Disclaimer: I don't own Dr. Crane or any of the characters/places associated with Batman Begins.

It had taken him four days to bring Vanessa back to the land of the living once he had committed to doing so. After what she had done to him he'd been tempted to watch her die. She had teased him, embarrassed him and nearly broken his jaw. He'd been so angry with her he could hardly see straight.

Jonathan had meant it when he told her she owed him some gratitude. She had no idea how much careful planning and hard work had gone into each and every one of his sessions with her. After weeks of prep time he had deemed her worthy to receive the first dose of his newly perfected fear toxin. He hadn't tested it on a female patient yet. Her gender coupled with the fact that she was the sanest person he could freely initiate into his trials made her a prime specimen. It had been a miracle that she had come to him when she did. When he heard about her attack on the news and her resulting catatonic state he had been eager to offer his full time services. Being such a highly respected psychiatrist he'd been regarded as a saint and hero for volunteering his time free of charge. Once her mind knew she was safe she would awaken and they could begin. He knew that wouldn't take long. In appreciation of her service to science he had planned to make sure she was sparred from the riots that would no doubt ensue after the toxin was released into the city. She would never be who she once was but she would be alive. Jonathan thought he deserved a thank you for that.

Things went well at first, just as he had anticipated they would. He watched with unfettered glee as she writhed on the floor beneath him. Her screams were like music to his ears because they were directed at him. She feared him. He'd so desperately wanted to know what she was seeing but she was not rational enough to understand or respond to his questions.

Then it all went wrong. Her screams stopped abruptly. She exhaled in a distressing manner, making a peculiar moan as the air passed through her throat. Her whole body stiffened. It didn't take a doctor to recognize the beginnings of a Grand Mal seizure. His eyes widened as she entered the tonic phase. Her skin and lips turned blue. Every muscle in her body contracted forcefully and she vomited. Thirty seconds later the convulsions began.

The dose he had given her must have been too strong-his adjustments for her smaller frame and body weight incorrect. Feeling conflicted he watched her spasm on the floor. Letting her die might be the easier thing to do. Even if she did recover from this attack who knows what kind of state her mind would be in. He could hardly test the long term effects his toxin had on her if the first dose had driven her stark, raving mad. She could have brain damage and be totally useless to him. She would be just another vegetable taking up space in his asylum like most of the other rejects that came here. On the other hand, Vanessa had proven herself an amazingly resilient woman in the past. If he took actions to help her now there was a chance she could come out of this relatively unscathed. Since seizures and memory loss went hand-in-hand their last meeting, including his use of the toxin, might be erased from her mind. He found that an interesting prospect indeed.

Jonathan ran down the hall past the nurse's station and unlocked the door to the pharmacy. Grabbing two bottles and syringes he returned to where she was still in the throws of her seizure. He decided he had invested too much time and was too close to his deadline to let her go now and he needed to act quickly. Vanessa had been convulsing for over two minutes by this point. Her body was expending huge amounts of energy. Her brain was becoming increasingly starved for oxygen. Using his foot he managed to pin down her right arm long enough to administer a large dose of Diazepam. When the seizure stopped moments later he followed up with a dose of Phenobarbital to prevent further episodes. Two seizures back-to-back could very well kill her.

The days had passed slowly between that night and this one. Jonathan sat by her bed now and watched her resting peacefully. He willed her to wake up. Tests had been inconclusive in determining whether or not there had been any brain damage. He would have to talk to her and look into her eyes before he could know for sure. He straightened in his chair as she moaned softly and began to stir. Slowly her eyes opened and she took in her surroundings. He wanted to say something to her but decided to wait and see if she would speak first. Finally, her eyes settled on him.

"Dr. Crane…Jonathan?" she queried.

Vanessa's first words came in a soft whisper, if he had not been sitting so close to her he wouldn't have heard them. That she was able to recognize him so quickly and remember his name was a good sign. He decided to test the waters a bit more.

"How do you feel Vanessa?"

He asked the question slowly, allowing her time to process each word.

"Tired, I feel s-sick." she stuttered and suddenly looked as if she might faint.

"It's okay. You had a seizure but you're stable now. You need to rest."

She slowly reached out and took his hand. She pulled it to her body.

"Stay Jonathan. I'm scared."

Her words were slurred somewhat but that did not alarm him. It was not uncommon for someone recovering from a seizure to be lethargic and hard to engage in conversation. Actually, he was quite pleased with how she was doing.

"I'll stay with you" he told her.

"I'm sorry for what…what I did."

"What do you mean?" he asked, not sure what she could be referring to.

"Morning, shouldn't have done that…to you."

Her broken sentence had him stumped but it soon dawned on him that she must be talking about the incident that occurred in her room nearly a week ago now. Ah yes, when she had made an advance on him.

Any type of seizure had the ability to affect a person's memory but this was too good to be true. Now he knew the timeline her brain was following. In her mind she must have lost consciousness shortly after that incident. Vanessa seemed to have no recollection of their past two rather heated encounters. He was still her friend, maybe even her hero.

"It's in the past. Don't think on it. Just sleep now." he said gently.

Vanessa smiled at him warmly before her eyes closed and she drifted back to sleep. Jonathan continued to sit with her, wrapped up in his own thoughts. He would have to treat her with kid gloves at least for a little while. He couldn't give her another dose of toxin right away-not until she regained some of her strength. It was an inconvenient delay but finding another test subject like her was unlikely and he did not have time to start from scratch.

