A/N: These last 12 months have been ridiculous. Without further ado…

Disclaimed.

…Far Frozen….

It shouldn't have been such a great surprise when they walked into the cave to find not only Danny Fenton, but a certain little half-ghost girl as well. Not when she knew Vlad was involved. Not after all of the crazy things Danny's friends had let slip on the way here. It shouldn't have surprised her – but it did.

It had been half an hour since they'd arrived at the frozen island in the middle of the Ghost Zone and Valerie was in a very serious case of denial. She knew, in a vague sense, that she'd have to face the facts soon, but right now she was firmly of the opinion that it was all a Great Big Coincidence. That's it. Just a crazy coincidence to go with her crazy life where she'd traveled to a crazy world to rescue a couple of crazy princes.

Who was she fooling?

She tried to be patient when they began to plan a rescue mission for Mr. Fenton - she couldn't help but notice how Danny had side-stepped the question of how he had escaped – but eventually the need to know the truth won out.

"Danny?" she said, interrupting him as he pointed out a flaw in a plan one of the others had suggested.

The prince turned to her, blinking in surprise.

"Uh, what's up Valerie? Did you think there was a way to - ?" he started to ask. She didn't bother listening to the rest of his question since she hadn't been paying as much attention to the planning as she probably should have.

"No. Uh, I wanted to ask you something," she told him. His brow furrowed in confusion and his lips formed a small 'o' as he seemed to decide how to respond.

"Oh-kay? I mean, is it something that can wait until later? I really don't want to leave my dad with Plasmius any longer than we have to and we really need a plan…" Danny finally responded, wincing as though he was second-guessing himself even as he said it.

Valerie fidgeted as everyone's eyes turned to her.

"How do you know Dani?"

Danny tensed and his jaw clenched. He stared at her for a moment and she couldn't help feeling like he was trying to read her mind before he seemed to resign himself to the situation. His shoulders drooped and he rubbed the back of his neck. When he answered, he wouldn't meet her eyes and his voice sounded like it was being dragged out of him.

"You know how."

Valerie bit her lip and clenched her eyes shut as her suspicions were at last confirmed.

No longer content to just observe, Maddie put a hand on her son's shoulder and locked eyes with every teen present. She didn't ask for answers. She ordered them.

"No more secrets."

….Amity Park….

"So what do you think the big secret is?" Kwan asked. It had taken him a moment to process everything that Dash had told him – the idea that Foley had talked back had just been the tip of the iceberg – but now he was curious.

Dash glared at him. "How should I know?! All I know about Fenton's secret is that it has something to do with Bairdan and I have no idea where Bairdan is!"

"Uhh… isn't Bairdan that little European country Star and her family went to on vacation, like, two years ago?" Kwan thought out loud.

"I totally forgot about that!" Dash exclaimed, slapping himself in the forehead. Within seconds they had called Star and within minutes she arrived, irritated but curious.

"So what's this about? You said something about Paulina and Fenton?" Star demanded as she walked in the door like she owned the place.

The boys looked at each other, silently urging the other to explain. Neither one wanted to deal with the fallout when Star found out what Paulina had been keeping from her.

"Well?" she prompted with her arms crossed and her perfectly waxed eyebrows raised expectantly.

Dash shoved Kwan forward and smirked. Kwan glared back at the quarterback unhappy but unwilling to risk his place on the A-list by arguing. He explained as well as he could, even though he didn't really understand it himself. As he gave his halting account of everything that Dash had told him, Star's stance became less hostile and more thoughtful.

"I mean," Star began after Kwan finished, "I kind of get what you mean. Something is definitely up with Danny and his family, but, like, he's still a loser and Paulina is still Paulina. Don't get me wrong, it's totally embarrassing that her mom is marrying Lancer, but, like, it's not like there's anything we could do about it. And Valerie is always hanging out with the losers. And what exactly did Tucker say? I mean, he's Tucker."

Dash squirmed uncomfortably as he remembered the loser's threat. "He, uh, threatened to post embarrassing pictures of me on the internet, even if he had to, uh, fake them," Dash answered, wincing. It would be so much worse if he refused to tell her.

"Uh, why?" Star asked bluntly. It didn't fit with what she knew about Tucker Foley. He tolerated way too much during the brief period in which she dated him to make a threat like that without a reason.

"Um, he said something about me and Paulina maybe finding something out about Fenton?" Dash shrugged.

"Oh, well, that makes sense. Valerie says he and Manson are really overprotective of Danny for some reason," Star told him.

Dash and Kwan looked at each other, relieved that she hadn't reacted badly.

"So, uh, what do you know about Bairdan? I heard Fentoad's dad say that's where they were for his Uncle Larry's funeral or something – or maybe it was Gary? I don't know," Dash asked her, his face scrunching up as he tried to figure out what the loser's dead uncle's name was. Not that it really mattered to him; it probably had nothing to do with Fentiny's secret anyway.

"Bairdan? Not much," the cheerleader admitted. "It was really nice, but just because the Fentons went there for a funeral doesn't necessarily have to do with whatever they're hiding."

"Yeah, but it sounded like everything happened in Bairdan!" Dash protested. He knew that it was important.

Star rolled her eyes, but sashayed straight to Dash's computer. "Whatever. If you're so sure, we could just look it up, but it's probably nothing."

