Robinson Community Hospital was in a rough part of the city – though, in Gotham, weren't they all? It wasn't as big or as new as Gotham General, which had all of the investment and the publicity, and sometimes it suffered for it – it was seen as somehow less. But, as Ramirez climbed out of her tired, worn out car, it may as well have been Heaven.
Her mother was in there, and she was safe. For the first time in a long while, everything seemed like it might be alright – her biggest trial had just passed, and she was still a cop and still free. The guilt was still there, and it gnawed away at the back of her mind, but now she had something to fight back with – hope, maybe, or optimism at least.
She passed through the entrance to the hospital and was immediately overwhelmed by the smell of… cleanliness. Compared to the smog that hung over the city just on the other side of the doors, it was refreshing. The woman behind the desk smiled, and directed Anna to the fifth floor where she promised that her mother was being 'cared for'. She walked slowly, but her heart was pounding – she had no idea what state her mother would be in. The last time she had visited her in Gotham General she had been in a coma. What if she'd woken up? What would she tell her?
She hadn't woken up. She was still asleep in the hospital bed. White sheets covered her body, and her eyes were closed – she looked like she was sleeping peacefully. The only sign that anything was wrong was her thinning hair – it had been combed over to hide the patches where chunks had come loose – and her deathly pale skin. The sight of her in that state would have brought Ramirez to tears if it wasn't for the fact that they weren't alone. A young man sat opposite the door, and he stared at her as she entered.
"Alex", Ramirez said. Her voice cracked as she spoke, and she cleared her throat to try and stop it from happening again. The young man gave her the slightest of nods and she took a seat in the empty chair opposite him. "How is she?"
He didn't look at her as he answered. "She's dying", he said. His voice was cold, almost hostile. She was used to it. Alex was her younger brother, and they hadn't been on the best of terms for a long time. "Hasn't opened her eyes since I got here a couple of hours ago. Where have you been?"
Anna glanced up at him. He didn't know what she'd done to help their mother… the sacrifices she'd made. She desperately wanted to tell him, but the words wouldn't come. Instead, she just sighed. She reached out and gently took her mother's hand in hers. As she squeezed it slightly, she silently willed her to wake up.
They'd known a long time ago that this cancer would kill her, eventually, but the knowledge hadn't made it any easier on them. They didn't have much in the way of family, apart from each other, which made their drift apart even harder to bear. When the doctor's had told them that she only had a few months to live… the look in her mother's eyes broke Anna's heart. It had been a look of… relief? Or acceptance, perhaps. She'd resigned herself to her fate almost immediately. It was left to Anna and Alex to try and fight in her place.
Which was hard. Alex was… well, let's just say he wasn't exactly a stand up citizen. Four months out of prison, he worked part time is a pizzeria, when he wasn't dealing drugs. He could barely afford to keep himself alive. Which meant it was left to her to pay for their mother's medical treatment. At first it was fine… her police paycheck wasn't much, but it had been enough. But as the cancer progressed and she needed more and more… the bills just got bigger and bigger, and it wasn't long before she was struggling to pay them.
Things came to a head a month or so ago. She'd missed a payment, and the hospital – or their representatives, or whoever – had threatened to take her to court. Anna had tried to find ways of making more money, but nothing worked – she couldn't get a second job because her work at the MCU was so full-on - she sometimes had to do twelve hour shifts - and she couldn't take out a loan because then she'd just struggle to pay that back. So she did something that she had known she would regret – she checked her mother out of the hospital.
She'd tried to convince herself that she'd be able to care for her at home, but she'd been deluding herself – she was hardly at home these days anyway. To make things worse, her brother had found out… and he was not happy. It wasn't long before he came banging on her door. One thing, he'd screamed. One thing she needs from you is money… and you can't even give her that. You don't care about her. You never did!
His words had shaken her, but she knew that at least some of what he'd said was true – money was the only thing she could do for her mother now. She'd decided then and there… whatever she had to do, whoever she had to get close to, she would do it. And now, staring down at her mother's peaceful face… even though she'd ruined more than one person's life, even though she had almost been killed… if she had the chance she would do the same again.
"Miss Ramirez?" A soft voice interrupted her. Alex's eyes rose and then quickly lowered again, and Anna turned around. There was a man there – a doctor, she assumed. "I'm sorry to interrupt", he said. "Can I have a word please?"
Anna nodded and followed him out, along the crowded corridor and into an office at the far end. He held the door open for her and closed it gently behind her, before motioning for her to take a seat in one of the empty chairs while he sat in another.
His eyes were wide, and his face wore an expression that made Ramirez nervous – he was uncomfortable, and people usually get uncomfortable when they're about to give bad news.
After a few moments of silence, he sighed. "Look", he said. "There's no easy way of saying this… you missed the last payment, and this isn't the first time that it's happened. Now-"
Anna's face flushed red with anger. "What?" she shouted. "What do you mean it hasn't been paid? I've dealt with all of this… the money should be paid straight to you!"
The doctor coughed, nervously – it was clear that he wasn't used to this kind of situation. "I'm sorry, Miss Ramirez", he said, his voice still calm. "But the last payment was definitely missed. The next is due in two weeks, and if that is not paid promptly then I'm afraid we'll have to take this further".
Ramirez's mind was racing – she'd made a deal with those bastards. She drove Rachel Dawes to where they told her to, and they would pay her mother's medical bills for as long as she needed them to.
The doctor was looking at her while she thought - his narrow eyes peeped over the top of his thick glasses. "Miss Ramirez", he said gently. "Perhaps it's time you started to think about… letting go."
Ramirez's brown wrinkled in a frown. Letting go? she thought. What does he mean? She didn't speak, but her heart started to beat harder in her chest.
"Your mother…" the doctor started. "She's not going to wake up. It might sound harsh, but it's the truth. She's dying… and there is nothing you can do, not with all the money and all the medical care in the world. Some things just… can't be stopped". With that, he leant back in his chair, eyes nervous, waiting for her to respond.
Which she did, almost instantly. "Screw you!" she shouted. "I'm not giving up on her, even if everyone else is!" She stood suddenly and strode towards the door.
"Where are you going?" the doctor asked, though he made no move to stop her.
Without looking back, Anna replied: "To fix this". She ripped the door open and slammed it shut behind her.
As she strode along the corridor, mind racing, she didn't hear her brother as he shouted after her.
"Anna?" he called. "What's going on?"
She did not give him an answer.
