"Whatcha workin' on there, Jarv?" Fox asked, putting a hand on Jarvis Tetch's back.

Jarvis Tetch jumped slightly at being addressed, but looked up at Fox with a reassured smile. Tetch was a short man, perhaps only reaching five-foot-seven, with short brown hair that never seemed to want to lay flat. He had taken to wearing a hat over his hair, unless he felt it was impolite, in which case he would take the hat off. He did not wear a hat to work, and so he always looked somewhat harassed once he walked through the doors of Waynetech. Tetch had buck teeth that protruded slightly past his bottom lip and wide, surprised green eyes that made him look like a startled rabbit, and his outfit was always accentuated with a colourful bowtie. Today's was lime green.

"Oh, it's only you, Fox," Tetch said with a sigh.

"Working a bit late tonight, are we?" asked Fox, checking his watch.

Jarvis shrugged, turning slightly to face Fox a bit more. "Not that late," he reasoned. Then he looked up at Fox. "But you've usually gone home by now," he observed. "Late night tonight, Fox?"

Fox chuckled. "Mister Wayne's doing me a big favour, so I'm putting in a few extra hours to thank him for it," he explained. Then he folded his arms. "But really," he said. "What are you working on?"

"Well, I was doing a little research on the possibility of making…" Tetch swallowed, unsure of how to explain it, "some kind of device that would be… useful in controlling… or at least, partially controlling… minds." He looked back at his work. "But… I can't find anything on that science, besides hypnotism," he said, disappointed, "and that's just silly."

"Right," Fox said with a sceptical grin. "Hypnotism is silly. Jarvis, don't you have anything better to do than stuff like that?"

Tetch turned to look at Fox, slightly hurt. "I thought it could be useful," he said dejectedly, turning back to his work. "But if there's something you'd rather I work on…"

"As a matter of fact, there is," Fox said. He dropped a file on Tetch's desk. "These are a couple blueprints I've done for some projects Waynetech is currently involved in. Could you take a look at them, tell me what you think?" He paused, looking over Tetch's desk, and smiled when he saw something. He picked up a worn copy of Alice in Wonderland, which lay open, pages-down, marking a certain spot in the book. "A little reading in our spare time, Jarvis?" he asked with a kindly smile.

Tetch turned to see what he was talking about, and grinned in response, making his buck teeth even more noticeable. "It's my favourite," he said.

Fox nodded, looking to see which page had been marked. "The Mad Tea Party?" he asked. He looked over at Tetch with a grin. "Let's not be getting any crazy ideas, now, Jarvis," he said with a chuckle, handing the book back to its owner. Tetch took it with a friendly smile. "No butter in the works, all right? This stuff is too expensive for that."

"What if it's the best butter?" Tetch asked playfully.

Fox chuckled. "Okay, Jarv," he said, patting the man on the back. "You get back to work now." Then, with one last look at the book in Tetch's hands, he turned and walked away.

Tetch looked down at the book in his hands, then set it down on his desk and stared at it, resting his elbow on his desk and putting his chin in his hand. "Maybe Fox is right," he said. He looked over at his blueprints and papers. "Maybe this stuff is just a big waste of time." He paused, looking at his papers, then turned to the folder Fox had dropped on his desk and opened it, looking through the file. It was the usual; improvements on other companies' products, a few interesting inventions, but mostly nothing that caught Tetch's attention.

He shut the file again, setting it down on his desk, then looked sadly over at the book. He sighed, staring at the artwork on the cover. "Maybe I just wasn't meant for this job," he said quietly.

. . .

Gerald. Gerald. Got to remember Gerald.

Maria tapped the toe of her sneaker impatiently on the sidewalk. She was next to the home of the AA meeting, a Gotham community center. The thought of it made her laugh. What did the city officials honestly think Gotham citizens would use the place for? Church school gatherings? This wasn't that kind of city.

Aidan walked around the corner, and Maria turned towards him. "Hey," she said with an awkward wave. She couldn't help but remember their last meeting; she was acutely aware of the slight bruise under his cheekbone. "How's it been?"

