Gotham City

Chapter 23: The Hospital

Bruce POV

[3 DAYS LATER]

Alfred has stopped by everyday but leaves every night to go back and tend to the manor. It's been three days and I'm starting to get really worried. Sarah hasn't moved at all. She doesn't eat, doesn't drink, never even opens her eyes. Her breathing is still weak and no one knows what to do. Everyone knows what poison ivy can do to the skin, but the actual poison in your veins? I don't think anyone has experienced this before. I couldn't tell if it was painful because Sarah's face stayed the same plain expression. Her skin color faded over the days, and I'm sure everyone noticed it, but it was never mentioned.

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Her breathing suddenly became heavier and faster. I ran to her side and called for the doctor and nurses. I placed my hand on her cheek and her skin was hot. It became hot to the point I had to remove my hand. I called for the doctor again and Dr. Demilia finally rushed in the room with 4 other nurses.

"What's wrong with her?!" I asked as Demilia quickly removed her hand from Sarah's skin. "I don't know." She answered then took out a thermometer from a cabinet. She placed it on her skin and it read 212°F. How the hell was her skin not burning from inside out?

Her color began to fade back in and she screamed painfully. I held her hand, trying to take on the excruciating burning sensation. Sarah flipped her head back into the pillow, in attempt to ease her pain. "Sarah-" I start hesitantly, due to her rising temperature burning my flesh, "Listen to me Sarah, calm down, calm down. You're going to be alright, I'm here, I'm right here." I comfort, slightly loosening my hand, but then tightening as I realized. With another scream, her eyes flashed open. Tears dwelled and fell down her cheek as she continued to feel the pain. Her eyes were in sparks, literally, and breathing still remained the same. "Sarah! Look at me!" I said, tying to get her to see me. No one had a clue what she saw as she screamed at the white ceiling.

She took a gasp of air as if she was never breathing at all. Her eyes quickly went to green and her breathing slowly became steady. Her temperature dropped significantly but my hand still blistered. Tears still trickled down her face. "Mr. Wayne, let's get that hand fixed okay?" Dr. Demilia said after a moment, and I hadn't noticed she removed my hand from Sarah's.

My hand was red, burnt, and fleshy. Dr. Demilia tended to it and she wrapped it up. We went back over to Sarah who's eyes were hesitantly closing. Her temperature dropped from 212° to 97°. "Can you see what's wrong with her now?" I asked. "I'm not sure because even before this happened she wasn't giving us answers, but we'll try again tomorrow. If you haven't noticed, it's pretty late Mr. Wayne. I stayed but, my shift ended about an hour ago." Dr. Demilia said, with a chuckle at the end. "Sorry," I say with a faint smile and she nodded, "Its alright, but I'll be on my way. Goodnight Mr. Wayne, and see you in the morning." She quietly closed the door and I continued to look at Sarah.

Her eyes met mine and I felt like I hadn't seen her in forever. "Br-" She said softly and I immediately leaned over her hospital bed to hug her. "It's okay, Sarah, it's okay. You're fine." I say, steadily rocking her. She sat up a bit, cuddling more into my arms. "I- I think I've f-found m-my code name." She stuttered softly, the softest I've ever heard her speak. "And that is?" I smiled, still holding her in my arms. "Midnight. Midnight's when everything happens to me." She said, surprisingly in a soft chuckle. I decided to ditch the subject, not wanting to talk about what happened. Failure followed as Sarah continued to speak.

"Look, Sarah. If I had just went after Joker first, and not spent so much time letting that God damn Penguin stall, this would have never happened!" I yelled, removing my body from hers. "No, no Bruce! You had nothing to do with it-" Sarah said in a soft comforting tone, but I still punished myself. I sighed in the awkward silence followed by the "who's fault it was" argument.

The large windows revealed the city and we were the average height of a hospital. I slid next to Sarah with my left arm around her. She laid her head on my chest and sighed. "How long have I've been out Bruce?" She asked. "3 days, well its 1:40 in the morning, so almost 4 days now." I answer. She looked out the window. After a pause, she asked, "Have you been out?"

I saw what she had her eyes set on. It was the Bat signal in the clouded sky. I shook my head. "Only time I leave is to get freshened up. Besides that, no, I haven't." She let out a breath, "What has been happening, with Joker-" She started but I interjected.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"You have to tell me Bruce." She says, our eyes locking. I sighed as I gave in to her beautiful peaceful essence. "There has been 4 deaths, Sarah." I say sadly and angrily. Her eyebrows furrowed and she looked back at the signal in the sky. "Why haven't you-" She starts, confusion and slight anger in her voice, but I interrupt again, "I'm not leaving-"

"Bruce, you need to go out there-"

"I'm staying, Sarah-"

"No, there's been 4 killings in 3 days, you need to do something!" Her tone became shock and anger mixed.

"No, I need to keep you safe. If I told you once, I've told you a million times-" I say loudly over her complaints about me not being Batman for the pass days. I started to get fed up.

"I'm not loosing you again!" I yelled standing up again and she became silent. "What-" She murmured. "Three times too many." I said quietly. "Bruce, I never-" She said but I interrupted angrily, "Don't say you haven't. First time when you walked out and disappeared for that entire month, second time was to that Brent character, and third time was 3 days ago, and I swore to myself I wouldn't loose you again." Her eyes immediately turned blue. Her expression became soft and sad and she reached for my hand. "You never loss me. Definitely not to Brent. I told you, I'm yours, and I'll always be. But you're putting me in front of your city. Your city that you protect. Don't ever let me get in the way of that. What makes you think you can handle this by yourself?" She saw the situation how I should've been seeing it.

I bent down next to her bed as the signal cut off. "I'm strong enough." I answer. "Or maybe it's because you're just that damn stubborn." She smiled. I leaned in and kissed her deeply. She cupped my cheek and I placed my hand behind her neck. Once again, I scooted next to her on the bed as she wrapped her arms around me. "Promise me you'll go whoop their asses tomorrow." She laughed, staring out the window. I had no answer and I looked down at my lap with a faint smirk. She placed her hand on my cheek making me turn to look down at her.

"The city needs you. You need to know the right time to be Batman and Bruce Wayne, and right now, you're needed as Batman. You're this city's only hope to make it out of this hell the Joker's made." She says looking deep into my eyes. "You know, you're starting to sound like Alfred." I chuckle, looking away from her and ahead of me. She giggled and nodded. "Where's my soulful heart anyways?" She asked. "Back at the house, he's been stopping by everyday now, but leaves around 8, latest is 10." I answer, looking outside as rain droplets started to slowly trickle down the window. Something similar to the tears that fell from Sarah's eyes.

She sighed and snuggled her head into my chest some more. "I promise, Bruce. Both of us will be out, especially you." "You don't know what he injected into you." I say, a little less gently as we were speaking before. She looked up at me. It was obvious she still had powers since her eyes changed color but I know there has to be something different about her.

"Poison is in your veins, Sarah." I say looking down to her. "But I'm fine, now. I've been awoke for only a couple hours and I'm already ready to leave." She smiled and I briefly chucked. "Me too, sweetheart." I rubbed her shoulder comfortingly as she slowly started to doze off.

I had to protect the city and Sarah, I had to try. I couldn't choose because Sarah was now my life, and Gotham had no chance without me. I'm going to do this.

I'm going to save them both.