Valerie was many things. Impulsive and brash? Sure. Skilled as a huntress? Damn straight. Sassy and passionate? Yup.

But one thing she never thought was that she was oblivious. It wasn't until reviewing all the facts in hindsight that she really begun to realize just how utterly tunnel-visioned she has been.

She sat down at her desk, heaving down with an exhausted sigh. It'd been a long two days, full of startling revelations and plenty of close calls. She looked down at her hands- open, shut, open, shut. Where to even begin with dissecting that idea that gnawed at the back of her mind?

One: Human/ghost hybrids are possible, and not only that, reality.

This was the overarching fact that had brought to light many more of the more fine issues that had been troubling her. To her and most other ghost hunters, this seems like a bizarre, infinitely impossible idea; how ridiculous is it that a human could have ghost powers? It was like saying a human could also be half fish in terms of how differing the species are.

Reality, however, apparently doesn't give a damn what ghost hunters think is possible and impossible. It exists, damn the consequences and implications. All the proof she needed she got tonight- and tunnel-visioned she may be, but she's not about to ignore concrete facts. That goes beyond ignorance into the realm of stupidity. And she wasn't stupid.

At least, she kept telling herself that.

The implications. Right. No self loathing allowed in this party, she bitterly thought as she sipped some coffee. It was going to be a long night, and she knew sleep wasn't going to come anyway.

How many half-breeds are there out there? Do they still experience emotions like normal humans? Do they have obsessions like ghosts? She was no scientist, but she wanted to solve her moral qualms so badly that she would reach out for any answer. If it were just Vlad, she would have her answer, but with Dani and…

No, one thing at a time. Let's solve the easier moral dilemma first.

Two: Vlad Master was one of the hybrids. He is also Plasmius.

Vlad completely damaged her pride, but otherwise is somehow the easiest pill to swallow. He's just another ghost in her eyes. Someone to protect people from. Planning to do… things? She needed to find out his plans. That was a good idea. Yeah.

The bigger question is whether or not she swallows her pride and lets him know whether or not she's in on it. For now? She's thinking not letting him know is the best plan. Easier access to his plans and plenty of ghost weapons to count on. However, if things are as she thinks, then maybe…

One thing at a time, dammit. Maybe she's drinking too much coffee. Although, as she swishes her coffee around her cup, she thinks that maybe she can't dodge the biggest thing for much longer.

Three: Dani Phantom is also a halfa. She, however, does not carry the same sense of malice as Vlad.

This is where the moral implications of this mess get tricky. Dani throws a wrench in her "not all ghosts are evil" morality compass, because if there's one halfa with human emotions, how many more are there? How can she know? Are there telltale signs? Plasmius certainly didn't seem any more human than say, the box ghost, so it's hard to say.

She shrugged. If a ghost attacks someone, she defends her town and herself. She supposed that'd be the best way to go about it.

But… she sighed. She's finally gotta confront her own creeping suspicions, doesn't she? She looked outside the window wistfully, enjoying her last few moments before she delved into something that would probably permanently cause her insomnia until solved.

It was 1 am. 5 hours until she can get on with school. Maybe she'll go ghost hun- no, no, she's not doing that tonight unless someone gets attacked.

She took a deep breath.

Dani Phantom is Danny Phantom's cousin. Dani is a halfa. What are the odds that Dani Phantom's cousin is also not a halfa?

The similarities between the two of them are too stark for her to simply call it an "adopted" family. They look almost identical, minus the female and 12 part. And-

Wait, wait, backtrack. Did she just call them halfas? Where had she heard that before? Oh-

Hmm, another piece to add to the evidence pile. Ghosts LOVE to make fun of Danny Phantom for being a "halfa." She always figured it was a ghost slur. In a way, she thought she might've been right.

She leaned forward. Yeah. Phantom is definitely also a halfa. And she thought she knew who, too. Dani's black hair and bright blue eyes reminded her of one very distinct person. She'd shrugged it off when she first saw it, and now-

There were two photos on her desk. One of Danny Phantom, and one of Fenton. The similarities are striking. It's a bit dazzling to see how much she really was blinded.

It was- it was pretty obvious to Val at least some of the behind scenes action now. She knew she was going to have to confront Danny about this sooner or later. And, perhaps… she groaned, probably her own feelings too. And his, for that matter.

