Chapter Text
December
The GIW had Ellie. Well, they were called CRE now, The Center of Research on Ectoplasm, but who cared about semantics. What was important right now was that they had Danny’s clone/cousin/sister. And Danny wouldn’t let them keep her.
It was during the winter solstice that he felt it. A desperate tug in his core, calling him back to the living realm.
A cry for help. From Ellie.
He immediately left his castle in the Infinite Realms and rushed to Amity. With Tucker's (and Technus's) help, they managed to hack into CRE's systems and found out where she was kept. They also found out she'd been there for weeks already. Danny was furious at himself for not noticing her absence. Sure, she rarely contacted anyone while traveling, but he could’ve checked on her. He should’ve. She was only sixteen, he should’ve looked after her, why didn’t he?
He couldn't stop blaming himself and wanted to immediately go and get her out, but Tuck and Sam convinced him that they can’t rush straight in without any preperation. Danny was reluctant to agree, but the CRE had undergone many changes since getting a new sponsor and posed more danger than before. That's why, for now, he waited.
He hated waiting.
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January
Danny was devastated at the look in front of him. Ellie was lying on an operating table, her wrists, ankles and neck strapped tightly to it, a muzzle on her face. Her torso cut open. Her form fading, glitching, melting. He barely noticed the "scientists" as he half-conciously blasted them with ecto. In that moment, he only cared for his sister/cousin/clone. Sam entered the room just moments after him and rushed to take care of Ellie's wounds while Danny took off her muzzle.
"Ness... rm..." Ellie rasped the moment her mouth was unobstructed.
"Shh, don't talk, you gotta rest. We got you, you're gonna be alright." Ellie frowned at Danny' words.
"No... Next r-room... Kid... Ha...Fa."
Danny felt a cold wave of silent rage wash over him. Those creeps held another halfa here? A halfa kid?
"Go, we got her." Jazz said, entering the room. Danny nodded and flew to the next room.
Inside the room were a couple of cages, most of them empty. Danny almost didn't notice the small figure curled in one of them. In that position, all Danny could discern was a tangle of long, blueish-purple hair, thin, pale limbs and some black clothing.
"Hey, are you hurt? My name is Danny, I wanna help you. I'm, uh, Ellie's friend? You know Ellie, right? The other girl who was here?" he said while unlocking the cage. The child glanced up warily, revealing glowing yellow eyes, but made no other moves, still scared. Danny decided to keep talking.
"Ellie said that you're a halfa, right? That you can change forms like her? I'm a halfa, too. I wanna help, I swear. Can I pick you up?" He asked, transforming back to his human form for a moment. The kid hesitantly stood up and walked closer. Danny carefully picked them up, placing them on his hip. The child was probably a girl, judging from the long hair and the dress. She looked no older than 4, maybe 5 by Danny's guess. "It's gonna be alright. I got you."
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February
It's been a month since the CRE raid.
A month since Ellie retreated into her core.
A month since they found another halfa.
The girl was scared and wary of strangers. Since the escape, she always clung to Danny's side, but he didn't mind. They were slowly learning to communicate. The girl was mute, which, judging by her lack of knowledge of ASL, was probably a recent development. Danny assumed it might have something to do with the long, thin scar on the girl's neck, but he didn't ask.
Finding out her identity wasn't hard after seeing her human form. There was a missing person report for one Margaret Anne Brooks, 5 years old which matched her description - blond wavy hair, black eyes, 3'6.
As it turned out, her parents didn't even notice she was gone - a neighbor was the one who filed a report. Due to the parents' obvious neglect - how can you not notice your child being gone for weeks? - they didn't have any rights to her anymore. The tricky part was getting Meggie into Danny's custody.
He couldn't let her be placed with just anyone. She was a young, traumatized halfa. Who knew what would happen to her in the system. So with the help of Vlad's money and lawyers (and maybe some ghostly persuasion) he managed to get temporary guardianship of Meggie and was now working on getting her adopted. Officially, they lived with Vlad in his mansion in Wisconsin, but actually they were spending most of the time in the Infinite Realms, where Ellie's core was regenerating under Frostbite's care.
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March
Danny and Meggie were slowly getting more used to each other. They were learning ASL together and Danny was helping Meg control her powers, including how to communicate her emotions with her core.
Danny also grew more and more worried about Ellie with each week. Frostbite assured him that her core was getting better, even if the progress was abnormally slow. Then again, he's never taken care of a halfa's regenerating core, so it was unclear what the "norm" should be.
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April
"Hey, shortie," Danny said while looking at Ellie's core. "I miss you, you know? I hope you'll get better soon." He hesitated for a moment before speaking again. "I won't be able to visit you as often anymore. Meg needs me too and I can't just keep her in the Realms all the time. I'll be visiting as much as I can and Frosty has ways to contact me if anything happens, but for now... See you later, munchkin."
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May
Danny was officially Meg's father. It felt strange to say out loud, but he didn't mind. He came to love the little girl.
