Chapter Six

Erin awakened to a dark room. She was in an unfamiliar bed, and a dim blue light came from the clock on the table beside her. There was a window to her left, and a curtain along a rail near the ceiling hid her bed from the rest of the room. She guessed she was at the hospital, and tried to remember why. Had she slipped somewhere? At the lab, perhaps?

The lab… the fire… Everything came back to her at once.

She groaned and shifted a little under the covers. Her bloody clothes must have been taken and thrown away, as she was dressed in a simple white gown and nothing else. She didn't want to look at her hand, but she tried closing it in a fist anyway. Severe pain coursed throughout her palm and fingers, and she sucked her breath in through her teeth.

"You're awake," whispered a rough voice from the open window. "I wouldn't try that again if I were you."

She watched the Batman as he gracefully climbed into the room. Questions buzzed across her mind, and she closed her eyes to create some order.

"How did you know which room I was in?" she croaked, her eyes still shut.

"Simple. I asked the lady at the desk."

She smiled weakly. "Dressed like that?"

He didn't laugh, but she felt his amusement across the tiny space. "I came for a special reason, Miss Vinestradt," he said softly. "Do you remember what you were working on at the lab when Hound's men came?"

She swallowed and nodded. "You need the antitoxin."

"As soon as possible."

"I'm sorry I…" she began, and cleared her throat, angry with herself. "It was lost, in the fire. I didn't go get it…"

"I know. But," he prodded, "do you remember any of it?"

She opened her eyes, suddenly fully awake, and looked at him. "Yeah. Get me a sheet of paper, and a pencil. I might not…" she coughed, "remember it in the morning."

He moved to the curtain and, pulling it back, disappeared. She heard the quiet rustle of moving papers, but his footsteps were inaudible. The black-gloved hand pushing back through the curtain scared her with its silent abruptness.

"Here," he said. She took the materials and quickly wrote down what she remembered of the formula, then played with it until it balanced and looked right.

"This is it," she said, handing him the paper and stifling a yawn.

"Thank you," he whispered in his gravel-voice, and looking straight at her said, "Get some rest." He seemed to vanish like smoke out the window, his cape trailing behind him and catching on nothing.

She fell asleep quickly, and stayed asleep until morning.

"Honey?" said a velvety voice. "Darling, wake up now. It's almost ten, Erin, honey. Please wake up."

Someone was holding her hand. For a single, irrational moment she thought – and hoped – that it was Bruce Wayne, and then recognition hit her like a freight train.

Timothy Chester, her fiancé.

She opened her eyes to his worried face, and he beamed. "Welcome back to the land of the living, honey. I love you," he cooed.

She slid her good hand out from between his and called for a nurse.

"I'll get whatever you –"

"Leave me alone, Tim," she said curtly. She blamed him for what happened last night. If he had come to see her as he had promised, she wouldn't have stayed so late at the lab, and she would not have been inside the building when it went up in flames. "Nurse?" she called.

"Honey, listen, I'm so sorry about Friday, I really am. Something came up and I –"

"Nurse?" she called desperately.

A man walked into her curtained room. He was well-muscled with a head of thick, blond hair and a wide smile. "Thank god," Erin murmured.

"Good morning, Ms. Vinestradt. I'm Dominic Guss, your doctor." He looked from her to Tim and back to her. "Is this man upsetting you? He said he was your fiancé."

"Yes, he is. Upsetting me, I mean." She paused. "And he is my fiancé," she added unwillingly.

"Darling, I –" Tim began, but Dr. Guss took him by the arm.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave, sir."

Tim became irate. "Listen here, you, she's not well! She doesn't know what she's say—"

Dr. Guss pushed him roughly out of the room, and Erin hid a grin. "I'm sorry, sir, you'll have to come back later. Jenna, see this gentleman to the elevator, please." He came back inside the curtains and shut them briskly, then opened the window. Sunlight streamed in and fell across her bed. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Um…" Erin trailed off. "Bit of a headache, and uh… my hand feels stiff, and I don't want to try moving it."

He grinned. "Yes, that's probably not a good idea right now. Anything else? Have you tried sitting up this morning?"

"No."

He made her try, and she fell back to the pillows, sweating, her head swimming. "How do you feel now?" the doctor asked, gently probing the arm of her injured hand. His voice seemed to come from far away. "Uh…" said Erin again, feeling sick. "I'm a little dizzy." That's odd, she thought. Last night I felt good as new when…

Batman. Batman had come into her little hospital room so she could give him the formula. She sat up with renewed strength and asked her Dr. Guss if he had heard anything about Hound and the Batman after last night.

The doctor's eyebrows shot up as she lifted herself from the bed, her sickness gone and her eyes clear.

