A/N: Hey guys, I decided to post the second chapter today, rather than in a few days, mostly because it got such a good response. I know this one is a little draggy, but I promise it's leading up to good stuff. There are a few little bombs dropped in here that may cause you all to wonder, "What the hell?" But, I hope everyone enjoys, and please continue reading!
-ShesRotten96
His eyes seemed to flash multiple different emotions all at once, and I looked away almost immediately, too afraid to make eye contact. God, why was I so scared?
I looked over at Slayer, hoping I could convey what I was feeling with my face and the look I was giving but he was looking past my shoulder. I felt a presence behind me and even with the music blaring, could hear his voice approaching.
"Not even an introduction? Nothing to say? Cat got your tongue?" The Joker was right behind me at that point, and I cringed. I had the sudden urge to say that the cat had got my tongue.
I was frozen in the bar stool, I couldn't turn around. I kept thinking, Why did I come here? Why did I do this? I had to have known he wouldn't have wanted to see me… or to even be reminded of me.
My silent reverie was interrupted by Joker placing his arms on either side of me, letting his hands rest on the barstool, so he was right on top of me basically. I shuddered, wondering how he wanted me to speak to him if I was stuck this way.
"It's been too long…" He murmured, right in my ear. "Turn around."
He finally backed off enough for me to turn the barstool towards him. In doing so, I saw that almost the entire club, save for the dancers, was watching the exchange between us. I couldn't have cared less about what the club goers thought, I only cared about what the insane man in front of me thought.
"It… has. I need to talk to you. About Harley…" I said, trying to avoid his eyes. He was getting increasingly closer to my face with his own, and I was getting uncomfortable. At the mention of Harley's name, his expression changed into something I couldn't predict.
"Oh, you wanna talk about Harley? My Queen? The light of my life?" He shouted the last part in my face, and turned towards the club goers, clapping his hands feverishly.
"She wants to talk about Harley Quinn! She wants to talk about my Harley!" He yelled to the increasingly tense crowd. They obviously had no idea what the Joker was going to do, as did I. I was more than a little terrified, but something about the way he said my Harley irked me horribly. I gained enough courage to speak up.
"Your Harley? I don't think you have the right to call her that, since you let her get arrested by the Bat!" I yelled over the tittering crowd. I over shot the volume of my voice, with the sound of the crowd, and in doing so, what I said soared over everyone. I immediately grimaced, knowing that I was in for a lot of shit.
"What did you say? You think that I don't have the right to call her my Harley? Do you even understand what happened that night?" He had turned back around from facing the club and he had a gigantic open mouthed smile stretched across his face, just looking at me incredulously. Without warning, he gave a sudden outburst.
"Everyone, get out! The club is closed for the night! Leave!" He roared, obviously angry at what I had said. I knew I was in for an ass kicking, but I knew he wouldn't kill me. He knew how much I meant to Harley.
The people in the club did not have to be asked twice. The club goers filed out by twos, emptying the entire place within thirty seconds. Even the dancers had left to the back area, not wanting to test the Joker's patience.
"I don't believe…no, no, no, no, no, I cannot comprehend what you just said. You don't know anything about that night." He said, gesturing wildly with his hands, using a tick tock motion with his fingers when he continuously said 'no'.
"Then enlighten me on what happened. Where did he put her? It's been six months, and there's been nothing…absolutely nothing about her or her whereabouts. Please tell me you've found something out by now." I was almost pleading with him at this point, tears stinging my eyes, no longer caring about how angry he was.
"You want me to enlighten you on what happened? You want me to tell you every detail about that night? And if I knew where she was, she would be here by now. I wouldn't have wasted any time not getting her out of whatever hell hole she's in."
I started to slowly gain my courage back, realizing that the Joker was just as torn up about Harley being gone as I was, maybe even more so. I looked at his icy blue eyes, concerned about what to say. I wanted to tell him that I was sorry for her being gone, but at the same time, it was completely his fault that she was.
"I'd like to at least know what led to her getting caught by him… That might give me some closure." I said quietly, not knowing what else to say.
