Jazz always had a thing for rock music, rock music of all kinds. Perhaps it's because she distanced herself from her family with it, since none of them liked the hard guitar or the lyrics. It was almost a reprieve from them. Also, it stimulated her, made her write better. And she needed to write tonight: She had essays due on The Canterbury Tales and Wuthering Heights, and Jasmine Fenton wanted them ready and prepared. She would never be caught dead banging out a paper at the last minute.

She heard the door open and someone coming up the stairs, but she was positive it was just Danny. He always came home late. Ghost-fighting was almost always the culprit. She sighed; Danny's life wouldn't get any easier as long as he kept hiding his secret, but he insisted on sacrificing his grades and probably a good portion of his sanity so that he could continue to fight them alone.

"To protect us." Jazz rationalized. She understood Danny better then probably anyone, or at least, she understood him the best before the accident. It baffled Jazz a little: Not telling enemies was one thing, so they wouldn't go after family, but what could be the harm in telling her? She wouldn't dash for the nearest Fenton-stickered item and blast it at him, and she was positive Danny knew that. He must have wanted to distance himself from them so they wouldn't be the targets.

"Maybe I could talk to him a little. I could use a break from this if it means helping him out." Jazz reasoned to herself. She opened her door. Danny was indeed out there, but he was chasing Sam down the steps.

"Nothing happened!" He protested, shouting after her. He was carrying his shirt in his hands and attempting to put it on as he walked. Jazz noted that he was covered in bandages, fresh ones, which were slightly bloody.

"What on earth…Danny couldn't be that irresponsible to go too far with Sam, could he? And what's with those injuries, was he attacked?" Jazz wondered. She looked into Danny's room to see another girl, the pretty dark-skinned girl. Valerie. Jazz had never met her before, but she had seen her before, and knew her name, and although Valerie didn't say it, but Jazz suspected she liked Danny. Her father, Damon Gray, worked at Axion, and helped her parents protect the town.

"Uhh…hi, Jazz Fenton." Jazz introduced herself calmly. Valerie was dressed, although by her recently treated injury lead Jazz to believe Danny was helping her with that.

"Valerie Gray. You're Danny's big sister, aren't you?"

"Yeah. What's going on there? You alright?"

"Fine." Valerie's eyes shifted as the rest of her twitched awkwardly. "Things just…things…uh…were a little weird. I'm gonna…I'm gonna get going. Just tell Danny I left, and I said thanks."

"Uh, alright." Jazz responded, wrinkling her brow in frustration. Jazz exited Danny's room to hear the sound of an engine. She opened the door again to find Valerie gone.

"Couldn't be a ghost, Danny would know that. Must be some invention of Dad's he gave her." Jazz quickly went downstairs to see if Sam and Danny were okay, but she was more worried about Danny. Sam had a bite equivalent of a pitbull and was easily ten times as fierce.

She heard them shouting from downstairs.

"Were you even considering the consequences!" Sam shouted.

"N…no, I wasn't, but nothing happened! It was just…"

"Just what, hormones? You were enjoying every second of it, I could see it!"

"You were looking at my…" Danny trailed a little. "Sam, just calm down, please. I can tell you everything if you just…" But Sam stormed out, and Jazz finally got to see her. Her face was flushed with anger, but at the same time, she seemed upset and betrayed. But she composed herself briefly when she noticed there was a third party.

"Excuse me, Jazz, I was just leaving." She said with a calm that was quite eerie considering her usual rage. Jazz let her by, there was no sense letting the angry bulldog bite her too. Sam grabbed the front door and slammed it, causing one of the pictures on the shelf, one of the few good family portraits the family had, to fall and shatter. Jazz picked it up as she went into the kitchen, where Danny and Sam had previously been arguing. Danny, looking just as pissed off and upset as Sam was, grabbed a can of soda out of the fridge and slammed it on the table.

"Danny?" Jazz knew how to approach upset people, and she knew how to approach Danny. If she barked or yelled, it made it worse.

"What?" He snapped, his eyes angry.

"Feeling okay? You've got lots of bandages on your arms." She picked her words carefully.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He took an angry swig of soda.

"What happened?" Jazz asked. If she could get Danny's concentration away from Sam, maybe he'd meander into it later.

"Nothing, just that jackass Dash Baxter." Danny responded. Jazz knew that was a lie, but she expected the lies.

"You look really beat up. Let me see it." Jazz offered, but Danny knocked her hands away.

"It's fine, Valerie took care of it…oh no, I left Valerie upstairs." Danny stood up.

"She left already." Jazz responded, which calmed him down. "She got hit too."

"Yeah, she was attacked by a…wild dog. Just after we left the Nasty Burger. So I took her here and cleaned her up." Danny had rehearsed that in his mind, it seemed.

