Breakfast was terrible. Really fucking terrible. I couldn't remember a more awkward morning. Only Jazz spoke to me and my mother's head snapped around to watch our every interaction. I thought that she was going to have a hear attack every time Jazz was within a foot of me, like I was really a monster. Jazz was my sister. I'd do anything and everything for her. But it was only Mom that I saw. She said idly that my father was down in the lab.

"Should I go talk to him?" I asked, spinning my spoon around in my milk, making a vortex with the last of my cereal.

"I think it's best if we leave it all alone," Mom advised. "Better to take things slow."

Slow. Like life hadn't been a crawl in the cell. Slow, like I kept forgetting what time of year it was because I had lost so much when I was a captive and it still could have been late fall for all I knew. Slow, like I hadn't done what I'd done to be the best son I could be. Slow, like I didn't like fast, like I didn't like answers, like I didn't like to know what was going on. I kept myself from beating my head against the table. Like Sam, they had the right do react how they wanted and what it was that they wanted. I had to figure out how to be fucking patient.

Admittedly, I still wasn't so keen on that last part.

"Do you have … questions?" I asked awkwardly.

"No," Mom said. "We don't understand enough to have questions."

"I love you, Mom."

Her smile was small but she still looked at me the way that she had before, when I was just her son and I wasn't anything close to paranormal.

"It's okay," I said. "Whatever happened, it's okay."

Was she thinking of the times that she had hunted me when I was a ghost? Did she feel bad that she'd done that to her own son? Or was she regretting the fact that I had gotten away and that she hadn't gotten rid of the freak of nature when she had the chance? I hoped, from the way that she was looking at me, that it was the former, but until she told me for sure, I had no way of knowing.

Mom turned her back on me. I took that as a sign. My mother was a smart woman. She knew not to turn her back to the enemy. I glanced over to Jazz and she reassuringly rested her hand against my forearm. I picked up a spoonful of cereal when a blue wisp escaped my mouth. My ghost sense had been going more and more dormant as more and more ghosts moved on. I pressed my hand against my lips but my mother still wasn't looking. I knew that it was probably someone bad – no one that could have been considered good or even just a nuisance was gone. I had to go.

"Mom," I said. Did I lie or did I tell the truth? "Tucker needs me."

I was too used to lying and, maybe, if I wanted to pretend that I was fucking altruistic, I wanted to give them more time to get used to the fact that I was a halfa and that I had told, practically, half the fucking universe, before I had even thought to tell them about it.

"We're not sure if we want to let you out of the house," Mom said.

"What am I going to do?" I asked. "I'm still the same person I was yesterday."

"How do we know that?"

"Trust me. I'm just Danny."

"He is," Jazz added, and I knew that she was trying to be helpful but I didn't know if she really was. "It's also just Tucker. Danny would never do anything to Tucker."

That was true and even Mom couldn't argue with that.

"You answer your phone as soon as we call."

"Of course," I said. I could play by the same rules I had when I was fourteen if that would make her feel better. I just had to stick close to my new mantra: it's not about you, it's about them. "So, I can go?"

"Before I change my mind," Mom said.

I booked it out the door, transforming as soon as I knew Mom couldn't see me. I propelled myself into the air, following my ghost sense through the streets of Amity. I turned a corner and there I saw him. Fright Knight. With all of the talk of ghostly kings and artifacts being raised from the dead, I shouldn't be surprised to see him. Truth be told, though, he was more of an October sort of guy, much more prone to fall colours than those of winter, and I didn't usually see him outside of the Ghost Zone unless it was Halloween or he had a job to do. I hoped he didn't have a job to do. It meant Pariah Dark had something to do and I hoped that he always stayed fucking comatose.

I become visible and leant against the side of a building. The horse he was riding on noticed me first, clacking a large hoof against the pavement and snorting loudly. Fright Knight's head turned, almost comically slowly, and his so-called eyes stared straight at me. He reached for the sword at his hip.

"Dude, it's, like, eight a.m. and I've already had a long fucking day. For once, could we maybe, you know, not?"

Fright Knight lifted the sword high above his head. Well, I guess we were going to fucking gonna.

(-.-)

Ugh.

Ugh.

Ugh.

I groped around in my head for another thought but I just came out with ugh again. My entire body fucking hurt. I must have been really out of shape. Fright Knight was, indisputably, one of the stronger ghosts, but, once puberty stopped kicking my ass and I actually got balls, I had always been able to pretty much hold my own against him. This time, I knew I had only once because I'd gotten a sucker's shot into the horse.

I yanked myself up into a sitting position. Home. I just had to get home. What time was it? How long had I been gone? Mom and Dad were probably going to be P.O.'d when I finally made my grand entrance. As I flew across the skies, I realized that I was bleeding. Fuck Fright Knight and his fucking sword.

I ended up just floating straight through my window and dropping on my bed. I could hear Jazz's computer from the next room but instead of calling for her, I just texted her.

Me: My room. Stitch me up.

The music she was playing stopped and I heard the drawer of her desk being opened and closed. On uneasy feet, she stumbled across the hall, shutting my door behind her. She threw the first aid kit down on the bed and then sat at my feet.

