Hi everyone and sorry again about the long break. My only excuse is life.
Once again hundreds of thanks to my beta jaguarspot
To Mirria1... I never thought I would say this about anime but... Thank you for suggesting me to watch Ghost Hunt. It was surprisingly good.
And to everyone else who reviewed. Thank you. I had a good time while reading your ideas and comments.
Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.
-A. A. Miller
-We are leaving now.
-Could you try to hold them up a bit longer?
-Sigh… How bad it is?
-The dessert came alive and stole one of my parents' guns. We managed to capture it, but you really don't want to see our living room right now.
-….
-I thought you said that Jazz banned your parents from the kitchen or something.
-She did! I swear I have no idea how they managed to get ectoplasm in the cake batter.
...
-Okay. I hid the car's key. You have maybe 15 minutes before mom is gonna call a taxi.
-Thanks!
-What kind of ice cream I should buy?
-Seriously? You couldn't think anything more cliché?
-It's that or 5 minutes microwave brownies.
...
-Buy Neapolitan.
-And make sure it's made of tofu!
-The taxi arrived.
-We are almost ready.
-Good.
-Just remember that I love you…
-Danny. It's just a dinner.
-And tell Tucker that it was me who broke Evelyn.
-No one is going to die!
-And do you seriously remember how Tucker has named his PDAs?
-….
-I don't?
-Sure.
-We are now in front of your house.
-And just in case… I left my testament on my desk.
Sam stared at the familiar two-storey building like those red tile walls in front of her were holding inside the most painful doom she could imagine. Behind her back, the goth girl heard how her dad payed the taxi driver whatever the ten minutes car ride had cost their family, while her mom hummed patiently, probably checking her makeup from the pocket mirror that she always carried in her purse.
"Are you ready, dear?" she asked as the car drove off, the familiar sound of the closing mirror proving Sam's theory right.
"As soon as you are, honey," the man answered airily, making the girl groan internally. So it was going to be one of these kind of days, huh? Sam had already learned ages ago that this pastel coloured perfect family act was at least partially just something they used to maintain their public image. Of course her dad had always been optimistic and cheerful in nature while her mother was an eternal beauty loving perfectionist, but this level of syrupy precocity was hardly ever seen while they were on their own or in presence of close friends.
Sam really hoped that this only meant that they were at least half as nervous as she was right now.
Jeremy and Pamela walked arm in arm past their daughter towards the greyish blue door, the red head's blue summer dress matching perfectly with her husband's shirt, which he wore under a cream coloured coat. They would have wanted to wear something slightly fancier but luckily, after hours and hours of arguing, the teen had managed to persuade them to choose something more casual so they wouldn't be that overdressed compared to Danny's parents who were probably just going to wear their trademark jumpsuits like usual.
Sam inhaled deeply to calm her nerves before she too walked up those stone steps that separated the entrance of the house from the street.
"Here we go!" her dad announced happily (and this time Sam couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes) and pressed the doorbell, causing the classic 'ding dong' sound to ring behind the door, though Sam could have sworn that she also heard some panicking orders and clatter that the wooden door mostly muted. And judging from her parents' faces, she wasn't the only one.
"Remember to stay polite," Pam said through a forced smile. "This is our first family dinner together so we need to leave a good impression if we want to make this work."
Sam was just about to remind her mother that they had already left a bad impression all the way back in her freshman year when they had insulted the ghost hunters' jumpsuits, when the door opened revealing the widely smiling Dani who, to Sam's surprise, was wearing one of those shirt and skirt dress things that had been pretty popular a couple years ago.
"Hi Sam! Hi Mrs. Manson! Hi random dude who I have never met!" the preteen greeted them with all that innocent happiness that only a physically twelve but technically one-year-old person would be able to possess. Jeremy though didn't seem to understand that, seeing how the female halfa's words made his smile twitch comically, forcing Sam to hide her sudden burst of laugher under a fake cough, which only caused her mother to shoot her a warning look before turning to answer the small girl's greeting.
"Jeremy, I don't believe you have yet met Danielle," she then started to introduce the two to each other. "Danielle, this is my husband Jeremy."
