Chapter 19

When Harley woke up in the morning, she didn't feel the Joker next to her anymore. Bright morning light was coming in from behind the closed curtains and she stretched her arms up with a yawn as she sat up in bed. The door to the bathroom was open, but he wasn't in there either, which meant he must be up and about. She wondered what time it was. Out of habit, she reached for her phone on the nightstand next to her side of the bed, but then she remembered. Yesterday, she had put her phone in her purse. And she had left her purse in her office. Good job, Harley. But then she came to think of the fact that a phone was traceable. The police could easily have found her location and with that also the Joker's.

Still curious about the time, Harley looked around the room for a clock, but there was none. Maybe she could find out if she turned the TV on? The remote was on the nightstand by his side of the bed. She reached over for it and turned the TV on. The channel was GCN and they were right in the middle of the morning news. It was 8:13 AM. She was about to change the channel, but then stopped herself when she saw her face on the screen. She turned up the volume to hear what the news anchor was saying.

"The search for Dr. Harleen Quinzel is still ongoing. It was around noon yesterday that Dr. Quinzel was kidnapped by none other than the Joker, who escaped from Arkham Asylum earlier this week." Harley rolled her eyes and as she did so, she noticed him standing there in the doorway, looking at her.

"Again with the kidnapping?" Harley said. "They need to get their facts straight! It's not a kidnapping if you go willingly with your abductor!" The Joker closed the door behind him, came up to the bed and plopped the morning newspaper down next to her. She looked down at it.

"They're calling you a hero," he said and Harley read the headline across the front page. Arkham shrink abducted by the Joker. There was a subheading in the form of a quote: "She sacrificed herself to save my daughter's life." Harley did the exact opposite of what anyone else in her position would have; she frowned. Perhaps she would have been flattered by it before, but now it just made her sick.

"Not for long, they won't," she said and turned her attention back to the TV. The Joker did the same. They were interviewing Commissioner Gordon.

"We're doing everything we can to find Dr. Quinzel and if we can find her, we can find the Joker and hopefully put an end to his antics." Harley heard the Joker chuckle to himself.

"Good luck with that." He exchanged a smirk with Harley and then brought his hands down to cup her face. He buried his hands in her hair. She could see that the paint on his face was slightly smeared around the eyes and on the forehead. Probably from rubbing his face in his sleep. "I'm going out, so you're going to have to make it on your own for a while. Think you can do that?"

"I'm a big girl."

"Good," he said and pulled away. He grabbed his purple coat. "Don't get into any trouble without me," he said as he put his arms through the sleeves.

"I won't," she promised and watched him leave the room. That was when she realized just how hungry she was. She hadn't eaten anything since that light lunch yesterday. She turned the TV off and put on her clothes that lay in a pile on the floor.

Harley headed downstairs and into the kitchen, not paying attention to the glares she was getting by a couple of guys in the lobby. There were five more of them in the kitchen. They sat at a table, eating breakfast. Wordlessly, they stared her down as she approached the fridge to see what there was to eat. The sight she was met by when she opened it was less than overwhelming. Not a wide range of things. At least there was milk, so she grabbed the container and quickly found a glass in the cupboard. She noticed the dirty dishes in the sink. The whole place was really untidy. How did they manage? It seemed they were in need of a woman. She leaned back against the counter and she was still being glared at. She glared right back whilst drinking her milk. When they realized she wasn't about to stand down, they resumed eating their breakfast in peace. Harley smirked, feeling satisfied.

The guys finished their breakfast and went out to join their pals in the lobby. Harley emptied her glass and put it in the sink with the rest of the dishes. Then she went looking for cleaning supplies. There was a cupboard in the kitchen containing just that and she found a huge bucket and a mop. There was a bottle of soap by the sink and she put some in the bucket and filled it up with hot water. In the lobby, the guys were having a good time watching TV. To her surprise, no one turned to look at Harley when she came out from the kitchen, holding the bucket in one hand and the mop in the other. She cleared her throat to get their attention. No one reacted. She rolled her eyes with a sigh and walked up to stand in front of the TV screen, blocking their view. "Hey!" one of them exclaimed. "You're blocking our view lady!"

"Yeah, move your ass!" another one added. But Harley didn't move one inch. She looked down at the one who had called her lady. He was quite young, maybe in his late twenties, like her. He had dark ruffled hair and various tattoos over his arms and neck.

"No, you move your ass!" she said and threw the mop at him. He wasn't quick enough to actually catch it, so he took offense to the fact that she had the gall to throw something at him. "Get to work!"

"The hell is this?" he asked and held the mop in one hand. Harley couldn't believe it. She thought the Joker was supposed to hire people smart enough to at least know what a mop was.

"It's called a mop! You clean the floor with it. Here," she said and held the bucket high in the air in front of his face. "You start in the kitchen." There was a pause, but then he started to laugh.

"Sorry lady, but you ain't the boss of me." He tossed the mop down to the floor in front of her feet. She looked down at it. The other guys were laughing too, mocking her. That's it. She grabbed the bucket in both hands and poured the hot water right over the tattooed guy's head.

Immediately, the laughter stopped and the newly soaked henchman was sitting there with his mouth wide open in shock. "Crazy bitch!" he yelled. Harley put the bucket down.

"Now, you do as I say or I'm going to give you a bigger mess to clean up!" she threatened and made sure to look at every single one of them. They were speechless. "Get to it!" That seemed to do the trick. One of them picked the bucket up and another one, the mop. The tattooed guy was still sitting down and Harley dared him to stay that way.

"Alright, fine!" he said and got up finally, joining his pals in the kitchen. Harley smiled to herself.

"That's more like it."

A/N: Hey everyone! I hope I haven't kept you waiting for too long! It's just that I've been pretty busy with other things, not being at home etc. I know this chapter is quite short and not a lot of things happen, but I hope it's better than nothing at least! I think it's high time Harley gets to boss around a little, don't you? ;)