This Chapter is dedicated to Me the Anon One, who is a

Kind, Wonderful Person.

Catalyst: A Story about Change

Chapter 18: Afterwards, Moving Forward

Tucker walked the length of his bedroom as he dialed Danny's cell phone number. It rang five times.

"Hey, Tuck." Tucker didn't miss how tired Danny sounded, as though he'd spent the last several days staring at a computer screen. And he had; Jazz had said so, although Tucker also recognized that particular brand of exhaustion from personal experience.

"Hey Danny. So, today's the last day before school dude, and I want to do something with it. So I'm coming over there to pry you out of your room. Make it easier on yourself and take a shower before I get there, okay?" Usually he wasn't this pushy, but occasionally there was no other way to be, with both Danny and Sam.

There was a pause, and Tucker could picture Danny's blank stare. "Um, Tucker, I'm kind of busy, I don't think…"

"Hey, come on. The whole vacation thing went down the tubes. And I've spent the last few days giving you your space. Is it too much to ask for one day of fun with my best friends?" Oops.

"Friends?" Aw, crud. Of course he'd zone in on that…

"Or just you and me, whatever…"

"No. You should spend time with Sam, Tucker, she needs you. And I'd just be…I'd be boring, I'd be so distracted, wanting to get back to my research…"

He was trying to cover it, Tucker knew, but the guilt had temporarily flooded his voice. The confused, muzzy sounding Danny from a moment ago had been ten times better. Way to put your foot in your mouth, Tucker.

"Danny, listen to me, I've got to come over there. There's something I need to show you. So, please, just give me the okay, because I'm about to head out the door anyway."

Again there was a silent moment. "I…what about, um," and, of course, the guilty pause, "Sam?"

Tucker rolled his eyes in exasperation. "I'll be alone, don't worry."

"I'm not worried!" Now he sounded defensive. "I mean, I am, she shouldn't be alone the day before school starts."

Tucker took a second to respond, debating whether he should say what was on his mind, and finally just went with it. "You know, you could call her up and tell her that yourself. It would mean a lot, if she heard something like that from you." If she heard from you, period.

"I'm not…I'm really busy. Look, are you sure you have to come over?" Tucker could hear the exasperation; Danny was probably worried about getting grilled about avoiding Sam. Which he should be.

Tucker rolled his eyes again, as he made a beeline for his jacket. "Yeah, I have to come over. I'll be there in about fifteen minutes. Go take that shower." He hung up, and paused for a second before getting ready to leave. This wasn't going to be fun.

Danny stared at the phone for a second, and debated, in a sleepy sort of way, getting up to take a shower. Glowering to himself, he realized he hadn't bathed for nearly two days, and…yup. He smelled. How had Tucker known?

Well, they had been friends forever. And that meant that he knew that fifteen minutes in Tucker time probably meant more like thirty minutes in real time. Plenty of time to take a shower, then.

Twenty-five minutes later, and Danny heard Tucker come through the front door. He looked over blearily, hair still slightly damp, from where was sprawled on the living room couch; he had the urge to ask Tucker for "just another five minutes."

While showering, he'd realized just how little sleep he'd been getting. And the sad thing was there didn't appear to be anything else he could possibly find out about the damage he'd caused a week ago without actually flying back to Idaho. And school started tomorrow. Which, now that Sam was back, he'd been forced to acknowledge he was flunking. Badly. Not that that was a big deal, with all the other bigger worries running through his mind.

Like Sam. Or his evil double. Or…life in general. But mostly just Sam. The last few days were a little hazy, and mostly included avoiding thinking of certain things, thus the fevered attempt to occupy his time researching the destruction he'd caused. One, it distracted him. Two, he could avoid his family. "Sorry, can't eat with you now, I'm doing research!"

They'd asked about what he was researching, of course, and he'd said "school." Which was why he'd remembered that he was flunking. Still, it was better to worry about that a little than to even come near thinking about the real pain in his life.

Danny still didn't know exactly how to deal with it all, but things had gotten slightly better since his life had exploded around him a week ago. He could actually think about…Sam now. With difficulty. He didn't like to because it still hurt, but he could. He could even acknowledge why it hurt, a little. But he felt like he needed another month, or maybe a year, before he'd be willing to really deal with any of it.

Deep down he knew that wasn't going to happen. Ever since he'd gotten his ghost powers, his life had been in permanent fast forward. He was seventeen, going on forty…or something. Urg, that would make him Vlad or something, wouldn't it?

"Hey." Danny looked up to see Tucker's fingers waving in front of his face. "Dude. How much sleep did you get last night?" He was laughing at him at little.

