Hey all, sorry about there not being a note from me last time. Or maybe you were okay with that… well you get one now either way.
This is the one-shot converted into an actual chapter. (Finally!) A reviewer suggested I re-post the one-shot but I feel I didn't change enough to really consider them to be two different things (plus I saved over it, oops!) You'll see though, it's better as a chapter in a story and nothing is lost. I just had to tweak it a bit for continuity's sake and add some more development. Hope you like it…
I'd like to take a sec to tell my reviewers how much I appreciate them! I really do guys! No matter how short and quick and whether you log in or not, your reviews make a difference! I read and treasure them all. They keep me going. So thank you thank you thank you!
Two particular reviews I'd like to acknowledge: one had some criticisms about my writing. It was great. I used the suggestions, all of them, I think (correct me if I'm wrong). Guys, please don't hesitate to criticize me. I totally don't mind.
Other review had a plot suggestion. It was good, but if you guys have read my other stuff then you know I don't use other people's ideas. Feel free to branch off of my stuff and do your own thing though! And tell me so I can enjoy it :) I enjoy hearing your ideas, but I prefer to stick to my own and I usually already have my stories complete in my head, leaving little room to change things.
So yeah, feel free to share, but don't be crushed when I don't use your stuff.
Ok I think that's it. And sorry, that was a lot. Enjoy!
Danny tried to open his eyes, but he couldn't. His eyelids felt like they were glued shut. He tried to reach his hand up to wipe away the glue, but found he couldn't do that either. There was something… something around his wrists, preventing him from moving his arm any further than a few inches. He forced his eyes open and looked down at his right hand. A rubber cuff was loosely strapped around his wrist and connected to the side of the hospital bed.
"Restraints?" he guessed in a hoarse whisper.
"Delusions can usually bring about rather hostile emotions," came a deadpan voice from across the room.
Danny turned his head to the front of the room to find Dr. House's scrutinizing gaze on him. "We didn't want you to hurt yourself."
Danny let out a snort. "More like you didn't want me to hurt your team of doctors who have become oh-so-fond of me." They had seemed so nice when they had come in to talk. What an act!
"The team likes you," House argued, "They just don't like being lied to."
Danny groaned. "I'm not lying! I know it seems crazy but I can't help it! It is what it is." He didn't know why he was tiptoeing around using the actual words now. He had said it once, spilled his guts to the team, why should he have any trouble repeating it to Dr. Jerk?
"Not about that," House was saying, still annoyingly calm. "You lied about doing drugs."
"I told you!" Danny burst out. "I don't. Use. Drugs."
"I know," House replied, "and I believed you… but the delusions confirm it."
"Delusions?" Danny echoed, disbelievingly. "I entrust you with my deepest darkest secret and you dare to dismiss it as a delusion?!" He was yelling now. He knew he sounded irrational and he couldn't help it. He slumped back against the pillows, feeling helpless. Again he shied away from actually mentioning what his secret was. He just couldn't bring himself to say it again. Once had been difficult enough.
"Besides, we're not saying you used the drugs purposefully," House went on, "That puncture wound obviously indicates some foreign substance was put into your body, whether you put it there yourself or someone else did makes no difference to us. You can talk to the police if you'd like once we've flushed your system. Maybe you feel you can actually trust them with the whole story."
Really? Danny thought. He's gonna get on my case about not telling the truth about remembering the accident AGAIN? NOW? Ironic, considering how awful telling the truth had just worked out for him. This doctor's got some ner-
All of a sudden one of the painful bursts of electricity that had been plaguing him every few hours for the past couple days, shot through his body, causing him to cry out in agony.
"The side effects of the radiation-poisoning from the drugs you were allegedly given," House stated emotionlessly once the shock was over. "It fits. We're starting treatment. The shocks should slowly lessen in intensity."
Danny didn't bother to open his eyes to watch the crippled doctor leave.
"Danny?" It was Sam's voice. She had left because the Doctors Chase, Foreman, and Cameron had suggested she go get something from the vending machine. Now he could see they had just been trying to get rid of her so she wouldn't protest to them subduing him. Yeah, sedate the poor crazy kid from Amity who thinks he's a ghost. And while you're at it, give him some restraints. Then, when he wakes up, have the arrogant doctor talk to him. That will solve things. He allowed himself a mental eye roll before opening his eyes to see Sam.
"That didn't go as well as I hoped," she whispered, coming to sit beside his bed.
"Uh ya think?" Danny grunted in return. "I told you they wouldn't believe me without proof and since I can't go ghost . . ."
"I'm sorry," Sam said in an even softer whisper.
Danny suddenly jerked his head up and looked at his best friend. There were tears in her eyes.
"No, Sam," Danny struggled to sit up without the use of his still-restrained hands, "Sam, that's not what I meant. This isn't your fault!"
"But it was my idea," Sam snapped back, trying to hold back the tears.
"Shh," Danny tried to comfort her, extending his hand towards her as much as he could.
Sam understood and took his hand in hers. On the verge of letting the tears fall, she sank down, resting her forehead on their hands. "I just wish there was something I could do to fix this," she sobbed. With her head bent forward, the strap of her always-handy spider backpack slipped off her shoulder. The bag wilted towards the floor. An ecto-gun fell out and clattered to the floor.
"Oops." Sam reached down to pick it up. She then put her backpack in her lap, intending to load the ecto-gun back in.
