Author's Note: I'm so sorry for the delay in updates. I recently started Camp Nanowrimo (for more information on what this is, visit www . nanowrimo . com) and I've been backed up with regular fiction writing. Also, I run a DP blog called 'thatdannyphantommoment . tumblr .com' and I've been backed up trying to take care of that. I appreciate all of you waiting and I ask that you review this chapter and tell me what you think. Thanks!

Shaking that thought out of my head, I walked back down the stairs, not ready to talk to Jazz yet.

"She wasn't up there?" Sam asked when I reached the bottom of the steps.

I shook my head. "She was but she couldn't talk."

Her eyebrows were drawn down. "Is everything all right?'

I nodded. "Yeah, it's all good."

That's pretty much how the rest of the party went. We'd bump into old classmates and say hello, then we'd move our way through the crowd until we got stopped by another classmate.

Eventually people started leaving and I was the one who closed the door behind the last guest.

Sighing, I leaned against the door.

My father was in the kitchen talking with my mom and in one corner of the living room, my sister, Sam and Tucker stood talking.

I crossed the room to the three of them.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" I asked.

Tucker grinned at me. "Nothing, just entertaining your girlfriend here."

Sam smiled and me and took my hand.

I squeezed her hand and looked at Jazz.

"Can we talk?" I asked.

Jazz glanced at Tucker then back at me.

She gave a shrug. "Sure."

I squeezed Sam's hand again. "I'll be right back."

I led Jazz down the stairs and into the basement.

"So what's up?" She asked as she stepped off the bottom stair.

I turned around to face her.

"Would it be possible for you to give me an x-ray of yourself? I can modify it to look like me, but I can't give the Guys in White a real x-ray of myself." I told her.

She looked confused for a minute, so I said: "Remember, the guys in white do monthly ghost screenings?"

She nodded. "Right, of course. I forgot. Yeah, it would probably be possible. How recent does it need to be?"

"This year would be the best." I said. "It'd be easiest for me to modify a recent one, rather than an older one. That way, I won't have to age the x-ray."

She ran a hand through her hair. "Ok…umm, but Danny? I'm a female, and I have female organs. How are you going to modify that?"

"Don't worry about it." I said. "I promise I have it under control."

She swallowed. "Why don't you use one of dad's? He's a male."

"I know, but he's a lot older than me and it'll be harder to modify something like that." I said.

She bit her lip. "So I guess mom's out of the question too, then."

I nodded.

"So, umm, why not use Tucker?" She asked.

I let out a sigh. "First of all, he doesn't have the same DNA that you and I share. Second, he's…"

I trailed off, hoping that she'd get the hint but she looked up at me, questioning.

I sighed again. "He's crippled. It'll show up on the x-ray and the Guys in White will question it."

"Oh." She replied softly.

"Yeah." I replied.

She ran a hand through her hair.

"Ok. I can probably give you one tomorrow." She said. "Aren't they doing the testing then?"

I shook my head. "I mean, they are. But I can't wait that late. I may not have time to switch out the x-rays."

She swallowed. "Ok, how are we going to get one tonight then?"

"I'm going to take a picture of you with my digital camera and we can change the effects to x-ray." I said.

"Wait…you can x-ray me from your digital camera?" She asked.

I nodded.

"That must have cost you a fortune." She replied, staring at me in awe.

I shrugged. "A few grand. Nothing really."

She swallowed. "But, yeah. We can take a few pictures whenever you're ready."

"Great." I replied.

As she turned to go back up the stairs, I called her name again.

"Yeah?" She asked, turning back around.

"Just…don't tell Tucker." I said.

She raised an eyebrow. "Danny, it's really not that big of a deal."

I cracked my knuckles nervously.

Jazz sighed. "But if you insist, I won't say anything to him."

"Thanks." I muttered.

She walked back over to me and pulled me into an embrace.

"It's been really good having you back for a little while, Danny." She said as she pulled away and gave me a peck on the cheek.

I nodded, not really sure what to say. I didn't want to lie and go for the cliché 'It's good to be back' scenario.

Because that would imply that I would like to stay longer.

And as soon as those two weeks were up, I was getting the hell out of dodge.

She went up the stairs and after a few moments, I followed her.

Ready to plaster another smile on my face.

When I got to the top of the stairs, Tucker had his arm around Sam and Jazz.

The two girls were laughing at something I must have missed.

"What's going on?" I asked them.

Tucker glanced in my direction and removed his arms from the two girls, taking his cane back from Jazz.

"Hey, man." He said, giving me a nod. "We're going in here to play a few games. You interested?"

I checked the time on my phone.

Only seven twenty.

"Dinner won't be ready for another forty minutes." Jazz offered.

I bit my lip. "All right, a few games. What are we playing?"

"Strip poker." Tucker said.

I hesitated. "Er…what?"

He laughed. "No, not really. But you should have seen your face."

I gave an awkward laugh and Jazz mouthed. "I'm sorry."

Sam fell back behind the two of them and took my hand. "Are you ok?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it's just a few games."

As I walked into the dining room, I almost choked over my soda.

"Ah, Daniel. Come to play a few rounds?" He asked, throwing in a poker chip into the center of the table.

My mom and dad sat on either side of him.

My father sent me a cool stare.

"Son." He said.

"Father." I replied, swallowing back bile as I looked at Vlad.

"What are you still doing here?" I asked.

"They didn't tell you? I'm staying for a few days. Your father insisted." He said, grinning.

I glanced at my father, his eyes were on the cards in his hands.

"So he did, did he?" I asked.

"Come on, Daniel. Why don't you join us for a few games?" He asked.

I closed my free hand around my soda, feeling the metal cut into my skin.

Sam squeezed her hand around my other one.

"It's ok. We don't have to play." She said.

I swallowed. "It's fine."

Vlad grinned as I turned back to him.

"All right. Let's play a few games." I said.

Vlad didn't know what hell he'd just unleashed by challenging me to play. I'd make sure that he'd never forget coming to my house this Christmas.

I'd make sure that he regretted it and that he never came back.