After another hour of questions, confessions, and reassurances, Danny had to run off again to deal with some ghost. He returned covered in gashes, and I realized that up until then, he'd been waiting for some of his injuries to heal before coming home to avoid getting a lot of questions for his parents.

"Lab. Now" Maddie ordered, sending a wave of fear through me. Was it possible we misread things and she didn't actually accept Danny?

Danny started to back away slowly. "What for?"

"A medical exam. I need to make sure you're alright."

"Mom, I'm fine. Everything is already healing."

"I see that, but thinking you're okay is not the same as knowing it. None of you know enough about human or ghost biology to know for sure."

Jazz and I exchanged a look. He wasn't going down there alone. The whole situation was too new for that. "We'll come with you, Danny. It'll be okay, I promise." Jazz said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Okay."

The five of us made our way down to the lab, sparkling clean from Jack's work that morning.

"Up on the table, Danny. You're getting an x-ray." Maddie said, powering up the machines in the medical wing of the lab.

"I didn't break anything this time. It's just some cuts and bruises."

"I'm not all that worried about the injuries you're sporting now. Those could heal just fine on their own even without your powers. I want to look at your ribs and check for signs of other serious injuries."

"It'd be easier if I just showed you."

"Danny, I love you, but I don't exactly trust you not to hide things from me right now."

"Fine," Danny grumbled as he finally did what he was told. "Is this going to happen everytime I get hurt?"

"If you really heal as well as you think you do, then no. We'll just check periodically to make sure nothing pops up." Maddie took the image and she spent a few moments scrutinizing it. "I see a very faint line where the break occured, but it looks like it'll be fine."

"Told you."

"Check his back, Ms. Fenton. That's the one that worries me."

"Sam! That was months ago!"

"Yeah, but you said that didn't heal as fast as it should have. If there's any evidence of a limit to your healing, that's where it'll be."

"Flip over, Danny."

"You're not going to find anything."

"I hope you're right, but I have to check. If you want me to let you out of my sight again, you'll do it."

"Fine, but only because I want to go to bed."

"The day just started."

"None of us slept last night. I was trying to figure out how you guys without losing my shit."

"Language, Danny. I've been letting it slide, but it's starting to get out of control."

"Sorry."

"Alright, well I'm not seeing any signs of injury. Whatever happened, you seem to be okay now." Maddie walked over to the cabinet. "I just want to get your vitals, then I'll let you get some sleep."

"That's it?" Danny asked. "I figured you'd want to do a lot more."

"Oh, believe me. There are at least half a dozen tests I want to do, but I don't want to scare you. As long as you're reasonably healthy, we can get through the others slowly, over time."

"Okay."

Maddie started working her through his vitals, checking each number multiple time. "Heart rate and bloodpressure are a little high, but not really outside the norm. Temperature is pretty low, though."

"I have an ice core. That's probably what's causing it."

"But you aren't sure?"

"He's been a little cool since the accident. We joke that he's our personal air conditioner," I chimed in.

"Alright, it's probably normal for you then. I want to check it a couple times this week to be sure, though."

"Can I go now?"

"You're released. Go to bed, all of you."

We trudged up the stairs to get some sleep, Jazz taking a moment to hug Danny and tell him he did good before disappearing off into her own room. I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow, falling asleep for the first time since Danny had kissed me.

The nightmares returned with a vengence, forcing me to relive every moment of the rape. I woke up in a cold sweat and stared at the ceiling. Kissing Danny may have been too much for me, I just hadn't had a chance to process it with everything else going on. Dash had managed to ruin something that should have been sweet and simple.

I never went back to sleep, and the nightmares turned into flashbacks. I hoped they would go away before Danny noticed- I didn't want to tell him about it. If he knew, he'd blame himself even though I was one who asked him to kiss me. He couldn't protect me from everything and I wasn't going to let him think he needed to protect me from himself. We could make this work, it would just take a little time.

I went to the bathroom to wash my face and clear my head. Everytime I closed my eyes, I saw some image from the rape. If I so much as blinked, some memory would flash across my mind.

As I reached for something to dry my face, I noticed a box of tampons sitting in the cabinet. I held them in my hands as I slid down the down and sat on the floor.

My period never came. I was two or three weeks late by that point. The world couldn't hate me that much. It had to be the stress. It just had to be. I couldn't deal with idea that it could be something much more permanent. My life was fucked up enough, I couldn't add that on top of it.

A wave of nausea came over me as the realization of a very real possibility washed over me. I dry heaved over the toilet, my stomache too empty for anything to actually come out. When the heaving finally stopped, I slowly stood up and stared at myself in mirror.

