Mother was a bit naive

And Daddy was a blinded thief

Who went and stole away

What was left of the remains of a family

She'd hide away behind a door she kept locked

But the walls wern't thick enough to block out

The angry noises of the voices that once soothed her to sleep...

Jerome returned to his seat across from the blonde haired temptress, who's lips were more tantalizing to him not for their beauty, but the secrets they possessed.

"Of course I've heard of the Dollmaker's Daughter. Everyone has." He told her, his tone cautious.

What on earth is she bringing this up for?

Barbara looked at him appraisingly . "Really now? A circus boy from outside of the city knows this story?"

Jerome frowned, "I knew Harleen's story, even if it wasn't a detailed account. People talk at the circus and circus folks hear a lot of urban legends from all the towns and cities they travel to. Gotham happens to have the memorable ones. The child serial killer and the Dollmaker's Daughter. The latter was just a cautionary tale of domestic violence meant to scare kids."

A shadow drew across his face. "It never did work on me."

Barbara crossed her arms. "And it never crossed your mind for a second that the story was real?" He rolled his eyes, "Of course it did and it probably is knowing Gotham, but it's probably been fictionalized quite a bit for it reached my ears."

Barbara bared her perfectly straight, never-needed-braces teeth. "Well go on then Ginger. Tell the story as you know it."

He sighed. "There once was a Dollmaker who was a drunkard and he beat his wife. He had a daughter who constantly feared his wrath. She came home one day when he was extra angry. Blah blah, insert fight here, insert frightened child there. And then he kills the mom, right in front of the child. And then he tortures the child."

Jerome winked, "I could have done better."

Barbara looked unimpressed. "And then?"

"He goes missing. The police find the girl almost dead and still clinging to her toy. She got dubbed the Dollmaker's Daughter and it became a really big thing. I still don't get how this fits..."

All of the muscles in Jerome's face went slack.

The blood stains on Mister Buttons.

Harleen's accent.

She was adopted.

Adopted.

Barbara giggled, "That's right ginger! It took you long enough to work it out! The Dollmaker's Daughter is none other than Harleen Quinzel."

/

"No."

The screech of chair legs on the metal floors made heads turn their way.

"Th... it doesn't work. She couldn't... she can't be..."

Barbara placed a hand on his arm. "She can and she is." She settled back down in her chair. "It will all make sense when I tell you the full story. Now sit back down before you make a scene. The last thing we need right now is a riot."

/

Amanda Quinzel was a circus girl.

That was the most that anyone knew of her, anyone outside of the story. It was her husband and daughter that most people talked about.

Francis Dulchmacher was a dollmaker.

The best in fact. His creations were so life like they received many awards for their brilliance all around America. But for reasons unknown, Francis chose to settle down with his wife in the seediest part of Gotham, the Narrows.

Another thing most people don't know, is that they did not just have a little girl, they had twins. Their names were Daphne Lila Quinzel and Harleen Francis Quinzel, the latter named after her father. All of them were Quinzel's now, as Francis decided to take his wife's name as it sounded catchier for his business.

Their life was OK at first, as nice as one can be in Gotham, much less the Narrows. The twins got along well, and they soon began to attend the local school. But with advances being made with technology, Francis's business began failing. His porcelain dolls with their doe eyes and rosy cheeks were no match for Mattel and Hasbro. He needed something else, a new idea, something new something new...

He began to drink.

He would retreat to his studio downstairs everyday, holed up with bottles upon bottles that were hidden in crinkly brown bags. His wife and children rarely saw him. But the twins began to realize that when they lay in their beds at night, Francis would come upstairs and continually beat Amanda.

Then it started to happen in the daytime when the girls were still at home. They managed to stay safe only because as soon as his ominous footsteps were heard, Amanda would grab the girls and put them in the kitchen cupboard. Sometimes Amanda got in as well, but mostly their just wasn't enough time. So Daphne and Harley would spend long hours in that dusty, small space with bated breath, with only the sounds of their mother's screams to let them know that she was still alive. The tears would roll down their cheeks silently and they would tell themselves in the secret language that only abused kids know, where vowels are wet eyes and constants are the flinches from loud noises, that they would a better life for themselves. A better world for them all, where their whole family would be happy.

As you already know, this never happened.

A year later, the twins were seven years old and it was costume day at school. Daphne went as a princess and Harley a clown. Harley had to go home herself that afternoon as Daphne had gone to a sleepover. When she arrived though, her father had left his studio earlier than usual. Amanda and Francis were fighting and from the sounds of it, Amanda was losing. Harley saw it all. She saw Francis stalk towards her mother, knife in hand.

She watched her mother die.

When Francis saw her he beat her with a crowbar and refused to give her food or water. This went on for two weeks, Harley lying there in a pool of her own blood and Amanda's.

Daphne never came home.

