Danny was somber as he walked back home. The storm inside of him continued to frazzle his nerves, making him jump at every unexpected sound. Anxiety ravaged through his chest, causing his heart's normally slow pace to quicken even more. Nothing felt safe, it was like a feeling of being permanently watched, and never knowing when the hunter would strike. If only the hunter was a ghost. Danny thought. He could deal with those. Skulker could vouch for him there. But, no. The hunters he was facing now were his own parents. Ghost hunters. And he felt ashamed that facing them put him so on edge.

When Danny walked in the door, he could plainly smell something coming from the kitchen. the wafting deliciousness was almost enough to make the anxiety go away. that is, until Danny heard a hushed voice.

"What are you doing back here?" Jazz asked as she quietly closed the door behind Danny. Danny went to explain, but Jazz put a finger to her lips, telling Danny to shush. The sounds of snores curiously joined the smells coming from the kitchen. Jazz then grabbed his wrist and began pulling him up the stairs and into her room. She set down a vaguely familiar bookbag and turned back to Danny.

"Now, why?" Danny was too adrenaline-pumped to think of a clear answer at the moment. So, he took a deep breath. It seemed to work, a little. Danny sat down on the bed next to Jazz. He briefly looked out of the window, at the stars that called out to him and the moon that seemed to yearn for his shadow to cast across the town he protected. Even if they didn't want him to sometimes.

"I have to tell them," Danny reworded his speech from only about ten minutes ago. "If I wait, then they'll jump to their own conclusions. or," Danny paused, "-Did you say anything yet?" his eyes widened. If Jazz had said anything-

"No, not really. All they know is that you were yourself during... whatever happened in the basement." Danny sighed in response. If that was all Jazz had said, he could still explain everything in his own way and have some degree of control over how his next conversation would go. Danny could see Jazz looking at him in the corner of his eye. She was giving him her "psychiatrist" stare.

"Want me to help?" Danny had never before been so relieved.

Maddie still didn't know what to think, even fifteen minutes after her conversation with Jazz. She was stressing out, and so she did what always used to calm her nerves in college. She cooked. It was nothing complex, really. But the recipies and ingredients swirling in her head took up the space that would otherwise go to the single topic that was most likely to make her go insane. And thus, she stirred, mixed, and measured to her heart's content. When she had come in earlier, she had seen Jack passed out at the table, a package of his emergency fudge resting in front of him. Maddie had no idea how he could be sleeping right now. But she majorly ignored his presence and blocked everything out while she focused on her task. That was, of course, until Danny walked over the kitchen's treshold with Jazz in toe. Both seemed anxious. Maddie fought the urge to immediately give Danny a hug. He needed his space. She instead settled for putting her hand on his shoulder, as Sam had done only hours ago.

"Are you ok?" she asked and looked into his eyes. They had a determined set to them, despite the obvious exhaustion she could see in their baby-blue depths.

"Yeah, but I guess i owe you an explanation." Danny rubbed the back of his neck nervously, as he always did. Maddie was glad to see that part of the Danny she knew was still there, even if it was hidden underneath the ball of anxiety that had now surfaced. Maddie's motherly instincts were still in gear. Science had taken the backseat.

Jack was happy where he was. All around him were sunny flowers. And next to him sat his beautiful wife. the sun shone overhead, and the birds acted as the choir as he leaned forward toward Maddie and- slid his hand right nto the picnic basket, grabbing a container of fudge. Litttle did Jack know, he had been sleepwalking. Jack had gone straight up to his bedroom to sleep after what he thought was a nightmare. He thought that maybe sleeping in his dream would wake him up. He might've been called Dr., albeit by his own request, not his degree, but he was not at all versed in the logic of dreams.

At his mom's worry, Danny calmed a bit. And so he let his usualy demeanor override the one he'd had as of late. He was partially glad if a small bit dissapointed when Maddie didn't immediately hug him. If she had, he most likely wouyld've started crying and been unable to finish the task his frail confidence had set for him. And so, he sat at the table. Jazz sat next to him, and Maddie went across the table, while also waking up Jack.

"Fudge..." He mumbled and reached out in front of him. He somehow grabbed a piece from the container and shoved it into his huge mouth before Maddie could wake him. He choked on the fudge when he first woke up.

"Dad! Spit it out!" Jazz yelled. He instead swallowed the glob whole. Jazz facepalmed and shook her head. Danny was glad that a bit of the tension was broken as Jazz got their Dad a glass of water. But then Danny looked from Jazz back to his dad. His expression, for once, was unreadable. But then he broke into a polite smile.

"Danny, you're home, how was school?" Danny gaped at him. Had he really forgotten? But his obliviousness again helped to lift the mood a little. It made Danny even more hesitant to begin.

"I.." Danny didn't know how to say, or what to say next. Then Maddie elbowed jack in the ribs. he hadn't noticed her.

