A/N: Thank you so much for all the reviews! You guys totally rock! I just wanted to say, again, that I realize that Vlad never found out about Dan Phantom, but I've been trying for the longest time to figure out a stroy in which he finds out and that one would take place before this. I wanted to have it done before I put that last chapter up, but inspiration still hasn't struck, so I just had to note that it happened.

Anywho, I hope you like this chapter! This chapter is the beginning of the second half, which pretty much means that there's a new plot twist coming! I hope you enjoy!

Note to Kairi7: That's okay, I totally understand. You can e-mail me at darthfrodob through aol (for some reason it's being stupid and not showing up, so this might work, you'll just have to piece the two parts together). This isn't my usual e-mail address, so send me a note or something to this one and then I'll send you my real e-mail address.

Chapter Eight
The Morning After

Danny awoke the next morning in his bed, his eyes sore from crying so much the previous night. After Clockwork's visit he felt a little better, but he still felt ashamed and distanced from his family. They didn't continue the party afterwards, since Danny was no longer in the mood to party and ironically just wanted to go to bed.

He stepped out of bed and started walking downstairs. He looked into the kitchen and noticed his whole family sitting at the kitchen table. His father was reading the paper while eating a donut, Jazz was reading a really thick book while drinking her coffee, and his mother was doing the daily crossword puzzle from the paper.

"Good morning dear, would you like some breakfast?" his mother asked.

"Sure," he replied quietly, still feeling awkward around them. Ever since he'd told them about his powers, he'd been feeling a little more awkward around them, and he could tell they were feeling the same way. After last night though, Danny felt even more awkward than usual, like there was an even bigger chasm between them that doubled in size thanks to his possible future. It seemed like no matter what they said to him the previous night, no matter how much they said they'd accept him and comfort him, the thought of the future still lingered in the air, in their thoughts.

He sat down next to Jazz as his mother placed a plate of bacon and eggs in front of him and smiled warmly at him. His mother returned to her seat and continued doing the crossword puzzle as his father and sister continued to read. Danny started eating, aware of the silence lingering about the room. They usually didn't talk in the mornings, but today was different. Usually they didn't talk because there was really nothing necessary to talk about, but today, it seemed like there was stuff to say, but they were holding it back. Danny himself was guilty, but he didn't quite know what to do or say. He had heard whispers coming from his parents' room well into the night, but he couldn't make anything out. He knew they were talking about him, but he didn't know exactly what. He knew something needed to be said, to be talked about now that he wasn't bawling his ghostly eyes out, but he didn't know how to break the awkward silence with an even more awkward topic.

His thoughts were broken by his ghost sense. He gasped as the blue mist emerged from his mouth. His family looked up from what they were doing to look at Danny.

"Can't they just leave me alone?" Danny asked as he went ghost and flew out through the ceiling.

"Alright, I'm only going to ask this once, so please answer me truthfully," Jazz threatened to her parents, drawing their attention away from the ceiling. "What do you want to ask Danny about?"

"What are you talking about dear?" Maddie asked uncomfortably.

"I heard you two whispering in the middle of the night, and I think Danny heard you too, because he was awake at that time. So, if there's anything you want to talk to him about, just do it now. He's not stupid; he knows when you want to tell him something. He's got a weird sense about that kind of stuff."

"Ghost Perception…" Jack mumbled softly.

"Come again?"

"There's this theory among ghost hunters that ghosts have this certain ability that we call 'Ghost Perception'. It's never been proven, but the theory stands that ghosts have almost a sixth sense and can sense when something's wrong or when someone isn't telling the truth. They also have a kind of foresight; they can see some things before they happen, giving them quick reflexes. Supposedly it's hard to fully develop Ghost Perception, but I guess Danny has some."

"Well, whatever it's called, Danny knows that you're holding back. I could tell by the way he looked just before the ghost attacked. So just get it out of your system so we can move on."

"It's just, we don't really know how to talk about it," Jack offered.

"If it's about his future, you heard that ghost…" Jazz started to lecture.

