I would also be remiss in not thanking Dash (The Cinderninja) for checking this over for me since I blindly jumped into this whole body swap thing.

AS YOU WISH

February 5, 2015

. for Invader Johnny .

It took longer than she wanted to finally bow out of her afternoon with the halfa's friends, but eventually, they let Desiree leave without suspicion and she let her feet—she had feet that she needed to use if she wasn't going to get caught—take her across town until she walked up the steps to Fenton Works.

She stopped at the door, wondering if it was truly a good idea to enter the house of ghost hunters, but there was no choice. She could not give up the ruse now. She was the son of the Fentons and this was her home and she had to pretend like she belonged here or she would be blasted to kingdom come and never allowed a chance to set things right. She would be stuck in this pitiful male body for all time.

Playing the game was unappealing, but being destroyed completely was even more so and if she begged off to remain with Sam and Tucker she would surely be figured out.

So she reached out a skinny arm and opened the door.

If she just kept following her senses, she could walk down to the Portal. Perhaps it would be open and she could simply return home. But she stopped short as Maddie came up the basement stairs to confront her supposed son.

"Danny, is that you?"

"Uh, yes," Desiree said, hoping to avoid the meeting. "I'm just going up to my room."

"No, young man, you are going to come right here."

Her hackles raised at the order; she would never bow down to such demands unless it had been a wish that forced her hand.

"You haven't cleaned your room," Maddie said pointedly.

Desiree's face twisted. "Sorry," she said, hoping that was what children said in such situations.

"Yeah, well sorry's not going to cut it this time, kiddo," Maddie said. "Not when you've been saying that for the past two and a half weeks without doing anything to make it any better. It's a pigsty right now but it's one of your chores and you should know that you need to do it without being told."

"Yes," Desiree said after there had been a pause.

"Then why hasn't it been done?"

"I have been busy," Desiree said, trying to think of what Danny might say. "With school. And… everything else."

Maddie pinned her son with a hard stare. "With hanging out with your friends, you mean? Oh come on, Danny, we know you aren't even turning in all of your assignments because Mr. Lancer called us this afternoon and said that you were late on some critical pieces of homework. Your grade is going to tank but here you are going off to play with your friends and waste your afternoons. That's not being responsible."

Desiree took a step back in surprise. Not being responsible? What did this woman think her son was doing while he wasn't turning in his homework? Homework that was eaten by ghost dogs and blasted into smithereens by Skulker's blasters whenever he'd actually had time to get it done in the first place?

"We're going to have to ground you, Danny," Maddie continued. "Until you straighten yourself out and get this taken care of."

"What?"

"No, you heard me. You need to get your room clean and your grades up. No more sleepovers with Tucker and no more late night movies with Sam, do you hear me?"

Desiree's mouth dropped open. "But…"

"No," Maddie preempted.

She was about to get mad at the curtailed freedom on Danny's behalf when she remembered just in time exactly who she was looking at. One of the most feared ghost hunters for a reason. The woman was lethal even without any powers or suits of her own. She could easily do worse to her than Sam or Tucker would if she found out who Desiree was and what had happened and that she had disappeared her son off to some unknown place.

And Danny wasn't here to make sure Desiree ended up in the Ghost Zone instead of on the operating table.

For all the halfa's faults and self righteous hunting of any supernatural entity who had barely been in the human world for thirty seconds and his horrible ability to gain the upper hand in any battle even when he did not deserve to have it, he did have a streak of humanity that his full human parents seemed to lack. He would send everyone straight back to the Ghost Zone without a moment's leniency, but he always ensured that while he was around, no one would become an ectoplasmic sample in his parents' lab.

So she nodded and was about to walk upstairs to find out just how messy the boy's room was when Jack appeared.

He was a huge hulking man who loomed over her, much more intimidating when she was trapped in a small body with feet on the ground. He had a pan of fudge in one hand and a small metal device in the other.

"Oh, Danny-O!" he shouted in delight.

Desiree had to make a point of not flinching away from him and hoped that the man wasn't the kind to show physical affection with his hands full because she didn't know how she would be able to not respond viciously, which would not end well for anyone.

"Hi," she said, hoping they could leave things at that and that she could escape upstairs and from there perhaps find some hidden notes that could be used to her advantage. The halfa must have been researching and cataloguing his findings if he had scientists for parents, mustn't he?

She was about to make her escape, one foot on the stairs, when the silver box in Jack's hand made a small blip.

Everyone swiveled toward it in surprise.

"That's odd," he said.

"What is it?" she asked, hardly daring to pose the question since she probably didn't want to hear the answer.

"That means there's a ghost around… but you and Mads are the only ones here."

Desiree wondered if it was sensing a full ghost in a halfa's body or if having any humanity left saved one from being targeted by such sensors. It didn't really matter except how it might lead to her exposure here in the house of ghost hunters.

Jack was advancing on her, his huge form towering above her head, box in hand beeping more and more with every step. She wanted to put her hands over her ears to block out the high pitched ringing and run away, but, while that might be the most attractive option, it would probably be the one most likely to lead to her demise. She forced herself to stand stock still as both of the adult Fentons came toward her.

Bracing herself for the worst, Desiree realized that she could fly away if it looked like they were going to attack the body of their son. It would mean that she couldn't get through the portal and wouldn't have a place to stay but she could hide someplace far away from any other humans. And Danny was a more resourceful kid than she had ever expected so there was always the chance that he might come through and set everything straight himself. He couldn't enjoy being in her body and more than she liked being stuck in his.

Jack and Maddie were practically on top of her now. Every muscle thrummed with tension.

Then the door opened and suddenly Jazz was between them, arms encircling Desiree and pushing her parents away. "Leave him alone," she told them, "Danny has homework."

Desiree blinked at the girl, not knowing what to do.

"Go upstairs; I'll throw them off," the redhead whispered to her.

"But…!" Jack began with a pout.

"No! You haven't even finished that thing," Jazz said. "Let Danny try to get his grades up while you go back down to the lab and actually get it to work properly before you attack anything it identifies!"

Desiree stumbled up the stairs to the safety of the halfa's room and for the first time, she realized that even his parents didn't know what he was doing. And that they were just as problematic for him as they were for any ghost. More so, even, because he still lived under the same roof and interacted with them every single day.

She ran down the hall and closed the door behind her, wondering how anyone's life could be more messed up than hers had been.

to be continued.