Flashback: The End of Spoiler

[lesliethompkins]

There isn't any time for tears in the middle of an operation. The brain is focused entirely on the hands. The hands are occupied with the patient. This patient, Leslie knows somewhere in the back of her brain, doesn't have a chance. She's too stubborn though to admit it.

Hours pass. The bleeding is stopped. The slugs are removed. The wounds are stitched. There's nothing else she can do. Leslie looks sideways at the readouts. Blood pressure is low. Pulse is weak. Her professional judgment battles with her stubbornness.

Stephanie doesn't have that long to live.

Leslie's eyes move to the assisting nurse. "Don't move her."

The nurse glances up in surprise but Leslie is already moving away. Towards the sink. To strip the blood covered gloves from her hands. They hit the biohazard bin with force. She doesn't even bother to wash before she leans heavily against the wall. Fingers tighten involuntarily. She strains her neck, trying to wipe her face on the sleeve of her scrubs.

She wants nothing better than to collapse. There's one last duty she has to perform before the tears can come though. She has to find a phone.

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[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

God. It's like a kick to the solar plexus via his heart. Bruce puts a hand on Stephanie's face, trying just to see her eyes and not the mass of bruises and abrasions that have defiled her features. The other hand wraps around her slack fingers. "I'm here," he murmurs. Unvoiced meaning? You're not alone.

[lesliethompkins.livejournal.com]

Despite the morphine running into Stephanie's system, tears well forth from her eyes. A tremor runs the length of her body. Slack fingers curl around his grip but the pressure is delicate and devoid of strength.

"I'm... sorry." It's a pathetic cry, packed with deepest of emotions.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

"Shhh," is his only answer as he brushes her face tenderly. Inside, his soul is screaming in pain and rage. The one way to wound the Batman, who is rumored to have no heart, is to harm those close to him. Someone has dealt a mortal blow. That someone will suffer. But not now.

[lesliethompkins.livejournal.com]

The tears are coming in waves. They roll away, right into his hand as it moves over her face. "... better," she mumbles. She should have done better.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

Bruce leans down and kisses Stephanie's forehead as he breathes, "You did great. I couldn't be prouder."

[lesliethompkins.livejournal.com]

Those are the words she needs to hear. She seems to settle under the kiss. For a second, Stephanie closes her eyes against the tears. Pain is a strange companion to this brief moment of peace.

"Tim." Communicating with Bruce is taking everything she has left. "Does ... hate me?"

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

"Stephanie...." The twist in his gut tightens. "No. No one could."

He's helpless to save her, but he won't let her die feeling anything bad. He won't.

[lesliethompkins.livejournal.com]

"...sorry." The single utterance encompasses a breadth of regrets. Heavy laden is the word with sorrow. It escapes on the barest of breaths as once again her eyelids slide shut. Damaged lungs take in air two more times before her chest fails to rise. In sharp contract to her explosive life, Stephanie Brown passes silently from the world.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

Bruce's eyes close tightly as he rests his forehead against Stephanie's, jaw trembling, hand shaking, until he raises his head long enough to make a long, loud growl of anguish.

Then all is still for five seconds. Ten. Twenty.

By the time thirty seconds have passed, Bruce has burst through the surgery's doors and is heading for his car. For the Cave. For the cape and cowl.

For payback.

He won't let Stephanie's body grow cold before he has visited vengeance on whoever is responsible for mauling her.

[lesliethompkins.livejournal.com]

The tears finally erupt.