Chapter 2 - Little Madness
Harley studied every single one of Samantha's reactions, she fed off the Psychiatrists fear and long pauses. This woman was going to be such easy prey, all she needed was to get the Joker's permission. It was just a matter of finding the hole in her armour.
"Fun? You think torturing people is fun?" Samantha asked gently now Arkham had left the room.
"Sometimes," Harley giggled and leaned forwards over the table. "I'll let you into a secret, come here."
"Oh no, I'm not going to do that," Samantha smirked.
"Sammie, ya gotta learn to trust me," Harley grinned. "This place… it does things to a girl, ya know? Does things to loads of people. The halls of the medium and lowest security areas are full of old doctors and staff. The walls are poisoned. The madness seeps into all that stay long enough. You need friends who can cope with insanity."
"Do you disagree with your diagnoses of Schizophrenia?" Samantha pushed.
"It's startin' to get to you already, I can see it in your eyes," Harley said slowly, tilting her head to the side like she was studying a curious painting. "There it is, that little spark of… crazy. It's festering away, just behind those beautiful green eyes of yours. It's that little demon in your head tellin' you to do all those bad things you never want to admit to. Let it go, let it free, Sammie."
"Miss Quinzel, if you can't address me correctly, I'll have to cancel all sessions with any future psychiatrists," Samantha said loudly. "No more time out of your cell."
"Fine, I'll play nice," Harley sighed and leaned back in her chair.
"It says in your file that you attended a years' worth of sessions when you were 10 years old here at Arkham. Can you remember what that was for?"
"Beats me, I have no idea," Harley shrugged. "Maybe something to do with my drunk mother and violent father and their toxic relationship."
"Speaking of," Samantha seized the chance. "The Joker hits you, beats you. He's tried to kill you a dozen times, threw you in acid-"
"I jumped willingly, actually," Harley replied simply.
"He's thrown you out of a moving car, driven you into a river, pushed you out of a helicopter-"
"It was exploding and I fell out of it."
"-And you still go back to him. Why?" Samantha asked. There was a moment silence where Harley just stared at her and it felt like she was looking straight down into the pit of Samantha's soul.
"He's my puddin'," Harley answered. "I'm made for him."
"He's manipulated you, sent you insane and you run back to him like a kicked puppy?" she sighed and shook her head. "At least Poison Ivy is kind to you."
"Your daddy really doesn't love you, does he?" Harley asked with a frown. "And your momma… she hates you too. What did you do to them? I can't… I can't figure it out. But it's something."
"Miss Quinzel-"
"Sammie, I've told you, call me Harley," she giggled.
"Harley, I need you to answer some of my questions," Samantha said quietly. "If you don't answer my questions, I cannot help you."
"What can you offer me? Hmm?" Harley asked. "A nicer bed? A pink bucket to throw up in?"
"Time with the Joker," Samantha told her. Harley watched her for a few seconds before she threw her head back and laughed. She rocked in the chair and nodded her head.
"Good one, Sammie, good one. Are you stupid? I used to work here, there's no protocol on this earth that would get me time with Mistah J," Harley laughed. "No amount of strings you could pull would get me to my man. Especially when you know what I'd do to him."
"This is a therapy session, not a relationship counselling session," Samantha said.
"Then why ya askin' about my puddin'?" Harley giggled. "I mean, I totally get why, he's the best lookin' man that's ever walked the earth, but he is taken and I'm not leavin' him, so… why all the questions? Isn't this an introduction? Couldn't you have come with nail polish or make up? Ooh, facial treatments! The others all brought me nice things."
"And you made each of them go mad," Samantha muttered.
"No, no, they were already were mad, I just made them realise what was there," Harley shrugged. "Come on, I don't get to see anyone in this dump. No friendly faces, all I get it pig slop shoved down my throat, strapped to this damn chair, washed – and not gently, thank you very much – and brought to see you. I'm a highly sociable person-"
"You're in an asylum for life, Harley," Samantha interrupted.
"All the more reason to let me have some social stimulation," Harley nodded. "Sammie, I'm a psychiatrist too. I need to be around people, to talk to different people and interact with them. When my head's kept busy, I'm much, much easier to deal with, why do you think Mistah J has a club? It makes him money but keeps me out of trouble. Sort of. I also need access to the gym. I need to exercise, the fitter I am the easier my labour will be."
"What do you think this is?" Samantha questioned.
"Arkham Asylum and I'm the Queen of Gotham," Harley grinned. "And you're all gonna do exactly as your told, or else my husband will kill you."
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Aaron Cash had seen many things at Arkham asylum, all of which seemed very normal when compared to the sight before him. He was watching Harley Quinn pick out baby clothes from a catalogue and then he was to take her for her dating scan. This was definitely the strangest thing he'd done in a long time.