"Mmm… Nice to meet you?" the ghost girl said with a slightly unsure voice and glanced towards Sam as if asking if she had done the right thing. Sam nodded her head but also raised her hand a bit, as if to shake it with someone, making the halfa quickly offer her own to Sam's father. Sam nodded her head again, happy to notice how well Dani had managed to improve some of her basic communication skills during these couple months she had spent in the Fenton household. Vlad might have taught her a lot about the world and how to deal with people, but there were still a lot of holes in the girl's knowledge and basic communication skills. Especially meeting new people (who weren't trying to hunt or otherwise hurt her) had turned out to be something she wasn't very good at, but with the help of her new family, especially Jazz's, Dani was fast learning how to act more like children her physical age.
Jeremy shook Dani's hand. "Ah yes, you must be that cl-, Daniel's new sister who I have heard so much about." The sharp kick to his ankle from behind had made the man correct his words before he had accidentally slipped the c-word that Danny had made very clear to be banned in the presence of the youngest halfa.
Luckily the girl didn't seem to notice or care and was about to answer when another familiar, almost gigantic, form appeared behind her.
"Sure she is!" Jack Fenton laughed and messed with Dani's hair, which she had brushed back with the help of a green hairband that matched with the colour of the upper half of her dress, earning an annoyed yelp from the tiny girl who still clearly was happy from the man's endearment. And to Sam's surprise (which she should have seen coming after seeing Dani in a dress) the large man had abandoned his trademark orange jumpsuit, replacing it with a dress shirt the same colour and a pair of black pants.
The goth let out a low, impressed whistle. Sure Danny had mentioned that Jazz had gone a bit crazy after their parent's had invited Sam's family to dinner, but this time she surely had surpassed herself. Though Sam had to admit that she was a bit disappointed when she noticed that it was impossible to tell if her parents were either surprised or pleased aa they just turned their happy smiles towards the man in front of them.
"Good afternoon mister Fenton. I have to say, it truly was sweet for you to give Danielle a loving home in so short notice," Pamela said, earning another energetic laugh from their host while he motioned them to move inside.
"Please Pamela, call me Jack. And of course we took Ellie Belly in. After that awful accident that killed my second cousin-"
"They know the truth." Danny's voice called from somewhere out of Sam's sight and his now confused father stopped talking about the cover story they had made up to explain where the newest Fenton had appeared.
"They do?"
"Samantha told us," Pamela simply stated.
"More like we forced her to do so," Jeremy chuckled before starting to explain a bit more specifically how the youngest halfa's history had been revealed to them. "You see, we found it rather… unusual how a young girl, who to top it all looks almost like your son's identical twin, appeared to live with your family only a couple days after that Disasteroid accident." And by 'we' Sam's father had meant his wife whose past had given her a slightly better eye with these kind of things, but the goth knew very well that he would never admit that in public. "So when we voiced our worries to Sam, she kindly explained the situation to us."
"That's one way to put it," Sam muttered under her breath causing the ghost girl next to her let out a short giggle.
"Don't worry Ja- Dad. Sam asked for mine and Danny's permission before telling them anything," the preteen assured to her adoptive/technically biological father.
The black haired man looked at both girls in the eyes before the grin returned to his face and Jack slammed Sam's dad on his back with a good natured laugh. But just like usually, the ghost hunter hadn't paid much attention how much strength he was using, causing Jeremy to almost fall on the floor with a startled yelp.
"Of course!" Jack laughed, completely unaware of the accident he had almost caused. "No secrets in the family, am I right Jerry my man."
The younger man answered with a pained grunt that could have easily been read as either an agreement or a show of annoyance while Sam's worried mother hovered over him, trying her best not to give the large man mean glares and hide how uncomfortable Mr. Fenton's innocent words had made her feel. Shaking her head Sam rolled her eyes and moved past the adults, Dani following her close behind.
"So your parents are not going to tell the others about you-know-what?" she asked with a hushed voice as the two girls walked towards a large dinner table that had been carried in the place of the Fentons' couch so both families would have enough room to eat together. Sam wasn't sure where they had gotten it, but if she had to guess she would have said that it was either borrowed from Tucker's family or one of Danny's friendlier neighbours.
