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It should also be noted that this takes place outside of the continuity of the show. It simply is. Hope you enjoy!
1
Hawkgirl sat up, jarringly awake. For a moment, she thought that it had all been a nightmare, that she had merely been sleeping and the dream brought on by exhaustion. But when she blinked a few times and ran a hand in front of her face, all she could see was darkness.
It was no dream - she was blind.
Fear filled her and she cried out, clawing at the tubes in her arms. The beeping of machines told her that she was in the Watchtower's sickbay. Maybe the lights were out - if they were on, she might be able to see something, anything. Even a shadow would give her hope that her sight would be able to be restored.
Fueled by desperation, she stumbled from the bed and crashed into the walls twice before finding the light panel beside the room's door. Hawkgirl pressed the button she knew would turn the lights on, but nothing changed. Her vision was still dark.
Hitting the button with her fist, she felt the hot trail of tears run down her face and suddenly realized that her mask wasn't on. She was so wound up that she wasn't able to think clearly enough to remember which direction her bed was in.
Her anger at being so helpless blew up and she began to lash out at the light panel, gouging it with her nails.
She heard the hiss of the door beside her, and a cool breath of air from the corridor outside told her that the door had opened and closed. Hawkgirl paused, thinking that maybe she had hit the "door open" button by accident, but strong hands grabbed her arms and pried her hands away from the light panel.
Finally able to vent her anger, born of despair, on another person, she turned towards the arms and began to lash out in the general area of where their head might be. Each strike was deftly blocked, but the person made no other move to stop her from trying.
Finally, worn out and still weak from being in bed for so long, her tears got the best of her and her legs began to go weak beneath her. The person caught her and held her up, letting her cry herself out on his chest.
Shaking like a leaf from a mixture of exhaustion and her emotional outburst, a thought suddenly made her pull away from the supporting arms.
"Who - who is this?" If it was the Flash, she wasn't sure she would be able to live with herself. It could conceivably be J'onn or maybe Green Lantern, and the muscles didn't feel hard enough to be Superman's...
The person let go of her just long enough for her to decide that she couldn't stand on her own. "Batman."
And for some reason, that was more reassuring than any of the other possible answers. Maybe it was because she knew that he would be nothing other than professional about the whole thing.
"This room is soundproof, you know that."
"Then how -?"
"When you hit the light panel, it sent a signal to the main computer. I was on watch."
Hawkgirl's knees tried to give away again, but Batman caught her once more. Scooping her up, he deposited her on the hospital bed and stepped away, letting her settle herself.
She heard him step to the side and a new set of beeps began. She knew that he was making noise just for her - going out of his way to let her know exactly where in the room her was.
"Your vitals are all reading fine, everything has stabilized. From here on out you only need to focus on getting your strength back. You're dehydrated, but you can start eating whatever you like as soon as you feel up to it." It was all said in his usual calm, monotone voice - although she wasn't sure if he knew that it had the double effect of helping to calm her frayed nerves.
"And my eyes?" she asked hesitantly.
"We don't know."
She nodded and rested her head back on the pillow.
"When you are healthier, I'll run a few tests to discover the full extent of the damage." Here he paused, and Hawkgirl tilted her head in the direction of his voice, wondering what he wasn't telling her. "It's possible that I can make something that will allow you to see again - but there's only a very slim chance of it working."
Meaning, don't get your hopes up. Hawkgirl nodded again, telling herself sternly not to let herself believe it. That way, when it failed, she wouldn't be set up for such a hard fall.
There was more rustling as she heard him step closer to her bed. "I'm going to re-insert the IV right now. All it contains is something to keep you from becoming more dehydrated than you already are. As of right now, I'm taking you off all of the medications except for pain killers.
"J'onn is the next person on watch, but I'll be around until I can fix the light panel."
Hawkgirl yawned, beginning to suspect that Batman had added a little something extra to the IV, despite his assurances. "I'm sorry -"
"Don't be. I'll be back a little later with a tool kit." And with that, Hawkgirl heard him walk out of the room and the door whispered shut behind him.