I made it in time for my birthday! Hell yeah!
Big thanks to Foxrox12 for helping me plot this chapter, being as patient as she was when it came time to read the same chapter thrice over, and for helping me figure out Jack and Maddie because they're...really tricky lol. Andtheny as well for warning me I was letting the debate drag out for too long, and giving me confidence in everything that came before
Fair warning, this chapter takes a hard left from where we left off last, but we're still moving in that direction
Chapter 19
Empathy
"Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, do they forgive them." -Oscar Wilde
As much as he needed the money, Noah admitted reluctantly to himself that he had only agreed to take the late shift tonight of all nights because any attention Justin offered him was too tempting to squander, even when that attention amounted to his coworker asking him to work late on his day off so that Justin could go to a party. And probably pick up someone to spend the night with. Because that was Noah's brand of luck.
Noah slowed his car to a stop at the light, groaned, and dropped his forehead onto the steering wheel. It was 4am, he had only just escaped the hell that was cleaning up a fast food kitchen, and he still had to work on his dissertation about the ghost phenomena his town was under, the essay his ethics professor was expecting, a book review for his lit class...oh, and he should probably study for the biology test he had tomorrow. At ten in the morning.
"You're a blasted idiot, Noah," he told himself. "A horny, fucking idiot."
He wanted a shower. He wanted to wipe off the grime of that nasty kitchen before it soaked into his skin any more than it already had. Unfortunately, he would be lucky if he even got a chance to sleep more than a few hours.
Next time, he wasn't going to agree to Justin's request. Next time, he would ask to go to the party with him and convince their other coworker to take the late shift. If he was going to stay up that late and screw himself over the following day, he was at least going to get laid out of it. Or try to. Preferably by Justin. Though at this point, he had to wonder if he was worth the trouble.
Yes , he thought, sighing to himself, he is. Damn his muscles and sweet smile...
He just had to get the other man to notice him somehow...
The light turned green, and Noah reluctantly lifted himself from his slump and started driving down the near empty street again. In fact, aside from a single headlight driving toward him, the road was entirely his own. This was the longest strip of road back to his dorm, too, so Noah felt confident in pressing a little harder on the gas, driving another additional five miles over the speed limit. With any luck, he could take a quick five minute shower before working on his assignments. It might cost him study time and sleep time but it would be worth it.
It didn't even occur to him to be wary of that solitary headlight (probably a motorcycle) until a green beam of light shot at it from above.
Noah felt his whole body stiffen, a chill racing up his spine.
Ghosts .
He followed the tail of the beam back to its source and found what he assumed—hoped—was his town's ghostly hero flying out of an alley and then onto the road, parallel with the biker. Noah could only make out the white glow from this distance, but it had to be him. If it wasn't, if that was just some random ghost attacking innocent drivers on the highway…
A black void shot out of the bike, visible only as it flew in front of the street lights and then as it tackled the glowing boy.
Noah swore, deeply and violently even as his eyes frantically searched for a way out.
A ghost fight. He was driving into a ghost fight.
Shit!
They were heading toward him too. Even if he pulled over as the police instructed them all to do during a ghost attack, he would still get caught in the middle of the battle. They might pass him, but Noah doubted it. He was the only living person on the road. They were bound to notice him.
With that in mind, Noah slowed the car and turned right down the closest street. It wasn't as though he had never had to take a detour around a ghost fight before. Or at least the aftermath of a ghost fight. He relaxed in his seat and chuckled a little. Justin was a big fan of the ghosts. Wait until he heard Noah had almost driven into one of their fights.
A yellow headlight flashed into his rear-view mirror. And then a white light.
Fear shot through Noah all over again and he slammed on the gas before he even looked back. Were they following him? Shit, they couldn't be following him, could they? He glanced at his rear view mirror. A single headlight dominated the mirror. Not good. He checked his side mirror and felt his breath catch in his throat.
That was unmistakably Danny Phantom. Closer now, close enough he was no longer a shape of white light in the night but a boy several years younger than Noah with glowing green eyes and white hair whipping about his face.
If the situation wasn't so dire—and if the ghost kid didn't look so stressed—it would have been really cool.
As it was, it looked as though a ghost was targeting Noah. Phantom could stop it, though, right? He would stop the ghost. It was what he did. But why was the ghost after Noah in the first place?
Noah had almost reached the next red light, but what was he supposed to do with a ghost on a motorcycle after his tail? Slow down and get rear-ended at best?
Fuck that!
Noah removed his foot from the brakes and flew past the red light, whimpering all the while because holy shit.
The ghost and Phantom flew faster to keep up with him.
Noah rolled down his window and shouted, "What the fuck, go away! I don't have anything!"
Phantom looked at him, his green eyes meeting Noah's through the reflection of the side mirror.
Again, very cool, Noah thought frantically, but very bad timing!
The other ghost reacted too, by speeding up until it—he—was driving even with Noah, his face visible through the passenger window. He almost didn't look like a ghost. His glow was a lot dimmer than Phantom's and he had dirty blond hair, pale gray skin, a few speckled pimples, a cocksure grin on his face, and...and he looked Noah's age...
Omen , Noah thought, laughing uncomfortably to himself. Omen, omen, omen...
The ghost was yelling something at Phantom behind them, but his gaze began to pan toward Noah. Noah understood why as soon as a white light shone through his window. He turned his head and there was Phantom, directly outside his door.
Phantom met Noah's eyes from only a couple feet away and then raised his gaze. "Leave him out of this, Johnny!"
Noah gawked at his town's hero for several seconds before he jerked his gaze back to the road. He had always imagined meeting Phantom during a ghost fight would be reassuring, but all he really felt now was terrified. Probably because it was hitting him suddenly just how young the kid looked. Noah's life was in his hands, and the Ghost Boy seemed to be hesitating about what to do about it. Why?
Noah glanced at the other ghost quickly, noticed he was yelling something back at Phantom, and reached for the controls on his door, his fingers shaking as they pulled at the button to lower the passenger side window.
"—just have to tell me what you've been playing at, kid," the ghost shouted. "You can't lie your way out of this one, Shadow and I already saw your human side asleep in his bed while you're out here playing goody two shoes."
"First of all," Phantom shouted over the wind, his nose wrinkled, "stay out of his bedroom. What is the matter with you? Second, if you already know, why are you doing this?"
Even with the wind roaring through Noah's car, he could hear the otherworldly echo in both ghosts' voices. He sunk in his seat, his heart beating uncomfortably fast.
"Because there's gotta be more to it, right?" Compared to the strain in Phantom's voice, the other ghost, Johnny, drawled his words as if applying more emotion was too much effort. "Everyone knows how much you hated having a foot in both worlds, so if you had the means to do it all along, why did it take you this long to do something about it? Something must have changed, right? So what was it?"
"Johnny—"
"I bet it was about a girl. Puberty's gotta be hitting you pretty hard right about now, eh?"
Another intersection was coming up. Noah was gonna have to run another red light and pray there was no one driving on the other road when he did.
"Johnny!" Phantom snapped. "Call it out, now !"
"No can do, little man. Not until you tell me your latest secret. I got a bet going with Kitty."
"This isn't a joke," Phantom protested. "It will get him killed!"
"Oh, the human will be fine. Shadow knows what he's doing, don't you, buddy?"
An echoing laugh floated through the speakers of Noah's car. The hairs along Noah's arms and neck stood on end as he inhaled a sharp breath. His eyes, widened by fright, darted to Phantom. The Ghost Boy met his gaze, his eyebrows pinched and risen in concern, his mouth pulled into a tight line. Suddenly the stressed, worried look in Phantom's eyes made sense. Too much sense. Because Noah's car had been possessed.
Holy shit.
Holy shit.
Phantom's expression hardened. He looked back at the other ghost. "Call it out, Johnny, or I will make it come out."
Johnny laughed. "Just try it, kid!"
