Reunited (In progress)

Crane grabbed is small tablet and headphones and his black coat and walked out of his apartment. He decided to go for a walk through the dark alleys of Gotham to clear his head, breathe the dense Gotham air, and observe some of the desperate denizens that wander through the dark alleys. He put his hands in his pockets making his way indifferently down the staircase, passing by the front desk, and exiting through the glass double doors that acted as a buffer between his quiet apartment and the madness of Gotham. He walked a block passing by a few homeless men that had congregated near a rusty barrel that contained a small fire where the men were warming their hands and trying desperately to stave off the cooler weather that had begun to permeate Gotham. He turned left and started walking down an alley slumbering along towards the Narrows. A black cat jumped out in and screeched before him. Crane tilted his head confusedly and walked passed the cat continuing to walk in down the deserted alley. Hie life lately had been full of chaos and confusion, but somehow in the darkness he found solace and comfort taking refuge in the uncertainty of not knowing what to expect and not caring about the consequences of the madness that could ensue in these abandoned alleys.



Jane walked out of Rissas apartment building wearing a long coat over a dress and of course her heels. She didn't go out much anymore because her body had still been recovering from being beat up. She strutted down the dark side walk with her heels clicking, as the only sound in the night. She saw some shady looking dark figures walking towards her and she knew that she needed to change directions so she quickly slipped around the corner of an alley and waited until they passed until she continued down the alley way. She rubbed her upper arms as a cool breeze came through and ran through her hair, whipping it all around her. She looked down at her toes that were turning pink with the cold. Good thing she couldn't feel them or this would suck a lot. She only looked back up as she barreled right into a man and lost her footing and fell right into a puddle of freezing water. She let out a little shriek as the cold water seeped through her dress. She looked down at herself miserably before she pulled herself up and mumbled "Sorry" to the man. She looked at him. He didn't seem like the type to be wandering in the alleys at night. But then again neither did she. He continued to look at her with his mouth open and the most surprised face. "What? I said I was sorry. Are you hurt or something?" She didn't know what else to say to the man standing there gawking at her.



As Crane was looking down he barely noticed a woman stumble into him and fall into a puddle. She stood up and Crane watched her try to brush the wet debris off her dress. He stared at her fixedly and realized it was Jane. He had not seen her in months, ever since his imprisonment in France and his subsequent return to Gotham when he walked into his apartment finding all of her belongings gone and a simple note. He wondered about her often, but was too afraid to seek her out fearing her confused reaction to him, fearing the anger that she might harbor towards him. He continued to stare at her believing that she would instantly recognize him, but she didn't and this baffled Crane. He decided to call to her and ask what she was doing out, alone, in this dark alley, on the cold desperate streets of Gotham. "Jane?" he asked, "is that you? Jane? Don't you....recognize me?" He stood there in quiet desperate lost in the moment, confused by her lack of recognition.



Jane looked at the man desperately calling her by her name. She timidly and confusedly asked him "Who the hell are you and how do you know my name?" She knew she sounded cold but she was scared. Was he some sort of stalker. The thought that this could be someone she actually knew before the accident never even crossed her mind. She just continued to look at him looking at her with such a desperate look in his eyes. He didn't look vicious but then again. What did she know in this sort of situation. What if he attacked her. She was in no state to fight. She knew that she never should have left the apartment. But at her snappy cold remark he stepped back as if she had actually hit him. He looked crushed and something inside her snapped a little and she decided there was no reason to be mean to this man. He sort of reminded her of a lost puppy. She took a step back towards him and said quietly. "I'm sorry...But....Maybe its a coincidence and you think I am some one else by the name of Jane." She held out hands to show that she didn't know what else to tell him



Crane face contorted slightly and a sadness washed over him that he had never experienced before. He wondered if something had happened to her or if she had just decided to pretend that she didn't know him anymore. Maybe, he thought, apart of her was crushed by his mysterious disappearance and instead of dealing with confronting him she decided it was easier just to feign ignorance, as if he were a distant stranger in a misshaped dream. "Jane...you don't recognize me? It's...Jonathan. Don't you...remember me?" Crane stared at her desperately wondering how he might be able to get some shred of acknowledgement from his former fiance. "It's...Jonathan," he repeated again weakly.



