Author's Note: This is the first chapter that was shorter than its counterpart from Disparaged, and that's only because there's one less meaningful conversation here than in the original. I guess these chapters are generally longer because Jack's character and his relationship with Danny is not as established as Maddie's and her relationship with Danny, so it takes me longer to write it all out.
(after being) Condemned
Dinner was fantastic. Jack would say Maddie outdid herself this time except everything she prepared was always this amazing. He ate heartily, happily. Heavenly.
Jazz was talking, discussing all the details of her latest research endeavors. And lately, all her research involved ghosts! His favorite subject! He loved hearing all of her theories and ideas, even the crazy ones that gave him a chance to debate with her. She usually focused on ghost psychology and human psychology related to ghosts, aspects that he himself had not delved into too much.
She used to hate ghosts. But at some point over a year ago, she became very interested in them. He had no idea why the sudden change, but he wasn't about to question it. He just couldn't be more pleased. He could always count on his daughter to make him proud.
"I think that's something Mom and I could probably investigate more thoroughly," said Jack, keeping a bite in his cheek as he spoke.
Jazz brightened, perked. "Really?"
"Sure! We could, right, Mads?"
Maddie smiled affectionately at their daughter. "Definitely! It's a very interesting idea."
Jazz's shoulders raised in excitement. "Wow, then maybe I could get started on my college thesis early!"
"You want to write about ghosts?" Jack leaned in toward her eagerly.
"Of course! There's not much out there about them right now apart from what you two have published. I want to continue the family legacy!"
Jack beamed at her. A family of ghost researchers. Perfect. Him and Maddie and Jazz—
—and—?
He turned his attention to Danny, whose head was down as he ate. Or while he moved his fork around, anyway. His plate was still pretty full even after all this time. But how could he possibly not want to scarf down this delicious food? It was steak night!
"What about you, Danny?" asked Jack, cutting off another piece of meat and popping it into his mouth.
Danny's head shot up, his fork falling out of his hand and onto his plate. "What?" he gasped out.
Jack quirked a brow in amusement. Across the table, Maddie stuck out her bottom lip and studied their son intently.
"Our family legacy. Are you going to uphold it, too? Like Jazz?" asked Jack.
Danny was still for a couple very quiet seconds. "Ah... Yeah, sure." The corners of his mouth twitched up and out. "Our... Our legacy, of course."
His strange smile widened, weakened. Nothing was said by anyone for a moment.
"Danny, you feeling okay?" Maddie's forehead creased. "You've barely touched your food."
"Oh, sorry." Danny promptly jabbed a large bite into his mouth. He almost comically chewed, audibly gagged behind closed lips.
"Sweetheart, careful, don't choke." Maddie placed a hand on his back. "You didn't answer my question. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Do you want me to make you something else?"
"No, no. This is great. Really."
Jack sighed to himself as Maddie continued to fuss over their son amidst his bleats. She didn't need to fret and worry like this, though. Danny was just still feeling uncomfortable about being caught sneaking out the night before, about being lectured and punished, about getting his phone taken away. He was fine. He just needed time to get over it.
After dinner, Jack rinsed off his dishes and handed them to Jazz to load into the dishwasher.
"You gonna work in the lab tonight, Dad?" asked Jazz.
"Yup. Your mother and I have a lot of unfinished work." Jack placed forks in the washer. "But I can help you out real quick."
Once the dishes were loaded, they entered the living room together. Jack paused when he saw Maddie. He had expected her to have gone down to the lab already.
And across from her, even stranger, Danny stared at her, an uneasy silence hanging between them. Jack looked from one to the other but could not decipher this tension between them.
"Everything okay?" he asked.
Danny's posture jerked as his eyes snapped to his father. "Fine," he said quickly. "Everything's fine, Dad."
Maddie raised a loose fist to her mouth. She looked at Jack briefly before turning back to Danny.
"Do you want to borrow my compass, Danny?" asked Jazz, moving in between Danny and Maddie.
Danny turned to the table set up for his computer while Jazz continued to ask about his homework. But Maddie remained where she was, staring at him.
"Mads?" Jack came up behind her. "Should we finish up our work for the night?"
"Sure," said Maddie distantly, her eyes still on Danny even as Jack led her to the basement door. She was definitely still worried about him. But as for Jack, he was done with Danny for the night, for the whole day. Their son had consumed Maddie's and his own thoughts for far too long now. He just wanted some alone time with his wife that didn't include discussion about Danny.
Drafts. Theories. Tests. He dove into his work, his mind stimulated by his greatest passion, ghosts. He was going to figure them out one of these days. He just needed to conduct more experiments, needed to invent more devices, capture more specimens.
And with his wife's remarkable and super sexy intelligence, they were unstoppable, they were—
"Jack," said Maddie suddenly.
