5 minutes after T.O.D

"You're born alone, you damn sure die alone"

Joan scrapped the bottom of the cup for the last mango yogurt.

"… only the weak need help."

"I should get that tattooed on my-"

Joan didn't get to hear where J.D was getting the tattoo because Scrubs switched in to Summer Gleeson from GCN. Summer was standing outside, in the background bright yellow police tape waved in the breeze.

Having lived in Gotham for years therefore use to breaking news, Joan felt more peeved about the interruption than anything else. For the past two weeks she had been dealing with the aftermath of the Joker's escape, she came home from the asylum late and exhausted, before getting up early to go right back to it.

God help her if the Joker had something to do with this. It was bad enough he had turned everything at Arkham upside down and backwards, now he had to screw with her favorite TV show too.

Joan grabbed the remote and about to turn it off. Then she read the title:

EX-DOCTOR HARLEEN QUINZEL DEAD.

Her heart plummeted.

"I am standing on the edge of Gotham City Square where just moments ago Harleen Quinzel took her own life at its center."

Took her own life. Joan repeated stunned.

That couldn't be right.

Not homicide, not forced. Suicide. Her choice.

"Julie witnessed the whole thing from across the street" Summer introduced the dark haired woman standing with her, "Can you tell us what you saw."

Julie nodded, her huge eyes flicked over her left shoulder to the scene behind them. The camera followed them. The scene that had been mostly cut off on the sidelines came in to full view, front row and center.

"Oh my god." Whispered Summer, but not quietly enough, off screen.

Harleen, or what use to be, was lying crumpled and broken a few meters away. Not far enough, the details the camera could pick would far too many, like the unmistakable revolver discarded next to her. Joan had not put any thought how she died; now there was no questioning it. Her head was lolled toward them; her eyes did not stare out with cruel vengeance of the dead, because her eyes were shut. There was no trace of life on her face. There was blood pooling under her.

The image was too gruesome for Joan but she couldn't avert her eyes.

This wasn't just an unlucky victim for her, someone she'd hear about but forget in the next few days. This was someone she knew, a colleague, someone she would go out with for beers at the end of a long week. Regrettably someone she had said some pretty nasty things to the very last time they had talked and now she'd never be able to take them back.

A white sheet was put over Harleen. It was too late. The image would haunt Joan most likely forever.

"Julie" prompted Summer. The camera panned back over to the anchorwoman and her interviewee.

"well I saw…saw her run in-"

"Harleen?" asked Summer, clarifying the situation.

"Yes, um I saw her run into the square. I didn't think anything of it until the police cars drove up. They parked all along here." Julie pointed at the two remaining squad cars. The space in between them created a mental image of where the others use to be. "Men wearing masks started to come in to square."

"Were they clown masks?"

"Yes."

"Do you think anyone of them could have been the Joker?"

"I don't know" Julie shook her head, shocked by the question.

"Sorry, continue"

"So the men came in from over there. She didn't make any move to run and…and then…she-" Julie choked up, she covered mouth, pausing for a moment to try to get a hold of herself. "she, Harl – I'm sorry. I can't"

Summer nodded sympathetically, patting Julie's shoulder as she walked away.

"Her life came to a sudden tragic end and the only thing anyone can say now is why? We will now go to Mike Engel in the newsroom now but GCN will continue to be on live on scene."

The phone started ringing, Joan moved to answer it on the third ring.

"Hello"

"Hey Joan."

It was her sister and closest confidante, Andrea.

"Have you seen the news?" asked Andrea hesitantly.

"Yeah I just saw it" her voice came out thick with emotion.

"I'm sorry Joan. Do you want me to come over?"

"Awe Andy, its late"

"I can be over there in forty minutes." She said in a gentle, yet argumentative tone.

"Alright" Joan agreed.

"See you soon."

The twelve o'clock news started early. Mike Engel did a very brief re-cap about Harleen's death before moving on to other stories.

Joan thought about her late co-worker.

Jeremiah had met Harleen at a psychology conference in Nevada. Impressed with her, he offered her job at Arkham. Enthusiastic as she always was, Harleen moved out to Gotham within a week.

At first Harleen agitated Joan. She was young; Joan had met a small percentage younger, and had the naivety that came with that youth.

Harleen never let either of these two traits define her.

A high-pitched cackle echoed in the hallway, disturbingly getting closer and louder. There was only one person Joan knew to have a blood-chilling laugh like that.

