Knowledge of Part 15, "The Reckoning," and Part 16, "Heart to Heart," is recommended but not required.

This is probably going to be a two-shot. Enjoy!

Love Hurts!

"I am considerably out of here." - Get Even by Gretchen McNeil

Vlad

"Hutch Blairman, I have known you for a long time, so I know what I'm talking about when I say that this is the worst idea you've ever had."

My best-friend-recently-turned-romantic-partner is a spirit with sky blue skin, humanoid eyes with neon yellow irises, and close-cropped blue hair peeking out from under his black bucket hat. He is also a colossal moron if he thinks that a double date with Jack and Maddie Fenton is a good idea.

He had been crouched on my living room floor, letting my cat play with the end of his hot pink feather boa - no matter what he's wearing, that boa is always present and accounted for - but stands at my protest. Maddie, my Persian cat, meows her own protest, though hers is more along the lines of "Why did you take my toy?"

"First of all," Hutch says, "it wasn't my idea. Phantom suggested it to Jack, who in turn passed it on to me."

Ah, so it's Daniel whom I have to blame. Even now that we are no longer enemies, the boy continues to be a nuisance.

"And, second, I thought your relationship with Jack and Maddie was getting better."

"Well, yes, it's slightly better," I admit. "But, Maddie is still a bit frosty with me, and Jack may have forgiven me, but that doesn't mean I don't still feel awkward around him."

Long story short, less than two months ago, Jack and Maddie learned that Vlad Masters and Vlad Plasmius are one and the same. That means that they know everything he's done is everything I've done. To make another long story short, I've decided to make amends. Jack has been receptive. Maddie has been…polite.

"Come on, Vladimir." Hutch wraps his arm around me and lifts his hand high in the air as if to indicate something. "This could be the next step in your redemption arc!"

"Is that what we're calling it?" I snark.

Hutch pats me on the chest. "I have both made and seen enough movies to know what a redemption arc is." He was a movie director in life, and movies are his Obsession in death, so that unfortunately checks out.

I step away from him. "But, a double date? Are we teenagers now?"

"Adults go on double dates," Hutch says with the slightest hint of a whine. "Besides, it would just be dinner. We eat and chat, and then we leave. That's all. What's the worst that could happen?"

Any number of things. But, if it's just dinner, I suppose I could tolerate it. And, who knows? Maybe this would help smooth things over. Even the smallest bit would help.

Jack, I'm not worried about. The man would forgive you for killing him, and he proved that by forgiving me for trying more than once to do exactly that.

Maddie is trickier. She's more stubborn than Jack, and she was the object of my fixation for a long time. Fixations in terms of ghosts are specific things relating to your Obsession that you need to do or have, and your core is in constant and extreme pain until your fixation has been satisfied. It can make you do wild, desperate things. In other words, Maddie has every right to despise me.

I sigh and reluctantly give in. "Very well. I'll humor you." I point a stern finger at Hutch, "But, just dinner."

Hutch grins ear to ear and pinches his thumb and pinky together. "Just dinner. Nothing more and nothing less."

I had requested a restaurant outside of Amity Park, but that was vetoed when Hutch pointed out that Amity Park was arguably the safest place for him to have a casual Earth soiree. And, yes, he did use the word "soiree." People in this town have become accustomed to ghosts milling about and not necessarily reeking havoc. It's been even more peaceful since Daniel told his parents about his secret identity, which changed their whole outlook on ghosts.

Case in point, they are having dinner with me and my less-than-living boyfriend.

Amity Park is not known for fine dining, but Olive Garden isn't so bad. A shame the free breadsticks cannot erase the tension at the table.

We must be quite a sight. The mayor, two ghost hunters, and an actual ghost sitting in a booth in Olive Garden. I am morbidly curious as to what the tabloids will have to say.

It might not be so bad if someone would break the ice. Because, it certainly isn't going to be me. Maddie keeps glowering at me like she expects me to start hitting on her like I used to. Jack is munching on a breadstick, but I can tell he isn't really tasting it. Hutch is gnawing on his bottom lip and squeezing his boa in his hands.

