Here Comes The Son (Ghost Band / Papa Emeritus fic)

Are You On The Level?

Cumulus tried to hold Phantom in place as he thrashed wildly in the bed despite his comatose state but even this didn't reduce his strength.

"Doctor!" She cried out, worried that he would hurt himself and also panicking over what might be happening to Papa if they were still connected.

Stone rushed in at the sound of her alarm and he gasped in surprise at the sight of Phantom's wild flailing.

"He shouldn't be doing this, this isn't a coma." Stone shook his head in astonishment.

Reaching for a supply drawer near the bed, he took out a syringe and partially filled it with a pale blue liquid.

"Can you hold him or do you need help?" He asked Cumulus.

"I think I..." Cumulus began only to pause as Phantom fell calm with only the smallest of pained sounds emanating from him.

Aware of the link between Copia and Phantom, Stone grimaced; both he and Cumulus immediately worried about what was happening to Papa. Sedating Phantom to reduce the possibility of hurting himself, Stone also considered the possibility that any treatment might break the link. He wasn't certain if that would be a good or a bad thing but he had to keep him safe at least. He hoped the ghoul specialist would arrive soon.

Cumulus looked up at the clock and her face crumpled when she saw the time.

"Doctor, I'm worried, Papa said he had something to do but he'd be back within an hour. He's overdue and now this," she nodded towards Phantom. "I'm really worried."

"Do you know what he was going to do?" Stone asked. "Where he might be?"

"No, I'm sorry," she shook her head. "He was coming back here to pray for Phantom. I know that, but what he was doing before that, I don't know."

"He'd need his rosary, he doesn't pray without it, I know that from when he was here after his kidnapping. So he would have to go back to his chambers, I'll get someone to check there. But there was a note, maybe that'll tell us something?"

Walking back to Copia's room, he was surprised to see someone moving around inside. Yes, it would need to be cleaned, sterilised and the bedding changed but they had specialist staff for that. Moving silently towards the open door, he noticed the orderly inside doing something with Copia's phone that he now realised he had left on the nightstand. Suspicious by the strange behaviour, particularly as Copia's lock code was a ludicrously simple open secret, Stone waved over Nurse Joel Alve and junior doctor Halvar Jesper, urging them to be equally silent as they approached. Gathering in the doorway to block his exit, Stone addressed him sternly.

"William?" He called causing the shocked orderly to turn sharply. "What are you doing with Copia's phone?"

"Oh! Er... yeah, doc, yeah I just noticed he left it. I was bringing it to the office."

"No you weren't," Stone argued. "You..."

"I wasn't stealing it!" William objected.

"No, but you were doing something. If not, why is it unlocked?"

Uncertain how to respond, William merely stared, hopeful that the assumption he was stealing it was what the doctor truly believed.