Poink, poink, poink, he pulls the petals off one at a time, and he throws them on the floor. And he's not yelling at her, he's just complaining, and so what else is new for a change? Pluck, pluck, pluck, and what's Harley thinking? Is she telling herself she knew the job was dangerous when she took it, or is she asking what the hell she was thinking, because jeez, she oughta know Mistah J's tastes better than this after so much time?
Or is she wishing she'd gone ahead and given the roses to Red after all, because you can say what you want to about Poison Ivy, but at least she knows how to appreciate flowers?
Poink, poink, poink, and, "roses," he says, "of all the lame, stupid, unoriginal presents! I ask you: Where's the funny? Where the hell is the goddamn punchline?" He has his elbow still on the drawing board, he hasn't even turned around all the way to look at her, just far enough so he can grab the vase outa her hands and start picking petals off the roses. And poink, poink, he keeps on going, and some of the flowers are starting to look a little naked.
"Harley-girl, you'll never be anything but a hench-wench." He doesn't sound mad, just kinda disappointed, and he's still picking at the flowers as fast as his pale-white fingers can go. "I had my hopes for you at first," he says, "but my god girl, I could have trained the hyenas faster than you!"
And maybe she's thinking that she coulda given the flowers to the babies instead too. They'da eaten 'em probably, but at least they'da gotten some fun out of 'em. Maybe she's just listening to Mistah J, and taking his words to heart.
Anyway, "rejected," he tells her, "I'm calling this one a failure." And he turns back to his drawing board, and he leaves the roses to teeter and wobble, up near the top (and maybe to fall over after a while and spill rose-water all over the precious Doomsday plans that he loves so much more than her), "now you go along and leave Daddy alone," he says, "and don't come back again unless you have a real present."
And Harley leaves with her shoulders all slumped. She leaves with her blue eyes downcast, and her rosy mouth set in a pout – You can't tell what she might be thinking, but that's how she looks when she goes. She goes and takes the babies their Valentine's Day present, which they of course love, because raw meat is a treat whatever day they get it on. And she's not there when Joker looks up again at the roses. So she's not there to see the way his face softens, into something almost like a smile.