Eventually, Hutch clears his throat. "So…how are the kids?"

"They're fine," Maddie says curtly, not taking her eyes off of me.

Jack, however, jumps on the chance for a conversation. "Better than fine! You won't believe it, but Danny's decided to join the family business!"

Now that is an ice breaker. "Is that so?" I say. "I thought he wanted to be an astronaut."

"He did! But, he decided that his true calling lies in the field of science!" Jack purses his lips. "Well, it would have been science either way, but still!"

The mention of her son seems to have put Maddie a little more at ease. "He doesn't want to get too in-depth until after he finishes high school, but he is going to be joining us in the lab more often."

"That's exciting," Hutch agrees.

The conversation flows from there. We learn that Daniel will be forgoing college in favor of learning straight from the sources. (I make a mental note to offer him my teachings. Whether he will accept or deny is up in the air.) The Fentons also gush about Jasmine entering her second year of college and how well she did in her first. I brag about Dalv Co.'s latest achievements. Hutch makes a big reveal: that he is in charge of Casper High's fall play.

"How in the world did you convince the school board to let you do that?" Maddie asks.

The waiter returns with our meals before Hutch can answer. By now, the knot in my stomach has eased enough that the salmon piccata I ordered actually appeals to me. And, I appreciate that our waiter is treating everyone at the table the same way. By which I mean that, while he is clearly unnerved by Hutch's presence, he does his best not to act like it. I'll be sure to leave him a nice tip.

"To answer your question, Maddie," Hutch says when the waiter leaves us to our meals, "I can be very persuasive. And, very good at overshadowing!"

I focus on cutting my salmon so I don't smack my forehead. Or, my boyfriend's.

Hutch's explanation puts Maddie back on the defensive. She freezes with her forkful of pasta halfway to her mouth. She lowers her fork and fixes Hutch with that suspicious look she usually reserves for me. "Overshadowing, you say?"

"Maddie," Jack says in warning.

A warning which Maddie ignores. She laces her fingers under her chin and fixes Hutch with a hard stare. "And, what did this overshadowing entail exactly?"

Hutch's demeanor shifts under her intense violet gaze. His shrimp scampi is forgotten as he fingers his feather boa, a nervous habit. "Well, uh, no one was harmed if that's what you're asking. Overshadowing doesn't cause permanent damage unless you want it to. Which I did not," he adds quickly.

Maddie is not pacified. "It's just that you don't have the best reputation, Hutch. Don't you think someone is going to…remember that?"

"Maddie, please," Jack begs, casting me and Hutch an apologetic look.

Hutch stares at his bowl and blushes. No doubt, Maddie is referring to Hutch's first publicized appearance in Amity Park. That was before he knew that "Danny Phantom" was half-human. He tried to make a slander film about Phantom under the guise of making a documentary. And, he'd recruited me, Daniel himself, and two of Daniel's peers to do it. Hutch also made nearly the entire school a captive audience in the most literal sense of the term.

While I understand Maddie's distrust, I am not pleased that she is rubbing Hutch's past deeds in his face. I take Hutch's hand. "That was in the past. This is the present. And, in the present, everyone at this table knows…more about the situation than they did back then. Hutch has learned from that, haven't you, darling?"

My support puts a real smile on his face and seems to reinstate his confidence. "Vlad's right, Maddie." Hutch returns to his meal with a self-deprecating chuckle. "Honestly, you try to cure some kid's autism through prayer one time, and no one can let it go. I was going through a phase." He sees Jack and Maddie's expressions and asks unsurely, "Oh, were we not talking about that?"

Now I do smack my forehead.

Like me, Jack is seated next to the window. He turns toward it and says, "Hey, look! It's Danny!"

At first, I think he is as desperate as I am to change the subject. Then I look out the window and see the one and only Danny Phantom flying down the street. He is facing off against a gigantic blue snake-like ghoul with three eyes and long, thin horns lined up all the way down its back.

"You think he needs help?" Maddie asks.

"He might," Jack sings eagerly.

