Maddie sighed. "You know there's a difference between ecto-contamination and an actual ecto-signature."

Jazz rolled her eyes. "Yes, I do. So trust me when I say Danny has an ecto-signature."

"Jazz." She shouldn't need to spell this out for her. "You know Danny refuses to wear his HAZMAT suit when working with our ecto-samples—"

"Really? That's why you think it's just contamination?" Jazz got to her feet and gestured towards the lab. "When was the last time you saw his HAZMAT suit?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Danny's HAZMAT suit. I can wear yours, but he's too small for yours or Dad's. So when was the last time you saw his?"

"It's in the closet in the lab with the rest of them." It was off to the side, to be sure—with Danny never taking his out and she and Jack routinely replacing theirs, it had invariably been pushed as far away as possible—but that didn't mean it wasn't there.

Jazz crossed her arms again. "Then show me."

"Do you really think we have time for this now?"

"For me to make my point? Yeah, I do. Go look, okay? Just humour me. I'll get dressed and meet you down there."

Maddie smirked, eyeing Jazz's PJs under her housecoat. "I think I'll be back upstairs before you're down."

"I wouldn't bet on it," Jazz said before turning and heading for the stairs.

Maddie went downstairs to the closet she'd been in just yesterday. Danny's suit wasn't mixed in with hers, so she started going through Jack's side.

Only Danny's suit wasn't over there, either.

She checked the floor in case it had slipped off the hanger. Nothing.

The top shelf.

Nothing.

"No luck?" Jazz asked from behind her.

Maddie turned, noting her daughter's triumphant smirk. "Did Danny throw it out and not tell us so we wouldn't order a replacement?"

"No," Jazz said slowly. "He still has it. You just don't recognize it anymore."

"Honey, please. Just be straight with me."

"I'm trying. I just need you to believe me, and knowing Danny's HAZMAT suit isn't in the closet will help."

Maddie let out a slow breath. She still did Danny's laundry more often than he did, so if the HAZMAT suit was balled up in his room somewhere, it wasn't just stuffed in the back of a drawer or the back of his own closet. Not that he should have it mixed in with his other clothes, given the lectures he'd been given over the years on accidental contamination and the purpose of the HAZMAT suit, but—

But if he hadn't left it in the lab, and he hadn't thrown it out, what had he done with it?

And what did Jazz mean, that she simply didn't recognize it anymore?

"If it helps you see the truth," Jazz added, "you've seen Danny's HAZMAT suit a lot. And recently. Definitely this week if not yesterday."

"I don't know what you're hinting at," Maddie said, "so please just tell me. We really don't have time for this."

"When was the last time you saw Phantom?"

"What does Phantom have to do with any of this?"

"Everything. Now answer the question."

Fine. She'd humour her, if only to get some answers in the end. "Two days ago. He defeated the Box Ghost before your father and I could make it to the scene."

"And?"

And what? Phantom had had his stolen Fenton Thermos, as usual, and he….

And he was wearing the same thing they'd always seen him in.

A HAZMAT suit not unlike theirs.

Not unlike Danny's.

You just don't recognize it anymore.

Had Phantom stolen Danny's HAZMAT suit? She supposed they were the same size, and he clearly had no qualms about stealing their stuff. He could have easily disguised it so they didn't discover the truth—something which had clearly worked until Jazz had neatly laid it all out for her. Since Danny had never particularly liked wearing his HAZMAT suit, he wouldn't have complained when Phantom had taken it.

Then again, Danny was on friendly terms with Danielle. Given Phantom's popularity among children, Danny was very likely on friendly terms with Phantom, too. Friendly enough to help Jazz supply him with their technology, release the ghosts he caught back into the Ghost Zone, and give away his own suit. She'd assumed as much, really. Danny would do whatever he could to avoid coming on a ghost hunt with them. This shouldn't be a surprise.

Maddie groaned. "Phantom's wearing Danny's HAZMAT suit."

"That's one way of putting it."

How was there another way to put that? And what did it even have to do with Jazz insisting that Danny had an ecto-signature? He wasn't a ghost, and humans didn't have ecto-signatures. It was as simple as that.

