A/N: Hey guys, I know it's been ages since I posted anything, but this was nagging at me. I wrote this in about twenty minutes, so it may be a bit rough. Anyway, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.
The first time it happened was only a few weeks after Jazz had joined Team Phantom. It was a little after 1:00 in the morning, and Danny had never come home from school. Maddie and Jack had waited and waited, but by 11:30, they were both stifling yawns, despite their anger toward their son. Jazz had convinced them that no, she wasn't tired, and yes, she was perfectly alright waiting up for Danny on her own.
The front door creaked open slowly, and a slim figure slipped in, illuminated only by the half moon outside. Jazz was sitting in the dark, waiting.
"Hey." she said, clicking on the lamp next to her. Danny startled and blinked in the sudden light. Jazz pushed aside the psychology textbook she'd forgotten about and got up from the couch.
"What are you doing up?" Danny asked.
"Waiting for you."
"You don't have to do that."
Jazz smiled slightly. "Yes I do."
"I know you think that since you know about-"
"I know I'm not very helpful in the field." Jazz interrupted her brother. "But I'm here anyway. I'll always be here when you come home."
Danny paused. "Thanks."
He started to make his way toward the stairs, but Jazz spoke up.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she called softly. Danny tensed.
"Talk about what?" he asked stiffly.
"You know what." she knew how to read her little brother. He only ever got quiet and aloof like this when something went wrong on patrol. But she couldn't see any injuries on his body, so it must have been something else. Nothing ate at him like someone getting hurt when he could have prevented it.
Stupid hero complex.
"No." he said flatly. "I don't."
"Well then, do you want some tea?"
Danny stopped. "What?" he asked.
"Do you want any tea?"
"We don't have any tea." he frowned, turning to look at her.
"Yes we do. I found it in the cabinet yesterday."
"Well, I don't want any."
"Are you sure?"
"Why do you want me to drink tea?" he snapped.
"Tea has a soothing effect, and doing something with your hands helps you focus on what's important. Also, the sensation of drinking a warm drink is psychologically beneficial."
He hesitated for a moment. "If I drink this tea with you, are you going to interrogate me about what happened?"
"Only if you want to talk about it."
Danny frowned. "I don't want tea."
"You don't have a choice."
He sighed. "Fine. But I don't want to talk about it."
Jazz smiled. "That's alright."
The second time it happened, Maddie and Jack were at the housewarming party of one of their old college friends who'd just moved to town. Jazz had been doing homework out on the back porch when Danny came in, slamming the door behind him. Jazz abandoned her work and came inside.
"Are you okay?" she asked, though she knew the answer. Danny and Tucker had spent the night at Sam's house the night before. Though the parents thought this was perfectly normal, Jazz understood that this was only because Sam had gotten injured on patrol, and the boys were keeping an eye on her overnight.
"What do you think?" Danny shouted angrily.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she suggested. Danny glared at her.
"No, I don't want to talk about it!"
"Then do you want some tea?"
"I don't want some tea!"
Jazz sighed. "I know you're angry and upset, but Sam knows what she's getting into. She and Tucker and I all knew the risks and we helped you anyway. This isn't your fault. I know you want to think it is, but it isn't."
"Why would I want it to be my fault?" Danny demanded, turning on her.
"Because if it was your fault, then you could fix it so it won't happen again." Jazz said gently. "But it's not your fault. You can't protect them all the time, and there's nothing you can do about it. It's terrifying."
Danny seemed to deflate, and all the anger in his body was replaced with exhaustion. "She'll be okay. She was thrown into a wall, but she's not concussed and none of her bones were broken. I'm just so scared. For her and you and Tucker. I just…"
"Are you sure you don't want some tea?" Jazz offered again. Danny raised his eyes to hers, paused, then finally nodded silently.
The third time it happened, Jack and Maddie were out-of-town at a ghost hunting convention. Jazz was sitting at the kitchen table, reading, when Danny stormed into the house around 9 in the evening. Although it was dark, Jazz could make out rivulets of blood dripping down his right temple.
"Danny?" she called, but he didn't answer.
"Danny?" she tried again. "Do you want to talk about it?"
He disappeared upstairs and she heard a door slam. She sighed, then put away her book and followed him up.
"Danny?" she knocked softly on the bathroom door. She could hear him breathing heavily inside, but he didn't answer. She pushed the door open carefully.