Yes. He might. Please go help him and let me and Hutch enjoy dinner with considerably less awkwardness-

"I'm sure he's fine." Damn you, Hutch! "He's Phantom. He can handle one stupid ghoul. Ghouls are the ghosts who can't think. Phantom's got this."

I swallow a sigh. I should have known getting out of the "double" part of this date wouldn't be that easy. For a brief, shining moment, I had hope that this wouldn't be so bad. Now that she's no longer distracted, Maddie has returned to eating while glaring at both me and Hutch now. Jack notices and mouths the words "I'm sorry" before returning to his steak.

Hutch's yellow eyes are trained down on his pasta as he continues to eat. I rest my hand on his thigh, and he sneaks me a grateful glance. Hutch is more sensitive than his upbeat personality would suggest. Lucky for him, I am above I-told-you-so's. At least, when it comes to him.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see a white vehicle pull into the parking lot. I think nothing of it until four people in white suits and sunglasses climb out, and a film of anxiety sends goosebumps down my arms.

It's been two months since the…incident. Why does the sight of the Guys in White still fill me with such dread?

I lean forward and try to remain calm while whispering, "We might have a problem," and pointing to the window.

Jack doesn't bother to be quiet as his dopey grin locks on to the group outside. "It's the Guys in White!"

"Jack, we hate them now, remember?" Maddie asks him with a pointed look.

"Oh, yeah."

Hutch leans forward to look around me and blanches at what he finds. He's been targeted by the Guys in White before, and he was badly injured when I found him. I don't want a repeat of that any more than he does.

But, I especially don't want a repeat of…of…

I had never been so powerless. I can't go through that again.

Hutch wraps his fingers tightly around my arm. "Maybe we should leave," he whispers urgently.

"My thoughts exactly," I whisper back.

It's too late, and I curse the hostess for seating us so close to the front entrance.

Four burly men in crisp white uniforms barge in, three carrying weapons, one holding a cubic device that I can only assume detects nearby specters.

Hutch squeaks in fear and turns invisible. My core rebels at the threat to my lover's safety. I say to him as loud as I dare, "Get out of here. I'll text you when it's safe."

I may be half-ghost, but I am currently in human-form. Their machinery may pick up on something, but they won't be able to trace it back to me. Hutch is not that lucky.

He hesitates but ultimately takes my advice. He pecks me on the cheek, then I feel a shift in the atmosphere that tells me he is no longer sitting beside me. As the agents argue with the manager, who had burst in from the kitchen to demand an explanation, I grab Hutch's bowl and glass and sit them beside me on the booth. At the last second, I arrange them so that they are touching each other and my hip, and I turn them invisible so that I know no one will ask about the extra meal.

"I don't care about what your boss wants," the manager scolds. "Unless you plan to order something, get out."

"No can do," one of the agents says. "Our scanners tell us that Vlad Plasmius is somewhere in this building. He escaped our clutches once, and we aren't leaving until we find him. Luckily, we managed to salvage enough of his DNA to track him down."

"Took long enough," another agent mutters.

Jack stares at me in a horrified concern. Maddie does her best not to look at me. My dinner feels like lead in my stomach.

I'm so glad Hutch isn't here.

"But," the man with the scanner says, "if it makes you feel better, we can order some breadsticks on the way out. I like those breadsticks."

I hate being reminded that the Guys in White are people. I didn't even know I hated it until Operatives L and B were named Lacey and Brian and had a friendly rapport with one another.

"Now, hold on a min-"

The manager is cut off by an agent shoving him out of the way. "This shouldn't take more than a few minutes." He then calls out to the scared and confused on-lookers, "Don't mind us, folks. We're just doing our jobs."

Your jobs involve hurting ghosts and capturing them (and strapping them down oh god the feeling of that scalpel and those gloved hands).

"Play it cool," Maddie breathes.

Easier said than done when my heart beats harder and my breaths get faster the closer those government agents get to our table. I am unable to stop myself from sweating and shaking when they stop beside us and point the scanner at our table.

Which, of course, they take notice of. The one with the scanner points it directly at me. "You seem nervous," he says with a smug grin.

Maddie intervenes. "Maybe it's because four huge men are hovering over us with weapons while we're trying to have a nice meal."