Jane continued to comfort the poor man. He seemed to be extremely lost. He kept looking at her as if he were expecting any second that she would remember who he was. Then he said his name. She knew that she heard this one before. She remembered Rissa saying something about him. Was he one of her friends?....No she was pretty sure that was wrong. Thats when it hit her. She looked down at her hand and once again there it was. The purple ring sparkling up at her as if to say 'Oh now you remember me'. She slowly lifted her hand up to him. So he could see it in the dark. And she reluctantly asked. "This came from you didn't it?" She asked and bit her lip. She hoped dearly that when this moment came. That something more would come to her. That she would instantly know him. But she didn't. A tear came to her eye. As she waited for his answer even though she already knew.





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Jane sat on her bed looking at her new phone she had just bought. She was scrolling through old text messages on her new sim card. She flipped through contacts with an empty memory. She sighed and landed on a contact. Crane. She hovered her finger above it contemplating weather to push down or not. If the phone started to ring. What would she say if he picked up. She had nothing to say. Just curiosity put into an infinite amount of questions. Her hand shook and eventually worked up the courage to move her finger that short distance that felt like a mile. She saw the screen light up and heard the ring coming from the phone. She held it in front of her. Frozen and confused on what to do. She continued to stare at the screen with a face filled with fear with every ring.



Crane was driving in his little black Mercedes making his way over the Gotham Bridge into the city when he felt his phone vibrating in his suit pocket. He pulled the phone from his pocket and stared at the screen recognizing a number he thought he might never see. Jonathan Leo Crane felt a tinge of nervousness rush through his body, his veins pulsating, a wave of indecision and fear rummaging through his mind. He decided to answer the phone, but with nervous apprehension. He pushed the green button with the symbol of a phone curiously painted on it. "Hello," he said shyly, "Jane...is...is this Jane?"



Eventually around the fifth ring a voice appeared on the other end of the receiver. She gasped lightly and pulled it away from her ear. She looked down at the screen and sure enough the timer of the phone call was slowly ticking away. The confused hellos on the receiver continued until she slowly lifted it to her ear. She stuttered quietly into the phone. "H..Hi....Yes. This is Jane. I guess you know where I live and such. And well. I'm not sure why I called. But. Could. You come here? I want to....Well. Meet you." She said with apprehension. She didn't particularly know what she was talking about. She was a little confused herself on why she called. But she had an impulse and she knew that she needed...Well. Wanted to meet the man her past memory was so infatuated with.



Crane listened attentively as Jane Blaze Phd apprehensively asked him to drive to her house. He was confused by her request remembering the past and the abrupt ending to their engagement, something that was unavoidable at the time given his absence from Gotham and reclusiveness upon his return. Still, Crane remembered all of the good times with Jane, their plans for the future, and the hope of realizing those plans with a partner that understood him. Crane always knew that above all others, Jane understood him and accepted him completely. He often thought of her and missed her playfulness and unique adventurous curiosity with life. He often wondered if they could ever reconcile and return to their earlier glory days of love and romance, but his fear of rejection and personal self-loathing prevented him from reaching out to her. "Yes.....I can come over. Are you...okay?" Crane could detect the nervousness in her voice, her fear of placing herself in a vulnerable position. However, Crane missed her, but felt that he could not articulate this to her clearly for fear of disappointment.



She whispered quietly. "Yes.. Yes...I am fine. I just...I don't know. I need to....Ah. Meet you" Her hand was shaking. What was she doing. Apparently this man was some sort of killer. According to Rissa, But she still felt a need to hunt this man down and maybe regain the life that she once had. But once he agreed to come over to her place to meet her. She slowly stood up and realized that she had failed to get dressed this morning. She shuffled over to her dresser and then slowly whipped out a white terry cloth dress and slipped it over her head. Her tan had faded and she was back to her formally extremely pale self. She didn't really care about it any longer. She wasn't sure why it should matter. She pulled her hair up into a pony tail that did nothing to flatter her face. She sat down on her couch and pulled out her book. She was reading Withering Heights for the millionth time. She continued her reading and waited patiently for the doorbell to ring.



Crane listened to the slight trembling nervousness in Jane Blaze Phd voice as she said she needed to meet him. He said okay quietly and apprehensively and told her he would be there shortly. He pressed on the accelerator speeding past a Gotham City police cruiser where Crane noticed an officer stuffing his bloated face with a cheeseburger. Crane drove on indifferently disgusted by the sad excuse for law enforcement that comprised the Gotham City Police Department. He thought about Jane, thought about her smile, the way she playfully tangled her hair around her fingers, thought about the various jobs they did together, the reign of terror they surreptitiously caused throughout Gotham. He wondered how he might approach, how he would talk to her, and what he might possibly say to assuage some of the anger and frustration that he knew she felt towards him. He still retained deep uncompromising feelings of tenderness and warmth for her. After all, she was the only one that really understood and tolerated his dark moodiness and emotional volatility. She was is shiny bright beacon in a foggy shore that seemed to not only ground him, but allowed him to continue to pursue his extracurricular activities, allowed him to embrace his dark passenger that bubbled beneath the surface of his mask of sanity. He wondered....if she still loved him.