Except that girl—

Ectoplasm shouldn't turn into blood. Ghosts shouldn't bleed.

And her baby boy's eyes shouldn't change colour. Shouldn't glow.

"Danny and Phantom," Maddie said slowly. It was starting to make sense now. Danny's skittishness around their weapons. His recent actions. Phantom's protective nature. "Danny Phantom." How could she and Jack have missed this before?

"Exactly."

Danny wasn't just friends with Phantom.

The similarities in their names, their statures, their voices— It wasn't just coincidence.

And Phantom's knowledge of their weapons wasn't second-hand.

He knew exactly how to avoid them because he knew exactly how they worked. He knew what was coming because he'd had warning—he'd always had warning—because she and Jack had told him about their prototypes. Without ever realizing it.

"That's why he wanted to protect her. The ghost girl."

"Well, that's certainly part of it. If we knew exactly who she was, we'd know the rest, but Danny's been playing that close to his chest." Jazz pursed her lips. "Mom. I know this is a lot to take in. I know it's hard. And just you guys can't blame yourselves for what happened, and you can't blame Danny for what he's done since. He's been doing the best he can. He didn't want to tell you about this—he never really told me about this; I found out on my own—and clearly, he didn't want us to know about Danielle. But he cares about her more than he cares about protecting his secret, which tells us all we need to know."

"He thinks she's family." Protectiveness. One of Phantom's key traits. And Jack's.

Like father, like son.

Oh, they'd been so blind.

How many of the human host's traits did the ecto-entity embody? How much went the other way? It was what it was, whichever name Jazz wanted to give it. Changes in molecular structure, ecto-mutations…. Even if Jazz didn't think it was long-term overshadowing because of the extent of the changes, even if she thought Danny had become some sort of halfa, the effects of the contamination were painfully clear.

And it explained a few things she and Jack had never been able to figure out.

Like how Phantom survived so well with limited contact with the Ghost Zone.

Or how Plasmius—the Wisconsin Ghost—had seemingly effortlessly made the move from Wisconsin to Amity Park.

Jazz's expression hardened. "She might be, if she is who I'm starting to think she is." Her voice was sharp, bitter, and she took a deliberate breath before saying, more evenly, "Did she look at all like Phantom?"

She had.

She could easily be his sister.

And Danny called her a cousin. Could that be what it felt like, to him? Back in the lab, had she faced not just Phantom's anger but also Danny's?

"Tucker said there was a family resemblance," Jazz added when Maddie couldn't find her voice to answer.

"There is," Maddie agreed quietly. Carefully. She couldn't deny it, and there was no point in it. Anyone looking at Danielle would see the similarities between her and Phantom.

And Danny.

Their eyes had been the same shade of green, and Danny's…. Danny's had glowed just as the phantom's had when Maddie had first captured it—her—when she had tried so hard to break free.

When she had tried unsuccessfully to break free.

When she had fought with increasing desperation and uttered sweets like swears.

Her eyes had dimmed by the time she'd begun bargaining, bartering. Promising anything and everything she could for freedom.

For Maddie to stop.

How much had been lies?

I'm human, too.

It couldn't all be truth, but…. It wasn't all lies, either, not like she'd thought.

"Vlad knows. He knows the full story. He has to." Jazz glanced toward the Ghost Portal. "And he sent Dad away on purpose. In the Spectre Speeder, too, to make it harder for us in case Danny is hiding in the Ghost Zone."

"The Fenton Ghost Portal never opened." Not while she'd been down in the lab, anyway. "The ghost…Danny…didn't go that way." But she'd still let Jack go to search it. Even though it was the only stable entrance, even though no ghost should be able to open something that was genetically locked—

Because she'd known that Danny could open it. Might have been able to slip back to open it.

Because she'd known that he'd been in charge, in control, using those powers, and not the ghost he'd rescued.

And there were always natural portals, and ghosts seemed to have a better grasp on where and when those turned up than she and Jack had ever been able to determine.

"He wouldn't have to. Vlad's got a portal, too, and Danny has friends that can create them."

Then Jack's search wasn't as fruitless as she'd feared. Maybe Danny—

Wait.

"What do you mean, Vlad has a portal?"

