Chapter 4: Home Sweet Home
Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Wendy Darling,
Even Captain Hook, you are my perfect story book.
Neverland I love you so, you are now my home sweet home
Forever a lost a boy at last.
Lost Boy, Ruth B.(2015).
Neverland was spectacular.
It reminded Harley of Ace Chemical plant. It wasn't as high, but it was so large. And there were so many Lost Boys. She couldn't count them. They lived in tents in this abandoned factory and from what she could see they basically took care of themselves, ranging from all ages, two little girls stood by a tent in nice dresses and were giggling, another was in long PJs, sleepily rubbing her eyes and went inside a tent.
Aiden had left and Jodie led her away from the tents and to a ladder that had been spray-printed in gold.
"Up you go." She muttered.
Harley climbed up immediately. Whatever this place was, it had an exciting atmosphere and it was warmer than the streets.
Once she was upstairs she was overwhelmed with the strongest and most painful form of dejávu. Similar to the Chemical Plant she was standing on a large platform overlooking the entire building. All the tents and people were below her. She felt like a queen overlooking her kingdom.
"Jodie?" A woman asked. Harley didn't turn around. She heard the woman had a warm, honey-like voice. "Who is this?"
"It's Harley Quinn." Jodie's voice was the opposite, cold and mean. It reminded Harley of how Mistah J had spoken to her tonight and she blinked her tears away. "You know, the Queen."
The other woman chucked. But there was nothing mean in her laughter. "Really?"
"Yeah. Aiden and I were attacked."
"Are you ok?" Harley could hear the worry in the woman's voice. She was no longer amused. "Is anyone hurt?"
"We're fine." Jodie said calmly. "Aiden is with Porter."
Harley had no idea who Porter was, she was watching the two girls dancing and laughing and felt a painful longing inside of her that she couldn't explain herself. She missed her Puddin'.
"Was it one of Hook's?"
Harley rolled her eyes. Of course there was a person called Hook involved.
"It was the entire Crew, Wendy. I think he's closing in on us. I'm scared he might ruin the ceremony."
"Hmm." Wendy sounded less worried than Jodie. "And why is she here?"
"She helped us out and..." Jodie hesitated and Harley finally turned around. She wouldn't let Jodie speak for her while she was right here.
"Mistah J kicked me out." She explained.
The woman was tall with soft features. Her eyes were warm and actually were the golden color of honey. Her auburn hair fell down her shoulders in gentle waves. Harley was taken aback by how beautiful she was.
"Jodie." The woman said with a smile so genuine it made Harley miss her mother, whom she hadn't thought about in years. "Leave us alone."
Jodie did not look happy about this suggestion. "She still has her weapons."
"I can handle myself." The woman said with a kind smile that contradicted her words because it was so sweet and gentle. As someone who liked contradictions very much she smiled too.
There was a glance between the two and them Jodie glared at Harley and went downstairs. "I'm Wendy." The woman stepped forward, holding out her hand.
For a moment Harley wasn't sure what to do, then she stepped forward, extending her own hand. "Harley Quinn."
Wendy had a strong grip and soft, clean hands. Harley would guess she was in her late 40s.
"The little boy said this was Neverland."
Wendy laughed her warm laugh again. "Yes, my husband and I run it together."
The word husband stung like a knife in her heart and she pulled her hand back.
"Oh, honey." Wendy whispered reading the pain in Harley's face like an open book. "What did that awful man do to you?"
"He's not awful." Harley pulled at the collar of her sweater, hiding he bruises she was sure were already showing. "He thinks I cheated on him and then he told me to..." She swallowed trying to fight against the sobs and tears that were coming. "He told me to leave." She finally choked out.
He had said so many horrible things, but the fact that he had sent her away hurt her more than she could bear. It was too similar to how Harleen Quinzel had felt on her last day as a sane person. The desperation, the utter and cold realization that the man she had given up everything for, the man she loved...simply didn't love her back.
