Disclaimer: I don't own Jonathan Crane (sadly) nor Batman. I don't claim to own them. I don't make any profit off of this. I'm just having fun.

Interlude

03

"So, D.G. What did Mr. Crane get you for Valentine's Day?"

February 14th. Valentine's Day. The day when all the happy teenaged couples exchanged flowers and candy. It was also the day when I couldn't get Jenna Anderson and Jake Marshall to quit sucking face long enough to get the fuck off my locker.

Needless to say, I wasn't in a good mood.

I gave Belinda a halfhearted glare and shut my locker door with a loud bang. "Nothing as of yet. What did Owen give you?"

Belinda lifted her shirt and I looked away, almost blushing. What the hell was she doing? That's all I needed to cement my reputation as a freak, my best friend flashing me in the middle of the hallway.

Laughing, Belinda grabbed my hair so I looked at her. "He took me to get my belly button pierced! Isn't it cute?"

I looked down and saw a tiny silver bar going through her tan skin, with a small star dangling from the bar. The star was lined with diamonds. "Well.. it's unique."

My friend laughed again and pulled her shirt back down over her taut stomach. "It's so Owen. He knew I've been wanting to get this done for awhile but I hated to waste my own money on it, especially since my mom died. He saved up and took me to an actual tattoo parlor to have it done!"

I smiled at her enthusiasm and without realizing it, my hand found it's way to the locket Jonathan gave me. My fingers ran over the metal and I calmed a little. I missed him, but I would survive.

Jonathan had kept his word about calling (almost) every day. It was pretty awkward still, we were so used seeing each other face to face that tinny voices over the phone was difficult to get used to. For the both of us.

School was hell. If Lilly Carothers and Polly Whats-her-face would get over their differences, I guarantee they would find a way to be bffs (as in best friends, forever. Duh.). I'm sure the mutual taunting and mocking would be enough to make them hetero soul mates. They could even form a club. D.G. Cohen Haters, Anonymous.

I rolled my eyes. To think I had hopes of having a normal, quiet senior year. Of course, that all ended when Jonathan fucking Crane looked at me with those eyes. I was sucked in and my life hadn't been normal since.

Today has just been one of those days.

"Don't look so glum, Dee." Belinda hooked her arm through mine as we walked down the hall to lunch. "I'm sure Jonathan has something amazing planned for you!"

I cast her a doubtful glance. "Are we talking about the same Jonathan Crane?"

"Shush you. That boy is head over heels for you, and I'm sure he's pining away for you at this very moment."

I decided then that we obviously were not talking about the same Jonathan. "Yeah, yeah. I just want to make it through lunch without Polly bugging the fuck out of me."

"Oh, she's not that bad. Anyways, she's not here today. Skipped class to be with her overage boyfriend or something." I gave a little sigh of relief. Belinda obviously did not approve but kept quiet.

The cafeteria was busy as usual and I went through the motions of getting a lunch that I wouldn't eat and I sat with people I didn't really know. If only I could numb myself to the hard benches like I did everything else.

Belinda and Owen were easy enough to get along with, but with it being the day that it was, they were too involved with each other to notice anything. A giant alligator could have burst up from the sewers and they wouldn't have blinked.

Josh, the cute brunette, scooted closer to me and leaned in. "Makes you kind of sick, doesn't it?"

I pulled away quickly and raised an eyebrow in his direction. "What?"

He chuckled, a rich sound. "The lovebirds. I'm pretty sure there is a vacuum seal connecting their mouths."

I cocked my head at the said lovebirds and couldn't help but agree with Josh. How could they even breathe? "I think you're right."

Josh grinned at me. "I know we were introduced, but we never really spoke. Josh Nickerson is the name."

His smile was infectious. "D.G. Cohen."

"That's short for something, right? I knew I heard Crane call you something else."

I made a face. "Yes but I hate it so don't worry about it. Jonathan and my mom are the only ones who get away with using the other name."

"That bad, huh?" Owen's voice made me jump and I glanced at him. Both he and Belinda's lips were bright red. "How is Crane, by the way?"

"He's okay." I took a sip of my tea. "He's in Gotham now, actually. He's going to Gotham University."

Owen had already busied himself with kissing his girlfriend again and I felt the urge to throw something at him.

