Chapter 38

His concern hadn't faded even a little by the time he arrived at the front door of the man's house. Vlad frowned at the door as he pressed his finger against the doorbell for longer than necessary. Then he folded his arms and waited impatiently for the man to answer the door. Daniel was lucky so far, having not caught any sort of ghost illness over the years since his accident. It wasn't an overly common thing, though Vlad had gotten sick from a ghost bug on more than one occasion that wasn't related to the ecto acne he acquired during his accident. If it turned out that Daniel's sickness was a result of being half ghost and was something more serious than a simple bug, Vlad might have to take him and his son to find a doctor within the Ghost Zone. He would prefer if that didn't become necessary.

"Coming!" a man shouted from inside the house, and Vlad recognized the voice as the one with whom he spoke on the phone. In a moment, the door opened, and Vlad stared blandly, unimpressed, at the blond man standing before him. "And you are?" The man, Dash he recalled, frowned at him but was clearly distracted as he glanced worriedly back into the house.

"Vlad Masters," he answered, trying to follow the man's gaze into the house, but Vlad couldn't see much beyond the man. "We spoke on the phone."

"Oh, right, yeah." Dash nodded. "So, uh, you can just give me the clothes and be on your way."

"If you don't mind, I'd like to see Daniel." Vlad resisted the urge to snort at the affronted expression twisting upon the man's face. "Yes, I know. You're a doctor, and I'm sure you're a very good one and know exactly what to do to take care of Daniel and his son while they aren't feeling well. But humor me. I care a great deal for the man and want to check on him for myself. There's something private I wish to discuss with him as well."

Dash frowned in hesitation, clearly not wanting to comply with this stranger's wishes. Vlad couldn't exactly blame the man. They knew nothing about one another, and Dash obviously cared enough about Daniel to be greatly worried about his health.

"Vlad?" Daniel questioned puzzled as his voice sounded weak and scratchy. Dash stepped aside, allowing the man on his doorstep to enter the house. Vlad's mouth pulled thin when he looked the younger half ghost over and took in the state of his condition. Daniel looked exhausted with misery writ upon his face, no doubt his illness causing some great unpleasantness. There was a sheen of sweat upon his pale face, and he leaned against the hall's wall to keep himself on his feet.

"I told you to stay in the bathroom," Dash said, frowning with concern.

"I'm feeling a little better," Daniel insisted with a smile forced onto his face, but it was clear from the darkening scowl in Dash's blue eyes that he wasn't buying it.

"Daniel, you remain a terrible liar." Vlad strode forward to stand before the younger man. He stared down at Daniel, who tried to glower angrily back at him. "We should talk. In private." He stressed the word, hoping Daniel was still well enough in mind to catch his meaning.

Daniel shook his head then immediately appeared to regret the action as he held a hand to his head and his face draining several shades of color. "Okay. Remind me shaking head is bad."

Dash was over to his side in an instant. "Let's get you sitting down before we get into serious conversations." He looped one of Daniel's arms over his shoulders and supported the man as he led the way into the front room. Guiding the man over to the couch, he helped Daniel to sit. "Do you think you can manage the tea?"

Daniel winced at the mention of tea. "Sorry about that spill."

Dash shook his head, not looking bothered by the accident. "That was my fault." His blue eyes darted toward Vlad and narrowed as he frowned. "It shouldn't take more than a few minutes to get the tea ready." He headed out of the room, presumably to the kitchen.

"I don't think your friend likes me very much," Vlad commented offhandedly as he joined the younger half ghost on the couch.

"You're a bit of an acquired taste." Daniel eyed him with only a touch of amusement in his gaze. "And I'm assuming by private, you had something ghost related to discuss with me. In which case, you can feel free to say whatever it is in front of Dash because I just told him the truth about me."

Vlad's mouth tugged downward, staring rather gravely at the young man. "You told him?" He was not pleased with this news. "Daniel, I do hope you don't go around telling everyone you meet about your secret."

"You can lay off the whole overprotective mentor act. I'm a grown man, and I think I know a thing or two about knowing who I can and can't trust with my secret. It's not like I went and told him about you." Daniel narrowed his eyes furiously. "Anyway, it's pretty hard for me to deny things when he sees me using my powers. Not that I meant to." He groaned as he rubbed at his forehead. "Being sick is messing with my powers."

"And you're illness is exactly why I wanted to speak with you." Vlad turned toward the man. "I realize this could, of course, always be a simple human illness. But it could also be ghost related. I need to know of your symptoms."

"Well, uh-" Daniel sneezed, clamping his eyes shut in a painful expression.

"Fenton!" Dash growled, and the two half ghosts glanced toward the doorway where the blond man stood. He frowned at them and turned the mug upside down. "You froze it again."

