Danny Fenton made his way back down to the living room, once again in his normal form. Bertrand was gone now, leaving behind him the carnage that their battle had wrought on the living room. Danny wandered through the living room numbly and emerged out onto the streets. The citizens of Amity Park went on about their business, ignorant of what had just happened.

He turned and jogged the short distance to the water park, turning invisible and slipping past the guards that prevented people from sneaking in. He searched the park as fast as he could, and soon found Sam floating in the slow-moving river that moved around the edge of the park so lazy patrons could get around without walking.

He floated up over the river and moved over to Sam. "Hey, Sam." Sam sat up suddenly, her body sinking under the water up to her shoulders.

"Danny?" She looked around aimlessly since he was still invisible. "You snuck into the park? That's not like you."

"I'm not here to play around, something serious has happened, and I need your help." Danny said urgently. Sam snapped to attention and nodded seriously. Danny reached down to grab Sam's arm, turning her invisible and hauling her out of the water. He flew out of the water park, taking off across the town toward with the girl in tow until he reached her mansion and set down in front of it, turning them both visible. "You can get dressed." Danny said, his voice shaking.

"Okay... I'll just be a second." Sam went inside and made her way up to her room while Danny walked in and stopped in the living room. He walked to the couch and plopped down onto it, reaching up to put a hand on his forehead. He couldn't believe he'd let them get to Jasmine... let alone that he'd helped make her susceptible to Penelope's control. How could he have been so stupid?

He looked up when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Sam was now dressed in her street clothes, and was staring down at him with a worried expression on her face. "Danny, what's going on here? You're starting to scare me."

"Jazz is gone..." Danny said softly. "Penelope Spectra took over her body and bolted, and now I don't know where she is, or even what I'd do if I found her!" Danny shouted in frustration. Sam stepped back in surprise. A sigh escaped his lips and he slumped his shoulders. "Sorry, I don't mean to take it out on you. I just wish I could've done something..."

"Well, did she say anything about what she was going to do now? Most of these ghosts have a tendency to shout out their motives and plans." Sam said. Danny thought about it for a minute.

"She did say she was alive again... do you think she'd try to pick up her life where she left off?" Danny asked.

"That sounds like a good bet. We just have to figure out where that is. Come on." Sam gripped Danny's shoulder and turned to lead him up to her bedroom. Danny was taken off-guard by the sharp contrast between her room and the rest of the house. The muted, but still rich and powerful colors of the rest of the house faded to black and deep violet. The only hint of Sam's money came from the computer set up in the corner of the room.

"Wow... I've never been in your bedroom before." Danny said as he looked around. He blinked at a bat poster stuck onto the ceiling. "It's... nice."

"Beats decorating with pink ponies like every other girl." Sam sat down on her bed and pulled her sleek laptop computer off of the nightstand at the foot of the bed. She turned it on and leaned back while it began to boot up. "Make yourself at home, you look pretty beat."

"Thanks." Danny sat down on the edge of her bed beside her, falling onto his back on the sheets with a deep sigh. Sam smiled down at him, but turned back to her computer when the desktop popped up on the screen. She logged onto the Internet and began to type. "Find anything interesting?" Danny pushed himself up onto his elbow and looked over her shoulder.

"Hey... I found something." Sam clicked into a web page, and a picture of a woman looking similar to Penelope Spectra appeared on the screen, though her face was spotted with wrinkles and her body looked bony and frail. Underneath her were several paragraphs of text. "It's the Spectra Family Tree... and this picture is really old. It looks like she died almost thirty years ago."

"Does it say anything else?" Danny asked curiously. Sam scrolled down on the screen a bit and began to read.

"Dr. Penelope Spectra was born here in Amity Park. She moved to Nevada and got a Master's Degree in psychology at UNLV and became a therapist in Las Vegas. She lived out the rest of her life there helping teens cope until she died of a heart-attack at age eighty-seven." Sam stopped and mused for a moment. "That explains why she's so obsessed with keeping her youth... she died really old. But if she was helping people, why would she feed off of misery now?"

"Maybe she plans to try to contact some of her relatives. See if there are any addresses or something to go on." Danny suggested. Sam nodded and tapped at the keyboard.

"No luck, the addresses of her living relatives aren't listed. But I do have her old address in Vegas." Sam pressed the print button on her computer, and a paper soon emerged from the side of the sleek laptop. She looked back at Danny, and jerked slightly when she saw his face to close to hers. "Uh... hi." She said, her face turning red.

