Author's note: Hello guys! This would be my cold open for episode 2x09 of Gotham. I've no idea what they will bring, but Barbara and the girls are too important for me to let it pass.

Also, this is a sequel to "The slow pace of progress", because why not?

DISCLAIMER: Gotham and its characters are not mine.

Could you leave your review at the end? Thank you lots!

The fast connection of a bond
A Gotham fanfic

The paces of the teenage that many cops wanted to send back to juvie just because she made their work a hell lot more difficult echoed in the halls of Gotham's General Hospital with certainty, but also expectation. She was headed to a heavily secured part of the hospital due to the circumstances in which the person she wanted to see was found and the girl, that would rather be called Cat only the year before, made her way the way she liked – tall and daring.

It was not a surprise when another girl, with long, tangled, red hair joined her a couple of corridors before they got in the one they wanted. Ivy had a part on their history just as much as Cat did. Hell, maybe she was even higher on the list of favorite people allowed in the house than the older girl. Not that she cared, really. None of them did.

They liked the roof above their heads and the comfy mattresses and the fresh food and the warm baths. They liked the company that was taken from them when she was taken from them.

Now, they had bounced right back to her. Somewhere deep down, they knew that would always happen. They had reached a point where progress became bond and one couldn't come back from it. One wouldn't want to go back from it.

So they were there. It was almost midnight and Gotham was a cold place, but nothing could be compared to the cold in their stomach. They knew what had happened, it was all over the news. There was a deeply fear set in their guts that dizzied their minds, but sharpened their vision. They were in this together, all three of them.

The cops didn't move when the two girls turned the corner, but as they approached, the GCPD Strike Force went straight to their guns, making the teenagers – so immersed in their will to see her – snap back and step away. The door was off limits and they could barely get near the window.

"What are you doing?" a known voice asked – better yet, demanded, making Selina, the Cat, hiss.

"Nothing!" Ivy was quick to answer the cop that was coming down the hall on the opposite side. She was good at putting on a face, but there was no denial that what was going on right there changed her way of seeing things, people. Erased her attitude.

"Not you," he continued and the three Strike Force cops looked at him confused. "You. Put away your weapons, they are kids."

The new cops didn't flinch.

"Sorry, sir, but isn't that Selina Kyle?"

"Yes, she is. So what?" Jim sneered. "I said, drop the gun. Now."

They had to obey, but their posture didn't lose the tenseness that Gotham police was supposed to have. Now, Jim Gordon had been there and done that, but at this point, he knew every corner of the grey areas of the city and those two girls in front of him had their own way to cover their spots.

No one said a thing for almost a whole minute, all three studying each other's posture and doubting each other's intentions until-

"How is she?" Selina asked. Selina, who was mad done with Jim. Selina, who had just lost a friend when he promised to help.

"Critical," he answered and waited.

Her eyes drifted to the door of the room, the place Ivy had her eyes locked on without blinking.

"I j-" the older girl started and then corrected herself. "We just… she…" the words caught on her throat and she had to swallow them before bringing them up again. "We wanted to see her, just see… her."

The girls didn't see, but Jim nodded, agreed. And since they didn't see, he acted. Because he felt like he understood what they were feeling there and how little things could be enough for those who don't know what to do. So he walked to the door and turned the knob, only needing a side glance to warn the Strike Force to stay put. They wouldn't be needed. And he opened the door, stepped inside.

"Come on," he said, the girls only had eyes for her, their hearts beating faster than it ever could. Selina quickly looked at him with questioning eyes and he nodded. "It goes on my tab. Now come on, it's okay."

It wasn't. In many ways. But they went.

Somehow in the middle of that moment, the girls held hands, walked forward in equal dreaded steps. They couldn't seem to take in her as a whole, just bits of impressions – the blond hair splayed on the pillow, the bloodied bruises of her chin and arms, her hand wrapped with the IV needle, members covered with casts, fingers still. Their eyes didn't want to take it all in.

Babs. Why did you have to go? Why couldn't you stay – healthy, lucid, home? Your freedom came with such a cost. Was it worth? Didn't look so.

"She's so cold," Ivy whispered, for she was holding Barbara's hand too and Selina got closer to her face. She was unconscious. Critical, Jim said. Critical was a very thin line.

"Hi Barbara," the Cat said, barely a whisper. Her hand went automatically to a strand of her blond hair. Back at home, she would never admit, but Barbara's hair was one of the prettiest things Selina had ever seen and she really wanted to touch it, but hated the fact that it'd bring any kind of reaction from the woman. Now she could, and her hair still was soft, just like she imagined. "We are here, Ivy and I. Can you get better for us?"

They obviously got no answer.

Critical.

"Please, don't die," Ivy pleaded.

From the door, Jim was listened to everything. What an odd troupe those three were, he would never expect. That was why he took the girls under his wing. He babysat during the night and fed them (fries and burger to Selina, fries and salad to Ivy), covered them when they fell asleep on the uncomfortable seats of the waiting room, and watched out for them whenever anyone tried to move them. Sure they were two tiny, baby criminals. But they also were kids and they also had love for Barbara, on their own broken way. They deserved to stay.

Around five in the morning, a commotion happened in Barbara's room. The nurses and doctors running, rushing through the door, woke up Ivy and got Selina, who was awake drinking Harvey's coffee, to her feet. They didn't know what was going on and that was terrifying. In an attempt to protect the girls, both Harvey and Jim walked in each side, unsure of what to expect.

It was one of the Strike Force's girl who broke the news to them, her face with the smallest trace of relief.

"She woke up, sir."

And that was enough to have the girls urging forward, but they were held back by the two partners taking care of them.

"Easy, okay?" Jim warned Selina, who was struggling to be rid of his touch. Stepping away from him, she just nodded. Ivy already was at the door.

"Can you talk? Do you remember your name?" one of the doctors was asking and they saw Barbara looking from one to another with confusion. There were so many people around her, the room was so crowded. The girls wondered if she'd even be able to see them, but them a nurse moved and the following moment she was looking at them, she was looking straight at them.

"Ivy."

It was just a whisper, a breath, but a word and a name too. And then-

"Selly."

The people stepped back. The girls stepped forward. It was hard for Barbara to reach out with her hands, but she did so with her eyes and with her heart. She was different again, but they didn't know it yet. They only knew that, they only knew warm heart and good intentions and troubled love.

They knew Barbara, and Barbara knew them. Selina. Ivy.

"My girls."