Author's Note: Thanks to everyone for continuing to read! I couldn't help but put an ultra long chapter out there. I didn't want to break this chapter into two parts, so more for you to read! : D I want to thank in particular for their reviews…JokersChaosPrincess, blaqkrose, and TheJoker'sGotMyHeart. Your constructive feedback helps me want to write more and faster, so keep 'em comin, please! :D Thanks, guys!

Aaaand…Here. We. Go.

It was just barely seven in the morning and yet after Joker had disappeared upstairs, Jayde was feeling wide awake and knew that it would be pointless to try and go back to sleep. The early morning sun was golden and crisp, inviting her out onto the back patio where the pool was glimmering as it rippled. She sat down at the table, reaching up to feel her head. The drool in her hair had dried but she did not really mind; it was just Joker drool. She grinned to herself as the sound of his deep laugh echoed in the back of her mind but she sighed a moment later, crestfallen. Jayde knew that she probably would not get to hear that laugh again anytime soon.

For some reason or another, Jayde's left eye was feeling a bit swollen but when she reached up to touch it, she winced, pulling her fingers back. Oh yeah…she thought bitterly. Joker beat the shit out of me last night. Her jaw clicked and popped as she opened her mouth widely, shutting it, doing this several times to stretch it out. Surprisingly, for as hard as he hit her, he had not broken anything but Jayde just figured he had gone super easy on her…If he could make someone swallow their own eye, Jayde was pretty sure he had turned it down a couple notches for their fight.

The sliding glass door slid open and Dotcom stepped out, yawning, yanking a finger through his messy, morning curls. "Hey." He mumbled with a sleepy grin which Jayde returned.

"Hey." She replied, watching as he took out his pack of cigarettes to light one. "You're up early." Dotcom shook his head, leaning back in the seat.

"No, I'm always up at this time." He explained, but continued when Jayde continued to stare at him blankly. "…Joker's room is right next to mine. He's kinda…loud in the mornings…Well, no, I take that back…He's loud all the time." Jayde nodded her agreement.

"Just so you know, you've got one hell of a black eye." Dotcom said quietly a moment later as though he thought this would offend her but Jayde laughed, nodding her head.

"Yeah, I figured. It hurts." She replied, poking it lightly with her finger.

"Speaking of which, seems like you n' boss made up alright." He grinned, arching an eyebrow. "You two seemed purrr-etty cozy last night."

Jayde groaned, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, it was quality bonding time." She said sarcastically. "We even drooled on each other." Dotcom laughed, pointing at her head.

"There's white and red makeup in your hair." Jayde scoffed, glancing upward, grinning as Dotcom continued to laugh until the doors slid open and Joker stepped out. He was wearing the jeans and white t-shirt again and was just in the process of tying his hair back when he turned and noticed Jayde and her black eye.

"Wow! Now, that's a shiner!" he exclaimed, placing his hands on his hips to smirk with something that almost looked like pride.

"Yeah, it's real funny." She nodded as Joker laughed. "Gimme another one and we can match!" she said, indicating the black rings of makeup around his eyes and the smirk slid from his face quickly. Luckily, he ignored her comment, turning to Dotcom.

"Dotcom, I need your…assistance." He said, glaring down at the nerd as he rocked back in the chair. "I want to run diagnostics on the car to get a baseline before we switch all the parts out…so…" he whistled, pointing at the door. Jayde watched as Dotcom handed the cigarette to Joker before he disappeared inside to go upstairs and get his meters. Joker took a hit of the cigarette, crossing his arms over his chest, surveying Jayde behind half-lidded eyes. A moment later, he pointed at her. "My face is in your hair."

"I'm aware of that, thanks."

They didn't say anything else but Joker went back inside once the cigarette was finished and Jayde was beginning to feel that sleepiness begin to work it's way back into her body. She yawned, standing up from the table to go up to her bedroom and get a couple more hours. But once she got there, she turned the knob to find it locked. No fucking way.

Marching back down the stairs, we went straight over to the garage door to open it and step out with her arms crossed.

"Can I please get in the room to go to sleep?" she asked of Joker, looking down at him as he sat on a tarp amidst a sea of car parts, fiddling with the one in his hands, looking somewhat like a little boy on Christmas morning. He did not take his eyes from the part.

"Nope."