Jack follows her lead. "Nothing ghostly happening here, fellows." He puts his arm around his wife. "If there was, we would know."

A for effort, but the agents exchange glances, wholly unconvinced.

This is it. They know. They're going to take me to their headquarters, and Daniel won't be able to save me this time-

"Incoming!" someone shouts before several people leap away from the window.

It's the only warning we get before Danny Phantom crashes in through the wall. "Sorry!" he calls as he climbs to his feet and brushes dust and plaster off his jumpsuit. "Sorry, everyone! Sorry about the-the wall and…stuff. But, I, uh," he holds up the Fenton Thermos with a nervous grin as his face gets greener and greener, "I got the ghost! That-that's been…dealt with. Um-" His rambling ceases when his glowing eyes land on me and his parents. He snorts a laugh, embarrassment forgotten. "Oh my god, you actually did it!"

Under normal circumstances, I'd be humiliated. But, I'm still shaking, the edges of my vision are darkening, and the salmon is trying to swim back up my throat.

Daniel is still giggling. "I'm guessing Vlad ordered the most pretentious thing on the menu- Why are the Guys in White here?" His amusement does a total one-eighty, and he glares at the group in question with blazing eyes. "Why are you here? We have a legally binding contract, remember? You clowns aren't allowed to be here without my permission."

"Don't test us, spook," an agent says. "You're the reason we're here! If you hadn't taken Plasmius from us, we wouldn't have to waste our time tracking him down."

Only someone who knows Daniel well would catch the very minute twitch in his steely expression. "Listen, you Men in Black wannabes." he storms up the Guy with the scanner and has to tilt his head all the way back to look him in the eye. "Everyone knows that Plasmius and I aren't friends. But, I would never leave a fellow ghost in your clutches. Why are you looking for him here, anyway? I mean, I love pasta as much as the next guy, but Olive Garden isn't exactly my first choice for a hiding place."

"First of all, the 'Men in Black' movies were inspired by our organization."

"Yeah, and I'm the ghost of Will Smith."

Daniel is subtly flicking his fingers toward me. He's distracting them, I realize. He's giving me an out, coming to my rescue once again.

I'm in too much of a haze to care if anyone sees. I turn invisible and phase through the wall, landing in the safety of the parking lot.

No. Not safe. Their vehicle is still here. Which means they'll be out here with me soon enough.

I was in the trunk once. Maybe not that car exactly but one like it. They carted my drugged and paralyzed self to their lab and strapped me on to that table.

The darkness is getting thicker. I can't breathe.

I need to transform and fly to safety. But, if I transform, they'll have no trouble finding me. I can fly in human-form, but it takes more effort. My head is spinning too much for that.

So, I run, still invisible. I can't tell where I'm doing. Directions are nonsense now. I just need to get away.

"Are you getting this?"

Can't breathe. Can't see. Keep running.

"It's so…human."

I felt everything. The blade scraping off my bone marrow. Slender, feminine fingers experimentally squeezing my kidney. Every single poke and prod and cut was an explosion of agony.

"This is the most complex ghost we've ever seen. Let's take a closer look."

I run until my body remembers that I'm not breathing and makes my legs give out. Then I crawl behind something somewhere and curl into a ball because they have my DNA. I'm not even safe in human-form.

Hutch

Well, this is a dilly of a pickle.

Never in my wildest dreams did I anticipate the Guys in White showing up during our date. I don't know what they're doing here, but I have no desire to find out.

I just hope Vlad's okay. Last month, after he rescued me from being God-knows-what-ed, Vlad was strangely nervous when asking what they did to me. One might assume that he was merely concerned for my well-being, but I've known Vlad Masters since he first became a ghost. He was hiding something, and it clearly had something to do with the Guys in White.

That's why, despite my own trepidation, I'm not straying too far from Olive Garden. I need to make sure those guys don't try anything.

Also, watching Danny Phantom in action is poetry in motion! He dives out of the way when that snake-ghoul swings its tail. He grabs the end and flies upward at an incredible speed. He jams the tail in that huge, fanged mouth, creating one of those "ouroboros," I believe they're called. Despite the brutality unveiling before me, there is such grace and confidence in the way Phantom moves!