He continued with his measurement, unable to take his eyes off his work lest he lose track of what he was doing. "Need something, Mads?"
"Can we talk about Danny?"
"Haven't we talked about him enough?"
"Well, it's just... Doesn't he seem kind of odd?"
"He might have inherited some eccentricities from his parents, yes."
"No, I mean since last night. And today. This morning. At dinner." Maddie crossed her arms and leaned back against a counter. "He's been acting strange."
"Well, he did just get caught sneaking out, and then we had to lecture him about it. He's always been kind of sensitive."
Indeed, their son certainly possessed a timid nature, a characteristic that often robbed him of self-esteem and prevented him from being able to assert or defend himself, a trait that had the golden effect of drawing sympathy but the detrimental effect of attracting harassment. Jack knew this all too well about Danny, had had to many times apologize to Danny for unintentional slights and teasing that went too far, often at Maddie's insistence. He had always been sure that Danny would toughen up as he got older, but he seemed to have only gotten worse in the past couple years. Teenagers, huh? Maybe when he became an adult, then.
"I've never seen him like this before," said Maddie. "This is different, Jack."
Jack sighed loudly and set down his work very deliberately. Danny again. What a surprise. He turned to face Maddie fully. "All right, I'm listening. What are you thinking?"
Maddie scrunched her mouth for a brief moment. "Well… He seems very apprehensive. You've noticed, right? And he hardly ate anything at dinner. Well, not willingly, anyway. And you know he only does that when he's depressed or anxious."
"He does seem kind of uncomfortable, yes, but again, I think it's just a reaction to being in trouble."
"No, Jack. I know how he is when he's in trouble, and this really is different."
"How so?"
"He seems...afraid."
Jack cocked a brow.
"This just seems like more than discomfort or embarrassment or guilt." Maddie looked down, tapped her fingers against her crossed arms. "It seems more like fear."
"And what do you think he's afraid of?"
Maddie slowly raised her eyes to him. "Well... It kind of seems like he's afraid of you."
Jack stared at her incredulously. "Afraid of me?" He glanced up at the ceiling, around the lab, unsure how to process this conjecture, this accusation. "What could possibly make you think that? I didn't do anything to him."
"I'm not saying you did."
"Then why do you think he's afraid of me?"
"I don't know how else to explain it. But I've noticed it since last night."
"Noticed what?"
Maddie looked away from him with a sigh. "He just seems on edge whenever you talk to him."
"Why would he be on edge?"
"I don't know, Jack," moaned Maddie. "I really don't know what's going on with him, but I've just noticed that he tenses or jumps whenever you say something to him."
"Is that somehow my fault?"
Maddie bit the inside of her lip.
"I haven't done anything to him, Maddie."
"What about the way you talked to him last night? And this morning at breakfast?"
Jack loudly huffed. "Okay, yeah, I was kind of short with him. But then I was completely sensitive and patient with him when we talked after he got home from school. And I was very nice to him at dinner." He threw up a frustrated hand. "And you don't honestly think me snapping at him a few times would make him afraid of me, do you?"
Maddie looked off to the side in quiet contemplation. Jack narrowed his eyes at her.
"I don't know," she finally said. "But can you please go and talk to him?"
Jack glanced at the stairs leading out of the basement. "Right now?"
"Yes."
"And what do you want me to say? You want me to just ask him why he's afraid of me?"
"No, of course not. Just see how he acts, try to get some sort of clue. Or try to get him to open up to you. Please, Jack?"
Jack kept his gaze hard.
"I'm really worried about him. Please do this for me."
Jack glared at her a few moments more. "Fine." He briskly moved past her toward the stairs. She called out a "thank you" behind him, but he didn't acknowledge it.
What a waste of his time. He had so much work to do. Danny was just fine. He could deal with the aftermath of being in trouble on his own. And he should deal with it on his own. How else did Maddie expect him to grow up already? She was always babying him, always going so easy on him. She was even going to make him something entirely new for dinner just to get him to eat!
But whatever. Fine. He'd talk to Danny. For her.
Upstairs, Danny hunched over the table he and Maddie had set up for his computer, his head lowered as his pen scribbled and scurried. He entered something into his calculator, returned to writing. Jack watched him in silence from the basement doorway for some time, his muscles unclenching, his posture relaxing.
Danny was doing his homework right here in the living room. Just like he had been told to. He was certainly a good kid at the end of the day. Shy and nervous, kind of a slacker at times, often in his own world, but he was also obedient and honest and…
His son.
He and Danny didn't have a whole lot in common. Jack was towering and large, Danny was narrow and small. Jack could eat his weight in fudge, Danny actually forgot to eat some days. Jack had been popular in high school, Danny had a total of only two friends. Jack used to go on dates with different girls all the time, Danny couldn't even work up the nerve to ask out the goth girl he had known for years and years and was crushing hard on. Jack wasn't even sure if Danny really liked fishing or if he went on all those fishing trips just to make him happy.
