The Bitter Forces of Fate

by ClownQween'69

Jenna's been thrown into a world she could have never prepared for. Forced to live in the dark dwells of chaos and pain, disarray overwhelms her every second when she realizes she cannot abandon her terribly deep interest in her captor, Bane. And what's worse? He cannot restrain his interest in her... Bane/OC *SPOILERS* (Rated M for a reason)

20. Unable to Heal

The next few days passed seamlessly and quickly. Each morning, regardless of how much sleep she obtained, Jenna woke feeling more tired than she did prior to going to bed. Her back, shoulders and right arm always throbbed, and as the day went on the pain would fade, but it never failed to start over each morning. Jenna still felt primarily mindless, but each new day she woke up with frustration due to her aching body, and she always spent a silent moment cursing to herself for sleeping directly on her broken arm. Unfortunately, she knew, there was no way of consciously correcting this during her slumber.

She spent her days outside of her room, avoiding the small area as much as she could, and almost every hour was spent in the garage with Isaac. Outside, the snow continued to grow worse, falling from the sky with no signs of stopping, but Jenna felt too strained to care. She bundled herself in her coat, the cleanest clothes she could find, socks and her boots, and would exit her room, relieved that she could spend time outside of her room, even if that meant braving against the cold.

For the majority of the time, her and Isaac didn't talk much. The day after her first night outside of her room and during the beginning of her week of freedom, Isaac didn't attempt to talk to her much when other thugs stood around in the garage, but as soon as they started spending more time inside, Isaac became verbose. Jenna didn't mind this. In fact, she liked it; during her final week of isolation, all her thoughts had been centered around Isaac and all the things they would discuss, but she had never anticipated having such a hard time actually talking to him. It wasn't that Jenna didn't want to, there was nothing she desired more than conversing with him, but her body would not let her. She feared that any one of their conversations could lead into a discussion of her punishment, and this was the last thing she wanted to talk about. Whether he was aware or not, her silence never stopped Isaac from asking her questions.

At first they had been direct. As soon as Jenna would enter the empty garage and lay eyes on Isaac working on the Challenger or cleaning some sort of weapon on the work bench, he would ask her how she was, and a few moments after she'd answer he'd dive right into a question.

"How are you feeling really?"

"Will you please tell me what that dream was about?"

"During that time what did you think about? What did you do?"

His tone was always gentle and quiet, but Jenna refused to answer any of these questions. Just the inquires alone brought about unwanted memories, and after being forced to think about them for a moment, Jenna would merely shake her head. "I don't want to talk about it," she would reply. Sometimes, her body wouldn't even let her speak this many words. "I don't know," was her most common reply.

There were times when Isaac and Jenna would get into a very shallow discussion about the weather or Isaac's morning, but these topics were always short-lived, and as soon as they ended the two wouldn't exchange any words at all. At first Jenna couldn't help but to feel upset about this, and the silence only forced her to reminisce over the scenarios she had come up with about Isaac and herself, and the more intricate, innocent conversations they would have. After two days of this, however, Jenna became comfortable with the silence, and all she began to desire was just Isaac's company alone. Sitting in the garage near the space heater in the silence while watching him work helped Jenna to focus on things other than her punishment, her desire to live the silly fantasies she had thought of during the beginning of her isolation, and Bane. She was appreciative that Isaac had abandoned his attempts to get into her mind, and understand what was really going on with her, but little did Jenna know, this luck would be changing faster than she could have anticipated.

During the fifth day of her freedom, Jenna found herself spending the vast majority of it inside her room, where she busied herself with sleeping and organizing her clothes into the categories of cleanest to dirtiest. Now, just as the sun was setting, Jenna let out a sigh as she rose from her cot, hungry for a cigarette. Isaac hadn't given her her own pack, but this didn't bother Jenna. She was fine with venturing to the garage to gratefully take one of his and enjoy his quiet company. These instances had become the highlight of her days.

Knowing for an almost sure fact that Isaac would already be in the garage, after she put on her coat and boots, she quietly eased open her door and started toward the stairs, her sight focused only ahead of her. She had dropped the habit of searching for Bane before leaving her room. She couldn't recall seeing him once during the past five days, but then again she wasn't really even paying attention. Chances were he had been in the basement when she was, watching her head up the stairs, but she never noticed if he actually was. This was fine with her. She didn't want to see him.

After making it up the stairs, Jenna let out a yawn as she started toward the exit door, the thought of washing her hair crossing her mind, but just when she began to try and recall when the last time she had washed it was, as soon as she opened the exit door she was greeted with a face full of wind and the sight of thick, heavy snow falling from the sky and sticking to the ground. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise, and they watered due to the cold gust of wind hitting them directly, but just when she was ready to trudge through the snow and go over to the garage, not even realizing the garage doors were all closed, she heard footsteps against metal next to her. She glanced over her shoulder and watched Isaac finish climbing down his ladder from his room, a pack of cigarettes in his hand, and he didn't notice her standing there until he started down the hall past her.

"Oh, hey," he said once his eyes found her slightly slouched frame, holding onto the door. "You going out?"

He watched Jenna barely nod before he nodded himself, and his eyes wandered past her to stare out of the door and into the blizzard of snow before he glanced at her again.

"C'mon," he said. "Let's go this way."

Jenna's eyebrows furrowed slightly, but nonetheless she let the door close as she stepped away from it to follow Isaac toward the basement stairs. She stopped behind him when he stopped in front of a black, metal door directly next to the stairs, and she watched him open it with confused eyes. Where were they going?

She was left no time to ponder the question too deeply, for as soon as Isaac stepped through the door, Jenna was right behind him. Freezing temperatures instantly greeted her as she stepped through the door, and she couldn't help but to grow slightly surprised when she discovered they were in the garage; she had never known that door was a quicker way inside of it.

She followed Isaac past the long and tall, metal shelves of old light-bulbs and other warehouse supplies, the lights dimly illuminating the garage from up ahead, and once they reached the main, open area of the garage, she grew satisfied when she saw they were alone. Now, she could she could enjoy a cigarette while silently watching Isaac work on something. Next to her, Isaac had pulled out two cigarettes, and Jenna plucked one from his gentle grasp before instantly stepping toward the four chairs that were circled around the space heater. She sat in her usual chair, the red one directly in front of the heater, and she waited for Isaac to light his cigarette as he sat next to her in the blue chair. As he exhaled, he handed her his lighter, and once Jenna had lit hers she glanced over to him while she handed it back to him, his fingers brushing against hers lightly.

"You're not gonna work on the car?" She asked in a voice just above a whisper. Anyone else would have had a hard time hearing or understanding her, but Isaac had grown use to her to quiet tones. He didn't look at her as he reached over to turn on the heater, and as he leaned back in his chair he took another drag from his cigarette.

"Nah, not tonight," he replied as he kept his eyes focused on the heater, watching as the coils inside of it began to turn red.

"Why?"

Isaac shrugged. "Takin' a break." Just as he knew it would, the start of their conversation died, and he listened to Jenna take a hit from her own cigarette while watching her turn away from him from the corner of his eye. He kept his eyes focused on the heater without blinking them, and once his vision began to blur a long, few moments later, he blinked his eyes twice as he leaned back slightly while taking another drag.

He wished there was some way he could make Jenna open up and talk to him, even in the slightest bit. He felt that constantly sitting in the silence was getting them nowhere, and forcing them into a different direction that he didn't want to be in. He wanted to be on the path to helping her recover, and strengthen herself, but all their conversations always headed directly to a dead end, and she was never willing to open up about anything. It was frustrating, though at the same time Isaac realized Jenna had been doing more that week than she probably had that entire month. She was talking more than she had during her punishment, and actually spending her time doing new things. Perhaps the silence wasn't all too terrible. Perhaps it was just where they needed to start.

As the minutes ticked on, the two remained silent, the only sound coming from the heater, which gave off a gentle hum that seemed to fill up the entire garage. Isaac remained staring at the coils within the heater, his vision blurred again, his eyes heavy, while Jenna stared at the end of her cigarette, her eyes repeatedly traveling up to follow the line of smoke until it dissipated in the air above her. She could feel the impatient and curious energy radiating from Isaac next to her, the energy almost more powerful than the heat given off by the heater, but as she easily remained silent she continued to anticipate the questions Isaac was desperate to ask, and as she listened to the humming, she waited.