"Sorry." Daniel winced.

"I see why you had to tell him," Vlad said, not too pleased. It would be difficult to explain that odd occurrence logically. "So sneezing, probably a runny nose." He wrinkled his own nose when he saw a dribble of snot oozing from Daniel's nostrils. The younger half ghost grabbed a tissue from the box sitting on the coffee table and blew his nose. "Since you mentioned a sore throat," his gaze briefly glanced toward Dash, "I obviously don't need to ask about your throat. Are those the only symptoms?"

"Fever," Dash added, folding his arms after he set the mug of frozen tea on the table, "lethargy, and nausea and vomiting."

"That was only because I shifted forms," Daniel argued, looking a little green as the mention of it. When Vlad stared at him inquisitively, Daniel sighed and added, "When I went ghost, I got hit with this really strong wave of nausea and spent a quite a while vomiting into the toilet. I felt a lot better after I transformed back."

Vlad nodded as he mulled over that information. "The sore throat aside, it sounds like the usual ghost bug. It should pass in a day or two, though it'll make turning into Phantom rather miserable."

"He knows?" Dash cocked an eyebrow at Daniel. "Just how many people know what you are?"

"You mean, other than all the ghosts I've fought?" Daniel laughed weakly. "Well, Tucker and Sam, obviously. Jazz found out before I even told her. Dan and Elle, also obviously. Valerie. And Kwan."

"What?" Dash shouted, shock exploding onto his face. "You told Kwan? When?"

"Just a couple of weeks ago," Daniel winced under the double glare from the two men in the room with him. "And I had to for the sake of helping him and Dan." He shook his head then cringed. "Anyway! What do you mean the sore throat aside? And if this is all ghost related, how come I haven't gotten sick like this ever before?"

Vlad sighed as he leaned back against the couch and folded his arms. "There aren't really that many ghost diseases floating around in the Ghost Zone. I've only been hit with the general ghost bug a handful of times. And by ghost bug, I mean there are actual bug ghosts that transmit the illness through biting a ghost. You probably wouldn't have even noticed when it happened, or merely took it to be a normal bug. You're lucky in that you have a human half and can lessen the nausea that accompanies the illness by reverting to your human form. Full ghosts generally suffer quite badly from that nausea." He glanced Dash's way. "But it can't be passed to normal humans so you don't need to worry about catching it." His mouth pursed as he thought over the sore throat element of the illness. All the times that he contracted the ghost bug, he never experienced any type of sore throat, but everything else that Daniel experience lined up perfectly with his own experiences. With the exception of sneezing causing things to freeze, but he lacked ice powers. Vlad blinked as the answer dawned on him. "Your Ghostly Wail."

"What?" Daniel questioned, brow knitting in his confusion.

"You have powers that I never developed. Your ice powers," Vlad nodded to the frozen mug of tea, "and your Ghostly Wail. The ghost bug must cause some issues with your unique powers, which results in you freezing things whenever you sneeze. The soreness in your throat is likely a result of your Ghostly Wail."

"But Lex's throat hurts too, and he doesn't have the Ghostly Wail," Daniel argued.

"Not yet," Vlad corrected. "As your son, he has the potential to learn the abilities that you've acquired. It's true he might not learn them all and he might develop his own unique abilities. The Ghostly Wail, however, might be one power that's passed down to him. He might not have learned to use it yet, but that doesn't mean he won't learn it later in life."

"I suppose that makes sense," Daniel mumbled thoughtfully.

"Really? Because my head feels like it's spinning trying to understand all this ghost talk." Dash rubbed at his forehead.

"I guess this is kind of a lot for you to get used to." Daniel worried his lower lip as he stared at the blond man. Vlad didn't even need to question it. From that expression, it was quite clear that the two men had grown rather close since meeting, and Daniel was naturally worried about how revealing this secret would affect their friendship. So far, Dash seemed to be handling it well, at least outwardly. He wasn't yelling angrily at Daniel, which was a good sign.

A scream came from upstairs. Daniel was on his feet in the blink of an idea, and regardless of any ill feelings he suffered by that quick action, he raced up the stairs to the second floor. Dash was half a second behind the half ghost as they both hurried to see about what the screaming was. Vlad followed at a slower pace. As concerned as he was about Daniel and his son, this seemed to be more of a family situation, and he, with a pang in his chest, was not family. When he arrived at the doorway to the bedroom, Vlad frowned as he stared at Daniel holding his son close. Cujo was present, too, laying on the floor with his head in his paws as he whined quietly, clearly as worried as the others about the pair.

"Shh, it's okay," Daniel whispered softly as he rocked his son.

