Author's comments: Thank you so much for everyone that has followed and faved. And a very special thank you to Guest, TheUndyingCrystal, guccileopard, ferret assassins nin, Hench-Girl95, xmudblood, faeriemaiden96, Anguish is My Poison and KnoKnayme (I must say I love your name!)

Guccileopard- your comment really touched me, thank you so much. It is an honor that you think it is well written so far, I hope it carries on to be up to your standard.

ferret assassins nin- I hope that I have continued to keep your interest :)

faeriemaiden96- Your comment made me very happy, thank you!

Anguish is My Poison- Thank you so much for your comment, I worry a lot about writing new characters, it really means a lot to me that you like Claire. I hope I managed to keep her likable!

I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Batman.

Chapter Two: Falling Free

"Doctor Quinzel has given me some questions to ask you." Claire pulled the papers out of her bag and placed them on the table in front of her.

"Is that why you had a meeting with her after our last session?" Doctor Crane asked matter of factly but his jaw clenched and he looked at the corner of the table.

Aww, what's the matter Johnny? Still sore about Quinzel?

Shut up.

Claire paused. "Yes…" She frowned. "How did you know about that?"

Look at that, I think you broke her brain.

Do you have to comment on every little thing?

Someone got out of the wrong side of the loony bin this morning.

"Guards talk, I think they forget I'm-"

We're.

"there, a young man…" Crane paused, brow furrowed, trying to remember the guards name.

Stop making a meal out of it, you remember that puss filled brat's name as well as I do.

"Brent?" Claire's cheeks flushed a little.

The whore. The absolute fu-

Be quiet!

"He seems very taken with you." Doctor Crane studied Claire carefully, staring into her dark blue eyes with his own aqua. She stared back for a moment before blinking and looking away. Jonathan was satisfied.

"You had questions?" Claire looked back up at him relieved.

"Erm, yes." She pulled out a form from in between the papers in front of her.

"Is it the C5 form?" He sighed.

Claire studied the paper in front of her and nodded. "Yes."

He smirked. "Well, unless they've changed the answer key, the best, 'healthiest' options are, D, A, B, B, A, C, D, B, A."

Claire quickly scanned the questions and couldn't help but smile, impressed.

"They haven't changed it."

They never do Johnny.

"Good."

The rest of the meeting went fairly uneventfully, with polite chitchat from both sides. Claire was disappointed when the session was over; the hour and a half always went too quickly.

"Goodbye Doctor Crane."

"Goodbye Miss Lamont."

"Claire!" Brent said loudly and grinned at her like an idiot as the door shut behind her. She blushed slightly, certain that Doctor Crane would have heard him but unsure why it caused her embarrassment. She could imagine his scowling face, the clench of his jaw, the subtle squinting of his eyes.

"Hello Brent," she gave a nod of greeting to the two guards stationed outside of the interview room.

"This is Warren," Brent motioned to the guard next to him.

"Hi."

"Nice to meet you." They started to walk to the exit.

"How are you Claire?" Brent asked.

"I'm alright, yourself?" In truth Claire felt exhausted and could do with about forty-eight hours of sleep.

"Not bad." There was an uncomfortable silence. "So when are you in again?"

"Friday."

"Cool."

Claire brushed her hair behind her ear. "I'm here every Monday and Wednesday at twelve pm, every other Tuesday at four pm and the first Friday of every month at seven pm. I used to sit in on other interviews too, but I've finished most of that side of my research now, so I'm only really here to see Doctor Crane."

"Wow, that's a lot." Claire was almost certain he was just being polite and not really that interested, but she smiled anyway.

"It's fine, I enjoy it." They turned a corner.

"Well, here you are again." Brent and Warren entered in their pass codes. "I always worry I'll forget mine."

Claire laughed. "Thank you." The door buzzed open and Claire stepped through it. "See you Brent, see you Warren." She gave them both a little wave before exiting.

She walked into the reception and mouthed a greeting to the receptionist who was on the phone.

She pushed open one of the large oak doors and walked out into the grounds. Claire started walking down the path to the main gate and shifted through her bag to find her purse. A few patients milled around the grounds enjoying the sunshine as Claire double-checked that she had enough money for the bus.

She jumped at the sound of a car horn. A police car pulled up on the road next to her and the passenger window wound down.

"Hi," Claire grinned in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Giving you a lift, get in." Claire opened her mouth to speak. "And don't say you don't need one."

"Alright." She laughed and got in. "Thank you."