"Can I not pick out some clothes and stuff for me?" Harley asked the terrified female orderly. She flicked over another page and stared at some of the maternity clothes. "I mean, as much as the uniform is… functional, it's not exactly suitable for a pregnant woman and the cheap ass bras are uncomfortable and hurting me."
"You'll make do for now, Quinn," the woman huffed and threw some more clothes onto Harley's lap. "We've got your measurements, we'll bring you new clothes when you need them."
"Well I definitely need new underwear right now," Harley muttered. "My boobs are gettin' huge, this is just not gonna work and I'll get some kind of problem for sure, a blocked duct doesn't sound like much fun-"
"Fine," the woman in charge of the inmate's uniforms grunted and she changed the damned bra. She was already annoyed with Quinn and she'd only been here a month. Apparently pregnancy didn't humble Harley, it just made her ego grow.
"Thanks, dear," Harley giggled. "Now, I love this green and purple one. It's perfect for my little cupcake, dressed like her daddy. Or this one with the little ducks on it… no, no, he's gonna be better than ducks. These aren't very expensive?"
"No, they're coming out of Arkham Asylum money, they're not expensive, they're there to cover the baby when you give birth."
"Don't worry, cupcake, mommy and daddy will change that when we're home," Harley said and stroked her hand over her flat abdomen. "Nothin' but the best for my sweetie."
"Deluded too," Cash chuckled.
"You know we're not stayin', Cashy," Harley giggled. "We're havin' our baby and then we're goin' home." Cash glared at her and was about to try and challenge her, but she just grinned at him and he moved away again.
"That's all for today," the woman said. "Time to go back to your cell."
"When's my scan, Cashy?" Harley asked.
"3pm," Cash answered. "And then you're going back to the cell until tomorrow."
"N'aww, you're no fun anymore," she huffed. He took her back to her little block and tried to ignore her chuckling and chatter. He kept blaming hormones, but at the back of his mind he knew that this was a happy and confident Harley Quinn. A dangerous mix with an angry Joker just across the hall way.
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The Joker paced the small space of his cell like a Lion. He was angry and would've been quite happy to have someone to beat up. He was a whirl of emotions and he hated it so much. What was it about the damn blonde that did it to him? Certain things he could admit to, she was gorgeous, but this stuff? This emotionally challenging, spiralling feeling of protectiveness? No, that wasn't his style. He didn't do emotional.
Not even for Harley.
God, he hated her. Hated her and needed her in equal measure. What the hell had she done to him all those years ago? Maybe he should've just let her dissolve in that acid, but that stupid pain in his chest made him throw himself after her. That pain festered in his chest at that very moment, he wanted it gone. But he knew that if she wasn't around, it just got worse until he couldn't function and he made mistakes that often proved to be dangerous.
He flitted between despising her, wanting her dead to willing to slaughter millions to find her and protect her. It was a knife edge and she decided whether she survived or not. Knowing he couldn't cope, or didn't want to cope with out her, made their games dangerous and he enjoyed every second of sick pleasure he got from watching her squirm. He could make her love him, hate him, betray him and be loyal to a fault. But he knew she could do the same to him. She made him feel things that he didn't want to, made him do things that he never thought he'd do. Like marry her, in the loosest sense of the term.
It was an endless game of Russian roulette.
He remembered the first time she'd told him that she was pregnant. It had all been very different. He'd been a very different person and she'd been complete. Not like the last 3 years where something in particular had been broken beyond his ability to repair. She'd only been 23 years old, a child compared to him, but she'd been so full of fear that she'd looked like a child. He hadn't noticed the changes, not really, he'd made a comment the day before about liking the new size of her breasts, but he really hadn't thought much more of it beyond her normal hormonal changes. It had been the moment that Harley had realised and his world had changed.
"Puddin'?" Harley asked quietly and she edged carefully into his office space. It had been designed to be daunting, terrifying, but Harley had never felt that in here. Not until now. Now it was like she was walking straight into the stomach of a Lion.
"What do you want?" Joker snapped. He'd been in a foul mood after one of his meetings had gone sour and he'd had to put a bullet in some mugs head. Harley closed the door behind her and she shifted nervously.
"I… I need to tell you somethin'," Harley mumbled. "It's important."
"Not now, Harley, I'm busy, we just lost a million dollar deal, I'm not in the mood for your fun or games," Joker snarled and stood from behind his desk. She gulped and nodded at him before she turned to leave. Maybe she could just forget to tell him for a couple of months and then-
"Where are you going? You told me you had something to tell me?" Joker said. He sounded very close and she turned to see him stood right behind her. She jumped and pressed her back up against the heavy wooden door.
"I-I-I… I'm-"
"Spit it out, Harls, daddy really doesn't have the patience today."
"I'm sorry, puddin', I'm…" she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I'm pregnant."
The fight that had ensued had been bad. Not their worst, but definitely bad. But it didn't take long for him to regret his actions and a few hours later, he'd been wrapped around her, kissing the bruises he'd made, trying to apologise in his own way. They talked and talked for hours about what to do and then he'd given her a week to decide.