"Danny wants to explain what happened earlier." Recognition dawned on his face.

"Oh." His usually large size san into his chair and his eyes bored into Danny's own. Jazz got back to the table and handed the glass of water to Jack. He took it quietly and Jazz reassumed her seat next to Danny. No one spoke for a moment. Except for jack, who coughed and took a drink.

"Why don't you start at the beginning?" Jazz suggested.

"Ok." Danny steeled his courage. "You remember the day I told you guys the portal started?" The adults shook their heads yes. "Well, I never really told you how that happened. You see-" He gestured along with his words, "I pressed the ON button. And it was on the inside. And so, I was inside the portal when it started. I have no idea how, but somehow the portal..." He searched for the words that wouldn't upset his parents, but could find none. " half-killed me." He looked at his parents to see if they understood. Their expressions seemed to be confused, but they waited for him to continue. "And when that happened, I got ghost powers. That's why all your ghost stuff reacted to me, for example, the ghost gabber. I almost told you guys right then, but," he looked for an explanation, but only shrugged.

"So you're saying, that one of our inventions HALF-killed you?" Jack asked. Danny nodded.

"What about the time with the mayor?" Maddie asked. Danny already had an explanation, he knew one of them would bring that up.

"A ghost named Walker tried to get revenge on me."

"Just how many enemies have you made?" Danny's mom asked.

"More than I care to count," He joked dryly.

For some reason that disturbed Maddie. It was unsettling to think that her own son had been in danger and she hadn't known about it. Danny didn't look like he knew what else to say now. There was an awkward silence in the air. It was broken by Jack.

"Ths is all a bunch of lies. What you say you became is utterly impossible and improbable." Maddie couldn't help but gape at her husband using such large words that she didn't even think could be in his vocabulary.

"But it IS possible. I'm half-living proof." Danny seemed to be getting defensive.

"Then prove it." Jack said, Maddie still couldn't beleive the words that were coming out of his mouth.

"Jack, you need to be more sensitive." Maddie scolded, but then realized that if she had let her scientific brain take over, then she'd probably be being as cynical as he was right now.

"No, mom. It's fine. if he needs proof, I can give him proof."

"Danny-" Jazz started to try to convince him otherwise. But Danny didn't pay attention. Next thing Maddie knew, he had stood up. He looked right into jack's eyes, then he no longer had eyes. he was invisible. Then he reappeared, walked over to the table, and put his hand through it. Next, he formed something in his hand, it looked like a snowflake. After that, Danny's feet lifted off the ground. Then he landed.

"Is that enough proof?" Danny asked.

How dare he not believe him. Danny felt a bit insulted. And so he showed off his powers. Invisiblitity, intabgibility, ice, and flight. He looked back at his Dad. He had a look on his face of reluctance.

"Now, I think an apology is in order." Jazz pointed out bitterly. She stared away from Danny and to their parents. Despite being knocked off his feet at his dad's reaction, Danny said:

"They didn't know, Jazz. Take it easy on them."

"What did they do to you?" Jazz asked. She was plainly ignoring the adults.

"They didn't do anything." Danny put his hand on her shoulder. He then sighed and sat back down. "I didn't want it to end up like this. I should've told you guys from the beginning."

"Yes, you should have." Maddie's voice was laced with discomfort, but she stood up and walked over to danny. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close. Danny never wanted her to leave. And she didn't. Then there was a loud scraping of tile as Jack stood up and exited the room. Jazz went to catch up with him. But Danny didn't want to think about him. All he wanted to think about was his Mom's warm embrace and her love. That was until a bone-deep chill rolled accross his spine.

"What was that?" His mom asked, she took a step back, but left her hands on Danny's shoulders. He didn't want it to end, but it had to. He couldn't ignore another ghost. And so he looked into his Mom's concerned amethyst eyes.

"That happens whenever a ghost is nearby. I call it my ghost sense." Danny smiled, glad to finally be able to share these kinds of things. His mom didn't have a response. Danny guessed there wasn't really much to say to that.

"There's one other thing I should show you." Danny took a step away from Maddie. He allowed himself to grin and closed his eyes, as he always did when he transformed. When he opened his eyes again, Maddie had a look of regret on her face. She gave Danny another hug. She seemed to be very affectionate, which was a bit odd for her.

"You're a hero, aren't you?" his mom whispered in his ear.

"I try to be." he smiled mischievously in a flash of inspiration and went intangible. He lifted himself into the air. "I'll be home soon." He smiled, waved and flew off to take care of whatever ghost had chosen to have their path crossed by him. The box ghost was very surprised at his big grin that remained upon the ghost-boy's face during the entire fight.

Aaaand here's the end! Sorry for taking so long to upload this chapter (Ectober got ahold of me for a few days.)