"Wait." Danny stopped her.
"What?" Sam questioned, looking down at her backpack full of ghost technology.
"Do any of those run on the batteries my parents invented? You know, the ones that use ghost energy?"
"I think so," Sam answered. "Why?"
Danny smiled.
Dr. Cuddy watched the pair of teenagers from afar. She had come to pick up some files from the nurse's station, but the kids from Amity Park had been on her mind all day and so the trip was doubling as a check-up, not only for them but for her own sanity. What is really going on in their hometown? Why don't we ever hear more about the place and all their "ghostly" activity?
"Radioactivity from tainted drugs," Dr. House's voice cut through Cuddy's thoughts.
"What?" she cried turning to face the egotistical jerk of a doctor, "The tox-screen was clean! You have no evidence to support-"
"It fits," House stated firmly. "Kid started having delusions."
"What kind of delusions?" Cuddy wanted to know.
"Told my team he was Danny Phantom, the ghost super-hero from a comic book," House explained, furtively monitoring his boss's reaction. "Supposedly there is such a ghost in that small little ghost town, Amity Park."
"Maybe there is," Cuddy replied, trying to sound nonchalant. "How would we know? The place is being held hostage and only one news station is running a report on it. Everyone I've talked to today," she trailed off, shaking her head. "Not one person knows about it. So sure, a ghost kid, why not?"
"Well real or unreal, do you really think he's in your hospital?" House countered. His smirk was teasing, but Cuddy didn't notice. She was instead staring straight ahead again.
"What . . . what are they doing?" she asked, squinting to see inside House's patient's hospital room.
House looked too.
"Is that a syringe?"
"Oh God." House looked around for his team and began hobbling toward his patient's room as fast as he could.
"Are you sure this isn't gonna just make things worse?" Sam asked, looking at the syringe she had just used to drain one of the Fenton Batteries. A bright green liquid swirled around inside the vial.
"Sam, it's ghost energy," Danny explained, "I'm a ghost! Half my body is full of that stuff! Or at least it's supposed to be, but my illness is somehow sucking away most of my energy! That's why I can't go ghost!"
"So if I stick you with this needle and inject your human half with ghost energy, you really think you'll have enough to make the change?" Sam looked skeptical.
"Sam, trust me," Danny pleaded, "this will work… er, well, it can't hurt me."
"How sure are you of that statement… if you can even call it that!"
The argument was interrupted by someone banging on the glass doors to Danny's room.
"Oh crud," Danny looked up to see all of his doctors, including the administrator who had seemed like the only reasonable one of the group, crowded at his door, trying to get in.
"Better hurry, they're gonna figure out how to get the door open sooner or later." Danny looked at Sam who still looked hesitant.
The banging on the door increased and there was some shouting as well.
"Now Sam!" Danny practically begged, motioning towards his arm with his head.
Sam quickly rolled up his hospital sleeve to reveal his upper arm. She couldn't help but marvel a bit at his muscles, even in her panicked state, but she quickly recovered and focused back on the task at hand.
"Don't close your eyes!" Danny suddenly yelped.
"Oh sorry!" Sam brought the needle closer to Danny's arm and with her eyes wide open broke the skin.
Just then the doctors got the door open and flooded in. Sam had just enough time to push the green fluid into Danny's arm before she was wrestled away from him.
The doctors were all shouting at once. The one who had Sam crushed in his arms suddenly spun her around to face him. It was Dr. Foreman.
"What did you do?! What was in here?!" He shoved the empty syringe in her face.
"Hey! Leave her alone!" Danny commanded, his face taught with anger. But then a look of agony flashed across his face. He started twitching, his body convulsing.
"He's seizing!" Dr. Chase shouted and then began rattling off various commands.
Cuddy closed the curtains so no one could see into the room anymore while Cameron assisted Chase. House stood at the front of the bed, watching his patient struggle.
"Danny!" Sam screamed, her tears flowing freely now.
All of a sudden Danny went rigid and a bright light appeared. It was coming from the middle of his stomach.
Chase and Cameron were so shocked they actually stopped what they were doing and backed away. Patients weren't supposed to give off light like that.
Foreman lost his grip on Sam. He backed away too while Sam took steps closer.
"Danny?" she asked hesitantly.
The light engulfed him and the doctors shielded their eyes. Sam watched in delight as the familiar transformation took place. Then the light was gone, though a faint glow remained around Danny as usual.
The doctors just gawked at the white-haired, jump-suit-clad boy lying in the bed.
Danny's eyes fluttered open and he coughed a bit.
"Danny!" Sam cried triumphantly "It worked!" She nearly tackled him into a hug that he was able to return since the doctors had removed the restraints in preparation for treating his "seizure."
"Course it worked, Sam," Danny replied warmly, "Nice job by the way."
Sam suddenly pulled away and smacked him (gently) on the cheek. "Don't you ever make me do something like that again!" she screeched. "I thought I had killed you!"
Danny just laughed. Sam embraced him again. Then they both realized the eerie silence coming from the other five people in the room.
Sam broke the hug, but kept one arm firmly around Danny's shoulders. Danny did the same and smirked at the astonished doctors.
"Well," he remarked, "welcome to my delusion."
Like I said, not much different from the one shot, so sorry if this didn't feel like a real update. Hopefully the wait won't be too long again, but I can't make any promises. Thanks for bearing with me :)
