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CHAPTER THIRTY
Danny Fenton
An early start on my project seems to be just what I may need. Barely anyone else is in the lab- no one that I personally know so it may as well be completely empty. The sun is barely even rising. Tadashi, I assume, will be here soon with the breakfast and coffee he's promised me, but in the meantime it won't hurt to work on the portal. Ellie sits on a clean, nearby table, watching me closely as she swings her legs through the air over the edge.
I turn to give her a smile, but it ends up with me letting out a painful hiss at the movement. So much for my damn leg not bothering me. I thought it was perfectly healed. I thought maybe, just maybe it'd be okay. It's not. Damn it. The pain shoots up and down my thigh, electrifying each and every nerve. It takes me a movement to even move to sit down, my movements stiff and my muscles protest loudly.
"Daddy," Ellie speaks up softly, her eyebrows furrowing in concern as she leans forward.
I plop down on the chair with another loud hiss of pain. I was stupid, so damn stupid to think that it would just heal without any problems. There was a fucking pencil in my leg. In. My. Leg. Of course there's going to be more complications. It's never as simple as just taking it out…. Now that I think about it, if I just slipped my hand into my thigh using intangibility it would have saved me a lot of trouble. And probably have caused this from happening in the first place because I'm pretty sure that it caused some sort of infection in my leg. That's really the only explanation I have for this. A damn infection.
I'm a Ghost King for crying out loud and some infection is causing me this much pain? I don't get infections, it's scientifically nearly improbable for me…. Unless the pencil shavings are still stuck in my leg or seeping in some ectoplasm inside the muscle somewhere. Goddamn it.
"Daddy," Ellie whispers, her voice bordering on horror.
Cujo, who insists on following us everywhere like the good dog he is, rubs his head against my hand in a comforting manner, whining slightly. At least no one hears or notices the whines over my vocal complaints about the pain in my leg.
"I'm okay," I manage to say, grinding my teeth slightly.
Ellie frowns at my words, obviously not believing me as she hops down from the desk. She settles on a place on the floor beside my chair, right beside Cujo, as she gently grabs my free hand, squeezing it tightly. It's getting harder and harder to focus on her and the things around me, however, as the pain just steadily increases. I can feel my face heat up as my breathing gets a bit ragged and short. I clench my fist around the edge of the seat, possibly even denting it by accident.
"Holy shit," a familiar voice whispers.
I'm barely able to register the fact that Wasabi, Honey Lemon, GoGo, and Fred have entered the lab and are now by my side in an instant. Honey Lemon gently picks up Ellie, with only minor protesting from the girl, and tries to comfort her as well as get her a bit away from me for safety. Cujo looks back and forth between Honey Lemon, Ellie, and myself, obviously torn about who to go to and who to protect before I give him a discreet wave of the hand, causing him to go straight to Honey Lemon as he looks up at Ellie, watching closely. Fred is frantically whispering curses under his breath, his hands running through his hair as he freaks out. Wasabi is saying something that I don't even catch.
Their voices all blur together. A numbing pain starts to form in my chest, making breathing that much harder. It's a miracle I can even breathe at all. Everything just hits me at once. Dizziness. Sweating. Heart palpitations. Rapid heart beating. It occurs to me that this, whatever this is, is not just an infection caused from wooden shavings like that I thought. Whatever this is, it's much worse.
Which means that it's likely I'll end up going to a hospital (possibly against my will knowing how stubborn my friends- and boyfriend- can be). As much as hospitals are nice and all, I'd rather avoid them if I can since my body isn't like normal humans.
"Danny," I manage to catch Wasabi's voice, but it sounds faint and disoriented as my sight begins to blur, "Stay with us, man. Don't you dare faint."
Knowing that it's important for me to stay awake, I force my eyes to stay open even if it pains me to do so. The pain in my chest is getting worse with each breath, constricting tightly. My lungs refuse to expand to allow me to actually breathe. But somehow, my some miracle, I'm able to at least process the fact that Tadashi is only now entering the lab. Upon seeing me, however, he drops the coffee and breakfast he's brought in pure shock, his eyes going wide as he gaps at me for a moment before rushing straight to my side.
