Hi snugglemuffins~ hope you all had a wonderful Christmas/New Years! Enjoy chapter 11 and drop me a review if you please~

Disclaimer:I do not own Danny Phantom

The Life We Fight For

Chapter 11: Meeting

The morning of the teen's outing couldn't come fast enough for Jazz Fenton. For the first few days since coming back from Vlad's she had felt like a prisoner in her own home, but soon began to feel more like a spy, and it lightened her mood greatly. She couldn't wait to see her brother again, to make sure he was okay, and to update everyone on their plans and whereabouts. It felt good to have a plan, even better that it could possibly stop the machines and inventions that her parents made that would indirectly if not completely directly hurt Danny. She wasn't so keen on becoming temporary allies with Vlad Masters, but at the moment she didn't quite have a choice.

She had assumed that it would be hard to leave her house that morning, even though she had told her parents she was leaving for a 'school project' with friends. Her mother hadn't seemed suspicious, but Jazz was a mediocre liar at best. She couldn't imagine how Danny would feel doing it almost everyday, albeit for a good cause.

As Jazz quickly dressed and went downstairs she wasn't surprised to find her mother awake and tinkering at the kitchen table with an...odd looking weapon.

It was shaped like a gun, but alongside the barrel was what looked like a nozzle, that her mother seemed to be testing. It emitted a strange, green mist, and smelled faintly familiar, but Jazz couldn't decipher where she'd smelled it before.

"Morning..." Jazz said. The tension between them was immense. The teenager wanted nothing more than to call the police and have the two of them locked up, so great was her feeling of injustice, but for her innocent little brother's sake she refrained from doing anything of the sort.

"Morning sweetie," Maddie replied, looking up to address her. "Have you heard from your brother? He shouldn't bother Tucker's parents for too long staying over there..."

Maddie wanted to scowl at how high pitched her voice sounded. She knew her son was diseased, and hiding from her despite her ability to cure him. She just didn't know where he was, but somehow Jazz knew. The voice...as much as she hated it, had not steered her wrong yet, and it had been the one to tell her that Jazz knew about Danny's whereabouts. She had followed its instructions to pretend she had 'forgot' she had done anything to Danny, and luckily, no one had seen through her lie yet.

"He's a teenager that needs social interaction mom." Jazz snapped, hating how she had to pretend she was still Maddie's loyal daughter. "He will come home when he's ready."

Maddie raised an eyebrow. "If you say so sweetie."

Jazz quickly and efficiently stashed some ghost fighting gear in her bag and headed for the door, calling to her mother over her shoulder. "I'll be back later!"

However before she could leave Jack walked into the room with a square of fudge in-hand.

"You goin' somewhere Jazzy-pants?" He asked curiously.

Jazz resisted the urge to scowl. She had once thought the aloof attitude of her father was endearing, now it was only a hindrance. "Just to meet some friends from school. I won't be gone long."

Jack looked confused at the sharpness of her tine but otherwise ignored it. She was probably in a hurry. "Alrighty, hurry back now, wouldn't want to miss an opportunity to hear me blather on about ghosts!"

Jazz didn't respond and simply left the house as quickly as she could. What she was not aware of, was Maddie watching her carefully the entire time.

'She's definitely hiding something.' Maddie thought. 'Jazz never was a good liar either.'

Maddie rose from the table and quickly began to get ready to leave in pursuit of her daughter. Jack immediately protested.

"Aw, don't tell me you're leaving too?" Jack pouted. "Who'll listen to me blather on about ghosts?"

Maddie smiled sympathetically and gave her husband a peck on the cheek. "I only want to run a few errands. I'll even be back before Jazz arrives home."

Jack smiled at that and let her leave in peace, content to tinker with ghost equipment while his family was away.

Jazz arrived at the Nasty Burger precisely on time, and was not surprised to see Sam already there with a tired looking Tucker beside her.

"Morning you two, have you seen you-know-who yet?" Jazz said once she neared them.

Tucker shook his head and Sam rolled her eyes while replying, "Danny's not a criminal, honestly, you can at least say his name."

Jazz raised an eyebrow as she sat down. "Someone's touchy today."

Sam sighed and seemed to relax a little, a bit of the tension in her shoulders releasing as she breathed deeply.

"I'm sorry Jazz, I'm just anxious to see him you know?" Sam said in a subdued voice.

