The next morning, even though Joker had plenty of other things to be doing, he could not have been found in his office or even downstairs but instead, standing at the foot of Jayde's bed with his arm raised, trembling with suppressed laughter. Above his head, in his hand, sat an air horn, primed and ready but he was hesitating, wondering fleetingly if now that Jayde had kicked his ass once in the past, she might be a little blood thirsty…She could very well jump up out of her bed and throttle him to death within moments, and he was imagining this but then shook his head, laughing silently at his stupidity. Please…Had he forgotten who he was?

A half-second later, Joker turned when he heard the door squeak lightly behind him and Tre's head appeared around the edge, frowning slightly. A huge, stupid grin spread slowly over Joker's face when Tre's eyes moved from his face up to his hand and the bright red air horn in it and he took a step inside, crossing his arms over his chest. After a nod from Tre, Joker cringed when his thumb pressed down hard on the button, releasing an incredibly loud burst of noise and several things happened at the same time.

In the bed in front of them, Jayde jumped up with a scream and moved to roll to the side, but must have forgotten how close she was sleeping to the edge. So the moment she fell off the bed with a thud onto the carpet on the far side, Joker and Tre burst into the loudest, most ridiculous laughter she had ever heard in her life. Tre had thrown his head back, clutching the dresser for support while Joker was practically bent double, holding the post of her bed to keep himself standing.

Across the room, Jayde sat up, blowing some of her frizzy hair away from her face as she stood up to quickly get back under the covers while they were distracted and had just scooted between the sheets to lay back down when they quieted. Tre was wiping the corners of his eyes on the sleeves of his long-sleeved shirt while Joker held one hand to his still tender side, breathing hard and giggling slightly.

"I don't know why you insist on doing that, Joker." She groaned from against the pillows, closing her eyes as she tucked her hands under them. "It's really not that funny…" From the foot of the bed, Jayde could hear Joker laugh loudly as she finally got comfortable again then felt a bit of movement on her covers at the foot of the bed.

"Ya know? You're right. It's actually hilarious. Now get up," he started and before Jayde could even grab onto the blankets, his hands had whipped them right off and there she was, laying on the bare bed in nothing but a tank top and her black, lacey boy cut underwear. Joker and Tre both fell silent.

At first, she wanted to gasp and move to cover herself but a moment later, she decided that this could be Joker's punishment for waking her up; watching her roll over onto her stomach, arch her back and groan into her pillow. Jayde grinned widely when Joker failed to finish his sentence and instead tossed the comforter back over her to leave the room abruptly with Tre closely on his heels.

At the table downstairs, Joker stopped, pacing slightly as his hand ran through his messy hair, when Tre walked into the kitchen, laughing over his shoulder.

"I bet you didn't see that coming." He commented, returning to hand the Joker a short glass of orange juice that he drained in moments before setting it on the table behind him, crossing his arms to glare at the other side of the room.

"Did you?" he asked, glancing at Tre as he shook his head. "Awfully unfair of her though, don't you think?"

"Unfair, even though you just scared the life out of that poor girl?" Both Joker and Tre jumped slightly, startled out of their reminiscing when Dotcom spoke from above them, walking sleepily to the stairs. Obviously, the commotion had woken him and he was now placing his glasses on the bridge of his nose groggily. "What'd she do?" he then asked, passing them on his way to the kitchen. Tre laughed, while Joker rolled his eyes.

"Oh, ya know…I went to rip the covers off her bed and she's laying there wearing nothing…" He went on to explain rather bitterly but looked over when he heard Dotcom snort through his nose. When he turned from the fridge, his face bore a somewhat proud smirk and Joker could practically hear him thinking "'Atta girl…"

After Dotcom had stepped outside, Joker turned back to the table to lean over the notes that had taken up permanent residency there but practically cringed when he heard a door open upstairs…he had not yet forced his brain to stop showing him what her delicate little heart-shaped ass looked like in that underwear. She was now stepping off the stairs behind him…Joker could smell her. He took a quiet, deep breath in when the wind that trailed behind her wafted the scent of her coconut perfume in his direction. A second later, Joker cleared his throat, furrowing his eyebrows at the blueprints before him.

