A/N: Okay, so I have no internet until I get back home, so congrats, you all get a new chappy about a week earlier than expected (provided I can get online to post)! Insert special, happy feelings here.

Warning(?): This chapter is narration heavy and has been rearranged several times in previous versions. If anything is confusing, let me know and I'll correct it/explain it further.

Playlist for this chappy/epilogue: "It's Been A While" by Staind, "Far Away" by Nickelback, "The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World, and "Invincible" by Crossfade.

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"What is insanity, anyway? Is it when you scream and everyone else whispers, or is it when you fight for what's right, even when everyone else thinks you're wrong?" — Anonymous

It had been a month and a half since the Fentons and friends had gone back to Amity Park, and the BAU team spent that time helping Danny readjust to normal life.

Danny had quickly caught on to the team's routine. Each day, he and Reid got into the office at 0600 on the dot. Reid would go straight to his desk and start paperwork while Danny lounged, slept, or read until Morgan and/or Garcia got in. At that point, he'd be whisked away by one of them (usually Garcia) so Hotch could get an update from Reid on how Danny was coping with everything Vlad had done. The team was fairly certain that Danny had no clue that they were checking up on him, but they still were very careful to keep it from him. After all, none of them wanted to see him hurt more.

Hotch even worried about Danny as only a father could. He couldn't help but think of his son Jack and how he'd react to going through the same things as Danny. Which led to thinking of Jack as a teenager, which led to sleepless nights where Hotch was glad teenagerdom was still ten years away. As such, these interrogations on Danny's progress tended to be daily and thorough, double and triple checking whether there was any way to help Reid.

This day, almost two months after Reid found Danny in that alley, was no different. Morgan and Prentiss distracted the teen while Hotch pulled Reid into his office.

"How is he?" The blunt and succinct question was the standard opener for this conversation.

"About the same," Reid began. "He's getting better with remembering to eat more frequently. Especially when Garcia's bugging him about keeping to the schedule I set up."

About a week after his family left, Danny was surprised by Reid while he was changing shirts. The BAU agent was shocked to find that he could count the teen's ribs, even though he knew Danny was eating three full meals a day. When Reid questioned Danny on it, he explained that his metabolism was extremely fast due to his ghost-half speeding through the nutrients. Needless to say, Reid quickly had Danny on a different diet to provide him with enough nutrition throughout each day. The whole of their team learned early on that it was not wise to let Danny skip a meal or snack, as he'd get dizzy and light-headed within an hour of the missed meal. It took only one fainting scare for each member of the team to memorize the diet plan Reid had created and constantly check in that Danny was sticking to it.

Hotch nodded. "I'm sure Garcia can be… convincing."

Reid shook his head, chuckling. "That's one word for it…. Oh, and Danny's starting to wear short sleeved shirts now. There've been a few odd looks from people who notice the scar on his arm, but he's managing to just shrug them off."

The scar Reid spoke of had been a problem for Danny, mostly because it was obviously meant to be a fatal wound but also because so many people assumed it was self-inflicted. A few people had actually asked Danny if he was suicidal, but he simply told them it was a problem that had been dealt with already. He later explained to Reid that it really wasn't a lie since the problem—Vlad—had indeed been solved.

"Good," Hotch said, nodding, some of the tension leaving his face and posture. "And the other scars?"

Reid sighed. "He still can't see them without having a flashback or panic attack. Admittedly, those aren't as bad as they used to be, but still. And he's still having nightmares, but he's dealing with them on his own."

The whole team knew Danny had originally had problems looking himself in the mirror following his release from the hospital. He hated having any of the scarred words on his back and chest showing, so he'd taken to wearing long, loose shirts to hide those marks, along with the weight he'd lost due to his travels and metabolism. Even with Reid's schedule, Danny tended to lose weight rather than gain it.

"Anything else?"

"Well, every so often if I spot him grabbing something—food, clothes, or anything, really—from a pantry or closet, he'll react like I caught him stealing. That's gotten a little better, and it's really more from living on the streets for so long, but he's working on it. He usually catches himself before he runs or gets too far into apologizing. He tries to laugh it off, but you can tell he's annoyed that his flight instinct is still ingrained from the past two years. But it's getting less frequent now. He's starting to realize he's welcome to anything in the house."

