Well it's been a long, long, long time since I've updated this or anything else ... I apologize but life really has kept me busy, and for a while there I seemed not be in a slump. Not wanting to write at all. Yet here I am back again with more Bruce/Barbara since they really are my favorite. So I hope you enjoy this one - it was inspired by a reviewer. Let me know what you think since I'm a bit rusty - AkuIku

"Why do you do it?"

Barbara wasn't sure what possessed her to ask, they'd been sitting in silence for twenty minutes now waiting for Batman to return. She'd never felt the need to strike up a conversation with Harley Quinn before .. Perhaps her curiosity had finally gotten the better of her, perhaps she wanted to understand how an upstanding citizen could attach herself to a demented clown, either way Bruce wouldn't be happy if he found out.

"It makes puddin' happy"

Barbara frowned, wondering what kind of flawed logic that was. The joker was a psychopath who cared what made him happy. She chose not to mention that, knowing it would send Harley into one of her ridiculous rants about how much her "puddin" loved her, and how no one understood him like she did.

"And it doesn't matter to you that his happiness comes at the price of innocent lives."

Harley didn't even spare a moment of thought before replying. "Does it matter to you?"

Barbara froze, unable to breath for a moment before turning to look at the woman beside her. They weren't talking about the joker anymore...

"I don't know what you're talking about."

In a stunning moment of clarity, Harley turned to her, eyes eerily blank.

"Somehow I doubt you have a house with a white picket fence, or a dog, or 2.5 kids ... that suit you wear won't let you."

Barbara spared a glance at her outfit, before returning her gaze to Harley and the homemade clown costume she sported.

"Neither will yours."

Shrugging Harley turned to look out over the city, her legs dangling back and forth over the roof ledge like a child.

"Like I said it makes puddin' happy."

She wasn't doing this for Bruce ...

Barbara frowned wondering where that thought had come from. This didn't have anything to do with him...or making him happy. She fought on for the city, and it's people ... didn't she.

"I'm happy with things just the way they are."

She was a liar, and Harley knew it.

" ... And you call me insane - you're the crazy one if you actually believe that ... girls like us don't get happy endings."

She was right ... they didn't. Girls like them found themselves clinging to what ever little source of normalcy they could find... Like Batman ... like the Joker ...

"You don't know anything about me... we're nothing alike"

Barbara would deny it to her dying day, the things she discovered that night. Because honestly it's depressing when you find yourself relating to Harley Quinn.

"Really? Then let me ask you a question - Why do you do it?"

"To protect the people of Gotham." The answer automatically flew past her lips before she had a moment to consider what Harley had said, she'd had years of practice after all. Bruce had certainly drilled it into all of them over the years.

"How noble of you ... certainly reason enough to start off ... but what keeps you doing it?"

She found it disturbing how lucid a conversation they were having right now, she was supposed to be crazy. She'd thought she'd fallen in love with the joker for Christ's sake, they spent years trying to keep her in Arkham ... that was when Barbara realized one very poignant fact. Harley Quinn knew how to work the system, who better to play crazy then a former psychologist. Which meant the woman knew exactly what she was doing, that she fully understood the pain and suffering she inflicted upon their victims, and that she honestly believed she was in love with the joker.

Barbara didn't like that ...

Sighing she looking up at the crescent moon, this had been a mistake from the very beginning.

Beside her Harley sat grinning.

" you don't have to say anything ... I already know the answer. He's standing right behind you."

Barbara frowned, looking over her shoulder she watched Batman emerge from the shadows.

"The joker's been returned to Arkham, I think it's time you join him Harley."

She didn't know what possessed her but for some reason she stopped him from coming closer. Jumping up from her perch on the ledge Batgirl faced off against Batman, shoulders squared, eyes cold.

" I'll do it."

He gave her a suspicious glance, before turning to glare at Harley.

She hated how he always made her ask for permission.

"Thirty minutes - if you're not back I"m coming to get her myself." Turning away Barbara glared at his retreating cape.

"How kind" Batgirl spat, enjoying the way Batman froze, back stiffening before disappearing off into the night.

Tilting her head to the side, Harley grinned once more.

"See - we're not that different after all"