Authors Note:

I put Gordon in here, as some of you asked.

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Chapter 21:

"Okay, here's what we got. Philosopher, Italian, Poet, had a taste for the theatrical, was a practical joker…." Officer Ryan reads the list out loud to the Commissioner that afternoon and Gordon gasps, takes the paper from him and reads out loud "Taste for the theatrical, huh? Hmmm… and a joker." He takes a deep breath in, rubs his head and says sarcastically "Well, now we know where he got his inspiration."

Officer Ryan sighs, and sprints across the busy police quarters to find more information. The Commissioner crosses his legs and fumbles with his knuckles as he yells, "Did anybody study philosophy at school?" The rest of the police force looks back at their computers and Gordon mutters loudly "We should be able to think people! Not use a machine to think for us!"

He breathes in deeply and the Mayor walks into the busy room and Gordon stands to formally greet him. He extends his hand and the Mayor shakes it while saying, "I heard your screams from down the hall. Are you alright?" The Commissioner nods and replies back "Yes, sir. I am just a little stressed out. I am really close to finding the Joker's location."

The Mayor smiles at this, sits down on the chair in front of Gordon's desk and asks, "Anything I can help you with?" Jim bites his bottom lip and whispers out "Not unless you know anything about Machiavelli." The Mayor shrugs his shoulders and answers politely "Well, I can't help you there. The only thing that I know is that he faked his death."

Gordon's eyes suddenly go wide and then he asks, "What did you just say?" The Mayor crosses his eyes and repeats, "He faked his death…well, and that's assumed of course…. Gordon, why are you looking at me like that?" Gordon's eyes narrow as a wide smile spreads across his face. He chuckles, turns around to his co-workers and shouts "I want a list of all the deaths in Gotham of the last 2 years! All male, all between 25 to 30!"

His co-workers look at him slightly puzzled causing the Commissioner to bite his lip and yell once again "Did I stutter? Come on! Now!" The officers and lawyers nod their heads and begin to search for what they were asked to search. The Mayor smiles and whispers "Good work, Gordon. Once we find all the deaths, and narrow it down, we'll be able to track him easily through diagnosis." Gordon breathes in deeply, chuckles and then whispers "Well, let's hope so."

- - - - -

"There you are!" Rachel says to the Joker and pulls him by his hand into the guest room. She closes the door and asks, "What took you so long?" The Joker laughs, wraps one of his arms around her thighs and asks in his 'joker' voice "You missed me already…hmmm, beautiful?" Rachel rolls her eyes, reaches into his pants pockets and the Joker screeches "Hey! Easy!" Rachel pulls out the kitchen knife he had hidden in his pants pocket, waves it in front of his face and asks, "What's this?"

The Joker pushes her away and responds in mocking tone "Ugh…if you don't know Princess, I'm not going to tell you." Rachel shakes her head at this and says coldly "I thought you were done with this crap! Why do you need a knife for? You planning on killing me, or Frank?" The Joker chuckles, grabs the knife from her hands, licks his bottom lip slowly, and grabs Rachel while placing the knife near her throat.

He chuckles stiffly and whispers huskily "You know I would never kill you, beautiful. Your too much fun, and I like fun. So, why would I want to hurt it…hmmm?" The Joker loosens his grip on her, and Rachel asks in a nervous tone "Well, how about Frank? Your not going to hurt him, are you?"

The Joker sighs, places his knife back in his pocket and says bitterly "Look, pumpkin. In this world, I do what I want to do. No rules, no complaining. If you wanna be my little toy, your going to have to understand that there's only room for one toy in this toy box and well, Frank and his wife, are taking up some space in this house."

Rachel's eyes widen at this and the Joker smiles and asks "Speaking of Frank's wife, when is Alice coming home? I'd love to meet her." Rachel shakes her head, sits down on the guest bed and whispers sadly "He has been so kind to you. I can't believe you would do something like that."

The Joker sits beside her on the guest bed, takes her hand in his and says back "Kind Shh-mind, the word has no meaning. And well, that's life, fate…. destiny. Did I ever tell you the story about how I got these scars?" He points to his now threaded scars and Rachel nods and whispers "Yes, the story about your wife." The Joker nods, stands up and blabbers "O-oh…right. So, I did tell you…about how she betrayed me, and how she left me. Well, my point here, beautiful, is…whatever doesn't kill you, simply makes you…stranger."

