Chapter 1: Hello, My name is Miss. Dolores Wattertucken.
The accident that the poor three year old girl had endured couldn't have been more minor in her parents minds. A little trip landed the girl with a small gash on the head when she whacked it against a lab table. Nothing to major, the girl was deemed fine by the Doctors when they rushed her to the hospital and they put six stitches in, but Child Protective Services didn't see it the same way. They put the Fenton household under a microscope after a 'Concerned Citizen' had called them with worries about the families new infant son being in the 'house of horrors' with those 'Mad Scientists', and with the three year old girl getting hurt on top of that it was decided someone should at least give the house a look.
"Hello, my name is Miss. Dolores Wattertucken, I'm with the Child Protective Services." Greeted a lovely woman that couldn't have been older than 25. She stood in the doorway of the Fenton household in a business suit, hair tied up in a loose ponytail, and a large bag hanging off her left shoulder. She greeted Mr. and Ms. Fenton with an outstretched perfectly manicured hand.
"Jack Fenton," The large burly man greeted enthusiastically as he took the more petite's woman's hand in greeting, loosening his grip when he saw her give a wince at his strong grip. His wife kept behind him while holding their infant son, slowly rocking back and forth to keep him calm.
"Madeline Fenton," The woman said giving the Social Worker a curt nod which Dolores returned.
"It's nice to meet you both," Dolores started. "I was sent because we got a call from a Concerned Citizen, they are worried about your baby's living state." Dolores noticed how the mother's grip tightened and the father moved slightly to block her view of the small child. "Now there is nothing to worry about, we get these calls all the time and usually they are just nosey neighbors being concerned with nothing." Dolores continued as calmly as possible trying to put the parents nerves on ease. "If it wouldn't be too much trouble I would like to just have a look around to make sure everything is alright so then we can check you guys off as saying we have checked your household and it all looks fine. Would that be ok?"
Mr. Fenton looked over at his wife and the smaller woman shrugged her shoulders. Giving the woman a large grin Mr. Fenton opened the door a little wider. "Yeah, I don't see the harm really." He said motioning for Dolores to come in. Dolores smiled politely as she walked through the threshold.
"Thank you very much, this shouldn't take too long, and I'll be out of your hair, hopefully never to return." Dolores joked, but it fell flat as only the mother gave the social worker a small smile. "Well lets see." Dolores took out a small clipboard from her oversized bag and a pen. "Let's start with the living room shall we?" Mr. Fenton nodded and lead the way with Ms. Fenton taking up the rear, the baby fussed lightly in his mother's arms but was quickly settled when the mother started whispering things to the small bundle.
Attentive mother. Dolores quickly wrote as she looked around the mud room as she was entering the living room. Odd smell in household, but the house looks clean. Suggestion; get someone in here to look for mold. As the group entered the living room Dolores grew curious over some steel drums that seemed to ooze fluorescent green in the corner of the room.
"I'm sorry, what is that?" Dolores asked as she pointed towards the drums.
The question made Mr. Fenton beam as he walked over to the drums. "This, my good woman, is Ectoplasm!" He exclaimed opening one of the drums and showing her the content of an florescent green liquid. "My wife and I have been collecting it for years now, and slowly we are getting enough to start building our second Ghost Portal. It's going to bigger, badder, more ghostly than the fist."
"Uh, Jack dear," Ms. Fenton called out walking over to her husband and giving Dolores a weary glance. "I don't think Miss. Wattertucken wants to talk about the Ghost Portal." She beamed at her husband, "Maybe we should make our way to the kitchen."
"Actually Ms. Fenton, I'm quite curious about this Ectoplasm? Is that what you called it Mr. Fenton?" Dolores asked trying to keep the panic from her voice. All that was running through her head was actually along the lines of 'Ectoplasm, I've heard of that before but what is that? It looks radioactive. Ghosts? Portals? What? This was supposed to be an easy run.' But to freak out on the parents would do more harm than good so she kept her inner turmoil inside and discreetly wrote out Ghosts & Ectoplasm (Looks Radioactive?) on her clipboard.
"Yup, exactly Miss. Watertucken." Jack answered excitedly.
"And what exactly is that?" Dolores asked carefully.
"Well Miss. Wattertucken-" Miss. Fenton started, she seemed to get just as excited as her husband when she saw Dolores actually wanted to know more about their work.
"Dolores please Ms. Fenton." Dolores interrupted politely.
