It's Not Just The Waiting That Kills Him

[bought_the_bank]

He broke every speed limit between Gotham and Bludhaven that evening.  Then there was nothing to do but wait.  

The reader board in the surgical center had changed formats.  It no longer listed names, just patient numbers and their current stage.  The number was the first piece of information they'd received beyond the initial phone call and Bruce had memorized it instantly.  As he paced the waiting room with his arms crossed tightly against his chest, his eyes traveled to the status board regularly.  Sometimes the information would rotate through to a second screen and the information he was seeking wouldn't be there when he glanced up.  For that brief second, he fought back panic.  

Alfred had glued himself to the nurse's station, bypassing the information desk.  If anyone could coax extra information out of the staff, it was the eloquently spoken and insistant gentleman.  Bruce glanced in his direction regularly as well drawing strength from afar.  

An hour after arriving, there was still no word.  

He finally took a seat.  And dropped his head into his hands.   

Comments

[fille_fatale]

It feels wrong to call when she wants to. Too soon: he's probably with his son, still. His son; Selina tries not to think too hard about that fact, and fails every time. There's no way to treat the night the same, but she makes a good show of it. She makes note of who makes an appearance, overhears a few choice bits of information. Holly will fill her in on the rest later, which is why she lets herself take a few minutes at the end of the night.

He probably won't answer, she figures, and she probably won't leave a message. Probably.

[bought_the_bank]

It seems after the first couple of rings she might be forced to make a voicemail decision. Then he picks up.

"You survived your first night. Congratulations."

[fille_fatale]

When his voice comes over the line, Selina holds her breath - like maybe it's just a bizarre recording for his phone. It's not, of course, and she exhales in vague annoyance.

"Yeah, you can tell me how wonderful I am later. You still at the hospital?"

[bought_the_bank]

“I am.”

It’s nothing more than a statement of fact. As upset as he was earlier, he’s giving little away now with his flat tone of voice. What she can’t see is the enormous waiting room around him, people sporadically slouched in chairs, able and ready to eavesdrop. He finds an empty family conference room and steps in, closing the door behind him.

[fille_fatale]

She always hated - and maybe envied - how he could drop emotion like that. Selina would hide hers because she didn't know how to handle it, and she always suspected that was part of how he coped, too. That doesn't mean it doesn't bug her.

But this is hardly the time to indulge in being mad at him.

"So? You wanna tell me what happened?" Despite the phrasing, it's more expectation than question in her voice.

[bought_the_bank]

“He caught a round just below his vest. It ricocheted and came up at an angle.”

In private, his tone isn’t as zealously guarded. A whole host of emotions are still battling for dominance, even after all the hours that have passed. Worry and weariness are the easiest to identify.

[fille_fatale]

She touches her sternum and drags her fingers down, wondering where, exactly, below his vest was. It's hard to picture, since she's not even certain what his son looks like, and results inevitably in picturing Bruce shot.

"How? Where was he?" Selina pictures a stray bullet, a rich kid caught in the crossfire - but even in Gotham, there are places more and less likely for something like that to happen. If he wasn't just unbelievably unlucky enough to get shot uptown, what was he doing in any of the neighborhoods where a drive by was more likely?

[bought_the_bank]

Dick by all accounts is tall but he still stands at least half a head shorter than Bruce and is less bulky than his adopted father. His department issued vest hits him four to five inches above the waist.

"He and his partner were responding to a domestic violence case when they were ambushed on the staircase." Even after a visit with Dick's captain, not all the details are clear. Dick's partner, who might have been able to shed light on the situation, was declared dead at the scene. Bruce knows the emotional fallout for Dick will outweigh the physical aspects of his recovery. They'd worked together for years.

[fille_fatale]

She manages not to let out the surprised he's a cop exclamation, but it's a near thing. Jesus Christ, she feels stupid, but - one thing at a time. She could ask him where, what he knows, if anything...or she could head out later and see what she can see.

So Selina lets out a sharp breath and wishes that meeting him at the hospital didn't feel like an invasion.

"Is he up yet?" There. That's the important thing.

[bought_the_bank]

He plants a hand against the nearest wall, drops his head, and closes his eyes. Then he pinches the bridge of his nose. It's amazing the headache has held off this long.

"Out of surgery but not out of recovery." No, not up yet.

Leslie is there, behind closed doors where family isn't allowed to visit. He takes a small amount of comfort in that knowledge.

[fille_fatale]

Selina remembers a very different Leslie, but she was still a good doctor: if there's any comfort to be taken, it's that Leslie's working on the issue. Selina falls silent for a long moment. Phone calls aren't her forte.

"Want some company?" She could be blunter about it, ask him outright if he wants her there. But she dances - she almost always dances around the important things.

[bought_the_bank]

The silence that follows it just as long. She dances. He evades. Old habits die hard. He never made a promise to himself or to her that things would be any different. But he puts forth the effort to be straightforward and honest. It feels foreign.

"Yes," he finally replies. "But now may not be the best time. As soon as we get the green light, we're going to bring him back to the clinic."

Back to Gotham. There's no telling how long that will be though. Neither hospitals nor physicians aren't known for being expeditious.

[fille_fatale]

(ooc: I'm so sorry, I must have lost this tag somewhere! So glad you edited!)

Selina remembers waking up in a hospital, finding out days had passed. There's nothing expeditious about hospitals or doctors - they'd been expecting her to die - and she finds herself wishing she knew where to find Ivy, though that was no guarantee that whoever she was here would be willing to help.

"There's never a best time." That she knows for certain. "I'll head your way, and you tell me if anything changes before I get there. Gotham General?"

[bought_the_bank]

(ooc: No worries! So glad you're still around and interested! :D )

There's a brief pause on the other end. He's already admitted to wanting her company. Needing her company. But still he fights his nature to keep everyone away. Vulnerability is a weakness not shared.

"Bludhaven," he finally corrects.

[fille_fatale]

(ooc: always! just not always on the ball. x_x)

"Jesus." She says it reflexively: there's not much that Selina resists saying when she wants to. "All right, I'm on my way. You better call when you start heading back, though." Because if she gets all the way to Bludhaven only to find out he's already back in Gotham, he won't hear the end of it.

[bought_the_bank]

He knows it too.

"If you're not already here, I will. Please-"

Another weighty pause follows with a request made deliberately and seriously.

"Don't speed."

Drive safely. I'll see you soon.

[fille_fatale]

She smiles to herself, deeply amused by the form his concern takes, and the fact that she absolutely will speed her way there. Still, it's nice, and there's no reason to worry him unduly, especially not right now. Selina may not be very nice very often, but she can be.

"I won't. See you soon."

Sooner than if she was telling the truth, but she hangs up before he has the chance to press the issue. She may not have a fleet of cars available to her the way he does, but she does keep one old BMW around that was probably stolen half a dozen times before it made its way into her hands. The road to Bludhaven is almost a straight shot once you get out of downtown Gotham, and Selina speeds the whole way.