"Just breathe Joan"

She inhaled deeply and willed her hands to stop shaking. Letting the breath out slowly, she tried not to think about what the man on the other side of the door had done. There wasn't one person left in Gotham who hadn't been affected by his ludicrous antics. Joan's own brother had been in Gotham General that day. His wife had just had a beautiful baby boy. Six pounds ten ounces. Joan shook her head fiercely and forced these thoughts from her mind.

"I'm a professional. He is just another patient."

She smoothed down her chocolate brown pencil skirt and grasped the cool silver door handle. It didn't matter how often she had seen his face on TV or how long she had gone over the pictures in his file, when her eyes laid on the disfiguring scars and heavy lidded eyes she nearly lost it. He sat slumped in a chair bolted to the floor. His arms securely fastened in a freshly bleached straight jacket.

"Hello. My name is Doctor Leland. I need to ask you a few questions."

Joan mentally kicked herself as she sat in the chair opposite him. Don't sound like a cop, sound like a doctor! But the man didn't move. Joan cleared her throat and shifted in her chair. "They are very simple questions really. We just need to know a few things such as your name and where you're from?"

She had to stop from gasping when he finally looked up. A sick smirk slowly crawled up the left side of his face and his eyes flicked up to small red light in the corner of the room. He knows we're filming him. Shit. This is going to be a long day.

oOo

The most annoying buzzing sound in the world drifted to Harley over a cloudy sea of the Tylenol PM still floating in her system. Slowly she realized that it was not the school alarm hurrying her off to class but the dinky little alarm she had gotten from a second hand store. Lazily she reached over to check the time and put an end to the horrible noise. Big red crystals read 7:15.

"Aw, fuck. On your first day Harl?"

The small blonde woman kicked the tangled covers from the bed and began to pull on the clothes she had laid out the night before. It had taken her two hours to finally decide on the white cotton cowl neck tank top with a black blazer and a matching black pencil skirt that was almost too tight. She had wanted to shower but barely had time to brush her teeth before slipping into the black matte court heels and grabbing the (mostly empty) black leather valise on her way out the door.

Once she had made it to the street, she hailed a cab. Sure it would probably cost an arm and a leg but she could just add it to the looming mountain of University debts. Using a pencil she pinned her hair up into a bun and watched Gotham slide by. It had only been three and half months since graduating. Two and a half months since getting her internship at Arkham. Eight months since she had gone out with friends. One year, four months two days and six hours since she had last had sex. Consensual sex.

"Thirty-five, Lady"

Harleen merely blinked at the cabbie. He gave her a harsh look and she realized that the cab had stopped moving.

"Oh..yes. Thirty-five? Here," she handed him two twenties, "keep the change."

The man made a rough grunting sound as Harleen climbed out of the car. He drove off leaving her to stand in front of the menacing Gothic architecture. The clicking of her heels echoed across the grounds. Why do creepy places always echo? She walked as fast as she could to her boss's office and nearly ran into her.

"Harley, I was just coming to find you." Dr. Leland had a rich voice like Alfre Woodard. It had always soothed Harley. She remembered how safe it made her feel to sit the Doctor's warm office surrounded by leather bound books and various personal chotchkies. It was like an office right out of the movies. She watched the Doctor's deep red lips move fluidly around big important words and theories. This woman was strong and intelligent. Harley wanted desperately for her to be her mentor. Well you won't last too long if you don't STOP DAY DREAMING AND PAY ATTENTION!!!

Harley snapped back to reality just quickly enough to hear the tail end of Joan's sentence.

"…it goes against my better judgment but we really don't know what else to do."

Harley responded to Joan's look of tortured worry with the most confident smile she could muster. Joan heaved a resignated sigh.

"All you need to do is get him to answer the intake survey. That's all. You don't need to diagnose him or try to treat him. Just ask the questions and write down the answers he gives."

Some of the tension in Harley's shoulders melted away and her smile became more natural. An intake interview, that was all. Piece of cake.

"Let's get you your ID badge, lab coat and panic button before going down to the observation room."

Harley watched Joan head down the corridor for a moment before trying to catch up with her. Panic button?