A/N: Oh, you thought you would figure out who that ghost was in this chapter? Sorry my beautiful people, but you'll have to wait a little longer than that…
or will you?
Danny was exhausted.
Not necessarily in the negative way, no. It was Wednesday, and his class had a half-day at school due to the freshman pep rally, so they got off of class shortly before lunchtime. Sure, he had to chase down Boxy a few times as well as a big Phoenix thing that kept sleeping out of the thermos somehow, but they didn't really cause too much trouble, and were kind enough to show up either before class or during his study hall, which he could slip away from the easiest.
No, it was Tucker and Sam that really tired him out today.
Don't get him wrong, they're his best friends, he loves them, but sometimes they're just so overwhelming with their over-the-top plans and ideas (that Danny just couldn't deny) Tucker had suggested a 6 hour LAN party of Doomed after they came out with their latest DLC mere hours ago, and begged Danny to use his "ultimate cheat" to help them be the first group to finish it.
So, 6 hours of gaming? No problem. 6 hours of actual fighting, dodging, and using his ghost powers against new video game enemies with weird, unfamiliar mechanics? Not so much. That and the developers apparently caught wind of the strange bugs and hackers in the game, so they put extra care into trying to push anything the game considered as 'foreign' out- AKA Danny- who was assumed to be an aimbot or some other sort of cheating program. It took a bit for Tucker to properly tag his ghost "program" in the system as safe, but even that initial struggle took a lot out of him.
After 4 and a half hours of gaming and one very tired ghost boy, they managed to get the admittedly meaningless title. Tucker was ecstatic, and for that Danny was happy. It was fun, after all. It was easy for Danny to imagine he was just in an extremely advanced VR system. (Well, until he got hit. Some of those attacks hurt.) But then, Tucker wanted to go back and grab all the high-level items that they missed on their speedrun- you know, the ones with their own bosses?
So, when Danny plopped himself down at the dinner table with a grimace due to the complaints from his sore and tired body, Jazz pulled out her phone and scoured the local news for what Danny might've gotten into during the day. Finding nothing, she decided on the second best thing, asking him herself.
"You alright, Danny? You look a little worn out." She whispers, trying not to grab the attention of their parents who were hovering about in the kitchen.
He grunts in reply before lying his head down. "Tucker wanted to do a gaming marathon with some 'special cheats'." he holds up half-hearted air quotes. "Think like Poltergeist or something, but, y'know, not murdering actual people... just NPC's."
Jazz nods in agreement, taking a mental note to ask him about it when he's more lucid.
"Danny, I know you're tired from your day off with your friends, but I have to put your plate down." Maddie hovers over the kitchen table while Danny slowly pulls his head up, and a plate is placed in front of him. She then takes her own seat next to Jack.
"Alright kids, eat up! Your father decided to take the reigns with dinner tonight while I was out with Angela, isn't he the sweetest?" She looks up to Jack and pecks him on the cheek.
"Awh baby, you know I'd do anything for you."
They all begin eating while making idle chatter, and Danny is quickly pulled out of his dreamland.
This chicken… it's really good!
"Hey uh... Dad, how did you make this?" Danny says, digging into his drumstick with more energy than he's done anything in the past 3 hours.
Jazz and Jack pause their current conversation for him to send a huge smile over at Danny. "Well Danny-boy, it's an old recipe passed down through the Fenton family line for generations!" He holds up his knife triumphantly. "My grandparents smoked, baked, and grilled some of the best meats in the midwest! I'll pass down the notes that they left down to you two too, someday."
Danny nods but barely registers what his dad says, more focused on his meal than anything else. Maddie picks up the conversation.
"Jack, did you use some sort of citrus? It is rather good, I don't remember your family's recipes ever tasting like this." She prods at her piece, examining it.
"Now now Maddie, you know a Fenton never tells his secrets! Besides, that's a negative. You know we never use fruit in our recipes."
