DISCLAIMER: I do not own Batman, the Joker, Katherine Kane AKA Batwoman/Batgirl, Robin, Harley Quinzel AKA Harley Quinn, Alfred, or any of the other characters or films associated with Batman.

This fanfiction story is dedicated to my booboo Skyler! Muah! And to Heath Ledger's performance of the Joker in The Dark Knight film.  Love!

Chapter One - Rodeo Starlet

Katherine Kane knew how to make an entrance.

As she rode into the Gotham City Limits Annual Rodeo, standing up on her steed, wearing her button up, light orange shirt and jeans, her coppery pony tail bouncing in waves under her rodeo hat, the crowd burst into cheers, standing and applauding already. She grinned up at them and waved, keeping perfect balance.

She tugged on the reigns of her horse as she neared the center of the ring and then slipped down into an unusual – for her – lady like side saddle position. She smiled up at them with her beautiful blue green eyes.

"Look at that girl!" a man wolf whistled in the crowd. "She's purtier n a speckled pup!"

Katy, as she was often called, was in fact "speckled" with little freckles on her cheeks. There probably wasn't a man in Gotham that wouldn't have liked to kiss each of those freckles, unless that man was blind or gay.

"Friend you must be from the deep south!" a man next to him said, holding out a hand. "What's your name?"

The man almost jumped a little when the southerner turned to grin at him and he saw the deep scars lining his cheeks. The southerner grinned.

"Why, mah name's Enis!"

"Enis! Well I used to have an uncle named Enis! That's an old fashioned name. My name's Harlem Wayne."

"Wayne?" 'Enis' tilted his head, still grinning at how the man had been unnerved by his scars. "You must be related to the inner city Gotham Waynes!"

"Oh yeah. Bruce Wayne's my cousin."

"Real shame, the story about his parents, I mean," 'Enis' said his eyes full of sympathy. Harlem found he was still slightly unnerved by Enis – his eyes seemed so genuine, his smile so charming, but at the same time…there was something deeper there. Enis was oddly intense, especially the way he locked eyes with Harlem while speaking.

"Well ain't that somethin'!" Enis grinned, giggling. "Y'all visit much?"

"Oh no, not really. Well I haven't seen Bruce in something like…five years maybe! I ought to really…" Harlem smiled and turned back to his wife. "Well it was a pleasure meeting you and you enjoy the show Enis!"

"Oh," the man known as Enis continued grinning and his intense eyes focused on the lovely Katherine Kane again.

"I will."

Katherine performed a number of tricks, including riding hand stand on her horse and even back-flipping off of him. From a young age she had been prolific at horseback riding. But she had struggled as a preteen when her interest shifted to gymnastics. It had been difficult to pursue both in her life, with helping out on her father's farm. She loved helping out on the farm and caring for her two horses – Vanity, her white, speckled mare, and Bronte, her dark brown stallion, but she loved being able to cartwheel herself across a balance beam and the feeling of being lighter than air when she flipped around on a high beam. She had been participating in junior rodeos as a child but it was one evening watching a program about Cirque du Soleil that she had realized she could learn to combine her two loves.

So it was that several years later at the age of twenty two she was riding horses instead of going to college. Katherine didn't really care about college – she took a few community college courses during the week, but she wasn't interested in a degree currently. She just wanted to commit her life to what she loved most.

She was also a well loved activist when it came to animal rights and she loved to volunteer at the Humane Society. She had even managed to raise money by writing to men like Bruce Wayne for the creation of a little farm where old and debilitated horses could live out the remainder of their life in love and care, and Katherine's parents helped her run it. They had named it 'Circle Dubbya Ranch' in honor of Bruce Wayne and a great iron W was on the arch over the entrance to it.

Katherine, in short, loved her life and found nothing about it lacking.

The only thing that bothered her was that her best friend since the age of eleven, Harleen Quinzel, or Harley as Katy liked to call her, hadn't been talking to her much lately.

They had met when Katy had joined gymnastics. Harley was pretty and blonde and a few years older than her at the age of thirteen and Katy had come to admire her and look up to her since they had first met. Harley was like a swan – graceful and delicate looking, but at the same time, incredibly strong.

Harley had been so sweet to her and had helped her, as a newcomer, with her practice at the balance beam. Some of Kathy's favorite memories were of competitions where she had performed and could, with a glance, see Harley smiling at her and clapping on the sidelines.

