Chapter 11 - Home Comforts

Harley POV

"Quick, your father's in the car. What are we going to do about him?" She nudges her head nervously towards the Joker, who stirs slightly in the boat.

"I'll handle it, you start heading back." I hug her quickly, "Thanks, mom." She nods, and makes her way back towards the dirt track. My whole body shakes, knowing that there is a high chance that once I cross the state line I will be confronted with police. As much as I want to believe it isn't true, that my family wouldn't drop me in it, the thought stays lodged firmly at the forefront of my mind.

Getting The Joker out of the car was no easy feat, and by the time we reach my father, I'm even more exhausted than I thought possible. I managed to carry the quilts and our small amount of luggage all at once. My heart races as I drag him to the other side of the road, but thankfully, all that waits for me on the curb is my dad's old Land Rover Defender. My dad steps out of the car and opens the back seat, barely able to look at me. I can't tell if it's because he's getting older, or whether he's petrified of who I've become, but I can see the slight tremor in his hands, not dissimilar to what mine feel like currently.

"Hi, Daddy." I smile and give him a hug, fighting back emotion. It's a stiff and awkward embrace but it makes me realise how much I'd missed my family, his smell, the same smell it's always been, burns at the back of my throat. I feel a strong wave of guilt wash over me, as I imagine how hard it must've been to see me turn into who I am now, but to say I regret my decisions would be a lie. But maybe the way I handled things could've been better. I look up at him, noticing how his hair, like my mother's, has greyed slightly, and how deeply set the lines on his face seem to be.

"How's my little monster doin'?" He says, it was an old nickname he used for me, but now it causes a pang to shoot through my chest.

"Good. I'm good now." I say, I urge myself to smile whilst climbing over the Joker in the car. "It's lucky we've got a big car, huh?" I joke, and the laughter I receive back is only slightly forced. As we drive through the quiet streets of Virginia, where my parents had moved when I was still in medical school, The Joker begins to stir. I notice that my dad quickly starts to drive a little faster.

"Mom, Dad, he won't hurt you, I promise." I say, leaning towards them in the gap between their front seats, I feel the need to add, "And neither will I, you know that, right?" They both nod, with stern faces, both of them paying more attention to the road than they need to. Luckily for them, The Joker doesn't wake up until we're unpacking the car, where he jumps awake, in shock. I tell my parents to give us a minute.

"Where the hell am I?" He manages to seethe through his grogginess.

"Virginia." I say, "We're staying with my parents for a while." His eyes widen in horror,

"Are you nuts!" he grabs my arms, totally alarmed, "won't they call the cops?"

"No, they're not like that, J, they're my parents."

"My parents would put me behind bars without a second thought." He says, evenly,

"Not mine." I say softly, and grab a bag to take inside, "Come one, you." I call.

I enter the house, surprised to see it hadn't changed in the slightest since the last time I had been here, over seven years ago. I find my parents in the kitchen, fussing over what can only be described as a feast. Their breakfast lies untouched on the side. I look at the clock, it's eight in the morning.

"Wow, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you." I say,

"Not to worry, dear." She rubs my shoulders affectionately and plants a soft kiss to my cheek, and I catch the distinct smell of roses that always emanates from her. It's weird how even though I'm with them now, I still feel like I miss them. I hear someone clear their throat and my mother jumps about three feet in the air. The Joker is stood awkwardly in the archway, face free of makeup and wearing a pair of brand new checked pyjamas bottom and an old woolly jumper I haven't seen on him in years. He looks like he's about to throw up or going to throw a tantrum. He gives me a terrified look, crossing his arms tightly across his chest.

"Mom, Dad, this is The Joker." We all stand in silence, until surprisingly, my father speaks up,

"What's your real name, son." His voice is gruff, and laced with concern, he sidles closer to my mom. I turn my attention to him, too, curious to finally know his name. I inhale The Joker takes a deep breath, and extends his hand,

"Jack. Jack Napier." My father shakes his hand firmly, and then holds his by his side in a fist, I get the strong feeling that he is resisting the urge to wipe his hand on his dressing gown. I smile, Jack.

