Chapter 2: Meeting the Clown Prince of Crime.
The next day it was time for their next session. Two-Face had been in a happier mood since Bruce visited.
"Listen to me, Harvey. I am going to give you a simple choice. This is your coin." Harleen lifted her pale hand up, the coin she held shining in the low light.
Dent squinted his eyes, doubtful. "Is it? Why should I trust you?"
Harleen was determined to earn his trust back. And she knew she would. She just had too.
She sighed, nodding. "It was your father's, correct? You know every inch of it. When you close your eyes you can feel it, can't you?"
"Give me it... Please." He begged.
Harleen shook her head. "First, I want you to understand what I am about to tell you. You believe this coin determines the fate of your world. Yes? I, however, believe your condition has always been present. It was there before you were attacked and it is still there now. You were probably confused often, constantly having headaches. Your wife found you unpredictable, scary at times. You may have even... hit her."
"Give US it!" He screamed in a rage, saddened by the mention of his former wife, Grace. "AND DON'T BRING MY WIFE INTO THIS!"
"Ex-wife, Harvey." Harleen corrected.
He shook his head. Denial consuming him. "No...No, s-shut up! She... She's still my wife...Grace...my... my wife..."
"Harvey, I am going to throw your coin up into the air. If you let it fall, I will do whatever I can to cure you. I can schedule you a surgery that can repair most of your face. We can continue our sessions, adding different therapies to help with your speech impediment and your left eye's horrible sight caused by the accident. You can be cured and you can live a normal life. There's several prosthetics that can assist you, I assue you. I can, no, will help you become the man you used to be."
"Or?"
"If you grab it... I will let you stay the man you are now. And I'm going to tell you the cold hard truth. If you don't do the right thing, you will never have a happy life. You'll be stuck in an asylum amongst other criminals. You won't get better, Harvey. And Grace may never love or see you again."
"We can't decide." His voice cracked.
"You have to..." Harleen tossed the coin. The brief and only second he could grab it passed and It fell to the floor with a light *Clang* He made his choice. The right choice.
"Can... I go now?"
"You may. Goodbye, Mr. Dent."
The guards dragged Two-Face out, but he made them stop at the door before they left. He turned towards Harleen one final time and nodded. "Thank you."
She smiled kindly and nodded back. "You're welcome, Harvey."
He left with the guards whom escorted him back to his cell afterwards going back to work.
(1 week later...)
Harleen looked up at a sudden sound as the soft click-clacking of high heels sounded outside her office door. Soon afterwards, she heard a pair of knuckles knock against the cold steel and she put away her papers, shoving them in a drawer.
"Um, come on in."
A small, blonde woman who was slightly shorter then Harleen entered. She was wearing a formal, light-blue dress suit. Her shoulder length, dark blonde hair was straight and combed back. Tentatively walking forward, she looked at Harleen with a desperate expression. Her deep-blue eyes wide. "My name is Grace Lamont. Are you Dr. Quinzell?"
"U-Um. Yes, Ma'am. You must be Mr. Dent's-" Harleen cleared her throat. "Ex-wife."
"Yes..." Grace looked down at the floor as if she were ashamed. "May I visit him, please? I've heard a lot about what you've done for him, so I've also come here to say thank you."
"No need. This is my job." Harleen smiled. "But you're welcome. And so is he." She got up out of her seat and put on her white, Arkham Asylum coat that had been slung over her chair from earlier. She shook the young woman's hand and Grace's long, pink nails shined in the natural light gleaming through the office window as they greeted each other-the color contrasting with Harleen's own nails that were always painted a classic french tip.
"It's very nice to meet you, Ms. Lamont. Please, come with me..."
Grace nodded and followed Harleen out of her office, down the hall, and into the visiting center.
"Wait here and I'll call him in."
She nodded again, fidgeting nervously as she sat. Before Harleen could go, however, she suddenly grabbed her hand. "W-Wait!"
Harleen turned around. "Yes?"
"May I, um... sit in there with him?"
Harleen raised a blonde brow in surprise. "With Two-Face?!"
She nodded. "With Harvey."
Harleen smiled. "Well... knowing how much he loves you, Ms. Lamont. I'm sure he won't hurt you. So, yes. I think it'll be just fine, but call if anything happens."
"I will. Thank you."
Harleen nodded. "You're welcome. And good luck."
...
"You have a visitor, freak!" Frank yelled, hoisting Dent up off of his cot. "Don' no why anyone would eva' wanna visit the likes of you... But damn is she a hot little number..."
Harvey's eyes widened. "Did you say...She?"
"Yeah. What ar'ya? Deaf?"
Dent immediately started to sweat. "W-What does she look like?"
"Mmm... Short, uh, blonde, big, dark-blue eyes. Has a nice smile, and, oh-" He chuckled, waggling his eyebrows. "-and a nice bod, too."
Harvey's voice caught in his throat. "G-Grace...?"
Before he could say or ask anything else, Frank pushed him inside the visitor center, leaving him in there to wait for whomever had come to talk to him. He was just about to get up and request to go back down to his cell when the door opened. A beautiful and petite blonde woman slowly strode inside, hands clasped in front of her nervously.
He'd recognize her anywhere.
She gazed up at him, tears in her wide dark-blue eyes. "H-Hello, Harvey..."
