"Bruce, I want you to know that I will always be there for you, I will always be there to take care of you. I promise you that. I will always be...your friend." Rachel's eyes were welling up with tears at the thought of how Bruce must be feeling, but she had to say the truth. She didn't love him.

Bruce's eyes were also welling up now. "OK...just promise we'll always be friends?"

Rachel smiled wobbly. "Of course! Who else will save me from certain death?"

Bruce shook his head in tearful amusement and headed back towards the elevator. Rachel turned to the Joker. "And as for you..." Rachel put a hand to his cheek. "There's only one guy crazy enough to give me adventure beyond my dreams, and funny enough to keep me laughing till the end...YOU."

The Joker's brown eyes widened in surprise. "Well, that's a tender offer I can ignore!"

"I'm deadly serious!" Rachel exclaimed.

"And I'm not! Surely you know by now, beautiful, I never am! Bruce will be back again for you and you probably like him much better anyway. I mean, no beauty contest, right?" He said with a bitterness Rachel had never heard in him before, indicating his scars.

"I don't care about the scars!" Rachel cried exasperatedly. "You once said yourself that now you were always smiling! I thought you'd be happy about this!"

The Joker looked away. "Yeah? Well, I'm finding that hard at the moment! Hey," he said, turning back to look at her, "close your eyes."

Rachel knew by now not to interfere with his crazy schemes. Not knowing what was coming, Rachel closed her eyes obediently.

She felt soft lips brush hers, softly, delicately, lovingly. She heard a voice whisper in her ear. "It's not over yet!"

Rachel opened her eyes slowly. Gone. He was...gone.

Rachel felt an ice cold tear slide down her cheek. She covered her mouth with her fingers and let the tears flow freely. She sat down on the rooftop and wept silently. Everything was wrong. She had made Harvey disfigured, broken Bruce's heart, and now the stupid Joker had broken hers.

"He breaks a lot of people." Rachel suddenly realised. "He leaves nothing in his wake but chaos and misery. I was stupid to fall in love with him, to choose him over Bruce!"

Rachel stood up and began to walk what seemed like a thousand miles back to the elevator as it started to rain, heavily. She vowed to herself as she walked. "I swear I'll never be caught up in the world of the Joker again!"

Reaching out to push the button to summon the elevator, Rachel could have sworn she heard a familiar laugh.

Rachel looked a the radiant sunset, her drenched chocolate hair whipping in the fierce wind, and thought,

"Yes, Melvin. It's not over yet!"

THE END