Hello and welcome to another un-betad (Unless you count my mother's proof reading) chapter of Diversity. I'm actually quite impressed that I managed to get this out so soon. Like I mentioned last time, I've started back at school and yes, it is just as hectic as I suspected it would be so it's really just luck and pure procrastination that has got us here tonight )

So again, this chapter isn't huge in action - like the majority of the fiction but there is just so much to put in before the big stuff starts! As always, there are bits that I like and bits that I don't like so it's up to you to decide whether you like it or not :P

This is where I stop talking :P

Chapter 14: Coffee Break

"How long does it take to get a coffee?" Danny mumbled to himself, staring out of the store window. He was starting to regret ever offering to do this stupid job. He could be out there practising his flying right now. Instead, he was sat behind the cash register bored out of his mind whilst Melinda went out for refreshments.

The only consolation was that, as of tomorrow, he wouldn't have to wear clothes twice his size. Melinda had volunteered to take him out to buy some clothes of his own. She was closing the shop for the day as well, which meant that he didn't have to 'work' for a day. Always a benefit really.

Despite her being her normal chirpy self this morning, Danny could tell that her mind was pretty much in the same place as his.

Last night.

It had taken all he had not to make a run for it that evening. He had been seriously creeped out by what had happened when Melinda had touched his chest. Those memories where ones that he was trying very hard to hide from himself. Having them exposed like that to someone he had only known for a matter of days was scary. The only thing that really changed his mind was that they hadn't shown anything relating to his human half. His secret was still secret and, lets face it, it was either Melinda or Plasmius.

At least he knew that she couldn't enforce visions on him as Fenton. It was kind of impossible not to make contact with someone when you were living in the same house as them. All he had to do was make sure that she didn't touch him in ghost form again. Since he wasn't planning on seeing her in ghost form ever again, that should be fairly easy.

Sighing for what seemed like the hundredth time, Danny absent-mindedly started twirling a coin that Melinda had left on the counter, like a spinning top. He almost wished he was baby-sitting Aiden again. Luckily for the five-year-old, his dad was taking care of him.

Dad.

Okay, he seriously needed to stop doing that; linking just about everything with his deceased family. Danny coughed to kill the ache in his chest. What took him by surprise however, was the cool mist that left his mouth when he did so.

Groaning, Danny banged his head down on the counter and planted his hands in his hair. He so did not need this right now. Maybe if he ignored the ghost for long enough, it would just go away.

No such luck.

Crash!

Danny's head shot up and he took in the scene before him. There stood Adam, at the other side of a room, looking amusedly down at a broken vase at his feet.

"Hmm... interesting." As though feeling Danny's gaze, Adam glanced up. "You did not need the vase for anything, did you?" he asked, lightly kicking aside one of the shards. Danny rolled his eyes and fell back on the counter.

"Not personally," he mumbled into the wood. He heard Adam laugh, closer than before.

"No, I suppose not." There was a long silence. Danny really wanted to believe that the quiet meant Adam had left, but the continuous cold feeling in his chest told him otherwise. Eventually, he sighed.

"What are you doing here?" The boy pushed away from the counter, almost falling off of his chair in the process. Adam was now sprawled out on the sofa looking as though he owned the place. He smirked.

"Am I not allowed to visit?" he mocked, looking down at his perfectly well kept finger nails. Scoffing, Danny leaned back in his chair.

"Not after what you did to me yesterday."

"Yesterday?"

"Telling Melinda I was half-ghost. Not cool, dude."

The man's smirk grew as he caught on. "'Cool' was never my intention. And, correction, I told Melinda that Phantom was half-ghost. The human you was never implied. Don't get your knickers in a twist."

Knickers in a twist? Who even says that?

"It's basically the same thing. Just stop with the hints okay. It's my secret and I don't need you spreading it."

"Oh, come on, Phantom. She is going to figure it out eventually anyway. She talks to ghosts and you're living under the same roof. Something is going to give you away. I am merely enjoying myself while I still can."

"She wont figure it out." Danny tried to keep his voice steady. "No one's ever figured it out by themselves and Melinda isn't any better." The boy picked up the coin again and started fiddling with it.

"Eli did it on his own."

"Eli saw me change."

In the blink of an eye, Adam was leaning over the counter opposite to Danny. "No, he worked it out before you changed. You should have seen the look on his face when the warden called you Danny. It was like someone had switched on a light-bulb. Truly heart-moving."

