A/N: I did warn you guys that updates would be a lot less frequent. Medical school life is exactly as hard as you can imagine.

Chapter 37 – Delaying the Inevitable

Danny's Mansion

THUNK. "God!" THUNK. "Damn!" THUNK. "It!" THUNK.

Ember glanced sympathetically at Danny as he repeatedly banged his head into one of the walls of his mansion. Even being the Champion of the Primordials couldn't protect him from the uncomfortable situation that he was currently in.

"I really, really, REALLY don't want to deal with this…" Danny growled as he buried his head into a pillow in a futile attempt to cure his growing headache. "My parents must freaking HATE Vlad now. As in, I'm pretty sure they're going to blast him on sight if they ever see him again. Urrrggghhhh…"

"Hate to break it to you, baby pop," Ember replied, "but you're pretty much the only one who can set up a meeting that isn't going to turn into a giant ectoplasmic mess. I mean, that Techno-geek and goth girl probably don't like Plasmius any more than your parents do, and your parents barely trust us to begin with."

"Don't remind me," Danny groaned. He had sent Sam, Tucker, and Jazz an update via text message about what had just happened. They hadn't taken it any better than he had, and Danny had to elicit a promise from Sam and Tucker that they wouldn't spill the beans to his parents yet. Jazz had been more sympathetic, and she had to admit that her revealing the news to her parents would probably provoke them into a full-blown manhunt against Plasmius for even going near their son after everything that had happened.

"Gah…forget it!" he suddenly snapped. "I'm just going to worry about something else. It's not like Plasmius is going anywhere."

The elder halfa had been taken back to Clockwork's Tower, where he would be occupying one of his guest rooms until further notice. This was as much for his own protection as much as it was to keep him under surveillance; there were more than a few ghosts that Vlad had wronged in some way, and would be eager to seek revenge. Fortunately, both Dan and Clockwork served as incredibly effective deterrents to anyone who got any ideas.

An idea suddenly struck him, and his mood brightened instantly. "I know!" he declared. "I'll just finish up the last parts of my realm! It's so close to being done and I want Jazz to see it before she heads off to college!"

Ember smirked. "Level with me, baby pop," she countered smugly. "You're only saying that cause you don't wanna deal with the Plasmius issue right now."

She had been half-expecting Danny to splutter and protest, and was surprised to see him return the smug look. "Well, Em, what would you prefer I work on?"

"Got me there," she grudgingly conceded. "So what's first on your avoid-talking-to-your-folks-about-the-fruit-loop to-do list?"

Danny smiled. "Well…"

Danny's Bar

"So let me get this straight…you're not going for any overarching theme?" Ember asked as Danny was developing the last stages of the bar. Not that she wasn't impressed with what Danny had accomplished already - she'd been to quite a few bars on Earth when she wasn't out to take over the world (obviously disguised as a human), and Danny's was definitely one of the better ones she'd seen so far. Stylish, classy, plenty of room, an overall décor that practically invited you to come in and have a good time. But it seemed to be missing that extra "oomph", a statement that really said, "this is MY realm and you better know it!"

"To be honest…" Danny admitted, "I really don't know what I'd put. If I do the wrong thing, then everything's gonna turn into a giant mess. And unlike on Earth, I'm not the most popular guy, so I can't just pull the Phantom-thinks-it's-cool-so-it's-cool card. This?" he gestured around with his hands. "This is safe. No risks and I'm happy with how it turned out anyway."

Ember rolled her eyes. "Says the one who charges into every single ghost of the day," she commented dryly. "But yeah, I can see where you're going with this. Since every ghost tends to make their realm something about them, I guess I was kinda expecting that here too."

"I'm pretty sure some ghosts still hate my guts," Danny added, grimacing as Skulker's face passed through his mind. "Pretty sure that rubbing the fact that I'm Champion of the Primordials isn't gonna help."

"True…" the ghost rocker conceded. "So…what now?"

Danny smirked. "Frostbite!"

"Great One!" the yeti declared as he barreled out of the kitchen. "How may I be of assistance?"

The halfa turned to him and smiled. "We're ready, Frostbite. I've set up everything in the bar the way I want it to be. You know what it's time for, right?"

The Far Frozen King grinned. "The dedication and efficiency that you have demonstrated is truly impressive, young Daniel. We will honor them by matching them as best as we can."

Almost immediately, the kitchen doors burst open again. Smaller yetis and more human-sized ghost monsters from Pandora's Realm filed out, all carrying various bottles, mugs, utensils, and all sorts of various objects. As they busily divided their items amongst the tables, Danny pulled at Ember's arm. "We should get outta here," he told her. "These guys are gonna be busy for a while. But when they're done, we'll finally be ready to go!"

"Getting the hardest thing out of the way first, eh, baby pop?" she asked. "I can respect that, so what's next?"

Danny's Gym / Training Arena

"You mean you actually took notes on all this crap?" Ember gaped. "I thought Techno-Geek was the nerd in your little of group of friends, not you!"

Danny shrugged. "Eh, you pick up a few habits from hanging around Clockwork all the time. I mean, I do study stuff under him, you know."

"Neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrdddddddd…."

Danny pointedly ignored her and approached one of the weight-lifting machines. He sat down and began to test the machine, whether it was working properly and how it felt on his body. After a few seconds, he nodded with satisfaction and got off the machine, moving on to the next one.

