Hello, all. I'm here, with probably the last story update for the summer. In a couple of days, I will be interviewed for a job, and if I get the job, there will be less time for me to update. Plus, with college starting in a couple of weeks, I will be a lot busier than I have this summer.

Despite that, I thank you for staying with me for this long. I know I don't update at a consistent basis, but I promise I will not give up on this fic, even though it may be quite a while between updates.

Also, cookies to anyone who can guess the books Crane is going to give Becky.

Hint: The second book is based on people in a two-dimensional world and the lives they live.

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Crane rubbed the sleep from his eyes, his fingers tapping against the worn table at the downtown Starbucks Cafe, his empty cups of rich, black coffee with just a hint of pumpkin spice sitting abandoned off to the side, his other hand already grasped around his fifth coffee of the day. At his feet sat a plastic shopping bag from the Gotham Grounds for Thought bookstore, the smiling cartoon brain with a book in its hands on the cover exclaiming for all to "Read more books!".

Normally, at this time of the morning, he would be either forced to go to sleep by Becky or, as of most of his career pre-Albright, be up and about working on his toxin. Surprisingly, neither were the reason he was sitting at a coffee shop, waiting for someone to show.

A flash of blonde hair caught his eye as he looked up. From his location at the back of the restaurant, he could see Harley and Ivy, sans costumes, coming towards him, both holding a medium cup of coffee in their hand. From what he could guess knowing their tastes, theirs were an espresso with lots of whipped cream with a cherry on top for Harley, and a black coffee with two sugars for Ivy.

Harley, noticing him off in the corner, rushed over to him, her smile almost blinding in the light of the morning sun streaming in from the window. "Hi, Professah! Long time, no see," Harley cried with her usual no-indoors voice, causing some of the customers to look over at her in curiosity.

Crane let out a chuckle at her exuberance, letting out a bemused sigh as Harley nearly tackled him into a hug. "Hello to you too, child," he greeted, slowly prying the woman off him, trying to keep his cool as the other customers continued to stare for a bit, before shrugging and going back to their studies. "I take it you got my message."

"Yep," Harley chirped peppily, sliding childishly into her seat as Ivy rolled her eyes with a smile, sitting down next to her. "And I brought Pamela along just like you asked."

"For the record, I went here for her, not for you," Ivy replied with a huff, glaring at Crane with a disdainful look.

"Noted," he retorted, sending the same glare right back at her, before changing the subject as he glanced towards Harley, who was busy swirling around her espresso with her straw, giggling with childish glee as the whipped cream bobbed in the water. "Now, I'm sure you both know why I called you here today."

"Your girlfriend's birthday is tomorrow and you're asking us for advice before you jump right in and it crashes and burns around you like you did with your first attempt at wooing her," Ivy replied, a small satisfied grin appearing on her face as she saw the strawman scowl.

"That was 6 years ago, Ivy, and, if I recall, weren't you the one who helped me design the costume in the first place?" Crane parried back at her, watching with a smirk as it was now her turn to fume.

"I said to make it look sexy, not slutty! Honestly, why I trusted a man like you to get it right, I have no idea," Ivy snapped, leaning forward aggressively, her fists coming down with a slam against the table.

"Uh, guys," Harley pipped in worriedly, her eyes watching the manager behind the bar starting to head towards their table.

Crane leaned forward as well, his eyes now flickering with glowing amber flecks. "That's very rich, coming from a straw feminist that thinks men are only good for mindless servants, fertilizer and one-night stands."

"Guys," Harley gulped, as the manager came closer, an angry scowl upon his face and his eyes narrowed dangerously.

"At least I don't pollute the environment with aerosol sprays that were banned in the '80's!" she snarled, her hand reaching out and grabbing Crane's cardigan by the neck, her face dangerously close to his.

"At least I don't walk around town like some drug-dealing, tree-hugging, venereal- diseased who-"

"Guys!" Harley shouted.

"What?!" Crane and Ivy both snapped.

Harley gestured behind her as the burly manager of the place glared down at them, his big knuckles cracking dangerously as he loomed over them.

