I decided on a Jazzy chapter. This is in recompense for the torture she's had to endure because of one of my other stories. Sorry Jazz.

The Traveler

I tried to keep my eyes closed as Dad and I careened down the road in the RV. He checked his map twice, looking for a short cut to Vlad's and now had the gas pedal on the floor and we were speeding so fast I was in fear for my life, as I gripped the dashboard with white knuckles.

Three times I asked him to slow down, but it was the third try which earned me a growl of irritation. Dad justified his crazy driving with absurd logic.

"I don't want your mother or your brother to have to spend a second longer in Vlad's company than they have to," he told me with a look of focused determination on his face, the one he saved for ghost hunting. "If I slow down, even a little, that adds to their suffering." If he could have gone faster, he would have.

What could I say? "Well Dad," I thought I could possibly argue. "If you don't slow down, we won't make it there in once piece, and then what kind of suffering will they endure?" No, it was better to keep my mouth shut, It wasn't possible to argue against Dad's determination. He made his own rules, sometimes, I often suspected that he could bend the laws of physics, a little like my little brother could, as if it were some sort of hereditary trait.

Dad and Danny, they were more alike than Danny likes to admit. Danny can't see the great things in Dad. Sometimes, I think that has Vlad poisoned Danny's vision of our father. But, he is the same man who used to be our hero, banishing the boogey men of our childhood nightmares, out of closets, and from beneath our beds with heroic gusto. He's the same man who used to take each of our fears of frightening nightmare specters seriously and treated our shaking tears of fright, with respect.

My father and brother, have a quiet calmness about themselves. No, really, don't laugh. I know Dad seems scattered and turbulent, but beneath all those choppy waves, is a still and deep ocean of warmth and caring. Danny is the same way, except he exudes a different quality than Dad, his depth is less goofy, and less hidden than Dad's, though sometimes, just like Dad, Danny appears to be shallow and thoughtless. The reason is because their hearts and minds are so caught up in whatever has their attention at the moment, that they lose sight of reason and the mirror image they present comes off as flat and two dimensional.

I'm probably not making sense. Dad and Danny are cut from the same cloth. They both have a little bit of the Lionheart in their souls. Where do you think Danny gets his sense of heroism from? Well yeah, Mom too, but Mom is different. She is the general of the army, the mighty warrior. Dad is the sentry that keeps watch. He's her protector. He's the last line of defense when all else fails. He's deceptively dangerous.

I've seen Mom take on people, chew them up, spit them out and leave them knowing without question why they deserved her anger. Dad is the raging torrent, the tornado, the sudden storm that hits without warning and leaves you wondering what happened and why and what was your name again?

I make my parents sound like they are always on guard against potential invaders, enemies, and villains, that's because they are, but it's ghosts they always on guard for. Unfortunately, or sometimes fortunately they've never really had to go into any real sort of battle, but they are infinitely prepared for it.

They are intellectuals and scientific to an extreme degree. Need to know the approximate temperature in which water turns to gas? Need to know how neon lights work? Or how to figure out the exact number of cycles of radiation a cesium133 atom makes in order to define one second? Ask my parents. They know. Yet they also dwell in their little pocket of irrationality and fuzzy logic, an almost alternate reality, it's weird.

Arguing with Dad, especially when he gets that look of determination on his face, can be completely pointless, no matter how irrational his argument is, which is why I'm sitting here hoping that we make it to Wisconsin alive. The only person who knows how to deal with Dad when he gets like this is Mom.

I know we are driving nonstop. I'm not hungry, thirsty or tired, but I'm worried about Dad. He says, "Don't worry about me Jazzy pants. I'll be just fine." I'm worried about what's going to happen once we reach Vlad. I think Dad's planning on kicking Vlad's butt, but he doesn't know how powerful Vlad really is.

"It doesn't matter Jazzy," Dad said as I brought up the point. "What matters is that your mother and your brother are safe and healthy."

"What about you Dad?" I asked.

"I am irrelevant next to their and your well being," he answered quickly.

I shook my head. "I don't think your well being is irrelevant Dad. You're very integral to the well being of this family." Dad smiled at me indulgently and returned his complete focus to driving.

"Vlad isn't your typical ghost," I continued. "He's extremely powerful. Danny can't beat him by strength alone, he typically has to outwit him."