"Huh? Oh... right." Danny blushed and moved away from her shoulder, trying to ignore his own red face as he took the paper from her. "I guess I can ask around her old neighborhood, see if anyone else can give me something to go on." He moved off of the bed and stood up, stretching his back out after sitting for a while.

"Maybe I should come with you. We could search faster that way." Sam suggested.

"Thanks, but no way. I'm not risking anyone else getting nabbed by any ghosts. I'll catch up with you later." Danny's body flashed and he soon stood in his ghost form. He flew through the wall and took off through the air, pushing through the sky as fast as he possibly could. His legs melted into a single ghostly tail, making him even faster.

It took him several hours of constant flight to reach the city of Las Vegas, and he was panting heavily, but he didn't care. He would fly twice that far to save his sister if it came down to it. He searched until he found Penelope's old address and landed in front of the building. It looked like it had been abandoned for decades, a run-down hovel that was also, strangely enough, covered in ashes in many places.

Danny made his way inside curiously, walking through the outer wall into the blackened living room. He moved through the building, staying intangible so he didn't have to worry about broken floors or cobwebs getting in his hair. He stopped when he heard a soft sound from the back of the house, listening for a moment before moving to investigate.

He saw a red-haired girl knelt down on the ashes in one of the smaller bedrooms, her hand resting on the ground. In fact, it was Jasmine, running her hands over the floor like it was a precious jewel. Danny narrowed his eyes and stepped forward, but he leapt back in shock when a glowing green form dangled in front of him. Losing his concentration, his intangibility faded, and the creature grabbed him, hauling him into the ceiling.

"Yaaaahhhhh!" Danny yelled as he was flung across the roof of the house, bouncing off the edge before falling fifteen feet to the sidewalk below. "Augh... maybe I should've gone invisible too..." Danny grunted and sat up, rubbing his back painfully. He looked up to see a glowing spectral green form staring down at him with blood red eyes. As he watched Jasmine's body appeared on the roof beside him, her blood red eyes narrowed in fury.

"How DARE you desecrate this place!" Penelope howled hatefully. "Nobody can ever come onto this ground! It's sacred!"

"Sacred? Guess I shouldn't do this either then!" Danny picked up a rock and chucked it at the building. One of the few remaining windows on the building shattered inward, causing Penelope to growl darkly. "Wow, this is fun. I just wish I had some eggs so I could do this properly!" Danny smirked.

"Bertrand!" Penelope screamed angrily. "GET HIM!"

"My pleasure!" The green blob beside her threw itself off the roof, reforming in mid-air as it fell. When it landed its shape was that of a Vilociraptor, its lips pulled back in a vicious snarl across sharp, pointed teeth and its blood red eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Just how many times do you want me to kick this guy's butt?" Danny quipped with a smirk. "But I'm always up for another go if you insist!" He lunged forward, leaping upward as Bertrand's tail whipped at the air where he'd been. He brought his foot down on top of the creature, but one jaw opened and clamped down on it, biting down hard and flinging him into a nearby light pole.

Danny fell to the ground in front of the pole, gasping as the raptor charged at him head first, its jaws wide. Danny crouched and threw himself backwards, phasing through the light pole just before Bertrand could reach him. The powerful jaws latched onto the steel pole, biting straight through it and bringing it crashing to the ground.

Danny lurched back away from the creature as it stomped forward, a victorious grin on its face. Danny feigned to the left, then dove to the right and vanished under the street before Bertrand could figure out what was going on. He came up underneath the powerful creature, wrapping his arms around its throat and thrusting both legs into its stomach, throwing it into the air. It slammed into the street with a heavy thump, rolling onto its side.

Danny ran to capitalize on his advantage, but the dinosaur's form shifted and Danny found himself facing a massive bear with almost equally massive claws. They raked down the front of Danny's chest, throwing him back to the lawn in front of the burned down hovel that was Penelope's old house. Danny rolled to his feet quickly, bracing himself as the spectral bear charged at him.

Danny threw himself forward suddenly, phasing through the bear as it tried to swipe at him viciously. Danny emerged out the other side and whirled, planting a solid kick to the animal's back that sent it lurching forward. Danny whirled and kicked again several more times, driving it forward until it suddenly spun and grabs his foot, grabbing his foot and slamming him into the ground.

