Chapter 6

Cassidy had been disappointed to hear about the date, but at least she agreed that Patrick was not a keeper. That cheered Harley up a bit. The weekend was over and it was the start of a new week. Harley had been eagerly waiting for Monday to come. Time to meet the Joker again.

At 10:00 AM she stepped into the examination room for the third time. Just as before, he was already there and today he had a somewhat bitter look on his face. She decided not to bring it up as she sat down. "Good morning Mr. J. How are you feeling today?" The frown on his face wouldn't go away.

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked. "And don't pretend as if you don't know why," he added in a sharp tone. She certainly wasn't following.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I really have no clue what you're talking about."

"Stop trying to act so innocent. I know you've been cheating on me." Okay, now she definitely wasn't following.

"Come again?" she inquired, waiting for an explanation. He rolled his eyes at her and groaned.

"Do I have to repeat myself? I know you're seeing someone else, aren't you?" If he was referring to the other patients she was seeing during the weeks, then the answer was yes.

"Well, you aren't my only patient, Mr. J," she explained calmly and she was slightly amused at the fact that he was apparently jealous. But then his next words had her go rigid.

"I wasn't talking about that," he said. "You were out on a date Friday night, weren't you?"

How can he possibly know about that? she thought to herself and she was a little scared for a moment. She had to ask him. "How do you know that?" He shrugged.

"A little bird told me." She relaxed and smiled knowingly.

"Of course. This place is full of gossip, isn't it? Well, if it makes you feel any better, I'm not going out with him again." This had him curious.

"Why not?"

"He was a total bore." At this point, she couldn't contain herself, but let out a laugh and looked down, smiling. Stop it, Harley, this is serious! a voice in her head told her and she tried her best to hide the smile. The Joker tilted his head a little, also smiling.

"Why, doc, that's the first time I've heard you laugh. And a pretty smile like that to go with it just makes it even better." Finally she was able to control herself again and she looked back up, not quite being able to fathom what he'd just said. She felt herself blushing and tried to hide it, but it was hard. She thought back on the countless times that Patrick had told her how pretty she was, but not one time had it made her blush. Come to think of it, the Joker had proved to be a much better date than Patrick. At least the Joker was curious about her as a person. And that meant more to her than she knew was appropriate.

"Um, thank you," she said, her voice suddenly small. She cleared her throat and tried to get back on track. "Well, Mr. J, today I thought that perhaps we could try to have a conversation rather than ask each other questions. Does that sound all right?" She was determined not to try anything that he wasn't in on. Like she had concluded last time, they had to work together.

"What do you want to talk about?" She was surprised at how cooperative he was, but she was happy for it.
"Well," she started and she knew exactly what she wanted to talk about. "I think it might be a good idea to discuss the reason you're here." She knew she was being very straight forward and she had a hunch that he wouldn't want to talk about it, but she deemed it crucial. Most patients at Arkham were in such a condition that they had no idea why they were there. But if Harley was right, then she was sure the Joker was at least sane enough to know why he had been brought to the asylum. "Do you know why you're here?" He sighed in an exhausted manner, clearly not that interested in the subject.

"I guess it's because I did something wrong? Something that others would deem illegal?" There was a lot of venom put into that last word. She figured he didn't like to talk about rules. She already knew before she was assigned this case that the Joker loved anarchy. Harley nodded.

"Well, that is one reason. Arkham Asylum is a hospital for the criminally insane, meaning that to end up in here, one would have to commit a serious crime as well as be diagnosed with a mental illness. I want to make that clear, because I think each patient deserves to know why they're here. Now I just want to know if you're aware that your actions were wrong."

There was a short pause between them. They just stared at each other and Harley found it difficult to look away for some reason. Maybe it was because she didn't want to miss any of his movements, or maybe it was something else entirely? Finally he decided to give his answer. "Let me ask you something, doc… Is it wrong to have fun?"

She was not prepared for that. Was it wrong to have fun? Well, that all depended on the context, now didn't it? "That all depends on the context. If it's at the cost of someone else, then yes, I think it's wrong." He smirked. She was not expecting that.

"Always been a little miss goody two shoes, haven't you, doc?" She smirked too.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she answered mysteriously.

"So you're saying you've never done anything out of line?" He raised his eyebrows. "Never been caught chain smoking or shoplifting?" She shook her head. "Well, isn't that disappointing," he said and slumped back in his chair.

She put on a serious face again, getting back to the subject. "You just know that I'm here to help you. I want to help you understand what you've done wrong and I want to help you with your rehabilitation."

"You mean change me?" he questioned.

"Change you?" she repeated.

"Uh-huh. You see doc, there was once a time when I wasn't, well, like this," he gestured to his face. "And I know you're trying to pull that person back up to the surface. But I can tell you that there is no turning back. Who I was is not who I am. That person doesn't matter anymore. People always say that you should 'be yourself' and that's what I'm doing. What you see is what you get and all I want is for someone to accept that. Now, is that too much to ask?"

It really wasn't supposed to be this way. How could everything he said possibly make so much sense? Somehow she figured she would never get an answer to that question.

"No," she said and shook her head. "It's not. I get it. I know what it's like to have people trying to change you. Having them try to mold you into something they want instead of letting you be yourself."

"Well, I'm glad somebody understands."

Those words warmed her heart a lot more than they probably should have. To any other doctor at Arkham, the words meant that they had gained his trust. But to her… it was something more than that. She just couldn't quite put her finger on it. He locked his eyes with hers again and she smiled a little. "I think we've covered enough for today. I will see you on Thursday, Mr. J."

"I can't wait."

A/N: Yay for another chapter and more JxHQ moments! :D I can also happily say that I have officially graduated and now I have all the time in the world to work on this fic! Downside right now though is that I have a slight cold, but nothing serious, so I hope to recover within a couple of days, because next week I go to London! It's going to be the first time I'm there, but as you might figure, I won't be able to write anything while I'm there. And there are a couple of other things I have to do before then, including packing, so I'm not sure if I will be able to write another chapter before I go. That remains to be seen, but I hope you liked this chapter! Things are getting a bit more intimate. ;)