This is laboring under the plot line that Harley and the Joker are on again off again for many many years prior to him almost taking out half of Gotham. I wanted to write something romantic, this isn't exactly the same harley as my other Harley ut she's similar. Six chapters.
Disclaimer: i don't own the characters and the title belongs to Iris Murdoch's book of the same name. I love her.
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A Fairly Honorable Defeat
1. The Trial
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She felt boxed in.
Metaphorically, physically, spiritually-- most definitely psychologically. And there was no way out as far as she could see. Nothing to do but give in and tell the truth-- tell the truth they want you to tell anyway. The truth that will give them what they want. Insanity plea. What a silly thing to want so desperately she thought, folding her hands delicately in her lap. Fingerprint sized bruises had bloomed to the surface on her wrists. She sighed and dropped her head down, her mousey brown hair creating a straight curtain around her face. The last three inches were still platinum blonde but she hadn't bothered to get it cut or died. Clearly.
"Please state your name for the court--"
She was too afraid to look up so she just leaned forward to the microphone so her voice resonated throughout the room.
"Dr. Harleen Quinzel."
The sound of high heeled pumps dragging across the carpeted court room floor reached her ears as the new District Attorney approached-- Iris Goldman. Harley kept her head down, not wishing to make eye contact with this pyranha of a lawyer. She was suddenly very tired. Definitely not in the mood for handing out the insanity plea.
"Dr. Quinzel, could you please tell the courtroom your occupation," Iris Goldman requested crisply.
Harley cleared her throat and lifted her chin slightly though she kept her eyes trained on Iris Goldman, District Attorney for the city of Gotham's black stilettos. "Currently I am engaged in a research project at Yale University's psychology department in New Haven."
"I see," said Goldman. Somehow she made her tone patronizing, as if this was not an impressive achievement. "Can you please identify the man known as the Joker in this courtroom, Dr. Quinzel."
For a moment the muscles in Harley's neck refused to move and she remained staring at the ground-- at the horrible lumpy brown carpet that looked even more tatty and worn against Iris Goldman's flashy high heels. A murmur ran through the room as Harley remained frozen in place-- her breath coming in small gasps. Then she managed to glance up and let her gaze sweep the room until she found his figure, sitting calmly at the defendant's table. He sat absolutely still with his handcuffed hands clasped together on the tabletop while he stared up at the ceiling-- seeming irreparably bored.
Of course he was bored-- this whole thing was ever so trite, not to mention trying on one's imaginaaaaation. Harley clenched her jaw. Sometimes she heard his voice in her head, voicing her own thoughts. Or perhaps they weren't her own thoughts. Perhaps they were his.
His lawyer was scribbling hastily on yellow legal paper, only the top of his head visible-- a circle of baldness surrounded by fluffy, gray hair. She didn't know how he'd even managed to get a lawyer-- the guy was probably regretting taking on the case. Or at least he would be very soon.
He refused to look at her though-- just kept looking skyward as if asking God for a mirical when really he was just intentionally trying to her hurt her. She knew it, she could feel it and taste it. He loved to do that to her.
Iris Goldman seemed to be taking in her reaction with intensely smug pleasure, crossing her arms and keeping her pale eyes trained on Harley. "Please let the record show the witness has identified the man known as the Joker--" she said sharply, not taking her eyes off Harley. "Now, Dr. Qunizel, will you please tell the jury about your relationship with the man known as the Joker."
Harley dropped her gaze again, not caring if it made her weak to feel so inadequate and judged simply by his refusal to awkknowledge her, and this Goldman woman's apparent delight in the matter. "There is no relationship." she muttered, only barely audible through the microphone.
Goldman walked closer to the stand and rested her arms on the dark lacquered wood railing. She appeared casual and confident but there was something ferocious and animal-like in her demeanor. Harley couldn't tell if she liked it or not. She definitely despised this woman so completely for trying to put her baby-- no-- just him away for life. But still there was something amusing about her determination-- so pointless and fierce, so useless and focused. It was a bad joke-- but a funny one none the less. Harley lowered her head even further, letting her chin rest against her chest and her mousey hair shielded her face once again.
"Harley, please remember you are in a court of law." The tone was so condescending that the self pity which Harley so identified herself with was ripped from from her body in an instant-- Harley's eyes flashed up, full of violence and self-actualizing need. She was pleased when Goldman took a step backwards, the lawyer's pale gaze jolted suddenly by the movement. The flicker of personality. The sight of what lurked beneath the surface.