"No no, it has nothing to do with that. We said last night that we didn't care and we meant it. Last night, your father and I were just discussing a few things we've noticed, about Danny." Jazz sat silent, wondering what her parents were getting at. They never noticed anything before, so why should they start now? Was there something she wasn't seeing? "You see, we spent a lot of time observing the Ghost Boy when we were hunting him, his mannerisms, his attitude, his fighting style. Well, we noticed last night while he was fighting that he wasn't acting like normal."

"What do you mean? You think Danny's being possessed?" Jazz asked confused.

"Oh of course not! No, not at all. It's quite the opposite. We think that, if anything, the Ghost Boy is acting more like Danny."

"Well, that's really strange, since the Ghost Boy is Danny," Jazz remarked sarcastically.

"No, you still don't get it. This is why we're having a hard time talking to him about it; we can't even describe it to you."

"Give her an example," Jack suggested.

"Well, last night, when Danny was fighting the Box Ghost, I think that's what he called himself, he was acting how we usually saw the Ghost Boy. He had the cocky attitude and fought with veracity. But after he threw the ghost back into the ghost portal, he turned around and saw us, and then he floated down onto the floor. Whenever we watched the Ghost Boy, he never landed on the floor, he just stayed floating and then flew away. It happened the entire night. It seemed like Danny wanted to stay on the floor more than usual, which was uncommon for the Ghost Boy."

"Tell her about the blushing," Jack suggested.

"Did you happen to notice sweetheart that anytime he used his powers while he knew we were watching he blushed or looked at us weird, like he was embarrassed to use them in front of us? Before when we watched him he always liked to show off his powers and let everyone around him know what he could do. Now it just seems like he's embarrassed to use them in front of us, and I think that's what caused him to lose so badly before."

Jazz thought about it and realized that they were right. When she'd secretly watch Danny he never really hid his powers. He would show them off, and he had good reason to. Her thoughts drifted to the battle last night. When he was fighting the Wisconsin Ghost, as her parents called him, he never really showed off his powers, didn't use as many of them as usual. He merely just flew around and dodged the ecto-blasts shot at him, whereas he usually would conjure shields and blast just as many, if not more, back. Was he embarrassed to use his powers in front of them? Did he feel awkward about it? That would explain a lot, like why he felt so distant at breakfast. Jazz thought it had to do with his future, but maybe it was a combination of everything.

"You've noticed it too, haven't you?" Maddie asked Jazz. "He's not acting like his usual ghostly self because he's embarrassed about it. He feels awkward using his powers around us."

"You have to talk to him about this. He doesn't act this way around Tucker and Sam, so it has something to do with you. Maybe deep down he still thinks that you won't fully accept him? Maybe he thinks that your distaste for ghosts maybe doesn't extend to him, but maybe his ghost powers. Whatever the reason, you need to talk to him about it when he comes back from taking care of that ghost."

"Yes, where is he? He's taking much too long…" Maddie worried.

"I'm sure he's fine Maddie. He's good, we both know that. He can outmatch us any day."

Then they saw an intangible Danny fly through the table and through the wall into the living room like he had just been thrown. Another large intangible ghost floated towards the living room after him. The three of them ran into the living room to find Danny floating near the ceiling while shooting an ecto-blast at the large ghost near the floor. The large ghost moved out of the way and the blast hit the carpet.

"Give up Ghost Child," the large ghost threatened. "Give in to me and admit your defeat to the great Skulker."

"Um, I'm not even close to defeat. If you haven't noticed, I've had the upper hand almost the entire battle," Danny replied.

"This does not mean that I can't still defeat you," Skulker noted. He grabbed an egg-like weapon out of his suit and threw it at Danny, who just went intangible as it fell through him.

"You'll have to do better than that if you want my skin to cover your floor," Danny wisecracked back. Then the machine started beeping.

"I think I just did. Farewell Ghost Child, I will return for your body," Skulker stated as he went intangible and flew out of the room.

"Is that a bomb?" Jazz asked. Danny turned around to find his family in the living room.

"Quick, huddle together!" Danny yelled as he wrapped himself around them and turned them all intangible. The bomb blew up and let out a blinding white light that didn't harm anything in the house. It blew over the family as they closed their eyes, Danny praying that going intangible would be enough to save them.

