The last time Jayde could remember being in the stairwell of her apartment building, her hands had been handcuffed behind her back, trembling as the same man that walked beside her now dragged her along, forcing her to keep up with his long strides. Now, as she walked beside him again, she grinned, glancing up at him, remembering how repulsed she had been by him that first night. Joker must have felt her gaze on him as he looked over and down, smirking as he skipped ahead a few steps, turning to walk backwards to face her as they made their way down the hallway. His eyebrows bounced twice as he cocked his head to the side.

"See somethin' ya like?" he asked, holding out his arms, grinning that snarl-like smirk when Jayde nodded, trotting forward a few steps to catch his arm as they had finally reached her old door.

From his pocket, Joker produced that same large ring of keys, flipping through them until he found the one that matched this door, before sliding it into the lock to open it slowly. Her old apartment greeted them, familiar to both.

It looked exactly as they had left it, the cabinet and kitchen drawers pulled open from where Joker had been looking for any knives or objects he could fashion into a weapon; Jayde still didn't know if he had ever found anything. The curtains were still pulled closed across the sliding glass door in the living room although she could not remember closing them herself. The sun from outside streamed through them, casting the room in a light blue glow.

Joker took a deep breath as he stepped into the place to set their bags down, smirking slightly to himself. He could remember very clearly standing in that exact same spot nearly a month ago in his purple trench coat, wondering where he ought to leave his rose and poem. It seemed like such a long time ago that Jayde had been so terrified of him and when he turned to find her smiling at him placidly from the door, he felt himself surprised to feel a little bit proud at how far her opinion of him had come.

A light layer of dust covered nearly everything in her bedroom as Jayde stepped into it, turning to sit on the bed. It creaked the same way she could remember it doing and a smile found it's way to her face just when she noticed Joker step into the doorframe to lean against it, his arms folded over his chest. He looked exactly as he had the night he abducted her, except where purple and green had been, he now wore jeans and a black, long-sleeved t-shirt, pulled up to his forearms. His hair, however, was just as green, if not more, and the scars on his face were as noticeable as they had been a month ago, even without makeup. Jayde snorted slightly, fingering the fringe of her comforter somewhat sheepishly.

"You know, the last time we were here, I spent almost the whole time trying to figure out how I could kill you and not end up dead too." She admitted, shrugging her shoulders. Joker laughed slightly from across the room.

"We've come a long way, kiddo." He answered, raising his eyebrows before he squinted, glancing around at the walls of her bedroom. "Ya know…the first night I met you, after you killed that guy and I brought you back here, I spent almost an hour sitting right there, watching you sleep." Jayde's head popped up to find he had motioned toward a spot right next to where she could remember waking up on her back. She could feel her cheeks warming as she looked back to him, her eyebrows furrowed.

"That's weird." She commented, laughing. "Why?"

Joker shrugged, unfolding his arms to take a seat on the area of bed just next to her. His scarred fingers linked together between his knees as he sighed deeply.

"I didn't have anything else to do." He answered, looking over when he felt Jayde's expectant grin fade into a frown. His lips thinned slightly as he smirked, arching an eyebrow at her. "Plus," he continued a few moments later when Jayde continued to stare. "-you're disgustingly cute when you sleep, see…I guess I was trying to memorize everything about you."

This answer was closer to what she had been expecting him to say. Her eyes, however, found it hard to maintain contact with his at the moment and apparently, Joker was feeling some of that same awkwardness as he stood up, walking toward her bathroom. She watched him go, noticing the way his shoulder blades moved when he stretched his arms over his head with a groan.

"Why did you have me kill that guy anyway?" she asked, amazed that after an entire month, this was the first time she had wondered this since the day after it had happened. Joker snorted, standing in front of the mirror to push all his hair away from his face with the thick, t-shirt material headband he had found on the door knob.

"Because he was following you." He answered as though she had asked the most stupid question he had ever heard. "I mean…I had been following you for a week when I suddenly realized that I wasn't the only one." Turning again to face the bedroom, his expression was blank. A moment later, he shrugged, rolling his eyes. "Call it jealousy if you want. But…I couldn't stand the fact that someone else…" he trailed off, cringing slightly as he reached up to scratch an itch underneath his acid green hair. "After doing a bit of…research, I found that our old pal, Mister Reicher had been having you watched by that guy…SO…" he shrugged again, now distractedly picking at a bit of paint flaking off on the frame of the bathroom door. "…I had you kill him. That's why we took our little vacation to Montana." He finally finished, wiggling his fingers.

