Hello everyone,

I'm really sorry for the slow upload but my MAC decided to no longer let me upload chapters on it so I had to wait for my parents computer to get back to be able to upload a Chapter.

Anyway this one is a beefy chapter so I hope it makes up for it.

Not a lot of J in it though so sorry.

Enjoy

Nessa

xoxo

Chapter 7

Once Harley finished work that day she decided to head over to the nearest toy store she knew for her little present for Mr. J. He had opened up much more today than he had in their month of sessions and Harley wanted to thank him for it, of course she couldn't give him anything dangerous.

She spent at least an hour looking for the right thing and when she finally felt she had something she could smuggle into Arkham unnoticed she made her purchase and made her way over to the Chinese restaurant to get her Friday night treat. Working as head psychiatrist at Arkham meant that Harley didn't have days off, she got to leave at 1pm on both Saturday and Sunday though which meant she only saw her trickiest patients. For her now that was Liam and of course Joker. She could feel the tingle all over her body at the thought of seeing her favourite patient again the next day; he was a fascinating to say the least, damn right hypnotic most of the time. Harley worried that she was becoming too attached to Mr. J, that he was becoming too much apart of her life but she couldn't help it. She found him addictive.

Harley managed to get her food without running into anymore of J's goons and made her way home, relaxed and excited to have the evening to herself. She had purchased a bottle of wine in the off license next to the Chinese takeaway and found some of her favourite chocolate too. She was ready for her Friday night in.

She had just settled onto the couch in her winter pajamas and a plate full of food when the phone rung from the kitchen. Harley sighed and got up, grabbing the phone a glass for her wine, pouring it as she answered.

"Hello?" She tried to sound as happy as she could about the interruption to her night in, she waited all week for this night, why couldn't people leave her alone for it.

"HARRRLLEEEEEEENNNN!" Anna, the receptionist at Arkham screamed down the phone and Harley's blood ran cold, something must have happened.

"Are you okay? Is it one of the patients?" She asked, all at once panicking, maybe J had escaped.

"Nah, I just wanted- wanted to know if y- you wanted to." She hiccupped, "to come out tonight." She giggled. She was drunk. Harley sighed and wished again that she had never given this girl her number, never had agreed to go out with her sometime.

"I can't tonight, I have plans." Plan's that involve watching every video or news feed about Mr J as possible and eating her body weight in Chinese and chocolate.

"Awwww you're not fun. You HAVE to come out tomorrow night though, we are celebrating Sabrina's birthday and we're going to the sick club called 'The grin and bare it'. Its meant to be one of the best clubs in Gotham, but then again it is one of the only clubs in Gotham so…"

Harley cut her off, "Fine, fine I will go with you all. But I really have to go now." She was going to regret that as soon as tomorrow hit. She didn't even have anything suitable to wear for a night on the town, let alone enough cash to waste on alcohol and club entrance fees.

"Yesssss! See ya then Harls!" she screamed down the phone and then hung up. Harley sighed and tried to get comfortable on the couch again, making a mental list of all her wardrobe, mentally counting the outfits that she could possibly use for a club setting and realizing she had none. Shopping tomorrow afternoon it was then, how she loathed shopping.

Harley began watching the documentary on the joker, hoping to find anything that would help in her research; she just wanted to know why Mr. J was who he was. She wanted to see if the batman really was the reason he turned mad, or was it just inside him from the start. However Harleen had to turn the wretched thing off ten minutes in, they kept referring to Joker as 'evil' and 'criminal. Whilst she agreed that what he had done was indeed evil she did not believe that Mr. J himself was at all evil, he was just a misunderstood clown.

She made a noise of frustration and decided that there was no way she was going to be able to stand another misguided look on her patient and instead went and ran herself a bath. She put her most expensive bath oil in the water and swirled it around, the room quickly smelling of honey and chamomile. She smiled and sunk into the soothing water, enjoying the feeling of the heat relaxing her muscles. When she was in the bath, Harley could unwind and just focus on herself. She listened to the heavy rain that had overtaken Gotham and relaxed as she knew she was in the warmth of her bath as the others in Gotham were out getting wet. That'll teach them for having lives. She though and then began to laugh at herself; maybe not having friends was finally paying off.

Harley snuggled under the covers of her bed early that night and began to let her mind wonder to other things. Mr. J had seemed different in their session today, like the lifting of the straight jacket also made him feel more free to answer her questions, as if he was finally himself again. He had seemed alive when he was telling her his story, he had seemed as if he was able to focus better now that he could move his hands and animate what he was saying. Harley knew this was because the joker was very theatrical, he loved to perform for those around him and that made him even more interesting, he played on his own theatrics.

Finally, the sleep won out and her eyes became heavy. As she drifted off to sleep her only thoughts were of striking green hair and the soft purr of Mr. J's voice in her ear.