"Then I must insist on Maddie," Maddie said with a gentle smile. "Anyways, Ectoplasm is the essence of a ghost. Like we humans are made up of blood, bones, and muscles, ghosts are made up of Ectoplasm." Dolores saw a young girl walk into the living room. "Oh, Jazz! What are you doing up? You should be resting." Maddie exclaimed as the young girl walked in. This was obviously the family's three year old daughter that had recently gotten hurt. She still had the bandages that covered her wound wrapped around her head.
"Yeah, but I heard company," the young girl Jazz explained as she glanced to Dolores, "I heard you guys talking about ghosts and thought maybe you would want me to look after Danny."
"Oh how thoughtful Jazz," Maddie exclaimed, "Yes if you could watch Daniel for a few moments that would be great." Maddie handed over the infant to her young daughter. Jazz seemed to know exactly what to do with the squirming baby that started to fuss as he was passed to his older sister. Jazz quickly hushed the baby as if she had a lot of practice with the small being and quickly walked out of the living room. Three year old (Jazz) seems to have a lot of experience with the infant (Daniel) was quickly written on the board.
"Now," Maddie said as she clapped her hands together that they were free of the infant. "Where were we? Oh yes! Ectoplasm…" The next hour was filled with Maddie and Jack excitedly talking to the social worker all about their research and answering her questions such as:
"Now is Ectoplasm radioactive?" Apparently not. "Is it I biohazard?" Again, no you could apparently eat it if you wanted to. "What do you do for work, exactly?" Ghost Hunters, they work in their basement. "Can the children get into the work area?" Of course they can there wasn't anything dangerous in the lab. "Is this the same lab that holds the work table that young Jazz hit her head on?" Unfortunately, yes, but it of course was a freak accident. "Can I see the lab?" Of course!
Walking through the kitchen to get to the lab Dolores paused in her steps for just a fraction of a moment as she took in the disarray that was the kitchen. There was a half dissected toaster on the table right next to what looked like a gun. Surprised Dolores soon noticed that various guns, knives, bazookas looking things, and WHIPS of all things, were strewn throughout the space. Not to mention more of the green ooze drums were also taking up space in this room as well. "Sorry about the mess." Jack said as he walked towards a door off the kitchen. "The lab is just down here." Dolores shook her head as she followed the man down. No obvious concern for child protection when it comes to weaponry. Went on the clipboard.
Down in the lab Jack and Maddie continues to talk about their obsession with ghosts. Maddie stuck more to the theoretical ideas that the two had while Jack showed Dolores all the experiments and gadgets that they were working on, explaining in detail what each was meant to do and how they worked. Eventually they made it to the back of the basement where the Fentons were working on their crown jewel, the Fenton Portal. "It's going to be the biggest, and only, Ghost Portal in the World!" Jack exclaimed. The two scientists excitedly talked about ghosts for another 45 minutes before Dolores had to stop them. "I'm sorry but do you know where your children are at the moment." Dolores asked politely.
"Oh I'm sure they're fine." Jack answered dismissively, "Jazz has a smart head on her shoulders she takes great care of Danny when we are busy." Jack didn't seem to think anything was wrong with this answer, Maddie on the other hand seemed to look a bit sheepish.
"Um, it's about 1pm now, I'm sure Jazz is upstairs feeding Danny, it's about his lunchtime." Maddie said confidently. Obsession with Ghosts seems to overshadow any concern for the children, was written on the board as the parents started to take Dolores back upstairs. Once back up stairs Dolores noticed more about the kitchen that she had missed the first time as she was distracted by the blatant display of weaponry. Messy dishes were stacked almost to the ceiling, the fridge looked like it had a food fight with itself, there were three bags of just trash sitting near the back door. All of this went on the clipboard. To top it all off Jazz was not in fact in the kitchen feeding Danny.
"Jazz?!" Maddie called out as she walked to the bottom of the stairs. "Jazz have you fed Danny yet?!" Only to be answered by a baby starting to cry. Little feet came running to the top of the stairs.
"Shush! I just got him to sleep!" The little girl called down only to turn quickly and run to what Dolores assumed was the baby room to quiet him down.
Maddie shrugged as she turned toward Dolores. "Danny usually sleeps after he eats." She explained. "Is there anything else you need to see?" She asked politely.
Dolores couldn't help but stare at Maddie for a moment too long in disbelief before she collected herself. "Um, yes. If I could check the back yard, the main bathroom, and potentially the children's rooms that would be great." Maddie smiled as she led the way to the back yard. Three year old child (Jazz) seems to have too much experience in taking care of the infant (Daniel) than her age should allow. was written on the board.
