Chapter 4

On Mondays, her therapy sessions with the Joker were held at 10:00 AM. However, on Thursdays, which was today, they were scheduled for 3:00 PM. That just made the wait even more excruciating. Harley blamed herself a little for it. She wasn't supposed to look forward to it. No one in their right mind would ever look forward to meeting the Joker. But he was just so interesting and during their last session, she had barley even scratched the surface. She wanted to know more about him.

She had her lunch in the employees' cafeteria with Dr. Joan Leland. Already from day one, they had gotten along really well. "Have you made yourself at home yet?" Joan asked her.

"Yeah, I think so. At least I think it feels as homey as it can get in a place like this." They shared a laugh and that's when Patrick, the orderly who had asked Harley out, came to their table. He announced his presence with a simple hello, gave a nod to Joan and then looked down at Harley. She looked right back up to meet his gaze.

"Hi Harley, I just wanted to make sure you're still up for tomorrow, right?"

"Of course." She glanced sideways to Joan for a split second and she could see how amused she was at the scene.

"Great! So when and where shall I pick you up? I was thinking if you're not working, I could pick you up at seven?"

"That'll be great. You can pick me up at my place. Hold on a sec…" She grabbed her purse by her feet on the floor and withdrew a pen and a piece of paper. She scribbled down her address and gave it to Patrick. "Here you go." She added a smile and he returned it.

"Thanks," he said and then there was a pause where he just kept on smiling down at her. Joan decided that the silence was uncomfortable and pretended to cough. That seemed to wake him up. "Well, uh, I'll see you tomorrow then. Bye, Harley. Joan." Once again, all Joan got was a simple nod. Harley kept her smiling face on until he had left the cafeteria.

"Looks like you've got an admirer," Joan said and smirked. Harley rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, well, he's not the first admirer I've come across and something tells me he will certainly not be the last."

Finally it was time for the long awaited session and this time when she walked in, she was met by his face covered in white, black and red. Apparently they had given the face paint to him in advance and she guessed he probably kept the paint in his cell. "Good afternoon, Mr. J," she greeted and took her seat across from him. "I see you've received the paint you requested."

"Oh yeah, much obliged, doc."

"Doctor Quinzel," she corrected him.

"Doctor Quinzel," he mimicked her and rolled his eyes. She smiled to herself.

"Normally I wouldn't encourage it," she went on and gestured to his face. "But if it makes you feel more comfortable, then I understand. All I want is for you to feel comfortable with me. It's the only way we can make this work." He was quiet for a moment, staring her down, not blinking once. She had no idea what he was about to do or say.

"Well, I'm touched," he said and she relaxed. "None of those other shrinks ever gave a damn about my comfort." He sounded hurt, but she figured it didn't really matter that much to him. Or maybe it did?

"Well, then maybe that was why it didn't work out?" she mused aloud, thinking about how no one else had managed to get to him. Not even Joan. She had told Harley that herself. "Because…" Harley looked back into his dark eyes. With the black paint around them, they were just like a never-ending pool of black water. "…they didn't care," she finished.

"Oh, they cared," the Joker said. "But only about themselves. Don't tell me you haven't thought about it too, doc?"

She was too bemused by his question to even bother correcting him again. "About what?" she inquired. He glanced around the room.

"Here you are," he started, "sitting across from the crown jewel of Arkham. This case could make your career. So don't tell me that you're not in this for yourself." He stared her down again, daring her to contradict him. But she really didn't have any other choice, because the truth was, while she knew that this was a big, serious case, she hadn't agreed to take it on because of her own possible gain.

"Actually… I haven't thought about it, until now. You're right. If this case goes well, it could be the start of a very successful career, but in order for it to go well…" She paused to see if she had his attention. He was all ears. "…then we will have to work together. That's what the other doctors failed to realize."

"I agree," he said and his words surprised her. "I think we make a great team." He bared his teeth in a wide open smile. You could interpret his words anyway you wanted to and Harley decided that she would take them to heart. He was in fact liking her.

Before she could say anything more, he beat her to it. "So doc, why don't you tell me a little about yourself?" Wait, did he just ask me a question? she thought to herself.

"Mr. J, this is not my therapy session. Any questions about me are irrelevant."

"Who cares if it's relevant?" he asked in an exasperated tone. "I thought we were a team." Well, he's right in that. Then an idea struck her.

"Okay, how about this? We take turns asking each other one question. Is that all right with you?" He merely shrugged.