"We were lovers for a brief time, I did not know what he was capable of," Harley lied woodenly.
"You and the the Joker were lovers but you did not realize he was capable of mass murder and terrorism?"
Harley glanced at the Joker again. He was still ignoring her but his lawyer was now sitting upright staring at her blankly, panic relatively obvious behind his watery eyes. She pursed her lips. "Yes."
"When was your last correspondence with the Joker?"
"About two years ago. I received a letter saying--" she looked at him again and he was still not looking in her direction-- now he was staring out the court room window which looked out over Gotham's dismal skyline. He still appeared disinterested in the whole ordeal but now his body language had changed slightly-- between professional psychiatry and knowing him inside and out she could see his shoulders were hunched, his head tilted awkwardly to the side as if frozen in place, his face tense-- the scars almost twitching with broken nerves under the skin. He didn't experience nervousnessper say, because nervousness indicates fear-- but he was a proponent of anxiety-- anxiety and a general mistrust of other people not to fuck up.
It was clear across his face now-- do not fuck up .
"--saying he missed me, he loved me, et cetera."
There was a long pause as another low rumble of conversation rolled over the courtroom.
The letter had actually been a death threat telling her if she didn't come back to Gotham he would find her and cut her up into little pieces.
She'd come back.
"What is the defendant's real name, surely if you were so in love you must know."
Did this woman have a tone other than patronizing or an agenda other than to be brutally murdered?
NO.
Do not think that way.
Harley shook her head to clear it off the voices-- she managed to pass the movement off as a gesture of disagreement. "He does not have a name."
"How long have you known the defendant?"
She replied after a moment's thought, "Almost eight years."
"And after eight years of having loved a man who is a mass murderer, you neither knew his name, nor that he was a killer?"
"Objecton!"
"Sustained."
"Fine-- then you were never curious to know his name?"
Harley pulled her gaze up from the floor and let her eyes settle calmly on Iris Goldman, District Attorney for the City of Gotham. In her late forties, Goldman was not beautiful-- she had thin lips, very pale skin and narrow eyes. Her figure was willowy and she was well dressed with blunt, shoulder length black hair that was almost Egyptian-like. Calling her attractive would not have been a far stretch but she was certainly not beautiful.
Harley, on the other hand, was very beautiful. Not necessarly in a classical sense but when one looked at Harley Quinn, one was usually taken aback. Even under a half platinum, straggly mop of hair, blotchy skin and blood shot eyes it was clear that she was beautiful. Sad. But beautiful.
"Have you ever been in love Miss. Goldman?" She asked quietly, again leaning forward to speak into the microphone so the court could hear her.
Goldman looked taken by surprise, her counternance of fierce and reckless determination faltered for a moment-- just enough that instead of insisting Harley respond to the posed question she simply said, "Yes, of course," in a half intrigued, half contemptuous way. Her pale face and glassy eyes expressed the former, while her tone expressed the latter-- as if unable to remove any notion of negativity from her manner of speaking.
Harley offered her a tiny smile. "Clearly not, otherwise you would know that names are hardly important when you're in love."
The lawyer looked offended. "Your honor please--"
"In answer to your question my relationship to him was that I simply loved him. I didn't care about his name and additionally I am probably a very poor judge of his character because of how much I loved him."
His lawyer was staring at her in a semi-deranged manner-- mouth slack, one bushy gray eyebrow raised as he hovered over his legal pads. The Joker had finally turned his eyes on her-- and Harley instantly knew she had made a fantastic mistake when she met his gaze. Feral, possessive, intrigued and amused-- definitely four bad signs of what was to come if he ever got out of prison or Arkham-- wherever they decided to put him. Renewed interest in his harlequin.
From across the room Harley could not see the velvety green of his eyes-- she wished like hell for a moment that she was close enough to put her arms around him-- then she could feel like she was a part of him again-- whenever she'd done this before she'd normally been met with contempt. It wouldn't be any different now.
He smiled at her crookedly, one of his scars twitching upwards-- the effect was disturbing, more so than it would have been with the make up on. She preferred him with make up. Harley dropped her gaze back to the floor, not wishing to see him any more. Never again.
"No further questions your honor."
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Just felt like writing something else for a change. It's gonna be short-- just 6 chapters-- with Tarentino esque timing-- just a look at them being in love. Well-- Harley being in love anyway. If people like it i'll do more after the 6 chapters cause it's pretty open.
Please drop me a REVIEW!! They're so lovely to get and make me so happy. xx
