Author's Note: The reviews mean the world to me, so thank you, they are what inspires me to keep going with this story. I'm not so sure how the pace of this chapter feels, too slow, too fast? And please, please let me know if the characters are believable in this, I have questioned this chapter a lot so please give feedback.
Chapter Ten.
The weekend dragged for Harleen without her usual outlet of gymnastics, due to her healing bruises. Harleen instead filled her time with obscure foreign films that required all of her attention to follow. By the time Harleen was back at work, she couldn't have been more relieved.
Work kept Harleen busy, she took on the task of completing entrance evaluations, which the doctors normally went out of their way to avoid, due to the rather volatile nature of patients at their first admission. Harleen had enjoyed the challenge, however, as her sessions with Crane and Waylon had been rather uneventful.
Harleens sessions with Crane had gone as the usually had, which ended up usually as more of a discussion between fellow doctors than a therapy session; though he did seem to open up more to Harleen when the discussions carried on this way.
Waylon's sessions were hard to judge, though Harleen had lasted longer than any other doctor before with all her limbs intact so she classed this as successful. Waylon wasn't one for talking, even less so about how he was feeling, so Harleen used their sessions as more of an opportunity to introduce him to various aspects of culture and society that he hadn't been involved in; which was usually successful through the TV shows. Harleen had progressed to sending the armed guard out of the room when she held Waylon's sessions, which was not achieved without much disagreement from Doctor Leland.
The day that Joker was released from solitary confinement Harleens heart did not stop racing. She felt like a child on their first day of school; a frazzled mess of nerves and excitement. Harleen had taken to sipping tea through the day in an effort to calm herself. She stopped quickly to put away her cup on her way down to her first session of the day, with Crane.
Harleen greeted Crane as usual, after a short greeting in reply, Crane raised an eyebrow at Harleen "You are dressed nicely today, Doctor Quinzel. What is the occasion?" He asked plainly.
Harleen fought back a flush as she looked down at herself; she had dressed in purple shirt slightly brighter than anything she usually dared to wear, along with fitting black pants, and a nice pair of black heels. She had even added a little eyeliner and nude lipstick to her routine this morning. She supposed she was dressed up more than she usually allowed herself to be; but she excused it in her mind as finally being able to now that her bruises had healed enough.
She gave Crane the same flimsy excuse she had used on herself, before pushing forward and asking Crane how he felt about the victims of his experiments with fear "There is not an exact science to fear, to progress there must be sacrifice. As the saying goes, you can not make an omelette without cracking a few eggs" He said, sounding as though he was discussing the weather.
Harleen considered his words "But they didn't volunteer to make a sacrifice, did they?" Harleen replied. Crane looked rather bored by her comment "They did not understand the progress that is needed" He said, leaning forward slightly "Tell me, do you know a single one of their names? No? Because they are meaningless faces in a crowd. The biggest impact they made was their deaths" His voice never changed tone as he spoke.
Harleen made careful notes on his words and thought what he had said, if Crane had made some significant progress for humanity with his work, would the lives of those who had died been more meaningful or less? Certainly everyone died; was the loss of thirty years significant when the time was given over to a bigger cause? Harleen frowned and kicked herself internally; all life was precious, a voice inside her said, not sounding all that persistent.
"It's your views that I'm interested in here, Doctor Crane, not my own" She said, not being able to bring herself into voicing her thoughts. The rest of the session had passed blandly, with their session turning to the topic of classes they had taken in their respective high schools.
Harleens thoughts were racing once again as she made herself another cup of tea before she was finally able to go down to see Joker for their session. Sipping at her peppermint tea Harleen attempted to collect her thoughts. An increasingly growing part of her had missed her sessions with the Joker, his charismatic presence was entrancing she admitted to herself. No, she half-heartedly argued with herself, she was a doctor. Cool, calm, collected, professional she attempted to chant to herself, almost desperately.
Harleen sighed aloud, something she seemed to be doing a lot of, and attempted to push down the flood of emotions she felt at any mention of the Joker. Harleen struggled to lock away most of her emotions however, something which had never before been an issue, most difficult to ignore at the moment being the deep concern she felt about how he had fared in solitary confinement
Quickly adjusting her clothes and glasses, and smoothing pack the plait she had weaved her hair into, Harleen abandoned her tea and decided to make her way to the Joker's session a few minutes early.
With a quick hello to the guards, Harleen made her usual request to have the Joker removed from his straight jacket. The guards sent each other uncomfortable glances "Are you sure? I mean he did just get out of the hole for killing a man" One guard asked hesitantly.
"He won't kill me, let him out of the jacket" Harleens reply came across sharper than she had intended it to, though it seemed to fend off any further questions from either of the guards. With a shaky breath, Harleen entered the room. Joker looked okay, was her first thought, as a small rush of relief ran through her.
Harleen couldn't see any visible signs of bruising on his ghostly skin, though his knuckles did appear grazed and bruised. His artfully structured face was unblemished, though faint bags under his eyes had appeared, and his hair was as slick as ever.
