A couple weeks passed since that interview with Joker. Derek and I saw each other once in that amount of time; he was playing with his band ('The Mystiques') at a club in downtown Gotham. He visited with me briefly while he was on one of his breaks, but made it a point to interrupt talking to me to give the lead singer, Kaylee, his attention (which only made me feel more furious).

My jealousy was one of my worst traits, and it was something I never possessed until Derek joined The Mystiques and Kaylee Jones entered the picture. She was everything I wanted to be: flowing, beautiful brown hair; slender with glowing skin, and striking green eyes. Not to mention a singing voice that deserved a contract with a record company...

At the end of the night, I saw Derek and Kaylee share a lingering hug, followed by her giving him a tender kiss on the cheek. I felt my blood boil when I saw him smiling at her with adoration. As far as I knew, neither of them were aware that I was standing in eye sight.

During those couple weeks, I saw Joker a couple more times. I found myself thinking about him constantly - what was he doing at the moment? What did he do to pass time? Did he attempt to charm other women? Probably so.

The worst part of my thoughts was me feeling jealous at the thought of Joker flirting with other women at the asylum - offering them visits to his cell, complimenting them...

Stop! He's killed who knows how many people, he wears clown makeup, and he's a known liar. He's your patient! Stop it!

But I couldn't. As I kept getting to know him (or whatever faรงade he was putting on), I was feeling more attracted to him. Security was getting looser with him, and he was suspiciously staying on good behavior. He knew about my relationship with Derek, and started to refer to him as "the swine" - he told me about violent dreams he had about the man he never saw, and went into grave detail. It was unnerving, to say the least.

Joker and I met for our seventh therapy session on a rainy Thursday afternoon. I wasn't scheduled to see him until that following Tuesday, but a couple of the guards said he was in distress, so I booked an appointment with him.

"Anyone ever tell you that you look stunning in that shade of red?" he asked as he eyed my wine-colored sweater.

"No," I replied as I switched my gaze down to his paperwork.

The folder was getting thicker, and I wondered how much of it was the truth.

"Had a run-in with ol' Croc yesterday. He seemed unnaturally full," he said in his gleeful voice.

"Probably because he ate Officer Borland," I said dully, not even caring since I couldn't stand him anyway.

Joker snickered and laughed quietly with excitement.

"Some of the guards said you have been in distress the last couple of days. Would you like to talk about that?" I kept my eyes on his chart, not wanting to look into the face that was growing more attractive to me.

"Just missing my favorite Doc," he said with amusement. "You didn't elaborate much about your night out with the swine."

I paused from taking notes and stared at the mostly blank paper.

"How did you know about that?"

I felt him lean forward. "I know people, Lainey. I have connections outside of here."

I almost dared to look up at him, but I restrained myself. Once I would look, I knew I wouldn't stop.

"Stalking me is illegal, you know," I said coolly, pretending to write a note in his chart.

I heard him lick his lips.

"Do I really look like a guy who cares about the law?"

I didn't respond - hell, I didn't even look up at him. I ignored him and continued to flip through his paperwork.

There was silence for a several moments before he said, "Look at me."

My eyes remained on his chart.

"I said, look at me!" his voice raised, causing me to jump.

Our eyes met, and I felt my insides turn to jello.

"I heard your darling lover has had his eyes on a certain singer," he said tauntingly. "What a fool he is."

"There's no proof of that," I said quietly, trying to fight back any negative emotions.

"Ah, but there is. You just don't see it yet." He adjusted himself in his seat. " See, I know people out there - they keep an eye on how things are while I'm enjoying my stay here."

"I'm sure you do," I said as I restrained myself from rolling my eyes.

"The swine spends a little more time with the singer than you think."

He's taunting you. He's trying to break you. Don't let him do it.

Feeling my temper begin to flare (and all of my pent-up jealousy and paranoia), my hands landed on the table with a loud thunk.

"If the point in this session is to make me crack for your own amusement, then I think we've covered enough for today," I said, holding back from screaming at him.

There was no amusement in his eyes.

"There will be a time when the truth will come out, Lainey," he said as he relaxed in his seat. "And my offer will always stand - my cell is open for you."

"I'm sure it is for the other women you come in contact with," I muttered bitterly.

There was that quiet hyena laugh again.

"A sense of humor. I like that." He licked his lips, then paused for a while. "Do you love him?"

"That's an inappropriate question," I said after a few moments.

"That's a lot of hesitation for a 'yes' or 'no' question," he said as he kept his dark eyes fixed on me.

"I think we've had enough for today," I said as I stood up and collected his charts. "I will see you on Tuesday."

I buzzed for Lyle to let me out of the room, not bothering to look back at Joker. I felt conflicted - things were going sour very quickly with Derek, and he was seeming more detached. I was fighting jealousy and paranoia, and I hated it. What I hated the most was my attraction to the Joker, and how the bastard probably knew it. I wanted out of my own skin so I could be a normal person who had a healthy relationship and didn't work in an insane asylum.

A couple of days later, I had a new email from an unknown email address. After running a couple virus and spam checks to make sure it was safe, I opened the email. There were a few attached photos, which struck me as odd. I felt my stomach sink as I downloaded them, fearing the worst.