"O-okay," he replied with a shrug, avoiding her eyes and shuffling his feet. She felt horrible, like his condition was her fault. But she shrugged it off and motioned to the doors.

"Shall we?"

The environment inside was pretty much the same as it had been outside: awkward. No one in the small group seemed to want to look at each other. They all shuffled around, inspecting the motivational posters taped to the wall. It seemed that this Gerald guy hadn't shown up yet. Maria took another look at Aidan, who was watching a nearby girl pick at her nails nervously. He looked a little better. The red-blue scars on the inside of his arm were beginning to fade, and the bags under his eyes had receded a bit.

But these had been replaced by red eyes that apparently itched (he reached up to scratch them a few times) and the shivers. Clear signs of withdrawal, she noted with a sigh. Maybe this was her fault, at least partially. Their violent breakup couldn't have been good for him. She finally took a seat in the circle of chairs set up near the center of the room. Hopefully Gerald would show up soon.

"Eddie! So good to see you back," Gerald said, shaking the hand of the man called Eddie. Then he turned to another attendee, smiling warmly at her as he took her hands. "Good to see you back," he said, nodding to each person in turn as he moved closer to the centre of the room. He shook hands with people, patted people on the back, and laughed with them as if they were old friends. The mood in the room seemed to lighten considerably as soon as Gerald stepped into it.

Gerald was all smiles as he clapped Aidan on the back, taking his hand and shaking it. "Aidan," he said, grinning amiably at the man. "So good to see you back. And who is this?" he asked, looking over at Maria. He extended his hand to her. "Gerald," he introduced himself, locking his kindly, clear blue eyes on her, and took her hand in his, shaking it. "It's always a pleasure to have new members," he said. "Especially when they're referred here by current members. It means I must be doing something right."

Gerald chuckled, then indicated for her to stand. "The members always mingle before each meeting," he told her. "Get to know one another. But not too much… it is supposed to be anonymous, you know." He winked at her, friendly. Then he took a breath, paused, and then asked, "So, what exactly is your affliction, Miss?"

Suddenly, he seemed mildly surprised, and put a hand to his head. "Oh, my," he said, "where are my manners? I totally forgot…" He turned to her, offering his hand. "Might I ask what your name is, Miss?" he asked. Then he shrugged. "If you're willing to give it," he added. "We are an anonymous organization, after all. You don't have to give out any information you're not comfortable giving. After all, your name is the most dangerous piece of information you can give someone."

He smiled at her, his blue eyes twinkling. "Are you sure you can trust me?" he asked.

Maria watched Aidan loosen up during the handshake, then focused on the stranger. So this was Gerald. Nothing too special about him, she thought, frowning. Why had Jessica thought he was so important...?

Then he turned and met her eyes, and she gasped. The eyes.

She stayed silent throughout his ramblings, completely in a state of shock. Couldn't Jessica have warned her? That clear, calculating blue gaze was much too similar to Crane's for comfort. She wrenched her own stare away from his and looked over at Aidan, who looked confused by her reaction. Taking a step back, she fixed a very fake smile on her face.

"The name's Maria," she said. "And as for my affliction, it's nonexistent." She shifted uncomfortably, and the smile slipped away. With a lowered voice and a furtive glance at Aidan, she continued, "Actually, I came here to talk to you. Do you have some time now, or...or maybe after the meeting?"

"Maria," Gerald said, inclining his head politely towards her. "Well, it's a pleasure, ma'am." He chuckled as she went on. "Well, you are just one lucky lady, aren't you?" he asked. "Nothing bothering you at all… it's a rare thing you find someone who isn't bothered by a thing in the world." Then his smile faded a bit. "Well, ma'am," he answered candidly, "I've never really been much for interviews… but if you'd be kind enough to sit through the meeting, then I don't see why I can't spare a couple minutes of my time for you."

Then he smiled kindly at her, a slightly mischievous look in his light-blue eyes. "Not a care in the world, huh?" he asked, seeming somewhat fixated on the fact that she did not consider herself afflicted in any way. He raised his eyebrows, shrugging slightly. "It doesn't have to be a problem with alcohol," he told her reassuringly, almost as if hoping to coax some kind of affliction out of her subconscious. "I help everybody. It's not so much a strictly AA group as it is an addiction help group. Like… Addicts Anonymous." He indicated Aidan. "Aidan had a lot of trouble with alcohol and cocaine, both, from what I understand… a very deadly combination. He's lucky that he decided it was time to quit before it killed him."

