1/21/2010

AN~ Hey everyone here's my new story based off a novel I had written when I was 15. It wasn't published but I had written it hoping to teach about some things so I decided to adapt it to Danny Phantom. This will be an AU and Danny will become Danny Phantom so don't worry about that. You can't really write a Danny Phantom fanfic without him being Phantom.

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.

This chapter was Beta(ed) by Cordria Thank you!

Into the Night

It was an early summer morning when Maddie Fenton went into labor for her second child. It was also very much unexpected, seeing as her due date was still two and a half months away. Her two- year-old daughter was sitting in her highchair when the first contraction hit. Jazz, not understanding what was wrong, also began crying, but her tears were out of fear.

Jack, Maddie's husband, had been down in The Lablooking through old blueprints on a portal that he, Maddie, and a friend had built in college when he heard the cries from upstairs. Throwing everything to the side and grabbing the nearest weapon (a huge green gun, which looked as though it belonged on a tank but seemed like it was also made especially for his large frame) he quickly ran as fast as he could up the stairs to see what was going on.

"What's the matter, Maddie?!" heboomed, busting through to the kitchen.

"The… baby's coming" Maddie told him taking a deep breath as the small contraction ended.

"What?" was his dumbfounded response. His mouth hung agape for a minute while his brain processed that bit of information.

"The baby…" Maddie gasped out again trying desperately not to freak out, knowing it would do no good for her condition or for her daughter's.

"The baby?" Jack echoed still trying to get his brain up to speed then it clicked. "The baby!" He ran to Maddie, and then to Jazz, then back to Maddie, his hands flailing all around.

"Jack, go call the doctor. He needs to know." She told her husband in a soothing voice, laying a hand on his large arm to try to calm him down, praying he could get himself together enough to get her to the hospital safely.

"Right. Doctor. Call." Jack said then as though waking up and beinggiven pureenergy, he quickly ran out of the room in search of the phone calling out behind him, "I'm on it, Maddie!"

"Oh dear," Maddie muttered shaking her head disbelieving and turning to her two-year-old, who was still crying. "Come on, Jazzy, it's alright, don't cry. Mommy's okay. See?" Maddie said with a forced smile and with a little tickle to Jazz's chin the little girl was all smiles.

After a few moments of waiting very impatiently, Jack had finally got himself completely together packing a few things in a grocery bag and grabbing Jazz they made their way to the car and then to the hospital.

It was a long labor, 16 hours and the doctors were in and out of her room constantly, saying as many things as possible to calm down the parents after hearing that there was no way the labor could be stopped at this point and the baby would have to be delivered premature.

The baby, a boy, was born at 3:24 AM on July 17th. That morningwas the scariest thing that ever happened in Maddie's life. When the boy, they later named Danny, was born the first thing Maddie noticed was that he sounded nothing like when Jazz was born. Actually when he was born there was no sound, nothing coming from her baby boy at least. It felt like the whole world was crashing around her, her son, her beautiful baby boy, the baby boy she only caught a glimpse of, seeing his jet black hair and baby doll face, and his bluing skin.

She could hear the doctors and nurses she could see them rushing around she could hear the beep beep of her own heart monitor. But that was it there was no sound coming from her baby. She felt completely alone. Jack was in the waiting area with Jazz since the only family they had left was Maddie's sister, who lived too far away to come on such quick notice. The last thing Maddie heard before passing out from the stress was the quickening of her heart monitor.

Maddie didn't know how long she had been out for but when she awoke she could blurrily make out the very large orange blob next to her was her husband and the little light pink blob with orange pouring from the top in his huge hands was their daughter. Looking around the room some more she couldn't make out any kind of bassinet or incubator or anything that suggested a baby was just born.

"Oh God." Maddie sobbed, "Please…tell me he's not…" Her voice died out and she started sobbing harder.

"No Maddie, he's not." Was all Jack said but Maddie could clearly hear the worry in his voice. Worry she had never heard in his voice before.

Feeling new fear gripping at her heart, she was about to ask what was wrong when a doctor came in.

"Oh good, you're awake." The doctor said as he strolled over to the foot of Maddie's bed. Maddie couldn't make out what his name was but could tell he was a tall thin man with light brown hair. Her eyesight had never been very good but usually she could see enough to get by without her contacts or specially-designed goggles.

