Hello readers! Happy Halloween! These chapters keep getting longer and longer! Not sure if that's a good thing or bad thing?

Anyway this is the quiet before the storm. Get ready because the next chapter is going to explode! Next chapter will be the real reason this is rated M because it will have it all-death, sex, fighting, the feels, and silly jokes. Hope that interests you! (unless it doesn't in which case I can make it boring...)

Have a safe and fun Halloween and I still graciously adore your reviews and follows and what nots.

Thanks! ~read on


The young shrink returned to Harley's hospital room the next day. Harley found out that her medical doctor thought seeing a shrink would be good for Harley, so while she was in the hospital, she had to put up with it.

She didn't really know why she was still in the hospital. As far as Harley was concerned, she had healed and could go home. But the doctors and nurses never even talked about discharge. Actually, any hospital workers that came into her room had strange attitudes: they would enter, sometimes offering Harley a greeting, ask their questions or do their tests and then leave, sometimes without even saying goodbye. It was like they were scared of her.

Harley learned that the shrink's name was Jenny Rowan. She had graduated only a year ago and was quickly put to work as an on call psychologist for the hospital. It turns out that many victims of crime and destruction liked to talk about the villains who did what they did. Whatever would bring them to justice sooner or something like that.

"How are you today, Harley?" Jenny Rowan said tiredly.

"Oh, just fine and dandy. Yourself?" Harley asked, mostly out of courtesy.

"Oh you know." The doctor said absentmindedly. She was flipping through a folder thick of papers. Harley didn't actually 'know' what the young doctor meant but didn't care enough to ask.

"Do you know if I can go home anytime soon?" Harley asked lamely, staring at the ceiling. The doctor stopped flipping through the papers and looked up at Harley, who, in turn, glanced over at the young woman.

"Uh…um…when you're better I'm sure." She said nervously and continued to sort through the papers, avoiding Harley's eyes. Harley raised an eyebrow curiously. There was something she wasn't telling her. Harley could smell a lie, she learned from the best after all.

Dr. Jenny Rowan found the paper she was looking for and took it out of the stack, scribbling words here and there on it. Harley sat in the silence, listening to the pen scratching on paper. She looked at her wrists, which had a tiny little needle-prick hole surrounded by black remnants of medical tape. They had removed the IV and Harley was eating meals normally now. Walking was still a little difficult but she managed. Part of Harley wondered why she was even still there. She could probably slip out without anyone knowing. But where would she go?

"So how are you today?" Jenny asked, finally done with her note scribbling. Harley tore away from her train of thought and looked at the shrink questioningly.

"You already asked me that."

"Oh…you're right I did. I'm sorry." The young doctor rubbed at her temples and tried to find something else to say. Harley sat patiently in her hospital bed. She tried to think about some kind of joke about the situation, the shrink being the confused one or something.

"Um…so let's talk about that boy today." Harley eyed the doctor, letting the question hang. "Sorry, the…um…the boy you dated in high school? Did I get that right?" Harley felt a shiver and memories flashed by in her mind.

"What about him?" Harley murmured and looked down at her fingers, interlocking themselves with each other.

"How did he get you into all that trouble back then?"


"You know, Harls, you don't have to do this." Jack had said the night of her first crime. It was a small task. All he proposed was to sneak into a little convenience store. He didn't say he wanted to do it for the money or for whatever goods they could get their hands on. Instead, he said it was a 'bit of fun'. Of course, Harley was a little surprised at Jack's wanting to break in to anywhere. She thought of all the normal things she should say: but it's illegal, it's wrong, they could get caught. But Jack seemed to have read her mind.

"The way I see it, laws are just rules. Rules create a caged man. Rules are meant to be tested, to be broken. No one gets anywhere by following the rules. Plus, if you follow all the rules, you miss all the fun." He flashed a devilish smile and butterflies began to fly around within Harley's stomach.

Harley tried to break her mind away from the handsome devil to think about what he had said. All her life she had done what she was told. After her mother died she hung at the ends of society, yet still following the rules. She never skipped school and never got into trouble. After her mother died, Harley just existed. And it wasn't until she met Jack did she realize this. Jack brought the life back to her. He dangled fun in front of her, not taunting, but offering. Harley was tired of merely existing. She wanted to start living.

So she became his accomplice. He taught her what he knew and they grew closer through this.


