Final chapter! Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing this. In fact, I enjoyed it so much I've been toying with an idea for a sequel. May or may not happen. Keep your eyes peeled just in case ;)

Chapter Three

x - x - x

Screams were now echoing loudly down the hallways. David almost didn't want to know what those purple globs of ghost were doing, and he hoped everyone was running away quickly when they saw them. Were they trying to form together again? Because that – that would be very, very bad. Where was Danny Phantom when you needed him anyway?

They burst through the door to room 188 unceremoniously, very unprofessionally. David had a feeling that if everything wasn't so chaotic right now he would be in some serious trouble for all the stunts he'd pulled so far tonight.

The short nurse at Chris's bedside looked terrified.

"Well this is a stroke of luck," David mused. "Looks like we found your cousin, kid." Now that David was looking at Chris again, he was struck by how similar the two boys looked. Same messy black hair, same height, same jaw structure. They could've been brothers instead of cousins, they certainly looked enough alike.

"What are all those screams?" the nurse Julia whispered, her voice shaking.

"Uh.." David tried to think of something to say that wouldn't horrify her.

Danny meanwhile was pushing past her to Chris's bedside. Chris's condition seemed completely unchanged. He looked like he was simply fast asleep. The nurse looked at Danny in shock, but seemed to be too preoccupied by the distant screams to stop him as he scanned Chris's body, pulling back the blanket, lifting his arms, like he was searching for something.

"Bingo," he said quietly, his hands closing around Chris's inert wrists. He pulled them up to eye level, examining them closely. David didn't see anything out of the ordinary on Chris's skin there, but he leaned in closer, peering over Danny's shoulder.. And he saw that where Danny's hands closed around Chris's wrists, there was a full inch of space between their skin. Chris's wrists were just hovering there in Danny's hands. Like there was some kind of invisible cuffs around Chris's wrist which Danny was actually holding onto. What the..

"Damn it," Danny muttered softly, focusing very intently on Chris's wrists. He seemed to be very subtly pulling on them, pulling on whatever invisible thing was there, but whatever he was trying to accomplish didn't seem to be working.

The screams suddenly reached a new level of volume, accompanied by a huge shake in the building. Here we go again, David thought dryly. Danny's shoulders tensed and Chris's wrists fell suddenly from his grasp, landing limply on the bed.

He stepped back, looking at Chris uncertainly, like he was calculating a quick decision.

And then, just when David thought Danny couldn't surprise him any more than he already had, he blurted out, "I have to go."

David had barely registered that when Danny was shoving past him, rushing out of the open door.

"Hey, WAIT!" What on Earth was he talking about? David sprinted out of the door, but when he looked frantically both ways down the hall Danny had already disappeared. How was he already gone? Was he a freaking Olympic runner?

David didn't have much time to dwell on that because suddenly that wall of sewage smell was assaulting him, along with anther spectacular shake of the building's foundation. This could not be a good sign. He was proved right when the purple slime monster reared its ugly body at the corner at the end of the hallway, its bubbling mass roiling around the corner like a wave of ghost jelly.

Well, shit.

David retreated back into the room, inwardly thinking that Danny had somehow known this thing was coming. That's why he had bolted. What a freaking jerk. Cowardly, confusing, mysterious jerk.

He slammed the wooden door closed, wondering wildly what to do. Hoping that ghost passed this room by. Hoping that Phantom was coming back. Where the hell did he go anyway?

The nurse Julia was huddled in the corner, her arms drawn over her chest protectively. She looked like she would have folded in on herself till she disappeared if she could.

And then the door shook behind him. He backed away in horror, joining Julia in the corner, wishing he had never come into work today as the purple goo began to ooze through the door – and he reminded himself that this was a freaking ghost, so of course it was oozing through the door. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. This was it, then. That ghost was going to absorb them or something, digest them and spit up their bones. They were going to die. It shrieked at them, that same disgusting shriek David had heard during the first attack. It made his stomach turn over in disgust.

Long tendrils of ooze were reaching out, slithering through the air in the room, dripping onto the floor, searching, searching, blindly it seemed as they wiggled back and forth. David gasped as they fell on the edge of Chris's bed, and he lunged forward protectively in an attempt to haul the comatose body away from the ghost. But as he tugged on Chris, the slimy purple tentacles shot out and closed around Chris's wrists, hovering there an inch away the same way Danny's had. And then the tendrils snapped back, letting Chris's arms fall back to his sides. And there was something silver in the tentacles' grasp, two things actually, round and reflective, but it was being absorbed into the ghost's body before David could really see what the creature was holding.