"Danny, Danny, what's wrong? Can you hear me? Can you understand me? Are you able to lift your arms above your head or speak?"
All that comes from my mouth is breathy gasps. I can hear him and understand him, but doing as he asks is a bit more difficult. With some pain and struggling, I can, at the least, raise one arm over my head to at least signal that I can understand him. He breaths a very small sigh of relief at the motion, noting that I'm at least still with them…. But I won't be for long.
My vision gets a bit blurry and in what seems like just a second, everything goes black.
When I wake up, it's no surprise that I find myself in a hospital room. Even if the sight causes a sense of dread in my stomach. I can feel the oxygen mask around my face and the IV in my arm. At least I'm not hooked up to an EKG- a heart monitor would only cause even more problems. I'm barely even aware of the fact a certain invisible ghost dog is laying on the bed next to me, resting his head on my stomach with big puppy dog eyes.
All that's running through my mind is the doctors. Doctors are only going to ask questions- about the scars, about the abnormalities in my blood, my heart, and even my temperature. So many questions will only bring trouble and lots of it. My heart skips a beat just thinking about it.
How in the hell am I going to get out of this one? Run away to New York? Disappear off the grid? Escape the hospital? Leave all my friends behind? Leave Tadashi behind? Just to get away from the questions? To keep from becoming a lab experiment? Turning intangible would get me out of this in a jiffy, but at what cost?
But as much as it pains me to admit it, I have to stay put. For now at least. If anything to at least get an idea of why I couldn't breathe in the first place. Though now, I feel a lot better. I can breathe easier already. My chest doesn't hurt nearly as much as it did. My lungs are expanding with ease and my leg, though twitching slightly, is already painless. Gotta wonder what the hell they did to me when I was out to make me recover this fast- though my guess is that whatever they gave me worked a shit ton faster than it normally would because of my ghostly status.
I cough a bit, causing minor pain in my chest before I reach my hand up to my face to take off the now-unneeded mask. But before I can even touch it, a hand gently grabs my wrist. Turning my head gently, I see Tadashi. He's staring at me with concern and worry shining in his eyes, his brows furrowing with concern.
"Danny," he says gently, "You can't take it off yet. Doctor's orders…. Do you remember passing out?"
My eyes briefly look around the room, but to my slight confusion, there's no one else. No Ellie. No gang. No nurse or doctor. No one but me and Tadashi. Slowly, I answer his question with a slow nod causing his eyes to soften.
"Good, that's a good sign, I think," his voice is soft, "… Do you remember waking up before this?"
I woke up before? That's...kinda freaky to think I woke up before and don't remember it. Slowly, I shake my head in the negative causing Tadashi to swallow.
"Well, you did… The doctor explained to you that you had a pulmonary embolism- a blood cot. He said that it originated from your leg and then traveled to your lungs and heart. They did an ultrasound on your leg, but couldn't find any more potential clots that would travel to your lungs and gave you some warfarin and heparin to get rid of the current clot. Seems to be working, I guess."
There's uneasy feeling in my gut about the blood cot. If it came from my leg that Tadashi's saying then it's likely it was caused from my experiment or from the pencil- which wouldn't have happened if not for the experiment. This isn't just some natural thing. It's my fault that I'm here. Because of my stupid scientific curiosity. A guilt shines in my eyes as I swallow thickly. It's all my fault. I have no one to blame but myself for landing in here.
Tadashi slowly brings my hand down away from the oxygen mask, clasping it tightly with concern as he continues.
"The hospital called the emergency number that's listed for you. Your sister took off from her conference to get here- she just arrived like five minutes ago, but told me to let you know to not worry about her conference because she said she'll just return to it when all of this is cleared through. She seems… nice, by the way, your sister, I mean. A bit… high-strung, maybe, but obviously really worried about you… I didn't expect her to have such orange hair though."
