My final day at Arkham arrived; it was my wedding day (well... night), and all I could feel was an overwhelming sensation of sorrow and hopelessness. I didn't mind the job - I really liked a couple of my co-workers, Ivy and her little schemes could be amusing from time to time (and I was just fond of her overall), and most of all... I was going to miss Joker more than anyone or anything. We had our last session together the previous week, and as of the following day he would be Dr. Woods' patient. That Friday, I stopped by to say our last goodbyes.

It was a strange visit - he was fairly calm and looked as far away from tears as one could be, and I felt like crying over our parting. He was possessive when we had our sexual encounter (still no actual sex, but that was a little difficult to manage anyway), making me call him by his preferred alias, telling me that I belonged to him and nobody else would ever get to claim my body like he one day would (impossible), and how he was going to make sure he'd never have to share me with someone else. I was more than aware of how unhealthy and sickening something like that was, but at that point Joker had me completely charmed like a snake.

Nicole and I had are last lunch together, and she was chatting with excitement over how she and I would look in our dresses, how going with mint green was definitely the best choice given how it was nearly a spring wedding, and how Derek and I could finally have the life I'd been wanting for several years. I didn't have the heart to tell her I'd fallen out of love with Derek, and wanted nothing more than to take Joker from his cell and escape the life I'd made in Gotham. Nicole continued to gush about what the wedding would be like, and how handsome Greg was going to look in his tux.

"There's one thing I forgot to mention..." I said quietly.

She stopped going into detail about how attractive Greg looked with his new haircut.

"What?" she asked, coming out of her daze.

"You know how Derek's brother is going to be his best man?"

"Yeah, you told me more than once." She giggled. "What's the problem? Is he cute? I'm not going to cheat on Greg! He's definitely the one."

"It's not that." I sighed. "Dan was incarcerated for raping numerous women. He was released a while back. I just... thought you should know."

Nicole dropped the apple she'd been chomping on and stared at me with a dumbfounded look.

"You're joking, right?" A partial smile crept onto her face. "You always tell the worst jokes, Elaine."

"It's not. I wouldn't joke about this." I laid my head in my hands, feeling a headache and nausea come on. "I should have told you immediately, but I've still been a little shocked by his pick myself."

"Why the hell would he choose someone like that? Is he crazy?" Nicole picked up her apple and wiped it on a napkin. "I'm not dancing with that thing."

"You don't have to. Besides, the reception isn't until the weekend. You're pretty safe."

"Would it be socially acceptable if I kneed him in the nuts? I can do enough damage so he won't be able to use his prick ever again." She grinned deviously.

That was one thing I always liked about Nicole - she did tend to get to the point, and wasn't too afraid to speak her mind. She sounded a bit nutsy at times (like I was one to talk), but she always stood up for what she believed in, and she didn't back down. She'd go out of her way to punch someone in the face if she could get away with it (though she didn't handle the inmates at Arkham like that).

"I wouldn't mind, but you could kill your career."

"I can make it look like an accident." She grinned.

I laughed a little, though I still felt quite dead inside.

"I'm gonna miss having you around, kid," she said as she suddenly wrapped her arms around me. "You're the only doctor here who doesn't act like they're above everyone else."

"As in, doesn't see this as guards versus doctors?" I rested my head on her shoulder, feeling riddled with anxiety and disgust over leaving the place with Lyle Bolton still in charge of everyone.

"Exactly."

It was around five in the evening when the warning alarm went off in the asylum. I was finishing packing up my desk when the loud buzzing sound went off. My pager then beeped - Code 229, Therapy center. That meant one thing: a patient of mine escaped, and Lyle was going to chew my ass out.

"Ivy, I swear to god if you escaped... again..." I muttered as I abandoned my box of items and hurried to the therapy center.

"Elaine! Thank God! Are you okay?" Nicole asked as she grabbed me by the shoulders as soon as I was close enough.

I stared at her oddly.

"I'm fine. Why? Who broke out?"

"Joker got out. He left a video, and..." She turned to her left and peeked around the corner with sadness in her eyes. "He killed Jerry."

He's free? How'd he do it? Who let him out? Where is he?!

"Why would he killed Jerry?"

"There've been rumors, but..." She sighed. "I guess they're true."

Oh, god. Please don't let it be about the twisted relationship we had. Let all the squealers keep their big mouths shut.