"I love Halloween." Jack said, leaning back in his chair, his hands behind his head. Harley looked up from her homework. They had been spending the afternoon in the public library, one of the most deserted buildings of the town, which was a little town south of Gotham. Jack's dark neighborhood was on the edge of Gotham, near Blackgate. The area Harley lived was a little farther away from Blackgate but the looming prison kept prospective house buyers out, and the lower class inhabitants could never afford to leave. It was a dirty little town containing mom and pop businesses and a drug problem.

"And why is that?" Harley asked, absentmindedly.

"Because scaring people is humorous. And I love to laugh." He said staring into space. Harley smiled, picturing Jack laughing his ass off after scaring someone in a haunted house attraction. It was very fitting for him.

"Plus, dressing up in costumes? Why can't I do that everyday?" he said, that mischievous smile on his lips.

"Oh? And what would you dress up as?" Harley asked. Jack smirked.

"I think I'd be a clown." Harley imagined Jack all dressed up like a circus clown. It made her laugh. "What's so funny, huh?" Jack played.

"I'm just trying to picture it." Harley said, still giggling.

"You don't think I'd be a good clown?" Jack raised an eyebrow, that familiar smile spreading across his face.

"No, I'm sure you'd be the best clown." Harley giggled some more. Jack stared into space, a thought stuck in his mind. Harley watched him think. She loved the way his eyes wandered off when he was thinking. It was like observing a black hole instead of being sucked into one. He had caught her staring numerous times and it got to the point where she didn't mind being caught guilty of staring at him.

When his thought process came to a Eureka moment his eyes snapped back to hers. She waited for him to explain what plagued his mind but instead his smile just grew into a huge grin. Harley raised an eyebrow.

"Get your stuff. Let's go." Jack said, standing up quickly and turning, heading towards the entrance. Harley sat confused for a second until she realized he was leaving. She quickly shoveled her book into her bag and threw it on her back, running to catch up with Jack.

"Where are we going?" Harley asked.

"You'll see." Jack said smirking.

A couple hours passed and Harley still hadn't gotten an answer to where their destination was. Jack led Harley to the closest bus stop. They hopped on and sat in the very last row. Harley watched Jack at every stop, wondering if that was the stop they were getting off at or not. The sun had set and the moon was casting shadows against the streets. Harley had asked numerous times where they were going but all Jack said was, "You'll see. Just wait." So she leaned her head on his shoulder and snaked her hand into his. His mind was wondering again and Harley contemplated taking a nap when the bus came to another stop.

"Okay you two, off. Last stop." The bus driver stood up and gestured to the open door.

"Come on." Jack whispered, squeezing her hand, getting up and pulling her with him. They stepped off the bus and she heard it roll away.

"Where are we?" Harley asked, looking around. They were at a strip mall in town, the one with a Vietnamese nail salon, a liquor and tobacco shop, and an outdated alterations and dry cleaning place. Some of the building space was empty, no store occupying it. She had, however, forgotten that every fall a Halloween Superstore opened up in one of the empty spaces.

"Bingo." Jack said happily and began walking towards the superstore.

"Hold on. Wait." Harley said, crossing her arms and digging her heels into the ground. "The library is like 3 miles away. Why did we ride the bus in circles for hours? We could have just walked." Jack laughed a little at this.

"Because, Harls, it was open several hours ago. Now it's closed." He said turning towards her.

"Well, we could have done something else for those several hours." Harley said. Jack laid his eyes on hers, grasping them in his gaze. Harley felt the familiar suck of his lovely black hole eyes. She felt his entire concentration zero in on her, making her want to shrink. Jack took slow and long steps towards her. He kept stepping closer until he was close enough for Harley to feel his breath on her, but all he did for a long and quiet minute was smirk.

"Oh? And what did you have in mind?" He asked, his smirk and mischievous tone made Harley squirm inside. He was inches from her, his lips so close, so fucking close. She wanted so badly to just meet his lips, feel them once more take her willpower away and melt into his arms. But she couldn't let it happen, not yet. Their private affairs had become more and more intense, and every time, Harley felt herself slipping deeper and deeper into his grasp. She knew she, at some point, wouldn't be able to say no anymore, but she wasn't ready. Not yet. So she kept putting it off. She tried to avoid any situation that would leave them alone in private for a considerable amount of time. And Jack respected that. Once she said no, he backed off; he was grumpy about it, but still backed off. But they both knew this stalemate wouldn't last much longer.

