Author's note: Thanks for all the great comments so far! And feel free to give any ideas about what you want to see me address in this fic. Because this fic is going to be nonlinear, I can add scenes in any order at any time. People have given me some great ideas for scenes to write!

Planned


Jack looked over the notes Maddie had prepared for their lab session. "Are you sure this is what you want to do?"

"Of course I'm sure. I didn't spend all day writing all that because I wasn't sure," said Maddie from across the lab as she gathered all necessary equipment for the procedure.

Jack lowered the notes and studied the boy strapped down to their observation table. He looked exactly like Danny, wasn't even in ghost form. Of course he wasn't. Danny was rarely able to maintain his ghost form while unconscious, so naturally a clone wouldn't be able to do it either.

The clone stirred, his forehead pinched.

"Mads," said Jack. "He's waking up."

"You want me to talk to him?"

The clone's head groggily flopped to the other side.

"Yes," said Jack. "You talk. I can't do this. I—" He walked away from the table, clutched at the front of his jumpsuit.

Maddie took off her goggles. "It's probably better I do it anyway. He does think I'm his mother, after all."

Maddie approached the table and leaned over to be in the clone's view. The clone fully opened his eyes and inhaled hard as he looked around the lab and struggled against the belts holding him.

"Calm down," said Maddie, stroking his hand. "I know you're confused, but you need to calm down."

"What do you mean? What—is this—what are we doing here? Mom? Why am I—" The clone pulled against his restraints again. "What's going on?"

"We have a procedure to carry out tonight," said Maddie. "Don't worry, it's just one thing. But it involves you, of course. Because you're part ghost and we have a lot of information we need to gather about you."

Jack watched the clone's eyes widen in that familiar mixture of shock and panic.

"Wait," said the clone. "You know I'm a ghost?"

"Yes." Maddie stroked the back of his hand again. "That's why you're here. So we can learn more about you."

"What do you mean? What are you going to do to me?"

The clone's gaze moved to Jack. Jack promptly looked away.

"Why are you doing this to me?" the clone continued. "I'm your son!"

"No, you're not," said Maddie.

The clone ceased all struggling. "What? Yes, I am—"

"No, sweetheart. You're not our son," said Maddie. "You're a clone. A clone of our son."

The clone stared at only her, did not even spare a glance in Jack's direction. Good. Jack hated when the clone took notice of him.

"What?" the clone whispered.

"You deserve to know the truth before we start anything," said Maddie. "But it might be hard for you to hear."

"Hard for me to hear? What do you mean? What are you—"

"Shh, sweetie, I'm going to tell you." Maddie gestured to Jack. "We know you have ghost powers because we're the ones who set you up to receive them."

The clone's mouth fell open, only weak sounds pushing past his lips.

"We designed our ghost portal to shock you in just the right way so that you'd become a ghost hybrid," said Maddie.

Jack scowled. The way she used "we" as if he had a fair hand in this whole thing. He really wished she'd just take the full credit for it.

Then again, it wasn't like he tried very hard to stop her.

"Why?" the clone asked. "Why would you do that?"

"You were the only candidate we could find with DNA that would stabilize perfectly with an ectoplasmic mutation. We needed you, sweetheart. For our research."

"But—I don't understand—why would you do this, I'm your son—"

"I already told you you aren't our son," said Maddie firmly. "You remember your encounter with Vlad and the test clones, don't you? We asked Vlad to clone Danny for us. A clone we can run experiments on." Maddie cupped the side of his face. "That's you."

The clone moved his head away from her affectionate hand, his eyes appearing dazed.

"And you understand how important our research is, don't you?" asked Maddie. "You're going to be a big help to us tonight."

The clone shook his head. "No, no, I don't want to be here, I don't want to—"

"I know you don't, but we can't just let you go." Maddie chuckled. "We can't have two Dannys."

"But I'm not a clone! I'm real, I'm Danny, I'm me—"

"No, you're not." Maddie pointed toward the ceiling. "Danny is upstairs in his room studying for his history test." She scrunched her mouth and lowered her finger, looking up. "Or at least he better be. I told him to, so he better be. But it's getting late, so he might have gone out on patrol instead. And Jack and I haven't set up any measures to stop him from going out. It's part of our research to see how he balances his ghostly obsession with his human responsibilities."

