Chapter 19:

Dani POV-

16 days and counting…

Tony and I only stayed up for like an hour longer the night we discovered each other's secrets, and that' only because I practically forced him to bed. No, actually, I did force him. It involved a little bit of phasing through the ceiling.

Before that, though, we were able to get a little progress on the Iron Man suit.

"So what powers do you have?" he asked as he tightened a few loose bolts.

"Invisibility, intangibility, flight, paranormal strength, possession, ghost ray, ghost shield. Ooh and duplication and ice powers, but those need a little work," I shrugged sheepishly. Tony blinked at me.

"Okay…wow…what was that blue mist I saw at the press conference?" he asked, still seeming to be a little stunned by my list of powers.

"Ghost sense," I shrugged again, "It lets me know when a ghost is nearby."

"Hmm…" Tony thought for a second, "So tell me more about your 'cousin'?" he said, using air quotes around the word 'cousin.'

"Well, Danny is a level five ghost, which means his power is equal to that of Vlad's, it's just Vlad has 20 years more experience."

"What about you?" Tony asked, "What level is your power?"

"I'm a little over 3.5," I shrugged.

"Why? Shouldn't you be at the same level as Danny?" Tony wondered.

"Well, Danny is older than me, so he has a little more experience, and also, for most of the time after I was created, I was melting and not really focusing on enhancing my powers," I replied, with a smirk.

"Okay, carry on," Tony nodded at me, resting his hand on his face like that statue of the Thinker. I rolled my eyes and continued.

"Umm…okay, well, the only people who know Danny's secret, outside of the Ghost Zone, of course, are his best friends Tucker, and Sam and his sister Jazz," I told him.

"Yes, I know about Tucker, he hacked my security system," Tony said, almost with a pout, causing me to laugh out loud.

"Yeah, he does that," I grinned, "That's what he's the tech geek. Danny is much more…clueless." I said, unable to hide the smile that pulled at the corners of my mouth.

"What's so funny?" Tony asked, immediately catching onto my amusement.

"Well, let's just say that everyone knows that Danny is in love with Sam, that is, everyone except Danny and Sam," I smiled.

I transformed, and Tony, not used to seeing me transform, actually jumped a little (even if he would never admit it) and I floated up and leisurely lounged in the air like a comfortable chair.

Tony shook his head and turned to face his work.

"You said you had run-ins with DALV weapons?" Tony asked, almost concerned.

"Yeah, what do you think DALV is spelled backwards," I scoffed. Tony took a second to think about this, then he shook his head.

"So what about Vlad, what do I need to know about him?" Tony asked without looking up.

"Vlad is…well, he has a way of convincing you that he is on your side. But, when that doesn't work, he does have…more effective ways of persuasion," I told him.

Tony looked up at me. "You think he will try and overshadow me?" he said more like a statement rather than a question. I nodded slightly.

"Let's just say, he definitely didn't make his millions through hard work," I said, bitterness lacing my voice, "And he has no sense of boundaries, he will do whatever it takes to get what he wants, no matter who is hurt in the process," I told Tony, floating back down to the floor.

"I'm sorry," Tony said, so quietly that I almost believed that I had imagined him saying anything at all.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"You didn't deserve to be treated the way he treated you. I just hope I'll be able to make it right," Tony told me. I smiled, giving him another hug.

"You already have," I replied, now it was his turn to be confused.

"By taking me in and actually caring about me, and then by offering to protect me, you are already a better person and dad than Vlad ever was for me. Being here with you and Pepper has been the best time of my life," I told him, honestly.

Tony seemed like he didn't know what to say, and I wasn't surprised. He had grown up without a loving father too, so it was harder for him to express emotions. I broke the hug, not wanting to make him anymore uncomfortable.

He smiled at me as I sat down in a chair, returning to my human form, and he picked up another tool to work on the suit. This tool, I realized, was darker tan the others. It took me a second to realize what that meant.

This tool was made of iron.

I knocked the wrench out of his hand before it touched the active ectoplasm on the suit.

Tony looked at me, a mixture of emotions present on his face.

"Iron doesn't react well with ectoplasm," I told him, "If you had touched that wrench to the suit, we very well could have had a dangerous explosion."

"Oh, okay, thanks," he replied, looking for another wrench. I handed him a stainless steel one.

"Here," I gave the wrench to him, "Stainless steel works the best, and it doesn't react with ectoplasm."

"Thanks," He said with a yawn. It occurred to me, that while he has been taking all this time to dig into my life, he probably hasn't gotten very much sleep.

"Tony," I said, "You need to go to bed."

"I'm fine," he said, yawning, again.

"No you're not," I argued, "Go to bed, the suit will be here tomorrow."

"But we only have—" he started to protest, but I cut him off.

"16 more days. I know. But you need to sleep, you're no good to either of us if you die of exhaustion," I said, with a playful smirk, even though I was completely serious.

"No, I'm fine. But you should go to bed," he told me.

I shook my head. "I didn't want to have to do this Tony. But…you've left me no other choice." I changed into my ghost form, a devious smile lighting up my face.

"Oh, no," He shook his head, waving his wrench at me. I took off, picking him up with my paranormal strength, and phasing through the ceiling. Honestly, the look on his face was priceless. You'd have thought he had never flown through a wall, and from what Jarvis had shown me on the computer, he definitely had. I stopped flying right outside of his bedroom door.

"Don't do that again," he ordered, looking a little green.

I giggled, "Go to bed, Tony."

"Fine," he told me, before going into his room. I closed the door behind him and turned towards my own room.

"Jarvis, make sure he doesn't go back down until after he's had a full night's sleep," I told him.

"Yes, miss Dani," he replied. I arrived at my bedroom. Falling onto my bed, where Ghost was already spread out. I changed back to my human form and was asleep as soon as I closed my eyes.