(I'm back! Did ya miss me? So, it's finally time to see how the Arkham Gang will react to seeing Fitz and Amber arriving together. What delightful chaos will come about this time?)

[I recently saw a musical called "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change" by Joe DiPeietro & Jimmy Roberts. There's this song in it that seriously reminds me of Amber and Fitz's date. It's called 'Single Man Drought'. Give it a listen; it's funny.]

[I listened to 'Mayhem' by Imelda May while I typed up this chapter which made it become even funnier. So I suggest listening to that when you read this… to make it better, start the song when Fitz comes in.]

{redpony suggested the idea that Amber forgets to put on her purity ring. Considering my friend Amber RARELY takes off her ring, it was difficult to think of a way for this to happen; but then I finally found a situation!}

Chapter Twenty

The Nut House

Arkham had told her to meet him in the Rec. room. Most patients were in bed by this time of night and the room would be empty…except that it wasn't. All thirteen of her charges were with Dr. Arkham, along with fifteen armed guards and orderlies. The minute Amber walked into the room all thirteen patients happily leapt to their feet. "Nurse Amber!" they cheered, then did a double take at her appearance.

"Nurse Amber, we had no idea you were so pretty out of uniform," Tommy Tetch said with a smile. Amber screwed her mouth up as best as possible to hide the grin that wanted to appear.

The Joker looked a bit confused at the sight of her straight hair. "There's no…" He made a wavy motion with his hand. "There's no," again the hand motion, "in your hair."

"They're called waves, Puddin'."

"I liked the waves." Did the Joker seriously just pout?

"You look nice, chika," Chelsea said, giving a thumb up.

"Yeah; dress like that more often," Dent added. Crane merely looked Amber over and gave a nod of approval.

Dr. Arkham shuffled his feet a bit as he too took in Amber's appearance. "I'm sorry, Nurse Amber. You look like you were somewhere important."

Amber shrugged. "Eh, not really," she said, evasively.

"Oh no? Because it looks like you're dressed up for a date," the Joker said accusingly.

Dr. Fitz chose that moment to walk in, carrying Amber's take out box. "Darling, you forgot this in the cab."

"Stop calling me 'darling'," Amber hissed.

"You were on a date with him!" the Joker screeched.

Fitz flashed him a smug grin and a wink as he slung an arm over Amber's shoulders. "Told you so."

Amber pushed his arm off. "Quit it, would ya."

"How could you?" Dent whined.

"Oh my gosh, you guys, it's not like it was a real date!"

"You're dressed like that and you say it wasn't a real date?" Ivy questioned.

Edward caught a glimpse of the restaurant's name on the lid of the take out box. "You went to the Blue Moon and you say it wasn't a real date?"

"You know the Blue Moon restaurant?" Ivy asked with some surprise.

Edward moved to adjust his necktie then remembered he wasn't wearing one. "I might have been there once or twice with a few women-."

"You robbed the place with Echo and Query, didn't you?" Crane said, blandly.

"Eeeh-yeah, I might have," Edward muttered, scratching the back of his neck.

Katherine inhaled deeply. "I smell chicken alfredo. Is that chicken alfredo!"

"You said you didn't like him, but you went on a date with him?" Chelsea asked in disbelief.

"But you had her temporarily dismissed," Arkham said to Fitz. Fitz gave another pompous but perfect grin and shrugged. Everyone was talking at once and Amber was fed up with it.

"SHUT UP!"

"….."

"It was not a date." She made eye contact with everyone. "Is that clear? I don't care what it looks like to you, it was not a date. I got cornered into meeting Fitz at a restaurant and I ate dinner with him. That's it."

Fitz shoved his free hand into his pants pocket as he waited. Something metallic was in his pocket. He felt the shape and remembered. At the restaurant, Amber had taken off her ring and given it to Fitz for him to look at. Then the call from Arkham came and they left in such a hurry, he'd forgotten to give it back. He pulled it out and tapped Amber on the shoulder. "Here's your purity ring, by the way."

"OH MY INSANITY!"

The wave of raised voices resumed. Amber glared daggers at Fitz. No one moved fast enough to stop the Joker from tackling Bernard Fitz but Amber did manage to grab her take out box before it hit the floor. The Joker gripped Fitz by the shirt, straddling the man as he barred his yellow teeth at him. "You sick playboy! You defiled my nurse! You should have kept it in your pants, man, cause now you're gonna-!"

A group of four guards pulled the Joker off of Fitz, but the clown wasn't backing down. He kept struggling to break free. He jerked his head around to look at a shocked Amber. "We let you out of our sight for two days and you go nuts!"

"It's not what it looks like!" Amber began and then frowned. "Why am I even defending myself to you?"

A hand was on her arm and she turned to see Nigma and his two girls behind him. "Did he force himself on you? Is that what happened?" he asked urgently.

"We could turn him into a eunuch for you," Katherine offered seriously.

"Snip! Snip!" Katlyn 1 added with a smile as she mimed a pair of scissors. Fitz's eyes widened and he backed away to stand closer to a particularly large guard.

"I'll give him nightmares for months!" Crane promised.

"Off with his head!" Jervis shouted.

