"Vancomycin," the doctor said to Adriana. "Typically used as a last resort but it worked very well."
"Mhm," Adriana said.
"His blood work was much better than I expected," he went on. "Which is good so we were able to proceed and complete the oral surgery today. His kidneys will likely be fine, and perhaps the swelling in his ankles and feet is due to his dehydration."
"Mhm," she murmured nervously again. She was exhausted, she told that the doctor was trying to make her feel better about the situation but she was still worried.
"So, the only conclusion I can draw about his loss of consciousness is that it was due to severe pain," he said.
"Mmm..."
"He won't require dialysis..he has some inflammatory markers but that is normal..."
"Yeah...mhm."
"Adriana?"
"Yes?"
"We did a good job."
Adriana looked at the Joker, unconscious on the table. His body flat and thin, and now the center of his face so hollow since all his teeth had been removed, she almost couldn't recognize him.
"So.." she said. "He'll wake up soon?"
"The opiates for his pain should keep him...stable."
"Calm?" she asked.
"Yes," he answered. "Has he been unconscious since you found him?"
"What do you mean?" she asked. "He was out when I got there this morning."
"So he doesn't know who you are and he didn't see you there at all," the doctor said.
"Oh..." she said. "Well, he knows who I am and...I was there yesterday. Lucius and I tried to get him to leave but he freaked out. He was conscious then. He was terrified. So we came back this morning with antibiotics and we found him like that. Passed out. He thought he was imagining me..thought I was a hallucination or..I don't know."
"It sounds like he will require psychotherapy as well," the doctor said.
"Yeah," she agreed. "Not only for waking up here..but for waking up with no teeth."
Easily, Adriana could see the doctor's thoughts. He thought she seemed very concerned for the Joker and didn't understand why she seemed this said. She didn't seem afraid of the fact that she might likely wake up soon, and the fact that he had been given opiates that will calm him did not seem like it was a relief to her. The operation was a success, he was going to live..although even more disfigured.
"I'm not sure how long we will be able to keep his presence here hidden from..my boss," the doctor said, feeling uncomfortable with the secret. "Although he pays very well for my services, does not use them often. Only in emergent situations or for normal dental or physical or optical appointments. But he does come here from time to time...a few times a year."
"I know," she said, thankful that he wasn't saying Bruce's name out loud. "I don't know what we'll do if he finds out..but I will deal with it if he does."
"Very well," the doctor said as his phone began to beep. "Ah...we are supposed to have an appointment."
"Right," Adriana remembered. "I'm totally fine, doctor. I'm sure it can wait."
"I'd like to at least run a few panels. To check your thyroid and other hormone levels," he said. "Intense night sweats can be a sign of imbalances."
"Okay," she agreed.
.
.
.
Her blood work was perfectly normal. She was healthy as ever. She waited by the Joker's bed, looking at him sleeping. The doctor told her that the Joker could eat liquids only and through a straw. The doctor had gone out and she was waiting alone with him, wondering how he would recover. It had been an exhausting day and she felt herself falling asleep in her chair. But then she saw his thoughts.
He was stunned at how bright the lights were in the room but they were on the dimmest setting. His eyes were only open half way and everything was a blur. She wanted to turn the light off since it seemed to be bothering him but she didn't want to startle himn by getting up from her seat.
He was thinking that this was the strangest dream he had so far. He could see a closed door in front of him and he was laying in what looked like a hospital bed. He could feel what he assumed to be fentanyl in his system. He blinked his eyes a few times and looked around. And then he saw her.
Adriana was quiet and sat very still. He looked around some more and then moved his arm a few inches and proceeded to look down where he could see the needle in his arm. Somehow, the feeling of the opiates in his system made him feel that this was real. He wasn't just hallucinating or dreaming again. He never fantasized or dreamed about drugs.
"Hey," she said softly and his eyes darted back to hers.
