Pete fluffed up the pillows on the couch then glanced over at the clock. It was 6 am now, he and Danny had been driving around on Pete's patrol for about an hour.
"Sorry it's so late… or early…" Pete said, Danny blinked at him sleepily, looking half dead in a different sort of way than usual. It took him a moment to process what Pete had said.
"No, s'ok." Danny said before a large yawn cut him off and disrupted his train of thought. Pete nodded then went into the other room and returned with a blanket. Danny in the meantime kicked off his shoes by the couch and stood nearby awkwardly.
"I could probably get a bigger house but…" Pete looked around, "I'm not going to bask in luxury just because I have it. I still have a job and stuff, I like what I do, and just because I have money doesn't mean I should spend it recklessly like buying a bowling alley for my basement… Anyway I'm getting off topic." Pete said, shaking his head and looking over at his guest.
"Sounds like a friend of mine." Danny said with another yawn then a small smile as he thought of Sam. Pete handed Danny the blanket before disappearing down the hall, presumably to change into pajamas. Danny stood in the empty living room awkwardly, not quite sure what to do. He hesitated before he spread the blanket out on the couch and flipped back the corner so he could crawl in. After that Danny just sat on the couch-bed blinking and dazed, not quite sure if he should go to sleep or wait for Pete to return. He looked over at the clock that read 6:05 a.m. Pete was a very thorough police officer and, though he apologized profusely for it, he wouldn't take Danny to his house until his shift was over. Danny heard footfalls in the hall and looked up as Pete walked in in his pajamas with a tank top and shorts on.
"Are you good?" Pete asked, "Need anything before bed?" Danny stared at him and raised his eyebrows as his eyes traveled up to Pete's head.
"You still have your hat on." He commented, Pete looked up.
"Oh." He said before pulling his hat off. He shook his head, seemingly at himself and his little blunder, before speaking again, "My wife and daughter get up pretty early some mornings, about seven or so even on weekends so they might wake you up in an hour.."
"I don't sleep much anyway." Danny said… "Or… I've never gotten a chance to sleep well." He shrugged, Pete considered this for a moment, he hadn't realized Ghosts could sleep, but he wasn't about to press the issue as a yawn interrupted his thoughts, causing Danny to yawn in return.
"Well… goodnight." Pete said walking to the wall and flicking off the lights.
"Goodnight… and thanks." Danny laid down, snuggling up under the blankets.
"Don't worry about it." Pete, now just a black shadow, said moving back to his room where presumably he and his wife slept. Danny closed his eyes and sunk into a dreamless sleep.
Danny opened his eyes to find a small girl staring at him. She wore black pajamas with a white embroidered DP on the breast pocket in a swirly script. She had a small stuffed Danny Phantom plush clutched to her chest. Her short black hair kind of reminded Danny of Sam when they were younger complete with the strange purple eyes, though this girl's eyes were a deeper purple. The girl stared at Danny intensely, her eyes narrowed a moment before she stood up walking to the kitchen doorway and yelling into the other room.
"MOOMMY! HE'S AWAKE!" She yelled. Danny sat up holding his head still tired, he had only had about a half hour of sleep probably, he hadn't even started to dream. He wasn't anxious to dream anyway given his situation he figured he'd only have nightmares about the pain he had been in when his ghost half had been transformed into a human.
"Shhhh, Lydia." Policeman Pete's wife said coming into the living room while wiping off her hands on a towel. She had brown hair, unlike her daughter and husband, with soft hazel eyes. She was neither tall nor short, neither fat nor skinny, but her smile was warm and comforting as she approached Danny.
"Good morning, I'm making pancakes. Would you like some? I'm Sarah by the way." Sarah smiled. Danny disentangled himself from the blankets and stood up holding out his hand for Sarah to shake, the woman took it with a smile.
"Danny. Pleased to meet you." Danny introduced himself with a small polite nod. Lydia grabbed Danny's pant leg causing him to look down at the girl, he guessed that she was around five or six years old.
"So are you really Danny?" Lydia asked, eyes wide with wonder, Danny smiled and ruffled her hair.
"Danny I am." He nodded at her, Lydia smiled then began hugging Danny's leg enthusiastically and squeeing.
