Chapter Six: House call
Nora's laughs quieted down as the Joker sat up on the counter and continued to eat, stuffing the spicy food in his mouth like he hadn't eaten in days. She watched him as she reached for her own portion. Her stomach growled loudly, recognizing how long it had been since she had eaten as well. She sat on the counter opposite to him and began to take small bites, then bigger bites, then she was eating almost as fast as Joker. By the time she made it through two thirds of the food, she couldn't take another bite. Tom always gave her extra large portions. She looked up from her food to see Joker staring at her. She blinked and gazed back.
She swallowed her last mouthful and extended the partially filled carton toward him. He shrugged and reached for it, taking it from her hand. In sixty seconds flat, he had downed the leftovers. Damn, he really was starving.
Alright, well if the goal is to be relaxed ... She stood from the counter and went to the fridge to peer inside it for a moment. She leant down and withdrew two beers from the back. After emerging from behind the door, she tilted one of the brown bottles toward him and raised her eyebrows, wordlessly offering it to him. He let out a chuckle before grabbing it. Nora smiled and closed the fridge door. Then she retrieved a bottle opener from a nearby drawer and popped the cap off of her beer. She set hers on the counter and put a hand on the one in Joker's grip before removing the cap, letting it fall to the floor with a clink. She looked up and her eyes met Joker's. Tingles moved up her sides and she quickly let go of it. He put the bottle down and took the beer on the counter in his hand, then her wrist in the other and smacked the bottle against her palm. Curling her fingers around it, he let go, keeping his eyes locked with hers. He picked his back up and tapped the neck of the bottle against hers, then brought it to his lips as he tossed his head back to take a swig. Nora nodded and did the same.
There was a period of silence before Nora spoke up. "How does your wound feel?" she asked.
Joker stifled a burp before shouting, "She speaks!" throwing a hand in the air. "Therre's my doc-tor. Almost good as new," he said before licking the inside of his scars.
Her cheeks flushed a little. "Oh, good. I-I'm glad I could help."
"Ohh there's so much more you can do to help me, doll," he said, bouncing his eyebrows at her. Her wide-eyed expression made him laugh. "Ya did good, doc. Your talents will not go un-compensa-ted." He reached into the pocket of his pinstriped pants and pulled out a roll of cash held together by a rubber band. After hopping down off of the counter, he lifted her hand from her side and slapped the bills into it. She looked down at it, her mouth hanging open. No one has ever paid me this much for anything.
Joker drained his beer down his throat and left Nora in the kitchen, staring at the money, to retrieve his coat from the living room. He picked up the coat from its place on the back of the chair and brushed some cat fur off of the heavy garment before he slipped his arms inside.
Pulling his gloves over his hands after fishing them from his pocket, he said "Tomorrow. Be at the southeast corner of 64th and Bowery at noon."
"Ok," she replied, nodding her head. That's in the Narrows. She thought for a moment before asking anxiously, "What will I do when I get there?"
Joker took a small object out of his pocket, it looked like an old pager, and pressed a button on the side of it. "You'll wait for your chauffeurs, my dear," he answered. Before she could ask another question, he had moved past her on his way to the door. He clearly didn't want to give her any more details ahead of time. Nora followed him to the door. Wait, how is he going to leave without being seen? How did he even get in here? Once at the door, he knocked on it twice, perplexing Nora further. A large man in a black leather jacket opened the door and nodded to Joker. "Until next time, doc," he said before exiting her apartment and disappearing down the hall faster than she could respond.
Nora stood in the doorway, staring down the hall Joker had just departed. It didn't take long for her tendency to ask herself questions she couldn't answer to take over as she stepped back inside and closed the door. Chauffeurs? So someone was going to meet her to take her somewhere tomorrow? Where were they going to take her? She presumed wherever the Joker lives, or hides out, or whatever you would call that. Ah shit, what am I gonna do about work? I'm scheduled for walk-ins tomorrow. She had never called in sick before, she just went to work sick. She needed the money. But now, she had plenty of that. Moore can get off his ass and cover for me. She had given so much of her life to her boss by that point, she didn't feel guilty for playing hooky. She was going to get up first thing in the morning and call the clinic to tell them she was too ill to come in. She had to be in the heart of the Narrows in twelve hours. Sleep wasn't going to come easily but she had to try.
