#barbara2

[pm] I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t think it was a good idea. I could also cook something, if you prefer. What movie do you want to watch?

[pm] Nah, Babs, don't go out of your way. We'll just eat popcorn for dinner, me and Alysia do it all the time. 

[pm] I believe you. I caught some of the action on camera, but you worried me when you were gone before back up arrived. I’m glad you’re okay.

Steph sat silent and still in her hospital bed. Her stillness could have been taken for a calm reverie, if it wasn't for the way her hands clutched at each other or the purple bruises under her eyes that spoke to how long she had gone without sleeping. Once Hatter's drugs and hypnosis had worn off she felt awake for the first time in weeks. She didn't want to lose that feeling, she didn't want to go back to sleep. Her hair was limp and greasy, bruises ringed her arms from all the places she had been chained and grabbed at. Scratches from various standoffs throughout her kidnapping decorated her face and there was a deep cut down her bottom lip. He'd said if she wouldn't drink the tea, then she could wear it on her face. Steph didn't move, reliving the memory, but her heart rate spiked and she clenched a fist tight enough to whiten her knuckles. It didn't matter what happened to her, though, because at least she was alive. She thought of all the girls at the table, the first night. The girl in the cage next door. She was the lucky one.

Babs had come as soon as Steph had time to breathe and come out of the hypnotic state. She'd hoped for her to get some sleep first, but that had never seemed likely. It had taken some convincing of the nurse to let her in to visit; hospital staff were harder than most to persuade and manipulate, but it also made them less likely to be corrupt, which Barbara couldn't really complain about in good conscience. Steph was in good hands, she knew that, just as she knew that with a rotating guard set up she was safe too. That didn't mean the trauma hadn't been inflicted, and the road to recovery was far from an easy one, but she'd take small victories where she could get them. Rolling up to Steph's door Barbara knocked as gently as possible while still being heard, not wanting to startle Steph any more than necessary. After giving her a moment to respond, Barbara pushed open the door and rolled in. "Hello Stephanie," she greeted quietly as she put down her bag (heavy with things to give Steph) and shrugged off her jacket. No sudden movements. The medical files had given her a full overview of exactly how bad Steph was, but seeing it in person was always worse. The colour was completely gone from her cheeks, and the tension in Steph's whole body was painfully familiar. Everything that could be said in these situations always sounded hollow, so for now all she did was come over to Steph's side and rest her hand on the bed, offering it to Steph if she wanted it.

The knock startled her, but Steph didn't jump, just shrank further in on herself and digging her nails into her palm hard enough to leave red half-moons. "Come in," She called, hating the rasp in her voice from disuse and the waver she couldn't force out of it. Barbara wheeled inside, slowly and deliberately, and she felt a little sense of calm wash over her frazzled nerves. It really was okay. If Babs was here, it would be okay. Barbara was an anchor of surety and safety, the Oracle in the Clocktower that knew everything. Nothing could hurt them if she was with Barbara. "Hi." She responded after a long beat, having to remind herself to participate in the social conversation. After so long listening to Hatter rant, she had grown used to ignoring him and not responding. "Second kidnapping....not as bad as the first one." Steph tried to give a wry smile - see, see, she was still in there! But it was more of a grimace.

Barbara studied Steph as she spoke, trying not to look at her as if she was too fragile. Her injuries in comparison to last time were light, but Tetch had never been into physical violence in the same way others had - the damage he'd inflicted would be psychological. Like the dark shadows of guilt that crossed Charlie's face every time the case came up on the news or in conversation. "At least that's something. Try not to aim for a hat trick," she replied with a dry edge. There had to be a time for questions, for understanding if they wanted to prevent what had happened with Tetch happening again. But also to understand what Steph was going through right now, and how they could help her best. Barbara reached for her bag. "I have something for you. Several things, actually, but I thought I'd start with the chocolate," Barbara explained as she rummaged around her bag for a second, retrieving the two kinder eggs Damian had given her for Steph. "Like many things I give you, these aren't strictly speaking legal, so keep it on the down low. I've been sworn to secrecy as to who they're from, which I think tells you all you need to know. Don't try and eat the yellow plastic egg inside." Barbara handed her the two wrapped eggs with a smile that was almost as unconvincing as Steph's.

