No Intro, just read! I don't own Batman

When Harleen had finally made her way out to the grounds she headed to the island's edge behind the medical building. She was certain her face was red and had a look to kill. There wasn't much behind the medical building; a back door, probably used for bringing in patients off the harbor, an old rickety wooden bench, a trash can for mainly used for cigarette buds, and the small wooden dock with waves softly lapping against it. It was so peaceful in that small area, but she wanted to walk up to the water's edge and scream.. scream til her lungs hurt.

But she knew she couldn't.

Someone would hear, come looking and see her, the new intern, yelling at the water. An asylum is not the best place to have a bitch fit. She kicked at the grass, her anger ebing. What was the point? Lose her temper because Joan crossed the line? Did she? She is the head psychiatrist. But he is HER patient. She needs to be consulted, at the very least, told about it. It was her duty to take care of him, be there for him. Who else would do it if not her?

"What am I doing, anyway?" Harleen asked herself aloud, holding her ID badge in her hands, frowning up at the cloudy sky.

"Well, I'd say you're a pissed off newbie questioning if she should be here," came a voice from behind her. "... But I'm no doctor."

Harleen whipped around to see the scrawny nurse from before, pink lips now sucking on a cigarette she held with one hand, the other tucked under her arm. She was leaning up against the building puffing away and watching Harleen through squinted eyes.

"Where did you come from?" She hadn't seen her standing there earlier.

The nurse rolled her eyes at the question. "Downtown, and ya' self?"

Harleen pursed her lips at the comment for a moment, but relaxed and put her hands in her pockets. "Sorry. I didn't know anyone could see me.. uh.."

"Fuming?" the nurse sarcastically finished for her. "I came out a minute or two ago. Saw you giving that grass a mean lookin'-at."

"Ah, yeah.. I just.. needed to vent." Harleen wanted to leave, to get away from judging eyes. She wanted to lock herself in her office and stay there a while. "Just work stuff."

"Understandable, a place like this. Bein' watched like a hawk, scrutinized every move ya make.. psh- not for me. I will say you're the first doc to come in here and not act like you piss wine and crap rubies though." The nurse observed, she had a heavy New York accent Harleen had herself, although she tried to cover it.

"Thank you?" Harleen smiled then started laughing. She had never heard it put that way before. The nurse just smirked as she watched Harleen laugh til tears formed. After a few moments she calmed down. "Sorry, I needed to laugh."

"Yeah. I can see that. Ya' good?"

"Yes... no. But it's nothing I can't handle. Mostly," Harleen added. She took in a deep breath and it all spilled out of her mouth before she could stop it. "I just don't get it! Most of the people here hate their jobs, the patients are miserable, and some of the things that go on here just ain't right. And I want to do something about it, but what can I do? If I make too many waves I'll get in trouble. Or fired! I just don't know what to do!"

A soon as she finished, she stared down at the grass, immediately regretting the confession. Here was a nurse she didn't know any better than the next, who would probably start rumors or worse, tell the truth about her doubts of the establishment. She saw two worn white tennis shoes in front of her own that made her look up. Her eyes caught the name tag. Carol. Carol looked Harleen in the eye and shook her head slowly. Harleen saw she had streaks of grey through her dark hair.

"You do what you know you need to do, sug. When I started here I felt bad for the mentally whacked-out, a lot of us did. But finding out that they would rather kill ya' than have ya' help them, some succeeding, it becomes difficult. Most here shouldn't work here, many that should, won't. We do what we have to. That's all ya can do." She gave Harleen's arm a light squeeze and a pat with a smile.

Carol turned and made her way back to the building, stopping to jam the remains of the cigarette into the ash tray bin above the trash can. Grabbing the door handle she looked back at Harleen, "Ya seem like a good kid, sug, but watch ya' self. Joker ain't no joke, if you get my meaning." With that, she went back inside leaving Harleen with the words left hung in the air.

Harleen faced the water again, thinking about what Carol had said. We do what we have to do. She felt her smile return and headed back around the building.

Carol's right, she thought. All I can do is what I am able to. And I can help the Joker. I can keep him safe from other doctors. I will try to understand him. I'll do what no one else has been able to do: I will care for the Joker.

