A/N: Bwa ha ha! I managed to get done ahead of schedule, for once! I had planned on finishing this chapter sometime next week, but it seems inspiration had struck me quite hard like my prom date (lol) and I managed to get it all down before it drifted away again! Also, be sure to thank the ever helpful Miriam1 for being my Beta once more!

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom! How many times must I say it before you all get it!


Chapter 8

It was horrifying to watch Danny fall down to the ground so easily from a thrown dagger and it only became worse, for Sam, as Danny reverted back into his human form moments before he lost consciousness. Tucker seemed frozen in place as his best friend's blood began to rush out of the wound and began to dye his white shirt red before the excess ran onto the asphalt beneath.

By his side in an instant, Sam reached out for the dagger that was deep in Danny's shoulder before the cry of his name was uttered out by Maddie and Jack, Danny's parents. Riding in the Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle, or the RV as Danny and Jazz called it, as it skidded to a stop, Maddie immediately leapt out of the vehicle and rushed to her son's side.

"No, no, no, no. Sweetie, can you hear me? Please answer me." Maddie pleaded desperately to her son as the ghostly dagger began to fade out of existence the moment Sam touched the hilt of the ghostly blade.

"Samantha, call 911. We need to get our son to the emergency room." Maddie told Sam, immediately taking charge as she tore off a sleeve of Danny's shirt and used it to keep pressure on the wound.

Sam instinctively began to reach for her cell phone before her mind managed to catch up with present events. "NO!" Sam nearly screamed out in fear before she caught herself, breaking Tucker out of his stupor. Her eyes searched Danny's prone form desperate to find some excuse why he shouldn't go to the hospital where they would undoubtedly discover his secret. Her eyes spotting a small amount of green liquid staining Danny's sleeve, it was easy to see that the liquid was slowly eating away at his clothing and the skin it came in contact with.

"There's no time! Those ghosts did this to him and look! I don't know what that stuff is, but I'd wager my allowance that it's ghostly," Sam pled to the mother. "You and Mr. Fenton are the only ones that can handle ghost related diseases," Sam continued as Jack approached them, the fear in his eyes evident as he saw his injured son.

Maddie knew that Sam was correct in her desperate plea, and did not concern herself with why it took even a second for why she did not follow up despite how unusual it was.

"Jack, help me carry Danny down to the infirmary in the lab," Maddie told her husband, whom merely nodded dumbly as he began to help pick up Danny.

The two parents began to carry their son down to the laboratory while Tucker looked to Sam in alarm.

"They'll find out!" Tucker whispered with evident worry.

Sam bit her lip, knowing that her friend was right, but it was better Danny's parents, whom they had known for some time that they were okay with Danny being half-ghost if they ever found out, rather than the government that had taken measures to ensure the oppression of all ghostly entities. Voicing her statement to her friend, Tucker managed to accept her argument grudgingly as the both of them knew that Danny would not be happy that his parents would find out about his secret in such a way so similar to their summer when Freakshow had obtained the Reality Gauntlet.

"Should we….at least tell them first? I mean they might look at his readings and…freak out," Tucker said cautiously, uncertain how to handle everything at the moment as they both knew how quick Jack and Maddie were to jumping to the wrong conclusion.

Normally, Sam's first reaction would to jump at the idea to prevent some sort of disaster from happening, but the memory of Danny lying on the ground bleeding heavily had shaken her badly, thus making her uncertain of what action to do.

"Sam?" Tucker asked softly in order to get her attention, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Wha-? I mean, yeah, come on!" Sam responded, doing her best to regain the strength in her voice once more before the two of them chased off after Jack and Maddie.

The two friends rushed into Fenton Works, finding the two adults down in their laboratory studying the results of Danny's condition as their son was set upon a bed they had laid out for him. Attached to the young halfa were several tubes and a heart monitor that would occasionally pause in between a series of beeps.

"Jack, nothing here makes sense! All of these readings are completely wrong! The poison is targeting the ectoplasm within Danny's bloodstream, but Danny shouldn't have even close to this much even with the food we make that he does eat!" Maddie declared as Jack went by Danny's side in order to tear off his blood-stained shirt as easily, as if it were made out of tissue paper, before he tossed the torn piece of clothing into the waste bin.

"My God! Maddie, take a look at some of these!" Jack declared as he gestured over to the many scars that covered their son's body.

Looking over from the readout to where Danny lay, Maddie let out a small gasp of surprise. The scars that covered their son's body were numerous and some of them looked as if they could have been lethal in themselves. Several questions sprouted up in her mind as to how Danny possibly could have gotten them, but none of them resulted in anything good.