Hotch smiled wryly at that. "Did you find any of his 'sorry' notes when he took something?"

Reid chuckled. "Only for the first few days."

Hotch shook his head, amused. Then, he looked back at Reid. "Is he keeping in touch with his friends and family?"

Reid grinned. "Everyday. He's always waiting by the phone for Sam's daily four o'clock call. And twice a week he Skypes them all. They've even asked for me or Garcia to join them for those calls."

"That's good. He's not keeping anything from them?"

The genius shrugged. "They still don't know the full story of what Vlad did or what he still needs to cope with, but they know he's doing better. Besides, it's more because he's not quite ready to tell them." Reid sighed. "He gave them all my number, in case something happened to his phone or they couldn't reach him for some reason. Maddie and Jack tend to call me to make sure Danny's telling the truth about doing better."

"And what do you tell them?" Hotch was leaning forward, honestly curious.

"Basically, that Danny is doing better, but there's still a ways to go. I've told them what I know about how his ghost-half affects him and his health, though. They know all about his metabolism and resistance to drugs, as well as his speed healing and abnormal body temperature, heartbeat, and blood pressure."

For, indeed, the team found out that the last three were a bit off. It took some explaining from Danny for them to truly understand.

His ghostly core was ice, so his temperature was quite a bit lower than most, ninety-one at the highest. Because his core was so cold, his heart naturally worked a bit slower, causing his blood pressure to lower as well, since only half the blood in his body was human blood. The other half was ectoplasm, which didn't need to be pumped by his heart in order to flow through his blood stream. In fact, the ectoplasm helped push along the human blood, which also decreased the amount of work his heart needed to do. In all, it was incredibly interesting (to Reid) to see just how well his two halves coexisted.

"I'm glad he's doing so well, Reid," Hotch stated, truly smiling now. "How's it going with catching him up in schoolwork?"

"Decently." Reid shrugged. "He's having a hard time focusing, though. I think that's due to the way he's been living the past two years, but it could also be ADHD. He told me he was tested for it when he was young but thought it'd 'gone away' in middle school. I just can't figure out how to ask him to get tested again. Other than that, it's more about finding a way to keep him interested in the subject."

In between cases, the team took turns splitting up school classes to help bring Danny up to speed with his friends and former classmates. His homeschooling was eclectic as such, taking foreign languages from Prentiss, PE and "communication classes" (aka flirting tips) with Morgan, home economics from JJ, and computer classes with Garcia. Hotch and Rossi helped Reid "dumb down" the math, science, and psychology lectures to keep Danny interested.

"Prentiss, Morgan, and Garcia do a better job keeping Danny's attention than JJ or I do."

Hotch raised an eyebrow at that. "I would've thought JJ would be able to keep him interested."

"Ah, that was more due to him ending up teaching her."

"Hm?" Hotch's brow furrowed in confusion.

Reid grinned. "Apparently, Danny's an amazing cook. He kept correcting JJ's techniques and recipes. I think she gave up."

It took a moment for that to sink in. When it did, Hotch chuckled. "Maybe we'll have to have one of our 'celebrations' at your place after a case."

After a case had been solved, Danny tended to get invited along to any celebration the team (Garcia) had planned. For those cases that called the team away from home, Danny would stay at one of Morgan's homes to watch Clooney, Morgan's overprotective Doberman mix. Clooney had actually taken to Danny immediately, treating him more like his puppy than his owner's friend. Morgan, Prentiss, JJ, Garcia, and Reid were highly amused the first time they came back from a case to see Clooney sleeping curled up beside Danny and nudging him around the house to make sure he was where he needed to be. Of course, the focus of their amusement turned to the resident genius as the "Reid effect" took place and Clooney began barking and pushing Danny away from the "threat" that was Reid. Danny had rolled his eyes, heading over to Reid and showing Clooney that he was okay.