"But - But!" Lex sobbed against his father's chest. "But Mom! And - And-"

"Shh!" Daniel bowed his head, threading his fingers through the blond locks of Lex's hair. "It was just a nightmare. The bad man isn't going to hurt you. You're safe." He continued trying to encourage his son that everything would be all right, though Lex's sobbing didn't seem to calm down even slightly.

It was a terribly heart wrenching scene to come across, and if he hadn't already changed his ways, seeing this probably would have crushed every scheme and plot Vlad had in the works. He could almost visualize a similar scene with a young Daniel sobbing against his mother after the loss of his father, and the image stabbed horribly at him to think that he could have been the one to cause such pain between parent and child. For so long, he lived a cruel and selfish life, thinking only of acquiring his own happiness no matter how he hurt others to achieve his goals. His love for Maddie had long been a terrible obsession for him, twisting him up inside into a monster that sometimes he didn't think had any right to be saved. But Daniel, being ever the noble hero that he was, allowed the broken and beaten villain a second chance when he could have easily ended their struggle in a much bloodier manner if not for the overwhelming kindness that he could display to even his greatest foes.

A sick twisting in his gut sent a wave of nausea over him when Vlad thought of the pain and suffering he could have caused to Daniel if he hadn't been saved in that moment. He could see now that nothing he did, especially the plans to eliminate Jack, would give him the family and love he so desperately wanted. He only would have earned the hatred and resentment of both Maddie and Daniel if he had ever succeeded, just as the Samantha's killer would never earn Daniel's forgiveness for his cruel actions.

Vlad stepped out of the room, allowing Daniel some amount of privacy as he comforted his son. His gaze lowered to the floor as he realized he would never have that type of relationship with anyone, never having a son of his own. It was one reason he tried to prove so much that he had changed. Daniel would never look at him as a father, but Vlad could at least treat him like a son and offer Daniel advice and help where needed. His hatred toward Jack lessened over the years as he reconnected with his college friends, but he realized their relationship would never be able to return to what it once was, which often felt like a heavy burden resting upon his shoulders.

"So," Dash said, joining him in the hall as he closed the door, "I'm guessing you're all ghostly like Fenton since you seem to know a lot about this."

"Yes," Vlad agreed as he leaned back against the wall and folded his arms. It seemed pointless to hide the fact when the man already knew so much. "And I hope you are capable of keeping secrets because if you spread one word about us, I won't hesitate to make you suffer for it." He pinned his most intimidating of glares on the man.

Dash returned it with a scowl. "Look." He stabbed a finger into Vlad's chest, which did little to improve his opinion of this blond man. "I get how important this secret is. I know there are ghost hunters out there and government goons that would just love to get their hands on a ghost. And human that happens to have weird ghost powers? That's sure to be a top prize for them. So I get it. I may not have been best buds with Fenton back in high school, but I always admired Phantom. And Fenton's become a pretty good friend to me ever since our sons became friends. But I'm not about to out him to the world. I'm not that kind of person." He frowned and added in a mumble, "Not anymore anyway."

"You'll have to forgive me if I don't place as much trust in you as Daniel does." Vlad slapped the hand away from him.

"Well, I don't exactly trust you either." Dash held his glare, locking them into a contest of wills until the doctor finally broke the connection. "What can I do to help Daniel and Lex get through this faster?"

Vlad sighed. "There's not really anything to do. There are doctors in the Ghost Zone, but they generally only take patients that are suffering from much more dangerous strains of illnesses. After diagnosing Daniel as having a common ghost bug, they'd just send him home and tell him to get lots of rest. The duration of the illness should be much shorter compared to full ghosts since Daniel can turn human, which greatly lessens to symptoms."

"So I noticed." Dash frowned with his gaze cast to the floor as he folded his arms. "When he proved to me he was Phantom, his symptoms were suddenly ten times worse. After he switched back, he seemed a lot better, though the nausea carried over."

"He should be fine in a day or two. Though I might suggest he consumes some ectoplasm," Vlad mumbled thoughtfully. "Being sick can be a great drain on the system, and even if he weren't using any powers, it would still eat up his stores. He'll probably need to replenish them before it makes him collapse." He recalled the first time he was hit with the ghost bug. The whole experience was miserable, laid up in bed for half a week, and by the time he was well enough to actually get up and move around again, he collapsed right after climbing out of bed. He already knew a little about ghost hunger at that point, but that was the first time he ever felt it that strongly.

"I'm sorry." Dash's blue eyes nearly tried to bulge out of their sockets. "Did you just say you wanted Fenton to eat ectoplasm?"

