Early update! Please don't expect these updates to be this frequent... I'm still in grad school and this is the product of a lot of procrastination. Enjoy the results of my unhealthy work habits! :)

Jack Fenton was a simple man. He loved his family, loved science, and loved fudge. He had always thought that his relatively simple passions would set him up for a life of happiness and fulfillment. He had already counted himself a lucky man by the time he was 24. He had married the love of his life that year, and he could not imagine that anything could taint his happiness. His wife even shared his passions with him. They founded their own scientific business together, a dream that Jack had never thought would be fully realized. In all senses of the word, Jack was a happy man. In fact, as he welcomed his daughter and son into the world, his life only seemed to get better. They were both so perfect-he could see his entire world every time he looked upon their little faces.

Sure, he had had his share of hard times. That was part of living, after all. No living being could walk through the world without encountering hardships. He had thought that the worst day of his life was when his best friend, his dearest friend Vlad, died in a lab accident. Worse, it had been an accident that Jack could have prevented if he had been paying more attention. He never had been great at paying attention to details-he had always blamed his ADHD for that. Still, it had taken years of therapy and support from his wife to be able to move forward again in life. He would never be able to forgive himself, and he knew that. He had half-expected Vlad's ghost to come back and haunt him, and Jack would have expected nothing less. He would have deserved it. However, the years passed by, and Jack had to come to terms with the fact that he would never reencounter his friend in this world. He was not sure if he was relieved or disappointed by that. His therapist probably would have told him both emotions were possible and completely valid. Still, Jack never liked to think about the complexity of grief and feelings in general. He was, after all, a simple man.

As time went by, Jack began to delve back into the world of ectoscience. Maddie had been the one to suggest that he do just that. She had said something about focusing his energy on something productive or worthwhile or something like that. He did not understand how she did not feel the same way about Vlad's death as he did. He supposed it was because she had not been there that day, had not witnessed his friend's electrocution, had not smelled the sharp, sour smell of ectoplasm, had not seen the rapidly expanding acne cover his friend's face and slowly choke the life out of him. It was not something he would wish upon anyone.

He was grateful she had not been there.

He loved his wife. Perhaps that was why he had begun to work with her again, to try building the very thing that had taken his friend away that fateful day. He knew she was hurting, not knowing how to comfort him as he sank further and further into his grief. It hurt him to see her hurting, and he felt like her pain was his fault. So, he had picked up the phone and set up an intake with a licensed psychologist and made an appointment with his doctor to talk about medications. He had resolved to get back on his feet, no matter what it took. He loved his wife, and she needed him.

Slowly, things got better. Slowly, Jack was able to reconnect with his simple passions and rediscover the little things that made him so happy to be alive. Seeing his wife's little smiles when he got excited about a new invention or an original cookie recipe made his efforts all the more worth it to him. He just wanted to be a good husband to her, and later, a good father to their children.

As the family grew, they moved into a beautiful home with three bedrooms and a spacious basement, perfect for a laboratory. They had built it slowly, of course. They were the leading ectoscientists in the world, and because of that, their equipment did not come cheap. Ectoplasm was rare, and they needed a lot of it to experiment and test their inventions. They also had to design and create much of their own equipment. They were far ahead of the curve in their field, after all, and needed to develop new tools to keep up with their research. It was crazy, really, the amount they had been able to accomplish with the limited resources available to them.

As invested as he and his wife were in their research, they did their best to give their children happy childhoods. Jack knew that their profession would come up when their children went to school, and he worried that the other children would ostracize them because of their parents' choice of career. His fears had been realized the first time that his Jazzerincess came home crying after she had gotten into an argument about the existence of ghosts. He had been so proud of her for standing up for them, but he had never wanted his profession to hurt his children. He and Maddie had been so unsure of what to do. Should they keep their jobs as secret as possible from their children to protect their children? They were already careful because of the physical risks, but now they had to watch for the emotional risks involved as well.

In the end, Maddie and Jack had decided that they did not want to hide their work from their children. Their work and their family were the two most significant parts of their lives, and it would be weird to have to separate them. They hoped that if they did not seem ashamed of their work, then their children would not see a reason to be ashamed either. Yes, other children would probably tease them, but if their children had a safe place to come home to, then hopefully that would mitigate some of the damage. After all, the kids' classmates would probably hear about what the Fentons did at some point or another. It was not like the Fentons had lied about what they did to their neighbors.

