Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Danny Phantom.

Note: Finally! I managed to crank out a chapter! It's a little shorter than I would have liked but that's better than being stumped on what to write. Also, unfortunately Vlad's starting to get a bit frustrated with all the setbacks. Let's just hope he doesn't end up doing something incredibly stupid in the near future in a fit of jealousy...


Chapter 21: Relapse


Vlad's POV

When Daniel returned home I was relieved to see that the light had returned his eyes again, just as I had hoped it would. In fact, Daniel seemed unusually optimistic as he went into great detail about what he had done during his visit. As expected, it would seem they had spent the majority of their time getting to know one another and playing videogames but, the most important thing I gleaned from his story is that Danny's friends had accepted him and thankfully treated him as an individual rather than an extension of the original...

That's good.

However, Daniel is my son first and foremost so as good as their intentions may be, from now on I'll have to make sure they don't put any funny ideas into his head. I don't want them turning him against me either intentionally or unintentionally. And I certainly don't want Daniel to pick up too many of Danny's rather...annoying heroic habits.

No, instead we were going to put Daniel's protective nature to much better use as part of my security system which would not only give him a sense of purpose, but would allow me to keep him close and safe as well. As much as I hate to admit it, he's right, if it wasn't for Danny I never would have created Daniel in his image so I suppose I owe him some thanks for that. It's nice to know that there's at least one person in the world who cares for me.

"Oh right! I have something to show you. Hang on a sec..." Daniel beamed, pulling me out of my reverie.

Floating over to me via his new projector, Daniel created a screen through which he began to play back some of his memories of the telepathy tests he had undergone with Danny. I planned to do something similar, however I highly doubt Danny will be as...open and honest with his responses when that happens. Truth be told, I hadn't seen this side of him since the reunion. The side of Danny that was just a normal boy who had been burdened with powers not meant for a child. They were not meant for anyone for that matter, not even me if we're being honest. But now, I don't think either of us can imagine a life without ghost powers since we've gained much more than we've lost.

Well, at least Danny has.

But now that I have Daniel in my life, while I have no intention of 'redeeming' myself in anyone else's eyes but his, what I will do is be a better father to him. Especially since I am fully aware that I'm the reason he becomes so afraid at times. After all, Daniel isn't the same half-ghost teenager I've been fighting all this time who has fought plenty of other ghosts on a daily basis. He's someone new who has done absolutely nothing wrong and yet still suffered through much hardship. His scars run deeper than any physical wound and they were inflicted by the unwitting hand of his parent, which is to say, me.

But I refuse to be anything like Jack Fenton who has never taken responsibility in his life. I will make this right for your sake, my son. I thought silently to myself as I commented on the telepathy tests and how amusing their reactions were.

After watching the last clip I added. "I must say, being able to replay your memories in real time will certainly come in handy. Perhaps you'd be willing to share a few more with me later?"

Tensing slightly, Daniel de-materialized the screen in front of me replied with a sheepish smile. "I don't know about that. There's a lot I'd rather forget about honestly and I hate seeing you like that so if it's all the same to you I'd rather not."

"I understand your hesitation but there may come a time when it's necessary." I explained, folding my hands under my chin. "The line between your memories as a program and your memories as a ghost blur at times so I just want to make sure there's no chance that such valuable personal data will end up corrupted or lost entirely. We've fixed the matter of me having too much control over your thoughts and movements, but as I said...I want to keep your core files safe which we will need to do anyway once I build you a temporary body."

Tightening my grip when my heart fluttered anxiously at the memory of how close I came to deleting him quite literally, I glanced up at Daniel and continued. "Don't worry, I'm not asking to invade your privacy my boy. I already have most of your data backed up and undergoing analysis, however, since your memories are more...malleable than most due to the integration of your original programming and ghost half I'd like to create a fail-safe so that should anything bad happen, we can restore them immediately."

"Why didn't you tell me that's what you meant in the first place?" Daniel sighed, his shoulders immediately relaxing. Soon after, there was a sudden change in attitude when he sputtered. "Wait a second. Did you say you're...building me a body?! Already? Isn't that kinda sudden?!"

Unable to restrain myself upon seeing the stunned yet excited look on his face, I stifled my laughter as best I could behind one hand. My goodness Daniel could be so innocently naive at times! Did he honestly believe I was going to wait longer than I had to to bring us closer together in this reality? After waiting so long to gain the perfect son I've always wanted, if there was a way to speed up the process of helping him grow then there's nothing I wouldn't do for him.

