…Possibly controversial chapter here, kids. Proceed with caution…

To Jayde's immense surprise, the following morning when she rolled over, the first thought that popped into her mind was not Joker's 'conversation' with her the previous night, but rather the fact that she had a splitting headache. With a groan, she closed her eyes tightly against the bright, golden sunlight now spilling into her bedroom from the huge picture window, mentally noting to remind herself about asking for some sort of heavy blanket to drape over it the way Joker had in his room.

Her eyes opened slightly again as this thought passed through her mind and suddenly, she was taking a deep breath in to exhale slowly…Joker. Pieces of his words echoed in the back of her mind as if played through a tape recorder and if she lay still long enough, she could still feel a slight pressure where his hand had been at her neck. A deep shiver flowed through her from her toes to the top of her head and she shuddered, burying herself further into the blankets.

"Don't think I haven't seen the way you look at me…" he had said. "that way you lick these lips…"

As nervous as Jayde was trying to feel about it, she could not stop the tiny smirk that found her face when she thought back to the sensation that had shot through her body when he placed the tip of that knife on her bottom lip. She wanted to pretend like that feeling had been fear, but the longer she thought about it, the more she began to realize that it hadn't been fear at all, but rather excitement.

Still, the thought of getting out of bed and going downstairs to see him made that slight anxiety intensify, but there was nothing she could do about it. She was living in 'his house', after all. Hoping that he would be out in the garage, Jayde finally rose from the bed, groaning when her head threatened to split in half and she decided immediately that her first stop would be the kitchen for a glass of water.

After stumbling into a pair of jeans and baggy sweater, Jayde set out into the hallway but paused when she reached the stairs, doing a slight double-take when her eyes noticed a faint crack in the beige colored wall. Goosebumps spread over her arms against her will so she continued hastily, shivering slightly as she went.

Through the tall glass windows, Jayde could see the curly top of Dotcom's reddish hair so after retrieving a glass of ice water, she walked over to step outside, grinning groggily at him when he looked up from his phone. He smiled, reaching up to take his glasses from the top of his head to place them on his nose.

"Hey," he greeted her, sliding his pack of cigarettes toward her. "Have a good time?"

Jayde laughed somewhat sheepishly after she had lit one, glancing down at her lap before looking over at him. "Yeah, I did. It was fun." She answered honestly, but from the look on Dotcom's face, Jayde could tell he wasn't convinced. She went on, rolling her eyes. "I mean, I had a good time until I came home and Joker…threatened me…" Dotcom let out a little gasp, turning more toward her to lean forward on the table.

"He did? About what?" he asked in an almost excited-sounding voice and Jayde laughed, arching in eyebrow at him.

"I'm…not really sure, to be honest. He was just really…mad for some reason and said stuff like 'don't think I don't see the way you look at me' and…about how I was being careless and thought he was stupid, or something." She explained, shaking her head to look away but when Dotcom hmm-ed in a pensive sort of way, she looked back over at him. A moment later, he laughed, leaning back in the chair.

"Well, you won, girl." He said, winking at her. "You're getting to him…getting under his skin. I guarantee he loses it every time you enter the room and that is saying something. Now, if I were you, I would just keep at it a little bit longer and you guys will be doing the no-pants dance again in no time."

Both burst out laughing simultaneously, their voices bouncing all over the patio, reverberating faintly out to the driveway where the Joker glanced back at the house, his forehead wrinkled in a scowl. It appeared as though Jayde was awake and obviously thought something was pretty damn funny…

"Ay!" Tre now shouted, standing from his knelt position and Joker turned his head, that scowl deepening slightly. "You gonna help me with this or what?"

"Yeah," Joker finally answered and knelt across from Tre, holding the two edges of the old metal together. "I caught Jayde last night as she was coming home." he blurted a few seconds later, his eyes shifting from the wall of the truck to Tre when he stopped what he was doing to look up. It was a mark of their friendship that Tre did not need to ask what he meant by 'caught' and was instead shaking his head.

"That what that crack in the wall is from?" he asked and when Joker didn't answer, he tsk-ed once. "Man…" he began, reaching up to resume tightening the bolt. "You better stay clear of her." He then warned. "Or you're gonna end up doing something you'll regret, I promise you that, Ki." Joker tutted loudly, rolling his eyes.

