Forbidden Moons-Same. I swear, the camera went to Arkham and I was all, 'you didn't', and they did, and the chorus for 'Goodbye, Earl' just started playing in my head. I will not be happy again until there is either murder or permanent psychological trauma.
Kitty's not expecting Jim Gordon to call her.
She only answers the strange number because she's expecting another call, and even then she only stays on the line because Mum would know, somehow, if she just hung up and her Disappointment would be felt all the way from London.
But she's not happy.
"What do you want?"
What? She's lived in Gotham since she was two, that's bound to have some sort of effect on her manners, Mum or no.
Gordon, to his credit, remains unphazed.
"Have you seen Jonathan Crane lately?"
One, how many Jonathans does he think she knows? Two, if she had, she wouldn't be telling him. The last time they were anywhere near each other, Jonathan hadn't…
"That idiot in charge of Arkham won't let me see him." she snaps. "So no, Detective, I haven't."
Not for lack of trying. Arkham was the worst place they could have sent him, he'd been doing…a little better…at the hospital, he'd recognized her.
"Why?" she continues. "Has something happened?"
Oh, god, there wasn't some sort of patient riot or anything, was there? She hasn't seen anything, but this is Gotham, things get covered up so as not to cause mass panic, and-
"No," Gordon says carefully, "I just wondered."
She hears the unspoken connection to a case and counts to five. That does nothing to stop her voice from shaking.
"If anything's happened to him, it's your fault." she says, because it's all his fault, if he didn't have to play the damn hero- "So you can fuck off."
She hangs up, Mum's Disappointment be damned, and sinks onto her couch. Today was a good day, and now it isn't, and that's one more thing to hold Jim Gordon responsible for.
Before this, before everything, she'd always considered herself to be a believer in Karma. Don't get involved, things will sort themselves out in the end. But Gordon has gone along his happy life while her best friend has lost his and-
Not for the first time, she wants him dead. But not in an easy accident or something-something painful, public, reputation-destroying. He did this.
The fact that he'd asked, though…
If anyone would have found a way out of Arkham, it would be Jonathan. He was the one who found that little boarded-up passageway between the auditorium and the old science building, the one that had burned to a husk.
He would have gone home, probably, to familiar surroundings. She doubts he's there, because this is Arkham, but…
But she'd never forgive herself for not checking, either.
And Gordon may be an impulsive bastard, but he's no fool. He'll look there eventually.
The Crane house looks the same as she remembers it. The only thing missing is the scarecrow, but the elements have probably gotten to that.
It's overgrown and it doesn't look like anyone's been here-nature's already starting to swallow the front porch.
She doubts he's here. He was never particularly fond of the place, not after what happened to his mom, but it's familiar. Far enough out of town, too, to avoid attention.
The spare's where it always was, inside the fake wasp's nest a little ways above the door (and yeah, she has to climb on the rocker to reach, which is highly unfair).
The place looks empty enough, but that doesn't mean much of anything.
"Jonathan?" Please be here…
She hasn't been in here since Before, and even then she wasn't over that much. Gerald Crane was…not okay. But she's still pretty sure all the science equipment on the kitchen table is new.
There's a noise and she turns around, hand reaching for something to use as a weapon, and stills.
He's not…he isn't…
He hasn't changed much. Little thinner than he used to be, and the robe hanging off him looks like an inmate's uniform, but he's on his feet and lucid enough, at least, to be seeing her.
"Jonathan?" He doesn't answer. "Oh my god-"
Okay, so maybe surprise-hugging him isn't the best idea, but he doesn't panic and he's warm and here and Jesus-
"Hi, Kitty."
She squeezes him and he hugs her back in that ridiculous 'what is a hug' way he's always done.
He's okay. He's okay, he got out of there one way or another and she'll have to ask, but she really could not care less right at this second.
"God, it's good to see you, I tried to come visit but that bastard wouldn't let me, and then Gordon called asking if I'd seen you and I told him to fuck off but then I got to thinking maybe-and-and it was just a lucky guess but I couldn't just not check and-" She cuts herself off. "What happened?"
He sighs, breath ruffling her hair, and she feels him half-turn to look at something.
"It's a long story, Kitty." he says. "Come on. I'll explain, I swear, just…not in here."
Fair enough.
THE END