Epilogue

(4:30 am)

Jazz came out of the shower wrapped herself in a towel and went back into her room to choose her wardrobe. It was way early, but she had gone to bed early, woken up at four in the morning, and found she couldn't sleep anymore.

Danny went to bed early too. Jazz peeked in on him before she went into the shower. As soon as they got home, and after their parents were reassured that Danny just had a case of nerves, and Jazz was no longer possessed, Danny went right to bed. As far as Jazz could tell that at four in the morning Danny hadn't even rolled over. Jazz finished dressing, then went to check on Danny again. When she went into Danny's room she found Danny completely covered by his blankets.

Hmmmm Suspicious Jazz moved over to Danny's bed and pealed back the blankets. Sure enough only pillows were found. Danny had snuck out somewhere, and Jazz had a feeling she knew where he disappeared to.

Jasmine,

Jazz blinked surprised to hear a somewhat familiar voice within her mind. She moved back to her room, and found Lydia floating outside her window.

"Lydia?" Jazz said opening the window allowing the ghost to enter her room. "What's wrong why are you here?"

Lydia looked softer than when she had served Freakshow. Her hair was no longer up in spikes, but a deep ebony flowing around her shoulders. Her nose ring was missing, and even her tattoos looked a little gentler than before. She still wore her circus costume and red cloak. Jazz thought the changes made her even more like her brother than before.

Sarah wishes to speak with you, and your brother, Lydia spoke gently into her mind. She didn't tell Sam or the others that she could still understand Lydia's telepathic sendings. She had a feeling that it was a side affect of being overshadowed, and it really wasn't that important. She had been more worried about Danny.

"Danny's not here," Jazz said. "Do you think he went over to Miss Daily by himself?"

Lydia smiled. Perhaps. Come. Lydia offered Jazz her hand. "Jazz climbed out of her window and allowed Lydia to fly away with her."

"So have you decided what you are going to do?" Jazz asked the now more friendly ghost.

Go to London for a while. Meet guardian mentors. Lydia said with a touch of regret. Perhaps return see what Friedrich has learned. Afterwards? Sarah said I would make a good watcher. Find children like your brother who needs a friend. Stay far away from your parents.

Jazz couldn't help but chuckle at that thought. "Probably a good idea." Jazz admitted. They came up upon the house and sure enough Jazz saw her brother Danny, in ghost mode watching Sarah Daily in her garden from behind her chimney. Jazz gestured to Lydia and the pair flew down right behind Danny.

Instantly Danny's ghost sense went off. He spun around only to be greeted by his sister, and Lydia. "Miss Daily said she wanted to see both of us," Jazz commented letting a bit of reproach in her voice. "But I have a feeling she made up her mind when you decided to sneak over here."

Danny flushed slightly embarrassed. "I...I was hoping that Sarah would let me get into her circle to kinda juice up," Danny admitted.

Jazz looked her brother over carefully. "Still feel queasy?" She asked.

"Not exactly," Danny's attention turned inward as he searched for the right words. "Just not right,"

Lydia nodded as if she understood what Danny couldn't exactly verbalize. She released Jazz into Danny's hands then gestured that both of them should follow her down to the ground.

Danny carried Jazz down to where Sarah Daily stood waiting for them. "You two are up early," She commented casually.

Danny looked very uncomfortable. "Yeah well..." he said stumbling over the words. "I was kinda hoping you'd let me go in your pick me up circle this morning."

That made Sarah take a very careful look at him. "Give me your hands," She instructed. Danny complied and Sarah closed her eyes reading something within Danny. "Hmmm you're getting back to your normal energy levels on your own," she said. "Another day, maybe two and you won't feel so out of sorts." She then turned to Jazz. "Though the pick me up will speed that along. I promise it's only energy exposure and utilization." Jazz realized that Sarah was asking for permission again.

Danny picked up that as well. "Please Jazz? I'd rather feel a hundred percent sooner rather than later."

Jazz couldn't help but feel reluctant, but the puppy dog look her brother kept giving her weakened her resolve. "All right, but there better be no control involved."

Lydia smiled. No control. Just energy. I will gather energy as well. You're brother will not be alone.

Sarah nodded slightly to Lydia, making Jazz realize that she too could hear the ghost. "I'm sure you don't want the charge up Jazz so you can stay in the house. Anything not in the circle or the house tends to loose energy. The back door is open and you can see us from the window in the office in the back connected to the kitchen."

Jazz nodded and found the office exactly where Miss Daily said it would be. She watched from the window as Danny took a seat at the teacher's feet. Lydia stood behind her. Jazz couldn't hear the chanting, but soon she realized that the circle of herbs around them were glowing with a light filled with violet, blue and sliver. The Sun began to rise directly behind the house filling the yard with a deep reds and yellows. Danny and Lydia began to float higher and higher, both with their eyes closed, and both with an identical expression on their faces. Jazz nearly broke into tears when she recognize the emotion that ran through her brother sitting in the magic circle filling himself up with mystical energies. It was an emotion she doubted her brother had felt in a very long time. It was pure unaltered bliss.

By the time Sarah Daily finished her spell Danny and Lydia were floating up over her head. When Sarah told them she was finished Danny went shooting up into the sky and did a backflip for the fun of it.

