CHAPTER 44: "So You Are Going Out?"

*Barbara Gordon (Batgirl), Commissioner's House, Upper Westside Gotham

"So you are going out?" 

Her father stood in her doorway with a curious expression. Barbara had spent the last few hours getting ready for a dinner which she insisted was just friend meeting. Seeing the amount of effort she was going through to be presentable made Gordon doubt it.

She rolled her eyes, "For the tenth time yes! I am having dinner with a friend who just got back from a study abroad."

Silence prevailed for a few moments before Gordon tried to ask nonchalantly.

"What's his name?"

"Dad!" Barbara groaned.

Gordon held his hands up, "What? I just am curious about his name, what is wrong with that?"

Barbara put down the brush she had been using to untangle her hair before giving her dad a hard look.

"If I tell you his name you will have half of Major Crimes investigate him and have a dossier of his grades, dental, and internet history, and everything else they can randomly dig up."

Twisting her hair into a ponytail, she began to braid it, deciding it was better to have it out of her face.

"There is nothing wrong with a father being curious..." Gordon retorted.

Barbara rolled her eyes at him, "Curiosity is fine, launching a criminal investigation into a boy I am having dinner with is obsessive."

Silence prevailed between the two for a while, Barbara finished her hair braid before giving herself another once over from her bedroom mirror. While they both had agreed to casual she still wanted to look her best. A white button blouse, and grey jacket with black slacks and ankle-high boots made up her outfit. And despite her best efforts to downplay her excitement at having dinner, even her father could see it was more than a friend meeting.

Gordon sighed before walking over and sat on her bed.

"I suppose," he said slowly his eyes down, "I am sometimes too protective of you. And that sometimes I forget you are not little anymore. Its hard for your old man to see how you have become a strong young woman... I am sorry."

Seeing her father as down as he was nearly broke her heart. Despite his long work hours, despite his constant nagging, despite the overbearing nature that was Jim Gordon. She truly loved and cherished him, for all those negatives were also his strengths as a parent and role model to her.

Walking over to him she gave him a tight hug which he returned. They both held each other for a while, enjoying the presence of the only family they had left.

After a few tender moments, Gordon ruined it by asking, "Sooooo who is the lucky boy?"

Barbara broke the hug with a swat to her father's head who rubbed the spot she hit with an amused grin. Despite her best efforts she couldn't help but smile back.

"Errrr you are the worst!" She chastised him.

But with lighthearted resignation, she said, "Don't investigate him alright. His name is James Coulson, he is a few months older than me, and we met at the library while studying AP European History before the Christmas break."

Gordon's eyes lit up with interest, she could already see the detective's wheels turning.

"Don't," she emphasized, "Have him investigated."

"Of course not," he stood up and squeezed her shoulder, "Do you need any money or are you good?"

Barbara smiled at her father and thanked him but she had plenty from her various summer jobs and internships. It was with relief she saw her father wish her the best with a smile and a reminder to get home before 11.

'Maybe he is starting to relax in his old age,' she thought as she finished preparing for the night.

Unbeknownst to her, on the other side of the house where Gordon had gone for some privacy. He turned on his laptop and opened up the GCPD database before typing in Barbara's date name. The database flashed with analyzing before pulling up a few records of the boy.

'This is not investigating... its just checking to make sure things are on the up and up.' Gordon thought amused as he read the few files GCPD had.

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*James, (Krios), St. Hope Hospital Permanent Ward

"So you are going out?" Crystal asked.

Crystal was failing at keeping a smile off her face as she looked at the exasperated James.

James had walked into her hospital room in the middle of the day unannounced and with little fan flair. That didn't stop the heavily scarred woman from rising from her bed and squealing with joy at seeing him.

He had walked in with nothing more than some jeans, a plain t-shirt, a light raincoat, and a duffle bag. Motioning him to her bedside, he gave her a smile before sitting on the side of the bed and gently hugged her. Holding him she could feel how much weight be had lost and the muscle that replaced it. This was reinforced as he returned her hug, his arms felt thicker and stronger, yet he held her softly.

