A/N: A new 4.5K-word chapter out only 17 days after the last one? I'm really trying to get a hand on this updating-on-the-reg thing. I wanted to hurry up and post this one as a Thanksgiving present to you all! Eat all the turkey that you can! Try to stuff as much stuffing into your stomach; and of course, don't forget to save room for the pumpkin pie! My family is coming in town later today, so I wanted to hurry up and post this chapter before they came. Otherwise, who know's when I'd get a chance to get on my computer for 5 minutes haha!

So with that, have a Happy Turkey Day, and a great time reading Chapter 34: Secrets Revealed!

"You did that on purpose."

Danny smiled shyly. "I never was a master manipulator."

Kim chuckled, though she didn't want to. The irony of his statement was humoring, but she was anxious for the coming conversation. The two made eye contact, and Kim quickly shifted her gaze away from him. She seemed suddenly intent on the ceiling.

She could feel his gaze on her, but refused to meet his eyes. She knew exactly what he was going to say before the words departed his lips: he was going to say "I didn't mean it" or "I was trying to keep you safe" or "this is just a misunderstanding" and Kim wasn't sure she had time for it. In the heat of the moment, when she was helping him fight for his life, she thought she could forget about his breaking up with her. But now, she wasn't so sure. It hurt her, really. It made her not want to trust him again.

She glanced over at his big, worrying eyes. They were still that unhuman teal, and the color made the hair on the back of Kim's neck stand up. Once the two made eye contact again, Kim knew she could no longer avoid this situation. She waited for his excuses and for his woeful lies. She waited and waited.

But he never said a word. He just stared at her, his straight black eyes brows angled up in a sorrowful way. He was looking at her in a way that made Kim uncomfortable, and Kim didn't like feeling uncomfortable. She had to put a stop to this.

"Stop looking at me like that," her words came out sharp and coarse, but she hadn't meant them to be. She could tell by the look on Danny's face that she was terrified of her tone. Perhaps that could be a good thing…

And so she continued to wait. She looked away again, thinking that if she couldn't see him, she wouldn't feel his gaze, but that wasn't true. It was all she felt.

He took an inhale of breath, and Kim closed her eyes in anticipation.

"I'm sorry," he breathed.

Kim's eyes snapped open, and looked directly at him. That wasn't an excuse. It wasn't an explanation. It was an apology.

"What?" she breathed.

"I'm sorry Kim," he said louder. He tried to get up, and move towards her. She could tell he was wincing from the pain of moving, but he continued. Finally, his pitiful effort of moving was too much, and Kim realized she had to put a stop to it.

"Stop moving, Danny, you'll hurt yourself."

"Do you think I care?" Danny asked in exasperation. "Do you think I care that I might hurt myself physically? I can't do much more damage to myself, Kim. It's you I care about right now. I need you to just… listen to me."

"I'm listening," Kim told him, but she sounded exhausted and bored. Danny knew that wasn't good enough. He had to get closer to her. Put his arm around her. Hold her close to him, and have her feel that he'll never let her go again.

"NO," Danny told her, and began moving again. He slumped little by little until Kim realized it would be quicker if she – the more mobile of the two – moved.

"Hang on, I'm coming," she told him, and he stopped inching closer. She picked herself up on her hands, and scooted closer to him, albeit still slowly, but at a much faster pace than Danny had been going at.

She came to a stop just three or so inches from him, and sat back down, stretching out her burned leg in a sigh of pain. She was so focused on her leg that she didn't even feel his arm go down to her hand. He grasped it – perhaps too roughly, and brought it to his other hand.

"I'm sorry," he told her again.

"I know," Kim said, almost sounding defeated. That tone sent knives to Danny's heart.

"No you don't," Danny told her. "Kim, I NEVER wanted to hurt you. I thought… I thought if something happened to me… it'd be easier for you to not miss me."

"Are you stupid?" Kim asked, without realizing how mean it sounded. She yanked her hand away, and held his blue-green gaze. "What's wrong with you? Why would you think I wouldn't miss you as much if you broke up with me first?"

"I don't know what was going through my head…" Danny said softly.

"Yes, you do, tell me."

"I don't want to give excuses for the way I treated you, Kim. It wasn't that I wasn't thinking clearly and it wasn't that I was trying to protect you. I was just doing what I thought was best."

"But why? Why did you think that was best for me?" Tears began to stream down her ruddy cheeks, and Danny was forced to tear his gaze away. He couldn't look at Kim – who was so sad and felt so cheated – knowing it was entirely his fault.

