CHAPTER 9:

Danny laid unconscious with the small cube clutched to his chest as Skulker's board went through the ghost zone, it abruptly stopped by the green swirls. The jolt of the stop sent Danny through the portal, his unconscious body slid across the floor of the lab, hands still gripped to the small box at his chest. Upstairs, a machine beeped in Jack's pocket, he stuck his hand inside and pulled out a rectangle with a small screen and an antenna. "Danny's here." Jack dropped the tracker on the floor, staring at nothing. Sam was already halfway down stairs, Tucker and Dani not far behind. Sam stood as she saw Danny, then she dropped to her knees by his side, carefully turning him to his back. She opened his hands and picked up the cube, examining it for only a moment before realizing that is was important.

"DANNY!" Maddie yelled as she finally came down the stairs.

"Shh" Tucker said as he went next to Danny.

"We need the first-aid kit from under Danny's bed." Sam said.

"I'll get it." Danielle said, she pulled at the band on her arm and it gave away easily, she tested her powers before transforming and flying through the ceiling. Jack and Maddie stared wide-eyed. Dani came back in seconds with a cardboard box in her hands, disguised as a box of baseball cards. She handed it to Sam, she began to clean every cut and burn. She gingerly lifted off his shirt, the wetness made it stick to his skin. She cleaned his whole torso and bandaged it as one. Danny's eyes fluttered open, he instantly stiffened.

"Calm down Danny, you're back home." Sam put a hand on his bandaged chest, his muscles relaxed, then he tensed back up.

"You're hurt." He looked at Sam's slightly tattered body.

"No, I'm fine, we need to get you to your bed." Sam told him.

"No, we need to get him to a hospital." Maddie said, approaching her son, who's eyes widened as he stiffened even more.

"No, no, don't touch me, no." Danny shook his head despite his pounding head. Maddie stopped approaching and put a hurt look on her face. "They know, they're going to kill me." Danny looked at Tucker and Dani.

"No, Danny, we love you." Maddie knit her eyebrows together.

"Promise?" Danny raised an eyebrow. Maddie and Jack nodded together, Danny visibly relaxed. Sam and Tucker helped Danny up, he stood with shaky legs.

They got him to his room with a struggle, laying him in his bed. "You guys need to get to your parents." Maddie said as he son drifted to an uneasy sleep.

"I guess, but I can't just leave." Tucker said.

"Danielle's staying, he'll be fine." Jack said, "We'll drive you." Sam and Tucker nodded.

Sam and Tucker sat in the back of the mini GAV, while Maddie drove them to their houses. They stared out of the windows, worried about the real world. When they got to Sam's house, she cautiously got out, looking around her. She walked up the long pathway to her house, with a small limp. She rang the doorbell to her house, to be engulfed in hugs. Tucker entered his house to the same reaction. Maddie parked the car-sized GAV in the driveway and stepped out.

"MRS. FENTON!" Maddie turned to the sound of her name to see a reporter and a camera man, she raised an eyebrow. "Can I ask you a few questions?"

"I guess." She shrugged.

"What do you think about your son, do you think he will make it?" He put a microphone in her face.

"He's in his bed right now, in rough condition. He was only conscious for a few minutes before he fell asleep." Maddie answered, looking at the microphone that was under her nose.

"Have Sam, Tucker, and Danielle come back safely?" He moved the microphone to his face, then back to hers.

"Yes, Sam and Tucker are at their own houses." Maddie pointed behind her back to her house. "I need to get inside." The man nodded.

"Could we have a word with your son?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Of course not!" She turned on her heel and entered her house. She quickly went up the stairs and in to her son's room. Danielle was asleep on the bed next to Danny, and Jack was sitting in the computer chair, staring at his son.

"Hi Maddie." He said quietly.

"Some reporter just asked to come and talk to Danny." She walked over to him. "I mean, is that really something you ask a teenage boy that was just tortured for a week? No." She put her hands in the air.

"How did we not see what he was?" Jack leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees, his eyes were distant.

"You know what Jack, I don't know, but he's ok and we love him, that's all that matters." Maddie put her hand on his shoulder. "What are we going to do about Danielle?" She looked as the young girl breathed slowly.

"We could take her in." Jack shrugged.

"Yeah, that would be the right thing to do." She tapped her toes. "He needs to eat." She left to the kitchen.

Tucker walked in to his house and was suffocated by hugs. "Tucker! We missed you so much!" His mom kissed his forehead.

"I missed you too." He smiled as his stomach grumbled.

"You need to eat and get clean, and take this thing off." His dad poked the band on his arm, it just opened and fell off leaving raw skin behind.

"Oh, Tucker! We need to bandage that!" His mom held his arm. Tucker just shrugged.

"Can I eat first?" He asked.

"Yeah, at least you still have your appetite." His mom smiled at him. "But don't worry about Danny." She gave him a sorry look.

"He came out a few hours after we did." He looked down. "He's at his house."

"Good! At least he's safe." His mom put her hand on his shoulder.

"Do you hate me for being friends with him, even though, you know, he's half ghost?" Tucker shrugged.

"No! Of course not!" She squeezed his shoulder before she went to prepare his food.

Sam entered her house to a light hug. "Samantha! So glad that you are ok!" Pamela showed as much affection as she could. "You should go get clean." She looked at her daughter's length, not taking in how skinny she was, and how she was so apprehensive. Sam turned and limped up the stairs. "I'll have steaks ready in an hour." Her mom turned to the kitchen like nothing had happened.

School had started back up, but Sam, Danny, and Tucker weren't in classes yet. Gossip continued to go around as news reporters came with unconfirmed stories. "I heard that Danny got shot in the heart when he was fighting his way out." Paulina filed her nails at the lunch table.

"I heard that he'll go back to fighting in a few weeks." Star brushed her hair.

"ugh, he is so cute!" Paulina squealed.

"You didn't think he was 'cute' before he nearly got killed." Dash rolled his eyes.

"Hey! Perspective's change." Paulina flipped her hair.

"It's because he's Phantom, the 'love of your life.'" Kwan leaned back .

"No, it's because he's cute and strong!" Paulina leaned forward.

"You called him an ugly wimp the day before he was put on air." Dash tossed a football.

"Ugh, I've had enough of you." Paulina and Star flipped their hair and got up to leave.

Later that day the school had a meeting. "As you all know, three students have been absent on special circumstances." Mr. Lancer put his hands on the podium. "Danny Fenton, Sam Manson, Tucker Foley, and Danielle Fenton will be coming back to school on Monday." The room began to mumble. "Danny has finally gotten his strength back and so they will be coming to school, but we have a few requests to ask you." Lancer calmed the mumbles. "Hopefully you all know what Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder is, all four of the students have been diagnosed with it and we would like you not to bring anything up, treat them normally. Their appearances will be different, with scars and such, so I would like you not to stare, treat them like any other student. Please be considerate and if they are showing any kind of fear, leave them alone, don't touch them or harass them. And you know that they will have excuses from class for certain reasons, so we would ask you not to make anything obvious because they don't want attention. This will be a rough transition for them, and I just want everyone to make it easy for them." Lancer put his hands together and left the podium as the room burst out in talking.

AN: Ugh, I really wanted more of a cliffhanger, guess not, I didn't want to get to the part where they came back to school yet, but I wanted it to be at least 1,500 words, so I just wrote whatever. Sorry for the late update! I preparing another story. *wink wink*