"I'm sorry." Wendy sounded genuine, like she really understood Harley's pain. "Why does he think you cheated?"
"I...I might be pregnant." Now Harley did start to sob, because she was so confused and scared and she wanted to go home. "And he said he had a vasectomy years ago and the baby isn't his, but I never...I don't remember taking the test and I..." She pulled out the pregnancy test. "I wanted to be sure first and then your kids attacked me and then they were attacked and I saved them because Aiden was crying and screaming and they brought me here." Harley stared at the ground embarrassed by her outburst and wishing she had taken Jester up on her offer and gone to her apartment. She didn't know anyone here, she didn't know what to do. He'd been so angry and so stuck in his paranoid delusions. He wouldn't budge, if he believed she'd cheated she wouldn't be able to convince him otherwise.
Wendy put her hands over Harley's trembling ones.
"You'll be ok, Harley. There is a private bathroom up here you can use. Then we can see what else we can do, ok?"
Harley nodded, wiping her tears. "Thank you."
"It's no problem, come with me. I'll show you where to go."
Harley Quinn was not pregnant.
The strange mixture of relief and disappointment in equal measure confused her. On the one hand she could return back to her old life, but on the other she felt the a deep longing inside of her for a child of her own.
And besides after tonight, she wasn't sure she really could go back to her former life. She wasn't sure what that meant anymore.
Wendy and Harley sat on two comfortable lounge chairs, facing each other. Neverland was buzzing with voices and activity beneath them, but up here they had some peace and quiet. It was like Harley and Mistah J's booth in the club.
"I should go." Harley said after a while. "Once Puddin's calmed down enough he will listen to reason and I can clear all of this up."
Wendy was looking at her so attentively again, her whole face was concentrating on the young woman.
"Harley." She said matter-of-factly. "I want you to stay here with us."
"What?" She'd been studying the pipes running along the ceiling and then looked back at Wendy, who was nodding. "I just need to talk to my husband first. Why don't you go on downstairs and take a look around? We'll come and find you."
She wanted to leave and go home.
"Ok."
She climbed down the ladder. Harley knew she'd be long gone once the kind woman started looking for her. As nice as she was, this wasn't her home.
"Harley!"
The little blonde boy, Aiden, was hurrying over to her. His arm was bandaged and he grinned up at her happily.
Then he hugged her.
Harley couldn't remember the last time she had been hugged by a child, it must have been years ago, when she'd still been Harleen. She returned the hug awkwardly and patted his soft head. Again she was overcome with emotions she couldn't explain.
"This is the girl who saved me!" He explained as he stepped back.
Now she noticed that there were more boys standing around them. Five of them and they all seemed to be the same age as Aden. There was young man there too. Tall with a handsome face, blue eyes, a boyish grin and a thick mop of blonde hair on his head. He stepped out of the group towards Harley.
"Thank you for helping him." He ruffled the boys hair lovingly. "I'm Porter."
"Porter's our tent-leader and he's on rung 7!"
Harley only nodded. She didn't care about what a tent-leader was and had no idea what rung he was talking about. Understanding this, Aiden took her hand, leading her away from the other children. They passed many tents and the boy led her underneath the platform. There, on the wall was beautiful picture of a golden ladder. It had ten rungs.
Aden seemed eager to show her this painting and pointed towards it, crying put: "See!"
Harley saw.
Peter and Wendy's names were placed next to rung 10. Jodie was on 8. Porter's name was in fact next to rung 7. Most names were at the bottom, 1-3. Aden proudly showed her that he was on rung 2.
"How do you level up?" Harley asked him.
"By serving the Lost Boys, we all have different tasks that we can do." The boy explained as if this was the most logical thing in the world, and as Neverland was his world, she supposed it was.
"How old are you?" Aden asked her and the bluntness of the question made her falter.
"You can't ask a lady how old she is, Aiden."
