I would have had this up yesterday for y'all, but the site was being weird and wouldn't let me log in. Any of you have that problem or know the reason behind it? (Could just be my internet, but you never know)

Anyway, on to what you've all been waiting for!

Chapter 3

Mother and son stood in the kitchen, stiff and awkward. Danny took a few steps back from her, giving her a respectable physical distance to match the mental one she had created. No, she wasn't the only one who had created that mental distance. That was just as much Danny's fault, because he hadn't told her sooner.

Maddie closed her eyes and looked away from him. "You already made it clear that you don't want to tell me. Why change your mind now?"

Danny took a deep breath. "I haven't told you before because…I was scared. I don't know how you'll react."

Maddie turned her body away from him. "You told Jazz though, didn't you? She's always been covering for you, trying to make it seem like whatever you're going through is normal…"

"I didn't tell her, but she found out by accident. And the fact that she's still proud of me despite knowing…please just remember that. Please remember that Jazz still believes in me."

Maddie half-turned to him. "You act like I'm going to hate you for what you're about to say."

Danny swallowed nervously and looked away. "Well…it's a strong possibility you might."

Maddie whirled and stepped towards him, taking him by the shoulders. "Danny I'm your mother! I could never hate you! If you really think that I could…then I did something wrong and I'm sorry!"

"You have nothing to apologize for," Danny said softly, placing his hands on top of hers. He didn't move her hands though. For all he knew, this might be the closest he'll ever be to his mother again. "It's how you've always been against ghosts, how could I expect you to be any different with me?"

"Ghosts? What do ghosts have to do with anything?" Maddie asked, stepping back from Danny. He could see the gears running in her head, trying to figure it out.

"Everything, actually," Danny said. He took a few steps back of his own to the doorway, more for protection than anything else.

"Have you befriended one? Is that why you're always beat up?" Maddie demanded.

Danny sighed. "Okay, before I explain anything else, please promise me you'll let me finish explaining? And that you'll keep an open mind? Can you please promise me that?"

Maddie hesitated. She could see how much fear was in Danny's eyes, and the idea that it was her that was causing him so much fear was absolutely abhorrent to her. "I promise." She moved to sit down at the table, and Danny followed her carefully with his eyes.

He took a deep breath and stepped forward back into the kitchen. "Okay…I'll start small, and work my way up to the big secret, okay?" he said more to himself than to her.

She nodded anyway. He really was in a bunch of knots about this…his whole frame was trembling.

"First," he started, seeming to get a handle on himself again. "You have to accept that all ghosts aren't evil." As he expected, this was met with loud protestations and a heated passion. He simply raised his hand to make her be quiet. "You promised, remember?"

She shut her mouth firmly and sat down again. He could tell the fire hadn't quite gone out of her eyes yet, so he decided more explanation on that was needed. "Do you remember that college reunion we went to up in Wisconsin?"

She nodded. "But I don't see how that—"

"Let me finish," Danny interjected. "I met a ghost there, the Dairy King. He helped me—ah, that is…he let me out of a locked room and said that some ghosts just want to be left alone."

"When were you locked in a room?" Maddie asked. She had thought that she'd kept pretty close attention to her kids…

"Not important. What is important is that he was a friendly ghost," Danny said firmly. Maddie frowned and looked down at the table.

"But that…"

"Goes against everything you believe, I know," Danny said softly. He moved closer to the table, a gentle smile on his face. "A lot of what I'm about to tell you goes against what you believe. But you're going to have to trust me."

Maddie looked up at him, and for the first time she realized he wasn't a little boy anymore. He was sixteen years old, and for once he looked even older than that. He looked like someone who had seen more things than anyone his age should have, done more than anyone could have. He looked like a man.

"Okay…at least for the sake of argument, there are friendly ghosts," Maddie said. Danny smiled at her.

"Thank you."

"But even if I accept that…what does this have to do with you?" she asked. Danny swallowed nervously again.

"Well…for the last two years I've been…I guess you could say studying ghosts?" he said. Maddie blinked. Her son, studying ghosts? But he always denied any interest in them and avoided their ghost fighting inventions like the plague…

"Studying them?" she repeated dumbly.

"Sort of…indirectly I guess. I've gotten to know a few of them. And yeah, some of them are pretty nasty and we're definitely more enemies than friends…but some of them I consider my closest friends. There's this whole pack of yeti ghosts in the ghost zone that I know I can rely on in a jam," Danny said without thinking.

"The ghost zone?" Maddie repeated loudly, getting to her feet and slamming her hands on the table. "You've been in the ghost zone? Do you know how dangerous that is?"

Danny sighed and leaned back against the counter, rubbing the side of his face with one hand. When Maddie was done with her rant he raised a brow. "Yes, the Ghost Zone, yes I know it's dangerous, but really, if you weren't going to use it, why did you build a portal?"

Maddie was taken aback at the question. "Well, we're still making preparations to ensure a safe trip…after all we'll be completely surrounded by ghosts and we aren't even sure what the environment will be like…"

"The first time I went into the Zone was an accident. I was in the cockpit of the Spector Speeder and Dad did something, knocking me inside. Everything was fine. The atmosphere was the same as here essentially, but the gravity is a lot less there. Oh, and humans are the ghosts there. You can still be hurt and everything, but you can pass through walls and stuff," Danny explained. He could see her trying to process all of this.

"Why didn't you ever tell us?"

