Doctor Miller pulled the laytex gloves over his roughly scrubbed hands. Today was the day he was going to bring yet another life into this world. He waled into the room and smiled at the young women laying in the bed.
"Hello, Maddie. Are you ready for this?"
Maddie Fenton smiled and nodded. "Oh yeah, Doc. This little guy has been a thorn in my side, he has!"
Doc Miller smiled again as he got ready. Maddie was a great patient. She could handle this.
Maddie groaned, and all the doctors and nurses present tensed. Jack grabbed his wifes hand, "It'll be okay, Mads. Just you wait, I bet this little dude will be a heart-breaker!"
When the boy came into the world, Doc Miller expected it to be wailing and writhing. But his one was strangely silent. His appearance shocked the assembled group even furthur. There was a mat of white hair over his hair, almost covering his eyes, which were closed. His skin was a pure white, creamy pale, color.
"Is he albino?" A nurse near Doc asked. He was about to answer that he thought he was, when the baby opened his eyes. They were glowing green. Doc immediatly relaized what the problem was.
He shot a threatining glance at the other doctors. They understood what that meant, shooing the nurses out of the room with sad expressions.
Doc leaned forward and whispered something to the child in his arms. The boy instently closed his eyes.
Doc sighed, turning to Maddie, who was just openning her eyes. She looked at him, a relieved smile starting to spread across her face. But she froze when she saw him shake his head sadly.
"W-whats wrong?" She asked him, worry darkening her mood.
He really, really, hated to do this, but...
"I'm sorry, Maddie, but the little guys dead."
Doc hid the baby until the Fentons left. It took a while for Maddie to fully recover, and the three of them, they had a daughter named Jazz, left as soon as the hospital released her.
He stood in the airport lobby, a little sad that he would never see his friends again, for they had moved away from new York, to who-knows-where. He scolded himself. It was worth it. Worth losing a great connection. He had to protect the boy.
Doc sighed and drove back to the Hospital, which was the largest and most highly advanced one in all of New York state.
He held the boy in his arms, now. The rest of the hospital staff gathered aroung him.
He looked out at the sea of faces."See this boy?" They nodded. "He's gong to be raised here, in these halls."
They all looked up at the boy. He smiled at them with an intelligent gleam in his eyes. That almost scared most of them.
"But first," Doc told them, "He needs a name."
A nurse raised her hand. "How about Joey?"
To their astonishment, the baby shook his head, a small frown on his face.
Doc smiled,"Guess thats a no."
A doctor called out, "Sorta looks like a ghost. How 'bout we call 'im Casper?" This earned a few laughs, but the boy shook his head yet again. Except this time, he was smiling.
Doc noticed this, and said "I think we are getting warmer."
A nurse chuckled. "I went and saw The Phantom of the Opera the other day. Maybe we should call him Erik!"
The baby was staring at her. Doc looked down at him. "How about it?" The boy just frowned.
Doc looked up. "Jenny? Could you repeat that sentence?"
The nurse said her words again, and the baby smiled a toothless grin and giggled when she sadi the word "Phantom".
Doc smiled. "Do you want that to be your name?"
The baby cooed, and the assembly laughed.
They slowly went back to their work, stopping from time to time at the nursery, where Phantom was staying. The nurse who worked there shook her head when asked questions.
"That sure is one strange little dude." She told them.
