Sorry about this being a couple of days late. Moving is a crazy thing. Reviews at the bottom this time.

...

After the boy and the cat fell through the floor, they heard loud yelling and yowling. In fact, the yelling was so loud, that they could make out every word.

"How long did he say he had that cat?" Xander asked.

"Since last night," Willow answered. "I don't think he's had a lot of time to lay down rules."

"Ya think?"

Buffy opened the basement door and started down the stairs.

"Whoa," Spike leapt up to stop her. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To talk with the kid." She just put her foot on the top step when they heard something crash. She hurried down the stairs and saw Danny holding Shade by the scruff, sitting, literally, in a fallen shelf.

"What the heck?" she said.

"Shade is going to find himself in the thermos if he doesn't start behaving," Danny said, to both her and the cat. "Especially if he's going be pushing things over."

The cat crossed his paws over his chest and hissed.

"I'm sure Skulker would be glad for the company," Danny told him tartly. "He's probably sick of dealing with the Box Ghost."

After a moment, the cat puffed at Danny.

"That's good enough for now, I guess." Then he held the cat away from him and formed a green globe around the cat, who started yowling as soon as it began to form.

"Too bad." Danny finished the ecto-shield and carried it over to the stairs. "I hope you don't mind," he said. "Shade hasn't had to deal with a halfa partner before."

"What's a halfa?" she asked, following him upstairs.

"A halfa is a half ghost, half human," he explained at the top of the stairs, where he let go of the green ball. The group was surprised when it just hovered there.

"How is that possible?" Xander asked.

"It requires a long and lengthy explanation," Danny said. "Is there any more pizza? Aside from lunch earlier, I really haven't eaten very much in the last couple of days."

"You need to eat?" Anya asked.

Danny laughed. "Just because I'm half ghost, you think I'm dead and don't need to eat? I'm also a growing teen, and I hear they eat a lot."

"What do you mean?" Willow asked.

He shrugged. "I'm too busy fighting ghosts that either want to kill me, or want to destroy my city. They don't need to eat, and I often end up skipping meals to catch them."

"Doesn't your family have leftovers?" Dawn came into the kitchen with a pizza box.

"If you'd seen my parent's cooking, you'd understand why I don't even open the fridge anymore," he shuddered while reaching for the pizza. Before his hand touched the pizza, it had turned back into a human hand, and they watched once again as the rings traveled up and down, turning him from ghost to human. When he took a bite of the pizza, his hair was finishing going from white to black.

"What?" he asked when he realized they were all staring at him. "The suit doesn't really taste good," he explained. "It actually makes things taste like whoever I just sucked into the thermos."

"Really?" Anya asked. "How does that taste?"

Danny paused before taking another bite. "Depends. They all taste like ectoplasm. Skulker's fist tastes like metal coated with ectoplasm."

"You taste his fist?" Xander asked.

Danny shrugged. "He punches my face in on a fairly regular basis." He reached for another piece.

"Would you like a plate?" Willow asked.

"This is fine," Danny answered, taking a big bite. "It tastes wonderful without the fur."

"Fur?"

Danny pointed at Shade over his shoulder with his thumb, "He woke me up and put his tail in my mouth. I tried to rinse it out, but it only made things worse. I finally just picked it all out with my hand. Kinda freaked Dawn out."

They all nodded and Danny grabbed a third piece.

"Is that healthy?" Anya asked.

"What?"

"Is eating all that pizza healthy for you?"

He shrugged. "This is the first real meal I've had in about two days."

"What was the last one?"

"When I had dinner with Sam and Tucker at Tucker's after escaping Walker and Johnny 13 and Shadow," he said after swallowing. "Mrs. Foley had to make a big salad for Sam."

"Did you eat this much then?" she asked as he went for another.

"I think I had three or four full plates."

"Are you always this hungry after a fight?"

"Mostly I'm tired and hope to be able to eat when I wake up later."

"Stop telling them!" Shade yowled from his green ball.

"They already noticed, so try saying something useful."

