Authors note: Sorry for the dely on this chapter! Writers block hit me. The wait between this chapter and the next shouldn't be as long though hopefully. Thanks for the continued support of this story. Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Harley couldn't wipe the grin from her face as she walked down the hallway of Arkham Asylum. A spring in her step. No one commented, didn't notice, or simply didn't care, about her suddenly bleached hair. And she had applied enough make-up to hide her pale skin.
Her shift was ending shortly, and she could go home. But she had one more stop to make.
She swipped her card and opened the door, smiling at the Joker who was sitting across the table from her. She sat down and started to open the gift she had gotten him. "I got you something Mistah J."
Joker smiled as he leaned across the table toward her. "Doctor Quinzel. I live for these moments with you."
Harley smiled as she pulled out a stuffed kitten she had bought him just last night. "It's a kitty!" she said as she wiggled it a little. Joker grinned. "That's nice. That's very nice. But you know what I really want?"
Harley shook her head, the smile never leaving her face as she waited for him to tell her.
"A machine gun."
Joker's arm extended across the bed, searching for the warm body that was normally curled up on his chest. When he didn't find her, his eyes started to open.
Squinting in the sunlight from the window, he blinked the sleep from his eyes and looked around the room. Where was that girl? Oh. That's right. He swallowed his disappointment and remembered why she wasn't there.
It was a few weeks since the ACE Chemicals incident. And he and Harley had been inseparable from each other ever since. Well, since the other night. The probability of Joker getting thrown back into Arkham was high, so Harley had decided it would be in their best interests for her to keep her old job. At least for now.
And it had worked. She had been able to break him out just two days ago with no suspicions raised.
Joker sat up slowly and looked around the room that had become theirs. Knives and guns were laying in haphazard piles, and Harley's wide array of costumes and outfits mingled with his on the floor.
He smiled a little, something he had been doing more and more since Harley had joined him, and stood up.
He made his way over to the desk in the corner and picked up some of the blueprints they had been working on last night. The Batman had a little sidekick it seemed. A Robin. And that certainly wouldn't do. But that was a plan he would wait until later to think about.
Joker walked toward the door, stretching his arms above his head as he did so and cracking his back, suppressing a yawn. Harley was a breath of fresh air. A revitalization of his career. His queen of hearts.
He stumbled toward the kitchen, growling under his breath as he ran a hand through his hair, slicking it back. He did consider the possibility that he had become too attached to his Harley. That maybe she was more trouble than she was worth. But then he remembered the feeling of her lips on his. The warmth of her body. And those thoughts were pushed away.
He had never felt so strongly about someone before. Not even Batman. And he absolutely loved that menace.
He picked up a note that was laying under a gun on the counter. Clearly from Harley.
See ya later Mister J. -HQ
He smiled a little and crumpled the note up, throwing it on the floor as he walked toward the window to look outside. It was well into the day, and Joker could thank his insomnia for that. Every once and awhile Harley would try and knock him out with a high dose of drugs. But he had developed quite a high tolerance to such things years ago and they never worked.
But last night had been the first half decent night of sleep he'd gotten in over three months.
He leaned against the glass, looking out across the city skyline. He loved this city. It was in his blood, almost literally. And he absolutely loved the anarchy. The chaos. And the sounds. The sound of people, sirens, gunshots, and screams. Yes. Gotham was his home.
Joker blinked a few times as he watched the cars driving on the street below him. His apartment was above his club. Which was located in the rougher half of Gotham. Well, rougher was a harsh word. Maybe more like where bigger criminals with higher motives tended to gather. The whole city was rough.
He licked his lips absently, noting the absence of his lipstick as he backed away from the window and prepared to get dressed. He preferred the darkness. Darkness meant Batman. And Batman was just so much fun. But recently the sun had grown on him. After all, the sun meant watching as the rays danced across Harley's skin in the morning, Illuminating her hair almost like a halo. Yes. The sun wasn't so bad.
Though try as he might, the sun reminded him of another woman. And a child that had never been born.
"Boss."
Jokers thoughts were mercifully cut off by a henchman who walked into the room. Joker turned around, glaring at him. "What?" he asked. Growling softly.
"Its Harley," The man started. But Joker was already walking toward him, his heart skipping a few beats. "What?" he asked again. But this time there was a panic in his tone.
"She's in the hospital."
Beep... Beep... Beep...
Harley groaned as she shifted in bed, trying to blink her eyes open. They felt heavy and didn't respond. That paniced her, and the ever steady beeping that had woken her up in the first place started to beep faster.