"So what was the main point behind you deciding to wake me up?" her voice called out from the kitchen as she poured herself some coffee and finally, Joker stood up, looking to Tre before over to her. He shrugged, tossing one of his hands.

"Well, you put me in my bed last night, so it's only fair that I get you out of yours this morning." He answered, smirking when Jayde's face fell and several moments of silence went by while she tried to process his answer.

"…That makes no sense whatsoever." She finally said, rolling her eyes as she put a spoonful of sugar into her hot, steaming coffee. Joker laughed, turning back to the table again.

"It doesn't have to, Jayde."

Out on the porch, Jayde rolled her eyes at Dotcom when he laughed quietly at the look on her face. After offering her a cigarette, he lit his own, leaning back in the chair as she did the same, rocking her head to both sides to try and crack her neck. Once she had settled into the chair, Dotcom looked over.

"So you pulled the old 'in-the-underwear' trick on Joker…" he commented, laughing when Jayde shook her head, exhaling the smoke she had just inhaled.

"No, he pulled the old 'rude-awakening' trick on me so I retaliated." She answered, rolling her eyes when he continued to laugh.

"You guys are so becoming friends again…" he somewhat mocked a moment later, grinning at her from across the table when she looked over to glare at him. She then looked down at the smoldering cigarette in her fingers.

"Not really." She said after a pause. "I just got tired of trying to avoid him and having all that hostility in the house."

Across the table, Dotcom was giving her a not-so-convinced look from behind his glasses. "Mmhmm…"

Nearly twenty minutes later, Jayde and Dotcom rose from the table once their cigarettes had been finished to step back inside, only to find that Joker had now disappeared, leaving only Tre munching his way through a bowl of cereal. He looked up from his magazine only to swallow first before nodding at Jayde.

"Says he wants you up in his office," he put simply then looked back down, just missing the huge eye roll Jayde gave at this information. Going up to Joker's office was about the last thing she wanted to do at this point since being so rudely awakened had ended up making her rather cranky. She had a feeling that Joker would not be so patient with her biting, sarcastic attitude that morning. But figuring that he would not wait very long for her to meet him upstairs before he came to find her, Jayde went over to the stairs with her fresh cup of coffee, yawning as she knocked on the door twice. From the other side, deep into the room, Jayde heard Joker's voice call out.

"Who is it?" he cried in a very high-pitched muffled voice and Jayde rolled her eyes yet again, taking a sip from her mug.

"Its me." she grumbled, jumping slightly when the door flew open, revealing the tall Joker, grinning from ear to ear down at her like he did when something had worked out to his advantage.

"Oh." He began, stepping aside to allow her space to walk through. "Please, come in."

Jayde obeyed, stepping through the door, only to follow him as he walked briskly across the room, to plop down into the tall computer chair to turn and continue grinning at her while she took a seat on the rolling stool. She looked up at him, but when he did not speak for several seconds, she raised her eyebrows at him.

"Yeah?"

The grin on Joker's face disappeared with such haste that it was almost as if it had never been there in the first place. His scars drooped a bit when he rolled his eyes, turning back to the desk to grab a written-on piece of paper and begin folding it.

"Well, Jayde, I actually need you to make a call for me," he began to explain, and was about to go on when Jayde cut across him, her curiosity getting the better of her yet again.

"To who?" she immediately asked, smirking when Joker sighed, hanging his head slightly. She could practically hear him grinding his teeth.

"To our old friend Olivia Mitchell." He answered finally, but went on before she could interrupt again. "Now, no questions until I'm done, yes?" he asked, raising his eyebrows as he leaned forward slightly and Jayde instantly answered with an audible 'yes', knowing he would not go on until she had said this. Once she had agreed, he nodded, leaning back to cross one of his ankles over his other knee. "So, here's the deal. I need you to call her up and tell her that you've been having some uh…problems and that you would like to meet for lunch or…coffee or whatever it is girls do to talk." At first, Jayde wanted to jump in and ask what 'problems' he was referring to but then remembered what she had just agreed not to do. Luckily, he went on.

