We Were Born Sick • Gotham Fanfiction •

XVII: A Glimpse Behind the Curtain

"There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature." ― Jane Austen

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Hearing a knock on the door, Bird raised her head from where she was sitting up in the hospital bed.

"Come in..." She called out, thinking it must be one of the hospital staff since her brother and Alfred had left a few minutes ago.

"Hey." Jim greeted as he walked in, eyeing the pair of black pants and light purple sweat shirt she was wearing before asking, "How you holding up?"

Ignoring his question she looked down to her clothes as she explained, "One of the nurses had a change of clothes in her locker she let me borrow." Pulling on the loose sleeves of the shirt that was a couple sizes larger than she wore, Bird tried to joke, "Some strange man changed my clothes while I was unconscious, guess she thought I'd been exposed enough already and didn't want me to have to wear one of those open back hospital gowns. You know, since you made them take the dress that Goat put on me."

"It's evidence." He reminded her, repeating his earlier question, "You holding up okay?"

"I'm fine." She stated, looking around the room as she pulled in a deep ragged breath and said, "Thank you for saving me."

He nodded with a smile at her, rubbing his hand over his short hair he said, "I passed Bruce and Alfred in the hallway downstairs."

"Yeah." She smiled, "I asked them to go raid the vending machines just to get them out of the room for a minute. They both just kept staring at me-"

"They almost lost you." Jim pointed out, "They're the ones who called the station. When you didn't show up at Wayne Manor like you were supposed to, they went to your apartment and called the police."

Her eyebrows furrowed and her jaw tensed in anger as she asked, "The police were in my apartment?"

"Some of us, yes." Jim answered her, pausing for a moment as he remembered all the clear decorative fish bowls full of various items; everything from jewelry to polished rocks and marbles, "Interesting choice in decorations."

"Whoa, whoa. What are you doing?" Jim asked, as Bird stood up too fast and nearly lost her balance in a dizzy spell. Helping her sit back down in the bed he asked, "Where are you going?"

"Home." She practically grunted, as she tried to get back up but he blocked her way and made her sit back down, "If anyone was in my apartment than they moved my stuff around and I need to get home and fix it."

"It's nothing that can't be dealt with tomorrow." He tried to make her feel better.

"You don't understand." She breathed, shaking her head almost violently –a choice she immediately regretted when the room started to spin and in response she got nauseous.

Holding her head and groaning, she asked, "You got everything you needed from my place, right? Evidence and all? I can go back home tonight, right?"

"Yes, but I don't think they'll release you tonight." He pointed out, thinking back to the conversation he'd had with her nurse.

"They can't hold me here." She argued; still seeming very agitated as she spoke.

"True, but it might be in your best interest to stay-" He started to say, but Bird was having no part of it when she cut him off, "No, I don't need to stay."

"For most people the effects of the chloroform would have already worn off." Jim said, his voice elevated as he spoke. Pulling in a deep breath, a stern look appeared on his face when he explained why she was still struggling to come entirely out of the haze, "You've got relatively high levels of both Valium and Vicodin in your system."