Welcome to Lucky Chapter Twenty!!

So I did something weird. Usually, when I have little inspiration, I jump ahead to the next big event. I didn't this time. This entire chapter is Jess and Joker development. Not only that, it's ONE SCENE. A nine page scene. I know!!

Anyway, I love you all! Thank you so much for your amazing reviews and suggestions!! I take each one to heart.

REVIEW PLEASE!!! I hope you like...

Okay, where was she?

Jess looked around blearily. The ground tilted at her.

Ah.

She was in the greenroom.

The window was open and she could hear the fuzzy sound of far away sirens and the night wind. The only light came from the dim moon, high above the earth, a glowing orb that lent the world illumination even during the night.

Jess couldn't remember for the life of her exactly how she'd gotten there. Last thing she remembered was Billy holding her, dancing with her…

Kissing her?

Had he kissed her?

How long ago had that been?

A few minutes ago at most, she figured, but she could no longer remember the walk down the hallway. Suddenly, she was irrationally paranoid that she could no longer make new memories, like Guy Pearce's character in Memento or something.

Jess tapped the side of her head and the following vibrations buzzed pleasantly through her skull.

Oh.

That's why the last few minutes were blank.

She was high.

Why was she here again?

"Jesster, Jesster, Jesster, Jesster, Jesster…"

Jess turned towards the voice calling her name and found the Joker leaning by the door, that permanent smile plastered on his face.

Jess couldn't help but smile back.

Her grin soon faded, however, when she realized his lips weren't actually curved and his eyes were far from happy. They were furious.

"You're mad at me?" Jess whispered desperately, suddenly wanting to cry.

A flicker of confusion crossed the Joker's face, as though he was at a loss as to why she suddenly looked so broken. He closed his eyes, trying not to be irritated.

"Not you. Not exactly," he said.

Jess took a step towards him.

"Then what? Why are you upset? Is it Billy? I didn't want him to kiss me. I swear I didn't!"

The Joker chuckled slightly at her outburst, but his laugh was humorless.

"Sure, Jesster," he said, and she couldn't be clear whether or not he believed her.

There was a moment of silence. Jess had no idea what to say and she lost whatever words she would usually have found herself spouting. She couldn't concentrate too long on one thing. She couldn't do this right now. She was too high.

"You oughta stay here," the Joker said, glancing behind him, towards the hall, and licked his lips shiftily.

Jess frowned and took another step forward.

"Where are you going?" she asked, unable to keep disappointment from her voice.

The world tilted and swayed as she reached for him. The Joker's shoulders stiffened and he turned back to look at her, obviously annoyed by her questions.

"Why do you care?" he asked with a sigh.

That one stopped Jess. What could she say to that? How would it go over if she just out and told him she cared about every little thing he did because he was the most interesting, most addictive, most enchanting person she'd ever met and all she wanted to do was watch him?

It took her a moment to realize that that was all true.

But she couldn't possibly tell him that.

Never.

"I don't want you to hurt Billy," she said instead.

As soon as the words left her lips she knew it had been the wrong thing to say.

Suddenly the Joker was grinning so widely she was sure his face would split in half, and that image captivated her momentarily, so strongly that she even fancied it happening. Not a hallucination, not really, but a very vivid picture that translated itself onto the real Joker's face. His features seemed to rip in half, vertically down the forehead, over the nose, over the mouth, and the bits flopped aside revealing just another Joker grin.

Jess stepped back, a flash of horror crossing her features, one the Joker caught but couldn't possibly know the reason behind.

It made his grin widen, however, and Jess's eyes flicked down to the floor, unable to watch his face in case her vision came to pass.

"Yeah," he said, the syllable stretching on into silence. "You and, this… this Billy."

He shook his head and took a slow step forward. Jess couldn't help but inhale sharply as she watched his boots come towards her. She wanted to shrink down into the floor and hide in the darkness of the carpet, away from the eyes she knew were probing her, figuring her, unraveling her.

She'd never seen eyes like his, caught halfway between madness and genius, walking the thin line between.

She wouldn't go on to be a poet, not even in her mind, and say that he had the moon and stars in his eyes or that she could see the tragedies of his past welling up there.

She wouldn't say that his every act was chaotic beauty and every move he made was a song.

