11. This Way July 28

Jenny walked up the stairs to her apartment. Lisa had joined her. Both were carrying a bag of groceries. Lisa had promised to stay a little while, and threatened to eat Jenny out of house and home. But she thoughtfully suggested they pick up something on the way home. Jenny was just glad to be going home at last. She hoped that Lisa would help her to drive away the ghosts of the past.

"Well, here we are," Jenny said, unlocking the door.

"I have been here before," Lisa said with a smile.

"I know. But I thought you might get lost again, like you did when you were house-sitting for me," Jenny replied with a grin.

"Hey, I'd only been here once before! Besides, you're not one to talk. You gave me the key to your old apartment. I'm glad I have the right one now," she added, looking thoughtfully around the room. "Hold this, I'll be right back," she said, shoving her bag into Jenny's arms.

"Hey! Now I can't see," she said with mock disapproval.

"Let me take those," a completely different voice said. It was good that the hands attached to the voice followed through, because Jenny promptly dropped both bags.

"Jonathan?" she gasped, turning to look at him. He set the bags on the counter, and turned back to her. He looked terrible. His hair was messy and there were dark circles beneath his eyes. His suit was in tatters and he looked like he hadn't eaten in days. Or slept, for that matter. But then he smiled at her. Without thinking, she wrapped her arms around him. He was thinner than she remembered. She saw Lisa looking very smug behind him.

"See, I told you that you guys needed to talk," she said happily.

"You could have warned me," Jenny replied, stepping back, feeling awkward.

"And ruin my fun? No," Lisa replied. "Well, I'll leave you two alone," she said, walking to the kitchen.

Jenny looked at the ground, feeling suddenly embarrassed. Jonathan just looked at her. "So, um, what have you been doing the past couple weeks?" she asked to break the silence.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" she asked, looking up.

He smiled. "I would have preferred to do something, but I couldn't. So Lisa convinced me to come back here for a while," he added quietly.

"Oh. Why?"

He looked surprised. "Why did she convince me, or why did I agree?"

She smiled. "Both."

"Ah. I couldn't tell you why she sought me out to get me back here." He looked around. "I suppose I agreed because I have nowhere else to go," he offered.

She frowned. "Oh."

They were silent for a few minutes, looking at the floor. Lisa came back and seemed very amused by this. "While I'm sure you've never seen these tiles before, dinner is ready, if you're hungry."

The three of them ate in the kitchen. Thanks to Lisa, it was a very light-hearted meal. She managed to make them all laugh a few times. When it was finished however, both Jenny and Jonathan were fidgeting a little.

Lisa smiled at them, obviously pleased about something. "Well, you guys have a nice night. I'll see you tomorrow, Jenny."

"What?" both of them said quickly.

This made Lisa smile more. "What? There's hardly enough room for all of us to stay here… and this is better than where I found you, Jonathan, so I can hardly kick you out," she said with a smirk.

"I thought you were going to stay with me for a while," Jenny said, hoping she didn't sound hysterical.

"No, I told you that I'd make sure you weren't lonely. Now, you are my best friend, but I have a party to go to. I would invite you, but somehow I think the doctor here would have to decline. So, I must go," she finished.

"Oh. Okay," Jenny said numbly. She and Jonathan carefully avoided looking at each other. Lisa was inclined to gloat all the way out the door. "Well, I guess it's just you and me again," Jenny said conversationally.

"I suppose."

"Ahem… I hope you still find the couch comfortable."

"Compared to what I'm use to, I'm sure it's fine," he replied.

She smiled. "Of course. Good night."

"Good night."

The next day, Jenny woke up in a good mood. She had slept soundly for the first time in weeks. It was nice. She showered and dressed, then went out for breakfast. Jonathan was still asleep on the couch. She wondered if he'd slept at all since he'd been gone. She decided to be quiet while she made breakfast.

An hour later, she was in her room, reading. The phone rang. Sighing, she answered it. "Just as I was getting to the good part. Typical. Hello? Oh, hi, Lisa. Yes, you're very cruel to me. What do you want? No, of course not!" she said sharply. Lisa laughed. "Yeah, well… Sure, I guess I could come see you. But it's a long walk. And taxis are rather expensive. It's that important? Okay. I'll be there soon," she finished.

After hanging up the phone and putting her bookmark in, she went out into the apartment. Jonathan was reading on the couch. "Good morning," she said.

"Morning," he replied, sounding distracted.

"Well, I hate to rush off like this, but Lisa just called. She said it was important, so I must run."

He glanced up at her. "Oh." He paused. "She lives in a bad part of town. Are you sure you want to go there alone?" he asked.

She paused to consider. "I guess you could come. She didn't say anything about what sort of emergency it was," she added. "Let's go."

It wasn't an emergency at all. Not really. Lisa was a little nervous about a man who had been hanging around her apartment, but said she would have called Eddie if she were concerned. Her real reason for calling she said simply that she was feeling lonely. Beyond that, she didn't say anything. But Jenny was used to her being a little skittish. And she could understand her friend's loneliness. They spent the day there, mostly watching movies. Most of the movies were ones that the two ladies loved, and were shocked Jonathan had never seen. What he thought of them, he didn't say.

That evening, Jenny and Jonathan stood on a street corner. She was attempting to hail a cab, but none seemed to be answering. Finally, one stopped for them. Smiling, she climbed in. Before he could follow suit, it had started to drive off, driving fast.

"Hey!" Jenny said. Then she took in who the driver was. She started to scream.

"Stop that noise or I'll stop it myself," he growled.

"What are you doing?" she asked carefully.

"What does it look like? Kidnapping you. The doc didn't accept Boss's order, so he said I could have you," Victor Zsasz said, smiling evilly.

"Did he really?" she asked faintly. "Well, I'm afraid we've passed my stop." She pulled out a can of pepper spray and hastily made use of it. Although she couldn't do much damage at this angle, she was able to distract him long enough to jump out onto the curb. She rolled, then took off running.

It occurred to her that she didn't know where she was. No matter. Though this street was deserted, perhaps there would be someone to help her nearby. And there was Jonathan. Hopefully, he was following her. She glanced back, but saw only Zsasz. She cursed silently, and kept running.

It was dark. She could hardly see where she was going. And she was lost. This doesn't bode well, she thought, trying to keep herself distracted. But she realized that Zsasz was gaining on her, so she succumbed to terror. It made her flight much faster. Unfortunately, being lost made her take a wrong turn. Dead end. She swore loudly, looking around for a way to escape before she was trapped.

"Looks like the doc can't keep up with us, can he?" a menacing voice behind her said.

She sighed, holding in her fear. "Come on, Victor," she began.

"I'd love to," he replied. She gulped audibly.

She reached into her purse and pulled out a revolver. "Get away," she said sharply. He grabbed her wrists and shoved her against the stone wall. This caused the gun to go off and she dropped it. She screamed in desperation.

"Did you really think that would work?" he demanded. She closed her eyes as he leaned closer.

Then, suddenly, there was a muffled noise and he wasn't on her anymore. She opened her eyes. Zsasz was on the ground, and Batman stood over her. She cried out in surprise, and stepped away from the wall and from Batman. Unfortunately, she tripped on something, and fell backwards. Jonathan caught her. She didn't know when he had arrived.

"Shh…" he whispered. "Pretend you fainted."

"What?"

"Just do it," he hissed. Then, he looked up and smiled. "Let him go, Mr. Wayne."