Danny's rough hand led Kim down a dark staircase and into an even darker room. She couldn't even see Danny, who was just an arm length away.

"Stay here," he ordered her, and immediately his comfortable grasp left hers, and she was left alone in this black room, unaware of where she was or how long it would be until—

Flick. Well that just answered both of Kim's questions. She blinked her eyes to adjust to the harsh, white lights that beamed onto the chrome room.

It appeared to be some sort of laboratory. There were unfinished experiments on every horizontal surface, and Kim saw quite a few of them to be some kind of weapon. Her voice caught in her throat, and she immediately started to breathe heavily. Where was she?

"Sorry about the mess." She heard in the background, and remembered that she wasn't alone in this creepy room. Hearing that familiar voice made all the difference, and she felt much better. She turned to face the black haired boy who was smiling awkwardly behind her.

"What is this room?" she asked in awe and fear.

"Er… it's sort of like my parents study… if they were lawyers or something. They're… scientists…" Danny decided to use the euphemism scientists, and desperately hoped he wouldn't have to go into any detail about their particular scientific field. Thankfully, it would appear that Kim accepted that, the topic was not delved any further into.

"So this is their lab, right? This is where everything is made?" Kim asked in amazement. It wasn't every day that you met a kid with scientists for parents… unless you were a Possible, that is.

"Er, what about your parents? What do they do?" Danny asked, desperately wanting to get off his topic. The last thing he wanted to do was discuss his ghost-hunting parents.

Kim discussed for a while about her brain surgeon mother who saved a life a day, and her rocket scientist father who helped get a monkey to outer space. Danny asked a few questions about it, hoping to keep the topic off that of his parents. Have you ever been to space? Yep. Really? No way! How? Then Kim went on to explain her adventure through the stratosphere, making sure to leave out the whole "saving the world" bit.

Talking like this, they both realized it was a great time spender, and Kim was almost disappointed when a certain red head walked through the door.

"Knock, knock," Jazz called, and mimicked her voice by actually knocking against the metal wall. "Dinner's ready, you two."

…

Kim sat down at the long wooden table, and tried to remain calm. She tried not to stare directly at the food in front of her, but what else was she to look at? The large fat man sitting across from her, or perhaps the blue jumpsuit clad woman diagonal. She couldn't very well stare at Danny without it being too obvious who she was looking at, nor his sister, Jazz. So strangely enough, her eyes continued to remain glued to her plate of food.

And did that plate look delicious! She was unable to try it yet, but the scent of the savory, tender round steak perched on her glass plate was becoming too much to bear. Not to mention the complimenting sautéed asparagus that was laid among the warm steak. And as if that wasn't enough, she was also being stared at through the leafy greens on her salad plate. Kim felt her stomach grumble.

Finally, for what seemed like centuries that passed for Kim, Danny's mother signaled for the entire family to begin eating, as if she was the one holding every one up, and it would appear Kim was not the only one who was hungry. The two males at the table immediately began to plunge into their food, whereas the two familial women acted much more gracefully. Kim was the last one to begin eating, though she was arguably the hungriest.

"So, Kimberly," a perky voice made Kim look up, and she locked her sage green eyes on those of the red eyed Maddie Fenton. That was strange, she thought to herself, but decided not to bring it up. After what happened with Sam… well it appeared people in this town just didn't like talking about their eye color.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Are you new in town?" Maddie Fenton pondered, knowing for a fact she had not seen the girl around before.

"Yes, I am. I just moved last week, actually." All Kim wanted to do was continue her savory steak, and this woman would not stop to let her take a bite.

"How lovely that you've been able to find friends already! Are you liking Amity Park so far?" that strained voice came out again.

"The parts that I've seen have been very nice," Kim explained, and broke to finally take a bite of the sirloin. It was just as juicy as it had looked. Slightly charred on the outside, but medium on the outside… it reminded her of how her own family's dinners. Suddenly, a wave of nostalgia came over her, and she realized just how much she really missed her mother and father… and even those Tweebs.

"How'd you and my boy meet?" Jack asked with a mouth full of food, and raising and pointing his fork at Kim then flicked it to Danny. Geez, was he an obnoxious oaf of a father. "During my first day of school," Kim began, not planning on going into much detail. "I ate lunch with him."

