"How did the interview go?" Jonathan wondered when he saw me on Wednesday evening. I had driven back to my mom's house with the full intention of going to wallow in my bedroom. Self pity was needed after the last hour which I had just had. Interviews had been running all day for a new secretary and a new PA, but, when I looked around and saw some of the girls, I knew I was out of my depth. They were loaded in designer gear, slick outfits and coiffed hair. I had on my best Topshop skirt and blouse and my hair had only just managed to be tamed when I rolled out of bed ten minutes late that morning.
And then I had driven home to find Jonathan's car parked in the drive on the left and I had groaned. I didn't want to admit to him that I had failed in my poor excuse of an interview. He had warned me that Wayne Enterprises may not be for me. Why did he always have to be right about everything?
"I don't want to talk about it," I grumbled, dropping the satchel I owned onto the floor of the hallway as he stood in the doorway of the kitchen. "How did you get in here?"
"Your mom was home but she had to go. She wanted to cook you a special dinner tonight and she invited me. Something came up at work and her and Daniel rushed off," Jonathan explained to me, folding his arms and pushing his glasses further up his nose as I flapped my arms by my side.
"When will she be back?" I wondered.
"She didn't say," Jonathan said; his voice bored as he arched a brow. "So what happened at the interview?"
"I don't want to talk about it," I mumbled again, moving past Jonathan and into the kitchen as I searched for the bottle of wine which mother kept hidden in the cupboard above the microwave. Jonathan followed me, slowly settling himself onto a bar stool as he shook his head.
"Alcohol won't help," he promised me and I snorted once. It could try to help. "Isabelle, just tell me what happened."
"Nothing," I responded with a quick shrug. "Nothing happened."
"Sounds like a dull interview," he responded and I glared at him for a moment as he raised both brows to his forehead and shrugged at me. "What? If nothing happened then it is dull!"
"You were right," I simply spoke back to him, pouring the white wine into a wine glass before downing a swig of it. I didn't even like wine whilst Jonathan liked nothing better than knowing he was right, but, he seemed to be saving me the smug grin for this evening. "I'm not cut out for it...everyone else there..."
"Sit down," Jonathan urged me, indicating to the stool next to his and I did as he had asked, settling myself onto the black seat and resting my wine glass on the breakfast bar, my hand still wrapped around it as he reached out and placed his cold hand into mine. "Now, what happened?"
"I turned up...and they told me interviews had been going on all day...I thought maybe I would be alright...two openings...I had a chance. I mean...I got this far in the application...and then I went into the waiting room, Jonathan. And the girls who were there...they'd fit right in with the likes of the Wayne board...they had perfectly combed hair and made up faces as well as clothes from Dolce and Gabbana and then there was me...I couldn't even get out of bed on time to get ready and my hair looks like a birds nest, my clothes are slightly creased from how I sat in the car and my boobs are completely non-existent whilst my legs are just like spindles...how can I compete with that?"
I must have sounded completely crazy to him. I know I sounded crazy to myself and if I saw someone else in this position then I would have laughed at them for being so pathetic. But, it felt really bad. For once, Jonathan didn't seem to have a smart answer to come out of his mouth like he did when I was on so many of my putdowns, instead, his thumb gently moved over my knuckle as I drank some more of my wine.
"You can compete with that," Jonathan assured me, moving to the edge of his stool so that he could take my wine glass away from me and place it down. He grabbed onto my now free hand and looked me in the eye as I hiccupped once. "They don't give out jobs which are based on looks, Isabelle. Yes, that may be true at Wayne Enterprises, but, there are other places where they don't look at your bra size or the length of your legs, which, may I say, are fine. I'm sure half of those girls weren't as attractive as you're thinking because you, Isabelle...you're beautiful, alright? It only matters how the interview went."
I laughed at that and then shuddered. He didn't want to know how the interview went. But...he had called me beautiful. He had never been called me that before. He's often said that I wasn't unattractive but that was different to being called beautiful. He was never that kind.
"What?" he wondered aloud and I looked away from his eyes.
"The interview...well...that didn't go well, either."
"What happened there?" he wondered and I scowled.
"I tripped out of the door and managed to ask if anyone knew if Bruce Wayne was still alive," I replied and Jonathan did chuckle slightly at that.
"It's not funny!" I exclaimed and he composed himself in a second, shaking his head back and forth in agreement.
"No," he said, trying to be serious, "it's not. How did you even manage to ask that?"
"I don't know," I complained, taking my hands from his and resting my forehead against the breakfast bar. "I'm a screw up."
"You're not a screw up," Jonathan promised my gently. "You're just clumsy and sometimes...well...random...but you're not a screw up."
...
Leaving the university was probably the best thing which Jonathan had done. His first day at Arkham had been interesting, to say the least. He would get used to the crazies there. And they would get used to his methods, of course they would.
