Chapter Ten: Duty Calls

"Where are you?" Joker asked her.

Nora sat on the sidewalk in the dark with the phone to her ear and replied, "I-I don't know." Her head felt foggy and she couldn't think straight.

He was silent for a moment and then said, "Are you alone?"

"Yes," she said, bringing her knees to her chest.

"I'm coming to get you, doll. Stay where you are and don't hang up," he told her.

She squeezed her eyes shut and said, "Ok." The phone went silent but the call hadn't ended. She did what he told her and didn't hang up, keeping the receiver against her ear just in case. Nora breathed deeply and put her head between her knees as a wave of nausea came over her. Fear was starting to release its grip on her now that she knew Joker was on his way but her muscles remained tight and a cold sweat covered her forehead. She focused on breathing and listened for any noise in the silence around her as the minutes passed. Nothing but the sound of distant traffic. Wherever she was, it must have been secluded. Suddenly, she heaved and emptied her stomach onto the ground in front of her. Moments later, she caught her breath as headlights came around the corner and shined in her direction. Her head pounded and she shielded her eyes from the bright light. Oh shit, please let it be him. Please.

A black car pulled up and the passenger door opened. Joker came rushing over to her as Enigma rounded the front of the car from the driver's side. He knelt down and took her face in his hands, a serious look on his at the sight of her appearance. A large blue bruise was forming over her left cheek and temple, her skin was pale, and she was drenched in sweat.

"Joker," she said, her eyelids becoming heavy.

He furrowed his brow and said, "Hey, look at me. Can you hear me?"

She fluttered her eyes open and mumbled, "Mhmm." Her adrenaline had worn off and she was feeling faint. Enigma came to her other side and the two of them lifted her from the ground by her arms. They helped her walk to the car where Joker opened the back door and carefully lowered her into the seat before coming around the other side and climbing in next to her. He was dressed in his usual attire, minus the coat and gloves, with a fresh coat of greasepaint on his face. After rolling up the sleeves of his shirt, he leaned over her and brushed away the hair that was stuck to her clammy forehead. Enigma started to drive and Nora let her head fall onto Joker's shoulder as silent tears ran down her cheeks. He put his arm around her and carefully wiped her tears away with his thumb.

It didn't take long to reach the warehouse where Enigma pulled up next to the side door. Joker delicately lifted her head from his shoulder to get out of the car. Then he opened her door and bent down to pick her up. Nora was surprised at first, but then she put her arms around his neck as he carried her inside with one arm under her legs and the other supporting her back. He brought her to a couch where he laid her down and pulled up a chair next to her. A sharp pain racked through her head, causing Nora to wince and groan. Enigma threw a pill bottle to Joker then brought over a glass of water.

"Here, take this," said Joker, putting a pill in her hand and sliding his arm under her back to help her sit up as he placed the water glass in her other hand.

She looked at it for a second and quietly asked, "What is it?"

"Oxy. You'll feel better," he answered, his tongue probing his scars.

She tossed the pill in her mouth and took a sip of water to swallow it before laying back on the couch. A twinge or nausea hit her stomach and she hoped she would keep the pain killer down. Fuck, I think I have a concussion. She took deep breaths with her eyes closed until the sick feeling passed. Then she opened them and looked to Joker. She had never seen that expression on his face before. He looked worried.

He leaned in to hold her chin in his hand and asked in a low voice, "What happened?"

She swallowed and said, "Maroni. H-He knows who I am."

Joker's face morphed into a scowl and he breathed heavily. Then he noticed Nora's eye widen and he blinked slowly before softening his expression, like has was trying not to scare her. "Tell me every-thing, doll," he said gently after relaxing his jaw.

She told him about the card she got at work, the taxi, the restaurant, Maroni's threat, the billboard, and the alley by the meat packing plant. "The cab driver, he… he hit me with his gun," she said, finishing her story.

Joker had been expressionless, except for the worry in his eyes, staring at her the whole time. He moved his hand from her chin before sitting on the couch beside her to carefully lift her head for it to rest on his lap. He looked straight ahead while a deadly look formed on his face and he said, "Ohhh he'll get what's comin' to him, doll." His tone was dark and vengeful. "Tha-t was a lowww blow, my Mafia friend," he growled.