Maddie rolls her eyes. "Well then, I'll just have to have you cook dinner more often then, won't I?" She takes a glance at Jack, who's confident smile is replaced by a nervous one.
"W-well Mads I, uh-"
Meanwhile, Danny has been largely ignoring the present conversation and gets up for seconds. Jazz follows him with her eyes, somewhat concerned with the way his mood took a 180- but chalks it up to teenage mood swings and a hungry, growing ghost boy. She shrugs and the rest of the meal goes rather uneventfully.
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
"No Tucker, I'm serious- you should come over the next time he makes it. It's really good." Danny sends an ectoblast at an unattentive ectopus, causing it to emit a high pitched screech and hone its sights onto Danny.
Tucker raises an eyebrow. "Danny, your dad's family is from Wisconsin. Their version of 'fine cuisine' is slathering butter, beer, and cheese on something, and then deep-frying it. I think your ghost DNA is messing with your taste buds."
"Yeah Danny, and to be fair, I don't think I would trust your dad near an oven, grill, or frier. Doesn't he blow up something in the lab like, every other week?" Sam tosses Danny a thermos.
"Well, yeah." Danny quickly captures the small ghost as it charges at him in a blind rage. "But I'm telling you Tuck, you should definitely try it out. It was so good that Jazz thought I was nuts for how much I was eating, even with my ghost powers."
A high pitched musical tone interrupts the conversation.
"C'mon guys, you can talk about your gross fascination with meat some other time, if we leave later than this even you won't be able to get us to school on time." Sam sends a pointed look at Danny and slips her phone back into her pocket. They all pick up a light jog heading to Casper High.
They all manage to arrive at their respective classes only briefly before the bell rings, but before still means on time, so as far as the trio is concerned, their teachers' grimaces hold no weight.
Danny's first class was with Mr. Lancer, and he's actually been looking forward to it for once. Shortly after the bell rings a paper is slapped onto his desk with a large, red "B+" written in the top right-hand corner. Danny smiles down at it, and then up at Lancer, who grins briefly before moving on to the next student.
About halfway through class, the loudspeaker to Lancer's room buzzes on, asking for a Mr. Daniel Fenton to come to the main office. Obligatory "Ooooh"'s are heard from the students before Danny hesitantly gets up and begins to walk out of the room.
"Mr. Fenton," Lancer says. "in case I don't see you for the rest of the hour, please come to my office after classes today, I'd like to have a word with you."
"Um… okay Mr. Lancer, I'll be there."
Danny walks out of the room and makes his way to the principal's office, worrying himself more and more with each step.
My grades have been fine, I haven't gotten into any fights with Dash, well- not ones where I threw any punches. I haven't been late or missed many classes recently… what could this be about? And Mr. Lancer too, jeez. Gonna think about that for the rest of the day.
Danny quietly pushes open the door to the main office and slinks up to the secretary.
"Hi, uh, I was called to the main office?" He rubs the back of his neck as he makes himself known.
The secretary looks up from her computer screen to take a glance at Danny. "Ah yes Danny, the nurse needs to see you, it's about Jasmine apparently. You can use the side door behind me."
Danny stands up straighter. "Jazz?" he questions, before quickly moving behind the desk and down the back hallway.
Jazz, due to her reluctance to leave Danny all alone with their parents and his struggles as Phantom, has been taking online courses through her chosen Ivy League to get all of her General Education requirements met. On top of that, she's also been racking up volunteer hours through Casper High working as a teaching assistant for a few of the AP programs and lab-based classes. She's at the school frequently enough to keep an eye on Danny and also cover for him if he needs to go ghost at a crucial time, which has previously saved him in a number of situations. Danny feels guilty that she's missing her true college experience by staying with him, but she insists that it's not a problem and would much rather be there for her little brother than go to rowdy college parties anyways.
These thoughts aren't on his mind, however.
Why is Jazz in the nurse's office? Why does she need me? I haven't felt a ghost since before class, was it a human? Was it during a lab? How badly?
