AN: This is a big one! By my standards, anyway, I don't normally get over two-thousand words. And be warned: I made up some laws and psychiatry techniques and am treating them as serious matters, it's one of the reasons I love fanfiction so much. :-)
Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize!
Batman silently crept through the halls of Arkham, he'd come to investigate why all his bugs in the Patient Interview Rooms and in the High-Security Ward's main doctor's office had suddenly ceased working. He knew that it had to be related somehow to the new doctor that had been hired, on a short six month contract which was highly unusual, but needed to be sure. He couldn't take the risk that one of the numerous villians incarcerated there had gained enough freedom of movement to find and deactivate or remove all the bugs.
A sweep of the Patient Interview Rooms showed that all the bugs had been removed, he replaced them and added more in different and more concealed locations even though it meant the sound quality would be compromised if he had to rely on them, he then moved on to the High-Security Ward's main doctor's office; the office belonging to the new doctor.
Batman had done his research as soon as he learned of Dr John H. Watson being contracted from abroad for a six month tenure as psychiatrist to Gotham's most dangerous, and had learned almost nothing. He had, of course, found the man's army records- mostly classified or redacted- as well as his school records- a few notations for fights, mostly while protecting others from bullies- and copies of his medical degrees and licenses- his psychiarty license was a recent aquirement but was otherwise in order- but beyond that there was almost nothing to be found on the man save for a blog that read like a series of mystery oriented short stories rather than real life.
With everything that he could find Batman could only come to the conclusion that Dr Watson was a good man with good intentions, it made him highly suspicious. No one could be as nice as Dr John Watson appeared to be without some nefarious motivation, and he would find out what it was.
Slipping inside the appropriate office Batman quickly found that his bugs were missing here too, but before he could begin replacing them there was a cough from the doorway followed by the lights coming up. Retaining as much dignity as he could, Batman stood in the middle of the office he'd just broken into as if he belonged there and tried to stare the other person down.
It didn't work.
John held the gaze of the figure dressed like a bat that stood in the middle of his office until they clenched their teeth, as close to fidgeting as someone so controled was likely to get, before tightening his robe around himself, moving into the office and going to stand behind his desk. Batman moved only enough to keep the doctor in his sights and in front of him.
"I was wondering when you'd be by, I've been hearing a lot about you." John opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a small box, he dumped the bugs in it out on his desk. They'd all been smashed. "I believe these are yours?" John asked sternly though politely. He wasn't surprised when he didn't get an answer, he was well used to Sherlock's game of remaining silent so as to not incriminate himself, after all, so he chose to treat this situation like he would if it were Sherlock in front of him instead of a tights wearing vigilante.
"I take doctor/patient confidentiality very seriously and do not appreciate it when someone tries to violate it," John had had this arguement with Mycroft several times, and eventually won, so knew just the tone to take to get his disapproval across. "You will not bug my office or the Patient Interview Rooms again while I am here, nor will you be going through my patient's private therapy notes unless they give permission for you to do so, and then only while I'm present. Do I make myself clear?" Batman gave no indication that he'd even heard John's reprimand but John expected no less, Sherlock wouldn't have given one either.
"Now, if you'd like to talk to me about a patient then I will be happy to do so, so long as I am not breaking their confidence, but only during buisness hours. I am too old to be dragged out of bed for conversations that should take place during the day, preferably over tea." John sighed wistfully, tea sounded really nice right then, tea and a rooftop chase to get the blood pumping. He pulled himself back to reality and focused on his guest again. "It is late, or early depending on your point of view," John threw a glare at the digital clock on his desk with it's happy glowing numbers showing it to be not quite four in the morning, "and I have a full schedule later today, so unless you want to make an appointment for a session of your own I would suggest calling it a night." John then held an expectant look on the other until he recieved a small nod, John nodded back before heading for the door and turning the lights out again.
"How did you even know I was here?" The soft, gravely question out of the dark stopped the doctor and he turned to the corner he knew the other to be standing in, even though the voice had sounded like it came from the other side of the hall.
"My bestmate has a tendency to creep along in shadows like he lives in them, usually without realizing he's doing so until he's popped out again and scared the daylights out of me, and my fiancee walks like a ghost on most occasions. I've gotten used to listening to my insticts and just knowing when someone is lurking nearby, and in a place like this I'm not about to let my guard down." John waited a moment, and when no other questions came from the presence in the corner he returned to his room. He didn't really like sleeping in an asylum, even if it was in the administrative/residential wing and away from the cells the patients resided in and he wasn't the only doing it, but knew it was the easiest way to keep from being caught on camera and quickly found by Jim and Sherlock.