"Nope."
"Well that's stupid. I mean Danny and I already know so why not them?"
Sam shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Maybe it has something to with that you both are metas like her so she has something to blackmail you."
Dani made a disgusted face. She shared her brother's opinion about their so called meta-human status, but for some reason the younger hybrid showed more dislike than him when someone called her one. It was probably nothing, but Sam couldn't help wondering if something had happened during the year that the girl had spent on her own.
It was then that Mrs. Fenton walked out of the kitchen carrying a steaming platter of something that smelled like creamed potatoes, Jazz and Danny soon following her, both of them carrying their own serving plates.
"Hello Sam," the scientist greeted the girl with warm smile. "How has your summer been?"
"It has been okay," Sam answered. It had indeed already been over a month since she had last seen her boyfriend's mother other than just in passing while hanging out with Danny and Tucker in their house. The title 'world's leading ghost experts' had in short time become something respected in eyes of the public, leading to numerous invitations to all kind of seminars, requests of professional help with various paranormal chases not even mentioning the exploded number of ecto-weaponry and ghost shields orders that Fenton Works had received ever since the beginning of the summer. Naturally all this new fame had lead both Danny's parents to work long hours every day, even though they had managed to hire some old employees of VladCo to help them.
"That's good to hear," the Fenton family matriarch put the bowl on the table and looked towards Sam's not so exited looking parents who were still talking with Jack.
"Well," she then sighed and brushed some non-existent dirt out of her long black skirt, "Let's get this over with." And with those words she marched over the other adults like a soldier to the battlefield, leaving confused and somewhat amused youths standing in front of the table.
"I take it that your mom still doesn't like my parents that much," Sam stated as she observed how Mrs. Fenton greeted her guests with a much stiffer smile than she had given to their daughter.
Jazz gave her an apologetic smile as she placed the bowl of salad on the table. "Don't worry Sam. I'm sure she will get over it eventually."
"That might take a while though," Danny commented and greeted Sam with a small peck on the check, making his girlfriend blush slightly. "You know how good mom is at holding a grudge. I mean, you saw what she did to Vlad's lab."
"Actually that was because I told her about the hologram Maddie program," Dani giggled earning a confused look from Jazz and causing both Sam and Danny to groan out loud.
"What?" the youngest girl's question would have sound innocent, if only the smirk on her lips hadn't told a completely other story. "I just told your mom that she is much cooler than those creepy computer wives. How could I have possibly known that she would snap because of that?"
"Wow wow wow. Vlad actually made a hologram AI copy of mom?" a now disgusted Jazz asked. "And here I thought that those pictures on his computer were gross."
"He is a crazy fruitloop," the other three reminded her with blank faces.
"Yeah I know, but-"
"How about we all sit down and start dinner. Jazz has made a delicious mushroom steak for all of us and it would be a real shame if it gets cold before we can even taste it." Maddie's voice interrupted their conservation and the teens turned to look as she started to lead Sam's parents towards the table with a forced polite smile. And judging by the looks in Sam's own parents faces, she wasn't the only one who had a problem to act like a civilised person.
"Oh look, they managed to get along almost ten minutes," Danny said quietly under his breath so Sam was probably the only one who heard him. "That must be a new record or something."
"Be nice," she tried to scowl at him, her inability to hide the amusement in her voice making it unnecessarily hard. The ghost boy just gave her his version of Jazz's famous 'you know that I'm right' look before moving to pull a chair for Sam's mother who was clearly pleased with the young man's polite gesture.
The dinner itself went without any bigger issues, mostly because (almost) everyone tried their best to avoid any kind of touchy subjects, which lead them mostly to discuss safer things like where Jazz was planning to go study the next autumn, the city politics, the newest news or how Dani's adoption process was going despite the fact that the girl didn't officially exist. Of course Jack tried more than once to start explaining how some of his and Maddie's inventions worked and what kind of new discoveries they had managed to develop after taking a more open perspective towards ghosts and their behaviours, but usually the other Fentons managed to turn his attention elsewhere quite easily or at least with not so subtle hints. Sometimes though, either or both Sam's parents showed something that Sam would have sworn to be an honest interest towards the topic and even attempted to continue the conservation, before Mr. Fenton started his unstoppable monologue or someone turned the conservation elsewhere.