Unlike a typical boy, though, Jack teased her about it every chance he got. He loved to push her buttons, poke the tiger until it snapped. But Harley wouldn't let him have that. She let him push all her buttons, all of them, but wouldn't get mad. In her mind, it was how she showed her strength. She could listen to him joke and tease and laugh all day long and would never crack.

"You have to learn to laugh at yourself." He had said one day. "Everything is easier when you add humor to it. It makes everything better, I swear."

And so when he taunted her about this, she just smiled and tried to find the humor in it. She eventually found that it felt better to laugh at herself than to feel bad about herself.

"You know you want it." Jack whispered, that wicked smirk playing with her emotions. Harley bit her lip, glancing again from his eyes, to his lips, and back to those diabolical, black eyes.

"Just give in, Harls." He said and Harley fought for her life to break free from the hold his eyes had on her. She hadn't noticed that she had inched towards him, or possibly he inched towards her, or maybe they equally came together. Either way, his lips were barely grazing hers. She could feel his warm breath and it made her stomach twist into all kinds of knots.

Harley knew she would lose herself if she stood there any longer. Finally she broke free from the imaginary hold he had on her. She stepped back, taking a deep breath and recomposing herself. His smirk didn't leave his face, though. He wanted to see what she would do.

"The Halloween Superstore?" Harley said with her own little smile. She skipped past him towards the building, a gained victory in her pocket.

Jack stood there, half impressed, half taken aback.

She's going to be the death of me, he thought, turning to follow Harley to the superstore, and I can't fucking wait!

The Superstore wasn't very difficult to get into. Harley insisted on handling the lock herself to get her mind off everything. She was upset to find herself inside within a few minutes. She wished for more time in her own mind to unscramble the mess but that wasn't happening.

There wasn't an alarm or security cameras to deal with and they found the cash register empty as well. The Halloween Superstore was, after all, only there for the month. Without money there, who would want to break into the place? What was there to take, Halloween decorations?

"It's a little creepy here at night." Harley said looking at all the yard decorations of skeletons and ghouls. She had never been into the store before. Actually she hadn't celebrated Halloween since middle school. Her mother loved holidays, no matter what kind. And ever since her death, holidays just felt empty to Harley without someone to spend them with. Until now, at least. Now, Harley spent nearly all her time with Jack. Several holidays landed in the time they were together, most of them were spent at Jack's dingy apartment, laughing over stories with his mother. Sometimes the couple sat in awkward silence with Harley's father as he just nodded at the television and drank his beer, lost in his own mind.

"Boom." Jack said, jumping out from behind an isle, a hilarious looking fake gun in his hands. "Gotcha." He smiled, staring down the gun at Harley. Harley blinked and then giggled.

"Oh no! I've been hit!" Harley squealed and dramatically faked her death, sinking to her knees.

"Looks like I had the last laugh!" Jack said, a wild smile on his lips. Harley rolled her eyes and giggled, getting up from the floor. She skipped past Jack, adventuring into the many isles. She eventually found the costume racks and started sorting through them the best she could in the dark. She heard Jack making noise with little toys and decorations. He truly did act like a kid sometimes. But Harley loved it. He made her laugh and she had grown accustomed to love laughter.

"Ooo costumes." Jack said, creeping up on Harley. Harley jumped, not seeing him in the dark but then laughed when she saw his bright smile. "Find anything good?"

"Not really." She said, continuing to sort through costumes. Jack strolled over to a rack nearby and started looking through the many costumes. Harley watched him pull out costumes and put them back over and over. He pulled out a large white one piece with colorful polka dots all over it. He held it up to his body and erupted in laughter. Harley raised an eyebrow and Jack turned to face her, a repulsive clown costume held up to his body. It had colorful ruffles at the collar and cuffs and sequins glued around the polka dots. Harley erupted into giggles seeing the costume and imagining Jack wearing it, dancing around like a carnival clown.

"Um…wow." Harley said when the giggles died down.

"What? You don't like it?" Jack asked, puffing his bottom lip out to resemble a sad puppy. Harley giggled again and Jack's sad face quickly became one of humor.

"Well I think…" Jack said, looking down at the awful costume. "I think it's absolutely hideous and hilarious." His smile turned into a giant confident grin.

