"Should be this shelf there," the Joker said to Adriana once they were in the police storage facility. "Number 8122."
It was enormous and essentially a warehouse. The shelf that the Joker pointed to was extremely high, and looked like a ladder would be needed to climb it.
"Can you reach it?" Adriana asked him.
"We'll see," he said.
The Joker made a single leap and they both could see that he was not able to reach the shelf. His fingertips barely hit the edge.
"And there we have our answer," the Joker told her.
"I guess I'm going up," Adriana said, knowing that neither one of them felt like looing for a rolling ladder.
"Yes," the Joker said and knelt.
She stepped onto his hands, held interlaced, and went up as he gave her a boost. She rested one hand on his head to stabilize herself before she could reach for the edge of the shelf. She pulled herself up easily. The Joker looked up and watched her disappear into the dark shelving area. Adriana crawled between large boxes and then turned around.
"Throw up the bag!" she whispered loudly.
He tossed up a black cloth bag for her.
Adriana turned back and looked at the labels on the boxes. The shelf was deep and several boxes were lined up in a row.
"8119.." she said and turned and began to crawl to the right. "Ouch!"
Adriana felt her head hit something. She looked up and saw what appeared to be a half broken golf club dangling between the grates from the shelf above.
"This place is a mess," Adriana said to herself.
She pulled her ski mask up around her forehead as she searched. Eventually she found the boxes she was looking for. She peeled back the tape carefully and began stuffing the bag.
"Here," Adriana said and tossed the bag down to the Joker. He caught it. "Throw up the other bag!"
He tossed a second bag to her and she threw it back. It was much less full than the first one.
"That it?" he asked after she threw down the second bag.
"Yes," she whispered.
"Okay," he said and sat the bag on the floor. "Jump now."
Adriana swung her legs over and looked down.
"Wish I brought my grapple gun," she said.
"Come on," he said. "I'll catch you. Or at the very least, I'll break your fall."
"Funny," Adriana said and rolled hey eyes.
The Joker held out his arms and she jumped. He caught her perfectly and lowered her to the floor slowly.
"Thanks," she said.
Even with his mask on, his eyes captivated her for a moment.
"You hit your head," the Joker said as his fingertips went to the side of her face.
"Yes..." Adriana said and reached up, surprised to see some blood. "Oh.."
"You alright?" he asked.
"I..." Adriana said, unable to look away from his eyes.
She made herself snap out of it and yanked down her mask.
"I'm okay," she said. "Just a little bump."
She reached down for the larger bag on the floor and the Joker took her forearm gently to stop her. He picked up both bags.
"Shall we?" he asked and nodded towards the door.
.
.
.
"So...," Adriana said as she and the Joker unloaded the bags. "We have to separate the organic from inorganic."
The Joker looked though all the the items that he and Adriana had brought back to his apartment. He remembered some of it. It seemed like a lifetime ago, that some of these things were his.
"Like this...metal clip from a floppy disk?" Adriana guessed. "Inorganic."
The Joker reached into the bag and pulled out the green wool jacket he used to wear.
"Wool jacket..." Adriana said. "Organic."
"Yep.." the Joker said and sat the jacket down.
"It it weird?" Adriana asked. "Looking at all of this stuff?"
"It must be done," the Joker said after a momentary pause. "I'll separate these. You should go home. Bruce must be back from his business dinner."
"Right," Adriana said and sat the small piece of metal down. "Jack, thank you..for doing this."
"Shouldn't I be the one thanking you?" he asked and looked down at the pile of random things in front of him. "For helping me to get this stuff, to erase my past? Stealing all this so that Lucius can...incinerate it, or whatever he'll do?"
"I know it was a risk.." Adriana said. "Going behind Bruce's back. I just don't think it's a good idea for him right now to be..leaping from shelves or...anything like that. When I tell Bruce...I'll tell him that it was my idea and that I forced you to come along."
The Joker looked at her, squinting.
"I don't want him to be upset with you," Adriana said.
"Are you going to tell me why we had to do this?" the Joker asked. "Sneaking behind his back and completing the op without him? Hm?"
"I..." Adriana said. "I just don't think Bruce is up to the task."
"The Batman, not up for a little break in to steal...what? 50 pounds of junk?" the Joker asked.
"He needs surgery on his knee," Adriana said. "I don't want to risk him injuring it any more that it already is."
"If he knows he needs surgery then why wouldn't he just let us do this? Why the sneaking?" the Joker asked.
Adriana blinked and looked away. She was suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to cry.
"Look," the Joker said and came over to her. "I shouldn'tve pried. Forget it, you don't need to tell me. Sorry-"
"He doesn't want surgery," Adriana said sadly. "He's refusing it."
"What kind of surgery?" the Joker asked.
"Knee replacement," Adriana said. "He insists he doesn't need it but he does."
"I saw him yesterday," the Joker said. "He seems fine...mobile-"
"He's not," Adriana said. "Dr. Kapoor assured me he needs the operation. His knee is in terrible shape."
"If it was that bad wouldn't he be in pain?" the Joker asked her.
Adriana looked down.
"I think he's...taking opiates for the pain," Adriana said. "I have no proof...but..I think that's what he's been doing the past few weeks."
The Joker raised his eyebrows. He remembered being given opiates after being rescued from the underground prison the Batman had locked him in. He needed major dental surgery and treatment for septic jawbone infections. From what he could remember, he was on opiates for less than a week.
