Sky: Time to reunite our little friends! Thanks again to all you lovely folks who reviewed, as always it forces me to work harder on this little fic and helps me get the chapters out a little faster. Although, I was rather amused by how many of you guys said you hated Tira. Either you all really like Val or are just really overprotective of the Joker! Lol! (rugby tackle hugs Joker) Something I totally understand! Whoot! Now, onwards towards reunification!
Chapter 9: Valentine's Day
The Joker was nearly giddy. He was gonna get his pretty little doll back. Even the prospect of such a thing made him bristle; after three weeks around no one other then his incompetent thugs, and they truly were incompetent, he was ready for an intelligent conversation. He sighed, all he had to do was wait for her to get back.
He pouted, settling down on her couch.
He hated waiting.
G/O/T/H/A/M
It was her least favorite day of the year.
Yes, Officer Valentine was nearly crouching beneath her desk, eyes darting shiftily from side to side, narrowed as they searched for any well wisher or pun slinging idiot. She sighed, that was the down side of having a last name that doubled as a romantic holiday. The puns, and the ridiculously lewd jokes, were endless. Especially when she was single. She sighed dramatically.
It wasn't as bad now, but for the first few years, when she hadn't really fit in, and was still single, it had been infinitely irritating. Now, even the youngest recruits knew better then to tease the tetchy woman or send her endearing little notes. Or candies. Or dinner invitations. Or hotel addresses. Even those gifts could be dangerous.
And what was worse, Valentine's day (she shuddered at even the mention of the thrice cursed holiday) also doubled as "bring your child to work day," meaning the little rodents were crawling around everywhere, making a royal mess of both her desk and the immediate area around it.
Damn kids.
On cue, a cute little head popped in front of her eyes, reaching out a hand and tapping her friendlily on the shoulder, "Whatcha doing, Val?"
She smiled, giving the little boys hair a friendly tousle, some of her distaste set aside for this child, this one she could tolerate, seeing as she'd known him for most of his young life, "Just being paranoid." The woman raised a brow, suspicion creeping into her tone as she glanced around for the boys parent. He was nowhere to be seen. "Where's your dad?"
He shrugged, sidling up beside her, big eyes glazing hopefully into her with a feigned innocence she'd seen, and given into, a thousand times before. Damn kids. "Went out on another Joker sighting I s'pose. Mind if I stay and be paranoid with you?"
Valentine sighed, "Do I have a choice?"
"Not really."
"Alright then," She smiled and wrapped an arm around the boy, hooking another chair with her foot and pulling it over for him to sit in. She received an appreciative little smile as he settled down, his cheery, naively bright smile becoming more narrowed and suspicious, a mocking portrayal of her own expression. She chuckled, leaning her forehead against the side of his skull.
James Gordon Jr. swatted her away not appreciating her affections. He was a big boy after all and he didn't want some girl hanging all over him. "Stop it, Val."
"Someday, when you're a lot older, you're gonna regret that." But she pulled back anyway, grabbing a hunk of paper work that still needed to be filled out. She hated to admit it, but she was only chatting with the boy to keep her mind off her current problems.
James smirked, crossing his arms confidently over his chest. "Nope. Cause by that time you'll be a nasty ol' lady. And I don't want some nasty old lady hanging on me!"
She shook her head, not able to repress her smile. The boy was sharp, and, unlike his more even tempered, and infinitely polite father, didn't think twice about snapping back at her. A welcome change; ever since the prison break, everyone had seemed to side step around her, so careful about her feelings that they had reverted to the robotic motions of polite conversation.
No one had ever really called her on her quips until the Joker. As deranged as it was, she found she missed her conversations with the criminal. After three weeks, her guilt had subsided. And now that the initial feelings of betrayal had worn off, she was just bored, wishing ever so fervently that she had listened to her darker persona and indulged her fascination and followed him. But it was to late now; three weeks had passed without any sign of the man. He had gone on with his personal vendetta against the Batman alone it seemed.
And left her to rot.
She growled to herself on that note, surprising the boy at her side. She'd broke him out of jail and he'd left her. How very droll.
"You thinking of something, Val?" The boy had his head cocked inquisitively to the side, brow raised in a way that almost directly mirrored his fathers quizzical expressions.
She smirked, grabbing his cheek, pulling him over to plant a kiss on his cheek. The boy squirmed and made a face, swatting at her half heartedly, but didn't really try to pull away, "Just wanted to do that, honey." He scrunched up his nose, still trying to retain his "dignity." She grinned and returned her attention to her paper work, giving her head a little shake.
"Val?" She glanced up at James, still smiling.
"What is it, hun?"
"Do you think my Dad's gonna catch the Joker?"
Valentine shrugged, setting her pen aside, leaning forward conspiratorially, "You know what, I think he will. Your dad's smarter then any nasty thug and has handled much worse then that clown." Of course, part of that could just be wishful thinking. She almost wanted him to get caught so she could gloat in front of him. The very idea of it made her grin.
"And he's got Batman." She nodded, chuckling. The boy got a twinkle in his big eyes at even the slightest mention of his favorite hero.
"Yup. And between you and me, the Joker's really not all that scary. In fact, I'm pretty sure you could take him."
"Really?" She nodded, watching as the wheels in the boys head turned. He puffed his chest out proudly, preening under her compliment. "Then I'll just have to keep you safe until dad gets him behind bars again. I mean, you might be old and all, but I'm not gonna let that guy get you again."
"Well thanks for the back-handed compliment there, sport. I'll feel much easier knowing I've got someone like you watching my back. Now shoosh, I have work I need to do." He nodded, mock zipping his lips.
