Author's Note: My hiatus is finally over. Sorry to make you guys wait so long but here it is. I hope it's worth the wait.

Disclaimer: I don't own DP

Danny, Sam and Tucker woke up the next morning feeling like absolute hell. The dim light of dawn streaming in from Danny's bedroom window hurt their eyes, and their brittle bones ached like never before. None of the trio felt like moving.

"Anybody else feel like they're dying?" groaned Tucker from under his cocoon of blankets. Danny and Sam groaned in response, both feeling like they were going to be sick. How could they all suddenly be sick? They felt fine yesterday. Fine, up until…yesterday's events suddenly hit Danny like a ton of bricks. The portal, the accident, their ghostly forms…was it all just a nightmare? Danny was hit with another wave of nausea. Nope, not a bad dream. They really were half-ghosts.

"Did…did yesterday really happen?" murmured Sam in a fashion was far too vulnerable. The boys looked up to find that the goth girl was sitting up. Danny and Tucker followed her lead, though with much effort.

"Yeah," Danny nodded. "Yeah, it did."

"I was afraid of that," Sam replied, a bit of her old attitude returning to her voice. "Oh, well; I've always wanted to be unique." Danny snorted in response. Yeah, unique was one way to put it.

Freakish is another, Danny thought with a frown.

"Why do I feel so awful?" Tucker complained out of nowhere.

"Does it look like I know?" Sam snapped rudely.

"I was just asking a question, Sam," Tucker retorted angrily. He was really sick and tired of Sam's attitude. "You don't need to be such a-"

"Will you two shut the hell up?" Danny interrupted, rubbing his temples. He had a massive headache and no patience to deal with their crap. "I am so not in the mood to deal with your bullcrap today!" The goth and the geek shrunk back at Danny's outburst. It was not, by any means, normal for him to be so…pissy. Sam and Tucker exchanged glances, not sure what to make of the raven-haired boy's sudden anger. They could have sworn, for just a moment, that his eyes flashed radioactive green.

"Sorry," they murmured in unison. Danny suddenly felt bad for losing his temper on them.

"Anyway, it might just be a side effect of the portal," Danny answered Tucker's earlier question. Maybe their bodies were somehow reacting badly with the ectoplasm? It would make sense since there were only two states of being; living and dead. There was no in between. Yet, Danny, Sam and Tucker seemed to be that exception. Danny wished he could ask his parents about all of this; they were the experts, after all, but that would be a death sentence. He was sure of it. Tucker groaned loudly at the thought.

"Isn't being dead enough?!"

"We're not dead, stupid," Sam said with a roll of her eyes. "Only half dead."

"That's so not the point," replied Tucker. Danny threw himself back into his nest of blankets, immediately regretting the action as it made his stomach lurch unpleasantly. He curled up into a fetal position murmuring; "Kill me now." Danny closed his eyes in a desperate attempt for sleep that probably wouldn't come. Why would it? His body felt like someone had run him over with a truck. Twice.

The black-haired boy imagined a world different from his own. It had no sky and no ground. Just a lot of floating islands (what the hell?) and green air that should have been toxic to his lungs but he seemed to be breathing just fine. Weird. Danny looked around, curious about the sight. He actually found that he was standing inside the ghost portal, grey metal and electrical cords left hazardously on the floor. At the other end of the portal was the green world. He was sure he'd never seen this place before but it somehow felt familiar. A part of him felt that he needed to leave this place. He didn't belong here. But it called him to it. Danny's body moved closer and closer to the world on the other side. Could it be? Could this be the infamous Ghost Zone that his parents spent their whole lives trying to find? He reached out toward the Ghost Zone, his fingers feeling tingly, when suddenly…

Danny, Sam, Tucker? Are you guys seriously still asleep? It's noon already!

Danny suddenly sat up with a jolt, sweat beading up on his forehead despite the fact that his skin was as cold as ice. He had no idea how long had passed but Sam and Tucker had given it a rest, and Jazz was waking them up. The sun was higher in the sky (which was murder on his ultra-sensitive eyes) and his digital clock said that it was a little bit passed noon. Huh. He must have dozed off at some point.

Jazz was still talking and his friends were staring at her with confused, blurry eyes, but Danny was not listening. All he could think about was that strange dream. What was that place and why did he feel so drawn to it like a moth to a flame? It unsettled the Fenton boy more than he thought it would (he was far too old to be freaking out over a nightmare). It was all so vivid, so real, and so very familiar. That swirling green world that seemed to forget gravity existed. He couldn't help but wonder if Sam and Tucker saw it too. They did look really pale but that could have been this weird side-effect from the portal they were all experiencing.

Danny's thoughts were interrupted by Jazz putting her hand on his forehead. She suddenly pulled away as if she had burned. "Jeez, Danny, you're freezing! Are you okay?"

"No, we're all…" he paused to find the right words. "sick."

"Yeah," Jazz frowned. "You three don't look so good."

"And we feel worse," Sam added. She looked even paler than she usually was, making the dark circles under her violet eyes look like bruises.

"Do you guys want me to make soup for you?" she asked sympathetically.

