Eventually the silence of the lab grew stale and more restricting as Fenton watched the swirl of the portal, dread balling in his gut.

"Do you wanna go upstairs? We have homework to work on." Phantom suggested, breaking the silence.

Homework? How was he supposed to work on homework at a time like this? But what else could he do but wait and give his parents time to talk? Wordlessly, Fenton nodded.

Giving his human a kind smile, Phantom floated up the stairs with Fenton trailing after. They entered the kitchen and crossed the living room, passing the hallways that led to their parent's bedroom. Frantically hushed voices drifted through the hall. He couldn't make out words but….the tone, the tension, it sent shivers up the human's spine.

Phantom paused, face marred with almost fearful anxiety. Fenton knew what he was worrying about. How could he not when Phantom was him? Those were his own fears. He wanted to comfort the ghost but couldn't.

Instead, Fenton grabbed his ghost's elbow. "Come on. That homework isn't going to do itself."

Phantom let himself be moved and the two returned to the bedroom. With an annoyed groan, Fenton lifted his bookbag onto the bed. "So there's the math packet, an essay for English, and vocab for Biology." He pulled the books out of the bag. "Do you want to divide it up?"

The ghost floated into a sitting position, hovering over the bed. "Sure. I'll take the math and bio. You can do the essay."

"The essay. Really?" Fenton complained. "I'd rather do anything else."

Phantom crossed his arms, raising one brow. "Neither of us want to do any of this. And we're the same person. So why does it matter who does what?"

The human Danny sighed. "You have a point." With that he grabbed the book Lancer had assigned and some paper. After taking a seat at the desk, the human started on the paper while his ghost plopped on the bed with the math textbook.

Dividing the work wasn't the best idea to get the homework done faster. Fenton couldn't focus on the question Mr. Lancer assigned him to answer. He'd read the book, he had and understood it pretty well. He even thought it wasn't that bad, bleak and not very exciting but it had some interesting concepts. But he couldn't seem to form any coherent thoughts long enough to explain them on paper.

And he wasn't sure whether the lack of focus was from worrying about Mom and Dad's reactions or the general spaciness he'd had since going through the ghost catcher. Probably a bit of both.

"I hate math." Phantom's annoyed muttering cut through Fenton's unproductive thoughts. "I can't even figure out where to start." The ghost waved his hands around his head before putting a hand on his forehead. "My head's just….swimming."

Fenton raised a brow. So it wasn't just him. He stood up from the chair and stretched. "Why don't I take a look?"

The ghost blinked up at him before shrugging. "Sure. Why not?"

His human half flopped onto the bed and looked over the paper with a frown. He pointed. "I think...you have to cross multiply first for this one." He picked up the pencil and started jotting down the numbers. He stuck out his tongue in thought. "Then you…"

"Subtract from both sides." Phantom continued.

"Right." Fenton scribbled down the work. "And then you divide each side by 4."

The ghost nodded. "That leaves X squared equals 25. So you…."

"Take the square root of both sides." Both Dannys said at the same time, eyes lighting up with realization as Fenton wrote the answer.

His ghost half frowned down at the paper. "That was...actually really easy. Easier than normal."

Human Danny grinned. "You know what they say, two heads are better than one."

"Oh har, har. Two heads." Phantom's amused chiding ended as his eyes widened. "Two heads...Are we like smarter now, 'cause...you know?"

Fenton wrinkled his nose. "I don't think so?"

"But that was a lot easier than normal. And how did you know something that I didn't?" Ghost Danny questioned.

"Well, we went over a problem like that in class on Friday. And you weren't there, obviously." He blushed when the ghost narrowed his eyes at him. "I maybe should have said that when we were dividing up the work."

"Yay think?" Phantom crossed his arms. "Do you want to switch assignments?"

The human shook his head. "How about we talk through the math together instead?"

Phantom's eyes softened. "Yeah. It was easier to work on it together. We can talk through the essay after."

