"This was your old house, daddy?"

"Yeah, yeah it was."

Rose clutched my hand there as I was holding Mary close to me and we were standing in front of what looked like to be my old house in Los Angeles. There was barely anything there, having me instantly rethink what I did back then in the past. They left it an empty lot, nothing was left as we were standing in front of the place in the war hot sun of California. At first, this seemed like a stupid and morbid idea. But then again, I had to have some kind of closure about what happened to me and what I did. Rose was cautious about it, thinking that this too was a bad idea.

But I had to go back.

There were weeds there, growing along the outlines of where my house used to be. It brought back so many memories of being the villain in that house, mostly bad and hazy memories. I could remember where the living room used to be, how the stairs would creak under my footsteps and where the paint was chipped along the corners near the bedroom. It was all flooding me, like a plague there as I was looking at the ghost of my old house my old life.

"Chato," Rose said to me in a hesitant manner, seeing the look on my own face and how I was seeing the flames there, all of those flames and all of the screaming that I endured for hours on end after it happened.

"Estoy bien," I said to her in a hesitant way, thinking that I saw the ghost of my old family there,w watching me and looking at me with their wide and beautiful eyes. It was still a dull pain, but that was something that I was going to be stuck with for a long time whether I was ready for it or not. This was what that was needed for me, to know that my life was going to move forward, that the redemption that I wanted and the new peace of mind that was needed.

"Sé que eres," She replied back smoothly to me, which made me finally look away from the lot there and over at her. Over the loud sounds of the city around us with the cars rolling by and the sirens in the distance. I was tuning it all out from just focusing on her, seeing her look at me as someone who was supportive not as someone who was going to scold me for doing something this stupid. I knew she would scold me for doing something that would be dangerous, but not this. This wasn't dangerous.

This, in both of our minds, was healing.

"Come on, let's get out of here," I said to the both of them now as I rearranged the hold that I had on Mary there.

"Daddy, why isn't there a house there?" Mary asked me now in wonder as we were walking away from the place, and in my hopes, for the rest of our lives.

"Because the house burned down," I replied to her soothingly, thinking that I was about to open a Pandora's box from just hearing her ask such simple and yet digging questions.

"Why?" She asked, having me try to find the right words, yet again thinking that I was about to tread over troubled waters there. But Rose was the one that spoke up then, reaching over to touch the loose strains of our daughter's hair with elegance and grace there.

"Sometimes accidents happen, ma douce." She explained to her with her wide words and soothing tone, having me look over at her now and see her watch our daughter, "Accidents are things that we cannot control, remember?"

"Yes momma," She replied to her now, having me look at my wife there and see her smile at me, showing me wit her eyes that she knew what happened and how she knew where I was with that. We both had burdens from the past, houses that we both wanted to run down or had no choice but to burn down because of what we were capable of. We both were reminded that accidents were bound to be in our lives, and those accidents were the reason why we were there in the first place.

We walked along the sidewalk there, the three of us and not looking back to the tombstone of a past that I had there, the sun shining down there and giving me the memory of the heat there in Los Angeles. It was far different from how I remembered it, different compared to the new home that we were in, but it was also the same.

"How about we get some ice cream, eh?" I asked Mary now as she was watching the houses that we were passing by, seeing her face light up from the notion, "I know a great joint down the street and around the corner that has the best kind."

"You do?" Rose asked me, having me look over at her with a twinkle in my own eye there as she was watching me in interest.

"Yeah I do. I know the hookups around here," I reminded her, seeing her shake her head with a chuckle there as we turned the corner and walked down the street a bit.

"What about that gangs here? Will they remember you?" She asked me, having me realize what she was talking about within a few seconds. I had a gang life there, back in the days and with who I rolled with. Would they still be here? Would they know me if they saw me? I was a terror on the streets, making my name there and having people be afraid of me. It was like what I told Rose when we barely knew each other, back when we were in MidCity.

I was a monster.