Danny clawed at the ground desperately to try to get out of its grasp, but Bertrand held onto him, hauling him into the air and hurling him at one of the trees on the front lawn. He hit the trunk with a sickening thunk and slowly slid down the side of it to the lawn. He held his head in a daze, watching as the bear approached him.

Bertrand approached and raised one massive paw, letting out a vicious roar. Danny growled and cupped his hands beside him, pulsing spectral energy gathering between them until he threw his hands forward with a howl of his own. The power slammed into the bear's chest, pausing it for a moment before Danny growled and pumped out even more energy, throwing it backward straight into the wreckage of the burned out old hovel. What little of the house was still standing collapsed from the strain, falling inward until it was little more than a pile of debris and ash.

Danny floated up from the ground, pulling the Fenton Thermos out of his suit. "Guess we're three to zip now. I have some advice for next time you try to take me on." He popped the lid off the thermos and pointed it at his dazed opponent. "Don't!" The light flooded out of the thermos like a net, wrapping itself around the dazed ghost and pulling him into the mechanical steel confines. Danny slipped the lid back on and looked around, seeing no sign of Penelope Spectra.

"Darnit. Where did she go now?" Danny floated down to the wreckage, examining it for a moment hopelessly. "Guess I have to regroup. Maybe Sam has another id... what the?" He paused when he saw something sticking out of the rubble. He knelt down and lifted it free of the ash. It was a really old picture, yellowed by age but still distinguishable. It looked like the old, living Penelope Spectra standing with one arm slung around a middle-aged woman with fiery red hair. He turned the picture over curiously and saw the words 'Penelope and Pamela Spectra: 1972' written on the back. "Hmm..." He slipped it into his suit.

Shaking his head, Danny turned to fly back toward Amity Park. It took him a while, and he was exhausted by the time he floated down in front of his house. He changed back into his human form and slumped inside tiredly. He wanted to go to bed, but he was shocked into wakefulness when he heard his mother yell. "Danny! You're okay!" He found himself being squeezed to death by his mother. "We were so worried about you! You and your sister just disappeared, and everything was so wrecked... we were afraid you'd been kidnapped!"

"I'm fine, mom..." Danny replied tiredly.

"Where's your sister?" Maddie asked quickly.

"I... I don't know." Danny replied. "I was at Sam's..." He yawned. "I don't know where Jazz went."

"Oh dear... well, I'm so glad you're safe!" Maddie hugged him again tightly, not letting go for almost ten minutes. "You should go ahead and go to bed, we'll continue looking for her. We'll let you know the second we find anything."

"Okay..." Danny nodded and turned to make his way upstairs. He stumbled into his room and collapsed onto the bed, falling fast asleep almost instantly. He slept straight through the night and the morning; the sun was already high in the sky before he sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes. He glanced at the clock. School would already be getting off soon. He guessed they were too glad to have him back, and too worried about Jasmine, to get him to school. That suited him fine; he couldn't focus on it right now anyway.

After a quick shower and breakfast, Danny packed up the picture he'd found and the Fenton Thermos, then flew invisibly to Sam's mansion, floating in through the wall. "Sam."

"Danny! There you are." Sam ran up to him and grabbed him in a tight hug. "I was worried when you didn't show up for school and..." She stopped when she realized what she was doing. She pulled back, clasping her hands behind her back. "And I didn't know what happened to you."

"I found Penelope Spectra, and I found this." Danny held up the picture he'd found. "I don't know who the younger woman is."

"Well, let's just find out, shall we?" Sam smiled and sat down on her bed, pulling her laptop in front of her again. Danny sat beside her and watched while she conducted a search.

"She's Penelope Spectra's granddaughter, Pamela Spectra. She was going to college to be a doctor when she was caught in a local gang confrontation. Someone set her house on fire in the middle of the night... hey, check out the last address. It's the same one as Penelope's... and her date of death is only two weeks earlier." Sam said. "Penelope must've died of a broken heart..."

"You know, as fascinating as all this is, I'm finding it hard to care when she's hijacked my sister's body." Danny said sharply. "Can this tell us anything useful?"

"Okay, point taken. It's still kinda sad though." Sam replied. "Well... you said she looked like she was looking for something. Do you think this may be it?" Sam held up the picture. "Maybe we can get her to come to us."

