Author's Note-Ok so someone said I should continue and I know it's been a while but here is part 2.

Hope you like.

PART 2

I've been away for 6 months now. I think it's for the best. I've got some clarity since I've taken some time out.

Do I miss the little nut job? Yeah, but I'll go back at some point. Whether it will be to work with her again or just to say a quick hello and then do my own thing, I don't know. I suspect she's back with Joker. She always did go back there, even when she was living with me. It was an abusive relationship but in their own, sick, twisted way, they seemed to love each other.

That always puzzled me though; if two people loved each other, I mean really loved each other, how could they lay a hand on one another? How could they inflict any type of pain at all?

I shook my head and let out a breath I hadn't realised I'd been holding.

Gotham looked darker to me somehow as I stood on the hill, my car still running as I thought about my decision to return.

My whole life was in Gotham. I couldn't not go back.

The wind picked up and in the distance I heard thunder. It was like a shift in the atmosphere; almost as if the city itself knew I was coming back and it didn't welcome me at all.

It was a shame because despite the crime, the darkness and the evil that plagued it, it was home.

It was all I'd ever known and even though I had travelled and I had been away, coming back to Gotham gave me a strange sense of calm.

I climbed back into the car and drove down the hill until I was driving through the city streets.

Men with guns patrolled in the dark, trash cans were set on fire to keep them warm and provide some light as the street lights no longer worked.

I hated to say it but where the hell was Batman?

I drove to my apartment and found that it hadn't changed and it didn't look like anyone was squatting there but when I reached the door, I found it slightly open.

I frowned and slipped inside, waiting to be attacked.

Instead, I heard sobbing coming from my room and instantly recognized the high pitched wailing of Harley.

Nope. Nothing had changed. I wondered how long she'd been here and had half a mind to throw her out on her ass.

I pushed open the door and she flinched, then mascara smudged eyes widened as she sprang to her feet, enveloping me in a tight hug.

My arms remained limp at my sides and my expression was like stone.

"Red! I am so glad to have ya back! I thought you were gone!"

I was, I thought with an eye roll but I didn't say anything.

I felt her pull away and she looked at me with a slight frown on her face.

"Red? You ok?"

I sighed a little and looked around the room, anywhere but at her face.

Her blonde hair which was usually done in pigtails was left long and loose and covering the right side of her face.

"What are you doing here, Harley?" I asked in a bored tone.

"Well I uh...I was feeling a little low and I wanted to come here. I felt safe here."

I licked my lips and finally looked at her.

"He hurt you again, didn't he?" I asked.

She gave me a shaky smile.

"Well he didn't mean to, Red. I got in the way and I think-I think it was an accident."

I moved her hair out of the way to reveal a purple bruise just under her eye.

Shit.

This wasn't an accident. She used to turn up here with bruises like this all the time and it was always him.

I used to let her tell me her lies and let her cover and make excuses for him but I promised that I wouldn't do that anymore.

"He hit you." I stated.

She scratched the back of her neck nervously and started to shake her head.

"No...no he-welll...yeah but he don't mean it, Red. He just gets angry and then-"

I turned away from her, going back into the living room.

-"Then you come crying to me and I sit up with you all night talking and supplying you with bandages and ice packs until the swelling goes down." I finished for her, even though I knew that wasn't what she was going to say.

She followed me like I knew she would, and kept her head down, despite the fact that I'd already seen the bruise.

"He can't help it and I...I love him."

I had my back to her and I closed my eyes as those words hit me hard.

Not because I loved her, I didn't, not like that anyway but just because I couldn't believe how stupid she was.

Never had a man made me feel like I deserved what I got. They would only have to hit me once but they'd never do it again. Mainly because well...I killed them if they did.

I suddenly felt tired and wasn't in the mood to listen to her whine about everything that's been going. I promised myself that I wasn't going to be that person anymore.

I wasn't going to be waiting at the other end of the phone when she needed me and then I'd let her drop me when she was ok again.

"Red? You gonna say somethin'?" She asked, her voice still childlike.

"I think you should leave, Harley." I said, my voice low but it still had that hard edge to it.

"But he...Red, he threw me out. I don't have anywhere to go."

I turned around and tossed my red hair back, giving her a haughty look.

"And why is that my problem?"

She looked shocked and rightly so. She wasn't used to me being like this.

To even say those words to her and in such a cold way, made me feel terrible.

Tears came into bright blue eyes and I bit the inside of my cheek, begging myself not to crack. I couldn't do this anymore.

