Fearful and the Fearless- A Jonathan Crane Fan Fiction

Chapter Eleven

Three months flew by for a very busy Shannon Gordon as she balanced her job at Arkham with the planning of a wedding- a rushed wedding at that making it even more difficult to plan out. She was so busy, she hardly noticed the absence of her soon to be husband when her mother dropped her off at home from visits with the wedding planner. She was slightly upset when she first noticed he wasn't there to greet her, but when he told her it was very important work for Mr. Arkham, she decided she didn't mind. After all, he was still there every night to give her a kiss and bring her tea whether she was awake or not.

The wedding itself was nothing spectacular. It was simple and elegant, but the presence of so many unknown people- as the only guests Shannon had invited was her adopted family- was unnerving to her. She was glad that Jonathan had his hand around her waist to support her in both mind and body. However, she never did see the smirks he sent Jim Gordon, and neither did anyone else but a man Gordon had invited. Bruce Wayne was the man's name, and he greeted the bride happily, placing a kiss on the back of her hand before somehow forgetting to congratulate the groom.

"Who is that rude man?" Jonathan had asked his bride, who had only shook her head. She didn't know. The newlyweds only learned it was Bruce Wayne, the millionaire, when they saw him in the papers a few day later.

There was no honeymoon for Shannon. No, on the first night, the two shared a room for the first time and did as those who are married do. Shannon didn't know Jonathan was sneaking out of bed after she fell to sleep, and she also didn't notice the slight changing in his attitude- how he was growing colder and..  almost.. obsessive over her. Like when he said he didn't think she was sleeping well a month before the wedding. He had began writing down her daily activities, and tracking the time from which she fell asleep to when she awoke. He had then went through a number of experiments to find something to make her sleep better. The end result was a cardio bike-  which Shannon was surprised to learn she could actually use-, a before bed bath, aroma therapy, and a dimmer switch for the bedroom light so some light could be on at all times. But, that wasn't all. Shannon was told Charlie, her guard, that her husband was frequently visiting the patients for which she interviewed. She, of course, waved it off. All of the patients she was seeing her had become almost friends to her. They were overwhelmingly polite, and the ones that weren't well… She wasn't very sure what happened to them..

Either way, in Shannon's vision, Jonathan was being a loving and protecting husband. Only a few actually noticed his obsessive tendencies. Charlie was one of these. He saw how Jonathan watched Shannon's every move, how he corrected her and carefully molded her as he wanted. He noted that Jonathan asked her questions about her day- and not normal ones. It was as if he wanted each and every moment of her day accounted for. He also saw that Shannon was constantly emailing him from the laptop he had gotten her, sending him even her patient interviews.

Another two who noticed were Shannon's parents, Barbara and Jim Gordon. They wanted to visit Shannon constantly, to see her home, but Jonathan always made excuses for them not to come. He hardly even allowed her to leave the house, and if he wasn't somewhere, she wasn't either. All phone cards the two made to Shannon was on speaker in the living room after Jonathan answered and asked the nature of the call. Nothing could be hidden from him, not that Shannon had anything to hide. Barbara was slowly seeing Gordon's suspicions…

Shannon remained oblivious to everything. In her eyes, life was perfect. She had a good house, a good job, and a loving husband who always wanted her with him. He was her safe place as he had been since they were kids. On work days, they ran a good routine. There was breakfast at home, then they headed to work. When they were done, they usually came straight home, save Wednesdays and Fridays when they went out to the little Italian eatery on which Jonathan had taken Shannon on their first date. On the weekends, they would spend the days together in the garden filled with beautiful yellow roses or in the sitting room reading, contented with each other's presence. At night, work day or weekend, Jonathan would bring Shannon her tea. If she was awake by that time he would take advantage of her consciousness before letting her fall to sleep in his arms. If she was asleep already, he would speak with her. He always, however, escaped the room without her knowing to go to his office where his obsessions would be seen at new heights- both his obsessions for fear and for Shannon. And oh how he longed to put those two things together somehow… But that was where he argued with himself.