A Study in Impatience

[Jeremiah Arkham - Black Mask]

“Have a nice lunch, Dr. Arkham,” asked the guard who stood just within the door of Arkham Manor.

Jeremiah was in the process of smoothing his tie, but gave a soft chuckle, “My car was air-conditioned at least. It’s sweltering out there.” He rested his hand over his blazer folded over his arm and continued through the entrance of the once mansion, now staff residence of Arkham Asylum. This was where most of the staff rooms were and especially his with its lettering on the door, larger than most.

Usually he had a longer lunch, but that wouldn’t be in the cards for the day. He’d received a letter via e-mail which had been complimented by a fax to his office upon his return from his psychiatric conference that he had been chosen to evaluate Heather Glass. The letter was like all court or corporate issued documents: dry, to the point, and full of persuasive rhetoric that made it sound like you were making the decision to do as asked, but there was an undercurrent of “you really don’t have a choice, though, so you might as well do it and smile anyway.”

That’s why Arkham was making his way back to his office fifteen minutes until the clock struck 2 pm. He wanted to be punctual to the session, which he’d decided to hold in his office. Heather hadn’t shown aggression that would make a therapy room necessary and he was concerned, despite popular belief, about making her comfortable. He needed her as unguarded as possible to help with the evaluation and get it over with so he could finally not have to avoid the calls that had been routed to the Asylum by the girl’s parents. He wouldn’t doubt they were in Gotham, probably vying for a visit of their daughter, demanding to know when they could see her. And he couldn’t grant that unless he’d seen her and made his decision.

And maybe he didn’t want to see her. Because seeing Ms. Glass just tempted him to want to keep her. Obviously she was of some import to Jonathan, how much he wasn’t sure. But even the slightest hint of attention from the man spelled intrigue.

And why was he evaluating her? Rumor was he’d asked to, but as made clear already, he hadn’t. No he’d been assigned her “because of [his] knowledge and treatment of Jonathan Crane.” Of course, she followed him around, you’d send her to the person treating him. Two birds with one stone. That was legal organization for you: neat, irritating, and uncreative. He liked the medical and social aspects of heading Arkham Asylum and though he was quite a smooth-talker and versed in legal jargon and codes and knew so many loopholes, it didn’t mean that he didn’t get tired of it now and then.

But speaking with Ms. Glass alone would be interesting and so he was looking forward to it. He was quite looking forward to it. It’d be a nice change to his schedule which had been boring while at the conference. There was no lying when he thought it was much more at home in the walls of Arkham than in a room with his peers. Yet he’d not voice that. Instead he hung his blazer on the hat rack alongside his white lab coat and sat down at his desk. He laid a gold plated pen on the surface and extracted a manila folder and all the necessary forms from their neat crannies in the drawers of his desk.

This was the routine part of the evaluation. The actual face-to-face was what was always different. No two interviews were ever the same.

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

The days that have passed since their arrival have been rather irritating for VerMillion. Though she tries to keep telling herself that she's been in worse places, and very recently, no amount of being completely separated from Jon is very tolerable. She'd rather endure all sorts of other harsh conditions if she could only be with him. At least this time she doesn't have to listen to Heather's continuous worries about Jon. Her other half is still apparently concerned about his well-being - is he still locked up in solitary or has he been moved to Intensive Treatment yet? Neither place sounds very pleasant, but while both sides of her are certain that he's okay, VerMillion is far more sure about that then Heather. Still, at least VerMillion doesn't have to listen to Heather worry about whether or not he'll come get them this time.

No, VerMillion's biggest problem now is boredom. Especially since nobody's kept her very well informed about what's going on - she knows that she's supposed to get evaluated and then they'll decide what to do with her, but for days she's just been waiting for whatever this evaluation thing is but there hasn't been any sign that anyone's doing anything about her. At least until this morning when they told her she'd be meeting with Dr. Arkham after lunch.

Based on Jon's reactions to the man, she's guessing he wouldn't be happy with that, but she can't say that she feels the same way. Jon's never told her why he hates Dr. Arkham, and in her few experiences with the man he's never tried to harm her personally so she kind of feels like she's not a party to whatever is going on there. So her own opinion of him is kind of... well, not neutral but she doesn't think he's that bad. Sure he hurt Jon once, but the guy was protecting his family and she didn't see why Jon had to be threatening them in the first place. And that whole incident is very hazy to her anyway - Heather remembers it much better. So she greets the news that she'll be meeting with him with a shrug - who knows, it might turn out to be more interesting than sitting around in her room not really doing anything. Or it could be boring, but at least it's a sign that maybe something more interesting will happen than just being held in the minimum security wing.

The walk to his office is uneventful, though she takes some mild interest in her surroundings as they go. She hasn't seen much of the asylum yet during her stay here, so seeing all the various buildings is at least a little interesting. Given that she's not considered dangerous at all, her escort is an orderly and they've not even bothered to handcuff her. Granted, the orderly could probably take her down easily either way if she didn't behave herself, but she's not planning on it anyway. Like she told Poison Ivy, she's waiting for Jon rather than thinking of doing anything herself.

As she enters Dr. Arkham's office, she's very calm as she glances around the room with mild curiosity. She's actually had a mental evaluation before, by Dr. Leland after she was kidnapped by Jon the first time, but that had been much more casual - it had been in her own home, and she was just being checked to make sure she was safe to return to work. She's guessing that being evaluated when she's been kidnapped for months is a bigger deal. "Hi," she offers Dr. Arkham, not knowing what else to say. They don't really know each other, after all, and their previous experiences with each other were rather... interesting. And always dominated by the fact that Jon was there. So how is she supposed to act around this guy when Jon's not here? "So... what do we have to do here?" she asks, though she doesn't look awkward or uncertain at all. No, she's in a completely unfamiliar situation and yet is completely at ease.

[Jeremiah Arkham - Black Mask]

Jeremiah has his yellow legal pad on his desk when the young woman shows up and immediately he’s aware that he’s not speaking to Heather. Even if their first meeting had been met with shock he’d met the likes of Harvey Dent and that had been an abnomaly. It wasn’t common practice for many to meet a person suffering from an actual case of Dissociative Personality Disorder—and even now Jeremiah doubts that the personality is even dissociative. Yet from she’d first spoken to him, no fear, no huge prior judgment, he’s known and that assurance has only grown in the past days and some of the footage he’d seen. This, however, doesn’t show up as arrogance in his face. He took the information in stride just as he takes the greeting he receives with a pleasant smile. He has no reason to play intimidation tactics with her and it isn’t as if they would work, anyway. Against what other people believe, he doesn’t just sit here and play his patients like chess pieces—not all of them—and he has to have reason to even wish to. Heather Glass and her alter ego, however? No. She’s harmless, if not fearless.