"Right… good. Nice to meet you." He says, not meaning to sound insincere. The Joker straightens, and looks at my parents in turn,

"You have done something very brave, taking your daughter back is one thing, but to take me back, too, is very courageous of both of you. I am very grateful that you have invited me into your home, and I know how much this means to Harleen, she talks about you guys all the time." I feel a twist in my stomach as he lies so easily about how I feel about my parents. "And as long as your generosity is extended to me, I will return it. But if you turn us into the police, you'll be dead before you can put down the phone." There's a small pause and then my mother laughs,

"Yes, dear. Not a problem." She says coolly, leaning back onto the counter, now it's the Joker's turn to be stunned.

"See, I told you, you could trust them." I beam, stifling a yawn.

"Food will be ready in about ten minutes, make yourself helpful Jack, dear, and pour us some drinks, please. Harley, you can put the plates out." We obey without any issue, and then I sit at the table, thoroughly exhausted.

"How long have we been travelling?" He asked,

"About seven hours, I'd say." I play with the table runner,

"And I was out for all that time?" He said, shocked,

"Well, in and out, I think you were enjoying the rest, to be honest."

"I'm not going to pretend I'm ok with this. But we can talk later." He says, as the food is brought to the table, we wait patiently for my parents to sit down as the mouth watering smell fills the room. My parents never say Grace, my mom was raised Catholic, my father Jewish, so they silently have a thought to themselves and then give the go ahead to start dinner.

"Right," my father says, "dig in." And so we do.

As the afternoon slowly creeps around we all decide we are exhausted, and the four of us make our way up the stairs. The Joker hesitates at the bottom step for a while, luggage in hand, but I silently beckon him. My mother and father walk straight into their bedroom and lock the door. Whilst watching them lock me out of their room hurts me, I can understand why.

"Sleep tight." I call and show the Joker into my room. I walk in to find that it remains unchanged, only the fresh detergent smell in the air telling me that someone came in here to change my bedsheets. I collapse onto my bed, taking in my comfy mattress and pillows. The walls are still the same eggshell blue they were when I first moved in, which was after I went to university. It was weird to move my belongings out of one house, into university halls and then into a new house when summer came along. The Joker put the luggage on the floor and opens up the bags, happy to find all of his favourite clothes stuffed into every spare centimetre of space. He fishes around to find his bathroom stuff, and then he looks at me,

"Second door on the right" I say, grabbing my own things, and following him into the bathroom. I finish before he does, and I knock on my parent's room. I listen on the other side of the door, but I can't hear anything. "Hey," I half-whisper, "I know you can hear me…" still silence, "I just wanted to let you know that I still love you guys, and just because I'm a bad daughter, that doesn't mean I'm not proud of who I am as a whole. I'm such a strong person now. You used to tell me not to let anyone beat me down, that's why you made me start taking gymnastics classes, remember? Well, now I don't let anyone push me around. I live a free life with lots of friends, and yeah, lots of enemies, too, but that's only a minor detail." I chuckle. I hear the rustling of bed sheets and then nothing. It's only when The Joker comes out of the bathroom that I decide to stop trying, "okay then, I'll see you later. I love you two."

The Joker is stood at the bathroom door, looking at me with concern, and then he holds out his hand, which I eagerly take, and then we go into my room, he slips into bed whilst I look through my duffle bag,

"Ah, shit." I groan, "I've forgotten my pyjamas!"

"Well, then, it looks like you'll just have to sleep naked." The Joker smirks,

"In this weather? You must be joking." I continue looking,

"Here, have this." He says, removing his woolly jumper and holding it out to me. I smile, accepting it from him, I strip down to my underwear and pull the soft fabric over my head, and then he shuffles over and I squeeze next to him on my small single bed. I fall asleep almost instantly, feeling the warmth of his chest on my face, thinking how had I ever managed to sleep on my own?

