AN: For some reason I took a lot of time with this chapter. I don't know why but I found this chapter particularly challenging to write. I am proud that I managed to actually finish it, and overall I think I managed to write a good chapter. It isn't my best work, but it's still good.
PS. I want to thank Kaika-sama for giving me the newspaper idea, I hadn't really thought about that, so thanks because it helped me a lot. I still hadn't figured out how to make the Joker find out about Babs being Gordon's daughter. So thank you because for giving me that wonderful idea.
Chapter Nine
A Death in the Family
The last thing she remembered as she woke up was a blinding pain in her scalp before blacking out completely.
The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was a bright white light.
"Hey, she's waking up.", she heard a voice say, even though she couldn't quite tell who it was.
Her senses were slowly adjusting as she felt like she was waking up from a coma.
She noticed she was lying in a bed; the sheets covering her were impeccably white and clean. The pillow was soft, but the bed felt a little stiff. She sat up lightly and she felt a hand on her shoulder push her down lightly. When she tried to move her right arm, she winced and noticed she had a needle stuck in her vein that connected her to the I.V. next to her bed.
"Be careful, Junior.", she recognized the voice now; it was her father's voice. He was standing behind her mother, who was sitting on a chair next to the bed. Behind him she could see Rachel and Harvey looking at her with a mix of worry and relief.
"Mom…Dad…", she stopped as she felt an incoming headache.
The events prior to her hospital visit flashed quickly in her mind.
"Look at all these people. They came here for you."
"A little liquid courage, sir?"
"Barbara this is Linda Page. Linda this is Barbara Gordon."
"To Harvey Dent. Gotham's White Knight."
"Yeah, you know I didn't think I would see you again after that night."
"Good evening, ladies and gentle men…we are tonight's entertainment."
"I only have one question: Where is Harvey Dent?"
"Well, hello beautiful."
"I'm sorry Red, I'm gonna have to borrow your girlfriend."
"Rachel!"
"Well then we're gonna have to take a hostage, won't we?"
"Joker, let the hostage go."
"I'll let her go, after I get what I want…"
"Please Joker, don't hurt her."
"Until we meet again, Red."
She began hyperventilating, "Oh God. The Joker…Harvey… dad…Rachel!"
She screamed and struggled to get up from the bed. Her father and Harvey restrained her.
"Barbara I'm here. I'm okay.", Rachel said as she put a comforting hand in her friend's arm.
Barbara relaxed as she saw Rachel standing there; she had almost forgotten the brunette was there.
"The Joker he took me, and then…he let me go.", she said, in a skeptical manner, her breath slowly regulating as she began to calm down gradually.
"Yes, he kept his word.", her father spoke from her side.
"I'm a man of my word.", she remembered what the Joker had said in his video. She shook her head as she tried to get the sound of the man voice out of her head.
Her father gave her a comforting look before squeezing her shoulder gently.
"For how long have I been unconscious?", she asked her father.
"A day in a half."
She thought it wasn't that bad, it was better than a week. And she assumed she hadn't missed much. Or at least she thought.
"I want to go home."
"Sweetheart, you have to stay for a little while longer for observation." Her mother spoke softly.
"No, I feel fine. I don't want to be here. Please dad.", she pleaded giving her father a desperate look.
Gordon stayed quiet for awhile before answering his daughter.
"I'll talk to the doctor, okay?"
She nodded; she just didn't want to be there any longer than necessary. Her father, her mother and Dent left the room. Rachel stayed and sat where her mother had been sitting seconds earlier.
"Barbara, I'm going to tell you something, but you have to promise me you'll stay calm."
Her friend spoke looking straight at her. Barbara stared confused, but nodded quickly none the less.
Rachel took something from the inside of her purse . It looked like a paper, to be more specific a newspaper.
She gave Barbara the newspaper article she had taken from yesterday's paper.
Barbara's eyes widened as she read the article.
Mayhem at Harvey Dent's fundraiser
By Vicki Vale
As she was reading she recognized her own name there in fine print.
"She put you're name out there for him to see. He knows who you are, that you're the Lieutenant's daughter. He could come after you." Her friend alleged.
"You don't know that. What makes you think he'll come after me, he could go after you as well. After all he's after Harvey, and you're his girlfriend."
Rachel didn't say anything else, after all she knew the redhead spoke the truth, but that wouldn't make her stop worrying over Barbara's safety.
She took the article back putting it securely in her purse once again.
Her father entered the room again, this time a nurse accompanied him. Barbara didn't recognize the nurse immediately. Once she took a closer look, she could see it was Linda Page, the woman that Vicki had introduced her to at the fundraiser. She had almost forgotten all about her. Linda looked very different; her short hair was being held up by a clip, she was wearing dark blue scrubs, and white flats.
"Linda."
Linda smiled sweetly, "Hi Barbara."
