(The next day.)

Batman, Gotham City's famous vigilante, had just caught the Joker and was bringing him in to be locked up in his cell at Arkham. She didn't really want to be near the clown and his comments and jokes so she walked on down the hall in the way towards her office where Scarecrow was waiting for his next session with her.

Eve walked in and sat down across from Crane, taking out her notebook and pen.

"Hello, Johnny."

Silence.

She frowned sadly. "Why did you leave so suddenly yesterday? That hurt my feelings, you know."

"...Why should I care...?"

"I don't know." She shrugged. "But what I do know is that you hesitated. That had to have meant something. Right? Do you want me to be your doctor or not, Johnny?"

More Silence.

"Well?"

"I don't know..." He mumbled, sighing.

She sighed too and shook her head. "With all that you've been through, I'd expect you to be happy that someone cares for you and actually wants to help you. But instead you push me away. I don't understand...I mean. I do. But still. It's frustrating."

"I push you away because I know you don't really care." He stated.

She glared and slammed her notebook down abruptly, dropping her pen to the floor. "That's not true and you know it!"

"You've given me no solid proof that you truly care."

She thought about that for a moment. He was technically right. She hadn't provided any solid proof. Not really. Well what was she suppose to do!?

"What do you suppose I do to prove to you that I genuinely care?"

He didn't really know. Could she ever really prove that she truly cared? No. No one cared about him. No one. Not even his own parents. How could a Criminal Psychiatrist really care for him? And a woman of all people?! No one could like, care for, or enjoy the company of a scraggily little bookworm. Let alone a crazy murderer like him. How could she care!? How!?

"Nothing. I'll never believe you. Theres nothing you can do."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing. There's no hope for me anyhow. I'll never stop my work. Even if you did care, you couldn't help me."

"That won't stop me from trying."

"Don't try!" He screamed, his voice changing to a whole different level of low. "There's nothing you can do! I don't want to change!"

She gasped as he strained against his cuffs, seemingly trying to attack her. "Johnny calm down."

"Don't call me that! There is no Johnny! Only Scarecrow!"

She shook her head quickly. "No! I know the real, sane, good-hearted, Johnny is in there somewhere. I have faith in you!"

He screamed again, his restraints cutting into his wrists. "A casual stroll through this lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything! Awareness is the enemy of sanity, for once you hear the screaming, it never stops!"

"Stop! Please! You're hurting yourself!" She screamed.

"It is a proven fact that everyone on this earth has some bit of madness within their soul. I am no exception and neither are you!" He continued. "I am who I am. I couldn't even begin to tell you what terrible trigger for such insanity lies deep within my sub-conscious. Though no doubt that some would say that, indeed, it may be some demon of conscience. A deeply buried guilt for some unforgivable depravity. Then again, perhaps not." He laughed hysterically, his now extremely deep voice echoing off the walls. "There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are times when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind."

"Johnny quit it!"

"I said stop calling me that!"

His eyes glowed with anger and hate. He was glaring and growling at her, his mouth open with his teeth bared, his top lip curled up into a horrible sneer.

And that's when she realized he was right.

She wasn't talking to Johnny anymore. She was talking to the Scarecrow.

He had two personalities, split, and back to back. Connected by the same interests. One on the verge of insanity and one already there.

Johnny was gone. At least for now.

She got up and took a step towards him. "I'm talking to the Scarecrow now, aren't I? You and Johnny are two different people." It was more of a statement then a question.

He laughed again. "Hardly. The only thing that separates us is his conscience. Other then that, we are the same."

"I don't believe you two are the same. I've seen it in his eyes. I've seen it in his behavior. He isn't evil like you."

"Ha! Keep believing that, child. Because we are all limited in our knowledge, even the sanest of us are slightly insane. Even you. Our limitations are a kind of madness, and we can only choose to deny we are mad, and so descend into a dark spiral of total insanity, or accept we are mad and embark on a quest to regain our true and wholesome sanity. I just happened to accept it. But dear ole Jonathan did not."