Across the room, Jayde was still watching him pensively until she finally grinned, standing to close the distance between them. Her arms moved around his middle and her cheek rested against his chest. At first, his body tensed and a quiet, falsely uncomfortable whimper left him as he tried to peel her off of him but Jayde held tight, laughing when he gave in with a sigh, resting his arms around her.

"Thank you, Joker." She murmured, opening her eyes with a grin when Joker huffed slightly, finally stepping away from her.

"Shut up."

A few minutes later, Joker and Jayde stood in the middle of her bedroom, staring around at her possessions. Jayde had begun to pull clothing from hangers in her closet, placing them on her bed while Joker watched with that squinting, scowling look on his face, hinting at the rapid plan-forming his brain was doing behind those brown eyes of his. When Jayde moved back to the bed with another large wad of clothes, he took a deep breath, placing his hands on his hips determinedly.

"We're gonna need a bigger car."

Of course, Jayde knew by now that Joker had some plan already formed so when he told her that they were going to leave their bags from their trip in her apartment, she asked no questions and simply followed him to the door to step back out into the hallway.

The Corvette was exactly where they had left it, in one of the back spots of the parking garage and it roared to life again as Joker turned the key, glancing behind him to back out. The sun was still beaming brightly outside although the weather in Gotham had seemingly changed while they had been gone, the hot, sticky summer months now slowly giving way to the brisk, crisp cool of October.

When Joker took a right turn back onto the towering interstate, Jayde realized they were taking the same turns they normally took to get back to the 'Joker Mansion' from the most inner parts of Gotham and her heart gave a little leap of excitement to see the huge house again. As though Joker knew what she was thinking beside him, he grunted a laugh, smirking to himself.

"Let's hope Dotcom is still alive, hm?" he grumbled.

Nearly a half hour passed before the Corvette bounced back into the driveway of the large, pale yellow mansion, rumbling faintly before he shut it off, standing to stretch again. Jayde did not wait for him and instead walked through the open garage, smiling to herself when she vaguely remembered the fist fight she and Joker had gotten into seemingly years ago.

At the door leading from the garage to the inside of the house, Joker paused, his eyebrows furrowed as he looked down at the key he had just slid into the lock. Jayde was just about to ask what he was waiting for when he looked up, scowling.

"I don't think Dotcom has ever seen me without my face on." he explained, glancing at her as Jayde rolled her eyes.

"Who cares?" she answered, meeting his gaze when he turned to glare at her. She continued quickly. "I mean, it was bound to happen eventually. He might not even be here."

This seemed to suffice for the time being so Joker opened the door, revealing the same huge living room she had stepped into all those weeks ago. Someone, presumably Dotcom, had been taking care of the house as it was just as clean as they had left it, the marble floors sparkling as though they had just been mopped. Joker entered the house first, setting his ring of keys down on the small kitchen table with a loud clank, hoping Dotcom would hear their arrival before he stumbled upon them. His hands found his hips as he looked up and around at the inside of the seemingly empty house and he began chewing on his bottom lip in a somewhat anxious manner.

Jayde noticed this but before she could comment or Joker disappear up the stairs, Dotcom's curly red head appeared up on the top landing. He released a breath loudly, his shoulders slumping slightly as he set down the dirty rag he had apparently been cleaning with.

"Oh, hey." He greeted them, coming down the stairs. Jayde grinned, walking over to hug him lightly, looking behind her when she noticed Dotcom glance over at Joker's turned back. His eyes flickered over Joker's outfit before he looked back to Jayde, one eyebrow arched. She shrugged in return, walking over to get a glass out of the cabinet and help herself to some water while Joker struggled to figure out how he could turn around and not see the look on Dotcom's face.

A moment later, he turned from the table, walking over to Jayde to take the glass of water from her hand and down the rest of it, handing it back to her, empty, as he flashed her a grin. "Wait here," he instructed, glancing at Dotcom from the corner of his eyes as he passed him on his way to the stairs. "Dotcom, a pleasure as always." He tossed over his shoulder, pleased with himself at the way he had trained Dotcom not to stare and instead ignore the fact that The Joker was not wearing his usual makeup.

Joker had taken the stairs two at a time and had disappeared into his bedroom, leaving Dotcom and Jayde in the kitchen alone. She had refilled her water glass and was now leaned against the counter, sipping it when Dotcom came over, his eyes wide.

