AN: I'm sooo sorry about the giant gap between updates! Let me just put it this way, New York Trip, Camping Trip, Cousin's Wedding, flood, limited Computer Access in-between. I didn't realize that I would be spending a week at my dad's place, I thought that I would be out for two days and then back. It doesn't help that I now have a case of the plot bunnies. A bad one… Basically, I have an idea for about twenty things that aren't this chapter, and only one involving this story. Anyway, to speed up the process of writing, I'm listening to all of my music at 3x the speed. "Another side, Another Story: Deep dive" sounds awesome like that!

Aftermath of an Afterlife

Chapter 3: Between Jack and Maddie

"Nice Pajamas, Uncle Vlad. So, did you get that cat yet?"

The boy's voice rang into the room as Vlad Masters did his best to interpret what exactly was occurring here. The kid–who Vlad wasn't sure if he was even in his teen years yet—made no effort to help him off of the ground, though Jack was now off of his back. So instead, shaking the strange foreboding chills the boy's voice sent through his spine, Vlad pushed himself up off of the floor, unsure of exactly what was going on, who the child was, what a frightening boy like him was doing hanging around cheerful air-headed Jack Fenton, or why either of them were here.

'Alright Masters, just be rational, and figure things out, ok? Ignore the little creep, Jack should lend you some clues if you say the right things. Hopefully he hasn't changed'

"Oh Jack, it is so nice to see you again! How are you doing?" asked the White-haired man in the striped pajamas. Only now looking down did he notice that he was still wet from the water that had slipped through his hands earlier. He could only imagine what he looked like to the visitors.

"Fantastic! Why, we've even been working on this new invention. You see it's designed to suck the energy right out of a ghost and shoot the energy back at them. You see, at first…."

Vlad stopped paying attention to the large man, and instead focused on the boy, listening only for any clues that the man had changed the topic to something useful. Ghosts…. That was just so Jack, ignoring every thing important and real for hypothetical beings.

Vlad felt a twinge of anger very, very deep inside of him. 'Jack just doesn't seem to notice anything if it doesn't involve ghosts or snacks… He never even used to notice poor Maddie when she had that crush on him! He's is such an idiot!' As quickly as the thought came it was gone. Jack was his best friend, and Vlad hated thinking like that about him… 'even if it is true'

Instead, Vlad observed the little creep. He seemed rather bored by the entire topic, although his eyes didn't rest. They stayed surveying the room, as if he expected something to randomly jump straight through the walls and attack him. Looking him over, Vlad could see that the boy was in the process of going through puberty, so his original estimate that the boy was not yet a teenager was probably off. Still, he was much shorter then either Vlad or his Fat friend, and Vlad couldn't mistake for the life of his the frail body structure and dark circles under his blue eyes that all seemed to point to exhaustion. He still had a child's face, though his eyes were sharp and keener then he would expect on one.

So… he wasn't quite sure how old the boy was… maybe thirteen?

"…Jazz is absolutely wonderful with the lighter artillery weapons, but she just doesn't ever seem interested in going ghost hunting with me! I try to get her to go with me all the time, but…" Jack droned on. The amnesiac could only guess who "Jazz" was. Younger, seemingly close. Vlad was going to go with girlfriend for now, because wife or daughter seemed too far off.

'There is no way in hell that Jack Fenton can get a woman to take a diamond ring from him, let alone stand in front of pews of people and say she was willing to be with him forever.' Vlad thought with a chuckle to himself. Oddly enough, this received a deep, angry glare from the little creep. That was when Vlad began listening to Jack again.

"But even though Danny here can't handle any fragile equipment at school or in our lab, he does know how to work the important weaponry. No son of mine is afraid of ghosts! Why during one major ghost attack since your last visit, Danny put together a rescue mission all by himself!" the man bellowed with great pride welling up in his eyes. Vlad could have swore he saw a tear.

'This is Jack's son? But he's nothing like Jack! Whoever his mother is, he must take after her, body wise and personality wise.' Vlad wasn't even going to get into the thought of what kind of woman would get engaged and married to the great man, let alone do something to have children with the man. Jack may have been his friend, but the thought made Vlad shudder.

His thoughts were interrupted by a source he had not been expecting at all, peeking her beautiful, unmistakable face through the doorway.

