In Love With A Good Man

Chapter 17: Lies

Casey came home from work the next evening feeling a little sluggish. When he entered through the front door, he turned and expected Harley to come down quickly to welcome him home like she always did. However, she didn't show up at all.

"Huh," Casey hummed curiously and locked the door behind him. "Babe? You home?" He called out.

"I'm upstairs, sweetie!" Harley called back down to him.

Casey went upstairs to the bedroom. That's where he found Harley; she was in the middle of packing some clothes up in one of his small suitcases. His eyes widened in surprise.

"Hey, honey. What's going on?" He asked with a hint of worry. Harley winced a little, sensing the concern in his voice. However, she forced a smile and turned back towards him.

"Yeah! Sorry it came up so last minute. Red asked me to stay with her for a few days. She just moved into a new place, and she needs help getting everything in order. So I told her that I would just bring my stuff and we could make a whole sleepover thing out of it, y'know?" She explained as she zipped up the suitcase.

"Ohh I see. Everything okay with her? Anything I can do to help out?" He asked.

"Aww, you know I would say yes, but Poison Ivy has some...issues with...she doesn't like men that much," She said, rocking her head side to side and rubbing his arms. "But don't you worry. I'll call you and text you as much as I can. I promise!" She kissed him on both cheeks.

"Heheh, alright. That's too bad that you gotta go though. I'll miss you." Casey said, kissing her on the forehead. She smiled up at him.

"I'm gonna miss you too, sweetheart. But don't worry! Catwoman says she might stop byyy - it'll be fun. I'm gonna have some nice girl time with my best friends, and then I'll come right back as soon as everything's taken care of." She promised.

"Sounds like a plan," Casey said, giving her a kiss. "Take pictures."

"Haha of course, baby, of course," She giggled. They kissed again, but then Harley heard a car honking just outside of the house. "Oh! That must be Red! I should go!" She said, giving him a kiss on the cheek again.

"Oh yeah? Here, let me help you get your stuff out." He said, picking up her suitcase.

"Aww thanks, baby!" She said appreciatively.

The two of them went downstairs and out the front door. Sure enough, there was Poison Ivy parked right up in front of the house in her green car, "Hey, Red!" Harley called out to her, waving as she ran up to the car.

"Hey, Harley. Ready to go?" She asked.

"Yep! Casey's got my suitcase right there. You can just put it in the back seat, hun." Harley said. Casey nodded and set it down gently on the seat.

"There you go. Hey, Ivy. It's nice to see you again." Casey greeted her politely and smiled. Ivy lowered her sunglasses and looked at him. She gave him a quick nod.

"Nice to see you too, Casey. Looks like your injuries have all healed up. I'm glad you're alright." She said. It was hard to tell how sincere she was being, but Harley was glad to hear that she was being nice to him nonetheless.

"I appreciate that, thank you. Harley says you moved into a new place. Hope everything transitions smoothly for you. Have fun, Harley. Love you." Casey smiled and waved to her.

"I love you too, baby! Goodbye!" Harley waved to him as Ivy started to drive away. She got up in her seat to turn back towards him. "I miss you already! Mwah!" She blew him a kiss as they pulled away.

"Please don't fall out of my car, Harley. I'm not coming back for you." Ivy joked dryly, putting her sunglasses back on. Harley got back in her seat and put her seatbelt on.

"Thanks for helpin' me out, hun. Our alibi should cover me for at least a couple days long as I send a picture or two." She said.

"You know I'm always happy to help, Harley, but are you sure you want to do this? Leaving that clown is one thing, but working with Batman against him is something else completely. I don't have to tell you how risky this is." She said to her.

"What choice do I have? If I do nothing, Mr. J could come after me anyways. And if he finds out about Casey...? I can't let him get hurt." Harley said firmly. Ivy nodded in understanding.

"Alright. Then I'll try to help you find him. Just don't tell Batman that I'm helping you. I don't want him coming for me when this is all over."

"Thank you, Red! You're the bestest friend ever!" Harley said appreciatively, reaching over and wrapping her arms around Ivy. She just rolled her eyes and smiled at this...

Harley wasn't sure what to expect from working with Batman, but she quickly learned that it was a lot more boring than what she'd imagined!

Working with Batman basically boiled down to visiting empty locations and looking for clues to where Joker might be hiding. More often than not, Harley found herself standing around with her arms folded watching as Batman crouched in dark corners.

On the bright side, they did get into a few occasional fights. It was nice getting back into the rhythm of swinging her hammer around, but it happened so rarely and would end way too soon. At the very least, it gave her time to text Casey and keep him from getting worried about her.

