Chapter 3: Meeting the Family

As Danny walked into his living room, nervous to what he would find, he soon found himself extremely amused at the site before him: Jazz being held back by his parents while she tried to get the answers to her questions from Sam and Tucker, who were backed into a corner, trying to avoid possibly getting mauled by the older girl.

Danny resisted the urge to laugh as it seemed that they had yet to notice his and Danielle's presence, but couldn't help the smile that came across his face from the small giggle he heard behind him.

"Um, guys? I think Sam and Tucker could use some breathing room," Danny said, causing everyone to turn toward the door and stare at him. Danielle, feeling even more nervous and shy then before now everyone was looking at her, or more so toward her, grabbed the back of Danny's shirt and buried her face in it, trying to hide like a frightened child, which in actuality, she was. Acting on her natural reflexes, Danielle suddenly turned invisible, hoping no one had seen her behind him already.

"Danny!" Jazz growled, making her way over. The scowl on her face told Danny that maybe leaving her in the dark for so long about all of this wasn't such a good idea. "What was all that about back at the school, and who was that girl you were yelling about, and why won't Sam or Tucker tell us what's going on?"

"Jazz, just calm down, will ya? I promise, everything will be explained if you just give me a little time first," he said as he slowly shuffled around her, keeping his back toward the wall, and walking backwards into the kitchen while a nervous smile stayed on his face.

"Danny, are you…feeling ok? You're acting weirder than usual. Are your powers acting up?" Maddie asked with motherly concern.

"No, no. My powers are fine. But…you guys all might wanna sit down. We've got some serious stuff to talk about."

All three nodded and sat down at the table as Sam and Tucker moved to stand beside Danny, waiting for him to begin his explanation. Danny, moving his hands behind his back, tried to pry Danielle away from his shirt, but failed as she only seemed to clamp on tighter. Danny sighed, looking at Sam for help, who promptly moved behind him, and after a few good pulls, eventually was able to pry the scared girl from his shirt, though she had yet to try visible again. The other Fentons looked on, perplexed, at Sam as she seemed to be holding nothing but air.

Danny smiled thanks and took Danielle from her, and, using his own ecto-energy, forced her to become visible. Carrying her to an empty seat at the table, Danny ignored the confused and shocked stares from his family, and focused solely on the frightened one coming from Danielle as he rubbed her back in encouragement.

"Danny, who-what-" Jazz stuttered, for once, completely at a loss for words.

"I'll answer all questions in a bit, but first," he said, looking at Danielle, "you are gonna sit here and eat something to get your strength back. Lord only knows when the last you ate was."

"But-" she started, ready to argue.

"No buts," he said sternly as he placed a sandwich, some chips and a can of soda in front of her. "Sam, Tucker and I will explain everything to them. You just worry about eating, ok?" he said. Maddie, although still confused about all of this and who this young girl was, noticed something in Danny's eye as he spoke. Something she'd seem in Jack's eye and even her own on occasion. Even though she knew nothing of this girl, she could tell that Danny cared for and had a lot of affection for her.

Danielle let out a sigh as she looked at her shoes, which had becoming very interesting in the last two minutes, but nodded her head in understanding, before picking up her sandwich and taking a small bite. Her eyes lit up instantly at the feeling and taste of the first real food she'd eaten in days that wasn't from a dumpster, and without much restraint, took a huge bite from it, almost eating half of the delicious combination of meats, veges and bread in that moment. Danny smiled, feeling better with the knowledge that she was finally getting the proper nourishment she needed, and turned back to his still stunned family.

"Um, ok, so…where to start," he said as he was becoming more nervous as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I guess I should explain who she is first. Mom, Dad, Jazz, this is Danielle, and she's…well…sort of…mine and Sam's…daughter."

"Your what!" Maddie shouted in pure shock as she rose from her seat. Danielle, suddenly filled with dread, dropped the remainder of her sandwich back onto the plate, and sank lower into her chair, contemplating if she should just disappear and sink threw the floor. "Danny, is this some kind of joke! You're fifteen years old, and even if you did have a daughter, there's no way she could possibly be this old!"

"Mom, calm down," Jazz said, grabbing a hold of her arm, but her gaze never left Danielle who was starting to shake in fear of the sudden mood change in the air. Even though she couldn't be sure, Jazz felt a connection to this girl, but at the moment, was more concerned with keeping the situation from getting out of hand. "Whatever is going on, I'm sure Danny will explain everything, and we can get down to the bottom of this," she said, turning her gaze to her brother, pleading with him to understand the dire situation they were in.

