Danny's POV

"Mom…." I whispered to myself. She was wearing a teal blouse, black dress pants, and black heels that clicked ominously towards me as she walked.

"You've been very busy, Daniel. In my absence, you have made sure to ruin the Fenton family name." She snapped.

I couldn't help myself, so I rolled my eyes. "I've been helping people, mother." I told her. She sighed. "By committing theft? I'm surprised that the Guys in White never took you in again." She told me.

"Dad talked to them, and even they could see I was being controlled. How can't you?"

"They tell me many things about you, Daniel. I've been kept updated." She told me, standing right next to me. How can I tower over someone, and still feel so small?

"I didn't ask to be controlled, Mom. I'm the one who ended up beating Freak show!" I said, trying to prove myself to her.

After everything she had done to me, she was still my mother, and seeing her feel like I was the villain hurt quite a bit. She shook her head. "And liberated ghosts of all sorts, who knows what you've unleashed to the town!" She growled out.

"They all promised to move on to other things, Mom! And would only come back if they needed something from me!"

"Daniel, don't you understand that by challenging every ghost that comes through that portal, you make them spread the word about you. You believe to be protecting the town but what would happen if you quit your heroics? The town would finally be safe."

I went to shake my head, to demand her to realize I was doing the right thing, to make her see that she was wrong, but I stopped. I thought about what she was saying from a scientist's point of view. I knew better than anyone that gossip in the Ghost Zone travels fast…who's to say that she isn't right?

"So that's why I'm offering a proposition." She started. I looked down at her, her face determined and strong, waiting for me to give her the go ahead.

"What proposition?" I asked.

"…You have around three months of school left, correct? Come home. Let me monitor your growth. You can continue this hero job of yours until I say so, and then you are done. We continue tests, and when your father comes home, you will make sure to tell him that you are a consenting test subject.

However, you can tell no one of this plan. Not your friends, and certainly not your girlfriend. You will be monitored through microphone every day at school, and will come home when you used to, at 12 p.m. Any later will result in punishment." She finished.

"And what makes you think I'll agree to this plan?" I asked.

She smiled, an evil looks in her eye. "Because if you don't, the identity of Miss Nightshade will be shared with the public and Sam and Tucker will be put in prison for harboring a ghost fugitive."

I grimaced. "So, you are blackmailing me? If I say no, you take it out on everything I love." I said. She nodded.

"Say yes to keep Samantha safe. Say no to give her a life sentence. You. Choose."

I sighed, looking to the hand that was outstretched in front of me. Sam would kill me for saying yes, but would die in a cell if I said no. So, I grabbed her hand and shook. "Okay. Sam and Tucker won't be at school for very long, so I'll go grab my stuff and be back here in twenty minutes."

"Excellent. I look forward to working with you, Daniel." She smiled, and her heels clicked away, leaving me to really think about what I had done.

I took a deep breath. It was for the best. Sam and Tucker were everything to me. To lose them would be to never feel like myself again.

I flew quickly to the school to grab my car I had left, then drove to Tucker's house, grabbing all of my things and phasing them into my car, hoping that they hadn't come home from school early to try and find me. When I was done, I phased into my car and drove back to my house.

Mom was waiting for me. "I have prepared a small room in the laboratory for you, if you could kindly put your things in there."

"One of the storage rooms?"

"All cleared out and a bed has been placed in."

I nodded, gulping at the thought of spending most of my time in the lab. I swallowed down the thoughts and finished putting all of my stuff into my room in the basement.

"Alright, how about we get a blood sample, for now?" She said, clasping her hands at her chest in excitement.

"It's not like I even have a choice." I grumbled, sitting down at an examination table as she cleaned the skin and shoved the needle into a vein.

I could even bring myself to wince.

I would get used to torture eventually. I had the first time.

…

Sam's POV

We weren't allowed to leave school to go after Danny, so the rest of the school day was filled with nervousness. I had texted him multiple times to check in, all of them had been ignored, or he hadn't seen them.

I really hoped he just hadn't seen them. Valerie had looked guilty the rest of the day, for making Danny snap like that, and seemed to be calming down about Phantom. She had been oddly staring at her backpack all day, making Tucker and I glance at each other.

At the end of the school day, Valerie was nowhere to be seen, and Tucker and I were sprinting to his house to check on Danny.

We walked through the door, waving hello to Mrs. Foley before heading up the stairs. Whatever Tucker saw when he opened the door made him scared enough to freeze, so I pushed him gently to the side to look as well.

