Disclaimer: I don't own Jonathan Crane (sadly) nor Batman. I don't claim to own them. I don't make any profit off of this. I'm just having fun.

09

Always

It was the middle of the night when I woke up. I groaned and fought the urge to roll over. I pushed myself to my elbows and squinted at the clock, 2:34 A.M. What the hell am I doing up?

I tried to lay back down and after what felt like forever, I realized my throat was dry. I looked at the clock again, 2:36 A.M. Fuck.

I sat up running a hand through my bedhead and stood, swaying. I still felt like I needed to sleep for another five years or so, but there was no use now. I stumbled my way out into the living room to go into the kitchen, but noticed that the light was on.

Jonathan was sitting on the couch, hunched over a book and a notebook. He was just wearing a pair of flannel pajama pants, the dim light shining on his scars. He had gained some weight, though he was still impossibly thin. He did not look like he was starving anymore, though.

He looked up and I was caught staring. "What are you doing up?"

"Drink." I mumbled, embarrassed. I walked into the kitchen and got a cup out of the cabinet, filling it up from the faucet and basically chugging it. I stood there for a couple minutes, trying to wake myself up long enough to not sound like an idiot.

I wandered back into the living room, Jonathan was sitting on the couch facing the kitchen. When I walked in, he patted the seat in front of him. "You're eloquent this morning."

"That's because it's two in the morning." I sat down, pulling my legs up to my chest. I then remembered I was wearing tiny sleep shorts so I crossed my legs instead. "If I'm ever eloquent at two in the morning, you'd better run. It usually means something was keeping me awake and that usually means I'm angry."

"I'll keep that in mind." The fact that he was shirtless was really messing with me. I couldn't keep my eyes from trailing down his thin chest. It wasn't sculpted, not really. But his abs were slightly defined and everything was just smooth. Except for his ribs, but they weren't as prominent as they used to be. I tried to keep my eyes from following the thin trail of hair from his belly button... God, when had I become such a freaking teenager?

"What are you doing up?" I had to keep myself occupied. Talking was good.

"Filling out forms for Gotham University."

I raised an eyebrow. "Now?"

"Yes, now. I've been busy with you and it needs to be in their offices by next week." He leaned over and ran a hand through his hair. I realized then he didn't have his glasses on. Without them, his eyes only stood out more.

Of course, I felt bad. "You didn't actually have to take care of me, you know." He had that look on his face, so I decided to clarify. "I'm really not your problem. I mean, I really appreciate what you've been doing for me, but you don't have to. I don't want you to feel like you have to."

He swallowed and looked down, and I could tell he was uncomfortable. "Listen, Dahlia. This whole... thing is new to me. Before you, not many even tried to get to know me, let alone let me into their world like you did." Jonathan frowned and sighed. "I want to take care of you. Always."

My heart almost stopped beating. It was way to early for this type of talk, I knew that, but at this point I really didn't care. This beautiful, strong, misunderstood boy was looking at me with those eyes and not a damn thing mattered anymore. Not the idiots that put me in the hospital, not the impending trip to Gotham. Nothing.

Completely ignoring his boundaries, I leaned over and pressed my lips to his. I stayed still, waiting for him to push me off, but before I knew it he was pulling me into his lap. He pressed his lips harder against mine, causing me to sigh. I threaded my fingers through his hair, almost smiling at how soft it was.

Jonathan pulled back after a minute, both of our chests heaving. I grinned at him. "This is crazy, you know that?"

"Crazy is in the eye of the beholder." He smirked at me, his blue eyes dancing. He stole a glance at the clock. "It's three and we have class in the morning. We should probably sleep." He moved to untangle me but I was too comfortable to move. I leaned up and flipped the switch, bathing the room in darkness. "What are you doing?"

I smiled. "Well, I'm going to bed. Er, couch. Whatever. I'm too tired to move. So, you have two options, stay here with me or you can go sleep in my bed."

There was silence and I could almost see the cogs turning. "Move down."

I did as he said and we eventually got situated so I was laying in between his legs, my head on his bare chest. I snuggled down in further, yawning as he pulled the comforter around us. "G'night, Jonathan."

I felt his lips on my forehead. "Good night, Dahlia." I let his heartbeat lull me to sleep.

"Well, when I said to keep doors open, I didn't mean quite like this."

I jumped and yelped, falling to the floor. I felt a stab of pain in my ribs and winced. I couldn't wait until that was gone. I heard the springs move in the couch as Jonathan sat up and I sat up also, glaring at my smiling mother. "What the hell, Mom?"

She laughed. "As cute as you were, you're gonna be late for school if you two don't get a move on."

I looked at the clock and choked. It was almost six, which meant I had about ten minutes to get ready. I got up and ran into the bathroom. I quickly did all the necessities, washed my face and brushed my teeth. I ran a comb through my hair before throwing it up in a messy bun. I pulled on the clothes I had set out the previous day, just a simple black shirt and a pair of ripped up jeans.