Jack looked up toward the ceiling as well. Indeed, they allowed Danny to go out and fight ghosts whenever he wished, taking note of how often he chose to break curfew or shirk his homework, taking special note of the times he was able to control his obsession to complete chores or school assignments instead.

"We aren't exactly sure what his ghostly obsession is yet. Or yours, for that matter," said Maddie. "But we're working on it. Maybe we need to try grounding him again or some other punishment, see if we can get him to study over fulfilling whatever his obsession is. He is getting a D in that class. History." She looked down at the clone. "But you already know that, of course."

"No," the clone groaned. "You're wrong. I mean, I'm not upstairs. I'm here. I'm Danny. I am! My whole life—I remember—my life—"

The clone panted and twitched beneath the restraints. Maddie held his hand again. Jack wondered why she bothered trying to comfort him, what a useless effort.

Perhaps just her motherly instinct.

"Yesterday I went to school," the clone blurted. "And then I hung out with Sam and Tucker—"

"No, sweetie."

"And then I came home and you asked me to watch TV with you and you told me you loved me—"

"I didn't say that to you. I've never said anything like that to you."

The clone's expression became deeply wounded.

"You didn't exist until this morning," said Maddie. "Those memories aren't yours. They belong to Danny. The real Danny." She patted his hand. "You only have them because you're a nearly perfect copy in every way."

"No, that's not true," the clone shouted. "I'm Danny!"

"No, you're not."

"How can you say that? How can you know that for sure? I know I'm real. How do you know I'm not the real Danny?"

Maddie pulled up the sleeve of the hospital gown Vlad had dressed the clone in, exposing his upper arm. A bold number branded him in black ink, slightly raised and surrounded by red irritated skin.

"See?" Maddie pointed to the number. "The real Danny doesn't have a tattoo here."

The clone's gaze shifted wildly over the tattoo. "What is this? Where did this come from? Six? What does that mean?"

"It means that you're a clone." Maddie covered the tattoo with his sleeve again. "The sixth one we've had here. And that's how I can tell. Although it's not the only way." She brushed his cheek with her gloved fingers. "I can see small differences in your complexion, little imperfections in the arrangement of your freckles, things Vlad can't seem to control the outcome of perfectly."

She traced a finger along his jawline. The clone leaned his face into her hand and whimpered.

"But you do look…so much like him," Maddie murmured.

The clone sniffled. "Mom, please—"

Maddie squeezed his shoulder. "We need to get started now, sweetheart."

"Started?" A tear trailed the clone's face. "No."

"Yes. But listen." Maddie brushed the tear aside. "The experiment should only take an hour or two, and then it will be over. You won't have to go through anything else."

"You mean you'll let me go?"

The clone's bright blue eyes shone with what Jack knew would be his last bit of life. Eyes that really did look exactly like Danny's and it was astounding to Jack that Maddie could stare right into them and tell him such awful things without even flinching.

"No," said Maddie. "I told you, we can't have two Dannys. But you will be gone. Like the other clones. Nothing else to hurt you after tonight."

The clone's jawline tightened and parts of his face twitched and pulsed as he breathed erratically and shook beneath the belted restraints. He turned his blanched face toward the stairs leading out of the lab and screamed, "Jazz! Jazz! Help—"

Maddie clamped a hand over his mouth, muffling the screams. Jack straightened, his own body spiking with adrenaline.

"We've soundproofed this room," said Maddie. "We even installed dampeners so that Danny's ghost sense can't detect you. No one outside of this lab can hear you."

The clone's screams quieted and faded into sobs. Maddie uncovered his mouth and placed her hands on either side of his face.

"I know you're scared," said Maddie softly. "But you are going to be such a wonderful help to us, sweetheart. You mean so much to us. To me."

"I don't want to do this." The clone's words were choked and low. Small pinpoints of sweat beaded on his forehead even in the cold lab. "Don't make me do this. I'm not a clone. Why are you doing this to me? Mom? Why?"

The clone's desperate eyes darted to Jack. Jack sighed.

Stop looking at me. I can't help you.

Maddie stroked the clone's hair.