Dad raised one eyebrow. "Danny can outwit Vlad?" he asked. I nodded and Dad looked impressed.

"But Vlad can completely render an ecto-blaster useless Dad," I said. "He has this ability to shield himself. Dad nodded his head and I began to tell him everything I knew about Vlad, which was precious little in comparison to what Danny, Tucker and Sam knew, but there was no one else to warn Dad, so I took the task upon myself.

"Have a little faith in your old man, Jazzy," he said. "I know what I'm doing."

"Uh no, Dad," I countered. "I don't think you do." He slowed down slightly and I started to feel bad. It wasn't my intention to psych him out. I just wanted him to be realistic about the situation.

I ended up falling asleep. I'm not sure how I did, considering how on edge I was, because of Dad's crazy driving. When I woke up, it was because my cell phone was ringing. The sun had gone down and Dad was still driving with that scary look of determination on his face.

I checked the caller ID and my stomach did disturbing flip flops when I saw it was Tucker calling. I shot a quick glance at Dad then answered the phone.

"Hey!" Tucker said as I answered.

"Hey," I replied feeling strangely nervous.

"Um…," Tucker started then took a few breaths. "I don't know if you're going to believe me or not because this is pretty strange."

I looked at my father for a minute and almost started laughing. "Tucker, you know as well as I do, that I've been through more than my share of strange. What's going on?"

Tucker took a few deep breaths. "They're not in Wisconsin," he said. "They're in Colorado."

"Oh geeze," I said as I put my hand in my hair. "Are you sure?"

Tucker cleared his throat and I could hear Sam saying something in the background. "We kinda heard it from Danny himself," Tucker said.

"What?" I shrieked. My dad looked at me worriedly and it put my head forward, against the dashboard.

"You need to turn around," Tucker continued urgently. "Now, and get back here as fast as possible. We have a plan."

"A plan?" I asked.

"Yeah," Tucker answered. "A big plan."

"What kind of big plan?" I questioned and wondered why Tucker was being so evasive. What was his problem?

"How are you feeling?" I asked, suddenly remembering that he was sick. Talk about changing subjects huh?

"They released me from the hospital, I'm doing a lot better now that your pesky brother is out of my mind."

"What?" I questioned as I shook my head. I looked at Dad who was looking at me strangely.

"He's in Sam's head now," Tucker said in a pleased tone.

"Okay," I said slowly. "So you're feeling better?"

"Yeah," he answered as he laughed. Yes I was repeating myself.

I relaxed slightly and smiled. "I'm glad your okay. I was...we were really worried about you."

"I am kinda worried about you," Tucker replied earnestly. I laughed a little then sighed.

"I'm glad you're okay," I repeated then caught myself. I could feel a blush creeping up my neck. I looked out the side window and was glad Dad was concentrating on driving. I wouldn't put it past him to ask loudly why I was blushing.

I could hear Sam's irate voice as Tucker paused. "Would you stop flirting with her, Tuck? Tell her they need to stop and turn around now!"

"I'm not flirting with Jazz," Tucker shrieked and I laughed.

"Really," he continued in an irate tone, then paused. "You don't think I'm flirting with you, do you?" I could feel my face turning red.

"No," I answered. "But let me call you back okay?" Tucker agreed and I hung up and looked at Dad.

"What was that about?" he asked. I took several deep breaths like Tucker did when he was trying to tell me. Unfortunately, I was much easier to reason with than Dad. I knew he was going to demand more proof than, because Tucker says so.

"This is a long story," I started, "But there's not a lot of time to tell it, I need you to believe me. I need you to accept that maybe I know a little bit more about this than you do?"

"Okay, Jazz," Dad said, it was obvious he was trying hard to be patient.

"We need to turn around and go back," I began.

"Absolutely not," Dad growled.

"Because Vlad didn't take them to Wisconsin," I finished. Dad took his foot off the gas, pulled over to the side of the road, and looked at me.

"That was Tucker on the phone," I said lamely. "He said that Vlad took them to Colorado."

"And how does he know?" he asked in disbelief. He frowned. "Did they call him?"

"No," I answered then cleared my throat. "It has to do with a mental connection. Danny contacted them that way."

Dad looked at me in disbelief. "Jazzy, Danny's in a coma, he's not contacting anyone."

"Daddy," I said as I looked at him. "I trust Tucker." Dad frowned at me more, then sighed and looked out the window. I could tell he was warring with himself on whether we should turn around or continue on to Wisconsin.

