Chapter 22:
Danny POV-
"Grayson and Lizzie?" Tucker asked when we told him our choices for names, he thought about it for a second, "Those are they names you guys would pick, aren't they?" he joked.
I shrugged. Then, I looked at Sam.
"We've got a proposition for you," I started. Sam and I had been talking the night before about getting a, as she put it, "killer security system" in the babies' room. And, while I definitely have some knowledge of the technology that would require, Tucker is the only one who knows how to calibrate the system not to target me, or Sam and the babies for that matter. Plus, we need to get the security system in there before my parents get the same idea. I don't even want to know the kind of weapons my dad would put in the nursery.
"I'm listening," Tucker smirked.
"We need a security system, a ghost-proof security system for the babies' rooms, one that won't target me or Sam, or them. You think you can do that?" I asked, knowing full well that he can.
"Are you kidding me? I could nanny-cam a speck of dust. This will be a piece of cake. So what do you want the system to have?" he asked us. I grinned, knowing that he would join the project.
"Well, we're going to get one of those camera baby monitors, it needs to hook up to that, with thermal imaging and an alarm of course, loud enough that we will know when a ghost is in there, but my parents will not. Um…needs to have a ghost shield. It needs to have some form of defense…maybe voice activated from a code word. You got all that?" I wondered.
"All that and more," he grinned back at us, "I'll have it done by the end of the week."
"Thanks, Tucker," Sam told him.
"Think of it as my gift to you," he waved it off, "I have Danny's ectoplasmic signature, but Sam I'm going to need a sample from you too."
Sam nodded, gently pulling a hair off of her head, "Will this work?"
"It should, but I might need a little ectoplasm too," Tucker said, taking the hair from her and putting it in a plastic bag, "And, I'm assuming that the babies will have an ectoplasmic signature between the two of yours, so I'll just blend them together and calibrate it for that too."
Sam made a little ball of ectoplasm between two of her fingers, wiping the sticky green stuff on the inside of the bag and the rest on her jeans.
…
As promised, by the end of the week the security system was finished. And I had sent my parents on a wild goose chase, or should I say wild ghost chase, in order to get them out of the house so that we could install it.
"You have six different camera angles, all of which can be accessed from the baby monitor," Tucker told us, clicking the button on the video screen. Obviously, I was impressed. Tucker always manages to come up with something that greatly exceeds my expectations.
Right now, the cameras were placed, one on each of the mobiles above the cribs, so that we could get a good look of both of our babies sleeping. One in the teddy bear that was setting on the shelves I had hung up over the cribs. One at the door to the bedroom, one at the door to the closet, and one at the window, giving us maximum viewing ability without anyone ever knowing the cameras were there.
In addition, every surface of the wall was equipped so that a ghost shield would be able to cover every square inch (Tucker had even been able to isolate and remove most of the glow so it would be easier for the babies to sleep). The cribs themselves were designed to become Specter Deflectors which was he extent of the weapons Tucker was actually able to include in the room.
Part of me was glad for that. When the babies began walking, I did not want them to accidentally come across a bazooka or a missile, but at the same time, I wanted to be able to blow the brains out of any ghost that threatened my kids.
However, Tucker was able to include another cool feature into the room: a built in thermos.
But not the same, small, size of my regular thermos. This one, was wired into the ventilation system, immediately sucking the ghost out of the room, down through the vents, and even, directly into the ghost zone. Much to Sam's disappointment, the ceiling thermos won't work on me, although, judging by the mischievous look Tucker gave Sam, there was probably a button that would turn off the sensitivity somewhere on the remote.
"So when you want to turn on the defense system, just say 'Ghost Defense System on,' and 'Ghost Defense System off' if you want to turn it off," and immediately the green ghost shield flowed down the walls from the ceiling fan in the center of the room.
"The only voices it responds to are, both of yours, mine, Jazz's, and your parents, and to turn it off, requires a thumb print scan," I hadn't noticed the scanner next to the bedroom door, but when Tucker put his thumb to it, because he had already said the command, the system shut down, "Of course, if the system is on, any human can walk in, but if it's someone the system doesn't recognize, an alarm will go off on the baby monitor and on your cell phones."
"Wow, that's great Tuck, thanks! Ghost Defense System on," I tried it for myself and the system automatically obeyed.
"If the alarm system does go off, this is what it sounds like," he pressed the test button on the remote and a loud, blaring alarm immediately sounded from the baby monitor where a 'Warning Unidentified Person in Nursery' sign had popped up, and also from the cellphones in Sam and my pockets.
"Warning! Unidentified Person in Nursery! Warning! Unidentified Person in Nursery!" a woman's voice said over the sound of the alarm.
"Ghost Defense System off," Sam said, placing her thumb on the scanner and powering down the defenses and turning off the noise.
"There's one more command that you guys will want to know," Tucker told us, this time, smirking a little, "Bedtime Sequence activate."
Immediately, the bright windows became tinted, I hadn't even known he was messing with the windows, the light on the ceiling fan above turned off, and a little lamp in the corner shined stars on the ceiling and walls as it rotated, while soft music played from hidden speakers in the walls I hadn't known Tucker had installed.
"This lasts for fifteen minutes and then the music turns off. It becomes bright again when you turn off the system by saying, 'Bedtime Sequence off,'" Tucker told us and the room became light again and the soft music turned off.
"Wow, thanks Tucker," Sam told him sincerely, smiling gratefully.
"No problem," Tucker grinned, although he obviously enjoyed the praise, "Danny and I are going into business together, right dude?"
"Absolutely," we high fived, "But dude, seriously, you could have your own business, you don't need me tying you down."
"Oh I will have my own business, or I'll work for the CIA or FBI or something, but our number one buyer of Ghost Security Systems, will be you. In fact, you're the only one I'm going to sell them to. Of course, I'd get a portion of the sales, and the installation would be up to you. I can't be installing security systems when I'm overseas on a secret mission," he grinned.
Suddenly, I heard my parents and Jazz come home.
"Should we teach them how to use it?" I asked Sam.
"Why not?" Sam shrugged and I went to call my parents upstairs.
Half an hour later, and after explaining to my dad why weapons that "for some reason" target me, would be a bad idea in a room with kids who share my DNA, I think, he finally got it when he agreed not to install the weapons into the room.
"Why all the security precautions?" my mom asked, "I mean, I definitely appreciate your concern for the safety of your kids, and your sudden interest in hunting ghosts, but I don't understand where it came from."
For a moment, just a brief moment, I, almost, considered telling my parents the truth, but, instead, I decided to make something up.
"Well, with you guys being ghost hunters, you probably have a lot of enemies…and I was just thinking how they might use defenseless babies to their advantage. Or they might kidnap them. I just don't want to see that happen," which was not entirely untrue. I noticed Jazz and Sam both sigh, obviously wanting me to tell my parents the truth. But I just can't do it. Especially not now with so much hanging on the line. I can't risk them kicking us out, or, God forbid, doing something to Sam…experimenting on her and the babies. I can handle anything they might do to me, but I would never forgive myself if it was my fault that something happened to Sam or our kids.
I'll tell them eventually, just not today.