As soon as Laura got to M.C.U in the morning, Gordon rushed her out to the Narrows yet again. They walked into a dingy apartment that was poorly lit. Jack Napier Sr.'s apartment. Gordon said, "Forensics tried to find fingerprints. Everything is clean."

"Do we have a murder weapon?"

"No. We have nothing but a dead guy, knife to the heart."

Laura mentally sighed in relief. The Joker had made her job easier this time. He'd taken care not to leave traces. But then, all her hopes were dashed. "Sir!" a CSI cried from the doorway. "We've got a fingerprint and trace."

"Get it to your lab! I want results as soon as possible."

"Yes sir!"

Laura stared after the man in horror. They were going to find out that the fingerprint belonged to Joker and the trace was the make-up off his face. Her phone rang. "Dawes."

"Laura!" Bruce's panicked voice cried.

"Bruce, what's going on?"

"Laura don't listen to him!"

"What?" He sounded distant, like he was in the background and not holding the phone. Then, it sounded like someone was being hit. They grunted. "Hey, hello?!" Gordon was staring at her.

"Hello, beautiful," Joker drawled. "I've just received word that it is about to get out that I've been free on the streets. I didn't want you to be able to miraculously save Bruce when you failed me, so I decided to let him accompany me to me hideout."

Laura's jaw dropped. "YOU KIDNAPPED HIM???!! OH HELL NO!"

"You want to save his life? Come to Avenue X, Cicero. And you come alone." He hung up.

Laura stared at the phone then launched it across the room. It shattered into pieces when it hit the wall. Gordon was standing there, mouth agape. "Laura Dawes, you are going to tell me what is going on, right now," he said menacingly.

She turned to face him, fire in her eyes. "The Joker has been free from Arkham for about 4 days. He called me. Told me that Bruce was constantly going to be under a scope, like, a gun scope until I'd proven myself. Joker was the murderer if the other guy. I changed the fingerprints. I met him on my lunch break because he asked me to. I fucking fell in love with him! There. I said it. And now, he knows that he is about to be found out. He has Bruce. I have to go save him."

She made to storm out the door but Gordon grabbed her arm. "Why didn't you just tell me?"

"Do you not understand a word that is coming out of my mouth? THE JOKER WAS GOING TO KILL BRUCE IF I TOLD!!!! Is that clear enough for you?"

"I'm coming with you."

"NO! He said I had to come alone. If you follow me and Bruce gets killed because of it, you are so dead." She pulled away and ran out into the cool air. She jumped in her car and flew down the roads with her lights and sirens on. When she reached her destination, she was out of the car before it had fully stopped and turned off. She pulled her gun and ran into the building, right to the room where Harvey had been found that fateful night. "JOKER!" she screamed as she busted in the door. She froze. There he stood, with a gun pointed to Bruce's temple.

"Ah, thought I heard a car. So, are you going to explain why you let me down?"

"I didn't do it on purpose! It was just the way it went down!" She kept her gun on him.

"That doesn't matter. But, oh well. What's done is done. You knew the consequences." His finger tightened on the trigger.

"Wait! There's got to be another way!"

He smiled wickedly. "Oh, I've thought of one. It gets me what I want and what you want. I know how fond you are of musicals. Have you even been to see The Phantom of the Opera?"

She blanched. "Yes," she answered weakly.

"Good! So you know how it ends. But, for Bruce's sake, let's explain. In short, Bruce, she either goes free and you die, or she stays with me and you live to go on about your life. Never to see her again, of course. It's her choice." He looked back up at her. "So, choose."

"Not until I get answers!"

He pulled the gun from Bruce's head and sat on a stool next to him. "Ask away, love."

"For starters, who are you? You said you were a Gothamite once. Did I know you?" She still didn't move her gun.

"Oh, yes. You knew me. You tormented me, just like everybody else in that school."

She racked her brain for anyone she remembered teasing specifically. "I got nothing."

"Next question. You're figuring out my identity on your own."

"Why did you kill those two men? What were they to you?"

"Dakota Napier and Jack Napier Sr.? Oh, they had wronged me. Dakota, he left me at the hands of the devil when I was just 6. He could've taken me with him when he moved out, but he didn't. Jack…" he stopped and almost shuddered, "See, he turned me into what I am now. Oh, you remember that story I told you about how I got the scars?" She nodded. "That wasn't true. My father was a drunk, and a fiend. One night, he went off crazier than usual. Mom got the kitchen knife to defend herself. Dad didn't like that. Not. One. Bit. He wrenched it from her and took it to her, laughing while he did it. Me watching, of course." He stood and pulled a knife, walking close to Bruce. "Then he saw me and said, 'Why so serious?' He came at me with the knife. 'Why so serious?'" He approached Laura, putting the blade to her cheek, just like the night they had first met. "'Let's put a smile on that face!' And….well, these happened," he finished, pulling the knife away and pointing to his scars. "Jack Napier Sr. was a crazy dude."

Her eyes grew large. "Napier was your father?!"

"And Dakota was my older brother. Know who I am now?"

Her heart throbbed painfully from regret. "Jack Napier. I remember now! You were the kid with greasy black hair that was always really creepy."

He squinted at her. "See what I mean? Everybody made fun of me. But they didn't know what was going on at home did they? They just had a preconceived opinion of who I was by what I looked like. Seems to be the way of the world. But anywho, I digress. Any other questions?"

Her hands were shaking on her gun. There had to be a way out of this. "Why is your hair now, like, green?" It was a lame question, but it gave her more time to think.

"It's called…chemicals." He was now putting the gun back to Bruce's head. "I think it's time to get down to business. Make your choice."

Sweat was running down Laura's face and she was constantly having to blink it out of her eyes. Bruce cried, "Laura, go! I've done what good I can in the world. You have much more potential. Don't ruin it by staying with him to save me. I'm not worth it."

"Bruce…" she kind of hacked. She didn't really realize it, but tears were streaming down her face. She had done so much to save him, she couldn't just leave him to die.

"GO!" he yelled at her.

"I can't," she whispered back.

"You have to. I won't let you stay with him."

"Hmm, jealous are we?" Joker asked.

"Stay out of it," Laura hissed at him.

An innocent look passed over his face. "I'm sorry. Don't let me interfere in this touching conversation."

She stared at him. "Can I trust you? Can I trust you to hold to your word? He will go free if I stay?"

"I'm a man of my word," he answered.

She couldn't help but think of the day he killed one of the copycat Batmans. 'People will die. I'm a man of my word,' he'd said. She slowly walked to him, putting her gun down at her side. She reached up with her free hand and touched a scar. Slowly, she allowed her lips to touch his, but she closed her eyes so she didn't have to see Bruce's reaction. Joker wrapped his free arm around her and very nearly picked her up, but he never moved the gun from Bruce. His tongue lightly traced her lips, but his trigger finger tightened.

BANG!