I'm not dead! YAY! Sorry for taking so long to update this story. Believe me, it's been on my to-do list for quite a while now, and I just haven't gotten around to it. Thanks for being so patient though, and thanks for reviewing the last chapter as well. Unfortunetly, my email is acting up, so this chapter hasn't been beta-read. I applogize for gramitical errors in advance. Enjoy chapter 3--

"Don't worry Maddie… Daniel will be fine." Vlad's words rang in my head over and over again. I still couldn't believe that this was happening. Danny, my Danny, my little baby boy… gone, missing, kidnapped by a lowlife putrid ghost. I swear on my life that when I get Danny back and, after I take out Phantom, that Wisconsin Ghost is going to wish he never messed with my family.

"Mom? Normally, I admire your new, positive outlook on life... but… you're starting to scare me." I couldn't help but laugh.

"Sorry Jazz," I smiled. "You just have no idea how happy I am!"

"To go to the grocery store?" Jazz blinked, clearly confused. I laughed again, and shook my head.

"I just can't wait until tomorrow."

Jazz's smile fell. "Oh." A hint of anger crossed her face and she folded her arms. "I still don't think that you should force Danny to go to that stupid thing…"

"I'm not forcing anyone to do anything." Okay, I'm not going to lie. I was getting annoyed. I seemed to have been the only one happy about the event tomorrow.

Jack had forgotten about it, Danny was depressed and complaining to anyone who'd listen, and Jazz wouldn't stop bothering me about how 'immoral' I was being.

"Mom, think about it." Jazz sighed. "You knew Danny didn't want to go, but as soon as Vlad brought up the subject, you played dumb."

"No, I didn't…" I scowled, trying to remember exactly what had happened only hours before.

Jazz sighed. "Okay. I'm going to go do my homework so I have 'free time' tomorrow for your imprisonment."

I rolled my eyes as my daughter turned and left the kitchen.

She'd get over it. She was, after all, just defending Danny.

"Maddie!" I snapped out of my thoughts, and smiled at my husband who had just run into the kitchen. "Are we going or not? We're out of fudge! And we need fudge to live!" I couldn't help but laugh.

"Correction Jack, you need fudge to live. The rest of us can survive." My husband smiled sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders.

"But Maddie!" he whined. "I like fudge!" I smiled and twirled the RV keys around my index finger.

"Alright Jack, I'll meet you in the RV, just let me grab my checkbook from upstairs." Jack grinned and dashed out of the kitchen. I giggled as I walked up the stairs.

Oh, how I love that man. It's small things like this that make me—

"HATE HIM!" I jumped at the outburst coming from my son's room. "I HATE HIM, I HATE HIM, I. HATE. HIM!" My first reaction was to open the door. To run over to Danny and see what was wrong with him, who he hated, why he hated… but I didn't. Instead I found myself leaning up against the door to hear the conversation easier.

"Danny, be quiet!" My daughter shushed. "You don't want anyone to hear."

"I don't care, Jazz!" Danny said, a little bit quieter, but his voice was still raised. "I don't care… I hate him… I hate him so much!"

"Danny, it's okay." Jazz soothed. Knowing Jazz, she was probably hugging her brother. "It's just for one day, and it's not like he's going to do anything with Mom right there with you."

Vlad? They were talking about Vlad? I knew that Danny didn't like him… but I had no idea he absolutely despised the guy.

"Maddie?" I jumped and nearly put my husband in a headlock.

"Jack! Don't sneak up on me like that!" He nearly gave me a heart attack.

"Aw, sorry Maddie, but you were just taking so long. I was waiting for—"

"About five minutes Jack."

"Five minutes too many!" He complained, and tried to snatch the keys out of my hands.

"Here." I handed them to him and he looked at me confused.

"Maddie? What—?"

"Something's wrong with Danny and I'm going to try to figure it out, just… get whatever you want." I walked into my room and walked over to the window. Jack's figure was just visible through the dark, but he was visible nonetheless. I waited until after the RV was out of view before sitting down on my bed.

"Danny?" I called, "could you come here a minute?" Jazz walked by my open door first. She probably went into her room after leaving Danny's.

"Yeah Mom?" Danny asked as he sat down on my bed.

"Danny…" I sighed. It was going to kill me to say this. "You… don't—If you don't want to—Well."

