Chapter 2
Danny instinctively flew through the wall of his bedroom, dropping to his feet as he transformed back only to find Maddie re-folding his clothes on his bed next to his Casper High duffle bag.
"Mom, I'm not a kid," Danny whined, stepping over to the other side of the bed. "I can take care of my own clothes."
"Apparently not," Maddie retorted, her eyes staying to her work. "We're going to be there for two weeks, and you've only got clothes for three days."
"The paper said they had a washer and dryer," Danny pointed out.
"So you planned on doing laundry every few days?" Maddie asked, adding the last shirt to the pile of folded clothes. She looked up at him and added, "It'd be you washing them. I'm only planning on doing one wash."
"I know how to wash clothes," Danny retorted.
Maddie sighed as she looked away and mumbled, "I know you do."
Danny let out his own sigh, running a hand through his bangs as his heroism diplomacy fought against his teenage rebellion. "Fine," he stated, dropping his hand. He stepped over to his dresser and pulled open the top drawer to start grabbing more pairs of underwear.
"I'm sorry," Maddie offered.
"No, I'm sorry," Danny tried, turning with the arm load to drop them on the bed. "I'm just stressed."
"Did you read through the schedule they sent?"
Danny turned back to the dresser, grabbing socks before shutting the drawer, letting out a sound of confirmation. "Not looking forward to the excessive physical," he admitted.
"I…" Maddie started, getting Danny to stop with a shirt half pulled out of the drawer. He turned holding only the socks to see she had gone to refolding the underwear he had just dropped on the bed. "I'm worried how bad of a parent we really have been to you," she admitted in a voice that didn't sound like her.
"Mom," Danny tried, stepping over to drop the socks on the bed. He stopped beside the woman only to notice her blinking back tears.
"Sorry," Maddie mumbled, turning her head to run a finger under her eyes.
"If anything, I'm the bad kid," Danny tried with a laugh. He turned back to the dresser and started pulling out shirts as he added, "I mean, for two years I lied to you and it started because of being stupid."
"Doesn't change it, but thanks for the sentiment," Maddie said. She abruptly changed the topic by asking, "How are Damon and Valerie settling into their new house?"
"They're unboxing stuff still," Danny informed, taking the subject change for what it was. "She got me to help her build a desk while I was over there."
"I didn't even think they were looking for a house yet," Maddie said more to herself.
Danny pushed close the shirt drawer, reaching down to pull out the last one only for shirts to fall out of his grasp. He let a green glow cover his hand, focusing first on the shirt on the floor and covering all the shirts in his arm, to send the shirts on their own to the bed. Dropping them, he released the power and returned to pulling out jeans as he said, "The house was payment from Vlad. He did that before the Disasteroid."
"But they're only just moving in?"
Danny stood straight, using his foot to push close the last drawer, and walked back to the bed to start refolding his pants. "Mr. Gray only just found out about it. The…" Danny thought a moment before settling on, "The job he asked her to do taught her a lot and she didn't feel right about taking the house. I told her to take it, she already had the deed and they needed to get out of that rundown apartment."
"Speaking of Vlad," Maddie started, the name sounding like it tasted bad on her tongue. "While we're at NASA I've got to start going over his estate."
"His estate?" Danny echoed, confused.
"He's been labeled as dead since he was exiled," Maddie explained, keeping her eyes on folding shirts. "His will labeled me as the executor. They sent over a whole box of paperwork yesterday and I've got to start going through it all."
"He really didn't have any family, huh?"
"His parents died while we were in college, right before his accident," Maddie informed. "He was an only child and his parents didn't have any siblings either. Would've thought he'd be more concerned about keeping the family line than getting the Packers."
"How big of a box?" Danny asked, sure he only had a surface level knowledge about what all the fruit loop owned.
"You know those big boxes of paper?"
Danny nodded his head, folding the last pair of pants as she finished with his shirts.
"That, full." Maddie sat the folded shirt down and shook her head. "VladCo, Dalv, MasterSoft, I didn't realize how far he'd gone into all of these companies."
"He used his powers to get a few of them," Danny warned.
"I don't want to know that," Maddie sighed.
"I didn't say anything, then," Danny quickly added, getting a smile from his mother.
"Go ahead and put everything in your bag," Maddie said, turning to leave the room. "I'm gonna start putting my stuff in the trunk and start our diner. Don't forget your deodorant."
"I need that tomorrow morning," Danny pointed out to her retreating form.
"Tell that to your tooth brush!" Maddie called back from the hallway.
Danny looked at the little travel bag he had put his tooth brush and paste in, giving it a shrug as he added his deodorant from his nightstand to the bag.
"Hey Danny," Jazz's voice called as her footsteps walked towards his room.
Danny quickly grabbed his underwear, shoving them in his duffle bag, and turned as the red head walked into his room. "What?" Danny asked in a rush.
Jazz stopped in the doorway, holding a composition notebook to her chest with surprise on her face. "Sorry?" Jazz tried, confused. She looked at the bag of clothes on the bed only for the confusion to fall to a short laugh. "You know, I do remember when you were in diapers."