She couldn't figure out where she was. The last thing she remembered was walking toward home and then... Someone had grabbed her? Her mind was too fuzzy to focus and her panic only grew.
The unmistakable feeling of a hand touching hers made her freeze, her panic doubling. Were they going to kill her? Torture her?
"Harley baby breath." The words were spoken in a rush, but the person saying them was unmistakable to her. "Puddin?" she asked, forcing the words past her lips as her eyes finally started to open. Yes, it was indeed her Mistah J. Though he currently looked nothing like the clown prince of crime.
He was wearing jeans, skinny jeans, (her skinny jeans?) and a Batman t-shirt. A hoodie accompanying the ensemble that effectively hid his tattoos. His hair was covered by a grey beanie. And his make-up was gone, which startled her, but she quickly grew used to it. Yes, it was her puddin. But that didnt explain what was going on.
"What's goin' on?" She asked, worry in her eyes.
He smiled with... Was that relief? It couldn't have been. And sat down on the edge of the bed, his thumb rubbing against her knuckles. "You're in a hospital Harl. Someone left you all bloody in an alleyway."
Harley frowned. Not remembering any of what he was saying. "I can't remember..." She said, shaking her head.
"They got you on all kinds of drugs." He explained. And Harley looked around, now noticing an IV hooked up to her arm. "Which I may have stolen some of. And I can barely remember my own name." he added, which made Harley giggle. "You can never remember your own name." she pointed out. And Joker grinned, a familiar grin they calmed all of Harley's fears. "Oh that's right. I forgot."
Harley smiled at him, swallowing a lump in her throat as Joker leaned forward and pressed his forehead to hers, closing his eyes. "My one, my only, my infamous Harley Quinn. Who did this to you?"
Harley knew he didn't expect an answer, so she just closed her eyes. Feeling sleep pull her away.
Joker watched her sleeping sometimes when his insomnia acted up. And tonight was one of those nights. He watched as her back rose and fell to the sound of her breathing. In some ways it calmed him. In some ways it angered him.
He rolled over to his other side, watching the minutes tick by on the clock. Watching as one turned to two. And two turned to three. And so on. Eventually he resigned himself to the fact that he wasn't going to be getting sleep tonight.
He glanced at Harley as he sat up, hoping not to wake her as he walked across the carpet toward the door.
It had been a few days since Harley was cleared from the hospital, and Joker had yet to get the information he needed out from her. Who had hurt her?
She still had bruises on her arms, which wasn't an unusual sight. Joker often gave her a few decent bruises during his escapes. But this was different. This was Harley hurt by some low-life who didn't even bother to stick around.
He was confident that whoever it was didn't know about her connection to him. Which was good. But it left him wondering who Harley, or rather Harleen, had angered to incur such wrath.
He walked out of the room, his bare feet making no noise as he walked across the plush white carpet. He'd tasked some of his goons to look into the incident with Harley, but so far they'd had no luck. Which frustrated him to no end.
He ran a hand through his hair, absently noting that it had started to grow longer down his neck, and again stood by the window, looking outside at Gotham. That infernal Batsymbol was in the sky again. His upper lip raised as he growled under his breath.
Batman was at it again. Ruining someone's fun.
Any other night, Joker would go out and join the fun as well. But not tonight. He wanted to stay with Harley tonight.
"Puddin?" Her soft, hesitant, and still sleepy voice pulled him from his thoughts as he turned to look back at her. She was wearing an old nightgown, and her blonde hair was a mess of curls, but she was no less beautiful to him.
She watched him from their bedroom door with a small smile on her face. Her arms self consciously covering the dark purple bruises on her exposed skin. "Come back to bed." she told him.
Joker smiled a little as he closed the distance between the two of them. "In a minute." he promised as his fingers pulled hers away from her arms so he could get a better look at the damage that had been done to her. He had seen his fair share of bruises. On himself, on her, on others. But these were different. These weren't done by fists. These were done by other means. And suddenly he knew who did this.
Harley knew something was up. Something was different tonight. Sure the club was just as packed as it always was. And sure her puddin was acting just as moody as he normally would. But something was definitely up. If only she could figure out what.
A cheer went out from the crowd as Harley stepped into one of the cages hanging from the ceiling. Her years of gymnastics coming in handy as she climbed effortlessly through the bars. Performing a sort of dance to the dubstep blaring from the speakers.
She caught the Jokers eyes a few times, never holding them though. They had both agreed that for now no one needed to know that they were an item. The dangers outweighed the rewards.
She eventually found herself hanging upside down. And that's when she finally figured out what was different.