Phantom's jaw clenched. He looked at the car and gathered himself. Just as he dived toward the car, the void creature from before shot out of the hood and attacked Phantom instead. They collided and fell out of sight. Johnny laughed again. He cut himself off prematurely. Noah couldn't see what had upset the ghost, he was too busy staring in horror at the green electricity sparking along his dashboard.
"Shadow!" Johnny barked, sounding alarmed. "What did you do?"
The red light—
Noah pressed on his brakes. It was too much, Phantom, the ghost, the creature...he should have pulled over from the start.
He pressed on the brakes...but nothing happened.
"Shit," he gasped, pressing on the brakes again and again and again.
His car was listing to one side. He turned the wheel, trying to pull it back into his lane, but it didn't respond.
"Oh no, no, no," he cried.
He was turning off the road. He was—he was heading right toward the crosswalk pole.
"Shit, shit shit!"
He couldn't slow down, he couldn't turn the car—there had to be something he could do. Anything.
His car drove into the intersection, the pole only seconds away. He called out for help, but there was no time. The front of his car impacted the pole, crumbled. The airbag exploded in Noah's face. Agony ripped through him, in his neck, his head, his chest. He heard glass shattering, metal screeching, himself screaming, and then, mercifully, he blacked out.
Something pressed on Fenton's shoulder, the light pressure barely enough to stir some awareness into his unconscious mind. He mumbled incoherently and turned his face into his pillow. The pressure increased on his shoulder. It—a hand—shook his shoulder gently, and Fenton groaned a protest. The shaking stopped.
Fenton started to slip back to sleep until a familiar, echoing voice whispered, "Fenton, please ," followed by a more insistent shake.
Fenton's eyes snapped open. He was lying on his side, faced away from Phantom, but the dim glow illuminating Fenton's bedroom proved Phantom was there even as Fenton lay frozen on the bed, afraid to turn over and see his ghost.
"Phantom?" he called back, his voice thick from sleep, his tongue clumsy over the word.
"Yes."
Fenton may have hesitated to face Phantom, but Phantom had no such qualms. He rose above Fenton and floated over him until he could drop to the floor on the other side of the bed. His passage disturbed the air above Fenton, sending a slight wind over his skin. He shivered, staring wide eyed at Phantom as the ghost tucked his knees under himself and, slowly, hesitantly, raised his gaze to meet Fenton's. His green eyes cast their own light on the dark room, tinting the white hair that fell in front of his face.
Fenton blinked at him, squinting, but the gritty feeling in his eyes drove him to pinch his eyes shut again and scrub irritably at them. "What are you—" he began. "What time is—"
"It's five-forty," Phantom replied, his voice a whisper.
In that case, Fenton's alarm was due to go off in only ten minutes. He groaned and rolled onto his back, allowing his arms to flop onto the bed. "Phantom, what the fuck?"
Ten minutes? He couldn't have waited ten minutes?
Wait.
Fenton snapped his eyes open and jerked his head to look at Phantom again. "You're not supposed to be here." He lifted himself onto his elbows, the blanket previously draped over his chest falling to his waist. He shuffled away from Phantom, his legs and pajamas bottoms creating a whispering sound as he moved beneath the blanket. "What are you—you can't be—"
" Fenton ," Phantom said again, firmer but just as quietly. Fenton stilled. "I didn't come here to…I wasn't going to kiss you. I just—"
He stopped and stared at Fenton as though he was looking for something. But then he groaned, pinched his brilliant green eyes shut, and dropped his face into his hands. He lowered his head, bowing forward until his forehead and hands could rest on the mattress. His white hair spilled over Fenton's much darker blanket, startling in its contrast.
Fenton hesitated. Even when Phantom had felt bad about his actions on Sunday, Fenton had never seen him act like this. "Phantom?" Fenton pushed himself up by his hands until he was sitting up in bed, towering over Phantom. "What's wrong?"
Phantom blew out a sigh. "Nothing is…wrong. No one is hurt. Everything is fine."
Fenton criss-crossed his legs and set his elbows on his knees. "Yeah?" he asked, sleepy and just worried enough to be irritated. "Everything is fine? Then why wake me up? You're not supposed to be here."
"It is my room too," Phantom mumbled, but the words held little emotion.
"You're not supposed to be here if I'm here," Fenton corrected.
Phantom sighed.
Fenton wondered if it would be alright to reach for him, offer comfort by brushing his fingers through Phantom's hair the way Phantom had when he healed Fenton's concussion. The soft appearance of his white hair certainly looked inviting, contrasted as it was against the blanket. Fenton was deeply tempted and had even lifted his hand before he caught himself.
He jerked his hand back down and looked away, biting his lip. Just because you're tired doesn't mean you can just do whatever…
Phantom started moving, drawing Fenton's gaze once more. He watched as Phantom slid off his knees and onto his rear, bracing his chest more fully against the bed. Phantom pulled his hands away from his face, turned his head until his cheek rested on the mattress. His one visible eye flashed open, staring up at Fenton. He blew out a quiet breath of air.
Fenton felt his cheeks getting warm, and he hastily looked away.
"I just needed to see you," Phantom admitted. "I had hoped you could help."
"Help with what?" Fenton asked, still turned away. He couldn't look down at Phantom, not until the ghost stopped looking so vulnerable. Not until Phantom stopped looking up at him like… that .
Phantom hesitated a moment before asking, "How do you—" He stopped, sighed, and tried again, "We made a lot of mistakes in the past, fighting other ghosts."
Cautiously, Fenton turned back to Phantom. Uncomfortable or not, if Phantom was seeking advice on ghost hunting, he needed his full attention. "Yeah?" he urged, hesitant. "Like when we flew into a wall while chasing the Box Ghost?"
Phantom's lips twitched from a frown into a wry smile, and Fenton felt his own lips move automatically, the pressure in his chest easing in response to Phantom's smile. "I remember that," Phantom said. And then quieter, as if more to himself than to Fenton, "'We'…"
Fenton tilted his head to the side. Phantom's expression had lightened, but he still seemed…diminished. "But that's not what you mean," Fenton guessed.
"No." Phantom sighed. "I mean, for instance, if we moved too fast…and spooked a ghost into attacking…?"
Fenton frowned. "Attacking us?" They did that all the time.
"No. Attacking a bystander. A human."
"Oh." No, that had never happened before, not the way Phantom was describing at least, which meant…if it hadn't happened before in the past…Fenton sat up straighter. "Phantom—"
Phantom sat up too, pulling away from the bed. "It's fine," he said quickly. He floated off the floor and moved toward the outer wall. "We don't need to merge—"
"What?" Fenton uncrossed his legs and stood up on his knees. "But I wasn't going to—"
"—because everything is fine, Fenton—"
"Okay, but—"
"—no one is hurt."
Fenton scrambled over the bed after him, but Phantom's gaze was no longer meeting Fenton's, directed instead toward the left corner of their room. "Phantom, wait, just stop a minute."
"I caught several ghosts," Phantom continued, still backing away. "The Thermos is on your nightstand. M—our—Jack and Maddie are in the lab so I couldn't empty it."
Fenton set his feet on the floor and stood. "You—"
"Have to leave, I know." Phantom flashed a wry smirk at him, meeting his eyes for only a brief moment before looking away again. "Keep our distance, right?"
"No!" Fenton snapped. "Phantom, would you just—"
His alarm clock shrilled its alarm. Fenton jumped, startled. Phantom bolted through the walls of Fenton's bedroom.
Fenton stood frozen over his bed as the clock shrieked, waiting to see if Phantom would return once he realized it was just their alarm and not Jack coming to attack him again.
He didn't.
Fenton groaned loudly and dropped onto his bed, first to sit and then flopping backward onto the mattress. He twisted onto his front and crawled toward his nightstand. He pounded the snooze button harder than he needed to and then shoved his face into his pillow.
"Damn it…" he hissed.
