Warning: There is some swearing and sexual content in this chapter.

Chapter 2

Fear & Manipulation

The wind softly bristled softly through the corn stalks. This was a sound I was very familiar with but still I was getting nervous and more anxious.

"How the hell did I let you talk me into this?" I angrily asked as Jonathan and we wandered aimlessly through the cornfield, located on the outskirts of Gotham.

"If I may Emmy, you did volunteer to do this." Jonathan stated clearly unimpressed with my comment. He was right; I had no one to blame but myself. Damn I hated being out here. This place was creepier than any cornfield I had been out in before. It felt like anything could jump out and murder us at any time. I held the small hand gun tighter than I had previously.

'Keep calm,' the Psychologist in me said, 'Nothing is out there, and if something does happen to be out there shoot it or push Jonathan towards it and get the hell out of here.'

I looked over at the lean man next to me and shook my head.

'That's wouldn't work." I thought as we continued to walk. 'He would probably throw me towards it and laugh as the thing ate me before I had a chance to shoot anything.' Within a few more minutes I gulped a bit as I looked up to see a large hay stuffed scarecrow.

"Ok we're here." I said turning to Jonathan. "Can we go home now?"

"Tell me exactly what you're feeling now." He said to me, getting out his little notepad I had seen many times now.

~Flashback~

A few weeks passed since the beginning of the school year, I had spent a lot of time with Jonathan, though I still learned very little about him. He was very focused on his studies and was very straightforward with me.

The second week into the semester, Jonathan informed me that he had arranged for us to visit a local farm, at night to walk through the cornfield to encounter a scarecrow. I freaked out on him but he was calm and told me to relax….yeah that wasn't going to happen.

Before I left Iowa my father gave me couple of hand pistols and a riffle to take to Gotham. He also insisted I carried a can of mace spray with me at all times. I never carried the mace with me and the guns were mostly locked up in a gun cabinet in my room.

I had just unlocked the gun cabinet when I heard a knock on my door. I didn't have time to leave my room when I heard a key in the keyhole and my door was being unlocked. I walked into my front room, to see Jonathan closing the front door behind him.

"Ah, Emmy, are you ready to go?" Jonathan questioned, holding the key to my apartment I had placed under the welcome mat outside my door.

"How did you know about that?" I asked him pointing to the key. He glanced down at it.

"Never leave a key under your welcome mat again. You're in Gotham now and the last thing you need is for a rapist to have access to your apartment." Jonathan scolded as he waved the key back and forth. I took the key and put it down on the coffee table in front of my couch.

"Are you ready?" he repeated.

"Almost, I just need to grab one last thing." I said going back into my room. I opened my gun cabinet and pulled out my favorite hand gun. I smiled at it, made sure it was loaded, grabbed a few more rounds and walked back into the room Jonathan was waiting in. He eyed the gun for a moment.

"What do you think is going to attack you? I promise the scarecrow isn't going to magically come alive." Jonathan commented unimpressed at my actions.

"It's not for the scarecrows… it's for the coyotes." I said attaching the gun to my belt.

"Coyotes?" he asked me..

"Yep. I highly doubt we'll run into one but it would be wise to have this if we do." I said patting the gun.

"Very well…..shall we go?" he asked me. I nodded and followed him out the door.

Once to the farm we talked to the owner for a moment, he quickly gave me permission to shoot any coyotes we came across and pointed us in the direction of the cornfield.

~End of Flashback~

After telling Jonathan how I was feeling, having my heart rate and blood pressure taken, I looked back up at the scarecrow, memories of the story I had been told and my brother sneaking into my room seemed vividly come to life before me. Jonathan was talking but I couldn't hear him. I was too absorbed looking at the scarecrow. I was drawn out of my daze when I heard my name being said.

"What?" I asked looking back at my partner.

"I was asking you if you wanted to leave. We both have class early tomorrow morning after all." Jonathan said, seeming satisfied with the data we had collected. I looked at him and nodded.

"Yeah let's go." I agreed before we made our way back to the farmhouse.

"I was thinking we could come back a couple more times to see if there was any change." Jonathan suggested.

"That would be fine. It feels like a creepy version of home here." I answered. He went on about our next experiment, something about snakes, when we heard a snarl coming from our left. I put my hand out in front of Jonathan to stop him. Once I had his attention he heard the growls and a coyote had emerged from the corn stalks a few feet in front of us.

"Make as much noise as you can." I shouted, hoping to scare the coyote away. I drew my gun aiming it at the animal, just in case. The coyote started to slowly circle us, before it initiated an attack by running towards us. I fired one shot off as a warning but that didn't work either and the coyote was getting closer. I fired one last shot, as the coyote lunged at us, hitting and killing the coyote. It was a time like this I was grateful my dad took the time to teach me how to shoot.

