"And he just agreed," Adriana said to Dr. Kapoor. "Just like that...barely any questions asked."
"Well..this is a good thing isn't it?" Dr. Kapoor asked Adriana when she told him about the Joker agreeing to be sent away.
"I mean, sure..I was hoping it wouldn't be difficult to get him to accept but.." Adriana said. "I don't know..it just isn't like him to just...he likes being in control of things, planning things out and not just letting things happen. He's a meticulous planner, and this whole thing is so unexpected."
"What is your concern?" the doctor asked.
"I..." she said and thought. "I wonder if maybe he's depressed?"
"In my professional observation," the doctor said. "He doesn't display signs of depression. PTSD from his confinement? Yes. Anxiety? Most certainly. I would even say he is regretful about what he did to his skin after the laser treatment. He did not want to lost his scars. His identity is...changing in a way neither of us can fully understand. But I would not say that he seems depressed...which is incredible considering what we talk about and the things we reflect on in his sessions."
"But...that's just it, I mean, especially with the scars. I can tell with his thoughts..he hates looking into the mirror even more than before because he doesn't recognize himself at all...I don't see why you don't think he could be depressed, even just a little."
Adriana was too busy with her own thoughts and musings to pay attention to the doctor's. She had never seen the Joker so tolerant and accepting. He always had his own plans, and now he was leaving everything up to them.
"You," the doctor said.
"Huh?" Adriana said, caught up in her thoughts.
"He talks about you a lot," the doctor said. "And he does not know, of course, that I know that he is talking about you specifically."
"I know," Adriana said.
"If you were not here, I do believe he would have depression, at the very least," the doctor said. "He does not recognize himself. His perspective is changing, his appearance is changing, everything is different. I would say sometimes he even questions his reality here, which we are working on. But you...you are recognizable and constant. The only constant from before...and still here in the present."
"Oh..." Adriana said, suddenly feeling great responsibility. "I see."
"Yes," the doctor said. "I do believe that he will be just fine. Not without struggle..internal turmoil and we all have, and I am sure you are familiar with it. But he is quite strong, mentally, I would say."
Adriana nodded. "Okay."
.
.
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"Once I select a property, you will be the first to know," Lucius assured Adriana that evening.
She was bathing Arsenio, who was sitting in a small inflatable tub inside of the bathtub. He was holding onto a small plastic shovel and slapping it onto the water, making small splashes.
"Is everything alright?" Lucius asked, not knowing what the sound was.
"Oh, yes," Adriana said. "Just giving my baby a bath. He wouldn't let go of this little shovel toy so I let him bring it into the bath and now he's making a bit of a mess. Aren't you sweetheart? That shovel is supposed to be for you very first trip to the beach when your daddy and I take you this summer, but you wanted to play with it now."
Lucius laughed as Arsenio began making sounds, realizing Adriana was talking to him even though she was holding her cell phone in between her shoulder and ear.
"Thank you so much, Lucius," Adriana said. "I don't know how I would have done all this without your help..seriously."
"My pleasure, "Lucius replied.
"So..." Adriana said after a momentary silence. "What are you thinking about right now? Barbados? The Dominican Republic?"
"Well, truthfully I wasn't thinking about the properties we are looking at right now."
"Oh?" she asked. "What then?"
"In all honestly, I was thinking about his physical appearance," Lucius said. "You and Dr. Kapoor have obviously done a wonderful job."
"Oh..right," Adriana said and looked at her baby who was looking into her eyes. "Well, he has his health back which was the goal."
"Yes," Lucius said. "It would appear so."
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.
"You know, you don't have to do that," Bruce said to Adriana as she finished trimming her hair. It had taken half an hour. "We can have a stylist come here to trim it for you. You have a lot of hair, dear...you hair is bigger than your body."{
"Hey, don't make fun of my hair," she said and pulled a brush through it.
"I'm not making fun," he said. "I love it."
"I'm joking," she smiled. "Although I probably shouldn't brush it when it's dry..it gets too poofy. But I never learn."
"Nah..." Bruce said and stood behind her in front of the mirror. "You look like what I imagine Eve to have looked like...beautiful creation."
"You're too sweet," she laughed and turned her head to kiss him.
