Darling Columbine
He had been there, crouched on the windowsill of Arkham for some time watching her.
Perhaps it's a sign you're getting delusional or........what is the term........grandiose?
He was really beginning to hate the voices in his head.
Just go before it's too late and she looks round and you embarrass yourself-
But she was right there, a few feet away and God Almighty but she had even contrived a way to look like the very image of perfection hunched over her desk doing paperwork! It was something about the way she held herself. Something about the way the lamplight made her hair shimmer-
So say something!
What a wonderful idea, what do you suggest? Hello Doctor, so glad to see that your life isn't in danger tonight, it so often is given the unfortunate combination of your institute's lax security and your inmates' genius combined with their total disregard for life-
May be not quite like that-
He turned his attention back to her. She was stretching, her back arched ever so slightly and she must have caught a glimpse of his cape fluttering in the breeze because she was off her chair and on her feet like lightening-
At least she's learnt from her encounters with those villains-
"It's only me." He called out, edging carefully, slowly into view.
The relief that washed over the good Doctor's features was, he had to admit (if only to himself), exceptionally pleasing. When she broke into a smile he almost felt like a lucky man.
"Oh," She said, but in a moment she'd collected herself, calmed and the smile was erased. "I thought you were-"
"He's in custody Doctor, I- I came to inform you that you should not expect him anytime soon. His flight gear was damaged during the......scuffle that ensued when we found him. He broke three leg bones in the fall. The police have him in a specially devised secure ward in Gotham General Hospital. Under heavy sedation."
"Oh thank God!" She declared. "It's over."
"Yes." He agreed. "It is."
Until he escapes again. How does she do it? How can this.....saint of a woman stand it here? Why stay? Why continue to try and cure this monster when the whole city knows it is a doomed enterprise?
She is truly remarkable.
They stood in her office staring at each other, each in their uniforms, in their worlds.
I wish I had the words to tell you how wonderful you are Doctor; almost as much as I wish I could....... repair the damage done to this city. I wish we both lived in a sane world. I wish- I wish I could ask you out to dinner and argue over Italian or Japanese. Or take you to the cinema; do you like comedies I wonder? Satire? I used to, a long time ago when the world was normal and men didn't put on capes and clamber up rooftops in order to prevent lunatics from dismantling this careful, beautiful cardhouse of a city.
I wish I could be close to you without endangering you, but perhaps you're already in the line of fire?
I wish this mask didn't make things so difficult.
I wish.......I wish some times that I could tell you what's under it, but then I remember the look on Flass' face the first time he saw- You know he hasn't looked at me quite the same way since. I would hate to see you look at me that way, to catch pity or disgust in your eyes every time you glanced at this mask.
Perhaps it is better to have a blank face.
She took a step forward. "Thank you."
He bowed. "Tis merely my duty, my Lady."
She giggled. She had the most exceptionally gorgeous laugh, in fact for that sound he was almost willing to put in a repeat performance with the ever brutal Bruce Wayne-
Then she grinned, and he was sure of it.
Perhaps if the silence had stretched a few moments longer they would have found a way to break it. They had both been trying to find the words-
I-Doctor Quinzel you fascinate me, your dedication to these people and this place, your faith in it moves me more then- What I'm trying to say Harleen, my darling, if I may be bold, is that before when the darkness in this city depressed me, when it seemed as though their Injustice League would be victorious I used to think of Mr Dent. Of the bravery it took to go back and stand in court, to hound and prosecute these monsters, within the law, even after they had destroyed so much of his life and disfigured him so cruelly. Now- Now although I sometimes try to recall Dent's sacrifice and courage the image that always comes to my mind, is you.
Red Hood, I know. I know what Owlman did to you, I know how it- I treat the man for God's sake! He bragged about it, the bastard bragged. And Commissioner Flass told me, he described it and- and I don't care but I can hardly stand sitting here every night after one of them escapes waiting to hear whether you caught them or- It's just not enough, for me to stand by and just pray you make it out alive-
The Doctor noticed it first. "Oh."
He turned back towards the window.
"Ah." He said; his mark was in the sky.
"May be that secure ward wasn't as secure as they thought." The Doctor observed.
"Perhaps. Or perhaps our noble police force have merely missed my company."
She smiled. "Take care."
"Always."
He slipped out of the window like a pool of crimson ink.
Flass you bastard, if this isn't an emergency I swear I will devote what remains of my time to finding out the name of your mistress and telling your wife.
000
(Columbine is the French form of Columbina, the traditional female counterpart to the traditionally male, Harlequin.)