Part Three

Crane was having a bad day.

The third new patient that week had arrived. It seemed like more were coming each week, and the files were piling up on Crane's desk. The few doctors he had were given numbers of patients that he didn't think they could handle. One of his best psychologists had quit due to an incident with the new patient; a schizophrenic that Crane still didn't quite understand. The patient had harassed the psychologist, supposedly telling her of things she thought nobody knew about her. Crane had explained to her that sometimes the patients have abilities similar to the doctors, and can read her just as well as the doctors could read them. Obviously disturbed, she quit, claiming she didn't feel safe anymore.

"Not even with you around, Dr. Crane." She had said. He had dismissed her, but did not apologize for the incident. It was known to all of the staff that sometimes Arkham wasn't the easiest place to work, and Crane couldn't be blamed for that. After all, the patient did not harm her physically, and even if he had, that too was sometimes to be expected.

At first, Crane had been intrigued. Her story was most interesting and he planned to visit that particular patient to see just what had frightened her so much. And for a such an experienced psychologist to be phased so easily; he really was quite curious. It was a little later he realized he had indeed lost a member of the staff, and that was never good. Especially when they were getting three or more new patients in a week.

Crane was standing at his filing cabinet, looking for the file of the patient who had cost him one of his staff when there was a knock at his door.

"Come in," He said nonchalantly as he shuffled through files. He turned his head as the door opened and his searching hands came to an abrupt stop as Riley Gage walked into his office. She held his gaze as she shut the door quietly behind her.

"Hey, Jon."

"What are you doing here?" Was the first thing that Crane said, probably a little too quickly.

"I'm sorry," Was Gage's response, "If this is a bad time, I can leave." It took Crane a moment to register why she apologizing. He had just been shocked to see her waltz right into his office. He had thought about her a lot the past night and was actually planning to call her when he got off work, if he could work up the nerve. He didn't know why it made him so nervous. In the back of his mind he was actually hoping that she'd call him first.

She had done a little more than just call.

"No. It's fine. I was just finishing up with something." He lied, leaving the file for later and shutting the filing cabinet. She smiled and nodded, probably not believing him.

"So, this is your office." She said, looking around, "It's very..."

"Dull?" Crane asked. That's what most said about it, anyway. His desk was bare, just like his desk at home, with no pictures of family or cute paperweights to decorate it. The walls were as bare as his desk, although he did have a small clock hung up. His desk chair was a solid back, as was the couch, against the opposite wall.

"I was going to say neat." Gage chuckled. She had walked over his desk, and ran a hand over the surface. He took a moment and just looked at her. He still wasn't used to seeing her in blouses and skirts. She always used to wear long sweaters and jeans when they were in school. When he had seen her in court he had hardly recognized her. Her reddish-brown was longer than she used to wear it, half of pulled away from her face and clipped in the back. He remembered her having a sort of skinny, boyish figure, but now as he looked at her he noticed that she had filled out in all the right places.

Her movements had barely registered in his mind and suddenly she was sitting in his chair. She folded her arms on his desk and grinned up at him. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"What can I do for you, Riley?" He asked finally. She had to be here for a reason, other than to sit at his desk and stare at him, and generally make him uncomfortable. Riley leaned back in his chair, folding her hands back behind her head. Crane wondered briefly if she would go so far as to prop her feet up on his desk.

"I was actually hoping for a job." She admitted.

"Here?" Crane asked, perhaps a bit too disbelievingly.

"Why not?"

"I thought you were already working. As a school therapist."

"You really think they still want me there after the trial?" She asked, rolling her eyes, "Besides, I'm sick of kids."

"You'd prefer the criminally insane?" Riley's laugh was a welcoming sound to Crane, especially in his office, which was usually a pretty grim place. Her very presence seemed to lighten it up.

"At least this place is real. At the school I get a lot of kids coming in because they want an excuse from a heavy workload. 'Miss Gage, will you please tell my teacher I can't do my homework tonight? I had an anxiety attack today I don't want to stress myself anymore.'" She imitated one the students. Crane smiled. She smiled back. "So what do you say?"

"One of my psychologists actually quit today," He said, "I could definitely use you."

"Great. Let's celebrate." Riley said, standing abruptly.

"What?"

"Let's go to dinner, or get a drink. Come on. You can't stay in this room all the time, it's not healthy." She grabbed her purse from where she set it at her feet and walked towards the door.

"Wait, there are some things we'll need to discuss, and there is some paperwork-"

"Later," She told him. She pushed the door open and stood in the doorway, looking at him expectingly, "Well, come on." Crane hesitated. It was a little early to be leaving, and if Riley was serious about the job there were some things they needed to take care of, but...

Crane suspected she hadn't just waltzed into his office looking for a job, and she wasn't hiding the fact very well.

She was smiling at him., and she had a hopeful, excited look in her eyes. He took a step forward as if he was being drawn to her, and with one last fleeting thought about a certain patient's file, he decided it could wait until tomorrow. He had no more sessions scheduled for today, after all.

"All right," He said, and, grabbing his coat off the back of his chair, followed her out the door.

A/N: Thank you to those who have read and reviewed. School started back up today, but I will do my best to keep the chapters coming out. I've written all the way up to chapter 3, but I want to do some editing, because I read over this chapter again and went "bleh," and tried to edit it a bit. I might get a beta. Anyway, thank you all again, and hope you all will continue reading.