The back yard was an even bigger mess than the whole house combined. It could be argued that there wasn't even a yard. It was just steel drums filling the space inside a large wooden fence. Drum after drum filled with the sickly green Ectoplasm. Even if Ectoplasm is safe, there is just too much for any sane person to be comfortable with in this house. was written on the board.
The main bathroom was relatively clean, but Dolores did take note that there seemed to be a lot of recently dirtied rags in the trash bin with a distinct smell of cleaning chemicals still lingering in the air, and there was another drum of Ectoplasm in the room.
They then made their way to young Daniels room. While overall the picture perfect baby room Dolores was quick to note it did not in fact have a sleeping baby in it. "I thought Jazz said he was sleeping."
"Oh, Jazz lets Danny nap in her room. She says she likes to keep an eye on him." Jack explained smiling. "She's a thoughtful one, our Jazz." Dolores made a noncommittal noise as they made their way to Jazz's room.
Jazz was laid out on her floor playing with her little brother with some blocks. She was stacking them up four high so far and the baby would make excited noises as he watched his sister, she would overdramatically stack each block with funny faces of concentration. Eventually, by the time she got to the fifth block the baby got too excited and hit the blocks knocking the whole structure over. The little girl would overdramatically portray dismay at the tumbling blocks and the baby would laugh even harder at his sister's antics.
The adults watched for a while until Daniel noticed them at the door. He immediately made babbling noises at his mother and grabby hands obviously asking to be picked up. Maddie was quick to comply, as she quickly walked over and picked up her small child.
"Hey baby," Maddie said. "How was playing with your big sister?" She asked nuzzling the small childs nose with her own. Daniel let out a large laugh at his mother and started babbling to her as if trying to communicate what the two siblings had been up to all day. Maddie just hummed and rocked her child back and forth.
The mother and child interaction was very touching, but when Dolores looked down at Jazz she noted how the young girl was staring at her with what almost looked like dismay. It seemed as if the young girl was aware of Dolores' thoughts on the children's living situation so far and was trying to communicate with her about changing he mind on the whole situation.
"Would you two mind if I talked to young Jazz alone for a moment?" Dolores asked.
Jazz look a bit startled for a moment and the two parents looked a bit taken aback. "Um," Maddie started as she looked towards her husband. Jack just shrugged. "I guess I don't see why not." Maddie answered. "Jazz, is that ok with you?" Her mother asked.
Jazz looked towards the floor. "Yeah, I guess that'll be alright." She answered after a moment.
"Ok, we'll be down in the living room if you need us." Jack said as they both moved out of the room and quietly closed the door.
The two inhabitants of the room just stayed as they were for a moment. Then Dolores took a deep breath, gave a small sigh and looked around for a place to sit.
"You can sit on my bed if you want to." Jazz offered politely.
"Thank you Jazz," Dolores said as she carefully made her way over to the bed and sat down. "Would you mind joining me?" She asked as she patted a space next to her. Jazz slowly got up and sat down in the indicated spot without taking her eyes off the floor. "So Jazz-" Dolores started after a moment before she was interrupted.
"Don't take my baby brother away." Jazz said quietly.
"Jazz-"
"I know it doesn't look great, and I know I got hurt, but it was really my own fault. They told me not to run in the lab, and I didn't listen." The little girl started to explain. "It's not their fault, they're really good parents, they try really hard. They're just forgetful sometimes."
Dolores lightly put a hand on the small girl's shoulder. "Jazz, I'm not here to take away your brother." She explained gently. "I'm just here to check on you and Daniel. I just want to make sure the two of you are safe. The worse I'm going to do today is write up a report and send it to my bosses-"
"And then you'll come back and take Danny away from me." Jazz said dismayed.
"Jazz-"
"Well that's what happens in the movies, right. The social worker says they're just looking out for the kids and then they take them away from their mom and dad, away from each other, and the kids are expected to live happy lives away from the people who actually love them." Jazz cried. "You can't take Danny away from me, I'm a good older sister. I watch out for him. I make sure he get plenty of food, rest, I change him when he needs to be changed, I give him baths, and we play together all the time. He's never sad as long as I can make him happy, and I'll always watch out for him and make sure he's safe and healthy." Jazz exclaimed passionately trying to get Dolores to understand that she is the best thing for Daniel.
"Jazz, it's just not that simple." Dolores tried to explain. "You're a little girl Jazz. I do not deny that you want what's best for Daniel, and that you want to protect him, but that is not supposed to be your job. You aren't supposed to be Daniel's parent, his parents are supposed to be his parents. They are the ones that should be watching Daniel, making sure his house is safe, taking him baths, clothing him, feeding him, keeping dangerous objects away from him. These things should not fall on you, as you are still growing, and you are way too young to be taking on the responsibilities of a parent for young Daniel."