"Mom, think about it. He never gave up ghost hunting. And Danny doesn't need to tell me that he supplies the Red Huntress with her weapons when it's clear that most of her stuff is knockoff FentonWorks tech or adapted from what Skulker routinely uses. Besides, where did you think she got rid of all the ghosts she caught? For that matter, where did you think Phantom got rid of all the ghosts he caught?"

"I—" She'd never thought about the Red Huntress. She'd barely thought about Phantom. "I always knew you and Danny supported Phantom. I thought that's how he got access to our inventions."

"Well, I guess you weren't entirely wrong." Jazz looked at the Fenton Ghost Portal again, still standing open and waiting for Jack's return, and bit her lip. Then, "We should call Sam and Tucker. They know the Ghost Zone better than I do. They've been helping Danny map it."

They what?

"I don't think they've ever travelled without the Spectre Speeder, but if you just give them a couple of the Fenton Jet Packs, they'll be able to make it to someone who's an ally before Walker catches them."

An ally?

"I don't want to think that Dad's in danger—the ghosts have to know there will be retaliation if any of them try something—but to say Vlad doesn't like him is an understatement, and he's basically got some ghosts on his payroll. He might try something. I'd feel better if Sam and Tucker were watching his back."

"Jazz, slow down." Vlad Masters hosted Plasmius. Her son hosted Phantom. Whether she liked the idea or not, they were halfas, contaminated on a molecular level. Vlad had never given up ghost hunting despite hosting a ghost—or maybe because of that? She really hadn't any idea how much the human hosts could control and how much the ghosts overtook them—and, from Jazz's not-so-subtle hints, likely knew how Danielle had become a host, too. Or been the cause of it.

But Sam and Tucker had been helping Danny—or Phantom?—map the Ghost Zone? Wasn't it an ever-changing, ever-expanding realm that fluctuated based on happenings in their world? And they'd taken the Spectre Speeder to do it? And made friends with ghosts, to the point that Jazz could offhandedly refer to some as allies?

Or maybe not friends, per se, but more than mere acquaintances or there would be no concept of alliance. She hadn't thought ghosts could form alliances. Not true ones, anyway. Not ones where they didn't fully intend to betray the other party.

But she'd never thought ghosts could bleed, either.

Or even dreamed that something like a halfa could exist.

"We don't really have time to go any slower than we are. Vlad will want to get to Danny and Danielle before we do, and you can bet that whoever he doesn't sic on Dad will be deployed to try to find them." Jazz blew out a breath. "I know this is hard. I know it's a lot, but there will be time for processing later. Can you trust me to take the lead on this?"

She wanted to sit down and think, figure this out, work out where they'd gone wrong—where she'd gone wrong—and figure out how to tweak their theories.

But Jazz was right, of course.

Danny had been missing—on the run, thanks to Phantom—for over twenty-four hours now.

Time was not on their side.

"Call Sam and Tucker," Maddie murmured. She moved to sit on the stairs to wait while Jazz pulled out her cell phone. She didn't want to involve Danny's friends, but from what Jazz was saying, they were already involved. They'd known about Danny—about Phantom—just as Jazz had. Unlike Jack. Unlike herself.

But Danny hadn't told Jazz about Danielle, and he'd simply told Sam and Tucker that she was his cousin—something Maddie knew wasn't true. Not unless the ghost had completely overtaken the girl, though she doubted the explanation was as simple as Danielle—or the ghost she hosted—being Phantom's cousin, not with the similarities in their features. And Vlad….

Vlad had given very little indication that he knew about any of this.

If he hadn't reacted so violently to the mere idea of being exposed to blood blossom extract, if the broken ectoplasm samples didn't seem so contrived in hindsight….

If the Wisconsin Ghost hadn't relocated to Amity Park when Vlad had bought his mansion.

She supposed she shouldn't be so surprised that he was still involved in the paranormal. She'd thought he'd given it up after the accident in college. She'd thought he'd eschewed that in favour of more tangible things, and he'd certainly made something of himself. But Vlad's science had always been sound. He'd had a talent for it, and he'd never been someone who gave up on something that came so easily to him.

But the accident.

His sickness.

The fact that he'd cut ties with them for twenty years, only to suddenly—and enthusiastically—become a part of their lives again.

