Chapter 8: Tour

When Harley woke up the next morning, she was completely alone. There was no trace of the Dark Knight that had kept her company through the night, only a mess of sheets and pillows surrounding the young woman.

He'd left.

For some reason, this filled Harley with both disappointment and relief. Disappointment because something obviously more important than her had caused him to leave, and relief that she didn't have to talk to him after how strangely kind he'd been last night. It was better that he hadn't stayed – it avoided any awkward conversations. She pushed down the suddenly heavy feeling in her chest.

"Dr Quinzel?" A voice called through the door, interrupting Harleen's musing. "May I come in?"

"Yeah!" She yelled back.

The door opened to reveal Alfred, holding a tray full of food. "Breakfast, Ma'am."

"Ooh thanks, Al." Harley grinned; Alfred's cooking was amazing and probably better than anything she'd ever eaten. "What is it?"

The elderly man smiled at her enthusiasm. "Bacon and eggs, with toast and coffee." He gently put the plate on the bed next to her, chuckling at her gasp of excitement at the food.

"Aww thanks. You remembered it's ma favourite."

"It's no problem Dr Quinzel, I'm merely doing my job. Also," Alfred added, remembering the message he had to pass along and ignoring Harley's scowl at the use of her proper name, "Master Bruce has requested that you meet him in his study after you eat."

"Really?" Harleen asked, her eyes wide. "Well, okay, I'll just need to get changed as well."

"Very good Ma'am. I'll leave you to your breakfast." The butler bowed slightly, before quietly exiting the room. Harleen grinned again and dug into her food.

"Oh, Dr Quinzel," Alfred poked his head back into the room from behind the door.

Harley looked up just as she bit into a piece of bacon, "Mmm?" Though she wanted to row with him over his use of 'Quinzel', she knew it would get her nowhere. It also felt incredibly rude after he'd made her breakfast.

"Will you need any assistance finding the study?"

"Uh," She chewed the piece of bacon she had bit off and tapped her chin with the rest of the bacon piece. "Nah, I should be fine!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, besides it might do me some good to stretch my legs and go on a mini-adventure to find it."

"Very well, Dr Quinzel. Enjoy your meal."

"Thanks Al." As Alfred closed the door and left once again, Harleen resumed digging into her food.

Needless to say, the meal was delicious, and she quickly polished it off, before looking for a nice outfit to wear. After deciding on a white tank top and blue shorts with white pumps, the young woman quickly applied her face paint and left her room in search of Bruce's study.

Harley wasn't quite sure why he was asking to see her there, since it was the first time she'd left her room since arriving at Wayne Manor. Was her time here up? Would she be sent back to Mistah J?

That one thought almost caused Harleen to freeze up in fear. For the first time in years, she had felt welcome, and couldn't bear for it to end. Bruce, Alfred, the boys... they had all been so kind to her, and, even though she'd only been at the Manor for a few days, it felt like so much longer.

What was happening? For the past four years, Harley Quinn had been completely under the Joker's thumb, doing whatever he wanted her to and spending more time in Arkham Asylum than out of it. And she had been proud, to do it too, while all the time believing that she was doing it all for her Puddin'. But now, for the first time in years, she began to question her actions.

The Joker would take all of this from her if she left now. It wasn't fair, even to Harley – everything she'd ever done for him, without even a 'thank you' in return. Well, she'd show him. Even if it took fucking Bruce Wayne to do it!

"Harleen?"

Bruce's voice snapped the young woman out of her thoughts, and it was only then that she realised that an angry flush had crawled along her neck and face, likely visible even through the face paint. She tried to force her face into a neutral expression, but it was far too late.

"I-I'm fine." Harley stammered.