Jonathan was both fascinated and disappointed in the results the toxin had on her. She was not a typical patient and her reaction had not been typical either. For one thing the toxin seemed to be completely gone from her system. There were no lasting effects that he had been able to see. The other inmates he tested on had recovered from their full blown bouts of panic but the uneasiness and anxiety attacks had always remained. Vanessa seemed more calm and serene than she had ever been.

When he determined she had settled into a deep slumber he gently let go of her hand and left the room. He stopped to look at his watch as he made his way down the hall to his office. It was almost ten p.m. It seemed he didn't even have time to sleep these days such was his workload. All of his time was spent developing and testing the toxin. If all went according to plan he would begin distributing it into the city's water supply within the next two weeks.

He removed his glasses and rubbed the back of his neck. He was exhausted and could feel a tension headache coming on. Fatigue had been to blame for what happened in her room that night. Jonathan's intent had been to dose her with the toxin almost immediately then spend the bulk of his time studying her reaction to it. He had not meant for things to get so physical. Maybe passionate was the more appropriate word? When he had pinned her to the wall and felt her body so close to his he'd desired her and had been elated when he thought she felt the same. His lose of control frightened him. A man of his intellect did not give in to his most base animal instincts and that's just what it had been, lust. He didn't entertain any notion that he loved her or even felt the slightest amount of affection for her. Emotionally she was nothing to him but an object of interest and a means to an end. Physically was a different animal entirely. He didn't have many opportunities with women and had to admit he found her attractive; but it was not worth jeopardizing the whole operation for a roll in the hay. Had he not recovered from her upper cut so quickly she may have ruined everything. The kind of men he was working for would not hesitate to kill them both if they found out what had happened.

Jonathan knew there was something wrong the moment he stepped into his office. He didn't need to turn on the light to see the papers strewn across the floor. Books were torn from the shelves and it appeared every drawer in his desk had been pried open with a crowbar. He turned on the light to further survey the destruction and approached the piece of ransacked furniture. Oddly enough most of his files seemed to be present and accounted for. He thumbed through his patient records until he reached the letter M. Sure enough, Vanessa's file was gone. That part was fine. There was nothing at all incriminating in that file. It contained only typical patient information-height, weight-etc. and notes detailing their therapy sessions. He somehow always left out the details of their more impassioned meetings; funny how that worked. But her file was not the only thing missing.

The bottom drawer of his desk had been ripped out and emptied. Now this was worrisome. In that drawer was the outline of Vanessa's actual treatment plan including when and how much toxin he planned to give her and what he speculated her reaction would be. Jonathan sat down and slammed his fist on the ruined desk. The sound of a woman gasping startled him. He turned towards the door of his office and saw a flash of red hair as a woman ran into the hallway.

He was out of his chair in an instant and gave chase. A stray paper weight sent him crashing to the floor. He got up quickly, cursing the object and ran into the hall. He saw her at the opposite end of the corridor, struggling to get the door to the stair well open. She'd been in the office with him the whole time hadn't she? She must have been caught in the act and hidden behind the door when he'd entered. Jonathan knew who it was even if he had not seen her face yet. No one else in the asylum had red hair quite like hers.

"Julie, don't do anything you'll regret. Put the files down." he ordered.

He ran down the hall, closing in on her rapidly. In desperation she threw herself against the door and it gave way. She bid a hasty retreat into the stairwell and he quickened his pace. He had to catch her before she got to the parking lot. The sound of her heavy breathing echoed up the stairs to him as he descended the steps two at a time. When she looked over her shoulder and saw how close he was she cried out in alarm.

"Last chance Julie. Give me the files and we can pretend this never happened."

The words were empty and he knew she wouldn't fall for it but it never hurts to try does it? Julie had signed her own death warrant when she broke into his office. Even if she gave everything back right now he couldn't let her live.

He lost sight of her for a moment as she exited the stairs. It was a straight shot now from the front of the building to her car and he felt confident he'd take her down before she made it. Jonathan didn't see the car that almost ran him over when he took his first step into the parking lot. The driver slammed on his brakes but still hit him with enough force to send him onto the hood of the car then back to the pavement with a resounding thud. He got up and limped after her ignoring the pain in his hip but by now the damage was already done. These precious lost seconds allowed Julie to get to her vehicle. She was already backing out of her space as the driver who had hit him opened his door.

"Jesus man, are you alright? I didn't see you." he said apologetically.

Jonathan ignored this fools concern for his well being as he hobbled towards the main gate. Julie was stopped at the security checkpoint-about to go through.

"Stop that car. Don't let it through!" he yelled to the guard.

Tire spikes rose from the ground as the cars engine revved. She drove through the check point shredding her tires in the process. That didn't stop her however. It barely slowed her down. Julie fled Arkham on nothing but her rims.

"I'm sorry doctor. There was nothing else I could do." the guard said.

"Forget it happened. She's a disgruntled former employee nothing more. I'll deal with it directly." Jonathan assured him.

He reached into his pocket and retrieved his cell phone. Whether he liked it or not, he was in league with the most ruthless and powerful people in Gotham's underworld. One call to Carmine Falcone and Julie was done for. Jonathan cringed in advance at the sheer number of favors he would have to provide the mobster for services rendered but whatever the price it would be well worth it. Falcone would put a bounty on her head so astronomical every thug in the city would be on the look out for her. Every cop for that matter too. She wouldn't get far, especially on four flat tires.

After finishing his call, Jonathan shook his head as he walked back into the building. "Too many loose ends," he said, "too many loose ends."