Danny sighed heavily. Visiting his family after so long would be incredibly awkward. Luckily, his friends were at both sides, as always. When they arrived back in his parent's lab, his heart beat started to quicken. Hopping out of the Specter Speeder, Danny felt dread creeping up in him, taking in the familiar surroundings of the lab.

He turned back to his friends who were still inside and said quietly, "You know what? This is a bad idea. I should probably -"

"You can't avoid them forever. Come on!" Sam said.

He shrugged and took his friends' hands, flying with them up to the front door of his house. The sun was just setting. He took in a deep breath and rang the doorbell.

"I'll get it!" Jazz's voice came from behind the door.

"Okay Danny, this is a personal matter so we are just gonna let you and your family talk it out. Alright bye," Tucker whispered quickly, as he and Sam rushed away.

"What - ?!" Danny gasped. The front door swung open, and there Jazz stood, in a lab coat with a clipboard, looking super sciency.

Her eyes widened and tears formed at the corner of her eyes. "Oh Danny!" She tossed the clipboard on the ground and threw her arms around him. He felt overcome with emotions and also began to cry, embracing her in his strong arms. "Oh!" She yelped from the tight squeeze. "You've been working out?"

Danny seemed embarrassed by this comment, and, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, "Yeah, I have."

Jazz couldn't help but stare at her younger brother. Where has he been all this time? Why is he back now?

"Um, come in. Make yourself at home. I'll go, uh, make some hot tea!" She ran out of the room and straight to her parents who were making dinner. "Come quick!"

They followed after her, thinking maybe some ghost was attacking, but what they saw was no ghost; it was their son! "DANNY!" Their parents screamed and sprinted to Danny, hugging him warmly. They backed away and couldn't believe their eyes. He had grown into such a handsome, strong young man. Puberty had treated him well. That being said, he had begun to grow more before he left his family, but now he seemed much more comfortable under his own skin.

"Where - where were you? We looked everywhere!" Maddie cried.

"Danny-boy…you had us worried sick. We haven't stopped looking not once," Jack said.

Danny frowned. "I'm sorry. I just… it was a hard time for me. I needed to be alone. That's all."

"You could've gone to us for help. Why did you need to search elsewhere?" Jazz demanded.

"It's complicated. Everything is so complicated…"

"We just don't know what you could've been running from… Did we say something that set you off?" Jack asked.

"It wasn't you guys. It was me."

"Where were you sweetie?" Maddie asked.

Danny shrugged and moved over to the couch to sit down. "Does it matter? I'm here now."

"It sure as hell matters!" Jazz shrieked. Then she sighed and plopped down next to him. "Sorry…it's just… I mean, where were you? Really."

"The Ghost Zone," Danny answered truthfully.

Jazz crossed her arms in front of her. "Danny, this is not a time for jokes."

He chuckled. "Sorry, I don't want to talk about it right now, okay?"

"Well, we were just making dinner. How about you join us?" Maddie suggested.

He nodded.

Dinner passed by very slowly in Danny's eyes, but in Jazz's eyes it went by far too quickly. The curiosity boiled inside of her as he kept quiet about where he had been and what he had been doing since he had been gone. Not only that, but she felt like she - they - had the right to know… They were his family after all. She knew he wouldn't tell them, but she supposed she could get him to talk to her privately about it.

"So, you've been working with Mom and Dad in the lab?"

Jazz nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, it's been pretty awesome. You know, you should work with us sometime!"

"What kind of stuff do you do?"

"Well, we are still trying to figure out how to locate Phantom. He hasn't been seen for some time now, but -" Maddie started.

"Isn't that what you want?" Danny cut her off.

"Huh?"

"For him to not be here. I mean, it's what is best for the city."

"Yes…but he can't get away with murder! He crossed the line."

"Other ghosts have done that too," he pointed out.

"What I want to know is why…" Jazz speculated.

"Why don't you ask him?"

She rolled her eyes.

"What matters is that we are ready for him when he returns," Jack stated. "We will destroy him and everyone will be able to get on with their lives."

Danny sighed heavily and then got up from his place at the table. "I should probably be heading back soon…"

"Please," his mom grabbed his hand lovingly. "Stay the night."

Her loving gaze and sad eyes tugged at Danny's heartstrings to the point where he couldn't deny her.

"Hey, Danny," Jazz stood right outside his door and knocked just like old times.

"Come in."

She walked into Danny's room. It was nice and clean, and, for once, she wished it were a complete mess so she could at least feel some sense of normalcy. But nothing was normal about this situation. He sat on his bed and put a book down.

"What's that for?"

"Oh! Um, just a book I started reading." The book was recommended by Frostbite and completely written in Esperanto. He wasn't about to try to explain how he knew how to read and speak Esperanto to Jazz.

Danny reads now?

"Is it something I would know?" She came closer.

"No, it's just some stupid fantasy novel…" He pushed it away.

She twiddled with her thumbs, looking about as nervous as Danny felt. "Anyway, I wanted to ask you if you are okay. Really okay."

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Why did you leave?"

"Please, not this again."

"I'm your sister. You need to open up to someone."

"No, I don't. And I appreciate your concern but I don't need your help."

"If you won't tell me why, then at least tell me where."

"It's not important…"

"It is to me. God, what is wrong? I'm trying to understand you. Everything in my head points to depression, but it's something else, isn't it? Something you are repressing or hiding from us?"

"Can you just leave me alone? I really don't need this right now," Danny stood up exasperatedly and paced around the room.

"I'm only pressing you for answers because I care."

"If you really cared, you'd do what I ask and leave me alone!"

"I HAVE LEFT YOU ALONE!" Jazz yelled. Then tears came to her eyes and she looked away from him.

Danny's heart hurt and he found it hard to breathe. He closed his eyes and water started streaming down his face. He opened them and saw Jazz gasping for breaths as she cried.

"I'm sorry," Jazz muttered between tears. "I just…God, Danny, I've missed you…and we have all been beyond worried. We thought… we thought…that you may have…we thought the worst… You can't just come back and expect us to pretend like this past year…like it never happened! Please answer me…please. Why did you leave?"

Danny closed his eyes. "I thought it was best for everyone."

Jazz looked at him incredulously. "How could you think that?"

"I'm - I'm a burden… Not only that, everyone in this town hates me."

She shook her head. "None of that is true."

"Yes, it is… And if you knew everything, you'd understand why."

"What are you talking about?"

Danny gasped and cold air escaped his mouth. He rolled his red-rimmed eyes and scanned the room for ghosts. "I've gotta go on a walk."

"Okay, I'll come with - "

"Alone," Danny's eyes were dangerously close to turning green right before Jazz and she almost thought she saw a glow but figured it was a trick of the eye.

On his way out his bedroom door, Danny was stopped by a firm grip on his bicep. "You better be coming back."

"I am."

Jazz sighed, wiped tears off of her face, and walked over to Danny's bed. She picked up the book he had been reading and realized it was in a language she had never read before. She raised a brow. Since when can Danny read in another language?

She heard a crash in the hallway and suddenly alarm bells began to ring throughout the entire house. She knelt down and pulled a ghost gun that had been strapped beneath Danny's bed - every bed in the house in fact - in cases such as these.