Ch.1: How the Story Began

Danny and Dick played with their two favorite toys on the ground as their parents worked. Dick had his stuffed elephant Peanut. Danny played with his tiger statuette. Both were very engrossed in the game they were playing.

John and Mary tinkered with the Ghost Portal they were making. They'd been working on it for years, taking their time. The paranormal was really only a hobby compared to their friend's career in ghost hunting. The Fenton's surpassed their knowledge by far.

Glancing out of the corner of her eye, Mary smiled at her twins. They were identical; messy black hair, sapphire blue eyes, thin but strong frames.

BE-BEEP. BE-BEEP. BE-BEEP.

John put his screw-driver down and wiped his forehead clean of the sheet of sweat that had gathered there. "Alright boys, time for rehearsal."

The twins 'awed' in dismay.

"But we haven't finished our game!" Danny whined, casting pleading eyes up at his father. Dick watered his eyes for good measure. "Can we finish?"

"PWEASE?" The two boys pleaded, batting their eyes innocently.

Mary chuckled as she, too, set down her tools. She and her husband looked at each from the corners of their eyes before staring back down at their twins, who were still giving them the pouty-face.

"You have five minutes and then you have to meet us at the center ring, understood?" John said firmly but gently, as he set the alarm for five minutes. Both boys gasped in delight and shouted a few 'thank you-s' before turning back to their game.

The parents laughed quietly before leaving the train-car and walking to the center ring.

As fast as they could, the two boys rushed the game and ended just as the alarm went off. The two boys trotted over to the table to turn off the alarm. The only problem was that they couldn't reach the top.

After a few minutes of failed jumping, Dick finally stood on Danny's shoulders, reached over the side of the table, and turned off the alarm. The younger-by-ten-minutes boy jumped off his twin's shoulders and the two, giggling, raced out of the train-car.

As they passed Jack Haly's car, Danny tripped and sent him and his brother sprawling across the dirt ground.

Danny pushed himself up on his elbows and looked up. Dick stared down at him.

The twins were both lying on their bellies. Dick landed on top of Danny though and pinned him to the floor.

The two, after a second of looking at the other, giggled uncontrollably. Dick pushed Danny's shoulder playfully. "Nice going, Danny!"

"Nice going, Dick!" Danny mocked, sticking out his tongue.

The two abruptly stopped laughing when they heard a slam inside Jack Haly's car.

"You heard me! Get out! I run an honest business here! I don't pay thieves like you protection money!"

The twins looked at each other with wide eyes. Dick leaned close to his brother's ear and whispered "I wonder why Mr. Haly's mad…"

A man was pushed from the train car, out through the door, nearly tripping over the two boys on the ground in the process. Jack glared at the man heatedly. The younger of the adults held up his hands in surrender. "It's insurance, Mr. Haly... Accidents happen… You can't just run a business without insurance…"

The twins gasped quietly as Jack pulled out a bull-whip and hissed "Get off my property."

The man glared back at the ringmaster and began walking away, a scowl on his face. "Fine, fine! I tried to be reasonable but you don't want my services? Have it your way. Keep my number around though, old man. You're gonna be needing me, Tony Zucco, very soon."

Jack continued to scowl after the man, Tony Zucco. The ebony-haired twins cast nervous eyes at the ringmaster, who softened upon looking at them.

"Sorry you had to see that boys. Aren't you supposed to be rehearsing?" He asked them. The two, smiling small, nodded. Jack playfully gestured to the circus tent and said "Well, git goin."

The two boys laughed again before getting up and running for the circus ring.

Danny, who was known for being a little bit of a klutz, tripped again and landed painfully on his wrist. He cried out and his brother gasped in surprise.

Hearing their son's cries from the ring, Jack and Mary peeked out from the tent and quickly raced over to their baby.

"Oh no, Danny! Are you alright?" Mary asked, motherly instincts kicking in. She carefully picked the ebony-haired child up and cradled him.

Danny shook his head, looking at his twisted wrist.

John scooped the child from his wife's arms. "I'll take care of him. Get Dickie ready, alright?"

Mary nodded and placed a kiss on Danny's head before taking Dick's hand and leading him inside the tent.

John began carrying his older son back to the train car.

"Will I be able to perform?" Danny asked, sullenly. John grimaced at him. "I don't think so, kiddo."

The child let out a long whine.

"Sorry you can't perform tonight." Dick said, sad that his brother couldn't perform. Danny shrugged, looking at his wrist, which was placed carefully in a cast. "It's alright. I'll be able to do it again eventually."