"Whamm," he tried to talk, suddenly realizing that his mouth felt immensely different. Vacant. His free arm without an IV moved slowly up to his face and he touched his lips and cheeks. Hollow. Sunken. Empty. He felt his scars collapsing into his face under the cheekbones. He let his hand drop down to the mattress. He could feel with his tongue that all of his teeth were gone. He could feel the pits in his gums from where they had been taken out. He felt no pain.
"We had to..drain your abscess," she said, keeping her voice soft and low. "And remove your teeth. They were all infected."
He raised one eyebrow and moved his lips around. The opiates kept him relaxed but he realized the gravity of having no teeth.
"You're...in a.." she thought of how to explain. "A private medical facility. It's safe..no one knows you're here."
"Aat.." he stared. He was trying to say her name, but it was difficult.
"Yes?" she asked and leaned forward, resting her hand on his forearm.
He had so many questions that she couldn't see them clearly. His thoughts moved at the speed of light. Once he thought of all of the questions, he realized that he didn't particularly care about the answers to most of them. The size of the room was giving him anxiety. He was so used to the large room he had been trapped in for over a year.
"It's okay," she said. "You're safe here."
"How?" he asked. A word he could say easily without teeth. "How-"
"How did I find you?" she asked what he was thinking.
"Yeh," he said, looking straight at her. He wanted to know more about this scenario.. this dream.
"Well," she said, wanting to explain. She new there was no way she could tell the whole truth, she needed to lie or at least leave out most of the details. She took a deep breath, ready to explain, but then she felt something strange. A warmth flooding her body, seeming to originate from their eye contact. It made no sense..he barely looked like himself. His face was gaunt, his facial hair had been hacked off with scissors, jagged and uneven. The hair on his head, nearly two feet long, with messy waves covering most of his forehead. The bones around his temples and cheekbones jutted out harshly. His skin was sallow and anemic looking.
But his eyes were different. They were alive, they were him, they were familiar, and that was all her mind could see. She looked away from them, but the warmth and moderately blissful feeling pursued.
"I...found the Batman's batcave," she said, knowing that Shade would have to be the way that she found him. "And I found you there. I followed him there and found where it was a while ago. When I went there though..it was empty. There was nothing there..only you."
He seemed to accept the answer.
"Whaaer we?" he asked. She could see in his thoughts he still didn't believe this was reality but still wanted to ask questions if he could. The only thing keeping him serious and giving him some idea that perhaps maybe there was a small chance that this was real, was the distinct feeling of opiates in his system.
"We're...still in Gotham. It's just a private medical facility. I'm sorry I can't tell you more than that."
"Youur?" he asked.
"Yes," she said. "It's mine. But I can't tell you exactly where we're located..it's not just mine."
He seemed to accept that answer as well.
"Are you hungry?" she read his mind.
He nodded.
"Okay.." she stood slowly and walked over to the door and made a turn and came back with two small bottles. "They're protein drinks...meal replacement, with vitamins."
He was quiet.
She sat them on the tray beside his bed and began to unwrap the straws. His thoughts, his eyes on her, she could see it all.
"Here you go," she said and held the straw up to his lips. He drank finished the first bottle quickly and went for the second one. "Do you want more?" she asked when he was done.
"Myeh," he said before starting the second drink. The rich creamy chocolate flavor seemed to wake up his ravenous hunger. She left and came back with three more bottles of different flavors. She watched him drink the two strawberry and the coffee flavored drinks before leaning back, satisfied and full.
"If you want any more," she said. "Just let me know."
"Thsse Pama," he murmured. He knew she wouldn't understand him, he was not used to speaking without teeth. But she could read his mind and understood.
"The Batman," she said. He nodded, surprised she could make out the words that he was trying to say. "If he finds out you're gone...he'll never know it was me. I assure you. He won't find you here.. I'll make sure."
The calories from the drinks made him feel even calmer. She was thankful that she could see his thoughts, it made communication much easier. But then he began to think again. He was thinking of the last time he saw her. He remembered kidnapping Pavla, the governor's granddaughter. He remembered the empty steel factory, and learning that the whole time Adriana had been sabotaging him. She let the girl go, she made sure the police found her. He remembered how angry he was. He recalled pointing a gun at her..telling her she was dead. He never wanted to see her again. He heard her leave...moments later he heard her laughter.
