Danny flew as far and fast as he could but this wasn't very high or far as he suddenly changed from Phantom back into Danny while still in the air. With courage he didn't know he had in him he refrained from screaming as he began to plummet, focusing his efforts on changing back, which he managed just above the ground. Too late to pull back up, he allowed himself to sink into the ground and remained there dejectedly, and only the realization that turning human while underground would probably kill him brought him back up above ground. He looked over his shoulder but his mother was not following him, whether he had lost her or she just wasn't following. Of course the first thing she would do was return home and check on her son –

But she'd already seen her son, Danny thought glumly, turning back to his human form and landing softly on the ground. His chest was aching fiercely and as he put a hand to the pain it came back green and red. "Merry Christmas in July," he told himself deliriously, stumbling further away from the park.

He was closest to Sam's house so that was where he set off to. Her house came into view, so familiar even in the dark from all the times he'd visited it over the years. Changing back to Phantom and hoping he'd stay that way long enough to get inside, Danny flew up to her bedroom window. The lights were off but she was seated at her desk, laptop open and illuminating her bored expression. Danny had to tap a few times before she jerked to attention, pulling out her headphones and spotting him.

She nodded to him and he phased through the window just in time to change back into Fenton. He landed on the edge of her bed and tumbled off onto the floor. He held his chest and groaned as the sudden action upset the wound, Sam already by his side and helping him up.

"You idiot," she hissed, "what the hell happened to you?"

He leaned against the edge of her bed and straightened up as best he could. Under any other circumstance he would've been laughing about his less-than-graceful entrance even with the gaping chest wounds, but his reason for being there sobered his sense of humor. "My mom," he said simply. "She found out."

Sam's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "And… she shot you?"

"Reverse order. She shot me and then found out."

"Shirt off," she interrupted in a short way that meant for him to keep talking, pulling the medical kit out from under her bed. She and Tucker both had one – Tucker's parents had found his and he had to lie to cover up why he had one. Luckily no one had found Sam's yet, and he came to her house more frequently than Tuck's if he couldn't go back to his.

He pulled the tank top over his head. "Why Sam, a shirtless man on your bed, what will the neighbors think?" he quipped in a desperate bid for humor.

Sam smirked a little. "Downtown Abbey can think whatever it's always thought," she replied, wielding a roll of gauze. "Now tell me what happened."

As she wrapped the gauze around his chest he began to relay the day's events, starting with the aftermath of his battle with Skulker. Truthfully, Sam had been there, but it wasn't a date so much as it was a patrol. "I went home after dealing with Skulker," he began, taking a ragged breath as Sam tightened the gauze wrapping. "I thought my mom wasn't there. I totally forgot my dad took the RV so I didn't see it parked outside and I just thought she'd gone out. I was outta gauze so I went to get some from the Fenton First Aid kit downstairs and she caught me trying to patch myself up."

Sam tied the wrapping closed and sat on the bed before him, her splayed legs resting against his folded ones. "And then?" she prompted, taking his hands in hers.

Danny sighed. "Well, when she tried to talk to me about it and all the sh- stuff I'd been getting into since freshman year. I told her I'd tell her everything in the morning. I was gonna spend the night thinking up some kinda lie to tell her."

"Drug cartel?" Sam suggested with a weak smile, which Danny returned.

"That was my first idea. But then there was another ghost attack out by the park. Just a few ectopusses, nothing big, but once I was out I decided to just stay out. Fly around for a bit, try to clear my mind. Then I saw my mom following me. I tried my best to, y'know, shake her off my tail, but she wasn't giving up so I decided to try and talk to her just to see what she wanted."

"Is that when she…?" Sam muttered, putting a hand over the bandages.

"At first she said she actually wanted to talk but I should've known better from my mom. She asked me if Phantom had anything to do with Danny Fenton."

Sam snorted a soft laugh. "And you said?"

"I said he just got hit by shrapnel during the Skulker fight. She bought it, too, which also surprised me…." Danny broke off pensively and muttered, "The gun."

"What about the gun?" Sam prompted.

"That's how – my mom said she had a sample of my blood, or, Phantom's ectoplasm, and it turned into blood. It must've been the gun she had. The voltage was probably counteractive to my electrical makeup." He took in a breath and nodded. "Well, she shot me with a tazer thing. Hence the…" He gestured to his bandages which were starting to show blood through them. "And I guess it short-circuited my ghost form and I changed back right in front of her."

"Then?"

"Then nothing. I ended up here." Sam didn't look too distressed as their eyes met.

"Well… now she knows. Or at least, she has an idea."

"Sam-"

"So maybe now it's time to just tell her everything?" Sam whispered as loudly as she could without alerting her parents. "I mean, for God's sake, Danny, every other time you've told them before you wiped their memories or whatever, they were fine –"

"Sure, for the few seconds it lasted," he retorted. "Given enough time, they would've gotten curious. They'd want to do tests, experiments-"

But Sam was already rolling her eyes so he said her name sharply. "Danny, they are your parents, and you're their son first and foremost. Obviously your mom cares about you and wants to help, so if you don't want her to do tests and experiments and stuff, she won't."

"It's easy for you and Tucker to believe because you've been there since the beginning. But my mom and dad?" He paused to rub his chest which was starting to ache more. "Hey, mom," he said in a mockingly bright tone, "y'know that ghost boy you hate and want to rip apart molecule by molecule? That's me! I'm a biological impossibility and a first for science as we know it! I've been skipping school and sleep to hunt ghosts behind your back and I'm a ghost too! But you can't do any tests-"

"Danny," Sam cut in, then sighed and closed her eyes. His temper dimmed a bit and after a brief pause she looked back up into his eyes. "She knows part of it now. It's best to just fill her in on everything she doesn't know still, to reassure her that you're still you. I'm a hundred percent sure she'll understand. She's your mom, Danny, more than she is a ghost hunter or a scientist."

He forced a smile onto his face. "Alright, you win again," he breathed. "I'll tell her. But tomorrow."

"Fine," she said, glancing out the window. "What d'you plan on doing tonight, then?"

"Do you mind if I crash at your place?" Danny asked, his smile turning genuine and sheepish.

Sam tossed him a sly look. "Why Danny," she replied gossipingly, "a shirtless man in my bed? What will the neighbors think?"

AN: I won't be writing this story over from Danny's perspective (mostly because I have other ideas for stories now) so I decided to add this little fluffy mini-chapter right before the final one, which will be coming eventually. I hope you all find it satisfactory!