She went through her nightly routine of brushing her teeth and washing her face. Her exchanges with Joker were replaying in her head over and over as she did. It seemed like he was being sort of… nice to Nora. She was trying not to read into what he said or did that night too much but she couldn't help it. She couldn't deny that she wanted him to like her. The thought felt silly so she shook her head and continued to get ready for bed. Before crawling between the sheets, she stopped in front of a desk in her bedroom. She stared at it for a moment then retrieved a key hidden in a book from her bedside. The key unlocked the desk drawer which held some documents along with the stack of money Joker paid her last week and the glass from his side she had tucked away in a small towel. Her hands gently picked up the bundle and unwrapped it for her to take the shard and hold it to the light. The dried blood shone red along the edges. It's funny what a piece of glass started.
The next morning, the sun began to shine through the white curtains over Nora's bedroom window. She had already been out of bed for an hour by then. Her nerves woke her up and didn't allow her to go back to sleep. She was definitely anxious, but excited too. What exactly was going to happen that day was a mystery to her. She actually wasn't sure if she should have been excited, but she was. Being around Joker made her feel something strange and she liked it. Nora had seen herself as an average Gotham woman, with an average live, from an average home and now, she was suddenly no longer average.
The more she thought about it, the more her fear and her anticipation battled each other in her head. She was sat at her kitchen table, bouncing her leg nervously. The idea of walking into the Narrows on a random afternoon to meet some unknown people terrified her. But she didn't like the thought of what would happen if she didn't show up either. There was also the possibility that she would see Joker again that day. That idea triggered a whole host of reactions within her. The coffee she was drinking probably wasn't making matters better but she didn't function well without it. After calling in to work with a very convincing stomach virus story that would make no one want to be anywhere near her, she paced her apartment until finding her way to the chair where she currently sat. It was eight in the morning, four hours until she had to be at the meeting point. That seemed ages away and she had way too much nervous energy to continue to sit in her apartment so she decided to take a walk.
Last night's storm was long gone, leaving behind a cloudless blue sky over Gotham and the air significantly cooler. Despite the good weather, there weren't many people out besides Nora. She wandered aimlessly down the Midtown streets, looking for something to occupy her time. Her anxiety level was still running high and expectation weighed heavy on her as she walked. She wasn't sure if she was ready. After a few more blocks she decided she really needed to blow off some steam, clear her head, so she headed for the gym. She arrived at the local boxing gym in no time and made her way to a punching bag in the back corner after a quick change at her locker, her hair in small pigtails.
Long white tape stretched across her knuckles to protect the thin skin and headphones filled her ears with loud music. She shot a few practice jabs in the air. Then, her knuckles collided with the heavy leather bag, *smack*. Each thrust of her fists sent shockwaves back up her arms as they released their energy against the material. It felt great. She was a bit out of practice, she hadn't been to the gym since she met Joker. She had been spending too much time inside her own head instead. Boxing was her way of letting out her frustrations as well as staying in shape, her job could be physically demanding so some toned arms came in handy. Getting into the music, she shifted her weight and swung her leg up into the bag, sending it swinging backward. She continued to inflict her punishment upon the suspended punching bag without mercy until sweat ran down from her brow and she stopped to catch her breath. It felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. A small smile formed on her face as she panted with her hands on her knees. She was ready.
Nora made her way back to her apartment and took a shower to wash her workout away, steam flooding her bathroom. The ritual of breaking a good sweat then taking a hot shower was always relaxing for her. It really brought her down to earth and cleared her mind. She hadn't forgotten the many scenarios in which things could go wrong for her that day, she just felt more prepared for them. Stepping out of the humid room, she searched for something to wear. Something presentable but she didn't want to look like she was trying too hard. Why do I care? She ended up settling on a pair of dark blue cuffed jeans and a tucked-in black shirt with sleeves that went down to her elbows. She looked in the mirror, the person she still recognized despite her new life choices stared back at her and blinked. She thought about putting on a bit of makeup. It's not a goddamn date, Nora. But she wanted to be confident and being happy with one's appearance was important for confidence, right? Alright, just a little bit. She sighed and reached for a tube of mascara, applying a light coat to bring out her lashes. Next she swiped some nude colored gloss over lips and tucked her short brown hair behind her ears, sliding bobby pins in to hold it there. Looking from the mirror to the clock in her bedroom, she saw it was time to make her way to the Narrows. She stopped for a moment on her way to the door and turned to her work bag, withdrawing a small can of pepper spray and putting it in her pocket. It was muddy out after the heavy rain yesterday, so she slipped her lace-less black leather boots, already covered in a thin layer of muck, onto her feet. "Wish me luck," she said to Bowie before taking a black hoodie off of the hook and closing the door behind her.