Danny pulled himself into a sitting position (as opposed to the sprawl), and rubbed at his face. "Some. Not enough, I guess." He woke up a little more, and stood up. "Hey, let's go up to my room. My parents are down in the lab, and I'd prefer they stay there."

"Sure." They headed for the stairs. It was habitual for Danny's mom to come upstairs to talk for a little while if she heard voices upstairs, so they had a habit of going to his room when they wanted privacy.

Tucker grinned as they reached his bedroom. "Nice bed hair, by the way. Or couch hair, as the case may be." Danny made a face, and ran his hands through his hair to get it under control. One side was going down, and the other side up.

He closed the bedroom door, and turned to face Tucker, still feeling completely sluggish. "Could be a new style." He smiled a little. Now that Tucker was actually here, he was kind of grateful for some normal everyday interaction. Nothing's wrong with my life, everything's great. See, we're talking, laughing. People don't do these things when everything is wrong in their lives, right?

Except they did, he was discovering. It's what you had to do. You put up a mask so good that you even fooled yourself with it, at least while you were around other people. But maybe it didn't work so well though, late at night when you were alone with you own thoughts, trying to get to sleep…

Tucker chuckled, bringing Danny back out of his depressing thoughts. "Yeah, all you have to do is go ghost and let Paulina see your new style. I'd love to see her try to convince Dash how great it looks…"

Danny rolled his eyes at the thought. Paulina had never dropped her fixation on Danny Phantom, but it had become more reasonable, in a way. Now she had Danny Phantom, who was her hot, unattainable movie star (or in this case super hero) crush, and then her normal everyday boyfriend, who she tried not to get too excited about Danny Phantom in front of, at least much. But it seemed to work out okay, because Dash was a huge Danny Phantom fan too, and had even considered dying his hair white for a few months. He did wear his hair as much like Phantom as he could manage, much to Danny's amusement, and he had to wonder what he'd do if he did try the bed hair look, as Phantom.

Nah. No way. He wouldn't, would he? Danny and Tucker shared a look. They broke down into muffled laughter, which died away quickly.

Danny sighed slightly. "You know, it's kind of pathetic."

"What?" Tucker sat down on Danny's bed, leaning back on his arms.

"Well, they still think I'm such a loser, and here they are acting like such groupies themselves. And since when are groupies cool?"

Tucker grinned. "Hey, don't bash the groupies. I'm a groupie. I have a lot of things that I consider myself a groupie of."

"Okay, then we're all pathetic." Danny tried not to smile, but couldn't help himself. They all had something, didn't they? He loved anything to do with outer space, so he and Tucker shared a love of, yes…Star Trek, and Jazz, as smart as she was, still had a thing for boy bands, it seemed. And Sam had her anime, of course, which they'd all kind of gotten into over time. Sam…

Danny sat down next to Tucker, and lay back, stretching his arms over his head, suddenly feeling very sad. He tried to keep it out of his voice, and the result was that he sounded very bored, or sleepy.

"So, what was it you had to show me, anyway? You said it couldn't wait." He stared into nothing, feeling somehow cheated. Everywhere he turned, he'd inevitably hit that deep painful place, just like a physical wound he'd accidentally touched.

Tucker fidgeted for a moment, feeling uncomfortable. He was heading into deep water here. He'd been friends with Danny forever, just about, and they talked about a lot of things. But the really emotional stuff mostly got skimmed over, and now he was at the edge of a deep chasm with the stuff in it that can make or break a bond of friendship, however strong.

It was just that he knew he needed to tell Danny things, and needed to get Danny to tell him some things, so he could get some of whatever he was feeling off his chest. Tucker understood what Danny was doing; he'd be doing it too, if he was in his shoes. Danny was hiding away from himself and his friends and family, so he could have time to heal emotionally. Tucker knew the only reason he had pulled himself together so quickly over the news about Sam was because Danny had a hell of a lot more on his shoulders, and he needed the people around him to be strong for him. But now, it was the day before school started up again, and things were going to get busy. Tucker had given Danny the week to himself, but now he needed to say some things, and if he didn't they might never get said.

Tucker started slowly unzipping the backpack he'd brought with him. Actually, it was lucky, because he truly did have a reason to be here; the bracelet Vlad gave Sam. And since it required talking about her to Danny, it was a great excuse to kind of meander into other more serious subjects.

He pulled out the bracelet and handed it to Danny. "Here. This is what I came here for." Partially.

Danny sat up slowly, turning the thing around in his hands. "What is it?"

"It's a bracelet…for Nathaniel." Danny stopped spinning it, and didn't speak for a moment. Tucker clarified, not sure he wanted to know what was wandering through Danny's mind. "From Vlad."

"Ah." His voice was quiet. "What's it do?"

Tucker's eyes narrowed. "Supposedly it suppresses his ghost powers so he won't turn ghost at embarrassing times." He sighed. "Sam hates to admit it, but it'd be really useful."

