AN: Cronologically, this chapter (and the next two, probably) really should have come before the last one, but what you gonna do ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

...:::*:::...

Tucker grabbed Sam's wrist as the crowd filtered away from City Hall.

"What do you want?" Sam snarled, sharply pulling her arm out of his grip and crossing it with the other. Tucker found himself coldly staring back. While Sam's anger was explosive and easy to incite, Tucker's was glacial and slow moving. Not slow enough, though, not to overtake him as he watched Sam sneer at Danny from her place in the crowd.

"Goddammit, Sam, would it kill you to try and support him?"

"Not me, no, but someone, maybe! I don't know how you can defend him. People might die, Tucker!" A few heads turned in their direction and Tucker herded them closer to the building, on the side cast in shadow.

"At least he won't!" He managed between clenched teeth. "I don't get it. We've both been there. You've seen as well as I have the injuries he sometimes comes back in. Have you forgotten all those times sitting on your bedroom floor thinking that this was it? All those arguments about maybe it finally being time for the hospital? The scars that he flinches when he catches sight of? Hell, that we flinch at when we catch sight of. How can you make him keep doing that, Sam? How could you ask him to sacrifice his health and happiness and maybe his life for the sake of anyone?"

"Don't you dare tell me I don't care about him!" Sam growled, her fists clenching while her arms stayed crossed. She met his angry stare head on. "I love Danny. I hate to see him in pain, but in the end, he needs to do it because he's good at it, Tucker. He's saved so many people, so many lives. Think of how many people would be dead if it weren't for his help just in the last few months. He knows this. He knows people will be hurt if he doesn't act and he's still choosing not to. He's knowingly sacrificing their lives for his by choosing to do nothing when he has the power to do otherwise. And if he can actually live like that… he's not the person I thought he was." Sam turned to leave.

Tucker scoffed. "Thanks for the speech, Uncle Ben, but this is the real world. Just because Danny has power doesn't mean that those lives are his responsibility. We're children, Sam. We shouldn't be responsible for anyone but ourselves. Danny has the right to his own freedom,"

"And everyone has the right to live!"

"Not at the expense of others! You can't make him change his decision. You don't have the right to try and get him to give up his autonomy, and you know it." Sam flinched and glared at the floor, so Tucker figured he had made a point that even she had to admit to. He shook his head to remind himself to get back to the crux of the issue. "Whatever you think of his choices, Sam, you need to stop taking it out on Danny. A real friend wouldn't let their pride get in the way. Stop letting him know how much you disprove."

Sam looked up at him with a surprised scowl, like she couldn't believe he had the gall to ask that of him.

"What, you want me to sit on the sidelines because he won't like what I have to say? If I think he's doing wrong, no way am I not going to make sure he knows it. That's what a real friend would do." She took a few steps forward, crowding him against the brickwork.

"Maybe, if he were doing something wrong!"

"He is!"

"Is your ego really more important than his life?!"

"Why are you so convinced he's going to die?! He's been ghost hunting for more than a year now and…" She trailed off at the stunned look on Tucker's face.

"Sam… it's not the ghosts I'm worried about," he explained slowly, apparently in disbelief that she hadn't already realized that.

"Then what are you even-"

"Danny tried to kill himself. You want him to go back to the activity that drove him to that. You think he doesn't care about all those people? Of course he does. And you want to go and throw that care in his face while he tries to hang onto his own sanity. Can you see why it might be a bad idea to guilt trip a suicidal person?"

Sam looked away and tapped her fingers on her upper arm. Her eyes were far away like she was watching that horrible tape all over again. Tucker drove his point in.

"So, fine, have your opinions about his choice, hate it even, but don't so much as let on that you blame him for any of it. Don't let him think he's lost you or his sense of morality. I'm not sure he could take it without cracking. You won't send him back to being a hero by telling what you think. You'll send him back to that alleyway." he watched as Sam took some deep, calming breaths.

