November 1st 2016

Gotham City

The sun rose over the tops of the buildings of the city turning everything a bright shade of orange. Harley opened her eyes and stretched feeling the hard muscled body of the man laying beside her. He was still out cold. Rare since he was an avid insomniac who stayed up most nights plotting their next adventure. But after a 30-hour fiesta of drinking, drugging and mayhem; even the worst of them would need a little hibernation. She covered him with the black silk sheet and excused herself to the bathroom.

After a hot shower she slipped on a gold satin romper and proceeded to set her hair in curlers. Once the curlers were done she skipped into the kitchen where she would make her Puddin breakfast in bed: waffles with maple syrup (ultimately more syrup than waffles), sausage, scrambled eggs, black coffee with a ton of sugar and 2 shots of Jack Daniels. As she readied the tray with a garnish of fresh parsley on the eggs she was struck by how thoughtful her man was for making sure the kitchen was so well stocked. He knew she loved playing around in the kitchen and doting on him by making his favorite treats like butterscotch cookies and lemon squares. He had a serious sweet tooth. When she caught a glimpse of her reflection in in microwave she was taken back to the vision of their normal life. Maybe this was as normal as they would ever get. The days when she would make him breakfast in bed with garnishes, and home made cookies. These little bits or normal were good enough for her. But some part of her was still nagging for one unanswered desire, a baby. She wanted to be a mother. Not just anyone's mother, she wanted to be a mother to a beautiful perfect baby given to her by her one true love.

If she wanted this though, she knew she had to be smart. He made it clear that children weren't part of their package. But she heard, not part of the package right now. Women had way of getting what they wanted from their men sooner or later and while he was the head of their house, she was the neck and the neck can turn the head any way she wants. Harley smiled to herself; she loved it when her favorite chick flicks were actually useful in real life.

Tray in hand, she walked back into the bedroom where her man started to wake.

"Something smells delicious," he said rolling over on to his back.

"Breakfast in bed baby,"

He scooted up and looked at the tray. "Ah, all my favorite hangover food. You are a goddess in the kitchen darling." He reached for one of the shot glasses and tossed it back. Then dug into the waffles adding even more syrup than was already there.

"Nice to see you haven't lost your sweet tooth Puddin,"

"You know me Harley, I'm not happy till the waffle falls apart." He looked at her throat and noted the bruise from where he choked her. He reached out and lifted her chin to inspect them further.

"Sorry about that kid, you know I hate hurting you."

"I know you do Puddin. It was my fault I went too far. There's no need to bring up the past now."

He smiled, his silver teeth shining even in the low light. "That's why I love you Harley, you are the only woman in the world who can handle me. That's why I will never let you go."

"And I will never let you go." She leaned over the tray and kissed him.

He growled. "As much as I would love to toss this tray aside and bang your brains out, we have work to do."

She pouted, "Rain check?"

"You had better believe it, cause after all that time apart we have a lot of catching up to do." She leaned back taking the second shot of JD. Very slowly, she opened her mouth and took the circumference of the glass into her lips. Tilting her head back, the shot went right down her throat. She winked at him.

He clinched his teeth at the not so subtle reminder of her lack of a gag reflex. His eyes traveled up and down her body in that barely there little gold number. Goosebumps appeared on her skin from the shot and her nipples poked through the fabric. He was a hair away from saying fuck it and pounding her into the mattress till there was a Harley shaped whole in damn thing when someone knocked on the door.

Again he growled but this time it wasn't a playful sexually charged growl. It was a: someone's going to fucking die right now growl. He tossed the covers off and stomped to the door not caring in the least that he was totally nude.

On the other side of the door Johnny Frost stood anxiously waiting for someone to open up. Their guys had gotten word that Waller, the cunt that Shanghaied Harley into her serves, was on the move and was set to recruit a very unlikely new candidate. Frost and Harley were the only people who knew about the Joker's past and Frost had a feeling this new recruit was much more than just a delinquent. There was something personal here. But he couldn't know for sure until he brought the information to the Boss.

The door opened and Frost jumped at the sight of Joker's junk.

"Frost, did you know you were interrupting breakfast?"

"Sorry boss but this couldn't wait. Um or it can wait till you put some pants on."

"Morning Johnny!" Harley yelled from inside the penthouse.

"Uh, good morning Harley." He said back not daring to look into the door and possible catch a glimpse of Harley in the same state of undress as the Joker. That would only end in one way and he really didn't want to die today.

"Unless you have the bat strung up like a Thanksgiving turkey, it can wait." He stated closing the door but Frost stopped him.

"Seriously boss, this is big."