"But-"

"Nope!"

"Please?-"

"No!" he said, finally looking up at her with his eyebrows raised as his hand slid behind him and back out, producing a small handgun. He cocked it, pointing it at her knee cap. "Now, ask me again." Jayde shut her mouth, glancing at Dotcom who had turned to watch this exchange with a poorly hidden grin on his face. She glared daggers at The Joker once more before she went back inside, fuming and cursing him under her breath as she stormed into the kitchen.

An hour later, when Jayde couldn't find anything to do, she walked into the kitchen to get something to eat when a loud bang sounded from the garage. A second later, Joker's loud voice carried through the door.

"Fucking SHIT!!"

Jayde jumped back as the door flew open and Dotcom ran in, his eyes wide as he shut the door behind him quickly.

"He just smashed his finger and still had that gun, and-.." Jayde laughed loudly. "I just didn't wanna be in the way, you know?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

When Dotcom felt it was safe enough to return to the garage, Jayde went with him, grinning at Joker's back as he bent over the car's engine. The back of his shirt had risen only an inch or so, but between it and the line of his jeans, she could see a strip of material of purple boxers and her grin expanded. She ignored it, however, moving to sit in the front seat of the Escalade, across from the Corvette; she had a feeling giving The Joker a wedgie could result in a cruel and unusually painful death.

Jayde was watching him crank some sort of wrench inside all the mechanics of the car and after several attempts, a greasy part came out, dripping with oil. Joker made a face at it, dropping it to the floor on a tarp across from all the new parts.

"Jayde, if you're going to watch, at least make yourself…uh…useful?" he said, glancing over at her. "Grab a brush and some water and get to scrubbin'." He instructed, pointing at the heap of old, greasy car parts. However, when she moved to obey his orders although reluctantly, a police car pulled in the driveway just outside the garage, a tall officer immediately stepping out to glance around.

Jayde froze, torn between being excited that she would be going home and disappointed that she had to go back to work and her dull life. When she had expected Joker to run or start firing, he did neither and instead grabbed a towel from behind him, wiping his hands as he approached the officer, who had by now stepped into the garage and was admiring the car.

"Wow, she's a beaut.." he commented and Jayde's mouth fell open as he shook hands with Joker. What??

"Yeah, but she's dead. I'm doing a little, uh…surgery." Joker replied, still trying to scrape grease from between his fingers.

"Who's is it?" the officer asked, leaning to the side to peer around him as Joker pointed over his shoulder at Jayde who was still standing there in shock, looking the slightest bit dumbfounded. He raised his eyebrows at Joker as though in surprise of what he saw. "Nice choice." Jayde fisted her hands, angrily. Is that what she was?…Joker's choice? His selection?

"What've you got for me?" Joker asked, not paying the officer's words a bit of mind as he looked down at the manila folder in his hand.

"The plate you asked for. A buddy of mine down at the DMV made it for me. Had to pay him a bit but…" the officer explained, watching Joker's face as he pulled a license plate from the envelope. When Joker grinned, Jayde could practically hear the officer deflate in relief. He held it up, looking over at Jayde. 'Joe Kerr' it read and Jayde had to fight really hard not to roll her eyes.

Joker must have noticed the confused look on her face earlier, as he frowned, pointing at the officer next to him. "What? You never heard of a con-fid-en-tial informan-t before?" he asked, smiling wickedly but Jayde ignored him, continuing to stare. Joker's eyes narrowed onto hers and in this moment, Jayde finally began to understand; Joker owned Gotham. He could over-power and manipulate anyone he wanted through fear and his ruthless reputation. Her heart fell to her feet as she sat down to start scrubbing parts…She finally understood; Joker owned her and it had only been three days. He said sit, she sat. He said jump, she asked how high. He said move, she danced.

For nearly an hour after the policeman had left, Jayde sat on the floor of the garage, practically getting stepped on as she scrubbed greasy car parts, dunking them in warm soapy water. Joker kept glancing down at her from the front of the car and as she picked up the last piece, he walked over, taking it from her hand to drop it onto the tarp and begin bundling the whole thing up. Jayde stood up and was about to ask why when he walked over to a large metal trash-can and dumped the whole thing inside.

"Why are you throwing those out?" she asked irritably as he turned around, brushing his hands off on his jeans.

