For the next month, Lena stayed with Jonathan and the voice persisted with the same comments. Finally one day, it just went away. Jonathan thought that it might come back after a few days, but it didn't. He waited a week and it didn't make a sound. Jonathan was finally free of the annoying voice. He was free to do what he pleased without its comments. He was free to take his and Lena's relationship to the next level.
The month changed from August to September and classes at GCU were going to start in almost a week's time.
It was Lena's turn to cook and she had dragged Jonathan to the grocery store. "Lena, you know I hate shopping."
"Oh calm down you big weenie," Lena said as she reached for the shredded cheese. "One hour of shopping for food won't kill you. And besides, I am the one cooking, what are you complaining about?"
"Lena, I have seen you cook."
"Hey!" she exclaimed as she poked him with the sausage link. "That was one time! And the directions on that box were wrong! It said to cook them at 500 degrees for an hour!"
"No, it said cook them for six minutes, not sixty."
"Well, that was only once. And anyway, how hard is it to make pizza?"
"I am so sorry, Jonathan. I didn't know that pizzas were that highly flammable," said Lena as she got into his car.
"It's okay; we put out the fire before it got to bad."
"I burnt it to a crisp!"
"It's okay. This will give us a nice chance to go out." And a chance to talk to her about us. he thought. "We hardly ever eat out. Now, where do you want to go?"
"I don't know, Olive Garden?"
"Sounds good to me."
As they pulled up to the parking lot Jonathan turned to Lena and took a breath. "Lena, we need to talk."
She tucked her newly dyed black hair behind her ears and said, "Okay, shoot." She had a bit of worry tucked away in her voice and hoped that Jonathan didn't notice.
"I care more about you then anyone else in the world."
"As I do you."
"And I was hoping that we could take our relation to the next level."
"What do you mean, 'next level'?" she asked warily.
Jonathan hadn't expected this. "Uh..."
"I hope you don't think that I am going to sleep with you, because I love you, but I am not ready to take that step."
"No, no. Not at all. I mean..."
"Like holding hands and giving each other nicknames?"
"Yes." He was relived that she had done the explaining for him.
"I would love that snookums!"
"No snookums."
"Oh come on! It is so cute!"
"No, I draw the line at snookums."
"Fine, how about... honey?"
"That I can deal with." They were all smiles as they walked into the restaurant.
About a week after classes start Lena and Jonathan were home on a break when the mail man pulled up to Jonathan's mail box. "I'll get the mail," Lena yelled from across the house. Jonathan was in the kitchen getting something to eat.
"Anything for me?" he asked as she walked into the kitchen with a stack of papers in her hands.
"A few bills and a letter inviting you to chaperone the Halloween dance at the end of October. That sounds fun, maybe we could go together."
"I thought we discussed this. If the school board finds out about this you would lose any chance of any scholarships you want and I would get fired."
"I know." She kept riffling through the mail until she came across a piece of mail addressed to her. "Look at this," she shoved an open letter under Jonathan's nose.
"What is it?"
"It's a letter from child services saying that Mallory demands I come back and live with her."
"How is that possible?"
"I have no idea." The next day they went to the main office for child services and waited in the office of one of the child services people.
"What is the meaning of this letter?" Jonathan asked the woman as he threw the paper on her desk. Lena took Jonathan's hand, expecting the worst.
"It means that by law, Lena isn't able to live anywhere but her guardian's house. If you don't go back within the next few days, Mallory can file a missing persons report and then that is just a big legal mess."
"But Mallory kicked me out of her house! She said if Jonathan or I ever stepped on her property again, she would shoot us with her gun, which I am almost sure that she doesn't have a license for!"
"I know, but if you really are trying to sue her son for rape and you win, you would be placed in an orphanage because they would deem her house a non-safe place to live. You wouldn't be able to go and do as you please. It is just better if you stay with them until you turn 18, Lena. And as for the gun thing, honey, half the people in this town don't have a license for their guns, but the police have more important things to worry about."
On the way back to Jonathan's house, Lena was silent. As she packed she was silent. Finally, as he was parking in front of Mallory's house Jonathan said, "Lena," but she cut him off by throwing her arms around him.
"Jonathan!" she sobbed. "I don't want to live with them, they will kill me! They'll drive me to suicide again! And nothing will stop me this time!"
This drove a knife of fear through Jonathan's heart. Something he hadn't felt in a long time. The gut wrenching feeling of the possibility of losing someone you love. "Lena, don't you dare. I will never forgive you if you do." He hugged her tighter and said, "I don't think I could live without you. If you aren't going to stop your self for anything else, stop yourself for me, please Lena. I think I would die if I lost you."
"You really mean that?"
"Of course! Call me if the thought even enters your mind, I will have my cell phone with me and on at all times."
"I love you Jonathan."
Jonathan wasn't expecting that. He froze and a pit dropped in his stomach. He got shivers up his spine and the words that came out of his mouth sounded and felt alien to him. He had never had to say he loved anything before. "I love you to." She gave him a quick kiss and got out of the car. He watched as she walked to what seemed to be her impending doom.
Jonathan went back home and thought about Lena. He really did love her, why was it so hard to say it?
It's because your original intentions were to hurt her! said the voice. You never meant for this to go so far, you were going to use her as a guinea pig for your experiments!
"I do love Lena!" The voice subsided into a simmer and Jonathan got prepared for his next class.
As soon as Lena walked in the door, Mallory started to bitch about her. "Where the hell have you been? You have so many chores to finish!"
At the end of that day, Lena was in tears. She speed dialed Jonathan's number and the first thing out of his mouth was, "Are you alright?"
"No. I hate them all! They are the family from hell!" she sobbed.
"Can you sneak out and come to see me?"
"I'll try; bring your car to the park. That is the nearest to the house we can get."
