#Jack and Maddie stay up late in bed debating why is Phantom LIKE THAT

[redrobin-detective]

The real unspoken reason Jack and Maddie hate Phantom so much is that he’s constantly disproving their ghost theories which they’ve been working on for 20 years.

[imekitty]

Each and every hair that Danny sheds, turns white.

Maddie pulled the lint trap out of the dryer to empty it but paused when she noticed bits and specks of it glowing.

She pinched at one of the glowing parts and rubbed it between her fingers.

A hair. A single white hair just a few inches long.

Maddie combed through the rest of the lint and picked out a couple more strands of glowing white hair. She sealed them in a zippered storage bag and brought it into the kitchen.

“Jack? Have you seen strands of white hair around the house?”

Jack held the fridge door open and stared intently at the options on the shelves. “White? You mean grey? I’ve been losing a little more hair than usual lately, I guess.”

“No, it’s not yours.”

“Oh, babe.” Jack turned back to her with a frown. “They’re not yours, are they? Hey, middle age, you know I’m there with you—”

Maddie scowled, her cheeks flushing. “No, Jack. They’re not mine either.”

“Oh.” Jack blinked. “Uh, sorry. What are we talking about?”

“This.” Maddie held up the bag of white hair. “I found them when I was doing laundry.”

Jack’s brow furrowed. “They’re glowing. White ghost fur?”

“No, it’s not fur. It’s definitely hair.”

“Really?” Jack took the bag from her and held it close to his face. He reached inside and pulled out a single strand, squinting in inspection. “You’re right. But I’m not seeing a follicle. Might’ve been destroyed in the wash if it was ever there at all.” He placed the hair back in the bag. “Might be tough to get a good DNA sample.”

“Maybe there’s more around the house.” Maddie held a fist to her chin and looked out at the living room. “On clothes or blankets or even just in the carpet.”

“Let’s be on the lookout for more. If there’s a ghost hanging out in our house, we’ll find it.” Jack bit the inside of his cheek. “I’m just surprised our ghost sensors haven’t detected anything.”

Maddie crossed her arms and tapped her boot against the floor. She raised her eyes as a thought struck her. “Phantom.”

“What about him?” asked Jack.

“Phantom never triggers our ghost sensors for some reason,” said Maddie, her tone rising, pace quickening. “And he knows where we live. And we’ve seen him holding one of our Thermoses or other inventions multiple times. Obviously he’s been sneaking into our house and stealing things.” She held up the bag. “And he has white hair about this length! It’s got to be his.”

Jack smirked. “You’ve got Phantom on the brain again, don’t you?”

“But doesn’t it make sense?” asked Maddie.

“We’ll need to find a strand of hair with a follicle on it to find out for sure.” Jack clenched a fist. “But if it is him, that punk ghost can’t outrun us forever.”

Later that evening, after a healthy meal Maddie made sure was not contaminated with any ectoplasm this time, the whole family watched a movie together in the living room.

“I knew that was going to happen,” said Jack. “I told you, remember?”

“But it doesn’t even make sense,” said Jazz. “That could never happen in real life.”

Jack and Jazz proceeded to debate and criticize the movie as they so often did. Maddie smiled at Danny, who was sitting next to her but had fallen asleep some time ago. His head lay back against the sofa, his mouth open slightly.

She brushed a few unruly bangs off his forehead, bangs that really needed a trim. He sucked in a breath and opened his eyes, groaning slightly when he caught her looking at him.

“You’re such a light sleeper,” teased Maddie. “Are you tired?”

Danny mumbled a reply and groggily blinked.

“If you did your homework earlier, you wouldn’t need to stay up so late finishing it,” said Maddie.

Danny leaned forward, resting his elbows on his thighs. “I did some of it during lunch today.”

“That’s good to hear,” said Maddie.

Jack and Jazz were still picking apart some trivial detail from the movie. Maddie started rubbing and scratching Danny’s back.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a tiny light.

Maddie turned to inspect. She plucked a strand of glowing white hair from off the couch behind Danny and held it close to her face.

How long had it been here?

Didn’t matter. The important thing was this one had a follicle.

Maddie closed her fingers over the hair and stood. All heads turned to her.

“I’ll be back.” Maddie walked to the door leading down to the lab. “You don’t need to pause it for me.”

At her work station, Maddie cleaned the hair, cut off the fragment she needed, and placed it in an extraction reagent to be digested. She had done this so many times before but this time seemed to be taking forever.

Heavy footsteps fell on the basement lab stairs. Maddie did not need to turn to know who it was.

“What’s going on, Mads?” asked Jack, coming up behind her.

“I found a white ghost hair with a root on the couch.” Maddie gestured to the equipment at her station. “It’s incubating right now.”

Jack grinned. “Really? Talk about luck!”

Maddie groaned and leaned over the counter. “I just wish the extraction process didn’t take so long.”

Jack tugged on her arm. “We’ll come back later when the kids are in bed. We’re gonna analyze that sucker tonight and figure out which ghost it belongs to!”

“It has to be Phantom,” said Maddie, allowing Jack to drag her out of the lab. “Who else could it be?”

Late that night, long after they made sure their kids were in bed, Maddie and Jack determined the final sequencing results from their DNA extraction and analysis.

Jack yawned and checked the clock in the lab. “I can’t believe it’s three already. I’m beat.”

Maddie bounced lightly on her toes. “Oh, I’m not. I am ready.”

They compared the DNA sequencing from the hair sample to a sequencing they had already obtained from Phantom several months prior.

“It’s a match,” said Jack. “You were right. It’s Phantom’s hair.”

Maddie clutched the printed results in her hands, crumpling the sheet slightly. “I knew it! He’s been coming into our house to steal our inventions!”

“And sit on our couch apparently,” said Jack. “Maybe he likes our Netflix subscription.”

