Chapter 10

Once she got home after Dr. Arkham had told her to take the day off, Harley collapsed onto her bed and fell asleep much quicker than she'd hoped. For that she was thankful. She only got up once sometime in the evening to get something to eat. Then she went straight back to bed and woke up well rested the next morning. She showered, got dressed, had her breakfast and drove to work.

As she walked down the halls of the asylum, everyone she met stared at her. Their looks were sympathetic. It didn't exactly make her feel better, if that's what they thought. When she got to her office, she had a visitor waiting outside by her door. Patrick. He smiled when she approached him and she tried her best to smile back, but all she could manage was a simple wave of the hand. She came up to stand next to him outside her door. "Hi, Harley," he said.

"Hi, Patrick." He had obviously come to her office for one reason: to talk to her. Well, whatever it is he wants to talk about, spill it out already. He didn't. Or, he was trying to. His mouth opened and closed several times, unsure of what exactly to say. She made it easier for him. "Look, Patrick, whatever it is you want to say, you can always come by later. I don't have time to stand here all day." She swung the door open and walked in, plopping down on her chair behind the desk. He followed her inside.

"I'm sorry, Harley. I just…" Her eyes wandered up to his and he recognized the look she gave him as an impatient one. He swallowed. "I just want to make sure you're okay. Are you okay?" She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to prevent herself from lashing out.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" she said, not looking at him.

"Because we care about you."

She slowly lifted her head back up again. For what seemed like the hundredth time, she was met by yet another look of concern. His next words came as a bit of a surprise. "Look, you know why I'm really here. I stop by at your office more times than you know, just so I can say hello or simply just look at you, or ask you out again. But I understand that now is not a good time for that, so…" He shrugged. "I'm not going to say anything. You just know that you can always come talk to me. I'll always be there for you." And with that, he left. For once, he would actually back off. As of now though, she couldn't decide whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. Maybe what she really needed was to talk to someone? There was only one person that came to her mind.

She took out her phone and dialed Cassidy. They hadn't spoken in over a week now and Harley actually felt bad for not having called her friend sooner. She was happy to hear Cassidy's voice when she answered and she sounded happy too.

"Harley! Hi! I'm so glad you're calling me! How are you?" Harley smiled to herself.

"I'm fine," she said, telling herself things were actually getting better. "How are you?"

"I'm good. Just a little busy right now at work, but I simply had to answer my best friend's call!"

Best friend.

Harley didn't know when Cassidy had last called her that. It was comforting to hear. "Hope you're not too busy," Harley said. "What are you doing tonight?"

"Nothing much. Why?"

"I was thinking maybe we should have a girls' night. Go to a bar and have a drink."

"Whenever you say that, what you really mean is like half a dozen drinks!" Cassidy giggled. "I'm on it! The usual place?"

"Right. Nine o'clock?"

"See you then." They both hung up and Harley felt more satisfied than ever. Sure, it might not have been such a good idea to go out and have drinks on a Tuesday night, but frankly, she couldn't have cared less. She needed this.

The bar was located in midtown. It was one of the smaller places which was a little bit more sophisticated. It wasn't meant for a younger audience, like so many other nightclubs were. But there was till music playing and there was the option of playing pool or darts. Harley had put on a red dress tonight and it made her feel more confident. After all, red was her favourite colour. She met up with Cassidy outside and they headed straight for the bar, sitting down on two stools. Then, the drinking could commence.

"I'm so glad you decided to take me out tonight," Cassidy said and drained the contents of her glass in one go. Harley giggled.

"Why? Because I offered to buy you the first drink?"

"Well, that and… because I think you need to relax for a while." She put a hand on Harley's shoulder. "You deserve it."

"Thanks."

"Hey!" Cassidy called the bartender. "I need a refill!" She gave him her glass and Harley couldn't stop laughing at her friend. Then her eyes caught a couple of guys sitting at a booth together. They were watching them. Harley stopped laughing and her smile faded. She looked away and tried to pretend as if she hadn't seen them. She leaned in closer to Cassidy.

"Those guys in the booth over there are watching us," she said quietly and discretely nodded to them. Cassidy threw a swift glance in their direction and it seemed as if they were interested in more than just watching.

"Uh-oh," Cassidy said. "I think they're coming this way."

"Well, let's move then." Harley was about to get up from her stool, but it was too late. They were already there and they walked to stand on either side of them.

"Hey ladies," the one standing next to Harley said. She looked up at his face and she could tell that he was handsome. Quite tall, brown ruffled hair and blue piercing eyes. You could smell trouble on him. "Would you care to dance?"