Nora wasn't sure what to say so she remained silent. The pain in her head started to subside and she began to feel relaxed. Her breathing slowed and she closed her eyes, then feeling Joker's fingers running through her hair. It gave her goosebumps down her arms and her mouth curved into a small smile. She felt herself melt into the support beneath her as she sighed. Sweet relief poured over her and her muscles loosened, a warm feeling making its way from her toes up to her face.

"Feeling better, doll?" he asked her.

She nodded a little. "Mmm," she hummed in reply. Joker giggled and continued to comb her hair with his fingers as she welcomed the effects of the narcotic. The ordeal she'd been through was not forgotten but now she felt safe. If she was crazy for being comfortable with her head in Joker's lap, she didn't want to be sane. Was it his fault she was now caught up in his rivalry with Maroni? Not really. She could have ran in the beginning. She could have gone to the police or left town but she didn't. Nora accepted his offer because of her need to get close to him and if this was a part of it, she could accept that.

"Salll Maro-ni will get what's comin' to him," she heard Joker's gravelly voice say before drifting off to sleep.

Nora suddenly awoke in Joker's bed, throwing the sheets off of herself and quickly sitting up to frantically glance around the room, looking like she was ready to run. Joker was sitting at his desk, scribbling something in a notebook when Nora startled awake. He stood from his chair and came over to the bed to sit beside her. She realized where she was and flopped back into the blankets, catching her breath.

"I-I dreamt I was still in that alley," she sighed. "Thank you."

He leaned over her to look her in the eyes and nodded his head slowly, "Of course, doll." Then he looked at the bruise on her face and frowned. The look in his eyes was soft, but intense at the same time. "Now. What to do with old Sal, hm? What to dooo with the cowar-d who thinks he can get away with this?" he said. Nora knew he'd be angry when he found out about what Maroni had done but it seemed like he was holding it back when he was around her. She didn't want him to explode. But she also couldn't help but feel a bit… flattered that the Joker was pissed off on her behalf. Sure Maroni had done it to make a move on Joker himself, but he used Nora to do it and that made it so much worse.

"Are you gonna kill him?" she asked.

He smirked and replied with a low rumble from his throat, "Ohhh no. Not ye-t. He deserves sooo much more." Nora felt tingles run down her spine, but it wasn't from fear. Arousal began to build in her core. Did that just turn me on? It seemed to come out of nowhere but she couldn't help it. It was so sexy, the way he said that. His voice when he talked like that.

She looked up at him leaning over top of her and said, "Um. Can you say that again?"

He raised his eyebrows before his smirk grew wider. "He. Deserrves. Sooo much more," he growled even lower as he leaned toward her.

Nora grabbed both sides of his shirt collar and pulled him down to crash her lips against his. They began to feverishly kiss each other, separating for only seconds at a time to quickly pull off pieces of clothing as they panted. It didn't take long for them to disrobe and tangle their bodies together, they had no intention of taking it slow. Joker moved his mouth to Nora's neck as he entered her and they both gasped. She took his face in her hands and looked into his eyes. He stared back and devilish smiles came over both of their faces before they reconnected their mouths to devour each other as he thrusted. A symphony of soft groans and moaning filled the room, the two of them reveling in the feeling of him inside of her. Then Joker lowered his fingertips between her legs and rubbed circles, causing Nora's jaw to drop and she cried out, "Oh my God, J!" as she climaxed. This sent him over the edge too, a deep grunt escaping from his chest. He collapsed over top of her with his face against her neck. She smiled and giggled as they both caught their breath.

"You naughty little minx," he purred against her skin, before propping himself up to bring his lips to hers for a zealous kiss.

A few hours later, the sun began to rise. The two of them laid naked under the sheets with Nora curled up against Joker laying on his back. Her eyes were closed and she breathed softly, fast asleep. He had his arm over her, holding her close to his chest as he stared at the ceiling. Why had he gotten her involved? Why did he care? He could have killed her that night. After she patched him up he could have killed her and been done with it. But he didn't want to. She didn't deserve that. She didn't fight him, she just helped him, practically with no questions asked. Really she was the only one to ever help him without some ulterior motive and he didn't understand why. But he didn't feel like he had to. He made her part of his team to keep her around because she made him feel something. Lust? Definitely. But not just that. There was a closeness that he couldn't have with anyone else after she kept him alive that night and now he kept finding more reasons he liked her. Also it seemed like she wasn't afraid of him anymore and that's never happened before. He chose to ignore the possibility of it putting him at a disadvantage and see where this goes. But she wasn't supposed to get hurt.

