The Otherworld

"Man, I had to call your name three times before you answered. You're really out of it today," she said once she caught up with him.

"Yeah, just a lot on my mind I guess."

Danny began walking towards the main entry way, knowing Tucker was probably already waiting for him outside. Both of their classes were in the same building, and he usually got out early all the time. Casey followed alongside him, matching his stride.

"Problems with Sam?"

Danny looked at her, trying to figure out why she would ask that. She was looking at him strangely, but he decided to just ignore it. Maybe it was a girl thing to automatically assume that.

"No, Sam's great. Just other stuff, I guess, school and stuff." Plus, the raging ghosts that seemed to have an out-of-the-blue increased desire to kill him.

"Oh, your internship with Mr. Masters. He still has you working nights?"

He forgot he told her about that.

Casey liked to invite Sam and him to parties and local bars a lot. After the fifth "I can't," she pressed him further why. He had to come up with a more permanent excuse why since he usually patrolled at nights. Between patrol and studying for classes, he rarely had time to go out. Besides, the moments when he did have time, he just wanted to spend it with Sam or Tucker and Dash, not in some crowded bar. Since he and Vlad were already on good terms and was giving him a scholarship already, he blurted out about an internship for the local billionaire and mayor. It was actually a pretty good lie and worked with all the other times ghost attacks interfered with his life, especially since Vlad had no problem covering for him.

"Yeah, that too," he said, hoping she would stop asking so many questions. He opened the door to outside, holding it open for Casey to pass through.

Tucker was leaning against one of the stair railings. When he saw Danny and Casey, he walked over, smirking. Danny nodded towards him.

"Hey, Tucker," Casey greeted with a smile.

"Hey, Casey," Tucker said, his smirk widening. Danny raised an eyebrow at him, not really knowing why he was smiling like that at her. He thought Tucker was interested in Valerie still, not Casey.

Not wanting to think this any further, especially since this could lead to a very pissed off Valerie, which Danny definitely did not want to get into, he looked back at Casey, trying to end this quickly before Tucker said anything else. "I'll see you later."

He quickly pulled Tucker away, but was too slow, his friend still had time to turn back to Casey. "Yeah, see you later, Casey!"

Danny gave him a questioning look. "Why are you being so weird."

Tucker laughed, then looked at Danny as if he was expecting him to join in.

Danny just gave him another questioning look, still confused on why Tucker was even acting this way.

Seeing that Danny wasn't getting the joke, Tucker just rolled his eyes. "I thought by the time we got to college you would be less clueless, but I think it only got worse."

Danny glared at him. He hated the clueless jokes. Okay, well, he didn't hate when Sam joked around about it. He rarely ever minded that, especially since it made her laugh, but for Tucker and the other guys, it was different. It felt like he was missing out on some big joke, and even worse, he was the joke he didn't get.

They came to a stop at a large building.

"Tucker, why are we going to the gym?" Danny asked, giving his friend a questioning look. He wasn't really paying attention as they walked, following Tucker's lead.

"Promised Dash we would meet him here."

"I can't work out with this thing on," Danny said, making a motion with his arm

"We will be there for motivation." Tucker smirked, entering the building.

They easily found Dash. He was the only tall and extremely muscular student in the building, considering this was during the time a lot of people either had another class or went back to their dorms.

The two boys weaved around the various workout equipment, making their way to their friend.

Dash spotted the two easily and waved them over. His gaze zeroed in on Danny's arm. "What happened to the arm?" Dash nodded towards the sling supporting Danny's left arm.

"Ember and SkulkTech."

"They're double-teaming, now?" Dash picked up two fifty pound dumb-bells, beginning his first set.

"Yep," Danny said as he watched Dash lift the weights with each rep.

"Parents go nuts?" Tucker asked, sitting at the bench on the other side of Dash, taking a granola bar from his bag and taking a bite out of it.

Danny gave him a look.

Tucker looked at the granola bar then back at his friend. "What?"

"We literally just had lunch two hours ago."

"So, it's my 2 o'clock snack!" he justified, taking another bite.

Danny rolled his eyes, choosing to ignore that comment and answer the previous question. "Mom did. Dad was pretty cool though. Luckily, Vlad was there to be a buffer."

"I will never get used to the fact that you just used luck and Vlad together in the same sentence," said Tucker.

Danny laughed. "You and me both."

"You guys had something against Masters or something? I thought he was helping us out," Dash said, putting down the weights for a small rest period in between sets.

Danny exchanged a look with Tucker. Danny wasn't exactly comfortable when the topic came to Vlad and how he used to be his archenemy. Only Tucker and Sam knew about how Vlad was half-ghost and used to be Plasmius. He didn't want anybody else to know; it wasn't his secret to tell despite the complications it was probably going to cause with the other people that knew his own secret, his parents for sure.

Before Tucker could say anything, Danny stepped in, knowing his friend wasn't exactly the best at the whole secret thing. "It used to be kinda weird between him and me because he had a thing for my mom and hated my dad."

Dash looked over at Danny, giving him a disgusted look.

"Yeah," Danny laughed. "But, now, it's cool. He's over it and pretty much made amends with my dad."

"That's still kinda messed up."

"You have no idea," Tucker laughed.

Danny glared at Tucker. Sometimes he really wondered how he made it this far without everybody knowing his secret with his friend's big mouth.

Luckily, Dash didn't seem to notice, rolling his eyes as he started loading the bar at the bench-press station with weights.

"How did the date go with Paulina?" Tucker asked from his bench.

Danny gave Dash a questioning look. "You went on a date with Paulina?"

Dash laughed. "Where have you been? The date was like a week ago."

Danny shrugged. "Ghosts," he supplied. It was getting weirder now. The ghosts were attacking a lot more lately, and the frequency increase was not the only thing that was weird about it.

"Yeah," Dash said knowingly. He laid on the bench, positioning himself so the bar was over his chest. "You haven't been at the apartment lately. I thought you were just with Sam."

"I wish," Danny said as Dash began his set. "The ghost attacks are happening a lot more now, and that's not the only thing. They are changing their patterns."

"How is that bad?" Dash puffed out as he lifted the incredibly weighted bar with effort.

The answer to that would have been obvious to any seasoned ghost-hunter. Danny sometimes forgot how Dash was still new to the whole ghost-hunting gig, having been told only six months ago about his extracurricular activities. Ever since then, Dash enthusiastically offered his help whenever he didn't have football practice or a game. Danny had to admit, for being a newbie, Dash caught on pretty well. He was a pretty good back-up when Sam and Tucker were not available.

"Ghosts are very habitual in pretty much everything they do. For them to change like this…I don't know," Danny said, struggling to come up with some sense behind all of this. "It's just weird."

Dash finished his set, rising to sitting position. "Did your parents have any ideas about this?"

"They're stumped too."

"Yeah, yeah, the ghosts are upping their game to kill Danny. What else is new," Tucker interrupted. "More importantly, how did the date go?"

Danny glared at his friend, but instead of a retort, he just rolled his eyes.

"Why do you want to know so bad?" Dash asked, giving Tucker a look.

"I'm living vicariously through you, that's why."

Dash's look turned sympathetic. "Valerie still giving you a tough time?"

Tucker laughed. "Baby steps. Don't want to spook her."

Danny raised an eyebrow. "Spook her? You do know she is a ghost-hunter, right?"

"No shit," Tucker said, rolling his eyes. "I'm just trying to make sure she doesn't kick my ass."

"I'm still trying to get why you have a thing for her," Dash said. "She's kinda scary."

"As the guy she shot at for the majority of high school, I second that," Danny said with a laugh.

"You're one to talk," Tucker said towards Danny. "Face it Danny, you and I just like the dangerous ones. Also, she's hot."

"I'm going to kill those two ghosts," Jack growled.

Maddie was instantly at his side, glaring coldly at the screen. "Let's go," she said as she threw Jack an ectogun while pocketing her own.

"I'm coming with you," Vlad said.

Both ghost-hunters looked at their friend, then at each other.

"Uh, Vlad," Maddie said timidly, not wanting to hurt the man's feelings. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Yeah, buddy," Jack interjected, feeling bad for the man. "I know you want to help and all, but we didn't train you yet for this, and we don't want you getting hurt."

