Sedulous [1] - | J |

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4 years later

I stumbled into my apartment, my purse falling off of my shoulder as I tried to close the door with my heeled foot. The phone was ringing wildly as I tripped over myself to get to the charging port. When the machine beeped for my voicemail, I snatched it up and answered it. I pressed the phone to my ear and spoke with exasperation.

"Veronica Wayne speaking." I say in a breathless tone, letting my bag drop to the floor as I shrugged off my coat.

"Veronica. How are you? It's Jim, Jim Gordon."

I stopped moving entirely for a moment, cracking a small smile.

"Hey, Jim. Hi, it's been a little while." I say and move towards my living area, picking up some unorganized magazines and placing them neatly on the table.

"I know, I'm sorry for not reaching out sooner. It's hectic over here. How's New York treating you?"

I sigh and walk to my bedroom, turning on the light and scanning my dresser filled with postcards from Alfred with a smile. I venture into my bathroom, turning on the water and letting the steam envelope the bathroom as I let my hair loose from its clip.

"It's been alright. I realized a month in that it's quite similar to home, so it wasn't so much of a culture shock. Though New Yorker's are a mix of happy and miserable. Gotham is just-"

"-miserable? Yeah, figures. I'm glad you've been getting on well."

"Thank you for calling, really. It's nice to hear from someone other than Alfred sometimes." I chuckle and Jim sighs heavily.

"Ronnie, I wanted to check up on you but also, I wanted to call just to see if...maybe you know, you'd think of coming back."

I shake my head lightly and sit on the edge of my bathtub, staring down at the white tile.

"I can't, Jim. I don't fit in at the GCPD. I was absolutely useless when I was there. You can say differently but I know I was. I can't do that to myself or you again."

"Veronica, listen. You were one of the greatest assists to the GCPD and you weren't even registered as an official officer yet. With all my unit mostly gone and Batman M.I.A for the past 4 years-"

"-wait, what? What did you say about Batman?" I ask quickly and stand, my world suddenly coming to a screeching halt.

"Oh, uh, Alfred didn't get to tell you? Batman, he hasn't...he hasn't been around since Harvey died."

"Harvey?" I gasp and slink back down onto the tub, the news shocking me.

"Wow, Veronica. I didn't know you were this out of the loop. I guess you left before everything really went south. Good for you."

I was void of words, of any phrases that could answer his statement. What did I need to say? I'm sorry for being such a selfish bitch and leaving when the going got tough?

"Jim, God. This is bad, really bad." I say lowly and hold my head in my hand.

"Yeah well, I've got another thing coming for you. There's a new madman on the loose and he's looking potentially worse than that Joker character we dealt with years ago."