Thanks for the reviews: Psycho but fun, HALFa34, giggleaid, Punker88, Samantha-Girl Scout.
A note: I am so truly touched. I thought this was going to bomb like crazy, but Psycho called me the DP king. I...I'm so touched... (starts crying)
Chapter 10: And They All Lived Happily Ever After
Jazz stepped back, admiring their handiwork. Valerie stood beside her, barely able to hold back a grin. They had finally come up wit something to hold Vlad's ghost form, and they had taken the Ghost Gauntlets from Vlad's lab to separate the two forms. But first, they had to find him.
"Okay, Valerie, if the ghost boy shows up, you can't go after him," Jazz said.
"I know, I know. It's Danny. I saw him change back behind the school last time we fought." She smiled sheepishly. "I felt kind of guilty, realizing he was good, but I didn't want to approach him about it at school." She lifted up a ghost weapon and tossed another to Jazz. "Let's hunt us a ghost!"
"You're insane!" Sam cried, following after the recovering teen as he walked toward the door.
"No, I'm not. I'm going to help them." Danny grimaced as he stretched him arm out. "I'm a little sore, but I'll be fine."
"Danny, Vlad hit you hard. You were asleep for nearly a whole day!" Sam dropped onto the couch, attempting to hide her fear with anger. "You're in no condition to fight anyone!" She wrapped her arms around him as he sat beside her, burying her face in his shoulder. "Please, Danny, I don't want you to be hurt again because of me," she whispered. "I love you."
He put his arms around her, resting his head on hers. "I love you too," he whispered back, "and I'm not going to get hurt again. I promise."
Tucker walked into the room then stopped when he saw Danny and Sam sitting together on the sofa. She had her arms around his neck, her head on his shoulder. He had his arms around her waist, his head on hers. Tucker snapped a quick photo then left the couple alone.
By the time Danny reached the area where Vlad had been spotted, Vlad had been caught. His ghost half was floating in a large cylinder resembling the Fenton Thermos, and his human half was being led to a police car. Danny slipped into an alley and turned human before emerging to join the crowd. Sam ran up to stand with him, and he slipped his arm around her, smiling and kissing the side of her head.
"Danny! Hey, Danny!" Jazz waved from where she stood with the police, a ghost weapon held in her hand. She turned to Valerie and talked to her for a second before passing the weapon aside and running over to join the couple. "We're going to family court next week. The detective thinks I have a pretty good chance at winning custody over you."
Danny looked to Sam, eyebrows raised. "Oh, boy."
The three teens stood before the Fenton Portal. There were only three more days before the court date when it would be decided whether or not Jazz would take care of Danny until he was eighteen.
"You know, it might be okay to be raised by Jazz after living with Vlad," Danny said, still working out his sore arm.
"I don't know," Tucker said. "I think it'd be weird."
"If Jazz wins, Danny won't have to move away," Sam reminded the techno geek, slipping her arms around her boyfriend and hugging him as he put is arms around her.
Tucker nodded. "True."
An ectoplasmic ray suddenly shot from the Portal, and the three teens scattered for cover. When they looked up, two ghosts stood in the room. They looked oddly familiar to Danny.
"Hey, it's my old lab," the fat one said. "Hm…looks messier than I left it."
"That's because you fired that thing in here, honey," the other said, pointing to the weapon in his hands.
"Mom, Dad?" Danny stood, dusting himself off. "You guys are…ghosts."
"Well, of course, sweetie." Maddie smiled at him. "After all, we hunted ghosts on earth, and after I died I figured you might need some help keeping ghosts at bay."
"I can't understand how that box ghost keeps getting loose though," Jack muttered, scratching his head.
Sam and Tucker moved to join Danny. "Okay, this is just creepy." Tucker reached around and poked Jack then recoiled as his finger went through the man.
"Aw, sweetie, is this your girlfriend?" Maddie asked, floating toward Sam.
The goth girl suppressed a gasp as she moved closer to Danny, gripping his arm. "Okay, I know relationships usually begin with meeting the parents, but this isn't what I had in mind," she whispered.
"Yeah, this is kind of creepy," Danny admitted.
"Oh, don't worry, Danny. We're not planning on 'haunting' you." Jack laughed at his own corny joke.
"We just wanted to say 'hello' and see how you were doing, sweetie." Maddie hugged her son, and Danny tried not to stiffen in her cold, ghostly embrace. "We'll see you around, Danny."