A/N: My friends and I have started issuing a series of challenges to each other, in an effort to encourage us to write more often and more frequently than we are now. I have to say it's definitely been going well and getting my wheels spinning! So I figured I'd post a couple of those challenges!

Each chapter is going to be a separate one-shot. I don't plan on building upon any of these one-shots, so if you'd like to use them as a launching point for your own fic, be my guest: just link to my original and let me know so I can read it!

For the first challenge: Gender Bending. So this is my perspective on female Vlad. It takes place during Bitter Reunions, and how the conversation would have gone differently from a female Vlad's perspective.

Enjoy!

A Mother's Touch

It appeared like the reunion was going famously. Everyone seemed to be having a good time; the DJ was doing a fantastic job of mixing both modern and 80s music together that kept people on the dance floor. The food was well-received, as she knew it would be. Half of these people have probably never even seen gourmet food, let alone tried it. And of course someone had spiked the punch, but it didn't look like people were getting too out of hand.

Yes, it was going very well. And through it all…no one expected what the real point of hosting the reunion was. Most people believed that it was a chance to show off how affluent and wealthy Vladlena Masters had become, which was absolutely true. She did relish in the chance to show her old college friends, classmates, and dormmates how successful she had become. She yearned for the chance to show them that she had amounted to something more than any of them could have ever aspired to, even as she was forced to complete her degree through hours of self study and constant mail correspondence with the University from her sick bed in quarantine. She could see the look of shock, admiration, and jealousy on their faces, and she loved every minute of it.

And yet, there were only two faces that really mattered to her in the entire crowd. Their faces were the reason she was hosting this reunion. Everything else was just a happy bonus. One was the face she swore would be by her side forever, and the other was a face that she was hoping to wipe off the existence of the planet tonight.

Speaking of which, the night had gone on long enough…it was time to put her plan into action. But first, she had to take care of a little problem that had made itself known last night… She found the young boy slouched near the punch, a spitting image of his father as a teen without any of his mother corrupting him. He looked bored out of his mind, like he was just begging to find an excuse to do something other than be mortified by his parents…and she had just the thing in mind.

"Well sweetie, you're looking much better tonight," she observed with a sly, yet motherly smile. "You know, I was wondering if you could do me a huge favor."

"Oh sure Ms. Masters," the boy chimed, his blue eyes brightening in a way that actually turned her smile genuine. He was such a sweet boy, and something about him warmed her cold heart in a way that only his father could replicate. "But, call me Danny. My mom usually calls me 'sweetie'," he chuckled.

She suppressed a twitch at the mention of his mother, but carried on as if it didn't bother her in the slightest. "Oh yes, of course," she brushed off. He'd be calling her 'Mom' soon enough if everything went according to plan tonight. "Could you be a dear and please go to my lab, second door on the right upstairs. There's a present up there I've been meaning to give to your mother but I forgot it in the hustle of getting this party set up. Would you bring it down for me?" she asked, her voice like syrup.

"Sure thing!" he replied as he bounced off, unaware at how much she was manipulating him. She felt bad, honestly, sending him off to the lab that was a trap set just for him, but she couldn't have him getting in her way. She needed to rid the world of his mother, and she couldn't afford to have him try and stop her with his pathetic excuse for ghost powers.

She turned to face the object of her affection with a long-suffering sigh. "Oh Jack," she breathed out in keen longing as everything else in the world seemed to disappear save for his face, "that lab accident cost me my youthful chance at having a family with you, but that's all about to change."

She had always been the one on track to be with Jack. They had been childhood friends since even before college, and as soon as she learned that girls could have feelings for boys, she was smitten. Sure he wasn't the most handsome or eloquent or mature or wise and he could be quite the goof, but that just made him all the more lovable. She would often imagine curling with him at night, his large body completely engulfing her thin frame and keeping her warm and secure. It was something she wanted to feel more than anything…and it was all denied to her as soon as that dreaded Maddie Walker came into the picture. He fell for her hard when he first met her, and it was a constant struggle to keep his attentions turned away. True the two of them had never actually "dated", but she knew that he had feelings for her that were too deep for him to put into words, and much deeper than any infatuation he had with Maddie.

And then the accident happened. She had always prized herself on being quite lovely. She had an old, Eastern European beauty that had attracted the attention of many men, but she had always saved herself for one man in particular. In a flash of green light that was still burned into her eyes, all that beauty, all the connections she had with Jack, and any hope she had of staying with him completely disappeared. Her long, black hair was forever bleached white and her face was absolutely ruined with ecto-acne. No one knew how to handle it and so she was thrust into quarantine to wait out the best of her twenties, leaving ample time for Maddie to swoop in and reap the benefits of the accident that she caused by stealing him away to start the family that should have been hers. But tonight…tonight she was going to take it all back.

She glanced at the autographed Packers collector's clock: it had only been a few minutes since she sent the boy off, but she was sure Skulker captured him already. After all, he wasn't a very good fighter, if his display of abilities last night were any indication, but that was something that could easily be fixed under her tutelage.

Sure enough, she could hear Skulker and Danny exchange "witty banter" – oh did he have such a long way to go – and came just in time to see Skulker brandishing a glowing knife at the boy's throat. "Enough!" she demanded furiously as she made her presence known. "I didn't free you to kill him Skulker! Your work here is done," she said with great finality.

