Title: Life Is Good: XVI

Author: D C Luder

Summary: The second addition in the Series of Three storyline. Se three months after his full recovery, the Dark Knight is back with a vengeance.

Rating: T

Infringements: All recognizable characters belong to DC Comics, not DC Luder.

V

Ah, Hell.

Although most of my body hummed with Morphine, I felt the prick of IV needles in my arm, the taught constriction of bandages around my ribs and the burning sensation deep in my skin that could only be associated with road rash. I kept my eyes closed as I mentally took my own vitals and tried to get a sense as to my environment. I heard Alfred as he cleared his throat at twenty-eight second intervals, a habit of his when he slept. I smelt the disinfectant stench that was the l'eu du hospital.

Thankfully, I wasn't intubated and was only blessed with an oxygen cannula under my nose. I moved my jaw slowly, felt it catch and then squared it off. A little tender. My toes were cold but I could feel them, at least. The worst pain was in my torso, a flaming shock of agony with every breath I took. My abdomen was in a similar state, both symptoms suggested internal damage.

Lots of bandages. My face, arms and legs. Wounds didn't hurt too badly though.

Road rash.

Scenes from the accident flashed in the back of my groggy mind. Head-on collision at that speed should have cued both air bags, but mine had failed. However, I was grateful that mine had not inflated and that Selina's had. I remembered trying to direct the car out of the way, but having nowhere to turn. In a last ditch effort, I had had moved over in the lane, so that right side of the car was over the white line as much as possible. Taking the brunt of it for myself.

After thirty minutes of replaying the accident to myself, I decided to let Alfred know that I was awake. Despite the efforts of drapes drawn over the single window, light still flooded the small room. After a few forceful blinks, everything came into focus. Alfred sat beside me, dozing slightly as his head lulled down towards his chest. There was no other sign of life in the room.

So much for a welcoming party.

I sighed and removed the cannula and hooked it on the IV stand. My hand- eye coordination was off and it took three tries to get the job done. Then, as carefully as possible, I pushed myself up into a sitting position. I winced audibly several times as a searing pain in my back flared up. By bearing weight on my left arm, I managed to adjust the pillow so that it would support my back before leaning onto it. Once as comfortable as I could get, I let out a sigh and closed my eyes again.

Unfortunately, just as I did so, Cassandra walked into the room and caught me, "Awake?"

"Sort of," I rasped.

"You in pain?" she asked as she approached the bed.

I shook my head slowly, "I'm fine," and tried to smile to prove it.

She looked over at Alfred before saying, "How long have you been awake?"

"Half hour. Not long," I paused before patting the edge of the bed slowly. I watched as she carefully sat up on the mattress with minimal of movement. I took a shallow breath, "Where's Selina?"

She pointed the left, "Two rooms down. Sleeping with Mattie."

I closed my eyes briefly, "Is she all right?"

Cass chewed her lip before replying, "Hurt her head. Some cuts. Ribs hurt too."

"Nothing serious? Critical?"

She shook her head and the pointed at my chest, "You were."

I had expected as much and to ask what she knew when Alfred's voice said, "Dear Lord, Master Bruce, you are awake?"

Cass nodded, "For half hour."

I smiled at her boldness and looked over at Alfred, "Is Selina all right?"

"She is just fine," he replied as he proceeded to return the cannula to my face, "You should be worried with your own health status at the moment."

I tried to brush his hands away but he persisted. Instead of fighting with him I asked what my "health status" was. After he fetched another blanket from a counter on the far wall and had begun to cover me with it he said, "Miss Cassandra, do run to the nurse's station, tell them Master Bruce has awoken."

She looked at me and I nodded. After she had scooted off and stepped out of the room Alfred answered my question, "Some severe trauma to your abdomen, sir. An abdominocentisis tap revealed some internal bleeding and the surgeons located a tear in the hepatic vein in addition to some bruising to your liver and spleen. Several ribs were broken as well, resulting in contained hemorrhaging in the pleural cavity."

"And my head?"

"Minor concussion, fortunately. As well as the regular brand of scrapes and lacerations one favors in an automobile accident."

