A/N: Hello readers! I am not, as it turns out, dead. I am just incredibly busy. The holidays weren't the most relaxing time of the year for me, and I hardly had anytime to sit down and write. Hence, this incredibly short 3.3K chapter. Sorry about that :(
I've already begun the next chapter and I'm going to try hard to get that out by the end of January. I hope everyone had a joyful Hanukkah, a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Mrs. Possible's jaw dropped.

"You're… dating?" she asked, a bit uneasily.

Danny felt his stomach drop. That wasn't the best response a guy could hope for.

But then she began to smile. A faint smile at first but it soon grew. The outer corners of her mouth were pulled into a wide and happy grin. She walked over to Danny's side, and kneeled down.

"That's great!" she smiled broadly, and laid a motherly hand on Danny's left shoulder.

"Wh-" Danny began to ask, but abruptly stopped. He was caught off guard when Mrs. Possible had suddenly wrapped her arms around Danny's neck and held him in a tight embrace.

Danny felt a deep blush crawl onto his cheeks, but he couldn't stop it. He wrapped his arms around Mrs. Possible's back in an awkward gesture. She pulled away, and ruffled his raven hair for a moment.

"Are you feeling okay, Mom?" Kim asked curiously.

Mrs. Possible turned her attention to her daughter. "Of course, Kimmie! I'm just… happy for you. The both of you, I mean. You haven't had a nice boy around in, well, to be honest a while. I knew I took a liking to Phantom when I first met him," she explained to the group of teenagers. "I was even thinking how cute you two looked sitting so close," she giggled.

"Well that's… great!" Kim smiled back. "Really just fantastic! I don't think Dad's gonna have the same thought," her voice trailed off in thought, "but… you know… he'll grow on him."

Danny, still not able to get the redness to drain from his cheeks, now he felt his anxiety levels sky-rocket as he started thinking about what Mr. Possible would think of him. He'd probably be really disappointed he hadn't properly introduced himself before. He'd probably think less of him. His heart rate began to spike, and Mrs. Possible, rather unfortunately, noticed.

"How are you still awake? I told you to rest. That' the only way you can get better," her tone was motherly and doctorly at the same time.

"I can't sleep," he said louder than the last time he told her.

"Let's see what I can do," Mrs. Possible walked over to her bag, and pulled out a jar. Danny could just see that it read "Melatonin."

"Here, take one of these, love. It'll help, I promise. It wears off in 4 hours, though, so we'll have to dose you once more at 7."

"Wait! What time is it?" Danny asked, suddenly sounding panicked.

"3 in the morning, dear."

"Kim, come here! I iced your leg at 1:30. Ectoplasmic ice isn't supposed to stay on so long. It should be all better by now, anyways."

Kim reached her leg up to her boyfriend, who placed one gentle hand on her knee. The ice began thaw, but instead of going to liquid water, the ice sublimated – it went straight from the frozen state wrapped around her leg to the air that surrounded them all. He ran his hand down her leg and the clear and smooth skin was revealed behind it. Just as he had said, the leg was completely normal after that hour and a half.

"Wow," she said, bewildered. "That's amazing."

"That really is something," Mrs. Possible breathed. "Okay enough procrastinating," she said louder and clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. "You really need to take these. When we return to your house, we'll put you straight to bed, you hear me? No exceptions!"

Danny nodded, and took the white, circular pill from her hand. He swallowed it whole, but felt nothing. His eyes blinked a few times in surprise. He wondered whether it was normal to not feel any different after taking sleeping medication.

"Is it… a quick effect?" he asked the doctor.

"Just be patient," she smirked.

And as soon as she said those words, Danny really did start to feel the impact. I mean, wow! Was it intense! The effort it took to simply hold his eyes open was immediately too much, so he slapped them closed. Lethargy began to take over as he felt his eyelids glue together and his mind grow fuzzy. He couldn't focus on anything except sleep. Like the American Black Bear finally laying down for winter's overdue hibernation, Danny felt his right state of mind was to be indulged in a dream-filled trance. Gentle and calming sleep was his mind's only objective. He could hardly even remember where he was or even who else was in the room with him. Kim, right? Sam and Tuck must've been there, too. Was Jazz? He honestly couldn't remember.

