A/N If I must be honest with all of you, here it is. I have the honor of living in two worlds. I am a writer and I am a fan. Those two things are not exclusive mind you but I get just as excited as all of you do when my favorite authors or a new writer posts a chapter or new story. I'm heartbroken when the chapters over and I'm constantly checking the updates to see if they've posted again. I review every story I like because in the end, I'm a writer too and I won't be a hypocrite and beg for reviews only to not leave one myself. That said, I dedicate this one shot to every writer here, the ones who have real lives that get in the way, the ones who have to find that perfect moment to write such chaotic characters and somehow, make them feel real. But I also dedicate this to every fan, because without you, a writer isn't much of anything. We feed on your excitement, your feelings, what you say and what you feel is what makes writing worth it.

This story is based on an idea steamed from Chaos. For those who read it, you all know that J's initial plan for Harley was to give her a year as a criminal and then kill her if she failed to live up to his standard. This one shot is AU from the point where he leaves her in her apartment in chapter 19. It's almost a year since Harley's torture in Arkham.

The ace of hearts.

Party, what a word, what a very defining word.

Doesn't matter where you hear it, everyone knows what it means. Someone yells party and images come flooding of a great time, fun, drinks, celebration, music.

Yet the word can mean so much more, a party doesn't just have to be about celebrating.

It can mean something, very different.

A party as in a group, a faction.

There is something funny about it then, that a party of very special guests are at a party, to celebrate absolutely nothing at all.

A party, celebrating a party.

Gods he must be bored if he's thinking like that.

Joker looked down at the whiskey the waitress brought him and contemplates actually downing it, not for the first time tonight he's considering his options, he's wondering why the hell he came in the first place.

It isn't' like the place is bad, the music's good, the food is the best quality and the entertainment, well those girls do dance, quite spectacularly but its all so ordinary, so, ostentatious. Which is saying a lot considering it's him who's thinking it.

It's flashy but not entertaining, it's glamour but no style.

No one asked him to plan this little shindig, he'd have done a far better job.

"Frosty why did we come again?" He asked, leaning back to talk to his second, Frost looked relaxed as he always did. Leaned back in his chair, sipping on his own drink, watching the room with an almost bored expression.

"Because the invitation said not to come." he said with a slight shrug.

Ah, of course. He was invited with the specifics of not bothering to come along and of course, he had to attend.

"If you wanna go boss, we can. I don't think it's gonna get much better." Frost admitted with that calm tone of his. "I think we could leave the boys and they'd find their own way home."

"True." He took another glance around the room, some of his men were busy dancing with some random girls, others were playing cards at the tables with other henchmen. Probably trading stories, finding out who was getting paid more.

He was here because he wasn't supposed to be here, ironically.

He had to be invited, the hosts had no choice, if they hadn't invited him, they'd be offending the prince of Crime and that just wasn't something you did, only fools planned this sort of event and left out the Joker.

Didn't mean he was wanted here, many respected him, fewer liked him but all of them feared him.

They wanted his business, they wanted his money and they would always prefer to let him take the fall, to face the bat, better he go to Arkham than they go to Blackgate.

That was the sick part, the sad little joke. He always ended up back in Arkham, that little hellhole somehow always pulled him back in.

Hadn't they figured it out yet?

Hadn't they learned from the last time?

The last time...

Well, at least last time it'd been interesting, entertaining in a way his other trips there hadn't been.

More fun than this. He thought to himself as he scanned the room.

He suppressed the name that wanted to bubble up to the surface, he refused to speak the name, he refused to think of...

Damn it!

He growled to himself at the thought of her, her, her, her, her, her, her, her, her...HER!

The biggest mistake of his existence was that woman. The biggest mistake.

His most prized masterpiece.

That frustrating, beautiful, brilliant creature was the bane of his mind.

He hadn't seen or heard from her in a very long time, almost a year and her time was almost up. The anniversary of her creation was close at hand, less than a week from now, she'd be a year old and she'd finally left him alone.

His desperate attempts to ignore her had finally paid off but still she haunted his twisted mind.