"Wow, uh…" he began, glancing back at the top of the stairs. Jayde nodded, pushing herself up onto the counter to sit.

"Yeah, he hasn't worn it in a few days now." She explained, knowing immediately what he was referring to. "I think he misses it though."

And sure enough a few minutes later, after she and Dotcom had caught up a bit, Joker reappeared, trotting down the stairs, his face painted again into that wide, red smile, his eyes sunken and black. His jeans had been replaced with black pinstripe slacks much like his purple ones, and instead of the black, long-sleeved shirt, he had changed into a plain, white short sleeved tee, now wearing a long trench coat that nearly matched his purple one, however this one was also completely black. Jayde grinned to herself when Joker clapped his hands loudly, echoing in the tall room.

"How 'bout it, Jayde? We're ready to leave?" he asked, walking toward them purposefully. Before she could reply, he held out his hand to Dotcom. "May I have the keys to the truck, sir?" he asked, arching an eyebrow at him until he produced the set of keys from his back pocket, but hesitated, glancing at Jayde.

"Are you going to get her stuff? 'Cause, I'll help if you want me to follow you in the truck…" Dotcom offered somewhat hesitantly, making it obvious that throwing a wrench, however helpful, into Joker's plans was often frowned upon. However, this time the idea seemed to strike a note with Joker as he simply squinted, thinking at Dotcom until he nodded, pointing at him with the hand he had still been extending. Jayde grinned at Dotcom behind his back when Joker turned to pass into the garage, still nodding.

So now with a slight change in plans, Joker and Jayde now sat in the Corvette with Dotcom just behind them, following suit in the black Escalade. Before they had left the garage, Joker had handed a small, black walkie-talkie to Dotcom, who accepted it without hesitation and Jayde would have commented but figured it was probably easier to communicate through those versus a cell phone. Now, as she and Joker rode along, once again on the interstate, Jayde looked over, resting her head back against the seat.

"There isn't a whole lot I need to bring." She commented rather off-handedly. "Really just clothes and bathroom stuff." Across from her, Joker's eyebrows furrowed as he glanced over.

"Bathroom stuff?" he asked as if she had spoken another language. "As in-…?"

Jayde laughed, rolling her eyes. "You know, girl shampoo, conditioner…tampons 'n stuff…"

"What?" he asked again, loudly. Jayde shook her head, laughing.

"Uh, yeah, Joker. Girls have periods." She explained, grinning at him when his face fell and his eyes rolled.

"Yeah, I know." He answered dryly. "It's fascinating. Females are the only creatures on earth that can bleed for five days and not die…I think that's very interesting…" by now he had been distracted by maneuvering through Gotham's inner city and his voice began to trail off. "-makes me think they're up to somethin'…" he added a moment later as they stopped at a red light. His right elbow came to rest on the center console and he leaned on it, his head turning to look at Jayde. It seemed that he was just about to continue when he paused, his eyes sliding from Jayde's to the passenger window right behind her. His mouth closed again and he smirked, again looking to Jayde. "Look." He finally said, motioning toward the window with his head.

Turning, Jayde's eyes fell onto the store-front of the familiar Starbucks where she used to work, the store currently bustling and busy with customers. At first she wasn't sure how she felt about the sight of it but Joker didn't leave her much time to dwell. He cleared his throat, reaching up to put his right arm behind Jayde's seat.

"I was just about riiight here when I saw you for the first time." He began, grinning when her head turned quickly to look at him. "You were sitting in that chair, riiight there." Jayde was not sure what to say at first, but luckily he went on, his eyes still gazing at the front of the store. "I thought you were looking at me but then I realized you were just day-dreaming." He finished, again looking down at her as she frowned slightly.

"So the story you told Audrey about how we met…that was true?" she asked, watching his face as he turned back to the road once the light had turned green and he nodded, appearing the slightest bit proud of himself.

"Of course it was! I'm not a liar!" he replied, shrugging. "I literally was riding by in the car behind us and I saw you sitting in that window.That's how I found ya."

Jayde opened her mouth to comment but hesitated, her eyes falling from Joker onto the car they had just crept up alongside at the next red light. The words "Gotham Police" were emblazoned along the side in large, bold blue letters against the stark white. The numbers near the hood told her that this was patrol car number 163, which was now so close to Joker's side of the car, Jayde could see a bit of paint peeling from it's door. Joker had noticed her eyes shift past him but he paused, watching her expression for a moment or two before turning to look.

