The sun's rays peered through the shades of the Detective's bedroom window. It was right beside her full-size bed, shining right into her eyes. She groaned through her nose, rubbing her eyes with the back of her wrist. A leg touching her own made her halt in her tracks. Her mind was still trying to recall what exactly happened a few hours before. She could've sworn it was all a dream until she pulled her heavy duvet away from her face to see who was right beside her. That's when she remembered the way her legs numbed up amid riding Bruce, fucking, Wayne like he was the last dick on the planet.
She felt her cheeks burn at the wild night she had and hoped Bruce enjoyed himself as much as she did; seeing as though he was passed out, face first, on her pillow. Jess pushed her hair away from her face to try and slip out of the arm wrapped around her waist. Finding her efforts successful, she put on some underwear and one of her brother's old red and black checkered flannels he gave her to make some breakfast.
In the kitchen, she slipped off her ring to allow the feeling of her sore wrist and knuckles to fade away. She sighed relief upon feeling the constant stinging disappear. She slipped it back on once she noticed the hickies Bruce left on her breastbone was starting to fade away.
She took out some eggs and bacon from the fridge and went to cooking. "I hope you like pancakes, Mr. Wayne." She mumbled to herself. "Because it's pancake Saturday."
The loud sounds of the city outside her apartment window were scarcely heard from the soft tunes of her 80's music playing through her radio in the kitchen. She cautiously flipped the pancake onto the fluffy side with precision. When she normally makes pancakes, it usually comes out looking deformed and lumpy. The last time she was at Jess's apartment, Barbara said they looked like Sloth from the Goonies. Jess still hasn't recovered from her life-shattering burn to this very day.
Now that she has a guy in her bedroom, the least she could do is give him proper-looking pancakes for giving her the pleasure of orgasming four times in a row. "Oh," Bruce's raspy voice said from the entrance of the kitchen. "I was wondering where you went." He was only in his boxers, rubbing his eyes to get rid of the clouds of tiredness floating over him.
To Jess, his frazzled bed hair, droopy lids, and pouty lips made him even more enticing. She cleared the thought from her mind while turning off the flame to her bacon. "Hungry?"
"You have to be specific on hungry." He wrapped his arms around her waist, latching his lips against the junction of where her shoulder meets her neck, and sucked the skin between his perfect teeth. Take My Breath Away by Berlin changed the mood of the room from easy morning to hot and needy rather quickly.
Concluding that he wanted to reach behind the shell of her ear, he ran his tongue over the angry patch of skin to soothe it. He learned, from last night, she had a certain thing about being kissed along the side of her ear; and had no problem utilizing his newfound discovery.
Jess felt herself grab onto his wrists with a heavy exhale through her nose. He was so good at that. She felt her eyes roll to the back of her head, biting her lip to stop herself from giving in to her carnal impulses a second time. "I-I meant…"
"To take your breath away?" He whispered into her ear, hand sliding right underneath her shirt to play with the hem of her black lace underwear. The smell of her pancakes beginning to burn is what snapped her back into reality. She stumbled forward, barely missing the pan with her spatula.
"I just met you and you're already trying to burn my house down." She swatted his leg with her utensil. Bruce, however, kept his arms around her waist with a chuckle from his chest. She felt it vibrate through her entire back.
"My apologies." He hummed, kissing her exposed shoulder once again. She took a plate from her cabinet, scoped some eggs onto the plate, a pancake, and some bacon.
"Go, sit." Bruce smirked at her commanding tone and took the plate from her hands. Jess turned on her coffee pot with a small smile etched onto her face. Inside, she was a mess of jumbled emotions.
One string connected to her head, the other her heart, and the last one to her hormonal monsters. Each one was knotted together, and Jess had no idea which one to use. "How do you like your coffee?" She asked, pulling out two mugs.
From his spot at the table, he watched her flannel rise past her hips, exposing the soft skin of her stomach. He blinked a couple of times to clear his trail of thought. "The way you drink it is fine."
Jess nodded her head, straightening her flannel and pouring sugar and creamer into the mugs. She spun it around with a spoon and placed it on the table in front of him. "You really didn't need to do this."