Steph let the silence hang in between Barbara's words. She didn't really have much to say, and it was okay to just listen to her talk. The foil covered egg shapes fit snugly into her hands, and she regarded them with a detached sort of curiosity. Were these those chocolate eggs with the toys inside? "I thought they stopped making these." She said, still staring down at them. The idea of opening one up and eating it set her stomach rolling and she placed them very carefully on the bed beside her. She couldn't believe she could just sit here and eat chocolate - girls were dead! Because of her! Babs should have been interrogating her, or she should be at HQ working to find the families of every dead girl. So she could personally give her respects. "The other girls?" Barbara would know exactly what she was referring to, and it was good because she didn't have the strength to spell out what she was asking.

Babs shook her head. "They still exist all over the world, but smuggling them into the country comes with a two thousand dollar fine. We investigated a lot of... loose ends, to find all of you." Barbara watched her set them aside with sad eyes, even though she understood. When Steph's question came, Barbara's small was more genuine, if just as small. "I have good news on that front. The girls you were originally with were saved by Green Arrow, Nightwing, and Black Canary. They called you a hero. We've found almost everyone taken since then alive. All of the hypnotized people have been safely returned home."

Steph let the phrase 'loose ends' mull around in her head for a while. She wondered how many people in Oracle's network had been stuck looking for her. Her eyes closed and her body drooped with palpable relief. She couldn't believe it, that they had saved all those girls at the table. They must have missed her by barely a few minutes, then, she realized with a bitter twinge. "I thought they were all dead. He -" She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, shaking her head. "But they're okay." She began to nod, to assure herself. "Good."

"I know, I know," Barbara replied, glad to see Steph palpably relax. Reminded herself that Steph had survived worse. The reminder didn't make seeing her like this even a little easier. And having been through worse didn't guarantee a recovery. In fact, statistically, what didn't ki- Barbara shook her thought to clear her head from those thoughts. Steph dying had been something Barbara only intended to ever experience once. "They're okay. Shaken, a bit dehydrated, but otherwise okay. And you will be too." Barbara took a deep breath. Soon, she'd get her own one on one time with the Hatter, and while tearing someone apart verbally wasn't quite as emotionally satisfying as punching them in the face, it'd be much more fruitful in getting answers. And, well, she could be mean as hell when she wanted to be. "Look, I understand if there are things you don't want to talk about, but is there anything you're comfortable telling me about the last few weeks? If not, that's fine, we can talk about something else."

Now that she knew the other girls were okay, she didn't have the sense of urgency that had been keeping her awake all this time. There was plenty Steph could tell her about what happened. Plenty she probably would never tell anyone. They could get the important facts, and make their own assumptions from her medley of injuries. Her head shook, even as she knew she would have to write it all in a report when she was able to anyway. Thinking back on it all brought her up against a wall and she shivered, she didn't want to go there. There was quiet for a long time - Barbara was the only person she knew that would let her sit so long in silence, to gather what she wanted to say. Finally, she voiced something that had been haunting her through her time alone at the hospital. "If it had been much longer...I would have been Alice. I was starting to - to be her." She shrugged, uncomfortable. This was so hard, to admit to an almost full lapse in identity, just to please a killer? "It was easier."

Babs waited silently, just watching. There were times when some people needed to be prodded for answers, people who responded well to questioning. But right now Steph needed silence. When Steph finally broke it, Babs bit her teeth together, and the pain and fear that had been building up over the past few weeks with regard to Steph and what Tetch could have done washed over her, silencing her for a few long seconds. "You did it to survive. There's no shame in that," she replied after a pause, reaching over to pat her arm. "We would have brought you back, no matter what. He was never getting away with you. I'm sorry it took so long." It wasn't said with guilt - Barbara had done literally everything in her power to find Steph, she knew that - but it was said with empathy.

