AUTHOR'S NOTE: There's some Danny and Tucker bonding in here. I really like to emphasize on their friendship, considering the show litterally third-wheeled Tucker by the third season, which I didn't like at all. Tucker's matured. Just as Danny has.

On another note, readers, I appreciate all the comments.. I read all of them, I really do. But for those who are begging me to update faster, please stop. University comes first, and of the websites, deviantart comes before FF. That would be why I update my PnF stories there more often than here.

Anyway, on with the story^^

Amity Park was sitting through another mild November day. Though the temperature had dropped since September, there was still no snow on the ground, and it had not even reached the minus double digits yet.

The afternoon had been long for Andy, as he eagerly awaited the end of the day to return home and wait for his father. His Uncle Tucker had been there all day, installing the new program he designed into the Fentons' Ghost Portal computer. Sam had needed to go to work, and only finished when it was time to pick up her son from school.

They had dinner together at home with Tucker and spoke about the day's events. Andy, again, chewed and swallowed his food quickly.

"Andy, your father said to chew slowly," Sam said sternly.

Andy looked at her. "But I wanna be finished before Daddy gets back," he said.

Tucker chuckled softly while cutting his steak. "You want to be alive too, don't you?" he wondered.

Andy looked at him. "Yeah, but—!"

"If you eat too fast, Andy, you'll either choke to death or get a serious case of hiccups," Sam added. "Now chew properly."

Andy sighed and did what he was told. Sam sat back down in her seat and continued to mix her vegetables. "Are you sure you didn't want any peas, Tucker?" she asked.

Tucker swallowed the meat in his mouth. "We are not going over this again, Sam," he muttered.

"Tucker, you can't actually just eat meat for the rest of your life."

"And you can't just keep eating vegetables."

"Come on, Tucker!"

Tucker looked up at her with a soft frown. "I had your mashed potatoes," he said. "That's it. I draw the line there. Anything else and it's poison."

Sam rolled her eyes tiredly. "Tucker, can't you just try them?" she asked.

Tucker cut some more meat. "If I do, will you eat a whole steak?"

Sam fell silent.

"That's what I thought."

Andy giggled behind his hand. Both Sam and Tucker looked up at him when he did. "What's so funny?" Tucker wondered.

Andy pointed at them. "You guys are," he said. "If you ask me, Daddy's the only normal one out of you guyses."

"How's that?" Sam asked while raising an eyebrow.

"He eats meat and veggies. You guys are only half there. You're worst halfas than he is!"

Sam wrinkled her nose while Tucker nearly choked on his food while laughing.

The sound of the doorknob turning caught their attention. When they looked up, they saw the door swing open. In walked Danny, carrying his luggage in one hand and some blueprints in the other. He kicked the door closed behind him.

"Daddy!" Andy exclaimed happily, kneeling in his seat and spreading his arms out wide. "You're back home!"

Danny looked up at them. "Yes, I am," he said. He looked at Tucker. "Hey, Tuck. Still eating just meat?"

"Thirty years strong, dude," Tucker replied with a wink. "Save some potatoes here and there."

"Must have been an interesting evening for Andy, then; Mom eats greens and Uncle eats meat."

"Apparently, you're the normal one," Sam added sarcastically, pointing her fork at Danny.

Danny nodded subconsciously, as though he was not paying attention to her. He wiped his shoes off and headed for the stairs. "I'll be back down in a second," he said. "I need to, uh, go put these away in the study room."

"Aren't you gonna tell us how everything went?" Tucker wondered.

Danny laughed sarcastically as he walked up the stairs. "You are not gonna believe me," he replied.

Tucker stared at the entrance for a moment before looking at Sam. "I've got a feeling something went wrong," he said.

It took several minutes before Danny returned downstairs. Instead of his NASA uniform and jacket, which he had removed, he was wearing his trademark red and white t-shirt with the letter D on the chest. His uniform pants remained on his legs.

Sam and Tucker were standing in the living room, waiting for him, while Andy played some video games on the television.

Danny walked around the corner and headed for his best friends.

"Did something happen at NASA?" Sam asked quietly.

"You look pretty uneasy about something, dude," Tucker added.

Danny sighed and passed a hand through his hair. The bangs sprung back over his forehead once his hand passed over them. He settled his hand on the back of his neck before looking at Tucker. "Pretty is a pretty shallow word for it, Tucker," he said.

Tucker and Sam shared a concerned look before looking at Danny again.

Danny remained silent for a moment longer before speaking again. "We've got a problem," he announced. "More specifically, I've got a problem. A really big one."

"What kind of problem?" Sam asked, frowning worriedly.

Danny passed a hand over his mouth, took a deep breath and turned in a circle while grasping his hair.

"Danny, if you're freaking out about something, just tell us."

Danny looked at her, kept his hands in his hair before placing them on his hips. "I met someone," he said. "A new recruit. In a very… unexpected way." He looked about before frowning in frustration and leaning towards his best friends. "And just guess what he found out!" he snapped harshly yet incredibly quietly.

Sam and Tucker did not need to guess. Sheer horror filled their widening eyes. Sam covered her mouth in shock.

