Fifteen Years Later

"…Harley, are you even listening to me?"

Harleen Quinzel hadn't been listening to the constant chattering of her friend as they walked down the streets of Gotham City – she had been thinking.

"Uh…no, sorry, Julia – I was miles away," she said, smiling apologetically.

Her friend snorted. "You're always miles away these days, Harley. What could you possibly be thinking about so hard?"

Harley shrugged. "Things," she replied. "You know our lives are about to really change, Julia. Aren't I allowed to think about the future?"

"They're not changing too much," retorted her friend. "High school, college, it's just more school. Plus it's not like we're going anywhere – Gotham University may be all the way across town, but it's not like we're moving to a different city or state. My folks even suggested that I keep living with them while I'm studying, to save money, but I think I've talked them into letting me have a dorm room. I feel like if I didn't get a little independence from my parents, I'd go crazy! Plus you can't have guys over at your parents' house."

"Yeah," agreed Harley, who had tuned out her friend's babbling again.

"Speaking of guys, there's a rumor going around the school that Ricky Sorkin is gonna ask you to prom," continued Julia. "You two would make such a cute couple, don't you think?"

"Uh huh," said Harley, still not listening.

"So you're gonna say yes, right?" asked Julia.

"Uh…maybe…I don't know," said Harley, who hadn't heard the question.

"Oh, c'mon, Harley!" said Julia. "You can't spend your whole high school career never having dated anybody! That's like the whole point of high school – teenage romances!"

"Funny, I thought the point of high school was school," retorted Harley. "Education, y'know."

"There are different types of education," retorted Julia. "You don't wanna go off to college never even having kissed a boy, do you? Everyone will think you're lame, and nobody will want to date you!"

"Julia, I just don't wanna date anyone right now, all right?" snapped Harley. "Why can't you leave it alone?"

"Because I feel bad for you!" she said. "You're missing out on all the fun of being young and in love!"

"Most of the time, I hear it ain't so fun," she retorted. "Anyway, I'm just not interested, so please drop it, Julia."

Julia shrugged. "It's your life. But I feel bad for Ricky. He's a nice guy, and he's clearly pretty crazy about you."

"Uh huh," repeated Harley, tuning her out again as they reached her father's garage.

"Harley, Julia, how was school?" asked Mr. Quinzel, looking up as they entered.

"Fine. We're not doing much these last few weeks before the end of the year," said Julia, shrugging. "Most people are just getting excited about prom."

"Oh yeah? You going to that, Harley?" asked her father.

"I dunno – I don't think anyone would ask me," retorted Harley, putting down her bag. "Uh…is Jack around?"

"In the back," replied Mr. Quinzel, nodding.

"Thanks," said Harley, heading back into the garage, where most of the work on the cars was done. All types of models sat around, dismantled or partially dismantled, and in the midst of these sat the man Harley had been thinking about all through the school day and on her walk home.

She knew it was wrong to be thinking about a man who was a lot older than her, a man who had watched her grow up, a man who she should have thought of as a brother. But her feelings for him were of a completely different nature entirely, and she felt that that was wrong. That there was something sick and disgusting about her, to think of Jack as anything more than a member of her family.

But she did. She couldn't help what she thought or felt, and the more she told herself it was wrong, the more this seemed to perversely encourage her mind to fantasize.

She remembered very clearly the day when it had all changed, when she began to notice him as a man. They had been sitting in the park together, chatting while Harley did her homework. Suddenly, a gust of wind had blown the pages of her homework away, across the park and into the lake. Jack hadn't hesitated a moment, stripping off his jacket and jumping into the lake, collecting all the pages from where they had scattered over the water. Harley watched him from the shore, intending to scold him for getting himself all wet, but as he emerged from the water, she found she could only stare open-mouthed at the way the shirt clung to his chest, the fabric outlining every bulge of his muscles, which were very impressive for a man of his thin build. She managed to stammer a thank you, and then went back to work, feeling her cheeks burning. She hadn't been able to sleep that night, just imagining his body, imagining him removing that wet shirt while she waited on the bed, breathless with anticipation, his intense green eyes fixed on her in desire…

After that, she began seeing and thinking about him in ways that she knew she could never voice to anyone. But she had no interest in the other boys at school, and whenever her thoughts wandered, they wandered almost against her will to Jack, to his gorgeous eyes, and his beautiful smile, and his wonderful laugh, and his toned body, which looked even more tempting than usual, covered as he was in grease and dirt from the cars. She caught herself before she could start imagining him slowly stripping off his dirty garments while she waited for him in the shower…

"Hi, Jack," she said, casually, hoping her face didn't betray her thoughts.

