Characters[]
Location[]
- Park Row Clinic, Gotham City, NJ
- June 30th 2017, 0827 EST
VOX Archive[]
- Dick Grayson: [sleepy groan] Good morning, sunshine.
- Barbara Gordon: [sleepy giggle] Oh, Dick... I love it when you call me sunshine... [sleepy giggle] Wait...
- Dick Grayson: Deja vu?
- Barbara Gordon: Yeah, except... Wait, why am I in the hospital?
- Sarah Essen-Gordon: My insistence, dear.
- Barbara Gordon: Mom?
- Sarah Essen-Gordon: Good morning, sweetie. you've been asleep for three days! Dick tell the others she's awake... [rapid footsteps, door opens] Good boy, that Grayson. Why you haven't locked that boy down, I'll never understand. He clearly likes you. He's been at your bedside this whole time. Poor thing looks like he has been through hell and back. I almost had to drag him out of here to go shower and then when he did, he didn't even take time to shave.
- Barbara Gordon: Mom... What's going on?
- Sarah Essen-Gordon: Oh, dear I'm so sorry. We're just waiting for the tests results to come back. So many tests. You wouldn't even be- Wait, Barbara, you don't remember?
- Barbara Gordon: Not sure what I remember and what was the best dream I've ever had to be honest...
- Sarah Essen-Gordon: I'll let Dick tell you, Barbara. He was there. He brought you here... Why here when there were several other hospitals, I don't know.
- Barbara Gordon: Wayne Foundation sponsors this place.
- Sarah Essen-Gordon: Oh, right... Your employer. Still, you'd think the Wayne Foundation could afford a better insurance plan but I guess Mr. Wayne doesn't get to be rich by- No. No. I should not talk ill of the man behind his back. He has been a good employer to you, giving you that great job and that apartment? Not to mention the fact that he's offered to pay for your medical expenses personally. Wait... Barbara, forgive my asking, but are you sleeping with him?
- Barbara Gordon: Hold on, mom... I've got a killer migraine- Wait, what? You seriously did not just ask me that. No, I'm not sleeping with Bruce. Gross! [shudders]
- Sarah Essen-Gordon: Don't be so dramatic, Barbara! He is a handsome man with a fortune. I would not think less of you if you were his mistress or-
- Barbara Gordon: I'm not having this conversation... I didn't black out... I died... This is hell. This is literally my own private hell right now.
- Sarah Essen-Gordon: Hold on. Let me call your father. He will be so relieved to hear you're awake. [beep] Hold on, sweetie. No signal. Let me go in the hall. Be right back.
- Leslie Thompkins: [door opens, footsteps: 4 instances, door closes] Oh, so, Mr. Grayson wasn't being exaggerative. You are awake. Let me have a look at you.
- Barbara Gordon: Uh... first... can someone tell me what happened?
- Leslie Thompkins: There is no easy way to say it, Barbara. Our tests which just came back indicate you have a syncopic episode. Your blood pressure dropped rapidly causing a loss of consciousness and hitting your head, causing a concussion. As we could not be certain of what caused the syncope originally, I placed you in a medically induced coma while we ran some tests... Turns out the syncope is caused by a previously undiagnosed spinal tumor.
- Barbara Gordon: Wait, what?
- Leslie Thompkins: Your loss of feeling in your lower extremities, caused by your incomplete spinal cord injury contributed to this being undiagnosed until now. If you had felt the excruciating pain in your legs this tumor is surely causing, we might have been able to catch it sooner... However, now... I'm afraid...
- Bruce Wayne: It's not too late. I have many connections in the medical profession. With your permission, Barbara, I'd like to send them your file.
- Barbara Gordon: I'm sorry... With this migraine, I'm just having- Wait, are you saying I have cancer, doc? What stage? Is it terminal?
- Leslie Thompkins: [sigh] You should be able to see Christmas if we begin an aggressive course of therapy, however your quality of life will be less... much less.
- Barbara Gordon: [voice cracking:] Wait, are you saying I'm going to die, doc? [sob, sob] No... i was wrong... this is hell...
- Dick Grayson: No. No way on Earth I'm letting this happen ... Bruce, you know there is another way. We need to reach out for him. We need to do what we should have done when that damn clown put Barbara in this wheelchair to begin with! We need to make peace with Ra's al Ghul!
- Bruce Wayne: Excuse me? What did you just say?
Trivia and Notes[]
- Story continues from VOX Box: The Task At Hand 4.
- Story continues in ObMod: The Task At Hand 6.