A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! I really appreciate them! I'm glad to see that so many people liked the last chapter! So far, this one and the previous chapter are my favorites, so I hope you like it!

Chapter Five
Does it Really Matter?

Danny awoke the next morning, the feeling of pain almost nonexistent. Rejoicing that soon things would be getting back to normal and he could get out of bed, he sat up, and then gasped in pain. So, it didn't hurt to just lay still but it hurt to move, which meant another day of just lying around doing nothing. Well, at least the energy seemed to work. He probably wouldn't have been able to recover this quickly without it.

He looked to his left and noticed his father, fast asleep. Danny decided not to wake him. After all, there wasn't really anything he needed to wake him up for, and his father probably needed the sleep.

Danny decided to chance it and get out of bed. After all, the pain he felt when he moved was just comparable to the pain he was feeling all day yesterday, so it wouldn't really be anything new. Besides, he needed to get out of his room before he drove himself mad.

He pulled back the covers and slid quietly out of the bed, grimacing with each movement. He moved his legs slowly to the edge of the bed and slowly lowered his weight onto them. He cringed as he used his sore muscles to stand, but the pain was bearable. He took a step, cringing again, but glad to be walking around. He figured half of the soreness in his leg came from the lack of use over the past two days. He walked slowly out of the room, waiting for the quick jolt of pain to cease from a step before taking another. He slowly walked down the stairs and into the kitchen.

He opened the fridge and pulled out the carton of orange juice. He looked over his shoulders, as he usually did when sneaking a drink from the fridge, and then drank the juice straight from the carton.

"Daniel Fenton!" his mother yelled as she came down the stairs. And, as usual, his mother found him while drinking out of the carton. "How many times have I told you not to drink straight out of the carton? You'll make us all sick!"

"Sorry Mom," he apologized, placing the carton on the table and walking slowly over to the cupboard for a glass.

Suddenly, his mother remembered everything that had happened the night before. "Daniel Fenton!"

"What? I'm getting a glass!"

"What are you doing out of bed? You should be resting!"

"Oh. Well…um…I'm just sick of staying in bed okay? I'm driving myself crazy up there, I had to get up and walk around."

"Well at least sit in a chair," her mother advised, pulling a chair out and helping him into it while he winced. His mother walked over to the coffee maker and poured some coffee into her mug. If Danny was paying any attention earlier, he would have noticed that the coffee maker was already on, meaning his mother was awake. She sat down next to Danny and placed her mug on the table. "You have to take baby steps Danny, otherwise you'll heal slower, and I know you don't want that."

"I know. But sitting up in bed and lying in bed are still the same type of thing. I wanted to get out of the room."

"I understand. I remember when I fell out of my tree house when I was a little girl. Actually, now that I think back on it, I think my sister pushed me out of the tree house… Well however I got discharged from the tree house I ended up breaking my leg, and I had to lie in my room for a week before my parents would let me out of the house. Finally I was so fed up with staying in my room that I got up and walked out."

"Where did you go?"

"The foot of the stairs. I was walking along fine, until I took a wrong step on my broken leg and fell down the stairs. I actually ended up breaking my other leg in the process. But what I'm trying to say is I know how frustrating it can be to stay cooped up in your room, but it's really for the best. If you want to come downstairs, just ask one of us and we'll help you down, alright?"

"Alright," Danny agreed.

"Would you like something to eat?"

"Please!" Danny answered, starving.

"You're hungry, that's a good sign," his mother replied smiling. "I'll make some toast, sound good?"

"Anything sounds good right now."

They sat in silence while his mom prepared his toast. She placed the plate in front of Danny and he eagerly grabbed a piece and took a large bite, the warm toast and butter satisfying his hunger greatly.

The silence continued as Danny hungrily ate his toast while Maddie sipped her coffee, looking lovingly at Danny, and then occasionally glancing back down at her coffee mug.

"Danny, I wanted to ask you something."

Danny swallowed the piece of toast in his mouth. "No, I've never attacked an innocent person, no I've never used my powers for bad, no I've never purposely destroyed the lab, and no I've never used my invisibility powers to spy on girls."

His mother chuckled. "No Danny, it wasn't that. I just wondered…why you thought we wouldn't love you anymore after we found out."

"Well…you're ghost hunters, and you and Dad would always complain about how much you hate ghosts and want to rid the world of them, so I felt a little scared. I didn't know if that hatred would extend to me as well. You always said you didn't want a ghost in the house, and here I was, a ghost in the house. I wanted to tell you, it would have made everything so much easier, but then after what happened with the mayor and how you and Dad hated Danny Phantom so much, I knew I couldn't. If I was afraid you'd shun me before for just being a ghost, I knew you would after finding out I was Public Ghost Enemy Number One."

Maddie scooted her chair over to Danny and hugged him tightly. "Don't worry sweetheart. That'll never happen. You're father and I, well, we just never thought something like this would happen, or if it were even possible. But you rest assured that nothing, not even our love of ghost hunting, can get in the way of our love for our family." Danny hugged her back, glad they got that obstacle out of the way.