You sleep with a girl once and she breaks the shreds of sanity you've got left.

He couldn't get the taste of her out of his mouth, the soft smooth feel of her skin still plagued his fingers and he couldn't get her voice out of his ears.

Whenever he found a moment of silence he heard her moans, her gasps and the sound of her speaking.

If that wasn't enough, he missed her!

J rolled his head back and gripped the glass in his hands, drinking this whiskey was definitely sounding like a good idea.

It wouldn't be so infuriating if it was just the sex he missed, that could be understandable. You didn't sleep with a sex goddess and expect to find a replacement but it was something else he wanted.

HE WAS BORED!

She kept him from being bored.

He missed her mind, her curiosity and wit.

God he was pathetic, when had that happened? When had he started to miss her?

Oh, the moment you walked away from her in that treatment room.

When you kissed her in her apartment and told her not to come looking for you.

When you were inside of her, feeling how fucking good she felt and-

Shut up.

"You say something boss?" Frost asked carefully.

He hadn't realized he'd said the last thing out loud.

"Yeah Johnny boy, just fine." He sneered. For a man who's got an obsession he can't scratch.

Admit it, you're lonely, you can't replace her because there is no other Harley Quinn, you saw that, you knew it back then and you know it now. Sad, pathetic thing is, you actually think that having her in your life would make you weaker, that having her with you, by your side as your... Queen, it would somehow make you less of the super villain you are. That's very sad J, cause it's quite the opposite.

Shut up.

He was sick of his mind, not voices but his own workings. How he analyzed the world, how he saw the details, the colors, the secret things that no one else could see.

It meant being able to see his flaws long before they happened, it's what made him so good at what he did.

It also made it incredibly hard to ignore his obsessions.

His mind worked in such a complicated, unpredictable way he found himself lost for days in something, it was so easy to find the edges of a hole and reach down into it, see what lurked inside of it, get lost, become completely engulfed, until he was so hungry he might pass out, until Frost would come find him, make sure he hadn't just stopped breathing.

It was like, looking into the universe and discovering it piece by piece.

Except, for the past year, his ongoing search was not through the chaos of the universe, or the workings of Gotham and it's crime.

His obsession, his only obsession sad to say was the blonde psychiatrist who now went by the name Harley Quinn.

The youngest of his creations and, spitefully so, his most successful.

Why spiteful, it's what you wanted, for her to prove the bat wrong, to be better than his own protege, to prove that the little bird couldn't compare.

He couldn't.

He supposed the problem was, she was doing too well for herself, too quickly.

He'd expected more of a struggle, he'd expected her to be arrested at least once in the last year but she'd managed to keep herself under the radar, worse, she was impossible to find.

She'd moved out of her apartment, she'd quit her job at Arkham, her family had no idea where she was either.

No one knew where Harley Quinn was.

Why did you listen to me you looney toon? He thought bitterly.

The DJ stopped playing and the band picked up, a slow bass started, jazz music. Strange, not this crowds style.

He perked up, there was something, intriguing about that sort of music, could be so chaotic and yet so in control.

The sound of whistles and cheers came as a young red head got on stage, some nightclub singer with a body to match, her hair curled to the side and a tight black dress that accentuated every feminine curve.

Pretty.

She started to sing, an old song, one everyone, even the younger criminals would have known.

Fever.

Her voice was sultry, seductive and as she sang, he felt himself melt to the sound of the music, finally something to entertain him.

"Boss." Frost said, placing a hand on his arm.

Frost knew better than to touch him without reason, so J snapped his head up instantly. His second wouldn't risk getting his hand cut off unless it was important.

"What?" He hissed, staring at him.

The man who so normally seemed passive, unfazed by violence and the strangeness of his boss, looked... stunned?

Joker turned in the direction Frost was staring and instantly, he understood why.

Of course it had to be FEVER.

Harley was escorted from the car by her two guards, she handed her invitation to the front desk and walked towards the ballroom doors.

She was there to make a scene, she was there to be seen and hopefully eyed.

"Is my entertainment here yet?" She asked one of the guards.

