Chapter 4: Get Together
Pamela Manson looked quite startled when she opened her front door to see a disheveled and panting Danny Fenton.
"I need to—I need to talk to Sam," he wheezed.
"She told me you'd invited her over for dinner. I hadn't expected you wanted her to come over so soon," Sam's mother said.
"This isn't what this is about, Mrs. Manson. Can I please just talk to her?" he said still slightly out of breath.
"Oh...alright, she's up stairs in her room, per usual," Mrs. Manson said a bit confusedly.
Danny climbed the stairs as fast as he could, but he was finally running out of steam seeing as he had sprinted almost all the way there as it was. He would be proud of his sudden spirt of athleticism if he wasn't a panicked mess at the moment.
He pounded on Sam's door with so much force that he thought he might have heard the hinges crack. Sam answered it almost immediately and quickly pulled him in.
"What the fuck, Danny? Its only—" Sam glanced at her alarm clock and gave an annoyed huff when she saw what time it was. "It's only nine o'clock! What are you doing here?"
Danny noticed she hadn't even changed out of her nightgown yet. He remembered with a wince that his gothic friend was anything but a morning person. She was worse than him about staying up late and sleeping in even later when she could.
"I'm sorry, Sam, but your house is closer than Tucker's. Plus, I'm not exactly thinking straight right now," Danny admitted.
Sam sighed and rubbed a hand over her face. "Alright, I'm listening."
Danny stalled for a second, fidgeting with his hands. "Uh, well," he finally began, "you know about my parents' portal in our basement?"
"The one that doesn't work?"
"Yeah, except now it does, and I might have sort of been inside of it as it turned on."
Sam stared at him for a good moment then she shook her head. "Excuse me did you just say what I think you said?"
"Y-yes?"
She gave him a baffled expression. "Do your parents know about this?"
"No, they weren't there, and frankly I don't plan on telling them. I mean, nothing really bad seemed to come out of it anyway—well I thought but—" Oh great now he was starting to ramble. "—but then something happened this morning."
"What happened this morning?" she prompted.
She probably wouldn't believe him, but here goes nothing. "My arm disappeared!" he blurted.
Sam calmly raised one of her eyebrows. "I can see both of your arms," she deadpanned.
"No, no, it came back obviously, but I was just brushing my teeth, minding my own business and then it disappeared! It was just totally gone for a whole minute at least!"
Sam didn't give him much of a reaction either way. She didn't really show skepticism or acceptance. "Could you try to make it happen again to show me?" she deadpanned.
Danny rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I-I don't know. Maybe? But whatever happened before was completely by accident."
"Yeah, I get that. Just try," Sam said.
Danny sucked in a lungful of air. "Okay, I'll see what I can do."
Danny closed his eyes and simply imaged his hand was gone. He didn't have much hope it would work, that was until he heard Sam gasp. Danny opened his eyes to see that his hand had once again disappeared, though this time it was just his hand, whereas last time nearly his whole arm was missing.
Just as quickly as he had gotten a grip on this newfound power, it slipped, making his invisible appendage become visible once again, along with the sensation of pins and needles.
The two teens sat in stunned silence for a good moment staring at each other until Sam said, "We should probably tell Tucker."
"Yeah, I really need to get home and tell Danielle, too so..."
"What happened to Danielle?"
Danny rubbed the back of his neck. "She, uh... I'll just tell you when we get Tucker."
Sam drew in a long breath. "Alright, just let me get dressed first."
...
Since Danny was already nearly exhausted from running all the way to Sam's house, and she didn't particularly feel like walking the eight to ten minutes to Tucker's house at such an early hour, they used Sam's chauffeur, though she wasn't happy about it. Even if it wasn't a limo like her parents preferred to be carted around in, it was still a luxury SUV and used way more gas than she would like, which she complained to Danny about on the ride to Tucker's house.
While the SUV idled by the curb, Danny waited anxiously on the Foely's front porch rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. Sam simply glared annoyedly at the large automobile at the curb, still blinking sleep out of her eyes, for the few minutes it took someone to answer the door.
