****Whoa, over 1000 readers so far! You guys are awesome. (Only 9 reviews though, :P)Thanks for sticking with me so far. Hope you like the upcoming chapter. Let me know if do! Or if you don't...you know, whatever makes you feel good. Haha ****
The nasally voice caused her head to snap over her shoulder in shock as he forced her arm above her head and wrenched the knife out of her hand. His face holding an unreadable expression as he glared at her, holding the knife lazily at his waist as if waiting. She stood up straight with her mouth agape, much like a child who had been caught sneaking in after curfew, unsure of what to do.
All of the adrenaline that had been fueling her up to that point seemed to disappear almost immediately, leaving her confused and vulnerable as the enormity of what had just happened began to settle in. What had started out as a simple, curiosity filled excursion through the top floor had gone downhill fast. And she wasn't sure how to defend herself. Dropping her hands to her side like heavy weights, she glanced up at him in an effort to explain herself. But nothing came out. Instead, she began to hyperventilate before finally breaking down into terrified tears, lowering her head. But to her surprise, he didn't yell.
"Now, now." He said in a terrifyingly calm voice, smacking his lips with a roll of the eyes. Placing a hand on her shoulder he pulled her closer to him and tucked her crying face under his arm before taking in the scene around him with a frown. The only sound that filling the room being Jonathan's screams and her sobs.
She knew that there wasn't a chance that she would get off this easy. Not after the last interaction they had. And not after she had deliberately disobeyed him. Even through her tears, she was painfully aware of the knife in his hand as it lightly grazed her shoulder. He might kill her right now, but if he did, she didn't want to see it coming.
The Joker let out a grunt as he looked from face to guilty face, smacking his lips again as his left arm rested on her shoulder absentmindedly. Pulling a gun from his right pocket, he didn't even bother looking over as he quickly fired three shots at the screaming man on the floor, forcing a yelp from Arella before the room was silent. He tossed the gun aside before turning to the other two.
"She was trying to escape boss." One of the men blurted out, having finally found his voice.
The Joker seemed to ignore the man for a moment, his expression still flat while he glanced around once more before using his grip on her shoulder to pull her away from the nook of his arm slightly. He looked down at her tear stained face, tilting his head slightly
"That true, dollface?" He questioned in a low voice.
She shook her head rapidly, still crying hysterically as she kept her eyes trained on his even though she was dying to look away.
"I wasn't. I swear I wasn't. I was just exploring and I thought you left me here and they…" She chocked on her words. "They tried to…" Her voice failed her as the Joker's penetrating gaze studied her, chewing his scars as he thought.
"She's lying boss." The man shouted desperately.
Out of nowhere, the Joker let out a laugh, turning to the man who was staring at them both in fear. "Then you boys should be very disappointed in your job performance." His arm released the crying girl with a slight shove, taking a step forward as he began to slowly and deliberately shrug himself out of his purple jacket. "I mean, look at her." He giggled, turning to Arella and tossing his coat at her. "Cover yourself, dollface."
Arella caught it, but just barely. Almost shocked for a moment as she held the foreign object away from her body. Unsure of whether she wanted to put it on or not. But she quickly realized that it hadn't been a question. Wrapping it around herself slowly, her eyes drifting over her shoulder to find two more goons by the door, glancing at her accusingly. She quickly turned away, looking at the ground as the Joker continued. The tension in the room was mounting and it rendered everyone in the room deathly silent. Everyone except the Joker.
"How do you think-ah it makes me look when my men can't handle one. Tiny. Woman. Between the three of them?" The Joker was practically shaking with anger as he closed in on the man, the knife he had pulled away from Arella still in one hand as he gestured wildly with the other.
"She-"
Before the man could get the words out, the Joker let out a growl and buried the knife hilt deep in the man's neck, seemingly nicking an artery judging by the amount of blood. Yanking the knife out of his body with a splattering of the red liquid flying across the room, he grabbed the second man by the neck before he could run off.
"Ella." He started, not looking behind him as he forced the man to his knees. "Come here, sweetheart."
