(Disclaimer-All lyrics used for this chapter do not belong to me. They belong to Oasis.)

Everyone seemed to be abuzz with satisfaction with the receiving of the new weapons. Poke constantly babbled about testing out the new flamethrowers and the cousins voiced their eagerness to test-fire a few of the guns.

Hyde was indifferent on the matter of weapons, but kept his mouth shut so as not to still appear as a reluctant-hostage in the scenario. He had taken Perry's advice and was now making a genuine attempt to play things cool for the sake of survival.

Now, sitting at the slightly-battered table where the others usually gathered to play cards, Hyde felt himself blending into the background. It helped him get adjusted to their presence and allowed him to react to them whenever he was noticed. For the most part, they didn't acknowledge him terribly much if he just sat there and stayed quiet.

Well…not counting for Harley and her stubborn refusal to leave him alone. She would sit next to him and prattle on endlessly about random topics that ranged from skiing to balloon-animals to children's cartoons to advanced physics. And because he could not bring himself to shoo her away, he would listen and find himself getting caught up in conversations with her.

Since their little visit with Perry, the Joker had remained strangely quiet. It seemed that something was troubling him. Whatever it was, Hyde did not want to get involved with it. If there was one thing he had learned, it was not to prod at the Joker. That was Harley and Cutter's job. Occasionally, Hyde would catch a glimpse of the blonde woman nuzzling up to the clown, trying in her own way to understand what the scarred man was feeling. But the clown would just stare blankly off into space and not respond to her.

It was a perplexing and an almost upsetting sight. Hyde couldn't help but feel a sliver of remorse for Harley being ignored so blatantly. In his perspective, Harley was the sort of person who needed constant attention from the one she loved. She needed someone to acknowledge her existence. But with the Joker's sudden moodiness, she seemed confused and almost lost; seeming even more childlike as a result. Hyde felt for her. He really did. Seeing her all bewildered and saddened like that-

"Hyde."

"Huh?" he blinked and shook his head. "Sorry, Cutter. I was spacing. What is it?"

"I was asking if you want to go for a round of poker. I just wiped out both of the cousins. You want to have a go at it?"

Hyde smiled. "No thanks. I'm not good at poker."

"I'll accept your challenge, Cutter," Poke said determinedly, shoving Hyde slightly. "I'm not too shabby at poker. After all, it's part of my name!" He grinned toothily.

Harley giggled and leaned back in her chair, winking at Hyde. "He'll lose. I'm the only one who can beat Cutter at poker."

"That's right," Rocco said with a chuckle. "You should have asked Harley, Cutter."

"The round is over too quickly with Harley," Cutter replied.

"I think Cutter lets me win," she whispered to Hyde. "He's worried I'll go nuts if I lose." She glanced up at the stairwell and sighed. "Mr. J is in a kind of a funk. I got no idea what's up with him. He seemed so thrilled to have some new weapons to play with and then he got all sullen on me. It's really disheartening."

"The boss is a man of many thoughts," Cutter said as he and Poke started playing. "You can't always understand what he is thinking, Harley."

Harley frowned and glanced up at the stairway again. "But I want to know. Being all brooding and serious just doesn't become him. Something's up and I wanna know." She turned to Hyde again. "You get me, don't ya, Hyde?"

"Um, sure," he replied.

She nodded and cocked her head to the side, suddenly deep in thought. He wondered how much she was going to dwell on it. Knowing her, it would be for hours.

XxX

Cutter and the others had tired of their poker and had gone elsewhere. Hyde found that the warehouse could get eerily quiet whenever the others weren't around. Bored, he began to explore through some of the large wooden boxes that were stored around the facility. Most of them were filled with Styrofoam or just paper documents that had no meaning or value to him. For the most part, there was nothing particularly interesting about the boxes.

Then he found the guitar. It had been carefully stored in one of the less-noticeable boxes off to the side. Hyde had uttered a cry of surprise and delight when he had come across it. Perhaps this warehouse had been a sort of instrument-manufacturing building. The guitar was a bit dented and it was very dusty, but it still played in tune pretty well.

When he was younger, Hyde had fancied the notion of pursuing a career in music. While that dream had been replaced with his love for medical science, he had managed to learn how to play the guitar to a significant degree. He wasn't perfect at it, but he found that it was easy to do once he put his mind to it.

Now, bored and left to himself, he began to twang at the instrument lightly, enjoying the sound in the silence. For a while, he played nameless tunes...chords of melodies that he had once heard on the radio.

