Madison didn't know how long she was sat with Jonathan before the door opened wide and a man stood before her, the gum moving around in his mouth as he held onto the large gun in his hands. Jonathan felt his grip increase around her waist before she looked at him, kissing him swiftly on the cheek as he shook his head and she stood up from him with the most ungraceful of movements. Straightening out the simple black dress she wore, she looked at the man whilst Jonathan stood along with her, his hand on the small of her back, reassuring circles stroked into the material of the dress.

"Bane says you're to be taken with the other prisoners," he informed her and she nodded. "He also says that the Court needs to be set up again, Judge."

"You can tell Bane that I require another ten minutes," Jonathan said and the man chuckled, shaking his head whilst Madison sniffed.

"He said that's not possible. You've had enough time with your girl," he promised the Doctor before moving forwards, his hand wrapping around Madison's wrist and pulling her forwards. Jonathan remained stood on the spot, moving after her before another guard blocked his way, his gun moving out and stopping Jonathan from following where Madison was being dragged off to.

"Jonathan!" Madison shouted back to him as she was pushed into a crowd of people including the old man she had met earlier. She continued to look behind her, fighting against the guards as they refused to allow Jonathan past them to where she was. "Remember to tell Matt and Joel! Please!"

"I will!" Jonathan called out to her, his ice blue eyes lightening up as he saw her begin to cry, the fear already straining at her features as she pushed against the burly man, not wanting to let Jonathan leave her line of sight. For all that he was and all that he had done, she didn't care. None of it mattered to her when she saw him. When she saw him stood there, baring himself to her and telling her how he was sorry. He'd let his guard down and Madison couldn't do anything other than love him for it.

"Jonathan...I..." Madison struggled to call it out to him, not sure if she could do it through the situation which she found herself in. She wanted to say nothing more than how much she loved him. It just didn't feel like the right time. She was used to saying it privately and alone, not somewhere where people could hear her shouts ring into their ears. "I love you!" she finally snapped it out, realising she wouldn't get the chance to again. She'd said it to him before. She just needed him to know how much.

"Madison!" Jonathan called out. Those three words. Those three words which would torment him for the rest of his life. He watched as she was finally dragged around the corner, the final glance at her before he allowed the moisture to pool into his eyes, realising that he'd missed his chance.

...

Jonathan had an idea where he would find the elusive Matt and Joel. He'd worked in City Hall for being a Judge and had access to records on a lot of people. It wasn't hard to track down Matt's apartment. He knocked on the wooden door, realising how everyone wasn't moving from the safety of their own homes. They were too scared to do so and the worst part was Bane's men on the street.

He coughed lightly before the door cracked open slightly and Jonathan saw a blonde haired man stood there, his jaw firm and his eyes harsh as he looked at Jonathan, wondering who he was. It didn't take him long, of course. He knew Crane from anywhere. He just looked ragged and older than when he had last seen his picture.

"What do you want?" Matt spat at Jonathan who remained stern, not allowing his emotions to get the better of him. If he did that then he'd look weak and Jonathan Crane was anything but weak.

"I take no pleasure in being here," Jonathan drawled out. "Let me assure you of that."

"You can't assure me of anything," Matt hissed, still keeping the door closed as far as he could before losing sight of the man's gaze. "Madison isn't here."

"I know," Jonathan told him. "I came to tell you about her."

Matt seemed to shiver at hearing Jonathan speak like that. He stood up tall once again, opening the door wider but not allowing Jonathan to enter his home. Jonathan noted the way he gulped loudly, his neck straining as his eyes began to soften with worry.

"What happened to her?" Matt whispered hoarsely and Jonathan coughed.

"Bane. He exiled her...the mock court...I'm sure you've heard of it..."

"It's all anyone can talk about," Matt replied in a mutter. "He...you preside over it. Didn't you save her?"

"I tried," Jonathan assured him. "I tried to stop him. There is no reasoning with a man like Bane."

"So you let him make her walk over that ice?" Matt spat out, his voice full of rage as his hands curled into fists in a feeble attempt to restrain himself from hitting the Doctor whilst his son slept. "You did nothing to save her."

"There is no stopping a man like Bane when he has his mind made up. I couldn't save her," Jonathan defended himself and Matt shook his head, a shaking hand moving to rest on his forehead as he thought about Madison, alone and petrified during the trial.

"So you did nothing?" Matt spat. "You didn't even try to defend her. You didn't try to stop them from taking her."

"If I tried then I'd be dead at the bottom of the river too," Jonathan replied and Matt shook his head, pointing at Jonathan who remained calm and collected.

"No!" he snapped. "You did nothing! You...you were the death of her...in the end her undeniable love for you got her killed..."