"But she doesn't trust Vlad, of course."

"Nope."

"So I'm a guinea pig."

"Um, yeah?"

Danny didn't even hesitate. "Okay." Tucker felt suddenly uncomfortable.

"Hey, you don't have to…"

"No, Tuck, it's the least I can do. I want to help." He looked up. "Besides, Vlad doesn't want to hurt Nathaniel, right? He wants him for a son. And it won't mess with my powers either, because he wants a half ghost son, otherwise he wouldn't be interested in him." Danny didn't even look angry at this, just sad and resigned.

He stood up and slipped on the bracelet, tightening it so it fit snuggly over his wrist. He was somewhat surprised by its range of adjustability, and comfortable fit. Unbeknownst to him, Vlad had thoroughly tested it on himself.

"So, anything weird?"

He glanced down at Tucker. "Um, I haven't tried changing yet."

"Oh." Danny looked back up, staring into nothing, and concentrated on going ghost, slowly. He felt the familiar tingling at his waist, but the rings didn't emerge. He pushed a little harder, and the tingling increased. He thought he caught a glimpse of energy a few feet in front of his navel, like an electric spark from a light socket, but that was as close as he came to forming the rings that signified the start of his transformation. He relaxed, and sat back down.

"Well, that was simple. I couldn't change." He paused. "But I didn't try really hard. I figure a baby wouldn't be very powerful, though." Tucker passed him the key to unlock the bracelet, and a moment later he slipped it off his hand.

And suddenly he was a ghost. It only lasted an instant, and then he was human again, but it caught him so much by surprise that he gasped out loud. He hadn't changed involuntarily in years.

"Weird. Vlad said it would do something like that."

Danny threw him a dirty look. "Thanks for the warning." He handed it back, suddenly feeling weirded out at having voluntarily tested something ghost related made by Vlad. Actually, now that he thought about it…"Tucker, let's take it down to the lab. We can check it for nasty stuff. You know my parents, they have plenty of scanners for that."

"Great. Actually, I was kind of thinking the same thing. But you were so willing to test it out on yourself, it kind of slipped my mind."

Danny rolled his eyes, but let it go. He sighed instead, and looked down at the floor, thinking about how to get into the lab quietly. "My parents are down there right now, though."

Tucker stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Well, it's almost lunch time, so why don't we get something to eat first? You know me, I always think better on a full stomach." He smiled widely. They both knew that wasn't really true, of course. But Tucker was hungry; he'd skipped breakfast. And besides, he definitely didn't concentrate well when he was hungry.

Danny smiled reluctantly in response. "Yeah, okay." Then he thought about it for a moment, as they headed out of his room. "Actually, I haven't had any breakfast, so that sounds really good…"

This time Tucker rolled his eyes as they hit the stairs.

They ended up making BLTs. The smell of bacon lured up Danny's parents, and they ended up having an impromptu group lunch. Danny had been doing a remarkable job of avoiding his parents the last several days.

They were, naturally, very happy about Sam's return. It was why Danny had been avoiding them. With Tucker did most of the talking, and Danny most of the eating, the conversation was less painful than it could have been. His mask held up, and Danny's parents avoided the topic of Sam's baby, which helped things a lot.

It was actually lucky they'd come up for lunch, because after that his parents left for the electronics store to pick up a few tools for their latest project. With them out of the way, and Jazz out running her own errands for the coming school semester (which, for her, didn't start for another two weeks, but then she was obsessive like that) Danny and Tucker had the house to themselves.

They didn't waste time; sure, his parents had just left, but they could be back in half an hour if things went smoothly.

They were silent on their way down to the lab, both mulling over different things. Danny made his way over to the Fenton Ecto-Evaluator, a device for scanning multiple wavelengths of ghost energy, and turned to Tucker for the bracelet. He handed it over, still silent, and they both watched as Danny ran the scanner through the length of the ghostly energy spectrum. There was a peak in what they called the "blue" region, but that was safe.

Danny broke the silence, looking up. "So, what else?"

"Not sure. We could check it for other energy." There was a thoughtful pause.

"Yeah." Danny turned, and rummaged through another box of gizmos, pulling out a much more common device; an electric meter. He held it up to the inside and outside of the bracelet. It registered, but just barely. "Well, nothing too dangerous there. I probably register twenty times what this thing does, and I'm not exactly a battery."

Tucker grinned, trying to lighten the serious mood. "I dunno, don't forget the Matrix. We could all be really big, incredibly inefficient human batteries."

Danny smirked. "Yeah, but the joke's on them because I refuse to believe that all the effort they went through was worth the ten watts an hour they'd get from me."

