Jo woke up suddenly but without disorientation. Instead she felt something weird, something she couldn't remember feeling for years. She felt... well rested.

"There you are," Joker spoke up from somewhere inside the room and Jo sat up to see him. He sat on the couch, fully dressed. The ship was moving. The clock on her night stand showed 09:00.

Jo frowned. It was long past the time she usually got up in the morning, especially considering that she spent many hours every night awake anyway. Also, she couldn't remember giving the order to leave the planet after last night's wedding.

"What's going on?" She asked. The last thing she did remember was falling into bed with Joker after a sweaty round of being bent over the armrest of the couch Joker was now sitting on.

"You fell asleep early last night. Went out like a light, as a matter of fact. That was eight hours ago and you haven't even stirred in all that time. Garrus gave the order to continue on our way to the relay, when I told him you were sleeping. No one wanted to wake you up."

"I slept for 8 hours straight?" Jo's eyebrows shot up. Confused, she ran her hand through the tangled golden mess of her hair.

"That's what I'm telling you. It was kinda weird, too, the way you conked out so suddenly and started snoring right away."

"The last thing I really remember," Jo rubbed her forehead. "Is falling into bed and thinking that after all we've been through lately I really need a good long sleep. I think I wished really hard not to wake up until 9 for a change."

"Got your wish, huh?"

"It's a little too precise to be a coincidence, though," Jo shook her head. "What if... What if it's the geth seed in my brain acting up again? I told my brain to fall asleep and to wake up at 9, so it knocked me out forcefully. Like you said, I conked out unexpectedly. I mean, it's happened before. First I started reading super fast when I needed to, then my reaction time started shortening, then my battle analysis grew faster and my memory became truly perfect instead of nearly so. I can see more shades of colours, do simple menial tasks faster than anyone's business and learn new technical stuff quicker than ever before. All my implants work in better synch than they were probably intended to. Even the medigel distribution and healing got faster lately. And in all this time I haven't had a single nightmare about the Reapers and the obnoxious kid again. What if it can listen to my commands, provided I concentrate hard on what I want, and follow them as far as it's able to?"

Joker cocked his head. She knew he'd feared the worst when she got the geth seed, but up until now all the side effects of it had been either harmless or very useful, so he came to like it.

"Could be. You'll need to test it more to prove that particular theory, but damn my balls if that wouldn't be a helpful side effect. You'd finally get the sleep you need, imagine that!"

"Yes, imagine that!" They beamed at each other.

Later that day, shortly before lunch, Jo opened the door to the Main Battery as usual without thinking, and jumped back immediately. Garrus and Tali stood in front of his console, holding hands. His head rested gently against her mask. If it weren't for the quarian suit and if the turians had pliable lips, they would have been kissing.

Jo tried hard to suppress a squeal, but couldn't. Garrus and Tali broke apart immediately at the high-pitched sound she made.

"I, uh, we... I think one of my mandibles..." Garrus started stammering, but Jo held up a hand to make him shut up.

"Please, don't," she said, grinning like a Cheshire cat. "I've been waiting for over a year to see this happen, I always wanted to see you guys realise that you're meant for each other. Please, I'm begging you, don't fall apart again because I walked in on you. You should be together, making a million babies!"

"Oh, I..." Tali kneaded her hands. Jo could swear her face was glowing from embarrassment hard enough to shine through the helmet mask. "I don't know about babies..."

"The war and the Reapers and all that," Garrus nodded, just as embarrassed.

"We couldn't possibly..."

"But you have to," Jo directed a mock-evil look at them. "It's an order."

"Isn't that what you said to Ken and Gabby when you walked in on them?" Tali chuckled.

"And see how that worked out!" Jo's face split into another grin. "You should trust me in those matters."

Tali and Garrus exchanged a thoughtful look.

"Maybe... you know, maybe we should," Garrus said quietly and reached out to take Tali's hand in his. Tali moved a step closer to him. Jo took her cue and retreated from the room quickly and quietly. If those two ended up together for good, her life's work would be complete and perfect.

After Nyreen's fleet reported that they'd cleaned the relay from Cerberus troops, the life on the Normandy became almost boring. Until they arrived on the Citadel there was nothing to do but train and wait. Jo used the week to wrap up some interviews with Allers and to spend some time with Vega.