It was a call that, even in his musical tone, was clearly an order and not a request. She felt her stomach drop, wanting to run away, to block out all the blood in the room, but she knew that to disobey him now was to have a death wish. Maybe he would go easy on her if she listened. With a heavy sigh, she forced herself to move forward, wiping her wet cheeks as she neared him. The Joker stepped behind the man on his knees, holding the bloody knife out to her, hilt first.
Suddenly, she realized what it was he wanted her to do. But her adrenaline had long disappeared; she couldn't handle that at the moment, not in her current state. The Joker only narrowed his eyes at her as she hesitated, his voice lowering to a dangerous low.
"Don't. make. Me. Chase you." He enunciated each word, not removing his eyes from her own.
She gasped, closing the chasm between them with a couple more steps as if she was walking through mud. Taking the knife slowly, she stood over the man as the Joker grabbed the man's hair, tilting his head back to give her a clear view.
"Now." He continued, speaking to the man. "Why don't you apologize to our guest?"
The man looked up at her desperately, beginning to beg. "I'm sorry. Christ, I'm sorry! I wasn't going to do anything to you, I swear. It was all Jonathan."
As he spoke, Arella could feel her anger rising again as he spouted off all of the sorry excuses he could think of. "Why didn't you stop him?" She questioned softly, her voice shaking.
"I couldn't think. I should have but I didn't know how. You gotta understand, it's been a long time since we've had a woman here and in that dress, I-"
She couldn't help but wonder how many other women he had taken while he was out doing for the jobs for the Joker. It drove her crazy as she thought back to the woman in the alley, and all of those who screamed afterwards. Without warning, she finally shut her eyes and brought the knife down with a short scream, burying it in his body. She wasn't sure where. The heartbeat pounding in her hear clouded her hearing and she didn't open her eyes until she turned on her heels, storming towards the doorway where the two goons were still blocking her exit holding two large guns. She didn't care. Without so much as a second glance, she pushed past them and all but ran back to her room, slamming the door behind her and falling on the floor against her bed, breaking down into hysterical tears again.
She wasn't sure how long she stayed on the floor, curled up in a ball in front of the bed with only the moonlight from the nearby window to illuminate the dark room. In just a few minutes, she had gone from bright eyed explorer to murderer. She was no better than the men in Joker's army. No better than the Joker. And in her mind there was no way to rectify that thought. She was a killer, and she wanted to die.
Eventually though, over the sound of her sobs, the front door creaked open, shutting with a rattle. Her arm remained draped in front of her eyes as she desperately tried to wipe the visions of blood from her mind. She instantly knew it was the Joker who had walked in from the sound of his heavy footsteps but nothing could make her bothered enough to care. He was probably still angry at her if he thought she was trying to escape and for causing him to kill three of his men and nothing could make her want to deal with him tonight. Not now. The way his body shook with anger in the room downstairs told her that it was not something he was going to let go easily. She was going to pay for it, and for once, she didn't care. She didn't bother to move away from him or to protect herself. If he wanted to attack her she would take it quietly because, in her own mind, she deserved it. Part of her wanted it, anything to distract herself from the thoughts swirling around in her head for a while.
As the footsteps came to a stop, she could feel his presence hovering over her and she could tell that he was staring at her, thinking. With the sounds of shuffling, she finally heard him let out an angry growl, grabbing her arm and lifting upper body from the floor before letting it fall again, her head on something soft.
Arella finally removed her arm from her eyes to figure out what was going to as she chocked on her tears. Her body was still on the floor but her head lay on something much softer and…purple. Her eyes shifted to the Joker's shoe in her line of vision before she realized that he had taken a seat on the floor, his legs splayed in either side of her, laid her head on his thigh, and his hand on her side. The thought unnerved her momentarily and she whimpered, trying to move away from him but the pressure from the hand on her side increased, forcing her to lie still. Panic filled her mind as she tried harder to pull away. The idea of being this near to the man who had just forced her to stab another and could very well kill her right now terrified her. But the harder she tried to slide away, the harder he pressed.
Finally, her brief moment of strength dissipated and her body relaxed as she continued to cry. The pressure on her back eased as well and as she sat there for a long moment, a surprising realization came over her.
The Joker was trying to comfort her.
