"Now, look," Anita said as she pocketed her phone. "This is what's going to happen. Hey, hey, pay attention, Rachel. We're taking a little trip to Gotham City. You're going to stay in some very nice digs, I'm told, until the Joker shows up. If he doesn't show up after a reasonable amount of time --- I'd say twenty-four hours from now --- and there's no sign that he will show up, we start with the least important of you," and she waved her hand toward Janet and Susie, "and start sending him some encouragement. If he's good and shows up, and agrees to our terms, then you'll all be fine." She glanced at Rachel as the woman shook her head frantically, then peeled the duct tape off. "What?"
"Let us go," Rachel sobbed. "Please, you don't want the Joker to come back. He'll kill you all. He doesn't care who dies, and he'll be pissed that you're trying to manipulate him."
Anita rolled her eyes. "Look, Rachel, I don't care, all right? Things are out of control in Gotham. The Justice League needs to be taken down, and right now, the Joker's the only one who stands a chance."
"You don't understand! Oh, God, please!"
The short woman taped Rachel's mouth shut again and then leaned over to hit Maury in the arm. "Leave them alone, Maury. If you hurt them and the Joker shows up, all bets are off. What?" she asked the girls. "Oh, you're wondering where your old lady is? I figure, this time of year, with the average rate of decomposition . . . Naw, they won't find her at the bottom of Folsom Lake for a while yet. Get over it, kids, shit happens in life. If Jack had given in when we wanted him to, Mommy wouldn't be rotting right now. This is the most difficult job I've ever done, I swear . . ."
"I'm still not sure he can bring the Joker back," Maury whined as he fluffed his curls.
"He's been losing it for months; he'll bring him back to save his precious little family. Trust me, I've followed Jack very carefully."
"Hey, you're the shrink."
"Yes, I am," the woman murmured as she settled back into her seat. She turned to watch Rachel with narrowed eyes. "Don't you dare go into labour on me, Rachel. Don't. You. Dare." She got a vicious glare. "I don't need to be taking care of a squalling brat, and if anything happens to it, my bosses and the Joker won't be happy. So keep it inside, all right?"
Three and a half hours later they pulled up behind a high-rise office building, and the van doors opened to a group of men who pulled the hostages out. Anita snapped at them to be careful as they were shuffled inside and into a service elevator. Rachel was covered with sweat and Susie had wet herself out of sheer terror.
"Shit . . . Too much work . . ." Anita crossed her arms over her chest as the elevator opened to a sharp-dressed man who towered over her. "Dawes probably needs a doctor, Gallucci. I told you we should have taken her earlier. She goes into labour, it's on you."
"Were you careful with her, Bentley?" the Italian asked crossly. "Dio mio, you three look terrible! Come, come, get them inside." He took Rachel's arm and led her down a short hallway, almost picking her up. "Ricci, get the doctor. Signora Dawes needs him at once. My apologies for your handling, Signora Dawes," he said with a smile as he led the group into a suite of rooms. "I had given orders to treat you with the utmost respect. You're our honoured guest, after all. Here, this will hurt only a bit." He pulled the duct tape off of her mouth after sitting her on the couch, and sighed when Rachel spit on him.
"You're a dead man," she snarled.
"Yes, yes, but I am even more a dead man if your Joker doesn't take care of that pesky Justice League. I understand your anger and fear, Signora Dawes, but please trust me that if the Joker cooperates, no more harm will come to you and your wards."
"Why aren't you getting it?" Rachel wailed. Janet and Susie were placed on either side of her and leaned in close, crying. "You think you can use the Joker like this and get away with it? He doesn't work like that! How old are you? Do you remember the last time he was on the loose?!"
Gallucci narrowed his eyes at her. "Si, Signora, I remember. I also remember that we almost had free reign of this city once again. I believe that with you here, he will keep the damage to a minimum. All I require is that he rid us of the Justice League. These are desperate times, Signora."
"It's not going to happen," Rachel argued. "Villains attract heroes ---"
"And likewise, Signora, heroes attract villains. Untie them," Gallucci ordered as one of his men handed him a wet wipe to get rid of Rachel's spit. "You ladies have free reign of this small apartment," it was almost as big as her house, "and the doctor will be here shortly. Rest, clean up. We want you well to show the Joker that we have kept our end of the bargain. The doors are locked, the windows double-paned, and there is nothing to use as weapons, so I implore you not to try to escape. You will be well taken care of, Signora."
Janet threw herself at the man but Rachel caught her, holding her and Susie tightly as Gallucci walked out. One of the men glanced back at them, and Rachel's eyes widened.
