Opp2

A/N: Sorry this is a tad delayed, guys, our internet went poof because of all these storms and I had to finish all my summer homework in the space of a week so I had time to write this. I'm sorry I didn't get to respond to your reviews for the same reasons as listed above but I would like to address a couple of issues brought up: First off, Jazz is four years older than Danny, not two (my mistake) and I will correct that later. Second; I know my grammar isn't perfect so I'm probably going to need a beta for this… any takers? Also Jazz has glasses and later gets contacts Anyway thank you so very much to all who reviewed.

Also, I would just like to make a very important announcement: I have decided officially that this story will be cannon. So no matter how difficult it may seem, at the end, everything will be back to cannon. I have also decided that this story will be anywhere from about 29 through 36 chapters all with an average length of 5000 to 9000 words. As you may have noticed, I am dedicating each chapter to a favorite FF writer of mine; this chapter goes out to Pixiegirl13 whose stories have brightened my days.

Thank you all very much and I will see you at the bottom.

~Vlad POV~

After that day, Daniel and I were practically inseparable. He wanted nothing more than to spend time with me, and I was ecstatic, it seemed Fate may not have been as cruel as I thought, it brought me and my Little Badger together and no entity that brought such joy to this world could be as cruel as I perceived. I may not have been Daniels biological father, but I loved him like a son, and that was enough for me. The three months since that day that changed my life flew by in a happy blur, and I watched as Daniel started to grow. Then reality started to set in.

Life is never perfect, though those three months were as close to perfect as my life had been since the accident. I babysat Jasmine and Daniel as Jack and Maddie went on a two month vacation for Maddie to recover from her pregnancy. They had done the same when Jasmine was born. When they got back, they wanted to spend more time with their children, not allowing them to spend nearly enough time with me as I would have enjoyed. For a while I was in a state of mild depression that always disappeared when Daniel came to stay. Daniel always made me smile no matter what.

I had invested my finances and was doing better with learning how business worked; already having bought a small paper company that was slowly becoming a competitor for Staples. I was on my way to becoming a multi millionaire, but money was never a priority of mine, not like Daniel was. I know it was mildly creepy, my slight obsession with a child not even a year old yet, but I couldn't shake this feeling that something horrible would happen if I weren't there for him. My suspicions were confirmed when young Daniel was about eleven months old.

Madeline was making dinner; a roast in the "Specialty Microwave Oven" Jack had made her for their anniversary. They had invited me over to watch the kids as Maddie and Jack moved into their new place in Amity Park, a ghastly brick building they had fondly dubbed, "FentonWorks" and were already constructing their "New and improved FentonLab" where they would conduct all of their further experiments. I of course placed an anonymous tip to Social Services to double check that everything was perfectly safe for the kids; I couldn't allow Jack to screw up their lives like he did mine.

Jasmine at age five was determined to finish coloring an entire coloring book in an hour, and convinced me to time her while she lay on the linoleum floor, a bright red crayon in her hand, the rest of the pack sprawled throughout the kitchen. She had a look of immense concentration on her bright face, her tiny pink tongue poked through her lips as she screwed up her face in contemplation for a moment before she chose a bright fuchsia for Albert Einstein's tweed lab coat, rattling off some of the things she learned about him from the card she got with her teddy bear (Bearbert Einstein). Honestly, she was the smartest five year old I'd ever met.

"Okay, Uncle Vlad; I'm ready." She pushed her black framed glasses up her petite nose and nodded hurriedly, "Anytime now." She said rather haughtily. I smirked gently and ruffled her short auburn hair.

"Okay Princess, three…two…one…go!" I said with mock excitement. She yelped as I pressed the button on the timer, and ducked low, completely immersing her in the world of Albert Einstein coloring pages once again. I smiled fondly and stood, moving over to Daniel, who was playing with a stuffed teddy bear. He was frowning at it and, suddenly he threw it down in disgust and pouted up at me, his arms slightly up, silently asking to be picked up out of his high chair.