They worked in silence, or as much silence as one can afford in an office crawling with children. She glanced up to see the mailman approaching her, a package in hand. "Miss Valentine?" A few of the officers around the room chuckled. They were favored with dark glares. She nodded to the man. "I'm sorry to bother you," god, even the mailman was cautious around her today, "But I've got a package for you." She accepted the hastily proffered thing, signed for it and set it on her desk, planning to open it later.
James, it seemed, had a very different idea. He regarded the package as though it contained an infinite store of wonders, mischief flickering in his eyes. He glanced from the woman, to the package, and back to her, with a little whimper. "Aren't you gonna open that?"
She smirked, not looking up, "I will when I get home." Even without glancing over, she could feel the boy fidget. Gifts were, after all, for opening. Another little whimper. She sighed, reached out, and slid the thing down her desk and into his reach. The boy preened again, snatching it gleefully up, muttering a quick "thank you." With a grand flourish, the envelope was stripped off, revealing nothing more then a cheesy little card. James glared at it as though it had bit his hand; he didn't want a stupid card. He wanted some candy.
He slid it back to her, still distressed. "Your secret admirer sucks, Val. Didn't even send you chocolates."
She rolled her eyes, accepting the card, "If you're so desperate, I'll go get you some chocolates when my shifts finished? Can you wait that long?" He pondered the offer, then nodded. Better to wait for chocolate then get none at all.
Valentine turned her attention to the card. It was a traditional one, red and pink hearts cluttering the front and back of it. She flipped it open. There, written inside in a loose scrawl, was an interesting message inside.
"Tonight, all your dreams come true."
She raised a brow, setting the card aside without paying much thought to it. At the moment, all she had to worry about was surviving her shift and getting home.
G/O/T/H/A/M
The last thing in Valentines mind when she got to her apartments door was that card she'd received earlier. How tired she was, how bored she was, all these things were often at the fore in her mind. That card was not.
She unlocked the door, gently nudging it open with her shoulder. There was something off about the inside of her apartment though, a weird feeling that she wasn't quite by herself. She reached for her gun, pushing inside more slowly, "Hello?"
A tall, angular figure stepped out of the darkness, a painted smile on his scarred face. The Joker brushed a few strands of his oily hair back, his makeup covered face looking remarkably sinister when cast in shadow. "And hello to you, gorgeous. Miss me?"
"Joker?" She looked more confused then terrified.
"Of course. Do you know any other dashingly handsome terrorists?"
"No, Crusty. In fact, I don't think I know any dashingly handsome terrorists."
She received a glare, and the man made a curt motion with his hand. Something hit her hard in the back of the head, causing her to stagger forward. Her vision blurred a bit, the impact causing her eyes to cross. It wasn't hard enough to knock her out, but it was enough to give her a deadly head ache.
From the blur she was spinning in, she could hear Joker yelling at whoever had hit her, his voice irate. "You couldn't even knock her out!? She's a little girl, you gargantuan oaf!"
Valentine clutched her head, her expression one of obvious pain as she glared daggers at the Joker. He was pressing fingers tiredly to his temples, looking about as irritated as she felt. "What the hell was that for, you idiot?!"
The man shook his head, letting out a ragged sigh as a reply. "Well it was supposed to knock you unconscious so I could take you back to our lair without any problems," he favored his lackey with a dark glare, who had the courtesy to look sheepish. "Evidently though, that was a bit to much to ask." He pinched the bridge of his nose dramatically, "You have no idea what I've had to go through the last three weeks, princess."
She continued massaging some feeling into the rapidly bruising spot on the back of her neck, "Yeah, well, once my head stops throbbing, I'll cry you some big sympathy tears."
"Oh get over it, he didn't even knock you out."
Valentine glared, "I'm gonna knock you out, Scar Face."
He grinned nastily, stepping forward while licking his scars, eyes roving over her little figure suggestively, "How? You can't even reach my face."
The lackeys watched on, secretly hoping for a fight to ensue. The two stared each other down, nearly identical frowns etched across the planes of their faces.
She tried to stay angry, she really did, but her lips turned up in a smile any way, irritation melting away, a soft chuckle breaking through the tension. He leaned forward to clasp her arm in a friendly little salute. "Good to see you again too, handsome, what you been doing the last three weeks?"
He shrugged, "Nothing much. Found a hideout, robbed a few banks," he leveled an accusing finger at one of the thugs lurking over her shoulder. "Been training the help…"
She smirked, "And what a job you've done."
"It's a work in progress, gorgeous."
"So I've noticed."
He chuckled, licking his scars again, giving his head a brisk little shake. "Ah, I've missed this, pretty thing. Now c'mon, I'm taking you to your new home." He made a motion to the thug again, this time with more insistence. The idiot was going to succeed before they left. The man hit Valentine over the head once more. This time it worked, the woman falling to the side, smashing her head into the corner of her lamp stand.
Joker let out another aggravated breath, crouching down beside the woman, gingerly lifting her head. As he expected, there was a gash and a rapidly forming bruise on her forehead. He turned a baleful eye upon the thug, eye narrowed darkly, "Well, you may have given her a concussion, but at least she unconscious. Idiot. Treat my toys with such disregard again and you'll find yourself floating down the river, face down. Now, if you can handle it, take her down to the car."
The Joker watched with a certain sense of pleasure as the man gathered his little dolly delicately into his arms, taking great pains not to aggravate her head wound. He smiled to himself, skipping out of the apartment, pleased with how that had gone.
Everything was going according to plan.
Sky: Is done! Now, for all of you who expressed a certain amount of disdain for Tira (chuckles), don't worry, Val's gonna have some fun with her next chapter. And uh, I wasn't really sure if Gordon's son was named James or Anthony. No where told me! So I'm winging it. Hopefully this chapter wasn't to silly, I just needed to show a slightly less obnoxious side to Val. Next chappie, we'll have some Tira beating goodness. Till then, review!