She lay there in shock, unsure of what to do as her sobs began to quiet. Even when she was a child, her grandmother hadn't been a very touchy woman and she had quickly learned how to comfort herself in situations that affected her negatively. As a result, she had a tendency to be somewhat standoffish and though Shawn had managed to get her to open a little, even he hadn't had to deal with her emotional side. And she hated that the first person to be privy to it was him. She hated him, even more now for forcing her into this state and then intruding on her private moment. She had learned early to hide her emotions and she was good at it. But now, there was nowhere to disappear to and all she could do was deal with it.
Above her, the Joker stare down with a frown spread across his face. He wanted to move the hand from her back and slap it out of her. It's what he'd do to any of his men, if he didn't kill them first. But he resisted. He wanted her to trust him if he ever planned on forcing her to kill again. And he did. Walking in on her madly driving a knife repeatedly into the face and shoulders of one of his men had been one of the most exciting things he had seen in a long time. Part of him had wanted to let her finish the job, but the anger that quickly boiled up overtook him and made him want to finish the action himself. And when killing the first two hadn't satiated him, he decided to force her to kill the third as punishment for both her and the incompetent man. He did go so easy on her.
Finally, after 5 minutes, her tears had abated and she lay there silently, not moving, simply staring out of the window in front of her blankly. While she still felt horrible about killing a man, what scared her the most was that she felt no sympathy for the man, only herself. When had she become so selfish? The question answered itself though and she lowered her lids for a moment with a sigh. She hated to admit it, but the Joker's thigh wasn't terribly uncomfortable. Compared to the floor at least. She would much prefer her bed. Out of the blue, a thought formed in her mind. One that would maybe make her feel better. Slowly, she rolled over on her back to look up at the Joker who's expression was difficult to make out in the dark room. His eyes simply looked like black pits and his face was blank as he moved his hand away from her shifting back and place it onto his opposite leg.
Moistening her lips, she took a deep breath before asking. "Did I kill him?" her voice cracked, still sore from crying so much.
A low chuckle emitted from his chest telling her everything she needed to know, and with another sigh, she began to roll back over on her side away from him before his gloved hand moved to her chin, forcing her to face him again.
Nervous eyes looked up at him as he did. It had been a long time since he had been rough with her, and though the grip on her chin wasn't painful, it was certainly uncomfortable. A strange silence passed through the room as he studied her, thinking. She remained perfectly still, unsure of what to do but knowing that pulling away would surely cause him to attack her.
Finally, with a last final suck of his cheeks, the Joker leaned down closer to her face, gripping her chin tightly.
"So." He started in a low, somewhat gravelly voice. "Tell Joker. Where you trying to escape?" He tilted his head to study her face as he waited for an answer.
As her head shook no, she was happy that it was actually the truth. With the look on his face right now, and after what had gone down just a little before, she didn't think she'd have enough sanity left to lie to him right now. That was probably his intent, though.
"Then what were you doing, hmm?" His voice still low. She was also pretty sure that he hadn't blinked the whole time.
"I was bored." Came her soft reply, suddenly realizing how ridiculous that sounded.
He didn't reply, still staring at her. She took that as an indication to continue.
"And…I realized that the door was unlocked so…I went…exploring. I just wanted to see something besides these four walls and…I was going to just stay on the fifth floor. I did stay on the fifth floor for a long time but…" She was aware that she was rambling now, but she didn't care, she had spent nearly a month with no one to talk to and she wanted to get as much out in this one conversation as she could. "It was quiet. So quiet and I started to think that…you had just cleared out and left me here. So I went looking for some sign that…I wasn't here alone. And that's when…." Her voice trailed away as she tried to forget about the events that followed.
The Joker was quiet for a long moment before bursting into hysterical laughter, slapping his knee. The movement was jarring and forced Arella into a seated position, pulling her knees to her chest again as she still sat between his knees, afraid to move much further.
"You thought I disappeared and just left you here?" He wheezed. "Oh trust me cupcake, I would never leave you here. Not alive anyway."
She was silent, staring at her hands. It was surprising how his comments barely fazed her anymore. She simply picked at the frayed edges of her dress, Inching away from him slightly. "I killed that man." She continued softly, not looking up.
