Men were cheering and whistling at the new joint La Cage Gentelmens club. Most of them wore the tan line of a wedding band on their left hand, but only the tan line. The only women in here were barely dressed. Demeaning their values to make room for the money to be had. I was one of them. I looked at myself in the reflection of the mirror. I was not Doll Face here, I was just another Persona. That's what they called me. I was supposed to act and be what ever the customer wanted and tonight I was a sexy Santa thing... sort of. Wear any slutty outfit you want like my fishnet, black lacy thong and major Christmas style push up, with a red skirt with white fur-lining and anyone will eat it up. Tonight's theme was "naughty or nice" so most every girl was wearing something like what I had. I was new though. I didn't look as road hard and hung up wet as some of the other strippers, so I was popular. Too popular for my liking. It was mid-December, Christmas Eve In fact now and the place was packed... so much for Christmas spirit and being with family.

"Hey, Persona! Your show starts in five. Time to get back stage."

That was Ryan, he is incharge of making sure girls get from point A to point be. Right now my point be was to preform the singing, dancing show of the evening. I adjusted the auburn haired long wig on my head and slid my feet into little red shoes that pinched the toes. The better to kick them off. I scampered behind the curtain and struck a pose with my arm coiled in my fake hair. My leg pointed outwards, showing off my curvy sides. The music started as the beginning of all I want for Christmas, except it was slowed and more seductive. The mic attached to the side of my face tickled when I smiled but if I didn't smile I'd get in trouble. All the men Hooted at me as the spot light turned on.

"I don't want a lot for Christmas, there is just one thing I need. I don't care about the presents underneath the Christmas tree." I strutted one foot I front of the other to the end of the cat walk. "I just want you for my own More than you could ever know". I slid down on the pole driving people nuts. I had it with one hand and one long leg being sure to push my bottom in the faces of men shaking their rolls of cash. "Make my wish come true All I want for Christmas is you, yeah." I spun off the pole and got on my spread knees and removed my skirt. Humiliation, that's what it feels like to have people stick money in your panties. I continued my dance and song occasionally turning to upstage (which is actually in the back) to do my routine uninterrupted. It was fun when you forgot where you were and who all you were with and fortunately, this was not one of the joints where the customers could touch you the wrong way. The Security was fantastic. I went down on my back with one leg pointing up to finish. More clapping, snide comments and whistling followed. I picked up my self and my pride from the sweat stained ground.

Backstage, I was met by waves of compliments from my fellow dancers. "You have the sweetest voice Lucy!", "I love the way this outfit looks on you." "You nailed it out there." I thanked all the girls mechanically as I focused on pulling the bills out of every crack I didn't know I had. Not a bad haul tonight. The dressing room was basically a safe haven. It's where most of us waited during the break to count cash, talk and warm up in blankets and robes. There were currently two other girls on break with me. One was a long legged big breasted blonde woman wearing a slutty elf suit named Angel as marked by the tattoo on her lower back. She was nice enough but had a tough girl demeanor that was not very attractive or at least not very lady like. She was speaking first.

"Have any of you had to deal with grubby hands out there. I swear the man stinks more of failure than brandy. Christ what a pig." The other girl chimed in. Her stage name was Blossom and she was sporting a short pink wig with flower clips in it. Her wardrobe was the least costly in fabric with just lacy boy-cut panties and stickers for a bra. She didn't mind now though since she was in her fluffy robe.

"Oh I saw him alright! Copped a field when I walked by! He'll get thrown out soon, I told Rodger to keep an eye on him and Rodge don't mess around." I sipped on my straw in the bottle of water to avoid messing up my lipstick and take a bit of water with my evening dose of medicine.

I sighed "Geeze, you'd think this is the one time of the year where we wouldn't have as many problems. You'd think people would try to clean up their act for the season but no!" I took another big gulp since the medicine dried me out. Daniel, the man in charge of putting a girl with a guy opened our door. It was never a good sign when he did. It meant one of us didn't have a break any more. Which one of us would lose our warm robe though was a question that none of us wanted answered.

