AN: Chapter three is here! Mama Harley is positively my favorite thing in the entire world and so is awkward yet twisted Lucy. We won't see much of that in this or the next chapter, but I assure you full on crazy Lucy is coming. And to all of you wondering, C4 is basically an explosive clay, stable until it reaches extreme heat or is detonated through a shock wave. As always, tell me what you think and if I can do anything to make this better! Thanks to Koriandr1 for reviewing, favoriting, and following! Happy reading!

~Luna

Chapter 3

Harley walked up to the front door of her sister's house. The place was huge, bigger than her apartment building. And of course it was lavishly decorated, with a well manicured lawn and peppy little flower boxes that made Harley want to scream. Her sister had gotten everything she had wanted, her perfect house and her rich husband. While Harley never did want to be financially dependent on a man, she had to agree that the sentiment of getting out of the slums was something the sisters shared. And something only Marilyn had achieved.

The woman checked to make sure the car windows were open before tugging at a lock of her hair. Red had helped her dye her hair back to blonde, and had also helped her get Lucy's present. Red was the only other person in Gotham that knew about Lucy's parentage, although Selina might have guessed. Harley's hair was nearly the exact same color it was when she had been in medical school, scraped back into a bun. She was reminded of her Arkham days, before she was an inmate there. Of course, Harley had to look somewhat like a mom. But she hoped her sleeveless button-down and black skinny jeans hid all of her tattoos, which she knew were on her file at Gotham PD.

Taking a deep breath, Harley knocked on the giant double doors, waiting for her sister to open the door so she could see her baby again.

•••

My alarm blared, lights flashing as a guitar riff filled the room. Smacking my lips, I fumbled for my phone to turn the damn thing off. I finally unlocked it, plunging the room back into darkness and silence.

As I crossed to open my blackout curtains, I couldn't remember why I had set my alarm for so early. Picking out clothes for the day didn't result in any new memories. School didn't end for another three months, and it was Thursday so I couldn't go catch an early bird movie at the theaters. Oh. It was my birthday. But more importantly, it was Visitation Day.

I hurriedly banded my hair into two low ponytails, brushing out the ends. I threw on a bright purple shirt and then a pair of overalls that were really just shorts with a tiny bib. Another minute was required to slip on my Converse, but I hardly noticed. Light makeup was needed, but it was nothing special, just the winged eyeliner I had perfected last week.

I didn't see the need to wear all black everyday. Bright colors were one of my most favorite things, especially purple and red. I was already an outcast at school due to the several fistfights, the pipe bomb they couldn't incriminate me for because they had no evidence, and the fact that I believed most of my peers to be subpar in both maturity and interesting subjects to talk about. Not to mention the fact that their humor was severely lacking, but I have been told my sense of humor was strange. The way I saw it, I was a venomous human being, the bright colors warning others to stay away lest I bite you.

I ran out my door and down the stairs, too excited to even think about breakfast. The stairs were a long way to go down, but I hardly noticed. Time was doing a strange thing where it sped up and then slowed down. Maybe I should he that checked out. I had to bite back a laugh, the last time I had seen a shrink that was my mother ended in me biting the shrink.

"Harleen, you can't give that to her, yours are all over the news. She'll find out," my aunt chided. I stopped at the edge of the stairs, listening in on the conversation.

"You always were so dumb. Bud and Lou are not, it's just me and Mr J," I heard my mother sigh, and excitement swelled within me. I didn't know any Mr J, maybe it was my mother's pet name for my father? "She'll be fine."

"Harleen, she's gotten worse," my aunt whispered. "There was a pipe bomb last year at school..."

I balled my fists. My aunt had to go and open her big mouth again. She'd pay for it eventually, not right now though. What she conveniently forgot to mention is that the pipe bomb was all her fault. She had taken away visiting rights all last year because I refused to see a shrink. I had told her that the only shrink I would see of my mother, but Aunt Marilyn refused. So I blew up the girl's bathroom at school. No one got hurt, but it did close down school for a week. Everyone was pretty happy about that.

"There's no evidence that it was her," Mama sighed again. "She simply projectin' her anger for you onto the bathroom. Its not that weird."

