ZenyZootSuit-I think the Joker is done with his appearances...That's my plan right now anyway.

Blueberrytoast-Thanks! and ahaha

Rorschach in Blue Jeans-Sorry for the delay!

Guest-Thank you so much!

Firestripe49-Sure thing :)

Observer-:D

Hey. I know it's been quite some time since I've updated last but my life has been...intresting...lately.

I'm really sorry for all the delays guys and I promise to update soon. Like tomorrow or something.

*Claire Jefferson*

I stared at her and found all the anger I had been holding, all the betrayal, all the doubt just holding me frozen in a strange confusion. I didn't know the girl that sat in front of me. Not really.

She looked different without the mask. She looked girly and happy. Her hair was done up and she wore makeup. The most shocking thing though was the skirt she was wearing. She didn't look like a shadow, but more like a small light of hope. She was, dare I say it, beautiful.

Not that I hadn't always thought she looked hot. It was the mysterious girl with secrets and the ability to keep up with me in both a fight and in banter was what I found alluring. But it was the girl who was vulnerable behind her mask, full of real smiles and real feelings that I had begun to fall for.

"You don't look like The Joker," I said without thinking.

Her eyes flew up to mine and I felt the blood rushing to my face. That probably wasn't the best thing I could have said. And yet, she didn't look offended.

"Well maybe if I had some scars," she joked and used her fingers to motion a fake smile on her face. "…No. I look a lot like my mother, or at least I think I do. Same hair, same forehead, same smile."

"She must have been really pretty," I said in a slow voice. She blushed. "Look Jessie, I don't know what you want me to say."

Jessie looked so sad sitting there. It was as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders and all I could do was watch her anguish. "I know you could never trust me again, knowing the truth," she said in a small whisper, "being who I am and everything. I am The Joker's daughter. I can't change that. I can't change who I am. I didn't get a say in who my parents were."

I didn't mean too, but somehow all the anger that had built up all came out at once. "Why didn't you tell me?" I demanded with hurt. "Why did you go with him? Why did you call me now, after all this time? What do you want from me?"

"Tell you I was his daughter? What did it matter?" she asked but her eyes dropped. "I didn't want to ever see him again. But being alone for so long was hard. I believed that I only had the option of becoming a monster. I didn't want you to think that too."

I was lost for words. I sat there staring at her again for a moment. She was so beautiful, so strong, so amazing. How could she possibly be a monster? How could she be evil? How could I ever think that? Did I think that?

I blinked in surprise. "Well I—"

But she held up her hand to stop me from talking. "I guess I just want your forgiveness before I go."

"Go?"

She smiled lightly. "I need to leave Gotham. I need to leave it all behind. I never should have let myself stay for so long."

I was dumbfounded. "Where will you go?"

She picked up her drink and finished it off before staring out the window. "I don't know. I guess I'll just keep traveling around. Go from place to place."

"By yourself?"

Her head snapped to face me again. "Yes. I've saved up some money with my job…and now I just need to get on a bus and wave goodbye. From there…well we both know I can take care of myself."

"Sounds lonely," I said not breaking eye contact. "You could stay you know."

She played with the noodles on her plate for a while. "No I can't. I need to leave this chapter of my life behind. There is nothing for me here."

That stung a little. A small part of me wanted to grab her and never let go. But she had to make her own decisions. Even if I didn't like the outcome.

I waited a moment until I turned to the bag I had brought with me. I handed it over to her and curiously she looked inside. She smiled at its contents for a moment before handing it back. "I don't need it anymore."

I held up my hand and made her keep it. "Take another look at it." I had never believed she was evil. I never could bring myself to think her as the one who had betrayed me. In the end, hadn't she saved Bruce and left her own father behind?

She furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion but nodded and looked inside once more. I knew what she saw. It was not her old knife, but a new one. It was made of a better metal and weighed less but was sharp as it could get. On it, it was engraved like her old one. But this one said 'Ace' instead.

And then she did something I never would have dreamed of seeing. A tear ran down her cheek. It seemed to take her by surprise too as she gasped and wiped it onto her fingers. She looked at me in shock and then smiled slowly. "I haven't cried since the day my mother died." She went quiet. "Thank you."

I shrugged, trying to fight down the blush. "I figured Smoke didn't suit you. Ace seemed more…appropriate."

I like to think of myself more as the Ace in the hole.

I sighed and looked out the window. It was bright and sunny, the opposite of how we used to meet. I looked down at my half finished meal and smiled.

Suddenly Jessica gave a startled pause and her pocket vibrated. She fished inside for a cell phone. "Sorry, must be Alex." But the number on the caller ID was blocked. She hesitated before answering. "Hello?"

Her eyes met mine in a combination of fear and shock. "Oh. Err…Hi?... How did you get this number….oh….Look I'm sorry about all the trouble I caused…What?...Right now?...But I—Well, yes he is….okay….yeah I guess."

She hung up the phone and stared at me for a moment. "That…was Bruce Wayne."

My eyebrows shot up and waited for more of an explanation.

"He wants to meet me," she said slowly. "I'm to return to the manor with you..."

"You're actually going to go?" I couldn't help but be surprised.

She leaned forward and said in a whisper as if I should have known, "One does not simply turn down Batman."

"I see," I chuckled but stood from the table. I motioned for the check and she just took another big drink of her Fanta.

"Do you have a car?" she asked as she stood slowly, cautiously.

"No," I answered absently, "motorcycle."

She just stared at me for a moment like she thought I was making a joke. But I wasn't and so she just stood there with surprise written across her face. "You're kidding me, right?"

Review?please. ~CJ