It wasn't too bad, I decided, could have been a lot worse. Could have died. Selina could have died. I had a sudden urge to see her; to make sure was indeed all right. I sat up straight again until I felt Alfred's hands on my shoulders, "Please sir, after."

I reluctantly reclined. After. After the doctor came. After I ripped the IV needles out and leapt out of bed. After I raced to her bedside and took her into my arms.

After.

V

"C'mon, don't be pissed."

I continued to look at the vending machine, my scowl slowly replaced by a focused intent as to what candy bar I wanted. He had called me last night, all he had to do was say "Bruce and Selina were in an accident" and boom, I would have ditched the concert and booked it to Gotham.

But instead, he said have a good time and I ended up hearing it from the radio news broadcaster. Actually, I wasn't even the one who had heard it, one of the guys on my floor had been listening to the radio after the concert and had told me. A few friends and I had been in my room, laughing it up, still in the giddy disbelief that we had just been able to see a free concert by Green Day. At ten after two, he knocked on my door and asked if I had heard the news.

Most of the kids at school knew I was Bruce's neighbor and that we were friends and went silent after Good Samaritan Harold had said, "Your buddy Wayne and his wife there were in a big car wreck, it's all over the news, man."

I took off right then, not needing any bags because my car had been packed for the next day when school let out. Whatever was left behind could stay, for all I cared. I drove blindly to Gotham much faster than I should have. I had the AM 100.3 Gotham NEWS blaring on the radio and memorized every fact they uttered that had to do with Bruce and Selina.

When I had arrived at Mercy a little before four in the morning, Dick and Cassandra had gone off to patrol while Jim Gordon, Alfred and Leslie had sat bedside in Selina's recovery room. I fought my way to get in there and once I had checked in, I headed upstairs to surgery.

I sat in the OR lobby, by myself, and watched the entrance doors, waiting for Bruce's body to pass through them.

A nurse checked in with me regularly, offered a bed or something to eat, but I refused as politely as possible. I was furious at Dick, not her, and it was very difficult for me to control myself. At exactly 7:34, the doors opened and three nurses and technicians pushed a gurney out of the OR and towards the post-op wing. I recognized Bruce's face and figure despite the bandages and tubes. I didn't follow it however, but instead returned to the ground floor to report my findings.

And just my luck, they had moved "Mrs. Wayne" to a private room on the fourth floor. The same floor I had just been on. Exhausted, frustrated and in no mood for any more fusses, I returned to the elevator and pressed the up button. When the glossy doors opened, I had half expected a flood of people to pour out over top of me.

Instead, Dick stood there in wrinkled clothes.

"Hi," he smiled.

I had then promptly turned away from him and headed for the vending machines in the main lobby. He had followed me with long strides and spoke quietly, trying to explain his reasoning behind not telling me that Bruce had been in emergency surgery while I had been partying. How he didn't want to interrupt my evening. To upset me.

Well, too bad, he had pissed me off.

"C'mon Tim, grow up a bit, all right," he said under his breath as I fed the machine quarters.

That was it.

I slammed my fist into the machine and faced him, "I am plenty grown up, Dick," I growled before turning back to the vending machine and retrieving my Snickers bar. It was nine-thirty in the morning; I had been awake all night and hadn't eaten since lunch the previous day. Not going anywhere for a while, grab a Snickers, I mused to myself.

As I walked away from him and back towards the elevator bay, he spoke again, "Tim, I didn't mean it like that. I was looking out for you, man, what did it matter that you found out a few hours later?"

I punched the up button as soon as I was within reach of it and jammed it several times before speaking, "It wasn't that I found out later, Dick, it was that I found out from a damned radio instead of you."

He had no reply.

We rode up to the fourth floor with three medical interns who chatted excitedly about a joint appendectomy and splenectomy that was scheduled for that afternoon. I focused on their words instead of how much I hated Dick at that moment. They got off on the second floor and no one else joined up in the car.

He still had no reply.