Meggie was smart and learned fast. She wanted to learn. ASL, reading, writing, ghost powers, she was such a quick study in all of those. Danny also found out she knew a lot about flowers. Apparently, she used to spend a lot of time in her elderly neighbor's garden, helping and learning.
Danny didn't know much about gardening, but he bought her some pots, soil and seeds. It wasn't much, but she nearly cried at the gift.
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June
Meg was getting better at projecting her feelings. Even without that Danny saw that him leaving was always making her nervous, but he never realized just how bad it was. Now it felt like she was one step away from a panic attack every single time. So he taught her how to send distress signals with her core.
"This way you can call me whenever something's wrong and I will always find you. Always."
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July
'Good morning,' a moment of hesitation, 'dad.' Meg signed.
Danny looked at her surprised. He made sure she knew that despite their official status, she could call him whatever she wanted. And today she chose to call him dad. He became a person whom someone chose to call their dad. This little girl decided that he deserved that title. He hugged her tight.
"I am honored to be your dad."
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August
Meggie was slowly starting to get used to being away from Danny. Well, she still was wary of Vlad, but she didn't mind staying with Sam, Tucker, Jazz or the yetis if Danny had to leave for a while.
They'd often visit the Far Frozen together, too. At first, the visits were mostly to check on Ellie's core. But at some point, Meg started asking about the medicinal plants and their uses and Danny often listened as well. Since they're visiting so much, might as well learn something.
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September
Danny sat by Ellie's core, watching the steady glow. He's been learning medicine from Frostbite for about two weeks now and he enjoyed it so far. During breaks, he'd come and talk to Ellie's core, hoping she can hear him.
This day was no different, until the little orb started glowing brighter and brighter, to the point where Danny had to shut his eyes. As suddenly as it came, the light disappeared, and in the place where Ellie's core should be, now was... A baby. Danny cradled the infant in his arms and called Frostbite.
This can't be Ellie, right?
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October
It's been a couple weeks since Ellie reformed as a newborn. Her new form was a surprise to everyone. According to Frostbite, usually after retreating to their cores ghosts reform as they were.
However, ghosts are already the embodiment of their nature and live in accord with their deepest instincts and desires.
The yeti theorized that Ellie might have reformed in this way due to some "inner turmoil" and her desire for the childhood she didn't get. Danny spent those last weeks thinking back to their every interaction. All the times she joked and called him "dad"... Were those really jokes? Or was it a wish for a family?
Now, looking at the month-old Ellie, he made a promise: he'd raise her as his daughter. He'd never let her feel lonely anymore.
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November
Danny was sitting by a table in Nasty Burger. It felt like ages since the last time he'd been there. He avoided Amity Park ever since the Creeps got a new sponsor (and a new name) two years earlier. But Valerie Gray wanted to meet with Danny and it was apparently something important, so here he was.
"You know, after you disappeared two years ago with no way to contact you, I thought I was never gonna see you again," he heard the familiar voice. "Sucks that I had to resort to contacting Manson to get to you, but at least it worked."
"Hi Val, how have you been? Sorry for breaking up with you so suddenly back then..." Danny started, but was interrupted by Val once she sat comfortably on the other side of the table with a cup of soda.
"No, stop all that, it's been two years. As much as it hurt back then, I don't care anymore, I've moved on. This is not what I wanted to talk to you about." She looked around before bending over the table and lowering her voice. "You're Phantom, aren't you?"
Danny's eyes widened.
"How did you-"
"Just be quiet and listen, questions later. Okay, so, not long after you broke up with me and disappeared, I found out I was pregnant."
"Pregnant."
"Yes. With your child. I never meant to keep this secret from you. I've been trying to contact you but the calls wouldn't go through, so I stopped calling. Figured, if I ever saw you again, I'd tell you, but I wasn't gonna go out of my way to contact you since there were other things I had to worry about." She paused to take a sip of her drink and then continued. "I decided to have the baby. And to keep him. His name is Charlie. He's seventeen months now." Her face softened at the mention of her... their son. She pulled out her phone and showed Danny a photo of a little chubby boy, almost a carbon copy of Val, although his skin was a little lighter. Danny could also see some of himself in the boy's facial features.
"So why contact me now?"
Val bit her lip and kept her eyes on the soda.
"He started flying, recently. And disappearing. The CRE came to my apartment asking about the high ectoplasm levels. I managed to sell them some lie, but... I don't know how long I can protect him from them. I don't know how long I can protect him from his own powers." A stray tear fell down her cheek.
"So... What are you gonna do?" Danny asked, already suspecting where this was going.
"I know this is a lot, but... Could you take care of him? Could you... take custody? I've been thinking about it all the time for the past couple days and I can't find a safer option. I... I love him. I don't want to give him away. But it's for his own safety. Please, Danny, please. I beg you."
"I... Okay. Let's take this conversation somewhere more private, okay? We can discuss the details and stuff, and... I'd love to meet Charlie."