Ok so November was a busy month. Had NaNoWriMo occupy most of my time, also had a severe computer mishap that has thankfully been fixed, then holidays and just... life (my brother. That being said I haven't got much of a chance to work on the next chapter of Autumn but I am working on it as well as a side that I have started because I have no life and writing fics based off of other people's fics. THAT being said please enjoy this small story that is based off of Kimurasato's Chasing Shadows story so if you haven't read that one, read that one first and then this will make more sense, if you haven't... well this will likely seem random because everything is established in that story but should still make sense I guess. Either way enjoy this and I'll try to get back to writing Autumn and have a new chapter up soon in the new year.

Darkness was all around him. He couldn't see anything but he could hear the metallic shuffling of some type of tools coming from his side. Danny tried to get up and look around but found that he was being restrained somehow. He struggled against the bonds on his writs in the darkness in a blind panic before a bright light suddenly came on and shined down into his face.

"Good to see you awake again, Phantom…" Danny flinched in fear at that voice as the face came into view. A bald man in his late 50s stared at him with cold eyes. Most of his face was covered by a white medical mask but Danny knew that voice even though it had been years since he had heard it.

"It's been a long time since you were on my table, but this time there's no getting away," Danny started to breath deeper as more of the room became bathed in light to reveal the cold and sterile medical room that he was in. He struggled against the cuffs that neutralized his powers and felt that familiar cold terror take root in his body again as the familiar medical tools started to get close to his bare chest.

"I see the last time I did this left a nice scar on your body," He couldn't see the doctor's lips but he could hear his voice smiling behind the mask, "That makes it easier to know where to start."

The man's cruel laughter made Danny shake and he tried desperately to get free. He jerked at his hands trying to pull them out as the blade inched closer to his pale skin. Sweat started to poor out and his breath increased as it got closer. He was struggling desperately trying to keep from crying but he just couldn't help the whimpering.

"-nny."

The ghost clenched his eyes shut as the blade started to touch his chest. He could feel the ectoplasm start to flow out from the wound as the knife was slowly dragged down towards his sternum.

"-anny!"

This was going to be it. He had been lucky that Vlad and Skulker had been able to get him out the last time, but this time he wouldn't be so lucky. He was going to be dissected and experimented on here. He'd never see his family again, never see his friends again, never see Dash again.

"DANNY!"

Glowing green eyes jerked open as Danny sat up back in bed. He was covered in sweat and was panting hard from his nightmare. His heart was racing and he grabbed onto the shirt he was wearing that was clinging to his sweaty body trying to get his heart to slow down again.

"Danny?"

The young man flinched and held out his hand that was glowing green ready to fire a ghost ray at the voice only to see a blond man holding up his hands and slowly edging back towards the edge of their bed, trying to give him some space.

"Dash?" Danny slowly lowered his hand and the glow died sending their room back into the darkness of the night. He looked around the room again and started to feel calmer again knowing he was indeed in their bedroom, in their apartment, and not in a cold laboratory where he was going to be dissected.

"You ok?" Dash slid back towards him and slowly wrapped his arms around Danny's body, resting his hands on his sides to try to put some sense of comfort into the half ghost.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine… I'm sorry, did I wake you?" The black haired man leaned back into the blond's bare chest and tried to let the warm touch of his boyfriend ease the fear from his nightmare. They had been dating since the case with the GiW distributing a drug to separate people from their ghosts all in order to get to him last year and had started to live together for a little over a month now. Things were going well for them and Danny really appreciated having Dash in his life, especially at times like this.

"Yeah, you were shaking and whimpering a lot but don't worry about it," Dash just held the smaller man and rubbed his head against his neck before placing a kiss above his collar bone. Danny just sighed happily and craned his neck more to enjoy the loving sensation Dash was giving him.

"Sorry…" They sat in silence for a minute; Dash just nuzzling into the nape of his neck before he rubbed their heads together and looked around at him.

"It was that dream again; the one where you're back on that operating table wasn't it?" Danny didn't respond vocally, but Dash could feel him tense up his body entering fight or flight mode and knew the answer immediately, "That's the third time this week you've had that nightmare, Danny, and the 8th time you've had it since that case."

It had been a gruesome case really. Someone had found a dead body and when Danny had come onto the scene with the other cops he almost had a mild panic attack at what he saw. The body had been carved open for some reason and all the organs had been strewn about in a gory mess. It was a sick sight for most of the other officers but for Danny it only reminded him of that time he was almost dissected by the GiW.

He remembered having to quickly get away from the scene and throwing up in another alley where no one could see him. After that he had asked to not be involved in the case for personal reasons which made perfect sense to Dash but not so much to the other officers. The chief excused him though and they eventually found out that the man had been a drug mule and had died from a heart attack and the drugs had been brutally harvested from his lifeless corpse. It wasn't murder but the men had still been charged with drug trafficking and desecrating a body among other things.

In the days that passed, though, Danny started to have nightmares about being dissected again. Images that he had put away years ago and rarely thought about anymore had started to breech the surface of his mind again. Emotions and fears that he thought he was over were back and it was starting to wear on him and it was also starting to affect Dash who worried about him.

"I'm gonna take a shower and maybe go watch some TV. You get back to sleep," Danny craned his neck around and gave him a slight chaste kiss on the lips before pulling himself from the strong arms that tried to make him feel safe.

