Alrighty then, first of all, Merry Christmas! And no, I don't care if I offend people. :) Anyway, thanks for all the comments, reviews and encouragement. You make my day.

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The ride over to the group home hadn't been as bad as Nancy had initially thought. She sat in between the two couch girls while Mike, the big guy, and the guy who had been staring at the TV the night before sat in the next row. The Joker sat in the driver's seat, tearing through town like a madman. Nancy just hoped and prayed that her stitches wouldn't snap and pop in her hip. Her shoulder didn't hurt as much.

Mike would look back at her every so often like a guilty criminal. Which, ironically, was exactly what he was. The dark guy would just nudge him and mumble about the guy next to him. The quiet guy just stared out the window.

Nancy would look over at the two girls sometimes; the pixie girls seemed nice enough. She'd cock her head to one side happily and go back to looking outside. The other girl, however, refused to do anything but stare at Nancy angrily. Nancy would shrink away and stare at the floor or try and fiddle with her cane, only to realize she didn't have it. Her cane was a little pile of ashes by now. She would sigh angrily and glare at the psychopath in the driver's seat as best she could.

The stupid bastard, she'd think to herself, the man's going to be the death of me... freakin' stitches' re gonna pop!

Then she'd watch him giggle at the pained expression on her face every time he'd make a turn. Nancy would mumble to herself and rub her knee anxiously. The pixie girl next to her would look at her and sigh, then look at the other girl and sigh again, the latter in frustration.

By the time they reached the actual house, Nancy was not only in pain, but quite nauseous as well. Nancy did not get motion sickness, but apparently the Joker's driving was enough to make anyone sick. Even Mike and the big guy looked woozy as they tripped out of the van. The other guy remained stoic and still. Nancy was waiting for him to double over and throw up from locking his knees. The pixie girl and the greasy chick hopped out of the van and leaned against it to gain some equilibrium. The Joker strolled around to the other side of the van to open the trunk.

"Start unloadin' boys!" he shouted at Mike and the other two, "'Cept you techie," he pointed at the stiff guy, "You go inside with Techie Two and check the place for bugs. Mob's still after my ass remember?" He addressed them like children.

Pixie girl and the stiff guy trudged off into the house, the pixie looking none to happy with having to go inside. The other girl continued to stare angrily at Nancy and eventually she walked off to help Mike and the big guy drag in boxes before someone saw them.

The house was deeper in town, which meant less attention. It was a pretty inconspicuous place: the windows were boarded up, the molding was peeling along with the door which seemed to be hanging on by the rust on the hinges. It almost seemed haunted. Nancy sighed and ran her tongue along the inside of her cheek before leaning against the painted white steel of the vans side. She wished she had her iPod.

/|\

Nancy had come to find out that Pixie Girl's name was Amy, and that she was exceedingly nice for someone who worked for a man like the Joker. Her brother Jason, on the other hand, was very pompous and self-absorbed. The other girl, Victoria, wasn't a very nice person either. It turned out that the only reason she didn't like Nancy was because she was pretty. This made Nancy laugh for an incredibly long time. Mike introduced Nancy to the big guy, whose name was Bruce. Bruce was insanely jolly, like Amy. It was only because, at this point, his X-Box worked on the TV that had been left behind by the houses previous owners.

Mike tried, at all costs, to stay away from Nancy in fear of being beaten to a bloody pulp. "All costs," included hiding behind the big guy, Bruce, whenever he walked by her. Nancy would make a face at him and continue to brood.

The Joker had simply dropped her off in the living room and walked off to unpack his things. Not like she could actually go anywhere. For a while she just sat there, plotting escape plans that could never happen. That was until she heard sighs and grumbles from the kitchen just a ways over.

"You can't even figure a fridge out Mike," came Bruce's deep voice.

Nancy leaned to one side and continued to listen, "Shut up, man," Mike sighed. "I can figure this out, it just takes me a little while."

"No kidding," Bruce shook his head.

Nancy saw Mike look around every inch of the refrigerator, trying to figure out what was wrong with it. She shook her head and rested her elbow against the arm of the couch. The big guy looked over at her and gave his head one sharp upward nod, Nancy nodded back and sighed at Mike. She staggered to her feet and limped over to the door and leaned against the door frame. Mike looked up and his shoulders fell. Nancy gave the fridge one good look over and started to laugh.

"What?" Mike asked dumbly.

Nancy limped over to the fridge and knelt down next to it. She reached behind it and plugged it in, and the refrigerator hummed to life.

"Damn, you's is stupid Mike," Bruce said.

Nancy leaned against one of the counters and smirked at him, "You're no better," she said, "You shoulda' figured that out too." She started to laugh again and limped back to the couch. She could hear Bruce making noises at her.

