'Are you going to tell my father?' Barbara whispered in his ear.
'I don't know.' He whispered back.
She put his hand on his chest as he pulled her near; he didn't want to think about that right now.
'My father needs to know.'
'I know.'
'He needs to know-'
'Not now, Barbara.' He turned away from her. 'I'm not even sure how I will tell the others.' She locked her arms around his waist, pulling their naked bodies closer. She began to kiss his back. 'We have to end this.'
'I know.'
'If he found out about us-'
'I don't want to talk about it.'
Josie had fun with Gabby and The Joker, and it was nice meeting Dr. Strange. She wondered if he would introduce her to more of his friends. Joker would probably adore her friend Grace, and she might like him.
As long as Joker doesn't strike her with his gun as he did Colin or grab his arm. Josie spent the last week thinking about Colin; she hoped he was ok.
Joker shouldn't have attacked Colin.
He was a nice boy, and she and Gabrielle gave Joker a proper scolding on the way back to Ivy's.
He said he did it to keep Colin from following them, but they were in a car.
As long as Joker doesn't strike her with his gun as he did Colin or grab his arm. Josie spent the last week thinking about Colin; she hoped he was ok.
Josie even found herself worrying about Robin.
She assumes he didn't deserve it, even if he's a big doo-doo head.
Josie didn't tell Ivy about their little field trip, as Joker called it; he said she might get her vines all in a twist.
Whatever that meant.
Despite the way things turned out, she had a good time with her dad-
Joker.
She had a good time with the Joker.
Would he even let her call him daddy?
She could probably get away with dad, but daddy would be a stretch.
He probably lets Gabby call him daddy, which is weird because she's not his daughter.
She wondered if he was coming to see her; maybe she should see him.
Would Ivy take her?
Would Ivy even let her go?
The two didn't like each other; she picked up on that immediately.
Ivy would probably be mad if she knew Joker had taken her on a field trip.
Josie pondered all this as she lay in bed staring at the ceiling, watching the plants in the corner consuming insects.
She so was bored, dancing all day 'til her muscles ached, and wanted to, as grandpa would say, 'exercise her brain.'
When they left for Gotham, she packed a backpack with some books.
She wondered what had happened to her stuff.
And, for that matter, what happened to her grandparents?
Were they in the ground?
Or were they in a giant freezer?
Did they have a funeral?
Her class had a funeral for the class pet, a fish called Wanda. After the funeral, they flushed Wanda down the drain.
Poor Wanda.
The thought made her frown; s he hoped no one flushed her grandparents down the toilet.
Her best friend said that when her mom died, her dad burned the body until it was a big pile of dirt that sat in a jar called an urn.
Were her grandparents in an urn?
Or were they buried in a graveyard?
And they buried here in Gotham or back in Park Ridge?
There was a knock on the door, startling Josie from her thoughts; she turned to the door.
'Josephine.' Called Ivy's voice. 'You come here for a minute?'
She climbed out of bed and hurried over to the door; tentatively, she poked her head out to find Ivy with an alarmed expression.
Standing next to her stood Gabby and The Joker.
They both had worried looks on their faces.
'You came to see me?' Josie shyly crept over to them.
'Yes.' Joker said quietly.
He was wearing a purple suit, much nicer than the one he had worn the last time they saw each other.
'The old man wants me to give you something.' Gabby said.
She wore a short dark red dress with matching shoes and gold bracelets.
Josie thought that she looked glamorous but didn't like her bosom showing.
'He has a present for me?' She said, surprised.
Gabby started to hand her a small white box, but Ivy took it quickly.
'What is this?' She demanded. 'I swear if this a bomb-'
'It's not a bomb!' He half growled and whined. 'Open it; I have some business to attend to!'
Ivy slowly opened the box to find a cigar with a pink band around it.
Ivy took the cigar and stared at it as if she knew what it meant. Josie only said, 'Uh, I can't use this..'
'It's what old guys hand out when they have a baby.' Ivy said quietly.
'What does it mean?' Asked Josie.
