Chapter 22: A Worried Mother Can Make Bad Decisions

A two and a half Jazz Fenton was excitedly awaiting the arrival of her new baby sibling. Her parents were making several last minute preparations for it. Everyone wanted the gender to be a surprise, but she had a feeling it was going to be a boy.

Jazz wanted to make something special for her baby brother but nothing turned out well. It either spontaneously combusted or fell apart. The little girl was on the verge of tears as she watched her water color painting slowly burst into flames. "MOMMY!"

An eight month pregnant Maddie Fenton waddled her way into the kitchen from the living room. "What's wrong sweetie?" Jazz ran over to her mom and face planted into her huge stomach while trying to stretch her arms around the older woman. "Jazz, please be careful. I'm not as resilient to your hugs as I used to be."

"I'm sorry." The small redhead kept her head buried in her mother's stomach.

Maddie laughed. "Are you apologizing to the baby or to me? Let me see those beautiful blue eyes." The two year old slowly moved her head to where her face could be seen. The pregnant woman's smile disappeared when she looked into her daughter's eyes. They weren't the normal teal blue she saw on a daily basis. Instead they were pure golden eyes and they were glowing.

Jazz sniffled and rubbed her eyes. When she opened them again they were back to normal. "Why do all my gifts keep buwning? I even used watew this time!"

Maddie hummed in thought. She knew the exact reason why but a different reason was needed. Jazz wasn't ready for the truth just yet. "It might be all of the loose wiring and faulty gadgets your father and I have in here. Why don't we take a break for now. Its almost your bedtime."

The young toddler let out another whine for a different reason. "But I'm not tiwed!..."

The older woman smiled again. "That whine says otherwise. Come on, maybe we can sneak a piece of your father's fudge."

"DID SOMEONE SAY FUDGE!" Jack Fenton could be heard from upstairs running at top speed and then a loud crash followed by a groan.

The two redheads quickly found the large man sprawled at the bottom of the stairs. Maddie carefully knelt in front of her husband. "Jack are you alright?"

"Are we still having fudge..." Everyone laughed and Jazz tried to help her father up.

Later that night while their oldest was fast asleep, the Fenton parents were on the phone with their oldest friend. "Her eyes were glowing Vlad, glowing! We can't keep brushing it aside! She'll already be considered different because she comes from a family of ghosthunters! What's going to happen if they find out she has powers?!"

"You must calm down Maddie. You're putting too much stress on yourself and the baby." Vlad waited patiently as his friend took dep breaths to calm herself. "Now how long has she been showing signs of having powers? Do you know why this is happening?"

Jack and Maddie shared a glance with one another. They both knew how Jazz had gotten her powers but she hadn't shown any signs of having them until recently, so there hadn't been any need to tell Vlad about there being another halfa. I̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶.̶

"We noticed that for the past couple days that anything Jazz would create for the baby would end up bursting into flames. She starts preschool soon. What if stuff like this keeps happening and we're not there!"

"Maddie you're getting all worked up again. How about Jasmine spends the day with me tomorrow? I can introduce her to the Green Bay Packers. I'm meeting with their coach to see if they'll reconsider my offer."

"Vlad I don't think you'll be able to buy an entire football team."

"I might!"

The following day after Vlad picked up Jazz, Maddie had sent Jack to lock all of their more dangerous inventions along with anything that was unfinished inside the basement vault. While he was doing that, she was cleaning and putting away anything that didn't belong outside the basement.

Maddie had just finished putting away some of her test tubes when a thought occurred to her. What if she used her scientific knowledge to counteract Jazz's powers. If they were suppressed early on, then there was nothing to worry about, hopefully. The pregnant woman quickly got to work. Its a good thing she has several masters degrees in science.

Within a couple hours the red haired woman had synthesized some medicine to suppress ghost powers. Now she just needed to test them. Luckily Vlad had one of his annual checkups to see if any new powers emerged.

Jack emerged from the basement and gave his wife a hug from behind. "All of our gadgets and weapons are put away just like you wanted Mads. Hey what's this?" He reached for the newly made pills only for his hand to be swatted away.

"These aren't for you. You have freshly made fudge in the fridge." Maddie sighed at her husband's enthusiasm as he dashed towards the fridge, completely forgetting about the pills. She rubbed her swollen belly, lost in thought.

It was late afternoon when Vlad and Jazz arrived back at Fenton Works. The young toddler had on a yellow and green jersey that was much too big for her small body. She also had green and yellow face paint on. A signed football was half hidden behind her back. "Daddy I've got a supwise for you! Tada!"

Jack knelt down closer to Jazz. "Wow Jazzy-pants! Did you get all these signatures from the players?"

"Yeah an they wewe weally nice and funny and one of them gave me a piggy wide!"

