7/15/24: Apologies for the delay in posting this chapter. When I went to post it over the weekend, the website was down. After that, I don't have much of an excuse.

Hey guys! Next chapter! Woo! I hope you liked the last one. Left it on a sort of cliffhanger.

Oh! And it HASN'T been a year since I wrote the last chapter. In fact it's only been a few days! I'm on a roll! Also, I'm getting married in 5 days! 12/15/2013! - that's for anyone wondering how long it took to post after writing all this! I still have a lot to write because I don't want a year between postings so I know it's gonna be like a year or two after that date that you will actually see this. (7/10/24: or 11…)

Disclaimer: This time again huh? I am now the proud owner of a 2011 Camaro Convertible and yes! It's bumblebee! Right down to the autobot symbols on it! However, I do NOT own DP!

Chapter Five: Wounds

Everything was fuzzy; hazy. It was reminiscent of that static you hear on a radio when you can't get a signal.

Yes, it was exactly like that.

His head pounded; opening his eyes was out of the question. He tried to move but his body wouldn't obey him. He tried to speak but nothing would come.

He could smell something…something familiar. He knew that scent, but it was a distant memory. It was something far away, cataloged at a time when he was free. What was it like to be free?

He couldn't remember.

Suddenly a vision of something round, fluffy and covered in a thick substance came unbidden to his mind. He knew it tasted like maple.

Pancakes, that was the smell.

He felt he was making progress, despite still being disoriented and unable to move or speak. Hopeful, he continued on with his senses.

He could hear a sound. It was like a melody—soft, sweet and undulating in a way that was also familiar. He wished to hear more of it.

There were other sounds as well; one higher than the first and one much lower. They almost harmonized except they never occurred at the same time. But what could sound like that?

Music, perhaps, but there were no instruments, at least, as far as he could tell. As he listened intently, he knew that they were all familiar.

Voices! That was it. It was people speaking. But who was speaking?

Why was he here in the first place? The last thing he could remember was…

Oh, that's right. He had come to see Sam. She was the melody he so longed to hear. He paused in his thinking as he heard it again. He couldn't make out the words, but it was beautiful all the same. He knew it had been way too long since he last heard it.

He tried to sigh in contentment but only managed to gasp as a searing pain ripped through his chest. He began to cough and suddenly the distant harmony turned into a roar.

"Sho what do ya think 'appened to 'im?" Tucker asked around a mouth full of pancakes.

Jazz's face creased in disgust. "I've asked you before; don't talk unless your mouth is empty."

Tucker swallowed and smiled sheepishly. "Yes, dear."

As the dark-skinned man raised his fork for another bite he spotted the look Sam was giving him. He didn't need to read her mind to answer her statement before she said it. "I'm not whipped." He glared.

Sam laughed. "I'm sure." She replied sarcastically.

"I'm 'ot!" Tucker yelled back, once again chewing his pancakes. This time he received a light smack on the back of his head. "Hey!" He rubbed his head.

Both girls snickered.

"That's spousal abuse!"

That earned him more laughs in earnest.

Once they calmed down Sam turned worried eyes to the bedroom wall where the white-haired boy was lying on the bed a short distance away. He was sleeping, rather peacefully, it seemed, but the wound he sustained was quite severe. Even now, after only changing his bandages roughly an hour ago, green and red stained the bandage circumventing his torso.

She had had to apologize profusely to the hotel for the broken door and paid to have it replaced, surprised at just how quickly it had been done.

"I don't know what happened to him," she answered Tucker's earlier question. She turned amethyst eyes on him. "But we will find out."

Tucker nodded, the serious look on his face reflecting the sternness of her tone.

Jazz picked up the empty plates and placed them in the sink. As she washed them, she voiced a concern that all shared, but none had yet dared to speak. "He's still in ghost form. I thought he automatically changed back to human form when unconscious?"

Sam nodded. "I remember trying to hide him a few times back in high school. He'd get wailed on by Skulker or Vlad and get knocked out cold. He'd change back to human and Tuck and I would have to drag him somewhere where no one would see him. I was wondering the same." She turned her eyes back to the wall.

Tucker bit his bottom lip in thought for a moment. "What if it's a defense mechanism?"

Sam sent him a questioning gaze.

"What if his injury is so bad, he has to stay in ghost form in order to heal? It makes sense, right?"

Jazz answered. "It would, except when he sealed the Ghost King in his sarcophagus and nearly died, he still changed back. It would have been better if he didn't because we almost lost him, but I think he needs to have a conscious mind in order to stay in ghost form."