When they were finally finishing the dessert, a simple bowl of three flavoured ice cream for each, Sam's dad decided to ask Danny's parents if they had received any promising business offers from larger companies. The two ghost hunters shared an unsure glance, wordlessly negotiating how they should answer to Jeremy's question, who was just as aware of Mr. Wayne's visit a bit over a week ago as Sam was. The younger Fentons also turned to look at their parents, starting to follow the ongoing conservation with newly found interest. Danny had once mentioned to Sam how his parents hardly ever talked about these possible business partners in the presence of him and his sisters and always asked them to leave whenever suited men (only once in whites) arrived in their house, so she guessed it was only natural for them to want to hear more. Finally, Mr. Fenton cleared his throat with a nervousness that was completely out of his normal character before he started to speak.
"A few actually," the large man admitted. "Though we haven't yet made any decisions."
Hi wife nodded. "The LexCorp's offer is the most promising. They are offering financial help as well as selling us both office buildings and laboratories for minimal prices and all they are asking is for a 10% of the shares and occasional help with their own projects."
"But Maddie and I are worried about Mr. Luthor's dislike towards most superheroes," Jack sighed sadly, like a little kid who had just been forbidden eating candy before dinner. "So we can't really be sure how these projects will affect Danny and Ellie's safety."
"Then there is the government's offer," Mrs. Fenton continued with a hint of boasting in her voice, and Sam was almost sure that she was trying to make her parents regret all those insults they ever said about her and her husband's unusual lifestyle.
"Not them again," Danny groaned while Dani let out an unimpressed snort.
Maddie gave her son an understanding smile. "Honey, I know we have had our disagreements with the Guys in White and you have every right not to like them, but they are still a great financial support worth considering, especially now that they promised to stop hunting Phantom."
"That won't make them any less jerks," the older halfa pointed out and Sam agreed to his words with a sharp nod.
Mr. Fenton just chuckled. "Worry not kids. The government is just our spare choice. Especially after Mr. Wayne came to personally meet us about a possible cooperation agreement."
"Wait," Jazz said, her eyes wide. "Mr. Wayne? As in Bruce Wayne? The owner of the Wayne Enterprises?"
The man puffed his chest up with pride "The one and only."
"But that's great news," the now excited red head beamed. "Of course both Lexcorp and Wayne Tech are the world's leading developers of new technology, but Bruce Wayne is also a well know supporter of both the Gotham's local heroes and the Justice League."
"His company is also known to let them use their technology freely," Sam's mother, who had been following the conservation quietly, said seriously. "Which makes me wonder: What kind of contract Mr. Wayne offered you?"
The air around the table became much heavier as the Fentons processed this new information and shared some worried and confused looks while Sam and Jeremy looked at Pamela, trying to understand where this sudden hostility towards her friend's fiancé had come. On Sam's opinion, in the short time she had seen her mother socialize with the billionaire, the two had seemed to get along a pretty well even though Mr. Wayne had firstly been a bit awkward around the former villainess who may or may not have tried to kill him in past (Sam had never bothered to ask nor was she sure if she even wanted to know). Maybe she too had found out that Mr. Wayne was directly helping her former "arch enemy" only after the Valentine's day gala. Was it even public knowledge or another super-world thing?
"Nothing is set in stone yet but he is offering some sort of marketing cooperation," Mrs. Fenton spoke carefully, mostly because even though she was the one usually taking care of the business side of the Fenton Work's, she wasn't that familiar with how these kind of thing usually worked between big companies. "The Wayne Enterprises will lend us money, sell us the materials we need for a fair price and also provide other kinds of help 'till we have managed to adapt to this level of demand. Fenton Work's will also be allowed to use their already existing shipping routes and be part of the Wayne Tech's marketing program, but Jack and I will still be the ones controlling our company."
