"Don't open that thermos!" Tucker yelled as Jeremy picked up the almost legendary Fenton thermos. He blinked, surprised. That was all it took for Renamon to, moving in the lightning-fast way that she did, grab the canister right out from his hands. To him, it seemed as if it had just disappeared.
Tucker opened his mouth to explain, but Jeremy held up a hand, the other going to his forehead to massage away an oncoming headache. Rika, who was behind him, also moved to explain. "I really, really don't want to know. I've lived in this house, and town to know that you're better off not knowing sometime. So, unless someone's breaking the law…pretend I'm not here."
Both teens blinked as Jeremy walked off into the hallways and his room or, at least it looked like that was where he was going. In this house, no one could ever be sure.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Tucker whistled. "Now that was close."
Rika nodded and gratefully accepted the offered canister from the hand of the fox-digimon. "Let's get this bad boy into the ghost zone now."
Danny sighed. All was well in his little world. He, Jazz, and Sam weren't blowing up, teleporting, or blasting anything, they were feeling better than ever, and his mom was fussing over them like a mother should.
"I just worry about the both of you. You too Sam. It isn't right for you kids to have so much responsibility pushed onto your shoulders." Maddie sighed. This was the latest in the ongoing saga of a mother trying to convince the children that she had looked after for years and years not to stop being kids just yet.
"Mom, we have to do it," Danny argued.
"But why you? Why just you?" Maddie countered.
"Because we can, and we should," Jazz answered. "Because no one else can?"
"Still, your father and I…" Maddie began.
"Mrs. Fenton. You and Mr. Fenton aren't the most…competent ghost hunters, if you haven't noticed?" Sam added, chancing a mother's wrath.
Instead, Maddie closed her eyes and pressed her hands to them, breathing in and out deeply in an effort to calm down. "I know. I guess this is how things are meant to be, but if you ever need any help, I'll be here for you."
The ensuing hug radiated cuteness on a level here-to unknown. It also fulfilled many days of family together ness that Danny had missed while being a superhero.
"I can't believe that school can get so boring so fast," Danny lamented as he jotted down another page-full of notes for his report.
"Get used to it little bro. Flu season is over," Jazz smiled and gave him a peck on the lips.
"Don't I get one?" Sam asked cutely. Jazz smiled again and pecked her on the lips also.
"I'm getting a cavity over here," Rika commented from the other side of the large oak table that they were working on.
"I'm pretty sure they're still sick," Tucker commented as he pulled up a few files on his PDA. Danny smirked. Ever since the whole "cold" episode, the three of them had been much more affectionate with each other. It was nice, now that they had gotten over the whole awkwardness of the situation. Hanging around each other in underwear had a tendency to do that.
Tucker had taken the "lovy-dovy" stuff well, considering he was spending more time now-a-days with his significant other; Valarie.
Thinking about the teenage ghost hunter, Danny paused. Valarie had been suspiciously absent from his hero-life for a good time now. That was probably because she had been on dates with Tucker and there hadn't been any attacks at school recently.
Actually, between the Jazz, Sam, and himself, things had been under control for the better part of the last month. The only thing he worried about now was when someone would find out about his dating habits. There was no "if" involved. It was a when. He was sure of it.
Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Danny decided to get back to copying notes from one of the ancient volumes that he had pulled from the library that Blake had insisted they use for their report.
On top of that, they were getting paid! It wasn't anything like a legal paycheck of course, but it was money. This had started when Jeremy had found a less-then-legal contact that would be willing to buy some of the gold that had been found under the property. The contact had re-melted the gold to get rid of the Nazi insignia and sell it to the government through various contacts; none of which could be described as legal. Jazz had given them no end of hassle about negotiating with criminals.
"Why did we agree to this insane scheme?" Sam asked suddenly, gesturing to the massive pile of notes that they had accumulated.
"I thought it might add a flair to our otherwise dull lives," Danny smiled.
"How about the other way around?" Jazz asked, putting her psychology lessons to good use.
"Huh?" Tucker asked, looking up from his book.
"By pressing ourselves into school, we're maintaining some level of normalcy in our lives, it's a mental thing," Jazz concluded.