Steph screwed her face up as she looked away from Barbara's crippling sympathy. That tone was going to break her and she was going to start crying and she didn't know if she would ever stop. "I knew you'd find me," She said instead. "That's why I kept fighting. But he kept taking...everything." Her cowl, her weapons, her comms, eventually her suit and the Bat symbol along with it. Her name. Her power. Now, he even had her sleep, and he was long gone. Steph didn't move away from the touch like her instincts wanted her to, but she couldn't stop from tensing before forcing herself to relax. "Anyway, it doesn't matter now." She said abruptly, "It's over, I'm fine, and we can all start moving on."

Babs felt Steph tense up under her touch, and after a moment took her hand away, laying it back on the bed. Steph who usually had no problem with physical signs of affection, who was usually the one to initiate them, now rejecting it. Barbara looked down at her lap for a split second, recollecting herself, then sat up straighter, looking back up at Steph. "Moving on doesn't mean ignoring what happened to you. You don't have to be fine right away. Acting otherwise is doing yourself a disservice."

Steph forced her fists to unclench, stretching her hands out above her knees. Barbara was, infuriatingly, right as always. But that didn't mean she had to like it. "Maybe I'm not fine, but I don't have to be not-fine here." She said, a pleading edge creeping into her voice. "I just want to go home, please." Ever since dying in a hospital, she could never really get over the yucky feeling being in one gave her. Not to mention, it felt like just another way in which she had no control over herself or what happened. At the mercy of the doctors and Barbara and her mother. It made her skin crawl.

Barbara nodded, understanding. Her own ghosts always hung around hospitals, from her dad's heart attack to her own months in care, so she couldn't really fault Steph for that. "I've spoken to the doctors," she started, running a finger through her hair, realising it could use a proper wash soon. She didn't look as bad as Tim had, but the last weeks had had their toll. "They're waiting for the results of the last few tests. You're showing symptoms of malnourishment, and they want to make sure tins nothing worse. I know it's hard, but try and stay here for a few more hours." Barbara reached into a bag, pulling out Steph's phone and a reasonably sized tablet. "I figured you'd want these. There are Netflix and games on the tablet. I know it's not ideal, but if there's anything to find, it'd be better to find it now than after you've gone home."

Steph "Of course I'm malnourished," Steph responded, gesturing to her unnaturally thin appearance. "I've been living on tea and scones for -" She stopped abruptly, blinking as she realized she had no idea what the date was. Time had lost all meaning in that hell, she could have been gone for months and wouldn't notice. "How long? What's today?" Panic was creeping back up on her, and she reached for the phone to get the date off it, but her hand shook so bad it dropped onto the blankets in her lap. "How long??" She asked again, voice rising with anxiety and desperation.

Babs gave Steph a look as she started to replying, knowing that Steph knew full well what she'd meant. It quickly evaporated and turned into a deep frown when Steph stopped. "February tenth," Barbara replied, picking up the phone for Steph and pressing the home button to show her. "It's been sixteen days, Stephanie."

Steph felt a hollow ache all the way down to her gut as the date really sunk in. Her eyes locked to the phone screen, trying to comprehend that amount of time passing. She knew it had been days...maybe even one week. But /two/?? Plus two days on top of that?? She had no semblance of that time, no idea of where she was or what she was doing for all that time. "I thought...a few days, maybe. A week," Tetch had kept her under a mix of his hypnosis and drugs, forcing her into unconsciousness more often than not. But sixteen days worth? "How's my mom?" Was her next question, rasped out in a seemingly disconnected way. But if she'd been missing for over two weeks...her mom had to be beside herself.

Babs kept the worst of sadness off her face this time, as much shielding Steph as not wanting to show the pain that had come from these past weeks. 380 hours of searching for Stephanie, every single one weakening the probability of ever finding her, never mind finding her alive. "Your mom has been extremely worried, same as your roommate. I've been keeping them updated on the investigation as much as possible, and told her as soon as we found you. Her shift ends in half an hour, she'll be here then, if that's okay with you."

