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Side Effects of Ghost Hunting Parents

Summary:

It's at a Fenton Family reunion that Jazz realizes that the combination of ghost-hunting-family and advanced technologies has led to a generation of Fentons with ghostly traits.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

Reluctantly, Jack and Maddie had agreed to host the Fenton Family reunion in Amity Park, ghost capital of the midwest. A couple years ago they might have been excited to have so many ghost hunters in one place and maybe they would have created a family activity involving hunting down the most ghosts by the end of the reunion. It would've been a great bonding experience and way to get the younger generation hyped about ghost hunting!

But that was three years ago. Back when ghosts were unfeeling blobs of ectoplasm that should be dissected for research purposes. Now Jack and Maddie not only know better, they also know their own son is half ghost, so any harm to ghosts outside of self-defense is a no-go. Unfortunately, the rest of the Fentons have not gotten any of those memos yet. They especially won't be getting the half ghost memo until they've come to terms with the truth about ghosts.

And Jazz dearly hopes that truth comes out sooner rather than later because she has some suspicions about her younger cousins. Specifically the ones Danny has been hovering over since their arrival two days ago.

It wasn't unusual for kids to drop stuff, but six year old Nathaniel had been particularly clumsy this year. The kind of clumsy that reminded her of Danny when he first got his powers. And, correct her if she's mistaken, but seven year old Cal has been ...lingering in the air every time he's jumped - almost like he's walking on the moon. Then there's 11 year old Katie that has a knack for "sneaking around" according to Aunt Lane, but Jazz wonders if she isn't literally vanishing from sight and reappearing somewhere else.

It's a crazy thought to think that there are more halfas in the family, so Jazz doesn't think it. The only halfas in existence were created by portal accidents and cloning, neither of which are things anyone else in the family has been involved in. Admittedly, she did some in depth snooping before they all arrived. Better to know what weapons and experiments they'd bring rather than be unprepared and end up compromising her little brother. What she's concluded by now is that her brother is relatively safe, but her cousins not so much.

They're definitely not halfas, at least, which means they've just acquired some ghostly abilities. Dangerous, but Jazz can work with it.

As can Danny, apparently.

Katie seems to have a grasp on her invisibility, but the younger two's powers are unpredictable. Jazz has watched Danny stay closest to the younger boys, placing a hand on their shoulders or backs to lend some of his control unto their powers, bringing Cal back to Earth and making Nathaniel tangible again. While that's enough for now, there's that painful reminder that they'll only be together for a few more days - by the end of the week the kids will be back to hiding their powers from their parents on their own.

Fortunately, the Fentons are a clever bunch. Maybe certain parts of the family like to stay ignorant to certain ghost related truths (including those involving their own children), but constant battles and dodging the government have made Jazz and Danny proficient in on the spot planning. As such, Jazz knows Danny will be spending his nights in the lab and at Tucker's developing devices to keep rampant ghost powers in line. In Danny's paranoia, he'll insist on including an emergency communication function in case something horrible happens like a parent finding out and turning on their child.

It's something they hope will never happen, but it's a fear that Danny can't let go of even after Jack and Maddie have accepted him.

While Danny works with the kids, Jazz turns her attention to the siblings and older cousins. She's seen the way Matt and Claire flinch when Nathaniel drops something or how they panic when Katie is out of sight. And there are others that pointedly look away when something ghostly happens between the younger cousins - better to play ignorant than bring attention to the issue, she supposes. She can understand that feeling of insecurity, stuck not knowing if she should get involved in the ghost nonsense or try to get on a path of normalness, but this is family and they can't ignore this.

By the end of the reunion, Jazz will have plans. Her plans will have plans. She'll have eyes on nearly every part of Jack's side of the family, she'll have ways to send Danny's latest gadgets across the country without her aunts and uncles ever knowing a package arrived, and she'll have safe places for all her cousins to go if the unthinkable ever happens and they need to run. And while her protection network for the cousins grows stronger, she'll work with her parents to publish more essays and documentation about the truth of ghosts so that maybe the extended family will come around, be more open minded to their children having ghost-like powers.

Notes:

It occured to me that Jack's family has been hunting ghosts for generations but it wouldn't be until recently that technology would be advanced enough to cause side effects (as we see with Vlad and Danny, though on an extreme level) or that the existence of ghosts has been confirmed. Any smaller experiment or a kid getting into ectoplasmic substance could cause minor ghost powers.

I like the idea of Danny playing guardian angel for his cousins, dropping everything to fly across the country when he gets an emergency notification, maybe finding other ghost powered kids after the family publishes more "ghost friendly" papers and these kids feel safe to come forward...convincing Vlad to house these ghost powered kids and help Danny mentor them.

I also think a lot about Danny having to hide his powers from his extended family, with and without his parents knowing his identity.