"I didn't want you to have to go through… any of this," he motioned towards his wounds and to her own. "I wanted to keep you out of it. I didn't want you to get hurt, and I thought if I just… said 'we didn't have the same goals in life', I could get away with not lying to you and with not hurting you."

Kim made him look at her. "Do we have the same goals in life?"

Danny couldn't believe she was implying. "Of course we do, Kim."

"But even if I forgive you, and we put this whole thing behind us… we still live in two totally different worlds. Me in Middleton, and you in Amity Park. They're too far away. Long distance doesn't work and–"

"Kim, it would take five minutes via ghost zone."

"The ghost zone is dangerous though. You shouldn't go in there unless you have to."

Danny laughed. Not go in the Ghost Zone? Was that supposed to be a joke? "Kim – I've gone in there too many times to count. I'm still alive, aren't i?"

"Hardly," Kim said, grimly.

Danny smiled at her comment, though it was true he had never been hurt this badly before.

"Kim, I promise to you that I will visit your house every day if I can. We'll text and Skype, and I can literally travel to a different state in 5 minutes. This can – and will – work. I need you to know that I will fight for this," he clutched his heart. "Until the day I really do die."

"Then why did you want to break up with me to begin with?"

"Because I didn't want you to be around this. Any of this pain and grief. I wanted to keep everyone out of it. Everyone: Sam and Tuck, my sister… I wish I could've seen my parents. Sometimes… it just sucks you know? Causing pain to the people that care about you so much. I thought if I ended it with you, you'd be mad at me instead of sad. Anger can be fueled and managed. Anger can be… well, it eventually fades. But not grief. Grief sucks – it's long-lasting, it hurts more than anything you could ever feel in this world; no one should have to go through it. And knowing that I'm literally a ticking time bomb waiting to explode and dissipate grief onto everyone with fifty miles of me… I couldn't put you though that, too."

"But I did grieve – I was remembering the days we spent together, and sat crying on your couch. I don't think you have the right to say who I get sad over, Danny. It's my decision," she said forcefully.

"Yes, I know, but I never want you to have to cry over me. I'm not worth it."

Kim grasped his hand quicker than a bolt of lightning and held her tearful gaze with his blue-green eyes.

"You are so worth it, Danny."

She leaned forward and softly pressed her lips to his. The kiss was short and chaste, but it left Danny wanting more. She pulled away before he could do anything.

He then held her gaze, and put his hand to her cheek and brushed away her tears with the pad of his thumb. He had thought about going in for another kiss, but was terrified the act would be too forward, and she would turn away. He didn't think he could bare that, so instead he continued to wipe away her tears.

"Hold me?"

He didn't need to be asked twice. He reached his muscular arm around her thin body, and she relaxed into his shoulder, careful not to touch his ribs at all.

"I love you," she told him.

Danny didn't hesitate. "I love you, too."

Her tired eyes began to slowly close. She hadn't realized how much she needed sleep until the opportunity had been granted to her. Her heavy eyelids drooped. Then a thought suddenly came to her, and she realized sleep would have to wait.

"My mom! Your secret!" was all she had to say.

Danny didn't respond at first. His face was impossible to read, and Kim found herself wondering what on earth he was thinking.

"I don't really care anymore," he said with a small smile.

Kim smiled back, "Me either."

"As long as your mom doesn't tell my parents," he stated hurriedly. That was the last thing he needed.

"I promise she wouldn't dare," Kim assured, and leaned back into his embrace.

Bang bang bang

"Kim? Sweetie? Are you in there? It's Mom," a voice sounded from the other side of the door.

Kim removed herself from her snuggled and comfortable position, so that her mom could work her magic, and called, "Yes! Mom we're in here."

Mrs. Possible immediately swung the door open – failing to shut the latch – and ran inside. She was so preoccupied with her daughter's injury that she didn't notice the new black-haired boy with his arm wrapped around her daughter.

"Kim! Oh my god! Look at your leg. You have to go to a hospital," she rushed to her daughter's side and urgently tried to help her, but Kim pushed her off and shook her head.

"NO, Mom. You have to help Danny. He needs it more than I do. Believe me, I'm fine."

"Who?" Kim's mom took a step back, and really took in her surroundings. Her daughter was on the floor with a foreign boy sitting beside. Her daughter seemed to know this boy, but that didn't mean she did. So who was this boy? She had never seen him before.

It was then that Sam, Tucker, and Jazz all shuffled though the open door into the Specter Speeder. They came just in time to see Mrs. Possible put all the pieces together.

But it appeared that she wasn't going to get it that quickly.

"Kim, who is this?"

Kim looked at Danny to answer even though she herself was the one addressed.

