"Where have you been?" Geoff Walters asked as soon as he saw his daughter walk back into the family home. She dropped her keys into the bowl on the kitchen table before she looked at her father who stood near the kettle, pouring coffee into two cups.
"I just needed some air," Madison lied, still looking like a pale ghost along with feeling everything which she was living was surreal. She remained mute for a second, her shaking hands pulling at the buttons to her coat as Geoff seemed more intent on watching a boiling kettle.
"You shouldn't wandering the streets, Madison," he scolded her slightly and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She was pretty safe on the streets with Jonathan ruling them. "Look, I want to apologise...earlier at the hospital-"
"-It's fine," Madison interrupted him and Geoff shook his head at her, turning around as the kettle finally boiled to look her in the eye as she shrugged her coat off, allowing it to rest over her folded arms. "I mean...I dated him, didn't I?"
"No, honey," Geoff said with a sigh, walking over to her and resting his arms around her waist as she dropped her head onto his shoulder. "I was angry that you knew him before. I was angry that a man like him could mean something to you...and seeing you so upset in the past few weeks...well, it pains your mother and me."
"I'm fine," Madison said the lie like a clockwork whilst Geoff inhaled sharply, not believing her one little bit.
"You can't fool me, Madison. I'm your father," he pulled back, looking at her with narrowed eyes and shaking his head quickly as he did so. "You've been detached whenever you're here and you rarely come out of your room unless it is for food or to go to work."
"I'm going to be okay," Madison chose to say to her father, moving over to the fridge and grabbing a bottle of water quickly as she did so. Geoff placed the hot water from the kettle into the cups and pursed his lips, hoping that she was right.
"Honestly, dad," Madison smiled at him, resting her hand onto his arm as she passed him. "I will be fine."
"I hope so, honey," Geoff spoke gently as Madison took her water and coat through the hallway and to the staircase, still reeling from the pressure of his lips on hers. She shook her head, trying to push it from her mind, but, it wasn't possible. Even after all that he had done he was still getting to her.
...
"The usual pick up place has been compromised ever since those cops found us in the alley," Jonathan informed one of his men as he made his way back into the abandoned warehouse which he had holed himself up in. It wasn't entirely pleasant, in fact, it was pretty horrible. He'd been able to get himself a desk along with the equipment he needed to produce his toxin on a smaller scale. An old mattress rested in the corner of the room, a simple white pillow and green blanket covering it.
"What do you want us to tell them?" his thugs asked, his hand stuffing into his pocket and pulling out his packet of chewing gum. Jonathan leant back in his seat, thinking about what to say as he dropped his pen in his hand onto the desk and bit his lip for a moment.
"Tell them to meet by the docks," Jonathan decided. "It was Falcone's ground. No one will go back there, it would be considered too dumb."
"Then why are we going there?" he replied and Jonathan had to contain his blue orbs to stay in their normal position as they were urged to roll back into his head.
"Reverse psychology," Jonathan simply said. "You don't need to worry about that. Now, go, I have work to do."
Jonathan watched as his men slammed the door shut and he wondered why he'd employed two incompetent goons. Then he reminded himself that it was either them or no one and that made his situation seem increasingly worse. He needed some muscle, just not the brains. He could deal with that.
Even after the two men had left, Jonathan didn't pick up his pen again. He remained silent and thinking about the events from earlier. Madison was becoming an increasingly intrusive figure into his mind. Sometimes he didn't mind, but, sometimes he did, especially when he was trying to work.
He sighed, tucking his hair behind his ears whilst pushing himself up from the chair.
She's still there, isn't she, Jonathan?
Jonathan groaned as the voice came into play and he paced around the room.
"She's becoming a hindrance, I admit."
I told you. I told you that you were beginning to care for her. I warned you to get rid of her.
"I'm fine," Jonathan admitted, the lie coming into play once again. "I'll deal with it. She's...well...she's not a threat to me and that is the important thing."
She could be. She could be an indirect threat.
"I don't think so," Jonathan grumbled. "She won't be. She can't be."
...
