The week went by quickly, and soon, Danny found himself back in Texas, dressed once more in his uniform, walking up to the front doors of the Johnson Space Center. Tucker had decided to refrain from finishing the portal until Danny's return, stating that it would help keep his spirits up until then.

While Danny had tried to forget about the new astronaut, Nicholas tried not to; in fact, he did whatever he could to make it up to his new captain while Danny was back home.

He did some training, he learned every part of the space shuttle B-614 by heart, he practiced learning how to fly it in case his captain could not, and he studied harder than any other NASA worker.

Johnson noticed it, and so did Lieutenant Jones.

"He's doing all that he can to get on Daniel's good side," Johnson noted that Monday morning, as he and his boss watched from a distance as Nicholas ran errands in the lobby.

"He's a persevering bugger, I'll give ya that," Jones agreed. "But I still don't understand why Danny's so teed off at the kid. He just peeked, right? I mean, it is violating the respect policy we have, but what was Daniel doin' in his office that was so top secret?"

Johnson chuckled softly, trying to cover his anxiety. "Oh, you know Daniel," he said. "He enjoyed his solitude, remember?"

"Right; he was the lone astronaut when he first came here. His personality off duty at NASA is a heckova lot different than the one he's got while he's on duty."

Johnson turned away for a moment and quickly sighed of relief. It had not been an easy thing for him to hide Danny's secret from their director.

Johnson looked at the entrance. "Speaking of which, here comes the captain now," he said.

When Jones looked up, he saw Danny walk into the lobby, arms filled with blueprints, data folders, conference papers and a suitcase.

"He sure knows how to pack up," Jones noted. "I wonder what he does on his free time at Amity Park?"

"His parents are Ghost Hunters; his wife's an environmentalist, and his best friend is the mayor of the city," Johnson said with a chuckle. "And he has a five-year-old son at school. If you ask me, I think Daniel hardly has a moment of free time."

Jones chuckled softly before they continued to watch Nicholas. The astronaut made a delivery to the secretary and handed her an envelope. The woman nodded once he explained what it is and walked into the back room.

"What's that?" Jones wondered.

"Some samples I wanted him to pick up for me," Johnson replied. "They flew in from the Kennedy Launch site this morning, so I wanted Nicholas to trade in the data files for the samples."

The secretary returned with the package and handed it to Nicholas, who nodded and said thank you.

"But he's been so busy with his training and studying Daniel's shuttle inside out, he only had time to do it now."

"At least he's doin' somethin' that shouldn't bother Danny too much," Jones noted.

Nicholas turned to walk off; but unbeknownst to him, Danny had reached the front desk. So when Nicholas turned around, he bumped straight into his captain, causing Danny to stumble backwards and drop all of his papers to the floor. Nicholas backed into the desk and nearly dropped the box he was carrying.

Johnson covered his mouth.

"Or, it could just make it worse," Jones sighed tiredly while rolling his eyes.

Nicholas stared in sheer horror at his captain. Danny, on the other hand, glared irritably at him before getting down to the floor and picking everything up.

"I-I'm so sorry, Sir," Nicholas apologized, putting his box down before squatting and gathering a few of Danny's papers. "I didn't see you there, honest."

"Of course not," Danny muttered coolly without looking up. "I was probably invisible, is that it?"

"N-no, Sir, I just didn't expect to see you there… Here, let me help you—!"

"No thank you," Danny interrupted, snatching the documents from Nicholas' hands. He piled them all together in an unorganized heap, stuffed them under his arm and picked up his blueprints. Then, he grabbed the handle of his suitcase and stood up. Without looking at Nicholas again, he stormed off to the elevators.

Nicholas watched him leave before sighing and passing a hand over his face.

Danny spent the rest of the afternoon reorganizing his things in his office. He did not care, really; it gave him some time to cool off and take a few breaths. He enjoyed being alone because it allowed him to focus on the tasks he had to accomplish.

Not on the people around him.

A soft knock fell over his door, but Danny did not answer it or look up. So the door opened slowly and quietly and Johnson peered in. "Danny?" he announced.

Danny froze in fright and cried out before turning around and facing the door. He had transformed into ghost form, which was why he was so startled to see his mentor there.

Johnson recoiled and then chuckled. "Calm down, it's just me," he replied, closing and locking the door behind him. "I'm sorry I startled you, Boy."

Danny sighed and relaxed his muscles before turning back to the work at his desk.

"Why have you transformed?"