The man looked like he was going to say something to object but seemed to think twice about. Heaving a sigh, he said, "Okay, I'll be here when you get back with Daniel."

Jack nodded. "Okay, V-man," he said grimly, too worried about what kind of shape his son was going to be in to really give his friend a proper goodbye. He turned towards the door to follow his wife, catching it just as it was about to shut. With another nod towards his old college friend, he ran to the GAV.

Maddie was already in the GAV with her seatbelt on but the time Jack made it to the driver's side of the vehicle. Within the next minute, he was already driving wildly fast on the road, disregarding the normal traffic laws even more than usual.

"Two bazookas, six ectoblasters, one specter deflector, three small ectobombs, and two thermoses," Maddie said. Jack looked over to see she was twisted in her seat, taking stock of the weapons in the back of the vehicle. After finding out their son's secret, they started to keep a lot more weapons in the GAV for times like these when they needed to leave quickly to help Danny.

Maddie twisted around so she was facing the windshield once more. "That should be enough for two ghosts."

"Ghosts don't usually team up like this," he said to his wife as he made a rough turn.

"They are getting smarter," she replied, keeping her steely gaze on the passing buildings.

Jack couldn't help but feel a heavy weight of dread sitting in the pit of his stomach, and that's when he thought the same thing he always did when this happened: what if this time they are too late? But, he didn't dare say it, not in front of his wife. He looked over at Maddie to see she was gripping her hands into tight fists, tight enough where he could see the whitening of her knuckles.

He would have put a reassuring hand on hers if it weren't for the fact he was driving more recklessly than usual. He pushed whatever doubts he had out of his mind, knowing he had to be the one out of the two of them to do it. He had to believe his son was okay.

"He is going to be okay," Jack said, glancing at his wife. She looked back at him, the same fear he was trying to hide in her eyes. "It's Danny," he said as if to reassure both her and himself.

He wanted to say something more to help his wife. He could see the tension in her, but he saw his son surrounded by the two ghosts coming into view. And, it wasn't looking too good. "I see them," he growled, making the vehicle come to a jerky stop and flinging himself out of it.

Maddie was at his side instantly, pulling out two bazookas and handing one to him while he clipped two ectobombs to her belt and slinged the thermos over her shoulder, doing the same to himself.

They both ran to where the fight was taking place, taking aim at the two ghosts. On a synchronized cue, they fired.

Maddie's blast hit the middle of SkulkTech's back while he hit Ember square in the chest, making the ghost plummet to the ground, creating a cement crater in her wake.

Jack ran straight to where Ember was, knowing the blast wouldn't keep her down for long. He aimed the gun at the already stirring ghost. "Make one move, and there won't be anything left of you to send back to the Ghost Zone.

Ember smirked at him. "You can't tell me what to do."

Before he could do anything, the ghost strummed her guitar, sending a wave of energy towards him.

His son suddenly appeared in front of him, holding up a ghost shield. He was only holding it up with one arm, the other dangling unnaturally at his side.

"You know, Ember," he gasped, letting down his shield as the attack ended. "I don't think you should anger the person holding the bazooka even more. Especially a Fenton."

"I'm going to kill you, dipstick," the ghost growled as she stood from her crater of cement.

The distinct sound of a thermos came from the left of the ghost. He barely had time to look over in the direction of the sound before the ghost was pulled in the swirling vortex that could only be created by the Fenton Thermos. By the time he did look in the direction where the vortex disappeared, he saw his wife holding the thermos with a stormy expression on her face.

Jack smiled, leave it to his wife to save the day; but that was never a surprise. "Good job, sweet-cheeks!"

Maddie jolted, her expression turning startled as she looked at Jack. He could tell she was still furious with the ghosts, especially since that one was about to toast both him and his son, but the minute she looked at his smile, she slowly began to smirk at him.

Jack looked around then, remembering there was another ghost in the fight too. "Where's the other one?"

Maddie's smile grew wider as she brought up the thermos, shaking it slightly.

"Man, that's hot," Jack said, smiling brightly at his wife.

"Nice aim," Danny said right beside Jack. He was holding his left arm tenderly, but the smile on his face never wavered.

Maddie came to Danny instantly, giving him a searching look, trying to pick out if there were any more injuries. She placed her hand on his shoulder, trying to look up at him. "Are you okay?"

Danny cupped her hand. "Mom," he whispered, eyeing the ever-increasing media closing in on them.

Jack looked at the media too, knowing what his son meant. The Fentons couldn't be seen worrying about Danny Phantom as if he was their son, that was a little too close for comfort if they wanted to keep Danny's secret.

Even though Jack understood this, Maddie, on the other hand, was worried about something entirely different. Her eyes narrowed at their son. "Why didn't you call us?"

"Phone is still broke," he said, smiling innocently at her.

She growled. "Danny—

"I'm fine," Danny interrupted, looking at both Maddie and Jack.

Maddie gave him an unconvinced look, then looked at the media starting to come closer to the three. She let out an aggravated huff.

"Get in the GAV. We will talk about this later."

"But—

"Daniel James Fenton," she harshly whispered, "If you don't do as I say, so help me…"

Danny winced back from her. "Okay, okay, I'm going."

Jack could only chuckle at him, for once not being on the receiving end of his wife's overprotective side.

"Mom, I'm fine," Danny said as they all got out of the GAV.

The door to the house opened, Vlad came through. He looked at Maddie and Jack, then at Danny. "Are you okay?"

Danny huffed, frustration knitting his eyes together. "I'm fine."

"No, you're not fine. Now, go to the kitchen and sit down. I need to find the first aid kit."

"Upstairs bathroom in the bottom cabinet on the left," Danny said automatically.

Maddie gave him an alarmed look, but quickly left to go get the kit.

"I think you just made it worse," Vlad said.

"I don't think that's possible," Danny said with a wince.

"Come on, let's do what your mother said and get you to the kitchen," Jack said. He gave his son a questioning look. "Do you need any help?"

His son shook his head. "I can manage."

The three men walked through house, both Vlad and Jack watching the youngest Fenton like a hawk.

Danny went straight to one of the chairs, sitting down carefully. He was still cradling his left arm.

"It looks broken," Jack said, pulling a chair in front of his son and sitting on it to get a better look at his arm. He touched the already swelling lump in the middle of his son's forearm. There was another lump forming towards the end of his arm near the wrist.

"Looks like it's broken in two places," he corrected, trying to hide just how much it bothered him. He knew Maddie was freaking out enough for the both of them. He had to keep his head for the sake of his son.

"Yeah, pretty sure it is," Danny said, looking at his arm. "I have to reset it if I want it to heal faster and in the right way."

"Do we need to go to the hospital?" Jack said, looking back at Vlad, who was leaning against the breakfast bar, with an unsure expression.

Vlad didn't notice Jack's attention, still looking at Danny. The only sign of how truly concerned his friend was, was from the grim set in his lips. He knew Vlad cared a lot more for Danny than the man let on. That was another reason why he was thankful Vlad knew about Danny. His son needed as much support as possible.

"No, I can do it," his son said off-handedly.

Jack's eyes widened. "What?"

"I can do it," he repeated, giving him a weird look.

"H-how do you know how to reset a bone?"

His son looked away, suddenly uncomfortable with the turn of the conversation.

"You've done it before," Jack guessed, feeling almost sick to his stomach at the thought of his son resetting his own bones enough to know exactly how to do it.

"Yeah."

"How didn't we know about this?" Jack pressed.

Danny half-shrugged, lifting only one shoulder. "I didn't really tell you guys. Besides it happened less after you guys found out."

He stared at his son blankly for a minute. He looked momentarily back at where his wife disappeared to then back at Danny. "How 'bout we don't tell your mom that."

Danny looked at the stairs, wincing. "Yeah, let's not."

Jack laughed, mussing up his son's hair affectionately.

"If you two want to keep it that way, you better do it quickly before she comes down," Vlad said, giving the stairs a meaningful look.

Jack gave his friend a grateful nod, then turned toward Danny with a grim expression. "Okay, what do you need me to do?"

Danny shook his head. "I got this. It's actually pretty easy with a little intangibility and invisibility."

