A/N:
Hello, all!
This is my first ever written fanfiction! After years of reading stories on this website I finally got off my butt (metaphorically speaking) to do something productive, not just reading. So before we get on with the story here are a few things that you need to know:
I am borrowing this story idea from seriously-sarcasic's story "Cullen and Fenton Wife Swap". That is where I got the inspiration for this story, and the permission to do my take on it (Thank you!).
Phantom Planet never happened. Parents/world do not know about Danny Fenton/Phantom being the same being.
In Maternal Instinct Maddie didn't find out about Vlad's affections for her.
Danny is 15 in this story.
I have absolutely no idea whether or not I want to give Danny a significant other in this story. So if you see anything resembling romance for him take it with a grain of salt...or stop squinting. If I do add a pairing at some point for Danny there will be no lemons (explicit sexual scenes), romance would/will be a subplot, not the main focus of the story.
Not a bash fic! (It may seem like Maddie bashing for a bit but it's temporary!
This story is a work in progress (WIP). I'm making it up as I go along. So you will be in suspense just as much, or as little, as I am! ;)
I have no beta for this story! All the mistakes are ones that I missed in editing. Feel free to point them out to me!
Updates will most likely be sporadic.
Now with that mess is out of the way let's get on with the story!
DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Danny Phantom or Twilight. They belong to Butch Hartman and Stephenie Meyer respectively. Shame.
Chapter 1: The Meeting
Danny sighed as he looked at the clock.
2:54
He groaned noiselessly and willed it to move faster. 'Come on' was his only as the second-hand moved slowly on its circular path. Hearing a faint rustle from the seat next to the boy Danny flicked his eyes over. Tucker was giving a sympathetic look before turning back to the teacher and the mind numbing lecture, conveniently slipping a slip of paper onto Danny's desk.
Casting a quick, surreptitious glance at the teacher at the front; Mr. Lancer was performing another boring lecture on Romeo and Juliet, though where he missed out in class attentiveness he made up for with his own exuberance. The bald and slightly overweight teacher was swinging his arms around as if on a rollercoaster, the tattered book a rather unexpected passenger.
Opening the piece of paper with eyes riveted to the front in a farce of interest. Quickly and nonchalantly edging the copy of Romeo and Juliet in front of the paper.
Danny, you up for the Nasty Burger? T
Taking quick look up at Lancer who was still dolling on about the Shakespearean Tragedy. Really, it was a tragedy just to listen to!
He gave a slight shake of his head to Tucker before bending down over the paper in a way that it looked as if he were reading the book.
Can't, mom and dad want me home right after school today. D
After passing it back to Tucker when Lancer's back was turned he was able to hear the slight crinkle of paper as Tucker picked it up and read it, then another as it was passed to someone else. A few seconds later the paper was resting behind the book again.
Why? S
He turned his head to look past Tucker and saw their other friend –Sam- giving Danny a questioning glance.
I don't know. Said it was a surprise. I just hope it isn't another ecto-weapon! D
The 'to split me up molecule by molecule' went unsaid but understood, considering the pitying looks the teen got in return.
"Ah-hemm" came a noise from the front. With an inaudible groan Danny turned with a slight cringe to see Lancer looking rather pointedly at the three with the raised book positioned in our general direction. Ignoring the same situation playing out multiple times all around them. He opened his mouth and-
BRIIING!
Sighing slightly he gave them a lingering stare before turning his attention back to the class as a whole. Before any of the students could make an escape he called out "Remember to finish the essay on iambic pentameter to hand in on class Monday. Have a good weekend and stay out of trouble!"
The first part of that last sentence was aimed at Dash Baxter who gave the man a cheeky smile…or sneer. It was hard to tell. The last part of the sentence was clearly for me though, his eyes had strayed in my direction as he said it. Many shoulders slumped under the weight of the remembered assignment as they trudged out the door, Paulina could be heard trying to bribe her way into an A by seducing on of the nerds.
Sam, Tucker and Danny tailing them quickly. "Mr. Fenton!"
But not quickly enough.
He groaned in despair, he could practically see his freedom slipping away. He turned around, only giving the time to wave his friends off so that they wouldn't suffer as he knew he would, before replying.