"Tre, c'mon…I don't regret anything I've ever done." He answered, his eyes now focused rather aimlessly on what Tre was doing and he went on somewhat absentmindedly. "I don't have time to regret anything. When I make a decision to do something, I do it because it benefits me in some way, shape or form. Weak-minded people regret things." Tre had been nodding during all of Joker's previous ramblings and now glanced over at him.

"Yo, Kieron?"

"Hm?"

"Shut the fuck up."

Jayde had just washed her hands in the downstairs bathroom and was now grinning at herself in the mirror once she noticed how her previously straightened hair looked after sleeping on it. As she fell the asleep the night before, she could remember thinking that it would probably be huge and frizzy when she woke up, but it was exactly the opposite. The top half had miraculously stayed straight, however the bottom lengths of her long hair had curled into large, bouncy loopy curls that Jayde couldn't have done on herself if she tried. She was in the middle of poking one or two of them with her finger when the garage door opened and Tre stepped inside, followed shortly by the Joker. Jayde felt her stomach do a nervous flip when he looked over at her.

At first, it looked as though he was about to say something but he then continued on without a word. Although Jayde tried to feel relieved that he hadn't mentioned the night before, she did feel somewhat let down that he didn't at least say hello.

"Hey," she practically called out after him some random wave of insanity, but she immediately cringed. Why had she done that? Just beyond the door, she heard his footfall stop and he reappeared a moment later, walking backwards slowly until he reached the bathroom doorway. His face was blank at first but when Jayde fell silent, his eyebrows slowly began to raise as Jayde hastened to make something up. "Um-…" she started, glancing at the mirror. "How are you?" she then asked in a completely casual voice and she finally smiled when Joker glanced behind himself as if checking to see if there was someone else she might have been speaking to.

"Delightful." He then answered, squinting slightly at her in what Jayde assumed was a suspicious sort of way. "Yourself?"

Her smile expanded slightly and she nodded her head. "I'm alright. Little bit of a headache, but otherwise fine." She kept her voice casual, hoping to show him that she didn't want them to go around all day angry and fuming at each other. Hopefully, he would just so happen to get the point that Jayde still wasn't afraid of him. It seemed Joker finally gave up on trying to be hostile and a small smirk eventually jumped to his face to quirk one of his scars.

"Had a little to drink, did we?" he asked, arching an eyebrow down at her as Jayde exited the bathroom next to him and she shrugged sheepishly.

"A little."

The following few days passed somewhat gradually for Jayde, although it seemed like every time she saw Joker, he was either on the phone or sitting in a different place, writing notes or reading. Jayde could even swear she caught him reading the Bible once, but when she asked him if that's what he was doing, he had snapped at her to 'mind her own business', so that's exactly what she did.

Ever since their confrontation a few days prior, Jayde had been a little more cautious around him, even though Dotcom had told her she should continue to egg him on a bit. Despite that slight feeling of arousal she had experienced that night, there had still been a vague sense of foreboding in his warning so she listened to that for the most part and gave him his distance. However, on the somewhat rare occasion they were alone together, their conversation had stayed relatively friendly…at least as friendly as any conversation with the Joker could have been.

One night, after an absolutely perfect dinner cooked by 'Chef Dotcom', as Jayde had started calling him, she stood from the table to take the dishes in to the kitchen, turning on the water to start rinsing them. The Tre and Dotcom had stayed at the table and were now listening intently to Joker as he spoke in a voice just quiet enough that Jayde could not hear him over the sound of the running sink water. She rolled her eyes when she noticed that Joker had pulled out that black notebook of his again and was now reading something from it before looking to Dotcom, who nodded, then replied something inaudible. Of course, Jayde could not hear them, but had a feeling the moment she shut the water off, all conversation would stop and the three of them would look up at her pointedly. They had been doing this sort of 'hushed conversation' thing around her more often lately.

So in an attempt to catch a little of what they were saying this time, Jayde continued to scrub the same now clean dish, while slowly reaching out to turn the water down gradually, until Joker's voice grew louder. A few seconds later, she noticed that he too had been growing quieter and was now turning his head slowly as he spoke to glare over at her at the sink. She straightened up with a guilty grin, turning off the water completely.

"What was that?" she asked hopefully, but rolled her eyes when Joker simply raised his eyebrows, folding his forearms on the table to stare at her expectantly. "Fine…" she finally groaned and gave up on the dishes to give in and go upstairs. It was obvious Joker was not going to speak again until she had gone.

