Title: I Love You…I'll Kill You

Fandom: The Dark Knight

Rating: M

Pairing: Joker/OC

Genre: Drama/Angst

Disclaimer: Unfortunately I don't own the Joker or Batman.

A/N: Thanks to everyone reading and/or reviewing this story. I'm afraid that this will be the last update for a couple of days. I'm going to be super-busy with a bunch of things but will definitely update this story again by Wednesday (Tuesday if I get ambitious)! I tried to be nice and not to leave you with a cliffhanger. Enjoy!

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Crane sat in the interrogation room, absentmindedly rolling the empty cup on the desk. They had taken him out of his holding cell and placed him in here shortly after Lacy left with Bruce Wayne. But that had been a long time ago and he was starting to wonder if they had forgotten about him.

He focused his mind on his earlier conversation with Lacy. While he could admit that telling her the Joker had hired him to do something to her would seem weird to most people, to him it seemed just right.

He had gone over and over the methods he used to change someone's personality and had tested it extensively. He was 100 percent sure that his methods worked and he really had changed the guys' personalities. There wasn't a single doubt in his mind that it worked.

So if he was right, then who really turned him in to the police? The answer seemed simple to him. It had to be someone who knew about his plans and where to find him. Few people knew about where he stayed and an even fewer amount knew what his plans were.

His powers of deduction led him to believe his betrayer was either the Joker or someone in the Joker's crew. It was more likely that the betrayer was someone within the Joker's crew rather than the Joker himself, but it didn't matter much to him. Either way, he would get his revenge.

He didn't think the Joker had turned him in to the police not out of some naïve belief that the Joker wasn't capable of doing so, but because he was good at reading people. The Joker was no exception. He was extremely excited about the prospect of changing someone's complete personality and molding them to be whatever you want them to be. When the Joker sent him the list of attributes he wanted Lacy to have, he could tell that the Joker basically wanted to train someone to be his passive sex slave.

Now he didn't have a problem with that. He realized it must be difficult for the Joker to find anyone willing to have consensual sex with him on account of his insanity and the scars. He couldn't begrudge him for wanting to have someone around who would be absolutely loyal, agreeable and passive. What man didn't fantasize about a woman like that?

But the fact of the matter remained that he was in police custody and his work was going to be taken away from him. That would only delay, if not completely destroy the deal they had and the Joker would not be able to reprogram Lacy. He didn't see that as being something the Joker wanted to happen, which led him to believe that it was more likely someone in the Joker's crew was the one who ratted him out to the police.

But in the long run it didn't matter who ratted him out. The important thing was that he was going to have to spend valuable time plotting and executing an escape, as well as spending valuable time replacing all of his work documents. That couldn't happen without being avenged.

So he warned Lacy to be careful of the Joker and revealed a part of the Joker's plan to her, always being careful not to reveal the whole plan. But he let her know just enough. His hope would be that she would go directly to Batman and ask for his protection. Then Batman would go after the Joker and while they are fighting it out, he could slip in and destroy both of them. It would be perfect.

Lacy entered the guest bathroom and took a good, long look at herself in the mirror. Her hair was a mess, her face was still slightly stained with dried blood, and her clothes still colored a deep red. Looking at herself right now was an image she would never forget, just like the image of looking up in that elevator and seeing Chris.

She turned on the water in the sink and picked up the bar of soap, working it into a soapy lather in her hands. Then she started scrubbing her face, eagerly attempting to get the dried blood off of her face. There wasn't much left; the paramedic had done a good job of getting most of it off. She just wanted to make sure that there wasn't any trace of it left on her face. She would worry about her hair and body when she got in the shower.

Once she was satisfied with a clean face, she took stock of the rest of the bathroom. Alfred had stocked it with fresh towels and it looked like there was shampoo and body wash already in the shower. There was a robe hanging on the door, along with a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.

Without anymore hesitance she quickly shed her clothes and walked into the shower, turning the water as warm as it could go. It took a few moments for the water to heat up but she didn't mind. She let the water wash over her and finally allowed herself to cry.

Sobs racked her body as she let herself feel the emotions from this evening. There was sadness over the loss of a friend, anger at the monster who killed him and guilt over the whole thing. Then there was the church bombing. She knew that was her fault. The only reason he targeted the church was because she had gone to confession there today.

She let herself purge all the tears from her body as the water washed away the stress from the night.

The Joker smiled as he turned on the television, eager to see the news coverage from the night's activities.

"As you can see, the flames from Our Lady of Gotham Church are still going as firefighters work to contain the blaze. Apparently at around 10:05 this evening there was a powerful blast originating from the church. The police have been hesitant to attribute this crime to the Joker; however witnesses are reporting that they saw several men wearing clown masks hanging around outside the church just before the detonation."

"We're also getting reports from witnesses that the blast was so significant it even shattered windows in nearby buildings. Police are still unsure if anyone was in the church at the time of the blast, and probably won't find out for sure until after the flames have been extinguished. This is Jeanne Stone reporting live for GCN. Back to you, Mike."

"Thank you Jeanne." Mike nodded. "Unfortunately there is another story that we are closely following for you tonight, a gruesome murder at a downtown office building. We go now to Steve Turner for more information."