…

Harley awoke to the sound of birds singing outside her window and she decided to lay there for a while, just listening. It wasn't often that the birds actually sang in Gotham, most of the time they were silent, she took this as a sign that today was going to be a good day.

Having already bathed the night before, Harley got straight on with doing her make up and perfectly curling her hair so she looked like the best version of herself. She knew that she would still have to re-do her whole appearance before heading out this evening but she wanted to look good for Mr. J, even though she didn't want to admit it. She decided that today was a lipstick kind of day and smeared a light pink shade over her lips, highlighter her naturally plump lips even further. She smiled at herself in the mirror and winked, she looked fierce.

She decided to treat herself today and left home early to stop off at the coffee shop for a special latte and a muffin for breakfast. She rarely splurged on such things as coffee but she was in an excellent mood this morning and she needed something to help her keep like that.

Humming as she walked along the street, Harley smiled at every person who looked at her and blushed every time a man winked at her. She was used to such looks most of the time, and they usually annoyed her but today she felt flattered. It really was nice to be appreciated.

Once she had got her breakfast she made the short walk to Arkham and her smile grew as she saw the sun hitting just the right angle behind the asylum, making it seem as if it had a halo of light around it. This was her saving grace of a job though, if she wasn't here she would have been working in Brooklyn, and she just didn't feel as safe working there.

At first she thought it must had been because of Bruce, the man was so powerful and strong, but then even after her departure from his life she still felt safe. She had put it down to the fact that she had a meta-human around to save the city but she had recently not even thought about batman. She felt safe because she knew that even from Arkham, Mr. J would never let anyone hurt her in anyway. It was weird that the one man that made her feel safe was also the only person she was truly afraid of.

Harley nodded in acknowledgement at all of the safe patients that she saw on her way to her office, making idol chit-chat with a couple of the orderlies that she walked past on her way. She smiled at Anna as she asked her they were still on for that night, nodding her head in answer as she opened the door to her office and saw another bouquet of beautiful flowers sitting on her desk.

These are just…. Well because I like to spoil my little jester.

-J

She smiled again and traced her finger along the writing, feeling the surprise she had for J in her own pocket and feeling ecstatic that she could give something back to him, even if it was a small gift. She put her present in her desk and got herself ready for Liam's session, getting it out his case file and her notepad from the filing cabinet. She noticed that she still had a photo of her and Bruce in the bookshelf and decided she needed to take that down straight away, before J saw it and got jealous.

She threw the ripped up photo in the bin and replaced it with the card J had put on her flowers today, her colleagues wouldn't even notice and it would cheer up when she was having a bad day.

…

After her session with Liam finished around eleven, Harleen couldn't keep herself still in anticipation for seeing the joker at half-eleven, she got to have longer sessions on the weekends because she only had two patients to focus on, which meant an hour and a half with Mr.J. He was beginning to become almost a dependency for her and she was worried but she couldn't seem to snap herself out of it. She needed him like most people needed water.

She decided to busy herself with reading a book that she had picked up at the store the other day, it was a biography of a man who had worked under the Joker for a while before taking the straight and narrow. Harley was eager to see what J was like as a boss and as a man who was ultimately trying to cause chaos. The book was actually very well written but the details of how the Joker would punish the men if they stepped out of line and reward them with money and girls if they did something made her feel a little uncomfortable. She didn't wish to know that her clown prince was a little bit of a playboy and all the girls under his care in his clubs were all known for trying to seduce J. Not that he would bite.

According to the guy who wrote the book J would only ever sleep with girls that he chose himself, not just employees of his clubs, no those girls were strictly working girls only. J was more into girls who were as mad as he was and tended to end up putting every girl he had interacted with in the loony bin with his maddening personality. Harley could agree with that, that was for sure. His mere presence made you feel as if you were going mad.

When she glanced at the clock she saw it was twenty past eleven and decided now was the time to head down to the padded room for her session with Mr.J. she was annoyingly excited and a little bit scared but she shook it off.

He was already in the room when she arrived and he gave her his crazy eyes smile when she walked through the door. Her whole body seemed to relax when she laid her eyes on him. He was like a hot bath, he made all of her muscles relax and her brain silenced for once. She was finally serene.

"Doctor Quinsel, I live for these moments with you." He purred above the hum of the light in the room and Harley felt her skin flush, the way he said her name was almost seductive, as if he had other intentions than to spill his beans to her.

"Good morning J, how did you sleep?" she smiled at him warmly, and sat her self down, scattering her notes around her on the desk and pulling out her notepad. She needed to try and look as professional as she could, even if she didn't feel it.

"Like a baby, or a corpse." He grinned again and Harley knew he was trying to scare her, well it aint working J, you don't scare me anymore.

"That's good, so I bought you a present." Harley smiled at him, unable to hold in her excitement for her gift to him anymore.

