Chapter 2:
Dream Weavers

Danny had weird dreams. Though, some of them were really more like hazy memories. He nearly woke himself up half a dozen times, dreaming The Box Ghost had come into his room and trying to fight him off. Thankfully, he hadn't hit Ellie, by mistake. (Not that it really mattered. She kept kicking him, anyway.) One of the memory-dreams had happened only two weeks before.

He had been fighting Desiree, and having a hard time. She had, apparently, tricked some unwitting bystander into wishing her stronger, and, for some reason, wishing her into the thermos didn't work anymore. "Dude," Memory-Tucker said. "Maybe you should wish for some backup." He had meant it as a joke, and Sam had 'accidentally' hit him with a wrist-ray for it, but Danny had seen the brilliance in the idea.

"Okay," He said, smirking. "Hey, Desiree!" He shouted, and the now-giant ghost, who had been busy laughing maniacally, turned her attention back to the ghost-boy. "I wish I had some backup."

"What? No, no! Wait!" Desiree shouted, as her magic fulfilled the wish, involuntarily. Suddenly, she was surrounded by four more ghosts, as Princess Dora, Wulf, Danielle Phantom, and Pandora appeared.

Danny was just glad she hadn't poofed up an army of trucks, going in reverse.

The battle had taken all of two minutes, after that. Then, Sam had asked why they hadn't just wished Desiree tiny, or something, and Danny sucked the ghost-genie into the Fenton Thermos, rubbing the back of his neck, sheepishly. He, really, just hadn't thought of it.

They had had a good afternoon, after that, talking with their friends. None of them had seen Wulf or Dani in a while, and they all had a picnic together.

Wait... No, that wasn't right... Danny had thanked them all, and they had left pretty soon after the battle, telling Danny to call on them again, if he ever needed help.

Why had he though they'd had a picnic?

Dani had stayed a little longer, announcing to Team Phantom that she was shedding her past with Vlad, completely. No offense to Danny, but the name 'Danielle' left a bad taste in her mouth, thanks to 'Dear, Old Dad'.

"It's 'Ellie', now," The memory-girl stated, proudly, showing off her ghost half's new outfit. The old hazmat suit, (which Danny had to admit could get incredibly uncomfortable to fight in,) had been traded out for a white belly-shirt under a black leather jacket with a stylized 'E' on the left front pocket, black cargo shorts, and white combat boots. She'd ditched the gloves altogether, saying they made her hands too sweaty. "From now on, I shall be known as 'Sarah Elizabeth..." She had started boldly, but trailed off, not having decided on a last name.

"Fenton'," Danny finished, a bit quickly. "U-uh... If you want... that is," He blushed, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. The other members of Team phantom smiled and nodded, as the little ghost-girl nearly teared up, tackling her 'cousin' in a bear hug, before flying off into the sunset.

Then, the dream faded out, to be replaced by another. Thankfully, though, this one wasn't a memory. Danny didn't know what he would've done if this had actually happened.

He was in a big, Ghost-Zone-doors purple room. Technus was wearing an apron and decorating a Christmas tree, while Walker and Clockwork sat on a couch, eating popcorn and yelling at a ghost football game. Skulker gave Sam a piggy-back ride to the top of a palm tree, to get some bananas, while Ember and Pandora braided Tucker and Desiree's hair.

||Since when does Tuck have a mullet?|| Danny wondered, absently.

Suddenly, Box Ghost and Lunch lady burst through the door and announced their engagement. Desiree poofed them up a tux and gown, and Danny turned to find that the other side of the room was now a makeshift wedding chapel. GhostWriter was the minister, and, as Walker walked The Lunch Lady down the aisle, Ember played a spooky rendition of The Wedding March on her guitar.

As the two ghostly love-birds joined hands, GhostWriter began the ceremony, by skipping right to the end. "Do you, Eugina Rose, take Harold to be your hauntfully-wedded husband?"

Lunch Lady looked away, coyly. She fluttered her lashes and blushed, ever-so-slightly. "I boo," She answered.

"And, do you, Jamison Arnaldo, take Geraldine Ledbetter to be your hauntfully-wedded wife?"

Boxy batted his lashes and blushed in the same way as his about-to-be wife. "I boo."

