A.N. Hey. So, um, my gmail is down temporarily, and I haven't been able to reply to my reviews, so I'll do that here.

Ms. Frizzle: First review! Thank you. :) Your incredibly sweet and complimentary words made me blush. I hope the rest of my writing is as good as you made my first chapter out to be. BTW, chapter two was for you-rather, I posted it so soon because of your review. :D

Fluehatraya: Thank you so much. That means a lot to me. :) Just so you know, the reason I'm posting this chapter so soon is because of what you said.

You guys have been so good to me so far. I'm a little disappointed-I thought that I'd get more reviews-but that's alright. The ones I have gotten so far have been very, very kind indeed. :) And without further ado-the next chapter!

Pride

Danny smiled. He had done it! It had taken a long time-almost a month of practicing-but he had done it! Finally. The idea had come from Sam, after watching him try to explain his ghost sense to his parents, while simultaneously struggling to create an excuse to leave and change into Phantom. She had wondered if there was a way to hold the breath in and 'swallow' it. Either that, or warm it somehow so it was no longer visible. Figuring out how to do it, or even if such a thing was possible had been hard. But it was definitely worth it; he had the technique down cold, no pun intended.

The hardest part had probably been the inconsistency of his ghost sense. Eventually Danny just started going into the Ghost Zone to practice. It worked, so long as he remained invisible. He didn't any of his enemies to catch sight of him-especially not all at once, as had happened the last time he went openly into the Ghost Zone. He shivered at the memory. That had been bad.

But he had done it! Danny thrust his fist in the air triumphantly, cheering silently. It was well after midnight, and the rest of his family was asleep. He had the sudden urge to wake them all up to share in his accomplishment, but since none of them knew that he ghost-hunted, much less that he himself was half-ghost, it wouldn't exactly go over well. Instead, he continued to quietly celebrate in his room, eyes shut in blissful triumph.

From where he was in his mansion, Vlad quirked an amused eyebrow at the boys' antics. Honestly, you'd think the child had never mastered an aspect of his ghostly form before. Reclining in front of his T.V., Vlad continued to watch the footage from the many cameras he had hidden in FentonWorks. He couldn't muffle a snort of laughter when Daniel, finally calmed down, though still with an exhausted grin on his pale face, tripped over his own feet on the way to bed. It was almost endearing, how clumsy the boy was. Although, he seemed to lose a lot of that whenever he was in his ghost form, Vlad mused. He wondered why that was…being in one form of another never affected his sense of balance…yet another one of Daniels' strange quirks, he supposed.

Smiling fondly, Vlad watched Daniel crawl into bed and curl up beneath the covers. It was…almost cute, the way he had reacted with childish joy to his achievement. He had been working on it for a while. Vlad had known the instant he saw Samantha suggest it to him that Daniel would have it mastered within a few weeks. He had never doubted that the child would, or could, see it through. Still, he couldn't help but feel strangely proud of his little badger. The ability to follow through and persevere was not one that everyone had.

"Good job, Daniel," he said softly to the dimly lit screen in front of him. "Good job."

A.N. I don't really think I conveyed this very well…I was trying to show Vlad in a different, more fatherly light, checking up on Danny and making sure he's alright. Trying to be a part of his life, even in such a small way. Being proud of him, like a father would a son. But I think I failed…ah, well. :/ I'll try to do better next time…

In the meantime, I'd like your help with something. See, I'm pretty much just using this fanfic as a way to experiment with different writing styles (although I haven't really done much of that yet), different P.O.V.s, and writing in the voice of different characters. I'd also like to try out some different pairings, and I'm looking for suggestions. I'm open to almost anything. I don't mind yaoi, although I don't really like Pompous Pep. I much prefer Danny/Vlad father-son pairing. And I'd like to write Jazz with someone, just not sure who yet. Might bring in an O.C.

But what do you guys think? What should I do? Comments, criticisms, and outright flattery is always welcome. :D Thanks, and although I'm technically a day early to be saying this, have a great weekend!