"Er… well… it's a long story. I promise to tell you one day, but I don't think we have the time right now. The only thing you need to know, Mrs. Possible, is that I am the ghost boy, Phantom, that you met a few days ago, and also the boy you see before you: Danny Fenton. I live in that house over there with my sister Jazz," he pointed to the ginger across the floor who smiled, "and my parents, who are out of town right now."

"Wow… okay… so you're… Phantom? But you're a human… and so your Danny?"

"Danny Phantom," Danny said with a sly smile. Sometimes having an alter ego could bepretty fun.

"It's a very complicated story, Mom," Kim smiled sheepishly. She didn't exactly want to go into it at that moment either. "Just know that you have to help him, Mom. He has several bad injuries."

Mrs. Possible didn't respond with words, but with a curt nod.

Mrs. Possible picked up her things and strode over to the young boy. He was weak, that was obvious. His breathing was raggedy and labored. His skin was paler than she remembered, and he seemed extremely tired.

"Okay, Danny," she began. "Tell me what hurts."

"Is everything a bad response?" Danny smiled: his normal, cocky lips turning upwards.

"Yes, I need specifics," Mrs. Possible smiled lightly at his joke.

"My head probably hurts the most. Right here," he gestured to the large marbled-red-and-green whelp slightly right on his forehead. "Then my leg. God, I don't think I can move that. It probably needs to be amputated…" his voice trailed off and he flashed Mrs. Possible another huge, joking smile. She had to admit: she was impressed. The smile that crawled onto her face made that apparent.

She turned to her daughter, and gestured at the boy, "Does he often make jokes about serious situations?"

"You have no idea," Kim happily sighed. She had grown to love Danny's nervous quirks.

"I do what I can," Danny smiled, then went on to list more parts of his body that hurt. "Kim here already set my broken nose, so that doesn't really hurt anymore. She says I broke a rib or two, but that only hurts when I, you know, breathe."

"I see…" Mrs. Possible shifted uneasily. "Okay," finally a smile rested on her face. "Let's begin."

She opened up her excessively large med kit, and pulled out two disposable plastic gloves. She stretched them over her hands, and focused her attention on his head.

She ran her smooth, latex fingers along his temples. Her gloved hands stuck to the little hairs on his forehead, and tickled a bit. She gazed at the mysterious green and red bruise. It was raised, certainly, but that wasn't right. If the boy had just received this blunt force trauma to the head, it wouldn't have yet formed a bruise. "You're sure this is from just a few hours ago?" she asked him. He nodded, her hands still resting on his face. "Remarkable," she whispered.

"Er, what is, exactly?" Danny found himself asking before he could stop himself.

"This bruising. It looks days old. There's no way…"

"I heal faster than ordinary humans," Danny told her. Panic-mode was slowly resting in on him. He didn't like hospitals. He didn't like latex-gloves. And he didn't like probing doctors.

"Really? How unique." Mrs. Possible was bewildered. "Well judging by this excellent bruising, I'd say your head is fine, dear. It's gonna hurt to touch for a while, and I'd recommend taking it easy for a while. But it should look normal – judging by this rate – before the end of today. You said your nose hurt, too?" Mrs. Possible asked.

Danny nodded.

Mrs. Possible looked at his patched and bandaged nose. She ripped away the dirty brown gauze, and inspected the perfectly straight nose. "Excellent job, Kimmie. I didn't know you could set a nose."

"Me either," Kim laughed.

She didn't bother replacing the bandage. His nose appeared to be perfectly healed. She then shifted her gaze downward at his covered chest. She decided she'd come back to his ribs. He'd have to lift his shirt, and she doubted he felt very comfortable doing that.

So, instead, she continued downward to look at his left foot. She kneeled just behind it, and slowly pulled up the cuff of his pants. It was time for the part Danny had been dreading the most. His ugly, twisted left leg was three times larger than his right. It had disgusting splotches of electric green and dark red. She winced at the sight of it.

"It's broken," were the first words out of her mouth. "And I'm afraid your 'extraordinary' powers couldn't fix this one. It's good thing, too. You don't want it to heal until it's been properly set. Speaking of… this is going to hurt," Mrs. Possible told him. "Ordinarily, I'd give you some anesthesia, but as we are not in a hospital, I have none on me; you'll have to manage. If you feel yourself passing out – black spots, heavy eyelids, trouble breathing – don't fight it. I promise it won't kill you," now it was Mrs. Possible's turn to smile.

"Why might I pass out?" Danny asked, not returning the smile out of sheer nerves.