"What?" He said, drawing it out like it was a long word rather than a short question. He even cocked his ear to the side, playing it up further.
"I said, I'd like to know what led to her being caught. You were with her right before it happened. You know why and how it happened. Just tell me, Joker." I said impatiently.
"You wanna know? I'll tell ya. We were on date night. I had just closed a deal with a dealer from Midway and decided I needed a little release with my Queen, both figuratively and literally, if you know what I mean," He winked at me when he said that, and I tried to hide my frown. "So, we end up slamming through traffic in my Lambo, going probably 120, when what to my wondering eye do I see? But a Bat in my rearview mirror. You can imagine my pleasure, as well as Harley's when he jumped on the roof. She was a little unhappy to say the least and shot a hole through the roof. Course it didn't do anything, the stupid Bat has body armor. I wasn't paying close enough attention to the road, and we somehow ended up in the river…unintentionally, of course." He purred the last part, very slowly, looking at me menacingly.
I stared back at him, awestruck.
"You realize that Harley can't swim, right?" I said.
"Oh, I found that out rather quickly when she nearly drowned. I scrambled onto the bank and somehow found my way back to the club, but the Bats grabbed her from the wreckage. And now no one knows where she is. I've had my boys looking into it since that night, but it's been hard. Argh, why does he always have to ruin date night!" He yelled the last part, furious.
"I don't know what to say…" I whispered. I truthfully had no idea where to go from there.
"Well, that makes two of us then." He said forcefully. He looked down at me, as he was standing and I was still sitting on the barstool, and suddenly he grabbed my arm, jerking me up to stand next to him.
"What are you doing?" I cried.
He ignored my questions and repeated cries as he dragged me up the stairs to his shared apartment with Harley. He told his henchmen to stay where they were, and to only come up if they heard gun shots. I shuddered involuntarily, wondering if Joker was crazy enough to kill me after all.
We finally reached the door to the apartment, and he kicked it open, shoving me inside. I stumbled in, and almost fell, on the gold shag carpet that the room had on its floor. It was probably a good thing that I didn't, as there were multiple knives littering the floor. I looked around at the walls and even the ceiling, as they were all covered in written 'Ha ha's'.
"Why did you do this…?" I muttered, mostly to myself, because I really didn't care for an answer.
"Because without her, I'm nothing. The whole place isn't the same. I couldn't say this down there. Not in front of them," he referred to his henchmen below us. I remained silent, not wanting to interrupt the little progress we had made. "I want her back just as bad as you do, if not more. I've found out a little bit, but not much. One of my main guys is looking into one of my leads further, and this one actually looks promising this time."
"I didn't know you felt that way about her…" I was unsure of what else to say to him. I was uncomfortable, because I had never been alone with him, and also because he was in such a vulnerable state, and the Joker was someone you never saw vulnerable.
"Yeah, well I do. Unfortunately. I never wanted to get this involved with her. When she tossed herself into that vat of Ace I almost just let her drown in it… but something told me not to. I couldn't do it…" He finally looked up at me. The whole time he had been looking at the knives that were laid out in a semi-circle on the floor. He looked ashamed to be admitting these things to me, but I was almost glad that he was. It meant that he could trust me, or so it seemed.
"I'm glad that you saved her…from that. I just wish she wouldn't have gotten in so deep in the first place." I murmured, not wanting to offend.
"Oh, you think that I'm not good enough for her? You think that she could do better? I'm glad that you feel that way, really, I am." He was obviously hurt, but he started to laugh raucously again, loud, letting it reverberate off of the walls. He was truly insane.
I chose to ignore what he had said, not wanting to anger him further. I looked anywhere but him. I could feel his eyes boring into my face, and I had no intention of looking at him. I was extremely uncomfortable with his proximity and the whole scenario in general.
I scanned the floor, the hundreds of knives that were laid about. There was a small opening in the middle, where I assumed he had sat. I started slowly walking around the circle, looking at the plethora of weapons. My eyes landed on something so peculiar, I took a step back. On the outer rim of the knife ring, there were three baby onesies laid out. One pink, one blue, and one black. I turned around, looking at Joker questioningly. He had moved into the open kitchen area and was reaching into a cupboard, grabbing two glasses.
