Chapter Five

Her face was blank, utterly stony and unreadable.

Danny wondered if anything he'd said had registered in her brilliant mind. Perhaps she was too deep in thought to notice the sound of him clearing his throat awkwardly, attempting to at least get some sort of reaction, even an inkling of one, from her. Her expression was so unnerving that he found himself almost wishing she'd simply have broken down crying or something, anything that wasn't so...empty.

Finally she moved, reaching out slowly, carefully, ever so gingerly, and pulled her little brother against her, he allowing her to do so without any resistance. For a moment she was gentle, but her grip tightened once she was sure he wasn't going to disappear within her arms. Her hand rested on his head, tangled in his hair as she pressed him against her shoulder, her own face upturned as silent tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Oh, Danny…" She stuttered. "Little brother, Danny I'm so sorry…"

"Jazz I…stop being sorry. Don't be sorry okay? It's not your fault." He managed, surprisingly considering his face was squished against her shoulder.

She didn't say anything; for once she truly had no idea how to respond.

"Sis, I need your help."

She parted from him, clearly unwillingly, tears sparkling in the corners of her eyes. "Danny…what could I possibly do…?"

He took a sharp breath. "I need to figure out what to do…how to do it…I…have to tell mom and dad eventually, don't I? I can't keep up protecting Amity Park like this; my cover is going to be blown as soon as the next ghost tries to attack. But now they'll never believe me…I don't have a human half to show them, to convince them."

Jazz gave her brother a good stare down, and he could tell that, despite the nature of the subject, having a problem to solve had sent her mind into overdrive and was suddenly serving as a welcome distraction to the reality behind it. Knowing this, Danny didn't say a word until she broke the silence, not wanting to interrupt her thought process.

After a few moments she began to pace, elbow and chin in opposite palms as she stepped around her pristine floor. She paused several times, making him think that she'd come to a conclusion, but these only proved to be false alarms as she began her circling yet again. Finally, though, she turned to Danny and met his blank gaze.

"I…have a theory, but I need time to test it before we can present anything." She said, crossing her arms.

"Okay, what's your theory? Something is better than nothing." He prodded, curious.

Jazz uncrossed her arms and tapped him on the arm. "DNA. Maybe. I'm more of a psychologist than a scientist, but aside from the ectoplasm you're still Danny Fenton. Maybe I can use some irrefutable science to prove it."

He thought about that for a moment; it was true that, at least as far as he could recall, no one had ever bothered to check his DNA structure. If it was really the same aside from whatever gave him his ghost powers, then his parents would have to believe that he was their son. Or, at least he hoped so. "Okay so…how are you going to prove it exactly?"

"Well obviously I need some samples, from you as Phantom and…" She seemed to lose her words.

"From my other half." Danny finished the thought for her, and she shifted where she stood.

"Er, yeah. You get that for me, and I'll go borrow the equipment I'm going to need from mom and dad. I'm sure they've got everything down in the lab." Jazz said, trying to sound at least a little confident in her plan.

"Alright I uh…guess I should sneak back down to the lab them I guess…" Danny rubbed the back of his head and let out a short sigh. His sister simply nodded, a glassy look coming over her eyes again. Without another word he strode out of the room, making sure to close the door as quietly as he could manage.

All seemed to be going well until he passed into the kitchen on the way to his parents lab and the ghost portal.

"Danny! Your father and I were wondering when you would be coming home." Maddie Fenton looked up from staring into the fridge to decide what to cook for dinner. She didn't look especially happy, but seemed relieved to see her baby boy safe and sound; or as far as she could tell.

"Er uh…hi mom." Danny could feel the panic rising in his chest. The paranoia that she would notice the glow, the red in his eyes, the drop in room temperature…he needed to get down to the lab and fast, without her trying to follow him.

"Now we know it was for school Danny, but next time you need to stay over at your friends house for a project we would at least appreciate a warning! We were worried about you when you didn't come home." She strode over and went to give her son a hug, which he dodged by breaking into a fit of coughing and leaning against the table. When she attempted to pat him on the back he shooed her away.

"No, mom, I'm fine, I'm fine."

Maddie looked concerned and a little put off, but she sighed and turned back to look in the pantry while continuing her lecture. "We just want to know you're safe. With all of these ghosts floating around lately you understand that we just want to keep you out of harm's way honey."She paused mid-picking out a can of vegetables from the stack.

"Yeah mom. Sorry about that. Tucker and I were really stressed out about getting the project done and I was completely stupid not to call you guys. I'll make sure to next time though." Danny stumbled over some of the words but managed to get them out in a convincing enough manner to satisfy his mother.

"That's all we ask sweetie." She smiled and put a can onto the counter before reaching for a pot to cook them in. "Well your father is up in the Fenton Command Center working on some equipment, and dinner should be ready in about an hour."

"I'm not really hungry actually…"

"Nonsense! My little boy is going to sit down at the table and eat with his family after not coming home for several days!"

Danny had to resist the urge to groan. Now he had a time limit, just great. "Alright…" He said, and while Maddie's back was turned he made a discreet dash for the lab.

Once inside he stepped up to the portal, giving it a good, hard glare.

"Stupid ghost portal…" He muttered, remembering the day it started working. "Caused me so much trouble, and in the end it wound up being the death of half of me." He let out a bitter laugh before flying through to the other side.

He had work to do if he was going to get himself out of this horrendous mess anytime soon.

A/N: Hi guys! I'm sorry my first chapter in a while is really short D: I wanted to get the ball rolling again, and next chapter is going to be a lot more productive plot wise I swear OTL I finally know where this thing is headed so I'll actually be able to write more(brain permitting). Thanks for sticking with me so far everyone!