Wiping a stray tear away after pausing to catch my breath, I snickered and explained breathlessly. "Don't act so surprised, my boy! You didn't really believe I would make you settle for that ridiculous little floating sphere did you? Why else do you think we ran all those other tests this morning before you left? If you want to get stronger, you'll need to exercise your basic ghost powers just like you would any other muscle. And since you currently lack the latter in a traditional sense at least, I believe giving you a surrogate body will be essential to your growth. At least until I come up with a more permanent solution."

Rubbing the back of his neck, Daniel answered. "Well, no I guess I was kinda secretly hoping that's what you've been working on in secret today. But at the same time I didn't want to get my hopes up since I know I've been kind of a handful the past few days. It seemed...selfish to expect anything like that when I've caused you and Danny so much trouble."

"Daniel." I began, the mirthful tone abruptly vanishing from my voice and replaced by a serious one. "It's no trouble at all. You're my son, so I'm going to do what's expected of me as your father. And right now that means doing everything in my power to make you feel at home, safe, and most of all, loved. I don't want a repeat of what happened either and I don't want to see you that afraid of losing control. That's why I want to use what we have learned thus far to make the most of your unusual situation."

"You're right, sorry." Daniel smiled, although it seemed a bit forced. "I should be thanking you instead of being such a worry-wart. Sam and Tucker got after me about that too so I'll try to work on it. Anyway, it's been a long day so I think I'm going to bed."

Just as he turned to leave, I cleared my throat to catch his attention again and said. "Hold on, before you do that there's something else we need to do first so let me finish up here and I will meet you down in the lab. There's a couple of shots I need to administer which if my calculations are correct should help you immensely."

Nodding, Daniel turned around again and continued making his way downstairs with a conflicted expression on his face as if there was something else he wanted to tell me. In the end, Daniel remained silent and deep in thought without so much as flinching when I joined him and gave him the shots. Thankfully I didn't have to explain what most of them were for since he could sense the nanobots I had repurposed just for him. The most difficult part for Daniel was staying tangible long enough for me to administer them since I had to inject the nanobots directly into his bloodstream...

At any rate, while the nanobots new functions are a bit more complex, the main goal was to make it easier to monitor his vitals and brain waves so I would be alerted to any future abnormalities. Secondly, I added a sort of anti-virus to help protect him against damage to his core data from unstable or incompatible ecto-energy. And finally, since we learned that Daniel can self-generate electricity as a power source in place of a natural ecto-energy one, the last one would act as a booster and a stimulant to help him get used to drawing in both types of ambient energy from now on.

"There, all done." I smiled reassuringly, patting his head while I had the chance and withdrawing my hand once Daniel exhaled sharply and let himself slip back into his intangible state to conserve energy. "You must be tired. If you need me for anything don't hesitate to call for help, alright? I don't want to be the last to know you're in trouble again."

"I think I'll be alright." Daniel replied, glancing at his arm thoughtfully. "This feels a little weird, but I can already tell they're working like they're supposed to. The nanobots I mean. Thank you, Father."

"You're welcome, son." I nodded, discarding the used syringes and gloves. "Now remember, we're going to have to continue giving you the booster shots to help you adjust to channeling ecto-energy the same way you do electrical currents. We'll keep doing that at least until your prototype body is ready to test so that it won't be as jarring when you overshadow it.

"I'm also going to be scheduling some therapy sessions of a sort with Danny's sister Jasmine since she's proven herself and seems to be the best equipped to help us move forward. Apart from that, I'm afraid I'm going to be preoccupied for a while with work so I trust you will be able to entertain yourself for a few weeks? I promise we'll still have dinner together."

"Don't worry about me. There are some things I want to sort out on my own too. Besides, even I'm starting to get a little bored of Doomed so I think I'll practice building new simulations in the meantime. But what about Dani? Can I start looking for her now?"

Blast, I completely forgot about that. I inwardly cursed, so against my better judgment I scoffed waved my hand dismissively as I answered. "Yes yes, you can start looking for your sister if you feel so inclined. However, if and when you do manage to track her down you are to leave the rest to me. Understood? If she realizes you're not the original, Dani might attack you assuming I sent you to destroy her. And I care far more about your safety than hers so I make no promises that I won't do just that if she lays a finger on you. Goodnight Daniel."

Floating there awkwardly, Daniel muttered goodnight back to me but I was already halfway back up the stairs by then. I know Daniel cares about Dani since she's the only surviving clone, but confound it all why won't he stop talking about her?! He should be happy enough that I'm here with him now, his father. Daniel doesn't need that wretched girl and neither do I! I don't care what Jasmine or any of them say, Dani is nothing but a needless distraction that needs to be removed from the picture...

The sooner the better.