I want to thank everyone for their patience as I worked on this next chapter and a HUGE thank you for those kind enough to review. I hope chapter 4 has been worth the wait!


Chapter 4: The Doll's House

"Two weeks and she hasn't even given any sign she's going to wake up. Damn Jervis Tetch."

Commissioner Gordon sat bedside in the hospital, unflinching when he felt a strong hand grip his shoulder.

"This wasn't your fault."

"Easy for you to say, you didn't assign a family friend to look after a madman that killed her."

Gordon took the hand of the redheaded woman in the bed, making a face as he listened to the monitors beep in the same monotonous way they had been since she was found after Tetch's escape.

"She was a good nurse Gordon. She had sworn to watch over everyone, and that includes people like the Mad Hatter."

"It's days like these I'm sure it isn't time aging me, it's Gotham." He stood, turning to face his old friend. "Didn't you find anything at all?"

Batman moved to the window, his cape fluttering behind him like a living shadow. He stiffly shook his head, looking out into the night. "Tetch is laying low. After two weeks I had hoped he would have made some sort of move, but so far no luck."

"He'll do something stupid sooner or later. The temptation in this city is too great."

Batman thought a moment, creating what would have been uncomfortable silence with anyone else. "I don't think his mind is on common crime."

"Why do you say that?"

"Alice Pleasance went to see him the day before he escaped."

"I know. Her father bugged the DA's office until we finally had to grant her access to see him." Gordon lifted his coat off the chair as though it weighed a ton. Batman could see that the job was wearing him down, and silently wondered when the same thing would happen to him.

"I think he's planning a strike. Maybe some sort of revenge for helping them put him away."

"Well we'll just have to keep an eye on her until he pops his head up. If Gertrude doesn't pull through, I'm going to take extra pleasure in hauling him back to Arkham." Gordon turned to find he was alone.

"I hate when he does that."


"Jervis, it's perfect!"

Harley Quinn bounced from one end of the room to the other, as Pamela Isely stood in the doorway with arms crossed; both dressed like normal women for once.

"I'm not sure I approve of this Jervis. How on earth are you going to keep her here?"

Harley's whirlwind of motion finally landed her practically on top of her friend, grinning from ear to ear. "Awe come on Red, I think it's romantic!"

In the background Jervis could hear the two bickering, but it was only a distant sound to him, because his reality contained only this room and the work he had put into it. His fantastical side had settled on lavenders and creams because they were girlish and she had always worn them to work. Other voices had driven him to give her a woman's bedroom set of mahogany with a four poster bed and a large dresser to put clothes in he hoped to buy for her over the years. Perhaps one day when she was used to him she could go back to having a career, but Jervis rationalized that the first year would be a hard adjustment.

"I cannot thank you enough Miss Isley for this opportunity. The unused space under your greenhouse has made a lovely underground home."

"No Jervis, it's lucky for you that the government had used this property to house weapons and then abandoned it before I ever turned the building overhead into a greenhouse, otherwise I never would have had the space."

"Either way, it doesn't matter." Jervis hardly looked at either woman as he spoke; carefully arranging the things on the vanity, first impressions were very important after all.

Harley squealed with delight as she flopped on the bed, ruining the pristine surface. "It's like somethin' outta one of those love novels, just like me and Mista J."

"I've got news for you Harley, the only time the Joker is ever going to take you underground is in a pine box." Pamela frowned a bit, crossing her arms again and leaning against a wall.

More arguing continued that was actually more yelling on Pamela's part and whining and sobbing on Harley's. Jervis mused at what emotional creatures women were, and yet all different. Pamela was stern and reclusive and often very angry, whereas Harley was prone to more rapid changes of emotion. That is why he adored his Alice, even though she was also prone to crying, she was a gentler woman with more sophisticated sensibilities.

Jervis smiled broadly as he ran his hands over the cover of a lovely wooden jewelry box. "Harley, do you remember what I asked you to do?"

The young blonde stopped her screaming smiling brightly at Jervis despite the choke hold her companion had her in. "Of course! Don't you worry your little head Hattie, just leave everything up ta' me!"


Alice browsed through the clothes at one of the fancier department stores near her childhood home. Normally she made every attempt to stay out of these stuffy places, but her father knew the shop owner and had said she would be expected. Heaven forbid that she come home without stopping by to say hello, which would still be a problem, because as she picked up another blouse to try on, it occurred to her that she had not seen Mr. Grimble since she stepped in.

"Can I help you find anything miss?"

Alice looked up, gasping as she came face to face with another blonde haired, blue eyed woman who was smiling at her like…like…well like the Cheshire cat. "Umm, no I'm alright thank you. Is Mr. Grimble in today?"