He couldn't fight the deep relaxation a moment longer. It was becoming way too much of a struggle. In one exhale, he was sound asleep.

…

"Yes sir, that's correct," Valerie answered the police officer.

They were standing outside Vlad's mansion on his porch. Two police officers were talking to the girls. The older, mustached one who had a Southern accent had just asked Valerie for clarification of what crimes she was convicting Vlad of: fraud and theft out of tax-payer's money.

The younger police officer could hardly be 18 and was probably just in training for something. His dark complexion reminded Valerie of a gorgeous mocha, and his hair was nearly shaven to his head. His eyes were a brilliant blue, and his smile was show-stopping.

"Alright Vlad Masters," the older one said to the fruit loop. "You are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney, present during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you."

The older one then handcuffed the man, and began walking him to the patrol car. The other cop, meanwhile, addressed the two bizarrely dressed girls.

"Alright, ladies, I'd like to thoroughly thank you for your help today. I don't think any of us expected the mayor himself to be capable of wrecking such havoc!" he said.

"It was no problem, really," Valerie told the gentleman with her own smile. She couldn't help but notice the officer blush a bit. Valerie's gentle smile turned to a devilish one, and she took a step forward. Placing a hand on his upper arm, she opened her round brown eyes to gaze at him.

"You're really good at your job, you know? How long have you had it?"

He blushed and for some reason couldn't hold her eyes. "Just 3 months now," he told her, looking away.

"You're kidding! I would've said at least a year. But, then you do look pretty young. How old are you?"

"Em, 18. Ma'am," he added in a desperate attempt to remain professional.

"'Ma'am'?" she laughed out loud. "The manners on this one, am I right?" she turned around and asked Dani. Dani could only smile and nod her agreement.

"Okay, Officer," her eyes fluttered down to his badge. "Eric. I'll see you around."

"Well I hope not," he said with a flash of concern flooding his eyes. "If I see you again, it means you were in another situation where the police were needed. I hope you never have to call us again."

Valerie really was grateful for his consideration. It was slightly misogynistic (she could take care of herself, thank you very much) but in any case the gesture was nice. She smiled at him, and said with a flirty wink: "Well in that case, you better write down my number."

The bumbling and awkward man hurriedly took out his pen from his shirt pocket and scribbled down her seven digits.

"Bye" she told him as she walked away with Dani in tow.

"Yeah! Yeah I'll see ya around!" the boy said as he excitedly waved after her.

"That was really cute," Dani told Valerie once the police officers were out of sight and ear shot.

"It was wasn't it? I don't have time for a boyfriend, but… who knows. Maybe we'll have fun."

She hurriedly phased into Dani Phantom and Valerie beat her ankles together twice as she turned into the Red Huntress.

"Where you headed?" Valerie asked the younger hybrid girl.

"Back to Pandora's. She'll be missing me by now," she told her. "What about you?"

"Home," she laughed. "I have school tomorrow. But I've gotten less sleep in one night, so who's complaining?"

"See you around?" Dani asked with a bright smile.

"You bet. Take care, Dani." Valerie returned a smile though it was significantly darker. Bright smiles had long gone out of Valerie's everyday plan.

Dani flew off into the night; Valerie, following her lead, left as well.

…

"We can get him," Tucker said, referencing himself and Sam.

They were talking about Danny. The melatonin still had him completely wiped out, so Tucker and Sam took respective ends at his body, and lifted him into the air. It was a struggle, but they somehow got him up 2 flights of stairs – the first of which was only 8 or so stairs as they exited the lab. The rest were much more difficult.

But it was doable and the two had shared heavier loads before. They tucked him into bed, and weren't at all surprised to find that he didn't wake up once. Danny's body was almost always past an exhausted state. He deserved some time to rest and heal.

They then left his room, closing the door behind them, and descended the stairs. They walked into the kitchen, and found everyone awake in the house in there as well. It wasn't everyone, but it was a fair number. Enough to discuss the rest of the plans for the morning.

Tucker and Sam took a seat at the very familiar Fenton kitchen table. Jazz stalked over to the counter to make a large pot of coffee. She had pulled all-nighters before, but it had been hard. She still didn't quite know how Danny did it so much.