Endless possibilities flicker through Danny's brain as he walks the few steps to the door that held all of the answers, and as each second passes that he doesn't know he can feel his core thrumming louder and louder, and he briefly curses himself as he knows the air around him is dropping in temperature.
Danny throws open the door with much more strength than needed and immediately calls out for Jazz, becoming more panicked when he only sees the nurse.
The elderly woman jumps at the sudden noise, but smiles when she sees who it is. "Ah, Danny! For once you show up to my office, come here, I'll show you to your sister." She finishes scribbling some things down on some spreadsheet and hobbles her way to the back of the room where the beds are.
Danny relaxes at the calm state of the woman, Mrs. Barlotta, was it? He figured that if she was this relaxed it couldn't be that serious.
"Thanks… Do you know what happened? Is she alright?" Danny worries his hands as he steps into the room.
She pulls a blanket out from a cabinet and walks over to a pulled curtain.
"Flu-like symptoms. Nausea, migraine, general malaise, chills, some slight delirium, but that could be from the migraine. She'll be fine if she heads to the doctor later today, but she's in no state to drive home, so I called you in. Half-expected you not to show up, boy. Don't think I haven't noticed you sneaking off after I ask to see you." She glares at him over her glasses before opening the curtain to reveal Jazz lying down with her arm over her face. She groans and turns away from the bright light, mumbling something about ghosts. Danny rolls his eyes.
"Cmon Jazz, let's get you home. Mom and Dad can take you to the doctor's then, too." He grabs her arm to pull her up but she weakly yanks it back with a whine. He sighs and shakes his head.
"You're being more immature than me, you know that right?" He pulls the covers off of her and she didn't even take off her shoes.
He takes the blanket from the nurse and drapes it over her before lifting her up with ease. The nurse gapes for a moment, looking at the boy that hadn't had a growth spurt since 4th grade carry his sister (who's taller than him by a good few inches) like she was a feather. Jazz was rather naturally thin, but not like that.
"Ah crap, I forgot about her purse. Do you think you could bring it out to the car with me?" Danny asks, snapping her out of her stupor.
"Hm? Oh yes, of course." She picks up the purse that was haphazardly thrown into the corner and follows Danny outside. She shivers at the cool fall air.
Once they reach the car the nurse manages to fish Jazz's keys from her purse and unlock the door, and then Danny carefully lies Jazz in the passenger seat and reclines it as far as it'll go. He takes the keys from the nurse.
"I've already signed Miss Jasmine out, so I'll just leave your pass with the front desk. Grab a jacket when you go home too, boy. We don't need the whole Fenton family getting sick now."
Danny looks down to his typical white and red tee and smiles. "Sure thing Mrs. Barlotta, thanks for the help." He starts up the car and shuts the door, ignoring the mindless babbling from the passenger seat.
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
"Mom, Dad! Jazz is sick so the nurse asked me to take her home!" Danny (after listening to see if his parents were nearby) phases through the front door, moving to place Jazz on the couch. Upon hearing no response but some faint moving upstairs, he heads up to their bedroom.
"Mom? Dad?" He knocks on the doorframe to their bedroom, making himself known in case he was interrupting something.
"Ugh… Danny, is that you?"
Danny steps cautiously into the room. "Mom?"
Both of his parents are lying in their bed, appearing as if they didn't even get up this morning. His dad looks to be dead asleep, but Maddie speaks. "Thank goodness you're here honey, is school over?" Maddie tries to prop herself up onto her elbows, but only manages to half-roll over.
Danny shakes his head and leans on the doorframe. "No, the nurse called asking for me to take Jazz home because she's sick too. Are you guys alright? Is it the flu or something?"
Maddie covers her eyes with her hand. "I'm not sure sweetie, but I have a hunch. I need you to go to the lab and get the Fenton Ecto Scanner for me, it should be on the back shelf near the weapons vault."
