Last chapter, you guys. Author's Note below for my thank you speech. You like me, you really like me!

-ZG

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I honestly don't know what I expected when I told my mom my secret.

Then again, I hadn't expected to tell her now.

But what else could I do? "Oh, hey Mom. Yeah, Danny Phantom suddenly flew off dramatically into the sunset. So we will probably never see him again. But guess what? I found you! So can we pretend like this never happened and move on with our lives?" That was not going to work.

So I found my opportunity. A dramatic opportunity. If my life had background music some there would be an instrumental building up the point where I changed back and then this awesome rendition of a theme song I'll never have…

So anyways, yeah. I didn't know what to expect when I revealed myself to my mom.

My first image was that she would pull out her bazooka and tell Phantom to get out of me. The second one was that she would suddenly strap me down and take me home for testing. The third was a gushy scene where she would say that she loves me no matter what and then we'd hug and eat giant gummy bears or whatever. An image that would make Sam gag.

Mom is just standing there, like she's piecing everything together. She's analyzing me and I'm trying to not make a break for it. After all, what I said was pretty stupid. "Hi, Mom?" What. No explanation or anything? Nope. Just…"Hi, Mom."

I clear my throat. "So, that just happened," I say.

That snaps Mom out of her trance. I'm expecting a tirade of how she's ashamed that I didn't trust her or for her to faint. I'm throwing that gushy scene out the window. There's no way a ruthless ghost hunter would be that forgiving of her son.

I gulp.

She simply turns around to the payphone and slips the quarter in. She dials a couple numbers and waits, keeping her attention away from me, for someone to pick up.

"Yes, I'm calling for Search and Rescue," she says calmly. Almost too calmly. Has she known this entire time? And all that lamp mumbo-jumbo was for nothing? "My son and I have been stranded here in the forest. No, I don't know which forest exactly, the brochure didn't say. Well, the brochure wasn't real. Nothing was real. Not even the camp. You know what? I'll explain it later. All that matters is that my son and I on a deserted road starving after almost two days of no food and water. Oh, you've tracked our location? Thank you, so much." She puts the phone back on the receiver and turns to me. "They'll be here in twenty minute to a half an hour."

I raise an eyebrow. What the hell just happened?

"You're not surprised?" I ask. "Dumbfounded? Ashamed? Freaked out? Confused? You're…okay with this?"

"Oh, honey, of course I'm not okay with this," she says honestly. It stings, but it calms me down a little. It sounds a lot more like Mom. "I mean, my son has had ghost powers for a whole year and never told me! How would expect me to be?"

"I was sort of expecting you to try to shake the ghost out of me," I admit. "But…is it okay to you for me to be this way?"

"It certainly is going to take some getting used to," Mom answers. She smiles. "However, it's nice to know that you're carrying on the Fenton tradition. In your own special way, of course."

I smile back. "So, do you have any questions?"

She rolls her eyes. "Too many to count."

"How about…ten questions. Just to start off with."

Mom sits down against the payphone station. I, in turn, sit down on the burning concrete, and stand up immediately when I get the sensation of my ass being on fire.

"So let's see…you were obviously given these powers during the portal accident," she says to herself. "I mean, there's no other way. Unless you were blasted by a hundred ghosts or so. But there's a very small chance of that ever happening. So my first question would have to be…what powers do you have?"

I smirk. That's an easy one. "I got the standard stuff. Flight, invisibility, intangibility, super strength, and night vision." I inhale. "But I can also use my ecto-energy—or whatever it's called—to make shields, blasts, and rays from my hands and fingers."

"Show me," Mom demands.

I look round for a good target. I pick a tree and concentrate. After all, being in human form makes it harder to control my powers. Back when I first got them I kept falling through the walls or floating in my sleep. I concentrate my energy to my finger and fire at a nearby tree branch. The ray of otherworldly energy cuts the branch right off. I blow on the finger that is still sizzling from the expulsion of ectoplasm.

"I can also duplicate myself sometimes," I tell her. "But it usually ends up with me looking like some sort of genetic mutation gone wrong. Then again, I sort of am a genetic mutation gone wrong…" I snap out of my thoughts. "Oh, and I also have a Ghostly Wail, but I can't show you that unless you want half of the forest wiped out and me passed out on the ground for a good four hours."

"Are you really that powerful?" she asks, dumbfounded.

"Well, I don't mean to brag," I say, "but…yeah. Sort of."

Mom looks down, trying to figure out the next question. "Who knows?"

"Sam, Tucker, and Jazz," I say simply. "Oh, and now there's you. And there were those two times where I revealed my secret to you and dad along with Lancer and the rest of the world. But Clockwork and the Reality Gauntlet fixed those up."

Mom just looks confused.

"Never mind," I say. "But yeah…you, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz. Apparently Jazz saw me transform at some point and has kept my secret since."

Mom nods. "Fourth question…why was Walker after you?"

