A/N: Having a bit of writer's block. Unfortunately, this chapter didn't turn out exactly how I wanted it to, but it does its job!
"Danny!"
Danny sinks through the ceiling of Tucker's house and transforms before he even touches the carpet. Sam and Tucker are immediately on him, the former engulfing him in a bone-crushing hug.
"My god Danny, you went silent like half an hour ago, we were worried sick!" She holds him out at arm's length and looks him over, presumably for injuries.
He squirms under her palms. "Yeah, uh, sorry. I had… I just wanted to make sure I wasn't followed." He shakes her arms off of him and pulls out his phone to check the time. Quarter to 5.
"At least I made good time." He slides his phone back in his pocket and walks over to Tucker's desk, picking up a pen and a pad of sticky notes. Sam watches him.
"Did you find anything interesting?" Tucker asks, already looking at what's being written. A few symbols are scribbled on the paper, most of them fragments.
"Yeah, there wasn't much- it was definitely her apartment though. In hindsight I think I should have grabbed a pen and paper, she had a bunch of books from the Skulk n' Lurk that seemed suspicious." He picks up the note and squints at the written ghostspeak symbols, trying to remember what he could. "Most of them were just stuff that we've checked out before, legends, mythology, but one was written in ghostspeak- one I didn't recognize. We haven't come across it before."
He slides the note in front of Sam and Tucker, who both look at it questioningly.
"It looks like a half-finished game of hangman, what's up with that?" Tucker asks. Danny shakes his head.
"The leather on the spine was all cracked, and the rental tag was covering some of it too. I've had some ideas on what it might say, but I'll have to think about it for a while." He puts his hands on his hips. "Speaking it might come naturally, but reading and writing are tricky."
Sam picks up the slip of paper with some curiosity. "Too bad the SnL doesn't follow the Dewey Decimal system, otherwise you could've just told them the number." She sighs and drops it in front of Tucker again. "The book's still unique enough that they'll probably be able to tell us what it's about or where they found it, though."
Danny nods and takes a seat on Tucker's bed. "Right, I guess that means we have a lead." He pauses, tapping his foot. The room goes silent for a little bit. Danny fidgets on the bed, unsure of what to say.
"You know, um… she was there. At the apartment." He says.
Both Sam and Tucker look at Danny with confused faces. "I thought you were going to back out if you weren't alone?"
"Um, I was." He leans back to lie on the bed so he doesn't have to see their faces. "But I didn't notice her at first. She was covered with a blanket. I didn't feel the um... ghost with her, but I wasn't sure, so I left."
"Well we're glad you got out of there okay," Tucker spins around in his chair. "you probably dodged a bullet there. Did she seem alright?" Sam just crosses her arms.
"I couldn't really tell since she was um… sleeping. I really wanted to pull her out of there, but there were just… too many factors. I didn't know whether the ghost was dormant, couldn't figure out if she wanted to be saved, didn't want to deal with basically kidnapping someone, and I- on top of me leaving tonight? It just didn't seem like a risk I could take right now." He rests a hand on his chest. "It didn't seem like- it didn't feel good though." He sits up on his elbows to face his two friends. "What if… she really needed my help?"
Sam and Tucker look to the ground with solemn expressions before getting up and joining Danny on the bed. "It's alright dude, we still got some good info from it. We'll take a look about that book while you're gone and hopefully figure something out."
Sam nods in agreement. "Yeah, what were the other books too? It might be worth looking into then even though we've already seen them, there was a lot of stuff we didn't look at."
Danny smiles at the attempts his friends make to cheer him up and sits up, taking the pen and notepad from Sam. "Sure. There were two by Freakshow, one on basic occult knowledge, one on standard ghost stuff, and two on Greco-Roman mythology." He scribbles some titles down and hands them to Sam. "All of them were purchased in Amity as far as I could tell, and the ghostspeak one was a rental."
Sam reads the full list. "Sure, the fact that it was a rental means it was probably in the owners' collection, some of the books that we've used- like the gauntlet one- are in that bunch, but they don't hand them out to just anyone." She folds the note and slips it in her backpack. "We can check it out tonight or tomorrow and I'll text you the info."
"Thanks. And Tuck- I don't know if I told you this, but you're a genius for finding that address." He flops back on the bed.
