Disclaimer: I do not own 'Danny Phantom' or any of the characters, concepts etc. Those are owned by Butch Hartman/Nickelodeon, I believe. I make no claim to anything in this story, it is a perspective with hypothetical scenarios added in.
As it Should Be
Ch2: Warning: Truth May Cause Severe Heartache
Jack and Maddie got little in the way of sleep that night as well.
They spent the entire time pouring over their copious research notes and journal articles, looking for anything concrete that they could use to disprove what Danny had told them, that would show it was just some cruel, horrible joke.
But after twelve hours of caffeine ingestion and sleep deprivation, they discovered that nothing was concrete, that their entire field of study was filled with so many assumptions and unknowns that it would be easy to summarise everything they knew for certain about ghosts on a standard post-it note. What little they did have actually lent credence to Danny's story; what he described did not defy any fundamental truths about ectoplasm as far as they knew and so it must be considered as a viable hypothesis.
But still they couldn't just accept the fact that Danny, their son, was actually Phantom. They both knew that their denial was irrational and it galled them that they were acting on an irrational premise, considering they prided themselves on their logical minds and scientific rationalism, but that minor level of disgust was far easier to deal with than the guilt that would invariably follow accepting Danny's true nature. Their wounded pride was preferable to the soul-crushing knowledge that they had badly injured their own child on multiple occasions and that they had not acted on any of the evidence that there was something very wrong with his life for two years.
It was inexcusable and unjustifiable; so they opted to continue to live in their denial for as long as its frail form would hold against the weight of proof Danny had provided them with.
When Maddie awoke some time the next day, she found herself slumped over a computer terminal with a blanket draped over her shoulders. She found Jack in a similar state over at a nearby workbench, indicating Jazz was responsible for their care.
Stretching her displeased spine out with a series of cracks, she stood up and began to walk towards the stairs in an effort to acquire more coffee. She was halfway up the stairs from the basement when she heard Jazz speaking to someone, presumably on a phone due to the lack of a second voice.
"They spent the entire night in the lab, and before you start freaking out, no they weren't working on a weapon. It looked like they were going over old research papers, nothing weapons related from what I saw," Jazz's voice echoed down the narrow stairwell.
'I don't remember seeing Jazz in the lab last night,' Maddie thought to herself, 'please don't tell me I was so engrossed in my work that I completely ignored my other child…'
Jazz started speaking again, so Maddie focused her attention on the one side of the conversation she could hear.
"Look Danny, I know you're scared, but I'm sure this will all work out. They're just in an extended state of shock at the moment; you did kind of shatter their entire world view in the space of an hour and a half."
"….."
"Don't you dare go blaming yourself for this. If you hadn't told them, you'd still be coming home at 2 o'clock in the morning covered in bruises and cuts and claiming you sleep-walked down the stairs. If it's anyone's fault, it's theirs for being so obsessed with their work that they didn't care enough to actually look into what might have caused your sudden shift in behaviour two years ago; it's not like your secret is really that hard to work out if someone could open their mind enough to consider the possibility."
"….."
"I know, I know, just-"
"….."
"Look, just give them some time, they need to work past the barriers they've put up in their own minds. I'll call you if there are any developments; and yes, if Vlad shows up, you'll be the first to know."
"….."
"Okay, I'll talk to you soon. Take care little brother."
Maddie crept quietly back down the stairs, coffee completely forgotten as she tried to digest Jazz's scathing review of her parenting on top of everything else she was already trying to work through.
When she entered the lab again, she found Jack slumped over a work bench, distractedly flicking through more reports. When he heard her enter, he twisted slowly to look at her and it was clear in the taut expression of his usually relaxed features and his haunted eyes that he was thinking the same thing she was.
"We're terrible parents, aren't we Mads?" He said in an unnaturally solemn voice, his voice tight with emotion.
"Yes Jack, I think we are," Maddie replied, her voice equally strangled by the maelstrom of emotions inside her.
"I just heard Jazz on the phone to Danny," she continued after a few moments of silence, "she said we were obsessed, too blinded by our research that we couldn't even bring ourselves to care about Danny. More than that, half our job was hunting Danny down like an animal, less than an animal even! Our own son… my god Jack, what have we done…?"
Jack didn't have a response to that, he just stared blankly forward.
After another indeterminate period of time, he spoke up.
"Yesterday… his eyes… he was terrified of us, Mads. My own son was terrified of me. How did we never see it before? Two years…" he trailed off, a thousand yard stare fixed on his features.
Once more the lab descended into a deathly silence, not that either of its inhabitants would have been aware of anything changing in their surroundings.
"Jack… do you think he will ever forgive us?" Maddie asked quietly, not entirely sure if she wanted to hear the answer or not.
Before Jack could formulate a response, a much terser female voice interceded.
"Danny will, it's in his nature; he wanted to tell you, after all. Tucker might even forgive you, though he'll still be wary for a while. But Sam won't, not for a long time; to her, you'll always be the people who hurt Danny, and she saw exactly what that damage looked like, physically, mentally and emotionally, better than any of us. And I'm not sure I can ever forgive you for what you did to my baby brother," Jazz spoke sharply, anger and venom dripping from her words while the elder Fenton's could only hang their heads in dejection, unable to refute the truth of her accusations.
"Did you know that four months ago, Danny experienced his absolute worst nightmare actually happen? The sort of experience so personal that he will barely talk to Tucker or I about it?" Jazz continued, relentlessly driving her point home. "And did you know that a month and a half ago, the mental and emotional strain from that and from everything else that crushes him every day caused him to come within a hairsbreadth of practically destroying himself? Sam found him and effectively put him back together, both mentally and physically, otherwise he probably wouldn't be here anymore," Jazz spat, continuing her lashing, each question remaining unanswered as the truth of her words sunk deeper and deeper into her parents' hearts.
"I'm sure you noticed that week that Phantom all but disappeared, about a month and a half ago? And I'm sure you spent hours, days even, trying to work out what it meant. But did you ever notice that in that same week, Danny seemed more active than usual, that his grades skyrocketed, or that he didn't get any detentions the entire time? That was because he was forced to take a break from ghost fighting because his injuries were so extensive. You've paid more attention to a ghost you despise than your own son, and you still didn't work out that they were one and the same!" Jazz was practically seething now, not caring how much it hurt her parents to hear this, because they needed to hear it; Danny needed them to hear it.
"And you know what? You're still doing it! Here you are, wrapped up in your own guilt, while completely ignoring Danny. He's terrified that the next time he'll see you guys, you'll be looking back at him from behind the barrel of an ecto-gun!"
That was finally enough to cause Maddie to snap, as she leapt from her chair and spun to face her daughter.
"We would never-" she began angrily, but her voice caught in her throat as she realised what she was about to say. She sank to her knees as she realised just how wrong that statement would be. And she began to sob as the full extent of her failure crashed into her like a wave. Jack held his head in his hands and wept as well.
Jazz just turned on her heels and walked out of the lab.