She wouldn't say these things because they weren't true.

Every time she spoke with him, Jess came to a new understanding about him: small inferences into his character that piled up to create his image in her head.

He didn't have the moon or stars in his eyes. He had anger, paranoia, ever watchful cunning.

She couldn't see his past there. She saw nothing of what he was even a moment before. When he changed, he changed completely and there was nothing of what he once was. The tragedies of everyone he used to be were gone: not in his mind or his eyes.

She wouldn't say his movements were song or beauty because they weren't. Those she couldn't describe.

She'd likened him to a monster before, and an angel. She'd likened him to fire, ice, a magnet, a force.

It was only now, in this drugged haze, that Jess had the clarity to realize that he wasn't any of those things.

So what was he?

Did he have a definition?

She was starting to think he didn't.

But did that make him more than human?

Jess was startled to find that she was on the ground, sitting there with her knees up to her chest. She couldn't remember sinking down. She must have done so while she'd been thinking.

Forgetting her fear of his face, Jess looked up to the Joker, standing above her.

"Y'know," he said, continuing his thought from before, "I knew you two were little, uh… buddies. Bosom companions. But, until tonight, I didn't know just how close you really are. Hm?"

He shook his head and looked up to the ceiling, choosing his next words, his mouth opening and closing slightly. He let out a wheezy chuckle.

"Oh, I mean, I shouldn't be too… thunderstruck by it. You are a little jester. You play games and toy with them. I see it. I'm almost impressed."

Jess frowned, trying to make sense of his words.

She was coming down, she recognized, and the imminent sobriety was not making this any easier, so as she thought over what he said, she found the meaning of his words created a stark, violent contrast against the euphoria of her high, and they pierced her more painfully than she'd anticipated.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she demanded, standing up.

The Joker raised his eyebrows.

"Oh, there you are, Jesster," he said. "See, I could've sworn you were off…" he flicked his hand in the air and giggled, "floating in space!"

"What was that supposed to mean, Joker?" Jess demanded again, this time more fiercely.

"Oh! You're using my name! You must be angry."

His smiled suggested he was more than pleased by it. Rage boiled up in Jessica's chest and bile mounted her throat. She stomped towards him, the edges of her vision red.

"Did you practically call me a slut?" she asked, enraged.

The Joker's eyebrows shot up at this and he looked to his side.

"Me?" he said, grinning hugely. "Now, Jesster, would I say that?"

He thought a moment, then laughed.

Jess let out a strangled scream of fury and jumped at him, planning on clawing that stupid fucking smile off his face.

She didn't know what she had expected, attacking him like that. Maybe she'd thought he would laugh and let her try to rip at him, allow her to kick him until she calmed down.

That was sort of what any good boyfriend would do in this situation.

She was already on him when she came to the gut wrenching recognition that he was neither good, nor her boyfriend.

And then she felt him push her forcefully away, his hand closing roughly enough to leave bruises around her upper arm and throwing her off.

She stumbled back, somehow only spurred on and she lunged at him again, fresh tears flowing down her face without knowing why she was crying.

He pushed her away almost immediately, even more fiercely, this time a growl ripping from his throat. She staggered back a few more paces than last time, almost falling into the couch, and then came at him once more, hands flying, arms waving violently, striking blows anywhere she could. She pulled at his hair and scratched his face, not caring whether or not all her blow landed, only operating on the hope that some did.

For a single second, his hands dropped and he let her beat at him.

Then, suddenly, over her cries of hate and shrieks of mindless wrath, he growled again, loudly, and she was pushed away with an intense force.

She staggered back wildly, her chest hurting from where he'd pushed, and slammed into a wall at the corner of the room, shoulder blade catching the edge of the corner and blasting her with a sharp, cutting pain. She could feel a section of the skin on her back break and the beginning blood as it started to seep from the cut.

The breathe was knocked out of her, her vision was going blurry, and she slid to the ground, sobbing and shaking and trying to catch her lost wind.

The Joker was on her in a matter of seconds, dragging her to the center of the room and throwing her down again. He stepped back, regarded her for less than an instant, and then kicked her roughly in the gut. She curled over her hurting stomach, the wind once again knocked out of her, only to be rewarded with another fierce kick.

