Please enjoy the story. I do not own anything and I am not making any monetary profit. This story can be freely copied at will, written off of, posted to other sites, etc. My permission is not required. This is purely a fan story.
Warning: Weird, strange things. Implications of extreme crimes, and possible character(s) death.
Knitted brows, narrowed eyes, and a slight cock of the head signified that Jazz doubted how much truth was to be found in the words Sam had just spoken. Sam bit her lip in response and repeated herself a little more forcefully, but was careful to keep anger out of her voice. It would do them no good to fall into a fight.
"Nothing like this has ever happened before," Sam insisted and tore her gaze away from the older girl's searching one. Her gaze rested on the bed she stood to the right of. She couldn't help but think she had been better off challenging Jazz's scrutiny; on the bed, one of her best friends writhed about and whimpered, oblivious to the worried conversation spoken over his head. She gripped his hand tightly as though she was anchoring him to their life. She would be surprised at how true that analogy would come to be.
Tucker stood on the other side of the bed, his own eyes downcast as he studied their friend. He nodded and piped up, "Yeah, Jazz, believe me, if we knew what to do we'd do it." With a sad shake of his head, he continued, "But like Sam said, this has never happened. I don't get it." Lifting his head, he met Jazz's eyes, "He was fine and then—BAM!" Tucker punched his right fist into the palm of his left hand for emphasis. "Everything just went to...well y'know where."
Jazz's frown deepened as she tried to work things out aloud, "So this is completely new? Nothing even similar to this has happened?" Sam and Tucker both shook their heads. "We don't have any clue how to help?" Jazz asked keeping her voice even so the other two wouldn't be able to detect the panic she felt building within. Both shook their heads again. Tucker sighed defeatedly.
"No clue," he and Sam mumbled in unison.
"Oh great—great..." Jazz groaned, covering her forehead and eyes with her hand. Her mind was spinning and logical thoughts were having trouble forming. Sheer panic continued to build despite her best efforts to ward it off. Jazz peeked through her fingers at her younger brother.
Danny was on his bed completely oblivious to the rest of the world. Of course, Danny being oblivious wasn't what worried her—that was nothing new. It was the fact he was muttering incoherently to someone no one else could see. His eyes were squeezed painfully shut as though he was trying to make someone or something disappear. He was in obvious panic and was trying to toss and turn but with both his hands occupied that was a tad hard to do. Sam stood on the right side of the bed clutching his hand and Tucker stood to the left side squeezing his other hand. Jazz, standing at the foot of the bed, got a very clear view of what this resulted in. He shook very violently between his two friends and every now and then his feet would suddenly kick out in panic. The gnashing of teeth and occasional moan didn't exactly put Jazz or anyone else in the room at ease.
"I just don't understand," Jazz whispered more to herself than anyone as she stared helplessly at her brother.
Tucker picked up on her words and nodded. "Neither do we," he said aloud and Sam nodded as well.
Jazz sighed inwardly as she mulled over recent events. According to Tucker and Sam, they'd been at the movie theater when Danny had started acting up. Jazz wasn't sure what exactly had happened there but Tucker had sounded more than a little panicked when he'd called her and asked that she give them a ride home. Jazz hadn't realized just how serious the situation was until she asked Tucker why they didn't just walk back home. She shuddered remembering his reply. He didn't think Danny could. Jazz had sped all the way there. They had experienced a terrifying and pretty crazy ride back that had really driven home just how incapacitated her brother had become. She had been grateful that Sam and Tucker hadn't even mentioned a hospital. She had to wonder if they weren't curious as to why she hadn't brought it up.
Of course she'd thought about it. However, with her brother in his current state of mind, she doubted he could keep himself together—literally. She wasn't sure how amused the doctors would be if Danny fell through the hospital bed and landed in another room—or on another patient. Jazz also had doubts about her parents. If they found out Danny had accidentally become half ghost in some freakish accident—well, that could be either good or bad. They could be more than willing to help or use him to research other ghosts. There was the other way things could go- they could go absolutely nuts and in their frenzied happiness of discovering that their son was not only human, but also ghost—they might want to experiment on him. Since her parents hadn't really seemed to mention anything about half ghosts/half humans Jazz suspected that in their excitement they'd wind up doing the latter.
