I do not own any of the characters mentioned below.
I dreamt of him last night. I was wearing a beautiful wedding dress, the Joker was wearing a dashing all black tuxedo. We were standing, alone, on the roof of a skyscraper. All of Gotham behind us, illuminating our wedding. The Joker looked deep into my eyes, like he could see everything that I was.
"Forever?" He asked me.
"Forever." I said softly. I meant it. He put his hands on the back of my neck and pulled me into a deep kiss. I felt myself melt into his arms. When our lips parted he took my hand in his and we jumped off the roof. He held me in his arms as we fell and he put his lips on my forehead. I had never felt safer.
I awoke with a smile on my face. I got ready eagerly and practically skipped the whole way to work. It has been a few days since the Joker had first kissed me. Since then he has revealed many things to me. His father was an abusive alcoholic, he used comedy to cope with things since he was young. The Joker was telling me things about his life. He trusted me.
When I got to Arkham I could feel that something was wrong. When I went through security they looked at me strangely. Once I had my lab coat on I went to the nurses station. The senior resident paged me into his office.
"Good morning, doctor." I said happily.
"It's not so good, Harleen." He frowned, still staring at him computer.
"What's going on?" I asked. I was afraid that he found out about the alcohol I gave the Joker.
"The Joker escaped last night." Right when he said that I felt a knife go through my heart. How could he leave me? Why didn't he say goodbye? I maintained my composure.
"How did he escape?" I asked.
"He had some goons waiting for him outside. He attacked a guard with a glass bottle and used the guards id card to get through the doors." He shook his head. When he said glass bottle my already broken heart had fallen into my stomach.
"I'm sorry. I thought we were making progress. I thought I could help him." I wanted to cry or scream. I wasn't sure which would feel better.
"It's not your fault, kid. He's a criminal, escaping this place is like singing the ABC's for him. Don't blame yourself." He stood up and put his hand on my shoulder.
"No one has escaped since I've been here. I'm not really sure what to do." I looked down at my hands.
"Just go about your day. The police will want to talk to you about his current mental state the day he left. How did his session go?" He asked me as he leaned on the front of his desk.
"It went fine. He seemed to be well mannered and he seemed optimistic in his treatment. We spoke about his childhood, which could have triggered something. He did talk a lot about what he would do when he got out of here. I thought that was just a way for him to keep himself busy. I should have saw the signs." I felt so guilty. I let my judgement be clouded by feelings for a patient. And now I was hurting because of it.
"How could you have known someone would get a glass bottle to him? You did ok, don't be hard on yourself. You're still learning. I know how hard it can be to see them as just flight risks and not people. The police will be here to take your statement, until then, just keep busy." He smiled slightly at me.
"Alright, thanks. I guess I'll go do my rounds." I shrugged my shoulders and left the office. I was walking past the nurses station when one of the girls stopped me.
"Hey, Dr. Quinzel." A young nurse named Marcy called to me.
"Yes?" I asked.
"You had a session with the Joker yesterday, right?" She asked me while the other nurses eavesdropped.
"Yes, I did." I said plainly, already annoyed at this conversation.
"Is it true he had a gun with him?" She whispered to me with a curious smirk.
"No, he didn't have a gun. This is a secured facility and you should know better than to ask. My sessions with my patients are confidential." I snapped at her. "Ya know, Marcy, this isn't the time to gossip. A sick man is out on the street; he could be hurt."
"Probably hurting someone." She said under her breath, the other nurses hummed in agreement.
"Why don't you do your job? Try keeping your opinions for after work, ok?" I said with a smile and walked away. I wanted to hit her, I've never wanted to hit anyone before.
I did my rounds as usual but I felt so betrayed. One part of my head was screaming at myself, he used me just to escape it said; the other part was whimpering like a hurt dog, he'll come back for me it wished. I didn't feel right, I didn't feel like me. I was worried about Joker but I was so angry at him and most of all I blamed myself.
I have always been a level headed person but since I first met the Joker my mind was split into two opposing sides. These parts of my brain argued day and night over the Joker. Now that he was gone they digressed but I didn't feel like I was back to normal.