Jack cocked his head to the side, not really knowing what his son was getting at.

Danny laid his left arm carefully on the table, easing it down gently with the other hand cupping it to avoid any further movement of the broken bones. Once the arm was securely placed on the dinner table, as if to demonstrate what exactly his son meant, Jack watched in fascinated horror as Danny's arm slowly became invisible section by section, through the skin, through the fatty tissue, muscles, until all he saw was bone embedded between muscle tissues and vessels. Jack felt his stomach drop. He could see where the two parts of the bone was nastily broken.

"And, now all I need to do is just push it into place," Danny said, using his other hand to maneuver the first broken section of the bone.

And that's when Jack felt it. The queasiness. His vision blurring. It was all happening too rapidly for him to even look away. And, suddenly, everything went dark.

Jack's body slid out from the chair, falling to the tiled floor of the kitchen with a resounding thud.

Danny just stared blankly at his dad, hand still poised in his arm. "Did he just…"

"I'm surprised he made it this long actually," Vlad said with a chuckle.

Danny looked to Vlad, giving him a questioning look.

Vlad shrugged at the him. "Jack never like human anatomy, well, at least the part where we had to dissect a cat in college biology."

"Huh," Danny said. "But, why did he threaten to dissect me all those times?"

Vlad gave him a leveled look. "I think that was your mother."

"Oh. Oh, yeah, right."

"Besides," Vlad said with a smile, "ghost anatomy isn't really like human anatomy. Half-ghost, however, is a different story."

"So," Danny said, looking at the unconscious body of his dad. "What are we going to do, now?"

"SERIOUSLY?" Roared a very angry Maddie Fenton who was staring at the scene currently in the kitchen. Danny was pretty sure most of her anger was directed at him and his dad, with his dad being passed out on the floor and Danny being caught red-handed, literally, with his hand deep in his arm and a bone that wasn't fixed yet.

Danny looked helplessly at Vlad, hoping the man, with all his cleverness and past scheming, had a way to get out of this; but whatever hope he had withered out of existence when the man looked at him with the same fear in his eyes.

The man chuckled. “Now, that we got that settled. What are you doing here so late?”

Vlad eyed the clock for effect. It was nearly half past midnight. Usually, Daniel visited during the day, whether it was between classes or on an errand for his parents, something that was a usual occurrence since the recent partnership between the Fentons and Vlad.

The boy gave him a sheepish look, scratching the back of his neck. “Sorry, I didn’t realize how late it was. I was out on patrol and saw your lights on. Just figured…”

The man put down his pen, giving him his undivided attention. “And figured you would pay me a visit?”

Daniel shrugged, looking to the side. “I’ve been thinking about some things lately. Well, kinda worrying, and you’re pretty much the only one who I can talk to about…these things.”

 Vlad only raised an eyebrow at this, still not following what the younger halfa was trying to say.

 The two were silent for a long moment, with Vlad patiently waiting for the young man to continue on.

 Vlad looking at him more closely, usually Danny needed very little pretense to talk to him. It wasn’t like him to struggle with words—usually he just blurted out whatever was on his mind. The boy, very much like his father, didn’t have any semblance of a filter.

 “You know you can ask me anything, Daniel,” Vlad prompted.

 Daniel shifted uncomfortably, then looked up at the man. “Why did you reach out to me?”

 The man raised an eyebrow at this. Although he was unable to fathom what topic had the boy so uncomfortable, he knew for certain this was not it. But, if the boy needed something else to focus on instead of whatever what was on his mind, the man would not push. So, he played along.

 He sighed, beginning to fiddle with the over-extravagant pen in his hands. Although he was humoring the boy in his distraction from whatever was worrying him so much, this was a topic that made him uncomfortable. But, he owed Daniel this much. “That’s a very difficult question. One that has an answer too long for this time of the night.”

 “I’ve got time, besides my first class doesn’t start til 12:30 tomorrow.”

 The man was silent, trying to contemplate how the boy would react. He knew Daniel had been undeservingly gracious so far, but could he really push his luck any further? The boy had ample and justifiable reasons to hate the man.

 Apparently, the boy saw Vlad’s hesitation for what it was. He leaned in towards the man, pinning him with that unwavering blue gaze of his. “Look, I know what you are thinking, but we are past the grudges and all the things you did in the past. I promised I would give you a second chance, and that’s not going to change. Not unless you do something now. All I want to know is why.”

 Vlad smiled at him. For a second, he couldn’t help but admire how strong of a man he was becoming. “When did you become so grown-up?”

 Daniel smirked at him, reminding him of the younger fourteen year old version of the man in front of him. Somehow, he was comforted that the boy didn’t entirely change, that he was still the Danny Fenton he first met. “Guess I had to after saving the world a couple times. But, you are stalling, now. Compliments won’t get you anywhere with me.”

 Vlad laughed, but soon sobered up. He heaved a sigh, trying to find the right words. The right way to explain this. “It is very hard to explain this. Very difficult.” He looked up at Daniel. “But, I owe you this much, if not more.”

 The man stood, somehow finding himself looking out the window. It was easier this way. Talking to the boy, but not really talking to him. It was as if he could convince himself the boy was no longer in the room and he was talking to only himself as long as he remained where he was, looking out at the clusters of dark trees under a starry blanket. And, so, he pretended, his gaze never straying.

 “I wasn’t like you in the beginning. When you become half-ghost, your very being determines the nature of that other part of you. Your ghostly nature is determined by your human one. In the beginning, I was so angry, so hurt. I pushed whatever love your parents had for me away because it wasn’t the kind of love I wanted. I was stuck all by myself in that hospital for so long with this condition I didn’t even understand. It was of both my own doing at the same time it wasn’t. And, all that pain, all that rage fed the other me.

 I realize, now, how foolish I’ve been. That was the one difference between you and me, Daniel. You could have gone down the same path I did. You could have decided to be the victim, but you didn’t.”

 “I had Tucker and Sam.”

 Vlad didn’t look back at the halfa. Shaking his head, he answered, “You could have pushed them away. Just as easily as I pushed your mother and father away.  Do not try to paint me in a way as if this was not my own doing, because it very much was. I felt the change at the time, I felt the rage. I could have stopped it.

 For twenty years, I let that rage consume me. My other half as a conduit for it. I became Vlad Plasmius. I became something inhuman. Consumed me so much that I lost sight of everything. After the asteroid, after what I did, I suppose it shocked me back. Something that was buried so deep inside of me started to show—I realized it was me—my humanity. I grabbed at it, and with that came a flood of emotions I haven’t let myself feel for so long, guilt, pain, loss. I realized how truly terrible I was, all the crimes, the atrocities, every vile thing I have done. Everything I have ever done haunted me; it still does.”

 Vlad took a breath. Talking about that experience was more difficult than he thought. He still felt the flood of emotions from time to time, in sudden waves, so large sometimes it felt like the first time—when it consumed him so fully. But, he reminded himself every time that this was good. It was good to feel, no matter what emotion it was. It meant he was human.

 “I came here to hopefully earn some bit of redemption for everything I have done. I felt like making amends with you and doing whatever I can to help you was a good start. So, was resuming my role as mayor, but instead, with good intentions. Since my ghost form is now the most wanted in the human world, Masters seemed to be a good way to hide since nobody knows he and I are one and the same.

 “All for the best. I never want to be that monster again.”

 “Have you turned yet?”

 Vlad turned to Daniel, leaning back on the windowsill. “I’m sorry?”

 “You know, gone ghost,” Daniel supplied.

 Vlad, despite the situation, had to smile at the phrase, remembering how it used to be the boy’s battle cry long ago. “No. Not since the asteroid.”

 Daniel frowned. “Do you miss it? The powers.”

 The older man shrugged.

 “Vlad,” the boy began, pursing his lips disapprovingly—reminding the man of Maddie Fenton. She used to do the exact same thing when Jack and he would get into trouble at college—which was often, especially with Jack Fenton coming up with the plans.  “You can’t be afraid of your ghost half. I don’t think turning away completely from that side of you is going to do any good. It’s a part of you, you just need to find that balance and looks like you’re pretty closing to finding it.”

 Vlad looked away. “What if that part of me truly is evil, like a real ghost? What would happen to me then?”

