A/N: Hey, all, I need to interject here. I neglected to set up the time period for this story at the beginning! It is a couple of years pre-Dark Knight and the Joker is just beginning to be a force to be reckoned with by the police. At this time, he isn't quite as murderous and large-scale with his violence, and he hasn't begun to reveal himself to the media and the police, so his scars don't give him away. He also hasn't yet taken to killing off all his helpers without good cause...anyway, back to the story, hope you like...

* * *

Rita and her mom were sitting at the dinner table. The television was on, and Rita seemed more interested in watching it than in eating her food. Her mother watched her listlessly picking at her dinner, and felt dismayed. Rita had been acting so depressed and miserable since the break-in three nights ago. Gail felt both angry and frustrated by her inability to protect her daughter from those distressing events, and now she didn't know how to make it better.

"Sweetie? How was school today?" she asked in an attempt to capture her attention.

"Fine." Rita didn't look away from the TV.

"Anything interesting happen?"

"Uh-uh."

"What's Lynne been up to? How's her grandmother?"

"Fine. They're both fine."

Gail started to give up, but then had a thought.

"Well, something funny happened at work today. Remember Dr. Perry? The one who used to be so heavy? Well, he had that gastric by-pass surgery, and he's lost a bunch of weight. And today, as he was rushing in for the morning meeting, his pants fell down!! Fell right down in front of the whole nursing team! Oh, it was hilarious! He was so embarrassed, but you know, we all cheered because it means he's doing so good! Isn't that funny?"

Rita finally looked at her mother with an expression that indicated she thought her mom had suddenly begun speaking in a Martian dialect.

"Uh, yeah. Real funny." She shook her head and returned to prodding the food on her still-full plate. Gail was losing patience....

"Honey, you've got to snap out of this! I know what happened the other night was upsetting, but really, everything's ok. The super put new locks on the windows and door, and I'm not going to volunteer for any more late shifts, and we're fine, just fine! Now, come on, baby, can't I get a smile?" pleaded Gail.

Rita rolled her eyes, but gave her mother a begrudging smile.

"Well, now, see there? It is possible." Gail stood up and kissed Rita on the head, and picked up her barely-touched plate. "I'll put this in the fridge for later since you're obviously not hungry now. Have you done your homework?" Rita shook her head. "Well, you better get going. You don't want to be up all night working on it."

Rita got up and headed for her room without answering. She felt bad; her poor mom, taking the blame for her foul mood. Well, in a way she was responsible, but not for the reasons she thought.

Gail had asked to be switched to days, at least temporarily, and had been home for the last three afternoons and evenings, thus eliminating any opportunity for Rita to spend more "quality" time with Mr. J. In fact, she hadn't gotten to see him at all since that wonderful, scary, amazing night...surely he could have come by to check on her and her mom, there wouldn't be anything strange about that. She wondered if he was even thinking of her. Why hadn't he been around to at least say hello? Had what happened between them really meant so little?

* * *

The Joker was feeling damned frustrated. His mind kept wandering when he needed it to be focused on the task at hand--cracking the safe at the Gotham Savings and Loan. Damn it, missed it by one click...he had to start the whole fucking number sequence over again.

"Uh, boss?" one of his henchmen tentatively hissed.

"Shut the fuck up, can't you see I'm working, here?" the Joker replied irritably as he strained to hear the tumblers fall.

"Yeah, sure, but we need to hurry up. Cops'll be here any minute..." The boss wasn't usually so slow to work his charm on mechanical devices.

"Well, then, maybe you should leave me the fuck alone and let me get this done..." the Joker growled. Just then, the safe door swung open and the Joker stepped back to allow his man to do the menial labor of loading up the canvas bag with the loot.

The Joker pulled his clown mask down to cover his face and stepped back into the bank lobby to check on the situation. His other men were doing a good job keeping the citizens under control, brandishing their weapons in a threatening manner, and he sauntered around, offering helpful advice such as "Keep your hands where we can see 'em, pal, or we'll have to blow 'em off for ya," and "Don't try anything tricky, angel, you're too good-lookin' to have to have a closed-casket funeral..." but his heart wasn't in it.