“Hi,” he responds warmly and gestures around the room. “Why don’t you pick a seat first and I’ll explain to you what we’ll be talking about. I’ll move wherever you’re more comfortable.” He gathers his papers on the chance he’ll need to move, but makes no further gesture after that. He just continues to speak, “All you have to do is talk to me, answer simple questions. We can almost talk about whatever it is you’d like, I just have some routine questions first.”

He has no plans to play two-sided woman like a chess piece, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have her uses. Oh she certainly does, but she doesn’t need the same approach Jonathan does. And all he really wants for her is to be comfortable, happy more or less. Yet Arkham isn’t a happy place and he feels sympathy for her to end up here. He clips documents onto his clipboard and fishes out a pen. “First off I’d just like to be sure I’ll be referring to you correctly,” he looks up to her, “from the greeting you gave me: neutral, a bit curious, I’m sure I’m not speaking to Heather. It’s VerMillion, right?” There’s just a polite question in his voice. He doesn’t smirk only patiently seems to wait for confirmation. “I heard Heather refer to you by that name to Ms. Ivy in the Recreation Room,” he adds in case there is questioning. “I promise it wasn’t intentional spying, I just wanted to know what I could discern before we spoke. I was very attentive when you first came in, but it isn’t often I’ve had met someone with two personalities and I have little contact with Mr. Dent. His therapist is unfortunately not me.”

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

"Okay," VerMillion says, only taking a second to take a seat on the couch - partly because it's close and partly because it looks comfortable. She may not have been here for very long, but she's already aware that comfortable furniture seems to be scarce around here. Not that any of Jon's furniture was comfortable either. It's so nice to actually sit on something with some decent padding! The bed in her room doesn't really count, and the chair is worse. In order to fully enjoy it, she leans back and slumps a bit, placing her hands behind her head - niiiiice...

Once she's settled, she looks mildly surprised when Dr. Arkham calls her by the right name. Though the surprise quickly turns into a smile as she comments, "Yeah, that's right. Heather's being all 'I don't like it here!' and 'What's he going to ask you?' and 'Ask him if I can seen Jon!' and 'Stop telling him that!'" She laughs a little and adds, "I don't see what the big deal is - you've never hurt us, so..." She trails off as if momentarily distracted before she says to herself, "Well, Jon was kind of asking for it, wasn't he?" Her focus returns to Dr. Arkham and she laughs as she says, "I talk to myself a lot..."

She listens as he explains how he knows her name, simply nodding in an unconcerned fashion. "Oh." It wouldn't have really bothered her even if he said that he was intentionally spying on her - it's not like she'd said or done anything she was trying to keep secret. Come to think of it, does she even have any secrets? Not since Nightwing found the hideout in the sewers anyway. "Dent? You mean Two-Face is like us?" she asks thoughtfully, peering at Dr. Arkham queerly. She's not unaware of that man's odd mental state but because she's never considered the similarity to herself before, "Huh, I guess I could see that... I don't think that we're that crazy though..." Which isn't to say that she doesn't believe that she's not crazy, but she doesn't exactly run around doing what a coin says.

[Jeremiah Arkham - Black Mask]

To say he finds himself immediately comfortable with this other personality surprises him, but it’s true. She’s not sullen with him for slights against Jonathan that he feels the man deserves. She’s cooperative and more than that, despite being here she appears rather chipper now that she’s out and about. He feels no threat from her nor premature judgment and thus as he moves his office chair to sit in front of the couch, he can’t stop the amused and honest chuckle that escapes him as she absolutely takes to lounging on the piece of furniture.

“Yeah, one of the perks of being staff. You buy your own furniture and it can be as comfortable as you like,” he comments, “unfortunately with the other furnishings here utility took a precedent over comfort. I’ve slept on one of the cots before…” He scrunches his nose and shakes his head, but then he again settles to listen to her openly.

He smiles minutely in triumph at his correct guess and it’s tinged in relief as well. But that quickly becomes an expression of surprise when she speaks about her other personality. No he’d watched the conversation with Ivy and he is more than aware that they aren’t disassociated personalities, rather they communicate candidly, but it is quite astounding to witness in person. “Well allow me assure her that I completely understand her dislike of this place, but being here ensures that I can keep you both up-to-date on Jonathan. I’m also not going to grill you or anything. They’re standard questions I promise.” He doesn’t laugh at Heather not wanting her to tell him what she’s thinking, though he’ll admit it’s entertaining that VerMillion doesn’t listen. Instead he listens and only smiles when she mentions Jonathan. Yes, Jonathan was completely asking for it. “If he had not taken me hostage and then threatened my son, I would have had no reason to harm him or Heather. I do apologize that she ever got involved. Jonathan’s vendetta against me isn’t a pretty place to be stuck in the middle of. I personally mean neither of you harm for you associate with, I mean, don’t I do the same?” He chuckles and shakes his head.

“The fact you talk to yourself is what makes your case of multiple personalities so interesting. You see you have rather candid conversations with Heather. There’s no fear between you two or one personality vying for the control of the body. You two seem to have an equilibrium. You’re nothing like Dent save that he too has multiple personalities. His, however, don’t get along which is obvious from the fact he has to use a coin. I’m very interested in the dynamic that sets yours apart, but at the moment my interest has to take a back seat to what I have to decide.” He leans forward and speak honestly with her. “You see I’m here to decide what happens to you. Whether you’re staying here in Gotham or if you should be transferred.”

He taps his fingers against the clipboard he holds and takes a breath. “The court believes you to be suffering Stockholm Syndrome towards Jonathan. He did take you hostage and at first as reports go there was no affections. You were treated by Dr. Leland in a more private setting following your return before you were kidnapped again as much a result of personal preference as the fact that Arkham Asylum was shut down at that time. Anyway, my job is to diagnose whether I think that is true or not and if it isn’t…well we can worry about that later. If you are suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, however, the treatment is immediate removal from Gotham. I’ll have to release you to the care of Ms. Glass’s parents. Your multiple personalities are maintained as of now remain no threat…I’ve also not documented the multiple personalities yet. I will once this session is over, however.”

Jeremiah searched her face, “Are you understanding so far,” he asks. “I don’t think you’re as crazy as Dent no. I don’t think you’re really crazy as much as well, I think interesting. I mean having another personality instantly earns a label of mentally ill.” He shook his head. “I never liked that term, however, it makes it sound like a disease when all it is the mind trying to deal with stimuli that it needs to alter itself for. Personalities? They’re not an ailment unless they are harmful. But I’ll stop my own theories,” he smiles warmly. “Let’s jump into the questions shall we?”