"Oh yes. You. Did." He said with another chuckle. "And Jonathan…hmm." He gave a happy hum. "Tell me, how did that feel?"
"I don't know." She said softly, still not looking up at him.
"Oh yes you do." He smiled, drawing up his knees from around her and crawling over to sit next to her with his legs splayed out in front of him as he leaned closer to her. "A girl like you…just out minding her own business and these barbaric men try to take from you the last shred of dignity you have left by force." He growled the last word at her. "And I can promise you, you weren't the first, and you wouldn't have been that last. How did it feel to save the lives of all those other women? To get revenge? Hmm?" He grinned, his face only inches from hers as she cast him a brief sideways glance.
Her face still stayed turned away from him as the thought worked over in her mind. She had to admit that she hadn't thought about it that way, and it made her feel slightly better. It was like he knew the answer to all the nightmares she had at night. As if he knew that she had them. Maybe she did save someone's life; prevented another unknown woman from being viciously assaulted in an alley. And though it was only speculation, if that was the case, she could live with it.
"Don't you care about the lives of your own men?" She questioned with a snarky tone, turning to look at him accusingly.
He only cackled. "Oh come now. Do I look like a guy that cares about anyone but himself?" He pressed his lips together. "Besides, I don't-ah like to share."
Her brows furrowed as she looked at him, giving a confused shake of the head. "Share?"
His smile broadened to a point where it looked like his scars would tear open again as he stared at her dangerously. "You are mine." He said, baring his teeth at her. "Everything that you are. Everything that you will be is mine. And anyone who tries to take my things away from me will suffer. Even you."
Her eyes narrowed at him as each of his words hit her. She knew that they were true, whether she liked them or not, but that didn't mean she had to accept them.
"I'm not your plaything." She growled angrily.
"Oh but you are. You really are." He said with a smile. "And if I ever catch you trying to run away…."
Arella jumped as she felt something cold against her thigh. A glance down and she saw the Joker's knife tracing her leg gently, its shiny surface reflecting in the moonlight occasionally to reveal darkening red stains still covering it. She shuddered forcing herself to turn away from the knife and face the window though her brows still knitted together angrily.
Reaching a hand up to her neck, he brushed her hair aside, lacing his gloved fingers into the thick strands at her nape and gripping it tightly, ignoring her wince.
"You should be happy." He said with false concern. "Now, the only thing you have to fear in the world...is me."
"Just like every other person in Gotham." She muttered, trying to pull her hair out of his grip but only being rewarded with a hard yank.
"No. You're not like every other person. Because I like you."
"You can't keep me here forever."
"I don't intend to." He said lowly, his breath warm on her neck
She hated how casual he was about the want to kill her. Like she was nothing. So she changed the subject. Anxious to keep him talking because even though he thrived on terrorizing her, she had no one else to talk to and was in no mood to be left alone tonight.
"I mean….in this room." Her eyes turned to him as she reached back, finally pulling his hand from her hair with little resistance. "I can't stay in here all day by myself. I can't."
He studied her for a long moment, smacking his lips before pulling away with a grin. "Oh alright. You know that I can't say no to you." He grabbed her chin and shook it roughly.
She grimaced, pushing away from him as he laughed.
"I'll leave the door unlocked just like it always has been. But you know what happens if you leave this floor. I might not go so easy on you next time."
She nodded, surprised it had been that easy to get him to agree. She considered yelling at him about tricking her with the door but quickly decided against it "I won't."
"I know." He pulled away from her finally, looking her over for a long moment as he began to laugh to himself.
Arella glanced at him annoyed as he continued. Stopping every now and then before looking at her and bursting into a new round of laughter. She could tell he wanted her to question why he was laughing, and as hard as she tried to ignore him, she knew he wouldn't stop until she did. Finally she gave an annoyed growl.
"What the hell are you laughing at?" She yelled at him.
"Oh, you should see yourself." He said excitedly before standing, grabbing her arm and pulling her off the floor impatiently. "Come on, come on, comeon. This is going to be a hoot."
She followed him with a roll of the eye. Of course he was going to rub in how crazy she looked right now. It probably would have surprised her if he didn't.
