~*~*~

61. Joker Face

~*~*~

Disclaimer: Thank you to everyone for reading and reviewing. I know updates have not been frequent lately and I apologize! The song reference in this chapter belongs to Lady GaGa

"Joker, I'm bored! Let's go dancing again!" I exclaimed, walking around his apartment. I felt like I had been indoors for days, but it had only been a few hours.

"Well, I have some heroin left over it you want thrills…" he smirked as he pulled the little packet from his shoe and then shook it between his thumb and pointer fingers. I rolled my eyes at him and shook my head.

"Tempting, but no. I want to dance! And I don't want to be high! I'll be drunk—drunk is good—but high is bad. You saw what happened last night! Come on, let's go to the Iceberg!" I paused and then turned back towards him, clenching my fists, "Oh! Maybe we'll see Bruce and Pixie—I can give her a little surprise of her own…"

"Giada, do you live at the Iceberg Lounge? Because it's beginning to feel like you do…" the Joker mused, appearing almost irritated. I frowned back at him and crossed my arms in front of my chest.

"No—but you're right. We have been there a lot lately. Maybe it's best for us to just stay here—that way we can just avoid Pixie and Bruce," I replied. I couldn't tell if I was being sarcastic or serious. Part of me didn't want to see them, but part of me had to go back to the lounge…just to see if they were there…again. The unknown was eating me alive from the inside out. Or maybe it was just the heroin leaving my body. Suddenly, the Joker let out a cackling laugh.

"Oh Giada! You give up too easily! You know I can't resist an evening amongst Gotham's finest," he grinned and licked his lips, "especially if you decide on killing Pixie tonight," he giggled again and fell back onto the bed. I smirked, glad that he agreed to my plan.

"Should I bring my gun?" I asked finally, feeling the surge of excitement rise from my stomach to my heart. The Joker quickly sat back up on the bed; his face was serious. "I'll take that as a 'no',"

His lips parted into cacophonous laughter as he jumped to his feet and removed a gun from his jacket pocket, "This gun?" he asked, chuckling slightly as he stood beside me.

"Well, yeah—the one you gave me for Christmas, remember?" I responded, cocking my head to the side.

"Well, if I'm going to…let you…use it, you have to—prove—to me you know how to use it," the Joker replied, licking his lips. He raised his eyebrows and handed the gun to me.

"Prove to you? What do you mean…show you how I would use it on Pixie or something?" I asked, a bit confused.

"Show me," he repeated, raising his eyebrows again and licking his lips once more. I shrugged and cocked the gun.

"I guess I'll just—"

"Shhhhshshshsh. Show. Don't tell," he held up his gloved finger to my lips. My eyes narrowed until he removed his hand from my face.

Once his hands were at his sides, I pursed my lips, nodded my head then scratched my head with the barrel of the gun. I had to think. How would I kill Pixie with the gun? Would I put the gun to her head? Would I put the gun under her chin? Would I put the barrel of the gun in her mouth? There were so many splendid ways to end her life with just one weapon! The possibilities seemed endless, but in this moment, I had to pick just one—to prove to the Joker I was worthy of using the gun—probably so I wouldn't have another accident like I had that one time back in Pixie's apartment.

I could sense the Joker was getting a bit anxious with my hesitation—or thought, rather—so I opted for the classic gun-to-temple-of-head routine. I raised the gun and pointed it to the Joker's head. I paused for just a second, hating that I was pointing a gun at his beautiful head. I then forced myself to place the barrel of the gun to his white painted temple.

"Bam," I said flatly as I un-cocked the gun and put my hand down. The Joker's face twisted into elation after having looked immensely serious. He exploded into laughter, "You're just right for this kind of…threat!" he exclaimed.

I nervously smiled back at him, "Yeah, bet you couldn't tell at all how awful I felt pointing that at you though,"

"Smiling always works best for me—then again, I'm always smiling," he reminded me, fully smiling. My heart jumped. I loved when he smiled, however, I couldn't decide if it was easy or difficult to see him smiling as he killed someone. It sounded like something he should do—but the Joker was never predictable.

