Child of the Dark Knite

Chapter 5 Truths and Consequences

PRESENT DAY

Bruce pulled the covers over Lissa. She'd had some kind of seizure, but he didn't need her to tell him about the night he'd spent with her mother. He remembered that all on his own. He never would have guessed that such a beautiful person, both inside and out, could do the things she'd done to him. He shuttered as he remembered the ice cubes. 'That really felt good,' he thought.

"You coldaskeasked Terry, stepping in.

"Hum? No. I'm fine," he said.

"How is she?"

"Resting. She's afraid to go to sleep, but she obviously needs it."

"So who is she anyway?"

"Haven't gotten to that part yet. Though I have a suspicion."

"Care to share?"

"Not yet. You better go. You'll be on your own tonight. So be careful."

"Right. I'll keep in touch over the link," the young teen handed the old man a hearing aid style device. "Just in case."

The old man took it and tucked it into his ear. "Go."

She woke some time before dawn. Again, she was filled with the fear that she had fallen asleep, and the relief that she'd woken. "I told you not to let me sleep," she said, seeing the old man at the window.

"Had no choice. You took a seizure, you needed rest." He turned to look at her, she was still lying down. She was pale. "You feel up to talking some more?"

"Yes," she rubbed her eyes, tri tried to sit up, failing, she huffed and returned her head to the pillow. "After her 'night' with Batman, she woke up in her room, her folks asleep, relieved I guess that she was safe. She went on through the summer, though she'd quite the delivery company the next day when the Saturday crew tried to corner her in the showers. The boss fired them all and shut down for the day. He tried to convince my mom to come back, but she wouldn't listen. Besides, she'd made enough mono coo cover what she needed the next year in pre-med classes. But she never made it."

"Why not?" Here it comes.

"She found out she was pregnant." Bruce's face went still, his suspicions were right. "She had 17 different home pregnancy tests lined up on the counter, all telling her the same thing. I was there." Bruce turned back to the window. Lissa was his daughter. "My mom was scared. She'd promised the Batman that she'd never make him feel trapped. She tried many times through the next few months to tell him, but he never came to see her. Alfred kept in touch with her, but she didn't tell him. She didn't want anyone to know. Batman had the right to know first. She kept pleading with Alfred to have the Batman come and see her, if he saw him first, but he never came. She didn't want to get rid of me, incase Batman wanted me, but then the three month mark past and it was too late. On November 30, 2001, mom packed up all her stuff, took out all her money, sold all her valuables, and left on the next train to L.A. She never spoke to her parents after that.

"When I was just over a year olhe mhe met the man I called Dad. For the last 27 years, they married, and she had another 7 kids. Mostly twins. I've got 4 brothers and three sisters. My family never knew about me. My back ground that is. My dad never asked, figured mom would tell him sooner or later. But then this happened. That's when mom told me, in private, who my father is."

"So what do you want from him? He can't be the father you wanted, you already have that."

"If you mean, do I want him to take reasonability for me, no. I need his help." Bruce never moved. "I have a brain tumor. It's in a dangerous position. They need to take it out, but they need to know things about my mother and father's family health in order to do that. Otherwise they won't touch me. I took a big risk in coming here. The slightest jolt, and the tumor will dislodge, it will either kill me, or put me into a coma." She took a breath, trying to fight back her fearful tears. "Please Mr. Wayne. Did you know that your butler was friends with the Batman?"

Bruce closed his eyes. Why didn't she tell him? Why didn't she stay? Why didn't she trust him to look after her? Because she promised, promised never to trap him. At that time in his life, that's how he would have felt. And yes, he would have insisted that Jen abort the baby. "I remember your mother," he said, "That night, this very room, was one I will never forget. I loved her. Not like I did others, but I loved her." He turned to her, her expression confused. "I called them..."

THAT NIGHT AUG. 17 2001

"...I call them Bat rubbers. All black." He grinned.

She smiled. "I hope you have more," she said.

