A/N: Alright, I want to apologize for taking so long to post. A piece of advice for anyone either in college or going to be in college: don't take physics, chemistry, and philosophy in the same year. You end up having two tests and a six page essay on "Why is yellow good?" due all at the same time.

So, enough complaining about crappy schoolwork. Here's the next chapter, and it's nice and long as a reward for your patience. I just need to get through this week and then I should be back on schedule.

Oh, and thanks so much for all the reviews! I'm so glad everyone liked the last chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! Hoping this one isn't too bad, since it's probably really hard to follow the two previous chapters!

Chapter Six
Adjustment

As Danny sat in the Fenton RV on the way home, he thought about the past two hours. He couldn't remember ever having more fun during dinner than that night. It had been, by far, the best night of his life. All thoughts of having to deal with the press and people of Amity lay forgotten as he just enjoyed being with his family and friends. Sure his parents could be a little crazy at times, well more than a little crazy, but they were still fun to hang around with, especially in a restaurant. And the best part was that the manager himself came into the room at the end of the night and insisted that Danny could eat for free anytime he wanted, which of course made Danny extremely happy and he planned on taking advantage of that as much as possible. All the Lettuce Wraps he could eat. He could stop by after school, after a ghost attack, whenever he just felt like a Lettuce Wrap, the possibilities were endless.

"Danny? Danny?" his mother started asking, bringing him out of his thoughts.

"Hmm?" Danny responded.

"What is that red stain on your shirt?" she asked in a concerned voice.

Danny looked down and saw that the cuts had started to bleed through his shirt. He had totally forgotten about his injury. "Umm…" he started to answer.

"That dragon ghost cut you, didn't he? When he hit you with his tail he cut you."

"Well…"

"Oh, why didn't you tell us at the restaurant when we asked if you were alright? We could have taken you back to the RV and stitched it up, or at least put a bandage on it!"

"Because I was eating my Lettuce Wrap."

His mother sighed; he loved those things too much. "Daniel Fenton, a Lettuce Wrap is no excuse for sacrificing your health!"

"I think it's a perfectly good excuse." Tucker and Sam tried to stifle a laugh as Maddie gave him an exasperated look. "Mom, just relax, I'm alright. You may be new to this, but I'm not. I get cuts, scrapes, and burns all the time. I'm a pretty fast healer, so don't worry. I know how to take care of myself."

"I know you do sweetie," Maddie stated. "It's just hard to get used to. I'm your mother after all, and I don't like seeing you hurt."

"Don't worry, it's not that bad. Lettuce Wraps are like a natural morphine, I don't feel a thing!"

In truth Danny could now feel the stings of the cuts, but he knew that it was because he was thinking about it and didn't have exquisite Chinese food to distract him.

They dropped Sam and Tucker off at their respective houses and finally returned to their house, glad to see that the reporters were gone. Once inside his father retreated to the basement to work on his new straw ghost hunting invention, Jazz retreated upstairs to do some homework, and Maddie directed Danny towards the couch as she grabbed the first aid kit.

"Mom, I told you, I'm fine!" Danny complained. He now found the real reason why he never told his parents about his ghost fighting alter-ego.

"I know, I know, but I won't stop worrying until I fix this for you. Now take off your shirt."

Danny did as he was told as his mother opened the kit and placed ointment, bandages, and pins on the table within easy reach.

"Alright, now let's take a look," she stated as she turned towards Danny. "There's more than one cut! Daniel Fenton! And they're deep too! No wonder they won't stop bleeding. Oh, curse those stupid Lettuce Wraps!"

"Hey, don't insult the Lettuce Wraps," Danny warned. "They just look worse than they are, honestly. I don't feel a…ouch!" Danny yelled as his mother took a sterile wipe and started wiping off the mixture of red and green blood.

"Seriously Danny, some of these could use stitches, and you definitely need some burn cream for those burns."

"Alright, maybe I need a bandage, but I draw the line at burn cream and stitches! Stitches would be totally unnecessary, and I deal with burns every day; it's just like an ecto-blast or an ecto-gun…" Danny trailed off, not meaning to mention the ecto-gun. He didn't want to remind his parents of all the times they had actually injured him. He could tell his mother was looking uncomfortable as she continued to clean up the still bleeding wounds. Danny really wished they'd stop bleeding soon. His mother had always cleaned up his wounds when he was a little boy so he was sort of used to it, but it just felt weird when his mother was cleaning up a wound that was leaking both red blood and green ectoplasm.

