The Bargain

Author's Note: Some time has passed since I wrote last time, so I bring you another fic: Poison Ivy and Scarecrow come to deal in which they ensure that they have a successor that can follow in their footsteps. This plot is my own, and I hope that this is an original idea. None of the characters belong to be, but to Warner Bros and DC Comics. Only the child is my creation. Enjoy!

Warning: If you are a hard-core Mad Hatter fan, please beware of this chapter. Don't say I didn't warn you!

'My little Harleykins,' grinned the Joker with his trademark smile, and opened his arms like the good old times where she would run into them and be embraced by him.

She didn't do that now.

'Whatcha doin' here, Mistah J?' asked Harley, her big blue eyes staring up at him.

'Harley baby, is this how you treat your former boyfriend?' Joker feigned hurt.

Boyfriend? Harley thought excitedly, He never thought about it this way before. Maybe he really likes me.

'I'm sorry but I haven't seen you for such a long time….. how did ya get here? How did ya find me?' Harley blurted out childishly.

Joker came closer to her and lightly tapped her cheek,' Harley, Harley, you know that I know everything.'

He then plopped onto her couch, put his feet up on the table, laid back against the cushions and whistled, ' Swanky place you got here.'

Harley smiled shyly and blushed,' Thanks. It's nothin' ya know.'

'So, how's my kiddo Jack Junior coming up, eh? Is he a chip off the old block?' Joker spoke conversationally.

'Ya know what I called him?' Harley gasped.

'I told you: I know everything, darling,' Joker repeated proudly.

'So….. ya know that I have two kids?' Harley said nervously.

Obviously, the Joker didn't know that. If he did, he wouldn't straighten up and look at her with those amber eyes of his, like he was doing at this moment.

'Harley baby, can you repeat that? Because I know that when I dumped you, there was only one kid on the way.' Joker said softly, which was always a danger signal.

'I-I got married again,' Harley stuttered as if feeling ashamed of herself because of this fact.

'You got married again?' asked the Joker, still in the same tone,' So you don't love me anymore?'

'No!' cried out naïve Harley,' Of course not! I still love my Puddin'!'

'But you had a kid with him,' the Joker said in a creepy singsong voice of his.

'It don't mean nothin'! I'll always love you and my little Jack Junior!' Harley was becoming desperate.

The Joker observed her with his critical eyes in silence. After a pregnant pause, he spoke up,' Who is it?'

'Huh?'

'Who is the father of your second brat Harley?' the Joker repeated with a hint of threat in his voice.

'T- Tetch.' She mumbled,' Jervis Tetch.'

'Old Mad Hatter! I thought you could do better than that Harley,' the Joker scolded, making her feel even more miserable for her past decisions.

'I-I'm sorry Puddin'. ' She whimpered.

'So? What is your other brat?' he asked coldly.

'It's a girl,' Harley swallowed.

The Joker snorted, 'Tetch is so incompetent that he even cannot create himself a son.'

'Harleen?' came Jervis' curious voice from upstairs, 'Is there someone downstairs?'

An insane smile crept up the Joker's face. As Harley mouthed to him not to say anything, the Joker said loudly,' You may come downstairs my dear old Jervis. Come and say hello to an old friend!'

The footsteps became louder and soon enough Jervis Tetch appeared at the bottom of the stairs dressed in his trademark light blue gown and pajamas of the same color underneath. He paled as he spotted the Joker.

'How did he come here?' he asked softly.

Harley was lost for words, and Joker interfered instead,' Well, it is very nice to meet you too, Jervis.'

Jervis Tetch eyed him coldly,' What do you want?'

The Joker shrugged carelessly,' Just to revive some old memories,' he looked at Harley,' and to take a look at something that was once rightfully mine.'

'You left sweet Harley all alone when she was in the greatest need!' snapped Jervis.

The Joker stared at him, and then he said something that had nothing to do with the situation,' How good in bed are you, Jervis?'

'What?' asked the confused Jervis.

'As the Mad Hatter- or Mad Hotter in this matter- you have surely called you darling wife "Alice" in bed more than once,' the Joker was now wearing one of his more sly grins.

'Get out!' snarled Jervis, 'And do not step into this house again!'

The Joker came close and raised an eyebrow,' You issuing orders at me Tetch? You know that you should not issue orders to your superiors.'

Joker then began encircling Jervis like a vulture. A grave mistake that Jervis made was to allow the greatest criminal to be behind his back.

'You seem to have forgotten your place, Jervis old boy. Perhaps you need a push in the right direction,' with that, the Joker pushed Tetch and he fell onto the floor.