Harleen sat down in silence, studying The Joker as intensely as he was her, an intense spark in his eyes. "Not going to say hello to Mister J? You look particularly tempting today " He mocked, his usual wide grin appearing on his face.
"Hello Mister Joker" Harleen replied ignoring the small please feeling she had at Jokers compliment. She paused for a moment before continuing "You killed Nealson" She stated eventually, clasping her hands together. Joker laughed "Were you upset that I bashed his head in, Harley, Harley, Harley? You should thank your Daddy J" Joker said as he leaned forward in his seat, straining against his restraints slightly.
Harleens voice caught in her throat, she shouldn't thank him for killing the man, she knew that, so why did such a large part of her yearn to thank him anyway "I.. I don't understand why you killed him" Harleen said " I wasn't upset that you did though" She added, almost in a whisper.
Joker gave a loud exaggerated laugh, twisting his head around with closed eyes before snapping his gaze forward to Harleen "I told you Harlequin, I don't like anyone, uh, touching my things" He rasped.
Harleen held her breath, she knew the appropriate response was 'I am not yours, I am a doctor' but could not get the words out. Before she could respond Joker spoke again "Mmm of course you didn't mind Nealson's brains being scattered around the floor. Because I can see underneath that, uh, tight little case, you want to be wild. See underneath you're just as crazy as I am" He growled "Daddy's little monster" he added in a mocking whisper, before letting one of his chilling laughs echo around the room.
Harleen hesitated, she bowed her head as his words seeped into her mind. She needed to keep herself together. Was she wild? Deep down under the polished surface she had created for herself, among all the broken pieces? "I'm your doctor, I can't be wild" She whispered, sounding childish even to herself.
The joker laughed wildly leaning across the table as well as he could and running one of his cuffed hands along her face, his thumb nail scratching across her lip as it passed "I'm going to show you just how crazy you are Harlequin" He said pulling his hand back and baring his silver teeth at her in a mad smile.
Harleen exhaled shakily, every intention she had of keeping her professional, collected frame of mind in tact flew out the door as soon as she sat across from Joker. She sighed once before reaching into her bag and pulling out a deck of cards, and can of grape soda. Harleen avoided Joker's eyes as she opened the soda and slid it across the table to him "I thought we could just play a card game today, if you tell me how solitary confinement was" Harleen said eventually, looking up from the shuffled cards and into Jokers eyes.
The Joker cackled before growling lowly "Being good to Mister J, sweetcheeks?" He asked, taking a long drink of his soda and groaning "It's never boring in my, uh, mind, even down there. Were you worried about ol' Mister J in the hole?" He sung mockingly. Harleen flushed, feeling like a schoolgirl, causing the Joker to laugh once more.
The rest of the session was spent playing whatever card game came to Joker's mind, and listening to Jokers tales of his past crimes (after a little prompting from Harleen), which enthralled Harleen more than she could admit, even to herself. Harleen glanced at the clock and sat straight in her chair "The sessions run over by ten minutes. I'll set another one for tomorrow, Mister Joker" Harleen said, taking the empty can and discarding it in her bag.
As Harleen reached across the table to gather the cards, she brushed the side of her hand along Jokers wrist, earning a dark smile and another loud laugh "Going to let me out of my chains next time?" he growled. Harleen put the cards away in her bag "I… I'll see what I can do" she answered finally, hearing the harsh voice in her mind saying she was foolish for entertaining the idea.
She said a quick goodbye as she exited the room, but stopped in the hall to talk to Doctor Ingles, who was headed in the opposite direction. As she was explaining the progress she had made with Crane, The Joker exited the therapy room. He was back in his straight jacket, with the guards holding tightly to his arms. Harleens intensive eye contact with him was broken when one of the guards, Logan she thought, turned to her with a grin "Hey doc' didn't realise you were still here. You know I was thinking, maybe I could take you for a drink some time?" He asked
Harleen raised her eyebrows in shock, what about this seemed like a good time to ask her out? she wondered. Harleen glanced at Joker, a dark expression had taken over his face, though his lips were pulled into a grin that held no humour. "Trying to, uh, screw my little doctor?" The Joker growled, a cruel laugh echoing in the hall. Harleen was saved from having to answer by Logan flushing and pulling the Joker down the hall harshly muttering for him to 'shut his mouth', seemingly forgetting that Harleen hadn't answered.
Harleens heart was pounding in her chest as she made an excuse of paperwork to Doctor Ingles and hurried off. She didn't know what to think, why had she been so anxious about what Joker would think when the guard had asked her out? Harleen shook her head as she made her way into her office with the intention of finishing her paperwork, she didn't know what it was about Joker that struck a chord with her, she found herself thinking of him less and less like the scientific curiosity that had led her to Arkham Asylum originally, and more like an entrancing man who she couldn't get out of her head.