It wasn't until the doors opened up for our destination that he spoke, "I'm sorry, Tim. I can't take what I did back, but I'm sorry."

And before I could respond he walked away.

I wanted to hate him even more. I wanted him to feel the pain I had. Then I realized that he already was hurting. His father was in an ICU bed, his life was in turmoil and he had no control over any of it. I tried to think badly of him until my deep down Robin-blood began to pulse within me. He had been looking out for me, even if it hadn't ended well.

He had tried his best.

With each step I took towards Selina's new room, I felt more and more like an ass. By the time I reached the open door, I felt as if some kid was going to come up behind me and pin a tail to my backside. I peered in to see Selina sitting on the bed with her daughter as they played with a few stuffed dolls and animals. Cassandra watched on in wonderment and Dick stood by the far wall. Barbara was next to the bed, typing on a laptop. Alfred and Leslie were nowhere to be found. As if reading my mind, Barbara looked up, "Leslie had to get back to work. Alfred's with Bruce."

I nodded and then searched the room for a chair, found one next to Cass and walked over to it, avoiding Dick's eyes as much as I could. To focus on something other than how lousy I felt, I watched as Mattie put spare band- aids on one of her dolls. After she was satisfied, she handed the doll to her mother, "Mah-mie."

With a slight smirk, Selina took the doll, "Thank you, a voodoo doll. How sweet of you."

Mattie then went about wrapping up her black panther, using the remaining bandages and a spare wrap they had given her to play with. Once the poor thing resembled a feline mummy, she set it on the bed away from her and said, "Da-hie"

"It does look like Daddy, doesn't it?" she asked the child as she stroked the stuffed cat's head.

"She's seen him?" I asked suddenly.

Selina nodded, "Leslie took her in to see him. She was about to pitch a fit; after all, it's been twelve hours with no Daddy. Must be a record."

Mattie said her father's name again and began to pull the bandages off, "No ickie."

The room went quiet, as we all watched the young child cure the panther.

If only she could work real magic.

V

"Bruce?"

Master Bruce and myself looked up to see Dr. Ritter in the door way, his tall frame dressed in baggy khakis, a pale blue shirt and red tie underneath his thigh length doctor's coat. He stepped into the room without welcome and stood beside the bed, his hand proffered. Master Bruce lifted his hand slowly and shook it, "Doc."

"Holy cow, you people just keep coming back for more and more. Tell me, is it my dashing good looks or my sparkling personality? Probably neither, how are you feeling?"

Master Bruce sighed, "Like there's an elephant sitting on my chest."

"A pink or a green one?"

He replied in a soft smile and shifted his weight in the bed. Dr. Ritter than asked about how Miss Mattie was and if she had been in the accident.

After a beat, Master Bruce had replied, "Thankfully no. Healthwise, she's great, the allergy tests helped narrow down what to avoid and she was very thankful to get her cat back."

The good doctor smiled, "Ah, her 'Icee'. That's great; kids should have a pet, even that young. Teaches them responsibility until they get bored with and before you know it you're the one walking the dog every morning, feeding the fish and kicking the cat off of the counter. Ah, but you'll get to that soon enough. In the mean time, stop jumping through windshields," he winked, touched Master Bruce's shoulder and nodded at me before heading back to the hall.

After a moment's silence, I spoke, "Sir, do you need anything?"

He mumbled, "Mattie."

"Sir?"

He shook his head, "Nothing. I'm fine."

A nurse arrived moments later and brought a tray of ice water and a gelatin dessert with peach cubes mixed in. A distasteful meal for an individual in recovery but he was to be released within the next few days, and if the correct strings were pulled, even sooner. The longer he stayed under the care of interns, the longer his recovery would be and the crankier his temperament would become. And as his post-hospitalization caretaker, the less I had to fight against the better.

Once she left, Master Bruce drank the water slowly but returned the empty cup and made no motion for the food. I asked if he desired an alternate meal and he simply shook his head, mumbling something to the fact that he wasn't hungry.

"Are you in pain, sir?"

He did not confirm nor deny it.

