Batman: Lost to the Night--Part XV

It was a week before Bruce was able to leave the isolation ward for the step-down unit. It took three more for Dr. Wiacek to sign the order that transferred him to the adjoining convalescent care center.

Dick smiled as he walked alongside Bruce’s wheelchair two days later. The building still felt new. It smelled new. He wondered why that surprised him. The city had held the groundbreaking ceremony four years earlier, shortly after the No Man’s Land had ended, when ready cash for rebuilding had poured in like water from government coffers, Wayne Enterprises, and LexCorp. The facility had opened its doors less than a year ago.

“I like it,” he commented to Bruce as they made their way slowly back from the physical therapy department. Bruce had stubbornly refused the younger man’s offer to push the chair, and his forehead was now beaded with perspiration as he rolled himself along. “It’s bright, airy, low patient-to-staff ratio…”

“Do you work…” he coughed violently. Dick leaned forward, but Bruce waved him off as he raised an inhaler to his lips and released a burst of medication. “Do you work,” he repeated, “for the media relations department here, as well?”

“Sorry.”

Bruce didn’t say anything further until they were back at his room. The security guard that accompanied them moved forward to open the door. The tall woman’s presence was currently Bruce’s only reminder that he was still a prisoner. He wheeled his way into the room without acknowledging her.

Dick followed, shooting her an apologetic glance. She shrugged and returned a faint smile. “I’ll be out here if you need anything,” she murmured as she closed the door behind them.

The minute the door shut, Dick started to apologize.

“Don’t.” Bruce cut him off.

“You okay?”

Bruce nodded. “I’ll have to be. Rae will be here shortly.” He put a hand to his chin and winced. “I suppose I should… make the effort to appear presentable.”

“Right.” Dick bent down, offering Bruce a shoulder for leverage. It was all the assistance that Bruce would accept at the moment. The MRSA, in combination with over five weeks confined to bed had taken their toll. His legs couldn’t yet carry him more than a step or two unaided. Once out of the chair, Bruce reached for the two canes and deliberately walked the five paces to the bathroom.

“Can’t have her see you looking lousy when you’re in a hospital or anything,” Dick called after him.

Bruce didn’t answer.

A moment later, Dick heard water running through the closed door.

“It’s not that,” Bruce called. Dick shook his head as he heard the beginning of another coughing fit.

“Bruce? You need anything?”

The coughs stopped. The faucet turned off, but the whine of the electric razor drowned out all further conversation. Dick waited until Bruce was finished shaving before asking, “So if it’s not that, then…”

The door opened a crack. “Come in. I can’t shout.”

Dick obeyed, pulling the door wider. Given the size of the bathroom, he didn’t walk in all the way, but chose instead to lounge against the doorframe. Bruce was combing his hair. “Then…?” Dick repeated.

Bruce sighed. “It’s in my…” he coughed slightly, then recovered. “In my best interest to appear well. I’d prefer that the hearing not be delayed any more than it needs to be.”

“Oh.” Dick nodded. “It won’t be much longer,” he said. “And then…”

Bruce flinched. For months now, he’d been keeping his focus on one goal: to pass the hearing and get free of Arkham. He hadn’t been planning any farther ahead than that. It suddenly occurred to him that the hearing was only the beginning. Once outside, he realized, he was going to be facing a changed landscape. How changed, he had no way of knowing.

“Bruce?”

He shook his head. “It’s nothing,” he said lightly. Pause. “Could you wait for me in the room for a moment?”

“Huh? Oh… sure, Bruce.” The bathroom door shut as Dick moved away.

Bruce looked at his reflection in the mirror. “And then…” he repeated. “After the hearing… what happens next?”

“Dick,” Lucius Fox called after him, “do you have a minute?”