JMJWJMJWJMJWJMJWJMJWJMJWJMJWJMJW
Batman returned home in a contemplative mood, slept for a few hours and then got ready for a day as Bruce Wayne. When he did a quick check he almost wasn't surprised to see that all his knewly planted bugs from the night before had already been found and destroyed, even his best hidden ones.
"Tell me, Alfred," Bruce asked over breakfast, taken in the kitchen with his old friend as he was feeling a rare need for comfort, "do you have special classes in the UK to learn how to sound disapproving or is it a gift brought on by the accent?" The old butler paused a moment in sipping his tea before turning a slightly bemused look on the younger man.
"And just who with a British accent disapproved of you, young Master?" Alfred tried to hide it but it was clear he was amused by the idea of the Batman being on the recieving in of someone's disapproval, and affected by it enough to be seeking comfort in the same way he did as a child. By invading the kitchen and not letting Alfred out of his sight.
"The newest doctor at Arkham," Bruce explained with a small laugh at the memory, though he was still a little disturbed at having been caught so easily and not getting any answers, only more questions. "He caught me in his office and then repremanded me like a school boy caught peeking into the girls lockerroom." Alfred chuckled at this and the mental image of Batman hauled in front of a school dean for punishment. "He said I should make an appointment if I want to learn what is going on with his patients, or to see him for sessions myself." Bruce sipped his coffee and so missed the look Alfred sent him.
"Perhaps you should take him up on the offer," the Butler said this casually and continued on before his boy could start making excuses as to why he didn't need to see a psychiatrist, the same excuses he'd been making for decades now. "It would get you close to him so you can keep an eye on him as well as learn his technique and what he is doing with his other patients, plus it would allow you time to interrogate him over how his other patients are doing." Alfred refilled their drinks as he saw his old ward wavering on the subject of finally seeing someone about his trauma. "And if you are worried about his possibly selling out your secret identity, well, you have already seen how protective he is over doctor/patient confidentiality." Alfred let the subject go after that, pleased to see his boy actually thinking about it.
JMJWJMJWJMJWJMJWJMJWJMJWJMJWJMJW
Harley Quinn had her first appointment with the new doctor that morning after breakfast and wasn't really looking forward to it considering how the others came out acting after their sessions with the doc, they'd all come back... weirdly contemplative- even Mr J, and that had just been too odd. She'd never seen her Puddin' look so introspective before, even when she was his therapist.
And they all had these notebooks that they were writing in and didn't wanna talk about, it was really getting to her that she didn't know what to expect.
It was finally time for her session and she put on her happy/deranged face to cover her nerves and let herself be taken to the interview room and cuffed to the table. A few minutes later and a short, blonde man came in with a file in hand.
"Hello, Dr Quinzel, I'm Dr John Watson, you may call me John." Only a few seconds in an Harley was already confused and thrown off her game, she didn't like it.
"What game you trying to play, bub? I ain't no doctor no more, not since I got locked up in this looney bin." John just gave the young woman across from him a small smile before opening the file and turning it for her to see where it showed her as a doctor, still fully licensed and able to take up a practice tomorrow if she wanted to.
"I was a little surprised to see that you were still listed as a licensed doctor- the same for doctors Isley and Crane, and Mr Dent is still listed as an active lawyer- so I asked a friend to do a little digging and find out why," John pulled out a copy of a legal document he'd brought with him and showed it to the now interested blonde. "It seems that in this State, as well as a few others, that it is illegal to strip a person who has been deemed legally insane of their ability to gain employment." Harley took the print off of tightly packed legal jargan in hand almost reverently, she couldn't understand a word of what was written but was highly intrigued by what it represented.
"From what I could find it was a law passed so that if someone who was deemed legally insane were to be 'cured' and deemed sane again they could then rejoin society as a contributing citizen rather than as a ward of the State and a drain on the taxpayers. They could, of course, still be judged for their actions and stripped of any licenses or titles that they hold, but only after they have been deemed sane." John then smirks a little and leans in to whisper the next part like he's imparting a great secret, Harley leans in as well, completely hooked on what he's saying. "There's even a few cases where this law was used so that someone deemed legally insane was still able to work. My favorite ones were the lawyer who was deemed insane for wearing a goose as a hat that continued running his practice for ten years from the asylum until he proved his own case and was released and a female doctor deemed insane for wanting a divorce only to end up running the asylum as she was better qualified than the then administration." Harley couldn't hold back her giggles at that and her opinion of this John guy went up.
