A/N last chapter for today ya'll, thank you for all of those who've read this again!
I don't own what I don't own, POV switches
J-Joker
V-Violet
B-Bruce/batman
A-Alfred
F-Frost
E-Emelina
D-Dawn
V
I woke early, hissing at the pain in my feet. J was out of bed in a flash, there was rustling of plastic in the front room, and he reemerged, bag in one hand, glass of water in the other. He sat on the bed next to me, and handed me the water.
"Thank you hun." I murmured, taking a sip and putting the glass on my bedside table before sitting up more fully. He leaned over and pecked me on the cheek before opening the sack. He pulled out a pill bottle, which he passed to me. I recognized the name of a common pain killer, and gratefully took the appointed amount.
I yawned and stretched. Despite the fact that I had slept most of the day before, we ended up going to bed earlyish. It was now 11AM, and I felt my bladder was full, and my stomach empty. "Jjjjjj.." I whined in a high pitched tone, pouting at him.
"Mmmm, yes dear?" he said, leaning towards me over the bed, his hand running down my thigh. I blushed and grabbed his hand before it slipped up my night gown.
"Um, honey, bathroom?" I asked, he pouted at me for a moment, before standing. He dutifully swept one arm under my knees, the other behind my back. I giggled as I was lifted, and carried to the bathroom.
After doing my business, and brushing my teeth, J carried me back into the front room, and set me gently on the couch. "What would you like for breakfast, dove?" he asked, pecking me on the temple. I smiled up at him, and leaned back on the large couch.
"Hmmm, what can you cook?" I asked, following his movements in the kitchen. He gave me a pointed look, and rolled his eye.
"My adoptive grand-father taught me how to cook most everything under the sun." he said, raising an eyebrow. I grinned at him in delight.
"Ok then, Crepes?" he winked at me, and opened a cupboard, removing flour.
"As you wish." He said. I grinned at him, suddenly reminded of our first night together when I made a quip about the Dread Pirate Roberts.
Breakfast was lovely, and J was a wonderful cook. Afterwards he carried me into the bathroom, and we bathed together. I sat on the bench, and left my feet unbandaged. His hands where through, tracing every inch of me, whispering how beautiful I was, and how I was his. His hands eventually found their way down my body, and I whimpered as he slowly fingered me. It wasn't long before we had switched places. He was sitting on the tile bench, and I was straddling him. I rode him and we both groaned. He kissed me, and unlike the last time by the bay, this was slow. He was mindful of my feet, and fretfully kept me from putting any weight on them. It was a whole other kind of attractive to see him so concerned about me. His hands weren't harsh, and no one was dominate. We took our time, and by the time we both came, the water had almost run cold. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he stood, and turned off the shower. I laved at his shoulder as we made our way out of the shower, he groaned at me, and kissed my neck, before setting me on the edge of the bathtub. I pouted as he pulled away, and he grinned at me.
"Sorry Dove, We've got to get dressed though."
"Whyyyy?" I whined as he wrapped me in a towel.
"Frost will be up soon, I have a meeting at the club." He gave me a guilty look, "Would you mind if Emelina stayed with you for a while?" I huffed as he pulled a pair of boxers and pants on.
"I suppose." I sighed dramatically, and he grinned at me, a childish gleam in his eyes.
"Thanks babe." He winked at me, and there was a knock from the front room.
He walked out, and a moment later returned, bag in hand. He dumped it out onto the bed, and I recognized Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein labels. It was a simple outfit, black cotton shorts, and panties, an oddly comfortable looking sports bra, and a dark blue tank top. They where good clothes for a day of keeping off my feet.
"More clothes?" I said, raising a brow at him. He shrugged at me.
"I don't have any more for you here, and Frost forgot to grab some from Dawn's place." He smiled at me, and brushed hair out of my eyes.
I still wasn't crazy about him spending so much money on me, but I didn't argue. Instead, I let him help me dress, he held my weight off my feet as I slid into the panties and shorts, and once I was dressed, he carried me back into the front room. Frost was there, lounging against the counter in the kitchen, Emelina was in-between his legs. They where giggling and his face was buried in her neck, his hands around her waist. They really where a very cute couple.
Em pushed on Frost and stepped away, clearing her throat and blushing in embarrassment when she saw us. I grinned at them, and winked at Frost, who flushed brightly. J smirked at them, and set me on the couch.
"Ok, Vi, Frost and I will be gone a few hours. When I get back, do you want to go to Dawn's?" he asked, smiling at me.
"Yes, please!" I said. I needed to get my clothes, and I wanted to see how Dawn was doing. J pecked me on the cheek, and stepped away, throwing a gun holster over his shoulders, and adding a black leather coat over it.
"Bye Johnny." Said Em brightly, pecking him on the cheek before he walked toward the door. He nodded at me, and winked.