Dick slowed his pace so that the CEO could catch up with him. “I was just heading back from lunch, sir.” He caught himself as Lucius held up a warning hand. “Okay,” he said, giving in. “Lucius.” Despite the other man’s insistence, he still felt uncomfortable addressing Fox by his first name. Dick supposed it was because he’d been a fourth-grader the first time they’d met. Back then, there’d been no question of calling the man anything other than ‘Mr. Fox.’ Old habits died hard.

“I’ll write you a note,” Lucius said dryly. “This has waited long enough.”

The smile that had been forming on Dick’s lips dropped abruptly. Without another word, he followed him back to the CEO’s office, sparing a mumbled greeting for Lucius’ secretary.

Lucius shut the door to the inner office firmly behind them. “You might want to sit down.”

Dick obeyed.

“I have to tell you,” Lucius said as he opened up his desk drawer, “this is impressive work. It wasn’t easy to unravel.” He passed a computer printout across the polished oak surface. “Here.”

Dick reached for it automatically. As his gaze slid over the flow chart, he felt his heart thud. He glanced up. Lucius was watching him, gauging his reaction. Dick sighed. “I guess an apology isn’t going to set things right,” he admitted. “I wanted to do what was best for the company and for Bruce, and I—”

Lucius nodded. “It’s a brilliant setup. If you didn’t do it, I wouldn’t mind hiring the person who did.” He frowned. “I… hope you weren’t expecting that the day after his release, Bruce would be able to walk back in here as though nothing happened.”

“Wouldn’t he?” Dick blinked. He gestured at the printout. “Like it shows here, Bruce still holds a super-majority of WE stock. There’s no way that he could be forced out.”

“I agree,” Lucius said. “The board can’t fire him per se.” His expression was troubled.

“They called a meeting yesterday afternoon,” he continued. “The situation was discussed. Issues were raised.” He looked down. “I wish,” he said slowly, “that I’d been the person to uncover this handiwork,” he motioned to the printout. “There might have been a way to bury it again. Unfortunately, it was discovered by one of our accounting wizards.” Lucius shook his head. “It’s still not public, but it will come out.” He took a deep breath. “I’m not about to disclose to you who said what in that meeting, or how any of us voted. Depending on how well you know the members of the board, you can probably guess. The general feeling,” he winced, “is that Bruce is an embarrassment to the company. The board doesn’t want him to come back. And if he decides to ignore that sentiment, most of the members are prepared to resign.” He shook his head. “I don’t think I need to remind you that the reason that you supposedly liquidated your shares in the first place was to mitigate the impact that Bruce’s arrest had on this corporation. If eighty per cent of the board quits…”

Dick shook his head. “Where does that leave Bruce?”

“The board feels that that there’s no real problem if he remains the owner of the corporation. But they want him to step down voluntarily as president and chairman of the board.” Lucius grimaced. “If Bruce will consent to that, we’re willing to name him president emeritus.” He steepled his fingers. “Another option would be a generous severance package, but knowing Bruce, I think he’d probably prefer the former.”

Dick absorbed that. ‘President emeritus’ was, when all was said and done, an empty title, albeit an honorable one. “Is there any chance that this could blow over, given time?” He asked.

“Possibly,” Lucius nodded. “I wish I could be more optimistic than that. And I know that for all his… his seeming nonchalance about the day-to-day workings of this company, Bruce cared. And this is going to come as a blow to him.”

Dick nodded. “I’ll talk to him… after the hearing.”

“If you don’t,” Lucius said, “I’ll have to. Or someone else on the board will. I think this would be better coming from one of us.”

The CEO drew a deep breath. “Have you given any thought to your plans once Bruce is free?”

Dick shook his head. “Not really. I’ll probably stick around for awhile—at least until I know he’s okay. And my fiancée’s father still lives here so…”

“I understand. And I know that the main reason you’re working here is because you’ve been trying to keep an eye on things in Bruce’s absence. Tell me. Are you happy in media relations?”