A serious expression crossed Gerald's face then. "We've had some members who weren't so lucky," he said, turning to her. "We had one young man here once who had trouble with alcohol… and then he stopped coming, but from what I heard of him next, he was getting real into heroin use." He shook his head sadly. "He became a heroin dealer," he said, looking up at her again. "Dealer and user. He was actually a dealer to someone who's part of the group now… where is he?"

He turned away from Maria, looking around at the scattered individuals for someone in particular. Then he smiled when he saw him, and pointed. "There he is!" he exclaimed, moving towards the man and indicating for Maria to follow. "Eddie! Hey, Eddie!" he called.

The man called Eddie turned in surprise to look at Gerald, holding a cup of water in one hand, his other hand tucked into the pocket of his jeans. He was a tall, thin man with a pale complexion, striking green eyes, and closely-cropped ginger hair. He looked slightly surprised to be called out, but when he saw that it was only Gerald, his look of surprised turned into a jumpy smile. "Hey, Ger," he said, taking a drink of water. "How's it holdin' up?"

"Oh, I'm doing great, Eddie," said Gerald in a friendly, fatherly tone. "Eddie, this is Maria. She's here to support Aidan." He pointed out Aidan, and Eddie turned to see who he was talking about. Then he turned back to Maria with a wide, friendly grin, showing off his bleach-white teeth.

"That's real nice of you, Maria," he said. "I wish somebody would support me. But I don't have any friends. Or all my friends are in this group for problems, too." He shrugged, taking another drink of water. "But I'm okay. It doesn't bother me much."

"Eddie used to have a real problem with heroin, but he's doing much better now," said Gerald with a smile. Then he turned to the man. "Aren't you, Eddie?"

Eddie nodded. "Yep. It especially helped when the guy I bought from stopped showing up…" His smile faded a little. "I heard something real terrible happened to him," he said. "There was this big house fire my side of town, once… and the next day, my dealer never showed up." He shook his head. "Didn't show up any day after that, either," he said thoughtfully. Then he turned back to Maria. "But I'm clean as a whistle now," he said with a smile.

"Spends his time doing mental exercises," said Gerald with an approving smile. "He especially likes books on riddles."

"Helps me get back the brain cells I lost doing drugs," Eddie put in, upbeat. "Makes me think. Makes me smart." He tapped his temple with a wide, white grin.

"That's very impressive, Eddie," said Gerald with a smile, nodding his approval. He turned back to Maria. "Eddie's taken a wide range of interests since he got off drugs." Then he leaned to her ear and whispered, "I don't think he knows what he's talking about most of the time, though." He raised his eyebrows, giving her a quirky, almost apologetic grin, then turned away from Eddie.

"Well," he said, checking his watch, "actually, ma'am… we still seem to have a couple minutes left until the meeting actually starts, so…" He looked up at her, smiling kindly. "I don't see why you can't squeeze in a couple questions before we begin," he said.

A polite nod was all Maria could muster for this Eddie guy. It wasn't that she didn't care, she just...no, she really didn't care. She spared a glance for him, and a polite, halfhearted "great", then focused back in on Gerald.

Now that she'd noticed the eyes, the similarities between him and Crane were eerie. The way he was so fixated on her reply (she didn't have anything wrong with her, she reminded herself cooly), even his mannerisms at some points. She frowned and shook her head. No, that was just her. The shock of seeing his eyes had gotten the idea into her head.

So she just moved on.

"Well..." She wasn't exactly sure how to start. Maybe a little background. "Do you know Jessica Fox, the director at Arkham Asylum? Well," she corrected herself immediately, with a grimace at the thought of the woman's current state, "not right now, I guess, but...you know." She sighed. "I've been involved in a pretty big police case for a while, and it's focused on the old director of Arkham. Jonathan Crane."

She paused and looked Gerald in the eye. "Jessica mentioned to me that you might have some information about him. Something, anything, that could help."