"That's why they call it 'artificial intelligence.' They're still missing a few screws." They both laughed. It wasn't even that funny, but they both sensed the need for release.

Danny groaned after a moment. "Ugh, we're such geeks. Only geeks talk about a sci-fi movie as though it's real."

"Whatever, I like being a geek. I've embraced my geekiness. For me, being a geek is the objective." Tucker grinned, and snorted quietly. "And you? Your parents and you sister are all geeks. You were doomed before you were even born, Danny!" He paused for a moment, then added, in a completely deadpan voice. "Embrace…your inner geek. Join the dark side."

Flashbacks to Freakshow and the Circus Gothica flew through Danny's mind, twisted in a bizarrely comical way, and he was forced to put his hands over his face in amused disgust. "Tucker! You're insane." He sighed into his hands, stifling a laugh in the process, and then combed his fingers through his hair.

Despite everything that had happened lately, being around Tucker really was helping him to relax, and take his mind off of things. Maybe they could even play some video game for awhile or someth…

"So, guess I'll need to be getting this thing back to Sam, if it checks out." Well there went that. Reality descended, and Danny felt his mood darken with its return.

"Yeah. You should get going. Half the day's gone already." Danny turned slowly toward the stairs, feeling suddenly tired again. Maybe tired of everything, a little.

A hand on his elbow stopped him. "Hey, why can't it be us? Why can't you come too, Danny?" Tucker sounded serious, and slightly pleading.

He didn't turn around, the tension suddenly thick in the air. "I…can't, Tuck. I can't see her right now."

"Then when?"

"I don't know. Maybe never."

The hand on his elbow tightened. "Maybe never? What are you talking about? She's your best friend, Danny!" He sighed, an angry exhalation of air. "Do you have any idea how important you are to her? Even a phone call would mean…more than you know." He petered out slightly. He'd wanted to say "it'd mean the world to her" but couldn't, somehow. Wasn't it something he should know, damn it?

Danny turned toward him slightly, eyebrows furrowed in anxiety. "Tucker, I can't. I can't talk to her right now. It's just…how can she…" He turned away, suddenly overcome with emotion. He was not going to talk about this, yet the words were trying to worm their way out of his head!

"Danny…what…" Tucker wasn't sure what to say, but Danny was suddenly extremely upset. He spoke softly, trying to be gentle. "You can tell me anything, I'm your best friend too. It's what I'm here for."

Something in Tucker's voice tightened the knot in Danny's chest even further, and he could feel even more emotional control slipping away until he felt like there was a dagger of pure anguish in his gut.

Tucker continued on, soothingly, his hand lightly touching Danny's shoulder. "How can she what, Danny…?"

He whispered it. "Stand to be around me." His hands went to his face, this time in an attempt to rein in the powerful guilt overwhelming him. "How…can she stand to be near me, Tucker! I've ruined her life!"

Tucker felt overwhelmed at his words. It broke something inside him to see Danny like this, and he was afraid he'd start crying if he didn't really watch himself. Maybe later he would, but not in front of Danny.

Tucker answered him quickly, almost as though he were defending himself, and in a way he was, against his own urge to break down and cry. "Listen to me Danny, what happened is not your fault. Don't you dare think that!" He frowned deeply, angry at the world. "Do you hear what I'm saying to you?" He ground his teeth together painfully, trying to keep his voice in check. He grabbed both of Danny's shoulders tightly, and shook him slightly, trying to make his friend see the truth.

"She loves you. Don't you understand? She loves you. And if you think she's too stupid to see the difference between you and him, then you're insane! Give her some credit! Don't you think she knows what she wants better than you? And you know what? I know you love her too." He let go of his shoulders so he could gesticulate wildly, suddenly feeling exasperated. "And…it's insane that I have to watch you two, all this time, dancing around each other, going crazy about each other, yet somehow being completely oblivious to the each others' feelings! It's amazing! Jazz should study you guys, you're both a case study in denial!" He huffed, calming down a little. "Or something. I don't know. I'm not a psychiatrist."

Danny had calmed down during the tirade. He was still facing away, looking forlornly up the stairs. For a moment, neither of them spoke.

"She doesn't love me." Danny's voice was deadpan.

Tucker felt slightly guilty; it hadn't really been his place to tell him about that. "Yes she does. I know she loves you…as a friend at the very least. Out of all the people in her life, you're right up there at the top of her list. Love is exactly what she feels for y…"

"She doesn't…love me, Tucker. Please stop. Please." Danny sounded more miserable than Tucker could ever recall in his entire life. "I don't know why you're trying to push us together, but you need to stop. It's not good for her."

"Bu…"

"And I don't care what you say! If you want to stay my friend then you'll drop it!" He was practically screaming, and Tucker took an involuntary step back, heart racing. They stood for a moment, and Tucker realized he could feel the heat radiating off of Danny, he was so upset.

