Ethan's eyes fluttered open. A few hours after they got to Danny and Lilith's room, Sam decided that they should find somewhere to sleep, presumably for the night. Ethan glanced over his shoulder to see his mother still sleeping, her arm tightly wrapped around his chest. They were sleeping in the Speeder after they bumped into Steven on his way back to Danny and Lilith's room, he told them to use the Speeder. Ethan tried to wriggle free of his mother's grip but she only moaned sleepily and pulled him closer. Ethan huffed softly, starting to see why his father resorted to his ghost powers to get free from Sam's grip. Ethan was tempted to phase away but he didn't want to worry his mother if she woke up and found him gone.

Ethan's gaze found his bag still slumped against the wall opposite with his shoes. The crown was safely tucked out of sight inside. His gaze saddened as he thought about his father and sister. All through the Hospital infected ghosts were being cured. He'd seen a few of them walking around and going down to lower levels of the building to wait to leave. Thermoses left to one side filled with ghosts the Hospital didn't have room for were being emptied and the ghosts were being treated once they were strapped down. The boy knew he should be happy but he couldn't help but feel jealous and upset because his family was still in crisis, waiting for a cure.

When his thoughts turned to his sister and father waiting for a cure, he couldn't help but recall the terrifying experience of seeing his father completely out of control and ready to attack everyone in that room. He shuddered at the memory of Steven ordering everyone out and aiming a gun at Danny. But as he recalled the event, he realised something he hadn't before. His danger sense didn't go off. His father did seem to only focus on Vlad who Ethan wasn't sure of right now but maybe his father had been right. Maybe his danger sense wasn't reliable yet. Maybe it didn't go off because it was his father and not just a random infected ghost. He sighed softly and shook his head against the pillow. It didn't matter. He just hoped that a cure for his sister and father was finished soon.

Ethan jerked in surprise when there was a bang on the door to the Speeder. Sam stirred behind her son and blinked sleepily, her dark hair messily knotted and sticking up.

"Your highness! Prince Ethan!" Skulker's voice called warily.

"Enter," Sam replied loudly, stifling another yawn. The ghost phased into the vehicle and gave a slight, jerky bow. Sam smirked at the gesture. She knew that Skulker was a proud ghost and preferred to treat Danny as an equal rather than a superior. Danny never minded because he preferred that, but apparently it annoyed the crown sometimes.

"What's up?" Sam asked.

"Well, two things. One the clouds are getting really thick and they might descend on the island. It's probably wise to move everyone on the island inside before that happens," Skulker admitted, nodding to the window worriedly. Ethan and Sam turned to the window and frowned worriedly at the red, blue, yellow and bright pink clouds outside. They were getting so thick that the natural green of the Ghost Zone was nearly impossible to see.

"Fair enough. And second?" Sam prompted, turning back to the ghost.

"Plasmius thinks he's got a cure ready for the king and princess. Thought you might want to know," Skulker revealed with a shrug. Sam blinked at the ghost in disbelief while Ethan scrambled to grab his shoes.

"You didn't want to lead with that?" Sam deadpanned with annoyance. Skulker smirked as Sam combed her fingers through her hair and got off the makeshift bed Jack, Maddie and Steven crafted. She grabbed her boots and pulled them on while Ethan bounced excitedly by the door. Skulker floated beside Sam and Ethan as they walked from the Speeder to the hospital doors.

"Did you get everyone else in?" Sam asked before they reached the steps.

"Honestly, it was only me and you two outside. You would probably be safe in that contraption but I thought you'd prefer to be trapped in the Hospital rather than that," Skulker admitted. Sam hummed in understanding.

Sam ignored the ghosts milling around the reception for the most part but she was glad to see the ghosts at the same time. The majority of these ghosts were infected ghosts but now they were healthy. Sam grabbed Ethan's hand and led the way to the lifts while Skulker dropped in a seat near the hospital doors grumpily. Ethan fidgeted nervously but excitedly as they waited in the lift for it to reach the ninth floor. When the doors opened, Sam took a deep breath and walked with her son down the corridor towards the hospital room. The door was open and Steven was inside alone.

"Where's Harry?" Sam inquired as she entered the room, glancing at Danny and Lilith. Lilith was sleeping but Danny growled at them as he shook his arms and restraints irritably.

"He's shadowing a witch helping to cure the ghosts. He wants to be certain he knows the spell before Vlad administers the cure," Steven answered.

"Doesn't he have to inject the first solution first?" Sam questioned.

"He already did. It wasn't easy and Danny nearly broke out. It needed to be injected a couple of hours before the cure," Steven informed them calmly, scanning Danny's wrists carefully to check that the restraints weren't weakening.