"Yes, Mr. Lancer?"
He gave the raven haired teen a piercing look and opened him mouth, Danny unconsciously shifted into a subtle defensive stance, before pausing and grumbling "I will not tolerate any note passing in my class Mr. Fenton, if I catch you doing it again you will be serving detention faster that you can say Great Gatsby!" He gave him a slight glare for a beat before it relented. "Now go, enjoy your weekend Mr. Fenton." The balding man turning to shuffle papers on his slightly sloppy desk.
With a quick "yes, sir!" he left the room before Lancer could change his mind.
Who knew? Teachers didn't like being in school late on Fridays too.
MEP
"Danny!" came a baritone call as he walked out of the school building. Tucker was coming up with Sam close behind. "Dude! What did Lancer want?" He asked as he fiddled with a new PDA in his hand. Honestly, Tucker seemed to get a new one each week. Though it was understandable, more than half of them got broken during ghost fights, of course it was never Danny's fault.
"Yeah, did he give you detention again?" asked Sam in her low alto tone of voice, violet eyes alight with concern and a bit of amusement. He had seen that look directed at him way too many times over the past year.
"No. It was a close one though," the black haired boy laughed a little nervously, hand reaching for the back of his head in a restless gesture.
Tucker barked a laugh before patting the smaller boy's back in a commiserating action "Lucky!"
Sam rolled her eyes before changing the topic as they all walked down the street, aiming for Danny's home. "So, do you really have no idea what your parent's are doing today?"
He shook his head, "None, which is weird!" He exclaimed eyes flashing with annoyance. "Even dad won't say anything! Any time I bring it up he'll just jump around excitedly before doing a complete U-turn and moping around like a kicked puppy!" He pulled at his hair and huffed. "The only clue I have is that the Fruit-Loop has been stopping by a lot lately to talk to them. And I can't even do anything about it because it always happens when I'm a school, and his smirks are really beginning to annoy me!" Danny could feel his left eye twitching maniacally as he talked.
"Plasmius!?" Tucker exclaimed, looking up from his PDA in horror.
Sam rolled her eyes, clearly exasperated "Honestly Danny, not everything that Vlad does is connected to harming you. Maybe he just wanted to see Maddie?" It was a token resistance and they all knew it, even Sam.
"Yes it is! And she's my mom, so she is connected to me!" He balled his fists, knuckles turning an even starker white on his already pale skin. 'As if I'll ever let that Fruit-Loop take another shot at my mom!'
Sam gave an explosive sigh before looking up to the sky in a 'why me' gesture as we walked up to the front door under the shade of the op's center, looming precariously above the groups heads like a UFO. "Whatever Danny, I'll call you tomorrow. Let me know if any ghosts show up," she waved then continued down the street with Tucker on her heels this time. As they turned the corner Danny could hear them arguing over the morality of eating meat, Vlad completely forgotten.
"Yeah, bye" was his grumbled reply before opening the door.
MEP
"Danny? That you?" came dads' deep voice as the half-ghost teen closed the door behind him. "Come into the kitchen, we're having a family meeting!"
Danny froze. A family meeting? About what? Wait! Did that mean Jazz was here?
He hurriedly threw his backpack to the top of the stairs where it landed with a thump forgetting his ghost strength and walked to the kitchen, only to stop in the doorway as he saw who else was at the table. A person who was definitely not a part of this family so long as he half-lived and remembered to breathe. For Vladimir Masters, Plasmius, Fruit-Loop, Cheese-Head and the bane of my existence sat there at the table drinking tea without a care in the world, right next to my mother and staring at me with veiled amusement in his dark glacial eyes.
His dad looked up from his place on the other side of his mom where they had been talking quietly, an uncommon event on its own. "Danny!" He called out with his usual level of childish enthusiasm. "Come take a seat kiddo!" Jack waved his hand to a seat next to him. The only available seat and right next to Jazz as well as being across from Vlad.
He took the seat taking care to keep Vlad in his field of vision as the young teen nodded to Jack and turned to Jazz. "Hey, Sis! How's college?" She gave him a look, knowing exactly what he was doing.
