A QUEEN'S HEART IN A JOKER'S HANDS
SUMMARY- What happens when the one who's mind you're trying to fix, breaks yours?
AUTHOR'S NOTE- All rights go to their respective owners. I own nothing.
CHAPTER ONE
It was a dark and stormy night when they brought the Joker in. She had heard him laughing as they shut him away in a padded cell. Harleen knew he was dangerous. She had seen all the news reports, read all the papers and now and again, she would sneak a look at his medical report when she'd heard Batman would be bringing him in. She couldn't believe someone had actually done it! She smiled as she sat back in her chair and thought about how much better Gotham would be with the Joker safely locked away. She wondered who would be the one to talk to him when he had the sessions he was required to have. He would have to be open, talk about his feelings; what he felt when he did something evil and what was his motivation behind everything that he did. Harleen imagined that there would be some fascinating conversations and she smiled just thinking about this.
Harleen was the best pyschartrist that Gotham had. She'd been assigned to Arkham Asylum because of how complex the minds were in there and they believed she could do some good. Of course she'd jumped at it. It was a chance to prove herself, especially if she could even cure one of them, that would be saying something. She also didn't see lunatics and pyschos when she saw to them; she saw damaged people who could be saved if given the chance. She didn't believe anyone was permanently broken and some of her other collegues had said how she was the crazy one for believing such a thing! She'd ignored them and continued to treat the people in her care. Some actually gave some beautiful insight into how they looked at the world and why it had turned them this way. Harleen had notes upon notes of it all. Every interesting conversation, every snippet that showed her one of her patients was showing signs of recovery; she'd kept them all and listened to the recordings; often playing them back in her spare time just to hear different tones of voice or changes of opinion, anything that showed hope for them. She wasn't just after recognition, she wanted to heal them. All of them, if it was possible.
"Harleen?"
She looked up from her desk at the assistant at her door.
"Patient 5 is waiting for you."
Harleen smiled at the man and nodded.
"Thank you Gerry, I'll be there soon."
He smiled back and closed the door.
She gathered a few papers, her notebook and a recorder and then headed for one of the spare rooms they kept for the patients who were considered too dangerous to be left alone in her office with her.
Harleen stood, smoothed back her blonde hair which was either tied into a ponytail or a tight bun, and straightened her white lab coat.
It wasn't far to walk but she did have to walk past the cells and some of them liked to bang on their doors or shriek loudly, hoping it would frighten her. It didn't.
As she passed the cells, she glanced into the one the Joker had been assigned to. He stood, his back to the door. His green hair was a little messy and she stopped to peer inside at him. He suddenly spun around and bared silver coloured teeth at her. She flinched and he started laughing loudly, throwing his head back and slapping the padded walls with an open hand. She frowned, pushed her glasses up and continued on her way.
A guard stood outside the door. The patient was restrained but Harleen knew that if he wasn't, she could have a very serious problem on her hands; one she probably couldn't handle...
"How have you been feeling since our last session?" She asked patient 5.
He shrugged. "Dunno. How am I meant to feel?"
She licked her lips and sat forward. He moved; only an inch but it was enough to make her sit back again.
"You're afraid of me." He said and grinned.
"Do you like people being afraid of you?" She asked.
"Yeah...makes me feel powerful."
She jotted something down on her clipboard and then looked up again.
"Why do you need to feel powerful?"
He shrugged again.
"Dunno."
She inwardly sighed. Patient 5 had always been hard work and today was no different.
Finally, his hour was up. They took him back to his cell and Harleen went back to her office but not before she slowed her walk past the Joker's cell. Again, he had his back to the door and she quickly walked on again. He wasn't going to make her jump, not like last time.
Back in her office, she went over patient 5's last session. Nothing had changed much and to be honest, she was getting bored. She wanted a challenge, a real challenge.
She sat back in her chair and her brain went into over drive; so much so, that she hadn't realised she'd fallen asleep...
She was dreaming. She had to be. She was still in her office though. Only this time, she was the one laying down on the chair that her patients used. A man-she couldn't see his face- was holding up a clipboard and muttering something.
"So you want a challenge Harleen, is that it?"