I have a nightmare. One of Crane's horrendous illusions, this time showing my parents, being tortured to near death by a myriad of people, Bane, Ivy, the Joker makes an appearance, but worst of all, I see myself, carving their faces with jagged lines. I bolt upright and I am instantly aware of a coldness I hadn't fallen asleep with, and find myself in an otherwise empty bed. I am suddenly overcome with the thought that the Joker has left me here, only to meet his doom in Gotham, and I race downstairs. It's early evening and a soft crackling is coming from the fireplace in the living room, I walk in to find my father watching the TV, and the Joker sitting comfortably in an armchair, watching intently beside him. I grin, walking into the kitchen, where my mother is preparing dinner.

"Are you ever out of the kitchen?" I laugh, causing her to jump, she turns around,

"You know how much your father eats." She smiles,

"Anything I can do to help?" I ask, eyeing the food on the counter. She is about to reply when I hear someone calling me,

"Harley!" The voice, slightly alarmed, belongs to the Joker,

"Go and see." My mother urges, and I rush into the living room.

"Harl, look at this." The Joker beckons me closer to the television, but he doesn't look at me, too engrossed by what's on the screen. A red news ribbon flashes onto the screen, with big, bold letters saying: "Gotham In Peril." A news anchor's voice booms over the images that take over the screen. Video images of Bane sauntering onto a collapsed football pitch, the massive bomb at his side, a man being dragged behind him. I take in Bane, shocked to see how quickly he's recovered from the gunshot. I think back to the experiments I was subjected to, the horror as Crane tested my pain tolerance. I understand, that that level of pain would not need a ridiculous amount of Venom to make the wound bearable, but the side effects, like fatigue and slurred speech, don't seem to be affecting him in the slightest. The voice on-screen continues,

"The League then went on to threatening the terrified citizens by presenting a bomb, and assassinating the only one capable of disarming it, Dr. Leonid Pavel. We have also recently received intel that all exit routes out of the city have been destroyed, including all major bridges. We warn viewers that the following footage may cause distress." I am completely glued to the TV at this point, and my mom has made her way into the living room, I can see her reflection in the screen, wiping her hands on her apron as she stands, her mouth set in a tight line. Shaky footage from the audience at the football game mixes with helicopter footage showing the bridges falling into the water. From above I can see the route I made to get out of the city only the previous night. I crouch and rock back onto my heels and take the Joker's hand. I feel the fury he must've felt when he'd heard about Bane's plans, but I also feel a strong sense of relief, we made it. But what about Ivy? Riddler… even the Penguin? I can only hope they manage to take Bane out.

"We need to help them." I whisper to the Joker. He nods, but doesn't speak. "What can we do, J?" he glances down at me, thinking.

"I don't know."

2 weeks later

It had been torturous, watching that fate of the city slip into hopelessness. I'd managed to contact Ivy two weeks ago, but she made it clear that any attempts to get into the city will mean our deaths, and the best thing we could do is give them any useful information tot help them with their attack on Bane. I made sure to let her know that Bane is recovering from being shot in his ribs, and that Talia is still leading a double-life. She spread the word around the criminal network, the ones we know aren't working on both sides, but I will only know if they have been successful if it appears on the news. I take a seat by the living room fire, listening to the wind and snow that blows outrageously outside the door. I flick through today's newspaper for the third time, trying to find anything I can feed back to Ivy. After looking for another twenty minutes, I give up. Feeling helpless I start the paper's puzzles. The Joker sits down beside me at some point and starts to read over my shoulder.

"Alchemy." He said, pointing to the crossword puzzle.

"Hang on I'm still on the sudoku." I sigh, hastily writing in his answer before I forget it.

"What even is alchemy, puddin'?" I ask as I return to my number grid.

"It was a practice in the Middle Ages, like a science, to try and find a way to make gold, and the elixir of life." He informs me, taking another pen from the drawer and sitting me on his lap, so he can carry on the puzzle.

"Oh." I say. Any mention of chemicals and science and I have to force myself not to think of Crane and his experiments. The torture, the pain. I still wake up from the nightmares without being able to get back to sleep for hours on end. Then slowly the pieces start to fit together. Elixir of life, I think, Crane was searching for something similar in order to help Bane.