Then a song came to him—a song he had heard long ago. He hadn't heard it in years, but the lyrics still came to him even now. Strumming gently, he began to play. Though the notes came out a tad messy at first, they eventually began to form together and Hyde couldn't help singing along.

"Today is gonna be the day that they're gonna throw it back to you…"

His voice, though hushed and low, had a very nice resonance to it. It was a bit unpracticed, but the talent was there. He continued.

"By now you should've somehow realized what you gotta do…"

His singing was better the second time. It sounded a lot more confident. The chords on the guitar were matching pretty nicely to the tune.

"I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now…"

"Whoa…"

Hyde's eyes widened and he jerked his head up towards the one who had spoken. The voice belonged to Harley. She stepped out of the shadows, pigtails bobbing and wearing a blue tank-top, and walked over to him.

"I…um…I was just…" his throat felt dry and he nervously began to put the guitar away. "I was just…"

"You were playing it really well," Harley said in a voice full of some silent admiration. "I heard that song somewhere before."

"I'm sorry. I was just looking around and I found this in one of the boxes. I didn't mean—"

"Aw, don't get all nervous on me. I ain't mad at ya. I actually thought you played and sang pretty well. I would never have guessed that ya knew how to play the guitar." She grinned at him widely, making his face feel very hot.

"Um…well I learned how to play when I was around fourteen. I didn't do anything with it though."

"Ya still sound pretty good though," she said, still beaming. "What was that song you were playing?"

He looked blankly at the guitar in his hands. "I can't really remember. I used to love it though." He looked at her again, suddenly feeling incredibly shy.

But why? Why am I feeling shy? Have I not gotten used to her by now?

Harley crossed her arms and giggled to herself. "Who'd have ever thought—our little medic has a talent with music. Hee hee…"

"Ah…well…"

She crouched down next to him and scooted to his side. "Hey," she murmured softly. "Why don't ya keep playing that song? I liked it a lot and ya didn't get that far into it."

"I…I might not remember all the lyrics," he said, listening to the loud thumping of his heart in his chest. "So I might skip a couple of verses."

She gave him a pat on the back that almost knocked him over. "I don't mind. Just go for it!"

So he started again, trying his best not to miss any notes. Her presence was really making it hard for him to concentrate. Still, he closed his eyes and tried to focus on playing. Timidly, he began to sing again.

"And all the roads we have to walk along are winding…And all the lights that lead us there are blinding…There are many things that I would like to say to you, but I don't know how…"

Harley closed her eyes as well, almost leaning against him while he played. It was almost unreal. For a moment, they weren't two members of the Joker's gang. They were just two young adults listening to the sounds of an old guitar. Hyde felt himself quivering on the inside, taking in the sight of Harley's state of tranquility. Her face looked so relaxed and calm…strangely composed and deep in thought. It was a strangely pleasing sight for him and he felt his voice grow even stronger than before.

"Because maybe…You're gonna be the one who saves me…And after all…you're my Wonderwall…"

He suddenly felt very dizzy. It was truly perplexing. The combination of Harley's expression and the easy flow of the music and lyrics had suddenly made him feel dazed. His cheeks were red and his heart thundered just as loudly as the strumming of the guitar. Eventually, the music faded away.

Harley opened her eyes and smiled at him gently. "You gonna keep going?"

"I don't really remember the rest," he lied, trying very hard not to meet her gaze.

She shrugged. "Then just play what you do remember. Come on, Hyde. You can do it…"

"I'm really not as good at this as you think I am," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "After all, I'm a man of medical-science."

Her baby-blue eyes glittered. "I think that you do just fine."

He couldn't refuse her when she was speaking to him so nicely. Part of him wondered why she was so desperate to hear him play. Perhaps she just wanted to hear something soothing—something to take her mind off of the Joker for once in her life.

So, swallowing up his bashfulness, he continued. For a long while, they sat there and simply listened to the music. And all the while, Hyde's eyes kept going back to her face, gazing at her with something quite like affection.

"Said maybe…you're gonna be the one that saves me…"

XxX

The Joker sat in bed, frowning and staring dejectedly into space. Harley was humming and reading what appeared to be a gossip magazine. The two of them were quiet—save for Harley's humming—and did not appear to be paying attention to the other. Hyde, Cutter, and the others had gone to bed hours ago and were now asleep on their cots downstairs.

