Chapter 17

Summary:

Danny and family navigate their way through his hospital stay. The doctor discusses discharge with the family, and has some disturbing thoughts that he keeps to himself.

Chapter Text

Danny was warm.

"….Ma'am, for the last time, we have to wake him for the debridement..."

He noted the muted sense of pain, and—strangely enough, itching, across most of his upper body.

"….I will call security…"

He tried to open his eyes, and it felt like they were glued together. He tried harder, only to groan at the effort.

"Did you hear that? Danny…honey?"

His mouth was full of cotton. His jaw locked tight. He made a louder noise.

"See what you did! He's waking up. Why can't he be sedated for this??"

What were they talking about? Danny really wished he knew what was going on. Everything was so fuzzy. The last thing he remembered was…was it school? No, he vaguely remembered going down to the lab. Then…there was nothing. His mind completely blanked out whatever memories should have been there. Where was he, anyway??

"….do this every day…can't every time…"

Who was that voice? Danny didn't recognize it.

"Damnit! It's not fair!"

Mom! That was his mom! He tried again to open his eyes. He managed to get a tiny crack in the seams of his eyelids. Blinding light was all he could see. He grimaced and closed them again.

"….for what it's worth, I'm sorry. But you need to get out of my way now."

Where was he?? Who was mom arguing with? Nausea rolled through his entire body. All thoughts fled as he succumbed to the overwhelming urge and started vomiting. His groans turned to wracking spasms as he began to choke.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP...

"Oh shit, he's vomiting! Help me get him on his side!" There were suddenly hands across his left side, and liquid fire raced across his arms and torso as he was quickly turned onto his right arm, leg, and hip.

The caustic liquid in Danny's mouth and throat began to dribble out of his mouth. When he could breathe again. He spoke for what felt like the first time. "Ugh…that's…nasty."

Maddie's laughter was high-pitched and slightly hysterical. "Danny! You're back with us!"

"Mom?" He swallowed back bile. "I don't feel so good."

The sounds of a door opening, and the rustle of people moving around the room met the boy's ears.

"Here, this will help with the nausea."

Danny felt a burning sensation crawl up his arm as whatever…medicine(?) he was given moved into his system. A new voice joined the room.

"We'll give the medication some time to kick in before we move him to the debridement room. This first time is going to be longer than most…"

"Why can't I be there?"

That was Mom again. Danny thought.

"It's a clean room, and no one but medical personnel are allowed. To be blunt. You don't want to be there, not for this, anyway. Trust me, there will be plenty of time for you to support your son later. For now, trust him to us…"

The voices faded as weariness stole consciousness from the injured teen again.

Maddy watched, feeling helpless, as Danny's new bed was wheeled out of the room and down the hall. She swallowed hard as the charge nurse led her by the arm out of the unit. For a brief moment, her guilt overwhelmed her. She thought back on Jack's words and held on to them for comfort. "Don't you worry about anything, ok?"

Jack didn't want her to get caught up in anxiety, and she realized that her fears weren't helping anyone. She took a deep breath, found the strength within herself, and focused on what she had to do next. She wasn't going to be allowed back in Danny's room until visiting hours, so she decided to head to Jack's room. If she couldn't stay by her son's side, she'd be with her husband. Jazz should be at the hospital soon, anyway, and Maddie knew that she would be camped out with her father.

Maddie's heart ached for her son with each step that took her farther and farther away from him. She was doing the best that she could, but would it be enough? It had to be. There was no other way forward.

The day passed agonizingly slow—for Maddie at least. Far too many hours passed before she was allowed in to see her son. She entered the room to the sight of Danny wrapped from neck to waist in soft bandages with some kind of netting holding them on. She only glanced at the unusual sight long enough to find Danny's tear-stained face crunched into a grimace of what could only be pain. Her heart dropped like lead in her chest. "Oh, Danny…"

She wasn't actually expecting a reply, so she started badly when a weak, "Mom?" was uttered.

Maddie was at Danny's side in a blink. She gently put her hand on the boy's forehead, carefully avoiding the bandages. "I'm here, baby."

"Mom…what happened?" His voice sounded like crushed gravel.

"There was an accident in the lab…" Tears began to drip on the pristine blanket covering the teen.

"Was…was it the Portal? Did we do it??"

Maddie shook her head in heartbroken wonder. Only Danny… Out loud, she quietly responded. "Yeah, baby. We did. YOU did. But you got hurt, and I am so, so sorry."

"Wah-fur?" Danny slurred as the pain pump did its job.

"We never would have finished it if we had known that it would bring you so much pain."

"Is..ok…" Maddie could barely pick out the whispered words.

"No, baby. It's not." She said to the now-sleeping boy on the bed.

◉_◉

ONE WEEK LATER

"I'm telling you, I have no idea how they managed to harness the power—or tame it! But that thing they built is somehow connected to the Lazarus Pits. It has to be. There is no other way that the boy could be recovering so fast…"

The voice on the other end of the line was cold and calculating. It carried on for several minutes before stopping, leaving the doctor ashen faced.

