Sam and Danny sat in the hospital room cuddling Harry between them. Suddenly, a nurse entered the room. "Mr. Fenton?"
"Yes, that's me."
"I think that there's something you need to see. Please follow me." Danny and Sam exchanged worried glances, and Danny got up and followed the nurse.
"We were examining your son's blood sample, and there was some sort of anomaly that none of our hematologists could explain. We were wondering if you knew what was going on."
"What exactly seems to be the problem?"
"Your son's blood seems to have green specks in it." Danny paused, knowing full well what the anomaly was, although not the full extent of it. The nurse noticed his reaction, and asked, "Do you know what this means, Mr. Fenton?"
"Somewhat. It's no problem really, just a hereditary thing. I just need to check the sample so that I can know the degree to which Harry is affected."
"You know what the specks are, then?"
"Yes, but I'm afraid that I can't tell you. It's kind of a family secret. Trust me, though, it's not harmful in any way."
"I see." She led him into the lab where a gaggle of doctors were peering over the screen of a SEM. Danny adjusted some settings on the microscope so that one of Harry's white blood cells appeared on the screen. He zoomed in until he could see the nucleus of the cell, and noticed that the entire genetic code was green, not just part of it.
"So he has it to the same degree that I do. Interesting."
"What is it?" one of the doctors asked.
"Nothing important. Just a genetic mutation that Harry got from me."
"Do we have permission to study it further?" another asked.
"No. This should remain a secret. The last thing we need is for it to get out."
"Do you have any idea what types of benefits this mutation of yours could have on mankind?"
"Try ghostkind," Danny muttered under his breath.
"What was that?"
"Nothing. Trust me, the mutation isn't harmful in the slightest, but it does need to stay away from the general populace. I forbid you to investigate further, and I beseech you to keep quiet about it. This secret should not leave this room."
"I don't like to do this, Mr. Fenton, but without your permission we are bound to secrecy. We have nothing more to say to you. Good day."
"Good day to you." Danny left the room and went back to see his wife and young son.
"What was that about?" Sam asked.
"It turns out that Harry is half ghost."
"So it's not a quarter, like we originally speculated?"
"Nope. I saw a sample of his DNA, and all of it is coated in green ectoplasm."
"Did you tell the doctors?"
"I just told them that it's a genetic mutation that he got from me, that it's not harmful in any way, and that they do not have my permission to investigate further or inform anyone else of what they saw under the microscope."
"So yours and Harry's secret is safe?" Danny looked down at his sleeping child.
"Yes. Our secret is safe."
Later that night, Danny had to leave the hospital. He noticed that most of the medical staff was giving him the cold shoulder, but for the most part he ignored it. Once he arrived back at their apartment, he made sure that the Harry's room was in working order, the crib was positioned correctly, the baby monitor would turn on when they brought him home, etc. He dragged his feet all the way to his bedroom, where the stress of the day finally caught up to him and he fell into a deep sleep.
At the hospital, Sam was not as comfortable. Harry had woken up and begun crying, and Sam had had no idea why. A nurse rushed in and explained that he was hungry, and proceeded to teach Sam how to breast-feed him. After a few extremely embarrassing minutes, they took Harry away from her and put him in that room where all of the babies sleep in little rows. Without her little Harry to keep her company, or her Danny to snuggle with, she felt extremely lonely. It was only after a couple of hours that she fell into a fitful sleep.
Danny entered the hospital the next morning to find Sam breast-feeding Harry. "I'll have what he's having," he said.
"Shut up."
"Tisk tisk, you can't use that kind of language when there's a child present."
"Please, you can't possibly think that he can understand anything that's going on right now."
"A baby's mind is like a sponge, Sam. They absorb anything and everything that goes on around them. That's why they sleep so much; their minds need to amalgamate all of that information in the form of dreams. It's also how they eventually learn how to speak and walk-by imitating what they sense us doing."
"Since when did you become such a baby expert?"
"Hey, one of us had to read all of those baby books that Jazz sent us."
"True." They looked down at their son, who had finished breakfast and was now sleeping peacefully.
"How much longer until you're allowed to come home?"
"Only a couple of days."
"Good, it's been really lonely without you."
"Yeah, same."
"Don't you have Harry to keep you company?"
"The nurse took him away and put him in that room."
"What room?"