Maddie sat at the table, the blueprints in front of her forgotten as she stared at her son. Aside from a trip to the basement to pick up some homework, Danny remained standing in front of their kitchen TV as he had since waking up, watching the screen intently as the news played. Maddie had insisted he eat, so he had a bowl of cereal he ate mechanically, but Maddie had meant he should eat at the table .
What could Danny possibly find so interesting about the weather?
Maddie turned to look at Jack, but he was no help. Her husband was still caught up in the designs of Valerie's suit, scribbling equations and the occasional phrase into the margins of his own set of blueprints. He hadn't noticed Danny's odd behavior and likely wouldn't until she pointed it out.
Sighing quietly, Maddie returned her gaze to Danny. He was still watching the news even as Lance Thunder passed the feed back to Tiffany Snow, the weather forecast finished. Danny's attention didn't waver.
It was such a shame. The day before, Maddie had thought she and Danny were finally—
"— and now, for our latest in ghost activity —"
Danny stiffened. The spoon and its load were lowered back into the bowl and then both were deposited on the counter beside the TV as Danny leaned closer to the screen. Maddie frowned. She gently nudged Jack's arm, and his head shot up. Before he could say anything, Maddie held a finger to her lips and then tilted her head at Danny. Jack's brows lifted but he nodded in understanding.
Jack alerted that something had concerned her about Danny, Maddie silently pushed away from the table and walked around Danny until she had a clear view of the TV screen. The voices were a little too quiet, but before she even had to ask, Danny raised the volume. Not for Maddie's sake, she didn't think, but because he didn't want to miss anything.
This segment must have been what Danny was really waiting for.
On the screen, the news switched from their anchor studio to a street corner. Harriet Chin, Maddie's friend from college, stood in front of a wrecked car, its front end crumbled inward, smashed by a pole on the sidewalk. The windshield and front windows had shattered, the doors and front of the passenger compartment compressed by the force of the impact.
Danny hissed in a breath. Maddie winced herself, feeling sorry for whoever had gotten caught between Phantom and another ghost.
"Thank you, Tiffany ," Harriet said, speaking into her handheld microphone. " As you can see, I'm here at the scene of a ghost attack where a mere hour ago, college student, Noah King, faced a brutal assault from our ever present ghostly invaders. He was caught returning home from a late shift at the Nasty Burger when our resident defender, Danny Phantom, attacked a ghost riding a motorcycle along the same road.
"Although King tried to detour around the ghosts and their battle, the motorcycle ghost, later identified as Johnny Thirteen, pursued King and proceeded to use his safety as leverage against Phantom. You can see from the wreckage how well this ended for Noah King when Phantom failed to protect him."
Fenton let out a harsh breath.
Maddie smiled. Good old Harriet.
" Police are once again urging citizens to pull over in the case of a ghost attack and to take shelter in a building nearby."
"Does that even help?" Danny muttered.
"Perhaps not against a ghost," Maddie answered, "but it will protect them from any real world debris that gets thrown around. Such as cars or a downed pole."
Danny's body tensed. He glanced over his shoulder at Maddie before redirecting his gaze to the TV.
" Fortunately for Mr. King, the story does not end there," Harriet continued. " Once or twice, Phantom has been known to linger at the scene of an accident in order to call 911, but this time, along with alerting the proper authorities, Phantom remained at the scene and reportedly kept Noah King calm and conscious until an ambulance could arrive.
"The paramedics report that, despite the obvious damage to the car and the blood on King's clothes, when they arrived, King appeared to be free of injury. When questioned why, King answered Phantom had healed him—" Danny sucked in a breath. "— The police have their doubts, but there is no denying the evidence. With Phantom's aid, Noah King was able to walk away from this brutal car crash with little more than a bloody t-shirt. "
"He did it," Danny whispered.
Maddie frowned and glanced at her son.
" The paramedics insisted King return to the hospital with them for a full check-up. 'Ghosts are not humans,' they insist, 'they don't know our biology. That Phantom was able to heal Mr. King at all is a miracle, but there is always that possibility of an incorrect healing.'
"Nonetheless, if the checkup comes back clean of radiation or a botched repair, they request that Phantom contact them. They believe that, with the proper training, this new power of Phantom's could save a lot of lives. We can only hope he is willing and able. Back to you, Tiffany."
"Thank you, Harriet, " Tiffany said, the screen once more on her in her studio. She shuffled her papers on the desk and smiled at the camera. " As ever, our local town hero is full of surprises. An ability to heal others would be invaluable, not only in the wake of a ghost attack, but in other catastrophes as well. We shall have to wait and see how this develops, but I, for one, am looking forward to watching Danny Phantom become an even greater hero to our town ."
Maddie scoffed. "He was never one to begin with."
"You can say that again!" Jack crowed from the table.
"Are you kidding me?" Danny gestured angrily at the TV. "Did you see that car? He saved his life! If he hadn't healed him—"
Maddie laughed. "Oh, no, sweetie. I doubt that's truly what happened."
"Yeah!" Jack added. "That no good ghost punk isn't—"
"But he did !" As soon as the word left his mouth, Danny sucked in a breath. "He...he did it. He healed him." Danny's voice trailed into a whisper. "He healed a complete stranger..."
Maddie frowned. It was the second time he had reacted to the idea of Phantom healing Noah King like it was something grand. "Danny? Sweetie?"
Danny switched off the TV and shifted on his feet, moving back a step from the counter. He continued to frown as he crossed his arms over his chest. He didn't look at Maddie, but he asked, "Mom? Dad?" He hesitated a moment before continuing, "How can a ghost heal?"
"You mean," Maddie said, "how can Phantom heal?"
"Well I…" Danny shifted on his feet and ducked his head lower. "Yes. You guys just don't want to believe it because he's a ghost, right? Well, just, I don't know, for one minute, pretend he would, he did, and he's able to again. How…" Danny hesitated and took a deep, somewhat shaky breath. "How can he—how is it possible?"
"Well…" Maddie studied her son. This was clearly a thought weighing heavily on him. "Ghosts have natural healing abilities, right Jack?"
"Yup! We've even seen Phantom heal himself."
"Right." Maddie smiled. "Their bodies are subject to their will and repair themselves easily. If he is able to harness that ability consciously, I suppose it's possible he could be sharing that power. Of course, humans and ghosts aren't physically the same, so he shouldn't know how to heal a human…"
Danny finally turned to look at her. "Yeah, right. Exactly. It's a ghost power that's affecting other—um, I mean, it's affecting humans, but humans aren't built like ghosts. It's supposed to take us, like, days to heal. Or months."
Maddie grabbed her elbow and raised her free hand to her face, tapping her chin. "Yes," she agreed. "It is strange. Theoretically. Perhaps he understands how human bodies heal, even down to our cellular structure. It would be the only way his powers could speed up our usual healing process without damaging our cells."
Danny nodded, appearing to consider Maddie's theory seriously. Maddie smiled and rested her cheek against her hand. Her little boy had shown the natural born skill of a ghost fighter last night and was even now seeking the science behind the ghosts they hunted. Finally, one of their children was showing an interest in hers and Jack's work, and she couldn't have been more proud.
She glanced at Jack. He flashed her a beaming smile and raised both thumbs. He understood how much she had been trying to reconnect with Danny, how much it meant to her that Danny was seeking answers, and Jack's quiet support made her smile all the wider. Ghosts were his favorite subject to ramble on about, but he was letting her lead with minimal interruption so that she could connect with Danny. She loved him just a little more for that.
"So he can because he was…he had..." Danny appeared to be searching for a way to phrase a thought. He gave it up with a sigh. "He understands human biology. Subconsciously. So, any ghost could do what he's doing? If they understood human biology enough?"
Maddie made a face. "I doubt it."
From the table, Jack added, "It's more complicated than that, Danny."