It was an accident, Jazz had said. It was the accident. Don't blame yourselves. As if they were free of blame, even though the entirety of it shouldn't be settled on them.

Their involvement had led to Vlad's lab accident.

And…and judging by when Phantom had turned up, judging by what Jazz had implied as much as what she'd said, their negligence had led to Danny's lab accident.

Maddie's eyes turned to the portal.

The Fenton Ghost Portal had been their greatest achievement. They'd been heartbroken when it hadn't worked.

And they hadn't questioned enough when it had.

She and Jack were—at least in part—responsible for the fact that Danny hosted Phantom. The fact that Danny was a halfa, changed or fused or whatever on a molecular level. They had done this to their own son. They had subsequently endangered his life on a near daily basis by trying to hunt Phantom down.

And he'd never told them.

He'd been afraid, no doubt, of what they'd do.

Of them dismissing him or not listening.

Of the fact that he might have been the one on their examination table. That her scalpel might have been slicing into him and not Danielle. That she might have ignored his begging instead of hers.

Maddie rested her head in her hands. When Jazz got off the phone, she asked, "Who do you think Danielle is?"

"Sam's going to call Tucker. They'll be over as soon as they can."

"Jazz," Maddie said, raising her head, "who do you think Danielle is?"

Emotions flew across Jazz's face before it settled into a careful mask. "An experiment."

Maddie took a steadying breath but didn't speak or let her eyes stray from Jazz's face.

Jazz, in turn, fidgeted and started to pace. "I thought Vlad and Danny were the only halfas," she said, "but clearly that's wrong. I do know that Vlad has an unhealthy obsession with Danny because of that, and I know he has no scruples whatsoever. And I know he hasn't given up his paranormal studies, that he has a secret lab, complete with its own portal to the Ghost Zone, and enough wealth and resources to build whatever he can dream up." She stopped and turned to face Maddie. "And I know that Vlad has an unhealthy obsession with you."

Clearly, Danny's discomfort in Vlad's presence was far more than that, and Jazz's hatred of him wasn't remotely unwarranted.

"Danielle looks like she could be Phantom's sister, right?"

Maddie's stomach twisted. "She also appears to be a teenager—or nearly one—so there is absolutely no way Vlad could have gotten something from me." They hadn't had contact with Vlad for years. And even if she couldn't remember every moment, even if she knew people couldn't tell when they were being overshadowed, she'd never woken with scars or stitches that weren't from a lab accident that she remembered.

Of course, she might not have, given a ghost's ability to use intangibility.

The idea made her feel so violated. She wanted to scream, but the entire situation was too exhausting.

"He didn't know about Danny until the reunion," Jazz pointed out, and then she hesitated. "At least, I don't think he did. Given the number of ghosts who know who Danny is—and what he is—when they meet Phantom, it's quite possible that Vlad had heard rumours and had his suspicions. He might not have just been hoping to rekindle something with you."

Bile rose in Maddie's throat, and she swallowed it back down. She'd invited this man into her house. He knew she was happily married to Jack, and yet…. And yet, thinking over his words, so many of them could have another meaning. One she'd never realized. Maybe Plasmius had twisted Vlad's crush on her? Surely this wasn't all on Vlad, for all that her kids clearly blamed him.

But maybe they blamed him because they had Phantom and Danny's relationship for comparison. Maybe Phantom wasn't as horrible to Danny as she'd been assuming. Maybe…maybe Phantom's association with Danny was the only reason he'd survived his lab accident. Maybe it had always been worse than they'd ever realized, than Danny had ever let on.

He hadn't wanted to go to the hospital when they'd found out. He'd flatly refused her suggestion of a doctor's checkup later. "We can go if I get worse," he'd promised, "but we can't exactly afford to go now. Insurance isn't going to cover my stupidity." He'd been right, but they'd have found a way to make it work, even if it had meant her picking up a job other than being an inventor, scientist, and stay-at-home mom for a few years.

But then his bruises and scrapes and what had looked like burn marks had faded, all faster than she'd anticipated, and she hadn't pushed the matter.

She'd failed him.

How could Jazz expect them not to blame themselves?

