"It is complete chaos," I complained as soon as Jonathan picked me up from Wayne towers. My car had managed to break down and the garage hadn't fixed it in one week. I don't know what was taking them so long. They said it wasn't a big problem and it wasn't as if my car was old and on its last legs. But, Jonathan had assured me that he could pick me up that night, after telling me that he had been in court and didn't intend on going back to work. Jonathan testifying was becoming quite a regular thing and it worried me slightly.
He was testifying for murderers and thieves, not people who I thought Jonathan should be associating with. I dropped my bag into the footwell and pushed my hand over my head, feeling my hair and checking it was still in a tight ponytail.
"The board are becoming increasingly resilient towards each other. I went down into Applied Science to eat today just to escape the noise of bickering," I complained and Jonathan smirked as he focused on driving.
"I didn't know Wayne Enterprises had an Applied Science division," he simply replied and I nodded in agreement, pulling down the mirror from the top of the car as I checked my appearance.
"They do," I informed him. "It's basically shut down. Only Lucius works there...but...he's really nice and easy to talk to. Anyway, it doesn't matter. It's Friday night. How was court?"
"Dull," Jonathan simply replied with a roll of his eyes as he applied the handbrake at the red light. "The man was clearly insane but the lawyer thought different."
"Well, that's why you're there, isn't it?" I checked with him and he looked across to me, using his middle finger to push his glasses further onto his nose. "Give your expert opinion?"
"Yes," he agreed with me. "It is."
"So...are you working this weekend?" I wondered and he shrugged before setting off again and I sighed, settling back into my seat and placing the mirror back away. He was always being called away to work.
"I don't know," he said in a mutter. "You know I don't control when the crazies try to slit their wrists."
"Jonathan," I complained and he smiled as he laughed once in disbelief, wondering what he had done wrong.
"What?" he wondered aloud. "I was just saying."
"Can you say it a bit...well...not as crude..." I pushed him and he groaned.
"You know what I mean," he snapped. "Anyway, we're going out for dinner tonight."
"Are we?" I asked him. This was news to me. I hadn't been told that I was going out for dinner and he hadn't given me a notion of anything like that. But, then again, he was sometimes spontaneous.
"We are," he simply said back to me. "I've made reservations at the Ivy."
Dinner was lovely, like what was to be expected from a place like the Ivy. It was vast and rather expensive. Ever since Jonathan had become a doctor he seemed to have a lot more money. Money didn't bother me with Jonathan, but, I'd noticed that dinners had become more regular and in more expensive places than the cafe where we had first gone.
My mom was still in Cuba, telling me that three weeks didn't seem enough time for her and Daniel. Apparently, the weather wasn't at its best, but, it didn't matter as they liked being holed up in their room. I begged her to stop after that. I didn't need to know anything about what happened in that honeymoon suite.
"I have a question," Jonathan whispered to me as we sat on the sofa in the living room. I had managed to persuade him to spend the night at my house instead of in his apartment. I'd changed into one of his shirts which I had stolen from his apartment. His tie had been discarded onto the back of the cream sofa and he simply wore his sweater as his jacket rested on the arm.
"Hmm?" I asked him, too comfy to move as his arm remained around my shoulder and held me close to him, his hand wrapping my hair around his finger idly.
"You don't have to say yes," he simply said to me, his voice in my ear and causing me to shiver as I wondered what he was talking about. "I can't force you to, anyway. But...if you said yes...well...I'd be pleased."
"Jonathan," my voice quivered as I sat up, removing his arm from around me as he reached up to stroke my cheek and I looked into his eyes. Was he going to ask me...no...of course he wasn't! We'd been dating...for what...Jesus...it had been ages. But it was still too soon for that!
"Just listen to me," he urged me as he moved himself off from the sofa and onto one knee. "I was going to ask you in the restaurant. I had heard that women liked large, romantic gestures, but, I considered it tacky."
Even when he was down on one knee, he had to be truthful about things. I frowned slightly and then smiled gently in disbelief, shaking my head as I did so.
"But, I thought it was logical that I asked you." He shrugged, moving his hand into the pocket of his trousers. "We've been dating for a while and this is the next step."
And who said romance was dead? I bit down on my lip as he pulled out a red box in his hands. He wasn't shaking or showing any signs of nerves. Not that I expected him to. He was a calm and collected man, nothing like those in the rom-coms which I watched who always fluffed up when they asked the girl who they loved to marry them.
"Will you marry me?"
