Oookay, so here it is! The third chapter! I've only gotten three reviews so far, but hey, something is better than nothing, right? Back to the point, this chapter is going to be about Commissioner Gordon and the guilt he feels for not being able to save Harleen, and the comfort that is brought to him when he returns home from work, finding his daughter Barbara safe asleep, and out of harms way on the den couch. I don't know how much of them I want in Stockholm Syndrome, though, but if you like the idea than please let me know! DISCLAIMER: All obvious Batman characters © Bob Kane. Even though I'm jazzing Harley Quinn up a-la Christopher Nolan style, along with Barbara Gordon, they DO NOT and WILL NEVER belong to me.
Chapter Three: Resilience
Commissioner Jim Gordon shook his head and furrowed his brow wearily as he fished out his keys from one of his jacket pockets. What a goddam day today had been! It was just like every other day since fourteen-year-old Harleen Quinzel was kidnapped by Gotham's latest threat, a maniac who called himself the Joker. In Jim's opinion, this whole case wasn't that far off from being some kind of psychological horror movie. Everything about it didn't make any sense what-so-ever, and it felt like he was a blind man, reaching out desperately for something that was right in front of him, but his grasp kept on missing it. Now it had been officially three weeks, and there wasn't even one fucking clue given to the police department of where the Joker could possibly be. It was like the bastard didn't even exist! Jim just couldn't understand it; twice the department had received an envelope of pictures, which all showed the very hell Harleen was in from the Joker in the mail, but they couldn't even find the location source. The bastard had obviously taken his time in making sure that his trace was as clean as a damn whistle, and even hours of painstaking and frustrating searching at the Gotham Police Department didn't seem to be helping at all. Never before in his life had Jim felt this bad! Never before in his life had he ever let someone who needed his help down…well, he had now.
Breaking himself from his reverie, Jim unlocked his apartment door, only to find his daughter fast asleep on the living room couch, with the TV remote tucked adorably in her hands, as if it were a teddy bear. Despite the fact that the course of the day had badly affected Jim's emotions, he couldn't help but let them all go, at least until tomorrow morning. A content, albeit weary smile came across his lips as he watched his baby girl sleep. Well, she wasn't really a baby anymore; she had just turned fourteen two days ago. But a child is always a baby to their parent, even when they're sixty-something. He stepped into his apartment's small living room after locking the front door, continuing to smile when he approached the couch Barbara was sleeping on. Glancing at what was on the television, Jim chuckled when he noticed it was one of those late-night cartoons that were meant for "mature" viewers. Jim had watched this very show many times with Barbara, finding its edgy content just as funny as she did. God, how he loved those moments. He hardly got to spend any time with Barbara and her new baby brother, but when he did he made sure every second of that moment counted, even if it was just watching TV with them. Jim also randomly took note of the way Barbara's long, nearly-waist-length hair was splayed across the couch pillow, feeling light-heartedly jealous of her. She probably didn't even realize how amazing her vibrant cherry-red hair really was. His hair used to have the exact same shade in his more youthful years, but now it was barely what he'd call "Salt and Pepper". The red of his hair in fact got lighter as he began to push forty, and then darkened somewhere in his mid forties to the shade of silvery brown it was now. But, he was also cursed with perpetual freckles when he was younger as well, unlike Barbara who didn't have a single blemish on her porcelain skin.
Jim went over to the TV, turning it off before turning around to pick his sleeping daughter up gently from the couch as well as placing the remote down. He suddenly felt like she was four years old again carrying her to her bedroom like this, but for some reason he didn't feel like Barbara would be embarrassed as hell if she woke up right now. The commissioner had to suppress a chuckle as he saw the hectic state his daughter's room was in, thinking that it looked like a natural disaster had struck it as he placed Barbara onto her bed, pulling the covers over her like he used to when she was younger. He gazed fondly down at her for a minute longer before kissing her forehead gently and sweeping back some loose locks of hair from her face. At least his daughter was safe, and Jim knew that Hawaii would have to have six inches of snowfall before Barbara ever found herself in danger. Nothing was going to hurt her while he was around.