Danny closed his eyes and tried to calm his breathing as his sister and his parents filed into the room. He felt like he could look everywhere but the table, with Jazz, Maddie, and Jack silent... waiting. (With Jack in his extra-large chair.)

After a few seconds of silence, he took his seat.
"So, Danny?" Jack asked, "You said you needed to... tell us something?"
Danny looked straight ahead. There was no turning back now.
"You know how last year, you were working on the ghost portal, and you couldn't get it to start?" Danny said, looking at his mom and dad. Jack, bulky in the neon orange jumpsuit he always wore. Maddie, who hadn't taken off her hood and her (constantly upgraded) goggles.

"I remember, sweetie," Maddie said. "It got working somehow, though..."
Danny nodded. "There was an on-off switch," he said. "On the inside. I had my jumpsuit on, and I was having a look around, and I hit it, and..."
"Wait, you can't have hit that switch," Jack said. "The portal would have surged with energy..."
"You'd be dead!" Maddie said, staring at Danny in general disbelief.
It was now or never.
"About that," he said, getting up from his chair. It took a moment for him to transform, for the white rings to sweep over his body and turn him into the Phantom that his parents had been chasing for the better part of a year.

Dead silence. Half-dead silence, rather.
Jazz gave a small 'eep', her mouth opened, then rapidly began scribbling in the notebook she always carried. Maddie stared at Danny in shock. And the full impact of the revelation hadn't hit Jack, who was blinking, looking at Danny, and blinking some more.
Finally, Jack Fenton spoke first.
"Y... you're a ghost?!"

"Not exactly," Danny said, sighing. "I can turn human again when I want to, or if I run out of energy. I've got most of the powers of a ghost, and a strong one, too. I've been trying to catch the ghosts that come out of the portal since... last year."
He put his Fenton Thermos, currently empty, on the table.
"That's... what's been going on. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, but..." He shot a look at the kitchen counter, where Maddie had been busy dissecting a wisp with an ecto-scalpel.

There was silence, again, for a little while. Then, Jazz spoke up.
"Danny," she said. "I understand what you've been going through." She also got up, slamming both hands on the kitchen table as she lectured her parents. "This is an opportunity for you two to support and accept Danny as he is! You can move forward from your previous one-note view of ghosts and come to realize that they can be neutral, or a force for good, too!"
Her hands had gone white from where she was gripping the table edge.

There was more silence, but it had an incredulous tone this time.
"Princess, is something wrong?" Jack said finally.
Jazz breathed in and out, shakily. "There's... something I have to tell you, too," she said. "You know how I got covered in ectoplasm that one time, about two years ago?"
Jazz didn't mention the repeats later on, now and then when Danny fought ghosts. "I know you said ectoplasm was non-toxic at the time, but... there's been some odd effects since then, and I..."
Her transformation was quick. Winds swirled around Jazz, reforming her into a misty version of herself in a reverse-colored jumpsuit, with wispy blue hair and a reshapable form.
"I think I've got what Danny has, too." Concentrating, her form resolved down into a copy of Danny's human form.

"I saw Danny transforming a while back, and I've been trying to cover for him when I can," Jazz said, in her brother's voice, ignoring his outraged stare; releasing the transformation, she returned to her misty ghost form.
"But... please," she said. "Mom. Dad. Think of what an opportunity this portal is for research. Ghosts aren't all bad. Most of the ones who come through the portal are more fractious than what's there in the Ghost Zone. I've seen it. And..."
Jazz floated beside Danny, letting out a pained breath.. "If you want to harm Danny, you'll have to deal with me too."

Even more silence. Then Maddie began to laugh, pulling up her goggles and taking off her hood.
Jazz and Danny looked at each other, worried.
"Um, dear..." Maddie said to Jack. "You know how I always said I built remote controls for everything into my jumpsuit?"
"Mm-hm!" Jack nodded. "... wait, you mean you didn't?"

Maddie nervously began to take off the thick, black gloves of her jumpsuit.
"Wait, when was the last time you saw Mom with her gloves off?" Danny whispered to Jazz.
"Ummmm... I don't think I've ever seen her without them," Jazz whispered back.

"It wasn't quite true," Maddie said. Beneath her gloves, her hands— were streaked in brilliant green circuit-patterns. Ectoplasm green.
"Remember that time when we were working on the ectoplasm-infused body wash, and you had that idea that running electricity through it might get it to work properly?"
"Riiiight, it didn't work," Jack said. "But—" He fell silent as he realized the implications.

Maddie nodded. "The good news is, I might as well have made remote controls for everything." She gestured at the light above the stove. It went off, as the circuit patterns on her hands started to glow. Another gesture, and the ceiling fan in the living room started.
A third, and the kitchen door slammed and sealed itself— part of the security system.
"Whoops, didn't mean to do that last one." One last gesture opened it again.

"So... you've all got ghost-related powers, huh," said Jack. He looked like a puppy someone had kicked.
Danny nodded, as did Jazz. Maddie reached towards her gloves, like she was going to put them on, then stopped.
Jack coughed, and an uncomfortable look crossed his face.
"So, uh... seeing as you've all confessed to being part ghost, I might as well—"

The others looked at Jack, and then they noticed.
He was just a bit taller than usual... because he was hovering an inch above his extra-large chair.
Jazz, Maddie, and Danny all spoke at once.
"OH, COME ON—"

~fin