The subway was the quickest way to that part of town. The cars surfaces were strewn with a variety of graffiti, some gang tags and others expressions of some of Gotham residents' feelings about the police force or Wayne Enterprises. Needless to say, they weren't polite. The Wayne conglomerate wasn't viewed in a good light by those of lower income in the city. The company brought money into the city, but only for those who already had it. The gap between the haves and the have nots in Gotham was a wide one. As the train got closer to the stops for the Narrows, fewer and fewer people remained abord, Nora being one of them. She put her sweatshirt on, pulling the hood over her head. The car screeched to a halt at the Bowery stop and she stepped through the doors onto the filthy platform. 11:47 am. She took a deep breath and marched up the stairs toward 64th avenue. She kept her hands in her pockets and her head down as she walked. She had been to the Narrows before but it had been a few years and things were worse. She saw a young guy passed out in an alley with rubber tubing tied around his upper arm, prostitutes getting into cars pulled up to the curb, broken glass and tuberculin syringes littering the ground, a man screaming obscenities to no one in particular, all occurring in the light of midday. After her quick re-introduction to Gotham's worst neighborhood, she reached the corner of 64th avenue and Bowery. Her pulse quickened as she scanned her surroundings. She didn't want to arise suspicion so she did her best to pretend to be minding her own business. 11:58 am. At the intersection there was a convenience store, a dilapidated building with boarded windows, an old apartment building, and a bar that definitely wasn't just a bar. The next few minutes went by agonizingly slowly as Nora watched for people she had no way of identifying. Fortunately, no one really paid any attention to her while she stood motionless on the street corner with her hands in her pockets. She was starting to sweat from her brow but she didn't want to take her hood down, it just didn't feel right to show her face. Suddenly, two men coming around the corner stopped in front of her and Nora stiffened up at their presence. One man was tall and thin with dark skin and a cigarette between his lips. The other was shorter, tan, and very muscular with a blue bandana tied over his bald head. Neither of them said anything to her.
Nora didn't speak, she just stared at them with wide eyes. The taller man had a cell phone in his hand that he dialed and then held up in front of her face. A familiar voice came through on speaker phone, "Afternoon, Doc. Day two of your orientation starts now." Nora felt a surge of relief wash over her at the sound of Joker's voice, which she mentally scolded herself for. "These two, uh, gentlemen will be taking you to home base. They're harmless. Say hello to Q and Enigma," he said. Each of them nodded to her at the sound of their names.
She managed to mumble, "Um, hi" to the men.
Then Joker said, "See you soon, doll," before hanging up.
No no no! Don't go! Nora looked nervously at the men, trying to keep her anxiety from showing on her face but felt that she was likely failing spectacularly.
"So you're the doctor, huh?" the tall man said. She nodded her head. "I'm Q," he said, extending a hand out for her to shake. She took it cautiously and they shook a few times.
The muscular man spoke with a deep voice, "Boss has been talking about you a lot. They call me Enigma." Nora blushed as she shook his hand as well.
He's been talking about me? "Uh, nice to meet you both," she replied.
"This way," said Q and they lead her around the corner to a parked car. It was an old white Mercedes. Q walked around to the driver's side and Enigma opened the back passenger door for Nora. She almost hesitated. Her subconscious was screaming at her to turn around but she blocked it out and slid into the seat. She made a commitment to a strange man that had a strange influence on her.
The car started and they were off to their anonymous destination. The drive went on for ten minutes or so, passing more condemned buildings and a couple of strip clubs. Nora pulled her hoodie off. She was relieved to be in a car and not out on foot anymore, even if she didn't know the driver. So far the men had been silent and hadn't made any effort to intimidate her. It seemed like this was going too smoothly. She shifted her gaze to the rear view mirror to see Q's eyes looking back at her. She quickly looked away before he spoke up.
