Disclaimer: I only own the plot. Actually, given current copyright law, I'm not even sure I own that...
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Connection
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Jazz Fenton stormed into the Fenton household, hurling her bag aggressively across the floor and throwing herself onto the couch. She bounced a bit on the cushy accoutrement and huffed a bit at her inability to slam very well into anything due to her slight stature. Burying her face in one of the pillows, she let out a frustrated scream. Today had not been a good day.
It had started, as usual, with Danny. All she had tried to do was give him some very good advice about his schoolwork and study habits. She knew it sometimes came across as nagging, but really, any logical person should be able to see the merit of an idea and strive to apply it.
Danny, apparently not wanting any part of his sister's words of wisdom, vanished on the spot as only he could do. No thank you, not even a brotherly goodbye. He had just ignored her. Jazz, despite often trying to ignore her family, had never been very good about being ignored.
That was only the start of her bad day though. She had arrived at school to the jeers and taunts of her peers. It was a sad truth that both of the Fenton children, like their parents before them, were hopeless social outcasts. Jazz usually took it all in stride. She knew that she was moderately attractive, and that helped somewhat. The boys sometimes figured they had a shot at her if they weren't complete jerks and the girls couldn't find enough fault in her appearance to mock her much, but didn't feel too threatened by her either.
Unfortunately, Jazz was just as ego-centric and thirsty to prove herself as her parents and brother. This revealed itself through numerous academic achievements and extra-curricular activities. This time she had helped the school staff plan a tribute to past students who had gone on in life and made a real difference. The teachers loved it. The students felt that they would rather do math homework.
Then, to top it all off, during lunch she had accidentally bumped (literally) into a boy who she used to have a crush on back in freshman year. She didn't quite like him anymore, but he seemed to be genuinely interested in talking to her once he took off his jacket (now smeared with potatoes and milk). He had even gone so far as to ask if she wanted to hang out sometime.
She had been genuinely flattered by the attention and would have said yes, had his friend not chosen that moment to intervene and spill that he was only trying to get in her good graces to see if she might work with the teachers to exempt their grade from the assembly. A quick study of his body language and facial expression told her that this was indeed his motivation. She had walked away rather brusquely.
She had spent the rest of the day in a rather foul mood, and caused her last bit of misfortune. The teachers were all working on the assembly after school. Prepping the gymnasium and arranging guest speakers were the main ticket items at the moment. Unfortunately when she showed up to help, she was still rather snappish from her earlier setbacks. Mr. Lancer had picked up on this immediately, convinced himself that she was overworked, and sent her home despite all of her protests.
Now here she was, sulking miserably on the couch by herself. No friends, no family, and no tasks to take her away from the growing pit in her stomach. A tear fell from her eye and she jerked a bit, startled. She wasn't that upset, was she? Quickly, she ran over her self-assurance list in her mind. Her brother appreciated her even if he didn't show it. Her parents loved her, even if they did spend a lot of time locked away with their inventions. Her peers reluctantly respected her; otherwise they would have no grounds to tease her. She was smart, she was confident, she was…a bit lonely.
Her heart felt just a little cold at the moment, and she idly wished for someone to talk to; someone who would sit right next to her and show her that she was cared for. Someone who…
There was a sudden thump on the arm of the couch by her head. Twisting quickly to face upward and see who had interrupted her train of thought she was surprised to find…
"Danny?"
"Hey Jazz." Danny reached up and ran a hand nervously through his hair. He slid from the arm of the couch onto one of the cushions as Jazz sat up and scooted aside to give him room.
"What are you doing here?"
All thoughts of her own loneliness were banished to the recesses of her mind as her natural curiosity bubbled to the surface. Danny never came home this early. He almost always had plans with Sam or Tucker. Even then, ghost hunting had him running around constantly.
"What, I can't say hi to my big sister every once in a while?"
Jazz glowered at him. "Alright Danny, now I know something is up. What kind of trouble are you in?"
Danny waved his arms as though warding her off. "No no no, I'm not in any trouble or anything, I just...I did something that might cause you a little problem at school tomorrow."
Jazz quirked an eyebrow and waited.
Danny sighed and continued. "See, I saw what happened in the lunchroom today."
