disclaimer: you know the drill. only own the plot, maybe Lee's characterization, and anybody else. but definitely not the Joker I wish.
blacksilkrose123 ©2008
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It was the final straw.
Lee decided if she was ever going to be put in another hospital, he was going to be there with her—more than likely in the bed next to hers, plastered up with breathing tubes and needles, nearing his final surgery that she'd make sure he would never come out of.
It had taken hours for them to remove every little scrap piece of glass from her skin, but that hadn't been the real problem.
The Joker's favorite kicking block had taken its toll.
Six cracked ribs.
One broken, and puncturing her left lung.
Surgery had fixed it, but the scars would always be there. And oddly enough, even her incision scars resembled a crooked J.
Absolutely, fan-effing-tastic.
The door to her secluded hospital room swiveled open. Lee held her breath.
Then let it out in a string of curses when she realized it wasn't him.
She folded her arms as best she could despite the pain in her abdomen and restricting tubes in her arms. Damn…she hated needles. Lee tried to focus her swirling gaze on the complete stranger as he waltzed in, a clean blanket stuffed under one arm and a tray of disgusting hospital food in the other.
"Who the hell are you?" Lee demanded. She half-eyed the red, emergency nurse button at her bedside, debating whether she could press it before he tried to dislodge her internal organs, or, whatever it was this dude-without-a-life wanted.
"What? You don't remember me?" He feigned hurt, dropping the blanket to twist his hand where his heart was. "Stab, twist, and turn, why don't you?"
"No. I'd just pull it out and repeat."
She glared.
He grinned back.
Lee coughed. "No. But really. Unless you have some brain tumor and are about to drop in about five seconds, are missing from the schizophrenic ward, or suffer from short-term memory loss, I suggest you get your ass out of my room."
The guy narrowed his eyes but left that damn smile plastered all over his face. What was it with these people and their effing happiness?
"Is that any way to thank your knight in shining armor?"
"Loser in aluminum foil's more like it." Lee paused, biting her lip and fighting off a sudden onslaught of hunger. He balanced the tray away from her, practically fanning the smell in her face but keeping out of reach. Settling down in a chair next to her bed, his fingers picked at a French fry before shoving it in his unstoppable mouth.
He waited. Like he knew she had more to say. Like he knew she'd cave.
And she did.
"So you're the cab driver?"
"Mmpf pr-fem sho-noferrrrr…" He must've crammed ten more fries into his mouth.
"Great. In English, this time?"
He cleared his throat, licking at his salty fingers. "I, uh, prefer chauffer. But, ya know, whatever turns you on."
Lee's jaw nearly dropped. "That's it." Her arm shot across the bed and jammed into the button. She swirled back around to glare defiantly at the taxi man. He just smiled, poking at a few more of her fries.
"You wanna wipe that smile off your face?"
"Funny. You seemed to enjoy his smile." He hadn't meant to sound so jealous, but it seeped out anyway. And he was still grinning. Couldn't be so serious.
But her heart stopped. "Don't. Talk. About. Him."
"He came by." There was a loud hiss as he popped the top off a Dr. Pepper and gulped down a few sips.
"I said don't—what?"
Overly-Obnoxious-Pain-In-My-Arse man swallowed loudly. "I said, he came by." And he shoved the can against his mouth again, eyes trained on some spot to her left. Her heart monitor. It was beeping incredibly loud, and incredibly fast now, betraying her well-hidden emotions.
Lee's fingers fisted at the stiff, white, smelling sheets. She waited.
The guy shrugged. He stood up, placing the tray on a table, still out of her reach, and stretched. Suddenly, he made a move to exit the room until Lee's growl stopped him.
"What, a man of few effing words, now?"
This idiot was undeterred as he turned and flashed her another smile. "Naw. You told me to get my ass out of the room, so I'm dragging it out now. My patient needs her beauty sleep, after all."
Lee sucked in a sharp breath, calculated the outcome of kicking his ass or waiting for the nurse to do it, and exhaled loudly. "Get back in here," she snapped. She'd still have a few minutes of time before someone took their time waltzing in.
He hesitated for a minute, expression guarded, before throwing it all out the window. "What the hell. I got time, right?"
"Idunno. Do you?"
One more stupid smile and she'd bite his face off. "Of course. For you? Anything."
"So, uh. Does taxi driver from hell have a name?"
"Do you usually get what you want by insulting the crap outta someone?"