Jazz came back outside. "Wow, Danny really enjoys that."

Cleaning up her work, Sarah looked up at Danny doing flips. "It's like a hungry person being invited to a feast. Ghosts are constantly absorbing energy to stay on this plane. Danny does it to stay in ghost mode. What I did just filled him up to capacity. I won't do it for him every morning, but I don't think once in an while will be a bad thing."

"So what are you going to do with the rubies?" Jazz asked. "Are you going to return them to their museums?"

I'm still going to keep the band," Sarah said. "And I'm going to try to get Sam to keep one too, but she may fight me on that. The others, well I think I'm going to try something different. Once Skulker and a few of the other ghosts start coming back to Amity Park, I'm going to let a few of the more responsible ones take the rest. Each one getting one."

"Wait," Danny said gliding down to join them. "Give Skulker one of the rubies? Are you crazy?"

"He may not like me, and he may want you as a trophy Danny, but he is a ghost. No ghost in their right mind is ever going to want anyone like Freakshow getting their hands on these gems again. Lydia and I talked about it and she agrees they would be safer in the hands of other ghosts. And they won't do anything anyway. If I keep the two that belong on the band, and split the earrings up between you and Sam we'll still have four rubies on this side of the ghost zone, and the other ghosts will know it.

Danny looked thoughtful for a moment then said outlawed thinking. "Skulker, Walker, and like Clockwork?"

Sarah sighed. "If you want me to give him one, all right, but you're going to have to deliver it. Not that he's a bad guy and probably the one ghost I have the most in common with, but I really can't stand time lords. Time travel is complicated, disorientating, and always gives me nosebleeds."

Jazz didn't know why but Danny laughed. "Been there, done that," he said with a smile. Then he looked as the sun peeked above the ring of hedges around the house. "We'd better get home before mom and dad wonder where we are," Danny said.

Jazz agreed. "We'll see you Monday in school," she said.

Miss Daily nodded and waved. She and Lydia watched Danny take his sister in his arms and fly off back to Fenton works.

Once back in Jazz's room Danny transformed back to his human form and looked out the window at the rising sun. "Jazz, what do you think about Sarah?" He asked.

Jazz wasn't surprised at the question, but she wanted to know what Danny was thinking. "How come?" She asked.

"She told me a while back that she's my guardian," Danny said. "That it's her job to make sure I grow up emotionally and mentally healthy, ghost powers and all, and I want to believe that, but how do I know that everything she's told me is true? How can I be sure that she's not trying to use me and my powers for something"

That was a big question for Danny. Jazz could tell that Danny already trusted her. He wanted badly to trust her, and yet because of Vlad, and maybe Valerie, and maybe a few other things he was afraid to put his trust in this strange woman, who for a short time did have control of his mind. That was the thing. Danny liked Sarah Daily very much, but didn't know if it was an honest reaction, or something she constructed to entrap him.

Oddly enough it was thinking of Vlad Masters that gave Jazz an idea. "She said she could teach you to use your powers better right? Just like Vlad?"

Danny turned and looked at Jazz surprised. He didn't expect her to compare her to Vlad they seemed so different. "Well yeah, but -"

Jazz didn't let him finish. "What did Vlad want from you in exchange for teaching you to use your powers?"

Danny's expression darkened for a moment, before shifting back to confused. "He wanted me to renounce Dad and become like his son, but -"

Again Jazz didn't let him finish the thought. "So what has Miss Daily asked you for in exchange for teaching."

"Well she-" Danny stopped and thought about it. "She hasn't asked me for anything actually." Jazz watched as her brother's attention turned inward trying to remember one time that Sarah Daily wanted something from him. "She's used my energy to set her wards," he said thoughtfully. "But otherwise. No, she's helped me with a lot of stuff and the only thing she wants me to do half the time is stay out of fights that are too dangerous for me, and then she takes my place."

"What about the whole super hero thing?" Jazz asked.

Now Danny smiled at the thought. "You know, she's never mentioned it except once. She said she knew a lot about Danny Fenton, and some about Danny Phantom, but part of her job is to give me time to be just Danny."

Jazz had a feeling she understood what the guardian meant by that. "Well if she's not asking you for anything, she's not manipulating you. I'm sure there are ways you can find out if what she's telling you is true but it seems to me that she could be a big help to you."

"Yeah," Danny said looking out the window again. "You know it's almost a year since the accident." Danny said. "Back then I thought my life had turned completely upside down, and in a lot of ways my life still is crazy. I guess I should give Sarah a chance then. Maybe she's the one thing I need to make everything steady again."

"Well the last few days haven't been very steady at all," Jazz felt obligated to remind him.

"I know," Danny said with a grin, "But without her I think I would have done a lot worse against Freakshow. She says she's here to make my life easier, and with her powers I think she can do that."

Jazz didn't answer that. She moved forward and placed her hand on Danny's shoulder and looked out the window at the slowly awakening town. She didn't doubt for a second that Danny's like was about to get a lot more complicated, but maybe, just maybe those complications didn't mean chaos.

Welcome to the team Miss Daily, Jazz thought to herself. I hope we can handle you as well as I think you can handle us.