Unfortunately, by the time Harleen made it back to the Mansion, Dr. Leland wasn't in her office. Harleen made for her door instead. At first she panicked when she found it unlocked, but then calmed when she realized she forgot to lock it. Again. There was that nice comfort of locking the door like when she did in her small apartment. The feeling brought up the curious possible-red-flag neighbor she always sees down the hallway. She leaned her back up against the door and puffed out hard. She was really becoming paranoid.

She kicked off her shoes and plopped in her chair for a moment. Leaning back she closed her eyes and tried to think of nothing. But she couldn't, she had the feeling she was being watched. She opened her eyes to see two green staring back at her. She didn't think it through when she put up the clippings of the Joker near her desk, now there were several Joker faces staring at her but she didn't feel scared as others would. It was actually comforting. Like a colorful angel watching over her.

She lazily peered down at her pink notepad on the floor. Untouched. She had nothing new to write in it yet, but she felt restless. She didn't want to wait for her session with Joker. She slouched over her desk, putting the weight of her head on her left hand and with her right hand, she drummed her fingers annoyingly. Sighing heavily she started spinning in her chair. The sheer silliness of what she was doing made her laugh a little. She wondered if this would make Joker laugh too. She gazed at the Joker-wall and wondered what it would be like to be as happy as him. Sure he was deemed insane, but he seemed happy. Was there a freedom in that happiness? A sense of self that could be gained as he spoke of?

We can tell who isn't special and who is... ...Do you ever feel that way, doc, hmm? He had asked her. Truthfully, she did. She had often pondered on what it was like to lose one's sanity. It's what made her choose the career of psychiatry, it was the sheer fascination of it. What could drive a person to lose grip on reality? How do they view the world? Her dream from the night before came to mind. One side colorful, happy, everyone having fun. The other side was boring, tedious, everyone just existing. She certainly didn't want a tedious and uneventful life, but on the other hand, she didn't want to lose her mind. How could she have both?

She stared into the several pairs of haunting green eyes that reflected answers she couldn't read. She grabbed her notebook from it's hiding place and made her way out the door, locking it again. There was one person who could give her the answers she was seeking: The Joker.

That's right, he had common room time today! She walked down the halls a little faster than she meant to, but no one seemed to be around. Out of habit, she glanced down the halls that she passed by, seeing a nurse here, a guard there. A voice of someone swearing out loud got her attention. The next hall near the doctors offices had three or four guards looking around and nurses going back and forth out of a door way. Curiousity getting the better of her, she walked toward them.

"I don't care what the Warden says, this ain't in my job description," a guard complained out loud, carrying a messy stack of papers in his arms. A few nurses followed him out of the same room with stacks of manila files in their hands and behind them followed two guards two-man lifting an old metal filing cabinet out.

"Is everything alright?" Harleen asked them as she came up.

"Oh suuuure," a nurse said cynically as she nodded towards the Records Room. "Just a few decades worth of patient records are scatterecd everywhere. It's like a tornado or somethin' happened in there! I tell you, I don't know how the excuse of 'an open window let in a gust of wind' can be exceptable!" She puffed up her chest the way a robin does and headed back to the room with determination.

Harleen noticed Officer Boles was one of the officers on the clean-up detail. "Uh, Officer Boles, could I speak to you for a minute?" If there was one officer who would understand her wanting to help Joker, maybe it was Boles.

Boles had an annoyed look on his face but it instantly left when he saw who spoke. "Uh, why yes ma'am," he said walking off, happy to be pulled away. She started walking as he followed her. "What can I do for you, Doc?"

She smiled at his informalities, it reminded her of the Joker. "I know Joker has common room time before our session today and I was hoping you could let me see him now."

"Uhh, yeah, sure... but why do you want to?" he asked. At her look of offense he quickly back-pedaled. "I mean, why are you asking me? Usually Cash escorts the high level security patients."

The flash of heat she felt left her as quickly as it came. "I know, it's just Officer Cash isn't very fond of Joker, ya know? Maybe he'd appreciate it if you took over today?"

Boles seemed to catch on. "Yeah. .. Yeah I'm sure Cash could use a break. I'll call it in." He turned to the side as he radioed in his transfer to move Joker to the common room. Harleen was so excited her hands clenched and unclenched.

Her happy mood suddenly dampened a bit. Would he be happy to see her? Last time they spoke, he had looked like he was upset with her. Had she done something wrong? The pout of her bottom lip started to stick out and she nibbled on her lower lip, worrying habit she's had since childhood.

