I'm very late, huh? Sorry. I had writers block...and a family full of computer hogs ;(

To the reviewers!
Thunderstorm101: lol. Yeah. That's kinda what happens, but I can't make Phantom just...uh, lose it. I just can't write it :P I doubt Phantom thought about it. He's used to absorbing everything. Danny thought of it, but he's probably going to regret it ;)
DPcrazy: Good. I like laughs :D I guess it would be normal for them. I'm just afraid of making his emotions all jerky. I'll name it that, but next chapter. Because of my writing block, I had to change direction and so it's delayed...sort of. As for Danny's evil plan, well, you'll have to wait and see. *evil smile*
Woken Laughing: I'm glad it did :D I liked that part best ;) I'd forgotten about the family waking up. It just didn't occur to me a whole lot. Hope I made up for it here. I like Phantom too and that's the problem. Darn it. I still like Danny, but Phantom's more fun. It's because he's a ghost, i bet ;)
Kiomori: Cool! Don't worry. They're boys. They bounce right back ;) You got a point. Thanks. It'd been bothering me a bit.
Thank you all very much for reviewing! :D

So, yeah. A change in direction. It's not so bad and I like the new one. It'll be easier for me to continue their tortures this way ;)

I no own Danny Phantom.

Chapter 8
Delays

Phantom brushed the bread crumbs off the table after he'd finished the sandwich. He had to admit, it really was fun to eat. Eating wasn't so bad, he supposed. It was probably like how Danny put it, the better of his problems. The worst would probably have to be gravity. All the others just seemed…well, just there; normal. But gravity wasn't. It was a persistent pain. Darn gravity.

He glanced up and gave Danny an uncertain look. He'd yet to tell him what his test was going to be, but judging by what he'd made him do so far, he wasn't too sure he was looking forward to it. Oh sure, the tests hadn't been really all that bad. Short term, anyway. There was that matter about why his midsection was starting to feel funny…

Phantom stiffened automatically when Danny finished his sandwich and stood up. The human raised an eyebrow and laughed.

Phantom scowled. "Well, what do you expect?"

"A ghost who's not afraid of a little human," Danny replied, smiling smugly.

Phantom crossed his arms sulkily. "Well, you aren't exactly a nice kid."

Danny snorted. "You make a death trap of my living room, drop me a million feet above the ground, and then make me drink ghost pee—"

"Water."

"—and yet I'm the mean one?"

Phantom tapped his chin thoughtfully before nodding. "Yup."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Your logic is skewed, dude."

Phantom just shrugged.

Danny frowned and crossed his arms. "You're paranoid, you know that?"

"It crossed my mind a few times. Most notably when you yelled 'You're so dead, Phantom!' about ten minutes ago."

Danny sighed and shook his head. "Fine. Believe what you want."

Phantom smiled. "I am….So what's your test, Danny?"

Danny cocked his head to the side. "Actually, I hadn't thought it out completely."

"We've been sitting here doing nothing for five minutes and you're saying you haven't put much thought into it?" Phantom demanded incredulously.

"I had other things to think about."

"Oh, I see where I rank in your mind now."

"Actually, you were the subject," Danny said. Phantom pursed his lips then smiled. He was probably thinking about halfas. "But, just because I haven't given that test much thought, doesn't mean I'm without backup."

Phantom groaned. "Try not to kill me."

"Considering you're a ghost…"

"A ghost who's more alive than he should be."

"Point," Danny conceded, chuckling a little. "I'll be doing it too, so I doubt you'll get hurt too badly."

Phantom frowned. "It's not like another thermometer, is it?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "No. I want to know how long we can hold our breath."

Phantom gave him a questioning look. "Hold our breath."

"Yeah."

"…You're losing your touch, Danny." Phantom crossed his arms and leaned back, giving Danny a superior look.

Danny smirked back. "That'll depend on how well you can hold your breath."

Phantom snorted. "How hard could it be? Especially considering I'm more used to not breathing than having to."

Danny shrugged. "We won't know till we try it. Besides, you're not just going to hold your breath. We'll need help with that."

"What do you mean help?"

"Well, would you rather use the bathroom or the kitchen sink?"

