Author's notes/intro: So I've been pondering this idea for awhile; what if Vlad wasn't a complete idiot in Bitter Reunions and didn't tell Danny he wanted to kill his father? They could have been friends instead of enemies if Vlad had had a little bit more tact. And thus this AU was born.

Hollyflash encouraged me to actually write this, as it seems we had both been pondering the idea, so hopefully it will turn out as good enough repayment for her awesome fic Unfamiliar Family (that's a hint that you should go read it).

Anyway, please read and review and I'll try to get the next chapter out asap!

Vlad Plasmius blinks in surprise, seeing the dark haired boy in pink pajamas lying on the floor in front of him. He had been just about to waste that stupid ghost boy Danny Phantom when the rings had appeared and he had suddenly changed—turned into none other than his enemy's son.

"The ghost boy… is Jack's son?" Frowning in thought, Vlad allows his own rings to transform him back into his human self. He quickly gathers the boy up in his arms and phases through the walls until he reaches the room the boy was staying in. He gingerly lays him down on the bed, pulling the covers up over him.

Vlad stands there for a long moment, simply watching the boy, studying his troubled face. This boy… Daniel… he must be keeping it a secret from his parents. That fool Jack would never accept him if he knew. Vlad's thoughts are interrupted as the boy stirs slightly, turning under the covers, his face finally relaxing a little bit. He must come to my side. It's obvious that he needs guidance, and who better to nurture him than a fellow half-ghost? I could give him so much that his own father never could. Yes, Daniel; you will join me, no matter what. You and your mother.

Smiling at this, Vlad retreats to an armchair in a corner of the enormous room to think while he waits for the boy to wake once more. He would never just renounce his father willingly; he does actually care for him. No, this must be handled delicately. Daniel cannot know of my involvement in affairs against his father. This will require some special planning…

The man makes a mental note to call off those moron vultures as soon as possible. He can't have them ruining his perfectly constructed plans, as they seemed so often wont to do. How hard was it to kill one fat oaf anyway?

Several minutes pass as Vlad considers his options to win this boy over, while said boy slumbers on, seemingly at peace. That is, until he starts twisting and turning in his bed, kicking at the blanket cover and seeming to fight something with his hands. Vlad rises out of his chair, a look of concern crossing his features.

"No… get away!" Danny bolts upright, looking around, obviously confused. "Huh? Where am I? What happened?"

"I was going to ask you the same question, young man." Vlad steps forward out of the dark corner that held the chair he had been sitting in.

"Uh… I must have been worn out from the long car trip. I'll be okay in the morning." The boy pulls the blanket up, wringing it slightly in his hands, seeming nervous, possibly embarrassed. "I'm sorry for the scare!"

"Oh, what's a little scare between friends, son?" Vlad turns to leave the room. "Sleep tight, little badger." Danny smiles at him as he steps out, closing the door behind him.

When Danny wakes up, it takes him a second to remember where he is, the overly soft comforter and four poster bed throwing him off. Checking the time on the clock nearby, the boy hops up and rubs his eyes, trying to remember where he left his duffle bag. His foot finds it first, and subsequently gets caught in the strap, sending him flying to the floor.

Grumbling in annoyance, he untangles his foot, then turns and pulls the bag towards him, fishing through it for his clothes. The actual reunion party didn't start until five, and Danny would have been happy to sleep until then, but Vlad had promised to show him around his mansion yesterday if he got up a little bit early.

Finding his usual tee shirt and jeans, he stumbles tiredly into the adjoining bathroom to take a shower and brush his teeth. He was happy to scrub away the dirt that had accumulated from their traveling the day before, and the excessively luxury bathtub was a nice plus.

Emerging finally from his room, Danny wandered down the hall, wondering absentmindedly if he could risk going ghost for a little bit until he found Vlad. Luckily, he managed to find his way into the dining room where Vlad was seated eating his breakfast without having to resort to that.

"Morning, Mr. Masters!" Danny said happily. Vlad looked up from the newspaper he had been reading, smiling warmly at the boy.

"Good morning, Daniel. I trust you slept well for the remainder of the night." Danny blushed a little bit, slightly embarrassed at being caught in a nightmare, happy that Vlad was too busy folding up his newspaper to notice.

