Meh.

A wave of panic washed over his face as he grabbed some of his hair to look at it.

"Relax. There's only a black streak in it." Maddie told him.

He breathed a sigh of relief. That was close.

"Did you dye it or something?" The mother asked.

"Well, a teenager walking around with pure white hair would be a little more noticeable." Danny responded, sitting up in the bed with much difficulty. He noticed the doctor that had told him to "take it easy" rolled her eyes at his persistence.

"A teenager with any white hair is noticeable." She retorted.

"Well, it doesn't really matter anymore, does it?" The boy asked sadly. "It's only a matter of time before the Guys in White storm this place and try to take me away again for experiments. Lots and lots of really painful experiments."

"Is that why you never told anyone?" Maddie questioned, looking at the young teen.

"Partly. There are other reasons too, though." He replied, glancing downward.

"Reasons like what?" She questioned softly, sitting next to him.

"Reasons like I can't tell you." He responded.

She got back up, seeing that the boy wasn't willing to spill anything yet. A second later, the door burst open and Danielle ran in.

"Danny!" She screamed happily, running to give him a hug. He winced in pain when her arms constricted around his badly beaten body. "Sorry." She apologized.

"It's okay." He assured her, hugging the younger girl back. After a moment, they separated. "How are you doing?"

"Better than you." Dani answered upon seeing her cut and bruised "brother."

Danny smiled. "Good, because if you were doing worse, I'd never forgive myself."

"If she was doing worse, she'd be in the Emergency Room right now." A familiar female voice added.

Danny looked at the door to see his two best friends standing there.

"Sam! Tucker!" He exclaimed happily.

The two smiled and walked carefully over to their friend.

"Nice to see you're finally awake, dude. It's been hours." Tucker stated. He had only come to a hospital because his friend was in it, though. He still hated hospitals, but he wasn't exactly afraid anymore, not after the Spectra-Ghost Virus thing.

The doctors decided that they'd back off the boy for a little so that he could talk with his friends. Usually, they wouldn't let friends in, but they made a special exception for Phantom, considering his friends seemed like they were pretty much his family.

Surprisingly, Sam punched him in the shoulder, but only lightly. Danny instantly gripped his arm.

"Ow! What was that for?" He asked.

"Don't you ever tell anyone to fire at you again." She told him sternly, but a smile cracked her serious mask. "It's nice to see you're safe, though."

He smiled back. "Now all we're missing is…"

"Danny!" A high-pitched voice rang through the air as Jazz ran over and hugged the life out of the injured teen.

"Jazz." He finished in a strangled tone. "It's nice that you care, but…I kinda…need to…breathe!" The boy choked out, causing the girl to release him. "You know, if you guys keep doing that, I will break a bone." The boy joked.

"Sorry." She apologized sheepishly, but caught her brother's grin.

In the background, all of the doctors along with Jack and Maddie were watching the scene with much interest. It looked so incredibly…normal. Even though Phantom's hair was white. Although, there was something that bugged them all. What were they supposed to call him? Danny Masters?

"Wow." Maddie thought. "That would sound so twisted."

Of course, there was something else, too. Something only Maddie and Jack knew about. Of course, Maddie was probably the only one thinking about it. If Phantom was Vlad's son and he had Vlad's white hair (that was probably passed down through the ecto-contaminations in Vlad's blood), would he have Vlad's ecto-acne? It was very possible. Diseases could be hereditary, so the ecto-acne might be one of them. She'd have to remember to check that.

A few minutes later, visiting time was over. The half-ghost boy bid his friends good-bye as they left out the door with the promise of returning the next day since Danny obviously wasn't going to be let go that day. Some of the doctors had left after seeing that their half-ghost patient looked like he'd be fine. Only a few remained, just in case. Maddie hung back as well. There were a few things that she needed to know. She asked the doctors if they would leave for a minute so that she could have a word with the boy. They reluctantly agreed.

Calmly, the woman approached the young teen's bed. He sighed, knowing what was coming next.

"I'll take it you have a few questions." He stated.

"Would you mind giving a few answers?" She asked in reply.

"Depends on what the questions are."

Maddie nodded in understanding. She knew that there were a few things that he probably didn't want to discuss.

"How did you become half-ghost in the first place? I know that Plasmius said…"

"It was a lab accident." He cut her off. "Blame human curiosity."

Oh, so he was just curious. That ghost made it sound like he purposefully did it.

"There's another thing that I think has been bothering quite a few people. Should we call you Danny Masters now?"

"No!" Danny shouted quickly, eyes going wide. He gave a nervous laugh as he calmed down a little. "I mean; no thanks. Let's just say that Vlad and I don't get along too well."

"Al-right. Just one last thing for the night." She told Danny.

The boy seemed relieved by this. Although, she knew this might be a little tough on him.

"Have you ever heard of ecto-acne?"

He nodded. He was beginning to get where she was going with this.

"Vlad had it back in collage and it came back a little while ago. I'm afraid that you might have inherited it from him because you were obviously born before it was cured. We'll have to test you for it to make sure you're not at risk of getting it." She informed him gently.

Danny was wondering if he should tell her that he was adopted or something. He could spin the story a little himself. Couldn't hurt, right?

"Actually, I was adopted." He lied.

"You were?" Maddie asked in shock.

"Please. Vlad's never been married. He's too much of a lonely creep for that." Danny responded.

"Do you know who your real parents are?"

Sorry for the numerous dead-ends with the suspenceful questions and the OOCness. Review please!