Phantom frowned in confusion. "What are you—oh! Hold our breath underwater."

Danny nodded, smiling. "Yup. So, which one?"

Phantom tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm. How about the bathroom? Sticking my head into the kitchen's sink just seems…wrong."

Danny laughed. "Good. I feel the same way…" He frowned at the thought.

Phantom saw this and smiled, rolling his eyes. "Alright. Shall we get going, O Denialing One?"

Danny blew hair out of his eyes and glared at him. "In a second. I need to get the timer."

It took him about two minutes to find the stupid digital stop watch.

Phantom rolled his eyes when he saw it. "I could have told you it was on top of the microwave if you'd just told me what it looked like," he pointed out.

"Whatever. It doesn't matter now." He walked out of the kitchen and Phantom flew after him, intending to fly him to the bathroom to save time. But Danny spun around before he could grab him. Phantom pulled up in surprise and almost collided with him. "We are not flying there, Phantom," Danny told him stubbornly.

Phantom stared at him for a while before sulkily crossing his arms. "Walking is so slow, though."

"After my past experience with you flying me, it's not going to happen anytime soon."

"Ah, so you are afraid of heights!"

Danny opened and closed his mouth for a moment before spinning around and continuing his aggravatingly slow pace towards the bathroom with a stiff back. Phantom sighed and followed him, floating horizontally on his back. Bad idea seeing as how he didn't know the lay of the house very well. He crashed head on into the wall. He groaned and felt himself slide to the floor thanks to gravity. Danny stood over him, laughing hysterically. He glared at him, fully intending to do something the human wouldn't appreciate at all.

But luckily, he didn't have to.

Danny yelped mid laugh when one of his legs became intangible and he toppled over.

Phantom pointed to him and laughed as hard as Danny had at him. Danny turned away from looking at his leg in shock to glare daggers at Phantom. Phantom ignored it and continued to laugh, picturing over and over how Danny's face had looked.

"You can stop any minute now, Phantom," Danny pointed out angrily.

"Then give me a minute," he gasped out. He looked at Danny's angry/embarrassed face and repeated the process.

"Well, at least I didn't run into a wall."

That shut Phantom up. He smiled, though, and floated off the floor. "I'm sure you've done that at least once in your life. Falling through the floor is new, though."

Danny shrugged. "I suppose. But don't expect me to be sympathetic in the next few minutes or hours."

Phantom frowned. "What is that supposed to mean?" Danny just smiled mysteriously and headed up the stairs. Phantom flew after him quickly. "Whoa, whoa! You can't just say something like that and walk away!" Although Clockwork does it all the time…Urgh! Stop thinking about him. Danny raised an eyebrow at him but didn't say anything. Phantom sighed. 'Nother Clockwork in the making, I bet…You just don't understand the whole forgetting concept, do you, Phantom?

When they reached the top of the stairs, Phantom stopped and frowned. Danny looked over his shoulder at him and raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Well, we haven't exactly been quiet, so…" Phantom trailed off.

Danny smiled, though. "Have you ever heard Dad snore? Mom wears Fenton earplugs to drown him out."

"What about Jazz?"

Danny pursed his lips. "You got a point there. She sleeps up here so we'll have to be quiet," Danny told him sternly.

Phantom smiled. "Quiet's my middle name." Danny rolled his eyes. "Seriously. Phantom be-quiet." Danny shook his head and walked into the bathroom. "Hey! That was funny!" Phantom raced in after him.

Danny smiled over his shoulder at him. "If you say so." He turned on the hot and cold water. He tested it a few times, changing the temperature occasionally when it didn't feel right, and then turned back to Phantom. He gestured to the water. "This work for you?"

Phantom floated forward and warily put his hand under the water. He jerked it out with a hiss. "I think you need it to be colder."

Danny frowned and put his hand under the water again. He shook his head. "If anything it's pretty cold already."

"It's hot."

"Cold."

"Hot."

"Cold."

"Hot!"

"Cold!"

"HO—mmf!" Danny had put his hands over Phantom's mouth.

"We have to be quiet, remember?" he whispered.

Phantom knocked his hands away. "Yeah, yeah. You were yelling too, though."

Danny shrugged. "Not as loud as you were about to."