Fenton sighed. "Don't remind me. I still have to finish that stupid paper."

The ghost rolled his eyes but said nothing through his mock annoyed but fond smile. Instead he pointed at the next problem and they got started.

The homework went much faster after that, even the dreaded essay. The human Danny should have figured that though. As he'd been seeing, things were better if he worked with his ghost half, instead of against him, or even just independently. That was not the only consideration either. Talking through the work seemed to do wonders as the two halves conducted a verbal tennis match and built ideas through the conversation. There was a lot of quick typing and cutting and pasting as they built the paper.

"We should keep doing this, after we re-fuse." Phantom commented, earning a raised eyebrow from his human half.

"How exactly are we supposed to be in two places at once? Do we have some cool duplication power you haven't said anything about yet?" Fenton said, only somewhat sarcastically.

Ghost Danny rolled his eyes. "I don't mean like that. I mean...talking through the homework out loud. Instead of trying to fit everything in our head." He pointed at his own white haired head.

"Okay. That's a good idea." Fenton conceded.

And it was. They weren't smarter, didn't magically know more because there were two of him. But talking through everything made Fenton feel smarter, made him realize things he wouldn't have if the thought just stayed clashing against each other and unspoken in his head.

The math, biology, and essay done, Fenton hit save on the word document before emailing it to himself to print at school tomorrow. He leaned back in the desk chair, feeling satisfied; not even 6 yet and he was done.

He grinned at his other half. "So do you wanna watch a movie or…?"

He never finished the question as Jazz's voice echoed in the hallway. "Danny, do you know what's up with Mom and Dad? They're acting really….weird." At the last word, she swung the door open, bursting into the room before either Danny could say anything. "Danny?" Slightly fearful, wide eyes flitted between the human and ghost for an instant before rolling back in her head and she fainted.

"Jazz!" Two voices yelled in alarm.

In a flash, Phantom phased through the bed and flew to Jazz's side. He caught her before she hit the ground. His eyes widened in shock. "Shoot. We didn't even think about Jazz."

With the worries of telling their parents, Jazz had completely slipped his mind, especially since she never seemed to be home. From his human half's worried expression, the ghost could tell he was thinking the same thing.

Fenton, who'd shot up from his chair panickedly when Jazz burst into the room, bit his lip. "I guess...we'll talk to her after she wakes up then."

Phantom nodded. "Let's take her to her room then."

The ghost carried the girl across the hallway, to her room with his human following after. He laid her on the bed. Fenton pulled her desk chair to the side of the bed while Phantom floated nervously on the other side. The human put his head in his hands. "I can't believe she fainted."

Phantom chose not to comment, instead studying Jazz with a worried expression. She'd fainted, as soon as she saw him. Was it the shock of seeing a ghost? Or had she realized who he actually was and was shocked at seeing two of her brother? He frowned; it was probably the first option. Great, did that mean his own sister was afraid of him? And another thing…

Worry knotted his gut. He looked up, meeting his human half's eyes. "She said Mom and Dad were acting weird. Do you think…." He trailed off, fears resurfaced. He'd grown almost pleasantly distracted working with his human self on the homework. He bit his lip. "Do you think Mom's still upset?"

Her shocked, tear stained face flashed in his memory. Seeing her that upset shook him. Was she just upset because of what she did in ignorance? Making the portal and the ghost catcher. Calling him names, chasing him, shooting him. Part of him wanted to be angry about that and knew he had a right to be but….mostly it just hurt.

And Mom had been so angry when she learned that they'd lied to her before the ghost catcher. Even Dad had suggested….Phantom shivered...fixing them. He swallowed. It was ridiculous; they called him son, their Danny. But what if they thought they were wrong? "What...what if they still reject me?" He whispered.

Fenton's eyes turned hard as he shook his head. "No. They...they can't...they won't after I finally...I just started…." His shoulders tensed. "If...if they won't accept my ghost half, then...they lose their son completely."