"No, you're not." Bruce stepped to the side and gestured for her to walk into the room he had just exited. From what Harleen could see, this was the study she was meant to go to. She stepped in and looked around; the room was plain, with only a few chairs and a desk. Bruce walked in behind her and shut the door. It was still incredibly fancy, with an old-fashioned fireplace and expensive-looking artwork on the walls. "Harleen, what's wrong?" Bruce asked as he took a seat behind the desk and Harleen sat down in the opposite facing chair.

"Nothing..." she answered too quickly and tried frantically to think of an excuse. "I... I just bumped my leg on the door in my room. Pissed me off." It was a terrible excuse, but he played along.

"Do you need anything?" His worry was quite endearing, really.

"Nah, I'm fine," Harley said hastily, trying to find a way to reassure him. "Just hurt a bit, but I'm okay. Cross ma heart."

The man in front of her gave her another concerned look, but thankfully didn't push the matter further. "Anyway, I wanted to discuss something with you."

Oh God, he's gonna send me away, Harleen thought anxiously. I'm going to be stuck in Arkham.

"You've been here for quite a few days now..."

Please, please, please Bruce, don't send me back to that place.

"I should have done this sooner, in all honesty..."

No no no no no no no no...

"You shouldn't be confined to just your room if you're going to stay here. I'll take you on a tour of the house, if you'd like."

Oh.

Harleen stared at Bruce, completely dumbfounded. "Huh?"

"A tour of the rest of the house. Would you like that?" He began to wonder if this was such a good idea. She wasn't saying anything, only gazing at him as though she couldn't understand a word he said. It had been Alfred's suggestion that the young woman see the whole Manor and be allowed more freedom, and Bruce had agreed; keeping her locked in one room would be no more productive than Arkham had been for her. He thought it would be a good idea to get her used to living a relatively normal life - if she were to ever leave the asylum, she would not be confined to one room.

His plan was thrown out of the window when she burst into tears.

Bruce stared frantically at the young woman in front of him as tears dropped down her face. He had never been good with, well, people in general, really, but particularly crying women. Especially if he had no idea why they were crying in the first place. That's why, as awful as it may sound, he was thankful to have adopted boys and not girls – there were very few tears and emotional outbursts when it came to Dick and Tim, and, even then, they were usually perfectly fine after a hug.

The thought gave him an idea. Very cautiously, so he didn't upset Harley further, the man stood up and crept closer to where she sat, tears still pouring down her cheeks. He gently knelt down so the two were face to face, and gently pulled her close to his chest, his arms wrapping around her shaking shoulders; he felt her head press against his shoulder and ignored the face paint undoubtedly smearing onto his shirt. "Come on, it's alright. Everything's fine, Harleen, I promise." Jesus, I'm bad at this.

But it seemed to do the trick, as Harleen's sobs quickly quietened to small sniffles, and she pulled her head from his chest soon after, her cheeks red with embarrassment. "Sorry, Bruce, I…. Got a little overwhelmed, I guess."

He smiled reassuringly. "It's fine, honestly. Do you want to talk about it…?"

The blonde looked down, refusing to meet his eyes, her voice so quiet Bruce had to strain to hear it. "I thought you was gonna send me back to Arkham." When he didn't respond, Harleen risked a glance up at him; seeing his shocked expression, she tried to explain. "It's just that I've been here for a few days and the bruises and cuts have healed and when Alfred said that you wanted to see me I just assumed…" Bruce held up his hand for silence.

"That place is toxic for you, Harleen, anyone with eyes can see that. It's not helping you, and I think we can both agree that you feel more comfortable here –" he smiled slightly at the woman's vigorous nodding "– so I see no reason as to why you should leave the Manor. You're safe here, Harleen – that's all that matters."

She gave him a small – almost shy – smile, the last trace of tears gone from her face. "So how 'bout that tour?"

The manor was beautiful, Harley had to admit – and huge too. It took almost half an hour for Bruce to show her the top two floors, which consisted mostly of guest bedrooms, as well as Harleen, Bruce, Dick and Tim's rooms. He then showed her the biggest (and cleanest) kitchen the young woman had ever seen, as well as a large dining room that could easily fit fifty around its mahogany table. The hallways, living room, and ballroom – at the sight of which Harleen couldn't suppress a gasp of delight – were all stunning, but the final room Bruce showed her was by far the most amazing to the young woman.

