I always wanted to do a Jonathan Crane and Rachel Dawes fic, so now I bring you "The Doctor's Damsel". After reading a couple other fics of them that were never finished, "On the Brink of Control" by ToryTigress (which I recently noticed was taken off the site for unknown reasons, and I LOVED that story) and "Promises and Threats" by slytherin-until-i-die, it seemed like a great idea. :)
The theory was the question behind WHY Dr. Jonathan Crane and Assistant DA Rachel Dawes hated each other so much, and even though I know realistically that they wouldn't - what if they were high school sweethearts, married after college, but it never worked out? It ought to explain why he hated her most of all, and she thought that him taking her perpetrators from jail and into his asylum was his way of paying her back...and then she learns her ex-husband was in much deeper and more mentally unstable than she thought. Miss Dawes - the former Mrs. Crane - gets on for a rollercoaster of a ride she should have anticipated. There's more to the story to come, and it will be done and NOT abandoned. You all have my word.
I'll try not to whine or beg, but if anyone likes this story, besides favoriting and following, I would really appreciate a review or two from anyone. It's a great motivation to continue, and I update either every day or every other day. I enjoy the process and try not to stress.
Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing. And thanks to Cillian Murphy and Katie Holmes, two of my most favorite people in the world.
Chapter One
Photographs and Trials
She had a long day ahead of her tomorrow, and any other day to follow, but tonight she had trouble sleeping in her bed which was sprawled with covers patterned like an exotic paradise, because her eyes were on the wooden framed photograph which was in bamboo because it brought serenity and peace, but not tonight. That picture on the smooth mahogany stand beside her bed was looking at her in the dark, tormenting her more than the scum on the streets of this city which she wanted to save.
It was her wedding day. Just six years ago, and it seemed like it was forever.
Rachel closed her eyes as she felt the inside of her being start to aggravate her once again. She and Jonathan Crane had not been on the best of terms when they divorced four years ago, after only two happy years - or could you really call nights of him coming home so late, him always in the lab while she was in the office doing everything she could to arrest the monsters who hurt innocent people at night, worked to put Carmine Falcone behind bars and having a lack of passion that had diminished after the first month?
Their wedding had been a Swan Lake theme, taken place in the countryside and under a tree, surrounded with little jars filled with moss and wildflowers, and she'd dressed very elegantly in a satin sheath overlaid with embroidered lace and beaded metallic accents, her shoulders covered with little lace cap sleeves. Her long brunette curls had been free, set with a soft bird cage over her face, and her jewelry kept to a minimal with the necklace that he gave her while they were in college. The promise that this was nothing compared to leaving a single rose for her to find, and it had been what a young girl dreamed of more than anything. At the time.
Bruce had not been there when she got married. Her mother, her boss Mr. Finch, Alfred, and some of her and Jonathan's colleagues were there, but one person had been missing. No one had seen Bruce for a year at the time since he left Gotham, wherever he was now.
Some people spoke that he was off high-skiing in the mountains, others said he went to Morocco for some exotic women and desert travels to clear his mind off of the shooting of Joe Chill, but Rachel knew him better than that. At least, I hope I did. He never once called me, his best friend since we were kids, she thought bitterly, before it became guilt.
All of those things I said to him...
All of those words she spoke to him, telling him that his father would have been ashamed of him for trying to kill his and Martha Wayne's murderer. Chill had been desperate, not greedy; he had been a victim of Falcone's cold rule, but killing Thomas Wayne and his wife in front of their son was inexcusable. But still, she'd been cruel to Bruce, and he had vanished the next day.
Just as the last word she truly spoke to her ex-husband was that she didn't want to see him again. Rachel wanted commitment and compromise; that was what marriage was, but compromise was one of the many difficulties they shared. She shook her head as she remembered that arrogant smirk every time she gave in to his demands; the Jonathan she remembered from high school - they were high school sweethearts - would not have started to ask so much of her, so she once more asked herself this question:
What happened to us?
~o~
"In my opinion, Mr. Zsasz is as much a danger to himself as to others..." He paused right there only briefly, but he didn't make eye contact with the vixen herself whose fierce blue eyes burned on his face. "...and prison is probably not the best environment for his...rehabilitation."
Those were always his words, for every patient he had evaluated and had moved into Arkham, but this time was the start of it burning out. All because of Falcone always calling him to ask him to get his thugs out of prison, his best ones who messed up. Their blood on Dr. Crane's hands? Not a chance.
