Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom

I'm embarrassed to admit I've gone and done one of those clichéd revelation fics. This is the first of seven parts. But my muse got his teeth into this and refused to drop it until I wrote it down. At least I still have to option of deleting it.

Intervention

Chapter 1 Recognizing a Problem

Jazz knocked on the door to Lancer's office. He bade her to come in and she entered taking the indicated chair across from his desk.

As the acting vice principle made a few final marks and closed the open folder on his desk Jazz said, "Thank you for making time to see me, Mr. Lancer."

"Of course. Is everything okay? Did you get those letters of recommendation for your summer internship?" he asked with a smile.

She looked unaccountably nervous. "Thank you for writing me a recommendation. I got it sent off last week." She paused before saying the next part in a bit of a rush. "But everything is not okay. I think something might be very wrong. With my brother."

Lancer's smile vanished.

"I know you've had meetings with my parents, about his grades and skipping school."

Lancer nodded gravely. "He started high school with so much promise and his middle school records were excellent. He used to be a bright student but now he seldom completes his homework and when he is in class, half the time he falls asleep."

"I think I know what it might be." She uncharacteristically twisted her hands in her lap. She took a shaky breath and looked back up at the teacher. "I'm afraid Danny may have a drug addiction."

.

.

Lancer sighed. "This is very serious, indeed," he agreed, "What makes you think so?"

"I haven't exactly caught him in the act, but…. " Jazz took a moment to get her features back under control she waved her hands aimlessly. "You've said it yourself; his whole behavior has changed. Sometimes he seems so out of it. Skipping school, the grades…and he's gotten so secretive. I know he's hiding stuff. We used to be close, we could talk about things but now he just pushes everyone away. Except his friends Sam and Tucker and they are just as secretive as he is."

"He might be having some trouble adjusting the high school. Adolescents go through a lot of changes," Lancer suggested.

Jazz shook her head. "It's not just that. I know he's had some problems with bullying, this is way beyond that. It's getting worse and worse. I know he's lying about stuff. And sometimes, it's like he's a completely different person. He's not the brother I know."

Lancer waited while Jazz blew her nose. If it was someone else he might have thought they were jumping to conclusions but he was not inclined to dismiss Jasmine. She had proven herself to be a discerning and perceptive young woman. It couldn't have been an easy thing for her to come to him.

After a moment she went on. "It's quite possible that it's not all his fault that he got involved with drugs. I suspect that he was first introduced to them legally. I first noticed changes in Danny's behavior after that accident he had in my parent's lab. He had been put on some strong pain killers for a while. But he seemed to recover quickly and the extra medication was stored away."

She took a breath to steady herself. Lancer felt a heaviness settle in his stomach; he had a pretty good idea of what was coming.

"I checked and found them missing. The original prescription had a refill. I called the pharmacy under the guise of getting information for the insurance company. The refill had been filled as well."

Lancer stared at the desk in front of him and then dragged his hand down his face before he looked directly into Jazz's eyes.

"This is not the first time I've seen a bright young man get trapped in the snare of an addiction. It's not going to be easy, but we'll do what we can to help him through it."

This was inspired by a radio program where a recovering addict talked about his experiences.