They'd mean well, of course, but everyone knows that sometimes the road paved with good intentions leads to hell. She was sure they'd eventually come to their senses and realize that he was still their son. Jazz had no doubt about that. What she did doubt was that little period in between in which experiments and studies would, no doubt, take place. Who knew what would happen or what other accidents might occur. And what if the experiments were too much for the still human side of her brother? She didn't want him to wind up as a total ghost.
Sighing to herself again, she weighed her options. She definitely couldn't call her parents and they couldn't bring Danny to a hospital. It was as though they could do nothing but sit and watch. It was driving her crazy. If this "sickness," as she called it, kept up, they just might have to tell her parents. She pushed the thought aside, deciding that would be their last option if they couldn't think of anything else. Maybe he would even suddenly become better, which she was sure all of them were hoping would happen, like, within the next five minutes.
Jazz gave Sam and Tucker each a sideways glance. Both seemed to be attempting to pretend she wasn't in the room except for answering her occasional question. They had no idea that she was very much aware of her brother's paranormal abilities; both of the younger teens seemed on edge, Jazz was sure they were spinning their own tales of protest for if she were to suggest calling a doctor or her parents. Surely, they had figured out if she hadn't already she wasn't going to. It was a good thing they'd called her and not her parents. Sam, Danny, and Tucker were never that great at making up excuses. They were always so transparent and stuttered, made on the fly, it amazed Jazz how many people, especially, adults bought them with hardly a question or two asked. Her parents were so caught up in their own work and research perhaps they just didn't care so long as they stayed out of trouble. Jazz could always see right through them, though, and had awarded their efforts with many an odd stare and doubtful eyes.
Danny's incoherent ramblings and hysteria created thick tension in the air, making the other three hyper-sensitive to every move made and every glance cast. Such a huge secret that wasn't actually a secret added to the tense atmosphere. Jazz could've easily cut some of it away but she came up empty each time she tried to approach the subject. Being thought of as a snoop did not appeal to her and, besides that, her voice didn't seem to be working properly, as she was having trouble making it sound anything like her own. When she spoke it was in frightened, frail whispers. Right now she couldn't even seem to find her voice. Thoughts swarmed her, worry was trying to drown her, and the panic kept steadily building. If this kept up, she would be in her own bed with hysteria. As it was, just looking at her brother and thinking on their current predicament made her want to whimper right along with him.
Studying his friend's hand intently, Tucker chewed fervently on his botton lip and squeezed Danny's hand hoping his friend could draw comfort from that desperate squeeze. As if in response, Danny shuddered violently. Discouraged, Tucker sighed and exchanged a look with his raven haired friend. Right away, he knew Sam was thinking similar thoughts. He glanced up as Danny's older sister came to stand beside him. Another look was passed between Danny's friends and classmates, fully of worry.
Looking back down at Danny, Sam pondered what should be done next. She and Tucker were already beside themselves with worry and shock over Danny's state. It had all happened so unbelievable and unexplainably fast. He'd been perfectly okay as far as she could tell and then it was as if some rapid and cruelly debilitating disease had eaten up their friend before her eyes before she could even blink. Adding to the matter was she had no idea how to announce to his sister that he was actually partially a ghost and could therefore probably not receive the medical attention he so obviously needed. He was like a ticking time bomb and she could practically hear the countdown in her mind. Any moment he would just ghost right through the bed and she and Tucker would be left to explain. She could only hope that things were resolved before that bomb ticked out of time. She had mulled over dozens and dozens of ideas of how to get Jazz out of the picture, but had come up empty each time. Jazz wasn't just going to leave her brother after having witnessed everything she had up to this point. It was nothing short of miracle the older sibling hadn't demanded they take Danny straight to a hospital or make a frantic call to her parents.