No! If I upset him, then I need to make it up to him, she thought. Boles motioned for her to follow him as they made their way out of the building.

"I started a joke... that started the whole world.. crying! But I couldn't seeeee...Ha ha ha.. That the joke was on Me," Joker sang under his breath.

The morning's events had put him in a chipper mood! A lovely sing-along with his fellow inhabitants, another look into the little scamp's mind, even a visit from Shapie! And to top it all off he had another session today. Lunch would be in an hour or so as far as he could tell.

"Really, shouldn't they have a clock around here? How's a guy supposed to know when Jeopardy's on?" he mused aloud. He had been sitting on the floor of his cell using his nail to lightly scratch drawings and words into the floor and walls. He had tiny bat drawings, present boxes, dynamite, new suit designs, and words like Bats, surprise, decapitate, bomb, GCPD, and more, all surrounded by "HA's". Feeling uninspired to do more, he stood up, his index finger's nail bed sore and stretched. Stretching felt good and painful at the same time. Just what he liked. His arms out wide, he felt the relaxed muscles twinge from lack of use. He balled up his fists then opened and stretched out his fingers. His stomach gurgled a bit making him irritated. Don't you start up.

"I wouldn't mind a ham sandwich, you know!" He yelled at the glass looking down the hallway. A ham sandwich. Might as well ask for a key to the joint. He pressed his face up against the glass to see as far down as he could. No one. Perhaps the sing-along scared them off? Normally he wouldn't care but he was just so bored. He paced around his cell, having no way to burn off energy.

He put all of his weight on one leg allowing the other to bend free of weight, with his hands on his hips. He looked like a put out house wife.

"Really now, I haven't got all day!" he began tapping his foot, ire growing in his belly. The irritaion slowly turned intoi anger. He didn't like to kept waiting.

"Oh go shove it, clown!" A femine voice hissed.

"Or what?" he growled back. Last thing he needed were trees talking to him. "Gonna throw some leaves at me? Oh no! Please, not the shrubbery! Haha ha ahaha!"

Poison Ivy slammed her fists on the glass cell door, giving Joker a look of pure venom. But after studying him for a moment, she instantly relaxed, a smirk playing on her lips.

"Sulking without your little blonde intern, Joker? Never thought you'd be the type to need a woman to keep yourself entertained. Maybe I'll take her off your hands for you.. I can only imagine the fun we could have. My babies could use a snack."

"Oh, by all means, if you like her so much, sick your green bush on her. Though, I gotta say, I don't think she swings that way, AH HAAHAHA," Joker's laugh had him bending over and slapping his knee. Poison Ivy's smirk fell off faster then he could register.

"I'll kill her! I'll take your new toy and have her begging on her knees for me to release her!" she shrieked, furious that Joker wasn't threatened by her.

"Oh no... ha HA ha ha... no more.. please.. HAHAH HA HA" he wheezed between laughs, "Go on, give her your wood! AAHH HAHA HAHA hAHA ahahah HAAAA!" Joker was now on his back, legs kicking in the air excitedly as he struggled to breath and laugh more.

"FUCK YOU CLOWN! NEXT TIME I SEE YOU, YOU'RE DEAD! DO YOU HERE ME, YOU SICKO?!" Ivy's voice reached a shrill pitch causing a guard to come down.

"Hey, whoa! .. What's going on down here?" a masked guard came down, sounding more afraid then disciplinary.

"It's him! He's harassing me! Get him away from me, you pathetic meatsack!" Ivy yelled at the guard.

"No cell changes, you know that. Any more racket and I'll have to sedate both of you." They guard tried to stand up straight but when Ivy's eyes locked onto his, he froze.

She sauntered up to the glass, gingerly pressing her body up against it resulting in her breasts compressing to the glass, showing her cleavage in all its glory. One of her index fingers trailed up the glass and lazily drew circles as she looked at him with sultry eyes.

"You don't want to sedate me, do you? I know I've been a bad girl, but I'll behave. Unless you want me defenseless. Do you?"

The guard took a step forward, the hand that was readying for his weapon relaxed.

"Tell me... What do you want?" she breathed. The fog of pheramones that swirled around her became thick and opaque. If the glass wasn't there, the guard would already be under her control. Well, more so.

"Must say, Pammy, using your femine wiles to lure men to their deaths? Tricking them into a stupor so that they go willingly? HA! Great joke! I can respect that," Joker said. Neither acknowledged him, but he knew Ivy heard due to her smirk growing a bit more.