Both shut their mouths as they stared up at the man.

"Is there a problem here?" he growled lowly, his voice booming in the sudden quiet of the cafe. The other patrons looked over at them curiously, before abruptly going back to their activities as the manager glared over at them.

Crane shook his head rapidly.

Ivy was about to make a nasty retort, when she felt Harley's hand on her shoulder, shaking her head at her.

With a sigh, she shook her head.

Satisfied, the manager left them with a warning, returning to his station.

The table was silent, with only the gulping sounds from Harley interrupting the quiet.

After a few minutes, Harley finally chimed in, putting her empty espresso cup to the side with a satisfied gasp. "So," she said, her usual perky attitude returning. "What exactly are you planning to get for Becky?"

Crane's sour expression lightened as he pulled out two books from his bag, one depicting a mouse with a needle held around a thread belt, the other depicting a clear glass pyramid of dimensional planes with a picture of stars and a rainbow offset to the right in a frame below it.

"Okay, I got her two books, but I feel like that doesn't seem to cover it. So," he reached into the bag again, this time bringing out five small, black leather boxes of various sizes. "I also "bought" her two orange sapphire earrings, a pearl necklace, a fire opal hair clip, and a ring with orange sapphires and topaz in the pattern of a pumpkin."

Both villains gaped at him in shock.

Crane's frowned, his fingers tapping nervously against the counter. "I don't know. Do you think this is too much?"

"Yes!" "No!" they both said at the same time, Ivy with a stunned look of disbelief still on her face and Harley with a look of ecstatic glee.

Crane looked between them, before putting the valuable merchandise away, in order to not have anybody outside their group getting any prying eyes on his prizes. "I think I might need a clearer answer than that."

Ivy snapped out of her shock. "You-You're serious about getting her all this."

Crane nodded.

"Oh! Oh! Are you really planning to…" Harley stopped shouting as she saw the manager give her a glare from over the counter. "…propose to her?" she finished in a whisper.

This time it was Crane's turn to look at her in shock, his cheeks growing red. "What? No! I-I mean, not right now," he replied, lowering his voice as he caught the looks being directed at his table.

"Then why the hell are you giving her all of this for her birthday?" Ivy replied, her voice lowered down to a hiss as she saw the manager still glaring at them, his eyes watching them like a hawk, a phone in his hand that she was sure had the boys in blue on speed dial if she so much as made another noise.

"I don't know. I just…" Crane let out a sigh, a hand brushing through his carrot-orange hair. "After everything I put her through, I feel I have to give her something to make up for all the times I ruined her life."

Both Harley and Ivy looked at each other, their eyebrows raised in surprise and a little bit of amusement. They would have never guessed that Jonathan Crane a.k.a the Scarecrow, the Master of Fear himself, could experience guilt, nor to the degree that he would risk his reputation in order to make it up to the woman he loved. After all, they were so used to seeing the cold, cruel, calculating and cackling Scarecrow that seeing the awkward, dorky, head-over-heels in-love side of Jonathan Crane was a hilarious contrast.

His eyes narrowed as he saw their amused looks. "And if I hear that any word of this conversation has gotten out of this cafe…" he snarled, pointing a finger at both of them.

"We get the point, Jonathan," Ivy replied with a smile. "Still, I think the jewelry might be a bit much for a birthday."

"Hmm, you're probably right," Crane considered, although he planned to keep the ring. It wasn't often that he found a ring in the shape of a pumpkin, and, in the event he did propose to Becky, he wanted to have a ring without any of the associations of Arlem or his Granny. "Still, books: yay or nay?"

"Yay!" Harley exclaimed, tuning it down mid-way to keep from getting into trouble.

"…sure," Ivy agreed reluctantly.

"Can I throw her a party?" the blonde asked excitedly.

He shrugged. "Yeah, I don't think she would mind. Just make sure you don't sneak in Joker."

"Aw, c'mon, Professah. Please! I promise I'll keep him outta trouble" she pouted, putting on her best puppy dog eyes.