Sam was unfamiliar with how sibling bonds, being an only child. She had always assumed that Jazz cared for her younger brother even if she didn't always show it and was often embarrassed by him. It made her wonder why Jazz hadn't brought up a hospital. Maybe she was so freaked out that her mind had blanked and she had forgotten hospitals existed. That didn't seem very Jazz-like at all but one could hope. Either way, it gave her and Tucker more time to think of a hopefully good excuse as to why Danny shouldn't go to a hospital whenever Jazz would bring it up which, Sam suspected, would be soon. Sam and her two companions were torn away from their thoughts at the sudden stillness from their bedridden friend.
Danny's eyes snapped wide open. His blue eyes found Tucker's light green ones and stared straight into them, almost as though looking beyond his friend's eyes and into a deeper area. Tucker jumped at the intensity and horror of the stare. He had thought he'd be filled with immense relief when his friend opened his eyes. Instead, terrified blue eyes drilled into his concerned ones. He could feel his own terror at the sight of his friend begin to creep into his expression. Danny stumbled through his hysteria, grounding out his friends name, "Tucker—Tuck?"
"I'm right here, Danny," Tucker said trying to hide the fear in his voice but failing to do so. He wanted to be strong, to assure his friend there was no need for the terrified look in his eyes. It took everything in him not to tear his gaze away from his friend, wanting to squeeze his own eyes shut and forget that he was here. Forget everything that had happened up to this point and go back to before any of this happened. He wanted to be home, studying for some dumb test. That sounded like fun compared to this.
"You are—yeah, you are. She said you'd leave—she said you wouldn't be here," Danny's voice was quiet as he spoke and tried to keep his focus on Tucker. It was apparent this was great effort on his part. "She said that. You won't, will you? You'll stay, right?" The pleading was heartbreaking to listen to. Desperation was clear in his eyes but nothing could overshadow the terror that shone so brilliantly through the young halfa's eyes.
"Of course," Tucker assured him with wide eyes, nodding his head without even realizing it. "I'm not going anywhere." Slight relief washed over his friend, but he didn't look completely convinced.
"Who said that?" Sam wanted to know. Her voice caused Danny to tear his eyes away from Tucker, who was loathe to admit, but it filled him with relief to be free of those eyes. Danny turned somewhat so he could look at Sam.
"Sam?" he asked. Sam nodded suddenly able to understand why both Jazz and Tucker had paled considerably since Danny had opened his eyes. He looked downright petrified. "You won't leave either, right? She said..." Sam cut him off, shaking her head.
"No, no I won't leave but who—wait...you're not talking about..." she trailed off as Danny seemed to search the room behind her, his eyes roaming about wildly.
"Jazz," Danny's voice quivered. "She was right here—I just saw her. Did she leave?" If it was possible his deliria seemed to be heightening. "Where did she go?"
"She's beside me," Tucker said trying to make his voice as soothing as possible which, he realized, was quite a feat. Instead, it just came out as a pathetic squeak.
"Right here," Jazz spoke up confirming what Tucker had just said. Danny turned his head again, his eyes still wildly searching for his sister. In the process of turning, much to Tucker and Sam's horror, Danny's human form dissolved and was replaced by his ghost form. It happened so fast, it took them a second or two to register what had just happened. Danny was completely unaware and searched the area until he locked eyes with his sister. The green eyes were just as disturbing as the blue ones had been.
"Jazz, you won't leave either will you?" Danny's green eyes looked up at her in earnest. Expectancy shone through the terror that clouded his eyes.
"Of course not Danny," Jazz assured him as she gently ruffled his white hair. "I'm not going anywhere." He looked pleased with the responses he'd gotten.
