Disclaimer: I own nothing but Samantha and David.

A/N: Flashbacks are in italics.

A big thanks to my reviewers!

CHAPTER ELEVEN

A brief respite

"Come Sam," he told her one day. "How about a little, ah, walk."

She looked at him incredulously from her book. "Sure" was the only thing she could think of saying. It had been two months since the red light and she had not left her little room since then.

As he unlocked the door he said casually "A few things you need to know, in case you have any cute id-eas. I have men all over the place here. Armed men. And dogs." He knew she hated dogs. "Big dogs."

"Duly noted" she said and he snickered.

They came out into a decrepit narrow hallway. A few of his minions milled around, daring only furtive looks at the Joker and Samantha. They knew better than to annoy their boss by staring.

"This way" he told her and led her down the hallway into a cavernous room. It was all concrete and steel, mostly empty except for some wooden pallets, boxes and a few chairs. The smell of gasoline was in the air. An old factory Samantha figured.

She followed him down two flights of stairs and then out a side entrance. They were outside in a weed choked lot and she felt a thrill at the fresh air. It was dusk and the sound of crickets was the most beautiful thing she had ever heard. The stars were just beginning to come out in a darkening sky.

"Oh my God, this is great." she said, smiling. A few months ago she took this for granted. Now just being outside was a reward.

"I thought you might like it." he said in an odd voice.

Sam looked over at him and noted he looked a bit annoyed..

"I do" she said, running her hands through the grass and dirt. "Thanks."

"Mmmm-hmmm. I have things to do. You can stay out here for a bit if you want. Remember what I said about cute ideas though."

"Yeah, yeah." she sighed and watched him go inside, the door clanging shut behind him. As soon as he was gone she crept to the outer part of the lot and saw it was guarded with a tall chain link fence with wicked looking razor wire at the top. Knowing the Joker she was sure that wasn't the only thing guarding the lot. She walked slowly down the length of the fence, inspecting every inch of it. No holes, it looked well maintained. She turned to the factory and tried to see anything that might look exploitable. Nothing. The door he had went into was locked tight.

As it grew more dark a light cut on, flooding the lot with a yellow glow. It was then she saw a familiar red blink about seven feet off the ground.

Another camera, mounted on the side of the brick building. Christ, what was it with him and cameras? She smirked and, remembering her first day in the room, waved and flipped it off.

"Hey honey, enjoying your stay at Joker Estates?"

She spun to her left and saw a man, yet another clown masked minion, watching her. The place must be infested with them, she thought.

"Sure, the amenities are actually quite nice. Could use a pool though."

He laughed and took a few steps towards her. "You're the first woman I've seen here" he remarked. "You must be the one he grabbed a few months ago?"

"Uh yeah, that would be me." She was starting to get nervous, already eyeballing the ground for rocks or sticks.

"I've heard about you. Wow. I can't believe you're still alive. What does he want with you anyway?"

"I don't know." she answered honestly.

He was only two feet from her now. "Hey," he remarked, eyeing her up and down. "You're a nice looking gal, damn." His tone turned vaguely lewd. "Now I know what he wants with you. Never figured he did that kind of thing. He must have gotten a little taste and decided he liked it, huh? I always figured he just got off on killing people!" He broke into a stupid haw hawing laugh.

"Yeah really" she said, grinning. She had already spotted a small stick on the ground near her and planned on using it if he wanted to try anything.

Instead he turned on his heel and went back towards where he came from. "Well babe you take care. I gotta keep making my rounds. Nice talking to you."

"Bye." she said, feeling bad that she had been planning on killing him when he was just trying to make small talk. He vanished behind a bush and she heard a door slam, one she hadn't noticed before.

She went over to it and, glancing around, tried it surreptiously. Locked.

"Oh well" she said aloud and sat down on the ground. There was no way out of this lot. Her eyes shut with happiness as a breeze whisked over her face. Might as well make the most of this small freedom before he came and got her.

She had actually begun to doze off when a door squealed open.

"Sam, what is it with you and cameras?" the Joker asked in exasperation.

"I should ask you the same thing. A little bit of a voyeur, eh?"

He acted as if he hadn't heard her comment. "Come on, time to go. I had my men bring food to your room."

She wondered why he was being so...nice. He had to be up to something.

--

He stayed in the room with her the whole time, reading a newspaper while she ate.

'This is like some nightmare version of domestic life.' she thought and almost laughed aloud at that.

