Title: Snack Time

Characters: Danny, James

Rating: K

Genre: Family

Word Count: 776

Headcanons: Ghost Hunger, James Fenton

In the back of his head, since the first day James started Pre-K, Danny knew this day was bound to come. Danny had just arrived at his office, thirty minutes after dropping James off, when his cellphone rang. His heart dropped when he saw the name of the phone number.

Pre-K, he had labeled it in his cell.

"Hello?" Danny answered, his throat dry.

"Is this Mr. Fenton? James' father?" came the voice of Mrs. Swosinski, the elderly teacher that ran the Amity Park Montessori School.

"This is he," Danny replied, picking the jacket off of the back of his chair. He was going to have to drive down- or, no, perhaps fly…. "Is James alright?" It wasn't his son's safety he was concerned about, James would always be alright – but if he had suddenly used one of his powers in class, it would certainly be cause for this woman to call him sounding as distressed as she did.

"Oh, yes," Mrs. Swosinski said slowly, almost puzzled. "James is alright, but… there was a ghost in the classroom just this morning, you see, and James…" Oh God no, Danny thought, hands shaking. Had James transformed or used his powers to fight the ghost? "He, well, he ate it, Mr. Fenton."

The air left Danny's lungs in one silent burst. "He… ate it."

"Yes. Ate it. Just… plucked it right out of the air and stuffed it in his mouth!" Mrs. Swosinski sighed, a sound like rattling autumn leaves. "He doesn't seem to be sick, at least not at the moment, but we called your wife and she's on her way to pick him up now. Your parents are those ghost experts, if I'm not mistaken? I'm sure they can tell if this will harm him in any way..."

"Oh. Yes, of course," Danny said with a little relieved laugh. "We buy little gummy ghosts for him all the time, I'm guessing that's why he… uh, did what he did. I'm sure it'll be fine, my parents have handled far worse than this. Is he well enough to get on the phone?" But of course he was. With his genetic makeup, eating that ghost could only be beneficial.

Mrs. Swosinski made a small noise of affirmation and there came a rustling. He could hear her speaking in a sweet, maternal voice, and then James was on the phone. "Hi Daddy!" he chirped.

"Hey bud," Danny replied cheerily. "How you feelin'?"

"I'm fine!" Of course.

"Kiddo, I heard you ate a ghost today," Danny began, trying to keep his voice low in case his coworkers overheard. He had his own office, but still, he didn't want to risk it.

"Yeah, but it was just a little one," James reported. Danny could tell he was holding the phone right up to his mouth. "I know you said bigger ones would make my tummy hurt-"

"They will, but, James, you shouldn't eat any outside the house, and even then only when you need to. Remember?"

James was quiet for a moment. "Oh yeah," he mumbled. "I'm sorry. I was kinda hungry though." Danny couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, Mommy's here, I gotta go! Bye!" There came a sharp sound as James undoubtedly dropped the phone on the table. A few moments later Mrs. Swosinski was back.

"Your wife just left with him, she's taking him to see your parents," she informed him, repeating back the excuse he and Sam had planned for an occasion like this. James would be perfectly fine, but Mrs. Swosinski didn't need to know that. "I'm so sorry this happened, Mr. Fenton, I had no idea a ghost of all things would-"

"It's alright, I know these kinds of things happen," Danny interrupted as pleasantly as he could, rehanging his jacket on the back of his chair.

"I'm sure you would in your line of work," she replied with a smile in her tone. Danny froze for a moment before he realized she was referring to his position in the Guys in White.

"Oh, yes. Well, thank you for letting me know right away, Mrs. Swosinski. Do you want one of us to come over there and do a sweep for you?"

Mrs. Swosinski laughed nervously. "Oh, I'm sure that's not necessary considering the ghost is gone now."

Danny laughed with her, only because she was more right than she realized. "Alright. Thanks again."

"Goodbye, Mr. Fenton!" And then the line went dead.

Danny chuckled to himself and sat down at his desk once more. Perhaps he ought to bring more gummy ghosts home, he thought. It seemed that James was developing a taste for ectoplasm.