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Beating to the Breath of Life	By : Evilevergreen Category: +1 through F > Danny Phantom > Het- Male/Female Views: 5297 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 7
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Chapter Seven: Division Line

It was a week later, Saturday afternoon, when Valerie received a call from Nathan, asking if she was busy for the day. She told him she had to a bit a grocery shopping to do and he volunteered to tag along, but grocery shopping seemed to be the last thing they were doing as Valerie pushed her cart in the opposite direction of Nathan while laughing at him.

“Stop laughing,” he told her, as he concentrated on the three oranges he was trying to juggle. “I told you, I got– ow!” Valerie laughed even harder as she turned her head around just in time to see a orange clunk him in the head.

“Just give it up and get me a thing of oranges like I asked you too,” she said before continuing down the aisle.

Nathan's shoulders slumped. “Yes, dear,” he said mockingly before he returned the oranges in his hand back to the bin before picking up the one that fell on the floor. He rubbed the back of his head as he picked up a bundle of oranges in the next bin and caught up with Valerie to put them in the cart.

“What are you doing?” Valerie asked with a smile as Nathan came up behind her and placed his hands on top of hers, trapping her between his body and the cart.

“Tell me, you got work tonight?” he asked, knowing full well she had every other Saturday off, as he had learned her work schedule during the week.

“No,” she informed him as she leaned to one side and looked up at him. “Why, got something in mind?”

“Well, we never got to that dinner last week,” he began as he placed one of his hands on her stomach to pull her closer against him, not caring who was around as he showed his affection, resting his forehead against her.

Valerie chuckled nervously as she took his hand and placed it back on the bar handle. “If we're not careful, people may start to think we're dating.”

The redhead frowned as he drew back, his brow furrowed. “And what's wrong with that?” he asked her.

“Nothing,” she shrugged, “I guess. It's just that- urge!” she stopped as their cart ran into another.

“Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't look- Valerie?” asked the voice pushing the other cart.

Valerie sighed as she looked to the dark haired woman. “Hello, Sam,” she greeted the woman softly. There was then an uncomfortable silence that fell between the two young women and Nathan, feeling the tension, simply picked up Valerie's shopping list out of the front basket and disappeared down the aisle and around the corner. “How are you?” Valerie asked.

“I'm good. Real good,” she answered. “And yourself?”

“I've been getting by,” she said lowering her head and avoiding eye contact.

“So um, who's the guy with you?” Sam casually pointed down the row of food.

“A friend,” Valerie said simply, knowing anything she told Sam would immediately go back to Danny and she didn't want him to know who Nathan was.

Sam actually looked surprised at the answer, she had always figured Valerie didn't have many of those. Sam then looked the other woman over curiously. “How far along are you now?” she wondered, thinking that Valerie should have been showing by now. The only thing that seem different about her was that it looked as if she put on a few pounds since the last time they saw each other.

“Today marks the twenty-first week,” Valerie began as she rested her hand on her stomach. “The doctor says it's not abnormal to not be showing this far along,” she said, as if reading Sam's mind. “But considering who the father is, I'm surprised things aren't weirder.”

Sam scoffed. “Danny is not weird,” she defended her friend.

Oh, God, so much for the pleasantries, Valerie thought. “Stop twisting my words, Manson. That's not what I said and you know it.”

“But it's what you meant.” She narrowed her eyes. “You know what? I don't know why Danny ever trusted you. I always knew you were going to do nothing, but hurt him.” Sam went to push her cart passed Valerie. “Sometimes I hate always being right.”

“Where do you think you're going?” Valerie asked as she reached out and grabbed the cart, stopping the other woman. “You are nothing more than a hypocrite, Manson. Danny lied to me, I broke up with him, simple. But you, you cheated on him, with his best friend. Then you turn around and you talk to me about trust?” She shook her head. “You don't even know the meaning of the word.”

“It was different between me and Danny. He was never in love with me,” Sam informed her bitterly and then looked at the black woman disgustingly. “It's always been you, always. While I may have put a dint in his heart, it was you that shattered it to pieces before you grounded it to mere dust,” she told her angrily. “He's been fighting for you, so hard, and all he gets for his troubles is a restraining order? Delivered to him at his job?” Sam looked at Valerie as if she weren't even human. “You don't know how I wish he had fought that hard for me.”