'Well, in every TV show I've ever seen, the dad hands out cigars when the wife has a baby.' Gabby explained. 'The band around it tells the people what he's having.'
'Ok...'
'When did you-' Ivy's eyes darted over the Joker. 'When you get her blood-'
She glanced at Josie, then turned back to Joker. 'Ok, so she's your daughter; now what?'
'I can't use this.' Josie said sheepishly.
'Don't worry about that,' said Gabby dismissively as they pulled
out a phone. 'This is your present.'
'It's an iPhone!'
'I don't think she's old enough for a phone.' Ivy said, sounding like the mother of some of her classmates when they got their first phones.
Josie used to beg her grandparents for a phone for ages; now she had one!
Now that she had one, she wished she could call them.
'What's wrong, little J?' Gabby asked. ' Don't you like it?'
'Of course, I like it, but I just don't know who I'd talk to.'
'Joker is no. 1, Ivy's no. 2, and you got me at 3.'
'Where are you guys going?' Josie asked.
'To the Iceberg Lounge.'
'Can I go?'
'No can do, kiddo.' He said.
'Why not!'
'I've got business to handle,' Joker said absentmindedly. Josie
pouted as Gabby pulled a wad of cash. 'But I wanted you to have this.'
'Whoa... there's gotta be at least a gazillion dollars here.'
'A gazillion?' Laughed Gabby as she handed it to her. 'To be that little again... it's five grand, all in the 50s.'
'Oh...' Josie took the money and put it in her pocket. ' Why are you giving me all this money?'
'He doesn't want you to want for anything.'
'She doesn't.' Ivy cut in.
'I want to hang out with you...' Josie huffed.
'I could bring you something.' Gabby suggested. 'I've got several little brothers and sisters; I'm sure I'll find you something.'
'When we left Park Ridge,' Josie said sheepishly, 'I brought some books to read. I want my books...'
'Ok,' Joker said quickly, 'make a list, and I'll have Gaggy get them for you.'
'Ok.'
It wasn't fair! Josie thought as she lay in bed.
She wanted to go to the Iceberg lounge, too; she could help his business.
She was one of the best Girl Scout cookie sellers in her school.
What does The Joker sell?
What do bad guys sell?
Well, he's a bad guy, so clearly, he must sell terrible stuff.
That guy who sold grandpa that bad car he called a lemon (even though it was orange) was a bad guy.
She even heard grandpa call him a schmuck once.
And schmuck is not a word used to describe a friend.
Did Joker sell a bunch of terrible cars?
She made a mental note to ask Gabby; she didn't think Ivy would tell her.
She played with the phone; Gabby or Joker already had her information programmed.
She wondered how they knew so much about her, another question to ask Gabby.
'So, you say that they sent you on patrol?' Growled a familiar voice.
'Yes, he called in his favorites and sent me away.' A kid's voice replied sharply.
There was no mistake about it; that was Robin's voice.
It was Robin and that other guy.
Was Joker right?
Did they somehow track her down?
Crap, this was getting spooky.
'Well, The Joker is a dangerous man; maybe this is just an I want to keep you safe thing, and not a Robin is an outsider thing.'
Outsider? Josie thought as she rushed to the closet.
Why were they talking about Robin being an outsider?
Joker mentioned he was a late model; is he new to Gotham?
Is that why he feels like an outsider?
But didn't he say that Batman was a new model, too?
She looked up to discover Robin pointing a sword at her throat.
When she picked off a decent outfit, she dragged the bed close to the window.
She jumped on the bed until she reached the window. The flower in the corner began to cry as she pulled herself up to the glass.
'Don't cry; I'm coming back.' She proclaimed as she whirled around to face it.
But she lost balance, tumbled out the window, and landed on a cardboard box on top of some trash bags.
When she was upright, she searched for Robin and the other man.
Where could they have gone so fast?
She looked frantically down the alley when she was seized roughly and flung onto the ground.
The move knocked the wind out of her lungs, or maybe the knee on her chest did...
'Why are you following us?!'
'Josie?'
She looked up to discover Robin pointing a sword at her throat.