Detective Andrea Lawson waited until Claire had put on her seatbelt before she started driving. The Detective had long flame orange hair had she had pulled into a messy ponytail.

"Don't mention it, it's not really a good neighbourhood," Andrea kept her eyes on the road as she drove. "Even at this time. Wouldn't want our only intern getting killed now would we?" Claire chuckled and dug around in her bag to find her phone and turn it on.

"How have you been?" Claire asked.

Lawson slowed down as they approached the asylum's gates. "Alright, same old, same old." She wound down her window and handed her ticket to one of the guards at the gates, Claire held out her I.D. card for inspection as another guard had a quick glance in the back seat before giving the okay. The gates opened and they drove on.

"How's the nuthouse?" Lawson asked playfully.

Claire gave a mock scowl. "Fine."

"And how's your precious Doctor?" Claire flushed a bright scarlet. "Still gassing people?" Lawson glanced at her.

"He's…" Claire tried to compose herself. "He's fine too."

Lawson shook her head. "You got it bad kid."

Claire's blush deepened. "I don't- it's not like," she coughed. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Sure… sure." Lawson chuckled. Claire's phone buzzed, letting her know that she had one missed call and a voice message. "As long as you remember," the Detective's tone turned serious. "Why he's in there."

"I know." Claire swallowed, a little taken a back. "Do you mind if I check my voice mail?"

"Go ahead." Lawson smiled, her voice light hearted once more.

"Thanks." Claire pressed the phone to her ear.

"You have one new message and two saved messages. New message."

"Hi Claire, it's Grace, sorry I missed your call. Looks like I've missed you again too. I swear one day I'll remember your shift times." Claire smiled. "Anyway, things have been crazy here. Doctor Wesson, the head brain surgeon, has gone missing… And things are… Well, just mad. I'll call you soon." There was a pause. "Bye."

"The message was left today at-" Claire ended the call.

"Who left a message?"

"My sister," Claire looked up at Lawson. "Hey, do you know anything about a Doctor Wesson going missing?"

Lawson frowned. "No… I don't think so, I mean I'm not in missing persons. Who is he?"

"He's a Doctor at Gotham Hospital."

"Sorry." She shrugged.

"No worries." Claire stared out of the window, not really seeing anything. For some reason something bugged her, just kept poking the back of her mind.

"Any siblings?"

"Yes, a sister."

"Claire?"

"Hmm?" She hadn't realized Lawson had been speaking.

"We're here." Claire stared blankly at her for a moment.

"Oh." She unbuckled herself as Lawson got out, following suit soon after.

"What does she do?"

"She's a surgeon at Gotham Hospital."

Scarecrow smiled and Claire's blood ran cold.

Claire shivered.

"You okay?" Lawson looked at her, concerned.

"Yeah, just felt someone walk over my grave, that's all." Lawson walked her for a moment longer then turned; both women walked up the steps to Gotham police station.

"Michael?"

The officer looked up from his computer. "Yeah?"

"Where's Commissioner Gordon?"

"Am I psychic?" Claire sighed.

"Do you know were he could be?"

"Yeah." He looked back to his computer screen.

Claire stared at him in disbelief. "Could you tell me?"

"Yeah." He looked at her.

"Can you tell me now?" She over pronounced every word.

Michael smirked. "He left for his meeting about three minutes ago." He looked back to the computer.

Claire swore, turned and ran.

"Your welcome!" He yelled after her.

Claire ran to her desk, narrowly avoiding colliding with Detective Mackenzie, and grabbed a blue spiral folder before sprinting down the corridor to the car park.

She opened the exit door by simply running into it.

"Commissioner Gordon." She shouted, very out of breath. Jim Gordon stood, his car door open. He raised his eyebrows at her. "You forgot the White's case file." She walked over to him, trying to control her breathing. "You'll need it for your meeting." His face lit up as she handed him the blue folder.

Commissioner Gordon laughed. "How much are we paying you?"

"Not enough." Claire wheezed and Gordon chuckled leafing through the pages.

"Thank you."

"No problem." Claire breathed in deeply before turning and walking back to the building. Gordon smiled, shook his head and got into his car.

Claire walked slowly back to her desk, her breathing returning to normal. She flopped onto her chair and pushed her hair behind her ear. Then frowned.

A small white piece of paper was stuck to her computer screen; there was a single typed word in the center in dark purple ink.

FEAR. It said.

Claire looked at it for a moment until scowling. She pulled it off her screen and threw it in the bin.

"Bloody Michael." She muttered.

"So Claire, what do you FEAR?"