"Fine," she managed. Her tone and stance were tense and guarded, but her eyes were watery and scared. She offered a stiff hand. "Neither of us brings any of this up until he's in a better place, mentally. A truce, for Danny's sake and only Danny's,"

"For Danny," Tucker agreed with a stern countenance as he took Sam's hand and they shook on the deal. No matter where their true thoughts lied, neither of them would hurt Danny like that with them. They loved him too much to stomach the thought of him hurting himself again because of something they said. Sam nodded, eyes stormy and uncertain.

"For Danny."

...:::*:::...

The front door of the Fenton household slammed shut.

"That no good ectoplasmic proto-consciousness!" Maddie raged as she stomped through the kitchen and down to the lab. Jack followed behind her more calmly, with the beginnings of a satisfied smile.

"Honey, this is good news,"

"Good news?! He's clearly just playing on everyone's fears and empathy! People will panic! He made it sound like we were lost without him like he was some sort of savior, and people bought it." She clenched her fists as she stood aimlessly in the middle of the metal plated room. She looked at her lab table, still set up for the ghost, and got even angry remembering that she had him. She had him and she let him go because of those same tricks he had now played on the entire town.

Large hands came around and carefully rubbed her shoulders.

"True, but think about it. Once everyone realizes that we have the ghost threat under control, they'll see how much we don't actually need Phantom to play hero. And without him doing that, they might even realize how much of it was clearly an act. If he comes back everyone will know it was just a trick. We have a chance here!"

Maddie patted Jack's hand on her shoulder with her own. "You might be right," she admitted reluctantly.

"Of course I am!" Jack grinned ecstatically with a small laugh as he turned her around. His happiness was infectious and she couldn't help but giggle. Jack was the only person with the power to sometimes make her feel like she was eighteen all over again, along with all the impulsive recklessness and hopeful passion for life that came with it.

She remembered being dropped off at a college campus for the first time and not knowing anyone. She remembered being afraid that she would be the 'girl with the weird ideas' all over again. She remembered meeting the nervous scrawny boy in her biology class who saw her notes on possible compositions of ectoplasmic matter and not only knew what it was but didn't laugh. She remembered being introduced to that boy's roommate with the open smile and honest attitude and loud laugh.

It was moments like these as her husband twirled her around their workspace and reminded her that every cloud has its silver lining that she fell in love all over again.

"You are right. We'll prove to the town that we never needed that ghost to solve our problems! And since this is just a powerplay he won't stay away forever! But when he comes back we'll be waiting for him and we'll finally tear him apart molecule by molecule. No more mind games and no more ghost boy!"

"That's the spirit!"

Maddie turned with a laugh and landed a nice kiss on her husband.

Life was looking up.

…:::*:::...

Valerie marched into her home with a satisfied smirk and feeling like the queen of the world. Not even the way her father watched her warily as he prepared to go back to work could diminish her satisfaction.

Her dad sighed heavily as he put his cap on the table and ran a hand through his graying hair.

"Val, honey," he started softly. Valerie let out an aggravated puff of air.

"Daddy…" She did not whine. She just dragged it out in a slightly high pitched drawl.

"I don't suppose there's any chance you'll give up the suit now, at least?" he asked hopelessly. That actually gave Valerie pause for a moment. The whole reason she had put on the suit was to get Phantom. Now that he was gone her goal was finally complete. But then she remembered there were plenty of other ghosts out there and not nearly as many competent ghost hunters.

"Just because Phantom's not around doesn't mean there aren't plenty of other ghosts who need a good butt kicking." She sat down on the sofa with one leg propped up on the cushions and her arms spread out.

"That's what I was afraid of." Damian put the cap back on and checked the buttons of his uniform before he walked over to join his daughter on the threadbare sofa. He took a deep breath as he took in her smugly content expression. He hadn't known her mother at Valerie's age, but he imagined she was a lot like this. So confident and sure of herself, but sometimes to the point of being cocky. His daughter's face was painted with those typical shades of a teenager's belief in their own invincibility. He couldn't help but be equal parts scared and worried by the expression. He didn't think there was anything more dangerous in a life threatening situation than ignorance of your own mortality.

