Wow I'm so fast! I've been obsessed with this story. Every time I'm bored I just sit down and crank out a new chapter. Also, I found the Dark Knight script on the internet! It's like having the movie without actually having the movie!

I wrote this chapter while listening to the song "Down in a Rabbit Hole" by Bright Eyes. Check it out!

Jessica was proud of herself. She didn't cry once during the entire shower.

When she stepped out of the rust stained cubicle and into the steamy bathroom, she avoided looking at herself in the mirrors that lined the wall. She'd caught a glimpse of herself when Billy had opened the door to the women's room before she had washed and she didn't want to face such a horrible truth. Her hair had been absolutely appalling, ratted and tangled and piled on her head, exactly as she had expected it to look after three days of sleep. That problem was solved with the cheap shampoo/conditioner combo and the comb Billy had lent her. Her makeup had been smeared and runny, but that, too had been solved.

Her eyes and skin were the problems.

She turned to the mirror slowly, deciding at last to face her fate. This theater came complete with a women's locker room, so at least she didn't have to do this in front of a bunch of guys.

She gazed at herself with disgust, a little embarrassed that so many people had seen her like this, especially before the shower, with that rat's nest on top of her head. Her eyes had deep purple circles around them and they had this sunken, sickly appearance to them. She looked pale and anemic and unhealthy, probably from eating nothing these past few days. Her lips were cracked from a lack of water and her eyes were slightly unfocused. She needed some fuel, and fast, or she would faint. The heat from the shower was making her head light. She had to get out of the bathroom.

Jess glanced at the dirty heap of clothing in the corner and silently thanked Billy for the robe he had given her along with the soap and comb. It was bare and basic, but at least she felt clean.

She threw on the heavy cotton robe, obviously designed for a male, wondering where the rest of her belongings had gotten to. She wanted more than anything to be in her own clean clothes.

Sighing, swaying a little, Jess carefully left the bathroom, breathing in deeply the rush of cold air from the hall outside. It cleared her head sufficiently and with a gentle, pleasant buzz, the dizziness was gone.

Blake was sitting on the ground across the hall, waiting for her. She smiled at his scarred face.

"You look better already," he told her, getting to his feet. He wore black, head to toe, and she noticed a silver hoop through his left ear. The rocker type, she figured. Heavy metal. He looked hardened.

"Thanks," Jess smiled and Blake threw her a plastic garbage bag, filled with what felt like fabric.

"Your clothes," he explained. "The ones you're allowed to keep. That is, no sharp metals or concealed pockets."

"Did the boss come up with that one?" Jess asked dryly. Blake, surprisingly, shook his head.

"Nope. We did." He smiled. "Everyone's on the same level. No one can hide anything from anyone else and, while we're here, no one's a danger." Jess raised her eyebrows at this logic, but decided against arguing with him. It hadn't gotten her anywhere so far. "Go change and we'll get some chow," Blake instructed, pointing back to the bathroom.

Jess nodded, stomach growling at the mere thought of food, and headed back into the muggy bathroom.

She chose a pair of soft black skinny jeans which bunched around her ankles and an old white cotton t-shirt with "Coca Cola" emblazoned across the front. She found the only pair of shoes they had left her with, her old faded black Chucks, at the bottom of the sack and shoved them on her feet. Going back to the mirror, she shook her head so the ends of some of the layers of her medium length straight blonde hair flipped out a little, making it appear to have more body than when it was just flat and wet.

Now, all she needed to feel average was makeup… eyeliner, actually. But that, they had not given her. She went back out to Blake.

The kitchen actually doubled as the common area, a makeshift affair through a door in the lobby. Someone had plugged a mini fridge in the corner, stocked with beer and soda, and a loaf of bread and peanut butter sat on the table, with grocery bags stacked under it, still unpacked. Jess rolled her eyes. She had forgotten that she was living with men.

There were members of the Lucky Twenty lounging all over this room: some sitting on the long sofa or the floor by it, watching the TV set on low in the corner, some standing around drinking beer, others reading piles of paper which were slightly stained or burnt around the edges.