"Stand up Danny. It's too hard to wrap this up while you're sitting." Danny stood up and raised his arms so she could more easily wrap the wound. He figured that at this point it was just easier to humor her for she still looked slightly depressed at his earlier comment. She placed some gauze over the cuts and started wrapping a bandage lovingly around his torso. She pinned it in place and stood back to admire her work.

"There, that should keep you from bleeding all over the place. And if you happen to wake up in the middle of the night and see red, or green in your case, feel free to wake me up and I'll change the bandage. Or maybe I should set an alarm and check on them to make sure…"

"No, you don't need to do that. Trust me, I'll be fine. I've been doing this for over seven months Mom; I know what I'm doing." He felt sick of reassuring her that everything would be okay.

"I know, I know," she replied as she looked fondly at him. "You know, you're getting quite built," she remarked with a smile, seeing his well toned arms and torso. Danny blushed and reached for his shirt.

"Well, I guess that's what happens when you fight ghosts everyday," he added sheepishly as he pulled his shirt on and started buttoning it.

His mother just smiled in return. "Well, you've had a busy day and you're probably exhausted. You really should be going to bed."

Danny welcomed the order and walked eagerly towards the stairs when he noticed his mother sitting down on the couch staring at the wall. Danny thought about his earlier comment and knew he had to tell her something, something to ease the pain she felt. He walked back to the couch and sat down next to her, noticing the trail of a tear on her face.

"Listen, Mom, I know you feel bad about hunting me, but I promise that it's okay. I knew right after figuring out that I was half ghost that I'd have to be careful and that you'd probably unintentionally hunt me. You're ghost hunters, and I'm a ghost, it's only natural." His mother looked like she was about to interrupt but Danny refused to let her. "Just let me finish Mom. I always knew that you'd be after my ghost form, and I was all right with that. Even if you knew whether or not I attacked the mayor, I was still a ghost and you still had to destroy me. I mean, you'd do the same thing to any other ghost? Why not me? And I know you feel bad that I didn't…trust you enough to tell you, but honestly I didn't know how you'd react. I know that was a mistake on my part and I'm sorry. I was always really torn on the subject and I wanted to tell you so many times, but I was always just too scared. I just didn't know what I would do without your love, and the thought of being without it scared me, too much to even chance telling you. For me, it was easier to keep it a secret than to risk my family and the love you give me. So please don't be sad and please don't feel guilty. Were I in your place, I would do the same thing. When I'm fighting ghosts, I don't give them a second chance unless they can immediately prove that they're good, and even some of the ghost friends that I've met I attacked at first, so even I do it too. It's just natural instinct for us ghost hunters to go after ghosts."

Maddie turned towards him, tears in her eyes, knowing he was right. She gave him a hug, whispering "Thank you," into his shoulder over and over again as they both felt immersed in familial love.

Warm, bright sunlight filtered into the living room through the blinds, dancing around the furniture and the sleeping figures of Danny and his mom, cuddled together on the couch. They'd fallen asleep on each other and stayed there all night, having been extremely exhausted from the day's events. Maddie started to stir and opened her eyes, surprised to see that she wasn't in her room. Then she remembered the following night and looked down at Danny, still asleep, his head still resting on her shoulder. She smiled as she realized that they had fallen asleep on each other. Wishing for Danny to get more sleep, she gently maneuvered her way out and laid him softly down on the couch, placing his head on a pillow. He stirred a little but otherwise remained fast asleep. She smiled as she found some covers in the closet and placed them over him. She bent over and kissed his forehead and started to walk into the kitchen to make some coffee when she noticed the door to the lab. More memories of the night before entered into her mind as she realized that Jack was working in the lab when she and Danny were in the living room. Why didn't he wake her up when he went upstairs and realized that she wasn't in bed? Did he really not notice her presence that much? She was about to head up the stairs when she thought she heard snoring coming from the lab. She headed downstairs and found Jack sleeping on the table, the beginnings of the straw invention scattered about the table. Maddie smiled and headed back up the stairs.

