The next day, Dracula, Ericka, Mavis, Johnny, and Dennis indeed went to the hospital.

"Hello, we're here to see the boy who was in the burning house last night." Dracula said. "Um, he didn't get to introduce himself..."

"No problem, only three patients were brought in last night." The receptionist smiled; she looked up the info on her computer. "Ah, you must mean Joe Bradton. He's ready for visitors."

"Thank you."

After getting directions, they went to see Joe in his room. He was looking very well, maybe a little worried but otherwise fine.

"Hey Dennis." Joe smiled as he saw him. "I'm Joe. Unfortunately my parents aren't ready for visitors, they're still unconscious."

"Well, maybe they'll wake up later. How are you feeling?" Ericka asked.

"Okay, apart from being worried about my parents."

Four boys and their parents then showed up.

"Joe!" The boys said happily, rushing up to him for a hug.

"Oh my gosh, we were really worried about you." One boy said.

"No need to worry Wally, I'm okay." Joe chuckled. "Oh, these are my friends Wally, Tom, Ralph, and Ray." He then said to Dracula and his family.

"You must be the ones who saved Joe and his parents." One of the parents smiled.

"Yup, that's them. Oh yeah, I almost forgot: thank you, for saving us." Joe chuckled.

Tom, Wally, Ralph, and Ray suddenly hugged them.

"Yes thank you, we don't know what we would've done if-" Tom cut himself off, obviously not wanting to say it.

"And I hope there won't be a third time where we might lose Joe." Ray added.

"A third time?" Mavis looked concerned.

"Yeah, it was a few years ago during a camping trip, when we were eight." Joe explained. "My friends here got the idea to explore a nearby cave on a ledge, but didn't want to go the long way around up the path. So they decided to climb up the wall since it wasn't that high, but I was against it since I was worried that it might be too dangerous. I'm the lightest of the group so they got the idea to have me climb up first to test it. Unfortunately I was right, when I was just a few feet away from the top the rocks my feet were on crumbled and I was forced to cling to a rock above me just to keep from falling."

"We were horrified when we saw it happen." Ralph said. "Since I'm the fastest I rushed back to camp to ask our parents for help."

"The rest of us shouted words of encouragement to Joe," Ray said. "Even though we were also terrified. It was more than an hour, I think, before a helicopter finally came to help Joe down to safety."

"Thankfully, apart from his arms he was okay." Tom said. "His arms were stiff and became unusable for weeks, so we decided to help him carry his things until they were all better."

"We nearly punished our kids for attempting something so dangerous, but that and the fact that they really were scared prevented us. We decided that almost losing their friend was punishment enough." One of the dads said.

"Yeah, we were so scared we were crying. I don't think we cried that much since we were toddlers." Wally admitted.

"Is...that why you're scared of heights?" Dracula realized as he turned to Joe.

"Yeah, even the second floor makes me nervous." Joe nodded. "And I'm eleven too..."

"Aw hey, I've heard of sillier fears." Johnny smiled comfortingly. "Why I knew a kid who was scared of jack o' lanterns. He continued going Trick or Treating with his parents even when he was twelve because of it."

The kids chuckled as Joe felt better.

A nurse then came in.

"There's no need to leave, I just want to have a quick talk with Joe Bradton." The nurse said.

"Are my parents going to be okay?" Joe asked.

"Well, we're afraid they may have to stay here for a few more days, and since you're actually well enough to leave the hospital we want to figure out a place for you to stay until they're better. One option is a foster home, but since your parents are still alive it wouldn't feel right to send you to one."

"Definitely not." Joe agreed.

"So are there any relatives who could look after you?"

"Well...my parents did write in their will that my grandma would take custody of me if anything happened to them, but she died last year and they haven't updated it." Joe said sadly, hugging his teddy bear tighter.

"Did your grandma make that bear for you?" Dennis asked.

"Yeah, having it near me makes it seem like she's near me as well." Joe nodded. "Anyway, I did overhear my parents talking about having my friends' parents become my new godparents, but they haven't decided which ones yet. I think it's because my friends all have siblings, so their parents may not have enough room for a godchild. A temporary arrangement could work though, even if it means sleeping on the floor or couch. But I could never pick between my friends."

Dracula and Ericka looked at each other and nodded.

"How about you stay with us?" Ericka suggested.