"We'll be fine," I reassured her, our laced fingers together there between us as I was going to look bright and optimistic about things. I had to, there was no other way for me to see things now at this point. I didn't mind the ghosts anymore, nor did I mind that I was going to see those faces over and over again. All that mattered at this point was how I was going to go on with this new life that I had.

Rose's POV

There were three knocks there at the door, having me look up from my spot there at the coffee table where I was looking over some of the papers that were sprawled out there on the table, the sim sunset there along the high pine trees. Chato was showering, and Mary was out cold with one of her naps as I got up from the coffee table there. The headline read, "New Metahuman Deaths Appear in Gotham City."

I opened the door, seeing nothing more than the famous Harley Quinn there. She was sporting another one of her flashy outfits, but it was still not as flashy as the one she wore when we went on our first mission together. I grinned at her now as she stood outside the doorway with the warmth about her that I was missing for quite some time.

"Heya doll face," She said to me with a wicked grin that she would always have, and I smiled back at her.

"Hello Harley," I said back, moving out of the way for her to walk in and look at the house in all its glory. This may not be her scene, but the way she was showing on her face, I could be wrong. She was just downright supportive.

"So, a little birdie told me that you got a call the other day," She said to me now as she nonchalantly walked over to the kitchen area, her eyes twinkling there in what she had in her eyes. I watched her carefully, wondering how she knew that I got a phone call. But then again, she was still tight with some of the others in the Squad, not just Chato and I.

"Who told you?" I asked her, trying to sound casual about it, but it was creeping up behind me like a breath against the skin.

"Would you hate me if I told ya?" She asked me, looking over her shoulder at me now as I stood still, not saying a word about it as she looked ahead again now and went on with her inspection of the house since the last time she was here, "Waller's goin' to be up her own ass with the whole situation."

"Sounds like her anyhow," I commented, seeing her stop and then turn to face me again, giving me one of her serious stares that I would rarely see on her face. She was no longer seeing it as a joke, something was up.

"You heard where the guy is yet?" She asked me, having me stay still there in the middle of the living room and she did the same. We were keeping our voices low, since I knew that any time Chato would be getting out of the shower and I didn't want him to walk into me talking about this, not like this anyhow.

"No idea. Only that he escaped," I replied smoothly there without blinking or showing any kind od emotion there.

"Yeah well, he ain't the only one that did," Harley explained in a low tone, now having me look at her in confusion now as she then walked over to the coffee table and looked down at the newspaper there, seeing the headlines herself, "Apparently there's been a spring in the prisons."

"A spring?" I asked her now, seeing her watch me carefully and I could see that she was about to tell me something that I was not going to like to hear.

"There's been talk, since the spring of some of these guys from prison, Metahumans are dyin', left and right," She explained to me, walking away from the coffee table now, "At first, it was just a few here and there, but now we have a whole bunch being killed in the middle of the night."

"Is it the sprung prisoners?" I asked her in a low tone, listening to the shower upstairs going off. Chato was getting out of the shower. Damnit.

"No one knows. They're a great suspect, but I doubt it," Harley went on, having me wonder how many more seconds until Chato would come down the stairs and join our conversation, "Mr. J is lookin' into it himself, since it's bad for business on his end."

"So you came to tell me that?" I asked her, not wanting to sound rude about it, but there had to be more of a reason as to why she was there at our house in the first place. She grinned again, the seriousness was long gone from her face now as she shook her head and walked over to me.

"Naw, silly! I came to see my little angel of a Goddaughter!" She replied, not telling me the whole truth. She wasn't going to tell me, I knew that, and she was going to tell me with an underline there in her tone and in her eyes. She knew what I was asking of her, and she was telling me without saying the words.

Yes, be warned and be careful.

"Harley?" We both looked over to the stairs now, seeing none other than Chato there at the top of the stairs in his clothes, looking at the both of us. I said nothing, watching him there drink in the sight as Harley squealed in delight and waltzed over to him as he descended to the last step there on the ground. They both hugged, though over Harley's shoulder Chato eyed, silently asking with his eyes what was going on.