"Oh…" I start laughing nervously. This isn't going to end well. "So…I sort of escaped from ghost prison…"

"You went to PRISON?" Mom yells, shocked. She look like she's about to murder me.

"Hey, it was because I was trying to retrieve your anniversary present!" I defend. "Walker decided to go psycho on me and lock me in for 1000 years. If I didn't realize that humans act like ghosts in the Ghost Zone then I would've never escaped."

"How much do you know about the Ghost Zone?" Mom asks.

"I—um, well…where do I begin?" I try to think of a good starting point. "You know what? I'll show you the maps at home."

"There are maps?"

"Yeah. Sam, Tucker, and I mapped the whole place out when we took-" I stop talking. I should probably stop talking. She'd be pissed if she found we used some of her inventions. "Well, we mapped it out while you guys were gone."

"Is this why your grades have been slipping?" she inquires.

I wince. If she thinks this interferes with my school life she'll ban me from hunting. "Sort of. I mean, sometimes I have to fight the damn Box Ghost during third period and have to miss a test. And it's hard to sleep and do homework at night when Desiree is making some kid's wish a twisted nightmare." I cross my arms. "But I'll stick by it."

Mom gets up. "Would you mind if I took a couple blood and tissue samples?"

I grimace. "Promise not to dissect me?"

"Of course," she says. "Though, if I got you under some anesthesia maybe I could leg something from your leg-"

"Mom!" I exclaim. "No dissections. Not molecule by molecule or limb my limb. Just…no dissections."

"Sorry, sweetie," she apologizes. "My scientist side got the better of me."

"Fine. Just a couple samples, though. You know how much a hate getting my blood drawn."

"Okay," she agrees. "And my last question…why didn't you say anything?"

Wow. That one's a doozy.

"Uh, okay. Well…" I try to start it off. Should I lie? Or should I tell the truth? "I guess when the accident happened I was too scared to say anything. I mean, I woke up as a ghost. I hoped it would just go away but it didn't. And whenever I tried to tell you guys something got in the way; one of dad's inventions exploded, Jazz interrupted with her psycho knowledge, Vlad got in the way…and so I gave up. And when you guys started wanting to tear Danny Phantom to shreds I decided not to say anything at all. I mean, I don't expect you guys to be the kind of parents who would experiment on their own son, but my mind gave me the worst possibilities. So I didn't tell you…until now. For once the timing was right and nothing got in the way."

Mom takes this all in. "Well…this is certainly something we'll need to readjust to."

"No need," I dismiss. "I mean, I've been fine on my own with Sam and Tucker before. And from what I've learned when Jazz tried to join I think I can do better that way."

"I have no idea why you didn't run away when you could," she confesses. "I mean, we shot at you. Constantly."

"Most of Dad's guns don't work anyway. In truth, you guys weren't that big of a threat."

She looks annoyed and huffs. "Well thanks for the constructive criticism."

"No, no, no!" I cover up. My mouth needs to close. Now. "What I mean to say is that it didn't really matter if you guys were shooting at me. You and Dad are still my parents."

Mom smiles. "Thanks, sweetie."

There's a sudden whir above us. A white and red helicopter is steadily lowering itself to the ground. Search and Rescue is finally here.

A lady greets us with food and asks for details on how we got lost. We lie and say that we went exploring and couldn't find our way back. The lady asks about our scratches and we both answer that we fell in some blackberry bushes. We're given some food and water before we pile into the helicopter, sitting in the back where the lady is too busy giving stats and reporting to hear us.

"I used to really hate three day weekends," I say to my mom. It comes out of nowhere.

Mom, who is sitting next to me, looks over. "And why was that?"

"Too much ghost hunting," I tell her truthfully. "Back when I was a kid I used to love them. But since I decided to be a hero they'd been a personal hell."

"Well, I'm sorry this one didn't turn out as planned," she says. We're hovering over the edge of the forest now. We're near the entrance to Camp Your Death. If I didn't know any better, I think I can see the Fenton G.A.V. covered in green smoke and being put out by firefighters. That isn't going to look good on the insurance plan.

"No, don't be," I say. "Actually, I think I'm beginning to like them again."

Aw, sappy stuff! Shut up.

"Well, the hell is over, honey," Mom reassures me. "Mostly, anyway."

I frown. "What else is there?"

Mom sighs and smiles. "Telling your father."

Oh yeah.

Well, here we go again.

#

It's done! The first fanfiction I've ever finished! Completed! Hallelujiah, it can be accomplished!

Yay, sort of sappy ending.

I would've done another chapter, but everything fell into place here. It's a little fast-paced but it worked. Besides, I hate drawing thing out. It kills my soul.

I would like to thank all of my reviewers for their contributions. Your reviews made my day :D

I'll be posting those Amethyst Ocean one-shots very soon. My mind is overflowing with ideas. You haven't heard the last of Zipporah Grace! Even if that isn't my actual name… (Shhhh!)

-ZG