"Bruce Wayne! Come to gloat?" asked Joker the next day, as he dug through the rubble which was all that remained of his circus.
"I came to inform you that the miscreants who started the fire have been apprehended," said Bruce. "By myself, as it happens, using my incredible detective skills. They'll be charged with arson and incitement to violence, and be sent to prison, thanks to me."
"Good for you," said Joker, he hoped not too sarcastically. Bruce didn't pick up on the sarcasm, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a flask.
"You look like you could use a drink," he commented.
"I could," agreed Joker, taking it from him and sitting down on the ground. Bruce sat down next to him, and they drank in silence.
"I never liked your show," said Bruce.
"Gee, you never mentioned that before," said Joker, sarcastically. "Why didn't you say something sooner, Brucie?"
"But I always thought the people did," continued Bruce.
"They did," agreed Joker. "They do. Everybody loves a clown."
"Mind you, I wouldn't call it art," said Bruce at last. "But putting folks of all kinds on stage with you, all colors, shapes, sizes, presenting them as equals…why, another critic might have even called it a celebration of humanity."
"I would have liked that," said Joker, nodding.
"Not me, of course," said Bruce. "I still think it's fairly disgusting. But I can't help admitting, there's some small part of me that hopes you'll rebuild. After all, it would be out of character for you to give up when you've seen how much persisting annoys me," he added, with a small smile.
"Why Bruce Wayne, you can smile!" said Joker, astonished. "I never thought I'd see the day!"
"I won't make a habit of it," retorted Bruce, going back to his sullen self suddenly. "But I am curious to see where you can go from here, and how you'll outdo yourself now, after Miss Lind."
"Well, I'm staying well away from her and your crowd, for one thing," said Joker, nodding. "I learned my lesson about that – I don't belong there. I belong here, with the people who really matter to me, and the people who truly care for me."
He stood up, patting Bruce on the shoulder. "But you should stop by once we're up and running again, Brucie – when we were on the tour, I got a tip on a cat-woman I'm hoping I can entice to join the Joker's Circus of Fun, Part II, Even More Fun, which is a working title…"
"I wouldn't try enticing any woman after Miss Lind – you can see how badly that ended for you," said Bruce, nodding at a newspaper he was holding. "I understand you're so unscrupulous that you're a fan of publicity at any cost, but I really think this scandal is going to backfire in your face."
"What are you talking about?" asked Joker.
"Oh, you haven't heard?" asked Bruce, holding the paper out to him. Joker took it and stared in horror at the front page, which had printed the picture of him and Jeannie kissing, with the headline: Joker Scandal is No Joke – Jeannie Lind Confirms Affair, and How She Was Compelled to End It for the Sake of the Children.
"That lying little…" Joker hissed, furious, as he scanned the article.
"Your wife must be a very tolerant woman, to put up with such behavior," commented Bruce.
"No, she's…she's not," stammered Joker, eyes widening as he realized Harley must have seen this. "I'm sorry – I gotta go," he said, throwing the paper back at Bruce and racing home as fast as he could.
He felt his heart sink as he entered his home to complete silence, which was unheard of in the Joker household. "Leenie? J.J.? Harley?" he called, racing from room to room.
He found Harley in the bedroom, calmly packing a suitcase. "Where are the kiddies?" he asked.
"They're at my parents' house," murmured Harley, not looking up at him but continuing to pack. "I didn't want them to be here for when the reporters came this morning – after all, according to Jeannie Lind, children should never be subjected to such things, and should be shielded from marital problems as much as possible. They're the victims here, not me, apparently."
"Harley, it's not true!" Joker exclaimed, seizing her arms. "Nothing happened between us! She orchestrated this kiss as revenge because I refused her, and I immediately shoved her away, and…I'm not in love with her!"
"No, of course you're not!" Harley snapped, shoving herself away from him. "Not with her, not with me, not with anyone, just you and your show! You want to see how far you can climb, and you don't want a wife and kids weighing you down, so we won't anymore. You clearly don't need us…"
"I do need you!" he exclaimed. "Harley, please, I've learned my lesson…you don't have to go!"
"I can't stay here with you," she retorted, gazing at him with tears in her eyes. "I don't even know you anymore. I want the man I fell in love with, the man I married, the man who made me smile and laugh and promised me fun, and you're not him. You've become someone else, someone obsessed with success at any cost, someone who lies to me, and hides things from me, and does everything without asking me. And the fun is gone. I never minded our precarious and spontaneous life before, Mr. J, because when we took risks, we always did it together. But now you've shut me out. You've shut your family out. And if that's the life you want, you're going to live it alone. I'm done," she said, closing her suitcase and heading for the door.
"Harley, you can't leave me!" he cried, racing after her and catching her.
"Why not? You left me a long time ago," she replied. The tears trailed down her face as she stared up at him. "When I saw that picture this morning, I fell," she whispered. "And you weren't there to catch me."
She pushed herself away from him and then headed out the door, slamming it shut behind her.