"You son of a bitch!" she shrieked. "You lying son of a bitch!" The door closed on her curses and then she collapsed into sobs, terrified and shaking and not knowing what to do.
"Rachel, what do we do?" Janet asked as she brought her knees up to her chest and sobbed. "I'm sorry, Rachel. I'm sorry."
"Rachel . . . Daddy and Batman will save us, right?"
The older woman wanted to break down and scream and cry, betrayal on two fronts ripping at her heart, but the two girls needed her. She hadn't seen who she thought she'd seen. She hadn't been that stupid the past five years. She couldn't have been.
"Rachel . . ."
"I'm okay," she whispered, wiping her face off and looking around. There were three doors, opening to two bedrooms and a bathroom, it looked like, and she forced herself off of the couch as her entire body protested. "Susie, you need a bath. We all do."
"I'm sorry," the small girl whimpered. "I couldn't help it."
"It's not your fault." Rachel led them to the bathroom and sat on the toilet with her head between her knees as best she could. "Janet, get in with Susie."
"What if they come back?" the girl wanted to know.
"Then . . . Then they come back. We can't stop them. They want us alive; they're not going to hurt us unless Jack doesn't show up."
"Unless the Joker doesn't show up," Janet corrected as she turned the tub on and got Susie undressed. "What if he doesn't show up?"
Rachel stared at the floor as her tears spotted it. "I don't know," she whispered.
***
"Where is he?!" Bruce bellowed.
"I don't know!" Dick yelled back. "I heard him shrieking and he was gone by the time I got back to the house!"
"Shut up, both of you!" Charles held her phone tightly to her ear. "Yes . . . yes. That's right. Gone, all of them. Probably to Gotham. Find them, damn it!" She hung up and hauled her last bag into the waiting car. "Helna, you and Mitzi are coming with us. You'll stay at Wayne Manor."
"I thought Gotham's not safe?" Helna asked as she held her daughter close to her.
"Trust me, Wayne Manor's the safest place you could be right now. Where's Superman?"
"He has issues of his own in Metropolis," Bruce snarled. "Livewire's out again."
"What are you talking about?!" Helna wailed as Bruce pushed her into the car.
He took her hand and shook it. "Hi, I'm Batman. Nice to meet you. This is Batgirl, this is Robin, and we're here to bring Jack back, since he's gotten it into his head that the only way to keep his family safe is by becoming the Joker again. Oh, and Superman was going to help, but he's indisposed at the moment."
"Oh, God, Tom's in Metropolis!"
"And doing just fine, I made sure of it," Bruce growled. The car took off to the airport. "Charles, did you call the police?"
"Oh, they got their anonymous tip." She grabbed her phone as it went off. "Gordon. Yeah, he's gone. No, no trace of him. Yeah. Your contacts know where Gallucci's main place is yet? They're probably there. Yeah, I bet Hideki's mad. Make sure he's safe --- oh, he's gone, is he? Perfect. I'll let him know." She slammed her fist against the door as she hung up. "Hideki's up and disappeared, and Gordon doesn't know where Gallucci's hideout is."
"The most gaudy building in Gotham would be my guess."
"He's not hiding in Wayne Manor." Bruce glared at Charles before his lips twisted.
Helna was shaking her head. "You're all superheroes?" she whimpered. "Rachel's friends with half the Justice League?"
Bruce looked at her calmly. "She only knows me and Charles. She just met Dick. So . . . yes, we are, and no, she doesn't. You'll be safe at Wayne Manor, Helna. I don't think they'll come after you, but I'm not leaving that to chance. We've let the Loleta police know where you'll be." He looked out the window as they sped toward the airport and let Charles explain the situation.
***
There was a polite tap at the door. "Signora? I have brought the doctor. Are you ladies decent?"
Susie was hiding under the bed while Janet tried to coax her out. Rachel sighed and closed her eyes again as the door opened and footsteps got closer.
"How far along is she? Do you have her medical records?"
"She is due early January, and no, we don't."
The new man sighed as he knelt next to Rachel. "She shouldn't have been moved. Mrs. Dawes? How far along are you? Please, I need to know to make sure your baby's healthy."
"Thirty weeks today," she whispered, not opening her eyes. "I'm supposed to be on bed rest."
"Get that equipment in here," the doctor ordered. "You, help set it up."
"Sir."
Rachel winced at the low baritone and cracked her eyes open to glare up at Raoul, who paid her no attention as he quickly set up the ultrasound equipment while the balding doctor muttered about being completely in the dark about his patient.