"I don't know…I think it doesn't quite express your sophisticated and cocky attitude." Harley said, putting her hands on her hips, trying her hardest to see pass the awful costume. Jack snorted at her comment and looked at himself in a mirror with the costume still held up to him.

"You're right. That thing is atrocious." He said and quickly put the costume up. It was then that Harley had a brilliant idea. She laughed at her own idea and Jack looked over at her, a smile on his face just from hearing someone else's laughter.

"What's so funny?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I just had a great idea." Harley said and quickly walked away from the costume racks. Jack followed behind, highly intrigued.

Harley walked past several isles, stopping between each one to figure out what each isle contained. Finally she reached the isle she was searching for. Harley almost skipped with excitement over her new idea. She quickly scoured the isle for what she was looking for.

"Your idea involves makeup?" Jack asked, looking at the many makeup kits and collections. There was one for nearly every monster thinkable. He picked up one as Harley continued to search for something. It was a vampire kit with fake blood capsules. Jack grinned, an idea involving fake blood capsules being born inside his mind.

"Aha!" Harley said and grabbed a kit with several random colors. "Okay sit down, this may take a little while." She said ripping open the kit. Jack looked at her curiously but did as she said; sitting crossed legged on the floor. She sat down in front of him and started applying white face paint all over his face. Jack had no clue what Harley was up to but trusted her and waited in silence to see what tantalizing idea she had come up with.

Harley tried to ignore his brooding eyes watching her every move. She tried to focus on his face and applying face paint to it. She knew she would have fallen under his gaze if she hadn't been occupying her mind with this task.

"Okay, close your eyes." She said and he did so. Harley felt a weight lift from her shoulders and she let go of a breath she didn't know she was holding. Without his eyes peering into her, it was a lot easier to complete her task. When she was done with his eyes she moved to the red face paint color. Harley had never really been one to adventure into makeup. For his face and eyes she used a sponge that came with the kit, but now the sponge was covered in face paint residue and she had nothing else to use. So, as most girls would without a brush or sponge, she used her finger. She rubbed the tip of her pointer finger in the greasy red face paint and then slowly raised her hand to his lips. He had opened his eyes again and was watching her closely. Harley bit her lip and rubbed her red finger across his mouth, staring intently at his lips and not his eyes. It was weird, feeling his lips with her fingers instead of her own lips. They were soft and gentle, so unlike the rest of him. Her finger lingered on them for a second and then she drew it back, rubbing her finger in the red paint again. She continued to paint over his lips and past them onto his cheeks.

When she took her finger away this time, she smiled at her accomplishment.

"Okay, go look in a mirror." Harley said and they stood up, searching for the nearest mirror. Luckily, the next isle over had a silly sunglasses stand with a sizable mirror next to it. Harley stood behind Jack as he looked himself over.

Jack didn't know quite what he expected, but it certainly wasn't this. His face was colored white, but not perfect as a professional may do it. His eyes reminded him of a raccoon, large black circles with and eye in the middle of each. His mouth was colored bright red and stretched passed the corners of his mouth upwards in a wide smile. Jack stared at his reflection for endless minutes before making a reaction.

"The one I painted had green hair but there wasn't colored hair spray over here so…" Harley trailed of, shrugging. She hoped he had seen the resemblance between the 'portrait' she did under the bridge and what she had done here.

"I love it." Jack said at first. His face then shifted from an unreadable stillness to an eerie smile that actually looked like it spread across his face with the red paint. "It's perfect." He said taking one last look before turning to face Harley. She blushed heavily and stood there soaking in her success.

Jack wrapped his arms around Harley's waist and picked her up, spinning in circles. They giggled and laughed until he slowed and let her go.

"My perfect little Harlequin." Jack said, peering down at Harley. Her stomach was doing flips and Harley blushed more at his nickname for her.

"My brave and handsome Joker." Harley said back to him, creating her own nickname for him. Jack grinned again and leaned in to kiss her. It wasn't his normal greedy kiss that Harley recognized either. It was a deep and passionate kiss that lasted forever and yet not long enough. When the kiss ended and Jack looked down at Harley he started laughing subtly.

"What?" Harley asked.

"You have face paint all over your face." He said grinning. Harley wiped at her mouth with the back of her hand and felt the greasy paint. She smiled and looked back at Jack.

"And yours is all smudged." She said happily. They shared a glance and slowly leaned back in to kiss again, neither of them caring about the whereabouts of the face paint.