"Excuse her, she's been saying 'Danny Phantom is sleeping on our couch' all morning. My husband told me he brought you home last night, but didn't share all the specifics. He has a habit of picking up strays." Sarah smiled, Danny let Lydia hug his leg and he shrugged and nodded toward Sarah.
"Don't worry about it, I don't mind the hug… She's mostly right anyway." Danny said as Lydia beamed up at Danny. Sarah gave Danny a strange look, he ran his hand through his hair and took a deep breath.
"It's hard to explain… the Fentons…" Danny said, Sarah's face turned to one of recognition, "Well there was this experiment of theirs and… well I'm not so Phantomish anymore… but I was a ghost before yesterday night." He glanced up at Sarah as she processed this, her brow furrowing a moment before she nodded.
"Well I've heard of undead poultry from the Fenton house so this doesn't surprise me." Sarah shrugged as she turned to go back to the kitchen and then paused when Danny spoke again.
"Undead poultry? How do you know about the thanksgiving fiasco?" Danny asked confused, Sarah looked at Danny.
"Sam, Pete's niece, she told us last year. How do you know about that?" Sarah asked, Danny hesitated, scrambling for an answer that wasn't, 'I'm secretly half ghost and my human half is Danny Fenton, I lived through it!' He didn't think she'd believe him anyway.
"Well… I uh… I kind of use the Fenton Ghost Portal… a lot." Danny said, rubbing the back of his neck and looking away. "I… well… I have to put the ghosts I capture back in the Ghost Zone somehow you know… and well… it's the only consistent ghost portal in the area…" He trailed off wondering why he was still talking.
"I'm not going to turn you in, you don't need to explain it to me further." Sarah said with a warm smile.
"Mr. Phantom." Lydia finally spoke up, Danny looked down at the girl, "You… you aren't a ghost anymore?" She asked. "Why?"
"Because… uh… well I'm human now." Danny said, "It was… it's like a magic spell." Danny said mysteriously trying to make it seem magical, not wanting the child to worry about him. Lydia stared hard at Danny before seeming to decide this was a good enough explanation.
"Well now you can eat pancakes… and you get to be alive so that's good!" Lydia said, then she let go of Danny's leg and turned to leave. She paused and looked up at him.
"Are you sad to not be a ghost anymore?" she asked. Danny frowned and considered the question before shrugging.
"I guess I am a little sad." He nodded. Lydia gave him one more tight hug around his legs.
"Then it's a good thing magic spells can be broken!" she said before beaming.
"Lydia, you should stop bothering Danny and go get dressed." Sarah said gently, the child nodded and ran off leaving Sarah and Danny alone in living room. Sarah smiled at Danny and half gestured into the kitchen.
"I'm getting ready to start the pancakes. Do you want to help?" she asked with an encouraging smile. Danny nodded and joined her in the kitchen mixing pancake batter and then going to wash the dishes. Sarah began to heat up a pan on the stove and waited till it got warm before beginning to ladle out batter onto the warm pan. It made a sizzling noise and the kitchen filled with the smell of breakfast.
"My mom used to make pancakes." Danny said watching with a nostalgic smile, "they always seemed to glow though." he added, frowning slightly at the memory, "It was really weird actually. I fed them to my pet hamster and then he glowed for a week." Danny laughed at the memory. A zombie named Pete came into the kitchen headed straight for the coffee with appropriate groans and moans. Danny laughed at the theatrics of the man, he had seemed so professional the night before, now he kinda reminded Danny of a typical teen.
"Good morning." Danny said in a sing-song voice. Pete mumbled something unintelligible then poured coffee into a mug before shuffling to the table. He sat down with a dramatic groan and absently blew across the top of the coffee mug. Danny and Sarah exchanged a look before laughing.
"He's not really animated until about a half hour after his coffee." Sarah explained to Danny who laughed and nodded.
"I used to be like that, except it was cola not coffee, not a big fan of coffee really. I used to drink a large cup of cola every morning before school…" Danny trailed off as Lydia came bouncing back into the kitchen black hair in pigtails. He smiled, noticing her distinctly Danny Phantom themed outfit. She was now wearing a small black skirt, black leggings underneath and white shoes. She also had on a black shirt with Phantom's signature logo on it.