"Jack, sweetie, I can't find the spare Fenton Thermos. Have you seen it?" asked Maddie.

"I'm sure it's out in the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle. I didn't take it."

The little creep, or, Danny, fidgeted with something behind his back, his face even paler then before, but just a little.

But Vlad didn't notice this. He didn't notice as Jack started screaming about ghosts stealing his thermos out of spite. If he had, he probably would have laughed at the ridiculous sight of the red head in the blue hazmat suit trying to calm down the behemoth before he broke it. He might have noticed the raven-haired teen with his hand behind his back, and the other shielding his beat-red face from the world. He might have felt for the poor boy for having such a living situation. He might have cared, if the mother of the boy wasn't the only thing on his mind. He would have cared if she wasn't the one in the spandex with threatening the man with the big bat with the word "Fenton" on it.

Maddie is Jack's wife? That's her son?

…wait…

"WHAT?"

But… Jack was an idiot. Why would someone as smart and beautiful and talented and pretty marry Jack?

This was just too much to handle. Jack and Maddie's son was staring at him, analyzing him with cold blue eyes but he didn't care. There shouldn't have been a Jack and Maddie's son. The boy shouldn't exist. Jack shouldn't have been getting a hug from the precious Madeline. Maddie shouldn't have let him put his arms around her like that. And Jack should not have had his face moving closer to hers! She should have slapped him, or gave him a funny look! She shouldn't have moved her head closer! She should have moved her head back!

They shouldn't be kissing in the lonely hallway of a lonely man who lived alone. And that man shouldn't have been Vlad Masters. He didn't want the house or the money. He wanted Maddie to stop kissing that man. He would give up everything he owned, even the clothes on his back, or the memories of the first twenty years of his life if she would just stop kissing Jack and look at him. Just look at Vlad for one second, and he would have been happy. Just remember Vlad, and Vlad would die happy. Just remember him! Please, he was begging anyone out there to stop them.

"It just kills you, doesn't it?"

The voice was cold, dark, and not the same one he'd been hearing, telling him he was an idiot for his deranged granny theories, though the effect was the same. It had the same way of penetrating his very soul and sending even more of those chills up his spine. This was the voice of a teenager though. A little creep who by all standards of reasoning he never thought would exist, The son of Jack and Maddie Fenton.

He turned to look at the boy, trying to hide the fear of his face. The little creep (David, Daryl, Danny… it didn't matter one bit to Masters what his name was supposed to be) was smirking at him, and Vlad could have swore for a moment his eyes flashed a bright glowing, neon green.

He shook it from his thoughts, though. He was glad for his sanity that his best friends from college had stopped kissing, though it had been very tame, but tender. Again, his brain was reeling at the mere thought of the two as a couple.

'Did anyone know this was going to happen?'

He was shaken from his thoughts by Maddie calling his name reaching out for him, well, saying his name anyway, while shaking his arm a bit. He'd like to pretend there was worry and concern there, but it would still be pretending. She had an eyebrow raised.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't sleep well last night, I must have gotten a little spacey."

"Err… Right. Anyway, Jack and I," the amnesiac held back a shudder at that, "just wanted to talk you again for volunteering to do this for us."

"I don't mind going to Gettysburg, Mom," scoffed the little creep, voice devoid of much emotion except slight anger.

"Sweetie, you know how the equipment tends to malfunction around you, and this isn't like the ghosts in Amity Park, this one is even stronger then the ones back home, and I don't want you getting hurt by any ghosts, sweetie."

The boy scoffed at that. "I wouldn't mind saying home."

"Two weeks is a long time sweetie."

"I could stay over the Mansons'."

"No!" shouted both of the ghost hunting couple.

"Sweetie, we've talked about this…"

"And I never agreed on this."

"Danny, your mother and I are just going to Pennsylvania to kick some ghost butt!"

"And you're staying here with Vlad for the next two weeks while we're gone."

Vlad didn't hear the little creep's mumblings of no anniversary presents, Walker, Jazz, summer camp, and Plasmius. He was not aware of his slack jaw, or even the words that spilled out of his mouth next.

"Wait, what?"

AN: Again, I'm so sorry this took so long! Anyway, it's now 4:30 in the AM, and I need sleep. Review. It makes this late-night stuff worthwhile.