He gave her that goofy smile again, "Of course," he said, pulling out the strip from under the pillow, where he'd put them earlier. She counted 12 before he put them back, but there seemed to be more than that.

"Come here Energizer..." she laughed, and rolled him over as she kissed him.

PRESENT DAY

Lissa's eyes went wide. "I made them myself, though I guess there was a leak in one of them."

"Its you!" she said, "Mom told me not to say that, about the condoms, that only he would know."

"Your mother was a very t wot woman," he said, sitting down on the bed next to her. "She was so forceful, but always kind. Did she ever get into medicine, like she'd planned?"

"No, after she had me, she worked at any job she could get. She met dad at a Science Fiction Convention she was at as one of the conventioneers. They went out, and when I didn't scare him off, they continued to see each other. Then they got married. He ran a successful company, modest, nothing fancy, and mom didn't have to work."

"Where is she now? I'd love to talk to her."

"She suffered a heart attack, shortly after my diagnosis. She died the day before I left for Gotham. She made me promise that no matter what happened to her, I was to come here."

Bruce nodded. "I'll call your doctor, he shouly ily in. I don't want you on another plane." She lay back on the pillows, a strange look across her eyes. "Lissa?" He pressed his fingers to her pulse, thready and weak. Suddenly she began to convulse, another seizure. He grabbed his cell phone and called for an ambulance.

A dark haired teen sprinted from the elevator to the desk, on the 23rd floor of New Gotham Memorial Hospital. "Wayne?" he asked the nurse urgently. "Where is he?"

"Who?"

"Bruce Wayne?" he asked again.

"Terry," the boy spun around to see his employer, and tormentor, sitting in the waiting area opposite the desk. "This is a hospital. There's no need to shout."

"You got a lot of nerve being in THIS part of the hospital. Your message just said to get here quick. I thought you'd had some kind of accident." The boy dropped down in the seat next to him, trying to catch his breath.

"No."

"It's that girl isn't it? Lissa?"

"She's had several seizures," he turned his attention to the floor.

"They won't tell me anything."

"They usually won't, accept for family."

"They'll tell me," he said quietly, "She's my daughter."

Terry choked on his gum, or he would have if he were chewing any.

"You're kidding!" he gasped.

"I never kid."

"How? When?"

"Terry,"

"You know what I mean."

"Mr. Wayne," called a doctor, coming over and sitting down on the coffee table in front of the pair. "The results of the test are in, and yes, Lissa Coster is your daughter."

"I told you. My medicastorstory and those of my family are on file here. Access them, and help my daughter!" He loved the sound of that. His daughter, his child, his blood family. Dick Grayson and Tim Drake may have been his sons, and he loved them dearly too, but this was different. She was part of him, and he didn't want to loose that.

"Sir, we already have, and until Dr. Fitzroy gets here, there is very little we can do."

"This is a hospital! I helped build it!"

"Easy Bruce, remember your blood pressure." The old man Ter Terry a stern look, the message clear. Stay out of this.

"Dr. Fitzroy is the country's leading Nero surgeon on this kind of tumor..."

"Tumor?" said Terry, this he didn't know.

"....Once Fitzroy arrives, we can go over her new scans, and prep for surgery. We'll need to type and cross her blood. And for obvious reasons, we can't ask you to be a donor. Do you have any other family?"

"No. But she has 7 siblings. In L.A."

"Contact them anyway.ry ery effort helps."

"I'll get on it," said Terry, and headed for the pay phones. He hated hospitals. Ever since his father was killed, he dreaded walking into one, he hated the waiting even more. So anything he could do to help, he'd do. Mainly because it gave him something to do.

"Can I see her?" asked Bruce.

The doctor shook his head. "She's not good. She's on full life support. We put her into an artificial coma to stop the seizures. And it seems to have helped."

"I don't care. I just found out about her. Please."

"Very well, this way." Terry watched the old man go into one of the ICU rooms, then turned his attention back to the phone.

