Chapter 2

"You sure your parents are fine with me coming over?" Pora asked as she followed Danny and Sam down the side walk.

"It'll be fine," Danny said, checking his phone once more for a text message. He had sent both his mother and Jazz a warning text, knowing better than to try his father with the two of them tied for how many replacement cell phones they've had to get, but was hoping for some confirmation that they knew someone who didn't know his secret was on their way over. Seeing nothing on his screen, he flipped close the phone and shoved it back in his pocket as they turned down his street.

"Have you been able to keep up with the Dead Teacher series?" Sam asked.

"I wish," Pora said, dropping her head to a shoulder with a sigh. "Adulting is so hard, I would not recommend." She raised her head as she added, "But I have been keeping up with Doom. I heard they're gonna cut the server soon now that Doom 2 is around the corner."

"What?" Sam exclaimed.

"Time to learn new cheat codes," Danny mumbled.

"They're gonna ban those too," Pora informed, looking passed Sam to Danny. "At least on public servers."

"Not really surprised," Sam said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Some of those codes I found were way too OP."

They stepped up to Fenton Works, Danny reaching for the door handle as a small thought ran through his mind that he might want to go in first, but dismissed it as he pushed the door open.

"What exactly do your parents do?" Pora asked as the cousins followed him inside.

Danny took in the empty living room, half expecting the house to be a mess and was surprised to find it looking normal, as he shut the door. "They're ghost hunters," he offered.

"Oh, you're those Fenton's," Pora said, looking down at Danny. "I remember watching all of that on the news." A shiver ran down her spine, forcing her eyes closes, as she added, "I never want to be intangible again. Made me sick for a week."

"Oh you dealt with that?" Danny said, vaguely recalling hearing about the sickness. "What'd they call that again?"

"Intangible Vertigo," Sam said.

"Yeah, like a third of the population dealt with it and I got to be one of the lucky ones," Pora said, shaking her head.

"Hey, I'm gonna find my parents," Danny said, throwing a thumb towards the kitchen. He left Sam to catch up with her cousin, knowing the two haven't had alone time yet, and headed towards the kitchen. No one was in the room but he could see dinner in the ecto-powered toaster over and the timer saying it was almost done. Walking through the kitchen he headed down the steps to the lab only to let out a yelp and duck on the stairs as a stream of hot ectoplasm shot over his head. Looking up he saw his parents fighting with the old Fenton Furnace, Jack trying to catch hold of the hose spewing the green liquid and Maddie with wrench in hand trying to get inside a panel on its side.

"Got it!" Jack cried out as he grabbed hold of the hose. He reached up and attached it back into the top of the large green device, ending the flow of ectoplasm.

Maddie reached her arm deeper into the device, getting to her shoulder as she felt around for what she was trying to tighten. A smile pulled at her face as she made contact, getting the furnace to stop shaking.

"I thought you had given up on that thing," Danny said as he made it to the end of the steps.

"Ecto-powered heating in the winter will be a lot cheaper with this baby," Jack said, turning to Danny as he kept his hand on the hose, holding it in place.

"We've been trying to get our house off the grid," Maddie reminded as she pulled herself out of the side panel. "The new portal's energy efficient but it still costs way too much. With this, we'll be one more step closer to our goal."

"And we'll have more money for more equipment," Jack said, letting go of the hose with a smile only to have the hose break free of the clamp. He held up his hands to prevent the hot ectoplasm from landing on his head as Danny quickly jumped into the air. He flew towards his father and pushed him out of the way of the hot ectoplasm only for it to land on his back.

Danny gripped his teeth in pain as he reached up and grabbed hold of the hose, putting it back in the clamp and tightening it where it belonged.

"Danny, are you alright?" Maddie asked, panic in her voice.

Danny let go of the hose, making sure he had gotten it secure before he risked looking at his back with a grimace. The burning ectoplasm had burnt holes into the back of his shirt, exposing red skin.

