Disclaimer: I own nothing from Danny Phantom

(Updated 3/13/2024)

Chapter 17: Crisis Averted

Vlad's POV

When we returned home, I was beside myself with humiliation and shame. I hadn't anticipated losing control like that and almost undoing all of the progress Danielle had made when she finally started to relax and genuinely enjoy herself just as I had hoped. I suppose it's fair to say that I was fuming inside after Danielle's little friends got in the way of my plans for her older brother Jason, but normally I'm quite good at hiding my true feelings. So with that in mind, I really shouldn't have let their mild interference get under my skin like that since Danielle and I were going to be calling Jason back later regardless. And once everything is taken care of, the fate of Amity Park will no longer be Danielle's responsibility, but rather it will belong to those who actually have to live in that dreary, detestable place.

Then there was our other unexpected setback with the ghosts in Amity Park apparently being controlled by some outside force, which is irksome because it increases the risks of Jack and Maddie damning the consequences and showing up here in one last desperate attempt to ask for help; ignoring the fact that I have severed all ties to them. Not to mention hunting ghosts and protecting that town is supposed to be their job! As for my end of things, I'm frustrated because this whole situation could potentially pose a serious problem since the ghosts in the area currently have no interest in targeting Fenton Works, which I had hoped they would to keep her parents too busy to continue their pointless search for Danielle's whereabouts...

Instead those useless masses of ectoplasm are too busy robbing banks like common criminals so I can't risk sending one of my minions there to distract Jack and Maddie on the off chance they may succumb to the same mind control, magic spell, or whatever. Therefore the news of what's presently going on in Amity Park unfortunately does affect us in some way and completely ruined what I had hoped would be the perfect excuse to keep Danielle's parents off her trail.

The only way to avoid such an outcome now would be to go into hiding at one of my vacation homes, such as my mountain chalet for example. After all, Jack and Maddie don't know where I spend my time besides this castle or about the numerous other properties I own. I shouldn't be the one who has to hide though; rather, they should be the ones hiding from me because when the time finally comes my retribution will be swift, fierce, and unrelenting. However, I can't put the next phase of my plan into action until Jason is safely taken far out of their reach. It's imperative for the sake of Danielle's peace of mind too.

Speaking of Danielle, it vexes me to no end that she still thinks so little of herself! I can't believe her parents have left Danielle wondering all these years if she is valued and loved by those closest to her. And it's been that way for so long that the poor girl is reflexively hesitant to believe anyone could possibly care for her well-being at all! That's when something inside of me snapped because I refuse to let my little badger continue to think such awful, destructive, and self-deprecating thoughts -thoughts I am all too familiar with- when I love her more than life itself. But then, to my horror, I found myself blurting out and admitting in the heat of the moment to the heartbreak I felt after finally coming to terms with the fact that if Maddie can't find it in her heart to unconditionally love her own flesh and blood daughter who has become half-ghost, she will never be able to accept me either. Not even if I did somehow manage to convince her to leave Jack for me.

I would never be able to be completely honest with my wife or tell Maddie what I am, so our life together would have been nothing but a beautiful lie, another smiling mask I had to wear to conceal the ugly truth lurking just beneath the surface. But like Danielle, I long for the freedom to be true to myself for once. And perhaps that's another reason why I am clinging so desperately to the idea of Danielle becoming my daughter. My desire to deepen our bond is almost maddening at times because I'm incredibly grateful she's half-ghost like me; it means I'm not alone anymore and I can lower my guard around Danielle in ways that neither of us can with anyone else. And in return, I can offer her the parental guidance she needs, not to mention a safe, stable home for her to live in which is something I certainly didn't have handed to me on a silver platter. No, I had to fight for it, but now I can afford absolutely everything I could ever want or need to live comfortably.