"Would you like to sleep, then?" Buffy asked.

"I should actually work on getting home," he said sheepishly. "Before Plasmius finds me."

"Who's that?" Anya asked.

"My biggest enemy."

Before they could question him further, Danny's breath came out in a cloud.

"Oh no," he groaned, setting down the pizza and looking around.

"What is it?" Buffy asked.

"Company." Danny changed into Phantom and started to float.

Then something small and green slammed into him and he flew into the living room.

The Scoobies hurried after him, and were surprised to see him just lying on his back on the floor under a green puppy that was busy liking his face.

Danny laughed and picked the dog up, holding it away from his face so he could breathe. The group just stares at him, dumbfounded.

"Is that a green dog?"

Danny looked back at them sheepishly. "Uh, sorry," he said, sitting up. "This is Cujo." He held the dog so they could see him properly. It was a puppy.

"Do you mean Cujo as in Stephan King's Cujo?" Dawn asked, confused.

"Yeah. A friend of mine helped me name him."

"The killer dog?" she continued, unconvinced.

"It's actually really fitting."

Dawn just raised her eyebrows, clearly unconvinced.

"Soooo," Xander started. "Is it…?"

"He's not dangerous, per say," Danny answered. "He just, uh…well, he doesn't do anything on purpose. Besides getting out of the Ghost Zone and finding me."

"Would you like to explain?" Anya asked.

"Sure," Danny sat up. "Right now, he's harmless. If you upset him in any way, then he's dangerous."

"Can I pet him?" Dawn asked.

"You can try, I guess. He doesn't seem to like anyone but me, though. Which is why he keeps getting out of the Ghost Zone."

"How does he do that?" Willow asked.

"He digs his way out, how else?" Danny answered distractedly, keeping an eye on Cujo to make sure he didn't bit Dawn's hand off.

"Are you sure he's dangerous?" Dawn asked as she scratched behind his ears. The dog's tail wagged vigorously as he sat in Danny's lap.

"Just don't move him."

"Why not?" she pouted.

"Your living room looks really nice as it is. You know, in one piece."

"If only it would stay that way," Xander mourned.

"Does it get destroyed often?" Danny asked looking up.

"It only seems like it because he's the one that fixes it," Willow said poking him.

"How did you become a halfa?" Giles asked.

Danny started and Cujo looked up at him. "Uhh…"

Cujo started growling when he realized that Danny was uncomfortable.

"Cujo, calm down," Danny grabbed the little dog and turned it to face him. "He's not going to hurt either of us, so just calm down, alright? There is no reason to hurt him or destroy the house."

While Danny calmed the dog down, he turned human again to show Cujo that he was relaxed and the Scooby Gang watched in confusion. Why was Danny so worried about that little dog being upset?

"Why are you so worried about that little dog getting upset?" Anya asked. "I mean, it's just a puppy!"

"Cujo is not a puppy," Danny deadpanned. "Cujo is a ghost. An overprotective ghost that could rival my sister in overprotectiveness. And trust me, she is really overprotective." Realizing that he was off topic, he cleared his throat nervously. "Right. Well, when he first showed up, he destroyed the lab a friend of mine's dad works at. Then he showed up at her house while they were moving and ruined a lot of her stuff. Then, when he started to calm down, he got to liking me, and showed his nicer form," here he held the puppy up, "and I finally understood what he wanted. Unfortunately, said friend blames Phantom and his dog for having her life ruined."

"Phantom?"

"Me, Danny Phantom."

"That is so cool!" Dawn exclaimed.

"What?" Danny asked wearily.

"You're the hero of Amity Park! That is so awesome! We have a real live hero in our house!"

"And what is your sister?" Willow asked.

"That's different! I live with her."

Danny snorted. "And that's what my sister said before she realized that the ghost hunters were there to hunt me, not my enemies."

"Why would they hunt you?" Xander asked.

Danny opened his mouth to respond, but Dawn beat him to it.

"Because he's a ghost, duh," she retorted. "All the ghosts in Amity Park destroy stuff when they fight," here Danny winced, "but Danny Phantom protects the town so nobody really ends up hurt."