"You need to tell her that the Joker has been bothering you again." He proceeded to explain, but at this, Jayde could not resist.

"And that's a lie…how?" she asked, but backed up a foot or so, grinning when Joker growled, glaring at her. Fortunately, he ignored her comment and continued, handing her the piece of paper.

"Just show this to her but don't let her keep it. Just tell her to keep her eyes open for you and to keep her phone nearby so you can call if uh…the scary Joker comes to, ya know…harass you…"

After avoiding another few smart-ass remarks and listening intently to Joker's instructions, Jayde was finally leaving his office with him just behind her, following her out into the hallway. Once she had disappeared into her bedroom down the hall to call the detective, Joker meandered downstairs and out into the garage where he found Tre, smoking a cigarette as he sat on the tailgate of his enormous truck. When he spotted Joker, he offered him a smoke but put the pack back in his pocket when he shook his head, holding up a hand.

"You give her that letter?" he asked after a few moments, glancing up when Joker nodded slowly, gazing out at the driveway, smirking at his own cleverness. Tre rolled his eyes, taking a long drag from his cigarette while silence fell between them and Joker rocked back on his heels, sliding his hands into his pockets.

Writing that letter early that morning, Joker had nearly gagged several times at his ability to be sickeningly romantic when he wanted to be. Even a few times, he had considered throwing away the damn thing and saying 'fuck it' but honestly, he was still working up to the day when Jayde would let him at least put his arms around her again so he had kept at it, knowing she would most certainly be reading it before showing it to the detective. He just hoped she would look past the weird parts to the 'secret' little message he had put in there. His ability to be mushy gushy definitely paid off sometimes and this was one of those instances. A wily, cunning grin spread across his face; He was just so fucking smart.

Since Joker had given Jayde the instructions that she was to drive the Escalade to the city, park in her garage, then walk to the Starbucks a few blocks away, he pulled the keys to the Cadillac from his pocket when she emerged from the house twenty minutes later. Jayde was just approaching on his left side so he held them out with one finger, then looked over when she grabbed them. He was grinning and it took a lot of effort to force himself not to glance down to see what she was wearing now. However, Jayde was looking back up at him blankly, arching one eyebrow as she waited for his immanent, characteristic phrase. When he opened his mouth to speak, Jayde cut across him.

"Don't do anything stupid." They both said simultaneously, Jayde rolling her eyes while Joker squinted slightly in a glare. "Yeah, I got it." She went on to add, turning from the Joker and Tre to climb into the car. Joker watched her go without another word, wondering if and how much her attitude would change when she read that 'creepy' letter from her 'stalker'…But then again, what if she had already read it?

Fifteen minutes down the road, Jayde groaned, resting her head back against the seat, honestly a little surprised to find herself still in a mildly bad mood. The wheels of the Escalade had just touched Gotham asphalt when she imagined how much she would rather be back at the house in her bed, still asleep. Going to meet with the detective this early, when she was so moody, to go and lie about a bunch of stuff seemed exhausting and rather daunting. This would not be the first time she had lied her way through an entire conversation but for some reason or another, Jayde was just too tired for this.

The Cadillac slowed gradually until it stopped at a red light and Jayde sighed, tilting her head back and to the side to glance at the passenger seat to make sure she had brought her wallet and phone. Luckily, she had it but in her grumpy hurry to leave the house, she hadn't really noticed that letter Joker had given her to show Detective Mitchell. She was somewhat surprised she hadn't even thought of reading it just in case she needed to know what it said, so with her curiosity killing her, she reached over to unfold it.

Artfully, across the top of the page, Joker had seemingly stained a bit of red ink or…blood in small droplets and Jayde had to admire his tenacity…then again, it very well could have been actual blood; Jayde just hoped it was his. Her eyes continued scanning the page until she noticed her name, drawn in the same fashion as the tattoo on the small of her back. It read-

"My dearest and most precious Jayde,

It's been a long time since we've seen each other, no? Well, wait…Let me rephrase- It's been a long time since you have seen me. In fact, I've seen you quite often lately, but you tend to look straight through me. Funny how people don't see things until they're right in front of their face…

It really saddens me to think that we had to be pulled apart so abruptly like that, especially when I have never been more certain about whether a person belongs with me. And make no mistake, Jayde…You were made for me, and I, for you.

