In the Elkins lab, a few days after the two Danny thing, Aero is hovering in front of her dad, who is taking notes on a clipboard. She goes intangible, phasing out through the wall and back in through the ceiling, then reappearing.
"Intangibility, check."
She goes invisible, and her dad looks around for her. She dives down towards him, still invisible.
"Invisibility, check."
He flinches as Aero overshadows him.
"Hi, I'm Chris! Don't let my good looks fool you. I'm a nerd."
He glows blur as Aero drops down in front of him.
"I hate when you do that."
Aero giggles.
"Looks like all your basic ghost powers are good."
Aero changes back and sighs as her phone dings.
"Danny again."
She grumbles.
"If he wants to apologize to me, he can say it to my face."
Her dad chuckles.
"Ah, young relationships. But what exactly did he do?"
He begins to type in his information as she rests against his station.
"He split himself with his parents device. Not thinking what would actually happen if he did. And I had to chase half of himself and then help put them together on no sleep!"
"You stayed out late?"
Aero winces.
"Look, it wasn't my fault."
Her dad groans. Suddenly the ghost portal starts beeping. Aero goes ghost and holds onto her dad. Technus bursts through the portal and collapses onto the ground. He looks up, eyes white with royal blue glow.
"Make her stop! I'm sorry! Make it end!"
Aero and her dad blink in fear.
Technus clutches his head and suddenly goes silent. He looks up again and speaks in a soft tone.
"I've missed you..."
The two stop cold.
"....Mom?"
Technus hovers up.
"I don't have much time. My powers grow weaker because of the device planted in my neck."
Her dad runs up to Technus,
"Where are you?!"
She sighs.
"I don't know....I've tried to figure out for ages....but its nowhere familiar to me from when I was child...All I can do is protect you guys with what little I have. The only hope we have is that Aero-"
Aero steps slightly closer.
"-Is that you, sweetie....My little cloud....you use your psychic powers. Then maybe you can find me."
"But, I've tried! And I can't. You're not here to teach me!"
Technus clutches his head.
"I can't hold onto this ghost much longer. Aero, I hate to burden you, you don't deserve this pressure, but you are my only hope. You already have slighty, so I know you can. I'll wait, for all time....I'll wait until I get to see you both in person again. To caress both your faces and kiss them with all my heart...."
Technus struggles again and flies back into the portal. Aero runs towards it and her dad catches her.
"MOM! NO! MOMMY, DON'T LEAVE ME AGAIN!"
The portal door shuts and the two fall to their knees. Aero cries.
"I can't do it....I'm gonna fail mom..."
Sam and Tucker push Danny up the front steps of Aero's house.
"What if her dad yells at me?"
"Do you want a girlfriend or not?" Sam asks.
Danny sighs and knocks. Aero's dad opens it with a dark expression and Danny gulps.
"Oh hey...Mr. Elkins."
He blinks and realizes who's at the door.
"Oh, it's you three. Sorry."
They blink as he rubs the bridge of his nose.
"Uh, you okay Mr. E? You look horrible."
Sam elbows Tucker.
"Ow!"
Mr. Elkins gestures for them to come in.
"Here, I'll make you guys drinks and explain. I doubt Aero will come out from her room."
The three sit, mouths agape, as Mr. Elkins finishes telling them what happened.
"So whatever the government implanted in her, is draining her?"
"Yes, and using her powers makes it worse. The only way to find her is Aero."
Sam slams her hand on the table.
"That sucks! The government should've seen that your wife was not dangerous at all. They didn't even give her a chance, instead just trapped her somewhere in the ghost zone!"
"Sadly the ones that did it to her, aren't the ones in charge of the ghost program now...or never were."
The three blink.
"You don't think it was the government?"
"When they came down for Danny earlier this year, they were different... they seemed to not fully know what they're doing, compared to what my wife dealt with."
"So you think it's some other organization?" Danny questions.
Aero's dad sips his tea.
"Possibly. Other than you, Danny. My wife was actually the first publicly known ghost."
"Really?"
Her dad smiles and hands them an old newspaper. Aero's my mom was on the cover.