Linda approached her, moving to the right side of her bed, taking the needle that connected her to the I.V. out of Babs' hand slowly.
"Good news, Dr. Strong said that you were fine." Her father spoke happily.
"I don't want you to think we're kicking you out, but kind of need every bed available."
Linda spoke this time, her voice was bright and filled with kindness. She smiled warmly at Babs again before helping her sit up the bed.
Barbara felt all her muscles tightened as she sat up.
"I'm not leaving with just a hospital gown, am I?", she asked almost in horror as she noticed the only thing she was wearing apart from her underwear was a flimsy paper gown.
"Oh, of course not. You're clothes are right here." Linda said while taking a bundle of clothes out of a small bag next to Babs' hospital bed.
"You're mother brought it for you." Her father informed her.
Barbara reminded herself mentally to thank her mother once she saw her again. Linda helped her to the bathroom where she changed into the clothes her mother had brought her; a white t-shirt, some blue jeans and sandals.
After that Barbara left with her mother and father who drove her home. Even though Babs wanted badly to go to her office her father spoke against it saying she needed rest even though Barbara had been in a coma-like sleep for more than a day.
--
When Barbara got home, she waited for her father to leave before interrogating her mother.
Barbara Sr. told her daughter all about what had transpired in Gotham, from Commissioner Loeb and Judge Surrillo's murders, which Babs remembered her father mentioning while speaking to the Joker.
According to her mother the psychotic clown had also announced he would assassinate Mayor Garcia during Commissioner Loeb's memorial ceremony.
The ceremony is today and it would take place in downtown Gotham. Despite Barbara Senior's vehement protest, her eldest daughter was determined to make it to the ceremony. It wasn't because she wanted to pay respects to Loeb; the man had never really done anything for this city. There was a rumor going around that during Carmine Falcone's reign in Gotham, Loeb had been one of the many public figures in his paycheck.
The real reason Barbara wanted to go to the ceremony was because she had a bad feeling about it; call it a woman's intuition if you will, but she had this feeling that something bad was going to happen.
She put on a dark blue fleece sweater over her thin t-shirt and a black overcoat over that before she headed out. She took a cab all the way towards Gotham Central.
She had to walk through crowds of people the rest of the way. The streets were crowded with officers, and the sidewalks were crowded with civilians. She got as close as she could to the podium.
The Mayor was speaking saying something about how honest and hard-working Loeb had been.
What a load of bull., she thought rolling her eyes.
She looked up and saw that the roofs had been staked out by snipers. She looked up at the buildings trying to see from which window the Joker would strike.
What if he isn't in any of the buildings? A voice in her head spoke doubtfully.
Now that she thought about it, it made sense in a strange way. She remembered what the Joker had told her father when he was holding her hostage.
I may look like a jester, but I'm not stupid like a jester…
No, he wouldn't strike out his plans in one of the buildings through a window. That was too predictable for the Joker. No, he'd so something more crafty, more spontaneous.
Barbara began looking around, she winced when shots started going off, only to realize it was the officers' guns.
It's okay Babs, that's part of the ceremony. , she told herself internally.
She took a deep breath, before looking around again to see if she could catch anyone suspicious or anything that looked out of place, but she didn't.
She winced as they fired again, but the shots sounded louder than before like they were coming from above as well.
What would the Joker do?
It would be as previously stated, unpredictable and bold. Something dramatic…
Wait a minute…the officers!, she deciphered quickly looking suspiciously at the officers.
She tried to strain her vision to look at the ones who were shooting carefully, to see if she could find anyone who looked out of place. But she couldn't see that far, with the crowd in front of her and the distance.
Suddenly shots were fired again, but this time it was different. People started panicking around her, screaming and running. When she looked up at the podium, she saw that the Mayor was being escorted by his bodyguards; Harvey and Rachel were also being ushered away by a couple of officers.
As she got closer to the podium she was greeted with a horrifying sight; her father slumped at the floor of the podium, his glasses were askew, and he looked breathless…lifeless. Detective Stephens leaned down to check his pulse and cursed loudly.
"Dad!" Barbara screamed loudly, but her father did not respond.
Det. Stephens acknowledged her presence and gave her a sad sympathetic look.
She tried getting closer to the podium, but she felt herself being restrained. Strong arms enveloped around Barbara's waist.
"Let me go."
"I'm sorry Ms. Gordon, but for your safety you must come with us.", it was a man's voice.
She struggled against the officer's arms, but failed and went limp finally giving up after realizing she wasn't going anywhere. Tears streaked down her face as she looked at her father's motionless figure. She felt helpless, useless; even though she had been there, she didn't do anything, she couldn't do anything to stop her father from being murdered by the Joker and his pack of clowns.
The officer pulled her away from the dreadful scene before her and pulled her into a patrol car, inside that same car her friend Rachel Dawes also sat as she waited to be lead to safety.