He pulled her into the bathroom, flicking on the light and stopping in front of the mirror, pulling her in front of him and placing his hands on her shoulders. With a giant grin he slid the purple jacket from her shoulders so that she could take it all in.
"Ta-da." He said in a softer voice, tossing the jacket aside and placing his hands on her shoulders again.
Arella's eyes widened in shock, she hadn't realized that she had been hit with any blood, much less the almost unbelievable amount that was splattered across her face, hair, hands, and arms. She looked an absolute wreck. Her dress was barely covering much as it hang off of her shoulders and though it was difficult to see in the dim lighting, the feel of wetness against her stomach told her that the thin black fabric also had a generous amount of blood on it. Had she nicked an artery at some point? She didn't remember being hit with blood but it had all been a blur anyway. There was probably a lot of things she didn't realize. She tried to utter a sound before she reached up instead, trying to desperately rub the blood off of her arms.
"Ah ta, ta." He grabbed her arms, forcing them back down at her sides as he towered nearly a head over her even as he slouched. "Look at yourself." He said with a low, gravelly voice. "You look…dangerous…frightening…ravishing" He said the last word with a growl, resting his chin on her head as his gloved hands traveled slowly down her arms, Hos dirty green curls brushing the top of her head as his intimidating figure nearly engulfed her own.
She didn't reply, barely listening to him as she took in her appearance. She did look absolutely terrifying, which seemed fitting considering where she was being held. If anyone had seen her through the window walking around the halls they would have certainly ran in terror. Her eyes drifted up to the Joker's reflection behind her and she was instantly taken aback by the absolute glee in his eye. She had never seen him look at her this way. His glances were always tempered with anger, boredom, or mild amusement, but not this time. No, for once, he was impressed.
"I look crazy." She replied finally, barely above a whisper.
"No you don't-ah." His face turned serious for a split second before the smile crept back along his face. "Crazy is just a word for people they can't stuff into a pigeon hole. That they can't understand. People like us-ah." He said the last part in a low voice, close to her ear.
"I'm not like you."
"Yes. You. Are." He sang. "All either of us wants is for things to be fair. Hmm? We just have different methods. You want to be the hero." His hands covered her own, causing a shudder through her body as she felt something hard press into her palm before his hands wrapped around hers, forcing it closed around the foreign object, his tongue darting out to lick his lips in barely contained excitement. "You see, I know why you wake up crying. I know about all. That. anger. you've been holding in."
He lifting her hand, revealing the knife that he had slid into her hand. The same one that she had used earlier to attack Jonathan that had since been wiped down to a sheen. "I can help you use that anger to..." His hand rotated hers slowly, so that the knife reflected the light of the lamp above. "Restore the balance that you crave." He murmured into her ear before letting her go, stepping aside so that she was only looking at herself in the mirror.
Her eyes drifted to the knife, staring at it intently before turning back to the reflection in the mirror, taking in the full vision before her. With the knife in hand, she had to admit that she looked like she could take on anyone in Gotham. If she caught them by surprise at least. It didn't hurt either for the Joker to have her back. Her mind briefly wandered back to the knife in her hand. She wondered if she could move fast enough to attack the Joker like she had earlier. But she didn't have to even glance over to know that he would be watching her intently and would be awaiting her reaction. No, now wouldn't be the time. Even still, it was like her read her mind.
"Now before you do anything Stupid, don't forget that you won't get down to the first floor alive without me." A grin spread across his face as he leaned against the wall, his arms crossed.
She cast him a sideways glance before rolling her eyes slightly, turning back to the mirror. Part of her wanted to tell him to shut up, but she wasn't that bold just yet. With a sigh, she leaned on the sink in front of her as she thought, tossing the knife into the basin and staring at it for a moment as if she had never seen it before. After a moment, she looked back up at him with a scrunch of the nose. "How do you know about my dreams?"
He grinned again "You are…an open book when you sleep."
"You've been watching me sleep?" She narrowed her eyes at him with a frown.