"I told her she was wrong," he mumbled as his eyes slid shut again. "I said..." Danny's voice trailed off as he returned to his internal struggle. Jazz continued softly stoking her brother's hair as Sam and Tucker stared at Danny, understandably unnerved by his outburst. After awhile the two managed to rip their gazes away from Danny and stare at Jazz, awkward silence hung in the air between the three.
Tucker and Sam exchanged a bewildered glance at Jazz's seemingly calm composure at the sight of her brother fazing into another being. Jazz glanced up and caught their bewildered looks. "What?" she asked, honestly unsure of the strange looks she was receiving.
"Uhm...well..." Tucker stumbled over his words, at a loss as to what he should say. "This," he used his free hand to wave at Danny who was still in ghost form. "Aren't you a little shocked?"
"Huh?" Jazz's hand paused atop her brother's head as she stared at Tucker confused. "Oh..." Jazz mouthed as realization dawned on her. During Danny's little outburst she'd gotten so wrapped up in concern, worry, and panic she'd completely forgotten that Tucker and Sam had no clue that she knew about Danny and his accident. Which she found odd since prior to Danny's outburst she'd just been thinking about that. Amazing how just a couple minutes or so of time can completely derail a person's train of thought,she mused to herself. Both her brother's friends were looking at her expectantly. Her fingers gently dashed across her brother's forehead before they found his hair again. She smiled kindly at the two.
"Don't worry," she assured them. "I already know."
Sam's eyes went wide and Tucker's mouth dropped.
"You...you—he told you?" Utter confusion and incomprehension had replaced the panic and worry that had been in Tucker's eyes seconds ago. Sam regarded Jazz warily.
"No," Jazz said, "he didn't tell me." She avoided eye contact with the other two.
"Then how? I don't get it," Tucker said and shook his head in puzzlement.
"Does he know you know?" Sam asked.
Jazz shook her head. "No," she admitted. "He didn't tell me and I didn't want to push him into it. I figured he'd let me know when he was ready."
Sam and Tucker both fixed Jazz with a look, wonderment and confusion filling their own faces.
"Wow," Tucker breathed. "We had no idea you knew. How'd you find out?"
"I saw him transform," Jazz told them honestly. "I knew something was up before, though. I mean you guys showing up and acting weirder than normal, every ghost device claiming Danny was a ghost...parts of his body disappearing." She gave them a look. "Not exactly discreet."
Tucker looked at Sam. "She brings up a good point."
Sam nodded. "So that explains why you haven't mentioned going to a hospital or calling your parents."
"Exactly," Jazz confirmed.
"Wow, this is a real relief," Tucker heaved a sigh of said relief.
"I just wish I knew what to do," Jazz lamented as she looked back to her brother. "Um, any suggestions at all?" Maybe now that it was all out in the open, the other two would allow her to be privy to any paranormal plans they might have been secretly hashing out together. Her hopes were crushed almost instantly.
Tucker pursed his lips, feeling more useless than he'd ever felt in his life. "I wish. Like I said, this has never happened before so we have no clue what's going on. All we do know is that for the past few days Danny's been seeing things. At first it was just some girl—then, apparently, he, uhm...started seeing other things. I mean, you saw some of it back in the car….." Tucker trailed off and shivered at the memory. The two girls both felt chills go down their spines at the recollection of their car ride home.
"What he said," Sam nodded her head towards Tucker.
"Well, from what you've told me and what I've seen, it's scary. I'm just sorry it happened in public." She shuddered. "We've already determined we can't go to a hospital," Jazz restated what they already knew hoping it might help trigger an idea in one of their minds, "and I'm kind of scared of how my parents would react," she mused aloud. "That could go good or bad and I don't want to chance the bad. If this continues going downhill, though..." she trailed off and sighed, defeated. "And I don't suppose you two know of any supernatural doctors?" Quiet murmurs assured Jazz that the other two were just as lost as she was. Silence settled over them again and despite much of the tension being shaken, a sadness and sense of desperation was shared by them, making the room feel like it was the whole world to each of the occupants.
