Chapter 2: The Return

One month later…

November 25, 2010, 14:31 CST; Thanksgiving

The last month had been hell on the Fenton family. After the accident that virtually destroyed their lab, Jack and Maddie had been hard at work sorting and cleaning up the mess that they had created. As Maddie swept the floor of all the glass and debris, she would often gaze at the now destroyed Fenton Flipper pad. Wires from the device hung from the ceiling as well as from various spots on the ground panel while the ring had been completely obliterated in the explosion. The top of the surface was covered in scorch marks except for a small section in the center where her son had been standing, cradling the small girl that they had attacked so mercilessly without even thinking about the repercussions of their actions. Much like they had been doing for so long which not only lead to their son becoming a half ghost, but them attacking him at every turn. Maddie could feel the guilt clench her stomach as she turned and gazed at the now destroyed Fenton Portal.

A month and a half later and they still had made no progress it getting it functional again. After many long hours of inspection, they had not only determined that it was almost completely useless, but the cause of the explosion which seemed to be an electrical pulse that fried the circuitry on the inside of the Portal. Of course Maddie knew exactly where the pulse had come from; the two hybrids that had been flung into the swirling green door to the Ghost Zone. With how much electricity that had to have been going through Danny and Danielle, it was no surprise that it overloaded. Though that was the least of her concerns at the moment.

Maddie couldn't help the morbid thoughts that drifted into her mind whenever she thought about that day, and the nightmares didn't help. The painful screams would forever haunt her as she thought about her son and his…clone. That was another thought that she was still struggling to deal with. Some madman, whom Jazz had refused to tell them about, had taken her son's DNA and had made a genetic copy of him, except that there seemed to be a problem with the copy. Instead of a perfect, fifteen year old version of her son, there was now a twelve year old little girl with the same make up as him, from his crystal clear eyes and black hair, to the ectoplasmic infused DNA that coursed through him. If she had known about all this earlier, would it have made a difference? Would they have not attacked her? Would she and Danny still be alive?

Maddie shook her head of these thoughts that seemed to come very often. There was no way for her to know what had happened to the two, and thinking such thoughts were not going to help to find them. No, now was the time to focus. They needed to get the Portal up and running again so that they could look for them. She'd be damned if she was going to give up on her baby boy so easily.

Looking over toward her husband, Maddie found him at the work table with Sam and Tucker, Danny's two best friends, looking over the blueprints to the gateway. Maddie could say that the two of them were probably the greatest gift in the world that her son could have ever asked for. They had been through so much before Danny even got his powers, had been there for him and helped him when he tried to save the town and were now doing everything in their power to help to bring him back to the living world. It didn't take long for the two teens to realize that something was wrong when Danny had stopped answering his phone and neither he nor Jazz had shown up to school in almost a week. Maddie could still remember the panicked and horrified look on their faces as Jazz retold the story of the lab explosion as well as the arrival and departure of Danny and their unexpected guest, Danielle. Sam and Tucker begged and pleaded with the Fentons to let them help to find Danny in any way they possibly could, and even though Jack and Maddie wanted to tell them it was too dangerous, they both knew that these two were probably their best chance of finding Danny, especially since they had not only been to the Ghost Zone but had helped him to make a map of the locations in there. Their knowledge of the otherworldly was not only amazingly technical it also stunned the two older humans that their own children could be so proficient in something that they themselves had thought they were experts in.

So for the last month, they had been trying to help them repair the Fenton Portal, but as of now, the progress had been so slow, they were unsure of how long it would take them to actually get it working again. Much to Maddie's surprise, Sam had been very handy with a lot of tools that they had, especially the wielding torch. Maddie believed that Sam was working so hard because, though she knows that the young girl would deny it, she had feelings for Danny and wanted more than anything to ensure that he was safe. It had gotten to the point that some nights she had to force Sam to go stay in one of the guest rooms and get some sleep. And then there was Tucker, who had proven himself to be very knowledgeable when it came to technology and reading blueprints. With Tucker's help, they had been able to work around many of the bugs and destroyed parts on the inside of the portal. Everyone was working so hard to fix the device. Everyone except Jazz.

