Boy, I haven't updated in a while! *readers give me silent treatment* Ok, I know I said I was going to update, but I didn't and yeaaahhhhh... just read the chapter. *hides in a corner forever*
"Daniel Fenton?" Danny froze when he finally heard his name announced. He looked up from his seat and saw the strict, bored nurse staring expectantly at him. "Dr. Ralph is ready for you."
"Um, yeah, sure," Danny glanced at his mom with one last pleading expression, hoping he could get out of this mess last minute, but Maddie just smiled encouragingly and gestured for him to go quickly.
"I'll be here if you need me, sweetie… unless of course, there's a ghost out there I need to destroy. Go on, now." Thanks for the comfort, mom. Danny frowned and glumly followed the nurse into one of the back rooms.
When they arrived, Danny took a quick glance at his surroundings. The room was unusually small, but filled with medical instruments, a bed, a computer; nothing really new, except for the small security camera in the corner. Just great, he thought, I guess going ghost can't get me out of here.
"Stay in here to wait for the doctor," the nurse instructed plainly. "And don't come out."
"Okay?" Danny replied awkwardly. 'Don't come out'? Why would he need to come out? This was getting weird, but before he could question the nurse, she slammed the door shut, locking it behind her.
Danny didn't know what to do. Tucker and Sam always did. They were always there, by his side whenever he was in any kind of trouble. But this wasn't trouble, was it? It was just a regular doctor's appointment, nothing unusual about that. Every kid had to go through them. He just had to be 'normal' for a couple of minutes. Yeah, he could do that, simple.
Danny sat down on the patient bed and slowly drew in a deep breath. Just a doctor appointment, just a doctor's appointment, he repeated to himself assuringly. It calmed him down a bit.
Suddenly, he heard three knocks tap on the door before it opened and revealed a tall man, clothed in a clean, white lab coat with a clipboard casually resting on his forearm and his stethoscope hanging from his thick neck. The man looked like he could be in his mid-30's with his glazed blonde hair and square glasses. Everything seemed to suit him well, except for his smile. It was… kind of creepy, but Danny dismissed it.
Danny thought he would've remembered seeing a guy like him two years ago, but honestly, he didn't.
"Daniel Fenton?" The man politely asked.
"Y-Yeah?" Danny stammered as he answered.
"Hi Daniel, I'm Dr. Ralph. Pleasure to meet you." Dr. Ralph held his hand out. Danny fumbled as he stood up to return the kind gesture and shook his hand. "A-Actually, I prefer 'Danny'."
"'Danny'…" The doctor thought over the name. "Like the ghost, right?" Danny froze, he could feel beads of sweat begin to formulate on his face. "Y-Yeah, the ghost! Exactly! What a coincidence! Not that it means anything or something. Why would it mean anything? We just share the same name! Lots of people share the same name, am I right?" Danny paused. He internally face-palmed when he realized that he did it, again.
"You okay there, kid?" Dr. Ralph asked suspiciously.
"Yeah! Totally fine. Whew, is it just me, or is it getting hot in here?" Way to be normal, Fenton. He tried to give Dr. Ralph an innocent smile as he wiped the remaining sweat away from his face.
"Oookkk then," Dr. Ralph gave him long confused stare before continuing. "So, Danny, you want to get this show on the road?"
"Sure," Danny calmed down, but was still sweating a bit.
"Alright! First, can you take off your shoes and stand on the scale for me?" the doctor asked as he gestured to the scale beside him. Danny nodded and followed his orders. He watched him quickly trace his measurements
"Five foot five… normal…" He mumbled to himself as he recorded the information on his clipboard. "Annnnnddd…" He began balancing Danny's weight. Suddenly, he frowned. "That's odd."
"What's wrong?" Danny asked him nervously.
"The scale says that your weight is... 80 pounds," he went to re-check the measurements carefully, but received the same outcome. "Which means your weight is at approximately 2th percentile…"
"Ooooohhhhh…" Danny really wished he had eaten the last chicken drumstick last night before his dad did. Would that have made his weight a little more realistic? 80 pounds?! Seriously?! He didn't know what to say. Danny knew it was probably because his ghost half took away most of his weight. No wonder Dash liked to throw him around at school.
"Um, I can explain." He racked his brain for an excuse, any excuse, but came out empty-handed. The sweat began to return as the doctor continued to stare in awe at him.
"You are completely underweight, kid. What have you been eating?"
"Um… I'm on a diet?" Danny lied.
"What kind of diet?"
"I'm an… ultra-recyclo vegetarian?" Danny was seriously questioning himself. "Yeah, a ultra-recyclo vegetarian!" Danny repeated with more confidence. The doctor shot Danny one last suspicious glance before dismissing the weight problem and moving on. For some miraculous reason, his excuse seemed to work!
"I'm going to have your parents tell me what kind of nutrition you're getting, but for now, let's just check out the rest of your body." The doctor quickly signaled him over to sit on the bed and Danny followed unwillingly. He knew this wouldn't end well. Danny would have to pull out more decent excuses out of the hat to get him out of this mess.
"Now, I want you take some deep breaths," Dr. Ralph instructed as he placed his stethoscope on Danny's chest. Danny did as he was told. After a couple of deep breaths, he frowned again in frustration. That couldn't be good.
"I can't find a heart beat," Danny heard him murmur. There was no way he could get out of this one. "Let me check your wrist," the confused doctor offered, but Danny immediately pulled his wrist away from him.
"No!" Danny exclaimed," Um, I mean... it's always hard to find, it's like, sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not," Danny tipped his head from side-to-side to exaggerate his point. Technically, it was the truth. He never actually realized he didn't have a heartbeat, but he knew it was there. He could feel it beating rapidly at the moment.
"You're getting red again." Dr. Ralph told him. "Do you have a fever?" Danny shook his head, but the doctor didn't listen and he placed his hand on Danny's forehead to check anyways.
Almost instantly, he withdrew his hand and cradled it with his breaths of hot air. "You're ice cold!" He exclaimed in shock. "This is most definitely not normal. It's almost as if..." Dr. Ralph pondered over his idea for second before shaking it away. "No, that's impossible!"
"Rigggghhhttt, impossible... well, um..." Danny started. "I'm sure it's nothing to worry about." Danny said as he stumbled off the bed. "Sooo... we're good? Good, because I'm a regular teenager with a lot of homework and... stuff to do and yeahhhh..." Danny began backed away, but could reach the door, a cool blue wisp quickly escaped his mouth. No, why now? His ghost sense went off, and it was followed by muffled screaming from behind the door.
Cliffhanger! Sorry again!