Tucker gingerly touches his fingertips to his chest and tosses his head to the side in a haughty gesture. "Why of course my man, why would you expect any less of me?" He lies next to Danny on the bed. "I'll keep looking over the week, see if I can't dig up anything else. In the meantime, you should enjoy your vacation!"
Danny laughs. "Oh man, I know right? It's such a load off to know Vlad's taking care of patrols for a week, I don't have to worry about Amity going off the rails while I'm gone."
"You're sure he's not going to try to take over?" Sam asks. "You'll be gone for almost a whole week."
Danny ponders this for a moment. "Huh, I guess we'll see, won't we?"
"Danny!"
TTTTTTTTTTTTTT
"Danny!"
"What? Jeez, Jazz gimme like 15 seconds, I'm finding my completely necessary coat."
"Young man it is 21 degrees Fahrenheit outside, you are wearing a jacket!"
"Okay okay, I'm coming. Chill."
Jazz snorts.
Danny glances at his phone for the time, smiling at his sister's embarrassed expression. "It's only like 9 pm anyways, there's still plenty of night left." He runs out the hotel room door to join his family in the hallway, his father already walking out the back hotel doors to the RV.
"Yeah, but I want to get to sleep at a normal time to get to the waterpark early. I haven't been to one in years!" Jazz holds the door open for Danny on their way out.
"Honestly I'm surprised you didn't bring a laminated book to read in the lazy river." He nudges Jazz in the elbow. "Sounds like something you'd do."
She rolls her eyes. "It'd be better to just bring a Kindle in a ziplock bag. Laminating a book sounds impractical."
"Jack!" Their mom yells. "Make sure you don't hit any cars pulling out of the spot this time!" She lowers her voice a bit before continuing. "We don't want a repeat of last year please!"
Danny gets into the RV with his family and looks out the window as they drive. Due to the cold weather and strange timing they're lucky enough to get the resort mostly to themselves, which is probably the best possible outcome for them. Fewer people to see Danny (mis)use his powers, fewer people to see his parents be embarrassing, shorter lines, cheaper prices, and best of all-
Completely peaceful stargazing!
The RV drives over the sand of the beach and parks along the banks of the lake. Jack excitedly gets out of the car and looks up at the night sky.
"Man, back in our day we could drive for 5 minutes out and see a view like this. We'd sit in the back of a pickup with a few blankets and talk away the nights under the stars." He puts his arm around Maddie, keeping his eyes to the sky. "Makes you think of all the stuff we took for granted back then, huh Mads? And look, no clouds."
Danny climbs on top of the RV and lies flat on the roof. He sighs as he lies there and takes it all in. This is way more stars than he's used to seeing over his pond.
"C'mon Jack, why don't we get the telescope out? Let's see if we can't find some planets."
Maddie and Jack retreat back into the RV, and Jazz joins Danny on the roof.
"Hey little brother. How're things going?"
Danny glances down towards his parents fumbling with the telescope and sighs. "Better, thanks." He replies.
Since Jazz got out of high school she quickly became Team Phantom's de facto trauma psychiatrist, and while Sam and Tucker were reluctant to use her as such, Danny gave her a chance, understanding that both of them could benefit from it. At first it was hard, they'd usually resort to arguing about Danny's habits, how unsafe he was being, basically overprotective-sister / flippant-brother attitudes overriding the actual purpose of the discussions. It also didn't help that Danny wasn't opening up to her as he should be, and he would be the first to admit that.
Eventually, Jazz realized that Danny responded well by just having someone listen and providing an explanation on why he's feeling certain ways. Turns out having a secret identity and being a scientific anomaly can be pretty stressful, and those pent up thoughts don't particularly have a wonderful effect on someone's mental health. Sure, Sam and Tucker were there for him, but they get… awkward when Danny talks about his troubles- although they're happy enough to listen, he doesn't really enjoy putting that stress on them. It's not like he didn't manage fine enough on his own, he knew things could have been much worse.
But now? Jazz is his tether to sanity when things get bad. He should remind himself to talk to her later, he hasn't since the Star thing and he can feel himself slipping, ever so slightly.
"I'm actually pretty calm, knowing someone's watching over the town while I'm gone. It'll be nice to… focus on me for a little bit." He rolls his head over to look at Jazz. "Hopefully this way I won't have ghosts on my mind the entire trip."