He hadn’t really thought about it. Media relations was a way to keep abreast of the latest developments coming through the pipeline. It was a reason to get up in the morning, and a means of satisfying the work ethic that his parents had ingrained in him long ago. “I… yeah, I guess so,” he said, realizing too late that he probably sounded less enthusiastic than he should—especially once he considered that Lucius had gotten him the job in the first place.

The CEO didn’t take offense. “The reason I’m asking is because a junior position is opening up in risk management. In the event that you’re looking for a change, I think you’d stand a good chance if you chose to apply.”

Dick blinked. After the bombshell that Lucius had just dropped…

As if reading his mind, Lucius leaned forward. “I have nothing to do with the hiring process for this one. And it’s not a bribe. But it occurred to me that Bruce might find the situation easier to cope with if he knew that you were involved with the company at a higher level. This position would allow you to use more of your skills. I think you’d find it interesting. Moreover, since you’ve gone public with your other activities, I think that we’ll be able to factor in your… ahem… unconventional work experience.” He flipped his eyeglasses up and immediately let them drop to the bridge of his nose. “I’d say that the level of planning and risk assessment you’d be able to bring to the position would more than compensate for the level of formal education that you’re currently lacking.”

That was one way to spin it, Dick thought. Of course there was always the chance that, once the board dropped its bombshell, Bruce would see Dick’s willingness to continue working here as a betrayal. “I’ll consider it,” he said finally. “Thank you for your recommendations.” He left the office as quickly as he could without running.

Several hours later, Barbara was no closer to divining Dick’s thoughts. It was starting to irritate her. Dick, on the other hand, seemed interested only in his second cup of coffee. Finally, she could stand it no longer. “You said before you’d had an idea?”

Dick downed another gulp of the bittersweet beverage. “It finally hit him today,” he said. “Everything’s going to change after he gets out.”

“Oh.” Barbara reached for her own mug. “I can relate. After the shooting, when the doctors told me they’d done everything possible and I’d have to manage the rest on my own…” She winced. “I think that terrified me more than finding Joker on the other side of my door did that night.” She rolled over to the coffeepot for a refill.

“He hasn’t been back to the manor at all since the arrest. And I’ve suggested it a few times.”

She paused with her hand midway to the handle of the pot. “That’ll be hard for him. Alone up there, I mean.” She shook her head sympathetically. “Sure, he likes his privacy but…” she shook her head. “What’s he going to do with a hundred and fifty rooms? Even when it was the both of you plus Alfred, it was a bit much… How’s he going to cope?”

“I don’t know, and it scares me, too.” He set the mug down on the table. “He won’t have the cave. He won’t have Wayne Enterprises. It wouldn’t be fair to you for me to drive up to Crest Hill to check up on him every night, and sooner or later he’d start to resent it…”

Barbara nodded. “It’s been a rough two years. We made it, but it’s been a strain. And I’d be lying if I wasn’t thinking about how nice it might be to be able to get away for a weekend—just the two of us.” She smiled. “So you said you had an idea?”

Dick took a deep breath. “I thought maybe he could stay with us for a little while.” Seeing the expression on Barbara’s face, he added quickly, “Just until he can manage.”

She was shaking her head. “No. No, NO, NO! Dick, I have been waiting for months for this to be over, so that we can finally have time for us. I have watched you juggle Batman, Bruce, Arkham’s bureaucracy, PMWE, and whatever troubleshooting the Titans and the Outsiders have needed from time to time. I have turned down dinner invitations with friends because I didn’t want to feel like I was making excuses for you, and I didn’t want to make you choose between Bruce and me.”

“And I wouldn’t choose Bruce over you,” Dick protested, “all things being equal. But… he’s not ready to go it alone. He’s well enough to be discharged, but not to live cut off from…” He broke off. “Besides, you and he’ve been getting along just fine when he’s been here for the weekends.”