"How do we let her know I have it?" Danny asked.

"I don't know..." Sam mused, rubbing her chin thoughtfully with one hand. "Wait... do you remember that ghost-dog from a few weeks ago?"

"How could I possibly forget? Valerie is still hunting me to this day." Danny said smugly.

"Well, it was looking for its old toy... how do you think it knew where it was?" Sam asked. "It knew it was in the building... maybe ghosts can sense things that they have a strong emotional attachment to." Sam grinned. "Which means this picture might be like a beacon itself to lure Penelope wherever we want her to go. Should we lead her to the Fenton Portal?"

"No, my parents could get hurt. We need someplace nobody could get in the way." Danny replied. "Someplace secluded."

"Well..." Sam thought about it a moment, then blushed. "My parents have a summer home out in the country... we could hide out there until Penelope comes for her picture."

"We? Sam, I don't want you getting involved this time. I already have Jazz to worry about." Danny replied.

"Danny, come off that already. I'm not letting you do this alone, I want to come with you. Besides, it's my summer home. And if you're nice, I'll bring us something to eat while we wait for her." Sam smirked smugly, putting her hands on her hips.

"I know that look. That's the 'listen to me or suffer' look." Danny sighed. "Fine, you can come stay with me. Just promise that when Penelope gets there you'll find a place to hide and won't try to help me fight her." Sam rolled her eyes and opened her mouth, but Danny grabbed her shoulders and shook her roughly. "Promise me, Sam!"

"Okay!" Sam shouted to get him to stop shaking her. "I promise Danny, I'll stay as far away as possible once the fighting starts. Okay?" She put her hands on his shoulders, as if calming a wild animal. Danny realized what he was doing and let her go with a heavy sigh. Sam smiled and patted his shoulder in a more friendly gesture. "Now come on, let's get some dinner prepared and we can head out to the summer home." She put her hand on his shoulder and turned to guide him to her kitchen.

They worked together in the kitchen to make themselves some drinks and sandwiches... then decided they weren't edible and made a few stops at various restaurants to create their picnic meal. With their food in tow Danny picked up Sam and followed her directions toward her parents' summer home. It was a rather large building that looked; if possible, more expensive than the home she actually lived in. As promised it was empty at the moment, which made it perfect for his needs.

They landed on the well-manicured front lawn and Danny turned back to his human form while Sam carried their picnic basket of food inside the house. "Come on, I'm actually a bit hungry. We can have lunch in the dining room." Sam called back to him. Danny ran to follow her through the mansion so as not to get lost in the winding corridors, and soon found himself in a massive dining room with a solid marble dining table half the length of a football field.

"Is all this really necessary?" Danny asked.

"No, but then neither is the 60 inch plasma screen TV in the den." Sam smirked and sat down at the table. Danny approached and sat down beside her while she proceeded to separate the foods into two equal portions. Danny took a bite of a chicken wing from KFC and smiled.

"My compliments to the chef." Danny quipped. Sam chuckled and sat down beside him to eat. They feasted in companionable silence, letting the seconds tick by. It felt so strange. They were here waiting to be found by an evil, vengeful ghost so they could battle her for Danny's sister... but it felt rather calm and peaceful, like a picnic with a good friend.

When their meal was finished they retired to the living room to watch some movies they found sitting on the coffee table. None of the movies were less than twenty years old, but they were still something to occupy the time. As the clock ticked away though, Danny found himself growing more anxious. Partly because he knew Penelope Spectra could turn up at any time, and partly because it would soon be nightfall, and he was still here in this summer house with Sam... alone...

He felt his face grow hotter as he tried to focus on the movie currently playing, but his thoughts kept drifting away from the TV back over to Sam looking so cute and comfortable on the leather recliner. Without knowing it he let his gaze drift over to her, watching her staring comfortably at the TV. Suddenly she glanced at him, and one of her eyebrows shot up.

"Danny? Is something wrong?" Sam asked.

"No, nothing." Danny replied quickly, forcing his gaze back to the TV. He managed to stay that way for a while before his gaze slid over to her again, and this time she found her staring at him. Danny didn't say anything, staring back with an uncomfortable feeling twisting his stomach into knots. They stared at each other in tense silence until they heard the credits begin to roll.