“We’ll need to set up cameras.” Maddie began pacing the lab. “We’ll just tell the kids it’s only for a little while. Or we don’t have to tell them; they’d never know.”

“And maybe some laser sensors that only ghosts can trip,” suggested Jack. “Worth a try even if our other sensors never pick him up.”

Maddie grinned at him. “If Phantom wants to be in our house so bad, we might as well make our lab his permanent residence.”

Over the next couple weeks, Maddie studied footage from the interior cameras installed in the house and checked the logs for the laser sensors. But there were no hits, no glimpses, no Phantom.

Saturday afternoon, Maddie drove toward her favorite hair salon with Danny in the passenger seat. She had found several more strands of Phantom’s hair around the house just that morning, but still no sign of Phantom when she checked the camera recordings.

She stared out at the traffic, her head feeling heavy and dull.

“What’s wrong?” asked Danny.

Maddie pulled up to a red light and turned to look at him. The tips of his bangs collided with his eyelashes.

“Nothing,” she said. “I just waited way too long to schedule your haircut.”

She brushed his hair out of his eyes. Danny looked annoyed but smiled anyway.

Inside the salon, the stylist gushed over how thick Danny’s hair was before taking him to the shampoo bowls in the back. Maddie sat in the waiting area nearby and checked the camera feeds and sensor logs on her phone. Jazz was doing yoga stretches in the living room. Jack was rummaging through the pantry, probably looking for the last ounce of fudge he had forgotten he already ate.

The stylist returned with Danny and guided him into a chair, wrapping a cape around his shoulders. Maddie watched from a distance for a moment before returning to the camera feeds.

Phantom had to be somewhere in the house. He just had to be. Why else would his hair keep showing up?

“What is this?” asked the stylist, holding up a pair of scissors. “Is this glitter on your shoulders?”

Maddie looked over at Danny and the stylist. Something was indeed shimmering on his cape, small specks of light.

“It’s on the floor too.” The stylist picked up a shining piece. “No, wait, I just cut this off. This is your hair—”

Maddie marched over, her eyes darting from Danny’s shoulders to the floor. Small pieces of the same white hair she had been seeing for weeks were flecked all over his cape.

Danny caught her eye and grimaced. “Mom, it’s not what you—”

She tore the cape off him and dragged him out of the salon by the wrist. Danny pleaded and whined and begged her to listen but Maddie did not relent.

Out in the parking lot, she turned around to face him, still holding his wrist. The muscles in Danny’s jaw looked tight as his lips twitched.

“Mom.” He held up a palm. “Please listen to me.”

Maddie reached forward and plucked a hair from his head. Danny yelped and rubbed the area with his free hand.

Maddie watched as the dark strand turned white in her fingers, lighting up with a ghostly aura.

She stared at the hair for some time, then stared at Danny. His face was pale.

She held the spectral hair up between them. Her hand shook, her whole body shivered.

“I’m listening.”

Follow-up

[ecto-american]

Eavesdropping

DannyMay 2019 themed story, I’m not late I’m just going my own pace pls be nice to me

CW for this chapter for semi-graphic descriptions of injury

Ectoplasm | Broken | Glass | Theory | Community | Or Read on AO3.

Day 16: Eavesdropping

She was always better at this kind of puzzle-solving, and this was one hell of a puzzle. Such a puzzle, in fact, that Maddie had doubts in her mind that she could even figure it out as she pulled into the FentonWorks driveway. Jazz immediately unbuckled her seatbelt and was out of the RV almost before it had fully stopped, walking quickly up to the door and opening it. Maddie took a deep breath before following, ignoring their luggage for now.

Entering the home, she noticed a strong, distinct smell. Ectoplasm, as well as cleaner. She took a few steps inside. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw green in the kitchen, and she poked her head in. Ectoplasm all over the floor. She frowned.

"Jack?" Maddie called out.

"Living room," Jack replied. Maddie followed the voice to the living room, and she took in the scene.

Jack was sitting in the living room armchair, looking tired and sullen while drinking some soda. Jazz was on her knees next to the couch near Phantom's face. Her face was twisted up as she was struggling to not cry. Maddie found it so odd how...emotional she was for a ghost. Teenagers. Even though Jazz has never been that emotional of a teenager.

"Where's Danny?" Maddie asked. Jack gave a half-hearted shrug, and she noticed Jazz tense up.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I tried calling him, but I didn't get any replies. I left messages, and I called Pam and Angela. They haven't seen him since school let out. Mr. Lancer too." Maddie's curiosity for Phantom was instantly overwhelmed by worry and concern for her son.

"That's so strange," Maddie mused. "But this isn't unusual for him either. I'm sure he'll be home soon." Despite her own words, she didn't seem very convinced. Jack simply nodded. "Why don't you fill me in on the situation?" Her eyes darted to her daughter, still by the ghost boy's side. Jack had copied her actions. Jazz didn't need to hear this.

"In the kitchen," he agreed, and he stood up.

Maddie stared worriedly at Phantom as she began to follow Jack out. Leaving her daughter alone with such a dangerous ghost went against every gut instinct she had. But Phantom looked so pale, his jaw having swollen up to where his face look bloated, and the skin around it looked bruised. She could tell his neck was suffering from the same rough treatment, as well as a very calculated and decided cut. The beginning of a skinning. And the way he laid there, barely awake and staring at really nothing in particular, it vaguely reminded her of when Danny got his tonsils taken out. How his jaw had swollen up after the surgery due to an infection, and how he had laid miserably on the couch while being babied by her. All the odd-flavored milkshakes he could ever want.

"So, what's our situation?" Maddie wondered the second they were in the ectoplasm covered kitchen. Jack took a deep breath.