Vega was getting better at hand-to-hand. He had more bulk than her and sometimes landed a good blow which tossed her across their training chamber. She didn't let him do that too often, but he was getting better at bypassing her defences. All in all he was becoming someone she could really trust in battle, someone like Garrus.

After the initial orientation she'd given him when he first got his ICA invitation Jo offered him no progress update on his training. On the one hand she still felt uncomfortable handing out N ranks - she didn't see herself as a real instructor. On the other hand she was cautious with praise. If Vega had one fault, it was a bit of vanity. Combined with his natural flirtiness and the drooling fanclub that followed him everywhere on the ship, Jo didn't even want to imagine what would happen to his head if she told him he'd already earned his N2 rank. It would grow so big that his helmet wouldn't fit.

It wasn't hard to earn N1 and N2 during a war: gruelling battles awaited on every planet, most of them harder than even the ICT. Now it was time to let him choose his specialisations according to the ICA plan. With any other recruit Jo would have followed the guideline but Vega wasn't a typical recruit. There were things Jo felt he needed to know to become an N7. He'd set that goal for himself from the very beginning, not happy even with N6. Jo was going to help him achieve that rank because she felt deep inside that he was one of them, one of those ICA recruits who would prove themselves above and beyond everything thrown at them, like she had proven herself once upon a time.

For now Jo needed to break some of his bad habits. He'd told her that he preferred action over stillness, so she gave him a sniper rifle and ordered him to assume the position and lie still for six hours, waiting for his one perfect shot. Vega said that his body was his strongest weapon and she promptly put him in front of a chess board. Back in the day she'd spent countless days, weeks, months, playing chess and other strategy games until she became so good at them that they became boring. Vega wasn't there yet and needed to finally get his brain working as hard as he worked his body. He made her understand that he was quite set in some of his opinions and she ordered him to get to know Javik well enough to be able to sympathise with the alien from the bottom of his heart. She also ordered him to engage in philosophical battles with EDI as often as possible. This way Vega was either becoming a well-rounded, fully educated person or she would fail him completely.

In the week it took them to reach the relay Vega had no shortage of chess partners. Traynor even brought her own board and never missed a chance to mercilessly tease him whenever he lost. EDI cheated by pulling knowledge about chess from the extranet. Adams and Chakwas both revealed considerable skill, while Javik and Garrus showed interest in learning the game. Those two drove Vega completely nuts by not following any strategy he could understand. Their new and alien understanding of the rules resulted in moves that left Vega in the depth of despair. Jo welcomed it. What better way to learn an alien way of thinking and practice adaptability on the go? Adaptability was the N7 calling card.

Jo also ended up being right about her newly found sleeping talent. Each night she would concentrate heavily on a simple command - sleep until 06:00, and it worked. Joker was thrilled. He didn't say much, but she knew he was ecstatic. She was getting more sleep than at any other time after her resurrection, she felt well-rested on regular basis, even lost some of the ashen quality to her skin and the smaller orange scars. Joker, who had been worried about her health and state of mind more and more lately, could see the improvement and it relieved him. Jo noticed him smiling more often and bickering with EDI more freely, like he had no worries in the world. Sometimes Jo laughed at herself: she would do anything to keep the man she loved happy like that, worriless. She would die to give him peace. Yet it would be her death that would make him most unhappy. Sometimes there were no solutions and she just left things as they were.

Eventually they did arrive on the Citadel and the repair crew immediately took over under Tali's watchful eye. Once the pressing business was settled, the time came to say goodbye to some passengers, or so it seemed. Oriana was the first to approach Jo and asked her to walk together through the docks and have a private talk.

"There was one thing you said when I asked you about my sister, which stuck with me," the young woman said. "You said that you would be a much better friend to have than Miranda ever was. I was angry with you for that, but then I started talking to people who knew her. I started watching vids EDI had about her. I didn't want to believe it and it's hard even now, but I can finally see that you were right to some degree. People on the Normandy truly believe that she was a cold woman who served Cerberus out of deepest conviction. I still believe you've been unduly hard on her, locking her up in a cabin for no reason. You were angry at being resurrected and you needed to vent your anger somehow. Miranda became your scapegoat. That makes me think that perhaps she wasn't the devil you paint her to be and you're not the goddess everyone paints you to be. You and Miranda are both only human. I thought about it and came to the conclusion that hating you for killing her would be a lot harder on me than it would be on you. You have thick skin and I can learn that from you. There was no love lost between you and my sister, but you have no beef with me and ultimately I have no beef with you. You're not my favourite person, of course, but I do realise that the galaxy needs you right now, just like the galaxy really needs a lot less Cerberus operatives that act out of conviction. So I'm going on my way and you go on yours. Good luck with your mission. All our lives depend on you. If we ever meet again... Well, I just hope we never meet again."