Maurice Foely appeared in the doorway with a raised eyebrow, looking between the two teens. "You two are up early," he commented. "I'm not sure if Tucker's even awake yet." Even though he seemed curious and maybe even a little concerned, Mr. Foely stepped aside and gestured for Danny and Sam to come in.
"Can we just go up and see him?" Danny said, already at the foot of the stairs.
"Err...sure..." Tucker's father said uncertainly.
"Thanks! This is important, so I'm sure he'll understand," Danny threw over his shoulder as he took the steps as fast as he could.
Danny threw open the door to Tucker's room without even knocking. As best friends that had known each other since preschool they had lost all sense of privacy for one another.
Tucker was sitting at his desk—that should be noted was full of technology and some miscellaneous computer parts—only in his boxers, yet, strangely, was still wearing his signature red beret. At Danny's sudden intrusion, the beef Slim Jim he had hanging from his mouth fell out.
Danny raised an eyebrow. "Did you pull an all-nighter?"
"N-no! Why would you say that?" Tucker said as he tried to hide several empty cans of energy drinks.
Sam caught up to Danny, and before he could warn her of Tucker's state of undress she squeezed in beside him. The moment she spotted Tucker she slapped a hand over her eyes and quickly tried to back out of the room but nearly tripped on a pile of dirty clothes in the process. Meanwhile, Tucker nearly fell out of his desk chair trying to cover himself.
"Why didn't you tell me Sam was here!?" Tucker cried.
"I'm sorry," Danny said, trying and failing to stifle his almost hysterical laughter.
Finally, Tucker snatched a blanket off his bed and wrapped it around himself like a toga. "Okay, so why exactly are you here now?"
"Some things have come up that I need to tell you about, but on the way to my house because I feel like I need to get back to Ellie," Danny said quickly.
"Why? Did something happen to her?" Tucker asked.
"Well...yeah, but I'll tell you later," Danny said tersely. "Just get dressed and meet me and Sam outside."
...
"Wow, Sam, I knew you were rich, but not this rich," Tucker said stroking the leather seats.
"If I could give you this ugly behemoth, Tucker, I would. I certainly don't want it," Sam said with a disgusted curl of her lip.
Tucker shook his head sadly. "You rich people don't appreciate what you have. I would ki-"
"Can we get back to the matter at hand?" Danny quickly cut in, sensing an argument brewing by the livid scowl on Sam's face.
"Oh, yeah, right. So what's this thing you have to tell me?" Tucker asked.
Danny glanced at Sam. "Your driver can't hear us right?" he asked cautiously.
Sam shook her head. "Not with the division up. Your safe."
He told Tucker what he told Sam and more. He explained briefly how it actually happened, and how all three siblings had been hurt by it. And then he told him about the incident that morning.
"Well, I kinda almost went into a death spiral this morning because...well..." Danny trailed off with a sigh. He knew that he would have to show Tucker anyway, so he stopped explaining with his words and simply held up his hand. Like last time with Sam, Danny simply imagined his hand going invisible.
Tucker's eyes widened comically and his mouth hung open slightly. "Am I the only one seeing this?" he asked quietly.
Sam, still in awe even though she had already seen it, said, "Nope. We all see it." Her voice was somewhat distant.
Tucker raised a hand an passed it through where Danny's should have been. Danny shivered at the weird tingling sensation he got from the action. From the way Tucker snatched his hand back and started rubbing it, he'd say that his friend had felt it too.
"Oh, my god," Tucker said, still clutching his hand. "My best friend is developing superpowers!"
Danny and Sam both glared at Tucker. "I'm not like Martian Manhunter, and this is serious. Something is wrong with Ellie too," Danny said.
"Is she turning invisible too? And what about Dan?" Sam asked soberly.
"I don't know about Dan, but Danielle... She's sick," Danny said slowly.
"Sick how?" Sam asked.
Danny's face twisted into a grimace when he remembered the green blisters on his sister's arm and how she was as pale as a sheet. "She's really sick," he said mostly to himself as if it was finally registering in his mind. It also seemed to finally registered that he was just a kid and she was just a kid and they were both so far out of their depths. "I don't know what's going on with her...or me," he said in hardly more than a whisper. "What the hell are we going to do?"
