"Puddin'!" Harley rushed to the Joker with a little more enthusiasm than she'd intended. "The voices were telling me to…" Harley suddenly stopped short. She wasn't sure how the Joker would react when he learned Harleen was creeping back into her life. Of course, Harley had openly invited her former personality this time. But after this latest experience, Harley decided she would never welcome the old doctor again.

The Joker clasped his hands together with glee. "Oh the voices," he marveled. "Sometimes they have the best ideas,"

Not if you knew what they were saying, Harley thought.

The Joker looked around the office. "This is where we first met," he commented as he walked over to the table where Harleen sat moments before. Running his pale fingers along the surface, the Joker added "At this very table,"

"I remember. You had that cute white straight jacket on,"

"And you that white doctor's coat," The moonlight that poured through the window reflected on the Joker's silver grin as he opened his arms invitingly. "Come here,"

Harley obliged, allowing the Joker's embrace to engulf her senses as she wrapped her arms around him. He was her everything and always would be, no matter what Harleen said.

That woman was pathetic, Harley thought as she tried to calm her nerves. Playing the good guy only got her so far. But Mr. J… he brings out the best in me, makes me so much more.

Noticing how tense Harley's muscles were in their embrace, the Joker lifted a tattooed hand and placed it over her mouth. "There," he purred. "Now you have a smile on your face,"

Harley smiled despite herself. When she first saw the mouth tattoo on the Joker's hand, she thought it was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever beheld. Of course, that was years ago. Since then she'd come to see that nothing about the Joker was random, as Harleen had once theorized in her Arkham journals once upon a time. Through the eyes of Harley, every crazy little thing he did served a purpose.

Yes, after all this time Harley knew the Joker inside and out. So why, she wondered, was this the first time in their relationship that she felt so utterly alone?

[To be continued in "A Past Etched in Stone"...]