AN: I've got something BIG planned for the next chapter. It's not the final showdown, we're about halfway there. Thanks for reading along!

Chapter 14-

Robin was in a bar when Brad called him. Lately, he was upset that he couldn't catch Silver. They had a conversation before, and he contemplated over what Silver had said to him. He looked at the ID and had an internal debate on if he would answer. Two rings. Three rings. Four rings. Finally his phone beeped and had the words Missed Call across the screen. A few moments later, Brad called again. Robin was surprised at his persistence. He only met Brad three times and in those times, he did whatever his boss told him. One day, he called Brad while he was in the bathroom and hosting a dinner party. Brad left to take the boss's dog for a walk.

Robin answered rather in a joyous tone, "Hey Brad. What's up?"

Brad told him about Riley's situation and how she escaped Silver. Robin hung up, paid, and ran to the hospital. He didn't know what to think. Did Silver know who he was? Was this a personal attack? It took fifteen minutes to run there, but every minute felt like a year. Everyone was in a commotion when he got to the hospial. Apparently, there was a major car crash on a highway and most of the staff was doing damage control. Robin couldn't get the attention of any of the nurses or doctors.

He grabbed a nurse's shoulder, "Can you tell me where Riley Howell is staying? Which room she's in?"

"I'm sorry, sir," she pulled away, "I can't look it up right now."

Robin tried other staff, but no one would listen. A doctor was walking by him, so Robin slammed him against the wall.

"I need to know where a patient is staying."

"Okay, let me see." Robin let him down. The doctor went to the computer, "Who's the patient?" He was ready to type.

"Riley Howell." Robin waited a moment as the doctor searched.

"She's in the ICU wing, third floor, room 305." Robin ran up the stairs without thanking him. He passed rooms 301, 303, and then came to room 305. Brad and Amy were sitting beside the bed Riley slept in.

Robin was horrified at the state Riley was in. Her face was torn and swollen, all her limbs were wrapped in gauze; she was in terrible condition. They had her hooked up to a machine, but Robin didn't know its purpose. Amy looked back at him, and she was crying. Why was she crying? Would Riley die? Was it that bad?

"She's been lapsing in and out of consciousness. The spurts are hard to predict." A female doctor put a hand on his shoulder. Robin shrugged away. He went to Riley's left bedside and took hold of her hand. Part of her ring finger was missing. All Robin could think was that it was his fault. He was to blame. Tears welled in his eyes.

"Can we be alone for a minute, please?" Robin asked them. Brad nodded and took Amy out of the room followed by the doctor. She closed the door.

Riley's hair was frizzy and messy. She breathed heavily. Robin moved some of her hair out of her face. Her bottom lip was torn, but it was stitched up.

"I'm so sorry. This is my fault." He whispered to her. "I never should've- I never should've asked you on a date. Bruce warned me about this. I'm so sorry. I love you." The lights flickered.

Amy opened the door during Robin's silence, "Can we come back in?"

Robin rubbed his eyes clear of tears and nodded. Amy reached over the bed and held his hand. Both of them were shaking.

"You know, we grew up together." Amy began to reminisce, "My parents were never around that much, so when she got emancipated, I did too. We lived together in an apartment. She never knew exactly what she wanted. She tried all these different things, and the way she paid for that was my uncle died. He was my father's brother and he had no kids. He was the one who babysat us while we were little. He set up college funds for both of us. When he died, all his money went to us.

"So, Riley went and did some soul searching, but I always knew I wanted to be a researcher. She came to me one day, completely broke, and begged my boss for a job. For a while she was happy. But, she still didn't know if it's what she wanted. Later she was considering quitting and going into botany. We got into a fight about how she couldn't commit to anything, so she left and got wasted.

"The morning after that, she called me and said she was attacked, but a mysterious masked man saved her. She couldn't remember his name. That's when she said she had enough of the city. She was leaving that night. When she got to work, I thought she was going to hand in the last of her work and quit. But she didn't. She spent most of the day daydreaming. When I asked her why she didn't quit, she said she just might stick around for a little while more.

"It wasn't until later that I found out it was because she had a date with you. You brought her down to earth, Robin. Something I didn't think anyone could do. She got more focused and more passionate about work. Before you, I don't think she ever had a serious boyfriend, but it's understandable. Has she ever mentioned that she loves you?"

Robin nodded and thought to the first time she said it. They were in a movie theatre, catching the matinée, and in the middle of it she blurted it out. Her face went red, like she hadn't been thinking or even watching the movie. He had leaned and whispered it in her ear that he loves her too.

"It was at that stupid chick flick movie," Riley moaned, "when I first told him."

Robin was so happy she was awake his kissed her over and over.

"Hey, give me some air." Riley said to him.

"How do you feel?" Robin sat back down.

"Really? You're going to ask me that? Okay, well I'm aching, I have the worst headache ever, my mouth is really dry, I'm seriously considering eating an entire cow and washing it down with a tub of Ben and Jerry's, it hurts when I breathe, but I can smell oddly well."

Robin let out a mixture of nervous laughing and a sigh of relief. At least her humor wasn't damaged.

"You're lucky to be alive." Brad commented.

"No, I'd be lucky if the worst injury I got was whiplash and I found the winning lottery ticket on the side of the road."

"You did get whiplash, among other things."

"You know Brad; if you think I'm so lucky bring me the next time you go driving so you don't get any tickets."

Amy looked back at Brad, "We're just happy you're going to be fine."

The doctor strode in, confident and pompous, "She's not out of the woods, yet. We still have to treat her broken bones and check on her sutures. I'd suggest she stay in here for the next couple of weeks to make sure she doesn't seize up again."

Riley rolled her eyes, "If you're going to talk about me, just talk to me."

"Oh, good you're awake." Did she really not notice? "I would like to ask a few standard questions for post coma patients." The doctor stood beside where Amy sat and tapped her foot. Amy scoffed and stood. The doctor took out a light and shined it into Riley's eyes without warning.

"Shit! That's bright!" Riley looked away from the beam.

"So it seems you have some intolerance for lights."

"No, I just think I have an intolerance for-" the doctor cut her off when she squeezed Riley's hand tightly, "Dammit, lady! That hurts!" Riley pulled her hand away. When she looked at it, she gaped.

"What?" Amy asked.

"Where's a piece of my right pinkie finger? It's like someone cut out a piece of my finger. Amy, where's my finger?"

The doctor answered, "Actually you're missing a part of your left ring finger, also. We believe they were torn out in the, what was it, a leap?"

Riley looked at the doctor in antipathy, "Fuck you lady!"

A woman shouted from the hallway, "Dr. Mizzer!"

The doctor excused herself and went to the hallway and a rather interesting scolding ensued. Another female doctor walked in.

"I'm so sorry about that, Miss Howell. Dr. Mizzer is one of our interns. I'm your attending physician, Dr. Lorax. Please make all the jokes you like."

All of them resisted asking if Dr. Seuss worked here too. The doctor waited a moment and looked between them.

"Thank you. You are the first group not to say one Dr. Seuss joke. Hmm." Dr. Lorax was interested in Riley's chart. "Well, I think you'd be pleased. All of your fractures are clean breaks, and your brain has returned to normal size. Also, your ribs are only bruised. Although your blood type is O-, so I would encourage you to donate blood once you're all better. That's everything you need to know right now, but if anything else comes up, I'll be sure to tell. See ya."

"I like her so much better than the other doctor." Riley said.