I don't own Danny Phantom. Butch Hartman does. Now, I wrote this when it was approaching midnight, and I was tired and too lazy and impatient to find a beta-reader. I didn't look it over much, either. I admit it. I got lazy. I don't promise a miracle with this first chapter. It's what happens when the sleepy teenage girl gets an idea. So, night. *yawn*

Danny snuck in carefully in the middle of the night through the window in the living room of his house. He broke curfew again- a habit he didn't like, but necessary for the safety of the town. He silently thanked the fact his body healed up all the scars and bruises before he got home- less questions for his parents to ask. The chirping of the cricket almost seemed to Danny as if it were scolding him, and Danny almost shushed it. Finally, as he pulled his way through the window, then quietly, quickly pulled the window back down again from the inside and locked it, the lights turned on. His eyes widened.

"Oh...Crap." He muttered to himself as he slowly turned around to see his parents sitting on the couch, waiting, arms crossed, eyes narrowed, directed at their son. Neither looked happy. They waited for him to say something. Danny shuffled his feet and rubbed the back of his neck warily.

"Uhh..." He tried to start. Maddie spoke.

"Again. Really?" Maddie snapped. Danny grimaced.

"...Yes. I'm sorry. Ground me all you want." He said, allowing submission to his parents. In all truth, he had such a bad night he didn't even care how long his cell phone or video games were taken away. He just wanted to sleep...

His parents sighed.

"Danny, why don't you just tell us what's going on? If this keeps happening, we want to know the reason why. We're worried about you. You're tardy to school often, as well. Mr. Lancer said you have a tendency to go to class, then leave and not come back for the rest of the period." Maddie said crossly. "Why?"

Danny looked up with a sad face. "I can't tell you. You...You wouldn't...Well, I'm not doing drugs. I can promise you that. I am not in a gang. It's for the fools. I just can't tell you." Danny said. Maddie stood up, and walked up to him, examining him carefully. She sighed.

"No, doesn't appear you're in a gang...You would have more cuts and bruises, probably. As for drugs, well, your body seems to operate fine. Plus, I could tell if you were. But if it's neither, then what?" She asked. "Why don't you trust us?" She whispered. Danny sighed.

"Just trust me. You'd be happier not knowing."

"'Ignorance is Bliss' does not happen in the Fenton household, Danny. We'll find out one way or another- you can count on that. As for now, you're grounded until further notice." Jack said firmly. "We love you, son, with all our hearts. We're just concerned." Danny nodded to the punishment.

"I really, really want to tell you...But I can't. That's that. I accept being grounded- right now, all I wanna do is sleep." Danny said, walking past them, out of the illuminated part of the living room, up the stairs, and slowly closed his door so he didn't wake up Jazz. Maddie and Jack looked distraught.

"Why can't he tell us? We're his parents. It amazed me how well he took that...I just...Just want to know what's wrong." Maddie said, distressed. Jack didn't look any happier.

"I don't know, Mads. I know at that age, they can be fearful of how people think of them. But...How will we get him to talk?"

Both parents stood in silence, thinking. Jack finally snapped his fingers after about ten minutes. Maddie looked up at him. He turned to her.

"I have an idea that's crazy enough that it might just work..."

Danny yawned as he woke up to the sweet songs of the birds, the cheery 'chirp chirp' meeting his ears. The 'ooah' of a mourning dove. He tried to sit up and stretch...

But he was stuck. He couldn't move. Slowly opening his eyes, he saw the Fenton Fishing Line tied around him and the mattress, and his parent sitting on chairs next to the bed, asleep with small snores. Danny made a 'eep' sound and tried to squirm out. He accidentally kicked the wall- loudly, too. Both his parents started to wake up, and he tried to squirm more, faster.

Maddie and Jack yawned and stretched, smiling down at the squirming teenage boy before them. Danny looked desperate.

"C'mooonn...This isn't funny! Let me go, please! I gotta go to school!" He shouted. Maddie gave him a cocky look.

"You're not going to school today." She said. Danny froze over solid.

"W-what?" He stuttered out. He seriously did not like where this was going. Jack gave Danny the same look Maddie did.

"You're staying on the bed until we find out what you're hiding...The sooner you speak, the sooner you are free."