"Ms. Wardust." He said as he pulled the front door open for J.
"Mr. Frost" I replied, grinning at him. He cracked a small smile at me, winked at Emelina, and followed J out the door.
E
The Violet girl was quiet, and easy to spend time with. We ended up having a very lazy day. We didn't really have much in common, so conversation was friendly, but sparse. The most difficult thing for me was helping her to the bathroom.
"How are we supposed to do this?" I said, scratching my head as I looked at her. She was smaller than me, but I wasn't nearly strong enough to carry her to the toilet. She hummed for a moment, and cast her eyes around. Finally they landed on a spinning chair in front of J's desk set up.
"There." She said, pointing at it, "we'll use it as a make-shift wheelchair." I grinned at her and dragged the chair over. It took a bit of work, but eventually she was in the chair, both her feet held up in the air. I began to push, and we both screeched as the chair tipped over because of the uneven weight.
I heard her gasp in pain, and was suddenly very worried. We had landed in a heap on the floor, and I rolled off of her. She suddenly began to giggle, and I couldn't help was join her.
"Well, shit!" she giggled, looking around from her place on the floor.
"I don't think that worked well." I pointed out, rearranging my glasses. We both began to giggle again. I don't know why that was so funny, but the image of the Joker's girlfriend, sprawled on the floor, her feet bandaged, was oddly hysterical to me.
After that failed venture, which ended with her crawling to the bathroom like a baby, which led to another giggling fit, we began to talk more.
"So," she said, muting the Friends rerun we were watching. I hummed at her, around the ice cream spoon in my mouth. "Tell me your story? How long have you been dating Frost?" she asked, tilting her head, and holding the ice cream pint out.
"Well…." I said slowly, removing the spoon from my mouth, "Johnny and I have been dating about a year and a half now. I uh…." I shrugged at her, "I actually work for J. As a-"
"Prostitute, I know." She said, smiling easily. I was taken aback, usually when people found out my profession, they acted holier than thou, as if they were perfect, and I wasn't worth as much because of how I made my money. She didn't look at me any different, and I felt my heart swell with affection for this girl.
"Yeah. That's how I met Johnny. We, uh, started as a fling, but he'd come to my part of town to collect J's cut and check on the girls, make sure no one was giving us trouble, that kind of stuff. Anyway, I always thought he was cute, I mean, you've seen him." She giggled at me and waggled her eye brows.
"Oh yeah girl, he's my usual type actually. Tall, muscular, wealthy, employed gentleman."
"What more could a girl want?" we both said at the same time, breaking into another fit of giggles.
"Yeah, but at first, he just wanted to leave it at the one night stand, you know?" I continued, rolling my eyes. "Eventually he agreed to get a cup of coffee with me, and the rest is history." She awed and made a pouty goo-goo eyed face at me.
I blushed and looked away, "Well what about you?" I asked. She shrugged her shoulders.
"Well, to be honest, J stalked me." I blanched, looking at her as if she was mad.
"No way!" I gasped in disbelief. She rolled her eyes and nodded.
"Oh yeah, it was creepy. Eventually I gave him a chance to explain. And he explained himself, explained himself right into my pants." I snorted in laughter and began to crack up.
"Oh my god!" I gasped out finally, wiping tears from under my eyes. "So now what?" I asked genuinely curious. Johnny had told me about how she had to go back to Texas soon, and I was curious as to how she was going to keep this going.
V
My face fell, and I furrowed my brow. I went back to scrapping the bottom of the ice cream pint. "I dunno, actually." I muttered.
"What do you want to do?" Emelina asked me. I looked at her, surprised. No one had really asked that. Not, what does J want, what should you do, who do you want to be with, not pick an option, this or that, just, what would you want?
I gulped, and opened my mouth, opening and closing it once, twice, three times. Finally I spoke, "I think, in a perfect world, I'd have the time with J. The time to get past all the madness, and find his heart. If I could, I think I'd want a mix of the normal life and this." I gestured around with my left hand, and sighed again.
"But sadly, I don't have that option. Right now, it kind of looks like I either get Gotham or Dallas. J or my normal life." Em cocked her head.
"What's your normal life?" she asked. I huffed out a laugh and rolled my eyes.
"A shitty job, a dead beat dad, an over bearing mother, boring college classes, and a handful of friends who are all being slowly engulfed by their own life." I frowned and wrinkled my nose. It wasn't much of a life, but it was my life.
"Doesn't sound like much of a life?" Em echoed my thought, rising from the couch with our trash and dishes in hand.
"Yeah…" I mumbled, looking out over Gotham. It was still day light, about 4PM, and the sun flashed off of the sky scrapers around us, it looked like diamonds over looking dirty streets full of dirtier people.
