Once again thank you for jaguarspot for betaing this chapter and the whole story.

One man's poison ivy is another man's spinach

-George Ade

"Oh, hello Daniel," Pam said, slightly surprised to find the young man standing behind her door at this time of the day. "Sam isn't home right now. She went shopping with Jeremy and Ida, and I don't think they will be back for another hour."

Danny shifted carefully the weight of the brown cardboard box on his hands as if it would explode at any upcoming moment. "I know. She told me about it back at school," he answered her awkwardly. "I… I need to ask you a favour and I know that Sam or Tucker wouldn't like it so…"

Pam studied her daughter's boyfriend carefully before she finally moved aside, motioning for Danny to step inside. To tell the truth, she had half expected something like this would happen sooner or later when she had decided to start sharing her knowledge with the young, ghost specialised, vigilantes. Even though she would never admit it out a loud, Pamela was now the closest thing to a mentor like figure in their lives and therefore the one they would most likely seek out when they were in the need of help with super related problems or power related advice.

Daniel muttered his quick thanks and hurried inside, as if he was afraid of someone seeing him standing on the stairs of the Mansons' household. Or maybe the content of the box was more sensitive in nature than Pam had first thought. This thought made the woman narrow her eyes suspiciously, but she decided to leave it be for now, trusting that the boy would shed some light on his weird behaviour soon. After all, Daniel wasn't the kind of person who would run around the city with stolen goods or deadly weapons unlike some other people Pamela knew.

Except he had done both of those things, Pam's traitorous mind reminded her. The latter more often if you counted his parents' weapons as deadly, which they certainly could be to the ghosts the boy hunted.

"Would you like some tea?" Pam asked while leading her young guest towards the kitchen, mostly out of habit, but part of her also wanted to give the boy something that could help him relax.

"Yeah, thank you. Tea sounds good." Daniel mumbled his answer almost too indistinctly for Pam to understand him, another, slightly worrisome, sign that something was bothering the usually vocal young man who always seemed to know what to say.

While Pamela started to prepare their drinks, Daniel sat down and pushed the box out of his hands on the table, as far as it was possible without making it too awkward for him to reach its content.

"I have to say, I'm curious," Pamela broke the silence, trying her best to make it clear that her words weren't judging or pushing the boy to say anything he didn't want to, as she placed a still empty cup in front of him. "How on earth have you managed to find a plant that I have never seen before?"

Daniel gave Pamela a startled stare. "What? How?"

"Forgot I can talk to plants?" Pamela chuckled and tapped her temple. "And if I were you, I would open the lid. The poor darling is starting to suffer from the lack of the fresh air."

"Oh…" the dark-haired boy muttered, the embarrassment bringing some colour to his otherwise pale cheeks as he turned to look at the box in between them. The look in his eyes told Pamela he didn't want to follow her advice. She couldn't be completely sure, but she could almost swear that the boy was afraid of whatever plant he had brought with him, as if it would physically hurt him to touch it.

"Mind if I take a look?" Pamela finally asked after pouring the hot water in the boy's cup and leaving a box full of different flavoured teabags next to him. Daniel didn't say anything, just nodded his head, giving more attention to choosing what kind of tea he wanted to drink than what she was doing.

So, let's see what kind of little devil you are, Pamela thought as she moved the lids of the box aside, revealing a small rose like flower that had been dug up from the ground with its roots and placed in a NASA themed blue coffee mug, supported on the upright position with the help of many crumpled newspapers so it wouldn't fall over when the box was moved.

The first thing that Pamela noticed was the purple colour of the plant's stem and leaves, most likely the result of a high concentration of anthocyanin in them. Even though the purple colour itself wasn't unheard of in the world of plants, a shade as dark as this one was something that even Pamela had never come across before, making her even more curious about the origin of this little plant and how Daniel had managed to get his hands on it. Otherwise the plant could have been mistaken as a regular red rose with their blood-red flower and sharp spikes if there hadn't been that strong, almost cumin like smell with a hint of something similar to something metallic.

