Jonathan paced the halls in his manor. He didn't like the fact that Roxi stopped by to visit without so much as a phone call to give him a little warning, and now she had invited Amber to dinner with her. Jonathan didn't mind Amber; she seemed like she could be quite likeable in other circumstances, but now there was such a high chance of her escaping under Roxi's eye that he couldn't help but feel extremely nervous.

He looked towards the door when he heard it open. Roxi stepped in, with Amber following her. He looked curiously at the face mask that Amber was wearing, and then back to Roxi. "It was not required that she wear that." He said simply. Roxi shrugged at him. Amber was scowling profusely at him, but he knew that she couldn't speak with it on. "Amber will need different clothes for dinner tonight. She looks to be around your size; do you have anything normal she might wear?" He asked Roxi as he watched her try and take off Amber's mask with no success.

"Yeah, uh, somewhere…" Roxi muttered as she walked back out to her car.

"Do you want that mask removed?" Jonathan asked her as she glared further at him. He watched her carefully as she looked down and tensed slightly. He could tell that she considered having him help her with anything to be a serious blow to her pride. It was obvious that Roxi couldn't remember the knots that she had made to tie the mask, so it would be necessary if Amber was to eat anything tonight. She sighed finally and turned around.

Jonathan was cautious when he walked over. He wasn't sure if Amber had any tricks in mind, and he really didn't feel like being kicked. But she stayed perfectly still as he slowly untied one of the knots in her mask. He played absentmindedly with a small lock of her red-brown hair, only needing one hand to untie the knot. Roxi hadn't gotten much cleverer since they were children Jonathan noted; the knots that she had tied the mask with were the same that she had used to tie him up when she was annoyed with him. Once he was finished, he removed the mask carefully, keeping his hands well out of biting range.

"Better?" He asked her as he tossed the mask casually onto a small table. She looked around, then back at him.

"No." Amber said. When he met her bright hazel eyes, he saw a strong anger there that buried a hint of nervousness. Jonathan smiled and turned to watch Roxi come back to the house carrying a heavy suitcase. Roxi looked at him carefully.

"Where can I put this?" She asked him.

"In the room that you wish to sleep in. I need to go check on dinner. You said that you're allergic to peanuts Amber?" Jonathan asked her briskly. He was happy to have a chance to leave Amber in Roxi's care for the moment. There was something about Amber that made him feel like what he did to her was wrong. He wondered why Amber could bring feelings of guilt. Amber nodded at him in answer to his question, and Jonathan walked out of the room quickly.

Amber watched Crane with dislike as he walked out of the room. She didn't like the feeling of his hands playing with her hair, and felt like she needed to wash herself clean of his touch. "Sooo, what do you wanna wear?" Roxi asked her. "I don't think that he's going to make us seriously dress up, since none of the snooty people are here." Amber didn't answer her question as she followed Roxi up the long set of stairs. It was difficult to concentrate on keeping her balance with the straight jacket. On top of her balance issues, Amber was watching the oil paintings that adorned the walls with interest. She didn't recognize any of the works, but Amber had never been very interested in studying famous artists. The paintings varied from some that were old, to modern works of art that Amber found a hard time appreciating.

They reached a large door and Roxi opened it to reveal a large room that was decorated with different shades of blue. There was a rug that covered a beautiful light hardwood floor that had large blue spots on it. A few exotic looking plants were placed on an old-fashioned wardrobe. Off to the side of the room, a large blue fluffy bed was placed so that it was noticeable, but not overly so. "Jonathan redecorated the entire house. This used to be my room. It was completely black, red and white. And now would you just look at this! Horrible." Roxi said with distaste as she picked up a cerulean blue pillow off of the bed by a corner and threw it away from her. Amber thought that the room was quite beautiful, but didn't comment. "You never answered me; what do you want to wear?" Roxi asked her.

"I dunno. A tee-shirt and just some regular pants… Do you think that you could take this off of me?" Amber asked her as she shifted in the jacket.

"Umm, you're not really going to like this bit very much." Roxi told her. Amber felt a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"What?"

"Well, only Jonathan and his head orderly have the keys to this lock. And this one. And this one." Roxi told her, poking her in the back to show her where the three locks were. Two were on each side of her back, but the last one was on her lower back. "Jonathan won't let me touch the keys anymore. Last time I made copies and gave them to some of his patients." Amber groaned.

"Roxi…"

"Sorry. If I'd known before I wouldn't have put you in it." Roxi said apologetically. "Well, might as well get this over sooner than later; I'm hungry! JONATHAN!" Roxi screeched the last word at the top of her lungs. A few moments later Amber heard someone running up the stairs.

"What is wrong with you!" Crane asked her loudly. "I was all the way in my room, and I heard you! Is there some kind of emergency?" Amber was pleased to see his flawless pale skin was flushed and he was breathing a little heavily. Crane saw her amusement and glared at her.