The clown glanced out the window, staring briefly at the moon in the distance. Harley gently placed the magazine down and scooted in next to him, nuzzling his face with her cheek.

"Perhaps we should go to bed now, Puddin'. We got another big day tomorrow."

The clown said nothing.

Harley wrapped an arm around his neck and pecked him lightly on the cheek. "Really, Mr. J. Night-night time. The others are asleep and so we should go to sleep too."

The clown licked his lips and regarded the blonde expressionlessly. It was as if she were talking to a giant stone. Harley let out a sigh and tried again for the third time to get a response out of her lover.

"What's the matter, Puddin'? You've been so serious lately. I'm getting worried about ya." She pecked him on the cheek again. "Can't ya just tell me what's wrong?"

The Joker glanced at her, raising an eyebrow. "You really want to know, Harl?"

She nodded eagerly. "Oh yes, Mr. J! I do!"

He smiled a bit, amused by the ferventness of her enthusiasm. "Really and truly? You really, really want to know?"

She hopped up and down excitedly. "Of course! I'd love to! I'm always ready to hear you're problems, Mr. J."

He licked his lips again. "I've been thinking lately…"

She cocked her head. "Thinkin' about what, Puddin'?"

His eyes hardened. "About the Batman."

She rolled her eyes. "Again, Mr. J? Is Batsy what's been troubling ya all this time?"

He nodded sullenly, staring out the window. "We haven't seen much of him lately. I'm starting to wonder if he's forgotten all about us…perhaps he now has bigger fight to fry."

She leaned close to him. "Is this all because of the fact that we didn't see him when we were at Perry's part of town?"

"He should have been there," the clown said gruffly. "I'm starting to think he's trying to avoid us."

"That's because he knows how strong and powerful ya are," she murmured, nibbling his ear. "He's probably afraid of ya."

He grunted and gently shoved her off him. "OR perhaps he's trying to make me lose interest…yes, that must be it. He must be avoiding me so that I'll crack and end up doing something stupid in order to try to get his attention."

Harley frowned and tugged at him. "Mr. J…maybe it's time ya stopped thinkin' about the Bat. Maybe it's time to starting thinking about the future."

He turned to her, his face suddenly serious. "What are you talking about?"

She clutched at the fabric of his clothing, staring intently into his eyes with something like desperation. "Perhaps we should just take a little break from Batsy…start doing something else…we could go away with the boys and start a nice little family of our own. We could go elsewhere and start everything over again…we'd could conquer wherever and whoever we wanted to, Puddin'."

He blinked at her. "You mean…forget about the Batman?"

She nodded eagerly. "Yeah! We could go and take over another city across the country…start raising a family together and spend the rest of our days together. It would be so great! We could—"

Her words were abruptly cut off when his fist collided with her face. She fell off the bed and yelped, looking up at her lover with pain and confusion as he loomed over her. His breathing was ragged and he looked quite enraged.

"P-Puddin'?" She squeaked, rubbing her now-blackening eye. "Wha-what's—"

"Idiot!" he screeched, snarling at her. "Are you really that stupid to suggest such a thing? Forget about the Batman? Have you not learned ANYTHING about what I value?" He aimed a kick at her, making her whimper.

"Bu-But, Mr. J, if we d-did that w-we could—"

He kicked her again, sending her tumbling back against the wall. She looked up at him, cowering before his presence, terrified of the fire in his eyes.

"The Batman and I are made to keep fighting," he hissed at her. "We're supposed to do this forever until one of us dies."

She attempted to give him a sheepish smile, cradling herself with her arms. "But, Mr. J, w-we can't k-k-keep doing this forever…y-you might end up getting k-killed in the end!"

His face turned grim and he towered over her, continuing to glare at her with those fiery dark-brown eyes. "Looks like you still haven't learned enough about me, my dear." His hands were balled into fists and he began to raise them.

Her eyes widened and she started to scoot away. "No, Puddin'…no…Puddin'…please…"

"You've got to learn your lesson, Harl," he told her quietly, coming for her slowly. "Daddy has to teach you a lesson."

"No…Puddin'….no…"

He advanced even closer, making her squirm towards the door. She swallowed and began reaching for the knob of the door, trembling furiously.

XxX

Hyde had been sleeping downstairs on his designated cot with the others when he had heard Harley's cries. They had risen up from upstairs and he had jerked awake, hearing them in the darkness. The sound of crashing and growling could be heard as well, intensifying his fear.