"Oh, snap," Tucker muttered.

Danny nodded quickly and leaned back. "He was spying," he said, crossing his arms. "He saw that my office door was open a crack and decided to peak!" Danny spread out his arms. "And just when I was transforming!"

Tucker placed a hand over his mouth this time.

"Who was it?" Sam asked urgently.

Danny looked at her. "Dr. Johnson's nephew," he said. "Dr. Nicholas Stevenson. He's apparently one of NASA's brightest newbies."

"What did you do?"

"Dr. Johnson promised me that Nicholas would keep his mouth shut, but I can't be too careful. I've met people who broke their words before; and he's got troublemaker written all over him!"

Tucker took a deep breath. "Well, at least Dr. Johnson's word is trustworthy," he said.

Danny laughed sarcastically. "Oh, you don't know the best part, Tucker," he said acerbically. Danny frowned gravely and pointed out the window. "He was one of the new recruits for my crew, and of all the positions he's got, he was chosen to be my co-pilot!"

Tucker widened his eyes in shock and then placed a hand over them. "Ho boy," he sighed.

"I tried to get my boss to switch positions, but he said that the decision was final! So I'Ve gotta work with a door peeper and a spy!"

Sam placed her hands on Danny's shoulders. "Slow down, Danny; you don't know if he's all that bad," she said. "Maybe he can be trustworthy. You just need to get to know him—!"

"The last time I tried to get to know someone like that, Sam, he turned out to be my arch nemesis, and a guy who was crazy on killing my dad and marrying my mom!" Danny replied dryly, brushing Sam's hands off of him.

"Not all people are like Vlad, Danny."

"No; but not all people are trustworthy, either!"

Sam rolled her eyes with a sigh and shook her head. "Danny, you can't judge a book by its cover, remember?" she said. "Just like Gregor, that guy I went out with for a few weeks back in high school. You thought that he was a spy for the Guys in White, when he was really just a normal guy—!"

"Normal?" Tucker scoffed. "Sam, he was a guy from Michigan who pretended to be a foreign exchange student from overseas, a fake goth, who just wanted to get hooked with you!"

Sam glared at him. "Not the point, Tucker!" she snapped. She looked at Danny. "The point is that you misjudged him. What if this Nicholas isn't a bad guy? What if he's really a great astronaut that you can trust?"

Danny pointed at himself. "The only one who will be deciding that, Sam, is me," he said. "He already stuck his nose into my business, discovered my secret, and if he accidentally lets it out, I may be in a lot more trouble than just losing my job. So he'll remain untrustworthy until I say so."

Sam sighed and placed her hands on her hips. "Then all I can say is be careful," she replied. "If he really is a suspect, then be on your guard. But if he's not, don't say I didn't say so!"

Her husband waved an arm through the air before turning away. "Yeah, yeah," he said. He walked to the stairs. "I'm gonna get the blueprints for the ship ready. I need to go over a few things before I go back next Sunday." He stopped on the second step and looked at Tucker. "Uh, we still up for finishing the Ghost Portal tomorrow?" he asked. "I sorta promised Andy that we'd get it done together before I leave again."

Tucker smiled and winked. "Don't worry, Danny; my day is still reserved for you guys, so expect me here in the morning!" he said, giving the thumbs up.

"Thanks." With that, Danny continued on his way.

Tucker waited until he had heard the door upstairs close before letting his smile die away. He looked at Sam with worried eyes. "He's gonna be in a bad mood until he's sure this guy's okay, isn't he?" he said.

"You know Danny, Tuck," Sam replied with a shake of her head. "When you've been on the wanted list, you tend to get antsy about people."

"You think it'll turn out okay?"

"Well, if Dr. Johnson trusts his nephew, why wouldn't it?" She crossed her arms and sighed. "But that's not up to us; it's up to Danny. It is pretty serious if the guy was curious and discovered his secret identity. If this got out to the world again, Danny's never gonna hear the end of it." She looked at the stairs. "For now, all we can do is trust Danny's instincts."

"Last I checked, that always came with a 'warning; danger ahead' label."

"The downside of being his best friends."

Tucker sighed and crossed his arms. "I just hope things turn out good before they get ugly… for Danny, that is," he muttered.

As promised, Danny and Andy helped Tucker put together the final pieces of the Ghost Portal. Tucker came over around ten in the morning, and waited until Danny had finished going over the blueprints once more before heading downstairs to finish up the portal.

But while Andy and Tucker chattered excitedly about finishing the project, Danny's mind was elsewhere, namely on the mission he would have to take on within two weeks. The first week back at NASA would involve him overlooking the final training, and the week after that, he and his crew would fly to NASA's Launch site, the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and begin their first mission.

What bothered him was the fact that he would be working with someone that worried him. With a secret as important as Danny Phantom, Danny could not risk having it let out to the world. And working with someone who threatened his secret, as well as his privacy, was making him incredibly nervous. Even the thought of it was causing his heart to stop beating every now and then.

By that same evening, they had managed to finish half of what they wanted to accomplish. After Sam had finished cleaning the dinner table, she settled down and played a few video games with her son before bedtime.

