Mad Love Series, Part VI: Watch Me Burn

by KELZTASTiC

The Joker and Harley start their new life in Italy, but as always, nothing is ever as it seems. The looming birth of their child and a personal situation that hits close to home rocks their world and causes their lives to change forever. Continuation from Light this Fuse.

1. Watch Me Burn

Mad Love Series, Part VI: Watch Me Burn

I lost you somewhere along the way

I don't know or where, but you're gone

Maybe you were never mine to begin with

But you used and abused me and now I'm alone

You changed my world, changed me for the better

But I guess I was mistaken, you never really loved me at all

That fire that once stoked our love has burned out

And you're going to do nothing at all to save me

No you never really cared

You're going to watch me burn

And see me lose all control

Believe me when I say

Go fuck yourself and I'll just walk away

I'll let you go someday but that day isn't today

Break my heart and stomp on it all you want

But I'm never going to let you in again

You never knew my heart and I guess I never knew yours

Because all you've ever done is hurt me

Without even knowing it, you've broken me down

But you'll never see that

You will move on with your life and I'll move on with mine

You'll experience joy and I'll experience pain

Nothing I can do will ever bring you back

Nothing at all

And that's what hurts the most

I can scream, I can beg, but you'll never come back

And I'm not going to want you to

Maybe someday I'll see you again

Maybe someday I'll feel alright

I think that you'll come crawling back

And then, oh and then

I can just watch you burn.

Chapter 1: Watch Me Burn

Just gonna stand there and watch me burn

But that's alright because I like the way it hurts

Just gonna stand there and hear me cry

But that's alright because I love the way you lie

"Love the Way You Lie", Eminem feat. Rihanna

I'm not sure what I thought in that split second, what I thought I was going to do, but I stood up without even thinking and starting stalking towards their table. I didn't even hear the Joker behind me, urging me to stop. I was a woman on a mission, driven by my unrelenting fury.

Selina saw me first. Her eyes widened and her mouth went slack-jawed. I could she was trying to think of something to say before I could cuss those bitches out. Bruce, seeing Selina's shock, turned to see what was going on, and he had the exact same reaction. I mean, maybe they were more shocked by my huge belly but I'm going to keep thinking it was because I had the look of Satan on my face.

I stopped in front of the table, putting on the sweetest yet most menacing smile I could muster, "Bon giorno, you worthless pieces of shit."

Nailed it.

"Harley, what the hell are you doing in Venice?" Bruce made the first attempt.

I was prepared for that with a snide retort, "I could ask you the very same."

I felt the Joker's touch on my arm, and I tried to shove him away.

"Harley, the baby…" he said quietly.

"The baby is going to find out sooner or later who its enemies are." I said, not taking my eyes away from Selina or Bruce.

Bruce looked taken aback, "Is that…?"

"Yes, he is. He's so damn attractive, huh? We're going to have a real adorable family, just like you three. I'm so glad to see Edward reunited with his dear daddy." I think that my voice was so full of venom it could have passed for a snake. I know, I know, it's not my strongest metaphor, just go with it.

"Please don't do this here." Selina pleaded, "I really don't want the attention of these people…"

"Where else would you like me to do this?" I snapped, "I think the two of you are going to have to shut the fuck up before I lose my goddamn mind. How could you do this to Pam? How DARE you do this to Pam!"

"Harley, if you'd let us explain…" Selina interjected.

"No!" I snapped, "You don't get to explain anything. I knew it. I knew it when I saw you a few months ago that this was going to happen! I saw that look on your face when we talked about Bruce and I knew that you were going to do this!"

"Yeah, it was really nice of you to tell me about how you saw them in Wyoming…" Bruce muttered.

"I'm not talking to you." I said, holding my finger up, not even looking him the eye, "You don't even want to get me started, bro."

"Bro?" I think that part left him more stunned than anything else I was saying. Hey, I can be street if I want to…yes, by saying that, I negate that I am 'street'. Shut up. I also need to kick this problem of talking to no one. I'm a strange cookie.

The Joker pulled my arm, "People are staring, babe."

"I don't care!" I shoved his arm away, "I'm not leaving until I get an explanation!"

"You are rather pregnant, Harley." Selina pointed out.

"UM YEAH I THINK I KNOW THAT." I gestured wildly toward my stomach, "What gave it away? My huge-ass stomach?!"

"Listen, Harley, we're all a little emotional and upset. How about we meet up another time and talk about this?" Bruce suggested.

"I think that's an excellent plan." The Joker nodded vehemently, steering me away from the table, "Let's go eat somewhere else."

I fought against him, "Get your hands off of me! I want to know right now!"

"You're getting too worked up to listen to reason." He stopped, and put his hands on my face, making me look directly into his eyes, "You need to stop freaking out. Stop it. We will get this resolved, but you are under too much stress to deal with this. Let's go somewhere else. Please."

I exhaled deeply, feeling my nerves calming, "Alright."

He looked relieved, "Thank you." He walked back over to the table where the two traitorous disgusting human beings were located and he said something to them. I saw Selina hand him a piece of paper and he walked back over to me, "Let's go, babe."

I took his arm and we left the restaurant, "What did she gave you?"

"The number for their hotel and room number so that we can meet up with them another day. They said they'll be here for another week or two."

"Dicks." I muttered.

"Harleen…"

I cringed. I hated when he used my full name, "Alright, I know I over-reacted a little bit."

"That's accurate."

I glared at him, "Let's just get some lunch. I'm fucking starving and it doesn't help that the fetus is kicking like a mother right now."

"It is?!" he touched my stomach, "Oh, I feel you, little person!"

