The Aftermath: Chapter Two
Joan could not believe she had given into this. At least she was able to avoid the joint sessions. What she was being forced to do now hardly felt productive though.
Jeremiah had not wanted to give in to Roberts, but felt he had some valid points. "I was completely behind ignoring them Joan because I thought it would fade on its own. At this point, we have to face the possibility that may not be the case. As such, it would be in our best interest to learn as much as we can. He hasn't killed her yet…Doesn't that mean something?"
So here Joan was, following a couple of psychopaths and analyzing what she observed. God, she felt like she was in high school…well, minus the psychopaths.
The difficult part was not to look obvious about it. She wanted to keep as discreet as possible. On top of that, it wasn't easy to find a time they were really able to socialize. The doctors always attempted to keep them apart as much as possible. Meals were the easiest time to conduct her observations. All the inmates ate together unless one was being punished or refused to leave their cell and each doctor took turns monitoring the meals of the day along with the security, so she wouldn't attract any undue attention.
Observations: One
Harley was standing in line behind Cornelius Stirk. Those behind Harley were beginning to grumble in frustration as Stirk looked over the food selections again and again with growing disappointment. Harley, ever the psychiatrist, leaned over to him.
"The beef looks pretty rare today," she suggested casually.
Cornelius seemed to accept this and finally left the line looking rather pleased, despite the fact that there were once again no hearts on the menu.
After getting her tray, Harley was flagged down by Poison Ivy. She smiled and started walking toward her friend, but caught the Joker out of the corner of her eye. Joker showed absolutely no interest in her whatsoever. He didn't even acknowledge her presence. Harley looked momentarily unsure of herself and a bit downtrodden, but continued past him on toward Ivy.
Nothing outwardly changed about the Joker, except that he began to noticeably tap his foot underneath the table. Harley halted mid-step, grimaced, and gave Ivy an apologetic look. She quickly turned around and took a seat next to the clown. He immediately stopped tapping and continued to ignore her for the rest of the meal. Harley didn't even try to converse with him, apparently she knew he was still pretty angry with her and that she had better stay in her place.
Joan was impressed at how well they were able to take cues from one another. The pair didn't even need words. She tried to think of anyone she had the same relationship with and came up with no one. The doctor was surprised to find herself momentarily jealous, not of them, but of what they had.
Observations: Two
Once again, Harley was waiting in line for her meal when the Joker was escorted into the room.
"Harl!" he called out. It was clear that he wasn't interested in waiting at the end of the line.
He cut in front of Harley as those behind her began to protest. The Joker glared dangerously at those at the back of the line and they fell silent. Harley was literally bouncing behind him. This was the first time he had spoken to her since 'the incident' and she didn't seem to care that it was only because he wanted to be at the front of the line.
"How you been, Puddin'?" she asked, testing the waters.
"How do you think I've been? I'm still in this hellhole!"
Harley ignored this comment and looked worriedly at his tray. "Puddin' don't forget your veggies. They're good for you."
Joker pointedly piled more meat onto his plate. Harley obediently followed behind him with her own food. There was a brief period of time where Joker tried to make her carry his tray along with hers, but he got tired of his meals constantly ending up in the floor.
They headed toward what was called the 'elite table'. The most notable inmates sat here if they wished, but it was made clear that no one else was welcomed.
A loud crack was heard at the end of the table. "ARRGH!" shouted the Riddler in frustration as he threw a broken plastic fork across the room. "How do they expect us to eat this slop with plastic? Either provide us with real food or real utensils!"
"Settle down!" said one of the guards and Eddie didn't seem to think it was worth continuing.
"Surely, one of you can come up with better conversation than this." The Joker placed the back of his hand to his forehead and leaned back in mock anguish as Harley tried to console him. "Alas, it appears that it falls on me yet again."
It was plain that all present would much rather it did not and before he could continue a coin shot up into the air. The guards tensed and everyone watched to see it land unscarred face up and then looked at Two-Face expectantly.
"Remember that show 'Night Court'? You never see reruns of it anymore." Apparently, Harvey had taken it upon himself to save everyone else from the clown.
Joker nodded. "Now that was a funny show. But then, how could a show about a bumbling court room not be?"
It was very rare that Two-Face and the Joker agreed on anything, so everyone felt pretty safe joining in. They each recounted their favorite scenes and episodes. Even some of the guards listened in and chuckled at places. Typically, the silence in the building was immensely oppressive; being broken only by insane cackles or screams resonating down the halls. The tension level dropped dramatically as the room was filled with chatter and laughter. Then Harley had to interrupt.
"What's 'Night Court'?" Harley asked naively.
The conversation instantly stopped as all eyes turned on her. Scarecrow leaned across the table and explained, "Before your time, dear."
"Oh," she responded simply and she went back to eating while humming loudly.
If the Joker was capable of embarrassment, he would have been. As it was, he had a relatively small range of emotions. Basically, you would either find him in a good mood or pissed off. He was right on his way from one to the other, but got stuck at annoyed and turned his attention back on his food, stabbing at it a little more violently than necessary.
Harley had single-handedly killed the conversation…and the tension in the room began to rise once again.
If Joan didn't know better, she would have sworn that Harley knew what she was doing even if it was only on a sub-conscious level. It was as though she was purposely pushing Joker's buttons and playing stupid about it…maybe because he had been giving her the cold shoulder lately.
Joan had been at this for a couple of weeks now and was quickly becoming weary of the assignment. Not because it wasn't interesting; even she had to admit that it was. There was just only so much information one could gather from them in this setting. Everyday was relatively the same. It wasn't as though she wanted a look into their private lives, but she was left feeling as she had from the beginning: that none of this was going to prove very productive. Between the silent cues and the button pushing, her evaluation was beginning to look like 'old married couple' anyway and she found that more than unsettling.
She was looking through her notes as she walked down the hallway. This led to a collision with someone else coming toward her from the opposite end of the hall and her notes went flying. Unfortunately, the person she collided with was Dr. Roberts. Joan knelt to the floor, trying to scoop up the papers quickly while apologizing.
"Quite alright Dr. Leland, let me help you out," he responded ever so politely.
"No!" Joan replied too rashly, but quickly regained her composure. "I mean, it's really no trouble. I don't want to keep you."
Roberts looked understandably confused and bent down to pick up one of the papers anyway, his curiosity peaked. He glanced over it and was not at all happy with what he found.
"What is this!" he demanded.
Joan sighed. "You'll have to take your concerns to Dr. Arkham, I'm afraid."
She held out her hand for the paper and he grudgingly gave it up to her.
Roberts continued down the hall fuming. He didn't have to take this. Dr. Leland had been given use of his own patient again, while his requests were repeatedly denied. The obvious favoritism made him sick. More importantly, now he saw Joan for what she really was. For all her preening and posturing, she wasn't any better than the rest of them. It had all been a guise so she could be handed the most distinguished inmates without question. He had offered to share the meal ticket with her, but now all bets were off.
Author notes: This was a fun piece to write...almost too fun. I found myself worrying if it was funny or too campy. Of course, my beta came to the rescue and assured me it worked before I nixed it.