That said, it's only natural for me to act the part of a perfect, gracious, and considerate host, especially when I'm enticing an important client or business partner with my charm and flaunting my wealth. It's alarmingly easy for me to overcompensate when it comes to Danielle, though, because she's the only one I sincerely want to impress. However, Danielle has told me multiple times that I need to slow down because she already considers what I've done so far more than enough to make her happy. I'm just not used to something so simple and benign satisfying anyone; it's unfathomable to me. Although I suppose another reason why I care so much about what Danielle thinks of me is because I want her to eventually come to see me as her new father and fulfill that role in such a way that no one will dare question it and I can happily show her off to the rest of the world. Showing them all that she is the greatest source of pride and joy in my life...

Danielle's thoughtfulness and consideration during the drive back warmed my heart even though I was mortified I had unjustly put so much extra pressure on her all of a sudden and I regretted my careless words immediately. I never should have insinuated she is my only source of happiness but rather being with her is an extension of it. Therefore, in order to fix the mess I've made of things, I first need to apologize for overreacting, which clearly has upset Danielle. Once that's taken care of, I'll show her to her new room so she can settle in and decompress for a few hours to recover from all of the excitement today. Hopefully, that will help ease the tension between us.

When the door shut behind us, Danielle and I were welcomed home only by the eerie silence of my castle. With a heavy sigh, I slowly turned to her, my gaze narrowing sadly when I saw Danielle involuntarily flinch at the sound of my voice as I explained to her calmly. "Everything should be ready by now, so let me show you to your room. I hope it is to your liking and I'm sorry for-"

Looking up at me, Danielle shook her head and interrupted with a nervous laugh. "You don't have to apologize, Vlad. I know I overreacted too, but like I said, I was just feeling kinda overwhelmed by all the special treatment you were giving me since I'm not used to it. It was giving me a serious case of whiplash. Still, I shouldn't have doubted you, and if anything, I should be the one apologizing."

Squaring her shoulders and taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Danielle continued. "Considering how crazy things have been since I ran away from home, it was only a matter of time before one of us snapped, and I've already done that at least twice, so it makes sense that it'd be your turn next. As rich and powerful as you are, Vlad, you're only human and everyone has their limit. You have strong feelings about what's going on, just like I do, and I'm sorry for not realizing it sooner. Still, I think we both need a break from each other to figure out a few things on our own because I for one am sick and tired of regretting all of the things I should have or could have done differently. We can talk about the rest later with my brother once he gets here. I just need a little time to adjust to everything then I'll be fine, I promise."

A bit skeptical at first because I was worried Danielle was only putting on a brave face, as usual, I decided to set those concerns aside for now as I nodded and decided to give her more credit than she deserved, smiling warmly as I responded. "Thank you for understanding, my dear. For what it's worth though, I do apologize for my sudden outburst. I had no idea I had so much weighing on my mind apart from wanting to do everything in my power to make you feel at home here. But I suppose I did let myself get a bit carried away. Now that you have the basic necessities however I agree that the rest can wait until things settles down. So, bygones?"

Rolling her eyes at my blatant theft of the witty banter she exchanged with her brother before they left my castle the first time, Danielle elbowed me and snorted. "Whatever fruitloop, you totally stole that from line from Jason. But fine, just don't expect me to fly off somewhere to buy you an apology milkshake since your chef probably makes them better than anyone else in town anyway."

"True enough, little badger." I chuckled, patting her head since she had her hair tied back and I didn't want to tangle it by ruffling it. "At any rate let's hurry and head upstairs so you can explore your new room and in a few hours we'll have dinner together. We'll call your brother afterwards. Then again, if you need more time to settle we can always postpone the call until tomorrow morning at the latest since he seems to be growing rather frantic. I called Jason earlier just to check up on him briefly and-"

"No, we're definitely calling Jace tonight. End of story. I owe him that much at least after he risked so much to protect me from...you know." Danielle sighed tiredly, rubbing the back of her neck underneath her ponytail. "Besides, I'll feel better once I know for sure my parents haven't tried to lock Jace up in the Fenton Stockades 'for his own good' because if they have, it's going to be a lot harder for us to rescue him since the walls are ghost-proof."

"The WHAT?!" I sputtered in wide-eyed disbelief. "Danielle, please tell me you're joking!"