"My mother raised me to be hospitable to people." She shrugged while taking the tobacco sauce from the center of the table and poured some on her eggs. "I enjoy cooking, it's a way to express my gratitude." She gave a kind smile.
Bruce scratched his arm. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." There was a comfortable silence between the two. The only sound heard was the scrapping of metal against ceramic. "So…" Jess darted her eyes to Bruce's chest. "Those are some nasty scars." Her detective mode had kicked in and she wasn't able to stop it. "Ah, sorry, I kicked into cop mode."
"No, no." He leaned back into his seat. "I would be surprised if you didn't ask." He looked down at his chest. "Well, I do a lot of crazy things in my free time." He turned his gaze over to hers. "Life of a rich boy."
"Mhm, the life of a rich boy with a death wish." She joked.
"Tell me about yourself." Bruce pushed his empty plate to the side. "You're rather closed off."
"Is that a bad thing?"
"No." He smiled. "I just want to know a little bit about you."
Jess looked at the picture of her family with a shrug of her shoulders. "My parents are farmers." She pushed a wad of a lone scrambled egg around her plate. "Um, I'm a twin, which is rather exciting, and I'm adopted." She leaned against the table with her chin resting on her fist. "My favorite book series is a guilty pleasure of mine and it's the Twilight series even though I haven't had the time to buy Breaking Dawn." She twirled her hair around her index finger. "Oh... and I love Sleepless in Seattle. The reason why is because Metropolis has this radio station, Delilah on Metro 99.9, and I find myself listening to it while I'm driving home from a late shift." Bruce watched the way her eyes sparkled upon the story she was about to tell with a soft smile.
"And there was this man who came on to talk about his wife and, oh, the way he described everything he loved about her made me think of Tom Hanks in Sleepless in Seattle." She rubbed her neck with a sheepish smile. "I just thought, wow, how can a man love a woman so much?" She let a sigh fall past her lips. "I guess it's because I've never been lucky in that department, I suppose."
Bruce pushed a strand of her hair away from her eyes. "My parents used to tell me that love will find a person." He kept that soft smile on his face. "Sometimes," He grabbed her hand, turning it to trace the lines of her palm. "When love finds someone, it's stronger than anything." His thumb brushed against her wrist with a tenderness she's never felt from a man before.
She found herself leaning closer to this person she just met 14 hours ago. Instead of using her head, Phil Collin's chanting one more night was beginning to push her to stay in the arms of this stranger until work called her in. "You know how to pull a woman into your arms, huh, Bruce Wayne?" She whispered, practically breathing the same air as him.
"Well, if you give me one more night, I can promise you that you'll never leave my arms." He whispered back, pushing more hair out of her face. Every touch to her face sparked each sensor within her body to jump to life. She was like a dead car battery being hooked up to a truck by a pair of jumper cables; one rev of his engine and she was leaping to life.
"Bruce…" She breathed.
"Just one more night." He murmured, his breath fanning against her face. "Let me have you for one more night." His lips latched over hers in a quick peck before it turned into a foggier embrace. He pulled her right into his lap, hands disappearing up her shirt to feel at her skin once again.
Bruce, the man who can pull a woman with just a simple wink, was in big trouble. One breath of her jasmine and honey scent and he was hooked on the smell of her. One taste of her skin and he wanted to devour her whole. He needed to have more self-control over his urges, he just couldn't seem to pull himself away from her soft, plush, lips.
Just before he was going to taste her skin again, the annoying ringing of one of their cell phones made them halt in their positions. "Please… tell me that isn't me." He sighed while Jess had her eyes squeezed shut. Bruce allowed her to detangle herself out of his arms so he could rush into her bedroom to find his pants.
Meanwhile, Jess blew a strand of hair out of her face. To preoccupy herself, she cleaned up the dishes, pushed in the chairs, and washed whatever pots she used. She did like to keep her kitchen tidy. Soon, Bruce's figure was seen, fully dressed, and a look of annoyance on his face. "I don't mean to run out on you, but I have an emergency meeting at the office."
"Everything okay?"
"It should be." He nods. "I just didn't want to leave just yet."
