A/N: thank you all so much for your reaction to the last chapter! You're all amazing and I do promise that more replies get quicker updates, so here we go...
Chapter 8 – Little Manipulation
Harley was now 20 weeks pregnant and she revelled in how round she'd become. She loved that her bump was an obvious, almost obnoxious, display of Joker's toxicity and power, he could turn anyone to do anything. She was living proof of it. They'd found out they were having a boy and from that point, Frost had been a more frequent imposter in the Asylum. He was receiving orders from both Joker and herself and it stroked Harley's inflated ego further. Joker would remind her of her place, but he let her order the boys around like the dogs they were. The last 4 weeks had been busy for both of them and Harley had indeed got under Samantha Drakes skin.
To the point where Harley was confident to ask for extended time with Ivy and had even had Joker out of restraints at one of the scans. She felt powerful and important. Things she hadn't felt at any point of her life, there had always been someone holding her back or degrading her. She understood why her puddin' had gone after her, she'd been easy prey, idealistic and hopeful, naïve and impressionable. But she knew he'd stayed for more than a toy.
Samantha Drake would never be more than a key.
Harley was with Ivy in the communal leisure room, except it was empty aside for her and Ivy. They were sat on the couch together, watching mindless TV, Ivy was gently stroking Harley's big belly and the Queen of Gotham herself was dozing peacefully.
Ivy enjoyed Harley's company again finally, acid-bleached blonde had calmed down a lot now she had gotten her project almost finished. The 'real' Harleen was still fighting and broke through occasionally, but Harley had taken great pleasure in remembering all the things the doctor didn't tell Samantha. For instance, Harleen had failed to mention that some of their goons were now Arkham staff, she didn't tell anyone about Joker's threats to Quincy Sharpe or about the Clown's late night visits to her cell.
Harleen was no angel and that hadn't changed.
So for everything to be quiet, Harley was taking her chance to try and rest. She giggled as Ivy's fingers tickled her belly and she opened her eyes a little.
"Feels funny," Harley said tiredly. "You chill him out, Red, he gets far too over excited when I'm alone or with my puddin'."
"Gee, I wonder why," Ivy replied sarcastically.
"And we have breaking news that the infamous girlfriend of the Joker's, Harley Quinn, is actually pregnant inside Arkham Asylum."
"And it starts," Harley grinned and brought herself to sit more upright.
"The ex-Arkham psychiatrist was brought in by Batman almost 3 months ago," Vicky Vale continued. Harley could see the concern in her eyes and it made her heart sing. "After she went on a rampage following the Joker's arrest only a few weeks previous. Our source has told us that she is around halfway through her pregnancy."
"Only a couple more months and the new Prince of Gotham will be here," Harley giggled loudly. "And you're all going to die for your sad pathetic lives!"
"Harley," Ivy said sternly.
"Commissioner Gordon, do you know if this information is true? Is the Joker actually going to have a child?"
"Vicky, whoever gave you that information is wrong," Gordon said gruffly. "The GCPD has no records of Quinn's current health status and Arkham would update us with such a change in health."
"Stop lying Jimmy," Harley cackled and clapped her hands together. She stood up and walked to be right in front of the TV. "They'll trust you even less if you lie. They'll walk right into our palms and the Batman right behind them."
"So photographs of Harley looking really quite pregnant are falsified?" Vicky asked.
"Someone's playing a sick trick on the city and I will find out who it was," Gordon huffed and walked off the screen.
"The jokes all on you!" Harley squealed and bounced on her toes. She clapped her hands together before she wrapped her arms around her bump. "They know you're coming, my little cupcake. They're gonna start writing stories about you before you're been born, the Bats gonna be havin' nightmares about you, my sweet, perfect, little man."
"Harley, you need to stop, they'll take you back to your cell and you'll be put on reduced time again," Ivy told her and walked up to Harley. She put her hands on her friends' cheeks and made Harley look at her. "You need to calm down."
"It was Frost, Red," Harley said happily and stroked her hands up and down Ivy's arms as she processed the news. "He was here for the scan again, he saw our baby boy and he did what the Joker asked. It's happening, we're getting to Gotham from our safe little cells whilst our Prince grows and thrives."
"Listen to yourself," Ivy replied softly. "Take a few deep breaths and slow down."
"Red, don't you get it? Can't you see?" Harley smiled. "We're reclaiming our throne from in here, all of Gotham's scum will fall into line and wait all nice and patiently for us to come back. They're gonna all offer up their portions of deals and money and business because the King is coming back and his Queen is carrying his heir. Not even Penguin will be able to ignore that little show piece."
"And the hordes of maniacs will be baying for blood and new territory to try and defend from you when you get home," Ivy pointed out. "That'll start a city wide turf war, they won't just fall silently like good children, Harl, they'll tear Gotham apart."
"And? That makes it all much more fun," Harley smiled.
"Harley, I love you," Ivy said quickly. "But this has got to stop, you can't go around taking part in the blood baths or the heists any more. You're going to be at home looking after the baby, honey, you really think he's going to let you or your son out of the club? Hell, let you out of your room? You're job in life is to be his pretty little psychotic house wife and if you really want that life-" She was cut off when Harley suddenly kissed her. They'd kissed before, but never whilst talking about Joker. It was definitely chaste, but it clouded Ivy's mind more than she would ever care to admit.