Jazz settles cross-legged next to him and chuckles, tipping her head in the direction of their parents. "Hopefully you're not the only one."
Danny sits up on his elbows and looks down at the two ghost hunters, eavesdropping on their conversation while they fiddle with stabilizing the telescope in the sand.
"It might be possible- if we treat the thermos in a similar way as a telescope and add additional lenses to extend the beam…"
"It may be possible to create a long-distance capture device! Jack, yes! The particles do share similarities with photons, but the question would be if the ghost can maintain integrity while being put under that strain… we could-"
Danny complains loudly. "Jeeez guys we're on vacation, don't you ever stop talking about ghosts?" Danny's head falls back onto the roof of the RV with a thunk, and Jazz giggles.
"Now Danny," Maddie lets go of the telescope with a look of triumph and rests her hands on her hips. "This is your father and I's lifelong work, of course we're passionate about it. We couldn't have gotten this far if we weren't."
Jack nods and smacks the top of the telescope. "And plus, ghosts are cool! Every time we get our hands on a new scrap of information it's fulfilling, and the satisfaction of discovering a breakthrough?" He wipes a fake tear from his eye. "Magnificent."
Jazz shakes her head and sighs. "Yes but being obsessed with one thing for so long? Not particularly healthy- especially something so…" she pauses. "Inhumane is too cruel of a word, but it's what I'm getting at. Even ghost obsessions change and evolve, almost as if they know it's detrimental to their mental, and therefore physical, stability."
"Oh boy, tried to avoid ghost talk and just ended up walking into it, nice going psycho-nerd." Danny rolls his eyes and stares back into the sky, and Jazz gives him an apologetic smile. "You like this, don't you?"
"Maybe."
"Jazzy-pants, you know we've taken steps to be nicer to ghosts, just for you and Danny."
"But," Maddie continues. "there's still no proof that they actually feel pain. Ectoplasm doesn't react in the same way as a nervous system would, and the closest thing they have to a brain isn't worth the comparison."
Danny cuts in. "Core's more like a heart, really. They don't got no brains." He throws a smirk at Jazz, who holds off a laugh.
Maddie rolls her eyes. "And their obsession is more like an inborn instinct. Just as fear, food, and sex are most animal's, an obsession is similar. A snake doesn't have a brain, only a brain stem, but it's still able to make decisions, strategize, and process information, but not much outside of their base needs and instincts.
"But a snake still has a central nervous system, which a ghost lacks, so it can feel pain. The closest thing to a ghost on that front might be something more like... a jellyfish, with the core and its ectoplasm acting as a nerve net, something already heavily studied and well understood- and jellyfish don't feel pain. Conclusion? Yes- it can detect and respond to adverse stimuli, but no- it does not feel what we would call pain."
She takes a breath and scratches her head, likely feeling empty without her goggles and mask. "The easiest way to make scientific deductions about a new subject is by comparing it to similar, existing ones. While ghosts are a little… different from anything previously seen, we can still run some comparisons and draw accurate conclusions from those. It's just about doing the additional research."
"That still… it doesn't make it right, even if you are right. I mean, have you actually talked to any of them? They're obviously more intelligent than any animal, and they have the emotional range of a human, in fact- on every mental level they are human, probably because they were human! Take… take Phantom for instance-" Danny shoots a glare at Jazz. "Phantom has held full on conversations with press, victims, police, students, everyone. What is that supposed to mean?"
"Oh Phantom's never followed any of our research, it's an anomaly! Tell me about any other ghost and I might be more receptive to your observations. Your average ghost doesn't hold conversation." Maddie waves a hand in dismissal. "Absolutely none of our research on it follows any other ghost's, it's infuriating. He might be a more mature or older ghost, or even a newer ghost, but nothing matches."
Jack starts to tally off his fingers one by one. "Ectoplasmic composition, speech patterns, temperature, density, flight paths, appearances, growth, abilities, texture-"
"Wait wait wait, texture? Temperature? Density? Ectoplasmic composition- Wh- where are you getting that?" Danny sits up again and looks at his dad with a confused expression, and Jack just shrugs.
"Well, as you said, it's had plenty of conversations with the people of Amity, so we've been speaking with those that have interacted with it closely. In the downtime between ghost attacks, we've been trying to get more secondhand information. While it isn't the most accurate, it's still useful."