J
The arms dealer was a pain in the ass, but finally we reached a compromise. It cost me 10K more than I originally planned, but I got what I wanted. I finally made it home with Frost about 5PM. I figured Vi must be getting antsy, holed up all day. Before Frost and I had headed home, we swung by a boutique in down town. I picked up a breezy sun dress for Violet to wear to Dawns. It was simple, and white with little lavender flower detailing. I also grabbed her a shawl, and we finally headed home.
Em and Vi where giggling at a TV show, and I smiled at the sight. It was so normal, so domestic. I almost forgot, for a moment, that it wasn't my friend's girlfriend and my own girlfriend, bonding over girly shows. Almost. I was still a criminal, Frost was still my employee, Emelina was still one of my hookers, and, I was pretty sure, Violet was still just a fling.
Hey!-V
OMG! Vi, I havn't heard from you all day, where are you?-D
I'm at J's, want to have dinner with us?-V
Jer is here?-D
…..
J says he can come?-V
Where are we going?-D
J's place, it'll be a triple date.-V
Triple?-D
Yeah, Frost and his girl friend Emelina are here.-V
Ok, where do we meet you?-D
We're actually coming to you. J wants me to stay with him till I leave Monday, so I need to grab my stuff.-V
What? Why?-D
He thinks it'll be safer. If I go back to your place, the bat will be able to find me.-V
Oh, I guess that makes sense.-D
Frost and J and I will be there in 20.-V
Ok, want me to pack your stuff up?-D
No, we'll do it when we get there.-V
Ok, see you soon,Vi.-D
V
J was holding me in his arms when Dawn opened the door. I grinned at her. "Hi, Dawn!" I called, grinning and waving. She cocked an eyebrow at me, concerned.
"Um, why?" she started.
"My feet are all messed up. Doc said to stay off 'em till at least tomorrow." I shrugged as J stepped in and placed me on the couch.
"Oh, hey Vi!" said Jer, walking out of the bathroom. He pushed his too long hair out of his face and grinned at us. I waved cheerfully from my place on the couch.
"Hey Jer, how was work?" he rolled his eyes.
"A pain, Wayne showed up late, as usual, so I had to stay late to clean up the conference room they used. Honestly, it's like that man has no semblance of time, he's a multi-millionaire, you think he'd be able to afford a damn clock." Jer groaned, irritated. J scoffed in a laugh from behind me. I grinned and rolled my eyes.
"Rich folks, am I right?" I said. Jer rolled his eyes and nodded his head in agreement.
We left a few minutes later, Frost, with my and Dawns direction, had helped me pack my bags. He and Jer where kind enough to carry them down while J carried me.
We all squeezed into the SUV, and Dawn and I chatted about Batman, and the patio door on our way back to J's place.
B
I had been in the batcave, preparing for patrol, when I looked over at the monitor for Mulligan's apartment. I blinked and did a double take, sure I was mistaken. I wasn't.
Dawn Mulligan, her boyfriend, Jeremiah Dooer,( who I had looked up that evening, he actually worked for my company ,oddly enough, as a janitor), Violet Wardust, the Joker, and his right hand man, Frost, where all standing in the girls apartment. The conversation appeared to be cheery, and I saw that the Violet girl was being carried around. I felt a little bit of guilt, but ignored it.
It took a few minutes, but eventually they all left the apartment. I quickly suited up, and headed over.
The lock was laughably easy to pick. Her apartment was small, but cozy. There was a main area, mostly an open floor, with a kitchen, small dining room, and living room. I snooped around her living room and kitchen, but found nothing of interest. A few pictures of Dawn with friends and family, a few of her and Violet as children, her with a group of people I assumed to be her family, a woman who she bore a striking resemblance to, a man with a stern face and tight smile, and a young boy with his father's nose, and mothers smile, another of a Halloween from what must have been years ago. The girls were all very young, no more than fifteen at the oldest, and dressed up, a pirate, Dawn, a panda, a mad hatter, that was Violet, and a busty bar maid.
The entertainment system was modest, her kitchen what I would expect from a college student. There where textbooks strewn here and there, an apron with the name of the diner Dawn worked at stamped on it. It was a quaint home, and clearly a home. Her room was dark, and once I turned on the light, I saw a simple black and white room with hints of red. Her bed was medium sized, queen or full, and had black and white floral bedding. The sheets where a deep red, and the covers where thrown back on both sides. Obviously her boyfriend had stayed with her. Her clothes where tossed in a hamper in the corner, and his where kicked into a corner of the room, jeans, and a shirt with the Wayne company logo on it. There where pony tail holders on his side of the bed, and a half solved cross word puzzle. On her side of the bed was a fantasy book, a picture of her and Jeremiah, and a pair of glasses. Her room was tidy, she had a shelf in the corner of the room, with what I figured out was perfumes. I vaguely remembered that she ran an online store, selling fragrances', and other artsy grooming products.