"I wasn't supposed to be there right? I didn't want to get in trouble. I was getting grounded enough as it was before that," Danny said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. Maddie sighed and nodded. That made sense…

"But you've been back there?" she demanded. Danny sighed.

"Yes, I've been back there. I've explored it quite a bit actually. There's still a lot I don't know, and even more that I'll never know, but I know the layout of most of the area right around our portal."

The scientific side of Maddie wanted to work on this information right away. The maternal side though said Danny still had a lot more to tell her, and at the moment that was the more important issue.

"So for the last two years you've been studying ghosts? That's why you're home late and always injured? You're…what? Befriending them?"

"Not exactly…most of the ones I see are here on a regular basis, and they're usually just here to cause trouble. I do what I can to get rid of them, but usually not before a lot of damage has been done," Danny said carefully, looking sideways at her. Maddie's eyes narrowed.

"You've been fighting them?"

Danny nodded. "I guess it does run in the family."

This was too much for Maddie to handle. Her baby boy, her son, her Danny was out fighting ghosts on a regular basis? He could have been killed!

But…if all he was doing was fighting ghosts…he wouldn't have been scared to tell them that.

"What else is there? What aren't you telling me?" Maddie asked.

Danny swallowed nervously again and looked down at the floor. "Well…there's a reason I got involved in all this ghost business, why I feel it's my responsibility to keep the troublesome ghosts out of the town," he started. He was shaking again.

Maddie waited for him to continue on his own and sat down again. This was clearly the major secret he'd been hiding for so long, the one he couldn't predict how she'd react.

"Just…remember your promise to keep an open mind and to remember that Jazz still trusts me," Danny said. Maddie nodded encouragingly. He took a deep breath. "It's my responsibility…because I'm part of them. I'm part ghost."

He looked at her as if he expected her to jump up and attack or something. She just blinked and turned her head slightly.

"What?" she asked.

"I'm part ghost," he repeated, slightly more sure of himself. Maddie tilted her head the other way, a disbelieving smile widening on her face.

"But…that's not possible…to be part ghost you'd have to be part dead," Maddie said.

"Yeah…we're not sure how it works. Tucker thinks that when the portal electrocuted me it started to kill some of my cells, but then the ectoplasm just turned them to ghost cells which kept the rest of me alive. After that my body just found a way to balance the two opposite types of cells. Sometimes the human cells are the dominant ones and sometimes…sometimes the ghost cells are more dominant."

Maddie was shaking her head. "Danny…what you're telling me is impossible. You can't be half dead and half alive at the same time."

"Like I said, we're not sure how it works," Danny repeated. Maddie dropped her head into her hands.

"I thought you were going to tell me the truth Danny," she said quietly, staring at the table. "This is impossible. How long have you been creating this story to tell me?"

"I'm not making this up! Look," he said, turning his arm intangible and phasing it through the counter. He pulled a fork back out with his hand. "Only a ghost could do that!"

"But you're not dead…you're not dead!" Maddie screamed.

Danny raised his hands to try and calm her down. "No, I'm not," he agreed. This seemed to calm Maddie down a little. She took several minutes to process this new information, but she just couldn't make it add up in her head.

"Even if this were true, I think I would have noticed if my son was fighting ghosts all the time. Someone would have noticed," Maddie said triumphantly. Danny bit his lip.

"They noticed all right…the part I mentioned where sometimes the ghost half of me is the more dominant part? That part changes how I look too. You've been seeing that side of me for years, you just didn't know it was me."

"I know you're other side?"

He nodded; Maddie noticed he was trembling again, more than ever actually. "I'm…Danny Phantom."

Maddie blinked.

No. That couldn't be possible. She had to draw the line there. That just was not possible. Phantom was a menace responsible for destroying half the town on a daily basis. That wasn't her sweet little boy.

"No," she stated. "No you're not."

He sighed. "Open mind mom," he reminded. "And remember, not all ghosts are evil?"

"Phantom is. You can't be Phantom."

He ran a hand over his forehead. Straight up denial had not been a scenario he typically pictured whenever this scene played out in his mind.

"Don't freak out, okay? But I'm going to show you that I am. First I'm turning off the ghost detection stuff…I don't want it going off on me," Danny said. She didn't move as he flipped the switch next to the fridge. "You ready? No weapons, no attacking, right?"

She nodded numbly. He swallowed and closed his eyes tightly. As he opened them, the familiar blue rings passed over his head and white hair fell into his eyes instead of black.

Maddie gasped and jumped out of her chair, knocking it backwards so it crashed to the floor. Jack's voice came drifting up the stairs, asking if everything was alright.

"Everything's fine Dad," Danny called down. He wasn't ready to tell Jack yet…he had to know how this was going to play out first.

"You…you're really…but that's not…this shouldn't be possible…" Maddie stuttered, putting a hand to her forehead.

"Mom…?" Danny hesitantly took a step forward, reaching his arms out to try and comfort her.

"You stay over there!" she exclaimed. Danny froze.

Rejection. This possibility had been one of the scenarios he'd often imagined. It was one of the worst ones. At least with the scientific curiosity he knew there was no hope of them ever accepting him again. With rejection…he couldn't be sure if it was the initial shock or how she would always feel.

"You…you can't be my son," she whispered. Her eyes darted back and forth on the floor like a cornered animal.

Danny wanted to cry. "I'll…I'll just go away, for a while, okay? Take a few days, take as long as you need…but please…I am your son," Danny said. His voice broke at the end. He didn't wait to hear her respond before jumping into the air and disappearing through the wall of the house.

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