He looks down at the clipboard, but after a moment he simply places it down. “I’ll remember what’s important,” he says, “I’ve done so many of these things, I think I should have it memorized by now. Tell me, VerMillion, what is your and Heather’s relationship with Jonathan Crane? Does he threaten you? Are you—Is Heather afraid of him? What are you comfortable telling me?”

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

VerMillion makes an amused noise and comments, "Jon's kind of a 'utility' guy too." Though much of the utility in Jon's case seems to be a matter of whatever's easiest to get his hands on and only including anything that he absolutely needs. She hasn't sat on a comfortable piece of furniture since... she's not even sure.

Not being a psychiatrist, VerMillion hasn't the slightest idea that there may be any oddities to the way she relates to Heather. Though that could easily be, given that it was drug induced and not the result of severe childhood trauma. She just knows what she does about herself because she'd had to live in this condition for awhile and has figured a few things out about it. Like how she and Heather don't see things the same way. She shrugs at the reassurances that his questions will be standard, "You can ask me whatever you want, I don't care." Or, more accurately, she's not worried that he'll ask her any questions about anything she cares about.

And she also cares so little about the whole incident with Jon and Dr. Arkham that she doesn't see the point in responding directly to his apology - partly because she simply can't remember that whole incident very well at all, and partly because she's neither upset nor angry about it. Nobody got killed, after all, and though Jon was somewhat hurt he was still in one piece and she didn't get so much as a scratch.

In fact she doesn't really have anything to say at all as he proceeds to enthuse about her relationship with Heather and compare it to Two-Face, though her expression indicates that she's at least somewhat interested. But though he then shifts to talking about her and her future, her expression hardly changes as she listens with approximately the same amount of passive interest. Her expression does dull a bit at the mere mention of Heather's parents, but otherwise she doesn't seem to be very affected one way or the other by what she's being told.

Yet when he asks if she's understanding, she simply nods and says, "Yeah." In fact, though she doesn't really know that much about mental health stuff in general, she actually does know the jist of Stockholm syndrome - it's something that turns up in the news from time to time since people are all fascinated by the idea of a victim joining the bad guy's side. Does she think she has it though? She doesn't really have any idea. When he suggests that they get to the questions, she simply shrugs and says, "Okay."

But the questions that he starts with are something that does affect her, and that can be seen immediately in her body language - her arms are lowered to her sides, and her brow suddenly furrows in troubled thought. "Jon?" she repeats back, and sighs quietly before she says, "It's like the world's suckiest love triangle - that's what it is. But it's not Heather and I that have a problem. I mean, we both love him and have to deal with the fact that the other of us loves him too, but I don't really care about that. And Heather says that's harder for her, but she deals. No, the problem is Jon." What is she comfortable with telling Dr. Arkham? She's comfortable with telling him everything. The fear of saying too much would have stopped her tongue, and even without that perhaps Jon's insistence that she say nothing would have left her content to remain silent if she weren't so frustrated with the whole situation that she feels the need to vent - and Dr. Arkham is providing her the opportunity to do that.

"See, Jon takes care of us. If we really need something, he gets it and I think he tries to give us things we don't think that we need too," she tries to explain, shrugging at that last part as she's never quite sure that she understands him sometimes, "And we've seen him do all these things to people but... Well, it's never us. I mean, nothing really to hurt us on purpose, anyway - he's even very gentle when he touches us. So on some level he's gotta care about us, right? But except for all of that we get nothing..."

She frowns, her expression suddenly flooding with a great deal of frustration as she straightens in her seat - how comfortable she is isn't on her mind at the moment. "Nothing at all. We kissed him once, and he freaked, and he told us that what we feel 'isn't real'..." she pauses, her lips working for a moment before she adds, "I mean, we kind of laughed it off at the time but... it hurts. We love him so much - we haven't even told him we love him and... well, it would be one thing if he didn't love us back - we could deal with it then - but when he says the feeling 'isn't real'... What do you do with that?"

Shaking her head, she suddenly stands - no longer able to think through the thoughts in her head and remain seated. She needs to move - she needs to pace. "See, if it was up to me, I'd say we should just forget him! We've been living with the guy for months and it's killing us to be around him. And if he's getting any better it's happening too slowly!" she suddenly stops and sucks in her breath as if in some sort of sudden pain before she keeps pacing and adds, "But every time I talk like that, Heather flips out. She's desperate. It's like she thinks we can't live without him. But we could! We'd be fine! We're pretty and smart and there's probably tons of guys we could go fall in love with that would be less complicated. But no! It has to be Jon. 'There's nobody else like Jon!' she says."

Having said all that, she takes a breath and then plops back on the couch with a sigh. "And it's like... what do I do? Try to take us both away from the guy we love? I don't even really want that. I just want to feel... wanted," she finishes, rubbing away one of a few angry tears that have suddenly appeared on her face. Dr. Arkham wouldn't know it, but tears are a very rare thing for this personality. They only happen when she's sad, which in turn only happens when she feels helpless. And she only feels helpless when even her fearlessness heightened optimism can't convince her that there's a way out of a problem, "Instead I feel stuck. It sucks."

[Jeremiah Arkham - Black Mask]

The way her demeanor changes captures Jeremiah’s attention wholly. It would have been a lie to say he’d asked the question meaning to cause no reaction. The entire purpose of a psychological evaluation was to cause the interviewee to react. He had asked to elicit some type of response, verbal or physical, but he’d not been expecting this sort of reaction. He’d expected maybe a scoff and an answer along the lines of why was stepping into their business, but as he watches her and ticks off what he can observe: the way her arms move to drop, lowering her shoulders with them; the wrinkling of her forehead that brings her eyebrows closer together. It’s a stormy expression, but not one that promises thunder and lightning. No he interprets the expression as dejection. He leans forward, face calm, but if this other personality hadn’t gotten his attention earlier, he’s all ears now. Ears and a measure of sympathy, and the latter only grows as VerMillion begins to speak.

Combing through what he knows of this alternate personality, Jeremiah realizes he shouldn’t be surprised when she just begins to tell him everything. Her honest thoughts and opinions, but he is. In his field of study his analysis of anyone was always tinged with one party attempting to deceive the other, while the second read subtle secondary clues or came prepared with prior knowledge to squeeze and elaborate on what was already known. Yet this woman had no fear of what he would find out, nor fear of what he could do with it. She is right, she would be comfortable with telling him everything and her frustrations—Jeremiah can clearly read she’s agitated—make all other warnings null and void. He’d inexplicably opened himself up as someone to whom she could open up to and he’s a bit in awe at how easily she does so, despite it being logically explainable. He doesn’t smile nor move when she explains that sharing a single person of interest between two separate people is the least of their challenges. He does visibly react to being told that their actual problem lies within the person of mutual interest himself. He leans forward, a subtle show that he is engaged and still open to listen, though he doubts she would have stopped speaking anyway. Yes, now this…this is interesting.