A few moments later, Isaac moved in his chair next to her, and after he placed his ankle on top of his knee, he leaned back in his chair while he took a hit of his cigarette, his arms rested on the arms of the chair. Jenna reverted her gaze away from her cigarette, and she stole a glance at Isaac as she took a drag herself, thankful that Isaac couldn't see her do this. Even with his eyes closed, he appeared tired and exhausted, his body suggesting he was ready to go up to bed, but Jenna had come to learn he would not abandon her. He always proved to wait until she was ready to go inside first. Frowning, she took a final hit from her cigarette before she lazily let the butt fall to the cold floor, where it would eventually burn out on its own.

The noise of the cigarette hitting the ground caused Isaac's eyes to slowly open, and as he rolled them to his right he watched Jenna quickly glance away, her hair swaying due to her rapid movement. Jenna hoped he hadn't seen her looking, but when she heard him take in a breath, she realized he had.

"What are you thinking about?" His voice broke through the silence. Jenna's eyebrows furrowed, but no other expression crossed her face. She knew Isaac was hoping her answer would finally give him an in to her troubles, but Jenna was still stubborn in the fact that she was not going to talk to him –or anyone for that matter– about the issues involving her seclusion.

"Nothing," she replied. Isaac continued to stare at her. Judging by the way her eyebrows had furrowed for a second made him think she was not telling him the truth, though at the same time Isaac knew it was a great possibility that absolutely nothing was going on her head at the moment.

"Does anything ever go on inside your head?" Isaac wanted to end his question with the word 'anymore', but he held himself back from doing so, and instead waited for an answer. Next to him, Jenna merely shrugged as she stared at the floor.

"Sometimes."

Isaac reverted his gaze away. At least she was being honest, it seemed. Perhaps Bane's 'punishment' had taught her something. But even if it had, what was the lesson worth if Jenna wasn't even acting like herself?

"Like what?"

Jenna sighed. "Just... things, I guess."

A short minute passed before Isaac spoke up again, his eyes focused on the floor now, as well. "When are you gonna want to talk about those things?" The question slipped out of his mouth before he could stop it, but he knew this was a good thing. Had he thought about it, chances are he would have held back, for he was learning asking Jenna these questions outright was of no use.

"Isaac," Jenna said now in that quiet, gentle voice. "I really don't want to talk about any of it."

"I just want to help you, you know." Isaac rolled his head against the back of the chair to glance at her with his heavy eyes, and when Jenna turned to look at him she could easily make out the sincerity spread over his features and in his eyes.

"I know," she replied. "But, talking won't help."

"You don't know that."

"Neither do you." Jenna's frown deepened as she glanced away. Not only could she make out the sincerity in his features, but his heavy eyes appeared more strained than usual. "I think I'm gonna go to bed."

"Alright," Isaac said as he watched Jenna lean up before standing from the chair. Following her actions, he stood up as well. When Jenna turned to glance up at him, she forced a smile to stretch her plump lips, but the smile never met her eyes.

"Goodnight," she said simply, quietly, before she started toward the door in which they had entered the garage. Isaac turned to watch her go, and once the door closed behind her, he turned again to shut off the heater. Checking to make sure his cigarettes and lighter were in his coat pocket, once he felt the items inside, he started toward the door himself, and before he stepped through it he turned off the lights to the garage. The warehouse was warm, and as he let the door close behind him he stole a quick glance at Jenna's back as she descended the stairs into the dark basement before he ventured through the hallways and to the ladder to his room.

His limbs felt heavy as he climbed the ladder, his hands desiring nothing more than to let go of the cool metal and let him fall to the floor where he could just lay down and cease movement. But picturing his bed in his mind helped him to complete the task of entering his room, and as soon as he was inside, he shrugged off his coat while closing his door with his foot. After he hung his coat on the rack behind the door, he locked it before starting over to his bathroom, his hand finding the back of his black t-shirt before he pulled it smoothly and effortlessly over his head before letting it drop to the floor. Snapping on the light to his bathroom, his eyes immediately squinted when the bright fluorescent lights shone and reflected off the white walls and tile, and he placed his hands on either side of his sink, steadying himself against it as he gazed into his own, light blue eyes in the mirror. Why wasn't Jenna talking to him?

He couldn't understand why she was so unwilling. Before all of this had happened, Isaac was always the first person Jenna went to when she had a problem, needed answers, or just a friend to converse with. What had changed? Why had it changed, and how did they fix it? I know how to fix it, Isaac thought to himself as he opened the medicine cabinet to take out his toothbrush. It's just a matter of getting her to talk to me.

Directly asking her questions wasn't working, but Isaac didn't know how else to go about it. All the men that surrounded him, including Bane, were capable of handling being spoken to bluntly about dire topics, and answering the direct question at hand. Part of the reason it was so odd having Jenna around was that she was not like this, especially now, when she needed to be the most. Isaac wasn't the type of man to beat around the bush and ease the topic of his choice on someone, or purposely trick them into it. It was clear now, however, that it seemed as though this was how he had to go about it.

But why force anything on her, he wondered as he stuck the toothbrush into his mouth before he started to move it over his teeth, and he ventured out of the bathroom to reach up and turn on his TV, mounted onto the wall. The voices of newscasters emitted from the television, and once it was on he turned to head back into the bathroom. It was clear that whatever was bothering Jenna was a strong entity that she just wanted to avoid all together. Isaac wanted to tell her and prove to her that avoiding it would eventually fail, but at the same time, his softer side wanted to assist Jenna with handling it the way she wanted. But he couldn't start to help her until she started giving him answers.

A few moments later, after his teeth were brushed and his mouth was rinsed, Isaac turned off the bathroom light as he stepped toward his bed. After undoing his gray cargo pants and letting them fall to the floor, he climbed into his bed, remote in hand, and he sighed to himself as he rested his head on the pillow. Just be patient, he told himself. Stop asking questions for now, and let her come to you. Let the topic come up naturally. As Isaac glared blankly at the bright TV, he knew this would be easier said than done.

Upon hearing gentle footsteps from outside of his open door, Bane turned his body slightly from his spot on the foot of bed before he slowly leaned over to peer outside of his door. His eyes immediately found the stairs, and as he listened to the slow, steady, and quiet footsteps, he waited to see Jenna. He hadn't really seen her much that week, he had been spending the vast majority of his time in room while he knew Jenna to be in the garage with Isaac, but now that he was about to see her, he wondered if he'd be able to make out any physical improvement. Whether that improvement was evident in her body, her facial appearance, voice or tone, Bane couldn't help his strong desire to know.

Once Jenna reached the last few steps and started to shuffle her feet across the floor, a frown found Bane's lips as he watched her. Her body was slouched, her shoulders slumped, and her head was partially titled down while her feet skidded against the floor as she started to her door. From behind his mask, Bane thinned his lips and wrinkled the bridge of his nose as his eyebrows furrowed, and after he had turned to glance at the newscaster on his TV for a second, he stood from his bed and wandered out of his room.

Jenna had just reached her door when Bane had started following her, and judging by the way she pushed open her door and immediately started inside, Bane knew she hadn't even heard him approaching her. Was she still that unalert? In the past she was always able to sense his presence; the quick tense in her shoulders before she could even turn around when he neared always gave this away. He stepped up to her door frame and watched her pull back the blanket to her bed, and just before she could turn and start removing her boots, he spoke up.

"Have you been making the most of your freedom?"

Jenna jumped as a strong shock ran throughout her body, and when she turned her head to glance at Bane from over her shoulder, that same shock ran up her spine as her lips parted. How long had he been there? When had he followed her? For a man as large as him, how could he be so quiet? Her eyes betraying her, they wandered down his body, taking in sight of his shirtless frame, black sweatpants and bare feet before she forced herself to look away, her heart plummeting to her stomach. The shock of hearing his voice for the first time that week, and observing his muscular frame standing at her door was enough to cause her to go lightheaded, and she immediately forgot his question. But whatever it had been, she didn't want to answer it, for she knew it more than likely had to do with her prior solitude.

