Summary: S5! AU/ Post Suicide Squad AU- Following the defeat of the Enchantress and Waller's death, the squad decides to lay low for a while in Harley'd home town. Can her old pack handle the grieving Queen? And is her King really as dead as she thinks he is?

Pairings: Past- Sterek; Scallisaac; Erica/Boyd; Joker/Harley; Lydia/Deadshot; Cora/Liam; Malia/Mason; Ethan/Danny

Warnings: Canon Typical violence; Mental instability; Torture; Aftermath of Torture; Canon Character death; Temporary (?) character death; Language; Always a female! Stiles; Harley is fem Stiles; Post-nogitsune! Stiles; Dark! Stiles; Derek is trying...; Joker is a Hale; SPOILERS!

Chapter One

It was over.

Harley watched in barely concealed jealousy as Flag embraced his girlfriend, her heart aching painfully in her chest as he kissed her.

She looked away.

That should be her and her Mistah J.

Her puddin' was gone, gone and he wasn't coming back this time. She was all alone…again.

"You're never alone." Rumbled a low voice and she shivered. That voice had been her constant companion for over a decade and she knew it as well as she knew her own. Both terrifying and comforting, it made tears well in her eyes but she blinked them away, stilling when a large hand landed on her shoulder.

Deadshot.

He looked worried, his dark eyes soft in a way she remembered from Before, from one man in particular. She fought not to snarl, forcing her gaze away from his.

"You alright, dollface?"

She smiled, wide, bright, fake.

"I'm fine."

The words were a lie, they nearly always were.

He nodded, taking them for what they were, but the concern in those eyes didn't fade. Instead he turned to Flag, who was watching them with gratitude and indecision.

"What now?"

"Now? I've been offered presidential pardons for all of you for your services. Waller is dead, though, so we'll need to head back to base to go over the details."

The criminals stared at him, stunned. They hadn't thought it would actually happen but Flag's expression was nothing but sincere.

They were being released.

"Puddin' too?" Flag sent her a soft look, not unlike Deadshot's and she had a sudden impulse to stab him in the eye to get him to stop.

Stop looking at me like that.

"…yea. Him too."

A weight lifted in her chest, if only for a moment. She'd helped her puddin' even if he wasn't there to see it.

Following the man out of the trashed station as a plane dropped to pick them up the group climbed into the aircraft and tried to plan out what they would do with their lives now that they were officially free.

All the while each of them tried to ignore the tiny spark of warmth in their chests that had appeared upon completing their heroic deeds. After all they were bad guys…

Right?

Freedom.

She had longed for it since being thrown in Belle Reve two years previous and it was finally in her grasp, with only the stipulation that in case of another metahuman attack she returned to fight. It was a stipulation she'd had no problem agreeing with, especially since she'd regained a family in her teammates.

Deadshot smiled at her, pulling her into a hug.

"Got any plans, Harls?"

She shook her head.

No, where would she even go?

She couldn't go back to Gotham, not without him. There were too many memories, too much pain, and if she went back without him, she'd lose what little sanity she had left.

Every mask, every single thing holding back the very worst of her impulses would fall.

Without her Joker, she would burn Gotham to the ground and laugh in the ashes, Batman's corpse broken at her feet. No, it wasn't safe for her to return to their kingdom without her King. He was her anchor and he was gone and in his wake he'd left her sanity more frayed than it had been in years.

"Why not return home?" Fla- no, Rick asked her and she frowned at him curiously.

He held up a thin folder with the words "Top Secret" printed on it.

"Waller, had you under surveillance long before you became the Queen of Gotham, Harls. She saw you as a threat, especially after you continued to show up at nearly every strange crime scene in your hometown. She put you on the list while you were in Eichen House, but she didn't find out you were Harleen Quintzel until after you were imprisoned in Belle Reve."

Harley stared at him, at the file in his hands, and for once the voices in her head were silent, even the once she really wished to hear.

She missed her hometown fiercely, always had, but she didn't want to leave her new friends, not so soon after her lover' death. On the other hand, Gotham was the most interesting city in the country outside of her own, and she knew she'd be restless and bored anywhere else.

An idea hit her and she smiled.

"What do you guys think about moving to Beacon Hills? I hear the weather is great, there's a lot of death and maiming, oh and animal attacks. The animal attacks are important."

They all looked at her, then at each other, contemplating the decision and her heart pounded violently in her chest. Maybe they didn't feel the pull like she did. Maybe they wouldn't come.

She didn't want to be alone.

It wouldn't be healthy for her or anyone around her.

Deadshot smiled first and the others followed his lead.

"Well, I'm game."

Captain Boomerang, and she was so not going to call him that all the time, shrugged.

"Got nothin' better to do. Plus, there's a nice little jewelry store in Los Angeles, I've been meaning to hit."

"I will go." Katana agreed, nodding. And damn hadn't she come a long way.

Croc frowned and Harley smiled. "There's a large lake in the preserve that you can live in."

He grinned. "Alright."

Rick chuckled, his arm wrapped firmly around his fiancée. "I'm retiring in two weeks. Y'all look for a place."

They nodded, and Deadshot smirked.

"Wanna meet my baby girl?"

Harley giggled, nodding wildly. "Can I? Pretty please?!"

"C'mon."

She waved bye to the others and Rick waved back.

"See y'all in two weeks."

Anticipation and excitement pumped through her blood, tinged by the madness that had made her one of the most feared women in the country, a vicious blood-thirsty grin curling her lips in the guise of a smile.

She was going home for the first time in years, most of her masks shattered and left to rot.

Beacon Hills had no idea the chaos it was in for.

Neither did her former pack.

TBC…