This is really the last of the 'Flowers' miniseries. For real.
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Gloves
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"It was the portal," he started. "But-" His eyes flicked back and forth between the portal and the graveflower bush. "But I guess you probably already knew that."
"You died," said Maddie.
"No!" protested Danny, taking half a step forward. "No. Well, yes, but, I mean, I'm- I only sort of died." He took a deep breath and squared himself. "It turns out that life and death aren't as clear cut as people think. I died but... my body was right there, so I guess, I guess my ghost, I don't know, jump started it, and, um, fixed the whole dead thing. At least... that's what we- what I- think."
He began to hunch under his parents' intense gaze once again. They were going to say that it was impossible.
"Other people know about this?" asked Jack. "Who?"
"Sam and Tucker. Jazz. Some of the ghosts," said Danny, shrugging a little. He would have to be careful to avoid slips like that. He didn't want anyone else to get in trouble.
"You talk to the ghosts?" asked Maddie.
"Sometimes," said Danny.
"Is that why you and Jazz defend Phantom?" she asked. "Has he- has he helped you?" The way she said it made it sound like she was swallowing a blackberry vine.
"Um," said Danny. He fidgeted. "That- That isn't really the right question, when it comes to Phantom."
"What do you mean?" asked Jack. "Either he helped or he didn't."
"Well," said Danny. He placed his hand over his chest, over his core, fingers spread wide. "The thing is, I can sort of choose to be a ghost, sometimes. I am Phantom."
Maddie sagged slightly into Jack, who blinked several times, not saying anything.
"We'll have to run some tests," said Maddie, breathlessly.
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Danny watched his mother pull on his gloves and braced himself. Maddie noticed.
"You don't need to be so tense," she said.
He disagreed. "Is this really necessary?" he asked. "I mean, you already checked my pulse, and I told you everything. Can't we just... leave it at that?" He tried not to glance at the ghost shield generator, poorly hidden under a sheet. Maddie and Jack both had remotes for it. In case he suddenly became violent.
Or if they decided that he was lying, after all.
"This is for your health, too," said Maddie. "It would be hard for us to treat you if you got hurt, and we didn't know how you normally are."
"I manage fine," said Danny, shifting back on the stool.
"We'd like to do better than 'manage,'" said Maddie. "We're going to take your blood pressure and heart rate, first."
The first several tests were... banal. Things that could happen in any doctor's office... although, Danny's last visit to a human doctor had been some time ago. His memories of the event were admittedly fuzzy.
Having his parents do the examination, though, latex gloves over their normal hazmat ones, that was different. That touched on so many nightmares, nightmares that had been beaten into his brain night after night, that he found himself trembling under their fingers.
"Do you feel cold?" asked Maddie, her fingers hovering over a thermometer.
"No," said Danny. She popped it into his mouth anyway.
"You are cold. Your temperature is almost hypothermic."
"That's normal," mumbled Danny. He crossed his arms.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure," said Danny.
"Alright," said Maddie.
She walked to the other side of the lab and began taking sample jars out from a cabinet. From another draw she took out a sealed, sterilized packet. Inside it, a syringe.
"Jack," she said, "could you get the cotton swabs? Then we can-"
"No!" said Danny, jumping off the stool. This was too much. "Can't you just believe me? For once? Or- Or just turn the shield on and lock me up, if you can't. I'm not an experiment!"
Maddie and Jack both froze.
"What shield?" asked Jack.
Danny pointed, incensed, his other arm wrapped protectively around himself. Jack, still wearing a confused face, walked over and pulled back the sheet. Underneath, the shield projector was half-disassembled.
Disassembled, as in, no longer functional. Danny gaped at it.
"I don't-" he said. "But- Why all the tests? Why are you doing this? All this poking and prodding?"
"We said," started Maddie. She stopped. Turned a sample jar over in her hands twice. She put it down. "We want to understand. We want to be able to tell if something is wrong. If there's anything... affecting you."
Danny watched his parents warily. "I'm still just me," he said. "Nothing is influencing me. I don't- No more tests."
"Alright," said Jack. "We don't want to do anything you aren't comfortable with, Danno."
"We- Maybe we've moved too fast," said Maddie. "We need time to settle and to- to talk about things."
Danny gave a small nod. "Can I go, now?" he asked.
"Of course," said Maddie. She sounded hurt.
Danny's heart made a complicated maneuver in his chest, but he couldn't stand to be here anymore. He walked for the stairs as quickly as he could without running, avoiding the areas of his lab that his subconscious had labeled as threatening.
He passed by the graveflower. It's flowers tilted towards him.
He did not miss his mother's shudder.
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Maddie sank into her chair. "He really is Danny," she said. Jack simply nodded. "He must hate us."
"No," said Jack. "He doesn't hate us. He stayed. He explained things to us."
"And we took advantage of that."
"He doesn't hate us," repeated Jack. "We all just need time." He looked around the room. "Quality family time!"
Maddie gave Jack a thin smile. "Maybe." Her eyes strayed back to the graveflower, remembering how it made Danny's skin light up, how it made him look dead. A mother's worst nightmare. "Maybe. Something without ghosts."
"Without ghost hunting," corrected Jack.
"You're right," said Maddie. She patted his hand where it rested on her shoulder. "You're right."