I never liked lipstick before. Anything brighter than a mild pink seemed to contrast harshly with my skin, but now, as I viewed myself with a renewed confidence, I liked how the cherry red empowered my sweet features. It added an air of confidence and seduction that reminded me of him... of my Joker. My heart fluttered and I giggled a bit at the sound of that. My Joker... I loved the sound of it. To finally acknowledge what my subconscious had been thinking for a month was blissful. After yesterday, there was no way I could think of him in any other way.
XXXXXXXXX
"Well that didn't go very well," the Joker sang bubbly as he flounced into the little interrogation room I had fled to in my distress. I gasped in an attempt to choke back my sobs in an effort to speak.
"You bastard!" I managed. He gave me a dirty look, but I ignored it. "You lied to me! You said he was dead." He gave a low hum and came to kneel before me.
"You know, Harvey called me the same thing. I'd hoped you could be a bit more creative," he lectured me, but I tuned it out. The insensitive freak!
"You lied... you lied... not dead..." I blubbered through a new series of sobs. He stole my life from me. Everything was going to be perfect. I was going to marry the man of my dreams and help restore this city to its former glory. Now... that dream was dead! Gone forever!
"No... no, I didn't lie," he drawled. I quieted in surprise. How was he going to explain this? I knew the truth now! Harvey had been there in my arms, against my skin, right in front of me only ten minutes ago! "I just left it open to interpretation. Yes, physically Harvey Dent is alive, but Rachel, look at me, look at me,can you honestly tell me that man out there is the same man you loved? Harvey Dent died months ago, and in his place rose Two-Face. I wasn't lying to you." My mouth must have dropped open at some point because he gently pushed my jaw back into place. He was right, in a way. That wasn't my Harvey. That wasn't the man I wanted to marry. My Harvey would have saved this city for me, not destroyed it in vengeance. I wasn't ready to forgive him though.
"You should have told me though! You could have told me was alive but... different instead of letting it... jump into the open!" I spat, hands waving wildly with each word.
"And how would that have helped Rach? At least this way you got a few minutes of happiness this way. Isn't that what you wanted?" He was making this so difficult! Yes, I had gotten to hold Harvey once more, to kiss, and feel him. That had been my wish, and it had been granted. Even though Harvey was gone, I still got to hold my love one last time. A sad smile tugged at my lips. "Come on Beautiful, let's get out of here," the Joker whispered, offering me his hand. I refused it though, bitterness welling up inside me.
"Why should I? So you can pretend to be nice to me again? Everything I thought I knew is a lie! I thought I knew Harvey, but turns out he has a dark streak a few miles long! And Br... BATMAN! He should have saved him. He could have tried harder! I mean, Batman can fix everything... he could have saved my Harvey. So... so if I thought I knew those people so well, than what about you? I can't predict anything about you! You're a mystery to me. So am I just going to follow you out of here to learn that I'm just a tool of yours in some elaborate hoax?" I accused him off. Normally the Joker is not a very expressive person, but when you hit the nail on the head, he'll let you know. There was a sign blazing around him going 'YES!' "Oh my god... I'm right. You're using me! All this time that you were being nice and acting like you were my friend... you were just using me! Well I'll tell you right now Mr. Joker, I will NOT go along with your plans! No, no no!" I protested perhaps a tad childishly at the end. To my annoyance, Joker only laughed.
"Rachel, Rachel, Rachel, my lovely pet," he cooed and he wrapped an arm around me, "did you expect anything different from me? Have I ever gone against your notion of me? I am chaotic, and you do expect that of me. I, being the variable in your life, am in fact a constant. You might not be able to predict my next step, but isn't it better to not understand me, than to think you do and be disappointed? You can trust me, because you can't trust me," he reasoned and in a way, that did make sense. He surprised me continuously, and yet, nothing was ever much of a surprise anymore.
"As to the claim that you're just a tool, that's not entirely true. Yeah, sure, I'll admit I took you under my wing because I saw potential use for you. You are a valuable investment to make, but that's not all you are." His voice grew lower, and he leaned in closer. "There's something else there Rach. You've touched me in a way nobody else has. I mean, when I'm out there battling Batsy, I almost want to make it out alive for you. I... I care about you Rach." My heart was singing now.