While the father- daughter duo talked about all things football. Maddie had taken Vlad aside so they could talk. The pregnant woman kept giving nervous glances to her friend and her family chatting in the living room. It was clear she wouldn't be able to start this conversation.

The billionaire sighed, he had a feeling on what this was about. "Maddie, is Jazmine showing signs of having ghost powers?" The red haired woman refused to meet his gaze. "I see... and how long have you suspected she might be half ghost?"

"I'm not sure what you-"

"Madeline!" Vlad's voice was still a whisper but there was still venom in his voice. "I've been part ghost for years now. Do you really think I wouldn't be able to tell that my own Goddaughter is becoming one!?"

Maddie finally looked into Vlad's eyes, shocked. "You mean she's... but, but she can't!" The redhead started pacing in the small kitchen. "My kids are already going to be considered different because of the profession Jack and I chose! What happens if what you say is true! What if she loses control of her powers and hurts someone! And Fenton Works may be small but its not the only ghost hunting agency out there! What if-"

"Madeline!" Vlad placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Please calm down. You're stressing yourself out again. Now what is it you want me to test?"

She wordlessly walked over to one of the cabinets and got out a glass and a couple pills. She filled the glass with water then handed both the pills and water to the halfa. "These are suppose to suppress ghost powers, but I don't know for how long. I wanted to ask you to take them and tell me when your powers go away and then the exact time they come back."

The gray haired man sighed. This was obviously a bad idea but if he didn't do this Maddie might do something worse. "Alright and I'm assuming you might me to spend the night to record and rectify any possible side effects?" The only response he received was a slight nod. "Alright let's get this over with." He quickly downed the pills and took a couple gulps of the water.

Jazz suddenly came running into the kitchen, almost tripping on her jersey. "Why're you still in da kitchen?" She gasped, "Awe you eatin' ice-cweam? I want some too!"

Vlad looked behind him to where Maddie now was and saw she had a bowl of ice-cream already made and was about to eat from the container. She paused when the two stared at her. "Oh um, sure sweetie, can you give this bowl to your uncle Vlad?"

Vlad suddenly let out a yawn. "Actually Jasmine I'm feeling pretty tired. How about you eat my ice-cream for me?"

The small girl grinned from ear to ear. "Than' you!" She wasted no time in eating the entire bowl of ice-cream. The older halfa let out another yawn. "Awe you tiwed uncle Vlad?"

"Just a little Jasmine. That football game wore me out."

"But the sun just went down!"

Maddie put a gentle hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Why don't we leave Vlad alone for a little bit. You need a bath young lady."

Jazz started whining. "But uncle Vlad and I wewe gonna make a foot."

"I think you meant a fort ,my dear, and I'll still be here when you get back."

"Pwomise?"

"Promise."

"Okay!" The small red head ran upstairs wanting to be done as quickly as possible. Thirty minutes later she was in her favorite pajamas and teddy bear only to see Vlad was passed out on the couch. "He pwomised."

Jack came downstairs carrying a blanket. "Don't worry Jazzy-pants, there's still tomorrow. Why don't you and I go to build a bear in the morning and design a bear for the baby. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

Jazz hummed in thought. "Can we make mommy something too?"

"I don't see why not. Wanna help me put this blanket on Vladdie?"

"Yeah!"

Later that night after everyone was sound asleep, Maddie's thoughts kept her awake. She finally gave up and decided to change into something comfortable. Since sleep wasn't an option at the moment, the pregnant woman went on a walk to clear her mind. She ended up at the park, which luckily wasn't too far from Fenton Works.

A glowing portal appeared nearby and Maddie visibly tensed, pulling a Fenton ray gun from her pocket. Out of the portal stepped a familiar figure. A teal ghost with four arms and flaming purple hair. Her red eyes scanned the surrounding area before settling on the pregnant woman. "Hello Madeline, you seem troubled."

"Hello Pandora, you seem shorter."

"I'm trying not to draw more attention to myself than I already have."

The other woman only nodded. "What brings you outside the ghost zone?"

"I think you already know why I'm here."

"So you've noticed the changes in Jazz as well."

"I have and I also know that you want to suppress her powers."

There was a heavy silence before Maddie spoke. "She's already going to have a tough life because of my profession! I don't want her to have anymore problems than there already will be!"

"I can understand your decision, but I must warn you that if you follow through on this it'll have major repercussions for her in the future. You can only avoid a problem for so long before it blows up in your face."

"I just want my kids to have a somewhat normal life. Am I wrong for trying to give her time to actually enjoy that life before it gets taken away?"

Pandora gave the pregnant woman a knowing look. "There's going to be many things in your children's lives that will be hard to deal with. Don't let this be one of them."

Maddie nodded, her worry temporarily going away. "Thank you."

"There's no need to thank me. Just take my warning to heart." With those final words the ghost goddess left through the still open portal, leaving the pregnant woman alone with her thoughts.