Author's note: Yay another chapter down! I already have chapter 14 in the works soooo it should be up really soon as well. I hope you guys enjoy this one, and don't forget to let me know what you think of the story so far! Is there anything you want more of or just really enjoyed? Let me know and of course, enjoy!
Desire. Red, hot desire filled the Joker.
He didn't sleep much, if ever. And frankly, it just didn't suit him. The world was a much more exciting place when corners began to blur and the mind made justifications that were so unreasonable, that they had to be reasonable. And that's what he felt without sleep. At any rate, his mind already gave him the power to live out every dream and fantasy he could conjure up. Well, almost everything. He used to think he had the whole damn world in the palm of his hand, that everything he could ever want was within arms reach. However, now this notion had changed. And though he hated to admit it, it was all due to his ridged and moral Doctor, Harleen Quinzel.
His stupid, naive, agitating… sexy little Doctor Harley Quinn. He growled and rolled his neck, allowing each vertebrate to crack obnoxiously against the silence that filled his cell, as he twisted his back under the straitjacket.
The Joker's rage was coursing through his veins, ebbing and flowing like poison in a sick, sick man.
It was her fault. Her fault that he felt this way. Her fault that he was experiencing his current… predicament. And he didn't mean the confines of the straight jacket. No, it was her fault that she plagued his rare hours of slumber, that he couldn't seem to shake those piercing blue eyes, or erase that tormenting smile that was framed by those gorgeous dusty lips. Her fault for the desire he now felt. And for the growing discomfort between his shackled legs.
He hated her. Hated her with every ounce of his being because she made him something he would never admit to being: human.
So he would destroy her, slowly so he could watch his work. Watch her implode on herself, and destroy everything that she was. He wanted to simply strangle the life out of those blue orbs, to be done with her once and for all, but something held him back. That would be too easy after all. She wouldn't suffer the way she was currently making him suffer. 'And that just wouldn't be fair, now would it?' He thought to himself, and let out a tight laugh, trying to ignore his current state.
Oh, she would pay alright. Only a few hours more and he'd be able to put his plan into action. And it would be glorious.
Agony. Each moment stuck in the confinements of her cramped apartment was pure agony for Harleen. She was completely bored out of her mind.
She'd taken to drawing shapes against the cold, foggy window in her bedroom in order to distracted her wandering mind. But nothing worked. She was still thinking of him. Always of him.
She'd drawn the same cheshire smile on the window panes at least 30 times that morning alone. Written that stupid name puddin' at least 60 more times than that. Eventually, she let her hand rest flat against the glass, growing cold she had watched as the blood left her already pale hand, flowing backwards through the dark purple and blue veins.
She was going out of her mind, sitting there stuck, being only able to think about him. She didn't care what else was going on in the world. The static noise of the TV in the background could not relax her, or pull herself away from the thoughts that were consuming her.
Everything on the television was pointless. Pointless killing in the city of Gotham, pointless men flying around in a bat costume, saving pointless people from even more pointless villains. Villains that counted for nothing in her mind because they weren't him. No acts that they committed could compare to the things he was capable of doing, the things that he had done.
Harleen glanced back out the window, only to see her own face reflecting back at her from the frosty glass. The manic look in her blue eyes was no longer startling, in fact she would have been more concerned if she didn't see it lurking in the sky color blue of her iris'.
Looking past her own reflection she could barely make out the shape of the cop car lurking across the street with the lights off. The rain was impossible, descending upon the gray city in vast sweeps: if one were to brave the onslaught they would be soaked to the bone in mere moments.
'If Leland and Arkham really feared for my well being, they wouldn't have locked me up in my own home.' Harleen thought. She literally felt as if she were suffocating. Being watched like an incompetent child. Maybe if she had her work everything would be better. She could study her notes on J, maybe there was something there that she hadn't seen before. Harleen doubted it, since she practically had those damn papers memorized word for word, but she needed an excuse. Need at least one sound reason to feed her growing obsession. The problem was, her notes were locked up in her office at the Asylum. Leland had refused to let her take them with her, worried that it would only serve to make her more anxious about the recent events with the Joker.
Before Harleen had a second to really think over her decision she was ripping through her closet, pulling out clothes and half haphazardly pulling them onto herself. Within only a few minutes she was heading towards the door when she remembered the biggest dilemma… the cops that were watching her like hawks.
"Ughhh." She sighed throwing her fists against the door before swinging back around towards the room and sinking down to the floor. 'Come on Harleen think…. There has to be some way out of here without them knowing you've left. You're smarter than this'. She thought desperately. And then it hit her.
Racing back into her depressingly baron kitchen she grabbed a second set of keys of the hook; with the metal molds striking her pale knuckles harshly. However, the slight main did not slow her down. She flew out the door of her apartment, barely managing to lock it behind her before descending into the dim stairwell, taking each step two at a time.
Flinging open the door to the parking garage the white moonlight provide her with a greater light source than the flickering yellow lights above, that made a pitiful attempt to mimic stars that were never visible from the smog and rain that permanently plague the city of Gotham.
Turning the corner Harleen let out an audible sigh when her eyes made contact with the machine before her. She quickly jerked the tarp off of it, while brushing off any dust that had collected during its long lived hibernation. She hadn't ridden her it since her last year of high school. It was the one and only decent thing her father had left her before he disappeared. The ran her ivory hand down the leather seat slowly, before picking up the helmet and placing it one. It took a few tries for the old engine to roar to life, but when it did Harleen relished in the sound, already feeling the endorphin flowing through her.