"Pammy," Harley said with a sweet smile after she broke away. "I'm okay with that. All I've ever wanted is a family with my puddin' and now… finally it's happenin'. I'll need to bash in a couple a' skulls every now an' then, but as long as my cupcake and my puddin' are happy… I'll be happy."
"Harley-"
"Hush, Red," Harley grinned. "It's all gonna be okay. Everything's going to plan."
"And Batman's threat? Taking you and the baby away? Getting Harleen back and you gone? Harley, have you thought any of it through?" Ivy asked and stroked a strand of hair from Harley's face.
"If I'm with my puddin', he can keep Harleen at bay," Harley shrugged. "I've done well convincing' all the doctor's that Harleen's in charge. I can convince Batsy. Please, Red, stop worryin'. I'll let you know when we're leavin'."
"Sweet pea, I wish I had an ounce of your positive thinking on this one," Ivy said with a long sigh. She knew this wasn't about to end well for either Harley or Joker, but there wasn't any sense in talking to either of them. "As long as you and the baby are safe, honey, that's all I care about. Joker can rot in hell."
"I knew you'd come round," Harley grinned. She placed one last lingering kiss on Ivy's mouth before she practically skipped – as much as her new waddle allowed – to the door of the common room. She knocked on the metal and laughed excitedly as she saw one of the Joker's henchmen stood in the doorway already.
"Ah, Frankie," Harley purred.
"Hey, boss-lady," the man smiled. She wanted to scream with laughter at his wide eyes. He'd been a good henchman, but this was one too many times that she'd caught him staring when he should've kept his eyes to himself.
"Frankie, can you do lil ol' me a favour?" Harley smiled and bit her lip, she ran her finger along his jaw and tapped his nose lightly.
"Anything," Frankie nodded a smug smirk on his face.
"Stop gawkin' at my private time with Red and take me to my lovely doctor before I pull your kidney's out through your asshole, kay?" Harley giggled. Frankie went totally pale and he dropped his gaze. He shuffled nervously as he 'restrained' Harley and he looked to Ivy.
"Harl, when will your Clown employ decent males rather than the pond scum?" Ivy asked.
"When the pond scum stop needin' money," Harley laughed. "Until then, they're just gonna die all the time. Come on, Frankie, before I tell Mistah J that you were peekin'!"
Harley walked proudly through the hallways, her head held high and proud of how pregnant she looked. She was definitely bigger than she'd expected to be, but she didn't care. Her baby as healthy and that was all that mattered.
"Frankie, if you stare at my ass any longer, you know the boss will kill ya tonight right?" Harley growled at the henchmen that was walking with her.
"Sorry, boss lady," Frankie stammered. He was a big guy, imposing, but not all that intelligent and annoying as hell. He'd shot one guy in the face during a raid and now believed himself to be second to Jonny Frost. He was totally unaware of the thin ice he stepped on when he was around the Joker's most prized possession.
"You better be, we already have a staffin' issue and I don't wanna be the one to break it to Mistah J that he needs to off another one of his scumbag jerks," Harley giggled. She loved the power she held, she may not have been as physically strong as Frankie, but she could play with his mind and she was twenty times more agile than he was. The boys all knew not to mess with the Joker's girl, because it may not be Joker that did the punishment and Harley could be just as sick as her psychotic husband.
"Sorry, puddin', I gotta take it off, Sammie thinks I don't love ya," Harley mumbled to herself and took the ring off her finger. She hid it in her bra and made sure her makeup and glasses were set. Before Frankie walked her into her old office and handcuffed her to the table. He knelt down to Velcro strap Harley's legs to the chair and he grunted when her foot smacked down on his fingers.
"Don't be a bitch, Frankie," Harley said lowly and let him carry on.
"Psycho witch," the guy hissed before he stalked out of the room, cradling his hand in the other. At least she'd caused someone pain, not as much as she wanted to, and not the people she wanted to hurt, but it was something.
"Miss Quinzel," Samantha said with a smile as she walked into the room. "Nice to see you this afternoon. I'm sorry about having to cancel our morning appointment."
"It's okay, doctor, we all need a lie in sometimes," Harley smiled. She could feel Harleen scratching away at the edge of her consciousness and clenched her jaw.
"I wish," Samantha chuckled. "I brought you a sandwich, soda and a bar of chocolate, an apology of sorts."
"Thank you," Harley grinned. "At least someone cares about me in here."
"A lot of people care, Miss Quinzel," Samantha said gently and she undid the handcuffs and leg restraints that Frankie had only just closed. Harley rubbed her wrists and pushed her glasses back up her nose. Her sight was better with them, but they just didn't scream super villainess.
"Chicken salad is all I could grab from the staff canteen," Samantha told her as she passed Harley the food and drink. "I hope that's okay."
"Perfect, thank you, you shouldn't be putting yourself at such risk for me," Harley replied and opened up the wrapper on the sandwich. "Would you like half?"
