"I feel like I got hit by a truck."

Danny Fenton, on the mend from a recent bout of the flu, sits slumped over his kitchen table as his mother cooks breakfast. It's bright, slightly chilly, and too damn early for partially sick teens to be out of bed. The scent of bacon wafts around the room as his father, ever the morning person, tinkers at the table with a new ghost hunting invention whistling a chipper tune as he works. For the first time in quite a while, his complaints have nothing to do with a lack of sleep, in fact, it's the opposite.

"If you had slept in your bed last night, maybe you would feel differently, little brother." His sister, Jazz, says to him over the pages of her book.

He narrows his blue eyes at his sister, irritated by how peppy she is at this ungodly hour. (And how dare she nit pick with such unnatural cheer at the crack of dawn). The use of the moniker of 'little brother' isn't much appreciated either. Sometimes, Danny wonders if her implementation of the title is a way for her to feel superior, but then, psychoanalysis is her thing not his and what does he know about it anyhow?

True, he may have slept on the couch last night, but what was he supposed to do? He had been so out of it he was knocked out for thirteen hours straight. Never mind that it was the best sleep he had in months, or that he couldn't have woken up if he had tried, that couch of theirs is fine for sitting and decent for laying, but awful for hibernating.

God, his neck feels like it's been screwed on the wrong way.

"I was practically unconscious, Jazz. What was I supposed to do, sleep walk my way to my bed?" Danny says, with all of the sarcasm of an exhausted, cranky teenager.

"Now Danny, your sister was just trying to give her input, there's no need to be grouchy." Maddie Fenton chimes in from her spot standing over the stove.

Jazz smirks at him over the binding of her novel. Danny sticks his tongue out at her and blows a quiet raspberry in response.

"I still think a ghost did it. What else could have made Danny-boy so sick?" Jack Fenton tones in, having seemingly ignored the majority of the exchange.

"Neglect of personal care, failure to acknowledge symptoms, lack of proper rest and nourishment, and extreme amounts of stress." A thick layer of snark coats every syllable, and Jazz aims a pointed look at her younger brother from across the table.

Danny slouches further into his chair.

Jack looks up completely from the pile of wires and machinery in his lap long enough to give his daughter a blank look and two long blinks, before looking back down to begin tinkering once again. "I'll catch that ghost and make it pay for making my son sick."

Jazz lets out a groan of defeat as she brings her book back up to her face, practically pressing her nose into its pages.

"I'm sure you will, dear." Maddie's voice is fond as she walks over from the stove, pan in hand, giving her husband a gentle, affectionate pat on the arm and a kiss on the cheek. "Breakfast is ready, kids."

Danny gives the pan a wary look, he can only hope that their meal won't try to eat them this time around.

The meal is served, and eaten with the only sound to fill the morning's droning silence being Jack's exuberant voice as he blathers on about ghosts. Having heard half of what he says more than a dozen times (that week), his children let the endless chatter go through one ear and out the other to save brain space and their sanity. Once breakfast is devoured, and the Fenton kids manage to sneak away from the kitchen and their still babbling father – their mother giving them a small smile and wave of farewell – the two of them head out the door and off to school.

The soft hum of the early morning commute fills the air and the chirping of birds greet them as they walk silently down the sidewalk past Fenton Works. It's early spring, the clouds are dark with the promise of light rain, and the morning air still carries the chill of winter. Every blade of grass is covered with an even coating of dew, the faint sunlight warms their hair, and a slight breeze ruffles their clothes playfully. Jazz tightens her scarf around her neck, and adjusts her coat against the cutting gust, while her brother remains completely unaffected and exposed in his usual white short sleeve shirt, and light wash jeans.

And of course, Jazz feels the need to nag him for it.

"You should cover yourself up, Danny, you're hardly over your fever."

Danny roll his eyes, "I'm not cold."

"It doesn't matter if you're cold or not, you can still get sick if you walk around like that," she gestures widely at his attire,"in weather like this."

"Which of us has a cold core again?" He pretends to think about it, "Oh right, I do. That fever was a fluke, Jazz." He says, giving a small sniffle he hopes she doesn't hear.