"Hello beautiful," the words left from Pamela's lips gently, like she was talking to a small, frightened child as she carefully picked the mug up from the box. Because that was what this little jewel of nature was in her eyes, a scared child who had been taken away from their home and locked in some dark place where they could hardly breath, let alone had enough water or nutrients to ease the plant's growing hunger. Pamela's motherly touch brought the poor thing at least some comfort, but the flower needed to be moved into a bigger pot immediately, as well as getting fertilizer and proper light to maximise the photosynthesis and then who ever had done this to her poor baby would-

"It's called Blood Blossom," Daniel's voice brought Pamela back from her inner planning session and she hastily punished the forbidden thoughts the flower had awoken in the back of her mind. The boy tried his best to look relaxed, slowly drinking the still steaming hot tea, inhaling deeply the aroma of the drink through his nose, and yet his tightened grip around his cup and continuous, almost fearful glances towards the flower on Pamela's hands were telling a completely different story. "People used to use those to protect themselves from witches and ghosts," he explained and grimaced, "but unfortunately, unlike the most of that superstitions crap that people believe in, Blood Blossoms actually work."

"I see," Pamela said, now understanding the young Fenton's strange behaviour with the box, but not why she hadn't heard of them before or why he was trying to hide this beautiful plant from Sam.

Luckily, Daniel was already answering one of those questions.

"We first found out about them during that whole Infi-map chase at the beginning of the last school year." Pamela nodded, vaguely remembering Samantha talking about something similar while telling her and Jeremy what kind of adventures 'Team Phantom' had managed to hide from their parents. "Well, as you can probably guess, the locals kind of freaked out when we appeared in Salem. The witch trials were at their worst so seeing me floating around made them immediately mark Sam as a witch and call the local witch hunter to banish 'her demon servant' away."

"In hopes to keep me away from her, he laid ring of those flowers around the stake Sam was tied to and I, being the idiot that I am, flew straight into the trap. I mean, how was I supposed to know that some plants could actually harm ghosts," Daniel shuddered and his face twisted slightly as he remembered whatever pain he had gone through that day, then sighed darkly. "If Sam hadn't tought to tell Tucker to eat all those Blood Blossoms…" a new shudder shook the boy's body "I would have probably died that day. Or at least it hurt enough to feel that way."

A pang of sympathy and guilt twisted Pamela's heart when she looked at this young man sitting in front of her and who was still just a child in so many ways. The idea of child heroes wasn't as foreign to her as it should have been. She had already been around when the rumours of the very first sidekick had started to move around Gotham's streets. How old had that small bird even been back then? Eight? Nine? Maybe ten at most? And yet, she had still fought him, hurt him, been the reason behind same kind of memories and nightmares as the one Daniel was telling her. And still, Pamela's mind reminded her once again, both of these too young heroes continued to fight. That was the life they had chosen and therefore the price they were willing to pay.

"Anyway," Daniel laughed awkwardly as he continued, "As soon as we got back home, we started to look up any information about the Blood Blossoms so we would know what kind of places I should avoid in future and if some foods or other products used them. To our luck, it turned out that the last mention of the plant was from late 1800's, so we started to think that the Blood Blossoms had just become extinct because of the over use or something like that."

"And now it's turned out you were wrong," she finished his thought and Daniel hummed an agreement into his tea.

"Last week when we chased that annoying snake ghost almost all way up to Alaska, we came across a small clearing in middle of a forest that was full of them. No one got hurt this time, but we still decided it was for the best to burn them all. But when I went back yesterday to make sure that we had indeed destroyed all flowers for good, I found that one hiding under some large bush. After that I immediately flew back home, borrowed the Specter Speeder to fly get back to the field in my human form, dug that thing up and you know pretty much know the rest of the story"

Pamela blinked her eyes slowly, pulling the flower protectively closer her chest. "You did what!"

At some other time and state of mind the reaction she got out of the boy as he realised how big a mistake it had been to tell her the fate of the Blood Blossom field, would have been hilarious and would have brought up some pleasing memories from her past when just the sight of her had made humans fall on their knees and beg for mercy. Now, all she felt was anger. This meat bag in front of her had taken part of genocide of already vulnerable children, destroying the remains of their kind, leaving behind only one lone, suffering baby who these heartless monsters had forced to witness the death of the only family this innocent plant had. And to make it even worse, one of those murderers had been made out of her own flesh and blood. That good for nothing child. Ivy should have taken the toddler with her to ensure that mankind wouldn't pollute the child's mind with their barbaric ideals.

The meat bag leaned back on his chair and tried his best to put up a brave face as his almost glowing blue eyes met Ivy's own burning ones and the temperature of the room seemed to drop several degrees. "Look, I'm sorry Mrs. Manson, but let's say we had left those flowers alone. Sooner or later someone else would have come across them, probably someone with enough knowledge to realise that they had found something extraordinary. That person would for sure tell others what they found and before we could realise what is happening, everyone would know about the plant that has somehow survived extinction, even those who are not supposed to know."