She had retired the vehicle because it made her reckless. And somewhere along the line of reinventing herself she had decided that Doctor Harleen Quinzel was anywhere but reckless. She had even considered selling the damn thing, however, something had stopped her from doing so. Now, she was grateful. Now, she had the perfect way to avoid the suffocating surveillance of the police officers stationed outside her apartment. No one would be able to tell who she was under the helmet, and it was late enough that the officers watching her every move would just assume she had gone off to bed.
The giggle from earlier escaped Harleen's parted lips as she revved the engine, but this time she didn't mind, in fact, it felt absolutely right. It took all her energy to restrain the growing urge in her to fly out of the garage at full speed, instead she slowing exited, and allowed the now light drizzle of rain to drizzle onto her helmet and collect like diamonds on her black leather jacket. She breathed in the damp night air, and pulled out of the parking garage and off into the direction of Arkham Asylum.
Getting into Arkham was easy enough. In fact, it was almost maddening how easy they made it to get into such a place, when it seemed almost impossible to get out, even for her now, she sighed. 'I shouldn't be here.' Harleen thought, before rolling her eyes internally at herself. She was obsessed, crazed with doing anything that would bring her closer to him. And that's how she found herself hunched over her crowded office desk, mouth practically watering over the papers she had memorized.
Harleen wasn't sure when her eyes began to feel heavy, but she knew she must have fallen asleep. Only that could explain the world she currently found herself in.
She was in a strangers home, or at least it felt that way. The sunlight was coursing in through the white drapes that hung over the large windows. Beyond the windows was a dazzling blue pool, big enough to be considered eccentric by even the richest of individuals. The yard stretched for miles, with perfectly trimmed grass and even more perfect pink rose bushes lining the blurred edges of the white picket fence that edged the enormous yard. Harleen's eyes were currently transfixed on the flawless indigo sky and the milky white of the cotton ball clouds that littered it. It was a sight that was impossible in the drab city of Gotham.
The jingle of children laughing interrupted Harleen's daze, and her attention was drawn back into the grand house. The walls were white, but not the harsh white that plastered the suffocating walls of Arkham Asylum. No, this white had a soft glow to it, as if everything was laced with the same sunshine that the orange orb outside emitted.
Harleen lightly brushed her hand over the white marble counter that lay before her, and watched as the sunlight caught on the enormous ring positioned on her finger, reflecting rainbow patterns all around the room.
'Oh god, why did it feel like the thing weighed a million pounds?' Harleen thought, as she struggled to pick you her hand again.
The diamond was ridiculous and Harleen was filled with an overwhelming desire to rip it off her petite hand. Just as her fingers from her right hand curled around the offending object though, there was a loud bang, as if a door had been flung open. And the laughter that Harleen had heard before was back, louder and getting closer. Harleen flipped around quickly in the large kitchen, light dancing across her vision as it felt like she was spinning for hours before a voice broke through.
"Mommy?" And suddenly she was facing a small child, who couldn't possibly be older than 4. Her blonde ringlets bounced around her shoulders in disarray, but Harleen hardly had time to notice that because she was distracted by the emerald eyes that stared back at her, highlighted by the thick dark lashes. "Mommy?" The child said again reaching up towards Harleen with her impossibly small hand.
And then Harleen heard more laughter as another child, this one older raced around the corner. This one two had the same jaded eyes as the first. Eyes Harleen only associated with one other person. "Mommy she's lying." The older girl said, and her voice fell from her mouth like snowflakes.
Harleen began to speak, although she had little to no idea what she was going to say. But before she could get any words out the older girl's face broke into a magnificent smile, and suddenly Harleen knew because that smile only belonged on one face.
Harleen began backing away from the children, feeling the counter digging into her back almost painfully, and just as she was about to tell the children to leave her alone because the panic rising in her throat was almost too much to conceal, there was a second bang, just like the first.
"Daddy's home!" Both girls screeched in unison before tearing off down the long white hallway once more.
Harleen froze for only a moment, before she began to try to pry the ring off her finger, not wanting to acknowledge what it could possibly mean. It felt as if each time she pulled on it, the band of the ring became even smaller and more impossible to get off her finger.
Harleen was pulled out of her panic when she heard footsteps approaching and when she looked up, she was frightened by what she saw.
It was him, it was the Joker, but without the pale face, without the ruby red lips, and black makeup around his eyes. His hair wasn't green, instead it was jet black. Their eyes locked within moments and Harleen felt a scream hitch in her throat.
'This isn't real Harleen, this isn't real'. She chanted in her own head, now coming to the realization that it had to be a dream because if it wasn't the Joker that she new had didn't exist, the man she was obsessed with was not real.
"Harleen." The man said and smiled, the same smile that the Joker always had. He stepped closer before embracing her, but she remained stiff in his arms. When he pulled back, he kept her in arms reach, looking deep into her eyes he asked. "Are you okay dear?"
And suddenly Harleen was screaming, thrashing her arms. "No. No. No" Was all she could say and then suddenly she was falling backwards. It felt as if she were collapsing in on herself. And then everything went black.
Jumping awake, Harleen barely avoided spilling her now cold coffee all over her cluttered work space. She glanced around the room in panic, before settling back n her chair with a loud sigh. 'It was a dream.' She sighed again in relief. 'Just a dream.'
And then there was a loud crash that emulated from the space behind her. Harleen froze for a long moment, trying to gather her breath, to calm her already shocked nerves. And then she slowly turned around in her chair, only to lock eyes with the one person she had hoped it wasn't.
"Hello beautiful."
Author's note: Ha ha! I do love a good cliffhanger lol. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, it was a fun one to write. And now it's time to get to the REAL good stuff :)). I hope you guys liked it, don't be afraid to let me know what you think! You're reviews, follows, and favorites are what keep me going!