("It's New Year's right now and all around me neighbors are firing off fireworks close by and it sounds and smells like I'm in the middle of a war zone."
*hears a firework shoot into the air next to her window*
"TAKE COVER!" *dives off bed and lands with a thud on the floor. She peeks up. *
"So anyway, I took the time to write down everyone's suggestions of what they'd like to see happen in my story and I'm going to try to include them all as best I can. I will give credit to the reviewer who suggested the idea at the beginning of the chapter in which I use the idea."
*The Joker strolls into My Purple Skies' room.*
Joker: "Uuuh… kid, what are you doing on the floor?"
Me: "Avoiding the battle. Wanna join?"
Joker: "Nope. I'm good."
Enjoy this chapter and let me know if you got any ideas, it's always appreciated!)

(A special villain appearance by request of Someone and was seconded by Solla. Hope you like it. I'm afraid I couldn't find very much on hm that would give me a hint as to his personality so I had to kinda 'wing' it. I hope I don't disappoint you two.

[The song in this chapter is 'It's Not Unusual' by Tom Jones. It's a really fun song to sing and dance around to like a goof… not that I would know about that.]

Chapter Sixteen

Our House

"Is there anything planned for the patients on New Year's, sir?" Amber asked Dr. Arkham two days after Christmas. She, Joan Leeland, Gatsby, Arkham, and Bernard Fitz were all in the break room enjoying their lunches.

Dr. Arkham cleared his throat after swallowing his microwave heated soup. "Well, uh, no. There isn't."

"Why not?"

"Do you really think they deserve to have anything special planned for them on New Year's?" Dr. Fitz asked.

Amber fought back the smart retort she had on the tip of her tongue. "Yes, Dr. Fitz, I do. My charges have been exceptionally well behaved for the past month and-."

Fitz gave a dry chuckle. "If you call them well behaved, I'd like to see your definition of angelic."

Amber exhaled through her nose and continued speaking. "If the asylum doesn't reward a patient's efforts at good behavior, perfect good behavior- or attempts at good behavior- then why should that patient continue to behave if there is no deference in the way that he or she is being treated? It's just like how you would reward a child for a good grade."

Everyone turned to look at Dr. Fitz to see what his response would be. At the moment, Fitz was blinking at Amber, surprised at her sound reasoning.

"I, uh, I guess I can see some sort of point in that," he finally admitted.

Amber refrained from slapping the table surface and shouting, "Boo-yah! In yo face!" Instead she shared a triumphant grin with Joan and Gatsby.

"So what do you have in mind?" Fitz asked. He pretended to be curious, but he really just wanted to stab a hole in her idea.

"Huh?"

"What ideas did you have? How can they celebrate the New Year?"

"Well obviously no alcohol," Dr. Arkham joked, easing the tension.

Amber gave him a look that said, "Bless you, Dr. Arkham."

"We could at least serve them some special foods instead of the normal stuff they have to eat every day. Like what we do for Christmas and Thanksgiving."

"It's not too late to call the asylum's food providers and order something special," Joan said.

"Great!"

Amber's smile was turning into an excited grin that Fitz couldn't help but find absolutely adorable. He hid his smile by covering his mouth with his hand, pretending to be stroking his newly growing stubble.

As he half-listened to the conversation of what to do for the patients on New Year's- he was mostly staring at Amber and wondering what she would look like in a cocktail dress instead of scrubs- Fitz lifted his bottle to his lips and swallowed his water. He grimaced a bit when the water tasted bitter. He looked at it to see if there was anything visible that would cause such a taste but didn't see anything. He wrote it off as the spring that the water company used and decided not to buy any more water from them; … if he'd only looked at Amber while he was checking his bottle. If he had, he would have seen her watching him from the corner of her eye, waiting for him to drink the water. She gave a victorious smile and brought her full attention back to the conversation.

….