Danny finally spoke again, voice quiet, and hoarse. "I think…I need a nap. You should go take that over to Sam." His voice wobbled on her name, and Tucker found himself blinking rapidly to keep the tears from his eyes.

Danny started up the stairs.

Tucker didn't stop him. He didn't know what to say anyway.

Sam jumped when her cell phone went off, and launched herself off her bed, where she'd been doing…well, nothing. She had been trying to read a book earlier, and before that she'd been taking care of Nathaniel, but he was asleep now and had been for nearly an hour. And she'd given up on the book about twenty minutes ago, after re-reading the same sentence four times. If she was doing anything at all, really, she was waiting for something to happen; someone to call, someone to maybe show up…

It was Tucker's number. A wide smile flew onto her face. She was suddenly excited, and filled with nervous energy. "Tucker! So what's going on? It's like," she glanced at the clock, "it's past three o'clock. I kind of thought we'd be meeting up earlier in the day." There was a short pause as she waited for his answer, still grinning.

"Um, yeah. Sam?" There was another pause, and Sam was suddenly holding her breath. "Well, since I already had the bracelet, I went by Danny's, so he's already looked at it, actually." Tucker sounded too apologetic, and Sam exhaled slowly, horrified at how powerful the sinking feeling in her stomach was.

Hope lingered on, though. "So, what did he say?"

"Um, it checks out. You can use it." Tucker's tone shifted and he sounded suddenly happy, in a strained sort of way; she could almost feel the effort he was making. "So that's great! You don't have to worry so much about…you know, your parents finding anything out. Maybe they can even baby-sit for you someti…"

"So, are you guys bringing it over, or what? Not to cut you off, Tuck. Heh." She was clinging to the phone. Please say yes…

Tucker stopped walking, and stood stalk still, phone gripped in one hand. Here was the moment he'd been dreading, the reason why he'd been walking around Amity Park for over an hour in the freezing cold.

"Well, I can head over right now, if you want, but…Danny's feeling a little under the weather…" They both knew it was a lie, but when it came down to it, he couldn't make himself tell her the truth.

Sam sighed, and all the tension went out of her. Now she just felt tired, and incredibly sad. She wanted to say something, but had to wait a moment, had to get control of her feelings, bury her crushed heart. It doesn't mean anything! He's just feeling bad! He looked at the bracelet! But deeper down she was thinking: yeah, right! She sighed again, almost violently, and forced herself to reign in the tears trying to fall.

"That's okay, Tucker. I mean, you don't have to rush over. But, you can come by now if you want, of course. But…" She tried to add "it's not a big deal," but the lump in her throat suddenly tripled. She swallowed.

Tucker was staring down at his feet, angry at Danny, and angry at himself. He didn't know what he should've done differently, but he felt like he'd failed her. And now she was over there on her phone trying not to cry.

Well, he could cheer her up, right? He grit his teeth, scrubbed at his face harshly a few times with his other hand, and put on a huge smile.

"Hey, I don't have anything to do! And don't tell me you wouldn't like to catch up on a few of those monster movies you missed? C'mon, I'll hop by the video store on the way over, we can order pizza…I've really missed your totally awesome home theater, Sam…and we can test out the bracelet, of course."

There was a pause, then she finally spoke, soft and hesitant. "Um, we'll have to keep the sound fairly low, so it doesn't scare Nathaniel, and so I can hear him if he starts crying…and he'll have to be fairly nearby…"

"No problem."

"We might have to stop the movie a couple of times…"

"That just means I can drink more soda, since I'll have bathroom breaks."

Sam laughed a single laugh, a short, mostly airy sound. "Um…see you in a little while?"

"Great! I'll be there. Later, Sam."

"Later." Sam stared at the phone for a few seconds. She felt like someone had taken some of her most powerful emotions, both good and bad, and was shaking them around in a paper bag, like popcorn. She still felt really disappointed, and incredibly worried as the knowledge ate at her that now, there was absolutely no doubt, Danny was avoiding her. But this was pushed down, relieved a little by the thought of having a normal evening, doing the kinds of things she would've done over a year ago, of being able to completely and totally be herself, to laugh and relax with someone who understood her and cared about her.

She didn't think she'd stop feeling upset, not deep down, but she could pretend for tonight. And one thing was certain: you absolutely couldn't buy friends like Tucker.

Vlad sat pretending to read as he watched Daniel drinking down another glass of the serum he'd made for him. The stuff was helping his healing along tremendously, as he knew it would.

And this was a problem; his cumbersome casts, the ones on his arm and leg, had come off yesterday evening, to be replaced by more flexible bandages. He wasn't exactly mobile yet, but he'd get there soon.