"Uh…" Harley looked over to the other guy standing next to Cassidy. He was blonde and had tattoos all over his arms. She looked back to the man in front of her. "Sorry, but this is a girls' night," she glanced at Cassidy, "so thanks, but –"

"Actually…" Cassidy interrupted, "I would very much like to dance." She looked up at the brown haired guy and smiled. There was a glint in her eyes. Harley whipped her head around, giving her friend a condescending look. Really? Cassidy could read Harley's mind. "Please," she pleaded and how could she say no to those eyes? Harley rolled hers back into her head and sighed.

"Okay, fine." Cassidy jumped up from her stool, giddy with joy.

"Thanks," she said and she grabbed the man's hand, pulling him over to the dance floor.

Harley watched them and now that the seat next to her was vacant, the tattooed guy sat down next to her. "Maybe you don't want to dance, but will you let me buy you a drink?"

"Thanks, but no thanks," she politely declined. Lucky for him, he didn't push it.

"Okay then, well, let me at least introduce myself." He extended his hand. "I'm Matthew." She figured it couldn't hurt and took his hand in hers.

"Harleen." He furrowed his eyebrows.

"That's an unusual name. But pretty," he quickly added. "So, Harleen, what is it you do?"

"I'm a clinical psychiatrist," she answered bluntly. "You?" she raised her eyebrows.

"Wow," he said and raised his own. "That's some real shit. I thought you were –"

"A what?" she dared him to say it. He seemed a little scared. Good.

"You know," he shrugged, "I just thought… The way you look, I thought you'd be a model or something." Well, of course you would. She smirked.

"Look, Matthew, why don't you go waste your time on somebody else?" She was coming off a little rude, but she just wanted this guy out of her sight. She could see his eyes were becoming darker in a matter of seconds.

"Hey, I didn't mean no harm! Maybe I should teach you a lesson?" He got up from his seat and raised his fist.

A few weeks ago, she would have been scared. But now she just thought it was pathetic. She couldn't help but laugh to herself at the sight. "What's so funny?" he asked and lowered his fist a little.

"What's so funny is that you think you're scary. But you see…" She leaned in a little closer to his face. "I've seen scary and you ain't got his smile." Suddenly it dawned on him. His expression softened and he dropped his fist.

"That's where I knew you from!" he said. "You're that chick who treats the Joker!"

"Mm-hmm," she nodded. "So keep telling yourself that you're intimidating and maybe, just maybe, someday I won't be laughing at you." She got up from her seat and was about to walk over to Cassidy, but Matthew grabbed her wrist and when she turned around, he had raised his fist again.

"Hey, no one talks to me that way, bitch!" Before he could throw his punch though, Harley had already beat him to it. Her fist connected with his jaw and he stumbled backwards. A lot of people stopped what they were doing and watched in shock. The bartender noticed.

"Hey, lady, if you can't behave I'm gonna call the cops!" he threatened.

"That's fine," she said and walked over to Cassidy, grabbing her arm. "I'm leaving."

She dragged Cassidy with her outside and was about to go further down the street, but Cassidy wriggled free of Harley's grip and they both stopped. "Hey, what was that all about?" Cassidy asked. Harley shrugged.

"He was drunk, wouldn't leave me alone, so I punched him." She made no big deal out of it.

"Wow, I'm sorry," Cassidy said. "But if you don't mind, I'm going back inside. I'm having a good time and that guy, Conner is his name, is a real catch!" Harley couldn't believe what she was hearing. This was supposed to be their night and now Cassidy was bailing on her for some drunk fuckboy?! Harley was in no mood for arguing, so before she opened her mouth to do so, she stopped herself. She shook her head.

"All right, you have fun. I'm going home." Harley turned her back on Cassidy and headed for the nearest subway station. Cassidy didn't say a word. Some girls' night.

A/N: Yes, I did just use the word "fuckboy." I couldn't come up with anything better, I'm so sorry. XD This chapter was initially intended to be something else entirely from what it turned out. It ended up being more of a "filler" chapter, so I will save what I had in mind for the next one. ;) But I'm actually happy that I got to write this, because we're exploring more of Harley's character. And also, yes, I stole one line from the comics! See it as a little easter egg! I just love that line so much ("I've seen scary and you ain't got his smile.") and there was just no way for me to rewrite it in any way to make it seem original. I will be dropping some easter eggs and make references to the source material more times, because I just think that Harley and Joker's story is so well written! So some things just have to be included, but I hope I'm still able to keep things original. :)