Ectoplasmic Secrets

Failure

Summary: It seemed like everything had been leading up to this moment, so how could they have failed?

Switches were flipped and dials were turned as the low hum of electricity grew stronger. The room was filled with at least fifty people ranging from scientists, to engineers, to GIW agents. Everyone who had been directly involved with the portal project was now crammed into the Fenton's lab to watch, what they were hoping would be a scientific breakthrough.

Maddie looked around the room once more before her eyes landed on one Greg Axel, the director of the GIW. She felt her stomach twist from anxiety as she silently prayed that the portal would turn on and work properly And heaven forbid something to go wrong. First impressions had always been very important to Maddie, she couldn't even think of how embarrassing it would be if their first impression on the director of the GIW was that of a complete failure.

Maddie's husband, Jack, however, was having different thoughts. He remembered the first time they'd tried to build a portal to the Ghost Zone and how horribly wrong it'd gone. The stabilizing barrier had faltered when they'd tried to start it up, resulting in his old buddy, Vlad, getting an ectoblast straight to the face. He ended up with a nasty case of Ecto-Acne that'd landed him in the hospital for quite some time.

When he looked around the room Jack noticed how many people were standing within just three feet of the portal and chose to do something about it, in case something was to go wrong like the last time. "I'd like to suggest everyone take a few steps back from the portal." Jack said. Maddie smiled at her husband's thinking and added, "Just to be on the safe side."

Everyone seemed to agree and shifted back a few feet further from the big hole in the wall. Greg Axel stole a glance at his watch, "May we get this demonstration started now? I do have a very tight schedule today." he said, impatiently tapping his foot on the ground. The two Fentons agreed and plugged in what they thought would be the last thing before they flipped the main switch.

Everyone watched in fascination as the portal began to whirl to life. Lights flickered inside on all the walls and small sparks began to fly. Breaths hitched all through the room as the electricity began to form a spiral, but one person knew at that moment, something wasn't right.

Maddie watched as the energy nearly finished its rotation, a frown gracing her lips. The electric was still raw. The bolts were still a pure white color. She knew something had gone wrong, she knew the purified ectoplasm should have already begun to mix with the raw electricity. Problem was, it hadn't. There was not even a trace of ectoplasm being released into the system, meaning...

Just as she'd thought, the electric bolts fizzled out until there were only sparks left behind. Maddie let out the breath she'd been holding in a sigh. At least she had an idea of what could've gone wrong, maybe they'd still be able to get it working with a few more adjustments. However, the thing that was upsetting was the fact that this had been their chance to truly prove themselves to the GIW. Of course, science is full of trial and error, but Maddie had really been hoping this time. She caught sight of Director Axel and took in the disappointment written on his face, triggering some unwanted thoughts to fly into her head. What if the GIW doesn't want to work with us anymore? Would they pull out of their funding contract because of this failure?

"We must've made a small calculation or programming error somewhere. And we were so sure it would work..." Jack said dejectedly. Maddie sent him a small smile, "I think I know where our mistake might've been if we could just have a little more time." she said, looking to Director Axel, who narrowed his eyes in concentration. "This project will receive the funds it need for two more weeks. If it's not successful by then we'll be forced to abandon it. We've already gone over the budget we had set for this project."

Maddie felt slightly relieved. She had confidence they'd be able to fix it by then, even if it meant some more late nights up. "Thank you. I have faith we'll be able to get it up and running by then." she said. Director Axel nodded respectfully, "I'm counting on it."

A couple of hours later everyone had left except, of course, Maddie and Jack. The two of them sat together on the couch going over some ideas when Danny finally came home. "So…did it work?" he asked somewhat hesitantly. "No, not this time son, but we're still going to try and find wherever it is we went wrong." Jack answered.

Before Danny was able to disappear upstairs Maddie remembered something, "Oh yeah, Danny!" she called. He paused on the stairs, "What?"

"Just reminding you, both of us are taking Jazz downtown tomorrow to tour those two colleges, did you want to come with us?" Maddie asked hopefully. She imagined it'd be nice to finally get some quality family time with how crazy busy everything had been lately. However, much to her disappointment he said he'd rather stay home. "Are you sure? We'll probably be out all day. We were going to grab some lunch on the way, then it'll likely be another five or six hours. We were talking about maybe going out for a family dinner afterwards as well…?" Maddie wished that'd be enough to convince him, but that wasn't the case. "Um, yeah. I'd really rather stay here if that's ok." he said.

Maddie sighed, but she understood. Spending a whole day touring colleges on one of the last days of summer break likely wouldn't pique the interest of any average fourteen year old boy. "Well, alright. We're gonna get going around eleven, in case you change your mind by then." she said and watched as he nodded and vanished upstairs.

She heard his door shut and sighed, "We really should try to do more as a family, Jack." He just beamed at her, "Then that's what we'll do! And once this portal is done we'll finally have more time to do that." he said sounding ever like the optimist he was. "I suppose…" Maddie said, "Damn those ghosts for making us lose time for our own children." she finished bitterly. "Yeah, to hell with them, but we shouldn't let 'em get us down, now should we?"

Maddie looked into her husband's eyes, a beautiful blue gray color. They just held so much life within them, she found it hard not to smile. "I love you." she said quietly and hugged him close. "I love you too sweetcakes." he said simply and kissed her forehead.

A/N: And here's the last chapter going up for today! I will not be posting tomorrow and the next day for Christmas Eve and Day, but I will be back with the next chapter(s) on Wednesday the 26th!

Thanks for reading! Feel free to drop a review if you've got a little spare time! :)