"How adorable," Maddie interjected, her smile as wide as ever. "And you're getting along nicely with his friends?"

"Yeah, how are Sam and that other one?" Jack pushed.

"Tucker," she corrected, then went on to answer the woman's question. "And Yes, they've both been welcoming as well," Kim tried to remain smiling, but these questions were getting a little ridiculous.

"Dad –" Danny tried to interrupt, but Maddie jumped before he could completely form his thought.

"And academics, they're fine as well?" she batted her large eyes, and Kim was beginning to get the feeling she was not as nice as she was leading on.

"It's only been a week, but I believe it's been going quite well," she replied, continuing to smile. Both of these parents appeared a little… off beat. She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something going on with them, especially that mother. Thankfully, a different voice began to fill the room.

"So Kim, did you and Danny finish all those English questions?" the sweet, passive voice of Jazz asked. Kim gratefully turned all her attention towards the only other ginger at the table, and allowed her smile to become a little more natural and a little less forced. "Yes, thank God. I'll be so happy to be done with that book, and move on."

"Really?" Danny started to be interested in the conversation. "I'm the same way. I just want to begin The Things They Carried."

"Yes, I've heard a lot of great things about that book," Kim smiled, and brushed the ginger strand of hair falling in her eyes.

"What's it about?" Maddie Fenton leaned across the table, and her red eyes seemed to twitch. What was up with her?

Thankfully, Kim was not forced to answer as Jazz held the spotlight. "It's like a bunch of stories from the Vietnam War. It's one of my favorites." She smiled sweetly at her mother. She, too, could notice that the oldest woman at the table was acting strangely.

"Very interesting," Maddie said, much too forced. Kim was getting the vibe from the other two children that this woman usually did not act this way, but that this was a special occasion – essentially, making it her fault for the woman's odd behavior. She was unsure how to react to this, so she simply stared at her suddenly unappetizing food, and pushed a few sprouts of asparagus around the plate with her fork.

Hearing herself being addressed, the younger ginger looked up, and found her eyes locked onto the caller of her name.

"Kimberly," the voice boomed. "Play any sports?" Jack Fenton asked, again his mouth currently in the process of chewing a mouthful of tender steak and asparagus.

"Yes, I do as a matter of fact," Kim genuinely smiled, something she found much easier to do with the father of the house.

He motioned for her to continue, so she did. "I'm a cheerleader, and I play soccer," she said simply.

"You play soccer?" Danny interrupted the conversation, causing Kim's attention to turn towards the boy she sat next to.

She swiveled in her seat, and flipped her head to the left, so she could properly look at the boy talking to her. Her hair slowly followed the motion of her head, and swung behind her head. The sudden breeze in Danny's direction was filled with that scent. That delicious, sweet scent that triggered beautiful floral fields in Danny's mind. He inhaled as much as he could, without appearing too obvious, and struggled to listen to what his friend was saying.

"… make the cheer squad, I figured I'd try out for soccer. Do you play any sports?" she inquired. Danny hardly heard her question while in his trance, but he was slowly pulled away from his ambrosial dream.

"Uh, no, I don't really have the time for them," he blurted out before he could stop himself and think. Now he knew the next question was going to be –

"What do you do instead?" Kim asked lightly, not knowing her question had such a large impact on him.

If everyone hadn't been staring at the two teenagers, someone may have noticed that Jazz had stopped eating and appeared frozen. She was trying to think on her feet, but could think of nothing to get him out of this situation.

Luckily, Danny thought of something before the silence seemed oddly prolonged. "Okay you caught me… that was a lie. I'm just not athletic," he chuckled nervously and felt a flourishing red heat ignite in his cheeks through sheer embarrassment. Kim's only response was a light chuckle. She was not able to offer any real response as Maddie Fenton soon interrupted. "He's lying. It's the time that's an issue. He's really very athletic."

Danny stopped laughing, along with Jazz, as they were both very shocked by her statement. "Er, no, Mom. Have you seen me catch a ball? Hand-eye-coordination and I aren't really buds…"

"Of course you're athletic, Sweetie! Very strong and masculine, too," her off-smile shining through.