"Would you stop giving that nasty look to people? What kind of manners you were raised to have while I was gone? You'll be nice tonight, or I'll put something horrible in your bed!" Roxi said in an offended tone. Crane rolled his eyes.

"What do you need?" Crane sounded tired.

"Well, you know I love you, right?" Roxi said cheerfully, grinning to show sharpened teeth. Crane didn't seem very amused with her.

"You locked it." He said.

"Yeah. I need your key."

"Roxi, you are not trusted anymore with any of my keys due to a certain incident." Crane said, glaring at her.

"Just this once! You can watch me the whole time so that I don't steal the key!" Roxi pleaded hopefully.

"Due to special circumstances, I will allow it this time. It will not happen again, though." Crane took a small key out of his pocket and handed it to Roxi, watching her the whole time as she unlocked the three locks quickly. Roxi tossed it back to Crane lightly.

"Is dinner almost ready?" Amber asked Crane quietly. He seemed to be surprised that she was speaking to him, in a civil tone none the less.

"Yes, the maid is serving it now. You should hurry and dress before the food gets cold." Crane said as she shrugged off the straight jacket. Roxi frowned at him as he disappeared out the door again.

"I think he likes you." Roxi said thoughtfully as she started to dig around in her suitcase, pulling pairs of pants and shirts out. Amber looked at Roxi, horrified. When Roxi saw her look, she laughed.

"Not in that way. I mean that he probably respects you. It's interesting." Amber felt relieved when Roxi said this.

"Why would he try and kill me, then lock me up if he respected me? It doesn't make sense." Amber replied slowly as she selected a black top and faded blue jeans out of the pile that Roxi had pulled out.

"Who knows? Jonathan's strange like that. Probably he didn't know you before, but now, despite his best efforts, he's come to like you a little. If he wanted to kill you really he would have done it in the asylum and played it off as a suicide." Roxi said as she shut her suitcase. "Maybe you'll get to know him too. Once you get past his outside, he's decent." She said quietly as she walked out the door.

Amber was taken aback by that statement. As she pulled on the shirt, she was amazed that anyone could possibly think that Jonathan Crane was tolerable; but then again, this was his older sister speaking. Amber frowned as she walked out of the room, remembering as well that Crane hadn't followed up on all of his promises from the ID card incident. He hadn't given her music; drawing supplies, books, or most importantly, move her into the minimum security ward.

"You look hot." Roxi said when she walked out of the room wearing the new clothes. "I'll make sure that you get your old clothes back after dinner. I'll have one of the laundry people wash them for you."

Remembering what Anna had told her in the cell, Amber spoke suddenly. "You're sure I'll get them back?" She asked Roxi.

"Of course! Why wouldn't you?"

"No reason I guess…" Amber muttered. Roxi grinned at the long banister along the stairwell.

"Dare I?" Amber returned her grin and nodded. Roxi sat on the railing carefully, looking down at the bottom to make sure that no one was there. Screeching with delight, Roxi slid down the banister and landed gracefully at the bottom. "You try!" She yelled up to Amber.

Amber looked at the railing with doubt, then back down at Roxi. "C'mon Amber! It's not that hard!" Roxi said encouragingly from the first floor. Amber sighed, and wished that she hadn't gone along with Roxi's idea. Slowly, she climbed up on it cautiously and grabbed it suddenly when she felt herself starting to fall off. After she had steadied herself, Amber took a deep breath and slid down the banister. Screaming in the same fashion as Roxi, Amber flew down the railing quickly. When she reached the bottom, she found that she didn't have Roxi's grace in landing, and fell awkwardly on her back. Laughing, she accepted Roxi's hand up.

Amber tensed when she saw Crane turn to walk into what she assumed was the dining room. "Stop being such a killjoy, Jonathan! You know it's funny!" Roxi shouted to his retreating back. The only answer that she had was his expensive shoes clicking as he walked into another room. "Honestly! Did he get fed any strange meds? Or maybe it's a lack of them that's making him this way…" Roxi muttered as she led the way into a richly furnished dining room. A dark wood table was laden with a variety of foods. Underneath the table, there was pristinely white carpet that looked like it would scream in agony if anyone spilled.

Crane watched her from the head of the table as she walked into the room, trying to hide her admiration for the décor in it. Roxi skipped over happily to sit on her brother's right side, and Amber sat down slowly to his left. It made her extremely uncomfortable to be sitting so close to him. She looked down at the china plate, and noticed that there were two kinds of forks, a spoon, and a large steak knife. Amber eyed the steak knife with surprise, and noted that it was very sharp. She looked up curiously at Crane, who was watching her with interest. He raised an eyebrow and looked down at her knife, then back at her. Roxi was busy serving herself food from the many dishes on the table, and drinking the wine quickly.

