(The actual story is pretty good, I promise, but I need to rant first):

Rage. Frustration. "Why the heck am I awake at 3am going through this crap?" moments.

To clarify, I'm leaving for a six month stint in Europe soon (wish it was London, but alas, it's not) and the utter insanity of the international bureaucratic system is driving me up the walls. Instead of going into a full-blown vent fest, I forced my eyes away from governmental regulatory websites and moseyed over to Word to torture Danny for a bit. I was planning for a college apps-based oneshot this time around, but in real life, I'm more concerned about visa applications at the mo', so this instalment is the result of dpluver losing her marbles. Enjoy! *crazy, Joker-ish laughter*

"I can't believe we're already going home."

"Well, it's not like you're going to be away for too much longer, Jazz. When does your first semester start?"

"The end of August, but still! This was fun...and relatively normal for once."

Danny rolled his eyes. "If you forget the mobs of photographers chasing us down the streets on horseback, then sure, it was totally normal."

"How is that my fault?"

"I'm not blaming you-" Danny started to say before retracting it, "-Actually, I am. You were the one to tell Mom and Dad, remember?"

Jazz put her hands on her hips. "We thought you died! What did you expect me to say? 'Oops, Danny fell into a snowdrift and is gone forever; too bad, so sad'?"

Danny snickered at the mental image. "No, I'm just saying that you deserve the blame for the British paparazzi hounding us all over the place. Though I'm sure you won't mind when all this attention wins you some Oxford guys this semester."

"That's not my intention at all," Jazz replied hotly. "Conversation over. Let's go find Mom and Dad, our flight's supposed to leave in two hours and we haven't even gone through customs yet!"

"Is it really that hard to find them?" Danny grumbled, pointing to the baggage cart machine, where his dad was trying to forcibly yank a Smarte Carte out.

"Jack, please, you're creating a scene," they could hear their mom trying to console him.

"Machine…ate…my...quarters," Jack grunted furiously as he tugged on the cart.

"Maybe because quarters aren't part of the official currency in the U.K.," Jazz snapped at him as her mom and brother hurriedly dragged him away before airport security came running in.

"Is there a problem here?" a lone security official glanced suspiciously at each of the Fentons.

"No sir, I think we'll be fine now," Jazz said tersely, glaring at her dad. "Let's go, already, we're going to miss our flight!"

The family left Jack with the duty of watching over the luggage as they walked up to the ticketing counter to display their passports and get their boarding passes. The ticketing lady didn't seem to be in a great mood, despite Maddie's half-hearted attempts to lighten her up.

"Jack Fenton?"

Maddie pointed to where her husband was standing. Stamp.

"Jasmine Fenton?"

"Right here," Jazz said eagerly, calming down the enthusiasm only when the woman scowled at her. Stamp.

"Madeline Fenton?"

"That's me," Maddie laughed nervously as she took her freshly-stamped passport.

"And Daniel...Fenton? Hold on one moment."

Danny darted a worried glance at his mom and sister. His parents and Jazz's passports had been accepted without a hitch; what was wrong with his? His pulse quickened as he waited for the ticketing lady to finish whatever she was searching for on the computer database.

"I'm sure there's nothing wrong, Danny-" Maddie tried comforting him before she was interrupted by the employee:

"I'm sorry Mr. Fenton, but you've been placed on the No-Fly list."

At first, Danny laughed. "What?"

He immediately regretted this as the stern woman pressed a button, calling for airport security.

"You can't be serious!" Danny exclaimed as two guards showed up behind them.

"Now hold on just a minute, why is my son on a No-Fly list?" Maddie demanded to the woman behind the counter.

The lady shrugged indifferently. "Ask the higher-ups, ma'am. Next!"

"Mom...?" Danny asked, bewildered as the airport security officials began leading him away.

"Jasmine, stay with your father, I'll go with Danny."

Jazz looked ready to argue, but reluctantly agreed and returned to the family's assortment of luggage, where her dad was impatiently waiting.

Danny considered intangibly escaping through their restraints, but decided against it after mulling through the possibility of being labeled as a threat to airport security. He was grateful that his mom was following them as they led him away from their fellow airline passengers and into an employees-only corridor. He had absolutely no idea where they were taking him or why he wasn't permitted to fly—irony was so, so cruel—but something about this situation was beginning to make him fear the worst.