He looked down at the dark bruise on Nora's face and his blood began to boil, his face turning into a grimace. If the Italian had the audacity to drag her into this, then he'd pay for it. Maroni was known for having men of his undercover. Scouts, if you could call them that. Joker ran a tight operation and knew where everyone on his crew came from. But some men can be easily bought.

Nora stirred, stretching her legs before opening her eyes and blinking slowly. She felt Joker's warm skin against her cheek and smiled as she closed her eyes again.

"How are you feeling, my dear?" he asked her.

Nora scrunched her face up and replied, "My head hurts a bit."

Joker ran his hand up and down her arm. "Sorry, doll," he said.

"It's not your fault," she said, stretching her arm across him. "I knew it could be dangerous to accept your offer. But I did anyway. I think because I wanted to be around you." She hadn't really intended to confess that to him then but it just came out.

He raised his brow in surprise and looked down at her. "Mmm is that so?" She sheepishly nodded. "Wellll, I must say there was some, uh, similar influence be-hind the offer."

Nora lifted her head to look at him. "Really?" she asked.

He gazed back at her and nodded. She smiled a little, then laid her head back down on his chest and held onto him, as Joker wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Words were no longer needed. They laid together in silence, enjoying each other's warmth, their chests steadily rising and falling with each relaxed breath. It seemed like over an hour passed before there was a knock at the door.

Joker sighed and lifted his head to yell toward the annoyance, "WHAT?"

A muffled voice from the other side of the door said, "Sorry, boss. Just thought you should know that the crew, they all here now."

"Alright. Five minutes," he replied. Then he ran his fingers through Nora's hair to tilt her face toward his. "Duty caalls, my doll," he purred.

She nodded and said, "I understand."

His tongue ran over his lip. "Wanna watch?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

Nora gave him a confused look. "Watch what?" she replied.

The corner of Joker's mouth stretched into a crooked grin and he said in a deep voice, "Mmm you'll see."

Ahhh that voice. Nora returned his fiery stare. She was quite sure whatever she was going to see was going to be violent. She'd already seen Joker kill someone once. She hadn't forgotten who he is. But, she couldn't deny she was curious. Plus, Moore decided to keep the clinic open late on weekends so she wasn't due at work for a few hours. "Ok," she said.

Joker's grin grew wider before he climbed out of bed to pull on his pants. Then he gathered Nora's clothes and tossed them to her. She quickly got dressed, cleaned the smeared greasepaint from her skin, and brushed her hair with her fingers as he buttoned his shirt and waistcoat. Then they headed for the door. He put his hand on the knob and looked to Nora to flash her a dark smile before opening it. The warehouse was bright and the cool morning breeze blew through the high windows. About twenty men were scattered around, standing or sitting, waiting for Joker. Nora followed him down the stairs from his second floor landing, prompting many of the men to turn to look at her, some of them commenting to each other as they watched. She stared straight ahead and pretended not to see them as she felt her skin flushing pink on her neck and cheeks. God, maybe this was a bad idea. They continued to eyeball her like a piece of meat in her scrubs, which she honestly didn't think flattered her much, until Joker stopped in his tracks and loudly pulled a chair out from a nearby table. Then he politely gestured for her to sit. She was a little confused, but that was never unusual around Joker so she sat down, her hands lightly gripping the seat on either side of her thighs. She knew he wasn't going to hurt her but she couldn't help but feel anxious as the tension began to mount in the room. He stepped up to stand in front of her with his back to her, then nodded to Enigma and Q who had been waiting nearby.

They each had a large shotgun over their shoulder, which they used to point at the men in the warehouse as they rounded them up, quickly correcting any resistance with a jab to the gut with the butt of the gun. Once they had what was over a dozen men lined up in front of Joker, they stepped to the side and the warehouse fell deadly silent. Nora braced herself for Joker to yell. Instead, he ran his hand through his hair and turned around to face her. He had on a serious look and his eyes trailed down to the large bruise on her face. It began on her cheek bone and curved dark blue and brown across her temple to her hairline. She blinked at him and kept a straight face as she saw the intensity growing behind his eyes. It was that anger she knew was there last night.