Mrs. Possible and her husband (the ladder of which had stayed up waiting for her to get back since he was instructed to stay and watch over the twins) took a seat at the round table, holding hands for support.

Kim stood in the corner. Now that she was back in a home, everything became much more real. She started to panic about the events of the night. And most of all, she started to freak about Danny. Was he really going to be okay? Kim was starting to think her mother just told her that.

"So not to cut to the chase, or anything," Mr. Possible began. "But… what do we do now?"

"We go home," Mrs. Possible told her husband while gently rubbing his hand. "Just like we initially planned."

Jazz poured herself one steaming mug of coffee and got a few empty mugs to bring to the table along with the pot. She nodded at the married couple, silently agreeing.

"Let everyone rest. We'll load everyone into the Specter Speeder when the sun rises. This has been a crazy weekend, and I'm sorry you all got dragged into it," Jazz truly did feel bad that they had dragged the entire Possible family into this big mess.

"Don't apologize, Dear. We were happy we could be here to help."

"Yea, and Anne here did help!" Mr. Possible backed his wife.

It was suddenly clear to everyone at the table that Mrs. Possible, before she had left, had told her husband her assistance was needed but had not yet had time to explain the ghost boy's, er, halfa condition.

"Speaking of," Mr. Possible turned to look at everyone at the table. "Where is that ghost kid? Is he doing alright? Anne told me you said he'd been hurt pretty bad."

There was an awkward silence that followed Mr. Possible's honest question. No one dared speak. This man was so out of the loop it was almost embarrassing, and no one wanted to be the person to break it to him.

"Did I say something wrong?" Mr. Possible asked after no one responded for at least half a minute.

"Kim?" her mother looked at her with pursed lips and gestured for her to speak.

"Er… okay Dad… so there's two things that I haven't exactly been honest about."

She stopped talking, at a loss of what to say, and didn't speak again until she had completely organized her thoughts.

"First, Phantom is a human. He's just regular 17 year old boy who accidently contaminated his DNA with ectoplasmic energy. Like, Spider-Man or something except ghost genes, not a radioactive spider's. His name is Danny Fenton – the school-attending, totally normal kid who happens to hunt ghosts by night.
"And second…" Kim looked to her Mom for support and although her face was empathetic, they both knew Kim needed to be the one to say this next part. "We're… dating."

Mr. Possible's eyes grew three sizes too large for his head. He violently gripped the table, and stood up with great force. His chair was thrust to the side, and a vein began to throb on his right temple. His face was quickly becoming red, and it was clear to everyone in that room that he was about to blow. It seemed sudden, but Kim knew her father had mood swings like a woman menstruating.

"You're WHAT?"

"James, please, calm down. There are people still sleeping."

He closed his eyes for a moment, and seemed to shake with effort then spoke again. This time in a muted whisper that had just as much – if not more – impact than his first question; he spoke through gritted teeth: "Dating?"

Kim's bottom lip was quivering with anxiety and her palms were becoming nervously sweaty. "Dating. Danny's my boyfriend." Even with the nerves tingling in her stomach, she held her ground.

"No he's not," Mr. Possible warned. "He's not even human! What did you compare him to? A radioactive spider crossover! Do you know what happens to Spider-Man's girlfriends? THEY DIE!"

He drew in for air, but Kim didn't even have time to rebut him before he started to speak again.

"Absolutely not, I forbid it. There is no way that I'm letting you get hurt. Nope. Absolutely not."

"I appreciate your concern, Dad, but it isn't exactly you decision to make," Kim hardly ever disagreed with her parents, but she was NOT backing down on this.

"Isn't my decision to make? Are you serious? Kim, he's just going to hurt you! Can't you see that?"

"In Danny's defense, Mr. Possible, sir," a voice rang out. It was none other than Tucker. "He isn't a bad kid. Kim's like only his second girlfriend EVER!"

"How many girlfriends have you had, Tucker?" Sam teased, and nudged him in the ribs.

"That's beside the point. We're talking about Danny," he said aggravated, but Sam only laughed.

"Tucker's right, honey," Mrs. Possible gently stroked her husband's arm. "Danny really is a sweet boy."

