Baby... Did You Forget To Take Your Meds?

I'll be honest, sometimes I just want to write Crane and Scarecrow's in head conversations all the time :)

Scarecrow and Crane watched Claire's unmoving body, the doctor burning with a silent rage.

More trouble that she's worth?

There was a pause. No.

Took you a while though, didn't it? Scarecrow laughed.

You think this is funny?

Hilarious.

Johnathan was quiet but Scarecrow could feel the urge to clench his jaw in distaste leak in from the doctor's persona.

Oh come on Johnny. You can't blame her.

What? He snapped.

She was just trying to escape, perfectly natural.

She was just trying to escape when she strangled us, you won't so forgiving then.

Never said I was forgiving Johnny boy. Just that, at least, it wasn't boring.

Crane said nothing and Scarecrow was silent for a moment before cocking his head to the side.

Look Johnny.

What? The doctor growled.

She broke her own thumb. He cackled.

And what is amusing about that?

It's impressive... And she didn't pass out.

Crane scoffed. You have no way of knowing that.

Well she got his far with it.

Why are you suddenly her number one fan?

Since little Miss Bad Dreams stopped being a pushover and started being interesting.

There was another pause.

Besides Johnny, think of all the punishment she'll need.

You disgust me.

No I don't.

Suddenly a guard ran past the door.

Idiot.

He leaned out of the door and yelled, the young man turned, fear in his eyes and came back to the small office.

When Johnathan had found Claire's cell empty he had sent the other guards on her trail as well as looking for her himself.

It's a good job we didn't just leave it up to them. The moron's would have never noticed that the phone receiver wasn't on the base.

"Tell the other's we've found her."

"Yes sir." The guard stammered, not looking Scarecrow in the eye.

"Get Winson down here."

"Yes sir."

"And get everyone ready to move to the south building. This one is compromised."

"Yes s-"

"And if you interrupt me again." He said quietly, moving closer to the young man. "I'll break your neck."

The guard nodded, clearly terrified and ran down the corridor.

Scarecrow grinned and walked over to Claire. He crouched down and took her pulse. It was a little slow. He looked at her pale face, all the blood drained from her lips, it made her looks like a porcelain doll.

Stop doing that.

Doing what Johnny?

You know what.

Jealous are we?

"Sir?"

Scarecrow looked up to see Winson. "We're moving to the south building, take Miss Claire to my room. She'll be out for a few hours, keep checking her heart rate and breathing. If anything goes wrong give her a shot of adrenaline, try to keep her stable, and contact me." Winson bowed.

"Oh and get someone to contact McKenzie, his cover is most probably blown."

Winson nodded and picked up Claire as if she was a rag doll.

Scarecrow walked to her cell.

So Johnny, how come she even tried to escape? I thought your drugs were flawless. He ridiculed.

They are. She must have been drinking the tap water, not the bottled water.

And how would you know that? He teased.

Because it is the only thing that makes sense!

Scarecrow laughed, enjoying getting under the doctor's usually calm skin.

He walked into the cell and picked up the copy of 'Jekyll and Hyde'.

I know why you're pissed Johnny.

Enlighten me.

Because you missed something.

What?

Something about Claire. In all your calculations and planning you missed something. You never thought she'd react that way. You never thought she had the nerve.

She must have held something back in out sessions-

And you didn't notice Johnny? Blinded by a pretty face?

Don't be stupid.

I do love that you hate being surprised.

"How close?" Gordon asked.

"About a mile radius, we're trying to narrow it down," Andrea swallowed. "But I think we should move now." Claire had been cut off mid conversation; it was most likely that she was in Crane's clutches.

Gordon nodded. "Any sign of McKenzie?"

"None." The red head gritted her teeth. "The bastard probably warned him already." She rubbed at the stitches on her temple, they itched like crazy.

"His absence does add to the superstition." Gordon tried not to think about it, McKenzie hadn't been on the force long but he had seemed like a good man. He shook his head. "It's not your fault Lawson."

The young woman stared at him for a moment.

"It's not yours either sir."

Gordon gave her a small smile.

The first thing Claire noticed was the familiar burning pain in her chest. It took her a moment to realise that she had passed out.

After Scarecrow had exposed her to the toxin and closed her eyes she had been awake, locked in a nightmare darkness that was a terrifying reality.

A tiny shiver ran up her spine as she remembered. Unable to move, unable to react, only able to scream in her own mind.

She opened her eyes slowly and blinked hard. It took her a moment to realise that she was looking at the bottom of a radiator.

She was lying on her side on a polished wooden floor. Claire frowned and tried to move, her hands and feet were bound together with handcuffs that were wrapped around the radiator's pipes. She struggled, pulling at the restraints as hard as she could.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Claire froze and arched her back so that she could lean her head to see behind her.

The room was a fair size, book shelves filling nearly all of the walls. There was a dark wooden desk and chair, a bed, two doors and what looked to be a curtained window on the fall wall. She also saw Johnathan, who had a very unimpressed look on his face.