"Puddin' give me the cell!" I say urgently. He casually reaches for it in his pocket, "Now! This is important, J." He passes it quickly, and I dial Ivy's number. It rings.

"Hello?" Ivy's voice purrs through the microphone.

"Ivy? I've got some more info for you, I can't believe I didn't mention it before — I guessed it was obvious but then maybe not. You've probably already figured it out —"

"— Harley, spit it out, I'm kind of busy right now." She laughs,

"Right, sorry. Bane's mask supplies him with a constant flow of pain-reducing medicine. It also aides his strength and agility, so if you cut off that supply, 'bam!' that's when he'll be most vulnerable." I rush through my words so fast I wonder if she caught it all.

"Ah. I thought so, I know chemicals like that when I see them. Thanks for the heads up Harls." Ivy pauses, "It's happening soon, Harley. Today. Everyone's ready to fight. There's whispers of Batman even making an appearance, although I'm not sure it'll be Brucie, maybe just a double."

"Why wouldn't it be Bruce?" I ask,

"Bane shipped him out of the city. He's keeping him in that prison, where Bane grew up… Batman may not have limits, but Wayne certainly has. I don't reckon he'll show." She sounds almost sad about it, Batman has been the symbol of Gotham for years, and a lot of our fun has come from fighting him.

"Ivy?" She hums, "Be safe, ok? Ring me as soon as it's done. I know you can do this!" I say fervently.

"Wish me luck." She says, her words dripping with determination.

"Good luck." I say, and then I hear the phone disconnect. I wrap my arms around the Joker. He is sitting very still, I know he wants to be there.

"Tonight, huh?" His voice is tense, a mixture of excitement and frustration in his tone. He checks his wrist watch irritably.

"Puddin', I know you wanted to be with them tonight, but I couldn't risk it, losing you… there would be nothing left for me if you… you know."

"What about your parents?" He says cynically, "You've got two lovely people here who love you unconditionally, and you don't even realise it. I would kill for parents like that. In fact, one of the reasons I kill so much is due to my shitty parents. Your research told us that years ago."

"And what am I supposed to do, J? Come back and live here and pray that the police don't find me and have us all arrested? Or worse, an enemy come all the way here and kill us all? No. I've chosen to leave them behind. I made that choice the moment you first kissed me, J. And I would do it a thousand times. They deserve someone better than me. They deserve to live life without being afraid of me, I know they look at me differently, even though they've done an amazing job of trying to hide it. They deserve someone who rings them up all the time and takes time off to visit them, I didn't even do that when I wasn't with you! The sooner we can leave them the better, I can't put them in danger like this."

We carry on with the puzzles until my parents walk in through the front door. They're carrying bags of shopping.

"Give us a hand, Jack?" My dad says gruffly. I stifle a giggle, I find it so weird that they found out his name within hours of knowing him, whereas it took me five years to figure it out. He grabs the bags off my mother and my father and brings them into the kitchen.

"Any news, Sweetie?" My mom asks me,

"It's going down tonight." I say, uneasily.

"Let's hope your friends pull through." My dad says.

"I agree, sir." The Joker pipes up, he then excuses himself for a minute.

"Are you going to be heading back, after all this has blown over." My mother says as I join her to unpack the food.

"Yeah, don't worry, I'll be gone soon."

"I didn't mean —"

"It's ok mom. I can only imagine what you're going through right now. You've been so kind and generous to me and J… Jack, but I can't endanger you and dad." My voice is firm but my insides hurt when I say the words. My mom stays silent.

"You're right, Harley. I couldn't have timed this better myself." The Joker emerges around the kitchen door with a laugh, "I, uh, wanted to say thank you for all you've done for us. So, there." And with a flourish of his hand a large wad of money lands on the table. My parents looked somewhat stunned,

"We don't want your money, Jack." My father says bluntly, but not harshly.

"We did this for our daughter, we don't want compensation." My mother adds,

"It's the least I can offer." J tries to be polite but I can see he's losing his temper, he can't stand it when people refuse his charity. He very rarely warms to people, and he hates to be proved wrong.