"Something's wrong, and I can't pinpoint it," Jack told her. "And not just with Phantom. Well, it's related to him, but it's Danny too." Instant goosebumps.

"What about Danny?" Maddie questioned. "Do you think he's hurt?" Jack seemed to debate with himself a bit.

"I don't know. I think there's some kind of connection between Danny and Phantom. I think Danny's…helping him. I don't know why though," Jack confessed. Maddie's skeptical look was not lost on him. "I just can't think of anything else to explain it all. Why would Phantom come here after being so hurt? Why would he go directly to Danny's room? We've been talking for years trying to figure out why he has FentonWorks tech, despite all the anti-ghost measures. Maybe Danny's been giving it to him."

Maddie hummed thoughtfully. Of course, it seemed to fit. But it was such a stretch. Danny always seemed so afraid of ghosts. She always saw him running from them, as he should. He was inexperienced, and she didn't want him to get hurt.

"I don't know," Maddie replied slowly. "That seems a bit of a stretch. Phantom's a lot craftier than we give him credit for. I think he's just found a glitch within our system or took it from the RV. And going to us, to Danny's room? I think it's just to invoke sympathy." Which had admittedly worked.

Jack frowned.

"No, it's not just that. There's blood all over his bed," Jack told her. "I was changing the sheets, and there was so many blood stains in the mattress. Not ectoplasm. Blood. Well, there was other dried ectoplasm too, but." Jack paused, and Maddie was absolutely baffled. "That's also where I found Danny's cellphone. In the bed, and it was alongside a thermos. Something's up. Something's wrong, and I just." Maddie could tell Jack was becoming overwhelmed with emotions. Frustration. Fear. Worry. "I just wish Danny would come home already so I could know that he's okay."

"And he's not with Sam or Tucker?" Maddie wondered. Jack shook his head no. That was incredibly odd. He was almost always with one of them.

This was an absolute puzzle, the worst kind. She had all the pieces. She was so sure she had all of the pieces, but she had no big picture to compare the piece to. Danny had blood and ectoplasm on his bed. That did ring to Jack's theory that they were friends, but how would that even happen? How would they meet? Especially when Danny was so afraid of ghosts? That part didn't make sense.

"But, he's lost a lot of ectoplasm," Jack continued. "I don't know if it's the same with ghosts as with humans, but he had to have lost a good amount. I cleaned it up, but it was all over the stairs and Danny's room." He rubbed the back of his neck, looking at the kitchen's mess. "Sorry, I didn't get to the kitchen yet. I just wanted to get it out of the carpet before it stained."

"That was smart, thank you," Maddie nodded. "And of course, you had to move Phantom."

"Yeah, I cleaned him up a bit and gave him Danny's shirt," Jack told her. "It fits him really well."

She could hear somebody racing up the stairs, and a door upstairs opening. It was Jazz, Phantom wasn't about to run anywhere. Maddie and Jack stayed silent as they listened to her come back down the stairs moments later, practically flying down the stairs and back into the living room.

"Write what you can of what happened," Maddie could faintly hear Jazz instruct, and her heart skipped a beat. Jack's eyes were a bit wide too. Writing.

Maddie sped walked into the living room, seeing Jazz where she was before kneeling by Phantom on the floor. She held up her whiteboard for Phantom to write, the ghost holding a marker in his shaking hand ashe had moved to sat up. As Jack had said, she was able to notice that indeed, he fit perfectly into her son's shirt. Jazz glanced up at them, looking almost a bit guilty.

"I was hoping he could write what happened," she replied.

"That's brilliant," Maddie had to admit, and she moved to sit on the coffee table, Jack taking the armchair, and the family stared at Phantom.

Phantom barely looked like he could keep his eyes open, let alone write. He stared at the whiteboard, his hand wobbling as he finally made contact with the board. Slowly, he began to try and write something. The entire family waited in silent hesitation for something.

Maddie couldn't help but notice Phantom wheezing. As in, he's breathing. Why? Now that she noticed, she couldn't unsee it. It was creepy and odd to see Phantom pretend to be so human-like. His appearance didn't help. He did look...more alive than most ghosts. And the way he seemed so pained and sweaty added to the illusion. She wasn't even sure ghosts could sweat. Phantom was such an oddity.

After nearly five minutes of weakly moving his hand, he dropped the marker, and his hand plopped back to rest on his stomach. Phantom closed his eyes.

"What's it say?" Maddie wondered as Jazz turned the board around to see what was written. Jazz squinted slightly as she tried to decipher the code.

"Skulker?" Jazz asked aloud. Phantom had kept his eyes closed but still made a noise, nothing like Jack had heard yet tonight. It was a positive noise of acknowledgement, the best he could do.

"Skulker?" Jack repeated.

"Yeah, he's the mechanical ghost," Maddie reminded him. Jack's eyes lit up in recognition.

"So it's just a normal ghost fight," Jack concluded. "Just gone really bad."

The answer haunted him still though, and just by glancing at Maddie, he could tell it struck her odd too. Why a ghost would want to skin another ghost. They just really had a hard time letting go of such...animalistic behavior. It was disturbing to think about. Why would that ghost want to do that? It was so senseless.

Well, they were enemies. Maybe it was some...disturbed trophy of war.

"Can you please fix his jaw now?" Jazz practically begged. Maddie nodded, and she motioned for her to move.

Jazz quickly shuffled out of the way, and Maddie took her place. She lightly touched Phantom's cheek, and the ghost's eyes slowly opened.

"Alright, Phantom, we're going to see what we can do now," she told him. To her surprise, he didn't look afraid of her at all. The previously spaced out look, likely from shock now that she thought about it, was looking at her with such a loving warmth. Like he was looking at his mom. "Just hang in there." Phantom didn't say anything.