Jo accepted the long tirade in silence. Oriana was smart enough to draw her own conclusions and to make her own decisions. Right about now all Jo cared about was that the young woman hadn't decided to become her mortal enemy. She sent her on her way amiably and was immediately assaulted by her next visitor.

"Hey, Shepard," Alenko approached her, sidestepping a keeper walking down the docks. "Got a moment?"

"Got something to tell me?"

"Well, I was thinking," he lowered his eyes, clearly unsure of how to speak his mind. His eyes eventually flickered to the elevator where Oriana had just disappeared. "You know, Oriana and I have been talking lately. This whole week, actually. Did you know she was a biotic?"

Jo frowned. Miranda had been genetically engineered to be a biotic and Oriana, basically being her clone, was bound to be one, of course. What confused Jo at the moment was the slight blush on Alenko's face.

"It was logical, I suppose," she said, urging him to speak on.

"Did you also know that she'd never been trained to use her power? The family she grew up with was inexperienced with the matter and they tried to keep her safe, so she never received any proper instruction?"

"I didn't know that."

"So... in the last week I've been showing her the basics. How to control it, how to focus."

"And?..." Jo urged him on again when he paused.

"Well, since you keep saying I look like a school teacher, I... I mean, I really enjoyed teaching her. You're right. I was thinking I'd like to train biotics. Make sure they get treated right, instead of what I was put through at BAaT."

"Good choice," Jo nodded. Then she noticed another hurried glance Alenko threw at the elevator. Oriana was gone already, but not long. An understanding hit Jo and she grabbed Alenko's shoulders: "I think it's a great idea and I actually know someone you can coordinate with. She's been training biotics at the Grissom Academy and is now back on Earth with her students. I'll put you two in contact, but right now you need to go!" She forcefully turned Alenko around with a chuckle and pushed him towards the elevator.

"Shepard, I..." He sputtered in protest but she laughed in real joy, pushing him further:

"Go, go, go, before she disappears for good! Just tell me that your crush on me is over, please!"

"Shepard!" Alenko looked back at her, scandalised, but... He saw the laughter in her face, the sparkling joy reserved for her best friends. It had never been directed at him. For the first time he didn't see mild disdain in her face, but genuine happiness for him. It was this expression that broke down the last of his walls. He smiled at her like an old friend would. "Goodbye, Shepard. Good luck."

"You too," Jo nodded and watched him hurry towards the elevator. She really wished him all the best, as long as he was staying in his own corner of the universe and didn't try to usurp hers.

As usual, Jo had a lot of errands on the Citadel. One of them took her to the hospital. While she was delivering a piece of useful research she'd found to an interested doctor, she heard one word that made her immediately rip the communicator out of her ear and disconnect it.

Tiptree.

Jo located the two asari talking about the colony and quickly deduced that she wasn't going to hear a happy story. One of them was a psychiatrist and another one a solder with PTSD.

Jo leaned against a wall where they couldn't see her and braced herself for the worst. At first the soldier only spoke about a 'farm girl', which left Jo at least a sliver of hope, but then she dropped the name. Hilary.

Jo sobbed hard and slid down the wall.

What would be the chances of this being a different fifteen year old Hilary living on a farm on Tiptree? Jo's guts ripped in half. Joker would be devastated. Absolutely crushed. She would need to be there for him, strong and supporting, but right now she had her own broken heart to mend. After the news of his mother's death, Joker's father and sister were the only family she could ever hope to have. She lied when she said that she was distanced from the war losses because she had no family to lose. She did. She'd never met them, never spoke to them, but she'd always considered them close, a real family, the only kind she would ever get.

That family was now gone. Dead before she could even meet them, tell them how much she cared, how much she wished to belong to them in the same way they belonged to her. Just like her birth parents, these people had gone before she could get to know them.

But unlike her parents' loss, this tragedy hit her full force. She was now old enough to understand and to mourn.