 “I don’t think it’s either just the human or the ghost nature. I think this was the man.”

 “So you think it was me?”

 “I know this is pretty harsh,” Daniel said, giving the man a hard look. “But, yes. But let me explain, so I don’t sound like a complete douchebag. Unfortunately, something that I had to learn, being half ghost, having this much power, it means we can’t screw up like everybody else. Simple things, like getting mad or cheating on a test, turn into big things. We are more responsible. We are not like everybody else. What we do has more effects, affect more people—hurts them.

 “But, what I’m saying is, it’s not the ghost or the human, it’s us. It’s who we are, the choices we make, what we choose to stand for.”

 Vlad looked at the young halfa with wide eyes. He couldn’t help it. He knew the shocked expression he was giving the boy must have been offending, but he really couldn’t help it. What he said earlier to him rang in his head, when did you become so grown-up?

 “You know, with the way you are looking at me, I can’t tell if I should be insulted or flattered that I’ve stumped you so hard. I am twenty, you know.”

 “Daniel, I don’t care if you were a hundred, no person would be able to match what you just told me. No person should have to go through whatever taught you that lesson. What happened?”

 The boy looked away. “It was a long time ago.”

 “How long?”

 “I was fourteen.”

 “What happened?” the man repeated.

 The boy shifted uncomfortably. “I saw what would happen if I ever screw up. That’s what happened. And trust me, it was much worse than what you did.”

 “You know you aren’t making any sense right now, right?”

 The boy smiled sadly at the man, looking more aged than he ever had. “Yeah, I know.”

 “And, you are not going to tell me?” the man deduced, not knowing if he truly wanted to find out what exactly happened to the boy, what gave him such a haunted, tired look.

 “I’m sorry, maybe another time, but just trust me on this, don’t be afraid of that other part of you. You are different, I can see that much. Besides,” the boy leaned back, his expression changing to an almost dreamy one, “you probably miss the hell out of flying.”

 The man laughed. “I bet that was your favorite part, huh?”

 Daniel chuckled. “Still is. Couldn’t imagine not being able to.”

 “Well, I’m happy to see some things still haven’t changed.”

 Daniel looked at the man with a confused expression. “What do you mean?”

 Vlad smiled, somehow comforted by this. Apparently, the boy’s love of flying wasn’t the only thing that remained the same. He was still hopelessly clueless. “It’s not anything bad. I’m just still trying to get over how much you’ve grown; you are no longer that fourteen year old I met at that college reunion. I’m proud of you.”

 The boy blushed lightly, breaking eye contact with the man, but before he could do so, the man saw a smile on his face.

 “But,” the man continued, “you still haven’t told me what brought you here.”

 The man almost laughed at the shocked expression on the younger halfa’s face. “Wha?”

 “Oh, come now, Daniel, I’m not nearly as clueless as you. I do know when someone is stalling. And, you don’t exactly have a poker face.”

 Daniel looked away, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

 Vlad raised an eyebrow. He settled down in his office chair. “It cannot be that bad.”

 “Not bad, more awkward, I guess.” The boy paused, giving his older counterpart a wary look. “I was in bio class, and we started talking about animal hybrids.”

 Vlad only raised an eyebrow, not knowing where Daniel was going with this. He highly doubted the boy could tell him anything he didn’t know about being a halfa. When Vlad first realized what happened to him, he spent years researching possible cures for his condition until he stopped looking.

 “I doubt we have anything in common with them. Animals are far from paranormal.”

 “But couldn’t the same principles apply though?”

 “What principles?”

  Daniel blushed, scarlet red reaching the tips of his ears. “Uh, reproducing.”

 Vlad looked at the boy, shocked. He knew Daniel was seeing Sam Manson. “Did you…”

 Daniel blanched. “Uh no, God, no!” He waved his hands in front of him, shaking his head repeatedly.

 At this point, in all his years on this earth, Vlad had never felt so awkward, especially with what he was about to ask next. “Are you,” he paused shifting uncomfortably in his chair, “uh, being safe?”

 The boy looked at him with a horrified expression on his face. “Are you really trying to give me the sex talk?”

 “So, you know about, you know?” God, he couldn’t believe he was doing this, but still, he felt obligated in some weird protective way.

 Daniel groaned. “Yes, Vlad, I know about condoms!”

 “Okay,” Vlad gulped, silently thankful he didn’t have to go any further than that.

 “Moving on from that,” Daniel said, changing the subject as fast as he could. His face was still beet red. “I wasn’t talking about that. In class, they said hybrids are infertile. They can’t reproduce at all.”

 Daniel stopped and looked at Vlad again.

 “And, you’re wondering if that is the case for us?” The older man confirmed.

“Yeah. I mean, obviously Sam and I aren’t doing anything right now, but she talks about that stuff, you know? Like the future and all. She even mentioned how she wanted kids—it just made me think about it. There is so much I still don’t know, like this—can I even have kids, or can I have them and they just come out all mutated?”

The man looked a Daniel, then, more sympathetic than ever to the boy because he knew the answer, and that he probably wouldn’t like it. He also understood how the boy must be feeling, the same frustration with the unknown as he once dealt with. They were the only two people that were like the way they were. Unfortunately, that meant they were left to figure everything out on their own. While there were many benefits to being a halfa, like their immune systems being stronger, immunity to many gases and forms of poisons, enhanced strength and senses, there were some disadvantages as well.

“You can still have kids,” he said, looking to the side. He still felt a little uncomfortable with the subject. “But, it would be harder. The ghost part of our DNA wouldn’t be accepted, so it would have to be left to chance—for the human part of your DNA to align with hers during the first stages of reproduction. If the ghost part were to, then either there would be no pregnancy or there could be miscarriages. It’s not impossible, but it’s difficult for sure. It all depends on a game of chance.”

“I guess that was kind of the answer I expected,” Daniel finally said after taking a moment to digest what the older man said. “That seems to always be the answer with being a half-ghost, kinda a good and bad one.”

Vlad didn’t say anything. What would he say? That it would all be better soon. Danny was right. Being a half-ghost wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. There were certain things full humans took for granted that both he and the younger man couldn’t.

“I’m sorry,” the man finally said.

The younger halfa shook his head. “Don’t be. Sam and I will do what we always do and figure it out. Besides, we have a long time for that.”

“Will you talk to your parents about it?” the man said, knowing full well the Fentons would throw themselves in finding a solution for their son.

Daniel shrugged. “Maybe when it gets closer to that point, but not right now. You know how obsessed they can get with their work. I wouldn’t want them worrying about this. It’s finally starting to get a little bit normal again.”

The man raised an eyebrow at this.

Seeing the man’s questioning look, Daniel rolled his eyes. “Don’t ask.”

Vlad laughed at this, only imagining what Maddie and Jack have been putting their son through in the last couple of years since the Disasteroid and finding out their son was a half-ghost superhero.

Vlad was about to ask again what exactly has been going on in the Fenton household until a very family blue mist escaped the boy’s mouth. Said boy groaned. Daniel stood from his seat, looking more annoyed than anything else. “And, that is my cue.”

In a flash, Daniel was Phantom. The man could only smile at this, feeling, just like every time he watched the boy change, a sense of comradery. After all this time, he finally felt like he was no longer alone in more ways than one.

“Hey, Vlad?”

“Hmm?”

The boy smiled at him. “Thanks.”

The younger halfa made a move to leave but was stopped by the man calling out his name. The boy turned to look at the man. “Yeah?”

“Be careful.”

Daniel laughed. “No promises.”

“What?”

She looked up, not realizing that she looked away from Phantom in the first place. He was looking at her with the oddest expression, it was a mixture of curiosity and a little bit of fear. She didn’t know why he was looking at her that way. What was there to be afraid of? It was pretty obvious she wasn’t going to do anything to him. If she was, she would have had ample amount of opportunities to do so before he was conscious.

Again, without her consent, flashes of her hands deep in his open body crossed her mind. She did her best to suppress a shiver. She knew she was going to be haunted for a while by what she had to do to him. Although she wasn’t as bad off as her husband, she didn’t enjoy the realm of the real world when it concerned human anatomy.

