I don't own Danny Phantom or the characters.

"What the heck are you doing here?" Exasperated Danny threw his hands in the air. "Aren't you supposed to be terrifying the town or enslaving my friends right now? I thought I would at least find peace this week away from ghosts!"

Ember pointed a finger at him. "Hey, it's not like I asked to be caught. I was minding my own business playing a concert when you're mo—"

"Shhh!" Danny placed a hand over Ember's mouth. "You're going to give away my s-e-c-r-e-t." He checked to see if Maddie was listening. Nope. His mother was currently bent over some test tubes on the far side of the lab. She had dumped Ember into the tank, and then proceeded to work on some other stuff.

Ember shoved him off her. "She can spell y'know. Why do you even why bother keeping it a secret. It'd be a lot less trouble if you just went ahead and told her. If you had, you wouldn't be in this situation." Growing more and more irritated Ember ripped out some of her ghostly hair which grew right back. "I wouldn't be stuck in a ten-by-ten foot cube with you!"

Danny crossed his arms. "I'm not happy about it either. Look, why don't we just call a truce for the duration of your stay. When we get out, we can go back to being enemies." He extended a hand of temporary friendship.

"Yeah right, dipstick." Ember sashayed her ponytail behind her head and turned up her nose. I'm going to pretend like you don't exist and I'd appreciate it if you did the same."

Danny looked confused. "You want me to pretend like I don't exist?"

Ember was about to blow a gasket. "I don't feel like hearing your smart mouth right now!"

Maddie could hear the two ectoplasmic entities quarreling, an unexpected reaction to be sure. She found it strange that their argument hadn't turned physical yet. Ghosts after all were predisposed to violence. Diplomacy is impossible for such a volatile conscious ruled by baser instincts. It was very rare to find a specimen capable of executing reason. Placing down the chemicals, she opted for her notebook on which she had written the results of yesterday's temperature experiment.

[Subject although expressing extreme discomfort could endure temperatures in excess of two hundred degrees. At that point its ectoplasm began to melt, forming puddles on the floor. Recovery required turning the thermostat back down to freezing temperatures.]

Maddie automatically frowned at the memory of the boy's dripping face like he was figure made of wax. The sight disturbed her deeply and had convinced her to lay off the heat.

Then that night walking home from the grocery store she heard a concert going on in the park. To her astonishment, a ghost, though very well disguised, was the main attraction! So she put her bags down and retrieved the thermos she had on her at all times and did what every sensible ghost hunter would do. Captured her right on stage in front of hundreds of teenagers. In hindsight she should've known they wouldn't have been very happy about it. Her hair still reeked of spoiled tomatoes.

As she approached the container, the chatter of the ghosts died down and both turned to look at her. The girl couldn't hold her tongue. "So you finally decide to finally pay attention to us. I have a question. How does an old woman like you fit into that outfit? It's kind of shameful, if you ask me."

Phantom suddenly seemed upset. "How dare you speak to her like that? I'm right here!"

"Phantom," Maddie interjected. "I don't need you defending me." That is most peculiar, she thought. "As for the lady, I must question her clothing preferences. According to my son, Gothic is out." (Except in that pretty Sam Manson's case, she added silently.)

"Oh, he did, did he?" She faced Phantom with less than an agreeable intent. "What else has your son said that concerns beautiful rocker musicians?"

"That doesn't concern you ghost. Now, I believe you go by Ember. For the purposes of the interview, you shall be referred to as subject number two."

Ember looked shell-shocked. "W-what? I'm a celebrity you hag! How dare you call me that?"

Phantom appeared to be laughing it up. When he finally calmed down and Ember's protests died down, Maddie began, "I have a few questions. Please answer them truthfully, or I will have to resort to… unspeakable methods."

Ember scowled and reluctantly nodded. "Get this over quick. What's the first one?"

"Why are you and supposedly the rest of the ghost zone so hostile to Phantom?"

"Easy. He's not one of us. Next." She sounded bored.

Danny on the other hand was troubled. He leaned over and whispered into her ear, "What do you think you're doing? You're going to give away my secret."

"No whispering!" Maddie commanded. "What do you mean by that, Number Two?

Ember rolled her eyes. "Exactly what I said. He's not one of us. He came from somewhere else. He doesn't live in the ghost zone. I doubt he could in the first place."

"Are you trying to ruin me?" Phantom blurted.

Ember shrugged. "Relax; I'm not going to give it away. If she wants to know, I'm sure she'll figure out some way to wrangle the truth from you. Right, Mrs. Fenton?" Ember smiled evilly, and Danny picked up on what she was trying to accomplish. And guessing from the look on his mom's face, she was successful. Danny was screwed.

Decided to mix it up. Experiment ideas are hard to come by.