OVER 100 HITS SO FAR – SO HAPPY THAT PEOPLE ARE READING THIS BUT SOME MORE REVIEWS WOULD BE REALLY HELPFUL IF ANYONE HAS THE TIME, I'D GREATLY APPRECIATE IT :]

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I have to admit that I'm getting carried away with writing this story but it's just because Harley is so much fun to write about, not to mention she's probably my favourite character in the Batman universe next to the Joker. Christopher & Jonathan Nolan and all those involved in making 'Batman Begins' & 'TDK' have just opened so many doors of interpretation to already existing Batman characters. There are people who may be tired of hearing it but Heath Ledger's performance has provided so much to work with the characters we all know and love from the Batman universe. Even the Scarecrow has provided so much to work with, Cillian Murphy is a brilliant actor and needless to say, I love him so much that he makes me wish I was Irish haha :] But because of these great performances (as well as Christian Bale as the good guy vigilante Batman – easily one of the greatest actors I've ever seen) the characters we all know from the comics & TV series/cartoons have so much more potential to become something darker and in some cases just pure evil. I'd love to know how the Nolan brothers would go about the Joker's back story if they were to do a movie about it. I have no doubt that it would most probably be awesome.

Enough of my ramblings though! I'm just really appreciative of the possibilities the new films have brought to the franchise :]
Enjoy Chapter 3!

"Some people say that I sound strange
They say that I'm not right
But I find beauty in this world every single night." - 'All Black' by Good Charlotte

Nothing to Fear

With a mother as a lawyer and a psychologist as a father, since the age of 9 I've always been interested in contributing something to society. A desire to help others in need and as this developed, it turned into a fascination of the criminal mind. Why people who'd been labelled as 'bad' became that way and why seemingly 'good' people felt inclined to do bad things. It really gets me when you hear sayings like "they were born to be bad" because the truth is that nobody is born a bad person. It's kind of like the Jean Jacques Rousseau philosophy, every man is fundamentally born with good in their hearts, as a child they possess innocence in its purest form but it is society that turns their once good intentions on their head and strips them of their innocence, turning them into something labelled as a 'monster', someone who is feared by others because the good people of the world simply don't understand them. After all, it is human nature to fear what we do not understand but I've always considered myself almost sub-human because I've never really felt this.

Now of course I was born with the instinct of fearing things I wasn't familiar with but my father helped broaden my mind a great deal to the problems people had. He had a good friend that worked in Arkham Asylum named Dr. Elijah Crane who often came around for dinner with his wife Nancy and obnoxious son Jonathan who I always seemed to get stuck with due to him only being a year older than me – just my luck. I always hated when they came for dinner because whilst the adults had their 'grown up time' I knew I'd have to sit and talk to Jonathan who I thought was a weird little person even if he was older than me. I suppose he did intrigue me a little though, even then I suppose I was destined to be a psychiatrist because I always analysed things about him. Like the way he always had that smug look on his face as though he knew everything and the world owed him something, even then I knew it was overcompensating for the fact that he was so unsure of himself.

I was thirteen years old (soon to be fourteen) on this particular night on which my mother and father decided to go over to the Crane household for a late night dinner. Obviously a babysitter was out of the question as I remember my father insisting that I keep Jonathan company. He had some kind of obsession with me getting to know this strange boy who I didn't really care for. However it seemed that my mother was much more sinister in her intentions as I distinctly remember overhearing her say to my father before we left; "I'm sure we'll be hearing wedding bells in future with Harleen and Jonathan, they're just so perfect for each other don't you think?" – GAG. She followed it with a little giggle to suggest that she was joking but it still sickened me. That woman was unbearable. The thought of marrying Jonathan was a fate worse than death for me and marriage was definitely the furthest thing from my mind – for me boys were still made from slugs, snails and puppy dog tails. Maybe not that extreme but I was still a late bloomer to say the least. It was only typical that my mother was planning out my future for me already and as usual my father laughed along being the spineless doormat that he is when it came to his only child's options in life. Truth be told, he probably loved the idea.

The Cranes lived not too far away from us but we still took the car, after all you can never be too careful in Gotham. No matter where you are, being mugged or something much worse is always taken into consideration even before you step out the door. My mother made me dress up which I thought at the time was kind of sick after what I'd overheard her say. She made me wear this strange yellow summer dress that made me look like the Sun or something. I don't know whether she was trying to make me look stupid or whether she was trying to make me look nice for Jonathan – either way it would have been pretty cruel.