She looked up from the computer at the front desk to see the Joker being jostled along by no less then four orderlies and one guard. The Joker wasn't resisting at all. Joan hoped that it would stay like that, not so much for her fellow staff members but because Jeremiah was out of town right now, leaving her to run the asylum in his stead so if they hurt him, Harleen would be in her office making a racket.

That's not saying that she did not care about the abuse that went on within these walls. When Joan first started at Arkham she gone on the same crusade Harleen was on right now to end it and she had been older with more experience then Harleen. But there was no way of pinning assaults on anyone, the patients were either too scared of repercussions or were too prideful to admit to what was happening to them. So like others before her, Joan threw in the towel. Nothing ever changed and continuous failures take a heavy toll. Harleen would learn that heartbreaking lesson one day.

As the Joker's laughter faded away, Joan went back to the quick email she had to send out before she saw her next patient.

If the Joker had been down here, then he would've been in a therapy session. That meant he would've been with Harleen. Joan realized.

She practically ran down the hall.

Please let her be all right.

When she got to the open door, her worst fear materialized when she looked inside.

Like the ever-present danger of keeping a wild animal, had it only been a matter of time before the Joker killed someone?

"She's alive, Dr. Leland" said Henry, "I called the infirmary, someone is bringing a stretcher. Look at this"

Henry brushed Harleen's hair back. Distinct finger mark bruises lined the back of her neck. Harleen may need time off and worker's compensation if the bruises went deep and there was damage to the ligaments in her neck. But still she had gotten off lucky.

How many times had Joan warned her? The answer was one too many times.

She'd listen now. But its not like she was going to be in the same room with the Joker again, not after this.

"What happened?" asked Joan.

"I'm not exactly sure. The alarm went off so we came in. She was already out though. Joker was just sitting on the table waiting for us, he was the one who hit the panic button, had it in his hand." Said Henry. "I thought we were too late. Guess he's getting rusty."

She nodded in agreement even though she did not believe for one second that the Joker accidently left Harleen alive, he wouldn't be careless about something like this. If he had sounded the alarm himself, he had all the time to ensure she didn't have a pulse.

The Joker chose to keep her alive.

There was only one person she had the chance to get the answer out of.

"Could you stay with her?" asked Joan, already leaving.

His dark eyes immediately locked on to her as she entered the small solitary cell.

"Has gorgeous eyes, doesn't he?" It was Harleen that said that once. Joan only thought they were unnerving.

"I don't think I'll be able to write a statement or sign anything." The Joker shrugged his shoulders, gesturing to the strait jacket. "I'll be more then happy to talk about though."

"Good. What happened?"

"I slammed her head into the wall and then I throttled her," he giggled.

Joan remained unphased. She wouldn't let him get to her that easy. It was a given that he would try.

"Why?"

"Actions speak louder then words" he licked his lips, his eyes had yet to leave Joan. "I had to show Har-leen, and all you people that you aren't as safe as you as you think you are. For example your panic buttons aren't very efficient when they're yanked from your hands."

That made her a little nervous.

"That's really why? Nothing happened between you and Dr. Quinzel to make you angry?"

"Nope" he snapped with a definite tone. "Let's not beat around the bush Joanne."

"Its Joan" she corrected on impulse, accidently giving him permission to use her first name.

"You're really here to figure out why I didn't finish the job, aren't ya?"

As she suspected, the Joker knew Harleen was still among the living.

"Its no secret, I could have." Growled the Joker, it was the lowest pitch she had ever heard from his mouth.

Joan had thought she was prepared for something like this, that nothing he said would scare her. That last sentence made her fight the urge to bolt out the door. It wasn't just the threatening way he said it directly to her or the glint of malice only a sadistic killer could achieve. It was the whole feel of the cell.

Truth be told, Joan hadn't spent much time with the Joker. She had never experienced one of his sudden mood swings, only heard about them from others. No one ever mentioned how it changed the atmosphere of the room to a feeling of anxious anticipation, like the still in the air before a thunderstorm.

"I had the chance to think, once Harley stopped struggling and passed out that is, who would be my shrink if she goes. I've heard talk that it would be – ah – yoouuu. Neither of us wants that."

