Rachel wiped away the tears that ran down her cheek. Over the last four days, she had alternated between crying and sleeping. She was tired of it. If the pain wouldn't go away, at least the emotional signs would stop. It was exhausting and her feeble body could not take it anymore. Nearly a week without food was taking it's toll on her. She was gaunt and thin with dark circles around her swollen eyes. She looked like a wreck.
The door slammed open, causing her to jump up into a sitting position. In waltzed the Joker with a plastic tray holding a bowl and a cup. He walked over, humming a merry tune, and sat the tray in front of her before taking a seat next to her like a good friend would do. She looked down at the bowl. Her stomach growled, urging her to eat, but something felt so wrong about eating with Harvey gone, so she took the glass and pushed away bowl of cereal.
"Thanks, but no thanks," she mumbled weakly, sipping the grape juice. Joker stopped humming and pushed the tray back with a low, trailing whistle.
"If I know anything about grief, and I do... I would say that you are starving yourself. Now, I'm not entirely religious myself, but I don't recall anything in the holy book saying that starvation will raise the dead. At least, that's not how Jesus did it," he mocked her. She glared at him and continued sipping. The flakes did look good though. He rolled his eyes and sighed with a sharp lick of his lips. "Come on Rach," she flinched at the nick name. Harvey used to call her that. "You look awful. I don't think dear Harvey would want you to be doing this." She suddenly developed a very irritated look and glared daggers at him.
"Yeah well we wouldn't know what he would want now would we. Thanks to you and all!" she snapped. He gave her a disbelieving look and raised his hands in front of his chest.
"Me? How could you say such a thing?" he asked incredulously. "You make it sound like I killed him!" Rachel threw the cup down and half-spun to face him.
"You planned the whole thing! You might not've pulled the trigger yourself, but you're the reason he was tied up in the first place!" she yelled at him. "You're the reason he's dead!" She turned to look at her feet. "You're the reason Batman's gone too, aren't you?" He gave her a puzzled look and a small laugh.
"Batman gone? Where did you hear that? He's still out and around, fighting the evils of Gotham. There's no reason to worry about him," he told her. Rachel stared at him, her jaw hanging open in an unlady-like manner. Batman was alive? But that didn't make any sense!
"Then why did you... rescue me?" she asked, wishing she had a better term than rescue. It made it sound like he had done her a favor.
"Well, one of my less intelligent employees did not get the memo that Batman was supposed to be untouched through this. He was a little unconscious and I figured I would do him the favor of saving his darling not-girlfriend as he couldn't. He was pleased to know you were fine though. He didn't hit quite so hard," he joked. Rachel rolled her eyes, but there was a small smile on her lips. Bruce was fine, that was good. But it was still sick of him to save her! Did he think she would come running back to him now that the love of her life was gone? Did he think she was that loose?
"I shouldn't be here," she mumbled.
"That's morbid," he laughed and eyed her as if she were the crazy one. "Or were you meaning here, as in this room, because then I need to be offended." She sighed. Although she rather disliked him, she needed to tell someone about this.
"I told him to save Harvey. I made him promise that if it came down to me or Harvey, he was to pick Harvey! He said he would to! He lied to me," she declared sadly. Her best childhood friend had betrayed her trust. She felt tears prick her eyes in a most annoying manner. Would she never stop crying?
"It's not entirely unexpected," the Joker replied thoughtfully. She looked at him with a questioning manner. He didn't know Bruce; he couldn't talk. "Now, of course I don't know Batman like you do, but he is a man, and an emotional one at that. Now, he loves you, I don't think we can argue about that, and Harvey stole you from him. So his chose was, lovely lady or evil guy that broke his heart. I'll tell you, when I spoke to him, he was riled up and impulsive. He didn't have time to think about that. Don't be too hard on him. After all, men are not known to be the most thoughtful of creatures, or that's the impression I've gotten from women over the years," he assured her. Rachel smiled more than before. So Bruce had not purposefully broken his promise; he was just being his scared self.
XXXXXXXXX
The Joker eyed her and began rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Time for the kill.
"Then again," he started, bring her attention back to him, "you would think that your last request would have held more value to him. I mean... well... never mind," he waved off the thought, but he had her hooked. In this state, Rachel was vulnerable and insecure. Any doubts he held against her beliefs would be detrimental to her fragile control.
"No, what were you going to say?" she asked, hopping up to her knees to face him completely. He looked at her for a minute as if wondering whether or not he should. The answer was obvious though; of course he should!
"Well, I would think that if he was so in love with you, and respected you so much, that he would have thought about you, not his own wishes in this situation. After all, it was your life, not his that hung in the balance. Part of wedding vows is to love, honor, and respect. It sounded to me like he was willing to make you his blushing bride, yet he would not hold to those vows possibly because they weren't sworn. That seems stupid to me though. But, I've troubled you, and really, what do I know right?" he laughed. Rachel forced a pathetic noise from her throat trying to laugh it off, but her eyes were distant. She was considering what he had said.
"Yeah... what do you know?" she tried to assure herself, but it was useless. She wasn't up to thinking objectively about anything. This would plague her mind for hours, maybe days, to come. This would be fun.
"Really, but anyway, I apologize, but I have to go, mischief to cause, havoc to wreak, you know the game. Have a good day, due try and eat something," he begged her like he was a concerned friend. He really did care, but just not in the manner he was portraying. She was a tool, not a friend. She smiled at him and dutifully took a handful of the cereal. He smiled too, but at her weakness. Humans, especially women, were so weak and susceptible to kindness when they were grieving. This was going to be almost too easy. Hehehe. He turned and closed the door. A laugh krept out of his throat as another thought came to him: Rachel meeting Harvey. If she didn't warm up to him through his kindness, then certainly seeing the new and improved Harvey "Two-Face" dent would drive her to him. Of course, that would be if he ever got out of Arkham. That had been a big deal on the news the other day. Naturally, Gordon had covered it up, stating that a new menace was plaguing the city and it had been contained and word had not gotten out that the D.A. was suddenly a murderer. Still, how many insane people ran around Gotham? Scratch that, a lot of the did, but how many crazies got the Commissioner's attention and had him shaking in his boots? Only Two-Face. Oh, he would love to see that meeting when it came.
A/N: Sorry about this! I was meaning to update and then I got caught up in a new book, and when I start reading, I don't stop. Any Twilight fans out there? If so, I think you'll know what I mean. So, tell me what you think. I'm not crazy about this chapter, but it is important. We have a bit of foreshadowing and some things have been set in place. As you can tell, I did not follow movie!verse with Two-Face. I refuse to have him fall off a building and die. He'll be hit by the train first! Much more dignified. We have officially gone past TDK and this is all AU now. As I told some of you, I might still steal things from the movie, but try not to compare it now. Ciao! I'll try and update soon.