"It is a part of him now." Vlad gazed with a bland look in his eyes at the man. "While consumption of ectoplasm could lead to very dangerous results in normal humans, for us, it would simply convert to energy. Those like Daniel and I don't necessarily need to eat ectoplasm to regain our spent energy. But after a large drain, such as being sick with a ghost bug, it would be wise to consume some ectoplasm."

"But," Dash scratched at his head, "ghosts are made up of ectoplasm, right? Isn't that cannibalism?"

Vlad's mouth nearly twitched into a smirk at the horror on the man's face at the thought that they were cannibals, in a way. "There are other means of consuming ectoplasm that don't require us to eat other ghosts. The Ghost Zone has its own vegetation created from ectoplasm and there are animal products, like chickens that lay eggs and cows for getting milk."

Dash blinked several times in surprise. "I never realized ghosts would have something like that."

"There's a lot about ghosts that the experts haven't even scratched the surface of." Vlad smirked, thinking of all the things that he discovered about ghosts since the accident. Jack and Maddie would probably love to pick his brain of all the little tidbits of information he held, but he had no plans to give any of those secrets away to them.

xXBookNinjaXx: *pets Danny* D: But at least it's not a long, drawn out illness. XD

Snowleopard0: Yes! 8D It's about time, no?

YoDog41: And then Vlad turned up to ruin their chat. XD;;

Tsuki Silverbane: XD Yeah, if Danny wasn't currently sick, the whole reveal would have gone a lot different. Or might not have really happened because Danny's powers probably wouldn't have been acting up. XD

Dr. Strawberries: Cujo~ He's so worried about his sort of kind of masters. D: Nah~ It's just a small bug. Dash probably would have had a bigger freak out about this whole thing, if he didn't have to go into doctor mode after seeing Danny seem to get even sicker when he went ghost.

irezel: Danny's not enjoying it as much. XD;; You didn't offend me. =) Everyone's entitled to their opinions. I hadn't really thought about it, but yeah, I guess since they have become somewhat friends now, there's not really a lot of reason to keep bringing up the bully aspect.

The-Amazing-Gracie: Woo! *runs around throwing confetti everywhere in celebration* XD Haha, seems like everyone is going to know pretty soon.

Clockwork's Apprentice: XD Well, first Vlad to explain the ghost bug. XD;;

Neko Saiyuu: It is~ XD Poor Dash, realizing that when he picked on Danny in high school, he was doing all of that to his hero!

Agent Malkere: Yay! 8D I'm glad you liked how it all came out. =) Uh oh~ Do I want to know what you were thinking Steven was? XD Thanks! =) Camp NaNo is going pretty well so far.

mk94: Give Danny disapproving looks for revealing his secret. XD

PhantomD: The secret could only be kept for so long. XD

jeanette9a: It could.

midnight: Poor Danny. Even at 30, he's still kind of clumsy. XD It was a very strong sneeze! XD Turning ghost definitely makes it a lot worse. D:

NikaStarlight: The truth comes out! 8D Play doctor to them? XD;; Although taking care of two people with their powers acting up won't be easy.

kairi8912: Haha, yeah. XD Like, whelp, cover's blown. Let's just tell everyone. XD

Hoytti: Guys in White handbook?! Oh no, I don't think I read all their rules! XD

MsFrizzle: Everyone likes to visit Danny. XD;;; Vlad didn't necessarily have to be up to something bad by visiting Danny. He could have simply taken a personal day off from work to visit Danny. He knows Danny hasn't had it easy since losing Sam, so, like many others, he likes to check in on how Danny is doing. Danny's parents too, but they don't have nifty Portal access to come visit. XD;; Ghosts, not so big a deal anymore. The fact that Danny is Phantom? Shocking to the max! XD;; He just didn't get the opportunity to spazz about it.

Some dumb: Danny can't escape it every time! XD;; It's always kind of surprising that no one figured it out, other than Jazz, in the show when there were so many slip ups. Crazy things are happening, but he doesn't have all the pieces to really put it all together, like Kwan. XD;; It's a big leap from wonky things happening to "Oh, Danny must have funky ghost powers." XD;;

Just Will: It's part of his fatal flaw. =( He has that hero complex in which he believes that everything is his responsibility and he can't ask for help because it's his burden and his alone. *slaps Danny* Dash would probably be hoping that Danny doesn't get sick like this often, though Xander would probably love it. XD;; That's true. Desiree could have turned up in her human disguise, but she thought she could sneak in while Paulina wasn't home to put it back. She wasn't expecting Paulina to actually be there, and even less that Steven would be there too. It's the whole cool factor! XD Admitting to being a fanboy would probably make him look uncool to the other man. XD;; Despite how true it was. I did want to stretch it out a bit, but there was only so much before it's like "How is Dash not putting it together!?" XD;;