Jayde could feel Joker's gaze on her back as she walked away toward the stairs and she smirked to herself, wondering if it would be a bad idea to turn and throw him a look. She was already halfway up the stairs so she figured that if he decided to take off running after her, she was at least close to a room that locked from the inside. So she turned her head to glance over her shoulder and sure enough, down at the table, the Joker was watching her from underneath the ridge of his eyebrows, his eyes narrowed like a hawk circling a field mouse. The corner of her lips turned up in a girly smirk when she met his eyes and with that, she turned into her bedroom, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she went.

It had been hours, it seemed, from the last time Jayde left her bedroom and as she turned over to glance at the time, her eyes grew wide when she found it actually had been hours and the time now stood at 12:15 am. The marathon of design shows she had been watching was coming to it's conclusion at one and since curiosity was now killing Jayde, she turned down the sound to creep over to the closed door.

With her ear against the wood, she listened hard for several long seconds for any voices or noises coming from the bottom floor but stood up, frowning slightly when all seemed quiet. Sure enough, upon opening the door, Jayde rolled her eyes when she found that the whole house was dark and it appeared that everyone had already gone to bed. Obviously they had finished their 'meeting' and didn't bother to let her know that she could come out of her room…

After the door was shut again, Jayde made her way into the bathroom to brush her teeth, wincing slightly when she felt a small spasm across her lower abdomen. A second later, she groaned, rolling her eyes; that special time of the month was approaching. Great, she thought somewhat bitterly as she exited the bathroom. Hey, Joker, can I borrow the car to go buy tampons? Even just the thought of saying that to him made her feel awkward.

A comfortable sigh left Jayde as she stepped into her favorite baggy, thin pair of white pajama pants and after replacing her sweater and bra with a long-sleeved shirt, she tossed her dirty clothes into the hamper. However, just as she turned to walk across to the bed, a long shadow caught the corner of Jayde's eye. Apparently, at some point her door had been opened and now the Joker stood in the way, smirking at her in the dark. Jayde wondered fleetingly how she hadn't heard it open, but then remembered Joker telling her how good he was at sneaking up on people. Despite her guilty rush of excitement, she also fought back a shiver of slight apprehension. It was hard to force herself not to jump, but she managed to smirk back instead, rolling her eyes slightly to herself as she turned away from him, thankful that the only light in the room was the blue glow from the television.

"Couldn't sleep?" she asked, walking over to the head of the bed to untuck the covers and blankets, now fully trying to avoid looking at him; the way the shadows hit his face made him look downright demonic and yet…sexy?…Jayde wasn't sure yet. There was a pause on the other side of the room before Joker's raspy voice answered.

"Wasn't trying to."

Jayde laughed to herself, finally turning to look at him once she convinced herself that the butterflies in her stomach were actually from her oncoming period. She walked toward him a few steps, unable to stop herself from reaching out to wrap her hand around the post of her bed and lean into it a little as she sat daintily on the foot of her bed. Before she could even think, her head had tilted to the side and she leaned back on her hands behind her, exposing those hipbones that she knew he was so fond of.

"Well, if you weren't such a pussy, I would say you could come sleep with me, but…" she paused when she noticed Joker's eyes begin to squint and a sly smirk slid across her face when he took a step toward her. He laughed quietly a few times, shaking his head before he took a few steps toward her, his eyes flickering up and down her small frame, once. His tongue was just tracing the thin scar along his bottom lip, when his hand reached out, slowly at first. Jayde's stomach turned over; she had won their game, Joker was about to give in. But instead of sliding it around her waist or even into her hair, Jayde gasped when his fingers closed tightly around her neck and a second later, she was on her back on the floor, groaning when her head banged hard against the carpet. Suddenly Joker was sitting on her stomach and his hand reached out to grip her bottom jaw. Jayde whimpered, closing her eyes to tilt her head back, trying to escape his fingers grasp. From above her, Joker gave an irritated growl at her attempt to escape his hand, tightening his grip until Jayde gave in, opening her eyes to look up at him. He leaned down, lining his eyes up with hers; Jayde felt hot tears gathering at the outer corners when she noticed how dark black his dilated pupils were.

"Ya know, Jayde…" he began, his voice clowny and jumpy, full of blinding rage that practically formed his very words as he leaned down to speak in her ear. "I find it very…difficult to believe that you did not understand me after our little, uh…talkthe other night."