It wasn't until Fitz was walking out of a restroom stall and going to the sink to wash his hands that he noticed something very odd about his mouth. He dried the water off his hands and leaned in to inspect his handsome reflection. He smiled at the image and then his eyes widened as he focused on his mouth. His lips, his teeth, his tongue, the gums, everything was purple! How long had it been that way!?

Fitz turned on the faucet and cupped his hands beneath the running water, bringing up handfuls to his lips and sipping a mouthful. He swished the liquid around in his mouth and spat it into the sink. His spit didn't even have leftover traces of the dye used to color his mouth and it had no fading effect!

"No!" he cried, clutching the edge of the sink. "How?" His mind went to the bitter tasting water at lunch. But how could someone have gotten to his bottled water? Well, it was left in there unsupervised until he came to drink it for lunch; anyone could have gotten to it. But only one person came to mind as Fitz glared at the purple ink staining his mouth; The Joker.

A toilet flushed and an employee came up to the left sink beside his. He glanced at him as he washed his hands, curious as to why he was just standing there and staring at his reflection. Fitz jerked his head to look at the employee, glaring. "What are you looking at?" he snarled.

The employee caught sight of the doctor's purple mouth and lifted his eyebrows. He said nothing, just finished washing up and left the bathroom. Fitz threw his own reflection a glare, growled, and stormed out.

…

Amber blinked as she remained seated at a table in the cafeteria, waiting for her patients to finish eating their lunch. But at the moment, her attention –and everybody else's for that matter- was focused on a man that was shouting at the top of his lungs and clutching a flashlight. He would dance around the orderlies who were trying to restrain him and then he'd shine the beam of the light in their eyes.

"Light, light, light! Such an attractive, hypnotizing thing! Many a moth has been drawn to their deaths by bright lights! Ha ha ha ha! But not this one! No, no, no! Not Killer Moth!"

Amber could only stare and blink, her mouth slightly hanging open and her brows drawn together in confusion. Joan slid into the seat next to her, also watching the man with the air of a seasoned asylum psychiatrist. "His name is Drury Walker. He calls himself-."

"Killer Moth," Amber finished. "Is he aware how…" she pursed her lips and then relaxed her face again, "unintimidating that title is?"

"He thinks Killer makes up for it."

"Ah." But all Amber could think of was that scene from A Bug's Life.

"No, Harry; no! Don't look at the light!"

"Iii caaan't heeelp iiiit. It's sooo beauuutifuuuul…" *zap!* "GAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Whoohoo! Earth to Amber," Joan called, waving a hand in front of the younger woman's face.

Amber blinked and shook her head. "Huh? Wha? Sorry, I kinda zoned out there."

"Nurse Amber!" an angry, British voice called from behind her.

Both Joan and Amber turned in their seats and saw Dr. Fitz just as he was briskly making his way around the corner of the table. He stopped in front of Amber, a very ticked off look on his sexy face. Amber had a very mysterious combination of satisfaction, amusement, and feigned innocence on her face.

"Why, Dr. Fitz, what do I owe the pleasure?"

Fitz leaned his tall frame over, palms on the table as he looked Amber in the eyes. "Listen, you little darling," he said in a quiet, but very annoyed, tone. "I don't know how he did it, but somehow that clown got ahold of my bottle and-."

"Dr. Fitz, what is up with your mouth?" Amber asked, a little too loudly. It caught her group of patients' attention from their seats two tables over. The Joker slightly stood from his seat to get a better view of Fitz and he grinned at his work. He had suggested poison, but Amber wouldn't agree so he had to down grade his prank on the doctor. Amber was told that the doctor would get pranked but she wasn't told when the Joker would do it so she would remain as uninvolved as possible. The only sign Amber had that the bottle Fitz drank was rigged was the purple smiley face the Joker had drawn on the plastic wrapper.

Dr. Fitz attempted to cover his mouth but gave up and lowered his head closer to Amber. He took a deep breath. "A punishment is required for this action. Now I'll leave you to try explaining to your patients that they will not be participating in the New Year celebration."

The smile that had been on Amber's face instantly vanished. "What?"

