Doctor Dash

Chapter 10

Danny woke to a noise. Reluctantly, his eyes cracked open and glanced around the gray morning light streaming into his bedroom. Exhaustion tugged at him to return to sleep. It was a Sunday and nowhere near eleven yet, which meant it was far too early for him to wake up and actually rejoin the world of the living. With a sigh, he shifted on the bed when it occurred to him that he wasn't the only one sleeping in it. His blue eyes dropped to his sides, and he reached up to scratch his head.

One, he counted the familiar blond head to his left. Two, he noted the raven haired boy to his right. His confusion mounted as he stared at the second boy. He was one hundred percent positive that he only had one child with Sam. After several baffling moments, it finally struck him, the memory of yesterday smacking him in face as he recalled Dash bringing over his son for a sleepover. Danny breathed out in relief to have that mystery cleared up because he didn't need any more trouble with children randomly appearing.

Noise from below reminded him of why he was awake this early in the morning. Danny frowned down at the two boys, dead to the world as they continued to sleep. After a quick glance around his room, he thankfully noted Dash wasn't anywhere around, although that offered another confusing mystery because he couldn't recall the man actually leaving the house. Wait. Did Dash sleep over? he wondered, shock at the thought making him sit up straighter. A trickle of panic crept through him until another sound snapped his attention away from thoughts of Dash. Frowning, he turned invisible then intangible as he slowly sank through bed and floor. He appeared downstairs, landing in the front room. His expression grew sourer when he spied the three people lounging on the couch.

"Are you seriously just now getting in?" Danny demanded, folding his arms as he became visible again.

"This is my time off," Valerie answered with her arms tucked behind her head. She smiled, looking far more relaxed about her life than she did back when they were freshmen in high school. "I deserve to have a few nights off to party."

"Besides, we wanted to give you plenty of time to get reacquainted with your favorite bully." Elle grinned mischievously, and Danny worried she was starting to take after Dan far too much whenever that look crossed her face.

Dan's dark blue eyes swept around the room, and Danny was surprised to see his evil future still masquerading as a human, though if Dash was still in the house, he was relieved that Dan wasn't walking around in his natural ghost appearance with the flaming hair. Danny had no explanation that he could give Dash for that.

"I'm surprised the house is still intact," Dan commented before turning a twisted smirk onto Danny. "I expected to come back to find the place in ruins." He chuckled, shaking his head. "I'm surprised you didn't explode the moment you saw that boy's shirt. Man, that must have been hard for you not to give anything away."

Danny pulled a face, halfway tempted to revert to a child and stick out his tongue at Dan. Or just blast the ghost in the face. "Ha ha," he muttered sarcastically, though he did suffer a panic attack the moment he spotted the black shirt with his familiar logo displayed across the boy's chest. He sighed as he raked a hand through his raven hair. He forgot that Dash was a huge fan boy of Phantom back in high school, and he felt like an imbecile for not remembering that.

The shirt wasn't his only moment of panic. Danny expected some sort of cartoon or children's movie when Dash asked if it was all right for them to watch the movie his son so eagerly requested. Seeing the old clips from his teen years as he fought ghosts brought back a sense of nostalgia, but he kept waiting for Dash to glance between him and the screen and suddenly make the connection between Fenton and Phantom. He always took Dash for an idiot in high school, but the man the jock grew into didn't seem quite as dumb. Chewing on his lip, Danny wondered how long it would be before Dash actually figured out the truth.