"We have some empty rooms at the hotel, so you're welcome to stay in one of the lowest ones until you decide on your godparents." Dracula said.

"Well, I've been wanting to visit the hotel anyway, so that sounds like a cool idea." Joe smiled.

"It is better than making Joe stay in the hospital while he's healthy, especially since the rooms are really needed for the sick and injured." The nurse agreed. "Plus it'll give his friends' parents time to figure out who can be Joe's new godparents."

Joe was then released from the hospital, and while he got ready to leave the nurse took Dracula and his family away to help them arrange for Joe's things to be delivered to the hotel. Due to Joe's fear of heights Dracula decided to call three cars from the hotel to pick them up - one for Joe's things - rather than have him and his family fly Joe there.

He then gave Joe's doctor his personal phone number so that he wouldn't have to go through reception to reach him, and left to get a room ready; fortunately there was one available on the first floor. Secretly he and Ericka preferred Joe staying in a room on their floor, but they wanted to respect his fear of heights.

Tom, Ralph, Wally, and Ray wanted to go with Joe, but their parents said that it was best to let Joe get settled in first. So Joe said that he would call them once he was settled in, and they would arrange a visit then.

Once Joe was ready, Ericka took him with her into one car while Mavis, Johnny, and Dennis got into the remaining car. They drove up to the hotel, where they only saw a few monsters in the lobby. Dracula had told everyone that Joe may not be ready to meet everyone at once after what he went through, so most of the monsters went outside or retired to their rooms. Only Vlad, Frank, Eunice, Murray, Wayne, Wanda, Griffin, and Crystal were there.

Wayne and Wanda's pups were in the newly built daycare center being looked after by a selected employee and one of the guests who was great with kids. Dracula had it built outside in the backyard not long after the cruise, due to Wayne and Wanda having told him about the Kids Club on the Legacy.

"So this must be Joe. We're really sorry about what happened to your parents." Wanda said.

"Thanks, I hope they'll be okay." Joe said. "So...where's my room?"

"Down here on the first floor, I managed to find a free one." Dracula said.

"First floor? Wouldn't you rather have him with you on your floor?" Griffin raised an...well, the glasses equivalent of his eyebrow.

"I have a fear of heights." Joe explained.

"So move him to your floor and let him get used to heights." Vlad shrugged. "He should toughen up and not be a scaredy bat."

Dracula glared at Vlad, but to everyone's surprise Joe just laughed.

"You remind me of my grandpa." He said.

"Really? I'd like to meet him then." Vlad smiled.

"Er...that'd be impossible. He died three years ago."

"Oh..." Vlad winced.

"So...anyway, this is Frank, Eunice, Murray, Wayne, and Wanda, those two pairs of glasses are the invisible people Griffin and Crystal, and this comedian wannabe is my dad Vlad." Dracula introduced.

"Oh really witty." Vlad retorted. "I guess it's true what they say about the crab apple not falling far from the tree."

Everyone else chuckled as Dracula stuck his tongue out at Vlad.

After that, Joe's things were brought into his new room, which had the bed stripped so that Joe could use his bedding on it (the hospital had already cleaned it). Joe started placing everything where he wanted them to go, which was a little tricky since his room didn't have any bookcases. He decided to just stack his books into neat piles with the ones he wanted to read first on top. As for his clothes - which had also been washed - he of course put them in the drawers. His knickknacks the put on his dresser and side table the best he could.

After that he called his friends. He already talked to Dracula and his family during the trip to his room and they said that his friends were welcome to visit whenever he was ready. So after talking to his friends parents they arranged for his friends to visit him in a couple days. That was fine with Joe, he actually liked having tomorrow free because it gave him extra time to get to know everyone more and get used to the hotel. That way he could help his friends around the following day.

Then Joe went back out so that Dracula and his family could give him a tour of the hotel. It didn't take long for Joe to love the hotel and the other monsters, he found the whole place fun and the monsters were really nice; a few were even fun to talk to. So were Johnny's foster brothers Brock and Davis when he met them later. He especially grew close to Dennis and Winnie, finding Dennis really nice and glad that Winnie wasn't entirely girly.

After his friends arrived for their visit they ended up enjoying the hotel and hanging out with the other monsters too. In fact all of them had so much fun that Joe forgot about his parents being in the hospital until after his friends left.

And the following day...