"Red...I thought we were friends. I know we had a fight but...but that doesn't change anything, does it?"

"It changes everything, Harley. I've had time to think whilst I've been away and I know what's good for me and what's not and you, Harley? You're not good for me."

Tears spilled down her cheeks and I wanted to cry too but I wouldn't.

I bit down on the inside of my cheek even harder until I tasted blood.

The little blonde nodded her head slowly and walked towards the door.

I watched as she slowly opened it and then turned back to me.

"I missed ya, Red." She said softly.

I held the tears back until she closed the door.

I sat down on the couch heavily and let them come.

I didn't want to be this way. I wanted to protect Harley. I always did, but when she came to me, crying, bleeding, not being able to stand straight because of the pain he'd inflicted. I couldn't take it.

When he'd done the damage, she came to me for support and patching up and I'd be the one sitting with her, holding her while she cried, cleaning up cuts and hiding bruises with make up. Making sure she ate properly, that she slept ok and even then I'd find myself hearing her screaming in her sleep and I'd go to her or she'd come running into me like a child does to their mother, and she'd grab hold of me so tightly, it frightened me to even imagine what was going through her head.

But this is what friends did, didn't they?

They stuck around. They went through all the shit so that the other one is never alone.

I scrubbed at my face and sat back, my head resting back against the black leather of the couch.

I imagined her out there on the streets, looking for somewhere to sleep.

I groaned, low in my throat and got up.

I still had my coat on, so I headed out the door and went to the places I thought she might be.

It did cross my mind briefly that she might try and patch things up with Joker so that she wasn't on the streets tonight so maybe trying there first would be the best bet.

I went into the club which was still open; music blaring, dancers writhing against each other as drunk people reached into the cages they were in, trying to grope them.

I turned my nose up in disgust.

I headed up to Joker's office and went inside without knocking.

The time for pleasantries with him and me were through.

He grinned when I came to stand in front of his desk.

"Ah, Ivy. I heard you were back. Harley's missed you."

"Is she here?"

His smile dropped and he sat back, lacing his fingers together and resting them on his stomach.

"No. She and I-we had a falling out."

"You hit her." I said, my teeth clenching to the point of where they ached.

He shrugged.

"She annoys me and I can't help it. I've tried but she just drives me crazy!" He laughed, finding the whole thing over-the-top-funny.

I folded my arms.

"Then maybe you shouldn't be with her."

Joker's jaw slackened and he shook his head as though the idea was unthinkable.

"Oh no no no no, I couldn't do that. She is the very thing I live for. She makes me the man I am. Without her I'd be...well, still me but not as...me."

The man spoke in riddles and it angered me to no end. I'd punch him if I thought his goons wouldn't shoot me through the glass window.

"Then you need to stop hurting her."

Joker steepled his fingers. He seemed deep in thought.

Then his blue eyes locked with mine and he sat forward.

"Now, Harley knew what she was getting into. I told her I couldn't be loved and I can't. She knew she would get hurt but she loves me enough to put up with that, don't you see?"

I shook my head slowly.

"I think if you love somebody...you don't hurt them. Ever."

Joker grinned, those silver teeth flashing at me.

"I am glad that she has a friend like you to look after her."

He didn't mean what he said. Not one word. I knew it and so did he.

"I don't look after her anymore." I told him.

His smile dropped and he stared at me, his expression completely serious.

His next words would haunt me until or if, I decided to do anything about it.

"Then she dies."

My lips parted in shock and I took a step back.

"What?"

Joker stood, walking around his desk as he explained, using elaborate hand gestures, ever the show man.

"It's a vicious cycle, Ivy. I hurt Harley, Harley comes to you, you help her, Harley comes back to me. So do you see what would happen if we took you out of the equation?"

My eyes narrowed at him and I waited for him to continue.

"Harley never gets better. She keeps coming back to me, I keep hurting her. She never has that time to heal and so...she can't take it anymore. She snaps...and if I don't kill her, she definitely will do it herself."

He laughed as though the thought of his girlfriend killing herself was funny.

I hated him for what he'd done to her. I hated him for what he continued to do to her. She deserved better but no matter how many times I'd tried to tell her, I knew it wasn't sinking in and then it hit me...

it never would.

She'd never leave.

She'd always go running back to him and I would always have to be there and watch it all. Every. Single. Time.

This would never end...

Author's Note- Hope you guys enjoyed it. Please review, let me know what you think.