"Yeah, mom, dad, please take it. We could be stuck there in Gotham, potentially dead right now if you hadn't agreed to help me." They share a look, a look I haven't seen for years, but it clicks with a memory somewhere far off.

"You don't want us to be even, do you? You want to have the upper hand on us so we're in your debt." I add, "Please don't tell me I'm wrong." The Joker sighs,

"Come on, Harl…" he starts,

"No she's right, we have to protect ourselves." My father says.

"Daddy, I would never hurt you, but you're correct, I can't stop others from finding out about you and hurting you. We'll be out before morning." I say, leaving the room.

I find my suitcase under my bed and quickly fill it with all I brought with me, as well as some trinkets that have been sat on my dresser ever since the last time I was here. I fold them safely away in folds of clothes. A knock on the door makes me leap to my feet.

"Yes?" I ask, and The Joker's head peeps around the corner.

"Hey. It was probably time we started heading back anyway." He paces, grabbing his clothes roughly and shoving them in his duffle bag.

"Ugh, come here, let me fold them. You always do this, especially when you're annoyed." He continues to pace,

"I'm sorry they said that Harl, I persuaded them to take the money. I had to threaten them though, to keep quiet." He kicks the bedside cabinet softly, hands in pockets.

"Right. Yeah, that's fine." My phone pings, "It's Ivy." I breathe, "They've done it!"

I race down to the living room and turn on the TV. Gotham Liberated reads on the screen. The same news reporters flash onto the screen,

"We have breaking news for you right now, straight from Gotham City. In an unbelievable turn of events Gotham's seemingly inevitable doom at the hands of mercenary group 'The League of Shadows' has been averted. We will pass you over to our correspondent who has just regained entry to the freshly liberated city."

The video changes to a man, standing next to the ruins of City Hall. He's made quick work of getting back into Gotham, he was probably waiting outside the city limits for his chance at this scoop. His voice is hardly audible over the sounds of people running through the streets.

"Yes, thank you Steve. I am stood here at the remains of Gotham's once great City Hall, which as you can see has been severely damaged under Bane's tyrannical reign. I have just managed to make it back into the city, and as you have probably seen in images that have been recently released, the bomb was not deactivated, but flown out over the sea by a small, manned aircraft. I have here with me Gotham's Commissioner Gordon. So tell me, sir, who are the citizens of Gotham to thank for this heroic act?" Gordon is still, and obviously in some state of shock, and when he speaks, the words at first don't make sense.

"The same person Gotham always has to thank for saving them. The person who took the wrap for Harvey Dent's Murder…"

"Fake murder." The Joker manages to whisper, still not quite believing what is about to be said.

"Oh how is Harvey doing, by the way?" I ask, but he shushes me.

"The person who stopped a dangerous chemical wiping out most of our population, amongst hundreds of other courageous acts: the Batman." The words seep into my brain slowly. I turn to The Joker, who looks equally as stunned, if not a bit pissed off.

"You heard it here first folks, Gotham's infamous vigilante has given his final and greatest act of heroism to date, and I'm sure the people of this fine city will always be grateful for it." He goes on to ask about Bane, but the Joker switches the TV off. My parents have been sat in silence since we burst into the room.

"Right, Sweetheart, I think that's our cue to be off, don't you? I think our ride should be here any minute now." The Joker checks his watch before holding out his hand to me, pulling me to my feet.

"Yup." I grin, I turn to my parents. "I really am thankful for all you've done." I give them a quick hug each and by the time I'm done saying goodbye our bags are by the door. The Joker briskly shakes my dad's hand and kisses my mom on the cheek, I pretend not to notice the way she bristles against the feeling of his scar on her skin. As I hear the car pull up on the drive I turn and say one last thing to them,

"Hey, have a merry Christmas, ok?" They nod and return the sentiment, and then we step out into the blizzard.

"You ready to go home, Harl?" The Joker asks.

"Hell yes!" I cry, laughing as we get in the car.

Home. That sounds so good.