Eli worked it out? Danny frowned. He remembered how calm Eli looked when he had called his name. He was almost comforting, like he had already accepted Danny for what he was. If anything he'd looked concerned. Danny guessed that maybe if Eli had found out in the change, he might have been a little more horrified. Ah, whatever. It didn't prove anything.

"Even if that's true, it doesn't say anything about Melinda."

"Maybe I need to help her out a little more then." Adam grinned and shot to the entrance of the store. Danny felt his face go red.

"Don't you dare."

He didn't get a response before the door to the store flew open and Melinda walked in.

"Hey, sorry I took so long. There was quite a..." The woman froze as she spotted Adam.

"Morning." Adam greeted, a huge grin dominating his face. Well, this couldn't get much worse.

"...queue." Melinda finished. She held Adam's gaze for a second longer before breaking away and refocusing on Danny. Not wanting to prompt Adam any, the teenager had taken to completely ignoring him.

"Are you okay?" he asked, noting how agitated she suddenly looked.

"What? Oh, yes! Yes. I'm fine." Melinda walked up to the counter and laid the drinks on its surface. Danny took the bottle of cola and began passing it from hand to hand trying to let off some steam. Adam stayed by the door, keeping his mocking eyes on Danny. Ignore him.

"Any customers?"

The teen shook his head.

"Right." Stiffly, Melinda moved around to Danny's side of the counter and started deliberately shuffling papers. The teen glanced at her. This surely wasn't normal behaviour. Adam noticed too and, naturally, decided to play on it.

"Okay, it's one thing to not return my greeting, but ignoring me completely? That's just insulting." he mocked, now leaning on the customer side of the surface again. Despite the fact that it was no longer him on the other side of the smirk, Danny was still extremely irritated. Why couldn't this guy just go away?

Melinda glanced at the ghost before looking back down at her papers.

"Ah, I get it." Adam's smirk grew. "You don't want the child thinking you're a loon. It's okay. I understand. Then again..." The ghost's eyes slid over Danny. "He doesn't look that sane himself."

Unbeknownst to Danny, just for a second, the teen's eyes burned a bright green. He bit his lip, trying ever so hard not to respond. He didn't want to give the creep the satisfaction of seeing him all riled up. Melinda didn't say anything.

"You know. On closer inspection, young Sterling doesn't really seem normal at all."

Danny shot him a warning look but Adam didn't really seem to care. He suddenly appeared right behind Melinda and leaned in, looking over at Danny with amusement dancing in his eyes. "Don't you think there's something almost... ghostly about him?"

Before he really knew what he was doing, Danny shot a small energy blast at Adam out of his finger.

"Ow!" Adam cried out, rubbing his side where he had been hit. He reappeared again near the exit. Melinda, who had previously had he head deep in her paperwork looked up in shock. "Ow?" she asked, quietly. It didn't take long for Adam's grin to return. He winked at Danny as if to say: 'now you've done it'. The teen scowled and looked down at his hands. As long as Melinda hadn't seen the energy blast, he was safe. From the looks of it, she was still completely oblivious. She must have continued staring at Adam for a whole minute before she slowly turned to Danny.

"Hey, um, Danny?" She spoke slowly and thoughtfully.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think you could go to the café down the road and pick me up a coffee?" Danny frowned and looked down at the still steaming beverage across the counter.

"But you just got one..."

Melinda paused.

"Yes. But it doesn't taste right. I don't like it. Sorry. You wouldn't mind?" She didn't give Danny the time to respond before she handed him some money.

Was this seriously happening to him again? He'd only done two days of work for her and both of those times she just happened to kick him out whenever someone else came along. Did she not trust him or was there just some huge secret that everyone else but him knew? Danny glanced from the money cupped in his hands, to Melinda, to Adam. Well this sucked.

Standing up, Danny walked around the counter, toward the exit. If he thought about it, he knew that Adam probably wouldn't say anything to Melinda about his secret while he was away. Where would be the enjoyment in it for him then? If he ever was going to tell, it'd be whilst Danny was around, just so as he'd get to see the look on the teen's face when his biggest secret was spread out for the world to see. Or Melinda in any case. Still, there was that itching feeling in the back of his mind telling him that leaving those two together wouldn't be one of his smartest ideas.

As saw it though, he didn't have much of a choice. Adam was grinning at him like a mad man as Danny walked towards him. Feeling extremely angry at this point Danny went for the only fight back he could think of. Very deliberately, the boy barged into the man's shoulder, causing the taller man to stumble. If he wasn't so distracted with plotting cruel revenge pranks, he may just have heard the near inaudible gasp coming from Melinda's direction.