"Mom would probably be a better nurse than me."

"I don't know if I trust Mom not to kill me yet."

"Fenton time," she said, yanking at my spandex.

I rolled my eyes and transformed, yanking off my t-shirt before it could get soaked in blood.

"That looks bad," Jazz said, and she sighed. "Lay on your side, stretch your arm up so I can see it all at once."

I did as she asked but, when she touched me, her fingers rested on the wounds from Vlad.

"Danny –"

"It's probably exactly what you're thinking."

"We'll never really know."

I shook my head and then hid my face in my elbow. Jazz didn't speak again as she opened up the first aid kit and set about stitching me up.

"Fuck," I complained.

"I should've gone to med school," Jazz said. "Gotten you some drugs so I wouldn't have to listen to you."

"You always say that. Ow! Watch it."

"Maybe it'll be my second career."

"Why do you get two? Shit. I can't even pick one."

"Maybe you should go to med school and fix yourself up."

"You're trying to hurt me!" I bitched. Then, "Honestly, I don't know if I would have the stomach for it."

"Med school?"

"Stitching myself. Fuck. I can barely sit through it when it's not me."

I could tell that she was almost done and that was when someone knocked at the door.

"I can go faster. Unless you want Mom and Dad to see."

"I don't know. What do you think they'll do?"

"Depends on which one," she said, and then called, "Who is it?"

"It's Sam."

I perked up. "Come in!"

"Oh, Jazz, fuck, ow, holy shit." The closer she got to the end, the worse it hurt."

"Little brother, I am going to wash your mouth out with soap."

Like I hadn't heard that one before.

"What happened?" Sam asked as Jazz gestured for her to shut the door.

"Fright Knight doesn't like the thermos. He put up a fight."

None of them like the thermos though. Whipping out that thing was like asking to be knocked in the head. It usually worked better for me when I was distracting someone and Tucker was able to suck them up.

"Danny's an idiot. He thinks he's in good enough condition to fight ghosts."

Oh, and where had that opinion been this morning? "I won, didn't I?"

Jazz sighed and then she tapped my side. "All right. You're all patched up and I have a date."

"Kiss Tucker hello for me," I said.

"If your bromance ruins my relationship, I'll never speak to you again."

Where did she get off, speaking like that? He was mine first!

"If your relationship ruins my bromance, I'll never speak to you again."

Jazz laughed, like either of us took the other seriously.

"Good luck, Sam. Also, your hair is so cute."

I glanced at Sam's head as she said it. She'd cut her hair short and dyed it a dark purple. It looked really hot on her but, unlike Jazz, I couldn't say it. I pushed myself up off my bed, thinking that I should probably put a shirt on. I knew blood could make Sam kind of squeamish and I didn't want to force her to look at me half-naked. I wanted her to ask to see me half naked.

"And what do I owe this fine pleasure?"

"I don't know. Do you want me to leave?"

"No," I said, adjusting my shirt around my body. Was it wrong of me to be glad that it was my room she turned up in when she was thinking of nowhere in particular? She could be at home but she wasn't. She was with me. "Absolutely not! Take off your coat, stay awhile."

She put her jacket across my desk chair and, when I sat down on my bed, she sat down with me. She kicked her legs up along my mattress and it reminded me of a different time, a different place. My bed wasn't as big as that one, though, and she was close enough to touch. My fingers itched. My god, I wanted to touch her.

"I do like the hair," I said, thinking that it was inoffensive enough she couldn't yell at me for it. But then, the moment that I mentioned the hair, I found my arm outstretched, thinking that it was okay. I quickly pulled it back toward my side.

"You can touch it. I keep running my hands through it."

When was the last time that I had touched her hair? Maybe in the cell, but it was a lot smoother, now, a lot healthier.

"I really like it." What was there left for me to say.

"Thanks." Sam smiled at me and I could have lost myself entirely in the expression. "So, what now?"

"Umm, movie?" I said. What could go wrong while we were watching a movie?

"I'm down for that. What do you have?"

Well, if there was one thing I had, it was movies. I was too lazy to get up and walk and I figured that using my ghost powers wouldn't be rubbing it in Sam's face now.

"I have a lot of dumb action movies," I admitted, though half of them were probably tuckers.

"What about senseless comedies?" Sam asked.

I had those too.

"Let's see. Hangover; 21 Jump Street; Hot Tub Time Machine; Wedding Crashers; Ted. There's Hit And Run, which is funny and kind of action-y. I love it," I listed off.

"Sounds good," Sam said.

Great. I picked up the DVD and popped it into my dusty player. When I turned to look back at my bed, she was nestled up against my pillows. I took the spot on the other side of my bed and was glad that she didn't push me away at all. I tucked my hand behind my head, happy to just be next to Sam again.

So, on tumblr I'm: we are all of legend now (with dashes between every word). If you want to find my replies to anon reviews, add backslash tagged backslash anon dash replies. If you want to see anything I post about Superman or the Reflections Universe, go to my tumblr URL and add backslash tagged backslash reflections dash universe. Punctuation is spelled out due to Fanfiction's restrictions. If you're having any trouble accessing the tumblr content please send me a pm and I can format it for you in a different way.

~TLL~