"Hey, Danny, calm down, dude. If you guys could survive the ghost portal opening up right on top of you then you should be able to survive this," Tucker reasoned, putting a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder.
"And besides," Sam added, "we're your friends; we're always here if you need help."
Danny drew in a deep breath. He felt that, at least for the moment, the sky wouldn't start falling down around him. However, the gnawing worry never left.
"The thing is, guys, I don't think my parents have ever tested the effects of ectoplasm on a living thing, so even they don't know—" Danny stopped mid sentence when a memory suddenly hit him. "Except with Vlad."
Sam and Tucker looked between each other. "Uh, what about Vlad?" Sam asked.
"There was a lab accident a little over twenty years ago when my parents were still in college," Danny explained. "When mom and dad told the story they made it seem like Vlad had gotten blasted right in the face with a bunch of ectoplasm when their prototype for the ghost portal malfunctioned. Vlad then got something they called 'ectoacne', which I guess is like regular acne but potentially deadly. Of course thanks to that my mom developed some kind of pseudo-Florence Nightingale Syndrome for Vlad, but that's not really important."
Danny's parents had told him, Danielle, and Jazz that story as a cautionary tale to stay away from their inventions and to stay out of the lab without parental supervision. It had done its job for quite some time.
"Well, that's good news, right?" Sam said. "It means that this will probably go away after a while."
"I guess," Danny said distractedly. Something suddenly bothered him about the story with Vlad. However, he didn't have time to think about that at the moment, seeing as the trio had finally arrived back at Danny's house of insanity.
Danny wished he, Sam, and Tucker could just turn right back around and literally go anywhere else, but he couldn't leave Danielle alone for long in the condition she was in. Also it was Christmas Eve, and his mother would be pissed if he wasn't at home dying from overexposure of Dan and Vlad and awkward social situations.
Like a condemned man walking up to the chopping block, Danny got out of the car and walked up his front steps, his friends not far behind. He shakily opened the front door and walked in. There were no adults in sight so that was a good sign at least.
"Looks like the coast is clear," Danny said turning to Sam and Tucker.
A hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder and spun him around, nearly making him jump out of his skin for about the third time that morning.
He only calmed down slightly when he saw that it was just Dan. "Where the hell have you been? Danielle's sick and you decide to go get Techno-Geek and your goth girlfriend?"
"I'm not his girlfriend!" Sam snapped.
Dan snorted and smirked. "Shit, I think you've just been friend zoned."
Danny pushed away Dan's hands. "Screw you." He smoothed out his shirt. "Look, I just panicked. Something happened, and I needed someone else to talk to."
A coldly furious look came over Dan's face. He grabbed Danny's collar and nearly dragged him off his feet.
"You told them?" he hissed in his face.
Danny's stomach dropped. He didn't realize when Dan told him not to tell anyone, that he literally meant anyone. He just thought he meant their parents—and of course the public at large.
Dan turned, dragging along Danny with him. He pulled him up the stairs and shoved him into Danielle's room. With a glare at Danny's friends, he shut the door in their faces.
"Hey, what's going on?" Danielle said.
"I told you not to tell anyone," Dan said, ignoring Danielle.
"I know, but I thought you meant our parents!" Danny said trying to get out of the iron grip on his shirt.
Dan shook him. "I meant. Don't. Tell. Anyone!" he bit out.
"Hey, stop it!" Danielle said, climbing up from her bed. She grabbed Dan's arm. He didn't try to push her away, but he also didn't let go of Danny.
She tired again. "You told Sam and Tucker?" she asked Danny.
"Yes," he hissed.
"Dan, let him go. Sam and Tucker won't talk. Their good friends. I would have told them too."
He glared at her out of the corner of his eye. She didn't back down, and finally, reluctantly, he let go of Danny. Danny backed away out of arms reach as quickly as he could.
"What made you do such a stupid thing?" Dan spat at him.
"Freakin' give me a break," Danny breathed. "My arm literally disappeared!"
Dan narrowed his eyes. If Danny wasn't scared before he definitely was now.