The sound of sirens in the background spurred all four men to hustle to the get away car, and they sped off seconds before the GPD vehicles slammed to a stop in front of the bank.

The driver, Moe, cast an angry glance at the rest of the money-laden gang.

"What the hell took you so long? I thought I was gonna shit my pants, I could see the cops coming up over the hill...."

The three other henchmen cast nervous looks between them. They didn't dare lay the blame where it belonged--on their strangely slow-handed boss.

The Joker sneered at the lot of them.

"What's the matter with you pussies? Why don't ya just say it? You think I'm losing my touch, don't ya? Well?"

"Uh...anyone can have a bad day..." opined Curly, helpfully. The other two nodded in enthusiastic agreement. "Yeah, a bad day, that's right," said Larry encouragingly. Moe glanced in the rear view mirror at his comrades, unable to believe what he was hearing.

"Jeeze, what the hell happened back there, did you fuck up, Boss?" he asked in childlike wonderment. The Boss never fucked up.

"No, I did not-t. I just...lost my train of though for a minute. Too busy worrying about you inept baboons screwing everything up, I guess," the Joker spat, absently looking out the window as they sped to their base of operation, an abandoned warehouse on the east side.

The Joker sighed. Of course, Moe was correct. He did fuck up. And he knew why.

The girl.

Rita.

What the hell was the matter with him? Since when did a little piece of tail get to him like this? It wasn't just that he was so damn horny, all of a sudden. Hell, he could take care of that little problem, even though Nadine had given up the life, and was happily living with her new girlfriend in suburbia. Not like there weren't other perfectly accommodating ladies out there, just waiting to make...his acquaintance.

No, it was worse than that. He wanted her. Rita, with that little school-girl ass gift-wrapped in the sensible white cotton panties. The way she giggled, how she talked so fast when she got excited and the words just came tumbling out one on top of the other, like quarters from a slot machine. And, damn it, the way her cherry-flavored lip gloss tasted, and her wide blue eyes and that innocent little mouth that he would just love to...aw, jeeze, never mind, this wasn't exactly helping. All he needed was to get a hard-on with his goons watching. He was glad when their car pulled into the garage and the gang gathered around to divvy up the cash.

The Joker took his portion--exactly twice what everyone else got, it was only fair, seeing that he was the brains behind it all, and the one with the technical expertise. The one who wouldn't hesitate to blow their brains out if they argued too much. But...he divided his share in two, and silently gave each of the men an equal amount of one of the halves, stuffing the rest in a bag and slinging it over his shoulder.

There, he thought. That's what I deserve for going soft on some chick. If this keeps up, I'll be in the poorhouse.

Without a word of explanation or goodbye, shoulders slumped, head down, he turned and trudged off to his own vehicle as his men stared in utter astonishment at the receding figure of their normally hard-edged boss. He had never once given a penny more than he promised in the whole time that they knew him.

They each looked at each other, perplexed. Curly shrugged.

"I think the Boss has lost his freakin' mind," he said philosophically.

The other men nodded, and the little band quickly dispersed, each happily making plans for what they would do with the extra money.

* * *

Charlie Oswald sat in his car, parked across the street from the ER of Gotham General Hospital. It was getting late, and Gail--beautiful, beautiful Gail--had not yet arrived at work. It was making him edgy. He had just begun to figure out her work schedule, and now, looked like she'd gone and changed it.

He didn't like that. It was as if she didn't want to see him, for some reason. He couldn't understand it--he only wanted to look at her. To watch her. At first, he'd been content with brief glimpses of her going to and from work, once he found out she didn't leave her curtains open at home, but now she was thwarting him of even that little pleasure.

This made twice that she'd disappointed him. The first time was when she turned out not to be home the night he finally worked up the courage to come and see her. He forgave her for that, though. She hadn't been expecting him. This time...it seemed deliberate. He'd have to say something about it. He'd have to bring it to her attention.

He'd have to make her say she was sorry.

* * *

The next day, Rita was dejectedly walking home from school, despairing of ever seeing Mr. J again, when a familiar black sedan pulled up beside her.

