Bone and Skin
I had to redo this chapter so lol yeah sorry about that!
A/N: I will mention a dress that Johanne is wearing and this is what inspired me
:/moonchild- ljilja. deviantart art/Reborn-Magic-Birds-278483734
add http and take out the spaces. As to the song it was sufficiently creepy for Jervis lol
why do you turn and shield your eyes?
Do I burn too brightly?
Oh, don't take my love lightly, for I mean every word
You flicker, you amaze me
Your lips illuminate me
I want your eyes to tell me I'm the only flame
My glow it will attract you, my smoke will push you back
Until you call again please arsonist attack
Mirah "Light The Match"
I tightened the tie around my neck, I was dressed pretty much the way I was at work, only my slacks were black rather than brown as usual and I wore a suit jacket over my white button up. God, were my fingers shaking? It wasn't like it was a date, it was more a helping hand than anything really, right? Dear lord, here I was thinking I really liked Alice... Really, she was a nice girl. Then boom! Her sister shows up, the confidence-self assured attitude that Johanne displayed, something about that caught my attention better than Alice could have ever. Maybe, maybe she would stay in Gotham? Maybe I could start something with her, and just maybe she might want to date me. I did have to give up on Alice, since by now she was probably married to Billy. I couldn't help but to shake my head, If Alice hadn't wanted me why would her much more confidant and probably taken sister want me? But, if she was taken why did it seem like she was flirting with me? I drove to the hotel, there was the expected amount of traffic, with everyone who was anyone, or who worked for Wayne Enterprises, we were all invited to most functions that Wayne hosted.
Within an hour I found myself in the hotel's ballroom where most of the fundraiser would be held. There were so many voices competing to be heard over everyone else's, I understood why Johanne had social phobia. It was loud and hot in here. "Jervis?" Kates, she'd just walked in through the door. "Kates." She blinked; "I never expected you to come to one of these." I shrugged, what could I say? If it wasn't for a pretty young woman who looked like my secretary I wouldn't be here? Yeah that would get me in trouble faster than light.
"That would be because of me Ms. Kates." And there was Johanne, she certainly had dressed for the occasion. Kates of course was surprised, while they talked I looked Johanne over. She wore a rather nice off the shoulder dark green dress, at the bottom it turned to black, and around her neck a dark choker with a pretty blue tear shaped gem hanging from it. Her hair was down, but curled. She'd taken her time making herself up as well, a bit of lip gloss gave her lips shine and dark eye shadow made her eyes a stunning shade of blue. I didn't know she could be so pretty, I'd never seen Alice this way… I doubt she would have looked as good-she didn't have her sisters confidence, Alice would have been shy about it and Johanne, well she strutted, held her head high. It was a magnificent sight to behold, and she had asked me to accompany her here. Even if it was to introduce or point out people in Gotham high society that she wanted to talk to.
Kates was blushing, but I hadn't really been paying all that much attention. "So, um…" What was wrong with Kates? "I've never seen so many people, how do you deal with it?" I blinked at the question suddenly posed to me by Johanne. "I don't come to these because there are so many people." And no one wanted to come to these things alone, and I would have if I had tried to come before Johanne asked me to. "Yeah, that's how I usually deal with it too." We both chuckled, "So, um…How long are you staying in town Miss Pleasance?" Johanne smiled, the look in her eyes mischievous. "Well, that depends on my sister actually. She kind of left me here, I've found reasons for staying for now. I've time off from the lab at the moment, they really don't need me back at work for at least a month if not more." Well, that actually was nice to hear, did that mean she would stay in Gotham for that time?
"Oh, wow-that's a long time." Johanne shrugged, "I have enough funds that I can live off of till I go back to work, and my rent back home is already covered." She was really well paid then, nothing like her sisters life style. "Are you staying at a hotel?" Kates asked suddenly, "Alice left me at her place." I supposed that was nice, not having to deal with hotels. "I'm surprised she left you." Johanne's eyes met mine, "I'm not, she's kind of forgetful." I'd certainly never noticed that trait. "Though how could she forget you were living with her for the moment?" Johanne laughed, "Oh simple enough, I came in on a late flight-she'd given me the key via mail because we weren't sure if I would get to her place before she had to go to work." And so Alice forgot about her sister visiting, but that didn't really make much sense. How could Alice forget her sister that she just started talking to again?