"Actually," Danny winced as he spoke, "somebody always ends up hurt. Usually, it's me and/or the ghost I'm fighting."

"Usually?" Buffy asked.

Again, Danny winced. "Sometimes there's a fire, or one of Skulker's rockets hits a building that still has people in it. Nobody dies! But people still get hurt. If it's not me or who I'm fighting, then it's a ghost hunter, one of my friends, The Red Huntress, my sister or my parents."

Everybody blinked at that. Before they could respond, though, Cujo growled.

"Where did you get that dog? It has terrible manners."

Danny face palmed as Cujo jumped out of his lap at the infuriating cat. "Just don't destroy the house," he sighed in defeat.

Taking that as permission, Cujo grew into his larger form and started after Shade, who turned intangible and fled.

All the Scoobies jaws dropped as Cujo followed, causing minimal damage to the house.

"Sorry about the coffee table," Danny said, looking at the nice pile of firewood that lay in the middle of the room.

"I see what you mean," Giles said as he wiped his glasses on his shirt hem. "That dog is, ah, interesting."

"And very dangerous when upset," Danny reminded them. "He likes to show up in the middle of the night to play fetch. By time he's ready to go back to the Zone, it's time for me to go to school."

"That sucks," Xander said.

Danny rolled his eyes. "Tell me about it. Once, he came for a week straight around midnight. So between grabbing Boxy, five minutes of sleep, Jonny 13, Boxy, Shadow, Boxy, Boxy, another five minutes of sleep, Boxy, Skulker, Boxy, Boxy, Boxy, somebody else and Boxy, I had to play fetch."

"You said Boxy nine times," Anya pointed out.

"Really?" Danny asked. Anya nodded. "Well then I must have forgotten a couple of times because that week I swear he showed up at least fifteen times. Sam said I was exaggerating and Tucker checked the Portal archive and agreed with her saying it was just twelve."

"You're joking," Spike said.

Danny grinned. "Nope. Boxy gets out of the Zone so often, even the tourists aren't scared of him."

Then he yawned.

Willow smiled. "Apparently, you still need some sleep," she said.

Danny blushed and yawned again. "Sorry," he said. "Normally I manage a couple of hours after I wake up. Guess Skulker upgraded his nets again." He yawned after that last statement, then sighed. "Can I borrow a phone or a computer? I need to let my friends know where I am."

"I'll set up my laptop in the dining room," Willow said.

"Thanks," Danny yawned as Willow left the living room.

"Wait," Spike said, "Did you say he upgraded his nets?"

"Again?" Xander added.

"Yeah," Danny shrugged. "He's been after my pelt for a while now. Wants to hang it above the fireplace or lay it across the foot of his bed, depending on his mood." He ignored their 'eww's at the mention of his pelt. After all, he'd been hearing that so often that it hardly meant anything anymore.

"Doesn't that bother you?" Anya asked.

Danny raised an eyebrow and yawned. "Not really. At first, yeah, but not so much anymore. He always ends up in the thermos." Danny brought up his thermos and shook it a little. A faint voice could be heard coming from it, probably protesting the rough handling. "And I can't empty it right now because the Portal is back in Amity and I won't make it back tonight." He yawned again to emphasis his point.

"Danny," Willow called.

The halfa got up and stretched, grunting as he did so. Then he went into dining room to let his friends know that he would be staying the night and he'd get back as soon as he could.

...

CSIalchemist: Well, he's never had a halfa partner before.

Kaddy 16: :)

Zii Raevyn: It doesn't matter, Danny's life is Murphy's Law.

LuNa: I write ahead. Although, I'll be trying something new with GitSchool.

Mak8907: They already know he's half ghost.

ethiopian1987: Didn't you see Public Enemies? He swallowed his spork and had to reach inside to take it out. I just did that in reverse.

chaotic teacup: He's just a ghost cat that never had to deal with partnering up with a halfa before. He's used to ghost or human partners and keeping their secrets.