"Does Tucker know where Vlad's hide out in Colorado is?" he asked

"Yes," I answered.

"Do you?" he asked.

"No," I replied. Dad shook his head, I knew what he was thinking. He didn't want to bring Tucker with us, but he would want to go, and probably Sam as well, and likely Valerie too.

"This is just like Vlad," I began. "It's just like him to assume that we'd be going after Mom and Danny and heading off to Wisconsin. He went to Colorado so we'd be wasting our time."

"All right," Dad said as we turned around. "We're heading back to Amity Park, only long enough for Tucker to give us directions and then we're off again." I watched the look on his face turn from complete focused determination to very angry determination. I think Vlad just upped the trouble he's in from major to serious. Forget ghost powers. Dad was going to kill him.

I called Tucker and we had a very brief conversation, with me just saying, "We're on our way back."

"Jazz?" Dad asked twenty minutes later. "You wouldn't happen to have ghost powers would you?"

"No," I laughed, "I keep away from your crazy ghost inventions, unlike Danny. You?"

He looked thoughtful for a minute. "No," he finally said in something which seemed like disappointment. I have to say, after so many years of he and Mom fiddling around with their crazy inventions, I'm surprised that they don't both have some sort of ghostly power. It hit me then, that Danny really was the only one stupid enough to go fiddling around with Mom and Dad's inventions. I chuckled slightly.

"What's so funny?" Dad asked.

"Nothing," I answered. "It's just that Danny is such a dork." Dad snorted and smiled.

We made it home around four in the morning. I'm not sure how, because I ended up sleeping most of the way. I woke up with Dad carrying me up the stairs to my room. I had to smile, he hadn't carried me to bed since I was ten. As I grew older, I made sure I was in bed before I fell asleep, adults are not carried to bed by other adults, and I've been trying to be an adult for a long time. Responsible and rational, unlike my parents.

I have to admit, it was nice to regress even for a few minutes. He laid me on the bed and pulled the covers over me, and I felt so at peace. I could almost forget the trauma of the last few days, the last few years, and pretend I was a ten year old again, where my biggest worry was if Mom and Dad were going to show up at the PTA and blast everything to bits searching for, what I thought at the time, were nonexistent ghosts.

"Dad?" I asked as he walked to the door.

"Yes Princess?" he replied.

"You won't leave without me, right?" I asked hesitantly.

"No," he answered.

"Promise?" I questioned.

"I promise," he replied. "But what I'm going to do is try and get some rest. We'll call Tucker first thing in the morning and get the party started." I rolled my eyes at his statement and he smiled.

"Good night Jazzy," he said as he closed my door.

"Night Dad," I answered then rolled over and tried unsuccessfully to fall back to sleep. All I could think of was Mom and Danny with Vlad, and then Tucker and Sam who seemed to have some stupid mental connection with my brother. I have to admit I was jealous, I would have been nice to have some sort of insight into Danny's mind. I'm his sister, if anyone should have a mental connection with him, it should be me.

I went to sleep with those troubling thoughts on my mind, along with worry about Danny's health. What if Vlad killed him? Would Vlad hurt Mom? Would Vlad help Danny? Was Danny ever going to wake up? If he did…would he still be Danny?

When I woke up the next morning, it was to a tear soaked pillow. I realized I needed to talk to someone about my feelings, otherwise I was going to break down, and that's the last thing we all needed.

I showered quickly and headed downstairs. I was surprised to find Dad, Tucker, Sam and Valerie all sitting at the kitchen table…laughing. They all looked at me when I entered and their demeanors turned serious.

"Good morning Jazzy Pants," Dad said. "There's bacon, eggs and French toast for breakfast." I looked at the food on the counter expecting some sort of glowing green horror.

"Don't worry," Dad continued. "Valerie cooked, not me." I looked at Valerie in surprise and wondered how she dealt with all of Dad's ghostly improved appliances.

"Thanks Valerie," I said as I grabbed a plate. The food actually looked good.

"You can thank Sam," Valerie said. "She's the one who fought off the toast creatures while I cooked." I smiled at Sam who looked up briefly from the book she was reading and nodded her head.

"This is the life," Tucker said happily as he leaned back in his chair and let lose with a tremendous belch, which made Dad laugh. "You women should cook for me more often."

