"Peach or apple?" Bruce asked Arsenio in the morning as Adriana walked into the kitchen.
"Opo!" Arsenio said and turned to Adriana. "Mommy!"
"Good morning, sweetheart," Adriana said and picked him up.
"Apple it is," Bruce said and kissed Adriana before going to the refrigerator.
"Good morning, Alfred," Adriana said as Alfred put a plate of pancakes, eggs and sausages in front of her usual seat.
"Good morning," he greeted her.
"Daddy, wah woodee!" Arsenio said cheerfully.
"Huh?" Adriana asked, not understanding.
"You want to watch Toy Story again?" Bruce asked and Arsenio nodded. "It's a little early little one, and I need to go to work unfortunately.."
"I could watch with you," Adriana offered.
"Daddy!" Arsenio beamed.
"I see," Adriana laughed. "So Daddy is your favorite."
"Noooo," Arsenio said, not wanting to hurt Adriana's feelings.
"We're both your favorite aren't we," Bruce said and put Arsenio's fruit onto his tray and Arsenio nodded happily.
"I think he wants to spend time with you," Adriana could see it was obvious.
"You want to come to the office with me?" Bruce asked.
"Ya ya ya! Ya!" Arsenio said loudly.
"Okay then," Adriana said. "I could come pick him up early this afternoon."
"Or..." Bruce said and took Arsenio into his arms. "You could have a day off."
" Day off?" Adriana asked.
"I'm sure you've seen the news this morning. The police have finally shut down your app," Bruce said. "I'm sure things will be slower. You need a break and you deserve a day to rest. In fact, Alfred has already agreed to prepare dinner."
Alfred smiled and poured her juice.
"I appreciate that," Adriana said. "But...I don't think I need a day off."
"And I think that you do," Bruce said and put Arsenio into his high seat. "You've been tired lately."
"No I haven't," Adriana responded before realizing that he was right. She felt exhausted.
"Do it for me," Bruce said. "Relax, take a hot bath...the spa team can come later if you want a message or a body wrap. You deserve it."
Adriana cut into her pancakes. "Okay. For you."
.
.
.
"Good morning," the Joker greeted Adriana as soon as she walked into the pharmacy of the medical facility.
He was behind the counter using a handheld scanning gun to scan bottles.
"What are you doing?" she asked him.
"Inventory," he said. "Dr, Kapoor asked me to."
"Oh," Adriana said.
"Must admit," he said as he held the scanning gun. "Feels a bit strange holding this thing."
"Oh...I'll bet," Adriana said as he scanned another bottle.
"Arsenio's not with you," the Joker noticed.
"Oh..right," Adriana said. "He's with his dad today. He really wanted to spend the day with Bruce...I'm sorry. I know I said I would try to bring him today."
"No worries," the Joker said.
"Adriana," Dr. Kapoor said and walked in behind her.
"Good morning, Dr, Kapoor," she said.
"Good morning," he smiled. "Jack here let me know what happened last night. We should do a simple checkup to make sure everything is alright."
Adriana turned her head back to the Joker, who looked like he was making himself look busy and avoiding eye contact.
"So he told you-" Adriana said.
"You fainted," the doctor said.
"I'm fine, doctor," she said. "I've just been a little overworked lately. It was probably just exhaustion. I don't think I need a checkup."
"Perhaps just a finger prick iron test," the doctor suggested. "To make sure your level is still good."
"Okay," Adriana shrugged and followed Dr. Kapoor.
The iron test showed a slight deficiency.
"I'll give you and iron prescription for two weeks and we can check again," Dr. Kapoor said before sending Adriana back to the pharmacy.
She watched the the Joker placing bottles back onto a shelf in a neat line.
"So you told him," Adriana said to the Joker's back.
"Sure did," he said and continued arranging bottles. "You weren't going to."
"I'm fine," she said. "I just needed a day off I guess. To rehydrate and relax."
The Joker looked at the computer beside him as a notification showed up on the screen.
"I'll get your pills," he said.
"So you're Dr. Kapoor's pharmacy technician now," Adriana said.
He went to retrieve the iron pills and began to count them out on a small tray after putting on gloves.
"It's easy," the Joker said. "Keeps me busy."
Adriana nodded.
"So this is your relaxing day off," the Joker said while counting in his head.
"Yes," she said.
"You're not relaxed," he said and looked up from the pills and into her eyes. "Because of what happened to Brake."
Adriana looked away.
"Yes," Adriana said. "I'm worried about him. He didn't deserve to be stabbed...I keep wanting to call the hospital again but-"
"Again?" the Joker asked.
"I...may have called them early this morning to check on him but they can't tell me anything because I'm not family. I gave them a fake name of course," Adriana said. "The only person that can call is his cousin. And it's a male cousin. Hey...maybe you could call and pretend you're him-"
"Adriana," the Joker put the pills into a bottle as the label came out the printer.