Jo was still sobbing against the hand she was pressing on her mouth, when the psychologist left the soldier to sit alone. Jo had to make a huge effort to stop crying. Of course the chances were ridiculous, but she had to make absolutely sure before she would break the news to her beloved man. She got up, wiped away the tears and snot with her sleeve and approached the asari soldier. She sat down in the psychologist's chair and opened her omnitool. The asari looked spooked, but Jo ignored her panic.

"Is this the farm girl, Hilary, that you were speaking about?" She asked firmly and showed her a picture from Joker's private archive.

"Y-Yes," the asari shrunk back.

"And her father?"

"Yes..."

"You may have been the first exciting thing to ever land on her farm," Jo said coldly. "But you were not the most exciting thing in her life. I was."

The asari clearly wanted to run an hide, but Jo's frosty glance pinned her down.

"Do you know why she wanted to be a pilot? Because her brother is one. The best in the world. He flies the Normandy. I'm Commander Shepard, and he is the love of my life. It's my sister in law that you killed on Tiptree."

The asari jumped to her feet and tried to run but Jo barked:

"Sit!"

The scared, traumatised soldier obediently flopped down into the chair, shaking like a leaf in the wind.

"These two people were the only family we had left," she said grimly. "I will do my best to keep my man from hunting you down when I give him the news, but I will have to tell him the whole truth. I can't lie to him, even to spare his feelings. So please understand that one day he might come knocking on your door and want answers. Until then."

She got up and left the shaking asari behind in the hospital that was suddenly too full of bad, bad memories to stay any longer.

When Jo returned to the Normandy, Joker was still in the cockpit, running diagnostics for the repair crew. He seemed unworried, almost happy. Why wouldn't he be? His baby was getting a new shine and he was doing what he loved most. Still, he heard her approaching and turned his seat around.

"What's wrong with your com? Is it broken or did you... disconnect?" He saw her face and his good mood evaporated. "What is it?"

"Jeff, I'm so sorry," she rubbed her own arms at the sudden chill she felt. "I have news from Tiptree."

"What is it?" He gripped the arms of his chair tighter.

"I'm so sorry," Jo repeated, unable to relay just how sorry she was. "They're both..."

He swallowed hard. She saw the tension in his jaw as he looked at her. His eyes filled with the beginning of tears and his body started slowly rocking from side to side when all his muscles snapped in a seizure.

He tried not to break down right there, she knew it. He looked at her and the pain in his eyes was meant to stay between them, he didn't want anyone else to see it. But it was hard, too damn hard, and one tear did escape.

Jo didn't know if he wanted to be touched at the moment. She'd just dealt him a heartbreaking blow and he definitely needed a few minutes before the initial shock dissipated and the real pain kicked in. He wasn't even breathing, she realised.

But then he did, sucking in a shuddering breath, and rubbed away the tear.

"Reapers?" He whispered dejectedly, obviously expecting a simple yes.

"Your father - yes. Hilary..." Jo lowered her eyes when he snapped up to look at her with sudden anger:

"What about Hilary? What happened?!"

Jo opened her omnitool and played him the asari's story, at least as much of it as she'd managed to record.

She knew he would react badly. She knew he would want to grab a gun and chase after the asari - that was the reason why Jo had left all her weapons in the armoury before coming here. She couldn't chance him grabbing one of hers. She could understand the hot red fury in his face, replaced by green sickness when the worst part of the story came up, she knew the feeling of wanting revenge, but revenge was not what he needed.

"Where is she?" He growled.

"Don't," Jo shook her head.

"Where the fuck is she?!" He shouted in her face, getting out of his chair. Like she predicted, his hands went to her hip in search of her pistol. He growled when he didn't find it. "Tell me where she is and I'm gonna get a gun and I'll shoot the bitch."

"Jeff, don't."

"She killed my sister!"

"I know."

"She didn't have to kill her!" He pushed Jo aside and stormed towards the elevator. "Gunny only had a broken leg, she wasn't even indoctrinated! That bitch could have saved her, but she chose to save her own fucking skin, so she shouldn't be surprised when I pull it off her, piece by fucking piece!"

"Jeff, please, stop!" Jo hurried after him. A couple of navigators in the CIC looked up, spooked by all the shouting and curses. The elevator pinged, Vega and Rodney stepped out. Unsuspecting, both men almost fell on their asses when Joker pushed them aside with astounding amount of force.