"Ugh you're going to make me puke up my breakfast." I shooed his hands away, "I want some god damn pasta or I will straight up punch someone in the face."

"Ok, ok," Mr. J and I walked a couple blocks to another local place that we'd been to a couple times and we sat down within a few minutes. He ordered a glass of cabernet sauvignon and I ordered some water and we put in our food order with the waiter.

Once he had scuttled away, I said, "I just still can't believe this. First of all, they run away from everything they've established, Bruce with his company and being Batman and all that shit, and two, Selina totally abandoned Pam and took their baby away. Pam was so happy being a mother. You don't even understand, babe…like, I literally want to cry thinking about how she feels right now. It makes me just so upset, thinking about my best friend suffering like that."

"Pam is a strong person." He interjected.

"Yes, of course she is, but that's not the point. I know her better than anyone else in the world, and she's gotta be devastated. I mean, she may have loved Selina, but she adored Edward and wanted to be his mother. I know that she was always a little skeptical about the whole thing, but how could Selina just leave her flat? I should have known when I visited them. I should have known." I shook my head, "I was just so wrapped up in myself and my own problems and didn't even think about Pam. I'm a terrible, terrible friend."

He put his hand on mine, "You know that is the furthest thing from the truth."

"No, it isn't, really. I went there to tell Pam that I was keeping the baby and she was so happy for me that she disregarded what happened between me and Selina that weekend. I hope I wasn't the catalyst for all of this. I would feel so incredibly guilty if that was the case."

"I'm sure you didn't cause any of this. Harley, this whole relationship was doomed from the start. Selina isn't a lesbian and she isn't in love with Pam, clearly. She was always in love with Bruce and obviously he was always in love with her in some way, otherwise she wouldn't have kept that baby. You know that deep down. I know you don't want to think about Bruce cheating on you with her, but at the same time, you still had feelings for me while you were with Bruce."

"I don't deny any of that." I retorted, "I never said that I didn't have feelings for you. I mean, the feelings were very complicated, but nonetheless they were still there. I think I was blinded by Bruce betraying me like that with someone that my friend trusted so much. I always thought Pam was stupid for trusting Selina because obviously she's a huge whore."

"That's your anger talking." He said calmly as the waiter brought our food; his dish an eggplant parmesan and mine a dish of fettuccini alfredo, my favorite.

"I hate when you're right." I said irritably.

"Are you feeling any better now that you've talked about this?" he asked.

"Yeah, a little actually," I admitted, "I think I'll feel better once I sit down with Bruce and Selina and find out why they did this. I know that they must really love each other to run away like this and I'm sure there had to be no other way, but I just don't understand how they are dealing with hurting Pam so profoundly. When we get home, I need to call her."

"Of course," he said reassuringly, "I'm sure she wants to hear from you."

"We're going to have to go back to the US, of course." I said, digging into my pasta.

Mr. J looked up, "Um…no, we're not."

"Well, yeah, we have to check on Pam."

"You can do that on the phone, babe. Plus, you can't even fly right now. You're in your third trimester. Once you have the baby and recover, we can discuss it. For now, you're just going to have to talk to her on the phone or on Skype or whatever and try to make her feel better about the situation. I mean, for all you know, she might have taken a vacation herself to escape from her troubles."

"I hope so." I moped, staring down at my food.

As we walked home from the restaurant, I felt a stab in my heart thinking about the situation. I wanted to talk to her so badly, to figure out what happened. I guess my premonition about someone being unhappy was right; I just hoped it wouldn't be Pam caught up in it. I touched my stomach instinctively, thinking about my own happiness and how it always seemed to come at a cost for others. I didn't want to tell the Joker, but the sex of our baby wasn't that big of a secret. I had felt all along that I was having a girl, but I didn't want to tell him that yet and obviously I wasn't 100 percent sure, but it was an intuition I had and that I hoped was right. I wanted a baby girl more than anything. I guess we were just going to have to find out in a little more than a month.

We walked back into the house, putting our keys down on the table. I went to the phone immediately, and the Joker rolled his eyes, "I'll make myself scarce until you're done talking."

"That would be a good choice."

As he exited, I dialed Pam's cell number. It rang and rang and went to voicemail, and I launched into my little planned speech, "Hey, Pam, it's me. I wanted to tell you that I ran into Bruce and Selina today…so…you might want to call me back and tell me what the hell is going on. I love you and I hope you're ok. Bye."

I found Mr. J sitting in the living room, reading the newspaper. He looked up expectantly and I said, "She didn't answer."

"Well, I'm sure she'll call you back soon." He went back to his newspaper.

I collapsed onto the couch next to him, "I'm so worried about her."

"It's going to be just fine." He rubbed my shoulder, "We're going to figure this all out and everyone will turn out ok in the end."

I made an incoherent grumble and leaned my head back against the couch, "I'm going to take a nap, ok?"

"Take all the naps you want, mother of my unborn child."

"Ok, now I will seriously throw up." I stood up, "I'll be in the bedroom. Let me know if Pam calls."

"Will do."

I trudged up the stairs to the bedroom, laying on the bed and staring at the phone, trying to will it to ring. I looked at the clock. It was only 9 PM in the US. No reason for her not to answer. I thought about calling her again but then realized I would sound like such a psycho, and maybe she just wanted to be alone right now to deal with her issues.

Pam didn't call me the rest of the day, but the phone did ring around dinner time and it was Selina. I made the Joker talk to her because I was still too mad at them. He agreed that we would meet with them tomorrow at their hotel for coffee and talk about everything. I guess I was satisfied with that information, but I still wasn't happy about it by any means.

I just had a distinct feeling that all of this was far from over.