"Everybody, just chill out, ok?" Danny said, moving closer to Danielle, who stopped shaking once he placed a hand on her shoulder. "And, no, Mom, this is not a joke. I know it's a lot to handle and sounds really weird, but I need you to just let me explain everything." Maddie looked at him skeptically, but sat back in her seat. Danny took a deep breath, calming the rush of adrenaline that was coursing thru his veins. "I guess to start off, about 9 months ago, Vlad secretly tried to clone me."

"Vlad! I should have known that he had something to do with this," Maddie mumbled, hatred for the man seeping out of every pour of her body.

"Yeah, he did. He wanted me to become his apprentice, but when I refused, he used the old ghost fighting armor he gave Valerie to record our fights as well as get samples of my DNA. Once he had that, he planned to make a clone of me that would serve him and would destroy me so it could take my place. When he first started the process, he had made three clones using three different methods, but they all failed to come out the way he wanted. On his fourth attempt, he tried a different method, and created Danielle."

"So, she's a clone of you then?" Jazz asked.

"Well, originally, that's what we thought. However, when we were looking thru some files that she had brought back from his lab, we discovered that he had gotten a sample of Sam's DNA too."

"So, she's a clone of you with Sam's DNA in her too?"

"Actually, it's deeper than that," Sam said as she leaned against the counter. "Apparently, that fruitloop took my DNA and was somehow able to create an exact copy of what my eggs are like, and added Danny's DNA into it."

"Like a form of artificial insemination…" Maddie said as the information started to dawn on her.

"Yep. And going from where Sam left off," Tucker said, joining the conversation, "When Vlad combined their DNA, he also sped up the process to make the clones grow up quicker. If I'm correct, he only used DNA from Danny's ghost half, and somehow, it produced an X chromosome instead of a Y chromosome, possibly because the X occurs more naturally then the Y."

"He told me that he needed Danny because with his Mid-Morph DNA, he'd be able to stabilize me," Danielle said quietly, getting everyone's attention.

"Stabilize you?" Jazz asked.

Danielle nodded her head. "When any of us used our ghost powers too much, especially the others when they fought against Danny, they would fall apart and turn into ectoplasm. So, he sent each of us, but because I was smarter and actually able to infiltrate and get close to Danny, he had me pose as a distant cousin he didn't know so that he wouldn't suspect anything. I believed him, believed that he cared about me enough to actually want to save me, but Dnany didn't. He tried to tell me. He told me that I was just a mess that Vlad wasn't going to clean up, which turned out to be true because we then found out that he had made a "perfect" clone of Danny, but it wasn't ready. After coming to my senses and helping Danny fight him, along with the late arrival of Sam and Tucker, we stopped him, destroyed the clone, and then I flew off dramatically."

"After that, I didn't see her for months until she came looking for me. She was falling apart, and needed my help in getting stable. Unfortunately, Vlad had found out she was in town, and sent Valarie after her because he wanted to melt her down and study her remains to see why she lasted longer than the other clones," Danny said, his tone turning venomous at the memory.

"That sick bastard," Jazz growled. "Even if she was only a clone, she was a living being! I can't believe he would stoop that low."

"Well believe it. And that's the same thing I told Valerie. After she handed her over to Vlad, I had to convince her that even if Danielle was a ghost, she was also a human, which was the only way she was staying together. After she agreed to help me, we came back here and I grabbed the Ecto-Dejecto that Dad was working on."

"The Ecto-Dejecto?" Jack asked confused. "But why that? It's supposed to take away ghost powers."

"Yeah, but earlier when you had shown it to me, I remembered that it actually gave them power, so I grabbed it, and we flew to his mansion. When we got there, Vlad had already started to melt her, and…her screams…" he paused, looking down at Danielle, sorrow and regret in his face. "Valerie distracted him while I tried to free her, but I couldn't get her free, so I tried the Ecto-Dejecto on her. I still remember the look of fear on her face when I asked if she was ready to try it."

"I remember," Danielle said with a sad smile. "I can't break them, Danielle. You feeling brave?"

Danny couldn't help smiling at her as her words played thru his mind. "And then she said, 'A little weak in the knees, actually. And I don't even have knees anymore.' I was freaking out, praying when I sprayed her that it would work. But…she still melted. I thought I had failed her and that I was too late, but then she popped her head out of the bucket she was in, smiling at me like nothing happened, and jumped into the air where she reformed. I was so happy. Then we kicked Vlad's butt, and afterwards, I was gonna offer her a place to stay, but she said she had places to go, and flew off again.

"After that, I didn't see her again until the Disasteroid incident where she and the other ghost helped to save us all. Before I could get a chance to talk to her though, she flew off. I tried to see if anyone in the Ghost Zone knew where she was, but she was nowhere to be found. I had lost track of her, and I was sad because I knew how she was living and surviving out there on her own with no home, only one pair of clothes, having to steal or eat garbage to survive. But then she showed up at my school today, and now," he said seriously, looking at her and his parents, "She's not going anywhere."

