Danny Phantom Post Planet Chapter 13
Danny woke up early the next morning but he really didn't sleep much. He was up most of the night thinking about Sam and how he was going to convince his parents to skip school for a day. Sure, it would have been easy with his ghost powers to just say he was going to school and then fly right to Amity Memorial. But after he revealed his powers to his parents and the rest of town, he had made a promise: No More Secrets. He had kept to that promise and didn't plan on stopping now.
After he showered and dressed for the day, he slung his bag over his shoulder and walked down the hall to his parent's bedroom. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
"Come in." Said his mother's voice.
Danny walked into the room and found his mother, already in full hazmat gear sitting at their desk and writing down notes while his father was still in bed and snoring very loudly. She looked up when her son opened the door.
"Good morning Danny."
"Morning Mom."
"You off to school?"
Danny reached up and started scratching the back of his neck. "Well, there's something I wanted to talk to you about."
"What's that?" She asked while gathering up her hand written notes and putting them into a folder.
"I went to see Sam last night at the hospital last night." Danny swallowed before continuing, this was going to be a little harder than he thought. "She's not doing well Mom."
His mom looked almost as scared as he felt. "Do they know what's wrong?"
"Yeah," He answered. "It's her leg. The burn's infected and she's having surgery this morning."
"Oh Son, I'm so sorry to hear that. Can I do anything?"
"Well, I was wondering if you would let me skip school today. I want to be at the hospital for Sam and even if I go, I'll just be worried the whole time."
Mrs. Fenton took a deep breath and looked at her son. He knew what she was thinking of. Between his parents, she was always the one who valued education more and the idea of skipping class for any reason never really sat well with her. Then there was the fact that she liked Sam and was just as worried about her as her own parents.
After a few minutes she looked at the clock on her bedside table and over to the calendar on the wall. Danny looked at it too, he could hardly believe it was already mid-October.
"Did you get your progress report from school yet?"
He nodded and reached into a pocket of his bag and grabbed a piece of paper that was given to him in homeroom last Friday before this whole thing at the Nasty Burger happened. He handed his report to his mom who spent what felt like an eternity looking it over. Finally she addressed her son again.
"It looks pretty good and I know you haven't missed any days yet. One day won't hurt you."
Danny smiled. "Does that mean?"
She smiled too. "Yep. Get to the hospital and I'll call the school. Just make sure you get your homework done too."
Danny practically leapt forward to hug his mother. "I will. Thanks Mom. I'll be home later tonight. I love you." She hugged him back.
"Love you too Son. Thanks for being honest with us."
He said goodbye and grabbed a quick breakfast before heading out. He could hardly believe that his parents, well one of them at least, was letting him skip school so he could be with Sam at the hospital. He had some time so he decided he was going to stop by the Nasty Burger site again. The guys in white had pretty much abandoned it once they found nothing. Since then both Danny and Valerie had checked the site thoroughly and they found nothing indicating that Vlad could be around.
He checked around the site in human form. Most of the wreckage was cleaned up and somewhat organized. So far there had been no indications from the owners of the restaurant or Tucker and City Hall on what they were going to do with the property. Although the Mayor told him that he wanted the restaurant back. If Sam wasn't injured, Danny would have agreed. Since the attack, the ghost teen had some strange feelings about the site, but he couldn't explain why.
After walking two laps around the damaged site and finding nothing (as usual), Danny decided to head off towards the hospital. About 15 minutes later, he arrived, checked in and met with Sam and her grandmother at the hospital room. As was the case every time he came to visit, Sam was holding her teddy bear. Her grandmother wasn't watching TV though, she was sitting on one side and they were talking softly. Sam smiled at her boyfriend when he entered the room and closed the door.
"Morning beautiful." He said as he grabbed his usual chair to sit by her right side like he normally did.
"Morning." She replied but she sounded tired. Nevertheless she reached out for his hand and he grabbed it.
"Good morning Mrs. Manson." He said to the elder woman.
"Morning Daniel." She said smiling at him as well. "Thank you for being here this morning."
"No problem. Anything for Sam." Then he turned his attention back to his girlfriend. "How you feeling?"
She leaned her head back on her pillow. "Ok I guess. All the pain is in the leg. My arm feels better and is almost healed." She showed him her arm as if to emphasize how much it healed.
"That's good, how do you feel about the surgery?"
She shrugged her shoulders and gripped his hand a little tighter. "Doctor Jackson is really confident it will help because the infection's spreading again. If it helps, I'm all for it."