She'd enlisted a very special guest tonight, a jazz club singer who was very popular, had a voice like an angel and could capture a room in seconds. She'd paid a lot of money for the girl to show up today.

"Yes Miss Quinn, she's already inside getting ready."

"Good." Harley grinned, showing off her white teeth. "Taylor honey, did you check if he's here?"

"Oh trust me Harls, he's here." the ex guard smirked.

Taylor was one of Harley's prized trophies, the ex rogue gallery guard had become one of her first henchmen and one of her most loyal. He was military deadly, smart and she'd tapped into that dark spark inside of him. What a beautiful creature he was and had a love for a good heist.

Harley had converted four of the guards in Arkham to join her little faction, wasn't as hard as people might think, they were already on that edge, she was after all a therapist and looking into their darkest little secrets wasn't impossible.

Still out of the four, Taylor was her favorite, he'd been challenging, he'd fought so hard to keep himself together, not to fall over that brink but in the end she'd won over his mind and she'd pushed him into the darkness.

And he'd been so sarcastic to her the first time they'd met. Figures he'd become her second in command.

"You know, seems a bit of an overdo though Harls, all to get to him."

"Well this isn't about getting to him baby." She said with a smirk. "This is about getting with him."

Taylor smirked back but shifted his shoulder in that way he did when he got nervous. "Does that mean I'm out of a job if you two..."

"Nope, you'll always have a job with me Taylor, you're my favorite pet."

"You know..." He stopped and grinned at her in a way that might have been questionably seductive but she knew he wasn't into her like that, she'd damaged his mind too much for him to look at her as anything more than his boss, his owner. "If anyone else called me that, I'd probably break their necks but for you boss..."

"Love you too Tay-tay." she cupped his face and planted a kiss on his cheek.

The truth was, she had no interest in him either. She had no interest in any of her boys or the few girls she had. She had eyes only for one man and the last year had been the hardest in her life.

It'd been nearly impossible to stay away from him.

At one point it got so bad, the voices in her head screaming so loud that Taylor who'd been given very specific instructions to not let her go looking for Joker, had to sedate her.

He earned himself a raise and a punch to the face for that.

"Everyone's waiting inside for you." Ricky, her other guard said opening the door, the sound of the bass filling their ears. "They got here early like you asked."

"Well, they deserve to have some fun too don't cha boys?" she grinned and fluffed her hair a little more.

"You look perfect, he'd be blind to say no." Taylor teased. Then he paused. "Considering how smitten he was back in Arkham, I'm surprised he wasn't looking before."

"Honey, I suggest you keep your tongue in your mouth tonight, you might find it missing if you can't keep your snark to yourself." Harley purred in a subtle teasing threat. "And it might not even be me who cuts it out."

He mimicked zipping his lips, locking it and throwing away the keys.

"Good boy."

The sound of the music grew and Harley grinned, excellent timing.

She stepped into the party as her singer moved and sang on the stage.

Worth every penny.

Where is he?

Don't look desperate. Tonight is about showing off.

Harley snaked her arms around Taylor and Ricky and they walked her inside.

The woman on stage could only be outdone by the woman who walked into the party.

The room seemed to stop, their eyes drawn to the stunning beauty that had graced them with her presence.

They all knew her, they all knew her name but so few had met her in person.

Even seasoned villains had to stare in awe of the upstart.

Of course she was gorgeous but it wasn't just that, there was an aura about her, a power surrounding her.

A myth.

Created by the Joker, tortured over and over again and somehow still surviving, being burned by pain and lightning and still coming out on top, wickedly intelligent and stunningly mad.

The Harlequin, the princess.

She wore a fur coat that was dyed a rich blue, cost easily in the thirty thousand range, a pair of silver stiletto heels that almost looked like glass, accented by two ankle bracelets that had small, delicate bells on them, so when she walked there was the softest, beautiful chiming music to accompany her. Yet these things were nothing compared to her dress. A dark silver that clung to her body like a glove, so high up her thighs it should have been indecent but somehow, she pulled it off. The skirt flared out a little, so that as she rolled her hips, it rippled along with her. The cut a heart shape that accentuated her cleavage, off the shoulders, not that anyone would have known the thing had sleeves right now.