Pixie Girl-Amy was sitting there fiddling with a controller. Nancy sat on the far end of the couch, not wanting to upset her.

"I'm not gonna bite," she assured looking up from her contraption, "It's Victoria you have to worry about."

Nancy smiled a little and rubbed her shoulder. It wasn't hurting as much anymore. The doctor had told her that she would need to take it easy on her arm for a while, but other than that she could do whatever she wanted with her other arm. Amy cocked her head to one side at her in question.

"Got shanked," Nancy responded to the silent question.

"Well, that's apparent," Amy said, "Who?"

"Jesus," the Joker said from the hallway. The hall lead to the staircase which further lead to the upstairs bedrooms.

"What?" Amy asked.

"I was not shanked by Jesus," Nancy shook her head and couldn't help but chuckle, "It was a guy who thought he was Jesus, and by the time this whole thing happened-" she motioned towards her gauze covered hip, "it was all about some freshman thing…"

"Ah, high school," Amy sighed, "I do remember it so fondly!"

"I don't," Nancy and the Joker sighed.

"First of all, that was sarcasm," Amy looked at them oddly, "and second, that was just a bit to creepy for my taste."

"I thought it was funny," the Joker laughed.

"You think everything's funny, Chuckles," Nancy said.

The Joker shrugged and looked up at Victoria when she skipped down the stairs. She skidded to a stop and looked at Nancy.

"What're you doing here?" she asked.

"Tell you the truth, even I don't know," Nancy shrugged.

Victoria seemed to glare at her for a second before going and sitting on the love seat. Bruce and Mike wandered back in the room reporting that there was nothing in the fridge. Mike looked at Amy.

"TV work?" he asked.

"It should," Amy said.

She got up and pressed the power button on the TV set and flipped through a few channels of static. She stopped when one of the stations cleared. It was the news, they seemed to be talking about the mob.

"Don't they ever get bored with the whole mob thing?" Nancy sighed.

"Guess not," the Joker said. He walked over and leaned on the back of the couch.

"Now what I heard was that some mobsters are supposedly coming back from the dead."

"No. No, its not anything like that. What's happening is mobsters like Maroni and Gambol are finally getting out of the hospital. See, what Maroni's saying is that-"

"Harvey Dent tried to kill him! Yeah, yeah, we've all heard it. Its a load of bull. Who I'm really interested in is Gambol. See, this guy says the Joker attacked him. Tried to carve his face up. Well now this all makes sense."

"Exactly. The Joker is a maniac, he would do something like this-"

"And he did! Have you seen the recent pictures of Gambol? He looks just about as bad as the Joker himself!"

"Yes, yes we've seen the pictures, and we all know Gambol looks terrible, but what I wanna know is what he's been doing lately."

"We've heard so many rumors that its hard to keep track of what's what anymore. Some say he's going back underground, some say he's running around the city looking for the Joker-"

"Revenge?"

"Oh, well, yes of course. You would too if someone carved up your face!"

"Me? No. No I'd stay as far away from most everything until the heat died down. A-and I suggest that Gambol do the same. He's as much a criminal as the Joker-"

"Oh, most would beg to differ."

"Yes, yes, I know the Joker is the most feared criminal in Gotham and all, but we're missing the point here: if Gambol goes after the Joker, we have a better chance of losing the both of them. See, because Gambol is such a big time in the mob, which of course means he's being tracked nearly 24/7, he's bound to attract the attention of the Gotham City Police! You see where I'm going here?"

"Yeah, yeah. I see what you're saying. If Gambol goes after the Joker, then we could probably get them both at the same time, right?"

"Exactly. Thats what I'm saying. If Gambol wants to go after the Joker, let 'im. Not like we have anything to lose."

"See now, that's not true. Gambol is a very prestigious member of the mob, which means he has several other groups or families, or whatever you want to call them, backing him in whatever he does! That means that if we have nearly the entire mob going after one guy, we pretty much have a mob war."

"Especially considering the fact that the Joker has men of his own. We could have a real problem if all of this goes down like most people think it will."

"Alright, it seems we're running out of time... and we'll see you-"

"Turn it off," the Joker said, "Now we have a problem."

"Problem's right," Mike said, "Now we have the whole mob up our asses. What the hell are we gonna do now?"

"Watch what we do, who we talk to, what places we hold up," Amy listed, "We'll have to look over our shoulders now, whatever we do."

"I thought you killed Gambol," Bruce insisted.

"Apparently not enough," Nancy said.

"Blondie's right," the Joker said, "Wasn't dead enough."