Danny nods but rolls his eyes, of course they think it's ghost related. Danny doesn't seem to have whatever they do, but he hasn't been able to get sick with human illnesses since the accident. If it was a ghost sickness then it probably would be able to infect him too, right?
Nevertheless, he agrees, quickly retrieving the requested machine and returning it to Maddie.
She takes it from him while mumbling a weak "Thanks" and turns towards Jack who still hasn't moved a muscle. She presses a button and runs the antenna above his from, waiting for a moment before a small beep sounds. Maddie scowls.
"Mmm, just what I thought. We're contaminated with ectoplasm or ectoenergy of some sort." She points the machine at Danny, and he quickly takes it from her before she can scan him.
"I'll uh, I'll go scan Jazz! Should I put her in her room too, orrrr…" he trails off.
Maddie looks surprised before smiling. Such a good kid, looking out for his sister. "Thank you Danny, and just leave her down there, we'll have to go bring everyone into the lab to decontaminate anyways. Make sure you record the amount and intensity, and then you can come back and get my results. From there we need to determine possible sources…" she trails off, and Danny takes that as his cue to go downstairs. He takes Jazz's readings and then his mom's, recording the numbers the scanner spits out before returning to Maddie.
"Hm, low amount, high intensity. Seems like it isn't anything residual in the lab, otherwise your father and I would be less contaminated due to our jumpsuits and it would be a higher cell-count. Your sister has more than me, but less than your father." She pauses and taps a few buttons on the machine.
"Danny, I'm going to scan you as well, so hold still."
"What? M-mom I don't think that's- I feel fine!" He waves his hands in front of him, but hears the beep before he can do anything else. On instinct Danny freezes and tries to suppress his ghost core as much as he can inside of his human body, a trick he picked up when learning how to project his aura. Turns out it works the opposite way, too.
After a moment Maddie pulls the machine back to her face and looks at it closely.
"Hm, looks like you have even more contamination than your father. Are you sure you aren't feeling sick?"
Danny releases a breath and rubs the back of his neck. "No, I feel fine mom, honestly. M-maybe I've built up a tolerance? The school does get attacked more consistently than anything, and it's not like we haven't been sprayed with ectoplasm before from Phantom's… fights." He looks away from his mom, hoping she'll buy the excuse.
Luckily for him, she still seems glued to the scanner's screen. "Could be… well, I'll still have to run a decontamination sequence on all of us to see if that'll help. Maybe I can determine the source by tracking its ectosignature…" Maddie tries to sit up (as she's been lying down during this entire encounter) but her world spins as soon as she goes vertical, and Danny catches her before she falls off of the bed.
"Oh boy, that might not work for a while." Maddie holds her hand to her head, realizing that she's dripping in sweat.
Ugh, disgusting.
She kicks off the sheets and groans. Now she's burning up, probably a fever- not good.
"Danny, I'm going to need you to help me get the Fenton Purifier up and running, alright? It's the tent we used when your friends were sick, do you remember how to set it up?"
Danny nods. "Yeah, I do. Will that help?"
Maddie sighs. "Well, it's a start. It should at least reduce the ectoplasmic levels for me and maybe your father to be able to function properly again, and then I can work on a more complete solution."
Danny gently lies his mother back down. "Alright, I'll come get you when it's set up." They exchange quick smiles before Danny heads downstairs. He sighs.
Great, a day off and I get to spend it dodging ghost scanners and ecto-purifiers, just my luck.
He was still somewhat skeptical about the sickness being ghostly in nature, but he had to admit the evidence added up. The levels of contamination they had were only marginally lower than what Danny typically had in human form, which definitely wasn't healthy for an average human. Heck, he would be concerned if Sam and Tucker had those levels of contamination, and they spent every day in very close proximity to a powerful ghost core.
No, for once his mom was probably right. They were showing some of the early symptoms of radiation poisoning, which was similar in nature to ectoplasmic contamination. That and, although his parents thought otherwise, their inventions were scarily accurate. The ectoplasm readings were probably correct.