"But…" Danny looked from her to Jack. "But you said if he understood human biology—"
Maddie uncrossed her arms and lightly touched his bicep. Last year, it would have been his shoulder, but her boy was getting so big . "You misunderstand, dear. Technically, he could heal us if he was somehow able to convert his ghost energy into energy our cells could use to repair themselves—and that is a big if, Danny! Your father and I studied for months to get that ecto-converter to work!"
"Yeah!" Jack shouted. "And then some ghost creep stole it!" He sniffed. "We hardly had the chance to use it…And we can't just build another!"
Maddie pointed at her husband. "Exactly! All those equations—"
"The formula we used—"
"The ectoplasm—"
"It was a miracle we could make it work at all! Our physics just aren't compatible. And when we tried again with a different sample, it blew up in our face!"
"Your father was devastated." Maddie sighed and shook her head. "How you expect a ghost to be able to do the same without rigorous study or—"
"Mom ," Danny whined, "can you get to the point?"
"The point is he is still a ghost , sweetie. Assuming he could transfer ghost energy into human energy, that still wouldn't be enough because the question isn't whether or not he's able —ghosts are able to do many fantastic things! Your father and I have only begun to scratch the surface of what all they can and can't do." Maddie grinned and rolled onto her tiptoes, unable to completely suppress her excitement. "We don't want to assume there is something a ghost can't do because we have yet to find a cohesive limit that stretches along their entire species. Each ghost seems to be unique in how their powers manifest. Isn't that fascinating ?!"
Maddie instinctively sought out Jack's eyes. He had braced his chin in his hands and was looking at her with a besotted grin on his face. Maddie beamed back at him.
Danny coughed loudly. "Uh, ew?"
Maddie cleared her throat and settled down again. Right. Danny was only beginning to show an interest in ghost science. It was all just so exciting! "The problem is whether or not Phantom is…willing."
Danny raised an eyebrow. "Willing?"
Jack sniffed. "What ghost would care enough to help a human, Danny?"
Danny raised an eyebrow at Jack, the answer clear in his eyes even if Jack failed to see it.
"They would need to receive something in return to make it worth their while," Maddie agreed. "Even Phantom is guilty of that, sweetie. He once made a deal with your father to fly him home in return for his freedom. A ghost was attacking the Fenton Portal, you see, and Jack needed to defend our home. Phantom completed his end of the deal, but helped no farther, leaving Jack to fight the ghost alone."
Danny pressed his lips into a thin line, his jaw clenched.
Jack was more vocal about his disagreement, and he pouted, wounded, before saying, "Maddie...I didn't need that punk's help."
"Yeah," Danny said quickly, "I saw that fight. Dad kicked butt! I—Phantom didn't need to help him."
Jack perked up immediately. "That's right! Me! I kicked butt!" Jack beamed at Danny. Something seemed to pass between them, something about what they had both witnessed and achieved that day, and Danny curled his lips into a small smile.
Maddie sighed, but not unhappily. "Alright, you two win."
"Ha!" Jack cheered, competitive as ever.
"But in any case, that isn't what I meant by a ghost being unwilling. You see, ghosts are unable to feel empathy."
"Empathy," Danny deadpanned. "What, like, being sad when someone else is sad?"
"Essentially. The question becomes how can they want to heal someone if they don't know what pain feels like? If they feel pain at all, we believe it's through some median other than a nervous system, so they may not recognize it in us. For Phantom to heal humans, he would have to understand we're in pain, and that should technically be beyond him. All ghosts know are the anger and fear they felt when they died."
Danny rolled his eyes. "Unless ghosts are actually able to feel more emotion than you think. It's not like you guys have ever sat down to talk with one, right? All you're going to get is anger and fear if all you do is capture and fight them."
"Well…" Jack said, hesitant. "We've observed them attacking the town too!"
"Yeah, fine," Danny allowed, "but they're not always attacking, right?"
Jack narrowed his eyes.
Maddie sighed. She had heard similar arguments from Jazz. "I suppose this is the moment where you try to explain Phantom is different?" Danny scowled and opened his mouth to reply, but Maddie raised her hand and quickly said, "It doesn't matter if he can feel more than we believe, anyway. In this case, it's about nonverbal communication. Perhaps, if he is as compassionate as you and your sister believe, he is able to sympathize when he sees someone is in pain, but empathy?"
"What's the difference?" Danny asked, sounding irritated. "What's so important about him feeling what we're feeling?"
"It is the only way his ability to heal himself would react, dear," Maddie explained patiently. "If he is sharing his ability to heal himself with others, he must not only feel sorry for another person but feel that their pain is his own as well. Once their pain becomes his pain, his natural healing ability will react. Do you understand?"
Danny's brow was still wrinkled, but he nodded slowly. "I...think so." He lowered his gaze to the floor, sinking into deep thought.
Maddie smiled. "So you see why it's impossible."
Danny's thoughtful expression vanished, replaced by confusion as he jerked his head up. "What? But he did —"
"This is all just speculation, Danny boy," Jack reminded him. "We haven't actually seen him or any other ghost heal somebody."
"Yes," Maddie agreed. "We don't know for sure if Phantom can or not. We only have the witness testimony of one man, and that man made his claim after suffering a traumatic experience."
"Okay, yeah, sure," Danny said, rolling his eyes, "plus the totaled car and his bloody shirt. You know. The physical evidence that backs his story up."
Maddie pursed her lips. Sarcasm. She was feeling a little less proud now. "Danny, I'm sorry, but I just don't see how a ghost could empathize with us."
"Us…" Danny narrowed his eyes. "Humans? Yeah, well, what if he, I don't know, what if Phantom, like, he's been around us so much he's started to think like us?"
Maddie frowned. "You're suggesting he's assimilating with human culture?"
"I don't…know what that means…?" Danny glanced at Jack, but the older man quickly shook his head and shrugged.
"Assimilation is when you absorb and adapt to a foreign culture until it becomes your own." Maddie rubbed her finger beneath her lower lip, thinking. She raised an eyebrow. "You believe Phantom thinks he's semi-human?"
Danny made a face. He shifted on his feet, bit his lip. Hesitated. "Yes? Maybe. Um. I guess?"
"It would make sense," Maddie said, speaking slowly. "He is still a ghost, of course, but he is unlike so many of the other ghosts we've studied. If he has absorbed our culture and way of living…to the point he feels closer to us than his own kind…that could explain why he attacks other ghosts too…we always assumed it to be a territory thing…"
It was a fascinating new theory she would have to explore. It relied heavily on assumptions, of course, but when dealing with ghosts, that was inevitable. Could he be integrating with human culture? It could explain why he was often seen doing human things like resting, eating, and playing without any trace of the grief you would expect from someone who had lost their life. He could be learning through humans how to behave rather than through other ghosts in the Ghost Zone. Like a blank slate. Or an amnesiac who latched onto the identity closest at hand.
It depended on his origin. If Phantom wasn't the recently killed human they had assumed him to be but was instead a manifestation of pure energy that had adapted to human life rather than the reverse...
Maddie looked at her husband. The good thing about working together for so long on top of being married was that she could see Jack following a similar path as her own thoughts. Unfortunately, where Maddie felt excited to explore a new theory, Jack…was beginning to frown unhappily.
"Could he do it then?" Danny asked, pulling Maddie from her thoughts. "If he can heal humans, that means he can empathize with us, that's what you're saying?"
"Yes," Maddie said cautiously. "Maybe. We would have to study the process of course…"
"And if he can empathize, that means he can feel a wider range of emotion than you guys thought."
Maddie didn't like where this was going. "Now, Danny, wait—"
"For instance," Danny continued, raising his voice to speak over her, "if he witnessed a car crash that he was partly responsible for. You don't think he might feel bad? Or more than bad? Like he needed to make things right or he would never stop hurting?"
"That is guilt," Maddie corrected, "not empathy."
"Fine, but you get what I mean?"
Maddie breathed out a sigh. "Yes, but, Danny, it's just not possible."
"Even if he was thinking like a human?"
