Chapter 25: I'm Gonna Put Her First

Piece by Piece

I fell far from the tree

I will never leave her like you left me

And she will never have to wonder her worth

Because unlike you,

I'm gonna put her first.

Piece by Piece. Kelly Clarkson (2015)

They had called Johnny to get rid of the body.

In her panic and her position Harley hadn't seen Mistah J take the gun from Peter and killing him without a second's hesitation.

Gracie had clung to Harley for hours on end, but she didn't care.

The little girl was safe and she trusted Harley enough to let her hold her.

When Jodie returned from Arkham she apologized for lying. She even apologized to the Joker although she did it while rolling her eyes.

Neverland was in turmoil and Mistah J was a hero.

When Gracie finally did let go of Harley, who really had to pee at that point, the little girl ran straight to him and he scooped her up into his arms as if he'd never done anything else.

When she came back from the bathroom, Jodie and Porter were waiting for her outside with worried looks on their faces.

"How about we put him on rung 10?" Porter suggested with a smile.

"Let it go, Porter." Jodie sighed. "We all know she's leaving."

"We don't know that." Harley muttered. "I need to talk to him."

When she came back the kids were all talking excitedly and she spotted Valerie showing off different clothes she had managed to organize for them. Aiden and Rachel were talking to one of the new girls, both smiling at her encouragingly. The sight made her heart flutter.

"He's upstairs." Valerie explained. "It was too loud for Gracie."

She took hold of Harley's hand and pressed it. "I'm glad you're ok, Harley."

"Thanks."

Up on the platform she could hear his soft voice as he recapped the story of little red riding hood.

Gracie was giggling, but it sounded sleepy and Harley knew she would be out like a light in a matter of moments.

When he emerged from the tent and saw her there his face expression switched from soft to excited. She stepped towards him and he caught her, kissing her fiercely.

"I want to show you something." He whispered in her ear. "Come for a drive with me?"

It was the most mundane thing they had done in a while.

He didn't even speed. He merely drove through the the busy Gotham night.

Harley was nervous.

She knew that they had to make some decisions. She knew what she wanted, but she couldn't be sure what kind of compromise they would find.

The place he led her to was the factory he had bought to get the Lost Boys out of it.

He took her hand and led her inside. It was completely empty, save for the small package in the middle of the large room.

"I told you I needed the storage." He chuckled and she rolled her eyes.

"Well go on then." Mistah J let go of her hand and pointed towards it. "It's for you, remember how I said there was a package arriving for you that day?"

That day.

The day things had gone so wrong. She did remember and walked towards it slowly.

"Puddin', it's not a puppy that's been in here for two months is it?" She asked and he rolled his eyes, but he was smiling.

"Just open it, Harley."

She sat down on the ground, cross-legged and opened it purposely slowly because she could tell how nervous he was. It was a simple brown package roughly the size of a shoe box. As she opened the lid she gasped.

Inside lay a crown, embezzled with blue and red diamonds.

"Puddin'..." She whispered.

"You've always been my queen, Harley Quinn." He said.

She couldn't look at him. Knew she couldn't accept this gift.

She closed her eyes, fighting against her tears.

"You need to hear me out."

"Sure." He sounded amused.

She stood up from the ground, crown in hand and turned her back to him. It was so difficult to say the words out loud she knew she had to utter.

"I love you." She paused, needing this part to sink in. "And I want to trust you again, but you really hurt me, Puddin', because you didn't trust me. After everything we've been through you just accepted these lies and thought I cheated on you..." She closed her eyes, fighting against the memories making their way into her mind. "You say I'm your queen, but you treated me like dirt at the first sign of something going wrong. We never even talked about having kids and you just..." She groaned. "You just decided against them without talking to me about it first!"

"Harley."

"No let me finish."

"Turn around at least."

"No." She sighed, trying to collect herself again. "I think we should give Jodie this crown. She's the real queen of Neverland, not me. And I do want to move back home." She paused again.

This was it. The moment she knew would change everything for them. One way or the other.

"Harley." He sounded amused. "Would you just turn around?"

She would not turn around.

"I want to move back in with you, but I'm taking Gracie with me. I love her. She's mine and I don't want to live without her anymore." Her voice was barely a whisper. "I want to be her mum, Puddin'."

There was a silence in the factory that made her heart sink.

She loved him so much, but she loved the little girl with broken fairy wings more. She wanted to be there for her, forever. She wanted to keep all of her promises towards her.

"Turn around, Harley." His voice was gentle.

She did so slowly.

He was on his knees and wearing a suit.

Somehow he had managed to change.

Wearing it underneath no doubt.

In his hands he held a diamond ring.

"Marry me, Harley Quinn."

Her hands flew to her mouth. "Puddin'!"

"Is that yes?" He grinned at her and she sank to her knees before him.

"What about Gracie?" She asked quietly.

"If Gracie will have us, we're hers." He promised.

Her head swam with happiness.

"So..." He grinned. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes!" She laughed, kissing him deeply and he took her unhurt hand, kissing it gently and then slipped the engagement ring on her finger.

"It's a perfect fit." She whispered.

"Just like us." He retorted and she laughed, because she thought that was corny.

He stood up, pulling her to her feet. He hugged her tightly, swirling her around and the Clown couple laughed. Not out of spite, not at someone else's expense.

