Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Danny Phantom and never will….oh, the cruelty of disclaimers!

And once again, fan fiction has become the perfect place to dump my ideas at. Surprisingly, this story wasn't originally a story. It was a picture formed in my mind. Then my imagination ran away with it and now that picture came out as a story….

So, yeah….in this story, Danny and Sam are married and they're both 24.… ALTERNATE ENDING!

---

A Withered Rose

Sam's pov

ALTERNATE ENDING

---

I plopped down on the squishy couch with a remote to our DVD player. Our meaning Danny and I. But Danny wasn't there. In fact, he hadn't been home for a month…

I sighed as I turned on the DVD and began watching some action packed violent movie that I didn't even know the name of.

Normally, a good action story cheered me up, but lately, it hadn't.

Whenever Danny left because of his job, I was always moody. As a ghost exterminator, he sometimes left for a couple days in a row. Sometimes I went a long, but mostly I couldn't because of my own job.

The past few times he'd been home, I noticed he was more beat up than usual. And that scared me. It scared me to think that maybe something went wrong and now he was lying in some ditch….

I sighed. I needed to get away from such thoughts, for they attacked my defenseless brain every waking moment.

Seeing that the movie was one I had already watched, I turned it off and flipped through the channels. One by one, I flipped through them, but to no avail.

Growling, I threw the remote down on the floor. Amazingly, the floor hit the remote just right, making it turn to a soap opera…..

I groaned, too lazy to lean over and pick up the remote, and almost too preoccupied to even care about the show.

I rested my head in my right hand as my eyes strayed to the screen. Of course, it just had to be a love story. It just HAD to be….

Slowly, I found my thoughts drifting away to that faithful day when Danny proposed three years back….

---

FLASH BACK!

We had been walking along the trails in the park, laughing, talking, and carrying on. Surprisingly, the park was deserted. Danny and I were the only ones there.

"So," I asked comfortably, "what did you think of those exams you had to take?"

Danny smiled at me and said, "I think my brain went numb…" I laughed and he pulled me closer. "You?"

"Just about. My own phone number has been replaced with government statistics. I think that should tell ya something." I leaned my head up against his warm shoulder.

The sun was beginning to set, giving out a red-ish gold glow to everything it touched. It had to have been the most perfect sunset ever on record, making it the most romantic too…

The trail widened and opened up to a large fountain with lights of blue and green shining down on the water. Personally, I was getting sort of tired and needed to sit down. Without even asking, Danny picked me up bridal style and set me down on the fountain's ledge.

"Thank you," I whispered. It was so weird that Danny could read me like a book.

"No problem," he answered. He sat down by me and turned to face the water. I did the same, seeing mine and Danny's reflection in the water…

"When you look into the water," Danny said, "what do you see?"

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, I see you and me." I turned to face him again. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I see my future, beside you."

Time stopped. "Wh-what?" I stuttered, stunned. Did he just say what I thought he said?

He gracefully slid off the ledge and stood right in front of me. He bent down on one knee and held out a small open case.

Within it was the most beautiful ring I had ever set eyes on.

"Sam Manson, will you marry me?" he asked solemnly.

My jaw dropped as my mind tried to decipher his question. But then, the question's answer suddenly clicked in head.

"Yes!" I said, throwing myself around him and crying with joy. I felt his arms lock around me in a state of pure happiness.

I let go to put on the ring. It fit perfectly. "And Sam?" Danny asked, his ice blue eyes lit up.

"Yes?" I whispered. He pulled out a single rose from nowhere and handed it to me as one last gift.

The sky was streaked with deep blue and purples as we kissed.

END FLASH BACK!

---

I sighed once again, remembering every last detail. Age twenty one was my golden year. I got married, I got hired into a well paying job, AND Danny's parents actually figured out how to shut off the portal whenever they wanted.

But now, Danny was gone. I felt empty without him and cursed his work because of it.

Groaning, I realized something. I still had papers I needed to do from work. Snapping myself out of la la land, I got up out of the nice, squishy couch and headed to the master bedroom.

Up the stairs and to the right was our bedroom. It was a deep maroon with dark red stained oak. It was actually a big room, but not big enough that a person could get lost in.

I turned on the lights and opened up my closet, looking for my bag with all my files in it. Finding it, I picked it up. I was about to shut the door when something caught my eye. It was far in the back of my closet, but still close enough to see. I bent down and pushed back some clothes. I picked it up along with my bag and headed back to the bed.

I sat down on the silk comforter cross legged and pushed aside my work once more.

The thing that had caught my eye was a white box with writing on it. I hadn't seen it before, or if I did, I had forgotten about it.

The writing on it read August 8, 2011.

That was the day Danny proposed! I thought. Curious as to what was inside, I gently lifted up the lid. I gasped as recognition filled my mind.

It was a withered rose…

I lifted it in my hands, careful not to break off the petals. A tear rolled down my cheek as my heart swelled with the longing to see Danny again.

Just then, the phone rang. I jumped at its ring, but then sighed and picked it up.

"Hello?" I answered, really not in the mood to talk.

"Sam! Finally I got a hold of you!" a voice on the other end exclaimed. And I knew that voice anywhere.

"Tucker?" I exclaimed. I hadn't heard from him in weeks! "Tucker, why are you calling me?" I asked, getting straight down to business. I had heard a certain type of tone in his voice when he first answered and I wanted to know what it was.

Silence deafened my eyes as I heard a faint sniffle over the line. "Sam, um, I'm not sure how to break this to you…"

I gripped the receiver tighter, my knuckles turning white. "Break to me what?" I asked apprehensively. "Did Danny forget the keys to the RV again?" I nervously laughed, knowing that was not the case.

"Sam, I-"

"It wasn't that? Oh, then did he forget his money? I haven't seen it here." I babbled. By now, my arms were shaking with the effort to calm down. Which was now impossible. I knew what was coming.

Tucker drew in a shaky breath and said really fast: "Danny's dead!"

I nearly dropped the phone in shock. I knew it was coming, but it was still a shock.

Danny's dead. Those words pounded themselves into my skull, echoing despair throughout my entire body. "H-How?"

I heard Tucker sob quietly. "He and me were coming back home. We were about to call you," he stopped for a second, " but then some idiot comes and plows right into us. I was lucky to escape before the car burned down. But Danny….." He couldn't say the rest, and I didn't think I could handle it either way…

"I need to go," I whispered through the receiver and dropped it, flinging myself onto my pillow.

No longer would I see those beautiful blue eyes staring back at me. No longer would I wake up to the burnt smell of the attempt to make pancakes. No longer would I feel those strong arms around me. I was alone.

Even when I could cry no longer, it still didn't seem like enough. My heart had been ripped out to a point of no return.

At long last I saw the moon's light reflecting on the walls. I slowly looked up to see the moon in its wild beauty: joyous despair.

I stared at it for the moment, lost in my memories. I soon found myself, however, fiddling with something in my hand.

I looked down at my hand and there was the rose from what felt like so long ago.

I gently laid it down on Danny's pillow as one last tear fell upon the rose.

Already, we are broken apart. And all I have left of you is ... a withered rose...

Whoa…sadness. Now, that came close to rivaling my other angsty story….Did you like this alternate ending? I really wasn't sure whether I should post it or no, but I decided why not and posted it anyway.

Please Review!

Lightning Streak