"You mean, like this?" he said before completely disappearing.
A cold shiver ran up Danny's spine. Whether it was from the prospect of his sadistic older brother being able to turn completely invisible or some other reason, he didn't know.
Danny nearly jumped ten feet in the air when someone suddenly said "boo!" right beside his ear. And of course that someone was Dan.
Laughing, Dan became visible again.
Danny let out a frustrated growl, steadying himself on Danielle's bedpost. "How the hell did you do that?! I can barely do it with my hand!"
Dan shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't know. Maybe it's just because I'm awesome." Danny couldn't have rolled his eyes harder if he tried.
"Whatever, I just hope this goes away soon," Danny said, crossing his arms. "I don't want to accidentally turn invisible in front of our parents."
"It's not going to," Dan said.
Danny blinked. "What?"
"It's not just going to go away."
Danny raised and eye brow. "What makes you say that?"
Dan cocked his head, feigning confusion. "Come on, can't you tell?" When Danny simply gave him a blank stare, Dan narrow his eyes. "Can't you feel it? Or maybe you don't want to."
Danny tried to pretend he thought Dan was insane, but his words struck a cord. "What the hell are talking about?" he snapped.
Dan took a step closer. "Something is different about us in here." He poked Danny in the chest. "Whatever happened in the portal changed us on a molecular level, and I think you know that deep down. You just don't want to admit it."
Danny winced at the sharp prod to his chest and rubbed the sore area. "I have no idea what your talking about. The portal must have fried your brain." He tried to act as dismissive as he could, but that didn't stop the lump of dread from forming in his stomach.
Danny became worried for a second that Dan would lash out again until his half brother's face split into a sneer. Dan chuckled and said, "Cute. You think you can hide from this." He ruffled Danny's hair, which Danny reacted to like he was being burnt. With another sneer, Dan sauntered to the door. He threw it open, revealing Sam and Tucker standing close to the door. He didn't spare them a glance, as if they were beneath him.
Sam and Tucker came in closing the door behind them once he was gone.
"You know," Sam said crossing her arms, "I get it now. Your brother is a bastard."
"He's not always like that," Danielle said.
He gave her an unimpressed look. "Really, Danielle?"
"He's stressed out. We all are. Something really screwed up happened yesterday," she said resolutely.
Danny shook his head, but, not wanting to argue anymore, he quickly diverted. "How are you? Any better?"
She shrugged. "Not really. Do I look any better?"
Danny made a face. "Not really," he echoed.
Danielle turned to Sam and Tucker. "Hey, you guys want to see something gross?" she said with way too much enthusiasm.
Not waiting for an answer, she pulled up her sleeve and showed them her affliction. Tucker made a gagging sound, but Sam looked intrigued.
"This came from the portal?" she asked.
"Yeah, there was like electricity bouncing all over the inside of the portal as it charged up, and I got hit by one of them. I think it must have been infused with some sort of ectoplasm because I'm pretty sure puss isn't supposed to be radioactive green."
Sam only seemed to be more interested in it. "You know it actually looks kinda dope, like in a gross way."
"Okay, can you cover it back up," Danny pleaded. "I think Tucker's about to ralph."
"Wimps," Danielle said, grinning as she pushed her sleeve back down.
"Alright, changing the topic from your gross disfigurement, where is everybody?" Danny asked.
"Well, Mom and Dad are just where you'd think they'd be," she said with a eye roll, "and I think Vlad is with them. Jazz is in the kitchen fixing dinner by herself."
Danny sighed. "Poor Jazz. I guess I should go help her," Danny said with a shrug. Fixing big holiday diners was usually something that they all pitched in on, though Danny usually saw it as a chore. However, this time it might be a good mindless distraction from his worries.
"I would too, but we both agreed that avoiding Jazz as long as we possibly could would be in our best interest," Danielle said.
Danny turned to his friends. "Do either of you want to come with or...whatever?" he asked with a shrug. He didn't want to make his friends fix their own diner since they were guests after all, but he also didn't want to be alone in the kitchen with only his older sister with everything going crazy.