"They're old. We have new ones!" he replied, grinning as Jayde's eyes grew wide and she fisted her hands into her hair, looking slightly crazy.

"Then why the hell did you have me clean all of them?!" she asked, throwing her arms, remembering how she had thought to herself 'better make them spotless or Joker will be mad'. He simply grinned, shrugging his shoulders.

"I dunno."

Jayde really, really wanted to hit him, but remembering her tender, black eye, she did nothing but squeal angrily before stomping out of the garage, into the house and out onto the porch. She paced for a few moments, breathing hard, trying to vent some of her frustration before she went back out and strangled him. She laughed at this thought out loud; yeah right, like she could ever strangle The Joker. He would probably rip her clean in half before she could even fit her hands around his neck.

She sighed heavily, taking one foot to the back of her shoe to step out of it before doing the same thing to the other and she knelt, peeling off her socks. It was really hot in the garage and some of her baby curls were sticking to her slightly sweaty face so she sat at the edge of the pool, slowly lowering her feet in after rolling up the legs of her jeans.

The water was cool enough to send a shiver through her body, but Jayde hardly had time to enjoy it before Joker suddenly sat down next to her out of nowhere, faced the other way but leaned back so he could see her face. She jumped, glancing over at him; she hadn't even heard the sliding glass door open.

"Are you mad at me, Jayde?" he asked, leaning back and over in front of her, fighting to make eye contact with her as she tried to avoid him.

"Are you gonna hit me if I say yes?" she asked with her chin rested in the palm of her hand on her knee, finally looking at his eyes. For the first time since she had been kidnapped, she noticed how bright of a brown his eyes were as the sun shone through the screen onto them.

"Nooo…" he answered but when Jayde hesitated, glaring at him skeptically, he softened his eyes into a perfect, pleading, puppy-dog gaze. "I promise."

Jayde sighed, switching hands. "Then, yes. I am." Joker turned around, crossing his legs to face the same way as her at the edge of the pool and Jayde couldn't fight the grin that forced it's way out when he rested his head on her shoulder. She couldn't place why, but she found it so cute when he did that.

"Should I say sorry?" he asked as though he honestly didn't know what to do. Joker really didn't care that she was mad at him but he wanted her to think he did. "Would that make it better?" he lifted his head slightly to see her face and she nodded, pursing her lips to keep from smiling. Why was he being so freaking cute all of a sudden??

"Ok, then I'm sorry." He said, but then flicked out his arm to look at his watch. Jayde could hear him counting seconds quietly as he watched the long hand tick by. "…..Still mad at me?" he asked after he had waited for what he felt was an adequate amount of time to let it sink in.

Jayde rolled her eyes to the screen above them, thinking over it before she shrugged. "No, I'm better now."

"Good." He said, standing up to pat the top of her head a few times before he went back inside. Jayde took a deep breath, exhaling loudly. Damn him and his two personalities!

Later that evening, Jayde decided she would make dinner for the house, seeing as to how she had absolutely nothing to do and hadn't figured out where they kept the movies yet. After locating a couple pots and pans, she made due with what she could find and began to boil water on the stove for pasta. Grizz was lurking around, cleaning his guns at the kitchen table while he watched TV and Jayde kept glancing at him uncertainly out of the corner of her eyes.

The garage door opened several minutes into her cooking and Joker, followed by Dotcom stepped inside, groaning as the air conditioning hit him full-blast. Jayde glanced over but back down quickly as Joker walked over and she squealed in disgust, trying to pry his arms off as he pulled her into a sweaty bear hug from behind, leaving the back of her shirt drenched in his stickiness.

"UGH!! God, you are so GROSS!!" she shouted at his back as he walked away, trotting up the stairs, cackling at his own annoying-ness. Jayde turned, looking to Dotcom who had walked over.

"That's how Joker flirts." He said, winking as he walked away and Jayde rolled her eyes.

"Oh, well it's really cute.." she groaned sarcastically, walking over to the stairs to go up and change her shirt.

An hour later, dinner was just about ready and Jayde was looking through the cabinets for bowls when Joker came in, wearing his purple, pin-stripe pants and blue shirt which he had failed to tuck in. His hair was wet and he smelled clean as he stood next to Jayde at the stove, watching her stir the white creamy sauce as though it were just about the most fascinating thing he had ever seen.