A high pitched noise reverberated throughout the room minutes later causing them all to jump. Tucker let out a short scream. After a split second, Jazz placed the sound.
"It's just the phone," she exhaled. Glancing uncertainly between her brother and the door, she debated what to do. She didn't want to leave Danny's side just in case he woke up again. However, she'd be willing to be her next seven allowances on who was on the other end of the line. "That's probably Mom and Dad," she told the other two. "I should get it." She gave Danny a final look and headed out, stopping at the door frame and offering them some assurance. "Be right back," she promised. In actuality the phone was less than minutes away but it felt like forever as she ran to retrieve the source of all that noise. After snatching it and greeting the person on the other end, she hightailed it back to her brother's room. It was, unsurprisingly her mother.
Walking into the room, she continued the conversation she'd started. "We're doing great," she said, hoping her mother wouldn't be able to sense how fake her cheerfulness was. "Oh, they're back from the movies, Mom," she said. "Yeah, they had a great time." She paused and bit her lip for a moment before making a quick recovery, "Um, Danny's in the shower right now." Another pause as her Mom questioned why Danny was showering so early in the evening. "I'm not really sure—from what I gather a soda managed to find its way on him—you know how klutzy he is and how Tucker has a knack for getting them into trouble. I'm surprised nothing else happened." Tucker shot her a glare.
"That isn't true," Tucker whispered, glancing at Sam. "Is it?" His friend rolled her eyes.
"Hey...uhm...Mom," Jazz began hesitantly. "Do, you-uh—have you or Dad ever seen or heard of a...half ghost person?"
Appalled, both Sam and Tucker nearly dropped Danny's hands. "What are you doing?" Sam hissed, trying to keep her voice down. Anger and shock were clear in her voice.
"Are you crazy?" Tucker whispered, his words full of sincerity.
Jazz shot each of them a desperate look and held up one finger as she listened intently to what her mother was saying. "Really?" Jazz laughed nervously. "Uhm, yeah I bet that would be interesting." She paused for a bit. "Yeah, sure you could learn a lot." She looked a bit pale. Sam stared at her curiously. Jazz let out a fake laugh again. "No—it was just something Danny and I were...debating." She paused. "Yeah—oh, that's great. Yes...mm-hmmm." Color started returning to her face and she looked more and more relieved with each passing second. "Oh, no, Danny and I will be fine," she promised. "You and Dad have fun." One last pause. "I love you, too. Bye."
"What was that about?" Sam questioned. Tucker took up glaring at Jazz again, unhappy with the words she'd spoken about him earlier over the phone.
"Good news and bad news," she said, cutting to the chase. "The bad being there's no way we're telling my parents anything. They're lunatics—at least when it comes to ghost stuff. Case closed," she said firmly, obviously not wanting to tell them what she'd been told over the phone.
"The good," Jazz went on uninterrupted, "is that my parents GOA meeting will be running late and afterwards they'll be going to see some weird movie with some of their friends which means," she glanced out the window noticing that the sun had just started setting, "they probably won't be back until around, like, eleven or so. Hopefully."
"GOA?" Tucker looked confused.
"Ghost Obsessors Anonymous," Jazz clarified.
"Well, it is good news—about your parents not coming home for awhile," Sam spoke up. "Because I have no idea how we'd explain this." She waved at Danny.
Tucker laughed bitterly. "We couldn't."
Danny let out a sudden shriek followed by another and another. Both his hands yanked free of his friends' grasps. He shot up in bed and clutched at his temples, fingernails that surely would have drawn blood had he been fully human at the moment. His teeth grinded together, trying to suppress another scream but failing to do so. "NO!" It echoed around the room, bouncing about the walls.
"Danny, it's okay," Sam tried to comfort her friend, reaching her hands out only to be swatted away. Danny continued shouting hysterically, the room seeming to drown in his cries.
"What the heck is going on with him?" Tucker shouted over Danny's delirious shrieks.