"Jack, get the first aid kit," Maddie ordered, sliding her tool into her hip pouch as she stepped over to Danny's back. "Danny, I've got to remove what's left of your shirt, okay?"

Danny turned back around to face the closed portal and Fenton Furnace, taking a deep breath to fight back the pain. He grabbed hold of the end of his shirt and pulled it up, flinching at the burning he felt on his shoulders. He managed to get the shirt over his head and dropped his arms back down, giving his old comfy shirt a glance to see how bad it faired only to find the only part of it that still held it together was the red fabric around the neck.

"Ooo, that does not look good," Jack commented as he stepped back beside his wife.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Dad," Danny said with sarcasm dripping from his words.

"Sure, Danny!" Jack announced with a smile.

Danny rolled his eyes as he glance behind himself to see Maddie taking the first aid box and sitting it on the closest workbench. Above them a loud beeping alerted them dinner was ready.

"Jack, can you go turn off the Ecto-oven," Maddie suggested.

"Sure, Mads."

Danny listened to his father's footsteps taking him up the stairs as Maddie said, "Your father made some more Ecto-Dejecto so it might burn a little before it helps heal you up, okay?"

"Fun, I still get to be a guinea pig," Danny grumbled. His shoulder blades contracted without his say so as a new fire exploded between them, leaving him barely able to tell Maddie's hand was lathering the gunk on his back.

"Your father may be blind to sarcasm, but I'm not," Maddie reminded.

"Sorry," Danny tried. A strong mint smell caught him off guard as he tried to force his shoulders back, prompting him to ask, "Why do I smell mint?"

"Menthol," Maddie said. "I got him to add it to the formula, figured if we were using it to help you heal, we could add a little to it."

"Can we change the name?" Danny asked, feeling her spread the thick liquid down his back. He flinched again as a new glob of it was brought to his lower back, a mix of the cold and pain surprising him. Once he got control of the pain again he added, "Even green junk sounds better."

"Green junk is aloe, you'll just confuse your father," Maddie pointed out.

"Oh my gosh, Danny! Are you alright?" Sam's voice exclaimed.

Danny looked over his shoulder only for his face to heat up as Sam and Pora ran down the stairs. He quickly raised up what was left of his shirt to cover his chest, unable to do anything about his exposed back.

"He's fine," Maddie said, noticing the taller goth as the two girls stopped beside her. "Who's your friend?"

"Sorry Mrs. Fenton. I'm Pora, Sam's cousin."

"I was trying to ask if she could stay for dinner," Danny said, turning back to stare at the closed portal. "You weren't answering your phone."

"Of course she can stay," Maddie said, taking her hands away from Danny's back. "Danny, go and get a fresh shirt. Sam, can you put this away so I can wash my hands. Pora, was it? Anything you can't eat?"

Danny turned around, his face hot as he turned towards Sam to give her a half smile as she closed the first aid box. Sam looked up at him and returned the smile as her eyes traveled to his chest, getting him to grip tighter to the remains of his shirt. He quickly walked around Pora and Maddie as they headed to the wash station beside the stairs as he heard Pora say, "Well I'm pescatarian, only meat I eat is fish."

"Perfect, tonight was fish sticks anyway," Maddie said. "Don't worry Sam, I've got something you can have too."

Danny left the basement stairwell to find both Jack and Jazz in the kitchen getting the table set up for six. He felt their eyes on him as he quickly ran passed, hating that everyone in the house was seeing him topless. He made it up the second set of steps and into his bedroom, closing the door behind himself as he let out a sigh. Giving one last look at the remains of his old shirt, he tossed it in the trash can beside his desk and stepped over to his dresser only to see a part of his back in the mirror on his closet door. He took a step backwards and turned, trying to see the blisters better only to see them heal before his eyes. He reached over his shoulder to poke at a part of the burn, it feeling akin to sunburn now more than the ecto-burn it had been a moment ago.