"Fine. Whatever. What do we do about the water?"

"Well, I don't want to have to refill it for us seperately, but it looks like I'll have to. I suppose you want me to go first?"

Phantom nodded. "Yup. I think it'd be best."

Danny nodded too before handing Phantom the stop watch and plugging the sink. "Just push this button here when I'm ready," he instructed. "Push it again when I come back up, K?"

Phantom gave the little black stop watch a look over and nodded. "Got it. How long do you think you can last under there?"

Danny shrugged. "I dunno. A minute and half or maybe two, I guess."

"That's not very long," Phantom pointed out.

"It's normal for humans who haven't trained…I think."

"Alright, alright. Let's see how long you can go."

"Longer than you, I bet."

Phantom's eyes narrowed and he smiled. "Alright. I bet you I you can't."

Danny smiled back. "Actual bet?"

"Why not?"

"How about the winner chooses the next test?"

"That's not fair. I was going to anyway."

"Fine then you get two turns if you win. Fair?"

"Fair."

"Good. Wish me luck." Danny brought his face close to the water so the tip of his nose touched it.

"Now why ever would I do that?"

"Just push the stupid button," Danny said. He breathed in deep, slow breathes before plunging his head under.

Phantom clicked the button quickly and watched the letters change with interest. It was definitely more amusing than Clockwork's old clocks. Phantom glanced at Danny and chuckled. He reminded him of an ostrich with his head underwater like that.

He sighed and leaned against the sink next to Danny. He watched unseeing as the seconds on the stopwatch continued their count upwards. When it got to one minute, he groaned and scuffed his feet on the tiled floor. He'd finally learned the knack of letting some of gravity push him down so he touched the floor without…pushing him into the floor.

He looked down at Danny and chuckled again. Half of his hair floated above the water like a black halo. How weird.

Two minutes down.

Phantom frowned at the watch and looked back at Danny. Could someone die like that? How long could Danny hold his breath? For that matter, how long could Phantom?

Can't be that hard, he thought, watching the numbers on the stop watch screen again. I mean, I've lived fourteen years without breathing. I may have needed to breathe a lot when I first came out of the portal, but I should be able to hold out longer now, right?

Three minutes.

"Okay, this is ridiculous," Phantom muttered. "Danny's a horrible guesser."

Two minutes and a half later and Danny's head shot out of the water. Phantom looked at him with a raised eyebrow as he gasped for breath. Water dripped from his hair into the water below and some down his face and neck. His face was slightly tinged blue but it was getting slowly back to its normal coloring with each breath.

"How…long?" Danny gasped out.

"Five minutes and twenty-three seconds," Phantom replied, giving the watch another look to make sure.

"Seriously? I thought I was under longer," Danny protested in disbelief. He grabbed a white towel caught in the under sink cabinet doors and dried his face.

Phantom wordlessly showed him the time on the watch when he was done. "Seriously."

Danny sighed. But then he brightened and practically beemed. "I held my breath for five minutes!" he crowed quietly.

Phantom raised his eyebrow again. "Congratulations, Danny," he said sarcastically.

"Hey! I could barely stay under for more than a minute before. It's a very big deal."

Phantom shrugged. "If you say so." He tossed him the stopwatch and cracked his knuckles in preparation. "Now step aside and let me show ya how a ghost handles this."

Danny smiled and obediently stepped aside after unplugging his sink water. Phantom refilled it to his preferred temperature and looked down into his reflection. I can do this, he told himself. I can beat five minutes…and a half. He took a deep breath and plunged his head under the water…

And came back up sputtering.

Danny burst out laughing. "That wasn't even ten seconds, Phantom!"

Phantom didn't bother to retort, too busy trying to get water out of his nose and to stop it from burning.

"Water up your nose?" Danny asked innocently.

Phantom scowled at him. "You could have warned me."

Danny shook his head. "Babies don't have problem with it. I thought for sure you wouldn't either." Phantom gave him a skeptical look. "But I was hoping you would," Danny relented with an impish smile. "Revenge and all."

Phantom groaned. "This doesn't count for my record, does it?"

Danny frowned. He sighed. "I guess not. It is kinda unfair and all."