"Oh no he's on his lunch break, but I was told to help you with anything you needed. Ooo! Ain't these nice? I mean," the woman cleared her throat, pushing up her glasses," aren't these lovely?"

Alice blinked a few times, just staring at the scarf that had been thrust in her face. The saleswoman had gone from being very proper to, almost comical in a matter of seconds, and then back. It was almost troubling.

"It's very nice, I'll just try it on with this outfit." Alice took the scarf slowly before heading off to the fitting rooms.

Pamela Isely slid out from behind the curtain that closed off the back room, sauntering over to where the young blonde saleswoman stood. "She's never going to buy this Harl, the young girl has to be more intelligent than this. The whole thing reeks of suspicion."

"Nah Red, she's as trusting and innocent as Jervis said she was."

"I still don't see why you agreed to help him, and why you're dragging me along for the ride."

"Awe come on Red," she put her arm around the taller woman's shoulder, "Didn't Jervis help us out plenty a times? Remember the neat trial he helped us put on?"

"I remember that it failed and we all got extra time and less freedom for it."

"Yeah but wasn't it a great joke? Don't you remember the look on old Bat's face? Priceless! You can't pay for jokes like that!"

"Harley I think sometimes that maniac really has scrambled your brain."

"Hey now, Mista J…quick hide I can hear her coming out! Oh, and keep Mr. Grumbles back there quiet or she's gonna hear us!"

The red head seethed inside, turning back to her hiding place with the aging store owner. She didn't like it when Harley was assertive, and if this kept up, it would be the end of her collaboration with the infamous Mad Hatter.

Alice had heard mumbling and bickering the entire time she was in the dressing room, but since it was rude to eavesdrop she was pleased that most of it was too mumbled to hear. She looked over the dress she had settled on, pleased to be adding the green dress to her otherwise pastel wardrobe. Maybe she needed a change.

"I'm ready." She laid the garment on the counter, looking around for the other customer she had heard from in the back, surprised to find that once again, she and the blonde were very much alone.

"Oh this is lovely!"

Alice nodded, trying not to make eye contact as she dug around in her purse for the envelope her father had given her. She silently wondered to herself if lovely was the only adjective the salesgirl knew.

"Ok let's see that will be…ummm….." She jabbed at the register with a few fingers, laughing nervously as it did nothing.

Alice jumped for the second time since she entered the shop as a red headed woman came from the back room, smiling only slightly as she nudged the blonde woman away.

"I'm very sorry for my colleague, but she's new." The red headed woman rang the dress up easily before folding it. "That will be 150. May I put this on your tab?"

"Oh, no I have enough here." Alice laid the money on the counter, watching the red head with a very uneasy feeling. The woman's green eyes screamed malice and her calm tone almost made her feel like she was in some horror movie.

"It would be a shame to wear such a beautiful dress without something to go around your neck, wouldn't it?"

"You got that right." The blonde nodded dreamily, yelping as the red head stepped on her foot. "Oh right! Mr. Grum…I mean Mr. Grimble asked us to give this to you, and say hi to daddy for him!"

The blonde pulled out a very lavish looking velvet box which she opened, revealing a very expensive looking pearl necklace. "It'll go great with the dress!" She snapped it shut and slipped it into the shopping bag that the red headed woman had just finished packing.

"That was very thoughtful of him, a bit weird, but very thoughtful. I guess that's it so, thanks for all your help and please tell Mr. Grimble I'm sorry I missed him."

Alice slid the bag off the counter, taking a hurried pace to the door. As she glanced back to the two women waving from the counter, she was even surer that this place gave her the creeps. The final bell and thud of the door was the most comforting thing she'd heard all morning.

As soon as Alice was out of sight, Pamela folded her arms, offering a nasty side glance to her companion. "You really are incompetent sometimes."

"Oh Red! You came to my rescue just in time!" She threw her arms around her friend, who couldn't help but smile despite her self.

"…and I always will Harl, and don't you forget it."


"Oh darling you're home very early. Did you find everything you needed? You don't have many bags."

Alice kicked the door shut behind her, unloading a bit of the burden of her shopping spree on her cheerful mother, who began looking through bags before she even set them down.

"Only a few dresses mom, and some cosmetics to replace the ones I didn't think to grab before leaving." Alice set the rest on the floor, plopping herself down in the chair by the door. "I had the oddest experience at Mr. Grimble's."

"Oh well naturally dear, I always thought of Edward Grimble as a very eccentric man, and if he wasn't one of your father's best friends, I don't think I would ever have given him the time of day."