"He might think like a human but that still wouldn't make him one!" Maddie looked to Jack for help, but her husband looked troubled. Danny was getting to him. She needed to nip this in the bud. "Maybe he has adapted to human life," Maddie conceded reluctantly, "but he's still a ghost, Danny. He might be a little different than others of his kind, but he's still a being of destruction and moral depravity. They aren't people."
Danny scowled. "You haven't even met him."
"I know who—"
Danny scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Mom, really? You don't know anything about him. You wouldn't even know his name if he hadn't given it to the news." Maddie pursed her lips. "So how do you know how he feels about anything? You don't! You've never given— him a chance!"
Maddie closed her eyes and took a few calming breaths. "Danny," she said softly, "sometimes—"
"If he can heal," Danny interrupted, his voice hard, "then he can empathize, right? Because that's the only way it would work. That's what you said. So if he can heal, he has empathy, right?"
"Danny—"
"Right ?"
Maddie blew out her latest breath. " Yes ."
"And if he has empathy, then he has emotions."
"Danny…"
"And if he healed some stranger after accidentally causing a car crash, it was probably because he felt he had messed up. That he had done something wrong." Danny paused a moment to breathe in. "And if he thought he had done something bad and had to make up for it, that implies he has morals. Right?"
Maddie frowned at her son and didn't answer.
"So, adding that all up," Danny continued, "with one act, Phantom proved he isn't morally deprived, he doesn't seek destruction, he can feel more than just anger and fear, and, what's more, he recognizes those things in others, that people are as real as he is. Not just because he can heal but also because he was willing to."
Maddie pushed back her goggles and hood, rubbed a hand over her face, and tried to think beyond the emotions screaming in her head. Danny wasn't wrong, not exactly, but he was taking a great many leaps in his logic. Maddie would gladly tear his argument apart, but she was sleep deprived, torn between love and wounded pride, and taken aback by how determined Danny seemed.
When was the last time she had seen him stand so firmly for something? Usually when he disagreed with her and Jack, he made a snide comment before sinking into a sulk. Where was the sulk? Had he always felt like this and he had just hit his limit? Had something changed when she wasn't looking?
"Maddie…" Jack said softly.
There was pain in his voice, she could hear it, although she doubted Danny could. She knew where it was coming from too. Danny was poking holes in their carefully held belief that Phantom was nothing more than the lingering remnants of someone who had already moved on. He couldn't be a real person because that person had already died. Phantom was only supposed to be their strongest emotions given form and power due to how closely an alternate dimension paralleled their own.
But Danny and Jazz couldn't let that go uncontested. Phantom was aging. Phantom was learning. Phantom could heal. Phantom could feel.
Jack was easily excitable, a genius who wanted desperately to be the one who proved his own theories, to live like a scientific superhero who fought bad guys, but he wasn't sadistic. If Phantom was truly a real individual, no older than their son and with the ability to empathize and feel, what did that make them who hunted him?
Nothing good in Jack's eyes. Beneath all the excited ranting and enthusiasm over hunting, Jack had a soft heart. If ghosts could be true people and not just manifestations of people long since departed, then they had been treating feeling, thinking beings as less than animals.
Jack wouldn't even watch a movie if a horse died.
She needed to stop this. Resorting to the one flaw she could most easily point out, Maddie said, "We don't know he actually healed Noah King."
Danny frowned. "The car is completely smashed, Mom."
"Yes," Maddie said, "but Phantom could have pulled him out of the car before it crashed. I'm willing to accept he might have done that much if the alternative means he healed him."
Danny's frown deepened. "But the blood—"
"Perhaps the stress caused a nose bleed?" Maddie thought it over before shrugging. "It has been known to happen. Phantom could have then pressured Noah into perpetuating this fantastical story in return for saving his life." She thought about it for a few more seconds before nodding decisively. "Yes. I'm almost positive that's what happened. It would be just like Phantom to blackmail someone into lying for him."
Danny scowled. "You can't make that kind of judgment call. You don't even know him, remember? You're just making up excuses for yourself so you don't have to change your thinking."
"Danny!" Maddie said, stung. "I'm just being rational."
"No you're not!" Danny snapped. He stomped past her and headed toward the living room, but stopped beside Jack at the kitchen table, his shoulders tense. He took several deep breaths before he turned around again. "If…if you don't want to believe the car crash thing, then fine, but what if it wasn't the only time Phantom healed someone?"
Maddie frowned. She looked at Jack, but he shrugged and shook his head. She turned back to Danny. "This is the first time we've heard about something like that."
Danny bit at his lip and wouldn't meet her eyes. "I…that's because I didn't tell anyone? Well, I told Valerie, I guess, but…"
" Danny ," Maddie gasped, aghast.
Jack stood up and grabbed Danny's shoulder, his eyes wide. "He healed you?"
Danny stared up at Jack, equally wide-eyed and apparently surprised by their reaction. "Yeah? Yesterday at school, after a ghost attack."
Maddie rushed to their son's side and grabbed his face, turning his head as she inspected it from different angles for any sign of the ghost's tampering. No wonder Danny had been behaving oddly! "Why didn't you tell us? Do you have any idea how dangerous he is? He could have—"
"Mom!" Danny stepped back, pulling out of Maddie's grasp and shaking off Jack's hand. "It's fine. I'm fine. He didn't hurt me—he doesn't like hurting anyone! But a ghost attacked the school and I got a concussion—"
"A concussion ?" Maddie's heart panged in distress. Her baby boy! "Those can be more serious than they seem, you should have gone to the nurse's office and—"
"Mom, I did . I went with Sam, but there was nothing wrong with me because Phantom had already healed it."
"Healed it…" Maddie stepped to the side and reached for Jack's arm, found it already rising to wrap around her shoulders. "A concussion. Phantom healed…your concussion?"
"Yes ," Danny said, rolling his eyes. "He felt bad because it was partly his fault. He crashed into me when the other ghost smacked him out of the air."
"Guilt wouldn't have been enough," Maddie reminded him. No, the Ghost Boy would have needed a stronger emotional response than mere guilt. And it had been her son he had made that emotional connection with. "Jack…"
She only needed to look up at her husband and he understood. "On it, Mads!" He released her shoulders and ran toward the basement. "No spook is gonna contaminate my son!"
Danny groaned. "He didn't contaminate me!"
"Better safe than sorry, Danny." Maddie sat in her vacated seat at the kitchen table and flipped over the blueprints so she had a clear surface to write on. "Do you remember what it felt like? Did it hurt? How much? Explain it as best you can."
Danny crossed his arms over his chest. "Why? So you can trick me into incriminating him?"
"This is a new power we're witnessing, Danny," Maddie explained. "We need to learn as much about it as possible."
"You just think he hurt me," Danny accused.
Maddie pursed her lips. "He may not have done it intentionally," she conceded reluctantly. "But…"
"But he's a ghost, and you don't trust ghosts."
"Sweetie…"
She reached for him, but Danny backed away. That rejection made her flinch back herself, pulling her hand toward her chest. There was a look in Danny's eyes she hadn't seen before. Frustration, yes. Some anger as well. But more than that, he looked…disappointed in her. He wasn't only pulling away physically but emotionally too.
"What is it going to take for you to just…just…" Danny tipped his head back. His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed. "You've never given him a chance. I don't know why I thought I could…I'm so stupid…"
"Danny," Maddie said softly, "please. What has gotten into you? You've never defended him like this before. How can I be sure he hasn't done something?"
Danny looked down again. "He hasn't."
"But how do you know ?"
"Because I trust him!"
Maddie's eyes narrowed. She had heard Danny admit he trusted Phantom last night, but it had lacked the conviction it held today. He had been surprised by his own words then as he was now, but he hadn't been confident enough to shout them.
"Trust doesn't come from nowhere," she said, speaking as much to herself as to Danny. "He has done something to earn it, hasn't he?"
