They got a ride in another taxi and were both quiet on the way back to the apartment building. Arthur looked at Wendy and she looked at him, but they hardly spoke to each other. He wasn't sure how Wendy talking to his mother was going to make any difference. He knew she didn't believe him, and yet he was desperate enough to give it a shot and let her talk to his mother. He didn't want to lose Wendy, but if anything went wrong between her and his mother, Arthur would never forgive her. Wendy already gave Arthur her word she would walk out of his life forever if anything happened. Arthur hated to admit it, but it frightened him to think he could lose the only woman who cared about him. It had already been a rough day. He didn't know how it could get much worse. His answer came as soon as they got back to the building.

Just as the taxi turned the corner, Arthur saw a crowd had gathered outside the apartment building. There was an ambulance there, too. Right away, he feared the worst. He got out and ran over to see what was the matter. Wendy followed close behind him. There was someone being brought out on a stretcher. There was an oxygen bag over their face, but Arthur managed to get a good look at the person.

"Mom?" Arthur asked. He went over to her side, seeing she wasn't breathing. "Oh, my God. What happened?"

"Sir, please step back", one of the paramedics told him.

"I'm her son", Arthur told them. "What happened?"

"Oh, great. You can help us out inside. We don't know what happened yet."

Arthur walked alongside his mother as she was carried over and loaded carefully into the back of the ambulance.

Wendy tugged onto the sleeve of Arthur's jacket and told him, "I'm coming with you." Together, she and Arthur both hopped into the ambulance. The siren blared and the ambulance raced to the hospital.

While the paramedics worked on keeping his mother alive, Arthur held her hand and stared at her in shock, wondering what happened. He had been gone all day long. What went wrong?

"Does your mother take any medication?"

Arthur didn't answer the paramedic, who asked him again.

"Sir, does your mother take any medication?"

"No."

"When was the last time you saw her?"

"This morning."

"Does she have any medical history?"

"I don't-I don't know."

Wendy didn't say anything, but observed the old woman as the paramedics tried to revive her. This was the first time she had seen Arthur's mother, and this was not what she expected her to look like at all.

Once they arrived at the hospital, Arthur waited anxiously to see if his mother was going to be all right. Wendy kept trying to reassure him that she would be, but Arthur didn't appear to be listening to her.

Later, a doctor came out and explained to Arthur his mother had suffered a stroke. She was in stable condition, but would have to remain in the hospital for some time. The doctor showed Arthur and Wendy the room where his mother was being held and left them alone for a minute. Arthur took just one look at his mother and almost lost it. His mother was unconscious and hooked up to a breathing machine. The heart monitor beeped each time.

Arthur let out a shaky breath and placed a hand over his mouth, turning away. Wendy looked at him and heard either a quiet laugh or a sob escape from him. His shoulders trembled.

"Arthur?" Wendy asked him, placing a hand on his back.

Arthur shook his head and placed a hand over his heart and cried, "This is all my fault. It's all my fault. I did this to her."

"No, Arthur, that is not true", Wendy told him, firmly.

"Yes, it is!" Arthur turned around and told her, "I said some things to her I shouldn't have. When I read her letter to Thomas Wayne, she said she was dying. She's going to die, Wendy! There's nothing I can do!"

Wendy saw he was getting hysterical and slapped Arthur across his face. She grabbed his head with both her hands and shouted, "Arthur, listen to me! She is not going to die! None of this is your fault. Do you understand that?! Your mother suffered a stroke, and I know it's horrible, but don't you even think for one minute that you had anything to do with this. You're just scared. I went through the same thing with my father just before he..."

Wendy stopped herself before she said anything that made the situation worse. Arthur just stared at her, his face held no expression. He never even felt the pain when she slapped him. He was too numb to feel anything.

Wendy caressed his face as an apology and said calmly, "I know it's hard, but you need to be strong. I know you're afraid, but your mother needs you to be brave right now. I'll stay with you if you want me to, but not if you're gonna start acting like a lunatic. Got it?"

Arthur continued to stare at her for a while and whispered, "I need some air." He turned around and walked away, leaving Wendy alone in the room with his mother.

Arthur walked out of the hospital and went over and sat down on a bench. He lit a cigarette to calm himself down and breathed smoke into his lungs, then breathed out. He felt depression slowly sinking back in. His mother warned him last night he was going to give her a heart attack. She warned him something like this would happen and he believed it. Arthur blamed himself. If he hadn't yelled at her and left, she wouldn't have had a stroke.

While Arthur continued smoking his cigarette, two police detectives came up to him, one older than the other.

"Mr. Fleck? I'm sorry to bother you", said the first detective. "I'm Detective Garrity, this is my partner, Detective Burke. We had some questions for you, but you weren't home. So we talked to your mother."

Arthur looked at the two detectives, giving them his full attention. "What did you say to her? Did you do this?"

"No", Garrity told him. "We just asked her some questions and she started to get hysterical. She started hyperventilating, fell and hit her head pretty hard."