They didn't really get a say.
"How was it?" Isabelle wondered as soon as Jonathan let her into his apartment. He had returned home from work and managed to pour himself a glass of water before he heard the knock on his apartment door. He opened it up to see Isabelle stood there, slightly damp from the rain outside as she beamed up at him.
"Good," he simply said, a lack of enthusiasm on his voice as he did so and Isabelle's voice dropped.
"You could sound cheerful if it was that good," she informed him and he smirked once, letting her in and taking her coat from her shoulders.
"We can't all have the enthusiasm like some high school cheerleader," he reasoned with her and she shrugged as he drank some more of the water and dropped her coat onto the back of his chair at the desk. "How has your day been?"
"Dull," she complained. "I had to do the grocery shopping as well as look for jobs."
"Wayne Enterprises still haven't rung?" he checked with her and she shook her head, biting her cheek as she did so.
"It's been a week. I don't think they will."
"You never know," Jonathan said, his hand moving onto her shoulder as he walked through to his kitchen. "Why are you so wet, anyway?"
"I had to take the public transport network here," Isabelle complained, following him into the kitchen and running a hand down her wet hair. "Mom's car is broken and she needed mine."
"You didn't have to come if it wasn't...convenient," Jonathan assured her and she shrugged.
"I didn't mind," she promised him and he arched a brow at her, passing her the glass of orange which she always had when she came over to his apartment.
"You should go and change. Sitting in wet clothes shan't help your immune system."
"Yes, Doctor Crane," she saluted him and drank some of the orange whilst Jonathan chuckled at her. "I have no other clothes."
"I'll find you a shirt," Jonathan assured her. "Are you staying the night?"
Isabelle's mouth hung open for a second as Jonathan looked at her in slight confusion.
"What?" he wondered and Isabelle shook her head. "There is a first time for everything, Isabelle. I'm hardly going to let you get the public transport system home at midnight and I don't feel like driving all the way across town. It is practical. You should maybe go for a shower too. It will help you warm up."
...
Isabelle did as the good doctor had ordered her to. She stood in Jonathan's bedroom with a towel wrapped around her as she looked at his decor. His room was simple, cream walls like everywhere else and a spacious double bed which was perfectly made. Not that she expected anything other than that. The white sheets didn't have a crinkle in them and the bedside table next to it contained just one book about Psychology as well as a bedside lamp, similar to the other bedside table. His wardrobes were lined up against the wall, all doors shut and a mirror on one of them. A purple tie hung limply on his wooden bedpost at the end of the bed and a chest of drawers stood with bottles on top of them.
Isabelle dropped the towel to the floor before sliding into the white shirt which Jonathan had leant her. She ran the towel through her hair before walking over to a photo frame on the chest of drawers. She looked down onto it, looking at the man and woman who were stood there as she took in their appearance. The woman had short, black hair and the man long brown hair, much like Jonathan's. Both of them had large blue eyes, but the woman had fair skin along with cheek bones and the man had plump lips. They appeared to be on a beach somewhere, holding each other as they smiled out of the photograph.
"My parents."
Isabelle jumped back as she looked over her shoulder at where Jonathan was stood. His hands were in his pockets as he moved into the room and looked at the floor.
"What happened to them?" Isabelle whispered as Jonathan shook his head, moving closer to her and looking at the photo as she watched him.
"They died when I was little," he replied with a nonchalant shrug. "I was five."
"I'm sorry," Isabelle whispered to him out of natural reaction and he smiled weakly at her, picking the frame up and then resting it face down against the wood.
"It was a long time ago," he assured her. "I went to live with my grandmother."
"Where is she now?"
"She died," Jonathan responded. "I was nineteen and in college."
"Don't you have anyone?" Isabelle whispered, folding the towel up in her hands as Jonathan shrugged.
"I have you," he simply responded. "Dinner is ready."
And then he left Isabelle in his room, turning quickly on his heel and marching out to the kitchen. She remained silent for a second before depositing his towels back into the bathroom and following him out to dinner.
...
She had never seen Jonathan in anything other than a suit, but, seeing him in pyjamas was something else. He seemed more relaxed than normal and not as stiff as he stood in the doorway to his bedroom and Isabelle stood near the sofa, wondering what he was doing.
"It seems daft...you sleeping on the sofa when I have a large bed...and we've been...well...together...for a while." He managed to worm his words out as Isabelle crossed her legs at her ankles and waited for him to spit it out.
"You will have to have the left hand side of the bed," he finally spoke, a grin on his face as he did so. "I can't sleep on that side."
Isabelle hastily nodded in agreement before following him into the bedroom, turning the lights out as she did so and then watching as Jonathan rolled the covers back and plumped his pillow up.