"Alright so Lucy, you were requested by name at Table 9 by a well paying gentleman. So time to hop to it."

I grunted under my breath. "Daniel! I just preformed. I am still on break and need time to rest. I'm supposed to go back to work in 25 minutes" I pointed at the clock showing 7:05. "And then I work and then I go home at 10:30."

Daniel held the door open for me. "This guy pays really well, we can't say no. Oh and he wants you to bring him a Burbon and coke from the bar when you show up." The other girls gave my sympathetic smiles as I removed my robe and left for the smoke filled air. Girls were walking around, serving food and drinks to men, hungry in many ways. How did I go from nurse to serving beer as a stripper.

"Hey girl, I thought you were supposed to be on break?" The girl behind the bar scrubbing a cup was looking at me. She was my favorite person here. Her name was Tyra with her stage name being Doe. She was a beautiful black girl with long flowing hair. She was the most expensive girl with a classical beauty. She didn't need to dress badly to be attractive, so she didn't. She was intelligent and down to earth and just bar-tending at the joint to pay bills till she is done getting her master's degree.

"I was on Break but now I have to bring a burbon and coke to a man at table 9." Tyra began to pour the drink for me. "You know, I would demand that they pay if they're going to make you work extra... I'll pour you a virgin stray berry daiquiri for free when you come back." She was wonderful and totally gets people. I don't drink and I love fruity things so her recommendation was perfect for me and made me feel it was kind of worth it to waste my break on the guy. The man sat at the table with his friends around him. He was the only one to wave at me which is why I assume that it's him.

"Lucy, baby! Look at you!" He stood up and held his hands at me as if displaying me for all to see. "I handed him his drink. "Please while we are here call me Persona if you don't mind." He sipped at the drink. "You know, I've been trying to look you up for some time since the let you out of Arkham bit have had no luck. Who would have thought I'd find you here." He finished the drink and sat down motioning me to dance for him. I rolled my eyes and began to slowly move my hips around to the rhythm of the song being sure to bend but not much.

"Who are you, sir?" He slid a 5 in my thong lining suggesting that I move closer. I did but mostly in a position that said 'kiss my ass'. "Come on baby, you don't remember. You and I used to be a thing. We dated when you had your nurse job." I flipped around and sat in his lap.

"I don't remember your face."

"Maybe, you'll remember this." He crashed his face into mine. His lips were soft and yet forceful. I pushed his shoulders roughly back

"Get off!" A part of me felt a sense of Deja vu when kissing him but that was not allowed here in this establishment. Two men were already ripping him out of his chair causing him to drop money on the ground (which I scooped up before anyone could see). The body guard were already throwing out the building for kissing me. Thank goodness. With his money clip secure in my bra I decided to walk back to the bar. It was still my break after all. Tyra saw me coming and brought out my promised drink tipped of with whipped cream.

"Girl, what was that?" I sat at the bar and took a sip of the drink.

"It was just one of the customers getting handsy..."

She puffed a breath full of air into her face. "You're kidding me. This is literally the 5th time, today, that some one has been kicked out for that." I didn't mean to ignore her but I was a bit lost in thought. I thought about Harley and how she was doing back at Arkham. I thought about how I still needed to check on Dr. Christopher Malone who was slowly wasting away. I even thought about the Joker and how he was managing in Black Gate. Probably just fine. My mind lingered on those subjects for the rest of the night. By 10:30 I was loaded in tips and ready for bed. The back room was filled with girls, dressing into normal outfits and transforming into regular Gotham women, myself included. I put the red wig on the head mannequin in front of my station and removed the overly applied make-up from my eyes. It completely brightened my face up to get the goop off. I kept the underwear on and just changed into a long sleeved white shirt, a navy blue wearer and a white fluffy jacket. For pants I wore my long black skinny jeans tucked into high white fluffy, furry boots. My short blue hair didn't cover my neck so I tied a blue scarf, that went down to my legs, around my neck. I would be warm and cozy facing the harsh snowy night. I clutched my purse though I had shoved most of the money in my bra, just out of sheer instinct when I opened the door to the outside.