Alexandrite jewelry all over, her bracelets, her earrings, the large expensive rings on her fingers and the beautiful, glimmering choker that sat on the hollow of her throat.

One of her girls had entertained herself in the afternoon curling her hair, creating soft wavy ringlets that bounced and bobbed with her head, strands of blonde dyed blue to match her coat, rich and vibrant.

Harley hadn't even had to do her own makeup, another of her girls had begged all week to do it and she'd accepted. Her lips a dark cherry red, her eyes laced with silver and iridescent shadow, her lashes curled up and dark lined.

Harley was dressed to kill.

Her target, only one man.

This was a woman no man should resist and that no man in the room could, other than her boys who knew one inevitable truth.

Harley Quinn wanted the Joker and no one else.

He stared on at the woman who couldn't be Harley, it couldn't be. He'd seen Harley dressed up, he'd seen her look her best and this wasn't her.

Yet it was, her best a few months ago had been pennies compared to the goddess who was sauntering in.

Wait, he knew that man on her right. He wouldn't forget any of his Arkham guards and he was damn sure that was one of them.

He was done up too. A full three piece suit, dark and pristine, made her stand out more.

He walked alongside her like a soldier and it occurred to him that Harley had somehow recruited him as one of her...

Wait, Harley had henchmen?

Busy, she's been busy.

Her escorts lead her to a table where a group were waiting for her. Two women come up to her and take Harley from the men who step back, one of them comes up behind her and removes the coat, handing it over to a young man who holds it like it's a live explosive. The other woman is adjusting Harley's hair and making sure her dress looks... perfect.

The Arkham guard came up to her again and whispered in her ear but Harley shook her head and he nodded.

The song finished and the spell seemed to break, everyone going back to their own entertainment as the man held his arm out and took Harley out onto the dance floor.

"Did he see me?"

"Oh yeah, minute you walked in. You know I've known him for months and never seen him convulse facially like that before." Taylor said with a grin.

The singer had started singing a new song, something slow, intimate. Easily misinterpreted by the closeness of their dancing but it was about trust, not sex.

"Is he watching now?"

"Yep."

"And?"

"Oh, he wants to kill me." Taylor grinned again as Harley laughed, flipping her hair flirtatiously.

"Don't worry honey, I won't let him kill my favorite puppy."

"You know I hate it when you call me that." He mumbled.

"Oh, why you think I do it?" she teased.

Taylor twirled her, it looked so smooth, so flawless. Harley wondered if anyone outside her people knew that just to get him to dance like this it'd taken three months of painful practice.

"Haven't stepped on me once Tay-Tay. Good boy."

"Well, maybe old dogs can learn new tricks boss."

Joker watched them dance, he saw nothing else but the pair, the rest of the room disappearing.

"Boss?" Frost asked, glancing from the clown to the dance floor.

"Stop talking Johnny." He growled back and rose from his chair. Suddenly the party didn't seem so boring.

"He's coming."

"Good." Harley grinned. "Taylor, how bout you take the night off?"

"Sure?""

"Oh, I'm pretty sure, I think I'll have a good escort."

"Fair enough, have fun." He turned her once more, sending her in the direction of the Joker, so that when she stopped, she was faced right in front of him.

J saw the guard nod with a smile before he left the dance floor. Returning to the table, without a seconds hesitation he caught Harley in his arms and allowed her to wrap her arm around is neck, clasping the other hand in his as he snaked his free arm around her waist.

"Hi puddin'." she said cheerfully as he started moving them to the melody of the music. "Long time no see."

"Harley." He said, as... casually as he could muster.

"Didn't think you'd be seen at these sorts of things." She said lightly. "Figured it was... beneath you."

"Had to make an appearance." he purred, pulling her close. "Wasn't expecting you here at all."

"What, you think I'm not big enough in Gotham to deserve an invitation Daddy?" she whispered with a mix of seduction and threat. "Well guess what, your baby girl's just fine."