Unfortunately for her, it wasn't enough to stop Casey from discovering the truth. He found out about it through a news article on his phone showing confirmed pictures of Harley Quinn being spotted back in action.

His eyes widened in disbelief when he saw the news. He started doing research online, hoping that he would find something to disprove this information. However, the more he looked at the pictures, the more convinced he became that he was looking at pictures of his girlfriend.

So a few days after she left home to "stay over at Ivy's place", Casey called her up directly. It was early in the afternoon when he called; he wanted to make sure that she would definitely be awake to answer him.

"Hellooo baby!" Harley answered his call.

"Hey, Harley. Where are you right now?" He asked.

"I'm still with Ivy, babe. Hey, Ivy! Casey says hi!" Harley called to her.

"Hey, Casey." Ivy responded from wherever she was.

"Can you come over? I'd like to talk to you." He requested.

"Of course, baby! Is everything alright? You sound different." She noticed.

"Just come over and we can talk about it, okay?" He insisted.

"Okay, I'll be right over. Love you." Harley said. However, Casey hung up the phone without even realizing that she'd said it.

Harley looked at her phone worriedly, fearing the worst...

It was an anxious ride over to Casey's house. Unsure of what would happen, Harley asked Ivy if she could borrow her car. Despite Ivy telling her to be careful with it, she drove there as fast as she could. As soon as she reached his house, she ran right up to the front door and knocked on it.

"Casey? Casey, I'm here!" She called out as she continued knocking on the door. After a few seconds of rapid knocking, he opened up the door.

"Hey, Harley. You got here fast." He said.

"I know. I sped here. What's wrong, baby?" She asked, going up to him and resting her hands on his shoulders as she inched into the house. Casey shut the door and locked it behind her.

"Let's sit down." He invited her to sit with him on the couch. They sat down on the couch and Harley held his hands in hers.

"Please, Casey, talk to me, baby. What's the matter?" She asked again.

"Harley...I know you've been lying to me. I saw you on the news." He revealed.

Harley went pale, and her eyes widened a little bit. This was exactly what she was trying to avoid; she'd covered her tracks well, but she didn't even consider the possibility that he might find out about what she was doing through other means.

"Casey...I-I can explain." She stuttered.

"What happened, Harley? Things were going so well between us. I mean, I thought they were going well, but..." Casey trailed off a little, rubbing the back of his head.

"No no no no no, Casey, honey, that's not what's going on here, I swear!" She said quickly, scooting over and putting her hands on his arms.

"We had an arrangement, Harley. I mean, I know that being with me is more boring than what you had before, but come on now." He sighed, sounding both disappointed and offended.

"Baby!" Harley exclaimed, surprised by Casey's comment.

"So come on, what's the deal? Tell me the truth." He invited her, speaking with an attitude. Harley took in a breath and swallowed before answering him.

"Batman was here." She started.

"...what?"

"Last week. I came downstairs because I heard noises; it was Batman. He-He was gonna arrest me again, baby. But I told him that I'm not in that life anymore! He wanted me to give up Joker, but you know that I don't know where he is anymore!

"So I made a deal with him...if I help him find Joker and put him away, he'll let me go, and then we can be together! That's all this is, sweetheart! I'm doing all this for you! For us!" She said, squeezing his hands tightly.

"Harley...no that can't be true. You're lying." He said, shaking his head in denial and looking down.

"It's true, honey. This is all I want now. I mean that. I love you, and I want us to stay together...but I'm trying to keep us safe too. We protect each other, remember?" She said, putting her hands on his face. He nodded and looked up at her.

"Harley...why didn't you tell me?" He asked.

"Because I didn't wanna scare you, baby. I didn't think that it would take this long. I-I-I thought that I could help Batsy find him quickly, but it's been really tough. I shouldn't have lied, I'm sorry. Please don't be mad at me. I can't lose you, not right now." She begged him, wrapping her arms around him and tucking her head under his chin.

"I'm not mad. I'm terrified," Casey admitted, holding her in his arms. "You shouldn't be out there risking your life at all. You could get killed out there." He pointed out.

"I know...but we're so close, Casey. I'm so close to being free. And then that'll be it, that'll be the end...I have to do this." She said firmly. Casey sighed and nodded quietly.

"I don't want you to be in danger, Harley...there's nothing I can do for you in this situation." He said.

"Just be here for me when I get back. Promise?" She asked, looking up at him.

"Okay...I promise." He agreed reluctantly...