"You ever been to the Narrows before, lady?" he asked.
Nora swallowed before she replied, "Yeah, but it was a while ago."
He scoffed, hissing through his teeth. "Uh huh, you look like you don't hang around here. Watch your back, don't show disrespect, you'll be fine," he told her.
"Man, nobody asked you! She don't need that shit from you," Enigma said to Q. "Boss hired her, she knows what she doin'."
Q replied, "I'm just tellin' her how to carry herself around here! Boss has been talkin' her up, I didn't want the assholes scaring her off."
Oh shit, what has he been saying about me? Nora remained silent in the back seat.
Enigma turned around to face her and said, "Girl, don't worry about it. I'm sure you been around some air-headed dudes in your life, yeah?" She nodded. "Yeah well, dudes working for the Joker ain't always polite. Don't let 'em get to you, they can't do nothin' to you. Boss would fuck 'em up if they did," he said before he turned back around and the car fell silent again.
These guys weren't exactly what she was expecting from men working for Joker. They seemed like reasonable people. She was grateful for that. It sounded like they might be the only two reasonable people in their crew, though. Maybe that's why Joke sent them to pick her up. Wait, did he just imply that J would protect me? Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the tires on gravel. They were pulling up to a large, long abandoned warehouse with what looked like two floors and train tracks leading up to the back. Nora started to get nervous flutters in the her stomach. Her door was opened by Enigma and she climbed out to stare up at the building. This place was really tucked away. Around it were heaps of rusted industrial equipment and stacks of empty shipping containers. The sound of gulls meant the docks weren't far away. She followed her new acquaintances to the side door where a security camera was pointed at them. Seconds after reaching the door, there was a clicking sound and Q pushed it open.
Inside it looked like a former factory floor. Cables and pullies hung along the high ceiling in disrepair, and windows lined the upper portion of the walls. The central hall had been cleared out and now housed a variety of tables, chairs, and couches. At the back wall there was a set of stairs running up to a landing that lead to a second floor. About twenty men were scattered through the hall. A group was gathered at a table playing poker, another in front of a TV against the side wall. Some men were polishing guns and taking inventory of bullets in a corner. Others were laying on couches or pacing the floor and talking to themselves. Just as Nora was taking all of this in, the door to the second floor opened.
"Is there a doctor in the house?" Joker yelled over the activity below. He stood with his hands on the railing for a moment as everyone turned to look. Then he barked a laugh and skipped down the stairs, his purple coat blowing open in the breeze. He approached Nora and her chauffeurs with a grin on his face. She felt a rush of pins and needles move through her.
"Welcome to the hive, doc," he said, enthusiastically throwing his arms open to the sides.
A small smile pulled at Nora's lips as she replied, "Hi, J."
Joker responded by stretching his grin even wider and standing next to her to throw an arm around her shoulders. Her back exploded with goosebumps and she froze. Then, he addressed the group of men who were all watching them now. "This love-ly lady is doctor Noraaa," he began, gesturing an up-turned palm in front of Nora. "She'll be on call from this point forward. Maybe she'll help you if you find your-self bleeeding ou-t," he waved a finger around at them.
Nora looked over the men in front of her. Most of the faces looking back at her were not friendly, not that she was expecting any different. It was likely that most of them had been incarcerated for some reason or another, maybe they had even been oppressed by the law in various ways, but she wasn't in a position to judge them. She was here too, after all. She decided to keep her head down and stick close to Joker as much as she could. For now, she tried to concentrate on not showing the fear she felt.
Joker pulled her out of her thoughts when he spoke again but this time he was addressing her. "Enough with the introductions, doc. Shall we?" he said, leading her with his arm still around her shoulders toward the stairs, past the dirty looks from the men around them. "I have something for ya," he continued as they climbed the metal stairs up to the second floor landing.
"You do?" she asked, feeling her face flush.
"Mmm, I do," he replied with a deep gravelly voice, opening the door to the space beyond the dividing wall. On the other side was an sizable office-type of room. There was an old desk facing the doorway with a lamp on top and a big leather chair behind it, a large wooden wardrobe against the wall, a queen sized bed in the corner with rumpled sheets, an occasional empty crate, and piles of paper stacked alongside the desk. The desk lamp provided the only light aside from the sunlight leaking through the closed blinds hanging over the windows. There looked to be a full bathroom beyond the back wall. Nora wondered if this place even had running water. Is this where he lives? She stood just inside the entryway as Joker bounced across the room and hummed an unrecognizable tune as he searched for something.