"NO, PUDDIN'! NO! NO NO NO!"

Harley! All at once, he felt his heart beat faster in his chest, making his eyes widen and his throat turn dry. Quickly, he dashed out of bed, making a frantic sprint towards the door and out of the room, not caring that he was naked from the waist-up. He made his way into the large main room of the warehouse and looked around nervously in the darkness.

And then he saw her.

She was limping towards the main entrance, wearing her crimson coat and hunching her shoulders. Her back was to him and she appeared to be having great difficulty hobbling forward. Her breathing was uneven and she sounded as if she were in great pain.

"Harley?"

She paused and turned weakly, making him gasp. Her right eye was swollen shit and the side of her face was bruised. There was a cut on her shoulder and a growing red mark just under it. He blinked at him with her good eye, almost seeing straight through him.

"Harley…what happened?" he came forward, not caring about the consequences. "You're hurt. Did he…?"

She swallowed and backed away from him. "It's…nothing…"

He frowned, attempting to come closer. "Don't lie to me! You look really bad. That eye of yours is swollen shut! Let me help you." He tried to keep his words soothing in an attempt to assuage the battered look in her eyes.

"Don't need…any help," she said softly. She moved closer towards the door.

"But where are you going? Are you…leaving?" That would be horrible. Some part of him couldn't bear the thought of her leaving.

She smiled sadly, completely apathetic to the pain of her black-eye. "I'm only going for a teeny-weenie bit. You'll be alright without me."

He lurched forward and touched her arm, making her flinch. "No I won't! I will not be alright without you. It's Hell without you here, Harley!" It WAS. Without Harley, who would he talk with and relate to? Who would actually sit next to him and listen as he played a guitar or wrap their arms around him and tease him playfully? Without Harley, he would just be a reluctant henchman to the Joker—trapped here without any enjoyable company.

"Mr. J and I need some time apart for a little bit," Harley said in a breathless voice, looking down at where his hand gripped her. "We got to work a couple of things out."

"Please stay," he pleaded softly, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'll help you. I'll patch you up and make sure that he doesn't touch you again. I swear it. Just…please…stay with me."

Her left baby-blue eye was confused. "You really want me to stay?"

He nodded; his Adam's-apple bobbing. "I'll do whatever it takes to help you. Please, Harley. Let me just…"

Before he could finish, she leaned over and kissed him gently on the cheek, making him freeze. Her lips were warm and soft and he turned a bright shade of pink. She smiled at him sadly again, gently releasing herself from his grip and beginning to back away.

"You're a real sweetie, Hyde," she said softly. "You've got a heart of gold. But I can't stay. I have to go for a little while. But you'll be okay. You got your head on your shoulders. Me…I gotta go and think for a little bit…"

"Harley," he whispered, still feeling slightly dazed from the kiss he had received. "Harley…please…"

She waved at him as she opened the entrance. "You'll be fine, Hyde. Guys like you always do okay in the end."

"Harleen," he pleaded one last time, using her full name. He reached out pathetically. "Harleen…"

"Goodbye, Charlie," she whispered, stepping out and shutting the entrance behind her.

XxX

A/N—Hey all you gals and guys! Hoped you enjoyed this chapter!

Now, while the title of the story is called Shadow of the Day, I feel that this chapter's song—Wonderwall by Oasis for those of you who haven't heard it—is really the heart of Harley and Hyde's relationship. Whenever I listen to it, it reminds me of what's going on between them. I dunno, just consider it to be their main theme, lol.

It is always important to remember at just where the Joker values things. He's got this weird obsessive sort-of love for the Batman and not even Harley can take that away from him. As a result, Harley still does not completely understand just how much the Batman means to the Joker.

Where then, you ask, does Harley rank in terms of what the Joker feels for her? I'd say that he DOES have a lot of affection and (dare I say) love for her. In his own way at least. But he's still abusive as hell and is perfectly willing to twist her up and make her suffer if he feels the need to. Compare that to Harley and Hyde's growing companionable relationship in which they are beginning to empathize and feel for each other. Harley sees Hyde as a good friend and does indeed have some affection for him. But the Joker is still her main true love and she loves him more.

Anyway, things start getting more complex from here. Harley is taking a short break to go receive some nurturing from Ivy and the Joker has mayhem and action on the brain. Don't worry though; there will be plenty of fluffiness to follow once they're reunited. I guarantee it! :)

Keep reading, folks! It's not over yet!

-CAT