Harleen shut the door behind her

A/n: hey guys, here's a longer chapter with their interaction. I just wanted to say something, yes this is romance, but this is also Joker and Harley we're talking here. Their 'relationship' will be twisted, and it will be abusive. If you can't handle that, go read some WALL-E fanfics. Thank for you reviews so far, keep it up! :) I love you guys. Tell me what you think of this chapter.

Chapter 3: J

Harleen shut the door behind her. She couldn't much say she had been in this sort of predicament before: in the room with a man, a serial killer, and a beast. The air around him was electric, it seemed to live. She felt her skin prickle as his gaze pierced hers. He didn't look like he did on TV, in the newspapers. No make-up, that is. The way he was now, one would almost assume he was just a man, but as his gaze sliced down hers, she knew different. He was different. Special.

He sat on his bed, cross legged, staring down Harleen like a predator. She cracked a smile, something she did when she was nervous. She finally broke the stare-down in defeat and gazed upon the rest of his body. Blonde wild hair matted down to his face on some parts, but freely broke loose and crazed out on other parts: a bad hair day, in her opinion. His face, of course, was what stuck out the most. While he was indeed a man, maybe early thirties, it was hard to tell, his face was… "well carved". Smooth, then rugged, then etched… The side of his mouth seemed swollen, and dried blood lay on his lips. She wondered what had happened.

She looked down at his handcuffs and felt more at ease.

"I'm Harleen Quinzel." She said, as if it were obvious.

"Harley Quinn." The Joker corrected.

"What?" She walked in further, unsure of what to do. She knew what she had to do here. Give him meds, deliver food, clean his room, and do minor paper work. It all sounded quite boring to her, and she was glad he was here so that she could get her own out of this.

"Sounds better." He said in a gruff voice. She did like it better. It sounded wild, free, unlike her prissy birth name.

"Sure thing, J." She raised an eyebrow, looking at him again. She tied her apron behind her and pulled a thermometer from her pocket, advancing towards him. Like walking the plank, wondering if she was going to be saved once she was pushed off the edge.

"Don't you think…" he licked his lips, "you should have some respect? Children should respect adults." The end of his words, 'think', 'respect' sounded poisonous and harsh.

"Respect is earned, J. Besides, I'm not a kid, I'm nineteen." She corrected him, her hand on her hip. "Now open up, ahhhh..." She waved the thermometer at his face.

For some reason, she felt at ease with him. He was a challenge, and she enjoyed that. Yes, he spit the thermometer back in her face. Yes, he bit her finger. Yes, he looked like he was about to kill her at any moment, but Harleen had to admit that she was enjoying his games, his fun.

"You gonna kiss it to make it better, J? Huh?" She snided and held up her middle finger, which was dripping in blood up to his face. Then, he did something she honestly didn't expect.

Grabbing her by the wrist, he took her hand up to his mouth. Mesmerized, all she did was watch in fascination. His lips parted, his yellow fangs bared, as his tongue slid across her skin, lapping the blood up. His embrace was warm. She wanted to gasp. She felt her knees weaken. But, no, being the character she was, she couldn't help but…

"AIDS." She stated. The joker's eyes darted to meet hers.

"Gotcha." She stuck her tongue out and pulled her hand away, walking to the sink to run some water. She stared in awe at her finger, which seemed to shine in spit and blood, before reluctantly washing it all away, as if it never happened. Something inside of her flinched. Why was she sad? She was dealing with a lunatic, here! But… was he really crazy? Maybe he was just misunderstood?

He erupted into laughter, clapping his hands fervently. She whirled, drops of water hitting the tile floor. She backed up against the sink. By the time she realized what was going on, he was walking towards her, still clapping. His claps were fast, without a rhythm, much like her heartbeat, which she swore was in her ears. Yet, uneven apart, together in unison. Clap. Heartbeat. Clap. Beat. Clap. Beat.

Clap…

Beat…

Harleen blinked as his stared connected with hers once again? Why did he do that? It felt as though he was reading her like a book. "I'm not afraid of you." She boldly stated as he cornered her against the sink.

His head tilted as he drew towards her face. She held his stare.

"And why is that, Haaarrrrleyyy." She could feel his breath on her neck.

"You're locked up. You're on more medications than I am. You're the one that requires ME." She dodged away from him, but not before he stuck out his leg to trip her. Years of gymnastics couldn't fail her now as she twirled and kept perfectly balance as she graced away from his body.

"Now open up and say 'Ahhh' like a good patient before I call security." She wasn't about to let him win. She was here to have fun, he was going to be her game.

"Well if you insist, Mommy Dearest." He took the thermometer off the counter and stuck it under his tongue obediently. Harleen raised an eyebrow at this. She took the time to turn away from him and catch her breath. Why did he keep staring at her? Why did she mention her own meds? Harleen, you idiot! She thought.

Beep beep.

She turned back around and took back the thermometer from between his lips. "Yowch, you're burning up!" She joked and grinned at him, trying to make the uneasiness disappear. He smirked as she wrote down 98.6 on his medical sheet. She glanced over at where his name was. It was merely blank. She clicked her pen on her hip and wrote in J, there, all better.

"Harley Darling." He stated, sliding her arms in front of the paper she was working on, pushing it away, his face drawing to hers again. Harleen could smell him. He smelled musty, oily, and coppery. Was… that blood?

She sighed. "Yeah, J?"

"Do you like to have fun?" He raised a brow, ever so curious. What kind of question is that? Why was he so damn hard to read? It could have something to do with him being the prince of crime. Hmmm. Prince…

"Of course I do." She smiled, looking over at him. His scars seemed tattooed mysteriously across his grin. She wanted to reach out and touch them for some reason.

"And how do you go about, having this fun?" He pouted his lips, contorting his scars into another shape. It was like a kaleidoscope.

Thinking back on playing Halo, various MMO, FPS, and other games on her PC, she said without thought, "I like to play games, I mean v—"

"Oh I like to play games too." He smirked, his darkness drawing her in, mesmerizing, terrifying, electric, dark, and strong.

"Did I ever tell you about how I got my scars?" His fingers grasped her cheek and she let out a yelp as they drew into her, pulling on the sides of her mouth. She tumbled backwards and hit the door, her head absorbing impact. She glared furiously at him as he toyed with her, pulling back her cheek, forcing her to create a smile.

Knock.

The Joker receded, keeping his eyes locked on her, giving her cheeks a nice squeeze before he traveled the whole 5 feet back to his bed. She felt her body cave in.

Knock.

She turned around and opened the door, "Yes?" It was another nurse, a fellow intern.

"Ms. Quinzel, it's time for … his," the way the intern used the word 'his' had reminded Harleen of the 'chickenshit wizards' from Harry Potter. She would have cracked a smile if her cheek wasn't aching so much and her head wasn't pounding. "... His therapy session." She said in a very hushed voiced. Harleen gave her a pat. "One minute." The nurse nodded and backed out gladly.

Harleen held onto the ajar door with a foot, her arms crossed. Hell if she was going to quit, she would show him! She would fight, persevere, and give him the hard time he deserved. He wasn't going to break her, he wasn't going to use her, and he wasn't going to win.

"See ya, J." She turned around and left, slamming the door behind her.

The Joker leaned against the wall, arms crossed, copying her. He licked his lips. How little she knew…

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Let me know what you think of their interaction please! Thank you for reading! :)