"No wonder Adam couldn't resist doing whatever she said."
Adriana laughed and reached one of her hands up to touch Bruce's cheek. They went to bed and laid quietly in each others arms for several minutes before Bruce spoke again.
"Should you sleep first or should I?" he asked. "I'm only going in to the office for a couple hours tomorrow."
"Oh..." she said. The next day was Saturday.
"And after that..don't have anything planned until..."
"Eight o'clock," she said. They were going together to Sidi's home that evening. Her gift would be removed.
"How are you feeling?" Bruce asked. "I imagine this is all probably...very scary."
"It's okay.." she said, trying not to think about it. "How about you?"
"Me?" Bruce asked. "I'm sure I'll be fine."
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"Of course...I'm not the one that will be going through whatever it is Sidi has to do. Doesn't sound like it was too pleasant the first time she attempted this."
"I meant..." Adriana said. "With..you know.."
Bruce furrowed his brows, not knowing what she was alluding to.
"I meant...our sex life will be different," she said. "You know...I won't have my gift anymore. I will be normal."
Bruce frowned a bit more. "You didn't have your gift the first time we..."
"I still had it..it was just...I guess dormant because it was after my pregnancy," she said. "But this time, it will actually be gone. Completely gone."
"Ah," Bruce said, raising his eyebrows.
"Yeah.." Adriana said, seeing that he hadn't considered this.
"Well, I must admit that hadn't crossed my mind until you mentioned it," he said.
"I thought I should bring it up before..." she said. "You know..we get back home tomorrow night and..we try to have sex and then everything is just ...I just don't want to disappoint you...at least not without warning you first."
"You could never disappoint me," he said. "You're unbelievable."
"My gift is...and you feel it when we're together," she said. "Sidi and I had a long talk about it once..before we got together. It made me understand why all of my exes started acting so insane when I had to stop..you know, sleeping with them or when we broke up. Generally it seems they don't react well to it being taken away...I just...I guess i'm not worried so much about losing my gift..as I am about you...losing my gift."
"I love you Adriana," Bruce said. "Nothing is going to change that."
"I know.." she said.
"I promise," he said.
"I know," she repeated as he kissed her forehead.
"So..that is why Damien Ricard is so..." Bruce said.
"Psychotic pain in the ass?" she finished his sentence.
""Well, frankly..yes," Bruce said lauging.
"Yes..I believe so," Adriana said.
"So..every one of you exes is psychotic..." Bruce said. "It's not going to happen to us. Because I love you."
Adriana smiled and thought of Bruce's words. All of her exes had become obsessive, aggressive, and a few had even stalked her for years. They all seemed consumed and plagued by their experience with her and their supposed love in all cases, seemed to have turned into hate fueled by desire. They all hated her to a certain extent. All but one...
The Joker didn't hate her. It was a stunning thing for her to realize as she thought about it. He had not become obsessive or aggressive, and unlike any other men she had been with, she felt entirely comfortable around him. He had memories of their time together but memories that replayed the most is his mind were not sexual. He didn't have any sexual or inappropriate thoughts about her when she was around, although she could tell that he was suppressing them. He was still attracted to her but he seemed to accepted that he would never have her again and that they would never be together and that she was with someone else. Something her exes had never respected. In their minds, she was always theirs, even if she had moved on. Whenever they saw her or thought about her, it was about their sexual experience.
Whenever the Joker thought about her or had a memory, it was something seemingly insignificant. Something Adriana had almost forgotten entirely. He often remembered a time where she was mopping the floor in her hallway. She never knew why he remembered this moment so much, she had barely any recollection of it. But he would remember her wiping her forehead and then glancing in his direction and giving him a small smile which must have lasted less than two seconds before the went back to cleaning.
Adriana sighed and closed her eyes.
"So you'll sleep first," Bruce said and kissed her again.
"Do you want to?" she asked. "I'm not that tired yet."
"Hmm..." he hummed against her lips. "If that's the case..."
"Mhm," she said feeling his warm breath under her nose.
"Then maybe...since this is our last night with your gift..." he murmured.
"Ah.." she said.
"What do you say?" asked.
She looked into his eyes and nodded, and pulled him into another kiss.