After the accident, Jazz had refused to go anywhere near the basement, claiming that she could still hear Danny and Danielle's screams echoing off the soundproof walls and that it would haunt her for the rest of her life if she stayed in there too long. For the first week, she had completely refused to even speak to her parents, her eyes filled with both sadness at the loss of her brother and hatred toward them for not listening to her when she had been trying to warn them. Maddie agreed with her daughter that it was their fault about everything that happened to Danny, but her nasty attitude toward was not going to help and was becoming counterproductive them when they need answers now more than ever. Eventually Jazz broke down and cried, telling her mother how sorry she was and that she really wanted to help them in some way, but couldn't bring herself to enter the lab. Maddie understood her reasons, and so never pushed her to help with the repairs, but instead, encouraged her to help in other ways. So for the most part, Jazz was around making meals for the others, preparing the guest rooms when needed and helping Sam and Tucker to stay on top of their homework so that their parents allowed them to partake in their "after school work". At the moment, Maddie could hear a soft humming coming from the kitchen as her daughter made a Thanksgiving meal for them all. Though Maddie was glad to see Jazz active and trying to distract herself, she couldn't help the empty feeling she got as she thought about how Danny wasn't going to be eating with them. She wondered if they were even eating at all.

Another thing that Maddie noticed was the sudden decrease in ghost activity to the point it was basically non-existent, reinforcing the idea that it had been their portal that all of the ghosts had been coming through for the past two years. When she thought back, it was too surprising, but she should have had a better handle on that from the beginning. Of course this sparked the town's interest as the Ghost Boy had sudden disappeared as well, prompting the Mayor, Vlad Masters, to place all the blame for the ghosts on her son, which only angered her more. She didn't know what Vlad knew about ghost or about Danny as Phantom, but she knew that she would be keeping a close eye on him. Thankfully, Valarie had picked up the slack and was handling the ghost hunting very well on her own, especially when she had heard about what happened to Danny and Danielle. She was crushed to hear that they had been hurt and trapped in the Ghost Zone, knowing how horrific it could be from personal experience, but she kept faith that if there was anyone who could survive in there, it was those two.

Of course, with Danny being gone, school became an issue. After missing a week of school, Casper High called to ensure that Danny was alright and to inform his parents of his absences. They knew that they couldn't say that he was sick because it was only a matter of time before people started to question how sick he really was if he was missing that much school and had not been admitted into a hospital. Luckily, an idea came to mind that they could use until they figured out a solution. When they called the next morning, they notified the school that Danny would be staying with his aunt for an undetermined amount of time because he was helping her with some things. The school accepted that, and asked that they be notified upon his planned return to school. Maddie and Jack were grateful for the temporary fix, knowing that it would only work for so long, but decided that they would burn that bridge when they came to it.

"How's it going over here?" she asked as she made her way over to the desk.

"Well we think we'll be able to repair the wiring on this lower paneling, but it looks like everything against the back wall is going to have to be replaced," Jack said.

"I'm guessing that this was the center point of the explosion after Danny and Danielle's electromagnetically charged pulses shot out when they came into contact with the energy from the portal," Tucker said as he continued to examine the schematics. "It definitely overloaded everything in the portal, but that area was damaged the most. It'll take a while to repair."

"So what do you supposed we do?" Sam asked as she stood in her black overalls, wrench in hand. "I doubt that there are spare Portal parts anywhere in town that we can just up and take to replace these parts."

"Well what about the Fenton Flipper?" Maddie asked, looking over the plans. "A good number of these parts are the same, if not similar. I'm sure we can use them."

"It won't do for all of them, but it is a good start," Tucker said as he nodded in agreement with Maddie. "Good thinking Mrs. F."

"So does that mean I can take this thing apart?" Sam asked with a smile on her face as she eyed the machine she felt was responsible for her friend's disappearance. "Finally, I've been waiting to-"

A bright light caused her to stop mid sentence as the entire room was engulfed in it. The four occupants looked on in surprise and terror at the light, which now appeared to be coming from the space right above the Flipper panel. The light soon turned green as a mass of what appeared to be ectoplasm formed in front of them, spinning clockwise in a circle as they all instantly recognized what it was.

"My god…is that…" Maddie whispered in awe.