Ember felt a twinge of annoyance; if Danny was going to be testing all of the machines, they were going to be here for a very long time indeed, and she needed to break the monotony fast. "So baby pop," Ember asked, "I heard you got that stadium taken care of."

"Ehhhh…yeah and no," Danny replied as he finished the machine he was currently on. "Technus told me that he had the whole thing prepped. But that's it. I don't know how the stadium works or anything. But he also said it should be easy for anyone to use, so it can't be that bad."

"Yeah, but Technus is a genius, baby pop," Ember pointed out. "What's easy for him could still be a goddamn nightmare for anyone else."

"Uggghhhh…I hope not" Danny groaned as he finished the inspection on the machine. "Anyway, it's not like it matters. I'm not opening the Stadium up along with the rest of the bar."

"Wait, what? Why not?"

"If I do it's gonna be too much for me to handle," the halfa explained. "First I have to figure out how the thing works, and then I'm gonna have to look over both that thing AND the bar? No thanks! I'm not opening the Stadium to the public until I'm sure the bar can take care of itself."

Ember couldn't fault that logic, so she instead experimented with one of the weights. "Huh, your mom actually did a pretty good job with the weight conversion."

"Yeah, thank God. I hate math," Danny rolled his eyes.

"Forget math, I hated school. One of the perks of being a dead teenager, I don't have to deal with any of that crap anymore for the rest of my life!" the ghost rocker cheered.

He groaned as he tested another machine. "Well, can't get any worse, can it? At least people know I'm Danny Phantom now, so Lancer's not gonna be as hard on my case as he used to be whenever I have to go out to fight a ghost. Plus, with the Ghost Council cracking down on ghost invasions, I might be able to…oh, I dunno. Actually do my homework? Have time to study? Not be on the edge of failing out of my classes every single quarter?"

"I actually wanted to ask, how did that CAT thing go?" Ember asked.

"Surprisingly well. There wasn't a single ghost attack during that entire week, for some reason," Danny smirked. "I have a feeling I know why though."

"Hey man, I kept my head waaaaaaaay in the sand during that week," Ember retorted. "I liked a good take-over-the-world scheme back then as much as the next ghost, but I'm not dumb enough to mess around with the Primordial of Time after he beat the shit out of Skulker in front of every hostile ghost in the Zone."

"Always knew you were one of the smarter ones," Danny chuckled, while Ember rolled her eyes.

"Are you done yet, baby pop?"

Danny reset the machine, "Almost and….yep, we are good to go! And since I already took care of the lounge rooms a few days ago, that should be it for the bar."

A few minutes later, Danny's Game Room

"You know, I'm surprised you took care of the park that quickly," Ember commented as she and Danny walked into his mansion.

"It's an open area and one of the first things I worked on," Danny shrugged. "Wasn't expecting it to take too long."

"Fair enough. So all that's left for now is the mansion, right? How much of it are you actually planning on opening to the rest of the GZ?"

"For now? Just the basement," the halfa answered. "I don't really feel comfortable about letting my former enemies just waltz into my house, even if they can't pull anything stupid. I mean, how much access do you give to ghosts in your realm?"

"Not much at all," Ember admitted. "Hell, usually I don't let ghosts in my realm, period. We're both pretty chill with the ones I do." Her eyes suddenly widened. "Wait a minute, this is meant to be like a casino thing, right? So where is all the money for this coming from?"

"Uh…" Danny shrugged. "Honestly? Not sure. I'm not sure if I'm gonna supply the money, whether the other ghosts are gonna be their own stuff, or if there's gonna be any real gambling to begin with."

The ghost rocker shrugged. "Well, the third option's probably the safe option. But lemme tell you something, baby pop. Ghosts are really competitive even when it comes down to it, even over the little things."

"Guess I'll have to cross that bridge when I get there," Danny nonchalantly answered as he absentmindedly spun one of the roulette wheels. The two of them watched as the ball landed onto the wheel, which landed straight on the 00. "Huh, double zero. Wasn't expecting that."

"I don't think you were expecting a lot of things to happen, Danny," Ember replied with a surprising amount of sincerity. A silence fell between them, both of them thinking just how real Ember's statement actually was.

"Looks like that's it for now," Danny finally broke the silence as he finished his last few inspections. "The bar, the park, the mansion…everything I've wanted to work on is finally done." He smiled at Ember. "Thanks for coming along with me for this."

Ember shrugged. "Eh, no worries. It's not like I had anything better to do today anyway." But both of them knew that she really had enjoyed the conversation they'd had, even if she didn't show it.

Danny's smile faded and he groaned. "Ugh…I can't hold it off anymore now, can I? I'm really not looking forward to breaking the news about Plasmius to mom and dad…"

"Can't help you there, baby pop," the ghost rocker replied sympathetically. "Sorry."

"I really wish you could, Em. I really wish you could."

/

It's been a long while, hasn't it? Med school is stopping me from dealing with something as big as a meeting between Plasmius and Danny's parents, so I decided to do something smaller and have some Danny-Ember bonding instead. Plus it also serves to advance the plot towards opening the realm, and also serves as a recap for each part and what Danny's intentions are.

Hope this is good for now. It's pretty difficult to write with all the studying and work I have to do daily.