"How the hell do you do this!?" Joker snarled throwing a onesie across the room as Baby giggled below him. Zip watched above the Joker as the boss was on his knees as he changed Baby into a new outfit Geneva had gotten her. Zip was sworn to secrecy on why he was up on the third floor, but having the most experience with babies out of their little band, he was chosen to help the boss get the kid dressed and ready for the day. Although it was proving to be more difficult than they anticipated.
"Here boss" Zip said grabbing another outfit "This one has less buttons around the legs."
Joker snatched the clothing and held it up to examine it. It was a soft pink with letter's that read "I'm just a doll." It made Joker want to puke but he was sure it wasn't a good idea to let Baby run around the place in just the diaper he had managed to put on her.
"Alright kiddo" Joker said with a frown "Let's try this one more time."
He got Baby's arms and body snug inside the outfit, and thankfully Zip had been right when Joker only had to snap three buttons around her legs.
"Bingo" he stated as he held Baby up to get a good look at her. Her curly blonde hair was wild around her tiny head as she smiled and giggled at the Joker. He stuck out his tongue at her, which probably looked crazy with his make up smeared on, but it made her giggle even more at him, her little legs kicking below her.
"That's all there is to it boss" Zip said a little pleased that he had gotten Baby dressed without the Joker throwing a fit. It had been a few crazy weeks getting used to the kid being around, the guys downstairs afraid Joker wouldn't be able to handle the crying or the feeding of her, Zip even heard one of the guys mention he wouldn't be able to stomach it if Baby ended up getting hurt by him. But Joker was a proud father, his arms and tone always gentle with Baby as he picked up up and fed her. He only heard Joker curse at her when he was changing a diaper, but that was normal for any parent.
Normal...what a weird word to describe the actions of the Joker right now.
"Well is Baby hungry?" he said wiggling the kid to and fro in his hands. Babydoll only giggled and cooed at him, her little eyes sparkling every time the Joker played with her. Zip thought about Geneva's kids, she had two from her previous baby daddy, and the way they looked at him was the same way Baby was lookin at her daddy right now. All moon eyes and giggles, just happy to be with the person.
Joker stood up with Baby nestled into his hip as he walked downstairs to get Roach who made up Baby's bottles without question. The skinny little guy was doing everything possible to help out with the kid, probably some weird coping he was going through since Harley was still comatose.
Joker felt his mouth twist in a frown thinking about Harley, his chest getting tight every time she came up in conversation or when Baby got a look on her face that reminded him of her. She was still in the hospital, but Geneva had told Zip a few days ago they were going to take her off life support since she was breathing fine on her own. The doctors felt that was a good sign, even though she was still under close watch from the pigs so the Joker still couldn't see her. The hospital had been on high alert ever since he stole Baby back, the GNN rolling the video of him walking into the infant room and grabbing her only to sneak out through the stairwell. Nobody knew it was the Joker though, just an unknown assailant that had kidnapped a child. There were bigger things going on now, Joker watching carefully on the news as new villains in Gotham seemed to be popping up everywhere now that the Batman wasn't wanted in Gotham all because of Harvey Dent.
Joker giggled to himself for a second, making Baby giggle below him as he thought about Gotham's White Knight turned killer. From what the boys had heard from the streets, Harvey was still roaming around Gotham, except he was beginning to be known now as Two-Face.
"What a great name" Joker mumbled as he popped a bottle into Baby's mouth, his legs strolling along towards the TV to watch the news while he fed the kid.
Two boys that had been around for a bit, Joker had named them Spade and Lucky sat on opposite ends of the couch also watching the news. Joker plopped right down in between them, knowing that his space would not be compromised or challenged since it was technically all his shit anyways. Spade glanced over at Baby and Joker could see a small smile on his lips as he turned back to the TV.
"Something funny?" Joker said looking over at him.
"She's got the boss lady's hair" Spade said knowing if he didn't answer Joker would find a way to make him talk.
"Yea I guess so" Joker said looking back to the TV, hating the way his chest hurt.
"Hey boss look!" Lucky exclaimed turning up one of the TV's in the corner.
A news reporter was stationed outside one of the many sky scrapers as another video rolled beside her. The picture was fuzzy, but from what the reporter was spewing it looked to be the Bat had finally made an appearance, and he had a friend...
"The news are calling him Nightwing" Lucky said reading all the mumbo jumbo scrolling along the bottom.
"Wellllll" Joker said getting a wicked smile across his Glasgow scars "Looks like the Bat found himself a playmate. Look Babydoll, more friends!"
Baby looked up at the Joker who was laughing maniacally now and Lucky got creepy feeling in his stomach when he looked down and saw the kid was smiling up at her dad.
What kind of world was this kid in?
Six months later
A gasp escaped her mouth as Harley opened her eyes and shot up from the hospital bed, her whole body feeling like it had been broken in a thousand pieces and then crudely put back together. An alarm was going off some where as she tried to move her legs but to no avail. How long had she been here? It had to have been a substantial amount for her major motor functions to be paralyzed. A nurse suddenly walked into the room to see what the alarm was about as Harley looked down to a little device on her finger that was causing all the commotion.
Harley saw the nurse's mouth drop as she reached for a button to signal for more help. But as Harley looked down at her stomach, which had been reduced to it's normal size, she felt a cry echo out from deep within her throat that had turned into a shriek by the time more staff had arrived to calm her down.
Her baby...her baby was gone.