Sam shook her head in frustration. "It doesn't make sense. I agree with Jazz on one hand, because everything we've seen so far indicates he has to be conscious in order to keep his ghost form intact, but on the other hand, he's right in front of us, in a deep sleep, and yet hasn't changed."

"It makes me worried that maybe something is wrong with his human half."

Both girls looked at Tucker. He saw their looks of despair. "I'm sorry, but someone had to say it. It's the only viable explanation," he threw his hands in the air. "The only thing I can think of that would force his body to hold on to a form that requires a conscious mind when he's out cold is if he's somehow unable to turn back."

Sam glared. "That's like saying he's dead. But he's not dead, Tucker. I sewed his vein back together two days ago!"

"I'm not say—" He was cut off by screaming. The pair instantly bolted for the bed with shouts of "Danny!" Jazz dropped a plate, the item hitting the ground and shattering, and scrambled after them.

Danny's back was rigid, so rigid he was arching off the bed. His fists clenched into balls so tight they were losing all circulation. By the time the three reached him, he had stopped screaming, but only because he was screwing his jaw shut from the pain.

Sam placed her hands on his shoulders and called to him, but he didn't respond. She looked back at Tucker who was trying to keep the hybrid from flailing off the bed. "Check the first aid kit! See if there is anything in there we can use for pain that's stronger than what we've been giving him!"

He nodded and bolted for the kit. Jazz took over trying to hold her brother down.

Sam returned her attention to Danny. "Danny! Danny, open your eyes. It's me, it's Sam!"

His eyes were shut tightly against the pain and once again didn't respond. She became more worried as he continued to flail around on the bed. If he didn't stop, he was going to destroy her stitch work on his vein.

"Sam!" Tucker called from the living room. "I don't know what I'm looking at here!"

The goth put more force behind her arms to hold Danny down as he jerked violently. The white-haired boy let loose another shout. "Look at the syringes, Tuck. What colors do you see?"

"Uhh…I see red, clear and yellow!"

"Grab a clear one! Bring it over here fast!"

Tucker snatched a syringe full of clear liquid from the first aid kit and bolted for the bedroom. He slid to a halt on the opposite side of Danny from Sam.

Sam nodded. "Good, now Jazz, come hold his torso like I am now and try to hold him down."

The older girl reluctantly released Danny's legs, narrowly dodging a kicking foot and stood next to Sam, placing her hands above the younger girl's hands on his shoulders. Sam moved around the bed to Tucker and took the syringe he offered. "Tucker, I'm going to need you to hold his arm as still as you can so I can inject this."

He nodded and grabbed Danny's arm. It took him a second to get a hold of the appendage as it flew past his face. It took all his strength to fight against the half ghost, but he managed to get his arm on the bed and remain relatively still.

Sam pulled the hazmat suit up and felt up Danny's arm for a vein. His pale skin in ghost form made them blend in fairly well and dealing with an uncooperative patient trying to wave his arms about didn't make it any easier. It took a few seconds but she found one. She put her thumb under where she wanted to inject and used it to mark her spot and help hold Danny's arm still.

"Better make it fast, Sam! He's a lot stronger than me!" Tucker cried out as he could feel his own strength give way to his hybrid best friend.

"Just a second!" she yelled trying to steady the syringe. She aimed and plunged the needle in, injecting half the contents before pulling out and releasing his arm.

It took only moments for Danny to calm down. His legs stilled and his arms went limp. He took ragged breaths, the occasional cough breaking his rhythm. Jazz slowly let go of his shoulders and stood back. Tucker did the same.

"Jeez, Sam, what did you give him?" Tucker asked while looking at Danny's now prone form.

The goth was panting slightly from the exertion. After a moment she answered, "Morphine."

"You have Morphine?!" Jazz exclaimed.

"How did you get a hold of that?!" Tucker shouted right behind his wife.

Sam rolled her eyes. "My mother." At their looks, "Don't ask."

"Sam-"

She cut him off. "I just knew that someday…maybe Danny wouldn't come out of a battle with just bruises and scratches. We were getting older. Even before Danny was taken, I could see that his battles were getting more serious; it was no longer child's play. So, I decided to put more than just Band-Aids and gauze and antibiotic ointment in the first aid kit. I didn't want to ever use it, but I knew I couldn't ignore the subject either."

Tucker sighed. She was right again. He saw it back then too but ignored it. They were still kids; how could he think that kids would have that kind of responsibility? He knew GIW agents and some civilians had died from ghost attacks, but he never wanted to believe that any of that could happen to them. So, he pretended, not just for him, but for Danny's sake as well, that it was all fun and games.