Everything had clicked.

She was pissed off, mostly, but she wasn't entirely sure why as of yet. She felt played, but also sure that she wasn't played. Vlad had played her for certain, but was Danny Fenton capable of that? She wasn't sure one way or the other. She felt hurt, for sure, and angry, but that surprising stab of betrayal didn't hit the way that she thought it would.

Somewhat detachedly, she wondered why that could be. She stood up and got closer to her window. If Phantom didn't fly by tonight, she'd leave a note in Fenton's locker tomorrow.

One way or another, she was going to resolve this.

There wasn't a sign of Phantom near her house all night, which she'd both not been surprised by and been banking on. Time to mull over her thoughts. She didn't really get anywhere, though. She was spinning in circles.

At 6, she'd written the letter.

I have something I found out yesterday. I want to talk to you about it. Meet me at 3:30 in the forest behind the school. -Val.

At 7, she'd gone to school. At 8, she tucked it in his locker, wondering if he'd even show up today.

At 9, he was in her second hour class, eying her strangely. She couldn't read his face. It was alarming- Danny always wore his heart on his sleeve.

At lunch, she intentionally sat by herself to avoid the awkward confrontations that would inevitably come from Sam and Tuck.

At 2, she was both dreading and anticipating the end of the day.

At 3, she was sitting in the forest a little ways back from the school, sat on top of a low tree branch, and waiting Danny to show up.

She wrote 3:30, didn't she? Yeah. She had a little while longer to wait. Why'd she write 3:30? Why didn't she just write, "after school?" She took another sip of coffee. She felt exhausted and strangely wired up at the same time.

"You're here early," Danny said, causing Valerie to jump and look around.

Danny had climbed a tree next to her and was staring at her. He looked a little roughed up- there was a nice nick on his cheek. Now she thought she knew where it had come from.

"So are you," Valerie snorted. "I would've asked you how you climbed a tree without me noticing, but I think I have my answer."

"What?" Danny put his hand on his neck, "I think you were just spacing out. I definitely just climbed the tree."

"No, I don't doubt that," Valerie shook her head, "You've just mastered the art of being freakily quiet. Must come with being Phantom."

Danny's eyes went wide, before quickly turning his head away, hanging his head. "Mmm, we're just cutting to the chase, aren't we?"

"You aren't even denying it?" Valerie raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, we kind of figured you'd put the pieces together after Wednesday I just, um, figured you'd be in denial about it for a little while longer. Then again," Danny gave a small smile, "You were always about jumping to action rather than waiting."

"I'm surprised, figured I'd have to wrangle this out of you," Valerie commented.

"And I'm surprised there's no guns to my face and there's not yet been any screaming," Danny shrugged, his smile fading.

"Well, now that you mention it- I'm kidding," Valerie teased, before relenting upon Danny's tensing, "More or less, I'm just frustrated. Vlad and you, of all people, were playing me."

Danny looked behind him, and looked back at her, his face contorted in a mix of confusion and surprise. "Huh? Vlad? Wait, I wasn't playing you, and- Vlad? How did you- ohhh my God, that was what tipped you, wasn't it? Or was it just Dani? I kind of what hoping with Dani you'd just, like, think that was some weird freak of nature, but then there's Vlad and he was like an actual human being that was born, and- and I wasn't playing you!"

Valerie frowned, her eyebrows scrunching, "Rambling. And if you weren't playing me, what exactly were you doing?!" Her voice started to raise, "Dating me, having your dog sick me, and- you- you tried to kill me. And you stole things, and the mayor and," She took a deep breath, before bitterly commenting, "And I picked up my ex-boyfriends rambling tendencies."

Danny leaned back on the tree branch, looking a bit exasperated. "Jesus Christ. Okay, let's go through the list. The dog. It really wasn't my Dog. Axion Corp killed a bunch of dogs and his squeaky toy was still in the building. Cujo's just a dog, man," He smiled fondly, before it fading. "Killing you. I knew you weren't in the suit, Val. Stealing things. There was this guy who could control ghosts, and…" He paused, "Yeah. Mayor. He overshadowed the mayor. He also overshadowed like, half the town."

Valerie broke his gaze and looked away. "I can't believe I believe you," She hissed to herself, "Why do I believe you?"

"Because I'm telling the truth? I dunno," Danny retorted.

