Hospital drabble

It's been a while, hasn't it? Anyways, enjoy the fluff! ^^

Blackness… a never-ending void of empty charcoal… a bottomless pit of despair and emptiness. That was all the young half ghost could see anymore. Danny sighed as he lay in the hospital bed that he was inhabiting. At least, he assumed it was a hospital bed, anyway. Due to his new… impairment, he couldn't really tell where he was.

"FIVE MONTHS?!" He heard Jack Fenton's booming voice exclaim. "He's a FENTON! He should be able to heal QUICKER than THAT!"

The boy felt himself cringe as he felt his ears ringing. Did he have to be so loud?

"I'm sorry, Mr Fenton," came a sympathetic woman's voice in response. "But your son's eyes are very delicate right now and are going through an important healing process. The only thing any of us can do now is wait for recovery. Until then, while Daniel's sight is repairing, it would be best if he stayed here." She seemed to know what she was talking about, so Danny assumed she was a doctor, or at least a nurse.

There was silence in the room, so the half ghost assumed it meant that his family were thinking about what they had just been told. Danny gulped. Did she say he would be sightless and stuck in this hospital room for six months? Oh, man. Even though he had supernatural healing abilities, it still meant he would be blind for a lot longer than he had hoped.

"Don't worry, dude. We'll sort out the ghosts for ya," Tucker's voice told him reassuringly in a whisper. Hearing it, the boy smiled. He really did have the best friends a kid could ask for.

His joy was interrupted by Jazz's skeptical voice. "Six months? Isn't that going to be a bit… expensive?" The boy frowned. He and his sister were no strangers to the fact that their parents had almost no money lately. There was no way they were going to be able to pay for this.

"Expensive, yes," the doctor clarified. "However, it won't be you or your family paying for the costs."

"What?" He heard Sam ask in confusion. Initially, Danny had played with the idea that Sam's parents had agreed to pay for the hospital. However, he had quickly changed his mind when he remembered just how much the Mansons really didn't like him. Then who-

"Mr. Masters agreed to pay for the whole thing," the woman confirmed calmly. "Now, I suggest you all leave for now. Daniel needs his rest." Before Danny could respond, he heard a flurry of loud footsteps exit the room, as well as a 'get better soon, little brother' from his sister. Really, he was fortunate he still had his hypersensitive hearing, because without that as well, he really would be completely useless.

"Doctor?" Danny asked, checking to see if the woman was still there. He really needed to know something.

"Yes, Daniel?"

"Did… did Vlad really pay for all of this?" he asked, rather hesitantly. Why would the fruitloop DO that? It had to be some sort of mistake!

"Yes, he did. As soon as he heard you were being admitted to this hospital, he called up the receptionist and told her he would be paying for the whole thing. He was even kind enough to inform us that you were allergic to blood tests."

The boy rolled his eyes, or at least, tried to. Allergic to blood tests? Yeah, right. The guy knew as much as he did that one blood test would ruin the whole thing and his parents would immediately be informed that he was half ectoplasm. But why did the guy even care if he was discovered? Was it because he was scared that his secret would be revealed too? He exhaled incredulously. It had to be that. Why else would he lie? It certainly wasn't because he was worried for Danny's own safety or anything, right? This was Vlad.

"If that will be all, I have other patients to attend to," the doctor told him, footsteps heading towards the door. "Have a good day."

Danny sighed and shut his eyes. "Sure, whatever. Thanks doc." His life sucked. His day was probably going to be about as good as getting his butt handed to him by the Ghost King.

XXX

Approximately three hours later, Danny hadn't once been able to sleep. He was, quite frankly, too depressed at the prospect that he was now blind. He had always expected that the ghost fights that he constantly got into would injure him in some way, but he never could have anticipated this.

He let out a depressed sigh, but his breath hitched when he felt someone's hand on his shoulder in reassurance. How had he not heard them come in? His first thought that this was a nurse, but no. The hand felt familiar on his shoulder and felt almost... fatherly. He knew it couldn't have been Jack though, since he could have heard that guy coming a mile away. Despite this, he still found himself smiling a little.

"Dad?"

He heard an all-too-familiar chuckle. "Honestly Daniel, the fact that you thought I was the oaf is really not much of a compliment."

The teenager glared and angrily shook the man's hand off of his shoulder. "Vlad!" He groaned. "Ugh, great. You here to gloat?"

He could almost hear Vlad roll his eyes. "Yes, Daniel," he agreed sarcastically. "I payed all that money to ensure you recover your eyesight and bothered to skip an important business to see you, just so I could gloat."

Danny didn't respond. The man frowned as he tried to make out what the boy could be thinking, but all he saw in those glassy, vacant eyes, was despair.

"Daniel, your eyesight will return. It will just tak-"

"WHY, fruitloop?" Danny suddenly exclaimed angrily, crossing his arms and cutting the man off.

"Why what?" the older hybrid asked coldly.

"Why would you PAY for all of this? What would you possibly GET from that?!"

There was a sigh and then after a pause, the billionaire spoke again, but it wasn't the response that Danny had wanted. "You should rest, my boy." He headed towards the door, but before he could fully exit the room, the boy's panicked voice stopped him.