So as he set up the Fenton Purifier, Danny sent a quick text to Sam and Tucker to update them on his disappearance as well as ask them to let the office know what's going on. He'll probably have to have one of his parents or Jazz call in though, since thanks to his running off he's become known for they'd probably be hard-pressed to actually believe anything he or his friends told them.
About three-quarters of the way through his setup, he hears some groaning and whining from upstairs. Assuming it's Jazz, he puts down his tools and heads upstairs.
Upon reaching the top of the stairs, he notices that her displeased noises are actually saying something.
"Dannyyyyy, Danny!"
Jazz looks similar to how his mom did upstairs, the blanket that was provided for her was on the floor, and her skin was pale and had a sheen of sweat across it. Her normally straight, shiny hair was dull and disheveled, likely due to all of the tossing and turning in her unsatisfying slumber.
Danny sits on the arm of the couch next to her head and leans over her. "Yeah? I'm here. You okay?"
Jazz opens her eyes enough to give him a half-hearted glare. He laughs.
"Sorry, standard question."
Jazz slowly reaches out to Danny with one of her hands, seeming like she's asking for something. Confused, Danny grabs her hand with his and raises an eyebrow in a question. She pulls his hand down to her forehead and flattens his palm against it. She's burning up.
Ah.
Danny uses a sliver of energy from his cold core and sends it through to his hand. Jazz's reaction is almost instant, letting out a satisfied sigh and relaxing. The hand that was holding Danny's flops down onto her stomach, and she lies there contentedly.
Danny sits there for awhile, happy to simply relax in the company of his sister, but soon realizes he has to get the purifier up and running to at least try to cure them. He removes his hand from his sister's forehead and receives another whine in response.
"Sorry Jazz, got to set everything up to fix you guys. We don't need more halfas running around."
She whines again and Danny heads to the kitchen to grab her an ice pack. He walks back to her and puts it on her forehead. Jazz grimaces, but accepts the gift.
Danny walks back downstairs and finishes his task, even setting up the beds that they used for Sam, Tucker, and Vlad for their future occupants. He ensures that everything is airtight and runs a preliminary test. Upon making sure everything is working properly, he then returns to Maddie.
Who just happens to be knocked out as well.
Guess I'll ask her to call the school later.
He nudges his mom a few times to ensure she's completely out (to which she only responds with a groan) and gently lifts her up. Danny debates walking all the way down to the lab, but shrugs and phases through anyways, placing her in the first empty bed. Anything she might remember he could probably blame on hallucinations anyways.
He does the same with Jazz and his dad (thank god he had enhanced strength) before scanning them with the Fenton Ghost Analyzer to record the ectosignature of whatever contamination they might have, and then walks out of the Purifier.
He runs a second decontamination (he has to remember to put a HAZMAT on before heading in there again) and transfers the ectosignature data to the ghost tracker, the Fenton Finder his parents commonly use. (Turning off the sassy voice, of course. That thing could be more hurtful than helpful sometimes)
Danny snickers at the irony of a ghost using a ghost tracker before seeing three blips on the screen, two fainter than the other, and all of them very close by.
Danny decides to follow the larger blip first, which leads him to the lab refrigerator. He opens the door and scowls at the row upon row of test tubes and beakers that contain both active and inactive ectoplasm.
Is this… this is probably the source.
He glances back down at the tracker before panicking a little bit, as one of the fainter blips seems to have followed him.
Ghost? He thinks, but no, his ghost sense hasn't gone off yet. He closes the refrigerator door and circles around himself before almost facepalming. He flips the scanner around and points it at his body, rolling his eyes at the incessant beeping it gives off when the antenna faces him.
Duh, I'm "contaminated" too. But how…?
He decides to give up on the fridge, definitely not in the mood to scan each and every container, and follows the third blip which was upstairs.
Upstairs, he walks around playing hot and cold with the scanner until he comes upon his destination.
The kitchen refrigerator?
