Danny looked around as he stepped off the escalator and spotted a man standing in the back with a sign held high in the air that read in large black letters "Danny Fenton." He quickly began to push his way through the crowd to get to the man.

"I'm Danny Fenton," he said with little emotion. The man, the limo driver by the looks of him, nodded and taking Danny's bags, led him to the car out front.

There had been a time in his life when Danny would have been extremely excited to be riding in a limo. He would have spent the trip checking out all of the nuances, including the private radio, the TV and DVD player, even the mini-bar. The thought of that now, without Sam and Tucker by his side to oh and ah along with him, just curled his stomach now.

A lot of things had been doing that lately. It was as if everything in life had lost its luster without his two friends to share in it. So the long ride to Vlad's mansion - and it was long at two-an-a-half hours – was spent with Danny merely looking at the black vinyl seat across from him. He didn't say a word to the driver, nor did he move. He didn't even resituate himself into a more comfortable sitting position.

Here he was, going to live with his arch-enemy. Something he had sworn he would never do. Of course he had not known at the time that it would be the only place he had left to go. He couldn't even change his mind now and go back to Valerie's house. Not after he had admitted that he was Danny Phantom. Her face, in all it's terror, flashed before his eyes. No, she would never forgive him now. If he went back, she would hunt him down like a dog.

The limo finally pulled to a complete stop and after a moment the door opened. He stepped out to see Vlad standing there, looking genuinely concerned. Without a word Vlad put his arm around Danny and lead him into the house, nodding at the driver to follow with the luggage.

Danny walked in and stopped short. His breath caught hard in his chest, threatening to choke the life from him. Vlad had changed the décor since the last time Danny had been here, back during his dad's college reunion. No longer were the Green Bay Packers a prominent part of the entry way. Instead it had all been replaced photos of Maddie, Jack and Vlad in their younger days. Where once there was a packers uniform, there was now an aged lab coat and goggles. Equipment, both broken and still in viable condition, filled the glass cases, given Danny the distinct impression of a shrine built in memory of a friendship long dead.

The bile rose in his throat as stared in awe at Vlad's mockery of his parent's memories. He quickly swallowed.

"What is all this?" he asked in a trembling voice.

"Well, I thought perhaps that, under the circumstances, you would like to be surrounded by things that belonged to your parents once."

"Why would you do this?" Danny had a difficult time keeping the accusation out of his voice. Vlad put his hand on Danny's shoulder and noticing the boy flinch violently, quickly removed it.

"Daniel, my boy, I know you think I am evil and heartless, but please believe me when I say that you are not the only one in mourning. As much as I despised your father, I never wanted it to end like this."

"No," Danny retorted in disgust. "You wanted to kill him yourself so you could steal my mom and get me to be your apprentice. Now where is my room?"

Vlad hung his head and let out a loud sigh.

"This way," he replied as he walked to the other end of the hall.

The first few days passed quietly enough with nary a word spoken between the two half-ghosts. True to his word, Vlad did not bring up the subject of ghosts or of world domination. He knew that to do so would simply send the young boy running off to heavens only knew where. That was something he was simply not prepared to do.

Danny may not be his son, but he was Maddie's and somehow Vlad felt a responsibility to her to ensure that Danny had some kind of home to grow up in. No matter how bizarre that home might be. After all if Danny could spend the first fifteen years of his life under Jack Fenton's roof, well then, the next three to five years would be positively normal for the boy.

Still, it upset him to see Danny drift around like a ghost, and not in the good way either. He barely ate anything that was put in front of him and the circles under his eyes had grown so dark they might as well have been painted on with black marker.

It wasn't until the third week of Danny's stay that Vlad realized the exact extent of the lad's torment. Dinner that night was almost a non-event. Vlad sat at the head of a very long table while Danny Fenton sat next to him, but still neither spoke a word. Vlad could tell that Danny was not in the mood to talk and for the first time since he had met the young lad, he felt it best to just leave him be.

Vlad watched as Danny pushed the food around on his plate, pretending to eat. After an hour or so, the black-haired teen pushed his plate away and stood up.

"I'm tired," he said automatically. "I'm going to bed now."

"Very well," Vlad responded. "Good night and sweet dreams." He watched Danny leave the dining room. He was beginning to think that Danny was not going to be coming out of his stupor anytime soon and that worried him. He wanted Danny to talk to him, but knew that it was not going to be so easy.