"Better than nothing. I go first!" He sounded just like a child eager to play. "What did you do before you became a doctor?" She had to think about that one. There were so many possible ways she could answer. What did she do before she came here? Well, she studied, of course, but that was a no brainer. She knew he wouldn't be satisfied with that answer. Then it came to her.

"Well, I was a gymnast a couple of years ago. That's how I earned my scholarship to Gotham University."

"Well, I've never had a gymnast before," he mumbled to himself, but she was perfectly able to make the words out. She furrowed her eyebrows. Did he just insinuate what I think he did?

"Excuse me?" she asked, sounding offended. How could she not? He noticed it and instantly corrected himself.

"Oh, I mean in my gang."

"Right…" Her expression softened a little. "Your gang. We haven't talked about that." Here she had an opportunity to ask something of worth. She grabbed her pencil and was ready to take notes. "Do you have a specific number of followers or is the number irrelevant to you?" He shrugged again.

"Well, you know what they say: the more the merrier."

"Yes and uh… Do you consider the members of your gang to be your friends?"

"I thought it was my turn to ask a question." She looked up from her notes, totally having forgotten about it. She was all too eager to get her answers.

"Sorry," she said. She put her pencil down. "Ask away."

"How old are you?" Wow, that was… blunt.

"I'm twenty-seven." Now it was her turn and she decided to continue her last question.

"As I said, do you see the members of your gang as your friends?"

"Uh… Sure. What's your favourite colour?" His questions weren't so much psychological as hers, but she was glad for it. They were plain and simple, which made it easy for her to answer.

"Red. Is your gang loyal to you?" It worked just like a tennis game. Back and forth it went and it wasn't about to stop there.

"Most of the time. How many boyfriends have you had? Or girlfriends?" he quickly added. Okay, getting more personal. Not sure if I can allow that.

"You're a curious one, aren't you?"

"Well, aren't all men?" He licked his lips and raised his eyebrows in a flirtatious way. She was about to answer, but caught herself before she could, recognizing the question mark at the end of his sentence.

"Ah-ah," she reprimanded. "It's my turn to ask." If he could, she was certain he would have crossed his arms as he pouted in discontent. She was thankful for the handcuffs. "So…" she knew exactly what she wanted to ask, still focusing on the subject of his gang. "If someone in your gang would ever turn out to be disloyal… would you just let it pass or would you…" She paused, thinking of all the dreaded ways he might actually be capable of. "…punish them?"

Suddenly he smirked and instead of giving his answer, he let her answer the question. "What do you think?" he asked. She hadn't been prepared for it. She didn't want to go into detail and she certainly didn't want to offend him by outright saying what she thought, but it was probably the truth.

"I'm guessing you're not a man of a forgiving nature," she started. He didn't say anything to contradict her, so she went on. "So if anyone were to betray you, then no," she shook her head, "I do not think you would let it pass." That smirk crept back up on his face again.

"You know doc, it's amazing how well you read me after only our uh, what, second date?" She chuckled lightly at his use of words.

"That's what we're calling it now?"

"Only if you want to, of course," he reassured her. "I was thinking next time I could take you to my cell. It's really comfy." That tongue of his slipped out again. It was a bad habit she found happened quite frequently. She smiled to herself.

"Maybe some other time," she played along, not declining nor accepting his shameless offer. "I think we've covered enough for today." She got to her feet and grabbed her clipboard and pencil. "I'll see you on Monday, Mr. J."

"It's a date," he said and winked at her before she left. For some reason she felt her cheeks grow warm at the gesture.

When she walked out, she was met by the orderly who was taking the Joker back to his cell. He was by far one of the more intimidating orderlies. Tall and broad with a bald head and big hands. "Everything okay, Dr. Quinzel?" he asked and his voice was deep and husky, but at the same time quite friendly.

"Yes," she answered. "You can take him back to his cell now."

When she got home, she reread her notes over and over again, trying to figure him out. She thought that this session had been quite interesting and definitely a lot better than the last one. She wondered what the next one would be like.

A/N: Sorry for keeping you all waiting for almost an entire week, but at least this chapter is quite long, so I hope that makes up for it! :) Don't know when the next update will be though, next week is a busy week for me, because I'm graduating! YAY! :D Like I said, any constructive criticism is more than welcome and I love reading reviews in general. ;) I also have to say that this story was inspired by another Joker/Harley fanfic in the Nolan-verse. The story is called "Bad Jokes" by Doctor Harley Quinn here on ff. Her story is a thousand times better than mine and it's hard to come up with something original which is still good when you've read a fanfic that's as good as hers. It even has a sequel which I enjoyed even more! So if you haven't read it, I highly recommend it! :)