"Mr. Fenton! Mrs. Fenton!" Tucker cried out as both he and Sam ran down into the basement only to find them over the unconscious figure of Danny, his blood-soaked shirt discarded with his scars visible for all to see.

The two adults soon turned to the two of them with confused gazes, obviously unable to process what they were seeing as the scars obviously meant that Danny had gone through some horrible things in the past.

"S-Sam, Tucker," Maddie addressed the two of them, "did either of you two know about this?" the female Fenton asked as she gestured to the scars that riddled Danny's body.

The moment of truth was upon the two friends, knowing that there might still be a chance to lie their way out of the mess that was in the making ever since Danny had stepped through the Ghost Portal. A mere glance to one another and then looking back at their downed friend reaffirmed their decision as Sam soon spoke up.

"Yes," Sam started off slowly, "those scars…..Danny got them from fighting ghosts."

The two adults seemed to sag slightly in relief at the news that he was merely engaging in an activity that they had encouraged for their children to engage in. It was true that ghost fighting was dangerous, but a thought occurred to them. Sure, the two of them had a few scars of their own, but the few that they had were usually the result of lab accidents more than engaging a ghost they did manage to find other than the Phantom boy.

"But, why keep that a secret? We've wanted him to join us fighting ghosts for the longest time? Why wait until…this?" Maddie asked them, looking over Danny once more as his condition was getting worse slowly.

"Mr. Fenton, Mrs. Fenton, you might want to sit down for this," Tucker said, but when neither of the Fentons made a move for any of the stools or seats, he carried on nervously. "The reason Danny never told either of you two that he's been fighting ghosts is because of how he fights them. Danny had an accident with the ghost portal back during freshman year. He's… been a half- ghost ever since then. More accurately, he's Danny Phantom," Tucker carried on carefully, making sure that the two of them understood him carefully.

Alarmed, the two were about to say something in order to disagree or call Tucker a liar, but Sam thankfully cut in before they could do so. "Please, we'll tell you everything, but after you help Danny. Isn't there anything you could do to help him?" Sam pleaded to the two scientists.

They seemed to still have problems accepting the claims that Tucker and Sam made, but after giving a long look at the vulnerable faces that the both of them possessed, neither of them could find it in them to deny their claims.

"Yes, knowing that he has ectoplasm in his blood naturally will make getting rid of the poison infinitely easier. That way, we can get rid of the foreign ectoplasm from his system without doing anything that would harm our boy, but most of the equipment has to be recalibrated in order to make it so that it doesn't strip it from his body and potentially kill him." Jack said as his usual happy and child-like demeanor switched out as he was fully concentrated at the task at hand.

Unable to help it, a small smile formed on Sam's lips for the briefest moment as she heard Jack still refer to his son as "our boy" instead of labeling Danny as anything less. It was relieving to hear that Jack's affection for his son change even after telling him that Danny was the ghost that both of the elder Fentons had been chasing for the longest time.

"I can do the recalibrations. I've done that to a bunch of the stuff you guys have so that it doesn't blast Danny…as much," Tucker told Jack and Maddie as he made his way over to the computer and went to work.

Maddie was about to protest at Tucker's intrusion, but her words died away as he easily shifted through the codes and security that the elder Fentons had set up long ago, in order to protect their projects, and began to recalibrate their devices as easily as turning the power on for his PDA. Realizing that Tucker was indeed speaking the truth about the recalibrations, Maddie made a mental note to update their security if someone as young as Tucker could hack into their codes without them the wiser. Genius or no, a scientist was prone to keep their secrets from anyone outside of their research.

Turning to send Sam away, she was surprised to see Sam standing next to Danny, checking the instruments with understanding that could only come with years of studying and repeated use of the machines. Maddie soon felt age creep upon her as she realized just how much these three had grown up without their parents being any the wiser. Snapping out of her sad realization, Maddie began to assist Tucker in the recalibrations as Jack finished preparing the equipment that they would need for the procedure.

Completing the recalibrations with the help of the techno-geek, Maddie gave a small smile of satisfaction as she felt hopeful for the first time that they would be able to cure Danny of the poison that crept through his veins. Turning to the two teens, Maddie looked at the both of them with a large sigh as she knew what she was about to say to the two would be met with some kind of resistance. Danny always did know how to find the loyalist of friends. "Kids, we're going to start the operation. Please…go home, and get some rest. We'll….call after it's all over." Maddie told Sam and Tucker softly.

