"Danny!"

"Jasmine!"

"Get in here this instant!" Jack and Maddie Fenton chorused together. Jazz jumped, dropping her toothbrush into the bathroom sink. She scrambled to pick it up, dumping it into the glass that held the family's toothbrushes. Crap, she thought, darting towards her room. Danny must have had a similar idea: only their ghost senses signaling at once stopped them from a nasty collision.

"Crap." Her brother huffed, stumbling back. "Sorry, Jazz, I was—"

"Grabbing your backpack?" He nodded briskly.

"Yeah."

"Me too," Jazz said and then they hustled off in separate directions. She knew this was coming, it was only a matter of time. With Danny well out of the woods and her arm healed, family life in the Fenton household gradually returned to normal. Well, their normal but after so many days on edge Jazz welcomed the return of her parents' eccentric vigor. True, there came the added leaps and bounds to excuse any ghostly phenomena under their roof (like triggering each other's ghost sense wherever they went; a result of Danny's returned powers) but even that hadn't dampened her spirits—no pun intended. It was actually kind of nice, sharing this secret with someone else and Danny seemed to feel the same way. There was only one downside and it waited for them both in the kitchen.

"Sorry!" Jazz puffed, skidding into the doorway. She hastily looped her headband around her hair, her brother tugging a brush through his. Sure enough, their parents stood by the table, dad with his arms crossed and mom holding several sheets of paper. Uh-oh. Jazz glanced at Danny. Danny glanced at Jazz.

"Did you leave your homework out again?" She whispered, trying her absolute best to speak through the corner of her mouth.

"No," Danny said in the same hushed tone. "Did you?"

"No."

"Kids," Jack Fenton interrupted, with the quivering intensity of a man holding back. "Your mother and I have something very important to tell you."

"That's right," Maddie agreed. She held up the papers. "Do you know what these are?"

The Fenton siblings exchanged glances again. Danny looked like he meant to say something; Jazz nudged his side, her eyes widening in a way she hoped read 'don't make this worse.' A slight indent creased her brother's forehead, otherwise he stayed quiet. It was a good thing he did, for their mother wasn't finished.

"These are printed emails we received from your teachers," she said. "Apparently they felt the need to reach out to us, personally."

"I wonder why that could be," Jack echoed, beady blues darting in between Jazz and her brother. Dread pooled in the pit of her stomach and she swallowed, bracing herself for the inevitable damage control… then her parents did something she hadn't expected. Maddie Fenton's face lit up and Jack's imposing demeanor split apart into a wide grin. "Congratulations kids," he beamed. "I knew you could do it."

"We knew, Jack." Corrected Maddie gently but even so pride oozed from her voice. "But you're right. We knew if you just put your mind to your work you'd improve in no time." She waved the emails at the two teens and as she did the knot in Jazz's gut dispersed.

"Wait," she heard Danny say beside her. "You're telling us our teachers wrote to you to say our grades improved?"

"That's exactly what they did," Jack said. He paused and Jazz saw a familiar light behind his eyes—eyes that narrowed seconds later. "Why? Is this unusual behavior? Have they been possessed by—"

"No one's been possessed by ghosts," Jazz swept in. Looks like life really is back to normal.

"Jazz is right, dear," Maddie agreed. "I'm sure their teachers are just happy to see them succeeding. Just like we are."

"I still say it's worth looking into," Jack murmured and Jazz almost laughed. Yep, she thought. Definitely back to normal.

"Hey," Danny piped up. "This is all great and we can talk more about it later, but Jazz and I are gonna be late for school."

"Oh of course," Maddie said. She set the papers on the table and moved to hug him. "Have a good day. We're both so proud of you."

"Mom…" Danny groaned but Jazz could see the little smirk on his face. She chuckled quietly until she too found herself in her mother's embrace.

"And one for you, young lady."

"Okay okay…" Jazz conceded. "I'm glad you guys are happy, but we really do need to go."

Her mother released her, joining Jack's side again. "See you later, sweetie."

"Bye mom," Jazz said, then hustled after Danny out the door. She heard her father's booming voice at her back.

"Remember—be on the lookout for anything suspicious!"

Once outside, both Fenton siblings raced around to the back of their home. With her brother's trademark cry and Jazz's silent declaration, they changed from human to ghost.

"I don't know if I'm ever gonna get used to this," Danny Phantom mused, nodding at her in Phantom clicked her tongue.

"It'll happen sooner than you think." She slid her backpack from her shoulders and phased her arm through it. After rummaging around, she pulled out two wireless earpieces. She handed one to Danny.

"Thanks," he said, fitting his over his ear.

"You're welcome," Jazz said, doing the same with hers. "See? You're already adjusting well."

"Yeah yeah, point taken." Danny rolled his eyes but he was grinning so Jazz scored the victory in her favor. She shrugged her backpack on again.

"You want the left route or the right, today?" She asked.

"I don't care. Whatever you're up for."

"It's your call, little brother," Jazz said. "I'm up for anything."

"Oh yeah?" Danny raised an eyebrow. Jazz did the same.

"Within reason of course."

"Of course," Danny said and then he slipped into a brief and pensive silence, so the look on his face led Jazz to believe."Alright, you do left, I've got right. Radio if you need a hand."

"Pfft," Jazz teased. "Don't worry. I've got this."

Danny Phantom smiled, a real and sincere smile. "I know you do." Then he propelled himself into the air. "See you after school!"

"Be careful, Danny!" Jazz waved after him, then launched herself up in the opposite direction. As she soared through the sky, scanning for any trace of meddlesome poltergeists, her mind wandered back to Clockwork's words. 'It has to be you,' he told her, and that with time she'd understand.

I think I do, Jazz thought to herself as a familiar wisp of frigid air spiraled from her mouth. Resolve flashed in her green eyes as she prepared herself for whomever crossed her path. The future really was wide—

"I AM THE BOX GHOST!"

"You've got to be kidding me."

End

A/N: and that's it! Thank you so much to everyone who followed along over the years, and everyone still following along all these years later. I hope you all enjoyed this story. I know I have, hiatus or no.