Which translated the same way it had thirty years ago when he was just a boy and in bed with a cold. He was aching but was too arrogant to acknowledge it.

That and he appeared to be completely miserable. He was not only under extreme duress but he had not seen Ms. Kyle since the night before and had been unconscious when Dr. Thompkins had brought Mattie into visit. She had fussed and whimpered, wanting to be near him but Leslie had only let her touch him once on the hand before taking her back to her mother.

And even though he was apart from his family a vast majority of the day, he had always greeted them in the morning when they woke and in the evening as they went to bed. He had failed to do either in the last day. And it was practically a law of physics that when Master Bruce failed, repercussions were to follow.

I was about to push the fact that he should try and ingest a portion of the gelatin conglomeration when I noticed he had dozed off. Out of force of habit, I checked the vitals on the cardiogram and was satisfied to see everything within his normal range.

I shut the lights off on my way out and closed the door quietly behind me.

Two rooms down the corridor, I rapped on a door numbered 406 A. A chart rack attached to the wall held a metal clipboard with documents bearing Ms. Kyle's name and status. I heard several voices from within and after my announcement had gone unanswered, I opened the door cautiously, not wanting to bump into any unsuspected visitors.

The visitors, so to speak, included Master Timothy, Ms. Barbara, Miss Cassandra, Master Dick and of course, Miss Mattie. The older of the bunch, were situated around the room while Miss Mattie sat upon the bed with her mother and toys. I smiled to see she had put bandages on two of them. Ms. Kyle, despite her condition, had been the first to notice my presence, "Hi, Alfred."

I nodded as the others became aware as well.

Before they could ask, I answered, "He is resting at the moment, rather comfortably."

Master Tim nodded briefly and then studied the floor. He had yet to visit Master Bruce in either his unconscious or conscious state. It seemed that ever since Master Bruce had fallen to Bane so many years ago, Master Tim had found it rather difficult to handle situations such as the one at hand. As a young child, his mother had been slain and his father left scarred for life from violence and injury, which had obviously affected the poor lad despite how hard he tried.

Instead of letting him wallow in pain, I decided to step in for a change, "Master Timothy, a moment if you will."

He looked up, his young face lost in confusion. I looked towards the door and he finally rose and followed me into the corridor. After he shut the door, he asked, "What is it Alfred? You need something?"

I sighed, recollecting the thousands of times he had sacrificed his own self to help others without a second's pause. It was his charitable good nature shining through, with or without the mask. It warmed my aged heart to see such strong character in someone so young, and yet it pained me at the same time.

"It is not what I need, sir, but what you do."

He was clueless, even when I led him down the hall, passing two doors to 404 A, marked on a small erase board with red marker: Crit, Post Op, Mor/Cod as needed.

He froze in his tracks, "Al, no, I can't."

I turned to face him as I opened the door, "Yes, you can."

I walked in and sat beside Master Bruce, retrieving my leather bound copy of "The Canterbury Tales" and awaited Master Tim's entrance to the room. After thirty-six pages and watching him pace back and forth in front of the door, he paused then walked in, shutting the door soundlessly.

Being the invisible being that I tended to be at times, I gave Master Tim privacy by immersing myself in Chaucer. That was I gave him visual privacy by keeping my eyes set on the worn pages, but a proper gentleman's gentleman never eavesdropped, just discreetly overheard.

"Hi, Bruce."

Then the soft sounds of breathing.

"Selina's ok, but your car is trashed, saw pictures on the news this morning. It's not a good way to decrease your car collection," he paused, "I would have taken the SLK off your hands, no problem."

And then a slight groan, "You already have a car."

I smiled as Master Tim breathed in quickly and then commented, "Yeah but the SLK, would have been nice on the weekends."

"To do what?"

"Um, you know, go to the library."

Master Bruce snickered quietly, "Off for break?"

He replied, "As of today I am. Guess I got me a job for the next few weeks or so."

"Week. Be optimistic."

I interrupted after a polite cough, "A few weeks or so seems to be a proper estimate, Master Tim."

V

Instead of staying with everyone else, I followed Tim.