"It's our body's natural response to unbearable pain. Our sleeping mind is much better at coping with it than our lively mind. Don't worry though. If you do pass out, it won't hurt."

Now all he could do was prepare himself for the pain. He clenched his fists and tensed his jaw.

Mrs. Possible could easily see where the tibia had been severed. The largest part of the leg – directly at the intersection of the ankle and the tibia – had an unusual bump in it. Nothing else could cause it. So – working without an x-ray for not the first time – she placed her latex-fingers gently over the bump. He winced from just the gentle contact. Mrs. Possible knew this was going to hurt very badly indeed.

She increased her pressure so she could feel where the two bones needed to meet. She found the two dislodged ends, and began to push. She pushed with her powerful thumbs on the two ends of the bone – compelling them to meet.

Danny whined and moaned. He could think of only one other time he'd ever experienced such horrible pain. Two years ago. In his parent's basement. In the switched-off ghost portal.

She continued to apply a gradual increase of pressure on both sides of the swollen leg. She felt the lifted end begin to budge, and knew it would be over soon.

Pop!

Finally, the two ends met, and while they were not healed, they could now heal properly. She looked up at the young raven-haired boy who was surprisingly still awake.

"Did I pass out?" Danny asked sleepily.

"No, but you should have. Then you'd already be asleep. That's the only thing that going to help you now: rest. You can relax for the most part now. I have to plaster your leg and take a look at your ribs, but you don't need to be fully awake for that."

"I'm not tired," Danny muttered to himself. He knew the doctor was right, but he couldn't risk losing consciousness. He needed to stay in control.

Mrs. Possible pulled cast-making materials from her bag. She then stood up, and went to fill a large bucket of water with warm water. She returned to the boy, and soaked the arid plaster in the wet bucket. The white cast, no longer stiff but flexible in its moist state – remained in the warm water while Mrs. Possible rolled a long sock up his leg. The sock ended right before his knee and right in front of his toes. She began to wrap the dampened plaster around the base of the leg, and could feel the material hardening in her hands. She finished wrapping the warm, wet plaster around Danny 's left leg, and began to place anything under it just to get it above his heart. She knew she needed to stop that swelling.

Next, she told Danny to lift his shirt up just a bit so she could inspect his bruised or broken ribs. He reluctantly agreed, and raised the hem of the white tee.

She ran her latex gloves down the side, and noticed the same multi-colored splotching in place of bruises. She made a note to ask about that later. Other than that, the normal swelling and bruising was consistent with that of two cracked ribs. He wasn't going to die, but it was going to take some time to heal.

She stepped back, took off her gloves, and proclaimed to everyone her diagnosis.

"Okay, Danny, you received a concussion, but that has healed excellently, so I wouldn't worry about that. You fractured two ribs on your right side, but the only thing that can help that is rest. Additionally, you severely fractured your left tibia, and while I'd say at least 9 weeks of rest under usual circumstance, the most I can accurately say for you is at the very least 2 weeks. Your recovery rate really is phenomenal."

"So that's all for Danny?" Jazz asked with worried eyes. "You're sure my little brother is going to be fine?"

"I'm 100% positive. He's lucky he has this unique ability. I can't say with certainty that other people would have survived these conditions."

Mrs. Possible then walked over to her own daughter to inspect her injuries.

"Okay, Kimmie, what hurts?"

Kim smiled. "I'm fine Mom. It's just my leg," she explained.

"Why is it… why is it frozen?"

Danny – though the attention was no longer on him – smiled and answered for him. "That was me."

Mrs. Possible gave the crowd of teenagers a look, and said, "Remind me to ask questions about this whole situation at a later date."

"We'll answer whatever you want, Mom," Kim assured her.

"So, er, how do I defrost this leg of yours honey?" she asked Kim.

Kim shrugged. She honestly had no idea.

"I wouldn't do anything unless you have ectoplasmic burn cream with you. The ectoplasm in that ice will counteract the ectoplasm in the burn and soothe her leg. Regular burn cream will only heighten the pain in an ectoplasmic burn. Ectoplasmic burn cream will help the burn more than you can imagine."

"How do you know that?" Mrs. Possible asked.

"Experience," he answered shortly.

"Okay, enough. It's my turn to ask the questions," Mrs. Possible shook her head, and took a step back from the situation. She took off her gloves, disposed of them, and examined the entire group of teenagers.

"Okay, let me get this straight," Mrs. Possible began. "You," she pointed at Kim, "were sent to hunt down him," she pointed at Danny, "who was supposedly a crazy-evil ghost that you had to hunt down. You lost me everywhere else."