"There are people who will turn Blood Blossoms into a weapon to destroy all ghosts and the Zone if they have a chance." the meat bag (no, his name is Daniel) continued with the voice of someone who had seen too much injustice during his life, something that Ivy herself knew too well. "And if they destroy the Ghost Zone, they will destroy this world as well. Our worlds are connected, two sides of the same coin as Sam puts it, but those who hate ghosts can't nor want to see that."

Ivy narrowed her eyes "So you thought that the survival of many would justify the suffering of the few?" this wasn't the ideology the boy usually followed and she had every right to question his motives. Yet, if his fears were justified, would she have done the same? Would the murder of one species be the right thing to do if it would save the rest of the green?

Daniel tilted his head, "I wouldn't use words that strong. I mean Blood Blossoms are just flo-," the halfa snapped his mouth shut before he could finish the sentence that could have easily ended up being his final words. They still might be, but now when her anger had lost its hottest flames, Pamela knew that killing the boy would upset both her daughter and certain heroes she wanted to forget.

"Look," the boy said and motioned towards the now badly cracked coffee mug on her hands. "There is still at least one left, right. And I figured that you are the best person to keep it safe and hidden. Or at least the only person I can trust with it."

Pam stared at Daniel a long moment before throwing her head back, letting out the best laugh she had had in years. He trusted her with the deadliest poison known to all ghosts? In all her years, she had never even imagined meeting someone who was stupid or insane enough to say something like that.

"You- you do know that my name has literally the word 'poison' in it?" she asked the now red-faced teen, who (for some reason) seemed much more relaxed than a moment ago, after managing to get her laughter under a control.

Daniel chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah… Okay, maybe you weren't my first choice," Pam rolled her eyes good naturedly and sat down on the chair opposite him, her eyes making a quick check across the room to make sure she hadn't had any accidents during her fit of anger. Some of the closer flowerpots needed to be changed (again) and one of her special seeds might have started to grow, lifting the tiles on the floor just slightly, but nothing she wouldn't be able to fix or hide before her family's return. "But Sam could never use them against me if it comes to that."

Pamela looked up at the young man at the other side of the small table. He might have said the last part with a joking tone, but his body language was telling her that his words had been genuine. Of course she knew about the circus accident and its ringmaster's power to control ghosts. That had been a big news back then, but there was also something else behind his fears that Daniel wasn't telling her.

"Daniel," the tone of her voice made the boy turn his gaze away, his eyes stopping to follow the slim branches moving along the wind just behind the window's glass.

"I saw a future where I destroyed Earth after losing everyone I loved. Even the Justice League was gone or at least they weren't powerful enough to stop me…"

"A potential future, Daniel." I corrected him.

Daniel sighed, not sounding really convinced "I know that. Clockwork explained how time works." Pamela wasn't sure who this Clockwork person was, probably another ghost hence the weird name, but he was the most likely the reason why Daniel was aware of the possible dystopia he might end up creating, a burden that no young man his age should carry on his shoulders. "But the possibility is still there."

"Just like there is a possibility that I will betray your trust and use this plant against you." She reminded him and the halfa swallowed nervously, which the redhead noted with satisfaction. It meant that the boy wasn't a naïve idiot, unable to understand that despite her current life as a loving house wife, she was still one of the most powerful meta-humans on Earth and had more blood on her hands than he, hopefully, would ever have. "And that is why both of those things will happen, but it doesn't mean that it will be part of our universe's timeline."

Pamela's words made a several emotions flash on Daniel's face; fear, pain, defeat and finally confusion when the young hero failed to understand what Pam had meant.

"The multiverse theory. Or well, since the existence of multiple universes has been proved, I guess it's not just a theory anymore."

Daniel turned to look at Pamela, her words being just what was needed to spark his curiosity. "It has?"

"Oh, yes," she smirked, remembering certain very interesting rumours about doppelgangers of the Justice League running around a year before the heroes had gone public. She herself hadn't come across them, but those who had often complained about how they hadn't been the nicest heroes on the block. "There has even been some travelling between different universes, but the League is trying their best to keep the needed technology secret."