"So I've heard." He looked up to where Taylor was sitting with one of the young women in his lap, grinning and kissing on her neck. "When you get him?"

"Oh, you remember him?" Harley giggled. "Got him a month after you, dumped me. Actually if you end up back in Arkham, you're gonna find that a few of your old friends don't work there anymore. They found, better employment. Better benefits and all that."

He had to admit, not a bad move. Smart.

There was a silence between them though it wasn't awkward. Tense, burning and threatening yes but not awkward.

They didn't speak simply because there was no need to, sentimentality wasn't his style and giving up wasn't hers. She looked beautiful tonight, she knew it, he didn't need to comment on it like some idiot on a first date. She wanted him, she missed him and her devotion was still all his, even though she had her own business. All those things didn't need to be spoken.

What needed to be said, was far... more personal.

"I think about you." She whispered as he spun her. "Every night."

"Hmm, like saying your prayers."

"You could call it that." She smiled and a possessive knot stuck itself in his stomach, that smile, he wanted it for him.

"So you came to show off hmm, thought you'd learned your lesson about that."

"Well considering my lesson for showing off to you was a whole weekend of mind blowing unforgettable sex, I think the message may have gotten... lost."

"Oh and you think I'm just gonna jump back into bed with you Harley? Wasn't that unforgettable." he teased but by now, they both felt the heat, the tendrils of want that seemed to engulf them both up like a spiderweb.

"I'm amazed you got that out with a straight face puddin." She said, not hiding her lust or her amusement. "You should become a comedian, you'd be great."

"Funny princess." he leaned in, letting his breath trace along the side of her neck, relishing the remembered feel of her skin. "You should be careful, you might bite off more than you can chew."

"Hmm, didn't you tell me to be careful last time honey?" She breathed and he spun her around him before pulling her close.

"That was then."

"And this is now." She grinned. "Telling me ya still fighting the inevitable?"

"I decide what's inevitable Harley, not you."

"Whatever you say daddy."

He growled in approval.

"If only you were so compliant every time we spoke."

"You wouldn't like that puddin'. I'd be a hell of a lot less fun if I was the sweet, trained, obedient little woman. You like a little fight in your girl."

She wasn't wrong there. "who said you were my girl?"

"You did." She giggled. "Pressing her whole body against him. "With that dirty look you just gave that guy who was trying to look at me."

He gripped her waist and Harley gasped at the intense pain he caused, her eyes rolled back with that odd sensation that wasn't quite pain and not quite pleasure. "I don't like people playing with my toys."

"Want me to be your toy puddin?" she gasped eagerly. "Prove it."

"I don't have to prove anything little girl. I made you, I can unmake you just as easily."

He could want her, he could miss her but there was no god on this earth that would make him submit to her, either she submitted to him or nothing.

"It's my birthday next week." she whispered in his ear. "You didn't forget that did you daddy?"

How could he forget that date? The day he'd taken Harleen Quinzel and tore into her mind, left her there, laying on the ground slipping away into the depths of her own mind and giving birth to something, incredibly unpredictable.

Something beautiful, dark and gloriously chaotic.

"You actually think I'd forget your birthday pumpkin pie, I'm heart broken." He whispered back, chuckling at the way she pressed into him, how easily she still melted into him.

"Well, I'm having a big party for it, can I count you on the guest list?" she said in a sweet, hopeful but her undertones warned him that her expectation was for him to show up. "I'd be ever so hurt if you said you wouldn't come and celebrate with me."

"Well, maybe I'll be busy that day." He teased, feeling her grip on his shoulders tighten. "You know, I am a busy man Harley."

"Too busy to come to my birthday?" She pouted.

The song change again,something a little faster, many had stopped to watch the cat and mouse game. The prince of Gotham and the princess, creation and artist. A tug of wills that was hard to deny.

Many of the patrons of the party watched, just assuming it was nothing more than dancing but... those who could call themselves the elite, Gotham's finest criminals. They saw far deeper into it.