Jazz nodded in understanding. She hadn't been away from her brother that long, but she was already missing his presence. He was her little brother after all.

Just then Tucker perked up significantly and gave a goofy grin to the area behind her. Jazz turned and sure enough Danny had walked into the Nasty Burger and found them instantly.

"Hey dude, long time no see." Tucker said as Danny sat beside Jazz and in front of Sam. Sam seemed to lose her ability to speak for a moment before she too greeted her friend.

"Hi Danny," Sam started, then looked him up and down. She continued with a teasing grin. "Well, doesn't someone look like a rich kid."

Danny blushed and pulled at the collar of his shirt, recalling how Vlad had forced him to redress several times because he had tried to wear as much as possible to hide his scars and bruises. Finally the billionaire had ended up all but forcing him into a black collared shirt and denim, designer jeans. Luckily he was allowed to keep his beloved sneakers and a long sleeved shirt, and though Vlad had tried to tame his wild hair it- just like his personality- was stubborn and remained messy.

"Uh, yeah, I don't exactly have my normal wardrobe on-hand so..." Danny muttered.

"I think you look great." Jazz said. "By the way, where's the fruitloop?"

Danny looked away and seemed to try not to laugh. "Oh he's...keeping an eye out."

...

Plasmius sat atop the fast food establishment with a sullen look of utter discontentment. Oh the amount if things he could have been doing had he been at home, or working, or even managing his silly campaign. The election itself was only a couple days away, and he had yet to inform Daniel he would need his ghost half's presence in support during that time. He doubted Daniel would be excited to once again be in the public eye but with Danny Phantom's obvious support it would be difficult at best to beat him in votes. It was also the quickest way to victory.

Vlad surveyed the people heading in and out of the fast food place with mild interest. He sincerely hoped the favors he was doing for Daniel payed off in the end. Vlad Masters was not a man to walk out of a deal empty handed, and what he was working towards, his goal even, was obviously Daniel at his side. He could be arrogant and say he already technically had the boy at his side, but he wasn't content with the half ghost's physical presence only. He wanted Daniel to want to be around him, learn from him, look up to him, hang off his every word. Ah, how one could dream.

Plasmius was about to sigh when he caught sight of a certain human woman below. He couldn't see her at first, but as a crowd of rowdy college students clamored past, Vlad was sure his heightened sight wasn't wrong. Maddie had found them.

His first instinct was to head inside and get Daniel far away, but with the teen's tendency to question authority and be overly stubborn, not to mention his equally belligerent friends, Vlad knew he couldn't barge in the restaurant without revealing who was watching them and causing Daniel to panic. That left him no other choice than to deal with the possessed woman he loved on his own.

Plasmius turned invisible and flew down to where Maddie was standing outside the Nasty Burger, staring at it with a critical eye. Vlad could sense the presence of another ghost around her, but it was too faint for him to pinpoint its location or power level. He watched as Maddie surveyed her surroundings once more and started for the entrance. Vlad quickly turned visible, hooking his arm around hers and spinning her around before giving the hunter a firm shove towards the parking lot and turning invisible once again. However, he didn't quite turn invisible fast enough it seemed. She gaped at the glimpse of blue skin and white suit she had managed to catch.

"The Wisconsin Ghost?!" Maddie gasped. "What are you doing here, spook? Show yourself!"

Vlad cringed at the nickname and rubbed his temple. This would be harder than he thought. He swooped down and used a rope of pink energy to pull Maddie backwards and out of easy view before revealing himself and smirking at her.

His priority was getting her far away from the teemagers inside the Nasty Burger, especially one certain halfa. As predicted, Maddie's temper flared and she pulled a gun from her hip to fire at him. By now people around the fast food establishment had seen them and run in terror, but thankfully no one inside the restaurant had seen them yet. Vlad dodged a few shots fired at his head and flew a little farther from the hunter, shouting over his shoulder.

"My my, with that aim I almost mistook you for your monstrous husband." He quipped.

Maddie grit her teeth and quickly fired another round at Plasmius, one successfully hitting him in the shoulder. He shook it off quickly and with little effort, but pretended it had wounded him so she would proceed to chase him. Despite this Maddie had seen what Plasmius was capable of and the female ghost hunter realized she didn't have enough time to defeat this high-level ghost and find her children.

"I didn't come here for you, so I'll make this quick and simple." Maddie sneered up at the half-ghost. "You can fly away now, and live to see tomorrow, or I can capture you and have you dissected till you're screaming for mercy."