I went back into the living room to find Jonathan already dressed in one of the newer shirts my mom had gotten him. It was an early birthday gift, along with other clothes after my mother decided that his wardrobe needed updating. It was a casual black button down shirt with dark jeans. He had the sleeves rolled up because even in the end of November, it was warm. He brushed past me to the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

I moved to the kitchen and sat at the table, grabbing a bagel off the plate that Mom had set out. She looked up from her cereal, the same smile on her face. I knew she was just itching to ask. "I woke up, he was awake, sat, talked, passed out. Does that meet your expectations?"

"As long as you're being safe, I don't care." Oh great, this again. "You're going to be eighteen in a couple months and Jon is a great guy."

"I could definitely do worse." I rolled my eyes, taking a bite out of the bagel. "Quit acting like we're getting married, Mom."

"You never know, you might."

"Might what?" Jonathan came in, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Mom's trying to marry us already." I took another bite, chewing thoughtfully.

"I'm flattered, ma'am, but I think that we need to get through high school first." He sat down next to me and took a bagel for himself.

"Speaking of, Dahlia told me that you have forms you need to send in. Do you want me to send them when I'm on my way to town?"

He nodded. "If it's not too much trouble, thank you."

I stood and glanced at the clock. "We should probably be going if we want to get there on time."

I grabbed my keys and Jonathan grabbed my bag of make up work along with his. We waved to Mom as we left the apartment, side by side.

Looking up at the school, I wasn't really so sure why I wanted to go back. Now that I'm here, I don't want to go anywhere near it.

I was standing in the front with Jonathan, my hand securely in his. "Are you alright?"

I shrugged. "I'm not sure. I'm just... anxious."

"Don't be." He squeezed my hand. "No one is going to hurt you again, I can promise you that. Come one, we're going to be late."

He led me into the crowded hall until something strange happened. Where we usually had to fight to make our way through, our classmates parted like the sea as we made our way through. I felt stares heavy on my back and I noticed that quite a few of them were staring at our joined hands. Oh yeah, this must be news for them.

As we passed through, I heard many things. Murderer, fag, Scarecrow, whore. But they didn't do anything but make me keep my head higher and grip Jonathan's hand tighter. They weren't any better than us, and I wasn't going to let them beat me up anymore, literally or figuratively.

We reached my locker, still painted with SCARECROW FUCKER. You would really think that the faculty would do something about this. I sighed and quickly did the combination, smiling when Jonathan laid his hand on my lower back. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. We're fine." I quickly gave him a kiss on the cheek, aware of our audience of just about everyone in the school. "I'll see you at Psych."

My classes went by quick, even Psych. As far as I could tell, no one had bothered Jonathan, either. It was lunch and I was waiting on him to get back from his locker. I leaned against the door frame of the lunch room, examining my nails.

"You've got some nerve coming back here." I looked up and saw a girl I recognized. Well, I recognized her as being one of Sherry's friends, anyways. I just quirked an eyebrow. "Flaunting Scarecrow around. Sherry is dead because of you!"

"I didn't kill her, I was in the hospital, if you didn't hear." I'm sure she did. Most of the gossip came from them.

"You didn't, but your creepy-ass boyfriend did!"

This again? I just shut my eyes and counted to three. One... two.. fuck it. "Listen, I know you're upset about Sherry. Hell, I'm upset about Sherry and she treated me like shit. But please, just go away. I don't need you and your conspiracy theories to ruin my lunch."

That seemed to shock her. "What?"

"I just want to get through high school, alright? Preferably without another trip to the hospital or a mark on my permanent record. So, you and your friends stay away from Jonathan and I, and we won't have a problem. This is stupid."

"What's going on?" Jonathan came up behind the girl, his eyes narrowing. He brushed past her, coming to stand in front of me. "What do you want?"

"I was talking to your girlfriend, Scarecrow. This is between us."

I didn't see his face, but I could tell by the pure ice in his voice that he was not happy. "You are now talking to me, Lilly Carothers. It became my business as soon as your boyfriend helped send Dahlia to the hospital." He leaned down and Lilly backed up, her face suddenly nervous. "Run along now. Don't want you to miss any of the titillating gossip that is no doubt being spread at this very moment."

And she did run. She booked it into the lunch room and I raised my eyebrows, appreciatively. Jonathan had a gift. It was an unholy gift, but it was definitely a gift.

He turned to me, his face perfectly composed. "Are you alright?"

I shrugged. "I'm fine. You forget I managed before you."

"I do not forget, Dahlia." He had that look I can't identify on his face and I shook the creeping feeling away.

I grabbed his hand and pulled him into the lunch room. I spied Belinda and her friends sitting at the other side and was very, very tempted to walk by. However, she saw me before I could and waved, a smile on her face. I sighed when I felt Jonathan stiffen. "Please tell me you're not planning on sitting over there."

"Our table has been taken over." I pointed to the corner where we usually sat, where a couple of theater geeks were sitting. "Would you rather go discuss the Tony Awards with them?"

"Let's just go." We went and got our lunch of some weird mystery meat, soupy potatoes and thick gravy. I picked up bread and an apple, too, because I seriously doubt what I was watching jiggle around on my plate was edible.