"Yeah, the doctor told me she had a stroke", Arthur barked at them.

Garrity and Burke looked at each other, sharing a look of uncomfortable guilt. "Well, we're sorry to hear that", said Garrity.

Arthur took another drag of his cigarette, wishing these two cops would just go away, but he knew they wouldn't.

"We still have some questions for you, if you don't mind", said Burke.

"About those subway killings last week", Garrity included.

"I don't know anything about that", Arthur defended, lying to them, of course.

"Well, we have an eyewitness who described the killer was a white male about five foot eight and wearing a clown mask or clown makeup. We spoke to your boss, Hoyt Vaughn, and he told us you were working a job on the day of the shooting. He also said you were fired for bring a gun to a children's-"

"It wasn't real", Arthur told them. "It was a prop. I'm a party clown." He took another drag of his cigarette and said, "They fired me because they said I wasn't funny enough. Can you believe that?" He stood up, flicking away his cigarette on the ground. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go take care of my mother."

Just as he was about to go back into the building, Arthur heard Detective Burke speak to him, "Your boss also gave us one of your cards."

Arthur stopped and turned back to look at the two detectives.

"This condition of yours...Is it real or just a clown thing?"

"A clown thing?" Arthur asked, sounding offended. He rolled his eyes and went to the sliding glass doors, only to slam into it. He expected it to open for him, but it didn't. He stepped back and waved at the motion detector.

"It's exit only", said Garrity.

Luckily for Arthur, a nurse came out and the doors opened. With as much dignity as he could muster, Arthur went back inside. The two detectives shared a look, skeptical about Arthur Fleck.

When he went back into the room his mother was staying in, Arthur found Wendy was sitting in a chair next to the window. She looked at Arthur and offered him a spot next to her. Arthur sat down and looked at his mother, who remained locked in a deep sleep. He wished he could take her place. He never wanted her to end up like this, not in a million years. His silent lament was comforted by a gentle hand rubbing his back.

"She's going to be all right", said Wendy.

"I just want to take her home", Arthur whispered, sadly.

Wendy hugged her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder. Arthur placed a hand over her wrist, still staring at his mother. "I know you do", said Wendy, "But she's going to have to stay here for a while."

Arthur shook his head. "She doesn't like hospitals."

Wendy lifted her head and explained to him, "Arthur, a stroke is a very serious condition. She can't leave."

Arthur didn't bother to speak anymore. He just wanted to wake up from this horrible nightmare.

Wendy sighed and ran a hand through his hair and told him, "I'll have a talk with the doctor and see what I can do." She stood up and looked at the television bolted high up into the wall and walked out of the room.

The minute she left, Arthur turned his attention over to the TV, the sound of Murray Franklin's voice drawing him out of his sadden mood. The late night comedian told a joke, which he and the audience laughed at.

Arthur couldn't help but let out a small laugh himself, despite his sadden mood. No matter what, watching Murray Franklin always made him feel better.

"And finally, in a world where everybody thinks they can do my job, check out this joker."

The screen darkened and came back on, showing a grainy video footage of Arthur up on the stage of Pogo's Comedy Club. He was having a laughing fit and threw his arms over his mouth, holding a journal in one hand.

"Oh, my God", Arthur exclaimed, his jaw hanging open a bit. He nearly jumped out of his seat at seeing himself on TV. He stood up and stared wide-eyed at the screen as his television self started to calm down.

"I hated school as a kid. My mother would say, 'You should enjoy it. One day you'll have to work for a living.' 'No, I won't, Ma. I'm gonna be a comedian."

Arthur laughed at his own amusement and clapped his hands together, a big smile plastered on his face. His hero was admiring him. Finally, he was getting the recognition he deserved as a comedian.

His image disappeared on screen, changing back to Murray, who shook his head and laughed and said, "You shoulda listened to your mother." The studio audience laughed at that.

Slowly, Arthur's smile started to vanish. The light faded from his eyes, growing darker and darker with each passing minute. Murray wasn't laughing with him. He was laughing at him!

The video continued playing, as the Arthur on TV said to the comedy club audience, "When I was a little boy and told everybody I was going to be a comedian, everybody laughed at me. Well, no one's laughing now."

Murray showed up again and told him, "You can say that again, pal." The studio audience laughed with him yet again.

Arthur felt as though he were in a trance. The man who he looked up to all these years, a man who he saw as a father, was nothing more than a crook, a fake. Wendy was right. There was a reason she hated him, and now he knew. Murray was no different than the millions of other residences in Gotham City. He was an awful person, just like the rest of them.

Arthur turned and dragged a chair over to him and stood on top of it to turn off the TV. He didn't want to see or hear anything to do with Murray Franklin anymore. He stared at his reflection for a while, looking deep into the soul of the dead gray screen. His admiration for Murray slowly faded away, his happy memories turning into dust.

By the time Wendy came back, Arthur was gone. The chair was moved and the TV was turned off. She wondered what happened.