"Oh? Ain't that sweet doc. What'd ya get me?" He leaned closer over the desk, as if he was curious to find out. His hands flexed at his sides and she was thankful again for the absence of the straight jacket.

"I got you a kitty." She lifted the small plush toy from her pocket and wiggled it in the air, as if it was saying hello.

"Aww. So thoughtful." He sung in his low growl and reached for the teddy in her hand. Their skin connected ever so slightly as he grabbed the toy cat but the electricity Harley felt was as if he had one of those hand buzzes hidden in his finger. She recalled at the feeling of it and gasped, looking at J in shock. He looked back as if he was in just as much shock and looked at the cuddly toy in his hand, as if that had been the source of the feeling.

Harley coughed awkwardly and looked down at her list of questions, "so today I wanted to discuss with you the first time that you went out as the 'Joker' after your second birth. Can you remember that day Mr. J?" She looked intently at him.

"Oh yes, that was a glorious day indeed. I had just come up with my new look and I decided I wanted to test it on the town. Perhaps I could have robbed a bank, or maybe a liquor store. But I decided instead to hit up a club or well… shoot up a club. But alas, the wicked batman was there to spoil all of my fun as usual. Unrecognizable and totally insane I made sure that batsy would remember my name forever before I slipped away and found myself a hide out. That's the night I first hired Frost as well." He looked at her pointedly, and now she knew why Frost had been the one the to scope her out. The Joker trusted that man the day he became who he was; he was almost like a brother to him.

The session ran on as usual and when Harley said goodbye to J he grabbed her hand, the electrically crackling between their fingers. He smoothly brought her hand to his lips and kissed it ever so softly, as if he was an old English gentleman wishing a lady goodnight. Then the orderlies came in the room and handcuffed him, dragging him back to his cell.

…

Harley grumbled as she looked around the shop and decided that she was useless at buying things, she had been there for hours already and still had no idea what to buy. There was nothing in this shop that suited her and she felt helpless in all of this fabric.

"Want some help hun?" A woman with fiery red hair sauntered towards Harley, dressed as if she knew exactly what she was doing.

"Oh my god that would be so good, I have no idea what I am doing and I need to get a dress for tonight." Harley muttered and she again looked around the store in fright.

"Of course hun, where you going? Fancy dinner?" The red headed woman started picking up dresses and holding them to Harley.

"No, a club." Harley looked at the woman, "what's your name anyway?"

"Pamela, and this." She held a very tight black lace dress up, "is your dress." She threw at Harley and ushered her to the dressing room. Harley sighed and got undressed, pulling the fabric across her skin. She looked at the dress hugging her body and decided that it really wasn't that bad.

"I guess it's pretty cute…" Harley walked out the changing room and saw Pamela was no longer there, she poked her head out of the dressing room and was confused when she couldn't see her. She had just disappeared.

Weird woman, Harley thought as she got dressed and made her way to make her purchase, mentally putting the rest of her outfit together in her head.

…

Harley got ready at around 8pm and looked at herself in the mirror. The black dress paired with blue heels and a matching purse looked pretty good thankfully. She had darkened her make-up to a Smokey eye and blood red lip. Her hair perfectly curled and bouncy, making her look like a princess. Harley smiled at her appearance and decided that it would have to do.

Getting to the club that Anna had told her about was harder than she thought, it was on the more expensive part of town and as Harley waited in line she said a silent goodbye to her money tonight. The security guy caught sight of her in the line, then did a double take and ushered her over to him. She looked confused but made her way over to him anyway, surprise when he lifted the rope for her and let her in, no charge taken. She felt a little sick at the thought that it was all probably because she was showing her body off and she didn't know whether she should be glad she didn't have to pay the $20 entrance fee or not.

Harley spotted Anna and the others from work and made her way over to the table, waving as she went. Anna bounded over to her and gave her a tight hug, pulling back to get a look at her. "Damn Harls, you look amazing. You're so going to show us all up." Anna beamed and lead Harley over the bar, before she could even say hello to everyone else.

The bar man took one look at Harley and then at Anna. He gave Anna her drink, accepting her payment and the shook his head as Harley tried to do the same. She was confused all over again and felt uneasy that again her body had got her something free. She put it off to a one drink free policy but as the night wore on she proved time and time again that this wasn't the case. She wasn't being charged for anything in this club. It was weird.

Around 2am when Harley stumbled off the dance floor, her head woozy and her body swaying she decided it was probably a good time to call it a night. She did have work tomorrow after all. She stumbled her way to the door, tripping on something invisible and feeling herself tumble to the floor. Before she could hit the deck however a strong pair of arms came around her and stopped her. She turned to see the handsome face of Jonny Frost, J's first in command.

"J-Jonny? Whatcha doin' here?" She squealed.

"You don't know?" He looked surprised and then amused all at once. "Let's get you home Miss Quinn." He lead her out of the club.

"Quinsel." She corrected and let herself be tugged into a cab and told to go straight to bed.