Almost

Summary: A pregnant Maddie Fenton is tinkering with some gadgets in the lab when she has an accident. Tragedy occurs…or does it? Oneshot.

Disclaimer: If I didn't own Danny Phantom 7 (SEVEN?!) years ago what makes you so sure I own it now?! Alas, nothing has changed.

…I'm still not a doctor as well. But people seem to be content with just going with it so thanks guys! XD

ORIGINAL: 18/07/2006
REVISED: 10/02/2013

It was an uncharacteristically hot day in mid-April and people all over the small town of Amity Park were basking in the joy of the sun. Not that it rains all the time in Amity Park, but usually the sun is accompanied by a cold wind, or many clouds. But today the wind was pleasant and there wasn't a cloud in sight.

Almost everyone was happy to see the sunshine, but not everybody was lucky enough to be able to go outside and bask in it. Amity Park's children, sitting restless in their sweltering classrooms with their gazes wandering to the windows, sat in school whilst teachers attempted to teach them even as their own minds wandered to the time when the school bell would chime. Even the adults of Amity Park, some in office buildings and others in dreary shops, were trying to make any excuse they could to leave early and escape into the sunlight.

That is, of course, except for one.

Maddie Fenton, perched upon a stool in the basement lab of her home, sat at a desk with a screwdriver in one hand and a white, square box in the other. Her husband Jack, currently bustling around the kitchen above, was apparently trying to teach their two-year-old daughter Jazz how to cook fairy cakes as Maddie worked on one of their ghost hunting inventions.

Maddie smiled to herself. Ghost hunting was how she'd met her husband and together they formed a great ghost hunting team; ready to protect Amity Park with their inventions and to help fight ghosts should the need ever arise.

But the need for it had never arisen, and throughout her career Maddie had never come across a single ghost. But she knew they were out there, no matter what the people who criticised their work said, and so she worked hard on her and Jack's inventions knowing that one day they'd be needed.

Their newest invention, The Ghost Cage, was their most ambitious project to date but it was also proving to be their trickiest. The idea of it was that when all three, separate box components were aligned on the floor they would trigger a cage to rise up and trap a ghost within. Or, similarly, the cage would rise up and keep a ghost out. Jack and Maddie had worked almost all the kinks out of their plan, sticking almost religiously to their meticulous notes, and were in the process of testing the cage out when Maddie discovered she was pregnant.

The couple were delighted at their news, but slightly dismayed at the list of limitations that Maddie was expected to stick to during the course of her pregnancy. One of them, after the doctor found out about Maddie's job, was to stay away from inventing to avoid any unnecessary problems caused by an invention going wrong. The couple had agreed, albeit reluctantly, but Maddie had soon found that without anything to focus her brilliant mind on she was getting increasingly bored and restless.

Which was exactly what happened on this stifling hot April day. Boredom, combined with being seven months pregnant and stuck in the heat, had led Maddie to taking refuge in the wonderfully air-conditioned lab. And whilst she was down in the lab her perfectionist side won over she couldn't just leave things alone, especially when she noticed some problems in the wiring…

'I know I shouldn't really be doing this,' she thought as she screwed something into place. She smiled fondly as she heard squealing coming from the kitchen upstairs, followed by a thumping sound and yelling. 'Sounds like Jack's gone and mutated the cakes again. We really should get a new oven.'

She placed the screwdriver onto the worktop and lightly placed her free hand onto her bump. She smiled as she felt the tiny life inside of her move, and as if it was answering an unasked question, it kicked her. She placed her hand onto the place where the baby had kicked. 'Hello little one,' she thought. The baby kicked again.

She smiled with motherly affection as she picked up her screwdriver. She screwed a couple more things back into place, while removing some more to make room for the new wires that would have to go in. The yelling in the kitchen got louder, as did the bangs, and Jazz's childish giggles filled the air.

'At least the fairy cakes are keeping her entertained this time,' Maddie thought, remembering the last time something mutated in the oven. Jazz had almost screamed the house down. 'Or maybe it's Daddy who's doing the entertaining.'

Maddie listened a while to the thumps and giggles before she decided to go upstairs and intervene before the kitchen was destroyed. She stood up and put the screwdriver back on the rack with the others, she then went to retrieve box she was working on from the worktop. As she approached her feet caught on something and she stumbled, falling forward with her arms outstretched. She grabbed onto the table, which shook under the unexpected weight, and the shaking caused the box to fall onto the floor with a clatter. It started glowing green.

In a surreal haze Maddie began to walk towards the box. She didn't notice two other boxes glowing from separate ends of the room. She was halfway to it just as it exploded in a burst of green light.