"No; off with his dick!" the Joker yelled.

"Joker!" Amber snapped.

"What!"

"None of that crude language, please."

"Screw you, Amber!"

"I believe the doctor already did," Crane said.

"Crane!"

"Caleb no like Dr. Fitz!"

"Good brother," Katherine cooed.

"Batman is gonna kick his butt!" Katelynn 2 announced and began to march towards the doctor but was blocked by the large guard. "You cannot stop Batman from delivering justice!"

"Baaaaats!"

Katherine face palmed herself. "Well…so much for that."

In the midst of all the chaos, Amber calmly walked to a table, stepped onto a chair, then onto the table top. She took out a whistle from her bag and blew on it long and loud until all voices had ceased.

"Everyone, listen to me! I did not have sexual relations with that man!"

There was one lone snicker from a male orderlie who quickly cleared his throat to cover it up.

"The only thing that happened was that I took off my ring so he could look at it without holding my hand. That is it. That is all."

Harley raised a hand in the air and waited until Amber noticed her. "Sooo… the two of you didn't…" She made some vague gesture with her hands.

Amber blinked a couple of times before answering. "I have no idea what that means; but if you mean 'sex', then no. it did not happen. It never will."

"We'll see," Fitz muttered loud enough for all to hear. He let out a yelp when all thirteen patients collectively turned their heads to snarl and glare at him.

Nigma cleared his throat and stepped towards Amber. "If I may have a word with you, Nurse Amber?" He extended his hand out and waited. Amber placed her hand in his and let him help her off the table.

"He's my gentleman in the group," Amber couldn't help but think.

Edward motioned towards an empty corner of the room. "Mind if we talk over there?" Amber shrugged her consent. Once they were 'alone', Edward scratched the back of his left ear and chuckled. "Well, that escalated quickly."

"Ya think."

"Heh, heh, heh." He glanced back at the still arguing group, although they weren't as loud now. "But you can see where we came to that conclusion, right?"

Amber sighed and held up her ring for him to see. "Yeah. Never taking this off again."

"May I?" Edward asked, holding out his hand.

Amber paused and quirked an eyebrow at him. "Seriously?" she asked with a slight suspicious smile. He remained with his hand held out. "Oookay." She handed him the ring. She was surprised when he also took hold of her left hand and with an air or ceremony, placed the ring on her finger.

"With this ring, I thee-."

"Don't even go there, Edward."

Edward grinned. "Just thought I'd try to cheer you up a bit. You know, since Dr. Fitz is giving you a hard time."

Amber tossed a glare at Fitz who was currently using the large guard as a wall between him and Katlyn 1. The girl was still miming scissors snipping.

"The man is insufferable," Amber hissed with clenched teeth. "He parades around on his high-horse, waving his successful career in the air, and he makes those snide little remarks that are obviously designed to belittle me and my life; not to mention other people as well. The guy is a smug, pig-faced- well, not really pig-faced because let's face it, the man's a handsome prick- arrogant, pretty boy, jerk, who has no concept what humility means!"

The Riddler stood with his chin in hand, contemplating her words. "Hm. Sooo… I take it you don't like this man?" he deadpanned. Amber giggled and lightly punched his arm.

"Amber, stop flirting with Quiz Boy!" the Joker yelled from across the room.

"She can flirt with me if she wants to!" Nigma shouted back.

"I don't even know how to flirt!" Amber whined, unhappy that she was once again being dragged back into an argument.

"Looks like you do," the Joker accused.

"Oh my gosh! Lord!" Amber called, throwing her head back and looking up at the ceiling. "Help! Take me now! Just take me now, God!"

"Could we all just calm down and let me say what it was I called her here to say!" Dr. Arkham shouted over the raised voices.

Amber slumped in exhaustion and nodded. "Please do."

"You suspension has been lifted. You are to come back to work tomorrow."

For a moment Amber was quiet. She blinked a couple of times and turned her head towards her charges. "What did you guys do while I was gone?"

The group collectively chuckled. "We just missed you is all," Katherine said with a sly grin.

The young nurse put a hand to her forehead. "Oh that poor nurse." She looked at Arkham. "Nurse Gilbert's still alive, right?"

"Yes, but I doubt we'll ever see her again."

"But...why are they all out here, instead of in their cells? And why didn't you just tell me that over the phone?"

"They demanded that they see you being told to come back in the morning so there was no chance of a mistake being made."

Amber could only stare at her group of charges. After a brief moment of silence, a breathless laugh escaped her lips and she smiled. She ran a hand through her hair and shook her head. "Well, guys… congratulations, I'll be here tomorrow." And with that, Amber walked towards the door and with a final eye roll at Dr. Fitz, she left them so she could go to her apartment, rest, and return in the morning.

(I'm sorry the ending is so rushed but I couldn't think of a good ending for this chapter and I didn't want to keep you guys waiting any longer. Thank you for being patient. I hope you enjoyed this update. Let me know your thoughts and you know the rest! *blows a kiss* Until next time!)

[For those of you who are curious for the results of which story I'll write next; the story that won was my The Hobbit story which will be titled Worth More Than Gold. Be on the lookout for the first chapter. I should have it uploaded before the end of this year.]