Crane wasn't buying it. "Harley, I said no. Besides, after our last encounter with your boyfriend, I don't think it would be good idea for him to be at her party. Unless, of course, you want to ruin her birthday, which I'm sure, as her friend, you wouldn't want to do," he reasoned, trying to persuade the girl. The last thing he needed was that clown showing up, especially since he would just serve to derail the celebration and likely cause such a commotion that Batman or the GCPD would have to intervene.

The blonde's pigtails seemed to droop. "Okay," she sighed, but perked up again as she was distracted by something shiny in the corner of the shop. "I'll be right back."

Crane didn't even bat an eye as Harley ran off, an amused smirk sliding across his lips as he watched the young woman looking around for the shiny object. She's worse than Nightmare, he thought, remembering how distracted his pet raven would get once it had spotted an interesting object. Numerous times he would be looking for his watch or his glasses, only to find that Nightmare had nabbed them and taken them to her nest. Needless to say, it took him quite a bit of convincing and bribery for the bird to give him back his belongings,

After a few minutes of running around, Harley hopped back into her seat. "Sorry, where were we?"

At that comment, both Ivy and Crane let out a snort of laughter, with Crane keeping a hand over his mouth to keep himself from laughing.

"Look," he said, calming himself, although a stray chuckle still managed to escape. "This is your idea, Harley, so I'll let you decide who you want to invite, as long as they aren't going to be a danger or cause too much unnecessary commotion."

"You got it. I'll make sure Becky gets the best birthday party ever!" she squealed, jumping up as she dashed out the door.

"Wait! Harley, I didn't tell you about the…" Crane called, before noticing she was already out the door. "…schedule."

Ivy let out an amused sigh. "I can tell her later. Just e-mail me the schedule and I'll be sure to give it to her."

Jonathan sighed, rubbing his head at the sudden migraine blossoming beneath his temples. "You do that. I'm going back to the lair. Becky's probably wondering where I wondered off to by now." He paused, momentarily forgetting something, before adding, "Oh, and the bill's already payed."

Ivy gave him a curt nod with a small, almost invisible smile. As she watched the retreating man hurry on his way back to his home and his girlfriend, she couldn't help the smile growing on her lips. Perhaps Becky wasn't lying when she said Crane was different from the other guys she had known. She hoped, for the girl's sake, that she was right.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~S-C-A-R-E-B-E-A-S-T~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Becky lay curled up on the couch, popcorn nestled in her lap and kitten curled around her neck as she watched the first Harry Potter movie, her eyes barely looking away from the screen as Harry flew on his broomstick after the Golden Snitch, breath held as the Boy who Lived came closer and closer to the winged, golden ball.

"Come on, come on," she muttered to herself, leaning forward, her bloodshot eyes glued to the screen. While she would normally be asleep during this time of the day, her excitement and the need to celebrate took precedence over sleep. It had been so long since she felt this hopeful, and she wanted to enjoy this moment as long as she could.

She let out a loud whoop of joy as Harry caught the Golden Snitch, startling the kitten as he opened his eyes, glaring crossly at his human before settling back into his nap.

No matter how many times she saw the movie, the Quidditch tournament always caused her heart to race as she cheered on the Gryffindor team, of which she was proud to say she was a member. It didn't matter how many times she had seen the movie or how many times she had seen the scene play out; each time still kept her at the edge of her seat in anticipation and her heart pounding in her chest.

"I take it you're enjoying your movie," a voice whispered behind her.

She jumped away with a yelp, spilling the popcorn and causing Crow to flee as she spotted Jonathan's head above her, an amused grin on his face as he laughed, his wiry body squeezing out of the small space at the back of the couch and plopping down beside her.

"Hroo-haha, that trick never gets old!" he chortled, laughing in his odd but natural way, as she grinned and playfully punched him in the side.

"You jerk! You nearly scared me half to death," Becky cried with a laugh, brushing popcorn off of her shirt as she flicked some towards Jonathan, who shielded his face from her attack.

"Well, I wouldn't be called the Master of Fear if I didn't scare a few people every now and again, now would I?" he crowed back, returning fire with popcorn kernels of his own, causing a sharp bark of laughter from his partner as it was now her turn to shield her face.