Jess gave him a reassuring smile. "Listen, work is work." She tried to fix his collar that had her cherry wine lipstick stain on it. "I would get changed before you go to the office."
Bruce looked down at his shirt only to smirk. "Would you look at that?" He wrapped his arm around her waist. "I do want one more night with you." He gave a light smile. "I thought this would be a one-night stand, but given how you made breakfast, it's only far I treat you out to dinner."
"Well, I mean…"
"Please."
Jess bit her lip before smiling. "Sure." She nods. "I'll see you Friday." Bruce bent down to place a kiss on her lips. She led him to the front door, opening it for him. "Bye, Mr. Wayne."
He gave a small bow. "Until Friday, Detective."
She bit her lip with the same cheeky smile that had been slapped on her face since she woke up. She leaned against her door with a sigh. "Jesus, have mercy on my soul." She prayed into the air of her apartment. "For this man might be the death of me."
Apart from her rudely interrupted morning, Jess looked over her case files. She rubbed her forehead upon seeing Morgan's work I.D. photo. She bit her lip at the close resemblance they shared. Whoever this psycho was, Morgan isn't going to be the only victim that looks like her.
She tossed the Manila folder onto her coffee table with a huff. That's when her cell phone rang. "This is Kent."
"I know I said you should take a couple of days off, but I need you down at Arkham." Gordon's voice spoke through the speaker of her phone. "Joker says he knows who your killer is."
"I'll be there in fifteen." She jumped in the shower after hanging up her phone. Then, she got into her work clothes, laced up her converses, and threw on her shoulder holster before rushing out her door to her car.
The drive to Arkham made her feel nervous, but even the sounds of the radio could calm her down. Amid the icy chill shooting up her spine, Jess put her car in park. Grey clouds rolled through the skies over Arkham Island like a plague. The Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the criminally insane had a bad rep inside and out. She's tried to avoid coming to this part of Gotham for as long as she's been in the city. She supposed her good luck streak just took a turn for the worse.
The engine of a very loud car caught her attention, dragging her away from the asylum in front of her. It was the infamous Batmobile, black and sleek in all its glory. Jess tried not to gawk and in return just leaned against her convertible. Batman stepped out of his ridiculously impressive car and turned his blue eyes to her. "Nice car." He complimented with a jerk of his head towards her convertible.
"I could say the same thing." She said while adjusting her jacket. "It screams I'm compensating for something." She joked, missing the smirk that came from him. Jess kicked herself into gear and walked up the steps of the Asylum. She wiped her sweaty palms on the back of her jeans to prepare herself for the external chaos inside.
"First time to the Asylum?" Batman asked, watching her mentally prepare herself.
"Can you tell?" She mumbled with a raised brow. Before she opened the heavy double doors, Batman's hand on her upper arm stopped her.
"Detective, the man you're about to talk to... he knows how to get into someone's head; push all the wrong buttons." He opened the door. "If it gets too serious, I'm pulling you out."
Jess swallowed at the way his tone changed. "Okay." She nodded. "But you have to give me time to find something." She watched his jaw tense up before he gave a nod in agreement. He motioned for her to walk inside the Asylum.
"Evening Detective Kent, Batman." A guard greeted with a tired nod. "The Commissioner is waiting for you two." He looked Jess over before sighing. "Good luck with the clown."
"Thanks." She said sarcastically. Once they went through security, another guard, named Frank Boyles, did what he normally did and took them to the interview rooms. Batman could have easily escorted the two of them, no problem, it was still protocol.
Frank Boyles was a drunken and hot-headed guard that had no respect towards women. Jess could tell he was about to make his move. "So, what brings such a pretty lady like you around here?" He asked with a smirk. "You look like you belong on a rich man's arm."
"My job." Jess answered curtly. "Something you should be doing too." Once her eyes landed on Jim, she excused herself with Batman on her tail. He was like her shadow, always there, unannounced, and dwelled in the dark. "Commissioner." She spoke, announcing her presence to her, obviously, worried superior. She turned her head to see Joker chained to the table, his smile unwavering, and green eyes looking around the room like he's never seen it before.