"Wow, Aero's shown me pictures of her before, but I've never seen her ghost form. She's beautiful." Sam remarks.
Aero's dad chuckles and rubs his neck.
"Yep, gorgeous as always. But you guys really thought Danny was the first one to ever take down ghosts who split from the ghost zone? My wife wanted something different, she didn't want to sit back and watch humans & ghosts fight. So she became the in-between. Apparently the government, or whoever they were, didn't like that. They wanted all ghosts gone. Sadly being full ghost didn't help her."
Danny blinks.
"Are you saying that since I'm half ghost, that's why the government hasn't caught me yet?"
He nods.
"My wife had no records, nothing to link her here. Even though she did her best to blend in, using her powers to counter that, it didn't stop them."
"But these guys... Why use the government as a cover up? They aren't good ghost hunters!" Sam replies.
"Maybe because the government doesn't deals with ghosts, until they feel like an actual threat. These guys wanted my wife gone, so a cover up was used. The government, that I've noticed, doesn't like when someone steps up to take down ghosts for them, like Danny, so they'll fight back."
Tucker was looking through information on his PDA. Sam speaks.
"What about ghost hunters like Danny's parents?"
"They don't care. Why? Because all the ghost hunters are humans, they don't like ghosts doing the jobs for them. Because then they look bad."
Her dad takes another sip. Danny stands up.
"Mr. Elkins, you think Aero will let me talk to her?"
He shrugs and gestures to the stairs.
"Give it a try."
Sam, Tucker, and Mr. Elkins continue talking as Danny heads upstairs.
He reaches Aero's door and knocks.
"Hey Aero... it's me. I came to apologize...and maybe help cheer you up?"
It was silent for a few seconds.
"Come in..." He hears softly.
He then opens the door and sees Aero sitting on her windowsill. It was open and she was letting her hair blow with the breeze.
Danny walks over.
"I'll apologize first. I'm sorry for being such a problem when I split myself. I should've thought about it more before doing it. Can't help being a stupid teenager sometimes."
Aero sighs and looks at Danny with a slight smile.
"That one won't work forever. But I forgive you."
Danny smiles and pulls a chair over.
"Now, how are you doing with everything?"
Aero looks out the window again and shuts her eyes.
"Struggling....I wanna see my mother so bad, but I have no control of these powers she says I have. I feel like I'm failing her."
Danny holds her hand.
"No matter what, I'll be here to help.
Aero turns to him and smiles.
"We're only teens in highschool and I feel like the world's on our shoulders."
"At least we got each other, with Sam, Tucker, and your dad to help us hold that burden."
Aero looks at him. She leans towards him and kisses him on the cheek. Danny blushes red, it was the first time she had kissed him. He smiles dreamily.
"I've waited for that and it was as great as I thought it would be."
Aero laughs a bit, blushing.
Later after her friends had left, Aero walks into her mother's old study. Her dad usually kept it clean.
She walks over and sits in her chair. She rests her arms on the desk and then her head on her arms. She chuckles a bit.
"Mom...you used to play guitar and move the furniture so I can dance in here to my heart's content... I miss those days so much."
Aero starts to hum the music she remembers. Tears start to roll down her cheeks.
Her dad pokes his head in and sees she had fallen asleep. He sighs and walks in. He crouches down to her and moves the hair from her face.
"I miss her too. But you can't push yourself. Our cloud shouldn't evaporate."
He scoops her up and she rests against his chest.
A few days later; Aero was asleep in her bed. Her eyes flash open, white with a sky blue glow. She sits up and crosses her legs. She begins to float in the air.
Her dad peeks in.
"It's happening again."
The next morning; he plays the video he got of it to the group.
"She's....using them in her sleep?"
"It's amazing..." Sam whispers.
"It started happening after the visit from her mom. First time it happened, I scared her awake by accident. She looked at me, afraid. Asked what she did."
The three look at each other.
"Did you tell her?"
"I did. But she thought I was messing with her. She's been trying to do something with her powers for days, but nothing. I'm not sure if I should show her this."
"Every time she's used them, it's been during a time where she is under emotional stress." Danny replies.
Her dad sighs.