"I heard about your brother. How is he?" Rachel asked and Madison nodded before sitting down in her seat.
"He's fine," she said. "He was shot in the leg...well...Jonathan...apparently spared him."
"It was on the news," Rachel told her and Madison sighed to herself, pushing her hair out of her line of vision before she looked across to Rachel who was sat at her desk and focusing on the work in front of her. The new DA was starting the following week and Rachel was given the task of working with him. That meant leaving Madison to her own devices.
"My mom said that it was this morning," Madison grumbled when she spoke. "She said there was a nice five minute article about how he's still on the streets and how he could be searching for me. I mean, I doubt that."
"I don't," Rachel said, moving around on her chair and looking for the piece of paper which she had just lost. "Crane isn't mentally stable, Madison. To him you're...well...I can't explain it. I don't think he will easily let you go."
"Well...he has bigger things to worry about," Madison shrugged nonchalantly. "Like trying to sell his toxin."
"Just be careful," Rachel warned her. "I don't want you to get hurt. He hasn't made contact, has he?"
"No," Madison lied a little too quickly which made her sound slightly suspicious. Rachel picked up on it, twirling her pen in her hand as she found her piece of paper. She looked at the intern with concerned and narrowed eyes as she did so. Something about her tone didn't convince her.
"You'd tell me, wouldn't you, Madison?" Rachel checked. "If he tried anything?"
"Of course," Madison nodded and stood up, plastering the usual smile onto her face as she did so. Turning her back to Rachel, she opened up the drawer to the filing cabinet and her shoulders slumped as she stared into it, not sure what she needed. Rachel's eyes remained fixed on her back, her features scrunched up and her stomach sinking as she looked at her. She couldn't force Madison to tell her anything. She just wished that she wouldn't hide things.
...
"Have you seen the papers this morning?" Rachel shrieked three weeks later. Harvey Dent had joined the team of DA's, taking the lead and proving to be very passionate over his role. Madison had been left to her own mind, looking through cases and attempting to become more independent on her own. "The Batman caught him last night."
"Who?" Madison asked and Rachel dropped the paper onto Madison's desk, the photo of Crane staring up at her whilst she sat back in her seat, unable to believe what she was reading
"Yeah," Rachel spoke. "It seems that he was in the middle of some deal which was going on and the Batman interrupted it. He's holed up at the police station now and calling a lawyer. I don't know why, even they can't get him off of this charge."
"I...I...who is prosecuting him?" Madison spat out and Rachel arched a brow, folding her arms before looking around her office.
"Harvey and myself, I imagine." She said and Madison shook her head at her.
"I want to be on the case," she spoke quickly which caused Rachel to sigh and shake her head. "Please, Rachel."
"Why?" Rachel asked her. "Why are you torturing yourself like this, Madison?"
"I'm not," Madison lied to her. She knew that she was torturing herself, but, she didn't care. Something inside of her told her that she had to see him again. One last time before he was put into Blackgate or Arkham. She looked at it like closure. Rachel looked at it like obsession.
"No," Rachel said decisively, holding her hands up and then sitting in her seat. "I'm not letting you near him, Madison. It's for your own good."
...
Madison never did what was good for her. That much was apparent. She wasn't the type of person to listen to other people when she had her mind made up on what she wanted. And what she wanted right then was to go and see Jonathan to give her some closure. She wanted to hear him tell her that she meant nothing. She wanted him to tell her to go and move on from him. Maybe then she'd finally feel like her old self. Jonathan Crane had gotten to her in a way which she had never thought possible. He'd controlled every aspect of emotion which she had felt and she was tired of it. She just didn't know how to get over it.
"I hate to say that the orange jumpsuit isn't very fetching," Madison spoke when she saw him enter the room, flanked by two guards before they sat him down on the seat opposite her and he looked at her visitors badge as the guards nodded at her and took off, standing behind the door and giving her and Crane some time alone. He was cuffed, which was to be expected. He was a psychotic criminal, after all.
