AN: This was something that I wrote awhile back and recently finished. Just an idea that came to mind. Hope you all enjoy!
Maddie Fenton looked over the broken ectogun in the holder closely. She carefully zoomed her goggles in on a small cracked bit and went about mending it. She had been sitting in their lab at this for an hour, fixing a small crack in the weapon. Jack had knocked it off of the top shelf and cracked part of the barrel the night before while packing for his trip. If it went unchecked, the ectoplasm could melt through the bits and break the barrel altogether. So, before that could happen, she needed to fix it.
"Mom!" A young male voice called from upstairs in the kitchen. "Are we out of food again?"
"No, we aren't, sweetie!" Maddie yelled back to her son Danny. "I went shopping yesterday! There should be some pizza bagels in the freezer!"
Carefully she welded the cracks until she couldn't see any kind of blemish then removed her mask and goggles. She picked up the gun and examined her craftsmanship, admiring the gleam of the metal and the hum of the ectoplasm.
"I can't find the pizza bagels!" Danny yelled, breaking Maddie out of her thoughts. "Or the Totinos! The freezer is empty!"
Madder sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. Looks like she had to use her special mom powers once again to find the unfindable. "I'll be up in a second to show you where they are, honey!"
She gave the ectogun one more quick look over before placing it on her belt and heading up the stairs to the kitchen. She got to the top, looked over to the refrigerator, and froze.
"There's no food in here!" A familiar being with white hair, glowing green eyes, and a black jumpsuit said as he dug through the appliance. "Could dad maybe have put them somewhere else on accident?"
Maddie took the ectoweapon off her belt and aimed it at the ghost boy. He didn't seem to notice as he continued to search for food.
"Step away from the refrigerator," Maddie demanded.
Phantom looked over in confusion but his expression morphed to one of fear when he saw the ectogun being aimed at his head. "Mom, wha-"
Maddie cut him off, "Do not call me 'mom,' ghost."
Phantom looked down at his hands and his body, his breathing (do some ghosts breathe?) started to pick up pace.
"Wait, look, I can explain!" He begged.
"Explain what? Hm?" Maddie asked suspiciously. "Were you trying to mimic my son and lure me into your trap? Did you do something to my son?!"
As she talked, it looked almost like Phantom's eyes dimmed. His expression seemed to fall and break. Something in Maddie told her that something wasn't right, but logic kept her from giving those ideas a second thought. She wasn't gonna let him trick her.
"Mo- Maddie, can we just forget I was ever here?" Phantom said, trying his best to give her a sheepish smile. "You caught me, we had a chat; we both go our separate ways."
"Not today, ghost." Maddie kept her gun trained on the ghost boy's head and took a few steps towards him. "Tell what you did with my son and I'll consider not ripping you apart molecule by molecule."
"I didn't do anything to your son!" Phantom insisted. "I don't even know who your son is!"
Maddie considered his answer for a second before aiming her gun right beside his head and firing a shot. He flinched back away from the blast instinctively and a small ghost shield came out of his fingertips briefly.
"I can tell when you're lying, ghost boy," Maddie growled. "I will feel no remorse if next time I hit. Now, tell me, where is my son?!"
Phantom stayed silent, watching the paranormal scientist with great concentration. He was gnawing at his bottom lip in thought and his eyebrows were furrowed. Finally, after a minute or two of silence, he breathed in deeply and seemed to come to a conclusion.
"I know where your son is," he admitted, looking down at the floor.
"Where is he, you ectoplasmic waste of space?" Maddie demanded.
Phantom flinched at the insult and again stayed silent for a minute. Then he took a big breath and said, "I'm right here, mom."
Before Maddie could say anything, two white rings appeared around Phantom's midsection. One ring traveled up his body and the other went down, his body changing. Within seconds, Danny Fenton stood before her.
Maddie went slack jaw for a second, her brain taking a bit to process the information before everything turned red.
"How DARE you shapeshift into my son!" Maddie yelled. "You are NOT my son! I won't fall for your trap!"
Phantom's expression cracked. He looked like she had just backhanded him and seeing that kind of look on her son's face hurt. She couldn't go soft, though. That was not her son.
"Mom, it's me," Phantom said and gestured down at his body. "It's Danny. I'm Phantom, I've always been. I meant to tell you but-"
"Stop," Maddie commanded, cutting him off. She glared him down, her rage clear in her eyes. "Don't you dare stand in my kitchen looking like my son and mock me. I will not stand to be insulted like that, especially by you, ghost boy!"
