Chapter Text
Dash sat in the hospital's lobby. His leg bounced nervously and he could hear the tap of his shoe against the floor.
It was day four and Danny still wasn’t awake.
Everyone else was still bustling around, doing things for Danny. Jazz and Sam’s lawyers were filing a lawsuit against the GIW. Vlad was putting forth legislation that would protect people like Danny. Sam was rallying people in protest over the GIW existing as a branch in the government. Tucker was releasing all of the GIW’s confidential files.
And here Dash was. Waiting. Again.
At least he wasn’t the only one sitting around this time. Jack and Maddie were helping everyone else with their endeavors, but like him, they had spent most of their last four days sitting in the waiting room. Right now they were visiting Danny, seeing how he was doing. If there were any updates.
He hoped Danny would wake up. Danny told him how he felt in a daze as Dash had been running up those stairs, but he never got to say it back. It would be his biggest regret if he never got to tell Danny how he felt. Especially after wasting so much time worrying about how Danny would react to it.
Dash shifted in his seat and was about to start bouncing his other leg when Maddie came rushing into the waiting room towards him, a big tear filled smile on her face. He sat up straight and watched as she walked up to him.
“Come on. He’s waking up!” She grabbed his hand and started pulling him behind her. He followed her, his hands numb.
Danny was waking up. He was finally waking up.
He let himself be dragged out of the waiting room and down a long hallway. Maddie led him to a door and he held his breath as she opened it.
A groggy eyed Danny laid in bed. When the door opened he looked towards it and made eye contact with Dash.
“Oh my sweet little boy!” Maddie cried out. She let go of Dash’s hand and ran over to Danny’s bed. She wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug and peppered kisses all over his face.
“Mom!” Danny protested weakly, though he was smiling and he wrapped his own arms around her.
“I’m so glad you’re okay!” She sobbed. “We were so worried you weren’t going to wake up. The doctors weren’t sure how to treat you! They had to call someone from out of state and fly them here!”
“How-” Danny coughed. “How did you guys get me out?”
“We staged a coup!” Jack shouted. “Tucker hacked into the system, we were the distraction, and Dash here went and got you!”
Danny looked back towards Dash. He shuffled on his feet as Danny stared at him for a few moments before his eyes went wide.
“Oh. I remember some of it now. It’s a little fuzzy.”
“That’s alright.” Maddie said. “But your doctor should be on her way. She wants to-”
Right at that moment a knock sounded at the door and then it opened slowly. A woman in a white coat smiled at them before walking in and shutting the door behind her.
“Hi, everyone. Glad things finally turned around for the better.” She held her clipboard with both hands in front of her and smiled at Danny.
“What happened?” Danny asked, his brows furrowing together. “Nothing particularly brutal had happened. They just ran some tests on me, some were worse than others though. Besides my leg… I think they were trying to figure out how I got like this.”
“You were suffering from a form of ectoplasmic malnutrition.” The doctor said. She looked up from her clipboard. “The chains that bound your wrists together were preventing you from making your own ectoplasm, and being kept in a place devoid of any at all was starving your ghost half.”
“Oh.” Danny said quietly.
“Your core had taken significant damage because of that.” She continued. “It mimicked what we see in patients who have had a loss of oxygen going to their brain. We weren’t sure if you were going to wake up for a while there.”
“Yeah.” Danny said, playing with the blanket on his bed. “That’s what my mom said.”
The doctor nodded. “But, the good news is that now that your ectoplasm has been replenished, you look like you’re healing at your normal rate. We’re just going to keep you here for one more night for observation. But if everything looks good, you’ll be good to go home tomorrow.”
“Thank god.” Danny breathed out. “I can’t wait to sleep in my own bed again.”
The doctor chuckled and turned to Danny’s parents. “I have a few things I would like to ask you two. Would you mind coming with me?”
“Of course not.” Maddie said smiling. She gave Danny another kiss on the forehead.
“After that we can go see what kind of food they got here!” Jack followed after Maddie. “We can bring some soup up for you, Danny-boy.”
“Thanks, Dad.” Danny smiled at him.
The three of them left the room after that and the quiet settled heavily on Dash’s shoulders. He didn’t know what to say. If Danny would be angry at him for leaving him there for so long.
“Dash-” Danny started, his hand raised off the bed, like he was reaching for him.
“I’m sorry.” Dash pushed out, closing his eyes.
“What?” Danny sounded surprised.
Dash covered his face with his hands. “You were gone for over a month. I knew where you were the whole time. I could’ve gotten you out so much sooner if I weren’t so afraid.”
“Dash.” Danny said softly. “Come here.”
Pulling his hands off his face, Dash opened his eyes and looked over at Danny. There was no trace of anger or malice in his expression. His eyes were soft and he beckoned Dash over.
He walked over and grabbed a chair, pulling it up beside the bed.
“I’m not mad at you.” Danny looked at him. “I mean, what were you supposed to do to free me from a whole governmental branch of goons?”
“Tell your family, apparently.” Dash mumbled. “If I told them at the start we might not even be sitting in this hospital right now.”
Danny shook his head. “There will always be what ifs. What if you tackled one of those agents, what if you ran straight to my house after it happened, what if you told the police.”
Dash chuckled dryly. “I tried going to the cops in the beginning. The GIW had gotten there first and reported me as a drunk teenager.”
“Exactly.” Danny said. “Even if you had said something, what happened after was out of your control. Fear is one heck of a mind controller. I don’t blame you for being afraid to say something. But I’m here now. And that’s all that matters.”
Dash looked up at Danny. He had a smile on his face and he lifted his hand up again, holding it out to Dash.
He took a deep breath and grabbed Danny’s hand with his own. He laid his forehead on the mattress and let the breath out.
“I meant what I said.” Dash could feel Danny’s other hand playing with the hair on his head. “When you were carrying me out of the compound.”
“I know.” Dash whispered.
“I was worried I was never going to get to say it.” Danny said quietly. He ran his fingers through Dash’s hair.
“Me too.”
Dash sat back up and met Danny’s eyes. His hold on Danny’s hand tightened and he swallowed his nervousness.
“I love you too.” He whispered.
Danny smiled at him and squeezed Dash’s hand.
“I know.”