Danny had woken up this morning, well rested with the sun on his face ready to actually have a day to relax. He was going to catch up on his homework, play games with Sam and Tuck. Overall, he was planning to have a great day-
Until his Dad barged into his room exclaiming it was spring cleaning, and now he was stuck in the musty hot attic, sweeping away at cobwebs. His hair plastered to his face from the heat of the stuffy attic, as his Dad got distracted by nostalgic memories of the past.
"Look Danny boy! You and your sister were so small." Jack showing off a picture he found in one of the boxes that spilled over. It was a picture of a four year old Jazz, barely holding up a chunky two year old Danny. Her face was scrunched up as Danny had pulled her hair at the same time Dad had taken a photo of them.
Danny snorted at the picture, then lowered his head to look down at his broom. "Yeah, Dad. We were."
Danny could hear Jack sniff as he stared at the picture longer. "It feels like just yesterday! You were making a working ghost ray out of legos and Jazzy was playing princess and ghosts!"
Danny hummed in response as he swept, moving away from his father. He didn't feel like an impromptu bear hug from his Dad. Especially not since he was trying out the new Fenton detergent. Suppose to be good for sensitive skin and to keep ectoplasm from staining. Danny and Jazz had been using Tucker and Sam's place to wash their clothes out of precaution that it'll cause Danny to break out into a ghostly rash.
"Oh and I remember this one! This was the day Jazz started school. You and Jazzypants were so close, you wouldn't let go of her leg!"
Danny blushed as he foggily remembered him thinking the ghosts were going to steal Jazz away. Mostly because his Dad said the school wasn't haunted but had an abnormally high ectoplasm count. Which to three year old Danny meant it was still haunted.
Danny thinks it's kind of funny now, because the old elementary does have a ghost portal in the furnace. The ghost janitor protects that haunt. He's actually not a bad guy, just grumpy and cursed at Danny for making holes in the school.
Not his fault Ember blasted him through the roof of the elementary school.
"Jazz's old princess costume! And the goggles to match me and Mads!"
Danny shook his head. He could imagine the cringed expression on Jazz's face if Dad brought it up. Him and Jazz used to pretend they were ghost hunters too. Jazz being the hunter and Danny pretending to be the ghost.
A cold chill sends down Danny's spine. Huh. Fate was one Hell of a comedian. And Danny's life.. or more so death, was a huge punch line.
Danny paused to wipe at his eyes, blaming the dust for the stinging pain of tears that hit them. While wiping at his eyes, he accidentally bumped into a pile of boxes to his left, making them topple over. Danny jolted away, looking at the mess.
"Danny! You okay boyo?" Jack's voice boomed with concern.
"Yeah, Dad! I'm fine.. um.. sorry." Danny stuttered as he shrunk in his spot.
"It's alright. We'll get it cleaned up in no time!" Jack put down the tiny jumpsuit that he had made Danny when he was six, back into the box. He grunted as he got up and walked over to Danny with a grin on his face.
"Here we go, nothing spilled out too bad." Jack reached down to pick up a box that had trophies written on it in Jack's handwriting.
Danny smiled, relaxing as he crouched down towards one of the toppled boxes. He set the broom down. His Dad was good about that. Didn't matter how much Danny screwed up, Jack never got angry with him. Well, never with Danny Fenton... Phantom was a different story.
Danny moved to pull the box upright, when his eyes caught sight of a picture frame that fell out of the box. It was shattered and the picture inside of it was of his mom's graduation from High School. A skinny tall man with a hunch back and cold eyes stood beside his Mom with a short chunky woman with a worn face. They both had slight smiles but neither smile was as big as the one his Mother wore and his Aunt Alicia.
Danny clicked his tongue as he stared at his grandparents. Ones he never met. His Dad's parents died when Danny was young, but his Mom's parents... His Mom never mentioned much of them. His mom would talk about her uncles and aunts.. and her sister a lot. Rarely did she mention her dad or mom.
"Hey.. Dad?"
"What's up, Danny?" Jack stopped his humming as he looked over at his son.
Danny rolled his tongue carefully in his mouth. "Um... What happened.. Why wasn't Mom's.. parents around?"
Jack's smile was wiped off his face as silence stirred between them. His face then twisted as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, Danny-boy.. um they didn't really approve of me and your Mom dating-not to say that it's because of.. um-"
"Aunt Alicia doesn't either, but she stuck around?" Danny interjected, biting his lip.
Jack fell back into silence for a moment. He seemed to be mulling over what to tell Danny.