Your flawless beauty is only surpassed by your grace and intelligence and that is something truly hard to come by these days. I am certain, beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is no one on this earth quite like you…and that there is no one quite like me. This begs the principle, 'unstoppable force meets immovable object'. You and I, we can change things, forever.

I can't wait for you to see me…you beautiful girl.

Your most faithful and sincere, Joe Kerr"

Suddenly, Jayde jumped, dropping the letter when a loud horn sounded from the car behind her and upon looking up, she found that the light had already been green and was now just turning yellow. Gritting her teeth, she glanced in the rearview mirror at the stupid asshole behind her before pulling through the yellow light, leaving him at the red. Her mind was spinning, practically reeling after reading Joker's…'love note' and despite the somewhat creeped out feeling she got from imagining if he had been serious, she noticed that her heart was beating incredibly fast and her stomach was alive with butterflies. How much of that had he meant? Was it all bullshit? Was it all true? Jayde could remember, a while ago, Joker telling her that he always knew exactly what to say because it was mostly bullshit, but something seemed different about this. With a determined nod of her head, Jayde made a mental note to ask him about it later and not be nervous about feeling awkward around him. She had several questions now…she just hoped he would be willing to answer them.

It was not long before Jayde had parked the Escalade and now found herself walking toward the Starbucks, barely noticing where she was going, almost bumping into people several times along her way. For the life of her, Jayde could not stop rerunning the words from Joker's letter in her mind and although the sweetness from it felt as though it should make her happy, she could not believe that he had meant any of what he had said. There was just no way he could've truly felt that way, especially after…

"Jayde!"

She stopped in her tracks, followed shortly by her heart when she turned to recognize the tall, brown haired detective seated at an outside table with a large cup of coffee, smiling up at her. It was a good thing Jayde had been looking so distracted and not walking along grinning stupidly to herself as she had completely failed to even notice the woman. Forcing a grin onto her face, she pulled out the chair across from her to sit down.

"Do you want some coffee?" Olivia asked a moment later, motioning to her own cup before Jayde shook her head; she wanted this to be over as soon as possible.

"Uh…No, thanks." She answered, holding up a hand but then continued when Olivia gave off a confused frown, leaning back in her chair slightly. "I really just came to show you this. I got it yesterday and…" pulling the note from the inside of her jacket, she handed it over, her eyes scanning the detectives face as she began to reading. "I don't really think it means much but…" she went on to say, but of course, the policewoman looked up after mere moments of reading, frowning.

"Jayde, this is serious. This means he's targeting you again." She immediately said and it took a lot for Jayde not to roll her eyes. Yeah, no shit. Olivia went on, reading from the note. "'I can't wait for you to see me soon, you beautiful girl.'? Jayde, you've got to let me take this. Let me run it for prints and DNA from the blood!" Her voice raised momentarily and both of them glanced around before returning to the conversation with more quiet voices. Jayde shook her head.

"No. You can't take it." She said, but then hesitated, wondering fleetingly why Joker had told her not to let her have the note. She hastened to make something up. "Because…he'll know I've been talking to you. He has people everywhere…" she finally lied, watching the detectives face for clues as to what the woman was thinking. A second later, Olivia looked up, worry wrinkling the stress lines that she had developed in her young skin from her particular line of work.

"Then at least let me put a detail on you. They'll just follow you when you leave the house and protect you-" she went to suggest but Jayde shook her head again, this time more adamantly.