She put on some coffee and headed towards the door to get the morning paper. She opened the door and caught it as it started to fall. Maddie then remembered that the reporters had knocked it down and they would probably need to get someone to fix it. Speaking of reporters, she felt pleased that no reporters or rabid fans were waiting outside. The press conference obviously did its job. Unfortunately, the remains of the reporters' steak out did linger. Papers, food wrappers, soda cans, water bottles, and other assorted trash littered the front yard. She sighed, realizing that someone would have to clean it up later today. The less she had to remember that reporters stormed her house the better, especially for Danny.

She walked down to the street and picked up the paper while getting the mail from her mailbox. She noticed that there were a lot of letters, and as she flipped through them noticed that they were all addressed to Danny. Of course they'd be receiving a lot of junk mail from the people of Amity expressing their thanks, or asking for his hand in marriage. Maddie smiled as she remembered the signs the girls were holding up when they walked into the press conference.

"Maddie! Maddie Fenton!" She turned around and noticed their neighbor from across the street waving at her.

"Mrs. Gregory, good morning," Maddie greeted in surprises as Mrs. Gregory walked across the street towards Maddie.

"Good morning to you too!" she greeted when she reached the other side of the street. "And how are you this fine morning?"

"A little tired, but otherwise feeling fine."

"Ah yes, well that's to be expected. You had a busy day yesterday."

"Yes, yes we did. How about you?"

"Oh, never been better! Steven just got promoted and Kyle's preparing for the SATs. We know he's going to do so well, though not as well as Jazz did I'm sure. What did she get, a 1570?"

"1596," Maddie corrected.

"I always knew that girl would make it big, and Danny too. I always knew they'd make something of themselves, and now just look at them, especially Danny, saving the town like a regular hero."

"Hmm, that's interesting, because I seem to remember you saying that Jazz was too smart for her own good and would never get married because people would dislike her know-it-all-attitude so much and that Danny would end up a bum on the street because of his lack of effort and discipline."

"Really, I don't seem to…"

"Oh don't play dumb with me Margaret. You told my children that after you threw them out of your house six years ago because you didn't want them to be a 'bad influence' to Kyle," Maddie spat.

"Well, I didn't really mean it. It was just a bad day and…"

"Well, it must have been a really long bad day, because you never did let them back over there to play with Kyle."

"It was a mistake, I see that now, but I was thinking, maybe we could start afresh? I know Kyle gets lonely, since he doesn't have any siblings, and what with Danny being a freshman, Kyle could show him the tricks-of-the-trade when it comes to school. I mean, he is a junior this year."

"He has his sister to show him the tricks of the trade," Maddie stated bitterly. With every sentence that left Mrs. Gregory's mouth Maddie's desire to punch that perfect smile out of her mouth increased. After all this time, now Mrs. Gregory wanted Jazz, Danny, and Kyle to be friends, after she and Jack had tried for so long six years ago only to be met by astounding opposition from Mr. and Mrs. Gregory. "This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with Danny being the ghost boy, now would it?" Maddie asked casually.

"Oh, of course not. I mean, of course I'd heard about it, who hasn't, but it just reminded me that Danny and Kyle used to be friends and that they hadn't seen each other in so long that it might be nice to get them back together again. I know that Kyle misses Danny greatly and I'm sure Danny feels the same way."

"Honestly, Danny and Jazz never give Kyle a second thought. They have their own friends now, and they don't need some stuck up opportunist to give them a good time."

"Don't you insult my son Maddie!" Mrs. Gregory warned.

"I'm just getting back at you for all the years that you insulted mine!"

"Alright, I can see that this was a bad idea. Kyle figured you wouldn't agree, but he just gets so lonely that I thought I would try."

"If Kyle was really that lonely he could have just as easily walked over here and talked to Danny or myself in person."

"You're right, I'm sorry. It's just that I already wanted to talk to you so I figured I'd just bring it up at the same time."

"Mhmm," Maddie stated, not really believing her. "Well Margaret, what did you wish to speak to me about?" The sooner they ended this conversation the better. Maddie didn't really want to be charged with homicide. It would be extremely difficult to hunt ghosts while in jail.