Pain surged through Maddie's body, the feeling tearing at her insides; burning them, ripping them. She gasped.

"No!" She cried as agonising pain shot through her abdomen. Her hands gripped her stomach as she felt herself falling.

Then everything went black.

When Maddie next opened her eyes she was sitting in a beautiful field full of flowers with butterflies flying in the clear blue sky and sweet birdsong filling the air. Maddie stood up slowly, her limbs feeling unnaturally heavy, and looked around.

'Where am I?' She thought as she surveyed the unfamiliar surroundings. 'How did I get here?' Laughter could be heard in the distance. Familiar laughter.

Maddie walked through the lush green grass to a gate in the corner of the field. She opened it onto a clearing that was next to a sparkling blue stream. Parked off to one side was a vehicle that Maddie recognised as the Fenton RV and in the middle of the clearing sat two people. Jack and Jazz.

Suddenly the memory of the accident in the lab came rushing back and Maddie wobbled on her feet as the phantom feeling of pain gripped her, but almost as quickly as it appeared it was gone.

Jazz turned as she detected her mother's presence and Maddie noticed that her daughter looked different. Somewhat older somehow. She flicked her long red hair as she waved, her teal eyes alight with laughter. Jack, who also looked older, smiled at her as she shakily made her way towards her husband and daughter but she stopped when Jazz started to yell something.

"Mum! Danny! Come on!" She yelled happily. Maddie looked at her daughter in confusion, until she heard childish laughter from behind her. She spun around. Standing behind her stood a little boy.

He smiled brightly with gorgeous sparkling blue eyes and boyishly messy hair. He wore a light blue t-shirt with a spaceship on it and black shorts with blue trainers. He looked about four and Maddie's overall observation was that this little boy was utterly adorable. He looked at her right in the eye and spoke.

"Do you wanna play with me Mummy?" He asked, complete and utter trust shining in his eyes.

'Mummy?'

Maddie was lost for words, and with a lack of reply the little boy seemed confused. Maddie turned slightly to find that Jazz and Jack had disappeared. When she turned to look at the little boy again he was frowning.

"Why don't you want to play with me?" He asked. "Do you not love me Mummy?"

"Of course I love you," Maddie replied automatically. A small nagging feeling in the back of her mind was screaming the little boy's identity to her, but on a conscious level she had no idea who he was.

Despair filled the little boy's blue eyes and his next words were filled with sorrow, agony and fear. "Then why did you kill me?"

Maddie went cold, and the sky darkened. The butterflies fell in flames whilst the feathers of birds fell sadly to the ground, their singing coming to an abrupt halt. The greenery that surrounded them died and the stream froze over.

"I didn't kill you," Maddie said desperately, shivering against the cold. The little boy shook his head, his hair bouncing softly with the movement.

"Yes you did Mummy," he replied. "You killed me, did you not love me?" He walked slowly towards her, holding his hand out. "Because I loved you, I know I did."

"Who are you?" Maddie breathed. The little boy had reached her side and his extended hand reached for hers. She grasped his small hand in hers.

She couldn't move.

She was barraged with emotions; a terrible sadness, an uncontrollable longing and an undisturbed fear were most prominent. She felt like bursting with the ferocity of it and she cried out.

"They told you not to," the boy said, his voice shaking in anger. His stone cold hand gripped hers tightly, like a lifeline. "They told you it was dangerous."

'They told me what?' Maddie thought. The boy continued as if he'd actually heard her.

"They told you that testing your inventions could hurt you and me," he replied impatiently. "You did it anyway and it killed me Mummy!"

The final piece of the puzzle clicked into place and Maddie suddenly looked at her flat stomach, her hands resting on where she'd felt her baby before she blacked out. The little boy rested his small hands upon hers.

"How could you?"

"I'm sorry," Maddie sobbed. The little hand in hers disappeared and the boy stepped backwards. He started to flicker, one moment he was there the next he wasn't, and he smiled sadly at Maddie.

"Sorry won't bring me back Mummy," he whispered, his voice echoing around the barren land. "Sorry doesn't pay the price of life."

"I'm sorry!"

"Sorry won't bring me back."

"I'm so sorry!"

"I love you Mummy, and I miss you."

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry…I'm sorry…"

"I'm sorry…"

"Maddie?"

"I'm so sorry…"

"Honey wake up,"

"Hmmm…?"

The pain was what hit Maddie first. That and a terrible heaviness that encased her limbs. Her eyes felt like lead and her body ached all over. She heard the soft, loving voice of her husband talking to her but the words went in and out of focus almost like she was hearing them from underwater. She muttered things too, attempting to reply, but she couldn't hear what she said. Big hands cradled hers and she mentally used them as a lifeline to save her from drowning.