Fuck that. I was just stressed. That's what I would believe unless something told me otherwise. Anything else was more than I could deal with and not my fucking fault in the first place. I wasn't going to let myself spiral into a pit of fear if I didn't have to. Stress was an equally likely possibility and that wait and see approach seemed appropriate.

I cleaned up my mess and went back to bed. Sleep was not going to happen, but I could still curl up next to Danny for a while. If he noticed I got up too long before he did, he'd worry and there wouldn't really be a way to avoid telling him about the nightmares and flashbacks.

An hour later Maddie quietly popped her head in the door. I sat up to look at her and she motioned for me to come out into the hall.

"Danny was with you the whole time last night, right?"

"For the most part. He had to deal with a few ghosts, but he was never gone that long. Why?"

"Dash is dead."

"What?"

"He just stopped breathing last night. It could have been natural, but all the security footage is corrupt and the doctors thought he was getting better. Naturally, his parents are insisting on an investigation and since Dash was known to bully kids like Danny, I had asking where he was last night."

"It wasn't Danny. He would have needed Tucker to knock out the security cameras and he wasn't gone long enough for that."

"I didn't think it was, but I just had to check. Twelve hours ago, I wouldn't have thought twice about it, but now I know that if anyone could get away with murder, it'd be him."

"You know Danny wouldn't do that. That's not who he is," I said, feeling defensive. She couldn't possibly turn on him that easily. I wasn't going to let that happen.

"I know, Sam. I just... I'm still trying to make sense of everything. You've got to understand, I've spent the last two years hunting Phantom because I was afraid of what he was capable of, and all of the sudden I find out that Phantom is Danny. It's hard to overlap their personalities into one person and not have some doubts about who that person is.

"I love Danny. He's my son and I'll be there for him no matter what. I know Danny's a good kid and he means well, but he is the reason Dash was in the hospital in the first place. I'm not saying Dash didn't deserve it, but that doesn't change the facts. I didn't think Danny did it, but I had to be sure.

"I trust him, but this is still a pretty big adjustment. Everything I thought I knew about Phantom can't just disappear into thin air on a moment's notice. I'm trying though, I promise. I'll get there."

I thought it over. "I guess I can understand that. Just know that if Danny realizes it, he might lock you out again."

"I know. That's why I wanted to ask you about it instead of him. I'm surprised you were actually awake, though."

"Nightmares came back."

"I'm sorry, sweetie. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. It's my own fault anyway?"

"No, it's not, Sam. Why would you think it is?"

Maddie was not my first choice for someone to talk to about this, but she was the only one around and Jazz had spent hours telling me about how bad it would be for me to keep things bottled up.

"Because... I kissed Danny. I knew it was too soon and I wasn't ready and I did it anyway." A kiss really wasn't that big of a deal and she knew we were together, but it still felt weird to tell Maddie about it.

"That doesn't make it your fault. I know you may feel like you've taken a step backwards, but I think it'll be good for you in the long run. If you felt ready for it in the moment and you don't regret it, then I think it'll do more good than harm.

"You're recoving from trauma, Sam. It's going to be a long and uncomfortable road. Trauma does all sorts of weird things to your brain. Your wires are all crossed and it's going to be a while before it gets all sorted out again. Even things that are good for you can trigger bad memories."

"Doesn't make it suck any less," I muttered.

"No, it really doesn't. Have you been talking to anyone about all this?"

"Just Jazz."

"She does know her stuff pretty well for her age."

"She got really into psychology for Danny. She wanted to make sure being a hero all the time didn't ruin his mental state."

"That sounds like her. She's not a professional, though. If you want a liscenced therapist to talk to, we'll find you someone."

"Maybe. We'll see."

"Alright, it's your decision. I know it might be easier to talk to someone you know." She took a step back. "I've got to go check on the lab. Jack's expeirimenting again."

I went back in the bedroom, pondering the news Maddie had delivered. Dash was dead. I didn't want to be happy about it, but I really was. He couldn't hurt me or anyone else ever again. Even if he came back as a ghost, Danny would be able to track him down before he hurt anyone.

"All I know is he's calling in a favor and he needed to be certain of who was involved."

Granny's words came back. Was dad responsible for Dash's death somehow? I knew he'd done a lot of work in the prison system and some dangerous people owed him favors, but I didn't think had any murder-level favors he could call in. It was possible though, dad never talked about any of that stuff much.

Maybe, for once, dad had gone against mother's wishes to protect me when I needed it. I'd probably never find out for sure, though.

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Invisible One