Lapses
Chapter 14: Wake
A/N: read, relax, and review guys! (oh, and the title refers to the ceremony held after a person is killed, you know, a wake. Just in case that was confusing.)
James Gordon stared morosely in to his coffee. He imagined that he could see the last minute traces of heat escaping into the perennial chill of Gotham's night. He honestly didn't know what he was going to do. One of Gotham's resident freaks had just escaped from Arkham; he'd swear that building had more holes than a sieve. All official lines of inquiry, and some not so official, had dried up. He supposed that they would have to wait for him to pull a big job before they could pick up the trail again. It was bad enough trying to keep up with the straight out crime in Gotham without having to second guess and worry about those crazies. That was the Batman's territory. But behind Jim the Signal remained unlit. It hadn't been brought to life since the night after Bane was brought in.
Jim was a cop, not to mention a damn good detective. He put together what happened. Along with the crime scene evidence, the testimonials of Bane and his thugs, let alone the slightly frantic ramblings of the Greentree girl led Gordon to believe that the Bat had indeed perished.
He didn't know if he could call the Dark Knight a friend, but he trusted him more that the rest of the police force put together, though the force was noticeably improving. The Bat had once told him that Gordon would never have to thank him for what he did for the city. HIS city. Now Gordon found himself wishing he had all the same. He thought of his family, his wife Sara, and baby daughter Barbra. He wondered if the Batman had had family. It was odd trying to imagine the bat sitting down to dinner with kids, or even a mother or father. But he supposed it was possible, I mean, the guy was human. Probably.
Regardless of what exactly the Batman was the city was slowly sinking with out his wings to hold it aloft. The police were doing what they could, but the department was understaffed and Gordon still wouldn't trust a fifth of them to guard a vending machine. To make matters worse, the scum were already circulating rumors of the Dark Knight's demise; even the press was starting to sniff around. They would have to be ready. When news got out, there would be celebrations on and under the streets followed by one of the biggest crime sprees in Gotham's history. And with Gotham's history, that was not easy to do.
'God rest your soul, Batman,' thought Gordon, 'and may you find more peace then I.' He sighed as he gazed at the Signal swimming through Gotham's clouds.
Wait. Signal. Swimming. Through. Clouds. He hadn't turned the Signal on. Slowly he spun on his heel. There he was. Standing behind the Signal.
"You have something for me." he rasped.
Oh, lord did he ever.
A/N: okay guys, this is the second to last chapter. starts to tear up I just want you all to know how grateful I am you've kept with me this far.
Also a quick thanks to all those of you who have reviewed and left no return address, I would thank you in person, as I have all the others, but as I am too dense in the ways of computers to figure out how, this will have to do.