"Well, the girls and I were wondering if you'd like to join us for cards tomorrow. I know you were interested before and we just wondered if you'd like to join us."

"Oh, that would be wonderful!" Maddie stated sarcastically. "And how about we have it at my house so I can introduce you to the family?"

"Oh that would be lovely!" Margaret stated excitedly, not noticing the sarcasm.

"That's what I thought," Maddie stated as she slapped her across the face.

"What…?" she started to ask.

"How dare you? You don't care about me, or my family, or even my son. All you want is a chance to meet the great Danny Phantom and earn your few seconds of fame. You and the rest of the ladies don't really want to play cards with me, just like you didn't want to six years ago. You think my family and I are the same ghost-hunting freaks that you always did. You just want to get in good terms with us so you can talk to me about Danny. And Kyle doesn't really want to be friends with him either, he just wants to relish in the newfound popularity that'll come from being Danny's friend. I can see right through you and your plans. So, stay away from my family, especially Danny, otherwise you'll be sorry you ever messed with the Fentons."

"Danny!" Mrs. Gregory yelled and Maddie turned around. Danny had just opened the door, probably to look and see if all the reporters had really gone.

"Mrs. Gregory," Danny stated, surprised to see her actually talking to him. The last time he saw her she was threatening their family with a restraining order if they came near them again. And now, here she was, in their front lawn. "Um, hi."

"Why don't you come down here? It's been ages!"

Danny looked hesitant but then walked down to the street and shook Mrs. Gregory's outstretched hand with trepidation.

"How have you been doing?" she asked politely while Maddie scowled.

"Surprisingly good. We went to PF Changs last night and I got Lettuce Wraps. Nothing brightens your outlook on life like Lettuce Wraps."

"Yes, I heard about that. It was in the paper this morning."

"Oh, right, of course." Danny knew this was going to happen but he tried to postpone it as long as possible. Of all the times he could open the door, he had to open it when the annoying neighbor that he hated with a passion was outside.

"Is that blood on your shirt? Did you get injured?"

"What, oh. Yeah. It's nothing new though, happens all the time. So, how've you been?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Oh, I've been doing great, and so has Kyle. He was talking about you this morning."

"Imagine that," Danny stated sarcastically.

"We were talking about how it went wrong between the two of you and why you didn't keep in touch."

"Hm, well, I think it could be the fact that you threw me and my sister out of your house saying that we wouldn't amount to anything and then threatened us with lawsuits. I think that might have done it."

"That's what your mother said, but I could swear…" Mrs. Gregory started fabricating, trying to look innocent as she realized that he would take the same stance as his mother.

"Mrs. Gregory, you can't fool me. I've had to deal with fake people trying to be my friend or date me since I became Danny Phantom. You always hated us and probably still did until I was exposed, so sorry if I don't believe you and accept your friendly manner now. I've had six years to get over it and become better friends with Tucker and Sam, so just give up." He turned around and started walking towards the door, his mother following him.

"Wait, Danny! Could I at least have a little demonstration, for old times' sake?"

Danny stopped in his tracks, trying to avoid killing her. The urge was very strong. Then he smiled mischievously as his eyes flashed green and his mother looked down at him, curious.

"Alright, I guess. For old times' sake," he stated as he turned around. He cupped his hands together and Mrs. Gregory gasped as she saw them glow green. Then he shot the blast, straight through the large stained glass window in the Gregory's front room that they were so proud of. Mrs. Gregory looked in shock, her gaze switching from Danny to the shattered remains of the window. "I hope you enjoyed the demonstration," he added cheerily as he turned around and started walking towards the door. Just as he was about to go inside he turned around to face a still shocked Mrs. Gregory. "Leave me alone or next it'll be the entire house, and I do have enough power to do that," he warned as his eyes flashed green. Then, satisfied, he walked inside and shut the door.

"Well, that was interesting," Maddie commented as they walked into the kitchen.

"Tell me about it," Danny replied as he grabbed the orange juice from the fridge and poured it into a glass.

"Although, for the record, blowing up their window was the best use of your powers I've seen yet."