"I shall be gone early tomorrow morning," he informed her as she slid into the allocated space and he did the same, looking over at her as he did so. "Do you want me to wake you or leave you?"
"It depends," she taunted him gently as she lay flat on her back and Jonathan propped his head up on his elbow. "Do I get breakfast in bed if you wake me up?"
Jonathan chuckled gently, laying flat on his side as he pulled the covers up to his shoulder and his hand moved across to rest on her hip as she boldly moved closer to him.
"I have cereal and that is the extent of breakfast," he informed her. "I could maybe stretch to toast."
"Whatever you want to do," Isabelle said before yawning and Jonathan kissed her on the cheek.
"Go to sleep," he urged and then rolled onto his back.
...
Jonathan wasn't sure how it happened. He rarely moved when he slept so it must have been Isabelle who had tangled herself against him. Her head was now resting just beneath his chin as her arm draped over his chest and his arm held her around her waist. His clock informed him that it was five in the morning. He had to get up, but, he was torn. He didn't want to leave her. He was comfortable...he was content...and Jonathan was never content. The worst part was that she smelt like him. She had used his shampoo and was currently wearing his shirt. It made Jonathan...well...he felt...light headed when he looked at her.
But he had to move. He slowly untangled her from him, making sure she didn't wake as he headed into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. His hair was askew around his face, his eyes drooping and his cheeks paler than normal as he ran cold water against his face.
She's making you weak.
"Shut up," Jonathan mumbled quickly back to the voice which had popped into his head.
You need to get rid of her.
"I said, shut up," Jonathan mumbled back, looking at the mirror and blinking quickly. Nothing was wrong.
She's sleeping in your bed. She's wearing your clothes. You woke up holding her. You're so close to her, yet, you don't know what her greatest fear is.
"It doesn't matter," he mumbled. "I don't want to hurt her."
Has she gotten to you, Jonathan? Do you love her?
"No," Jonathan shook his head. "I can't love her."
It seems that's a lie. She doesn't know anything about you, Jonathan. She knows nothing and you'll never tell her anything, because you want to protect her. You love her.
"She's mine," Jonathan hissed. "I won't let you take her. She's not yours to mess around with. She's mine and only mine."
Perhaps, for now. But, as time goes on, she will find out. You can't keep secrets forever.
"I can," Jonathan snapped back. "And I will."
...
Isabelle had felt Jonathan move from the bed but she didn't open her eyes. She remained silent, focusing on her breathing as she heard him enter the bathroom through his bedroom door which led onto it. She propped herself onto her side before she heard what sounded like whispering. Slowly, she climbed out of the bed and walked over to the door, stopping as she heard Jonathan's voice. Was he on the phone? She didn't know. She slowly peeked through the crack of the door and saw his head hanging low, his hands against the basin as his eyes pierced the mirror.
"She's mine," he hissed. "I won't let you take her. She's not yours to mess around with. She's mine and only mine."
Isabelle jumped back from the door. Hearing him talk like that...so...possessive and angry and...well...he sounded dangerous. Was he talking about her? Who was he talking to? She remained leant against the wall as she heard the running of water and then she trudged back to the bed, lying down as her thoughts consumed her.
"You're awake," Jonathan said when he walked back out of the bathroom. A towel hung around his waist as he moved over to his wardrobe and Isabelle managed to smile at him. His upper half was skinny, but not as skinny as she had thought. Defined, may be the key word. She had to stop herself from staring at him as he noted the way she was looking and he smirked, his eyes moving to the floor out of slight embarrassment.
"I heard you in the shower." She said, her cheeks turning red as she did so.
"I didn't mean to wake you."
"It's no problem," she promised him. No, by the way she was ogling him, he could see it was no problem.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Very. And you?"
"Extremely," he promised her. "I shall change and then I shall make that breakfast I promised you."
"Great," Isabelle managed to say and Jonathan took his clothes back into the bathroom as Isabelle flopped against the cushion, her hand resting onto her forehead. Did she mention this to him? Did she say anything? Was she getting carried away? It was probably nothing. Jonathan had never...well...he was Jonathan...there had to be an explanation for what she had seen. Her mind was getting the better of her. It always did.
...
A/N: Thank you very much to my reviewers! Sam0728 (I've seen the Dark Knight Rises three times and yes for Crane! Needed to be more of him though, I believe!)
Mahxie (Yeah, I always think Jonathan is cold though, it's sad but true and I used your idea about talking out loud! Thought it was brilliant! Hope you don't mind!)
And thank you to Cheekymonkey97 and Teacupful and Chaidiamond for reviewing! Glad you're all liking it, and yes, Bruce Wayne shall be entering very soon...but I have a query...do you want him to play a main part in it or not? I have different ideas but you're reviews will help so let me know what you think!