Title: I Love You…I'll Kill You

Fandom: The Dark Knight

Rating: M

Pairing: Joker/OC

Genre: Drama/Angst

Disclaimer: Unfortunately I don't own the Joker or Batman.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who is reading and reviewing. Comments are appreciated!

Chapter Twelve

Lacy looked at herself in the mirror, debating for what seemed like the millionth time whether or not she should go the fundraiser with Bruce. On one hand, it would be a great way to make new business contacts. On the other hand, the Joker didn't seem too happy about her going with Bruce Wayne when he found out about it last week.

She sighed, realizing a lot had happened since last week. She was almost killed, found out Chris and the senior partners of her company were working for the Joker, met and got saved by Batman, started to become good friends with Bruce, and had seen been visited by the Joker several times. It was a busy week. No wonder she was tired.

Taking a deep breath, she determined she wasn't going to let the Joker completely rule her life. She wanted to go to this fundraiser because it would be a great opportunity to make contacts which could lead to more clients. If he didn't like that then it was his problem.

She was going to the fundraiser and wasn't going to give him a second thought for the rest of the night. "Who are you kidding? You're going to think about him all night. There's no escaping that."

After hearing a knock on the door she smoothed out invisible wrinkles in her knee-length, black dress and approached the door. "Good evening Bruce." She greeted.

"Hello Lacy." Bruce smiled. "You look lovely."

"Thanks." She smiled, grabbing her purse and moving out to the hallway. She locked her door and then looked back at Bruce.

"Are you ready?" He asked, holding out his arm for her to links hers through.

"Yes." She nodded, hoping this wasn't going to be a huge mistake.


About two hours into the fundraiser, Lacy had made several solid business contacts. Bruce had been taking her around the room, introducing her to a variety of people and she found that many of them were receptive to her ideas.

Although she was having a decent time, she couldn't help but constantly look around and wonder which guests were really spies for the Joker. After she told him last week that she was determined to come to the fundraiser he was silent about it during the rest of his visit, but she assumed that he had placed his men in the ballroom to keep an eye on her. She made sure to smile more than normal so they would report it back to him.

"So you see, Mr. Newman, consultants like me aren't someone to be feared." She smiled. "We're harmless and do minimal damage."

Mr. Newman laughed, as did his entourage and Bruce. "Well you've certainly convinced me Miss Williams. Expect me to get in touch with you soon and we'll talk more about what you can do for my company."

"Thank you very much." Lacy smiled again, reaching into her purse and giving him her business card. "I look forward to hearing from you."

"If you'll excuse us for a moment." Bruce interjected, smiling and pulling Lacy off to the side.

"This party is wonderful." Lacy complimented Bruce as they made their way over to a corner by the window.

"It's ok." Bruce shrugged. He didn't like being here, and if he had been allowed to choose, he would never throw another fundraiser again. He had never liked them much, but his intense hatred of them came from the last one where the Joker had appeared looking for Harvey and almost killed Rachel by throwing her out of a window.

"You don't like fundraisers, do you?" She guessed. While they were talking with other guests, she noticed a slight look of discomfort on his face. To most people it would have been unnoticeable, but she had always been fairly good at reading people.

"Does it show?" He asked with a laugh.

"Just a little." She nodded. "Thank you for bringing me here though. I think I may have opened the door to landing some new jobs."

"Well the pleasure is all mine I assure you. It's nice to bring someone to this type of party who can actually talk to these people in an intelligent way." He really enjoyed spending time with Lacy. He wasn't interested in her in anything other than a platonic way. He knew that his heart would always belong to Rachel. But he could definitely see himself becoming good friends with Lacy.

He just hoped she wasn't involved in the corruption that he suspected her company of being involved in. So far he had yet to be able to find any substantial proof either way, but it was still early.


Meanwhile, outside the ballroom, the Joker was gathering his men. "Are you all ready?" The Joker asked his men as the gathered near the entrance of the fundraiser. He didn't wait for his men to reply before saying, "And here…we…go." They made their way into the building and he fired his shotgun off into the ceiling to announce their presence. "Good evening ladies and gentleman." He smiled as his men scattered off into the crowd of the ballroom to secure the place.

Lacy saw the Joker and instinctively grabbed on to Bruce's arm. "No, no no! Damn it, this isn't good." She whispered. She wanted to get Bruce out of here just in case the Joker was going to attack him but wasn't sure how to explain why to Bruce. She would just have to make sure that nothing bad happened to him.

Bruce realized there was no way for him to slip away and change into his Batman costume without too many people noticing he was missing. Plus, Lacy was still grabbing on to his arm. If he left now he would have to explain why to her. He would just have to try and make sure that no one got hurt, especially Lacy. He looked over at Lacy and saw her looking at the Joker.

He looked at the Joker and then back at Lacy. It almost seemed like they were making eye contact with each other and sharing a moment. He also noticed that she wasn't looking terrified like everyone else. She looked angry more than terrified. He thought that was odd and made a mental note of it.

