The next thing Jim knew he was in an uncomfortable hospital bed. The heavy vest he had been wearing had been removed and he was happy to breathe a little easier. He tried to shift but realized he was wearing a sling. He glanced around and after a little fumbling with his free hand he found his glasses on the bedside table. He still had some dulled pain in his back but at least he could see properly now. It was dark outside. The funeral was mid afternoon so he wondered how long he had been out.
He thought about Stephens and he wondered how he had continued his farce, if had let anyone in on the secret, if it would help his family at all. And then Gordon thought about Barbara and the kids. Would Stephens tell them the truth or would he make the solemn house call, offering a hug and the standard if-you-need-anything condolence? Jim hadn't considered his plan's potential ramifications on his family. For a split second he considered calling home but before he could a small young nurse walked into the room.
"Mr. Smith, you're awake!" Jim looked at her confused for a second but he recalled Stephen's instructions to ambulance medics.
"Um. Yes. What time is it?"
"Well Mr. Smith, it is pushing 5am, I suppose the normal wake up time for a busy officer such as yourself."
Gordon kept silent so the nurse continued to talk as she went about her work of checking his pulse, heart and IV.
"You had us concerned, your injuries were relatively minor so we expected you to wake up soon but you just kept lying there, dead to the world." Gordon let out a little snort at the comment. The young woman seemed not to notice and kept right about her work, "Orders were to try to force you awake if you were still out by day break. Luckily it looks like we don't have to do that now. Still, it's a bit cause for concern especially because of that bump on your head. Do you remember what happened?"
Gordon remembered most of it vividly but decided to keep his answers short. "Vaguely."
She smiled at him as if she were smiling at a young child, "Well you did a very brave thing, you saved the mayor from getting shot you know. The bullet hit you in the back. Luckily you were wearing a vest so it slowed the bullet enough that it stopped right in the muscle tissue and didn't go any deeper. You didn't even need surgery. We were able to remove it with tweezers. If you hadn't been wearing a vest it surely would have punctured a lung or your heart and we wouldn't be having this conversation now."
Jim smirked, thinking he wasn't much participating in the conversation anyway.
"But that's why we've given you the sling. The less you move your arm, the less you'll irritate the injury and the less it will hurt and the faster it will heal. So try to keep your arm still as much as possible." Again Jim smirked, knowing that the sling wouldn't last long.
"Anyway when you fell you hit your head pretty hard. We think you just have a minor concussion but you were out for so long we may need to do additional tests."
Jim grimaced. "I don't think that will be necessary."
The nurse tilted her head slightly, "Why?"
He thought back to the past few days, he counted about 8 hours of fitful sleep over the course of the past week. Its not like it was anything particularly new. Ever since he became a cop and especially since he became a detective there were nights that found him catching the only sleep he could at his desk. Recently he hadn't even managed that. He knew it was affecting him, he sometimes found it difficult to focus and was more prone to showing his frustration be it kicking a bundle of bills across an empty safe or arguing with Harvey Dent. He was headed for a crash anyway, even his triple strength coffee had lost its punch by the morning of the commissioner's funeral. But again he decided to keep his answer to the nurse short.
"I needed some sleep."
She accepted his simple answer with a shake of the head. "Well Mr. Smith, you'll have plenty of time to sleep now that you're here with us." With a smile she left the room urging him to call her if he needed anything. Jim knew he wouldn't.
He spent the next few hours restlessly drifting between short naps and wondering about how his family was doing but more so he wondered what was going on with his city and with his cops. He held faith that he wouldn't have to play this game for long but he couldn't have imagined how short he'd have to wait.
At 9 that morning he turned on the television that was in the room. Harvey Dent was giving a press conference. Jim sat straight up in bed when Dent declared himself to be Batman. Jim knew it wasn't true. He'd seen Dent and Batman standing side by side, they couldn't be the same person, yet there was Dent being led away in handcuffs.
This time Jim didn't pause before reaching for the phone.
"Stephens, it's me. I'm fine, thank you. When are you moving Dent? I want in."