“Aw, what's wrong, Sam,” Valerie fringed sympathy. “Tucker ain't doing it for you anymore?”

“For your information,” Sam showed Valerie her left hand, which carried an engagement ring she and Tucker picked out a few days earlier. “Tucker and I are getting married and I couldn't be happier.” She then added, “We were going to invite you, you know play nice, but when we found out about the restraining order,” she shrugged, “well, we could only invite one of you and trust me, it wasn't a difficult choice.”

“Please, I always knew you and Tucker weren't really my friends. That you were just putting up with me for Danny's sake,” Valerie began and as she heard Sam say 'Damn right' under her breath, a small piece of her just wanted to die, Is there really no one on my side? she thought sadly. “Well then, I guess you don't have that problem anymore,” she finally let go of Sam's cart, “so have a happy life. . . but not really.” Valerie than pushed her cart down the aisle and went in search of Nathan.

She found him a few row down as she made her way towards him. “Okay,” he called out as he saw her. “The list just says 'Salsa'. So does that mean regular salsa or do you like salsa con queso? And if so, am I looking for mild, medium, or hot?”

Valerie reached out for the salsa in his hand and put it back down on the shelf. “Forget the damn salsa.” She then said softly, “I just want to go, okay?”

Nathan looked at her curiously. “Why, is something wrong?” he asked, but she unconvincingly shook her head no. “Alright, come on,” he told her gently and turned her around towards the exit. “Let's get out of this place,” he told her. He then grabbed both of their coats, which had been hanging off the side of the cart before they abandon it in the middle of the aisle. Before leaving, Nathan took a look behind him and spotted Sam, who looked as if she had only been in the store a few minutes, a smirk then came to his lips.

While they were outside, in the parking lot, Valerie didn't feel up to driving and so she gave her keys over to Nathan before they got in the car and he drove back to her place, where his own vehicle was waiting.

Inside her home, Valerie told Nathan to make himself comfortable in the living room. She then headed upstairs to her room and closed the door behind her before she sat on her bed, allowing herself to fall back on to it. She sighed and laid there a few minutes before getting back up and going to her closet. On the self was a photo album that she pulled out and headed back over to the bed. She yawned as she laid on her side before she opened the album and looked at her photos. The majority of them were pictures of her, Danny, Tucker, and Sam, back when they were happy, back when she called them friends. But as she remember Sam's words back at the grocery store, she realized, that it had always been an act for her and mostly Tucker as well. She really had no one on her side.

Nathan was downstairs, sitting on the couch as he flipped through channels. He stopped as he came across an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation and began to watch. It wasn't until the episode was nearly over that he realized that Valerie had been upstairs for a long time. He began to wonder if everything was alright and so got up and headed slowly towards the stairs.

“Val,” he called quietly as he reached the top of the stairs. It was the first time he had been inside her home and he wasn't sure where anything was located. He gently opened a few doors and discovered the linen closet, a den, a workout room, and her father's bedroom, he committed all to memory. There were then three more doors left unopened and luckily, on his next try, he opened the door to find a sleeping Valerie.

Nathan moved with the sheath of a cat as he made his way closer to her. Her back was to him as he peered over and saw the photo album lying next to her. He frowned as he saw pictures of Danny holding her, kissing her, and how happy she looked allowing him to do so. Without thinking, Nathan angrily snatched the book off the bed, not noticing Valerie's hand had been resting on the other page.

Nathan's eyes widen from a moment as he saw Valerie shift in her sleep, but when he saw no sign of her waking up, he once again relaxed. He closed the album and placed in on the night stand, not noticing the pregnancy magazines he covered as he kept his eyes on the sleeping Valerie.

Nathan than made his way around the bed and slowly sat down where the album had been. He smiled gently as he brushed Valerie's long, curly black hair from her face. The tips of his fingers than traced a light pattern on the dark skin of her cheeks as he watched her carefully. He licked his lips as he became braver and allowed his hand to rest on her shoulder before sliding it down her arm and taking her hand.

He brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed each one of her knuckles gently before turning it over and kissing her palm. He then allow his eyes to close as he pressed her palm against his cheek. He held it there as he promised himself again, he would make her forget Danny and that he would be the only one who occupied her thoughts.

Valerie frowned as she heard a beeping sound go off, it was her watch. With her eyes still closed, she stuck her hand under her pillow and pulled out her ecto-ray gun. She bolted up as her eyes came open and pointed her gun. She blinked as realized she was alone in the room. She then looked to her watch, it was almost half pass the hour. “Shit,” she whispered to herself as she saw it had been about two hours since she had left the store. She put down her weapon long enough to turn off the beeping, but as soon as she did, it began to beep again and so her hand went back to the gun. There was definitely something in here with her.

She looked around her room suspiciously, but nothing seemed out of place. “Danny?” she called gently, wondering if he had gone invisible and was watching her as she slept. She shuddered, thinking it was a creepy thought. She knew the second her father had mentioned a restraining order that it had been a bad idea, but she couldn't talk her father out of making her file a report. Because she knew, if Danny was in ghost form as he violated the order, there was no way she could prove he had come near her, especially if he were invisible, which made Valerie kind of paranoid.

“Danny?” she called out again, but got nothing. “Ow!” she called loudly as she dropped her gun and both of her hands went to her stomach. She sighed as she realized her baby was kicking and was probably in their ghost form, which caused her watch to go off. Valerie shuttered again at the thing inside of her. She found it strange that how, at this very moment, that the baby that grew inside of her had no heartbeat and didn't even qualify as being alive.

She closed her eyes as she heard heated words inside her head. “Will you hunt down your own child! Because he or she will be a ghost too! Will you hunt down someone you're suppose to love and protect!” He had been so angry, but how could he not be? He had been so excited and she had too, until-

“Valerie?” she looked up when she heard her name. “Is everything alright? I thought I heard you scream.”

“Uh- I'm fine, Nathan,” she said as he broke her from her thoughts and she hid her weapon back under her pillow before going to answer the door. She looked at her watch as she once again turned it off. She then went to open the door. “I am so sorry,” she told him. “I only meant to be up here a minute. I guess I fell asleep while looking. . .” Valerie turned around to point out her photo album, but it wasn't on the bed, instead it rested on her nightstand. “Huh, that's strange,” she whispered to herself, as she didn't remember moving it.

Hearing her talk to herself, Nathan looked over her head to see what she was looking at, he cringed as he realized he forgot to leave things the way he had found them. . . he was slipping. He than made a curious face as Valerie turned back to him. “What's strange?” he asked her.

“Nothing, it's just I thought. . . Nothing,” she waved the matter off and took a hold of Nathan's arms as she closed the bedroom door behind them. “Come on, lets go downstairs. I was thinking, since grocery shopping was a bust, if you were up for ordering some Chinese food? I know this place that makes a killer Moo Goo Gai Pan.”

“A moo moo, you hit a guy with a pan? What?” He looked at her all confused.

She giggled. “Don't tell me you've never had Moo Goo Gai Pan,” she asked of him. Valerie than reached out towards his face. Nathan looked at her curiously as she did so. “What's this?” She wiped a black smudge off the side of his nose.

Nathan's eyes widen as he saw her hand draw away, her thumb and index finger smeared in black. “Nothing,” he said quickly and grabbed her hand and wipe it off with the inside of his shirt before she got a closer look at it. He then hurried down the hallway towards the stairs. “So what's in this 'cow hit a man with a pan'?” he asked, before she could say anything about his strange reaction.

It was a little over an hour later and Valerie and Nathan were sitting on the floor in the living room at the coffee table, enjoying their dinner. Valerie groaned. “I can't believe you like this show. It's so boring,” she complained.

“Hey, don't dis the Star Trek. This is an awesome show, whether you want to admit it or not,” Nathan defended.

“Yeah, whatever,” she replied as she picked up the soy sauce and pour more on her food.

“You're going to drown your cow,” he told her.