Crane pulled up to her cozy little home fifteen minutes later and nervously got out of his little black Mercedes. He didn't bring any flowers or presents. He wasn't going to try to charm or seduce her in anyway. She knew who he was, and what he was capable of. She knew the good and the bad. He walked up her sidewalk with his hands in his pockets looking down at the ground and nervously sighing to himself. 'I hope this goes well,' he thought before ringing her door bell. He stood there bewildered, not knowing what to do, afraid of what she might say. He stood there....and waited.



As Jane heard the doorbell ring her heart sped up into hyperspeed. She shakely stood up and walked over to the door. Something was vibrating in her chest. She stood in front of the door and tried to take deep breaths. She was scared. What if he didn't like her anymore? What if she had changed too much. She pushed those thoughts into the back of her mind. She couldn't stall any longer. She wrapped her fingers around the cool door knob and twisted. She slowly opened the door to find him on the other side. His eyes lit up as he saw her. She studied him. He was perfect. Ruffled hair, gorgeous eyes, nice body and an adorable half grin. She smiled slightly and looked up at him one more time before she stepped to the side and admitted him into her home with a quiet "Come in."



Suddenly she didn't remember anything that she wanted to say. She shoved her shaking hands into her pockets and studied him again. He seemed to accept that she needed a minute. She could tell that somewhere there was an underlying depression that had its grip on him. She could see it in his eyes. She took a step towards him apprehensively and then another. She was drawn to him and she didn't stop until she was about a foot away. Gazing into his eyes she said the only words that came to her. But she knew that as soon as they left her lips that she ment them. She said quietly but with all meaning she could possibly put into them. "I love you"



Crane stood there staring at her, feeling a powerful overflow of tenderness for the woman that had always stood by him during his most desperate and saddening times. He opened his arms and watched her shyly step towards him. He embraced her, wrapping her into his arms, holding her tightly. She always felt warm to him, as if her body temperature had been recalibrated to be his own personal little heating pad. They stood there quietly as Crane simply held on to her tightly. "I'm so sorry," he said feebly, as if he had been disarmed and left exposed, vulnerable to sadness. He had never meant to abandon her, but for some reason he sensed that she understood. He looked into her glowing eyes and kissed her forehead tenderly. "Can you ever forgive me?" he asked in an almost childish tone. It seemed like years had passed since he last saw her, since he last held her tightly in his arms, but it had only been a couple months. During that time Crane basically retreated into a reclusive world rebuilding his private practice and re-establishing his position at Arkham Asylum. He maintained a low profile, kept to himself, and suppressed his darker desires for causing fear and madness throughout Gotham. He tried not to think about Jane during that time, but it was impossible. Everywhere he went, everything he did, seemed to remind him of her in some infinitesimal way. She had become apart of his existence in this lonely city, on this forlorn planet, and he could not bring himself to feel as if he could ever completely detach himself from her. He felt as if he could rekindle his love for her, as if she might be willing to forgive him for his pathetic self-destruction. And as he stood there holding her, smelling her hair, taking in everything that was Jane in her most natural form, he felt....happy.



As Jane stepped into his arms and wrapped her arms around his waist lightly she closed her eyes and remembered what this was like. Him keeping her safe no matter what. Though some nights it may be from himself. But she knew that this was right. She fit with him perfectly the way their bodys melded together. He was the one who kept her happy. He was the one that went along with all her impulses. Her childish attitude. He was the one that accepted her for every thing that she was. She buried her face in his chest as tears started to trickle down her face. She hugged him harder and savored everything about him. His smell his warmth his body. She smiled through her tears and looked up at him. Now an extra six inches of space were between them because she wasn't wearing heels. She nervously wrapped her arms around his neck and pushed up onto her tip toes and kissed him lightly on the cheek and whispered. "Please don't be sorry anymore." She lightly wiped the small tear that was gathering at the corner of his eye. "There is nothing to be sad about in this moment" She saw apprehension in his eyes and she rubbed the back of his neck reassuringly. "It'll all work out."



