Doctor Jonathan Crane was about to flip the last light switch and be on his way when the phone on his desk rang. He sighed and set his briefcase down before picking up the phone. "Hello, Crane Psychology. Doctor Crane speaking." The voice that answered was familiar but sounded scared.
"Jonathan? It's Leona, I need your help." She said in a whisper. Her voice shook and for once his heart went out to another being other than himself.
"Leona," he said, taking a seat on the corner of his desk. "Haven't heard from you in a while. What seems to be the problem?"
"I just got evicted and I'm having some trouble finding a job." She said in a rush.
"So what can I do to help?" he asked calmly.
"I need a place to stay for a while." She told him. "At least until I can get back on my feet, do you think you can help?" In the background Jonathan could hear shouts.
"You better not be talking to another fucking man, bitch! I'll beat the shit out of you!" Quite a charmer you've got there, cousin he thought to himself.
"Anything else you care to add?" he asked in his well-practiced psychologist voice. She sighed and continued on in a hushed tone.
"Not now. Listen, you know where I live. Can you come get me?" she asked. "Brian won't let me use the car." She offered in explanation.
"All the way in Blüdhaven?" he asked, referring to his watch for the time. "That's pretty far, but I guess I can manage. We'll talk in the car." She thanked him profusely and they bade each other goodbye. Jonathan placed the phone back on the cradle and picked up his briefcase once more, heading for the door. In the parking lot he noticed a cop car sitting in the darkest corner possible. Well he had nothing to be guilty of tonight, sorry boys, nothing from the Scarecrow this time.
About 20 minutes later he pulled up in front of a brick art deco apartment building. This was the place. Stepping out of the car he looked around. It seemed to be a nice enough place. Once up the stairs he rang the doorbell and the door was promptly answered by a tall man with a wiry frame. He smiled politely, and assuming that this was Brian, let him have a small dose of fear toxin. "What the hell?" he called, backing away as if Jonathan were the most horrific thing he had seen in his life.
"Jonathan!" came a voice from farther inside. "You're earlier than I expected." She said, stepping around Brian in his frightened state. "Here, could you hold this?" she asked, holding out a small suit case.
"Of course." He said, taking it from her and leading her out to the car. She followed him out and slid into the passenger seat, warming her hands by the vents. Jonathan placed her suit case in the back seat and got back in, putting the car in drive.
"So…who was that charmer at the door?" he asked. She sighed and placed her hands in her lap.
"Oh, that was Brian." She answered quietly. He noticed her toying with her gloves.
"The one that said he's beat the shit out of you?" he asked, trying to lighten things up a bit.
"No," she answered sarcastically, "the other one."
You know, sarcasm hurts cousin. Anyway, do you want to talk about it?" he asked, trying to be as cousin-like as possible while maintaining a professional front.
"I wouldn't know where to start." She answered.
"You know I do this for a living right?" he asked. She nodded. "So just talk, I'll listen, that's my job."
"It started when I got laid off of work."
"Where did you work again?" he asked, showing interest in the story.
"I was a secretary at Wayne Enterprises. I worked in the Blüdhaven branch." She answered.
"I didn't realize Wayne Enterprises took a blow." He said, his interest peaking.
"Oh yeah, Blüdhaven branches are falling under real fast. Now I'm having a hard time finding a job. And on top of that my rent's been behind."
"Well I did just lose a secretary, think you're up for it?" he asked, offering her the post of his personal secretary.
"Really? Jonathan, you don't have to do that just for me."
"I just did Leona. Now, tell me more. Brian seems…interesting." He said, dancing around the obvious.
"You could say that. He gets very territorial. I…well I left him while you were on your way. He's just so hard to deal with sometimes."
"And why's that?" he asked, concern slipping into his voice.
"Let's just say he's an angry person." She replied as they pulled up in front of a tall thin house. Leona looked out her window in awe. "It's so tall."
"It has five stories, there's at least one room per floor." He answered, killing the ignition and getting out of the car. He smiled over at her and walked up to the door. "It's nice to have someone else to appreciate it." Together they walked through the foyer to the kitchen where the stairs were. Up on the second floor was the living room, the third floor contained a guest room and a bathroom while the fourth floor held a small office. The fifth floor was where the master suite was, a huge master bedroom sat next to a large bathroom.
"You'll be staying in the guest room two floors down, so you'll have plenty of space for yourself. Laundry is in the closet next to the office; treat this place like your new home." He told her. She smiled and nodded, going back down the stairs to the guest room. The room was painted a shimmering burnt gold with deep red trims. The sheets and blankets were a beautiful chocolate brown and the bedframe along with the dresser were deep mahogany.
"How do you like it?" Jonathan asked from the doorway. She grinned and hugged him, catching him off guard.
"It's lovely Jonathan, thank you so much." She said lightly.
