Author's Introduction:

Well, here's the big finish—or should I say, the big denouement. (chuckles.) I admit I'm posting this a little faster than normal—I'm off to California for the weekend and plan to work on my new DP fic on the flight, so I'd like to see this one posted in its entirety before I go. For your entertainment, divided into epilogues 1 & 2, I give you the final chapter. (bows).

A Danny Phantom fanfiction

Papers in the roadside
Tell of suffering and greed
Here today, forgot tomorrow
Here besides the news
Of holy war and holy need
Ours is just a little sorrowed talk
And I don't cry for yesterday
There's an ordinary world
Somehow I have to find
And as I try to make my way
To the ordinary world
I will learn to survive

(Ordinary World, Duran Duran)

Epilogue the First: October 23rd

In the Fenton kitchen, Jazz's suicide paper was stuck to the refrigerator with a plush magnet shaped like a ghost. If you pressed its stomach, it said "Boo". The magnet had been carefully placed so as not to obscure the bright red "A+" written on the paper.

Jazz had never thought that she and her brother would one day be doing their makeup together in the Fenton's bathroom.

Okay, to be fair, Sam was doing Danny's makeup for him, and he'd done nothing but complain since she'd started. Holding in her giggles made Jazz keep smearing her lipliner crookedly along her laughing mouth.

"I can't believe I'm letting you do this to me," Danny said, his eyes rolled up in his head. "Ow!"

"Oh, hold still, you big baby," Sam laughed, penciling more eyeliner beneath Danny's eye. "You promised me you'd let me do your nails, too."

"No. No nails," he said. "Black eyeliner is one thing, but I draw the line at black nail polish."

Sam pouted. "Close," she ordered, and Danny obeyed, closing his eyes. Sam smudged the eyeliner, then said, "Okay. Done."

"How do I look?" he asked, smiling ghoulishly.

"Perfect," Sam said appreciatively. "Sure you don't want me to do your nails?"

"No nails! The dog collar's kind of cool, and I can forgive the eyeliner, but when I said you could goth me up for the show, I didn't think you'd bring a suitcase full of stuff!" Danny laughed.

"It's just the basics!" Sam protested.

Danny pawed through Sam's metal train case, which was open on the sink and full of gothic paraphernalia. "I'll trade you the black nail polish for the fake lip ring."

"Deal."

"I'll do your eyeliner, too, Jazz," Sam offered. "I have green, too. It'll match your dress."

Jazz glanced at her dress, which was the pale green of new leaves, then at her face in the mirror. "I don't usually wear eyeliner, but okay."

Sam grinned, happy at the prospect of another subject. As she reached to apply the liner, Jazz could see only pale ghosts of the lacerations Sam had suffered on that long-ago day in the school hallway.

Speaking of ghosts, her brother was making scary faces at himself in the mirror. "Does this ring look better on my lip or in my nose?"

"If you're going to put it in your nose, let me know," Sam said. "I'll need to disinfect it."

Danny stuck out his tongue at her.

"You should get that pierced!" Sam giggled.

"Maybe later," Danny chuckled. "Come on, Sam, we're going to be late." Getting his best friend in a gentle headlock, he smiled at Jazz. "How do we look?"

"You both look like the top of a punk-rock wedding cake," Jazz sighed, smoothing the skirt of her dress. "What about me?"

"Gorgeous," Sam said approvingly. "If a little…pastel."

"Watch out for Matt's big guns," Danny teased.

Jazz stuck out her own tongue at him. "Get out of here, both of you. Danny, watch out for Sam in the pit if there is one."

"I always do," Danny said heroically. Sam laughed, and then they were gone, and Jazz was alone. She gave her reflection a smile in the mirror before heading downstairs herself.

She was blinded by a flash as soon as she crossed into the hall. "Mo-om!"

"Jazzie, you look so beautiful!" Maddie gushed, lowering her camera. "When your date gets here, I can take one of the two of you."

"No," Jazz stated flatly. "Don't embarrass me when he gets here, please? Why don't you go harass Danny and Sam? You can put it in the family's Halloween card."

"I tried to get a picture of them, but they ran down the stairs so fast." Maddie adopted her husband's trademark pout for a second. "I just missed them—"

Jazz and Maddie were at the top of the stairway—close enough to hear Jack's excited yell from downstairs.

"Incubus!"

The two Fenton women exchanged panicked glances, then Maddie rushed towards the entryway, with Jazz in hot pursuit. "Jack, that's Danny and Sam! Don't—"

The sound of a patented Fenton weapon discharging was unmistakable.

"—shoot," Maddie sighed. "Too late."

She and Jazz spilled into the living room. Danny and Sam were a punk-rock tangle on the floor, encased in a net that gave off a faint green glow. They didn't look surprised, just annoyed.

"Incubus and a succubus," Jack said proudly, smoke wafting from the barrel of his weapon. "Two for the price of one!"

Maddie strode across the room and grabbed Jack by the ear.

"Ow!"

"Jack Fenton, why don't you look before you shoot? That is not an incubus, it is your son."

"Oh, when he's dressed like an incubus, he's my son." Jack rolled his eyes and folded his arms.

Maddie sighed. "And stop calling Sam a succubus—she just likes to dress a little…differently than the other girls."