"A portal! It's a ghost portal!" Sam yelled.

Loud moans charged from the opening, bouncing off the walls which carried the sound waves up the stairs and into the kitchen, directly into the ears of the red headed teenage girl who nearly dropped the bowl she was mixing to the floor. Jazz could feel her blood run cold as the memories from that day shook her to the very core of her being, but she couldn't help the other feeling that seemed to be building as well. Hope. Jazz was sure that she had been imagining things, her mind playing tricks on her because of her feelings of missing her brother, but then her suspicions were confirmed when she heard Sam's cry.

"A portal! It's a ghost portal!"

That was all the proof that Jazz needed as she tossed the now forgotten bowl of potato salad onto the table and ran down the stairs, entering the lab, something she hadn't done in well over a month, to find her family and her brother's friends staring at the green dimensional doorway with awe and disbelief.

"But, how? How is that even possible?"Jack asked as he continued to look upon the opening.

"It must be a natural portal," Sam said before turning to friend. "Tucker-"

"Already on it!" he said, PDA in hand as he scanned over the energy radiating from the portal.

"What's a natural portal?" Jazz asked as the two went to work.

"Natural portals are portals that connect the Ghost Zone and Earth without being made by someone. Some ghosts have the ability to create portals, but most have to use a portal that was created naturally or built, like the Fenton Portal."

"Well then what are we waiting for!? We have to go and get Danny-"

"It's not that simple, Jazz," Tucker said, still looking at his PDA as he scanned the energy for any traces of familiar ectoplasmic DNA of the ghosts they've come into contact with. "We can't just go charging into the Ghost Zone through this portal without knowing anything about it. Natural portals are only open for a few minutes to a couple of hours at most. Some do re-open in the same place frequently, but with this being the first time one has opened up here like this, if we just went into it, we would most likely just end up getting ourselves stuck in there too. Not to mention that if this isn't a natural portal, then that means that a ghost made it, which also means that they could be waiting for us on the other end if they're not coming through themselves."

No sooner had Tucker finished speaking did a loud cry resound from inside the green tunnel. The five humans once again tensed up, preparing themselves to have to jump into action when Tucker's PDA beeped with recognition. Tucker looked down and stared in wide-eyed disbelief at the information on his screen.

"Oh my god!"

"What is it, Tucker?" Sam said, running over to him and looking at the screen over his shoulder. Her eyes soon followed his as well as her mouth gapped and tears began to come forth. "Oh my…"

"Kids, what is it?" Maddie asked, but before she could take a step toward them, the sounds of the cry grew louder as the person doing so came closer and closer to the entrance before a green streak shot out of the portal, skidding across the floor. Seconds later the portal closed, but no one paid it any attention as all their eyes fell onto the person laying before them on the ground. Jazz could feel the adrenaline pumping through her as the person sat up, cradling a small bundle in his arms. Loud panting filled the room as green tired eyes scanned the room while long, ragged white hair hung around and clung to his dirty pale face that was drenched in sweat.

It didn't matter what he looked like, Jazz knew her younger brother when she saw him, even if he looked like a feral beast that had just gone through hell and back.

"Danny!" everyone cried in unison as the three teens ran toward him. Danny looked around at them as they all knelt, carefully trying to touch him so as not to hurt him more then he already looked like he was. Danny watched each of them carefully before a hysterical laugh escaped his chapped lips. The sound of his laughter startled everyone before they all felt sympathy for the boy as tears fell from his eyes and he gave the small bundle in his arms a tight squeeze. Upon closer inspection, Jazz was able to make out long, tangled white hair with splotches of green blood in it as well as a head band made out of what looked to be a tattered part of Danny's jumpsuit that was missing parts from the pants and completely missing his shirts which was being used as a blanket for the bundle that Jazz realized was Danielle.

"We made it…" he mumbled as he cried into her hair. "We made it, Dani! We finally made it! We're home! We've finally made it home!" Pulling the girl away from his chest that was bloodied and bruised, Danny could only cry as he looked upon the hurt girl. "After so long, we finally made it home. Everything's going to be ok now." No sooner had he finished speaking did his eyes roll slowly backwards and his eyelids close. Danny's body went slack as he fell backwards, arms loosing before he hit the ground unconscious. Danielle fell back with him, her head landing on his chest as her hair sprawled out around her.