Gerald smiled. "Jessica," he said, sounding somewhat relieved. "Such a sweet lady. Always so helpful. And always so kind to the inmates, always trying to accommodate them." He frowned a bit. "She's no longer the assistant director?" he asked. "She probably retired, huh? Settled down. Poor dear. She deserves it, after all the hard work she's done. Her brother, too. - She has a brother, Lucius." he added. "Works for Bruce Wayne, if I'm not mistaken."

His smile faded at her question. "The old director?" he asked. "As in, he's no longer the director?" He turned away from her, putting a thoughtful hand to his mouth. "Oh, dear," he said, mostly to himself. "What trouble has Jonathan gotten himself in this time?" He paused, seeming to realize that he was talking to himself, and turned back to her with a reassuring, though not entirely believable, smile. "Forgive me," he said. "I sometimes think out loud."

He sighed, folding his arms, and looked at Maria with a serious expression. "I was never able to learn much about Doctor… Crane," he said, seeming a little awkward with the name. "Whenever I did volunteer work at Arkham, he was always too busy to see me… or he wasn't in at all. Though," he added, "I think he just told Jessica to tell me he wasn't in so I wouldn't bother him." He shook his head, looking slightly distant. "I never did manage to get a meeting with the elusive Doctor Crane," he said, somewhat misty. "I've… never seen him."

He looked away. There was something sad about his expression, as if he could just not find the energy to put up his usual friendly smile. Then, after a moment, he turned back to Maria. "This is for the police, you say?" he asked. He paused a moment, looking away again, then looked up at the gathered group of people. "Guys," he said, raising his voice slightly. As soon as he did that, almost everyone in the room turned to look at him. It was obvious who held the power here.

Gerald paused, swallowing, then addressed the gathered group again. "I'm… really sorry, guys," he said, "but, um, I'm going to have to cancel today's meeting." There was a buzzing of slight confusion among the gathered group, but Gerald put up a hand and everyone got quiet again. "I know, I know it's horrible of me to do it," he said. "But… something really important has come up, and…" He paused, sighing. "Look, why don't we reschedule the meeting for this Saturday?" he said. "Same place, same time?"

There was a hesitation among the crowd. People shifted uncomfortably, murmuring to one another, unsure of what to do or say. Then Eddie spoke up. "C'mon, guys," he said, "Ger's always been there for us. He's got something important to do, it's gotta be real important, or else he would do the meeting." The crowd murmured its consent. "If he's got something real important, then we don't wanna be a hindrance," Eddie said. "C'mon. Saturday's just as good as today." He chuckled. "I mean, none of us are gonna die between now and then. It's only two days, guys!"

A couple people chuckled nervously in response, and Eddie looked up at Gerald, as if expecting praise for his actions. Gerald smiled at him and nodded his thanks. Eddie beamed, then started ushering people towards the doors. Gerald raised his eyebrows and turned back to Maria with a relieved smile. "I've never cancelled a meeting before," he told her. "But this seemed important."

As soon as everyone was gone, Gerald sat down in one of the chairs, then indicated for her to take a seat as well. Then he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and folding his hands together, staring at her. "So," he said, the friendly smile fading from his face.

"What would you like to know… about my son?"

Oh my God.

Maria sat back down with a hard thud, bracing her head with her hands and just breathing. She didn't notice when Aidan put a hand on her shoulder, asking if she was okay, or when his expression hardened and he turned away with a frustrated sigh. She didn't even notice when the door shut on the last person, and she was left alone in the room with Jonathan Crane's father.

This was...this was impossible. Her heartbeat finally started to calm down and the risk of a panic attack vanished as she thought it over. So Gerald was the man who had gotten Crane's mother pregnant. Maria smiled at the obvious thought, but it slipped away quickly. But Gerald didn't seem like the sort of man who would do something like that. She peered through her arched fingers at the man. A leader of an Alcoholic Anonymous group, a volunteer worker at Arkham...none of it added up.

Finally she looked back up at Gerald. "You...you really don't watch the news do you?" she asked with a very weak smile. She leaned back in her chair and avoided his eyes. Now that she knew, it was just that much more unnerving. "Your...son..." she said, the word sticking in her mouth, "almost completely destroyed the Narrows a while back. And the rest of Gotham, too."

