A/N: I hope this ties up the loose ends.

Disclaimed.

…One week later…

"Mr. Masters, there's someone to see you," his receptionist announced. Vlad waved "send him in."

Click, click, click.

Vlad turned to face his visitor and stared warily at him, eyes narrowed.

"I told you we still had business to deal with," Santa reminded him, leaning on his cane. "You know what you did was wrong."

Vlad glared. What is his point? If he's going to punish me, why doesn't he just get on with it?

"I'm going to give you a choice: either I reveal to the Guys in White who you are –."

"And expose yourself? You wouldn't dare," he spat.

"Wouldn't I? I have a lot of people who would vouch for my good nature, do you?" Santa sent back. "So, that's your first choice. The second is this."

He held out a Fenton Thermos, "You give up your ghost half, with the opportunity to earn it back. You have a week."

The silver-haired mayor glared at him as he started toward the door.

"Oh, and Vlad? I'd choose quickly if I were you; I still haven't seen my Workshop," he warned, leaving the thermos on his desk.

…Manson Mansion…

"Sorry I'm late," Danny apologized as Sam opened the door.

"So, what did he choose?" she asked, curious.

"I gave him a week to sweat it, first," he smirked.

"Good choice," she laughed as they gathered in the living room with both of their families, Tucker, and Valerie.

Mr. and Mrs. Fenton were beaming, having figured out what the two had called them all there for after hearing Frostbite's story and seen Sam's new form. Tucker was smirking like he always did back when he was teasing them for being lovebirds in high school and Valerie seemed to be mimicking her boyfriend.

Sam's mother eyed her suspiciously. She knew something was up between the two and since people didn't usually announce break-ups, she was forced to contemplate two unhappy possibilities. Thurston's mouth was set in a disdainful scowl at the elder Fentons and their youngest children – he could tolerate their relatively normal eldest daughter and son-in-law, but the others made him want to cringe.

Ida and Danielle looked expectantly at the couple, both with polite curiosity on their faces.

"Well, last month was a special dinner for me," Sam began. "It was supposed to be in celebration of my recent graduation from college, but that's not what made it so special."

The Goth was grinning now, though she was still a little nervous. Danny held her hand supportively, smiling the whole time about the surprise he had in store.

"Danny proposed and I accepted!" Sam exclaimed in a very un-Gothic way.

Her parents reacted pretty much as she and everyone else could have expected.

"Samantha Manson! How could you? You can't get involved with-with this…" Thurston didn't seem able to come up with an insult strong enough for this boy his daughter wanted to marry.

"He's keeping secrets from you! I don't care what you say, it will never work!" Pamela pointed accusingly at her future son-in-law. All the while Sam was growing angrier and angrier, fuming with the need to slap her parents until they got it through their thick skulls that Danny was a good man.

The rest of the room's occupants watched anxiously waiting for the Goth to snap, but their worry was soon replaced with absolute confusion as they saw Danny put a restraining hand on Sam's shoulder and he was smiling.

"He is NOT keeping secrets from me! I KNOW what who he is!" she yelled at her parents. "Why can't you just see that he is good?"

"Because I haven't shown them that I am," Danny answered, still mysteriously smiling, "until today."

Every jaw in the room dropped as twin rings of white light traveled across his body and transformed him into the ghost boy Amity Park had come to know as its hero. Another flash changed him into Santa Claus before their very eyes. Jazz promptly fainted at the unexpected twist.

For several moments, there was nothing but stunned silence in the room. Jazz woke up again after less than a minute with some gentle prodding.

"Dude," Tucker finally croaked out, "what about the Observants? Your Oath? Won't you lose your job?"

Santa smiled at his friend. "No, I won't."

"How is that possible?" Maddie asked, worried that her son had taken too big of a risk.

"When I first accepted the job, I asked ClockWork if I would ever be able to just tell anyone. He told me that one day I could and that he would tell me when that day came. He told me today that I could tell Sam's parents because not telling them would create a rift in their relationship and that would be against all that I stand for. In other words, the Observants had to let me tell or else I would be sending a mixed message!"

Sam covered her mouth as she stared at him. She couldn't believe that he had told her parents. She understood why he couldn't tell her, but could they really trust her parents?

"Mom, Dad, you can't tell anyone about this," she told them seriously. "Danny had to have special permission to be able to tell you and if you tell…if you tell even one person, he could lose his job. Promise me that you won't tell."

The Manson parents still seemed to be in shock.

"Ho-how?" Pamela tried feebly.

"I became Danny Phantom after the lab accident I had when I was fourteen and since I was a ghost with white hair and a good heart, I was chosen to be the next Santa Claus two years later, as is tradition," he explained gently. He knew they were trying to wrap their minds around the idea that he was as far from ordinary as a person could get and that he was marrying their daughter.

"We promise," Thurston finally spoke up, surprising everyone in the room, even his wife. "What else can we do? We are being trusted with privileged information so that we can have a relationship with our daughter. We won't tell."

"Finally you're talkin' sense! I knew I taught you well!" Ida exclaimed. "I won't tell either."

At this, everyone laughed and the tension left the room.

"You know, I just thought of something," Tucker brought up with a sly smirk, "Sam is Jewish and a Goth and she is about to become Mrs. Claus."

Valerie hit him in the back of the head for the bad joke.

…Two days later, Ghost Zone…Far Frozen…

"Are you sure you're ready?" Sam asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Santa sighed, "I'm never gonna be ready, but I have to."

She took his arm in hers and they stepped through the portal together.

The Workshop was a disaster, but a week's worth of hard work had done a great deal of good. A temporary stable had been built to house the reindeer and most of the debris had been cleared.

Most.

Santa knelt and gently picked up a baby doll, half of its face missing. "We've got a long way to go."

"Yeah, but it'll work out. Frostbite has given a place for the work to be completed until this is done and life is settling down a little, at least for now…Everything's gonna turn out fine," she assured him. Using his cane, he stood up and smiled at her.

"I know," he smiled. "I still can't believe that no one told me that story, though."

"I'm just surprised you caught on so quick, Santa," Sam grinned. "After all, you're still Clueless."

Santa scowled but laughed.

…Mayor's Mansion…

Vlad glared at the Fenton Thermos, as he had been doing on and off since Santa's visit. Hesitantly, he reached out, and then pulled back.

Again.

Finally, he did what he'd been trying to do for two days, and picked it up. He held it in his hands, his arms resting on his knees.

"…I have a lot of people who would vouch for my good nature, do you?"

He shook his head to clear away the words that had been plaguing him since they'd been said.

"…do you?"

No, he sighed. "Perhaps it's time for Plasmius to return to the shadows."

…

A/N: What do you think of the choice Danny/Santa gave Vlad? Did you like the twist when Danny told the Mansons who he is? Was Danny/Santa's reaction to his destroyed Workshop right? And what about Vlad's choice? Tell me in a review, and as alwaysALOHA!