Two bright flashes came from the both the tired hybrids as the rings that were known for changing their DNA sparkled over them both, leaving them in their human forms. Danny's human form looked just as bad as his ghost form. His shirt was also missing, showing off his bloodied and beaten chest while his pants were torn and his shoes were missing. Danielle's hair was still just as tangled, while the bandages that were once the same color as her's and Danny's jumpsuits was now pure white like Danny's t-shirt with splotches of red blood. Danny's jumpsuit jacket had disappeared, leaving her in a tattered hoodie that was completely ripped and showed her red undershirt that matched her worn red shorts. Her feet were covered in dirt and blood as one of her shoes was missing, leaving her white sock to protect her foot. Everyone stared at the two in shock before Maddie's mind kicked into gear and her instincts took over.

"Everyone, get moving, now!" She said, going into general mode. "Jazz, you and Sam take Danielle up to mine and your father's bathroom. Get her bathed and bandaged up. Jack, you and Tucker do the same for Danny. I'll go look for some clothes for them and call your parents to let them know you'll be staying the night since I'm sure neither one of you is going to want to be away from Danny and I'm sure he'll want to see you when he wakes up." Everyone nodded and got to work on their assignments.

Sam dropped her wrenched and picked Danielle up as she cradled the young Phantom, resting her head in the crook of her arm. Turning back to look at Danny, she could feel the fear and dread pumping through her as Jack and Tucker carefully picked up an arm each of the boy hero, and slung them around their shoulders. Tucker looked up to his friend and gave her a reassuring smile, letting her know that everything was going to be ok. Sam smiled backed and turned toward the stairs where she bolted after Jazz who was already on her way up the stairs. Running through the kitchen, Jazz quickly turned off all of the cooking devices she had been using. The last thing they needed was to have the house burn down while they were treating the two.

Once that was done, she turned to Sam and signaled for her to follow after her, leading her up the stairs and down the hall to her parent's room. Sam was surprised to find that the room was actually very normal looking compared to the rest of the house. Of course Sam knew better then to think that any room in this house other then Danny and Jazz's rooms were normal, especially this room where the two hunter parents slept every night. There were probably weapons hidden all around here, but she had little time to dwell on that thought as she followed Jazz into the bathroom connected to the bedroom. Jazz kneeled down and turned the water onto a warm temperature and added soap to it while the tub filled up.

"Strip her and place her in the water when the tub is full. I'll go get some medical supplies and those clothes from my Mom," Jazz said. Sam nodded her head as the older girl left and looked down to the girl still in her arms. Rubbing a hand softly against her cheek, Sam couldn't help but wonder what happened to her and Danny while they were gone.

"No time to think about that now, Sam," she said to herself. Kneeling next to the tub, she slowly and carefully began to remove Danielle's clothing, starting with her red hat that was ripped apart beyond repair. As she lifted the hoodie over her head and then the t-shirt, Sam made a mental note to mention to Maddie that Danielle was going to need to go bra shopping after the cuts and bruise on her ribcage healed up. From there she removed her pants, single shoe, socks and underwear before gently placing her into the warm water.

Sam watched as a large amount of dirt and blood began to fade from her skin and blend into the water. Grabbing a small washcloth, Sam dipped it into the soapy water and began to scrub away all the remaining blood and dirt in small, soft circles so as not to agitate her injuries. As she dipped it back into the water, Jazz returned, medical pack, clothes and towel in hand. Kneeling next to Sam, Jazz picked up a bottle of shampoo, squeezing a generous amount into her hands before rubbing it into and through the long locks of dark hair that were almost as long as hers.

"Jazz." Looking over to Sam, Jazz could see the younger girl keep her eyes focused on Danielle but could tell something was bugging her. "Do you think…do you think that they're gonna be ok?"

