Professor Fear (the sequel) - Jonathan Crane

Chapter 22

For the first time in years, Jonathan woke up late on a work day.

The comforting warmth of a sun ray on his face was all it took. The sun and Jonathan shared the same rising hours this time of year. However today, he had missed the occasion.

He bolted up immediately, snatched his glasses from the bedside table and wide-eyed the clock reading 8:23am. The spot next to him on the bed was already made-up and vacant. Yet another unusual phenomenon. Daria was often the one refusing to rise in the mornings.

Without further hesitation, Jonathan also made his side of the bed and tossed a perfectly prepared suit out of the beside drawer. If – ever – given the opportunity of free time, Jonathan would make piles of his suits so that in the event of an emergency call he could quickly change into his formal work attire. On this day, he would wear a grey suit, off-white button up shirt, brown tie and burgundy sweater.

Once effectively dressed, he jogged down the stairs and followed the singing coming from the kitchen.

"-and we can be like they are, c'mon baby, don't fear the reaper,"

"I don't fear the reaper," Jonathan stated matter-of-factly.

"But you're afraid of being late for work?" The question was muffled by a mouthful of toast.

"Is that why you disabled my alarm?" He watched her reaction, not blinking once. In past Jonathan would have let Scarecrow play and punish her actions with fear toxin or mind games. Scarecrow still itched to 'play' with Daria.
Did she know this? Was she trying to pull him out?

"I think it's broken if it didn't go off, I've been up for two hours now so I didn't get a chance to hear it," She grabbed her phone from across the counter and checked the time, "Almost two hours."

Another thing; Scarecrow wouldn't have let Daria explain the truth. He would want any excuse to play around with her. As of the past few minutes in the kitchen, Scarecrow was constantly repeating 'I'm bored, I'm bored!' in his head. Jonathan felt the onset of a headache. He'd been doing well at not swapping identities since Joker's event.

"Coffee?"

"Until they upgrade the garbage at Arkham I'll be loading up on the majority of my caffeine here,"

"For a psychopharmacologist you don't seem to get the function of caffeine,"

"Would you like to lead the class Ms Morrison?" Jonathan quoted a previous remark when Daria had been correcting him back when she was his student in Gotham University. The ex-professor brought the large mustard coffee mug towards his lips, resulting in his glasses steaming up. Daria couldn't help but let out a soft childish giggle, earning a smile from Jonathan. "We should leave now so we can get to work on time." Remembering that Daria was also working today, he looked back to check her outfit.
She wore soft-fabric denim jeans and a brown-grey v-neck sweater. Her hair was in a rope over her right shoulder and tear-shaped gold earrings elongated her face and brought out the green in her eyes.
Eyes that looked at him the him the way he felt he was looking at her; with adoration.

"Ready when you are Doctor Crane." She gently pried the mug from his hands and poured the dark liquid into a branded carrying cup that she had saved from a previous coffee.

Jonathan did his best not to freeze up in shock at the amount of affection and care he was suddenly getting in his life. After years of diabolical parenting, school bullies, academia dampeners, Jonathan Crane had met someone who accepted him and enjoyed him.