Lacy locked eyes with the Joker for a moment before he looked away. She couldn't believe that the Joker was there, but should've known better. He was always doing things that she couldn't wrap her brain around. She wanted to run over there and yell at him, tell him to leave; however, she couldn't do that. She was helpless in this situation.

"I am terribly sorry to interrupt your fancy party," the Joker told them, going over to the food tables. He picked up some of the food, looked at it distastefully and knocked several trays onto the floor. "I just couldn't help myself. I had to come by and show my support for…" He walked over to an older woman. "What's this party for again?"

The older woman froze up, unable to speak once she saw the Joker's scars up close.

He grew tired of waiting for her to answer and rolled his eyes. "Never mind. You're boring." He sighed, moving across the floor. "Let's see who else I can talk to." He stopped in front of a man in his sixties. "You!" He pointed with his gun. "What's this fine party for?"

"The Wayne Foundation." Mr. Newman replied, studying the Joker. "You know, young man, we're not afraid of you."

"You're not? Really?" The Joker turned his head sideways, laughing and smiling. "You all really aren't afraid of me?" He looked around at the crowd. "Well maybe we need to do something about that." In seconds and without a second thought, he aimed his shotgun and shot Mr. Newman in the head. Because of the close range, it blew his head off and it landed on the floor with a thud.

Everyone gasped and started to panic. Most all of the women started crying, and everyone ran to get away from him, running into the corners of the ballroom. "There we go!" The Joker laughed. "Now you're all afraid of me. That's much better."

Bruce tried to get Lacy to move back out of the way with the other people so that he could try to take care of the Joker, but she wasn't moving. "Lacy, c'mon." He tried again to get her to go by grabbing her arm and pulling, but had no luck.

Everyone had moved out of the Joker's way, except for Lacy and Bruce. She couldn't seem to get her feet to move. So she just stood there, in front of the crowd, watching everything and looking at the carnage he had just created. Minutes ago she had been talking to Mr. Newman and now he was dead, brutally and senselessly killed by the Joker.

It was the first time she had seen the Joker kill firsthand, and she wanted it to be the last time. It occurred to her that Mr. Newman's death was all her fault. If she hadn't insisted on coming tonight, he wouldn't have shown up and Mr. Newman would still be alive. She turned her attention to the Joker. He was still looking at the body of Mr. Newman and laughing, proud of the chaos he had caused in the ballroom.

"He he he ho ha ha ha he he." He laughed. "I will never understand it. You people never learn that you need to fear me. I just don't understand why you all haven't figured that out yet." He slowly walked over to where Lacy and Bruce were.

With another laugh, he said, "Well Brucie, you sure have outdone yourself with this fundraiser. It's even better than the one you threw for ole' Harvey and that one was a lot of fun. Remember?" He paused for a moment. "Oh no, wait a minute. Were you even there that night? I don't remember seeing you. I know I saw Batman and Rachel, but not you."

Bruce couldn't stand that the Joker was laughing about that fundraiser and moved to punch the Joker in the face. He got one good punch in before two of the Joker's men grabbed his arms and held him up. Once he was secured, the Joker pounded the side of his face with the back of the shotgun. The Joker's men released their grip on him and Bruce fell to the floor, knocked out by the hit.

"Bruce!" Lacy immediately bent down to make sure that he was ok but felt the Joker's hand on her arm, pulling her back up.

"Not so fast." He told Lacy, looking her up and down. "Well aren't you pretty tonight."

She wanted to back away, to run and get as far away from him as possible but she knew it would be pointless. So she pulled herself together and stared at him as he leaned in, getting only a few inches away from her face. "Having a good time?" He whispered.

"Why are you here?" She whispered back.

"I just wanted to have a good time! It's been so long since I've been to a party." He announced to everyone. "And I don't know about you fine Gotham citizens but I am having a wonderful time."

"Please leave." She mouthed to him. "Please." She was near tears now.

He raised his eyebrow. "I guess so. But only because this party's getting boring. I mean, geez, Batman isn't even here to try and save you all this time. Guess he has better things to do." He looked down at Bruce and kicked him in the stomach. "I'll see you later, my pet." He whispered into Lacy's ear before leaving as quickly as he entered.

When she was sure the Joker really was gone, she bent down to take care of Bruce. He was starting to wake up. "Bruce, are you ok?"

"I think so." Bruce replied, trying to get up on his feet. "Where's the Joker?"

"He just left." Lacy replied. "You're bleeding." She took a tissue from her purse and gently wiped away the blood that was slowly trickling down the side of his face.

"I'm fine." He assured her. He had gotten worse wounds before, this was nothing. "Are you ok? Did he say anything to you? What happened?"

"I'm fine." She told him, although that wasn't really the case. She was extremely shaken up from this incident, as well as furious with the Joker. She thought about it and knew that she had to lie about what the Joker had told her. "Before he left he said he had enough fun and was out of here. That's all."

Bruce wasn't sure he believed her but let it go for now since his head and ribs were starting to bother him.