"Just saying, but at least one of you has to stay and watch crappy Christmas movies with me. Which one of you will volunteer?" Danielle said, looking between Sam and Tucker.
"I'll stay. I'd really like to limit the time I have to spend around dead animal flesh, anyway," Sam replied.
Danny turned to Tucker who shrugged. "I help my mom cook all the time, so sure."
At that, the two boys made their way to the kitchen. However, Danny stopped in his tracks when he saw his older brother standing beside Jazz at the stove. A scowl instantly affixed itself on his face.
"What are you doing here?" Danny asked.
"What does it look like?" he answered, not taking his eyes off what he was mixing in a large pot.
"I'm sorry. I just can't imagine you being helpful in any situation," Danny said crossing his arms.
Dan sent him a glare, but it paled in comparison to the one Jazz sent him. "What are you doing in here Danny?" Jazz asked, pointing at him threateningly with a wooden spoon. "Did you come down here just to spew childish insults at people, or what?"
Danny could feel his cheeks heating. "M-me and Tucker just came down here to help."
Jazz's attention slid over to Tucker as if she hadn't noticed him until then. She gave him a small strained smile. "Hello Tucker." Her smile was then replaced with a frown. "You're here kind of early, don't you think?"
It was really a casual question, but Danny was already so high strung that he panicked. Danny slung an arm around his friend's shoulder. "I couldn't wait until this afternoon to see him b-because I just love him so much!" Immediately as he heard his own words, his face heated. He awkwardly pulled his arm back from around Tucker's shoulders, who was refusing to make eye contact with him.
Jazz raised an eyebrow. "Um, Danny, are you—"
"No, no, even if I was gay I wouldn't be attracted to Tucker!" Danny nearly slapped himself.
Tucker shot him a hurt look. "Dude, ouch."
Oh, god, he could probably cook an egg on his face right now. "I didn't mean it like that! It's just that I've known you since preschool."
"I was just going to ask if you were alright, but thanks for that I guess," Jazz said. Her eyebrows pinched further. "Are you alright, by the way? Did you get enough sleep last night? You're acting weird even for you."
"Fine. Thanks for asking," he bit out.
"Okay then, moving on." She turned back to her cooking. Without looking up from stirring the pot, she said, "If you really want to help, here's a list of what we're doing..." She then began outlining the menu for tonight's meal, but Danny wasn't really listening because he was too busy wishing he could just blip out of existence.
Danny was startled out of his brooding when Tucker prodded him sharply in the side. He started to turn and ask what was wrong, but Tucker beat him to it. "Dude, look down." Danny, following his friends advice, did just that, though, when he saw that his entire lower half was invisible, he wished he hadn't.
Dan, apparently having heard the sounds of distress, glanced over boredly at his younger brother and his friend. He had to do a double take before he glanced at Jazz worriedly and then back to Danny.
"Get a hold of yourself!" he furiously mouthed. All Danny could do was respond with a helpless gesture.
Danny didn't know if it was better or worse that the rest of his body joined his lower half. When Jazz paused in her rundown of tonight's meal and looked over at him, he decided that staying a floating top would not have been good in any way.
Jazz blinked in confusion and turned to Tucker, who looked like he was about to have an aneurism. "Where did Danny go?" she asked.
"Uh, um, he had to use the bathroom!" Tucker squeaked out.
Jazz gave him a probing look making Tucker sweat. She started to open her mouth to say something, but at that moment one of the pots began to whistle. She abandoned her interrogation for the moment in favor of dealing with the pot. She was just about to turn back to Tucker when Danny's bottom half reappeared.
"Jazz!" Dan nearly yelled, yanking her attention away from the spectacle just in the nick of time.
"What?!" she answered back in the same tone and volume.
"Um, don't you think it would be better if we made sweet potato pie rather than pumpkin? I mean pumpkin pie is such a...Thanksgiving kind of pie, don't you think?"
Jazz gave him a slow blink before saying, "I find it interesting that you feel that way, but I'm doing both, which you would know if you had really listened to me."
"By the way, the sweet potato pie is vegan for Sam," she said turning back to Tucker. She jumped slightly when she saw that Danny was once again standing by his side.