"What?" she asked.
"Do you have any thoughts about the people who stabbed him? And the fact that they believe I'm still alive? These enemies that could possibly ruin your reputation? Bruce Wayne's? Arsenio's?"
"Fuck them," Adriana said. "They have no proof of anything."
"True," the Joker said.
"What about you? Do you have any thoughts? Any idea who they might be?" Adriana asked. "Because Shade has an ass whooping ready for them-"
"You said Damien gave Brake adrenaline for his coma," the Joker said.
"Yes," Adriana nodded.
"I don't know anyone named Camp Hoe," the Joker said.
Adriana sighed.
"So Damien is the one that Brake called initially," the Joker said.
"Yes...he had Damien's business card but he didn't have my contact info," Adriana said.
"Damien..." the Joker said. "Was called. Damien ignored Brake until after he ended up nearly stabbed to death. Damien got you into the hospital. Damien had the adrenaline."
Adriana looked at the Joker. "Yes. So?"
"You don't find it suspicious that he's so highly involved?" the Joker asked.
"No," Adriana said. "He's...still in love with me. He's trying to help maybe in some effort to try to win me back. But I wouldn't say there's anything suspicious about it."
"If you say so" the Joker said and handed her the yellow prescription bottle.
She took the bottle and they looked into each other's eyes for a long moment.
"You don't trust Damien," she said.
"Hahaha," the Joker laughed and turned back to the computer to mark the order complete.
"What's so funny?" Adriana asked.
"Do you trust him?" the Joker asked and looked at her.
"Well..." Adriana shrugged and thought about it. "Not really. But he's not part of whatever this is. He's not.."
"Not what?" the Joker asked.
"He's not a good person," Adriana admitted. "He's terrible actually, but not this terrible."
The Joker furrowed his brows a bit and Adriana couldn't look away from him.
"Brake was nearly killed," Adriana said. "He didn't look well at all when I saw him...which is why I'm so worried he won't make it. Damien's not a killer. He's just an abuser."
The Joker nodded. "Okay then."
"I don't have a..." Adriana said and lost her train of thought while looking into his eyes.
"Don't have what?" he asked.
"I..don't have a plan," Adriana said. "So far..I think I'm not too worried because there's no proof. No one can prove anything happened between the two of us. If they did go public it would not go very far. It would end up in one of those sleazy tabloid newspapers that spots bigfoot and UFO's every week. No one would take them seriously."
The Joker nodded. "So then you can tell Bruce Wayne. If that's truly the case."
"I don't need to bother him with this," she said.
"Right, then," the Joker said. "Well I should get back to work."
"Wait," she said "You're going to call the hospital and pretend to be Brake's cousin so I can check on him."
"I don't recall agreeing to that," the said.
"Please?" she asked. "I won't ask you for anything else ever again, I promise."
The Joker exhaled loudly. "Fine."
Adriana pulled out her phone that had encryption capabilities.
"Okay," she said. "Your name is Terrence Freeman and the his date of birth is April 4th 1984, okay?"
The Joker took her phone after she dialed.
"Hello, Terrence Freeman here...I'm calling to check on my..cousin," the Joker said. "Wyatt Freeman. Yes. Verify his birthdate? The patient's date of birth is 4-4-84. Yes I can hold."
Adriana felt nervous as they waited.
"Yep, still here," the Joker said as someone began to speak to him. "Hm...okay...right..."
The Joker went quiet for a long while as he listened and looked at Adriana is a way that did not ease her worries.
"Okay. I understand," the Joker said. "And how long will that take?...Right..No..I understand that. Okay..thank you."
"What did they say?" Adriana asked after he gave the phone back.
"He's not doing well," the Joker said. "It seems he's suffering renal failure."
"No.." Adriana said and placed a hand over her mouth.
The Joker walked around the pharmacy counter and she shut her eyes, with her hand still clasped over the lower half of her face. He could see that she was trying not to cry. He wrapped his arms around her and she composed herself.
"How...how are his kidneys failing.." she asked weakly.
"I'm sorry," the Joker said. "They said that he's on a transplant list but surgery is risky and.."
"And what?" she said and pulled away a bit and looked into his eyes.
"Well she didn't explicitly say it," the Joker said. "But he's a prisoner. He's guilty of manslaughter. He's not exactly at the top of the list."
"So...what does that mean? He'll die?" Adriana asked.
The Joker couldn't see why she was asking something so obvious.
"It seems...likely," the Joker said. "I'm sorry. He's a hardworking, loyal and respectful person. Well, maybe not respectful by most people's standards. But upstanding by mine."
"Yes..." Adriana said. "Yes he is."