She carefully opened his mouth, and she could immediately see that Phantom had several teeth missing, and the inside of his mouth being deformed from two distinct fractures that she could see, thanks to said missing teeth. Many teeth that had been left behind were not spared, being cracked or severely damaged. Ectoplasm had stained his lips and was still pooling actively in his mouth from a few cuts on his inner cheek from broken bones and shattered teeth. His tongue looked nearly half-cut off. It all screamed painful, and she felt terrible for him. Especially with the way he stared at her hopefully for help. To fix this.

Gently, she felt the swollen skin, trying her best to tune out the pained whimper Phantom had let loose. She could feel the bones out of place. This was far from a simple jaw crack that she had expected him to have, that while she had no true medical degree, that she could still wire together. It looked more like somebody had stomped on his face repeatedly. And this wasn't even factoring in...the skinning. Or any other injuries he may have had. This was something a doctor needed to fix.

"How's it look?" Jack finally asked. Maddie didn't answer right away.

"This is worse than I expected," she finally admitted. She stopped prodding Phantom, and she found herself lightly stroking his hair comfortingly.

The ghost hunter hated herself for it, but she couldn't help it. Maddie was always going to be a mother first, and even though Phantom was a ghost, the town nemesis, that's not what he was right now. He was a badly injured kid, her son's own age and his exact size based on how well her son's t-shirt fit, that was likely terrified and had nowhere else to turn but them. For the first time, she found herself wondering who he was when he was alive. Where his family was, and how much Phantom's mother likely cried when she lost her son. He had to have been young when he died. Way too young.

"Can you fix it?" Jazz wondered desperately. Maddie glanced skeptically at Phantom as the ghost stared at her, and she shook her head.

"This is something a professional needs to handle," she finally decided. Jazz looked absolutely distraught, and Maddie glanced back at Jack. "Jack, we should call the hospital and see if they'd be willing to admit Phantom as a patient." Jazz's eyes grew wide.

"W-wouldn't that be dangerous for him?" she questioned nervously. Maddie sighed.

"...It could be. But if you want Phantom to get better, he needs a real doctor," Maddie told her, and Jazz hung her head. "Jack, call the hospital and ask, please?"

"You got it, baby," Jack replied, standing up. He glanced at Phantom. "May want to give him a bit more pain medicine. It's been a while since I gave him anything." Maddie nodded in agreement, and she stood up as well.

"Jazz, honey, keep an eye on him, okay?" Maddie told her.

Jazz nodded, and she returned to Phantom's side, watching her parents. Maddie watched Jazz's reactions out of the corner of her eye, and she paused after turning the corner, staying where she was. She reached out to nudge Jack, and he glanced back at her. She jerked her head towards the living room, and gave him a look. He was puzzled for a moment before understanding. He nodded, and he continued into the kitchen.

Jazz's reactions to all of this was not normal to her. Something was up.

Maddie waited patiently around the corner, listening close. And soon, she was rewarded.

"Danny, you need to tell them." It absolutely took Maddie a bit aback to hear Jazz call Phantom Danny. She nearly had forgotten that they shared a first name. A choked gurgle had replied. "Wait, let me try something."

Maddie peered around the corner carefully, watching Jazz scribble on the board before holding it up to Phantom. She couldn't quite read what it said from where she hid.

"Okay, just point," Jazz encouraged. Maddie could see Phantom point to one of the things written. Jazz frowned. "Danny, please. You need to tell Mom and Dad."

Tell them what? Jack had to have been right on some level, but the rabbit hole went deeper. Jazz knew something too. Both of her children were in cahoots with Phantom. For some reason, and it made her angry. He had to be manipulating them. Why else would Danny and Jazz, to be simple, betray them like that? Interact with such dangerous ghosts? Another piece was added to the puzzle, and it wasn't helping make anything clearer.

"Please," Jazz's voice had come out soft. "Please, at least think about it. You're so hurt, they need to know…" She paused, staring at Phantom before wiping away tears before they could fall. "I'm not going to tell them. It's not my thing to tell. But please. Please consider it. If you're going to tell them, it needs to be before we go. It may even be better then, because if you say something now, it'll help the hospital treat you. I know it's scary. But just...You heard Mom. This is so serious." Jazz had reached out to lightly touch Phantom's swollen jaw. "Do you really think you can hide this from her?"

What the hell could any of that even mean? Maddie was at a loss for words or anything that could even begin to help her understand.

Jazz sighed, and she had turned the board back to her, erasing what was written with her sleeve and jotting more things down. She turned it to Phantom again. "Okay, so it was Skulker. But what exactly went down? Are any of these close?"

Phantom didn't make any movements for a while, pausing before jabbing his index finger at two of the options. Jazz paused.

"Both?" she asked. Phantom held up two fingers. "Both. Hmm." Jazz stared at what the supposed situation was, and she could see her daughter's face twist up in slight horror as she had, somehow, narrowed down the mystery of what Phantom went through.

How come Jazz could communicate so much more smoothly with Phantom? Why did she know so much? Jack just...he had to be right. On some level, he had to be right. She couldn't think of any other explanation.

Maddie jumped as she felt Jack's familiar touch on her shoulder. She pulled away from the doorframe, looking at him. He motioned for her to come with him, and she did. Once in the kitchen, Jack broke the news to her.

"The hospital's willing to take Phantom in," he told her. Maddie sighed in relief. "But on the condition that the Guys in White come to assure nothing gets blown up." Maddie rubbed her eyes.

"Aren't we enough?" she asked tiredly. Jack shook his head no.

"Nope. They want government officials there," he replied. Maddie glanced at the doorway of the kitchen.

"Phantom will never go for this," she pointed out.

"It's his only option if he wants his jaw fixed," Jack reminded her. Maddie ran her hand through her hair.

"Well...I guess we'll have to see how he feels."