David thought he heard a disembodied voice say "Yes!" – but that didn't make any sense – and then there was another shriek and the ghost was advancing on them full speed. David closed his eyes then, fully expecting to die.

But for the thousandth time that night, he was surprised.

A green light suddenly flashed in the room and the ghost was squealing again, but this time in pain. Phantom materialized in front of David, facing the ghost with two orbs of glowing ectoplasm hovering around his hands. "Got what you came looking for, did you?" Phantom growled at the ghost.

The ghost didn't seem interested in conversation. It gave another ear-splitting roar and thrust its gooey tentacles out at Phantom, but he fried them all with well-aimed blasts of green energy. He sent one directly at the main mass leaking through the door, and the door splintered to pieces, sending the ghost heaving backwards into the hallway.

Phantom paused to look at David and Julia with concern. "You guys alright?" he asked pointedly.

"Yes, fine," David breathed. He was about to say 'Took you long enough' when Chris suddenly stirred next to him, and then abruptly sat up, looking around himself in shock.

Would there be no end to the night's surprises?

Phantom looked over at Chris triumphantly, relief spreading across his face. The purple mass was slinking toward the door again, but Phantom quickly shot out a wall of ice, sealing the door and earning them a moment of respite, before flying swiftly to Chris's bedside.

"Phantom?" Chris said in total confusion. "What- what happened?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Phantom replied hurriedly, glancing at the wall of ice where the creature was furiously pounding away at the other side. David could see it trying to phase through the ice but it shrieked as it tried this, its tentacles freezing solid halfway through. "Why did this ghost attack you down at the campus? Why is it trying to find you?"

Chris looked bewildered and lost. "I don't know man, one second I'm just sitting there chilling and the next second this thing is just on top of me! It kept muttering 'Daniel Fenton' I think but I don't know who the hell that is – that's not my name! It put these things on my wrists but I got away and ran to the hospital – I don't remember anything else after that."

Phantom's facial expression turned dark quickly. "Oh. Okay, okay I think I'm starting to understand. You do look just like m- you look just like him. I think the ghost must have mistaken you for someone else."

"No duh," Chris yelled as the wall of ice at the door shattered into pieces.

"Didn't anyone ever teach you to knock?" Phantom shouted as he sent a powerful charge of ectoplasm flying at the creature that was attempting to barrel through the shattered fragments of ice. It shrieked and tentacles lunged forward again, shooting out toward Phantom's arms. David glimpsed those round metal objects again, the ones it had retrieved from Chris. It was trying to get them on Phantom now? The creature no longer seemed interested in Chris in the slightest way – Phantom was on the receiving end of the ghost's full fury.

And it wasn't defense.. it was offense.

So was this purple ghost after Phantom then? No, it was after someone named "Daniel Fenton" Chris had said. The ghost had mistaken Chris for him. So who was the guy? Why was the ghost after him? Funny, it seemed that David's night of horror was being plagued by Daniel after Daniel after Daniel. So far three of them had him mystified.

He knew he should be focusing on escaping this mess but he couldn't help but feel like all the puzzle pieces were there in front of him and that if he could fit them together the right way he would finally understand what was happening.

Phantom easily dodged the wandering purple tentacles trying to slap the silver cuffs on his wrists, and severed them with a slice of ice, sending them splashing to the floor. He landed on the ground and picked up the two silver cuffs, which were now splattered with purple slime. "These for me? You really shouldn't have."

He was answered by a deafening screech and a renewed level of attack. But Phantom reared back with a massive ball of green light and let it fly, sending the ghost reeling backwards to the other side of the hallway, and he flew through the door after it, sending streak after streak of green light into it's purple body. David leaned out the doorway despite himself, his eyes drawn to the fight with deadly curiosity.

To David's shock, Phantom turned to David and shoved the goo covered handcuffs – bracelet things – whatever the hell they were – into David's arms. "Hold onto these," Phantom commanded earnestly. "I can't fight while I'm holding them. Don't let him snatch them from you."

Before David could think of a reply Phantom was generating a shield around the two of them, blocking another onslaught of writhing purple tentacles.

"Daannyy.. Phaantoom." Its voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard – it was the first time David had heard the ghost say anything that wasn't mindless screaming. It was terrifying.