He lets out a small snort of amusement and I can't help but smile a bit. It makes me feel a bit guilty that Jazz had to leave her big conference to come here to check up on me, but I suppose if she can get back no problem then it's alright. Though it's nice to know that Tadashi at least likes my older sister. And even nicer to know that she's talking to the doctors. If anyone can help me get out of this mess, it's her. My sister has a way of tricking people into thinking that whatever they think they know or saw about me- or rather what they saw in my blood tests, specifically- is false. More so, after years of practice, she can sneak her way through places like a ghost and has at least enough practice hacking into things (due to Tucker's influence- he tried to teach me but to no avail) to change or fake whatever she needs to in whatever the doctors have put in the records.
"She's- uh- out in the hallway now, actually, talking to the doctor I think. Ellie is with Aunt Cass, Hiro and the others- we had to practically drag Aunt Cass out of the room. She kept screaming at the doctors…. But what about you? How are you doing?"
He squeezes my hand again, a bit more tightly this time as he leans forward from his spot beside the hospital bed. At least he's focused on my face. Though I can't wait to see his flustering face whenever I get up from this bed- blood cot or not, I can feel myself getting better to the point where I'll be able to get up in no time- especially since I'm wearing a hospital gown. A backless hospital gown.
I open my mouth to give him an answer, but I get cut off by my sister storming into the hospital room. Her eyes are blazing with a fury that I've only seen a few times. The time that I got my head stuck in a fishbowl when I was seven and she was babysitting me (thus getting her in trouble). The time that time she caught Dash and I making out in my bedroom- it was before she knew we were dating. And there was also that time when her computer messed up and it destroyed an essay that she worked on for all year and was like thirty percent of her grade- not to mention that it was due the next day. I still remember how I was geninuely concerned that she may shoot the computer with an ectogun.
Needless to say, I do not like that look.
Her eyes briefly go to Tadashi, softening slightly,
"Tadashi, I need to speak with my brother. Alone, please."
Her voice leaves no room for any disagreements or arguments. Tadashi looks to me in concern for a moment, his eyes softening as he gives my hand one last squeeze before giving it a chaste kiss. He stands slowly, hesitantly, and leaves the room even more slowly, eying my sister and I with concern before he finally shakes his head and leaves completely, shutting the door behind him.
Nearly the second he's gone, I take off the oxygen mask and take a deep breath. Man is it good to have that thing off. Now I only have to get the IV and shit off of me. It's not like I need it. Jazz, however, still lingers by my bed with an angered expression on her face.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Danny," she snaps, "Do you realize just how lucky you are to even be breathing? Do you know how close that was? You had a blood clot in your lung. Half-ghost or not, that could have killed you."
"Gee Jazz," I roll my eyes and lay my head against the pillow, "You make it sound like I planned all of this."
Okay. So it is my fault that I'm here. But I am so not going to let Jazz know that.
"Daniel Fenton don't you get smart with me," Jazz gives a swift swat to the back of my head, "You know exactly what I mean. The doctors made it quite clear that a blood clot in your leg should have caused problems before it got to your lungs which means that you could have at least tried to do something before it got this bad."
She lets out a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself as she plops down into the seat that Tadashi was just in. She continues to take more calming breaths, her head in her hands, before she finally looks up at me. Her voice gets soft.
"...Sorry for snapping at you. I just… You're my little brother, it's hard to see you like this. I mean, I've seen you in worse conditions, but that doesn't mean I get used to it. I'll never get used to it…."
She absently grabs my hand, rubbing her thumb over the back of my hand.
"We were all pretty scared- I got here and nearly everyone seemed to be going nuts. That Cass woman was screaming at doctors. That little boy, Hiro, I think, was freaking out and kept muttering to himself before he eventually began correcting doctors. Tadashi looked like he was going to cry- I found him in the hallway cradling Ellie, comforting her. Cass says that once that you went into the emergency room, he swept Ellie up and never let go. All of your other friends seemed just as scared for you too…."