Frost and Taylor watched, knowing the game that was being played, both men glancing at the other, knowing that their paths would from now on cross multiple times as their masters interacted and depending on this moment, would depend on whether those meetings were, pleasant or something more... violent.

This situation was both messy and delicate all wrapped up in a waiting bomb and it was impossible to know who owned the trigger. Maybe Joker owned it unconditionally once but in the past few months, the tides had changed and his men had noticed.

Women threw themselves at him and he ignored them as if they were leaves falling from trees, beautiful submissive girls who would give their left arm to spend even an hour in his company, to please him but they just, did nothing for him.

The only entertainment Frost knew still caught J's attention was the bat and even that obsession had... become strained.

It was like he'd lost the flavor for the hunt, for the attack.

Making money wasn't impossible, even with the Joker like that but things, had become uneasy. He was more trigger happy, easily agitated and when he thought that no one was looking, Frost more than once caught him looking out the window of the car or towards the entrance of the club. As if he was hoping to catch a glimpse of the blonde who now danced with him.

Harley wasn't much better, the woman was unpredictable on a good day, she needed to make money, she wasn't in a position to just let things go and she did her job but, Taylor saw the strain of her distance far more than Frost saw it in Joker. She didn't smile when she thought of him, her eyes went glassy, the mist of tears would come and go. Fits where he had to peel her off the ground and have the girls put her to bed.

It was the job, you didn't work for these extreme powers and expect things to run normal.

Still one thing no one could deny, they looked good together.

Should anyone hope that they got together tonight? No, it shouldn't be something anyone should desire because it would mean something none of them could handle, it meant the rise of a new dynasty, of an unshakable empire that would be born from the two of them.

They would no longer be Prince and Princess of opposing kingdoms, they would be King and Queen of Gotham.

A/N so something happened today that was, well impactful for me. I got my first real negative comments. The perso was decent enough to PM it my way, didn't publicly rip me, actually I can't really call it a rip. Was more of a very personal opinion which I'm very okay with to be quite honest. The thing about being a writer, whether it's fanfiction or it's original work is you're never ever going to please everyone. You're not meant to if I'm honest. Everyone likes different things and has different expectations. Even me. It's why I love the concept of AU, it gives yout he chance as a writer to delve into multiple versions of a story. Did it affect me, course 'm human and I do dedicate a lot of time and effort to these stories. Will it stop me from wriitign whatever the hell I feel like? Nope, you guys don't have to worry botu that. I'm not that mellow dramatic. I write these stories, for each and every one of you. I write them because I get an idea in my head and I say, hmm would this be possible with these characters? If I put them in this situation, how and what would they do.

In one of my original stories, I wrote a very explicid scene of a rape. Int he scene, the character had a choice to make, fall to pieces or do her best to salvage the situation and her own emotional sanity. Int he end, the character didn't break. I actually got critizised by someone who'd never, ever had that experience happent o them. Funny part, I didn't have to chew them out. A whole bunch of people who had beent hrough that did it for me.

As a writer, you write with your heart, you write with your soul and you hope that it's good enough. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. You're always gonna find someone who just doesn't get the joke.

So I say this to every writer, whether you've got the skill or you just do it for fun. Don't give up, don't stop. It may not work but you keep getting better, you keep getting wiser with your words.

I will be writing another one shot, the next one is funny enoug gonna be based on NORMAL, so 'makes come here motion with hand." so to every hater who's never been able to just, let it go, to every person who just refused to get the joke. Please enjoy, this is a very unpredictable ride and we dont' stop for you to throw up.

PS I'm leaving this story where it is for now, since I've realized it has potential to be it's own arc, i'll let it sit for a little while and see what you guys think. Also. This weekend other stories will be updated. I have been terribly sick for the last two weeks, Strep caught me so hard and then I ended up with a serious infection that left me almost dead for like three days. All I wanted to do was sleep. I'm good though, I'm better though. Fever's gone and I'm back in writing mode. So I'm onna be writing through tonight and tomorrow. Makign sure I'm ready to update Chaos, Monsters and performers and hopefully, crossing fingers life and estruction.