He looked up, beaming at her. "Hi, kiddo! How was school?" he asked, standing up and wiping his hands on a rag.

She shrugged. "Boring. Not much going on at the end of the year."

"Well, you'll be off to college soon, and there's all kindsa excitement there, so I hear," said Jack. "Can't speak from experience, though."

"Maybe you should come with me," she said. "People go back to college at all ages, y'know."

"Nah, I wouldn't be smart enough to get in," he replied, reaching for a wrench. "All I know is practical things, not all your book smarts that you learn in school."

"It's not that hard – I could teach you," she said.

He laughed, tightening some bolts on the car's wheel. "It's not hard for you, because you're a bright kid," he retorted. "Straight A student, off to college to be a doctor, on a scholarship…"

He finished tightening the wheel, and then smiled at her. "But you always were a smart kid. Gonna miss having you come around here every day after school, though."

"Well, I ain't going far," she replied. "I'll still pop round from time to time."

She cleared her throat. "Or maybe…I could move in with you."

He laughed. "Why would you wanna do that?"

She shrugged. "I don't really wanna keep living with my parents while I go to college, and I don't relish sharing a dorm room with Julia or some stranger. But you've got your own place, and it's big enough for two…"

"Have you talked to your parents about this?" he asked, looking up at her.

"Not yet," she said. "I wanted to talk to you about it first."

He shook his head slowly. "Believe me, kid, as much as it'd be great having you around all the time…I'm used to living on my own. Anyway, it would be awkward for you if you wanted to have your friends over, or your boyfriend over, having an old guy like me in the way…"

"I don't have a boyfriend," she interrupted, hastily. "And you wouldn't be in the way, honest."

"Well, have you ever thought that maybe you would be?" he asked, gently. "I don't mean that unkindly, kid, but…I got my own life, y'know? And the people I have over sometimes…it would be awkward."

"Oh," she said, feeling her heart break. "You mean you don't want me in the way of your…girlfriend or someone, right?"

"Yeah, that's right," he said, nodding. He smiled at her. "Attractive guy like me has tons of dames after him, y'know?"

"Yeah…I know," she stammered, hoping the slow crushing of her heart wasn't obvious from her face. "Ok, then. It was a stupid idea anyway!" she laughed. "Just a joke! I'll…uh…see you around," she said, heading back out of the garage.

Jack stared after her, and then let out the breath he had been holding. "That was a close one," he muttered to himself as he flipped open the hood of the car. "God, the only thing that could make this whole situation worse is if I was actually dumb enough to say yes…"

He tried to focus on his work, but his thoughts wandered to the fantasy of Harley living with him. He knew in that kind of close proximity, day after day, his defenses would crumble and he'd never be able to avoid confessing his feelings, or keep his hands off her…

"You're a sick bastard, Jack Napier," he muttered, tinkering under the hood. "You watched her grow up, she's like a little sister to you…"

But he hadn't had these feelings for Harley until very recently, until he had suddenly noticed she had become a woman. They had gone shopping together – Harley needed a dress for a friend's fancy eighteenth birthday party, and was complaining because she never wore dresses, and didn't know what to get. Jack was no expert in dresses, but he had some sense of what looked nice on women, and so he had come along. They had stopped off in a department store, found some possible candidates, and Harley went to try them on. She had emerged in one to show him, and he found he couldn't speak. He could only stare at her, stunned, her beautiful figure suddenly revealed in the dress, her gorgeous blue eyes and her red lips pouting in annoyance. Lips that had kissed him a thousand times, but were suddenly different now, suddenly the round, full lips of a woman…

"She's about half your age," he muttered, trying to distract himself from thoughts of Harley. "She's not a woman. She's a teenage girl. And you're a disgusting old man who needs to get himself under control. Nothing is ever going to happen between you two."

It would be wrong if something did, wrong for so many reasons. Their age difference, the fact that he had watched her grow up, the fact that she was the daughter of his employer, and benefactor. He couldn't repay Mr. Quinzel's numerous kindnesses to him by seducing his daughter. But he also couldn't get her out of his mind.

"Maybe this college thing will be good for both of us," he muttered. "She won't be around here as often, and I can try to get over her. She'll probably meet a nice guy at college, a nice, smart, young guy, who will make her very happy."

He slammed the hood of the car shut. "That's what a classy dame like her deserves," he murmured. "A nice, smart, young guy who will make her very happy. And I'm…not that guy," he said, wiping the grease from his hands again. "No, siree."