"I understand sir. I will update my report with the additional information. The boy will be ready for discharge within the week. How would you like me to proceed after that?" Dr. Severn took a few deep breaths and settled his nerves. He had been working undercover as a civilian providing medical services to the town for quite a long time now. His once-iron emotional control had loosened a bit since his early days in the League. He swallowed and hated that he had let himself start to soften. He nodded to himself as he listened to his regional Director lay out the plan.

"Yes, sir. The Master's will be done." He hung up the phone and stared at the wall for a long moment. The Demon's Head was taking a personal interest in this case. There was no room for error—or failure.

Two floors away, laughter filled the private room where Danny had been staying since he was moved from upstairs. His burns had healed at a supernatural rate—Maddie and Jack had surmised that the ecto-contamination played a large part in Danny's swift return to health.

"No! My food!" Danny pushed Tucker away from the tray.

"Hey, man! Don't be like that!" The teen smiled at his best-bro and stole a french fry off of Danny's plate.

"Leave his food alone, Tuck!" Sam swatted the beret off of Tucker's head.

Tucker gasped in mock outrage. He picked the hat off of the floor and held it to his chest. "How dare!"

The look on his face sent both Danny, Sam, and Jazz into a fit of giggles. The sound warmed the hearts of Maddie and Jack, both of whom were sitting on a small sofa across from the bed.

Jack's voice broke when he quietly whispered. "I wasn't sure I'd ever hear that sound again, Mads."

Maddie's eyes glistened. "For a moment, I thought I was going to lose both of you. But you're both going to be ok. I couldn't ask for more."

Jack rubbed circles across his wife's back. "Danno is such a strong kid. He hasn't complained about anything—except the food."

Maddie gave him a sniffled smile. "He's asked to go to the Nasty Burger on the way home, you know."

Jack's grin was genuine and full of love. "Yeah. We'll get Danny as many burgers and milkshakes as he can stomach. They have the best! And I'm going to make him every flavor of fudge I know as soon as we get settled back at home."

The four teens all wore bright smiles, and no one commented on how Danny's face seemed to glow when he laughed. They were just happy that Danny was recovering so fast. It didn't matter to them where the miracle of the teen's new rapid-healing came from, whether it was ecto-radiation or whatever. Everyone wanted to put the accident behind them and get on with their lives.

The next day, when Dr. Severn stopped in for Danny's daily check-up, only Jack and Maddie were there. Jazz had gone out to pick up lunch for the family. The doctor wore a distant smile that seemed a bit colder than the family was used to. The Fenton parents didn't notice; they were more focused on the folder that graced the doctor's clipboard.

"Hello, doctor!" Danny's smile was obviously genuine. "What do you have for me today?"

"Well," Severn shifted his stance and raised the folder. "I have the options here for your treatment after you get discharged. Your parents need to look them over with you to decide how we're going to handle things when you leave here in a few days."

Danny started wiggling his whole body in excitement. "I'm gonna get to go home soon?"

The doctor nodded. "Yes, but you're going to need some therapy to fully regain the use of your hand and keep the scarring from limiting your mobility."

"Ok, doc! If it means I can get out of here, then I'm all for it."

"I want to keep an eye on you with regular check-ups as well. We have no idea what the long-term effects of the ecto-radiation are going to be."

Maddie's face dropped as she remembered Danny's appearance when he first got out of the portal. The waving white hair and black hazmat suit still haunted her dreams. She was brought out of her thoughts by her husband's voice.

"Doc, have you been able to determine why the radiation hasn't dissipated yet? Our research shows that it doesn't tend to stay around this long. It's kind of disturbing."

"Dr. Fenton, the tests all show that his levels of contamination are steadily increasing, not diminishing." A hush fell on the room at his words. He took a breath. "That's why he's going to need to be checked at least weekly, at first. We can move to monthly check-ups when the radiation levels out, and we can see the effects it's had."

Severn's face softened for a moment. "I honestly don't think you should be concerned, though. I believe that the ecto-radiation is what kept him alive after the accident and is healing him even now. I recommend that you keep daily journals of his progress and whatever tests you do at home. That will help his care team tremendously." He didn't add "and make my record keeping easier, too."

The doctor then picked up the chart at the foot of Danny's bed and looked it over, making notes on his clip-board at various intervals. When he was done, he checked Danny's IV and his now-miraculously-healed burn sites. He finished by listening to Danny's heart and lungs.

"Well, young man, unless any complications arise, you're set to be discharged on Friday..."

"That's…that's in two days!" Danny interrupted.

Severn's smile grew more genuine. "Yes, it is, and I'm looking forward to seeing your full recovery over the long-term." He turned to Jack and Maddie. "I expect you two to get in touch with me if anything happens or changes. Do you understand? I don't want any more lab accidents crossing my table."

Both Fenton parents heard the warning in his tone. Jack answered the challenge. "Trust us. Lab safety is now our top priority!" Maddie was strangely silent.

The doctor nodded to them and then to Danny. Without another word, he left for his office. He despised the way that the daily check-ins with his senior Agent made him appear less competent, but the Demon's head was eager for every bit of information he could get on the boy and his family. In a strange moment of something he couldn't name, Dr. Severn felt pity for the people who had come under the Master's scrutiny. That kind of attention had never ended well for anyone. Suddenly, he realized that he was included in the group that Ra's was interested in. He only just managed to quell his fear for the future.