"Hi, gorgeous. Need a ride?" a smooth, rich voice called. Her heart soared as she peered into the car's interior and saw the dazzling grin of her Mr. J.

"Oh, Jack! Where have you been, I've missed you so much!" she cried as she slipped into the passenger seat closest to him. He slipped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a delicious, warm kiss.

"I'm sorry, sugar, work's been kicking my butt lately. How'd you like to go grab a soda or something?" he asked, steering with his left hand, his right arm securely around her.

"Aw, I'd love it, but my mom's going to be home in just a little while. Ever since the break-in, she's been working early shifts and she freaks out if I'm not home on time," Rita sighed.

"Smart lady. Listen, you be glad you've got such a nice mom, and don't give her a hard time. But that sure cuts in on our little after-school chats, doesn't it?" he asked, glancing at her with an expression of exaggerated regret.

"Yeah," Rita agreed wistfully. "I really miss you, Mr. J...."

"Me, too, babe."

Rita was silent for a minute, biting her lip, unsure how to say what she wanted to say.

"I...I wish..." she felt herself redden, then plunged ahead.

"I wish we could be together again," she said, hoping against hope he would get what she meant without her having to spell it out.

"Yeah...so, what're we going to do about that?" he asked, casually.

She turned to look at him in excitement. So that night did mean something to him after all!

"I...I don't know. What could we do?"

"Weeell...you can't sneak out. Smart mom's like yours always snap to that bullshit real quick. What else could we do?"

"Uh...I could make up an excuse to go see you?"

"Naw...your mom wouldn't fall for that. Anyway, that wouldn't give us enough time."

"Oh...it wouldn't?" Rita asked, bewildered.

"No, baby! I want to spend another nice, long night with you, have you all to myself, no worries...we can't do that if your mommy's waiting for you to come home." He spoke in an almost hypnotic voice, and when he brought the car to a stop at a red light, he bent his head down and kissed her deeply, this time slipping his tongue into her mouth. She felt her legs turn to Jello, which seemed to be an almost automatic reflex whenever he got close to her.

"Um...I could tell her I was spending the night at Lynne's...."

Jack's eyes widened in fake surprise.

"You'd lie to your mother?" he asked, apparently aghast.

"Uh...well...I guess...I never have, really, but..."

"Oh, no, babe, I don't want you to do that," he said, accelerating through the green light and shaking his head disapprovingly.

"But, what else could we do?" she asked, stumped.

"Well...if your mom went back to working nights...it'd be easy," he explained.

"But, she's scared to leave me alone now!" Rita answered.

"Yeah...but, why did she start working late in the first place?" he asked gently.

"Because the pay is better..."

"Yeah...so, isn't there anything she needs some extra money for?"

"Well, we always need money...but, she was trying to save up to buy me a car."

"Ah...ok. So, if a real good deal on a car came up, maybe she'd be willing to put in a couple of nights to get the dough together, huh?"

"Uh...I guess so. But, it'd have to be pretty cheap, and in good shape. Who'd have a car like that who'd be willing to sell it?"

"It just so happens I've been thinking about trading in this baby for a slightly sportier model," Jack said with a grin. "In fact, I was just looking at some fast little foreign numbers that I've had my eye on for a while. I'd only get a few hundred for a trade in on this thing, even though it's in great shape. I bet your mom could come up with the cash with just a few more late night gigs. And, I bet she'd feel better if you had some wheels, she wouldn't have to worry about you walking home from school by yourself, right?"

"Right..." Rita said thoughtfully.

"And, this is a damn tank, perfect for a beginner to learn to drive in," he said mischievously as he pulled into one of the more secluded spaces in the apartment parking lot and took Rita fully in his arms for a serious kiss. She moaned against him and would have more than willingly laid herself down in the front seat for him, but he cheerfully pulled away, and slid out of the car.

"Come on, babe, let's go see what your mom thinks of the car idea," he urged, opening her door for her.

Rita felt a rush of excitement. The thought of getting to have her man and his car at the same time just about blew her mind....