After her initial moment of shock, she narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "What are you doing?"
"W-what do you mean?" Danny stuttered.
"How..." she began to say, but then held up a hand. "You know what, never mind. If you still want to help just go make the pie for Sam. I already laid out the recipe and ingredients in case you came down and wanted to help," she said, pointing to it.
Danny and Tucker scrambled to do as told before any more mishaps.
"Hey can we forget any of that just happened?" Danny asked quietly.
Tucker waved a hand. "It's already forgotten."
"Okay, good," Danny breathed.
"Anyway," he said picking up the piece of paper with the recipe on it, "let's see what we got." Halfway through reading it Danny groaned. "Everything's by scratch."
Leaning over his friends shoulder to get a look at the recipe, Tucker said, "That's no big deal. My mom always does things by scratch. She says it's the best way to go." Danny started to ask Tucker if his mother was a masochist, but decided against it at the last second.
"Okay, I guess I'll do the crust and you can work on the filling," Danny said.
Tucker held up a thumbs up. "Cool."
When Danny was about half way through mixing the ingredients to the crust, there was a loud bang from the living room, making him jump and nearly spill the contents of the mixing bowl. It took him a second longer than it should for him to realize that it had been the basement door being closed a little too hard.
Danny's mom poked her head in the kitchen. "Look at you all! I'm so proud of you working together! Anyway, we're going out for a while to check out some things. Be back in a bit!" She then retreated, and the sound of the front door being opened and closed could be heard soon after.
The inhabitants of the kitchen turned back to what they were doing as if nothing had happened.
"What do you think that was about?" Tucker asked idly.
Danny just shrugged and continued mixing.
...
Without (much) further mishap (there were a few cases of nearly dropped plates and dishes due to Danny's newly acquired powers of intangibility, but those weren't really mention worthy), dinner time finally came. The extensions on the kitchen table were pulled out and the extra chairs were brought out of storage and set up around the table. Jazz had meticulously placed each setting, putting a little card on each plate stating which person should be seated where. She had thought through each placement in hopes to prevent the debacle that had happened last year (which is another story for another time).
The Fenton parents were already seated at the table, but still had their minds in the lab, continuing to talk about ghosts and future ghost tech they were going to build. Danny wasn't really sure; he was just trying to ignore them.
All the platters and dishes of food were nearly set out on the table except for a few, and Danny and Dan helped Jazz with those. Jazz had already forced Tucker to take his seat, claiming he was a guest and had already helped more than was necessary. Of course Tucker said it was no big deal, but Jazz was adamant.
"Those are the vegan biscuits. Put those next to the lentil loaf for Sam," Jazz instructed.
"Sure thing, captain," Danny muttered sarcastically.
"Also, put out the butternut quash casserole next to that while I go call Sam and Danielle down." Danny would have rolled his eyes at his sister's micromanagement, but he was suddenly reminded he had things to worry about.
The last time he had gone to check up on Danielle, she hadn't looked much better than that morning. She was still for some reason as pale as a sheet, and shivers continued to relentlessly rack her small frame. He knew he would have to suffer a shit storm from Jazz for not telling her sooner. He just hoped his parents didn't make a huge fuss over it as well.
Danny glanced back at his older brother. "We've got a storm coming."
"It had to roll in sooner or later," Dan said nonchalantly.
"Easy for you to say. You're not the one that's going to be hearing about it for days on end," Danny grumbled.
Danny watched anxiously as Jazz went to the foot of the stairs and yelled for the two girls to come down. She came back into the kitchen to stand beside him to inspect his work. "That's good. Now can you go get—"
"Hey, Jazz?" He said cutting her off.
"What?" she answered, only slightly annoyed by his interruption.
"I probably should have told you before—but anyway, Danielle is kinda—" he cut himself off when Danielle shuffled into the kitchen with Sam, looking tired and grumpy and just generally unwell.
She didn't look much better than she did the last time he had checked on her, but it at least seemed like she was getting a little of her color back.
Their mother noticed her entrance and started to say 'hello' but stopped when she saw the condition her youngest daughter was in. "Are you alright, sweetie?"