The twin nodded and cast his eyes towards the Ghost Portal. He grinned and looked at his brother. "Hey Danny, wanna check out the portal?"

The older-by-ten-minutes child nodded. "Yeah!"

The two got up and headed over to the portal. They, as been told earlier in the day, tugged on their hazemat suits with some trouble. They were continuously falling on their backsides and Danny had trouble pulling his on because of his wrist.

After they suited up, they entered the portal, glancing at all the wires and panels.

John and Mary, after rehearsal, spent some more time working on the portal while their kid's watched and, occasionally, helped. It was family time for them.

Before leaving to go set up, the couple had finished the portal but had not turned it on. They had told the boys to not touch it for safety reasons. Had the twins been listening? Nope.

"It's a button! I wanna touch it!" Dick said, pointing at a small control panel in the side of the wall. Danny agreed and hoisted his brother up carefully on his shoulders. The younger of the two let out a long 'ooo' before pressing the green button.

FLASH!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The portal shorted out for a split second, letting the two boys stumble out, before it erupted in green light and stayed on. The portal worked.

The two boys groaned, sitting up and holding their heads. They opened their eyes, looked at each other, and, promptly, screamed.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU!?" They screamed at each other. Their eyes went wide of the other. "What happened to me?! What happened to you?!"

The twins groaned at the synchronized yelling.

"Danny, your hair is white!"

"So is yours! And Dick, your eyes are green!"

"So are yours! And the whites of your suit are black and the blacks of your suit are white, Danny!"

"SO ARE YOURS, DICK!"

"What's going on?!" They yelled at each other. Quickly, they came to a decision.

"MOMMY! DADDY!"

As the two got up off the floor, they changed back into their original appearances, black hair and blue eyes, and screamed. They ran faster towards the door and Dick grabbed the door first. He swung it open, accidently slamming it into Danny's head. The older twin groaned, holding his bruised head, and fell against the wall.

Dick continued screaming for his parents as he raced towards the brightly-lit circus tent, not noticing his downed brother. As he was nearing the entrance, he gasped at the sight of the retreating figure with a knife in his hand, the steel glinting in the moonlight.

This spiked his panic level as he entered the tent.

Dick found himself just a little too late to catch his parents as they climbed the ladder. He screamed at them to come down because he saw a weird man and that Danny and he looked weird now. They did not hear his pleas but caught sight of him and waved.

The ebony-haired child continued to scream until Jack came across him, asking what was wrong. Dick's story stumbled out of his mouth but half-way through there was a loud snap, gasps erupting from the crowd. The two looked up but-

CR-R-RACK!

"MOMMY! DADDY!"

Danny raced out of his train car and looked around desperately for his twin or his parents. He ran around the entire complex but found no one. As he neared the entrance, he gasped in shock when he saw a dozen police cruisers and a van. Men were loading gurneys with body bags into the van.

He ran up to an officer, begging to know where his parents were. When he got no answer in a two-second timeframe, he ran off and asked another. And another and another and another…

"Danny! Oh gosh, Danny! I can't believe we forgot about you!" Jack said, picking up the panicked child.

"Mr. Haly, what's going on?" Danny sobbed, clutching the shirt of the beloved ringmaster.

The next few minutes, Jack explained what happened. Danny screamed at the older man that it was a lie when the story was over and demanded to know what really happened. Jack merely hugged the child until he calmed into soft cries and small sniffles.

"The other kid's already been adopted out. What do we do with him?" Gordon asked the ringmaster while Danny continued to cry into Jack's shoulder. The older man merely sighed and said "We could ask Bruce if he's willing to adopt another."

"We'll take him."

Jack and Gordon turned to a couple, tears staining their faces. The woman had short, red hair while the man had salt-and-peppered black hair.

"And you would be?" Jack asked protectively.

"I'm Maddie Fenton and this is my husband, Jack. We were friends of the Grayson's and were planning to surprise them after the show because we hadn't seen them in years but…" The woman choked, holding a hand over her mouth. Her husband placed a hand over her shoulder and looked at the two sullenly. "All we want to do is help John and Mary's kid."

Jack let out a long sigh. Reluctantly, he mumbled a "Let's get the adoption papers…"

I plan on posting the second chapter his weekend, after I do 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover. This story is also dedicated to my frikkin awesome follower, Alien Who Writes Good Stuff. Love that guy!

Kadzait: That's it? THAT'S IT?! You ain't gonna say nothing bout the story?

Nope. I'm too busy bracing myself for the yelling sure to come. *small, innocent grin*