"You're lucky I didn't do more than that." He lowered his voice, moving behind her again, sliding his hands down her waist causing her to gasp and stand up straight, starting to pull away from him but quickly realizing that she was pinned between him and the sink. "You have no idea the things I've pictured doing to this…" his hands lowered from her waist, sliding between them down to her backside before giving it a firm squeeze. "tight-ah ass of yours." He finished, growling in her ear.
She squeezed her eyes shut, gripping the sink hard enough to turn her knuckles white as she remained perfectly still, wishing she hadn't brought up the question. The Joker's mood seemed all over the place tonight and she wasn't sure what kind of reaction moving would bring. Dealing with his goons was one thing, but she knew that she wouldn't have the same luck here.
"You'd be begging for more." He finished, his tongue tracing a thin line up the back of her neck as her breath hitched in her throat. His lips turned into upwards into a smirk before he reached forward, picking up the knife from the sink and leaning away from her.
"Go take a shower." He gave her butt a final smack before heading towards the doorway. "We have a big day tomorrow."
Arella finally opened her eyes, still gripping the sink as she tried to control her breathing watching him disappear through the door. When it finally shut behind him, she let out a relieved sigh, wondering what it was that he meant. But with a quick shake of the head, she tried to not think about it. She only wanted to try and get some rest before she had to deal with whatever he had planned for the next day.
It took her hours to finally get to sleep. Dwelling on all that had happened that night. After spending the last month in what felt very much like solitary confinement, she had already felt as if she was teetering on the edge of sanity and having so many traumatic events and emotions thrown at her all at once tonight was almost too much too handle. She couldn't help but wonder how the night would have ended if she had been left in the room by herself to deal with it all. She wouldn't say that she was grateful to the Joker. Not even close. Part of her wanted to die, but she didn't have the motivation to do so tonight. Not anymore. Instead, she finally drifted off, hoping that she could make it another day.
The feeling of light pressure against her side awoke her in the morning. Instinctually, she brushed the object away with a groan, rolling over and burying her head in the pillow again. It wasn't until the pressure shifted near her head that she heard the sound of loud purring and the feel of a small head nudging her arm that her eyes yanked open, staring at the fat cat in front of her with wide, unbelieving eyes.
"Louie." She said softly, sitting up and wrapping her arms around the creature, cuddling him close to her for dear life. The cat seemed annoyed by the movement as he struggled to slide out of her grasp with an impatient meow, but it didn't faze her as she stroked the cat's head with a wide smile, simply happy to see him.
"Ah…you're welcome." Came a nasally voice by the door.
Her back stiffened for a long moment before she turned to see the Joker leaning against the wall behind her. Seeing him filled her with a dreadful realization.
"What did you do?" She questioned accusingly, her hand still on Louie's head.
"I brought you a friend." He said with a smirk, sucking his scars. "And here I thought you'd be more grateful."
"What did you do to Shawn?" Her breath began to quicken in anger.
He laughed, holding his hands up defensively. "Calm down, sweet cheeks. He's alive. I just went for the cat." It wasn't a complete lie. Shawn was alive when the Joker left him, but just barely. He had decided only a moment before slicing the man's throat that it'd be better to have him as a backup plan.
"Why?" She questioned, the deep frown not leaving her face. The Joker never did anything nice without a reason, and this was just nice enough to make her worry.
"Why?" He frowned, tilting his head as if hurt, placing his hands over his heart. "Your words wound me. Can't I just do something nice for my favorite toy? You've been a good girl."
"No." She replied simply, not in the mood for his games.
He laughed dropping the act. "Well, you caught me." He walked over to the bed, flopping down on the edge and brushing both the blanket and cat off of it with a grunt before forcing her legs atop his lap, moving closer to her.
Arella didn't bother to pull away. For the most part, she had gotten used to his boundary issues and had learned that he got even more enjoyment when she fought against them.
"I just wanted to meet this…Shawn…that you kept writing about." He started, gesturing wildly with one hand as the other stroked her bare legs idly. "And if you want my opinion. I think you can do better." His nose scrunched in the way it normally did when he was being judgemental.
"What the hell do you know?" She spat out before quickly lowering her eyes, not expecting it to come out so angrily. It wasn't quick enough though, and the Joker's eyes narrowed before lifting his legs off of her lap, standing and crawling onto the bed in front of her with a growl..