"You're looking for someone to blame and using me as the answer," Jonathan informed Matt. "Her love for me didn't get her killed. The fact that she was the head of the DA's office did."

"No, but if you loved her then you'd have saved her...or you'd have died trying..." Matt said and Jonathan scoffed, rolling his eyes from behind his glasses.

"Like you tried to save her?" Jonathan wondered. "I know how she got to the courthouse. The guards told me how you stepped aside and allowed them to take her-"

"-We have a son!" Matt interrupted. "We have a son who needs looking after!"

"The principle still stands," Jonathan said to Matt. "You claim to love her."

"I do."

"Yet you are divorced from her and you stood to one side and did nothing to get her back. You can stand there spluttering about how much you love her. At the end of the day you don't. Love means following someone to their death and you didn't. You wouldn't have taken a bullet for her and neither would I. Love is a childish emotion which isn't real. It's a myth," Jonathan declared, glaring at Matt who took in what he had said and he couldn't help but think how the Doctor was right. He should have stopped them. He should have done more.

"Blaming me won't stop you from guilty about her," Jonathan promised Matt. "She wanted me to tell you how she loved you and her son. That is the only reason as to why I am stood on your doorstep. Because she asked me to."

Matt nodded, scratching his neck as hot tears flooded his grey eyes and Jonathan began to walk down the hallway before Matt shouted out to him;

"Were you there?" he asked loudly and Jonathan stood still, turning his head to the side to look at the man as he spoke. "When she...when it happened?"

"No," Jonathan replied and Matt winced, the thought of Madison being alone during her final minutes bringing him to the verge of hysterical.

"But you were there before...she spent her final time with you..."

"Yes," Jonathan spoke back and Matt snorted, shaking his head.

"Fitting, really," Matt managed to snort. "She spent time with the man she had always loved...the man who never deserved her..."

"I don't think anyone really deserved her," Jonathan declared before turning around again and walking off, leaving Matt to slam the door shut and go into his own personal dark abyss.

...

Jonathan often spent his nights wandering around the deserted streets of Gotham, his hands in his pockets and his eyes stuck onto the floor as he thought back to the past.

His first time meeting Madison, her words stuck in his mind.

"Maybe your secretary could learn a thing or two about manners, Doctor Crane. And maybe you could pick some up somewhere along the line."

Even he had to admit that she had been a firry individual when she was wound up.

"I don't rush down to any Asylum because I feel insecure, you know." "I take it that I'm special, then?" he checked and she picked up her coffee, still sipping on it as her lips refused to fall into a flat line. "Perhaps," she admitted to him

He didn't know what kind of a man would have refused the advances of such a girl like Madison. She was pretty, he'd give her that. She wasn't stunning and she certainly hated getting up early to make herself presentable.

Jonathan took a seat on the rocks which looked onto the river of Gotham, wondering what was on the other side of the closed bridge. He assumed it would be a fresh start, a world which Bane would have left alone. He could only imagine how wonderful it would feel to get away from Gotham. But in a way he felt the opposite. Maybe if the bomb went off then it would end his misery. It would end the torture of sitting in a mock courtroom and condemning his brain to boredom. Maybe it would cure the never ending thoughts running around in his mind.

The Scarecrow had been silent for a while, not bothering Jonathan that much due to dullness. No, instead it was her voice which ran around in his head. Her lingering words echoed throughout his ears and he thought back to the times he had with her.

He knew they were gone and he knew she had gone. In some way Matt had been right. He should have done something. If he loved her then he would have risked his own life to save her and not bowed down to Bane's every order.

"You're worried for me," Jonathan commented once and Madison rolled her eyes at him, grinning at him as she did so and he looked at her with intrigue. He'd never seen anyone concerned about him before. It was a strange feeling which he was getting at the thought. "Of course I am," she responded. "You should know that I care about you."

As Jonathan looked onto the darkened sky he wondered where she was. He wondered if there was an afterlife or if there was just one life. Somewhere deep down he hoped for the former option. If there was then maybe he could make up where he had gone wrong eight years ago.

...

A/N: Finished! I'm hoping that it was a fitting ending and that I kept Crane in character as that has been the mission all along. Realistically, the happy ending just didn't work I think. Anyway, I would love to thank anyone who has spent the time in reading this to the end, seriously, thanks you so much for sticking with it!

And then to Zee de la Valliere, ATLAsnaps-fan, xxxjetgirlxxx, Mika927, Elizabet Rex, .williams, Indigo Scrawl, MCRDeathNoteLover, ZabuzasGirl and ari87 for reviewing the previous chapter.

One final comment?