"Movie's over!" They stood up in unison and ran to the TV, pressing the eject button at the same time. They glanced at each other again, their chests almost pressed together in their haste to find a distraction from each other. Danny gulped, feeling his heart beating like a jackhammer. The lights in the den were off since they had started the marathon in the afternoon and hadn't thought to turn them on, and now the only illumination in the room was the golden light of the sun setting in the window directly behind Sam, ringing her raven colored hair in a halo of brilliant light.

Sam gulped as she stared at him, their hands clasping near the DVD player. "It's... getting dark." Sam said softly.

"It is..." Danny replied softly.

"Someone mushy might even call it... kinda romantic..." Sam said in a soft whisper as her face turned a bright shade of red.

"They would..." Danny agreed, his face growing hotter than ever though he didn't pull away. They moved closer together slowly, their hands still linked together near the DVD player. Slowly they leaned closer together, their eyes closing as their lips began to purse. Their lips touched tenderly, pressed together in the golden glow of the setting sun filtering in through the window.

Danny opened his mouth slightly, and felt Sam do the same. His heart was pounding, his mind racing with panicked and excited thoughts that refused to come into clear focus. Suddenly he felt the familiar sensation of his breath catching in the back of his throat. He opened his eyes in surprise, and Sam did the same. They pulled away from each other, their mouths closed.

Sam opened her mouth, the familiar blue mist rising from her lips into the air between them. Danny's eyes narrowed. "Find a place to hide out." He said quickly. "It's time for me to get my sister back. And Sam..." Danny took Penelope's picture out of his suit and pushed it into her arms. "Keep this safe... it might be the only bargaining chip I have."

Sam looked indignant at the abrupt order, but didn't argue. "Okay... good luck, Danny." She turned to run deeper into the building while Danny whirled and ran back toward the living room, his body flashing and changing as he ran. The change was just ending when he flung the front door open and charged outside, looking around for any sign of Penelope Spectra. But he didn't see anything but a gentle wind brushing through the grass.

Cautiously he searched for a few more minutes, then gave up and turned to head inside. "Maybe it was a false alAGH!" He shouted in surprise when something slammed into his cheek from beside the door when he walked inside. The door itself slammed shut, but Danny didn't pay any attention to it. He pivoted on one foot and brought his fist around straight at his attacker, but it stopped mere inches in front of it.

Jasmine's face twisted into an unnatural lopsided grin before another fist shot out, slamming into Danny's other cheek. Danny cried out and stumbled back, trying to keep his balance. Jasmine's body paced him, and landed another harsh blow right on his nose, knocking his back against the nearby wall. Danny grunted in pain and clutched at his nose.

"Still won't hit me?" Penelope Spectra taunted him through his sister's voice. "Why do you bother trying to resist me when you cannot even fight me?" She grabbed the front of Danny's suit and hauled him close to her twisted face, snarling angrily. "Now where is the picture? I know it's here, I can feel it. Where did you put it?"

"Jazz, listen, it's possible to fight ghost control. I need you to fight!" Danny growled under his breath, his face inched from Jasmine's. Penelope growled darkly and hauled him away from the wall, shoving him roughly across the room. Danny stumbled into one of the many desks set up around the main entrance of the building, crashing through it to his back with a pained howl.

"Give it up, child. The girl is so drowned in her own guilt and misery she can't hear a word anyone says. The endless, consuming cycle of depression..." Penelope grinned and clenched her fists. "It's a beautiful thing, isn't it? The only absolute in this world." She approached him and hauled him up from the shattered remnants of the desk with one hand. "And it is only getting stronger... making ME stronger!" She hurled him across the room with one arm, sending him sailing into the wall with a heavy impact.

Danny collapsed to the floor again, rubbing the back of his neck painfully. "Jazz... come on. It wasn't your fault, it was an accident! It could've happened to anyone!" Danny slid up the wall, pleading as Penelope approached him with a deadly look in her eyes. "Jazz, snap out of it! You have to fiEGH!" Danny clutched at his throat as one of Penelope's hands latched around it, gripping him tightly.

"Every time she hears you speak, it only drives her deeper and deeper into despair." Penelope grinned and closed her eyes, Jasmine's body glowing light green. "It feels so wonderful. Keep speaking Danny, give me more nourishment!" She gripped his throat and hurled him across the room like a baseball. His face slammed into a nearby door, breaking straight through it and sending him tumbling to the top of a flight of stairs.