"By the power invested in me, by the fact the I'm a know-it-all," In a puff of smoke, a small bassinet appeared between them. "I now pronounce you 'Mom' and 'Dad'." More smoke, and Box Lunch appeared. "You may kiss the baby."

"So, that's how that happened," Danny mumbled in his sleep.

"How what happened?" Ellie asked, snuggling against her big 'cousin'. He was so cool, and she felt way too hot.

"Box Lunch," The boy answered. He didn't know why his teddy bear was talking to him, be he really didn't care. He hugged her closer. She was so warm, and he was so, so cold.

"Oh," The littlest halfa replied, not really knowing what that meant.

"Ew," Sam and Jazz piped up from across the room, pausing in their planning.

Danny's thoughts were swirling around in his head, like rain-flavored taffy. At least, that's how he would describe it. Jazzy had pulled him out of bed and made him get dressed. But, it was so cold.

||When did it turn winter?|| He wondered, hazily. He heard his sister saying something, but only made out a few words.

||Hoodie? Jazzy said something about a hoodie. A hoodie would be nice. A hoodie in a microwave. Warm and toasty.||

As Jazzy tried to put the hoodie on him, she kept telling him to hold still. He thought he was. He whined, and tried to settled. But, he felt bad, and he had a headache, and he was confused, and he just wanted to get back into bed and hug his talking teddy bear. He was about to complain to Jazz about it, when his head popped through the neck-hole of the hoodie to reveal, not his big sister, but a giant, talking turkey leg. He didn't remember painting his room forest-green, but at least it matched the bits of now-green bubblegum he could see still stuck in his hair, cluttered in the bangs that were dangling in his eyes.

He heard someone talking, and looked over and see Sammy come in with Ellie in her arms. The little girl reached for him, mumbling something about it being too hot.

||Hot? What's she talking about? It's freezing,|| He though, incredulous. He heard Sammy say something about a fever.

||Poor Ellie, she must be sick,|| He realized.

He waited for Turkey Leg to finish doing whatever she was doing to his hair, then tried to give Ellie a hug, to make her feel better. Heaven knew he was cold enough to bring down a fever, but he tripped over the pajama pants he'd left in the floor, landing on his poor tummy.

||This is such a nice floor. Why don't I ever sleep here?|| He thought, his eyes drooping closed, before a huge shiver racked his body, and knocked them open again.

Sammy and Turkey Leg helped him up, and sat him on the end of the bed. He watched them talk for a minute, since he couldn't make out what they were actually saying, then the three girls left the room.

"What's taking so long, Jazz? We should've been there fifteen minutes ago," Sam complained, walking into the room carrying Ellie. The half-asleep little girl whined and squirmed, reaching for Danny again, mumbling about it being too hot. Her nose was running, and she had a bit of a fever. Not to mention the fact that, every time she sneezed, something got charred. Thankfully, though, it was nothing that couldn't be explained away with a ghost attack or one of the Fentons' inventions malfunctioning.

Fenton-damage was almost as common as ghost-damage. And, the local police could often be overheard placing bets on which was the cause at the latest scene-of-destruction.

Tucker had successfully gone home and convinced his parents he was sick, getting their permission to stay home alone, all day, while they were at work. (It wasn't difficult, since he felt nearly as bad as he looked, and he looked pretty bad.) This freed him up to take care of Ellie, while Sam and Jazz dealt with Danny at school. (Or, Danny and school. Depending on how you looked at it.)

At least, that was the plan. How it would turn out, Sam had no idea.

Jazz was just forcing a hooded sweatshirt down over Danny's head, so he would quit whining to get back under the blankets. Hoodies of all different colors had become the boy's usual fashion-choice outside of the house, to hide any damage from his ghost-fights. Though, he still liked to wear his favorite, red-and-white t-shirts, when he was at home. (As long as his parents weren't around, and/or he wasn't hiding any too-serious injuries.)