This meant that he, Vlad, would have a rather unpredictable, very powerful, uniquely dangerous ghost on his hands.

Vlad had taken him in for many reasons, the biggest being that he was convinced, after this older Daniel had allowed himself to be so thoroughly beaten, that he truly had "turned over a new leaf," so to speak, and that Vlad himself wouldn't be in danger of imminent attack. And, obviously, if he could get this powerful person indebted to him, there was potential there. He hadn't decided exactly how he could use him, but nevertheless.

But now Vlad was sitting with him, the morning after those casts had come off, suddenly realizing that he still needed to decide exactly how to deal with this strange future Daniel.

For the love of butter biscuits, what had he gotten himself into? He wanted to be down in the lab, checking up on Samantha and Nathaniel, to see how the bracelet he'd sent was working out, but this was something he couldn't put off dealing with any longer. Daniel, this Daniel, was potentially very dangerous, for many different reasons.

At least there was one consoling tidbit. He'd discovered, by going carefully over his notes on the research he'd conducted and collected over the years, that this was Daniel he was dealing with, and not some twisted version of himself. He'd put the pieces together over several days, but he enough to feel certain of this. It appeared that the act of two ghosts merging began much like a ghost overshadowing a human. After that things changed, as the ghostly body could only hold one personality, or, perhaps, a soul, though Vlad was shaky in expertise on that area at best.

It was clear to him, however, that Daniel had overshadowed his ghost half, which must've been separated from his human half as well, and…effectively…pushed him out, while gaining the added power of his form and a few of his looks in the process. Thinking about it was still extremely disquieting for him, but at least he could rest assured that he was indeed dealing with some strange version of a future Daniel, and not…himself, or some disturbing combination.

Besides, he behaved so much like Daniel that sometimes Vlad had to stop himself from calling him "my boy." Amazingly, he'd actually expected this Daniel, ten years older as he was, to show a good deal more maturity. Hah! But then, there had been some change, hadn't there? He was calmer, if also much sadder sometimes, and oddly he seemed to genuinely like him, unlike his Daniel.

Vlad glowered to himself at that thought, feeling unusually bitter. Things had never worked out between the two of them as they should have, and now the boy was nearly grown. But at least he had a new hope in Nathaniel.

"Vlad?" He glanced up to see Daniel's inquiring eyes, and the glass, now empty, held out for him to take away. Vlad took it, and handed over a glass of water in its place, to wash out the taste. He sat in silence as Daniel drank it down, still wondering how he was going to deal with this unexpected, though admittedly invited, guest.

Daniel smiled at him as he handed over the second glass, a genuinely happy look, and Vlad felt himself tense slightly. This Daniel was so friendly, and trying to be so nice, that it put him on edge.

Daniel broke the silence. "So what is that you've been reading so quietly, anyway? I'll admit right now, I'm dying for some conversation. I've hardly seen you around all week." His voice was genuinely happy too, and Vlad had to stop himself from glowering again. Somewhere deep down, he had the horrible feeling he was starting to feel guilty for thinking of this Daniel as a tool, when the boy, or man, with his horrible past, seemed truly happy for his company.

Fudge buckets! He didn't know how to deal with this.

He smirked to cover his aggravation. "Oh, it's nothing you'd be interested in. It's a magazine I read to keep up with the business world, one of those things you have to do when you're a multi-billionaire." Ah, gloating, he was familiar with gloating.

Daniel raised his eyebrows, still smiling. "I wouldn't know. You're right. Heh, I never even got through high school, you know." He looked away for a moment, one of those melancholy looks passing over his face. "I wouldn't mind learning a few things now, Vlad. Catch up on life, as much as that's possible." He glanced back, smiling again, a somber hope shining in his eyes.

He really seemed genuinely…content. Vlad looked away, almost embarrassed by it. "Well, that will be rather difficult in your particular…state."

"You work with what you've got, right? Besides, I'm not exactly dead, I'm just not human." That's what Clockwork had said, after all. Danny didn't want to get into a discussion about ghost anatomy, though, so he didn't mention that. Besides, there were more important things on his mind. "I…," He stopped, not confident enough to come out directly with those thoughts just yet. "What are you reading? There has to be something interesting there, you've spent most of an hour looking through it." He smiled again, and hoped the slight disappointment he was feeling didn't show through.

Danny knew Vlad was spending time with him because he wanted him as a possible tool, and not a close friend. But he wished that Vlad could see him as the boy he'd once been, that boy he'd helped through the worst year of his life, impossible as that was. Yet he knew firsthand how kind Vlad could be, and how lonely he was.

