Danny's journey from Allie's doorway back to the portal took almost an hour. He'd decided that since he couldn't settle into a speed he felt comfortable with (basically anything under the speed of sound), he would try stealth, not that he was any good at that either. Still, it seemed like a better idea then making himself an open target in the middle of the Ghost Zone, when just about anyone could turn up like Skulker had…or worse.
Slowly he made his way from one floating island to another, making sure that if any ghost did see him, they either didn't realize what they saw, or weren't curious enough to investigate. He didn't run into anyone else he knew, thankfully, but still, he couldn't help but feel relieved when his parent's portal came into view.
Throwing caution to the wind, he made a beeline for the swirling vortex, bursting through to the familiar sight of his parent's lab, where he heaved a sigh of relief. It remained just as he left it, except for a figure pacing a hole in the floor. She looked up as he touched down, and their eyes met. Immediately Danny scowled.
"Danny!" Jazz yelped, her voice sounding relieved and reprimanding at the same time. Vaguely, he wondered how she could pull that off, and if it was a trait common to all nosey big sisters. "Where did you go!" she continued, putting her hands on her hips. "I was so worried."
Danny's scowl hardened into a glare. "I'm sure you were," he commented dryly.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Her arms moved from her hips to fold in front of her defensively.
"Have you told Mom and Dad yet?" he asked, ignoring her questions.
"Did you use your powers?" she shot back.
Danny couldn't help but smirk as he spoke, "Yes."
"Danny!"
"What?" He returned the glare she shot him and they stood, facing off for several minutes before Jazz finally spoke again.
"Have you figured out what's wrong?"
"Yes," Danny shrugged.
"Then you..." she started, but faded off with a blink before looking back at him. "Wait, what?"
Danny sighed. He knew he'd have to do this sooner or later. "Ghosts call it a "soft spot" or a trigger. It's a weakness to a ghost. One subject you don't touch on around that ghost, and it's different with every ghost."
"Oh," Jazz continued to blink away her surprise. "So...what's yours?"
"Betrayal."
"Huh?"
"You know," Danny heard his voice harden to a growl, "when your older sister threatens to expose your secret after she promised you she wouldn't."
A mixture of horror and guilt washed over her face at his words, and he almost felt sorry for her. He hated to see people look like she did at this moment. It reminded him of the time his father almost hit a deer in the road when he'd been younger.
"You mean...I..." she gulped.
"Yeah, basically," Danny heard himself say, but realized that he lacked the malice that had fueled his words before. He just couldn't stay angry at her when she did this.
"Oh, Danny," she blurted, biting her lip afterwards before continuing more slowly. "Danny, I am SO sorry! I was bluffing so you wouldn't use your powers."
It was Danny's turn to blink. "Bluffing?" he asked incredulously.
"Yes." She dropped her eyes and looked at the ground. "I would only ever consider telling Mom and Dad if I felt I had no other choice. I'm sorry. I really am.
"You see," she finally looked up slowly, meeting his eyes. "I'm so scared for you all of the time, and I'm just trying to look out for you. You're my little brother."
"Nosey and overprotective," Danny muttered with an involuntary smile. He suddenly felt cleaner, like he'd been pushed into a mud hole and then taken a shower.
"You said you wouldn't have it any other way," she pointed out with a slight blush.
The half-ghost couldn't help but laugh out loud. "I guess you're right."
"So, you forgive me?" she asked, a little too hopefully.
"Of course," he said as a warm smile crossed his face. Immediately, the same smile fell on hers.
"Thanks."
After a few minutes of silence, she cleared her throat. "So, it was Sam that set you off before this?"
"Yeah," Danny sighed and looked down. "And I think that's why I went after her too."
"What did she do to make you feel so betrayed?"
"What is it with people and what I feel?" Danny asked, throwing his hands into the air. Jazz just stared at him, so he sighed and went on. "She brought her journal to school. She writes everything in it...including my ghost stuff."
Jazz nodded knowingly. "And let me guess, someone got hold of it."
"Basically," he muttered darkly.
"Then it's a good thing it's Saturday tomorrow," she said, stifling a yawn.
"Why?"
"So you can talk with her as soon as possible."
"How did you know that's how I get over this?" he asked. "I never told you..."
Jazz laughed. "Danny, you are such a typical guy."
-----
Danny stood on Sam's front porch with his arm raised, poised to knock, like he had been for the last 7 minutes. He'd started to lose the feeling in that hand, and yet he couldn't bring himself to lower it, but neither could he bring himself to knock.
It's not as easy as it sounds,Allie's words floated across his mind. "She wasn't kidding," he muttered to himself. Here he stood at 9:30 on a Saturday morning, after a fitful night of sleep, and he couldn't help but realize how stupid he felt. What would he say? What would he do? Simply apologize and that would be that? How would she react? He'd never fought with her this badly before, so he couldn't even really guess.
"Danny," he looked over his shoulder at Jazz, who waited impatiently in her car. "You've been standing there for almost 10 minutes! I thought you said you were ready."
Danny sighed. "I am," he said, half to convince himself, half to convince her. If she noticed his uncertainty, she didn't comment on it. Instead, she simply sat back with an encouraging nod.
Just move your arm forward, Fenton. It's not that hard, he told himself silently, ignoring the other voice in the back of his mind, the one that laughed at him.
You can't do it, it taunted. You're too weak.
Do you ever shut up? Danny growled mentally. He only got a cruel laugh in response.
That's what gave him the motivation to knock loudly on the door.
"Danny," he heard Jazz behind him again, "It's a big house. Why don't you—" She stopped, her eyes focused past him.
He turned around to see Sam standing in the doorway, a blank look on her face except for her eyes. He'd seen her angry before, and he'd seen her upset…but none of those expressions touched what he could quite literally feel flowing off of her in waves. Suddenly, he wanted to be anywhere else but there.