Oh. My. God. He'd asked me. I'd expected it, but, I wasn't sure. I was never sure around Jonathan. I remained silent, my throat drying up as he looked down at the ring which I had barely taken in and then back at me, his blue eyes piercing through the side of me as I gulped loudly.
"Isabelle," he pushed me and I finally managed to look at him. I was supposed to be smiling. I was supposed to be happy.
"It's...it's the next...logical step?" I asked him and he arched a brow in my direction as his face fell slightly and he nodded at me.
"It is," he simply spoke and I felt myself wanting to cry as I turned away from him and sniffed loudly, wiping something which was forming in the corner of my eye. "Isabelle...are you crying?"
"No," I said, sounding pathetic as I did it and I knew I couldn't hide it from him as he moved himself off of his knee and sat beside me on the sofa, his hands wrapping around my arm as he pulled me to face him. "I'm not."
"You're lying to me," Jonathan said, his eyes narrowed at me. "I didn't realise that proposing to you would evoke such a reaction. I thought you were supposed to be happy?"
"Jonathan..." I croaked out, my head drooping as I did so. "You...you said it was the next logical step...you're...you're supposed to ask me because you love me...not because you want to progress to the next stage like I'm some book which you read."
"Isabelle," he whispered, his hand moving to hold my cheek and I shook my head.
"No," I said. "Don't...it's...it's not the right time, Jonathan."
"It is," he challenged me. "Don't you dare say anything otherwise."
"Not, it isn't," I replied harshly. "I don't want to be sad when you propose to me."
"Then compose yourself," he simply responded and I glared at him as he wiped the tears from my eyes and took hold of my hand. "You know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Isabelle. There will never be anyone else. I want to be there for you. I want to look after you. I want to be the one to have you, Isabelle. You know how I feel...I just...I didn't think..."
"No," I said quickly my hands dropping to either side of his neck as I moved closer to him and rested my forehead against his. "I want that...Jonathan...I want you, too."
"Then say yes," he pushed me. "Isabelle...say yes..."
"I..." I garbled.
"Isabelle...say yes," he said again. "If I could take back my proposal then I would do. I didn't think about it. I was nervous. I was scared that you'd say no if I didn't word it logically."
"You didn't need to be scared," I assured him. "It's such a big thing," I said, biting down on my bottom lip as he smiled once at me.
"We'll be in it together, Isabelle." He assured me. "I'll be with you."
And that made the difference. He wanted me to marry him. He'd be with me forever and the prospect of that...well...it seemed heavenly. There was nothing which I wanted more than Jonathan and I realised that. I'd known it for a long time.
"Yes."
...
And that was that. Jonathan seemed to have marriage completely thought out. In another month we were married. My mother hadn't approved at first, thinking I was far too young to get myself involved in something as big as marriage. I'd reminded her that she was twenty one when she married my father to which she replied with 'look how that turned out.' I knew she was looking out for me. I knew she was trying to do the best by me.
She liked Jonathan, she said he was a nice, young man and she knew how we felt about each other. She just thought it was rushed and too soon. I had to remind her that she'd known my dad for three months before they married. She simply bit her lip and nodded in agreement. I loved Jonathan. I wanted to be with him.
If he had his way then we would have skipped town and gone straight to Vegas to get hitched. He didn't want a ceremony or an after party. He'd told me that I was enough. I'd practically forced him to abandon that idea. I wasn't getting married without having my mother there and she wouldn't let me.
The wedding dress wasn't a large gown. Instead, I'd opted for a small dress which looked more like a prom dress. It was October and the days were becoming chilly, which I hadn't thought about when I decided to go sleeveless and assure my mother that a wrap would ruin the dress.
Jonathan had donned a usual suit with a new tie as he stood at the front of the room we had booked with his hands behind his back. Daniel was seated behind him with my mother as I walked down the aisle, holding onto the white roses which Jonathan had bought me. He managed not to turn around as I approached him. Then he only looked when I was stood beside him, smiling as his eyes looked me up and down and I beamed back at him.
This was what it was supposed to feel like. He'd said graduation was supposed to be the first day of the rest of my life. It wasn't. This was.
"You look stunning," Jonathan whispered. We'd gone out for dinner with my mom and Daniel to celebrate and I had managed to persuade him to move onto the dance floor. If we weren't having a do then I wanted a first dance somewhere. Mom and Daniel had remained seated, smiling as they watched me drag Jonathan to the floor. The restaurant was classy, a favourite of mom's with a quartet playing on the main stage.
"I don't dance," Jonathan complained as I placed a hand onto my hip.