“Sure,” Barbara countered. “When we’re both walking on eggshells to make sure we don’t upset each other, I can handle a weekend. And then I can take the five days after it to relax and prepare for the next one. It would be different if he were here all the time.” She forced a smile. “We’re too much alike. Both of us want to be in charge and we want to do things our way. He’s been working on that—I don’t deny it. It’s made things easier. But if he moves in, then either we’ll end up at each other’s throats or… or he’ll keep biting his tongue and walking on eggshells and… and that’s not healthy.” She braced her hand on the counter. “He can’t stay here, Dick. I’m sorry. That’s final.”

Dick didn’t say anything.

“I’m sorry,” she repeated.

“I know. It’s just going to be hard to break it to him, is all.”

Barbara sighed. “He asked. I said ‘no’. You can tell him my reasons.” She stopped. “What?”

Dick shifted guiltily. “He… he didn’t exactly ask. I kinda offered.”

Without asking me??? She took a deep breath and counted to ten silently. “Well… you can tell him that we were discussing it and it’s not going to work.” She hesitated. “Please say you didn’t talk him into it.”

Silence.

“No.”

Dick shook his head slowly. “I won’t tell him he can’t stay with us when he’s in the kind of shape he’s in now, Babs. I can’t.”

“If you don’t, I will.”

“That’s right,” he shot back. “You’ve had more experience at it than I have.”

Barbara’s hand flew to her mouth even as Dick realized what he had said.

“I… Babs… I didn’t mean…”

She bit her lip. “But that’s what you were thinking of,” she said. “And it’s always going to be there, under the surface.” She spun the chair around, as she felt her eyes begin to sting. “I said it before, Dick,” she whispered. “I am sorry that I threw you out after Firefly destroyed the circus. I was wrong. But I am not wrong about this.” She headed for the front door.

He took a step after her retreating chair. “Babs, wait.”

“I can’t. I have to get upstairs and check on a few things. You know there’s a crisis going on now in Kahndaq. And a famine in Qurac. And something else somew—”

He opened his mouth to call after her again, but she cut him off.

“You’re exhausted. You’ve got another busy day tomorrow. And if we talk now, one of us is going to say something else we won’t be able to take back. We’ll discuss this again when we’ve both calmed down. Please.”

She rolled the rest of the way to the door, and pulled it open. On the threshold, she paused. “Get some sleep.”

“Will you be coming back down tonight?”

She hesitated. “I don’t know. The Kahndaq situation is pretty bad right now. The JSA’s been pumping me for intel for the last two days and I really need to check up on it. If there’ve been no new developments, then maybe.”

Dick nodded. “Don’t be up too late. You need rest, too, you know.” He tried for casual, but his voice cracked.

She looked back at him, nodded sadly, and wheeled out into the hallway.

When she returned, some two hours later, she saw that Dick had placed the mugs and coffee spoons in the sink and left them to soak. He normally washed them out and put them on the drainage board, Barbara thought to herself. He was still upset, but not so much so that he’d left everything on the table.

She sighed, opened the fridge, and saw that he’d already made his lunch. After a moment’s hesitation, she slipped in one of the imported chocolate truffles she’d been saving for a special occasion. Then, she turned back to the sink to finish washing up.

Jim listened as Barbara went over the argument she’d had with Dick. He shook his head slowly. “As I understand it,” he said, “you both agree that Bruce is going to have a hard time managing on his own. The real issue is that what’s best for him isn’t what’s best for the two of you.”

“That’s a big part of it,” she agreed miserably. “If it were only that, I wouldn’t be this upset. I mean, sure Dick should have called me before making the suggestion to Bruce, and it’s irritating that he didn’t, but I understand...” A smile crept into her voice. “I’m actually glad you know about what your little girl used to do late at night, because I don’t have to explain now how I know this. When we’re in the field, we don’t always get the luxury of discussing each action before we undertake it. The general rule was always ‘prepare as much as possible, but think on your feet’. And I can totally get that Dick saw that Bruce was going through a crisis and went with his gut instinct to resolve the issue. Okay, it wasn’t the best solution, but I can see why he thought it might work. And—”

“Barbara,” her father’s voice was gentle, but firm. “Why don’t you tell me what the other part is?”