"Going to stab me with that?" He asked her in a tone that was barely audible. He met her eyes. Amber glanced over at Roxi again and saw that she didn't hear what Crane had said.

"Maybe." She replied in the same quiet tone, meeting his eyes again. He smiled faintly, as though almost daring her to threaten him with the knife.

"Salad?" He said in a slightly louder tone.

"'It's really good! I think you'd like it." Roxi said cheerfully while cutting a large piece of steak and shoving it ungracefully into her mouth. Crane watched Roxi with a smile. "You make it?" Roxi asked him when she swallowed her steak. He nodded and watched Amber carefully put some on her plate. Amber was slightly suspicious of the food that Crane had prepared, but she knew that he wouldn't poison his own sister, who was happily eating the salad.

"So Roxi, where have you been lately? You haven't been home for a while." Crane asked his sister, who was finishing her glass of wine. A maid walked over silently and refilled it.

"Oh, I got back from Brazil a few weeks ago. I've been hanging in New York for a while.

"Where were you living in New York?" Amber heard a dangerous tone in Crane's voice. Amber glanced between Crane and Roxi and saw that Roxi didn't notice the tone, or that he was gripping his fork with a considerable amount of force. The maid that had been standing in the corner of the room walked out.

"Well, umm, I stayed with some chick for the first week that I was talking to on the plane, and then I met Flore, and I stayed with him until I came here."

"And who is Flore?"

"Oh he's so cool! He wants to get into fashion design!" Roxi said with admiration. She took a long drink from her glass.

"Does Flore have a last name?"

"I dunno." Roxi drained the second glass and looked around the large room expectantly for the maid to refill the glass. Amber had finished the salad and watched Crane. He still had the death grip on his fork, and she could tell that he didn't approve of Roxi's behavior. Roxi got up suddenly and walked into an adjacent room, returning with a bottle of clear liquid. She poured a large amount of it in her glass and set the bottle roughly down on the table.

"Roxanna, I think that you need to see something in the kitchen." Crane said as he set the fork down carefully on the table.

"But I was just in there, Jonathan…" Roxi started to say.

"No, you definitely need to go to the kitchen." He insisted as he got up swiftly. She frowned at him, and got up slowly and walked into the room that she had exited a moment ago.

Amber felt uncomfortable in her chair, and even more so when she heard Roxi's raised voice emanating from the open door. She tried not to listen to the argument as she walked out of the room. She walked out into the entryway, and looked longingly as the large doors. She hurried over and tried the doorknob, without success. She looked up and saw that there were two locks that were far out of her reach. Amber groaned loudly and glared at the locks, trying to will them to unlock.

"Miss; do these belong to you?" a timid voice asked. Amber turned around in surprise and saw a small woman dressed in a simple black dress holding out her clothes.

"Yes, thanks. Do you have anywhere that I could change?" Amber asked her while accepting the clothes gratefully. The woman jumped as a loud crack of thunder sounded from outside, and rain started to hammer the large Victorian window.

"Certainly. This way please." The woman led her to a small bathroom, where she changed into her old clothes quickly. When she finished, Amber poked her head out of the door, hoping that the maid was still there. Seeing that she was no where to be found in the room, Amber placed Roxi's folded clothes carefully on a table next to a delicate flower arrangement and walked back to the entryway. She flinched when she heard a door slam, and Crane walked out of the dining room, showing no emotion as usual.

"I'll be taking you back to the asylum." He said simply as he opened a closet next to a small table and took out a long black umbrella. Crane used the handle to unlock the two locks on the door and pressed a button on the handle that caused the umbrella to open. "Have you ever heard of someone called Flore?" He asked her as they walked out to the blue Porsche. He held the umbrella to keep the rain from hitting her.

"No." She replied, getting in the passenger seat of the car. Crane started up the car.

"I am sorry that you had to see that." He told her as he drove out of the driveway. Amber stared out the window at the large wrought iron gates and didn't reply. After they were nearly halfway to the building, Amber spoke again.

"When do you think that I'll be able to leave?" She asked him. She looked over at him.

"When you give up this obsession with writing your article." He replied simply.

"It's my job though; Mark won't give me another assignment until I finish this one."

"That really is not my problem." He told her coldly. She could tell that it wouldn't be wise to pursue this topic when he was still angry about Roxi, and they sat in an uncomfortable silence for the rest of the ride. When they reached the asylum, Crane got out of the car, ignoring the downpour and walked up to the entrance. She stood by the car and watched him unlock the doors, enjoying the feeling of the rain on her skin. Once he had unlocked the door, he seemed to realize that she was not next to him. He looked back at her expectantly.

"You forgot my straight jacket." She said to him loudly through the rain and grinned.