As the symphony opens, I picture Dvorak at the stern of the ship that carries him to America, away from his country. As the land drifts out of sight, he is suddenly jarred by the thought of the unknown with a blast from the French horn.


"Are you ready Ms. Mendoza?"

Ready for what?

"You have to push!"

I don't understand...what's going on? Why can't I see?

"Maybe she has stage fright?" Another voice said.

"Nah, a big-time talent like her? It's probably just the drugs kickin' in." Replied the first voice.

Stage...? Drugs...? What the hell is going on?

"In that case, better check her reaction to light, make sure it's nothing serious."

A brilliant light beamed directly into my clouded stare, providing a mere second of vision only to blind me again; this was much more painful.

"She's reacting negatively to the light stimulation!"

"Well, duh, lower the quantity of effulgence rays! You're gonna blind her, not that she'd be missing anything. The city has really gone to shit since Batman died."

Wha-?

The light dimmed as what now appeared to be orderlies kept speaking. A humming rang in my ears, drowning out the voices as my sight slowly returned. I was on a hospital bed...no...a gurney. I was on a gurney but we weren't moving anywhere. A giant lightbulb shone overhead, glowing dimly in front a long row of stage lights farther back and above. My hands and arms lay loosely next to me on the bed, needles imbedded deep into my veins, attached to many tubes that hung all around me.

"H-help..." I tried to whimper, but my throat was dry. I tried to signal with my hands, but they refused to move. Nothing I did caused a reaction from the men standing next to me, not until I felt a deep resonance deep within me; an intense heat between my stomach and my pelvis.

It was at that moment when I realized that the pain was coming from the large globe that protruded from under my terracotta dress; the signature dress I wore for every outing I took with him.

The hum in my ear slowly faded and became a beeping, as my memory came back. The death of Batman at the hands of Killer Croc, the rampage on Gotham city caused by a disbelieving Joker, discovering my pregnancy, Cat-Woman kidnapping me and handing me over to Nightwing as a peace offering, the blood...the blood...

"Oh God, the blood! She's hemorrhaging! This baby's coming out NOW!"

"My baby...my...baby...save...baby..."

"We're trying to Ms. Mendoza, but you have to help us, alright?"

I could only nod.

"Alright, the first thing you have to do is relax, breathe, take deep breaths...Atta girl!" He stroke my head, easing the pounding and earning himself a calming smile. "Alright, now, we have to know something, ok?"

I nodded again, focusing on my breathing and the man's face.

"Where is the Joker?"

What?

My face tensed as I felt a contraction surge through me. I shook my head as he caught me unaware.

"It's a simple question Ms. Mendoza, where is he?"

I continued to shake my head in confusion, my eyes closing as each contraction threatened to tear my body.

"I can nearly see the head!" Cried out the man's companion from between my thighs.

"Do you hear? You're baby's almost here! Quick! Tell me where the Joker is before you pass out!"

"I don'...I don't...know..." I cried out weakly, my teeth grinding together.

I screamed, my eyes flying open and my attention focused on the wild eyes of the male nurse next to me. One of his hands was held tightly around my jaws, compressing so tight I could already feel my jaw threatening to break, while his other hand was gripped firmly around the tube attached to my vein.

"Listen here you pretty little troubadour! All these nice people paid to see the Devil's Whore give birth to a bastard buffoon. Now, we just want to know where he is, that's all. Otherwise, Pogo here is gonna have to cut himself out a nice little stillborn, and we wouldn't want that now would we? No, so you better tell us where the Joker is, or the baby's the first thing to go!"

My eyes scanned the room, an abrupt clarity showing me that there were, indeed, hundreds of people cheering and laughing, sitting in familiar seats. The view I had was familiar in itself, reminding me of an auditorium I had played in once, many years ago...the first time I saw Joker.

"J-Joker..." I managed, the pain in my pelvis a dull ache now.

"Yeah, that's right. Tell us where he is or the baby gets it." The nurse waggled his eyebrows.

"He's...right..."

"Yeah? Yeah?!"

My hand tried to raise itself; it tried to point to a laughing audience member in the front. "Right th–AH!" I screamed, feeling as if all of my organs emptied from inside of me.

"It's a boy!" Exclaimed the man between my legs.

A boy...my boy...

"Give me my boy..." I asked for weakly.

"Now don't think just because the bastard came too early that he's safe. Tell us where the Joker is or we'll shoot the poor baby." The orderly laughed, pulling out a gun from seemingly nowhere as assurance.

My eyes swelled up with tears and my hands unclenched themselves. I didn't know where Joker was; hadn't known for months since he left to go chase after a distant memory. Batman was dead and the Joker might as well be too. "Please, just let me see him and I'll..." I swallowed the built up saliva in my mouth. "I'll tell you everything I know."

"C'mon Pops, let 'er see the kid. What's she gonna do? Run away with 'im? She's strapped down. 'Sides, if she spills now, we'll be the heroes of Gotham!" The man between my legs laughed, casually wrapping my baby in a light beige towel. The bloodstains from the birth only helped to further worry me, taking in their threats as seriously as I could anything.

They handed the baby to me, the sounds of laughter from the audience down to a murmur, but all I could focus on was my baby. Laughing, could you imagine that? Just like his father, having just gone through a traumatic experience and smiling as if his toothless grin could solve everything. His eyes were a deep chocolate brown, flecks of green riddled throughout. His mouth was thin but wide, the lower lip a bit thicker than the top. His nose was small, but sharp. His skin was pale, paler than I would have expected for a child with half of my genes. In fact, he looked nothing like me at all, he was a living replica of his father.

"So waddaya wanna call it?"

My head turned up to the gentler of the two. "I don't know yet."

"Well you can call him Dead soon if you don't start answering questions. We ain't got all day y'know," the obvious leader of the two scratched the back of his head with his gun. "Besides, with a kid like that, who needs the Joker around! S'not like he's gonna be any help anyway."

"You wanna know where the Joker is?" I started straight into my baby, who was cooing and looking right back at me. "I'm surprised you haven't noticed already. He's been with us the entire time."

"What?" The two male nurses looked at one another.

"Yeah, he's been here, the entire time. In fact, you've been helping him without even realizing it."

"Stop talkin' shit lady! Tell us where the Boss is or we'll blow your freakin' head off!" The gun pressed against my forehead.

I turned up to look at them, a peaceful and content look on my face. "You two should really pay attention. Have you learned nothing. Here you have me hooked up to this bed, my legs spread open for all of Gotham to see. Not even a jist of Mozart playing in the background, how will my baby every surpass you two apes in intelligence if he doesn't start early?" I sat up, stretching my arms into the air. "I mean honestly, this whole charade could have been prevented if you had shown me just a little bit of respect, but all you wanna do is bother me, a new mother, with your stupid questions. You wanna know where Joker is?" I paused, just long enough to raise my baby in front of the nurses' confused faces. "Say 'Hello!'" I pressed the plastic button on my baby's tummy. "And 'Goodbye!'"

My baby started roaring with laugher.

The Joker's laugh.

Then everything went white again...


Please Review!

AN: (August 26, 2014) I've decided to break up the story because it reads better this way. With the emotions I'm trying to portray, I think a bigger break than a line is necessary, but the rest will be up again I promise!