So first, a little disclaimer: This little story is based on a slightly sad, but magnificient story The Joker and Mr Zsasz written by wbss21, so I definitely recommend to read it first, so you will understand everything. :-) But you may notice that I have used my Batman OC, Katherine. It was an idea that popped in my head when I read that fanfiction and I had to write it down, so hope you will like it. :-)
...
It was exactly a year after that events and another winter was coming to Gotham. The winter and the Christmas. In Arkham Asylum, Christmas was always a critical time, especially this year. All of those, who were present during the holiday last year, have still remembered the anfortunate incident with the two probably most feared and detested inmates of the whole asylum, the Joker and Zsasz, and the consequences. Since it was probably the worst Christmas incident that ever happened over the years here, it wasn't that much weird that the doctors were more than hesitant if they should give the celebration idea another chance and repeat it.
But there were some people brave enough, that they were resolutely against the idea of canceling, especially one. Doctor Katherine Jones was a young doctor, that wasn't working here for that long time, but from the beginning she showed a great concern towards the patient, even if it wasn't always returned. But she had the patience to ignore many thinks, and a lot of friendship towards to patients to stay calm, even in the situations where others couldn't. She was the one who loudly expressed her opinion that it wasn't much fair to cancel the last whole celebration because of a scuffle that clearly was expected.
The answer to her was always the same: that she wasn't there, and she didn't see it. Yes she wasn't present there in that time, she wasn't working in the asylum for a few months before that, but after she returned to her work the next spring, she had to deal with the consequences. Katherine never actually knew why, but she was always very fond of Victor Zsasz. Her favourite was the Scarecrow, but every patients was somehow interesting for her. That was something for she was a lot different then the other doctors. She was close with her patients, she was never trying to avoid it, and it was a reason why she was called crazy many times, but it was also a reason, why she was usually very popular among the patients.
They all knew that they can speak freely with her, and she was always there to talk with them, or at least listen. Many of them appreciated the conversation, after all, most of the rogues were really inteligent personalities. And in the sessions, Katherine was always acting more like a friend, then a psychiatrist. And so it was her, who was trying to comfort Victor as much as she could, when she heard about what happened to him, because, even after two months, the Joker still hadn't enough and couldn't leave him alone.
Of course, there was nothing Katherine could do to effectively punish the clown, so she was just trying to make it easier for Zsasz. She put a lot of effort into making him understand that what happened wasn't his fault, that in a fair duel, Joker would never have a slight chance, but of course, Zsasz being the proud person like he always was, for him it was a personal failure and he didn't take that much well. So, the only thing she could do was wait, and fortunately, after a while, even the Joker got bored of taunting the killer and it seemed that the situation is finally calming down.
But for Katherine, it was a reason to stay away from the Joker. Of all other patients here, she was always slightly nervous around here, and even if she was trying to get over it, she just simply didn't want to spent time with him. And the clown has noticed it of course, and he was frequently trying to get her attention whenever she past his cell, which of course made her even more dangerous. After she heard what he had done to Zsasz, it angered her a lot, because Zsasz was her favourite.
But still, after the whole year her anger gradually dissapeared and even if she still wasn't much sociable when it came to Joker, it didn't mean she didn't want him to miss anything that was prepared for this year. It took a lot of time and lot of persuation, but she managed to convince the other doctors, that there is no point in canceling the celebration that was held here for years and that the original idea of purpose for is was still make it worth. But the doctors made clear that they are not in a mood to do anything original this year so they were willing to just repeat what was the last time, including the idea with the cookies. And so, Katherine was happy.
And she was happy and excited when the day finally came. The patients were led out to the special breakfast like the last year, only this time, the menu was a little more generous than the last time and the patients could actually choose what they want. A week before that Katherine was approached by Poison Ivy and asked if she could do something about the lack of vegetable in the menu, and since she quite liked Ivy, she of course wanted to comply to her, and not only her, she knew that a little more rich selection would be a nice change for everyone. She had to plead for it a lot, but even that the battle was bloody, she managed to win, and she was smiling all the time, as she was watching them getting their meals.
And then she was spending her time among them, they were all free, but she wasn't afraid, there were guards in the room, and after all, she were on a friendly terms with most of them. This whole place was a home for Katherine, her parents were living back in London, where she was born, so she practicaly didn't have anyone here. That was a reason why she always spent so much time in this facility, with those patients. She enjoyed their company. So most of the time this morning, she spent sitting behind the same table as the Riddler and the Scarecrow, talking with them and watching Harley, as she was throwing dreamy looks on the Joker.
Just as the last time, the clown had his own table, sitting alone, surrounded by three guards. When Katherine occasionaly glanced there, she almost felt bad for him, he was there all alone, but when the Joker suddenly looked in her direction and began staring back at her, she quickly turned back and wondered, what she was thinking about.