Lydia then giggled at Danny before hiding behind her dad who jumped at being suddenly attacked by the miniature DP fanatic. Danny waved at her and Pete just sucked down more coffee ignoring the strangeness of the encounter. Danny chuckled and went back to cleaning the dishes, there weren't many, just some bowls, spoons and measuring cups that were used to create the pancake batter that Sarah was currently flipping into pancakes.
"Used to?" Sarah wondered. Danny froze then looked up at her with wide eyes looking somewhat childish, before he focused back on the dishes.
"Before… before I was a ghost." Danny answered softly, since becoming a ghost, he found that caffeine really hadn't worked on him, he still drank and ate food when he was human, but the usual chemicals and medications seemed to cease working once he had half died.
Sarah froze, suddenly reminded that the human boy in her house had indeed once been a ghost, but even before then he'd been alive… he had died before. Sarah stared at him a moment and Danny looked up feeling the intensity of her gaze. He smiled trying to break the tension as he washed the last of the dishes. He opened his mouth to reassure her he was fine just as Lydia attacked Danny, holding up a sharpie.
"Sign my posters? Please!? I was told it's important to get signatures from famous people." She begged, her deep purple eyes wide and pleading. Danny smiled then looked over at Sarah who nodded and waved him off. Lydia wasted no time in dragging Danny off to her room. Sarah looked over at Pete who was blinking into his coffee, waiting till Danny had vanished into the room before speaking to her husband.
"Do you think… that his parents want him back now?" Sarah asked, "He is alive again." Sarah said, looking back toward Lydia's room.
"As far as I can gather his parents never even knew he died." Pete sighed, still not completely awake. Sarah glanced at him, but her husband said no more, and she turned her gaze back down the hall, a sad and haunted feeling filled her at this thought.
"And this one too." Lydia said. Danny had gasped at the amount of posters around him when he entered the room. They all had various representations of him. Cartoony versions and photos that had been blown up and edited with his name splayed out across the fronts. Posters from Japan, where he appeared as an anime protagonist in some sort of mini series.
"I really need to put a trademark on my name." Danny shook his head as he signed another poster, the one Lydia had pointed at. Lydia gripped her plushy to her chest looking at Danny with awe as he signed. When he finished his signature with a flourish he turned and smiled at Lydia and handed her the Sharpie, even though he wasn't sure he should be handing a five year old a permanent marker.
"Mr. Phantom…" Lydia said, bouncing on her, the bed creaked slightly as she did so. "How did you die?" she asked Danny froze, "You are alive now because of the magic spell… but… how did you get dead before?" She asked, tilting her head at him innocently. Danny was taken aback by the question. He was quiet for a moment before speaking,
"Well…" Danny started, he sighed. "It wasn't fun…I had an accident in my parent's lab." he explained as he took a seat next to her on the tiny bed. Lydia's eyes got wider if possible as she stared at him.
"Did it hurt… does it hurt to become dead?" Lydia asked, seeming suddenly worried about it. Danny wasn't sure how to interact with kids exactly and he decided to share the truth.
"Well for me it did, I got electrocuted." Danny admitted forlornly and shook his head. "It doesn't hurt for everyone as far as I can tell."
"So… did your parents miss you?" Lydia asked. Danny smiled then ruffled her hair a bit causing her to giggle.
"I don't know I kept it a secret." Danny said with a small smile.
"How do you keep dying a secret, when somebody dies in my family everyone knows and they're always sad." Lydia said. Danny sighed and Lydia frowned, discontented with his that response, "Your parents must have seen you fighting as a ghost, everyone has! They would have seen your powers!" she argued and pushed a fist into the sky as if showing him powers, Danny laughed a little at her expression and smiled kindly at her.
"But I looked different as a human." He explained. "They didn't recognize me, even though they saw me as a ghost."
"Nuh uh, you don't look diffren, you just don't really glow, you still have white hair and green eyes, your face looks the same." Lydia said. Danny smiled at the girl, she definitely reminded him of Sam when she was younger. Sam was forever arguing and she was quite good at it for her age, which made her parents red in the face. Danny thought Lydia was delightful and didn't understand why Sam hated babysitting, then again perhaps her mom's sister had kids that were unruly. He shook off his thoughts and focused on Lydia's argument again, trying to explain to her despite her young age.
