Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom

Chapter nine

"Are you okay, Danny? You're hardly eating," Sam asked. The group had decided to move to the living room to talk, and Jazz ordered some pizzas since it was past dinnertime.

"Ya, just not that hungry," Danny answered. It was only partly true, with his lack of hunger more due to the pizza grease not sitting well in his stomach.

"Hey, it means more for me," Tucker commented as he took another slice as Jazz handed Danny a mug of chicken broth. Danny made sure that as he took the mug, his sweater continued to cover his wrists.

"Never took ya for a tea drinker," Valerie commented as Danny sipped from the mug.

"On occasion…it's soothing on my stomach," Danny replied.

"Never heard of a chicken flavored tea. Is it a regional thing?" Tucker asked as he smelled the meat aroma.

"Can we just forget about what I'm drinking? And how did you guys find me?" Danny asked in a desperate attempt to change the subject.

"We were actually gonna try to get you out of the Guys in White's place, but then Jazz texted us saying you were here. Then it was just a short trip through the Ghost Zone to get here," Sam explained.

"You guys were going to try to save me? Wait, Jazz told you I was here?" Danny asked, then glared at Jazz at the end. She did not mention that she was in contact with his friends. Who else did she tell he was here?

"They're your friends and I knew they were worried about you. Though I didn't think they'd actually come here," Jazz defended herself.

Before Danny could continue to complain, they heard the front door open as Vlad returned home. He was surprised to find three more teenagers in his house and critiqued, "You know, when I agreed to help Jasmine and Daniel, I did not think that meant opening a hotel for runaway teens."

"Sorry, they just sort of appeared," Jazz apologized.

"And we're not runaways," Sam corrected.

"You know what, I don't want to deal with this right now. Bed, now, all of you," Vlad ordered.

"You can't just boss us around like little kids," Sam complained.

"And you can always leave the way you came," Vlad countered. Without any argument, Danny stood up and headed towards his bedroom.

"Dude, are you really going to bed just because he said so?" Tucker asked.

"No, I'm just really tired. It's been a busy couple days," Danny answered awkwardly. He then continued to his room before anyone else could ask him anything else.

"Ok, so the Guys in White know Danny's secret identity, but from everything I can find they're not releasing it. They didn't even bother to announce they caught him or that they arrested the Fentons," Tucker commented. It was the next day, and the teens decided to put their heads together to figure out their next move. Or more specifically, what Danny could do.

"But there's no telling if they will try to catch him again," Jazz observed.

"He's gotten past them before, right? Why can't he do it again?" Valerie asked.

"No offense, but I'd rather not be hunted both in my human and ghost form," Danny answered.

"Ya, kind of hard for things to go back to normal if you're constantly watching your back," Tucker thought aloud.

"Not to mention your parents also know now. How'd they take the news?" Sam added.

"It…could have been better," Danny answered. He then stood up and commented, "I, ah, I'll be right back."

Once Danny left, the group continued to talk about possible ways to fix the whole mess. Everything from hoping things just turned out alright to asking clockwork to help. Valerie was starting to feel a bit out of place during all this, especially when they started dropping names she did not know, and decided to find Danny. He had been acting weird since they arrived - weirder than normal, anyway. And between that and what she saw at the facility she was worried about him. She found him in Vlad's lab, once again staring at the portal.

"Are you planning on moping there forever," Vlad asked from his place at a workbench.

"I'm not moping, I'm just thinking," Danny corrected.

"Thinking about how your friends think everything can just go back to normal?" Vlad guessed.

"Were you spying on us?" Danny accused.

"My boy, it hardly counts as spying when you talk loudly in my own house. So let me guess, you can't stay in the human world, and can't go home, so you're thinking about hiding in the Ghost Zone forever."

"...They think that if clockwork were to reset things to before the Guys in White came then everything would be fixed."

"That would help with hiding in the human world, but you would still remember everything."

"Ya…how can I just go home and pretend what Mom and Dad did to me never happened?"

"You can't. But I doubt hiding in the Ghost Zone would make things better. Not to mention, with how you currently are you probably would not last five minutes."

"Hey, that's not true."

"Really? Tell you what, stay in your ghost form for two minutes and I'll tell you something important."

"I'll take that bet," Danny answered as he stood up and transformed. Once transformed, Vlad smirked and took a potshot at the boy.

"Hey, what happened to you saying you weren't going to fight me until I'm better?" Danny complained as he floated above the ground.

"I said I wasn't going to fight you. I said nothing about fighting the ground you were standing on," Vlad answered as he took another shot. Danny frowned and looked as if about to complain more, but instead began to panic and transform back to his human self; a hand clutching his still raw neck. When Vlad saw this he stopped and asked if Danny was alright. Danny scrunched up his eyes, then finally nodded yes as he opened them.

"You know, my offer still stands. You are always welcome to stay here; even after you recover," Vlad commented as he knelt down to Danny's level. Danny still refused to say anything, but seemed to take the offer to heart. Vlad sighed and excused himself, only to vanish from sight.

Now that Danny was alone, Valerie decided to walk up to him. Awkwardly she asked, "Are you okay?"

"Besides getting tired of hearing that question, I'm fine," Danny answered as he continued to rub his throat.

"It's not gonna heal well if you keep rubbing the new skin away."

"I've been told that too. Why aren't you upstairs with the others?"

"I could ask you the same question."

Danny frowned at the question, then finally replied, "If I were to ask clockwork for help like they think, then I might as well have him send me back all the way to stop me from ever getting ghost powers."

"Why do you think that?"

"I figured you of all people would agree with that idea. I mean, if there was never a Danny Phantom then your dad would never have lost his job. You would still be popular, able to hang out with your friends instead of fighting ghosts."

"Ya, that's all true. I also would never have a reason to actually get to know Danny Fenton," Valerie retorted. Danny was shocked at this, he had not realized that Valerie looked at him as an actual friend; even after learning he was her 'arch enemy.'

"Look, I know what you went through was a lot," Valerie began.

"You have no idea," Danny cut in.

"Well I know you tried to escape only to get shot at and shocked by that weird collar. Obviously they liked hurting you,"

"How did you know that?"

"I…sneaked in to see for myself what was going on. I saw you that day, but before I could do anything those guys had already surrounded you."

Danny was silent a moment as he thought about that, then asked, "Did you tell the others what you saw?"

"Ya, and they were pretty angry that I didn't try to get you out. Sam was talking about how she'd love to kick all of their butts."

"She would be kicking my parents' butts too."

Valerie gave her a surprised look and commented, "I don't think that's right. When I was there, your parents seemed really worried about you. It sounded like they were being forced to stay there."

"My mom made that collar. They were leading on all the tests," Danny retorted. Valerie did not know how to respond to that.

"It doesn't matter…we should get back before they realize we're gone," Danny replied as he started up the stairs; done with the conversation.

As always, please review~