"Okaaay. That's um, a lot of information that unqualified people have, do you think it's even… right?" Danny holds back the urge to rub his neck.
"Well, we've interviewed a lot of people, including ones that have been in contact with average ghosts, and their stories are all consistent. Really consistent." Jack leans on the RV.
"They say," Maddie says. "he felt like a human. You'd be surprised how much information that gives us."
Danny pales a little bit, more by habit than anything.
Isn't this a good thing? He asks himself. It's best if they find out on their own. As long as they don't come up with some crazy theory then it should be fine.
Yes, this is good. I'll have to be ready any day now. I want them to find out. I need them to. The longer this secret lasts, the worse it'll be when I tell them.
"Well," He says, cutting off his own thoughts. "what about ectoplasmic composition? I doubt the average person would be able to tell you about that."
His dad laughs. "Son, it leaves more ectoplasm on the scene than blood in a blood bank, getting samples was easy enough- purifying it is the tough bit. Usually a lot of foreign contaminants, and it's really unstable. Almost anything done, even on a tiny scale, causes the ectoplasm to deteriorate and eat at itself. Tedious process."
"Well," He smirks. "That is probably the best you're gonna get- since you're never gonna catch him." He pulls his phone out and adds that new info into the Halfa file.
"That's where you're wrong Danny-boy!" Jack runs back inside of the RV. It shakes from his weight. "With that purified ectoplasm, we should be able to create a better tracker! We can finally figure out where it goes when it's not causing huge amounts of property damage." A stack of papers falls over in the RV, and then… it sounds like he's rustling through his tools?
"Don't you think that the property damage would be worse without him?" Danny says. "And uh, what about this new tracker?" He glances towards Jazz and furrows his brow, definitely not excited about where this is going. She presses her lips together.
Maddie sighs. "Jack, did you really bring that thing with? It hasn't even gone through preliminary testing yet, and Phantom's miles from here." She adjusts the telescope and continues to look through it.
"When's the last time we've tested anything traditionally? But no, apparently I didn't bring it, but I meant to. Wanted to… tinker with it more." The RV lurches as he steps out of it rubbing the back of his head. "I did bring the blueprints though, if you kids are interested. I know Danny likes to peek at 'em every once in awhile."
Danny shrugs. "I'll take a look at them later. We still think you should abandon this whole 'hunting for Phantom' thing though. He really does help, and the kids in the high school seem to… worship him." He taps on his phone a few times, sending a message to Tucker and Sam. He'll have them check out this new tracker, maybe dispose of it if it's looking sketchy.
"Aw Danno, at some point we'll have the scientific proof that ghosts are just impressions of their previous lives, no more sentient than your average artificial intelligence." He walks over to the telescope with Maddie and looks through it himself. "Although, that Ghost Gabber is still lippy as ever. Did you do that honey?"
"What? Course not sweetie." She rubs his back and winks at the kids. "Do you see Mercury? I believe I've picked it out, but we'd have to get Danny down here to be sure. He's the expert." She glances over at Danny and gives him a small smile.
Danny smirks back. "No, that'd be Mars, probably. Mercury's too close to the sun to be seen right now. If you look east you might be able to see Uranus though." He glances up at the sky and over to the thin slice of the moon that's visible. "But I think it's best to look at the moon through a telescope anyways. Ours isn't powerful enough to see much else clearly."
"My little astronomer." Maddie takes a seat on the sand next to the telescope and gazes at the cosmic soup floating above her, expression softening to a nostalgic fondness. "Maybe we could make an investment. We've had that thing for… ages. I think there's an eclipse coming up, too."
"It's a penumbral." He replies, peering back up to the sky as well. Relaxation sinks deep into his core, like a cool breeze on a summer night. He smiles.
"That'd be nice."
A/N: I wanted to convey Danny and Jazz's disagreement with their parents' ideas more realistically than most fics do. Maddie and Jack understand that their kids have differing opinions and are perfectly fine to accept them. They're good parents, but extenuating circumstances lead them to look worse than they really are.
Anyways, their resolve is to continue to work for definite proof of their beliefs. As scientists, they understand that their hypotheses aren't theory quite yet, they're missing that last scrap of proof that pushes it over that line.
Now, what will they find, I wonder? And will they accept it?