"I will be back at seven," Lucius said to Adriana after parking.
"Six-thirty," she said. "Please."
He nodded.
"He doesn't even believe that I'm alive," she said. "I thought he did..he touched my face and seemed to realize this was all real but then..he just sat down and...I mean he thinks this is all a dream..or some type of hell-"
"It will take time," Lucius said again. "He will understand and heal from this-"
"And you can get antibiotics?" she asked him for the third time.
"I will bring the strongest ones I can acquire," he assured her. "Just try to get some sleep."
She agreed anxiously and got out of the car. She went in to the hotel through the front and put the code in on the elevator to be allowed to go to the floor where their penthouse was. Bruce wasn't there when she returned. He was out in the city, Gotham needed the Batman. She took off her clothes, dropping everything beside the bed before walking into the bathroom and stepping into the shower.
A choked cry that shouldn't hold in echoed off of the marble surrounding her. She covered her mouth and sat down on the shower floor and pulled her knees up. The state of the Joker was something that she would not have wished on her worst enemy. Bruce had no idea what was going on with him and she couldn't help but wonder if he would have done anything about it if he did. She knew he couldn't be so cruel to allow anyone to suffer this way. His thoughts when he locked the Joker down there didn't take illness into consideration. He assumed he would be fine but incredibly bored. The lack of communication would affect him like had affected countless others placed into solitary throughout history. Bruce guessed that he could handle it. And if he couldn't it was still worth the risk because of the danger to society that the Joker posed.
Adriana was sure she had never seen such a large untreated dental abscess. The Joker's dental health had always been horrible but this was a different level of decay. He had tried to drain the abscess himself several times with his fingers. He was not given any eating utensils, which he could have used. Each time he was able to drain some of the blood and built up fluid, the abscess returned.
He as also tried to pull out the teeth in the ares with his bare hands, with no success. Adriana could see it all again as she replayed his memories. Blood running down his forearm as he pulled on the tooth with all of his might. He even tried slamming his jaw against the sink, which did nothing but made him faint from the pain. It didn't even knock the tooth loose even though he tried several times. The torment of it all broke him mentally. Eventually the pain became so great that he could no longer touch the abscess on the side of his face at all. The infection had spread beyond the roots of the tooth and down into his jaw bone and some of his facial muscles.
Adriana looked up as she heard footsteps in the bathroom. Bruce came to the shower and opened the door slightly.
"Hey.." he said, noticing she was sitting down.
"Hi," she said to him.
"So, there's a gun by the bed," he said.
"Oh..." she said, remembering hearing Lucius' gun drop when she left her clothes in the bedroom. "Yeah..Lucius-"
She paused, unsure of how she would explain.
"It's Lucius' gun?" he asked.
"Yeah..um, I just borrowed it. I'll give it back to him tomorrow."
"Okay," Bruce said. "You know...I have plenty of guns you can use. You could have just asked me."
"I know...sorry I was out and it was short notice."
"Okay," he nodded and looked down.
She looked down and could see the stream of blood flowing from her and down to the drain.
"Do you need anything?" he asked.
"No..I'm alright," she asked.
"Mind if I join you?" he asked her.
"Oh..." she said, surprised. "I guess, if you don't mind...you know."
"Not at all," he said and popped his head out. He returned moments later and stepped into the shower with her.
He extended his hand to her and she looked up at him. The water flowed down over his shoulders and she watched as his thick hair began to darken and fall as it became wet. Water dripped down from his chin and hit her knees. He was like a mountain over her and somehow she felt safe, even though he was the source of the battle ahead of her. Water flowed down over his strong shoulders like the crashing waterfall. She took his hand and stood in front of him.
His deep brown eyes searched her face. Long dark eyelashes moving as he blinked, releasing small droplets of water that went down his face. He wrapped his arms around her. The hug was the most comfort she had felt all day. Her tension began to melt.
"What's this for?" she asked, smiling against his chest.
"You just looked like you needed it," he said.
"I did," she whispered. "I really did."
