**Home stretch- putting this back to first-person view.**

My body ached, the room was bright. I squinted as I forced my eyes open. There was a woman standing next to me… another nurse, I had to guess. She was checking the equipment next to me. This was probably the eighth time I had woken up. Bleu and her family had come in to check on me, but I fell asleep on them. They left by the time I woke up again. Sam and Tucker had come too, but… the same. I'd never been so sore in my entire life. No, scratch that- since I got my powers. The nurse looked at me and carefully brushed my hair out of my face, "How are you feeling, sweetie?" she asked.

"Think I need a cigarette…" I caught myself responding.

She gave me a look, "No smoking in the hospital, hon. Aren't you a little too young anyway?"

I forced out a chuckle that made her cringe. It turned into coughing, painfully aggressive coughing. I found it hard to breathe. The nurse put some sort of cloth over my mouth, which only made me panic, so I smacked her hand away.

"James, it's okay, just cough into the tissue." She held the tissue to my face. I took the tissue from her and held it to my face, I caught my breath and stopped coughing.

"Are you okay?" she asked, the heart monitor next to us beeping rapidly.

I took the tissue away from my face and found it spotted with blood. "Heh… I was kidding about the cigarette."

"Good." She said and threw the tissue away into the biohazard waste bin or whatever it was… This was pretty much my first hospital trip, and I had a hard time seeing straight sometimes. "You have another visitor." She said after looking toward the door, "Take it easy, okay?"

I smiled, "Don't I feel special?"

She chuckled, "I'd feel special if the Ghost Boy were coming to visit me too." She said, "I'll leave you two alone."

"Thanks…" Danny's voice said quietly. Not entirely sure if he was quiet to match the hospital atmosphere, or if was self-conscious with the 'Ghost Boy' comment.

I looked at him and watched him sit next to me, "So… what happened? I heard your mom was in here too. I hope you kicked his ass." I asked him.

"That we did." Danny said, "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"An amazing cocktail of sedated, numb, and sore…" I replied.

He gave me a weird look, "How does that work?" he asked.

I thought for a while, my thoughts and consciousness drifting in and out of focus. "The… uh…" I tried focusing, it was starting to get difficult. "I feel everything… but uh…" I kept trying to think, "I don't at the same time. It stings, but it doesn't hurt…" I said, "Does that make any sense?" I asked, my eyes fighting to stay open.

Danny shrugged, "Somehow I've managed to stay out of the hospital for as long as I can remember, so… I guess I'll have to take your word for it." He leaned forward, "Vlad won't bug us for a while. I left him with Clockwork."

That took me a while to process, "Who th' fuck is Clockwork?" I had to ask.

"A friend of mine in the Ghost Zone." He said. "He's a time ghost."

"Sounds pretty cool." I said, just spurting random crap at this point. I realized that everything was starting to feel heavy. I started feeling lightheaded. It really killed my mood, actually.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Not really feeling too good now…" I said, "Do I die here?" I asked.

"No. no, no, no, no." Danny waved his hands rapidly. He then smiled, "Not for a long time…"

According to Danny's time ghost buddy I live a long life. We'll have to see about that… but it made me smile, my eyes were drifting shut, "I'm okay with that…"

"Uh- Hazel, I saw your dad." He added.

My eyes were open again, "Is he okay?" I asked, my eyes fighting to stay open, but sleep was starting to come back.

"Worried about you." He said. His voice was starting to sound distant. "He told me to tell you that he loves you, he's sorry, and that he's proud of you." He said.

I smiled again, now barely awake, "Thanks…"

Everything went black.

I dreamt about my mom that time… before all of the dreams were just black or red, some of them with my ghost half blaming me for everything, but… none of the previous dreams were pleasant. This time, Mom was standing in front of me. At first I didn't recognize her. She was a white glow at first. The back of my neck tingled like crazy. I couldn't stop rubbing it. Apparently she didn't recognize me either- I was Acid. She looked at me in fear at first. Then she squinted, finally understanding who I was.

I woke up from that dream crying. The nurses were worried about me, but they were able to relax after I told them that it was just a dream. That was about three years ago. I was finally able to leave the hospital after a couple of months. My dad remarried- ironically to his probation officer. I don't know how he did it, but whatever, she got him clean and he somehow charmed her into enough dates for them to actually get together, not to mention he got out of prison a lot earlier than he should have. Their wedding was about a year ago. It wasn't that big. It mostly consisted of just her family and my friends. That was an interesting night- Tucker and Jazz ended up dancing together and apparently, now they're dating. Danny's with Sam and I'm with Bleu. Someone had to have seen that coming, otherwise someone needs a slap to the back of the head.

I had to give up smoking. Bleu said it was no better than me trying to commit suicide. So when she caught me on the front porch of her place, she slapped me so hard, I lost the cigarette in the bushes and she almost broke up with me. I had no back-up, so I had no choice. I figured out other ways to deal with my stress anyways… The others still laugh at me.

I graduated high school late. To nobody's surprise. I was so screwed over as far as my education went, that I had to repeat a year.

Maddie was okay. I was told she was in the hospital too. I guess it was just a couple bruised ribs and a dislocated shoulder. They were shocked that Danny never told them about his ghost powers, but they were proud of the things he had taken the responsibility to do. They even started making equipment for him and he explained a few things about ghosts so their equipment would work better. The tablet for example- they were made into goggles. Wait- no that was Tucker's idea. Regardless. They started helping each other out. They go to Danny, Sam and Tucker for advice now. They eventually found out that I was Acid… They captured me and Danny had to tell them to let me go. That was an awkward night- I almost picked up smoking again, but instead I just dropped myself in the ice cold lake. Believe it or not- it worked. I felt a lot better. Of course I needed to punch something too, but… minor details aside. Things worked out for the better in the end. Vlad was being kept under a close watch by some ghost named Skulker- who apparently also hunts Danny. But, whatever, that's their business. I'll only butt in if it gets too serious.

On top of it all, I have a job now. I'm maintenance for the Fentons. I clean up their lab- which is no longer in their basement, but now they have an official office. I make sure the equipment is working and that their RV is running smoothly. Think of me as their mechanic, pretty much. Tucker does their security and programming. Sam is in charge of their designs and helps Danny test the equipment. I managed to raise enough money to rent my own apartment, I learned how to drive and got my own beat-up piece of crap car. And with that- I sign off.

**Okay, okay, the ending could be a lot better- but I didn't have anything else as a good ending, I'm sorry it's so short. If anyone wants to see more, then let me know- Otherwise, I'll start up something else. I have nothing else to say about this except, thank you for reading and to stay awesome. Bye!**