AN: a bit of AU in that Jazz did not find out about Danny being Phantom

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom

Intervention

Chapter 2 Enablers

Jazz knew that Danny was in detention. Well he was supposed to be in detention. It was entirely possible that Danny would skip out of it so she squared her shoulders and hurried up to catch up with Danny's friends. She needed to talk to them without Danny.

"Sam, Tucker, I need to talk to you about something," Jazz said a bit breathlessly as she caught up to them.

"Hey Jazz, what's up?" Tucker asked casually.

"It's about Danny," she began. "I think he may have a serious problem."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Not this again. I told you stop over-analyzing every little thing everyone does. What chapter are you reading in your psych book now?"

"What does that have to do with it?" she asked taken aback by Sam's irritating attitude.

Tucker sighed, "It's just that whenever you read about some new abnormality you start to look for symptoms in everyone around you. Since psychology is such a soft science, of course you find them."

"No, it's not like that at all," Jazz protested.

"Yes, it's exactly like that. This isn't the first time you've decided that Danny has some deep-rooted psychological problem," Sam countered.

"I'm just trying to help him," Jazz told them.

"If you want to help him, then get of his case," Tucker suggested irritably. "Every time you stick your nose into our business, it just makes things worse."

Jazz was taken aback. She knew denial was a common reaction to finding out someone you cared about had an addiction but she hadn't expected such a hostile reaction even before she even said anything about it. She was just going to have to confront them about it bluntly.

"I think Danny has a drug addiction."

For a moment they stared at her then Sam let out a bark of laughter and Tucker snorted.

"Danny?... You think Danny is doing drugs?" Tucker laughed, "I thought you were supposed to be the smart one."

"I'm not joking. This is serious," she insisted.

"Well you can put you mind at rest. No way would Danny do drugs," Sam assured her.

But Jazz did not back down. She outlined her evidence, much as she had done for Lancer. By the time she was done, Danny's friends were no longer smiling.

Sam shook her head, "You've got it all wrong. Just because Danny may be having a bit of trouble in school, it doesn't mean he's doing drugs."

"It's very common for even close friends and family to miss the signs because the refuse to believe their loved one would do something like that," Jazz said in a carefully even tone. "By denying it you aren't helping him."

"Well falsely accusing him of doing drugs isn't going to help him either," Tucker said.

"I know this is hard b-," she began but Sam cut her off.

"You don't know anything. You have no right to be butting into things you know nothing about," she said angrily.

"Hey, Danny's my best friend. Don't you think that if he were into something like this, I'd know?" Tucker objected.

Then it dawned on her. Their hostile reactions were not denial. They already knew about it and were helping to cover for him. They had said as much before; they were Danny's friends and utterly loyal to him. They didn't want him to get in trouble and were always making excuses for him.

"Helping him hide his problem is only going to make it worse," Jazz pleaded with them.

"We're not trying to hide a drug problem," Sam declared.

"Then what are you trying to hide? Why are you making excuses for Danny? Why are you so defensive?" she pressed.

"Defensive? You're the one who came here accusing Danny of doing drugs. I can't believe you'd think he'd do that!" Sam's voice began to rise.

"I didn't want to believe it either, but trust me-"

Tucker cut her off. "Trust you? You've got to be kidding me. How do you think we can trust you when you come here accusing Danny of something like that?"

"It's no wonder Danny can't trust his fam…" Just then Sam broke off she pointed with a nod of her head. "Danny's coming."

She and Tucker exchanged looks. It was too early and by Danny's hurried trot, and the way he was scanning the surroundings, they knew he must have slipped out of detention to deal with a ghost.

"Great, that's all he needs," Tucker muttered. He turned to Jazz. He had to get rid of her so Danny could transform. "Come on," he said taking her arm. "Let's talk while you give me a ride home."

.

.

Later Tucker called Sam up.

"So? What happened?"

"The usual. It was only the Box Ghost but Danny got caught trying to sneak back into detention so now we won't be able to have our planning session either," Sam grumbled.

"Crud." Tucker sighed they were overdo for discussion on coordinating patrols. Tucker had even hoped to get in a little real down time as well. They all needed it. "We'll just have to skype it."

"Can't. Lancer called his parents and he's grounded again. They confiscated his phone and cut off his computer access."

Tucker's next comment was the unprintable kind. This was bad. The whole point of arranging patrols was to take some of the pressure off Danny. Danny would still be out there fighting ghosts but now, they would be out of the loop and unable to help him.

"Language," Sam said mockingly.

"What are you my mother?" Tuck asked irritated.

"No, but speaking of which, what happened with Jazz?" Sam asked.

Tucker let loose a gusty sigh. "I talked to Jazz and tried to convince her that she was reading more into the situation than was really there and that if she wanted Danny to trust her she needed to show a little trust in him and he'd talk when he was ready."

"Do you think it worked?" Sam asked.

"You know Jazz, once she comes to a conclusion, she can't believe that she might be wrong about it. Now she's convinced we're covering for him."

"We are covering for him," Sam reminded him.

"About being half-ghost. Not snorting cocaine," Tucker answered.

"So what do you think we should do about it?" she asked.

"I think I got her to give us some more time and maybe by then it will blow over, or Jazz will come up with a new theory. I suppose we could tell her he's just love sick and he's so busy pining away for you that he can't concentrate on his work."

Even over the phone Sam could hear him grin. "Shut up, Tuck," she said.

"And he's been missing curfew because he spends all night outside your house staring up at your window," Tucker went on.

"That won't explain why he's been cutting class," Sam deflated his proposal.

"Should we tell Danny?" Tucker asked far more soberly.

"I don't think so. He's got enough to deal with right now," Sam decided. "But I think he's going to have to tell his parents eventually."

"To his parents being a half-ghost might be worse than getting high."