Bane watched Jenna turn around fully now before sitting down at the edge of her cot, and as he watched her take off her boots, he noticed that they had never even been tied. The bottom of her sweatpants leg slowly fell down to her ankle once she took off the boot, and Bane noticed the way the other leg had been bunched up on top of the boot. This time, feeling him watching her, Jenna took hold of the leg of the sweatpants and quickly pushed it down before she could even take the boot off. This caused Bane's eyebrows to furrow, but nonetheless, he remained patient as he waited for an answer, curious to hear not only her answer, but her tone, as well.

But just as he had been anticipating in the back of his mind, Jenna never offered him an answer as she scooted back into the cot, and as soon as she began to lay down, Bane crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame.

"Are you choosing to ignore me, or did you fail to hear my question?" He asked her now. Jenna's eyes, still red, though not as severe, wandered over to him, and she stared directly into his own eyes on either side of the mask before she rested her head against the pillow and pulled up her blanket to cover her body. She tore her eyes away from his and focused them on the floor.

"I didn't hear you," she replied. This answer, alone, was slightly shocking to Bane, for he had been anticipating for Jenna to merely ignore him. Instead, she had offered him the truth, and whether she realized it or not, offered him the open opportunity to ask her again.

"Have you been making the most of your freedom?"

Jenna kept her eyes focused on the floor on a spot that kept Bane out of her peripheral vision. "I guess," she replied.

"What have you been doing?"

Why do you care? Jenna wondered, but she did not express this thought, and instead she merely shrugged from underneath her blanket. "Hang out in the garage. Smoke."

Bane nodded as his eyes dropped to the floor now, as well. Her voice was quiet, but her tone was truthful. Perhaps Jenna had learned something, after all. "And... what is so beneficial about smoking in the garage?"

Jenna let out a quiet sigh. "I get to spend time outside of this room. And-" she stopped herself, but when Bane finished her sentence, she closed her eyes and sucked in a long breath through her nose.

"-Speak with Isaac?" Bane finished, lifting his eyes to look at her, and he noticed she had closed her own eyes. Jenna hadn't wanted to mention anything about Isaac, for she feared it would only cause Bane to ask what they talked about, or, the lack thereof. But now, what good would denying this be?

"Yeah," Jenna answered curtly, unaware that Bane had nodded slightly.

"Officials are about ready to give up their search for you," he informed suddenly, his information causing Jenna to open her eyes. "...and simply declare you as good as dead."

Jenna's eyebrows furrowed. "Why?"

Bane raised his eyes to ceiling as he took in a breath through his mask, the eerie noise filling the entire room, it seemed. "Because they feel that searching for you in the most obvious places were enough. Since they can't find you, and it has been so long–"

"No," Jenna surprised herself when she interrupted him quietly. "I mean why would you tell me that?"

Her question caught Bane off guard. Why would she wonder that? Regardless, Bane shifted the weight from his right foot to his left before he answered her. "I figured it would be a suiting thing to inform you of," he began.

"How?"

"Officials are ready to give up the search and declare you as deceased. You've been nothing but ghost-like for a while now, so I figured this announcement was appropriate. Their incorrect statement will unknowingly have some truth to it."

Jenna's eyebrows remained furrowed as she stared ahead at the wall now, able to see Bane staring at her. "Why would they give up so quickly?" She wondered softly, more so to herself, but Bane had heard her.

"It's a lost cause. Your parents are dead, and whether you are alive and well or dead and rotted does not matter to them anymore, because either way you wouldn't have done anything to benefit this city. You already proved that about yourself. Besides, Gotham is already welcoming its newest stars to the community. Some model with concern for the poor, and her wealthy aunt and uncle."

Unbelievable, Jenna couldn't help but to think to herself. What kind of city got distracted from a dire search and rescue just because somebody prettier, fancier, and wealthier showed up? How could they so easily drop their efforts to put all their time and energy welcoming and following this new girl? Chances were she didn't even know what she was replacing, and if she did, she more than likely didn't care. The more Jenna thought about it, the more frustrated she became, and she couldn't help the next thing that came flying from her mouth.

"You gonna go terrorize her, too?"

Her question caught Bane off guard yet again, but this time he couldn't help the grin that stretched his lips as he straightened his back. Wrinkles formed on either sides of his eyes, but Jenna hadn't noticed. For some sick reason, her tone affected Bane and caused him to smile; her tone sounded just like her former self: low and annoyed with a hint of sarcasm. It was the first actual tone Bane had heard her speak in in a while. His grin softened now into more of a smirk, and he uncrossed his arms.

"No," he replied. "You are more than enough, Jenna."

His words stung the back of her neck and caused her to go light-headed again, but Jenna tried her hardest to ignore them. She still couldn't believe she had even asked that question, and she had been aware of her tone, as well. It was a question that just slipped out, in a tone that suggested she thought Bane was an idiot. But his answer...

Her stomach growled gently suddenly, and a new question formed in her mind. It was ridiculous how quickly hunger had washed over her, but Jenna had a hard time trying to remember when the last time she had really eaten was. Would Bane let her go with Isaac to that diner? From the corner of her eye she could see Bane had turned away from her and was about to step out of her room, but before he could take a first step, she quickly spoke up.

"Bane?"

Bane had paused and turned around, but in her cot a new-found, stronger dizzy spell had overcome her. Just speaking his name alone had brought such strong, physical shocks to roam over her body, and many, unwanted feelings and memories. His name carried so many meanings to her. At first she had been passive about it; she didn't care about Bane, that is, until he took her. Then she had loathed it; his name brought on nothing but hateful and angry feelings as she began to understand the severity of her situation. But all too quickly, his name was attached to lust and immense want, and rather than speaking his name straight, the word came out in the form of a moan from her mouth. Cringing slightly, Jenna felt herself on the verge of getting sick at the thought. But soon after, his name instilled more anger into her, and this time around, even fear. He had broken her arm and shunned her away for over a month. She hated him, yet she feared her punishment would only be the lesser of the torment that was to come. Unfortunately, she couldn't help but to still feel this way. If just his name alone brought on such a strong surge of emotion, then perhaps Jenna had never realized the severity of feelings that anything else about him brought on, such as sight, scent, and the feel of his body from underneath her hands. Jenna thinned her lips as she closed her eyes tightly, her stomach giving another painful twist.

Bane stayed by the door, and he kept his eyes focused on her as he waited to see what she had wanted. Truth was, he was just as shocked as she was to hear her speak his name. However, from where she lay in her cot, trembling slightly as she kept her eyes closed, Jenna had completely forgotten what she had wanted to ask. She could feel Bane's eyes on her, burning holes through the blanket, and before his scorching vision could start to burn her body, she turned her head slightly to look at him before she merely shook her head. Surprisingly, Bane either accepted her desire to quit speaking with him, or actually understood it. Without a word, he turned around, and after he had turned off her light, he gently pulled the door closed behind him. Upon watching, Jenna noticed that he hadn't closed it all the way, and a thin sliver of light from his own room shone dimly into her room. Her eyes grew heavier, but even after she closed them and readjusted her position, her heart would not stop racing.

Although the snow had stopped falling from the thick, gray clouds nearly an hour ago, the temperate remained below freezing outside, and the cold had started to seep into the warehouse from under the partially closed garage door. Each time a strong gust of wind occurred outside, it would blow snow inside of the warehouse, the wind whistling eerily as it passed from underneath the garage door as it rattled and shook it, the loud noises echoing throughout the area inside.

For the past hour, Jenna had made herself comfortable in her chair within the garage, and during the hour she had scooted closer and closer to the space heater, inch by inch every time the wind rattled the doors and blew snow inside, until finally she was sitting less than a foot in front of it. A clear view of the Challenger was bestowed a good ten to fifteen feet directly in front of her, parked in front of the work bench, and as Jenna rested in her chair, the heat radiating from the large heater warming her shins, knees, arms and face, she kept her eyes focused on Isaac as he worked on the car. Jenna had already gone through six cigarettes within the hour, but she wouldn't let herself feel too bad about this; Isaac had already smoked three more than her.