"Hey girl, watch your back tonight. Mr. Handsey is still there." Tyra had caught up to me shocking me at first but not as much to see that the guy didn't move from when he was kicked out. I pretended I didn't see him, hoping that he didn't know what my real hair color looked like but he approached any way. Tyra waited with me. In her long black tied coat, cute brea, and long white pants. She knew never to leave some one alone to face a man in this setting.

"Lucy, is that you?"

"Go away!"

He held his gloves hands up Defensively. "Look I'm sorry about earlier, can I make up for it with hot coco. I know you hate coffee, and you don't drink alcohol. But you love chocolate."

How did he know details of my life. Maybe I should hear him out. I looked at Tyra. "It'll be alright." She turned to leave but never took her eyes off.

"Fine, I'll go with you. But we're walking there in the street lights." I didn't trust getting into a car with him.

"You hate the cold. Whatever, there's a diner not too far." He turned to walk that way and I followed. He was a handsome man with wavy brown hair and pale skin with handsome chiseled features. I wouldn't have put it past me to be in a relationship with him.

"I'm really sorry to break the news to you. But I have no idea who you are." He sighed heavily, his breath fogging in the air.

"Why don't you remember? I don't understand." He pulled a picture out of his wallet. "I swore I would take this out but I never did. I am Eric Eagles and you are Lucy Jenks." I gasped when I saw the picture of us. I had shoulder length brown hair and I was being carried on the back of the same person holding the photo. We looked so happy.

"I feel like I remember this. But what happened?" He put the picture back.

"You had a career to look forward to and I wanted to continue partying around. You know, normal stuff." He chuckled nervously. "When I saw you in there though, I didn't believe it, but when I threw your name out everyone knew you. So I guess life happens."

The diner smelt of roasting mocha. As I stood outside letting his words sink in. "Life happens." I mouthed out loud. He held the door open for me and I was blasted by a wave of warm toasty air. He smiled at me. "How about you find us a table and I go get drinks. Do you want a cookie or brownie or something?"

"No no. I'm not hungry, just coco." I turned to go get a table as he gave me a thumbs up and got in line. The place felt warm and cozy. It was a good place to think. 'Why can I not remember him?' It was eating away at me because he clearly knew who I was. I tried to remember Eric Eagles, and little pictures flashed in my mind of couple stuff, but no details.

"Alright, here you go." Eric put the drink down in front of me to which I started to gulp it down. Yummy. "Anything ringing a bell?" I sat there in silence.

"I'm so sorry."

He looked defeated "what ever. We told each other to get on with our lives anyway." We sat in an awkward silence for a little while before he spoke up again. "So, are you seeing anyone now?"

I was already almost done with my coco, but what I had in my mouth I practically spit up from shock of the question. "No, but it's for the best right now. I have some things I need to figure out on my own." I stood up ready to go. "Thank you so much for this but have somewhere I need to be tonight."

He grabbed my sleeve. "What happened to you in the Asylum?" He blurted it throughout the diner turning all heads towards us. I jerked my sleeve out of his hand.

"Look some things really are better off forgotten!" I finished the last sip of coco. "And I don't remember that either." He followed me out.

"Hey, what got you put away though. I deserve to know at least that?" I didn't know about that.

"Why do you DESERVE to." He looked at me with concerned eyes.

"Because I want to know if you are sick or crazy."

"Why not both?" He stood silent. We waited outside with the cold air nipping at my skin. "I'm schizophrenic..." I finally resolved to saying. He pulled me into his arms.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry! You needed me!"