Jazz just shook her head. "No, you don't understand no one understand Danny like I do. Me and Danny we have a connection. If you take him away you'll be taking away the only person who understands him, the only person who can care for him." Jazz said as tears fell from her eyes.
Delores signed once more. "Jazz my object was not to make you start crying I'm sorry about this. I must admit I'm surprised as you seem to understand better the precarious situation your family seems to be in better than your parents do, but now tell me. What is it like living here, do you have anything you want to tell me?"
"Living with mom and dad is amazing. There couldn't be any better parents." Jazz said simply. Dolores wasn't surprised by the response, the poor child was terrified that Delores was going to leave with her baby brother, so she would never have given Dolores any reason to believe that the Fenton household was anything less than perfect. Jazz is terrified to lose her brother. She is the obvious main caretaker of the infant.
"Thank you very much Jazz, I'll keep in touch with your family. Please believe me when I say that I want nothing but the best for both you and your brother. I promise you that." Jazz didn't even acknowledge that Dolores had even said anything. "Goodbye Jazz." Dolores said as she got up and left the room.
Dolores made her way down to the living room where the parents were waiting. "Well I must be going now, it was very nice to meet you both. Dolores said stretching her hand out to shake with Jack.
"It was our pleasure Miss. Dolores." Jack said enthusiastically.
"Thank you for stopping by." Maddie added as the couple walked Dolores to the front door.
"There will probably be a notice that will come by that will talk about how this went. I suggest you don't ignore it. Have a good rest of your day." Dolores said as she made her way out of the house thinking, 'What a day. A routine drive by turns out to be one of the more interesting cases I have yet to embark on in years.' Dolores entered her car and then sighed loudly and ran her hands through her hair. She looked over the notes she had written out.
Attentive mother. Correction: Moderately to Low attentive mother.
Odd smell in household, but the house looks clean. Suggestion; get someone in here to look for mold. odd smell is the gallons upon gallons of Ectoplasm that takes up residence within the house, no need to check for mold but do suggest that someone comes to take a sample of the Ectoplasm to deem the safety measure that should be taken into consideration.
Ghosts & Ectoplasm (Looks Radioactive?) Apparently is not radioactive but testing should be done to make sure.
Three year old (Jazz) seems to have a lot of experience with the infant (Daniel)
Ectoplasm is not a Biohazard, you could apparently eat it if you wanted to.
Work: Ghost Hunters, with a basement lab. Lack of concern for Dangers in lab allows for children to explore the area. Lab is where young three year old got her head injury, "freak accident" according to parents.
No obvious concern for child protection when it comes to weaponry. Additional Note: Kitchen itself could possibly considered a biohazard./i
Obsession with Ghosts seems to overshadow any concern for the children.
Three year old child (Jazz) seems to have too much experience in taking care of the infant (Daniel) than her age should allow. Additional Note: This observation was made in more than the two instances being portrayed while on the visit.
Even if Ectoplasm is safe, there is just too much for any sane person to be comfortable with in this house. Additional Note: Counted more than 20 steel drums full of Ectoplasm in the backyard.
Bathroom and Baby room are two of the cleanest rooms in the whole house. Suspected that young Jazz cleaned bathroom before we made it there.
Jazz is terrified to lose her brother. She is the obvious main caretaker of the infant.
Dolores sighed. This was the hardest part of the job. By what she saw as long as they took care of the kitchen, put away the weapons, put a child lock on the door leading to the basement, and the Ectoplasm was deemed safe to be around children, there was no reason that a young child couldn't live in that household. Yeah the parents were a little absent minded when it came to their children but at least Jazz seemed to be able to take care of herself and it would be better for her to stay with her parents than to take her out of the household.
But the baby Daniel. Now that could be a problem. A three year old child should not be taking care of an infant. Not to mention the presence of the Ectoplasm becomes a hazard just by its existence in the environment regardless of whether or not the stuff was safe enough to consume. One wrong move and the baby could be seriously injured in such an environment, not to mention that if Jazz was the one to care for the child more often than not the risk goes even higher. By Dolores' visit she just didn't view it as a safe place for the baby. Of course there would have to be more visits, some suggestions to the parents to get their act together, and some tests done on all that ectoplasm in order to determine the next steps, but if things stayed the way that Dolores saw it today, at the very least young Daniel would have to be taken to a safer location.