"What rumors?" I asked with just enough interest so I (hopefully) didn't sound too suspicious.

"I'm surprised you haven't heard," Nicole said with a raised brow. "Word around the hospital is that Joker has at least one person working for him in here."

That really wouldn't surprise me, given how he has cops and other various people working for him.

"Jerry always seemed so nice," I said with pity.

Okay, that's a lie - I don't think I've ever even met a Jerry since I started here.

"Yeah. He used to walk me to my car when I had to cross the grounds at night. He knew there were scumbags working here, but to think that he was actually kind of a scum bag..." She looked bitter, her eyes turned towards the corner, but not looking down.

I peeked around the corner and saw the corpse of a man in his forties - he was bald, with a husky build and wide shoulders. His skin was ghostly white, contrasting with the dark red that pooled around him on the pale blue floor.

"Morgan!" came Lyle's annoying, booming voice from behind us.

Nicole and I turned in unison, watching the burly man approach us, surrounding himself in his usual cloud of bitterness and hostility.

"Good evening, Officer Bolton," said Nicole.

"Cut the shit, Stevens. I see Dr. Arkham made yet another poor choice by putting you back on this case, for some reason believing that your so-called 'methods' would one day work. Well, now another man is fucking dead and the clown got out of his cage. I'm aware there's hardly a brain between the two of you, but do you two think you could use it and figure out a way to locate him? My damn shift is nearly over, and I don't want to spend any more time in this loony bin than I have to!

"You've been on his case for months, Morgan. Where would that freak go?" Lyle crossed his big arms, glaring down at me with as much disgust as a person could muster.

"I don't know, Officer Bolton. In case you've forgotten, I'm now no longer on the Asylum's payroll, and he's no longer my patient. It's not my problem," I said coolly.

Okay, I'm pretty worried. Why would he bust out now? Why not months ago? Or just stay here, and I could sneak back in to peek at him once in a while?

"God dammit, Morgan. You've always been dead weight." Lyle took out his phone and his the speed dial. "Stevens, who's taking over your shift?"

"Officer Wright," she said as she glared at him. "Elaine has been anything but dead weight around here."

"Mind that tongue, girl. Don't forget who your superior is here," he said as he pointed at the badge on his shirt with his free hand. "Dammit, Arkham! He won't answer. He left about half an hour before they discovered 4479 was missing."

"Nothing we can do about it," said Nicole. "We just have to hope that maybe he'll get hit by a truck or something instead of going on a massive killing spree... again."

An hour later, I was out of the hospital (only certain members of the staff could leave during a lockdown like that), and I had to fight off a few guards (mainly Nicole) threatening to call the GCPD to escort me home, and to my wedding.

"He's probably miles away from Gotham by now," I kept insisting.

I got home with just enough time to fix myself up and collect my dress before going to the church. Maxwell greeted me with his usual rubbing at my ankles. I fed him, and quickly noticed a DVD sitting on my counter top that was not mine.

Lainey it read.

"Joker," I muttered as I opened it.

I put the DVD in right away, knowing I didn't have time, but I had to know what was on it. Derek could wait - hell, he made me wait long enough. I didn't bother with checking over my apartment in case someone was lurking in the shadows, waiting to kill me - I figured a bomb or something would've gone off if he was planning my demise.

Joker's video was filled with metaphors about cards, and how they represented us. He dropped my name in there, which made me feel the need to burn the DVD so nobody would expect anything. He gave me a face card - the Queen of Hearts.

Interesting, I thought.

His speech went on, resulting in him flicking the whole deck onto the floor and tipping over the table that we sat at so many times, me trying to break through the barriers of his mind - trying to figure out what was going on in there; he toying with me as much as he could, and charming me somehow. I watched as a customized Joker card suddenly flicked into his hand as he stared at the camera from behind the table.

Of course he can do that...

"There's one in every deck," he said, "and it always shows up where you least expect it."

I stared as his eyes seemed to bore right into mine through the screen. I swallowed back the dry lump in my throat, wondering if it as somehow a message to me.

What could this even mean? Is he going to pop up again one day? They'll catch him first - Commissioner Gordon would probably be fine with him dead at this point.

At the end of the video, he shot Jerry, and wrote three letters on the corpse's hand: "BRB."