„..do you want to plead insanity?", the young and rather pretty lawyer manages to finally say, all while avoiding eye contact. She tries to seem confident, but Joker knows fear when he sees it, and there definitely is fear in her eyes. For ten minutes already she's been talking to him, or better said, at him – since he has not uttered a word yet – and she looks at her documents way too often. Joker knows she is doing that only to stop herself from staring at him. But what he finds funny, is that the longer she glances at him, the more the fear is replaced by excitement.
"..they don't really have a strong case, it seems as if they can't decide what to pin you down on. I think they would be ready for some kind of settlement, if you'd be willing to go to Arkham..", she continued, and even managed a small smile. But still, there was so much fear in there.
He rarely saw any fear in Sonja's eyes. Actually, he saw it a few times when they were younger, but each and every time Sonja raised to the challenge. And then some more: she fought back. She attacked. And she did so in high heels, if necessary. God, he will never forget that number she did to his car back in the days. Sonja, absolutely wrecking his car in the middle of the street, wearing a short, short, short red dress. Fire in her eyes, a baseball bat raised, lifting her eyebrow at his rage and yelling, challenging him. God, whatta woman. No other woman could carry a Joker junior…
"..will you say nothing at all? I am trying to help you.", the lawyer now looks him straight into his eyes, trying to add compassion to her tone of voice.
Very slowly, he leans closer to her. He can hear her breath becoming short and rapid. She's afraid. And even more so, she's excited. Even just a little bit, she backs down, and Joker smirks lightly. He stares in a way that he knows will make her feel uncomfortable; and after a few seconds, she lowers her eyes.
"You can do something for me.", he rasps in a low voice after a while, and all the while staring at her.
"Yes. What is it?", she asks quickly, and briefly looks a him.
The tension lies now heavy in the air, and Joker smirks as he reads her face. He knows her mind is in overdrive right now, and she probably thinks he'll ask her to do something illegal, or immoral, or…or something inappropriate. Her cheeks blush lightly, and she manags to look at him once more.
"What do you want me to do?", she asks again in a low voice, but there is no trace of confidence to her voice, only surrender.
"Be a doll…", he smiles, "And get me Jim Gordon here as soon. As possible. Or even quicker."
She raises her head in surprise and opens her mouth, but he interrupts her: "Gordon, NOW. GO!"
….
Livia is a wonderful baby girl. Unlike her chaotic daddy, she rarely makes any racket. She eats, she sleeps, she smiles at Jackson, she cuddles with her mom.
"Moja dobra curica" (My good little girl), Sonja coos, while Jackson brings in a new stash of diapers.
"A fakat je dobra" (She's really good), Jackson agrees, "Ništ ne plače, skroz je mirna." (She barely ever cries, she's so calm.)
"To joj sigurno nije od tate" (She surely hasn't got this from her dad's side), Sonja adds with a heavy hint of bitterness.
"Aw, come on, mum. He'll turn up soon.", Jackson switched to English as if wanting to protect his little sister from hearing anything bad about their dad.
"I don't know.", Sonja shrugs her shoulders, annoyed, "We can only hope."
"He obviously has some kind of plan for these situations. I mean, look how his men got us out of the hospital and made sure to take us back here without the cops following us.", Jackson offered, still impressed by the team of men who easily snuck them out and returned them safely home.
"Yeah, now a bunch of criminals know where we live.", Sonja just wouldn't agree to feel satisfied by anything less than Jack coming finally home.
"The bunch of criminals who know you by name for ages already, apparently; and bring us Italian food every day? We could have it worse!", Jackson laughed as he remembered how perplexed he was when it turned out that his mother already knew the Mafiosi men who came to get the out.
"They owe your father more than you could ever know. But don't think even for a minute that they wouldn't rat us out if Jack would be out of the game!", she said darkly. But she was right.
"Okay, whatever, let's watch some TV", he sighed, thinking how she became impossible ever since Jack's gone. Those two really need to be together.
But as bad luck would have it, the TV was tuned to a news station, and the reporter waiting in front of Blackgate managed to halt a petite young woman in a black, tight business suit.
"Excuse me, aren't you Melissa Conrad, Joker's lawyer?", the news reporter asked rather aggressively.
"I'm court-ordered..", the young woman managed to say, before the reported interrupted her.
"What can you tell us about the Joker and this case?", he basically showed the microphone into the young woman's face. She took a second or two to collect herself, and that was enough for Sonja to notice how very young and beautiful she was. And she couldn't help herself but to feel a pang of jealously racing through her.
"I cannot and will not tell you anything about my client and this case. At this moment…"
"But surely you can share some details? What did you talk about?", the reporter insisted.
"I discussed, I mean, we discussed, the case, but I cannot and will not share…"
"This means that you have worked on some kind of strategy! Does Joker have any specific requests?"
"No, I mean, I cannot…"
"There is obviously some kind of plan – Joker always has plans, as our viewers are painfully aware of! Can you at least warn the population?", the reporter was fishing for any kind of story.
"As far as I am concerned, there is no plan I am aware of. Now, thank you", she tried to walk away, but the reporter blocked her way.
"At least you can share with our viewers your personal feelings, besides the legal stuff. How was it, sitting in the same room with the Joker? Were you afraid? Was he intimidating? Did he try to attack you? Or scare you?"
The young woman stopped in her tracks, and searched for an appropriate answer. To most people, she seemed confused and unprepared for such an outlandish attack by a yellow-press reporter, but Sonja saw more than that. She saw a pretty young woman who was scared, but also impressed. Deeply impressed by a man who is more than just a man, a criminal who is leagues more than just a criminal. She knew the feeling all too well, and she also knew the allure that such a man can have. But mostly, she knew that he has to put a bit off a show in order to achieve that effect, which meant that he more or less flirted or acted seductively with this lawyer girlie. Sonja was fuming.
"I really have no answer for you. Good bye", the young lawyer finally snapped out of it and with new-found resolve, quickly walked away.
"Yeah you better go", Sonja growled, earing a confused look from Jackson.
….
10.51 PM
Do you still hate me? – Jackson texted.
10.52 PM
Who is this? – Jasmine replied.
10.52
Jackson.
10.54
What do you want?
10.55
I want to know if you still hated me. It's the one of the last things you told me the last time we saw eachother
10.57
Actually, the last time we saw each other was in school. Which you ditched for a few weeks btw. And then totally ignored me after you came back. Not that I care. But. What is wrong with you
10.59
My mom had a baby so I had to take a few weeks off
11.02
That's no excuse, my mom had a baby also just recently but I never missed a day of school
11.03
But I had to help mom
11.04
What about your dad
11.04
He isnt around, exactly. I dont know how to explain
11.05
OK sorry about that
11.06
Actually, Im the one who has to apologize. About the ignoring. Its only a few days that Im back to school, and I wasnt sure what to tell you
I mean it all sounds so lame and I figured you were still angry at me
I didnt know what to say
Sorry
11.11
Fine
11.12
So, you still hate me or what :)
11.15
I dont hate you, but I dont trust you exactly either
I feel like youre hiding something
and sometimes i feel like youre so manipulative
11.17
what can i do to change that
11.18
i dunno
11.18
cause i really like you
11.20
i mean, i have a boyfriend
11.20
you know im better than him
11.20
arent you arrogant!
11.21
yeah but you love it
11.21
i totally hate you
11.22
hate you too, pretty babe
11.23
youre so weird
11.23
no you are
11.24
and childish!
11.24
yeah whatever
so how about we hang out together tomorrow after school
11.25
as if!
11.28
ok whatever
11.30
oh i knew it, you totally are into me
11.31
omg i hate you so much :)