'Shit!' He yelled as he jumped off the girl, Gayle, or something.
Ivy had no manners established long ago, always sticking that green thumb of hers in his relationship with Harley.
She's probably the reason why Harley's M.I.A.
'What the hell?!' She shrieked as she searched in vain for her missing underwear.
Her dress shimmered in the light, her mother's dress and matching shoes.
Ah, Gabrielle Gagsworth! He remembered. That's what her name is!
A kid who'd been dealing for him since she was 8.
Oldest of 8 kids, her mother's a prostitute, and her father's a drunk.
She worked under Harley as all his kid workers did; Harley always bragged about her; she was her favorite, and she brought her leather jacket.
' Get out! I need to speak with the clown!' Ivy demanded.
'Excuse me,' the girl pouted, ' but we-'
'Out.' He sighed.
She whined and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her, Ivy glaring as she left.
' How old is she?!' Ivy demanded.
'Haven't had the chance to check her ID.' He remarked casually.
'She doesn't look legal.'
'She's legal!' He spat viciously at her. ' I think.'
'Ugh! You're disgusting!'
'Is there a reason why you're here, Ivy?' He asked flatly. 'Unless you're here to genuinely piss me of f?'
She looked at the door, then looked at him.
'There's a girl out there.'
'She's legal!' He hissed.
Who was she to lecture him on his sexual preference?
'No, a little girl.'
'Ivy, I don't date children. Gaggy's legal. She's 19.'
'No, the little girl, a child. I think she's-'
'I don't have time for this, Doc.'
'The little girl.'
'The little girl, yes?'
'She's got a picture of you.'
He grinned.
'A picture, Ivy?! Everyone in Gotham's got a picture of me!'
'I doubt they've got one like this.'
He rolled his eyes and buckled his pants. 'If you say so, lemme see it.'
Ivy cautiously approached the grinning man and timidly handed him the old photo.
It was Rebecca Brown and Joseph Kerr; both are dead now, as was his grin.
'Where did you get this!' His voice was quiet.
'She had it on her person.'
He could feel Ivy's eyes on him, awaiting his response.
'Ok, so I knew her mother,' he flung it back towards her, 'so what?'
Ivy seemed indignant by his indifference.
' A little girl with a photo of you with her mother shows up in Gotham looking for you-'
'She's looking for me?!' He laughed bitterly. 'I highly doubt that!'
'She's a photo of you; she's-'
'She's confused! She's confused because her mother told her the first name she could remember!'
He turned away from her as thoughts of Rebecca Brown hit him like a slap.
' She has your eyes.'
He shook away the thought of wanting to see those eyes. 'Where the hell did you get her from?'
'I found her on the street.'
'Don't they are usually dumping them at an orphanage or something!'
'I think she ran away. Zsasz had her when I found her.'
'So she's missing!' he said quickly. 'I don't want that heat yet!' He shook his head. 'Get her out of here! I don't care what you do; get her away from me!'
' Joker,' she released an exasperated sigh, ' just look at her.'
'I'd rather not.'
Ivy, for once, didn't press him. 'Fine.'
He heard the door open and close; then, he heard a small voice.
He found himself creeping towards the door.
I'm entitled to see how she looks. Joker told himself.
Who did she look like, him or Bex?
He hoped she looked like Rebecca; it was the only way she'd survive in Gotham.
He opened the door and peered through the crack, and she stood, the child.
The girl had long waist-length blonde hair in two fat pigtails.
There were traces of green streaks; did she do that herself?
She had Rebecca's face.
She was too petite for his liking ; didn't they feed them?
He couldn't see her eyes; bushy bangs covered t hem.
She wore a striped long-sleeved shirt, pink and green denim shorts, and white sneakers.
She looked wet; was she out during the rainstorm?
Ivy pushed the bangs out of the girl's face.
Those were his eyes, alright, but they looked better on her.
They were wide and red; it was like someone licked the red off her lollipop.
She's in Gotham now; somebody probably stole that lollipop.
Her eyes darted over to him; she gasped as her eyes drank him in.
He slammed the door shut when she made eye contact.
He didn't need the unnecessary emotional connection.
You get too attached to a person, and they leave.
Rebecca.
Harley.
They all leave.
He met up with her the day after they met the kid to inquire about the child's needs.
Children, from his experience, were needy little bastards, but the child, Josephine was only interested in him.
He wasn't sure how to deal with this.
Josie had to return to the orphanage that night, and Gabby took her. But Ivy promised they would return to her in a few days; she liked Ivy and Gabby.
Josie, however, wasn't sure she liked him, though; the Joker didn't even want to talk to her that night.
That was fine; she didn't want him as a daddy!
If he didn't want to look at her, that was fine!
Fine.
Fine.
Fine!
Why come he didn't like her?!
Josie was a good girl; people always talked about how well-behaved she was. She got good grades, had lots of friends, and everyone back home adored her.
Ivy and Gabby seemed to like her, but he didn't!
What was The Joker's problem?!
She was an excellent child!
He was a gosh darn criminal; what did he know about being good?
Maybe that's the problem; he didn't want a good little girl for a daughter.
Maybe that's why he didn't stay with her mother because she was a good girl.
She could be bad; Josie could be a bad girl.
What do bad girls do?
A girl back home, Kimmy Coleman, often got in trouble because she constantly talked in class.
Do bad girls talk too much?
No, even though Kimmy could talk her head off, she was a good girl.
What do bad girls do?
Her best friend, Grace, is often called bad by her dad, but Grace is a good girl.
One of the girls here, Angelina, likes to pull her hair. She and her friends told everyone that Josie was snobby.
Lying, a bad girl told lies.
Josie looked at herself in the mirror; she wore a pink plaid shirt, a gray tank under it, faded jeans, and pink sneakers.
Do bad girls dress like this?
In the movies, the bad girls usually wore black and leather clothing, and most of Josie's clothes were bright and pretty.
Good girl colors.
Josie didn't know how to be a bad girl.
In her favorite TV shows and movies, all the bad girls were constantly teasing and coying with the good girls' boyfriends.
Boys are iky, and her grandparents said good girls only displayed that side of her with her husband.
Gabrielle seems like a good girl, except for how she dresses. And Ivy seemed good, too, but Josie quickly determined that she was bad in an entirely different way than The Joker.
Did he truly want a bad girl for a daughter?
No, it couldn't be that; it has to be something else.
Joker is whiter than white; maybe she was too dark for him.
Too dark?
Josie never thought of her creamy porcelain skin as anything other than skin, but...
Is that why he did not like her because she was too dark?
What stupid reason to hate someone, but there are people in Park Ridge who bristled at the sight of dark-skinned people.
Grandpa said it was natural, but grandma said some people are too narrow-minded or cowardly to form their own ideas.
Kimmy Coleman had brown skin, and she was good, but Angelina had a peach complexion, and she was bad as sin.
So it's not skin that makes you ugly or bad.
Maybe it was because she was a girl; perhaps she was the wrong gender.
Some people are born, and they just know that they were born wrong.
Josie never felt she was born wrong; she preferred being a little girl.
But some people prefer boys; grandpa wished he had a son or a grandson, and sometimes, so did grandma.
Is that why he didn't want to see Josie?
Is that he left her mother?
Josie would have to ask Ivy about this.
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