I laughed and walked closer, fully intending to oblige him, when suddenly, an earsplitting shriek cut through the peaceful, domestic silence. I whirled around, expecting an attack. The microwave oven was shaking and glowing a ghostly green. Maddie was the origin of the scream. A green glowing cord wrapped around her waist. I had no other word to describe it, but I could have sworn that it actually…smirked at me. Another cord appeared from out of nowhere and started sneaking towards my Little Badger.

I dove into action, tackling the chord to the ground, and sending a pink bolt of energy through it without Maddie noticing. The microwave oven shrieked in pain and launched itself from the countertop and towards Daniel. I had no idea why it seemed so set on making Daniel its target, but I wasn't about to find out. I raced towards it at an inhuman speed and kicked it to the ground; I jumped on it, and jumped again, and again; crushing it into the floor. It spluttered and stopped glowing eventually. Smoke rose from it as the chord holding Maddie fell and released her and she dropped to the floor gracelessly. A ~Ding~ sounded, tearing through the uncomfortable silence. I bent down curiously, and checked the ruined oven.

"It's done." I announced hoarsely. There was a minute of complete silence before Maddie and I burst out laughing. Daniel and Jasmine just looked up, confused as to what the ruckus was about. "I'll order Chinese." I said once our laughs subsided significantly. A pounding under our feet told us that Jack had finally realized that something was going on.

"What's going on?" He said rather loudly as he surveyed the wreckage of the kitchen. Maddie and I exchanged glances reminiscent of two cornered siblings caught in an act of wrongdoing. A heavy silence answered Jack. Suddenly, it became too much; Maddie and I started laughing again. I forgot about how the ghost specifically came after Daniel and enjoyed the rest of the evening with a smile on my face.

The month leading up to Daniel's first birthday flew by after that. On May first, The Fenton's and I piled into their living room. Daniel was sitting in his high chair, a smile on his adorable face. I sat down on the couch and Jasmine settled on my lap. Maddie and Jack came in, Jack wielding a video camera, Maddie delicately balancing a mini cake precariously on one hand while holding a half sheet cake that proudly proclaimed Happy First Birthday, Danny! In green writing, she set the larger of the two cakes on the coffee table, and the smaller one in front of Daniel. Jack set down the napkins, plates and silverware and turned on the camera that, I had just realized, had the words Fenton Cam 2.0 written in neon green lettering. I sighed in exasperation, of course.

Daniel giggled and practically did a face plant in the cake before we could sing or even light the candles which if I wasn't mistaken were somewhere in Daniel's hair. Jasmine laughed in my lap. I glanced down at her with a raised eyebrow. She just laughed harder.

"And what is so funny Jasmine?" I whispered in her ear. She laughed even harder, her face turning an interesting shade of bright red.

"Danny- is- so- messy!" She managed in between laughs, "He's usually the clean one" she giggled again. I poked her side, and she laughed harder, "Stop tickling me, Uncle Vlad!" She shrieked, I laughed now too, and ruffled her hair again. I looked back up at the cake- covered Daniel and had to stifle a snort. Jasmine was right, Daniel was usually the clean one, and he had never even stuck his fingers in his food before.

Maddie grabbed a wipe and started the task of cleaning him up, until he threw up on her that is. She scowled and handed the recently clean but once again messy Danny to me. Jasmine got up and followed her mother, leaving just me, Jack, and Daniel in the room. I smiled down at the child who held my heart in his little hands. He grinned up at me, a single tooth starting to come in.

Jack sat down next to me and turned the camera off. I ignored him and delicately wiped Daniels face clean. I promptly began entertaining Daniel with one of his toys I snagged from the ground, a bright green toy snake. Daniel giggled and grabbed for it, wrapping his tiny hands around its neck. Maddie came back, now dressed in a different jumpsuit, and looking more put together.

"So, how are my little men doing?" She asked saucily.

"Who are you calling little, Maddie?" I shot back, cockily. She stuck her tongue playfully out at me. My attention was diverted from our banter by Daniel's garbled baby speech. Maddie shrieked and grabbed the camera, convinced that Daniel would say his first word. Used to the routine, I leaned back so she got a good shot of Daniel.

