Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Author's Note: Another update. You guys should feel special to have so many updates so quickly.

Poisonous women. This appeared to be his addiction; David seemed to be drawn to "les femmes dangereuses", and he couldn't escape it. This affliction had begun well before he met Pamela Isley, but she was by far the worst.

Poison Ivy.

The name screamed danger, and yet he had pleaded his way to the head of her treatment, regardless. She was beautiful with her flaming hair and emerald eyes. Like an exotic flower.

She was belladonna; beautiful, but lethal.

The fool that he was, David had allowed her to creep into his heart, smothering him with those toxic kisses. It took less than two weeks for her to have him completely under her influence. He was a puppet on her strings and she wanted out. Arkham was no place for such a wild beauty; she was locked away, hidden from the world. He wanted to set her free. It was by chance only that he had not followed through with his plan.

Inadvertently, Harley had stopped him.

With her transfer to the asylum, Harley had been placed under the tutelage of a senior psychologist: him. It was her bright spirit and powerful faith in the practice that brought him back. She opened his eyes to the world outside the darkness; life beyond Arkham's padded walls. From that moment, the spell broke and he began to fall for Harley.

Admittedly, falling for a patient and falling for a co-worker weren't too different, but in his own eyes, it was a huge improvement. Quick as he could, he got off of Ivy's treatment and left her in the capable hands of his boss. Isley was furious; she still wouldn't speak to him when he visited.

But Harley was what he wanted now, and seeing her so undone was terrible. She was stressed to her limits, working all day with that psychopath and then spending nights out with him. All he wanted was for her to have fun again, the way she used to when she was just an intern.

Now she was falling, he could see it, and he couldn't stop her. This madman was gonna kill her; she wouldn't stop trying to help him until it was too late. This one couldn't be cured, and yet she would keep trying. Harley believed in everyone.

No one was beyond saving; now he'd have to save her.

At least she hadn't gotten physically attached to the Joker yet; as far as he knew, her relationship with him was purely professional.

He had no reason to believe otherwise. It should be easy to pull her back again.

He would talk to Dr. Goodman again; she had helped him before. By taking him off of Ivy, she had saved him; she could take Harley off of the Joker.

But first he had to survive with them outside. What was Harley thinking, letting that monster roam around outdoors? He couldn't be trusted.

The air was cold and he had begun to get a cold, this wouldn't be good for him, but now that he'd forced his way into an invitation, he couldn't just leave. So, he continued to walk along in silence, lost in thought.

Harley and the Joker were whispering about something, but he wasn't paying attention. He was too caught up in his plans of saving her from an unknown monster.

"David. Let's stop here for a while."

Her voice broke into his mind.

"Okay."

They sat down, but the Joker kept walking. He showed no signs of stopping.

"What about him? He can't just walk around like that!"

The Joker half-turned back and shot a look of pure contempt towards David.

"He's not an animal, Dr. Young."

Harley was done talking to him. She stared forward blankly.

"Okay, I'm sorry..." he looked to the Joker, "Go ahead."

"Nah, you want me to stay, that's fine."

The lunatic fell to the ground heavily beside him. He was too close, invading all personal space. David could feel his hot breath on his cheek as he spoke. And that face made his spine tingle. How could Harley stand this?

"So- uh, David. Pull a knife on anyone recently?"

David froze as his knife flicked out of nowhere into the lunatic's hand.

"That's not mine," he pulled a stony face on.

Harley gave a little laugh, it sounded a bit hysterical, "Mistah J says it is. Why would he lie? Puddin' has no reason to."

Puddin'? David dismissed it quickly, but jealousy built up anyways. Maybe there was something here.

"Yeah David... I'm a man of my word."

The tongue on this guy was just going berserk. It flew around his mouth, touching the scars on his cheeks. Suddenly David felt intensely uncomfortable.

He stumbled to his feet.

"You know, I guess I do have a lot of work to do. I should probably go."

Harley was watching him with a kind of smile he had never seen before. He didn't like it. Instead of her, it was the Joker who turned with a look of sadistic glee on his face.

"Leaving so soon? But we've just gotten started... was it the knife thing?"

David said nothing and turned to leave, it was Harley that stopped him,

"Jeez, Mistah J, you were right... Why so serious?"

The wave of shock that ran through Dr. Young must have been visible, but he strove to pretend that he hadn't heard.

"Good-bye, Harley... be careful."

His last few words weren't audible, but he had to say them. She had lost it.

David headed to Arkham quickly, but stopped just out of their line of sight. He had been wrong; things were far more serious here than he had thought. But what could he do?

For several seconds, he just stood there, pacing back and forth, pulling at his hair.

'Harley... the Joker. Harley and the Joker... the Joker and Harley... Harley Quinn... Harlequin.'

His brain couldn't compute it all. He wished desperately for to all be a mistake. That he had misunderstood.

Starting back to the clearing, he was determined to prove himself wrong. Their figures were barely visible through the bushes and trees in this part of Arkham's lawn, but he could hear them clearly if they spoke.

He didn't want to spy, but he wanted to know so desperately. The Joker was talking.

"See, wasn't that fun, Doll-face?"

Harley's expression was blank for a few seconds and then a slow smile spread across her face, splitting it wide, almost unnaturally so.

"Did you see him, Mistah J! Is it always like that? I wanna play!"

Her excitement made her breathless and her voice was unearthly, it was almost as disturbing as the way she was looking at the Joker. David couldn't pull his eyes away.

"You liked it? That was nothing. There's so much more we could do! See, Harl, I knew you'd come around."

She let out a little squeal of pleasure as he tugged her towards him. For a minute she hesitated, laying across his chest, but then she sank into a deep kiss.

David couldn't watch anymore. Lights flashed before his eyes as he stumbled back towards Arkham. He was nearly blacking out from the shock. All his emotions were jumbled, anger and hurt and love and hate were flying around, spinning before his eyes into a constant whirl of color.

He was gonna kill that son of a bitch... and he was gonna make Harley watch.