Because I’m not proud of it, and it tears me up inside when I know I’ve disappointed you. “I guess I’d better.” Damn. Were her eyes watering? She bit her lip. “You know that he and I broke up for a while before all of this happened. The thing is…”

He waited until he’d heard the entire story. “Oh.”

She wanted to curl up in a corner somewhere. “Oh?”

“What do you want me to say, Honey? It’s in the past. You made it up and you moved on.”

“Did we? After last night…?”

He sighed. “Some hurts are harder to get over than others. And I know that you’ve both been through some rocky times.” He paused. “It might help to remember that putting something behind you isn’t the same as forgetting it ever happened.”

“I know. But… he didn’t call today.”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s still upset, you know.”

She blinked. “What else could it be?”

Gordon harumphed. “He might be worried that you are.” A crazy thought occurred to him. It was a nice idea, but it would never work… would it? Could it?

“Sweetheart, before I start making suggestions, I need to know whether you’re actually looking for advice, or whether you just wanted a sounding board.”

“Um…” She hesitated. “I don’t know. Both?”

“Alright. In that case, I have two questions for you. One: how important is it for you to be completely and utterly in the right?”

“I don’t understand.”

“I think you do,” he countered. “Is that worth more than your relationship? Be honest with yourself, even if you don’t want to tell me. Because I’ve been there, and I can tell you that it’s a mighty lonely place. Put it another way. If you knew with absolute certainty that apologizing for last night would set things right, would you?”

“But I wasn’t wrong.”

“I never said you were. But you’ve just finished telling me that you could have handled things better.”

She considered that. “What was the second question?”

“How open to compromise are you? From what I gather, you can manage a two-day visit, but you don’t want Bruce to stay with you indefinitely. And on that last bit, I will back you one hundred and ten per cent.”

Barbara mulled that over. “I give it five days before the strain starts to get to me. A week before I lose it.”

“Alright.” He smiled to himself. “Now what’s Dick’s number at work?”

“You’re not going to yell at…?” She said nervously.

He chuckled. If she was trying to protect Dick, he would consider that an indicator that the relationship was still salvageable. “I won’t yell,” he promised. “I just want to ask him if he could meet me…”

“What’s this?” Barbara asked, picking up the flat white box tied with red ribbon from its place on the desk.

Dick closed the door to the den behind him and grinned. “If you ask, I’m only going to tell you.” He brought something else out from behind his back.

“Don’t you da—oh!” She gasped. Dick was holding a potted arrangement of white carnations. A curtain of ivy spilled over the edge, with alyssums, blue clematis, phlox and African violets forming a wild border above it. From the center of the arrangement, a single red rose stood slightly higher than the carnations. “Dick… I…”

“I think I must have driven the florist crazy,” he admitted, as he set the pot down on the kitchen table. “I wanted to make a message out of the arrangement, seeing as I never really was any good at writing love poetry. See, alyssum is supposed to calm anger, and clematis is for mental beauty,” he bent down to kiss her forehead, “and Babs, you have a beautiful mind.”

She laughed and pulled him down so that his face was level with hers. “Okay,” she said, hugging him. “I know a red rose is love. And white carnations are…?”

Dick’s face took on the same hue as the aforementioned rose. “Umm… pure love.”

“Oh.” Her smile deepened. “And the others? The violets and…”

“Faithfulness. Ivy’s for eternal fidelity. And phlox is united souls.” He hugged her back. “I am so sorry I said—”

She put her finger to his lips. “I know. I’m sorry I got so upset.”

“You had every right to. I shouldn’t have suggested something that drastic to Bruce without checking—”

“You were thinking with your heart, Dick. And he is going to need us when he gets out. Maybe more than he does now.”