When she first came into the garage, their shallow conversation about the snow had died down just as quickly as it had started, leaving them in near silence, save for the low humming from the heater and the random noises that erupted from Isaac's tools as he worked on the car. As she sat there quietly, and during the entirety of her freedom thus far, the feeling of realization and immense appreciation of her freedom would still not sink in, no matter how hard or long she thought about it, and regardless of her conversation with Bane two nights before. She could feel it harboring at the surface, waiting to penetrate through her body and fill her heart and mind, but her cold, outer shell kept the feelings from warming her. After the half hour long battle, however, Jenna abandoned them, for she was just glad to be sitting in the same room as Isaac with the opportunity to talk to him if she wanted. Jenna still did want to talk to him, but she still was not ready to converse about the horrors from her punishment, even after Isaac had gone a full night without bringing up any questions, for some reason or another. As she stayed silent, she conjured ideal topics she could bring up, but her lips refused to do anything for the time being but wrap gently around the filter of a cigarette. This didn't upset Jenna. Isaac's physical company alone was helping to keep her content.

However, as the hour had ticked on, Jenna began to realize she was slightly nervous to talk to him suddenly. During the final week of her isolation, she had imaged so many ways that Isaac could save her and help her to get over all this pain, but now she found herself unwilling of answering his questions, and unable to hold any sort of conversation with him. She had imagined so many conversations she could have with Isaac, and how easily she would be able to talk to him, but when facing reality, she feared statements explaining the horrors from the past month would slip past her in the midst of one of their friendly and innocent conversations. When she realized this at the end of the hour, she lit up her seventh cigarette and decided she was comfortable with their silence, the humming, and the clanking of tools for now.

Isaac had already lit his tenth cigarette, and it dangled loosely from between his lips as he shuffled around in the top drawer of the work bench, his blue eyes focused on the contents within. Once he found the tool he was looking for, Jenna watched him round the large black car, leaving a trail of white smoke behind him, and her eyes narrowed on his face. She hadn't noticed until now, but it was evident Isaac had shaved maybe a week ago, Jenna guessed. Thick, dark brown stubble covered his chin, jawline, and the area above his upper lip, and as Isaac bent down next to the car, his back facing her, Jenna realized she liked the stubble on his face much more than the actual beard he had started to grow.

She watched for another moment as Isaac turned again, and after he moved to lay underneath the car on his back, Jenna watched him reach his arm out from under the Challenger to ash his cigarette before he placed it back in his mouth, his head turned to the right as he stared up at the car with only his eyes. Uninterested now with whatever he was doing to the car, she glanced away, taking a long drag from her own cigarette as she absentmindedly scooted even closer to the heater when a gust of wind rattled the doors. Her eyes focused on the corner in between an old desk and the wall, just next to one of the garage doors. Just as she began to idly wonder who had taken it upon himself to actually sweep the garage, Isaac's voice and his boots scraping against the floor interrupted her thoughts.

"Ow, shit," he mumbled loudly to himself as he moved away from the Challenger, and when Jenna turned her head to look at him she watched as he sat on the floor, rubbing his left eye.

"What happened?" She asked, clearing her throat when she discovered how hoarse her voice was, and she watched as Isaac proceeded to rub his eye with the back of his wrist to avoid smearing the grease that covered the other side of his hand on his face.

"Fuckin' smoke got in my eye," he replied with a frown, but he chuckled a moment later as he finally stopped rubbing his eye, the skin around it reddening. "I think it's time for a break."

"What were you working on?" Jenna asked, pleased with simplicity of the developing conversation. She anticipated for his answer to be completely foreign to her –she didn't know the first thing about car maintenance– but as long as the talk kept away from her personal horrors, she was fine with it.

"Replacing the starter," Isaac replied as he sat in the chair next to hers. Jenna wasn't too sure what the starter did, exactly, or why it needed to be replaced, but she nodded as she took another drag from her cigarette in unison with Isaac, the red around his left eye already starting to fade. The conversation died, and as Jenna struggled to start one up again, she realized her body was completely blocking the heat from hitting Isaac. Without a word she moved her chair back, the cold in the garage instantly sending a wave of faint goosebumps to cover her arms from underneath her jacket, but even though the heat hitting her had become fainter, she knew it was directly hitting Isaac now, as well.

"Thanks," he mumbled as he stared at the heater, aware of what she had done.

"No problem," she replied as she took another drag.

Thousands of topics and questions were running wild in Isaac's head, but he knew if he was to speak any of them out loud, he would not receive an answer from Jenna. The past week and two nights before, Isaac had attempted to bring up talk of Jenna's isolation, but the answers he got were still rehearsed and shallow, ranging from 'I don't know' to 'I don't wanna talk about it.' Even when the two talked about something completely unrelated, Jenna's answers were monotone and curt, and it didn't take long for Isaac to realize he was literally talking to an empty shell. It caused him to wonder again if Jenna just simply didn't want to talk to him, and if all she desired was silent company. Isaac could understand this, but still, he felt strong in the belief that silence would not help Jenna heal, and truthfully Isaac was starting to get fed up with the silence. For a minute he wondered if the short-lived conversations were primarily his fault, but with further thought he realized it was mainly due to Jenna's curtness. He wanted to talk to her, and he wanted her to reply with more than just a sentence. Thinking further, he figured he simply needed a foundation so he could start to truly help her.

"What's your favorite color?" He asked the first question that popped into his head the second he desired the foundation, and he turned his head to look at her. Jenna slowly turned to him, her red eyelids low and her mouth in the shape of a seemingly permanent frown, and just when Isaac expected her to merely shrug, she surprised him when she actually offered a verbal answer.

"I don't have one, really," she replied as she looked away to take another drag from her cigarette. Isaac ashed his own as he spoke up again with a small grin, though he had to wonder if his attempt at any sort of conversation would prove to fail again.

"Oh, c'mon. Everyone has a favorite color."

Jenna could see him grinning from the corner of her eye, but all she offered him was a shrug before another verbal answer. "I really don't have one. Not a particular one, anyway."

"Name your top three," Isaac prompted. Jenna sighed, but she surprised him further when a miniscule grin touched her lips. But when she turned to face him again, it vanished.

"It's complicated," she replied. Why did Isaac want to know what her favorite color was? Oh well, Jenna thought, deciding it would be more beneficial to just welcome the silly inquiry than question Isaac's intentions. Next to her, Isaac let out a short laugh.

"It's complicated?" He repeated, his grin never leaving his lips. "How so?" He cocked his head to the side slightly, truly curious.

"Because it changes day to day," Jenna replied honestly as she looked into his eyes.

"What's your favorite color now?"

"Black."

"Of course," Isaac replied with a roll of his eyes. "What was your favorite color a week ago?"

"Black."

"Alright then." He leaned back in his chair, and as he took a drag from his cigarette, Jenna wondered if this conversation had reached its quick end like all the others. But as soon as she had thought this, Isaac was rolling his head against the back of his chair to look at her again with that same, curious grin, and those characteristic, sleepy eyes. "What was your favorite color a year ago?"

He anticipated for Jenna to shrug him off or glance away slightly in thought, but he was shocked when she had an instant answer for him. "Purple," she replied. Isaac tugged the corners of his lips down as he nodded.

"Purple," he repeated. "So you know –for a fact– that your favorite color was purple on December 23rd, 2011?"

He couldn't help but to sit up and lean closer to her slightly when a small smile stretched her lips as she nodded. "Yes, I do," she replied. "I remember I was so hung-up on the fact that I wanted all the accessories for my birthday party to be purple."

Amazing, Isaac thought. Or, repulsively ridiculous. He had not anticipated for his kindergarten question to bring about an actual conversation. But he kept on with it.

"Where do I even start with that," he wondered, shaking his head. "A birthday party? How old were you turning, eleven?"

"No," Jenna replied, unable to help but to grin again. At long last, they were experiencing a stronger conversation, but Jenna was careful to watch what she said. She didn't want any of her words to divert the conversation into something else. "I was turning twenty two. Celebrations were something my parents were obsessed about. But, it was fine." Here she shrugged as she glanced away, and she took another hit from her cigarette. "Eventually my parents would get sick of my friends, and they'd leave with all the people they invited. That's when the party really started."

"Sex, drugs, and rock n' roll?" Isaac wondered, his grin expanding. Jenna nodded as she glanced over at him, a faint, new-found light in her eyes.