He had never said it to Valerie, he couldn't imagine that she'd take the admission well, but Damian had always felt better knowing that Phantom was out there with her. That if worst came to worst the ghost boy would be able to take his daughter's place in the path of danger, because what did mortality matter to a creature that had already beat it?

After Phantom's speech, Damian was no longer sure that his assumptions on the matter had been valid. He knew he would be spending a lot of his mind numbing time at work rethinking his views on the ghost boy and his willingness to put a child, already dead or not, in danger like that. None of Phantom's speech, though, changed the fact that he had felt safer knowing his daughter had back up out there, even if she didn't realize that was true.

Now she would be alone.

He imagined his daughter, still just a little girl to him, facing off against some of the behemoth creatures he saw Phantom face, creatures with the power to level buildings and toss people through concrete and break pavement with their footsteps and throw fire when they were angry and that had absolutely no respect for life.

God, if he could keep her locked up in her room for the foreseeable future, he would. He swore to his late wife that he would if he could.

But he couldn't.

A lot of his authority as a parent was undermined the moment she started putting on high-class weaponry as easy as she put on a skirt (and what kind of monster did that? Who gave a child that kind of equipment knowing she had a grudge and would go out and put her directly in harm's way? Who had that little care for the life of a teenager that they would empower one in that way and then step back and watch the mayhem? Damn it, she hadn't even been old enough to get behind the wheel of a car and someone gave her a hoverboard. Damian didn't like to think about what would happen if he ever found out who exactly it was that did this to his little girl). The fact still stood, though, that there was nothing he could do to keep her at home and out of harm's way for as long as she was determined to be in it. All he could do is remind her that she had someone waiting for her and hope that she would be smart enough to recognize true danger when she saw it.

"Please, just promise me you'll be careful?"

"Daddy,"

"Promise me, Valerie,"

"I promise,"

"Good." He stood up and adjusted his cap. He kept a hand on the picture of his wife and daughter he kept in his wallet all the way to work.

Valerie watched her father leave in confusion and shook her head as the door closed behind him. She didn't understand his subdued mood, but she would prove to him, and everybody, that this was nothing but good news. She'd show them all what a real ghost hunter looked like and by the end of the week, they'd forget that they had ever been worried.

...:::*:::...

AN: So, with this chapter I've officially his 100 pages in my word processer, so that's pretty cool.

I don't know how Tucker and Sam's argument became an abortion argument? But okay? I guess? Don't ever say my writing doesn't have anything of substance to say. lol XD. Makes it kinda ironic that SJW Sam of all people is on the side she's on, tho. Anyway, so good news (or bad news, depending on your perspective), the end of this story is in sight! I pretty much know everything else that's going to happen and how it's all going to be resolved, so yay. A warning: I started this story without a plan and haven't re read it since I came off hiatus (mostly because of how embarrassed I am about my early writing) so a few plot points may never really get resolved. For example, as you will soon be able to tell, Maddie doesn't figure into this story as strongly as she did in the beginning or as much as the summary suggests. IF there is something particular you wish to see happen with her character in this, please suggest it! I want to give her some sort of closure (not precisely one that makes her feel better, just something for you readers) but I really don't know what. As for any foreshadowing I've dropped earlier in the story, I'll try to work it into the new plan, but... eh.

Unambiguously good news: *shameless plug* I've started on a new story that is planned out with way better writing that I'm set to start updating as soon as I finish this. In it, Danny told his parents about his powers in Mystery Meat and, well... things go south. So if you're into that kind of premise look out for that.

Anyway, if you liked this chapter, please Review! It motivates me to work on and finish this rather than skipping to a ton of other ideas I have instead.