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Batman watched from above as Evangeline was placed into Gordon's squad car. The ambulances were full, and her condition wasn't nearly as severe as most of the others who were at the scene of Joker's and Harley's chaos. As Gordon departed the scene, he followed the car leaping from building to building in the process from the Upper West Side to the edge of South Midtown. He couldn't afford to have anyone know that he was following them, so he left the secured Tumbler behind. The sounds of the sirens and shouts were fading as Batman tailed Gordon, and he prayed silently that she would be okay.
She just had to be okay.
Gordon drove at breakneck speeds with his lights and siren on, urging traffic to part. He sped to the nearby hospital, Mercy. Gotham General and Gotham Memorial were nearing code black, meaning that they were running out of capacity and medical supplies; so Gordon decided to take the unconscious woman in the passenger seat to a less-occupied hospital that's still in a decent part of town.
Mercy Hospital immediately took her in, concerned that she was still unconscious. Gordon worried for her, Gotham couldn't afford to lose another one of its emergency responders what with the Joker once again on the prowl. He paced the waiting room slightly, anticipation causing him to be anxious.
Gordon's work phone rang, announcing a text message. He checked it quickly, and saw that he was needed back in the Upper West Side. He grimaced, knowing that now he would have to leave Price behind. He silently, mentally said a prayer that she would be safe here at Mercy, and he tore out of the building.
I vaguely recalled my arm being lifted, and what felt like a blood pressure cuff slipped over my forearm up to my arm. The tightening, similar to a tourniquet, only confirmed my suspicion. I tried to open my eyes, but it felt as though everything was incredibly heavy – like I had just been thrown in front of a semi. But a memory suddenly snaps to my mind: the woman that tricked me coming toward me with a baseball bat. My eyes suddenly opened wide, making the nurse taking my blood pressure jump a little. I'm in a sterile looking, plain room decorated with stainless steel canisters and sink, with a calming very light blue color on the walls.
"Where am I?" I hear myself slur like I'm drunk.
"You're at Mercy Hospital, sweetie," she responds slowly. "Do you remember anything?"
"Only getting hit in the head," I groan.
She nods, but I perceive it to be in slow-motion.
"Your heart rate and blood pressure look good," she smiled at me. "Can you tell me who you are?"
"Evangeline Price," I slur. "I'm a paramedic in Gotham."
The nurse's eyes brighten and she smiles again.
"Doctor Holly will be in in just a moment, okay?"
I nod, but the movement causes my head to hurt; I wince and shut my eyes in response.
About five minutes later, there's a knock on the door.
"Miss Price?" A man pokes his head into the room.
"Yes?"
I watch as the man enters the room, pulling the door shut behind him.
"I'm Doctor Holly, I'm going to be taking care of you today. Heather took your vitals for me, and they look good. I'm concerned about the fact that you may have a concussion, however. So, we're going to do a few tests to check that out, okay?"
So, I'm urged to change out of my current clothes and to take off my jewelry. Next I'm delicately moved into a wheelchair and am wheeled down a hallway a couple of minutes later, heading to the MRI so that they can rule out any serious bleeding and confirm a concussion.
The procedure is slow, taking about 25 minutes, and then confirms what the doctor had believed: it's a concussion.
So a little while later as I'm being discharged I run into a snag.
"Alright, sweetie," the nurse from earlier, Heather, enters the room with my official discharge papers. "Do you have someone coming to pick you up?"
Oh. Oh, shit, how did I not think about that? How on earth *am* I going to get home?
"I'll try my friends."
"You don't have any family around here?" she sends me a slightly sympathetic look, but the comment still stings.
"No, I don't," I sigh, pulling my phone toward me.
I dial Devyn's number first, but I immediately am sent to her voicemail. I try Jon next, but I get the same result after it rings a few times.
Well, there is one more person I could try… I scroll through my contacts, looking for one name in particular.
Maybe it would be too forward, but maybe he could help…? I scroll toward the bottom of my phone's contacts, searching until I finally find myself in the 'W's.
Bruce Wayne.
He had been brooding once again, worried about how Evangeline was faring. Did she get ambushed in the hospital? Is she seriously hurt? The phone rang in Wayne Manor, and brought Bruce's senses back to reality.
"Wayne Manor, how may I help you?" he heard Alfred answer the phone.
"Miss Price, yes of course. Just one moment."
Price? Evangeline?
Bruce rose to his feet, ignoring the pang of his sore feet. He really needed to get boots with better support. He walked out of the sitting room and toward the parlor, where one of the phones were located. Alfred handed him the phone.
"Bruce Wayne."
"B-Bruce? H-hey, it's Evangeline."
She was slurring like she were drunk, Bruce noted.
"Is everything okay?"
"Uh, well, kind of…? I'm at the hospital."
"The hospital?"
"Yeah, and I need a ride home. I know it's forward, and you can say no, but…"
Bruce couldn't help but half-smile and let out a small one-beat laugh. "No, it's okay. Which hospital?"
"Mercy Hospital. Thank you, Bruce."
"I'll see you soon."
He disconnected the call, placing the cordless phone back onto the receiver.
"I'll go fetch the car, sir."
It was about a 15-minute drive from Wayne Manor to Mercy Hospital in the Burnley District in Uptown. Alfred pulled up the car in front of the hospital, allowing Bruce to exit the Bentley. He quickly ascended the steps and entered the building.
As soon as he entered, he could feel the gaze of many people whilst he strode over to the receptionist's desk.