Danny pressed his lips together. His eyes darted toward the back door.
"Don't even think about it, young man," Maddie said sternly. She stood up from the table, ready for Danny's next move. "You've been keeping secrets long enough, I think."
Danny snorted. "You haven't exactly given me much choice."
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
Danny shrugged his shoulders and hugged his crossed arms closer to his chest. "How am I supposed to talk to you about…a ghost if you don't want to listen? All you guys care about is hunting or experimenting on them."
Maddie shook her head. "That's because ghosts are dangerous , Danny."
Danny snorted. "Right. Because you're the expert on all things ghost related. Silly me. Should have remembered. You've never gone inside the Ghost Zone, but you know every single ghost among the billions that live there are as violent as the handful that attack our town. You've never really spoken to a ghost, but you know they're all liars. You didn't believe a ghost could empathize well enough to heal, but, oh, I guess that was just one more thing you thought you knew but actually didn't ."
Maddie gaped at her son, stunned.
"Face it, Mom! You and Dad know all the science behind how ghosts work, but you don't know anything about why they behave as they do or what they're capable of feeling or anything like that! You met an intelligent alien species and all you guys can think about is the best way to kill or exploit them! How was I supposed to talk to you about…about…meeting one…"
The topic now back on Phantom, Danny's speech faltered. He lowered his eyes, breaking the fiery gaze that had stunned Maddie into silence. She breathed in a shaky breath. She had no idea he was so passionate about their treatment of ghosts or that he had put so much thought into what it meant, opinions held back for who knew how long. If she didn't step carefully…
Jack's steps pounded up the stairs, much slower than when he had raced down them. Maddie glanced over her shoulder as he stepped into the kitchen again. She could see from his somber expression that he too had heard Danny's words, and if he had been spared seeing the fire in Danny's eyes, he had at least heard the pain in his voice.
"Danny," Maddie said, speaking gently as she turned back to him. "Sweetie. How well do you know the Ghost Boy?"
Danny swallowed. He shifted on his feet, and his eyes tracked back toward the door. "Um, not…not that well?"
Maddie wanted to accept that. She wanted to, but…she didn't. "Don't lie to me, young man. A photographer caught him flying into your bedroom last week. You and Valerie both claim he protected you on Sunday, and when that mechanical ghost captured him, you were willing to follow him into the Ghost Zone. The Ghost Zone , Danny!"
"It was the right thing to do!" Danny objected. "After he protected me and helped Valerie defeat Skulker—I couldn't just abandon him like that."
"And I suppose shielding him from us was also the right thing to do?"
Traces of that fire returned to Danny's eyes as he lifted his chin and stared defiantly at her. "Yes."
No remorse. No hesitation.
Maddie's grip tightened on her pencil. "It didn't have anything to do with…personal feelings?"
The fire went out and Danny's chin came down. He shifted on his feet, a small blush spreading across his cheeks. "Like, um, like specifically? What…feelings?"
Was she going to have to spell it out? "Are you two…" She took another deep breath before finishing, " friends ?"
Whatever Danny had feared, apparently that wasn't it because he released a small breath and allowed his shoulders to relax slightly. "Oh. Um, no? I don't think so. I mean, we don't hang out or anything…"
Maddie breathed her own sigh. That was some relief. She had feared…but, no, her son would never befriend a ghost.
Whatever relief Maddie felt, however, it wasn't felt by Jack. His hand landed on her shoulder and squeezed. He didn't say anything about what had worried him, however. He beamed at Danny and crowed, "You just got a heightened sense of right and wrong, huh, Danny?"
Danny moved his gaze from Maddie to his father, wary and still a little tense. Slowly, as Jack's proud expression held, Danny's lips softened into a smile. "Right…"
Maddie frowned. "Jack?"
"He's joining our ghost hunting team, isn't he, Mads?" He gave Maddie's shoulder a tiny shake, urging her to follow his lead. "If he's got a problem with our methods, then we just have to adjust them. Can't force him to take the shot if he doesn't agree with it. Last time I tried to make him shoot Phantom, he threw himself clear out of the Specter Speeder!"
Jack barked a laugh, a sharp contrast to Danny's cheeks flushing with color and Maddie's jaw dropping in horror.
"Danny did what ?" Maddie exclaimed.
"That was an accident!" Danny protested. "I didn't mean to!"
It had happened, though, which was why Jack had warned her. She bit her lip and shifted in her seat, leaning into Jack's hand.
Jack chortled a few seconds longer before he wiped a fake tear from his eye. "We're listening, son. Your mother and I can discuss changing our approach while you're at school."
Danny looked between them, uncertain. "You can? You will?"
Maddie bit down harder on her lip.
"Of course!" Jack cheered. "You make a good argument, Danny! We've been scratching our heads over this ghost for two years now—maybe it's time we try something different!"
Danny continued to stare at them a while longer before he allowed his arms and shoulders to fully relax—dropping a guard Maddie hadn't realized was there. A small smile spread across Danny's lips, brightening his whole face like the sun emerging from behind a cloud.
"Okay," he said, his tone bright, his voice quiet. "Cool."
"For now, though..." Jack lifted one of their inventions. Maddie had hoped Jack would grab the Ghost Catcher—better safe than sorry—but the invention in Jack's hand was one of their older designs, the Fenton Finder.
Danny eyed it with the same wariness he treated all their inventions, but he didn't flinch away when Jack switched it on. The machine began its usual humming and beeping as it searched for ghosts. Jack pointed it at Danny, and Maddie waited for the machine to pick up the ghost energy that had surrounded Danny ever since the accident.
Nothing happened.
The Fenton Finder continued to hum and beep periodically, all but ignoring Danny. Maddie stood and crowded against Jack, staring at the screen. Not only did it not detect traces of a foreign ecto-signature clinging to Danny, it also couldn't find Danny's unique signature at all.
"Huh," she murmured. "Strange..."
It had detected Danny just fine on Monday. They had yet to make another attempt at convincing it and their other inventions to ignore Danny, so truly, the lack of detection was odd because if nothing had changed about the machine, then something about Danny had .
"Perhaps Phantom removed the energy when he healed Danny?" Maddie suggested, thinking aloud. "I'm not sure how...and it seems unlikely. It would have been too helpful of Phantom to have done so without a reason...Jack?"
Her husband shrugged. "Beats me!"
Maddie huffed.
"Alright, well." Danny backed away from them, still eyeing the Fenton Finder like he was afraid it would attack him. "I have to get to school, so...bye!"
He fled the kitchen, and Maddie barely had time to shout, "Don't forget! We're training with Valerie after school!" before the front door slammed shut. She sighed and dropped the hand she had raised. "That boy..."
"Aww, you can't blame him, Maddie." Jack switched off the Fenton Finder. "This is the first time one of our inventions hasn't insisted he's a ghost. He probably just doesn't feel safe around it."
"It's a passive device, Jack," Maddie objected. "It only detects ghosts, it doesn't attack them."
"No, that's what we do after it points us at the ghost!" He smiled, a far more subdued expression than his usual grin. "Heh. You don't think he's been afraid of us these past two years, do you, Mads?"
"Oh, Jack..." Maddie stood up on tip toes and kissed his cheek. "Of course not."
"It would just make sense, is all." Jack fiddled absently with the controls on the Fenton Finder, his lower lip pulled into a slight pout. "Why he's defending that ghost punk now. That whole..." He wrinkled his nose, "empathy thing. With Danny understanding how Phantom feels about being hunted. Or hated. Whatever it was."
Maddie sighed. "He really struck you with that, didn't he?"
Jack sniffed and shrugged his shoulders. "'Course not! Everyone knows ghosts aren't real people."
The blatant denial did nothing to reassure Maddie. "We can look into it, Jack," she said softly.
"It's a stupid idea," he muttered. "Probably won't find anything."
"Of course not," Maddie agreed. "But it will make Danny—" and Jack, now that Danny had made him doubt "—feel better in the end."