If the grip on her jaw had not been so tight, Jayde would have tried explaining herself or even apologizing but he left no time for this. A half-second later, Joker had turned her onto her stomach and was now suffocating her with his knee in her back, laughing breathlessly as he leaned into it. His hands suddenly reached out, grabbing her wrists to twist them behind her back and that's when it sank in- he was about win the game, his way.

He leaned to the side, after holding her wrists together tightly with one hand, and pulled the thin, long strip of white material tying the canopy to the post of her bed. More tears immediately met Jayde's eyes when she realized how precise Joker was in his movements, how he was not at all clumsy with this sort of scenario and she let out a sob; he had obviously done this before. The instant she felt him wrap that fabric around her wrists, she cried out, struggling against him the hardest she had yet.

"Joker, no. Please stop…" she sobbed, trying hard to bring her knees up to push him off of her, but either he was much too heavy or way too strong. His knee pushed further into her back and she took a frantic breath in when he leaned down, placing his face next to hers.

"No." he growled murderously in her ear, not even bothering to keep his voice down at this point. "You wanted this, Jayde, don't you remember? This is your fault." With the white material tied tightly around her wrists, Joker was free to let go of her hands, pulling his knife from his pocket as he went to her face. "All those times you gave me the uh-…eyes? The times you came downstairs wearing…nothing. You were begging me for it, hoping I would give in…" He laughed loudly, madly, in her ear as he reached down to his belt to undo it. "And look, Jayde! You got what you wanted- I'm giving in."

Jayde could not agree less with him and tried to cry out and say that this was not what she wanted at all but he would not have listened, no matter how loud she screamed. Her voice broke when she sobbed, struggling hard against the bonds he had made and she practically bawled as she listened to him undo his jeans.

"Please!" she cried. "I'm sorry!" Behind her Joker laughed at her plead and Jayde felt herself reach a level of hysterics when she heard the soft click of his knife.

"You're sorry?" Joker asked, giggling to himself when he reached out to tug Jayde's hips up off the floor. "Nooo…C'mon, Jayde, I mean, I know I'm a simple guy but, I know you're not sorry, this is what you wanted! Isn't it…" His knees had each found a place, pressing deeply into the back of Jayde's legs, holding her down as he used his knife to cut open the back of her thin pajama pants, exposing to him that she was not actually wearing underwear. He hmm-ed at this, reaching out to grab the back of Jayde's hair so tightly, several strands broke free from her scalp. "ISN'T IT?" he then repeated himself in a shout, yanking Jayde's head back sharply.

"No!" she finally screamed. The pain from where he was holding her legs apart was almost too much to bear but behind her, Joker laughed again at both her attempt to struggle out of his vice-like grip and her futile lie.

"No? Well, if you didn't want this, then why aren't you wearing any underwear, hm?" he asked in her ear, his voice now quiet and clowny but a second later, Jayde let out a short, pained scream when he forced himself into her from behind. "-Lying slut." He muttered to himself with a growl, staring down at the place where he was now pounding into her.

Tears streamed down Jayde's face as she gasped; this did not even remotely feel good. Pain such that she had never felt before radiated through her body, down into her toes and fingertips from the place where Joker was taking thorough advantage of her but when she tried to rest her head on the carpet, Joker yanked it back, bristling with rage. A second later, he let go and Jayde took a deep breath in, hanging her head forward, growing lightheaded immediately from the lack of tension. She could hear and feel him moving behind her, but she did not dare look over her shoulder at him. Her ears had started ringing so loudly, she could not hear the soft 'slap, slap, slap' of leather through belt loops, and had only just opened her eyes when Joker's worn leather belt wrapped swiftly around her throat.

His hips continued to pound unremittingly against her while Joker slipped the loose end through the buckle, tightening it around her neck until he had a crude, degrading leash on her and he pulled, yanking her head back again. Jayde sobbed, trying to take another breath but it caught in her chest as he tightened the hold on her windpipe, giggling to himself as she struggled to breathe.

A thick, cloudy haze began to swim through Jayde's brain as she slipped closer to unconsciousness and all she could hear was Joker's breathing just behind her. It sounded ragged, heavy and uneven. He did not moan or pant, or make any indication that it felt good to him and Jayde realized as her eyes slid shut that this was not about sex or getting pussy- this was about getting even. She sobbed weakly one last time before she felt her mind begin to slip away, but before she could be rescued by the blackness where pain did not exist, Joker pulled out of her abruptly and rose from the carpet. As much as Jayde wanted to collapse onto her stomach, the fear of enraging Joker further by such a simple move was too great so she stayed still, her chest and shoulders against the floor.