Before Reid could respond, Rossi interrupted as he leaned into the room. "You two might want to see this," he muttered.

Reid and Hotch both sent him confused looks. "See what?" Reid asked, moving towards the door.

Rossi moved aside, saying only, "Look for yourselves." He waved an arm towards the cubicles, where Danny, Prentiss, JJ, Morgan, and Garcia stood gaping at a delivery man who held a decent-sized box under his arm.

Danny had a few false starts before blurting out, "You mean that's for me?" Ignoring the delivery man's nod, he asked the others, "Who would send me something? Or, at least, who would send it here?"

Morgan shrugged, and Prentiss guessed, "Your family or friends?"

Danny shook his head, brow furrowing. "They would've told me to expect it…." He turned back to the slightly annoyed delivery man. "Who's it from? Did they say?"

The delivery man glanced down at the clipboard in his hand. "Only name given was Cossack. Are you gonna sign for it or wha—?"

But Danny had quickly snagged the clipboard, scribbling his name before handing it back and reaching for the box. Once he had it, he eagerly tore through the tape, not noticing as the delivery man left and the team crowded around. He pushed open the flaps, coming first across a short note written in Russian. He easily translated it as he read to himself.

Hello, Nephew!

I hope all is well with you. I hear you are in Washington, D.C. while your family readjusts to Amity Park. Your mother told me you might like some of these old keepsakes. I wanted to let you know that I am renting an apartment just outside Quantico and you are welcome to stay there with me until you can move back with your family. I will be flying in on the twenty-third and arriving at 3:00 pm.

See you soon,

Uncle Yassen

P.S.— Make sure you refamiliarize yourself with these keepsakes. It has been a while, after all, and some things changed.

Grinning at the P.S., he dug through the packing peanuts, pulling out first a black, long-sleeved T-shirt with Ruski Rock and a logo emblazoned on the front. He gently folded it back up and set it on a desk.

The next object pulled from the box was a neon green iPod nano. Danny scrolled through the pre-loaded songs, smiling to see a nice mix of English and Russian bands. The headphones were a matching green, and a clear cover was also dug out of the box. He quickly snapped the cover into place, not wanting to smudge the small device's screen.

His hand dove once more into the box, this time coming up with a simple leather choker. A stylized version of the Russian letters "Deh" (Д) and "Eph" (Ф), the latter inside the former, was etched onto the front. He gingerly pressed each of his fingers to the design, one at a time, then smiled widely and latched it around his neck. Then, he gathered the shirt in his hands, placing both the note and the iPod in one of his pants' pockets before happily heading off to change into his new shirt.

Rossi, Hotch, and Reid came over then, examining the empty box once it was in reach. Reid glanced at Prentiss, motioning at the return address, which was in Russian. "So, that reads Cossack?"

She shook her head, pointing out the letters as she replied, "No, it says Yassen. That backwards R would be translated 'Ya,' C's become S's, E's stay the same, and the H is an N. Яссен, Yassen."

Reid stared in the direction Danny had left. "But then… who's Yassen? And why did he send Danny all these things?"

"Better question," Morgan declared, "why did he use a false name?"

Now, they all had joined Reid in staring at Danny's disappearing form as Hotch muttered, "And how do we find any of those answers without Danny knowing?"

The team shared a glance. Whatever mess Danny was in, it wasn't over yet.

But they'd see it through to the end, whatever and whenever that might be.

"The distinction between sanity and insanity is narrower than the razor's edge, sharper than a hound's tooth, more agile than a mule deer. It is more elusive than the merest phantom. Perhaps it does not even exist; perhaps it is a phantom." — Philip K. Dick

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A/N: Wow, it's over. But obviously there shall be a sequel, hopefully coming out soon. It will be in the Danny Phantom/Alex Rider cross-over section, just to warn you, titled Cloak and Dagger. I'm currently about three or four chapters away from the pre-write of the ending, so it should come out fairly quickly, and the chapters will be quite a bit longer. Yay! Anywayz, I hope you enjoyed this story and that you'll stick around for its sequels! Read and review, please!