Jeremiah momentarily places himself in Jonathan’s shoes. Oh, the man would be so displeased if he knew just what VerMillion was revealing about him and if Jeremiah gains any pleasure from hearing her speak of Jonathan and his “affections,” it’s not that he can’t believe Jonathan could provide for the girl, but that Jonathan would hate to have it known. In Jonathan’s eyes it’s weakness and just as he says of love: this sort of compassion should not exist. Jonathan believes himself to be all-knowing, all-powerful, and being opened to a truth that everything that governs their lives is a product of fear. Jeremiah for the most part can agree, but what about that catch in your throat, that first meeting of eyes when you can look at a person and see attraction. You’d never met them, so could fear ever have to do with that? The fear only comes later when you realize you have to stop this person, get them interested or they’ll leave your life and you will never know what could have been.

What could have been…

That could govern a person’s life. It does. Jeremiah is not surprised to hear that Jonathan cares for this young woman. He is also not surprised by the logic in her statement. She is protected, he never has harmed her on purpose and if she believes that, he will too. He’s not also not shocked when the tag of “But…” comes along. This he takes with a sigh of resignation. Of course.

For all the progress Jeremiah believes that Jonathan could make caring for another human being, he still failed to provide that final, most important affection. It is one thing to care for another: protect them, save them from harm, not another to offer tactile comfort. Love…Love is a completely different creature from Compassion. It’s complex, complicated, and it comes in so many forms. It is returned through words, touch, chemical releases. Of course he’d known that Jonathan would discredit it. Discredit it and then shut down. For all his monologues on Fear, its power, and how it doesn’t affect him, he is afraid. Afraid to feel, for the moment you give such an emotion to someone you have to start tearing down walls. Tearing down walls and opening up yourself and if you do that you could be hurt. And Jonathan does not want to be hurt, which means he’s been hurt and is afraid of it happening again.

Yet he sees the cost of it. Self-preservation has cost him the confidence of both of these women, making one frustrated and the other despondent and desperate. And VerMillion is very agitated. He can read in the way she jumps up and paces. Beyond her understandable frustration there is one thing clear, that yes, he believes Heather to be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. Heather is desperate, frightened, and she cannot stand the thought of being away from Jonathan for any reason. It literally frightens her, but VerMillion. VerMillion, despite holding absolutely no concept or understanding of fear, is rational. She exhibits nothing of Stockholm Syndrome. What she is suffering from, however, is honest irritation. She’s not getting what she feels she is entitled to and needs from Jonathan.

He stands when she again sits and grabs a box of tissues from his desk. He doubts they’re really needed now, but he places them at her side in the off chance that she needs them again. He then moves his chair closer and reaches out his hands. “May I,” he asks as he takes her hands in his and meets her eyes. “I’m going to tell you some things about Jonathan. I have no doubt that he genuinely cares about you. Though you may not remember it as well as Heather, I knew that from the moment he ordered me to put you in the back of my car that night when I first met the other girl. If you meant so little to him he would never have asked me to do that and I was quite surprised to see him have such an interest in another person. It was an interest much more warm than his in me. I know where I stand in his mind.” And it frustrated him to no end as well. “But love and everything involved in it? He couldn’t be more daft in the subject.”

He gives her a small smile, “I don’t know why, and I don’t know how, but I believe he’s afraid of it. I know you love him, but just as love can be amazing it can also be absolutely horrible. When you love someone you make yourself vulnerable by lowering all of these defenses you’ve spent years crafting and building so that no one on the outside can hurt you, but love. Love opens you and your defenses fall and that means that someone can walk right inside you to where you’re most vulnerable and they can hurt you like no one else has ever done before,” he said. “He’ll deny it, but that’s exactly the thing Jonathan does not want. Jonathan thrives on appearing impenetratable and he can brush off so many insults, or at least he appears to, but you strike the right cord and you can see him. He’s just human as the rest of us, even if he doesn’t want to admit it.”

His hand tighten around VerMillion’s just a bit, “But that doesn’t mean you’re be discounted. You feel too, you took that chance. You and Heather trusted him so much so that you kissed him and in doing so you did what he couldn’t and right now won’t. You opened your heart and soul to him. You let him in and from then on you couldn’t rightly say that your life was just yours anymore. Suddenly your moods depended on his and one little comment or look from him really affected you. Love can be so good, but so terrible because it eats at you and dictates your actions so much that when Jonathan said what you felt wasn’t real, love became not a warm chain encircling your heart, but squeezing it. Love became painful. But Jonathan is wrong.”

He moved his hands to her shoulders, “Love is real. That hurt that you feel is real. It’s not illusion or just in your mind. It’s truth and it’s pain and it’s ripping you apart. You gave him everything and he still hides from you.”

The truth was he felt genuinely sorry for her and Heather. To love someone like Jonathan was not an easy task and they had revealed themselves in their entirety to him and he’d pushed their emotions aside to save his own. If he could pretend it wasn’t real, he could ignore it. He could explain away hurting her. He could convince himself he was saving her, but he was hurting her. You couldn’t break love like that, it didn’t just appear and then disappear. It was painful, even in its happiness. Jeremiah knew that. Jeremiah knew what it was like to love someone and yet to feel it fading.

It ripped you apart inside. And while he can’t blame Jonathan protecting himself, he saw the price it came with.

“You both deserve to be wanted, VerMillion, you’re right. Everyone does and when your love is proven to be unappreciated or you’re told it’s not true, you feel invalidated like you wasted your time. I know that feeling. But you’re right, you are intelligent, the both of you. You’re also beautiful and there are tons of guys who would return your sentiments if only your heart was for them. You just had to choose a very complicated man. Jonathan will not change fast because he has beliefs and his faith cannot be shaken by a single kiss. He wants to ignore and deny because he is afraid. But I see what he would gain if he just tried,” he tilted her chin up, “and I think he’s a fool for not.” His lips tugged into a true smile to finish.

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

Though he offers the tissues, VerMillion doesn't bother to take any. For now, at least, her tears are very few in number. She may be extremely upset with Jon, but it's also so easy for her to simply lay at least the extremity of how upset she is to the side when she doesn't want to deal with it. And who ever really wants to deal with it anyway? Besides, she's quickly too distracted with thinking about Dr. Arkham's words to dwell in the depths of her misery anyway.

As he starts to talk about Jon, she listens very intently. And now that her attention is focused on him and not the room or her own thoughts, her gaze becomes very intense - while Jon may stare intentionally to make people nervous, she stares because she feels no anxiety while doing so and forgets that people usually don't like it. She doesn't fear that Dr. Arkham may be trying to mislead her - she'd probably catch him the instant he said anything false about Jon anyway, as she's gotten to know the man herself quite well. But though she's been around and able to observe the man for an extended period, she doesn't really know him since he's so closed to her. But she does know for certain that he cares about her, even though she's left questioning just how much. Then again, the confirmation from someone else seems to help calm her other half - and a calm Heather tends to result in a happier VerMillion.