"You knew about this?!" he asked bewildered and drew his arm away from his wife.

"Don't act so victimized: I found out tonight. Though I must say, I handled it a lot better than you are."

Mr. Possible rolled his eyes. He knew very well he wasn't handling this perfectly. But his rage just consumed him. He did need to try to calm down, though, and he knew that.

"Okay, I'm sorry," he began. "Am I allowed to speak to Danny?" he said the name funny. Like it didn't roll of his tongue easily.

"NO." 6 voices spoke all at once.

"What? Why?" Mr. Possible demanded.

"Well for one he's sleeping right now. He sustained quite a few severe injuries that need to be taken care of at once. He's knocked out. I gave him a dose of melotonin."

"Then we'll talk after he wakes up."

"Absolutely not," Mrs. Possible told him. "He needs to rest and only worry about healing. We don't need to get him all excited or nervous by having a conversation with you."

"Then when am I supposed to 'properly' meet him?" Mr. Possible said with just a hint of mock.

"You're all going home," Kim spoke for the first time in a while. "Everyone. As soon as everyone gets up, we'll start to round everyone up. They already think that there was no fight, so why disturb their peace? And Dad?" she began to solely address the aging man. "That thing about Danny is a SECRET! Do you understand? You can't tell anyone."

Mr. Possible rolled his eyes but reluctantly nodded.

Kim went on. "Jazz can take you all back in a few hours. Everyone will be waking up pretty soon and then you guys can all go."

"And why aren't you coming?" Mr. Possible demanded.

"I need to pack my things. I haven't been in my apartment in a while now. And I' not leaving until I see Danny well. I don't care how long that takes." Mr. Possible grumbled at that comment, but didn't say anything.

"And dad?" she spoke once more.

"Mmph?"

"You know I love you, and I know you're trying to keep me safe, but… just try to keep an open mind, okay?"

Mr. Possible's rough exterior finally broke and he offered his daughter a small smile. "Okay," he agreed.

…

Within a few hours, people started waking up. None of them even knew that a fight had taken place. They were all still thinking the man they were supposed to fight had called for a compromise instead of a battle. She had Danny's clever mind to thank for that. Now Kim didn't need to explain anything.

In fact, most of the squad (with the exception of Wego and, of course, Shego) were so excited to return home without fighting that they hardly ate breakfast and instead made a run for the Specter Speeder . Jazz had gotten everyone situated before 10 am and for once in a very long time, things were going AHEAD of schedule.

A few people asked about Phantom, but no answers were given. Everyone started to assume that he had some ghost duties or things to attend to. And of course, Ron and Kim did not even try to correct them.

They all said their farewells to Sam and Tucker and Kim, and Jazz took off into the Ghost Zone, and was gone within seconds.

Sam, Tucker and Kim all stood looking into the green abyss after the disappeared specter speeder.

"Finally," Sam muttered. Tucker was the only one close enough to hear, and he lightly nudged her in the ribcage. Though they both were thankful everyone was FINALLY gone, they didn't want Kim to know that's what they thought of her entire family and friends.

"Do you disagree?" Sam muttered under her breath.

Tucker gave a small snort. He clearly thought the idea of simple disagreeing was HILARIOUS. Sam shushed him, and glanced at Kim.

Kim, on the other hand, was staring at the two of them. He hand was on hip, and her eyebrows here furrowed. "You know I can hear you right? I literally standing right here," she gestured to the space between her and the Goth girl.

Now it was Sam's turn to snort her laughter. She gave out a small cackle and turned to her ginger friend. "Look," she started to say but couldn't finish as she attempted to compose her laughing face. "I'm" Laughter. "I'm sorry, okay?" Laughter. "But…" Laughter. "Come on, you're not thankful, too?"

Kim smiled at that. It really was hard to dispute with. She had released her own breath of relief when the Specter Speeder pulled away.

"I'm sorry, Kim," Tucker began. "But…" Laughter. "How ON EARTH can you tolerate them? God it's…"

Kim started to giggle with their fits of laughter. But soon enough, she too couldn't control herself, and they were all three shaking with wild laughter that couldn't be tamed.

A/N: R&R!