"That's nice." He said and smiled. I sighed and forced a laugh.

"You don't have to go to the Vlad's thing tomorrow if you don't want to." His smile fell in an instant.

"What?"

"I know you don't get along with Vlad, and I may never know the reason, but I don't want to force you to do something that you don't want to do."

"Um…" He seemed distracted, like he was staring at something out the window. I tried to follow his gaze, but my eyes didn't lead to anything. When I looked back at Danny he was smirking mischievously. Boy, was I lost.

"Danny?" He looked at me and grinned.

"Nah, don't worry about it Mom." He looked back out the window. "I'll go, but I won't just be doing community clean-up."

I shrieked with excitement and yanked my shocked son into a tight, tackle-hug.

"Oh, thank-you Danny! You have no idea how much this means to me!"

"You have no idea how much this means to me either." He said, after he recovered from my sudden affection.

"You should get to bed, Danny. We're leaving first thing in the morning. That goes for you too Jazz!" My red-headed daughter fell into the doorframe. Danny and I laughed. I was just guessing when I thought she was eavesdropping. I didn't know she was actually there.

"Your probably right Mom. Night." Danny walked out of the room and into his. Jazz looked confused, but obeyed my request and went to bed. I fell onto my own bed. Before I knew it, I had closed my eyes and dozed off.

"AHHHHHHHH!" I shot up out of bed, my heart was racing from the strange disturbance coming from outside. At first I thought I had imagined it. I glanced over to my side and looked past my sleeping husband to see the time.

3:14. I moaned as I rolled out of bed.

Who would be up this early in the morning? I stumbled out into the hallway and looked in Jazz's room. I could just make out the form of my child, wrapped up in a puffy pink blanket and buried in pillows.

I closed her door and walked over to check on Danny. My heart nearly stopped when I saw the bed was empty.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

"DANNY!" I almost fell down the stairs, I ran down them so fast. I didn't even bother opening the door, I just kicked it clean off. I was actually thankful that I had fallen asleep with my jumpsuit on. I had everything I needed right in my pocket.
"I don't know what you're planning Daniel, but you won't win." The voice sounded haunting. A slight echo clung to it and it sounded vaguely familiar.

"Let—GO—of—ME!"

"No Daniel. Never. You will never get away from me. Until the day you die. Which I, will be more than happy, to help happen sooner if you are unwilling to cooperate." Both voices were coming from above. My jaw dropped.

Danny Phantom looked horrible. I've seen him pretty beaten up before, but never like this. His uniform was torn in a dozen places, but the most obvious one was the big rip across his chest. The upper-part of his forehead was seeping in a greenish blood, and his arm hung limply by his side. Not to mention how he seemed to be fighting in and out of consciousness.

The ghost that was holding him captive didn't really seem to care about any of the younger ghost's injuries though. In fact, he was making them worse. I recognized the older ghost instantly. That was the ghost that overshadowed Jack when we went to Vlad's School Reunion. What was the Wisconsin Ghost doing here? Out of fear of being seen I hid behind our neighbor's car and watched the fight above me.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

I don't know what made me step in. I've been asking myself that question for a while now… and I still don't know what made me help Phantom. It haunted me even now.

Phantom was the enemy; I should be hunting him, not helping. Eventually I just settled with the thought that he was keeping me up. Either way, the ghost kid didn't even try to pull up when he fell out of his captor's hands. The Wisconsin Ghost fled the moment I shot him, and Phantom phased through the pavement: leaving me alone.

Danny wasn't the one screaming, so I went back inside to see if I could find him there. Sure enough, he was fast asleep in his bed. I smiled as I headed back to my room and changed into pajamas.

Tomorrow was the program, and hopefully we didn't have a stupid ghost problem like tonight. I doubted it though. Danny Phantom did seem seriously injured after all. It would be a while before he got back into action. Excitement rushed through me as I crawled back into bed. I can't wait for tomorrow!

And that's that. Hope you like it. As always review for me please! Also, I got a scanner! I got a scanner! Yay! That means that I got a deviant account as well. http:// angelofsuspense. deviantart. com (without the spaces). It really isn't much (and when I say not much I mean 2 things), but hey! I'm new at this and still messing around and trying to understand it all. Bare with me people! AoS is out! Later.

-angelofsuspense