Though as he goes on to start talking about Jon being afraid, her forehead wrinkles in thought as she tries to fend off the confusion that always comes when someone's talking about that all-important emotion that she can't feel - it's such an abstract thing to her. She'd suspected that a lot of Jon's behavior was fear based though, as it usually is when she doesn't understand why someone's doing something - and that describes much of what Jon does. If anything, hearing Dr. Arkham confirm that it's fear that's driving Jon in this makes the situation that much more frustrating - why should this emotion that doesn't even exist for her keep him away?

But she does understand love, and she does understand getting hurt. She never had to lower her defenses since she never had any to begin with - and Heather's experience with the brave toxin actually was a factor in her feelings for Jon for the same reason. Yet because they so easily welcomed him into their hearts, his actions hurt them both so deeply and so easily. It's left Heather walking on eggshells to avoid further hurt because for her there is no other option, while the pain is driving VerMillion away because she has no fear of being without him. And yet though she's being driven away, she can't actually leave because there's Heather's feelings to consider on top of her own. Ugh!

When Dr. Arkham starts to confirm what she'd said about what she deserves instead, she can't help but smile a little. She knew she was right about that too, but saying it out loud and hearing someone agree is rather cleansing in a way. It's all very unfair, really. And the small smile grows into a full one when Dr. Arkham finishes by questioning Jon's intelligence. "You know, I never really did choose Jon. I mean... I don't know if anyone really chooses, but either way it was Heather who fell for him first and I just kind of... appeared in the middle of all this. I do love him but I don't think that I would if Heather hadn't loved him first," she confesses, "All this waiting on his issues... I don't want to be doing that. But Heather's so sure that if I push him it would ruin everything, so I don't think I should mess with that - she's the one who cares about him more so she's probably the one who should be making the decisions with him. But..."

She frowns and pauses, taking a few moments to figure out how to say what she wants to say and looking down at her hands. How does she explain what it is to just suddenly exist, find out that she's some psychological anomaly that wouldn't exist if Heather weren't crazy, and be already loaded down with all this emotional baggage. And then to have Heather in so much control over everything they do... Doesn't what she wants matter too? But she doesn't want to go after what she wants at the expense of Heather - she does care about her other half, and not only because of Heather's ability to make her life miserable when she's not happy. But what about her own happiness?

Yes, she wants to have something that's hers and not Heather's. Something that's her choice. Some streak of independence that allows her to be an individual rather than simply an accessory to Heather. Not something so drastic as trying to do anything about the Jon problem, but something that takes away that stuck feeling. "But I'm tired of it hurting. And I'm tired of it being complicated when it could be simple. I mean, it's pathetic how good even this feels after living with Jon so much," she adds, reaching across herself to place her hand on the one he's left lingering on her shoulder and looking up at him again. Jon's touched her - a hand cupping her cheek, a hand holding hers to pull her around - but has he ever touched her just to comfort her? She doesn't recall such a thing. And she feels so deprived of human contact right now as a result.

And she finds herself wanting more... A thought that Heather would dismiss immediately, but VerMillion's not afraid to think about or pursue anything she wants unless something external stops her. And as she looks at Dr. Arkham, her expression suddenly becomes thoughtful. "You're not afraid of me, are you?" she asks, her thumb idly stroking along the back of his hand and her smile turning more into a smirk as she adds, "And you really think that Jon is being a fool?"

[Jeremiah Arkham - Black Mask]

When she doesn’t take up the tissues, Jeremiah finds him unoffended. He’d offered them if she needed, but obviously she’d dealt with it and that is fine with him. It was a small event of little importance and now if she finds need, she’ll not have to ask for them. That makes it easier for him to move on in his explanations. His thought had been to explain and comfort her because he recognizes the need to understand in order to deal with the distress his question had caused, and when he does manage to distract her he finds himself happy that he can offer something to help ease the pain she’d been previously experiencing.

Jeremiah makes a habit of meeting her eyes as he gestures and speaks to her with little interruption at first. Her gaze, while set and boring, doesn’t seem to phase him. He’ll admit it can be unnerving, but after dealing with Jonathan he’s been come adept at knowing when someone was trying to intimidate him and when their gaze is just direct. He has no trouble meeting Jonathan’s eyes and challenging the man to make him anxious with his piercing gaze, and so meeting VerMillion’s eyes is no challenge to him either. Perhaps somewhere he realizes that she stares so intently because she feels nothing in doing so. Most people pulled away because to be gazed at so directly makes people feel vulnerable; like their every move is under strict scrutiny or that the other person can see every chink in their armor. People didn’t like their secrets to be known, but Jeremiah is unworried. He has no secret agenda he’s in need to hide as he speaks to her, and even if what he says about Jonathan is false in reality, it is only Jeremiah’s interpretation. He doubts he is wrong, however. Jonathan does care about the woman before him in some way otherwise when they’d last met he’d have left her on the curb when she passed out instead of using threats against Jeremiah to get her safely tucked away in the back. Even now, at least where the other personality, Heather, is concerned Jeremiah can smile at how loyal she was. He remembers feeling the cold barrel of the gun to his head. Yet he doesn’t smile. He simply continues.

He doesn’t know how to elaborate more on the nuances of Jonathan’s specific brand of behavior, but he knows that the man who claims to possess no fear is actually afraid. Jeremiah doesn’t know why, he’s not sure how, but he does know that Jonathan’s behavior of denying that love exists comes from traumatic events. Traumatic events had lead him into the study of fear, Jeremiah’s sure. It was the only explanation for how Jonathan used his knowledge and recounting the theories Jonathan had given him to peruse as an employee, his conclusion is only further supported, but he wishes he could explain fear to VerMillion and make her understand. Being unable to feel fear, Jeremiah knows does make it hard for her comprehend and that leads to frustration, but he can see that she does at least understand when he starts talking about love and about letting people in. The thing he may not be able to comprehend as easily is the fact that VerMillion and Heather are of two minds, and thus Jonathan has harmed them deeply in two separate aspects. On the one hand, Heather feels unappreciated, desperate for attention from the one person she loves, and VerMillion, not terrified of leaving because she’s not given the attention she wants feels trapped because she has to consider Heather’s feelings.

Complicated and messy, Jeremiah can only begin to fathom the torrent of side effects. It makes him dizzy to actually even try, but he does try. Both Heather and VerMillion do deserve what VerMillion said. Any human being does, but how does one go on convincing two personalities that they should go and find more? Maybe that would inspire Jonathan to give them what they so desperately needed. Sometimes people needed a push and sometimes that push needed to be big and blatant.

