A/N

*sorry for any confusion, I had to re-upload this after I made a slight error*

Wow! You guys are brilliant! Honestly, you're all so kind and lovely to read and add this story to your favourites/follow list. I woke up Sunday morning to over 25 email notifications from this site and since then I've been getting them quite regularly. No lie, my smile is huge every time I see that a new reader has enjoyed the story enough to follow or favourite it! I cannot express my gratitude for the large amount of support so early on so thank you! Thank you very very much!

Because of your immense support, I felt inclined to get chapter 2 up very quickly. Sadly, Jerome isn't in this one as it's the explanation to why Lacey ended up in Arkham. But I promise that Jerome will be back for chapter 3 - which I hope to finish very soon since most of my classes have been cancelled this week.

Anyhoo, I hope you like this chapter! :)

Ever since their trip to Haly's Circus, Lacey's father, Lawrence Monroe, had been in a particularly irritable mood; not just with her mother, but with Lacey herself. While he had only attacked her severely one time after she was an hour late coming home – even though his method of punishment almost killed his daughter – this sudden dangerous shift in hostility towards her was very unsettling. But what had Lacey done to warrant such behaviour?

Whatever, it didn't matter. Lacey just needed a ride over to the circus; it had been 6 days since she had met Jerome and she found herself actually missing the company.

Deciding to try her luck, Lacey slipped downstairs and, for once, she heard no sobbing or shouting. The house was calm, peaceful even.

Her mother Doreen was busy making dinner while the master of the house sat at the table watching her, while glancing over the newspaper.

"Hey, that smells good." Lacey smiled as she entered the room, having already decided to request the ride over to the circus before it was too late. She couldn't keep putting it off just because of the possibility that her dad would say no; especially if Jerome would be leaving town soon. "I was wondering…" She started, taking a seat at the table across from her father in an attempt to catch his attention. "Why don't we all go to the circus tonight?"

"Why on earth would we go back there, Lacey?" Lawrence asked, barely raising his eyes from the paper in his lap.

"I dunno, I thought it'd be nice. I really liked it there, it'll be fun."

For a second, Doreen caught Lacey's eye as if to warn her to stop talking, then she continued to bend over the stove as if it was the only way to keep herself preoccupied.

"Dad, can we go?" Lacey asked again in case her father hadn't heard the request.

"The last time we went, you disappeared Lacey." Was the stern reply. "And I know you'll do the same again."

"I won't, I promise." Lacey crossed her fingers behind her back; of course she'd run away again if it meant seeing Jerome. And even if doing so resulted in a beating.

"Lacey…" Lawrence spoke in a grave tone – which was never a good sign. "I'm aware of why you want to return to that cesspit."

"What do you mean?" Lacey tensed up as she felt her father's strong glare on her.

"You were with a freak, weren't you? You're desperate to go back so the two of you can fornicate in one of the trailers again, aren't you?"

Lawrence's words stunned Lacey. Although most of what he was saying wasn't true, she was too curious as to how he knew of Jerome.

"Answer me, Lacey!" He stood up and moved around the table to stand over her.

"Jerome isn't a freak." She whispered, shrinking into the chair for fear of feeling her father's rage. "He's my friend. We…we just talked and…"

"So there is a reason why you left my side. I was hoping there was another explanation for your lurking near those trailers." Lawrence furrowed his brow and shifted his jaw, as if thinking of how to approach the situation. His daughter couldn't be seen affiliating with any of those people: with any people he hadn't pre-approved of. "This is a problem."

"Why is it?" Lacey asked, deciding that she as already in deep enough.

"Because you deliberately disobeyed me!" He grabbed his daughter's arm and pulled her harshly to her feet, his grip only tightening. "Sneaking off to meet people not worthy of even cleaning your shoes. A circus freak of all people! Can you believe this, Doreen?"

Doreen glanced over quickly, shook her head, and then returned her attention to dinner. Understandably, she didn't want to get involved, even if she loved her daughter.

"Mom ought to believe it. She actually married a freak." Lacey spat, struggling against her dad's strong grasp. Although she wished she could've taken that back as soon as the statement had slipped from her lips.

With that, Lawrence swung his fist into Lacey's face, knocking her into the table.

"Lawrence, stop! Please…she…she didn't mean it…" Doreen begged, unable to do anything but look on as her husband began shouting in Lacey's face, even threatening her.

It was then that something inside Lacey snapped. Something deep down told her to stand up for herself and for her mother. Gritting her teeth she pushed Lawrence backwards and straightened up. "I meant every word. You're a brute! A poor excuse for a man who gets a kick out of beating women! You've already sucked the life out of mom but I won't let you do the same to me!" She slapped him once, hard, but not hard enough.

Doreen screamed as Lawrence threw Lacey against the kitchen counter; she hit her head but managed to stumble to her feet quickly enough, despite the bleeding.

"What're you going to do?! You both need me! Without me, you're nothing!" Lawrence shouted, grabbing Lacey's head tightly with one hand; again he slammed her face against the cupboard. "I ought to teach you some manners, bitch! Maybe I wasn't clear enough the first time!"

Panicking, Lacey grabbed the knife from the counter and held it out in front of her. "Get out!" She ordered, her grip tightening as she stepped towards her father. "Get out and never come back!"

"Lacey, you wouldn't dare. You're a coward just like—"

Lawrence didn't get the chance to finish. In a moment of madness, Lacey had lost herself and charged forward; plunging the knife into her father's chest over and over, eventually finding herself breathless after the 17th time. Her mother's hysterical screams brought her back down to earth. Lacey dropped the knife and straightened up, looking down in mortification upon the sight she'd created.