"Who sent you?" Phantom growled back, dissipating his green glowing shield to freeze several thick, reaching tentacles solid.

"Phaantooom!" it cried again, it's voice as riotous and disharmonious as a bad radio connection.

"I said who sent you? Or what, can you only say my name? Is that the only word you know?" Phantom attempted to grab a tentacle as it flew at him, but the gelatinous form didn't hold under his grasp, and it squished in his hand and oozed down his arm. "Okay, now that's just disgusting," he said, trying to shake it off his white glove.

The thing bubbled itself up like it was trying to look intimidating. "Waalkeerr," it said, and David noticed that a purple tendril was slowly creeping across the floor towards him, had almost reached his foot. He stamped on it in a panic, smearing the purple goo across the white tile. It was trying to get the handcuffs stealthily, but David wouldn't hear of it.

Phantom flew forward, blasting a hole the size of a door into the front of the creature. But still it immediately began regenerating. "Of course," Phantom was saying, quietly, like he was talking to himself, not the ghost. "Should have known Walker was behind this – I mean handcuffs that put you to sleep? A jello monster that smells like the inside of an outhouse? That was really the best he could do?" Blast after blast, and the ghost still kept regenerating. David kept stomping on tentacles that reached toward him but more just replaced them.

David clenched the handcuffs tightly in his arms, wondering how Phantom was planning to take out a ghost that could heal itself so easily. What did he usually do with ghosts anyway? Didn't he suck them up or something? Into something small – he'd seen him do it in person before, once at a ghost attack in Sears at the mall. He'd been there shopping when a massive ghost with a flaming green Mohawk tore through the store chasing Phantom. He'd watched the fight from behind a rack of clothes, watched as Phantom sucked up the massive ghost in a flash of blue light into a tiny metal container that looked kind of like – wait, like a thermos? A thermos?

It was like another impossible puzzle piece, dangling before him tantalizingly. He felt he was so close to an answer to all this and yet so far away.

David was wondering why Phantom wasn't sucking this ghost up now, what was stopping him from doing so, and his brain supplied the answer in the form of a recent memory. An image of a badly busted thermos, dug up from the rubble.

"It broke."

But – that couldn't have been Phantom's ghost thermos… could it? Was it?

What was the connection between all of these things? Between the dog tag boy who had disappeared, this white-haired ghost in front of him, and the mysterious third party named Daniel Fenton? There was something there that David almost had his finger on when two loud sets of footsteps sounded behind him.

"Danny!" It was two voices that had spoken at once, one male and one female.

David wheeled around and saw two strangers. A short black guy in pajamas that looked like he had literally just rolled out of bed, and a girl at his side with long black hair pulled back in a messy last-minute kind of deal. The thing that struck him most about the two newcomers was that neither of them seemed scared at all, which was a rare sight during a ghost attack. The second thing that he noticed, was that in the pajama-clad man's hand was a thermos.

Phantom wheeled around and caught sight of the two people, and his face lit up with a broad smile. It was odd to see someone smile while fending off an onslaught of purple oozing tentacles that were screaming.

"Boy am I glad to see you guys," he called, sincerity ringing in his voice. "You brought it right?"

"Of course dude, catch!" Pajama guy tossed the thermos through the air and Phantom snatched it easily, turning it immediately on the purple beast. A blast of bright blue light seemed to surround the ghost, and its shrieks of anger turned to shrieks of fear as it condensed in on itself and spiraled away into the beam of light, draining into Phantom's outstretched thermos. He capped it and at once the halls were empty.

David's ears were ringing. He fell backwards against the wall, suddenly immensely tired. He let the cuffs drop out of his hands onto the floor.

The two strangers were rushing past David toward Phantom, grabbing him by the shoulders as he touched down onto the tile.

"You okay?" he heard the girl saying at the same time as the guy asked "What happened?"

"I'm fine," Phantom answered. "A little beat up but no more than usual. And it was one of Walker's goons. He mistook this other guy for me, and slapped these cuffs on him that were meant for me. Then the ghost took off after the guy when he ran away. Ended up here. Guess that guy checked himself into the ER and then went comatose because of those cuffs – good thing I heard the ghost muttering 'sleeep sleeep' while he put the cuffs on that guy or I might've never figured it out. What's with ghosts and shouting out their plans anyway? And I thought Technus was bad." Phantom chuckled but the girl hit him on the shoulder.