"She always saw her mother using the powers and waited until she could too. I think the trauma of having her mom taken must've of shut it off even more. My wife said her powers come from the mind. Aero has no control of her mind. Never has."
"Who was her doctor?" Tucker questions.
"Her grandmother. My parents know about her. Kind of hard to hide when your child falls through your hands."
The three chuckle.
"Aero was always afraid of her powers, of scaring people."
Her dad rests himself on a table.
"I can't believe I'm talking about this with teenagers. You guys should be spending your time in the mall, having fun."
"Sir, we aren't normal teenagers and you know that." Tucker remarks.
"Is there anything we can do to help Aero?"
Her dad walks over and sits down with the kids.
"She needs to open up. She's forcing herself to try open up these powers when she can't."
He points at Danny.
"And you guys have already done alot."
Danny blinks, along with his friends.
"What?"
"You are the reason that her psychic powers came out. Why she started using her ghost powers again in the first place."
"That's true. She said when she saved Danny, Valerie, and Vlad; she used it." Sam recalls.
"And then during Clockwork situation, she also used them!"
"Whatcha guys doing?"
They all jump as Aero walks in with groceries.
"You're home earlier than I thought."
"I found everything at one store.... what's going on?"
She places the bags on the counters.
"Show her, sir."
"Show me what?"
Her dad places down a laptop and plays the video. Aero watches in silence. It ends and everyone looks at her.
"Aero?"
She squeezes her hands together.
"Why....why can't I do it? Why only then?!"
Aero looks at the ground, tears falling to the floor. Her dad looks at the three and gestures for them to leave. They get up, nod, and head into another room.
He kneels down to Aero.
"You need to let go."
She looks at him.
"What?"
"The fear. That's what's holding you back."
She blinks.
"I don't understand."
"You've always been afraid of yourself, especially your ghost side. You were able to use those powers before because you didn't care about anything but protecting the ones you care about. Now you are always worrying about being something you're not. If you don't accept yourself, you'll never be able to do it."
"I-I..."
Aero looks down at her hands.
"You always told me to hide it, now you want me not to?!"
"Aero-"
She stands up.
"I need to be alone."
Later that day, everyone had left. Aero's dad was in his lab.
Aero was in her room, laying on her bed. She thinks of what her dad said and places her arm over her eyes.
"You tell me to hide myself, but now i shouldn't hide myself...."
She gets up and walks over to a bookshelf. She grabs out a big book. It was filled with family photos. She places the book down on her desk and starts to look through it.
She is silently flipping through until she gets to a photo of both her and her mom as ghosts. She grabs it out and looks at it. She remembers what her mom told her that day.
"Hiding your ghost powers means protecting yourself. But you shouldn't 'hide' from yourself. Stop being afraid of who you are. You are special and that's amazing. Never forget that, my little cloud."
Aero sighs.
"I made myself forget that because I was so afraid. But it think it's about time I listened."
Aero stands and walks over to a mirror. She transforms and looks at herself.
"I've done so many things that I've never thought I'd do. Make friends that know I'm ghost. Gone out as a ghost and fought other ghosts. Now I have a boyfriend, who's also half ghost! If I can do that...I can accept myself."
Aero sighs and smiles.
"I'm half ghost and I'm proud. This is...who I am and I'm ready to no longer be afraid!"
She looks at a bear on her self.
"Another try."
She holds her hand towards it. She struggles as nothing happens. But then, her hand glows a sky blue. She goes wide eyed as the bear goes sky blue and hovers in the air slightly. She gasps and the bear drops to the ground. Aero looks at her hand.
"I did it without being in a dire situation.... I did it.....I DID IT."
Aero starts to shake with excitement.
"I DID IT!"
She flies into the lab with the bear.
"DAD! DAD!"
Her dad jumps and turns towards her as she phases in.
"What's wrong?!"
"LOOK!"
She lands down and places the bear on a table. She holds her hand up and lifts the bear.
"Look, I did it! I know its a simple psychic ability thing! But I did it! Without being in a dire situation!"
Her dad smiles widely and scoops her up.
"THATS MY GIRL!"
The two laugh as they dance around the lab.