But he was still his son. His only son. He didn't always understand what was going on in that boy's head, but as far as kids went, Danny was a great one.
Jack approached him. "Hey, Danny."
Danny immediately straightened, turned to Jack with wide eyes, leaned away from him, looking almost as if he could fall out of his chair.
Jack's brow furrowed in bewilderment as he stared down at Danny, thinned his lips in offense. This reaction, really? After all the nice things he had just been thinking about Danny, this was what he got? An affirmation that Maddie was right?
"What?" asked Jack irritably. "What's the matter with you?"
A beat. Danny returned to sitting upright in his chair. "Sorry," he said quietly. "You startled me. I was just really focused, I guess."
Jack glared at him for another beat before softening his expression. "What are you working on?"
"Physics." Danny gestured to his textbook. "Physics problems take forever."
Jack chortled. "Do you need any help?" He proudly pointed to himself. "You've got a physics expert right here, you know."
"I think I'm okay. But thanks."
Jack looked over the page of calculations Danny had scrawled. "Have you been doing better in physics lately? I know you struggled with it during the first semester."
"Um, yeah, I think so." Danny also looked down at the homework he had completed so far. "It makes a lot more sense to me now. And I've been working really hard at it. I mean, I'm probably going to be studying it in college, so…"
"Oh? You're going to major in physics?"
"Well, I kind of have to. If I want to get into astronomy." Danny shrugged and turned to his computer. "I did a lot of research, and everyone says physics is the best degree for a career in astronomy."
"You still want to be an astronaut, huh?"
Danny's shoulders raised, a blush spreading across his face. "Well... I mean, I'd still love to be an astronaut, sure, but I'm trying to be more realistic." He looked up at Jack with a shy smile. "Actually getting out into space is tough. And I guess I just don't want to be disappointed." He looked down at his homework again. "Especially considering my grades now. I've gotta do way better in college."
"Yeah. College is the real deal. One screw-up can really hold you back." Jack gave him a fond smile. "But you'll do fine. You're a Fenton, after all."
Danny returned the smile feebly and looked back down at his homework. Jack watched his son's eyes forlornly scan his attempts to solve assigned physics problems. How he wished he could just leave now, give Danny a couple pats on the shoulder and wish him a good night and tell him not to stay up too late.
But Maddie was counting on him to figure out what was going on with their son.
He glanced around the room for another chair he could pull up to the table. None. Maybe he could kneel? No, that would just make Danny feel patronized. Being so tall certainly had its advantages, but he needed to be as close to eye level with Danny as possible right now.
"Hey, Danny," began Jack tentatively. "Could you come sit with me on the couch?"
Danny looked up at him in alarm, his eyes darting to the couch for a brief second. "Why? Did I do something?"
Jack suppressed an eye twitch. Was Maddie right? Was Danny afraid of him? "I just want to talk."
He gestured toward the couch and gave Danny space to stand. Danny studied the couch with glazed focus before slowly rising. Jack placed a hand on his far shoulder to guide him. Danny tensed but did not pull away. Side by side, they sat quietly, not looking at each other. Jack's hand was still on his shoulder. He considered what to do next. Pull him closer?
He opted to let go of his son altogether. Danny's back muscles seemed to unwind.
"Danny, um…" Jack tapped his gloved fingers together a couple times. "I know last night and this morning were kind of rough between us. But I want you to know that I'm not mad at you."
Danny's brow creased, but he said nothing.
"I admit I was kind of cross with you for sneaking out and worrying your mother so much that she insisted we go out and look for you. And honestly, I didn't mind going out to look for you. It's just... Something happened last night because of it."
Jack paused, chewed the inside of his cheek in thought. How much should he tell Danny about last night?
He looked over at his son. He appeared tense again, tiny trembles visible in the veins in his hands.
"It's really okay, Danny," said Jack cautiously. "It's nothing you need to be concerned about."
Right. Danny didn't need to know about his encounter with Phantom. Danny didn't need to know just how much Jack wanted to shred that punk into ectoplasmic segments, separate every single one of his molecules so they could never join together again. Danny didn't need to know that Maddie was obsessed with that cocky brat for some reason and that Jack sometimes had to wonder if her intentions toward Phantom were not all entirely scientific.
"I just really want you to know that I'm not mad at you," said Jack again, more seriously this time. He studied his son, debating if he should ease into the point or not.
Perhaps it would be best to just get it out there.
"I've noticed that you've been...kind of on edge around me since last night."
Danny's head lowered. "I—that's not—I've just been—I just have a lot on my mind."
"Well, that's obvious," said Jack somewhat playfully. "So much that you had to sneak out to talk to someone about it."
Danny's head drooped even more. "I really am sorry, Dad."
