had left? Did they miss him? Had they forgotten all about him? What if Sam and Tucker had made new, better friends? Friends who wouldn't leave them behind without a second thought for their own, selfish reasons. He probably shouldn't return. Everyone probably had a better life without him. They probably didn't miss him at all.

He knew he had yet another choice to make, not unlike the foolish one he'd made that fateful day. It seemed that each time he pulled out his old photos it brought with it a choice that he knew would change his life. But this time, he vowed, he'd make the right one.

Danny thought for a bit more. His options were to stay here, alone in his run down apartment, and cling to the hope that his family was still missing him, or he could go back, but then there was the awful possibility of finding out they didn't.

Danny looked down at the photographs once more, scattered haphazardly across the floor. The last remainders of the life he'd once known; the shadows of his past. He looked down upon those smiling faces. His own, and those of the people he had once considered his life. Then he made his decision.

Danny stood up, and shook his right leg, which had fallen asleep. He gathered up the photographs and shook his head sadly. There was no way he could return. He moved across the room to his bureau, one of the five dusty pieces of furniture he owned.

He shoved the photos in the drawer and closed it, planning not to look at them again for quite a while. It was too painful. It felt much like the way he had run and never turned back. He turned to walk the other way, when he saw something had fallen from the drawer.

He bent down to pick it up. It appeared to be a small piece of paper. He turned it over. It was a card, a card from his fifteenth birthday, his last birthday at home. He didn't remember bringing this along. Had it been wedged between the photos? He opened in and looked inside.

There, taped on one side was another photo. It was of his entire family, and all of his friends standing together outside of his house. They all wore smiles proudly on their faces. Sam, Jazz and Tucker stood there next to him. His mom and dad stood behind them. His dad had one arm around him and one around his mother. His mother's hand rested on Jazz's shoulder.

He looked to the other side, where there was a note written in his mothers neat handwriting. It read:

Dear Danny,

Happy big 15 sweetie! We're so proud of you! I know sometimes we may nag you about your grades and get your case about things, but the truth is that you really do make us so proud. There's no other son in the world that could measure up to your worth. So don't ever forget that. Your father feels the same way, and so do your friends and your sister. Don't you ever forget it, you mean so much to all of us!

Love,

Mom, Dad, Jazz,Tucker, and Sam

Danny closed the card slowly. He'd never taken the time to actually read what was written on the inside. He had been so excited by the twenty dollar bill in the enveloped that he had just pulled that out and left the card on the table. His mother must have slipped it into his photo album later that night so he could read it another time.

A dark drop fell onto the card, and then another. Danny was surprised to find that he was crying. His resolve strengthened, he made another choice. Turning back around, he took the photos back out of the drawer. He placed them all neatly inside the card and looked out the window. He would not be a coward this time. He would correct that error he had made so long ago. He was better than that now.

Gathering up his belongs; he shoved them all into his pack once again and that was the last that town ever heard of the strange young man who lived on the shabby side of town.

So there you have it, the very first chapter. I hope you like it, and please drop a review if you have the time because I'd really like to know what you though. Thanks for reading!