She looked up at him with narrowed eyes. “For the last time, there is no cow in Moo Goo Gai Pan. It's chicken. You know, buck-buck, chicken?” She went back to drowning her food. “Chicken, Goddammit,” she said to herself.

“Then if it's chicken, then why is the first word the sound that a cow makes? Huh? I mean, come on, you hear 'Moo' and you think milk, you think ground beef, you think steak.” Nathan inwardly smiled as he watched Valerie's eye twitch as she finally emptied her glass bottle of soy sauce. He never knew how much fun it was pissing her off. The look on her face, he thought, was priceless. “You think grass eatin', dairy farmin' co- Ow!” His hand went to his forehead. “Did you just hit me with that bottle!”

Valerie's response was clucking once like a questioning chicken as she kept an innocent seeming expression on her face as she looked at Nathan. He groaned as he thought, “Note to self: Avoid pissing off while around throwable objects.” He then went to take his hand away from his forehead, as he did he hear Valerie gasp. “Oh, I am so sorry,” she said sincerely before she crawled over to him. His brow creased as he saw the blood running down his palm. Valerie sat in front of him, on her knees, as she examine his head. “Ooh, that's a nasty a cut,” she said after sucking in air between clenched teeth.

Nathan only smiled at her and placed his hand on her waist. “Want to kiss my boo-boo and make it better?”

Valerie returned his smile as she took his wrist and removed his hand. Although he had told her, that day in the library, that he wasn't interested in her anymore, ever since she had kissed him, she couldn't get him to keep his hands off of her. Valerie was careful not to encourage him, but neither did she reprimand him for his actions either.

“Strange prescription for a pre-med student to give, don't you think?" Nathan only shrugged. "Come on, I'll clean it up and stick a band-aid on it,” she told him as she stood up, still holding his wrist and had him follow her back upstairs to the bathroom, which happened to be the very last door at the end of the hall.

Nathan sat on the counter as Valerie rambled through the medicine cabinet. The redhead flinched as she wiped his cut with an alcohol soaked cotton ball. “Hold still you big baby.” He only smiled at her teasing as she put a butterfly band-aid on his forehead. Then, to Nathan's surprise, Valerie took his face in both of her hands and stood on the tip of her toes as she lowered his head and placed a simple kiss upon his forehead. “Doctor's orders, you know,” she said with a smile. "So are you happy now?" she asked in a whisper.

“No,” was his response as he slid his hand around her back and pulled her closer and kissed her lips.

Valerie pulled away as her hands came to rest on his chest. “Nathan,” she said gently. “You got to stop,” she told him.

“Why?” he asked her. “I like you. . . a lot, that's never been a secret. And I know you like me, if you didn't, I don't think you would let me hang around you as often as you do.”

“I -I do like you,” she finally admitted out loud, “but my life recently has been kind of complicated. I don't have time for-”

“It doesn't matter,” he interrupted her. “I'll take whatever you can spare,” he admitted. “I- I just want to be there for you.” He smiled. “I just want to be with you.”

Valerie looked into the light green eyes of the boy that sat before her. She allowed her fingers to grip tightly around the fabric of his clothing as she lowed her head and closed her eyes to think. Could see allow someone else into her life so soon after Danny, knowing that she wasn't really over him? And if so, should she tell him about the child she was carrying, knowing that in another mouth or so that she wouldn't be able to hide the truth anyway? Should she-

“Valerie,” Nathan called gently as he placed his fingers under her chin and lifted her downward face back towards him. “I know what you're doing,” he began. “You're over analyzing the situation, aren't you?” he asked her, but received no reply. “Well don't, because sometimes,” he lowered his face to hers as he gracefully slid off the counter, “you just have to allow yourself to feel,” was his advice as for the second, in that early evening, he claimed her lips with his own.

Valerie, tantalized by Nathan's adoring kisses, had forgotten what she had been thinking about, and so permitted herself to take heed of his words as she wrapped her arms around his neck and allowed him to lead her out the bathroom and down the hall towards her bedroom.