Shocked and frozen in place, he licked his chapped lips. "Oh, God. Grace? I-Is that you?"
She nodded. "Yes. It's me. I... I wanted to talk to you, to see you again. I've missed you so much..."
He smiled, his half scarred lip curling upwards as a tear ran down his burnt cheek. "I've missed you, too, baby..."
...
It had been a couple of weeks sincde then and the surgery for Dent was getting closer to date. Harleen had since let Grace in for regular visits. Ms. Lamont was still in love with him, that was for certain and she wanted to help him as much as she could. The visits gave Dent enough determination to go through with the upcoming surgery but he still resided in his cell at Arkham Asylum although he had many freedoms he once didn't have.
Harleen could tell he wanted to be cured just as bad as Grace wanted him to be. His dark side, Two-Face, hadn't come out since their last session. Harleen was very proud of him and so were all the other doctors.
She was praised for her hard word and dedication to Two-Face's case. And had finally gotten permission to meet the famous Joker. They were to have a meeting about her being his doctor that very day.
...
Harleen walked down the corridors with Joan, the head doctor of the asylum. They were heading to the Joker's cell.
When they finally got there, Harleen could see that he was no joke. Cameras were pointed at his cell from every angle imaginable. Completely armed guards were at each side of the doorway and everything and everyone was put on high alert.
They walked straight up to the thick glass. She could see an outline of his tall figure sitting up on his cot. He was humming an old circus tune.
Joan knocked on the glass lightly causing Joker to jolt and look up. He smiled and jumped goofily off of the bed as he ran up to them behind the glass.
"OH! Well who do we have here?!" He looked at Harleen then back at Joan, smacking his red, scarred lips.
Joan remained professional, although it was apparent to Harleen that she was quite frightened of him. "This is Doctor Quinzell. She may be your new Psychiatrist soon."
It sounded too rehearsed.
Harleen smiled, nodding her head to signal that Joan was correct.
"So..." The Joker chuckled darkly. "I have a new toy to play with. How fun..."
She immediately frowned.
Joan looked at Harleen and sighed as she put her hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry. He always says that."
Not helping.
Harleen turned back to the inmate, remaining professional. "It's nice to meet you, Mister Joker. As Dr. Leland mentioned, I am Dr. Harleen Quinzell. A Psychiatrist here at the asylum."
He smiled wide, arching his dark-green eyebrows. "Oh! I like that name!-"
He was cut off short as Joan tugged Harleen's arm away from the glass, leading her away as they started to leave.
Joan sighed again. "Sorry. I don't like being in the same room as him for more then a couple of seconds. He freaks me out."
Harleen smiled, nodding understandably. "It's alright."
They got to her office a couple minutes later and discussed the meeting and how it would go.
...
Meanwhile, the Joker was disappointed that he didn't get to play with his new 'toy' any longer. He thought the doctors were stupid, annoyed they had taken away his fun. He sulked, going back over to his cot to sit down. But he suddenly smiled again as another thought came to mind.
That new doctor was cute, too...
*Clack...* *Clack...* *Clack...*
Joker looked back up at the glass. The guards were escorting Dent down the hallway to his cell after his medical appointment.
He smiled wide, his scars giving him a demon-like appearance as he got up and knocked hard onto the cell wall, smacking his lips to get Harvey's attention.
"Hey, Harv'!" He yelled.
Harvey sneered, disgusted by the clown's presence. "What do you want, clown?"
"I just met my new doctor!"
"Who is it this time?" He rolled his eyes, but found himself partially interested.
"A Doctor Quinzell."
Dent frowned. "You better not hurt her, ya hear me?!" He yelled as he shook his fist at the Jester only to cause the Joker to burst into a fit of laughter. His giggles echoed down the hall, making the guards cringe and pick up pace as they continued to escort the angry Two-Face back to his cell.
When the raving Harvey was gone, Joker went back over to his cot and laid down, thinking of the petite, blonde doctor again.
This could be interesting...
...
Harleen was done with their meeting and afterwards Joan and her got coffee together as they discussed the new interview schedules.
"I don't know... Are you sure you want to do this, Harleen?"
"For the last time, Joan. Call me Harley."
She nodded, still not convinced Harleen was doing the right thing.
Harleen noticed and sighed. "Yes. I'm sure. Don't worry about me. I basically cured Dent. Soon he will have his surgery and before we both know it, he'll be living his life elsewhere." She said happily.
Joan heaved a huge sigh. "You're right, Harley. I'm just worried about you. You're my friend. And a good doctor. I'd hate to come to work everyday just to think that the next time I see you, you might be dead."
"I know. I understand, but you've got to trust me. Ok?"
She sighed again, nodding in defeat. "Ok."
After they finished their coffees they both went their separate ways. Home.
When Harleen got home to her apartment, the news was on. They were talking about the Batman again.
That's all everyone ever talked about. Batman this. Batman that. It annoyed the hell out of her. Apparently Batman had just caught a couple of robbers trying to steal the money out of Gotham Bank. Typical.
Harleen grabbed a candy bar and stuffed a chunk of It's chocolate into her mouth, sighing as she turned the television off.
She read a few recent newspapers about the Joker and went over his profile again for the 30th time, or maybe it was the 40th time. She didn't know. She was losing count. But It was starting to get extremely late so she went to bed. Hopefully a good night's rest would calm her nerves enough for tomorrow.