A/N: I am really really sorry about the long wait. My only excuse is that school and work started and I was swamped. Anyway, you've waited long enough for this chapter so I'm going to stop my blathering…now.

Disclaimed.

…Workshop/ Far Frozen…

"Man! I thought they'd have given up by now!" Red Huntress said, exhausted. She had taken breaks when necessary, but otherwise, she'd been in the Ghost Zone the whole time, sleeping in the Far Frozen when not in battle.

"Yeah, well, they're stubborn," Tucker answered through the communicator in her mask.

"As mules," she scoffed. "I hope you guys find the portal they're using. How's Danny? Any signs?"

Her boyfriend sighed, "No, but he's Santa, he's not gonna stay down for long."

"Tucker, it's been a week!" Valerie snapped, tired and worried. "Sorry, I just…"

"I know."

She dodged a blast, "We need to find a way to stop them. How did Danny do it in the past?"

"Danny? He was a powerful ghost they couldn't figure out; he always held back," the techno-geek snorted, wearily. A week of fighting had put everyone on edge, making them irritable.

"You have no idea how he did it, do you?" she mocked.

"Not a clue," he admitted, laughing. "But that's Danny for you, always was hard to figure out.

Valerie smiled, her spirits lifted somewhat by the thought, "Maybe if we can just figure out how they work…"

…Graveyard…

The cemetery was peaceful, but hot and sunny. Kneeling by a small grave, a young woman no older than twenty set down the flowers she'd brought.

"How do I help him, Mom?" she asked the headstone. "He helped me so much when you…"

She looked to the sky, her hands hanging limp in her lap, and took a deep breath, frowning deeply as she remembered that day.

…Four years earlier, spring…

"I'm sorry…" he said, Angelica couldn't believe it, No! No, no, no, no!

"Angelica, please understand that we did everything-"

"NO!" she shouted, running from the hospital in tears. She ran as far as she could, not caring where she ended up, so long as she was away from that horrible place.

"Oof!"

She'd run into something warm, someone warm, who wrapped their arms around her.

"Sh-sh-shh," he soothed. She didn't know who he was, or where he'd come from, all she knew was that he felt safe, which was more than she'd felt in a long time. She cried into his chest.

"Danny, who –" Eighteen year old Danielle began, only to have her words smothered by a hand over her mouth.

"Let him work, Dani," Tucker told her, smiling. "And you really gotta stop asking how he knows someone or you'll always be asking."

She nodded as she watched him lead the strange girl away, talking. He acted casually, but sincerely as he let her let go of her pain, siphoned it off until she could accept whatever had happened.

Danielle was always astounded by how her brother could simply know people. It was uncanny how he could do the exact right thing to make someone feel better. Most of the time, he just acted as a shoulder to cry on, or a punching bag, but some of the times that she had seen him at work, he would have some gift ready to give that was…just…right.

She hadn't grown up with the legends as most had, but Danielle had been in the Fenton home long enough to hear the all Christmas argument about the existence of Santa Claus. She had even, when she was younger, believed Jack's stand on the matter…and every point he made about the jolly old elf could easily have been about her older brother. Could it be? The ghosts did have a Christmas Truce, and most were reluctant to fight the elder of the two Phantoms.

Dani Fenton watched the distant form of Danny Fenton walking with the distraught girl with an odd look on her face, never once noticing the somewhat satisfied look on Tucker's face.

Well, looks like Dad's right after all.

…FentonWorks…

Danielle allowed a wisp of a smile to cross her lips as the memory crossed her mind. They'd been on their way to Sam's that day.

Sighing, the young woman looked at the picture of her and her brother, wanting nothing more than to see his bright blue eyes open again in real life, but she couldn't visit him. It hurt too much to see him so still and weak in the hospital; it brought back too many painful memories of another heart attack victim she'd known a long time ago.

…Vlad's office…

The silver-haired billionaire smirked as he thought about how he hadn't seen Daniel in a number of days. He had missed the news report about his coma, so he fully believed that the younger halfa had run away.

"If only Ms. Gray would give up so easily!" he frowned. "If I'm not careful, those government idiots will retreat!"

He grimaced as it crossed his mind that Daniel never gave up; it was one of the things that infuriated the man.

"What are you up to, Daniel?" he wondered aloud.

…Park…

Youngblood had been in the human world for a few days, but he could not be seen, even by a child, laughing and playing. He had overheard what had happened to Santa Claus and was crying.

Youngblood cried as he remembered how Santa would babysit him when his sister wanted some time to herself.

…Three years earlier…

"Grow up!" Ember yelled as she tried to leave him home alone.

"No!" he argued.

As Santa, home for the weekend, flew by, he noticed the argument.

"Hey, hey, hey, what's the problem here?" he asked, distracting them.

Ember scowled, "The big baby here won't leave me alone!"

"I'M NOT A BABY!" Youngblood protested.

"Ember," Santa reasoned. "He's just a kid. Look, if it's really that big of a bother to hang out with him, I'll babysit him, so long as what you're doing doesn't involve reeking havoc."

"Sure!" she was surprised by her good luck. "Take him!"

"Come on, Youngblood," Phantom gestured, leading him to the human world.

"We're home!" Danny announced as they came through the portal and transformed.

"We're?" Maddie asked, looking up, her eyebrows lifted in surprise at the young specter.

"Yeah, I'm kid-watching," her son's eyes twinkled as he took care not to say baby-sitting.

"Well, we have a few of your old toys in the Ops Center," she offered, smiling at the young ghost.

Youngblood stared, completely surprised at the ghost hunter's good nature.

"The toys are in a box in one of the closets, I'll be up in a minute," Danny directed. The kid ghost flew up and out of the lab.

"What's going on, Danny?" Maddie asked.

"Ember just needed some time off from her kid-brother," he explained. "Where's Dad?"

"He's out on patrol," she told him. "And don't worry about the town, Ben's driving."

"Ho ho ho!" he laughed. "Hope he knows what he's getting into."

Maddie was silent. Something had struck her about her son's laugh, though she couldn't fathom what it might be before it finally clicked.

"You're Santa Claus, aren't you?"

…Present Day…

He smiled. I miss his smile…Maddie thought as she searched yet another of Vlad's mansions for the portal.

"It's clear," she called back to her husband.

"Same here, Mads," the large man said as he rounded a corner.

"He's pretty careless, though, leaving the place unlocked like this," she noted.

"He probably had ghosts guarding the place; no ghosts will help him now," Jack reasoned as they stepped out.

"We'll probably have to go to Wisconsin," Maddie grimaced, not looking forward to the trip.

…

A/N: So, what did you think? Did you like Valerie's frustration with the Guys in White? Did Youngblood's memory make sense? And did you like how Maddie figured out Danny's identity as Santa? Tell me in a review, and as alwaysALOHA!