Balalala... We've reached 1.5k reads with this fic! Clappers for all of you followers and constant readers!
I was absolutely glad with the review in the last chapter.. Thank you so much, loreengrgoddess (I hope I got your name right ^_^) It means a lot.
Now...time for a delicious chapter. (Not in the way you think.. Eww.. Joke :p )
6. After 6 Spoonfuls of Pudding
"A change of setting is pretty nice."
The Joker gave his psychiatrist a curious look. That was a funny thing to say since all that's changed was that they've moved from the meeting room to the cells. It was still inside Arkham walls, so he wondered why the woman found it exciting.
"It feels a bit weird not being seated at a table with you." She says.
"Wish we could do something about that, too.." He said, very comfortable with lying down and his folded arms as his pillow. "But this glass is the only protection you have."
Harleen furrowed her brows.
"I don't need protection, Mista J... You know that."
He hums that he knows, but he wonders just how much she knows it herself.
"Well in that sense... I guess it's the only protection I have from the guards shooting me." He says and quickly looks at her for the reaction.
"That won't happen.." She said consolingly. "And even if it does, I'll catch the bullets for you..."
She says this with a smile ready to break into a laugh. And she quickly does once her patient breaks into his own laugh
The Joker brought a finger to his lips.
"Shhh...They might hear us.." He warned.
Harleen mimicked his actions with a nod and even lowered her head as if trying to duck down from watchful eyes. The Joker found it absolutely amusing.
"By the way..." Harleen starts, tapping her fingers on her clipboard. " I got that little gift you sent me."
He quickly sits up at this, and Harleen had to fight for dear life to keep her face in its normal color.
"Ahh.. You did? That's good. Did you like it?" He asks eagerly with a child-like innocence.
"Well... it was definitely an extraordinary gift... Not your average box of chocolates or a boquet of roses that have no meaning."
The patient was impressed with her answer.
"But a stem with thorns, has meaning?" He asks and she nods.
"You said it yourself, Mista J. It could mean anything.."
"Or nothing at all.." He finished for her.
"With the way I sent it to you... after uh... your absence.." He pauses, lets her look back at that 'misunderstanding' and then asks: "Do you think it holds any meaning?"
God.. She had hoped so badly that he wouldn't question. Because to her, that gesture of leaving her a gift, finding the stem, thinking of a way to get it to her office (she still doesn't know how he managed that, with all the restrictions and surveillance) it meant a million things.
Never mind if the stem had no petals of any color. That thorned green stick that now lies on her nighstand where see can see it before she dreams of its sender, was the best gift she ever received. And that went with the many possiblities of its meaning that she argued with herself.
"It means that my patient is a heart-breaker."
He looked at her incredulously. Wow. He knows that he gave the stem to her with the idea that it could or could not mean anything, and that she would firmly believe that it did mean something, he never thought she would think it meant that.
Jesus. The mind this woman had.
The look on her face, and her arrogant grimace was a dangerous weapon. He needed to keep control and not give away so much.
"Oh you have no idea, dear Harley." He said in response to her answer.
She laughed again, but the Joker was starting to feel that he was standing in a critical position. Where she was the one in power. And it was not a good feeling.
"I hope the faculty didn't fuss over my gift too much." He said to distract himself from his dangerous thoughts.
"They don't know about it... "
He blinked.
"What?"
"I didn't tell them about it." She says, serious and calm.
The hits just keep coming! The Joker changed his mind. The glass was her protection. Not his. Her only protection from his nearing violent tendencies.
"Why not?" He asks, even though he knows, because he's not stupid. He knows what's starting to happen to her mind, and he knows it's his doing. But sometimes its so easy to forget the lines of the strings in your hand when the toy itself can backfire your tricks.
Harleen only smirked at him, and placed a finger over her lips again to conceal a secret. "We're not telling nobody."
Well .. That's it. He gives up. She wins this one again, and he's only grateful that he's already in his room to lie among his frustration and questioning.
He lies back down now, past caring whatever Harleen may think of it. When he's comfortable again, distracting himself with other equally horrid thibngs, it came to his attention that his psychiatrist needed another reward.
"What time is it, Harley?"
He heard her fumbling around in her seat, hoping to not fail him in this one simple question, since she's never failed in the more complicated ones.
"It's 12:51.."
The Joker hummed, remembering his untouched tray lying just outside the cell by his doctor's feet.
"Have you had lunch yet, dear Harley?" He asked, hoping to feign as much concer as he usually does.
"uh. No. Not yet, really.."
A grin came upon the Joker's face. He needed this boost so he could feel that he still had the full deck in his hands.
"There's a tray there, just by your feet.. You can help yourself with it."
Harleen couldn't hide how flattered she was at this. It was shameful and unprofessional. But she wanted nothing more but to comply for him.
"You're being too giving, Mista J." She said.
She slightly bent down, and saw the tray a few feet from her. It was purely untouched by him, but most of the food had been eaten by rats. There was only a single cup with a plastic cover on top and a small spoon lying on it.
"I'll take this.." She said as she picked it up and began to open it. A thick, brown gelatinous substance came to view from under the lid. "Oh it's pudding!" She exclaimed.
The Joker had to bite back his smile.
"Are you sure you don't want this?" She asks, even though she's already poking the susbtance with the spoon."
"No... It's all yours, Harley."
The psychiatrist let out a laugh and hurriedly took her first serving. She savoured the sweet, thick flavor and let it melt and roll inside her mouth.
The Joker watched her in interest as she ate more and more, as if proving herself to him in a way. The thought delighted him.
"Mista J?" Harleen called out. "I have a new nickname for you.."
Now he grinned. "And what would that be?"
Harleen looked down into the cup in her hands.
"Pudding..."
And the Joker could only laugh.
Hahaha! M so glad I made this chapter!
I read in a DC fact trivia, that Harley calls the Joker 'Pudding' because he gave her a cup during Arkham. Hence this chapter!
Hoped everyone loved! Next one, is something you'll never guess!