"Mom, are you feeling okay?" Jazz asked the short woman, peering to get a better look at her. She seemed fine before dinner. Maybe the fumes had gotten to her, or maybe…

"Mom…" Danny leaned across the table, and tried to get his mother to look him in the eyes, but she kept averting them. Instead, she stared at her completely oblivious husband. "Jack, Sweetie, do you want to tell sweet Kimberly here about our work?" she asked, her voice sounding like slow dripping honey.

He began to stare wide-eyed at his son. "She doesn't know?" his shock portraying in his voice.

"Dad, that's not really the issue–" he tried to argue while attempting to connect eyes with his offbeat mother.

"And she even saw the lab! I can't believe you didn't tell her, Danny!" he was amazed.

What do his parents do? Kim thought, and she had the feeling she was going to get her answer relatively soon.

"I'm sure you figured we were scientists, seeing as we have a lab," Jack Fenton began.

"Yes, I fig–"

"But do you know what study of science?" he inquired, and smiled, knowingly, yet obliviously. Both him and the unfamilial red head were ignorant to the current catastrophe occurring on the other end of the table.

The two intelligent table members stared at the brown, bobbed woman, who was leaning slightly forward, just enough so her short bangs completely covered her demon-like eyes.

"We study the field of Spectrology!"

"Spectrology?" Kim asked, having never heard of such a thing. Jack opened his mouth to explain, but a suddenly standing Maddie Fenton focused her unblinking red eyes on the ghost boy, and furrowed her eye brows into a wicked grin.

"The study of ghosts," she slithered the last s, and immediately a gigantic white cobra appeared out the body of the ghost hunter. Kim had to blink a few times in amazement; one moment, she was having a somewhat normal conversation with Mr. Fenton, and the next moment a gigantic white and green snake was on the opposite side of the table, apparently unseen by the prestigious ghost hunter, as he only folded his arm across his chest, and leaned back in his chair, muttering, "I wanted to say that part…" not noticing his wife lying unconscious on the tile floor after being overshadowed.

"DAD!" a high voice broke his angry trance, and he stared at his daughter, her fearful teal eyes glued on the snake sitting next to him. When the oaf finally noticed what the three scared teenagers were staring at, Jack Fenton immediately pulled out a large bazooka from under the table. Where did that come from? Kim thought, but thought it better not to ask.

The ghost snake looked at the gun, then to the three teenagers. Without addressing any of them in particular, it hissed,

"He'ssss watching."

Then it turned completely invisible and slithered through the walls, leaving the scared family without so much as looking back.

"You better get away from my family!" Jack Fenton called after it, but Kim got the impression he was not leaving out of fear. She may be new to this whole ghost thing, but even she could decipher between a messenger and a villain; the fiend simple got out what he wanted to say, caused a little chaos and that was the end of it.

Although this confession of profession gave Kim Possible an idea.

"Mr. Fenton," she addressed politely. "Seeing as you're an expert in your field, and after observing your inventions downstairs, you invent ghost weapons, like the one you just pulled out, correct?"

"Yep this is the Fenton Bazooka 3000!" he said, very proud to have a weapon with his last name in it.

"Well, this is not my first ghost encounter. Do you think you could give me a weapon to further defend myself? Even something as simple as a butterfly net. I don't want to be dependent on someone like you, if I ever see one again," she said, acting over sweetly.

"Of course! Take this! I like independent women!" and he pulled out yet another contraption, and Danny instantly recognized it as the one that was simple enough for a baby. After explaining how to fully use it, he sighed, and turned his direction to his two kids.

"Okay, Jazz, you pick up dinner, I'll get Mom off the floor, and Danny you walk your friend home," he ordered, suddenly taking a stand.

Kim objected to this, "Really, Mr. Fenton, I can go by myself. It isn't too far," she lied.

"Nonsense, when Mrs. Fenton wakes up and she hears I let you walk home alone, she'll have a fit," Jack suddenly began to get a grip on his obnoxious self.

Danny could tell this was not a debate, so he rose, and motioned for Kim to do the same. "I'll be home soon," he called.

"It was nice to meet you, Kimberly! We'll have to have dinner again sometime!"