Rachel looks down at how the Joker his rubbing her hand softly. The Joker uses his free hand to lift her chin as he continues rubbing her hand. He leans in close, looks straight at her light eyes and says with a tiny chuckle "And it's true. You escaped death, and look how strange you've become. In love with a guy like me, well, now that's just ridiculous!"

Rachel watches the Joker lick his bottom lip slowly, and then he continues "But you know…. you, yourself know…. that's its not that ridiculous. Because everyone, deep inside, wants to be like me, and is like me. They just need something, or someone, to just push them in the right direction." The Joker licks Rachel's lips with his tongue and she closes her eyes as he whispers into her mouth "So, tell me. Are you like me? Or do I need to push you to be?"

The Joker suddenly tightens his grasp on her hand causing Rachel's eyes to widen and her mouth hisses out in pain. The Joker grabs her by her hair, let's go of her hand and says bitterly "Now… tell me, bunny. Are you going to care about Frank's and Alice's soon to be death….hmm? Is…. ugh…such a pre-di-ca-ment going to bother you?" Rachel sighs softly and whispers "Of course." The Joker rolls his eyes, chuckles and says non-chillingly "Well, then. You're going to have to just deal with it, huh? Hopefully not like Harvey handling your death…. boy…that thing cared for you too much. He killed for you…you know? Imagine that! Pretty boy Harvey Dent killing because of his bride…well, non-bride."

The Joker lies down on the bed, and Rachel watches him steadily for a second and then she asks, "Would you kill for me?" The Joker's eyes widen and she lays down right beside while repeating, "Well, would you? I mean, you kill all the time. But what if a man…let's say…held a gun to my head. (Pause) Sound familiar?" The Joker chuckles, and places a strand of her hair behind her ear while laughing out "Ahhhh…. good old Dent's party. I remember that."

Rachel smiles, crawls closer to the Joker and asks again "Well, let's say you were in the crowd that night and someone else was holding the gun. Would you kill them and save me?" The Joker rolls his eyes and mumbles "Rachel, Rachel, Rachel. You already know the answer to that question." Rachel smiles and asks, "So, you'd save me?" The Joker chuckles and whispers, "Well, I didn't say that."

Rachel laughs at this and the Joker places his arm around her. She leans onto his chest and says softly into it "You know…that night Harvey asked me to marry him." The Joker adds in a slightly bored tone "And you said no." Rachel nods into his chest and whispers back "You have no idea how many nights I've thought about how life could have been if we had just ran off and gotten married."

The Joker sighs and suddenly his eyes widen, so he turns Rachel over onto her back and slowly climbs up on top her while asking "I'm curious, beautiful. Because I am going to take a wild guess, and predict that you were not a virgin before you met me, so…ugh…who's a better fuck? Me or Blondie?" Rachel laughs nervously and she decides to break the tension with a joke "Are you going to kill me if I say he was better?"

She continues laughing, but the Joker takes both her hands, places them beside her thighs on the bed and holds them down restricted. He shakes his head very seriously then he leans his lips to hers and kisses them hungrily while asking again "Who was better?" Rachel looks up into his dark black eyes and mutters while his tongue presses into her mouth "You."

He chuckles at this, and kisses down her neck while saying "Well…I'm going to let you in on a little secret Miss. Dawes." Rachel moans as he sucks slowly at her earlobe and she asks breathlessly "Yeah?" The Joker giggles again and whispers into her ear "Well, maybe I'll tell you later." He quickly rips open her blouse and crashes his lips down onto hers strongly.

- - - -

"The red one's…. please." Bruce takes out a twenty-dollar bill and places it on the counter at the gift shop in the hospital. The middle-aged woman smiles back at him, gives him the roses and says, "10 dollars is your change, sir." Bruce grips the roses firmly by the ends, waves and says with a small smile "Keep the change." The woman nods to show her appreciation as he leaves towards Rachel's hospital room.

Suddenly, a nurse walks up to him and asks, "Excuse me, sir. Can I help you?" Bruce nods and says "Yes, actually. Where is Miss. Rachel Dawes stationed again?" The Nurse sighs and asks, "Your Bruce Wayne, aren't you?" Mr. Wayne nods as the nurse continues "Gordon warned me about you. Look, son. Recently, he broke out of jail and came here and took Rachel with him."