Vlad's eyes narrowed at the image of a battered, bruised Daniel and he growled. The sick, twisted mind of whatever ghost was behind the scenes of this circumstance was beginning to disgust even him. He had known for a while that Daniel had dangerous and murderous enemies, however the lengths that this ghost was willing to go through...were astounding at best.

Vlad couldn't control his temper and found the urge to snap at her, "Dissect me? Like you did to your son?"

"I don- wait, how do you know about Danny?!" Maddie seemed to get hysterical. "Why are you here anyway? Are you the one hiding him from me?! I can fix him! He should be safe with me at home!"

Vlad wanted to kick himself for letting his emotions make the woman suspicious, but instead he simply shot a poorly aimed ectoblast at Maddie to divert her attention from interrogations to survival. He flew at her and she quickly dodged right, pulling her ecto staff from her belt and ditching the gun for melee combat. Vlad swung at her with the intention of knocking her out, but she caught the movement in time and ducked down, tackling him to the ground. Plasmius phased through her and pinned her to the dirt as gravity pulled her down, and grabbed her staff. He quickly threw it away before addressing her.

"You cannot fix what isn't broken." He said, before striking her neck quickly and knocking her unconscious.

Vlad sighed and gripped her limp body in a tight hold, hoisting her into his arms and flying as fast as he could to a safe area with plenty of cover for when she woke up. Plasmius turned toward the Nasty Burger, now almost a whole block away, and turned human. He didn't believe there would be any more danger, but he would rather be safe than sorry and would tell Daniel and his friends their little meeting had been compromised.

...

"So according to this, Vlad's practically got the whole town's popular vote by default, and his ratings haven't faltered since he started running."

Danny stared at the graph on Tucker's PDA in mild interest. He knew he should feel proud that he had helped achieve that high reputation for Vlad as a politician, but he was reminded of the promise he had made to the man if he was to win, and while he was rooting for Vlad's victory, Danny wasn't thrilled to follow through with staying at Vlad's and laying low for another long couple of weeks or even more should the fruitloop win.

"It makes sense, he's a well-known business icon and he's got that silver tongue of his to convince the people of anything." Jazz agreed.

"We shouldn't assume he's going to win yet. There's still the election coming up." Danny said, his eyes wandering to the window. "Even if he does win, that's only the beginning of the plan."

Sam stared at her friend with obvious concern. Since Danny had walked into the Nasty Burger there had been a tired, subdued attitude around him. The deep bruises under his eyes did not help his image, along with the nervous habit he'd seemed to develope of tugging at his collar and cuffs. If Sam had to guess, she would think he was making sure neither of the other two around them could see his still fresh-looking scars. They were most noticeable on his wrists if she recalled, which at the moment were hidden under the table...

"Hey, Danny." Sam called, putting her hands palm up on the table. "Gimme your hands.

Danny looked dumbfounded for a few seconds before slowly raising his arms from underneath the table. He was used to Sam's sometimes confusing requests, but he had an idea where she was going with it this time. Though he was very reluctant, he didn't dare refuse his friend (she was kind of known to be aggressive...) and carefully rested his hands on hers.

"Geez Sam, you gonna propose to him now?" Tucker teased. Only a second later he yelped and jumped up a bit, having received a swift kick to his shin via combat boot. Danny laughed at his friend's rightfully earned pain, even though his cheeks were slightly pink at his comment.

Sam took the opportunity of his distraction and pulled back his right sleeve. She had been right. The blue tinted scars were still criss crossing his skin in contrast to his pale coloring. Sam heard Jazz wince softly at the sight and Tucker seemed to sober up but other than that they remained silent. After a few moments Sam simply traced the jagged lines a bit with a slender finger before breaking the cloud of awkwardness.

"You shouldn't hide them, you know." Sam said. "Normally a teenage boy would beg his friend to punch him so he'd have a bruise to flaunt like a trophy to a pretty girl. Plus, that tight collar looks too obnoxious on you."

Jazz gave a loud huff of agreement. Her brother was more handsome than he gave himself credit for, anyway. No scars could change that. She would have given up her red-orange hair for Danny's jet black locks any day.

"Yeah dude, what she said." Tucker said.

"Uh, thanks you guys." Danny mumbled. "Really."