The first photo was of Derek with Kaylee and his band members from the previous night. They were out to dinner (which he didn't tell me they were doing), and he was sitting rather close to Kaylee. The second photo was of them smiling at each other, and the third... Them outside of the restaurant, embracing. I felt furious - I knew it was ridiculous, and it was more than likely my paranoia, but why wouldn't he tell his girlfriend he was going out with his band for dinner, instead of lying to me about that night by saying he wasn't feeling well? In fact, why sit so close and be so touchy with another woman? That wasn't part of our agreement when we started our relationship. But then again, I was probably paranoid...

As soon as I finished saving the photos (for blackmail, of course), another email arrived from the same address.

Thought you might like to see this.

- L

Who is this 'L' person? I thought as I downloaded the photo.

The picture was of Derek kissing Kaylee on the mouth. It was a peck on the lips, sure, but that was definitely not okay.

"See, I know people out there - they keep an eye on how things are while I'm enjoying my stay here," Joker's voice echoed in my head.

Son of a bitch.

I sat there for several moments, feeling my temper boiling. I thought about replying to this mysterious 'L' person, but decided against it for the time being. No, I had one thing on my mind - Joker.

I was at Arkham within half an hour. Jonathan, one of the newer security guards (to replace Borland, who was unfortunate enough to be Croc's lunch), granted me access to the Maximum Security holding cells. Normally therapists didn't go back to the cells (unless the patients were injured, or had some sort of condition that left them in their cells, like Poison Ivy for example), and apparently Jonathan didn't remember that from what I was sure his half-assed training by Lyle Bolton himself.

Jonathan swiped his badge and entered a code to let me through the heavy privacy door to Joker's cell.

"You sure you don't want me to accompany you, Doc? I know you said this is Dr. Arkham's orders, but still..."

Oh, yeah... I might have told a little white lie.

"I'm sure. Thank you, Jonathan." I forced a smile at him and he returned it with a toothy grin.

As soon as he walked out of sight, I entered Joker's cell and heard the security door shut behind me with a loud bang!

Joker was sitting on his bed, staring up at the ceiling with his arms behind his head.

"Back for another check so soon, ape?" he said nonchalantly. Feeling bold, and basically not really caring that much about my own personal safety, I approached his bed and sat down on it.

He stared at me with a faint look of surprise.

"Ahh..." he began as he raised himself up on his elbows. "I see you've decided to take me up on my offer after all."

"Who is L, and how did they get my email? How did they even know about Derek and where he was?" I demanded.

He grinned.

"Just an old buddy of mine. He's one of my more trust-worthy men. He's very good at finding people for me."

I shuddered at the thought of what this L character to could to me.

"Before you panic, I've ordered him not to harm you," he said dully. "Nobody touches what's mine."

"I'm not yours," I said as he raised himself up so his face was inches from mine.

"Is this another one of my delusions, Doc?" he asked as his lips grew closer to mine.

"I would say so," I said as my eyes lowered to his scarred, red lips.

The temptation was strong. He told me so many horrible things, and his face was disfigured and terrifying. The only thing I could chalk up my attraction to him was from my lack of attention from my own boyfriend.

"Nobody would know," he said in a low voice as his lips lingered near mine. "It would be our little secret."

"And why would I trust you?" I whispered, feeling my nerves in overdrive.

"You've trusted me to not put my hands around your neck. I'd say that's quite a step."

"There's a difference between trusting you to not murder me and trusting you to keep something highly inappropriate, and possibly illegal, secret."

He licked his lips; his mouth was so close I felt his tongue briefly graze my lips.

"Do you feel that?" he asked quietly. "Do you feel the tension? The desire? The anger?"

"Yes," I responded without thinking.

He grabbed the sides of my face and pushed me down onto his bed, causing me to let out a small whimper.

"I wanted you the moment I saw you," he said as he kept his mouth close to mine. "When I want something, I take it. By force, if necessary."

Before I could respond, he added, "And I can see I won't need to force you."

He pressed his lips to mine, and I felt a jolt of electricity shoot through my body. I fantasized about kissing him, and doing sexual things with him that Derek refused to do with me. His jagged scars added an interesting texture to the kiss, and it really wasn't as appalling as I thought it might have been.

I kissed him back, and noticed a large difference in taste between him and Derek - while Joker had poor oral hygiene, going by his yellow teeth (though the nurses had been enforcing regular brushing habits on him since his arrival), his breath tasted much better than Derek's - Joker tasted like apples and something sweet. Derek's breath was usually stale from his cigarettes.

He pulled back and ran the tip of his tongue along my lips, then brought my bottom lip into his mouth; he sucked on it hard enough to draw a little blood. It stung, yet it made my nether regions ache.

That was when I pulled back and pushed him off of me. Surprisingly, he didn't lose his temper and force himself on me. I stared at him, feeling the strong urge to fuck him right there, but knew I needed to keep control. I cheated on Derek, when there was probably nothing between him and Kaylee. What was I even thinking?

"I need to go," I said as I got off of his bed.

"Mmm... and here I was starting to get my hopes up to see what that mouth of yours can really do," he said in a sultry voice. "I know mine would have you begging."

I wanted to beat my head into the wall out of frustration.

"I will see you Tuesday," I said as I opened the bars of his cell, stepping into the section with the security door.

Joker was at the bars almost immediately, and had his hand on my arm.

"Come back and see me again, toots," he said with a wink, "after you've had a little time to think."

I didn't reply; instead, I hurried out of his cell and rushed back home, feeling overwhelmed by anxiety and guilt.