She sobbed into his shoulder, clinging to him like a lifeline.
Bruce simply held her, rubbing circles in her back.
The clearing of a throat interrupted the moment.
Harleen looked to the sound, only to meet the sorrowful eyes and sad smile of Alfred Pennyworth.
"Master Bruce, Miss Quinzel, shall I serve breakfast here, or shall we test how the stitches held?"
Before she could utter a word, Bruce spoke.
"We'll take it here, Alfred. And please, join us. Call Dick down as well."
"Shall I invite Miss Kyle?"
"Sure, why not?"
Harleen stiffened. She knew Selena Kyle… and Selena Kyle knew her. How would she be able to keep her crimes from Bruce? With how kind he had been, she could only imagine that he wasn't keeping up with the news.
Feeling him squeeze her hand, she looked at him.
"It's alright, Har, I know. I know."
He knew.
He knew and he was still so kind.
"Why?"
"Hm?"
"Why help me if you know?"
He leaned in and kissed her hairline.
"Because it's what mom and dad wanted. It's what we wanted. But it seems we've both gone a little off track."
With a flick of his wrist, a familiar shape was held between his fingers. A bat.
"You… you're the Bat?"
"Yep."
The sting on her palm was matched only by the sting in his cheek.
He smiled into her glare, blue eyes meeting blue.
"You've punched me."
"Hammer, baseball bat, guns, floss."
She pouted and crossed her arms.
"Yeah, but you've punched me!"
He shrugged.
"I held back."
She gaped, slightly affronted.
"You held back against me?!"
He sighed, shaking his head, though the grin he wore tore at the image of the brooding bat.
"It's good to actually see you again, Harls."
She smiled sadly at him and slumped her shoulders.
"Yeah… 'sgood to see you too. 'Sgood to wake up, I guess."
"Believe me, Harley, when Bruce told me about what happened, I was this close to pulling out my old claws."
There in the doorway stood the figure of Selena Kyle, clad in black silk pajamas… and holding hands with a black haired, blue eyed ten year old.
"Oh my God, is that baby bird?!"
Nodding sleepily, the boy rubbed at his eyes.
"Hi Aunt Harley."
Something in her head broke at the words.
In truth, it was a very good thing that the room was small, otherwise she might've hurt herself trying to get up. But, within a second, the young ward of Bruce Wayne found himself being cuddled into the chest of the Joker's accomplice.
He blinked slowly, trying to comprehend how he found himself there when he was certain he had been standing at the bedside with Selena. He then gave up on the endeavor, and snuggled into her, wrapping his arms around her gently and drifting off again.
Were she not so concerned with not waking the boy in her lap, Harleen might've squealed at his show of affection.
She looked to Bruce, who was merely smiling at the scene.
"So… you two got busy in college?"
Selina gave a gentle laugh at the question and walked out - presumably to help Alfred in the kitchen.
Bruce smiled sadly at the boy.
"No… his parents were the Flying Graysons… Halle's Circus."
Her eyes widened in horror.
"Oh, God…"
Halle's Circus was one of the Joker's most brutal works in his career as a criminal. Before she joined him. It was actually the event that pushed her to try and figure out why he was the way he was.
18 people killed, 87 needed medical attention, 13 of which were permanently hospitalized due to the Joker Toxin.
The Flying Graysons had their trapeze sabotaged… and the catch net soaked in oil.
The things this kid must've seen…
She pulled him tighter to her chest, ignoring the stab of pain in her stomach. As long as she didn't pop the stitches, she was fine.
She kissed the top of his head, and pointedly ignored the wet warmth leaking through her shirt, and the shuddered breathing of the boy in her arms.
"How's it possible for him to… why doesn't he…"
"Because he knows it wasn't you. Believe me, when he first saw you… it took weeks to actually reach him again. He demanded to know why anyone would join that lunatic. So… I hacked Arkham's security system, screened the footage from all of your sessions, and I showed him."
Bruce reached out and stroked the boy's hair gently.
"I think it was only seeing what happened that night that kept him grounded. Afterwards he told me he understood what happened to you."
He chuckled warmly.
"It's actually what got him calling you 'Aunt Harley.' I think it's kept reminding him that you're a victim too."
She did not stop the tears that fell, she simply bowed her head and kissed the boy's crown.
Alfred and Selina returned with a small cart loaded with platters of food, and a few folding chairs.
Wiping her face, she gave Bruce a strange look. For a billionaire, the folding chairs were a bit of a surprise.
"What? They're lightweight, still decently comfortable, and sturdy!"
Alfred piped in to defend his boy.
"And in truth, Harleen, I am not getting any younger, nor am I increasing in strength."
"Oh, Al, you'll always be the strongest man I know."
She stuck her tongue out at Bruce, surprised when Selina grabbed it as she and Bruce chuckled.
"You think that I'd be offended by the truth? Alfred's held this family together for years!"
"Yes, well, someone had to. What with you running about for so long… Miss Quinzel, do you need something? Or does the proverbial 'cat' have your tongue?"
Snorting a laugh and giving the offending fingers a quick nip, Harley looked at those in the room. Bruce, Alfred, Selina, and little Richard Grayson.
Once more, she had to wipe away tears. After years of being leered at, beaten, and half starved, moving from abandoned theater to abandoned fairgrounds to warehouse after warehouse after warehouse, and back again to theaters and playhouses again and again, she had nearly forgotten what it felt like to be surrounded by people who cared, genuinely and truly cared about her.
"So… is your relationship just that freaky, or is there another reason Kit-Kat didn't claw my eyes out for sobbing into the chest of her hunky betrothed, while he comforted me in my bed?"
The reactions she received were good enough to break the somber mood a bit. Richard and Selina giggled and laughed, Bruce flustered a bit and floundered with his tongue, and Alfred chuckled softly as he began serving out portions of French toast and turkey bacon.
"I assure you, Miss Quinzel, were that the nature of their relationship, I might've expected to see grandchildren before the engagement!"
As Bruce blushed further (his training failing him at the teasing of his father of over 20 years, and the last true friend he had made as purely Bruce Wayne) Selina gave a sly smile and crossed over to the headboard, bending at her waist and kissing Harleen's cheek, before hugging her and putting their cheeks together facing her flustered fiancé.
"What do you think, darling? Shouldn't we give Richie a little friend? Hm? I think your blues would go excellent together!"
Harleen almost cackled at the intensity of Bruce's blush, until she felt that burning pain in her abdomen again.
Noticing her discomfort, Richard and Selina moved from the bed as Bruce and Alfred stood.
"May I?"
She nodded at her old friend, and he lifted the hem of her shirt revealing the bandages beneath. After a light probing and examination, Alfred nodded and breathed a sigh of relief.
"The stitching was stretched, but held, thankfully. Shall we break our fast?"
She ate slowly to truly savor her first home cooked meal in over a year.
There'd be more conversations to be had about her situation.
But for now, there was nice, crispy, (kosher) bacon.