Fear Revisited [Jonathan Crane / Scarecrow]

007

Fortunately, that had not been necessary.

He was going to need his wits about him if he was to keep a handle on himself through what was sure to be a conversation he was not particularly looking forward to having with Jane.

There was little choice in the matter however; they still had much to resolve.

After he was finally able to complete some portion of the work he had been unable to do solo throughout the day, he knew the time had come to confront the situation with Jane.

He arrived to her hotel room later in the evening than he had hoped to, this time bringing only one syringe in the inner breast pocket of his overcoat. Even that had been included only to appease Scarecrow's need for an insurance policy of sorts.

"I was starting to wonder if you'd changed your mind about coming over," she teased with a smile as she opened the door and allowed him inside.

"Yes, well, my meeting ran longer than I had anticipated," he explained, a substantially smaller smile gracing his lips.

She was dressed differently than he had seen her since her arrival in the city, her formal attire traded in for more casual dress of dark pants and a cream colored sweater.

He felt very awkward for having taken a mental note of such a trivial thing, let alone being impressed by it, but glazed over the feeling and proceeded to the living area of the room.

"Did it go well?" she asked hopefully, completely unaware that she was inquiring about the success of a negotion for several hundred gallons of a potent, dangerous psychotropic chemical.

"Quite," he answered curtly loosening his tie slightly as he took a seat on the sofa. "But mergers and acquisitions are hardly what I came here to discuss with you, Jane."

She nodded in understanding, taking a seat opposite him.

"I don't really know where to begin," she admitted, raking her lower lip between her teeth.

"I'm afraid that depends entirely on where you intend on arriving," he prompted cryptically. He was not going to feed her ideas or force her hand, curious to see how deeply her own feelings ran before revealing any of the cards in his own hand.

"I know I have to tell Stephen something, but I have no idea how to do it without crushing him," she said remorsefully. Jonathan did not overlook the use of a more formal name for the man in question.

We could solve that problem.

Don't tempt me.

"And if you do manage to find a way to tell him, what exactly do you imagine is going to happen?" he asked with a raised brow.

"He'll be furious, of course," she spoke with a humorless chuckle, shaking her head.

"I was referring, more specifically, to what you envisioned happening between us," he clarified.

He had to be sure she was not entertaining any idiotic notions of him becoming the sort of man who would appreciate a nickname like Schnookums, or that they'd be turning his penthouse apartment into some sort of lovenest. More than he needed that reassurance, Scarecrow demanded it.

"Oh, Jonathan, I don't know," she said after a long moment of thought, those brown doe eyes sparkling as she spoke. He held his breath as he waited for her response.

"We can't rush things. I don't want to pretend we can just pick up where we left off. We were only kids," she remembered the time with what appeared to be a fond smile, "we have to get to know each other again. And you've got your work at the asylum, too. I know it keeps you busy and I wouldn't want to interfere with your schedule..."