Danny pushed himself up slowly on shaking hands and knees, brushing wooden shards from the door off of his body. He climbed to his feet shakily, facing Penelope as she approached with a victorious expression in her blood-red eyes. "Jazz..." Danny grunted painfully, rubbing the bruise on his head with one hand. "Fight it... you can do it, you're the strongest woman I know..."

"Go ahead, keep talking ghost-boy. And let me taste your suffering." She grinned and shoved him backwards, sending him tumbling head over heels down the flight of stairs into the large, well-furnished basement/movie theater. Danny hit the floor at the bottom hard and rolled a few feet, lying on the ground and groaning in pain.

He grunted and tried to push himself up, his vision hazing over. He felt his body shift physically, the ghostly manifestation withdrawing back into his body, leaving him just a boy in pain on the floor. He tried to push him up, but one of his sister's feet slammed into his side, knocking him back to the floor onto his back. He groaned and gripped his stomach in pain.

Jasmine's foot came down on his throat, crushing his windpipe under the edge of her boot. "Yes... you're feeling it now... the guilt... the despair! Give me more!" Penelope screamed in pleasure.

"Jazz..." Danny struggled for breath, gripping Penelope's ankle to try to push her away. "Maybe... it was... your fault... but it doesn't... matter..." Danny pushed frantically at the boot, tears leaking out from the corners of his eyes. "I still... still l... lo..." He gasped for breath, croaking the last two words with all his strength. "Love you..."

Jasmine's face stared down at him viciously, but suddenly he saw something else. The blood red glow faded, giving way to the emerald green that he knew so well. Jasmine's face contorted in horror and she threw herself away from him. Her back hit the wall with a jarring thud and she fell to her knees, clutching her head. "Aaaagh... no... D... Danny!" Jasmine howled in pain, her eyes squeezed shut. "What's... hap... happening...?"

"Jazz..." Danny rolled to his feet, rubbing his throat. He growled in fury and clenched his fist. "Keep fighting it... just for a few more seconds." His body flashed, the spectral essence coating him in its empowering embrace. Jasmine yelled and stumbled around the room, stumbling to the bottom of the stairs, clutching her head with her eyes squeezed shut. Danny's hand pulsed with green light and he threw his hand forward, a surge of green light flying straight at his sister's face.

The blast went straight through her head and out the back without touching her, but with her grip loosened, Penelope Spectra flew with it. Her black essence hurtled up the stairs and into the main hallway, breaking through the banister of the stairs that led up to the second story. Jasmine fell to her knees and Danny ran to her side.

"Jazz, are you okay?" Danny asked, forgetting for the moment that he was supposed to be hiding his identity from her.

"I feel so... so miserable..." Jasmine looked down at her shivering hands, then up at Danny. "What happened...?"

"I'll explain later. You rest here. I have to finish something." Danny stood up and turned intangible, flying up the steps to the main hallway. Penelope was just extricating herself from the shards of the banister when Danny landed in front of her, his hands on his hips. "I guess you've been rejected, Spectra. It's time to go back where you belong."

"No!" Spectra howled in a fury. "I will not allow this travesty to continue any further!" She threw herself at Danny, her fist lashing out. No longer restrained in fighting back, Danny slipped through her intangibly and grabbed one of her feet, slinging her across the room into the far wall. She hit it with a jarring impact, and Danny slammed into her, carrying them both through the wall into the kitchen where she collided with the fridge, putting a dent in the front.

"Travesty? What you did to my sister was a travesty!" Danny howled hatefully for the first time in his superhero career. He'd fought many dangers... but he'd never felt so enraged just by a ghost's presence. "One that won't happen again!" Danny cupped his hands and fired another massive spectral blast that ripped through her black form and tore a hole in the fridge behind her, sending her hurtling outside into the dark night. Danny slipped through the wall after her, his eyes and fists pulsing green.

Penelope pushed herself up from the ground, her blood red eyes staring up at him hatefully. "I will not allow you punks to defeat me!" She vanished into a dark cloud and whipped back toward the building.

"No you don't!" Danny turned intangible and phased through the building, following close on her heels. He stopped and looked on in surprise however to see that she'd stopped in the main hall. Sam was standing at the top of the basement staircase, holding out the picture Danny had given her earlier. "Sam! What are you doing?"

"Give me that picture!" Spectra howled angrily, moving toward Sam.