Despite her background in various sciences, most involving physics, engineering, chemistry, and various others specializing in the paranormal, she was never taken with the human body. She didn’t like seeing somebody cut open and so vulnerable. She didn’t like seeing the many things that could go wrong if a person was injured so badly to the point of dying. This was why she never once considered donating her brilliance to the medical world. She wanted to help people, better them, protect them, not repair them when something had already happened. This was why Phantom shook her so badly. She wasn’t expecting to find anything of what she did. Ghosts weren’t supposed to have anything that resembled the anatomy of a human. This was why Maddie had no qualms with dissecting ghosts in the first place. They weren’t like humans.

“I just don’t understand,” she finally said, managing to push back the images of him, of his blood. She looked at his torso, which was dressed in white gauze, to convince herself that he was no longer in the shape he was once in. No longer open and vulnerable. “I don’t understand how you’re like this. How this happened to you? How you can even exist?”

She stopped herself from saying the next thing that came to her mind. How he was still alive after all of this?

She looked at him again. This time seeing just how frail he looked, and it scared her. She didn’t know why, but it just did. For some reason, this was shaking her to the core. She felt as if she couldn’t breathe, and that the panic was about to come and consume her. She didn’t know why. She didn’t understand this feeling just like how she couldn’t understand the boy causing it.

Phantom laid back even deeper into the pillow, his head to the side so that he could still see her. He let out a breath, sounding more weighted than the silence between them.

“What are you thinking?” She asked, leaning in towards him. She wanted to push back the white hair that was falling in his peculiarly colored eyes, but she didn’t. She didn’t know how he would react to her touch.

“I’m just,” the boy paused for a second, seeming to have trouble with what he was trying to say, “trying to process all of this, I guess.”

He looked down at his hand, the one that was gloveless and had the IV in it. “I never thought you would find out this way.” He smirked all of a sudden, it was filled with mirth but still had a certain light to it. “Then again, I never thought I would be shot either. With an actual gun that is.” He looked back up at her, the smile disappearing when he saw her disapproving expression. He was still treating this as if it was some kind of game.

Maddie shook her head, not getting it at all. It was as if the boy couldn’t grasp the seriousness of the situation.

“What?” he said, his tone sounding a bit offended. Did she offend him somehow? She couldn’t tell. She didn’t know what was up or down with him.

“I keep trying to tell you, but you don’t seem to get it,” she answered. The boy stiffened, giving her a stubborn look. It seemed he already knew what she was trying to say. She never did give him credit for this, but he was pretty smart. It surprised her that she was just realizing this about Phantom.

“No, I get it,” he said, his tone suddenly serious. He wasn’t looking at her anymore, but instead at the ceiling. She studied his profile, the strong jaw that he might grow into one day--she thought ‘might’ because now she didn’t know if he could age or not--, the subtle green light from his eyes that cast shadows on certain parts of his face, making the planes look even more angular, his hair was mussed and looked permanently windblown. He was a handsome boy despite all the anomalies in his appearance, but somehow they only enhanced his features, looking as if he was meant to look that way all along.

“You don’t know how much I really do get it,” he said, unknowingly bringing Maddie back to reality. “I can die.”

There was such a finality in that simple statement. For some reason, it made the pit of Maddie’s stomach drop; she suddenly felt queazy.

“But, something worse could happen,” he said, his eyes never leaving the ceiling. He was avoiding eye contact with her, not daring to look at her.

“What could be worse than losing your life?” Maddie asked, her eyebrows pulling together in concentration, her attention fully on the boy in front of her. She realized she was closer to him now than she thought, but she didn’t pull away.

“Losing everybody and everything I love,” he said, Maddie looked at him questioningly, hearing the distinct sound of experience in his voice. Did something happen to him?

“Seeing people die when there was a way I could stop it,” he continued, still not looking at her. “There are worse things.”

“You have loved ones?” Maddie asked. “Do they know about you?”

She tried to picture Phantom’s family in her head, but she drew a blank. It was hard for her to fathom something that was impossible a day ago.

“Some of them do,” he said, he was frowning again. Maddie didn’t like it when he frowned; it seemed like it pulled all the life out of him. “My friends know. They help me sometimes.”

“Why didn’t you tell your family?” Maddie asked. “You are alive; they would want to know.”

“It’s complicated,” he said. He was avoiding her gaze more than ever. It was clear he didn’t want to say anything more about the subject, but Maddie continued to press.

“What’s complicated about it? Your parents would rather have their son alive and with ghost powers, or whatever it is, than have their son dead.” She looked down at her cupped hands, managing to speak around the knot in her throat. “I don’t know what I’d do if I lost one of my children. I would be devastated. Your parents are probably feeling the same way.”

She looked up to see him staring at her, giving her the oddest look. His breathing was coming out more harsh than before, but he didn’t seem to notice. “What if,” he stopped for a moment, hesitating but after a moment, he continued, seeming to decide that he was going to ask anyway. “What if one of your kids was like...this?”

He didn’t say it, but she could practically hear the unspoken question in the air. Would you accept them?

She didn’t even need to think about it; there was no hesitation in her answer. “Yes.”

“Why?” He said, he made a move to get up but winced momentarily. Rather than settling back down like Maddie thought he would, he just pushed harder until he was in sitting position, feet dangling off the table. He was gripping his torso with a pained expression. Maddie could see a red and green mixture beginning to bloom across the gauze, spreading slowly until it stopped. The once immaculate pure white gauze now stained. It took her a minute before she could tear her gaze away from it.

He was looking pretty impressed with himself, but the moment was fleeting as his expression melted back to the serious one he had before.

Before she could reprimand him and force him to lay back down, he said abruptly, “You’re a ghost-hunter. You don’t like ghosts.” His tone sounded pained and forced, but she didn’t pay any mind to it, still taken by the simplicity of his statement and how absolutely wrong it was.

“I love them,” she said, it seemed absurd that she even had to explain this. “It doesn’t matter what they turned into or what they did.  It doesn’t matter what I am or what I hate. I will always love them. Besides, if they were anything like you, I would be proud.” She smiled at him; it was genuine, even brimming with a bit of pride for him because this boy, after all the negativity and hatred, still did the right thing no matter how many times it was misconstrued, especially by her. He risked his life to save people. Despite the obvious risk, especially for someone so young, she couldn’t help but be a little proud of him despite the fact that she truly didn’t have any ties with the boy.

Phantom looked taken aback, his expression comical because he truly looked as if he wasn’t expecting anything she said, but as if the words were just registering, he smiled at her. It was the big, goofy smile her Danny would give her. It made her smile even bigger at him. She lived for those smiles.  

“You know,” she said, “you remind me a bit of my son. His name is Danny too.”

Phantom’s smile wavered momentarily but remained, “I do?”

“Yes,” she said. “We were really close at one time. We still are in a way, but you know how it is. When you grow up and become a teenager, you start having friends and school, I guess you grow out of your parents a bit.”

Her smile grew a bit sad, but she realized a while back that her Danny was just growing up and that he wasn’t always going to be her little boy, but it never stopped her from always being there on the sidelines waiting to come to the rescue.

“He’s been a bit distant lately,” she stopped, thinking about something that’s been on her mind as of lately when it came to the youngest Fenton. “But, you know, it might seem odd, but I see these glimpses sometimes, in his eyes, in the way he speaks, when he doesn’t know I’m looking. He really is growing into a fine young man, becoming somebody that my husband and I are proud of.” She looked down, shaking her head in embarrassment at what she just said, imagining how everybody else that knew her son would react to her words. “I know it must seem weird for me to say that, considering he’s been having so much trouble with school--his grades have improved but he still gets in trouble a lot--and curfew and just about everything else, but I don’t know. It’s just something I can feel.”

“You really think that about him?” Maddie looked up, hearing the confusion in Phantom’s voice. He was looking at her as if he had never seen her before. She didn’t know why he was looking at her like that, maybe it was because he’s never seen her in this light before, as the mother she was.

She nodded, not able to tear her eyes away from him. He looked at her in amazement and wonder. Again, she wondered why.