And so, life went on. The kids grew, and so did the lab. Each day, Jack felt like he was regaining his ability to notice the little things in life that made everything worthwhile. He would feel a rush of happiness every time he had a new idea for an invention, every time he saw the way Jazz's nose crinkled when she laughed, every time they published an article, every time his wife curled up next to him in her sleep, and every time he tucked his son into bed. Indeed, he had everything he could ever want.

Jack did not mind when Jazz started to become skeptical about their work, and when she questioned the scientific reasoning behind their projects. She had her mother's mind, and that questioning was what made Maddie a great scientist. He was proud that she felt comfortable enough to question them, rather than holding in her thoughts and opinions. Jack recognized his own passion for science in her, even if hers was more about psychology rather than ectoscience. He just wanted his kids to be happy. So, he bought her the textbooks she wanted and took her to psychology conferences whenever it was feasible. Seeing the way her eyes would light up brought him so much joy.

Danny was not as vocal as Jazz, but Jack could sense that he had some of the same thoughts that she did. His Danny-boy had been quiet, reserved, and thoughtful. He tended to stay on the sidelines, but he had never been afraid to stick up for his friends. Jack frequently thought that he had never met anyone in his life who had had as pure a heart as Danny's. Sure, he was biased, but maybe it was true what they said…

Only the good die young…

Jack's heart broke every time he thought of Danny. His sweet Danny-boy, who had been smart as hell but had never been interested in really applying himself at school. Jack had always thought he would grow out of his habits of procrastination once he was in college and could study what he was interested in, but now… Now, he would never know.

Jack had thought the worst day of his life had been when he watched his best friend die right in front of him. He had been wrong. God, he had been so, so wrong.

It had been an average September day, with the wind bringing the brisk cold kiss of winter, while the sun stubbornly brought the light and warmth of summer into the town. It was one of those perfect days where the barriers between autumn and summer began to blend, which felt appropriate given that Jack and Maddie were starting up the portal today.

Jack and Maddie were in the lab, running the final calculations, and putting together all the necessary protective equipment in case something went wrong. Maddie and Jack already had on their HAZMAT suits, of course, but Jack had insisted that they take a few extra precautions. Maddie had been amused that he, of all people, was the one asking that they be more careful, but he was persistent. So, they had on the hoods to their HAZMAT suits, as well as plastic face coverings and aprons to protect them from any stray ectoplasm. They had also set up their work area for starting up the portal twenty feet away from the portal itself. Granted, this meant they were backed up against the wall on the opposite side of the lab… But it was for the best.

The kids were upstairs and were not allowed to come down until they came to get them. Jack was not going to risk their safety in any way. He and Maddie understood the risks, but teens had a way of imagining themselves invincible. He was not going to allow them to jeopardize their safety by not following the safety protocol to a T.

Jack shook his head, forcing himself out of his flashback. It would not do to ruminate on the past, and he knew he could not go back to the place he had been when Vladdie passed. For Jazz and Maddie, Jack thought. It had become his mantra, his reason for continuing on. Maddie… Maddie was not doing well. There were days that she could not get out of bed, and her eyes were bloodshot from crying and exhaustion. Jack got it. Hell, nearly every part of him wanted to be next to her. He did not have the energy to get up, shower, get dressed, and take care of the day-to-day around the house.

He forced himself to do it anyway. For Jazz and Maddie, he reminded himself every time he felt he was not strong enough to get through the day. He had to. His family needed someone to lean on, and it might as well be him. In different circumstances, Jazz might have called his insistence that he be the 'strong one' toxic masculinity… But she had not so much as mentioned psychology since that day. Studying grief was one thing, experiencing it, however… That was something different.

It had been his idea to move. He kept waking up in the middle of the night to discover Maddie was not in bed, and he would always find her in the lab, sitting on the floor, gazing at the gaping wound in their wall. He would wordlessly help her up and guide her back to bed, and then spend the rest of the night holding her while desperate sobs wracked her body. However, the turning point had been when he was the one unable to sleep. He thought getting some water and walking around could help him relax enough for sleep. He had stopped on his path to the kitchen when he noticed the soft lighting coming through the open door to the lab. That night, he had found Jazz sitting on the floor, silently sobbing and whispering Danny's name.