Nancy glared up at him for a moment before looking back at the TV as Amy turned it off. Jason finally made his way downstairs from the bedrooms. His mask was propped on top of his head until he turned the corner in the hall and addressed them.

"Four bedrooms, three bathrooms, attic, basement, kitchen, living-" he started.

"Okay, what the hell are you going on about?" Mike interrupted.

"Everything's clean," Jason finished. "No bugs or camera's."

"Did you say basement?" the Joker asked.

"Yes."

"Well Nancy, we know where to put you now!" the Joker laughed.

"Be glad I'm crippled," Nancy hissed. The Joker just giggled and ruffled her hair.

Bruce and Mike decided to play Halo after a while and Victoria went upstairs to check out the bedrooms. Nancy and Amy made bets for the next hour about how soon it would take for Mike to beat Bruce.

"Mike says you play a mean game of Halo," Amy hinted.

"You want to see Mike get his ass kicked don't you?" Nancy hinted back.

"Yes."

"Okay then," Nancy said, "Mike. I need to kick your ass."

"You got it," Mike giggled a little, "give me a second."

Mike beat Bruce in a matter of seconds and Nancy was finally given a controller. She stood and sat down on the coffee table, spinning around to face the screen. They adjusted the settings and started the game. Nancy heard someone settle onto the couch behind her and laugh every time she killed Mike. After about five minutes, Mike and Nancy started to chat pleasantly with one another. Asking about movies and friends and music. They would shove each other every so often to them each other off. Nancy still won.

"What happened?" Amy asked, "I blinked and it was over."

"Nancy kicked my ass as only Nancy can," Mike sighed again.

"I'm a little out of practice," Nancy said, "You killed me twice."

"You killed me twenty-five time," Mike said.

The Joker chuckled. Amy shook her head and decided to make her way up the stairs. Mike put the X-Box away and went upstairs too. Bruce and Jason tried each other at Halo when Nancy turned and sat back on the couch. After losing to each other several times, the two finally gave up and went upstairs. By that time, it was already eight o'clock at night.

"What do you think about the whole Gambol thing?" Nancy asked the Joker.

He looked at her as she stared at the blank TV screen.

"Not much," he said, "What do you think about getting up the stairs?"

Nancy let out one hard laugh before looking over at him and saying, "You just love those cripple jokes don't you?"

"Yes, and you don't?" he quipped.

"Not particularly," Nancy hissed.

"Nancy!" Mike shouted. Nancy jumped. "I found something for you!"

"It better be something I can kick your ass with!" Nancy said, struggling to get to her feet.

The Joker stood, slipped an arm around her waist, and brought her to her feet. Nancy gripped the front of his coat to balance herself and looked up at him. His other hand slid up to her cheek and he brushed the hair from her face.

"Nervous, Nancy?" he asked.

She shoved away from him and grabbed the side of the couch, she didn't look away from him. He licked his scars at her and looked at Mike as he slid down the banister. He was holding something.

"If I give this to you, you have to promise not to kill me with it," Mike said.

"Only beat you," Nancy insisted. Mike sighed and threw her the cane he had found upstairs. "Where the hell'd you find this?" she asked.

"One of the bedrooms," he said, "This place must've been managed by some old dude."

"I was wondering why it smelled like old people up in here," Bruce's voice came from upstairs.

Nancy just shook her head and watched the Joker walk up the stairs. Mike looked at her for a second. Nancy shook her head at him. She made her way up the stairs and Mike followed. He and Jason and Bruce would be sharing one room, while Nancy and the other girls had another room. The Joker had a room to himself. Nancy's room had tow bunk beds, a dresser, a desk, and a night stand. Nancy smiled at the desk and remembered that her computer was at her house, then she sighed and leaned against the door frame. Then she also realized her iPod was also at her house.

"I'm gonna die of music deprivation," she sighed.

Victoria and Amy looked up at her. She shrugged and limped over to one of the beds.

"I call top!" Victoria claimed.

"Not like I could use it anyway," Nancy shrugged.

"Chill out Vic," Amy said.

For the next few minutes Amy and Victoria argued over who would sleep where, not that it mattered. Nancy had a feeling Victoria just like to argue. Somewhere along the line she made her way to her to the bottom bunk of what would later be Amy's bed and went to sleep, leaving the other two to argue with each other. She dreamt about the Joker that night.

[/|\]

Alrighty then, I should have the next one out soon enough. Hope you enjoyed this one enough, it only took me forever and a day to type it. I've been having writers block issues lately, it will get done though. I promise you that.

I would like to thank all of you for your support so far and I hope you stick with this story as it unfolds. You have no idea how happy it makes me to read your reviews. Thank you!

-Jess