Eli still wasn't quite sure what he was doing out here, parked outside Melinda's store - staring at the door.

You see, life in Eli's head was rather difficult at the minute. Like when you're at a football game and there are thousands of voices shouting different things all at the same time. There were so many emotions and so many questions running through his mind that he was really struggling to get a grip.

Half-ghost. That's what Melinda had said. Come to think of it, it kind of suited Danny. Who else could turn into a spirit in a flash of light and then change back again? He guessed that was the confusing thing. Was Danny a ghost able to appear human, or a human able to appear ghost? Okay so human wasn't really the best way to describe his living state. Eli guessed that in ghost form, Danny was still human... he was just a dead human. If he was dead.

Despite having seven years of experience, Eli was still pretty new to all this paranormal stuff. Take the difference between him and Melinda. Melinda had known about ghosts since a very young age. She'd seen them from birth. Compare a lifetime to a few years and there was a pretty big experience gap. So all this ghost business still made his head hurt on occasion. Now was most definitely one of those times.

One thing Eli did know for sure about Danny, was that he was a good kid. He'd never do anything to hurt anyone- unless you counted evil child poisoning ghosts. So really, there wasn't any reason to let slip his findings to Melinda. After what he'd seen a few nights ago, Eli was pretty sure that Danny was one of the safest people to be around.

But Eli was still scared. He didn't want to be. He knew Danny was safe as houses but... something about it didn't feel right. It was creepy. Boys just don't all of a sudden turn into ghosts. It wasn't natural. Danny definitely couldn't have been born that way. Something huge must have happened in his life. Eli thought back to the moment Melinda had touched Danny. She'd had a vision. He knew she had. The way Danny had disappeared told him that he had shared what she had seen. The only issue was, Melinda wouldn't tell him what that was. That wasn't like her. Normally she wanted all the help she could get on a mysterious case like Danny's. Eli could tell that she hadn't found out about the kid's double life from the way she had looked. There was sadness and pity but no shock or confusion. Danny's secret was safe.

Eli sighed and ran his hands through his hair.

"Darn it, just go!" Eli growled at his hands. They didn't respond. The man glanced over the clock on the dashboard. Ten minutes of staring at a door. No wonder he couldn't get a girl friend.

Despite his rather aggressive attempts of self persuasion, Eli stayed sitting.

He hadn't seen Danny in his... living state since that night. He'd even skipped out on the evening phone call, claiming that he was out doing... something or other.

He felt quite guilty about it but he just couldn't bring himself to pick up the phone. It seemed that the calm acceptance he'd adopted when he worked it out was only temporary. The shock and disbelief he thought he'd avoided was catching up with him and it was blinding.

Okay Eli, get a grip. So, your new friend turned out to be 'half-ghost'? It's not like you haven't dealt with weirder. Then again, come to think of it... had he ever dealt with weirder? What could be weirder than being dead and alive at the same time?

Taking a deep breath, Eli rested his head on the steering wheel. He knew Danny's deepest secret and Danny trusted him with it. That had to mean something.

Danny was alone in the world and needed someone to be there next to him, as a friend.

Gritting his teeth, Eli lifted himself back up and looked at the door again. He nearly had a mini heart attack when Danny emerged from the store looking rather riled up. It was as though fate or whatever was screaming at him to get it over with and man up.

It's now or never. Taking a deep breath, Eli reached for the door handle and got out. Danny was walking at quite a pace so Eli had to jog a little to catch up with him. It turned out jogging also helped to stop him from turning back. He soon caught up with the teen.

"Hey, Danny!" the man panted as casually as he could. Danny turned to look at him, confused but still angry looking.

"Oh, hey," he mumbled back distractedly. He continued walking. Eli quickly adjusted his speed to match the teen's.

"Listen, I really need to talk to you." The man tried to walk a little ahead of Danny to get the boy's full attention but it didn't seem to be working very well.

"Huh?" Danny frowned, pausing for a second. He then caught on and quickened his pace. "Right. Yeah. I'm kind of busy right now so can it wait until later?"

"Uh... What about tonight?"

"I have plans," the boy responded instantly.

"Right..." Well this was awkward. They walked for a few seconds in silence before Danny eventually slowed down .

"We could maybe talk tomorrow." Danny looked across at Eli with a small resigned smile on his face. Eli took it as an invitation and nodded.

"Sounds good. Great. Yeah..."

"You can walk with me if you want. I'm getting Melinda a coffee." Eli couldn't help but wonder at the resentment he heard in Danny's voice – as though 'getting Melinda a coffee' was some sort of trauma. He decided not to get involved.