“I don’t think we do choose the people we love,” Jeremiah returns her smile gently with a soft chuckle, “though in your case, separate and independent as you are from Heather, you share thought and cognition. You really never choose to love Jonathan, for that compassion was already alive when you came to be. You don’t seem to care too much about that and I’m sure you do care for him, but you’re right. You’re much different. You’re not Heather, you don’t have the same expectations or even the same thoughts as her. In fact, with the way you speak…perhaps your wants are different. No, not different, but perhaps you place a different priority to some of them than her.” Yes, that sounded more correct and all this he said while he waited for her continue after she’d trailed off.

For one thing, he realizes subconsciously that it’s unnecessary for her to explain. Her previous words had done her justice. There isn’t any way to relay what she wishes anyway, and he can sympathize if not entirely empathize with what she feels. She wants her own freedom, her own right to make decisions. Heather is now no longer the sole owner of their body. Heather and VerMillion were distinct entities of one personality and they were not the same person, they just shared the same body. So he could understand that VerMillion wants her own life and happiness separate from Heather. She is independent and constraining her is only a doorway to more stress.

His smile grows warmer when her hand touches the one he’d placed on her shoulder. “Jonathan has never been one for casual physical contact, but we humans are tactile creatures. We communicate just as much through actions like these as we do through words. Sometimes the simple act of touching someone a certain way even conveys more than words. Somehow, however, he forgets that even if it’s small and seems inconsequential, something as simple as putting my hand on your shoulder does feel good. We don’t realize how much we need it until it happens.” He squeezes her shoulder just slightly and shakes his head. “So no, I actually don’t find it pathetic at all.”

He watches her intently and his gaze only flickers at her question. He doesn’t respond immediately as he watches her thumb almost unconsciously caress the rear of his hand, but when he looks up to her again at that smirk, his own lips follow and for some reason his heart picks up. “No, I’m not afraid of you, I see nothing in your face or actions that tells me you want to harm me and yes, I think Jonathan is being a very big fool.” He leans forward and takes in her face. “You’re stunning and any man you choose to give attention to would be an idiot for not reciprocating. I have no idea why Jonathan can’t realize that and take a chance. I have no doubt he’d have little regrets afterwards.”

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

VerMillion nods at Dr. Arkham's words as he talks about Heather and her having different priorities, as that's exactly the case. Well, Heather does have a few wants and needs that she doesn't - feeling safe, especially - but it's not like VerMillion would argue that Heather doesn't need that. No, their disagreements are never really about what they want, but about which of their wants is more important. Both of them want to be with Jon and have his love, but that's much more important to Heather than it is to VerMillion. Both of them also want the physical and emotional intimacy that would theoretically go along with with that, but while Heather is content to be patient about the current lack of it in their lives VerMillion is not satisfied by that.

And she doesn't need to be lectured about the importance of physical contact. She may not be an expert on non-verbal communication, but she's human. And even beyond that she's a human who doesn't approach the subject of what she does and doesn't enjoy with preconceived notions. Though Heather has a certain rebellious streak that makes her prone to ignore the opinion of general society when it comes to what she should and shouldn't do or how she should feel about things, that doesn't mean that she's not influenced by it anyway - there's always that fear in the back of her head that perhaps society is right and perhaps there are certain things that really are going too far. In fact, that fear is actually quite strong for her. This means that while she's willing to do things like dye her hair a wild color and host an edgy radio show, she's still one to approach each choice to go against the status quo with a certain amount of caution.

VerMillion, on the other hand, is free from all of that - she sees no reason why she shouldn't do anything at all that she thinks that she might enjoy (or even more especially anything she knows that she'll enjoy), and she doesn't go troubling herself by asking herself whether or not she should enjoy what she enjoys, period. And at the moment she's enjoying something rather simple: Dr. Arkham's hand on her shoulder. But at the same time it's almost tantalizingly small, like picking off the corner of a brownie when you really want to have not only the whole piece but several more after that.

Therefore, what Dr. Arkham is saying is actually only encouraging her to pursue that feeling. Not only is he saying that he doesn't have the same problem that's causing her so much frustration with Jon, he also in a roundabout way seems to be saying that he too would be stupid to deny her. And she immediately wants to test that. Which isn't something she'd necessarily feel if she were talking to just any man - there are plenty of men in the world that she's simply not attracted to and she probably wouldn't even appreciate having their hand on her shoulder. But while Dr. Arkham is ridiculously old, he's not unattractive - he wears that age well, and on top of that he's intelligent and very engaging. And both Jon and Heather pay a huge factor as well, as she knows that Jon utterly loathes this man which would make him absolutely the last person that Heather would ever entertain the same thoughts she's having about. No, VerMillion is feeling a feeling now that she knows is entirely her own, and she's completely delighted by that.

So delighted that she almost laughs as she comments, "I'm tired of talking about Jon." Or thinking about him, for that matter. Though she certainly doesn't mean that in any long term sense - no, her feelings for him are too strong for her to forget him anywhere near that easily. But she can certainly set them to one side for awhile so that she can rest from that burden even if she can't leave it behind. Because it is a burden to her - her feelings for Jon do nothing for her right now but make her unhappy. She wouldn't even be feeling a lack of intimacy in her life in the first place if she weren't in love with a man who was ignoring that need.

"I have a question for you, Dr. Arkham," she adds, though when her lips part slightly as if she's going to ask it, no words come out. Instead the pressure of her hand on his increases as she twists her shoulder back to pull him and push herself even closer than they already are. And with one smooth and characteristically bold movement she presses her lips against his. But it isn't a small kiss, or a particularly sweet one - instead her lips press hard against his, molding against them as the tip of her tongue teases against his bottom lip. Only a moment in her other hand is lifted to slide around his neck so that her fingers can slide into the hair at the back of his head. Only when the other girl in her head overcomes her shock at this sudden turn of events to protest does she break the contact, but otherwise she ignores her other half for the moment and instead keeps her focus on Dr. Arkham. Her lips are still only millimeters away from him as she challengingly asks, "Are you an idiot?"

[Jeremiah Arkham - Black Mask]

She’s tired of talking about Jonathan? Though he doesn’t remove his hand from her shoulder or from beneath her grip, he does make sure to mentally note her sentiment. It’s a sentiment that answers all his questions. The court, Heather’s parents, and various—and probably numerous—media outlets and viewers will be awed and most dissatisfied with his conclusions. Heather may be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome along with several anxiety disorders all of varying severities. VerMillion, however, suffers none of these and Jeremiah knows he will need more sessions to diagnose her, if a diagnosis even existed. Most importantly, though, is that he is dealing with an obvious case of multiple personalities, two separate individuals existing in the same cognitive space. That makes her placement in Arkham solid. She cannot be transferred. Jeremiah won’t let her be.