"Really?" I asked, my voice cracking a few octaves higher than normal. He giggled a bit and denied most of it, saying I was tolerable, but... there was something else there. And for whatever reason, that made me so happy. It felt like... like something was finally not missing from my life. I felt like Rachel Dawes for the first time in who-knows-how-long, and it was because of this crazy, yet extraordinary man before me. He was right; he was a constant in my life now, and that's what I had looked to in Harvey. Bruce had been to unpredictable with his Batman routine. There was no assurances there. Harvey had seemed stable. He was normal and had a normal-ish job. But then we all know how that turned out. The Joker though... he had never surprised me. Not once I got to know him. There were patterns there to follow, but for the most part, nothing seemed out of the ordinary with him.
Acting on sheer impulse and ravished emotion, I flung myself into his arms and kissed him, feeling those fireworks I had always wanted ignite in the two seconds I managed to claim. The Joker quickly backed away, his eyes bewildered much like they had been in the bathroom yesterday. I suddenly had the feeling that the Joker not only wasn't used to physical contact, but was completely new to the more... delicate feelings of life. After all, he had been extraordinarily young when he came to Gotham so things like love and romance had to have been missing in those crucial years. A devilish plan filled my mind. There was no chance of saving Jack, but I could still teach the Joker. After all, there were two sides to chaos, and he only knew the violent side of it.
"So, uh, would you help me Rachel? Would you like to help me in my mission to educate Gotham?" he asked, simply ignoring what had happened this time. I thought about it. He did have a valuable lesson to teach. Nobody was innocent, nobody was without a dark side, and people needed to embrace that. It was a lesson I had to learn and now my life was better because of it.
"What do you want me to do?"
XXXXXXXXX
He had come to be this morning with bags of expensive looking office clothes. I noticed that unlike my old wardrobe, the colors tended to favor darker colors such as black, red, silver, purple, and of course green. There were hints of dark blue and other colors, but not a pale color could be found in the bag. I looked at him questioningly. He had refused to tell me what he wanted me to do, but promised to reveal it today.
"You're going back into the law my dear, but not for the mayor or whoever you work for. You're on my side this time. Basically, I want to know the going-ons of the Gotham Bar, of it's police department, and you're my link there. Oh, and in order to explain why you are suddenly returning from Sacramento even though you're quite happily married to one charming Jack Napier, I have blackmailed you into being my defense attorney and you don't want dear Jack getting involved further in this," he explained. Two emotions flew through my head: confusion and elation. I am a hopeless romantic and the idea of marrying my Joker, while odd and comical, is also a tad appealing. Totally impossible, but I can think about it if I want. Then there was his story of why I needed to be married. I couldn't just return from Sacramento? Why there too?
"Uhm, why am I suddenly married and living in California?" I asked for clarification. I should probably know my own background story.
"After the incident, which you escaped from, you fled there to live with a friend and recoup. There, you met up with an old childhood friend who swept you off your feet. The reason for this, is because we need to explain you disappearance and I can't have you getting distracted with a boyfriend and having your mission blown. I might drop by unannounced and it would not do for me to walk in on anything," he explained. I didn't need to tell him that was an impossibility; he wouldn't care. "For authentication," he mumbled, pulling a gold band out of his pocket. I slipped it onto my left ring finger, resisting the urge to squeal. Good lord, I must be hormonal or something. I don't normally act like this.
"So why you, Jack? Why not Gloomy or whoever?" I asked, wondering what he would say.
"They don't know about me. Gloomy is probably in their records somewhere and should the Commishionerr take an interest in you, you're cover is blown," he replied hastily. Oh, he was hiding something! Or was I simply being fickle and clingy and reflecting my own shallow desires upon him? No, I did like him... my Joker sounded too nice for it to be a result of Harvey's not-really death. "Well, you should get changed. I want you starting asap! Get your excuses planned out for Gordon. I don't want any slip-ups!" he warned. I laughed and hugged him.
"Don't worry, I won't let you down."
So here I am now, all dressed up, preparing to irreversibly enter into the Joker's employment, and not even feeling guilty or nervous about it. After everything I've been through, nothing can throw me off now. I am but an actress, being given my role and I shall play it beautifully. Not that I have a choice really, but that's alright. It's expected.
A/n: Wow, I really like this chapter! Didn't expect to so much. Alright, so Rachel is lovin' the Joker now. God, I feel I butchered that though... I mean, she was mad at him, then realizes, uhm I like him! I don't know, perhaps I should have broken that up, but it was a long time coming. And he did have some good logic. Tell me what you think!