He was doing it again, pretending not to hear her. Coming from anyone else such a childish action would seem ridiculous but coming from the Joker the silent treatment just felt spiteful. Even when she persisted and forced him to acknowledge her, he did nothing more than grunt in annoyance and push her away. Harley wasn't sure exactly when he had started ignoring her but it had been going on for several days now and she didn't like it one bit.

After being pushed away by the Joker, Harley saw that there was nothing for her in the Joker's hideout right then. So she decided to Visit the only other friend she had in the city.

"I'm goin out for a while, alright Puddin" Harley said as she stood by the door.

As she had expected the Joker didn't bother to respond let alone look up from his work. Ignoring her feelings of disappointment, Harley left the building behind her and set out in the direction of Ivy's current home.

Harley knocked on the door several times before Ivy finally answered. The red headed woman had a look of surprise on her face that slowly turned into one of suspicion as she looked at her friend.

"What did he do now" Ivy asked with a cynical tone to her voice.

"Nothing" Harley replied as she stepped into Ivy's home.

"Come on Harley, I know that look, you always look like that when J hurts you. He hasn't his you again has he?"

"No, it's nothing like that."

"Then what's the problem?"

With a shaky voice Harley said "Mr. J started ignoring me, he doesn't talk to me, he doesn't look at me, he doesn't even hit me anymore."

"You make that sound like a bad thing, Harl."

"Yeah, well I wish that he would start hitting me again instead of pretending I don't exist."

"You're an idiot" Ivy let out in frustration.

"At least when he's hitting me, he's paying attention to me. This is a thousand times worse."

Ivy walked off towards her kitchen, no longer willing to hear about Harley's bizarre relationship, but Harley just followed after her. The blonde kept speaking the whole way, either oblivious to her friend's disgust or just unwilling to stop venting.

"It makes me think he doesn't love me anymore" Harley whispered while tears began to well up in her eyes."

"I hate to break it to you Harley but he never did."

"You don't understand red, in his own special way he did. I don't know if Mr. J can really have friends, but if he can, I came closer than anyone else and that's good enough for me."

An hour later Harley had begun the walk home, none of her problems had been solved, but talking to her friend had made her feel a little better. As she drew closer and closer to her and the Jokers home she felt a longing to find and embrace the man she loved. The trouble was that the Joker didn't share this desire and he would more than likely push her away and ignore her. Still as she opened the door to their hideout, Harley held onto an illogical hope that he would be happy to see her.

"Harley" she heard the Joker call out as she set foot inside their home. Harley felt her heart flutter at hearing him call out her name, she always felt a rush when he spoke to her, but this was the first time he had addressed her in days and the feelings were even stronger for it.

"Yeah, Mistah J" she answered adoringly

"Can you come to my office for a moment pooh?"

"Sure thing puddin" she said as she moved towards the room he called his office. Harley knew that she was likely walking into one of his childish pranks, but she couldn't care less. The fact that he was paying attention to her again made all of his quirks worth it.

Harley didn't find the Joker in his office but she did find a small vase with a single red rose in it, placed on his desk. The small gesture bowled Harley over; any animosity she felt towards him had already evaporated the instant he had started speaking to her again, but the gift of a single flower had put her in a mindset where her puddin could do no wrong.

"I picked it just for you doll face" Harley heard from behind her.

Spinning round Harley saw the Joker standing in the doorway with his arms stretched out towards her. Seeing that this was one of the Joker's exceedingly rare invitations for her affection, Harley let out one of her squeaking noises that she made when she was truly happy before she ran to him. Feeling his arms close around her, Harley buried her face in his chest and felt content for the first time in days.

"I'm sorry for ignoring you for the last couple of days pooh, but you know what I'm like when I think of a new idea."

Harley felt her heart swell; apologies from Mr. J were even rarer than his affection. Acting on impulse Harley leaned up towards her puddin and planted a kiss on his lips.

"It's ok Mistah J, I'll always forgive you"

After a short while Harley felt the Joker's hold on her loosen, she was disappointed but she understood how hard it was for her puddin to be affectionate.

"Harley, let's go out and have some fun, I don't think we'll have to deal with the Bat tonight."

"Oh, and whys that Mistah J?"

The Joker reached out and cupped Harleys chin with uncharacteristic gentleness before he slowly turned her head to look out a window, in the distance Harley saw that one of Gotham's taller sky scrapers was on fire, the thing that really stuck out to Harley though was the shape the fire had taken on. It appeared that someone had taken great care to only ignite parts of the building. From where she was standing Harley could see that the fire as a whole formed the shape of a giant question mark.

"I think the nerd in the green suit ought to keep Bats busy tonight. Come on Harley lets go make some easy money."

"Right, with ya Mistah J."