A/N: So excited for the next chapter :] Eeeeep! Btw sorry for so many line breaks!

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Run Through

Chapter Song: Heartbreak Warfare by John Mayer

"I'm just excited for my ghost free holiday. Two weeks of sleeping late and Christmas presents." Danny said. We were sitting across from each other in a booth at a local burger joint. Elliot somehow dragged us here since his stomach was growling all of six and seventh period.

"You're lucky, my parents aren't even gonna be home for Christmas."

"Why?"

"They never got to take an actual honeymoon so this is kind of it. They're going on a ten-day cruise to Hawaii. No phone reception, no children, no worries."

"Feel free to come over my house, I doubt my parents are going to be there."

"Come on, it's one of the biggest holidays of the year, I'm sure they've got off."

"Last year they didn't. I spent it with Elliot, who celebrates Chanukah." A faint smile traced my lips as I shook my head in disappointment.

"Speaking of parents, have you talked to them yet?" Danny's lips formed a hard line and he looked down to the poorly polished fake wood table.

"No. They don't know I know. But curiosity's getting the better of me."

"It's getting the better of both of us. But, this just makes so much sense. You've got bright blue eyes—"

"And they have hazel and brown, I know. Not even that. There are no baby pictures of me prior to one year old, or pictures of my mom pregnant. Nothing."

"You're going to have to ask them eventually."

"I'm going to have to talk to Maddie, or whatever her name is. My real fathers dead, my great ancestors had to deal with ghosts, and I've got a sister named Jazz who doesn't know I exist. Somethings going to have to happen."

"You can't talk to Maddie. She has something to do with Vlad, and he has something to do with trying to kill every ghost in town."

"You're right." He heavily sighed and ran a hand through his hair. His palm pressed against his forehead as he put his elbow on the tabletop.

"You are going to have to tell Elliot though." He looked up to me.

"He's going to make a big deal of it."

"It is a big deal. He's known you longer me, he's known your parents—your adoptive parents. He'll be more hurt if you don't tell him."

"Fine, you're right."

"Right about what?" Elliot came over to the table with a tray filled with a burger, fries, and soda. How can he eat all that grease? Danny and I looked at each other.

"Nothing." We said at the same time. He became suspicious, but shrugged it off.

"So," Elliot sat down, "where was Alek today?" He stuffed a fry in his mouth.

"I don't know. I texted him second period and he answered me sixth saying he had family stuff to do."

"Sounds sketchy to me." Danny shrugged, stealing a fry from Elliot's tray. I hopelessly shrugged. Was it weird Alek never called to say he was missing school? Yes. Was his reply short, simple, and not to the point? Extremely. But I wasn't going to let it bother me.

"I don't know. Sure it's weird, but I'm not going to let it bother me, it's not that—" I paused as my phone began vibrating against the table. The screen flashed Jeremy's name across the screen. I slid the screen to answer.

"Hello?" The phone pressed to my ear.

"Alexa, get home. Now." Why was his voice so urgent?

"What's going on? Are you okay?"

"Just get home." He directed.

"Where are mom and dad?"

"Not here, it's not about them. Get home!" He hung up. I pulled the phone away from my ear and looked at the dark screen. What just happened? Was this an emergency? What was going on at home?

"What?" Elliot asked through a mouth full of hamburger.

"I think I got to get home."

"What? Why?" Danny asked.

"There's something wrong with Jeremy, I don't know he didn't explain."

"This isn't another one of your lies to get out of something, is it?" Danny wondered with raised brows.

"No, I swear, " I scooted out of my booth and grabbed my bag, "sorry." I apologized. Before I took off, I mouthed a 'tell him' to Danny and he nodded his head.

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"Jeremy?" I yelled as I rushed inside the house, slamming the front door behind me.

"Jer?" I yelled. He came out of nowhere as I entered the living room. A large envelope was creased in his hand.

"What the hells going on?" I wondered. He stood still for a second and I looked at him like he was crazy. Did someone die? Then, he held out the large envelope in his hands. I could see a blue and white UCLA logo on the top. My eyes widened. This wasn't about someone dying or being injured, it was about his college admission. The expression on his face led me to understand he didn't get it. Until, a smile broke his hard face.

"I got in." He smiled. My perspective changed, a wide smile broaden my face.

"No way!" I squealed, running and jumping into join him in a hug.

"I didn't think I'd do it!" He laughed. I cut off the hug, and took the envelope out of his hand. Unfolding the flaps, I took out a crisp white paper.