"Orange was never my colour," Jonathan simply smirked back to her, looking down at the garment which he was wearing before he found her wide orbs and his lips fell into a thin line whilst looking at her. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to see you."
"Evidentially," Crane drawled with a flick of his tongue across his lips and he leant forwards, resting his hands onto the table as his eyes burned into her. "What do you want, Madison? Is the DA's office trying to cut me a deal?"
"Ha," Madison was unable to hide the snort which escaped her lips and echoed through the room whilst Jonathan glared dangerously at her. "Don't be ridiculous. They'll never cut you a deal, Jonathan. You're one of Gotham's most wanted."
"Looks like Gotham has me then," Jonathan concluded, holding his cuffed hands up into the air as evidence whilst Madison looked at them and nodded. "So, I'll ask again, why are you here?"
"And like I said," Madison whispered, "I came to see you."
Jonathan digested her words for a moment, crossing his legs awkwardly before he managed to scrape his black hair from his face and Madison remained mute, not knowing what to say to him or what to do. He shook his head after studying her easily readable face and he groaned softly, tilting his head back as he did so.
"Oh, Madison," he drawled her name. "You really are a gluten for punishment, aren't you?"
"Probably," she admitted to him, glancing down into her skirt covered lap whilst Jonathan looked around the room, knowing that people were clearly watching from behind the glass of it. Privacy was not something the corrupt of Gotham were entitled to. "I guess I just had to see you one last time."
"One last time?" Jonathan asked her and she nodded.
"I don't intend to be in court when you're there. Rachel has told me that I can't work the case," she explained and Jonathan nodded, knowing that her mentor was looking out for her by keeping her away from Jonathan. It was logical, of course. The man had gotten to her in a way which was distressingly worrying.
"And you don't intend to visit me in Blackgate?" he wondered. "Maybe I'll be lucky enough to get to go back to Arkham. That would be ironic, wouldn't you think?"
"I don't know," Madison grumbled. "It depends what the judge sees as being the best for you."
"Hm," Jonathan simply muttered. "Well, there really is nothing left to say, Madison," Crane shrugged and Madison nodded at him. "Unless you intend to declare your undying love to me before you go."
Madison winced, sitting straight as shivers tickled up and down her spine and her breathing faltered before she stood, picking her satchel up from the floor and hanging it onto her shoulder.
"What good would that do anyone?" she pondered aloud and Jonathan pressed his lips together into a tighter line. He watched as she pushed her hair behind her shoulders and looked back onto him.
"You came here for closure," he whispered to her. "Didn't you?"
"For all the good it did me," she scoffed to herself. "I don't know if it helped or made it worse."
"I know," Jonathan said confidently to her. "You're still in love with me, Madison. It will take a while for you to get over that feeling."
"I'm not denying that," Madison replied. "As long as I do get over it then I'm not bothered. You're never getting out of here, Jonathan. You know that, don't you?"
"Never say never," Jonathan shrugged and Madison rolled her eyes, hoping that he would have something other than that to say to her. Why did she want him to say it? She wasn't particularly sure. Her hormones were raging all over the place that none of it made any particular sense, especially not to her.
"Goodbye, Jonathan," Madison spoke, moving past him, but, he was quicker, grabbing onto her wrist with his cuffed hand as the guards moved quickly into the room, standing by his side and resting a hand onto his shoulder as he and Madison remained mute. The pair of them simply stared at each other for a small amount of time.
"Let her go, Crane," the officer warned Jonathan who slowly dropped her hand from his and he nodded once at her.
"Goodbye, Madison." He said and she quickly rushed from the room, trying to stop herself from feeling any form of emotion as the guards spoke to Jonathan about how he was not to touch visitors. Madison's hand flung to her mouth, hiding the strangled noise which escaped her lips before she rushed from the police station and left Jonathan behind her.
...
A/N: I don't think this is the end of the story, I still have a few more idea to come up yet. Anyway, I'd like to thank kenzerooni, Ariddle-Ascare, Guest, tamster127, ATLAsnaps-fan, ari87 and HeavenlyCondemned for reviewing the last few chapters.
Let me know what you think!