"Oh, poor little Jesster!" On "Jesster" he kicked her again, his boot finding its way flawlessly between her arms to strike her stomach. "You've got nothing, nothing you could gain by any of this fighting. Why don't you stop? Hm?" Another kick, this time connecting with her collar bone.

She cried out loud, trying to scramble away from him, but it only took him another step to attack her again. He licked his lips, eyes burning, and gave her another rough kick.

"Why don't you just give up? It's like you've got this..." he reached for the word, "consuming urge to be in pain. Do you? Huh?"

Another kick. Jess laid still, not wanting more, feeling as though she would throw up all over anyway.

Breathing heavily, the Joker squatted beside her, grabbing her hair and forcing her to look him in the eye.

"You think you can just do things like that? Against me?" He ran a shaky hand through his hair and wheezed a breathless chuckle. "Y'know, I think sometimes you forget who I am. Hm?" He shook her by the hair and she whimpered. "You forget where you are and focus on all your tiny, little, insignificant problems. I get that you don't want to be here, Jesster. I do understand. It's just funny…" He cracked his neck and brought the hand that wasn't fisted in her hair up to show her that it was now curled tightly around his knife. She watched his fingers tighten even more. "… How much I don't care about what you want."

He flashed a wide, mocking grin at her, more bearing his teeth than actually smiling, then let out an animalistic grunt and pushed her head away.

She yelped as the side of her face smacked the ground and, as pain from her skull and stomach washed over her, she felt hot tears slide down her cheeks.

The Joker was up and away from her by the time she got any sense back, banging around the room, ignoring the blubbering lump on the floor that was Jessica. She sat up slowly, her head spinning violently, and huddled against her knees, shaking with tears.

She didn't know where to go.

She could hear men out in the hall, noisily going off to their rooms, done with the party, and didn't want them to see her like this. They were liable to do anything if they saw the bruise forming along her cheekbone from where it had hit the ground. She couldn't put them in danger by showing them her wounds and risking them coming after the Joker.

But she couldn't stay here, either.

She couldn't.

Jess let out a loud sob and curled up into a tighter huddle.

"Oh, by the way, Jesster…" The Joker's voice came from a yard away, over by the window and Jess looked up.

She was startled to find he had a wet paper towel pressed against his temple, soaking up the blood from a cut there.

It took Jess a moment to realized that she had done that. She'd cut him with her nails!

She felt a surge of pride, and then, suddenly, a sick, undesired concern for him, hope that she hadn't hurt him too bad.

"I was wrong," the Joker continued.

Jess frowned, flinching at a twinge of pain from her cheekbone.

"I said you were what kept the Lucky Twenty together, the binding force, the glue. But, you know, as I've watched you, I've realized that you have the opposite effect."

He looked out towards the window, smiling pensively.

"You tear them apart," he whispered darkly.

Jess got up. She couldn't help it. She had to be closer, had to see his eyes so she could have an idea of what he was thinking.

"You distract them," he continued. "You mold them. Your opinions are their opinions."

He turned slowly to look at her, not seeming surprised that she had moved closer. Her hands went instinctively to cover her aching stomach as his eyes grazed over her.

"I'd like to see," the Joker whispered, "what happens when their loyalty towards me and their loyalty towards you get conflicted. That," he grinned, "would be a party worth going to."

"If you're so worried," Jess croaked, her throat torn apart by the crying, "why do insist on antagonizing me?"

The Joker erupted into high pitched laughter.

"Oh, I don't know, Jesster," he said, hardly able to speak for laughing. "Maybe I just can't get close to people."

He exploded into another surge of giggles.

Jess shook her head in disgust and sank down onto the couch. Her anger at him, somehow, was gone now. She had no idea where to, but it was gone.

She hated it.

She hated him.

And yet, in some way, he was her weakness.

How was that possible?!

"This is so stupid," she muttered, hiding her face in her hands.

She didn't hear him move, but suddenly his hands were closed around her wrists and pulling her palms from where they'd been pressed against her eyelids.

"It is," he agreed, a smile twitching the corner of his mouth. "Not the phrase I'd use, but…" he shrugged. "No one said you don't get the point across."

Jess pulled her hands away from him roughly and shifted so that she was farther away, at the side of the couch. Unperturbed by this, he took a seat next to her and sighed in content. Jess growled and jumped up, turning to face him.