She swallowed, for some reason all the fight in her just left.

How do you know this will work this time Johnny?

Because I've injected her with it, there's no way it can't work.

"Can you let me out?"

Crane raised an eyebrow at her and Scarecrow cackled.

"No."

Claire's eyes darted around the room. "I need to use the toilet." She lied.

"Wet yourself." He said matter of factly.

Claire's cheeks flushed scarlet and there was a moment of silence.

"How's your thumb?"

She stared at him blankly for a moment before looking at her hand. Her thumb was aligned with a splint and neatly bandaged. She looked back to Crane, surprise in her eyes.

"It doesn't hurt..."

"I gave you a pain killer."

"Thank you."

He gave a dismissive shrug and guilt pressed into her chest. She tried to push it away, tried to bury it but no matter how stupid she told herself it was it wouldn't go away.

"You're not wearing your glasses." She said, hating the silence more than anything.

"I don't need them all the time." He was still being blunt with her.

"I don't think I've ever seen you without them."

"Well it's always good to have a weapon on you in Arkham. A pair of folded glasses can do quite a lot of damage, especially if you go for the eyes." He sneered.

Claire swallowed, a horrible sense of dread sweeping over her. "I'll remember that." She said quietly.

Crane sighed. "Would you like a drink?"

Claire nodded and Johnathan picked up a bottle of water from the desk and sat cross legged next to her. his movements were quick and calculated like a spider.

He leaned over and placed a new pair of hand cuffs over her wrists. Her muscles tensed.

"It's not that I don't trust you Miss Lamont." The handcuffs clicked closed. "It's just that I don't trust you."

"I could say the same for you." He raised his eyebrow at her before he unlocked the handcuffs that were chained around the radiator. Claire blushed slightly and sat up, her back aching as Crane unscrewed and passed her the water bottle.

She grasped it in both hands. "Thank you." And took a large gulp of water. "Where am I?"

"This is my room," he said, he seemed to be almost embarrassed. "We're not in the same building as were before."

Claire was silently grateful that that was all he said about the matter.

Present Day

Claire walked into the cell and took her seat next to Johnathan. She looked at him carefully and smiled. "I'm fine, it was just a delay."

There was a pause as she listened. "No it was White." There was a moment and then she laughed. "You're both terrible."

Crane was in a white chair; both arms and legs were securely fastened to the seat. He wore a mouth restraint; the whole of his lower face was securely locked, leaving him unable to speak.

Claire put her hand on his, feeling her heartbeat calm almost instantly.

"Yes," she said. "I am."

Daniels and the two guards watched them for a moment; Daniels kept a close and consistent eye on Crane, before he walked over to Claire and unscrewed her glasses.

"Don't say that Johnathan." Daniels raised his eyebrows.

"What did he say?"

Claire shook her head. "You don't want to know."

She kept her eyes closed as Daniels took the glasses off.

"Thank you." She said.

A guard placed a copy of Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov in Claire's bound hands before following Daniels to the door.

"It will be standard procedure, one hour." Daniels said before typing in his code, the door shut with a buzz.

The guard sighed, staring at the door for a moment before he walked over to Paul.

"You alright?" He nodded. "What did you ask her?" Daniels already knew the answer.

Paul shifted his eight from foot to foot, embarrassed. "If she really shot herself."

Daniels gave an almost smile.

"You knew her before all this happened, didn't you?" Paul asked.

"Yeah, yeah I did." He looks wistful.

"You knew Doctor Quinzel too, before she, you know?"

"Yeah." Paul nodded slowly.

"Can I ask what happens in there?" The young man motioned towards the cell.

"Yeah, erm, well to allow the door to open Crane has to sit in a chair that restrains him. There like a doorbell that goes off to tell him someone's there so he knows to get in the chair. He usually waits in it around this time, 'cause he knows Miss Lamont is coming." Paul nodded.

"Then we secure the mouth guard before we allow her in. I mean, it's just an added precaution, because her collar should stop any... /effects/. But she could still attack someone physically, you know." He paused for a moment, a sad faraway look in his eye.

"And she doesn't want that. Then we take off her glasses, give them a book, and go out. I mean he has other books in there but this way there's no fuss you know? No confusion. We type in a different code and it only allows Crane's hands to be released. Then Miss Lamont can take off his mouth guard. We have an audio system in there that follows Crane's speech and a guard checks it too. He can only say out loud the words from the book they are reading, in order, with a 2.5% error rate, in case he messes a sentence up. If he says something off topic, the floor goes into lock down and the cell fills with an anaesthetic gas, it knocks both of them out for a few hours. Luckily it's never come to that; I don't think Crane can be bothered. He's a smart man; he knows Miss Lamont is out of action with the collar and if he did try anything he knows that we would just keep him unconscious for future visits with her."

"And that works?"

"It's seemed to... I think he needs her as much as she needs him."