"Da- Da! " Daniel giggled. I glanced down in surprise. His eyes were staring up at me seriously and he repeated himself "Da-Da!" He shouted gleefully, pointing up at me. I gulped, and looked towards Maddie and Jack, afraid of their reactions. Luckily, they didn't notice him looking at me instead of Jack. Jack snatched him out of my hands quicker than anything.

"Look, Mads, he said my name!" Jack boomed gleefully, oblivious to his own son's discomfort. Daniel was apparently as fed up with Jack as I was. He started squirming, a whimper escaping his throat.

"Da-Da," He said softly reaching out towards me, it nearly ripped my heart out as I saw those cerulean eyes fill with unshed tiny tears. He started to cry, hands still extended towards me, "Da-Da!" he cried. Jack frowned lightly as it dawned on him that his son was addressing me. He shuddered, clearly shaking off the very idea that his best friend would cause him such pain as to take his son. I glanced at Maddie and saw that she understood completely what had just occurred; I knew she'd want to talk about it later.

"Heh, heh," Jack laughed lightly, "I think he's telling me he wants his Uncle Vlad," I blinked; it couldn't be that easy, could it? Apparently it could; Jack handed Daniel back to me, who stopped crying at once and wrapped his hand around my finger, "Let's cut the cake!" Jack giddily yelled, reaching for the knife. I tensed; Jack with a knife was never a good thing.

It was a good thing, I tensed, too. The knife glowed a fabulous green, and wrenched itself from Jack's grasp. The knife turned slowly until the point was facing towards Daniel. It sped towards the two of us, and I dove out of the way, careful to make sure Daniel was safe cradled in my arms.

"Ghost!" Jack shouted and whipped a tiny gun out of his pocket. The knife came after me and Daniel again.

"Maddie, hold Daniel, let me take care of this!" I shouted, and handed Daniel to Maddie. Then, the strangest thing happened; the knife changed direction and sped towards Maddie and Daniel instead of me. I frowned in confusion, why were these types of things always going after Daniel? I was the one with the ghost powers; therefore, shouldn't that make me more of a target? I shook it off and grabbed a pillow, putting it in front of the knife.

The knife embedded itself in the pillow and got stuck. Effortlessly, I sent a small jolt of ecto-energy through it, weakening it. The glow diminished and I handed the pillow to Jack, who was still trying to figure out how to turn his gun on.

Eventually the excitement went down and we all settled in for a more normal birthday present opening for Daniel. I smiled as Daniel ripped the paper off his first gift; a green onesie with his initials on it. He giggled and clapped a bright smile on his face. I handed him a rather large box, this one from me. Maddie helped him open this one. Inside it was a brand new baby swing, for the new swing set I was having installed for him and Jasmine. He clapped again, laughing louder.

I gave him my last gift, and he tore into the paper greedily. His face was priceless. Daniel squealed and dove into the box, bringing out a cuddly stuffed badger. Maddie handed him to me and I held him in my arms.

"A little badger for my Little Badger," I whispered to him. He cooed happily, and then yawned. "Guys," I said, "I think Daniel here got a little too excited today, I think he's about to fall asleep. Do you think he should open the rest of them later?" Jack shook his head,

"No! He has one more present to open!" Jack shouted, startling Daniel out of his sleepiness. Jack ran out of the room and came back with a huge box. I had a sinking suspicion I knew what was in it.

My suspicion was confirmed when Jack pulled out a huge mound of orange baby jumpsuits that were identical to his. Maddie scowled freely.

"Jack, there is no way I am letting our son wear something like this." She said firmly, lifting the box out of his arms and taking it outside, putting it next to the garbage can. "Do you want him to be made fun of?" she demanded. Sensing an argument, I swooped Daniel upstairs to his room and settled him in his crib. I gave him a soft kiss on the forehead and whispered goodnight, turning off the light. I went to go tuck Jasmine in bed, too, thinking she had fallen asleep already, not remembering her being downstairs with them when Daniel opened his presents.