She heard Skulker mutter something about a gorilla before he flew off, but she wasn't paying attention. Her gaze was fixed on the young boy's face that looked at her with hurt and betrayal. It killed her inside, to see that look on his face. She was quickly starting to see him as the son she always wished to have, especially after finding out that he shared the similar experience of being torn between the world of the living and the world of the dead, never quite fitting into either.

"Skulker?" he asked, his voice radiating with betrayal. "The ectopusses? I don't understand!"

"Of course you don't," she said simply. "Fourteen is far too young to understand how the world really works. I sent those ghosts to your house to test your mother's 'ghost-fighting' skills," she explained as she paced. "But I was shocked to find out that her recklessness and carelessness had created a second ghost hybrid!"

"Wait, the second?" Danny asked, and she could see him starting to put two and two together.

As an answer to the train of thought his mind was already pursuing, she spun around, her long white hair fanning out behind her as two black rings formed around her waist. Her laboriously selected cocktail dress was turned into a form-fitting white pantsuit with black accents while a red cloak billowed out behind her. Her skin became a ghostly blue and her hair was once again black.

She carefully studied Danny's face with pure red eyes, fangs peeking over her grinning lips. Now he would see. Now he would see that she was just like him. He would see how much she could help him and he would stand beside her, a son that she could be proud of and love, as she claimed her rightful spot as Jack's wife.

The look of surprise on his face, she expected. What she didn't expect was for him to immediately yell out his battle cry of "I'm going ghost!" as he desperately tried to transform. Why was he trying to transform? Sure she had roughed him up the previous night, but she was sure that she had made quite the impression as affable billionaire Vladlena Masters for him to at least give her a chance.

"Why can't I go ghost?" he finally asked, a slight tremor of fear in his voice.

"'Going ghost'," she repeated with an insulting chuckle. "Hilarious. Well sweetie, you will not be able to 'go ghost' so long as you're contained within that box," she explained as she gestured to his prison. "It is a spectral energy neutralizer. It was designed by Skulker of course, but I financed the project. But as long as you remain in that box, you're as powerless as your reckless and conniving mother."

"Let me out of here!" he cried angrily, and it was obvious that he was struggling against the constraints.

She felt a tremor of anger rush through her at his reaction, and she turned her back on him to fight off the urge to shoot an ecto-blast at him. This was not how he was supposed to react! Confiding in him about their shared, painful past was supposed to bring them closer, not make him angry towards her. She turned to look at him over her shoulder, a coldness in her demeanor that she couldn't hide. "Why would I do that? So you can go back to your cruel and careless mother who will shun you as you stumble through your adolescence, desperately trying to get control of your powers while you hide them from her ever-watchful eye, just waiting for her to find out you're a ghost and do something terrible to you?"

She turned around, realizing that she just hadn't said what she needed to get through to him, to show him the benefits that came from being her son instead of that monster Maddie. "I would never do that to you. You wouldn't need to hide your powers from me. I've had mine for twenty years, and I have experience controlling them," she explained, infusing her voice with as much charm as she could muster. "I could train you, teach you everything I know!" she offered as she displayed her wide array of powers that she had amassed over the decades. "You'd never want for anything! I have more money and power than anyone could ever dream, all from using my ghost powers for personal gain and not some foolish part-time superhero quest. All you need to do is renounce your wicked, backstabbing mother and choose me instead," she propositioned with a smile so sickeningly sweet it had to work.

"Lady, you are one seriously crazed up fruit loop," he replied, a smug, defiant look on his face as he looked at her like she was some nut job that had escaped a mental institution. And then, if possible, his words continued to cut her even further. "That is never going to happen."

She could hear the conviction in his tone. She could see it all over his face. He truly thought her insane and wanted nothing to do with her. Her heart clenched and froze over again. All traces of maternal longing were wiped from her face as it became hard and cruel. It was a look her features knew all too well. "Yes well, once your mother is out of the picture, we'll see if you've changed your mind," she sneered coldly as she turned on her heel and disappeared dramatically with a swirl of her cloak. Never let it be said that she didn't appreciate being dramatic.

But she had actually only turned invisible, and was still in the room to see the look of absolute terror in the boy's face at the thought of losing his birth mother. She bit her lip, hesitating a bit as she watched the boy struggle desperately to free himself and save the woman that he thought was good enough to be his mother. Somewhere, deep inside, she felt bad causing the boy so much pain, and she knew how much it was going to hurt when he lost the mother he loved. But this was for the better. He deserved a mother who understood him and who was going to be there for him to help with all the problems that came from having ghost powers. He needed her as his mother, just like Jack needed her as his wife. They'd be grateful later, after the hurt was gone. She just needed to get to that point.

Filled with conviction once again that this was the only way to save the two Fenton men that she loved, she flew upstairs and hovered invisibly over the party, watching Maddie laugh and talk with classmates as if she never did anything wrong.

"I'm sorry Danny. I'm sorry Jack," she apologized quietly. "But this has to be done. You'll understand some day."

With a final deep breath she flew towards Maddie, easily overshadowing her and taking control of her body.

It was time that she took her life back.

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed that! I certainly enjoyed writing it! I always loved Vlad's character, and it was interesting to look at not only what Vlad was thinking during Bitter Reunions, but a female version of it too.

And I promise, I'm still working on the stories that I know everyone's really looking forward to. This is just helping me get back into the swing of writing more often, which will help with writing more chapters :)