Phantom's lips turned down. "But they'll still love you. You're human."

"If they wouldn't love all of us, human and ghost, I don't want half hearted, conditional love." The ghost could almost feel his human's heart (his heart) breaking at the thought. "I'm not their son, not Danny without you. So if they won't have you, then they won't have me."

Ghost Danny's core pulsed sadly, his mouth opening and closing but he couldn't think of a response. On one hand, they didn't even know what Mom and Dad were thinking. Maybe they would accept them and they'd be able to re-fuse soon. But….Fear subtly perforated. Fear of being rejected even after Mom and Dad called Phantom their son. And if they do accept, Fear of their parents seeing him, them differently now- inhuman, subhuman, diseased. Would they see him, the ghost half, as a disability? Something, if not to be cured, to be controlled and suppressed.

Human Danny put his head in his hands. "Why didn't I just tell them about being half ghost before? Why did I even split us? None of this would have happened if I hadn't done that."

Phantom's head whipped up, a spike of guilt wafting off of the human. Was Fenton really still so guilty about that after last night? He frowned at the emotion before trying to comfort him. "It wasn't only-"

"Danny!" Jazz suddenly sitting up cut off the statement. She looked between the two, before paling and pointing at Phantom. "You're….you're a..a ghost."

Phantom blinked, disbelievingly. He wasn't sure whether he should be disappointed or annoyed. So he opted for an appropriate little brother-ish middle. Putting his hands forward as if they were claws, he kept his expression neutral, unimpressed. "Boo."

Jazz's eyes widened comically and just like that, the tense air in the room broke as Fenton snickered. "You got it in one."

"But...but...ghosts are real?" Jazz stuttered.

"You literally saw me use ghost powers before the ghost catcher." Fenton quipped flatly.

"That was ectoplasmic contamination." The girl crossed her arms, matter of factly.

"That was me." Phantom said, raising his hand; he was the ghost powers after all.

Their sister's expression hardened. "You're the ghost, Mom and Dad were ranting about overshadowing Danny." Her eyes narrowed before widening in confusion a second later. "Why do you look like Danny?"

Phantom tilted his head, addressing his other half. "How did she pick up on that in like ten seconds when it took Mom and Dad like ten minutes of interrogating me?" Maybe interrogating wasn't really the right word, but he didn't really feel like telling Jazz about Mom and Dad yelling and pointing a gun at him, not yet anyway.

"Mom and Dad know about you! How are you not in a cage?" Phantom shuddered, trying to not think about that. "Wait...who even are you? Why were you possessing my brother?"

"Jazz, hold up." Fenton interrupted, putting his hands in a time-out position. "There was no overshadowing. He's me."

Jazz blinked, jaw falling open but she said nothing.

The human Danny continued. "Danny Fenton." He pointed to himself. "Danny Phantom." He pointed to the ghost who waved with a small grin.

After a second, Jazz turned towards the ghost. "Danny?" She questioned, voice raising in disbelief.

"Hi Jazz." Phantom replied.

"Danny. You're Danny. But." She turned her head to face his human half. "You're Danny."

The ghost's smile fell, the words reminding him eerily of what Mom had said. But the other Danny continued undaunted. "Yeah. We're both Danny." He motioned between himself and his ghost. "We're literally the same person."

"But….how?" Jazz questioned, her voice not skeptical but confused, curious. A welcomed change from Mom and Dad's more skeptical attitude.

"The ghost catcher." Fenton said.

Jazz raised a brow, eagerly. "Tell me everything."

It was surprisingly easy to tell Jazz about the ghost catcher and how Fenton and Phantom realized they were two halves of one whole Danny, barring some of the more emotional details about Danny accepting his ghost powers.

Jazz rested her hand on her chin. "You were one person, my brother Danny. But the ghost catcher split you into two different people."

