Author's Note: I have written worse than this fic but for some reason this one depresses me the most.

(after being) Condemned

"So? How'd it go?"

Dressed in a thin cotton shirt and pants that Jack normally would've found irresistibly sexy if he weren't so damn irritated, Maddie anxiously sat on the bed as she watched Jack change out of his own jumpsuit.

"Did you get Danny to say anything? Did he eat? Did he have fun?" Maddie combed a worried hand through her hair.

"It was fine," said Jack dully. "Danny had a great time looking at stars, and yes, he ate quite a bit. I even got him a milkshake. He drank it all."

"That's good." An unsure frown pulled at her expression. "But... Well, he still seems a little skittish. I mean, when he came home. He barely said anything about it, just insisted on going straight to bed."

"Yeah, well, it was a long drive, and it's late. I think we're both pretty tired," said Jack with a shrug as he pulled on his pajama pants. Keeping his back to Maddie, he scowled as he recalled the drive home and the conversation preceding it. His own son questioning his expertise, his own son suggesting that he didn't know what he was talking about, his own son defending his most hated ghost.

"Did he say anything about...you know?" asked Maddie.

Jack paused for just a moment but did not say anything even though he knew exactly what she was referring to.

"I mean, did you get him to open up about anything?" Maddie elaborated. "Did he tell you anything about what he wanted to talk to Tucker about Wednesday night?"

Jack finished getting dressed and stepped into the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth. "Uh, yeah," he said over the running faucet. "He said he wanted to talk to Tucker about...Sam."

"Sam?"

"Yeah. He said he's been thinking about her a lot lately and that he really likes her but he's not sure she likes him and so he wanted to talk to Tucker about it." Jack stuck his toothbrush in his mouth as an excuse to not say anything more. The paste foamed and bubbled over his tongue and gums as he aggressively scrubbed away the plaque and film build-up.

Maddie was quiet for some time. "That can't be all," she finally said. "That can't possibly be the only reason."

Jack continued brushing his teeth. Two minutes, that was the recommendation from the American Dental Association. One minute for each arch, thirty seconds for each side. He couldn't reply until he had thoroughly followed this strict rule.

Danny had told him there was more. While they were eating dinner. He had admitted that there was something else he wanted to say, something that had been going on since he started high school. He had declined to say what it was in that public setting, but he had promised to reveal it later in the privacy of the RV.

Jack had asked Danny about it while they were driving home, but the boy had once again sunk into his familiar timid and sullen mood and barely spoke at all. No matter how hard Jack pressed him for information, Danny only insisted that it was actually nothing and that he didn't want to talk about it anymore, that maybe he'd talk about it later but not right then.

Jack admittedly didn't try very long to get Danny to reveal anything and was content with spending the majority of the drive home in silence. He still couldn't believe that Danny would dare question his research and authority, that his own son opposed him on something so important to him.

He was done trying to figure Danny out. He had given it a very fair try, but he was just done now. If Danny wanted to keep his problems secret, then fine. Jack had his own problems to worry about, and Danny was old enough to take care of himself.

He was not happy with Danny right now.

But he couldn't let Maddie know that.

Jack spit in the sink and rinsed out his mouth before finally giving a reply. "Well, I guess you can try asking him yourself if you think there's more. But he seemed pretty open with me." Jack switched off the bathroom light and headed to his side of the bed. "He was actually decently chatty."

Maddie visibly perked up as Jack climbed into bed. She sidled up close to him. "Really? Was he really?"

Her eyes were glittering with hope. Jack smiled at the reaction.

"Yeah," he affirmed. "He told me about a lot of things, about the girl troubles he's had and some of the challenges he's had with school work. And of course, he talked my ear off about all the stars and planets."

"Girl troubles." Maddie's lips drew together with curiosity. "He talked to you about girls? Like girls other than Sam? What did he say?"

Jack didn't reply right away as he once again considered his next response. Sure, Danny apparently had his heart broken and was currently going through some inner turmoil with Sam. But that was normal. Nothing unique to him. Every teenager experienced those problems.

And he just wanted Maddie to stop worrying already. He wanted her to stop begging him to talk to their son. He wanted concerns about their son to stop dominating their conversations. He wanted to get back to his work, his ghost research.

All this getting worked up over Danny, he just wanted it to end already.

"Ah, you know," said Jack casually, dismissively. "He just hasn't had much luck with dating any girls, and this whole business with Sam has made him particularly nervous." He forced a small yawn. "Danny's fine, really. He's just a normal kid going through normal high school drama. I'm not worried about him at all."

Maddie's face melted into a small expression of relief. "Really? You think he's okay?"

"I do." Jack nestled himself down into the bed. "And I think as long as we continue to check up on him more often than we did before, he'll get through this."

Maddie smiled brightly. Exactly the response he was hoping to elicit. He had successfully done his job of being a caring father, and now maybe she'd let up on this whole ordeal with Danny.

