CHAPTER 27

The ride home was long and they only had one henchman with them this time. The rest of them had without a doubt been killed. The two were both alone in the back of the van. Harley had ripped a piece of clothing from one of the dead men back at the building and was now wrapping it tightly around Jokers gun shot wound.

When she had finished, she leaned back and sat across from him, one staring lazily at the other.

"You got shot." She broke eye contact from him and gracefully took off her jester hat.

"Why didn't you listen to me?" He kept his eyes on Harley, legs bent straight out, not a care in the world that he had just been shot.

"I was scared you were going to get hurt." She pointed a finger hastily at his leg, "Looks like my instincts were right on."

"Why didn't you listen to me?" His voice was bottomless, brimming with rage.

Harley kept quiet and not wanting to make even the slightest amount of eye contact with his devious glare she kept her visual examination on a smudge located on the van floor.

"Harley!" He bellowed, "Get over here!"

She bit her lip and obeyed without question, she begged however, to anyone that could hear her thoughts, to make the pain quick.

When Harley was close enough to him he lashed out and struck her across the face with the back of his hand. Her nose stung instantly. She could feel the warm blood begin to trickle down and across her lips. Harley knelt before him though, she knew if she just got it over with and didn't fight, it would be for the best.

Joker smiled and motioned with his finger for her to come closer. Again Harley obeyed. He reached out and grabbed her blond hair tugging her close to him, "What did I tell you to do Harl?"

"You told me to not to leave the dumpster."

"Mmhmm…and what did you do?" He spoke into her ear.

"I left the dumpster."

"So…you understood what I asked right? I even asked you if you understood and you said 'right'…right?"

"Yes." Her small voice cracked a little.

"You're worse than a damn dog Harley, you tell them to stay, they will obey." Joker let go of her shoving her away from him as if in disgust.

She motioned back to the other side of the van and sat. The blood from her nose dripping profusely now.

Harley didn't wipe it away, she just let the warm liquid drip.

Joker noticed the bloody mess forming on her outfit and then sighed he did feel incredibly bad about hitting his perfect little jester. But she wasn't listening to him and he couldn't have that now. No Harley needed to listen no matter what he had said. She needed to listen to him, "Come here." His voice somewhat calmer sounding.

She, not wanting to upset him anymore, crawled over to him and waited for her next punishment.

He tore a piece of the cloth from his suit and wiped the blood away from underneath her nose. He then covered her nose with the cloth, "Blow."

Harley obliged and blew softly allowing the excess blood to leave her nostrils. A rush of relief passed over her. Joker pinched the bridge of her nose until the bleeding had stopped entirely.

"Did you get hurt at all?" His tone now quiet almost concerning…almost.

She rubbed her shoulder, "No…I'm fine." Harley kept her head down, possibly thinking that his kindness could be a trick, or a joke, to play with her emotions. Which were being tossed around quite nicely.

A warm hand had suddenly been placed on her knee and she looked up instinctively. What she saw was a complete shock to her.

The Joker stared intently at her strong and powering…but a tear, a small and almost invisible tear, was slowly traveling down his cheek and to the corner of his mouth.

It was a solo tear, there had been no noise or scrunched up face, it was as if it were only a raindrop that had some how fallen through the roof of the van and landed on his white face.

He caught the tear before it completely diminished into his mouth and examined it on the tip of his finger, questioningly looking at it, and then to Harley, then back to the tear again that was residing on his finger.

Harley looked at him, perplexity covering her concerned face.

Surprisingly he smiled, "Well…that was a pretty neat magic trick ya did their Harl."

Harley dropped her shoulders in relief and giggled quietly, maybe it wasn't a cruel trick.

"Harley…you have to listen to me." He shook her knee.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay…"

"And I want to make sure that you are okay." Joker furthered his point, "If something happened to you sugar…I'd cut the blundering idiot who hurt you into a million pieces."

Harley smiled and snuggled into his side, he acceptingly pulled her in closer.

"You have such a way with words Mistah J."

He patted her tummy, "When we get home…you definitely will need a bath." He wafted the air in front of his nose.

"Hey you're the one who told me to go hide in a dumpster." She defensively stated.

Joker kissed her forehead, "I don't care I still think you're hot."

"You got a thing for girls who hang in dumpsters do you?" She laughed.

"No not really, only one…ya know she used to be my doc back at Arkham."

Harley joyously accepted the little game Joker wanted to play, "Yea? Tell me about her."

"Well…" He pondered for a moment, "She has these bright baby blue eyes that sparkle every time I look into them. Always wanting to please me…the silly little thing she was, but she wasn't always silly. When I first met her…her eyes were dull, emotionless really. I could tell that she had fun within her, all she needed was a little help from good ol' Mister J."

Harley eagerly listened wanting to know more about what Joker actually thought about her, "Did you help her?"