He has other motives as well other than her well-being, but he believes she won’t disagree with them. He wants to keep her and Jonathan together for reasons that he won’t even attempt to disguise, but he doesn’t bring this up because she’d said she wasn’t interested any longer in talking about Jonathan.

Jeremiah opens his mouth to ask her what she would rather speak about then, but it is then that she announces her own query. Jeremiah drops his question in light of communicating via his expression that his attention is all hers and she is open to ask whatever it is that’s on her mind. Yet when after a few moments she still hasn’t said anything, he moves to probe her further. She beats him to moving. He has no time to exclaim in surprise at the distance between then being bridged when her lips are against his. There isn’t anything innocent and shy in the gesture at all. It’s immediately clear to him that she’s sure of this decision and thus has no problem executing it. She’s assured and that makes her actions have a power effect on him. A warm tingle shoots from his lips down his spine and his breathing skips. Shock wears off quickly and the moment her fingers trail up his neck he leans in closer.

That’s when she breaks the contact between their mouths, but Jeremiah doesn’t pull away. He meets her eyes and his lips migrate into an expression that would make Puck proud. The hand not beneath VerMillion’s lifts to cradle her head, and he leans ever closer.

“I’ll let you be the judge of that,” his lips ghost over hers with his words before he tugs her closer and his mouth finds hers. His own movements are anything but hesitant. He kisses her roughly, invading her space. His teeth pull gently, but purposefully at her plush lower lip and he slides his tongue along the enseam before slipping inside.

Why does he do this? Why not is the better question. How this would get beneath Jonathan’s skin eggs him on, how this would pay him back for his threats tempts him all the more. And he can’t deny that she is pleasing. He feels not this way for Heather, but this woman, VerMillion? Jeremiah isn’t an idiot.

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

VerMillion can only remember kissing Jon three times. And the first time he'd gone stiff as a board and he fled the room the moment the shock wore off. She'd enjoyed that kiss, but only because it had been Jon and they'd been wanting to do that for a long time before it happened. But otherwise it had also been... disappointing. If being kissed back is too much to ask for, couldn't he have at least accepted it instead of running off? Even if it was kind of funny, nobody likes that kind of a reaction to their first kiss. And the second one she can hardly remember, because what she remembers... doesn't make sense. The last was more of a peck than a real kiss, though unlike the first two the memory of it is crystal clear since it actually is hers instead of Heather's. But it had hardly satisfied her in any real way except for making her feel like she adequately thanked him for extracting her from the Penguin's prison. All in all, it's a rather pathetic list of memories.

And this kiss is nothing like any of them. He's surprised, just like Jon was the first time she'd kissed him, but she doesn't feel him freeze up aside from holding his breath. In fact, near the end of it he does quite the opposite - he comes closer. So when their lips part and she asks him her question, she watches and waits. Will, he now run off like Jon did? Just because she can't fear doesn't mean that she's unaware that he might take that option. Her fearlessness merely reassures her that everything will be okay even if he does. Perhaps now that she's figured out that turning her attention toward someone else will help ease her frustrations with Jon, she can always look for someone more agreeable to the idea than Dr. Arkham if it turns out he didn't mean the things that he'd said?

But that line of thought is quickly proved pointless, as his reaction proves to be overwhelmingly positive. A few words, and she finds that he's pulling her into another kiss. And not a repeat of the one that she gave him, even - instead it's even stronger and deeper. Her lips shift into a smile as she welcomes it, grabbing at his upper lip with her tongue as she lets her teeth part. Oh, how she'd longed to be kissed like this! Not by this particular man, perhaps, but that hardly matters to her right now. She doesn't have to pretend that she's kissing anyone else to enjoy this - she's kissing a man who is willing, and quite eager in fact, to kiss her back. And that's enough for her right now.

In fact, no sooner does she feel his tongue against hers than she feels a soft moan of happiness escape from deep inside her. It's the same sort of sound that someone might make while eating a cookie after spending several months refusing to eat sugar. The feeling is almost too good. Or at least, it would be if VerMillion believed that it was possible for anything to literally be too good. No, instead she feels the same way she does about anything she likes - she wants more.

Without conscious thought, she pushes against Dr. Arkham. But far from pushing him away, she's pushing into him - refusing to break the contact of her lips as she encourages him to sit up straighter while she shifts to get off the couch. But she's not standing up - instead she removes the hand that's holding his on her shoulder, as it has served it's purpose, and she moves it to hold the back of his chair so that she can pull herself up off the couch and kneel on the chair so that she's straddling his lap. Once she's in place the majority of her attention shifts to kissing him with even greater vigor - yes, this is much better!

Well, except that it's also vastly increased the urgency of her other half's protests about the proceedings. Why this would bother Heather so much she can only imagine - her alter ego always has a problem with a lot of strange things, and it's very annoying. And as distracted as she is, she can only ignore the whining for so long - this isn't as easy to ignore as the times when Heather was screaming, as that ended up being more like white noise after awhile.

[Jeremiah Arkham - Black Mask]

Jonathan had denied this? Jeremiah could spend hours wondering how. He could confront Jonathan on the matter and demand how he could, in his right mind, refuse such an invitation. An invitation the doctor himself should be aware he shouldn’t be taking at all, and not just because she’s his patient and it’s severely unethical to have done what he just had, but at the moment Jeremiah cannot find himself able to really think about much at all except her.

Her and just how much Jonathan’s going to regret ever spurning her. He wonders how much he cares for the girl, though of course he’ll dismiss such an emotion. Still he wonders because Jonathan had tempted him. Jonathan had pushed and pushed, and the man had dug. All his threats and claims were falling around the elder doctor. Jonathan had only himself to blame. Had he never disbelieved him, had Jonathan never claimed to have found Jeremiah to be after nothing but breaking him, then perhaps this act would not have played out as it did. VerMillion was beautiful, she was everything Jeremiah admired in a woman: bold, feisty, and strong in spirit, but the fact that he was doing this in part to loose his own frustrations made it all the better. Jonathan had threatened his family, threatened to take them. Now Jeremiah would strike into the heart of Jonathan, to the person he’d destroyed the Iceberg Lounge to find again.

Such a pity he didn’t take care of her as he should have.

But what an opportunity it gave Jeremiah and he was all to happy to be used for the purpose. It only inspired him to relish in it more. How easily that’s accomplished anyway.