As Sam reluctantly pulled away, she looked at Danny's blushing face and her eyebrows creased as a thought came to mind. However, before she could voice it, Jazz beat her to it.

"Since we're on the subject, you look really tired, Danny." Jazz said, and Sam was not surprised she wasn't the only one who noticed. "You sleeping alright at Vlad's?"

Danny frowned involuntarily while memories of his nightmares came to mind. He hated the fact that they affected him, even when he was awake. But he couldn't hide anything from his friends.

"I... it sounds stupid but..." Danny swallowed and forced himself to continue. "Whatever is affecting mom...may be targeting me in my dreams."

Sam frowned and stared at him in worry. "But it can't hurt you through a nightmare besides costing you sleep, right?"

"Apparently, whatever this is it's strong enough to force me to go into ghost form in my sleep, and crazy enough to make me fall 10 stories to what would've been my death had the fruitloop not been there." Danny explained with his eyes full of hate. He hated that this was his life now, and that he had become so weak that he couldn't even fight a ghost in his dreams and win.

Nothing in the dreams he'd had so far seemed to connect, except for that eerie, smooth voice and the horrible sound of clinking metal that Danny had quickly grown to hate. He was sure that the dreams meant something, but he just couldn't make sense of what it was he was supposed to comprehend. He also knew exactly who he should go to, but for his pride and embarrassment Danny couldn't find himself ever turning to Vlad for help deciphering them. Vlad already knew about a few of his nightmares, as he had been the one to wake him up from them, but the billionaire was clueless to the fact that they persisted, and Danny was content to keep it that way.

"Dude, that's beyond uncool." Tucker sympathized. "Keeping a man from his sleep is just plain cruel."

Jazz rolled her eyes and thought about her psychology studies. "Couldn't you metaphorically find a way to defeat him in your dreams, thus getting rid of them? It might not eradicate the ghost entirely but maybe you could weaken it that way or something."

"It sounds simple when you say it like that." Danny replied. "But he or she never shows their face. I don't even know what I need to target to fight. It's not one of Nocturne's dream machines where I have a simple way out and in with a clear objective. I don't know how this ghost fights, what kind level of power it has, or how to defeat it."

The trio in front of Danny all looked very much in deep thought, each waiting for the other to speak. This time it was Sam who replied first.

"An enemy that you can't see huh...?" She said. "What does it show you in your dreams, if not what it looks like? People? Places?"

Danny looked down with his eyebrows furrowed, trying for a moment to remember. Sam found the action oddly cute, but squashed down the feeling in place of her curiosity. Danny quickly seemed to realize the answer he was looking for because he looked back up and replied,

"Mostly people. Especially those closest to me."

Sam nodded. People were good, easy to target. "Then maybe you should fight them. It's just an illusion, right? Even if it doesn't hurt or hinder the enemy at least it'll stop it from using that person against you, right?"

"But what if that angers the ghost?" Tucker wondered. "What if it decided to really go after him, since it's plan to weaken Danny doesn't work anymore?"

"It's not like he can just ignore it Tucker!" Jazz snapped back. "We need some kind of offense, if the ghost can make Danny hurt himself in his sleep, it's a priority problem!"

As the teen's debated on the situation they were unaware that a certain billionaire had been listening in for the past few minutes. Vlad's mouth curved downwards at the topic the four were discussing and recalled the time where he had witnessed Daniel's state during a nightmare. He'd been in a state of panic the few times he'd seen him mid-dream, however Vlad was not entirely sure a ghost was causing the dreams.

The man was also considering the possibility that the sudden trauma the boy had suffered could have also caused the nightmares. The stress, depression and compromised health could have all been factors contributing to Daniel's current mental state and subconscious thoughts. Though the kids could be onto something, Vlad wasn't entirely convinced.

The half-ghost decided to now make his presence known and walked into the group's line of view, watching as one by one the arguing teen's went silent and either glared or stared apprehensively at him. He deeply desired to roll his eyes at the utter foolishness, but refrained from doing so.

"I'm afraid we must take our leave now, Daniel." Vlad informed him, hoping and praying to the Lord above that today would be the day the teenagers acted civil for once.

Danny seemed to understand and moved to get up, but Sam was suspicious. "It hasn't even been an hour, what's so important that you have to bring him back?" She asked.

Vlad looked at her fierce expression with his own passive gaze. Having Daniel living with him had taught him to be calm when dealing with belligerent teens and their unpredictable tempers.