We pulled up in their driveway and it was a pretty average suburb house, very much like ours. Painted white with a couple of trees outside and some greenery, the grass was perfect and there were sprinklers that would go off unannounced which I thought was a pretty fun idea. I loved spontaneity. We didn't have the sprinklers in our garden; I'm not sure why we didn't but the novelty of them was refreshing. We reached the door and my father rang the doorbell. I'm pretty sure we waited no more than 2 seconds before the door flew open and there stood Nancy Crane. Nancy was the sort of person who was nice to everybody but she was also another person I never really took a liking to. Even at thirteen I thought she was false, there was just something about her demeanour that didn't sit right with me. I think it was the way she smiled constantly like some kind of Barbie doll, it was painted on and I could tell. Like I said, I think I was destined to be a psychiatrist. What I find ironic is how her husband was a psychiatrist for the criminally insane in Arkham and still didn't notice there was anything wrong with how she would behave – more like he pretended not to notice. Nancy's over the top welcome actually sent a chill down my spine just because her voice became so shrill when she did it.

"Oh I'm so glad you could all come!" Nancy near enough screeched and I swear to God at the time the thought came into my mind that if the rest of the night would be like this then I would have definitely needed some kind of hearing aid by the end of it. I almost felt sorry for Jonathan but the feeling didn't last long as Nancy stepped aside and my mother practically pushed me into the house. This was swiftly followed by Nancy taking our coats and patronisingly saying to me in her best mother goose like voice.

"Jonathan's upstairs in his room sweetie, I doubt he'll be down in a while but do you wanna go up and see him?" Right then everything in me wanted to say "no" in such a sarcastic way but I felt my mother nudge me and instead I chickened out and nodded in response. I was actually terrified of saying anything to Nancy in case I accidentally caused a conversation with her. I hated putting up with her falseness on a general come and go basis. I doubt I could have lasted a whole conversation with her. If given the choice between her and Jonathan I think he would have been the lesser of the two evils, at least he didn't go blatantly over the top but he was still a smug little bastard either way. Nancy told me where Jonathan's room was and surprise, surprise – it was in the back of the house. Now to be completely honest I didn't like the idea of wandering through the Crane household alone or being in a room with Jonathan in the dark depths of it alone. However I knew I couldn't turn back so I walked up the stairs and went on my way to Jonathan's room. The hall was pretty well lit and they didn't have bad taste considering they were a little strange. Though I did quite like Elijah to tell the truth – he was the only one I did like. I liked how normal he was compared to who he had to live with and I think I kind of pitied him for it.

As I got closer I almost expected to hear music coming from the room that was at the end of the hallway upstairs but there was nothing. I edged closer to Jonathan's room, looking ridiculous in my bright yellow dress that I hated. When I got to the door I waited in dread for a little bit, I really didn't want to sit with this guy for the next few hours. However dinner time was worse with having to sit with our parents trying to make small talk with us to act like they were interested in what we had to say. When they gave up trying to look bothered our fathers would start discussing some work related matters. This coincided with our mothers bitching about numerous people whose names I can never remember. This was another reason for my disliking of Nancy Crane – two faced as well as being faker than a three dollar bill. I didn't respect my mother for the bitchiness either but at least she didn't over do it with the niceties like Nancy did. My mother was actually kind of a bitch to the people she didn't like – not on a rude level but the sneers and glares that came from her were noticeable, at least to me they were. However I had other things to worry about other than sitting with the grownups at that moment. I had to sit with Jonathan. God how I wished Pammy was there but she wasn't so I couldn't be saved.

"Who is it?" a defeated sounding voice asked from inside after I knocked on the door. It was definitely way too late to back down now.

"Um it's Harley, you know, Harleen? Me and my mom and dad are here for dinner so I thought I'd come up and say hi." I told him and I was a little nervous, like I said this kid was a weird little person. The door opened slightly and Jonathan's icy blues peeked from behind it. His eyes scanned over my dress and I could tell from the furrowed eyebrows that he was giving me a strange look. I thought this was really rude of him, even if I didn't want to be there I'd at least made the effort to look nice – even if I didn't want to do that either. However, for all he knew I could've been planning it for hours and really looking forward to seeing him.