"You're not a lady." He retorted and her heart filled with rage at the disrespect. "You're a warrior." She was speechless and felt weightless because of this compliment. The boy barely noticed and nodded towards the ladder. "Saving two of us would probably put you on 5 right away!"
"What happens when you reach 10?" She briefly touched the two cursive names, Peter and Wendy.
The child snorted. "Nobody reaches 10."
"Aiden, bed-time!" It was Porter calling for him and the boy hurried towards him immediately. "Good night, Harley Quinn!"
He left and Harley was left alone with the ladder.
Fred, Holly, Zero, Daniel, Cody, Amelia, Fay, Kayla, Henry, Matt, Steven, Jason, Frankie, Sammy, Lila, John, Pete, Gracie, Stevie, Eric, Phil, Jodie, Porter, Aden, Caleb, Alison, Nicky, Charlotte, Michelle, Lacey, Paul, Jessica, Spencer, Irene, Ben, Rachel, Christina, Alex, Danielle, Lauren, Kaitlyn, Kurt, Chris, Michael, Jay, Ira, Taylor, Ana, Jaden, Tyler. Courtney, David, Kendall,
The names went on and on.
She hadn't expected this.
Honestly, when Aiden and Jodie had led her through the night to Neverland, a part of Harley had expected them to lead her into a trap. Of course she had a certain immunity in Gotham as Mistah J's girl.
But still, she'd expected drug addicts, dirt, street kids. She'd expected loud angry voices.
She hadn't expected this.
A well thought-out system. A caring person at the top of it. Someone who behaved like a mother.
"It's impressive, isn't it?" His voice was deep, but also had a warmth and gentleness to it. "We're so proud. We never expected it to become so big."
The man had appeared by her side, almost wordlessly. He didn't need to introduce himself. He smiled at her warmly, he had large green eyes and wavy black hair, streaked with gray. But his smile was young, his eyes blazing.
"Hi Harley." He said as if they'd known each other for years and were friends. "It's nice to see you."
"Hi Peter." She barely recognized her voice, she sounded...sane?
"I'm surprised you're still here." He admitted. "When Wendy said she'd send you off, we were both sure you'd leave."
She'd been sure to leave too.
"Aiden held me up."
He smiled and his entire face lit up. "Ah yes, Aiden. He usually keeps people from doing what they originally intended."
"Are they..." She didn't know how to ask her question. Obviously these kids were not their biological children."Why are they all here?" She asked.
"They were lost and needed a place to stay." Peter's voice was sad. "They left their homes because they were being abused or neglected. Some of them were thrown out onto the streets very early. Some left their homes by their own choice. None of them have parents."
"They have you." Harley whispered, staring at the names in front of her. The family lain out for all to see.
"Yes." He nodded with a smile. "Neverland has become a home to many Lost Boys and we do all we can to help them. " He turned away from the ladder to look at Harley. "Wendy told me you saved Aiden and Jodie?"
She nodded.
"Thank you." He rubbed his face. "We've been having problems with a gang in the city. Their leader calls himself Captain Hook." He rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed, which Harley thought was funny. "He seems to think he can move in on our turfs in the city. I'm sorry you got stuck in the crossfire."
"I'm fine." She said, because despite everything that had happened tonight she was physically fine and she could fend for herself.
"My wife tells me that you're currently homeless?" Their eyes met and she could read clear worry in his eyes, but no pity which made her like him even more.
Homeless. The word stuck her just as the word husband had. Mistah J had told her to leave, he'd said he never wanted to see her again. But this was all a mistake. She and Jester would convince him of that.
"I'm...I'm not sure." She admitted.
"Well, we can always use people like you." Peter explained. "You're loyal and you can fight." Harley looked at the ladder in front of her again. She'd been called a lot of things tonight, whore, slut, Queen, loyal. She wasn't sure how to react. Peter pressed her shoulder gently and explained: "You are more than welcome here, Harley Quinn."
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