"Thanks for the walk." she said lamely, wondering why he was hanging around. His silence was making her uneasy.

"Mmm-hmm."

An idea came into her mind and she grinned to herself. If he were going to just sit around and say nothing he could make himself...useful.

"I'm going to go take a shower now." she said and stood up, already pulling her shirt off.

A gleam came into his eye that she recognized and welcomed. It always ended up the same way if they were around each other for any length of time. It had turned into something he couldn't control and she was fine with that. More than fine with it in fact. She suspected he hadn't been able to sexually connect with a woman before.

She went into the bathroom, still undressing as she went. For a second he watched her silently, then came after her.

--

Later on he remarked somewhat absently "Oh Sam, there's something I was meaning to tell you. I may have to release you soon."

"What??" she said, shocked but mindful to keep a hopeful edge out of her voice.

"It's time for me to, ah, move and taking you along will make the process more difficult." he replied simply and walked out without another word.

Watching him leave she felt like jumping up and down with joy. Freedom! How appealing her boring former life seemed now. No more cameras, no more mattress on the floor, no more concrete room. No more him. She wasn't sure how she felt about that part but she knew being around him was a game of Russian Roulette. In the end only bad things would happen. That was just the way with him, chaos and unpredictibility.

'Don't get your hopes up,' she thought. 'This could just be another one of his mindfucks.' Or he could simply decide letting her go was too risky and would kill her. With him there was no way to know.

--

"Okay" she agreed "Why didn't you just say that? You know how I like doing that."

He looked at her suspiciously.

"Look" she said "You went off before I could even talk to you. I think...maybe you misunderstood. Can I explain, please?" She paused, waiting for him to express curiosity.

"Really? Well by all means go ahead." he said sarcastically. There was nothing of the David she knew in his face or the way he acted. She shuddered at that. She'd always considered herself a good judge of character but he had completely hidden himself from her. They had dated for months, slept together, done things together and she had never seen this man before. Not even at his moodiest or even during his sexual requests.

"Alright, you should know by now I'm not exactly judgemental. I was just shocked at the...pictures. You shouldn't jeopardize your job by stealing those, you know." She moved her body slightly towards him. "You have so much at stake. I just wish you told me about it. I could have helped you you know."

He laughed, the sound between mockery and despair. "How can you help me?"

"I can make it easier. We could do...things. To make it seem more real." She raised herself up as much as she could with her hands behind her back.

He looked at her, caught between not believing her and believing. The thing was, he wanted to believe. She could see the hopeful gleam in his eyes.

"Let me help you. Please." she whispered. "You know I love you. You know that. I don't want to this to ruin things for us."

She smiled at him softly and he broke. He pulled her up to him and kissed her fervently. She leaned into him, returning the kiss.

Breaking away from her he pressed his forehead against her cheek.

"I'm so sorry Samantha. So sorry." He sounded like he was close to tears.

"Shhhh. It's okay. Really it is. I'm sorry for what I did."

Her mind raced to something she had read on the internet in a crime story.

"Now" she said, voice low "Let me make it better. I know something you might like."

"What's that?"

"Well" she kissed him again and continued "I take a bath. A really icy bath. It'll make my skin cold. And then...then you can put me on the bed while I lie still. I think you might like it."

The sound of his breathing told her he would indeed like it.

"But I can't stay like this, my hands are already going to sleep and I can't do things properly with handcuffs."

--

A/N: Thanks again to my reviewers. This is my first fanfic and you've all been very kind :)

I know this update was fast but I got impatient, ha. The idea I'm trying to convey is yes the Joker is a monster and yes he is evil but no he isn't immune to all human emotion. Particularly an emotion like lust. I see him as a severely damaged person who was never able to connect with other people. So he mixes it up with Sam, who is similar to him in some ways and is able to connect with her. Sex ensues and they both see what they've been missing.

The thing with Sam is she's a bit older than him, she's a survivor at heart and she's been through some pretty bad things. I also picture her having an awesome poker face, which is useful with a guy like the Joker. She's able to keep her head (figuratively and literally) around him. Or so she thinks. She's getting just as wrapped up in desire as he is. The control each thought they had is slipping through their fingers. It's one of those things where you're so attracted to a person and it feels so good that you just don't care about anything else at the moment, you just want the pleasure and the, ahem..."completion". But you can't shut consequences out forever, no matter how good something feels.