Several silent seconds passed here where Jayde watched as the officer looked over from writing a ticket in his car and Joker's scars curved upward into a taunting, evil grin as the two men locked eyes. Time seemed to shift into slow motion for a few blinks as the officer flipped his lights on and Joker put his foot down on the gas, speeding through the light that had just switched to green, leaving a dense cloud of burnt rubber smoke behind the Corvette.

Jayde's hair slapped her in the face as she turned quickly to look behind them just as the front of the cop car came barreling through the smoke with ease, it's sirens wailing away as Joker took the Corvette up to almost seventy miles an hour down the long, main street. It seemed panic was rendering her unable to speak or scream but beside her, Joker was sitting up in his seat, glancing in the rear view mirror.

"Ok, listen, Jayde-.." he began, but she had finally found her tongue and cut across him.

"Joker!" she exclaimed as more police had begun following them and were now gaining ground, just as he made a sharp left onto another long street. The tires squealed a bit but Joker's voice was much louder than anything outside the car at this point.

"Jayde! Listen!" he nearly shouted, glancing over to make sure she was paying attention. "You have to tell them I was horrible to you." He explained, his voice now only slightly raised to be heard over the roaring engine. The look of panic on her face was almost too much for him at that point, so he kept his eyes on the road, now hooking a wide right in which the tires skidded again, fishtailing them slightly. The wailing police sirens were closing in. "Don't tell them about Montana at all, don't mention the house or Dotcom…Jayde, don't tell them my name. Don't tell them anything." He paused, his shoulders slumping slightly as he shook his head. "You gotta tell them I did that to your face. Ok?" he asked but when she hesitated, he raised his voice again. "Jayde, promise me!"

Tears had begun to blur her vision and as hard as she tried to fight it off, she nodded her head, wet trails now streaking her cheeks. "I promise."

By now, two cruisers had caught up and were now flanking the Corvette closely on either side, the blue, red and white lights flashing in sync. A nauseas, overwhelming feeling had begun to creep up inside Jayde and the seatbelt catching her when Joker slammed on the brakes did nothing to help. The tires again screamed but by the time Joker had spun the car, the nearly ten police cars had by then caught up and were now stopped in a blockage, stretching across almost the entire street. Several of the officers had already gotten out and were now crouched behind their open doors, aiming at the black Corvette.

A rather nonchalant, disappointed sigh left Joker as he shut the car off, leaning back against the seat to look over at Jayde and smile placidly. Her eyes met his as a loud megaphone broke the near silence.

"You're done, Joker! Try anything and we WILL shoot!"

Vaguely, far off, Jayde felt her hand move as Joker gripped it to let his thumb rub the back it gently. "I guess this is it, kiddo." He murmured, his grin expanding when he noticed more tears gathering along the bottom of her eyes. "Don't cry."

"Send the girl out first!"

The megaphone came again, louder and Jayde blinked, her eyes wide.

"Go on." Joker put quietly, nodding his head. "Remember, you promised."

The air outside the car seemed to be completely solid as Jayde stepped out of the car slowly, holding her hands up slightly when an officer shouted at her to do it. Once convinced she was unarmed, a man ran out toward her with a blanket, wrapping it around her shoulders to rush her off to the side as if she was some sort of victim. However, Jayde shrugged it off, turning to look back at the car as the megaphone sounded again.

"Get out and walk forward with your hands up, Joker! NOW!"

The street fell silent as the door slowly bounced open before Jayde could see the upper torso of The Joker now standing outside the car with his hands just raised slightly, a snarling, crooked grin on his face. "All of these people?" he was asking loudly of the police commissioner on the megaphone. "Just for me?"

"Put your hands up! Higher!" he merely shouted in return but Joker cringed, shaking his head.

"You know, I think they're fine right here." He replied, but paused as a swat team member approached him cautiously, a long automatic rifle poised in his hands. "Oh, hello." Joker greeted him in an almost polite voice, severely contradictory of the expression on his face.

"On your knees!" the man shouted, jabbing Joker in the ribs hard with the end of his gun. Jayde's fingers tightened around the discarded blanket when she noticed Joker struggle not to wince from the blow to almost the exact same place she had extracted his bullet several days before. Whether or not he was going to do it willingly, the pain forced him to his knees anyways where he leaned over slightly, squinting up at the swat team member in front of the sun.