They laughed out of pure and utter joy.

Jodie was waiting for her at the top of Neverland. Her eyes widened when she saw the ring on Harley's finger.

"He didn't!"

"He did." She blushed. "I can barely believe it myself."

"So, you're leaving?"

She dropped her gaze. "I will always be around when you need me. And we want to be a safe house for any Lost Boy who might need a different place to stay for whatever reason."

"And..." Jodie prompted.

"And we want to take Gracie with us." Harley finally admitted, looking up at her friend. "If she wants to."

"Of course she'll want to." Jodie rolled her eyes. "She loves you, both of you, for whatever reason."

"Jodie, are we ok? I mean, we'll always be friends, right?"

"Of course." Jodie leaned forward to hug her. "Always. And you'll have a place here in Neverland, please remember that."

The two stayed in their embrace for a while moment, until Jodie pulled back, declaring:

"I'll need to talk to Porter, you know because of the organization of Neverland."

She disappeared and Harley didn't stop her. Sh

e knew she was trying to fight against her tears. Harley wasn't sure how she felt either. She was happy, she wanted to marry her Puddin'. But she would miss the Lost Boys.

Someone sat down next to her and she didn't need to turn her head already knowing who it was.

"Having second thoughts?" The Joker smiled.

"No." She whispered looking at the ring. "I'm keeping this forever."

He laughed at this and reached out to touch her hand. "There's actually something I wanted to ask you..."

"You already did, Puddin'." She grinned. "And I said yes."

He rolled his eyes, but she could tell he was amused. He brought her hand to his lips, kissing it carefully.

"I watched the tape a lot of times." She wasn't surprised by this, but it still made her skin crawl to think about the tape. "What did Wendy mean when she called you Miss Anorexic?"

Although it was warm Harley suddenly felt cold all over.

She swallowed, glad that he was holding her hand.

"Ever since prison I've had..." She dropped her gaze. "...trouble eating. I told them I wouldn't eat the stuff they gave me I told them I wanted something sweet and bubbly."

The Joker chuckled. "I'm sure you did."

She swallowed. "They..." She had such problems getting the words out even though it was Mistah J the one who had always known her, who had seen the degrading video of her. His eyes were wide and his gaze intense. He pressed her hand, urging her to go on.

"What did the guards do?"

"You know Griggs right?" She shuddered, his name alone made her feel queasy. "I didn't want to eat the food they gave me, so he force fed me with a feeding tube."

The Joker had gone very still.

His breathing was shallow and she thought he looked like he was trying to stay calm.

"It was fun for him." She whispered. "He enjoyed the power he had over me and I..." She closed her eyes. "When I came back I got sick so much, I couldn't really keep my food in." She shook her head. "I shoulda told you, but I was so ashamed..."

When she opened her eyes again Mistah J had leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss against her temple.

"Why would you be ashamed?" He muttered. "You did nothing wrong."

"Peter and Wendy helped me realize I have an eating disorder and I stopped puking so much." She bit her lip to keep it from trembling. "You know, I really thought they were my friends."

"I know." He leaned his forehead against hers. "But they never were, they were liars. Jester put tablets in all the drinks she brought you, that's why you were puking. Wendy probably continued while you were here."

She shook her head, wondering how she could have missed this. How she could have been so naive.

"Harley." His voice was tense. "I had no idea about what they did to you. You should have told me. Griggs won't get away with this, I will find him and–"

"No." She put her finger on his lips, silencing him. "Don't you see? All of us taking revenge on other people that's what got us into this mess..."

He closed his eyes.

She knew he disagreed. But she also knew he didn't want to fight with her now.

Not tonight.

"Harley? Are you there?" The clown-couple turned around and saw Gracie stumbling toward them, she was rubbing her eyes and wearing one of Harley's shirts as a nightgown.

"Gracie." Harley opened her arms and was relieved when the little girl stepped closer and she could pull her into a tight embrace. "We have news."

She looked at her finacé who smiled.

"Gracie, I asked Harley to marry me and she said yes."

Harley held out her hand, showing of the beautiful ring.

The little girl's face fell immediately, her eyes filling with tears.

"You're leaving!" She cried out and tried to fight against Harley's hug. "You said you wouldn't! You said we'd be together forever!"

"We will be ugh...a little help here Puddin'?"

"Honey." He put his hands on her little shoulders. "We want you to come and live with us. We'll get married and then you, me and Harley can..." He stopped unsure of how much he could say, but then decided to go full in. This whole thing was all or nothing. "We can be a family."

"If you want to." Harley threw in. "If you want to stay that's fine too."

"Or just visit." He offered. "You will definitely have your own room. You can stay or you can go whatever you like."

"Please don't be mad."

"We love you." Gracie blinked away her tears, took a deep breath and simply said:

"Ok."

"Ok?" Harley repeated.

"Ok." She shrugged. "I'm tired. Can you tell me a story?"

Harley wanted to stand up, but Mistah J held up her hand.

"Let me." He said. "Please."

She looked at Gracie who beamed and tugged at his hand to get him to hurry up.

"No curse words!" Harley called after them and they both laughed.

Smiling she looked down at the chemical vats, hugging her hurt hand to her chest. She could breathe again. She was so full of love and hope and ready to leave the dark chapters behind her once and for all.

One more chapter to go :)