"Oh it's my pleasure Leona." He said, smiling softly. "You start tomorrow, get a good night's rest." He told her, and left. She could hear him walking up the stairs and into the room above her, she wondered if he worked this hard all the time. Slowly she opened her suitcase and placed her clothes in the drawers, hanging the jackets in the closet. She yawned and looked at the alarm clock; it was 9:45 at night. It was a force of habit for her to wake up at 5:30 every morning so she set the alarm and lay down, falling into a deep sleep.
One floor above her Jonathan was pacing in his office. The Scarecrow would have to wait he decided. Carefully he placed the lock around the mask as always, but took extra care to lock the box it went in and the bottom drawer. He didn't want to take any risks.
The next morning Leona woke up to the sounds of radio hosts chattering in her ear. She groaned but sat up and swung her feet over the edge of the bed. She stretched and slipped her feet into a pair of slippers before pulling on her bathrobe. She let the radio play on for a few minutes before turning it off and shuffling down to the kitchen to make coffee. When she saw Jonathan sitting at the island in pajama pants she stopped. He had already made coffee and had a mug sitting next to him on the counter, his head was in his hands and his glasses were on the counter in front of him. A paper was sprawled carelessly around, "THE SCARECROW STRIKES FEAR ONCE AGAIN: WILL BATMAN RISE TO THE CHALLENGE?" Popped out at her.
"What's this?" she asked softly, ruffling his hair and pointing to the headline. He looked up and folded the paper into neat quarters, placing his glasses back on his face.
"Nothing, just Gotham news." He answered.
"Well who's this Scarecrow character?" she asked, pouring herself a mug of coffee and adding milk and sugar.
"Nobody knows who it is, it's always that way around here." He told her, getting up and making his way to the foot of the stairs. She sighed and sat down in his vacated seat. "You better get a move on Leo, work starts in an hour." And with that he disappeared up the stairs. Leona decided it was probably best if she looked presentable on her first day, so she got up and went to her bedroom.
A shower was first on her list of things to do so she took her bathroom things and went into the bathroom. As she turned on the hot water she stepped out of her bathrobe and hung it on the towel rack, slipped off her slippers and undresses. Testing the water to make sure it wasn't too hot, she stepped into the relaxing spray and took about a half hour in the shower. After her shower she went to her closet to find a nice shirt to wear. She found a lavender button down cap sleeve that she paired with a black pencil skirt. To finish it all off she picked up her only pair of black heels and made her way down the stairs, pulling her hair into a high ponytail on her way down.
She couldn't say she expected it, but Jonathan was already back in the kitchen in a neat grey suit and a red tie. "You look spiffy Jon." She said, sitting and putting on her shoes.
"The same can be said for you." He answered, picking up his keys and making his way to the front door. "Now your job entails answering my calls," he tossed a wireless Bluetooth set at her which she caught "reminding me of appointments, filing patient information, scheduling appointments, checking my email and updating our patient files on the computer." He told her. "You will be seated at your desk in front of my office unless I am out, then you will be with me using your tablet to do what I ask of you."
"Sounds good to me." She said, taking the tablet that he was holding out for her.
"The password is CranePsych, your username is LeoCrane." He said, getting in the car and turning it on. Leona got in the passenger seat and they were on their way.
"So pretty much any secretary job." She clarified. He nodded and kept his eyes on the road.
"Except you are my personal secretary, not just any office secretary." He said. The rest of the ride was silent, but not awkward. As they pulled into the parking lot of Crane Psychology Center Leona looked out the window.
"Is this where you keep your long term patients?" she asked as she got out of the car.
"Not at all. We keep the inmates down at Arkham Asylum." He told her, leading the way into the building.
"Good morning Doctor Crane." said a pretty blonde from behind a low counter.
"Good morning Juliette, this is Leona, she'll be joining us as my new personal secretary. Leona this is the face of Crane Psychology Center, Juliette." Leona smiled and waved as Jonathan led her past the desk and into a back hallway. "My office is all the way at the end; your desk is behind the small counter there right in front of it. These are our individual therapy rooms, I have about six psychologists working for me and they each have a specialty and their own room."
"Alright, but what should I call you while I'm on the clock?" she asked.
"Well Doctor Crane, of course. I know it may be a little strange at first, but I promise you'll get used to it." He said, leaving her at her desk and closing the door to the office behind him. She sat at her desk and clicked the mouse, a pop up window was present with a cursor blinking in the USERNAME box.
"LeoCrane, tab, CranePsych, enter." She muttered to herself as she typed. The box was replaced with loading icons and she took this time to plug in her tablet and turn on her headset. All around her were filing cabinets, each drawer labeled a different letter. Before long the phone rang and she pressed the answer button.
"Crane Psychology Center, Leona speaking, how can I help you?" she said into the headset.
"I'd like to schedule an appointment with Doctor Crane please." Came a voice from the other end. She pulled up Jonathan's calendar and skimmed through it.
"Doctor Crane is open this afternoon at 3:30, tomorrow morning at 8 and 10, tomorrow night at 7:45 and the next day at 11. What can I put you in for?"
"This afternoon is fine."
"Okay, and are you a prior patient here at Crane Psychology?" she asked.
"Yes, yes in fact I am."