"Something like that."

"So, why purple?" Isaac asked now.

"Because I had worn out the color blue the month before. And my mother refused to decorate the house in black. I wasn't about to have a Christmas themed party." The word Christmas sounded practically foreign to her. Jenna had learned without anybody having to say anything that holidays were considered to be just another day around the warehouse and Bane's operation. But this didn't bother her. Holidays were never anything but stressful to Jenna anyway.

Isaac let out another chuckle. "So, black makes the top three list?"

"I guess," Jenna replied. "What's your favorite color?" She asked him now. She watched Isaac pause for a moment before he glanced down to his faded, army green cargo pants.

"Green," he replied, and he grinned again when Jenna rolled her eyes.

"That's stupid," she replied when her eyes found his again. Isaac's eyebrows met in the middle.

"Why is it stupid?"

"Because that's the only color you wear," Jenna replied.

"It's not."

"It's the only color anyone around here wears," she went on. Isaac was high above this conversation, but for the sake of the moment, and for the sake of Jenna's new-found tones and thoughts, he found himself genuinely enjoying it. Finally, he was obtaining that foundation.

"Not really," he replied. "There's black, gray, brown... tan..."

Jenna was shaking her head. "It's all the same shade, though."

Isaac shrugged. "Blame the crew. It what's we wear. But as soon as we switch it up and start going out in purple and pink, you'll be the first to know."

Jenna was staring at him. "So... green then?"

"Green," Isaac repeated as he leaned back in his chair. "When did you start smoking?"

"When I was nineteen," Jenna said as she glanced away. "What about you?"

"Sixteen," Isaac replied, his head still resting against the back of the chair while his eyes stayed focused on her, and he didn't ask his second question until Jenna finally looked back to him. "I bet your parents nearly killed you when they found out, huh?"

Jenna rolled her eyes again as she faced forward, and she shook her head as she lifted her cigarette to take a final drag. "You don't know the half of it." She dropped her cigarette onto the ground and smashed it down with her foot before she glanced over to Isaac again. "My mother cried. My father nearly broke a door."

Isaac was nodding now as he stared at the cigarette filter in between his fingers. The cigarette had burnt itself out, and as he spoke up he tossed the butt away from himself. "Seems like the expected reactions."

Jenna let out a short breath of laughter. "Yeah... right. My mom was crying because she was worried about her reputation. Her perfect daughter smoking? How would that look?" Jenna's eyes had widened slightly in emphasis as she stared ahead at the heater. "My father was just mad because I had found another way to upset my mom. They didn't care..."

She shook her head as she glanced away. In just a few short moments, Isaac had seen more emotion on Jenna's face than he had seen over the span of over an entire month. So this had been what Jenna wanted: a normal conversation that was unrelated to what really mattered. Isaac wanted to respect this, and he wanted to carry on with it, but the questions he deeply desired answers to would not stop swarming around in his head. He leaned up in his chair before placing his elbow on the arm of it, and he turned his body to face her more.

"Do you think that's really true though? That they really, actually didn't care about you?"

"You met my mom, Isaac," Jenna replied as she glanced over to him. "You saw it for yourself."

Isaac nodded. "Is that why you weren't upset when Bane killed them?"

A lump had risen in Jenna's throat, and she immediately felt lightheaded as a strong sense of grief washed over her. The sensation was so strong that it caused her to take a hold of either arm on the chair, and her lips parted slightly as she sucked in a sharp, quiet breath. She recalled how heavily she had cried over her parents during the beginning of her lonely month, and with the thought came the memory of the actual day their death occurred. The warehouse had gone nearly silent, the heater's humming seeming more like a loud, annoying buzz now, and Jenna knew Isaac was waiting for an answer. She wouldn't give him one. She had not wanted their conversation to take a turn to this.

But when her eyes wandered to the left, through her stringy, black hair she could see Isaac looking at her, but not with the expression she had been anticipating. His eyebrows were raised slightly, and she was surprised to see his eyes weren't narrowed. Instead, they remained holding their normal shape, and the pure, morphed expression of concern and curiosity was unmissable. Jenna quickly glanced away. It was clear to her now that Isaac had only meant this as a casual question, and suddenly she didn't want to leave his curiosity at bay. She had wanted to talk to him, and if she was being honest, by this point Isaac was the only person in the world right now she could get verbal with. She would answer his question, quickly, then change the subject.

"Yes," she replied as she nodded slowly and easily. "It is."

Isaac's frown deepened when a new question crossed his mind. It was territory he had tried to cross many times, only to be shot down with curt answers. But the conversation had already naturally ended up here, just like he had started to want a few nights before. Jenna was calm, and had already experienced so many other emotions already. They had finally held a real conversation, and already progress was starting to be made. Now seemed like the best time to try and reach a hold of Jenna's thoughts and feelings, locked away deep, deep inside her.

"Can I ask you something?" Isaac asked gently a moment later, the light tone of his voice causing Jenna to glance at him and stare into his eyes. "Without you shutting me out?"

"Isaac..." Jenna began to turn away, but she paused when she heard Isaac lean in closer to her.

"Seriously," he went on. "Can I?"

"You can ask," Jenna mumbled gently as she struggled to avoid his eyes. She could practically feel Isaac shaking his head next to her.

"No, I want an answer, too. A real one." He waited as he stared at the side of her face, but when she grew entirely quiet, he sighed. "Please, Jenna?"

The concern in his voice was heavy and easy to ignore suddenly, but what caught Jenna's attention was how rather desperate he sounded. He was desperate for answers from her, desperate to understand her lately, and this not only caused stress for Jenna, but hurt as well. Swallowing, she closed her eyes.

"Okay."

"How come you felt more pain from a dream than you did actually watching your parents die?" His tone was soft and careful, and his question had been worded cautiously with simple words, but still, the words stung her as they escaped his mouth. Jenna kept her eyes closed as her dream began to play in her head, and she sat silently as she thought back to all the blood, the screams, the gunshots, how unmerciful Bane had been...

"I don't know..."

"Jenna," Isaac sighed as he titled his head to the side. "C'mon."

"I really don't," she went on, and Isaac couldn't help but to drop his gaze down to Jenna's shoes when he heard her faintly sniffle. He hadn't wanted to make her cry, but he wanted to understand why that dream had left her so severely broken. "It was just... so..."

"Real, I know. Was it because of your friend dying?" Isaac paused, waiting to see if she'd answer, but when she merely sniffled again, he started talking again. "Or something else?"

Strangely, a tiny part of her wanted to answer him suddenly, but she could feel her entire being holding herself back. Just the thought alone was causing her eyes to swell with tears, and even if she did try to answer, her voice would crackle and break, and her answer would make no sense. Isaac remained patient as he let Jenna take a minute to breathe, and once he heard her staggered breaths become slower and more even, he raised his eyes to look at the side of her face, hidden behind her hair.

"I just want to understand, Jenna," he started. "I want to help you. I mean, after you had that dream, that's when you seemed to get really bad. What about it made you so upset?"

"Bane." The word escaped past Jenna's mouth before she could stop it, and she squeezed her eyes shut even tighter due to the severity of how bad her voice had cracked when she spoke his name, the same feelings from two nights before flooding her body. Her lips trembled slightly as she opened and closed her mouth, both wanting to explain further, but also feeling strongly against it. Her struggle was evident to Isaac, but he remained patient.

"Tell me," he prompted softly. "Are you scared I'll tell him?"

Another sniffle broke through the silence of the garage. "No," Jenna said as she finally lifted her hand up to push away the tears from her cheeks. "It's just hard."

"I know," Isaac replied, and Jenna listened to Isaac move in the chair slightly before listening to what sounded like him shuffling around for something in his pocket. A short moment later, she couldn't help but to jump slightly when she felt Isaac gently tap her shoulder with the side of his dried, car-greased hand, and when she glanced over she saw he was holding out a cigarette to her. A small smile tugged at the corners of her lips, but it wasn't strong enough to stretch them completely. She accepted the cigarette, and as soon as she placed it in between her lips Isaac was holding the flame from his lighter to the end of it. Jenna took a long, refreshing drag from it while Isaac tucked the lighter back in his pocket.