"Do I have to go back in or can I just hold my breath?"

"Chicken?" Danny asked with a challenging grin. Phantom glared at him. "Yeah, you do. Just plug your nose when you do and you should be fine."

"Alright. You better not be lying, Danny," Phantom warned, trying to look at him sternly. Danny just smiled innocently again. Phantom sighed. "One, two—"

"Danny?" a female's voice called from outside the bathroom. Phantom instinctively turned invisible when their sister walked in. She had light red hair that was tied back in a robin blue ribbon that matched her eyes at the moment. She wore the pajamas that were the same color and held a brown teddy bear with wild hair and mustache in one arm. "Danny, what are you doing?"

"Uh…" Danny looked at a total loss. "Well, uh…"

Jazz frowned at him. "Well? Spit it out already."

"Ya see, uh..." Phantom came to the sad conclusion that his human half was a terrible liar.

Jazz crossed her arms with her bearded teddy bear held in the crook of an elbow. "Don't even bother trying to lie, Danny. We both know you can't fool me."

Danny shifted uncomfortably. "Jazz, I—"

"It's important, isn't it? Something to do with why water is dripping over by the sink?" she asked, pointing to the spot at Phantom's feet. Phantom looked down and bit his lip. His dunk into the water had gotten his hair wet and it was dripping off of him, becoming visible as it hit the floor. There were already many wet spots on the tiles at his feet and the number was steadily increasing.

That was one observant sister.

Danny's shoulders slumped in defeat. "Jazz, remember—"

Danny, no! Phantom cried inside his mind, sensing his honesty in his body language. Don't tell her!

Danny's mouth shut tight and his eyes widened a little. "What?" Phantom heard him ask…except Danny's mouth didn't move.(1)

…Did he hear me? Danny didn't react to that thought. I guess not.

Jazz began to tap her foot impatiently. "Well?"

Danny shook his head. "Sorry, Jazz. I zoned out. What was the question?"

Jazz frowned. Guessing what she was planning on doing, Phantom turned himself and the floor beneath him intangible for a second, all the accumulated water sinking to the next level. Just in time, too. Jazz pointed to the once wet spot again. "Why is air dripping water?" she demanded.

Danny glanced over at the solid and dry floor and smirked. "I don't know what you're talking about. It's completely dry over there." He frowned at her in false concern. "You alright, Jazz? I think you're seeing things."

Jazz gaped at the area. Danny and Phantom had trouble keeping from laughing at her face. As it was, Phantom had to smother his with a hand over his mouth. "What? But-but how?"

"Jazz," Danny said gently, placing a hand on her shoulder. His mouth twitched with the effort of not smiling. "I think you need to get more sleep."

Jazz blinked dazedly at the invisible Phantom. Her mouth opened and closed a few times before she shook her head. "Uh, no, I got to use the bathroom." (2)

"Oh. Right," Danny said, shrugging. He walked past her but stopped when he was next to Phantom. "Don't be too long, though," he told her, using it as a distraction so he could grab Phantom's arm. "I'm not done in here yet." With that, he pulled Phantom out of the bathroom and shut the door behind him. He didn't stop walking until they were in his room again.

From there, they proceeded to fall to the floor and laugh up a (quiet) storm.

"Did you see her face?" Phantom asked, holding his stomach as he tried to make the pain his laughing had caused go away. Of course, it's a little difficult to do that when you're still doing the laughing.

"Haha, Yeah!" Danny breathed out, also holding his stomach. "She looked like a fish!"

They continued laughing for a while longer before they had to stop from the lack of oxygen.

Danny wiped tears from his eyes and rolled over onto his stomach so he could stand up. Phantom was a little surprised to find his own eyes leaking water, but didn't comment on it and instead floated off the floor. They looked at each other for a moment before chuckling.

"That was a close call, huh?" Danny commented when they finished.

Phantom nodded and looked intently at him.

Danny shifted uncomfortably and looked down at his feet. "I, um…I'm sorry I almost told her about you."

Phantom continued to look at him for a while longer before sighing. "It's alright. You didn't, so I guess that's all that matters."

Danny shrugged sheepishly. "Yeah, but I almost did. It's just that, I usually don't keep secrets from her."