"So, where's Vlad? Why isn't he here yet?" Ethan asked impatiently, flinching when his father snarled loudly.

"He's on his way. Calm down. Loud noises upset them easily and I'm not sure they particularly like visitors right now either," Steven replied with a shrug. Sam sat down and pulled her son into her lap.

"It's fine Steven. I understand that they don't know what's happening. Having a lot of people here probably confuses them," Sam muttered and Steven nodded in agreement.

Gradually Danny settled down again and stopped glaring at his visitors to focus on his restraints. Steven watched the man closely but did nothing to stop the halfa tugging at the straps. It was easier to let the halfa do that rather than try and stop him and cause another upset. A few minutes later Vlad arrived with Jack and Maddie. Danny turned his focus away from his restraints again to growl angrily at the new arrivals. Vlad gulped nervously while Danny's parents frowned sadly at the response.

"We have a cure but this will be its test run in a person," Vlad informed Sam, waiting for the woman's response.

"We have tested it on their blood. But there's always the danger that it could go wrong in their systems," Maddie added.

"We're confident it'll work but… if you say no, we won't," Jack concluded. Sam chewed her lip and glanced at her sleeping daughter and growling husband.

"Do it. I trust your judgement," Sam decided. She knew that Vlad, Jack and Maddie wouldn't suggest an experimental cure unless they were confident it would work.

"We need Harry and I'd prefer to have a trained physician on hand in case of any problems," Vlad mentioned. Sam nodded as Jack stepped out of the room to find a ghost doctor.

A few minutes later Harry returned with Jack and a doctor, having run into them on his way to the room.

"You know the spell then?" Vlad questioned, glancing nervously at Danny when the halfa growled loudly at the doctor and two men. Harry pulled out his wand and nodded.

"Yeah. I saw it a few times and I've heard the workings behind it too. I even cast it on a ghost once. I will need to omit a part of it though for Danny and Lilith," Harry confirmed. Vlad nodded before pulling out a premeasured dose of the halfa cure and turned to Danny, having learnt to do the man first previously.

"It might work at different rates for them but it should work," Vlad remarked over his shoulder as he edged towards Danny's side.

Maddie and Jack joined Vlad around Danny's bed and together, both parents lunged forward and held their son down and still while Vlad carefully found a vein and pushed the needle into Danny's arm.

"On three. One. Two. Three," Vlad called over Danny's furious yelling. Harry pointed his wand at Danny obediently.

"Finite incantatem. Reparifors. Depulso magicis," he chanted loudly as Vlad pushed down the plunger on the syringe. Carefully Vlad pulled out the syringe and backed away before Jack and Maddie released their hold on their son. Lilith had been woken up by the commotion and was yelling and growling angrily while Danny roared at them. Vlad stared nervously at Danny, afraid that the man's shouting might change into a ghostly wail at this rate.

"Perhaps I should sedate him," the doctor muttered anxiously and retrieved the sleep spores from the cabinet. Vlad gave the ghost a quick nod and the doctor pulled out a handful of spores and blew them in Danny's face. Danny's bright green glare turned on the ghost as he broke free of one of the straps. Steven was on his feet instantly with the gun ready to fire. Everyone quickly evacuated the room and waited outside for the shouting to quieten.

"Hopefully that will be the last time we have to do that," Maddie mumbled as they filed back into the room. Danny was once again unconscious but this time he managed to break the straps on his right ankle and his right wrist and had half-way turned over. Jack and the doctor carefully rolled Danny back on his back and replaced the straps in case the halfa was still aggressive when he woke up. Once Danny was secure once again, Jack and Vlad turned to Lilith who was weakly struggling and growling. Jack carefully held the girl down, careful not to hurt her, while Vlad readied another syringe of cure. Harry licked his lips and lifted his wand ready as Vlad found a vein and pushed the needle into the girl's flesh.

"Ready? One. Two. Three," Vlad called over his shoulder and injected the solution into the girl.

"Finite incantatem. Reparifors. Depulso magicis," Harry chanted once again. Vlad pulled out the syringe out of the girl's arm and stepped back.

Lilith snarled angrily at Vlad and Jack and struggled wildly but none of her restraints broke. However the doctor did blow some sleep spores in the girl's face to calm her down and prevent her injuring herself. The doctor returned the sleep spores to the cabinet before leaving. Jack, Maddie, Harry and Vlad collapsed into seats. Now they could do nothing but wait for the cure to take effect and hope it was enough. Sam gazed sadly at her sedated daughter and husband.

"How long will they be sedated?" Sam wondered.

"Danny usually wakes up pretty fast since he usually shakes off any spores and with all his shouting, doesn't breathe that much in either. Lilith on the other hand could be out for a couple of hours. She's actually getting pretty weak since they won't let us feed them," Steven answered.

