The first time he suggests staying with the clown is detrimental to her health – physical and mental both – it was out of friendly concern.
She punches his shoulder hard enough to leave a bruise that lasts a week and refuses to talk to him for his trouble.
The second time, he goes about it differently. He wonders aloud if she wouldn't be happier (not safer, not after last time) staying with someone (anyone) else.
She chatters on about Ivy for an hour, but even though this leaves him with an aching headache and he makes no real progress, at least she doesn't hit him again.
The third time, she has been Joker-free for a week, and Arkham-bound for longer.
He does not suggest actually listening to the drivel spouted by the doctors, some of whom actually spout "and-how-does-that-make-you-feels" while sitting on their overstuffed armchairs, but he does ask if she hasn't done better on her own. She shrugs uncomfortably in her restraints – earned from slamming a guard into a wall when he condescends to her – and that's that.
The fourth time he mentions it comes shortly after another scheme – a scheme in which she had unwittingly and forcefully been used as the distraction, flung unceremoniously from a speeding car, again. Half her face bears ugly, dark scabs, and she winces with each smile.
She is quiet for a long while, and when she speaks, she looks more like herself – her old self – than she has in months.
"Yeah," she says quietly, "maybe you're right."
It's small, but it's a start.
[A/N: Next word: Network.
At one point, I'll be adding 'romance' to the genres, but I felt like marking it before there's anything actually romantic would be… cheating. Not that this is likely to get particularly romantic, with them. And. I'm assuming there is 'friendly concern' sometimes, which is partially based off of the episode "Harley's Holiday," so.
This is also not likely to tie in with the majority of THatS stories, but, uh… I'm entertaining the idea of making a mini-plot here. I don't know how I'll mark them chronologically, or even if this idea is going to stick, but if I do, every interlinking story will be marked Plot Point #. Let's see how that works out, I guess? With how badly strung together this was, it's doubtful it'll be good.]