A/N: Thank you so much to prangstergangster83 for the very kind review! Really made my day :) And thank you to everyone who has read the new chapter!

24.

Harley twirled slowly, watching the midnight blue silk fan out around her ankles. The shop assistants fussed around her, praising how the gown complimented her fair skin and what the length did for her slim body.

She smiled demurely, thanking the twittering girls with as much sincerity as she could muster. Really what the dress looked like was of no consequence to her.

Her fingers trailed along the spaghetti straps and down the plunging neckline of the satin garment, dipping to tug at the waist which was synched in to almost the point of discomfort. When her hand came into contact with the smooth texture of card, she looked down, flipping over the crisp price tag to reveal an eye watering amount of zeros.

Luckily the expense wasn't her problem. Dr Arkham had offered to pay for the gown in full, as a bonus he'd said for Harley's good work. It was a bribe of sorts, to ensure that she came to the annual Wayne Charity Gala, an event which was sure to be filled with tedious small talk and equally tedious aristocrats.

Harley met the eyes of her sceptical reflection in the mirror and they shared a knowing look. She felt like a mannequin, trussed up and expected to parade about like some prize dog for Gotham's elite to marvel at. The whole thing was such a farce, a way for Arkham to keep in the good graces of the city's powerful. But like with most things to do with her work, Harley wasn't given much say in the matter.

'I'll take it.' She murmured, much to the obvious delight of the women around her, who gushed their approval as they helped her slip out of the figure hugging gown.

When Harley got home, her legs ached from standing for so long and her eyelids felt heavy and tired. She let her handbag fall wherever gravity deigned to take it and headed to her bedroom, crawling under her covers and savouring the reliving feeling of the weight finally being taken off her feet.

All too soon her alarm announced it was time to get up for work, and she dragged herself up and into the bathroom, hoping that a cold shower might chase away the thick fog of sleep that plugged up her brain like cotton wool.

Unfortunately, the drowsiness was stubborn, clinging to her as she sat on the grimy train and nestling in her muscles as she clambered up the steps of the asylum.

The Joker had little sympathy, scolding her when she put her head down to rest on the table and prodding her cheek with his long fingers.

Harley half-heartedly slapped at his hand, her eyes closing of their own accord. 'Just give me five minutes.' She pleaded, already feeling the tug of unconsciousness beckon her mind away.

Unsurprisingly, J wasn't feeling in a generous mood. With a well-placed kick her chair toppled backwards, dumping Harley on to the damp concrete floor. Her eyes flew open, a yelp escaping her lips as she tumbled onto the cold ground.

'You bastard.' She accused, pulling herself into a sitting position and rubbing her elbow as he howled with laughter. Her chagrin only spurred him on, and he cackled even as she fixed him with her most withering glare. 'I could give you time in solitary for that.' She warned, allowing the empty threat to resonate in the cramped session room as he rolled his eyes, still smirking like he knew something she didn't. Harley grumpily stood up and brushed herself off, irked and a bit embarrassed.

'Lighten up Harley-girl, you're so tense.' The Joker teased as she huffily dropped into her righted chair.

'You'd be tense too if you'd spent the last day clothes shopping and booking hair dressing appointments on top of the usual workload that having you as a patient generates.' She snapped, thumbing her ink pen out of her starchy lab coat pocket and sighing, vitriol giving way to gloom.

The Joker understood immediately, that keen intelligence Harley so admired allowing him to connect the dots in a nanosecond.

'So,' He began conversationally, tongue flicking out to lick the ugly scar knotting his right check. 'My little Harley will be palling around with the big shots at the Wayne Gala.'

'Not by choice.' Harley muttered, hating how childish her sulking sounded even to her own ears. 'Arkham won't let me wiggle out of it. Believe me,' She blew a loose strand of golden hair out of her face. 'I've tried.'

'Aren't you honoured to be invited?'

She scoffed. 'Oh yes, that wonderful privilege of getting grilled by CEOs name John or Richard with superiority complexes as big as their bank accounts on knowledge about my own field in which I have a doctorate. And all the while their wives, probably twenty years their juniors, are waiting in the wings gossiping amongst themselves about me like I'm some novelty they've never seen before.' Her voice rose to emphasise her vowels and consonants to mimic the irritating inflection that women from Gotham's old money tended to adopt. ''A female shrink,' They'll say, 'what a fascinating choice...' - making damn sure I know that by fascinating they mean strange.'

He slouched back in his chair as she finished her outburst, watching with unblinking eyes as she deflated a little, the apples of her cheek slightly pink under the garish overhead lights.

'I happen to be partial to strange.'

Harley shook her head. 'Strange is bad.' She insisted.

'Don't be such a coward Harley.'

She narrowed her eyes at him. Why did she bother? It wasn't like he'd get it; get how lonely being an outcast could be - something Harley was intimately familiar with.