"You know, the one where all of the babies have their own little beds and they're lined up in neat little rows with nameplates underneath the beds?"
"Oh yeah, that room. Do you even know what it's called?"
"Nope."
"Me neither."
"You should call our parents and Tucker."
"You're right! I was going to do it last night but I forgot!" He pulled a cell phone out of his pocket. "Hey Mom, Dad, it's me Danny. Sam and I are at the hospital…no, everything's fine. In fact, everything's better than fine. You see, Sam had the baby yesterday…It's a boy…yeah, we're really excited about it also…sure, come over whenever you feel like it. Just don't bring any ghost weapons, I doubt the staff would let you in…yeah, you call Jazz and I'll call Sam's parents and Tucker…okay, see you soon!" He hung up and Sam gave him a quizzical look.
"Harry's half ghost, remember? I don't even want to think about what would happen if they brought some of their ghost-seeking technology in here."
"That's true. Here, give me the phone, I should probably tell my parents." He passed her the phone and held Harry while she dialed. "Hi guys…yeah, we're okay…Danny and I are at the hospital right now…Yeah, I had the baby yesterday…"she held the phone about a foot away from her head as her parents shrieked with joy. When it died down she brought the receiver back to her ear, "Danny's parents are coming over this afternoon…yeah, you can come this evening if you like…it's a boy…really? You're sure about this? Fine, if you really want to…all right, see you this evening." She took Harry back from Danny and gave him his cell phone.
"What did they want?"
"They want Harry to be circumcised."
"Okay…what does that mean, exactly?" Sam explained the ancient ritual to him. When she was done, his eyes were the size of saucers.
"They want to what? To his WHAT? Why?"
"It's some sort of ritual, I don't really understand the religious significance of it. But they'll hire the guy to do it and set everything up. All we have to do is bring him to their house a week from today."
"And it has to be when he's eight days old?"
"Yeah. Oh, and there's one more thing."
"What is it?"
"Well, if we want Tucker to be the godfather, then according to tradition he has to be the one holding Harry when it happens."
"Fine. I'll call him and tell him right now." He dialed Tucker's number on his cell phone. "Hey, Tuck, it's me, Danny…yeah, Sam and I are doing great. She had the baby yesterday…yeah; we're really excited also. It's a boy, so we named him Harry…uh huh…just one thing though, Sam's parents want to have this ritual performed and you need to be there for it…yeah, circumcision, how did you know? On second thought, don't answer that…well, Sam says that in order for you to be the official godfather, you have to be the one holding him when the mohel does his thing…no, you won't have to come into the hospital, the ceremony will be performed at Sam's parents' place, but you can come and visit us before then if you want…she'll be out of the hospital in a couple of days…" he dropped his voice to a whisper, "Yeah, he's a halfa…no not a quarter ghost as we originally thought…I checked a DNA sample, and all 46 of his chromosomes are coated in ectoplasm…no, I spoke with the doctors and forbade them from investigating further, or telling anyone else about the anomaly they found in his blood sample…sure, you can talk to her." He held the phone out to Sam; she took it and spoke with Tucker while Danny held Harry in his arms.
Danny sat in the chair next to the bed, cradling his son. I can't believe that Sam and I created this…this…angel. This quintessence of absolute perfection, this paragon of pure beauty. And we created it, together. I love her so much, both her and Harry. What I would do without them, I don't know. I'd probably die. I'm so happy for us; the three of us are a family, a real family. This leaping feeling in the pit of my stomach, it must be pure joy and happiness. You know what, little man? I promise, right here, right now, to always take care of you, both you and your mother. No matter what, I'll always be there for you, just like she's always been there for me. Believe it. Sam hung up the phone and placed it on the bedside table. She was filled with a measure of peace as she saw the way Danny was lovingly cradling young Harry. Suddenly, a tear from his eye fell down and struck Harry square on the end of the nose. Danny's eyes widened perceptively, and he brought the baby over to Sam.
"Sam, look, he opened his eyes!" The emotion in his voice threatened to choke him off. Sam looked down and was startled by what she saw. Ice blue speckled with the purest amethyst looked back up at her. She cradled him and Danny draped his arm protectively over her shoulder.
"I love you, Sam. Both of you. And I always will."
"I love you too, Danny."
Harry gurgled happily.