But with every disgust came pleasure when he reduced them to pitiful animals, the needles holding his formula piercing their skin and drawing the howls of agony as he learned what they feared beneath their sadistic masks.
The judge banged the gavel and declared the sentence official. Victor Zsasz, the smirking orange-suit handcuffed and led through the back door, was ready to be prepped for Arkham Asylum. This would be the last one for awhile, and he would make SURE of it. There was too much at stake for the operation he and Ducard were preparing with his own personal fear toxin he had been devising and experimenting on since he was a child; the reason the university fired him and Rachel left him. He could not trust anyone, not even her, with his prized experiments with understanding human fears.
Trust had been one of their many issues during their short marriage. She wanted to save this crumbling city while he only wanted to live quiet and study fear, something that Gotham State University, their alma mater, had prevented him from publicly. And now, with the shortage of funds, he needed more of it for more batches as well as the compounds of the blue flowers from Asia. That was what tied the toxin together for the ultimate effect, triggering it in motion to the brain.
"Dr. Crane!"
That was their means of greeting ever since the divorce. Calling each other formally "Miss Dawes" or "Dr. Crane", instead of by their first names like they used to. She'd returned to her maiden name, even. "Miss Dawes," he said coolly, walking on with his suitcase in his hands. He was in a hurry to oversee his newest patient taken in, but she was riding him once more.
"Do you really think a man who butchers people for the mob doesn't belong in jail?"
One of the reasons he loved her was because she was feisty. In fact, a part of him still did. She never took shit from anyone, and since the separation, he would pay her back with declaring any of her perps unfit for life imprisonment, so it wasn't entirely for his own reasons. He wasn't afraid to admit that. "I would hardly," Crane answered smoothly, "have testified to that otherwise, wouldn't I? You know me well by now."
He knew he bristled her, because she stopped directly in front of him that he wanted to shove her aside, nevermind that beautiful athletic grace and brown dress suit partially hiding it. He felt his lip curl at the thought, even more at her. "Jonathan..." He locked eyes with her when she said his first name, and when he did, there was the soft questioning mingled with blue fire. She spoke more softly now if still inquisitive. "...this is the third of Carmine Falcone's thugs you've had declared insane and moved into your asylum. Why are you so interested in one of the biggest mob bosses' hit men instead of other people who actually need help the most?"
He snapped and lifted his chin at her. How dare you question me about my "morals", Rachel! his mind sneered when he did. "Well, the work offered by organized crime must have an attraction to the insane. Now, if you don't mind, Mr. Zsasz needs the asylum director's attention."
"Or the corrupt's attention," she returned when he began to walk away from her. Turning his back on her should have been the last resort, but Rachel was not fazed by a simple act like that. And the solution was right in front of them both.
"Mr. Finch!"
Carl Finch was not only the District Attorney of Gotham City, but he had dated Rachel for a short time since she divorced Jonathan Crane. When he saw the ex-husband and wife, he froze. "I think," Jonathan went on, enjoying every moment of this, "you should check with Miss Dawes here just what implications your office has authorized her to make...if any."
~o~
"What are you doing, Rachel?" her employer and short-time boyfriend demanded when he came up to her as soon as the head doctor of Arkham Asylum - and her ex-husband - was gone, her nerves on fire as ever.
"Before I answer, what are you doing, Carl?" she snapped back when he tried to take her arm and pull her away, but it was back in his grasp.
"Looking out for you," he whispered harshly, dragging her off to the side to speak more softly. "Rachel, listen to me. Falcone has half this city - maybe your former husband - bought and paid for. For all we know, he DOES have Dr. Crane in his hand, so drop bothering him for getting Falcone's thugs off."
Rachel felt her jaw drop. "How could you SAY that?!" After those cutthroats get away with going to warm and inviting therapy instead of a rotting prison cell, wasting the rest of their miserable lives away, you're telling me to let this go! Every day they lost a case, more people in Gotham suffered under Carmine Falcone's reign, and Jonathan Crane, the man she loved a long time ago, was helping these monsters instead of letting them receive proper punishment.
"Because as much as I care about getting Falcone...I care more about you."
Rachel couldn't help but smile. He had been there for her since after Bruce was gone and she filed for divorce, but it didn't last. They were still professionals and had a mission to do together, and because of her bad experiences, she wasn't sure if she was ready to love again. Especially with everything happening in Gotham.
But that never stopped Jonathan Crane always on her mind.
So, it's obvious the two still have feelings for each other, but what happens when she meets Scarecrow? ;) Stay tuned, and read and review.