"Ah!" he exclaimed, pulling something out of a box. He approached Nora holding a black bag with a host of zippers and a sturdy shoulder strap.
He handed it to her, it was quite heavy. "What's this?" she asked as she took the strap from his hand.
"Some supplies-ah," he replied, his tongue darting out to lick his lower lip.
Nora set the bag on the ground and knelt down to unzip the main compartment. Nestled inside she found a variety of medical supplies. Needles and syringes, IV catheters, medical tape, bandages, multiple types of suture, latex gloves, gauze, forceps, a few liter bags of Lactated Ringer's Solution, antiseptic, skin staplers, an ambu bag, red rubber tubes, and just about anything else she might need as she explored the bag's pockets with a smile on her face.
"Ahh so the doctor is pleease-d," Joker purred with a smug grin before she looked up from the treasure trove of emergency necessities. She must have looked like a kid in a candy store.
"It's great, thank you," she replied, smiling up at him.
Joker clapped his gloved hands into each other as he cried, "Wonder-ful!"
Nora's butterflies in her stomach returned with a vengeance. She wasn't expecting to receive supplies for the job he hired her for at all. It was actually really thoughtful. Get ahold of yourself Hawthorne, it's medical supplies not a bouquet of flowers. She actually preferred this over flowers.
"That should be everything you need. Now, this is just as importan-t," he said, now kneeling so he was level with Nora. She locked eyes with him. Then he took her hand in his grip and, with his eyes on hers, he slowly stood up, bringing Nora with him.
"How are you feeling, doc? Are you nervous?" he suddenly asked.
Her pulse shot up and her face felt warm. She wasn't sure how to respond to that, as per usual when Joker caught her by surprise like that. She decided honesty was the best option. "Y-Yeah, a little."
He smirked and replied in a low voice, his eyes half lidded, "No need to be nervous, doll." He pulled her closer to him.
She could almost hear her heart pounding at this point and her breathing had quickened as well. She felt the leather of his glove moving against the skin on her hand but she couldn't look away from his face while he stared at her. He had her completely frozen in place. Nora took in a deep, shaky breath. He slid his hand over her wrist and turned it so her palm was up. A small rectangular object was placed into her hand. She looked down to see it was a cell phone.
"This rings, you answer. Got i-t?" he spoke softly. She shifted her eyes back up to meet his and nodded her head slowly. Joker flashed a little smile, let go of her wrist and stepped back, breaking their close contact. Nora felt that same twinge of disappointment that she felt in her apartment the night before, the last time he was close to her. This time the contact felt more intimate.
What the fuck was that? Was he flirting? Or just trying to intimidate her? Maybe both? She tried not to think about it too much, she would just be setting herself up for more disappointment. Joker was just standing there, looking at her. She had to break the silence. "Will it be you calling me?" she asked.
Joker nodded as he spoke, "On-ly me." She nodded back and put the phone in the outside pocket of the bag. The tension in the room was still so dense, it was almost hard to breathe. "You ever made house calls before, doc?" he asked.
She shook her head, "Uh, no. No I haven't."
He tilted his head up and leaned forward slightly. "Ahhh, well now you have," he said with a grin.
What? Before she could ask for an explanation, Joker opened the door and left the room. Nora slung the heavy bag on her shoulder and followed, trying to keep up. They hurried down the stairs and through the main hall, heading straight for a door on the other side. He pushed it open and her ears were met with the sound of a man groaning in pain. Inside the small room there was a metal table with a bright ceiling light above it. The walls had narrow pipes running along them on either side. One man stood to the side of the table where another man with a bloody shirt wrapped around his calf was lying. Blood was running down his leg. Nora gasped and looked at Joker.
"Your patient awaits, doc," he said, ushering her into the room.
Ok. You've done this before. This guy isn't even Joker. You can do this. She took long strides toward the table and dropped the medical bag onto the floor to stoop down and grab a few items. Gloves, gauze, saline flush. She stood, turned to the man on the table and said, "I'm Nora. Can I look at your leg?"