There was a brief pause, before Danny reluctantly muttered, "And I dated you because I love you, Val."

Valerie paused. She looked at Danny. "What?"

"Well, that's why you date people, isn't it?" He smiled, shrugging, before sheepishly looking away.

"Bit odd to fall in love with the huntress who tries to kill you half the time, huh?" Valerie snorts.

"I knew you meant well," Danny shrugged, "At least once you started to move past the whole explicitly revenge motivation. You aren't a bad person. And, um, it's not like I don't love my parents."

Valerie took a deep breath, before sighing. "I broke up with you because I didn't want you getting hurt. Looks like that was a bit unnecessary, huh?"

"Heh, yeah."

There was a stiff silence. Danny and Valerie had met gazes and had a hard time breaking away.

Finally, Valerie broke the silence. "I… I'm incredibly conflicted. I don't know how to react right now. On one hand, I'm incredibly pissed. On the other hand," She took a deep breath, "On the other hand, I don't think I ever moved on, Danny."

"Yeah," Danny rubbed his neck again, "Me neither."

"I think… I think I need some time to process this. Maybe when I finally crash from exhaustion and get some sleep I can finally find my thoughts. But… maybe… maybe there's no reason we can't try it again. No secrets between us."

Danny's eyes twinkled with a light she hadn't seen in a while. "I would love that. But," Danny pulled himself back, "Only if you are comfortable with it. Take a few days. Please. Sort it out. I don't want to rush into anything that'll only leave everyone feeling worse than before."

"Yeah," Valerie nodded, "Yeah. Give me a few days," Valerie said, getting up.

Then, his ghost sense shuddered him, rushing what was already the end of a conversation. He looked at Val, guiltily.

"There's a ghost," Danny hesitantly admitted, his voice soft.

"Go get 'em, ghost boy," Valerie smiled, "If you need help, you have my number."

Danny gave her a thumbs up, beaming.

On Wednesday of the next week was the next time Valerie and Danny had any real interaction, and it was over a ghost.

Valerie, dressed as the Red Huntress, had left the middle of history class to go hunt a ghost that had popped up on her radar. It was a strong one- one she couldn't risk letting roam around for any longer than it took to rangle it.

"Take that, ghost!" She yelled at a she shot- nailing it in the eyes. It fell backward, and she rolled in closer, keeping the gun squared on it.

And then it was enveloped in a blue light and sucked into a thermos. She followed the light to see Phantom- no, Danny- sheepishly holding it in his hands.

"Well, I wasn't expecting you to beat me here," He grunted.

"No, 'Thank you for helping me take down this powerful ghost, Valerie?" Valerie rolled her eyes.

"Hey, don't steal my line!" Danny retorted, "You never said it to me!"

"Well, now things have changed, haven't they?" Valerie said.

Pause. "Yeah, I guess so," Danny laughed.

Valerie sat down on her board, staring at Danny. "I think- I think I've come to terms with it all, and I know what to do."

Danny gave a shaky grin. "Oh yeah? And what's that?"

Valerie pulled her helmet back and smirked. And then she gave Danny a kiss on the mouth. Danny froze, and then kissed back, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her close.

"I love you, Val," He whispered.

"I love you, Danny," She responded.

Then, a brief pause. "You uh, took your helmet off in the middle of public, Valerie."

She paused, before quickly putting it back on. "We'll have to continue this back at school, ay?"

"Yeah, I think so," Danny winked. "Race you back."

"You're so on," Valerie said.

And the two soared across the sky, racing throughout the clouds and laughing all the way. The two were now one kickass, ghost fighting unit.

When the two got back to the school, Sam and Tucker just had to look at Danny's face to know what happened. Sam's face dropped for a minute, before Tucker grabbed her hand and gave a comforting smile. Sam took a deep breath and responded with one of her own, before whispering to Valerie as she passed, "Welcome to Team Phantom, Red."

A/N: Hey hello, I'd be lying if I said this was my first fanfiction but what I CAN say is that this is my first fanfiction in a long time. Also, i wrote it all in like... two hours or something, and I didn't really read back over it, so it's probably trash.

I just want a place to dump all my fluffy ideas together. So, yeah. I love Valerie and Danny. Lot more chemistry. Fully intend on tackling the parents and some other people, too. Revelation after Revelation. I'm ready. :^)