Everyone fell silent. Maddie, who was still angry at Vlad, felt not only a sense of pride in Danny for wanting to take care of this girl, but also a strange feeling of love and the need to protect this girl. Maybe it was the fact that she looked and reminded her so much of Danny and Jazz, or maybe it was the way Danny was so adamant about caring for her and willing to do so much for a daughter he had no part in, but she knew for a fact that this girl was important and needed a home. She also knew that deep down, she was just an innocent little girl in need of a family to love and protect her.

Jazz felt pity for the girl, not because Vlad had been involved in her creation, but because she was just a little girl, not even technically a whole year old, and she'd been through so much in such a short amount of time. She'd been used, lied to, had to fight to stay alive and keep from dying at any moment, not to mention having to fight off hunger, find shelter and having to check over her shoulder at every point, just hopping that she wasn't in any danger. To top it all off, the only person she could depend on was a teenager, not much older than her, and he could only do so much while still trying to get his own life together; it was no wonder she was always running off after the job was done. She didn't want to be a burden on him.

Jack didn't know how to feel. Angry or sad. His old friend, a man who he had trusted for so long, had tried to take over the world, steal the love of his life and get his son to turn against him. Then, when that didn't work, he tried to clone his son, and put this young girl through so much pain and torture, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. He remembered all too well what it felt like when he thought that he had lost Danny when the Ops-Center Rocket plummeted into the side of the mountain and Jazz had told them that Danny was really the ghost boy. He thought his son was gone, but he was wrong; seconds later, Danny had come flying out of the portal, safe and sound. But her? The one person who had raised her, who she thought loved her, tried to throw her away like trash. It made him sick, and he knew if he ever found Vlad, he wouldn't hesitate to get rid of him.

"So…you've had a daughter for this long, and you never told us? Or even me, who's known your secret longer then Mom and Dad?" Jazz asked, a little hurt. She thought that they had gotten past the secrets, but now, she wasn't so sure.

Danny, seeing the sad look on her face, shook his head. "I knew she existed, but I never knew she was my daughter until she showed up at my school. Whenever I saw her, I always considered her a cousin, maybe even a sister, but she was always gone, and I knew if I told you about her, you'd be just as worried about her as I was. I didn't want you having to worry about me worrying about her, and I always planned on telling you guys about her, but I wanted to wait for the right time, like when I found her," he smiled.

"Well, better late than never," she said with a smile back. "Although, I gotta say that this is a lot of information to take in all at once."

"I'll say. I just found out I have a daughter. I can't imagine how my parents are gonna react," Sam said shaking her head in sadness.

"Well, we don't have to tell them," Danielle said quietly. "We could all just keep quiet about this and I could, I don't know….just leave…"

"Absolutely not!" All four Fentons said at the same time. Danny blinked a few times before turning to look at the rest of his family.

"Young lady, you are not going anywhere. You are a part of this family, and I will not have anyone in this family, especially not my granddaughter, living out on the streets alone," Maddie said in a stern tone.

"Gra-grand…daughter? You mean-"

"That's right, you're a Fenton, and we Fentons stick together," Jack said, wrapping a strong arm around Danielle.

"Danielle, it doesn't matter how or why you're here. So long as you've got even a bit of Fenton DNA in your blood, you are family," Jazz said with a smile.

Danielle looked from her then to Maddie and Jack, completely in shock. Here, she thought they would hate her, that they would call her an abomination or some kind of twisted, messed up experiment that Vlad had created for his own horrible purposes. But now, here she was, in the world's best, maybe not the brightest, but the best ghost hunters' house, having just met her paternal grandparents, and instead of turning her away, they've embraced her, ready to take her in as their own as if her past meant nothing. Tears came to her eyes as she looked down, closing her eyes tight and letting a small sob shake her form. For once, she wasn't crying tears of pain and sorrow, but of love and joy.

"Thank you…" she managed to get out as she was consumed by hugs from all three, causing her to cry even harder.

Danny smiled as he looked over at Tucker who gave him a thumbs up for another job well done. Turning toward Sam, however, caused his smile to falter as she still wore the same sour look she had earlier. Without saying a word, Danny raised his eyebrow, questioning what was on her mind. Sam caught the look and made her way into the living room with Danny close behind.

"Everything alright, Sam?"

"No, everything is not alright, Danny," She snapped, turning around to look at him. "How can you be so calm and passive about all of this craziness?"

"About what? Being responsible and wanting to take care of my daughter?" he asked, anger growing in his tone.

"Yes! I mean, think about it! In the last 2 hours, Danielle shows up to give us all this information about her and Vlad and how she was created. Then, we dig into the information only find out she's not a clone of you, but a daughter we never knew we had. To top it all off, we tell your parents all this, and you've barely batted an eye!"