Phantom's expression broke even more. He stared at her with a hurt, stricken expression and there seemed to be… were those tears in his eyes?
The moment was broken by the sound of the front door opening and someone calling, "Mom? Danny? Anyone home?"
"Go upstairs, Jazz," Maddie called back. "Finishing up some business in the kitchen."
"Okay…?" Jazz said from the other room and the sounds of her walking up the stairs could be heard.
"Jazz, wait!" Phantom yelled, his eyes glued to Maddie, half expecting her to have shot him for that. The ghost hunter glared at him, daring him to say another word and meet a blast from her ectogun.
"Danny?" Jazz came rushing back down the stairs and appeared in the archway to the kitchen. She took in the scene before her and cried, "Mom, what are you doing!?"
"That's not your brother, Jazz!" Maddie told her, her eyes flicking between the ghost and her daughter. "That's Phantom. He disguised himself as your brother to try and trick me."
Jazz looked over to Phantom for an explanation and he just gave a sheepish shrug in return but remained silent, not wanting to anger the mother further. Even through the sheepish mask, the fear and hurt were still evident.
"Mom, put your weapon down before you shoot your son," Jazz demanded.
Maddie looked as if Jazz had just insulted her. She was completely shocked and outraged by her own daughter protecting some ghost who was obviously dangerous and powerful.
"Jasmine Fenton, that is not your brother and that is not my son," Maddie stated with certainty. "He is a dangerous ectoplasmic entity and needs to be stopped."
Jazz stared down her mom unwavering. Then she stepped in front of the ghost boy, between him and her mom, and crossed her arms in a silent challenge.
Jazz didn't back down. "Danny, maybe you should stay at Tucker's house for the night. I'll talk to mom."
Phantom took a shy look at the paranormal scientist and said, "I told you she wouldn't believe me." Then he disappeared into thin air.
"Jasmine Fenton, what the HELL were you thinking?!" Maddie screeched, turned around, and ran down the stairs to the basement yelling the whole way. "I had him RIGHT where I wanted! That ghost is a menace to society and I could've stopped him!"
Jazz followed her down the stairs saying, "Mom, listen, I-"
However her mother was obviously not listening as she started digging through equipment, pulling out various ghost hunting gadgets and ranting about losing her prize catch.
"DAMMIT, MOM, WOULD YOU JUST LISTEN TO ME?!" Jazz yelled at the top of her lungs.
That certainly got Maddie's attention. She stopped what she was doing and turned to face her daughter, her lips pursed in a thin line. She nodded, signaling for Jazz to continue talking.
"Okay," Jazz started and took a deep breath, "that was Danny upstairs. That was my brother and your son. That was also Phantom the ghost boy. Danny is Phantom. He is half ghost."
"'Half ghost'? That's impossible," Maddie scoffed. "No one can half die."
"We don't know the details, we just know that he has ghost powers and a ghost form. Other ghosts call him a 'halfa.'"
That word rang a bell to Maddie. She had heard some ghosts throw it around when fighting Phantom. Her and Jack assumed it was some weird ghost slang or something and just kind of left it at that.
After a moment of thinking, Maddie asked with a much softer tone of voice, "What caused it?"
"That." Jazz pointed turned and pointed at the portal. "It was the portal. After you guys couldn't get it working, Danny went inside to figure out was wrong and hit an on button. Next thing he knew, he was waking up as a ghost."
Maddie glared down the portal. "I told Jack not to install that damn button inside there. If it were to turn on with someone inside it…" She trailed off just staring into the swirling green abyss.
"Uh, mom?" Jazz gently asked after a moment.
"That was a year ago and a half ago," Maddie said then turned and looked at Jazz. "Why didn't he tell us?"
"He said near the beginning he tried but every time he was about to bring it up, you guys would bring out some new contraption for ghost hunting and experimenting. It freaked him out so he just stayed silent," Jazz explained.
Maddie nodded in understanding and looked down at her feet, "I wish he would've told us. At least he told you."
"Oh he didn't tell me," Jazz shooked her head and had a small smile on her face. "I saw him change in an alley three months after the whole portal thing. He's so stubborn when it comes to his secret."
