Maddie wouldn't call herself obsessed.

She was a dedicated scientist. The top in her field. Almost the only in her field, but no one was near where she and Jack were at. It wasn't obsession. She was a scientist.

So what if sometimes she forgot dinner. If she would go days without sleeping. She couldn't say that those habits disappeared when she had children either. She just got very into the zone when she was working in the lab that when her hungry children knocked on the basement door it startled her, making her reach for the weapon at her side.

But she wasn't obsessed.

Would an unhealthy obsession have led her to this very moment? To each and every one of her accomplishments? She didn't think so.

"Jack, are you ready?" Maddie called over to him, the light glinting harshly off of her goggles.

"Sure am, Mads." The snap of latex could be heard through the air as Jack pulled on another pair of gloves over his jumpsuit.

"Okay, we're going to cut this here." Maddie said, grabbing a pair of scissors and snipping through the fabric. She started at the neckline, cutting just below the abdomen. Once she was done cutting she pushed the fabric aside.

"I'm ready for the mixture, dear."

Jack brought a rolling tray of equipment to where Maddie was standing next to the lab table. From it she picked up a syringe filled with a clear liquid.

"This next part we have to be very careful with…" Maddie said, focusing very closely on her work below her. "To make sure it's most effective."

Just as she plunged the syringe down, Jack grabbed another tool and began studying their subject. His hand neared, and as the tool made contact a splatter of green splashed across their table.

Then, a weak voice wailed below her.

"Mom!"

Maddie looked down at the ghost that lay strapped to their table, her brows furrowing. "What, Phantom?"

"You can't do this! I'm your son!"

Maddie snarled, slamming her fist down on the table beside him. "You are not our son! You are a delusional, malevolent ghost!"

"No!" Phantom shouted, struggling against his restraints.

"Yes, you are." She glared at the ghost, watched as he struggled futilely. The panic and fear were the only things in his eyes.

He was the reason they didn't see their kids very often anymore. They were always in the lab, working to find a way to capture him. To rid their town of this dangerous spirit that insisted on haunting them. But they finally caught him. They would finally see what he was made of.

"Mads, we'll surely put this ghost near tears!" Jack called out.

"Jack, he'll be unconscious. He won't be put to tears unless he wakes up. If he does we'll-"

"Ghost-" Phantom chuckled loopily. His eyes were lidded. "Ghost-keteers."

Maddie stared at Phantom with wide eyes, and her gaze traveled towards Jack. His brows were furrowed as he stared at Phantom.

"Can't...can't believe I actually helped you guys fight all those baddies." Phantom took a sharp breath. "And now- now I'm helping you guys' with your studies. In a horrible, terrible- terrifying way.

"Too bad I never got to be part of your guys' ghost hunting squad. I thought- I thought you guys would love me no matter what. That I would be able to tell you one day. I never thought that you guys...wouldn't believe me."

Phantom's eyes finally closed and his breathing deepened as the drugs put him to sleep.

Maddie stared at Phantom, her eyes wide. She could feel Jack's eyes as his gaze turned to her. Her heart raced in her chest.

"You…" Jack started. "You said. You said there was no way it could be him. That it was impossible. That Phantom just. Took that form. That they were still separate."

Jack didn't understand. That wasn't him anymore. It was a ghost. He didn't understand it like she did.

Maddie couldn't do anything as Jack removed the restraints from Phantom's wrists and ankles. Couldn't turn her eyes away as she watched Phantom turn into her son with a flash of light. A transformation different from what any other ghosts with that ability could do.

Time seemed to slow as Jack scooped Danny up in his arms, scrambling up the stairs and away from her. She could hear as the door opened and slammed shut and as the door's lock heavily slid into place.

She wasn't obsessed. Jack just didn't understand. Why would she let this kind of opportunity go? When this was the ghost they had been chasing for months. He didn't understand.

Maddie wasn't obsessed.