They opened their eyes to find themselves tangible again, with nothing around them destroyed.

"Well, that's a relief," Maddie stated as she saw no damage.

"But what was the point of it if it didn't hurt anything?" Jazz wondered. Then they saw a bright light next to them as Danny turned back to human form and fell to the floor, unconscious.

Bright light filled his eyes as he tried to remember what happened. He remembered Skulker fighting him and then throwing a bomb. He remembered flying over to his family and turning them intangible. He remembered feeling a wave wash over him as he felt zapped of all energy. He couldn't hold them intangible any longer, so he let go. And then all he remembered was darkness. He opened his eyes and sat up quickly, afraid for the life of his family. If he had let go, they could have been harmed by the explosion. He found that he was lying on the couch in the living room, where the battle had taken place. He didn't see any damage, so maybe his family was okay. Maybe the bomb only affected ghosts, which was what knocked him out. How long was he out for? He looked at the clock and it read 2:30. Was it a school day? That would explain Jazz's absence.

He stood up and decided to wander around the house to see what was going on. Something didn't feel right. He was feeling fine, a little under the weather and tired, but he felt no outward pain or utter exhaustion. If the blast was only meant for ghosts, then shouldn't he have been hurt more? Maybe since he was only half ghost it didn't hurt him as much as it should have. He walked into the kitchen to find no one there. Then he heard noises coming from the lab. Of course his parents would be in the lab. Maybe they were trying to find out what happened with the bomb, or already knew.

He walked downstairs and found his mother and father tweaking with a bunch of experiments.

"Ghost alert! Ghost alert!" a siren started screaming as Danny stepped off the steps and into the lab. Red lights flashed all over the lab as a ghost shield closed off the entrance to the kitchen. Danny jumped back onto the steps as a glowing ghost net dropped where he was just standing. His mother and father turned around with fully charged ecto-guns pointing at him.

"Danny?" his mother yelled over the siren as she lowered her weapon. "What are you doing awake, and up? Shouldn't you still be resting? Oh Jack, shut that alert off, I can barely hear what I'm saying!" His father ran over to a box and pushed a button to turn off the alarm.

"Sorry dear. You should be able to come into the lab now without the alarm going off."

Danny looked warily in front of him as he stepped carefully into the lab, just waiting for the alarm to sound. When nothing happened he looked up, relieved.

"What's that all about?" Danny asked.

"Well, we heard that ghost say that he would be back for you, so we set up security measures to protect you while you were out. We put the Ghost Shield up around the house in case he tried to get in from outside and we turned on the lab alarm system in case the ghost wanted to come through the portal."

"What happened?" Danny asked, now extremely curious at what would make them go to such extreme measures.

"Well, the bomb exploded, but nothing was damaged. We just felt a wind, but that's it. Then we looked at you and you were knocked out. We put you on the couch and set up the alarm systems."

"How long ago was that?" Danny asked, fearing the answer.

"Only this morning. That's why we were surprised to see you awake. We didn't really expect that you'd recover so quickly."

"What was that bomb?"

"We're not quite sure. We're studying it over here. It seems like it was programmed to only hurt ectoplasm, or in other words, only hurt ghosts."

"But I'm not hurt; I just got knocked out."

"That's what's troubling us," Jack announced. "We don't really know what's going on."

"It seems there's some sort of powder inside the bomb; we found some residue attached to the remains," Maddie described. "We have a sample of it under the microscope." Danny walked over to where his parents were standing and his mother positioned him in front of the microscope. As his mother touched him, Danny felt a shock through his body and quickly recoiled. "Danny, what's wrong?" his mother asked worried.

"You're wearing the Specter Deflectors, aren't you?" Danny asked.

"Oh my gosh Danny, I'm so sorry! I forgot we put them on for safety against that ghost! Oh dear, are you alright?" his mother asked as she went to place her hand on his shoulder, but Danny jumped back. "Oh, right," she added as she removed the deflector from her waist. His father did the same. Then she ran over to him and gave him a hug. "I'm so sorry dear; I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Don't worry, it's fine. They actually don't hurt that much. It's just a shock."

