Title: I Love You…I'll Kill You

Fandom: The Dark Knight

Rating: M

Pairing: Joker/OC

Genre: Drama/Angst

Disclaimer: Unfortunately I don't own the Joker or Batman.

A/N: A huge thank you to my loyal readers! I have some very exciting events happening in the next few chapters. Enjoy!

Chapter Ten

"I don't mean to be disrespectful or impatient, but when are you going to take care of the problem we talked about yesterday?" Drake asked the Joker once he got him on the phone.

The Joker sighed, annoyed by this conversation. "I told you I would take care of it and I have."

"But she's still alive." Drake pointed out. "I thought that you were going to, you know, kill her."

"I decided on a different course of action." The Joker explained, exhaling loudly into the phone. "Look, I don't have to explain myself to you or anyone else for that matter. The situation is handled. End of story."

"But…"

"I said it's the end of the story." The Joker repeated. "That means you stop talking about it. Understand?"

"Yes." Drake replied, not happy with this situation.

"Good." The Joker smiled. "Now go back to running your little company and let me get back to doing my job." Without waiting for Drake to reply, he hung up the phone.

He wasn't thrilled to have the older man call and complain about his methods. It's like he told Drake. He didn't have to answer to anyone. He was the Joker. He made his own rules and governed his own actions.

If he wanted to let Lacy live for a while longer, then that was his business. Besides, what could she possibly do to interfere with his plans? He knew that he had broken her spirit and mind so badly that even though she wanted to do something to stop him, she wouldn't. Right?

Lacy walked the halls of her company's building later that night. She had come back to her regular office to grab a few files, but also to try and find Chris. She figured it was time they had a little chat. Now if she could only find him. The security guard on the first floor said that Chris was still checked in so she knew he had to be somewhere in the building.

She had checked most of the places he frequented but still hadn't gone into the break room. She ducked her head into the break room and saw Chris sitting on the couch in the corner. He was looking over a file and drinking something out of a huge mug.

Without a word, she entered the room and closed the door for privacy. She then went over and sat next to him. He looked over at her and their eyes met. "Hello."

"Hi." He nervously greeted back to her. He wasn't expecting to see her here at this time of the night and wondered why she was here.

"I think we need to have a little chat." She spoke after a few moments of awkward silence.

"Really? About what?" he asked, hoping it was something to do with work. "The Wayne Enterprises project?"

"No," she replied, "it's not that. I think it's time we had a little chat about the Joker."

"Why would you want to talk about him?" Chris asked, taking a long drink from his mug and swallowing hard. "I thought you hated talking about him. You've never wanted to talk about him before."

"Normally I do hate talking about him." She answered. "But I think it's necessary to talk about him right now."

"I have to ask why again." He stalled. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about the Joker with Lacy since he was almost certain she knew about his involvement with the Joker. "Why now? What's changed?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because his men tried to kill me last night and I think you know why." She pointed out in a very matter of fact manner.

"You were attacked by the Joker's men?" He tried his hardest to fake surprise and act compassionate. "Are you ok? Did they hurt you?"

"I'm fine." She assured him, knowing that he wasn't really truly concerned with her well-being. He was simply trying to throw her off by pretending he didn't know anything about it, but it wasn't going to work.

Her instincts were telling her that he was the one working with the Joker and she wasn't going to give up until he admitted it to her. "But that's not important. How long have you been working for the Joker?"

"What?" he tried to act insulted. He even stood up and shook his head. "Why in the world would you think that I'm working for the Joker? That's crazy. You're crazy."

"I'm not crazy." Lacy countered. "I'm just observant."

"I'm not working for the Joker." Chris denied.

"It's ok." Lacy told him, standing up and facing him. "I know that you are. I just need some more information."

"Well I'm sorry but I don't have any information because I don't work for the Joker." Chris stared at the floor and continued to deny it. He thought that maybe if he continued to deny it, she would back off. He didn't think it would work because he knew Lacy was stubborn. It was worth a shot though.

She sighed. "Please stop lying to me."

"I'm not lying." He wasn't sure he could convince her of that and considered what would happen if he told her. It didn't look good for him. He'd either be arrested by the police or killed by the Joker. Neither option looked good to him.

"I have proof that you are." Lacy bluffed. "If you don't admit it right now and start talking I'm going to call the police."

His head shot up to meet her eyes and he tried not to panic. "What do you mean you have proof?"

"I have solid evidence that ties you to the Joker." Lacy continued with her bluff. She wasn't sure if lying to him about having substantial proof would work. Sure she had hunches and circumstantial evidence, but it wouldn't be enough for the police to take her seriously.

"No you don't." He shook his head and laughed. "You are lying, and you know how I know you are lying? Because I am not working for the Joker. So you couldn't possibly have evidence linking me to him."

"Ok." She pulled out her cell phone and held it in her left hand. "If that's how you want to play this game, then let's play. I guess I'll just call the police and you can talk to them instead of me. If you truly have nothing to hide then you won't mind if I bring the police into this." She started dialing a phone number very slowly.

