Chapter Two: Him

She wished for silence.

The constant hollering around her was unbearable; she was bombarded with questions and statements of "ARE YOU OKAY?" "DO YOU NEED MEDICAL ATTENTION?" "IM SO SORRY THIS HAPPENED"-all with that snide undertone of "please don't sue us".

She wasn't stupid, she knew that's what it really came down too. Yet she kept quiet and answered in nods and tiny smiles just waiting for them all to GO AWAY.

She couldn't get the events that just happened out of her head. She could still feel his hot breathe against her neck, and if she rubbed her wrists together. She could feel the indentations where his fingers were when he grabbed her. She pressed into the forming bruises every now and then, as a reassurance that it actually did happen and it wasn't a figment of her imagination. She wasn't scared- which didn't really shock her; as a gotham-ite for more than a year she was used to the constant violence and how it shrank a man's courage down to the size of a penny. She had worked hard on building that wall of steel nerves and no clown was going to knock it down…at least not on the first try. Her thoughts were probed once again with the loud clacking of shoes rushing into the medical wing of Arkham Asylum.

"Harleen… hello, again I can't express to you how sorry we are that such a thing happened. And we want to ask you if you have any interest as staying aboard with us at Arkham, and I also want to express that I understand if you want to terminate your time with us before it has even started-" Dr. Joan Leland stated with a monotone voice, as if she was used to interns dropping like flies at the slightest interference. Harleen had just rolled her eyes as she hopped off the medical table and straightened her black skirt.

"Thank you for the concern, but I don't think I'll be leaving Arkham any time soon". Harleen had said with a slight Brooklyn drawl.

"A-are you sure?" Dr. Leland questioned, as she cocked an eyebrow in curious suspicion.

"Yes. Arkham is a home for the mentally unstable and violent individuals: I wouldn't come here and expect everything to peachy and perfectly safe. I applied to come here and work in a cage of lions; it's not that shocking that they would attack. It's going to take a lot more than a little shuffle with a criminal to scare me off." Harleen stated, as she reached for her jacket.

"If you don't mind me asking…why do you want to work here so badly?" asked in a concerned tone. "I mean… most interns come here because they can't find any other job or they need another credit to pass their class so they can move onto something they'd rather do. Why Arkham?"

"I've always had a thing for extreme personalities. I guess in a way I'm one too: but I've been given a chance because I've decided to do something fruitful with my quirks. I think they just need a chance, and I want to be someone who can give that to them. We all deserve second chances, don't we Dr. Leland?"

"You can call me Joan, Ms. Quinnzel… I'll see you tomorrow." Joan had said, biting down at her growing grin. She wouldn't let it show as she turned and walked down the corridor leaving Harleen to finally take in the silence with a smile.

*….*…*

"E-excuse me?" Dr. Eglebert stumbled.

Dr. Eglebert was a stumbling man. His fat fingers stumbled over the file pages that rested before him, his fat gullet grazed the edge of the metal table that he sat at, his fat fat head stared straight in a scared pose as his eyes stayed glued to the man he sat across from… He was a stumbling man who stumbled into a rather scary conversation with a very scary man. never referred to his patient as a man of course, but rather as his I.D of #4479.

"You heard me…" replied his patient, who sat across from him with his feet on the table. He always had a disregard for rules and will always have a disregard for his doctor. If he could stretch his hands out he would wrap them around 's throat ; he would watch the man stumble out small meaningless words like "please" and "I have a family" or something else equally as useless. Sadly, he was restrained by a straitjacket.

"Surely you don't mean that..."Dr. Eglebert stated as his eyes darted from his patient's to down the panic button that was conveniently placed on the table, and back to the glaring dark green eyes of Patient #4479.

"If I didn't mean it, then I wouldn't have said it. And I'm a sincere kinda guy, Doc."

Even in manacles, Patient #4479 was still menacing. He leaned forward and licked his lips tracing the scars on his mouth with the tip of his tongue. There was fresh blood on the corners of his mouth- either from when the guards had punched him for his little act on the intern, or from the intern herself who had nearly broke his nose. It tasted bitter, and that's the way he liked it.

"You know I'm not capable of getting that done, Patient #4479…" His doctor declared as he adjusted his glasses-trying desperately to gain control back. Well, he never really had control in the first place. Patient #4479 always had the upper hand. Always.

"I have a name, Doc. Trying using it for once…"

"Joker, I am your doctor and I cannot grant you what you are asking".

"I'm not asking for much. I'm just asking for you to drop dead so that I can have Harleen Quinnzel as my doctor." The Joker retorted with a laugh at the end.

"She's not qualified yet, she doesn't have her PhD Degree yet—"

"Then give her one." The Joker snarled.

"Why such the sudden interest in the new intern? Does this have anything to do with your earlier attack on her?"

"Everything to do with it. I know her." He snapped, adding emphasis on 'her'. "How about this I'll make it simple for ya'… for everyday that isn't my doctor- whoever is my doctor will die." The Joker laughed out as he stood towering over the . "Starting-with you". He grinned as the physician practically ran for the panic button. The Joker slammed his head onto the hand of before the button could be pressed. Patient #4479 wrangled around as the doctor raced to the door yelling as he clutched his throbbing hand. It only took 50 seconds for The Joker to get out of the white ties and rush over to the doctor. He grabbed a fist full of the doctor's hair as he pulled back and slammed the man's face into the metal door.

"Today's your lucky day, Doc." The Joker whispered into the Doctors ear as he pressed the man's forehead roughly into the frame. "You get to deliver my message. Which means you get to live for now. I don't believe in shooting the messenger-So I want you to go out there and get me my new doctor. She's a physician I'd kill for!" The Joker laughed as he released the man.

Dr. Eglebert never ran faster in his laugh-and The Joker, never laughed harder.