Her legs quickly drew up towards her chest in an attempt to put distance between the two of them, but he quickly grabbed her legs behind the knees and yanked her forward, forcing her back onto the bed as he wrapped her legs around his waist.
Arella yelped, her arms shooting up between them even as he leaned down hovering over her with a sneer, watching the fear fill her eyes. She hated this position, and she knew that it was why he did it. It had nothing to do with sex at this point; he wanted to remind her of how much he controlled her and it was working. While he had always used suggestive comments and inappropriate touching to force her to watch her mouth, this was the first time they had ended up in this position and it scared her.
"I'm sorry." She said quickly.
He chuckled gave a dark chuckle. "You know. If you keep tempting me like this. I might not be able to control myself." He pressed his pelvis against hers, forcing her to acknowledge how excited he was getting.
Her whole body flinched, trying to move away to no avail. "I know. You're right. I'm sorry." She was begging now.
He stare at her for a moment before grinning and rolling off of her onto an empty space in the bed between her and the wall, pulling a knife out of his pocket, beginning to spin it as a warning. "You were saying?" He crossed his ankles, not giving a second thought to his feet on the bed.
She took a moment to scramble back up into a sitting position, trying to catch her breath before glancing over at the Joker who was staring at her impatiently. "I just meant…that it's complicated." She said slowly. "That's all."
"Well why didn't you just say so?" He laughed, waving the knife around and causing her to recoil away from him.
"How is he?" She continued, staring at her hands once he had stopped flailing.
"Excited to hear that you were alive." He gave a sadistic smile, deciding to leave out what had really happened at the house. No use in sullying her image of the man he would use to control her. "Real worried."
There was a long silence before she looked up at him, licking her lips, hoping that her next question wouldn't anger him. "Do you really expect me to believe…that you went in there…and simply, said hello, took my cat, and left?"
"Yea." He said simply.
Her eyes only remained on him as she tried to figure out his angle.
"I have a looooot of fun things planned for us soon. And as long as you behave, Shawn will live." He lowered his voice dangerously. "But if you try to escape…I might have to visit him again. He made dancing motions with the knife. "London or not-ah." He bared his teeth at her.
She gasped slightly, turning away from him to look at Louie who had since jumped back onto the bed, curling up at the edge. So that was it, then. "I'm not running." She said softly.
"No. Not now. But I know how tempting it's going to be for you once we get back to Gotham."
Her eyes widened, temporarily forgetting everything he had just said once he mentioned leaving the building.
"We're going back?" She gasped, looking up at him hopefully.
His head tilted as he studied her, somewhat taken aback by her sudden change in demeanor. He couldn't help but wonder what it was she was planning.
"What are you so excited for?" He questioned finally, his voice still low.
"I just…we get to go out. I get to go out." She corrected, unable to stop the slight smile that spread across her face as she turned to the window next to her bed with a new level of hopefulness. She didn't care about getting away right now, didn't even care about why the Joker was taking them back to Gotham. She just wanted to experience the fresh air she had been deprived from for the last 3 and a half weeks. "When are we going? Tonight?" She questioned, turning back to him.
"Yea." He said slowly, casting her a sideways glance as he sucked his cheeks. He had to admit, this had not been the reaction he had been expecting. And he wasn't entirely sure if he liked it.
'She'll wipe that smile off of her face soon enough.' He thought to himself. With an exaggerated role of the eyes he pushed her aside roughly forcing a surprised yelp from her mouth as she fell to the bed behind him and he climbed off unimpeded.
"Take a shower and put those on." He flicked his head to a set of clothes on the chair heading to the front door "Be ready in fifteen minutes." He grumbled, resisting the urge to turn around and terrorize her into tears again. They had work to do tonight and that would only make his job harder. Instead he simply walked out, leaving her to prepare.