"But?" Pamela asked.
The older red head sighed. "In the following 12 years, the Wayne Enterprises will get 7% of our yearly profits and they will have a rights to prevent sale contracts that they find 'unfitting for their company's image'."
"So you wouldn't be able to sell anything without them knowing it," Jeremy nodded his head and leaned his back against his chair. He didn't say it out a loud, but Sam was pretty sure that by 'them' her father had meant both Mr Wayne's company and the League. The Fentons may not have as big reasons to dislike 'the World's Greatest Superheroes' as Sam's family had, but after Danny had refused their offer to join their cover team at the beginning of the summer, and the young halfa had explained to his family the reasons behind his decision (obviously leaving the Poison Ivy part away), they all had become quite wary and worried about what the League's next move would possibly be or if they were even going to reach out at all.
"When does Mr Wayne want to hear your decision?" Pamela asked suddenly gathering everyone's attention on herself.
"It was by the end of the next week, wasn't it Mads?" Jack half asked his wife who agreed with him, her suspicious eyes locked in Sam's mother.
Pamela nodded her head, a sly glimmer slowly growing in her eyes. "Then there is still plenty of time for me and Jeremy help you create a more profitable contract proposal with Mr Wayne. After all," she added with a sweet smile, "none of us wants those government's maniacs to become even more dangerous than they already are. And Mr Luthor's rumoured links with black markets and villains would surely make him a very questionable business partner."
After that the conservation exploded in a completely new way between the four adults, Jazz occasionally throwing her own opinions in the mix. The youngest three though got bored pretty quickly and it didn't take more than fifteen minutes before both halfas started to collect the empty ice cream bowls and carried them to the kitchen, which turned out to be like a war zone, with Sam's help. The scattered burning marks and piles of ectoplasm around the room gave the goth girl a good idea about what kind of shape the living room had been on when Danny had texted her earlier and she couldn't help but be a little impressed about how they had managed to hide all the damage that the cake had done in such a short time.
Dani disappeared sometime soon after they had piled all plates and bowls on top of the counter, purposely giving Sam and Danny some alone time or maybe just escaping the mountain of dishes that the dinner had left behind.
"So what do you think?" Danny asked casually as he rolled the sleeves of his red suit shirt up while they waited for the sink to fill with water. "Is Luthor actually some sort of villain or was your mother just trying to scare my parents?"
Sam just shrugged her shoulders and stared at a green stain on the ceiling that was slowly dripping ectoplasm on the floor under it. "Not sure, but I think the first one might be true."
"Oh great. Another evil millionaire," the boy snorted sarcastically. "That is exactly what the world needs."
"Let's just hope that he doesn't have any superpowers," she chuckled and picked up a drying cloth from the edge of the counter.
Danny also let out a short laugh and turned the water off before pursing his lips slightly in a thinking matter. "That reminded me… Any progress in figuring out what your all powerful, butt kicking superpower is?"
Sam's smile fell and she gave her boyfriend a mean glare that was soon followed by a frustrated sigh. "Nothing, nothing at all," she complained. At first, when her mother had sat her down one afternoon soon after Selina's surprise visit and told her about the meta-genes and how it had turned out that she had one, Sam had been really excited. Who cared if Batman was an even bigger creep than she had thought, when she had a possibility to be able to do something inhumanly amazing? Sadly, she had also noticed pretty fast that knowing you can do something special and figuring out what that something was were two completely different things.
"At first mom thought it might be something plant related, because I most likely get the gene from her and she believed that I had made some seeds grow into blooming flowers during one of our fights. But since we haven't managed to repeat that, it all was probably just her own doings. I have also tried to levitate things, read minds, lift heavy things, tested if I heal faster than an average person," she listed and purposely ignored the look that Danny was giving her, "change the colour of my eyes, checked if I can turn invisible or see ghosts when they are… But none of those have worked!"
"Hey," Danny said softly and gave Sam a one armed hug. "Maybe you just haven't figured out how to trigger your power yet, whatever it is. We both know how hard it was for me to learn how to make duplicates, so couldn't it be possible that you are having the same kind of problems?"