"It's not funny," she chided.

"Anyway we need to suck up all the purple goo," Phantom continued. "I'm not making that mistake again…"

"Uh… who is that by the way?" The man in pajamas seemed to have finally noticed David, who had slumped to the floor, leaning his head back against the wall.

"Oh uh…" Phantom drifted past his friends and dropped down to eye-level with David. He picked up the cuffs from the floor in front of him. "Thanks for holding onto these," he said, giving David a half-smile.

David looked Phantom straight in the eye, squinting. There was a mottled bruise under his left eye, a long half-healed cut running down the side of his neck, half covered by his suit. "Yeah.. no problem," he replied numbly. The gears in his brain were whirring at phenomenal speed.

Then Phantom's friends were at his side, each grabbing an arm to help him up. He didn't know he needed it until they were there. He hadn't realized how bone-tired this whole ordeal had left him. "To answer your question," he said, looking at pajama-man, "I'm Dr. Benson."

Pajama-man groaned and stepped back, while the girl rolled her eyes. "Sorry, he's kind of afraid of doctors," she said apologetically. "Don't be so rude, Tucker. And I'm Sam," she said, reaching out to shake his hand.

And like that, the last puzzle piece fell into place with a satisfying click.

"Jeez, how am I going to explain these blood stains to Sam…"

"Sam- Sam just calm down…"

"Sorry, heh. It was just my girlfriend… She'll be coming to meet me."

Sam.

He took her hand, but his eyes widened in sudden comprehension, and his gaze drifted over to Phantom's face, who was looking from Sam to David to Sam again, like Sam had just said something very damning.

The pajama-man, or Tucker, seemed to have missed the silent exchange. He piped up with, "We'd really better go suck up the last pieces of that ghost like you said, Danny."

"Right," Danny replied, still staring queerly at David. That painfully familiar 'deer in the headlights' look. It wasn't the first time tonight he had seen it.

God, it was so simple. So simple! The solution to the mystery was always the simplest one, the one you would never ever think of.

And then the three of them were walking away, leaving David there gaping after them. Sucking up the smears of purple goo left down the white tile like streaks of smelly paint.

"Wait! Wait hold on," David managed to say, jogging after them. The three turned to him questioningly. Danny looked like he was going to throw up. "Uh.. there's this patient of mine who ran off before that purple ghost attacked. He was still in pretty bad shape. If you see him can you send him my way?" Danny Phantom's eyebrows furrowed. He could practically see the wheels turning in his head. David really hoped he was right. He was sure he was right. But for good measure, to not give himself away, he added, "He's a tall black haired guy wearing a green polo. Just tell him I'm looking for him."

"Yeah," Phantom answered slowly. "Yeah we'll tell him."

After the three had left, Julia and Chris finally emerged from room 188, looking vaguely hysterical. Once David was able to convince them the danger was truly gone, they left down the hallway to regroup with the rest of the hospital staff. David knew he should join them and help to restore order, but he returned to room 188 and sat down on the bed to wait. He hoped he wasn't waiting in vain.

But it didn't take long.

After about twenty minutes, the black-haired Danny appeared at the door, his head peering around the corner into the room uncertainly.

Three Daniels. But there was really only one Daniel, wasn't there?

"So you wanted your shirt back, huh? And here I thought it was a gift." Danny joked stepping into the room, his hands thrust deep in his pockets. He was joking, but his expression didn't match his lighthearted tone. David smiled at him warmly, hoping to erase the cornered look that hung on Danny's face.

"You know," he began, "You really shouldn't lie to doctors. It's like lying to your parents – we always know."

"No they don't," he said laughing, "And lie about what?" he said indignantly. "I didn't lie to you."

"About your last name," David shrugged, "Which I'm guessing is Fenton. And about Chris, who isn't related to you. I even asked him before he left. He didn't know who 'Danny Foley' was."

"Uhh.." Danny took a hesitant step backwards toward the door. He looked like he was going to bolt any minute. "There's a very good explanation for all of this. Just give me a second to think of it."

David stood up from the bed. He noticed that the smaller cuts on Danny's arms had all but disappeared. The bruise under his eye was half the size it had been when they'd pulled him out of the rubble, half the intensity of purple-green color. "Luckily for you, I already thought of it. But I didn't ask you to come here so I could point a big finger at you, Danny. I.. I just wanted to thank you, I suppose."

"Thank me?" His voice was faint.