Daniel's nose wrinkled, just a little but it was enough to express the boy's annoyance towards the self-claimed protectors of Earth and their controlling nature. Expressions like these on Sam's and her two friends faces always made a warm feeling of pride bloom on her chest. Pam would be lying if she claimed she hadn't been purposely denigrating the League's image at least little during her lectures and in stories she told Sam about her past life. But she also knew these teenagers were smart kids, who had already formed their own opinions on the more popularly known heroes even before Pam had taken them 'under her wing'. Some of the Leaguers were even their role models, a standard of hero they themselves tried to reach, and in Pamela's eyes, this kind of small hero worship was a good thing on its own way. It wasn't like she herself could ever teach them what it was like to be a good hero. Though Tucker's not so small admiration towards Bat clans' detective and hacking skills were a bit annoying from time to time, but, to Pamela's pleasure, lately he had been more interested in a certain cybernetic hero on the west coast closer to his own age.

"Maybe it's for the best," Daniel finally muttered, "After all, who wants a copy of themselves running around doing who knows what."

"Exactly," Pamela smiled while gently stroking the deep red petals of Blood Blossom, keeping one ear open to its quiet whispers and giving the flower her own soundless calming words and suggestions. "With some luck, the universe they come from is very similar to our own; maybe the Samantha of that world decided to drink tea this morning instead of juice or perhaps in their Earth you decided to wear a different coloured suit when entering your parents' portal the very first time. Then there are worlds where I still am Poison Ivy, worlds where there never was a hero named Phantom and even worlds where neither of us was never born. Multiple different universes with multiple different futures, all born because there was a possibility that things could have gone differently."

"So," she pushed the mug that was barely holding its original shape in the middle of the table "Let's create a couple more worlds, shall we?"

Daniel frowned, confused look once again on his face, as his gaze jumped between the mug and the amusedly smiling Pamela. "In one world, you will take this flower with you when you leave this house and there will not be any consequences while in another, me letting you make this choice will turn out to be one of my greatest mistakes." the boy bit his lower lip, probably imagining the futures Pam was painting to him. "Then there are the universes where you leave this flower in my care. In one of them I never have to use it and both of us will stay in the so called right path. In another, you fall and I keep my promise while in some other world I fall and you will regret this moment the rest of your short life." And then there was every single possibility in between, but Pamela was not going to voice those. Daniel himself already knew this and at this moment it was easier to keep the thing as simple as possible.

"Now tell me, Daniel." Pamela leaned over the table, resting her chin on her hands so she could stare at the hesitating boy as he did his best to weight his choices "Which of these futures you want to give a chance to become true in our timeline?"

"I…" the young man swallowed and licked his lips, looking paler and sweatier than usual. "I think I will still let you keep it." he finally decided and pushed the mug back to Pamela "I know that it sounds crazy to you, but I trust you more than I trust in myself with this thing."

The woman's smile turned into a sad one, "If that is what you wish," she said and closed gently her hand around the bloom of the Blossom. "Let's hope neither of us will end up regretting this decision." Pamela opened her hand, revealing the dried petals and the blood-red rose hip grown to the end of the plant's dark stalk.

Letting the dead petals fall on the wooden surface, Pam removed her gloves before carefully snapping the fruit off the plant, first asking for the Blossoms permission and asking for forgiveness for what she had to do. Then, completely aware about how Daniel's eyes followed her every movement, she dug her nails into the fruit's flesh, using them to slit it open so she could get her hands on the pale seeds inside it.

"Do you want to see where I hide them?" Pam asked while picking the seeds one by one from the hip to her palm, giving the halfa one more chance to secure his own survival in case she would lose her sanity.

The boy placed his cup back on the table and shook his head. "No thanks, Mrs. Manson" he said as he stood up, once again rubbing awkwardly the back of his neck. "I should go back home before Sam gets back. She will be so pissed if she ever finds out that I made you, her own mother, my 'kill switch' only because I'm afraid of some stupid nightmare that probably will never even happen."

"It's not stupid. Just a fear that every meta, especially heroes, have." Pamela told him "Especially if they have a power strong enough to destroy lives and cities. What is the thing they always say… With great power comes great responsibility?"

Daniel blinked, taken aback with the fact that his girlfriend's mother had just quoted some old comic book character then snickered, a familiar, little cocky smile by which Phantom was so well-known among the young ladies of Amity Park lighting his face. "Thanks Mrs M. I needed that one."

"No. Thank you. For trusting me with this." Pam said, she too getting up from her chair, the Blood Blossom seeds firmly secured in her fist. "It means a lot to me."

The boy let out an awkward laugh and kicked some non-existing dust on the floor, a small blush creeping on his cheeks. "You're welcome?" the words came out more as question than anything else, but it was more than enough to bring a much happier smile back to Pam's lips.