"Daniel will be leaving with me now as I have deemed it no longer safe for him here." Vlad answered. "And since it has been my responsibility to make sure your little outing is not compromised you'd do well to listen to me."

Danny's eyes had snapped to his at the news that it was possibly unsafe for him to be there and Vlad could plainly see the look of concern and growing apprehension on the boy's face as he stood and stepped out of the booth almost immediately. However despite this Sam still couldn't fathom why her friend had to leave early.

"But we can-"

Jazz put a hand in her shoulder and smiled. "We can always keep in touch with Danny's new phone and it shouldn't be too hard to find another day to hang out, right Sam?"

Tucker nodded in agreement. "Yeah, besides I don't think the V-man would lie when he knows we'd kick his butt for it." He said as if it were obvious.

Sam backed down and looked away from Vlad to Danny. It was then that she noticed his tense body language and stance and she was quick to rebound.

"Yes, we'll just find a better time. Besides, the election is almost here, right?" She said. "Get some rest Danny. We'll see you soon."

Danny bid farewell to his friends and he and Vlad exited the Nasty Burger with thankfully no attention from reporters or political fanatics. They transformed and had started to fly back to the mansion when Danny began to interrogate Vlad.

"What was that about, really?" Danny questioned. "And don't give me any of that 'the outing was compromised' stuff, I want details."

Vlad stared ahead, but slowed down a bit in case Danny decided to go into full panic when he said, "Your mother knew you were there, she tried to get to you, but I got to her in time."

Danny thankfully didn't plummet out of the sky, but he did give Vlad a worried look. He was immensely thankful Vlad had been there, but the thought that his mother could have easily captured or killed him knowing he was in human form...it gave him chills.

"S-She would have killed me." Danny said softly. "If you hadn't been there, I'd be dead or in the lab by now. This can't ..- T-they can't-"

"Calm down." Vlad instructed slowing his flight speed even more. "Remember we have a plan, you're not fighting this alone. That ghost wants you scared and weak, don't oblige it."

Danny didn't answer audibly, but he nodded in understanding. Vlad always could manage to talk him back from his mini freak-outs better than anyone, though he wasn't sure if he took comfort in that fact or not.

The two halfas continued on and reached their destination in silence, neither one of them having anything to say. Vlad however was not too keen on leaving Daniel to his own devices just yet. To a stranger or at first glance the boy seemed fine, but Vlad could still see the conflicting emotions raging in those crystal blue orbs as they stared ahead listlessly. As the two entered the castle and Danny made to leave to his room, Vlad quickly stopped him.

"Daniel," Vlad called. "Perhaps you should accompany me to the training room for a bit. As a bit of a...distraction."

Danny didn't seem to take the suggestion well and turned to fully face him, his expression full of mistrust. "To do what exactly?"

Vlad saw where the teen was going with his question and quickly amended, "I don't mean for me to teach you anything, although you do indeed need-"

Danny's frustration that had wound itself into a knot in his stomach suddenly turned into anger and he quickly interrupted.

"I don't need anything from you!" Danny snapped. "And I'm not going to let you train me! For the last time, I'm not your little apprentice, cheese head!

Vlad's eyes narrowed and Danny thought he might have took it a bit too far. As Plasmius advanced on him he forced himself not to run and tried to convince himself he could take a punch or two. He just hoped Vlad wouldn't electrocute him...

However instead of knocking him senseless like he'd originally thought Danny found himself being snatched by his upper arm and turned roughly to the side. He knew what was coming but he wasn't quite able to brace himself. Not that it would have helped, anyway.

Vlad swiftly brought his free hand down on Danny's defenseless backside once, twice, and a final third time for good measure before turning the boy back around to face him, his hand on Danny's arm keeping him in place.

"Watch your tone, and I won't stand for disrespect."

Danny nodded his head once and Vlad released him. The younger seemed uncertain of what to do now so he simply dropped his gaze to the floor. He couldn't believe he'd made Vlad resort to physically punishing him once again, and so soon after the last time! Danny then made up his mind that he would definitely make sure he didn't make the man flip out enough to try and spank him again, and if he did try, Danny would be ready to blow him to pieces. Besides, he was much too old for that kind of treatment! Vlad was constantly babying him, and Danny was quickly getting annoyed by it.