"Does it smell good?" she asked, grinning up at him but frowned a second later as he walked away, running his fingers through his combed hair.

"Nope." he said over his shoulder and she rolled her eyes, knowing he was lying.

Once she had gotten the table set and the dinner served into four bowls, she set them down before turning to face the living room with her hands on her hips. "You guys hungry?" she asked, grinning as Dotcom stood up to walk over, taking a deep breath.

"Hell yeah! It smells awesome, Jayde, you're the best." He said, patting her on the shoulder as he sat down at the table. She smiled, sitting across from him.

"Thanks. You're the only one who's nice to me." She replied, looking at Joker pointedly as he walked down the stairs toward them.

"Shut up." He snapped, poking the side of her head with his finger as he passed her. "I'm super nice to you. In fact, you should probably start worshipping the ground I walk on."

Once Grizz had joined them at the table, Jayde looked around her, grinning slightly at the little family she had acquired, albeit a strange one. They started eating in silence at first but a few moments passed before Jayde's curiosity got the better of her. She leaned forward, looking at Joker across the table.

"Pretty good, huh?" she asked, grinning. He glanced up, taking a bite, chewing as his eyes rolled to the ceiling, pondering the tastes in his mouth.

"Nope. It's terrible." He finally replied, smirking as the grin slid from Jayde's face and again, she had to fight to keep her eyes from rolling exasperatedly. Dotcom glanced at Joker uncertainly before he spoke up.

"I think it's awesome, Jayde." He said quietly.

"I do too. It's really good." Grizz's low voice agreed a second later and Jayde smiled, holding up her middle finger as Joker looked over at her. He ignored this but glared at both Grizz and Dotcom for disagreeing with his poking fun at her cooking.

Once everybody had eaten their fill, Jayde took the dishes back into the kitchen but Dotcom followed her and began to fill the sink up with water. "I'll wash the dishes." He said, taking them from her hands with a smile. "I can't remember the last time someone cooked here besides me."

"Well…thanks!" she said and once she had brought in the rest of the dishes from the table, she left him alone in the kitchen and went to the living room where Joker was sitting on the floor, his legs spread out. Walking around him, she noticed his creepy spider crawling around on the carpet between his legs. His hand was fanned out in front of it, letting it crawl over his fingers. She stopped mid-step, backing away.

"Ugh, that thing is so gross." She murmured and Joker craned his neck to look up at her, looking hurt.

"Don't say that about George. He probably thinks the same thing about you." He said and Dotcom's voice came from the kitchen.

"Oh god, is the spider out?" he asked and Jayde called back.

"Yeah, he's letting it crawl on the carpet."

Joker grinned widely as they heard Dotcom shudder violently. He held his hand up to his mouth, whispering "He's scared of spiders."

Once Dotcom had finished the dishes, he looked over to where Jayde was standing next to Joker as he sat on the floor, both of them watching George crawl around. Taking out his pack of cigarettes, he called her name, obviously not wanting to go anywhere near them. "Jayde, you wanna come smoke with me?" he asked and Jayde nodded, following him out onto the porch.

While they sat, he looked inside through the glass doors, shuddering again. "God, that thing freaks me out." Jayde laughed, lighting the cigarette he had just passed her.

"Yeah, it just seems to fit that such a freaky person would just love to have a freaky pet. I wouldn't be surprised if he got a leash for it." She replied and they both laughed.

"So…did you choose the name 'Dotcom'?" she asked but as he looked over at her pointedly, Jayde laughed again. "I didn't think so…If you don't mind me asking, what's your real name?"

"Andrew." He answered. "Joker didn't seem to like it so he dubbed me Dotcom. I don't mind it though. I've always been into computers so I guess it just fits." When Jayde opened her mouth to ask another question, he cut across her. "And Grizz's name is Mortise." Jayde nodded pensively, taking a hit of her cigarette when the doors slid open and Joker walked out.

Dotcom jumped up out of his chair, away from Joker, who laughed, holding up his hands. "Relax, nerd, I put him upstairs." Dotcom settled back into his chair and Jayde smiled at him understandingly but groaned as Joker sat heavily on her lap, taking her cigarette from her.

"Smoking is so unattractive for a lady." He said, putting it between his lips to take a hit, but Jayde reached up, taking it from him.