He was quite pale but still conscious. He gritted his teeth and nodded. Nora put the pair of exam gloves on and carefully peaked under the shirt tied around his leg. Underneath was a roughly one centimeter wide hole in the flesh of his calf, in one side and out the other. Gunshot wound. It had been awhile since she had treated one of these but she was going to do her best. "Any other injuries?" she asked the other man standing by the table as she re-tightened the make-shift tourniquet.
"Nah, don't think so," he replied. He was quite skinny and didn't look so great himself. He pulled a flask from his pocket and took a swig, then handed it to the man on the table. Nora put a hand out to stop him from taking a drink.
"Nope. Alcohol slows blood clotting," she said. The two men looked to Joker, who was standing behind Nora.
He raised his eyebrows and said, "Doc-tor's orders."
The injured man handed the flask back and laid an arm over his eyes as Nora resumed her work on his leg. Blood was steadily draining from the wound. His baggy camouflage pants were bunched up to the knee but she needed more room. She pulled his pant leg down then firmly tore at the seam along the side, quickly tearing the fabric open from the ankle up to his thigh.
"Hey! What the fuck!" he yelled at her as he sat part way up. Joker chuckled loudly, amused by what he had just witnessed. The man slowly laid back down after remembering he was in his boss's presence.
Nora felt along his thigh with her index and middle finger for the pulse from his femoral artery. Vascular anatomy between species follows the same basic principles and she had a good idea of where to find the vessels she was looking for. The pulse was strong and regular. She looked down to his ankle and removed his tennis shoe to feel for the pulse in his ankle. It was nice and strong too and his foot didn't feel cold to the touch. First impressions indicated that the bullet didn't cause too much damage to his leg's circulation. Now for a closer look at the wound. She changed into a fresh pair of gloves and untied the fabric from his leg. Blood sprayed out from the wound, splattering onto her arms.
"Ah shit!" the man standing at the side of the table yelled as he jumped back. Keeping a cool head, Nora quickly grabbed gauze to put pressure on the bleeding and control the spray as the man moaned. There was probably a damaged blood vessel that needed to be tied off to stem its flow. She turned to speak to the man again. He was panting and starting to writhe around on the table.
"What's your name?" she asked. Even though they couldn't understand her, she typically would talk to dogs and cats while she worked on them. Why not this guy too?
He continued to scrunch his face up with pain and swallowed before answering, "Nick."
"Ok, Nick. I need to find the source of the bleeding and tie it off, ok? It might hurt and its gonna bleed. You can squeeze my arm if you want but I need you to focus on slowing down your breathing," she gently told him.
Nick took some deep breaths and replied, "Ok."
Suddenly, Nora felt eyes on her from behind. Keeping pressure on the wound with one hand, she turned to come nose to nose with Joker and inhaled sharply. He blinked at her and said, "As you were, doc."
It made her nervous to have him watching her so closely but what was she going to do? Ask him to leave? No, she just had to keep going. She took a deep breath and turned back around. Blood pulsed from beneath the gauze she had pressed against the leg. She needed her hands free to reach into the bag for more supplies. She looked to the man with the flask and said, "I need you to hold pressure for a minute while I get some tools ready."
He turned white and said, "Oh hell no, doc." Just the thought of it seemed to make him feel faint.
Only a second went by before Joker sighed from behind her and rolled his eyes. Then, after taking off his coat and gloves, he stood next to Nora and extended his finger tips to the gauze. Nora looked to his face as he made no expression, then back to the wound before she removed her hand to allow Joker to press on the flesh in her place. Nick winced and hissed through his teeth. She quickly leaned down to gather more supplies, a pack of 3-0 PDS suture, mosquito hemostats, and needle drivers. She straightened up and held the hemostats in her hand, ready to attack the impending flow from the wound. Her stance must have signaled Joker as he lifted the gauze from the hole. Blood once again erupted from the wound, even faster this time. Nick cried out in pain and grabbed hold of Nora's arm to squeeze. She had to act fast. Her eyes scanned the bright red river for its source. What felt like minutes but were only a few seconds passed before she spotted it. There! A couple of millimeters into the wound, a severed blood vessel could be seen gushing blood in time with his pulse. It must be branch off a larger artery or he would have lost more blood by now. She braced herself with her grip on his lower leg as she aimed for the bleeding vessel with the hemostats and clamped down on the instrument. A red splatter shot across her and Joker before slowing to a trickle. Nick chuckled nervously at her success in slowing the bleeding from his leg as she let the tool hang from its position in the wound to pick up the suture and pull it from the reel. Looping the violet filament over the instrument, she turned her wrists to secure a knot with a few extra throws and pulled it tight with the jaws of the needle drivers. She took a breath and released the hemostats. No significant bleeding. Nick and his skinny friend sighed as he relaxed and laid his head back on the table.