"What do you want?" she asked.

Once more, the Joker's eyebrows shot up.

"Careful, Jesster," he whispered.

"No," Jess said defiantly, knowing it might earn her more bruises. "What do you want with me?"

"I thought we'd already gone through this…"

"No!" Jess felt another burst of hysteria mounting. That seemed to come easily tonight. "No! I know why you brought me here. Because you had a whim. But tell me. What exactly do you want with me now?"

The Joker looked away as though pondering this, scratching his jaw line thoughtfully.

"Hadn't really thought about it, Jesster," he said, catching her eyes again.

Jess's affronted look made him smile.

"Hm? Did you expect more?"

It only took Jess a second to think about this.

"No," she said. "No, I guess I didn't. I just…"

She shook her head. The hysteria was gone and tears were back.

This oscillation between the two emotions sucked.

"Today you told me you didn't want to kill me," Jess said, looking straight into the Joker's eyes.

"Uh huh…"

"But then you…" she gestured helplessly. "I don't know. You totally beat me up."

"Oh, now, see, Jesster," the Joker said, "you started that one."

Jess shook her head.

"I'm just confused."

"What's confusing?" the Joker asked, giggling. "I mean, I don't get it. I want to keep you around. You're the one over thinking things."

He gave her a significant, slightly disapproving look.

"Why do you want to keep me around?"

The Joker shrugged. His mood was flighty now, light. Different from the last hour but that wasn't surprising.

"Like I said, you're an interesting force of change. I like that. You create tension between the men. I like that. And…" He shrugged. "You can't resist whatever it is you see in me." He chuckled lowly. "I like that. And I think you're the only one here who really gets it."

"Gets what?" Jess asked.

"That remains to be seen," the Joker chuckled. "You never fail to make me smile, Jesster."

Jess sighed heavily, wanting to stomp her foot at how utterly stupid he was!

She wasn't sure whether or not she believed all he said, but at least he'd given her an inch. He just hadn't answered the questions the way she'd hoped he would.

"Okay," she said. "Okay. Um…" She turned towards the door, wanting to leave. She was defeated. He knew that. "Good night, I guess. I'll see you tomorrow."

His low laugh stopped her halfway out the door.

"Do you listen to yourself?" he asked, his voice torn in laughter.

His distinctive giggle filled her ears and she whirled on him, just wanting to surprise him enough to make him stop.

It didn't work.

The anger he saw in her eyes just made him laugh harder.

"The dignity you try to maintain… It's so fun to see you struggle."

"Why are you even talking to me?" Jess asked, her shoulders slumping. "Why can't I just go to bed? I'm tired."

"But I'm not, Jesster," the Joker said, his laugh fading. He tilted his chin down, looking at her darkly. "Come here."

Jess didn't move. But it could not be said she didn't want to run to him. She was torn between that and running away.

At her stillness, the Joker blinked slowly and stared at her.

Sighing, she closed the door again and paced towards him, all the way up to the couch until she stood just in front of him. He leaned forward, quietly humming a tune she didn't recognize, and nimbly popped the top button of her jeans.

Jess gasped and stepped away quickly, doing the button back again, her heart racing.

He couldn't be wanting that now! Not after everything that had happened tonight.

The Joker raised his head to stare at her with darkened eyes, the pupils enlarged. Jess realized then that he was probably still very high.

Was he always? She could never be sure.

Whimsy and drugs looked very similar on the Joker.

"Jesster," he said, very quietly.

Jess tried to read his tone. It wasn't pleading, not at all, but nor was it a command.

It was almost as though he just liked saying it.

Jess stepped forward, just a foot or two shy of his reach, hesitating. This was the first time she'd ever wondered whether or not she should do this, weighing the pros and cons of the situation. On one hand, denying him could end up in someone getting hurt… and it might not just be her. She thought worriedly of Billy.

On the other, she still felt the jabs of pain in her shoulder blade from when he'd thrown her against the corner.

Could she let herself trust him?

Had she ever trusted him?

Jess took another step forward. As soon as she was within arms length, the Joker grabbed her hips and pulled her onto him, burying his face in her shirt. Jess stood there a moment, confused and a little wary. His hands clutched at her shirt and she felt him kissing her stomach, pulling her down slightly, working his way up towards her mouth.