"That's great an' all, doc, but I still don't go by Quinzel no more. I'm Harley Quinn now, and proud of it!" She smiled big and was glad to see the doc smiling back instead of cringing away like so many others did when she got enthusiastic over something.
"Alright then. So how does Dr Quinn sound?" Harley wrinkled her nose at that, it sounded too much like a tv show. "Would Dr Harley be preferable?" John asked politely, aware he'd already made some progress but could backslide at any moment.
"Why you insisting on calling my a doc, doc? No one else hardly even remembers that I was one!" John just straightened up the folder in front of him, letting the younger woman keep the printoff of the law as he would for every patient that that law effected, and sent the blonde a slightly sad smile.
"You worked hard for your degree, you put a lot of effort into achieving the position you held before your... fall from grace, and as the title is still legally yours it is only right to acknowledge that hard work by addressing you by the appropriate title." Harley bit her lip and looked down to staighten the crumpled piece of paper in her hands as she composed herself, this doc- no, she told herself, Dr John; he deserved the honorific more than any other doctor she'd ever known- this Dr John was just too good a guy to survive this place and she hoped he got out before it destoyed him.
"You can call me Dr Harley, if you wanna." Harley said in a smaller voice than she'd used in a long while and was pleased when Dr John just nodded and changed the subject.
"Now, onto my treatment plans, which are probably not going to mesh with those of the other doctors you've had, but that's because my goal here isn't to force you to change who you are in order to make you fit better into the narrow concepts of what society deems 'sane' and 'normal'. My goal is to try and help you realize that you don't need those narrow definitions inorder to define yourself, but that you are already who you should be and just need a little help in finding your place in society without scaring the cattle too much." Harley couldn't hold back a giggle at this.
"It sounds like you're gonna try and make me a better Harley Quinn rather than try and turn me back into Harleen, Dr John!" Harley's laugh trailed off into shocked silence when all John did was smile politely and nod.
"There is nothing wrong with being Harley Quinn, or even with being Harleen Quinzel, so long as it is who you want to be." Harley could only stare wide eyed at the man across from her.
"I don't think society has a place for me, Dr John, they don't like people or things that don't fit into a mold." John gave a wistful smile at that, reminded of Sherlock when they first met and the genius' conviction that he could never fit in but had to fight to make even a small place for himself in the world. It had taken time but John had proven him wrong.
"Don't worry about that right now, Dr Harley, let's just focus on you and let the rest of the world worry about itself for now." John then pulled out a notebook, the same kind that Harley had seen all his other patients with. "I have a bit of homework for you to do, nothing too hard, I just want you to write about something or someone that irritates you and the reasons, as far as you know them, about why they irritate you."
"Oh, this is easy, Batman irritates me!" John gave a weary chuckle to this even as he passed the notebook over.
"So far everyone has given that answer," and considering I had to run him out of the building last night I can see why, John added to himself, "but I still would like you to write about why he irritates you. Give some situational examples of normal confrontations with him, then list out what could have gone differently or what you may have done differently to bring about a different outcome." Harley took the notebook and slipped the printoff inside the cover, which she was happy to see was a striped red and blue, and began thinking over how much she was going to enjoy these sessions with Dr John if they all went this pleasant. Maybe she could do something to make surre he wasn't run off too soon?
JMJWJMJWJMJWJMJWJMJWJMJWJMJWJMJW
Poison Ivy was sitting with Scarecrow when a bubbly Harley came back from her appointment with the new doctor. They watched as she sat down next to Joker, Hatter and Riddler, some of those who had been to see the new man, and joined them in writing something in those notebooks they wouldn't let anyone else see and gushed about something they were too far away to hear in her typical chatter. It was a far cry from the nervousness she'd shown just before going.
"Do you suppose it is a type of mind control?" Ivy asked, worried over her blonde friend.
"We'll be finding out soon enough if it is or if it isn't. I've got the last appoinment of the day, right after Harvey, and you go tomorrow, right?" Ivy just nodded, nervous over what strange power this new doctor had and wondering if she'd be strong enough to resist it.