Vlad sighed and, after finishing his own dinner, decided to go to work in his lab in the hopes that it would help him get his mind off his own myriad of problems, which included his growing annoyance at Jack's all too sudden demise, so that he could refocus on helping Danny instead. He had sat by and watched Danny waste away for far too long already and could not just stand by anymore. It was time for action. He just wasn't sure what that action should be.

When things in the lab didn't work out (it was his own fault for allowing himself to grow so tired with worry over Danny and missing Maddie. It had absolutely nothing to do with any possibility that he might actually miss Jack, he had told himself), he had decided to call it an early night.

He heard it on his way back to his own room. Danny's scream had echoed through the darkened hallways of the mansion. Without thinking, Vlad turned into a ghost and floated down to Danny's room. There he saw Danny in human form, yet white as a ghost and shaking uncontrollably. He didn't seem to notice Vlad as he sat on his bed with his legs curled up, rocking back and forth, his eyes staring wide at some unseen horror.

Vlad backed out of the room and, turning back to human form, rushed back into the room to see if Danny was alright.

"Daniel!" he cried out as he ran toward his ward. Reflex took over at that moment as Vlad reached out and grabbed Danny into a tight, fatherly embrace. Danny wrapped his own arms around Vlad in return and began crying uncontrollably. His heart was pounding in fear and sweat was pouring down his face, mixing with the tears and soaking Vlad's suit.

Vlad reached up a hand and gently began to stroke Danny's hair back in comfort. "Shh…" he whispered consolingly. "It's going to be alright. Everything will be alright."

"I … I … saw it…. I saw him kill them. Why? Why couldn't I save them?" Danny sputtered.

"It's not your fault Daniel. You did the best you could. More even. There was no way you could have stopped him." Danny shook himself angrily, pulling himself away and glaring at Vlad.

"That's no excuse!" he shouted. "I should have been able to stop it! It shouldn't have happened and it is my fault because I was the one that killed them!" Danny clapped his hand over his mouth in fright. He hadn't meant to tell Vlad that. He was positive that if Vlad knew that he had been the one that killed his family that he'd be kicked out onto the streets. After all, Vlad loved Maddie, so how could he give shelter to her murderer?

Vlad scrutinized Danny for a long moment before he sighed before speaking.

"Daniel, my boy, how could you have possibly killed your parents when you were standing there watching them …," Vlad quickly caught himself. "Watching what had happened?"

"I don't know," Danny answered. "But it was me. I saw him … or me … or whatever! He was older, but he was me."

"And did it ever occur to you that it might have been some other ghost disguised as an older version of you and that he might have been trying to mess with your mind dear boy? It wouldn't be the first time that you …" Vlad wasn't sure how to proceed. He was trying to comfort Danny, but it was so new to him and he was quickly getting tongue-tied. If he said the wrong thing he wasn't sure how Danny would react to it.

"That I've been fooled?" Danny responded.

"Well… Yes," Vlad answered. "Truthfully that is it."

Danny stared at his hands so that he didn't have to look at Vlad anymore. "I wish I could believe that," he choked. "I wish I could …."

Vlad once again wrapped his arms around Danny and simply sat there while the young man cried. "Oh Danny…" Vlad whispered in despair. It was the first time that he had ever called Danny by that nickname and it seemed to shake Danny out of his despondency. He violently pushed Vlad away, as though he had suddenly developed the plague.

"Get out!" he screamed, throwing himself full-force back onto the bed facing the door so that his back was toward Vlad.

"Danny …" Vlad reached out an arm which Danny angrily shoved away.

"Get out! And just leave me alone!"

Vlad sat for a moment before heaving a sigh and standing. He left Danny's room, glancing back to look at Danny, who simply turned himself so once again his back was facing Vlad. With that, Vlad closed the door and headed to his own room. It was a long time before he managed to fall asleep.

Danny never did get back to sleep that night. He lay awake, looking at the ceiling as all the horrible images from his dream came creeping back to the forefront of his thoughts. The nightmares had gotten progressively worse since he had last spoken to Valerie and discovered who was responsible for the deaths of his friends and family. He could now clearly see the face of the murderous and there was no doubt in his mind that it was indeed him.

Danny hated himself for it. Worse yet, he was beginning to hate his family and friends for it and that just added onto the ever growing mound of guilt and pain he was already feeling. There had to be a way to stop it all. He thought briefly about how Vlad had dealt with "losing" the love of his life so many years ago and yet he had somehow managed to survive. Even now, with Maddie dead and absolutely no hope of ever getting her, Vlad was still surviving. Maybe he shouldn't have been so quick to push Vlad away. Maybe, just maybe, there was something he could learn from the cheese man after all.