"Well, that was an adrenaline rush." I said looking at the corpse that lay in front of us. Jonathan's face remained as neutral as ever. I wasn't sure, I had been too worried about the coyote to notice, but from I could tell Jonathan didn't react to our interaction with the coyote in fear. In fact, I could almost feel him watching me, like he wanted to catch a glimpse of my fear from the situation.

After letting the farmer know about the coyote, we left the farm and headed back to my apartment.

"Well that was fun." I commented to Jonathan, as we reached my apartment door.

"You were holding onto your gun the majority of the time we were there." he stated. I unlocked my door.

"Have a good night." I told him before walking into my apartment.

"Night." Jonathan barely waved as he walked off like he always did.

...

"Breathe, Emmy." Jonathan instructed as we walked into a local pet store. Jonathan seemed to be having fun with these experiments we were performing.

After our visit to the farm, Jonathan informed me we would be going to a pet store where I could come face-to-face with a corn snake. Corn snakes are harmless and for the most part have a pretty mild personality. Still a snake is a snake and my nerves had begun to quiver.

'Jonathan hates me, that's all there is to it.' I thought while Jonathan introduced us to the store clerk. 'How else could he enjoy watching me squirm like this?'

"Oh right you guys are here to play with our corn snake. One moment and I'll get him out." the clerk said, before going to the back of the store. I waited nervously for the man to return with the snake.

"Are you alright?" Jonathan questioned while my heart started to race.

"I'm not touching it, you can't me touch it." I whined in a childish tone. I really didn't want to be here. Jonathan raised an eyebrow and got out his little notepad to write down what I had just said. He started to take my blood pressure when the clerk returned with the little red and orange snake. My eyes widened as I let out a small shriek and ran out the pet store door.

A few minutes later Jonathan joined me outside.

"Nice reaction." he smirked. There was no way I was doing that again.

...

A couple of weeks passed before Jonathan convinced me to go back to the pet store.

"You did agree to do this." he reminded me as waited for the clerk to bring the corn snake back out. Damn, why did I agree to do this subject?

"Yes, but I didn't say I'd like it. Can't we just go watch a documentary on snakes or something?" I suggested, knowing he wasn't going to let me out of this that easy.

"Just tell me what you're feeling." Jonathan demanded, ready to write in his notepad.

"Well, I'm not too fond of you right now." I informed him a bit harshly. I really, really didn't want to be here.

"You didn't have to agree to do this." He seethed. His patience for my lack of enthusiasm was getting thin.

"No but I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. I'm not touching the snake."

"You don't have to touch it this time around. Let's just keep you in the same room as it for at least three minutes." he suggested as the store clerk approached us with the small snake.

'Ok, Emmy, stop whining and just get this over it.' I thought to myself as I started a staring contest with the snake...it won. I didn't want to be here but at least Jonathan wasn't making me touch the snake.

"I thought you were more afraid of Scarecrows." Jonathan commented watching me closely.

"I am but the Scarecrow isn't here and even if it was, it couldn't bite me." I replied not looking away from the snake. 'Its such a cool looking creature.' I thought to myself. 'Yeah...it still freaks me out.'

Jonathan and I would return to the pet store a few more times until Jonathan made me touch the snake. I yelled at him and hightailed it out of there. Jonathan seemed pretty pleased with what we had gathered. He wanted to go back to the pet store but there was no way that was happening. Gosh, I'm such a big baby.

…..

More time passed and it was now November.

"So I was wondering if you were going home for Thanksgiving." I asked Jonathan as we sat in our usual spot in the café. We were starting to finalize our project.

"I don't see how that's any of your concern, but no. I'll be here." He answered without looking up from his work.

"I'm not going home either, actually." I fumbled around a bit." I was wondering if you'd like to get together and have Thanksgiving dinner. We could work on our project and try to finish it up." I didn't want to be alone for the holiday. I had a hard time making friends and Jonathan was the extent of my social life due to our project.

"Alright, that sound fine." Jonathan agreed, again without looking up.

...

A few more weeks passed and it was now Thanksgiving. Jonathan was over at my apartment. We talked about our project as we waited for the turkey to finish cooking. Once the turkey was done I put the homemade pumpkin pie in the oven and served the small turkey. It was snowing outside and I had my fireplace on to keep the apartment heated.

"So, why are you so fascinated with fears?" I asked Jonathan as we took a break from our project to eat. I spent a lot of time with him but he was a private person and didn't tell me much about himself. Jonathan looked a bit surprised by my question. He thought a moment before answering.

"I've always been fascinated with phobias. We all have them and our lives are influenced by them. By studying fears and intensifying them, we can learn much and may eventually be able to truly overcome our fears. I want to master fears." He replied. I went to reply when the power went out.

I got out some candles that I had in a drawer next to the fridge and lite them with the flames of the fire. We sat next to fire as we finished our food.

"I don't like the dark." I whispered to myself.

"Afraid of the dark are we?" Jonathan asked with a smirk.