I hid behind a storage shelf as he paced the hall, back and forth, back and forth. He was nervous, but about what? I had visited him already; he was no different than usual, except for a few new scars.

Finally, he went in. I walked over after I was sure he was going to stay in the room and then stepped over to listen. It was a long time before he spoke to him.

For a bit, no one replied, but then I heard him speak, even if it was quiet, it was still his voice. I would be able recognize in a crowd of thousands.

They talked for a while, but I couldn't get all of what they were saying. Random topics, some laughing, nothing too major. After twenty minutes of crouching before the door and lots of stares from nurses, I retreated after distinctly hearing Tim's footsteps.

As I walked away back to Selina's room I heard, "Cass?"

When I turned, his head was tilted a bit and he had a half-smile on his face, "Want to raid the caf with me?"

"Caf?"

"Cafeteria, see if there's anything to eat."

I hadn't eaten in several hours and that had been a doughnut. Well one and a half, because Dick had fallen asleep with one in his hand and it was fair game.

I followed him the elevator and we made our way to the first floor. He acted as if he wanted to say something, but nothing came out. The cafeteria was twice the size of the dining hall at the Manor, filled with tiny tables and lots of scrub-clad people. There was a line of people at a counter and we joined them. Smells of grease, chicken and something sweet filled the air.

Not Alfred-worthy, but still pretty good.

The early lunch special ended up being chicken stuffed with broccoli and potato wedges. Some sort of vegetable mush was served as a side, but I decided against it. After getting drinks at the soda machine, we passed through a cashier station where Tim paid for both of us.

"Bon appetite," the old woman behind the computer winked at me.

We managed to find an empty table that was randomly placed in the middle of the room. There had only been on chair, so I grabbed an unused one that sat in the middle of the floor, tableless.

The chicken was a little dry but edible as far as I was concerned. Tim picked and stabbed at it but hardly ate anything. I had cleared my plate, my soda cup and had begun to eyeball his potatoes when he looked up, "Guess you were hungry."

I shrugged, "Growing girl."

He smiled, "Guess so."

I sighed, played with the ice cubes in my cup and then asked, "You okay?"

"I'm fine, just not hungry. Had a candy bar little while ago."

"Not about the food," I clarified by touching my brow, "Here."

He was quiet for a long time. I thought he had decided to ignore me, so I stole a fry from his plate. He didn't notice so I poked him in the nose with it. Before I could pull it away, he jerked and ate it.

I laughed quietly as he grinned, chewing away.

After a while, he finally answered, "I guess I'm worried. About him. It seems every time he reaches his peak, something knocks him back down," he took a long sip of Cherry Cola, "It was like that for me in the beginning, I never could get to where I wanted to be. Always worked hard and whenever I felt proud, something would go wrong."

I stared at him, listening to his every word, studying his every move. I spoke as he stared at the food before him, "You do good, Tim."

"I know. Actually, no, I don't. Everyone else knows but me. Even Bruce knows, he was always there for me, even when I didn't want him to be. And ever since I went off to school, I haven't been able to return the favor to him. Every time I've been at his side on the street, I mess up and then everything goes to Hell."

I knew to what he was referring.

When Poison Ivy had taken us captive. When we watched Batman nearly choke to death before our eyes.

When he fought Two-Face and had barely made it in time to help him.

When he was shot by Pasqualle, not even ten feet away.

"Can't help him all the time," I said, lowering my head a bit, "Not Superman."

He tried to hide the smirk by looking away.

I continued, "I try to help, when I can. Sometimes it works, or not. Just have to keep going, keep trying. Barb told me, always feel proud, no matter what. Goes to Hell, too late to change. Just keep trying."

He looked over at me and I smiled, "Like the fish, Dory. Keep swimming. Don't be, Mr. Grumpy Gills."

It took a moment before he replied, "I love that movie. I still can't get over that the shark's name is Bruce."

I touched his arm before stealing another fry, "Fish are our friends, not food."

We finished off his food together, bought ice cream cones and then made our way back upstairs. When we got in the empty elevator, he leaned over and kissed my cheek, "Thanks Cass."