"It's been great!" she replied with her own unique exuberance, a more mellow and directed level than our fathers. She was about to continue but at that point Vlad butted in, a knowing look on his face.
"That is excellent news Jasmine, but I'm sorry to say that we have to expedite this meeting. Maddie and I have a flight to catch in an hour." He gave her a genial smile with an apologetic inflection in his voice, as if ignorant of the snub of his presence. If Danny hadn't known Vlad as well as he did the ghost-boy might have believed that he really was sorry about her not telling us about her recent college experience. The patronizing gleam in his beady eyes, however, betrayed him.
"Wait, what!?" Danny yelped, having heard the last part of what Vlad said. "Why would she go anywhere with you!?"
"Danny!" his mom sounded appalled. "You have no right to treat Vlad like that." Maddie turned to Vlad. "I'm so sorry, Vlad."
Vlad raised a hand calmingly. "It's fine Maddie. No harm done."
Danny really didn't like that look in the white haired man's eyes. "You still didn't answer my question." He grumbled as he slouched in his chair, guard not dissipating in the slightest from the new position.
Mom shot a warning look and looked like she was gearing up to admonish her wayward son but Vlad butted in again. 'Self-important bastard.'
"Quite right, Daniel." The elder halfa gave his mom a sympathetic look that made his blood boil even more than the use of his full first name. "In any case I'll be quick about it, as we really need to be at the airport soon." He turned to Jack first though. "Jack, could you please go get Maddie's bags while I explain to the children"
'Children! Why that stuck up f-'
"Sure thing, Vladdy!" Jack bounded off up the stairs metaphorical tail wagging happily.
THUMP!
"Jack! Honey, you ok?" Mom called up.
"I'm fine." He called back, no amount of exuberance gone. "Just tripped over the kiddo's backpack!"
Everyone looked to Danny, the teen flinching under their gazes. "…Oops?" He scratched the back of his head nervously.
Maddie sighed and motioned for Vlad to continue even as they heard Jack thundering around above, no worse for wear. "Well, you see Daniel," he gave a small smirk at my eye twitch, "Jasmine your mother has been selected for a social experiment along with several others to see how families will react to different parenting styles. It is called the MEP, otherwise known as the Mother Exchange Program."
Jazz snorted at the name Danny however was more concerned with how Vlad tied into this. It was obviously another one of his traps to get his mom to dump Jack for him.
"And I suppose it has nothing to do with VladCo or Dalv Group, correct?" He snarked, eyes briefly flickering from ice blue to neon green before settling back to blue as he reined in his temper. 'It won't help my case any if I suddenly go ghost with mom in viewing distance.'
"DANNY!" Maddie admonished, she couldn't have sounded more scandalized if she tried. "You will treat Vlad with the respect he deserves! He's a family friend that has been nothing but good to us in the past, and I will not have you treating him like this as long as you are under this roof! Apologize!"
"Sorry, mom" the teen said contritely.
"Not to me, to Vlad!"
"I apologize for my behavior, Mr. Masters" he growled out sarcastically and not so contritely.
His mom looked at Danny imploring him to expand on it but sighed resignedly as she realized that was the best she would get.
At that point Jazz spoke up, having been unusually quiet throughout the conversation. "Are you taking mom to the exchange right after this meeting?" Her brother looked at her in surprise. She couldn't be going along with this! He was about put words to thought before she kicked him under the table. Needless to say, the message was received: shut up!
Vlad nodded, seemingly wondering where she was going with this. "Yes, we will be taking my private jet from International Falls Airport and flying to St. Paul's for a connecting flight over to Seattle to meet with the other family for them to take Maddie home with them while I take the other candidate back here. Considering it will take roughly four hours for each flight the other participant and I will be staying at a hotel in St. Paul before flying back to International Falls and driving back here tomorrow. You can meet your new temporary mother around nine tomorrow morning." He said it with a polite note of finality that was not so politely ignored.
"Are you doing that for all the candidates, or just our mother?" Danny inquired bitingly. 'There is no way in hell that I would trust the Fruit-Loop not to make a pass at my mom in an enclosed space.'
He threw a smirk disguised as a smile in the teen's direction "No, I'm afraid not Daniel. There are simply too many candidate to ferry around. I'm only doing it for your family, because I am a family friend of course. But don't worry about the other candidates. They will all be flying first class when the time for their experiment arrives."