"How may I help you?" the man responded, not even looking up.
"I'm here for Evangeline Price," Bruce cooly responded.
The receptionist raised his head, his eyes bugging out slightly.
"I'll page a nurse and let them know that you're here, Mr. Wayne. For now, please have a seat."
Bruce nodded his head and sent him a small smile.
"Thank you."
After waiting a few moments, during which Alfred had also entered the waiting room and sat with Bruce, Evangeline was wheeled out in a wheelchair, a slightly starry, dazed look on her features.
"Mr. Wayne?" the nurse pushing her pauses in surprise as the two men rise but quickly regains his poise.
Bruce extended his hand to the nurse, taking Evangeline's discharge papers in his.
"Everything is included in the paperwork," she smiled beautifully to him.
"Thank you. And be sure to send all of her medical bills to me, okay?" he slipped her a business card with his contact information on it.
She accepted it and nodded. "You're very gracious, Mr. Wayne."
Alfred stepped behind the wheelchair and pushed Evangeline while Bruce walked beside her.
"What happened?" Bruce asked, genuinely curious since he found her unconscious.
"Got hit in the head," she mumbled. "Baseball bat."
"A baseball bat?"
The three passed through the hospital's sliding doors.
"Yeah. Joker and some girl," she quietly slurred her words.
Bruce cast a look to Alfred.
Joker and Harley Quinn. They had attacked her.
Alfred set the brakes on the wheelchair and set off to bring the car around; Bruce leaned against the pillar next to Evangeline.
"I'm sorry."
"What for? Joker's just… unpredictable. Life's unpredictable."
Bruce grimaced; he had to definitely agree with that. He stooped next to her and took her hand in his, he gently massaged the spaces between her knuckles.
"It's not how you let it bring you down, it's how you rise from it."
She brought her full face to Bruce's, and he peered into those beautiful dark chocolate eyes. He watched as a bitter smile graced her lips and her eyes saddened.
"I don't think I did too well."
He cocked his head, confused, but before he could ask her what she had meant, Alfred pulled around with the Bentley.
"Your chariot awaits you, Miss Price," the elder man smiled while he walked around to the rear passenger door and opened it for her.
He offered light assistance to Evangeline since she wasn't entirely steady on her feet.
I'm sitting in a Bentley with Bruce Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth driving me home from Mercy Hospital – how much my life has changed in the past couple of days…!
I stammered out my address, 316 Murphy Avenue apartment 9, to Alfred and he dutifully drove us toward my home. Since Mercy was in the Burnley District and I live in the Upper East Side, we only have to hop on the expressway for a few moments and cross the Sprang River and then drive down a few city blocks.
The drive doesn't take long, and I'm very thankful since the drive made me slightly nauseous with the passing lights of the Gotham City blaring by. I close my eyes on the drive home, but I must have dozed off, because I awaken with a jolt as the car stops and parks and my head is laying on Bruce's shoulder.
I half-leap away from him, blushing madly and even more so as he sends me the small, trademark smirk that I see from his photos of him in the papers with gorgeous women on his arm. But I swear I see a flash of color on his face.
Bruce and Alfred help me up the steps to my apartment, and after I unlock my door and step into my apartment and turn on the lights, I ensure the two men that I'll be okay. I wave my discharge papers at them and remind them that I am a paramedic and I laugh.
"I need to sleep. It's good for concussions, since there's not so much activity for the brain," I gently tap my cranium, earning a small smile from the men.
"Okay. If you need anything, anything at all, don't hesitate to contact me, Evangeline."
I nod, humbled by Bruce's generosity.
As the two move to leave, I call out to Bruce.
"Bruce?"
He turned around to face me. "Hm?"
Oh, sod it. My heart leapt in my chest as I made a bold decision.
I get up on my tiptoes and plant a kiss on his cheek.
"Thank you."
"Y-you're welcome," he stammered slightly, the lighting in my apartment catching the slight rise in color on his cheeks.
Meanwhile, just outside of Evangeline's apartment, Harley Quinn was waiting, poised with a camera and a huge grin on her face. She had just gotten a candid of Gotham's most eligible bachelor, Bruce Wayne, being kissed by the girl that she had bashed over the head earlier in the day. She nearly squealed with delight, but bit her tongue so as not to betray the fact that she was there. She was still in the pair of jeans and the t-shirt that she worn earlier when the Joker and she began their rampage through Gotham's Upper West Side; she longed to be back with her love and be back in her normal clothes: a red and black jumpsuit. Her normal.
She leapt down from her perch, and she pushed past a couple of people walking down the sidewalk. She made her path down the road and stepped into a deserted alleyway where the Joker's stolen car awaited her. The man himself was leaned casually against the hood of the car, staring up at the building next to him.
"You're nevah gon' believe this, puddin'!" Harley spoke, shattering Joker's pensive moment by shoving the picture in his face.
"So she's involved with Brucie himself," he began to chuckle. "Oh, this is getting better and better!"
Harley joined his laughing fit.
"First Batsy saves her after taday, now I catch her kissin' Mistah Wayne. She jus' can' make up her mind, the little slut."
"Well, Harley, I think a royal assassination is brewing – and she'll be the key to it all!" Joker threw back his head, cackling madly. "We'll be the King and Queen of Gotham!"
Harley clapped her hands and screeched in delight.
The sounds of delightful terror echoed throughout the alleyway, and no one but Joker and Harley Quinn knew just what was in store for Bruce Wayne and Evangeline Price.