"Normalcy? What does that mean Rika?" Renamon asked from the top of a bookshelf.
"It's a very boring word. In my opinion, we're better off without it," Rika snickered, then paused. "That was sarcasm, wasn't it?"
A small, foxy smile played on Renamon's lips. That was all the answer Rika needed.
"I'm beginning to get the hang of being me," Danny hummed as he looked himself over for another day of school. He had been wearing an assortment of clothes that Sam and Jazz had bought him, most of them variations on the first one he had worn to school and confronted Dash in.
Now, though, he had pulled another set of clothes. The pants were simple black slacks with a red dragon embroidered on the left leg. After that, there was a red, button-down shirt with an ornate Chinese pattern and a black trench-coat over that. On the back of the coat there was another Celtic Cross, only in a deep blue.
The white gloves in the original outfit had stayed, and made Danny something of a legend around the school. If he had listened to the conversations about him, people were calling him the "avenger."
"Getting the hang of being you?" Tucker asked, "What does that mean exactly."
"He's almost finished with a period of self-discovery," Jazz answered, reading another psychology book while she walked beside her brother. "Teenagers commonly experience them, but don't usually complete them until their early twenties. To know who you are at such a young age speaks of immense maturity."
"But to talk like a text book, speaks of a lack of immaturity," Sam countered.
Jazz looked up from her book and blinked. "I'm doing it again, aren't I?"
"By "it," do you mean not paying reality due attention?" Danny asked.
"Okay, I get the hint," Jazz smiled and closed her book, "So, with the exception of ghost attacks, what do we have up for today?"
"Valarie and I are going out tonight, after I put in an hour or two at the museum…how close are we to opening, anyway?" Tucker asked.
"First floor's done," Danny informed them, "And we're half-done with the second. That is, of course, over-looking the library and basements."
"And the secret tunnel system?" Sam asked.
"Massive. It goes all the way from the museum to the school. I came out in the boys bathroom from one tunnel, plus I get lost every time I go down there," Danny sighed.
"You all may have graduated by the time we get done with the entire building," Jazz nodded.
"Well, Blake did get up to the top floor and managed to prepare one of the bedrooms for him and Jeremy. On top of that, he said that we could move in if we ever had any problems with…our parents," Sam grimaced. Danny and Jazz winced in empathy. Within the next few days, they had promised to tell their parents about…everything.
Okay, in Sam's case, they were going to forego the explanation of the whole superhero thing, but in terms of their unusual relationship…the cat was going to come out of the bag.
In preparation for this, they had talked it over with Blake and Jeremy and if they had to face the very real possibility of being thrown out of their own homes because of this…there was a place for them at the museum.
Tucker, who had a different first period than Sam and Danny, veered off down a different hallway. Partially to respect the tension he had sensed in the air and partially to chase down Valarie.
"So, if it comes down to it…we're going to take the jump?" Danny asked.
Jazz and Sam nodded.
"They won't accept us, will they?" Sam asked, her voice anchored in pain and sadness. Danny slipped and arm around her waist to comfort her.
"In all probability…no." Jazz said shortly. She didn't have much to loose by leaving home, really. None of them did, if it came down to it, like Danny said. They were all responsible to a new definition of the word, they had a place to live, a steady marginal income…
But they would have to leave their parents most likely…
Images flashed in Jazz's mind. Maddie and Jack arguing, hunting ghosts, ruining every Christmas that Danny had experienced…
Sam and Danny were in a similar state. Sam's parents had never understood her, she wondered if they ever really loved her. They had kind of paid her off with obscene amounts of money ever single holiday…
Which was now in a numbered Swiss bank account, ready to be used.
Danny saw his parents in multiple stages, all in a negative light. The vast majority ranged from passively neglectful to almost abusive. For nearly all his life Jazz had been the one he looked up to, that understood him, and even when she didn't, she had loved him. She and Sam, they were his real family. He mentally reminded himself that he was also working for Walker now, who paid him for the ghost he would bring in, and Walker paid in rubies. Danny had a sizeable safe-deposit box filled with the bloody stones.
Remember! Vote on whether or not you want Sci-fi in the story!