"Don't leave! Please!"

He raised his eyebrows and approached the teenager worriedly. "Daniel, are you… alright?"

Danny frowned and shifted his blank gaze downwards, even though he couldn't see what was there. "D-don't… leave," he begged pathetically. "I-" He cut himself off with a defeated sigh. "Not that you care, but nobody has visited me in hours. All I can see… is neverending darkness, and I don't like it. People being here is the only way to tell that I'm alive and to be honest, stopping me from going totally insane."

Vlad frowned, not that Danny could see it. "Calm down, Daniel. I… If you don't want me to leave, I won't."

Danny smiled appreciatively, his eyes still fixed below him.

The man stepped closer to the teenager and narrowed his eyes. "Let me see your eyes, Daniel. What on earth could have happened to them to cause that much of a panic attack from you?"

Danny did as he was told and looked straight ahead of him, still unable to see. He pouted as Vlad grabbed ahold of his chin. "That wasn't a panic attack, Vlad. I was just a bit… worried, is all."

Vlad chuckled and stared into the wide, azure eyes. They didn't appear to look damaged at first glance, but when he looked closer, he could see just how glassy and empty they were.

"Who was it?" The older halfa asked, barely controlling his anger. Whomever had done this to his little badger, was going to pay- dearly.

Not seeing the man's fuming expression, the teenager shrugged. "Technus. He electrocuted me when I was trying out this cool eye ray thing that I'd just learnt to use." He shuddered. "I've always hated electricity. But it's really not a big-" he yawned, "deal."

Vlad's fuming expression softened at the sight of his little badger getting sleepy. "Daniel, you really need to rest. You look exhausted."

He shook his head stubbornly. "Nuh uh. No way. Besides, the minute I shut my eyes, you're gonna use that as an excuse to go! I'm not stupid."

The man smirked at the teenager's' logic. "Daniel, as long as I'm quiet, I could leave as soon as wanted. That logic really doesn't work."

He saw the boy narrow his eyes at the back wall, before the anger visibly diminished and he hung his head sadly. "I can't even glare at you properly anymore. This sucks. You could be gone and I wouldn't know it."

The man's expression turned sympathetic and he put a hand on Danny's left arm. "I'm right here, Daniel. I promise you, I'm not going anywhere. You can rest now."

"But-"

"If I was leaving, you would know about it, dear boy. Now just relax. You're not going to heal if your body is exhausted."

He saw the teenager's eyes become half lidded as he let out another yawn. "Promise?"

"I promise," The man said, ruffling the teen's hair, deliberately making sure that some of his heat core's energy was being transferred to his hand as he did so. He saw Danny nod compliantly as he succumbed to the warmth and slid his eyelids closed, the ever-looming fog of darkness still there, but the boy being too tired to care.

"So… sleepy…" he mumbled. Vlad was actually stroking his hair now and he had to admit, it was really relaxing… not that he would tell the billionaire that, of course. Vlad didn't need to be told this though. He could already see the boy's tense expression relaxing as he started drifting into unconsciousness. The boy was fast asleep in a matter of seconds and snoring soundly.

"Sleep well, little badger." Reaching into the suitcase that he had brought with him, the older hybrid took out an mp3 player and placed it onto the bedside table, and took a seat onto one of the nearby chairs. He had given his word to the teenager that he wouldn't leave, so he didn't plan to just yet.

XXX

Danny woke up from a, surprisingly peaceful, rest a few hours later. He yawned and opened his eyes out of habit, even though he really didn't see the point in it.

"Hello? Anybody there?" The only response he received, was that of a nurse's.

"Good morning, Mr. Fenton. Your family haven't arrived yet, but Vlad Masters just left."

"He just left? How long was he here?"

The young woman hmmm'ed and fluffed his pillows. "I would say about… five hours. It took us a while to convince him to go home, and when he did finally agree to leave, he left you something."

Danny blinked in shock. The guy stayed here with him for five hours, just because he told him to? But that wasn't Vlad! Vlad didn't stick to his word like that, or not mock him the first chance he got! No, that wasn't Vlad at all! And what was this 'something' he left him?

"Vlad left me something?" He heard the woman grab something small from the left of him and insert something that felt like headphones into his ears.

"He told me that he got this from your room and thought you might want it." She put the small device into one of his outstretched hands. Danny frowned. Vlad had actually retrieved his mp3 player from his room, just so he had something to do? As strange as it was, that was one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for him. Not even his friends had thought to bring him anything like that, as far as he knew.

As he he heard the nurse leave, Danny pressed where he could feel the play button was on his device and shut his eyes as he listened to the comforting sounds of the Dumpty Humpty rock album. Despite everything, there was something going on with Vlad, though he wasn't going to believe that the guy cared or anything, until he could actually see it for himself. Yeah, he probably needed to ask his friends' opinions on this. Vlad actually caring about him was just too… weird. Was that why he had gotten that fatherly vibe from him when he had first come in? He had no idea. What he did know though, was that maybe a certain half ghost was a lot more than he seemed to be.