"You at least knew what was supposed to happen," the sulking girl crossed her arms. "To me it's almost like I had suddenly grown some kind of invisible extra limb somewhere around my body and I have no idea how to move it."
"I'm sure you will figure that out someday," the halfa assured while rubbing awkwardly the back of his neck, the habit that Sam loved more than she would ever admit. "And to be honest, I don't care that much if you have powers or not. You are perfectly awesome just the way you are right now."
"Aaw, thanks Danny," she hugged the boy back and gave him a soft kiss on his cheek. "But I would still prefer to get that superpower. If for nothing else than to annoy Tucker."
"And take a risk that he turns back to that jealous ghost monster?" he asked with a teasing tone. "Maybe I should ask my parents to make you one of those inhibitor collars that the prisons use to neutralize supervillains' powers."
"You do that and I will suck you in a thermos and drown it in the deepest part of the Lake Eerie that I can find," Sam threatened back in the same manner. Tucker had actually taken the news about Sam's possible powers surprisingly well and only joked about how come he was the only normal person in their group, which on both Sam and Danny's opinion was hardly a truth. Or who knows. Maybe someday their friend would turn out to be a lost prince of some weird little country or twin brother of an important hero or something else as weird and unlikely as that.
"No you won't," Danny smirked. "You would miss me too much."
"You wish, Ghost Boy," she huffed and hit her boyfriend with the cloth, which was still dry thanks to the completely forgotten dishes. Danny just laughed at this and attempted to capture the goth in his arms, mercilessly tickling her till Jazz came to investigate the reason behind the loud noises and ordered them to start doing something productive instead of just goofing around.
In the end, the Mansons' dinner with the Fentons was almost a success. Awkward and tense yes, but no one had started a fight nor had anybody left with banging doors and in Sam's books that was a huge progress. Her mother had even given Mrs Fenton and Jazz praises for their delicious food.
It wasn't until later that evening when Sam's whole family had once again gathered in their living room to watch the news and spend time together when her father lowered the book he had been reading, a baffled look on his face.
"Honey, I just realised something."
"What is it, dear," Pamela asked, half of her attention still focused on the newsreader on TV while Sam continued reading her own novel and her grandma kept on knitting the grey sweater that seemed to have the Ghostbusters logo on it.
"I just realised that if this whole ghost security thing continues in the same direction as it has the past couple months, the Fenton's will be millionaires before the end of the next year."
The three women turned to look at the blonde with various confused expressions and Ida even let out a low, impressed whistle.
"Oh…" Sam's mother said finally and blinked her eyes to clear her thoughts a bit. "Well I guess that also means I should soon start inviting Madeline to afternoon tea with the other ladies. That will surely end up being something very interesting…"
Sam just shook her head and returned to read her book. The Amity Park's high society would surely meet the shock of a life time if Sam's father's prediction turned out to be true.
She just really hoped that the money wouldn't go into the Fenton's head like last time…
Things that I think need a little explanation:
-Dani isn't yet that confortable adressing Jack and Maddie as 'dad and mom' but she tries her best whenever they are around. That is why she said 'your mom' instead of just 'mom'.
-The Fentons usually call Dani Ellie since it's less confusing and Jazz thinks it will help her to see herself as an individual person and not 'just a clone'. And since Jack clearly loves giving nicknames to his kids (Danny boy, Jazzy pants) he often calls Dani Ellie belly.
-G.i.W. don't hunt Phantom anymore because he is now a global hero and they would be in a huge problems if they ever hurt him. That doesn't mean that they have abandoned their 'all ghosts are evil' ideology.
-The reason behind Bruce's proposal is that he wants to keep closer eye on Danny. After the deal he would have an excuse to visit Amity Park more often but he has also noticed that Danny uses ofter his parents inventions so this way he would know what those gadgets are and he can also prevent Fentons from selling them to 'the bad guys'.
In the next chapter we will once again meet new DC character. Some of you may have even guessed who that character will be since there has been some hints.
'till the next time
Kilppari