A/N: Hi!

Disclaimed.

…FentonWorks…

"Wait!" Damon called out. "The Wisconsin Ghost is Vlad Masters."

The three teens present all stared at Damon in shock and a hint of fear. Fear?

"Mr. Gray?" Jazz voiced tentatively. Sam and Tucker eyed him warily from beside her.

"I," Damon bit out, only to be cut off by the queen-to-be.

"Damon, I understand that Vlad is unpleasant, but what you're suggesting is impossible," Maddie dismissed, turning to continue on her way. Indecisive glances flickered between Tucker, Sam, and Jazz.

"I know it's impossible," he reasoned desperately. "I know. That doesn't make it any less true."

Maddie shook her head, her lips pressed tight. Why was Damon doing this? She needed to get to Jack and her baby.

"We don't have time for this," she snapped. Maddie opened the door to the basement and swiftly disappeared into the darkness with no further delay.

Jazz chewed on her lip, closed her eyes, and stepped forward. With one final breath for courage, the redhead followed her mother down to the lab.

It was time.

…Walker's Prison, Ghost Zone…

Danny looked down at the ailing girl resting on his lap while his dad watched him intently. He knew he needed to continue. He'd already started so why was this so hard?

"Danny?" Jack prodded. He was trying to be patient, he really was, but he and Maddie had already figured out that everything began with the accident. What he needed to know was what happened after the accident.

"It," Danny swallowed, his hand shaking so much that he crossed his arms to keep from disturbing Dani. "It did something to my DNA or something. I don't really know all that much about what exactly happened, just that it did, and well…." He shook his head. "Despite everything that's happened in the last couple of years, despite how much the accident hurt…I'm glad it happened, Dad."

The young man met his father's eyes, his gaze steady and set. For the first time in a long time, Jack felt like he was getting the full truth from his son. It was a relief.

"Danny," Jack asked, his tone far from the boisterous noise most associated with the man, "why do you think the accident affected your DNA?"

Danny shifted uncomfortably and reached up a hand to rub at the back of his neck.

"I know because," Danny paused, thinking. He didn't want to try transforming just yet. Walker had used the Plasmius Maximus on him the moment Uncle Will was unconscious and while Danny had worked up a level of immunity to the device, he only had a limited range of powers available to him.

"I know, because…I can do stuff like this," Danny confessed, his hand and eyes beginning to glow an icy blue.

Jack stared in awe as his son made a cold compress out of thin air and applied it the feverish girl's throat, soothing some of her pain.

"There's…more, but Walker used something called the Plasmius Maximus that keeps me from using much else. It'll be another few minutes before it wears off completely. As it is, it's probably for the best if Walker and Plasmius don't realize I've figured out how to keep some of my powers."

Jack nodded. He wasn't entirely sure who Plasmius was, but anything that gave them an advantage sounded good to him.

"So, what else can ya do, Son?" Jack questioned, his enthusiasm mounting.

Danny laughed, exhilarated. He knew he still hadn't told his dad everything, but even with the bombshell of his identity left to tell, he felt freer than he had in a while.

"I can do a lot, Dad, and you and Mom have both seen what I can do – you just didn't know it was me," Danny told him. Jack raised his eyebrows at that. How could he and Maddie not recognize their son? The very idea was ridiculous, yet here was Danny telling him that that is exactly what happened.

"I'm Danny Phantom, Dad."

…Amity Park…

Paulina glared at Dash, though her heart wasn't all in it. They'd gotten to her house ten minutes ago, but Dash had refused to leave her alone. Under normal circumstances she might have appreciated his concern, but right now all it did was keep her from going to FentonWorks. If someone had told her just a month ago that she would prefer Danny Fenton's company to Dash Baxter's she would have laughed in their faces, but at the moment that's exactly how she felt. Danny hadn't bothered to even pretend that everything was okay when Lancer introduced the ghost hunters as his family. He just treated her like she was already his cousin to tease.

And when it came down to it, he'd gotten protective of her when he found her and Dash in the closet that morning. She didn't really understand why yet, but that meant something to her.

"Dash, can you please just go? I'll be fine," Paulina insisted. "I just need some time alone!"

BeepBeep!

Dash and Paulina shared a confuse look. That had sounded like it came from outside and both could hear a running motor as though the car it came from was idling just outside.

