Author's Note: Hey guys! Sorry about the wait. I really meant to post a whole lot sooner but then life knocked me out and handcuffed me to a radiator. But I'm back and I'm kind of happy with this chapter. I know that between this and the last, we haven't really seen any Joker, but don't worry, he'll be back next chapter. I'll try to post that a little sooner.

Before we get started though, I have some spiffy news to share with you all that will hopefully make up for my late posting. First: For those of you who haven't heard, go over to TheJokerBlogs .com and check out his youtube. This guy is fucking amazing! Oh, he has the Joker's mannerisms down perfectly and the videos are so perfectly done. My only qualm is that the actress playing Harley in these videos sucks. Oh well, that brings me to my second bit of news: After discovering the Joker Blogs and being disappointed by Harley, my boyfriend had the idea that we take the fanfic right here and turn it into a Harley webshow! That is, if I can find a decent Mistah J. Otherwise we might just change the names and only you wonderful people will be in on the secret that it's really supposed to be Joker and Harley ;) That might be a while off though because we have to buy the top-o-the-line video editing software to make it look spectacular for you, so it will be on YouTube by December at the latest. But I will keep you guys posted on any updates with that. In the meantime, read this new chappie, then head on over to the Joker Blogs and have wonderful Joker dreams tonight! Enjoy! :)

"What is that ringing? Do I have a tumor?" Harley's ring-tone repeated over and over.

She hadn't answered her phone for several days. It was safe to say that she had slipped into a depression. The Joker hadn't come back, hadn't tried to contact her, he hadn't even been mentioned on the news since his initial escape. For all she knew, ol' Bat-brain had killed him quietly and thrown his body over the Narrow Borough bridge.

As much as she tried not to imagine the worst possible scenarios, they always managed to force their way back to the front of her mind. Every time she thought about it, she cried just a little bit harder than the time before.

How had he gotten such a hold on her heart just from getting a hold of her throat? She knew it was wrong. Her conscience, though faint and dying quickly, told her she shouldn't have such feelings for him. But there was a stronger voice in her mind that quashed her conscience, a voice that seemed so much more rational. Sometimes it sounded like him, others times it was her when she was six. Her Metropolitan accent thick, the last traces of her early childhood lisp still present.

This voice spoke the truth. It told her she belonged with "Mistah J" as he inner child called him. Fate had brought them together, and maybe it would bring them together again. That was the thought that kept Harley from committing suicide altogether. That little nugget of hope, brought to you by the voice of reason and the letter J. Soon enough though, she was thinking about her angel out there by himself with no one to care for him and the cycle started all over.

Her phone beeped, alerting her that she had a new voicemail. Still high on hope, she decided to give it a listen. Perhaps it was Joan calling to tell her that they found the Joker alive and well and they're going to bring him right to her.

If only, she thought.

Harley rolled over on her bed, one round hip protruding upward as she lay on her side and reached for her phone.

"Hey, Harley. It's Eddie. How are you doing?.. Right, this is voicemail, you can't answer. Well, I know it must be really tough for you and I think we're all pretty shaken. I just want to make sure you're alright and still alive. I'd like to come over, if you don't mind it. I just think we both might feel a little safer if we're not alone… Don't worry, I don't wanna try anything. I'm just a friend worried about another friend… Well, please call me if you'd like some company. I don't know about you, but I could certainly use it. God, I'm rambling now. Oh! Before I go, I've got another riddle for you. I hope it brightens your day a little bit. Kings and queens may cling to power and the jester's got his call. But as you may discover, the common one outranks them all. Well, hope to hear from you soon. Bye."

Harley liked Eddie, and she liked his penchant for riddles but she wasn't in the mood to not talk about the Joker to him. It was times like these she wished she had a girlfriend she could tell anything to. But she was never one to have close friends.

Monday rolled around and she had to drag herself to her Joker-less job again. It had been almost a month since he escaped and not even a whisper about him had been passed between gossipy nurses. With each day she didn't hear about him, Harley's anxiety grew. She couldn't concentrate on her work. Her thoughts were consumed by him, her private worry wearing through to the surface. Her hair was messily done up, she didn't even bother with make-up, and her clothes were generally disheveled. Even the patients were starting to notice something was wrong with their usually perfect doctor. She didn't care what they thought of her appearance. There was only one man she cared to look nice for and he was gone.

Harley shuffled her feet down the hallway toward her office. She needed some time to herself. Sitting with two patients in a row was becoming physically exhausting. Actually, everything had become rather exhausting since he left. She was weak, depressed, dejected. All she wanted was to curl up and die and just get it over with.

"Harley!" A voice called from behind her.

She turned to see Eddie approaching her, his hair a tangled ginger mess on the top of his head. He looked like he hadn't slept in a week.

"You look like hell." She said, trying to process the change in attitude of the man who was always so happy around her.

"If I look like hell, you look like death itself." He quipped, then turned serious. "Have you talked to anyone?"

"I don't really feel like talking." She answered tiredly.

"Harley, as a psychiatrist, you need to be practicing what you preach right now and get some help!" He placed his hands firmly on her shoulders. The fact that she nearly buckled under the force did not go unnoticed. "Or you're likely to become one of them."

She wasn't listening. She just wanted to lay down and not think for once.

That's why I'm so tired, she thought. I've been thinking too much.

She lazily blinked her eyes, in a way so reminiscent of him that she nearly broke down and cried in Eddie's arms. Instead she backed out of his grasp and continued toward her office.

"Did you at least get my riddle?" Eddie called after her.

"Ace." She said with disinterest as she stepped into her office and shut the door behind her.

His mouth took up everything in sight. Those gnarly scars stretched and twisted in front of her. Though she couldn't hear it, she knew he was laughing. She wanted so badly to hear his laugh, to hear him say anything.

Suddenly she was running down a wet street in the middle of suburbia. It was night and the neighborhood seemed uninhabited. She was running as fast as she possibly could, but it felt like her legs were stuck in quicksand. Her heart was racing. She was running out of time. She had to find him.

She was standing in her kitchen. It didn't look like any kitchen she'd seen before though. Eddie was leaning against the fridge. Was it Eddie? It sure didn't look like him. She tried to ask him something but all he did was repeat that riddle he had told her in the park.

"Where do you live, Harley?" The Joker asked from somewhere far off.

"Will you come visit me, Mistah J?" She heard herself ask in her six-year old voice, even though she couldn't see him.

Harley swiftly faded out of sleep as her phone began to ring. Reaching an arm out in the dark, she grasped blindly for her phone on her nightstand.

"Hm." She answered.

"Harley, it's Joan. You need to get down here. Now."

Okay, so who else is excited about Joan's random late night phone call? For anyone who didn't get it, that whole italics section was a dream. If it happens again, now you know what it looks like. Also, there were some silly references in the beginning there. The first one was Harley's ringtone. That's from the movie Grandma's Boy and it's actually my ringtone lol. The other was a small Sesame Street reference.

So anyway, please review/alert/favorite!! Oh, and if we ever had a daughter, we would name her Lyle. Now go watch the Joker Blogs so you can get that joke :p