I broke out of his grip. "I'm not broken I'm sick! I can lead a normal life no different than anyone else!" I stormed off to go down back to my car. He didn't follow me. Thank goodness. Now back to Business! I entered the old attic where the putrid stink of a forgotten person nearly knocked me off my feet. "Christopher Malone!" I called out "merry Christmas Eve I brought a gift. I figured, 'hey, I can be generous." I draped a bucket and a blanket over my shoulder as I approached the old man. The camera on the table was pointed at his face again. "Click!" I said with the camera flash. The picture of a rotting man came out the bottom. He looked like skin covering bones but he was alive. But most likely hating himself for it. He was rotting. I was literally just keeping him alive to keep him alive. His bed sores were intense and his muscles were atrophying and his mouth was covered in sores. I wrote down "Day 34 at the bottom of the picture. Thanksgiving was really early this year so he had a lot of time just to sit and stay before the new year. I held up his pictures and looked at the gradual change in appearance. Nice. "Okay sir so just for you I am going to clean you and give you a blanket tonight." He was nasty. He was stuck to the bed and so was his business. Tonight was also brutally cold and I didn't want him to die. First things first to give him food. I switched out the emptying IV bag and replaced it with another solution with a little more calorie count so that he can better fight of infection from the bed sores. Once I cleaned his body from the waste I worked on sanitizing all the areas. He was on a rubber mat so it was easier to get the filth off. I was about done so I wrapped his bones in a blanket. He feebly grabbed my wrist when I got close.

"I-I'll kill you..." He gasped out it sounded more like dust leaving a gap. I easily removed his bony fingers and wrapped him up. He would be warm tonight. "I was wrong to let you leave Arkham." He coughed from the cold dry air.

"Are you going to stay silent forever or are you going to talk talk to me Doctor?"

He looked around. "You... Are you going to let me go." I thought for a moment.

"Tell you what. You tell me everything you know, and I will give you back to your family by Christmas Day instead of new years." He laid there quietly for a while so I got up to leave.

"Wait... I'll talk. I'll talk." He was a man on the brink of insanity and death. Despair took over. "You were admitted into my care after you spent months in recovery." I ran over to the table and grabbed the video camera to get this all to see again.

"Was it my back?" I interrupted.

"Yes, you had some spine injury, I'm not sure but it was gruesome... You suffered waking terrors which you took medication for." It was all stuff I knew.

"Okay sir, I really need new stuff not obvious stuff." He coughed violently. "At first you just seemed mad. Not sick, just upset at the world. It wasn't till the Joker arrived that you started to change... You made progress down spiraled and improved dramatically that it scared everyone..." He stopped to cough violently. "Because of your previous career at Arkham, you knew the ropes and how things worked, so much so that you basically ran the place befor the Joker was re-admitted. Once he showed, it was an arms race for dominance..." he had to take a moment to regain strength. "You told me such personal things, how lonely you were, how you would get better if only you had the affection of another person. So we arranged for you to have conjugal visits with your boyfriend, but he refused... So you went for some one else."

I thought about what he had said and asked my question. "Did I ever have Conjugal visits with the Joker?" Malone was quietly catching his breath. "Yes. You did." I felt nauseous. "No, that cannot be true." "You did. At first it was nothing but idle conversation to keep you from being lonely then it grew to being a psychological conditioning, attempting you to face the reason that you blamed for being stuck there... Then from there... The relationship got sexual."

I was going to puke. I ran down stairs and vomited on the floor. No way in hell had I had a sexual relationship with the Joker. I went back up to Christopher Malone, Whipping my mouth in my sleeve. I came back in the room. He had stopped talking to get his energy back and continued when I came back. "Everyone was afraid of you. You could move things with your mind. Even people. Mostly when you were angry... But I can't remember a time when you weren't angry. You had the respect of the other inmates and showed them your scar just to unnerve them... Except the Joker. You were partners in a way. Like husband and wife and Arkham was home sweet home..." He coughed and laughed to mock me before he finally passed out. His chest moved shallowly.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" I screamed tearing apart the room Dr. Malone was alright, everything else wasn't. I snatched up all the pictures that I had taken faithfully for 34 days. I looked at the clock as it rang mid night and aimed the camera at my face. The picture came out horridly. My blue hair spun like a whirlpool sticking out in all short directions, my face was sheer fury, with eyes blurred and unfocused. I quickly took out the market and wrote at the bottom 'Day 35'. "Come on Chris. I'm a gal of my word..."