Since it was her house, Paulina got up and peeked out the window. The GAV? Weren't Mr. and Mrs. Fenton still out of town? A closer look showed that the driver was that techno-geek Danny always hung out with. Suddenly realizing that Dash was still in her house, the popular girl waved for the loser to drive away. She didn't know what he was doing at her house, but she wasn't going to risk Dash finding out the truth. The loser should know better – it wasn't like Dash had hidden his car!

The loser pursed his lips and pointedly laid on the horn. Even sending her dirtiest glare his way didn't faze the idiot.

"Paulina?"

"I'll be right back, I just have to deal with something," she told Dash, grabbing her jacket and stomping down the front stoop.

"'Bout time you came out here!" Tucker scowled.

"Do you have a death wish?" Paulina hissed. She crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow at the loser who just stared back blandly, clearly unaffected.

"Lancer asked me to come get you."

This caught Paulina off-guard so much that she uncrossed her arms and her stance became far less hostile.

"He's okay?" she asked, embarrassed about how small and vulnerable she sounded, but needing to know anyway.

"Yeah," Tucker responded sympathetically. He really hadn't expected Paulina to care so much, given her past behavior, but he wasn't going to be a jerk and tease her about her concern.

"Come on, he wants you with him at FentonWorks, so he knows you're safe."

Paulina bit her lip.

Tucker rolled his eyes, "Dash can deal. Right now you need to just do what's right for you and I get the feeling that means seeing for yourself that Lancer's okay."

"What would you know?" Paulina snapped defensively.

"Danny's lab accident two years ago," Tucker rattled off simply. "I didn't believe he was okay until he woke up. It's not quite the same, but, well, I get it."

"Dash has been a better friend than you think," Paulina told him. It was strange defending him after what he did that morning but she knew it was the truth. He may have gone about it the wrong way, but she recognized now that he was just hurt and he could've just left her to her thoughts when he dropped her off.

"I'm going to bring Dash with me," she decided. "He already knows Lancer's going to be my step-dad."

Tucker's eyes widened in alarm. This was bad, very bad. "Uh, Paulina, I don't think that would be a very good – !"

"What are you doing here, Foley?" Dash demanded scowling at the techno-geek.

Tucker dropped his head on the steering wheel groaning at the situation. "Forgive me, man," he muttered to Danny, even though the halfa couldn't hear him.

"Fine! Dash can come," he relented. "But if you tell anyone about what you're probably going to find out over there, I will post every embarrassing photo I can find or fabricate of you all over the internet and send the worst of them to all your friends, got it?"

Dash and Paulina both recoiled from the threat, not doubting the geek for one second yet still shocked that he had it in him to say it.

"Got it," the jock and cheerleader acquiesced before climbing into the vehicle.

…FentonWorks…

"Mom?" Jazz finally spoke up. She had been in the Weapons Vault with her mother for fifteen minutes and had yet to broach the topic.

"Yes, dear?" Maddie responded absently as she tried to decide between two very similar ecto-guns.

"About what Mr. Gray said – "

"Sweetie, I'm sure it's just the stress of the situation," Maddie dismissed the information.

"No, Mom…it's not." Jazz sighed, turning to face her mother more directly and waiting for the older woman to do the same. Maddie, already back in her favorite jumpsuit, eventually put down the weapons and faced her daughter, not liking the delay but recognizing it as unavoidable.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, Vlad is half ghost. I know it sounds impossible but it's true. Danny and I have both seen him transform. I – we held back, in Bairdan, when you asked why Danny and I hated Vlad. The truth is that he's been trying to kill Dad since before the reunion," Jazz divulged. "There's more to it than that, but I – it's Danny's story to tell, and I won't take that from him."

Seeing her daughter's distress, Maddie could feel the horror settling in. If Vlad really was the Wisconsin Ghost and he did harbor such ill-intent, who was to say her husband was still alive?

No. She refused to think like that.

"All the more reason to get ready quickly," she asserted. "If Vlad thinks he's won, he has another thing coming!"

Jazz grinned victoriously as she watched her enraged mother prepare. Vlad would never know what him.

…

A/N: So, there you have it! The secret's out…partially. What did you think of the reveals? And Tucker's predicament? Tell me in a review, and as alwaysALOHA! Happy New Year!