And Vlad. Plasmius. Acting the way they did. (He did?) Every calculated move, knowing her ignorance of Danny's situation, of everything….

"Vlad's always had a fixation with Danny he hasn't had with me, just because Danny's a halfa. So, Danielle might not be yours," Jazz said slowly. "At least, not in the way you're thinking. She might be. I really, really don't know for sure, and I wouldn't put anything past Vlad. But I…. The science is shady, Mom. I've been trying to do some research, and there's nothing concrete that I can find. But Vlad wouldn't care. He'd try it anyway. And she might look older than she is."

"Do you think I have another daughter? That you have the sister you've always wanted?"

Jazz blew out a breath. "For all intents and purposes, yes. Danny certainly seems to treat her that way. And she's definitely not a cousin." Silence, as if Jazz was trying to give her time to let that sink in—or give herself that time—but Maddie didn't think any amount of time would be enough right now. She needed longer than she had. Still, she had enough time to be furious at Vlad, to be disgusted with herself, to feel for the little girl who'd never known her mother….

"But she might not just be a test tube baby, Mom, even with all the experimental science that went into accelerating her aging or making her a halfa." Jazz was fiddling with her fingers now, staring down at them as she knotted them together and broke free. "I just…. Vlad wouldn't want to leave her appearance up to chance. Even with the human genome mapped, I'm not sure he'd be able to pick and choose everything so precisely, not with all the genic interactions…." She broke off and looked up. "What if Vlad tried to clone Danny, but he got something wrong?"

"He got nothing wrong," Maddie said fiercely. "You know that as well as I do."

"That's not what I meant. There isn't anything wrong with Danielle. Just…."

"That part doesn't matter." Maddie got to her feet, her energy renewed. She had to do something. She had to fix this, or at least try, just in case it wasn't beyond repair. If Danny hosted Phantom, fine. Danielle hosted a ghost, too, and that was also fine. That didn't make them not family. They'd figure it out, whatever figuring it out involved. "She is who she is. What matters is finding her and helping her. Giving her the home she never had, if she can stand to live with us after what I've done to her." She had no idea how she could even begin to atone for that. For any of what she'd done. "Jack will understand when we tell him." He'd take this all better than she had. And he hadn't done what she had, either. Even if she couldn't have a relationship with Danielle, maybe Jack could.

If Vlad hadn't already destroyed her trust in any father figure.

Jack was patient. He might be able to win her over. He'd certainly try.

Maddie just hoped it wasn't too late.

"We have Phantom's ecto-signature on file. I'll see what I can do to recalibrate the Booo-merang, to undo whatever Vlad's done." She knew their invention better than he did. Showing him their blueprints hadn't helped matters—he could easily make his own Booo-merang now, thanks to his photographic memory—but making something would slow him down. Even if Jazz's guesses as to Danielle's origins were wrong—or at least not entirely correct—she had no reason to think Jazz's intel on Vlad's connections within the Ghost Zone were incorrect. Not when Jazz knew so much more about all of this than Maddie did. Than she'd ever dreamed was possible.

She'd been blinded for too long.

She'd lived in darkness—intentional darkness—for too long.

It was beyond time to break back into the light and make things right.

"I'll get the jet packs out for Sam and Tucker and then pack a few more things we might need for when we find Danny and Danielle." Jazz didn't say if, and Maddie appreciated that. When. There was so much more hope with when. "We need to be prepared for anything."

"I know." She hadn't left Danielle in anything resembling a good condition, and Jazz was right: Danny wouldn't want to be found. Especially if he thought she was hunting them down to finish what she'd started. She only hoped she could find them and explain and apologize before it was too late.

She didn't expect forgiveness.

If it came, it would take time.

But she hoped they might give her a chance.

She hoped she hadn't destroyed their family forever.

She didn't want to think that she might have lost her son and the daughter she'd never known she'd had.

"I'll work as fast as I can." Time was slipping away from them. She'd waited too long already. She'd trusted Vlad, and he'd stalled her and sent Jack away on what might very well be a wild goose chase—or a trap. She should have trusted her kids instead. She should have trusted her gut. "I promise."

She was going to do everything she could. For Danny. For Danielle.

For her family.