Recap: Steph comes to the hospital with Lester, and Tank get released from duty to bring her inside. Susan comes to the waiting room to tell them what is going on.

Stephanie

Susan was probably about 40 feet away. I jumped to my feet, trying to read her expression. But her face was as blank as Ranger's. God, I don't know what I'd do without him. Lester was behind me, a hand on my shoulder. Tank came up on my other side.

"Is he OK? Will he be OK?"

Susan took a deep breath. "I can't technically release medical information to you, since you aren't family. I know you're involved with him, but the law…"

"I'm his cousin. I also have medical power of attorney for him. Tank does too." Lester interrupted.

Susan nodded. "He's in stable condition. There was a lot of damage. We had to repair the femoral artery, and we aren't sure yet how much damage there was to the tissue in his leg. We brought in a specialist from Johns Hopkins, and she's with him now. We expect him to live, but we aren't yet sure if the damage is bad enough that he'll lose the leg."

There were more words, but my head filled with a high-pitched buzzing. My knees weakened, and I was vaguely aware of Lester holding me close to him, whispering in my ear. I could feel him guiding me back into a chair, pushing my head between my legs. I had a vague recollection of Ranger doing the same thing to me a lifetime ago.

"When can we see him?" I could hear someone ask in the background.

"He will probably be in surgery for another 3 hours, then an hour in recovery. You can see him once he's in a room."

4 hours. 4 hours to stew in my own thoughts, wondering if Batman could save Gotham ever again, or if he'd be stuck in the Batcave. Maybe we could just hide there together forever. Ranger had always taken such good care of his body, but no amount of skipping donuts could regrow a limb.

"He's tough, Beautiful. You know that if anyone can get through this, it's Ranger." Lester ran his hand comfortingly along my back. "Come on, let's see if we can find some food in this joint."

Lester

There is something so bleak about a hospital cafeteria. You have people visiting loved ones who need a break. Medical personnel on a rare break. The occasional patient out of their room for a break. Everyone is under stress, and it flows off them in waves.

Of course, normally hospitals don't have Secret Service agents roaming the halls. News of who we were seemed to have spread, I saw more than one agent check a picture on their phone before stepping out of our path. The normally bustling corridors were surprisingly empty, Stephanie was walking on her own, but she was silent and had a distant look in her eyes. I'd considered getting her a wheelchair after her near fainting spell, but I didn't think she needed to feel any more helpless than she already did. Tank had stayed in the waiting room, ever the faithful lieutenant.

The cafeteria had only us and hospital staff in it. Bobby had said that people were being shunted to other hospitals for security reasons. Luckily Philly has lots of hospitals, and a Monday afternoon wasn't a busy time normally.

"Hey look, mashed potatoes and meatloaf. Isn't that one of your favorites?" I asked, trying to get her to talk.

"I'm not hungry." she replied, not noticing the loud grumble her stomach was making.

"Not even for a donut?"

She shrugged. I'd never seen her look so lifeless, even when she was sick or injured. I grabbed some food, paid, and walked her to a table. I was worried for her. Stephanie not wanting a donut was pretty serious.

She sat for a few minutes pushing mashed potatoes around her plate. I don't think she ate a bite.

"Want to tell me what's going on in your head? It might help to talk about it."

"Will he be OK being Bruce?" she whispered.

"Que?"

"I realized last week that sometimes Ranger is superhuman, he's Batman. He wears black and drives fancy cars and can make criminals stop with a look. He doesn't seem real. But he is human. He has feelings that can hurt, a heart that can break." she choked up. "A body that can break. He's always seemed so invincible to me. And even when I know in theory that he's not, him being so vulnerable...will he be OK being only Bruce Wayne and not Batman? And what if.." she trailed off.

"What?" I coaxed. " If what?"

"What if he doesn't love me the same way?" she whispered. "He's always protected me, always seemed driven to protect me. And now it's possible that he can't. And I'll still love him, but what if he can only love someone he protects?"

"Beautiful, don't worry about that. My fool cousin has been head over heels in love with you for years. And while he may be thick-headed, he's not going to give up on you just because he might not be able to jump off bridges anymore. And we don't even know if he'll have permanent injuries. He might be fine with some physical therapy."

She shoved her plate away. "I can't eat. I'm too riled up. Let's pack it up and bring the food to Tank."