"What about Danny?" Sam questioned worriedly. Steven shrugged.

"It's hard to tell because he only gets really aggressive when Lilith gets upset or someone does something to him, like shove food in his mouth or a needle in his arm. He struggles but it can get pretty half-hearted at times. Might be him exhausting himself," Steven explained.

"Are you hungry Sam? Ethan? There's food available on the ground level if you want," Maddie offered. Sam glanced at her son before recalling that the last thing they ate was a few cupcakes her mother made.

"I think we should get something to eat. Come on Ethan," Sam agreed.

"But dad and Lil," Ethan protested.

"They're gonna be asleep for a while. One of us will come get you if something happens. Promise," Jack replied with a warm smile. Ethan hesitated before obediently following his mother out of the hospital room and down to the cafeteria on the ground floor, stopping for directions at the receptionist's desk. Sam glanced around the room, spotting a few witches and wizards poking uncertainly at plates of glowing food and a scattering of ghosts chatting together while they ate happily. Sam led the way across the room to the deli counter and frowned at the food there.

She grinned when she spotted a bowl of blue soup with glowing yellow chunks floating in the liquid. She didn't know the name of it, but she definitely remembered eating the soup while pregnant and she had enjoyed it. She grabbed the bowl and scanned the counter again and spotted a plate of squidgy orange lumps glittering innocently. She grabbed the plate and handed it to Ethan, recalling that the dish was one of Danny's favourites but she herself had never cared much for it.

"What is this?" Ethan asked with a cautious frown and raised eyebrow. Sam chuckled at him as she guided the boy to a table, pausing on the way to get cutlery.

"I have no idea how to pronounce it but I do know it's one of your father's favourites. Hopefully you'll like it," Sam admitted as she sat down at a table.

Ethan glanced at his mother before picking up a squidgy lump and popping it in his mouth. He instantly grinned and hummed his approval. The lump melted once it hit his tongue and coated his mouth with a pleasant, refreshing warmth that tasted a little like a cross between chocolate, soda and vanilla ice cream.

"Good?" Sam retorted with a smirk, getting a happy nod in response. She spooned some of the soup into her mouth and smiled herself. It left a slight tingle on her tongue and tasted like salad while the yellow chunks tasted a little like tofu which had been seasoned with spices and fried. She had learnt long ago never to judge ghost food by appearance. And the strange dishes didn't always stick to just savoury or just sweet. Her gaze found a witch struggling to eat a meal with slippery noodles sprinkled with sparkling green flakes.

Sam told her son to stay put and went to the woman's aid. The witch was trying to use a fork but the noodles kept slipping away from her before she could put them into her mouth.

"That's a lot easier to eat with your hands," Sam informed the woman, perching on a seat beside the witch.

"But, it's too wet," the witch pointed out.

"Nah, it just looks it. See?" Sam assured and plucked up a noodle and pulled it up and into her own mouth. The noodles were a strange food. They looked and tasted wet but were completely dry. The green flakes fizzed and snapped once they made contact with something wet like a tongue. The witch blinked in surprise before setting down her fork and copying Sam. The woman frowned at the texture but seemed to enjoy the taste.

"Those green flakes snap when you eat them. I'll let you eat in peace," Sam concluded and moved to leave.

"Wait, how do you know all this?" the witch called curiously before Sam could stand up.

"My husband is Daniel Fenton. I've had a lot of experience with ghostly cuisine. That's all," Sam answered with a shrug. The witch nodded in understanding.

"Well, thanks for helping me. I was about to give up and get something else. Although I have no idea what any of this stuff is meant to be. And I'm not normally a fussy eater, but when the food is glowing, I can't recognise anything and I swear some of it even moves, I'm not so sure about ghost food," the witch muttered as she picked up and eyed a green flake. Sam smiled kindly as the woman tentatively popped the flake in her mouth and was startled by the violent pop in her mouth.

"I don't know what half this stuff is either but I know the ghosts wouldn't have put it out for us if it was anyway harmful. Now excuse me, I should get back to my son," Sam commented and left the witch to her meal.

Ethan watched his mother sit down at their table and resume eating her food before he grabbed another orange lump and eagerly dropped it in his mouth.

"Is ghost food always like this?" Ethan wondered. Sam smiled at her son as she chewed a chunk in her soup.

"Sometimes. Your father would know better than me. He lived in the Ghost Zone for a whole month before and ate only ghost food. I think this stuff is like sandwiches to ghosts though. Nothing special and fine to leave out for anyone to take," Sam replied.

"Dad lived in the Ghost Zone!?" Ethan exclaimed in shock. Sam chuckled and nodded.