He smirks when her mouth welcomes him, but that smile becomes a delighted moan that echoes her own. It makes him explore her mouth, making sure to it give it the attention it wants as he tangles their lips together. How could he not eagerly respond to someone who sounds so happy to be receiving the attention? What a fool Jonathan is, he tells himself again as he presses all the more into her and fluidly follows. Because he understands this is just as much her dance as his, he accepts when he’s pressed back. The fact she’s not relinquished that part of him tells him this is anything, but an attempt to get away. On instinct he straightens, but remains kissing her as well as he can in their position, but he’s aware that she’s moving. When she moves so does he.

His hand falls from her shoulder and when she straddles him he pulls her closer as her mouth becomes even more demanding and how happily he answers that order. He doesn’t notice the inner turmoil at first. Of course he wouldn’t as it is a fight going on within the young woman, but soon enough her body language changes and he leaves her mouth slowly, not completely out of breath, but enough. He swallows and his brown eyes lift to hers beneath those fiery tresses of hers.

He suspects he knows. If Heather and VerMillion are able to communicate so easily, then he’s aware that they’re also aware of what is going on with the other, can probably see and he knows just how much Heather doesn’t particularly like him. Still he tilts his head ever so slightly and continues to regard her.

“She’s not happy is she,” he asks.

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

The feeling is absolutely intoxicating, being wrapped up and entangled by another person - his hands pulling her even closer, her hand in his hair, their lips and tongues playing against each other. A very good feeling that comes from such a simple action - one that she'd been wanting to do for months, really. If she hadn't been madly in love during those months with a man that was so close in the physical sense while being so unobtainable in every other way, she'd not have minded that she'd had nobody to hold her and nobody to kiss. But she was, and she did, and that feeling of being so horribly deprived of affection only makes what they're doing now seem all the more pleasurable.

But, unlike him, VerMillion's breath is still relatively calm when he starts to pull away from the kiss. Though until he speaks she hasn't the slightest idea why he's doing so, except that she supposes that he simply wants to say something and she certainly has no objections to that. In fact, right at this moment she wouldn't be very upset if he'd changed his mind - she actually suspects that it's a possibility given how often people seem to suddenly change their mind for reasons she doesn't understand. Fear, probably.

Happily, instead of that he unexpectedly comments on Heather. Who she's trying really, really hard to ignore, though her efforts aren't being entirely successful. How Dr. Arkham knows is something that takes her a moment to figure out, but given just how much of her she's touching he probably felt the gradually building tension in her body and the hint of deep, internal frustration in her movements. See, Heather has this ability to be so horribly obnoxious that you just can't ignore her - especially if she's in your head. So though VerMillion very much to simply let go and lose herself in all these feelings and emotions that they're stirring up, she can't. And she's very unhappy about that.

She answers Dr. Arkham's question by simply making a highly annoyed groan. The last thing that she wants to do right now is have to convince Heather to shut up. When Heather gets this insistent about something, that usually means an argument and she'd much rather keep kissing Dr. Arkham than to have to pause long enough to talk things out with Heather. It would all be so much more convenient if she didn't have to talk out loud for Heather for her to hear her, but for whatever reason it doesn't work that way.

But it only takes her another moment to realize that she can do both at more or less the same time - she just has to change methods a little "Heather, you're ruining this for me," she complains before giving Dr. Arkham another kiss on the lips - a fast but strong peck rendered all the more intense by just how frustrated she is at her other half. "Why?" she asks before planting the next one on the corner of his mouth. "So?" she asks next, before letting her lips trail across his beard to the spot where it ends on his jawline, which she kisses then lightly nips. "Because I want to," she says, before proceeding to kiss along his jawline. "Because it's fun," she says next, reaching the corner of his jaw and nipping it lightly too. "Well, that's too bad," she states before her lips venture to that spot on his neck just below his ear. "It's our body - and it's my turn with it," she says now, sounding a little angered, before she catches his earlobe between her lips, not so much kissing it as caressing it with her lips and tongue.

"If you don't let me enjoy this, I'll ruin things with Jon," she promises, and given the length of time that she spends tonguing the shell of his ear without interrupting herself, it takes Heather a moment to figure out what to say to that. "I do mean that - I'm so done with being held hostage by your feelings. It's either this or that. Your pick," she says finally, letting her hot breath go across his dampened ear and making it cool. Again there's a longer pause, during which VerMillion presses her lips against his ear to warm it up again. "Hey, I have just as much right to go after what I think will make me happy as you do, Heather," she states, before finding that soft spot on his neck just behind his earlobe with another kiss.

It's only a moment later that the tension that she'd been holding in her body begins to ease, and she shifts to triumphantly whisper into his ear, "I win!" Nuzzling into his ear, she adds, "Sorry about that... but problem solved." Though she doubts that he minded that much.

[Jeremiah Arkham - Black Mask]

It was the building tension in her body that had clued him into the possible exchange between the two personalities’ conversation and he can guess what it is about. Jeremiah Arkham is more than aware that Heather is not too keen on him. She’ll perceive his behavior on their last meeting as malicious, though if any of it was turned to her with it was because she was caught in the crossfire between he and Jonathan. It wasn’t anything personal it was just how things were and how Jeremiah felt they would always be with Jonathan. So is he surprised that Heather isn’t too keen on this happening? No and he does feel a little bad about it, but as a psychologist he’s trained to see separate personalities as people and so despite the bit of guilt, he’s paying attention to VerMillion whose wants and actions he can separate from Heather’s.

Jeremiah is caught between amusement and comfort, but chooses the latter when VerMillion groans. He rubs her back in an attempt to convey that he understands. He hadn’t expected them to agree and honestly he wouldn’t be angry or surprised if it is VerMillion who backs down. He’d accept that without a chip on his shoulder. No harm, no foul after all and he can understand the reasoning of why she would back down.

There is surprise when that doesn’t happen. Jeremiah had been prepared to casually let her stop and find something else to talk about when she’d begun speaking to Heather, but instead as VerMillion begins to converse with Heather she’s still giving affection. Jeremiah returns her kiss with a little chuckle that returns when he’s granted a kiss at the edge of his mouth. There’s a jolt as reaction to her nip at Jeremiah’s jaw, but it’s hardly unpleasant. It’s even more pleasant as she continues and when she takes his earlobe, Jeremiah’s hand finds her hair. It’s hard to listen while enjoying such attention, and honestly Jeremiah isn’t too bothered to pay attention. Heather and VerMillion can have their squabble, he’s content just like this.

Her next actions earn her appreciation, a shiver, and then a sigh. Jeremiah keeps his hand in her hair. She’s right, he didn’t mind her conversation at all and when she relaxes he’s wrapped his free hand around her waist again. He leans into her nuzzling, his own laugh proud. “Wasn’t any trouble,” he said, sliding his hand down her jaw to turn her face back to him.

“So you’ve won, have you?” he said. “Before we end this session perhaps could tell me how to best make apologies to Heather, I realize she is uncomfortable.” And he is regretful of that.