Taking a step back she looked at his face, happy tears ran down her face at seeing him again.

Seeing the tears made him smile uncertainly, as he went in for another hug to comfort her. 

What he probably didn't expect was a slap directly to his face.

To his credit, he took it in stride, a flicker of surprise and fury flashed in his eyes before turning to concern. The next hour was Crystal yelling at him for being so irresponsible, for not contacting her sooner, galivanting with mercenaries, and at one point she even brought up his late school work he needed to finish. There were probably a few more things thrown in the rant but Crystal kept switching from English to Spanish and then back again which proved challenging to the young man.

"Y no tienes los juevos a visitar Jane ahora..." Crystal ranted before a fit of coughing silenced her and forced her to lay back down in her bed.

Seeing this, James stood up and grabbed a large cup with a straw to the side. He assumed it was water that he offered to his aunt which she gratefully drank from.

Watching her catch her breath and clear her throat he could only lament and feel the sense of absolute guilt at the sight of her condition.

Crystal before the fires had been a beautiful woman with flowing black hair, tan-skinned and gorgeous brown eyes.

The fire had taken all of that from her.

In the months since she was initially admitted a few changes had occurred for Crystal. Her ability to walk was determined to be most likely lost forever due to burn damage to her spine. Her left eye was completely gone, destroyed in the fire with a white cloth patch placed there to hide the hole. All her hair was gone with little chance of it growing back. Most of the original skin on her chest and the left side of her face had to be removed to prevent infection. The doctors had performed skin grafts on those parts to replace them leaving a gnarled bulbous appearance. The right side of her face faired a little better with third-degree burns leaving it slightly blackened. There were plans to do some skin grafts or perhaps cosmetic surgery but the costs were high and her current condition made it hazardous to perform.

"Aunt Crystal..." James softly interrupted, which succeeded in ending her tirade. At least for a moment.

"How have you been sleeping?"

Crystal eyed him for a moment longer before sighing, "We are not done with you being so stupid."

Shifting her body a little to get more comfortable she said, "It was great when your... 'friend' started providing that wonderful pain medication. I was able to sleep so peacefully at night, it easily saved my life."

"But..." she paused, tears began forming in her eyes.

"I don't know how much longer I can do this James."

James stilled, "What do you mean?"

Crystal not responding at first reached over and grabbed a tissue that she used to dab her eyes.

"I waited for you to come back..." she began, her voice trembling.

"I waited for you to come back to thank you for all you have been doing. Both to pay for the medical expenses and some of the unorthodox medication you have gotten for me. But either it is wearing off or I am getting worse, either way..."

"I am dying," she whispered.

To James, Crystal sounded so frail, so tired, so vulnerable in that moment. He reached over and put his hand on hers and squeezed it.

"I know it is hard right now and you are in pain. I can get Freeze to make some stronger doses of his pain medication to help with it. But I need you to stick it out!"

His voice took a determined tone, "I am making some decent cash right now and can get the work done to find a treatment to fix you now. I just need more time..."

"And time is something that is killing me... slowly... and agonizingly." Crystal choked out.

Taking his hand in hers she looked directly into his eyes, as if trying to convey what she was feeling every day. 

Staring back at her James was not sure what he felt. Feelings of hollowness and despair were creeping their way into his emotions.

'She is ready... perhaps it is time we help her rest?' His inner voice whispered.

Shaking his head he raised his voice, "We can cure you!"

"No..." Crystal kept his eyes on her, "No you can't. And it's about time you stopped trying."

Closing her eyes for a moment, she re-opened them with a smile.

"We will talk about this more, but right now I don't want to talk about it anymore. What I want to talk about is how your travels were, who is this girl you are dating. As well as..."