Jazz blinked, confusion etched onto her face before she faced forward once more to focus on her task. "Of course they're gonna be ok, Sam. I mean, you of all people should know that. Just because they're a little beat up doesn't mean-"

"That's not what I mean. What I mean is…mentally," Sam said slowly, hiding in her hair as it fell around her face. "I've heard of stories of people who get lost in the wilderness and have to fight for survival, and when they get back to civilization, they're not the same as when they left. You're a junior psychologist, what do you think? You don't think this will happen to Danny, do you?"

Jazz was quiet as she scrubbed the dirt and blood from Danielle's hair, but her focus was not on her task. She had taken Sam's words into consideration and couldn't help thinking the same thing. But no matter what she wanted to think, she knew that these were thoughts that she could not think. She had to keep faith that her little brother was still his same old self, and help him, as well as Danielle, come back to normal if he wasn't. And she knew she was gonna need help, and Sam and Tucker were her best bet, meaning she needed to make sure she had the right mindset as well.

"Of course not, Sam," she said, looking at the girl with a smile. Sam looked at her, a bit surprised by her response. "Danny's too tough for that, and he's been through hell and back before. I mean think about it, if he could change the future for all of us, I guarantee he can handle whatever it was that they went through while they were trapped in the Ghost Zone."

Sam stared at her for a moment before she too was smiling. "You're right. Thanks Jazz."

"No problem. Now, let's finish getting Danielle clean and fixed up."

Sam nodded and got back to work. Once Danielle was finally clean, they got to work bandaging her various wounds, the worst being her broken wrist that they had to re-break and set with a pair of splints. Luckily she was still out cold and didn't get to interfere with them during the process. After patting her hair dry and running a comb through it, they dressed Danielle in what Jazz realized was a pair of her old pink teddy bear pajama pants and a blue tank top that was now too small for her. As Jazz looked over their patient, she couldn't help but fret over the very still visible multiple colored bruises that decorated her body and the bandage wrapped securely around her head.

"You don't think we missed anything, do you?" She asked Sam. "These bruises are looking pretty bad."

"Trust me those will go down in a couple of days or so. Danny's had bruises worse than that, but because of his accelerated healing, they vanished in 4, 5 days tops," Sam said.

"If you say so," Jazz sighed as she carefully picked Danielle up and carried her out of the bedroom and back into the living room where her mother had set up a makeshift medical center for them. Danny had already been brought in and was currently resting on a cot wearing only a pair of sweatpants and bandages, the majority of which were wrapped expertly around his well toned torso. Looking over her brother, Jazz could see that his left ankle was wrapped in gauze, informing her that he had probably sprained it at best while he had many more bruises on his upper torso then Danielle had which also told her that he had gotten himself hurt protecting her. 'Danny and his stupid hero complex. It'll be the death of him one day, I swear.' She then proceeded to place Danielle gently on the cot that was next to Danny's while her mother placed a breathing mask over her face much like she had on Danny's.

"Good job, everyone," Maddie said, standing and looking at everyone.

"So what do we do now?" Sam asked, looking at the two unconscious half-breeds.

"For now, the only thing we can do is wait for them to wake up and hope for the best," Maddie said solemnly before she put a smile on her face. "Why don't we all go into the kitchen and help Jazz finish dinner to take our minds off things. We now have two things to be thankful for and a reason to celebrate." Everyone smiled a bit at this, looking at the even breathing of Danny and Danielle before turning and heading into the kitchen to finish preparing their dinner. Everyone except Sam who continued to stare at Danny's still form. Walking up, she placed a small kiss on his forehead, wiping away her few stray tears.

"Welcome back, Danny. I really missed you, so hurry up wake up."

To DMC Fanboy, I'm glad that you enjoy my stories. The way I come up with my stories is I take things that I like to see or that I remember dreaming about, and work from that. Recently, I'd read a couple of stories with Danny turning evil, but it was always because he was tortured or depressed or blackmailed. Though that route is good, I wanted to try something different, and since the Fenton's inventions generally backfire, why not on here too? And why not add Danielle into it because she's just as awesome too. Also, when I write, I like to look at it from the perspective of the character; like if that were me, how would I react? It's generally the same with characters from other shows because you just have to put yourself into their mind set and imagine how they would react if you were them. I also write stories that I know that I would and enjoy reading because I do reread my own stories in between posting chapters. The imagination is a wondrous thing and can lead you to many outcomes. Lol.