Tucker took the opportunity to go upstairs to the study room, where his best friend was.

He knocked on the door softly before opening it. "Danny?" he said, peering inside.

Danny looked up from the office chair he was sitting in, a telephone receiver in his hand against his ear.

Tucker crouched for a moment. "Op, sorry," he said, creeping in softly. "I'll wait."

Danny remained silent before looking down at the blueprints before him. "Yeah, make sure the third rocket is working properly," he spoke into the receiver. "The last time I took it up, back in October, B-614's main thruster seemed a little off. If you can… that would be great…" He grabbed a pencil and wrote something down. "Yeah, and while you're at it, could you check that leak in the oxygen tanks? I could have sworn… No, there was definitely a leak… Of course I'm sure. She's my shuttle, John… Okay, and if there is one, just let me know, and we can decide what to do with it when I come back on Monday… Okay, the rest of the details I'll give to the Lieutenant… Okay, thanks a lot, John… Bye."

He hung up the receiver and continued writing something down. "Just finishing something up," he said to his best friend.

"No worries, Dan," Tucker replied, waiting by the bookshelves. "I can wait."

Danny finished what he was doing and stood up. "The engineers are putting new additions to B-614," he announced as Tucker walked over. "Some upgrades I suggested. They tested them out on no-man shuttles, and so far, they seem to work to NASA's benefit. We'll be the first team to go up with the upgrades on a man mission."

"Sounds sweet," Tucker agreed, leaning against the desk. He looked at the blueprint. It showed the shuttle in question, every piece on the inside and out. "She's a beaut, I'll give you that," he added. "They really gave you the prize, Danny."

"Yeah," Danny replied. "She's real nice. Lieutenant Jones wants me to give her a name, but I'm not sure what, yet."

"How about the Phantom?"

Danny raised an eyebrow and looked at his best friend. Tucker chuckled. "I know, I know," he said. "Too obvious."

"Not to mention way off the idea of Space Shuttle," Danny replied. He looked down at the blueprints. "I was thinking maybe something like… um, Spirit or something."

Tucker laughed. "And you said I was too obvious," he teased.

"At least it's better than Phantom," Danny pointed out. He thought for a moment before looking at Tucker. "I like it. Spirit could mean several things. It could mean adventurous, lively, strength, life-force—!"

"—or ghost, ghost or maybe even… ghost!" Tucker finished. He giggled childishly.

Danny punched him in the shoulder. "I can't help it, it's who I am," he said. He looked at the blueprints again as his grin faded away. "… Literally. It's… who I am…"

Tucker sighed and placed a hand on Danny's shoulder. "I'm sure nothing worse will happen, Danny," he said. "He may have peeked, but maybe Sam's right; maybe this Nicholas guy is okay."

"But what if he isn't, Tucker?" Danny said worriedly. "What if he'll blackmail me or something? What if this could be a trap, and I could be putting you and Sam and… Andy… in danger?"

"Sam and I don't care what happens, Danny," Tucker explained. "We've been through too much without you. As for Andy… he doesn't care either. He's five years old and he already knows how to control his powers better than you could at fourteen."

"He's more confident than I am, that's why," Danny replied. "He doesn't get nervous as easily as I do, and he doesn't think about the worst. He's so confident, so cheerful, so—!"

As he spoke, his arms turned intangible and phased through the top of the desk. Danny yelped in surprise and fell against the desk with a groan.

Tucker laughed before placing his arms around Danny's waist. "He's a lot more in control," he said, pulling his best friend back up. Once Danny had returned his arms to normal, Tucker continued. "If you keep worrying about this, Danny, your emotions will give your powers away. And then you won't be able to blame anyone but yourself."

Danny sighed and placed his head in his hands. "I'm just so ticked off that someone would even dare to spy on me," he groaned. "I can't believe he had the nerve to do that! One of NASA's rules is respect your co-workers and teammates. How could he have done that?"

"The funny thing about humans, Danny, is that we have this little itch in the back of our heads," Tucker replied. "It's called curiosity. Ever heard of the saying curiosity killed the cat?"

"Oh, it'll kill, alright," Danny said dryly. "But not a cat. Just an astronaut."

"Okay, someone's been planning this too well," Tucker said nervously, placing his hands on Danny's shoulders. "Danny, you have got to calm down. If you keep freaking out about what horrible things could happen, it'll just make it all the worse for you. You need to be calm, okay? When you go back to NASA, just take a deep breath and try to keep your cool while you watch over things. Maybe Sam's right; maybe Nicholas just needs to show you how good a worker he could be."

Danny sighed and stared at his feet. "Maybe," he said, "But it stills worries me."

"I didn't say that it wouldn't; I just said that it could ruin you if you let your emotions run out of control again. Just take a deep breath and everything will be fine—!"

Suddenly, Danny's entire body turned intangible, thus causing Tucker's to do the same. Both men fell through the desk with shouts of surprise and tumbled onto the floor.

"… Maybe you should take ten deep breaths," Tucker corrected himself after a pause. "Like, right now."

"Sounds good to me," Danny replied casually.