"Did they just.. leave?"
"Son, I- Your mother wasn't given an easy choice. A baby was already on the way and.. I thank my lucky stars that Mads chose me..."
Danny felt bad for pushing, but.. he needed to know. "So it was you and Jazz or.. them?"
"No, Danny. It was me and your brother- well going to be your brother but after the stress... Let's just get back to cleaning up.-" Jack turned back to shuffling stuff back into a box.
A brother? Danny felt his mind going static for a moment as he put the pieces together. Miscarriage... Danny shook his head, that was to focus on another day. He'll ask Jazz if she knew. The real question he wanted to ask still danced on his tongue as he placed the broken frame back into the box.
"Why would a parent just.. cut off contact with their child like that?"
"That's probably a question for your Mom, or- Jazz! Jazz knows all about inner workings of the brain-"
"I don't want a scientific answer. I want to know the REAL answer." Danny more specifically wanted his DAD to answer. His Mom would avoid the issue or use science to describe it and Jazz would know why he wanted to know.
"I don't know why, Danny." Jack sighed heavily, running his hand through his receding hair.
"Oh," Danny's shoulders slumped.
He shifted on his feet, pulling the box close to him. He grunted as he picked up the box while standing up. He turned towards his Dad to put the box on to another, when he noticed his Dad smiling at him. It wasn't his big bright grin. It was a sad, soft, but warm smile.
"I suppose you're old enough now to know. Not everyone has parents who value love the same way your mom and I do." Jack took the box from Danny.
"Not to say Mads' parents didn't love her, but... They didn't agree with her choices. Or trust her to know what's best for herself." Jack had trouble finding his words. He wasn't sure how to explain it.
"They told us we were playing with Devil's work. Messing where science shouldn't be... And told her not to come back.
After the fight is when we lost your brother. We canceled the wedding and everything, but..." Jack set down the box and then pulled out a folded picture from his pocket. He must have picked it up while going through the last box.
Danny filled in the blanks. His mouth felt dry and his voice cracked as he spoke. "So.. they just.. stopped having anything to do with her?"
"Yeah... They did. They thought she let the devil in, and their little girl was gone."
Danny felt a sickening twist of his stomach, that definitely wasn't from the humid heat of the attic.
"But it wasn't all bad boyo! She moved in with me and my parents. I told her whether she married me or not! She's a Fenton now! And Fentons always stick together. No matter how much we disagree with each other.
Heck, My sister and I haven't talked in five years because of the whole "was it ghosts or was it vampires" debacle. Psst I'm right about it being a ghost, Vampires can't phase through walls.
But I know if she needed me or I needed her, we'd be right there for each other. Because that's what it means to be a Fenton!" Jack slapped Danny's back, leaving a firm, but gentle hand on it.
Danny smiled up at his Dad, swallowing a lump in his throat.
"So remember that son. You're a Fenton and Fentons always stick together." Jack handed him the photo, letting Danny get a better look at it.
The photo was of their parents, with Dad's family and Aunt Alicia at a baby shower. The decorations were pink so Danny assumed it was for Jazz. His mom was crying but smiling while she was surrounded by people.
"No matter what!"
Danny squeezed at the photo, taking a shaky breath. "Even... even if I.. become something.. you hate?"
Jack's face fell for a moment, looking at Danny with concern. He knelt down by Danny, his grin quickly returning. It was reassuring as he looked Danny in the eye.
"Of course, son. Nothing in this world would make me and your mom hate you, whether you're a lawyer or a hippy or a-"
"GHOST!" Alarms blared as Maddie's voice yelled up the Attic. "Jack! We got a ghost downtown!"
"Be down there in a minute honey! Grab the Fenton kicker too, I've been waiting to try that puppy out!" Jack stood up quickly, ready for action. He turned to Danny.
"No matter who you become or what you are Danny, we will always love you." He ruffled Danny's hair.
"Just finish up sweeping and go have fun, boyo. We'll have pizza after me and your mom catch this ghost." Jack turned and ran down the stairs yelling about how this spook won't get away from them.
Danny's smile faded once his Dad left the attic. He could already feel a rash forming on his head and back. He dropped his head to look at the picture in his hand. A drop fell onto the picture as he muttered to himself.
"I want to.. but I don't believe you." He sighed heavily, dropping the photo to the ground as a ring of white light appeared around him.
"Alright. Let's see how fast I can nab this ghost and clean the Attic before Mom and Dad get back.-Going ghost!" He transformed into Phantom and flew through the ceiling, leaving the photo and the attic behind.