Beep…beep…beep…

Maddie heard beeping in the background and that, along with a weight upon her nose and chin, helped her realise that she was in a hospital. She groggily opened her eyes to see the worn and tired face of her beloved husband Jack. Behind him there was the telltale white walls of a typical hospital. She smiled tiredly, one hand coming up to remove the oxygen mask from her face.

"What happened?" She asked, mentally cringing at how weak and scratchy her voice sounded. Jack's face reflected immense sadness and Maddie was suddenly very sorry that she'd asked.

"I was in the kitchen with Jazzypants when I saw light coming from the lab. I thought you were dead Mads. You were just lying there and…" Jack's voice wavered and he closed his eyes, trying to compose himself. "I thought you were dead," he whispered, eyes opening. "I thought you were dead and I've never felt so helpless, so…" Maddie squeezed Jack's hand gently.

Then the events of her dream came back to her and she gasped, her eyes widening.

"What about the baby?" She asked, panic evident in her voice. Jack shakily shook his head as tears fell. He squeezed her hand back and Maddie didn't know if it was to try and soften the blow for her or to hide the fact that his hand was shaking.

"They ran a check up on you and the baby when you came here," he explained, his voice breaking with sobs. "Sweetheart, they couldn't detect the baby's heartbeat."

Maddie stared at her husband in shock and immediately pulled her hand from his grip and pressed it onto the place where her baby had kicked her what almost seemed like a lifetime ago. She couldn't feel the little life inside of her move, and the baby didn't kick.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed, praying that the doctor had made a mistake and that her baby was okay. But the accusing words spoken by the little boy in her dream came back to her and she realised, with a sickening jolt, what exactly he had meant.

'Sorry won't bring me back.'

"The doctors were going to wait until you were awake to remove…" he stopped himself, choking on the words. "They were planning on a caesarean-"

"No."

"What?"

Maddie swallowed hard, her hands rubbing her belly. "I don't want a caesarean," she replied. "I want to do this naturally."

Jack looked at his wife. "Honey I don't think it works that way-"

"I don't care," Maddie snapped, her voice shaking. "I want a natural birth. I know they can do that somehow." She stopped, took a deep breath and then collapsed into uncontrollable sobs. Jack hugged her close, patting her on the back as tears ran down his cheeks.

"I'll go talk to the doctor," Jack whispered into her ear as he rubbed circles onto her back. "Everything's going to be okay," he muttered.

"It's all my fault," Maddie sobbed. "All my fault…"

As it turned out the doctor's could induce Maddie's labour as long as the baby wasn't in the breech position. The doctor's ran a check-up to make sure that everything would go according to plan, and as they were doing this Maddie felt like bursting into sobs again when there wasn't a heartbeat coming from the ultrasound machine, but the baby's position was fine.

The delivery was planned for the next day and Maddie read through the leaflets presented to mothers of stillborn babies, but even the comforting words they provided couldn't ease her pain. The adorable little boy from her dream kept floating into her thoughts, along with the words that he had said, and Maddie knew it was her fault and she couldn't help snapping at anyone who tried to tell her otherwise.

On the morning of the delivery Maddie was a nervous wreck. Jack was there to comfort her when she burst into tears but Maddie knew that he didn't feel how she felt; he didn't have the guilt of an innocent life on his conscience.

She was given the injection that would induce her labour at half 8 in the morning and at quarter to 1 in the afternoon and 6 weeks before her due date Maddie Fenton was wheeled into the delivery room. She winced as the contractions came and Jack held her hand as she winced and groaned.

Sooner than she expected, and much sooner than she was fully willing to comprehend, the doctor announced that she was fully dilated and could begin to push on the next contraction. Maddie clung to Jack's hands as if they were her only lifelines, sobbing slightly.

"It's my fault the baby's dead," she gasped. A strong contraction ripped through her in answer. Jack whispered comforts into her ear, but all she heard was the doctor yelling at her to push. So she did. Hard.

Suddenly, so quick she almost thought that she had imagined it, she saw a flash of white light. As soon as the light disappeared she felt something tumble out from between her legs and she started to sob, fully expecting the grim faces of the doctors and a deadly silence in the delivery room.

What she never expected was the bright wails of a newborn baby.

And by the looks on the doctors faces neither did they.

The next few moments were filled with a tornado of lights and sounds. The doctor yelled for an incubator whilst the nurses checked to make sure the baby was fine. Jack had a stunned look of disbelief on his face whilst Maddie sobbed with joy, crying out for someone to let her see her child. Someone took time among the chaos to inform the new parents that they had a baby boy.