She'd always struggled to make friends in school, her bizarre hand-me-down-clothes and extreme gullibility ensuring she was a prime target for ridicule and pranks growing up. Things had been different at uni, her socialising skills better, her hard work at the restaurant giving her the means to fix the clothing issue. But her drive to succeed as the highest in her class left little time to spend on cultivating something as asinine as a social life. And now here she was, years later a successful psychiatrist by all accounts but yet still somehow the butt of the joke, the one to point at and whisper about. And despite her best efforts, she had never been able to stop it hurting, at least a little. So the prospect of having to endure a whole evening of it, held basically at gunpoint by her boss, seemed like a nightmare. Strange was a cruel label and Harley was sick of the weight of it round her neck.

'It doesn't take bravery to have common sense!'

'But Harley Quinn you are so far from common.' He growled, 'Why do you lower yourself to accept anything so ordinary?'

She adjusted her lab coat, gaze flicking to the green pleated skirt that was draped over her knees as her mouth snapped shut.

He leant forwards, roguish eyes so earnest yet wonderfully wild. 'Aren't you sick of ordinary? Doesn't it just make your skin crawl Harley? Doesn't ordinary just poison you from the inside out?'

His low words swirled in her ears, sounding so very similar to her train of thought recently, like he'd read her mind.

Nothing could've prepared her for the deliciously husky tone that his voice dropped to, which made her chest bloom with a warm honey-like feeling and her blue eyes slide to his. 'Don't you want to leave ordinary in the rubble and join the chaos?'

'How can I J?' Harley whispered, her voice too vulnerable and honest for the ugly concrete backdrop. 'It's a trap. Trying to fit in, to assimilate. Don't you see, it's a treadmill you spend your whole life running on?'

The Joker's matted green hair fell across his forehead as he shook his head at her, making her swallow nervously.

'You're wrong Harley. It's not a trap, it's a choice.'

'A choice?' She parroted uncertainly.

'I'm offering you a way out Harley Quinn.'

'W-what?'

'I'm offering you a chance to laugh in the face of normal, to leave simple, easy, ordinary at the door and then blow the bloody doors off.'

His long fingers fanned out, mimicking an explosion as promises dripped from his lips. Harley's breathing became shallow, her fingertips tingling with a strange heat.

'Tell me Harley, what was it like to be the Harlequin?'

She could've lied, she could easily have lied. The thought crossed her mind. But her mouth had other ideas, obeying the Joker's request before she had time to consider it too much.

'It was thrilling.' She found herself admitted softly.

'I can make your life thrilling Harley. Every second of it, every heartbeat. Tell me you want that.' He demanded roughly. 'Tell me you're ready to leave this dump behind.' He gestured around the grimy room, large hand sweeping outwards.

For a moment, Harley wasn't capable of saying anything at all. She felt like she would melt from the black fire burning in his pupils, her cheeks flaming with them and her mouth drying up. But she knew of course what her answer would be.

It was clear what Harley wanted, it had been clear for weeks. It had been clear as she'd thought about him in all her late nights cooped up in her apartment. It had been clear as she'd taken so much joy in breaking the rules for him. It had been clear from how his very presence affected her, making her both self-conscious and bold under his powerful stare.

Her hand crept up to twirl the pendant around her neck almost unconsciously, his gift to her cooling her palm.

'I want that.'

The Joker grinned, a wolfish smile that made her heart flutter and her stomach flip.

'Tell me you want me.'

'I…' Harley breathed, a thousand emotions blazing in her chest. Could she really do this? Join him?

What was there for her here? A lonely life of monotony? A thankless job working with misogynistic monsters? (And that was just the doctors.) No, she'd chosen him long ago, and with the kind of clarity you only get once or twice in a lifetime, Harley was sure that she was ready.

'I want you.' Her words were quiet but firm. Three syllables that would change her world forever.

With a crunch, the Joker brought his fist down on the tape recorder on the table, destroying it and the evidence of her confession in a shower of plastic and glass.

Harley jumped in her chair, heart pounding in her ears. Despite the deadly force, she wasn't afraid. Entranced was more like it.

With a few quick strides he was in front of her and she could do nothing but stare at him as he entered her personal space, sliding along the metal table top until he was touching her knees. Time seemed to be going at half its normal speed, allowing her to appreciate how lean his arm was as he reached out towards her.

'My Harlequin,' His rough fingertips trailed up her neck, setting her skin alight.

Everything in Harley's being was focused on the contact between his skin and hers, the warmth from his touch making heat pool low in her stomach. Curling his hand so that his palm rested on her jaw and his thumb above her ear, the Joker pulled her face towards his.

His lips met hers, soft scars brushing her cheeks. She sighed into his mouth, electrifying energy pulsing through her body while the world behind her closed eyelids exploded.

Their lips moved together as her arms came up to twine round his neck. He was everywhere all at once, his scent filling her nose, his body so close to hears, one hand skimming the gap between her skirt and her blouse. She felt like she might burst from this feeling, her skin so hot it must be glowing.

The kiss became more intense, the Joker's tongue tracing her bottom lip until she opened her mouth to him. Her skirt rode up as he stepped more firmly between her legs and her eye lashes fluttered as he trailed kisses down her neck until he was suddenly drawing back, watching her blink slowly as she tried to come down from the cloud he'd left her on.

The Joker inclined his head, expression almost thoughtful. 'You and me Harley, we're gonna give 'em hell.'

A/N: That's chapter 24! Please do leave a review, I'd love to hear what everyone thought of this one!

Up next: The breakout...