"And so you became another personality."

"Correct. Maybe you're not stupid after all. Not many people have been able to coax me out in a session. I'm impressed. You must have really gotten to him."

"But I didn't do anything."

"Ah. Maybe you are stupid after all. Either that. Or you're blind. Maybe you're both." He chuckled darkly. "Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all of these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life...You give them a piece of you. They didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like look at you or smile at you, or maybe they even asked to be your friend and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like 'I don't care for you in that way' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love. I've always told him to be careful of love. It'll twist your brain around and leave you thinking up is down and right is wrong. After all. When love is not madness, it is not love."

She shook her head. "Are you saying that he l-loves...That Jo-"

"Loves you? Isn't it obvious?! Of course he does! Look at you! You're beautiful! But not only that! You are the only one who's ever shown him or me an ounce of kindness! You are the only one to survive our toxins! You are the only one that hasn't hallucinated because of our gas! You're amazing to him! Not only to him, but to me!"

"I-I-" She stuttered but he interrupted, still screaming.

"Don't say it! You don't understand either one of us! You-No...You weren't abused, you weren't bullied or fired from your job...You can't understand! I-"

"But I do! I do understand! Why can't you except that!?"

He strained against his cuffs again, making the bleeding worse. "I've been deceived by a woman before! No. No more! Not again! All of you are liars!"

She shook her head, a tear streaming down her face. This didn't go unnoticed of course. Scarecrow watched the tears fall from her cheeks down to the floor. Each drop making him realize she was telling the truth. That she really did care. She wasn't trying to cure him to get famous. She was trying to cure him to save him from himself. And yet. He still didn't believe it because he just didn't want to believe it. It wasn't possible in his mind. It just couldn't be.

He cringed as the pain in his wrists grew, but he kept fighting it. He kept pulling and ripping at his cuffs. He was starting to get dizzy. His anger taking a toll on him.

Suddenly she ran forward, grabbing his balled up fists. "Quit it! Quit! Stop it! Please! You're going to bleed to death or something!"

He tried to grabbed her throat. He tried to smack her. To do something.

He couldn't be deceived. Not by a woman. Not again.

She grasped his pale face in her hands that were now covered in his wrist's blood, pulling him forward. "Johnny. Listen to me. You can trust me. I can help you. You need to get better."

"I don't need any help! Didn't you hear me the first time!? I don't want to get better!" He screamed in her face, flailing around.

"Quit it, Johnny. Quit fighting me! It makes no sense. You need help and you know it!"

"Why! Why do you care about me? ME! Of all people!"

"Because I just do, Johnny. I care about you. Both of you. And that's exactly why I'm trying to help you. I need to help you. Don't you want to be sane again, living in Gotham without the police chasing you, tracking you down wherever you go. Maybe even teaching at the university again?"

"NO! I want to be the Scarecrow! Only Scarecrow!"

She sighed. "Then I guess I have no use in being your doctor anymore. Good luck, Johnny..." Getting up, she turned around to walk to the door, planning on calling the nurses to get him to the medical wing asap when he grabbed her arm, yanking her back to the floor in front of him.

And that's when he kissed her.

It was earnest, not at all violent like she would have expected. It was tender, passionate, full of emotion. He'd done it on impulse. Not thinking his action through.

That was bad.

Because she slapped him.

At first he had felt the warmth of her lips against his own. The way they fit perfectly together. How soft she was. Then he felt his tongue slip into her mouth and at that same moment he felt her pull back and the red hot sting of a slap across his cheek.

He cried out but didn't let go of her, in fact, it only made him want her more.

Even the Scarecrow couldn't resist the affection, the longing and the lust he felt for her.

And so Crane stopped fighting it. He stopped resisting and gave up, letting himself and the Scarecrow be consumed by their emotions, their lust, and desire for her. For someone that cared. Not only someone who cared, but someone who cared for them.

One little taste. That's all he wanted. One little taste to sustain him for life in this horrible prison. With this one taste, he could rot here as far as he was concerned. He just needed to have her. Just once. Just once...