She let him call her Susan. She also let him pick the topic. Not pressing too much, but enough she likely questioned his cheer and rambling on to anything good.

Danny shoved the voice that sounded like Jazz in his head, a single word hovering over his head.

Avoiding.

Shut up, Jazz.

He wasn't avoiding.

This was head on, plan and place all here.

Danny glanced behind himself. At ease, Jesse lollygagged along with hands tucked into a hooded pale pink sweatshirt. Elizabeth walked in her deliberate usual one foot in front of the other, but head and eyes slowly taking in everything they passed.

Right.

Therapy Susan, done. Separated from Edi on pretense of wandering and hanging out, done. Issue now? Jesse was physically fast and Elizabeth, who'd tagged along, was observant. The mall was a place of distraction and possible ditching. Then off to Fenton Works before meeting up with Valerie.

It was annoying and frustrating how that did not go to plan.

Danny forgot early morning mall crowds lacked kids. Which would have been a good way to do it. Get them talking, slowly inch from the cluster of kids, and BAM. Off he would go.

Lack of kids didn't mean lack of crowds though. Except. Elizabeth could weave through crowds with such ease that Danny simply stood and stared in amazement as he tried to figure out how. Then he'd cursed 'why' to the sky.

Or the sheer everything as Jesse and Elizabeth grew up middle of nowhere. Going to a mall was a thing. The closest three malls were all right about an hour away in three different directions. The mall and everything in it could have done the trick for them.

Nope.

It was also annoying and frustrating that Danny had been not using and avoiding it enough that...he realized now that he could have gone invisible.

Moron.

Could have just ran straight here as soon as Edi got the car to Amity too.

Something like guilt and pain hit Danny at that thought. Not enjoying the picture that painted in his head. His hand drifted to the blue notebook tucked in his backpocket. Still unread and unused, but ready to give back to Elizabeth with a few slips of his own folded up papers inside. He was going to drop it at the mall with what was to be his escape, but, well...

He had time between Fenton Works and running over to Nasty Burger in time to catch Valerie at her shift.

So. There was that. He still had time to get away. Especially with his oh so helpful brain reminding him a block from his house, a block from everything ghostly in his life, that 'invisibility is a thing you can do you flipping moron'.

Darting up the steps of a familiar stoop, Danny's throat clenched up as he pulled the spare house key out of its hiding place.

Last time. Opening this door. Stepping inside. Being home.

Home that lacked what made it home.

Mom. Dad. Jazz.

Wrinkling his nose at the visual reminder of who owned the place now and shoving that aside, Danny unlocked the front door to step inside.

Pain shot through his throat and down to his gut.

It looked the same as the last he saw it.

Hurriedly, he went upstairs to his room with jaw clenched. Not looking at photos on the wall. Not glancing into Jazz's bedroom. Not even taking in his own bedroom, going straight to the hiding spot of a shoebox box tucked in his closet. Even as he picked it up, he knew. Tossing it back, hearing it hit and echo empty, Danny headed right back down the stairs.

Ignoring a curious Jesse halfway up the stairs and a frowning Elizabeth studying the living room, Danny pressed in the code to the basement lab door. 4426. Ham.

Down another flight of stairs and then he'd have one in his hands. There. Beelining it over, Danny grabbed the item to solve it all, excitement and relief and reaffirmed at having it within his own two hands. Next, head to Valerie so she could do the deed to Phantom. Danny could, but he needed that garentee of the release button not being touched and he would be kept contained.

He turned to head back up and out, grinning.

And faltered.

Elizabeth and Jesse had followed him down, intrigued and awed and curious eyes going everywhere and to all his parents' work. The distraction. The moment Danny had waited for. Perfect. Right now, Danny.

His hand reached back, toying with the notebook in his pocket. Watching. Kind of proud and sad as he saw them moving about. Eyeballing the Bazooka with a spark in his eyes, Jesse probably thinking of Valerie and her weapons. Flipping through papers with a deep frown, Elizabeth glanced over to the large cylinders resting on the floor beside the table. Yeah, he chuckled in his head. Good luck understanding or figuring out...

Wait a minute.

Actually.

What was that?

Hand leaving his backpocket, Danny frowned himself as he headed over to where Elizabeth was looking back to the papers. He didn't exactly make it an everyday habit to go to the lab, but he did visit enough that he was confused at the sight of these large objects. Words and phrases stood out as Danny's eyes darted over the papers.

Sequencing. Research from Dolly. Advanced Cell Technology. Samples. M, J, Z, T, S. Strands of D-

"This is PRIVATE PROPERTY! I don't know how you HOODLUMS got down here, but I KNOW you will be feeling the cons-"

The ferocious and alarming, hair raising, fear freezing snarl cut off. Red dangerous glow lighting up the stairwell diminishing. The figure storming down jerked to a halt, light from both clenched fists shining and shadowing the lines of their clearly startled face.

"Daniel?"