"My son?" Maddie croaked out, not wanting to wait for her answers any longer.

"He's okay. He's pretty much stable now. We have him on a ventilator and fluids and we are running all the necessary protocols on him. He was born very premature so he will need to stay here for a while so that we can run more tests on him."

After that everything again started to fade away.

It had been nearly eight months since Danny's birth and for unknown reasons there had been many difficulties preventing him from being able to leave Amity Park Hospital. First it was his lungs not developing how they should when they should. The doctor's telling the Fenton's that their son will always be more prone to breathing problems, probably developing asthma and generally being sicklier than other children his age. But that wasn't even the worst of it they soon found out.

It was the day Danny was to finally come home they were all celebrating with his nurses and doctors and he was about to see the light of day for the first time in his short life. It would also be his last.

As they were carrying him across the parking lot and to the garage Danny started to cry, his cry was the most horrible sounding cry because unlike most babies Danny tended to only whimper or cry very softly, the doctors claiming it was due to his lungs that he automatically adapted himself to not cry too forcefully knowing that if he did he would have trouble breathing (The Fenton's were at first dubious asking how a baby could be that intelligent and the doctor's sensible reply was that Danny was displaying a very simple technique ever single living creature was born with and that was the instinct to survive. Danny himself may not truly understand but that didn't mean his brain wouldn't react just like a reflex without thought.)

So seeing their son cry like that was the first sign they knew something was very wrong and on closer inspection Maddie could see tiny blisters forming on his tiny nose. With a gasp Maddie quickly covered his face with the blanket that was already wrapped around him, and making sure the rest of him was covered as well she turned on her heel and all but ran back to the hospital Jack closely behind with a crying Jazz.

Danny was in the hospital another month after that incident. The doctor's diagnosing him with a rare genetic condition called Xeroderma Pigmentosum or simply known as XP. A condition in which a body cannot tolerate any type of sun exposure, if there is sun exposure the person will have irreversible damage done to their DNA and also can result in skin cancer, blindness, and death. According to statistics 40% of patients with a severe case, just as Danny has, only live to be about 20 years old.

The night the Fenton's finally were able to bring their son home was also the night they vowed to never let him outside again.

Over the next fifteen years the Fenton's found a way to adapt to Danny's conditions, having developed asthma at the young age of one and having many other allergies, the Fenton parents' had learned everything they possibly could. Putting their ghost obsession aside for the better part of five years they had fool –proofed their house to be a haven for their son. The windows were covered in a sun proof film and the darkest blackout curtains you could find. All made of synthetic fibers. Their whole house was covered in linoleum floors and was dusted more than once a day. It was completely allergy free. To avoid cross contamination they even had two refrigerators. One was for Danny's foods and the other was for the rest of the family.

After years of research on XP alongside their regular research of ghosts (they couldn't give up their jobs, they needed all the money they could get for their research and medical bills. Especially since every doctor visit had to be a house call which was not cheap) Jack and Maddie hadn't given up in their search for a cure. They knew they were smart enough to find one but there just seemed to be no hope. Even with no exposure Danny had such a severe sensitivity to not just sunlight but just about any type of light which was unheard of. So they had resorted to using the lowest wattage bulbs available and any time Danny came into the room they would most times end up having to turn them out and just light a candle instead. It would break their hearts to have to see their child wear sunglasses in the house because his beautiful clear blue eyes couldn't take the smallest bit of light.

What also broke their hearts was his lack of friends. The only person he had was Jazz and although she was a great older sister always trying to make sure Danny was happy she liked to have her life outside of what she claimed to be "The Dark Prison." She never brought any of her friends home and most of the time never even mentioned she had a brother.

Danny and Jazz had both been homeschooled up until Jazz was in the 6th grade and threw a fit because she wanted to live a normal life. Danny had been depressed for weeks after Jazz started at Amity Park Elementary, he understood why he couldn't go too but he missed his only friend. Over the years his depression seemed to worsen he would completely withdraw and lock himself in his lightless room with nothing but his radio playing softly by his head. They even resorted to taking Jazz out of school to be homeschooled again for her 7th grade year but that had failed and by the New Year she was back at normal school again.

As the years passed by there was just nothing anyone could really do to help the depressed Danny Fenton, but that was until Danny accidentally found a way to help himself.

I hope ya'll liked it!

Please review and let me know what you think.

Thanks!

~Mia