"Weren't you there when she came back?" Johanne sighed and tapped a finger against her elbow as she crossed her arms. "Nope, I was out looking about-I've never been to Gotham before, so I was sight seeing." Ah, now I understood how Alice could have forgotten her sister. "Then, funny enough I got lost." Which would explain her lateness of arriving at Alice's. "Oh no, that's terrible." Kates exclaimed, as if she really cared. "It wasn't that bad. I got to see more of Gotham that way, good and bad." She seemed to be able to see the good even out of something bad. "Johanne?" Someone called out, Johanne frowned and turned away from me and Kates. Kates looked at me, "How'd this come about?" She practically hissed at me. "She asked me to point people out for her." Johanne sighed and turned back to us. "Please don't leave me alone with the jerk heading our way." Jerk? Johanne glanced at me and I held my elbow out, well if she wanted to have an excuse to get away from a jerk. A tall dark haired man, hansome I supposed by the way women were watching him-walked up to us and Kates hurriedly excused herself. She might have gotten on people's cases at work, but she didn't like conflicts. "Hello Diederick." Diederick looked at me and my arm linked with Johanne's. "Who are you?" The tone was pleasant but the words themselves were just rude. "Jervis Tetch." The man blinked and shook his head. "Johanne, would you please talk to me?" She looked at me, "You're a dear dealing with me-I'm sorry I didn't think about my ex here coming to this. He'll try to be rude to you, but if you stand tall he'll stalk off." I snorted, I really couldn't help it, between the bored look on her face as if she was facing something rather boring and the way she said that, well how could I not? "Johanne!" If this was an ex then I really didn't care for him. "Would you like to dance?" Johanne's eyes brightened, "Yes please. Bye Diederick!"
The man's jaw dropped as we walked off. "By the way, I suck at dancing." She said with a smile. I chuckled, "That's alright, I know how to. When I was little my parents made me go to formal ballroom classes." Why they wanted me to know how to dance beats me, most of the time they ignored me. "Any ex's I should be worried about?" She asked as we hit the dance floor. "No, I…Well I haven't dated anyone in a long time."
Though to be honest, I never dated anyone before-no one would look my way, and why would they? For a while she didn't say anything and I was too busy teaching her steps to really think about her silence. "Diederick was the last guy I dated, and that was about two years ago." And he was still hounding her? Didn't he have any sense of decorum? "Why did he bother you?" She looked up at me with a smile; "Because right after I dumped him I moved to California." Well, that could be a good reason. "But, you haven't spoken to him in all that time?" Johanne nodded and I twirled us, there were so many people enjoying the music and dancing to it. A whirl of colors, and happy faces.
"No, I told him why it was over. I didn't think there was much more to say after that." I nodded, well- I suppose that made a certain amount of sense. "The last person I liked turned out to be with someone and had no interest in me." Johanne sighed; "My sister. She just doesn't get the world. She's so lost in a fairy tale…she doesn't see what's right in front of her, or how wrong Billy is for her." She knew something, but what? Was it bad about Billy that Alice wouldn't listen to? "You sound like you really hate Billy." She grinned; "I'm that obvious am I? Yes, I hate Billy. He's a player…Alice could have done much better if he hadn't sucked her in. I think he was cheating on her, but I couldn't prove it."
Now that wasn't very good. If he was cheating on Alice she was bound to get her heart shattered. "Kind of reminds me of Diederick." Had he cheated? "Sorry, you don't need to hear all this." I shook my head; "It sounds like you needed to get it off your chest." She smiled, "Ah, your so sweet-why couldn't Alice have chosen you?" I laughed, now-if Alice was doomed to sadness. Why couldn't I be happy with her sister?
Eventually we both became tired and left the dance floor to get a table, She went to sit down and I wandered off to get drinks. I didn't think I would have such a pleasant evening with Johanne, but it was turning out to be a very good evening indeed. I grabbed two drinks and started on my path back to her before Diederick stepped in my way. "Tetch, I want a word with you." I frowned; "And I don't want to talk to you." Diederick glowered and looked about ready to hit me. "She'll hurt you. You know, she never lasts long with anyone." I don't know why he felt it good to warn me off. "She left you, and she calls you a jerk-I have a feeling it was you that hurt her not the other way around." and I stormed off, Ex's aside she was a nice woman, and honestly if anyone hurt anyone…it would be me hurting her, because somewhere deep down I still cared for Alice.