From within the net, Sam smiled up at Maddie gratefully. "Thanks, Mrs. Fenton!"

"But—but—" Jack stammered, flushing. "They were—they're—"

"They're going to a rock concert," Maddie said. "You knew that!"

"I told you the eye makeup was a bad idea," Danny said to Sam.

"It looks great! Your dad just proved it!" she protested.

Jazz stamped her high-heeled shoe. "Dad, could you get them out of that net? My date's going to be here any second and he's going to wonder about this."

"Rock concert?" Jack ignored Jazz, scratching his head with his free hand. "Why would they dress like ghosts to go to a rock concert?"

Maddie smirked. "I vaguely remember a guy I once dated who wore full face makeup to a Kiss concert."

A slow smile crept across Jack's face. "Hey, yeah! That was a great show! I broke my nose getting us to the front, and you threw your bra on stage!"

"Dad!" both Fenton children protested. Sam just looked embarrassed.

"Can you still stick your tongue out that far?" Maddie giggled.

Jack wiggled his eyebrows at his wife. "Only one way to find out—"

"Oh, that is it!" Danny yelled, struggling against the net. "Dad, you are not allowed to be gross while Sam and I are tied up and can't escape!"

"Focus, Mr. Fenton," Sam pleaded, trying to untangle herself from Danny.

"Daddy!" Jazz cried, at the same time that Maddie snapped, "Jack!"

The doorbell rang, and everyone froze.

Jazz felt her heart sink. Her date was going to be over before it began.

Maddie went to answer the door, still tugging Jack by the ear.

"Ow."

"Wait—" Jazz said, then buried her face in her hands.

Matt had a corsage in his hand and a confused smile on his face. "Hi—I'm Matt. I'm looking for Jazz—uh—Jasmine? Does Jasmine…live here?" He had seen the entire living room by now.

"I'm here," Jazz said, stepping forward to face the music, glancing back at her family. "You're just in time to—"

She'd been about to say, "to get me out of here", but the guilty looks on her parents' faces stabbed at her heart.

"Just in time to meet my family," she finished smoothly, taking Matt's arm and leading him further into the house. "Everyone, this is Matt Prescott. He's taking me to the dance. These are my parents, Jack and Maddie Fenton. They're inventors."

Looks of surprise were exchanged, but the Fentons recovered themselves quickly. Jack clasped Matt's hand and shook it. "Good to meet you, son. Jack Fenton."

"It's so nice to meet you, Matt," Maddie trilled, still holding her husband by the ear.

"And that's my brother Danny and his best friend Sam in the net," Jazz continued, pointing to where Danny and Sam were still trapped. "They're going to a concert tonight."

"We'd wave to you, if we could," Danny sighed.

Maddie elbowed Jack, who cleared his throat. "Oh, right, the net."

"Have fun at the show, guys," Jazz said. "If you ever get there."

"Ha, ha," Sam and Danny said simultaneously, sounding scarily alike. Sam immediately shot a smirk at Danny. "Get out of my brain!"

Danny grinned. It was the sight Jazz took with her as the door shut behind her.

It seemed quiet outside suddenly; a breeze rustled the trees on the street. Instead of running for the hills, Matt tucked a hand beneath Jazz's elbow. "Come on. My car's this way."

Jazz smiled, relief making her feel like her heels were skimming the sidewalk. "Sorry about that. They…they mean well."

Matt laughed. "Hey, it's cool. Everyone's family is a little crazy, you know?"

Bubbles tickled at the insides of her veins, brushed past her heart on the way to her already pleasantly light head. "Well, I figured I had to let you know early. I mean, if we get married and you find out later, that's entrapment."

"Consider me warned," Matt said, and opened her car door for her.

Jazz was dancing with her father.

After all the years she'd spent trying to escape the name Fenton, she was actually sorry to give it up, no matter how joyous the occasion was. She tried to keep the tears out of her eyes, but her father saw anyway.

Clearing his throat, he spoke around some tears of his own. "Jazzie, I couldn't be happier for you today. Your mother and I love you so much, and I just want you to know that whatever happens...you'll always be my little girl." Jack Fenton beamed at his daughter, his eyes shining.

"Thanks, Dad," Jazz whispered, and hugged her father fiercely, grateful for the knowledge that she would always be a Fenton, no matter what.

Jack gave her a squeeze, then chuckled and motioned towards Matt Prescott, who was smiling at the edge of the dance floor, waiting for his turn to dance with his bride. "I think your dance card's full, Jazzie."

Jazz smiled. "There's just one thing I have to do first." Lifting the skirt of her wedding dress to walk, she retrieved her flowers from the dais and headed across the dance floor to where her brother—all grown up and strikingly handsome in a tuxedo—was dancing with his date, who complemented him beautifully in a wine-colored dress and heels. They were staring dreamily into each other's eyes, and Jazz prepared to keep a promise she'd made to herself a long time ago.

"Hey, Sam!" she called, and the owner of that name turned in Danny's arms to answer the call.

"Heads up!" Jazz laughed, and tossed her the bouquet.

And that's all she wrote (smiles.) At least on this fic. But I've got another stirring in my mind already, thanks to Tucker whispering in my ear during a nine-to-five shift. (chuckles.) Thanks again to everyone who read this, and a very big thank-you to Cloudy, best friend, best beta. I couldn't have finished this without her help!