"Hi," I said and I even gave him a nervous little wave. He was making me feel so uncomfortable at that moment, the way he stood there and said nothing. I really didn't get what this weird kid's problem was. Every time I saw him he made me feel awkward, I'm not sure whether he did this on purpose or whether it was just him being himself but I suppose he wanted me to try and figure that out. He appeared to be the type of person that would do that – very odd.

"I suppose you'd better come in then," he said then his eyes left the gap in the door before it opened a little wider. I stepped into his room with a little caution. I'd never been in a boy's room before then. Looking back on it I'm surprised my parents didn't object to it but it was Jonathan after all. I remember his room had an odd smell to it, it smelled like some kind of chemical substance like nail polish remover but I didn't think it would have been that...unless there was something Jonathan wasn't telling his parents. It's kind of funny thinking about Jonathan as a woman; I'd imagine he'd be one of those tight ass women who were stick thin and looked as though they'd had Botox when in reality they were just that up their own ass that their faces were naturally devoid of all emotion.

I took in the surroundings of his room which had some pretty odd things in it. One thing I remember vividly was the fact that he had some kind of chemistry set which at the time rang alarm bells that he was definitely not a 'normal' kid. Though I already knew this, 'normal' kids didn't take interest in chemistry and smart things like that. 'Normal' kids played football and tried out for the cheerleading squad. However, I did kind of like the oddness of it, it showed he was smart and different from the 'oh so popular' guys in school. I also knew that this display of intellect couldn't have played in his favour as being different couldn't have been easy for him, being smart didn't exactly earn you any cool points in school. If it weren't for my gymnastics keeping the heat off me, I'm sure I would've been subject to that feeling all too well. I think gymnastics did save me from being a complete outcast, it made me appear more 'normal' than I would've if I'd chosen the 'geek' path. God I hate that word but kids are cruel, I always knew that. I've kind of resented myself for being in the middle, not being able to make that full commitment to one side of the coin or the other as far as school was concerned. I was great at both academia and physical activities but I chose not to be popular. At least I stuck to my morals in that sense.

There was a computer in Jonathan's room that he had no problems with sitting in front of and ignoring my presence completely. Somehow I could imagine that this was how it would have been like to live with him but as a teenager I understood ignoring parents and cutting myself off from the world. However I supposed Jonathan did this a lot more than most kids and I did feel something shift inside of me because of this, I genuinely felt for the guy. He was older than me and looking back on it there was something not quite right. I can tell now that he was unhappy with his life. Jonathan found it necessary to lock himself up in his room for hours on end just to escape the reality that was his parents and those popular kids at school that just wouldn't give him a break. With a mother like Nancy I wasn't surprised but I suspected his parents were a lot like mine (at least my mother anyway) – pushy and persistent. I took a seat on his bed without permission as there was nowhere else to sit and I was sure he wouldn't mind. He didn't either, he was too caught up in whatever he was looking at on the computer which I didn't care to take a look at. I was more interested in what was in his room.

"So, have you been doing some experiments with this?" I asked in an attempt to make conversation and motioned towards the chemistry set. Not that I really wanted a conversation with this guy but I guess it beat sitting in silence. Maybe I could find something a little more 'normal' about him if I tried? Some kind of common ground between us and then maybe we'd get along better. I figured if our parents got along – or at least appeared to get along – then surely we could do the same? It would've definitely made my teen years a lot more bearable.

"Conducting," he said as he turned his face toward me and gave me a demeaning look like he was better than me in some way just because I wasn't using 'correct' terminology.

"I've been conducting some experiments," he concluded and I wondered whether this correction was really necessary but I decided to ignore it. I think I'd pretty much made up my mind that he was an ass by then anyway.

"Oh, well have you made anything cool?" I thought there was no harm in asking even if I wasn't particularly interested.

"Not really, just some basic compounds. It's nothing you'd be interested in anyway." It was funny how he hit the nail right on the head but I was still a little offended by what he meant by saying that. I guessed he was trying to assume I was stupid or something but I suppose I was a little back then. Not so much stupid but I was pretty naïve.

"How do you know?" I was determined to prove I wasn't an idiot. Lying about being interested seemed the only way to go about that. Looking back on it now, it probably made me seem even more of an idiot because in all honesty I was being a hypocrite.

"I've yet to meet a girl that's actually interested in things that matter." There was something kind of sad in how that came out. There was a distinct twinge of loneliness in his voice as though he had nothing in common with anybody.