And maybe she'd reward him for being such a good dad and hanging out with their son all night, too.

He switched off his bedside lamp and moved in closer to her, running his fingers along the side of her body and stopping at her hips. "What do you say we kick the weekend off right?"

Maddie's eyes lidded an affirmative. She turned back to switch off her own bedside lamp before returning to his embrace and placing a palm against his wide chest. "Mmm, but first, I have a cute story to tell you. About Jazz."

Jack smiled with pleasant surprise. "A cute story about Jazz? Haven't heard one of those since she was little."

"Both of our kids are still adorable. You just don't observe them as much as I do."

"Well, what's the story?"

Maddie bit the inside of her lip with a grin. "Okay, so while you two were gone at the observatory, Jazz and I decided to hang out, too."

"Girls' night. Sounds very cute so far."

"So we got dinner and did some shopping and then we came back home to watch a movie and we ended up talking about things."

"Things, huh?"

"Yeah, you know, like how she's excited to be graduating in a couple months and going off to college and how we're going to get her a new car for graduation."

"She'll definitely have earned it."

"Mmm hmm. Anyway, we started talking about her college thesis—you know, the one she told us about the other day—which naturally meant we started talking about ghosts."

He had been extremely proud of Jazz for deciding to write her thesis about ghosts, but now Jack tensed as he recalled his own conversation with Danny at the observatory that had also been about ghosts. Odd coincidence. Or was it a coincidence? Was a ghost somehow responsible for these parallel conversations? Ghosts were behind everything strange as far as he could tell.

"Ghosts?" he echoed simply, attempting to hide his suspicion.

"Yup. And of course we got to talking about Phantom because what ghost is more interesting than him, right?"

Jack restrained a scowl.

"And I was telling her the reason we're so interested in him is because he's so humanlike compared to other ghosts. I was telling her about how his emotions almost seem real and that's why so many people in our town just adore him. And she seemed really interested in that and started talking about how maybe his emotions are actually real and that he's not an imitation of a person but perhaps a real, genuine person." Maddie snorted. "And then—" She snorted again and broke into a fit of giggles.

"What?" asked Jack more impatiently than he meant to. Something about Phantom just—ah—really pissed him off. Even just talking about him.

Maddie took in a deep breath. "Well, she was just so insistent on defending him that I just had to ask if she had a crush on him. You know, like a bunch of silly girls her age do." Her grin looked set to break her face. "And she turned so red and couldn't even say anything else. It was just so cute."

Jack's expression hardened, but Maddie seemed too mirthful to notice as she started giggling again.

It was one thing when his son dared to defend Phantom—he was used to Danny disappointing him—but his daughter?

And his wife...

Jack studied Maddie with narrowed eyes as she laughed. Sure, his wife agreed that Phantom was only a simulation and not a real person with real feelings at all, but he knew she was just as obsessed with the roguish ghost boy as any other "silly" girl in this town.

"Ah, so, anyway, I think Jazz has a crush on Phantom." Maddie curled up against his chest. "And I guess I can't blame her. I mean, Phantom is pretty good-looking."

Jack's jaw clenched. He knew what his wife thought about Phantom and yet to hear her blatantly say it like this was causing all the veins in his head to bulge.

"I guess she has more in common with other girls than she thinks she does," said Maddie amusedly.

Jack's hands were no longer on her at all. "Yeah. I guess so."

Her fingers groped and prodded at his skin. "Well, anyway, thanks for taking Danny out tonight. That really meant a lot to me, and I'm so happy to hear that he had a good time and that you two were able to talk."

"Yeah. He had a great time."

Maddie hummed and placed her mouth against his. Jack could only bring himself to passively return the affection, could barely part his lips at all to meet her passion. He allowed her to take the lead, following her guidance, allowing her to stimulate him just enough so that he could work on autopilot and give her the thrill she demanded, his mind distracted long enough to bring his own gratification to burst.

But when she finally rolled away with a contented sigh and a happy smile, his temporary bliss was quickly replaced with the irritation that had been building before. No amount of serotonin and euphoric aftermath was enough to quell his frustration this time.

His wife dropped off into a tranquil sleep. He could tell by her steady breathing. But his mind was racing, far too disgruntled to give him any peace as he fumed in all sorts of positions.

He just couldn't stop thinking about him. That ghost. That Phantom.

What even was this power Phantom had? This power to steal hearts, ensnare sensibilities, drive everyone absolutely wild with lust for him? All while acting like the attention made him oh so shy and uncomfortable, which only made him even more irresistible to his fans.

His enchantment over the whole town had permeated his own family. This punk had a hold on his wife, his son, and his daughter? His wife was completely obsessed with him and surely wanted to experiment not just on but with him, his son was convinced that he was good and meant no harm to anyone, and his daughter was actually in love with him?

Unacceptable.

He couldn't let this ghost get away with bewitching his family.

Phantom had to be eliminated.