35. Hold My Hand

xxxx

"I don't want to die..." the boy whimpered weakly. "I don't..."

"You're not going to die," he assured. He didn't know that for a fact but he would say it again and again if it would keep his child sane. He'd tell him just about anything if he thought for a second it would ground his fleeting awareness.

Jack bit his lip forcefully as he pressed the bundle of towels against the wound. White was turning to a deep shade of red; blood was all he could see. Thick crimson streams rolled from the table where his only son lay gasping. Upstairs he could hear the heavy footsteps of his daughter as she tried in desperate anxiousness to clean the house. Danny had come home covered in gore and had then proceeded to shed his life along the floors, walls, and carpets. Jack was coated in the crimson mess himself as a result of carrying the boy from the floor, where he'd collapsed, down to the lab. There was a pause; he imagined she'd stopped possibly to vomit as she'd done since they found her brother. His poor daughter, she wasn't ready for this, but then who would be?

The boy yelped as Jack shifted him as gently as he could. Elevating the boy's right side slowly, Jack pulled away the blood soaked towels and threw them to the floor. "It's okay Danny," he soothed as he replaced the towels with fresh ones. Even the slightest movement was too much for the teenager to bear, he'd scream and pant breathlessly as the pain stole his resolve. Minute by minute more of the boy's blood, the boy's life, left his body. "Maddie, hurry up!"

The woman didn't look up from her work. "Don't shout Jack, I need to think." She sounded calm.

He huffed a frustrated sigh. They didn't exactly have time to waste on thinking, there had to be action. Gritting his teeth Jack stared into the pale face of the boy on the laboratory table; how many times had the poor kid feared ending up here? This was different; he hoped Danny was still coherent enough to understand he was safe. The boy grunted and clamped his jaw, his body shaking; he was still recovering from being moved. Jack cursed under his breath, if it hadn't been for the blizzard they'd have had Danny off to a hospital where he could receive proper care, but no ambulance could get anywhere fast enough in the storm. The family was left to its own devices.

Fearfully Jack touched his forehead and stroked his sweating brow. "Sure picked a rough night kiddo," he said quietly. His hand lingered on his clammy cheek for a moment. Danny winced, his blue eyes cracking open for a moment. His sight began to wander quickly. The father realized that his son wasn't cognizant of the extent of the injury. Quickly Jack placed a cool damp rag over his eyes. He didn't need to see, it would make things worse. "Easy kiddo, easy." He watched as he cringed and reached up for a moment to inspect the cloth on his face, Jack caught his hand before it fell limply against his stomach.

"They hate me," Danny panted as his chest trembled with the effort of speaking and breathing. Jack stared sympathetically at the boy and clutched his hand tenderly. "I just know they do. They're my friends and I'm supposed to protect them. It's all my fault they're hurt, this is all my fault...I let this happen." Danny's voice was unbearably strangled.

"That's not true. Danny, they'll understand, you took care of them as best as you could," Jack comforted. He'd been told that Danny had gotten his friends to safety, he guessed that was before he was injured so critically. "I'm sure they don't hate you." And he knew that for a fact, no matter what had happened he knew Sam and Tucker were unconditionally loyal to his son.

The raven haired boy clenched his jaw to bite back a gasp. "I-I'm scared...scared..." Though he tried his best, the teen couldn't hold back his tears.

"Shh shh Danny, it's okay." Jack turned and saw his wife moving about the lab frantically. He admired her ability to focus under pressure, he certainly wasn't much use in high-stress situations. He couldn't even begin to concentrate on anything while his son was bleeding to death on the table before him. Touching his cheek, Jack gave Danny a reassuring pat. He was here for support while she was there to save him.

Finally she came toward the brightly lit table that exposed a macabre scene from anyone's worst nightmare. "Turn him," Maddie demanded quickly as she stood holding a few odd tools in her hands. Somehow she had what she believe she needed to fashion a tourniquet for their boy.

He met eyes with her and saw she was dead-serious. "But..." He knew it would hurt him. He couldn't bear to cause the trembling teen more pain, not when he was just barely hanging on.

"Jack, do you want him to die?" She stood stolidly, leaving the decision completely up to her husband, as though he really had a choice. "Just trust me," she assured.

The father swallowed hard and looked sympathetically at the trembling form of his son. "I'm sorry Danny."

Outside it was quiet as the large flakes of snow continued to cover the ground. People slept warm inside their homes, under their blankets and beside their fireplaces. One family did not, one family stood on edge, covered in blood, as they tried to keep their youngest member. The ignorant silent night was torn by a scream.

xxxx

The sun took its time setting beyond the horizon, lackadaisically it bathed the town in brilliant shades of gold and orange. Jack climbed to the Op Center roof and found a raven haired teenager gazing out over the edge. Four months of rehabilitation were behind them but the road ahead was long and arduous. That cold December night had been exactly what the two parents of a superhero had feared; things got out of hand and their son was nearly killed. The fact that he had escaped with his life had been nothing short of a miracle.