A rather buff man with several tattoos had joined the Joker in his private beaded off section of the club. And rather then wondering who her puddin was making a deal with now, she knew him. She knew him quite well actually. He was her former boyfriend. And he was the man that had grabbed her in the alleyway.
She had remembered what had happened a few hours after the drugs had worn off. But she had been reluctant to tell her puddin what had happened for just this reason.
She was still hanging upside down when he looked over at her, beckoning her over with a wiggle of his fingers. Harley climbed down and immediately made her way through the crowd toward them. If he was going to insist on being stupid, then so would she.
She giggled madly as she parted the beads and sat on the edge of the couch, giggling at Joker. "Hey Mistah J." She said, licking her teeth with her tongue as she continued to grin. Ignoring the man sitting across from her.
"Harley," Joker started, a fake smile on his face as he reached a hand out to her. And Harley could tell he was putting on a grand show. "I was just talking to my new friend here," He continued, indicating her former boyfriend with his other hand. "And I was thinking of giving you to him as a gift."
Harley concealed her surpise with a giggle. Where was he going with this?
"He likes to beat people up with a bat." Joker continued. And Harley glanced up at him with a pained expression as the Jokers hand clenched a little too tightly around her arm. "Doesn't that sound like fun?"
"Sure Mistah J." She said with a giggle.
"And guess what?" He asked, still faking a smile as he looked down at Harley. "He works at Arkham. Won't that be exciting?"
"If ya say so Mistah J." She said, giggling again.
Her former boyfriend, Wade, stiffened a little. Clearly starting to get nervous as Joker pushed Harley toward him. Harley didn't hesitate to sit on the man's lap. Acting blonde and doey eyed as she giggled at him, her nails tracing his jawline. "Hiya mister." She said, grinning at him. But there was clear worry in her eyes. What was the Joker doing?
"What's the matter? Don't want me?" Harley asked after he didn't speak. Starting to pout. Joker made a tsking sound from behind her. "Don't you like my gift? Isn't she beautiful enough for you?" He asked, starting to sound angrier.
"Yeah- I mean no." Wade said, starting to push Harley off of him as he clearly realised what was going on. "This is your lady, Joker. Right? I don't want no beef."
Harley sat down next to him on the couch and looked up at Joker who had suddenly gotten more serious than she had ever seen him.
"You don't want no beef?" Joker repeated, mocking him. "You don't want no beef?" He asked again as he pulled his gun out and aimed it at the man's head. "Then don't touch my girl."
Harley screamed and covered her eyes as the gun went off, curling into herself a little.
The only sound in the room was the heavy breathing of the Joker, but he must have sent the rest of the club a glare because the music and sounds of people quickly started back up again.
Harley only looked up as she felt his gentle hands on her shoulders. "He'll never touch you again Harl." He told her as he lifted her chin to meet her eyes. But Harley pulled away, purposely not looking over at what had to be a bloody mess next to her, and stood up. "That wasn't your choice to make." She told him. More serious than she had been in weeks.
Before allowing him the chance to speak, she walked away.
Given the chance to do it over, Joker would have done the same thing. No one touched his Harley and got away with it. But he did regret that his actions seemed to make her angry at him.
He hadn't seen her in two weeks. And he was starting to get frantic.
Their apartment was both a mess, and meticulously organised. The once grand piano in the corner was broken behind repair, and the wallpaper had been frantically peeled from the walls. The once white carpets were stained by his blood, and the walls had bullet holes in them. He sat in the middle of an array of weapons he had spread around in a perfect circle. Laughing as he held one of his guns in his right hand.
Laughing was always better than breaking down. But he couldn't laugh forever.
"Boss?" The hesitant voice of one of his thugs snapped him out of it and he sat up slowly.
"Where is she?" He growled softly. Glaring at the man.
But the man didn't get to answer as Harley stepped past him in the room. Joker was suddenly keenly aware of his own surroundings. And how insane he must look.
He barely noticed the man leaving as Harley stepped closer, kneeling in front of him. "Puddin..." she started hesitantly. Reaching for his face. But Joker didn't let her finish. Crashing his lips against hers hungerly.
Later that night Harley lay with her head on the Jokers chest. Her fingers tracing the tattoos across his stomach. "Puddin?" she asked as she looked up toward him.
"Hm?" He responded, not looking toward her as his gaze remained toward the ceiling.
"I'm not mad you killed Wade." She told him. And that brought his attention down toward her. "Oh?"
"I'm mad you didn't let me do it." She said. A new darker tone to her voice.
She expected him to be surprised. But maybe she shouldn't have. It was the Joker after all. He wasn't surprised. He was elated.
His lips parted into a smile, and he laughed.
Harley joined him.