"Oh Kathy you did just fantastic!" Harley would always smile and tell her afterwards, her blue eyes shining brightly.

Katy struggled to focus on her performance and the cheers of the crowd as the memories of Harley came flooding back to her again. It had just been the past few weeks that she'd been thinking about Harley more– someone she'd sort of forgotten about with the farm and Circle W ranch to take care of – and she knew what had started her thinking about it. It was reading that newspaper with the Joker's face on it and the words – JOKER SENT TO ARKHAM.

She slipped down on her horse again, her forehead beading with perspiration as she turned and slipped off, and standing next to him, took off her hat and waved to the audience to close her performance. They rose and cheered and hundreds of yellow, red, and pink roses flew in the air around her. She grinned, the joy rising up in her chest. She loved the crowds. She loved this.

Why didn't Harley love it anymore? She had been such a joyful performer before she'd started taking college so seriously. It all started with that class in psychiatry that Harley had taken at the community college when Katherine was still a Junior in high school. Harley would often park at the high school and wait for Katherine to be done, since her own classes ended around two o'clock and when Kathy got out they would hang out for a while before Katy went home to help out with the horses.

She could remember Harley's bright blue eyes as she talked excitedly one afternoon about how she was starting to really love psychology – it was so interesting! Kathy had found it intriguing, but she kept bringing the conversation around to gymnastics and their upcoming competition. Harley smiled and confessed a little excitement about it, but Katy had been able to tell that somehow, she wasn't that interested.

Only a week before the competition, Harley had sighed and shook her head one afternoon as they sat outside of a Dairy Queen in Gotham.

"I can't do this anymore Kate."

"Do what Harley?"

"This whole gymnastics thing," Harley waved one of her tiny hands. (Kathy had always found her hands adorable but Harley would just roll her eyes and say that they made her feel like some kind of carnival attraction) "I just don't think it's what I really want in life. You know?"

Katy shrugged. "What do you want?"

"I want to do something…meaningful. You know?" Katy smiled at Harley's other adorable attribute – her spunky, friendly voice with its quirky northern accent. Harley sounded as if she could be from New Jersey – "I wanna do something to really help people who need it. And I think I just might do something with psychology."

Katy nodded. "I could see you doing something like counseling."

"Really?" Harley's eyes shined. "You mean it?"

"Yeah. You're so nice and you always listen to people."

Harley smiled. "Aw, thanks. You're a real sweetheart Katy. You know – you're my best friend."

"You're my best friend too Harls."

They hugged and from that day on, their conversations were mostly around Harley's ideas about plans for college and eventually graduate school. Soon Harley devoted herself full time to studying and she and Katy were no longer able to hang out much after school, though they continued to try and hang out on weekends. But Harley became so busy wanting to graduate early so she could move on to get a Master's in psychology that they rarely visited anymore.

Katy had grown to miss her friend after graduating high school and looking at all the old pictures of her and Harley growing up.

Of course, now that Harley worked at Arkham as an intern while she finished her Master's it was rare if Katy even got a call from her.

Today her eyes scanned the crowds as she led Bronte out of the ring. Sometimes Harley came to see her shows and it was a Friday night, so maybe she would show up? But normally she would be wearing a bright red rodeo shirt and tight blue jeans that drew all the men's attention, and a little red cowgirl hat. Harley was very much the 'typical American dream girl' with her blue eyes, blonde hair and full red lips. Whenever Katy saw a poster or a t-shirt of Marilyn Monroe, she was reminded of her good friend.

Harleen Quinzel was, in fact, sitting in the audience. Her red shirt was dirty so she'd simply worn an old rodeo t-shirt instead, though she was wearing some form fitting old jeans. She was waving a hand to her friend but without her hat on, Harley doubted that Katy would recognize her.

It was nice to be out of Arkham for a while, as well as out of the city. Harley loved Gotham and city life, but sometimes it got a little too oppressive with all those buildings towering over her and the concrete everywhere. It was nice to be out in fresh air at an open rodeo, surrounded by people cheering, even if a lot of the men were eyeing her petite but curvy figure.

Of course, Harley wouldn't have been so relaxed at all if she'd found out that one of the men eyeing her was an escaped patient from the very mental hospital she was an intern at, and one of the most dangerous patients that had ever been brought through the doors of Arkham.

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