"I guess so." Maddie fell silent as she gathered her thoughts. "Well, go ask Phantom while I get him some medicine from the lab."

Jack nodded, and they each left. Maddie opened the basement door, and her face scrunched up as she noticed that the trail of ectoplasm was, indeed, unavoidable. Clear boot prints from when Jack had traveled before, but by now, the ectoplasm was mostly dry. No danger of slipping, just a disturbing amount that needed to be scrubbed later.

She carefully went down, and she found what Jack had given Phantom last time. She picked up another dose of it, and she returned up the stairs. In the kitchen, Jack was writing on a piece of paper stuck to the fridge, and she looked at him curiously.

"Did you ask Phantom?" she asked. Jack glanced at her.

"Yup. And he agreed."

Maddie was floored by this. He agreed? Despite the Guys in White? He had to be in a lot of pain to agree to such a thing. She stood, a bit stunned.

"I'm writing Danny a note telling him what happened," Jack continued. He lightly tapped Danny's cell phone that he had placed on the counter. "And to call you when he gets home."

She simply nodded at him. Almost dazed, Maddie went into the living room. Phantom and Jazz turned to glance at her. Jazz had a distinct distraught look to her, almost frazzled while Phantom seemed to have gotten paler and looked exhausted. Seeing Phantom again, really seeing him...going to a hospital despite the dangers was honestly a very risky call, but he was running out of options so quickly.

"Well, looks like we're going to the hospital," Maddie tried to sound optimistic, but it fell flat. "Let's get Phantom a bit more pain relief, and then we'll get all loaded up and head on over. How's that sound?"

Phantom gave a short nod the best he could. Jazz gave her a large, fake smile.

"It sounds great, Mom." Maddie knew that she was lying.

[ecto-american]

Worldbuilding

DannyMay 2019 themed story, I’m not late I’m just going my own pace pls be nice to me

Ectoplasm | Broken | Glass | Theory | Community | Eavesdropping | Or Read on AO3.

Day 8: Worldbuilding (shh it's close enough)

Maddie knew that she was lying. It was really weird. Jazz wasn't much of a liar. She rarely did anything that would warrant needing to lie, so knowing that Jazz was lying to her...it made her uneasy.

She glanced in the review mirror at Phantom and Jazz as she drove. Phantom was laying in the backseat, head propped up on a pillow that rested in Jazz's lap. Jazz had brought the whiteboard along, having let it rest on the floorboards along with the markers. She was speaking softly to Phantom some nice, comforting words, words that Maddie was sure Phantom would never be able to remember. He had instantly dozed off upon being given more pain reliever. Jack ended up carrying him to the RV.

Jack didn't speak much, aside from a brief phone calls he had made. In a final ditch effort to see where Danny was, he had called Valerie's dad. Maddie knew that he and Valerie had broken up a while ago, but from how her son spoke, they still seemed to be friendly and on good terms with each other. Once more, it was reported that nobody had seen Danny. It caused Maddie some stress, especially given the reactions of the duo in the back.

Jazz had frozen up anxiously. Even Phantom, having briefly woken up upon hearing Jack's loud voice, had stiffened. They were hiding something. Maddie just knew that they both had knowledge of where Danny was. But why were they hiding it? Danny was a good kid. She doubted he'd have gotten into something like drugs. Maybe a secret girlfriend? But Jazz would spill the beans if that was the case, to prevent all the worrying.

The other was another call to the hospital, stating that they were nearly there. From what Jack had described, they were understandably skeptical of the situation. Ghost hunters, asking human doctors to help them heal a ghost? It sounded insane. But for some reason, Phantom was incredibly popular in town. It wasn't just the local youth that looked up to him. Adults, her own peers, were looking at this kid as a hero.

She pulled into the hospital parking lot, and as promised, there was somebody waiting outside for them. A skeptical looking pair of nurses looked surprised upon Maddie pulling up. Jack rolled down the window.

"Hey, we had called ahead?" Jack half-asked aloud, almost hesitant.

"Oh, yeah," the first nurse nodded. "May I see?"

Maddie put the RV in park, and she and Jack both exited. Jazz opened the door for them. By now, Jazz had helped Phantom sit up properly into the seat. One of the nurses stepped up to properly see inside, holding onto a door handle. Maddie could see the heartbreak on the nurse's face. She used her free hand to lightly touch Phantom's swollen face, trying to get a feel for the injury as Phantom let out a small whimper.

"How's it look?" her coworker asked. A glance and a mouthing of the words "really bad" was all it took for the other to nod. "I'll go get a stretcher."

Why they didn't already have one ready, Maddie wasn't sure. It almost irritated her, but she decided to not let that get to her. It only took a few moments for the other nurse to return, along with another staff member. Carefully, they began to help Phantom out of the RV and onto the stretcher.

"Will you be staying?" one had turned to ask the Fentons.

"I wanna stay!" Jazz blurted out. Maddie stared at her daughter. Jazz had gotten the whiteboard out, clutching it tightly to her chest with a fist full of markers. In return, Jazz had shot Maddie a pitiful look. "Please, Mom?"

"Honey, your dad's going to be taking you back for the college tour," Maddie reminded her. Jazz's lip quivered. "And I need to get home to make sure Danny gets to bed at a reasonable hour.

"We can't just leave him here all alone," Jazz lightly argued. "I'll just skip the college tour."

Skip the college tour?

Who on Earth was this girl, and what did she do with Jasmine Fenton?

"Jazz, you've been waiting a long time for this tour," Maddie scolded. "You're not going to skip it." Jack lightly nudged his wife.

"Mads, she's kinda right," he whispered. "Phantom's a ghost. They may not be able to treat him correctly. And this would be a great chance to study his ecto-biology and get some tests."

