Crazy Child

Pastel Coloured Walls

Jessie has learned some interesting things about hospitals during her stay in the pediatric ward of Gotham General. One is that usually the whiniest patients need the least amount of care, two is that hospital food isn't really that bad, (she is unsure if this is because she has eaten practically nothing for the past three months) and three is that nurses can't whisper for shit. For the four days she has been confined to this bed all the nurses have done are tell her she's fine but turn and discuss their worry for her not twenty seconds later. Maybe they don't understand that she lost her mind during her time with the Joker, not her hearing. They tell her she'll make a great recovery but with the four different antidepressants, two psychotics and one anti anxiety medications she is one the future seems jagged at best. Days had passed with no sign of her getting better. The days turned into weeks and still her sanity eluded her like some complex riddle. Months started to pile up and she could tell the doctors were becoming restless and her mother was starting to worry. Jessie was drained both emotionally and physically. It was about three in the afternoon if the clock on the wall served her well.

Her mother should be by soon for visiting hours. Jessie smiled at the thought of her mother. She hadn't been conscious when they rushed her into Gotham General still on the stretcher, but as soon as she woke up her mother was the first thing she saw. She remembered looking up into her mother's face and mentally slapping herself for ever forgetting a single detail about it. Her mother had been with her daily since she came back and had soothed all worries of her missing school. Loud footsteps coming from the hall shook her out of her day dream. None of the doctors or nurses walked that loudly. Getting out of the bed she found where they kept the scalpel and grabs one and shoved it down her bra like she had done before. She knew something was coming around the corner and she would be ready. The door creaked open just as Jessie slide back into her bed. All that peered around the corner was her mother's smiling face.

Her mother. Right. Visiting hours.

"Hi mom." Jessie croaked out. Her throat still tight from the self inflicted horror not seconds before.

"Hi Jessie sweetie. How are you feeling?" Her mother softly walked over and took a seat by Jessie's bed. Jessie sat up a little bit so she could talk to her mother better.

"Same old, same old. Still sick." She gave her mother a half smile and an equally energetic shrug. Her mother took her hand and began stroking it softly.

"Well, I just met with a very nice man who offered to maybe change that." Her mother said. She took a seat next to Jessie and smoothed out her skirt. Jess could tell her mother was excited because she kept fidgeting with her attire. Jessie bunched her eyebrows together partly in confusion and partly in fear of what her mother had done. "Nothing is for sure, but I think this is a life changing opportunity." A smile broke out onto her mother's face and Jessie felt very unsure.

"Mom what did you do?" Jessie said. Her thoughts going back to the scalpel in her scrubs. "Just tell me what is is. You're freaking me out."

"Jessie, Arkham has agreed to house you in their pediatric wing, just for a week. Free of charge." Her mother said softly stroking her hair. She dropped her voice down a couple of notches. "I know you don't like it here and personally I think these nurses should be fired." Jessie smiled a little at her mother's joking manner. "Before you agree to anything just know that if you don't like it there you can come back here or we can find you a new place. Anywhere, you think is best. We can move to Montana if you want it. Okay, sweetheart?" Her mother placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Yeah." Jessie sighed. She looked around at the hospital. Her room was more like a broom closet and the nurses were overworked as it was. Jessie knew she wasn't going to be an easy fix. Whatever Scarecrow had done to her, or hadn't done to her according to Batman wasn't going to be fixed by something that came out of a bottle, any bottle for that matter. But Arkham? Wasn't that for criminally insane people? She didn't do anything bad. She was the victim here. Yet as she looked around the worn down hospital and thought of the advancements of Arkham she let out a sigh. "Okay." She said quietly. "Okay." She repeated a little more surely this time. "I'll try out Arkham." Her mother squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"Alright sweety. I will go-" A sharp knock on the door interrupted her mother. Jessie's head whipped towards the door as her heartbeat speed up again. She laid her palm against the scalpel inside her hospital scrubs. "Yes?" Her mother said loudly. The door slowly began to open and Jessie squeezed her mother's hand tightly. A tall figure entered the room.

"Connor?" Jessie asked. More a question to herself than anything. He smiled a dazzling full teeth smile.

"Hey. I heard on the news that you were back." He rocked awkwardly back and forth on his feet. "I wanted to see you... if that's okay. I didn't know if you wanted to see me because I has been like three months since you have been back but like.... Yeah." He stuck his hands in his back pockets shyly as if Jessie were some hot goddess and not a scrambled bleary mess. She looked at her mom who just gave her a little smirk and squeezed her hand.

"I will leave you two to catch up." Her mother said standing. "I'll go tell them about Arkham."

"Arkham?" Connor asked. His eyes growing wide. He looked Jessie over as if he were able to survey her broken mind like broken limbs.

"She was selected for a pediatric program there." Her mother told Connor who was still surveying Jessie.

"If you don't mind Ms. Lawson. I would like to show Jessie something. Just really quick before she leaves." Jessie's mother looked at her with open eyes. It was one of those looks that said she would tell him to leave if Jessie wanted.

"No it's fine mom." She turned towards Connor slowly. "So where are we going?" She asked.

"Come with me. I have something I want to show you." Connor said extending his hand towards her. Jessie looked at him for a moment. Then she swung her legs out of the bed and took his hand.

"Lead the way." 

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AWE! Connor and Jessie going on a magical adventure together. "Iamarkhamasylum" isn't this just adorable!