"Dear Mr. Pennington, the University of California Los Angeles wants to formally congratulate you onto being accepted into the prestige university of UCLA!" I shrieked, "Jeremy, this is incredible! Do mom and dad know yet?"

"No, they went out to go get last minute stuff for the trip."

"Of course," I mumbled, "Jeremy, I'm so proud of you! Go call them."

"Nah, I'd rather tell them in person." He smiled, taking back the admission letter and sealing it into the envelope.

"In the mood for a celebratory coffee? I'll buy." I offered.

"That sounds perfect." He smirked. Jeremy put down the letter on a nearby table and we headed out. The cold December air hit us like a ton of bricks as we walked out the door. During our car ride, Jeremy's acceptance was all we could talk about. I couldn't believe he was going to be going back to California. He'd live in a dorm back near home. He'd get to see all his friends. I was happy for him. And more importantly, I couldn't wait to visit him. Once we parallel parked in a free spot, we headed into the nearest Starbucks.

"Tall skinny vanilla lattee, please." I ordered, handing the cashier a ten dollar bill. After I received my change, I handed the rest of the money to Jeremy.

"I'll go get us a table. Mind getting my drink?"

"Ok." He assured and then ordered his drink. I looked down to the phone in my palm, a message from Danny appearing on the screen. Is everything okay, the message said. As I walked out of the coffee shop, I bumped into someone.

"I'm sorr—" I looked up from my phone, and the woman did too. My eyes widened at the sight of the red headed woman with several shopping bags in her hands.

"Alexa?" She cocked her head.

"Yes?" I pretended not to know her. How ironic was this?

"Remember me?" She stuck out her hand as a gesture for me to shake it "Maddie Fenton? We met a few weeks ago."

"Oh," I stuttered, looking down to the hand that she soon pulled away, "right, of course."

"How are you, dear?"

"Fine, just waiting for my brother." I shrugged.

"Oh, well I bet you're excited. Winter breaks coming up soon, correct?" Why was Maddie making small talk with me?

"Yeah, one more week." Behind me, the door opened and out came Jeremy.

"Lex, I thought you were getting a table?" He wondered, holding the two hot drinks in his hands.

"Uh, yeah. Give me a second." He shrugged and went off to get a table.

"Anyways, I better get going."

"Alright." I nodded my head.

"You seem like a very nice girl, we need to have lunch one day." She suggested, then bent over to the table beside her and grabbed a napkin and a pen out of her purse.

"Thank you…" My voice was evidently suspicious. After writing down something, she handed me the white napkin.

"Here's my number, call me when you're free." She insisted and proceeded to walk away. That did not just happen. No, I had to be dreaming or something. It was to much of a coincidence. As I walked back to the table Jeremy had picked, I sent a quick text to Danny.

You won't believe who I just ran in to.

"Who was that?" Jeremy asked as I sat down on the cold metal chair.

"Just someone I met at Vlad's party." I partially lied. I wasn't going to be the one to tell Jeremy that Danny was adopted. Or that Maddie was really Danny's mother, or even that she was Vlad's girlfriend. These things were better left unsaid. I looked at my drink, steam radiating out of the gap on the top.

"You ran into her?" Danny couldn't believe his ears.

"Yup. We walked into each other outside Starbucks." I informed for the second time today. I was still in shock myself. It was hard to believe how ironic it was to bump into her of all people. I was up half last night thinking about it, but I wasn't going to let Danny know that.

"Well? What'd she say?"

"That I seemed really nice and she wants to have lunch one day."

"What?" Danny exclaimed in shock, and stopped walking, "what did you say?"

"Nothing."

"What? Did words completely escape you?"

"I was a little to distracted by bumping into your real mother to ask any questions or insult her by saying no." I sighed, and then pulled out the napkin from my pocket.

"She also gave me this." I added, handing Danny the napkin with her number on it.

"Wow, she's serious about this. Are you going to do it?"

"Of course not."

"Maybe you should, you know, to get more information on her and…my family."

"No, no, no, no. That's going to be to obvious."

"It'll be fine. Just wait a little while; she won't know anything's up. It'll be—" Danny said, then I noticed Alek walking through the hallway.

"Alek!" I called. He stopped and turn to me. His lips formed a hard smile that didn't look sincere. Was he okay?

"Hey," I rushed up to him, "where were you yesterday? I called you like three times."

"I said I had family stuff, remember?"

"Yeah, but is everything okay?" Why was I feeling so nervous around him? My hands felt hot. Maybe he figured out I lied to get out of the dinner the other day.