"Well," Fitz said as he straightened up and nonchalantly began to smooth the wrinkles out of his doctor's coat, "it's just like you said earlier. Rewards are for those who behave and punishments are for the others who misbehave. And the Joker misbehaved." He turned to go, casting a smug look at the table where the Joker sat. By now, everyone at his table was watching and they had all seen the smile disappear off of Amber's face. Something had change.

Amber stood up from her seat. "How do you know it was the Joker who did that to you?"

Fitz turned back to look at her. He pointed at his mouth. "How does this not say, 'Joker' to you? He practically signed his name. It's the color purple."

"Well maybe it was the only dye color I could find."

Fitz's eyes widened and Joan whipped her head around to stare at Amber. "What?' Fitz asked.

"Amber… you…did that?" Joan asked with surprise.

Amber glanced over Fitz's shoulder at her patients. They were all staring. Could they hear her and Fitz's conversation? "I did. It was just a harmless prank."

"It's down-right humiliating!" Fitz retorted, trying to keep his anger under control. "You know, I was considering asking you out for coffee this afternoon; now I'm not so sure." He had made it sound like it was a big sacrifice he was going to make. "I'll be reporting this to Dr. Arkham." He turned on his heel and left the cafeteria.

Once Fitz was gone, Amber slowly sank back into her seat. "Did you really mess with his water?" Joan asked.

Amber shook her head. "No, it was the Joker…but I knew about it and I didn't want to stop him."

Joan couldn't help but chuckle. "You little sneak. I wish I had thought of that. But…" Joan furrowed her brow. "Why did you take the blame?"

"I couldn't take away their New Year celebration. Especially when I knew about the prank and even encouraged it. It would have been wrong."

Joan let out a breath. "Guuuurl, you are getting too soft for those patients…but it was nice. I don't think Dr. Arkham is going to fire you, but he will probably have to discipline you just to appease Dr. Fitz so he won't go and complain to his supervisors." Joan then laughed and put her chin on her fist, leaning her elbow on the table for support. "But it's really just awful that Bernard Fitz isn't going to take you out for coffee," she joked.

Amber shrugged. "Eh. I hate coffee."

Joan's giggles instantly ceased. "We can't be friends anymore."

Amber pretended to gasp and put a hand over her heart like she was hurt. "Joan!" she whispered in fake shock.

"It's unforgivable."

Amber started to slowly, inch by inch, lean closer and closer towards Joan. "But you wuuuuve me," she whined in a childish voice.

"No, no, nope, stop," Joan said, trying not to laugh as leaned in the opposite direction. "Stop it."

"Jooooan, we tha bestest fwiends! You know you luuuuve me," Amber continued to then jumped up, feeling a little brave, and started singing to Joan like a crooner.

"It's not unusual to be loved by anyone
It's not unusual to have fun with anyone
but when I see you hanging about with anyone
It's not unusual to see me cry,
oh I wanna die."

Amber spun in a tiny circle and started snapping her fingers, still singing to Joan as if they were in love.

"It's not unusual to go out at any time
but when I see you out and about it's such a crime
If you should ever want to be loved by anyone,
It's not unusual it happens every day, no matter what you say
You find it happens all the time
Love will never do what you want it to
Why can't this crazy love be mine?"

By this time her little performance had attracted some attention, especially from Amber's little group. "She's actually really good," Ivy commented to Dent.

"Yeah, real good," Tommy Tetch agreed.

Dent only grunted and slouched in his seat. "I hate musicals."

"Yet you like ballet?" Ivy egged.

"Shut up! That was only once and it was for a girl!"

"It's not unusual, to be mad with anyone
It's not unusual, to be sad with anyone
but if I ever find that you've changed at anytime
It's not unusual to find out that I'm in love with you
whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh!"

"Stop iiiiit!" Joan laughed, trying to hide her face. Amber plopped back in her seat and nearly jumped when she heard scattered applause coming from some of the guards and orderlies. A few patients here and there were also clapping. Now Amber buried her face in her hands, turning bright red. Both Joan and the young nurse laughed.

