Author's Note:

My apologies it's been so long! I was on roll with getting these written, but then I just became so busy! I went to a secret Green Day show down in London so that threw me off for at least a week, I was busy with work and then it was my birthday... it's all been go! I hope to have more chapters out faster than this one (and also better quality than this one!), please bear with me guys. :)

Thanks,

I

XO

Chapter Ten

I was just finishing up my breakfast of fresh fruit and cereal the following morning when there was a knock on the door. I knew who it was, due to the fact that nobody else knew where I lived, but was surprised that he was coming knocking; last night he'd been really angry at me, so what was this about?

I slid the chain off the hook and opened the door to see Jonathon stood on the other side with his hands in his pockets (something I had never seen before), looking extremely sheepish. His camel coloured trench coat lay in a heap on the floor, slung messily over his briefcase.

"Hi?" I said questioningly, unsure as to what his exact purpose outside my door was. I wasn't entirely sure why I wanted him to be there.

"I'm sorry for last night Ivy," he said, making no bones about it.

I couldn't help but raise my eyebrow very slightly, "What? Sorry you kissed me or sorry you yelled at me?"

"A bit of both?" he suggested with a sorry look in his usually serene eyes; this wasn't the same Jonathon I had been presented with last night. The fire, the anger and the desperation had gone.

I didn't say anything, slightly confused by the answer he had given me, but he continued where I would have spoken anyway; "I'm not sorry that I kissed you entirely, I'm sorry about the way it happened; I wasn't really feeling myself last night. I think you're a sweet, smart and stunning girl Ivy and I kissed you because I wanted to…"

I was intensely taken aback as he said this; I'd never had much inclination of these feelings from him before. I knew we were casual friends but I didn't know he thought of me like that; I had never had any experience with boys or men, so I knew little of how I should react. I enjoyed spending time with Jonathon and he was definitely handsome, even I could see that. And he was a good kisser; last night had proven that.

"I was wondering; seeing as we kind of did stuff backwards, do you want to go see a movie sometime?" he said, not taking my lack of replies as discouragement.

"Yeah sure, why not?" the words were out of my mouth before I'd even properly considered them.

His serious face broke into a smile and I couldn't help but smile back at the slight look of relief that showed on his features.

He straightened up then, and I moved back to let him into the apartment.

"Ready for work?" he asked with a slight smirk, back into the fact that he was actually my boss, and the one who should be in charge in our situations together. My momentary position had power had vanished.

"So if you just want to sit at the back of the room and just observe, take notes if you will…" said Dr. Crane as we entered the small courtroom where the hearing was taking place.

We were one of the first people into this room, the only other person in there being the court scribe. The room was wood paneled and there was a bookshelf on one of the walls; the books were covered in dust and looked like they hadn't been picked up in years. I surmised they were more for decoration than for use. There were four desks in here; one where Jonathon would sit, one where the defendant one sit, and also where the person who was challenging the insanity plea would sit.

I glanced at the clock that told me it was nearly eleven; when the hearing would start. I headed for my little desk and got myself sorted out; I was interested to see how this went, would this patient actually show obvious signs of insanity? Probably not, I thought, otherwise he wouldn't have been deemed safe to be in here.

The door opened and I looked up from my seat to see a familiar face walk through it. It was the woman who had been with Bruce Wayne that day in the café – I didn't know her name. I noticed an instant prickle of animosity between Jonathon and the woman, but before either of them could open their mouths to compound this feeling the door opened again to reveal the protection officer, the defendant and the judge.

The hearing itself was pretty straightforward; the defendant said nothing whilst his protection officer listed various incidents that had occurred over the preceding weeks that showed he was a danger to himself. All Dr Crane had to do was provide examples on both sides of the case that showed why treatment at Arkham was more suitable for this patient than his retention in county. The lady's main line of argument was that with someone who's crimes were as despicable as Mr. Zsaz's, there was no place better for him than the county jail.

Needless to say she didn't stand much of a chance after some of the example of what he had attempted in the past few weeks. The case was over and done with within a matter of half an hour and we arose to depart at dead on half past.

The woman lawyer looked entirely unsurprised by the verdict of insanity, but it still didn't make her look any less peeved. Zsaz was led away by his protection officer and the judge hastily departed the uncomfortable tension in the stuffy room. The lawyer didn't say anything to Jonathon but she looked intensely angered by his presence and I vaguely wondered why. She looked as if she was holding herself back from saying something, merely because I was in the room. Had these two had a confrontation in the past? It certainly seemed that way.

Jonathon's phone rang as he was just finishing packing up his stuff, he fished in the pocket of his suit jacket and answered it.

"Yes," he said, after the person on the other end had clearly asked him a question. The female lawyer was snapping the clasps shut on her bag and made to leave.

"We need to discuss something," he said hastily before the other person hung up, "The same problem as last time?"

"I'll be there in twenty minutes," he said and snapped the phone shut.

"Ivy, I need to go meet with someone," he said unnecessarily, "Are you alright to have lunch in the city and then make your own way back to work? I'll meet you back there later"

"Yeah that's fine," I said, "I'll see you back there,"

He smiled, one that lit up his eyes with a gentle ease and he turned to exit the courtroom, leaving me alone to finish clipping my papers into the file. Almost as soon as the door had snapped shut to announce his departure did it open again.

"Sorry, I'll be out in a second," I said shoving the file into my bag without lifting my head.

"It's alright, it's just me," said the voice of the new occupant of the room.

I looked up to see the brunette lawyer stood near the door.

"It's Ivy right?" she said with a steady smile, "We met the other week…"

"Yeah, I remember" I said with the hint of a blush at the memory of that day.

"We've never been properly introduced," she said, "I'm Rachel Dawes and I work in the D.A's office"

"Oh," I said unsure of what to say, Jonathon had had plenty of bad things to say about the D.A's office in the time since I had started working with him.

She read the look on my face and smiled ruefully, "I expect you've not heard good things about us; Dr. Crane and myself have something of a professional rivalry"

I nodded but the look on her face told me that this wasn't the whole truth. I didn't really expect it to be; she knew I was working with Jonathon, and we had only been properly introduced within the last two minutes, why would she tell me the truth?

"Are you going straight back to work?" she asked, but her expression told me she already knew the answer.

"No," I said, "I need to find lunch in the city,"

"Well I'm meeting up with a friend at midday; do you want to join us?" she said.

"Oh I don't want to intrude on anything…" I said with a blush, not wishing to mention that I didn't have much money.

"You wouldn't be intruding," she said encouragingly, "It's fine. He's very friendly."

I dithered for a moment before shrugging lamely in an affirmative.

"Great," she said with a smile that lit up her face, "It's a bit of a walk; you don't mind do you? I prefer walking to taking a cab,"

"That's alright," I said as we left the small courtroom behind us.

As we left the imposing building with it's Gothic gargoyles leaning off the side of it, Rachel's phone rang; some pop song that I vaguely recognised.

"Hey Bruce," she said answering, "It was our ringtone!"

There was a pause as he spoke and I digested the fact that she was talking to the stylised Prince of Gotham.

"You did it?!" she exclaimed, "Oh Bruce that's fantastic; yeah I'll be there in about ten minutes…. Okay, see you then!"

I felt as if I had just swallowed a brick; we were having lunch with Bruce Wayne?