"Don't tell me to stop, she killed my sister! She could have saved her, but she didn't!" He slammed his fist against the Cargo Bay button. Jo jumped into the elevator after him, punched the override and tackled her man, pressing him face-first into the wall.

"I know," she spoke into his ear, fully aware of the stunned audience they had. That couldn't be helped. "I would have saved her. I could have, I'm that good. That asari wasn't. She's just a foot soldier. They call themselves huntresses as if a word can gloss over their shortcomings. She was too weak to save Hilary. She's not worthy of your anger."
"Let me go!" He struggled against her hold.

"She's not worthy of your anger, my love."

"Oh, really? How many people got to feel your anger? Did you always care if they were worthy of it?"

"No, of course not," she used the minimal amount of force necessary to keep him in place, not wanting to hurt him more than he was already hurting. "I can honestly say: been there, done that, and it gives me the authority to say: Don't. She's not worth it. Think about yourself right now."

"I am," he hissed. "I'm thinking about how much better I will feel once I put that bitch down."

"You wouldn't."

"Let me go!"

"You wouldn't feel better. Trust me, I know."

There was a long moment of silence. Even Vega, Rodney and the navigators didn't dare breathe. Eventually Joker's body sagged and he whispered:

"Let me go."

Jo immediately did as he asked. He slowly wiped the errant tears, righted his clothes and pushed another button: Crew's Quarters.

"Let me go," he repeated to Jo and she understood the plea was of a very different kind than before. He needed a moment alone. She stepped out of the elevator and let it take him down a level. She knew EDI would alert her if he tried something destructive, but for now she trusted him to take a moment of solitude.

"Holy fuck, Shepard, did I get all that right?" Vega finally exhaled.

"Yeah," Jo sagged against the wall next to the elevator and hit the back of her head several times against the cold metal. "His father and sister are dead. His whole family is dead." She pushed herself off the wall and forcefully kicked the railing of the bridge leading to the galaxy map. The power of her enhanced body and the titanium toes of her combat boots won that one: the railing dented and bent miserably.

"So sorry, Lola," Vega said, his voice full of compassion.

"He still has you, Commander," Rodney nodded. Nobody mentioned the nearly destroyed bridge.

"True, he still has you," Vega agreed.

Jo sucked in a breath:

"Fuck, I delivered so many death notices in my life, but when it's about him - I don't know what to do."

"Go and be with him," Rodney advised. "He needs you more than ever, Commander."

Jo found Joker alone in Ken and Gabby's room. It was dark and otherwise empty. He stood at the window, looking at the Citadel.

"I'm like you now," he said impassively when she approached and stopped next to him. "No blood relatives in the whole world."

"I'm sorry."

"None of it matters anymore," he concluded in a blank voice. "My family' gone, I'm too much of an asshole to care about anyone else, you'll sacrifice yourself to save the galaxy any day now and once you're gone, I have no reason to live at all. So, you see, nothing really matters anymore. Whether I give up now or a month from now - who cares?"

The air froze in Jo's lungs. What was she supposed to say? That she cared? Sure, she cared, but she would still sacrifice herself for the galaxy, he was right about that. She could promise him nothing. No future, no hope. How could she tell him to keep going? That would be the worst kind of hypocrisy. He'd put his situation in words very neatly and there was nothing she could say that wouldn't sound hollow and insincere.

"Jeff," she put her hand on his shoulder. "I graduated from the Macapá Marines boot camp with a Golden Leaf."

"Is that one of those high honour badges for the best of the best?"

"Yes, it is. Each year only one gets it. A whole committee decides which recruit deserves it. You know how that works, you graduated from the Flight Academy with your own White Wings."

"Yeah."

"So, on the day of our graduation there were parents and families on the plaza, congratulating their kids, crying with pride, kissing, you know, the whole deal. In my team I was the only one who didn't have anyone there to celebrate with me. The only orphan. So, the CO of the facility, General Mahoe, came up to me and asked me if I was envious of my fellow Marines because they had families and I didn't. I said: No, I don't envy them, I pity them. I said: their families hold them back, they keep them from becoming the best Marines they could be. Nothing and no one was holding me back, so I was going to become the best of the fucking best. And the General said: But their families are what those Marines are fighting for. What are you fighting for, Shepard?"

