A/N: do not own anything DC related. Just the plot bunny and beautiful Tessa.

~He who makes a beast out of himself, gets rid of the pain of being a man~

~Avenged Sevenfold~

Tessa Marlin was like a lot of people that lived in the narrows. She ran away from her home at the age of 15, crashing in a flop house with other runaways. Like others, she learned fairly quickly, that life was tough for a kid in The Narrows. It was even tougher for a kid who was cute and petite. Now fully grown, Tessa was only 5'3".By the end of her first month, Tessa had become a pretty competent fighter. She'd only gotten beat up during the first week. Once she realized it was better to attack first, her problems vanished.

One thing she was a natural at was going mostly unnoticed. Tessa was good at blending into the crowd. It had taken her a short amount of time and two broken fingers to learn how to lift wallets. Once she'd mastered that, life in the narrows had changed for her. She had found herself a new place to stay. It was a condemned building, a small office type. She had staked her claim and lived alone.

She was still technically a minor, for a few more months at least, so she had to lay low or get sent to the juvie house. That place was a nightmare. She'd rather live out on the streets, and had found a waitressing job to help supplement her hobby. She loved working the graveyard shift at the small Mom and Pop style diner. Tonight was, in fact, a work night.

She got up and used her supply of clean water to wash her face. She had removed the pipe from under the sink. She collected the "gray" water to use to flush the toilet. The building had very limited supplies. Like only electricity, and only sometimes. Tessa got dressed and left for the diner. The walk wasn't far, just over the edge of the 'Industrial' side of town. She walked into the diner, noting it was practically empty. Slow nights were the worst.

She sighed and headed to the back to the employee/kitchen area. She grabbed her apron and tied it on. "Hey Chuck." She greeted the slightly overweight cook. "How's it going tonight?" The man looked up at her and smiled. "It's slow tonight, babygirl." He winked, shamelessly flirting with her.

She smiled and headed back out to the service side. The other waitress was sitting at the counter, reading a magazine. Sheryl was exactly what you would expect to find for your waitress at a diner.

"I'm here Sheryl, you can head out early if you want." She said startling the woman. The older woman put her hand on her chest in surprise, then her face was all smiles."Thank you, Jesus. It's dead tonight. She jumped up and cashed out her till and started a fresh one for Tessa."It's all yours, sweetie, Earl has been the only person here in the last hour." She pointed to the old man in a booth.

He was a regular at the diner. He drank the free refills of coffee all night. Tessa was sure it was to hide from the chill outside. Even in summer, Gotham could get frigid at night."See ya." She told the other woman when she left. Tessa sighed and grabbed the coffee pot. She headed over to Earl.

She stepped up to his table and put on her million dollar smile. "Hey Earl, can I top you off?" she asked shaking the coffee pot old man looked up at her with filmy old eyes. "Tessa? Yea thanks." He said sliding the cup over to her."Tell ya what, I'm gonna bring you some pie, my treat." She said smiling.

She hated how fragile the old man looked. She turned and grabbed a generous slice of apple pie. She set the dessert in front of him with a clean fork."You always take good care of me Tessa." He said taking a small bite ."If I didn't, who would?" She joked. The night really was dragging along. She watched as Earl dozed in and out of consciousness. She hated that he had to go to such lengths to stay warm. But she wouldn't kick him out, ever.

She was pulled from her thought's by the bell above the door, looked at her watch as she greeted the customers. it was 9:30 pm. "Welcome to Pete's, sit wherever you'd like."She walked over passing out menus to the four teenagers. Forty-five minutes later, they had left. The mess was ridiculous, and they left her $1.50 tip. Teenagers were assholes. She cleaned the mess and made a fresh pot of coffee.

The next customer came and interrupted her conversation with Earl. "Duty calls." she told the old man, causing a chuckle from looked at her watch again, it was midnight. Her night was half over. She walked over to the group of four men, grabbing menus along the way.

"Evening boys, what can I get you to drink?" She asked as she passed out the menus. She had learned a longtime ago, not to make too much eye contact with the late crowd.

"Three coffees, black, and a strawberry milkshake." She wrote the drinks on her pad. "Be right back." She turned and walked away.

She moved to the machine to make the damned milkshakes. It was huge, and hard for her short self to muscle through. She did it though. She turned to the counter and placed the beautiful shake on the tray, pleased with how it turned out. She hurried around and set the tray on the table next to them.