It seemed Joker was redoing his jeans and as Jayde crouched there, trembling violently from head to toe, she could feel hot liquid of some sort dripping, running down her thighs. She forced away the urge to vomit by closing her eyes, taking a deep, head-clearing breath. Above her, Joker sniffed in an unaffected sort of way and his left shoe came to rest on her lower back. With a slow push, he knocked her onto her stomach where she immediately curled into a ball, her eyes still shut tight.

"Just remember, Jayde..." he snarled, adding heavy emphasis on the 'd' in her name. "This was your fault…you brought it on yourself."

It could have been hours, maybe even days, that Jayde lay there on her side, curled up into a tiny ball with her hands behind her back. Her eyes were puffy and half-lidded, focused mindlessly on a spot in the carpet before her. Several moments after the Joker had left her room, distantly, she heard the garage door squeak open then slam shut, although it was fairly hard to hear anything over the sound of her heartbeat rushing in her ears. Jayde's body ached and throbbed from the inside, out, and she let out a long, exhausted breath as her eyes slid shut, finally. Maybe she could just stay there forever and sleep, maybe eventually just die there on the floor in her room by herself.

Jayde had almost slipped off to unconsciousness when her foggy brain registered muffled, quiet voices just before a hand came to rest on her shoulder. She jumped violently, her eyes flying open as she whimpered, struggling to back up when the Joker reached out to grab her again. However, the hand disappeared and a moment later, a deeper, somewhat comforting voice spoke gently to her.

"Ay, girl. Shh." Tre muttered in a voice that closely resembled a whisper. "He's gone. It's just me and Dotcom."

Jayde blinked a few times, lifting her head as best she could only to find that Tre was kneeling in front of her with the ashen-faced Dotcom just behind him, his face a mixed array of emotions as he glanced over his shoulder. Her head swam aggressively so she rested it back down on the carpet, her face wrinkling in tears as Tre moved her gently to untie her fabric handcuffs. A whimper of pain left Jayde when her shoulders finally relaxed and she felt them pop a few times as she folded her arms over her middle, finally realizing how badly her midsection hurt. From above her, she vaguely heard Tre's unnervingly calm voice.

"We need to get her out of here before he gets back." He murmured to Dotcom before turning again to look down at Jayde. With one arm under her knees and the other behind her back, Tre scooped her up against his broad chest before rising from the carpet. Dotcom walked ahead of him, opening the bathroom door to turn on the light.

"Bring her in here, I'm going to help her clean up." He requested, holding the door open wide enough for Tre to step in. Jayde had no idea what he meant by that, but before she could ask, Tre was looking down at her in his arms, raising his eyebrows.

"Think you can stand?" he asked, and only once Jayde nodded did he set her down gently, keeping one arm around her back at first to make sure she would not collapse. Dotcom had also reached out to her and now had his hand wrapped around hers, guiding her further into the room. The combination of lights and standing after being down for so long caused Jayde's vision to swim again and she tightened her grip on Dotcom's hand, wrinkling her nose slightly when more tears threatened to overtake her. Dotcom looked to Tre, wrapping his arm around her tenderly to help her stay up.

"Go to her dresser and get something loose and warm." He instructed. The door closed quietly behind Tre so Dotcom now turned his attention to Jayde, gazing at her tear-streaked face as she shivered deeply, clutching herself tightly with her arms. It seemed he wasn't sure what to say so he turned from her after flipping on the warm water tap, but when he returned a second later with a washcloth, Jayde finally found some energy to ask a question.

"What's that for?" she asked hoarsely, watching Dotcom as he wet the cloth, twisting it upon itself to wring the excess water out. He looked over at her somewhat awkwardly before his eyes glanced downward.

"Well, I-…You're bleeding," he finally explained. Jayde looked down a second later, only to whimper loudly, reaching out to clutch the edge of the counter as she threatened to pass out again. The formerly white pajama pants that she had been wearing were now soaked with blood, some of it dried and brownish colored, the fresher stains still bright red. Her stomach churned as she swayed, but Dotcom reached out to her again, wrapping his arm around her back to keep her standing. "It's ok, Jayde, just stand still and try not to think about it."