He took the last step to his dresser and pulled open the drawer, digging for an older shirt that he wouldn't mind getting ecto-dejecto on. He pulled on the old purple Raven's shirt and gave himself a glance in the mirror, quickly fixing his bangs, before leaving the room.

Making his way down the stairs, he found everyone in the kitchen. Maddie was pan frying something as Jack and Sam fought with adding the leaf to the table, Jack above the table and Sam below it. Jazz and Pora stood away from the table, the two watching with something akin to amusement on their faces.

"Danny-boy, give me some help," Jack called, the first to notice him stepping into the kitchen. Danny stepped over, standing behind his mother, as he quickly saw what the problem was. The leaf had been put back into the table the wrong way, holding on by the clamps instead of the hinges. He cringed as he realized it was his own fault, from the last time they had put the table back to its smaller side. Jack stepped away, leaving Sam holding the leaf up from under the table. "Some ghost must've messed the table up," Jack grumbled.

Letting out a sigh, Danny mumbled, "Not the first time." Danny took hold of the leaf, giving a glance at Pora and Jazz watching, before looking down at Sam through the opening as she held her arms up. "Sam, watch your fingers," he said, hoping to silently warn her he was about to make the leaf intangible.

Sam gave him a nod, keeping her hands up as she let go.

Danny quickly let the leaf lose its solid nature, forcing the hinges back so they held the leaf in place. He released the power and asked, "Can you flip it now?"

Sam took hold once more and unlatched the clamps, pushing the leaf up and through the gap in the table. Danny helped her from above, flattening the table leaf over the hole. He heard her latch it back together, freeing him to step away from the table. He looked down and saw Sam crawling back out from under the table. He offered her a hand as she looked up, smiling as she took it to help herself up to her feet.

"Is it often you have ghosts messing with your things?" Pora asked as Danny and Sam stepped over to the two.

"Well, we do have a ghost portal in the basement," Danny admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Dad told me about your back. Are you okay?" Jazz asked, giving Danny a concerned look.

"It's fine," Danny threw off. "Just don't want to sit back for a bit."

"Jack, Jazz, can you two finish setting the table?" Maddie asked as she turned off the burner and pulled the pan away to roll what looked to Danny like more fish sticks onto a plate. "Sam, you like soy sauce with these, right? Could you get that and some tartar sauce from the fridge?"

"Yes ma'am," Sam said, giving one last look at Danny before turning towards the refrigerator.

"How long have you and Sammy been dating?" Pora asked.

Danny looked up at the older goth, a part of his mind hoping another growth spirt would hit him soon, as he admitted, "Only a few months, since the Disasteroid."

"Oh, took the end of the world for you two to actually admit it," Pora said, turning her head to watch his family and Sam put dinner on the table. "And how long did you actually like her?"

"I mean…" Danny let his voice trail off, not sure what she was after.

"I just don't want you to hurt her, you know," Pora admitted. She kept her eyes turned away from Danny as she silently added, "She's my favorite cousin." She pushed herself away from the wall and took a seat at the table as Maddie brought over a bowl of salad to finish the table.

Danny watched her for a moment, taking in her smiling at Sam as the girl sat next to her before turning around and calling out for Danny. He forced a smile on his face, pushing away the strange unsettling feeling Pora had given him, and took his seat beside Sam. He understood being overprotective of family, he was of Jazz with the few relationships she had, and knew that's just what Pora was doing. But there was an underlining threat to her voice and a strange sensation he got close to his ghost core from her. Remembering what she had said about being a ghost magnet, he threw the feeling off as that and passed the salad bowl as he had been asked, not fully listening to the conversation around him. He threw a glance pass Sam back at her older cousin as the goth let out a laugh at something Jack had said, her bangs falling over her right eye.

AN: I love Pora, and hate that she's just asking to be turned into a villain… I don't really want to do that to her though. I don't know, we'll see how she turns out.