"Oh God, I said some terrible things to him." Maddie rubbed her hands over her face and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'm the worst mother on the planet. Oh my God, I'm so sorry. He's probably so scared."
Jazz hugged her mom with a big smile on her face. "No, mom, you accepted him. That's all he ever wanted. He'll be so happy."
Maddie hugged her daughter back, comforted by her words. She would fix this and show her son that she loved him for who he was.
"Now," Jazz said and moved away from her mom, pulling out her phone, "I'll start calling Danny's friends to see if they know where he is because I doubt he went to Tucker's like I said."
"Good idea," Maddie nodded and went back to digging through her equipment. "I'll see if I can find anything to track his ecto-signature with. This would explain why all of our devices would lock onto him."
"Wait!" Jazz called out and Maddie turned back to her, confused. "Where's the boo-merang?"
…
Maddie Fenton looked at her son from afar. They had tracked him to a park across town and he was sitting on the stone bridge looking down into the pond below. It was dark outside so no one else was around but the pale light from the full moon made it just clear enough to see him.
She approached him slowly and with caution, like approaching a stray cat you didn't want to scare off. He had the boo-merang clutched in his lap and he was gently swinging his legs. He knew she was coming and Jazz had even texted him beforehand. He didn't acknowledge her as she drew closer.
Finally on the bridge and a few feet away from him she gently said, "Danny, sweety?"
Danny didn't even look at her but replied with, "Hey mo- I mean, Maddie."
Maddie flinched and guilt churned in her stomach. She looked down at the ground and rubbed her neck nervously- a habit he had actually picked up from her.
"Danny, I'm so sorry," the apology tumbled from her lips and she couldn't stop as words just fell out of her mouth. "I'm probably the worst mother in the world right now and I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have acted like I did and I-I'm sure you're probably s-scared of me." She paused a moment in an attempt to collect herself. Tears starting to drip from her eyes.
Voice still breaking slightly, she continued, "I-I know you'll never forgive me a-and I d-don't blame you. Just please I w-want you to know that I love y-you and I'm proud of you a-and nothing will e-ever change that. I love you and I'm s-so sorry!"
Maddie prided herself on being a calm and collected woman. She rarely ever cried and she found strength and pride in that fact. However, the knowledge that her son had been living for the last year and a half in fear of his own two parents broke her. She covered her face with her hands and freely cried.
She was interrupted, though, when a pair of arms wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her down slightly. She dropped her hands from her face and her son buried his head into the crook of her neck. He was shaking.
"I love you, mom," Danny said, his voice muffled by her jumpsuit.
"I love you too, Danny." Maddie wrapped her arms around him, holding him close to her. Overwhelming happiness and relief flooded through her. She wouldn't lose him.
The mother and son stood there for a moment embracing. They both felt relieved, the fear of rejection had melted away.
Finally, Danny pulled away from his mom and looked up at her, his blue eyes shining in the moonlight. "We should probably get going home," he said, rubbing his neck nervously.
"Of course," Maddie replied, coughing slightly to clear her voice, "your sister is probably anxious to know how everything went."
They walked back through the park towards the Fenton RV.
"Tomorrow we need to discuss how me and your father are going to take some of this ghost fighting off of your plate," Maddie said casually as they walked. "We don't need you almost failing another year. Although I guess all the failing grades and detentions make sense now."
Danny chuckled awkwardly, "Yeah, that'd be nice. Oh my gosh, how are we gonna tell dad?"
"We'll cross that bridge when he gets home on Tuesday. Just don't go randomly appearing in the kitchen and I'm sure you'll be fine."
Suddenly Danny stopped and Maddie stopped a few feet ahead of him, looking at him in confusion.
"Everything alright, dear?" She asked worriedly.
"Oh yeah," Danny told her quickly. "There's just, uh, I can kind of sense when a ghost is nearby and there may be a ghost nearby and I kind of need to-"
"My son a ghost hunter!" Maddie cheered and smiled proudly. "Go take care of it, sweety. Just try to be home before your curfew. We still have a lot to discuss."
Danny gave his mom and thankful smile before white rings washed over him and Phantom took off into the night. His mother watched him disappear before turning back and continuing to the Fenton RV. She couldn't have been prouder.
AN: When I was writing this, I didn't mean for the ending to end up that emotional but I was listening to It's Quiet Uptown from the Hamilton soundtrack and I couldn't help it. Thank you all for reading!