"No! Yes!" Fenton exclaimed at the same time, Phantom. "Yes! No!"

Then both at once. "It's complicated."

Jazz's eyes widened at the dual speech as Phantom put a hand through his hair. "It's like...we're not really one person."

"But we're not two people either." Fenton continued. "We're...connected. But there's... gaps where there shouldn't be."

The girl tapped her head. "Two different perspectives. Different personalities?" She frowned, seemingly musing to herself. "Some kind of dissociative identity disorder?"

"Ummm I don't think-" Phantom started.

"Alters can't normally communicate directly. Were you having black outs before?" Their sister tilted her head.

"Jazz, I don't think psychology can explain this." Fenton said. "It happened artificially."

"Yeah. Even if it hadn't, I don't think modern human psychology could help." Phantom motioned to himself. "We're not even human."

"At least not completely." Fenton added, though he looked slightly flustered with the statement.

Jazz blinked, her expression turning troubled. "Not….human? But…" She trailed off, now staring at Phantom who blushed, uncomfortable with the attention. The girl frowned. "You're a ghost...that..that means….you…"

She couldn't finish the statement but from the tension in her shoulders, the turn of her lips, the tear collecting in the corner of her eye, he knew it had finally hit her.

"Yeah." Fenton replied, looking at Phantom kindly but sadly. "I….well you know how someone becomes a ghost."

Death. His death. It always came back to that, didn't it? In some ways, that knowledge was more painful than that he was a ghost, because he'd had no choice but to acknowledge that after coming out of the ghost catcher, but dying…..was that something he'd ever get over? Should he even get over that?

Jazz's lip trembled. "Danny...you." She quickly looked between the two. "I...I...I don't even know how to process that. The portal….Mom and Dad's stupid invention. It really…..And then they… And there's two of you now." She sniffled, blinking at Phantom. "They...they were ranting about how they shot you. Are you okay?"

The sudden question startled the ghost. "Yeah. The burn wasn't that bad, already healed."

She shook her head. "No, not that. Well, that as well. But with everything. The accident, splitting, Mom and Dad. Are both of you...or... all of you okay?"

How to answer that… the two Dannys glanced at each other. "Ummmm." Phantom bit his lip.

"Of course not." Jazz kept rambling. "Of course you're not okay. I can't even imagine how confusing this is. And...dy...dying...turning into a ghost. That's…..And then this."

The ghost took a breath, finally deciding to cut into her rant. "It's….a lot but…" He met his human half's blue eyes. "We're working through it."

"That's good. Being able to talk to yourself like this…." A complicated expression crossed her face, fearful concern with a tiny dash of scientific curiosity. Once she calmed down, she'd definitely interrogate them about what being split was like mentally. As annoying as the prospect was, Phantom couldn't really blame her; the psychology loving part of her must be having a conniption.

But the sisterly concern was winning out right now. After a moment, she leaned forward and put one arm around each Danny so they were in a three person group hug. "I love you, little brother."

"Love you, too." Both boys muttered.

She pulled away, before taking Phantom's hands and studying him, her expression teary eyed but kind. "Danny I…..I want you to know….you're not any lesser because of what you are."

The ghost blinked, startled by the sudden change in topic. "What?"

"Something you said earlier. And….I know how you think."

"Because you like to study me with your psychology." He quipped, part legitimately annoyed, part sarcastic.

She rolled her eyes. "Because I'm your sister."

That immediately drained the annoyance as he became serious. She was his sister; though they weren't as close now as they'd been when they were little, she did know him. In some ways, different ways better than Sam and Tucker. His lips turned down. "Yeah."

Jazz frowned. "It's just….I know what Mom and Dad say about ghosts, but they're clearly wrong."

Phantom nodded, feeling relieved. He already knew that intimately; he could think and feel just like he had as a full human before the accident. He'd heard it from his friends and even his other self. But hearing that from his sister was like a breath of fresh air.