Gerald frowned, sitting back in his chair. "No, I don't watch the news very much," he admitted, "Oh dear." He looked away, resting one ankle on his opposite knee. "I always imagined Jonathan would have something wrong with him," he said, putting a thoughtful hand to his chin. "Being raised by that psychotic grandmother of his…" He shook his head. Then he turned to Maria. "Do you know Jonathan's story?" he asked. Then he shook his head. "It's not really my place to tell," he said.

He paused a moment, then looked over at her again. "You know, he's thirty-three now," he said thoughtfully, a surprised frown creasing his forehead. He shook his head slowly. "And I've never seen him," he said quietly. "I wonder who he looks like…" A slight, sad smile quirked at the edge of his mouth. "I certainly hope he has his mother's eyes," he said. "She had the most beautiful brown eyes."

Gerald looked up at her then. "I only learned that Jonathan was living in Gotham about eight years ago," he said, "when he started working at Arkham. I had gotten information from Jessica about the new intern who had started work there, and I was so surprised when she told me his name…" He watched her face for a long moment, as if thinking something over. "When she told me his name was Jonathan Crane, I was… so taken aback. And then she told me his age…" He shrugged then, looking away. "And it all fit."

He looked up at her then, raising his eyebrows as if he had left out an important detail. "Oh," he said. "My name is Gerald Crane. So you can imagine my surprise when… this man showed up." He looked away again with a heavy sigh, shaking his head. "I never thought he would turn out to be…" He paused, trying to find a word. "…Bad," he finally said, the only fitting word he could find.

His light blue eyes flicked back to Maria. "But Arkham does that to a person, I suppose," he said. "It's a wonder Jessica hasn't had something terrible happen to her yet…" He shrugged with a sad, friendly smile. "Is there anything else you'd like to know?" he asked. "Sorry I'm not much help… I'm kind-of one of Gotham's forgotten."

Anger wasn't exactly the emotion Maria had expected to feel, but it certainly was the one forcing her to clench her fists and grit her teeth. Gerald's innocent misunderstanding of the situation was making her mad. And why? She couldn't even begin to guess. Maybe it was because it wasn't fair for the man partly responsible for this whole thing to be innocent of the crime. Or maybe it was because she was jealous that he still had the luxury of that innocence.

Either way Maria looked away from him and gave an exasperated sigh. "I went to Arkham to interview him a few weeks back. So yes, I know his story." She sharply met Gerald's eyes again. "And it's not Arkham that did this to him. It's his screwed-up childhood. You think he would've shot your friend Jessica in the back of the head just because he spent some time in an asylum?" She stood up and planted her hands on her hips. "Did you think it'd be okay to just abandon a woman who you'd gotten pregnant? How could you just leave like that, especially knowing what her mother was like?" Her voice was close to shouting at this point. She tried to calm herself, failed miserably, and began to head for the door.

He couldn't help her with anything. He was too busy living in his fantasy world where his son was just a little off from dealing with psychopaths for a few years. Gerald obviously needed to be brought back to reality, but she wasn't the one to do it. She reached the doors and pushed them open, finally pausing to look back. "If you have any idea where he's been staying, it'd be really appreciated," she said angrily.

Gerald frowned. "Now, wait just a moment," he said, standing from his seat. He paused, trying to collect his head, taking a deep breath, holding his hands in front of him. Then he let out his breath slowly, lowering his hands, and locked her with an unamused, cold, tight-lipped stare. He jerked his head slightly, considering how to deal with her, and finally looked back up at her. "That's not," he said, articulating, his words quiet and biting, "how it was."

He let his hands fall to his sides, and, after a moment, they folded loosely behind his back, and he stared at her, breathing slowly. Then he started towards her, slowly. "Jonathan's mother," he said, "was the love of my life. We were going to be married. But then her mother…" The word came out in a hiss. "Her… máthair." He clenched his jaw, swallowing. "She said she didn't approve of me because I was… afflicted."