"I say, the last time I was here, these lights were whiter than this beautiful face of mine." He looked straight at the two-way glass. "And now it's warm and toasty. It's throwing off my feng shui!"
Jim crossed his arms. "He's been blabbering on this entire time." He sighed with his brows contorted in a downward frown. "He's dead set on talking to you."
"Bats? Yoo-hoo!" Joker called with a whistle. "Did you miss me? I hope that little saucy Detective is with you." He leaned back into his metal chair. "I've been waiting to meet her all day!"
Batman's face remained unfazed to all the cops around, but to Jess, she saw the subtle way his jaw clenched. "I'm going in." She scratched the back of her neck. "Wish me luck." The door buzzed open, allowing Jess to walk in through the heavy door.
"Helloooooo nurse!" Joker whistled. "I do say, you're much prettier in person." He held his hands up. "I would shake your hand but I'm a little preoccupied at the moment." He gave a throaty chortle.
"You've been making a big scuffle for everyone around here." Jess said while sitting down in the chair across from the table. "Want to tell me what that's about?"
Joker gave a hum. "Well, you see, there are certain positions in Gotham that one has to keep up." He leaned back into his seat. "This guy that's been killing people is threatening a lot of folks."
"Do you know his name?" Jess asked with a raised brow.
He paused, pursing his chapped red lips before sighing. "Well, if I did that, then our conversation would be cut short."
Jess shrugged, acting as though she didn't care. "Then I guess this conversation is over." Just as she went to stand up, Joker made a tittering sound. He motioned for her to sit back down before licking his lips.
"I was just teasing, my dear." He leaned forward. "No need to scamper off so soon."
"You're wasting my time." Jess tilted her head to the side. "But you don't care about that."
"You guess correctly." He gave a deep laugh, stomping his feet to emphasize his amusement. "Tell me, love bug, why did a minx like you become a detective?" He bit his lip in anticipation. "Let me guess, mommy and daddy died so you have to avenge them by finding their killer?"
"Ooh." Jess whistled while crossing her arms. Her entire body language was relaxed, showing no signs of anxiousness or aggression. To her, she needed to find common ground, make them understand each other, and build a solid foundation before she could get any of the answers she wanted. "My parents are just fine, but that was a good one."
"Your best friend was stabbed by her boyfriend before selfishly claiming his life before you got the chance to?"
"Nope."
Joker narrowed his eyes in thought. Meanwhile, from behind the two-way glass, Batman and Jim watch Jess's overwhelmingly calm demeanor in anticipation. "He's pushing her boundaries." Batman grumbled. "This is wasting too much time."
"Detective Kent has always been good at getting what she wants." Jim said with his hands on his hips. "Just give her a second to connect with him."
"There is no connecting with the Joker, Jim, you know this."
"That's not how she sees it."
Batman squeezed his hands into tight fists. He was growing rather impatient to the fact that Joker was so keen on talking to this detective he hadn't heard about until now. He wants to go in there and force the answers out himself but that's what the Joker wants. To see him break.
The Joker snapping his fingers is what brought Batman back to the scene at hand. "You lost your partner." The subtle look in Jess's eye confirmed his theory. "Not a new partner but one you started with. First, it was like a moth to a flame, a slow burn type of romance. You wanted to keep things professional, but he wanted to whisk you away. Then, you finally grew to the idea of having a family with him, accepting the ring that you probably wear around your neck or keep locked away in a jewelry box until WHAM!" He slammed his fist onto the metal table, jolting the contents on top of it an inch to the left. "He's killed in the line of duty. You wanted to stay a cop until you heard about his death."
Jess clenched her jaw at his story. In her head, it was running like a racehorse. He had managed to hit a lot of key points on the head by just reading her. It was horrific to know how he was able to worm his way into her head just through her eyes. She supposed she wasn't as good at holding up her cracking walls as she was led to believe. "Impressive." She said with a clear of her throat. "Everything you said was true except for one thing."
"Oh?" He hummed. "And what may that be?"
"He wasn't my partner; he was my husband." She smirked. "He used to be a firefighter and came down to Gotham to help put out a big fire that you caused down by the old courthouse."