"Were you with Sam?"

"No. She just showed up." Danny said. "Right at the wrong time. If she'd only sit down and thing like…Why do you care anyway?" He challenged.

"Because I'm your sister. That's what I do."

"Well, you can't help, I can handle this."

"Danny, Sam's might be spirited and not like most other girls, but she's still a girl. What do you know about women?" Jazz responded with a challenge. Danny had to see how plainly he didn't know the answer before he'd let Jazz help him.

"Well…uhhh…it's Sam, I've known her for years."

"You've known Sam for years, but right now, she's jealous and upset. How good are you at talking to a jealous woman?"

"Err…" Danny paused, and Jazz saw her opportunity. "Any advice?" He cheered up, and his face lightened considerably.

"Well, I'd need to know what happened first. Was it something major?"

"I was kissing Valerie." Danny responded. Jazz didn't blink. She was going to be a psychiatrist, she trained for these things. Lawyers were trained to smile during a heart attack, psychiatrists to keep a straight face.

"Kissing her? And Sam walked in." Danny nodde in agreement.

"What's her problem anyway? It's not like we're dating or anything. I wouldn't mind if she made out with, um, Tucker, or somebody." Danny defended, although Jazz suspected he was lying again.

"I'm sure she was just worried you were rushing into things. Think about it like this. You were headed for second base without telling her you were planning on it, and she felt betrayed that you wouldn't tell her." Jazz responded, laying it out as factual as she could.

"I…I wasn't planning on it, it just happened. Valerie was real pushy and she was cleaning me up from the ghos…err, from Dash's attack, and one thing led to another." Danny managed to catch himself well.

"Well, just give Sam a little time to cool off, but in the meantime, don't hang around Valerie with Sam. Spend more time with her." Jazz offered.

"Thanks." Danny smiled, one of his genuine smiles, not his painted fake ones that he might as well have patented. Jazz could tell because his eyes sparkled when he really smiled. "I feel a lot better now."

"No problem. Just remember, you can always tell me anything. No matter what, I'm always on your side." Jazz gave her brother a little cheek peck before she went back upstairs to write more about Edgar and Isabella Linton.

"I mean that, Danny. Anything. I'll catch you if you fall, and when your powers become too much, just look inside and remember that your sister is always on your side."


Danny wouldn't admit it out loud, but he wouldn't trade Jazz for anything. If there was somebody new he'd tell about his powers, it would be her. At the very least, she would keep a straight face as she did it.

Although Danny wanted to go over Sam's right away, he couldn't. He was far too tired and exhausted. Tomorrow, he could talk to Sam, and maybe she could find something out about these new ghosts. But, thanks to Jazz, Danny felt as though he could sleep tonight, rather then lie awake wondering about. Provided there was no more ghost interference. Danny's homework load had been considerably light, which probably meant he was about to be swarmed with tests, so he decided to relax by taking a shower. As he felt the water rush over him, he pondered his new enemies for a second. They worked together, and that was going to be difficult. One alone was near impossible, how was he supposed to handle any more then that? Harbringers, they called themselves. Certainly an ominous name. And they were after him, him and him alone. Otherwise, they would have taken out Valerie when they had the clean shot. He'd have to ask Tucker about it. But the good thing was that they wouldn't go after anyone else. It would be okay for Sam and Tucker to work with him. Not Valerie, though, Danny insisted to himself. She wouldn't work with his ghost self unless he had a convincing reason, and she'd probably blast him in the back when the Harbringers were gone.

"Thinking of Valerie…" Danny thought as he shut off the water and started to dry himself. What was with that kiss? It was just like his fake-out-make-out with Sam, only it wasn't a fake. He was actually pretty scared for Valerie when he saw that ghost go after her. He was so relieved she was all right, but then Valerie took over. So it started with concern but then it went...somewhere. He was still unsure of how that happened.

Danny didn't want to just blame Valerie though. He was just as guilty for not stopping when he should have. Tying the towel around his waist, he returned to his room.

There, seated on his bed with her knees pressed against her chest, was Sam. When she saw Danny come in, she smiled. She must not have gone anywhere after she angrily stormed out, or at least she started to leave, but turned around and came back.

"Uh, hi." Danny said, realizing more then ever his lack of appropriate attire.

"I just wanted to say something." Sam said.

"Let me go first. I shouldn't have been thinking with my pants. I should have…" Danny started, but was immediately interrupted by Sam quickly pecking him on the lips.

"That's all I wanted to say." Sam responded. "Don't worry, I'm a good girl. No peeking." She smiled and climbed out the window as to not startle Jazz.

"And despite that, she's still more romantic then Valerie." Danny found himself feeling like he could fly, and not as a ghost.