"Thank you Mike. As you mentioned, along with the church bombing, there has been a truly disturbing murder occurred tonight. I'm here at the scene of the crime. It happened at the Ace Consulting office building. Apparently, police were called out to this location at around 8:30 p.m. and found a young woman trapped in an elevator with a man who had been stabbed to death several times and then tied to the ceiling of the elevator."

"Police say this was another of the infamous Joker killings, as they found several of his Joker calling cards scattered around the office of the victim. I'm being told that the young woman was taken in for questioning but is not considered a suspect, just a woman in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Steve, are the police releasing the names of the victim and the young woman?"Mike asked from the newsroom.

Steve looked down at his notes before answering. "Actually Mike, police have released the name of the victim. He is being identified as 32-year old Chris Stevens, a consultant who worked for Ace Consulting. Police are being careful not to release the name of the young woman who found his body though."

"Have the police said anything about a possible motive for this killing or any definite connections between this killing and the recent one of Ace Consultings' CEO Samuel Drake?" Mike asked.

"No Mike, the police are being very quiet about possible connections between this murder and the one of Samuel Drake, other than the fact that they worked for the same company and were both stabbed." Steve replied.

"Thank you Steve." Mike acknowledged. "And now let's take a look at tomorrow's weather forecast…"

The Joker turned off the television in disgust. They didn't report on half the things he wanted them to report on tonight. For starters, they didn't mention Lacy's name and they didn't tell everyone about the person he blew up in the church. The way he saw it, it was negligent journalism, pure and simple.

When the phone rang he sighed and waited for the fourth ring to answer. "Hello?"

"Hey boss." Chip greeted. "We've been following the girl and wanted to let you know that she's staying at Bruce Wayne's penthouse."

"Interesting." The Joker said. He wondered if she would stay with Bruce tonight, but wasn't sure after the note that he had left her in the elevator. It was a warning about many different things, one of which being her "relationship" with Bruce Wayne.

Apparently, judging by the fact that she chose to stay with Bruce tonight she had made her choice. He had to assume that by this decision she was trying to tell him that she wasn't under his control anymore. It disturbed him on many levels, especially since Crane was now in jail. It was going to be difficult to "re-program" Lacy if Crane was in jail or being monitored by the police.

He wondered why Crane was in jail but hadn't had time to find out yet. He would figure out what to do about Lacy after he found out about Crane.

"Keep me posted on what she does." The Joker told Chip before hanging up.

After showering, Lacy put on the clothes and the robe left for her in the bathroom and then went to go find Bruce. She found him in the kitchen with Alfred. "Hi." She quietly said as she walked over and sat on a stool next to Bruce. It looked like he had taken a shower as well and she found the scent of his body wash to be extremely relaxing and comforting to her.

It was a familiar scent. For a moment she couldn't quite remember where she had smelled that scent before, but then it hit her. It was the same scent that Jack used to use. That's why she found it comforting.

Lacy rolled over and groaned, pounding on the alarm clock to get it to shut up.

"You better watch what you do to that thing." Jack joked as he came out of the shower with just a towel wrapped around his waist. He sat next to her on the edge of the bed and kissed her forehead. "Good morning."

"It is now." She smiled, gently tugging on his towel.

He laughed. "I just took a shower."

"I know." She laughed. "But I can't help it that I love the way you smell right after a shower."

He repositioned himself so that he was lying down next to her and pushed some hair out of her face. "You know traditionally it's supposed to be the man asking for sex in the morning."

"What can I say?" She shrugged, bringing her lips as close to his as they could be without touching. "We must just be an unconventional couple."

"I can deal with that." He smiled.

She brought herself out of that memory, ashamed that she would allow herself to think about him like that. That person was gone. Jack was gone forever and in his place was a monster that needed to be taken out of society. She couldn't let herself think of him as Jack anymore. It would only cloud her emotions and prevent her from doing what was necessary.

"How are you feeling?" Bruce asked.

"Better I guess." She answered.

"Can I get you anything to eat, Miss Williams?" Alfred asked, more than willing to make her whatever she wanted.

"No, but thanks." She shook her head. "I'm not hungry, and even if I was, I don't think I could keep it down."

"How about some warm cocoa then?" Alfred offered.

She gave him a small smile. "That sounds good, if you don't mind."

"I was already making some for Master Wayne, so it would be no trouble to make some for you. In fact, it would be my pleasure." Alfred assured her.

"Thank you for the clothes." She said, looking over at Bruce. She wanted to ask if he kept women's clothes here for emergencies, but didn't have the nerve to ask that question. Besides, it was none of her business.

"No problem." He smiled at her. He was glad that the clothes fit. While he was at the police station being questioned he called Alfred and had him pick up some clothes for Lacy since he planned on bringing her back here for the night.

Alfred placed the cups of cocoa in front of both Lacy and Bruce. "Here you go."

"Thanks Alfred." Bruce said before taking a sip.

"Yes, thanks." Lacy echoed Bruce's sentiments. She picked up her cup. "If you don't mind I think I'm going to take my cocoa into the guest room, drink it there and then try to get some rest."

"Ok." Bruce answered, knowing that she must be exhausted after everything. Although he wanted to ask her questions about what happened tonight he could understand her desire to just get some sleep. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to find me."

"Ok." She nodded. "Goodnight Alfred. Goodnight Bruce."

"Goodnight." Alfred and Bruce said in tandem.