'My baby's alive,' Maddie thought as she watched her wailing son being placed in an incubator. 'That's all that matters.'

She never noticed that she wasn't allowed to hold him.

Clockwork blinked rapidly as the heavy smell of disinfectant and baby powder assaulted his nose as he stepped through the portal from his domain in the Ghost Zone to the hospital. He listened soundly to the noises of fussy babies from the wards that surrounded the room he was in. He himself was looking for a baby. A specific baby.

He quietly made his way through the dimly lit room to an incubator located in the corner. Inside the incubator lay a tiny child, and it was this child whom Clockwork was looking for.

The boy was placed in the middle of the incubator, a feeding tube up his tiny nose, an even tinier cap placed on his head and a too-big nappy on his bottom. His eyes were closed and his chest rose and fell rapidly with every breath he took.

Clockwork phased his hand through the glass, each second his hand phasing from young to old. He placed his hand gently on the child's chest and concentrated. A minute later a flash of white light snaked its way up the Time Ghost's arm, disappearing inside of him. Clockwork smiled at the baby.

"Until you need it Daniel," he said, his voice echoing around the room. "Until you need it." And in a flash of green light the he was gone.

The gorgeous blue orbs held by her tiny son mystified Maddie each time she stared into them hours later. The small boy, whom Maddie and Jack had named Daniel James, held Maddie's finger tightly as she pressed his tiny palm gently. He stared at her in a way that could only be described as curious, even though Maddie knew he was far too young to feel that way, and he seemed to listen intently as Maddie spoke, recognising her voice and hanging onto every word.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. She could see Danny's head turn to look at her in the dim lighting of the hospital. The moonlight gently shining through her window. She removed her finger from his grasp and then stroked the small tuft of dark hair that was sticking out from under the cap. "I love you Danny, and don't you ever forget it."

She continued to talk to her son, the child she had almost lost, until she fell asleep from exhaustion. Then she dreamed.

(Four Years Later)

When Maddie next opened her eyes she was sitting in a beautiful field full of flowers with butterflies flying in the clear blue sky and sweet birdsong filling the air. Maddie stood up slowly and looked around.

'Where am I?' She thought as she surveyed the familiar surroundings. 'Oh I remember! I must have fallen asleep again.' Laughter could be heard in the distance. Familiar laughter.

Maddie stood up and walked through the lush green grass to a gate in the corner of the field. She opened it onto a clearing that was next to a sparkling blue stream. Parked off to one side was a vehicle that Maddie knew to be the Fenton RV and in the middle of the clearing sat two people. Jack and Jazz.

Jazz turned as she detected her mother's presence and Maddie smiled. Her beautiful daughter flicked her long red hair and then waved, her teal eyes alight. Jack said something to Jazz and the girl smiled and then turned to yell something in Maddie's direction.

"Mum! Danny! Come on!" She yelled happily. Maddie looked at her daughter in confusion, until she heard childish laughter from behind her. She spun around. Standing behind her stood a little boy.

He smiled brightly with gorgeous sparkling blue eyes and boyishly messy hair. He wore a light blue t-shirt with a spaceship on it and black shorts with blue trainers. He looked about four and Maddie mused on how cute he was. He looked at her, hope shining in his eyes.

"Do you wanna play with me Mummy?" He asked, complete and utter trust shining in his eyes. Maddie smiled brightly at the little boy-her little boy.

"Yes Danny, I do," she replied. Jazz approached her mother and brother with a spongeball in her arms. Jack followed with a hand on his daughter's shoulders. He ruffled Danny's hair as the little boy retrieved the ball from Jazz.

And the four of them played, unaware that in ten years time the bright red-haired six-year-old would be the household's resident genius and mother hen. Unaware that both parents would be accidentally shunning their children to pursue something that no one believed would happen, fighting foes that nobody could understand. Unaware that in ten years time the small four-year-old boy would hold a burden greater than anyone could ever imagine; that he would be given something that he was denied from birth, something that would save his life and make him an unwitting target.

But for now the small family didn't have a care in the world.

For to them all that mattered was each other.

I would like to thank every single person who has read this story and favourited it, reviewed it, added it to alerts/communities or even got to the end and actually liked it. I never expected it to be this popular. Never. And for it to still be read and liked seven years later is…a massive honour.

I'm surprised people didn't yell at me for the numerous grammar errors scattered around this story actually – I saw them as I revised it and thought 'What?! How did I manage to write THAT?!' XD

This story did originally have a sequel planned, called Almost There if I remember rightly, but it has been at least three years since I've last seen an episode of Danny Phantom and I honestly don't think it will ever be written…