"Barbara, what's wrong?" Rachel asked confused clearly she hadn't seen Lt. Gordon get shot.
Barbara didn't answer her; she just sat there motionless, crying silently. Rachel got closer to her friend as the patrol car took off. She put her arm around Babs' shoulders as she tried to coax her friend into telling her friend what was wrong with her.
Finally Barbara gave up, she couldn't hold it any longer. She just broke down and began sobbing loudly, her breath coming in short ragged gasps.
"He…My father he's…", she tried to say it. But the words didn't want to come out. They couldn't come out…If they came out, then it was true, he really was gone.
"What Babs? What happened to the Lieutenant?"
"He's…He's dead! Rachel, my father's dead!", she shouted and kept sobbing.
Rachel's eyes widened.
Lt. Gordon is dead. Rachel thought sadly as she held her grieving friend.
Barbara's head fell on Rachel's lap. The brunette caressed her friend's hair as she tried to comfort her. She knew that nothing she did would make the redhead feel better, even she felt depressed as she thought of Gordon and how he gave his life for Garcia. Even though the man probably didn't deserve the sacrifice.
"It will be alright, Babs.", she whispered softly.
--
When Rachel and Barbara arrived at Mayor Crimes Unit, the assistant DA went to work fast. She had no time to grieve, she had work to do. She tried to help the officers and detectives around her as much as she could.
Barbara sat in Ramirez desk next to Rachel; she just kept her head bowed down. The tears stopped after awhile, but that didn't make her feel any better. She actually felt worse than before. She felt empty, like a shell; an empty vacant shell…
As Rachel was sorting out paper work, she heard her phone ring loudly. Checking the called ID quickly, thankfully it was her boyfriend Harvey who was calling her.
She answered quickly, "Harvey…"
"Rachel, where are you?", he interrupted, he sounded rushed.
"I'm at Mayor Crimes Unit, helping as much as I can. This place is a mess."
"Rachel, have you by any chance seen Barbara?"
Rachel glanced at Babs, who was sitting next to her staring vacantly at the desk in front of her.
"She's here with me."
"Look…you have to get out of there. Take Barbara with you."
Rachel was confused; she and Babs were safe here.
"Harvey, what's wrong?"
"The Joker named Barbara as his next target. He's going to kill her. Do you understand!", he said piercingly into the phone.
"Harvey, she's safe here. Gordon vouched for these men."
"Yeah and he's dead…Gordon's gone, Rach. You have to get out of there right now…God is there anyone in this city we can trust."
Rachel sighed into the cell phone.
Bruce
"Bruce… We can trust Bruce."
"Rachel, I know he's your friend, but…"
Rachel interrupted her boyfriend, "No, Harvey. Bruce's penthouse is now the safest place in Gotham."
"Then go there, and stay there. Tomorrow I'm going to hold a press conference, and this is all going to end. I promise.", he told her softly before hanging up.
She fumbled with her purse as she put her cell phone in it and placed the strap on her shoulder. She leaned down towards Barbara shaking her friend slowly.
Barbara looked up at her friend, and noticed she had an anxious worried look on her face.
"Is something wrong?", she asked quietly, almost whispering.
"We have to go." Rachel didn't want to give too much away, there was only so much one person could take in one day.
Barbara was still mourning her father, and to hear that she was also the Joker's next target practice might actually drive her to the breaking point.
She would tell Barbara about the threat, but not right now. Not in front of all these people.
Barbara stood up slowly and followed Rachel outside.
Rachel managed to sneak the both of them out the back, and everyone was so busy that they didn't notice the two women slip out.
They took a taxi cab to Wayne's penthouse.
Rachel pushed the penthouse button in the elevator hurriedly. The elevator went up swiftly. Barbara started feeling drowsy, her eyes drooping. She stumbled a bit and laid her back against the elevator wall.
"Babs, are you okay? Barbara?"
Barbara could barely hear her friend's voice. She sounded like she was far away. The elevator door opened, Bruce Wayne was standing there like he had been expecting them to show up. And Babs wondered if Rachel had managed to call him, she hadn't really been paying attention during the ride there.
Rachel walked out and Babs tried to follow, but her legs seemed to give up underneath her. She stumbled as she tried to step out of the elevator.
"Barbara!" Rachel shouted as she watched helplessly as her friend began to fall.
Bruce's incredible reflexes kicked in, as he caught Barbara with an unnatural speed. He hoisted her up in his arms before carrying her bridal style towards his bedroom where he laid her in his large bed.
Rachel followed him into the bedroom as she sat down next to Babs in the bed. She ran her hands through her friend's hair as she had done in the patrol car during their drive to MCU headquarters.
"Don't worry, Babs. Things will get better, I promise.", she whispered into her friend's ear softly before kissing her forehead gently and walking out of the room.
--
