Calling Cardinal

A Higher Power

The morning comes too quickly. I wake before either of my housemates, as usual. Being careful not to rouse my bedmate, I sneak out into the kitchen to prepare the daily medications. I get comfort in the routine I've held over the last week. I fear that any moment, I could wake up to find that last night was nothing but a cruel dream.

Before gathering more firewood, I check my room. Penguin's still where I left him, sound asleep in my bed. How long have I ached to see this sight? The taste of his lips is fresh on my tongue. The scent of his cologne sticks to my skin. I finally feel awake.

I chop down more wood, shower, and help Ivy in the garden. Oswald finally wakes around noon. I find him struggling to sit up.

"Hey, hey." I adjust him against the pillows. "How are you feeling?"

He's tired, but the fever he nursed yesterday seems to be fading away. The king of Gotham wears the smallest of smiles. "Much better. In fact, I feel better than I have in a long time."

Gently, I peel back the bandage to inspect the bullet wound. It's healing, albeit slowly. It's also still fighting an infection. It'll be a process, but Cobblepot will return to the land of the living. Relief fills my lungs.

"You're getting better every day," I say. "It's only a matter of time before you're back to your old self, Os."

He kisses the back of my hand. "I'm more myself than I ever have been, Sera. I—"

My phone buzzes loudly in my pocket. "It's Jim."

My brother's voice is sound for sore ears. As annoying as he can be, it's so nice to hear him alive and well. "Hey. How do you feel about coming into the city today?"

I'm reluctant to leave my lover in his current state, but traveling back into the city will give me a chance to pick up more medicine and food. "I could make it. What's going on?"

"Sera, you will not believe this."

My eyes roll up the ceiling and I scoff. "I've died. There's not much I won't believe."

"Uncle Frank is in town. He wants to have dinner."

Oswald takes my clammy hand. The color drains from my face.

"That is a good one. And he wants to have dinner with me? He knows I'm alive?"

"Yeah. He's with some group called the Court of Owls. I don't know much, but—" my brother hushes his tone. "I'm trying to figure out what they're up to. Dinner is a perfect opportunity to pick his brain. Will you come? We're meeting at a place in Chinatown. I'll send you the location."

"Consider me there."

"Who was that?" Os asks. "Who are you going to visit?"

"My uncle," I say.

"The one I met?"

"No. His name is Frank, and he's hardly a relative. He disappeared long before my father died. As far as I remember, he's lived out of Gotham until today. Jim said he's with the Court of Owls. Care to share any information on them?"

"I met someone in their ranks. The night that the mad man attacked my dinner, a woman named Katherine was there. She said that they'd been watching me for a while. She claimed they would call on me when they needed me," he confesses.

"Hm." I lean against the footboard of the bed. "What would they need with either of us?"

"I'm not sure. Please stay safe, Sera." He kisses me tenderly.

What a hell I've put him through. I die in his arms just to return back to them. Now he can lose me all over again.

A smirk contorts my features. "I'd like to see them try."