"Yes, yes of course I did. I'm glad I did too. You see she had a bad childhood, she needed to forget about those things that happened to her sweet little self. I was the only way she would be able to accomplish that though…and in time she will." He looked at her and smiled, "But right now I enjoy having her around because she's a barrel full of laughs always a pleasure to have around."

"Is she pretty?" Harley laughed at that question.

"No not pretty…but absolutely gorgeous…the seductive little jokester. Always teasing me with her perfect body. She just today, in fact, finally let me have her. After what seemed like years trying to get her to allow me the pleasure in taking her sweetness!"

"How was that?" She nuzzled into his side feeling the van go over potholes. Harley enjoyed the conversation, it was soothing to listen to Jokers voice, and he added so much to the story by using it effectively.

"…I don't think I should be telling someone I barely know about my sex life, but being the man I am and all…it was the best I've ever had."

"Really?" She seemed shocked but of course was incredibly relieved to hear that he had enjoyed it.

"Yea. She waited until I said it was okay for her to climax…that's pretty impressive in my eyes. Pure devotion."

Harley laughed and looked up at Joker and rolled her eyes, "You're such a dork."

"What my doc is good in bed…are you jealous?" He smiled darkly into her ear and kissed it.

"Oh…yes sir…entirely!" She laughed harder and fell onto her back.

"You should be…she's pretty fantastic." He plopped down next to her, slightly grimacing from the pain in his leg, "I've never met anyone like her before."

They looked at each other for a moment until Harley closed her eyes feeling Joker rub her back, "If you think she's so perfect why don't you just marry her?" She laughed for a second but stopped when she felt Joker stop his hand motion on her back.

"I've thought about it."

"How serious of a thought?" She had changed her tone of voice to that of a more serious one.

"Eh…just thought about it." He continued to rub her back.

"Hey…how serious?" Harley jumped up and knelt beside him.

Joker smiled, "Geesh…you're a nosey little thing, getting into my relationships and everything…but I've thought about it enough."

He turned over onto his back and looked up at Harley.

She patiently waited for him to say something…anything…

"Well?"

"What?" He furrowed his brow

"Never mind…" She sighed and sat down.

Joker chuckled, "You remind me a lot of her, so impatient…come here pumpkin."

Harley was firmly embraced by his long arms and then received a tender kiss on her lips, "You know…you know I…love you right? You know I do?" He tapped the tip of her nose with his finger.

"Yes Joker."

"If anything ever happened to you again Harley…I'd…"

He was interrupted by Harley, "You'd cut the blundering idiot into a million pieces, I know."

"No…I'd probably cut myself into a million pieces."

She looked angry, "Don't say that."

"You made me cry Harl, or at least shed a minor tear…and I'll admit it felt good to have that release…but it made me feel weak. I don't want to feel weakness. If something ever happened to you, I wouldn't be able to stop the weak feeling."

Harley pulled herself away, and in a disgusted tone, "So…if we did end up together, ended up having kids…and say something bad happened, you'd give up on the world because you simply would feel weakness?"

Joker rubbed his temple, "No!" He screamed at her, "I would never do that to my kids…I would never repeat what my fath…" He stopped dead in his tracks.

"What?" She urged him to continue.

"Nothing…I would never do that to my kids, I would never do that to you."

"…What happened Joker? What did your dad do?" She sounded sweet and caring.

"Don't fucking play psychoanalysis on me! I'm tired of that shit!" He looked at his wound, "That's all my life has ever been…damn people trying to pry open my mind."

She scooted herself to him and hugged him, "It's a habit, I'll work on it."

Joker calmed down and held her tightly, "Besides you make me feel strong, I didn't think that there was someone else out their in this corrupted world that was sane."

"I'll listen…if you ever want to talk. I'm not pressuring you though, just know I'm here. I'll always be here for you Mistah J. I'll never leave."

"You stink…" He quietly whispered.

"Well, you certainly know how to ruin a touching moment, I have to say that much." She laughed.

"I am The Joker. I'm good at those kinds of things."

"That's not the only thing you're good at…"

He looked down at her face, "If that wasn't seductive then I don't know what is."

Harley brightly smiled showing a pearly set of whites with her eyes clenched tightly. Joker marveled at her and then pinched her cheek lovingly, "We're going to take a bath the second we get home!"

"We?" She repeated.

"Yea! I look forward to it." He rubbed his hands together in a conniving motion.

Harley smiled and then rubbed her nose, "You hit me pretty hard."

It frustrated him that she had to bring up that sad fact again but he allowed it leaning forward and kissing the tip of her nose, "I'm sorry baby." He cooed his words.

She seemed to melt right before him.

"You scared me though…it's just negative reinforcement is all. You understand hmm?"

Harley nodded as if in a trance from his perfectly selected words and tone.

"At a girl!" He ruffled her smooth hair.

"Hey!" Joker called out to the driver.

"Yes boss?"

"I want…some ice-cream."