Maddie thought for a moment, studying Phantom as he was settled in on the stretcher. A nurse was talking to him in a very motherly tone about how they were going to take good care of him. Phantom barely seemed to notice, staring off into seemingly nothing.

"I'll stay," Maddie finally decided with a light sigh. Jack grinned.

"Jazz and I will swing by the house, and we'll bring you the other car and some stuff to take samples and what-not," Jack offered. Maddie seemed to brighten at the idea of finally getting a solid ectoplasm sample from Phantom, one that wasn't contaminated by being on the ground or splattered against a wall, and all the ecto-biological information they could collect.

"Can you pack me my kindle, and the charger and one for my phone?" Maddie requested. "I feel like I'll be here a while."

"You got it, babe," Jack replied. Maddie glanced at Jazz. She had no clue how her daughter really was feeling at this point. Her face had turned blank of emotion, a bit pale.

"We'll be back, then," Jazz said slowly. She offered the board and markers to Maddie, and she accepted them.

"I'll see you in a bit, sweetie," Maddie told her, leaning down to peck her forehead lovingly. Jazz smiled weakly at her, and she gave Jack a quick peck as well.

"So you're staying?" a nurse questioned. Maddie nodded. "Well come on, let's see what we can do."

Maddie gave a brief wave to her family as they loaded back up in the RV. She glanced at the staff as they were assuring Phantom was comfortable on the stretcher.

"Sorry hon, we're just going to put this over you to avoid any drama wheeling you back," the other nurse apologized. Phantom gave a half nod and wheeze. She pulled a white sheet over his form before they began to wheel him inside, the ghost hunter following shortly after.

123456798

Maddie sat with the whiteboard in Phantom's private room. Thankfully, nobody outside of hospital staff had noticed him being wheeled in, nor did people seem to give much thought as to why Maddie herself was there. After some debate and confused questions on how they'd even proceed, Maddie and the nurses had decided that the only thing keeping Phantom in bed would be an IV drip of pain medication that was slowly relieving his pain. The ghost had been changed out of her son's shirt and what was left of his jumpsuit into a hospital gown.

She had begun to take notes on everything she was learning so far on her phone. Phantom could drink water, even specifically asking for it. Whether or not it was a need or just a thing he could do, he still could drink it. He appears to feel pain. He has bones, teeth. Human medicines work on him to a certain extent it seemed. But how? Lightly tapping her foot, she sighed. Phantom was such an eternal mystery.

A soft knock at the door caught her attention, and it startled Phantom awake. The door opened, and a short brunette doctor entered, giving a warm smile.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Carrington, I'll be taking care of you today," she introduced herself. She reached out to shake Maddie's hand, before going over to do the same with Phantom. Phantom was staring at her curiously as he accepted her hand.

"I'm Maddie Fenton, I'm one half of the Fentons ghost research and hunting team," Maddie replied. Dr. Carrington nodded knowingly, despite still looking a bit puzzled. Maddie knew why. A ghost hunter. Helping a ghost. It wasn't your everyday sight.

"So, the problem seems kind of obvious to me. Your jaw hurts pretty bad, huh?" Dr. Carrington sounded very sympathetic. Phantom gave a half-nod. "Don't worry, dear, we'll see what we can do about it. But firstly, we're going to try and get some basic information about you, okay?"

Phantom nodded.

"He hasn't really been able to talk, so we've been using this," Maddie said, and she held up the board.

"That's perfectly fine," Dr. Carrington replied, and she began to flip through her clipboard. "Can you give him the board, and we can get started?"

Maddie nodded, and she shifted to hand Phantom the board and a marker. Phantom accepted both of them. He uncapped the marker and testingly scribbled on the board. Maddie hummed curiously.

"He's a lot more alert now," she noted to the doctor. Dr. Carrington glanced at Phantom in between her writing on the paper.

"How was he before?" she asked.

"Very...unresponsive," Maddie explained. "Could barely focus, unable to write much on the board before. Jazz, my daughter, could only really get information out of him by writing stuff on the board and having him pick, like gesturing to yes or no." Dr. Carrington made an impressed noise.

"Very smart of her," she commented, and she jotted that down. "It was likely a symptom of being in shock and in pain, but now he's likely more stable due to consistent medication and just simply time giving him a chance to recover. So, Danny, right?" It was weird to hear Phantom being called Danny. It...felt almost chilling to remember that Phantom shared a name with her son.

Phantom nodded.

"Alright, Danny, so can you tell me a little bit about you? Date of birth, where you were born, any allergies, any pre-existing medical conditions?" Dr. Carrington asked.

Phantom began to scribble on the board. Maddie watched him closely as Phantom was able to steadily hold the marker and write. Dr. Carrington waited patiently before he finally turned the board to her. She silently read it to herself.

"My goodness, you've been through a lot," she said almost in awe.

"May I see?" Maddie questioned. Phantom stared at her, wide eyed. Dr. Carrington lightly ruffled his hair.

"You don't have to show," she assured him. "It can be doctor-patient confidentiality."

Maddie frowned. She was doing all this to help this town's menace, and she wasn't going to get any access to this information? It was absolutely insulting. Dr. Carrington began to focus on writing down what Phantom had written on the board while the ghost and ghost hunter locked in a staring contest.

Finally, Phantom shyly broke his gaze. He hesitantly handed Maddie the board. She accepted it, and she scanned what Phantom had written in response.

4/3, 16, born in Wisconsin, allergic to penicillin

And the worst part was the previous medical conditions. Phantom had instead made a list of previous injuries. They were very vague and to the point. Stab to chest breathing issues, broken nose breathing, crushed knee chronic pain, ecto-gun to face headaches. Near the end, it seemed as if Phantom had begun to run out of space, despite having more to say. His handwriting got smaller and smaller.

