"Why, Alfred, What a pleasant surprise this is." she smiled slightly. He did seem like such a nice old man.
"Well, we're certainly glad you're awake Ms. Hughes." he told her. She loved that british accent.
"Callie, Alfred, call me Callie. How long have I been here?" she sat up a bit, ignoring the dizzy sensation that it caused.
"You've been in hospital for two days Ms. Callie." he said softly. She didn't seem surprised by this.
Looking around the room now, not just at the ceiling, she saw that her room was filled with flowers of all different types and hues. "How lovely." she said faintly. "And how did such a charming man as yourself come to be in my hospital room?"
He set his book aside and leaned forward slightly. "Actually, Mr. Wayne tried contacting you at your office yesterday morning, and was told you'd been brought in after collapsing. Are you feeling all right now?"
"Hmmm, bit of a headache. Doing too much lately I suppose. Too much stress." Callie looked away from the man, she really did like him, and hated to fib. "I've had several of these blackouts before. How did I get here?"
"Well, that's quite a story from what I've heard the nurses say. Two nurses seemed to be on what they called a smoke break in the back, when Batman dropped down with you in his arms. He set you at their feet, told them who you were, and that you'd fainted. You were bleeding out your lovely nose at the time, so they rushed you inside."
"My, my, I was in the famous Batman's arms and don't remember a thing." she sighed. "Doesn't that just figure? I've heard he's quite the figure."
"So you don't remember him?" Alfred asked, his eyebrows scrunching up.
Callie tried to recall once she'd gotten home from her, er, errand. Nothing. "No. I don't remember anything. I remember dinner with Nico, then home, but after that nothing." she sighed again, this time a bit sadly. "That's how it happens though, I'm afraid. Ever since that horrible accident. Ever since the coma."
:Elsewhere:
Lieutenant Gordon looked up to see Rachel Dawes in his doorway. "Ms. Dawes, how nice to see you."
Quietly she entered the room and shut the office door behind her. "Lt. Gordon, I need some help." she said quietly.
"Whatever it is, I'll certainly try my best."
She sat across from him and leaned forward. "The Hughes Lab explosion three years ago, who investigated that fire?"
Gordon leaned back and frowned slightly, "Let me look it up." he started typing on his computer. "Flass, and his partner at the time Tony Kramer."
"Tony Kramer, as in brother to Nico Kramer?" Rachel whispered, making sure to look behind her at the shut door.
"Yeah, Tony quit the force and I was partnered with Flass shortly after that." Gordon explained.
"Do you still have all of the evidence for that accident?"
Gordon accessed more information on the computer. "Yeah, you should be able to get it no problem. Why all these questions on the accident?"
Rachel was staring off into space. "Remember who investigated." she mumbled, then looked at Gordon. "It's recently come to my attention that this might not have been an accident. It might have been the start to the arson fires that have been occurring for the past two years."
"Who told you this?" Gordon asked completely shocked. "Batman?"
"No." Rachel shook her head. "She called herself The Seer."
:Hospital:
Alex Hughes entered the room to find Callie sitting on the edge of her bed dressed in the jeans and sweatshirt he'd brought her. "You know the doctor wants you to stay for the rest of today at least."
Callie turned and looked at her cousin with a smile. "I know, but I just can't stand sitting here doing nothing. If I'm going to be doing nothing, I'd rather it be at home."
"I would hardly call a hotel room home." Alex teased. "We need to work harder finding you home."
"Yeah." she sighed, seemed she'd been doing a lot of that lately. "But it won't be easy with all of the special modifications I want to make." she said looking directly at Alex. He nodded knowingly. Alex, her beloved cousin, the only person in the world who knew about her extracurricular activities. The only person she could confide in.
He approached her, "You're doing too much Cal. You know you are. Slow down."
She nodded, "I'll try Alex, but I'm getting closer. The closer I get the quicker it seems to spiral. It's difficult. Trying to clue the right people in, but staying one step ahead of them, and one step ahead of Batman."
"And Bruce Wayne?"
She turned quickly, "What about him?"
"Please, Callie, this is Alex. You could feel it in the air the day we signed the papers."
"I'll be keeping my distance from Mr. Wayne, he's a distraction I don't need." she said coolly.
"You're going to try to take care of the arsonist yourself aren't you?"
She just looked at him, her face expressionless.
"Damn it Calliope! Leave it to the police!"
She hissed, "He killed my parents and changed my life forever. What can the police or Justice system do to make up for that? Nothing." she finished bitterly.
"You know Lawrence James is missing don't you?" he snapped.
She looked startled at that, "No, when did that happen?"
"The day you were brought in. Nothing is missing from his apartment but the man himself." he said looking at her closely.
Her eyes widened, "And you think I had something to do with it?"
"Well, did you?"
"No. I told you of my discussion and Batman's involvement. Maybe he dropped Lawrence off a cliff somewhere." she snorted. She was hurt that he'd think that of her.
Alex walked to his cousin and put his arm around her, "I'm sorry Cal. Let's get you out of here, Ok?"