SHOUTOUT: to India_Blue for giving me the main inspiration for this chapter. Also, I was listening to Rise by Katy Perry while listening to this, so if you wanna get in the mood…

Joker stood up when Perry did. "I'll see you tomorrow then." Perry shook Joker's hand and straightened his tie. "Oh, is this your wife, Joker?" Joker turned to find Harley sulking toward the kitchen a tissue connected to her face. "From what I've heard, I imagined a peppier aura."

"She's recently been…tense."

"If she can't do the job I have numerous other offers-" Joker held up his hand to cut Perry off.

"She can do the job. She'll be ready by tomorrow; you have my word."

"This isn't a regular job, Joker. I need top people on this. Now, I like you, I trust you to get the job done. But…" Perry leaned over to look at Harley. "I'm not very…into women. They're a bit too…emotionally attached. You get what I mean, Joker?"

Joker nodded, "I get it, she'll be ready. You have my word."

"I'm putting a lot of faith in you, don't let me down." Perry spoke as he put on hand in his suit pocket and walked confidently out of the house. "Until tomorrow."

"Until tomorrow." Joker said bitterly, forcing himself to wait until Perry was gone to turn his rage onto Harley. "HARLEY!" Harley didn't jump when he screamed her name. She didn't take her attention away from her sandwich until Joker had her hair in his fist and started pulling. "You…ha-ha…you almost ruined our biggest deal since we got out of Arkham. Why? Do you want to lose everything we've been working towards for 18 years? Do you not want to keep Lucy?" At the last sentence Harley elbowed Joker with all her might, Joker stumbled backwards.

"Don't. You. Dare." Harley kicked Joker's feet out from under him. "Say I don't want Lucy." Harley knelt down by him and lightly stroked his face in a loving fashion. "All I've ever wanted was a family with you, puddin. I love you." Joker smiled and sat up, pulling Harley into his lap.

"I want that too, pumpkin." He kissed her cheek and eyed where Harley had put the knife on the counter. "But you," Joker pushed her off with one hand and grabs the knife with the other. He leaned over her and held the knife to the side of cheek. "Need to focus." Joker poked the knife into her skin and draws a line down by her cheek bone.

"Puddin, please, I'm sorry. I'm focused." Joker smiles as he cuts deeper into her skin. Harley tried to pull her head away as she screamed, but Joker grabbed her throat chocking her making her scream short lived.

"That's it, baby." Joker whispered as his knife sunk deeper into her skin, heading for her lips, he licked his as he continued.

"Stop, right now!" Joker closed his eyes, he had hoped that she would stay in her room like she was told. "Get off of her."

Bethany stood behind Joker with a fry pan in her hand winded up behind her like a baseball bat. "Now!"

"Sweetheart, your mother and I-"

"Get off!" Her voice was lowering in pitch, becoming a demanding, and slightly scary sound. "And don't speak. I don't want to hear any bull shit explanation you have for this." Joker climbed off of Harley and sat with his back against the kitchen counter. "Put the knife on the ground and push it away." Joker did as she told. The knife ended up by Harley's foot. "Harley, push the knife over to me." Harley was shaking and didn't look at anyone but the floor. "Harley. Harley. Mom." The last word was a plea. Harley looked at the knife and tossed it over to Bethany. "Thank you." Bethany pushed the knife behind her, far behind her. "Stop smiling." She said to Joker.

"Seeing you ordering us around makes me so proud. You are so much like me." Joker could see, physically see, his own daughter be not scared, not sad, but disappointed in him. And this perhaps worse hurt than all the time he had been punched, kicked, stabbed, or acid burning on his skin.

"I," Bethany spoke clearly and calmly, "am nothing like you. I am not a murderer, I am not a psychopath, I am not crazy." Bethany felt her guilt for only a second when Harley started crying when she said 'crazy'. The guilt went away when she saw the small smile she gave Joker afterwards. "I am not a bully, or a manipulator, I am not a kidnapper or a criminal, I am not Lucy and I am definitely not staying here a minute longer." Bethany knelt down and grabbed the bloody knife and held it out towards her parents. "And if you follow me, I will call the cops and you both will be locked back up in Arkham faster than you can call out my name because I am done being your daughter. I am Bethany Laurens, my parents were Jacob and Eveline Laurens, and they loved me. Truly loved me. They are the ones who taught me how to ride a bike and tie my shoelaces. They helped me get through high school and boyfriends. They supported my choice to become a FBI agent because they knew I would excel at it. That's what parents do, even if they they are scared they respect their child's decision. You may have given birth to me, but you are not my parents."

Bethany walked backwards, making sure she didn't trip over anything. With one hand she opened the door and took one last look at Joker and Harley. The second the door was closed Bethany ran as fast her legs would take her, her ankle didn't hurt at all now and she ran out into the streets of Gotham City. She would have cried if she felt safer, but it would be all too easy to be caught again, she had to think of something quick, something Joker wouldn't think of. And so, Bethany ran into the traffic street.

There had never been a time when Joker had…felt…something so much. He felt like a child, like a fool. Harley had started to cry but once Bethany had left her sobs turned into laughter.

"That was awesome!" Harley exclaimed. "That's our daughter, puddin. Our baby." Harley crawled into Jokers lap, putting her head on his chest. Joker held onto her and kissed the top of her head.

"She's perfect." Joker agreed.

"Except…"

"Yes. Except…"

"We have to go after her." Harley sat up and pulled a Kleenex out, dabbing at her wound.

"Already on it." Harley turned around at this statement.

"What?"

Joker stood and wetted a towel and grabbed Harley's chin, helping her clean her cheek. "I sent out an anonymous tip to Batman that the infamous Joker and Harley Quinn hired a teenage female sidekick."

"You turned in our own daughter." Harley looked confused and slightly angry.

"We'll break her out of whatever cell she gets into. We'll get her out, then we'll be family." Joker kissed where he had cut her. "Just like you want."