"I was… planning on going flying as soon as I finished this," Danny replied, placing everything in their rightful folder or binder. "Just to cool off before hitting the sack."

"I suppose that's reasonable," Johnson acknowledged, just noticing that all the blinds in the room were shut. "Though you should listen more closely to the door; what if it had been the Lieutenant knocking on it instead of me?"

"Then, he would kill me," Danny muttered, writing something down. "You know how much he hates Danny Phantom." For many years, Danny had known the reason why his boss had such a grudge against ghosts and why he had acknowledged Danny's idea for the special missions.

"Yes, unfortunately I do," Johnson said softly, sitting on the bed. "Which gives you a very good reason to remain as Danny Fenton while working on some last minute duties. Is that clear?"

"Yessir."

"Good… then revert back now, please."

Danny sighed with a grin and transformed back to normal before looking over his shoulder. "Happy?" he asked.

Johnson smiled back. "Very," he said. As Danny turned back to his work, he continued. "I don't mean to be a nag, Child, or another copy of your sister, as you normally say…" This made Danny chuckle. "… But it would be a lot safer for you if you did not transform when the time did not call for it."

Danny continued to write things down. "I know, I know," he replied quietly.

"Then if someone else peeked, they would not see what you do not want them to see."

At these words, Danny stopped what he was doing and fell incredibly silent.

Johnson waited to see if the man would say anything, but after several seconds, all Danny did was continue to write. The scientist sighed. "Daniel, you do realize that part of the reason Nicholas saw you was because you deliberately left your door slightly open and decided to transform in broad daylight, right?" he said gently.

"I don't care if I left the door wide open with a sign on it that said enter," Danny replied dryly as a frown settled over his brow. "He decided to peek, and that's violating my privacy and respect."

"Nicholas is a good man at heart, Danny, if only you gave him a chance to prove it," Johnson said.

Danny turned around in his seat. "If you haven't noticed, Doctor, I've got ghost powers," he pointed out. "If I trust the wrong guy, I could be sent to some government lab for testing or dumped into the Ghost Zone again. Or even worse, a bad guy could kill me. Isn't that clear enough for you?"

"It does not mean that you cannot give my nephew a chance to show his loyalty."

Danny remained silent for a moment before turning and continuing to write. "He'll get his chance when he trains," he said. "And once we're on the mission. I need to be one hundred percent sure that I can trust him, Dr. Johnson. I don't like to be the bad guy, but I need to be sure." He stopped writing and placed his cheek in his hand. "If the world discovers my secret, I can be in serious danger. I have to know that Nicholas can be trusted with this secret, and the way to begin that is to see how well he manages my orders."

Johnson sighed softly and stood up. "I understand your decision, Danny," he said gently.

"I don't want to be mean," Danny added. "I just want to stay safe. When he peeked, I felt like I was being forced into a corner." His eyes darkened as he stared at the blinds over his windows. "I feel… trapped… scared… I don't want to feel like that, Dr. I want to know that I can trust people, but everyone else that's accidentally discovered my secret, turned against me. The only two who didn't were two people from high school, one who Tucker and Sam's been able to successfully blackmail, and another who still has a crush on me because I've got superpowers." Danny sighed heavily as sadness and fear settled into his eyes. "People may seem like they can handle secrets this big and accept them, but only a handful of the world's population is aware of their value and the consequences that can follow if the secret is not kept confidential. I'm lucky my two best friends and my sister happened to be three of those people. If it hadn't been for them, I don't think I would have survived high school with my abilities."

Johnson walked up to him as he spoke and gently placed a hand on his pupil's shoulder. Danny turned his head a little in order to see him. "You… understand that, right?" he asked very quietly.

"I do," Johnson said compassionately. "It is not an easy thing to live in a world where the slightest mistake you make can threaten your future." He smiled warmly and patted the man's shoulder before pulling himself away and walking towards the exit. "But promise me you won't be too hard on my nephew," he said. "Nicholas is a very good worker; he's just had the tendency of disobeying rules here and there when he was a child."

"I'll… I'll try to be easy…"

Johnson opened the door and slipped outside. "Tomorrow, a new day begins," he said. "Good night, Daniel."

"…Goodnight," Danny said quietly, but the door had already closed.

_

Author's note: That's right. Danny's boss doesn't know about his secret, nor does he like Danny Phantom. In fact, DP happens to be the reason why Jones acknowledged Danny's idea of Special Missions for NASA when he was still a student.

But that's an entire story on it's own, so you guys will have to wait until then before getting the answers ;)