He was right, odds were that she would his doctor. She would've been already if Dr. Arkham didn't want to give Harleen a chance with him first. Deep down, maybe that's why she hadn't liked her at first. Now that it was almost certain she would be this time. Joan didn't want it. The prestige of his case was not worth the pain he was, definitely not worth the danger of being his presence. Not to mention she had some severe personal conflicts with the man. Her sister had almost died after he shot up her car, causing her to drive in to a street lamp.

"I don't think Dr. Quinzel will still be your psychiatrist after today."

"Huh, wanna bet?"

Her eyebrows furrowed in response.

"Come on a hundred bucks" he prodded. "I'm good for it. "

"No."

And with that she left. It was unclear whether or not she got what she came for. The Joker could have easily been lying about wanting Harleen to remain his doctor. But if he wasn't, the message between the lines was he liked Harleen as his doctor.

Joan went back to the infirmary to check on Harleen. Her luck went beyond simply being alive, there was no damage to her neck and she only had a very mild concussion. All the same, Dr. Wyatt wanted her to stay for an hour to be safe. Making now a good time to get the other side of the story.

There was an embarrassed knowing look on Harleen's face before Joan even asked what happened?

"Please hold all questions and comments about how stupid I was until the end." Started Harleen. "A couple of days ago, the Joker was asking if he could have a newspaper, complaining he felt cut off from the world. I didn't see a problem with it but I thought I better run it by Dr. Arkham, who did see a problem, one I should've saw myself."

"That it would be feeding his obsession," nodded Joan.

"Yep, that is exactly what I told him when he asked again today and that led into a rather heated discussion about his insanity."

Joan could see exactly why he attacked her. Whether or not the Joker liked her, he didn't take kindly to being called crazy or having it insinuated. It wasn't all that careless; it wasn't anything Joan was going to scold her for.

"I kept pushing it even though I could see how uncomfortable it was making J. But I've been so frustrated lately and thought I could gain something because for once he was getting flustered. " Harleen rubbed her neck, "I gained something alright, what I deserved."

Her mouth twisted involuntary, Joan did not like when Harleen shortened the Joker to J. Because it made him sound more like a human then the monster he really was. And that's exactly why Harleen did it. Though she usually tried not to in front of Joan.

"You rattled him? " asked Joan.

That was incredibly stupid and very hard to believe.

"You could say that" Harleen looked ashamed of herself.

"How?" she asked to earnestly.

A flame flicked up in her blue eyes.

"I know the deal with my taking the Joker's case was that I had to report to you and Dr. Arkham but Joan, there is a degree of doctor patient confidentiality still. I've done enough damage for one day."

She had seen that look on the young doctor many times before. Determination, the kind that gets people to get back up no matter how many times or how hard they have been knocked down.

The Joker had assaulted her and yet she would not betray him.

"How long will he be in solitary?" asked Harleen.

"A week."

"I suppose there's no way around that. I hate losing time." Harleen ran her fingers through her hair, wincing as she went through snags.

Joan was not as shocked as she felt she should be.

"Harleen, you don't have to continue with him. Everyone will understand. You made more progress with him then anyone."

"Exactly, I've worked to hard to quit because of one setback. "

Joan would hardly call what happened today a setback.

"Maybe you should think this over. I would hate to see you get hurt again." That came out angrier then she had intended. But Joan was getting angry with her.

" There is nothing to think about." Harleen met and raised Joan's anger. "I'll admit that I took the Joker's case in the first place to help my own career and I'm not going to pretend that I am not scared to hold another session with him in week because I am close to terrified at the very thought. But I have to think about more then myself; J needs someone to stay with him for once."

Her anger had dissipated at the end. It was replaced with fear. Harleen was afraid that Joan would convince Jeremiah to take her off the Joker's case.

In hindsight that's what Joan should have done.

The Joker had her figured out, he knew he could use her.

Harleen's heart was in the right place but very much with the wrong person.

Author's Note: Thank you for reading, subscribing and faving!

Yay another point of view. I wanted to explain why everyone was so sure Harleen helped the Joker, which has everything to do with how they were as doctor and patient.

The next chapter will get in to that, it will pick up where this one left off; a very rocky/nonexistant transition between flashbacks of Joan's, I've got it half done. It will be up really soon, cross your fingers that I don't have to work tomorrow.

The person Summer was interviewing was Julie Madison, for those wondering if the name Julie was a coincidence or not, and for those who don't know who she is she is a flame of Bruce's in the comics and was in Batman and Robin. So yeah no one belongs to me