At lunch I decided to take a nap in the breakroom. I put my head down at the lunch table and quickly fell asleep and started dreaming. It seemed to be a continuation of my last dream, except now I was on the ground. The wedding dress was torn to shreds and I looked down at my hands that were covered with black gloves. I turned around and saw my reflection in the glass building.
I looked identical to the drawing on the Joker's cell wall. I was wearing a little red and black jester costume. My face was painted white and I wore a little black mask. I was admiring my clown costume when I noticed the strings tied to my wrist. The strings went up into the sky and when I followed them I saw Joker. He was over sixty feet tall holding a wooden tablet with strings tied to it.
He lifted the wooden piece into the air and I was jolted up with it. With each twist one of my extremities were moved. My right arm, then my left moved in a little dance. I had no control over myself, it was terrifying. I looked up at the gigantic Joker cackling as he jerked around the strings.
"Dance, my little harlequin." He chanted as he jerked the strings even more. I felt tears streaming down my cheeks as I screamed for it to stop. "Aw, c'mon, Harley. Why the long face?" He said with a laugh.
I jolted awake. I had goose bumps on my arms and my heart was racing. I was happy to be awake, I didn't know why I dreamt of that. The Joker would never hurt me, he cared about me.
I was getting ready to leave when I got paged into the senior residents office again. I rolled my eyes at the beeping pager, I was so drained. I just wanted to go home.
"You needed me?" I said, entering his office.
"I'm gonna need you to keep your pager on you through the night, in case they bring the Joker in." He said plainly.
"Will do." I nodded.
"Alright, have a good night." He said with a half-smile.
"You too." I called as I walked out the door. I almost fell asleep on the train home. When I did get home I laid on my couch and couldn't help but cry. I wasn't sobbing, the tears just fell down my cheeks like they were surrendering to this feeling. I felt broken, I felt like a failure.
I put my pager on the coffee table in front of me and I let myself fall asleep. I woke up to my pager beeping. I sat up and took some deep breaths. They must have found the Joker. My shoulders sank with relief but then my back shivered with fear. What if they hurt him? What if something bad happened?
I quickly fixed my clothing and my glasses. I put on my shoes and grabbed my purse. There wouldn't be a train to go by Arkham for another hour. I had to haul a cab. The ride was much slower than the train. I finally got to Arkham, I threw my cab fair at the driver and ran to the entrance.
I was heading to the senior redient's office when I saw him talking to the chief of police.
"And this is Dr. Harleen Quinzel. She's been working with the Joker." He gestured to me.
"Hello, Dr. Quinzel. The Joker's been caught, he's being brought in now." The chief of police told me.
"Well that's good. Did the officer say what kind of condition he was in?" I asked.
"It wasn't one of my guys. It was Batman." The chief said nonchalantly.
"Batman? That's a major trigger for the Joker. And most of our inmates." I said.
"Dr. Quinzel is right, Chief." The senior resident said. Before the chief could respond he was interrupted by buzzing on his radio. I couldn't understand what it was saying.
"He's bringing him in now." The chief said. We all walked to the entrance. All of the sudden a group of police officers walked in pushing the Joker on a stretcher he was strapped to. He was unconscious and looked like he'd been beaten. His mouth was bloody and his eye was bruised. His shirt was ripped up and he had a cut on his hairline that dripped blood down the side of his face.
Behind him followed a tall figure dressed in all black. It was batman, I had never seen him in real life before and knew nothing about him besides what my patients told me. I hated him, I wanted to hit him for everything he had done to my Joker. I followed the stretcher to his cell. Batman attempted to follow but the chief of police pulled him back.
They put the joke in his cell and I sat on the edge of his cot and cleaned up his wounds. I would be their when he woke up. I would be the first face he saw and I would let him know how much he meant to me. He wouldn't ever be alone, losing him was too much, I would never feel that way ever again.
A/N: Joker's back! Even though he wasn't gone very long. I hope you like this chapter, I loved writing it. Thank you for all your reviews, they really make me smile. Please leave me a comment if there is anything you would like to see in the upcoming chapters.
THanks!
