Danny Checked His Package One Last Time. Just Like The Other 50 Dozen Times He Had Checked, It Was Undisturbed.

Danny checked his package one last time. Just like the other 50 dozen times he had checked, it was undisturbed. The wrapping paper was neatly folded around his gift and the bow was still placed perfectly in the center of the package. The bag he was currently carrying it in was likewise in decent condition. No threat of a tear in sight.

Thank goodness. He wanted the surprise to be perfect. After all, Jason had been doing much better recently. It had been two months already since he had found the poor boy trying to claw his way out of his own grave. Two painful months of panic attacks, crying, screaming and hitting but it was all worth it.

Of course Jason still had his bad days. The worse were when he would just stare blankly off into the distance. As if he soul was still deciding whether it wanted to go back to his body or stay in the Ghost Zone. Those days terrified Danny because each time, he was always scared that would be the day Jason's soul decided to stay where it was. Yet he was still here and that constituted a celebration. Danny checked his package once again. Yep still there. Danny didn't really get all that Jane Eyre stuff but Jason seemed to like it. The days he chattered on and on about it were some of his best days. The ones where he was fully present and not reliving the worst experience of his life. Danny really hoped the Brontë Sisters Box Set he'd gotten would inspire more of those good days.

As he rounded the corner, now only a couple of blocks away from his apartment, he heard crying. Or was it laughing? Either way it sounded like a child and a kid being out here this late at night couldn't be a good sign. Danny rerouted towards the alleyway he heard the sound coming from.

There he saw a boy huddled in the corner. He was wearing some type of purple and green suit. As Danny approached, the boy looked up to reveal a face smeared with white face paint and fat tears. Danny put his hands up as the kid shrank further into the corner.

"It's okay," he said. "I'm not gonna hurt you. Where are your parents at buddy?"

In response, the kid broke out into another giggle fit. But Danny could see from the terrified look in his eyes and the tears that continued to flow freely that the boy didn't mean to laugh. He crouched down and placed the bag on the ground, inching forward slightly.

"It's okay, It's okay," he said quickly, attempting to calm the boy down. "How about we start by getting that makeup off of you huh?"

Danny inched forward slowly but surely, stopping periodically when the boy got too panicked. Eventually, he was right in front of the kid and carefully used his sleeve to wipe his face as clean as possible.

"There. Is that better?"

The boy's giggling turned into snickering which might actually mean he was going from crying to sniffling. At least that's what he hoped was happening. Danny breathed and decided to take a risk by pulling the boy into an embrace. When he met no resistance, he softly rubbed circles in the kid's back and soothed him. He sat like that for a while, just soothing the boy as he got quieter and quieter until Danny looked down and discovered that the boy was fast asleep.

As much as Danny really didn't want to disturb the kid, they couldn't stay in this alley all night and he had to get home to check on Jason. So he slowly scooped the boy up and stood. Luckily the boy remained undisturbed. Danny let go of the breath he didn't even know he was holding and exited the alleyway, picking up the bag as he did so.

By the time he made it to his apartment building, Danny was actively thanking all of his lucky stars. He had made it back with the kid still sleeping soundly. There had been no more disturbances of the night. He hadn't even run into a single robber! Normally he would have encountered at least 3 by now. But now here he was, faced with his final hurdle. How to get inside and to his apartment?

His keys were in his back pocket. Maybe if he put the bag down and reached into his pocket? No, that would require bending and jostling. Besides, even if that didn't wake the kid, Danny would then have to take the steps since the elevator was broken and he lived on the 5th floor. He couldn't risk it. So then how? Aha, the window.

He often kept the window to his apartment open because it helped ease Jason's clausophobia. Of course Danny was well aware of how dangerous that was considering his apartment was in the middle of a place dubbed "Crime Alley" but thanks to the new and improved Fenton Security System which now recognized his signature and was programmed to target and subdue humans, that wasn't a problem. Danny checked his surroundings before letting gravity fall away from him and floating to his window.

Once his feet touched down on the fire escape he studied his point of entry. He had to do this as quickly and as swiftly as possible. One.... two.... THREE.... and what was he doing!? You have intangibility, idiot! Danny scolded himself. He would have slapped himself if it wasn't for the aforementioned kid he was carrying. In his defense though, Danny had put the lid on most of his ghostly abilities since he had brought Jason home.

He blew out some air as he peered into the living room. He didn't see Jason so hopefully the kid wasn't just sitting somewhere he couldn't see. Danny took a step and seamlessly entered his apartment. No surprised screaming from the kitchenette? Good. Good good good.

Danny made his way deeper inside the living room, placing his package on the TV stand. He then gently laid the boy down on the love seat, taking a step back and holding his breath. When the boy didn't stir, he let the breath go and went over to grab the blanket draped over the couch. Coming back, Danny draped it over the kid before moving on down the hall to Jason's room. He eased the door open and peered inside, catching sight of a form bundled under the covers, a tuft of hair peeking out. Danny waited a beat to make sure he saw the form properly rising and falling before he closed the door and crept back to the living room. Then he curled up in the beat up old couch to be nearby in case the kid woke up in the middle of the night.

Danny sighed as he readjusted around a spring poking out. How had he gone from moving away from all of the craziness of Amity Park to taking in two boys? He really hoped he wasn't getting in over his head.