Before he could ask how many candidates were stupid enough to sign up for this Jazz cut him off.
"Will we be able to contact the other family in the experiment as well as our mother during the experiment?" Jazz asked. "Could you also give us their address in the event that we want to mail anything?"
Vlad's eyes flashed with annoyance even as he smiled and replied. "Why of course you can contact them and your mother. I would never, ever, try to completely separate you from your mother. Though for the experiment I would prefer if you only contacted each other once a day, two days a week. One day for each of you," he amended seamlessly at Jazz's contemplating look. "As for their address…654 E. Division St., Forks, Washington. Zip code 98331"
Jazz quickly pulled a pencil and a small pink notebook from her pocket and wrote down the address on the inside cover, ignoring the looks she was getting with practiced ease (Maddie's incredulous, and Vlad's hidden annoyance) before tucking the notebook back into her pocket as if nothing had happened.
Shaking his head in fond exasperation at his sisters' antics Danny looked at his mom who still hadn't quite recovered from the short show. 'Honestly, you'd think she'd know her own daughter by now.'
As soon as Jazz went into 'question mode' Danny had realized what she was doing. He may not have been as smart as her but he definitely wasn't as stupid as his grades portrayed. She realized that the situation was a forgone event and that they were just trying to postpone the inevitable. So rather than fight it and lose she was doing damage control; finding out the limits of how far the two teens could push and how strongly.
Danny waited till his mom pulled herself together enough to notice her youngest child staring at her. She shook her head for a moment, dismissing what had just happened as Jazz being Jazz, something she should have realized earlier before looking at him. They stared at each other in silent contemplation before he asked her the one question he certainly didn't want to. "Do you really want to do this mom?"
She looked at him with a small smile, realizing that his arguments were dying down. Danny felt a flash of irritation but quickly buried it. She was the adult of the family, after all, and could do what she wanted…even if it meant leaving her family in the hands of a complete stranger to go and handle said strangers' family instead.
"Yes, Danny, I want to go" She replied "It's been a while since I visited the West Coast. I want to see if they have any new or strange ghosts over there when I meet the other family, it'll be a great learning experience! Plus it will be good for us. I can advertise for Fenton Works over there to help us pay bills and make new inventions. It's a win-win situation!" She had started off rather seriously but by the end of her small speech she was talking fervently with stars in her eyes.
The young halfa looked down at the table, for the millionth time wondering what it would be like to have a more normal, boring family. He scoffed mentally, 'looks like it's about to start anyway I'll have a new mother by tomorrow morning anyway. Who knows? Maybe this one brought her children into the equation when she explained why they wanted to participate to them.' Realizing what he was thinking the teen pushed the frustration back into the farthest reaches of his mind. It was too depressing to think about.
Finally he opened his mouth and asked despondently. "How long will the experiment last?" To Danny, it felt too much like admitting defeat.
Sensing Danny's surrender, it was Vlad that answered.
'Gloating bastard.'
"Only three months, after that point the exchange will be complete and both will be returned to their family's. Needless to say the two can end the experiment at any point in time if they feel it necessary or if they are too uncomfortable to continue."
'Wow. He almost sounds like he's reassuring us.' Danny thought sardonically.
"Don't worry Danny," Maddie said with compassion in her voice, "it's not like we'll be out of contact. I'll call you once a week to check up on you, see if you are keeping your grades up and talk about how the experiment is going."
'Does she even care about what we think about this!?' Danny stomped the returning irritation down ruthlessly. "Who's going to be our new mother?" He asked brusquely, wanting to just finish this conversation, completely disregarded the kick he got under the table courtesy of Jazz for his lack of tact.
She fidgeted in her seat slightly at his abrupt question before regaining some of her flagging enthusiasm. "Her name is Esme, Esme Cullen."
AN: Wow, that took forever to write! Assuming things go well, the next chapter will be posted in a couple days (don't you love it when authors are vague!). Next chapter will go over the Cullen's version of events and maybe (hopefully) the switch. Read, review, and enjoy!
Merry Christmas!
Until next time,
BoredomPersonified