Then she remembered Jerome's words: a smile would look much nicer. So that's what she did: she smiled.

Her father was dead. Lacey couldn't help but laugh herself to tears as she looked down at the blood on the floor, on her knife. On her hands.

She was free at last.

That was, until she was thrown into Arkham Asylum on charges of patricide.

Of course Lawrence Monroe's murder was widely publicised; he was part of an elite social group, being a highly successful business tycoon, and the people in Gotham got a kick out of the misery of rich people. Especially in such scandalous situations as theirs.

Doreen Monroe could no longer leave her home without having a camera or microphone shoved in her face – her daughter had killed her husband – it was definitely a story that people were eager to hear her take on. Since Lacey's admittance to Arkham, she hadn't heard from her daughter; it had been deemed best to avoid all contact while the press were still hungry for news – and possibly long after they had grown tired.

However, when Lacey's therapist requested a meeting a month later, Doreen had no choice but to face the ugly truth of what had happened.

"Mrs Monroe, thank you for coming down here today." A tall woman dressed in a smart brown suit held out her hand to shake. "I'm Lacey's therapist, Tania Roberts."

"It's good to meet you." Doreen replied, taking a seat on the leather sofa. "What's this about?"

"Your daughter, of course." Tania began, taking out Lacey's file and placing it on the coffee table. "As you know I've been examining her for weeks and she's talked so much about you. I figured it would be good for her to see you."

"I told the head office when we brought Lacey here that I wanted nothing to do with her." She glanced over the file and at Lacey's mugshot on the front. That girl was the very same one who brutally stabbed her husband by the kitchen table but she wasn't her daughter. This dark-eyed teenager wasn't the girl she raised.

"Mrs Monroe, with all due respect, Lacey is still your daughter." Tania lowered her voice. "Lacey's illness couldn't have developed in minutes, it seems to have been part of a long process; most likely due to severe ongoing trauma. From what she's told me, it seems that the difficulties at home could be linked to this."

Doreen shook her head. "Lawrence isn't to blame. Whatever Lacey has told you isn't true; you said it yourself, she's sick." She was almost panicked until Tania held up her hand.

"It's alright. All I ask is that you and Lacey sit down together for 5 minutes, it's what she wants." There was a knock on the door. "That'll be her now."

Tania stood up and opened the door to her office, revealing Lacey who stood there with her hair dishevelled and a small smile. "Tania, can we talk in private?" The girl whispered, her eyes wide and full of pleading.

Reluctantly, the therapist nodded and left the room, closing the door behind her.

Doreen sat uncomfortably on the sofa as the room suddenly felt a lot colder.

"Hi mommy." Lacey smiled sweetly as she sat down across from her. "It's nice to see you, are you well? Of course you are…daddy's dead and I'm in here so you've got that big big house all to yourself." She leaned forward, lowering her voice. "It must be nice. To finally be at peace."

"I'll never be at peace, Lacey." Doreen whispered, her voice shaking slightly. "Not after what you've done…"

"What I've done? That's almost laughable." Lacey frowned. "If I remember correctly, it was my father that made our lives a living hell and yet I'm the sick one. I'm the one that's being punished…how ironic is that?"

"Because you killed your father…"

"I didn't kill him!" She snapped back, standing up quickly and moving around the room, sauntering the full length while not breaking eye contact with her mother. "I ridded this world of him! I set us both free! Why can't you see that, hm?" The girl turned on her heels and stood over the sofa where Doreen sat, leaning in close with a smirk. "Why do you keep protecting him after everything he's done?"

"Because image is everything, Lacey. Your father was a good man, deep down."

"Oh…so you chose him over me? Throw me under the bus to defend dear old daddy's honour. To defend your own public image; how kind and honourable of you." She rolled her eyes and straightened up. "And here I thought blood was thicker than water."

"It's not like that. People were already talking about you before this…incident."

"Like what? What were people saying about me?"

"Do you remember that summer we spent at the country club?"

"Of course I do, I'm not that kind of crazy…"

"You spent the whole time writing those stupid poems even though me and your father took you there to meet people of your own social standing. We wanted you to find friends but you never spoke to anyone, you just watched them closely."

"That bitch should've never touched my notebook…" Lacey mumbled through gritted teeth. "She had no right to humiliate me like that. What I was doing was normal."

"You were never normal, Lacey. Not then and certainly not now. And this has proven that."

"Normal is overrated, nobody's normal." Lacey insisted, moving back to the other sofa and falling onto it. "Is this because I wasn't a 'proper' girl? Because I was the girl that wore sweatshirts to dinner parties and never said grace? Or is it because I spoke my mind and wouldn't let dad treat me like a doormat?"

Doreen said nothing, instead she avoided Lacey's harsh glare altogether and stood up to leave.

"Just answer me one question, mother." Lacey said as Doreen reached the door. "How easy was it for you to just…abandon me?"

Again, Doreen didn't respond and quickly left the office.

"I'm a human being!" She shouted at the door, giving it a hard kick. "I'll show you who's crazy you stupid bitch!"

Mrs Monroe barely heard her daughter's words; she'd wasted no time in fleeing the entire asylum in the hopes that getting out as fast as she could would make it easier to forget.

And it did. Doreen Monroe didn't pay another visit to Arkham Asylum after that day. Nobody from the outside visited Lacey Monroe again.