Jess made a beeline for the table, voraciously devouring a peanut butter sandwich, made and ingested in two minutes flat. Blake watched her with amusement from the door.

"Glad to see she has an appetite," one of the men drinking beer called. Jess looked up from the preparation of her second sandwich and noticed that, as per usual, all eyes were almost exclusively focused on her. She took a huge bite to avoid having to make a speech and, mouth sticky with peanut butter, she gave the room a little wave.

"Holy shit, it's the boss!" someone suddenly exclaimed, gesticulating towards the television, the volume of which was immediately raised.

A flickering image of the Joker's face smiling up at a security camera was broadcast on screen, while a passive female voice spoke over it.

"Dubbed 'The Joker,' this individual is already linked with at least three large scale robberies, including the clearing out of the Gotham First National Bank last week, during which four men apparently working for him were killed."

Jess gasped at this, looking around the room frantically, trying to count how many of them were there.

"None of us," Blake comforted her, walking up behind her and stroking her still wet hair. Jess sighed in relief.

"It should be assumed that he is armed and extremely dangerous, and under no circumstances should he be approached…"

"So unflattering..."

Jessica tensed at the familiar voice, shivers running through her body as she turned to look back towards the entrance of the room.

"These, uh, media monkeys will do anything to make me look bad." The Joker moved through the room, everyone watching him warily, ready to obey him or get out of his way. He was fully garbed in his purple trench coat, ready to go out for a night on the town. Jess shuddered at her own thoughts. "I mean, look at the shots they use of me!" The Joker gestured towards the screen where an image of a man in a clown mask, seemingly him, gunned down another man dressed in much the same fashion. "I know I take better pictures than that…"

His grinned stretched wider and he looked around, stopping momentarily when he noticed Jess.

"You look clean," he told her. Jess shrunk back, closer to Blake. The Joker cleared his throat, staring at her with an intense expression. "Glad you're adjusting." The words were dry and sardonic and Jess broke eye contact as soon as she could. The clown looked back to the men on the couch.

"I need…" he licked his lower lip quickly, "uh… three men to help me take care of something. This, uh, Gambol has a price on my head and I just wanna squash out that little threat before it gets any bigger." Men shifted around as though wanting to volunteer but not sure if they wanted to do what the Joker was asking. "It won't be very hard," he said, closing his eyes briefly. "You just have to point a gun."

"I'll come." Jess's eyes snapped over to where Billy had stood up from the couch. She hadn't even seen him there earlier. He glanced at her with a strengthening smile and she returned his expression with a gaze of concern, which he ignored.

"Yeah…" the Joker said. "Who else?"

In the end, he chose Billy, Drew and a man named Laurence. They left the room first, while the Joker was still looking around as though trying to decide whether or not he wanted more for this little mission. Finally, he turned back towards the door. Jess sighed in relief as he started for it, hoping he wouldn't say anything else, hoping she wouldn't have to hear that jarring voice again.

Unfortunately, just as he'd passed by her and she was beginning to think she was in the clear, he stopped and turned back to look into her eyes. Immediately finding alarm therein, he grinned, pleased that he was able to cause such panic.

Her body screamed at her to just run, get the hell out of there, but he was fingering a knife in his hand and she didn't know what he'd do. Jess felt Blake step away from her and silently cursed him for leaving her side exactly when she needed his strength. She couldn't really say she blamed him, though. Being close to the Joker was not necessarily appealing.

"Sure you don't wanna come?" he asked her, leaning forward. "Hmm? It'll be a lot of fun!"

She only stared at him, wondering if he was kidding or not. What would make him ever think she wanted to go along?

He looked at her, eyebrows raised expectantly, and when she was silent he rolled his eyes. "No," he muttered.

Slowly, deliberately, the Joker raised his hand to her face, like he was going to brush tender fingertips across her cheek. Jess flinched away from him, of course, which turned out to be the wrong thing to do. In retaliation, he pressed himself closer to her, both hands jumping up to grab her face between them. She could feel the cold press of his knife against her cheekbone. He licked his lips and she squeezed her eyes closed, but opened them immediately when he gave her face a rough shake.

