I woke with a start, shivering all over. The dream was already fading; all I could remember was passing out. Jack and Maddie were beside me, I realized. So was Danny and Jazz.
"Hey," Maddie said, brushing my hair away from my face. She shot a glance at Danny, and I realized he must have told them. I stared her in the eys and smiled a little, calming down. She hadn't dissected Danny nor me yet, so there was no reason to worry. Maddie looked a little awkward; Jack broke the silence.
"So... you are Danny really are...?" He almost looked excited; two kids in the ghost hunting business with him, I supposed.
"Yeah," I managed. Danny shot me an apologetic look, which I returned with a forget-about-it expression. "Yeah, we're halfas."
"There's that word again," Maddie mused. "Halfa..."
"It means half-ghost, half-human," Jazz said, ignoring the surprised looks on her parents' faces. "You three need to clear out. This was a mental breakdown, and I might be able to pull a little bit of information from Rose."
Jack and Maddie understood and left, but Danny took a bit of persuading. When we were finally alone, Jazz gently asked me questions and she didn't force me to answer them. I answered them because I could trust her, and because I needed to tell someone. After a while, she managed to put me into a sort of trance. She dragged answers out of me easier after that, and I found myself speaking about the dream I didn't remember.
She let me go after about an hour, and my gaze was unfocused as Danny came back into the room. He cracked a smile and I forced one back, acting on the sudden impulse to grab his hand and swing it.
"Rose," he laughed, "when you do something like this, it must mean you want something."
"No," I murmured, staring at the ceiling and trying to remember what Jazz and I talked about, "I just want to hold your hand. Is that too much to ask?"
Danny kissed me, a longer kiss as we were all alone. His kiss brought me out of my stupor, and I shook my head and blinked a few times before frowning.
"Talk about an effect. Does psychology always do this, Danny?"
"Nope," he chuckled, "just with Jazz. She's good at making people speak about what they don't remember." I nodded.
"Yeah, I remember she had me talking about a dream I had while I was out... but I don't remember dreaming."
"What was your dream about?" He looked like he expected it to be about him. I focused my gaze on the ceiling, concentrating.
"We.. were about to die..."
***line break***
Jack and Maddie put Danny and I through our paces very soon after I recovered from fainting. Johnny decided to pop by, and it took a little work to convince the elder Fentons not to shoot him. I managed to convince them that he was alright by telling them that he'd raised me. That put him in a good light in their book, I guessed. After Johnny went back to the Ghost Zone (Danny and I got to mock fight with him), Jack and Maddie got us to agree to fight each other. No holds barred.
Of course, I put my agility to good use. I spun away from Danny's ecto-blasts easily, standing on random objects and letting him destroy them. The lab was soon a mess, but neither parent really seemed to care. Jack looked excited for the most part, watching the fight eagerly, while Maddie took notes and pointed out tactics.
Danny and I were on our last bit of energy, and so I decided to go for the tactic that I hadn't tried yet. I'd dodged the entire time, but that took up energy by itself. As soon as Danny seemed to have made a plan, I lunged for him. I caught him by surprise enough that I got one hit off. Then he caught me by the wrist and pinned me, winning the match. I felt myself shift back into human form and Danny rolled away, shifting back himself.
"So?" I asked, grinning wildly. "What do you think?"
"That was awesome!" Jack shouted, looking giddy. Maddie just smiled and write down more notes. I got the feeling that she was pleased.
***line break***
Maddie let Danny and I stay home that day, mostly to let me rest and because Danny refused to leave my side.
"Danny?" I said distractedly.
"Hm?"
"Do you think we'll die while fighting?"
Danny didn't answer for a minute. My boyfriend was surprised by my question; I could tell that much without looking at him. I could practically hear the gears turning in his head.
"I don't know, Rose. I really don't know." He laughed dryly, humorlessly. "The scary part is that we might."
I nodded, and we rested in silence for a while. We got up only to eat, and when we got up I shivered. I was cold without Danny next to me, strangely enough. Danny had an ice core and radiating coldness; yet being next to him made me warm. It might have just been my core reacting to his, but I wasn't sure.
We had soup for lunch, vegetable soup for me and chicken noodle soup for Danny. I bit my own lip multiple times while eating, and at one point I started to bleed ectoplasm. Maddie collected it, saying that she could use it for tests; I didn't really mind. The wound healed quickly anyway. Once upstairs, I found that I was really tired. I didn't want to be standing. Danny noticed this and picked me up, settling down in bed with me. I shivered lightly and snuggled close to him, letting him hold me.
It really made me happy to know that he was here beside me.