“I do get these feelings though,” she said to him, a bit surprised with herself that she was telling Phantom this, something that she hadn’t even told Jack. “Sometimes I feel like he’s in trouble. I don’t know what he’s dealing with, and sometimes I see it’s taking a tole on him. He looks exhausted sometimes to the point where he looks like he’s going to collapse or other times he just seems so defeated,” she paused, Phantom was giving her a worried look. His face looked too young for that look. “I could be imagining it, or it could be a phase he’s going through. Sometimes I want to bring it up to him, but I don’t know. Do you talk to your children about that kind of stuff? Or do you let them find their own way and just be there to catch them if they fall?

“Something tells me he can handle it, but at the same time, I still want to be there.”

She looked at the boy sitting there, he wasn’t looking at her so she couldn't see his expression, instead his attention was drawn to the ground. She smiled, feeling a bit awkward that she was spilling all of this to him. “I’m sorry; I think I got a bit carried away with that. It’s been on my mind lately, and I guess it just came out.”

He looked up suddenly, “No it’s fine.” Maddie wondered why his voice was so shaky all of the sudden.

“I should probably go,” he said, gripping the table as he slowly settled himself into standing position. He looked unsteady, but after a moment, he straightened to his full height, which Maddie didn’t realize until now was bit taller than her. He wasn’t like that before. She supposed her question on whether or not he could age was answered. Like so many other things about the boy, she wondered how did she miss that before?

Somehow, he didn’t look like the fragile boy laying on the table a moment ago. He looked stronger, more confident. She didn’t know how she missed it before, but she could see it in his eyes. It wasn’t that he was weighed down with the worries of the world or that he looked so haunted by everything that he went through. He didn’t look aged or defeated or deterred by what happened to him. He looked as if he was comfortable with weight of the world, that sure, it was on his shoulders, but he could hold it just fine. He looked as if he did see a lot, and yeah, some of it might have been terrible, but he used them not as something negative, but as something that could teach him, to guide him for what he will overcome in the future.

She saw the same look in his eyes as she did in her son. It was like the ghost of his spirit was residing in the depths of the boy’s eyes in front of her.

She was awestruck by the familiarness of it all.

He looked at her then, she wasn’t used to being looked at in that way. She didn’t know why, but she felt lighter. “Don’t worry about your son,” he smiled, but she could see it was a bit timid as if he didn’t know exactly what he was trying to say. “He will come to you eventually, and I think he will be happy to know that you are there for him.”

She didn’t even get a chance to convince him to stay. He was gone before she could even move. In any other situation, if she wasn’t feeling the way she was right now, she would have chased him down, too worried that he was going bleed out or get in trouble, but she wasn’t worried. Well, not desperately so.

She raised an eyebrow at this but opted not to say anything, but that didn't stop her from looking at him more closely. He looked completely out of sorts and plain annoyed.

She figured this was a by product of a very bad day. Normally, she would just wait for him to come to her. She knew him well enough to know he didn't like to talk these sorts of things out unless it was bothering him to the point where he might explode. But, today she saw this wasn’t the case. Sam was used to seeing a mildly stressed Danny every once in a while (who could really blame him, he was juggling college, a job, and his ghost hero work that was practically another life of its own), but this was a seriously stressed out Danny she was seeing, something that rarely ever happened.

She unfolded herself, leaving her books and notebook behind, the impossible equation all but forgotten.

She extended her hands out in an empty gesture mimicking a hug. "Come here," her tone was warm and knowing.

He didn't even hesitate. He walked over slowly and plopped down next her.

She enveloped him into her arms, his head resting on her shoulder. "Rough day?" Sam prompted.

She heard him huff a scoff.

She smiled at this, starting to work the tension out of his shoulder with her free hand. “Want to vent?”

He was silent for a while. She could practically hear him battling with himself on whether or not to tell her. Before, in the past, Sam always told him to just hurry up and spit it out, demanding to know, but now, she knew that wouldn’t help things. Danny was different from her in this way. While she exploded and said everything on her mind, Danny was more reclusive, picking and choosing what he let out. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her. It was just that he felt like it would burden her, and as much as it annoyed Sam, it really couldn’t be helped. She just had to wait.

Danny groaned, shifting his position until he was laying down, sprawled out on the couch with his head resting on her lap. He peered up at her in exhaustion. “I’m just glad this day is over.”

He only needed to say that one sentence. Then, it began to pour out, the sentence causing a chain reaction. “I mean, come on? When was the last time there were frick’in five ghost attacks! During the day! And, they just had to happen on the day I have three classes, two of them I had exams in. Oh, and I’m not even counting the Box Ghost. I don’t even know how many times I caught him. I don’t know how he keeps getting out of that damn portal. Oh, and can’t forget that I literally can’t remember the time when I actually had more than five hours of sleep. Either I’m up studying my ass off, trying to catch up because of all the ghosts or I’m catching ghosts. Seriously, do they ever sleep? Because I sure has hell don’t.”

Danny gave a huff, then dragged his hands up his face until he was gripping his hair in a tired gesture.

Sam noticed the dark bags under his eyes for the first time. “Hey,” she said, getting his attention. “Just breathe. I know it seems overwhelming now, but just breathe. You’re stressed, and I totally get why but you’re okay.”

She smiled down at him for good measure.

Danny took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He looked much calmer than before, simmering down. He even allowed his lips to quiver into a tentative smile.

He let out a frustrated exhale, sending his bangs flying upward in a cute way before flopping down on his forehead in their normal disheveled position. “I just don’t understand why it has to be so hard sometimes.”

On the floor, just lying there. His eyes were still open, staring up at the ceiling. In a way, it felt like they were mocking her, fooling her into thinking he was just laying there staring up as if he thought something was interesting. She could even bring herself to believe that, delude herself into thinking that he was doing just that, but she couldn’t, no matter how hard she wanted to, disregard the lifelessness in those dull blue eyes, characteristics that never described Danny before. So how could she really choose to believe that?

She ran to him, kneeling in the blood that was pooling around his form.

She didn’t care.

She didn’t care about the sickly red tinged green soaking through her pants and sticking to her skin. She didn’t care how the feeling made her skin crawl. It hardly felt like much compared to the whirlwind of emotions going on through her.

She gripped him, close to her, trying to ignore the way his head awkwardly lulled back. Her grip tightened around him as she burrowed her head into the crook of his neck. In a sick way, it reminded her of just the other day when he hugged her, when he was still alive.

“I was supposed to take care of you,” she mumbled into him.

Her only response was his blood. Dripping on her cheek. She winced, but didn’t remove her head from its position.

“Jazz?” Maddie said again, sounding panicked. Jazz didn’t look up, but the woman continued. “Jazz? What’s going on? Why?” Jazz heard her mother choke on a sob, but she didn’t feel any need or want to comfort her. No. She felt something quite differently. “We didn’t know...”

Jazz’s eyes widened. She stared at the floor, seeing only her parents’ feet.

There was an ectogun laying there. Right there. Next to them.

As if someone dropped it.

Even though the state Jazz was in was severely unstable, she could still put the pieces together.

They shot him.

They killed him.

“Nothing was supposed to hurt you,” she whispered. Her voice sounding small and foreign to her. She didn’t care. She clutched Danny’s head in one hand, raking his hair back and forth, stroking it as if to comfort him.

“I was supposed to protect you,” she said, still staring at the ectogun.

But, she knew. Oh, she knew that it wasn’t the reason for her brother’s death. No. The reason was still living and breathing, standing right in front of her.

She slowly looked up at the two people who completely broke her world.

She looked into the horrified and remorseful eyes of her brother’s killers. She didn’t see the sorrow and complete anguish in their eyes. Well, if she did, then, she didn’t pay any attention to it. She didn’t really even look at them. They weren’t people to her.

“No one will hurt him,” she said. Her blue eyes were haunting as her parents looked at their daughter, not recognizing the slightly sinister tone in her voice.

And, that was when the only Fenton child left felt it. The snap.

People say that evil or malignancy needs time to grow, to fester. But, those who say that don’t truly know. All it needs is a second.

The girl, still soaked through with the blood of her brother, hair matted and dripping crimson, took the ectogun. Standing.

“Jazz?” Maddie Fenton said, looking at her daughter with fear. “What are you doing?”

Jazz held the gun up at the two people. Her brother’s killers.

“No one will hurt him,” she said simply.