Crane looked down at her kindly and also wiped the little stream of tears that had run down her face away. "I want it to," he said quietly as he continued to gaze into her now puffy eyes. "You know....I never really noticed before, but baby, you are so short!" Crane smiled brightly then picked her up and twirled around with her in his arms. He set her down and gently kissed her. "I've been so unsure about what to say. I didn't know, you know, if you had heard anything, if you were ashamed of me. I just...I didn't know what to do. After Paris, everything just....fell apart." He stood there feeling a sense of desperate urgency, feeling as if he needed to explain what had happened, but even with this feeling Jane simply seemed to be happy to have him here with her, happy to be in his presence. She didn't seem to care what he had to say about the past, she just seemed glad to have him near her in the present. "Are you....okay? I've worried about you constantly." Crane could feel the counselor aspect of his personality surfacing as he placed the feelings of Jane ahead of his own. He was glad to be here with her, glad to feel accepted again.



Jane laughed as he made fun of her size and twirled her around. He put her down and kissed her and she smiled through it and kissed him back for the first time in what felt like forever. But as he pulled back she looked into his eyes and saw his eyes once again thick with worry. He started rambling about the last four months. Trying to rationalize it. Trying to make her feel better. She didn't need his reassurance. She knew that he didn't do it to leave her. She lifted her small hand and put it over his mouth with a quiet "Shhhh, your fine. It's ok." He didn't seem to believe her, despite her reassurance. He was worried about her. Because that was the kind of person that he was. He was one of the most genuine, loving, caring and most fantastic people she had ever met. She placed her hands on each side of his face. "Don't worry about me. I am fine. Remember that I'm a big girl now. I fix some of my own problems nowadays" She said and kissed him on his forehead. He seemed a little more at ease. She smiled up at him and pulled her bangs out of her eyes forgetting that it showed a good percentage of her scars from last spring. She hugged him again and whispered into his shirt "I'll always love you. Don't ever worry about that one my love"



Crane sighed in relief as he stood there aimlessly, not knowing what to do. He did worry about Jane, worried about how she coped, and hoped that she had been able to overcome any disappointment she had in him. He often felt disappointed in himself for some of the thoughtless and selfish decisions he had made throughout his life, but when he remembered all of the taunts and terror he felt as a child he knew that the pain and terror he inflicted on Gotham was justified. But when it came to Jane, he wanted nothing but the best for her. She deserved nothing, but the best, and he was disappointed in himself for not being there to provide her with all of the attention and affection she deserved. However, as she brushed her bangs out of her eyes Crane noticed the scars. "baby...what are these on your foreheard?" Crane noticed Jane's couch and decided to pull her towards it to sit. "Here, let's sit down." He glanced down at her coffee table noticing her edition of Wuthering Heights. Crane remembered reading the novel as an undergraduate identifying himself with the Heathcliff character. He grinned at the book then re-directed his attention to Jane. He clasped his hand in hers and stared at her adoringly. He wondered what would happen to them now. He wondered if they could resume where they left off or if there was still too many wounds that needed to heal. "What are those?" he asked pointing to her forehead. "Did we ever talk these?" He remembered having a conversation about them once, briefly, but the details seemed to slip his mind. "And you tell me now to worry." Crane grinned slightly at his own concern for Jane.



He asked about her forehead and she selfconciously brushed her bangs back in place. She took his warm hand as he lead her over to the couch. She sat down with the side of her thigh up against him and smiled at him to ease his worry. She smiled as he noticed her book sitting on the coffee table. If there was one thing about Crane was that he paid attention to detail. The things that would get by any ordinary guy he always seemed to notice. Seem to care about. It made her feel paid attention to and cared for. That was one of the things that she missed in his absence. He took her hands into his and they were very small in comparison. Her hands seemed hidden in his. She kissed the top of his hand and smiled. He brushed her hair back out of her eyes and traced the lines on her face that were always a bit more pale than the rest of her skin. She shivered at his light touches on her face. "No, we didn't particularily have a long conversation about it. It happened while you were gone. I didn't know what to do so I went seeking trouble. It didn't work out so well. I got jumped." She averted her eyes and looked at the carpet like it was extremely interesting. "But I'm fine now my love. My whole body is healed. You don't need to trouble yourself with worrying about me." She leaned over and pressed her lips to his lightly at first but eventually she used it to show him everything that she felt for him. She kissed him so he would know how much she loved him.