"Dad?" Danny asked in a perfectly healthy voice, and then they heaved a rather deliberate-sounding cough. "I mean, so are you going to tell me about the Backwash Incident?"

Jack raised an eyebrow, and touched their son's forehead. "Huh. Well, son..."

"Let me guess. Did you go to the beach with Chevy, and he had to save you from drowning or something?"

"No, that's not what happened. But-"

"Who is Chevy, anyway? I'm sorry I keep asking about him, but I never knew I had an uncle! What does he look like now?"

"Ashes." Jack's jaw clenched.

"Huh?"

"Look, Daniel." Jack reached down, picked up a schoolbag and dumped it on the bed. "I don't think you're sick anymore- what was the word? You're malingering. I think you need to get dressed, and go to school."

Danny sat up, surprised. "But-"

"Maddie can drive you. She's finished with the handle, anyway." Jack began walking away.

"What about the story?"

Jack paused at the door. "Not now, son. I'm not in the mood anymore." With that, they left and quickly ran down the stairs and into the kitchen.

There they stopped, by the sink, to catch their breath. Jack's big orange frame nearly reached from one end of the counters to the other as they calmed themselves down.

In, out. In, out. In-

Hey, was that fudge they smelled? Jack looked behind them and saw on the table was an entire plate of the stuff, covered in cling film with a little handwritten note on the top.

One of Jack's black gloved paws peeled off the note and held it in the palm of their hand as they read.

Hi honey!

Gone to pick up radioactive samples from Dalveiddam Plants. Will be back by three – if Danny is feeling better, please take to school? Also, take stock on all blaster inventions, I think some ghost has been stealing again.

Love Maddie xxx

PS – Whole fudge plate was only $5 at supermarket! After Vday discounts are my favourite part of Vday.

A small, gentle smile nudged up the corners of Jack's mouth; it was hard to imagine how they had ever ended up with such an amazing wife as Maddie.

And with that happy thought, Jack unwrapped the fudge and instantly crammed a piece into their large mouth. They picked up the plate, holding it with one hand and taking pieces at a steady rate as they bumbled merrily downstairs into the basement.

With the portal closed tightly, the room was dark and Jack put the fudge down on a table, fumbling for the light. When they finally located the switch, they turned around, stared at the lab and completely forgot what it was they had come down here for.

So Jack turned the lights back off, skipped up the steps and reread the note; stock taking of the blasters, which was nothing unusual. This job was usually assigned to them as they were the only person who really had any sort of memory as to where the inventions were located.

Shrugging, Jack walked back down to the basement. But this time, something seemed... off about the room. Had a shelf fallen down? Not as far as they could see. Had one of the more quirky prototypes started stinking the place up again? It didn't smell different. In fact, the room seemed just as it was before, yet there was suddenly this unshakable feeling of wrongness Jack felt as he stared around the green-lit room.

Green lit. Jack looked over to the portal and found it had opened up of its own accord, the mesmerising swirl casting an eerie shadow across the room. Frowning, they walked up to it and hit the 'close' button, but nothing happened.

Jack stroked his chin thoughtfully. Perhaps a fuse had blown; a simple task that required little more than a screwdriver and some motivational fudge. It was easy enough to find a screwdriver in the lab, and they then stood up and walked over to where the plate of fudge was.

There had been still a substantial amount of the chocolaty treat when Jack had left it, but to their horror the plate was empty, licked clean of even the tiniest crumb. This could only mean one thing; a ghost had escaped, and a fudge-eating one at that! With an angry shout of 'Ghooost!' Jack picked up the nearest blaster and pointed it wildly around the room.

This rash action was not greeted by some evil ghost stepping out of the shadows, nor by some creeping mass of black tentacles. A dark shadow in the corner baulked and uttered a strangely familiar, high pitched whinny before turning and galloping back into the portal, which closed behind it.

Jack stared after the creature in shock. The blaster slipped out of their hands. The room darkened once more and they were left to their silent, tumultuous thoughts.

Could that creature really have been them? What had it been doing after all of these years? How did it find the lab?

Why did it come back?

"Dad? Dad!" Something from upstairs shook Jack out of their shellshocked trance. "Dad? I need you to take me to school!"

"Wha-?" Jack blinked. "Uh, c-coming, son!"

Danny's face appeared at the top of the stairs. "Hey, why's it so dark in here? You do know that there are lights right here, right?"

"Of course I do, Danny."

"Then why didn't you use them?" Danny backed off a little when their father appeared and closed the door firmly to the basement. "Uh... Are you okay? Your face is kind of pale..."

Jack forced a smile and ruffled their son's dark hair. "I'm perfectly fine, son! Now, let's get you to school..."