Harley's POV
Beep
Beep
Beep
Beep
I heard an unrelenting beeping invading my ears and for a moment, I thought it was my alarm clock.
Beep
Beep
Beep
Beep
I slowly opened my eyes to an overly bright world. I squinted to protect myself, though it did little. I looked to my left: white and other dull colors were around the room. I looked to my right: flowers, balloons, cards. I looked down at my hand to see a head of dark brown hair resting on it. I cleared my throat and their head shot up.
"You're finally awake...how are you feeling?"
He asked. I smiled a little at the sight of Bruce but I soon tried to figure out why I was here. Okay, so I was in a hospital bed currently. Meaning hospital. Why though? Why am I here?
"Ugh...w-what am I doing in here?"
I questioned. He looked at me, still smiling.
"You were in a car accident with your mother. She's fine, only managing to sustain a broken arm. You, however were stubborn and have been in a coma for three weeks now."
He told me with a hint of humor in his tone.
"But why are you here? I know you have better things to do with your time."
I told him. We've been friends since we were little but when middle school came around, he started to hang out with our friend Rachel more. I still didn't understand why he was suddenly so insistent on spending time with me after all these years.
"I made a promise to Jack that I would be here when you woke up."
He replied, smiling in a charming way. Jack?
"Who?"
I inquired, confused. He opened his mouth to speak but closed it and shook his head.
"Never mind."
He replied. I was still curious but I let it slide.
"Well, that's sweet of you. Thank you."
I said, sitting up slowly. As if on cue, Rachel walked in the room with a look of worry on her face. It quickly melted into relief as she ran over to my side.
"Oh thank god, Harls! I thought you'd never wake up! You know how I was living in Paris for a while? So I just got back yesterday and heard you were here and I got here as soon as I could. I'm so happy you're awake."
She babbled on and on and on. I didn't stop her, she sometimes had a bad habit of talk my ear off but I never was annoyed enough to tell her. Unlike her, Bruce was usually quiet. He always had been since his parents died.
"Well, anyway, how are you feeling?"
She inquired.
"Hungry."
I replied. She nodded and left the room, I assumed she went 'hunting' for food. For a while Bruce and I just kinda stared at each other awkwardly. I still hadn't apologized for slapping him. I tried breaking the ice by making silly faces at him, earning a laugh. He followed suit and we just kept it up until Rachel came back with mashed potatoes and other things. I ate like a total pig, but could you blame me? I hadn't eaten in forever.
Once I left the hospital, my life went on just like before. Even though there were gaps in my memory, my mom and dad did their best to help me. Luckily the memory loss didn't affect my school and I passed high school with flying colors. After everything settled down again, Bruce asked me to be his girlfriend. I was astonished that anyone, let alone Bruce, could find me as a romantic interest. Regardless, I accepted his offer. I continued to date him, even after high school. I was still in the dark about the mysterious Jack, even my parents had brought up his name but I didn't know who they were talking about. When everyone realized that I didn't know who Jack was, they dropped him from conversation and I was left wondering. All I had as any sort of clue was the locket my nurse claimed he had given to me while I was still in a coma. Why haven't I seen him then? Why hasn't he visited, if everyone knows he's so important to me? Well he used to be, at least. I couldn't put a face to him either, not from my memory and I had no photos of him, that I knew of. In the end, I eventually gave up on the investigation and moved on with my life. Once I was finished with high school, I attended college on a gymnastics scholarship. However, I decided to start taking psychology courses. I majored in it, at the top of my class and earned my doctorate. I got it much sooner than most would, then again, I studied more than most did. At twenty-three, I graduated and began an internship at Arkham, just like I wanted. I could finally prove to Sarah and Daniel that I was going somewhere in life, I could finally make them proud. Some of my superiors believed I was far too young to be working with such difficult patients but I showed them my potential when I cured my first patient. She was deemed fit to live outside of Arkham and even I was surprised. No one had ever left Arkham, even so after such success with my first patient, they pretty much flung any patient they could at me. Even though they praised and encouraged me, I stayed humble, telling them that it wasn't a guarantee that the patients would be cured under my care. But again, I was surprised when I managed to cure a good handful of them. It took months, sometimes years at a time to rehabilitate each one but that was still more than most ever treated here. People looked at me as a miracle worker, I just saw it as my job to do my best for my patients. With all of these new cases, I hardly had time to relax. Despite all of this, my busy life and absence at home, Bruce proposed. How he convinced himself that was a good idea, I had no clue. I thought he was crazy, nuts for asking to settle down with me, but I didn't say no. After the engagement, things at work began to slow down and I actually got days off sometimes. I could finally focus on myself and Bruce. I was finally content.