He was arrogant. There was no way that Emily could deny that. She had seen him swan into the Asylum every single morning, and not once did he decide that she was worthy of his time. Emily Meyers was the receptionist of Arkham Asylum. She had held that position for years and not once had she considered leaving the Asylum.

It had been scary to begin with; there was no avoiding that fact. She hated it when patients were brought in, kicking and screaming as they begged not to be locked up in the Asylum. The first patient she had seen had spat in her face as she found herself searching for a doctor she needed at reception. She could remember how she had ran her hand down her cheek to clear the moisture as the man laughed loudly. She had rushed to the toilet and scrubbed herself clean for what felt like hours on end.

She had grown used to the screams and the tears. Families who came to visit loved ones often didn't bother. They tended to keep away. Many did not have members of family to rely on for monthly visits. Most people in Arkham were lonely criminals. Emily would have felt sorry for them had they not committed such heinous crimes.

But she rarely had run-ins with the patients. She tended to stick to the desk in the reception room that was locked by a pane of glass from the main corridor. It was in there where she sat behind her desk and typed ferociously on her keyboard. The administration of the Arkham was easy to keep up with, but she suspected that was down to Doctor Crane. He enjoyed keeping his paperwork tidy and making her job easy.

Of course he had never told her that he was trying to make her job easy. At the end of the working day, approximately half past five in the evening, he would drop files on the counter behind the glass pane. Emily would always look up and towards him, but not once did he bother to speak with her or make eye contact.

Emily had attempted to converse with him when she had found him in reception searching for a file, but he had ignored her as he took the brown envelope and left. She had stared after him, watching him with intrigue as he went. She had thought that he might have been shy to begin with. Perhaps he merely did not like conversation? Emily had tried to greet him on other occasions, but all she managed was a blunt nod of his head.

He had been working at the Asylum for over three weeks and no one enjoyed his presence. She had heard the doctors whisper that he was rude and arrogant. He enjoyed bossing people around. He loved being in charge. He loved the power he held.

Since then Emily had not bothered to try to converse with him. There was no point.

"You should try to find another job, Em."

Emily was snapped from her thoughts as she looked around the crowded bar that evening. The music was playing slow jazz tunes whilst the red leather booths were full of couples or friends, enjoying a drink before the weekend began. The bar was full and people laughed as they drank and ate. Booths lined the walls whilst tall tables with tall stools sat in the middle of the room. Waitresses' dressed in short black dresses carried drinks on trays above people's heads whilst others ignored them.

"I mean, you got that job when you left college which was…what? Five years ago? I thought that you wanted to get into medicine?"

Emily would have rolled her eyes if she had not known where this conversation was heading. It was the same all of the time. She would sit and listen to Daniel's concerns and she would ignore them. She knew what she wanted out of life, but she was struggling to get it. She wanted to be a doctor; that was the reason why she had taken the internship at the Asylum in her final year of college. But that had not turned out for the best. They had no funds to put her through medical school and she needed money and so she had jumped at the chance to be the new receptionist at Arkham. If only she knew that it was a dead end job.

"I do want to go into medicine," Emily informed her boyfriend as he picked up his cocktail that sat on the marble table in front of him. "But you know that money is the main issue. I am still living with my parents."

"And you will be if you stay in that job. Are you at least looking for another job?"

Emily could feel her teeth grind together as she tucked a strand of her dark brown hair behind her ears and shook her head. She did not want to have this discussion with Daniel again. She knew that he thought it was easy. He had come straight out of college and landed himself a job on Gotham's Stock Market. He was slowly working his way up the career ladder and had managed to nab himself a swanky apartment in uptown Gotham…nowhere near the Narrows where Emily worked.

"We are not discussing this," Emily declared from Daniel. "I don't want to talk about money or moving into your apartment. I thought that we were just going to enjoy Friday night?"

Daniel sighed and raked a hand through his short blond hair as he wrapped his arm around his girlfriend and brought her to his side. Emily leant against him, her head on his shoulder as she closed her eyes and swirled the cosmopolitan cocktail she was slowly draining.

"I just want you to be happy," Daniel informed her. "I can see that you are not happy with that asshole of a boss everyone complains about."

"I barely talk to Doctor Crane," Emily rolled her eyes and peered up to her boyfriend with her wide green eyes as he moved a hand to her cheek once he had placed his cocktail down. "I think he has barely said two words to me since I started there…no…in fact he has said nothing to me. I did try to talk to him, but he was not interested. Anyway, he makes other people's lives hell. He doesn't bother me."

"You only moan about him once a day," Daniel whispered and Emily nudged him in the stomach.