"Unfortunately no, I'm not. I found out about it a while ago actually. Apparently my parents built a small reenforced metal room somewhere under the garage years ago that's filled with all sorts of antique anti-ghost stuff they recreated from old sketches and notes written by an ancestor of ours on Dad's side of the family. He even threatened to lock us both in there once when Jace and I were under some kind of hypnotic spell from a musical ghost named Ember. Jace only became a rebellious fanboy, but in my case, Ember's spell made me act all stupid and completely lovesick for my best friend Sam to keep me busy since she was plotting to brainwash the entire world during a live concert. He thought it was the perfect place to keep us out of trouble since ghosts can't phase through anything in that room, just like the weapons vault." Suddenly clamming up when she realized she had said too much, Danielle anxiously blurted out. "A-anyway, bedroom tour! Let's go!"

Making a mental note of this hidden room and the weapon's vault in Fenton Works just in case this information proved useful to me in the future, I complied and escorted Danielle to her new room. Thankfully, it was located on the opposite side of the castle, so she wouldn't feel as if I were constantly invading her privacy. But this room, by far, was the largest one except for my own, which until then had been reserved for my exceedingly rare VIP guests. And when I finally led her to the room itself, I wasn't disappointed by Danielle's reaction. So if nothing else at least this is something I've done right among a myriad of other mistakes.

Danielle's POV

Just when I thought Vlad couldn't do anything else to surprise me today, he managed to find a way to throw me for a loop like the unpredictable fruitloop he is. After seeing the newly furnished room for the first time myself, I honestly didn't believe the whole 'restraining himself' speech anymore because Vlad clearly went overboard orchestrating this surprise. That said, I did like the whole setup they put together for me so I wasn't sure how to thank him without sounding like an idiot again. And personally I think Sam would approve of this room too since it was the perfect blend of modern furniture and medieval-style decorations to help complement the overall aesthetic of Vlad's castle...

Vlad kept most of the room's design neutral to give me the chance to personalize a few things here and there, but otherwise it had a clear theme going and I appreciated the fact that he remembered how much I love astronomy. The most obvious change I noticed apart from the other furniture was the bed itself. They had replaced it with one of those fancy round ones with cushioning built right into the headboard so you could sit up comfortably just like you would on a sofa and draped over the whole bed was a transparent canopy with delicate glow-in-the-dark dots that looked like shimmering stars. There were drawers built directly into the bedframe too and the whole bed was standing on top of a slightly elevated platform just like the one I remembered seeing in the other guest room I stayed in months ago. As for the bedding, there was a dark blue blanket made of silky soft velvet with gorgeous zodiac signs and constellations decorating it along with several plush pillows I couldn't wait to sink into.

Then, tucked away in the opposite corner of the room was a sleek black desk complete with a computer chair and, you guessed it, a matching laptop to go with it. I wasn't too surprised there, though, because I already had a feeling he'd pull a stunt like this back when I saw Vlad talking to the tech guy earlier at one of the stores we visited while I was picking out a new iPod. And when I walked over to them and asked him why he was looking at computers, Vlad just smiled at me mischievously then pointed out that I was going to have a difficult time downloading any music onto it without one. There was even one of those giant beanbags just like the one Sam has nestled in the other corner of the room over by the closet and bathroom. Oh, and did I mention that across from the bed was a widescreen TV with surround sound mounted into the wall?

The rest of my room was mostly filled with empty shelves for me to use for storage or displaying various knick-knacks. Also, I'll admit this last part got me really excited but it turns out that like his office, the room had a large glass window that went from the floor to the ceiling that led outside where I saw there was a whole balcony with a telescope pointed at the night sky! And when I opened the door to get a closer look I quickly realized the telescope was one of the best they have out on the market. There was also a small table and chair out there too with a retractable tent roof overhead to keep you from getting wet if it snowed or rained outside.