"And here we have the library." Bruce declared, opening the door and motioning for her to enter.

It was one of the biggest libraries Harley had ever been in, and easily the most magnificent. More books than anyone could possibly read in a lifetime lined the many bookcases, which almost reached the high ceiling. The room was quite dark; the only light source came from the crackling flames in an ornate fireplace, the large armchair next to it illuminated by the light. Harley looked back at Bruce in awe, and he gently nodded his head, giving her permission to take a closer look.

The young woman walked around slowly, her hand gently tracing along the spines of books she passed. There were so many of them, from modern romance novels to nineteenth-century gothic fiction. It's been so long, Harley thought longingly back to the last time she had been able to read a book properly.

It had been three months ago in Arkham Asylum, and Harley Quinn had been the only inmate in the recreation room – even the guards, knowing that she would cause no issues without her "Puddin'" around, were paying the blonde no attention. Harley wandered over to the bookcase and looked closely at the titles, before finally making a selection: Jane Eyre. She read for an hour, enjoying the unfolding love story before she was disturbed by the other inmates' arrival.

One by one, the supervillains stopped in their tracks to stare at the Harlequin, stunned at the sight of her reading so quietly. It was Scarecrow who broke the silence, clearing his throat loudly. "What are you reading over there Harley?" He asked.

Harley looked up and quickly closed her book, blushing slightly as she put it down. "Eh, s'nothing really. Just got a bit bored on mah own."

Two-Face snorted loudly, walking over to her and snatching the book. "Jane Eyre?" He asked, insultingly surprised. "Were you really reading this?" He looked down at her, not believing that the Joker's girlfriend could possibly enjoy reading it.

The blonde scowled, angry at everyone's shocked expressions. "Yeah, I was actually. I can read, yanno!" She said indignantly.

"Of course you can, Harls," Ivy said soothingly "We were just… surprised, that's all." While Harley knew she didn't mean any disrespect, it still hurt to think that they thought she was too stupid even to enjoy one of her favourite novels…

Harley smiled sadly at the memory; it seemed like all she could remember of her old friends were the times they had made her feel unwelcome or inferior to them. The saddest part, however, was that she knew that those feelings were included in most of her memories involving her fellow Arkham inmates. What a few days away from them all can do ta a gal….

Bruce, meanwhile, leaned against the doorway, eyes fixed on Harley. It was strange, having her live in the Manor, especially since she'd been a handful, to say the least. But despite her screaming, crying, refusal to accept help at first...

He could get used to it.

It was a dangerous thought, but one that was nonetheless present in his mind. As he watched the young woman in front of him, it occurred to him that there was so much about her he hadn't learnt yet, and so much that he wanted to know. He knew that, deep down, she wanted someone – anyone – to show some kind of interest in her, wished that they would give enough of a damn to actually care about her.

It'll be me.

Bruce surprised himself by thinking that, but he couldn't doubt that it was true. She's gone long enough without anyone being there for her, and I'll be damned if I don't change that. Harleen was an amazing person underneath all of the damage the Joker had caused, and it was time for her to begin seeing that in herself.

The man was pulled from his thoughts by a loud knocking on the front door downstairs, one that seemed to echo ominously throughout the manor, quickly followed by Alfred's hurried footsteps and the creak as the door was opened by the startled butler.

"Hello, Alfred. I was wondering if Bruce was around? I need to speak with him." Shit. Bruce knew that voice – it was one he tried desperately to banish, but remained in his thoughts. A permanent reminder of its owner's betrayal. He stepped closer to the hallway, barely hearing his butler's strained reply.

"Of course, Miss Kyle, He will be down shortly."

A/N: Oh dear…