Gerald looked back up at Maria, frowning darkly. "Do you know why I started this group in the first place?" he asked, his voice quiet and almost dangerous. "Because I was one of them, once. One of the drunks. One of the freaks." He fleetingly looked away, at some of the motivational posters on the walls, and then his gaze returned to Maria. "Yes, she got pregnant," he said. "But we were in love. We were going to be married. But her mother would not let me stay around." He sneered. "She sent me away, and forbade me from seeing Jonathan's mother or Jonathan."

He watched her face for a long moment. "I only got one letter after that," he said. "Jonathan's mother wrote to me, telling me it was a healthy baby boy. That was the last I heard of either of them… until a Doctor Jonathan Crane showed up at Arkham eight years ago." He turned his head slightly, still looking at her, and loosed his hands from behind his back to clasp them in front of him. "You can imagine my surprise," he said. "…When my son tried to wipe out Gotham with its own fear."

He sighed then. "Then again," he said quietly, his eyes straying, "I guess I shouldn't really be surprised… considering his upbringing."

He paused a moment, then his light-blue gaze returned to her. "If I'm not mistaken, Jonathan's mother is still alive," he said. "No more children, though… Married now, to some nobody…" He sighed again, his hands seeming to clasp tighter. Then he looked over at her, dropping his clasped hands to his sides, and a veil seemed to pass away from in front of his lucid eyes. He paused a moment, then a friendly, if somewhat vague, smile came to his face.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I have no idea where he's been staying… after he left Arkham, I haven't heard a thing about him. Though, from what I can tell, he's very, very driven. So… if he has a goal, or if he had a goal, when he left Arkham, unless something enormous has happened that absolutely screams Jonathan…" He shrugged, frowning slightly. "There's a good chance he's still going after it," he said.

Then he smiled at her, a little sadly. "I guess there's no chance you'll be attending our next meeting, huh?" he asked. "It's a pity. Eddie seemed to take a shine to you. He doesn't do that with very many people." He shrugged then, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his slacks. "He's a little off," he said. "He's trying so hard to make friends… he's just…" He paused for a moment, thinking, then looked back at Maria. "He's not a very good judge of character most of the time," he said. "I was hoping he might be able to find a friend who would actually be a friend."

Gerald looked away. "But that's okay," he said. "I've probably scared you off from ever coming back, and… if you don't ever come back, then I'll understand." He sighed then. "It's happened before," he said quietly. "Scaring people off."

Maria sighed. "No, I'm...sorry," she said, offering Gerald a half-smile. Now that she knew the reasons behind him leaving, what she'd said was just plain rude. "I didn't mean to...y'know. I'm sorry." She scratched her ear absentmindedly and thought about his advice.

What had Crane been after when he first broke out of Arkham? She had no idea. Freedom was the obvious answer, but...well, he had that. So what was next? Maybe he was still working with his fear toxin. Or maybe he wanted money. She scuffed her foot on the ground, frustrated, and wished she was better at reading people. Maybe she'd go through the notes from her interviews that night.

Then she looked back up. "I'll consider it," she responded to his offer to come to another meeting. In all honesty, she probably wouldn't go. She was pretty sure that Aidan was ticked beyond belief at her, and he was her reason for going in the first place. But she offered Gerald a smile. "Maybe I could come to see Eddie again."

With that and a quiet "thank you", she left the building.

And ran right into Aidan, who was waiting outside.

"So how'd your...interview go?" he asked, hands crossed, foot tapping lightly on the ground. Maria looked away guiltily.

"It was...listen, Aidan," she said, suddenly switching tracks, "I'm really sorry. I did lie. But I want to make up for it." She felt horrible about using him just to get information. But how could she make him believe that?

He just laughed. "You manipulated me to get to this guy, and now you're saying you want to make up for it?" He blew out a sigh and backed up a step, looking her over. "What makes you think I should believe you're being serious?" He smiled at her bitterly. "Y'know, the way I see it, you don't have the best track record."

"But I do want to make up for it," she said seriously. He watched her for a moment, then shrugged. He had nothing else to lose, after all.

"Alright. We can just meet here, if you want to." He nodded, then waved goodbye and walked away, wondering why everything felt so mixed up.