"I'm fine," Danielle mumbled as she sat down in her place at the table.
"Are you sure?" their mother asked.
"Yes, mom," she responded in a bored tone.
Maddie was about to further question Danielle's claim but Jack pulled her back into the conversation, his daughter's statement being enough for him. He usually was a good dad, but he could be oblivious sometimes, especially when he was distracted by his work, exactly like he was at the moment.
Jazz turned to Danny with a look that was a mixture of worry and anger, two things that he really didn't like to see on Jazz's face separate, much less together. "Why didn't you tell me she was sick? She could be contagious! And did you even administer the proper medicine?" she hissed angrily.
"She asked me not to tell. She didn't want anyone to worry!" Danny said making a helpless gesture. "Besides, it's probably not contagious. And what medicine was I supposed to give her anyway? A magic healing pill?"
Jazz then turned to Dan with a frown. "I assume you were in on this as well?"
"Well, yeah, naturally," Dan said with a shrug.
Jazz rubbed her brow as if a headache was brewing there. "Did you at least give her something? Did you make her some herbal tea, or give her some Tylenol or ibuprofen if she has a fever?"
"She doesn't have a fever, but I did give her some ibuprofen," Danny answered.
Jazz let out a long sigh. "Just go sit down. Both of you."
They quickly did as told, not wanting to inspire anymore wrath from their sister than was absolutely necessary.
Danny sat down in his place in between his dad at the head of the table and Danielle on his right. "How are you doing?" he asked his twin.
She turned to him with an annoyed look. "My joints hurt and I feel old."
"Should I have made you some herbal tea?" Danny asked.
His twin made a face. "Ew, no, that stuff is gross."
Dinner was finally served, Jack predictably serving himself heaping helpings. Danny only gave himself a little at first, but he quickly found out he had a bigger appetite than he thought. The same seemed to go for Danielle as well and they both ended up mimicking their fathers eating habits. Jazz could only stare across the table at them in disgust.
About halfway through the dinner, right after narrowly avoiding another heated debate with Sam and Tucker about their preferred diets, Danny finally tuned into his parents long winded conversation about their work when he heard his mother say, "...long term effects of ectoplasm."
"Wait, what did you say?" Danny asked.
His mother gave him a startled look. It wasn't every day that one of their children showed interest in their work. "Um, I was just saying we're not sure about what the effects of long term exposure to ectoplasm would be. I was just discussing this with your father because today while we were out taking data around town, we found that there is already a surprising amount of ambient ectoplasm contaminating about a six mile radius. Nothing harmful, of course, but it is a bit confusing."
Jack jumped in, saying, "You see we built a door out of a special compound we found that repels ectoplasm. It should keep most of the ectoplasm in the zone, but like your mother said its all around town already!"
The image of the green vortex opening up in the sky yesterday came back to Danny's mind. "Um, do you think it could be because more portals are opening up?" he asked in a quiet voice.
Jack had just been about to shovel another bite of food in his mouth, but at Danny's question the fork fell back onto the plate with a loud clang. His mother stared at him with an almost terrified expression. All at once it became deathly quiet at the table.
"What would make you say that?" Maddie asked.
Suddenly at the center of attention, Danny fidgeted. He wished he hadn't said anything, but it was too late to take it back now. "I-I think I saw another portal open up when I was taking in groceries last night. It only lasted for a few seconds, but...it definitely looked like another ghost portal."
Everyone was still for a moment, and then Danny's parents burst into motion. They left the table so fast they were almost a blur. Maddie just left her half eaten plate while Jack actually took his with him.
"Thanks for the dinner, Jazzypants. It was top notch!" their dad threw over his shoulder on his way out of the kitchen.
There was another moment of quiet before Jazz threw her napkin on the table. "Thanks a lot, Danny! Why did you have to throw them a bone?! Why couldn't you just keep your mouth shut for once?!"
The whole table was stunned but only Danny and Danielle really understood the gravity of Jazz's outburst. Danny could count on one hand the times he remembered Jazz blowing up like that.
She pushed her chair back with a screech and started to leave the table, muttering under her breath, "I just wanted one evening to be somewhat normal!"