"I don't think I could eat anything right now," Tucker murmured. As the words left his mouth, the fourteen-year-old computer geek felt three pairs of surprised eyes on him. Everyone knew that the day Tucker Foley refused an offer of food was the day hell froze over. The silence was broken by Sam who, surprisingly, came to Tucker's rescue.

"I don't think I could keep anything down either," she said honestly. Her voice held none of her usual attitude. She simply sounded like a girl who was tired and sick. Jazz sighed through her nose.

"Alright then," she said. She turned on her heel and looked at the younger teens over her shoulder. The redheaded girl's eyes stayed locked with theirs for several moments. "Do you want me to take you home?" The three exchanged nervous glances but Danny gave them a tight nod. It seemed to be all the prompting they needed.

"Yeah," Sam and Tucker murmured in unison.

"Will you be okay by yourself, Danny," Jazz asked him. Sam and Tucker looked at their friend, the same question in their eyes. Danny plastered on a fake smile.

"Yeah, I'll be fine! It's not like I'll be going anywhere," he replied. Jazz still looked rather reluctant (and so did his friends, for that matter) but Sam and Tucker needed to get home. Even if Jazz were to let them stay like she wanted to, their parents would probably get really mad that she didn't send them home when they were sick. At least, Tucker's parents would be. The Fentons had known the Foleys long enough to know that much about Maurice and Vanessa. However, the same couldn't be said about Sam's parents; the Mansons. They had never met them, and Sam spoke rarely of her estranged mother and father. The only thing Jazz knew about Sam's parents, Danny and Tucker had told her. According to Sam, her parents were rather controlling and absolutely not fond their daughter's gothic persona. As opposed to her grandmother who Sam talked about endlessly.

Danny couldn't help but be glad when his older sister left with his friends. The last thing he felt like doing at the moment was talking to someone. He was honestly glad to have some time alone where he wouldn't be bothered. He could just be sick in peace for a little while. Danny's stomach suddenly lurched unpleasantly, his skin paling to a ghostly white. The boy bolted out of his room and toward the bathroom.

Things were tense between Jazz and Sam. They had already dropped Tucker off at the Foley house but now Jazz had to drive the younger girl to her house. Sam did not seem eager at the prospect what-so-ever while Jazz couldn't help but be curious. She was the daughter of scientists, after all. Curiosity was in the Fenton blood.

Jazz's eyebrows knit themselves together as Sam half-heartedly directed the sixteen-year-old to a rather rich-looking neighbourhood filled with large, Victorian-style mansions. Jazz pulled up into the driveway of one of these "houses" and put the car in park. Silence filled the little car as Jazz was in complete awe and Sam seemed almost ashamed of her family's vast wealth.

"Don't tell Danny or Tucker," Sam murmured, almost pleadingly.

"That you're loaded?"

"Yeah," Sam winced. "That I'm freaking loaded." Jazz gave Sam a sympathetic look. So, this was why Sam never spoke of her parents or told anyone where she lived. She came from money, lots of it by the looks of things, but she didn't seem to be very happy about it. Not that Jazz could really blame her. Other rich kids like Paulina Sanchez and Valerie Grey seemed to only hang out with each other, and they only liked each other for that particular reason. If Sam really wanted to, she could have been one of the popular kids. She just didn't seem to have it in her to behave like them.

"I won't tell them," Jazz replied. "But I think you should." The goth girl gave the elder an incredulous look.

"I know what you're afraid of but Danny and Tucker won't see you any differently just because you come from money," she said. Sam looked down at her hands, a sad look in her lavender eyes.

"But…what if they hate me?"

"They won't hate you. They might be a little upset but they'll come around," Jaz reassured her. Sam's lips tilted up into a small, grateful smile.

"Thanks Jazz," Sam said as she unbuckled her seatbelt. Sam exited the car and walked up the driveway to the front door of her very large, very fancy-looking house. The black-haired girl looked over her shoulder to see Jazz pull out of the driveway. The moment Sam dreaded the most was here. The last thing she felt like doing was dealing with her parents; especially when she was feeling like absolute crap, but she had no choice.

Maybe I'll get lucky drop dead, like fully dead, she thought morbidly as she walked I to her mansion.

Author's Note: So my hiatus is finally over. I hope it was worth your patience. I'm so sorry it took so long to do. I have no excuses other than I lost the original version of this chapter and lost the motivation to do it. The fact that my boyfriend got me hooked on anime doesn't help either. Anyway, you may have noticed that I made major updates to the chapter structure as well as the actual writing. Well, I was re-reading the previous chapters and found that I hated it. Since then, my writing has improved quite a bit (at least I think so) and i decided to edit the previous chapters. It was mostly just grammar and sentence structure that I fixed up. Also, I want to thank all of you for your patience and support. It means a lot to me and a special shout out to mpwtl125, Izi Wilson, AnnoymousPoet and AmethystPhantom for being willing to exchange ideas with me. It really helped with getting the entire layout of this story. I also want to send a shout out to The Prime Writer for talking about giving bigger roles to minor characters. It's what gave me the idea to give a bigger role to Sam's grandmother who only shows up in episode yet still had potential to be a stable and supportive adult figure in Sam's life. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I will try to put myself on a schedule for updating this story. I'm hoping to update once every couple of weeks.

~ Darth Synkka