Kim took the floor. "While in Amity Park, I, as you know, had to go to school. I made three friends: Sam, Tucker, and Danny," she gestured, respectively. "As it turns out, they were closer to the Phantom than I could've hoped. Danny, here, is Phantom."

Mrs. Possible didn't falter. Her face remained still. "He was involved in a bad accident, and – well, maybe you should explain this, Danny."

"Er, okay," Danny cleared his throat, and began his tale. "Well, my parents are Paranormal Parapsychological scientists. They study ectoplasmic activity, and the being referred to as a ghost. They are… enthusiastic about their line of work, and they have a lab in the basement of my house. You might have seen it. Sparkly, chrome, blatantly obvious: it's kind hard to miss.

"Anyways, so they develop ghost technology. The technology is used for either capturing ghosts or researching them. One of their more research-based products "The Fenton Ghost Portal" didn't work. Up to this point, absolutely nothing my parents made had actually fallen through. They always went up in smoke – often literally. But this one was different. This invention was supposed to work. It's what my dad kept saying. You remember don't you Jazz?" he asked the girl for support. She nodded shortly, and spoke, "Yea. He always said stuff like 'This is the one kids!'"

"Exactly! It broke my heart that my parents had failed again, and it wasn't until Sam there," he motioned to the Goth girl, "gave me the idea that I should go inside to see if that's where the problem lied."

"Well that and when else can you go into an unpowered ghost portal?" she asked the room with a sly smirk. She wasn't wrong. He had never been in one since.

"Right, so I decided to go check out the interior. To this day I can't tell you what happened. Sam was there. So was Tuck. I passed out, so I sure don't remember, but anything they can tell you might help."

Tucker just shrugged. "I was hardly paying attention until Danny's scream just… just totally rang in my ears. This blinding light electrocuted the entire portal. When it finally died out, and we saw Danny on the floor," Tucker looked away. "That might've been the scariest moment of my life. Scarier than all the ghost hunting escapades I've ever done. I thought he was gone. I thought whatever happened in there had killed him and left the fragile shell of my best friend behind."

"It was utterly terrifying," Sam agreed. "I saw Danny – motionless and still. I thought that it was the end of us all. And that none of us would ever get over his death."

"But then he… he sorta stood up. He looked around, and we both noticed that his hair had turned to this crazy snow white," Tucker continued. "When he looked at Sam and me, his eyes were this electrifying green. He freaked out, and this blinding light circled around his waist, and phased his appearance back to the old Danny Fenton. It was bizarre."

"It didn't take us long to figure out that I'd been given a variation of 'ghost powers'. We also then learned that with the ghost portal now open, ghosts were coming out of there like crazy. Sam, Tucker , and I all took it upon ourselves to become Amity Park's heroes. We haven't done the best of jobs…"

"…but we did what we could," Sam finished with a small smile.

"So while I was researching Danny Phantom, I didn't for one moment consider he was literally right under my nose the entire time. It wasn't until I was captured by the ghost we recruited you and dad and Jim and Tim and everyone else to fight. Vlad Plasmius took me into the Ghost Zone, Danny found me, and there have it: you know the rest."

"Speaking of Vlad, where is he?" Danny asked the room.

Tucker explained how Valerie and Dani had called the police, and were waiting for the patrol cars to show up. He said how they had already made up a story of fraud and theft from the city to get him fired, arrested, and disrespected. No one would be on Vlad's side after tonight. He had lost all his power, and would live out his days in jail.

A flashing of lights outside the Specter Speeder told everyone that the police had finally showed up.

"We better get out of here," Tucker said, and stalked over to the control panel of the ship. Within moments, they were up in the air. It was no use waiting for Dani and Valerie. They didn't want to go back to the Fenton household anyways.

Mrs. Possible, her expression still completely normal, asked as she clutched the wall for support while changing altitude, "Is that it? You guys didn't leave anything out?"

"Oh yeah!" Kim came to a realization. "One more thing you should probably know: Danny and I are kinda dating."

Mrs. Possible calm and collected face finally broke.

A/N: Please remember to R&R! It does make me want to update faster when I get feedback from my readers.

But now onto something I didn't want to mention in my first Authors Note: I think this fic is going to be wrapped up pretty soon. I mean, not really, because I don't update very quickly, lol, but I think there is going to be 1 or 2 more chapters, and then an epilogue maybe (?) It's been a long ride (I've never written a fic for over a year) but it's about time for that whole "resolution" part of every adventure tale. Not to worry, I'm not leaving any strings hanging, but if you're worried about something from earlier chapters (that I most likely forgot about) please PM or review to make sure that gets into the next 2 or 3 chapters.

R&R!