"I was not insinuating that I become your mentor." Vlad continued, knocking Danny out of his thoughts. "I simply cannot in good conscience leave you by yourself in the state you're currently in. You may have calmed from your earlier theatrics but I'm not fooled. If I let you go to your room right now you'd most likely stew in your own sorrow or cause yourself to have an anxiety attack. Therefore,"

Vlad took a deep breath and spoke in a gentler tone and volume, raising a hand and tilting Danny's chin up to look him in the eye.

"I am giving you two choices; stay with me in the training room for a bit, or find Godfrey and help out with whatever he's doing. Either way, you're doing something productive today." Vlad finished.

Danny frowned at the options and couldn't help but argue. "I'm not a baby..."

"I never said you were." Vlad replied, his voice remaining soft but stern. "Now choose. Or I shall for you."

With his last bout of defiance he moved out of Vlad's grip and made his choice. "I'll find Godfrey." He said, in what he hoped was a respectful tone.

He intended to head off and avoid all human (or ghost) contact for the next several hours and pretend as if he was with the old man. It wasn't as if Vlad could tell the difference...

"Alright, be quick then." Vlad answered, letting Danny get a few feet away before speaking again.

"Oh and Daniel?" Vlad called, making Danny stop and look over his shoulder at him. "I'll be asking Godfrey whether or not you actually helped him, and believe me when I say that if I receive a negative report you will not like the consequences."

Danny all but screamed in frustration. The fruitloop saw through him so quickly! With a huff and quick nod he left the room as fast as he could, wanting to get as much distance between him and Vlad as possible.

Finding the elderly ghost butler had proven easier than he had expected. Godfrey was assisting a few women, whom Danny assumed were maids, in arranging flowers in dozens of vases that were scattered all over the workroom. Danny had found them there because the scent of the freshly cut flowers was so strong his overly sensitive nose almost couldn't handle it once he'd gotten close enough.

"Um, what's all this?" Danny question walking into the room with a silent prayer that he wouldn't accidentally break any if the expensive looking vases...

The four maids in the room all greeted him with a warm smile and Godfrey set down the batch of roses he was working on to properly say hello to him.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Fenton." Godfrey greeted. "Has boredom struck early today or can I help you with something?"

Danny contemplated telling Godfrey about how positively unfair he thought Vlad was acting but decided that the butler would probably only lecture him in that 'wise old man' way and decided against it. "I'm just bored, as always. What are all of the flowers for?"

Feeling brave Danny drew closer to an arrangement of reddish pink carnations and violet asters. He was reminded of the times where Sam would tell him about her favorite plants and flowers. He always looked to see her eyes light up when she talked about the things she was passionate about. He couldn't help but feel that Sam would've been sad to see that the flowers had been plucked to be used for decorations.

"These are to go around the house as the old arrangements are needing fresh replacements." Godfrey explained. "There's a decent amount of them about the manor, as you can see."

Danny nodded, coming over to Godfrey. "Anything I can help with?" He asked.

"Oh no, we couldn't let you to help us!" A maid on his right exclaimed. "What would Mr. Masters say?"

Danny wanted to roll his eyes and tell her just what 'Mr. Masters' would say about it, but forced his temper to remain in check. No need for Godfrey to tell Vlad he was rude later, thus ruining his plan to remain punishment-free...

"I'm sure it would be alright for Mr. Fenton to give us a hand." Godfrey said, sensing the tension. "Besides, we could use someone strong and youthful to carry these to their proper locations."

At first Danny cringed, thinking of how many times he would have the opportunity to accidentally drop them, but squashed down the feeling. He was much better at controlling his powers and overall clumsiness than he had been nearly a year ago, he could handle this!

"I can do that." Danny assured them. "Just tell me where to go."

"Excellent!" Godfrey said, gesturing to his right. "Miss Rachel over there will give you the ready arrangements and tell you where they go."

Danny crossed the room, stepping over flower petals and thorns, before reaching the mentioned staff member. She looked to be on the younger side of middle age with blonde hair pulled up in a bun and tanned skin with brown eyes. She smiled at him and pointed to a pair of peach color themed arrangements on a table.

"These are to go on the 3rd floor, in the westside corridor." She plucked a map off the table and handed it to him before continuing in a no-nonsense tone. "Here, the places are all marked. You should have no trouble finding them at all."

Danny took the map and sure enough, the whole mansion was dotted with red highlighter indicating the location of flowers needing to be replaced. Danny all but gaped at it. How many flowers did one fruitloop need?!