Josh whistled, his voice low. "I knew that kid was a smart one. The way those idiots treated him was ridiculous. You know, I tried to talk to him once and he just glared at me. Thinking back, it was probably a defense mechanism."

I couldn't help but giggle a little. "Probably. I offered to take him to the eye doctor's to get his glasses replaced and he acted like I asked him to strip his skin off."

"Well, I'm glad he finally found someone to stand by his side. No one deserves to go through what he's been through, and all alone."

That made me pause. "What has he gone through?"

Josh looked like he wanted to retract his words. After several seconds of silence and let out a breath. "I only moved here when we were in sixth grade so I don't know the exact extent. But I know that he was bullied long before I moved here. I heard the whispers. Scarecow, taunts about how poor he was, how quiet. He just seemed to take it all in stride."

I frowned, my beautiful boyfriend in the front of my mind. He had been through so much. "I have a feeling that there's a strong 'but' coming."

"You're right, of course. Lilly Carothers is the but, so to speak."

"Really?" I followed Josh's eyes to where Lilly sat, smiling and laughing with the in crowd.

The brunette nodded. "Right? You can't tell it now, but Lilly and Jonathan used to be pretty close. I think he might have even 'liked' her." My new friend even used air quotes. "But then something happened. Don't ask me, no one exactly knows. All I know is one day she was best friends with Jonathan and the next she was hanging out with Sherry Williams and Jonathan was sporting a black eye."

Disgust was churning my stomach so I pushed my lunch tray away. "You think she set him up?"

"Yeah." Josh nodded solemnly. "I mean, that's the only thing I can think of. She wasn't friends at all with Sherry before."

Wicked Bitch of the South, indeed.


As soon as I reached the door to the apartment, the door started ringing incessantly. "Fuck!" I cursed angrily and fed my key to the slot. As soon as I could, I threw the door open and grabbed the phone off the side table. "Hello?"

"You sound out of breath. What's wrong?"

I almost rolled my eyes and slung my back down before kicking the door shut and dead bolting it. "Hello to you too, Jonathan. I just got in."

"You're late?"

"I had to beat Belinda off with a bat. She and Owen are going out tonight and she actually wanted me to go with them and be the third wheel." I toed my shoes off and sat down at the kitchen counter.

"Sounds... entertaining."

"Hardly." I glanced around me before my eyes came to rest on a small white box with white ribbon sitting innocently on the counter. "Huh, I think Mom left her Valentine's present for Daniel."

"Actually, that's for you." My breath caught in my throat. "I'm sorry for not being able to spend our first Valentine's Day together, even though I know it is important to you."

"Jonathan, you didn't have to." I knew his money was tight. He had just gotten a job at the campus book store part-time. "Really. It's not that big of a deal."

He sighed. "It is, too. Open it, Dahlia."

So I did. I held the phone between my head and my shoulder as usual as I carefully unwrapped the ribbon. I took a deep breath before I opened the box, anxious to see what was inside.

A simple silver charm bracelet sat on the annoying fluff that the jewelry stores used. I carefully lifted it out of the box, smiling a little when I saw the tiny charms.

One was a violin, the other was a scarecrow.

"It's beautiful, Jonathan. Thank you so much." I blinked back tears as I carefully (and yet clumsily) hooked it around my wrist. The pearlized charms glittered in the dull light. "But a scarecrow?"

"I knew you would like it. The scarecrow reminded me of the book you mentioned before. Wicked? The Scarecrow and Witch fall in love."

I laughed a little. "They do, but it doesn't end well."

"Yes, well, things like that hardly do. Regrettably, that isn't the only reason I called right away."

"What's wrong?" I still studied my bracelet, smiling at the little details the charms had.

"Bruce Wayne has gone missing."


A/N: I hope you guys liked it! This one is a bit longer than the others, but it's not the norm. They all vary in length so far.

I'd like to thanks all my reviewers and everyone who has favorited and followed! Every alert I get makes the words come that much faster. My muse is annoyingly fickle.

I finally saw Dark Knight Rises, by the way, and it was BRILLIANT. I want to see it again already. Wish Crane had a bigger part, but unfortunately my wish will never be realized. -sigh-