Phantom felt jealousy bubble up again and quickly suppressed it. It wasn't right for him to want Danny to be lonely like him. "Yeah…I gathered that."

Danny gave him a crooked smile. "It's almost like she can see right through me sometimes."

Phantom nodded absently and pulled his legs up so he was sitting Indian style. "I had that with my mentor. Of course, he could see through time, so that doesn't really count…"

Awkward silence.

I suppose I shouldn't have told him that, Phantom thought. He rubbed his neck awkwardly and smiled when Danny did the same. "Um…How long will she be in there?" he asked to break the silence.

Danny shrugged. "Dunno. She's a girl. Girls take longer to…you know." (AN-My little brother says this to me all the time. Frickin' annoying!)

"…To go pee?"

"I was avoiding saying it for a reason, you know."

Phantom smiled. "Why? Weird to say it when it involves a girl?"

"…Yeah. Especially when it's my sister."

Phantom chuckled. "You're kinda innocent, you know that?"

"So I've been told repeatedly," Danny replied with a sour look.

Phantom shook his head. "Same here. They use it as a compliment, too. It just comes off as an insult if you ask me."

Danny nodded and stared absently at the door as they stopped talking again.

Awkward silence again, Phantom thought in aggravation. Why can't I just carry on a normal conversation with him?

He blew his bangs up out of his eyes. He looked at Danny in consideration. Back in the bathroom…he acted like he heard my thoughts. But…I'm thinking again and I he's not hearing any of it. Was it just a coincidence? He took in a deep breath. One way to find out, I guess. Here we go…Danny?

Danny frowned but otherwise didn't react.

Danny? he called a little louder in his mind. Danny's eyes narrowed and he shook his head. Hey. If you can hear me, Danny, do something besides shake your head, will ya?

Danny blinked. "Huh?"

Phantom was about to ask him about it, but he had to turn invisible instead when Danny's door all of a sudden busted down. Their parents jumped through the doorway, brandishing ecto-bazookas. Phantom groaned quietly and hid behind Danny's back to be on the safe side. He hadn't liked his last encounter with his parents and he still had yet to decide what to make of them.

"Danny, get down," their mom said in a calm but alert voice, "there's a ghost on the loose."

Danny almost looked over his shoulder, but stopped at the last second. "Uh, how do you know that?"

"We just got cold water dumped on us," Jack said miserably, scanning the room with his eyes. He shivered. "Cold water. When I find the ghost that did it, I'm going to rip it apart molecule by molecule!"

Phantom choked a little and sunk back further behind Danny.

Danny heard Phantom choke and felt him shift a little bit more behind him. He would have given him a sympathetic look if it weren't so dangerous. He wouldn't like hearing people say that about him, let alone two people who he thought were his parents. All he could do for him was stand as a shield between them, though.

"Shh, Jack," Maddie advised, setting her bazooka gun thing down. "We don't want to alert it to our presence." She pulled out the ghost detector/scanner thing that I can't remember the name of, and turned it on.

The ghost behind Danny stiffened. "What does that do?" he whispered quietly in fear.

"Fenton Ghost Finder," Danny whispered back, watching nervously as the machine came to life. "It tracks down ghosts. I thought it still had some glitches."

"There is a ghost five feet away," a mechanical female voice emitted from the blinking machine. Jack and Maddie eagerly began walking forward. Danny and Phantom back up fearfully and only stopped when Phantom ran into the wall and Danny into him. Phantom made an oof sound and turned intangible so Danny fell through him and into the wall. They shivered as they shared the same space. (3) Their parents loomed over them, looking at the blinking machine breathlessly. "Ghost directly ahead. You would have to be some sort of moron to not notice the ghost directly ahead." The two looked up at Danny. Danny smiled back innocently at them.

There was a tense silence before Jack scoffed and looked at Maddie. "That can't be right."

"Danny!" Phantom hissed. "You're invisible!"

Danny gasped and looked down quickly. Sure enough his body was missing. Just before he started to panic, it reappeared. He let out a relieved sigh and looked up at his parents who were frowning in confusion at each other. "Uh, maybe it still has some glitches," he suggested.