She paused before she dialed the last number. "Although I think you'd be better off talking to me instead of them. I can't arrest you or throw you in jail with a bunch of drug addicts and hardened criminals. But it's your choice and you chose the police…"

"Wait!" He called out before she had a chance to dial the last number.

"Yes?" She asked.

He took a deep breath. "I don't want you to call the police." He couldn't handle being put in jail. There was no way that he would last long in there. The Joker would most definitely have him killed.

"Why not?" She asked, hoping that he would admit to working for the Joker.

"Because I," he paused, hoping he was doing the right thing, "I am working for the Joker. There. Are you happy now?"

"Not really." She sat back down on the couch and turned off her phone. "Why are you working for him? How did he snag you into his web?"

"Money." Chris snorted. "I wanted money."

"But why? You make a good living here." She didn't understand why he wanted more. He was one of the highest paid associates who were non-board members.

"About four years ago my wife left me." Chris explained. "She took everything I had. She took the cars, the houses, and my dog. Hell, she even took my best friend. They live together in my house, sleep together in our old bed and enjoy the life I used to have."

"I'm sorry to hear that." She said, meaning every word. "It's hard when your marriage ends and you realize that the person you loved doesn't want your love anymore."

"Yeah," he agreed, "that's for sure. She divorced me and took me to the cleaners. She gets an obscene amount of alimony every month. It's not a fair amount at all. And the kicker is that my ex-wife and ex-best friend won't remarry for the sole reason that they want her to continue getting the alimony."

He sat down on the couch next to Lacy. "I guess I just got so frustrated with all of it that when I saw how much he was offering, I jumped at the chance. I saw the chance to get my old life back and I blindly grabbed it. I didn't fully understand what I'd be doing or the consequences."

She listened to his story and realized that she wasn't the only one that the Joker has manipulated recently.

"It wasn't until I actually started to work for him that I realized what I had done. I sold my soul to the devil." Chris continued. "And while the extra money is nice, I can't really enjoy it. It's blood money."

"The Joker is very good at manipulation." Lacy told him, lightly resting her hand on his shoulder for a moment. "What exactly is it that you do for him?"

He looked over at her for a few seconds and then at the floor. "I befriend people and tell the Joker when they will be home. Then he goes and kills them."

She wasn't happy that her suspicions were confirmed and she was right about Chris' involvement. She really had hoped that she was wrong because Chris seemed like such a nice guy. But she had to face the facts and the facts were that Chris was involved in the Joker's schemes.

"So you've made friends with all of the rich clients we have who have ended up dead and then essentially stab them in the back by selling them out to the Joker?" She clarified.

"Yes." He shamefully admitted.

"What about Bruce Wayne?" She asked hesitantly. She wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer. "Is he next on your list?"

Chris nodded slowly. "Yeah. The Joker wants me to find out everything I can about him but it's been hard. He's been resistant to my attempts to be his friend. He seems only interested in being your friend."

She was relieved that it looked like there were no immediate plans to kill Bruce. Maybe there was still time to find a way out for Bruce without pissing off the Joker too much.

"I'm sorry Lacy. I didn't mean to almost get you killed." He confessed, thinking she already knew. "When I told Mr. Drake about how I thought you knew something I didn't expect the Joker to try and kill you. I guess I should have expected it, but I didn't."

"Mr. Drake?" Lacy asked, confused. "He's involved in this too?" She hadn't expected that her boss would be involved in this mess too. She briefly wondered how high the corruption in this company went and who else was involved.

"Yeah." Chris nodded, realizing that Lacy had bluffed. "Hey! You didn't have any real proof, did you?" He was starting to get angry with her.

"No, I'm sorry. I didn't." She admitted.

"You tricked me into admitting this to you!" He yelled, jumping to his feet. "I can't believe it!"

"I'm sorry." She got up too. "I just wanted to get some answers."

"Well now that you've gotten your answers you better not even think about telling anyone what you know or else." He threatened.

"Or else what?" She asked hesitantly.

"You won't like what happens." He replied. "I'm already in this too deep and I can't go to jail."

"Chris, I'm on your side here. I'm not going to the police with this information. I promise." She tried to assure him.

"Then why are you poking your nose in other people's business?" He asked.

"I don't want to get into it but trust me that I have my reasons. Please believe me." She gave him a small smile. "I'm not going to turn you in."

He sighed. She had never lied to him before and she seemed sincere. Maybe he could trust her. Right now it didn't look like he had a choice. His only other option would be to kill Lacy himself and he couldn't do that. "Fine, but I still don't think tricking me was very nice."

"I'm sorry." She apologized. "It was just the only way I could think of to get the truth out of you."

"I still don't think it was very nice." Chris pouted.

"Why don't you tell me about Mr. Drake's involvement?" She prodded gently, hoping to get as much information out of him as possible.