Two shots fired.

There was only one Fenton left in the house.

“No one will hurt you,” the girl said, emotionlessly watching the bodies of her parents drop like sacks of flower.

She walked calmly back to her brother, again sitting down next to him, taking him in her arms. She smiled down at him, fingering his cheek. She didn’t look at his eyes. Her smile widened. “It’s okay, Danny; they didn’t hurt you.”

“Hey, Danny,” she said back, before locking the door behind him. “I told you, you didn’t have to come see me tonight.”

He raised his eyebrows. “You did?”

She walked behind the counter to get all the cleaning supplies out. “Yeah, I texted you.” 

“Oh, my phone’s broken again.”

She eyed him. “Isn’t that like the fifth time this month?”

“Yeah, ghost fights don’t really mix well with cell phones. I’m thinking about asking Dad if he could make it ghost proof or something,” he shrugged. “He managed to make everything else ghost proof.”

“He probably could,” she conceded, then smiled at her boyfriend. “But, do you think that’s kinda counter-productive.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re also a ghost,” she pointed out with a knowing smile.

“Point,” he deadpanned. “Okay, maybe only full-ghost-proof.”

She laughed. “So how was your day? Know it must have been boring since both Tucker and I had work.”

“The usual plus a couple ghost fights. I hung out with Dash a bit too,” he laughed at some silent joke. “He is still trying to convince me to try out for the university’s football team so we can play together. Thinks I should show off some ghost-fighting moves. Might be fun.”

She frowned at this as she pulled out the mop bucket and started filling it with hot water and soap. “I’m starting to think Tucker is the only smart one out of you three.”

“Tucker is going to film it.”

Sam sighed. “I stand corrected. You are all idiots.”

“But, we are your idiots.”

“Unfortunately,” she allowed. “You and Dash need to stop hanging out. I miss the old days when he used to beat you up. At least back then, the world was safe from your combined stupid ideas.”

Danny laughed, not at all bothered by his girlfriend’s comment. “Yeah, doubt that is ever gonna happen. Looks like the world will have to continue to live in fear.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be the hero?”

“Yeah, what’s your point?”

Sam rolled her eyes. “Don’t expect me to bail you guys out of jail or anything.”

“Who said we are going to jail?”

“Oh, you will. I’m just waiting.”

He wasn’t at all deterred by this. “Tucker will bail us out.”

“Tucker would most likely be there with you two.”

“You’re probably right about that one,” he said after a short pause of thought. 

He leaned against the counter, smirking at her. “But, anyway I’m here to trade my labor for coffee.”

She laughed, “Is that all?”

“Probably some kisses too.”

Sam smiled at him, then winked. “I probably can arrange that.”

“I was hoping you would say that.”

“So,” she said, breaking away from the bucket of water and soap she was making, and walked over towards the espresso machine to get in position. “What would you like?”

“Coffee. Black.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re being pretty boring today.”

Ever since she first started, Danny came in regularly to visit her, which was normally at night because she was mainly given closing shifts, which was much appreciated since she was more of a night owl than an early bird. He pretty much tried everything on the menu and then joined her in experimenting when there was nothing legitimate left to explore.

“I know,” he said, “but I just need something quick and easy. I’m pretty exhausted.”

She stopped what she was doing, eyeing him more closely. Danny was pretty good at hiding just exactly how tired he was, but after years and years of experience, she knew the tell-tale signs. There were faint bags under his eyes, faint enough that nobody would notice if they weren’t looking. His eyes also seemed a little less brighter than usual and were half-lidded. This plus that fact that he actually voiced he was tired had her a little bit concerned, but she didn’t dare show this.

“How many nights?”

“Only two,” he said, looking at her intently, searching for any signs of what she was really thinking.

She feigned disinterest. “Well, you are definitely coming how with me so you can actually get some sleep tonight.”

He laughed. “Sam, if I come over to your apartment, I won’t really want to sleep.”

She flustered, feeling warmth spread across her cheeks, but she tried to hide it with a scowl. “Well, you’re going to have to,” she said snarkily, then turned to pour coffee in a large cup for him. She also snuck in a shot of espresso for him. 

When she face him again, he was smiling at her, his eyes roaming over her, completely unabashed from being caught checking her out. 

She rolled her eyes, but smiled at him. “Here,” she said, extending the cup towards him. “Before you pass out.”

“Thanks,” he smirked, taking the cup from her.

Her smile grew smaller, though, when she saw a thick bandage, peaking out from under his coat sleeve.

“Is that from today?” she said, again trying to be calm. It wasn’t like this was the first time he showed signs of ghost fights, but they were more noticeable now because he was getting fewer and fewer over the years.

 “Huh?” he said, taking a long sip of his coffee.

 She eyed his arm meaningfully, then looked at him.

 Danny followed her eyes, looking down at his arm, then shrugged. “Yeah,” he said. “It was Skulktech.”

 “Skulktech?” she asked, turning to the coffee makers so she could start dumping out the coffee. On a second thought, she filled another large cup for Danny, before continuing.

 “Yeah, was going to tell you about that, but broken phone,” he said. She could practically hear the shrug in his voice.

 “Is that still a yikes?”

 She looked back at him just in time to see him really shrug. “Should be, but I still can’t get past the ew part.”

 “Well, that happened a lot faster than we thought,” Sam said with her back to him. She pulled the coffee makers back from the sink and put them in their respective places in the coffee machine, pressing the buttons so hot water would start running in them.

 She, then turned towards the discarded bucket, now filled almost entirely with soapy water, pulling the mop from its place before bringing it out to the sitting area.

 “Yeah,” he said, walking behind the counter.

 For a second, she thought he was getting the second cup she poured for him, but he walked out with a rag and spray bottle in hand.

 “It’s kinda surreal seeing him,” he said, setting the rag and spray bottle on one of the tables to shed his winter coat off. He was wearing a short-sleeved tshirt. Usually, Sam wouldn’t have minded this, especially since it gave her the chance to appreciate his strong biceps and forearms, having been forged from years of ghost-fighting, but the site was marred by the bandage that was wrapped around one of his arms, starting at his wrist and ending just before the beginning of his elbow. There were already red spots on it.

 Sam could feel her mouth twist with displeasure, but quickly concealed it when he faced her once more.

 He started picking up the abandoned trash on the tables to throw away. He paused briefly with a blank expression. “Wait—him—them? Are they still two ghosts? Or one?”

 Sam shrugged, before plunging the mop into the bucket. “Don’t ask me; I’m still getting over the fact that they actually merged.”

 “Maybe they just got tired of losing.” He sprayed the nearest table than began to work on it, using the rag to rub out the many coffee stains.

 Sam chewed the bottom of her lip as she mopped the first section of the little shop. She didn’t want to tell him what she was really feeling. That she was scared of this. It seemed like all of his enemies were starting to learn new tricks and were beginning to go to new extremes just to beat him. Danny was pretty good at being Phantom. Hell, he was getting pretty good at being both Fenton and Phantom. He was doing surprisingly well in college despite being undecided about his major; he was also going into fights with a little more strategy too. He was finally mastering the balancing act of being both a superhero and a regular guy. She just hoped he could keep it up.

 “Skulktech…” Danny said, sounding like he still couldn’t believe it. “You know,” he smiled at her. “I really need to start censoring my stalkers. They are just getting too creepy for me. Talk about obsessive behaviors.”

 At the site of his smile, Sam swallowed down whatever darker emotions she was feeling. She didn’t want to worry him by making a big deal out of this. He was Danny after all and was very different from the newly formed half-ghost fourteen year old he used to be. He could handle a lot and most importantly now, he knew when to ask for help if he needed it, something she finally drilled into that thick skull of his.

 “They should all make a club,” she smiled. “Paulina could be president.”

 Danny shivered at the thought. “Five years and she is still chasing Phantom.” Then he smirked. “But, I think she would have a run for her money with Mr. Mayor.”

 “Speaking of Vlad,” she said, starting the next section of the floor, attacking a particularly stubborn spot of dried coffee. “Do you think we should really take that truce he wants seriously?”

 Danny paused mid-wipe to shrug at her, then continued what he was doing. “I don’t really know. He seemed kinda adamant about it. He’s even been giving Dad an easier time and stopped hitting on Mom—thank God.”