"What do you want?" she asked in a voice that could have frozen a fire. He couldn't help but flinch at that.
"I-er-I…deserved that," he gulped as his hand unconsciously rose to rub the back of his neck. "Um…I don't blame you for being upset about last night, and…er…." Okay, that sounded lame, even to him. Well, if he couldn't get this out decently, he may as well just tell her everything.
He cleared his throat. "Well, I'mgoingallfunky'causeIhaveasoftspotandIreallyneedto-talktoyouifIeverwantittostopsopleasetellmethat you'll—"
"Danny," she interrupted, startling him. He looked up to see her roll her eyes. "Slow down."
"Oh," he chuckled nervously, realizing that if he didn't put his arm down, he'd rub his neck raw. "Sorry. I…" He paused and sighed. It had been hard enough to blurt out the first time. "How did she put it?" he muttered to himself.
"Who?" Sam asked.
"Allie," Danny said, biting his lip. "I…look. Every ghost has a weakness. They call it a 'soft spot'."
Sam looked confused. "Soft spot?"
"A subject no one touches on around that ghost, unless you want something like last night to happen." He realized that his hand had returned to the back of his neck, and forced it down to his side.
Sam unfolded her arms and looked at him again, as if seeing him in a new light. "So you…have one?" He nodded, refusing to meet her eyes, instead wondering if she had someone shine her boots, or did it herself to keep them looking as nice as they did. "So," he heard her continue, "why did you come after me?"
"Well." Dang it, did his hand have some sort of magnetism drawing it to the back of his neck? Why did he always do that when he felt nervous? "Well, the journal and—"
"That wasn't my fault!" she interjected, the look of anger again rushing over her features.
"Oh yeah?" Danny asked, looking up at her with glowing red irises. She couldn't help but back away a step, barely realizing he hadn't stopped talking. "Who took the journal to school in the first place?" Sam found herself lifting a finger to retort but he cut her off. "I thought you'd realize that my secret means a lot more than a little extra credit. A lot more."
She sat there with her mouth open, but couldn't think of anything to say. After a minute she watched his eyes fade to blue and he looked down, looking more disappointed than upset or embarrassed.
"Yeah," she started, trying to put some sort of intensity into her voice, "well I…er…" She faded off, leaving both of them in silence.
Danny couldn't look up at her, and he couldn't figure out why. Why did he feel so horrible? He shouldn't have burst out like that. He should have tried to stay calm, or come back later when she'd cooled down or—
"You're right, Danny." Her voice cut into his thoughts, causing his eyes to fly open in surprise. He still couldn't look up at her, but it was more out of shock than anything else. He had not expected this from her at this point. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I guess that because you've been able to keep your secret for so long…I never…well…" He looked up to see her biting her lip, obviously searching for the right words. "I never really thought that anything would happen. I always thought that it could…just that it never would.
"I felt horrible, and I still feel that way about the whole thing. That's why I was so mad at you for last night."
She looked up and met his shocked blue eyes, waiting for a response. When nothing came, she decided to say something to fix the uncomfortable silence.
"So…what exactly is your…er, weakness?"
Danny shook his head as if coming out of a daze and again opened his mouth. "Well I—" he started, but stopped when a bluish mist fogged the air in front of him. "No! I don't know if I can go ghost yet!"
"Well, how do you stop yourself from turning into…that?" she asked, still feeling more than a little awkward. Danny didn't notice.
"I have to talk to the person I feel betrayed me," he blurted, recalling his conversation with the ghost girl.
Sam's jaw went slightly slack as she looked at him. "Did you just…tell me how you feel?"
Danny looked around him uncomfortably. "Yeah…"
A smile flitted across her face. "How many girls did you have to talk to before you could say that?" Danny felt his face harden into a glare, but really he couldn't have felt more relieved as he watched her break into a laugh.
"Danny," she gasped after a second, "you are such a typical guy."
"Both Allie and Jazz told me that," he chuckled to himself, noting for the first time in a long time that the voice in the back of his head remained silent, although he could feel it sulking. That had to be a good sign.
"So, do you feel better now that we've talked?" she asked. He glanced back at her smiling face, and couldn't help but smile himself.
"Yeah. Yeah, I do!"
"Then let's go find that ghost!" She grinned and ran past him, grabbing his arm and pulling him down the steps after her, ignoring his cry of protest.
Jazz smiled as they approached her car. "Looks like everything went well. Welcome back," she winked at Sam.
"Um…we still don't know if that fixed the problem," Danny pointed out from behind Sam.
"Hmm," Jazz said thoughtfully, "you've got a point."
"Only one way to find out," Sam sighed and grabbed a thermos from Jazz's back seat. Danny wondered why she had a thermos in her back seat until Sam took the lid off and turned it on him.
Blinking, he jumped back. "Huh!"
"Go ghost," Sam shrugged.
"WHAT!" he yelped.
"Do you have a better idea?" Sam asked calmly. "I'll keep the thermos on so that no matter what, you can't hurt anyone."
"Great," Danny said dryly, crossing his arms. "So I either stay good, or get sucked into a thermos. Way to give support."
Sam shrugged apologetically, matching Jazz's own expression. With a sigh, Danny looked around to make sure no one could see him, and stuck his hands into the air.
"I'm going Ghost!"
-----
Sorry it took so long, but I want you all to know that I"m starting on the sequel to Brainwashed, going to school full time, working grave shift three to four nights a week, and...well...life is a bit hectic to say the least. ; I'm going to get my next chapter up as soon as my beta reader returns it (she promised it would be in the next few days, so yeah). :D
Thank you for sticking around for this long. :hug: It really means a lot to me.