"Like?" I wanted him to elaborate on it a little because I honestly wanted to know what he meant.

"Science, the human mind, you know – things that make a difference." He insisted. Then I couldn't help but wonder whether that were true. Though at the time with me being 13 I obviously did take an interest in things that mattered however I didn't want to tell Jonathan about my interest in the criminal mind. Though it actually would have been a good source of common ground I suppose considering we both became doctors of Psychology. I just didn't want to be seen as strange with my odd fascination of criminals, I actually thought it was a little odd myself. Thirteen year old girls should be interested in wanting to hang out at the mall with their friends and passing notes in class to boys, not how the minds of psychopathic killers and rapists worked.

"Well what if I am interested?" I plainly put it; I didn't want to let on that I was different even if he was different too. Though it sounds shallow to say it and I would never think this now, the truth was that I didn't want to be like him. I didn't want to be weird, an outcast. Even though I didn't want to be popular, I was scared it would get out to everyone at school and then there was Pammy of course but I knew she wouldn't mind. Still, I felt I had some kind of reputation to uphold and thinking about that now really sickens me. There I was convincing myself that Jonathan was the ass when really it was me. I guess I deserved the blunt treatment I got from him back then, thinking about it I suppose Jonathan contributed so much to me becoming the person I am today. What's funny is that he didn't even know it.

"It's not a question of 'if', Science is fact." I wasn't sure what he meant by this. Although I knew Science is obviously based on statistics that are factual, I didn't get what relevance this had to what we were talking about. I guessed the odd fumes in Jonathan's room had gone to his head. Speaking of which, I'm surprised that the fumes didn't seep into the rest of the house. I'm also surprised that they didn't cause any long term psychological problems for him. Maybe they did? I can't really know for sure but it did explain the odd behaviour.

"Alriiight," I said, leaving what he said open to interpretation in case I took it the wrong way and made myself look even more stupid in front of him. There was an awkward silence and Jonathan proceeded to ignore me again by typing away on his computer. He was really the World of Warcraft type but I doubt he would've wasted his time on playing games, he was probably writing a paper or doing some form of work. He appeared to be glued to the screen so I quickly became bored and my eyes began to wander around the room again. That's when I noticed a small wooden box in the corner of the room. Naturally curiosity got the better of me so I walked over to see what was in it I looked behind me at Jonathan who was still oblivious as to what I was doing and continued to slowly open up the wooden box. There were numerous small jars filled with different coloured liquids inside it so I got excited wondering what they were. I noticed a small jar of some kind of red substance, I can't remember what it was called but I do remember I liked it because of the colour. It looked like some kind of magic potion so I took the jar into my hands and turned around to him.

"Can we play around with this stuff and see what happens?" I asked and he turned to face me again from the other side of the room. His eyes shot open and he near enough ran over to me and took the thing out of my hands.

"No, don't touch that!" he practically yelled at me and he proceeded to put the jar back in the box very carefully.

"What is it, some kind of acid or something?" I asked, trying to act somewhat clever by showing him I knew there were different types of acid. Smooth. Real smooth; it was also something an idiot would say.

"No but it's dangerous." He told me and then began to mutter to himself how he needed to get a better cabinet or get a lock for the one he had, it was something along those lines anyway.

"Do your mom and dad know you've got this dangerous stuff in your room?" I asked him and the bemused look on his face just said it all but obviously Jonathan being the way he is, he just couldn't help himself from the sarcasm seeping out his mouth.

"Well neither of them have set foot in my room since I was twelve so what do you think?" That would have explained why they didn't know about Jonathan's little experiments but it shocked me that they never even bothered to go in. My mother was forever in and out of my room and I actually found myself becoming jealous of the amount of privacy Jonathan had. Even if he appeared to be lonely, I suppose loneliness has its advantages and what an advantage it was.

"Nope, I don't think so." I replied still trying my best to be polite even though his smarmy attitude was really getting annoying.

"Then you'd be right," he replied and gave me a slight smirk. If I were interested at the time I would've found this to be quite endearing but since I wasn't, I found it funny so I stifled a laugh.

"What's so funny?" he seemed kind of offended as his eyebrows furrowed again.

"That's the first time I've ever seen you smile." I told him and gave him a little smirk of my own to which he snorted. He evidently was offended and not the least bit impressed with me.

"Well you haven't known me that long." And just like that he brushed past me and sat back down at his computer. Typical.

