Danny was planning on heating up some leftovers for dinner, but Tucker, to the joy of the kids, brought pizza. He even found vegan pizza for Sam, being loaded as a current representative. So many cool restaurants existed in DC!
Even more excited than Danny and Sam to see Tuck, it seemed like, were Jackson and Lily. Lily always asked about when she could see "Uncle Tuck" and she could usually count on him bringing her the latest techy toy or trinket when he visited. Right now she was too busy to eat her pizza, instead giggling and petting a robot pterodactyl which moved its head, wings, and mouth, cawing occasionally.
Meanwhile, Jackson loved to hear about Tucker's experience as a representative and the people he encountered around him.
"The representative from Pennsylvania tries to steal my thunder as the techno-geek rep all the time," Tucker was saying to Jackson. "Just the other day he got one of those plug-in fans for his cellphone, just to spite me. And it doesn't help we're both in the Science, Space, and Technology Committee."
"Which is kinda stupid, if you think about it, because everyone knows those fans drain your phone battery, like, super fast!" added Jackson.
"Exactly!"
The night went on just like this, everyone having a great time. Sam, Danny, and Tucker all got to catch up, the kids were happy, and Danny was so content that the day's incidents slipped into the back of his mind. But all too soon, it was time for Tucker to leave. He had to be back in the Capitol Building for meetings early the next morning.
Sam excused herself to put Lily to bed. She quickly gave Tucker a hug goodbye, then gave Danny a peck on the check as she carried her sleepy daughter to her crib. Lily tiredly blinked at Tucker and gave him a small smile, then closed her eyes and rested her head on Sam's shoulder. Tucker smiled back, then turned to Jackson.
"See ya dude." Jackson grinned back and gave Tucker a fist bump, then went back to the kitchen table, most likely resuming homework.
They give kids way too much homework these days, Danny thought.
"Care to walk me out?" Tucker suggested, opening the front door.
"Sure."
They strolled down the darkened sidewalk alongside the house. Then Tucker slowed, gazing up at the night sky. There were a few wispy clouds, but the Milky Way could still be seen.
Danny tilted his head back and glanced at Tucker.
"What is it?"
Tucker continued observing the sky.
"You went ghost today." he replied, his voice level.
White-hot shock coursed through Danny's body.
"W-what?" he sputtered. He tried again, trying to remain calm.
"What do you mean, I went ghost today?" he accused, then paused. "I mean, how would you know?" he mumbled more quietly.
Taking off his glasses, Tucker took a deep breath and finally turned to face Danny, locking eyes with him. Danny couldn't read his expression, which made him nervous.
"I..." It seemed like Tucker was finding it difficult to explain this, which was pretty unusual for him. "I, okay. Before, no, after that final, fight, where you promised to never go ghost again?"
Danny nodded.
"I, well, planted a chip on you." Tucker looked contemplative for moment. "No, more like in you. Telling me when you went ghost, if you ever did." He put his glasses back on, then stared at Danny seriously, waiting for a response.
Well, Danny knew what response he'd like to give Tucker, but it would probably attract some attention and there would be legal consequences if he went through with that initial plan...
Honestly, he was still taking it all in.
"How could you-"
"Yes, I know." interrupted Tucker, holding up his hands. "It's the ultimate betrayal. And you feel betrayed." He winced. Ugh, using the same word as a noun and an adjective in two consecutive sentences. Bad move, Tuck.
He continued, "If you let me explain a little more, I hope things will get better for you." he shrugged. "Or not. But I only did this to protect you."
"Protect? Protect me?" Danny exclaimed, grinning in disbelief. "How on earth would chipping, er, tracking me or whatever the hell you want to call it be protecting me? And most importantly, without telling me?" He was starting to pace. "Do you not trust me or something?"
He froze in horror. "Is Sam in on this too?"
"No no no!" exclaimed Tucker waving his hands in a panic. "It was just me." He looked at Danny thoughtfully for a moment. "But that thought does reveal some insecurities that I had a feeling were probably there-"
"Just shut up!" Danny spat. "Explanation please. Now." Before I go ghost again and blow a hole in the sidewalk...
"I'm getting to that." Tucker replied patiently, as if he were addressing a three-year-old throwing a tantrum. He began:
After the night of the end, (as I like to call it), that night, on impulse I developed a serum with micro transmitters that would register when and where you went ghost again. I honestly didn't think you were serious at first. All those years of ghost hunting, just to throw it all away? No way were you going to keep that promise, despite my own wants to end our careers.
But you did. Tired of living in Amity Park and basically a world that still saw you as the ghost hero you no longer wished to be, assuming a new identity, a new life, seemed like the best option.
What made me do it wasn't that I didn't trust you. I came to realize that when you wanted to leave Amity Park. It probably was selfish, but I didn't want to quit, even if you did.
So I injected you with it, the night before you would leave for Laurel Copse with Sam.
And I knew, for a long time, probably, you would be happy, and you would try to forget everything we ever accomplished together.