Jayde obeyed with great effort and it truly stood as a testament to their excellent friendship that she felt no hesitation in removing the blood-soaked linen pants for Dotcom to help wipe dried blood from the inside of her thighs and all the way down to her ankles. Above him, Jayde had begun crying again, even after trying so hard not to and she shivered violently as Joker's evil voice suddenly echoed in the back of her mind.

"You're still bleeding, Jayde, I don't…I don't know what's wrong." He said a few moments later, rising from a knelt position to rinse his hands off in the sink but Jayde shook her head, taking a deep, steadying breath.

"It's my period." She explained, her voice hoarse and strained from screaming. "I was feeling it earlier and I guess…" her nose wrinkled again and she swallowed hard, closing her eyes to lean against the counter; she couldn't bring herself to explain to him that the Joker's actions had forced it to start early. She jumped with a gasp when a gentle knock came from the door and Dotcom opened it only a crack, wide enough for Tre to pass some clothes in to them before it closed again. He turned, handing the clean pajama pants and long sleeved shirt to her, but held onto the sweatshirt until she had dressed.

Out in the room, Tre was sitting on the bed with his hands linked together, staring at the carpet. He looked up as she and Dotcom stepped out and he rose to follow them to the door, turning off her tv as they went, but the moment they reached the hallway, Jayde locked her knees, shaking her head.

"No, no." she whimpered, reaching out to place her free hand on the frame of the door as Dotcom held the other. "The second we get down to the garage, he's gonna be out there and-…" Panic was beginning to swell up in her again like a sickness, her heart racing slightly as her paranoid and traumatized mind started coming up with nightmares. "What if he's still here, he's probably just waiting-" She backed up another step but Tre was right behind her. He placed his hands on her shoulders gently.

"He left, Jayde. I made sure he was gone before I came up here. But you hafta leave before he does come back." He assured her, looking down at her as if to try and tell her that no one on Earth knew the Joker better than he did and that he was being honest with her. "I'm right here, I'm gonna make sure you guys leave in one piece."

Finally, this seemed to calm Jayde's absolutely shot nerves for the time being so she allowed Dotcom to take her hand again and lead her toward the stairs to go down and cross to the garage. The house was completely dark still and eerily quiet as it neared two-thirty in the morning, but it did seem as though Joker really had left and taken the Escalade. As they stepped out, the empty spot was the first thing Jayde noticed and her heart sank as she hastily wondered how she was supposed to leave with no car. A moment later, the sound of keys caught her attention and behind her, Tre was pulling the keys to his truck from his pocket. He handed them to Dotcom.

"Take her home. I'll stay here and deal with him when he gets back. Just call when you make it to her place so I know what's goin' on, a'right?" Tre instructed as professionally as the Joker would have done. Jayde turned to look up at him and he did the same, down at her, sighing slightly. "I'm sorry, girl." He put simply but before Jayde could even try to get her mind working enough to come up with a thank you, Dotcom was pulling on her arm gently, urging her to keep moving.

As they climbed into the bulletproof truck, Tre stood in the garage, watching from the shadows until the engine started and they pulled away, out into the dead of the night. Jayde's head came to rest on the passenger window and she took a deep breath, closing her eyes once the truck had made it out onto the street and was now gaining speed. Across from her, Dotcom glanced over from the driver's seat.

"Jayde, I'm so sorry." He finally said, his voice quiet and gentle as if in an attempt to not startle her with the sudden noise. A soft hiccup left Jayde as she struggled not to start crying again; she was just too tired.

"Why are you sorry?" she asked a few moments later, turning her head to look over at him and he shrugged, running an anxious hand through his curly hair.

"It was my idea for-…I mean, I encouraged you to…" he was stammering in an effort to not finish his sentence with something that would upset her further but Jayde had closed her eyes again, resting her head back against the window.

"Don't be sorry. It was my fault." She answered. Her eyes slid open again slowly to watch a few dark trees pass by on the right. Joker made that perfectly clear.

It seemed like days before the wheels of the heavy truck pulled the vehicle into the basement of her apartment and once Dotcom had parked, he unbuckled his seat belt, turning to look at her as she did the same. She sniffed, suddenly realizing how absolutely exhausted she was and how nothing sounded better at the moment than just crawling into her own bed, alone.

"Thanks, Dotcom." She murmured sleepily, but as she opened the car door, Dotcom opened his as well, shaking his head.