"Everything's…" Tucker began.

"Gone. His stuff isn't here." I finished. It was done hastily, a few shirts sitting on the floor, but everything was gone. It was like he had never lived here.

"What happened? What did I do?" Tucker whispered. I sighed. "You couldn't have done anything wrong… He was fine until Valerie, remember?"

"But what did he see that made him move out, from then to now?" Tucker asked, shaking slightly. I knew that losing his live in best friend would be hard him, so we would have to do everything to get Danny back.

"Let's go check his house?" I asked Tucker. "Maybe we can talk some sense into him." I told him. He smiled and nodded, heading out and telling his mother where we were going.

The walk to his house was quick, seeing an unfamiliar car in front of Danny's parked in the driveway, but at least he was here. We breathed a sigh of relief and rushed to the front door, knocking loud enough that Jack would be able to hear if he was in the lab.

But who opened the door left us gaping and terrified.

Danny's mom, a dark red stain on her teal jumpsuit, hood pulled up to cover her eyes and a fake smile on her face. "Can I help you both?"

"Can we talk to Danny, please? It's kind of urgent?" I asked. She shrugged. "I suppose." She told us, ushering us in, and calling down the stairs, making both of us freeze.

Why in the hell would he be in the lab with his mother around?

He came up the stairs, pale and clammy, with a fake smile plastered on his face. "Hey guys!" He said, cheery. To cheery to look the way he does right now.

"What happened to all of your stuff, man?"

His eyes flitted to the left, a sure sign he was about to tell a lie, and opened his mouth. "Oh, I thought that I could need some space." He said, and I narrowed my eyes. "I'll leave you kids alone." Maddie said from her spot near the wall, taking off into the Lab.

"Okay, what did she do to you?"

"Nothing. She hasn't done a thing to me." He said, his voice to unemotional. "Bullshit, I know she has. What. Did. She. Do. To. You?" Tucker continued.

Danny looked to the lab door, but jumped slightly. I could hear a slight mumbling, but couldn't pinpoint the location.

"She hasn't done anything, but I needed some space from you guys." Danny said, but it sounded as if he was reading it off of a sheet of paper.

"Why? What did we do?" I demanded. Danny didn't speak for a minute before he said defeated, and slouched his shoulders like he was in trouble.

"You guys brought me down. I was a genius before I met you guys and I could have reached my full potential by now if I had never met you." He said, his eyes watering.

Tucker and I were too shocked to speak, the mumbling returned and Danny didn't speak until it stopped. "And, we shouldn't hang out anymore. I need to be my own person and figure out what I can do with you."

Hearing these words come out of Danny hurt, and it hurt a lot. "So, you are just going to throw away us, for your mother?" Tucker said quietly.

"After everything she has done?" I continued.

Danny stopped again, seeming to be listening to something and then he sighed. "She hasn't done anything to me. Everything she did in the past was for my benefit, and I am grateful that she has decided to bring me in again."

Bingo. There it was.

Something Danny would never say.

Tucker and I looked at each other before he got out his PDA and started typing in his notes. "Well, we don't agree with this decision." I said, Tucker giving him the PDA.

The note had read: What's really going on D?

Danny started to type as he recited, "You may not agree, but it's the best decision that could be made at this point."

I looked over Tucker's shoulder to read his reply.

Mom has me tapped into a microphone and has a listening piece in my ear. Yes, I am here against my will, but I don't want you guys to stop what's happening. Consequences would be worse than what I'm already getting.

I brought a hand to my mouth. Danny sat up sharply, his eyes watering as he began to shake. "And Sam," He began, and immediately I knew where this was going, "It would be best if we broke up. I don't want to be with you anymore." He said, his voice shaky.

Knowing it was just Maddie trying to get me to finally leave him alone, I nodded. "If that's how you feel…. have a good life, Fenton." I stood up, Tucker with me and I handed him the PDA again.

We'll find a way, Danny.

He looked as if he wanted to cry when he handed the PDA back us, and we left without another word.

"Okay, I hated that. I hated that a lot." I told Tucker. He nodded, agreeing. "Why does this bitch just come back to fuck up his life some more?" Tucker groaned.

I shrugged, mostly to myself, when I pressed my palms into my eyes to try to not cry. "Tucker, I can't watch him become what he used to be." I said, my voice cracking.

"Sam, we'll get him back. We always find a way."

I just hoped that Tucker was right…

Boom! Shorter chapter today, but I wanted to get the proposition out there before moving on to everything that's about to happen!

Thanks!