She narrows her eyes at him, then sighs, "Look, Danny, cold core or not, you can't afford to get sick like that again. You need to take better care of yourself. Let Sam, Tucker, and I handle the little things every now and then."

Danny opens his mouth to protest, but then figures he's not going to get anywhere in this argument and nods in agreement, knowing full well that he's not going to follow through with his promise.

And as always, Jazz knows he won't too.

It's her job to worry about him, seeing as hardly anyone else does. Her parents are so unaware of their own son that—even with his problems being flashed in their faces constantly—they still see little of concern. She isn't even sure if she understands the extent of his issues, and at times she can't help but feel like he's keeping something from her. Perhaps even his friends are unaware. Jazz desperately wants to call his bluff, just this one time, but as she opens her mouth to do so, a puff of visible breath escapes Danny's mouth and she knows it isn't from the frosty air.

He looks to her, and she nods, defeated, knowing what must be done, "I'll tell Tucker and Sam to be ready with an excuse, but please do try to not be late for school again."

Danny nods only half listening, as she sighs and jogs off in the direction of Casper High, praying that her brother isn't hurt too much this time around.

After his sister is out of sight, Danny turns and prepares to run into the nearest alleyway to go ghost, but is stopped when he hears a cheery yip. He watches as an excited Cujo barrels down the sidewalk at him as quickly as his little legs can carry him, and finds himself sighing deeply. Danny had wondered where Cujo had run off to. He wasn't there when Danny had woken up on the couch this morning, and Jazz said that Cujo disappeared sometime after she had gotten home yesterday after school. Danny hoped that meant that Cujo decided to go home on his own for once, but of course he didn't, because when has he ever.

This is going to be either very easy or unnecessarily difficult to deal with. Danny can only pray that it's the former.

"Cujo, what's going on buddy?"

The energetic little pup runs circles around Danny's feet, yipping and yapping all the while. Danny doesn't quite know how to interpret all of it, so he cocks his head to the side and furrows his brow, huffing out a quiet breath. Cujo, obviously having heard it, stops short and tilts his head up to look at Danny, staring for a moment before copying Danny's gestures. Danny, on the other hand, has to hold in a chuckle at the little specter's behavior, cocked head, furrowed brow and all on a small, green face.

Danny's lips quirk at the sight as he feels something warm bubble in his chest.

For a moment he lets himself be taken by the little, green pup before reality smacks him in the face in the form of his ghost sense seconds later. Danny hears the roar of an engine, and sighs, knowing exactly who's coming and what he's going to need to do. So much for getting to school on time.

"Hey, kid!"

Danny lets out a rumbling groan, maybe if he ignores them they'll go away. He begins walking toward school with quick, measured steps.

"Kid, wait up!"

But alas, when does that ever work? A black chopper rolls to a stop next to him, and Danny suddenly realizes there's nothing he can do to avoid them unless he wants to start a conflict. Which, of course, he doesn't.

He lets out a sigh, as he turns around, "What Johnny."

"Hiya Danny!"

Danny peaks around Johnny 13's shoulder to meet red eyes with his own blue ones, "Hi Kitty." His greeting isn't half as enthusiastic as hers, though.

"Aw, come on now, squirt. Arentcha happy to see us?"

Danny gives him a flat look that clearly reads, no.

Johnny ruffles Danny's hair with a chuckle and a teasing, easy grin, "Ain't he cute?"

"I am not cute," he smacks Johnny's hand away.

"He's adorable." Kitty coos, completely ignoring Danny's irritated glare.

With a gushing sigh, Danny crosses his arms, "What do you guys want?"

"We wanted to visit you while you were sick yesterday, ya know, screw around, bug you until you screamed, junk like that," Johnny starts.

"But, we were busy and couldn't make it. So here we are!" Kitty chirps.