"Humour me?" I pleaded with him and he rolled his eyes as he placed his hands onto my waist and I moved closer to him, resting my head onto his shoulder.
"How does it feel to be the new Mrs Crane?" he wondered and I sighed once as his hand moved to the small of my back.
"Brilliant," I promised him. "Jonathan...I've never...I love you, you know that?"
"You wouldn't have married me if you didn't," Jonathan said and I laughed lightly as he kissed the top of my head.
...
Jonathan didn't want a honeymoon and Isabelle didn't really get a say. Things at work were becoming fraught and Jonathan was aware of it. Two men Falcone wanted declared insane had been made just that. Jonathan was becoming tired of testifying. And Rachel Dawes was getting on his last wick.
Falcone had sent his best regards to Jonathan for his marriage. A box of chocolates had been left on his desk and Jonathan had thrown them into the bin. He didn't want anything from that man. He wanted him to leave Isabelle alone and he seemed to be doing just that.
"So, you married the bird, huh?" Falcone checked with Jonathan when he saw him walking out of the courthouse and Jonathan sighed once, checking his watch and increasing his grip on the briefcase. Falcone had pulled up alongside him, his window rolled down as the Gotham Times rested on his lap.
"Isabelle is her name," Jonathan drawled. "I did."
"Pretty serious, then?"
"Marriage does indicate that," Jonathan said, noting the wedding band which sat on his finger. He often sat in his office and stared idly at it, twirling it in his fingers as he smiled at the memory of their wedding.
"Indeed," Falcone responded. "I just wanted to send you my regards."
"No, you didn't," Jonathan shook his head, chuckling as he did so and he looked at Falcone.
"Typical psychiatrist," Falcone muttered "Victor Zsaz. I need him declared insane."
"A new assistant DA is sniffing around," Jonathan warned him and Falcone shrugged. He didn't care.
"I'm the muscle in this town, Dr Crane." He simply snapped. "I'll be seeing you around."
...
Isabelle sat at her desk at work, her hand holding her ring finger as she looked at her engagement ring. It never failed to stun her when she looked at it. The red ruby stood out on the golden band before her eyes trailed down to the golden wedding band.
The board members were inside the meeting room, discussing the future of the company for what seemed like the millionth time. Isabelle twirled idly on her chair, still looking at the ring and losing her thoughts before she heard a cough. She stopped her twirling, grabbing onto the desk to stop her from tumbling to the floor as she looked up to see a tall man stood before her. His eyes were glittering in amusement and his hands were stuffed in his pockets as he nodded down at he hand.
"Newly married?" he wondered and she nodded, leaning back in the plush chair as she did so.
"Two weeks," she simply replied.
"I'd have thought you'd be on a honeymoon then," he simply said back to her and she shrugged. "Or does Wayne Enterprises not allow holidays?"
"Oh, they do," Isabelle nodded. "They just prefer for you not to take them when the company is in turmoil."
"It is in turmoil, is it?" he mumbled and Isabelle shrugged. She probably shouldn't say. "Well, is William Earle here?"
"He's in a meeting about the company going public," Isabelle replied. "He doesn't really do unscheduled visits."
"I think he can make an exception for me, Miss...?" he trailed off, waiting for Isabelle to give her name.
"Miss Dubois," she said and then shook her head, looking at her desk. "No! I'm not...Mrs Crane...I'm married..."
"As we have established," the man said, his eyes shimmering as he sat down in the plush seats in the waiting room and Isabelle turned to look at him as he crossed his legs. "I read about a Crane in the paper this morning."
"Did you?" Isabelle wondered idly. "My husband is a doctor. Jonathan Crane."
"The very one," he replied with a nod. "He's testified at numerous court hearings."
"He does that quite often," Isabelle mumbled simply. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."
"That's because I didn't give it, Mrs Crane." He smirked at her and she waited for him to continue. "My name is Bruce. Bruce Wayne."
...
A/N: There we have it folks! And so the plot begins! There had been a time when I thought no one was going to stick by this but it looks like I am wrong! Thank you to reverie-sriptor, Cheekymonkey97, Undertaker's Hattress, mahxie, Donnerstag, kaflute14 and ins0minac for reviewing!
To answer a question posed - yes, I intend to keep this story up for a while. The constant updates are done because I love writing it and I think I will get through Batman Begins and into the Dark Knight where Crane appears...and then the Dark Knight Rises...well...I may do a chapter where Isabelle is brought before a certain Judge...but there is a long way until that!
Anyway, thanks for reading and do review!