"But..that's crazy right?" Adriana asked for reassurance. "I'm..being paranoid for no reason. Bruce wouldn'tjust let himself take opiates and...I mean, he's smart."
"I'm not sure intellect has anything to do with addiction," the Joker said.
"Jack..I don't know what to do.." Adriana said. "Dr. Kapoor saw me counting pills at our pharmacy and I told him my suspicions. He's going to talk to Bruce about it tomorrow. I'm nervous because..what if I'm wrong? I don't want to upset him-"
"Dr. Kapoor is a smart man," the Joker assured her. "He'll find a way to ask Bruce without mentioning you."
"I don't see how," Adriana shrugged.
"Give the good doc some credit," the Joker said and placed a hand on her shoulder. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll tell Bruce I did this alone. I'll tell him I felt I needed to get rid of this stuff as soon as possible and couldn't help myself. He won't be angry at either of us for that."
Adriana let out a sigh of relief and threw her arms around the Joker's shoulder's, hugging him.
"Thank you," she said against his shoulder.
She felt his arms, hesitant at first, wrap around her. As they held the embrace, Adriana felt his body heat through his clothing. The smell of his neck made her dizzy. She felt drunk on his pheromones. She began to try to back out of the hug, lowering herself from being raised on the tips of her toes to hug him around the shoulders. But then she felt it.
A squeeze. He didn't want to let go. He had been perfect. He never slipped up once. He had been extremely respectful of her marriage. So much so, that Adriana was sure that he had moved on and no longer wanted her. But this moment was a first. The first slip. The lightest squeeze around her waist to hold her for a second longer.
They left the embrace as slowly as possible. As her heels found the floor again, she avoided looking at his lips. She knew that if she looked, she wouldn't be able to control herself.
"I'll..." Adriana said. "I'll let Lucius know he can come to pick up this stuff tomorrow."
"Got it," the Joker said and turned away. He went back to the pile on the table.
"Goodnight," she said before leaving.
"Goodnight," he said back.
.
.
.
When Adriana returned home, Bruce wasn't there yet. She breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that he would see guilt on her face. She needed to time to get rid of it. She told herself that she had done nothing wrong. Nothing to be ashamed of.
After checking in on Arsenio, who was sleeping, she went to the bathroom. She looked at the bruise on her forehead and sighed. After cleaning it, she ran a bath. Once she was inside, she felt better. All she wanted was for her husband to be healthy and happy. She didn't want him to be in pain. She prayed that her suspicions were all wrong. Being wrong in this instance would be much better than being right.
The steam rising from the water distracted her for a moment. A meditative moment where her mind went blank. She could still smell him. The Joker.
He smelled fresh, clean, different from how he used to. But his natural smell was still there. It seemed to be an elixir created from nature just for her. Adriana closed her eyes and remembered the smell so vividly, that she found herself aroused.
She remembered being in his arms. The soft squeeze he had given her, just as she was pulling away from him. What if she hadn't pulled away.
Giving in to the squeeze would have been the easiest thing she had ever done in her life. She could see it like it was happening. She allowed the pressure from his forearms to pull her closer. She could see herself turning her head slightly, her nose touching his cheek.
She took a deep inhale, warm steam filling her chest. Her nose against his cheekbone. Rotating her head in a small circle, allowing the tip of her nose to caress his skin. Her lips would purse to softly kiss his cheek.
It was all she needed. Her hands roamed her body under the water. Her mind imagined kissing his face softly as her hands moved through his hair. Deep inhalations of his essence combined with a sensation of his skin on her lips, though imaginary, was enough to make her climax twice.
.
"Adriana?" she heard Bruce's voice waking her.
"Hm?" she answered, opening her eyes. Bruce was by the edge of the tub looking at her. Adriana noticed that he looked startled, afraid. "Bruce."
"Hi," he said and leaned down, kissing her forehead by the bruise. He assumed she had been out fighting, doing her usual vigilantism.
"How was your dinner?" she asked.
"Long," he said. "How was your evening?"
"It was fine," she said.
"Okay," Bruce said and kissed her lips.
"Bruce," Adriana said, reaching for his hand. "Are you okay?"
He sat at the edge of the tub, his movement showing no indication that he felt any knee pain whatsoever.
"I need to ask you for a favor," he said.
"Anything," she said and sat up in the tub.
"Please," he said. "Never sleep in the tub."
Adriana raised her eyebrows, feeling this was a random request.
"Well," she laughed. "I haven't been drinking or anything."
"I know," he said firmly. "Please..don't let it happen again."
Adriana tried to understand. And then she remembered what he had told her. The story almost too crazy to believe. She had died and he had to go back in time to save her. He had found her dead in the tub.
"Okay," Adriana said. "I wont. I promise."
Bruce nodded and kissed her wet hand, ignoring the water dripping from her forearm onto his pants. He was sitting sideways.
"Thank you," he said. "You have no idea how much I love you."
"I love you too," she said to him.
She stood in the tub, holding his shoulders. He looked at her body, glistening before him. He let out a sigh and pressed his face into her chest. She wrapped her arms around him, kissing the top of his head. The next day, Dr. Kapoor would talk to him and she didn't know what would happen afterwards.
"You know...everything I do is because I love you," Adriana said to him.
He looked up at her and they kissed.
"We have that in common," he said.