"Jasmine," Vlad called, standing up from the table.
She stopped at the entrance into the kitchen, her posture rigid and her shoulders shaking ever so slightly. "What...?" she hissed.
"Please, come sit back down. You orchestrated this lovely meal. It would be a shame for you not to enjoy it too."
Jazz stayed in the entryway for another moment then turned around and walked back to the table avoiding everyone's eyes. She sat back in her seat wordlessly.
"I'm sorry, Jazz," Danny said in hardly more than a whisper.
She shrugged, and said without looking up from her plate, "It's nothing. No big deal."
The rest of the meal was deathly silent.
...
Danny stared up at the glow-in-the-dark star stickers stuck to his ceiling. He sighed and rolled over, glancing at his clock. Half past midnight, it taunted.
Oh, sleep you elusive beast.
He rolled over onto his other side, forcing his eyes closed. Thoughts still swarmed his mind, ignoring his want for sweet sleep.
Christmas Day Danny's parents tried to be more focused on their family rather their work. Of course, it was clear where they wanted to be, and of course Danny's father still blathered on about ghosts whenever something even slightly reminded him of them. ('A Christmas Carol' was banned in their house now.) As soon as Dan and Vlad left on the 26th, it was right back to work.
Nothing particularly eventful happened within the span of those two days, although Danielle did get slightly worse for a little bit the day after Christmas. It came to the point where Jazz officially quarantined her and threatened to get their parents to take her to the hospital. Thankfully, it didn't come to that, and Danielle quickly got better.
The state of the town took an interesting turn. Only the day after Christmas, strange reports had already began to circulate. A couple of sightings of weird lights in the sky piped up close to Danny's house. One person even managed to get a video of them before they quickly disappeared. Even stranger, the old lady down the street from the Fenton residents, Mrs. Birdsong, said she saw a green octopus-like creature floating in her backyard when she went to let her dog out to relieve itself, claiming it was "monsters from outer space."
And finally Jazz. Her mood hadn't particularly improved. She still gave Danny the cold shoulder, and she mostly sulked in her room, which was probably why the twins had been able to hide the worst stuff about Danielle.
He turned back over in his bed to glare at the red digits of his alarm clock. 12:40 am. He let out a frustrated growl.
In all fairness, Danny's sleeping habits weren't that great even before all the craziness that happened two days ago, but this was insane. He had been laying in his bed sifting through all the bullshit of the past few days for two hours now.
"Fine, you win," he grumbled at his alarm clock, even though it was just doing its job and had nothing to do with his unrest.
Danny huffed and got out of bed. Maybe he'd start feeling tired in a couple hours. In the meantime he could get a snack from the kitchen.
He quietly made his way to the kitchen, remarkably able not to trip on anything. He saw that the kitchen light was on but thought nothing of it (it was regularly left on in case Jack wanted to come down for a late night snack, which he regularly did) until he saw Jazz sitting at the kitchen table, a steaming cup of what looked like tea beside her on the table, and her nose pressed into a book. She didn't even notice him until he cleared his throat.
She startled, nearly dropping her book, and looked up with a slight frown. When she saw that it was Danny, she averted her gaze.
"I see I'm not the only one having problems with sleep," she said quietly.
"No, I think just about everyone in this house is," Danny said rubbing the back of his neck. "I think I even heard the thick Australia accent of Steve Irwin coming from Danielle's room."
Jazz rolled her eyes. "How many times do you think she's rewatched those old tapes of 'The Crocodile Hunter'?" Jazz asked with a slight smile.
"Oh, at least a thousand," Danny said with a deadpan expression.
Jazz gave a small chuckle but sobered quickly. "Danny, I'm sorry."
"For what?" he asked with a small frown.
"For blowing up at you during dinner, and for taking so long to apologize. It was very immature of me on both accounts," she said solemnly.
"It's alright, Jazz," Danny said. "We all get a little high strung around Christmas time."
"But that's no excuse," Jazz argued. "You didn't get up and leave the table during Christmas dinner, our parents did, and I should not have blamed you for their actions."
"It's okay, Jazz, really."