She closed her eyes, security and protection surrounding her and making her feel like everything would be alright. She would make everything right..she was strong enough. It would not be easy, but she knew that she could do it.
"Thank you," she said and looked up at his cheek. Her hand went up to the left side of his face as she gave him a kiss on his right cheek.
"Anytime," he said, close to her face.
She kissed his lips, closing her eyes. "Bruce?" she breathed on his lips.
"Hm?" he said, touching her hair.
"I need you," she said, kissing him again. She noticed a small movement in his eyebrows and a spark in his eyes. "I know I'm...kind of bloody but-"
His lips stopped her words as he kissed her and lifted her into his arms.
.
.
.
Adriana fell asleep easily that night but woke at five in the morning gasping for air. The dream or vision of flames, feeling herself going up in smoke, smelling her flesh burning. She was drenched in sweat again. The blanket felt like it was making it worse so she flung it off her her legs. She turned on the bed side lamp and looked down. Her skin was almost as red a a fire engine. It was so shocking that she didn't know what to do. She tried to breathe and calm herself down.
She watched at the red color gradually faded and her skin cooled.
"Adriana?" Bruce asked once the lamp light woke him. He sat up and looked at her. "Adriana?!"
"What?" she asked him, her voice dry with fatigue and lack of hydration.
"Are you sweating? Your face is red as a beet! Are you ill?" he asked and exclaimed at once and touched her forehead. "You're burning up!"
"No...no I'm okay...just hot-"
"I'll call the doctor, he's downstairs-"
"I don't need a doctor I'm okay-"
He had ignored her and was already out of the bed and leaving the room. He came back with a bottle of cold water. She grabbed it faster than she thought she would and drank it as he left again to get the doctor.
By the time Dr. Kapoor came to their penthouse and made it to the room, her skin all over was normal again.
"She doesn't have a fever," Dr. Kapoor said.
"She just did," Bruce assured him. "Her skin was on fire."
"It looks like you've sweat quite a lot in your sleep," Dr. Kapoor noticed her hair was drenched. "Has this happened before."
"A few times...but it's nothing it passes-" she said.
"I'd like to run a few tests this morning," Dr. Kapoor said. "And run a full work up. I'll need to observe you today, this is very uncommon-"
"I can't," she said. "Not this morning...I have...stuff to do."
"Adriana, what on earth-" Bruce said but she cut him off.
"This afternoon?" Adriana asked. "I can come see you this afternoon Dr. Kapoor-"
"You need to go with him now-" Bruce kept insisting.
"No, I'm fine. My fever is gone...I'll be okay. It's happened before it's just a night time thing. Can we have an appointment this afternoon?"
"Well," Dr. Kapoor said. "Yes I suppose so-"
"Okay," Adriana said. "Thanks."
The doctor looked at Bruce before leaving as if asking him to get some sense into Adriana. Bruce walked Dr. Kapoor out before returning. Adriana had grabbed a towel and was drying her skin.
"Sweetheart," Bruce said. "What the hell? What do you have to do that's more important than your health?"
"Just...I'm busy," she said. "I have an appointment so what's the problem? If we didn't have our own doctor you know I'd probably have to wait days just to get seen by a doctor and to get an appointment for something like this."
"But we do have a doctor and I want you to go and get examined-"
"I will," she said. "This afternoon."
.
.
.
"Mrs. Wayne!" Lucius' wife Tanya said to her when she knocked on his door less than an hour later. "Good morning..sorry I-"
Tanya was wearing a long pink robe and had her hair wrapped in a silk scarf. It was nearly six in the morning and Adriana was restless, she wanted to get back to the Joker with the antibiotics he needed as soon as possible.
"It's okay," Adriana said . "Is Lucius here?"
"I am," she heard Lucius say as the door opened wider. "Was just on my way out."
Adriana smiled, a bit embarrassed and stepped away from the door as Lucius said goodbye to his wife and gave her a kiss.
"It was nice seeing you again," Tanya said to Adriana.
"You too," Adriana replied.
Once she and Lucius were in his car he finally spoke to her.
"You're very anxious," he said. "I would have been by to pick you up in five minutes."