They both laughed as they sat down at the table, juice and coffee in hand. Maddie unfolded the paper and saw a large picture of Danny halfway between his transformation into the ghost boy at the press conference. She saw Danny lean closer and then fall back in his chair, a look of disdain on his face.

"Really sweetie, did you expect something else?" she asked as she noticed his attitude.

"No, but that doesn't mean I have to like it," he stated honestly.

"Morning Mom, morning Danny," Jazz stated as she walked brightly into the room like she did every morning. Then she stopped abruptly and looked at Danny quizzically. "Alright, did I sleep in really late? How is it that Danny's awake before I am?"

Danny and Maddie just laughed. "I fell asleep in the living room and the sun woke me up."

"Oh. Good, for a second there I thought I was going nuts," she stated as she grabbed her cup of coffee and sat down next to her mother. "So, what are they saying about it?" she asked as she noticed what her mother was reading.

"They really won't take an opinion. They just say that he claims that he's a good ghost but whether he really is or not remains to be seen."

"Figures," Danny stated bitterly. "Why can't they just see that the facts are glaring them in the face? I'm not bad!"

"Of course you're not sweetie, but you don't think the press will admit that they were wrong just because you say so. Believe me, they're going to milk it for all it's worth. What's really important is what Amity thinks, and not what the press reports."

"And even if they still think you're bad, it's not any different then before, right?" Jazz asked.

"No, except for the fact that they'll be after Danny Fenton as well as Danny Phantom."

"Yeah, never thought about that," Jazz stated.

"Morning Fentons!" Jack bellowed as he came up the stairs.

"Morning Dad," Jazz and Danny stated as he sat down at the table looking around for breakfast.

"I haven't made any breakfast dear. You'll just have to settle with cereal."

"Aww," Jack moaned.

"I'm sorry dear, but we had some neighbor troubles this morning. It seems that Mrs. Gregory now wishes to be friends with us, as compared to her rather hostile feelings six years ago."

"Of course," Jazz stated. "Does she now think that we'll make something of ourselves?" she asked bitterly.

"Oh of course. She's very complementary now. She doesn't even remember insulting us or threatening us with a restraining order."

"Why that rotten, no good…" Jack started to mumble.

"Don't worry dear, Danny and I took care of it," Maddie comforted.

"Yeah, she won't be coming over here any time soon. I blasted her 'precious' stained-glass window with an ecto-blast," Danny smirked.

"Good boy. No chores for you this week."

"Woohoo!" Danny shouted in glee.

"Actually, I was thinking of exempting Danny of all chores permanently," Maddie stated.

"What?" the three of them asked in unison.

"Are you serious?" Danny asked, hoping his mother wasn't joking.

"You can't do that!" Jack and Jazz both yelled.

"Why not? Danny certainly deserves a break. I mean he barely has any time to himself with school and ghost fighting. Why not give him a break?"

"Because then we have to do them," Jack sulked.

"Dad, Mom's right. Danny does deserve a break. Plus, I've already been doing most of his chores for him."

"So, I'm exempt from chores?" Danny asked hopefully as he leaned in towards the table. Maddie and Jack nodded their heads. "Sweet!" Danny yelled as he felt overjoyed. He should have told his parents long ago. Now he had one less thing to worry about. Maybe now he could actually finish his homework with the extra time, or at least start it. Then again, maybe his teachers would be more lenient and not expect him to finish his homework the next day. He would actually be able to tell them why he was late for class, or why he didn't have time to finish his homework. Maybe his identity being revealed wasn't such a bad thing.

"Hey, what are these?" Jack asked as he noticed the letters on the table and picked them up to examine them. "Hey, they're addressed to Danny! They're probably fan mail!"

Then again, maybe it was.

"Here Danny, let's see who they're from!" Jack shouted excitedly as he thrust the pile onto Danny's plate of toast.

Danny started looking at the letters, trying to see if he could recognize one. Of course he saw one from Paulina; he knew that would happen, but the rest of the names he was unfamiliar with. He split them into groups and handed them to each member of the family.

"Read 'em and tell me what they say," Danny stated as he tore the envelope of Paulina's. The card was bright pink with a doctored photo of her surrounded by both sides of his persona and across the top it read "Danny and Paulina." He opened the card and almost blinded himself from the overbearing pinkness emanating from the card. Inside Paulina included a poem about her and Danny and expressed her sorrow at treating his Fenton side so poorly, but stated that deep down she really did care for him.