Looking back, perhaps Danny chose to pretend too; his witty comebacks, his cheesy childish puns in the face of danger. He knew that if Skulker ever actually caught him the ghost truly would skin him alive.

But you just didn't think about that.

A groan brought him back to reality.

"Danny?" Jazz said, hopeful.

Another groan and a cough. After a moment, the hybrid calmed again and licked his lips. He cleared his throat, which only caused him to cough again.

The trio stood around Danny. They watched as venom green eyes flickered open to greet them. They stared at the ceiling, unfocused, but his friends knew he was awake and aware.

Sam grinned. "Danny, can you hear me?" She placed a hand on his shoulder.

Slowly those green orbs shifted to her amethyst ones and seemed to focus. "Sam?" His voice was raspy, but it sent chills down the trio's spines.

Sam had already heard it, but it still startled her as well. Instantly she flashed back to Dark Dan.

Jazz's hand went to her mouth. "Oh God, Sam?"

Tucker placed a reassuring hand on his wife's shoulder. "His voice," he said. "It's just like…him."

Sam sighed. "It is, but we'll have to get used to it. Having his voice doesn't mean Danny is anything like him." She tamped down the voice in the back of her head reminding her that she had witnessed, just a few days ago, her Danny murder someone.

The goth stepped towards the bed and leaned over so Danny could see her better. "Hey. Yes, it's me, Sam."

His eyes switched between her two. The pain was under control, but it still showed in his eyes. It was…different though. It wasn't physical pain she saw in his dimmed green eyes. It was deeper, harder; a pain so unfathomable and raw that it made Sam's heart wrench.

After a moment, "It is you."

She smiled. "Of course, it's me. I'm not going anywhere."

Once again, he paused. This time his eyes roamed the room. As they rested on Tucker and then finally, Jazz, recognition lit them. The pair smiled each in turn and as Danny's eyes found Sam's, he asked, "Are they real too?"

Jazz and Tucker glanced at each other, unsure. The dark-skinned man shrugged.

This time Sam was brave enough to reach up and brush the bangs from Danny's face. They were still as unruly as ever. "Yes, they're real too. We all are, Danny. We're all here."

Sam startled as Danny jumped a little. She realized as he did it a second time that it was sobs wracking his chest. Tears flowed down the hybrid's face and the profound sadness and relief that shone in his eyes made her begin to cry with him. "You're alive," he whispered. "You're all alive."

Sam wrapped her arms around his torso as Jazz went to the other side of the bed and held her brother's hand. Tucker placed a reassuring hand over Jazz's and another on Sam's shoulder.

Danny repeated 'You're alive' over and over, each time punctuating a sob. He couldn't believe it. It wasn't just Sam, but Tucker and his sister were alive also. For the first time since he was broken while captive, he felt hope and it overwhelmed him. It flooded his veins and his very soul, making every part of him tingle. He felt alive, truly alive, for the first time in years. He held tight to this feeling and prayed that it was real; that this wasn't just another cruel trick.

He began to cough again and the trio backed off to let him breathe. As he calmed, he felt the full weight of the morphine hit him and his eyes drooped. A fuzzy Sam came back into view. The last thing he heard before sleep overtook him was, "It's ok, Danny. Get some sleep; we'll be here when you wake up. I promise."

7/15/24: Big shoutout to SamXDanny for all the reviews. It really keeps me going!

Ok so I know this chapter was super short, but for where I want to go next, it seems too odd to put it in this one. But, since I wrote this all in advance, it won't be long before you guys get the update.

On that note, at the top it says I began this chapter 5 days before my wedding – 12/10/13. Just to let you know how bad I am at keeping up with this and why I'm waiting to post until I am done—I just finished this chapter and it is now 8/29/14. Yup, that's right. I've now been married over 8 months, and it took me that long to write a short chapter! Shouldn't surprise you though, I was still in high school when I got this idea and wrote the first chapter. And guess what? I graduated 7 years ago!

So yes, it has taken more than 7 years to write 7 chapters of Taken! I'm hoping it doesn't take as long to finish, as I'm currently on a DP binge and tend to spend short periods obsessed with reading/writing DP fanfiction. Mostly thanks to pearl84 and her stories! If you get a chance, read Checkmate and its companion, My Last Lesson From You and their sequel, Endgame and also her story Dawning of a Son! They're great!

Till next time!