"I'm not gonna tell him," Isaac assured her anyway as he slouched down in the chair slightly, but he kept his body turned toward her. "And no one else is around to hear it. It'll stay between us."

His words were assuring, and Jenna found herself idly nodding as she took another drag, her eyes focused on the floor. She remembered the first time she had been in Isaac's room, and what he had told her when he had finished with her arm. "I was always the soft guy, the guy who felt things differently and could relate to people. My grandma... she always said I had this awesome ability to put myself in other's shoes, and know what it was like for them, the hardships they faced. That never changed. Maybe it was masked, qualities like that don't earn you the respect you need here, but after a while Bane accepted that about me, when he learned I could shut that part of me off."

It was clear to Jenna that Isaac usually had this quality shut off, but as for right now, she realized he had it turned on, just for her. He was ready to help her, talk to her, understand her point, and not shoot any of her pain down. It was sheer luck that such a person existed in Bane's nightmarish army, and perhaps it was luck that caused Jenna the fortune to be so close to him. All she had wanted was to forget about everything that had happened during that month. She wanted to leave it all behind, she wanted to forget about Bane and continue to ignore him, and she wanted to just move on. But it was starting to become evident that she'd be unable to do this until she talked about it with Isaac. Jenna took another long drag from her cigarette, struggling to shy away from this harsh reality.

"What about him scared you?" Isaac asked now, focusing her attention now, and he was careful not to speak Bane's name, for he felt just the word alone was painful enough for Jenna.

"Just... the s-severity of what he did... and what he had you do."

"Which was...?" Isaac asked calmly.

"He made me kill Rodger." Jenna's lips quivered before the corners tugged down, and more tears swelled in her eyes. "He forced me to. He had you kill Rodger's parents... he... he..." Jenna shook her head as she closed her eyes. Next to her, Isaac's gaze had dropped down to the floor as he solemnly nodded. He had no desire to ask her anything else specific; Jenna had told him enough. In her dream, she had witnessed a serious, focused side of Isaac, ready to perform any order given to him, and a murderous, twisted side of Bane, who wanted to punish Jenna further by having her kill somebody she actually did care deeply about. He could understand why this would freak her out. She had never seen Isaac kill anybody, or become deeply merciless and tactical. She had never seen Bane so ruthless, although he knew Jenna understood it was in him. It was literally one of her worst fears that had seemingly come to life, and it couldn't have come to her at a worse time. Anyone else in Jenna's life who cared about her would have simply patted her shoulder and assured her it was a dream, but even though Isaac was a man of sincerity and understanding, he was also man of logic and truth.

"I get it," he said finally as Jenna took another hit from her cigarette. "The dream seemed so real to you because it's something that you were anticipating to happen, and something you knew could happen. Honestly? It could–"

Jenna's eyes had opened, but as soon as Isaac said this they immediately closed tightly.

"–But it won't," Isaac quickly assured. "Jenna, you won't allow yourself to see what's in front of you and interpret the facts. All Bane could stand to do was lock you in your room as a means of punishment, and from there all he did was avoid you. I've told you before; I've seen men face gruesome deaths for mere white lies. Isn't it obvious to you yet that he doesn't want that same fate for you? Killing you, forcing you to kill someone else... it's past him. It's been past him for so long that he won't do it now."

Jenna's eyebrows furrowed tightly, and she forced her eyes open before she turned her head slightly to look at him.

"Did he say that?" She asked, confusion laced throughout her voice and imprinted on her expression.

"No," Isaac said. "But I mean, it's obvious. Bane is man of quick, rational action. If a thought crosses his mind, he'll consider it, and if he likes it, he'll perform it. He doesn't procrastinate or prolong things longer than necessary. Like I've told you, if he wanted to kill you, he would have. If he wanted to punish and hurt you further, he would have done much more than lock you in a room for a month. If he wanted you to kill Rodger, it would have been one of the first things he would have done."

Jenna nodded slightly. "Then why did he break my arm?"

Isaac shrugged. "Even the most patient, rational men get surges of hot anger. But after, he wanted you to receive help, you know," Isaac added a long moment later. His words caused a doubtful breath of laughter to escape from Jenna.

"Yeah fucking right," she replied. "Why would you even say tha-"

"It's true," Isaac interrupted, his tone slightly more stern. "Jenna why do you think I knew to go help you? Hell, why do you think I even did? He told me to." He watched Jenna immediately begin to shake her head in denial. "Think about it. If he didn't, then why would he want you to receive help, or a cast to ensure it healed properly?"

Jenna had stopped shaking her head, but she couldn't bring herself to believe him. She hated where this conversation had gone, and now she was ready to be through with it. She wished she had never answered Isaac's question. "Just forget it," Jenna said now. "Please," she added in a more serene tone when she realized how fiery her words had sounded. "This is why I didn't want to talk about any of this."

Isaac's mouth opened in protest, but he immediately stopped himself before he could speak. Let it be, he told himself. He had finally obtained answers from Jenna, and some sort of understanding. Now, the real help could begin. Now, he had a gateway into more conversation about it all. If Jenna wanted to be through with talking for now, then he would allow it.

"Alright, alright," he said now as Jenna took a drag from her cigarette, and he looked away from her. "I'm sorry, we'll stop."

Jenna frowned before she turned to look at him, and she couldn't tell if she had upset him or not. "Are you mad?" She asked quietly.

"Mad?" Isaac repeated as he glanced back at her with a small grin. "Why would I be mad?"

Jenna glanced down slightly. "I don't know," she replied. "I think I had more of a tone than I meant to."

Isaac stared at her blankly for a moment, trying to fathom her words. Jenna's tone hadn't been terribly strong with quick hostility, but what had him slightly confused was the fact that she hadn't wanted to sound like that? "No, no, it's fine," he said now. "Honestly it's nice to hear you have any type of tone. Your voice every other time is always empty..."

Jenna glanced away now, unsure of how to respond. Her heart was racing, her head was spinning, and while she still wished she had never answered his question, she was just relieved that Isaac was dropping the issue easily. Her lips quivered for a moment before she took a final drag from her cigarette, and as she deeply inhaled, she let the cigarette fall to the floor. Isaac had watched her do this, his mind still running rapid with the thoughts he wanted to express, but he forced himself to hold them back. He had gotten further with Jenna than he had the entire week, and he knew it would be a smart idea to just accept this, and close down the topic for the night.

"You about ready to go in?" He asked her now as she exhaled. "It's almost eleven."

Jenna nodded slowly. "Yeah," she finally replied, standing in unison with Isaac. She turned and started past the chairs, stopping a few feet away from them as she waited for Isaac to shut off the space heater and follow her. Once he began in her direction, she turned again, keeping her left arm hugged around herself due to the new-found cold, and after she pushed open the garage door to step into the warmer warehouse, Isaac snapped off the lights inside the garage before stepping into the warehouse next to Jenna. As he closed the door he glanced at her, and he gave her a quick nod with a small smile before he began away down the hall. Jenna watched him go for a moment before she turned, their conversation echoing in her head, and the more she thought about it, the more she realized she didn't know what to think of it. So Isaac had finally made her open up about something; now that she had, did she feel better? Relieved? Or just more upset?

Perhaps it had felt good to verbally express one of the things that had been terrorizing her, and get it off her chest, but she hadn't liked where the conversation had turned. Of course it would have been related back to Bane, why wouldn't it be? He was the root cause for everything Jenna felt around the warehouse, or anywhere now, for that matter. It had felt good talking to Isaac, but what caused the relieved feelings to break away was the topic of Bane. He regretted breaking her arm? Jenna never doubted anything more in her life. Bane wanted her to get help? Jenna shook her head now once she reached the bottom of the stairs. She knew Isaac was being truthful, but still, Jenna could not accept the things he had been saying about Bane.