We cautiously made our way over to Belinda's crowd, a couple of the people moving over to let us sit. "I'm so happy you decided to sit with us!" Belinda grinned. I couldn't help but smile back until I glanced over at Jonathan. He was stony-faced, eying every single person at the table like they may be a murderer. Which, to his credit, they may be. But just for that reason, it'd probably be a good thing to be nice. I'm not gonna be the girl who gets her head cut off because she was a bitch.

"I'm glad you invited us." I shot another glance at Jonathan. "So is he, even though he'll never say it out loud."

He shot me a dirty look while Belinda giggled. "I'm glad you're feeling better, D.G. Let me introduce you to everyone."

So she did. There were about four people not including herself. A boy to her right with shoulder-length black hair was her boyfriend, Owen. Sitting next to him was a blonde with heave eyeliner named Polly, though I'm guessing she probably would rather go by EvilMistressofDoom or something along those lines. On the other side of Belinda was Josh, a brunette with a cute smile and green eyes. The girl next to me introduced herself as Saralee, I was instantly jealous of her olive skin and almond shaped brown eyes.

They all seemed to be nice people, besides EvilMistressofDoom. She gave me a look like I was less to her than her gray matter lunch. However, she did not look at Jonathan the same way. The look she gave him basically told me she was planning to tie him up in her bed and never let him go. Great.

Jonathan hadn't even noticed. His eyes were focused on Owen who was talking about something from Psych class. He was watching him closely, like he was trying to decide whether getting into the conversation was worth the trouble.

Belinda had apparently said something awesome when I wasn't paying attention, because she was holding her hand up for a high five with a big grin on her face. I plastered a smile on mine and appeased her, flinching when leaning over the table made my ribs ache.

Of course, Jonathan had noticed that, he was basically on top of me in a second. He had his hands around my ribs, gently pressing. "Are you alright?"

I smiled at him and nodded. "Yeah, just shouldn't lean up like that, I guess."

"You're still injured?" Owen was watching me curiously, which drew the attention of everyone at the table. Fucking grand.

"She has cracked ribs. They take about six weeks to heal." Jonathan spoke for the first time (other than to me, of course).

Owen whistled under his breath. "I didn't realize those idiots did such a number on you."

"Yeah," EvilMistressofDoom chimed in. She was studying her black nails, trying to look apathetic. "She's probably faking."

I rolled my eyes. Boy, had I pegged her right. "Believe me, if I was faking it, I would put a little more feeling into it. At least enough where I could stay home for a few more days."

The blonde leaned forward, her eyes trained on Jonathan who ignored that fact that she even existed. "So, are you two, you know, together?"

I was about to tell EvilMistressofDoom where she could go but Jonathan beat me to it. "We are."

She looked a little put out, but not quite discouraged. Sorry, bitch, if you wanted Jonathan Crane you should have helped him when he needed it. Luckily for her, the bell rang, signifying the end of lunch.

I looked down at my uneaten food and sighed. A waste of money. Jonathan wasn't much better, all he had eaten was the apple he stole from me.

I slowly got up from the table, aware of Jonathan's keen eyes on me and grabbed my tray. I didn't get far before he was at my side. "Do you need to go home?"

I shook my head and pushed through the crowd to get to my locker. "We only have one class left before the end of the day. I think I can manage." I was being snappy and I instantly felt bad. I turned to him and noticed that his face was the mask again. "I'm sorry. I'm just wearing down. Do you think you can drive home today?"

"Sure. Just wait for me outside of your class, I don't want you walking too far without me."

I couldn't help but smile at him. He was pretty cute when he was worried.

A/N: So I felt a little better today and had a bit of inspiration. I felt like writing this out so I didn't see any reason to keep it from you guys with it sitting on my hard drive. There will be a couple week time jump between this chapter and the next to start getting into the main story line of Dal Niente. Thank you to everyone who has kept with it this far, I can't believe the positive responses I've been getting.

SladeRavenFan- Thank you! We haven't seen the end of Michael Henry yet, don't worry. Things are going to start heating up.

iwishtheskywasgreen- It was a really, really short chapter. I can't concentrate when I'm sick, so it was probably awful. But thanks for keeping with it. Crane works hard to keep D.G. happy, she's all he's got after all. =)

forgetmenotflowers- Thank you! We're both feeling much better today. I think D.G. does have her mature moments, but she's still a teenager, so she is pretty immature at times. I'm glad you like the moments between D.G. and Jonathan, there are plenty more coming up.

CD- Thank you! I loved it, too.

t0ki- I love getting your reviews, and I almost had a heart attack when you favorited me! The interactions between Jonathan and D.G. are really the most important part of Dal Niente, it sets the stage for rest of the series. I'm glad you like it, I work hard to try to make it seem as natural for them as possible. I hope you enjoy this one, too.

pourquoibella- Thank you! I hope you enjoy this one, too.

9aza- Michael's words are pretty important, so keep them in mind. I hope you like this update, too.

As usual, thanks for all the alerts and favorites, every single one gives me that much more drive. I can't believe we're on chapter nine now, almost to the double digits!