"Nurse Amber." It was Dr. Arkham. "May I speak with you in my office?"

Amber's smile slowly faded and she nodded. She silently stood and followed Dr. Arkham, passing her patients on the way out. She and the Joker exchanged eye contact before she quickly looked away. When she was gone, the inmates all stared at one another.

"Did she just take the blame for us?" Chelsea asked.

"I think that's what just happened," Katherine answered.

The Joker remained quiet.

"Puddin', did you hear what they were sayin'?"

"Mostly."

"Is that what happened?"

"Yep."

Edward Nigma made a bridge of his fingers and rested his chin on them. "Darling girl, if she remains single much longer I'll start romancing her myself," he commented jokingly.

"The heck you will!" Three voices yelled at once; two of those belonging to Katherine and Katlyn 1, the other belonging to the Joker.

"Amber in trouble?" Caleb asked nervously.

"That's what happens when you associate with criminals," Crane remarked.

"She didn't have to do that-she could have let us take the blame… but why didn't she?" Jervis stroked his chin. "Hmm. 'Curiouser and curiouser.'"

"I know whyyy," Katherine twittered, earning a glare from the Joker. She went on anyway. "It's because she likes you, clown boy."

"Would you just shUUUuuuut UUUp about that?" the Joker snapped.

"Ha ha ha! You sounded funny!" Katelynn 2 giggled.

The Joker eyed her with crazed frustration. "Zip it!"

"I feel kinda guilty. I got this feeling in my stomach," Harley admitted.

"Nah, Harl, that's just the cafeteria food," the Joker chuckled.

Harley frowned. "I'm serious, Mistah J! She stuck her neck out for ya."

"She needs to learn that sticking your neck out for others only results in her head being cut off."

"OFF WITH HER HEAD!" Jervis suddenly shouted, jumping to his feet. He cringed and sheepishly scratched the back of his neck. "Uh…sorry about that. Compulsion, you know."

….

"I'm suspended?" Amber asked incredulously.

"It was the punishment that Dr. Fitz asked for. Due to his position, I had to agree."

"For how long?"

"Three days."

"Three days? All this for a little prank?"

"The damage done to my pride was no little thing," Dr. Fitz said as he just now entered the office. Amber could have throttled him then and there. "I could have suggested a longer period but then…" he gave her his charming grin, "But then I'd be deprived of your charming company, darling."

"Trust me, you're gonna wish you had suspended me for longer when I get back."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, Nurse Amber. Such spite. Perhaps a few days to yourself will clear your head. When you get back we can discuss why you feel such hostility to me over coffee. Until then, darling." With that, Dr. Fitz left the room.

"I hate coffee!" Amber shouted at the closed door.

"Ahem." Dr. Arkham gained her attention.

Amber sighed. "I have to leave now, don't I?"

"I'm afraid so."

Amber gave another sigh. "You'll make sure my group makes it to that New Year party, right?"

"Of course."

"Thanks."

The young woman turned to go.

"Nurse Amber…"

"Yes, sir?"

"Just between the two of us… that prank… I would have gone with blue."

Amber suppressed a laugh. She gave a firm nod. "Dually noted, sir." She left the office, hiding her smirk from Dr. Fitz as she passed him by in the hall.

"Nurse Amber, Nurse Amber, Nurse Amber," Dr. Arkham chuckled with a sigh. "Most Likely To Be Unforgettable." He picked up his water bottle from his desk and unscrewed the cap. He lifted the bottle to his lips and paused. He lowered the bottle and gave it a long, thoughtful look. He placed the cap back on and threw the bottle away…just in case.

(So there it is! My New Year chapter. I couldn't get it all done on New Year's Eve like I wanted but I still got it out on New Year's Day! *does a happy dance* I hope you liked it! And as I said before, I love your input and suggestions! I love you all so much! *blows a kiss* Mwah!)