Lee paused, eyes softening. "No." Touché.
He watched her for a few more minutes, before nodding and settling back into his throne. "Jeremy Barlow."
"I'm—"
"You don't have to tell me. No obligations." His mood had changed suddenly, totally hands-off. And it pulled her further in.
"Lee."
Jeremy nodded. "Just Lee?"
"For now."
"Well, Just Lee, you hungry?"
She hadn't eaten for more than two days. But the more she eyed the food in that tray, she was slowly losing her appetite. "No."
"Liar, liar."
Right on cue, her stomach let out a thunder of growling. Embarrassed, Lee's cheeks burst up in rosy flames.
Damn traitor.
Jeremy passed over the tray before drawing himself up into the chair, feet propped up on her bed and blanket strewn across them. She'd hardly noticed it was pitch black outside.
So she was nearly afraid to ask. "What time is it?"
"Eh. I think you woke up around 3:15? But I lost count."
Lee halted mid-chew, eyeing him with shock, surprise, and scrutiny. "Don't you have a wife to go home to?"
Jeremy dramatically fanned his face. "I think I may faint… Just Lee is interested!"
"Kudos for the stalker." She rolled her eyes sarcastically, suddenly not caring that there was a complete stranger—no, Jeremy—in her room. She was actually, almost, sort of, glad.
Lee choked back something that looked like meshed corn, but decided not to question her offered sustenance. Certainly didn't smell like cobs.
"So, um. You said he came?"
"Yeah. Swung by around midnight. Weird lil' bugger. Well, I guess he's not exactly little, is he? Point is, dude shows up, looks like his face has been painted by a damn clown—those things scare the shit out of me, by the way, so that's gotta prove how madly infatuated I am with you—and the freak paces the hall all fidgety and what not." Jeremy paused for breath, glancing over his shoulder out the window, like the big bad clown man would come prancing through the window.
"He's not a freak." Quiet. But not very defensive.
"Sure, sure." Jeremy waved his hand unconcerned. "He's sure got you trained, huh?"
Lee bowed her head, suddenly not very hungry. She nudged the tray away, and Jeremy swiped it up and out of sight. He continued.
"Anyway, Circus Boy grabs some nurse by her collar and shoves her up against the wall. Asks for Harley—I'm guessing you—so I butt in all natural and beat the hell out of the guy. Save the day."
Lee quirked a brow smoothly.
"What? I'm a regular Superman, is all."
She couldn't fight off the smile that time.
"Alright, so you caught me. Yeah, didn't kick his ass, 'cause I knew his girl would probably kick mine for it." Lee winced at his casual term of the Joker's possession, like fingernails grating down a chalkboard. But she fought it off, tuning back in. "Anyway. I kinda called him on the spot and he turns on me like I'm the spawn of Satan or whatever. Must've recognized me. So he throws me up against the wall. And I told him which room you were in—long story short of a death threat.
"Dude puts me down. Stalks over to the door, and just…stands there, all weird-like, ya know? I mean, come on, don't give me that look, I know you know what I'm talkin' 'bout. He's all hunched over, rocking back and forth, before he just…disappears away. Literally. Dude was there one second, and the next, BAM!" Lee flinched. "He's gone."
Jeremy sighed a long sigh, before taking another chug at Lee's Dr. Pepper.
She fought back the tears that wanted to come so badly. "So he didn't…he didn't say anything about coming back? Didn't come in?"
Jeremy shook his head. "Naw. I mean, I thought at first he'd made a killer mad dash for your room. So I ran in, but you were the only one here. Like I said. Freak."
"But you stayed?" She said it more like a fact, a statement, than a question. He nodded.
"No one should be left alone. Especially a gorgeous thing like you. Hitched to a thing like that. Who just leaves without…well, you know the story."
Lee smiled half-heartedly.
So the Joker did care. He'd come, after all.
He just didn't care enough.
So how was it that a total stranger, this Jeremy guy, of a few hours, could stay, and a high school sweetheart, once-upon-a-time-husband, leave her here?
What a screwed up world.
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a/n: wow. I just love the chemistry there! sorry, sorry, I know. no Joker in that one, but I promise, he's coming up, and he's bringing a spade to dig up that shady past between him and his lovely Harley. if you've made it this far with me, thanks for hanging in. and thanks for all the reviews! keep them COMING! they fuel my inspiration.