I gently opened the door, frowning when I noticed that the lights were still on. I looked around her bright pink room for her, but readily came to the conclusion I dreaded as soon as I noticed the lack of darkness, Jasmine was gone.

"Jasmine," I called her name, "Princess, come out. Where are you?" I searched under her bed, in the closet, under the desk, everywhere. Then I noticed an innocent looking plain white envelope. With shaking hands I looked at the name on it. Vlad was written in blood red crayon. I tore it open and read in five year old scrawl,

Uncle Vlad,

Please don't be mad at me, but I can't stand Mommy and Daddy fighting all the time. I know you'll miss me but Danny won't remember me. I'm running away. You're like a Daddy to me Uncle Vlad, but I know I hurt Mommy and Daddy, whenever they fight I can hear them talking about the "Financial pressure of raising two kids" I don't know exactly what that means but I'm pretty sure they can't afford to raise me and Danny. Please don't let Danny forget me. I love him, which is why I'm leaving. This nice woman said she'd take care of me. She's helping me write this letter. She glows a lot and smells a bit but she's nice and she promised that nothing would hurt me after tonight.

It ended there, and written underneath it in elegant calligraphy was another note it read:

Vlad,

You are my worthy opponent. I've been watching you, Masters. Aren't kids' fun little Might's to manipulate? Let's play a little game, Vladdie; I'll give you one hour to find me based on a single clue, to test that brain of yours. If you are not there, your little Princess loses that pretty little nose of hers and I take your cooing Little Badger too. If you don't make it the second time around, I send you both of their little smiles in a freezer box. You lose the third time around, and well, let's just say that heads will roll. You have one hour Vlad, the clock is ticking. Tick tock, tick tock.

I flipped it over and in the same writing, it said:

Your hint as promised: You might find some trash in this place, the love of your life did this to your best friend and- there was a stain that looked suspiciously like blood.

I felt something snap in me. No one, no one, threatens me or my family and gets away with it. I turned into my ghost form and decided something that had been bugging me for a while. When I was like this, my name would be Plasmius and I would let no one intimidate me anymore, because I was more powerful than them, I would be feared, and who ever this crazy lady was, she would pay, and pay dearly.

I floated around town aimlessly, trying to figure out the clue. Trash….would that mean like an alley? Or did it mean a dump? I went to the next part. What your best friend did to the love of your life

…Steal? Date? Kiss? Marry? And I was sure it was blood that was the third part. I sank lower to the ground.

I gnashed my teeth in frustration. I needed a drink, like a scotch or a Bloody Mary Specialty. That's when it hit me. Bloody Mary's Tavern, of course, there was a dump behind it, which must be where Jasmine was. I teleported directly into the dump, on top of a large mound of trash. I glared, looking around to see if I saw anything suspicious.

My eyes narrowed as I took in a glowing figure steadily floating towards me. I prepared an ecto-blast in my hand, ready to shoot if need be. The figure looked up and I relaxed, it was just a little old man ghost, but I still never took my eyes off of him. He was barefoot, dressed in suspenders and wearing no shirt, he had a straw hat on and a piece of wheat hanging from his mouth.

"Wha'choo doin here, boy?" He asked in a heavy southern accent.

"I am looking for a female ghost who has my godchild captive." I replied, looking for any hint of recognition or surprise. I was not disappointed.

"Ders that make choo Vlad, den?" he asked, spitting a piece of glowing tobacco on the mound.

"How do you know my name, good ghost?" I said lightly, trying not to panic, there was no way he was the writer of that note.

"Well shoot, 'dat 'der filly asked meh to give y'all this." He said the 'I' in this like an 'e' so it came out as these. He pointed behind me and I was a hooded figure, obviously a woman, raise a hand in greeting and disappear in a puff of smoke. I growled and turned back to the hillbilly ghost. He outstretched his hand and handed me an envelope.