"Well you see, when I became human this time they turned my ghost body human. When I was human before I became dead, I had black hair and blue eyes. They didn't resurrect me so much as somehow convert my ghostly half to human." Danny said he wasn't sure why he had shared so much, but Lydia was like five, who was she going to tell who would believe her about a ghostly half. He wasn't even sure the child had picked up on that part of his explanation enough to dwell on it, but still, Lydia's eyes went wide.
"They can do that?" She whispered loudly, leaning, Danny wasn't sure how much wider her eyes could go at this point and he shrugged and gently poked her on the nose.
"I guess so because here I am." Danny said. Lydia sat on the edge of her bed gripping her stuffed Phantom close before looking at Danny and throwing herself on him, wrapping her arms around him. She gave him a tight hug before quickly pulling away and hugging her plush close to her again.
"What was that for?" Danny asked with a bemused smile, causing Lydia to blush deeper.
"I'm not really suppose'ta hug boys but… you looked sad… I like hugs when sad." Lydia said. Danny touched his face, he hadn't realized he had looked sad enough to warrant a hug from a child. He looked down at her again, his eyes soft as he looked at her.
"Did I?" Danny asked, Lydia nodded, they were quiet together for a moment before Lydia decided to force him to play a game with her. They passed the time like that for a couple minutes before Sarah came in.
"Lydia?" Sarah asked, smiling at the two of them playing pretend. Lydia hopped off the bed, "time to eat." Sarah informed, and gestured to Danny to come back to the kitchen. Danny stood up and followed the mother/daughter pair out of the room and back to the kitchen table. He took a seat next to Pete who was slightly more awake. Lydia ran up to her dad, grabbing his arm and shaking him violently.
"Daddy! Daddy! Wake up!" Lydia demanded, Pete smiled down at the girl.
"Hey Pumpkin." Pete greeted her before pulling the happy five year old onto his lap and tickling her while she squirmed and giggled till she was released. Sarah gave both of them a look and Lydia climbed into her seat, Danny sat down in the extra chair. Sarah began putting pancakes in front of him and then placing butter and syrup on the table along with napkins and juice. Pete yawned, causing Danny then Lydia to yawn.
"Looks delicious." Pete smiled looking over at Danny's plate. Danny put his face above the plate and inhaled deeply.
"Smells amazing." He complimented with a smile as Sarah brought more pancakes over to serve Lydia then Pete.
"I like pancake!" Lydia exclaimed excitedly. Sarah had made the pancakes for Lydia a little smaller and Danny thought the gesture was sweet, not to mention the mini pancakes were adorable.
"Thank you for the compliments." Sarah smiled as Lydia dug into her pancakes. Pete cut his pancakes up all at once while Danny was cutting as he went, eating quickly. He hadn't realized exactly how hungry he was until he began to eat. Perhaps it had something with the toll turning human had taken, that or he was just a teenage boy, either explanation fit.
"Do you want to go to the park with me?" Lydia asked, eating and swinging her little legs back and forth. Danny had nearly cleared his plate by the time she had asked, and he paused his fork stuck in a bite of pancakes. He blinked looking between Lydia and Sarah. Sarah nodded, indicating that it was alright with her if he wanted to come with them.
"Umm…. I guess… Yes I can do that." Danny said before taking another bite of pancake . Lydia smiled, pancake in her mouth. Sarah got after her about closing her mouth when she had food in it and not to talk with food in her mouth. Lydia apologized but still had food in her mouth while doing so, causing Sarah to sigh and shake her head.
Danny finished his food and sat at the table as he waited for everyone else. Pete finished eating then placed his plate in the dishwasher, Danny frowned, why hadn't he noticed that and just washed everything by hand? Pete then headed down the hall, presumably, back to bed. Danny couldn't blame him, he had a late shift. Danny thought it was nice that he spent time with his family before they left or before he went back to sleep. It was often that his parents wouldn't see them for weeks while working on an experiment, the contrast was a little depressing.
Danny looked at his empty plate and followed suit, also taking the batter bowl which was soaking and placing it in the dishwasher to be helpful. He moved back to the living room, going about folding the blankets he had used before going back to sit with Sarah who was reading the morning paper as she ate. Lydia was playing with her pancakes and smiled at Danny, showing him the "star" she had turned her pancake into by biting around the smiled and praised her creativity as he sat with the family, a few minutes later he was struck with a sudden, though not totally uncommon urge.