"Danny?" she asked again. He didn't show any sign of recognition. He was staring at himself in the bathroom mirror. The harsh flourescent light of the bathroom illuminated his torment. His skin was sickly and pale, the dark bruises under his eyes indicated his lack of sleep, and scarlet blood, glittering with green flecks of ectoplasm, traced stark lines down his cheek, clinging to the hollows under his cheekbones and dripping off his chin. In his right fist he clutched a washrag, now stained red with his blood, and in his left was the first aid kit, unopened.
"I keep on failing." he whispered hoarsely. "Everything I do just makes it worse."
"That's not true." she said, prying the rag and medical kit away from him. "Sit on the counter."
He did as she asked, looking at the same time like a lost little child and an old man who'd seen far too much. She dabbed at the cut on his temple as he continued.
"All I want to do is protect you. The people who live in Amity Park need me, and I need to protect them. But there are people I can't protect you from."
"I know." Jazz said softly. she poured the antiseptic on the wound, but he didn't even flinch.
"No, you don't know!" he was agitated, and blood flowed with renewed vigor from the wound. "Plasmius will do everything in his power to destroy me, and dad, and Amity Park, and I'm so scared that one day he'll manage to do it!"
"You'll stop him." Jazz said with quiet confidence. She sterilized the needle and pulled out the surgical thread.
"What if I don't?" Danny demanded. "What if one day I can't? If he gets you, or Sam, or Tucker, or my parents, or, hell, even some random stranger, I'll sacrifice myself for you. No question. But who will take care of you when I'm gone?"
"It won't come to that." Jazz said firmly, not making eye contact as she began to carefully sew her baby brother up.
"Don't say that." Danny's voice was so quiet she barely heard it. "Please don't say that."
"Danny, I have the utmost faith in you, and I will always be there for you. That's a promise, alright? There's nothing you can't do with us behind you."
"No, Jazz, listen to me." Danny said, and Jazz looked unwillingly into his thousand-year-old eyes. "One of these days I'm not going to make it. You know that, right? Now that I know what's out there, how dangerous it is, there's no way I can just sit back and watch it happen without doing something. Somedays I feel like this is a curse, but there are days when I realize it's a blessing. I can help people, Jazz, I will until I take my last breath. But it's dangerous, and people get hurt, and I get hurt, and at some point I'm going to get hurt bad, bad enough that I can't get back up. And then what? What happens to Amity Park after that? What happens to you?"
Jazz finished stitching in silence, then put everything away carefully and precisely. Finally, she looked up at Danny.
"We'll keep on fighting, Danny. We'll keep on taking care of people, just like you. But until that day, we'll be right beside you, watching your back, protecting you so you can protect Amity Park. Okay?"
Danny sighed and slid off the counter. "Okay."
Jazz put the first aid kit back and looked back at Danny.
"Do you want some tea?"
Danny smiled. "Sure."
The sixteenth time it happened, Jazz was making lunch. Jack and Maddie had trooped in half an hour earlier, dejectedly telling her that they'd once again just missed the ghost boy with their new guns, and that they would be working in the lab if she needed them.
Jazz had put the kettle on immediately.
"Jazz?" the front door opened, and Danny called out carefully.
"In the kitchen." she replied, flipping a grilled cheese sandwich.
"I think I want some tea." he said, coming in and pretending he wasn't favoring his left leg.
"Perfect timing." she put a mug in front of him. "Do you want to talk about it?"
He smiled sheepishly at her. "Yes."
"Great." she put the grilled cheese sandwich in front of him and sat down with her own. "And when we're done I'll take a look at that leg."
Danny grimaced and took a gulp of tea.
The one hundred and fourth time it happened, Jazz was angry. She stormed up the stairs of her apartment building, fuming, ignoring the ache in her side. She couldn't believe that guy, attacking that girl like that. She hadn't even paused to think, just flown at him in a rage. Even with the training she'd done with Danny and his friends, she couldn't avoid the knife the guy had pulled. Now she was just going to go fix herself up and then clock in a few hours at the gym with a punching bag.
But her plans fell through when she opened the door to her apartment.
"Danny!" she exclaimed.
"Hey, Jazz." he grinned at her. "I let myself in."
"What are you doing here?" she demanded.
"I got a feeling you were in trouble." he shrugged, and Jazz just shook her head. The summer before she'd gone off to college, Danny had discovered that somehow his ghostly core had formed an emotional link between him and the people who cared about him the most. They could tell when the other was in danger or hurt.
No one mentioned the fact that the link hadn't formed between Danny and his parents.
"I'm fine." Jazz snapped. "Just pissed off."
"Do you want to talk about it?" he suggested. Jazz gave him the evil eye.
"I'd rather hit something for an hour or two, if you don't mind." she said. Danny smiled.
"Well then, do you want some tea?"