"I know I just...you're right I'm anxious. I was going to wait but then I just opened Uber and..." she said. "I'm sorry."
"It's alright," Lucius said. "Though my wife may be confused about why you're here. And why you are here so early."
"I'm sorry..." Adriana said again.
"Don't worry about it," he told her. "Let's go."
.
.
.
They finally reached the shipping yard again and Adriana looked at Lucius expectantly.
"Adriana," he said, his voice very serious.
"Yeah?" she asked, her eager energy showing in her voice.
He reached behind his seat to retrieve his briefcase and opened it, revealing the metal containers of pills.
"These will be very high dose, and he will have to take them regularly," Lucius explained. "This is set to beep every four hours. It's very quiet so I expect that it won't startle him."
"Okay..I'll tell him," she said.
"Adriana, listen to me," Lucius said.
"I'm listening," she said, although she really just wanted to get down there to give him the medication.
"This is a bandaid..not a solution," Lucius said. "He looks like he will require extensive surgery and dental work. These antibiotics may help with the infection but there's much more going on. We don't know yet how bad the infection is."
"I...I know," she said, accepting it. "We have to do this a step at a time. For now..we have to get the infection under control."
"Yes," Lucius said and handed her the bottle and the tiny black timer.
"I'll be back," she said.
She walked over to the elevator and used the code to get in, wanting the platform to move faster as it lowered. It stopped and she walked off of it quickly, seeing the same scene she saw the previous day, except the Joker looked like he was asleep. He was laying down on the floor on his side, the long chain in front of him.
"I'm back," she whispered as she approached him.
He was quiet and didn't seem roused at all, so she spoke a bit louder.
"Hey there," she said kneeling by him and placing her arm on his shoulder. Even through his clothing she could feel that he was burning up.
She felt her breathing quicken as she dropped everything she was holding and rolled him over onto his back. His eyes were closed and she could see a grey colored drool seeping from his mouth. The smell hit her and almost knocked her over. His breathing was extremely fast, almost a breath every second. Short gasping breaths.
"No, no, no, no," she said and placed her fingers on to his neck to check his pulse. "Wake up, please..please open your eyes."
She touched his face gently and tried speaking louder but he was not responding. She tilted his head back and opened his mouth to look inside, holding her breath as she did. She saw that he not only had the abscess but several infected teeth and extensive gum discoloration. Quickly, she grabbed the plastic cup on the floor beside him and ran to the sink to fill it with water. She opened his mouth and placed one of the large antibiotic pills on his tongue and prayed that he wouldn't choke on it as she poured water into his mouth.
His eye opened half way, as he swallowed it. He barely saw her. His eyes were unfocused as the fever sent him back into unconsciousness. Adriana pulled out her phone and attempted to call Lucius but she had no reception. She ran over to the elevator platform and went up, then ran to his car.
"Please, I need help," she said to Lucius and practically pulled him from the car.
"It's progressed," he assumed as they went into the elevator.
"It's bad Lucius," she said frantically. "It's so bad...he's passed out-"
"Calm down," he said. "We'll see what we can do."
While the elevator lowered she took several deep breaths. Lucius seemed calm but also ran with her over to where the Joker was laying on the floor.
"You're correct, this isn't good," he said. "Have you given him a dose?"
"Yes," she said.
Lucius did the same thing she did and opened his mouth to look inside. He was quiet as he tilted his head and looked around.
"This.." Lucius said sadly. "This is sepsis."
"No, no.." she said wearily. "What can we do?"
"He needs emergency medical treatment," Lucius said.
"The ER?" she asked. "There's...there's no way..the police-"
"I know," Lucius said.
"No, I can-" she said out of breath. "I can do this..I can do this-"
"He's going to need doctors immediately, Adr-"
"Okay! Okay I have an idea!"
"What is it-" he asked but she was already moving her her feet.
"Stay here with him, please! I'm getting a doctor okay, I'll be right back. Please, Lucius."
"I'll wait," Lucius said, plainly and looked down at the Joker. "I'll stay right here."