“Then…”

“Let’s see how we do for four days. Maybe even a week.” She sighed. “After that, I think it’s going to be a bit much for me.”

Dick nodded. “I understand. And…” he admitted, “I think it might be hard on me too. Your father had an idea though…”

As Barbara listened, she began to smile. “That works,” she said. “That works really well.”

Her expression turned serious. “You know… as much as I don’t want to say it, Bruce might go back to the old patterns. If he starts pushing everyone away again…”

She realized that she still hadn’t opened the gift on the table, and wheeled back to get it.

Dick shook his head. “Your father already thought about that. He’s not just living in the cottage—he’s leasing it from me for the next year. We haggled over the rent a bit, but he talked me up to five dollars per month.” He grinned. “See, a lease is a binding contract. Once Rae draws up the papers, and your dad and I sign them, there’s no way Bruce could kick him out before the year’s up.”

Barbara gaped at him. “That…” she said starting to giggle, “that is pure evil brilliance! Of course you know Bruce is going to—”

“Yeah. So don’t tell him yet. Your dad said he’d take care of that when the timing was right.” He smiled. “You didn’t even open the box yet.”

He was right. Barbara carefully untied the ribbon and lifted the lid. “A chocolate laptop?” She asked grinning.

“Well, in case you need a quick byte.”

It took a moment for the pun to sink in. “Now that was just evil!” She exclaimed as Dick began to laugh. After a moment, she gave up and joined in.

In the living room, Jim Gordon smiled with satisfaction at the sounds seeping out into the den. It seemed as though his work here was done. Had he been a less reserved man, he might have whistled as he let himself out the front door.

The next few days seemed to fly by as Bruce continued to progress physically. At the back of his mind, though, the impending hearing began to dominate his thoughts. When Selina arrived one afternoon armed with a pad and pencil, and cracking jokes about needing ‘precise measurements’ for the suit that he was to wear to the proceedings, even as she embraced him, it finally crystallized for him: this was really happening. He was going to get out.

He wished that the idea didn’t make his palms sweat. He looked at the calendar on the wall. It was mid-June. He had been arrested almost a full two years earlier. Bruce shook his head slowly, remembering. Six weeks in hospital until his broken leg had healed enough to allow his transfer to Arkham. Then, he’d spent the next twenty months shut away in that place before being sent here to Saint-Swithin’s… he sighed mentally. The first eleven of those had been almost entirely by his own volition, he had to admit. Still, had he been willing to work with one of those other doctors, he wondered whether he would have truly made progress. Arkham’s revolving door policy might have worked in his favor in the short-term—enough to get him out on the streets—but that wouldn’t have been in his best interests. He knew that now.

And, faced with an imminent hearing, Bruce wondered again whether this was truly the best move. When he went out again, it would be to a world that knew that he had been Batman. What would that mean for his family? Dick, he was sure, was used to the idea by now. As was Barbara. Tim would suffer minimal impact, given that he’d likely be returning to the West Coast before long. Besides, Titans Tower was hardly without defenses. His thoughts turned to Selina and Helena. What risks would his presence pose in their lives? And he wanted them in his life… but how could he be that selfish? Shut them away for their safety on some remote estate somewhere patrolled by armed security? Selina would see that as a prison, and justifiably so.

Dick hadn’t mentioned Wayne Enterprises—or should he start to think of that as ‘Patrick Morgan’ now? He assumed that everything was business-as-usual, but was it? And his personal finances… hadn’t Dick said something about a lawsuit over a year ago? Had that been settled? He’d never been obsessed with his wealth. As long as he’d been able to live in the style that he was expected to, and finance his operations as Batman, he’d trusted Lucius and Alfred to keep track of the actual dollars and cents…

Batman. Bruce bit his lip. That was the big one. After nearly two years out of the suit, and with his identity now public knowledge, he didn’t know whether it was in him to be Batman again. Worse, he didn’t know if he wanted to be.