"Yeah, I slept fine. You've got a really nice bathroom in there, by the way." Danny commented. Vlad chuckled.

"I see you made good use of the tub. I'm glad you enjoyed it." He said, noting the boy's still damp hair. "Come sit down, have some breakfast."

"Sure, thanks!" Danny says, pulling up a chair next to the head of the table, where Vlad was sitting. A man appeared through a door off to Danny's left, striding calmly up to him. The man was thin, though only average height, and very pale. His eyes were a deep brown, with just a slight tinge of red, and he wore the traditional suit of a butler.

"What can I get for you, young man?" Danny seemed a bit startled, so much so that he didn't register the chill and the cold mist emerging from his mouth. Vlad did, however.

What was that? Was that his ghost sense…? Odd that it's visible…

"Umm… could I have some pancakes?" Danny asks sheepishly. The butler nods and turns without a word, disappearing back through the door. "Who was that?"

"Just Christophe, my butler. He and my personal chef take care of all the food preparations." Vlad responds in between bites of his own breakfast.

"Wow! That's cool. Do you have maids, too?"

"Yes, but they don't live here. They come out once a week to clean." Finally, Danny's attention is drawn towards Vlad again.

"What are you eating?"

"Porridge, my dear boy."

"You mean like fancy oatmeal?" Vlad stares at him for a moment.

"Yes… I suppose it is like fancy oatmeal." This earns a small chuckle from Danny.

After a few minutes of conversation, Christophe reemerges from what Danny assumes must be the kitchen with a plateful of pancakes. He sets the plate down in front of Danny, along with a glass of milk and set of silverware and napkin, then turns and leaves the room once more.

Danny stares at the pancakes for a moment, admiring the strawberries and whipped cream adorning the top, before his hunger gets the better of him. He cuts out a huge bite with his fork, then stuffs the whole thing into his mouth, leaving strawberry syrup all over his face.

He obviously gets his manners from his father. Vlad thinks disdainfully. I'll have to fix that later.

"Daniel, you have some syrup on your… well all over your face, actually." Vlad says with a smirk.

"Oh, whoops, sorry I'll get it." He licks off all the syrup that he can reach with his tongue, then smears the rest onto the white napkin. The sight of the soiled cloth almost makes Vlad's eye twitch. Yes, I definitely need to make table etiquette a priority. "So, you promised you would show me around your castle today, Mr. Masters!"

"Indeed I did, my boy. But please, 'Vlad' is fine."

"Oh, okay Vlad!" Danny says cheerfully. Vlad smiles at him.

"And yes, I would be happy to show you the entire castle after you finish your breakfast." Danny nodded, returning his attention to his pancakes with renewed vigor.

"And this is the ballroom; the reunion this evening will mainly take place here." Danny just nodded, peeking through the door at the enormous room. They had been looking around the castle for a good hour now, and Danny had seen all manner of rooms. Vlad frowned. "You seem a bit bored, my boy. Do you want to do something else?" Danny looked up at the man in surprise.

"Oh, no! It's not that I'm bored, it's just that…" Danny rubbed the back of his head, and Vlad raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, I thought you'd have some weird stuff in here." He admits with a sheepish grin. Vlad tilts his head, then a matching grin appears on his face.

"Well, I'm sure it can't compete with your parents', but I do have a ghost lab." Danny stared at him in surprise.

"You do? You uh… you don't seem like the type that would be interested in ghost hunting."

"Yes, well, back in our college days your parents and I ran a small club on the subject. I guess I was changed more by that than I thought." Vlad coughed awkwardly. "At any rate, would you like to see the lab?"

"Sure!"

"Then follow me." Vlad says, smiling at the boy. He's surprisingly excited to go to a room full of presumably anti-ghost things. What a strange boy.

After walking down several hallways—Danny by this point was already completely lost—they arrived at the unassuming entrance to the lab. Vlad unceremoniously opened the door and strolled in, Danny following after a moment of hesitation. Vlad shut the door behind him.

"What do you think, my boy?" Vlad asks with a smug smirk.

"It's pretty impressive." Danny says, eyeing the large ghost portal on one wall.

"Ah, I know your parents have one of these." Vlad says, noticing the boy's staring and walking over to the portal. "As you should already know, it's a portal into the ghost zone."

"Does it work?" Danny asks.