After a couple of laughs, they settled down into the couch, enjoying the movie as they munched on popcorn together, relaxing for the first time in a long while.

"You know, I'm actually surprised that you decided to join me, Jon," Becky said, her eyes momentarily leaving the screen as she looked towards him. "Usually, I would have expected you to be down in your lab by now, fixing up fear toxin or feeding Craw and Nightmare or something."

"What? Can't I simply relax from time to time, and enjoy my favorite person with her favorite movie? Or do I always have to be at work?" he teased, a wry, boyish smile on his face.

She chuckled. "Oh, I'm not complaining. It's just usually when I see you, you're coming up here to get some coffee or food. Heck, most days I have to force you to get a few hours of sleep. And considering what happened yesterday, I wouldn't be surprised that you would be down there working all hours of the night." She looked down to his lap. "Speaking of which, how's your leg doing?"

With a shrug, he swung it out a bit, the black leg brace making a thump against the leather sofa. "Not bad. It seems that the fracture was localized to my foot, and not to the calf or thigh as I had initially expected. Give it a few days and it'll be back in business."

She smiled ruefully. "Let me guess. The advanced healing is due to the Scarebeast serum, isn't it?"

"Yeah," he replied, looking down as he let out an exhausted sigh. "Everything just seems to keep leading back to it, doesn't it? If I had known all this would happen to me almost seven years ago, I probably would have thought better about Penguin's offer."

Becky became silent, mulling over something in her mind, no longer paying attention to her movie.

Jonathan looked over at her, perplexed by her sudden silence. Lately, she was getting quieter, more withdrawn. It was loads better than when he had first met her, back when she was an undergrad, but the sudden quiet from her was unusual, especially when she was enjoying herself earlier.

"Penny for your thoughts, Becks," he asked quietly, concern evident in his eyes as he tried to break the ice.

She let out a snort at the silly nickname, a tiny smirk appearing briefly on her face before going back to its melancholy expression. "Jon, do you…" she stopped, taking a deep breath and letting it out with a sigh. "Do you ever wish that things could have ended differently?"

"Differently how?" he questioned, one eyebrow raised, wondering where she was going with this.

She shrugged, taking out a pony tail holder from her purse. "Like, if we hadn't met, or if you hadn't decided to become a psychiatry professor, or even if our parents had been nicer than they had been. That sort of thing," she explained, tying her curly hair up into a ponytail, double-tying it to make sure it didn't slide out.

Crane leaned back, glancing up at the dry wood ceiling above them. "Some days. What about it?"

She snuggled in next to him, getting herself comfortable before replying, "Sometimes, I wondered what would have happened if that day six years ago had been the last time we met. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy we got to meet again, and I have no regrets about our relationship or falling in love with you." She paused for a moment, considering her words carefully. "But some days, I wish it could have happened without this whole supervillain/Rogue's Gallery thing." She looked up at his blank expression, before shaking her head with a chuckle. "You probably think this whole thing is stupid, huh?"

"It's not stupid, Becky," he replied softly, one arm going behind her and pulling her closer to him, his hand at the small of her back. "It's human nature to wonder about the 'what ifs' in life." He adjusted the glasses on his head, before looking down at the beautiful woman lying next to him. "Some days, I wonder if I would have been different if I had been raised by my mother instead of Granny. Or if I had decided to go into psychics and chemistry instead of psychiatry in college."

He looked down, his expression growing somber. "Some days, I wonder if it will continue to work out between us; that our partnership can stand the test of time and whatever obstacles life has decided to throw our way without fracturing us into pieces."

He leaned in closer to her, his breath ruffling the curly strands of hair on her face. "But if there is one thing I have no regrets or second thoughts about, it's knowing you, Becky Albright," he whispered, bringing her lips to his in a loving kiss, his forehead leaning against hers as he closed his eyes, savoring her taste against his lips.

She reciprocated, her eyes closing as they seemed to drink each other in, enjoying the quiet moment together as they settled back in, watching the last of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in comforting silence.