Back at the recently rebuilt Gotham General hospital, Shawn was lying in his hospital bed as nurses bustled outside his room to attend to the many people injured in a multi-car pileup on one of the city's major bridges. He had only recently woken up from the anesthesia haze the doctors had placed him under while they took time to stitch up the many cuts and slashes that had been gleefully placed amongst his body little over a day before. It had taken hour to stich them all up and the doctors had eventually stopped talking. Even he wasn't sure how many stitches had been needed and had honestly lost track of the number of slashes pretty quickly that night as his ability to pay attention quickly succumbed to attempts to avoid the pain. All he knew was that when he was finally left alone, bleeding profusely, he barely had enough strength to crawl to his cell phone and call for an ambulance before passing out. And having finally awoken in the hospital a couple of hours ago, he was promptly left to fend for himself once the novelty of him being stable began to wear off.
Reaching over to grab the call button that was hanging over the railing of the bed, he jammed it down four more times with a frown. Looking towards the doorway to see if one would stop. But none even bothered to look into the room. The nurses had come running the first six times he had called, but their responses was getting slower and slower.
"This hospital is a Joke." He grunted angrily, throwing the button onto the floor. It was useless anyway. He had spent the last hour calling his parents, his lawyer, and the cops all of whom were little help at the time being. And now, all he wanted was someone he could let his anger out on. Anyone. But instead, he could only lie still in an attempt to avoid more pain than was necessary.
He had almost drifted off to sleep again when a knock on the doorframe forced him awake.
"Mr. Westwood?"
Drowsily, he turned to the doorframe to see two men standing in the doorway in casual jackets. An older man with bushy salt and pepper hair and almost equally bushy eyebrows peering over thick rimmed glasses and a vastly younger brown eyed man with short dark hair slicked back and a determined gaze. He would almost peg them for father and some but he doubted that.
"Oh, Gotham's finest finally decided to show their faces? A couple of days late, of course." He muttered, turning back to the television.
The older man remained undeterred as he stepped further into the room. "I'm Commissioner Gordon and this is Detective Cooper. We're both very sorry about what happened to you. But we got your phone call to the station and…the Joker did this?" He questioned.
"That's what I said, isn't it?" He frowned, turning back towards them, beginning to get riled up. "He broke into my house and attacked me. Then fucking left me for dead. All for a stupid cat."
The commissioner gave a quick disbelieving glance to the detective next to him before turning back.
"I'm sorry, a….cat…sir?" The younger detective raised his brows.
"Yes. A Cat." He said slower as if they were children, narrowing his eyes and leaning forward as much as his pain would allow in an attempt to emphasize his point. "A mangy, disgusting, overweight cat. And it was all her fault. I want him found. I want both of them found. I don't care if you have to use every single officer in the city. I want it done immediately or my parents will sue this city for everything that it's worth."
"Who's fault, Mr. Westwood?" Gordon pressed, almost rolling his eyes at the threat.
Shawn's mouth dropped slightly. "Are you kidding me? Her's. Arella's. She sent him for her damn cat."
"Arella Morgan?"
"Yes." He threw his hands up. "Are you two even listening to me? Do they not teach English in public school these days?"
"I can assure you they do." Gordon gave a tight smile. "And you seem like a smart man, Mr. Westwood. In light of the video the Joker sent us showing her as a captive a few weeks ago, what makes you think that she's working with him now?"
"Why else would he be at my house? I've made it a goal to stay away from criminals. And I wouldn't put a whole lot of stock into that video. Who knows what skeletons she's hiding? I sure as hell don't."
"Would Arella have any reason to want you hurt?"
He sat back onto the bed with a sigh. "Look detectives, I'm a good looking guy. And rich to boot. So obviously, I have no trouble finding women, sometimes more than I can handle. I know that's hard for you two to understand, but sometimes feelings get hurt. Maybe she thought there was more between us than there really was. Maybe she found out about the others. I don't know and I don't care. All I know is she sent him. And I want her in jail for what happened to me." A long silence descended over the room as the second detective knitted his brows together in a mixture of confusion and revulsion and Gordon gave a slow nod.
"I see." Gordon said simply, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a small voice recorder, setting it on the table with a soft tap. "Why don't you give us a rundown of exactly what happened and we'll leave you alone so you can get some sleep."
"I don't need sleep. I need justice to be served." He ordered through gritted teeth.
"We all do, Mr. Westwood." Gordon muttered, pressing the on button on the recorder.