"Joker…what is this?" My voice was shaking. It couldn't be…there was no way. They couldn't possibly have had a child together, there was just no way.
"What?" He said, looking at what I was looking at on the floor. As soon as he realized I saw them, he darted over to me, fast as ever. He swiftly grabbed the clothing off of the floor, and threw them into an open doorway that presumably led to a bedroom or even a bathroom.
"You didn't…did you? How?" I couldn't contain my offensive questioning, and to be honest I really didn't care. I was so shocked, that everything came out in a whisper. I was still staring at the door that he had thrown the onesies into.
"It's none of your business what I've done, or how." He snarled, grabbing my chin suddenly. I flinched, waiting for him to hit me, or worse. "You don't need to know about things that don't concern you."
I opened my mouth to speak, attempting to grab his hand away from my chin, but he had an iron grip and wouldn't let go.
"It damn well is my concern if I have a niece or a nephew that was kept from me. What the hell did you guys do?" I growled, my voice coming out muffled through my clenched jaw.
"We didn't do anything. You don't have a niece or a nephew, so stop asking. Harley lost it. Plain and simple. Months ago, and it won't happen ever again." He looked pained as he explained it to me, even though he was smiling.
"Let go of me." I said through gritted teeth.
He finally released me, hard, pushing my head away from him as he did so. I just looked at him when he was done, in awe of what I had learned. This night was turning into a nightmare and it was far from over. Harley had never told me about being pregnant, or even wanting children. I was so confused…so heartbroken for her. Losing a child was something I would never have wished on my worst enemy. And even Joker, as callous as he was, seemed to be upset at the loss of his future son or daughter.
"Well now that you know, what do you gotta say about it? I'm sure there's something in there aching to come out." He said, sitting down on the sofa that was on the far side of the room. I walked over to it, and sat down on the opposite end of him.
"I just had no idea that Harley ever wanted kids…or that you did either. I'm sorry that that happened to you guys…" I looked up at him as I finished and he was staring at me with a strange look on his face.
"You actually feel bad? You actually care? Or are you just sweet talkin' me to get to Harley?" He had started talking faster and faster as he continued, and leaned forward towards me.
"I do feel bad… and I do care, yes. I would never wish that on my worst enemy, let alone my sister and her…boyfriend," My voice broke slightly on the word boyfriend and I let out a small giggle, not sure if that was even the right word. He started laughing raucously as well as soon as I giggled. "But in all seriousness, I do wish she would have told me. Had she even gone to the doctor? Was she given pre-natals?"
"What are those? And hell nah she didn't go to the doctor! We can't just be waltzing in to Gotham General to get a checkup, come on, use your head. You're a Nurse, you should know better." He seemed completely oblivious to the fact that Harley not going to the doctor may have hurt her more than help her.
"And since I'm a Nurse, Joker, I know that you need to go to the doctor as soon as you realize you're pregnant to get the necessary vitamins for the pregnancy as well as for yourself. I'm not saying that's what caused it, but that may have played a part." I looked over at him, and saw that he was just staring at me, no emotion on his face. "I'm so sorry…" I finished, not sure what else to say.
I sat there for what seemed like an eternity, looking anywhere but at Joker, so uncomfortable with the way he was staring at me. I didn't know what to say or do. I really wanted to stem away from the topic of my lost niece of nephew, and start talking about Harley and what his top guy had found about her and her whereabouts, but I wasn't sure it was a good time to change the subject. I decided to wait for him to speak.
He continued to stare at me, and finally looked away when someone knocked at his door. We both looked at it at the same time, and then shared glances at each other, me unsure of what to do, him most likely wondering who had decided to come up when he told them not to.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" He shouted across the room. It made me jump about three feet in the air, as I wasn't expecting his sudden outburst.
"Boss, it's me, Harris. We found her! We know where she's at! The government has her!" The man shouted from the other side of the door.
At the mention of the fact that Harley had been found, the Joker sprang to his feet and was at the door within a few moments. He flung it open and grabbed the man by his jacket and hauled him into the apartment with us.
"Tell me everything."