"No, seriously. He'll know. Your officers wont stand a chance. The Joker will have them killed almost the second they even get in their car, you know that, Detective Mitchell…"

"Olivia, Jayde, you don't have to call me-,"

"Ok, Olivia, just promise me that you'll keep this quiet. I don't want anyone getting hurt because he found out I was talking to the police. Just…keep your phone close so I can call if something happens…" Jayde finally took a breath, raising her eyebrows. "Alright?" Far in the back of her mind, Jayde noticed that she was becoming quite the little actress…maybe she could do that if this whole 'Joker thing' didn't work out…

Across the table, Olivia was nodding gravely, handing the note back to Jayde who folded it promptly and stowed in her coat pocket. "Just promise me you'll call if anything else happens." She paused, leaning forward. "And if you get any other notes, Jayde, I have to take them from you. Not because I want to but because you would be obstructing justice and I would have to arrest you for that." She paused again, reaching out to rest her hand on the table. "And I hate arresting a victim, alright?"

After another ten minutes of pointless, wanna-be friendly conversation, Jayde and the detective parted ways, one agreeing to call, the other agreeing to answer. Finally, Jayde was on her way back to the Escalade, thinking to herself how glad she was that she had not been seriously scared for her life about the Joker coming after her. Fortunately, she lived in his house and was nothing short of one of his favorite people…according to his note…She still had yet to find out what he had meant by 'You were made for me, and I, for you.'

Joker looked up from the table when the garage door flew open and in strode Jayde, her hair rippling in her wake as she let it slam behind her. He started to grin but then hesitated when he noticed the expression on her face; she looked mad. By the time he glanced at Tre across the room, Jayde had already reached the table and was now slamming his note down in front of him. One hand rested on her hip in that certain way she did when she was feeling particularly dangerous and Joker slowly looked up from the written-on piece of paper in front of him to her surprisingly angry eyes. This was definitely not the reaction he had been expecting.

"Just what the fuck is this?" she spat, not even bothering to wait until they were in private to ask this question. Past her, Joker noticed Dotcom and Tre glance at each other across the room before back to him where he waited to silently communicate that they were both to leave the room as quickly as possible. Both of his closest and brightest henchman stood up immediately, moving quietly to the garage door to step outside. Only once they had both gone did Joker finally look up at the fuming Jayde, calmly.

"I beg your pardon?" he asked rather politely, but apparently, Jayde was beyond his effort to remain friendly. She picked up the piece of paper to rattle it in his face, pulling a low growl from Joker…This was not something he took very kindly to. His forehead wrinkled in the new scowl he brought to his face.

"This." She reiterated, slamming it back down on the table. "What is this?"

A second later, Jayde jumped when Joker suddenly kicked the chair next to her out from under the table and he stood up, towering over her. Instantaneously, her anger subsided a bit to allow just a twinge of foreboding to register across her expressions.

"Sit down…now." He growled, glaring at her eyes until she had obeyed him and once she was seated, he copied her, occupying his previous seat. His fingers linked together in front of him on the table, and he leaned forward slightly. "That," he finally began, placing one finger in the middle of the paper to slide it toward her. "-is my fake threat that I asked you to show the detective…" he then explained but paused when Jayde shook her head, obviously not afraid to interrupt him a second time.

"No, its not. C'mon, Joker, I'm not stupid. You knew I would read it." She snapped, letting her eyes bounce between his as she searched his soul. "Tell me what it means." She then said, and for a second, Joker could've sworn she was about to add a strong 'now' to the end of her command just as he had previously done. He frowned. It was awfully ballsy of her to now be telling him what to do…Fortunately, Joker had taken his 'patient pills' that morning and was now taking a deep breath to lean back in the chair, finally giving into the fact that if there was any time he needed to be truly honest with her, it was right then.

"It means that I care about you-…" he began but now let out another groan when Jayde interrupted him yet again.

"Bullshit!" she practically yelled, rising from the chair at the head of the table to step over to the other side of it, putting several feet of safety space between her and the Joker. "If you care about me then why did you fucking rape me?" she asked loudly and Joker felt his stomach twist up uncomfortably. Within moments, he felt truly nauseas at hearing those words come out of her mouth but he took a deep breath, reaching up to rub his eyes with two of his fingers from each hand.

"Jayde," he began but once again, she felt the need to throw in her immediate thoughts.

