The next day Maddie was sitting on the living room couch tinkering with one of her inventions that Jack had apparently broke the night before. She hadn't told him or anyone about her encounter with Phantom last night. However she couldn't stop thinking about it.

About Phantom and how he sounded and acted so human. About what he had said about her son and how to better connect with him. About how she had somehow found favor in a ghost she had spent so long trying to catch...

"Uh...mom?"

She snapped out of her thoughts and looked up towards the stairs to see her raven haired son standing towards the top of the staircase, looking at her with the slightest bit of concern etched on his face.

For a brief moment the things the ghost boy had said flashed through her mind.

"Oh, hi Danny." She said, still a little lost in her thoughts.

"Are you okay mom?" He asked, probably noticing her dazed look.

"Yes, I'm fine, I've just been...thinking.."

"Oh, um, okay...what have you been thinking about?" He asked, coming down the stairs and walking up to her.

She was a bit surprised the boy was actually taking an interest in her for once. But now might be the perfect opportunity to put Phantom's advice to work.

"Hey, Danny, you know I love you right?"

"Yeah, of course I do."

"And, you know that your father and I will always love and accept you no matter what."

She could see the slight twinge of nervousness in him. He knew where this was going.

"And I'm sorry about yesterday, I should have been more understanding and I shouldn't have tried to force an answer out of you. I get it if you're going through some things that are kind of hard to talk about or you don't think we'd understand, but just know that I'm always here for you and that you can tell me anything."

Danny turned his gaze to the floor, rubbing the back of his neck and looking torn about something.

"Um..uh...I.."

Suddenly he gasped and his eyes went wide. He looked at her, looking half relieved, half disappointed.

"Um...I gotta go."

And just like that he was gone. Maddie sighed, she was so close! Oh well, I guess he'll tell me when he's ready. She thought.

And so once again she was left to her thoughts. That is, until she heard a crash down in the lab.

At first she assumed it was Jack working on something down there, until she remembered that he had gone out part shopping for his latest invention.

Needless to say as soon as she realized this fact she was running down there as fast as she could, ecto-weapon already in hand and warming up, assuming to find nothing less than a ghost messing around with their equipment.

When she got down there the lab was in shambles (more so than usual). The shard remains of beakers glittered the light blue steel floor, as did a number of their inventions. Shelves had been broken in half, ectoplasm was splattered all over the metal walls, as well as black circular scorch marks that were still smoking.

And floating in the middle of it all, was Phantom.

"Phantom!?"

The ghost boy in question whipped around as fast as the speed of light, and stared at her with wide fearful eyes.

"Mo-Maddie!" He yelped, then turned his eyes to mess all around him. "Th-this isn't what it looks like!"

"Oh, really, because it looks like you decided to come into my lab and completely destroy it!" She spat with about as much venom as she could possibly muster.

How dare that ghost trick me into almost trusting him! Only to come here and trash my lab! I guess I was right, once a filthy ghost, always a filthy ghost!

"What?! No! You don't understand! I was-"

"Deceiving me into almost caring about you! Your just like every other filthy ghost! Deceiving and manipulating people for your own personal gain! And to think I was actually beginning to think that maybe you were different. But I guess I was wrong!" She yelled, pointing the already charged ecto-gun at him and fingering the trigger.

...3

"Wait! You gotta listen to me!"

...2

"Please! You don't know what you're doing!"

...1

"Mom! Wait!"

At that very moment her finger pulled the trigger. It all happened so fast, and yet, at the same time, so painfully slow.

The blast hit Phantom directly, and created a shock wave that coursed through his body. He screamed, then fell to the floor, gripping his side in pain while on his hands and knees.

And that's when it happened. Suddenly a light blue ring of light formed around his torso, then split into two, traveling over his body in opposite directions. As the rings separated, they changed Phantom's trademark black and white jumpsuit into a familiar white and red t-shirt, light blue jeans, and red and white sneakers. As it passed over his head his snow white hair became ebony black.

Maddie took a step back. Th-those were the exact same clothes Danny had been wearing!

Then a thought struck her that made her blood run cold. Right as she had pulled the trigger he had yelled 'mom! wait!'. He-he called me mom...n-no! He can't be-!

But her answer undoubtedly came as the boy lifted his head and looked at her.

