Author's Note: I personally love this chapter, because it gets into the Maddie/Vlad shipping. At the beginning of this story I said it was one-sided, and most people probably thought it was Vlad's side of the pairing. Well, most people don't know how I write. You'll see what happens in this chapter. Don't worry, nothing extreme will happen yet (the worst is yet to come). They don't even kiss until Chapter 6 (after the next fight in Chapter 5). I'm actually going to raise the rating to T because it's going to get a little... romantic later on. Maybe I should add romance as a genre, too...

Thank you all for reviewing and being loyal to the story, and thanks to Sapphire for diligently telling me what I suck at (but saying it nicely), even though I don't listen to her advice (I'm just kidding, Sapphire). It's hard for me to change the way I write for this story. I had a hard time with the fight scene in the last chapter. I'm not an action writer; let's face it, that fight scene sucked! But, thank you all for supporting this story, however horrible it may be.

Chapter 4

"Mom, we have to find Plasmius," Danny said pleadingly. His green eyes drifted down towards Vlad. "Please, please wake up, Vlad. We need you. You know Plasmius better than me. Please…" Danny knew that he couldn't fight Plasmius on his own. He needed help. "Jazz, where's Jazz?" he asked, suddenly looking up.

"In her room reading, why?" she asked, but was left without an answer as Danny shot through the floor, disappearing from sight. "Never mind, then." She looked down at Vlad, who was breathing softly in his unconsciousness. "Vlad, wake up. We need you. We can't do this alone. Please, Vlad. Danny needs you." She closed her eyes and sighed deeply. "I need you, Vlad. I—"

"Mom!" Jazz's voice called out, interrupting Maddie mid-sentence. "What happened?" the teen asked, running towards the two figures on the ground. "Danny told me that… is that Vlad?" Maddie smiled. Her daughter was so bright, to have known about Danny for so long.

"Vlad Masters," Maddie answered. "Vlad Plasmius is on the loose, and Danny needs all the help he can get. Where is Danny?"

"Um," Jazz answered hesitantly. She finally answered. "He's in my room."

"We have to go, Jazz," Maddie said sternly. "Right now. Every second we waste is a second that Plasmius can kill someone. He isn't human anymore; he doesn't have any emotions now." Jazz nodded.

"I'll go get Danny," Jazz said, and she ran back down to her room, where Danny was sitting on her bed with his head in his hands. "Danny, get a hold of yourself. You're Danny Phantom, for goodness sakes. You're a hero, and heroes don't cry. Even if they are fourteen years old." Danny looked up with a small smile. "Now let's go, Mom's waiting for us."

Maddie sighed and stood up, holding the unconscious man in her arms. "My goodness, you're light as a feather, Masters." She slowly made her way down the stairs and out to the Specter Speeder in the basement. Jazz and Danny were waiting. Maddie transferred Vlad to Danny's arms, and Danny put him in the back seat of the vehicle, while he, Maddie, and Jazz sat in the front.

"I'm driving," Danny stated firmly. He revved up the engine and the vehicle drifted into the Ghost Zone.

Maddie almost jumped when she heard stirring in the back seat. She turned around and sighed in relief at the sight of Vlad sitting up, awake and alive. "Thank God," she whispered. "Danny, sweetie, Vlad is awake." Danny, Jazz, and Maddie had been switching shifts, and now Jazz was the one driving while Danny slept on his sister's shoulder.

"Mom, he's asleep," Jazz whispered. Maddie nodded and crawled over the back of the seat. She sat beside Vlad.

"Are you alright, Vlad?" she asked sincerely. Vlad nodded.

"Where are we?" he asked, looking around. Maddie smiled, glad to hear his voice again. She had begun to worry, fearing the worst for her college friend.

"We're in the Specter Speeder, heading towards Wisconsin so we can kick your other half's ectoplasmic butt." Vlad's eyes widened.

"What do you mean, other half?" When he saw Danny Phantom asleep on Jazz's shoulder, he knew the gig was up. "I guess he told you, then." Maddie nodded and put her hand on top of his.

"We have to find Plasmius so we can merge you back together. While Danny and Jazz are throwing punches at Plasmius, you and I will begin working on a new version of the Fenton Ghost Catcher," Maddie explained. "Then you and Plasmius will be one again, and you'll be back to your good old jerky self." She smiled and Vlad smirked playfully. Vlad put his arm around Maddie's waist and she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Ahem," Jazz said, her eyes sparkling in the rearview mirror. "If Danny sees you two like that, he might kill Vlad." Maddie sighed and lifted her head up, then scooted down towards the window away from Vlad. "And Mom, what happened to you being a Fenton? As in, you're married to Jack Fenton?"

"I don't know Jazz, honey," Maddie answered truthfully. "It's just that… you wouldn't understand." She sat in deep thought for a second before finally coming up with an answer. "You know how Danny and his friends are. Danny and Sam love each other, but don't want to admit it. Someday, they're going to get married, leaving poor Tucker out in the cold. But one day, Tucker's going to make a comeback and win Sam back from Danny. But it is only a matter of time."

"Wait, Tucker likes Sam?" Jazz asked quietly, not wanting to wake her brother. Maddie chuckled.

"Of course, haven't you read Danny's journal?" Maddie asked. "All he talks about is how Tucker and Sam are never apart, on how Tucker had a crush on Sam in the second grade, on how Tucker and Sam kissed one time…"

"You read Danny's journal?" Jazz asked. "But why didn't you know about Danny Phantom?"

"Because he kept a second journal on his computer that was password protected. I tried everything I could think of but nothing worked," Maddie said.

"It's Danny Phantom," Jazz stated dryly. "It's so obvious if you know his secret. It's basically his journal to keep track of the ghosts he fights. He had to change it after we found out his first one was Paulina Fenton."

"We just passed the portal," Vlad said, pointing to a purple football. Jazz and Maddie ignored him.

"I still don't understand how that relates to you," Jazz said. "You're married."

"Maddie? Jazz?" Vlad asked. Maddie turned to Vlad.

"Yes, Vlad?" she asked. Vlad pointed behind him.

"The portal's that way," he said, and Jazz turned the vehicle around quickly, waking Danny in the process.

"Huh? Are we there yet?" he asked sleepily. Maddie sighed.

"Almost," she answered quietly. The giant purple football came into view and she smiled. Jazz glanced in the rearview mirror and saw her mother leaning against Vlad's arm.

I just hope Danny doesn't find out, she thought silently. Or Dad.