Joker's mouth dropped open at the unexpected twist. "I remember him." He chuckled. "I remember that!" He looked up at the corner wall, pulling the memory out from his cathedral of bad deeds. "I had Batman on a wild goose chase looking for the mayor, not my best work if I do say so myself, but the old courthouse did shelter homeless people, and to cause more beautiful scenery, I set it on fire." He used his hands to demonstrate. "Before our late firefighter could run inside, I jump out with a hostage. I push her, he jumps right in front of this pretty little police officer with a ring that looked just like that." He pointed to Jess's blue kryptonite ring. "You were the cop, I was the villain, and he's six feet under." A maniacal laugh ripped through the room. "And to think that was only five years ago." He stomped his foot again. "Tell me, could you ever love again?"
Jess gave a sarcastic smile. "You got what you wanted from me." Her throat was burning at the memory of Cody and the horrid ending he got because she couldn't save him. "Now, give me what I want."
A pout left his lips. "Aren't you going to hit more or do anything?"
"Why should I?" She asked. "It was five years ago."
"But the murderer of your husband is sitting right in front of you."
"Who also arrested you, my justice has been served." She leaned forward with a sadistic smile that mirrored his own. "And even though I'm staring at the face of the man who killed my husband, don't think for a second I can't do what you do."
Joker's smile wavered for a second upon her imitating his infamous smile. "Maybe you should be the one in these cuffs instead of me." He whispered while chuckling. "Psychotic tendencies suit you better, darling. What's the point of being normal when you can just be… strange?"
Leaning back into her seat, the same smile no longer on her face, crossed her arms. "I can't say I blame you for trying to break me." She swiped her tongue over her bottom lip. "I can tell you've done it to others like Dr. Harleen."
"No, no, that took months of meticulous and rather mediocre therapy sessions, ugh." He gagged at the memories with a roll of his eyes. "I simply run the detectives away or get them so angry, Batman is forced to come inside and deal with me." He giggled. "But you, you're fun."
Jess pulled out a folder that was underneath a cold ceramic mug. "You have a story of your own that I also think I can also pin down."
He smiled widely. "I know how badly you want this, detective, I can see it in those beautiful eyes of yours."
Jess leaned back in her seat, crossing her leg over the other. "You don't think I can do it?" She asked with a smirk.
"I know you can't." Joker challenged, scooting forward in his chair.
"Then I guess Jeannie doesn't ring any bells, do they?" The wide smile that Joker had on his face slowly drooped down his cheeks into a wide frown. "It does, doesn't it?"
"How do you know about…?"
"I have my ways." She cut him off curtly, lazily flipping through the contents of Jeannie's folder agonizingly slow. It was sad how she died; Jess always felt heartbroken over the years to bring herself to open it. But since Joker reopened the wound on her heart, it was fair a little payback was in order if she executed it the right way. "You killed my husband, Joker, and then reminded me of it." She looked right through him. "I wanted to remind you that in here, with me, I'm the queen of the castle." She slapped the folder closed. "Checkmate."
There was a silence that fell upon the Joker. Jeannie, the sweetness of her name felt foreign to him now. He hasn't heard or uttered it since he lost her. At first, he saw her ghost everywhere he went after her death. He had officially become the Joker, Crown Prince of Crime. Then, while in Arkham, she disappeared upon seeing Harley.
Harley had some features, the high cheekbones, and the beautiful pale skin, but it wasn't enough. Jeannie wasn't submissive and docile. She was independent and knew how to get into his head to make him think. Like how the detective was doing it. "I say, Detective…" He lifted his hand as much as he could to point his finger at her. "You're good." He gave a low, evil chuckle. "I've learned that your killer goes by the name Cryptix." He bit his bottom lip. "But you didn't hear that from me."
Jess pushed off from her seat, a southerners click in her step. Before she could leave, however, Joker stopped her with a low whistle. "It was good seeing you again, dearest detective." She turned her pretty irises to glare behind her. "I do hope those scars healed up nicely."
Walking out of the room, the haunting laughs of Joker's psychotic mannerisms followed her to prove he was able to get the last word. Checkmate was Joker's to have.