"That it does, my boy." Vlad smiles proudly. His face just as quickly becomes somber, and he turns away from Danny to look at the portal. "The prototype of this portal caused an accident in my college days. Did your father ever tell you about it?" Vlad asks, glancing over his shoulder. Danny simply shakes his head, not sure what to say. "A malfunction in the prototype caused it to erupt a type of ectoplasmic energy… right into my face." Danny's eyes widened.

"What… what happened?"

"I'm not sure what caused the portal to malfunction, but the accident gave me a horrible case of ecto-acne. I was in the hospital for years." Danny almost winced as he remembered Vlad yelling something about those years the day before. It had obviously been hard on him. "But, I didn't bring you in here to speak about my own accident. Rather, I would like to speak about yours." Vlad finally turns to look at Danny, his piercing gaze seeming to see right through the boy. Danny takes a few unconscious steps back, something akin to fear crossing his features.

"W-what are you talking about?" His voice almost shakes.

"You don't have to hide from me. I already know your secret."

"You… you do?" Danny sounds stunned, though also a bit suspicious. Vlad nods solemnly, before the rings appear around his waist and quickly transform him into Plasmius. Danny's eyes widen even more and he stumbles backwards, his words failing him. "You're—you're that ghost… last night you…"

"Yes, my boy, I am the ghost you fought, and I'm afraid I have something to apologize for. You see, the entire state of Wisconsin is well known and accepted as my territory. No ghost dares to trespass here. And so, when I saw you wandering around my very house last night, I was determined to teach you a lesson." Vlad paused, as if in thought. "But you fell unconscious and reverted back to your human state, and I realized quickly that I had made a mistake." Having walked slowly up to the boy, he changed back to his human form and gently placed his hand on his shoulder. "I am terribly sorry, Daniel, for attacking you. You must understand I didn't know you were also a half-ghost."

Danny, who had been listening, nearly frozen to the spot, finally remembered how to speak again.

"It's… it's okay. I understand." Danny just looks at the man for a moment, considering something. "But… why did you tell me? Why did you reveal your identity?" Vlad smiles at him.

"That's simple, my boy. I want to help you. You are obviously in need of training."

"Hey!" Danny protests.

"Don't take it as a personal insult; you're doing better than I was at the same time, and you're much younger than I was. But it is still not enough. If a powerful foe comes along, you may not be able to defeat it. I wish to help you harness your powers, so you may become a more formidable opponent."

"What about what you said last night? You made fun of me because I use my powers for good. So what do you use yours for then?" Danny's tone was slightly hostile, and Vlad frowned.

"You see my boy, you don't get far in life helping everyone all the time. Sometimes people need to fight their own battles as well. You get battered and bruised on a daily basis, and nobody even thanks you for it. You need to learn to do things for yourself."

"I protect people because it's the right thing to do. It doesn't matter if they don't thank me or even if they hate me. It's still right." Danny was bordering on angry now, and Vlad raised his hands.

"Let's not fight about this, hmm? I simply wish to offer you the opportunity to learn from me. However you use your powers, my offer still stands." Vlad walks over to the door. "Why don't you think on it today? You can tell me your decision before you leave in the morning."

"But we live so far away; how would you be able to train me?"

"I'm a billionaire, Daniel. Transportation is child's play. Don't worry about the logistics and just focus on whether or not you wish to accept my offer. You have my word that it will be worth your while." Vlad opens the door and steps out into the hall. "Your parents will be waking soon, and I must attend to the preparations for the party, so please feel free to look around, and you can come and meet us all in the ballroom when you're finished. Ta!" With that, Vlad shuts the door and walks off down the hall.

Danny studies his hand, thinking to himself. There's another half-ghost, and he wants to train me… But can I trust him? Danny liked the man just fine, but after finding out that he was the ghost he fought last night, he wasn't so sure about him anymore. What would he even have done to me if he hadn't found out I was half ghost? And what's so wrong with using my powers for good, anyway? Danny wonders to himself as he exits the lab.

It seems everything is going according to plan. Daniel doesn't know about my grudge against his father, and has heard my offer. All that's left is to make sure he accepts it. Vlad smiles deviously to himself, heading down to the ballroom to oversee the set-up for the party later that evening. Yes, this will have to be handled very carefully…