"That ghost must have messed with it before splashing us with water," Jack concluded, his eyes narrowing.

"Maybe later," Phantom muttered darkly.

"Be quiet!" Danny shushed.

"What was that?" Maddie asked him. "Did you say something, Sweetie?"

"Uh…yeah. I said maybe the ghost already left. You know, it was so afraid after you two woke up in a very bad mood and all. What ghost would stand up to two very angry world renowned ghost experts?"

The pair beamed at their son and stood a little straighter.

"Flattery will get you everywhere," Phantom commented.

What is wrong with him, Danny wondered angrily. He needs to shut up. They could hear him and then they'd kill him!

"Danny," Jazz called from outside the room. "I'm done with the bathroom." She walked into the doorway and frowned when she saw their parents. "Mom? Dad? What are you doing up?"

Maddie sighed. "Your father got woken up by some icy water."

Jack hefted his bazooka. "Yeah! It was a ghost! Have you seen any spectral activity, Jazzypants?"

Jazz suddenly looked as if a very hard puzzle had been solved and began to smile triumphantly at Danny. She stopped, though, when she saw his near panicked expression. She looked back at their parents and shook her head. "Nope. I have not seen anything relating to ghosts this morning." She glanced at Danny. "But, Danny did fill the sink up with some cold water. We must have a leak or something. The bathroom's right above your room, after all."

"Hmm. You're right," Maddie said thoughtfully. "We'll have to look into it later today."

"Ah," Jack moaned. "But I wanted to catch a ghost."

Maddie smiled and patted his arm affectionately. "It's alright, dear. We'll hunt later."

Jack brightened a little but still looked a little down.

Maddie leaned down and hugged Danny—and Phantom coincidentily. "I'm sorry about earlier, Sweetie," she whispered. "I just lost my temper."

Danny, in a rare moment, hugged her back. "It's alright, Mom. I understand."

Maddie kissed his forehead and stood back up. She walked out the door, giving Jazz a hug on the way out too. Jack ruffled Danny's hair before following her. "Good night, kids," Maddie called from down the hall.

"Yeah, and wake me if you see a ghost!" Jack yelled.

Danny shifted uncomfortably and stepped outside of Phantom. He raised an eyebrow at Jazz who was still standing in the doorway with her arms crossed. "What?"

Jazz looked down the hall to make sure their parents were out of sight before stepping into the room and shutting the door behind her. "What were you doing in the bathroom?"

Danny shrugged. "Just washing my face."

"With cold water?"

"Yup. Wash with hot then wash with cold and no more pimples," Danny said with an innocent smile.(4)

Jazz gave him a suspicious look. "There was a ghost in the bathroom, wasn't there?"

"What?!" Danny scoffed. "No! What would give you that idea? There was no ghost whatsoever. None at all.

Jazz rolled her eyes. "Uh-huh. Is it friendly?"

"Is what friendly?"

"The ghost."

"Jazz, there's no—"

"Don't bother, Danny," Jazz said, holding up her hand. "I just want to know that you're in no danger from it."

Danny bit his lip and shifted a little. "I'm in no danger, Jazz," he said finally.

"No lying?"

"No lying."

"Good." Jazz turned around and opened the door. She put her hand on the door frame and looked over her shoulder. "And go to bed, Danny. It's unhealthy for you to stay up so late." She smiled. "Good night, little brother." She left and shut the door behind her.

Danny's shoulders slumped and he sighed in relief. "That was a close call," he said to Phantom who hadn't moved. He looked over at him and saw he'd become visible, but was looking at his hands instead of at Danny. Danny frowned. "Are you alright?"

"Huh?" Phantom looked up. "Uh, yeah. I'm just fine." He looked down at his stomach. "I think," he muttered quietly.

"Good." Danny stretched. "We'll have to put off what we were doing until tomorrow," he told him. "I think it's too dangerous to continue now."

Phantom nodded. "No kidding."

Danny covered a hand over his mouth as he yawned. Adrenaline was wearing thin. "You didn't make it much better, though. Why'd you keep talking? They could have heard you."

Phantom cocked his head to the side and smiled mysteriously. "I'll tell you tomorrow. You're too tired right now." His eyes began to droop a little and he yawned too. He frowned. "Huh. I actually feel tired."