She wasn't there when the police came, when they were expecting two corpses, but found only one and a half dead girl. Harley received medical attention immediately, and even in her partial conscious state she refused to let go of her stuffed animal.

It took three days till she was fully awake again. When she woke it was only half an hour till she found herself being interrogated by Detective Bullock. He asked her what happened. She told him. She asked him what happened. He told her.

Firstly, Daphne was safe and sound. When she was at the sleepover she had let slip about her home situation and the family took her in. When they received no notifications that Daphne was deemed missing they alerted the police, they knew that something must have happened to Amanda and Harley.

Secondly, Francis had escaped, and left a long while before the GCPD even arrived. They also found that Amanda's body was missing the legs. Harley had no idea why.

Finally, most of Harley's scars, her mutilated arms especially, would never heal. There were people though who would teach how to use makeup, to disguise them. And also, they wanted to know her greatest wish. If she could have anything what would it be?

Now Harleen Quinzel wasn't a stupid girl. In fact she is incredibly smart. So she knew that she couldn't wish her mom back to life. She knew she couldn't wish to kill her farther.

So she wished to live in her dollhouse. The one her parents worked together to build for her. Bullock told her that he would see what they could do, and that the GCPD were working very hard on apprehending her father.

She spent the next few days in a cell, a nice one changed to suit her needs, but still a cell nonetheless. Daphne visited, and she cried and told her that she was sorry that she had done this, sorry that she wasn't there for her. One thing that should be noted, is that Harley never cried during this whole ordeal.

Her condition had worsened.

/

Soon after that, Harley and Daphne were adopted, not by the nice family that tried to protect Daphne, but by the popular politician Peter Robertson and his wife Sally. As it turned out, Harley's wish came true. There was fundraisers and they had built her and her sister a house that was an exact replica of her dollhouse.

The press went wild, the story of the poor little girl who lost both her mother and father, and for such scandalous reasons, and how she had emerged with a new rich family. It seemed like that would be the end of Harleen Quinzel, and that Gotham would never hear of her name again.

How wrong they were.

/

Jerome, for the first time in remembrance, was speechless. She had so many more layers, so many things about her that he just wanted to explore. His little harlequin was a survivor.

She would make this game interesting.

Barbara grinned, "Did you get what you needed to know?"

The red head chuckled and rose from his chair. "Indeed I did. Now if you would excuse me Miss Kean, I must return to my boudoir."

"You mean your cell?" She called out after him.

He ignored her, she was not going to ruin this good mood. He had worked it out, he worked out were they might have met. Amanda Quinzel had been a circus girl. She had named one of her children Lila. There was only one circus that came to Gotham. Only one with a girl named Lila.

And that was Haley's Circus.

The place he had once called home.

Notes: WHOOP THERE IT IS! (Yeah I'm probably gonna do this everytime something big is revealed.) BUT SERIOUSLY THOUGH! We knew from earlier chapters that Amanda worked at the circus and knew Lila and wanted Harley to be with her son, WHICH IS OF COURSE JEROME! But in this we find she knew Lila well enough to name one of her children after her? So there are those connections...

BUT YOU OFFICIALLY FOUND OUT WHO HARLEY'S DAD IS! Congrats if you worked it out! So I'm gonna have a lot of fun playing around with Francis's character and as I've previously mentioned this Harley is based off of an OC who's father was this crazy dollmaker, and when I found out he's a villain and his name AND HARLEY'S MIDDLE NAME was Francis I thought, "well I am in love with Jerome Valeska and the Joker himself, so let's write this thing!" But I know you have questions. What was going on with Harley's mom and the faires? Where are Amanda's legs? Where did Francis go? (Well if you've watched Gotham, you know damn well where he has gone.) These shall all be answered in good time...

Now I've heard the rumors that Barbara is going to be Harley Quinn on Gotham. If that happens, I'll be pretty disappointed. Don't get me wrong, I think she'd do a good job and I love the chemistry between her and Jerome, but I love Barbara's character as is and she would have to make a lot of change to become Harley. Now I have a theory about how she could be a proto Harley with a proto Joker while we have the Joker also with a separate Harley Quinn, with Jerome still overall becoming the Joker. Now I know that sounds crazy but it will all make sense if I explain and if you want me to leave a comment asking me to and I shall.

Now I'm not sure but hopefully in the next chapter we'll say hello to our old friends, Dr Strange and Miss Peabody. And very soon we'll be seeing Penelope and Jonathan Crane too. I love how next season of Gotham seems to be coinciding with my story, Harley and Scarecrow coming in at the same time, at the same time I start writing them. Ahh the sweet coincidences of life...

Remember, if you want to see a rewrite of this story from Harley Quinn's POV make sure the number of kudos/favorites/follows/bookmarks reaches 100 and I'll do it. I'm also working on another AU right now, with Heath Ledger's Joker and Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn. Hopefully I can release that soon. Ok, now keep smiling and Gotham on, cuz you ain't seen nothing yet!