"So you shouldn't smoke either." She joked, but cringed as he smacked her cheek like she expected him to, although much lighter than he normally did. When she looked up, he was grinning. He liked my joke! She thought triumphantly as he moved to get off her lap and stand up, stretching his arms up over his head with a groan.

It fell quiet on the porch as Dotcom and Jayde smoked in silence, watching Joker, standing in front of the pool, as he glared out at the large, darkened backyard through the screen as crickets chirped away. Jayde stared at his painted face, her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to imagine what he looked like without it. The scars, she knew would still be there regardless of the makeup, but the more she stared, the more she began to think that The Joker might possibly be fairly attractive under the white paint. She had seen him without makeup twice before in the past although from a distance but she also did not know it was him at the time, so thinking back, she could not get her mind to picture it.

Across from her, Dotcom had finished his cigarette and was standing up from the table, putting it out in the ashtray. "I'm gonna go in." he murmured to her and quickly made his departure through the glass doors. Jayde looked down at the cigarette in her hand to find it was nearly to the filter so she stood up as well, but felt the mischievous side of her begin to creep up as she glanced at Joker with his back to her, standing, oh, so close to the pool.

She wanted to think of the consequences as being somewhat dire but she remembered that Joker had still not killed her and from the way he made it seem, it didn't appear likely that he would kill her over something so trivial as getting him a little wet. If he beat her ass for it, oh well; at least it would be funny for a minute until he resurfaced.

"I'm gonna go in." she said, walking up behind him and as he turned to look at her, she seized the moment, shoving her hands against his chest. As though he had been expecting this, his hands grabbed her wrists as he fell and Jayde went right in with him, screaming as they crashed into the water.

She gasped as she surfaced, frantically looking around for Joker who had seemingly disappeared, but a second later, she screamed again as his hands grabbed her ankles under the water, yanking her under. Her screams continued, muffled by the water and she felt his arms wrap around her waist as she wiggled, kicking to get away from him until she eventually made it back up, gasping for air again as he surfaced a foot or so away from her.

A moment passed where Jayde looked over at him to find that his makeup was now running all down his face and neck, seeping into the collar of his shirt and as his eyes slid to hers in a glare, he grinned, looking more evil than ever. However, his grin was not one of anger or anything malicious, but Jayde still screamed, swimming for the wall as he rushed toward her, reaching for her ankle. She had just about made it half out of the pool when he grabbed her around her middle, hoisting her over his shoulder to throw her back into the water. She was screaming with laughter at this point as Joker followed her, but instantly all giggles stopped when he pinned her against the other wall of the pool, placing his arms on either side of her on the tile of the patio. He planted his feet on the floor of the pool to stand up in the shallow end and he glared down at Jayde with a strange smirk she had never seen on his face before. Her eyes slid over his bare face and Jayde felt her stomach flip over. She had been right; not only was he slightly attractive, he was down-right handsome.

He moved closer an inch, their chests now touching and Jayde had to look away, feeling more and more awkward by the second as he eyed her lips jealously. He wanted that and had no problem showing her, but he took the subtle route and reached out, letting his hand touch her throat gently just under her chin, his thumb sliding down the front of her neck as his other four fingers glided along the curve. His eyes followed the movement of his hand but he looked to her eyes when he noticed her close them, taking a deep breath. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Was he hurting her?

Jayde tried not to shiver as he fit his forefinger and middle under her chin, lifting it slightly so she would look at him. When she kept her eyes closed, his frown deepened. "Look at me." He said quietly but in a voice that demanded she do this. She obeyed, opening her eyes and the look he found there in the blue depths told him all he needed to know. "You're a virgin, aren't you…" he put this more as a statement than a question but Jayde turned away from him, pulling herself up out of the water to slosh over to the sliding glass door, her shoulders hunched. Joker watched her do this from the pool but did not follow her until he saw her go up the stairs through the glass doors.

When he found her a few minutes later, she was sitting on the carpet, leaning against her locked door, shivering from the air conditioning. She looked down at her lap as he approached, wanting nothing less than to have to look him. The keys jingled above her in his hand momentarily before she heard the lock click out of place and his hand appeared in front of her face, held out for her to take. He helped her stand but when she half-expected him to make a remark, she looked up to find that he was walking away, down the hall, unbuttoning his drenched shirt as he went.