"She's gonna kill me." Steph said with resigned despair. Of course she would be happy to see her alive and okay, but she had a feeling putting her mom through another possibly-dead-daughter experience wasn't going to go over well. Not to mention the whole taking back up superhero-ing thing. She put her head in her hands, drooped over her propped up knees. "You should tell Alysia I'm not dead either, she'll need to call off whatever activist group she put together when I went missing." A ghost of a smile crossed her face as she thought about her roommate. It faded when she realized she wouldn't be able to see anybody on her own terms for as long she was stuck in this bed. "And you can tell Tim to quit hovering around my door - if he wants to see me, just see me." She was going for light hearted annoyance, but it just came out mostly bitter. Obviously, he was posted there for protection, and the idea of needing round-the-clock watching didn't sit well with her.

Babs didn't have much to say to that, knowing full well how angry her own dad would have if it was Babs. But, more importantly, how relieved he would be. "I'll pass it on, don't worry about her. But your mom won't be all bad, I'm sure," she replied. Her eyebrows raised at Steph's next complaint. "I'll try," she said, "But he's been too worried about you to follow my orders very well. It also means you need to not sneak out before he can do so, understood?" Steph was sounding more herself the longer the conversation went on, so the question was ended with a small teasing smile.

Steph glanced up as Barbara mentioned not leaving the hospital. It had been vaguely on her mind, she could easily leave against doctor's orders, but all the people that could help her would be so against the idea that she wouldn't ever get anywhere. "Sure, fine," She nodded, the thought of having to stay here much longer making her lose the teeny scrap of goodwill she had built up. With a sigh, she shook her head. She didn't have to take out her ill will on Babs - who was doing literally everything she could to make her feel better. "You're not gonna make me see a shrink, are you?" She asked, arms folded defiantly. That was not high on her list of fun things to do.

Barbara: Barbara raised an eyebrow at Steph's quick agreement, but chose to accept it at face value. All she could do was ask, right? Well, all she could do that didn't involve locking Steph in, which wasn't even on the table as an option. She sighed softly at Steph's next question, rubbing her temples. If anything, Babs wanted to see her own therapist soon. "I'm not going to make you do anything. If that's a route you ever choose to go down, I can give you recommendations. If not, then I won't."

Steph nodded slowly a few times. It was clear Barbara wanted her to see somebody, but she couldn't quite stomach reliving and rediscovering these traumatic memories with a perfect stranger. She chewed at her cut lip and immediately regretted it, wincing and relaxing her mouth. "I know I'm being difficult.." She started, the need to make sure Babs knew she wasn't being obtuse on purpose. "It's just...I never really thought I would have to do this again." Her voice cracked, finally, at the end of her sentence. There was a weary weight to her words, the unpacked traumas and memories of her first kidnapping lingering behind the way she clenched her fists.

Babs looked up at Steph, looking her over carefully, then gave a small forgiving shrug, "I think you're entitled to being a bit difficult, and on the scale of being difficult you're still not in Bruce's league, so it's okay." Steph's voice cracked, and suddenly there was a lump in Barbara's throat, that she couldn't swallow away and one that refused to be ignored. Once again, Barbara was reminded how close Steph as to the age Barbara had been when the Joker had invaded her home. Too young, really, to carry around the monsters they had, especially when Steph had already been through so much with Black Mask. "I know," again she fought the urge to reach out and offer more physical support, her hand still resting on the bed. "But I promise we're all here for you, and you don't need to hide from us. The Hatter is never touching you, or anyone else, ever again." There was an edge to that last sentence that Barbara would possibly regret at some later point, but for now it was a promise Barbara knew she would keep.

[pm] I found out from the camera footage of Jason scaling a wall, not the note. Do you feel better?

[pm] Yeah, there's really no refuting that evidence, huh.. Look, I couldn't stay there, Barbara, I just couldn't do it. I've been stuck doing things against my will for weeks...I just wanted to go home. 

[pm] I haven’t been around anything glittery for a week but I’m still finding glitter on my face.

[mask pm] It’s also dangerous, and not that simple. Roxy Rocket is moving too fast to pinpoint, so it’s more a case of predicting where she will pass by soon, which is [here].

[mask pm] Like that’s the coolest thing you’ve ever asked me to do, easily.

[mask pm] The alert just reached me. Give me everything you know.