The doctor slid a chair over for Bruce to sit next to the bed. Only once before had he been in a hospital room where a part of his family had bconnconnected to so many wires and tubes. The day Alfred had passed away. He was a loyal employee, his guardian since his parents' deaths, and a dear friend. He wasn't the same after Alfred died. He didn't want to face life alone. Maybe that's why he got the damn dog.

He tentatively reached out and touched her hand. "She's cold," he said.

"It's the IV, sir. I promise, she's in no pain," said the doctor.

"Do what you have to do," he said, lacing his fingers in hers. "Just keep her alive."

"Doctor Rolland?"

"Yes Nurse."

"ETA on Fitzroy. Delayed about three hours. Someblemblem with the plane."

"Can he get another fight?"

"No, he's checked."

Bruce pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number. "Where is the doctor now?"

"Omaha Nebraska."

"This is Wayne. Ready the jet. File a flight plan for Omaha Nebraska." There was a short pause as he listened to the person on the other end of his call. "I won't be going. Terry McGinnis will be, in my place. You're to pick up a Doctor Peter Fitzroy. If he's still on his original flight, get him off and get him here." The doctor & nurse shrugged and looked to the door as the teen joined them. "He'll be there in under an hour. ETA?" There was another pause. "Refueler's will be ready on the other end." Another pause. "Four and a half hours. That will have to do." He snapped his phone shut. If all went well, Fitzroy would be in Gotham two hours ahead of his flight from L.A. He turned to Terry. "Get to the jet. You're going for Fitzroy."

"Shway! I've hit a dead end with the family, though. Every time I mention Lissa, they hang up."

"I'll deal with that. You get going."

"Mr. McGinnis?"

Terry looked up into the stewardess's sweet blue eyes. "Anyone ever tell you, you have a wonderful smile?" he asked.

"Many times, sir. Please return your seat to its upright position, we're preparing to land."

"Shway, first time out of the state."

Within 30 minutes, Terry was meeting someone from the airport after landing. "Mr. McGinnis. Dave Torrance, Airport security. The plane you're looking to meet is still here. If you'll come with me, I'll help you locate Doc. Fitzroy." Must be really nice to have the kind of clout that money and connections brought you. Bruce never flaunted his wealth like this. Not unless it was absolutely necessary. Like now.

"This jet has to be refueled and ready to go the moment we get back," he said, as the two ran through the Omaha Airport to one of the gates.

"No problem. Refueling trucks are already on the way, and your plane is given priority clearance back into the air. Miss! Hold that door!"

"We must move the plane away from the terminal sir..." she began.

"Not yet. Torrance, security. You have a passenger, Dr. Fitzroy?"

"Yes, first class."

"Get him. His flight is ready."

"I'm sorry sir, he is booked on this flight..."

"Look lady," Terry began, sternly, "there's a woman in Gotham, dieing, and Fitzroy is the only one who can save her. Now either you move out of my way, or so help me. Tomorrow's headlines will be, 'Airline Stewardess Kills Innocent Woman, To Maintain Passenger Count!!'!!" The boy pushed his way passed the stunned woman, followed by the guard, and made his way to the first class cabin.

He looked over the group of people but couldn't tell who Fitzroy may have been. "Excuse me," he called politely. "Would Dr. Fitzroy please raise your hand?" A hand went up half way down the isle. Terry strode over to him. "Doctor. I'm Terry McGinnis, Mr. Wayne sent me. Could you come with me, your plane is ready for take off."

"Yes," said the man into his cell phone, while gathering his things. "Continue that procedure. The young man is here now. We should bere ere in about 2 hours." The three men left the plane and were escorted back to where the Wayne Enterprises jet was waiting, refueling trucks pulling away.

"Have a safe flight gentlemen," said the guard, and watched as one of the ground crew waved for the pilot to follow the ground indicator lights.

Within another 10 minutes, the plane was back in the air, and Fitzroy was reviewing images of scans taken of Lissa, over the link to the hospital.