"I know you are. But you did what you did, and it can't be changed now." Jack patted his back. "But you know you can talk to me and your mom, right? Even if it's the middle of the night. We're here."
"I know, but... I didn't want to bother you guys."
"Well, we'd really rather you bother us than sneak out of the house." Jack smiled kindly at him. "But it wouldn't be a bother to us. You are not a bother to us, Danny."
"It's just... You both work so hard. And I know I already give you so much trouble. My teachers calling or e-mailing you about my poor attendance or grades…"
"Hey, you're doing fine, Danno. Mom and I know you're trying your best."
"I just... I'm sorry I'm not more like Jazz."
Jack stared at his son, at a sudden loss for words.
"Jazz is so much smarter than me and never does anything wrong and her teachers are all crazy about her while I...I just keep screwing up." Danny rubbed his arm. "And I know sorry isn't enough, but I am sorry and I am trying. I'm trying my best, just like you said." He sighed. "But I know my best isn't very good."
Jack cocked his head in an attempt to get Danny to look at him, but his son kept his head low. What could he say? Jazz was more intelligent and accomplished and well-behaved than Danny was. Jazz was most certainly on a path headed for success while Danny was on a path that didn't seem headed anywhere in particular.
And Jazz would certainly never sneak out or deliberately break any of their parental rules.
But Danny wasn't Jazz, and he never would be. Jack simply couldn't hold his son to the same standards as his daughter.
"Mom and I don't want you to be like Jazz," said Jack gently. "One Jazz is enough. We don't need another."
Danny didn't move.
"And your best is great."
A response. A frail smile. But Danny still wouldn't look at him. Jack held in a groan. "Danny, what's on your mind?"
Danny straightened and turned to face him. He now wore a smile much stronger, broader. "I'm fine, really. I just feel bad about last night. I keep thinking about it."
Jack nodded in understanding. This was exactly what he had been trying to tell Maddie. See? He was right. Danny was fine, just reacting normally to the disturbance from last night. He just needed time.
Afraid of him. No way. Danny wasn't afraid of him. Danny was just acting accordingly in response to his father's familial authority.
"Well, Mom and I appreciate you being so mature about all this," said Jack. He motioned back to the table-turned-desk. "How much homework do you have left?"
"Not too much. I'll probably be done in like half an hour."
"All right." Jack stood, Danny following suit. "You sure you don't need any help?"
"No, I got it. Thanks, though."
"Give me a holler if you do need help. I'll be in the lab."
One last look, one final glance. Danny was the first to break eye contact and return to his work. Jack watched him for a moment before heading back to the basement—
Wait, fudge, that sounded like a good idea.
A quick trip to the kitchen, and then he was heading to the basement for real whistling a tune he knew he had heard on the radio recently but couldn't remember when or even what it was.
"Well?" Maddie anxiously wrung her hands. "How'd it go? What'd he do? What'd he say?"
Jack chuckled. "You don't know? I thought for sure you'd be listening at the basement door."
"Ah, well... I tried, but I couldn't hear well enough." She took his hand in hers. "You seem happy. Does this mean it went okay?"
"It went great." Jack wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her head. "It's exactly what I told you. Danny just feels bad about what he did. He'll be back to his old self once this all blows over."
"You sure that's it? Is that what he told you?"
"Yes. And I apologized for the way I talked to him before, too. I think he'll be just fine now."
"Oh, thank you, Jack."
Maddie hugged him tight, buried her face in his chest. Jack affectionately stroked her hair, her back, rested his hand right above her hips, started moving lower—
"Did you talk about anything else?" asked Maddie, pressing her chin against him so that she was staring straight up into his face. "I mean, did he give any hints about why he went to talk to Tucker?"
Jack moved his hands back up to her shoulders. "Well, he definitely still has all of the same self-esteem problems. He thinks he's a disappointment to us, especially compared to Jazz." He looked up the basement stairs. "I don't know if that's what's been troubling him or not, but it certainly hasn't been getting any better."
Maddie sighed loudly. "I keep thinking of having him see a therapist, but... I don't know. I don't want him to think that we think there's something wrong with him." She hugged Jack closer. "That certainly wouldn't help his self-esteem."
"We'll just need to find ways to show him that we're proud of him just the way he is."
Jack patted her back again, hoped this could finally put her mind at ease, at least for the rest of the night. He really just wanted this to be done already. No more talking or fretting about Danny, please.
He headed back to his work station, refreshed his memory as to what he was doing before.
"Jack."
He groaned. What now?
She sidled up to him, placed her hands on his face and pulled it close. Relieved, elated, he pressed his mouth to hers and gulped her in.
"Thank you so much for doing that for me," she murmured into him.
Jack grinned and tightened his hold on her.
No doubt more serious talks about their son were in the future, probably even tomorrow, but for now, his wife was in his arms and against his body, and he intended to keep it that way for as long as he could.