They say everyone has a crazy bit inside of them, we all handle it in our own ways, however some prefer to allow it go wild. Harleen wasn't like that, no, Dr Harleen Quinzel was a psychiatrist, a very good one in fact, even at her young age she was one of the most prestigious doctors in Arkham Asylum, which dealed with the worst of psychopaths in Gotham. Shehad handled a lot of patients and cured them, what made her such a good Doctor was her personal technic. She didn't judge them not matter what they had done, Harleen listened them as if they were good friends having a normal conversation, she made everyone feel comfortable enough to open up and be completely honest about their reasons for acting the way they did, then she worked out a way of making them change at their own pace. She had heard so much that deep inside she didn't label them as criminals but as victims of their own circumstances, of course she never told this to anyone.

Usually she made all of her patients talk about their childhood, after all the formative part of growing up is the most important one, it will most likely mark you forever. Believe it or not she hadn't had a pretty time growing up. Being the second daughter of 3 children her parents rarely payed attention to her and always compared Harleen to her older and perfect genius sister with a bright future or to her younger brother with his chance at sports.

"Mom! I got the best grades in my class!" She would announce excitedly waiting for a hug or even eye contact

"Well you are supposed to, why do you think we pay for your education?" Mother would snap while her sister giggled with superiority

"Dad!" She would call him "I won a gold medal in gymnastics, my coach says I could even compete in the international category"

"Harleen, I'm only financing your brother, he's got an actual sport career to pursue, as for gymnastics...what are you supposed to do with that? Join a circus? Go study and make yourself useful"

"I can get a scholarship it's a real thing I-"

He interrupted her not actually paying attention "You'll starve, that won't produce money"

The day she finally gave up on her dream of becoming a gymnast was when behind her parents back she had submitted an application to a very good school, her brother had seen her and had told his parents, her mother had slapped her so hard she had fallen on the kitchen floor, then her dad took off his belt and started to whip her back

"STOP" She screamed in pain

"IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD HARLEEN" Her mother had yelled over her cries

"We do this because we love you" his father added

Love, maybe this was the only way she would receive it, as a punishment instead of a gift, they made her believe she deserved this.

She had ripped all of her posters and curled up in a ball on her bed. Her father had gone into her room and sat next to her, even though he was violent with her she felt loved by him, even safe, her mother didn't love her, at least her father was there.

"Harley" he called

She sat up and wiped her tears, he was the only one who would call her like that, she liked it and had asked her family for them to use that nickname but her mother had laughed at the idea.

"The world is an unfair place Harley" he began saying "all we can do is survive even if it means giving up our dreams, but you have to promise me something"

She nodded and he continued this time looking directly into her eyes "Don't let anyone see you suffer or they will take advantage of it and crush you"

"I promise"

Those last words had meant the world to her, it was her life motto, her fuel, so when her siblings or classmates made fun of her she would remain peaceful and go into another place inside her mind, she created her own happy place where she could run around and be herself, only her and her friend, a little voice she called conscience.

"Harleen?" A voice woke her from the flashbacks

She looked up from her desk to see her friend Dr. Jennifer Olsen, a fellow psychiatrist

"Hi Jen" she greeted her

"Sorry to bother you"

"Oh don't worry, I wasn't doing anything, what is it?"

She closed the door behind her "Haven't you heard?"

Harleen frowned "about what?"

"They caught the Joker, well Batman did"

"Ah" she said, to be honest she wasn't a fan of catching up with what criminals did but she did know about the Joker and Batman, from what she heard of most people there they were both hated by everyone. Surely the Joker will rot in a prison cell

"Don't you know what it means?" Jennifer insisted

"Not really"

Her friend sighed "He's nuts Harl, they'll send him here"

Oh, now it made sense "Well I surely would want to have a few sessions with him, honestly I don't think he's insane, I see him more like a terrorist with a weird clown obsession, he must be very interesting though..."

Jennifer laughed"We'll see about that, I'm pretty sure they are going to assign you for him"

"Oh I doubt it, Dr Arkham will say I don't have enough experience"

"Just a feeling" Jennifer said as she opened the door

"Oh really? What else does that feeling tell you?" Harleen teased

"That you are insane for actually wanting to treat him"

Dr Quinzel laughed, if only she had taken that joke as a warning...

The day her father dies she was 18, she remembered standing in front of his grave, not a single tear on her porcelain face. She would make him proud, she would survive, so she decided to study psychology, and to her surprise she liked it, and at nights she would sneak inside a gym to practice her gymnastics, she bad flirted with the owner one day and had "borrowed" one of his set of keys, but it's not like she was doing any bad to anyone, besides it was his fault for having got drunk!

Harleen rarely talked to her family, somehow she always seemed to disappoint her mother even when she was the most successful one! Her sister has gotten pregnant before she finished her career and now lived outside the city with her children while her husband worked in a crappy place, as for her brother he got hurt so bad that he wasn't able to ever do sports again. Yet Harleen had never made any comment on that, she didn't like bullies so she wasn't becoming one. She had what she wanted, a job she liked, a beautiful apartment and friends but somehow she felt incomplete...even fake. Her best friend betrayed her at nights

You are not worth anything, her conscience said

Not loved by anyone

Scum

She'd wake up in the middle of the night covered with sweat

"Harleyyyyy" it whispered

"Leave me alone!" She would shout covering her ears until it hurt

Since she had worked in the Asylum this happened more and more often, the weak voice in the nightmares. In Arkham even psychiatrists had psychologists! But she had never agreed to receive help or even ask for it, because she feared she might not be completely sane, maybe she was going crazy in a small and real slow way . Dr Harleen Quinzel was not allowing that so she concealed it deep inside her mind, as if she placed everything in a box and locked it in a cabin alongside her broken dreams and her explosive personality which didn't suit someone so formal like Doctor Quinzel, yep that box was never going to take control over her mind.