"Oh no, I've already eaten, I grabbed something on the way in," Samantha answered. "Go ahead, you need it more than I do. I wondered if we could talk about Harley's schizophrenia and dissociative personality disorder."
"Sure," Harley nodded and took a bite from her sandwich. She wasn't all that keen on salad leaves, rabbit food J called it, but she wasn't about to fuss when Samantha was still just capable of wriggling free. She would've much preferred a cheeseburger and fries.
"Do you know how many personalities you have? Is it just you and Harley? Do you have the schizophrenia too or is that restrained to her?" Samantha asked.
"There's a few versions of me in here, but they're quite weak," Harley explained once she'd had her mouthful of sandwich. "Unusually for someone with DID, there's no random aspect of personalities. They're restricted to just different times of my life. Harley is the dominant one aside from me. There's a note in my file about attending sessions when I was a kid?"
"Yes, but there aren't any notes about those sessions?"
"No, when I got my internship here, I asked Sharpe to remove them from my record as I had been 'cured'," Harleen sighed. Harley was keeping her under control, but she knew that Harleen wouldn't sacrifice Joker or the baby. She was useful at times for when Harley couldn't quite remember key details. "I was 10 and had this imaginary friend, or I thought that was my imaginary friend. She looked like me but she laughed a lot, she had so much more fun than I did. She told me to do bad things at school, told me to hurt others. My mother decided that she couldn't put up with it and booked me into sessions with Jeremiah. At the time he was considered the best doctor here."
"At the time?"
"He was the one that authorised me to have unrestrained sessions with the Joker," Harleen pointed out. "That kind of dimmed my opinion of him after everything. Anyway, it was Harley all along. I thought I'd blocked her out and pushed her down. But she came awake again when I went to medical school and became louder again when I decided to go down the psychology route. But it was only a handful of sessions when I was a kid. Five maybe? Nothing of any real note came of it."
"So Harley wasn't something the Joker created?"
"Yes and no," Harleen answered. "I first noticed the voices when I was 15, I was a handful back then to say the least. All these voices shouting in my head, Harley egging me on to follow through with them… I struck out a few times, but my mother just smacked me a couple of times and told me to grow up. Dad was in prison a lot, so he wasn't there to fight my corner either. When I met Joker, Harley was amazed by the chaos in his eyes, she was desperate to know him. It was love at first sight for her. She started to push in and take over."
"And that's when you started the physical part of your relationship?" Samantha asked.
"No, that was… me… mostly," Harleen blushed furiously. "She used to ask him about his crimes, she revelled in the pain and destruction he caused and she was… attracted by it all. But it was me that started the physical stuff."
"We've gotten off track, but thank you for telling me so much," Samantha smiled. "Your child hood sounds difficult."
"Grew up in Brooklyn, hated the accent so dropped it," Harleen chuckled. "Momma was a drunk, daddy was a con artist and my brother was the laziest piece of shit you've ever met. Should've been in Gotham, we would've fit in more. We'd have our clothes until they were literally falling apart. I had to look after my brother most of the time because momma was passed out drunk. She wasn't afraid of hitting us. Daddy wasn't afraid of hitting momma and hit her more when he found out she'd hurt us. I've only ever known painful and poisonous love. Any wonder I went after Joker?"
"That's enough now, Harleen, my turn,"Harley told her and pushed forwards to close the deal. She couldn't remember how much of that had been lies or what had been true. Her child hood memories were blurry or incomplete thanks to not being in front.
"The right mixing chamber for everything that's happened," Samantha sighed. "I'm sorry, Harleen, if you'd gotten the right help so long ago maybe this wouldn't have happened."
"It still would've happened," Harley shrugged, trying to hide her fury. "I would've still chosen Arkham for my internship. Stopping my mother drinking or my father being in prison wouldn't have changed that. Plus I wouldn't have my son and… all the pain, he's worth it."
There was a long silence as Samantha wrote and Harley ate her sandwich and chocolate. She eyed the can of soda and her stomach dropped when she saw it was grape soda. She clenched her fists together for a split second before she turned the can to face away and she tamped down her fury. She wanted to break Samantha's neck, she wanted to rip her open and paint the walls with her blood. How dare she bring her grape soda? That was her and her puddin's drink.
"Has Michaela come back?" Harley asked suddenly.
"She's… she's with her friends for a week, they're having a week long hen party for their friend," Samantha stammered.
"I'm sorry I've caused you such a problem, I didn't… another life I've ruined," Harley said sadly. Samantha all of a sudden darted across the table and grabbed hold of Harley's hands.
"You haven't ruined my life, Harleen," Samantha said firmly. "You haven't done anything wrong. You're the victim here. Your entire life has had you as the victim. Please do not blame yourself for what's going on in my personal life."
"But, Dr Drake-"
"Sam, called me Sam," the doctor smiled. "You've shared so much with me, it's only right I share something with you."
"Thank you, Sam," Harley grinned.
"If there's anything I can do to help please just ask," Samantha smiled. "I'm here to help you and you've done so well."
"Anything?" Harley asked.
"Yes."
A/N: and so it begins...
Things will pick up speed from here on in, there's so much to come haha!
Please review!