"Yes. Thank you. For the splendid and riveting mystery. And.. for protecting my hospital."

Danny was still staring at him open-mouthed, like a kid who'd just been told Santa wasn't real.

"And I wanted to assure you," David continued, "That the data I took regarding the man with the mysterious dog tag will not be entered into our system. Besides myself there was only one other doctor who saw it, and saw the evidence of his vital signs. That record was.. ahem, it was lost, during the ghost attack. And the man we found under the rubble disappeared amidst all the confusion. What a mystifying thing, don't you think? I wonder if he was ever here at all. Too bad we never learned his name."

Danny squinted at him, allowing a small smile to creep onto his face. "Yeah. That is rather mystifying."

The two of them looked at each other for a moment, and a tension that had been there all night sort of faded away.

David chuckled. "You can just keep that shirt by the way. It's covered in ghost goop now anyway. I'm certain my wife would force me to toss it."

Danny laughed in return. When he laughed his eyes laughed too. Somehow even though he was covered in cuts and bruises, the kid managed to look completely relaxed and carefree when he was laughing. "Thanks. I uh, I'd better get going, Dr. Benson. My friends are waiting for me outside."

"You can call me David," he said good-naturedly. "Somehow I don't think I was ever really your doctor."

"Heh.. yeah." That sheepish look again. "Hey by the way… Do you think that dog tag was a stupid idea?"

That threw him. Was Danny really asking his opinion on that? "What do you mean?"

"Well, my sister gave it to me. She insisted I wear it in case I was ever found with.. with a really bad injury. Unconscious or something. She didn't want doctors to accidentally make things worse by mistaking my normal body functions for problems."

David mulled that over. "You know, that's a really good question. I suppose I don't know what I would have thought about your vitals and your green blood if that dog tag hadn't been there. I think your sister sounds pretty smart. It's a dangerous secret you've got there, but you really don't want doctors trying to remove that green blood from you if they found you like I did, do you?"

"Ectoplasm," Danny interjected.

"What?"

He laughed. "It's ectoplasm, not green blood."

"Right…"

Danny seemed amused at David's reaction. "Sorry doc. I know it's a lot to take in. And.. are you saying I should keep the dog tag?"

David shrugged. "Better to be safe than sorry, I always say."

That seemed to satisfy Danny. "Alright. I'll keep it."

As he turned to leave, David couldn't help adding one last thought. "Danny, if you ever find yourself in the hospital again.. just ask for me, okay? No matter what you're in for, just demand to see me until they give in."

Another smile lit up Danny's face. "Will do, David. That's.. that is strangely reassuring."

He turned towards the hallway again, hesitated, and turned back to David. "I don't feel like walking out," he said bluntly, "And since you already figured it out… you wanna see something cool? I feel like you deserve it after tonight."

"Something cool?" David repeated. What could he possibly mean?

Danny stepped back in the room and a ring of blinding blue light appeared around his waist, splitting and spreading across his body. David stared, mesmerized. Where it passed over him, Danny's clothes were replaces with familiar black fabric, a stylized D came into view on his chest, it passed over his face and feet, leaving thick-soled white boots and messy white hair. The piercing blue light fizzled and faded, leaving only that faint glow that always hung about Danny Phantom.

Oh.

David had figured it out, but that hadn't prepared him for the actual display of the evidence. It was a bit shell-shocking. He must have looked it because Danny flew forward and clapped him on the shoulder. "Don't worry doc, it freaks everyone out the first time." It was the same voice, only filtered and tinny, like he was speaking through a can-on-a-string telephone. Like all ghost voices sound. But under this one was that distinctly human voice, Danny's voice. It was freaky.

"I'll see you around," he said, drifting toward the wall. "Though, you know, hopefully not soon. I mean, no offense but I try to avoid the inside of hospitals at all costs." And then he vanished through the wall, leaving David to his thoughts.

When he finally rejoined the hospital staff, no one asked about his mystery patient. It wasn't until the next day when some of the nurses came to him, asking if what they'd heard about the patient with green blood was true. He laughed, asking if they believed every crazy rumor about ghosts that they heard. Will looked at him strangely for days after he'd insisted that he misread all the data for the mystery patient's vital signs. Insisted the green blood had been spilled on the kid, and wasn't coming out of him.

He asked incredulously, "Well what about that dog tag though?"

"Oh that? That was just the kid's idea of a joke. Wasn't very funny, was it?"