She took a few more deep breaths. It pains me to know that so many people were concerned about me- are concerned about me- with something that I could have avoided in the first place.
"….Wasabi- and I'm not even going to comment on that name- says that Tadashi never let go of you," Jazz explains softly, a soft smile on her face, "All the way until the nurses had to peel him away from you to get you into the emergency room…. He's a good guy, Danny. I like him. Ellie likes him. So just, be careful with him, okay, lil brother? I'd hate to see you guys get hurt because of your stupid stubbornness or secret-keeping."
I crinkle my nose slightly at the mention of secret keeping, knowing full well that she's referring to me not telling him I'm half ghost. She lets go of my hand to pat my arm comfortingly before standing.
"Don't worry about the doctors," Jazz says to me, "Clockwork stopped by with Ghostwriter- he had no qualms about overshadowing a few doctors and nurses to get rid of all this fuss about your health abnormalities. I've already changed the documents and records. Now the only debate is when you'll get to go home."
I think about her words carefully, processing the idea that Clockwork came by without so much as saying hello and Ghostwriter being so close. They had to have come by when I woke up the first time (without me remembering it) or when I was asleep which would explain why I don't remember my ghost sense going off.
"...And what about the others," I ask her softly, "Aunt Cass, Hiro- my friends, Tadashi…. What about them and their memories?"
"That's your problem, lil brother," Jazz chimes, "But if it makes you feel better- due to Ghostwriter's influences, the doctor is now claiming that it wasn't a pulmonary embolism at all and instead something stress related so I think that they'll just brush it all off as the doctor's making a mistake with their first diagnosis."
She hums a bit to herself for a moment, but I can't help but look up at her with big, pleading eyes.
"And what about going home," I ask, "Did they say when I can get out of here?"
"Soon," Jazz promises, nodding her head, "But some of the nurses insist on you staying overnight. Though someone should be in soon to take out the IV and officially get the oxygen mask off."
She scolds me lightly and I get the hint, taking the oxygen mask and putting it back on with a pout. She gives me a quick farewell before heading out, thus leaving me by myself. For like two seconds before a nurse comes rushing in with a plastered on smile. Her name tag reads Holly and she's not exactly a spring chicken with her wrinkles, gray hair, and older frame. Yet she walks with the confidence of a young woman that just knows just what her presence does to people.
She eyes my leg for a moment before her eyes go to the IV, the oxygen mask, and finally to the pleading look in my eyes that causes her expression to soften considerably.
"Oh don't you worry," she chimes gently, "You'll be home in no time. If it was up to me, you'd already be on your way out… But what can I say? Not many people want to listen to some old crow…. Come now, let me get those things off of you so can actually talk."
Very carefully, Nurse Holly turns off the oxygen and takes the mask off, gauging my reaction cautiously to make sure that I'm doing okay. I make a big show of taking large gasps of air, praising to the heavens with my hands gestured wide, causing the nurse to chuckle and swat her hands at the air.
"Oh stop it you. That nice boy warned me that you may be over dramatic, but I didn't think that it'd be this dramatic."
It doesn't take a genius to know that she's talking about Tadashi- it seems that he tends to get along well with everyone. The nurse continues to make small talk about this and that as she smiles at me, gently taking out the IV and giving me a pat on the shoulder before she leaves, causing me to sigh with relief.
From the sounds of things, it won't be long until I'm out of here without a hitch and no worries. Guess I was worried for no reason at all. Relaxing, I lay down on the bed with my head against the pillow. Closing my eyes, I take in a few deep breaths as I find myself drifting off to some much needed, calming sleep. Yet just as I'm nearly asleep, the door is thrown open and a familiar voice screams out.
"DADDY!"
I barely have a chance to react before I'm being tackled by a small form.
So much for getting sleep.
*pulmonary embolism: A blockage of blood flow in a lung artery. The blockage usually is caused by a blood clot that travels to the lung from a vein in the leg.