Slowly Jack sat beside the boy and quietly enjoyed the sunset with him. There was plenty he could say to him but the father didn't feel the need. The wind blew softly as the atmosphere began to give way to night. For all Danny had lost he had done the right thing. Sam and Tucker were alright, Sam had a permanent scarred red blotches on her face and Tucker had an incurable limp in his left leg. But they had survived for no other reason except that Jack's son was willing to sacrifice anything to assure their safety. Jack was inexpressibly proud, there weren't many people like his boy in the world. He was lucky to know him, to love and be loved by him.

"Don't be mad," the teen suddenly said. With a confused grunt Jack looked over to Danny who bent his head with a grin. Lifting his right arm he exposed the twisted metal with a short laugh. "Kinda got carried away."

Jack leaned closer and grabbed the prosthetic arm with child-like upset. "Oh Danny what did you do?" He moved it a bit and inspected the clogged gears and torn metal. "All my handiwork..."

"Sorry dad," Danny offered gently.

Eying the damage, Jack sighed. Metal could be replaced. He wasn't really upset that the working arm he and his wife had painstakingly crafted was irreparable to the point they'd be better off starting from scrap metal; he wasn't upset about that at all. Things could be remade. There were long, deep, trails left by what he could only image were fierce claws. For a moment he stole a glace at his son's face and noticed a thin red line running horizontally over his cheek. By now his ghost powers had healed all of the superficial damage, making it appear as though the boy hadn't ever seen combat.

He suppressed his urge to cry as he clutched at the metal hand resting in his palm. Danny had seen some terrible fights and some days he very nearly lost his life. That cold December night had been the worst of all of the family's life. None of them had ever faced anything so horrific before. Jack doubted he'd ever see something as terrible as his son's injury. Whatever had attacked that night had done a gruesome job of severing Danny's right arm. He wasn't stupid, if something that terrible could happen once it would happen again. Jack had to wonder how much time he was going to have left with Danny before his young son's heroics finally got the best of him.

Jack felt the metal fingers attempt to clasp around his hand. Some of the nerve endings weren't destroyed, granting Danny the faint ability to move his once flawless metal appendage. Clutching the hand tighter he tried to remember his son's right hand and how it had felt. If he could just hold it one more time.

"I promise I'll be more careful next time."

Blinking, the father offered the apologetic boy a smile. "Danny, I don't care if you break this thing a hundred times," he said flippantly. "As long as you come home safe, I'll be happy."

He couldn't hold his smile as he remembered the boy, pale and panting, as the life drained from his frail body. He shouldn't have survived. His son had endured five hours of excruciating pain before a rescue team was able to show up. By then Danny had lost consciousness and a dangerous amount of blood. Maddie had improvised and used ectoplasm to keep him going, her quick thinking had probably saved him. For a moment tears pricked into the father's eyes. Anything could be replaced, gears, cogs, metal, screws, but not his son. He would never be able to replace Danny if he were to ever lose him. That was more than enough to scare Jack.

"So, can you fix it?"

Blinking, Jack tried to recapture his thoughts. "Sure thing, kiddo." He tousled Danny's hair playfully to hide his discomfort. His son smiled brightly, how Jack loved that smile. He had to break his gaze to keep his eyes from watering; he stared off into the distance. He had to keep his mind clear, Danny was alive and all was right with the world.

Clearing his throat the boy's grin loosened and retracted as he pulled his lips tight. He wasn't exactly fond of repairs. "When you do it this time..."

Danny licked his lips nervously and grabbed the docking port on his right shoulder with his biological arm. The prosthetic his family had designed for him was incredible, it worked like a real flesh and blood hand and had the advantaged of being made out of a resistant metal. But all good things have their price, like the night he lost his arm in exchange for saving his friends. Yes there was a consequence to having such an advanced prosthetic arm, attaching and detaching the thing was incredibly painful. Each and every nerve had to be synced with the endless array of wires that acted as mechanical nerves. Losing his metal arm was the same as losing his real arm. Reattaching his metal arm was the same as jamming his flesh and blood arm into an electrical current.

"What is it Danny?" Jack asked gently as he noted the paleness of his son's face.

He needed to replace the prosthetic, there was no avoiding that, but just the idea was making his stomach do back-flips. There wasn't much that could be done about the pain during the reattachment surgery. He needed to be conscious so that they could assure everything was connected right and all the impulses were being received correctly. Half-ghosts were also apparently very immune to painkillers as well. Danny shyly looked his ever-loving father in the eye and recalled how the man had kept vigil over him the night his limb was lost. His family had always collectively been a great comfort to him but he could never forget how well his father had inspired him to survive.

"Well..." he grunted and cracked a shy smile, "do you think you could hold my hand?"

not enough time to write anymore, this makes me sad. I'm gonna keep trying when I can