Chapter 38

Her parents couldn't be normal for even one night! Jazz wanted to tear out her hair in frustration because this was exactly why she didn't want to come back home. Except that she always felt bad about leaving Danny alone with their parents, especially after Danny came out as gay and their mother didn't react too well to that. She was relieved to know that their mother finally came to her senses about the whole thing and accepted Danny for the real him. She could see right away the happier atmosphere around Danny and their mother when they all sat down to eat dinner together. There wasn't distance between them, or that frustration that she always heard in Danny's voice whenever he talked about their mother and how she was trying to set him up with yet another woman despite that he was obviously gay.

Everything was going fine at the start of the dinner. Everyone was chatting and eating, and it almost felt like a normal family dinner. Jazz could almost pretend that her life was always like this and her parents were never the cause of a lifetime's worth of therapy from all the embarrassment. They could be normal, and maybe Frederich wouldn't have to see the crazy side of her family. But of course, her wish would never be answered. It started with an offhand comment about the solstice that led into the rest of the night being filled with the tall tales of their parents' exploits in their search for the supernatural.

Jazz wanted to bury her head in her arms, and she could tell Danny felt the same when he leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling with that look that said, "I can't believe they're starting this again." It was the same everywhere they went. Any time they brought someone over for dinner, their parents launched into the topic of the supernatural. It was horribly embarrassing! The next day usually involved the person that joined them for dinner avoiding them like the plague, and the rumors about their parents being crazy would spread like wildfire.

Jazz knew she spent most of their adolescence being an overbearing, smothering older sister to Danny, but they only had each other with the stigma brought on by their parents and all the moving around they did as their parents tried to hunt the supernatural all over America. She was only trying to take care of her little brother, but she knew he hated it sometimes. A lot of the times, if she was being honest. And being away at college, she almost believed that helped their relationship. Danny always seemed happy to hear from her, and she tried not message him every single day and pester him about things like his homework and making friends. She couldn't help but worry about her little brother.

A small smile spread onto her face as she recalled the blond man that Danny disappeared with for a few hours earlier that day. If Danny was settling in here enough to actually find a boyfriend, maybe Jazz's worrying was unnecessary after all. She only met him briefly, but Dash seemed like a pretty good guy. She was surprised when Danny said he wasn't a jock because Dash definitely had the body of a man that played football, which seemed to be the type that Danny liked best from what she gathered after learning that he was gay.

Jazz looked up from loading the dishwasher as Danny trotted into the kitchen. "Did you get all of your homework finished?" She gave him the usual "sister glare" that meant she planned to pester him about it until he completed his assignments.

"There's still days left before school starts up again," Danny complained, grabbing a tub of ice cream out of the freezer. "I have plenty of time to get it done. " He pouted. "Especially with being grounded and all. I have nothing to do all day but homework."

"Getting your grades up is important, Danny." Jazz wiped her hands clean on a towel. "You'll never get into a good college if you have bad grades. And you'll have to repeat a grade if you fail." She placed her hands on her hips as she stared at him. "And what's with the ice cream? It's cold enough to snow outside, and you're getting ice cream?"

"I know, Jazz." Danny sighed dramatically, this not being the first time they've talked about his grades. "And I'll admit some of my classes aren't that bad. But can we at least spend some time together without it being all homework talk? I know how much you love school. But can't we just be kids for a while without you going into mother mode?" He gave a hopeful look before he dropped his gaze to the tub of ice cream in his hands. "Um... Dessert?" He gave a weak grin.

Jazz raised an eyebrow at him, but after a moment, she had to roll her eyes at his grin. "All right." She grabbed some spoons from the drawer. "But only because Mom and Dad aren't here." She pushed Danny into the front room where Frederich sat on the sofa with a book in his hand. "You get half an hour of television. Then straight back up to your room to do homework."

"Yes, Mom." Danny rolled his eyes at Jazz, who whacked him on the shoulder with the spoons.

"You two get along well," Frederich commented as he closed his book when the siblings dropped onto the sofa. Jazz sat in the middle of the two men, holding up the spoons for each of them to take one of the three in her hand.

"Don't you get along with your siblings, Freddie?" Danny ripped the top of the tub of ice cream before he grabbed a spoon from his sister's hand.

"It's Frederich," he said stiffly as he took a spoon as well. "And I don't have any siblings. I was an only child."

"Pity for you," Danny mumbled and dug out a large spoonful of ice cream. When Jazz rammed an elbow into his side, Danny nearly dropped the giant glob of ice cream. He gulped at her glare. "I just meant that it's a shame because having a sibling is wonderful."

"Frederich and I are studying psychology together," Jazz told Danny as she scooped out a spoonful for herself before passing the tub of ice cream to her boyfriend. "How did you meet Dash?" Grinning widely, she stared at her brother in wait for his answer.

Danny nearly choked on the ice cream in his mouth, and Jazz blinked when she noticed all the ice cream on his spoon was gone. She couldn't imagine how he ate that much ice cream so fast, and not suffer a severe ice cream headache. After coughing for a moment, Danny was able to answer. "We share math class together, and-" He shrugged. "Well, you've seen him! He's pretty much my ideal guy in terms of looks. Uh, but," he flushed darkly, scratching at a cheek with one finger, "it's not like his looks are the only thing I'm interested in."

"But the looks sure help." Jazz grinned with her spoon of ice cream in her mouth as her brother's blush darkened even further. "How far are you into your relationship? Hand holding? Kissing?"