Nora blew an exhale of relief through her lips and told Nick, "You're doing great. I need to clean the wound now before I bandage it, ok? It's gonna feel cold." He nodded and let go of her arm. She popped the cap off of the saline flush and turned the bottle over to spray a jet of saline at the wound from one side and then the other, flushing out clotted blood and small bits of loose tissue. Nick grunted, but she continued flushing until the fluid ran almost clear. Time to bandage. Nora pulled out bandage material and looked through a few pockets before, to her surprise, finding exactly what she was looking for. Silver sulfadiazine cream to help ward off infection. How did Joker know what to stock this bag with? Fresh gauze gently dried the skin before her gloved fingers spread the white cream over the wounds. Then she laid a non-stick dressing over the entry and exit holes and wrapped soft rolled gauze around the leg to hold them in place and apply light pressure. She pulled the bloody gloves off of her hands, turning them inside out and into each other. Then, she stretched the bundle of gloves by the cuff on her thumb and released to shoot them across the room with a *snap*. She couldn't help herself, she liked to do that after a job well done.
A clapping sound filled the room and she turned around to see Joker bringing his blood splattered hands together, clapping for her. "Ex-cellen-t job, doctor," he said with a smile.
Nora smiled back and her face warmed as she responded, "Thank you."
Joker continued, "Nicolas, the guinea pig, give him a hand." He extended his clapping hands toward the man on the table. Nora's smile fell from her lips. Did he do this?
"What?" she asked.
"You see, little Nicky here had never been shot before. Can you believe that?" he giggled. "So, he volunteered for a little target prac-tice."
Nora's eyes widened before her face turned into a nasty scowl. "You did this?" she asked, her voice louder than she intended.
Joker cackled loudly before he answered, "Relax, doc. He got shot doing a little recon on the Maro-nis. You just have, uh, impeccable timing."
She wasn't sure if she believed that. She wouldn't put it past the Joker to shoot one of his own men to test her, he was the Joker after all. She looked down at the floor as she thought about it. Whether he did or didn't, the wound was taken care of. Nora felt a twinge of guilt thinking about it being because of her that this man was shot. Right now, she chose to believe it wasn't. Maybe this was her trying to defend herself against her own morality. Maybe she had to do that to survive in this new environment. Her sense of compassion hadn't dwindled, though. It was still there. She didn't wish anything bad on anyone who didn't deserve it and still wanted to help anyone who deserved that as well. She decided to take this job as an opportunity to see what she could do in both worlds. Toe the line between good and bad, see what happens. She didn't have to take the full plunge into that icy water, just dip her fingers.
She finally spoke, "The bandage will need to be changed daily and he needs to rest. It'll take a couple of weeks to heal. It doesn't look like the blood supply was severely damaged but if the pain gets worse, it goes numb, or he can't move his foot, get him to a surgeon to get it amputated."
Nick suddenly sat up, "What?" the newly returned color draining from his face again.
Nora turned to him. "Don't worry, I think it'll be fine," she said with a comforting smile.
Joker giggled softly as he rolled something in his fingers and stepped toward the table. The smell of marijuana wafted into Nora's nose. Then, he put a joint between his lips to light it and take a deep inhale. "Can he have this, doc?" he asked through the smoke he now exhaled, the joint between his thumb and forefinger. She thought about it for a moment, she hadn't herd of any detrimental effects from weed on wounds or circulation, if anything it'll just relax him, maybe help with the pain.
"Sure," she replied. Joker grinned and handed the joint over to Nick who happily partook in the calming substance.
"Let's get you, uh, cleaned up," Joker said, looking down and pointing at the streaks of blood covering Nora's arms. She looked down at herself and chuckled softly.