"Um… where is the bathroom?" Danny asked, shifting slightly in his chair, Sarah looked up from her paper, taking a minute to process the question before answering.
"Oh, down the hall, it's the first door on the right." Sarah said. Danny nodded, following her directions down the hall to the bathroom. Finishing up his business Danny washed his hands and looked into the mirror jumping at his reflection again. He paused and took a minute to stare at his face. From the glimpses of white hair he caught in the corner of his eye and the beat of his heart, he knew that he was a human version of his ghost half. That didn't mean it wasn't incredibly strange to see. With a sigh Danny turned off the sink then pausing a minute turned it back on, filling his hand with water and rinsing out his mouth a few times in lieu of brushing his teeth. With another sigh Danny realized he didn't have a toothbrush or any other toiletries and he would probably have to go home sooner rather than later. It would probably be easier to find a way to get himself back to normal if he had access to his parents' equipment and could figure out why he had become this way in the first place.
Danny took a steadying breath, resolving to ignore his problem for now, and he exited the bathroom. Sarah must have taken care of the folded blankets since they were absent from the couch where he had left them folded. Danny fished his shoes out from under the couch a couple dust bunnies clinging to them, he brushed them off to get rid of the dust before he pulled them on. Lydia was coming out of her room wearing both a jacket and a big smile. Danny chuckled a little to himself as Sarah came out and ushered Lydia into the bathroom to get her ready for the day.
Danny sat on the couch waiting for them until a smiling Lydia came bouncing down the hall and grabbing Danny's hand to lead him to the door. Danny followed, and they waited for Sarah to get her keys and jacket before joining them at the door.
Lydia kept hold of Danny's hand as they headed to the car, jumping excitedly as Sarah unlocked the doors. Lydia climbed in once the door was open, then climbed up into her car seat buckling herself in. Danny got in the passenger side, mentally noting how much cleaner Sarah's car was than Pete's. Pulling out of the driveway Sarah turned on the radio and Lydia started demanding she turn on Morbid Antisocial Youth. This made Sarah sigh, but she relented and this reminded Danny once more that this child was related to Sam, he turned in his seat smiling at Lydia.
"I like this band too, What's your favorite song?" Danny asked.
"My Parents Reek!" Lydia exclaimed, excited that somebody else liked the same kind of music.
"Yeah, I like that one too." Danny nodded with a smile, Lydia clapped her hands happily and Sarah sighed softly.
"She gets her tastes from her cousin, she idolizes her." Sarah said, "As long as Sam doesn't start trying to raise the dead and Lydia starts thinking that's cool… I guess we'll let her explore different ways of expressing herself. But since Sam knows so much about ghosts… and Lydia is obsessed with Danny Phantom… well you… Lydia wants to be like her cousin." Sarah shook her head. Danny could see where a mother might be worried but Danny was also pretty sure Sam had never tried raising the dead again since sixth grade, not that mentioning that would be helpful in any way.
"Well… I guess it's good that she at least has a role model. I've met Sam before, she's helped out with ghost fights on occasion, she seems like a good kid, even if she has that whole doom and gloom goth thing going." Danny said, hoping to show Sam in a good light.
"That's true." Sarah nodded, she turned the steering wheel rounding the corner and turning down a busier street on their way to the park.
Lydia was rocking out in the back seat to M.A.Y. while Danny kept an eye out of the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle. Thankfully he saw no sign of it as they continued to the park that Danny was familiar with. It was past Casper High by about four blocks, but it was one of the larger parks which made it a good hang out spot. Pulling into the parking lot Sarah searched for a spot to park. It didn't take long to find one as it was still fairly early in the morning.
As soon as the car doors opened Lydia shot out and headed straight for the play equipment her Danny Phantom plushie stuck into her waist band as she ran. Danny and Sarah followed behind at a slower pace Danny ignoring the strange looks he got from the parents of the children that were running rampant around the playground. Danny sat down next to Sarah for a moment but clearly Lydia had other plans and she doubled back to pull him over to meet with her friends whom she had been talking to moments before.