Vlad was giving off waves of discomfort, though, and Danny had the horrible suspicion that he knew the truth about his ghost form. It would explain his strange nervousness, which was usually so alien to him. But he was a scientist, after all; it simply took the right question getting asked, or some obvious flaw in his story, and Vlad would research it to death to find out the truth.

Danny found he wasn't quite brave enough to confront him about it though, not yet.

Vlad was giving him a dubious look; he obviously found it hard to believe that Danny was genuinely interested in "Business Weekly."

"It talks about the stock market, new companies, business plans, things like that." He held the magazine out to him. Danny took it and started leafing through, taking care not to move his injured arm. Vlad leaned back, eyebrows up. "You must be more bored than I realized, if that's interesting to you."

He looked up, grinning. "Well, maybe you just never knew about my burning desire to succeed in big business?" Actually, the stuff was dead boring to him, but he needed to start learning, it wasn't a question of wanting to.

Vlad pursed his lips, sarcasm seeping out. "Right." Then he went on, suddenly curious. "The last time I checked, I thought you wanted to be an astronaut?"

Danny's eyes widened slightly. Was his other self still interested in that? It had been so long…since he'd really thought about those old dreams. "I…is he still planning on that?" He smiled, trying to cover the strange feelings, tinged with sadness and regret, running through him. It was odd, talking about his other self. Myself. "Hopefully he's gotten better at math."

Vlad pursed his lips. "No, I don't believe so. I'm not very sure where he plans to take his life anymore, actually." He glanced away. "It's hardly important, anyway. He could've been something great, with the right people by his side, but he's decided on common mediocrity." He said it offhand, scoffing, as if it wasn't one of the biggest disappointments of his life.

They were both silent for a moment. A little more had come out there, perhaps, than either of them wanted to deal with. But Danny had very little that mattered in his life, and most of them focused on his family and friends, so he couldn't let the subject of his other self go so quickly. Surely Vlad still kept tabs, at least? And he was on talking terms with Sam, wasn't he?

"How's…how are they doing, by the way? Danny, Sam, Tucker. My parents. I know you're talking with Sam at least, right?" He knew he was treading on thin ground, bringing up so many delicate subjects for Vlad, but he had to know.

Vlad frowned, feeling a little angry. He hated all the lies he had to keep straight sometimes. "I rarely speak with her. One of the keys to remaining friendly is the knowledge that I keep my distance." Yes, why fly all the way over there when I have her on video surveillance?

"But knowing you, you probably keep some sort of watch on me? I mean Danny? Skulker, perhaps? Or one of those ancient vultures?" He chuckled slightly, trying to lighten the mood. "Crazy birds."

Vlad steepled his fingers, and looked over them, barely catching Danny's eye. "Perhaps. They're…adjusting. Samantha has just come home with a baby, after all. Daniel is brooding, as far as I can tell. He's good at that."

"Right." They fell silent again, as Danny thought. Of course, he knew himself, and he'd be skulking, probably holed up in his room, so he expected that. His other self would just have to work through things, he knew. But what about Sam? Would her parents understand about the baby? What would they assume? He could imagine; the kid was so obviously his, and the resemblance would only increase over time. He had a feeling his younger self was in for a world of pain, and probably wouldn't see it coming, either. He could be so shortsighted sometimes!

Danny sighed. "Right." There wasn't anything he could do about that, was there? Not now. "So…how soon before I'm on my feet and ready for action?"

Vlad frowned, caught by surprise. "What kind of action?"

Danny brushed over the suspicious remark, chuckling. "Oh, you know…walking, flying around without extreme pain of any sort…that kind of thing."

Vlad crossed his arms thoughtfully, glad to be off the previous subject. "Oh, I don't know. I'd give your bones perhaps a month, and the flesh wounds another week. That's a rough estimation, of course. So much depends on the individual, when you're dealing with ghosts. Of course they heal much more rapidly than humans, in any case."

Danny smiled. "Great news." He paused, feeling a little uncertain about what he needed to say; what he needed to ask. "Vlad…after I'm healed, what do you…think I should do with myself?" He pursed his lips ruefully, and added, "Of course, I owe you a huge debt, obviously…" He dropped off, waiting to see how seriously Vlad would take his question.

Vlad stared for a moment, not sure what to think. He had the feeling Daniel meant the question from, well, a moral point of view, as if he wanted his opinion on a life altering decision. Or perhaps not. But he was feeling less than grumpy for the first time in hours; the question was somehow intriguing.

"But you're not talking about owing me favors, unless I'm mistaken?"

Danny looked down for a moment. "I…no." He sounded so serious. "I want to know. If you were me right now, in my position, what would you do with yourself?" He paused, but before Vlad could respond, he started talking again, a gently pleading tone in his voice. "A long time ago, Vlad, in…another world, you were a mentor to me. I know you don't really understand why, but your opinion means a lot to me."