Jack nodded, looking a little mulish and frustrated with himself.
"Is that what made you worried earlier? When Danny said he wasn't friends with Phantom?" Maddie frowned, remembering the sudden way Jack had squeezed her shoulder. "You think he was lying about that?"
"Oh." Jack lifted his head and stared thoughtfully at the living room, the direction Danny had fled earlier. He shook himself all over and forced a grin on his face. "Nah! It was probably nothing."
"Jack," Maddie said slowly, pointedly, "you and I both know how certain, ah, social nuisances fly over your head—"
Jack muttered unhappily under his breath about people making things needlessly complicated.
"—but I trust your instincts." She hesitated, thought back on a number of occasions where Jack had believed to the depths of his soul that their childrens' vice principal was a ghost, among others, and quickly amended, "Most of the time."
Jack made a face and scratched at his neck. "I dunno, Mads...I thought for sure Danny was dating that Goth girl, and you saw how wrong I was there."
Maddie smiled, more than a little smug. She had been the one to warn Jack he was letting their own past as best friends alter his perception of Danny's and Sam's friendship.
"Oh, but, Jack, you've never been great at romance," she said, affectionately touching his cheek. Dare she mention the missed anniversaries? No, better not. Jack had been trying to do better. "But this isn't about romance, it's about that pesky ghost!"
Jack turned his head to look at her. His wide blue eyes met hers, held them for several long seconds. Slowly, Maddie slid her hand from his cheek. There was something in his eyes, his expression...
"No," Maddie breathed, "you can't be suggesting—Danny would never—with the Ghost Boy ?"
"Well..."
Maddie laughed. "Oh, Jack, honey, you can't be serious!"
"Because he's a ghost?"
"Because Danny has a wonderful girlfriend! She is beautiful, an amazing fighter, and she flies around on a jet sled! Why would Danny give all that up for some troublemaker who—"
"Healed him?" Jack interrupted. "Has all those super cool powers? He flies and fights ghosts too! I can't say that he's beautiful…but all the other kids Danny's age seem weirdly smitten with him, so there must be something about his appearance that attracts them. Maybe it's a ghost thing..."
Maddie laughed again. "Jack, do you hear yourself? You sound like you're advocating for Danny to have a crush on the Ghost Kid!"
"Only because you laughed at me!"
"I'm not laughing at you —"
Jack grumbled, "Are too…"
"—I'm laughing at the idea that Danny could be attracted to someone who…who…"
Who, in Danny's eyes, was like a hero in truth? He had all but admitted it.
"Okay," Maddie said, hesitating, "well maybe…"
Phantom had been getting closer to Danny lately. Danny had been getting more defensive. Danny had stood against Maddie to defend Phantom, and had even looked and sounded hurt by her rejection of him.
If they weren't friends, then what were they to each other? What else but friendship or love could cause their son to turn against them?
"But…but Danny doesn't like boys," Maddie objected weakly. "He would have told us. Even if the boy he liked was…a ghost…boy…"
She looked at Jack, but while his eyebrows had risen in concern, his expression hadn't changed much. Danny had been keeping secrets from them for a while. What was one more about his sexuality? She couldn't even be upset with him for hiding it, not if her own passion about hunting ghosts had forced him to keep it quiet.
Ghost or boy, the heart wanted what it wanted, and if Danny's heart wanted the infamous Danny Phantom…?
Oh, but she needed to sit down .
Maddie reached blindly behind her until her hand could hook on the chair and pull it toward her. She collapsed onto the seat.
Jack, sweet, wonderful Jack, knelt beside her and stroked a hand up and down her back. "It's just a hunch, Mads. It's not like I have any evidence." He grinned, flashing all of his teeth so he looked as goofy as possible. "And you know me! Always jumping at ghosts!"
It was easier to smile with Jack looking at her like that, but it still felt a little forced. "You do jump to conclusions a lot."
"Heh!" Jack scratched his nose and lessened his grin into a smile. "I'm probably wrong this time too."
"What made you think of it?"
"Oh." Jack shrugged. "A few things here and there…plus that blush of Danny's."
Maddie frowned. "There are many reasons someone could blush."
"Yeah, I know…it just struck me all of a sudden when I saw it. Like puzzle pieces coming together!"
"You hate puzzles."
Jack sniffed. "Can't say I'm liking this one much either."
Maddie smiled. She leaned forward and kissed Jack's forehead. "Your brilliant mind gave us this warning. Hopefully you're wrong, but now we know to keep our eyes open, just in case."
Jack beamed at her, reacting as much to the praise as the affection in her voice, she was sure. "Don't forget, Danny has a girlfriend! So long as he's with Valerie, there's nothing to worry about. We raised him better than that. And besides! Maybe Danny developed a crush on that ghost punk like so many of those other kids, but that doesn't mean Phantom feels the same way." He paused, his face taking on that sad, thoughtful expression from before. "Assuming a ghost could love in the first place…do you think…?"
Ah, the moral dilemma again…Maddie sighed and waved a dismissive hand. "Of course not. What ghost could put another's happiness before whatever it is they want? Besides, we have yet to prove that ghosts can feel more than we thought."
Jack smiled, but his eyes wouldn't meet hers. He taped his fingers against his knees for several long seconds and didn't say anything. Finally, "Did I mention Phantom caught Danny after he threw himself out of the Specter Speeder?"
"No," Maddie said hesitantly, "but I'm not sure what that has to do with anything? Catching people who are falling is something Phantom is known for. It's one reason so many people in the city have been fooled into believing he's a hero."
Jack's eyes flashed to hers and then away again.
Maddie sighed sadly. She wrapped her arms around his head and hugged him to her chest. "Oh, Jack…"
Fenton leaned his shoulder against the stop sign at his bus stop and frowned down at the sidewalk. He had accomplished his goal of making his parents reconsider their stance against Phantom, but something seemed…off. Jack had given in way too soon.
...Hadn't he?
Fenton taped the toe of his sneakers against the pavement and sighed. "Stupid," he muttered. He taped his sneaker one more time and then slid the sole over the pavement. "You're just trying not to think about the other thing..."
Phantom's sad, guilty expression...the way he had looked at Fenton as if one word from Fenton could make the pain go away...
Fenton bit his lip. He knew why to some degree now, but he still didn't understand. Perhaps Phantom hadn't handled the fight well, perhaps he had provoked...something, but so what? Accidents happened, ghosts were hard to predict. It was always upsetting, but Fenton didn't blame Phantom for it. And beside, as Harriet Chin had pointed out, they had never actually stayed to comfort anyone after a ghost attack. It was too dangerous for their identity.
But Phantom had. He had called 911, healed the man, and stayed with him until someone arrived to help.
Even the paramedics had seen it. Even Tiffany Snow. She had summarized it in one sentence.
Phantom was becoming a better hero.
He was starting to put lives first, he was doing something he and Fenton as one person had never been able to do. And yet he had still looked so small staring up at Fenton. Could he not see it? Did he really think he wasn't as good if not better than Fenton? Their combined self?
Fenton saw it. What was more, he knew where Phantom had started, how big a deal this was for someone who had once refused to fight a ghost because they had a date. If Phantom didn't understand how he had been a hero last night...should Fenton say something?
Fenton crossed his arms over his chest, hugging himself tight.
Phantom had crossed their distance rule yesterday to heal Fenton, it seemed only fair Fenton should repay the favor now that Phantom was the one hurt, and yet...
The growling purr of the bus approached him from behind. Reluctantly, Fenton stood from the stop sign and turned to face it. At least Tucker would be on the bus. Fenton could maybe get his advice on what to do. He and Phantom used to lean on their friends a lot, and while Sam and Tucker weren't always able to understand, they were usually great at cheering them up.
Maybe that's what Phantom needs, Fenton thought as he climbed the steps onto the bus. Maybe I can take his mind off—no, fuck. Distance, remember, Fenton? We can't see each other .