"I figured it out." Sam replied, gripping each side of the picture in one hand in a ripping position. Penelope backed off slightly, her eyes wide in terror. "Why you can't rest. You dedicated your life to helping kids, helping them grow up and be happy. But none of them ever thanked you, none of them ever cared. And then they took the last precious thing you had."

"They took my granddaughter!" Penelope Spectra howled in a pained moan that sent cold shivers down Danny's spine. Sam looked like she was shivering as well, though she didn't let go of the picture. "You... you kids don't deserve your life! You don't deserve your youth! I gave and gave and you never gave me anything! I deserve your youth and your happiness!"

"Yeah, it's a really sad story." Sam narrowed her eyes. "But we all have sad stories. Look at Danny. He just spent the last few days scared to death that something was going to happen to his sister, one of the precious things he has. But he hasn't turned nearly as bitter as you. You don't even have something to be angry at, you're just angry for the sake of being angry."

"Give me that picture!" Spectra howled.

"You know what, Penelope?" Sam said with a snide sneer. "You don't deserve it." She gripped each side of the picture and ripped it half, letting the pieces flutter to the floor.

"Nnnoooooo!" Penelope darted forward, trying desperately to grab the falling halves of the picture. But no matter how she tried, the pieces slipped through her ghostly hands and eventually landed on the floor at Sam's feet. "Pamela... Pamela..." she chanted softly, leaning down to be as close to the picture as possible. Danny silently pulled the Fenton Thermos out of his suit and pointed it down at Spectra, popping it open and letting the brilliant blue light draw her in.

Sam smiled up at Danny solemnly and gave him a thumbs up, then turned around as Jasmine emerged from the basement behind her. She looked tired, confused, and was shaking like a leaf.

"What's... going on...?" Jasmine asked shakily. Danny floated down between the two girls, taking each of their hands.

"I'm taking you home, that's what." Danny phased them all into intangibility, then took off through the ceiling, carrying them both through the dark night back toward home.

Several hours later, after much sobbing and yelling and pleading and ranting on the part of Danny's parents, Jasmine was finally able to settle down in her bed to rest. Danny and Sam were standing over her, watching her shivering form with worried eyes. Jasmine gave them the first smile he'd seen on her face since the accident.

"Are you sure you don't remember anything?" Danny asked.

"Not a thing..." Jasmine promised softly. "Well... I do remember one thing." Danny's breath caught in his throat, but she just reached up and gripped his hand in hers tightly. "I remember that you always believed in me... and that I love you."

"Uh... y... yeah..." Danny coughed and glanced at Sam nervously. Jasmine chuckled and leaned back on her bed again. "Get some rest and get better soon Jazz, you have to be ready when they give your license back. I'm still gonna make you drive me everywhere."

"I'll be there, sir." Jasmine smiled slightly. Danny patted her hand and turned to walk out with Sam with his hands jammed in his pockets.

"I'll walk you home, if you want." Danny offered. Sam nodded and they left to walk home. The sun was beginning to peak up over the Western horizon. They'd spent the entire night fighting Penelope, and then watching their parents fawn over Jasmine like she was a wounded orphan. They approached the door to Sam's house silently, then turned to each other.

"Sam..." Danny hesitated, looking for the right words. "I really can't thank you enough for everything you did. If it wasn't for you, I probably wouldn't have found Spectra, let alone saved Jazz."

"Hey, don't sweat it. Helping you fight ghosts is one of the things I do, remember?" Sam smiled and punched his shoulder companionably. Danny chuckled and rubbed his shoulder, looking down at the ground.

"And about what happened." He searched for the words, staring at the doorstep almost as if he could find them written there. "It was..."

"Danny, one thing at a time." Sam grabbed his shoulder with a smile, drawing his gaze to her face. "And for the record... I had a wonderful time with you." She leaned in and kissed his cheek. "Goodnight, Danny." She turned to head inside, closing the door softly in his face.

Danny watched her go, then smiled and placed a hand to his cheek as he floated off the ground. He floated through the air, carried on the soft morning wind as it wound across Amity Park. Suddenly there was a great big flash in the sky over Amity Park, and a black and white form streaked down across the town like a thunderclap, moving so fast that he almost appeared invisible, passing around and through objects like a soft wind, and leaving just as much of a disturbance behind. Soon he reached his home and flew inside, to join his sister, to rejoin his life, and to prepare for the future.

THE END!