After I could take no more of them talking about me, I ran into the kitchen, throwing my arms around my mother. She tensed for a second, before placing her arms around by back, squeezing her hard. Mama was only about three inches taller than me, but I felt like I was four years old again. She always made me feel as if I was small again, as if her entire world revolved around me. And for those twenty four hours of Visitation Day, I guessed it did.

"Hi baby," she whispered, going to pat my hair.

I pulled away, a giant smile on my face. "How long are you back in Gotham?"

Mama was doing a twenty year Doctors Without Borders stint in Africa, or so she told me. I knew that wasn't the entire truth, but every time I asked about it she'd get sad. I didn't want to be the cause of my mother's sadness, so I left the subject alone. She had her secrets and I had mine.

"Just today," she said and I nodded.

"And is Daddy here?" I asked.

Mama shared a look with Aunt Marilyn before saying, "He couldn't come, baby. He's got very important work to do."

"For my eighteenth, right?"

"Sure, baby."

I nodded again, reaching into a cupboard to get myself some cereal. Mama told me that Daddy was a business associate for some very influential people that didn't even know I was alive. I knew she meant the mob. She still would not tell me which mob though. I figured the Italians, they're pretty nasty and would be the exact kind of people to act like that.

"So what are you planning on doing today?" Aunt Marilyn piped up, breaking the silence.

"Shoppin', sightseein', maybe go to the docks. There's this new arcade that just opened up," Mama rambled off, ticking off the things in her fingers.

I sat down with my bowl of cereal. I could only stand Aunt Marilyn around specific people. Mama and Jay being the sole inhabitants of that category. I tried to down it as fast as possible, eager to start the day. I had school, and that took up eight hours of the day. My aunt imposed curfew was eleven... That only left me seven hours with my mother. Seven short hours that was just not enough.

"You're going to be late for school Lucinda," my aunt chided. "Hurry up and get in the car."

"Oh Mary, don't be such a downer," Mama pouted, making me giggle. "It's her seventeenth, she's taking the day off. Think of it as a mental health day."

I silently cheered, but set my bowl in the sink. "May I, Aunt Marilyn?"

The woman just sighed in defeat to which Mama grabbed me by the arm and was pulling me out the door. "Kaybyethanksloveya!" She shouted.

We stepped into the clean air, free of any disapproving aunts or rules to be seen. I'm not afraid to say I gawked at Mama's car. It was a two door electric, painted light green with a black stripe going down the sides. I didn't know she had this kind of money.

The car beeped and both doors opened batwing style. I giggled. Of course everything in this city had to do with bats. Why shouldn't my mother have a car with batwing style doors?

I climbed in, expecting leather seats but finding a weird sort of fabric I have never seen before. It felt like leaves, complete with the stitching designed to look like veins. How odd. There was a box on my seat with a big red now and holes poked into the sides. I picked it up gingerly and sat down, placing the box on my lap. And then it moved. I was fascinated by the box, sticking my finger through one of the holes and having it be licked.

"You found your present!" Mama cried happily, only glancing at me for a brief second before driving away from my aunt's McMansion.

Without needing a further word, I lifted the top to find a baby hyena curled up on the bottom of the box, gnawing on one of those industrial strength dog toys. I lifted him- yes I checked- out of the box, kicking it down to my feet. He was all light brown fuzz towards the front, barely old enough to keep his eyes open. His ears were two circles on top of his head and when he opened his mouth I could only see the beginnings of small teeth.

"You like him?" She asked, smiling. "His mama died and so did the rest of his litter. His daddy... Well he's not around."

Like mine, I added silently. But I mentally scolded myself. My father had very important work to do, for all I know he could be trying to bring down the mob. What a relief that would be. There are only two sure fire ways to walk around Gotham without needing a mob's protection: take down that mob or make a big enough name for yourself. The former was so much easier in Gotham, which was full of wannabe criminals dying to make a name for themselves.

I set the hyena puppy in my lap, softly stroking his head. "His name is Felix."

"Perfect," Mama said as she drove off to the piers, one absolute perfect day in store for us.