She leaned forward and pulled him into another hug. "You're still you. And that's what matters."

He relaxed into the hug. It felt...special, important. A hug meant specifically for her brother's ghost half. Saying that she wanted to understand and accept that part of him. "Thanks Jazz."

He meant it completely. As nosy and annoying as she could be, Jazz was also understanding and compassionate. A good sister. Someone he could rely on; maybe he should have earlier.

Ghost Danny pulled away after a moment, smiling at his sister softly as she smiled back. They stayed like that for a few moments until Jazz turned towards the other Danny. "That was for you too. I...don't really understand this. But you're my brother no matter what or who you are."

The human half-smiled. "Really Jazz? Admitting you don't understand something?"

She scoffed. "I'm not too proud to admit what's going on here is far beyond anything I have experience with. I didn't even believe in ghosts until thirty minutes ago."

Phantom raised an eyebrow, amused. "But you boo-lieve in me now?"

Fenton snorted. "I think it ghosts without saying."

"Oh stop it." Jazz waved a hand.

"Come on. These puns are ghoul-den." The ghost grinned, white teeth sparkling.

"Positively spooktacular." His human finished and both laughed.

Jazz rolled her eyes, though she couldn't hide her smile. "I don't think I'll ever get used to this."

"Hopefully you won't have to." Fenton said.

"Oh you're going to give up the puns then?" Jazz raised a brow.

"Never." The human quipped somewhat jokingly before his smile fell into something more neutral. "I mean, hopefully you won't have to get used to there being two of me."

Phantom nodded. "Yeah. We need to go back to really being one person."

Their sister's eyes widened as she glanced between the two, with a thoughtful expression on her face. "I guess you do." She rubbed her head. "That's a strange idea."

"Tell me about it." Fenton sighed.

"Everything about this is strange." His ghost shook his head. "And I don't think we really get it either. I mean, between being human and ghost at the same time.

"And somehow being split…." His other half trailed off, frowning.

Jazz smiled, comfortingly. "You'll figure it out."

"Yeah" Phantom agreed; they were figuring this out and had come a long way since going through the ghost catcher but there was still a ways to go. His parents' faces, confused and heartbroken, flashed through the ghost's mind. He bit his lip. "But...What about Mom and Dad?"

Fenton mirrored his nervous expression. "They didn't….take it well when we told them earlier….You said they were still acting weird, Jazz?"

The girl frowned thoughtfully. "They were talking in the kitchen when I came in. Quiet, too quiet. And both of them looked….devastated. They both stopped when they saw me come in. Like they didn't want me to hear."

"Oh." Phantom's shoulders fell; a mixture of grief and guilt churned in his stomach. Mom and Dad were that upset because of him.

"Did you hear any of what they were saying?" Fenton asked.

"Sorry, I didn't." Jazz shook her head.

"Do you think…." The human Danny sighed, pausing a moment and when he spoke, the words surprised Phantom. "I'm scared, Jazz. What if they don't accept me after this?"

Jazz's expression fell. "Danny." She said kindly.

"It's just….I just started trying to accept my ghost half." He glanced at said ghost half. "I...I don't know what I'll do if Mom and Dad can't accept him."

"They will." Jazz tried to comfort, addressing Phantom. "You said when you told them, they hugged you and called you their son."

The ghost put a hand through his hair. "But they also really struggled to get that Fenton and I are the same person. So I don't know what to make of that."

"Well, that is a hard concept to understand. I'm sure-"

Phantom cut her off. "But what if they change their minds or think I was tricking them."

"They won't." Jazz started.

"Or what if they try to fix us again?" Ghost Danny wrung his hands, eyes widening.

"Danny!" Jazz put a hand on his arm. "Mom and Dad will not try to do that. I am sure they believe you. They love you."

"Okay." The ghost quietly said looking down. She did have a point; with how Mom and Dad reacted, they wouldn't hurt him on purpose. They did seem to see him as their Danny even if he was unsure how much they understood. But...but….even if they believe him, acknowledge him as their son...