They continued to sit in silence as Danny rested his head on her shoulder. Danny could tell his mother still wanted to talk about something hard to talk about.

"Mom?"

"Yes dear?"

"Just get it out. What do you want to say? I know you want to say something, so just say it already. I won't care."

"Well, it's just…the conversation last night. I wanted to make sure you were alright. You looked really down."

Danny suddenly remembered the revelation he had last night, and his mood immediately dropped.

"Like that. Is there something you want to talk about?"

"It just never occurred to me before that I'm only half alive. It's just weird to think about, hard to grasp. It took me awhile to finally accept that I was only half human, but now this?"

"Sweetheart, you can't think of it like that. You still eat and sleep. You still have to breathe air and process nutrients, just like the rest of us."

"But I'm not like the rest of you!" he yelled angrily, removing his head from her shoulder and looking at her. "Sure I may have to eat and sleep now, but my other half doesn't have to! If I wanted, I would never have to eat, or sleep, or breathe air! My heart doesn't even beat when I'm a ghost! How can you say I'm like everyone else? I can't be a ghost, and I can't be human! I'm stuck in between two worlds, and I don't belong in either!"

Maddie grabbed his shoulders and brought her head close to his face, looking right into his bright blue eyes. "You can't think that Danny. Don't ever think you don't belong, because you do. You belong here, with us. So what if you're half dead? You're still our son and you're still a teenager. You still have friends and family who love you, and you still have a future. You have what every other teen on the planet has. So what if your heart doesn't beat sometimes? Is that really what matters? What really matters is that you still have a heart, one that can give and accept love, which you have. The heart may beat to keep people alive, but the real function of a heart is to love, and that's really all that matters in the end. So are you going to get depressed because your heart doesn't beat or your lungs don't need oxygen, or are you going to realize that in the great scheme of things, it really doesn't matter?"

Danny stared at her, tears falling from his eyes. He buried his head in her shoulder, crying. "Thank you Mom. Thank you."

She cuddled him and stroked his hair softly. She never knew her son was suffering so much on the inside. He seemed more outwardly confident, but inside he was a mess. It has to be hard, being half human and half ghost, leading two lives. No wonder he's so depressed.

"And I want you to know Daniel Fenton that if anyone ever calls you a freak, I give you full outright permission to use every ghost power you possess on him, do you understand me?"

Danny pulled away and smiled at her, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Oh Danny, I'm so proud of you," his mother stated, tears falling from her eyes as well. "I just wanted you to know that. I've never been more proud of you in my life than I have been over the past day, and I know your father feels the same way."

"Thanks Mom."

"You do so much for everyone, and you're so underappreciated. You sacrifice everything to save everyone."

"Well, not everything. I didn't have to sacrifice you and Dad," Danny smiled.

"No, and you'll never have to," she stated as she hugged her son again. "Alright, and now I think it's time for you to get back in bed," she advised, wiping away her tears. "You've been up long enough, I think you can brave your bedroom again," she replied as she saw Danny's evil look.

Danny gradually stood up and started walking to his room in the same way he walked down, extremely slowly. His mother walked behind him, wanting to help him, but at the same time thinking that Danny really needed to do this by himself. They finally reached his room and Maddie saw Jack fast asleep and drooling on the covers. Maddie motioned for Danny to get into bed, which he did as quickly as he could. Danny pretended to be asleep as Maddie woke Jack.

"Where's the ghost?" he asked as he was shook awake.

"You fell asleep watching Danny," his mother remarked.

"Oh, sorry dear."

"That's alright. You get off to bed, I'll take over."

Jack gave her a kiss on her head as he headed towards his bedroom with a yawn.

"Where is everyone?" Danny asked his mom, suddenly realizing that the house had become extremely quiet.

"Jazz is still sleeping and Tucker and Sam had to go to school."

"Oh my gosh! School! I totally forgot!" he yelled, sitting up in bed, pain searing through his chest and abdomen.

"Don't worry; I already called you in sick."

"No, Mr. Lancer's test! I missed it, and he's not letting people make it up! Oh, I'm going to fail at school and life," he remarked as he dropped back onto his bed.

His mother suppressed a chuckle. No matter if he was part ghost, he was still definitely her Danny. "Don't worry about it; I'm sure he'll understand."

"No he won't. This is Mr. Lancer we're talking about. He never understands anything I say. He doesn't like me at all."

"Well, your father and I will have a talk with him then. There's no reason you shouldn't be allowed to make it up. Now just don't worry about it and just get some sleep. We'll worry about it once you're feeling better. Just get some rest."

Danny started to close his eyes when he spotted his mom sitting in the chair next to him.

"Honestly Mom, I don't need somebody watching me twenty-four seven," Danny stated.

"Oh I know, but I want to."

Danny snuggled under his covers, shut his eyes, and soon drifted into sleep.