The Joker groaned and grabbed something next to the door. He handed Frost a 12 gage shot gun shell and a sharpie. "Write your name on this will ya? If the news isn't as monumental as you say, well you know the drill."

Frost clinched his jaw and did as he was told. He was sure the news was in fact that big and he'd the shell would remain unused. He handed the shell back to the Joker. He inspected the shell, "5 minutes." And closed the door.

Exactly 5 minutes later Frost stood in the sitting room of the penthouse. Joker still didn't have any pants on but did take the trouble to put on a green satin robe. Harley, still with her hair in curlers, sat by his side with his arm draped around her shoulders, his fingertips lightly drawing circles on her arm.

Frost began. "Ok, I know this is a topic that can get me killed but you need to hear this so please reserve all desire to kill me for after I finish."

The Joker rolled his eyes and with his free hand motioned for Frost to get on with it.

"So, here it goes. It looks like Waller is building a new team and has been spending a lot of time tracking down one particular recruit. A teenage girl living somewhere out in the burbs."

"Johnny boy, that shell if looking mighty tempting right now. Get to the point."

"An orphan girl, who turned 16 on devil's night. It's been exactly that long since what happened to Jean and the baby. Boss are you sure your kid died all those years ago?"

The Joker went still with rage. The blood rushed through his body at the speed of sound sending a tick behind his left eye. Did this dumb mother fucker really think he was going to come into this home and bring up the rawest nerve in the Joker's entire being? He was more than toast he was incinerated.

Instinctively Harley readied herself for an explosion. It was one thing when her lover was mad and moving around and yelling but when he went completely still it was time to duck and cover. He started squeezing her shoulder. "Um, Puddin, you're hurtin my arm."

He didn't say a word. Just stared at Frost with a look of pure venom that had the poor guy squirming in his seat.

"Boss, please, breath. You know I would never bring this up if I didn't have some kind of proof."

"Then may I suggest you show it before his growing urge to play operation on you is too much to hold back." Harley said. Joker's teeth clinched so tightly Harley could hear the metal start to bend.

"Ok, so this morning someone shot my window with what I though was an explosive. It turned out to be a canister with this file inside and a note addressed to Harley. He held out the file and note to the Joker but he didn't take them. Harley took them from Frost and read the note out loud.

H,

Hope freedom is all you and your boyfriend deserve. I'm still with the Squad working to get my daughter back. Thought you should know Waller is hunting again and your man might be interested in who she's after. After all, once a man becomes a father, he's never truly free.

Stay evil doll face,

Floyd

PS You better burn this shit after reading it.

Joker still hadn't moved. The file laid closed on the coffee table in front of him. He finally reached forward and took it. Inside the oak tag folder was a black and white photo of a young girl with his own face staring back at him. His same haunted eyes, same sharp features. She was his exact likeness with the exception of her mouth. Her lips were fuller, poutier than his. Only one other person he had ever met had a mouth that. Jeanie, he said in his head. He abruptly stood up and walked away, the folder and all it's contents spilling out on the table.

"Where is he going?" Frost asked,

"The man cave, you may want to cover your ears sweetie."

The deafening sound of an assault rifle charging away occupied the penthouse. Both Frost and Harley covered their ears, as the sound on Joker's screaming was some how louder than the shots he was firing. The sound died down just long enough for him to reload and start firing again. This went on for 20 minutes before the Joker emerged from the so-called man cave still in a rage. He marched passed Harley and grabbed Frost's head in both of his hands, his thumbs dangerously close to Frost's eyeballs.

"I swear Frost, that folder had better have more in it than a pretty picture. Where is she?!" He screamed.

"The folder doesn't say, it just has a list of previous foster homes she stayed in."

"What's her name?!"

"It said her name is Anna,"

"Anna what?!"

"Boss, I don't know..." the Joker was squeezing Frost's head between his hands.

"Kerry! It says her name is Anna Kerry!" Harley said.

Joker let go of Frost's head and started breathing heavily through his nose. "Harley, darling, does it say where she is now?"

"No Puddin, it just lists the old homes she was living in. She was transferred from the last one 3 years ago."

"They, they changed her last name. The cops told me they both died. Why would they do that?" He looked around the room bewildered. "Here's what we are going to do. We are going to track down every doctor, every nurse, every cop, every social worker, every fucking janitor that was in the hospital that night and we are going to find out exactly what happened and god help everyone if this all turns out to be a giant hoax. Pack it up team, we're going for a ride."

Hey folks! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I have a whole sick twisted story in mind with a lot of twists and turns and I cant wait to get them all down!

Please let me know what you all think?

Thanks!

~SL