He didn't think he'd be able to handle seeing her like that again.

And so, he had announced that they would be moving the next night at dinner. He had prepared a list of reasons for why it would be a good thing, but neither Maddie nor Jazz had fought him on it. He did not know what to think about that. They were both strong women, and he had never known either of them to stay quiet rather than voicing their opinions. It solidified the decision to move, but he still was not sure it had been the right one.

They moved to a nearby town called Winnfield, about an hour outside of Amity Park. Jack could not have bared it if they were too far to be able to visit Danno's grave, but they were far enough that Jazz and Maddie would not be able to torture themselves as effectively as they could at the site of his death. They still owned the home in Amity, and Jack had left the motion sensor cameras hooked up. He had not told Maddie about the cameras. Perhaps it was his own form of torture, but he kept hope that he would see something on the cameras. He had to believe that all of his work had been for a reason, that all of his knowledge and research could be used for something good.

He still had not seen a single ghost in his lifetime, but his belief in their existence never waivered. Now, he held on to hope that he would see his son again and be able to help him somehow. He had stuffed his brain full of theories and research on ghosts, and he hoped that he would be able to help his son move on, to find his way to that happy place where they would all be reunited again someday. He recognized that a part of this desire was selfish. He wanted to apologize to his son for not being more careful, for not being more open with him about the dangers of the lab. He never had told his kids about Vlad, after all. He had figured that was his burden to bear, not his kids', but maybe if Danny had known about what happened, he would not have done what he did.

So, Jack waited. He and Maddie had never been sure about how long it would take for a ghost to form after someone's death. He had set up the camera system to send alerts to his phone anytime movement was detected. That particular app on his phone had been silent for over a year and a half now. He supposed that his son had already moved on, and for that, he was grateful. He would say his apologies to his son when he saw him again, even if it was not in this lifetime. His need for closure was not half as important as his son's peace and happiness. He really should delete the app, but something kept him from doing that. Removing it felt like he was somehow saying goodbye to his son for good, and he was not ready for that. He knew it would never send any notifications unless someone had broken into the lab. He doubted that would ever happen, but he used the possibility as an excuse any time he thought of deleting the app.

That was why he had been so shocked when the app sent a notification that there was movement detected in the lab that afternoon. Maybe it's kids breaking in on a dare, Jack thought. He headed to the spare room that they kept the computer. Jazz mostly used it for schoolwork now, but every now and then, he liked to pass the time playing mindless matching games. Jazz was at school, and Maddie was still in bed, but he could easily tell her that's what he was doing if she happened to come looking for him.

Jack waited for the computer to load up, then went to open up the app that connected to the camera system back home. He noticed his hands were shaking as he clicked the mouse. Deep breath, Jack, he scolded himself. He needed to remain calm, no matter what happened. For Jazz and Maddie, he reminded himself.

Slowly, he clicked on the small square on the screen that currently showed the lab. The square enlarged, and Jack nearly choked.

"Oh, my God," Jack exhaled, hardly believing what he was seeing.

There, on the screen, was his son. His very human-looking son, right down to the red-and-white tee he loved so much they had bought him duplicates. Jack watched his son as he paced in front of the portal, every now and then stopping to stare at it. Jack felt his heart drop. Was he reliving the day of his death? He and Maddie had suspected that weaker ghosts could get stuck in a cycle where they repeatedly relived their final moments. Still, he had never considered that his son…

Jack was jerked out of his spiraling thought pattern when he saw Danny turn towards the bookcase, where they kept the records of all of their previous research and experiments. He bent down, obviously thumbing through the journals looking for something in particular. But what…? Jack was not sure, but he knew that was something his Danny had never done, had never even had any interest in doing. He was not reliving his deathday, thank God. That meant he was sentient, at least, but that only opened up the gateway for a million more questions to run through his mind. There were so many unknowns, and he was only sure of one thing.

His son was back.

Now Jack just needed to decide what his next steps were.