Joker walked to stand next to her and again faced the line-up of men in front of them. He knelt down and gently lifted her chin with his fingers, licking his lips. "You all remember Doctor Nora? Hm? Well it seeems our friend Sal paid her a litt-le visit. Left this beauti-ful face of hers like this," he said, turning her battered temple toward them. Then he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and slowly walked back toward the line-up with his hands behind his back. Nora kept a solemn expression on her face and scanned her eyes down the row of men in front of her. Most of them kept a straight face, a few others looked as though they'd seen a ghost.

"Now. Tell me, gentle-men. Just how did the Italian know who our dear Nora is?" he continued, walking down the row and staring straight in the face of a few of the men. "Anyone? Hm?" he asked. His question was met with silence as a few men shuddered where they stood. "I see. Welll let's just try that again."

Then Joker grabbed the hand of the trembling man in front of him, took hold of his middle finger, and looked him in the eye before suddenly forcing it up and back to break it. The man screamed and held his hand to his chest, sweat beginning to cover his brow. Nora jumped in her chair and winced as she watched the man double over in pain. She didn't want anyone innocent, if you could call them that, to get hurt but it wasn't her place to interject. The room was still silent aside from the man's cries. The men stood still and each continued to look straight ahead. Joker waited a moment before approaching another terrified man to then quickly wrench his pointer finger out of it's socket. A second series of screams filled the air. He walked down the line-up again and stopped in front of a tall, skinny man near the end who was sweating profusely. He leaned in to stare intensely at his trembling face before pulling a switchblade from his pocket and taking the man's pinky finger to press the blade to it. The pale man next to him suddenly shouted, "Ok! Ok. It was us. Maroni offered us cash for telling him who she was. A couple guys from his crew found out we was workin' for you and talked to us. We split it with those guys," he finished, pointing to the men with broken fingers. Joker slowly turned his head to stare at the confessor. The man started to breathe heavily and looked as though he was on the verge of tears. Then Joker forced his knife through the flesh of the trembling man's finger. He cried out as blood poured from the wound and the knife then suddenly lodged into the side of other man's neck. As rapidly as that happened, Enigma handed Joker a pistol, which he used to shoot the two men in front of him in the chest followed by the other two clutching their injured hands. Their bodies fell to the floor and the warehouse was silent again. Joker dropped the severed pinky finger and tucked the gun into his waistband behind his back. "Now that problem has been solve-d, I trust none of you have anything else to contri-bute to our, uh, little meeting?" he said, calmly.

The remaining men stood still and one replied, "No, boss."

"Ah, good! As you were, gentlemenn," said Joker. Then he turned to face Nora, placing his knife back into his pocket as the group cautiously dispersed. Her eyes were a bit wide, staring at him. She tried not to look at the bodies on the floor or the blood that now covered his hands. He stared back, studying her expression before pulling up a chair in front of her. He sat down and leaned forward with his forearms resting on his legs as he kept his eyes tilted up at Nora.

"You figured out who did it. How?" she asked.

His tongue darted out to the corner of his mouth and he replied, "They gave themselves away, doll." The men he approached and later killed in the line-up were the only ones that looked genuinely afraid. "A guilty person shows it on their face if you look close e-nough," he said.

She nodded and glanced over to see the corpses of the traitors being loaded into a van. "A little, uh, gift for Maroni," she heard Joker say as she watched the lifeless bodies get their faces painted like his. He wouldn't hesitate to kill his own men if he had to.

She sat and thought through how to feel about what just happened. It was true that it was because of those men that she was now being targeted by the Mob. Joker made sure the other men knew what would happen if they fell for the same ploy. But she couldn't help but feel a bit of responsibility for this. They died because they told Maroni about her and if she'd never gotten involved, it wouldn't have happened. But no, this wasn't her fault. There was no way she could have known that would happen. Besides, they still would have been asked for some sort of information. If it wasn't about her, it would have been something else. On top of that, they knew that they were putting her in danger when she was hired to help them but they did it anyway. For money. Nora sighed and looked back to Joker. "I guess they deserved it," she said.

Q and Enigma took Nora home for her to get some rest before work. Before walking with her to the car, Joker washed the blood from his hands. He lead her through the warehouse with his hand at the small of her back and stared into her eyes for a silent goodbye as he opened her door for her. The ride to her apartment was quiet until Q said, "Looks like he'll kill for ya, doc."