Then they'd found out it was twins and everything changed.
He'd become stupidly excited, ridiculously energised by this news and he took to pampering Harley and sorting out everything they'd need. She'd been 10 weeks when the crib arrived and thanks to a well-timed bout of morning sickness, she'd been preoccupied whilst the Joker had Frost put it together. She'd come into the room to see it and she'd broken down in hormonal happiness.
She'd blossomed and changed in the time she had been pregnant. She had a new found confidence in the way she handled herself, a new found self-worth and he enjoyed it. He'd been good and gentle with her, something in him had changed with the words "Congratulations, its twins". He became protective, loving and reliable. He knew why, a previous life in a very different time, a chance to have what had been so cruelly ripped away from him. Harley would never know about that though. No one would ever know.
Then the twins slipped away and the only ones who had ever known about the Heirs of Gotham had been Harley, Frost and himself. They had been destroyed by Batsy-Boy's Bird Brain and in return, the Joker and Harley had cracked him. They had spent a good week torturing the boy before the Joker had struck the final blow.
That wouldn't happen this time. This time she was safely tucked away in the asylum, the precious life in her body safe from men in tights, capes and suits. But he couldn't get to her. For now. Knowing Frost, they'd have a few guys on the inside already, but none of them had shown their faces yet. They would, their lives depended on doing exactly what he and Harley asked of them.
This baby wouldn't be the true heir of Gotham, but an heir was an heir. It would do things in his and its mother's name that would shock and stun all of Gotham, if not the entire world.
And he couldn't wait for the horror to start.
Joker watched as Harley cackled her way through the corridors and back into her cell. She filled him with desire and hatred. He just wanted to get his hands on her. He wanted to hurt her, his fingers itched to cause her pain, but he wanted to make her scream his name in pleasure too. That constant contradiction.
That constant coin toss.
One that she called and decided whether she lived or died.
"Puddin'?" Harley asked when she noticed his glare.
"What?" Joker snapped. Harley bit her lip and she walked to the front of her cell.
"I've g-got a scan t-today," Harley stammered. Good, he still made her nervous even with bullet proof glass between them. "I d-don't know if you're comin'."
"Of course I'm not, stupid little girl," Joker snarled. "Why would they let me see my own child? Don't be so utterly ridiculous."
"What have I done to piss you off?" Harley asked angrily.
"Watch yourself, Harley," he threatened. She pushed away from the glass and went to sit on her bed.
"Or what?" she laughed.
"You don't want to know." She gulped at his words and stared at the wall that separated her from Ivy. She knew that she had to rein herself in, but the Asylum was starting to get to her. It was like an allergic reaction. It got to her and made her head worse.
"We have a chance to be happy, Harley," Harleen told her. "We can be free of him and his poison. Take our baby and start again."
"Shut up Harleen," Harley whispered.
"You know what I'm saying is true, you know it," Harleen insisted. "We're in the perfect place to get better, Harley, let me look after our child and I promise we can do better. We'll find someone that doesn't hit us, we could be with Ivy."
"Harleen, you were the one who threw yourself at him over a desk," Harley reminded the voice in her head. "You can't complain now that we've got everything we ever wanted."
"We wanted love, family, marriage and a home," Harleen said. "We wanted a loving husband, a happy child, a beautiful house filled with everything we could ever want. This is not that life."
"You're right, Harleen," Harley giggled. "It's a better life. Now shove off and leave me alone." She found herself counting the bricks in the wall and it took her into a dream world. She drifted around in images of married bliss and family until a knock on the glass of her cell jarred her from her rest.
"Hey, boss lady," Jonny Frost grinned from beneath his disguise.
"Frosty?" Harley asked and waked back to the front of her cell.
"It's time for your scan and I gots orders from Sharpe himself to bring the Boss with us," Frost smiled. "And no, we didn't pull this one." Harley frowned and thought wildly for a moment before 'guards' came in and put her into the restraint chair, they were careful around her and constantly looked to the green haired man to make sure they weren't about to be horrifically murdered. Then they went to the Joker and Frost took his boss's chair. They slowly went through the corridors and finally reached the medical centre.
"So, congratulations, Miss Harley," one of the boys said quietly.
"Aww, thanks sweetie," Harley purred. Frost rolled his eyes and he noticed the Joker shifting uncomfortably. Something wasn't right and the clown felt it.
"I know that perfume," Harley whispered after a familiar scent caught on the air. "No… way." They went into the doctor's office and her blood ran cold.
"You!" Harley shouted.
"Ah, Harley Quinn," the woman smirked. "Nice to get you back."
"Waller," Harley snarled.
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A/N: Hi readers! Thank you so much for your follows and favourites and reviews. Reviews really do make me post and write faster, I hate asking for them, but I'm not going to clog up the site if people aren't enjoying Toxic Love. Please let me know you're reading, even if it's just a "Post more" kind of comment :)