"I saw that." Johanne said as I handed her a glass and took my seat next to her. I smiled and took a sip from my glass, the bubbles tickling my nose. "He threaten you?" I shook my head; "He said that you would hurt me." She blinked and giggled as she shook her head. "Wow, I didn't think he would stoop so low. Sorry about that, I though he understood that I was done with him." I shrugged; "People do strange things when it comes to romance." Johanne smiled; "That's true. Though, seriously why dose everyone get up in arms whenever they get broken up with?" I shrugged and looked at all the people dancing, so many of them couples. If I only knew, I hadn't really dated much...A few tries, but mostly I got dumped fairly quickly. I was shy and wanted to take it slow...apparently it was too slow for those women.
"I don't hurt people, they hurt me." I nodded, been there done that. "I know what you mean. It's like they set themselves up to fail when all you want is that love you thought you would share with them." Johanne's hand brushed mine. "I think it's odd that your single." I frowned; "I'm a scientist." She burst into laughter, "Doesn't stop most of us." I laughed, of course there were plenty of scientist couples. I'd met a few of them as it was.
"Yeah, but if you're in the same field you argue over it and if you're not you argue which is better." Johanne shook her head, a golden lock slipping over her bare shoulder. "Yeah, but if I had to compare my field to yours, well I wouldn't be able to." Did she want to? Because I was still reeling from Alice's departure. "Chemistry and neuroscience have some commonalities." She shrugged; "Not enough to argue about." A smile reached my lips. "We could argue on that matter." She shouldered me, I wondered what it would be like to date this woman, would she be Alice to my Hatter? Or would she just be a queen? "You know, I'm glad you came. I think this would have been a boring affair without you." She was just saying that. "Johanne Pleasance?" We both looked up and Johanne smiled; "Mister Wayne, I'm surprised you got away from your adoring fans." Wayne looked sheepish, "To be honest so am I." They both chuckled, "I take it you want to talk to me about that job offer?" Wayne nodded and drew up a chair, Johanne squeezed my hand. "If you want you can wander off, I'm sure it will be a boring conversation...but, honestly I'd like your opinions." I gave her probably the biggest most sincere smile yet. "I'd like to give you my opinion." We both looked at Wayne, who was giving us a strange look.
"Well, I see you've made friends." Johanne nodded; "As to that offer, why are you so adamant that I come and join your company?" Wayne smiled; "You're one of the best, if not the best in your field." She rolled her eyes; "I've heard that one before." He chuckled. "I'm sure, but I mean it and I have some of the best people to help you with your research." She nodded; "Maybe I will take you up on the offer." He nodded; "If you change your mind you know my number." He excused himself and wandered off into the crowd. "Well, that was interesting." I couldn't help but to nod, if that hadn't been so strange.
"Wanna ditch this place?" I blinked, "Sure." I don't know why I just agreed to that, what was wrong with me? I liked Alice! But, Johanne was paying me so much attention-was it pity? Or did she actually like me?
We walked out into the cold, Gotham night air. She stretched, "Where are you parked?" I jabbed a thumb towards the covered parking area. She smiled; "Yeah me too." We walked at a leisurely pace. "Thinking of living in Gotham?" Johanne smiled, "It's not completely impossible, I want to stick around for a bit to see what it would be like to live here." I actually would really like that…Maybe I really could start a relationship with her.
End Notes: Reasons for Jervis not being the hatter-
one: he hasn't had that emotional upheaval just yet, Johanne distracted him with her boobs lol
two: okay it was more than her boobs that caught his attention, she's smart, witty, and just plain fun to be around
three: Johanne gives a somewhat normal and not so lonely life, we all know the one in the show was lonely and just needed an Alice. Of course he got Cheshire instead since she is so fun loving, I couldn't think of a better character to be honest that she would identify herself with.
Four: um, I don't actually think there's a fourth lol yay! Only three reasons!