"No, I'm not just going to leave you. I'm coming up too."

So with his hand placed gently on the inside of her elbow as extra support for her exhausted body, he walked with her toward the stairs to go up, taking their time on the six flights to keep from growing winded. Several times, as they climbed, Jayde felt the urge to just sit down and sleep in the stairwell but she fought it off, knowing her bed was so close and that Dotcom would never allow her to stop there.

At the door to her apartment, Jayde watched through a somewhat delirious haze as Dotcom pulled the lone, spare key to her place from his pocket, unlocking the door to let them both inside. It was dark at first, but something about the pitch blackness caused Jayde's stomach to clench up when she mentally pictured the Joker standing on the other side of the room, waiting for them. She quickly flipped on the hall light, sighing with relief at the sight of the empty living room and kitchen.

Her apartment was exactly as she had left it almost a month prior, although a clear inch of dust covered nearly everything. At this point, Jayde could care less if there was cobwebs with giant spiders all over her bed; she just wanted to sleep and try to forget the rapid deterioration or she and Joker's supposed 'friendship'. As she reached out to grip the wall and walk herself into her bathroom, she flipped on the next light, her eyes sliding down to her left wrist where an ugly, tender new bruise made its appearance, dark and irritated red against her olive toned skin. She ignored it at the time, opening her medical cabinet to thankfully find the box of tampons she had forgotten the last time she was there.

While she was in the bathroom, Dotcom waited on her bed and he looked up when she emerged several minutes later, smiling sympathetically up at her as she sighed. In the dark of her bedroom, Jayde noticed that his phone was still glowing as if he had just been using it so she assumed that he had just called Tre to let him know what was going on. Her curiosity got the better of her yet again.

"Is he back yet?" she asked, climbing into the bed as Dotcom scooted down enough to give her space to lay down. He shook his head in response and Jayde sighed, her stomach churning again; that meant he was still out there somewhere, fuming. After several long moments of silence, Jayde lay down, turning onto her side to face the bathroom where Dotcom sat on the edge of her bed. Her eyes slid closed when he reached out, lightly placing his hand on her back to move it up and down, slowly, in a very soothing way.

"I think I should stay with you tonight, Jayde. I don't want to leave and something-…" he went to say but Jayde rolled onto her back, shaking her head, interrupting him.

"No, you have to go back." She immediately said. "He's going to be mad enough as it is that you two helped me. You have to go help Tre deal with him." Silence fell between the two of them until finally, it seemed Dotcom agreed with her. He stood up a second later after he had given her arm a gentle, encouraging squeeze.

"Alright, well…Make sure you keep your phone close by so you can call me if you need me." he paused, raising his eyebrows when she opened her eyes to look up at him. "I mean it, Jayde, don't be a hero. If you need me, call. I'll be right here."

After Jayde had agreed to use her phone in case of an emergency, Dotcom leaned over and kissed her forehead in a friendly, heartening way and left the apartment, taking her key with him. Now, Jayde was alone again and for a moment she considered running after him and asking him to stay, that she had changed her mind when the silence became almost too much to handle. But what she had told him was true; Joker would be back to that house soon, more than likely looking for her. When he found out she was no longer there and that his own closest team-members had helped her escape, Jayde was positive the anger that exploded from him would be monumental to say the least. She shuddered violently as she rose from her bed a second later, taking her heavy comforter and pillow with her to the couch where she curled up, deciding that the noise and light from the television might be enough to comfort and distract her.

However, the moment she lay down and closed her eyes, even with the tv on, her brain was no match for the flood of recent memories that poured through the flood gates of her mind and before she could stop herself, she was crying into her pillow, trembling from head to toe with poorly suppressed sobs.

"Lying slut."

Joker's cruel words echoed in her mind.

"This is your fault…You brought it on yourself."

After nearly an hour of laying there, sniffling quietly to herself in the dark, Jayde finally fell into an uneasy slumber, although she was positive, as she drifted off, that she had not seen the last of the Joker…and that he hadn't seen the last of her, either.

A/N: I understand that I may not have pleased everyone with this chapter, but I have one request. If you absolutely hated it or did not agree with it, please send me a private message to vent. No flames on the reviews, please. = ] I love ya guys. LEAVE ME YOUR LOVE/HATE IF YOU WANT THE NEXT CHAPTER! -QoM