The room was mostly empty, and I opened drawers, hoping for something useful. Clothes, some receipts, blankets, sheets, drawer full of thank you cards, a small jewelry box! I pulled it out, and after some rooting around in her bedside drawer, I found a small key in the very back. I opened the box, and was disappointed to see nothing but a few rings, tangled necklaces, and a wad of cash. I closed and replaced the box, frustrated. Just as I was about to give up and leave, I saw a light blinking from under her side of the bed.
I pulled out her laptop, and switched it on. It was password protected, I huffed in annoyance. After a few minutes, I had Fox on the phone, and with some help on my end, he finally was able to remotely unlock the laptop. I scrolled through, hoping for anything. Pictures, papers, essays, original stories, Netflix, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing I could use, or wouldn't be able to find on my own. I growled and angrily replaced the laptop. I opened her closet, and immediately shut it. It was a mess, and I wasn't about to dig through her clothes.
I finally walked back out into the front room. I decided to plant some surveillance camera and audio. Each of her vents, and her bedroom lamp were bugged. I tested the connection, and finally left, after making sure everything was as I had found it.
D
It was late before we finally got home. Frost had walked us to the door, and checked the apartment before we entered. He smiled at us and left, bidding us a good night. I groaned and stretched, yawning. It was nearly midnight, and Jer had work in the morning. My shift didn't start till noon, but I was still tired.
Dinner was, oddly enough, a pleasant affair. I had to admit that seeing the Joker carry around my friend was odd, entertaining, and adorable. Joker, J as he had insisted we call him, had made dinner, a simple chicken sauté, with a white wine sauce. It was pretty good, and the conversation flowed easily. He was cultured, and intelligent. He knew a lot about most everything, and when he looked at my friend, I saw love in his eyes.
"Jer…" I sighed, frowning as I changed into my pajamas.
"Yeah, babe?" he asked, shucking off his pants.
"I… I'm worried." He adjusted the waist band on his sleep pants, and cocked his head at me.
"About what, honey?" he asked gently, coming to sit beside me. I sighed as I pulled down my hair, combing through it with my fingers.
"Violet, I think the Joker-"
"J?" he asked, pushing my hair out of my eyes. I rolled my eyes at him and continued.
"J, Joker, Jingle Jheighmer Schmitt, whatever. I think he's in love with Violet."
"Well…. Yeah?" said Jer, as if it was completely obvious. I gave him a pointed look.
"And I'm worried." I pressed on.
"Because they're in love?" he asked, confused. I groaned, and stood, moving to the bath room.
"No," I called as I removed my contacts, "It's not just that Jer, I mean, don't you see how reckless this is?" I sighed as I reentered the room, frowning.
He stood and moved toward me, "Dawn, babe." He said, cupping my cheek. "Look, I know you're worried, and I know you won't exactly like this, but, and I mean this in the best way possible way, neither of us are really in a position to tell her what to do with her life, yeah?" he gave me a crooked smile, and I furrowed my brow.
"What do you mean?" I asked, confused for a moment.
"Babe." He said, grinning at me, "I'm an ex-criminal who works as a janitor, and you're the daughter of a sheriff. I'm not exactly about to be bringing home good money any time soon, and your family isn't exactly crazy about me."
I cocked an eyebrow at him, "ok? So…?"
"So, I still love you, and you still love me." He continued, cocking an eyebrow at me. I sighed and hugged him, laying my head on his chest.
I knew he was right. No one really liked us together, not my mom, definitely not my dad, and I'd even gotten a feeling that Vi wasn't exactly crazy about him. But I still loved Jer. He was so different than me, where he was crass and reserved, I was gentle and outgoing, where he was scared of trusting, I was the one who got burned from trusting to easily, where he saw nothing, I saw everything. We really where very different, yet I couldn't imagine my life without him.
A
I was confused. I had just come down into Bruce's batcave when I heard the girl talking. I had meant to only pop in a moment, to see if he had left any dishes down here, of course he did. He was always drinking and eating down here, and leaving the dishes about. My spoilt little, ADD brat.
She said the Joker was in love. But that couldn't be. From what we knew of the Joker, his only objective was chaos and power. Love was a selfless thing, the complete opposite of what he was. For the Joker to be in love meant that he wasn't who or what we thought.
Up until now, Bruce and I had been looking for a connection between the Violet girl, and the Joker. There had to be one. The Joker only made connections that benefited him, his past…. Romances, had all either ended in death, or as a fling. It was frustrating; we couldn't find one thing that this Violet girl had that the Joker would want. But, listening to the Mulligan girl, I thought, perhaps, she did have something. She had his heart. And that was far more valuable than anything else the Joker owned.