He seemed… frantic. Unthinking.

Jess felt an unprecedented rush of pity for the man who, just a little while before, had been kicking her while she was down.

She knelt onto the couch, straddling his legs, and bent down to kiss him, his lips already warm and familiar. His hands were shaking but she doubted she was the one to induce that. His hands always shook and he had ingested who knows how many hits of cocaine tonight. Besides, why would she make him shake?

Those hands slid around her, pulling her towards him roughly. He was never gentle but she would have been scared if he was. It would have meant something was wrong. He deepened the kiss, breathing heavily as his fingers worked to bunch up the fabric of her shirt and Jess unbuttoned his vest.

This was going fast but Jess was just high enough, still, not to care that much.

His hands found her hair and he pulled, giggling at her squirm of discomfort. She bit his lip, hoping to maybe pay him back, but the pain only seemed to make him want more of it and his fervor intensified. Jess found herself going just as fast and hard as he was, matching pace for pace.

Until, that is, a sudden thought had her laughing.

She pulled away from him, watching his eyes grow faintly curious. He licked his lips, sniffed nonchalantly, and waited. Jess couldn't stop giggling.

"Do you just…" she took a deep breath, unable to fight the laughter. "I mean, is this just kind of the regular thing? Do you do this with every girl you kidnap?"

The Joker sighed and let go of her hips, annoyed but resigned. He draped his arms over the back of the couch.

"So many questions tonight, Jesster," he said.

"Do I get an answer to this one?"

He blinked slowly and looked up at her.

"Would you call this a kidnapping?" he asked, half grinning. He made a clicking noise with his tongue. "You came here. Willingly."

Jess sighed hugely.

"Okay, well, how often do you do this?"

She was on the floor in a blink of an eye. The Joker had pushed her off his lap and stood up, stretching. It seemed the conversation was over.

Jess didn't press it, not sure how much she wanted to know.

"Okay," she muttered, and stood up.

The Joker was buttoning his vest back.

She supposed she didn't care how often he did this. At least she was relatively sure she was the only girl in his life right now. When would he have time to make nice with another one?

The fact that she even cared should have been deeply disturbing, but it seemed natural.

"Can I go to bed now?" she asked, a little too icily.

The Joker wasn't bothered by her tone, of course. He only smiled.

"You do know how to ruin the mood," he told her, but his voice wasn't hurt. She doubted she could ever really hurt him. She only angered or pleased him. That was sort of the dynamic of this relationship.

He could provoke every feeling possible in her, though.

It wasn't fair.

So, she realized, she'd spend every moment trying to do something besides please or anger him. Any other emotion.

"Wish I hadn't," she said softly, her voice taking on a tone far from usual, one she wasn't aware she was capable of. It was sultry, soft, seductive… Or, as sultry, soft and seductive as Jess could make it. Which is, to say, not very sultry, soft or seductive at all.

But it got his attention.

The Joker turned slightly to look at her, his face torn between extensively amused and intrigued. Jess stepped up to him, pressed her curves into his body for a lingering moment, and reached up to kiss him heatedly.

She could almost feel his shrug as he kissed her back, as if to say, "Why the hell not?"

Now, the point of all of this was to leave him wanting more, so Jess paid close attention to his hands and the way he held his body. When she was kissing him, she found it easy to anticipate his movements. So, just when he reached up to hold her around the waist and start to lead her back to the couch, Jess broke away.

"Okay," she said, stepping back from him, watching closely for any sign of emotion.

He didn't let anything register on his face, save for a look of boredom, but that was probably a good sign. She might even have gotten his mind racing.

That small victory would be enough to keep her smiling all night.

"I'll see you in the morning, J," she said, figuring that using the letter would be… more intimate?

Truly, Jess just liked the sound of it.

"Get up early, Jesster," the Joker ordered, sitting casually back on the couch.

"Right," Jess said with a smile. Maybe it was her imagination, but there was something odd about the way he moved and the way his mouth was set. "Sounds like we've got a funeral to go to."

Jess left the room, listening for sounds of humming but hearing none. Out in the hall, she celebrated silently.

Judging by the few and extremely subtle hints, Jess was pretty sure she'd totally gotten to him.