Those eyes. She knew those eyes. They were the same baby blue eyes that looked into her's fifteen years ago in a hospital room. The same eyes that looked to her for comfort and protection on those dark and stormy nights. The same eyes of the little boy that would always run up and give her a big hug to show her how much he loved her.

The same eyes of the teenage boy she loved more than words could say.

Her heart went numb, as she now stood there, silent and motionless, staring shocked and completely horrified at the ghost boy that now looked exactly like her son. No, he was her son, she could see it in his eyes, as well as utter hurt and betrayal.

What have I done.

She still stood there, frozen, as if somehow she had forgotten how to move. She stared numbly at her son, who just stood on his hands and knees looking up at her, his eyes beginning to tear up.

Suddenly his face hardened into a look of hurt and betrayal, and the next thing she knew he had got up and ran out of the lab.

It didn't take her long to process what just happened and run up there herself, but he was already gone. Not wasting any time she ran up the stairs and into his room. Nothing.

She checked every single room in the house, even the ops center, but he was nowhere to be found.

It was at this point Maddie broke down crying on the living room floor.

I'm a horrible mother! I-I just shot at my own son! I-l didn't even give him a chance to explain himself...

Her sobbing was cut short when she heard a noise down in the lab.

Danny?

She ran down there, hoping with all her might that her son had returned.

When she got down there she did see a ghost, but it wasn't Danny.

Floating by one of the broken shelves was the Wisconsin ghost. The vampire-like ghost had pale blue skin, black hair that stuck up in a U-shape, and wore a white spandex suit with black gloves and shoes, along with a white and red cape.

She knew this ghost. It was the same ghost that had overshadowed Jack at their college reunion. She had seen it a few times since then around Amity Park. But what was it doing snooping around her lab?

"Where is it?" The ghost muttered, searching through the remains of the shelf. "Ahah!" He pulled out one of their most recent inventions, the ecto-dejecto.

Holding the spray bottle full of luminous green liquid the ghost grinned evilly. "I can't believe it was that simple! Fighting Daniel in his own home, destroying the Fenton's lab, and then leaving him here to take the blame! Haha, I must say that went even better than I expected."

Maddie gasped, a tad bit too loudly too, as she had now attracted the attention of the specter. Pupil-less blood red eyes looked at her with mild surprise as the ghost turned towards her, flashing a charmingly smug grin at her.

"Oh, hello Maddie."

Let's just say she was ready to tear this ghost to shreds.

She immediately grabbed the closest weapon at her disposal, which, at the moment happened to be the Fenton thermos, and aimed it at the ghost while walking towards him.

"Of all the despicable, underhanded, evil, diabolical-!" She stalked towards the ghost, pointing the thermos at it and raising her voice with each word.

"Now Maddie don't be so rash. After all, I didn't make you shoot your own son with that ghost weapon, that was all you." The ghost said as Maddie now had him backed up against the wall, thermos charging up and shoved in his face.

For a moment Maddie's disposition of complete and utter rage faltered. She then looked the ghost straight in the eyes.

"Your right, that was my fault, and I take full responsibility for it. But that never would've happened if you hadn't attacked my son, destroyed my lab, and deceived me into thinking that he was the one who tricked me, when really it was you!"

Maddie was practically seething with anger at the ghost before her, and before the ghost could say another word she pressed the capture button on the thermos, and watched as the ghost was sucked inside by a swirling blue vortex of light.

"That may be true, Maddie, but how do you know that he'll ever forgive you?" She heard the ghost say right before he was sucked inside.

Capping the thermos she new one thing and one thing for sure, she needed to find Danny. But where could he be?

That's when it hit her, and she knew exactly where to find him.

As Maddie climbed up the hill about a bazillion questions and thoughts raced through her mind.

Her own son was a ghost! The same ghost that she and Jack had been hunting for over a year now.

But, how? Why? And why didn't he tell them?

Although this discovery brought many questions, it also answered many of her previous questions.

Why Danny was always running off at odd times. Why he's been falling asleep in class and missing curfew. Because he's been ghost fighting!

And of course Phantom would always be two steps ahead of them because he did know their every move. And of course he would have human-like behavior and emotions because he was human-or..um...well..actually, she didn't really know what he was.

...Perhaps something in between, a human with ghost powers? Or, something like that? But it didn't really matter what he was exactly. She just hoped she could find him and apologize to him, and, more than anything, that he could forgive her.