But as Danny buckled down and got to work he found that having explored the large hotel-sized house many times before gave him an advantage to finding the small tables and desks and window sills that needed flowers. After the fourth run, he quickly got the hang of it and no longer needed the map.

An hour passed and Danny was almost finished with his job. He only needed about 4 more vases to carry and he'd be finished. He had to admit, it was quite the workout despite having supernatural strength. And as he carried yet another vase to one of the many sitting rooms, he was mentally praising the heavens that he hadn't broken a single thing.

As he neared the room, he began to hear voices. He slowed his pace. Danny was sure he heard Vlad. His voice sounded echoey and extra snobbish, meaning he was in ghost form.
The other voice however, Danny recognized but very much hoped he was wrong.

He silently floated to the door and set down the vase beside it, careful to not make any noise. He considered turning intangible but he feared doing so would alert them to his presence via sensing his ghost powers in use.
Instead he carefully and ever so slowly opened the door a crack and peered inside.

There, by the window stood Plasmius and Skulker. Danny wasn't sure what it was they were discussing so intently, but since they hadn't noticed him, he intended to find out.

"Such an action shouldn't be necessary at this point." Vlad was saying. "There is no doubt what the outcome will be."

"Indeed," Skulker replied, his voice as deep and evil as ever. "However it's still entirely uncertain whether or not you will even succeed. Such a plan would be too ambitious at this point, what with the allies he has."

Danny couldn't say for certain, but he was almost sure they were talking about him. Vlad was up to something, as always! Danny wanted to yell or punch the wall. He did nothing however, and instead stayed quiet and listened.

"Oh I'm sure in the end even his allies with see things in a...different light." Vlad said, his voice darkening. "Now, I'm afraid we'll have to leave our little chat at that. I've a child to deal with."

Danny saw Skulker raise an eyebrow before he seemed to realize something and gave a sickening grin. The young halfa swallowed thickly and backed away from the door as Skulker mock saluted Plasmius and disappeared in a flash of green light. Danny quickly turned to leave when he heard a voice directly behind him and froze.

"Going somewhere, Little badger?"

Danny spun around and raised his hands to fight but Vlad was not in a combative mood. He grabbed Danny's wrists firmly and pulled him into the room the businessman had previously been occupying.

"Let go! I haven't done anything!" Danny protested, pulling against Vlad's grip.

"Oh?" Vlad growled. He forced Danny into an armchair and towered over him, his eyes narrowed.

"I'll make this simple, then. Did you or did you not listen to our conversation?" Vlad asked him.

Danny felt his face heat up and he forced himself to look Vlad in the eye. "Yes, but I was trying to-"

"And," Vlad interrupted. "Did you know that by doing so you were behaving both rudely and disrespectfully?"

Danny blinked rapidly as he dropped his gaze to the floor and nodded. There went his masterful plan of not getting into trouble!

"Honestly, I should haul you over my knee for this."

Danny's head snapped back up at the suggestion of a spanking and forced himself not to shoot an ectoblast at the man at point blank. Thankfully though it seemed by Vlad's tone of voice he was only considering it. Maybe if he eased his temper a little..

"I was only trying to help out like you said." Danny said, wishing he could move to retrieve his proof, the vase which he'd left in the hall. "I won't do it again."

"Indeed you won't." Vlad agreed, crossing his arms. "As you'll be confined to your room until dinner to think about just that."

Danny grit his teeth and stood up quickly. No way was he being grounded! By a fruitloop no less!

"You can't-!"

"I highly suggest you do as you're told Daniel because unfortunately for you, I'm this close to losing my patience right now." Vlad said sharply, stepping back nodding toward the door.

Danny wanted to scream in frustration. He wasn't a little kid! He saved dozens of lives on a monthly basis, yet he was being parented by a what would normally be archenemy! As Danny neared the door he clenched his hands into fists and said hatefully,

"You're not my father."

Vlad watched him leave with a tired look. He was glad Daniel didn't seem to have heard much if their conversation. The billionaire was definitely certain Daniel was not ready to be trusted with his plans for the future between them and this circumstance only proved it.

The elder half ghost sighed and sat down in the chair Daniel had been occupying not a minute before, still watching the door sadly.

"I'm nothing like your father, Daniel."

...

Next Chapter: Election day arrives and Danny is forced to uphold his deal with Vlad.

Welp. Not much to say here...

Review? *Huggles*