Walking slowly through the dark, Danny made his way to their bathroom and closed the door behind him before he turned on the lights. He clenched his eyes shut for a moment as they slowly became adjusted to the sudden light before opening them and looking at himself in the mirror. He looked like a mess with his hair plastered against his sweaty face that was drained of color. He went to the shower to turn it on and stepped back to take off his shirt that was still clinging to his chest.

Danny tossed it into the hamper and looked down at his chest. The Y-shaped scar that had been carved into his flesh when he was 18 was still as visible as ever and he hated the fact he had to look at it. He hated the Guys in White for catching him and doing this to him, he hated how he had let himself be caught by those idiots, and he hated how he had worried his friends and sister by not explaining things sooner.

After the events of the Guys in White being exposed his friends and sister had come back to visit him. With a renewed sense of conviction he told them about what had really happened to him and apologized. Tucker was beyond shocked at hearing what had happened to his friend, Sam was appalled by not only what happened to him but what they had done to innocent people, and Jazz barely held back her tears as she hugged her little brother with more strength than he thought the woman was capable of. They easily forgave him for what he had said and done and promised to be there for him now, but as he thought of those promises and took off his pajama pants he had to wonder how they could help him now.

Once he stepped in the shower he let the warm water wash down his body. He tried to push his nightmare to some dark corner of his mind where he'd never see it again, but it found it impossible to do. The images he had dreamed and the memory of his ordeal kept pushing their way forward in his mind torturing him. He didn't know how long he'd been in the shower thinking about the memories and trying to not let them consume him but eventually the water was turned off and the shower curtain was pulled back. Dash stood next to the shower with a towel in his hand and gave it to Danny to dry off.

"After 15 minutes I started to get worried," Dash knew how to act in times like this by now. He gave Danny his space and didn't press for him to talk or touch him too much, but at the same time he knew when to act and how best to help. Sometimes it was just as simple as getting him out of the shower.

"Thanks, and again I'm sorry I keep waking you up with these stupid nightmares of mine." Danny turned around from Dash, not out of any sense of modesty, they had seen each other naked enough after all, but because he hated anyone to look at the scar on his chest. The ugly reminder of when he was weak and all the pain it caused.

"After what you've been through you don't have to apologize for a few nightmares. It's what couples do. They help each other out when they're scared or hurting. If it was me who was having a nightmare and woke up frightened you'd do the same thing right?"

Danny simply nodded and wrapped the towel around his waist after he was done drying off. He looked back over his shoulder and Dash held up a clean shirt for him to wear along with his pants. He graciously took them and slipped them on before he turned back around and leaned his still damp hair against the blond's wide chest.

"I know, and I would… but…" Danny took a deep breath and slowly let it out, "I just don't know, Dash. I keep having these nightmares and it feels like my past is coming back to get me and I'm just…" Danny couldn't finish his thoughts, he was feeling far too much to put it into simple words so he just wrapped his arms around his boyfriend and hugged him tightly. Dash slowly wrapped his own arms around the smaller man and the two stood like that for awhile before they went back to bed to try to get a few more hours of sleep before they had to wake up again.

When they got up they pretended like the previous night hadn't happened. Dash went to take a shower as Danny started to make their coffee and scramble up some eggs for breakfast. They didn't have to be into work until much later that day so the pair just sat at their table eating their eggs and toast. Dash read the paper and Danny sat at the table sipping his coffee in a comfortable silence with only the occasional turning of paper to break it until Dash put it down.

"I think you should talk to someone."

Danny looked up surprised for a moment before he set his cup down and looked away, "Talk about what?"

"You know what, Danny," Dash deadpanned and Danny knew what he was talking about. Dash thought that he should go to a psychiatrist to talk about his experiences and get some help and this hadn't been the first time he'd brought the subject up since that case.

"You know I can't do that. Even with the confidentiality thing those doctors have there's no telling how they would react to me being carved up like I was and that would only bring up more questions that I can't honestly answer without risking exposure. The only person I can talk to even remotely on this matter on a professional level is Jazz and she's to analytical to help. Face it, Dash, I don't have any options with that."

"But what if you went as Phantom instead of Fenton?" That got a surprised look on the half-ghost's face.

"I dunno… I don't think that confidentiality agreement extends past the life of a person. Think they'd still keep it for a ghost?" Danny tried to joke but Dash barely cracked a smile as he placed a card on the table.

"I did some research and asked around, I think this Dr. Ryer would be good to talk to. She's respected and many of her patients have good things to say about her. She mainly deals with counseling patients who've been through some kind of trauma and I think she'd be someone you could talk to."

Danny stared at the card for a moment, reading the name and address several times while thinking more on the matter at hand. He didn't want to risk his secret identity or problems to someone he didn't know but at the same time he felt like if he didn't start to sort out these issues he was having he might start to lash out. He had nearly shot at Dash last night and if things just continued to get worse there was no telling what he might accidentally do when he suddenly woke up from a nightmare.

"I'll think about it." He stuffed the card into his pocket and got up and took a deep gulp of his coffee before placing it in the sink, "I've got to get going now, I'm supposed to help Darren with some ghost tech today and I need to file my report from my last undercover assignment. I'll try and be home around 7 but don't wait for me if you want to get dinner started or anything."

He leaned down and kissed Dash briefly before he stepped back, transformed, and flew out of the apartment leaving him behind. He had the day off today but other than a few errands and getting in his daily workout there wasn't much he had to do.

"Maybe I'll go see Kwan for a bit," the blond sighed thinking more on Danny's problems before he got ready and left for the day.