He didn't understand the sounds until he found her laying on the ground with a small needle in her shoulder. The potion he had created to kill was used to her. A potion to make someone laugh themselves to death. The Batman had shot her with it, thinking that perhaps the person that he heard approaching was the Joker. The Batman handcuffed him to pipes so that he couldn't leave, and the police would come to collect him. The sounds of her dying laughter haunted him ever since. The Batman crouched over her, pulling off the ski mask that she was wearing. He lifted her and carried her away and the Joker never saw her again. Based on the sounds of her laughing and breathing, he assumed that she had died a few minutes later.
Weeks of court dates and sentencing passed in a blur. She was gone..she was dead. But now she was here. Had the Batman saved her life?
"Are you..still thinking about the Batman?" she asked. He looked at her without answering. "He...he did save my life. I owe him for that. He was able to get me a blood transfusion very quickly."
The Joker blinked once and looked down. He had been tortured before, but the time he spent alone in the Batman's cellar. All alone, in a quiet empty space..in agonizing pain. Unable to eat after the dental problems progressed. Unable to tell whether it was day or night. Unable to see reality from imagination. The suffering was so great that he wasn't even sure if he was angry. He felt more stupefied and numb than angry. But to hear now that the Batman had saved Adriana's life...he was almost certain he wasn't angry. He had no complaints. He felt blank.
"So..." she said, wanting to talk to fill the silence. "The doctor says that you're going to be okay. You'll have to be on antibiotics for a while though. This..infection could have been much worse. If I would have found you only a few days later..." She shuddered at the thought.
He was thankful to be alive, if in fact he really was, even though he was now toothless. Knowing that she was alive was actually the only reason though. He was used to being disfigured, but having no teeth would be something else to get used to.
"The doctor and I were talking.." she said. "We didn't know how..you would be when you woke up. I don't know if it's just the fentanyl but we'll see. You seem..much calmer than I was expecting. He was considering the possibility of dental implants..if you're up for it. He said would be easier to do now, with the extractions fresh. Well.. Not right now. He'll do a bit of infrared treatment on your jaw which we had to work on to speed up the healing. And possibly graft a bit of bone... I don't really know yet but he says there's enough jaw bone undamaged to at least give you enough teeth to speak with and to have a normal smile and be able to eat.."
Normal smile, he almost laughed. The Joker looked at her emotionless. He couldn't have cared less about his teeth, with the exception of being able to eat. He shrugged. It sounded fine, and he didn't care.
"I'll let the doctor know," she assured him. Her phone buzzed, there was a robbery in progress.
.
.
.
"How was your day?" Bruce asked Adriana when he returned home from work that evening.
"It was.." she said. "Tiring but okay."
"I heard about the gun emporium robbery," Bruce said.
"Yeah," she said. "That was..really something."
"There were six guys."
"I know..I know we agreed I would only handle four or less but..I knew I could do it. I've handled other situations there..I know the place well.:
"I know," Bruce said and kissed her. "I just worry is all."
"Yeah," she sighed and kissed him again.
"Dr. Kapoor told me that everything turned out alright," he said and felt her body tense with surprise.
"He told you what?!" she said quickly.
"About your bloodwork," he said, not sure why she was so on edge. "That everything came back normal from your exam..no explanation for the night sweats.."
"Oh..right that," she said with relief.
"I think he should run more tests," Bruce said. "You skin was red as a fire engine, sweetheart-"
"I'm fine," she assured him.
"I'll talk to him in the morning if he's around," Bruce said, speaking of Dr. Kapoor. "I've never seen anything like that-"
"Dont!" she said, about Bruce going to see the doctor in the morning. Her voice sounded anxious again so she calmed it. "I'll...I'll go and see him first thing. He'll run all the tests possible, I promise. I'll let him."
"Alright," Bruce said. "Thank you. I love you and I don't want anything happening to you."
"I love you too."