"I'm fine." He shortly answered, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Okay…" I paused, "here, let's go to first period." I was about to grab his hand.

"Sorry," he pulled away, "I've got to go make up a test." He tossed the coffee cup in the trash beside the lockers. "See you later." I watched him disappear down the hall. My palms felt clammy, eyes felt weary.

"What just happened?" I asked Danny, completely stunned.

"Don't ask me, he's your boyfriend." He mocked. I shook my head, cracking myself out of the cloud of shock I was in. Whatever.

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"How long have you known?" Elliot asked me, referring to Danny's adoption.

"A few days. I found the paper." I notified.

"Still don't get this…and how you kept it from me." Elliot looked to Danny.

"Don't look at me, I still can't believe it."

"And to think that you were connected to the original Fenton, shocking."

"Okay, okay, I get it. Can we stop talking about it? The only thing I want to talk about is you," Danny pointed a finger at me, "talking to Maddie."

"Me? No."

"She asked you, not us."

"But I don't want to!" I whined.

"Come on, for me. I promised to be nice to—hey Alek!" Danny put on a fake smile.

"Hey, Lex' can I talk to you?" He wondered. Our eyes met and he nodded. I felt obligated to go. Without another word to Danny or Elliot, I silently got up from my seat and followed Alek out into the hallway.

"What's up?" I was toying the ring on my pointer finger.

"I just wanted to apologize for how I acted earlier. I was pretty stressed yesterday but, I didn't mean to take it out on you."

"It's fine, everyone has those days. What happened, are you okay?"

"I'm fine now." He sighed, grabbing my hand.

"You sure? Because you can talk about it you know."

"I know, but everything's okay now."

"Promise?" I asked, trying to be a good girlfriend. Alek smiled, looking down to the floor. He squeezed my hand and together, hand in hand, we walked back into the cafeteria. Ignoring the whispers of inquisitive students, we headed back to our table. Everything was okay, he never found out about me lying. Elliot and Danny were staring at us like something was wrong. Elliot leaned into Danny and whispered something in his ear, no doubt about me being okay with Alek.

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"It's whatever." Jenna said. Soft smacking sounds filled the receiver; she was probably chomping on a piece of chocolate. She did that when she was stressed.

"It'll be fine Jenna, don't stress."

"Thanks Alexa. I just need to stop eating. I'm gonna gain another ten pounds." She sighed.

"Listen Jenna, I gotta go. I'll call you later, okay?" I tapped my fingernails on the cold metal table.

"Sure, talk to you later." She hung up. Silently, I sighed. One more week, I chanted to myself like a mantra. Winter break was all I've been thinking about the past few weeks. School was stressing me out unbelievably. And this didn't help, at all. What's this you may ask? This was me currently sitting outside a local bistro waiting for Maddie Fenton to arrive. Somehow, after lunch, Danny convinced me to arrange something with Maddie, without her knowing. I didn't know exactly how this was going to work, at all. This had to be one of Elliot's dumbest plans yet. He called Maddie on a blocked number saying that the dry cleaners next door had something for Vlad and it'd be ready at four o'clock. Of course that was a lie, this was a set up to walk past me and sit down to chat. I covered my mouth with my sleeve.

"This is stupid." I whispered into the sleeve. Elliot and Danny, wherever they were, could hear me through a hearing device Elliot had stashed away in his room. The little dork was dying to use it, and he finally found his perfect situation to make use of it.

No it's not! Elliot texted me.

"Yes it is, I feel like a loner." I mumbled. It was uncomfortable sitting here by myself. What if someone from school walked by and saw me sitting alone? They would think I was awkward and I liked sitting alone.

Calm down, no ones gonna see you. The next message read.

"Alexa?" Maddie. I looked up from my phone.

"Oh," act surprised, "hi." I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear.

"I just keep running into you, don't I?" She chuckled and pulled out the chair opposite to me. "Mind if I sit down?"

"No." I shook my head.

"So, what are you doing here?" She set her speedy handbag down on the pavement and the envelopes she was carrying in her hands on the table.

"Just waiting for a friend." I lied.

"Oh then I wont be to long." She assured.

"What are you doing here?" I questioned.

"Just dropping off some mail and picking up Vlad's dry cleaning."

"Why, he can't do it himself?" My brows rose.

"He's a very busy man." Buzzz, my phone vibrated against my leg.

Stop giving her such an attitude.

Shut up Elliot, I thought. Maddie sighed, tapping her fingers against her leg.