Jazz picked up a comb and some baby oil to tackle the mess of gum and black fuzz that used to be her brother's hair. He was putting up a fight. (Though, thankfully, not a ghostly fight. Just an incredibly annoying one.) "I'm doing the best I can!" She snapped at her goth friend, her hair nearly as crazy as her brother's. "Danny, hold still!" The boy whined, but settled a little, as Jazz bit back a wave of jealousy at the sight of Ellie. You could tell the little half-ghost still felt bad, but she was clean and fed, and there wasn't a speck of bubblegum to be found on her or Sam. Jazz and her brother would be lucky not to get a home visit.

While Jazz did her best to get Danny ready to go, Sam tried to figure out what to do for the halfas. "Ellie has a cough, runny nose, general malaise, exhaustion, fussiness,-" She emphasized, as the girl squirmed in her arms, again. "-and a slight fever. What about him?" She completed, nodding towards the boy on the bed. Ellie really didn't want to settle down, and Sam was afraid she would climb back into bed and mess up all the work she'd done on her hair.

||Honestly, she's worse than Danny,|| The goth girl thought, ruefully.

"Same, but without the fever. He keeps shivering, and hugging me. Kinda sweet, but makes it hard to get gum out of his hair. He was calling me 'Jazzy', like when we were little. But, now, he keeps calling me 'Turkey Leg'. Not sure how to take that," Jazz answered, then paused, picking at a particularly stubborn chunk of bubblegum. Sam nodded, as though ghost illnesses and delusions were a completely normal topic of conversation. Which, for them, it basically was. "He seems to be a bit delusional. But, I'm not sure if that's from illness or sleep-deprivation," The redhead finished.

"Could be both," Sam noted, as the three girls turned to stare at the short halfa. He just stared back, and sniffled.

After what seemed like a millennium, Jazz finally got her brother's hair (somewhat) under control. "Okay," She said, half to herself, as she stood. Danny moved to get up, but his feet got tangled in the pajama pants he'd thrown in the floor and Jazz had left there, because she had bigger things to worry about. After she and Sam helped him up, sitting him back on the edge of the bed, she headed for her family's medicine cabinet, Sam following behind her.

"Ugh. Which one do we use?" Jazz asked, digging through the many various bottles of cold and allergy medicine. She had quite a headache coming on, herself. Mental illness was her area of expertise. Not snot.

"Let me see," Sam ordered. Jazz stepped aside, taking Ellie, as the goth looked through the bottles. The little ghost-girl laid her head on the redhead's shoulder, and Jazz found herself petting her hair. She'd always wanted a little sister... "Okay, this should work for both of them," Sam said, pulling out a bottle of brown cough syrup. "Ellie can take the children's version, so we can leave it with Tucker," She added, pulling out a smaller, purple bottle, of the same brand.

Jazz nodded, then looked at the label. "Danny's not gonna like this. He hates that stuff."

"Too bad. It's for his own good," The goth girl said, marching back toward her friend's bedroom.

"Easy for you to say," Jazz muttered, under her breath. "You're not the one who just spent ten minutes trying to put his hoodie on."

They sighed, upon reaching the room. Danny was in his bed, huddled under the covers, clinging to them like a life-line. The two older girls took this opportunity to take more (blackmail) pictures, before dragging the whining halfa out of bed, and out the door.

Ten seconds after they'd gone, Maddie Fenton peeked out of the kitchen. "Was that the kids?"

Her husband appeared behind her. "I SURE HOPE SO. THEY'RE GONNA BE LATE FOR SCHOOL."

"I can't believe they stayed up all night. Especially Jazz... And, to test a theory."

"YOU SOUND SURPRISED. TWO BRILLIANT MINDS LIKE OURS, AND YOU THINK THEY DIDN'T INHERIT ANY OF IT?" He asked, putting an enormous hand on her tiny shoulder. "FACE IT, BABY! YOU'RE A GENIUS!"

"Oh-ho-ho. Jack," She giggled, flattered, before reaching up to kiss her darling husband.

AN: Hey, Everybody! :)

I know I usually only update on Fridays, but I thought I'd post an extra chapter, just to say 'Happy Halloween'! :D So, here's a healthy dose of my strange imagination, to give you nightmares ;) Seriously, though, I hope everyone has fun today, and stays safe! :)

Is the switching back and forth annoying? Because I wanted to show Danny was seeing, and what was actually happening. Anyhow, lemme know what ya think! :)

As always,
God bless, and I hope you enjoyed! :)
- Ellie