"You know," he said, "I find myself wondering what it's going to take with you."

Jess gulped, trying to fight the urge to scream or, perhaps, vomit all over the threadbare carpet, as her eyes roamed over his sweat streaked makeup and slashed red mouth. She bit her lip when he brought her face close to his, trying not to cry out, and he noticed immediately, dark eyes flicking down to her mouth.

"Oh…" he cooed horribly. "Shh shh shh… It's okay…" His thumb ran across her lower lip and, still staring at her mouth, he leaned forward… as though he was about to try to kiss her…

The thought scared Jessica, even though she knew that probably wasn't his intent, and she pulled away from him as hard as she could on impulse, stumbling back and almost falling into the couch. The Joker shrieked with laughter and made a little skip in the air as he came after her, causing her to press herself back against the arm of the sofa. She looked desperately to the men in the room but all of them seemed at a loss of what to do, wanting to help but cautious with the Joker here.

"You know," he said, moving up to her, pointing at her with the knife, "I like you, but you oughta laugh more. Live with a frown, die with a frown. I'm sure you've got a beautiful smile. C'mon. Let's see it."

He stared at her expectantly.

Looking at the knife in his hands, Jessica did the only thing she felt she could do: she forced her mouth into a wide grin.

The Joker giggled with delight and clapped his hands once.

"See? Isn't that better?" he asked. Humoring him for the sake of her overall well-being, Jess nodded, her grin fading back to the look of fear. "You've got a knack for it, like me. A regular clown. A jester. Jess-ter." His laugh echoed through the room at his wit. "That's who you are, isn't it?" He reached forward and patted her face. "Talk to you tomorrow, Jesster."

Giggling at the name he had given her, with no more ado he turned and headed out the door.

Jess stood in place for a moment, swaying slightly. Would there ever be a time when she could be in the same room with him and not be completely light headed and terrified? There was something about him that just got to her. The rest of the men here, while intimidated, didn't seem nearly as captivated by him as she was. Even while she wanted to run away and hide from him, at the same time she felt really interested in what he was saying, in his actions. His level of spontaneity surprised and frightened her. She felt he could do anything at any time, completely switch character at a word, and what she knew of his nature from the comic books supported that.

God, it was awful. Not only was he unpredictable, he was dangerous. So why did she want to watch him like she did? Why did she want to analyze him, try to understand him? It just didn't make any sense.

And what the hell was with the name he had given her? Jesster? She'd be damned if she was going to let herself go by that.

Suddenly her focus was once more on reality and she started, having been so lost in her own thoughts that she'd forgotten where she was. She looked around the rec room and noticed that many of the men were regarding her carefully, any number of them posed to jump up and catch her if she started to fall.

"I'm fine," she croaked, forcing a smile. "Really. I am."

A few of the men relaxed, but most of the others kept watching her. Trying to make a show of being alright, even though she certainly wasn't, even though her adrenaline was sky high and her mind was racing, she went over to the table and picked up the rest of her second sandwich. Upon sniffing it, though, she realized she certainly wasn't hungry after all of that and she trashed it, instead plopping herself on the couch between Keith and Austin.

"When do you think he'll be back?" she asked them quietly. Keith shrugged and Austin gently curled her hair around his finger.

"Who can tell?" he said, looking towards the door through which the Joker had exited with Billy, Drew and Laurence. "I don't even think he knows."

This is important! Read it!

Now that this chapter is up, I guess I can FINALLY tell you who Billy is. As you might've guessed, the Joker is taking Billy, Drew and Laurence to Gambol's yacht thing, in the scene in the movie when he first makes his "Why so serious" speech. If you're able to get a hold of the movie, you can see my inspiration for Billy dearest. In the scene, the Joker's men, three of them, carry him in covered in garbage bags and go to stand by the door. I think there are two African-American guys and one shorter white guy, good looking, with reddish brown hair, standing between them. Guess who!

I love making my own characters from extras in the movie. Billy is a prime example. Whoever that actor is, I thank him for bringing Billy to life in my mind!

Thanks for reading! I love you all!