"How should I know?" Sam shouted back, trying to reach for him again and still having no luck.
"I thought you two had some weird psychic connection!" Tucker shouted in reply, annoyed.
"Well, obviously not!" she screamed in frustration.
"Shut up!" Jazz yelled, letting the phone clatter to the ground. She stood still, shocked, as she stared at Danny for a couple seconds unsure what to do. He was now flashing between his human and ghost form and was shouting incomprehensibly at someone. It also appeared as if he was trying to fight something as his arms and legs were flying in every which direction. Tucker and Sam kept trying to get him to be still him but each effort was rewarded with him recoiling and then slapping or kicking them away. Eyes were screwed tightly shut and he dripped sweat.
Unable to take the sight of her distressed brother, she sprang into action. Much to Sam and Tucker's astonishment, she leapt onto the bed and after a few moments of struggling with him, she managed to pin her brother's wild arms to his side. She wrapped her arms tightly around him as he continued shouting and struggling to get free.
"STOP IT, DANNY!" Jazz yelled over him as he continued to flail in her grip.
"NO—NO! LET ME GO!" He shrilled in anger and panic. "LET GO!"
"It's me, JAZZ," she yelled into his ear, her grip still tight. His struggle lessened and her grip loosened. "It's me," she repeated. "Jazz—I'm right here."
"Jazz?" he whispered.
"Yes," she loosened her grip even more. "It's me," she repeated. Now, in human form, his ghost form flashing every minute or so, he lazily opened his eyes.
"Jazz?" he repeated. Jazz positioned herself so he could see her, but refused to let go of him completely fearing his arms might start flailing around again. She was sure she'd already have a couple bruises later.
"I'm right here," she reassured him.
"Jazz," he gave her a weak hug, eyes beginning to droop again. "I'm so sorry," he whispered before losing consciousness again. Jazz hugged him tightly.
"So am I," she mumbled into his hair though she had no clue what he was apologizing about. She knew what she was apologizing for, though. That he had to experience something like this.
Tucker stared open mouthed at the siblings. "What was that? What's he sorry for?" Tucker demanded, looking as though he might just rip his hair out in frustration. Sam stared as well words refusing to form. She remained stockstill, trying to digest what had just taken place.
Jazz glanced up at Tucker. She still held Danny in a sisterly hug. She began gently rocking him back and forth hoping to calm him a little more as he was still mumbling incoherently to some unseen person. "I don't know," Jazz answered Tucker's question.
"UGH!" Tucker cried grabbing his head. "This is so frustrating! What DO we know! Nothing!" He paced the length of the bed in a frenzied panic. "Absolutely nothing. Except for some weird delusion he's been having—and, apparently, that's all that is! It's not a ghost- none of these devices have helped." He waved to some ghost devices the Fenton parents had made. Earlier he, Sam, and Jazz had tried them out to see if they could locate a ghost presence. They hadn't. "And he can't tell us," he waved to Danny. "This is horrible! We can't even help!"
"I know—we're all frustrated," Sam agreed, feeling like the last vestiges of their lives were slipping away, "But we need to try and remain calm."
Tucker looked at her slightly aghast. "Calm? I'm calm—very calm. My best friend is going insane! But, yes, I'm calm!" His outburst only left with him a glare from Sam.
"Sam has a point, Tucker," Jazz spoke up. Tucker turned, ready to go off on her as well. Jazz quickly continued, "I know you're upset—we all are. He's Sam's best friend also, remember? And he's my brother. But, us freaking out isn't going to help him," her voice was kind but firm.
Tucker took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He couldn't find fault with Jazz's logic. "Sorry Sam," he apologized. "It's just frustrating." Sam had a grimness about her but nodded to show she acknowledged and accepted her friend's apology.
"I know, I know," Jazz whispered at Tucker's last bit before looking back down at her brother desperately wishing she could read minds. Specifically her brother's. What's going on in there, Danny?
A/N So what –is-up with Danny? Danny dolls to reviewer