"We'll have to write that down later," Danny muttered, climbing into his bed. "There's a sleeping bag and pillow inside my closet if you want to use it."

Phantom nodded and flew through Danny's closet. Danny's eyes shut, a slight smile on his face as Phantom laid out the sleeping bag next to his bed. He was soon fast asleep.

The smile didn't last though.

"Danny."

Danny groaned and turned away from the voice.

"Danny! Wake up."

Danny's eyelids were pulled open and he blearily saw two glowing green lights staring intently at him. He tried to blink his eyes and the force holding his lids open let them close again. He sighed and snuggled closer to his pillow, already falling back asleep.

"Oh for crying out loud!"

All of a sudden there was a great deal of green light. It intruded through his eyelids more effectively than the sun ever could. He yelped, sitting straight up and rubbing futilely at his eyes, trying to revive his retinas.

"Good. You're up."

Danny blinked his eyes open and squinted at the figure before him. There would have been light enough to see by since his lamp was on, but he was temporarily blinded at the moment. It took him a while to see the glow, cape, green eyes, and white/black hair that identified the specter.

"What?" Danny demanded, only half awake. "It hasn't even been a whole hour."

"Yeah, well, I have a problem," Phantom said, shifting uncomfortably in mid air. "…And it's your fault so you have to help me."

"Yeah?" Danny asked, yawning, not remembering what it could have been that he'd done. "What kinda problem?"

"I have to go," the ghost answered in embarrassment.

"Go? Go where?"

"Not where-go, Danny. Go-go." Danny just blinked sleepily at him. The ghost sighed. His cheeks getting redder. "As in I need to…um, empty the tank…you know. What you planned to happen after making me drink all that water."

It took Danny a moment to realize what he meant. When he did, he laughed loudly at the ghost's disgusted and embarrassed expression. It was about time.

The ghost scowled at him, still looking very uncomfortable. "Keep it up, Danny, and I might just take advantage of gravity right here and now."

Danny gulped and was out of his bed and dragging his ghost down the hall before you could say "ghost." Once he reached the bathroom door, he turned on the light and pushed the ghost in.

"See that?" he asked, pointing to the toilet. Phantom nodded. "You 'go' in there."

"Uh…"

"Just aim and do what comes naturally," he instructed. "When you're done, flush it…Pull the silver lever down. I'm going back to bed."

"But—"

Danny slammed his door shut and collapsed on his bed. He sighed and promptly fell back asleep.

Only to be woken up two minutes late.

He glared at Phantom in annoyance. "What?" he growled.

Phantom flinched. "Well, this was my first time and all, so…"

Danny jerked up. "You didn't."

The ghost blushed, but tried to scowl. "You know, you'll make one horrible father one day. 'Just do what comes naturally.' Honestly. What kind of instruction is that? And this is all your fault. You shouldn't have made me drink the water. You shouldn've known it'd have to come out."

"What fourteen-year old misses?" Danny retorted, getting up and heading quickly to the bathroom.

"A dead one who shouldn't have had to go in the first place, let alone one who hasn't ever done so before," he grumbled.

"Dude, I am not going to poddy-train you." They reached the bathroom and he groaned. "And you're practicing outside from now on," he added.

I won't write Phantom peeing his pants, but missing is alright ;)

(1) Well, I'm sure you've all figured out their souls are connected and that's why Phantom's stronger. There has to be some sort of consequence for that. Just because it's used a lot, doesn't mean I can't use it :P It's fun.
(2) Jazz no likie being wrong. She'd forget about why Danny was up temporarily, right?
(3) Yeah, maybe that'd lead to overshadowing. Maybe. But I'm pretty sure a ghost could control themselves from not doing that.
(4) 'Tis true :)

Took a long time to come, but it was good, right? :) I liked it. Give ya a break from them trying to kill each other. Too much of something's not always a good thing.

Next chapter I plan to bring Sam in. Bet that's exciting, huh? I'm not a very big fan of hers, but I know she's very important and she will be playing a big role in this story. I'm not about to write her off just 'cause she's not one of my favorites...'Cause I still like her. She reminds me of my old friend.