Always…

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Red Eye or Batman Begins

Chapter Eight

Jonathan Crane had been rather surprised when he passed a sleeping Lisa in the hallway the following morning. She was lying in the same spot that he had left her after dealing with Scarecrow. Her body was curled up tightly—as tightly as a woman at her stage of pregnancy could get and she was perched near the edge of the stairs. Luckily, she had not fallen down the stairs, or else Jonathan would have regretted not checking on her. True, dealing with Scarecrow was time-consuming, but as her doctor, he had a duty to Lisa. Well, he had a familial obligation as well.

"Mrs. Rippner?" he asked quietly, bending down to touch her shoulder gently. "Lisa?"

"No!" Lisa cried out in alarm, sitting up, and as a result, cracking her head against the wall. "Ah!" She yelped in pain putting her hand to her head.

Jonathan helped her sit up slowly and then stand. Concern showed deeply in his blue eyes. "You should go lie down."

"No… no… I can't." She tried to protest.

"Come on, I'll help you to the bed. Then I'll get you some breakfast, hmm?"

"No… I'm fine. You don't have to do anything," Lisa said, shaking her head.

"Hey, don't fight me. I'm just trying to help you, Lisa. Will you let me do that?" He asked gently.

She nodded softly, leaning heavily upon him as he guided her into the master bedroom and helped her climb into bed and covering her with blankets. Once she seemed settled, he turned and headed downstairs.

He was hardly the domestic sort as he could barely cook without burning even the crappy microwave dinners he was accustomed to eating and somehow he had signed himself up to prepare breakfast. He sighed in frustration. Why had he been so quick to make that offer?

Jonathan hurried around the kitchen, attempting to find food that he could possibly make edible for Lisa. If she had not been critical to his plan, then he would not have bothered. He would have left her in the hallway and walked past her without a second thought. But he needed her for the experiment with his newly developed toxin and he had unknowingly taken her on as a patient before realizing the relationship to his dead brother.

Blood was thicker than water, or in this case, toxin.

Lisa's needs trumped his. She was the important part of his experiment. She was his only patient that still had part of her sanity intact. She would remain sane even after he erased his brother's influence on her. Jackson had always been a sick bastard, and she was proof of it. Her mind had been destroyed by his twin. Not that he would leave it alone when the time came but he relished the idea of restoring her sanity only to break it once more.

As for the problem of his unborn niece, Uncle Jonathan would gladly taken her in and raise her as his own child when Lisa Rippner unfortunately lost her mind.

A twisted smile crossed his face. Lisa had no clue what was going to happen. He had her trapped and she had not a clue. She was helpless and he would enjoy her fear-induced panic and the euphoria of her accompanying screams.

Jonathan was a nice person, he really was. Lisa thought. He was going out of his way to be kind to her. None of her other therapists had ever done as much for her as Dr. Crane had. And they had yet to begin a single session and had not begun to discuss price. Not that money was an issue. Jackson had handled their finances brilliantly leaving Lisa with nothing to worry about.

It was still strange to see Jonathan. He reminded her of Jackson at times—they both looked eerily similar. But she knew that they were two completely different people and Jonathan was there to help her while Jackson had harmed her, all under the guise of 'love'.

Love; where had that useless emotion gotten her?

Love caused her to murder her husband in cold blood. Love got her pregnant with a child she had never expected. Love betrayed her and made her distrustful.

What was love but a needless worry? An added stress to an already stressed life. Unneeded, yet a burden all the same.

Jonathan would help her. Yes, he would aide her in forgetting the disaster with Jackson and he would show her the mistake that loving Jackson was and what it had done to her. He would end the nightmares and the pain. He would help her figure out what to do with the unplanned child and help her cope.

"Lisa?" His smooth voice came through the door and she turned to see him, immaculately dressed and carrying a tray of food. "Breakfast?"

"Oh, thank you so much, Dr. Crane. I'm starving!" She smiled at him, her stomach growling at the sight of food.

"It was no problem."

Piled on the breakfast tray was a glass of orange juice, a bowl of some sugary cereal that she had a craving for, an apple from the fruit basket, and a yogurt smoothie. Apparently the psychiatrist had no cooking skills, much like Lisa. Her specialty had always been scrambled eggs, but she had still managed to burn those from time to time.

She appreciated the trouble that he had surely gone to. He really had not needed to run around scrounging up food for her as she could have eventually done it herself. She was not an invalid.

Despite her strong feelings that this show of kindness from her therapist was unnecessary, Lisa dug into her breakfast, hunger overtaking logic.

Author's Notes:

Nothing to say, except that I'm going to try have another chapter out soon. Enjoy!