"Not trying to invasive or anything, but by any chance, are you related to a Jack Fenton?" This was going to turn awkward. Maddie's face grew hard. Her eyes were a mix of pain, sorrow, and wonder.

"Yes," she cleared her throat, "in fact, he was my husband." She pursed her lips.

"Oh, I'm sorry." I looked down to my shoes.

"Why do you ask?" Think of something, quick! Anything, what was there to say?

"When I moved here, I saw something about a Jack Fenton in the paper. I was just curious."
"You are a very curious girl, aren't you? Jack was my husband, and he died from a fire in my home. That's when I left town with my daughter."

"Your daughter? Did you ever have any other children?" Come on, don't lie. This was the moment of truth, the moment Danny was waiting for.

"No," Damn it! "Only a daughter named Jazz, who's in college now."

"Oh," was that all I could say? "I'm sorry for you loss."

"That was the past. As much as I loved my husband, and still do, I must move on. It's what he would want, right?" She asked me.

"Right." My voice sounded unsure and shy.

"And speaking of moving on, let's change subjects." She reached down into her purse and pulled out a small white envelope.

"What do you know on this Danny Phantom?" My throat tightened.

"What?" My brows furrowed, "oh not you too." My eyes rolled, pretending to know nothing on the subject.

"I'm just curious. I know Vlad's been on top of the subject in the past."

"You know about that?" I was taken aback.

"Let's just say, I've heard some things." She smiled innocently.

"I found these lying around the office." She handed me the envelope. I opened it and found three pictures of Danny, in ghost form, with me. This was from a few days ago.

"What the hell?" I gasped, holding the three pictures out like a fan of cards in my hand, "where did he get these?" I looked up to her. She shrugged. If she didn't know she was seeing me today, why did she have these in her bag?

She had to be working with Vlad. I knew I shouldn't trust her. This was a bad idea.

"You know, these are from a long time ago." I lied.

"Are they?" She cocked her head.

"I told Vlad last week, I haven't talked to him in months." I put my phone behind the photos and texted Elliot:

S.O.S, get me out of here. NOW.

If they didn't listen, I'd kill them later for it. Maddie looked at me suspiciously.

"Why do you have these?" Her violet-grey eyes were like daggers.

"I told you, I found them."

"Hey! Alexa!" Elliot called, casually walking over with Danny.

"And some woman we don't know." Classic Elliot. Before standing up from my seat, I stuffed the photos in my bag and held the envelope in my hand. Maddie stood up too.

"Well this was a nice chat." She took the envelope from my hands as Danny and Elliot came by my side. Danny's stare on her was obvious; this was his first real encounter with his mother. Maddie caught the stare from him, and observed the boy. There was something oddly familiar about him. His black hair and striking blue eyes, they reminded her of Jack and Jazz in some ways. There was something particularly similar to his jaw line. She wondered who the boy was, and who the other boy next to him was, and how he knew me. But then again, she didn't really want to care. So she didn't.

As she creased the empty envelope back and forth in her hand, a suspicious look crossed her face. It looked as if she momentarily saw through our façade.

"I'll be seeing you around." She grabbed her purse from the floor. "Goodbye, Alexa. Goodbye friends." She walked away. I took Elliot's device from the neck of my shirt and placed it in his hand.

"I'm never doing that again." I swore.

"What just happened?"

"You heard everything. She lied about Danny but she didn't lie about Jack. But she was completely upfront about these." I handed them the pictures out of my bag.

"What? Where'd they get these?"

"She got them from Vlad. They were from a few days ago." I remember the situation very quickly. Danny and I were driving to Elliots when his ghost sense went off and we were hiding around a building because he thought he saw one in a store. To think of it, that was probably right around the area where City Hall is. And the photo looked like it was shot from high up. They were spying on us.

"We've got to lay low. All of us. No more interacting with Maddie. We've got to put this on hold." I told Danny.

"She's right, if we didn't find anything from her now we won't in the next few weeks." He sighed. Looking down to my phone, I looked at the time.

"Listen, I got to get home since my parents are leaving tomorrow morning. We've got a family dinner or something."

"Want me to drive you? You know to make sure nothing weird happens? I'll fly home after." Before Elliot could protest, someone honked at us from the street. As the passenger window of a white mini cooper rolled down, it revealed to be Elliot's dad.

"Perfect timing, I'll see you guys later." Elliot waved and ran to his dad's car.

"Come on, let's go. I'll drive." I started walking to my car down the street.