It took another couple minutes for Daniel to leave, the now empty cardboard box under his arm and with a much lighter step, as if some sort of heavy burden had been at least partially lifted from his shoulders. Pamela sighed and closed the door, genuinely hoping that the boy's burden was truly gone and he had been right about putting his trust on her. The woman opened her still un-gloved fist and stared at the fifteen small seeds laying on her palm. It was funny in its own way how these innocent looking seeds were one of the deadliest weapons against ghosts that mankind had ever seen. She would need to hide them carefully to make sure that the unwanted parties Daniel had mentioned wouldn't find them. In a chrysanthemum bed perhaps? Yes, they were innocent looking enough, but if needed, the meaning of the flower would be enough for someone smart like her Sam to find them with the help of a proper tip.

Pam closed her hand and pressed the fist over her lips, allowing herself to truly process what had happened. How in the world she had ended up in this situation was beyond her own understanding. A year ago, even her own daughter hadn't known about her past and now her daughter's friend, whose family Pamela had once despised almost as much as the Bat, saw her as the one of the most trustworthy people in his life.

It was actually really funny. A many, many years ago, the world had only known her, Pamela Isley, as the insane eco-terrorist Poison Ivy. Now, that same world had forgotten her, believed that the once feared murderer was dead and would never hurt anyone again. And in a way, they were right; there was no more a woman known as Pamela Isley, there was just Pam Manson, wife of the deli toothpick cellophane-twirling heir, five times winner of the Amity Park's 'The Most Beautiful Garden' contest, and a true modern-day lady for whom her family was the most important thing in the world.

Pam was also a woman who had found true love with her always optimistic and understanding husband, who had been insane enough to make a deal with deadly murderer and had been ready to give up the whole life he had built in Seattle to ensure their family's safety. She cared for Ida like she was her own mother and despite their arguments, the older Mrs. Manson had always done her best to help Pam live in this crazy world that was always testing her already faltering sanity. And then there was her beautiful, always so brave and rebelling flower. Sam, her only true child.

But lately Pamela had grown to realise that her family was even bigger than she had ever seen. There were the Fentons and the Foleys; the two very different families who now shared her and Jeremy's worries towards the young adults who had taken it as their mission to keep the world safe from all kind of ghostly threats.

Harley and Selina were like two crazy sisters she would never understand. One of them was a villain while one was a hero and Pamela a grey bridge in between, but in a time of need she knew she could trust in their help as long as she wouldn't force them to go against their own beliefs.

And finally, there were Tucker and Daniel: her daughter's inseparable friends and Pam's kind of proteges. They were still mostly foreigners to each other, still trying to see past the prejudices through which they had viewed each other for so many years. Once she had falsely seen only insanity in the two boys' worlds, an insanity Pamela had tried her best to keep her little Sammy away from, but had turned out to be what the girl yearned and needed the most

Yes, she might have been a villain, and despite the fact that her daughter was a hero, that past had too many memories so Pamela Manson would never be one herself. Once she had done her everything to keep Sam away from that dangerous world, but she had now learned her lesson. If being a hero was what Samantha and her friends wanted to be, there was nothing Pam could do to stop them. All she could do was to guide them, teach them the rules and keep her eyes open.

And if someone, anyone, was stupid enough to hurt her daughter or those Pamela held close of her heart, they would have to face the full wrath of nature.

After all, despite how much she had changed, Pamela was still Poison Ivy.

And ivy by any other name would always be just as deathly.

The End

Yep. That was the final chapter. No big fights and a lot of talking. I really hope I did not bore any of you with this kind of story.

As some of you already know, The Dark secret (the prequel of this story) was originally meant to be an oneshot story that I decided to turn to two-shot because it felt so long (chapters 1 and 3). The purpose of the story was to bring something different to DP fics, all of which (in my opinion) seemed to follow the same basic plot where Danny loses everything and rest of the characters of the show are either gone or completely ignored. My story was meant to be a new seed, spark of an idea to inspire other authors to write different kind of stories and I would stop posting my fics on internet after that for good.

Well, we all know how that story ended.

Now, two and half years later, the story is finished and reached more people than I could have ever hoped. The seed I planted did not grow the way as I wanted but the fruit of my work was even sweeter and has helped me through a some hard times. You have helped me through those times. This story has helped me to escape the problems back in home and your encouragements and kind words helped me to believe in myself as a writer. I can't never find right words to tell how much this all meant, and still means to me. The only thing I can say is thank you. From the bottom of my heart.

I hope you all have a great summer (or winter to those living on southern hemisphere) and once again, thank you.

'Till we meet again?

Kilppari