"So if I promise to smile when I shoot Pixie, then I can use the gun?" I asked, smirking at him and gesturing to the gun in my hand.

"See, now you understand it," he jested and then turned and left the room. I placed the gun down on the bed and quickly followed him.

"Where are you going?" I called after him.

"Uh, the Iceberg," he responded agitatedly, "That is where you wanted to go…" he raised his eyebrows and licked his lips.

"Oh right! I just didn't know you were headed out there now,"

The Joker simply pursed his lips, rolled his eyes and crossed his arms in front of his chest while I ran back into the bedroom and retrieved the gun.

The Joker and I stood outside the lounge, hesitating before entering.

"So do you think tonight is the night I kill Pixie Dust?" I asked anxiously, pacing back and forth. The Joker stood firmly on his feet as his eyes stared straight out in front of him. He licked his lips and blinked his eyes a few times before answering my question.

"I think you'll…surprise…yourself, Giada," he replied in a soothing voice.

"Oh you think?! So I guess that means I'll probably kill her," I responded, still quickly pacing, "Or I won't," I hesitated slightly in my pacing. Just as I was about to quicken my pace again, the Joker's hand wrapped itself about my upper arm, halting me from moving.

"You're making me dizzy—and I don't mean it in the way I said it before," he hissed under his breath. I took my arm back from him forcefully and nodded my head in agreement. He was right—I was being a nervous idiot for no reason. I could kill Pixie. I didn't have to be anxious about anything—I was the one with the gun.

I glanced up at his smiling face and flashed him a grin. He smirked back at me and led me into the pulsating club.

We pushed our way through the coat room and through the club until we eventually made out way to the dance floor. I started dancing immediately as I hit the floor, probably to rid myself of any anxious energy that remained in my body. The Joker, however, remained motionless, biting his lip as he watched me dance.

"I think I need…a drink," he spoke finally over the rumble of music.

"Okay! I'll be here!" I called back to him, still dancing. He disappeared through the crowd of people and I was left alone dancing. Normally I would have felt like a complete idiot, but for some reason, I didn't really care how I looked when I danced when I was at the Iceberg. All I cared about was the fact the Joker was with me and that I had a gun in my pocket, should Pixie show up with Bruce.

"Giada!?" a familiar voice called out to me. I turned my head in all directions as I kept dancing. I guess I felt the need to conspicuously find the person calling my name.

"Giada! Over here!" the voice shouted again. I whipped my head around and saw Bruce standing at the edge of the dance floor.

"Bruce!" I called back at him as I rushed from the floor and jumped into his arms. We held each other in a tight embrace for what felt like minutes, but was really only a few seconds. Bruce set me down on my feet and smiled widely at me.

"Giada, I feel like it's been forever since I've seen you! It's only been what, a week or so?" he laughed deeply and I laughed along with him.

"I know the feeling! I've missed you! How are things? Are you still coming here a lot to, you know, find things out?" I asked, my voice more hushed on the latter part of my question. Bruce smirked at me and nodded his head.

"Yeah, I've been coming here quite a bit actually. I thought I'd see you here more often because of, the Joker," he cleared his throat and forced a smile. I looked down for a moment and then back up at him. I then remember the Joker had gone to the bar. I wondered if he had come back to the dance floor.

"Yeah, I'm with him tonight—he's at the bar. Maybe you should go get a drink with him—you know, bond," I joked, punching him lightly on the arm. Bruce chuckled.

"Yeah, the only bonding I'd do with the Joker would be bonding him to a metal pole with chains," Bruce responded. I frowned up at him.

"Bruce! You're not allowed to do that to the Joker—only I am," I winked at him. Bruce wrinkled his nose.

"That was too much information for me, Giada," he laughed, wrapping his arms around me again. I laughed into his chest, taking in his fresh scent. Bruce always smelled so good—unless he was Batman. Whenever he was Batman, he always wreaked of industrial things. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but it was never the fresh, clean scent he gave off when he was Bruce Wayne.