"Good to see ya, flame boy! How goes it, living the normal life?" She asked him with a batting of her eyebrows once they pulled away from one another and they were talking together.

"Just fine, Quinn," Chato replied to her with his low tone, the small smile back on his face again from seeing his old friend, "You came here to see Mary didn't you?"

"Oh come on now, I came to see both you and Rosie!" She teased him back, thinking to herself for a moment or two before she spoke up again with her coy manner, "But then again, now that you mentioned it,"

"She's about to wake up, you wanna see her?" He asked her now, pointing to the stairs.

"Naw, I'll surprise her down here. Don't wanna scare her with my new look," Harley said with a grin now as Chato nodded in agreement and I moved over to where the steps were.

"I'll go get her awake," I said to Harley now as I passed the both of them over to the stairs, seeing Harley move away from Chato now and looking at the pictures there on the wall, her head tilted to the side as she looked at our photos and Chato looked over at me. He knew that we were talking about something, I could see it there on his face that he was picking up something that was not said just yet. I just looked at him, silently telling him that something was up and we both should be concerned. I didn't want to walk about in front of Harley, that would be too much, and since Mary wanted to see her, I didn't want to spoil that.

"Can I have hair like yours?" Mary asked Harley now as they were coloring together at the kitchen table, Chato and I were watching her as Harley thought to herself for a second or two, as if she was playing a game with the little one.

"I'll do your hair for you when you're old enough, how about that," She replied back to Mary, who giggled from the attic as she grabbed her pink marker and Harley grabbing a light blue one, "Besides, this does bad stuff to your hair. Trust me, keep your hair the way it is, it's pretty like your mom's hair."

"You're so thoughtful,"I joked with her now as she poked her tongue out at me, Mary doing the same and Harley looking at her in a mocked shocked manner.

"Mind your P's and Q's!" She said to Mary now as she then looked over at Chato, "You finding something that's keepin' you occupied?"

"You know me, Quinn," Chato replied from his spot next to me, "I'm doin' good at the chop shop down the street a bit. The guys there are cool,"

"Didn't think you were a chopper kind of guy anyhow," Harley joked as she motioned her head over at me, "At least your wife here has a decent job.

"Hey, working at a joint flower shop and bookstore that's a hole in the wall is not really a great job," I reasoned with her.

"But it fits ya. I think you guys can fit into the concept of normal a bit better than I thought," She explained, making em remember that sentence that she gave both Chato and me when we were back in MidCiy, a sense of confession there in the bar after getting the low blow from Flag himself.

"You just wait until we are able to have a car payment and have soccer practices," Chato reasoned with her now as Mary was lost in her own world of coloring and thinking to herself now, the same way that she would act about anything, which is why I love her.

"So, when are we gonna have a reunion with the rest of the gang?" Harley asked out of the blue, going back to her coloring as both Chato and I were looking at each other. Was that the best choice? Since things were about to blow up all over the news with Metahumans dying at the hands of whoever it was, and not to mention my own father being sprung out by someone, or some group maybe. I wondered what was going on in her head, really going on in her head from time to time. She was a good person, I had that sense still in my own mind, but then again something could be off in her own head from all that she went through with The Joker.

"We'll find a date," I reassured her, almost feeding her what she wants to hear now as Chato looked over at me now. He could see what I was doing, keeping my face calm and collective as he did the same, the both of us knowing in agreement that we were going to have to workout out.

That night felt off to me, very off when I went to sleep late that night. After Harley left us for the night, Chato and I were still feeling on what she told us. Everything that was happening in the news and with others likes us being hunted down was playing over and over in my head. Was it going to effect us? What about our life that we were trying put together?

I could hear something creak underneath a foot maybe, having me wake up then and look dead ahead at the wall, hoping that I was hearing something else and not what I thought it was. It was heard again, and I instantly looked over at the door that we left cracked open on purpose for the sake of Mary and if she had a nightmare. But I knew her footsteps, they were small and delicate. These ones that I was hearing, they were large and heavy.

Someone was in our house.