"Uh, what about Foley's threat?" Kwan pointed out. The two blondes looked at him for a moment before Dash smirked.

"He said if I learned anything about Fenton's secret at FentonWorks and told, he would do that," Dash reminded his friend. "What d'ya know? We're not at FentonWorks."

Star smirked in agreement and started to type into the search bar.

…Far Frozen…

"You're right, Mom," Danny responded. "The time for secrets is over. I already told Dad before I escaped with Dani, and if we're going to be able to save Dad, then you need to know too."

Maddie looked at her son in surprise. This was not the reaction she had been expecting. In truth, she had anticipated more evasions, half-truths, and loaded looks from not only her son but all of the teens present. To get a direct answer after so long felt even more surreal to her than standing in the Ghost Zone talking strategy with a ghost-yeti.

Danny rubbed the back of his neck and took a deep breath.

"Look, I want to start out by telling you what I told Dad weeks ago – it was never about trust. I have always trusted you. It's just, at first I really didn't know how to tell you. It's not really something that you just blurt out, ya know? Anyway, after that it was just one thing after another. One excuse after another," Danny explained, looking up at not only his mother but everyone. Only his Sam, Tucker, and Jazz really knew just how much he wanted this – and just how often he'd talked himself out of it.

Each one of them showed their support in their own way: Jazz was practically beaming, Tucker gave him a nod, and Sam…. Sam gave him a look so full of understanding and support it nearly took his breath away.

"The truth is," Danny continued, "I just wasn't ready. If I told you, it would be acknowledging just how deep in over my head I was, and just how fundamentally and irrevocably I was changed by all of it. Now though…."

Danny smiled. It was a smile that didn't belong on a teenager. It was too mature, too worldly. It was a man's smile and it was hard-won.

"The lab accident had more of an effect on me than I first told you. It changed my DNA in ways that I don't fully understand, but I don't regret it. I would go through it again if I had to – did go through it again – because I am better for it. All I really know for sure is that whatever it did, it gave me powers. Ghost powers. I…" he faltered.

"I'm Going Ghost!"

The adults watched in awe as the dark-haired prince transformed in a flash of brilliant white light, becoming the white-haired specter they'd all come to know in some way or another.

Valerie hugged herself, still not entirely comfortable with the revelation, knowing that this was the secret Danny had been referring to when he'd told her he was a prince. She shifted her gaze from her… classmate to her father only to see him looking at her with a troubled expression. She looked away in shame, knowing that he knew what she'd done.

Damon sighed as his daughter looked away. She would have to live with the knowledge of what she'd done for the rest of her life. He turned back to Danny Phantom, trying to puzzle the boy out. He knew what Valerie had done to him - she had spared no detail – so the fact that he had still chosen to trust her with his identity as a prince was remarkable. What he wasn't entirely certain of, was whether his continued friendship with Valerie was due to genuine forgiveness or out of a need to keep up appearances.

As Will looked at the ghost boy he couldn't help but wonder how he had never seen it before. Every missed class, every odd comment, every moment of leaked leadership pointed to this boy, no this man in front of him. He just wished he'd seen it sooner.

Maddie didn't know what to think. This was her son, and yet, this was also the ghost-boy she'd been intent on destroying for the better part of two years. It was too much, too much at once but she still needed to save her husband. She could take the time to cope later. Right now, she needed to focus on the facts.

"And the little girl?" she prodded, swallowing down the overwhelming swell of emotions.

At this point, Danny looked at Sam and Tucker guiltily. He never had told them the truth about Danielle.

"I…Can we talk about Danielle after we get Dad back? I don't," Danny flummoxed. "It's just, really complicated, and I'd really rather only explain it once if I can."

Maddie locked eyes with the ghost boy in front of her, fighting the instinct to insist on answers from an enemy and see her son. Once again she felt out of her depth, but practicality eventually won out and she nodded. They couldn't delay any longer than they had to.

"You do need to know something about Plasmius though. He's –"

"Vlad Masters. I know, Sweetie," Maddie revealed. The longer she looked at Danny Phantom, the more she saw of her son. It disturbed her that she hadn't caught the resemblance before, but she resolved not to miss such important details again. Danny shut his mouth, his expressive green eyes widening in incomprehension.

"I found out after, well," Valerie spoke up, "after I met Danielle. I told my dad once I realized Vlad wanted to kill your dad and he told your mom when we were planning the rescue mission."

"Vlad really doesn't know what's about to hit him, does he?" Danny smirked.

"Nope," Valerie responded with fire in her eyes, but the fire cooled a moment later as guilt crept in. "Can you ever forgive me? For everything that I did?"

"Already have," Danny shrugged uncomfortable with the vulnerability he saw in Valerie's eyes and the tension he could see in his mom's eyes. "The only ghost hunters I hold any kind of grudge against are the Guys In White and that's mainly because the idiots put innocent people in danger."

…Amity Park…

"Ummm, what did you say Danny's uncle's name was?" Star requested from her place at the computer desk, her eyes wide.

"Uh, Larry or Gary," Dash responded from where he was sprawled on his bed, bored out of his mind.

The girl squeaked, "Could it have been short for Garrett?"

"Maybe. I don't know. Why?" Dash sat up, perplexed.

"It's probably just a coincidence," Star blabbered, not believing it even as she said it. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words…

…

A/N: And with that my pretties, I bid you ado.