Because that night, as I prepared to inject the serum, you were sleeping more soundly than I ever had seen you before. You were at peace.
Thinking back to that moment, I almost didn't do it. I didn't want to burden you with the possibility that it wouldn't last. But deep down, I knew it wouldn't. And I wanted to be there when you were ready to come back.
Tucker looked up at Danny solemnly, his eyes shiny.
"I'm sorry, Danny." he mumbled. "I just... didn't realize how much I'd miss it all."
Observing him now, Danny couldn't help but see the truth in Tucker's statements. He never quite fit in with the politician look. He had, in the past, loved to have a say in authority, but he had always looked more at home in the old headquarters, handling the tech and coordinating their missions.
The guy in the chair.
Danny couldn't stay angry at his friend of many years any longer. He put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"I know I don't really share your... fondness for what was in the past," he admitted, "But, you're right, I think I understand a little better now." he said, giving him a small smile.
They stood there silently for a moment, one leaning against one another.
Then Tucker straightened, wiped his eyes, and cleared his throat.
"I know you probably have some thinking to do about all this," he told Danny, returning to his slightly professional air, "But you know how to contact me if you... you know."
Danny held up a halting hand and nodded. "I won't." he said decidedly. "It's not going to happen again." Tucker simply nodded back, and started walking alone to his car.
Before entering, the door still open, he held up a hand in parting, and Danny waved back, then watched the car back out of the driveway, then speed off into the night, until he could no longer see the glow of the red headlights in the distance.
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Danny lay stiffly in bed that night, Sam slumbering beside him. He couldn't sleep. How could he?
He couldn't help but sense that there was some reason he had returned to his ghost form that day, whether it was the ghosts manipulating him, or, he feared, maybe Tucker was right.
Maybe that peace he felt wouldn't last. Was he doomed forever to lead this kind of life?
Or maybe he never was truly at peace after all. That hopeful voice inside his head suggested that perhaps instead his purpose in life was to embrace the difficulties being half ghost presented him.
He let out a long sigh, and Sam stirred beside him. Still, he had to think about his family.
They never asked for this. He knew now in retrospect that it was inevitable that he'd go ghost again. He'd already concluded that after sleepless hours of just thinking. But maybe there was some way to protect them, including Sam, for the time being at least. It would be better to deal with the guilt of not telling her he was going ghost again than the guilt of breaking his twelve-year promise not to go ghost again.
He groaned internally. That sounded confusing.
Quietly, so he wouldn't wake his wife, Danny slipped out of bed and crept out of their bedroom, then up into the attic. I'm sure it's still up here... He assured himself.
Digging through some old boxes, he smiled at old baby pictures of Jackson, and even older, pictures of his friends and himself when they were kids.
He wasn't sure how to feel when he saw the picture Sam took of him in the jumpsuit, in front of the inactivated portal, on the day everything changed. The Accident.
Slipping the photograph under the stack of other pictures, he pushed that box aside then shone the flashlight on the next box, which was full of old clothes. Sifting through it, he finally found what he was looking for, between some baggy black sweatpants and a ragged Dumpty Humpty t-shirt with coffee stains.
It still faintly glowed green in the darkness when he experimentally turned off his flashlight, but it was very hard to see. It was one of Wulf's sweatshirts, one that he had never worn and given to Danny one day he couldn't remember, as a gift for his friend.
Glancing around self-consciously, Danny stood up as straight as he could in the cramped attic, then closed his eyes, his heart starting to race.
And for the second time that day, he went ghost.
Despite having only transformed once recently, the pale blue rings raced up his body at a considerably faster pace, and Danny felt less of a strain.
Now in his ghost form, he pulled on the ghostly green sweatshirt, which now glowed more brightly on a ghost, and he pulled on the black sweatpants for good measure. If anyone had seen him, he now looked more like a lowlife ghost than a beloved hero. He would be able to fight ghosts and yet remain below radar, hopefully.
Floating, he turned around to examine himself in the dusty old mirror stored up there in the attic, and he gasped.
Despite having shaved it off that evening, the ghostly beard had returned, wispy and floating in an invisible breeze.
Danny scowled at it, but knew there was no way it was going to leave. He was just going to have to learn to deal with it if he was going through with this whole ghost thing, but it still made his insides feel like jelly if he stared at it too long. It was so weird!
He shuddered, feeling colder than usual, and transformed back into his human half.
To his satisfaction, both the sweatshirt and sweatpants had disappeared with the transformation, now fused to his ghost half as the armor additions in the past had been.
Donning the flashlight, he retreated back down into the house, and grabbed his cellphone, and called Tucker. He had a feeling he'd answer right away, and his feeling was right.
Upon hearing Tucker's greeting, he hesitated only briefly before replying.
"I'm ready to go ghost again."
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#goghostagain!!!! Again, thanks for reading, and be sure to comment and vote!
The pilot's not quite over yet...