"We women," Sam said as she put down her book and looked scathingly at Tucker. "Expect you to do all the clean up." Tucker groaned and Valerie laughed.

I looked at Dad then noticed that instead of a plate of food in front of him, he had one of his devices taken apart and was eyeing it with a thoughtfully.

"What are you doing Dad?" I asked as I took a seat between Sam and Valerie.

Dad looked up at me briefly. "Trying to reactivate Valerie's ghost hunting gear," he answered. "It's been disabled remotely, but if I can tweak it just right, it should start working again."

"I feel really powerless without my suite," Valerie said. "I really appreciate you doing this for me Mr. Fenton." Dad nodded his head as he returned his attention to his work.

"Have you guys had any trouble with ghosts?" I asked as I put syrup on my French toast.

"Only with Skulker," Tucker answered. "And a few ectopuss and the Box Ghost."

"And a creature that looked like a big fuzzy green teddy bear," Sam added.

"And a frog," Valerie said.

"And that's only Skulker?" I questioned as I looked at Tucker.

"All the other ones are easy to fight. Skulker is a little tougher," Tucker answered as he looked into my eyes. I felt another stupid blush crawling up my neck and I looked away.

I turned to Sam. "Still mentally connected to Danny?" I asked.

She smiled and nodded her head. "He's still out," she answered. "And isn't too aware of his surroundings. He tried to communicate with Mom, but it's really hard for him to connect with his physical self."

"We think," Tucker started then shot a quick look at Dad then turned his attention back to me. "That part of the reason he hasn't woken up, is that Sam and I both have his consciousness and we all need to like be in the same room with him or something." I gave him a look of disbelief and he pointed at Valerie. "It was her idea!"

"It's just a theory," Valerie said in exasperation.

"A good theory," Sam replied.

"So when do we go?" I asked.

"As soon as I get this blasted thing working," Dad grumbled. "Stupid Vlad used a ghostly interface which is tied to Valerie's DNA. When he deactivated the device he burnt some of the connections between it and Valerie. It's built into her skin you know, but I cant figure out the exact chromosomal sequence he used."

"Okay," I said then looked at Tucker and Sam who just shrugged their shoulders. What Dad was said took a moment to sink in and then I frowned.

"Dad?" I asked then looked nervously at my father. "Are you saying that Valerie is half ghost?" Valerie gasped and almost stood.

Dad looked up at me in surprise then smiled. "No," he said. "It seems that the device synthesizes a half ghost state, without it, she's just a normal average girl."

"Whoa," Tucker said.

"Yeah!" Valerie replied as she looked at Dad with wide eyes. He stood and began gathering everything together.

"Come downstairs," he said to Valerie. "I think I might have figured this out." I could hear him mumbling something about, "If Maddie was here she'd have it done by now."

"That's weird," Sam said as she shook her head and watched them go. "Valerie is a synthetic ghost hybrid."

Tucker looked at Sam slyly. "What does Danny think about that Sam?" he asked. "Huh? Huh? Have you asked him?"

"Shut up you geek," Sam growled in obviously false anger.

"You can actually communicate back and forth with Danny?" I asked almost excitedly. Sam frowned and shook her head.

"I know he's there," she answered. "But it's really hard to hear him. It makes me sick…so we won't try unless it's an emergency."

"So," Sam said as she jittered her legs. "Are we really going to trust Valerie's safety to your Dad?" I bit my lip and looked at Tucker. The three of us jumped from the table and were about to head down to the lab when we heard a boom, a thump, and a scream.

We practically fell over each other getting down into the lab. When we got there, Valerie was in her ghost hunting outfit and Dad was smiling happily.

"See," he said. "I told you I could get it working again." He held up one finger. "Never doubt a Fenton."

The next thing I knew we were all in the Specter Speeder, all five of us, on our way to save Danny and Mom from Vlad. Oh boy!

And there you go a Jazz chapter. It's a little strange and fillerish I know, but I didn't know what kind of conversation to give Jack and Jazz for the hours they were on the road. I think mostly they were tense and quiet. Interesting theories brought up in this chapter though, no? My sweet prince, Tucker is up next.

Dost thine haf any reviews, for thine meager, small, wee, leetle begger woman? Da one who hast scrubbed your floors…I mean washed your…I mean, written for thine until her poor leetle knuckles..errrr…I mean..heart haf bled?