Disclaimer: I don't own Dr. Crane and/or any of the characters/places associated with Batman Begins
Vanessa had never felt such pain. She closed her eyes and tried to breathe; it was all she could do to keep from screaming. When she opened them once more, she saw Jonathan. He'd removed his mask, and watched her with a morbid curiosity.
"What are you waiting for Jonathan? You've got the gun; why don't you finish me off?" she asked.
He took a step toward her, the gun leveled straight at her head. He held it there for a while, reveling in the moment before dropping his arm to his side. Instead of shooting her, he reached down, gripped the handle of the knife, and pulled it from her body.
Vanessa couldn't help but notice that the knife hurt more coming out than it had going in. Blood poured from the gaping wound and she felt herself slowly fading away.
"It's much more interesting this way," Jonathan said coldly - a smug look of satisfaction covered his face.
She was so tired; tired of fighting the good fight – tired of everything. Her body wanted to give in to the overwhelming need for sleep that she was feeling, but her mind told her to keep fighting and stay awake. She saw the knife lying on the ground next to her where Jonathan had so carelessly dropped it. Vanessa closed her eyes again and listened to her body – she felt her breathing slow as her pulse weakened. It was almost over.
Jonathan approached her and nudged her with his foot - she did not respond. He knelt over her and touched her face softly, and she thought she heard him sigh in relief.
"You think you've won, don't you?" she thought as she gripped the knife and swung blindly.
The sound of Jonathan screaming told her that she had inflicted some damage at the very least. When she opened her eyes, she saw him sprawled on his back – clutching his face.
At least I spoiled those good looks
But her victory was fleeting; she really was tired now and her vision became blurry. Death threatened to take her in that moment. Only the sound of glass shattering in her living room roused her from her sleep once again.
"She's back there," she heard a voice say urgently. She wasn't even aware of who it was who had spoken.
Vanessa looked over to where Jonathan had been lying, only to discover he was gone. Her kitchen door stood wide open and a cold draft poured in. A figure in black ran past her in pursuit, but stopped cold when he saw her on the floor, bleeding heavily. He approached her with a grim determination and said, in a gravelly voice, to hold on. She felt something warm being pressed against her stomach; the sound of police sirens filled the air. Despite her best efforts, she could not fight the sleep that overtook her this time.
"Am I dead?" she wondered as she woke up in a bright room, surrounded by flowers. As her eyes focused, the all too familiar stark, white hospital room came into view.
Ah, my home away from home.
She thought about paging one of the nurses and letting them know she was awake, but decided against it. Vanessa sat in bed, enjoying what would likely be her last quiet moments before the police descended on her with their endless stream of questions. Sure enough, her door opened quietly thirty minutes later, and Jim entered, carrying yet another basket of fresh flowers. He looked overjoyed when he saw she was awake.
"Vanessa!" he almost yelled.
"Hey, Jim; are you alright?" she asked, taking notice of the stitches in his forehead.
"Am I alright? Am I alright?" he laughed, before his tone turned serious. "I told you to run, Vanessa. You damn near got yourself killed trying to save my life" He was scolding her now, as if she were one of his children.
"Now we're even, I guess."
He rolled his eyes and placed the flowers on the desk beside her.
"You drive me nuts sometimes," he mumbled. "These came for you this morning. Somebody's been sending you quite an assortment," he said as he winked, and handed her the card.
Vanessa,
My offer still stands. Get well soon.
Sincerely,
Lucius Fox
Well, I'll be damned.
"Vanessa, I won't beat around the bush," Jim said solemnly. "Crane was not apprehended. He vanished without a trace."
"Did you check my attic?" Vanessa laughed sardonically, and clutched her side after doing so.
"This is serious. You'll need to be guarded on a twenty-four hour basis if we're going to keep you safe."
"Really, and who's going to pay for that? I sure as hell can't afford it!"
"It's already taken care of," Jim told her.
"Let me guess….my guardian angel?"
Vanessa had spent another week in the hospital before finally being discharged. She never went back to her townhouse. She stayed with Jim and his family at their insistence, and he would frequently make trips to her home to retrieve her personal belongings.
One month after her showdown with Jonathan, she began working part-time at Wayne Enterprises. Her top priority was meeting this Bruce Wayne face-to-face. From what she had read in the papers, he was a drunken playboy, whose most recent achievement had been burning down his own home. If he thought that all he had to do was throw some money at her and she would jump into bed with him, then he had another thing coming. Vanessa had stormed into his office on her first day of employment, and told him as much to his face. He had smiled at her, his eyes beaming, and told her his intentions were pure.
"Okay then; I'm glad we cleared that up. Thank you for your time," Vanessa said as professionally as possible, suddenly feeling embarrassed for having made the accusation. She quickly turned to leave the room.
"Vanessa," he called after her.
Great; he's going to fire me…me and my big, fat mouth.
"Yes?" she asked, keeping her cool.
"You're an ill-tempered, feisty, pain-in-the-ass, aren't you?"
"I guess you could say that," she laughed as she turned to leave again.
Clearly, he was not finished. He rose from his chair and approached her.
"Some people hate that about you; they'd like nothing more than to stamp out those qualities – but some people….some people love you for it," he had said as he opened the door for her. Vanessa smiled, and they parted ways without exchanging another word.
They had gone out casually on several occasions since then. She was unable to give him anything more than friendship at this point, but he made it clear that he was content to wait patiently, no matter how long it took, and never once pressured her. When she had told him she was pregnant with Jonathan's child, he had remained undaunted – telling her he would be there for her, no matter what she decided.
As for Jonathan; if he were lurking about somewhere, he had not made his presence known. For all intents and purposes, he was a ghost. So Vanessa focused on putting her life back together and continued meeting with her therapist twice a week. What else could she do, really?
She was enjoying the time she spent with Bruce, and could not deny her growing feelings for him. As she entered the coffee shop on that cold December afternoon, he stood and greeted her cheerfully.
"I got you a latte, decaffeinated, of course," he said.
Vanessa took it from him thankfully. He placed his hand on her ever expanding waistline; tenderness radiated from his eyes.
"Two more months," he said, and kissed her softly on the cheek.
Vanessa sat down, feeling truly content for the first time in almost a year. She stared lazily out the window; letting her gaze fall on a gentleman with blonde hair. His back was to her and she watched as he stepped into his black BMW and slowly drove away.
Finally, some peace…..
Author's Note: Well, we've come to an end…or have we?
A special thanks to Not Human for the beta read. I am very thankful for your guidance and help with my punctuation skills. I've come a long way because of you!
I hope you all enjoyed my first story and hopefully you'll check out the sequel as well. Thanks for your reviews and your interest in general.