Again, Vlad felt uncomfortable. There was that look, that trusting, completely candid face, so similar, despite all its changes, to the boy he'd put so much time and energy into. So much of his life, and hopes for the future, for many years now, could be found in that face.

But this wasn't his Daniel, this full grown man, and full ghost. He'd had a different life, a different past, and had gone through horrors that Vlad himself had pondered over in the last week. He'd lain awake, late at night, sleeplessly wondering and trying not to imagine what it must've been like, to lose them all like that. He wasn't a stranger to loss, but not like this. Not at age fifteen. And not everyone he truly held dear.

He knew enough of loss to be able to truly contemplate what it must've been like, though. And now this scarred, darkened, blue Daniel, as he'd started thinking of him, was asking him for life advice. As a mentor. Somewhere deep down, he knew barriers were dropping, walls he didn't want to fall were caving in, and had been ever since their first conversation.

Vlad suppressed a sigh.

"Well. What would I do with myself, hmm?" He looked back up, aware suddenly that despite the long pause he still hadn't given the question any thought. "Well, I don't know, I suppose it would depend on what I really wanted. And, of course, what I was willing to do to get it." He caught Daniel's eyes. "Do you know what you want, Daniel?"

"I want to make amends." The answer was almost immediate, and completely certain.

Vlad pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Meaning?"

"Meaning I want to do what I can to make things up to the people I've hurt. And the number…it's a lot of people."

"I…see." The sound in Daniel's voice, that dark note…Vlad found he wasn't brave enough to question further. Daniel had only hinted at what he'd done in that ten year gap, but Vlad could guess what he'd done, and it hadn't been pretty.

Vlad also knew of Daniel's need for atonement, since he had a recording of the conversation he'd had with Samantha in her apartment over a week ago, before his younger counterpart had burst into the room. It had been the main reason he'd bothered to bring Daniel here in the first place; he believed what he'd said to her was sincere.

He'd promised no more violence. And had shown a poignant desire to be…a part of her life.

But Daniel didn't know he knew about that. And unwanted questions about video surveillance aside, it had been such a deeply personal conversation that Vlad knew he would never tell him; it would be mortifying to admit he'd been a spectator, albeit through his computer.

He frowned, knowing Daniel was waiting for words of wisdom to float from his mouth. "Have you thought about how you'd like to make amends?"

"I was…thinking about following in your footsteps, sort of." He sounded hesitant, and Vlad, again, could hear the question in the statement.

Still, what exactly did he mean by that? "Pardon?"

"I mean building my own fortune." Daniel was watching him like a hawk, trying to gauge his reaction. Ah, of course. The other part of his promise to Samantha.

He decided to remain skeptical. "Which you can then use to make the world a better place, or some such nonsense."

Daniel seemed a little sheepish, but also completely sincere. "Well, yes. Except there's a problem." There was an expectant silence.

Vlad filled it after a moment, examining his nails. "Oh. Really?" He spoke slowly, as if bored.

Now that he was trying to ask the question, Danny realized just how nervous he was. So much depended on Vlad's answer! "Yeah. I know nothing about the stock market, not much anyway. Or companies. Or business in general, really. Heh." He resisted the sudden urge to rub the back of his head in embarrassment.

Vlad looked up at him with his eyes only. "And?"

"And…I was hoping you could coach me. Help me along, actually." Danny felt his mouth running ahead of his thoughts, as his sudden nervousness got the better of him. When had he, ever, asked Vlad for help, after all? "After I'm healed I'll hardly be a burden. But if I could maybe learn from you…"

"You want me to teach you the ways of the rich and famous." Vlad couldn't keep the laughter from his voice; the boy…man was so flustered.

Danny looked down at his hands, pulling an embarrassed face. "Just rich, actually." He looked up again, a lopsided smile forming on his face. "So, eh, how about it?"

Vlad stared at him for a moment, then pointed to the magazine he'd given him earlier. "Read that through. And I'll bring some other things for you to study." He smirked, unable to resist. "Because that, dear boy, explains a great deal about how I got where I am today. Studying the market, and the players in it. If it doesn't bore you to tears, we'll talk about possibly moving forward from there, agreed?"

Danny looked down at the magazine, and suppressed a sigh. Lovely. "Right." He was overjoyed Vlad had decided to help of course, or at least hadn't flat turned him down.

But deep down, he'd known that even if Vlad did agree it would come to this, and had dreaded it. Studying! It was still the bane of his existence.

Author's Note: I'm thinking the next chapter will be up fairly quickly; I've already gotten about four pages written on it. Yeah, I know this took a while, but...man, life happened. I love you guys, if I haven't said it, by the way. You really pick up my day.

Laters, DPC.