Once she snapped on the light to her room, she immediately let out a breath of annoyance at the sight of her clothes everywhere, some in folded piles, others tossed carelessly onto the floor all around. The image of her dirty clothes strewn everywhere only caused her to think about herself, and how rather dirty she felt. She shrugged off her coat and let it fall into the floor, and with a frown she lifted her left arm to stare at it. Her eyes narrowed in disgust as they stared at the hair that covered the surface, and with a sigh she let it drop at her side, knowing very well that the rest of the hair on her body was even worse; she could feel it. She cursed to herself after she glanced down at her cast. Her irritating, broken arm kept her from taking an actual shower, and she was starting to get sick of it. Her hair was huge, tangled, and dirty, and her body was being suffocated with unwanted body hair. But as Jenna plopped down onto her cot, a new thought occurred to her. Perhaps Isaac could help her...

Since they were being friendly again, this gave Jenna the opportunity to ask if she could use his shower. Perhaps he'd even have good news about her cast, and could help to find a way to allow her to shower fully. The hopeful thoughts were enough for Jenna to take out her toiletry bag and immediately turn to exit her room.

She moved through the hall quickly, and once she reached the ladder, she placed the small handles of her toiletry bag in between her teeth, and she bit down on them as she started up the ladder. Once she reached the top, she took hold of the bag in her hand again, and she didn't hesitate before knocking quietly on Isaac's door. She could hear the TV in the thug's space diagonally from her, and she could feel some of their eyes on her back, staring at her, but she didn't care. She was sick of feeling dirty, she was sick of the embarrassing hair that covered her body, and even more so she was sick of her face, bare of makeup, greasy skin, red eyes, and chapped lips...

After a long moment passed, and just when she gave up hope of Isaac even answering, the handle of the door jiggled a bit before the door was eased open, and Jenna instantly glanced up at Isaac's face.

"Can I use your shower?" She asked him. "I'll be quick, I promise."

Isaac couldn't help the small grin that spread onto his lips after his eyes had dropped down to her toiletry bag. "Yeah," he said as he took a step back, his eyes meeting hers again. "Take your time," he added. Jenna smiled slightly as well, and after she dropped her eyes from his own, she stepped into the room past him.

"Thank you," she mumbled sincerely, a warm relieved feeling spreading throughout her body as she started toward his bathroom. Isaac closed and locked his door, but as soon as he turned around, his eyes immediately found Jenna's right upper arm, just above her cast, and his eyes widened slightly as he took a large step to catch up with her.

"Whoa, whoa, wait," he said, his words causing Jenna to slowly stop her stride, and she hesitantly turned just when Isaac caught up to her. Her lips parted, preparing her to ask him what was wrong, but before she could ask, Isaac was already placing his hand on her shoulder to turn her around while reaching out to grab her bag. He tossed the bag onto the bed, and once he had Jenna turned so he could see her arm, she watched the bag land on his bed before she turned to look at Isaac from over her shoulder. His eyes were focused on her arm, and the flat, serious expression on his face instantly caused Jenna to begin worrying.

"What?" she asked him in a slightly louder tone.

"Your arm," he said, his eyes wandering over the dark-toned skin and protruding veins that covered the surface of it. Jenna was just about to ask him what was wrong with it, but before she could speak again Isaac beat her to it. "Have you been sleeping on it?" Jenna frowned as Isaac started to take the sling off of her, and she watched the sling fly slowly through the air before it landed next to her bag on his bed. How did he know?

"Uh, yeah," she replied, her eyebrows furrowing as Isaac gently pushed her into his bathroom. She squinted her eyes when he turned on the bright lights, and when she glanced at him through the mirror, which she was now facing full-on, she watched Isaac's eyes wander over it again. "I try not to," she quickly went on. "but-"

Isaac was shaking his head. "You're weakening the circulation in your arm," he informed, and Jenna flinched when he squeezed his fingers around the highest point of her arm, just beneath her shoulder. "Look." He gently turned her around so Jenna could glance at her arm's reflection in the mirror, but once she had, she immediately wished he hadn't. Her dark eyebrows raised as she took in the site of the overall, darkened color and obvious veins that ran down her arm, and she felt a dizzy spell wash over her. That definitely didn't look good.

It was at the tip of his tongue to mildly scold Jenna for not bothering to inform him, or anyone, about the poor condition of her healing arm, but as soon as this desire rose, he held back the words. In the beginning, Jenna couldn't have informed anyone, and he couldn't be angry at her lack of knowledge on broken limbs. It was the first broken body part she had experienced, he assumed, and he knew that Jenna more than likely thought it was part of the healing process. The further he thought about it, however, he wondered if Jenna had even noticed it. Due to her broken and unobservant state, he figured she hadn't. But Isaac couldn't blame himself either. After not seeing Jenna for over a month, he only ever saw her arms hidden in the sleeves of her coat.

"Ew," Jenna couldn't help but to mumble, and as soon as she tore her eyes away, Isaac was turning her again. Her jaw dropped slightly, preparing her to speak, but before she could she flinched when Isaac ran his clutched fingers down the length of her upper arm. Her eyes widened again as she sucked in a sharp breath of pain, and when he did it a second time, she couldn't stop herself from speaking.

"What are you doing?" She asked, the pain in her tone obvious.

"Helping to get the circulation back. Fortunately this isn't too severe, but you gotta stop sleeping on this."

"I'm sorry," Jenna said now as she stared at the white, tiled floor. "It's the cot, you know? It's small."

"I know, but you gotta stop. If you do it any longer the circulation will stop completely."

"What happens if it stops?" Jenna asked, glancing at him from over her shoulder again. She flinched when Isaac ran his fingers down her arm again, pushing and forcing the blood flow back into her forearm, but he never answered her.

"While we're here," he said instead, "what else has been going on with it?"

Jenna glanced down in thought. "It hurts, even if I barely move it. It's itchy as hell lately."

Isaac was nodding. "It's because you can't wash it," he informed, moving his fingers down her arm one final time. "When we change the cast we'll clean it. It'll help."

Change the cast? Jenna wondered. "When will that be?" She asked, finding herself suddenly desperate to be rid of her current bulky and heavy cast.

"In about another month," Isaac said as his hand now took a gentle hold of the cast. "Keep your arm bent," he said to her now. Jenna listened, waiting to see what he would do, but as soon as he began to raise her upper arm, Jenna immediately pulled back, and struggled against him for a second before he finally let go of her.

"No," she said as she began to turn, her eyes still focused on the floor. There was no way she was going to let Isaac raise her arm when she hadn't been able to shave in over a month.

"Jenna I need to examine it, make sure there's no other damage. C'mere."

"Can you do it after I shower?" She asked him now as she raised her eyes to look into his, which seemed to be glowing brightly in the light, ad she moved to place her left arm behind her. "Please?" She added.

"I don't care about that," Isaac said now as he took a step closer to her, well aware of what she was talking about. But he let out a sigh when Jenna took a step back.

"Seriously," she added now. She would rather have her arm cut off at the elbow before she allowed anyone's eyes to wander over the current state of her armpit. Isaac instantly picked up on the sternness her tone carried as well as the stern look in her eyes, and he let out a sigh as a grin spread onto his lips.

"Fine," he said now. He took a step back, but before he could turn, Jenna instantly frowned.

"Are you mad?" Her lips parted when Isaac let out a short laugh as he turned to glance at her again.

"No, Jenna, I'm not mad," he assured, slight humor in his voice. "Why do you keep asking me that?"

Jenna glanced down. "I don't know," she replied. She did know, though. She feared that her new-found tones would annoy Isaac, and ultimately cause him to abandon her again. But while Jenna worried about her tones, Isaac found them relieving.

"Yes you do," he said, able to read Jenna's current expression like a book. But he dropped the issue. "Take your shower then I'll look at it." He began to turn again, but before he could leave the room, Jenna took a small step closer to him.

"Isaac?" she asked, and as soon as he turned to face her yet again, she quickly went on. "Is there any way I can actually get in the shower? With this," she added as she lifted her right arm slightly. Isaac's eyes dropped down to the cast for a short moment before he lifted his eyes to look back into hers. Without a word he suddenly turned to leave the bathroom, and Jenna stood still and waited silently for him to come back.