Joker seemed to indulge her with the story, probably failing to see how it was relevant at the moment. But he didn't shrug her hand off, didn't ask her to leave, so she continued:

"I said to him: General, I'm not a good civilian, I have no life skills to live in the suburbs, have a job, a house, a pet, a family. I've been tainted by violence from birth and violence is what I do best. If those boys and girls kissing their families on the plaza wish to become the best and toughest Marines, like me, then I pity them. Their families, their love will always hold them back. But it is that love that makes them worthy of my protection. These people deserve love and happiness. Since I can't have it, I'll do what I do best: I'll commit myself to violence, become the toughest of the toughest, and throw myself into any danger to protect these people. I have nothing that holds me back, no one waiting for me back at home, no one to worry about me. These guys do. I reject the lawless life of the gang I come from, but I can't join the 'light side', either. What I can do is stay between the darkness and the light and use all my considerable abilities to protect the innocence from the same taint that touched me. I want nothing in return. I don't even want them to know that I'm sacrificing all I have for them. I'll pay the price, because if someone has to pay it, I'm a more acceptable sacrifice than an innocent, loving and lovable person. At least this will give some meaning to my life."

Jo felt him nod slowly. Joker could probably see this philosophy in everything he'd ever seen her do. But she wasn't finished, and it was not a happy story, either.

"Thirteen years later, Jeff, here I am. All this time I've been sacrificing myself to keep innocent people from the taint of violence. I like to think I succeeded now and then. I stepped into every shit hole, not because I thought I was undeserving of love, but simply because I didn't think love was for me. But then I met you and suddenly I got this ticket to the light side. Someone I love, someone who loves me, worries about me, waits for me to return from the mission, someone who brings a family with him - all the things I never had and never thought I could hope for. You'll never know how much all of this means to me. You were my absolution, my forgiveness, my chance at freedom. I hoped that with you I'd get to wash the taint off me and become accepted among the innocent people."

He lowered his head and Jo couldn't guess what he was thinking, so she continued:

"But the shit hole I jumped in this time is too big. It sucked me in and I dragged you down with me. I tainted you and now we're on the outside together. You are now like me, you got that right. No family, no innocence to fall back upon, nobody on the light side who waits for you. Tonight you're the Marine graduate and I'm your General Mahoe. Tonight I'm asking you: What are you fighting for? There is nothing holding you back, but also nothing to look forward to. You have a choice. On the one hand you could accept my philosophy and walk the edge with me, protecting the innocent from the darkness, ready to pay the ultimate price without hesitation, just because you can. On the other hand you can always opt out, seeing how there is no hope for any kind of future for you, and end your misery right now. The second option would actually be quick, painless, and a hell of a lot more merciful than the first. And Jeff, I love you enough to respect whatever choice you make."

"You're so full of shit, you know that?" He finally graced her with a glance and a sarcastic eye roll. "I thought: the build-up is epic, what would be the point of the whole story? And you give me this? Bite the bullet or bite the dust? Were you going to offer me your assistance if I chose the second option?"

"Maybe."

"You're unbelievable," he shook his head with a mixture of mirth and annoyance.

"Got you to smile, didn't I? And I didn't lie. There really was a General Mahoe and we really did have this conversation on my graduation day."

"Oh, Jeff," he suddenly spoke in a mocking, deep, breathy tone. "Walk on the dark side with me! We have cookies!"

"And the beds are better," Jo mimicked the same mocking voice. "The coffee is decent, there's a private shower and a blowjob whenever you want!"

"Whenever I want?" He looked at her and they both started laughing like crazy.

"I swear!" She nodded.

For a few minutes they laughed together, until they were out of breath.

"Fuck, Jo, you have the most unusual technique of cheering people up!" Joker finally concluded, wrapping one arm around her waist.

"Nothing but my best for you, my love."

"I'll walk the edge with you, by the way. You're such a glutton for pain and sacrifice, I can't leave you alone for a minute."

"Then don't. I'm glad for your company."

Jo ducked under the brim of his hat and rubbed her face against his bearded cheek. Even a moment of his love was worth all the sacrifice she would have to make.

"Commander, Admiral Hackett wishes to speak with you," EDI announced, albeit very softly.

"Fuck, can't have a single moment of peace," Joker cursed. Jo sighed:

"Back to business, again."