When is that boy going to let me cast him in a movie? Can he not see that his potential is being wasted?

He whips out his Thermos, but the snake pulls its tail out of its mouth and swings. The tail is a direct hit and sends Phantom flying. Like a true badass, the kid sucks the snake into the Thermos, not seeming to notice that he is careening toward…Olive Garden.

And…crash. There goes the wall.

I'm embarrassed on Phantom's behalf, but I am also relieved. Phantom should be able to keep the Guys in White occupied.

I lie on my stomach on top of the Olive Garden sign and wait, idly kicking my legs in the air. I don't fully relax or regain visibility until the government agents leave the building and climb into their car, empty-handed apart from the weapons they came with. I wait a minute before leaving my hiding spot, though I doubt the restaurant will remain open with that gaping hole in the wall. We'll probably have to pack our leftovers and finish the date elsewhere. Or, end the date early. As much as I'd like to keep trying, I wouldn't blame anyone if they wanted to call it off after this. And, frankly, I wouldn't mind staying out from under Maddie's distrusting gaze.

I start to fly back to the restaurant, but Phantom phases out through the roof and sees me. He shoots my way with his wispy gray tail waving wildly beneath him. There is a tightness around his gorgeous neon green eyes and a deep, worried frown on those…admittedly lacking lips. No one's perfect.

"Have you seen Vlad?" Phantom asks.

The way he says that sends a chill up my spine. "I-I didn't see him come out, no."

Phantom lets out an anxious breath and balls his fists. "I know he got out okay, but-" He makes that same sound but louder. "The Guys in White have his DNA. From what I can tell, they can track him even in human-form."

My core stops. This is bad. Very bad. "What? How did they get his DNA?"

Phantom makes a face of pure guilt. His eyes dart to the left when he stammers, "I…I-I don't know."

"Yes, you do," I accuse. "You know something."

"N-no, I don't."

I grab his arm when he starts to fly away. "What happened to my boyfriend, Danny?"

Phantom curls into himself. When he turns to face me, words can't describe the pain that's plain on his face. I let him pull his arm free. "Blairman…I do know what happened. But, Vlad doesn't want me telling anyone. Especially not you." I'm hurt until Phantom adds, "He doesn't want you to worry about him." Phantom bites his lip before adding, "He won't say it, but…I think you're one of the only people who would worry."

My core shatters. I know Vlad has very few people he can count on, but hearing someone confirm that is something else.

"That's why I'm going to tell you this," Phantom goes on. His Obsession is shining through. "Something did happen between Vlad and the Guys in White. I won't tell you what, but he's been bottling it up since I saved him from it. You didn't see him in there," he points to the restaurant as his voice cracks with emotion. "He needs people like us who care about him." His cheeks green when he hears what he just said. "I mean, people like you who care about him. Not me. I hate him."

The boy can't hide his emotions, and he's a terrible liar. It's a wonder how he's kept his double-life a secret this long.

I wring my feather boa as I process this. Then, my core breaks even more when what I'm holding sparks a memory.

"My boa!" When Phantom looks at me like I've gone mad, I explain. "The Guys in White attacked me once and took it. When you and Vlad went to their headquarters for that meeting, Vlad said he snuck around to get it back."

Phantom's mouth falls open. He points to my boa. "That's the important thing they stole from him? Phasms, for how determined he was, I thought it was, like, Ghost Zone secrets or something."

I want to cry. "Are you telling me he put himself at risk after this horrible thing happened just to find an easily replaceable accessory?"

Phantom considers this then lets out a breathy, broken laugh and tosses his hands at his sides. "I'd certainly do something that stupid for someone I love."

Love. Vlad and I have told each other "I love you" before, but it was in a brotherly context. At least, on his end. I don't know when it became more coming from me. I don't know when he stopped fixating on Maddie and started to return my feelings.

I only know that the idea of Vlad loving me means more than it used to.

If Phantom can see my thoughts racing, he doesn't mention it. "We need to find Vlad before they do."

He doesn't have to tell me twice.