And then, it was the time to reveal the cookies. This time, it was only cookies, and it was the time that the doctors became really nervous. No one really knew how the clown managed to get to the them the last time and they didn't really want to know.
So when they brought the long table, covered with the white cloth, everyone was looking at the Joker with different kinds of emotions, but his expression wasn't saying anything. Katherine then stood up, and walked to the table, for she was the one who wanted to do this little servise to her friends, so she took the edge of the cloth a pulled it down from the table to reveal the pile of treats... and she stopped.
Suddenly, there was a silence in the room. "Really Joker, again?" said the Scarecrow from his table when he saw what was on the table. And suddenly, the Joker started laughing, probably very unsatiafied that no one was doing the same, and Katherine closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before she slowly took one of the cookie from the table. It was shaped like a human, with long blonde hair, dressed in a white hospital outfit, but it was the inicials, the black K.J. letters that on the front of the treat that clearly gave away who they were ment to resemble and Katherine wasn't sure what she should feel right now. Around her, no one was moving, not even the guards.
"Joker." she said and suddenly, she could feel everybody's shocked looks on herself, when she said that in a quiet, low voice that was telling clearly that she was angry. They never saw her that angry before, no one did, so no one was sure what her reaction was going to be. It surely one thing to do that to another patient, but different thing to do that to a doctor. The room was suddenly silent as the Joker stopped laughing and Katherine finally teared her eyes from the cookie in her hand and looked at him. He was widely grinning on her and she narrowed her eyes in anger.
But suddenly, as she was staring at the green eyes of his, she realised this was probably her fault that it happened to her. After all, she was avoiding him, and she knew very well that he didn't like that. She wasn't expecting him to do the same joke as he did last year, but she was sure that he did that because he knew what made her angry on him in the first place and he wanted to see her reaction. He didn't meant anything bad with it, and even if it was slightly humiliating, she felt her anger slowly dissipating. She glanced over at Zsasz, who was looking at the clown with a very hateful expression on his face. But she wasn't like Zsasz, after all, she wouldn't hold a grudge for a joke like this, no, that would be stupid.
She slowly put the cookie back on the table and went towards the Joker, when a guards finally recovered from the shock and stood in her way. "Doctor, I asure you, it's really not necessary to..." he started, but she waved her hand. "Just step aside." she said, and he obeyed, and she slowly stepped to where the Joker was sitting. Then, unexpectedly, she slapped him hard across his white face. The clown yelped shortly in surprise and he was blinking for a while, before his eyes settled on her face again and he saw that she was smiling on him.
"You know what?" she asked. "When I heard what you have done to Victor, I wanted to personally kick your ass, but... this caught me quite off guard." she sighed. "Maybe I am as crazy as you are... but I am not mad at you for this. You all know I am a lot different then the others here and I can understand you better that anyone else. But still, I cannot understand you, and that was what makes me so nervous around you, and I was a fool for trying to deal with it by not speak to you. I can stand a good joke on my account, Joker, I want you to know this. I just hope you didn't mean it in any bad sense." she said and she looked on the ground.
Then the Joker suddenly spoke: "Oh, don't be sad, doc, of course it was just a joke, nothing more. You surely reacted a lot better than mr. Grumpy here, which was exactly what I was testing. And you know what? You just passed the test!" he almost cryied out happily and she raised her eyes to see him smiling at her, so she smiled as well. "Well done doc, it good to smile from time to time, it never killed anybody!" he laughed and then he suddenly stretched his hand towards her. "Friends?" he asked and he grinned again with that wide, almost friendly smile.
And so, that was it, as she slowly took and shook his hand, it was like a huge block of ice was just broken through, and she spent the rest of the breakfast with the Joker, listening to him, and laughing to his, most of the time a little bloody, Christmas jokes. She realised, how actually easy it was not to be afraid of him, which was the reason why she appeared to relaxed around him, which caused a lot of shocked expressions, not only from the doctors and the guards, but from the patients as well. Katherine was sure, that her new friendship with the Joker would be the topic that would be now discussed for many nights, but she didn't really cared for that moment.
In the far corner of the room was sitting another of Katherine's favourite patients here, Jervis Tetch, the Mad Hatter. It was often that he and Katherine shared a nice cup of tea in his cell, because she liked tea too. As the atmosphere in the room were slowly calming down, the scientist was still staring at the laughing blonde girl next to the clown and he still coun't figure out what just happened between them. "Curiouser and curiouser." he said gently and as he cast one last look on the young doctor before he turned his attention to the Riddler, he mumbled: "We're all mad here."