I had to hand it to him, Vlad was very thorough with his research into my interests. So even though this wasn't at all what I was expecting the thing that surprised the most was how I didn't feel nearly as bad about accepting Vlad's gifts as I did before. I couldn't help myself because I think I was finally starting to believe Vlad's doing this because he wants to. It's not an attempt to bribe me, but to show me he's paying attention and genuinely cares...

Stepping back inside, I carefully closed the glass door behind me and walked back over to him. Then, awkwardly smiling up at Vlad, I said. "Thanks for doing this for me. And sorry for spoiling the surprise by acting so weird earlier."

Pulling me into a warm hug in response, Vlad answered fondly. "It's quite alright, little badger. That's all behind us now. And I realize that perhaps this wasn't exactly the best time to try keeping such things a secret from you given how uncertain your life has become recently. But I promise I'll do my best to avoid such mistakes in the future."

Releasing me from his embrace, Vlad glanced around the room again, obviously pleased with the result too, and added. "At any rate I'll leave you to figure out the other bells and whistles in just a moment, but first, let me show you one last thing."

Guiding me to the bedroom door, Vlad showed me a control panel next to it and explained. "I still plan to either purchase or custom build a cell phone for you eventually so you can call me directly; however, for now should you need anything, you may reach me anywhere in the castle using this video intercom. It has a few key locations pre-programmed into it so it can be used to call down to the kitchen if you want something to eat brought up here. But really that shouldn't be much of a problem since there is a mini-fridge just over there next to the TV with some of the snacks we bought earlier. That reminds me, I have full access to every streaming service imaginable, in addition, you can change your location at any time to watch films or shows unavailable in the states. And please feel free to purchase anything in particular you'd like to watch that isn't already there...

"Truth be told, I wanted to buy a gaming console for you as well but I didn't know which one you'd prefer to use or what videogames you like to play apart from Doom. But I'm sure the laptop will provide you with more than enough entertainment for now so think of that as your belated birthday gift instead. And if anything here isn't to your liking, let me know and we can make adjustments."

I opened my mouth to respond, but Vlad apparently wasn't done. So I patiently waited while he concluded. "Ah, and before I forget, since your powers seem to have stabilized, I'm happy to inform you that you're allowed to use them again if you wish to explore the castle. Just keep in mind that I would prefer it if you avoided the lab for obvious reasons, as well as the master bedroom and my private study if I'm not there. As I said, I have a lot to do over the next few days. I've also locked the training room, so it's the only place you won't be able to phase into for the time being.

"Apart from that, you are free to explore the castle and the nearby forest if you'd like. Should you decide to go into town again for any reason, please tell me beforehand, and I'll have my driver take you as well as provide you with some spending money. I'm sure you already know how to avoid drawing attention to yourself. That said, do you have any questions before I leave, my dear?"

Sighing deeply, I admitted. "I do. But honestly, I'm feeling pretty beat, so I'd rather ask those questions later if it's all the same to you. And not gonna lie, that bed is definitely calling my name. There is one last thing I'd like to say, but you gotta come closer first..."

Feeling embarrassed about this really cheesy idea of mine, I motioned to Vlad to come closer and before I could chicken out, I gave him a quick peck on the cheek, blushing beet red like he was when he pulled away and continued shyly. "Thanks, Vlad, for everything. I know things didn't go exactly as planned today, but for what it's worth, I'm really grateful. Anyway, I'll see you at dinner, ok?"

Sputtering back to life and absentmindedly reaching for the doorknob, Vlad nodded, still looking absolutely shell-shocked but overjoyed by my little show of daughterly affection. Then he finally replied. "Yes, I will see you then, Danielle. Sleep well and of course you're quite welcome, my dear."

An awkward pause followed, and Vlad opened his mouth as if he wanted to add something, but then thought better of it and hurried out of the room. Still, I couldn't help but smile warmly because his reaction just now was so worth the embarrassment of kissing his cheek. And Vlad seems ecstatic whenever I return his fatherly affection even in the smallest ways. That's why even though I know I'll never be able to repay him for giving me a place to call home again or a sense of belonging that I haven't felt since my parents kicked me out, this is a start at least. The start of something new for both of us.