"Ah, actually, you know... I've just remembered somewhere I... uh... have to be." Eli stammered. Danny frowned.

"Ah..."

"Yeah..." The man grimaced. "So tomorrow?"

With a nod, Danny disappeared into the crowd ahead of Eli.

I have somewhere I have to be? What kind of lame excuse was that?

Why couldn't he walk with Danny, you ask? He just really didn't think that he could really deal with the teen until he properly understood what was going on. Tomorrow he'd know. He was determined.

"Did he just...?" Melinda stood, open mouthed, staring at Adam. Adam smirked and leaned up against the door casually.

"Did he just what?"

"Did he just... walk into you?" the woman blatantly ignored Adam's mocking gaze, staying frozen to the spot. She knew what she had seen but she also knew that what she had seen shouldn't be possible.

"I think 'barged' would be a better word. Walked sounds too... accidental."

Melinda frowned and looked out of the window at the spot she had last seen Danny. By this point, he'd been swallowed by the crowd so there wasn't really much to look at.

"So what you're saying is that Danny can see and touch ghosts?"

"And hear, smell and even taste, I guess if he felt like it. I would question his sanity there though... I think those are the five senses, are they not? I am a little rusty."

Melinda took a breath and sat down on the chair that Danny had not so long ago vacated. Making actual physical contact with a ghost was unheard of. Except, maybe if that ghost was like Phantom. But Adam wasn't like Phantom. He wasn't tangible. This was like some whole new discovery.

Melinda remembered Professor Pane telling her about near-death experiences giving people spiritual gifts, but he had never mentioned anything like Danny. Melinda shuddered to think what life would be like for her if ghosts could actually make contact with her. All those times she had been terrified by some malevolent spirit... what if they could have actually physically hurt her? She probably wouldn't be alive right now. How did Danny cope?

Then she remembered the state that he was in when he first walked into her store nearly a week ago. Could a ghost have done that to him?

Maybe that was his big secret.

Sighing, Melinda placed a hand on her forehead. All this thinking was starting to hurt.

"Adam, what do you know about Danny?"

"I am sorry?" The ghost blinked, momentarily stunned by the break in silence. Melinda turned her eyes to him.

"What do you know about Danny? You mentioned something about him being 'ghostly' and he bit back. What do you know that I don't?" Adam quickly caught on and relaxed back in his seat with his confident smirk.

"Oh, that comment? It was just a little joke between him and I. He interacts with ghosts, therefore, naturally one would call him ghostly."

It didn't seem so natural to Melinda. "There's something you're not telling me." The woman murmured warningly, rather like a mother would reprehend a child. Adam just shrugged.

"If there is, it is probably for a good reason."

Melinda was about to object when something else caught her eye.

"Did you break my vase?" she asked, a threatening note to her voice. Adam suddenly grinned and stood up.

"I think that is my cue to leave. Say goodbye to Sterling for me wont you?"

Melinda didn't have time to respond before Adam vanished. How one ghost could be so annoying was completely beyond her. Okay, so she was going to have to work Danny out herself. That could turn out to be... interesting...

First call of action: reveal all ghost related secrets and hope that he will too.

Melinda didn't get much time to think about it before Danny threw himself against the front door and entered the store.

"I got it," he murmured distractedly. Watching the boy's eyes dart around the room in search of Adam, Melinda leaned back in her chair.

"That's great, thanks." She gestured for him to put the coffee on the counter. Danny slowly obliged, still examining. Eventually he seemed satisfied and relaxed.

Sighing, Melinda pressed her hands together in concentration. If she was going to ask, why not ask now?

"Er, Danny... I need to talk to you about something."

Suddenly, the teen's eyes filled with alarm. "Oh?" Once again, his eyes passed over the store.

The woman paused.

"You know what. It can probably wait until tomorrow... Would you mind helping me clear this up?" Melinda pointed at Adam's mess. She needed time to think about what she wanted to say to him. Coming out with: 'I know you can see ghosts' wasn't exactly the most tactful of starts. If she left it for a bit, it would prepare both her and Danny. The boy seemed relieved by the offered escape and gratefully took hold of it, retrieving a broom from the opposite side of the room.

She'd talk to him tomorrow and then he'd know he wasn't alone.

Ah, I know, my chapters seem to be getting shorter and shorter but in chapter but the shorter the chapters the faster the updates! ... Or something like that...

So, tell me what you think! :D

-Mea