Danny gripped her hand back. "If you're good for it, then so am I." She smiled back at him and he could tell she was thanking him even though she never said it. . At around 8:55, there was a knock at the door and Dr. Jackson walked in followed by some nurses who looked ready to put her under for the surgery. Danny kissed his girlfriend's forehead for luck and she handed him her bear to give back to her once she woke up. He and Mrs. Manson left the room so the doctors could work.
A few minutes later, Sam was wheeled to the operating room and Danny and Mrs. Manson were led to the waiting room. The surgery was scheduled to last about 3 hours so they were going to be there for a little while. In the first hour, Danny finished his leftover homework and received a text from Dash telling him that he and the rest of his friends were picking up his homework for the day and they were all hoping for Sam's well being. He thanked them but was bummed that he finished his homework early.
After about half an hour of tapping his feet, Danny decided he needed to stretch his legs or grab a snack or just do something to calm his nerves. He offered to get something for Mrs. Manson but she declined in favor of continuing her crossword puzzle. The vending machine didn't have anything he really wanted to eat or drink so he went down to the cafeteria and wound up paying for some fresh fruit that didn't taste so fresh and an Iced Tea. Once he was done eating he went back up to the waiting room for whatever time that was left before the surgery was done. Danny sat down in his previously occupied chair and leaned his head back for a quick nap.
Shortly after falling asleep Danny woke up and looked up at the clock. He frowned, Sam was still in surgery and would be for at least another half an hour.
"Good morning sleepyhead." Said Mrs. Manson, looking up briefly from her crossword puzzle.
"Morning." He chuckled.
"Danny, do you know a four letter word for fowl that would end in a 'K'?"
He thought about it for a couple minutes before responding. "'Duck'"
"Ahh!" She exclaimed. "Of course. And it does fit. Smart and handsome I see." Danny must have been blushing because she started laughing. "I'm just teasing Danny. We may not show it often enough but we are really glad that Sam is dating someone like you."
Danny was smiling. He knew that Sam's grandmother had always supported his friendship and eventual relationship with Sam but he rarely interacted with her parents and that was because their own daughter rarely interacted with them.
"Thanks. That means a lot to me." He leaned a little forward in his chair. "And I want you to know, I really love Sam and I would do anything for her."
"I know you would Danny and we are more than grateful. Sam feels the same way about you too."
"Really?"
"Oh yes." She said, putting her crossword puzzle down. "You are all she talks about most of the time. 'I can't wait to see Danny.' 'Danny's walking me to school today.' 'Date with Danny tonight, don't wait up!'"
Danny smiled. The funny thing was, he talked about her just as much as she did for him, Jazz could attest to that. He kept talking with Mrs. Manson for another few minutes before Doctor Jackson came out to the waiting room. He was still dressed in scrubs and an operating cap. Danny stood up to greet him.
"How is she?" He asked.
"She's doing fine. The burned skin and infected area has been removed and the infected area has been drained."
"How long before we know if the surgery worked?" Mrs. Manson asked.
"Within a few hours." He said. "We're keeping a very close eye on it so we will know very soon."
"Can we go see her?" Danny asked.
Doctor Jackson smiled. "Yes you can. She is still going to be tired though. Let me lead you back."
Danny and Sam's Grandmother followed Doctor Jackson back to the recovery room. Sam was laying down on a recovery bed. She was drifting in and out of consciousness though. Danny let his girlfriend's grandmother approach her first.
"Hello Sammy. How you feeling?" She said.
"Hi Nana. I'm ok." Sam responded smiling, but she sounded really weak and tired. Hopefully she wouldn't be that way for long.
"Well that's the drugs they put in you to help you." The elder woman said smiling and patting her arm.
"Is Danny here?" Sam asked.
"Guilty." He said moving over to Sam's other side and kneeling down so they were at eye level. He reached out and stroked her hair. "You look really tired." She laughed weakly. "You're just feeling ok?"
She smiled. "Actually, I do feel a lot better than I did this morning."
He smiled back at her. He knew he would have to leave soon since she looked like she could drift off to sleep at any moment. He didn't care though. He was treasuring every second.
"You were here." She said when Danny had decided to stop stroking her hair and sit down. "You were here when I woke up."
"Of course I was." He said. "I promised I would be didn't i?"
"You did." She was really tired now and looked like she was ready to drift off to sleep in a second.
"Why don't you go to sleep Sam?" He said grabbing her bear from his bag and handing it to her. "You look like you could use it."
She grabbed the bear and leaned back in her bed. "Sounds good. Thanks for being here Danny."
He kissed her forehead. "No problem Sam. Have a good sleep."
Sam closed her eyes and she drifted off to sleep holding her bear. Danny watched her breathing start to even out and he knew she was out. He was glad he came today. He felt better and more importantly Sam was starting to feel better. She was tired but he could tell she was better than before. The thought made him smile.