Professor Fear (the sequel) - Jonathan Crane

Chapter 13

"Darling Daria I'd like to perform a 'Little Albert' on you," Jonathan declared, swinging his heather grey blazer behind him and gracefully sliding his arms through both sleeves. It was unusual for him to use forms of endearment on anyone, but he felt a compulsion to call Daria something other than her name. It was early morning but the two were eager to start their day at the Asylum.
"Jonathan, that was an experiment performed on an infant. The psychology of an adult is very different. Harder to manipulate."
"Tell your argument to The Joker or Jervis Tetch and then you'll want to reconsider It."
"Jervis who?" Daria asked, truly unaware of the name.
"The Mad Hatter," Jonathan explained. Hoping she'd then realise.
"Not the one from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carol I suppose?"
Oh my. How has a girl so particularly invested in the strange and unusual realm of psychology stayed so innocent to the darkness of Gotham? 

"You're going to have some homework before entering a room full of Gotham Rogues." It was more of an order than a suggestion. The girl was still young and apparently innocent to criminals of Gotham and that would make her at risk.
Was that how she became so easily entrapped in his own web?

Jonathan shook his head, not wanting to suggest to himself that Daria's emotions towards him came into being via Stockholm syndrome.

"Tell me everything about them," Daria tilted her head in a playful fashion.
Jonathan smiled at this but then refocused his attention on reaching the front door.

"Shall we schedule a meeting today at work? Does noon fit in your schedule Ms Morrsion?"
"Why yes, Doctor Crane, I'll be free for an hour," She kissed him after speaking. "Oh and Jonathan?"
"Hm?"

"A study in 1996 showed that women learn fears more slowly when menstruating, most likely due to changes in levels of-"
"Adrenocorticotrophic hormone. Merkelbach et al, I know," He cut her off smugly. "Don't forget which professor taught you that study."

"Oh I don't think I'll ever forget: I had such crush on him." Daria Smiled widely. Jonathan laughed lightly at her confession.

The smartly dressed new recruit entered the Doctor's office. Her long brown hair was tied up in a high ponytail, yet it still fell long over her shoulder to her upper chest. Her face was framed by two emerald stud earrings. Today, her lips were painted a reddish-burgundy and her green eyes were accentuated by the light smoky dark eyeliner and lash defining mascara she often wore in public. Today, the woman had dared to wear a body hugging navy dress to work. She succeeded in looking very good and the work-oriented doctor had to take a moment from his writing to acknowledge her appearance.

"Ah Ms Morrison, take a seat," He continued the earlier formal tone.
"Thank you Doctor Crane, would you like to share the armchair with me?" Daria asked, referring to the red decorated armchair that was wide enough to fit one and a half people or one larger person.

Jonathan pondered for a moment, then concluded that he felt that it was too public to display affection.
"Not here,"
"Jonathaaann"
He chuckled. "Shall we discuss the rogues of Gotham?"

Jonathan told Daria little bits about every rogue he could think of. He talked about The Riddler's charisma and performative narcissism, The Joker's persistent compulsion for chaos and shocking people, Harley Quinn's ever-strong devotion to 'Mr J', Poison Ivy's alluring power and love of plants, The Penguin's cruel streak and small army of muscle, The Mad Hatter's mastery of rhyming words and enslaving minds, 'Hush' who was always seen wearing bandages around his face. He muttered some other names but offered no story for them, since they were 'less interesting'.

"You forgot someone,"

"Are you sure? I'm the one who's affiliated with these people. I'm sure I would know if I missed someone out."

"What about the Scarecrow?"

"He's dedicated to abnormal psychology and the power of fear," Jonathan started, "and he can be a little bit sadistic, like the Joker and like the Penguin," Like a villain can be was what he was trying to say.

"I really admired you as a teacher in university because you were so strongly interested in the subject you taught." Daria confessed. She was leaning into the armchair with her head on one arm and her knees bending over the other arm of the chair.

Jonathan thought back to how Daria had acted in class. She had been a cocky student. Perhaps it was a way of her exploring her attraction to him without consequence. However, what if the attraction wasn't until he had tested on her? 

"Daria you had no affection towards me at the university,"

"The Suspension bridge experiment," Daria responded, once again playing the reference game of early behavioural psychology that had been explored in her Psychology year 1. She'd turned her gaze to the thin, tall book shelf in the furthest corner of the room. It was populated with many psychiatric books all over 500 pages thick.
She looked back at Jonathan who had fallen into thought, trying to remember the information which accompanied the experiment Daria had mentioned.
"Demonstrated how people can misjudge the cause of a high level of arousal. The results showed that men who were approached by attractive women when they were on a less stable bridge had a tendency to associate the high arousal feelings with the woman when it would have been originally stimulated by the fight or flight response in the environment which was perceived as dangerous,"

"You spoke really fast then, but of course you're correct. Well, you are the one who taught the study to me."

Jonathan fell into thought, about Daria's behaviour at university and their early time together. 

 He came back out of his deep thought when Daria planted a kiss on his left cheek.
"Thank you for the meeting. I have to go attend a practice CBT session with a nurse now. They said I could start seeing two out-patients next week."
Jonathan gave her a flash of a smile and watched her leave his office.