"Jack's going to kill you," she whispered when he knelt next to her. The traitor may have hesitated briefly, but the doctor was poking at her and Rachel turned her head to watch him.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Dawes, I'm Doctor Sanchez." He was frowning down at her and smoothed her hair out of her face. She flinched away from him. "I'm just here to make sure you and your child are healthy. They've threatened my family. I'm sorry." He went about his check-up, sighing with relief when someone managed to hack into Doctor Howard's system and pull her medical files. "She needs to be under constant supervision," Sanchez finally declared. "She shouldn't have been moved. I'm worried about premature labour."
He flinched as a gun cocked behind him. "Then you'd best supervise her, hadn't you?" Gallucci asked. "You will stay here and make sure she doesn't give birth until it is her time."
"I don't have the supplies I need," the doctor protested. "She needs to be in a hospital."
"Then make this a hospital. Tell Gillespie what drugs you need, what equipment, and he will get it for you. He has . . . connections. Hart, tell Bentley I want her in my office in half an hour . . ."
His voice trailed off as he left, and Rachel looked at Raoul as Sanchez wrote down what he needed. The young man was staring at the doctor and not meeting her gaze. No wonder Anita and Maury had found them, with Raoul feeding the mob information. What was with her and trusting mob plants? First Ramirez, now Raoul . . .
"Does Hideki know?" she asked him. He kept ignoring her as he took the paper Sanchez handed him and left. Bastard.
"I'm going to give you an injection that will help you to sleep," Sanchez told her. "You need to stay as calm as possible. Mrs. Dawes? For Ava's sake."
"It's not going to matter," Rachel murmured as she felt the needle pierce her flesh. She sighed as her body relaxed. "The Joker's going to kill you all . . ."
***
Three days later, Susie had finally crawled out from under the bed. She spent most of her time curled up against Rachel, who spent her time in a drugged haze. Sanchez was keeping her as sedated as was safe. Despite his pleadings that the sisters stay in the other room, they refused to leave Rachel, terrified of being alone. The worst was the absolute normalcy of the situation. The only indication they had that the Joker had arrived in Gotham were the sudden explosions the city sent up, the smug looks on the faces of Gallucci and his men when the crime lord came to visit.
The door was flung open, and Rachel didn't bother moving. She didn't want assurances that things were going fine, that Jack was cooperating. Sanchez yelled and the bedroom door shook like someone had been thrown against it. Rachel opened her eyes.
"Who are you?"
She recognised that low growl and tried to pull herself out of the drugs as Sanchez whimpered. "Please, I'm the doctor! Gallucci told me to stay here to keep an eye on her! Please, I'm trying to help!"
"Where is she?!"
"This room . . . please . . ."
Susie whimpered and Janet pulled her close as she sat up, staring at the door with wide eyes. It was flung open and the silhouette that blocked the doorway was at once comfortingly and terrifyingly familiar.
The Joker glared into the room and stepped over Sanchez' limp body, a gun in his right hand as he strode to Rachel's side of the bed and stared down at her. She looked up into his cold brown eyes and saw nothing of her husband.
"D, Daddy?" Susie whimpered.
"Susie, shh," Janet murmured, whining a little when the Joker turned his attention to her.
Then his gaze was back on Rachel and he dropped his hand to her face. "You are so much trouble, woman," he murmured. "Do you know what I had to do in order to get back? Let me tell you a story." He sat on the bed and ran his hand over Rachel's stomach quizzically, like he didn't know why it was bulging out so much. Rachel whimpered a little. "I'm not gonna hurt you, beautiful. Just listen. Once upon a time, I was in Arkham. I was miserable, let me tell you. They drugged me, they beat me, they tried to an-a-lyse me . . . it was awful. I was so bored. I wanted to get out and play some more . . . And oh, I've been having a great time since I got back." He grinned at her, a red slash against the white of his face paint. Rachel didn't know where they'd gotten a suit like his old one. It terrified her. "Then, one day, in walks this pretty little Jewess shrink, determined to fix me and be famous. Harley was so eager to make her name in the world . . . She really was a two-bit shrink, though. But she was my ticket out, see?"
He glanced at the door as Sanchez pulled himself to his feet. "Please . . . Don't hurt her . . ."
"I'm not going to hurt her, you idiot," the Joker growled. "I can barely hurt the bad guys at this point. Where was I? Oh, Harley's sweet little pussy." He adjusted his overcoat and cleared his throat. "Right. So, I decided it was time to try normal, for once. That stupid super-sanity theory of hers? Complete bullshit. I'm not crazy, Rachel. Psychopathic, yeah, sure, I'll admit to that, but I am not delusional." He was murmuring now, his green hair swaying as he rocked just a bit. "What I did was a little . . . sleight of hand. Janet, do you remember what Jack told you about me? Before your little . . . incident . . . in the limo?"
She flinched. "He said that you're not a split personality."