He closed the door behind them and was taken by surprise as Valerie broke the kiss and slammed him up against the door. The look on his face caused a giggle to escape Valerie's throat. Her hands, at first, worked gradually on the buttons of his shirt as Nathan's hands wasted no time, unfastening and unzipping her khaki pants. He was just about to hook his thumbs on the rim on them to pull them down, when suddenly he could no longer reach them. Valerie was slowly lowering herself down his body.

Nathan looked down as he watched her lick one of his buttons before her teeth surrounded it and she bit it off. She then looked up at him and spit the button out, hitting him in the face. He cursed under his breath as he thought, Damn her aim.

Valerie then said to him, after bitting off the remaining two buttons and holding one in her hand, “See these? These are a no-no. I don't like them. Don't wear them. They take too long.” Nathan only nodded in agreement, as she rose back up, her hands combing up his legs as she did so. She then pulled him a little from the door as her fingers mapped out the path of his hard abs and broad chest before coming to his shoulders and pushing the offending fabric down his arms and off to land on the floor.

Nathan then took Valerie's face in his hands as he kissed her again, this time with her leading them towards the bed as she now worked on the belt that held up his jeans. They continued to strip the other of their clothing until they were all laying in a pool around their feet. Now completely bare before him, as the sun outside her window began to set, Valerie started to feel a rush of embarrassment. “Nathan-”

“No,” he said softly as he had seen her dark cheeks blush. “You're beautiful,” he told her as he gently laid her down and he rested beside her. His eyes never left hers as he ran his fingers through her hair. “It's a day I committed ever in mind.” Valerie looked to him curiously at the words. “The day you blessed me with your smile and grace, And I knew again our paths would one day intertwine, If only in my dreams to know your embrace.”

Valerie smiled as she realized he was reciting a poem for her. “A patient man, I find myself not, Yet I stood aside, let you live your days, But still my heart, it seems you caught, And so I live only to await your praise.”

Valerie's hand than found his arm and slide down its length to meet his. “Happy I, to see birth of dream, Able to feel your fingers seek out mine.” Their fingers laced at his words and he kissed her hand. “Able to see your eyes gleam, Finally able to know this body, oh so divine.”

Nathan leaned down and rested his forehead against her, something he liked to do often. “To have you lie beside me,” he closed his eyes, “I would turn my back on all mankind, If only for the chance to call you my sweet Valerie, And have today be a day, I commit ever in mind.” As the last of his poem passed through her ears, Valerie too closed her eyes before feeling his gentle loving kiss. And she gave herself to Nathan that night as he to her before each fell asleep in the other's arms.

Valerie yawned as her eyes opened to the full moon outside her window, she smiled as she looked down and discovered Nathan's arms protectively around her waist. She then looked up at her alarm clock before she gasped in horror. She double checked the time on her watch, but each said the same thing, it was twenty minutes to eleven pm. “Nathan!” she turned around and shook the boy, he only groaned and pulled her tighter to him. “Nathan, you got to get up.” Panic lined her words as she spoke, causing Nathan to open his eyes. “You can't be here when my dad comes homes. Get out!” She pushed him out the bed and he landed roughly on the floor.

“Ow, my ass!” he yelled out.

“I'm sorry,” she leaned over her bed and gave him a quick kiss, “but you gotta go.”

“I'm going. I'm going,” he told her as he searched for his clothes only using the light of the moon. Valerie got up and went to her closet to put on her housecoat and left out the bedroom door. Nathan was still putting on his belt as he came downstairs to see that Valerie had cleaned up their mess from dinner.

She handed him his coat and shoes before pushing him out the door. “Call me!” she told him before she closed the door in his face.

Nathan shook his head with a smile as he put on his shoes and coat while still on her porch. As he started down the stairs, towards his car, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number. “Hey, Mike,” he greeted the person on the other end. “Yeah, sorry to call so late, but I was just wondering, do you still work at that place where they copy keys?” he asked as he pulled out the set of keys Valerie had handed to him earlier that day. “You do? Cool. So do you think you could do me a favor and meet me there?” he asked his friend. “Thanks. I'll see you in a few minutes.” Nathan tossed up Valerie's keys and caught them triumphantly as he whistled a little happy tune before getting in his car and driving away.

To Be Continued. . .
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Beating to the Breath of Life