"Really?" his dad asked. "Maybe we should try and make them more powerful…"

"As long as you don't wear them around me, I don't care," Danny commented.

"Is that why you didn't want us touching you so many times? Like that time we were stuck outside Vlad's manor?" his mother asked.

"Yeah. I wanted to be near you all those times, but I didn't want to risk being shocked. I'm sorry."

"No no dear, we're sorry. In the end, it was our fault. You were just protecting yourself."

Danny smiled. "So, what does this powder look like?" His mother led him to the microscope and he peered in. He saw a bunch of little green slightly glowing particles stuck to the inside of the bomb case.

"We think it must be some kind of biological weapon that harms ghosts, but we don't really know what it will do to you," Jack further explained.

"Until only a few moments ago we thought that it caused you to stay knocked out, but that theory's blown out of the ectoplasmic goo."

"Unfortunately, we have no way to test it and see what's really going on."

Danny stepped back from the microscope and grabbed a scalpel.

"Danny, what are you doing?" his mother asked.

"Well, you said you needed something to test it on," he said as he went ghost.

"Daniel James Fenton, you put that scalpel down right now, do you hear me?" his mother demanded.

Danny ignored her and pulled the white glove off his left hand.

"Danny, listen to your mother," Jack ordered.

He took the scalpel and sliced his finger open as green ectoplasm poured out of the cut. He flew over to a Petri dish and let the ectoplasm drip into the Petri dish. His parents ran over to him, watching as it fell into the dish.

"Danny, you didn't have to do that," his mother remarked.

"No, I did. You always told me that ectoplasm was really hard to get and you need it to test the powder to see what it will do. Well, I just happen to be made entirely of ectoplasm. I think I can spare a Petri dish full right now. Plus, this is to research exactly what's happening to me."

"Oh sweetheart, you're so brave," his mother cried as she hugged him proudly.

"Mom, it's nothing," Danny argued, annoyed. "It's just a cut on the finger; it's not a big deal. It's just like having blood drawn, it's really nothing. Now go test this so we can see what's going on," Danny requested, handing them the full Petri dish. "And don't worry about conserving it. There's a lot more where that came from."

The two scientists rushed over to the lab and began working on trying to find out exactly what was going on. Danny hovered over their shoulders, watching intently to what they were doing. His mother smiled over at him as she saw his glowing green eyes staring intently at their work. She was glad to see that he seemed to have gotten over his embarrassment at using his powers as she saw him floating above them. His father smiled to see that Danny was interested in his work as he continually pointed to things and asked what it was or what they were doing.

After hours of experiments, they discovered that the powder would insert itself into the ectoplasm cells and cause the cells to flicker after a period of time. This would only happen when the cells were exposed to large quantities of the powder, but they tested the ectoplasm again and discovered that Danny had a very large quantity of the powder in his system. They were still unsure of what it would do other than cause the glow of the cells to flicker. They were sitting around a table while Danny continued to hover in the air, lying down with his hands behind his head. They all sat in silence, willing their brains to think of some sort of solution to the problem. They didn't think Danny was in any immediate damage, since none of the samples had actually killed any of the host cells. Still, his parents continued to look at Danny every now and then, as if expecting him to drop out of the air unconscious.

Danny noticed these constant looks and finally had enough. "Look, I've told you, nothing bad is going to happen. It's not like Skulker to kill me like this. He likes the hunt and he likes the challenge, so he's not going to kill me off using a ghost virus and then take my body back to his lair. It's just not his style and it would do nothing for his reputation. He'll want the pleasure and honor of killing me himself and display my pelt as a kind of trophy. It's probably something to weaken me so that he can actually win a battle."

"Alright you scientists, it's time for dinner!" Jazz yelled from upstairs. Jack and Maddie stood up while Danny floated to the ground, a white ring forming around his waist, but then the ring disappeared. Danny looked at his waist quizzically and tried again. The white ring appeared, and then disappeared again, leaving him still in his ghost form.

"Sweetheart, are you alright?" his mother asked, seeing the look of fear on his face.

"I can't change back."