She lifted her trusty medical bag and followed Joker out of the room as Nick's friend helped him off the table, sharing the fragrant spliff with him. They walked past the group of men who had gathered outside the door, presumably because of Nick's moaning, craning their necks to see inside the room. Nora received a number of surprised looks at her bloody arms and shirt. Not stopping to address them, Joker continued to the stairs up to his room. Once they reached the door, he opened it and held it for her. The look in his eyes gave Nora those familiar tingles as she passed him to enter the darkened room. He followed her in and closed the door behind him.
She stopped and put the bag down as Joker walked to the other end of the room, toward the door that lead to a bathroom. He turned and beckoned to Nora to follow him. She swallowed dryly and took a deep breath before stepping forward, it was like she had no control over her legs. Her brain sent out all sorts of signals, telling her how dangerous this could be but she kept walking. Joker's gaze was locked on her as she approached. He had a look in his eyes, they were dark and focused, like he was trying to control himself. Then, he disappeared into the bathroom to return with a towel as Nora finally rounded the doorway into the small room. There was an old clawfoot bathtub with a shower head fixed above it, a small sink and toilet, a wooden cabinet, and a window that had been taped over with brown paper. She heard water running and looked to see Joker running the towel under the sink's faucet. So there is running water. He approached her and lifted the towel to wipe the drying blood off of her. The cool towel sent goosebumps up her arms and she shivered. Joker looked at her face and stared for a moment. Nora thought maybe she'd be tired of Joker staring at her by now but she wasn't. It made her feel wonderfully tingly and her heart do flips. She always returned the stare. She took in the color of his brown eyes hidden in the black paint as they explored her face. Her trance was broken when the damp towel touched her face and she flinched. Apparently there was blood on her face that she hadn't been aware of. Or was he using it as an excuse to touch her?
Suddenly he stepped back and tossed the towel aside to run his hands under the water, cleaning the blood off of his hands. Nora's heart was racing and she found herself wanting him to touch her more. Goddammit, no! This can't keep happening! Her longing could only stay bottled up for so long but she could still keep it stuffed down. It was going to bubble over eventually, she knew that, but she'd figure how to handle that later. Maybe he feels the same way… He did keep putting himself close to her after all. But what she might see as affection, could mean something completely different to him. It was incredible that she was still alive in the first place. She had to try to keep her distance. Nora left the bathroom to retrieve her hoodie she had stashed in her new bag, zipping it up to conceal her bloodstained shirt.
"I, um, I should get home," she said quietly.
Joker blinked. "Of course, doc," he replied in a low voice. She swung the bag onto her shoulder and watched him open the door, the light on the other side practically blinding her after spending time in the dark. She followed him out onto the landing where he whistled loudly to the men below. Q looked up and stood from his chair where he was playing cards with a few others.
"Q will escor-t you home," he said, glancing at her.
"Oh, thank you," she said. "And, um, thank you for, you know, for this," she looked down at the bag of medical supplies on her shoulder.
A small grin appeared on his face. "No thanks require-d, doll," he said before turning and going back into his dark room, closing the door.
Nora sighed heavily. Fighting these feelings was going to be harder than she thought. She quickly descended the stairs to meet Q at the bottom and they headed for the exit. On the way out, she averted her gaze away from the group of men staring at her like a hungry pack of wolves.
The ride back to her apartment was quiet. She didn't even need to tell Q where to go. At this point, that really didn't surprise her. Nora was lost in her thoughts anyway. What if Joker truly was giving her signals that he was interested in her? How could she be sure? He wasn't a normal man but when he got close to her, it felt like he was. The car suddenly stopped in front of Nora's building. She thanked Q for the ride and headed inside to make her way up to her apartment. Once inside, she dropped her new bag onto the floor with a thud. She was going to head into the kitchen but curiosity compelled her to look through everything and familiarize herself with all of it's contents. As she sifted through the items, something at the bottom caught her eye. It was a shiny new stethoscope engraved with the words "Dr. Nora Hawthorne" on the bell piece. Attached was a note written in Joker's scribbled handwriting that read, "Until next time, doc."
Nora's workout music: A/B Machines and Treats by Sleigh Bells
Song for this chapter: True Affection by The Blow