"Please don't bring that up at my wedding," Danny retorted, turning around to start packing his clothes in the bag.
"Does Sam know?"
"That Kale's predicted our future?" Danny checked, a part of him unsure he liked knowing twenty years out.
"I wouldn't say predicted," Jazz pointed out. "If he really is from 2026, it's his past."
"She hasn't said anything about it yet," Danny said, answering her question. "We haven't really had time to talk since I got sent to 2004." He looked over his shoulder and asked, "How much about all of that do you remember?"
"All of it, but I had convinced myself it was a dream," Jazz admitted. "I dug out my old diary from then and found I had only written something about being too worried about my family and thinking it was stress. But when Kale showed up, it all came back."
"And you didn't tell me?" Danny asked, fully turning around with a pair of pants in his hand.
"I still thought it had all been a dream," Jazz said with a shrug. "But that's why my first thought was time travel when I saw him. I thought he had ghost time powers or something."
"Clockwork'd have a cow if another ghost could control time," Danny said with a laugh. He turned back to his packing, starting to wonder if he needed to fish out his suitcase. He shook his head, not even sure where to start looking for the old thing, and continued to cram.
"Danny, this is gonna sound girly, but hear me out, okay?" Jazz prefaced with as she stepped over to stand at the foot of his bed. "While you're at NASA I want you to keep a journal."
"You're right, it does sound girly," Danny retorted, pulling the zipper of the purple and black bag but trying not to break it as it fought back.
"I'm being serious though," Jazz said. In a softer voice she added, "I'm worried about you, little brother."
"It's just NASA, not the Guys in White," Danny said, giving up so he could look at her. He froze as he noticed the worry on her face, before forcing a smile on his face. "Come on, Jazz. You're acting like I'm about to go and fight some big powerful ghost, which, by the way, I've done a few times."
"Just be careful, okay?" Jazz asked. "They won't even tell us the people they've put together for the team, just that it's all called Project Richet. Naming your project after the man who thought ectoplasm came from the mediums instead of the ghosts themselves is just asking to be compared to the crack pot."
"What am I supposed to write in the thing?" Danny asked, holding out his hand for the notebook as he let her win.
A large smiled pulled at Jazz's face as she handed it over. "I went ahead and dated the pages," she started, getting Danny to flip through. He was thankful she didn't use her normal swirly handwriting and settled on a more boxy style.
"Why do the dates go into next month?" Danny asked, noticing he got to August before her dating stopped.
"Got distracted while doing that," Jazz admitted with a shrug. "But just write about the day. I put a few questions on the last page to help you if you get stumped."
Danny flipped to the page and read aloud, "What'd you do today? Do you like anyone at NASA? Don't like them? What's your favorite thing to do when feeling low?" He paused and looked up at her questioningly.
"A few of them I pulled out of my old diaries."
"I don't know, Jazz," Danny started, trying to figure out a good way of telling her he didn't want to do it as he looked back down at the page full of questions.
"I'm not trying to make it like homework," Jazz tried. "I don't want it back when you get home, I won't ask to even read it so if you put 'Jazz makes me want to kill her sometimes,' I won't know."
"Jazz," Danny whined, a smile forcing its way on his face at how blunt she was being.
"I'm just saying you can write whatever you want to," Jazz said, smiling back at him. "I think it would be good for you. Sometimes people have things on their chest they're not ready to say but writing it down is like telling someone, just that no one's on the other side."
"Thanks," Danny offered, sliding it into the side of his still opened duffle bag. He returned to trying to zip up the bag as he asked, "Any luck on the car hunt?"
"We're gonna drive out to Evansville while you're away," Jazz said with a sigh. "I know what I want, just need to find it in a price Mom and Dad're okay with."
"Danny! Dinner's ready!" Maddie's voice called up just as the zipper closed shut.
Danny glanced at the clock only to see it say 5:30. He looked at Jazz, grabbing his bag as he stepped towards the door, and said, "There's no way I'm going to get to sleep when she wants."
"You're the one that offered to drive," Jazz pointed out as he passed her. "I wish I wasn't the one driving to Yale, but I don't want Dad driving my new car."
Jazz followed Danny down the stairs as he let out a laugh. He put his bag by the door at the end of the steps only to hear Maddie say, "What'd I say about using the stairs?"
Danny turned around to find Maddie's head poking out of the window to the living room and called back, "What, you want me floating everywhere?"
"Yes, if it means you're getting more practice using your powers when you're human."
A buzzer rang out, getting her to turn back to the kitchen as Danny growled under his breath, "Great way to make it sound awkward and weird, Mom." He bent his knees to float at his normal height as Jazz let out a laugh. He turned his gaze on her, shining his eyes green in a silent retort.
"I wish I wasn't leaving next month," Jazz said, not hiding the laugh. "I wanna see her new parenting on you."
