Recap:
The school day passed by in a blur, and Danny, having found nothing able to catch his attention, found himself feeling somewhat excited, if not a little anxious, to be hanging out with his friends again. The idea of spending time with Sam and Tucker seemed almost foreign to him.
The three teens met each other outside the school doors, walking to Sam's in silence.

"Daniel James Fenton! Where the hell have you been?"

The said boy cringed in his mother's arms, barely able to breathe much less give a coherent answer as she all but crushed the life out of him.

He really hadn't meant to be out as late as he was; time had passed so quickly that he hadn't even noticed it was well after midnight. Danny and Tucker had been shocked to realize that their gothic companion was secretly rich and had spent a good portion of the night listening to Tucker enthusiastically shoot question after question about the things her family owned and the places they'd been.

He new he wouldn't have been home at all if Tucker hadn't been so diligent about his use of technology; his bespeckled friend having given a rather impressive shriek when he finally realized what time it had been and the two of them had immediately said their goodbyes before rushing to their respective homes. But, he had to admit, that after sitting in Sam's oversized downstairs watching movies and talking like they once had, he felt better about everything. He felt lighter, as if the restraints that held him down were starting to break and let him go.

"Mom - can't - breathe!" He gasped.

Maddie abruptly released her vice like gip on her son, placing her hands on her hips and giving him a stern, demanding look instead. Standing to her full height and jutting her chin out, he'd never seen his mother look so intimidating.

"Well young man?" His father frowned. "What do you have to say for yourself?" Danny resisted the urge to cringe.

"I… went to Sam's. We watched a couple movies… I'm… sorry-"

"Wait. The spooky chick in black?"

Is there any other Sam? He frowned at his parents. He knew it had been awhile, but they didn't need to look that shocked. "And Tucker."

"Oh, sweetie, that's great!" Maddie trilled, clasping her hands together and pulling them close to her chest, her violet eyes wide with delight. "How was it? Did you have fun? Did you make any more plans with them?"

"Um, well, in order; it was good, yeah, I did and sort of." By now her red mouth was blooming into a wide smile.

"Oh Danny, I'm so proud of you!" She locked her arms around him again, being a little gentler than she had been before, before pulling abruptly away. "But you're still grounded."

Danny was used to being stuck in his room. He had barely left it in the last two months, only leaving to go to school and satisfy his needs. This time, however, he was not there willingly. Knowing he couldn't leave without being seen by his parents or sister made it surprisingly unbearable. He was itching to do something, to leave his room. Maybe do something productive; maybe… maybe hang out with his friends again.

The fourteen year old sighed in frustration. He'd only been in his room for just over an hour and had already tried to occupy himself with the things in his room, but he couldn't concentrate on any of it for long.

With another sigh he flopped down on his bed, glaring at his ceiling as if it were the cause of his problems. He was hard pressed for entertainment, and he knew his friends would be unavailable to hang out. They had long since retired for the night and he doubted they would appreciate him calling at this hour.

Eyes flicking at the clock he noted it was nearly two thirty in the morning. Definitely too late for them to come out, but…

Pursing his lips he began to steel himself for what he was about to do. Danny had never been one to disobey his parents. That had always been more of his brother's thing. No, Danny and Jazz had worked to be model children, working for hard grades and never acting out. It was like they'd gone through life following a blueprint someone else had drawn up for them; following every rule, every order, just to please others and stand up with a show of normalcy.

But not anymore.

Danny sat up slowly and moved as quietly as he could towards his door. Holding his breath he began inching the door open, praying it wouldn't creak. Once there was enough of a gap for a human body to fit he inched his way between the door and the frame, pausing only to make sure the hall was clear.

He released his breathe in a gusty sigh and crept over to and down the stair case, grabbing his shoes and sweater before walking out the front door and into the moonlight. An unconscious grin made its way onto Danny's face as he made his way down the deserted street he something curled up in his stomach. I was like… a nervous excitement. It was strange, but felt insanely good, he felt lighter than he had in weeks. Danny soon lost track of time as he let go of the expectations, responsibilities, emotions that had weighed him down for as long as he could remember.

Danny froze when he saw a white glow to his right, whipping his head around, but it was gone before he could properly focus on it. Danny hesitated, frowning slightly. Maybe Jazz was right about his sanity after all. He was about to move again when a faint trickling noise bubbled to his ears. After pinpointing where the noise came from he slowly moved forwards, as if on autopilot. It wasn't long before he was standing at the edge of a fountain, staring at his reflection as it rippled in the water. His good mood immediately evaporated, replaced by a unwanted torrent of emotions surged within him and he stared mournfully at the face in the water, whatever he was feeling was lost to anger, his face twisting into an ugly scowl. It wasn't fair! Why did he always have to be reminded of everything, no matter what he did, no matter how hard he tried to forget? Whenever he looked into the mirror it was always Dan's face, Dan's eyes staring back. He couldn't escape it. And Danny was sick of it. Turning on his heels Danny spun around and stormed out of the park, the glow in the trees long forgotten.

As he headed back to his house he was horrified to realize he could already see the sun peaking over the horizon. He'd stayed out all night.

Curing under his breath Danny ran as fast as he could, feet pounding loudly against the asphalt in his frenzied attempt to make it back to his room and pretend to have slept the night away before his family woke. Gasping for breath Danny shot through the door-remembering just in time that he needed to be as quiet as possible. Throwing off his shoes he stumbled up the steps and into his room, diving under his covers despite wearing his everyday clothes.

When his breathing returned back to normal Danny felt himself beginning to doze off when his bedroom door opened.

"Danny," he felt someone shake him gently. "It's time to get up; you don't want to be late for school, do you?"

Danny nearly wept.

Instead, he voiced his outrage with a quiet groan as he rolled over, unexpectedly coming face to face with his sister. He yelped alarm and jerked away from her, nearly falling out of his bed in the process. "Jeez Jazz, doesn't 'personal space' mean anything to you?"

He half expected her to lecture him, and was thoroughly taken aback when her lips quirked in a smile.

"I'll see you downstairs little brother." She murmured. And before he could react she ruffled his hair, ignoring his indignant cry at the treatment, leaving him alone to do his morning prep.

Forcing himself out of bed he struggled to make it to his feet. He already knew it was going to be a long day. Maybe he could feign sick? …No, his parents would see right through it, even if they didn't they'd take him straight to the doctor to make sure he was okay.

Danny knew he was screwed. He eyed his bed mournfully. He wanted nothing more than to curl up under the covers and sleep for the rest of the day but he knew it wouldn't happen. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. One sleepless night couldn't really hurt, could it?

Posted: November 10, 2010
Let's pretend it's the beginning of the school year, mid summer, so the sun will rise around six-ish in the morning. Oh, and in the show, Tucker mentions that their school hours are 7:30-3:30, so I imagine Danny would get up around 6:30...ish.

Let's also know I think that because of his parents' eccentric attitudes, and the fact that everyone believes his family is crazy for their beliefs in ghosts, that he probably had to grow up dealing with everyone's prejudices. I mean, in the beginning he follows the crowd, going after everything that the rest of the world says he should want, and do, and try to be; probably to get away from the ghost-craziness of his parents. – Perhaps there are those who would use their religion to persecute him and his siblings because his family was involved in 'the devil's work' too? I don't know…–

Oh, yes, and happy Remembrance Day everyone.