Pointdexter didn't immediately notice the damage to Dash's body.

Phantom's blast had landed square on his chest. The injury itself wasn't visible. But what was visible was the blistering skin on his fingers when Pointdexter fired off ecto-blasts of his own.

He made a show of it, playfully shooting only with his index fingers- with finger guns and gun sound effects- and didn't seem to actually feel any pain. But Dash would feel it when he got his body back.

Phantom tried to be diplomatic.

"You do realize Fenton's parents are ghost hunters?" Phantom said. "They're both on their way here right now, in fact. Is this how you want to be introduced to the in laws?"

Tucker was still in his ear on the Fenton Phones. "You gotta get out of there before they show!" Tucker said. "They're obsessed with catching you, man."

Phantom tried to project self confidence and nonchalance as Pointdexter lost his steam.

The little green forcefield around him helped. He'd finally learned how to keep the thing up.

"Don't you ever wanna play at being the leading man in the picture?" Again Pointdexter tried to break through Phantom's shield. His hands were smoking. "I could take Danny on an adventure. Like Humphrey Bogart, running from the law. Like-"

"Like burnt toast and zombie flesh if you keep that up!" Phantom stamped. "Look at your hands, cowboy, that body can't hold up to the blasts."

Pointdexter stared down at them in surprise.

"Fiddlesticks!"

He looked around the desecrated cafeteria and Phantom rolled his eyes at the glowing lunch tables, freezing them in place before they could get off the ground.

"This isn't a movie, Pointdexter," Phantom said. "But even if it was, you wouldn't be the hero."

"Phantom!" Sam's voice came through the Fenton Phones, but he had no way of knowing who was actually speaking. "Thought you were going to bring the ghost to Fenton Works?!"

When Jack and Maddie Fenton charged into the room with ghost proof nets and guns blazing, Phantom instinctively disappeared.

"Hah! We can still see you, ghost scum!" Maddie was wearing the heat vision goggles (or cold vision?) and she directed her attention at Phantom while Jack chased after Pointdexter.

"Oh he's going to Fenton Works, all right," Phantom said. "I'm just not the one who'll be taking him."

oOo

As soon as the car rolled to a stop Danny was out and running, he tripped at the stairs and continued up on all fours then slammed into his bedroom, searching for his Fenton Phones.

Later, he'd curl up in embarrassment and wonder why he hadn't just taken Tucker's from him.

But right now.

Right now he was panicking.

When the earphones were finally in his freaking ears he caught Phantom mid sentence.

"... cause I don't know... how to get… get him out, Tucker!" Phantom sounded breathless.

Can a ghost over exert himself? The idea was alarming.

"Don't touch any of the purple stuff!" Danny blurted. "Just fly away, go somewhere else!"

"Purple stuff?" Phantom said. Then, "Whoa! You're a cowboy alright, damn."

Cowboy?

"I agree with Danny," Tucker said. "Just get out of there. And let his parents capture Pointdexter, I guess. Though I think-"

"But I have to make sure-" Phantom was abruptly cut off.

The sudden silence over the coms was eerie. Danny sat on his bed and listened intently, half expecting to hear an explosion, or shouting, or just something to indicate what had happened.

Finally he heard Tucker clear his throat. "Maybe he… turned the com off?"

Tucker's voice echoed from the hallway as he tentatively peeked into Danny's bedroom.

Danny just stared at him.

"Okay! Let's say your parents got him," Tucker said. "We'll just set him free somehow. Um, we could-"

"I have to go back," Danny said, standing up.

"But we don't know what's going on with Pointdexter." Tucker shuffled his feet, looking extremely uncomfortable. "Look, I know you were like… flirting with him and all. Uh, but-"

"Tucker, my parents want to dissect Phantom." He stormed out of the room and down the stairs as quickly as he'd climbed up them. "It's all they talk about these days!"

"But Phantom said Pointdexter might try to kidnap you!" Tucker said, hot on his heels. "Like he was talking about skipping town, he could just carry you away!"

Danny thought of the possessive arm over his shoulder, the uncertain threat of the ghost's telekinetic powers and paused at the bottom of the stairs.

The thermos had been useless.

"I'm just saying let's wait and see what happens," Tucker said. "Alright? Sam, back me up."

She was pacing in the entryway, arguing with herself (or rather, with Dash) under her breath. Her Fenton Phones were clenched in her fists.

"Sam?" Tucker stood directly in her path, stopping her in her tracks. "You doing okay in there?"

She sneered at him. "Oh, I'm great." She glanced over at Danny and gritted her teeth. "Fucking perfect."

Once again, Danny wasn't sure if it was Sam or Dash talking. Maybe they didn't know either.

He couldn't imagine how disorienting it would be to have someone else's voice in your head. Would you blend together? Would a new person be born?

"It's fascinating isn't it?" His mom had said once. "Just trying to wrap your mind around the thought process of a being so different."

And then dad had lifted a massive chainsaw over their heads. "We'll rip that thing apart molecule by molecule!" He'd cheered. "No mystery will go unsolved!"

He felt bad for Sam and Dash, but they were stable enough weren't they? Phantom was the one in real danger.

Without really thinking about it further, Danny tentatively walked around them and opened the front door.

"Wait, Danny," Tucker started.

And what exactly was your plan? Danny would later ask himself. Run all the way back to school?

Sam/ Dash didn't immediately react when Danny broke out into a run. But his head start didn't matter.

Sam was an incredible runner, apparently. She caught up in what felt like seconds and tackled him to the ground.

Flat on the ground, with her full weight on top of him, they all both took a moment to breath.

Then Sam/ Dash leaned towards his ear and whispered. "I won't tell him about you if you don't tell him about me, huh? C'mon, we're in the same boat here."

She/they snorted. "In the same boat! This body. Is a boat."

Danny twisted around to look at her and she slammed his face into the sidewalk. "Eh, he's fine," they said. "Just a little rough housing, eh Fenton?"

"Get off, Dash," Danny said.

"I get off and we go back into your creepy ass house to wait for your parents," they said, then they sighed and Danny felt Sam's weight lift off of him. "Sorry Danny. Let's just try and figure this out. I know it's confusing…"

He sat up and rubbed at his cheek. "Confusing. Yeah that's one way to put it."

She extended a hand to help him up and he took it, but then she yanked her hand out of his hold and he lost his balance, falling back on his ass.

"Dash!"

"I don't want to fucking hold hands with you!" They said. "Just get up, God!"

So he got up and followed them back into the house.

We're in the same boat here, one of them had said.

Danny knew neither of them would answer if he asked them to elaborate.