"Danny, what is it?" Maddie asked. His parents could obviously see the look of disgust on his face. He held the card by the corner and placed it in front of his mother, who in turn read it and looked up in shock. "Isn't this that girl that you always had a crush on?"

"You mean other than Sam?" Jack asked.

"Sam's not my girlfriend!" Danny yelled automatically in defense. "And yes, that's Paulina."

"Well, she sure knows how to catch your attention."

"More like catch my utter revulsion. Throw it up into the air," he requested as his mother looked at him curiously and then did as he requested. He lifted up his arm and shot an ecto-blast at the card, sending little bits of burning paper to the floor. "Well, that made me feel good. Got any more?"

"This is one from the people who own the Nasty Burger. They want to give you free meals for the rest of your life, or death, or whatever. You get the picture," Jack stated in excitement. "Ooh, you should all take us there! We could get free Nasty Burgers!"

"Well this one is from someone who lives in Amity thanking you for continually saving their lives. Oh how sweet! See honey, they think you're a good ghost!" Maddie stated as she picked up another letter.

"Well, sorry to burst your bubble little bro, but this one says that if you go near her children, Danny Fenton or not, she'll call the cops. Well, you can't win 'em all," Jazz remarked sadly as she threw the letter up into the air so Danny could blast it.

"Hey, here's a good one!" Jack stated happily. "This one states that if you harm her cats in any way she'll call the Fentons on you!"

"Um, how is that a good one?" Danny asked as he and the two female members of the family looked at him curiously.

"Because the cat-lady wants to call us!" The rest of the family groaned.

"Why does this lady think that we would actually hunt our own son?" Maddie stated as she looked at the letter.

"Probably to fit the description of the stereotypical cat-lady," Jazz remarked. "Throw it in the air."

Soon the Fenton family had made it through the pile of fan letters for Danny, actually enjoying all the strange things people would write and blasting more letters than not. Most of the letters were love letters, which were promptly blasted, but not before Jazz and his dad teased him about it, until Jazz found one from her friend, in which she turned oddly silent. Of course the letters that told him to keep away from their family or stated that they still didn't believe him were also blasted, but to Danny's great surprise those were very few. The rest of them were touching letters thanking Danny for everything he did and sacrificed for the town. Some of them even included heart-wrenching tales of how he saved families without even realizing it, like when he would stop a car from crashing through a building or stop a ghost in the park near the swings where their children were playing.

Danny spent the rest of the day lounging around the house, trying to avoid the windows as much as possible. Even though the reports were generally gone, the occasional photographer or rabid fan would come up to the door or peer through the window, trying to catch a glimpse of Danny in his natural habitat. Eventually Tucker and Sam came over to visit and distracted Danny from his thoughts of reporters and fans with video games. This failed, however, to get the thought of school the next day out of his head.

"Come on Danny, I'm totally trashing you," Tucker stated as Danny lost yet another life.

"I'm sorry; I just…can't seem to focus." He didn't really have the concentration, his mind was somewhere else. It was on the fan mail he'd received, it was on the opportunistic neighbor across the street, it was on how unbearable school would be the next day, it was on the conversation with his mother last night, it was on Valerie's reaction at the press conference.

"How about we take a break?" Sam asked, sensing that Danny wasn't into it.

"No, I like playing it. It keeps my mind busy," Danny stated.

"Danny, I think your mind is already busy enough. You're not even really playing. Most of the time you're just staring dazedly at the screen."

Danny couldn't refute her observations but refused to put the controller down. He just needed to focus more on the game.

"Danny, are you alright?" Sam asked.

"It's just…I'm really worried about school. What's going to happen? I know I'm going to be treated differently, but how? I don't know what to expect, and I'm scared."

"Danny, listen to me. Everything's going to be all right," Sam comforted.

"Yeah, and besides, we already somewhat know what to expect, given the constants of high school," Tucker stated as Danny and Sam looked at him quizzically.

"What are you talking about?" Danny asked.

"There are a few things that you can be absolutely sure of tomorrow," Tucker clarified.