"Well, Sam, guess what? I don't know what else you expect me to do! I mean, yea this new stuff about Danielle is shocking and really strange, even more so then when I first got my ghost powers. But she's here and needs a place to live, and a family to help take care of her. Sure, I never thought I'd be a father at fifteen, but she's my responsibility, and I don't want anyone other than me raising her. Well, nobody except maybe her mother," he said, calming down as he looked into Sam's eyes. "Look, I know this is weird, I know this is something you never expected, but she's my daughter, and yours. I want her to have both her parents in her life and I want you to be a part of it." Lifting his hand, he slowly stroked his thumb against her cheek, causing her expression to soften a bit and her anger to quell slightly. "I love you Sam, and I love Danielle. I know it's tough to just jump into such a big life change, and I'm not asking you to jump right into it, but I am asking you to help me, even if it's just moral support. I need you to be strong for me, Sammie," he said with a small smile.

Sam stared at Danny, not sure of what to say, before closing her eyes and leaning into his palm with a small smile. "Don't call me Sammie," she whispered. "Look at you. Always with your stupid hero complex. It's gonna be the death of me one day, I swear." She pulled him closer, kissing him and just letting them relax in the moment before continuing. "I don't know how I'll react to this whole thing. I might not like it, but maybe I will. It'll take some getting used to, and I can't promise I'll be the best mom for her…but I do know that I love you and that if she's important to you, then I'll do my best for her."

Danny smiled as he held her close. "Thanks Sam."

"Well, I guess I can't really trust you and Tucker to raise her. Who knows what you two would teacher her. She's already like you enough as is, and Tucker, I don't know even want to know what kinda damage he could do to her," She said with a smile.

"This coming from the rebellious Goth girl? Though, you might be right about Tucker."

"Well, if she is my daughter and is anything like me, then you'd better prepare yourself for a very serious and very nerve racking rebellious phase."

"Fine, how about we make a deal?"

"I'm listening."

"I'll deal with the attitude from her and the back sass and everything that comes with being rebellious if you promise to back me up when needed and if I get to pick the phase you have to deal with. Deal?"

Sam looked him in the eye, trying to decipher what it was that he was trying to do. She knew Danny was up to something, but in the moment, she didn't really feel as though it was something to be too concerned about.

"Alright, you got yourself a deal," she said, kissing him to seal their agreement. "So, what problem do I get, huh? Not that it can be as bad as what you got. Acne? Popularity? Dating?"

"Haha. Oh man, you do not know how stuck you just got yourself. You, my dear, have to deal with her in puberty," he said with a grin.

"Ok. That doesn't seem so bad. I probably would have gotten stuck trying to explain that to her anyway. I'm pretty sure if you and Tucker tried to explain to her how the female body works, you'd crash and burn faster than Dash does on an English test," she smirked back at him.

"Oh, by the way, that includes having to give her the Birds and the Bees Talk," he said as his grin turned into a full blown smile at the horrified look on her face. "Though, I'm sure you'll a much better job than your parents did when they gave it to you."

"Fine," Sam huffed. "That is so unfair, Danny, and you know it. You planned this, I can tell. Hopefully, I won't have to worry about that for a few more years because that is one awkward talk I'd rather not have to have with anyone at all."

"Well, if it makes you feel better, I can always be there when you do so I can give a little bit of advice, and definitely, enjoy watching you squirm under the awkwardness that will be taking place." Danny couldn't help smiling at the pout that Sam gave him, and kissed her temple. "Come on, let's get Tucker and get out of here so we can have that movie night." Taking her by the hand, he lead them back into the kitchen where he found Danielle had transformed, and seemed to re-enacting a battle she had fought.

"And then I kicked him across the sky, and haven't seen him since."

"Amazing. You must be a really skilled fighter," Maddie said. "And such a cute one at that."

"Of course she is, she's a Fenton!" Jack proclaimed. "And we Fentons are the best at everything!"

"Well, I did learn from the best," she blushed, sneaking a quick glance at Danny.

"So, Tuck, you ready for that movie night?" Danny said.

"You bet! This weekend is gonna be awesome!"

"We're having a movie night at Sam's house, Dani. You wanna come with us or stay here with your grandparents and aunt?"

"I wanna go with you guys!" she said excitedly as she flew over to him and jumped onto his back. She let out a small giggle and planted a kiss on his cheek, making him smile.

"Oh, she's good," Tucker said.

"Yep. Looks like someone is gonna be a daddy's girl. Especially with the way she's already got him wrapped around her little finger," Sam said with a smile as she felt a bit of peace, somehow knowing that even in the middle of all the chaos that has happened, that everything was going to be ok.