He really hadn't needed them around to make him scream, Skulker and Ember had already done a good job of that. Danny scowls at the memory, for as long as he's been dealing with ghosts—for as long as he's been a ghost—he feels like he's learned next to nothing about them. One minute they're ecto blasting him into a wall, the next they're making him soup when he's sick. Danny gets lost in his frustrations for a moment, hardly registering the gentle tugs to his pant leg from a certain green fur ball. Left forgotten on the ground, Cujo feels it's a good time to grab the attention of his friend, or he must seeing as he lets out an echoing bark when his nipping goes unnoticed. Three sets of eyes snap to him almost immediately.

Kitty peaks around Johnny's side to get a better view of the little noise maker, and squeals, "I take it back Danny, he's adorable!"

"Looks like you've got yourself a little escort, kid."

Crouching down, Danny grabs Cujo before he draws too much attention with his yapping, and cradles him to his chest cooing at him softly for a moment to calm him down, "Cujo here likes to follow me around. He was with me all day yesterday."

Kitty wiggles in her seat, "That's so cute! He was worried about you, Danny!"

Johnny glances at his squirming girlfriend out of the corner of his eye, she's very obviously enamored with the little specter. He considers something for a moment before he comes to a decision, "Tell ya what kid, you leave that dog of yours under our care for a while and we'll leave ya alone for the day."

Kitty grins up at him, eyes sparkling. Oh, he was so going to get some thanks for that later.

Cujo looks up at his friend, confused, while Danny contemplates the offer. He gives Danny's hand a lick and in response that same hand gives him a scratch behind the ear.

Honestly, what other option does Danny have?

"All right, fine."

There's another squeal from behind Johnny's back.

"But, if I catch any of you causing trouble, it's back to the Ghost Zone for all of you." He looks ghost biker, ghost passenger, and ghost dog pointedly in the eye. They all nod with varying levels of enthusiasm.

Danny gently hands the excited little fur ball over to Johnny, who passes him back to Kitty, "You got it, kid. See ya on the flip side!"

With a rev of his engine they the pair are off in a flash, leaving Danny alone on the sidewalk with only the echo of 'Seeya 'round Danny!' as his company.

Well that was easy, Danny thinks to himself.

Maybe he'll be on time to school for once. Danny allows himself a moment of self satisfaction at the thought, cleaning the nonexistent dirt from his jeans.

It's funny how the universe works, really it is. It has a way with irony and coincidence that no one else could even come close to. Unlike most people, though, Danny doesn't quite find its sense of humor all that amusing, he's always the butt of its jokes. In that moment, the school's warning bell rings from a few blocks over and Danny nearly screams out in frustration. So close, he'd been so damn close. He runs into the nearest cranny and changes into his ghost half, with a shout and a flash of light, Danny Phantom is left in his place. Phasing through the nearest building, he speeds through the sky toward Casper High, cursing his bad luck all the way.

Landing into the nearest restroom he checks around for anyone who might see, and shifts back into his human half. After having given himself a once over, he books it down the hall, avoiding the eyes of any teachers who might stop him, and makes it to his homeroom in the nick of time.

Sam and Tucker give him a look as he slides into his usual seat, and both look like they want to ask what kept him, but the late bell rings stopping them short. Danny shakes his head, whispering that he would explain later, as Mr. Lancer comes strolling in, commenting on Danny's absence the previous day and accepting the note of excuse his mother had written that morning.

Danny can only hope that today he might get a break.

Well would you look at that, another chapter. Apparently you all love this fic, and if I'm being honest, I rather love it too. Ask and you shall receive and boy did you ever ask for more. Though, I've stretched this story about as far as it can go, so I don't think I'll be writing any more for it, this was only supposed to be a one shot after all. However, I will be on hiatus for my other running fiction, so that leaves me time to write more for this fandom while I reconsider my other one. Let me know if you want to see more Danny Phantom from me in the future, because I would adore to write more of it. As always feel free to point out any mistakes, I gave this chapter several read throughs, but I could have missed something. Feed back is always appreciated! Until next time,

-Rookie (LS)

I recently changed my account name, just so everyone is aware. Rookthepawn is no more, Lilacspectacles has taken its place.

Here's a song I've been loving lately:

Wintergatan - Starmachine2000