"Can I get a please next time?" he asked but grunted slightly when several officers rushed him, forcing him onto his stomach with his face against the ground. One of them pushed their knee into the back of his neck while the one of the others handcuffed his hands behind his back.

From where she was standing, Jayde could barely hear Joker laughing under the sound of her heartbeat, banging away at the inside of her chest. It was incredibly difficult at the moment to keep her face passive while Joker was lifted from the ground to his feet roughly and made to stand still while the officers patted him down, starting at his shoulders on down to his ankles.

It seemed that Jayde had blinked maybe four times since the sirens had erupted but vaguely, as she watched the police commissioner now approaching The Joker, she felt someone touch her arm. Turning quickly, she found that the officer that had pulled her away from the car was looking down her and that an ambulance had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

"Miss, we're going to take you to the hospital." He said rather quietly, glancing over the top of her head at the scene in the middle of the street. "He's going away." The tall officer added a few moments later, apparently mistaking Jayde's stunned silence as fear as he added "You're safe now."

Behind him, she could see the back doors to the ambulance swing open where a whole team of paramedics stood, waiting with their monitors and machines. But when the same hand that had touched her just moments prior reached out to take her arm again, she shied away from it, shaking her head.

"No." she finally said, pulling the blanket back up to her chest to hold onto it. "I-…I want to see him go." When the officer let go of her arm slowly with a confused glance at his fellow, Jayde turned her back to them, hoping they had taken that the way she had meant it to sound. Her rapid heartbeat came back to command her hearing and soon that was practically all she could hear.

"Honestly, I did not expect you to cooperate like this, Joker and not take several of my officers' lives." The commissioner was saying as he walked up to the tall fugitive turned captive. The clown laughed, tossing his head slightly.

"Hm, well, the day is still young, uh…Com-missioner." Joker replied, his scars stretching to show nearly all of his teeth in a wide snarl. "I'm sure I don't need to remind you what happened the last time we tried this." He then ended in a low growl. The much shorter, grey-haired man's somewhat accomplished smirk faded quickly until he took a step closer, pressing his gun against The Joker's chest.

"The last time we caught you," he began, moving his face closer. "You got away because you had planned to be caught." Across from him, The Joker began to cock his head to the side slowly, squinting. "This time, you weren't ready."

"Ahh…Or was I, Commissioner…?"

Silence overtook the street again as the two men stared each other down until Gordon shook his head, turning to shout orders. "Get him back to MCU! Get this street cleared back up!…" The yelling continued but Jayde was no longer listening and instead met Joker's eyes from across the street as he was turned, their gazes locking momentarily until he was pushed roughly into the back seat of the nearest police cruiser. Several more tears traveled quickly down Jayde's cheeks but she wiped them away hastily, hoping none of the officers and detectives around her had seen.

With Joker now gone and the Corvette abandoned in the middle of the street, Jayde felt that overwhelming sinking feeling come crashing back into her stomach. The paramedics and police officers were now ushering her into the back of the ambulance although Jayde knew they would find nothing wrong with her. She played along however and lay down willingly along the stretcher, leaning her head back to finally rest her eyes, all while the people around her talked quietly, taking her blood pressure and pulse.

"How are you feeling, Jayde?" a woman's voice asked a few moments later, just as the ambulance began moving. At first, Jayde wanted to say absolutely fine, but on second thought, she was supposed to be playing a victim.

"I'm tired. I'm just really tired." She answered, keeping her eyes shut in an effort to keep her tears back, however her voice quaked a bit when she continued. "I just really want to sleep." A hand reached out to lightly smooth her hair back from her face and Jayde supposed it was the woman who had just spoken.

"Jayde, I'm Officer Taylor." Now came a deeper, male voice. "When we get to the hospital, it will take about an hour to do a physical evaluation…" he paused when the woman's voice murmured to him.

"Are they going to need an S.A. kit?" she asked and Jayde opened her eyes to look at the officer just to the left of her. He nodded in response apparently before he realized she was looking at him as he stammered slightly when he noticed her.

"Uh, but after they run a few tests, we'll be headed to the station to get a formal statement from you…if that's alright." The officer added this to the end as if to make it seem like it was a request although Jayde was almost positive it was not. She closed her eyes again, resting her head back down.

"After all of that, can I go home?" she asked, the thought of which caused more tears to come, more quickly this time.

"Yes, you'll be free to go home." he answered and it took almost everything in her not to laugh sarcastically. Home…right…

Go to the next chapter! They are meant to go together but it was too long so I split them up…Keep going!