"Maybe just a little." I replied, pinching my pointer finger barely above my thumb. We went through the motions of how I was feeling while Jonathan jotted down every little detail.

After that was done, I pulled the pumpkin pie out of the oven and walked it over to the fire to see if it had finished before the power went off.

"It's looks like it's done. Do you want a slice?" I asked. He nodded. Once we were munching on our pies, I turned to him.

"Scarecrow." I suddenly said as an idea came to my mind.

"Scarecrow?" he questioned giving me a suspicious look.

"Yes, that should be your nickname. You said you wanted to be the master of fears, Scarecrows are pretty good at causing fears in my opinion." I blurted out barely thinking about what I was saying. Jonathan stared at me for a moment, thinking about what I had said.

"Alright, call me 'the scarecrow'." Jonathan joked with a half-smile. I returned the smile as we joked around bit more.

Jonathan was a very serious, straightforward person and joking around wasn't something I had seen him do before. We were sitting close to each other while we joked and I didn't realize how close we were until we were finished. Our faces were inches apart and we stared at each other a bit awkwardly before I turned away.

"Thanks for coming tonight." I thanked him, trying to make it less awkward. "I didn't want to be alone for the holiday."

"Thanks for inviting me. The turkey was excellent and it was good to get as much done on our project as we have." He replied. I could feel his eyes pierce into me. It felt like he was up to something but what was it? He seemed to have a way of manipulating things into happening his way. I fell for his manipulation before though I didn't recognize it until afterwards.

I stared at the crackling fire for a moment before I turned back to Jonathan and offered to take his now empty plate. He handed it to me our hands touching slightly. I felt a twinge in my stomach, smiled at him and walked away.

I knew I found him physically attractive. He was a very handsome man but we were just friends if even that. I mean, the guy dragged me out to a cornfield to see a Scarecrow and made me touch a snake. Then there's the fact that I didn't even know him that well.

I was putting the dishes in the sink when I heard Jonathan stand up. I could hear the shuffle of his feet as he walked over to me. Within a few seconds he was at my side. A minute later I felt his hand on top of mine. He was confusing; I couldn't read him at all. I turned to him and went to say something but when our eyes met I realized his eyes were filled with lust.

His lips crashed on top of mine as his hand started to wander my body. My eyes widened at this sudden touch. What the hell was he doing? I wanted to pull away but his arm was wrapped tightly around me, holding me close to him. His hand continued to roam my body for a few minutes. He was turning me on and I was getting to a point where I wouldn't tell him no.

Jonathan's lips broke away from mine as he looked at me. He seemed to study my face. I was breathing heavily as I watched him and wondered what his next move would be.

"One night stand?" Jonathan asked me suddenly. I was surprised he would be blunt about it. I hesitated to answer for a minute until I felt a small zing from the spot his hand was caressing. I nodded, agreeing to the one night stand. It wasn't long before we were in my bed making love.

….

Jonathan's P.O.V

A couple of weeks passed since the one night stand, Emmy and I had shared. I found Emmy both highly annoying and somewhat intoxicating. She was so perky but could be straight forward. I was attracted to her physically and she did seem somewhat smart. A relationship would never work between us. We were two completely different people besides she was too hyper and tad bit whiny for me. She was a hard worker though and that made her tolerable.

The day after I spent the night at Emmy's apartment we both agreed to pretend that it didn't happen and to just move on as friends. I wanted that but at the same time I wanted Emmy as a noncommittal lover. I wanted to pick through the layers of her brain and know what she thought and why she thought what she did. I both liked and disliked her for various reasons.

It was the final day of class before we would present our projects to our fellow students. I looked for Emmy but she never showed up. This wasn't like her, she always came to class. She had been sick the last few days but even at that she had always shown up.

After that class was finished I decided to skip out on my next class and took a bus over to Emmy's apartment. Once at her door, I knocked but didn't hear anything.

"Emmy, are you in there?" I knocked again. When I didn't get a reply the second time, I lifted up her welcome mat to see her apartment key. I shook my head, thinking about how I had told her not to do that.

'This girl is too damn naive for Gotham.' I thought as I unlocked and opened the door.

"Emmy?" I called out once I was inside the apartment "It's me Jonathan." I looked around but there was no sign of her. I walked over to her bedroom and was shocked at what I saw. The sheets on her bed were stained with blood.

"Emmy!" I called out again, walking into her bedroom only to find a trail of blood leading from the bed to her bathroom.

"Jonathan!" I heard a faint call come from the bathroom. I quickly walked over to the door and opened it to find Emmy lying on her bathroom floor in a pool full of blood.

Author's Note: Hello everyone! I hope you enjoyed chapter 2 of my story. I realize it feels like things are going a little fast but I promise there's a reason for it. Thanks to ZenyZootSuit for reviewing! And thanks to those who are following my story! If you have a moment please leave a review. Constructive criticism is always welcomed. Thanks again!-Lin