The guard's mouth must have been hanging open because all Joker could hear come out of his mouth was mumbles and mixed babble. He had to admit how fascinating Pammy's a way of controlling the idiots around here was. What he did with fear, she did with temptation. Both always ended in blood.

Footsteps nearing his cell drew his attention again. Well looky-here! If it wasn't Frankie and the harlequin come to visit him!

Boles and Dr. Quinzel walked up on the scene of Ivy standing near the glass and the guard nearing her cell step by step.

Boles, having seen this before, waved his hand in front of the guard's face drawing his gaze away from Ivy. He blinked a few times and looked at Boles in confusion.

"Frank?" he asked looking around.

"Williams, you know better then to engage with the patients," Boles scolded lightly.

"Yeah.. I know.. sorry man. They were arguing, yelling at each other." Williams looked up at Ivy who pushed herself off the glass but still leered at him. "Uh, I need a soda.." Williams shook his head a bit and walked off.

Boles glanced at Ivy giving her a disapproving look. She just shrugged like it wasn't her fault, eyeing him with the same tenacity she had for all staff. Boles turned to Dr. Quinzel whose gaze was locked on Joker's. Not wanting to piss off his new boss he cleared his throat.

The intern looked at Boles and smiled, turning back to Joker. She took a step toward his cell and cleared her own throat lightly. "I thought Officer Boles here could take you the common room today," she said to Joker.

Joker just stood there with his legs shoulder width apart and arms crossed. He looked intimidating. His eyes bore into hers as he judged her reaction to his stare. She just stared back into his eyes, a hopeful smile on her lips and a wishful look in her eyes.

He then blinked as it dawned on him. She was searching for approval for having Boles escort him and not Cash. She was hoping to please him. His smile widened as he bent forward a little, arms still crossed.

"Did you? Why that would be superb! Come on Frankie, don't doddle!" He laughed and stepped back as Boles swiped his card.

Frank entered Joker's cell with his weapon held up, but not actually aimed at him. He had to act normal for the cameras in case someone was looking. As Boles cuffed him, Joker looked over at the harlequin who seemed to be watching his every move. He winked at her making her cheeks stain pink again. It made him want to slap her face hard and see his handprint glow on her pale cheeks. He raised an eyebrow at the thought. She really would look beautiful covered in bruises and cuts.

They stepped out of his cell and he saw that the doctor stood beside him instead of behind the guard as the other doctors usually did as a safety precaution. The obvious suprised him: she wasn't afraid of him. Everyone was afraid of him. He was The Joker after all! But here was the new, bubble-headed doctor with a smile on her face nearly shoulder to shoulder with the asylum's most dangerous man. And she had not a care in the world.

Harleen looked over at Ivy cell and waved her hand high inthe air like she was trying to get the attention of a friend from far away.

"Hi Ivy!" she beamed at the woman on the other side of the glass.

Ivy looked offended to be addressed by her. "What do you want?"

Harleen seemed unfazed. "Aw, nothin' just saying hey. You doin' ok today?"

Joker registered the confusion on Ivy's face as she turned her eyes to him, questioning. He merely shrugged his own shoulders slightly shaking his head looking back at his harlequin. She was indeed a bit off.

Ivy looked back at Harleen, defenses up. "I am locked in an asylum. I've been better."

"Well, let's see if we can make it easier, ok? Sorry I can't talk more, we have to take Mr. J to his common room session. See you later!" She started to walk off with Joker laughing, trotting behind her.

Boles stared at the intern then looked back at Ivy whose eyes following the blonde down the hall. The pores and pheramones thickened once more hiding her in their cloud. He caught up to Joker and Harleen with his weapon at the ready. Joker was beside himself with his new toy. She seemed unafraid of any patients, was even friendly to them. She just hummed to herself swinging her arms in a happy and bouyant manner.

Oh yes, he thought, Off indeed.

Sorry this took a while to crank out. I kinda had writer's block with spraining my ankle Apr 8th and my computer charger burner out and i had to order a new one online. Yeah, a Charlie-Foxtrot of epic proportions. :)
I am now wokring on CH 18. I kinda had to mush this chapter out to get to the next. Hope it's not too dry. Needed certain things in place for future events to happen.
Love you all for reading and reviewing!

Jenicide.