She found herself nodding. "I do."
"And why do you think that is?"
She shrugged. "I don't know...I want to help all my current patients but they seem stuck. It's like they don't want to get better."
"What do you want, Harleen?" The man asked.
"I want someone who is really messed up. Someone who is-"
"A homicidal maniac?"
She frowned but nodded.
"Kind of..."
"Someone who is so out of their head you wonder if they prefer it that way?"
"Yes. A real challenge."
"You know what you need, don't you, Harleen?"
She looked at him. He was still covering his face with the clipboard.
"What? What do I need?" She asked eagerly.
"Me!"
He moved the clipboard and the Joker laughed manically at her as she sat upright on the couch. Lighting cracked behind him through the window like one of those cheesy horror movies and he kept laughing and laughing...
"Oh!"
Harleen sat up in her chair behind her desk and looked around. She had been dreaming. Her breath was coming hard and fast. None of the patients got her so worked up as the Joker and she hadn't even met him yet but dream or not, it was true. The Joker would be a challenge. A real challenge. Everybody in Gotham thought he was too far gone but maybe, just maybe she would be the one to save him. She smiled just thinking about it and then reached for the phone to ring the head doctor. She then put the phone down again. Maybe it would be better if she went in person. Then he could see how determined she was and maybe on her way there, she could look in on the Joker and see if her head had made the right decision.
The asylum was quiet, only a few noises of groaning then and again. She passed the Joker's cell and saw that he was laying down on the bed in there. He wasn't alseep though. His eyes were wide open and he was staring at the ceiling. He must have known she was there because his gaze shot to her and he jumped up and was at the door in a flash, one had slapping the glass in between their faces.
"What do you want?! Huh?!" He shouted, an angry look on his face. She blinked and swallowed, surprised once again at how nervous he made her.
"I...I want to help you." She said, hating the way her voice shook.
"Help me? You think you can fix me, is that it? All the shit going on in my head, you think you can fix that? Good luck sweetheart!"
He banged on the glass again and she turned, leaving him and heading straight for the head office...
"Come in." A voice called. She pushed down on the door handle and walked into the small office. The kind looking doctor smiled up at her. He was buried in paperwork too.
"Ah, doctor Quinzel, what can I do for you?"
She was unsure of how to start this but tried anyway.
"Doctor, I was just wondering... who assigned to the Joker?"
"Well no one. He is far too dangerous for that yet."
"Then I was wondering if I could take him as one of my patients?"
The doctor frowned at her but he wasn't angry, merely confused.
"Why would you want to do that?"
"Because to be honest doctor, I've been looking for a challenge and he's it. I know I can help him. I can. I just need a chance. Please."
The doctor sighed and rubbed his beard in thought.
"He's dangerous, Harleen."
"I know." She said, nodding.
"It'll be a massive risk. He'll have to be restrained; I mean, we're talking straight jackets, handcuffs, and that's even if he obeys all the rules after a little time has passed."
"Whatever you want. Whatever you need to do but please, let me treat him."
The doctor sighed again and looked up at her.
"Alright but if anything and I mean anything goes wrong, we're pulling you out of there."
She smiled and nodded. "Thank you, thank you. I won't let you down."
On her way back to her office, Harleen stopped by the Joker's cell once again. He was still awake, pacing the room this time. He looked at her and came up to the glass again.
"I am going to help you." She told him. He frowned, tilting his head like a dog who's not quite sure what command he's been given.
"I will be treating you from now on."
He kept his frown in place.
"So we're going to be having some nice, cosy chats, is that it?"
She was still smiling. "Sort of. But we will fix whatever is wrong with you, I promise."
He laughed then. "Oh you promise! Well that means it just has to be true! You should do yourself a favour sweetheart...stay away from me. I'm a whole different kind of crazy than what you're used to."
Harleen wasn't scared of at all.
"You may look strange and you may have done a lot of evil things but you are still a human being and no human is permanently broken. Something had to have happened to you before...all this."
"You'd think so wouldn't you?" He grinned then and looked her right in the eyes.
"Oh, this is going to be fun."...
Author's Note- I Hope you enjoyed this. As always, reviews are appreciated. X