"It was before he officially became king. He wanted to live here for some time so that he would better understand the ghosts," Sam revealed calmly.

"Cool," Ethan cheered before popping another orange lump in his mouth with a grin. Sam smirked at her son.

"He did say that he missed normal food though. And ghost food tastes different to him depending if he's human or ghost form," Sam recalled. Ethan nodded with an interested expression.

Over the next twenty minutes Sam told her son a few interesting pieces of information about Danny or her own experiences in the Ghost Zone while they ate. Once they were finished, Sam gathered their dirty dishes and placed them with the others on a shelf in the corner before leading the way back to Danny and Lilith's hospital room. Danny was awake when they arrived but Lilith was still asleep. Danny growled at them but Sam felt that the growl wasn't quite as aggressive as before. Although she wasn't sure if that was hope or truth. Sam settled on a chair with her son on her lap once again.

"How long has Danny been awake?" Sam asked curiously.

"Only a few minutes. We figured you'd be back soon," Harry admitted. Sam nodded but Ethan frowned.

"You promised to get us if something happened," Ethan grumbled.

"Your dad just woke up and growled at us. That's all you missed," Harry retorted with a grim smile. Ethan sighed sadly.

"It worked faster with Aquamaria," Ethan mumbled.

"Give it some time Ethan. This cure had to be more specialised than Aquamaria's one," Sam soothed gently.

For the next hour, Ethan, Sam, Jack, Maddie, Steven, Vlad and Harry talked calmly while they waited for Lilith to wake and Danny to stop glaring at them with the occasional snarl. Steven kept a close watch on Danny but he did note that the halfa hadn't tried to break out of his bindings nearly as much as before the cure was administered. Finally Lilith stirred and Sam waited with bated breath, hoping for her daughter to be better, or at least to not be rabid anymore. Lilith moaned softly and tried to rub her face with her hand only to find the wrist strapped down. She frowned in confusion and turned her head to look around.

"Mommy? Ethan?" Lilith mumbled sleepily, recognising her family. Sam grinned broadly and rushed to her daughter's side.

"I'm here darling. How do you feel?" Sam fussed over the girl.

"Sleepy. Why can't I move my hand?" Lilith answered.

"You're sick. The doctors had to strap down your hands and feet so you wouldn't hurt yourself or anyone else," Sam explained, but she couldn't wipe the grin off her face.

"Where's daddy?" Lilith asked. Sam moved away from her daughter slightly so the girl could see Danny who was watching the scene with clear confusion and uncertainty.

"He's sick too. But he'll get better soon," Sam told the girl.

"Hiya daddy," Lilith called softly and smiled at the man. Sam frowned worriedly but Danny didn't growl at his daughter in response. Lilith frowned in confusion.

"He's sick darling. He doesn't understand what's going on right now. You were like that too, which means he'll be better soon," Sam explained, trying to reassure the six year old. Lilith nodded but she still looked upset. Sam moved closer to her daughter so that she blocked the girl's view of her father.

Lilith yawned, jerking her hand up to cover her mouth but was unable. Lilith frowned in annoyance and jostled the strap around her wrist.

"Can you take these off mommy? Please," Lilith asked hopefully. Sam bit her lip uncertainly and turned to Vlad.

"I think we should give it a little longer before taking away the restraints. Just in case she relapses," Vlad decided with an apologetic smile. Sam nodded in understanding and turned back to her daughter and smiled comfortingly to the girl.

"They need to stay on for a little while longer but I bet you're hungry. If you feel up to it, we can get you something to eat," Sam suggested. Lilith blinked before nodding.

"I'll get her something," Maddie volunteered as she got to her feet. Sam flashed the woman a grateful smile as she walked out the room.

Ethan perched beside his mother and smiled at his sister. Lilith grinned up at him and asked if he got sick too. Sam smiled at her children before her gaze drifted to Danny. The man was watching the scene without a hint of recognition in his eyes but his aggression was slowly fading. Sam smiled to herself. The cure seemed to be working, just at a much slower rate than Lilith and other ghosts. However that could be because Danny's immune system didn't fight the disease at all and the cure is the only thing fighting off the infection. This nightmare was slowing coming to an end and that made Sam smile tenderly at her family. Maddie returned with a bowl of mushy yellow food which she handed to Sam. Maddie helped prop Lilith up without removing the restraints and Sam spooned the food into Lilith's mouth, smirking at the girl's muttered protests and numerous reminders that she wasn't a baby.

Well Lilith is getting better and Danny isn't as aggressive anymore.

But will Danny be better before the clouds hit the building?

How will he fix the clouds?

Let me know what you guys think of the story so far.

Until the next chapter.