Tetch gave a yelp as his face connected with the carpet beneath him. The Joker giggled with satisfaction and he went to the table. He took a heavy crystal vase.

'Angel! Don't!' cried Harley as she went to stop the Joker. He backhanded her and she fell onto the floor.

'Nobody beds my Harleykins and gets away with it,' with sadistic humor he crashed down the vase with full force at the back of Jervis' head.

Jervis Tetch slumped down at the impact and didn't move. Eyes filled with tears and her cheek tingeing from the slap, Harley looked down at the body of her husband.

'You killed him, you killed him, oh Jeez ya killed him……' Harley repeated over and over again as if in a trance.

The Joker walked over to her and grabbed her arm, leaving bruises on the place he touched. Harley whined and she looked up at him with terror, shrinking from his view.

'Now,' he said, dropping his voice to a whisper,' you will tell nothing of this incident. Say that he fell down the stairs, he was banging his head on the wall and the vase fell ironically on his head……. Whatever. If you tell anyone,' he grabbed her hair painfully and yanked it upwards,' anyone about this, you may just kiss your kids bye-bye. OK Harley-baby?'

Harley nodded in pain and he blissfully released her hair. He went to the door, opened it and blew her a kiss before he left.

Alone, Harley knelt against the broken shards of the vase and ran her hand through Jervis' strawberry blond hair with had blood quickly gathering on it.

'Jervis, Jervis,' whispered Harley with her lower lip trembling,' Our troubles ain't over yet, and we ain't gonna get outta this soon.'

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

The night snailed by slowly until the morning had finally risen.

Jonathan Crane was having breakfast with his family when the phone rang. The husband and wife were strangely quiet since they had gotten up, and Icabod suspected that something happened between them when he wasn't present.

Jonathan got up and answered the phone. Nobody else could have heard what was being said on the other side of the line, but the grave expression on his face informed them that the news were not positive.

'We are coming immediately,' Crane said, and put down the receiver.

'Who was it?' asked Pamela, speaking the second time this morning. The only thing she had said this morning was just a murmured 'Good morning' and nothing else.

'Jervis Tetch had an accident and is currently receding in the Gotham Hospital,' Jonathan said, his voice sounding strangely distant.

'Hospital?' Icabod spoke up,' What happened?'

Jonathan turned to his son and said bitterly, ' Apparently, a crystal vase had "tumbled" on his head when he was kneeling down on the carpet to search for his glasses.'

'But Jervis doesn't wear glasses,' Pamela frowned.

'I know. That is why this worries me,' Jonathan said, his eyebrows furrowing just like when something doesn't make sense to him.

It had taken them twenty minutes to come to the hospital, and since this was Saturday, they didn't have much traffic on their way. They had entered the lobby for the Intensive Care ward, where Harley was sitting in the hallway with her children.

'Harley!' said Pamela, rushing to her friend.

Harley looked up with tears in her eyes. 'I-It ain't good,' she whispered brokenly,' he's in a coma.'

'Mrs. Tetch,' a doctor approached her,' I have come to tell you of your husband's case.'

'Alright,' sniffed Harley,' spill it out. He ain't gonna die now, is he?'

The doctor shook his head sadly, 'Mrs. Tetch, you must be luck that your husband is still alive. Most people wouldn't have survived the impact.'

'What was damaged?' Crane asked.

The doctor looked at Crane suspiciously, but continued,' He has had a hard impact on the cerebellum.'

'Dear God,' breathed Pamela,' he won't be paralyzed, will he?'

'It's too early to tell. We will see when he wakes up….. if he wakes up,' the doctor stated seriously.

Crane observed the docotr carefully,' There is more, isn't there?'

The doctor took a deep breath,' He was also hurt on the very back of the head. Directly over the cerebellum.'

Crane tried to remember what that part of the brain was responsible for, but it dawned on Pamela quicker.

'Do you mean….. that Mr. Tetch can go blind?' Pamela asked fearfully.

'There is a damage, but we do not know the extent of it. It can vary from mild blurred vision to complete blindness.'

Harley started crying even harder and almost fainted. Pamela embraced her and whispered words of comfort. Jonathan stood there frozen. Icabod felt as if he had to do something, but right now he felt never so helpless than before.

Author's Note: Told you to be careful! I was really planning to kill off Jervis in this chapter, but seeing how many Mad Hatter fans will try to kill me, I decided against it. But there is still a question of survival.

Sorry, not much Jonathan in this chapter, but the plot is now unraveling. It would be nice for a review to be contributed though…..