"Where did you get all this stuff from anyway?" I actually wanted to know how a fourteen year old boy had got hold of all these things that could only really be found in a lab or in Science class.

"What stuff?" the way he said 'stuff' was belittling, it almost implied I was a baby. That's what I thought anyway but I was really pissed off that I was being nothing but nice to him and he was still being a complete ass to me in return.

"Y'know, the chemicals and tubes and stuff," I thought he'd pounce on me for saying 'stuff' again but he didn't. He just stared at me in contemplation as though he either didn't want to tell me where he got them from or he couldn't remember. Though I guessed it was the former. As I waited for an answer from him when suddenly – as though on cue – Nancy Crane's voice reverberated through the house and into Jonathan's room.

"Harleen, Jonathan! Dinner's ready!" I was disappointed in the abruptness and I hoped Jonathan would tell me before we left but he didn't. In fact, he darted out the room and didn't even look at me. I realised then that he must have stolen them from somewhere, I wanted to know where but I had too much heart to blackmail him into telling me by threatening to tell his parents. I knew how cruel parents could be, mine were evidence enough of it.

All the way through dinner we sat there and said nothing to each other. Jonathan seemed more on edge than usual, as though I was about to reveal his big secret about the chemicals in his room but I didn't. I've been a lot of things but never a snitch. When we'd finished Jonathan claimed he didn't feel well and went up into his room. I think he was pissed off with me and it irked me that I didn't know why because I'd done nothing wrong. It seemed my question earlier had opened up a can of worms and he didn't like it one bit. At least I knew to stay away from the subject for a long time. Upon Jonathan 'retiring' to the safety of his room – possibly to hide his stash of Chemicals and test tubes – I had the pleasure of having to sit with the parents for the remainder of the night as they sat there and criticised wealthy socialites, even then I knew it was out of jealousy. I mean, who were those people really hurting at the end of the day? Nothing they did affected them so what did bitching about them really matter? It was just a huge waste of time to me and I even fell asleep and didn't wake up till my mother shook me awake. I doubt they even realised I was asleep till then.

After that night I saw Jonathan on odd occasions due to the workload at Arkham becoming heavier for Elijah Crane as the city churned out more and more people in need of mental help. Every time I saw Jonathan was even more awkward than before. Although he never said it, I think he was always appreciative that I never told on him to his parents. It was only later on in college that he and I would really get along. We had both changed so much by then – at least I had changed a lot anyway, Jonathan was pretty much the same as always but a lot more bearable. However we'd not seen each other for a long time but we still remembered each other. I remember when we first met up in college by accident; we were in the library and bumped into each other, noticing we were in the same section. Of course I spoke to him first and once he found out I was majoring in Psychology he actually started talking to me like a normal person. Like I was one of his kind and at that moment I didn't know why I was so bothered about being like him when I was younger. It was actually kind of nice; it felt like I belonged to some kind of secret group or something. Needless to say, after that we saw a lot more of each other and became good friends. Pammy not so much but she'd always had a problem with guys, from what I've heard I guess her father didn't help with that but I'll get to that later.

What Jonathan and I had that was different was the ability to communicate on an intellectual level with each other. He began telling me I was wasting my time with gymnastics, insisting it was for air headed cheerleader wannabes. He hated those kinds of girls but then they always rejected him so I suppose it came as no surprise that he hated me resembling them. Since he was around me so often I guess he wanted so much not to start hating the one girl who actually thought anything of him. Though I'd like to think me, Pammy and Jonathan were like 3 peas in a pod, the truth was that Pammy couldn't stand him and maybe at times she felt as though he was taking me away from her a little on account of her majoring in Biochemistry instead of Psychology like Jonathan and I. I can understand how she felt that division there as me and Jonathan would discuss various experiments and theories whilst Pammy sat there and read through her books. However the assumption of preferential treatment she may have felt was completely out of the question, I always knew this was a silly thing for her to think. Like I said before, my oldest and dearest friend is and always has been Pamela Isley.


The whole idea behind this chapter was that I thought it would be interesting to talk about Harleen's past with Jonathan Crane and the subject of fear seemed pretty good to tie into that.
I actually named this chapter after an episode of the Batman Animated Series.
I also tried to incorporate the original Harley we all know and love in this with the way she speaks when she's a teenager.
I really hope you enjoyed it anyway – PLEASE GIVE ME REVIEWS!! :S