Jonathan was at the park in a flash and saw a huddled figure on the park bench.
"Lena," he said as she climbed in the car. Her face was tired and tearstained, her clothes smelled of cleaning liquids and deep frying oil. "You look terrible."
She did nothing but throw herself on him and sob. They didn't even talk. Just Jonathan's presence made her feel safer then she had ever been. With Jonathan, she was home.
The next month went on like that, Lena being over worked and abused at home. The only time she would ever see Jonathan was at school. So, every night, she would sneak out of the house and spend most of the night in Jonathan's car or he would take her to his house so she could get some undisturbed rest.
But sooner then not, it was Jonathan who needed the undisturbed rest. The head psychiatrist at Arkham was running Jonathan ragged.
"Crane," said Doctor Smith. "I am going to need you to do a few things for me."
It's going to be something stupid, like get him coffee, or get him food like it has been for the past month and a half. "Like what?" Jonathan asked through clenched teeth. He was afraid that if he opened his mouth anymore, the adjectives for Dr. Smith would come spilling out, for example, one that starts with an F and ends with a U and one with all the profanity cut out would go something like this, You mother – little – stupid piece of – brainless – dumb- -.
"Well, I have a list for you right here." He handed Jonathan a piece of paper and Jonathan read it through.
"Wal-Mart, the laundry mat, the book store, the cigar shop? Pardon me for asking, sir, but what does any of this have to do with my internship here at Arkham? This is gofer work. Shouldn't I be helping you with some of the patients?"
"Just do the assignment, Crane." Smith started to walk away.
"But I really think that my talent would be better served treating the patients. And it is an hour before closing, I need to get home. This is going to take all night."
"So? It's not like you have someone waiting at home for you." Jonathan bit his tongue so he would not tell Smith about Lena. "Just go do the assignment."
"But Dr. Smith,"
"One more crack out of you, Crane, and you can kiss this internship goodbye."
They were the only ones left in the hallway. Jonathan felt his anger bubbling up like steam and water On the very top was the voice, coxing in his ear, "Use your anger, Jonathan. He is stupid! How he ever got to become the head of your Arkham, we will never know. But there is no one else around. Why don't you tell him just exactly what you think of him?
No, thought Jonathan. I will lose the internship for good!
Then let me tell him! And suddenly, Jonathan lost control of his body, mind, and mouth. It was almost as if he was watching the movie of his life through his eyes, but not being able to intervene.
"Hey, Smith!" yelled the voice. It was using Jonathan's body to talk to Smith. Jonathan tried to shut his mouth, but the voice had complete control over him. There was nothing else Jonathan could do, but sit back (metaphorically speaking) and watch his life come crashing down around him.
"I thought I told you to get a start on that list?"
"You did. But, honestly, when I have I ever listened to a word you said? Let me think," the voice put Jonathan's hand to Jonathan's face in a thinking pose. "Never!"
"Excuse me?"
"No, there is no excuse for you! How you ever got to be the head of this prestigious asylum, I will never know."
"Why?"
"Because you are so goddamn stupid! For someone with a Harvard degree you are the dumbest ass on the face of the earth! Jesus, don't you use your eyes! Your wife is having an affair with the janitor and you are the last to know!"
"You are out of line, Crane!"
"Your daughter has been having sex since she moved in with her boyfriend and you are the last to know!"
"Do NOT talk about my family!"
"Your son has been doing pot since he was 12 and you are the last to know!"
"This is all lies! I don't believe any of this!"
"And me. You think I look up to you and admire you for being head of Arkham. Wrong! I think you are the scum of this earth and you don't deserve this job in the least and, once again, you are the last to know."
"That's it! You're fired!" And Smith walked away.
When Jonathan finally regained control of his mind, his first thought was Oh, shit. How am I going to get my job back? He looked at his watch. It's only a little less then an hour before closing time. Maybe if I wait in his office and plead momentary insanity, he will reconsider.
If all else fails, said the voice. You could kill him and step up to your rightful place as head of Arkham.
Well, Jonathan thought. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.
Hello all! Happy holidays! I know I haven't posted in a while, but I have been really side tracked with the holiday season! That is, by far, my most favorite time of the year! Right before Thanksgiving and through Christmas is just full of such good cheer and good feelings… I am starting to sound like a Christmas carol, aren't I? Oh well! e-Thanksgiving food for everyone! Shout outs!
Silver Anarchist- Thanks! And totally understandable about 'mommy dearest' wanting the computer. My family of five has only one computer and we are constantly fighting over it!
Blodeuedd- Thanks! I think we all are a bit brain dead after stuffing ourselves with yummy food, so no hard feelings!
Firefly4000- Thank you! Let's see, pointers on Crane. Uhh… well, try your hardest not to bend his character to much to fit your story. Keep him at least semi evil. Like with mine, he will get much more evil in later chapters. And don't turn him into fluff! Because the first draft of my story was so much fluff, my beta reader was appalled! She made me rewrite the entire thing! Maybe one or two sentences stayed the same. And don't worry, Jonathan and Lena will uhh… share some intimate moments soon. All in due time.
Kate Beckert- Thank you so much! That is one of the nicest reviews I have gotten in a while! It's always good to see that new people are enjoying this as much as the original readers! I love Crane to! But allot of my friends say that he looks like a girl and I just want to smack them upside the head and say, 'Shut up! You're just jealous of his good looks!' I will most definitely check out your Crane fic! Post it soon! And I would love to email you to tell you when the chapters are up, but my email won't let me email anyone outside of the website, sorry!
And to all of you who didn't review and those who have, thank you so very much for sticking with me! We made it to the tenth chapter! Can you believe it! I am very excited! I will try to get the next one posted soon!
Love,
Celia