"Because I'm pretty sure that-…"

"JAYDE!" he now shouted over her, rising from his chair to rest his hands on the table and lean on them. A second later, his voice fell again and he sighed, shaking his head; yelling at her was not going to help. "If you would like an explanation, then fucking shut up. Otherwise, this," he motioned from her to him and back a few times. "is going to get us nowhere."

Finally, after several seconds of glaring, Jayde seemed to understand what he was saying so she took a deep breath, nodding. Joker went on once she had subdued her anger momentarily and he had convinced himself that telling the truth would benefit him just this one time.

"You want the truth?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. Jayde nodded as if to say 'yeah, duh' so he went on, straightening up to run a flustered, aggravated hand through his hair. "Jayde…I…raped you because," he paused to swallow hard when he felt like throwing up for a second; this was rather difficult to admit. "Because I was trying to convince myself that I didn't have feelings for you." He finally spat it out, turning from her almost completely to avoid seeing the look on her face; it was hard enough admitting such personal things to the one person he tried so hard to hide them from. "It…obviously didn't work."

Across the table, Jayde was silent, so he went on hastily to avoid an awkward moment. "I just figured if I could…get you out of here or…scare you away that everything would be fine and I could just…forget about you. But…fuck, Jayde. It backfired on me. If anything, I care about you more now." At this, Joker paused, turning back to move slowly around the edge of the table toward her, hoping she would not punish him for coming within arms reach. Luckily, she stayed still so Joker took another step closer, shrugging as he looked down at her.

"It's not often I feel sorry for things." He began again, shaking his head. "Hell, I never feel sorry for the things I do. But…" he paused for the hundredth time to collect his thoughts before continuing and he brought his hand up to rest on his chest, indicating himself. "I felt like the biggest piece of shit ever for doing what I did to you…and that's how I realized that I couldn't just…make you go away." Less than a foot from her now, Joker sighed when he noticed her blue eyes welling up with big fat tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks. "You're too close to me now, Jayde."

Finally, finally, Joker had run out of things to say and now shut his mouth, staring down at Jayde with slightly widened eyes while she sniffed, reaching up to quickly wipe away a tear that had escaped and traveled down her cheek as if hoping he had not seen. She cleared her throat, arranging her features into an expression that she hoped looked unconvinced.

"Are you lying?" she then asked in the most simple way possible and Joker laughed, shaking his head as he reached out to wrap his fingers around her wrist to pull her closer to him when he leaned against the table. Surprisingly, she did not pull her hand away.

"No," he answered, laughing again as he reached up to wipe another of her tears away with his thumb, his eyes watching the motion of his finger across her cheek. "Actually, I've never been so honest with someone in my entire life and that is the truth." He admitted, grinning down at Jayde as she sniffed another few times, finally bringing her eyes up to meet his and Joker's eyebrows furrowed as his gaze bounced from one blue orb to the other and back again. "I'm sorry, Jayde."

Several long seconds passed where Jayde nodded, glancing down somewhat awkwardly, suddenly finding it hard to make eye contact with the Joker. Honestly, it was a bit weird to hear those words coming out of his mouth, even though she was immensely glad he had finally said it to her. She was just wondering what on earth she could say back to him when she noticed the bare belt loops on the jeans he was wearing. She frowned slightly, looking up at Joker in confusion.

"What happened to your-…" she went to ask but Joker cut across her, shaking his head.

"I threw it away."

A moment after his words, Jayde's face crumpled in tears and without warning, she stepped forward, closing the distance between them to wrap her arms around Joker's middle, burying her face against his warm shirt to sniffle quietly against his chest. Above her, Joker was smirking, wrapping his arms around her shoulders to rest his chin on the top of her head. Finally, they were on the road to recovery.

A/N: A rather short chapter here, but it really came out so fast that I felt the need to put it out now! I hope you guys enjoyed it and the next chapter is already in the works so hold on tight! LEAVE ME YOUR LOVE/HATE IF YOU WANT THE NEXT CHAPTER! –QoM = ]