"We haven't done any of that! We're still kind of just at the friend stage. We're just taking things slow." Danny blinked and tilted his head back like he was looking at something over him. After a shake of his head and a roll of his eyes, he turned his attention back to his sister, ignoring her raise of a questioning eyebrow. "So what about you and Frederich? How did all this happen?" He gestured at the pair sitting on the sofa with him. "How did he ever convince you to come home for winter break?"

"Well, it certainly wasn't easy," Frederich said, barely touching any of the ice cream. "Jazz was very adamant about not letting me meet any of you. But," he smiled at her, "I reminded her that it didn't matter how crazy her family seemed, I would like her no matter what."

"Isn't he just so sweet?" Jazz smiled back at Frederich as a light blush colored her cheeks. "We bumped into each other in a book store. We were both reaching for the same book on understanding the psychological effects of verbal abuse. And well," she shrugged, "we went out for coffee and started talking, and we just really hit it off."

"Well, I'm happy for you." Danny smiled, but Jazz could see it wasn't entirely real.

Jazz frowned internally, wondering why her brother was forcing himself to be supportive of her relationship with Frederich. Perhaps it was a brother thing. As much as she looked out for Danny, he did the same for her, though she realized in a much subtler way. She had men interested in her in the past, but those times, Danny would butt his way between them, acting like the other man was an enemy of some sort. Perhaps he still felt like that but matured enough to stand back and allow for his sister's happiness. That thought made her smile. Danny was concerned about her getting hurt but didn't want breakup the good relationship she had with Frederich.

Jazz reached over and hugged her brother, ignoring Danny's protest at her actions. "Danny," she said slowly as a frown pulled down at her mouth. Moving back, she placed a hand to his cheek, baffled by how cold it felt against her flesh. The weather was quite chilly outside, but the heat was on in the house and he had no reason to feel that cold. "Why do you feel like ice?"

"Ice cream?" Danny offered weakly as he grabbed for the tub sitting on the coffee table.

"Danny, what's going?" Jazz demanded firmly, refusing to let him dodge the question.

When she reached for his hands, Danny shot off the sofa. "It's nothing!" he shouted, panic flashing through his bright blue eyes. Then he jogged out of the front room, racing up the steps to his bedroom.

"I'm sorry, Frederich," Jazz said as she stood. "I have to-"

"I understand. Your brother needs you." He nodded as he picked up his book to read. "Go talk to him."

Jazz felt some relief at that response. But she didn't dwell on that fact, instead running up the stairs to follow after her brother. When she reached his room, she knocked on the door. "Danny, can we talk?"

"I told you it's nothing, Jazz. I should really get this homework done."

With a sigh, Jazz opened the door and slipped into his room. "Danny, you know I'm not going to judge you. Whatever happened, you can tell me."

Danny frowned as he turned in his desk chair to stare at her. "Really, it's no big deal. You don't need to worry about me. I'm fine."

Jazz took a seat on his bed. She didn't need him to say anything out loud to see he experienced something terrible while she was away at college. It was there in his eyes, the fear of a memory that shook him to his core. She lowered her gaze, regretting that she wasn't there for him when he clearly needed her the most. She was a horrible sister for not realizing sooner that something was hurting him.

"It is a big deal, Danny," Jazz said softly as she raised her aqua eyes to stare at him. "Maybe you don't feel like you can tell me what happened right now. But I hope you can tell me one day. It hurts me that you're dealing with something and there's absolutely nothing I can do to help you. I love you, Danny. No matter what, I'll always love you."

Danny's gaze drifted to his left for a brief moment. "I know, Jazz," he said as he lowered his eyes. "I'm just not ready to talk about it."

Jazz stood up and wrapped her arms around Danny. The coolness against her cheek was still strange, but Danny was as stubborn as any Fenton. He wouldn't be giving her any answers until he was ready to talk about it. "I'm always here when you are ready." She kissed him on the side of his forehead before she released him.

"Jazz," Danny called, stopping her before she could open the door of his room. "Don't tell Mom and Dad?"

"Of course." Jazz winked before she left him alone in his room. There were plenty of secrets they shared with each other that they preferred not to tell their parents. In this instance, Jazz could certainly understand why Danny wouldn't want their parents finding about his icy cold skin. They would probably think it had something to do with the supernatural, like Danny was possessed by a ghost or something else that sounded as ridiculous. She rolled her eyes at the very idea.

"That was quick." Frederich looked up from his book when Jazz dropped next time him on the sofa.

"If I know anything about my brother, it's that pushing too much only makes him less likely to ever tell me anything," Jazz said as she leaned forward to scoop out a spoonful of the ice cream. "He'll tell me about what happened when he's ready. Until then, I just have to be patient." She popped the spoon into her mouth, happily eating the ice cream.

Dr. Strawberries: Because I'm so mean to my characters! D8 *holds Abner and pets his hair* Maybe when all is over, I'll have to do some happy Abner and Johnny interaction. XD;; I already have an idea in my head for a Wulf and Kwan afterward, since the idea hasn't seemed to fit into the actual story. XD;;;

Daisuke Kazamatsuri: Yeah, Abner is not happy with that relation. D8 But he thought he would be safe because his cousin never came to Amity Park before. That he knows of.

jeanette9a: XD I still think Paulina is the only that hasn't suffered some kind of trauma in this story. I would include Sam and Tucker, but being friends with Danny led them into some pretty dangerous situations.

fullmoonwolf950: 8D Everything will be revealed in time. *shot for keeping things secret*

mikepd: Why thank you! =D I'm glad you like it!

XD: The idea struck me after you pointed out Abner's reaction to the body and the possibility that he saw a dead body before. XD;;; Abner's so guilt ridden about his cousin. D8 *pets Abner* I'll be looking forward to your ideas! =) All the secrets to be revealed soon~ Ish. Soonish. orz