"Like what?"

"Point one: Dash will try to shove you in a locker and will probably insult you, like he does everyday."

"Point two: Paulina will be fawning over you all day and follow you everywhere," Sam stated, catching on.

"Point three: you'll probably end up in detention and most likely from Lancer because you do everyday."

"Point four: kids will stare in awe or run away in fear. So, it should make getting to class a lot easier."

"Point five: a ghost will attack and you'll have to fight it. Except this time, you don't have to worry about lying about it."

"Point six, and the most important point of all: we'll be there for you the entire day. We'll be your backbone, your support, someone to hide you when it all becomes too much. We'll be next to you always, and nothing, no matter what, will change that."

Danny smiled at them, glad that his friends could be so supportive. Danny placed an arm around each of them, enveloping the three of them in a group hug. As he felt them beside him, he thought about just how much they meant to him. He would never have survived a day with his ghost powers without them, or rather any day in general. They were the only friends he had, but he couldn't have wished it any other way. His two best friends were better than any other amount of friends he could ever have. They were always there for him, no matter what, and they always will be.

"Is Jazz going to drive you tomorrow?" Sam asked as they pulled out of their embrace.

"Yeah. Neither of us thought it a good idea to take the bus."

"Good thinking," Tucker stated.

"Do you want us to meet you here tomorrow morning and walk in with you?" Sam questioned.

"Yeah, I would really appreciate that," Danny replied as he smiled at them. He knew that school would be just as hard for them as it was going to be for him, but they were ready to face it, unafraid and unfazed.

"I just have one question," Danny stated as Tucker and Sam looked at him, puzzled. "What about Valerie? She wasn't mentioned in your list of guarantees."

"Well, that's because she isn't a guarantee. We don't know what she'll do," Tucker stated.

"She hasn't left her house since the press conference. We wanted to go talk to her afterwards, but we couldn't find her and we tried going to her house, but her dad said she didn't want to talk to anyone. We tried to look at her expression during the conference as much as we could without seeming suspicious, but her face just looked expressionless," Sam described.

"Yeah, that's what I saw. I don't know what to think. I mean, she still can't want to kill me, can she? I mean, now she knows that I'm still human, and she's not the kind of person that would kill a human, right?"

"Unless she doesn't believe that and still just sees you as a ghost that's been lying to her," Tucker stated.

"But I'm still just Danny Fenton!" Danny yelled in exasperation.

"But you're not. You're more than 'just Danny Fenton' and you know it, and now, so does she."

"But it shouldn't matter, should it?" Danny asked.

"Of course it shouldn't, but do you really think that Valerie will see it that way. Do you really think she's going to give it up just because she found out that Phantom and Fenton are really the same? You thought your own parents would still hunt you once you found out, why would Valerie be any less forgiving than your own parents?" Sam asked.

Danny couldn't think of a response to Sam's comment. He knew she was right, he just didn't want to believe her. He always thought that Valerie was a nice girl and he had long since wanted to be friends with her, but he couldn't deny the fact that if he thought his parents wouldn't accept him, then there was definitely a large possibility that she wouldn't accept him either. But still, he wanted to give her the chance. He knew that she wanted to be friends with him, and sometimes he thought she wanted a little more, but he also knew that she wanted to destroy Phantom, and would really try. His parents would just try to capture him for experiments or send him back to the Ghost Zone, but Valerie wanted to maim him, to hurt him for all the damage she thought he caused. Did he really expect her to give up all that hatred just because she wanted to be friends with Fenton? But still, maybe those feelings for him would stop her from hunting him. Maybe their friendship would be lost, but maybe, just maybe, she would stop hunting him. There was only one way to find out for sure.

"I'm going to visit her. Tonight."

"But Danny, what if something goes wrong?" Sam asked worriedly. "What if she does really want to kill you still? I mean, she may feel betrayed."

"I have to know Sam. I won't lose a friendship just because I'm too scared to go over to her house and talk to her. Besides, she's needed to listen to my side of the story for a long time. Maybe now she'll actually give me a chance."

A/N: So yeah, a lot of filler in this chapter, but the next chapter will be the confrontation with Valerie, which I know everyone's been really anxious to see!