Maddie reluctantly gave Phantom the board back, and she leaned back in her chair as she watched the doctor begin to ask Phantom what had happened. She jotted down in her phone the information Phantom had provided, and it hit her. Phantom's information matched her son's exactly. Same birthday, same age, same birth state, same allergy. It sent a shiver up her spine as she stared. This...the absolute odds of this being just a coincidence were simply too outlandish.

Soon, Phantom turned the board to the doctor. She silently read it, and her face paled the further she read. Maddie was dying of curiosity. The hunter leaned forward, trying to grasp a peak. Phantom glanced at her, and he soon turned the board to her. And she felt herself grow a bit numb at the words.

Fought Skulker. Wanted my pelt. Choked me out. Woke up strapped down on table because of cutting. He hit jaw so I couldn't ghostly wail.

"How did you escape?" Maddie asked aloud. Phantom didn't look at her, or make any moves to write down how.

"So it's not just your jaw?" the doctor changed the subject. She pointed to Phantom's neck with her pen. "I could see the cut on your neck, but didn't know it was...due to that. May we see?"

Phantom nodded. Dr. Carrington helped him sit up and pull the hospital gown off his shoulders and forwards. The bandaging Jack had done earlier was done with a gentle care, and specks of green ectoplasm had begun to bleed through. The doctor picked up some medical scissors to cut away the bandaging, carefully pulling them off.

Maddie had gone hunting before. She grew up in Alabama, and she remembered her dad showing her and her sister how to skin what they hunted. The carefully made cut was a lot cleaner and less graphic than she had imagined. It wasn't the half-hazardly passionate cut that she was expecting, something that would tell her that this skinning was just a feral ghost action. It was definitely intentional. Somebody really did want to skin Phantom.

"Oh my, this is really something," Dr. Carrington murmured to herself. "But I think this should heal just fine. It looks like you got lucky on this front." She smiled warmly at him. "Just some stitches, which we'll likely do during surgery. But right now, I wanna go ahead and get some X-rays of your jaw and chest. Alright?" Phantom gave a light nod. "Excellent. The nurse will be here in a second to take you. And then we'll see what all we can do for you, alright?" She lightly patted Phantom's shoulder, and she flashed the two a smile before leaving the room.

123456789

Two men in white suits walked up to the desk. The bald, more built one reached into his inner shirt pocket to produce a badge. The other, a fairly skinny white haired young man, fumbled and searched his pockets in a brief panic before copying his partner, also producing his badge.

"I'm Agent K, this is Agent G from the Guys in White," the first one spoke. "We're here for the arrest of a Danny Phantom. We were informed that he was admitted here as a patient about an hour ago."

The woman working behind the station looked worried, and she began to flip through some papers on her desk.

"Um, I can direct you to the doctor assigned to work his case," she said hesitantly. "Or, actually, let me page her."

"That would be very helpful, thank you," Agent K spoke.

The employee paged the doctor, and the agents waited patiently. Agent G leaned into the other agent.

"When he gets out, can I taze him?" he asked quietly. Agent K rolled his eyes.

"No," he told him sternly, keeping his voice low as to not attract unwanted attention. "Not unless he attacks you. There's civilians here, we can't afford that kind of casualty. We're to take him in as quietly and quickly as we can to avoid property damage."

Agent G said nothing, standing quietly for a moment. He rocked on his heels, fidgeting while Agent K stood nearly as still as a statue.

"...So when do I shoot the ecto-gun?"

Agent K took his sunglasses off to rub at his eyes tiredly. Rookies.

"You don't unless there's a clear and present danger," Agent K scowled. He put his sunglasses on, despite being inside. "Calm down, or I'm going to make you sit in the car."

Agent G frowned, but he didn't say anything else. He sighed boredly, checking his watch. Agent K kept his eyes locked on the doors that led further into the hospital.

Nearly twenty minutes later, Dr. Carrington came out accompanied by a woman in a nice business suit, holding a file folder full of papers. They went to the station, speaking briefly with the worker who pointed out the agents. They approached them. Agent K nudged Agent G, who stopped fidgeting and stood straight with him.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Carrington, and this is one of the lawyers who represent the hospital, Elizabeth Ohmer," she introduced herself and her companion. Ohmer nodded. "I understand that you're here for my patient?"

"Yes, we're from the Guys in White," Agent K did the talking, once again pulling out his badge. Agent G copied him. "We understand that you have a ghost named Danny Phantom in your care, and we have a warrant for him to be released into our custody immediately."

"Well, as government officials, you should know that you need to wait until the suspect has received the proper care and is discharged before you can bring them into custody," the lawyer reminded him with a frown. Agent K frowned in return.

"He's wanted for felony level offenses," Agent K informed her. "We have a right to bring him in for questioning for his criminal offenses. You are interfering with the law, and I suggest you hand over the ghost before you get arrested too."

"We've done nothing wrong," Ohmer kept a level tone and voice with them, despite giving them a certain Look. Agent K didn't flinch, though the rookie was quickly growing intimidated. "Mr. Phantom is in no condition to talk to you nor be discharged at this time. You are welcome to stay here and wait for him to recover, we have plenty of coffee and magazines that you can read while you wait. But you should know that there's absolutely no way that I'm letting this kid leave the hospital until he's had treatment and can be assured that he's on a steady recovery path. Mr. Phantom is a self-reported minor at sixteen, meaning that even if you have him wanted for felony offenses, in the state of Illinois, you still have to have a youth officer present for questioning purposes and for processing once you've charged them."

Ohmer reached into her folder file to hand Agent K a piece of paper. The agent accepted it, silently reading the contents. It was simply a packet from a legal document, highlighted in bright yellow being the parts of note. It detailed what she said. He looked up at her.

"You can't apply United States laws to a ghost," Agent K argued. Agent G remained silent. Dr. Carrington shrugged.