The two friends looked to one another cautiously before looking back to Maddie only to see her completely immersed in her work along with Jack. At the moment, it was not Jack and Maddie, Danny's parents, but Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, renown scientists and experts in all things ghastly. It was hard to merely let two people operate on Danny without either of them being watched over, especially since the three teens of Team Phantom practically grew up hearing Danny's parents go on about how they would dissect a ghost molecule by molecule. Nevertheless, Sam and Tucker knew that the Fentons would not intentionally hurt their son, especially now that they knew that he was 'Inviso-Bill', or rather Danny Phantom.

"He'll be okay. They know what they're doing." Tucker assured Sam as he squeezed her shoulder comfortingly.

Giving a small smile in response to his words, Sam nodded gratefully as Tucker suggested that they watch a comedy at her place. Though Sam normally disliked comedies and some of the more juvenile aspects they usually displayed, she could not argue that they both needed a laugh after all that had happened.

The two spent the time watching several comedies back to back, their eyes lingering over the nearby phone as they silently prayed that all would be well. Sometime during the seventh movie, one of the many Jim Carrey movies, Tucker had fallen asleep on the comfy couch that was placed directly in front of the massive screen that they would watch on their weekly movie nights.

Feeling her own consciousness slipping as her eyelids grew heavy, Sam soon snapped awake as the harsh sounds of her ringtone halted her drifting consciousness. Pulling out her cell phone, Sam immediately answered it as she felt a knot form within her stomach.

"Hello?" Sam answered uncertainly.

"Sam, sweetie, it's Maddie. We've finished and he's sleeping peacefully. Can you be a dear and tell Tucker? You both can see him in the morning and then we'll have a long talk about everything tomorrow," Maddie informed the young woman with a stern tone.

Exhaling a breath that she did not realize she was holding, Sam gave a grateful smile despite the fact that Maddie would not be able to see it. "Thank you Mrs. Fenton. You don't know how glad I- I mean we, are." Sam thanked as her body seemed to relax against the sofa she rested on.

Despite not being able to see Danny's mother, Sam could imagine the knowing smile that Maddie gave in return as she spoke. "You know you don't need to thank us, dear. We're just glad that our baby boy is alright. You really care for him….don't you?" Maddie asked as she switched hands to hold the phone.

Blushing lightly at Maddie's question, Sam was uncertain if she could admit it to Danny's mother as it would be a large leap of faith on Sam's part to trust Maddie, despite the fact that Sam had practically grown up at the Fenton's home.

"I'll….see you tomorrow, Mrs. Fenton," Sam told her nervously.

Giving the younger woman a soft laugh, Maddie nodded as she bid her a good-night as the two hung up their phones. Looking over to the prone form of Tucker, Sam lightly nudged him on the shoulder. Yawning, Tucker looked over to Sam and rubbed his eyes hard underneath his glasses. "Whazit?" Tucker mumbled tiredly.

"I just got a call from Danny's folks. He's going to be alright. We can go and see him tomorrow. You can go home now," Sam told he friend as the corner of her lips quirked at the groan Tucker let out.

"I don't wanna. I'm too tired!" Tucker whined out playful, but was unable to help but smile at the young woman. Hearing that Danny was okay was a great load off of his shoulder, glad that his best friend was fine after all that happened. If Danny had not made it…Tucker didn't even want to think about the implications that followed that thought.

Getting up from the comfortable sofa, Tucker stretched out lightly before turning his head to Sam. "You gonna be alright, or do you want someone to keep you company?" Tucker asked, uncertain if Sam was going to be able to sleep peacefully after such an eventful day.

It was certainly not the first time that Sam would have a nightmare following one of Danny's more eventful battles. Frankly, the only reason he even knew about the nightmares that followed was due to the fact that her thrashing and quiet screaming would awaken him while the both of them would be near Danny's injured body that they would take care of until he healed.

Giving an embarrassed, but grateful smile to her friend, she nodded to him. "I'll be fine, Tucker. I'm a big girl after all and I can tuck myself into bed, thank you very much. I'll see you tomorrow," she promised him as she began to wave him away.

"Alright, alright. I know when I'm not wanted here. I'll see you in the morning," Tucker said to her as he began to make his way upstairs, throwing a wave to her over the shoulder.

Sam stood there in the basement, her ears straining for the sounds of the closing door that followed Tucker's departure. Grinning lightly as she heard him leave, Sam immediately took that sofa that Tucker previously occupied.

"Finally, he always take the only sofa I like to sleep on." Sam thought as she settled into the chair and drifted off into dreamland.


A/N: Tell me what you think! Read, review, and promote if you will!