James continued to observe his aunt, but seeing how adamant she was at changing the subject he decided to oblige her. Coming home, he had not expected to hear what he had from Crystal. All the months of work and sacrifice he had committed now seemed in vain. Nearly every dime he had made for the last few jobs had been sent to the hospital or Freeze to help Crystal. The nearly endless training with Slade to be a better mercenary for better jobs also seemed mute.

'Be honest... your first thoughts of training with Slade were for yourself and not Crystal. Benefits for her were just a bonus.' The inner voice mocked.

Ignoring the voice, James' mind began to race with what he could do. Maybe he could convince her that this was just a temporary thing. Maybe he could reach out to a few of Gotham's other criminal scientists for a cure? 

His thoughts were interrupted by a swat to his head from Crystal. Wincing at the slight pain he refocused on what she was saying.

"I am sorry, I was distracted. What were you saying?" He asked.

"Some things never change," Crystal muttered before clearing her throat.

"I asked if Jane knows you are in Gotham right now?"

James looked down embarrassed, "She knows I am coming... just not until tomorrow."

Crystal despite not having an eyebrow did give the impression her's were raising.

"I just needed time to get situated!" James argued, "Plus with visiting you and having dinner I thought I could dedicate all of tomorrow to spending time with her."

Crystal smiled widely, "Bawk bawk bawk, that is all I am hearing from our little chicken."

James sputtered giving excuses and additional justifications but Crystal just waved her hand.

"You may have been scared of me and the other girls. But only Jane could put the fear of God into you when you were in trouble."

Sighing, James said, "Ya... its true."

Giving him an amused look Crystal leaned back more into her bed and closed her eyes. She was feeling tired already from the visit though she didn't want it to end quite yet.

"I will let you be on that subject... Jane will get her pound of flesh in for your stupidity. But tell this crippled woman a little more about this girl you are seeing tonight?"

James was unsurprised by the shamelessness and guilt-tripping Crystal was pulling to learn more about Barbara.

Despite her injuries, she still had a bit of the lovable nagging all his aunts shared.

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*St. Hope Hospital Permanent Ward

St. Hope as usual was bustling with patients, doctors, and everything in between. It was unheard of for the hospital to have a slow day, at best most could hope for a slightly less fast-paced day.

At the reception area for the Permanent Ward nurses and secretaries were busy with directing patients, visitors, and doctors to their area. Half of them were doing so while also being on the phone, answering similar questions.

One of the nurses by the name of Janice was finishing her last few minutes before her day was finished. She was exhausted and more then a little irritable from a few patients and visitors who felt entitled and if served less then royalty would complain.

It was times like these that her chosen profession really irked her to no end. Just the other day she had to help clean up a patient who vomited all over her...

"Excuse me?"

Her thoughts were interrupted as she saw a tanned woman in a light brown trench coat, white shirt, and business slacks.

"Yes how can we help you," Janice said quickly. 

Waiting for the response Janice was already picking up files and sorting them to their correct boxes and slots for delivery from the main desk.

The woman said, "I am looking for a patient by the name of Crystal De Angelique Martinez?"

"Are you family to the patient?" Janice asked as she now had opened up a file to give some quick notations.

"Umm, actually I am a friend and was told she was located here at St. Hope..." 

If Nurse Janice had not a million things on her mind she would have perhaps noticed the hesitation in the woman's voice, as if she was uncertain of the best answer to give.

But between filing the last of her paperwork and her mind struggling against a 19-hour shift Janice understandably missed it. Putting some of her files down, she poked one of her fellow nurses who was on the computer and told her to input the patient's name and find the room number.

She then grabbed a clipboard and handed it to the woman.

"Please write your name, patient visiting, time of entry, and relation to the patient."

The woman nodded and scribbled down her information before passing it back to the nurse.

"I have the room number here," Janice fellow nurse said, "Room number 322 of the permanent ward."

Janice nodded her thanks before looking back at the woman.

"So you..." she paused and glanced down at the clipboard reading the woman's name, "Rene you will go down this hall take a left then a right which will get you to 322."

Rene gave her a smile and a polite thank you before walking off in the direction the nurse had described.