Bruce's eyes widen at the story and then he asks quickly "Did he kidnap her? No! Wait! How did the Joker get out of jail? Where is he now?" The Nurse places her hand on his shoulder and says "Did he kidnap her? No, we don't think so. She left because she wanted to. How he got out of jail? I have no clue, dear. And as for the last question, the police is looking after that. Look, Mr. Wayne. I was told to inform you incase you hadn't seen the news lately…Gordon told me about how you don't watch it, about how you almost killed yourself last year."

Bruce nods and whispers to the nurse "Do you think she loves him?" The Nurse nods and replies sadly "Unfortunately, Mr. Wayne, even though I do think that she does. It is not my matter to discuss. Maybe you should call Miss. Quinzel, the psychologist, though she might be busy at the moment, looking for other employment since he ran off."

The nurse walks away and Bruce finds the nearest garbage can and throws out the roses while muttering "Harley, your dead." A doctor turns his head overhearing what Mr. Wayne muttered so Bruce stares at him and asks in a defensive tone "What? You won't think I'll do it? 'Cuz I will!"

The Doctor takes his cell phone out and says into it "We've got a patient from the psychiatric ward on the loose. I need assistance." Bruce rolls his eyes, takes the doctors cell phone and says, "I am not crazy." He throws back the cell phone and walks out of the hospital while contemplating the simplest way to kill Harleen Quinzel.

- - - - -

"Oh my God…. Jack, you're bleeding." Rachel says softy in full shock. She reaches out her fingers to wipe the blood away from his scars but the Joker hits her hand away and says angrily "Worry about that later." The Joker takes her naked body in his arms and places his own nude form on top of her and then presses himself against her. Rachel shakes her head and says, "You've got to let me help you!"

The Joker pushes his member against her and says through grinded teeth "You'll help me by fucking me!" Rachel gasps as he pushes into her but a few seconds later she moves away, making the two lose contact. The Joker growls, stands up, and starts to wipe away the blood pouring from his scars with his hand. He wipes his hand on the white wall and then yells angrily "Fuck these scars! Always fucking getting in the way."

The Joker pounds his fist onto the wall and Rachel watches him in horror. She gets up off the bed slowly, walks towards him and places a hand on his shoulder and whispers, "Jack, it's okay. It's fine." The Joker turns around impulsively, and growls while saying "I told you to stop calling me that, Rachel Dawes!" Rachel looks deep into his black eyes and realizes that this is the first time he had ever called her by her full name, and well, this was also the first time he had been so angry.

Rachel continues to stare at him and then a knock comes at the door and it is Frank. He says from the other side of the closed door "Is everything alright in there?" The Joker deepens his voice and yells brutally "Everything is fine!" Frank sighs from the other side of the door and says with a smirk "Jack, whatever you did just say you're sorry and that she's right. I'm going to the restaurant now, so you kids play nice." Frank walks away while Rachel reaches onto the floor to find her clothes.

Once she reaches for her bottoms, the Joker pulls her hand up, and shoves her down on the bed and yells, "We're not finished yet!" He puts Rachel's hand in his hands, bruising them into the mattress. She gulps and whispers "Please, Jack." The Joker looks down into her eyes and states bitterly "Don't talk. Just scream out my name, that's all the sounds I want to hear." He bends down, and his swollen bleeding scars scratch her neck with blood. Rachel whines and asks angrily "What name would you like to me scream, your majesty?"

The Joker pushes her from underneath him, sits down properly on the bed and mutters satirically "You know what, beautiful? When I saved you from the hospital, I didn't do it because I wanted you to grace me with your…oh so, lovely…. concepts about life…. and stunning questions." Rachel scoffs and asks curiously "Really? Well, then why did you rescue me then?"

The Joker is about to speak but he stops himself and looks down at the floor. Seconds upon seconds upon seconds later, and the Joker still doesn't have an answer. Rachel smiles and whispers, "You don't have to be afraid of your feelings, Joker." The Joker looks over at her, stands up and states very seriously "I've got to go kill something."

He reaches down and starts to put on his clothing while Rachel shakes her head and says dumbstruck "Wow, I never thought you were so stupid! Ugh." She shudders and continues "Is that your answer for everything? What? Is killing some innocent man going to make things better for you? Do you seriously think it is going to make you stop loving me?" The Joker licks his bottom lip, picks up his knife, swings it in front of her and says "You know…all these lawyers…think that they are right about…well, everything. And you know what, pumpkin. You're no different then they are. I thought you were…. but you…your starting to get on my nerves."