She listened as he opened a drawer from somewhere in his bedroom, and after she listened to him rummage around for a moment, she heard the ruffling from a plastic bag. He appeared outside of the door, and after he picked up her bag from his bed he stepped back into the bathroom and set the bag onto the closed toilet seat. Jenna eyed the plastic bag and roll of black electrical tape in his hand, and she watched him place the tape on the counter by the sink before he gently ripped apart the bottom of the plastic bag to form a small hole. When he turned and stepped toward her, Jenna held out her arm as much as she could to him, and watched as he slid the bag onto her arm and over the cast, the small hole at the bottom allowing her to use her hand, which Isaac figured would help her out while showering. He wrapped the bag tightly around her cast before he glanced up to her.

"Hold this," he said, Jenna's hand immediately replacing his on her arm, and she watched Isaac tear off a long piece of the tape with his teeth before he began to wrap it around the bag and her skin on either end, creating a seal that the water would be unable to seep through. When he was finished a moment later, he took a step back and flashed her a small grin. "There ya go."

Jenna smiled slightly, already growing somewhat annoyed at the swooshing sound from the bag, but she ignored this, feeling more appreciative than anything. "Thank you," she said just before he could close the door, and once he did, she immediately pulled back the shower curtain and started the water.

After she took out her razor from her bag, she set it on the edge of the tub before she removed her clothes, and after she set them in a wrinkled pile near the door, she stepped into the shower, unable to help but let out a sigh as the hot water ran over her body.

She ignored the amplified pattering noise from the bag as the water ran onto it, and instead she closed her eyes after closing the curtain, allowing herself to take a moment and enjoy the simplicity of just standing under a shower faucet for the first time in what seemed like ages. Steam swelled within the shower and escaped over the curtain to fog up the mirror, but Jenna kept her eyes closed as she tilted her head back, letting the water pound down on her scalp and travel down her barely manageable hair. She had once carried the full intentions of showering quickly when she first asked Isaac, but now that he had told her take her time, Jenna was going to do just that.

After she stood motionless in the direct line of hot water for another few, long and soothing moments, she finally opened her eyes and tilted her head forward again, welcoming the water that ran down her face. Once she caught sight of her hair-ridden body, she grimaced, and knowing she could not prolong the moment any longer, she immediately reached down to take hold of her razor.

Shaving her entire body had been an absolute chore, to say the least, and by the time she was finished, her water was already running cold. But regardless, she was forced to take her time with it, and after she would slowly soap up her desired body part, moving Isaac's soap bar slowly over her skin with her left hand, she moved even slower with the razor, making sure to remove every morsel of hair. She shaved her left arm first, making sure not to move or lift her right arm more than necessary, and once this was finished she moved on to her legs, saving her most troubling spots for last.

Nearly forty minutes had passed by the time she finished shaving. The water had turned cold, but Jenna ignored this, and instead found herself welcoming the cold water as she took her time with lathering up her hair with more than enough shampoo. After she rinsed, she took the soap bar one last time, and after she lathered up her left hand, she turned to face the water, closed her eyes, and moved her hand vigorously over her face. During her month of solitude, Jenna had struggled to wash her face as best as she could, but now that she could rub the soap directly onto her face and rinse it completely from under the water, the moment she started washing it she could already feel how much cleaner she would feel. By the time she turned off the faucet, stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel from the rack above the toilet, physically Jenna found herself feeling better than she had in a long, long time. She could feel how smooth and clean her hairless body was, and she couldn't stop herself from wiping away a small circle of steam from the mirror after she wrapped her body in a towel to glance at her reflection. The skin on her face seemed to have a small sort of glow to it, but as Jenna stared at herself, all she could see was the red around her eyes and the nearly permanent frown on her chapped lips. She leaned over to take out her toothbrush from her bag, and after she ran it under the water from the sink, she gently ran the bristles over her plump lips. It was a trick her mother had taught her to help ease away chapped lips, and by the time Jenna had gotten out her chap-stick from her bag, applied some to her lips, and ran her bottom lip against her upper, she could feel the difference already. Inspired by this, she decided that tomorrow she would try wearing some makeup again.

The steam and overall warmth of the bathroom kept Jenna's mind calm and at at ease as she ignored the dripping from her hair, and after she put her toothbrush and razor away, she stepped toward the bathroom door to open it, ready for Isaac to finish looking over her arm now that she was clean and shaven.

When she opened the door, she found Isaac laying in his bed, his covers pulled up to his waist, a plain black t-shirt covering his torso. He had his arm bent at the elbow, and he rested his head on his forearm as he started blankly at the TV, the volume low, the blue light flickering over his face and room. "Isaac," she spoke, and she waited until he glanced over at her. "You can come look now, if you want."

She stepped back from the door as Isaac got out of his bed, and she saw he had changed into a pair of dark gray sweat pants. He shuffled his feet against the floor as he crossed his room to the bathroom, and Jenna fixed her towel and clutched it with her left hand once he approached her. His eyes were half-lidded and glazed, more so than usual, and Jenna decided that as soon as he was done she would immediately leave and let him sleep. Before he took a hold of her arm, he turned to open the medicine cabinet on the wall next to the door, and after he took out a small pair of medical scissors, he turned back to Jenna and began to cut off the tape wrapped around her arm. He piled the cut tape and wet bag into the sink, he stepped back slightly before turning Jenna to face the mirror. His eyes quickly found her upper arm, and though the veins weren't raised as much, they were still very noticeable, and after he gripped her arm and pushed the blood downward again, Jenna flinching all the while, he finally took a gentle hold of the cast and began to raise her arm, unable to help but grin when Jenna actually allowed him to this time.

As Jenna watched him through the mirror, the fog fading fast from it, she was entirely unsure of what Isaac was looking for or checking, but a moment later, after he ran his hand over her cast and eyed every inch of her arm, he gently lowered it before he raised his eyes to look at her through the mirror. He paused before he could speak, however, and he took a second to take in her appearance. After just one, full shower, her skin appeared as soft as it probably felt, and it seemed as though the red around her eyes had faded severely, the aqua blue color of her iris' more stunning than they had been in a while. He hadn't realized Jenna had been staring at him the entire time, and once he noticed he cleared his throat slightly.

"Your arm should be fine," he informed. "Just try not to sleep on it anymore." Jenna watched him let out a large yawn as he took a step back from her, and she turned to face him before she spoke.

"I will," she said. "Thank you."

"No problem," Isaac said sleepily in a voice just above a whisper. His exhausted state caused Jenna to smile slightly, and she quickly turned to grab her bag and clothes.

"Goodnight," she said before she started out of the bathroom door. Isaac didn't reply, and instead he shut the light off behind her before starting to his bed while Jenna headed to the bedroom door. As she descended the ladder now, she realized she had forgotten her sling in Isaac's room, but she disregarded this thought, for as soon as she started toward the basement stairs she began to worry about seeing Bane.

It was almost as if he knew when Jenna was dreading seeing him the most, and he never failed to be doing something eye-catching when these times occurred. When she stepped onto the cold floor of the basement, she immediately noticed the line of light on the floor, and she couldn't help but to allow her eyes to follow the trail to Bane's wide open door, where she found him to be doing push-ups inside, his shirtless frame facing away from her. A potent shock ran not only up her spine, but throughout her body as well, as she watched his muscles flex each time he lowered his body to the ground. When the shock found its way to her head, the dizzy feeling instantly caused her to snap out of her daze, and she tore her eyes away from him as she started toward her room, hoping he would not notice she had returned downstairs.

Once she was inside her room, his previous words to her immediately began to play over and over in her mind.

"You gonna go terrorize her, too?" Jenna had asked upon receiving news of the newest and most desired arrival in Gotham.

"No," Bane had replied. "You are more than enough, Jenna."

What did that mean? And why had Bane even said that? Whether Jenna wanted to know or not, she did not want to ask him, and instead she continued to hope Bane would just leave her alone.

After she got dressed, deciding that she would have to ask Isaac about laundry finally tomorrow, she discarded her towel on the floor and immediately got into her cot, hoping she would warm up fast. Bare of her sling, Jenna kept her arm stationary under her chest, and she let out a sigh as she rested comfortably on her back, hoping in the back of her mind that she could find a way to keep the pressure from her body off of her arm.

Hopefully this long chapter makes up for the long wait between updates (as always, blame my damn college). Please leave me your thoughts in the form of a review! :D (And don't forget to add me on Facebook! Lacey ClownQween Michele) As always, a huge thank you to Loretta Lolita for all your help!