A/N: *bangs head on the table* Happy January, all you ghouls and ghosts! I'm the adopted author of this story and I made a promise to the original to finish it, and thats what I plan on doing!

It only took a few months and viewing Butch Hartman's video on the characters aged up to force me to write chapter 3, but thats not too bad.

"Thanks, Valerie." He sighed, "I'm glad to hear it."

The girl shook her head, but offered her friend a kind, non-judgement smile. It soon disappeared as the girl launched them both into a sudden, improved rant about a concert she had seen on TV, then random stories about her worst customers. It didn't make much sense, but it did create a casual atmosphere around them and for a moment, they both forgot their troubles.

For now.

Sleeping upright in an armchair wasn't the most uncomfortable position he had ever been in. It sure beat being crammed into the Fenton RV during their trip to Wisconsin a months ago. No one with their elbow dug into his spleen. Just him and the stiff throw pillows he didn't remember having tucked under his arm. Valerie was slumped over the couch beside him, head resting on her folded arms. The TV had been left on since they got home in an attempt to cover the sounds of them moving around the apartment and later, Danny's stiffed cries. It was still playing the same movie it had been before they fell asleep. Some kind of slasher film, it looked like.

It also looked to be about 5 in the morning, according to the DVD clock, and by the way the sun had just barely begun to rise. They had only been sleeping for 2 hours, but despite how tired Danny was, he found that he couldn't get back to sleep. Instead he sat up a little straighter and began trying to follow along with the movie. He yawned loudly, but quickly quieted himself, not wanting to wake Valerie.

"D-Danny?" Too late.

He frowned, looking over at the couch. A dark brown eye was looking at him, but it closed quickly. It looked like she had fallen asleep again, and it was a good thing too. Danny would feel awful if he was the reason why she was more tired than usual while at school.

"I'm talking to you, moron." Valerie spoke, yawning softly.

"O-oh! Sorry... Yeah?" He replied. "I didn't want to wake you."

"Its fine. I didn't sleep that great anyhow." She mumbled.

She pulled herself off of the couch and dragged herself over to a nearby pile of dirty clothes. Danny watched for a moment as she tugged out a shirt and skirt from the pile and shuffle off towards what he assumed was the bathroom.

"You can use the bathroom after me- We have to leave a little earlier if we want to get to school on time." She called.

Danny silently nodded despite knowing that she wouldn't be able to hear that. Following her lead, he got up and grabbed his bag from where he left it. He pulled out a clean shirt- not that he really needed to change out of his one from the night before then. There wasn't anything staining it, and it should still smell okay.

"Just gonna save this for another day." Danny said.

He tossed his bag back onto the floor and shut his eyes, trying to get a little more sleep before they had to leave-

"Come on, we don't want to be late." Valerie said, shaking his shoulder a little. "Its an hour walk to school and its already 5:30."

"R-Right, school..."

His eyes flashed open and he pulled himself off of the armchair. He didn't know why but his heart felt like it was beating at 100 miles a minute and his palms felt wet. Feelings of nervousness and nausea washed over him in harsh waves. In an instant, he was pushing past Valeria and heading for the bathroom.

"Danny, are you-"

There was no way he could hear the rest of her sentence, not with how he was dry heaving into the toilet. It was like his stomach was trying to kill itself all of a sudden and he didn't know wh- Well, he could figure why. He wasn't ready to go to school and have to explain himself to his friends- or possibly face his sister. Sure, it seemed like a bit of an overreaction to stress, but no amount of ghost fighting was worse than this! Two hours of sleep, ghost stress, AND family secrets on top was worse.

"So, are you finished?" He heard Valerie pipe up.

A few more heaves told him that there was nothing coming up. Coughing into his hand, he got back up.

"Yeah..."

"Are you going to tell me whats wrong with you now?" She asked, "You can stay here if you're sick-"

"No... I'm not sick." He cut in. "I'm just-"

Danny closed the toilet lid and sat down. It was almost impossible for him to meet her gaze right now, even if he knew that it would add to her suspicion of him. It would only be a matter of time before he allowed her to strangle the truth out of him. Might as well get it over with now.

"I... I'm actually scared- More than I usually am." He admitted.

"Scared of what?" Valerie frowned, keeping her distance in the doorway. "If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to."

"I'm going to anyway." Danny said, "Look- I found out that I'm adopted... And I left before we could actually talk about it, and now I have to go see my friends and sister at school an-"

"Woah, woah, woah. Back it up there." Valerie gasped. "You were adopted? Did your parents actually say that? They legitimately said 'You're adopted'?"

"They did. Bluntly."

"Thats crazy, Danny- Just- I don't even know what to say about that! What brought it up? Is that all they said to you? Have they tried calling you yet!?" Valerie was starting to sound more stressed than Danny was. "What are you going to do now?"

"I don't know- The most logical thing would be to talk to them-" He groaned, rubbing his face. "But we have to get to school-"

"No. NO way!" She said. "School can wait- We should at least call your parents and tell them where you are. You can't just let this eat you up, cause their might be more to it."

"I know... I know you're right."

Of course she was right! He hadn't even checked his phone since he left even. With a shacking hand, he reached into his pocket and clicked his phone on.

72 Missed Calls from Mom

Well, if that wasn't a sign from a higher power.

"I'm... Nervous still." He admitted, clicking the 'call back' button.

"Don't be. I'll be right here- Unless you want to be alon-" Danny grabbed her hand gently and tugged her closer to him. A silent way of saying that she should stay.

Silent because he felt that if he opened his mouth now, he really would throw up everywhere from the anxiety that came from hearing the phone ringing. Almost instantly, the phone flipped over.

"Danny!? Where have you been!?" His mother's voice startled him. "Are you okay!? Honey, we've been worried sick!"

It was almost nice to hear her voice again- if not for the circumstances.

"I-I'm fine... I'm over at Valerie's now." He said. "I spent the night and we're about to walk to school-"

"O-oh! Okay honey... Will you be home tonight?"

"I-I- Don't know- Its still a lot to take in, and I have a lot of questions but I'm not sure if I'm ready to talk about it." Or if he ever would be.

"Honey... I understand." She said, "Whenever you're ready to talk about it. We'll answer any questions you have."

"Thanks mom." He could hear her breath hitch over the phone.

Maybe she wasn't expecting him to still call her mom.

"I'll see you and dad later- I still want to talk to you both about this." He assured her.

"Okay. I love you, sweetie. Have a good day at school." Mothers always knew how to make their children teary eyed and feel loved at the same time.

"I love you too mom... I'll call to you later on, okay?"

Of course he meant it. That didn't mean it made him feel any worse than he already felt. Maybe it getting this talk over sooner rather than later would be best.