Rachel places her clothes on as well while saying "I'm not saying I want you to change! I'm not saying you shouldn't kill! Even though it's not right, it is not my place to stop you! All I want you to realize is that you care about me! I want to know that I am not the only one giving something to this relationship!" While she was talking the Joker was walking towards the door but with the last word spoken he starts laughing hysterically.

"You think that what we have is a relationship? Oh, honey…poor disillusioned Rachel." The Joker mocks her, takes her hand in his and says, "I don't care about you. In fact, if Frank wasn't in this house, I'd fucking kill you. You can feel whatever you want for me…but in the end, do you really think I give a flying bullet into a fat man's ass about you?"

Rachel takes her hand away as the Joker continues, "Listen, honey bunch. There's more of a chance me licking Batman's balls then me loving you, alright?" Rachel wipes away the tears forming in her eyes. The Joker licks his bottom lip and mocks her "Oh, are those tears? Well, you know what, Princess? I'm done. Cry me a river…. cry me an ocean…cry me four, I don't care." He walks towards the door and yells out "Bye, beautiful. It was…fun…while it lasted."

He turns around towards her, takes out his knife and says "Oh, yeah. One more thing…I almost forgot. How silly of me. I got you a pre-se-n-tt." He aims the knife at her arm and flings it at her and Rachel screams out in pain as she falls to the floor from the jolt in her arm. Once she looks up she sees the Joker chuckling at first and then Rachel starts to yell out "Jack! How the hell could you do this to me? This hurts…" she reaches to touch the knife, but then a shooting pain rises from it and she screeches out in pain.

She places her back against the wall to support herself and the Joker stops chuckling as he hears her cries for help. He walks over to her, pulls the knife out of her arm and says coldly "It's not that bad!" Rachel looks at her arm, wanting at that moment to strike the Joker just as hard as she could but suddenly she starts to feel weak. She looks over at her arm again and sees blood dripping down to the floor.

The Joker throws the knife behind him and asks a little anxiously "Does it hurt that bad?" Rachel gulps to surrender to her pain and then she spits out "Why do you care? I thought you were going to leave? Remember?" The Joker picks her up in his arms and Rachel wants to fight him off but she can't because she feels too weak. So, she whimpers, "Put me down." But the Joker bites his bottom lip, holds her legs in one arm and her back and head in the other.

He carries her to the kitchen table, knocks over the glasses that were placed on it with his leg and then he drops her onto the table. Rachel hisses out in pain, and reaches out to touch the wound. But the Joker slaps her hand away and says, "Don't touch it." He goes into the cabinets, pulls out a cloth and dips it into cold water from the sink.

He walks over to Rachel, sits down on the table and says while placing the cold water to the wound "Here." Miss Dawes uses her other hand to hold the cold compress onto her wound and she is about to say something but the Joker leaves the kitchen. He comes back about a minute later with a bottle of vodka and one of whiskey. He grabs the cloth off Rachel's arm and she whimpers in pain.

The Joker soaks the compress with vodka and then he says while placing the compress back on Rachel's arm "This is going to sting, beautiful." As soon as he says it, Rachel feels the enormous pain and she moans and moves around violently from the jolts in her arm. The Joker rolls his eyes, removes the cloth and blows on it before saying "Your such a big baby." He stops blowing on it, puts the cloth back on and asks "Better?"

Rachel nods silently, smiles slightly and whispers "Thank you." The Joker chuckles at the irony of the situation. He had given her the wound, and yet she still said thank you. Rachel clears her throat and asks, "Aren't you leaving?" The Joker looks over at Rachel and returns her question with another "Should I?"

Rachel shrugs her shoulders, looks into his eyes and says, "You do what you want." The Joker opens the whiskey bottle, takes a sip from it and mutters, "What I want?" Rachel nods, hisses from the pain from her wound and asks again "So, are you leaving?" The Joker takes her hand in his and whispers back softly "Not yet."

Authors Note:

This is actually my fourth draft of this chapter, all the other's were garbage and well, I am not too fond of this one either.

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Thanks so much!

Btw, this story has a couple more chapters left.

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