"No, I haven't gotten a chance to read the paper yet this morning." He gave her a funny look. "Do you know how long you've been asleep, Miss Vinestradt?"

"Uh, a day?" When he didn't answer, she amended, "…maybe two?"

He gave her a kindly, reassuring smile. "You've been out for six days, in a smoke-induced coma, produced by the burning chemicals in the fire, especially carbon monoxide. For the first day," he said gravely, "we thought we would lose you. But, you're on the mend now, so don't worry about the days you missed."

She looked around at the room, suddenly worried. What if the Batman's visit had been a dream, as she slept? "So, it's… next Thursday?" He nodded. "And I've been asleep the entire time?"

"Well, last night you came out of the coma, and were sleeping regularly, but yes, you haven't woken up until this morning, or Jenna would have noticed. Do you remember waking up?"

"No, I was just… surprised," she said calmly. "I've never been in a coma before." She laughed a little to hide her embarrassment. I bet it was a dream, she thought sadly. No one will believe me anyway.

"Miss Vinestradt, I have been asked to see if you are willing to see visitors. Dr. Lucius Fox is here to talk to you, and the police would like to ask some questions, for their reports. Only if you're up to it," he finished gently, patting her arm.

She knew Dr. Fox would want to hear about the antitoxin. She racked her brain but – nothing came up. I don't remember, like I told Batman I wouldn't – except I didn't tell him. Because that was a dream. She shook her head slightly, depressed.

"You don't want to see anyone?"

"Oh! No, I'd like to talk to Dr. Fox, please." Might as well get this over with.

Fox walked in minutes later as Erin tried in vain to recall even the basic compounds she had come up with a week ago. "How are we doing this morning?" he began in his slow drawl. "You look the best you have all week."

"I bet," she said, and there was an uncomfortable pause. "Listen, Dr. Fox… I know what you're going to ask."


"Oh?"


"Yeah. And I'm sorry, but… I can't remember it." She stopped. "I'm really sorry," she said, softer. She stared down at her bedsheet, fiddling with the bandage on her right hand with the fingers of her left. She felt like a petulant child, and looked up at him, stilling her hands.

His caring gaze met hers, and he said, "That's all right. We've got another team of scientists working on it as we speak. None of this was your fault, and from what I hear, you nearly finished the work the night the facility was destroyed. Is that right?"

"Yes, sir," she said self-consciously. "I actually… um… I remember getting it done, sir. I just… can't remember…."

"How would you like to come back and work on it with a new team? They're expected to get it done in less than ten days, but if the doctor says it's okay, you could help them out a little. With your input I'm sure they could finish in three or four."

"Sure! Anything."

"Okay. Once this is all over, though, would you like to go back to the astrophysics department, or do you want to stick with biochem?"

Erin thought about it. She was good in both areas, she knew from college. But she had originally chosen astrophysics for her interest in the field. "I'd like to go back to my old job, if that's okay."

"Sure." His expression became curious. "How'd you get stuck in biochem, anyway?"

"Well… there were rumors…." She wondered if she should talk about this. Heck with it, she thought. If Bruce Wayne authorized it, there's nothing Dr. Fox can do to me, right? She cleared her throat. "There were rumors that the work was for the Batman," she said, trying not to blush. "That's not the most reliable… not that he's, you know, bad, he's actually amazing… it's just that, so many people… for the public, it was… kept quiet. And random people were pulled for the job."

Fox gave her a stately nod. "I see." He walked to her bedside and touched her arm. "On behalf of the company, though, I want to thank you for the work you've done."

"You're not going to fire me, are you?" she asked him timidly.

He laughed, and she relaxed. "A bright girl like you? It'd hurt us more than you know." He winked. "See you at work tomorrow?"

"Yes, sir," she answered cheerfully.

Guss returned, followed by Captain Gordon of the Police Department, who asked her to detail as much as she could remember of the night of the fire. She did her best, and Gordon seemed particularly pleased with her memory of the one name, Matthews, that she caught when the two thugs were arguing outside her lab.

"We've got nothing else to go on," he said ruefully, looking down at his pad of notes from their interview. When he looked up at her, she was surprised to see real remorse in the officer's eyes. "I am sorry we couldn't get to you sooner, Doctor."

She placed her good hand on his arm. "I know… you did everything you could. I'm just glad I'm alive," she offered with a tentative smile.

His was forced and he shook his head. "Thank you again." He slipped out from under her hand and she let it fall to the bed. That's the first good cop I've seen in this city since I came here. She wished she could help him fight the rottenness evident in the city's bureaucracy, to carry away some of the poor man's burden.

"If it hadn't been for Bats…" she heard him mumble as he walked away.

Bats…? she wondered. That's… new. Like he knows him personally…