"That's right! Good girl; glad the hormones didn't wipe your memory. See, bunny, I'm not the split personality." The Joker leaned down close, his lips barely touching Rachel's ear as he whispered his next words. "Jack is."
The woman shook her head in denial, tears squeezing out of her eyes. "No . . ."
"No?" the Joker mimicked, fluttering his eyelids in mock concern. "No! But yes, dearest, oh, yes. It's easy to do, really. I just had to drag up some old memories, give them a little bit of shape, then close my eyes and . . . sleep . . ." He beamed at her and pat her cheek to get her attention. "Look at me. That's why Jack couldn't remember his past. I chose what he remembered, what he didn't, what would be the best combination of violence and vulnerability to get out of Arkham and into Harley's bed." He screwed his face up into a grimace. "Went to sleep a bit too long, though. Before I knew it, he was hitched and settling down, becoming his own personality. I had to get rid of that bitch before she ruined all my plans . . . So, with some careful rearrangement of the balcony furniture, some careful application of wine, some especially wild sex to get Jack to loosen up . . . well, it's amazing what a well-placed bite will get you." He laughed to himself, then went serious so quickly that Rachel jumped. "Then you had to show up, didn't you?"
"Give me Jack," Rachel whispered.
"No," the Joker said petulantly, crossing his arms over his chest. "I was all set to make my big come-back, but Jack had other plans. He liked living his boring little life, he liked you . . . So he latched on to you and wouldn't let go, no matter how hard I tried! How inconsiderate, right? So rude to his maker." The Joker sniffed and then stretched out next to Rachel, running one gloved hand up and down her arm as he grinned at her. "He dug so deep into you," he murmured, "that I couldn't get out. And he did dig deep, didn't he? Deep enough that now you're all knocked up, and he won't let me hurt you, or hurt other people unless they're the bad guys," he whined the words nasally, "and I'm a little stuck. I need him gone, Rachel. You got him back from me once; it's not going to happen again." The man lowered his lips to Rachel's and left them there, just the barest pressure. "He loves you so much . . ."
"Then why not let him stay?" Rachel whispered. "Leave him alone. He doesn't need to cut himself ---"
"Oh, yeah, Veronica." The Joker snorted, his eyes crossing as he stared at Rachel. "Guess they taped it, huh? What an idiot. He thought that if he was violent with Veronica, he wouldn't be violent with you. Didn't want to hurt you . . . How much did it hurt, watching those videos? Just wondering."
"You want a place to belong," Rachel murmured urgently. She was blinking tears out of her eyes. "It's better to be hated than ignored, isn't it? You have a place here, with us. Please, let Jack come back. You don't need to work with the mob ---"
"Who says I'm working with the mob? Oh, sure, right now our goals run parallel, but I'm not their bitch." He raised his head and looked over at Janet and Susie. "Stop your snivelling," he growled. Then he was back to Rachel, touching her cheek. "Don't you care that Jack's a figment of my imagination, Rachel?"
"He's not," she protested. The Joker snorted. "He's who you used to be; who you wanted to be."
"Shut up," she was warned.
Rachel leaned her forehead against his collar bone and placed her hand on his arm. "You wanted a normal life once, didn't you? Someone to love, a place . . . For Jack to hold on to me as hard as he did, to fight as hard as he did to stay, it had to have been something you wanted once ---"
"Shut up!" the Joker yelled. Rachel whimpered and flinched as he rolled off the bed and stood up, his grip on her arm tightening painfully as he snarled at her. "Don't think you know about me, Rachel. Don't think for a moment that you know anything about me."
His hand had moved to her throat and Rachel bit back a sob. "Raoul's working for Gallucci," she whispered.
The man in her husband's body froze. "What?"
"Raoul's working for Gallucci. He's here."
"That's . . . interesting." The Joker pulled Rachel up and took one glove off, placing his bare hand on Rachel's stomach and pressing in. "How's Ava?"
"I should be in the hospital," she told him, hoping that the news would give Jack enough of a purchase.
The Joker squinted and shook his head sharply, like she'd seen Jack do more frequently over the past few months, and snarled. "Shut up!" he hissed. "Just shut up or I'll kill all of them!" After a moment he opened his eyes wide and placed his palm against his forehead, then shook himself. "Nice try, toots," he told her with a grin. "I've gotta go. Jack gets a little restless when he doesn't know that you're all right and she's just fine, you fucking idiot!" He squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them wide again, growling. "They're all fine! This stupid doctor's gonna take care of them, so why don't you just fucking go away once and for all?" He turned and stalked out of the room, aiming a kick at Sanchez before slamming the door shut.
Rachel didn't see him again for another three days.