"Who had coffee?" She asked the group, she passed out the coffee cups and filled them. She grabbed the milkshake and looked to the last guy and almost dropped the glass. The man was dressed rather flamboyantly, his suit a clash of many colors. But that wasn't what caused her to almost drop the ice cream. He was wearing make up.

No, not make up face paint, like a clown. She eyed the man and set the milkshake down."Here you go." She said. His eyes watched her, gauging her reaction to him. She grabbed her pad and pencil. "Have you had a chance to look at the menus?"One of the other men began to order.

She wrote down their orders. All cheeseburgers and fries. She turned back to the clown man. "And for you?" She asked, keeping her smile pleasant. It was no business of hers if he wanted to dress like a clown. Gotham was a strange place. Who was she to judge? His voice came out clear and a bit nasally.

"How's the pot roast?" He smacked his lips. Tessa responded with out thinking "Dry."

The man burst out into laugher. She smiled and waited for him to finish. Finally, his laugher subsided and he smiled at her. His tongue darted out and traced a vertical scar on his lower lip. "I'll have the, uh, dry pot roast and mashed potatoes." She wrote the order and collected the menus. "We aren't super busy tonight, it shouldn't take too long." She said walking behind the counter to drop off their order.

She walked over to check on Earl but he'd fallen back asleep. She left him alone and moved to make more coffee. She took the almost empty pot and moved back to the table with the clown."Coffee?" she asked. The men nodded eagerly. She refilled the guys cups and returned.

Within minutes, Chuck yelled from the kitchen "Order up." Tessa walked over and loaded up her tray. with the three burger plates. She moved over and set them down. She hurried back to grab the pot roast and moved to deliver it. "Does everything look good?" She was a murmured round of yeses. She turned to the clown, "Do you want another shake?" She gestured to the empty glass. His eyes locked on hers and then he smiled.

That's when she noticed the red on his face wasn't all paint, it looked scarred."That would be wonderful, Doll." He said handing her the glass. She nodded and moved to make the shake. She returned to the table with the shake in one hand and a fresh pot of coffee. She dropped off the drink and refilled cups.

"Tessa?" She nearly jumped out of her skin. Earl was standing by the booth. She set the pot on the warmer and walked over to the old man, helping him put his coat on. "I'm gonna head out, what do I owe you?" He said digging for change.

"Don't worry about it, just stay safe and warm." She said walking him to the door. "See you tomorrow?" She asked.

"I'll be here." he said then left.

She cleaned off the table he'd been at and moved back to behind the counter, pushing the dirty dishes through the small hole and into the wash area. She jumped as a voice sounded behind her. "You always work so late?" She turned and looked at the clown from the table. He had walked up to the counter, sitting on one of the barstools."Yeah, I like the evening crowd." She told him, turning to fully face him.

"Your name's Tessa?" he asked. She pointed to the name tag on her shirt. His eyes shot down and then back up. "Contessa? That's a mouthful."

She leaned her hip against the counter, "That's why I go by Tessa." She said. She really looked at him now, he was odd. Yeah he had scars on his face, but where most people covered their scars, he accentuated his with red face paint.

"Like what you see?" he asked, pulling her from her thoughts.

She shrugged. "Maybe." His laughter was contagious. She giggled along for a second.

"I like you, No, uh, BS. Straight to the point."

She smirked at him. Maybe he was a nut job, that's why he was dressed like this. She looked at him again and asked, "You supposed to be a clown?"

"Why? You looking to join the circus?" He joked.

"It's rude to answer a question with another question." She said glaring at him now.

"Well, you know what they say, You can't teach an old clown new tricks." he looked at her now, smile gone.

"Not tricks, just basic manners." she said.

He burst into laughter again. He looked at the girl for a full minute, causing her to start to squirm a bit. He finally smiled again."You are a Hoot." he said then turned to his friends. "Gotta go boys, busy night ahead of us." She rung up their total. He reached to the taller of the three men and put his hand out. The man dug in his own pocket and handed the clown a wad of money.

He moved to where Tessa stood by, then handed her the wad of cash and what looked like a playing card. "See ya around." he said then left, men trailing behind him. Tessa sat down and unballed the bills, noticing a few of them were rather large. She was at a loss, their meal had been $46.83. The man had given her $487.00 and a joker card.

... well? o.0