"Why can't she be more like Dad?" Danny asked, slumping his shoulders as he let his eyes return to their normal state and floated towards the kitchen. "Accept me and move on."
"Men," Jazz said, following him.
"Jazz, good," Maddie said as she worked on slicing up a fresh pot pie. "Hopefully there's enough food for the two weeks. I know your father can eat for three on his own. There's some fresh salad in the fridge, eat that soon. You know where the fire extinguishers are."
"Mom, I've got it," Jazz said.
Maddie grabbed the two plates of fresh pot pie and turned to put them on the table only to stop and look at her children.
After a moment of silence Danny asked, "Mom, are you okay?"
Maddie shook her head and sat the food down on the table. "Just the sudden realization I've got one baby going off to college and the other that saves the world."
"Mom," Danny said with a smile as he floated over to the fridge. He pulled open the door, a small warm feeling from his family warming him, and grabbed the water pitcher.
"Jazz, can you put the leftovers away? I figured you two could have it for dinner too," Maddie said as she pulled down two cups.
"Where is Dad anyway?" Danny asked.
"Taking apart the garage," Maddie said, sitting down the cups for Danny to fill up as she turned to grab silverware. "We still can't find the Fone Fritter."
"You still haven't found it?" Jazz asked, pressing down the lid for the pie tin as worry was evident in her voice.
"No, but it's got to be around here somewhere," Maddie said, taking her seat. She sat Danny's silverware beside his plate as Danny put away the water pitcher. "Your father said he'd find it while we were away."
Jazz stepped passed Danny as he took his seat, putting the pie in the fridge, and said, "I'm gonna go help him. Out of all the inventions that could've gone missing."
"I didn't think it worked," Danny admitted as he used his fork to cut up his pie to let the lava inside to cool. He watched Jazz leave the kitchen towards the backdoor, leaving his mother to answer the unasked question.
"We got the large version so that it worked in simulations, and with the damage potential to using something like that so close to an active ghost portal we realized we needed to make a portable version," Maddie explained, coping Danny's actions to the pie. "We were planning to go test it in the mountains by the observatory but the Disasteroid happened and the best thing I can think is that it got misplaced during all of that. Afterwards, it got put on the list of weapons to dismantle once we found it because there was no way to make it avoid your ecto-signature."
Danny took a forkful of the pie only to almost burn his tongue. Quickly he blew a little cold air on it before asking, "So how small did you make it?"
"About the same size as a cell phone," Maddie admitted.
Danny swallowed the bite, taking another forkful to repeat the process of cooling it off before he asked, "I thought you had it last month?"
"I thought we did," Maddie said, shaking her head as she gave a tentative poke at her food. She tilted her head, looking at Danny as if she had something on her mind.
Danny noticed her watching him as he swallowed his second bite, freezing him from eating more. "What?"
"Have you always done that?" Maddie asked.
"Done what?"
"Use ghost energy to cool your food?"
"I try to make it not so noticeable," Danny tried to explain, feeling self-conscious as he looked down at his food to get another forkful. "You wanted me to use my powers more around here."
"Yes," Maddie drew out, looking down at her own food. "I still don't know the extent of your powers. Jazz gave me your training list, so I have gone through that, but…" Her voice fell away, leaving them in a silence.
"It's a lot, I know," Danny tried. He gave her a smile as he added, "And now you'll get two weeks to geek out with other scientists."
Maddie forced a smile towards her son before scooping up some of the pie. She gave it a blow before admitting, "I have been interested in who all of the ecto field they've entrusted. It's still not a big field."
"Jazz said there's a new ecto-science class at Yale now," Danny pointed out, continuing to eat his pie. "She's hoping to take it."
"Most colleges are incorporating ecto-studies," Maddie said, eating her first bite. "Actually Casper's adding it next year. Did you see your schedule yet?"
"I don't wanna think about school yet," Danny whined. He looked back at his dinner, wondering what of the classes he had put in for got swapped out. "Do I really have to take a ghost class? I live it."
"You could learn a thing or two from the class," Maddie pointed out. "The power scale, ecto-biology, history-"
"You and Dad aren't teaching it, are you?" Danny asked, sitting up in a panic.
"No, we've got our own work to do," Maddie said, eyeing her son. "But we did the final edit of the high school level textbook, and we just submitted the lower levels to the publisher. I say there should've been some type of ecto-class back when the ghost sent the town to the Ghost Zone."
"Guess I'm glad it's now instead of back then," Danny mumbled, taking a bite. He realized she heard that and swallowed, forcing a smile as he tried to joke, "I won't be taking a test on how evil I am."
"Danny," Maddie started, wincing.
"Sorry, too soon," Danny tried, the smile becoming real.
"We did our best to have it as updated as we could," Maddie informed. "No more 'all ghosts are evil' and things like that." She gave him a second glance before adding, "Wish I had thought of it earlier, we should've asked you to help."
"Mom, I'm in summer mood," Danny whined with a smile. "You know, no more pencils, no more books."
"Should never had let you watch Looney Toons as a kid," Maddie said, letting out a laugh.