As she reached the top of the hill she took a deep breath, then looked around. She felt her hope sink when she saw their was no one there.

She sighed remorsefully. She had thought that maybe Danny would've come back here but apparently she was wrong.

So she walked over to the cliff's ledge and sat down, in the exact same spot as last night. After a few minutes she began to cry.

After a few moments of quietly sobbing she felt a hand touch her shoulder. Surprised, she looked up, only to be more surprised to see that no one was there.

At first she thought she was just imagining things, until she realized she still felt the hand on her shoulder, but the moment she realized this the feeling vanished.

She stared at her shoulder until she found her eyes drifting down to the ground next to her.

There was nothing out of the ordinary, except a few feet from her she noticed a spot where the grass was smushed down, as if someone had been sitting on it.

...n-no, your probably just imagining things..surely it's not...but, then again...

"...I'm sorry..." came a soft voice from seemingly no one or nothing in particular, except from the left of where she was sitting.

It took her a moment to recognize the voice, and when she did her eyes widened.

"Danny?" She spoke softly, looking in the direction of which she heard the voice.

Silence met her ears.

"Danny, I-I'm so sorry. If..if I had known it was you, I would've never...I-I would never mean to hurt you, I love you." Tears streamed down her face. "A-and I should've listened to you. I should've never blasted you like that. I-I'm so sorry...I'm a terrible mother."

Once again Maddie sat in silence, failing to fight back the tears that were quickly forming in her eyes. Until suddenly she felt an arm around her. Again, she couldn't see it, but she knew it was there.

"Your not a terrible mother, I'm a terrible son." Came Danny's voice from right next to her even though she couldn't see him. She felt him pull away and she looked to her side, where she could see him slowly fade into view. He was in ghost form, his green eyes a little red, probably from crying himself. Guilt and sorrow was written all over his face as he spoke.

"I...I should've told you. I should've never kept this a secret from you for so long."

"...Why didn't you tell us?"

"...I was scared. Scared that you would hate me. That you would kick me out of the house or treat me like a lab rat or something. That...that you wouldn't love me anymore." His voice cracked at that last statement.

Maddie felt her heart break for the third time that day. How could he think that?

She put her finger under his chin and gently lifted his face, his sorrowful green eyes meeting her tear filled ones. "Danny, look at me. I could neverhate you, I love you, no matter what. It doesn't matter if you're a ghost, human, or something in between, I love you, and nothing could ever change that."

Maddie watched as her son's eyes filled with tears, but a small smile appeared on his lips. The next thing she knew she had been pulled into a tight hug, which she gladly returned.

"Thank you, I love you too mom." she heard him whisper over her shoulder.

The two broke away from the hug, smiling at each other. Maddie put a hand on his cheek and ran her fingers through his messy mop of white hair. "I love you too, my little ghost boy." She kissed his forehead. For a few moments they sat there in silence, but a mutual kind.

After a few minutes of taking in the warm, late summer day and reflecting upon everything that had just happened Maddie decided to ask Danny a few questions. Namely how he got ghost powers in the first place, as well as how he was able to keep them so well hidden from them, and what kind of adventures he's been on as Phantom. All of which he was glad to answer.

They sat there for hours, talking, and as they talked it seemed like a dark cloud of guilt, fear, and distrust was lifted. Now Maddie knew more about her son than she could ever hope. No longer was their relationship strained, no more secrets, no more lies, just her and Danny, sitting at the top of the hill, talking, just like they did years ago.

By the time they were done it was already dark, and so the two decided to head home. But as Maddie walked down the hill towards the r.v. she had a new understanding of her son. He wasn't a bad kid, no, not in the least, nor was he a trouble making specter.

He was a hero. More importantly he was her hero, whom she loved unconditionally.

So what did you think? Sorry if this is too similar to someone else's story, it's so hard to be original when it comes to Maddie-Danny bonding fics because there's so many of them. Oh well, it was still fun to write, and I'm glad that so many of you enjoyed the first part, hopefully you liked the second part too!

And, for those of you who are fans of my DP/Httyd au don't worry, I haven't abandoned it! In fact I will be writing a few shorts following the events of The Accident, which will hopefully be written and posted very soon! And I also have an idea for a full length story as well that I may or may not( but probably will ) write, that takes place in the au as well.

Well, hope y'all enjoyed and have a great day!

~Dorkydaydreamer