I left the dump with a 'thank you' and a 'goodbye' I never knew when that ghost might be a possible ally. I opened the envelope with bated breath, not knowing what to expect. A picture and another note fell out. I looked at the picture in horror. It was a picture of Jasmine bound and gagged, a look of horror on her tear stained face, and her beloved bangs were gone. I looked in the envelope again, horror racing through me. In a Ziploc bag, was a chunk of red hair that I knew would turn out to be Jasmine's bangs. I clenched my fist and swallowed the sickness in my stomach.

I looked at the note and read in the same handwriting as before:

Vladdy-Cakes,

You didn't think it'd be that easy to get her back did you? Well, congratulations, you passed my first test. Now the stakes get a little higher. I give you the location this time, but you have to find me before the time runs out. I'm not telling you how much time you have. You find me, I give you Princess's location, and you two go home free, and you won't see me again till Daniel turns five and we go through this all over again. You don't find me, I give you back Jazz in more or less one piece, and you never see Daniel again. This will be my last letter, at least for a while.

Ta!

I fought a shiver of repulsion and turned the letter over for the location. It said, 3500 Cherry Lane. The place was a corn maze. I teleported there and frantically searched the middle of the maze first, expecting her to be at the heart of it. No one was there, as it was a Saturday, and the place was closed due to the fact that there was no corn yet. The Maze itself was intact, a high metal wall in place, where the corn would grow during the fall. As an act of making more money, the company erected this wall so they could stay in business all year round.

I floated towards a different leg of the maze, glancing everywhere for even the slightest hint of someone, anyone. Frantic and knowing that my time would be running out, and the window of hope for saving Jasmine was closing fast.

"Where are you?" I shouted angrily, abandoning all pretenses of calm. A shiver rolled through me at the thought of that monster laying her hands on either of my godchildren.

"Tut, tut, Vlad; I had hoped you would have actually found me. Alas, I apparently put too much hope in people." A female voice whispered in my ear. I tried to spin around to punch her, but it was like trying to swim while incased in ice; I couldn't move, I tried turning intangible, even trying teleportation, but I just got shocked for my efforts, I was powerless.

"I assumed you would do better than the first two, you showed so much potential, Vlad, but I am afraid this is the end of the line for us, my dear." She said almost lovingly, her ice cold breath on my ear. She snuck her fingers in my hair and caressed my face with her other hand. I still couldn't see her. She quickly changed that.

She moved in front of me and laughed coldly. Her hand on my face tightened, and she ran one of her long fingernails down my cheek, leaving a trail of blood. Suddenly she let go of me, and lowered her hood hesitantly. I gasped; her face was a shadow, and where her hair should have been, the shadow pointed upwards like devil horns.

"My name is Penelope, Vlad and you just failed." She whispered tantalizingly in my ear. A wave of cold enveloped me, and suddenly everything seemed sad. I had a sinking feeling that I would never see any of them again; Maddie, Jasmine, or Daniel, oh Daniel. I thought despairingly. I would never see those blue eyes dance again, or take him flying; I would never see him graduate, or get married to some woman not good enough for him.

No. A wave of determination swept over me, erasing the emptiness. Daniel, protecting my little badger, was my reason for life, and I was not going to miss the opportunity I had with him. I had the opportunity of my lifetime, waiting nestled in darkness, just eight blocks away with a hum of classical music lulling him into a doze. I growled lowly, fighting against the invisible bonds. Jasmine was counting on me to protect her. Daniel was waiting for me to prove myself as a worthy godfather. Penelope's smile wavered slightly.

"What are you doing?" she hissed lowly, her eyes narrowed. She hovered closer, a snarl set on her face as she once again gripped my face. I felt weak as soon as she made contact, but I wasn't about to let her destroy my second chances. She hissed and scratched down the side of my face. I ignored the pain and tried to move forward again. I finally realized what she was, a susceptor animae, a soul taker. She was practically a leech and if I didn't have any negative feelings, she couldn't feed off them.