She looked to the rearview mirror to see his eyes on her and said, "I don't know if that was entirely for me."

"Whys that?" asked Q.

"Well he had to find out who gave Maroni that information somehow," she said.

Enigma spoke up and said, "Yeah, information about you."

Nora felt a twinge of anxiety in her stomach at his tone. She cleared her throat and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Well, doc," he said. "We like ya, but there's this new leverage Maroni's got now. He gets to you, he gets to Joker and it's too easy."

Her heart dropped and she took a deep breath before saying, "I understand that. But you can't expect me to have known that would happen."

Q replied, "Nah, it 'aint like that. We know you didn't mean for that to happen back there. But you can keep more from happenin'."

"So you're saying you want me to stay away?" she said abruptly, feeling anger bubbling up inside her.

"It's nothin' personal. We just lookin' out for our boss is all" said Enigma. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Maybe just until the dust clears, ya know? We'll tell Joker you said you need some time off since you're hurt."

Nora couldn't keep her anger held in and raised her voice to them, "You know this isn't really your place, right? Planning this behind his back? Why don't you leave it up to him to figure this out?"

"We did. He's gotta know this the best way to keep everything from fallin' apart but he won't tell you. So we're tellin' you for him," Q replied, matching her volume.

She sat silent in the back seat, taking a few deep breaths. The past twelve hours had been exhausting and her head was starting to pound again, she couldn't handle this right now. "I gotta get out of this car," she said. "Pull over, I'm walking from here."

"Nora," Enigma said.

"Pull over!" she yelled. Q slowed the car and pulled up to the curb. Nora pulled on the handle and kicked the door open.

She climbed out and Q said, "Think about it, Nora. We know you care for him, you wanna keep him safe. This the best way," before she slammed the door and the car continued down the street.

Nora stood at the curb and breathed heavily, fighting the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. This wasn't something she expected from Q and Enigma. She thought they were on her side. They were right but she didn't want them to be. She started walking quickly down the street, her apartment still a mile away. Her emotions continued to run rampant and she was unable to reason with herself. She knew it might only have to stay away for a short time but what if it wasn't? What if he took it the wrong way? Or if he got hurt, got caught and went to prison, or what if he got killed? Nora stopped walking and stood still for a moment. She'd known the Joker for only a short time but he'd taken over her life and her mind in that time. She couldn't stay away if she tried. It was like she was drawn to him by a strong invisible force, pulling at her all the time and it had only gotten stronger. She had gotten herself in deep and had no desire to fight it left at this point.

She made it home in enough time to leave fresh food out for Bowie and shower before work. In bathroom the mirror, she saw the bruise on her face for the first time. It had begun to turn nasty colors and it stung when she lightly touched it, causing her to hiss through her teeth. Her reflection stared back at her as her thoughts continued to relentlessly swirl in her head. Should she or shouldn't she? What would she tell him if she was able to contact him? Nora put on a fresh pair of scrubs and went to the bus stop, keeping her eyes on the ground with the afternoon sun beating down on her. She decided not to let herself go crazy by asking herself "what ifs" one after the other. It felt painful to be away from him and waiting for Joker to get in touch with her was an extremely unappealing option but she decided she'd stick it out until she couldn't stand it anymore. Then she'd find him somehow and straighten things out.

Once she got to work, she saw everyone gathered around the small television in the lobby. As she approached to see what was going on, she heard Joker's name spoken by the news anchor. Oh no, what happened? Gotham Tonight was broadcasting a breaking news story that the Joker was officially back in Gotham. "Witnesses have reported that the notorious criminal, the Joker, is back in Gotham City. The bodies of four young men, each with the Joker's signature face paint and one missing a pinky finger, were found sitting upright at a table inside a local Italian restaurant, discovered to be owned by the Maroni family. The bodies were found positioned as though they were playing Poker, each with a hand of Joker cards, by Salvatore Maroni's cousin, Nicholas Maroni, when he arrived to open the establishment for business this afternoon. Police are currently searching the scene for any clues but his whereabouts are currently unknown," said the voice on the screen.

While coworkers began to frantically discuss what this meant for them and the city's safety, Nora snuck past them to the treatment area where she was alone and quietly smiled to herself.

Song for this chapter: Howl by Florence + The Machine