 “Could be a trap,” she said as she pounded the mop into the bucket of soapy water, adding to the finality in her voice.

 “You always think it’s a trap,” he said exasperatedly, but there was amusement in his eyes.

 “Because it usually is.”

 He laughed. “True.”

 She eyed him as he moved onto another table—one of the last. “But you don’t think it is this time.”

 “No,” he confirmed without missing a beat.

 She stopped, staring at him curiously. Leaning against the mop with one of her arms resting on the top, she said, “Okay, I’ll bite. Why not?”

 Danny looked at her then. “It’s going to sound dumb.”

She just looked at him with eyebrows raised, waiting for him to continue. 

He huffed, seeing how she wasn’t going to let him out of this one. He raked his dark locks back in a restless motion, the only thing that showed his agitation on being grilled. She smiled at him, secretly drinking in the site of him. Even though they started dating at the ripe age of fifteen, she felt the same way as if it was the first time she looked at him, butterflies and all. 

“I’ve been thinking a lot about the other future lately—the one with the evil me—maybe because of Skulktech,” he shrugged, determined to play it off as if it was no big deal. “I don’t really know, but in that future there was a different Vlad. He was a better Vlad. Maybe that’s happening now.”

“I think you might be getting your hopes up on that one,” she said matter-of-factly. She wasn’t trying to be mean or bring Danny down, but it was her duty as the cynical straight-shooting member of team Phantom to point this out 

“Maybe,” he conceded. “But, can you blame me, Sam?”

He noticed the questioning look she shot him. “I’ve been half ghost for five years by myself and there are still some things that take me by surprise, a lot I don’t know too. Vlad has twenty-five years. Do you know how much easier it would be if he was on our side. And, not for the ghost fighting—I can handle that, but for the other stuff. I have so many questions. Just having somebody to figure it out with me would be nice.”

Sam frowned at him, more unhappy that this was the first time she was hearing these feelings from Danny than about the sudden warmth for the older halfa. “You’ve given this a lot of thought.”

He shrugged uncommittedly at her before moving to the to-go stand, starting to restock the sugars, straws, and utensils. “Not as much as you think. I’m not crying myself to sleep every night if that’s what you’re getting at. Just always something that was in the back of my mind, even when I was fourteen. The woulda-shoulda-coulda’s, you know? 

“But, now it actually could happen,” she said. For a second she was able to see Danny’s point-of-view. It must have been pretty scary not knowing anything about his future in that way. There wasn’t much precedence for half-ghosts, and no matter how much his parents threw themselves into research, they weren’t going to have all the answers. There were still many things they didn’t know about half-ghosts.

At this, she felt a twinge of sadness for him, hating how this was what happened to him. He was such a good person; he didn’t deserve this. Even though being Phantom was something both the world and he needed, it still had its price. 

“Yeah, it would just make things easier,” he said.

They worked silently for a few minutes. Having finished the floor, Sam went behind the counter to dump out the now-dirty mop water, and began working on washing the milk canteens and many muffin trays.

“He offered to pay for the rest of my college tuition,” Danny said, joining her behind the counter so he could wipe it with his rag. He wasn’t looking at his handiwork, instead looking at her reaction.

She kept her face neutral, resisting the urge to scowl. “All of it? 

“Every year,” he said.

“Wow,” she said. “We haven’t even started our fourth semester yet. That pretty much sets you up for the next two and a half years. Are you going to do it? 

“I’m not sure,” he said. “Feels kind of weird accepting money from him.”

“If you really think he is serious about this whole truce thing, well I don’t see how it would be too weird.” She cut her eyes back at him, smirking. “He’s a billionaire, Danny. I think he can spare a little.”

He didn’t say anymore about it, neither confirming nor denying he was going to go through with it.

“But, if you do take this money, I guess this means you will have to finally pick a major.”

He smiled at her, reaching across her to drop the rag in the other section of the sink. “Already ahead of you. I was thinking medicine or something like that. God knows I’ve patched myself up enough times to know a thing or two about it already. Who would have thought the superhero business was good for something other than learning how to punch.”

He smiled at her then, which she returned with a frown. “That’s not funny.”

He rolled his eyes at her, but his smiled remained. “You gotta admit it’s a little. I thought you were supposed to be the one with the dark sense of humor.”

“Not when the jokes are so bad.”

“Sam Manson, I will get you one day,” he said, mock glaring at her.

She flicked water at him and leaned in closer into his direction. “You will never get me, ghost-boy.”

He drew in closer to her, so close she could practically feel his body heat. She inhaled sharply, taking in just how handsome he was, especially with the mischievous half smile on his face. It sent her brain into a flurry of thoughts and the butterflies in her stomach soaring, but she refused to show how much of an effect he had on her.

“You know, Sam,” he said, “even though you are usually right about a lot of things, I hope you are wrong on that one.”

She couldn’t say anything. She couldn’t even stop the goofy smile that she knew was on her face. Instead, she turned back to the dishes and began rinsing them off 

With a chuckle, he kiss her cheek, then went behind her in the other section behind the counter to start refilling the many containers of powders.

She eyed his backside hungrily, watching as he crouched down to pull out the boxes of excess powders to fill the containers with.

After rinsing the last of the dishes, she started the cleaning cycle on the espresso machine, then began pulling the frozen pastries out that needed to be proofed for the next morning.

“Why do you think he is doing all of this?” she finally said, returning to their previous conversation. She was still skeptical but was more willing to believe there might be good intentions.

“I think he still feels bad about the whole Disasteroid thing.”

She growled at this. “Well, it was his fault it got so out of hand in the first place.”

Vlad Masters wasn’t exactly the cause of the Disasteroid coming for earth, but he did try to use it to his advantage by striking a deal as his alter ego Plasmius with the world leaders, practically holding the world hostage in exchange for turning the asteroid intangible and saving them all. In the end, it didn’t work out because it was made out of ectoranium, a substance that no ghost could touch without experiencing intense pain. Luckily, Danny’s plan to turn the earth intangible saved the day, but it was a pretty close call. The only thing good that seemed to come out of the whole catastrophe was his parents finding out his secret, along with a select few at the North Pole, who were sworn into secrecy after.

 After that, Vlad laid low as Masters, throwing himself more into his role as the mayor of Amity. It took a while for Danny to accept that he was no longer scheming, but over time, he eventually only regarded Vlad as more of an annoyance than a threat.

 “Can’t argue with that,” he said as he filled the last container with cocoa powder before putting all the boxes away, “but he hasn’t done anything since. Another reason why I think he is serious about this. After all, he isn’t the first person to change.”

 “Okay, okay,” she said, putting the trays of pasties on the racks so they could sit over night. She turned towards him then. “We can give him a chance.”

 He stood up, rubbing his hands together to get some stray cocoa powder off. He raised an eyebrow at her. “That was easy.”

 “Just let me talk to him first.”

He rolled his eyes. “And there it is.”

She glared at him. “There what is?”

He shook his head at her, more amused by her glare than scared. “You’re going to threaten him, aren’t you?”

She smirked, looking suddenly wicked. Holding her hand up to show her pointer finger separated marginally from the top of her thumb, she said, “Only a little.”

“Aren’t I’m supposed to be the hero?”

 “So?”

 “Meaning I can threaten my enemies just fine, Sam, thank you very much.”

 She walked up to him, giving him a brief hug before pulling away to pat his cheek with one of her hands. “Sure, bae, whatever you think.”

 The moment was broken by a big yawn from the halfa.

 Sam smiled knowingly at him. “Ready to go home? You look pretty tired.”

 He smirked at her in a mischievous way, but the expression didn’t quite reach his tired eyes. “I am all for going home with you.”

 She gave him the second cup of coffee she poured for him earlier and started leading him out the door. She knew exactly what he meant in his last statement but was determined to deter him. “You didn’t sleep for two days already. No. You’re sleeping.”

 “I don’t mind making it three.”

“Well, I mind.”

She finished locking the door, then turned to him. He really did look tired; it was more obvious now than it was before.

She smiled at him. “Thank you for coming to help me.” 

She gave him a long kiss, long enough for her to feel the sparks between them she normally felt.