Always…

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

Chapter Fourteen

Once they ventured deeper into Arkham Asylum, Lisa refused to leave Jonathan's side. She clung to him; her fingers curled into the folds of his dark suit jacket. She did not appear to be frightened of her surroundings, but she seemed to be greatly comforted by hanging on to him. It was her greatest fear that the kind man beside her was only a dream and that if she dared to let go, even for a brief moment, he might disappear.

Jonathan did not mind her neediness and he rather enjoyed the sense of empowerment that his new 'pet' gave him. That's exactly what Lisa was to him; just a glorified lab rat that happened to need his help. He needed to restore her mind first, before she could be of any use to him.

As they neared Jonathan's office, he stopped and turned to speak to her and her grip upon him tightened as a reflex.

"Lisa, I need to go and check on my patients' medication. It's not safe for the baby or for you to come with me." He told her.

"Where do I go then? Please, don't leave me!" Lisa sounded weak; appearing frailer than he had expected her to become at this kind of rate. Has she always been this helpless?

"You can stay in my office and I'll lock the door so that no one can harm you. I promise that I will return quickly. You have nothing to fear. Jackson can't touch you here," he said reassuringly.

"Okay," she conceded.

Jonathan smiled and they continued onward. He helped her into his office and flipped on the lights. The dark room quickly became bright and Lisa took a deep, quavering breath.

"Come over here," he instructed her, leading the fatigued woman to a nice plush couch that he had spent many nights upon; worn out from his never-ending research into improving his toxin. "Lie down."

Lisa did as she was ordered to do. She was exhausted and unable to find the energy or will to disagree with him. Not that she felt the need to contest with Jonathan over such trivial matters. She trusted him not to lead her astray. He was her doctor and would not knowingly bring her to harm.

"Jonathan…?"

"Yes, Lisa?" Jonathan cocked his head her direction as he was heading towards the door.

"Will you at least wait until I fall asleep?" she asked him softly. Her green eyes seemed already distant as a wave of fatigue overcome her.

"Of course."

Jonathan Crane spun around neatly and sat down in a chair across from the couch. Lisa smiled up at him slightly. "Thank you," she whispered.

He did not even bother to reply because Lisa had already fallen fast asleep. He quietly got up and slipped out of his office. He locked the heavy door behind him on the outside. He was the only person on the premises with the key to the door and Lisa was effectively locked in. Her mind seemed not to dwell on that situation however.

If he worried about leaving a pregnant woman alone on his office couch in Arkham Asylum, Jonathan appeared not to show it. He purposefully strode down to the basement where the toxin was being produced; his rapid stride coming in handy for once. Out of sheer habit rather than necessity, Jonathan checked around to make sure that he was alone before setting down to work with his import of the blue flowers where the toxin was derived. The chemical was far from the stage of preparedness needed for mass production and he was running out of time. Lisa Rippner was the final piece of an intricate puzzle, and hopefully he would be ready to test a near-finalized toxin on her shortly after his niece was born.

Depending upon Lisa's mental state following his testing, he would decide accordingly how best to deal with her child. He was still seriously considering raising the baby as his own to groom her to take his place eventually as director of Arkham and to stand at his side until then. He stubbornly refused to let her take after her bastard of a father. Jackson Rippner did not deserve a wife such as Lisa, nor the privilege of creating a new life in this chaotic world.

All that his twin brother had ever deserved was a violent death and a new home six feet under. Lisa had given both to him, but not before becoming emotionally invested in her dealings with him and allowing him to slowly destroy her fragile mind at the same time.

"Ah!" Jonathan choked, accidentally spraying himself with the fear toxin. The fumes wreaked havoc upon his mind and the obnoxious voice of Scarecrow piped up.

'Fear… I taste it, I smell it, I crave it… Give me fear…'

Jonathan gagged; the bitter taste of the gas making him nauseous.

'What? Don't you want to play?'

"No…"

'Why aren't you screaming, Jonathan? Everyone else screams…'

"No… I won't."

'What about your new plaything? Should we make her scream? She's afraid—I can feel it… Sweet, delicious fear… She's drowning in it…'

"No!" protested Jonathan hoarsely. "Not Lisa! We don't touch her!"

'Who then, Jonathan? Who shall we have our fun with?'

Jonathan honestly did not care. He only wanted Scarecrow to disappear and let him work in peace. He was not going to let Scarecrow touch Lisa yet and the last thing he wanted to do was to expose her before she or the toxin was ready. She was the ultimate test which meant his success or failure was completely dependant upon her reactions to his experiments. It was a risk not to be taken lightly.

Truth be told, he could have found a random test subject in Gotham, but he preferred to use Lisa. He would know exactly how her mind functioned before he examined the effects of the toxin and he would cure her from Jackson's constricting hold on her and then finally he could have his amusement.

Until then, he would have to deal with the insane patients and annoying staff. And tonight, he felt like tormenting the members of his staff. Silvia seemed like a good place to start…

Author's Notes:

I'm finally getting back to this story! No more AP to worry about, which means my only reason for attending school now, is to hopefully pass Algebra II. I've got a lot more time on my hands, so I should hopefully be finishing up this story soon and moving onto the sequel to it which will tie up all the events begun in Sometimes… Enjoy! And big thanks to emptyvoices!