Once the two teenagers were safely out of ear shot on the other side of the door, Kim turned to her friend. "You don't actually have to walk me home, you know."

"I know. I don't mind," was his simple response.

"Are you sure? It's pretty far," she warned.

"After the events of tonight, I'd rather make sure you just get home safely," Danny smiled gently, his words causing the both of them to blush just a little in the dimly lit street.

Danny cleared his throat, realizing that his words could be perceived as a bit more than friendly, and went on to say, "So, er, you can lead the way," and offering a light chuckle, they both began walking down the street, staring at their own feet. Strangely enough, they were both thinking the same exact thing, and it was evident by the silence protruding between them. The question now was who was going to bring it up first.

"I lied to you."

Came the simple reply to their thoughts. Kim's delicate face looked to meet his cobalt blue eyes, who were already gazing at her.

Playing dumb didn't even cross her mind. "Yea, you did. But it's no big," she tried acting nonchalant, considering she already knew he had lied, but it was hard when he was so open and honest about. He really felt bad for doing it.

"Look," he began to explain himself, "A week ago, when you asked me if I'd ever seen a ghost, I told you that I hadn't because you were brand new in town, and I didn't want you to hit the road in fear of ghosts."

Kim smiled at his concern, but it was evident he did not know her very well; ghosts were the only reason she had even been drawn to Amity Park.

"The truth is," Danny continued. "There are a lot of ghosts in Amity Park. One could even say we were infested with them," he tried to laugh, but the situation was a bit too serious.

"But now I can protect myself, right?" she motioned at the device in her hands. Danny wanted to stay away from it. He had a feeling his own ectoplasm might do something to her new weapon, and he really wanted her to have it to protect herself.

"Right," was his only response.

"So what exactly happened you your mom at dinner? Is that… I don't know… normal?" she questioned, still a little traumatized.

"No that's far from normal, by other city's standards. This little town is completely different from those places, though," he smiled at his joke, and then continued. "Anyways what happened with my mom was something that you can call being overshadowed. A ghost – specifically that snake thing you saw – sorta goes inside the body of a living thing. They can manipulate it how they like. So that's probably why my mom was acting so strange. I can't tell when she became overshadowed, but if it was before she got home, she won't remember you. She might have been fine until dinner, meaning she won't remember the dinner, but remember meeting you at the door."

"Is there a way to get the ghost out without it coming out on its own?" she asked.

"Yes, but not something that humans can do. You would need another ghost to enter the body and kick the first one out. Something most ghosts are not keen of doing," he explained.

"There's also a way to do it that my parents have invented. There's these glove things that you can put on and remove a ghost. There is also one that can be used for inanimate objects; it's a dream-catcher-like thing that you pass through, and the ghost is on one side and the object on the other, removing the ghost."

"So you're parents really are legit?" she inquired.

Danny's nervous chuckle was his first answer. "It's crazy, huh?"

"You have no idea…" her voice trailing off, going deep into thought. The only thing that pulled her out of it was the sudden memory of this street.

"My apartment's right up here," she motioned to the large building on the corner.

"Do you want me to walk up with you and make sure you get inside?" Danny asked, seriously.

"I think I can manage…" her voice trailing off and thinking of a quick excuse. "Plus I don't want my aunt to think I've brought a boy home," she tried to laugh off her awkward statement, making the situation even more uncomfortable, so she simply told the young boy good night, and opened the door to head upstairs.

Once she was inside her safe apartment, she flipped up her kimmunicator.

"Wade!" she said urgently.

"What's up, Kim? Everything okay?" the small boy asked.

"Have you finished that suit, yet? He eyes big with concern.

"Almost. I told you it would take –"

"Good!"

"Good?"

"I have an addition for you to make," she explained, and twirled the ghost-gun on her finger, a mischievous smile spreading across her face.

Okay, so I had a bit of writer's block with this one, but in the end, I'm pretty happy how it turned out. I admit having Maddie overshadowed was a bit of a stretch, but as writers don't we all have to take risks? ;)

Please let me know how you liked it! I always love reading your reviews, even the more critical ones. Writing about ghosts sometimes gets me thinking surreally, and I really need those comments to tie me back down to the story line. :)

And with that, please review

Even a simple word brightens my day :D