"No mother, that isn't what I mean. Mr. Grimble wasn't there at all and in his place were two really weird sales women. The blonde was a bit ditzy but ok, but the red head really gave me the creeps." She kicked her shoes off, watching her mother take the velvet box out of the last bag. "They also gave me that."

"Oh, Alice! It's delightful isn't it? Why on earth did they give you this?"

"I have no idea, they just said Mr. Grimble had asked them to give them to me."

"Well," her mother said, holding the pearls up to her own neck in the mirror, "I certainly love them. Wear them to dinner tonight darling, they will make an impression."

"They're just pearls."

"No Mr. Grimble, eccentric as he may be, always had an eye for jewelry, and these are very tasteful and very expensive. Daddy will be pleased at his generosity."

Alice practically had to fling herself out of her chair to stand, strolling over to her mother to take the pearls from her. "What did you say about dinner?"

"Meet us at eight darling at the little French restaurant on Burgum Street. Daddy is entertaining clients tonight and I'm sure he'll want to show off his beautiful daughter."

Alice nodded numbly, thinking only of her tired feet and the shower that awaited her. Her mother's careful instructions about where the cab money was and which dress she should wear went in one ear and out the other as she neared her room. The last sound she heard in the house was the click of the door as her mother left to go to the hairdresser.

The bath she drew about twenty minutes later was deliciously soothing and erased the miseries of the day quite nicely. Time alone, however, proved to be a dangerous thing as Alice's mind began to wander to the anxiety of being back in this house, the loneliness of life without Billy, and the terrifying scene of Jervis clutching his chest behind the glass. He really had lost his mind like Batman said, and she was sure that the man she knew had been snuffed out behind Arkham's dismal walls.

When she exited the bath, she dressed in the green gown she had bought earlier, and after her hair was dry she debated over the pearls. The woman she saw in the mirror was beginning to look a lot older than she was, and it made Alice think that tonight was the time to start living again. She didn't need a boyfriend, but it sure would boost her confidence to catch the eye of some young executive tonight. With a bit of modest makeup she was ready, all except the pearls which she lifted from the velvet box with trembling hands. She would be the belle of the ball tonight with these, if only in her own mind. Once the clasp was fastened behind her neck, Alice heard a small beep, and numbness washed over her small form. Before she had time to make sense of the situation, she found herself walking to the bathroom door, down the steps, and out her front door into the chill of an October night.

It was just as it had been that night in storybook land. Alice was aware of everything around her, but as hard as she tried she could not make her treacherous feet turn around and flee back to the safety of her parent's home. A black car pulled up in front of her, and just as the back passenger door opened, she felt a sharp pain around her neck and immediately collapsed. The world spun around her while she coughed and tried to clear her vision. The only sound she could hear was the car peeling away in the darkness, and reality did not come back into her brain until she looked up into the face of the Batman, examining the broken strand of pearls.

"Miss Pleasance, are you alright?"

She allowed herself to be helped up, registering that the pain in her neck must have come from Batman ripping the necklace from her. "What just happened?"

"Police found Mr. Grimble tied up in the storage room of his shop, with no apparent theft involved. He said that two women, one red head and one blonde, came in and tied him up and tossed him behind the curtain."

"I saw those women today! They gave me those." She gestured to the pearls, almost touching them, but too wary to do so.

"Mr. Grimble is very lucky to be alive Miss Pleasance. I had no idea if this was the Mad Hatter's work, but I decided to come and check on you anyhow. It's lucky I did, because you were headed straight for that car."

"Do you think Jervis was in that car?"

"By the way it took off, I would say so."

Alice rubbed her neck. "You didn't go after him."

"I want to see what he's up to first. You'll be safe Miss Pleasance, I'll keep an eye on things."

"I guess that makes me feel better." When she looked up, once again he was gone, somewhere out in the night. "But I'll never get used to that."


"Why did you stay and fight?"

There was no answer from the blonde man, sitting in a slumped position on the edge of a lavender bed.

"Awe Hattie I'm sorry, if I had only offed the guy it would have bought you more time."

"I knew this was going to fail from the start, because Batman knows all of our tired old tricks." The red headed woman stood against the frame of the door, arms crossed. Tonight Pamela was Poison Ivey, dressed in full, looking to Harley who had also donned her alternate persona for the night.

Harley patted Jervis' back, trying to look hopeful. "Next time you should really go for the jugular."

"Miss Quinn, I have worked too hard to get out of Arkham and set all this up, to be sent back in one poorly planned tangle with the Batman."

"So what are you going to do?"

"The only thing I can, find some new tricks.