"Okay Danny," Valerie said while taking off the helmet of her suit, "first thing's first: what's up with you and the ghost kid being the same person?"

Danny took in a breath while mentally sizing himself up for the task ahead. "Well it all started about a year ago. I was messing around with one of my parents' inventions when an accident happened. When the dust settled, I discovered that I could transform into a ghost version of myself and got all kinds of cool powers."

"Are you still... you know... human"

"I'm not sure. I know that the ghosts in the ghost zone call me a halfa."

"Halfa?"

"Half a ghost, half a human. Halfa."

"Okay," Valerie said while nodding her head in understanding. "But what about the time you and that ghost dog wrecked up Axion Laps? You cost my dad his job. You ruined my life!"

After shouting this declaration, Valerie realized that her life had not been as negatively changed as she thought. If not for that incident, she never would have met Danny or discovered her passion for ghost hunting.

"That was accident," Danny said. "I would never do anything like that on purpose."

"All right, I'll buy that for now," Valerie said. She knew from the time she had spent with Danny that he was a genuinely nice person, so much so that she was sure he had not faked it. "What about when you exposed my secret to my dad during the incident with the ghost king? I had a good thing going."

"I'm sorry about that, but I needed to stop you from trying to take my parents' ecto-skeleton without hurting you. I did you a favor: if the ghost king or his minions hadn't killed you, then the feedback from the suit would have." After saying this, Danny got a look on his face like he was remembering something unpleasant.

"What's wrong Danny?"

"I was just remembering how even with a small army of my enemies helping me out and the ecto-skeleton augmenting my powers, it was still a close win."

Valerie was contemplating his words. She remembered Mrs. Fenton saying that the mech suit was potentially fatal. At the time she did not heed the warning, so it was possible that Danny had been trying to save her. But in her mind that did not make up for exposing her secret.

"Back on subject: Do your parents even know about you and what you do?" she asked.

"No they don't. But if this is such a big thing to you, why don't we make a deal: you give me 1 week to tell my parents. If I haven't done that by then, you can break the news to them however you want," Danny said.

He knew what he was getting into. Ever since the incident with Freakshow and the reality gauntlet where Danny got a chance to see his parents' reactions to learning the truth, he had briefly considered telling them about his double life. He had not done so yet because he liked keeping his secret as much as possible, and telling them would only complicate things. But now he needed something to calm Valerie down, and despite his desire for secrecy he did know what he was getting into.

"Why should I agree to your deal when I just tell them whenever I want," Valerie retorted.

"Because telling them my secret would not cause your dad to unlearn yours," Danny said. "They are going to find out. All I'm asking is that you give me the chance to tell them under ideal circumstances."

Valerie considered what he said. He made a good point about her dad not unlearning her secret, and she figured that she owed Danny the chance she never got. And if he chickened out, she could still blow his secret.

"All right, we have a deal," Valerie said. " Now, what about when you destroyed my old suit? I could have been in there!"

"But I knew you weren't in there, and I only destroyed the suit BECAUSE I knew you weren't in it." After saying this, Danny noticed that Valerie looked confused. "Your suit was being remote controlled by one of my enemies. When I saw that you weren't in it, I knew I didn't have to hold back fighting against the hollow suit."

"You really expect me to believe that?"

"look at it this way: I could have destroyed the suit during any of our previous battles when I knew you were in it, but I didn't. Now that I think about it, a lot of our battles have begun with you firing the first shot, and me only defending myself or trying to fly away."

Even Valerie had to admit that he was right. The majority of their skirmishes had happened just as he described. She then realized that she was responsible for the perpetuation of their conflict, and planned to stop it.

"I"m sorry Danny. For everything." After saying this, Valerie lowered her cannon and had a look of regret on her face. "But I would have stopped coming after you if you had told me about... you know... you."

"Really?" Danny said, quirking an eyebrow.

"What do you mean "really?". You thought I would still come after you if I found out your secret? I'm insulted."

"Sorry about that Val. I just thought if you found out, you would still be angry. What it comes down down to is, I felt you finding out was just not a risk worth taking."

"I can understand that. How many other people know about you?"

"Tucker and Sam were there the day I got my powers. And my older sister Jazz later found out on her own. And now, there's you."

"So, where do we go from here?"

"I'm not sure," after Danny said this, his cell phone went off. "Can I take this?" Valerie nodded yes. "Thanks. Hello?"

"Hello Dipstick," Danny heard from a familiar voice at the other end.