How was he going to help if he couldn't see him, though?
He was so distracted by the dilemma he didn't realize anything was off until he was walking down the aisle toward his and Tucker's usual seat. He froze, one hand gripping the strap of his backpack as the near silence of the crowded bus registered in his mind. Slowly, he raised his gaze from the floor.
Aside from one or two groups who were whispering and huddled around their phones, the occupants of the bus stared back at him. Watching.
Like yesterday after lunch, Fenton thought, his face flushing, but so, so much worse…
Whatever rumors regarding him and Phantom had started at lunch must have become more widespread overnight. Before, it had largely been limited to his grade and under, but now even seniors were staring at him.
"Sit down, kid!" the bus driver barked.
Fenton jumped and raced down the aisle. Tucker was watching him too, the only welcome face in a crowd of judging stares, but he seemed to be torn between the same concern Fenton was feeling and a desire to grin. Fenton spun into his seat, tripped, and fell against Tucker's side. The laugh burst from his friend, and Fenton sank against him until his head was level with Tucker's shoulder. He pulled up the hood of his hoodie and yanked the strings taut, hiding all but his nose and mouth.
"What the hell?" he squeaked.
Tucker continued laughing as the bus finally began moving again.
Fenton punched his thigh.
"Ow!" Tucker shifted his leg away so it was no longer pressed against Fenton's. "Danny, it's fine, okay? Calm down. It's just rumors."
"Just rumors," Fenton muttered darkly, not reassured. "Sure. Yeah. Nothing to be worried about. Rumors aren't dangerous at all when you have secrets. I should have realized."
Tucker snorted. "Grumpy today, aren't we?"
"I wouldn't call this a good morning, so yeah," Fenton grumbled.
"If it makes you feel any better," Tucker said, nudging his arm against Fenton's shoulder, "it's a stupid rumor. I can show you what they're talking about if you want. It's probably a good idea, you're gonna want to know so you don't make things worse."
Fenton felt Tucker moving against his side. He sat up a little and cautiously pulled his hood open so he could see what Tucker was doing. Pulling out his cell phone, as it happened.
His cell phone...
Fenton opened his mouth and then froze as he felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked to his right and found the people in the seats around them staring at Fenton and leaning closer as if they were eager to be part of a conversation.
Fenton made a rough noise in the middle of his throat and pressed his back against Tucker's side, his backpack caught between them.
"Hey," the guy directly across the aisle from Fenton's seat said, "is it true?"
"Is what?" Fenton stuttered.
"You know Phantom?" one of the girls asked, her eyes wide.
Air left Fenton's lungs in a choppy, coughing noise. They had asked him that yesterday too. His answer should be the same today, right? Deny, deny, deny...
"Of course not!" he said, his voice a little too high. "Why would I? Ghosts are...I mean, my parents are...um...we don't get along, y'know? Family of ghost hunters and...everything."
Frowns. Lots of frowns. They didn't look convinced. There was even one guy in the seat ahead of Fenton that raised a skeptical eyebrow. A girl behind him sighed sadly.
"Dude," the guy beside Fenton said, "don't freak out or anything, but seriously. I think Phantom likes you."
Fenton forced a shaky smile. Deny, deny, deny... "Sorry if it seems that way, but we're not really friends, so—"
"Not like as in friends , clueless," the girl behind him groaned. "Like as in: are you sure he hasn't tried to kiss you yet?"
Fenton's mouth dropped open. His face burned so hot he felt light-headed. "I—I—"
They had used Tucker's and Sam's old nickname for him too...
"No!" Fenton gasped. "He—kissed—he—what? No! I mean, why would— Tucker !"
Someone whistled. "Wow, look at that blush..."
"Okay, guys!" Tucker snapped. He stood up, and Fenton quickly scooted into his spot against the window. It was a little awkward squeezing around each other, but in the end, Fenton could huddle against the window while Tucker took the aisle seat. "Let him get caught up on what's going on before you start interrogating him for answers."
Tucker passed Fenton his phone, and Fenton, desperate to look busy, focused immediately on the screen. Tucker had pulled up a cool-looking forum site, but before he could appreciate the design choice too much, he read the title of the topic Tucker had chosen.
'Phantom and Fenton: what's the connection?'
Fenton pinched his eyes closed, clenched his jaw, and tried to smother the desire to scream.
The people around them protested, but Fenton ignored them, clutching Tucker's phone. It held the answer about what everyone was talking about, but it was more than that.
He leaned closer to Tucker and whispered in his ear, "Can I text…you know?"
Tucker raised an eyebrow but nodded his permission.
Sighing in relief, Fenton fell against the window again. He minimized Tucker's browser and then selected the messaging icon. He hesitated a moment, but all he had to do was close his eyes for the image of Phantom to hit him, the memory of his sad expression and shrunken posture strengthening his resolve.
Texting him would allow Fenton to obey the letter of their distance rule if not the spirit of it...
But what to say?
Fenton chewed on his lip. Finally, he typed, I saw the news, I know what happened. You woke me up for a reason. Let me help you. -Fenton
He quickly pressed send and then allowed himself to breathe in. Now he just had to wait for a reply, and while he waited...he grimaced and pulled up Tucker's browser again.
It was time to find out what people had been saying about them...
I'm not 100% positive about the formation of this chapter. Initially, I had planned to write the scene where Phantom heals Noah so we experience his lack of self-confidence in the face of a mistake firsthand, BUT...since my inability to write the training sequence between Maddie and Fenton kept us from seeing Fenton's confidence grow in person, it felt uneven for Phantom to receive so much attention during his character defining moment when we didn't see any of Fenton's. We'll be addressing how both effected them later on, though. (Probably for the best I didn't write them, given how long this fic is getting...)
As for Maddie and Jack, this is my personal headcanon for how this sort of stuff would go down. Like, Maddie is a force of nature who dearly loves her son, but have you seen how sensitive Jack is? I know Butch liked to play it up as comedic, but a man that sobs over his invention being destroyed, becomes brokenhearted over his son's low opinion of him, makes his own little figurine dolls, and tries to share his passion with anybody who will listen-especially his family-is not a man I can see as cold-hearted. Idk, I just see him as softening toward Phantom in this sort of situation before Maddie, particularly since he has actually had occasion to speak and interact with Phantom/Danny more often than Maddie. Doubt is all he has right now, but doubt is all I need to work with. Hopefully.
Also hopefully you guys were able to read all that double talk during Fenton's debate with Maddie. He was trying to figure if there was a reason Phantom could heal when their united self couldn't and if they could still heal after they merge when it was a power Phantom had discovered on his own (the "so any ghost could heal if they understood human biology enough?" part). That kind of got sidelined after Maddie and Jack insulted Phantom's personhood and his fight switch was flipped, but before all that, Maddie had revealed the reason Phantom could heal a human was because he had once been bonded to one, sharing that ability with Fenton when they were one, so his powers know the lay of the land when it comes to healing humans, it just couldn't be shared until Phantom took a step "outside himself" (hehe) and started seeing people around him as important as those he's in love with (something he has struggled with since the start and especially in ch.4 but has been getting increasingly better at). It took him experiencing Noah's crash during a ghost attack to really make him see and understand. He wanted to heal Sam to show he COULD not because it was something he needed to do. If that makes sense
Ehhh, I should stop rambling lol. In any case, sorry the writing is a little rough this chapter, I actually got most of it written two weeks after I posted the last chapter, but the rewrites were intense and not helped at all by my having to go back to work. (been working about 60 hours a week and am predictably exhausted and worn out ugh, kill me) Kind of scrambling to get everything edited and ready for posting today since the birthday holiday gave me a reprieve whooo
Let me know if Jack and Maddie are a little off-I can't fix it this chapter, but I can make a adjustments later on.
Thanks so much for sticking with me! The comments last chapter were just amazing hnnnngh oh my gosh thank you so much