He stares in confusion at the tracker and it's target, making 100% sure that yes, it was targeting the kitchen refrigerator.
Danny sighs a defeated, heavy sigh and opens the fridge door, already making conclusions as to what probably happened. He pulls out a container, opens it, and points the tracker at it, unsurprised when the beeping returns.
I'm not even going to ask how it happened.
Danny closes the Tupperware container full of yesterday's chicken, throwing it on the kitchen table and returning downstairs. He throws on a HAZMAT and catches a glance of his reflection in a monitor.
Well, if they don't recognize the similarity now, I doubt they will anytime soon.
Danny had been ready to tell his parents about his secret for awhile, but kind of wanted them to figure it out themselves. He wasn't sure if it'll turn out better or worse that way, but had enough faith in his parents that they would probably accept him with a little convincing. Sure, the fear that they would reject him was very much still there, but he was rational enough to realize that those odds were quite low, especially if they found out in a neutral way like just happening to connect the dots between his human and ghost form.
So, he zips up the suit and walks into the Purifier, feeling the brief discomfort of walking into a room completely clear of ectoplasm. It kind of felt like taking a step into a desert, the dry air stinging his eyes and drying his mouth almost instantly, but after a moment the ghost boy adjusts and walks up to his mom to scan her ectoplasmic levels.
The beeping rings throughout the room again, and his Mom's eyes flutter.
"Danny?"
"Hey, mom."
She slowly attempts to sit up again while Danny walks over to Jazz and Jack, scanning each of them as well.
"Oh Danny look at you, my sweet little boy in a HAZMAT! Your father is going to be so excited when he gets up."
Danny smiles awkwardly while fiddling with the small machine. "Well, I um, I already managed to clear myself, just some time in here and my levels are back to normal, so I figured I should… probably put one on so I don't get re-contaminated." He walks back over to his mom who rustles his hair.
"Gosh, I remember when I made that for you. That must be your first time wearing it too, huh?"
"Oh… you'd be surprised." He mumbles under his breath.
"What was that sweetie?"
"Nothing! I'm just surprised how well it fits after all these years."
Maddie laughs. "Well I'm sure that you'll get your growth spurt before the end of high school. You definitely have your father's genes, after all."
"Hopefully. I'm not looking forward to buying an entire new closet of clothes within the span of three months though."
They both chuckle a bit, and then Maddie slowly makes an attempt to stand. Danny watches her like a hawk, preparing to catch her at a moment's notice.
"Oh, uh… I think I found the source of the contamination." Danny mentions.
"Oh really? That's fantastic! What is it?" She grabs onto Danny's shoulder to steady herself, but manages to stand alright, if not a little shaky.
"Remember the chicken that dad made last night?"
She stops moving, and Danny even feels her shaking cease.
"Yeaaaahhh…" he drones off. She can figure out the rest, he figures.
Maddie pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs.
"Danny, I need you to go out into the lab and bring me a few things, and wake your father up."
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
After a while, his parents were easily able to make an ingested solution that cleared their systems of any and all ectoplasmic particles, (that Danny had narrowly avoided taking) curing their sicknesses by the end of the day. His mom had a long talking to with his dad, but since he wasn't the only family member to imbue their dinner with ectoplasm, she really couldn't say much.
Jazz however, had a field day. Danny left the room as she was reaming out their parents, starting up a group call with Sam and Tucker.
"Hey guys… yeah, I'm good. You won't believe what happened though." He pauses.
"Well… Let's just say I figured out why this chicken is so good." He walks upstairs to his room, carrying a large plate in one hand.
"Tuck, let me assure you, you don't want the recipe."
A/N: A longer chapter, yay! Thanks for the wait!
I always thought that Danny knew how to use each and every one of the Fenton inventions rather well, since he's seen on their computers regularly enough.
Anyways, more family fluff! I feel like the Fenton family is represented as objectively negative aspects in Danny's life, (aside from Jazz) but I think they really do love their kids. Ghosts just… kinda get in the way of things sometimes.