Nancy sat curled up in her chair, phone in hand. She clicked a button on the side and the sub-screen lit up. 11:32PM it said. She sighed and put it back in her pocket. Robert had finished yelling at the Joker and was back in his office picking up books and things from off the floor. Nancy had offered her help and was refused, so she went back to listening to her iPod. Clocks by Coldplay. She imagined she was outside somewhere, alone. Away from all of the little things that gave her little aches and pains. It was a clear night on the little piece of rock she was sitting on in space, and all the stars of the galaxy were shining happily at her. She hoped that this is what is was like when you died. Space and stars and floating. Another song came on and she opened her eyes. The Joker was looking at the floor, a cheek resting in his hand. He looked tired. She was tired to, she realized. She hadn't slept in two days and she hadn't eaten much since then. She had eaten lunch the day before, but other than that she refused to eat anything in the fear of throwing it up at the first thought of Jeremy Talos. She didn't think about him. She curled up tighter, wrapped her arms around her knees, and set her closed eyes on her knee caps. Soon she was somewhere else again.

The Joker looked up from the floor, Nancy didn't notice. He looked through Robert's door and back at Nancy's quiet figure. She didn't move much. She could've been dead and no one would have noticed. The Joker knew though, as her shoulders moved up and down, as her fingers tapped against her leg as the music played, she was alive. The excited relief of hearing from her friends had faded and left her quiet and alone again. He couldn't see her face, and he wondered if she was smiling like she had before. She wasn't, and he knew that. Something had happened in her head and was tearing her apart from the inside. It was hurting her whatever it was. She looked up at him and he froze. She was crying.

'What is up with this girl,' he thought. Not that he really cared. He was just interested. She put her face against her knees again and her shoulders shook in a quiet sob. 'She's weirder than I am,' he thought. He put his fist against his lips to keep form laughing out loud, 'Yeah right,' he thought. Nancy ran her shaking fingers through her droopy spikes and kept them there in the blonde mop on her head. She breathed a big shaky breath and uncurled from the chair. She quickly wiped the tears that threatened to fall and took her headphones off. She set her iPod in her lap and ran her hands thorough her hair again. She breathed again and leaned her forehead against her hand. She picked up her iPod and turned it off, took her headphones from around her neck and put them in her bag. She licked her lips and looked up at the Joker. He laced his fingers together and leaned forward on them. He raised his eyebrows and cocked his head to one side. She shook her head sighed. Robert leaned out of his office for a moment to check on them, then slipped back inside.

Robert's mind raced and whirred, trying to think of ways to keep Nancy away from the Joker. She didn't worry him. Nancy could take care of herself, she was smart like that. She could hold her own when it came to mind games. It was the Joker he worried about. If he got ahold of Nancy, he'd never see his niece again. He shuddered at the thought and bent down to pick up one of his books. It was a psychology book. He smiled and poked his head through the door.

"Nancy?" he said. She looked up from the Joker and blinked at him. He held the book up and watched as her face lit up. She hopped up from her chair and walked over to him. Robert watched the Joker, he was staring at her. He looked back at Nancy and handed her the book, she took it and sat back down. Robert glared at the Joker for a moment, who just smiled back at him. He turned around and started to put up books again, glancing every so often at Nancy as she flipped through the book he had given her.

His father, her grandfather, had been a psychologist. At first it didn't interest Nancy, but then she started to take the class at school. She would call him on the phone and tell him all about everything they talked about. The main subject for the past month, of course, had been the Joker. Robert imagined Nancy walking onto class and telling everyone that she had met him and talked to him. Everyone would be jealous and would ask her questions. She'd answer then excitedly. He looked through the door again. Nancy wasn't in her chair anymore, she was laying on the floor on her stomach, her eyes glued to the pages. She would sit up and smile and lay down again, glancing at the Joker sometimes, then back at her book. She was happy in the book. It let her escape from everything. Everything that made her cry, everything that made her hurt, everything that made her hate. Books and games and movies and music took her there. She smiled at her escape like a mother to her child. She looked up at him and smiled. Robert smiled back. She glanced at the Joker with the same smile. He froze. She went back to reading. Robert watched the Joker with sudden curiosity. Robert then realized something. The Joker didn't want to do things to Nancy. She captivated him, she interested him. Robert couldn't help but relax a little. He smiled a bit more and turned to pick up more books. He put most of them up in the shelves and others he piled on his desk to give away later. He needed to get rid of some of them anyway. He picked up a picture from the floor and wiped the dust away. It was a picture of Monica and Nancy when she was just a baby. Monica loved her so much back then. Then she moved to Gotham and got involved in the big social circles, she didn't need Nancy anymore. He pulled the picture from its frame and looked at again. Monica was only 18 when she had Nancy, her dad had run off. Monica was 35 now and thriving as a social butterfly. Robert decided to give Nancy the picture, to make her feel like Monica had loved her at one time. She had, at one point.

Nancy was sitting on the floor, reading her psychology book. Rob stepped out of his office with a sad smile. He was holding something. She cocked her head to one side and looked at him. He held the thing out; it was a picture. Nancy got up and took it, she sat down again. The Joker leaned forward and tried to see what it was. Nancy held it like a jewel, never moving to fast to see it at different angles, never taking her eyes off it. She took a deep breath and looked at Rob. He smiled at her and sat down in her abandoned chair.

"She did love you," he said slowly.

Nancy hugged the small photo to her chest and closed her eyes. She nodded and left the world again. She was with her mother, in front of her grandparents house. It was Christmas, it wasn't snowing in New Mexico, it never did. It snowed here in Gotham. She remembered the first time she saw it. It came down it sheets like summer rain and she ran outside to make snow angels and snowmen. Her mother did too, but only for a while. That was when Nancy started figuring out that her mother was leaving her life. She was 12. Nancy opened her eyes to avoid it. She looked at the Joker, he was gripping the bars of his cell, leaning his forehead against them. Staring at her. She looked at Robert, he was smiling back at her. His phone buzzed. He picked it up and looked at the caller-ID.

Monica.