She flushed red. "You were there?"
"I was invisible," he added. "Not that I was trying to spy on you or anything" he backpedaled as her face contorted with emotion. "I was trying to sneak back after a ghost attack."
Jazz sighed, letting the tension drop from her shoulders, her self training at moderation kicking into overdrive at his words. Her eyes closed tightly shut and she reminded herself that Danny was clearly unharmed. Slowly, she re-opened her eyes to see Danny fiddling with the remote control to the TV.
"So what did you do?"
Danny chuckled nervously, glancing at her quickly before turning his attention back to the remote. "Well, to quote what that guys' friend said, 'Dude, the little guy is kicking your ass!'"
Well, so much for relieving the tension. It was back in full force.
"You used your powers to beat up one of my classmates?!" Her shriek caused Danny's hands to shoot up and cover his ears in record time. This, of course, left him defenseless against the couch pillow that flew at him next, hitting him squarely in the nose.
"Why does everyone always assume I use my powers like that? I didn't say I beat him up, and I didn't say I used my powers."
Jazz glared at him, disbelieving. "Then tell me, Danny, did you fight him?"
"Well, yes, but you see..."
"Did you use your powers?"
"Uh, well, kinda, but only to..."
"So you did! You want to know why I assume these things? Because I'm right!"
Jazz folded her arms across her chest with an aura of finality. Danny, however, was undeterred.
"Look Jazz, I'm sorry. I know you don't like it when I do this, but I don't want people doing that kind of thing to you. You might not have noticed it, but I have this whole hero thing going on."
Despite herself, the corner of Jazz's mouth twitched upward.
"I only went after him to tell him to go back and apologize to you. He's the one who took a swing at me first. I used my powers, yeah, but I just put up a shield under my shirt so he just thinks I have rock hard abs or something. He started talking trash and so I decked him, without my powers. Then I walked away. I swear, I didn't let out my secret and I only wanted to help."
She sat there for a moment, trying to digest what he had said. He had punched her old crush to defend her honor. Why, oh why did he have to be so frustrating about things? He didn't need to beat anyone up for her, she just wanted him to listen once in a while. But then, maybe it was her fault. Maybe Danny only saw that it hurt her and not that she tried to gracefully walk away. No, that was ridiculous. This whole situation was just so stupid...
It was all too much. Emotion overwhelmed reason in one huge swell, and suddenly Jazz was weeping into her little brother's shoulder. Danny patted her awkwardly on the back as she let loose all of the pent up feelings that she had been holding back all day. It was on odd feeling, she could count the number of times Danny had needed to console her on one hand, but it was nice all the same. It took several minutes, but slowly her tears receded and her breathing slowed. Her arms stayed tight around Danny, however, as if she were afraid he would vanish again. Danny rolled his eyes. "What is it with girls and hugging? You're all crazy." Nonetheless, he did not vanish and continued to pat her gently on the back. "You know I should be mad at you right now." Jazz lowered her head and continued her vice grip on her brother. "Why aren't I?"
Danny shrugged in her grasp. "We're family, Jazz. We annoy the hell out of each other, but we always have each others back."
"You know I didn't want you to resort to violence to help me, right?" she mumbled.
"Yeah, just like I don't want you to lecture every time we talk. But we each do what we can, right?"
Jazz pulled away from Danny at last, wiping at her eyes with her sleeve. "You know, for someone who gets a C average, you can be pretty smart, little brother.
Danny grinned. "Yeah, for someone who thinks homework is fun, you're not so bad yourself."
Suddenly, Danny clapped his hands to his mouth as a stream of blue mist escaped.
"Aw, of all the lousy..."
"BEWARE!"
The siblings glanced at each other, and in one quick motion Danny Fenton became Danny Phantom and Jazz grabbed the Fenton Lipstick from her purse. They flew out the front door (Danny in a more literal sense) in search of the most annoying ghost in the Ghost Zone.
As they dashed after the Crate Creep, or the Box Ghost, or whatever Danny called it, Jazz could only smile. She would deal with school tomorrow. Right now she and her brother were about to kick some ghost butt, and somehow she didn't feel quite so lonely anymore.