Here it is. After three years, broken promise after broken promise, and horrible sleeping habits, here is the final chapter to Second Chance.

Maddie went slowly around the house, cleaning up things the best she could still. The whole house had retained a rather somber mood as the week had went on, everyone knowing there were still issues to be worked out. Dani had to learn to trust her and Jack enough for them to stabilize her properly though Maddie couldn't blame the teen. They'd been horrible to her, refusing to think logically. And while Jazz had assured her Dani being electrocuted was due to Jazz's kidnappers, there was nothing to say the previous time by Maddie hadn't weakened her state. There was a lot of making up to do. She had at least stabilized more, though, as long as she didn't use any powers until a permanent solution could be determined. The young teen had been sleeping a lot as had Jazz, the two of them taking a nap together on the couch each afternoon. Maddie made sure to stay quiet as the two deserved the rest which was why she went upstairs to work on cleaning there as they both laid down.

She wanted to ignore the pain there was in going past her baby boy's closed door, but it wasn't a pain she could avoid. She and Jack deserved much worse than they'd had, and it wasn't even remnants of the ghost Spectra's words making her believe that. They'd been neglectful, dangerous, abusive even without realizing how horrid their actions were nor the effects of them, and there was no excuse.

It didn't make her miss Danny any less. No apology in the world would be strong enough to show him how much she regretted it, and if she was unable to articulate it, she knew Jack definitely would fail for words.

She went on past to clean up the bathroom, but she stopped again on her way back to the stairs. Slowly, she went inside the room. It was neater than usual (she'd learned Dani preferred to keep things that way so the young teen had straightened it up herself), but it still felt lived in. It was being lived in, though, so it didn't help Maddie any.

Even slower than when she'd entered the room, she walked to Danny's desk and picked up the paper that made her heart break worse and worse each day. Random phrases popped out across the page.

"You two don't seem to know me at all though."

It was dreadful that they still didn't. She didn't know her own son, and she knew she didn't deserve him from how neglectful that was.

"I'm sure Jazz could help you by thinking of some sort of game or something."

It was a good idea for the most part, especially when thinking of how Jack understood things. They'd failed to listen to Jazz even, though.

"I love you both. A lot."

If he still did after learning everything they'd done and caused in his time away from them, Maddie would officially know there was no being in existence with a better heart than her son. He had forgiven them for so much already, though, that Maddie couldn't help hope he was able to forgive them one more time despite knowing she didn't deserve it in the slightest.

"You're thinking of Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom as two separate people in one body."

They had been so wrong about him and especially about his powers. Her son was one person with two physical manifestations. She realized that now, but that realization was too late for no harm… And he'd said as much in the words on the page.

Thinking on that… It was odd to her he'd emphasized things in capitals. No code could be made from "See, Promise, Realize" which meant it certainly made sense for them to simply be emphasized. He typically underlined when needing to do that, however.

"Also, the portal is still locked. When it opens, I'll know to come home."

How to open it when they didn't have a password, though…?

And then it registered.

"See"

"Realize"

"Promise"

Maddie barely held onto the paper tightly as she hurried out of the room and down the steps.

He'd finally shown them who he was more than ever.

Across the entryway to the basement stairs.

And finally, way too late but finally, she understood.

Down the stairs and to the Portal controls.

And now for the first time in years, she would give everything she could back to her son. She'd try her best to be sure he was living the life he wanted to live and to not disagree with the decisions he made. It was his life. It was his choice.

And that would be her promise.

Maddie shakily pressed the enter key after checking the seven letters were typed in correctly, and for the first time in over a week, the solid steel doors of the Portal slid open to show the swirling green depths of the Ghost Zone.

Danny wasn't quite sure how it was going to go, but he flew back upstairs from the basement and outside. (It was a good thing he'd installed a pully system to a bell in the walls of his room to know from the Op Center when his door was opened. He'd been checking every time it went off.) He changed overtop of the porch and walked in the front door in human form, making sure to make noise. A moment after he shut the front door behind himself, there were footsteps from different directions. Light ones up the basement stairs and heavy from the kitchen though both his parents reached him at the same time.

Danny didn't know whether his mom or his dad was crying first, but in seconds, they were hugging him and sobbing and apologizing all over him. The noise was heightened as it woke up Jazz and Dani who hurried over to get into the group at realizing what was going on. While neither girl was ready to forgive their parents, they got to see their brother again and didn't want to let him go.

There would be a lot of conversation to have and problems to work out, but… They could all figure it out. On their own and helping one another. As a family. Because no matter how insane and bizarre his family was, he loved them. And he knew they loved him.

Ah geez, what do I even say now?

First of all, THANK YOU ALL. To everyone who has read this, reviewed, favorited, followed, even looked at it. Thank you so, so much for giving me the encouragement to write this. Especially to those who would always be the consistent ones. Who would read and review each chapter as soon as they were able once they came out. Binas and Johnny, I'm looking at you in particular. You both are so great.

Second, I don't even know how to feel right now. This is the longest fic I've ever written by far, and it's because people wanted more of it even when I hadn't worked on it in years. You all are amazing. It is because of you that I can happily change that little setting to "Complete" after three years.

Finally, I don't know exactly when I'll write more. I hope to try to do so because I realize how much I miss this. But even if I'm not writing, my inbox is there and my email will let me know I have people waiting for me.

So again, thank you all SO much for being on this ride of a fanfic with me. I wish you all a wonderful day/night.

Thank you,

Via