"This is Robbie and this is Andy." Lydia said. Danny waved and Robbie, who was a young black boy, shook his head at Danny.
"No way. He's not Danny Phantom." Robbie said his batman shirt covered in dirt and wood chips and his tan cargo pants ripped open at the knees. Andy, who was wearing a plain white shirt with blue shorts, stared at Danny.
"I don't know Rob… it really does look like him." Andy said to Robbie. Lydia put her hands on her hips.
"It is Danny Phantom. He told me himself." Lydia said while Danny blinked and frowned before wondering if he should be offended by being called an "it" by a child.
"He could be lying!" Robbie said, "Plus he doesn't glow like a ghost!" he pointed this out with a look of triumph.
"I told you, there was a magic spell that made him human." Lydia glared. Robbie stuck his hands up and Andy interfered.
"Well magic is sort of hard to believe." Andy admitted in Robbie's defense, Lydia turned her glare on him.
"But it's true." Lydia insisted, Robbie scoffed and turned to Danny.
"You're not really Danny Phantom are you?" Robbie said, his eyes accusing as he glared at the teen. Danny crouched down so he was approximately eye level with Robbie, he gave him a mischievous smile as he did so.
"I'll tell you a secret." Danny whispered before glancing around the playground, Robbie looked unimpressed.
"What?" Robbie said it more as a demand than a question, Danny laughed before beckoning the kids in closer to listen to the secret.
"I am Danny Phantom." Danny said, "I got turned into a human by the Fentons, they had an interesting piece of equipment." He explained, Robbie's eyebrows raised, clearly not believing Danny's story.
"Prove it." Robbie said definitely, Danny sighed and shrugged.
"How? I don't have my ghost powers right now. I can't really prove it and anything I say you may claim I am just lying about." He pointed out before sticking his hands in the pockets of his hoodie, Robbie frowned at Danny and then folded his arms.
"Then you're not Danny Phantom anymore you're just a normal Danny." Robbie reasoned. This infuriated Lydia who hit in the arm Robbie causing him to cry out and rub the spot he'd been punched.
"But it's true!" Robbie yelled in his defense while Andy grabbed Lydia and tried to hold her back.
"Hey! No fighting." Danny said trying to interfere, but never having babysat before, he wasn't sure what was appropriate in breaking them apart.
"Even if he isn't a ghost anymore he's still Danny Phantom and he will still protect us!" Lydia shouted angrily at Robbie, clearly upset that he had disparaged her hero. Andy let go of her as Lydia promised not to hit Robbie again. Danny frowned, Robbie did have a point, if he wasn't a ghost anymore did that really mean he wasn't Danny Phantom anymore?
"Lydia." Sarah said sternly from the sidelines, "Play nice." she warned Lydia frowned but nodded.
"You have to be good, ok, or I think a lot of angry parents will be after me." Danny said looking around at the parents who had annoyed expressions and were all glaring at Danny probably thinking: 'who does he think he is dressing up like that?' Lydia looked around, seeming to notice the angry expressions and nodded.
"Okay." Lydia said, "But you'll still protect us right?" She asked hopefully.
"I'll do my best." he agreed with a small smile and a nod.
"Thank you Phantom!" She said as she gave him another hug.
"Now go play." Danny said. Lydia nodded and Andy let her go, Robbie following behind a bit angry that he hadn't really won or lost the argument. Danny started back toward Sarah when a familiar face at the edge of the play area made him freeze.
"There you are!" Maddie said, rushing to him, Danny took a step back, he hadn't expected to encounter one of his parents so quickly after running away.
"Uh…" was all he could manage to say before Maddie was dragging him away. His heart pounded, his rebellion had been short lived. He wondered what would happen once they took him back home, especially after he had run away. He figured he was about to find out as his mom dragged him to the Ghost Assault Vehicle.
Author's Note: Yes its faster to post chapters you've already written, but editing and re-writing is still tiring.
Do please let me know if their is anything weird, I think I got everything that was weird when I double checked the edited version, but my brain is kinda turning to mush and since I know what its supposed to say, there is a chance it's wrong, but in my head its right so I read it right?
Anyway hope you enjoy this update. I'll be trying to finish posting the rest of the already written chapters before the end of the month, and then we'll start getting into continuing chapters.