I kept myself from blushing by listing the forms of marital arts that I knew in reverse alphabetical order.

V

By six that evening, I had enough of hospital life.

Barbara and Dick had taken Mattie, Cassandra and Tim to the Barb's and Alfred had gone to visit Leslie at the clinic. Bruce was thirty some odd feet away and had been all day and I had yet to see him. My doctor suggested I rested up and waited until the next day or maybe the day after that.

Right, like that was going to happen.

After my nurse checked in on me, I carefully unhooked the IV from my body, wrapped the cotton robe Alfred had brought for me around my body and then made my way to the door. I peered out to see a surprisingly quiet and empty hall. I waited five minutes and still no sign of hospital staff, goons or zombies.

I believed the term was Purrr-fect.

With the grace of a concussed cat thief, I shimmied down the hall as quickly as my sore frame would allow. Bruce's door was slightly ajar and I snuck in quietly before shutting it. When I turned, I had expected him to be asleep but he was lying there, wide-awake, staring out the window.

After a few seconds, his head rolled over towards me and he blinked slowly. The lights had been turned off except for a soft lamp that was imbedded into the wall above his head. It cast a soft shadow over his face, but I could see the faint outlines of a smile. His lips moved in the form of my name but no sound came forth.

"Oh, baby," I said, my throat constricting. He looked worse than I had expected. A bandage covered his left cheek, and there were several patches of gauze on his arms. Both eyes had blackened and his lip was split open. I thought of my own cracked lip and smiled weakly as I approached him. I carefully sat on the bed and leaned over to hug him. His right arm rose languidly and laid limply across my shoulders.

"So tired," he managed.

"I know, you should sleep," I said before kissing a small area of unscathed skin on his face.

"Slept all day," he murmured, "Too tired to sleep."

I felt his fingers move on my back, touching my shoulder blade softly. I put my right arm on the bed and leaned over him by bearing my weight on that arm. With my other hand, I touched a patch of skin on his upper brow where they had shaved some hair off to suture the wound below. "Nice hair cut, they use a lawn mower?"

He smiled weakly, "Nah, weed whacker." He winced and I felt his breath catch as his chest jerked. Before I could voice my concern he said, "Fine, I try not to cough. Side hurts."

"I would imagine so. You only played slip and slide on the road for fifteen feet."

He didn't smile at that, but frowned, "Couldn't get out of the way, Selina. Had nowhere to go," his breathing increased a bit with worry. "I should have---"

"Shh, don't think about it, Bruce. It's over now."

"Could have been you driving---"

I kissed him to shut him up.

He wasn't satisfied but had silently agreed to drop the subject for the time being. He slowly moved over in the bed and made room for me to lie beside him. I reclined and helped him wrap his arms around my body and then pulled the top blanket over both of our bodies. He felt colder than usual.

"Where is everyone?"

I told him how the gang had left earlier, taking Mattie to get something to eat and for a good night's sleep. He then questioned how everyone was, which slightly surprised me. If it too a few cc's to get Bruce to be so amiable, maybe we needed to start spiking his coffee.

Finally, he asked about Mattie.

"I told her we had an accident, but nothing about the car, I don't want her to start fearing rides. They brought her in here when you were still out this morning, and when she came back all she did was wrap her dolls up in bandages and then unwrap them."

He snickered, "I think we've made a doctor out of her."

I tilted my head up and kissed his jaw, "Dr. Wayne the Second."

He was quiet for a long time after that and I was about to ask if he had fallen asleep when I heard the door creak open. I looked up to see Dick peering into the dark room. When he realized I was in the bed with Bruce, he physically jerked before whispering, "Selina?"

I replied, "Selina's not here, come back later."

He laughed a bit, "Just figured I drop by, Barb's going to take Mattie for the night, we'll bring her over in the morning."

Before I could speak, Bruce mumbled from behind me, "Keep her. Free, comes with own clothes, toys… Mother too."

Any other time I would have elbowed him for that.

But since I knew how sore his ribs were, I settled for biting his hand.

V