They led him into a quiet examination room, in which there was but a single, stainless steel desk with a wooden chair on either side. His mom tried to follow them inside, but they stopped her and shut the door before she could get in a single word. Seeing a mirror across from where he was sitting, Danny instantly recognized it as one of those one-way mirrors, which allowed viewers on the outside to see in, but not vice versa.

Once the two guards released him and exited the room, Danny was alone for a few minutes. It was rather awkward, knowing that just on the other side of that mirror, there could have been dozens of people watching him. But he barely moved a muscle, so at least they weren't getting much of a show.

At last, an important-looking official walked in, carrying a thin paper file.

"Mr. Phantom," he said once he was situated in his seat across from Danny and had begun browsing through the file.

"Uh, actually it's Fenton," he corrected the older man nervously. An overwhelming urge to turn invisible struck him with the same intensity as the man's glare, but he forced himself to remain in full view for the sake of his so far non-existent criminal record.

"Do you understand why you were placed on the No-Fly list?"

"No, but I'm assuming you're about to tell me what heinous crime I got blamed for this time?"

"Watch your tongue," the man snapped. "As I was saying, you were placed on the list after this creature flew out of your luggage."

"Creature? What—oh god no."

Danny's jaw dropped as the man held up a picture of the Box Ghost. But he had secured the Fenton thermos just before they left for the airport! Had his dad abandoned the luggage for a while without them realizing it?

"Let's see, harboring a fugitive-"

"-you actually think I'd want to keep him around?"

"-illegal importation of foreigners-"

"-he's just a ghost!"

"-perhaps kidnapping charges-"

"-listen to me, this is just-"

"-and what was it he said?" the man asked aloud. "'Where are the boxes?' Tell me, Mr. Phantom-"

"-Fenton-"

"-what boxes was this creature-"

"-ghost-"

"-referring to?" the man demanded, his face turning red from Danny's constant interruptions.

Danny rolled his eyes and tilted back in his chair with his feet resting carelessly on the edges of the table. "It's just the stupid Box Ghost, I swear. He's not a danger to anyone and neither am-"

"-could it be that those boxes to which he was referring contained some kind of national security threat?"

"Huh?" Danny's soles lost their grip on the smooth edges of the table, sending him flying over backwards in his chair.

"Mr. Fenton! Do you not realize the direness of your situation?" the man shouted after Danny had crashed onto the floor.

Although his ribs were somewhat crushed from the painful landing, Danny laughed. "Sure thing, dude. Just leave me on your No-Fly list and I'll fly myself home. No big deal. Can I leave now?"

"We haven't resolved the matter of the boxes-"

"-check the baggage claim, I'm sure he'll turn up there eventually. I could catch him for you...but oh, damn, that's right, you confiscated my thermos! Good luck!"

Danny waved to the dumbstruck official as he exited the room via intangibility, no longer caring about playing by the rules. He had honestly forgotten all about the thermos until the end of his ten day visit. He had wanted Jazz's Oxford orientation to go as smoothly as possible, without the constant annoyance of unwelcome ghostly intruders. As it turned out, he didn't need to use the thermos or go ghost once this entire visit.

His mom hugged him on his way out. "Did they let you go, sweetie?"

"Sort of," Danny smirked. "I don't think they're taking me off the No-Fly list, though. You go on with Dad and Jazz, I'll get home eventually."

"Absolutely not! We'll stay and help you find that ghost to help you prove your innocence!"

Danny pondered over his options for a moment. It was either accept his fate and fly home as he assured the official he would do anyway, or corral the everlastingly irritating Box Ghost and show airport security just how harmless he was.

On second thought, stranding him thousands of miles away from home without directions back to Amity Park sounded pretty good, too.

Danny grinned. "Nah, let's leave him here. I'll be fine on my own, don't worry about me."

The two walked outside to a more secluded area where the vacated taxis were parked and hugged for a brief moment before Danny transformed and waved goodbye.

"I always do," she sighed as she watched her son fly away.

There. I feel much more sane now. Fanfiction: the ultimate stress reliever. Who knew? It's been over a year since I've traveled internationally, so I could have gotten the customs part completely wrong (and I know this means an improbably long flight home for Danny), but it's fiction for a reason, so don't pelt me with tomatoes ;)

Comments, as always, are appreciated. I'm off to sleep now.