Just when I felt I should pull away from Bruce, he held me out at arm's length, "Let's get a drink. My treat," he suggested. I smiled and nodded. We headed up to the bar and Bruce ordered us two shots of Patron. We downed them like the champs we were, just like the first night he took me to the Iceberg.

"Oh Bruce, I think the Joker's looking for me—do you mind?" I asked.

Bruce shook his head, "No, of course not. You came here with him—besides, I wouldn't want to piss him off. Who knows what he'd do to me if he knew we did shots of Patron," Bruce responded sarcastically.

"He'd probably join us," I replied matter-of-factly, then smiled at my friend. "I'll be back,"

"Okay Arnold," Bruce chuckled. I walked through the crowd of people to the dance floor. I finally found the Joker bobbing to the music with a drink in one hand.

"Hey—you like this song?" I asked, tapping him on the back. He swung around to reveal some fruity cocktail complete with a paper umbrella. I couldn't help my chortle a laugh in the back of my throat. I would have never pinned him for the bitch drinks!

"There you are, Giadaaaaa!!" he exclaimed with an enormous grin on his face.

"I didn't know you liked pina coladas!" I laughed, gesturing to his beverage, hoping he'd catch my song reference.

"It's a Mai Tai—I was in the mood for…something…different," he explained. I nodded my head and pursed my lips.

"I know it's a Mai Tai—I thought I'd just try you for the Pina Colada song reference, but that's okay," I stated.

"Actually, it's 'if you like pina coladas'," he corrected me, singing the lyric. My heart jumped right out of my chest. The Joker just sang to me. I didn't know he could sing—or that he would even want to sing! It certainly took me by surprise. I stood there in front of him with a stupid grin on my face.

"Giada?" he asked, licking his lips and moving his head in closer to mine so that his lips were by my ear, "Giada, there's still so much you don't know," He pulled his face back and started giggling.

"I knew it! I knew you were still hiding things from me!" I exclaimed and joined him in his laughter. "Oh! Joker! Bruce Wayne is at the bar drinking. Would you want to join him with me?"

The Joker stopped in his tracks and glanced up at the ceiling. He then sucked in some Mai Tai through his straw and glanced back at me with his dark eyes.

"Of course," he responded calmly. My heart started pounding in my chest. For some reason, I couldn't wait for Bruce and the Joker to drink together! I think it was mainly because whenever they'd been around each other, the Joker didn't know he was with Bruce. It was such a rush knowing something the Joker didn't—that the one person aside from myself whom he was so obsessed with, I knew the true alias of Batman.

We wandered up to the bar from the dance floor and caught Bruce just as he was greeting a familiar face—a blonde woman dressed all in black—a woman who was supposed to be pregnant.

I turned to the Joker and my eyes were filled with fire. His eyes smiled maliciously back at mine as he grinned, "Gun?" he asked.

"Oh you bet," I snarled as I reached into my pocket. The Joker and I approached Bruce and Pixie. The closer we got, each step we took, the gun inched itself from my pocket and into my eager hand.

"That bitch…is so…" I was about to say 'dead' as I reached for the gun, but as I looked up, I saw that this woman was anyone but Pixie, "not Pixie" were the words that came out instead.

I turned to the Joker with wide eyes as if to ask him who this woman was with Bruce.

"I told you you'd surprise yourself," the Joker grinned at me, almost seductively. The look on my face only further crumpled into confusion.

"Sorry—you look incredibly…sexy…when you're confused," he giggled.

"I…I don't know what to say…I don't know what to do! Who is that!?" I shrieked under my breath. "How can I keep a poker face now?! It's not Pixie!"

"You can't. You have to keep a Joker face," he responded, licking his lips, staring heavily into my eyes, "because if you can do that, then you've got…a lot more…coming to you tonight,"

"Huh?" I was so utterly confused I don't even think it mattered that it was some blonde stranger and not Pixie. Part of me was relieved it wasn't Pixie!

"Joker face," he whispered into my ear as his gloved hand covered mine, dropping the gun back into my pocket.