"Don't be mean," Emily urged her boyfriend. "Anyway, I should get going back home. My mom wants me up early. She wants me to go dress shopping with her in the morning for Aunt Kim's wedding in two week.s"

"Will I need a new suit?" Daniel wondered, draining the rest of his drink.

Emily studied her boyfriend for a few moments, noting how his dark blue eyes glimmered at the thought. He loved nothing more than buying new suits. Emily barely understood the fascination, but her boyfriend was obsessed. His round face looked down to her as Emily rolled her eyes as he pressed his lips against hers.

"I'll come shopping with you next week if you want," Emily said.

She noted how the dimples in his cheeks deepened as he moved to peck her on the lips once more. "Suits me just fine," he informed her.

"Right, well I better get back home," Emily informed him and she stood up, grabbing the leather jacket she wore over her white blouse and black skater skirt.

"I'll take a taxi with you," Daniel said, finishing the rest of his cocktail.

Daniel grabbed his grey suit jacket with one finger and tossed it over his shoulder before he pressed his hand on Emily's back. She watched on as they wandered through the bar and moved amongst the people who gave no care as to where they were passing.

"Daniel!"

Emily stopped as Daniel grabbed her wrist to stop her from moving. She stood still before noting Daniel waving over to a group of men stood around a table, motioning for him to come over to them. Emily cocked her head to the side, noting that they had to be his work colleagues.

"Go," Emily urged him, noting how he rocked back and forth on his heels and chewed on his bottom lip. "You go and spend time with them if you want."

Daniel looked down to Emily with his brows furrowed together. "Are you sure, Em?"

"Of course," Emily promised him. "I'll grab a taxi on my own."

"Do you need any money?"

Emily looked at him with annoyance and shook her head. She moved to peck him on the cheek before she bid him a goodnight. Moving from the bar, she adjusted the large brown satchel that hung on her shoulder. She came to the steps of the bar and moved into the satchel in search of her purse. She opened it up and looked inside of it before noting that she had no money for a taxi.

Groaning softly, Emily moved to place the satchel over her shoulder and rubbed her hands together and began to walk towards the nearest bus stop. The streets were rather quiet that time in the evening, but Emily preferred for the silence. She knew how dangerous Gotham could be, but she thought that danger tended just to happen in the Narrows.

She set a fast pace and continued down the streets until she found the nearest bus stop. She stood still and kept silent, queuing behind other people who were waiting to get back to the north end of Gotham.

It was only as she moved to grab her cell-phone did she note a familiar mop of black hair stood in front of her. She was about to do a double take before she knew better. She recognised the battered black briefcase and the long black coat sat on his body. Why was he waiting for the bus? She knew that he owned a car and she thought that he would never be seen dead on a bus. He seemed to prude and proud.

Emily kept silent as he turned to look behind and down the road, wondering if the bus was going to approach. He said nothing for a few moments before he wondered if he should acknowledge the girl. He had seen the girl in the reception, but he did not speak to her. He recognised the shortness of her skirt and the way her hair curled. He had always thought that she was superficial. She never seemed like someone he wanted to converse with.

"Emily," he spoke her name.

Emily looked up, struggling to believe that he could even recall her name. She felt her mouth gape and she knew that he was looking at her with a condescending stare. She had felt those stares quite often in her lifetime.

"Doctor Crane," Emily responded back to him. "What are you doing here?"

Jonathan looked around for a few brief moments as people in the queue began to grow tired of waiting for the bus. Some people dispersed to take the metro whilst others remained firmly rooted on the ground.

"Waiting for a bus," Jonathan responded.

Emily cursed herself inwardly for asking such a stupid question, but she said nothing about it. She nodded her head and realised that they had nothing in common to discuss. Regardless, she could not deny that his blue eyes were deeply piercing. She could barely stop herself from staring at them. She had never looked him straight in the eye before, but she could see that his gaze was intense and quite charming.

"Of course," Emily finally managed to speak. "That would make sense."

"Indeed," Jonathan responded back in a soft voice.

"Anyway, it is taking a while, isn't it?" Emily babbled, trying to fill the silence. "I've never seen you take the bus before, but I guess this would be why. It is barely reliable. I would have gotten a taxi but my boyfriend stayed behind at the bar we were at."

"I see."

Emily knew that he was not interested in what she had to say. She could not blame him for that. She was boring herself if she had to tell the truth. She continued to stare at him, grateful that the bus pulled up before she had to say anything more. Remaining silent, Emily walked behind Jonathan Crane as he moved onto the bus and she followed him on, choosing to sit a few seats away from him. He made no move to come over to converse with her and she was grateful for that.

She only hoped that she didn't have to talk to him at work.

…..

A/N: I am back with another Crane fanfic. I have always been a fan and I couldn't resist another fanfic. Do let me know what you think may happen!