Inspecting the glass in front of him, Dash decided that it was finally clean. The blonde was washing the used beakers from the Fenton's lab. The lesson he, Paulina, and Star had to endure that day was the properties of ectoplasm.

Yawn.

Of course, the two girls weren't as enthusiastic as they were before. But, Paulina was just as stubborn as ever, and she refused to let either of the girls join in. She also managed to convince Kwan to join, which impressed Dash because she did it over the phone so she couldn't have given him her signature "do it or die" look. Just thinking about it made Dash shiver.

"Hey, have you seen my Dad?"

The quarterback's eyes widened when he heard the soft voice. He turned around and caught his first look at Danny in a little over a week. What he saw made his heart ache. The raven's left arm and leg had a cast around it. On what skin that wasn't covered by the cast and his pajamas (which had adorable rocket ships on them) was so badly bruised that it looked like there was more discoloration than normal skin. To top it all off, there were bandages wrapped all around his head.

"Um…no I haven't seen him," Dash rubbed the back of his neck, "Hey, are you doing okay?"

Danny clasped his arms around himself, looking down and avoided meeting Dash's eyes. "Yeah I'm doing fine. I just need to find my Dad. He has my medication."

He looks so broken. I wish there was something that I could do to help. The jock scolded himself. You're helping by studying with Mrs. Fenton...but I still wish I could have stopped him from getting hurt in the first place.

It hadn't been that long ago since Dash had been swearing that he'd just have some fun with the shorter boy, but after a lot of thinking (and a crap-ton of studying), that promise had been easily been forgotten. Dash hadn't even realized his change of heart: he just went with what felt right (which is a habit more people should think about taking up).

The two teens heard the front door slam, and Mr. Fenton's voice called from the living room. "I'm home!" Dash had to roll his eyes. Even though the one who had initially agreed to teach him was Mr. Fenton, he wasn't much of a teacher. He had learned more from her in ten minutes than he had with the fudge obsessed man in one entire day.

Danny awkwardly shuffled his feet. "It sounds like that's him. See you later, I guess," he muttered. The last part was said under the other boy's breath, but it still made Dash's heart beat faster.

After Danny had left, the blonde finished cleaning the lab (Paulina, Star and him switched off doing the chore every day).

Okay, time for my other job. Dash pulled out a long, sleek looking piece of metal. Pushing a button on the side, it gracefully expanded over the bully's body. He activated the communication device inside of the helmet.

"Where are you? I can come now." Masters had introduced him to the Red Huntress right after Dash had agreed to work for him. They both kept their identities secret, so things didn't get too weird when or if they saw each other around town.

"I'm right over the movie theater on the west side. Things are pretty quiet today, so I think it's best that we split up for today."

"That sounds right to me."

"So, I'm curious. How did you catch the attention of Mayor Masters?"

"Danny Phantom hurt someone that I cared about. I think that I should make things even."

Dash could practically hear the smirk on the other hunter's face. "Funny. That's really close to my story. Danny Phantom ruined my life."

"Speaking of Phantom, don't you think that it's a little strange that we haven't seen him around lately?"

"No. After big battles like the last one, he likes to disappear for a while. Maybe he runs off and licks his wounds."

"Hmm, I'll keep that in mind. See you later. That stupid box ghost is harassing a mailman again."

He turned off his headpiece to the sound of laughter on the other end.

"I already told you Paulina. I don't have time for bowling on Saturday."

Dash was losing yet another fight to the Latina. She wanted him to go with their friends to celebrate Kwan coming home. He had forgotten all about it, and Dash genuinely felt bad about it. But, between football, school, and ghost hunting, he had no time to mess around. He couldn't drop football because that would be suspicious to overly nosy people (*cough* Paulina *cough*). He couldn't leave school because then he would have an even worse future than working at a gas station. Forgetting about ghost hunting was out of the question.

The point was he had been planning on using this Saturday to catch up on some sleep.

"Oh come on Dash. He's your best friend and you haven't seen him in over a month!"

Dash groaned and ran a hand through his hair, "I know, and I want to see him. But I have a lot of things on my mind right now so it's probably safer for everybody if I have my mental moment at home, so nobody thinks that that I'm crazy or on drugs or something." He could hear his words slurring together. Yikes.

Apparently, Paulina could too, because she let it go. Within another ten minutes, Dash was finally free to sleep. With all the things going on in his life, Dash didn't get much time to himself. Football and training with the Fentons was the one luxury he still allowed himself to enjoy on a daily basis, but it was all worth it.

He would still keep up his job even if Danny didn't feel the same way because at the end of the day, it wasn't just the geek he was protecting. It was all of Amity Park.