"Vlad," she hissed, catching on to what I was doing, "how does it feel being second best in the life of the child who feels like a son to you?" She cooed sympathetically, "You'll never be his father, you're just a stand in, a back up in his life. He'll never be yours" she growled. I closed my eyes at the sheer despair that threatened to overwhelm me. "Aww, does that hurt, baby Vladdie?" She pouted, "Not as much as this will, I suppose." Penelope shrugged nonchalantly and reached into the folds of her cloak and removed a tiny glowing blue box.

She blew on it gently and threw it to the ground, where it exploded into a million tiny pieces. Smoke rose from it and solidified into a tiny form wrapped in a blue blanket.

"Isn't he just adorable?" Penelope squealed girlishly. I growled and struggled to get out of my binds, She had Daniel! He blinked sluggishly and looked up at her. She smirked and swayed him gently from side to side, looking almost like a mother with her new born, in a sick sadistic way. Daniel's eyes filled with tears, and a wail slipped from his throat.

"Da-da!" he cried, tearing at my heartstrings, "Da-da!" Knowing I had to save him raised hope in me and with a shout, I tore through my invisible bindings and dove at the woman, knocking her to the ground. I wrestled Daniel from her arms and cradled him in mine. He cooed and stopped crying, "Da-da!" He giggled, and a feeling of absolute peace spread through me to the outermost reaches of my soul, and instinctively I knew that while he was in my arms, she couldn't harm me. She squirmed beneath me, I raised a gloved hand and grasped her throat, tightly.

"Where's Jasmine?" I hissed.

"B-back at the house, asleep." She choked. I growled in warning and teleported the three of us back to the Fenton's house into Jasmine's bedroom. True to her word, Jasmine was nestled like a little angel in her pink sheets, Bearbert snuggled in her arms snoring lightly. I turned to the woman still held captive by my hand and set Daniel down on the floor. I stood, bringing her up with me.

"The occupants of this house are under my protection from now on. Let it be known that if anyone in the Ghost Zone so much as lays an ectoplasmic finger on them, I will rip out their cores and spread pieces of their carcass throughout the Zone, and no one will ever remember what they used to look like because they'll just see how much disfigurement I've done to the parts they can find. You, my dear," She shivered at the ice in my voice, "Will be my little messenger and to let it be known far and wide just who is in charge here," I paused for effect and grabbed a knife from my belt, "me" I whispered and sliced her shadowy hand off. I muffled her scream and threw her out the window like a rag doll.

I picked the still twitching hand up and charged my palm with ecto-energy and disingrated it. Daniel was watching me with wide eyes, his tiny mouth slightly open, and I felt a pang of remorse, I shouldn't have let Daniel watch that, but it was dispelled as he clapped his hands and laughed his adorable little baby laugh. I transformed back into my human form and my Little Badger laughed harder.

"I love you Daniel." I whispered as I scooped him up and carefully crossed the room, intent on putting him back in bed before anything else could happen.

"Uncle Vlad?" I heard a whisper in the darkness. I froze and turned to the small bed where Jasmine had apparently been awake the entire time I had been in there, "are you a ghost?" Acting on a sudden inspiration I walked back to her.

"Why would you say something like that Jasmine? Did you have another nightmare Princess?" I asked worriedly, looking every bit the part of concerned Godfather, "I just came in here to tell you good-night sweetheart, Daniel just finished opening his presents and I have to go back home soon. You just woke up." She nodded sleepily and laid back down. I smiled and kissed her forehead, "Good night Sweetie." I said and stood. When I was back safely in the hall I breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad she bought it." I whispered to Daniel, who had fallen asleep in my arms.

As I went downstairs to where Maddie and Jack were still fighting, and gracefully took my leave with a heavy heart.

A/N: Jack is so stupidly trusting isn't he? ~Shakes head sadly~ You poor poor fool, you'll lear eventually in this story. I promis dear readers to updat befor Halloween, but other than that I can make no promises, I'll try to respond to the review for this chapter but if I don't, pleas don't take it personally, I just don't have all the time in the world.