"Given that Mr. Phantom self-reported that he was born in Wisconsin, that makes him a minor citizen of the United States, so I think we can apply those laws to him. If you question him without a youth officer in this hospital, I can and will contact the media, state and police about how you've violated the civil rights of the town's celebrity. I don't think that you also want to risk a lawsuit from Mr. Phantom himself over it,," she replied. She pulled out another piece of paper, similar to the other. A description of the legal rights that were arguably applicable to Phantom, with more highlights. Agent K's face visibly dropped in defeat as he took it. "You're not the first government agent to walk into the hospital, and you won't be the last. Now of course, you are allowed to stick around if you really want to, but you may not talk to him at this time until both Mr. Phantom is ready to receive visitors and you have a youth officer."

Agent K narrowed his eyes, his anger hidden by his sunglasses. They came prepared for him, and this was imposing a problem. A problem on the worst kind of scale: Legal loopholes and technicalities.

"As of now, Mr. Phantom's undergoing some tests so we can figure out how best to treat him," Dr. Carrington spoke up. "He will likely not be ready or able to talk to any officers until tomorrow, the very earliest."

"What are the details of his condition?" Agent K questioned.

"All I can say at this time is that we're still assessing what the problem is," the doctor replied. "Would you like security to escort you out, or would you like to wait?"

Agent K took a deep breath and exhaled harshly in frustration. Agent G's head glanced back and forth between the hospital employees and his coworker, anxiously waiting.

"...We'll be in the waiting room," Agent K finally said. Dr. Carrington and Ohmer nodded. "We still have a warrant, and Mr. Phantom is to be released to our custody upon being discharged. And you are still to alert us if there is any security or physical threat from Phantom. He is a massive threat to Amity Park's safety, and we cannot just leave the area."

"Alright. We'll call you if either of those happen," she replied. "But be warned. You will be here a while."

Agent K didn't reply, simply giving a brief nod before turning. He lightly nudged Agent G.

"Come on, rookie," he told him, and they moved to take a seat.

They settled into seats, and the second they sat, Agent G began to fidget before leaning into Agent K.

"So what?" he asked quietly. "We taze him later?" Agent K sighed.

"No, you moron," he hissed. "I'm going to update the boss, and then we wait." Agent G looked dumbfounded.

"Just...wait?" he asked. "But I thought we'd have a cool shootout, ya know? With ecto-guns and blast shields, and then of course I save a hot nurse who's so thankful I saved her she-"

"Shut up," Agent K grumbled, pulling out his cell phone. He couldn't wait for Agent O to get back from vacation so, if nothing else, he had somebody else to help deal with yet another trigger happy rookie. "The Guys in White is mostly paperwork and waiting."

"And you're cool with that?"

"We get paid by the hour, and I've been catching up on Game of Thrones," Agent K explained, hitting his boss's contact info and slumping in his seat.

123456789

Dr. Carrington and Maddie stood together with as they looked at the X-rays. All of this was fascinating, the knowledge that Phantom had a skeletal system, and that it was basically a human's. They were a bit silent as they studied the images before them. The door opened, but they paid no attention to it, and the surgeon came up to them. He let out a low whistle the second he saw them.

"Damn," he spoke in awe.

"Seven fractures," Dr. Carrington agreed. She held up his pen to the X-rays as she spoke. "You can see the comminuted fracture, and he's also got four other oblique fractures. Plus seven missing teeth, five more are badly damaged and tongue nearly chopped off. Kid went through hell."

"We're going to need to basically wire this kid back in one piece," the surgeon agreed. He also used his pen to point out injuries. "His left side has most of the damage, it looks like a hard impact."

"Yeah, he reported being in a fight with another ghost," Maddie spoke up.

"Mrs. Fenton, will you be joining us in surgery?" the surgeon asked. He hesitated. "Of course, we typically would never. But given the circumstances, we may need your expertise." Maddie nodded.

"Yes, I'll be happy to assist," she replied. "It'll be a good chance to really study some of Phantom's anatomy."

"You're going to have only this chance," Dr. Carrington said with a grimace. "The Guys in White have a warrant for his arrest. When he gets discharged, they'll likely be taking him in." Maddie raised an eyebrow.

"Waiting? That doesn't sound like the Guys in White," Maddie commented. The doctor smiled at her.

"Legal loopholes and technicalities mean we can keep him here until I discharge him," she replied, and she gave a sigh. "But if you can, Mrs. Fenton, can you see what you can do? To keep him from having to go to the Guys in White?"

"I don't have anything that could help," Maddie told her with a helpless shrug. "The Guys in White have jurisdiction over us."

"There must be something," the surgeon frowned. "Isn't there any kind of ghost related laws? Or something?"

"I may just need to advise him to get a lawyer," Dr. Carrington mused to herself. "But I don't know how well that'd work. The Guys in White operate in a different kind of court system I think, like the military? Does that sound about right?"

"Why are you so worried about this anyway?" Maddie questioned. "Phantom's done terrible things."

"He's sixteen, Maddie," the doctor spoke quietly. "I have a daughter his age. He's just a kid doing his best. You can look at him and just...you can just kind of tell. I've had patients come in who were people he rescued from burning buildings and car accidents. Evil ghosts don't do that. Evil beings don't do that. He's been doing a lot of good, really working to make a change. I don't want to see the Guys in White hurting him for that."

Maddie thought about her own sixteen year old. Danny. He shared so many similarities with Phantom, it was scary. And it couldn't be a coincidence. Why hadn't he called her yet? Something was very wrong.

"I'll have to see what I can come up with," Maddie sighed. "But for now, what do we need to prepare?"

Dr. Carrington nodded, and she began to speak more in depth about the possible surgery plans. Maddie watched as the two doctors debated the best course of action. This was going to be a long night.