"Even if they believe us, they still might not accept us." And just like that Fenton voiced their fear. "They can't make us completely human and hopefully they'll accept that but.."

"What if they try to control or suppress our powers….me?" Phantom shivered, imagining being merged with his human half. Half ghost and half human again but locked in his human form, without access to his powers. Unable to turn invisible or intangible or summon ectoenergy. His stomach dropped. He'd be unable to fly. "What if they force us to be... normal?"

Phantom's core panged at the word, normal. Before the ghost catcher, that's the last thing the whole Danny had wanted. That's what Phantom had thought his human self had wanted, what he'd tried to give him by remaining apart. To think, he was afraid that Mom and Dad would try to force that normality on him now that he no longer wanted it, was ironic. He glanced up at his human half who was looking at him oddly and guilt wobbled the ghost's insides. But was that, normality, something he, a part of him, actually wanted?

Across from the ghost, Fenton clinched and unclinched his hands. "What if they don't let us merge?"

Phantom's eyes bulged. And that was the kicker, right there. Being stuck as two halves instead of one whole. Always feeling incomplete. Fenton without his powers, the cold energy of his core. Phantom without the comforting beat of his heart, the solidity and warmth of his human body.

"They...they wouldn't." The ghost stuttered.

But their parents might, if they don't really understand what Fenton and Phantom were and what they're supposed to be. Which they very well might not.

"Danny. It's okay." Jazz grabbed human Danny's hand with her left hand, and ghost Danny's with her right. "You don't know what Mom and Dad are thinking so there's no point in worrying about this until you actually talk to them."

"But… they're both upset." Fenton frowned.

"Of course they are. They learned that their portal killed you and that they did more damage trying to help. They feel guilty and they should." Jazz's face hardened slightly.

"But Jazz… the portal and ghost catcher were my fault." The human Danny's shoulder's fell and Phantom visibly shivered from the guilt radiating off of him. "It's my fault we split."

Jazz shook her head. "You didn't know this would happen! And the portal." Her eyebrows drew together. "Mom and Dad should have known how dangerous having that in our house is."

"But-" Fenton cut in again.

"Nope. Not going to hear it. You don't need to blame yourself for any of this." She crossed her arms.

"Ok." Fenton replied meekly.

Phantom watched as his human self nodded his head, seemingly in agreement, but the guilt on his face was plain and obvious to his other half. The ghost bit his lip, debating whether he should speak but Jazz patting both of them on the back, seemingly satisfied with the response, stopped any reply.

"And whatever happens with Mom and Dad, I'll stand by you. Do you want to go talk to them now?"

The two Dannys looked between each other, making a decision before Phantom spoke for them. "No….. I think we should wait."

"Are you sure?" Jazz raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah." Fenton nodded. "We can give them tonight to think about things and talk tomorrow."

"Alright." Their sister frowned seriously before pointing at the ghost and then the human version of her brother to emphasize her point. "But I am holding you to that. Promise me, you'll get me when you want to talk to them."

"Yes, ma'am." Both Dannys half-smiled at her before floating and stepping back to leave.

"And Danny." They stopped at Jazz's voice. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you earlier. I...I should have been."

Phantom's core twinged at her sad expression. "We...we're the one who didn't let you in before." They had repeatedly done that after the accident, lying and keeping secrets. But...that was starting to change.

"But still…" Jazz's brows drew together. "I'm supposed to be there for you."

"You are now." Fenton comforted. "And that means a lot. Thanks for being so good about all of this."

"Of course, little brother." She glanced between the two meeting Fenton and then Phantom's gaze. "I'll see you in the morning. Maybe you should go do something to take your mind off….everything before bed."

"Good idea." Phantom said while Fenton nodded.

"Good night, Danny."

"Good night." The human and ghost both said at the same time before exiting the room.