Harley hadn't calmed down by the time Jack came to campus to pick her up – she climbed into his car and slammed the door, and the look on her face prompted Jack to ask, "What's wrong?"

"Professor Crane," she replied. "You were right about him. He used that fear drug on me."

Jack turned off the car engine and unbuckled his seatbelt. "Where are you going?" asked Harley.

"I'm going to beat the crap outta him," said Jack. "He was asking for it by drugging me, but using it on you has left me no choice."

"No, Jack, don't," said Harley, seizing his hand as he reached for the door. "He knows about us, and I'm afraid he'll report us to the cops if you hurt him."

"How does he know?" demanded Jack.

"The cops came to see him to check out my story after the jailbreak," said Harley. "He told them it was genuine and said I wasn't a suspect. But he knows I was there to help you out."

Jack said nothing, tightening his hands on the steering wheel. "I told you you shouldn't have gotten involved," he muttered.

"Oh, don't you start too!" snapped Harley. "Why do both you and Professor Crane think of me as some kid who doesn't know what I'm doing?!"

"Because you are a kid!" exclaimed Jack, rounding on her. "You don't understand the reality of my life, the reality of being a criminal! If you actually saw what I did on a daily basis, it would horrify you!"

"It didn't horrify me when you stabbed Sal to death," retorted Harley. "I may look innocent, Mr. J, but I understand pain and violence and darkness. And I love them. I don't know what's wrong with me that I should feel that way, but I do. If you can't understand that about me, if you can't accept that about me, then you can't love me, not really. You say I don't know the real you, but you don't seem to know the real me either."

Tears had come to her eyes, and they now streamed down her cheeks. Jack embraced her, gently kissing her tears away. "I could bear anything but seeing you cry," he whispered. "What can I do to make you stop?"

"I don't want anything but you," she whispered.

He started up the car engine again. "That's an easy enough wish to grant," he sighed. "I sure wish I could give you something else though."

"You could give me a nice date tonight," suggested Harley with a small grin as she wiped her eyes. "Someplace fancy."

"Naturally," agreed Jack, grinning back. "The classier the better – it's what you deserve, after all."

They drove to Jack's apartment, because he told her he wanted to change before their date. Harley thought it was odd that he hadn't changed before picking her up, but as she followed him inside, she saw why he had wanted to stop by first.

A long, red, silk cocktail dress was laid out on the bed. "Oh, Mr. J!" gasped Harley, racing over to it. "Is this for me?"

"Well, it ain't for me!" he chuckled. "Don't think it would suit me, red not being my color! But I think it's probably yours. It should be your size, having, as I said, made a very thorough study of your body," he added, kissing her cheek. "But you should try it on just in case."

Harley grinned, kissed him, and then raced into the bathroom with the dress. She pulled it on, loving the feel of the silk against her bare skin. The dress fit perfectly, hugging her form with a plunging neckline and with a large slit in the skirt. She opened the door and was pleased to see Jack's jaw drop. "Like it?" she asked with a grin.

"Too much," he agreed. "Not sure I'll be able to control myself tonight – it'll be a real challenge to keep my hands off you."

"Well, you won't have to if we're going dancing," replied Harley. "And we can come back here afterward so you can take it off me. Just try not to be too eager – I don't want the silk to rip."

She smoothed the dress down. "I've never worn anything this expensive," she murmured. "I feel scared I'll spill something on it, or tear it. It's too fancy for someone like me…"

Jack silenced her with a kiss. "You're the only girl I've ever met who was worth spending a fortune on," he murmured. "Money is nothing compared to seeing you smile. Silk is cheap next to what it's covering," he murmured, kissing her throat and down her neckline. "It's all a bargain since I already won the jackpot."

"You mean you didn't steal it?" murmured Harley. "I'm kinda disappointed."

"You know I would steal for you – I already killed for you," he whispered. "But tonight…I wanna do things the honest way. I wanna do what a normal guy does for his gal, and splash out on her, and spend my hard-earned cash on her because that's what she deserves. She deserves…better than a criminal."

"What have I told you?" asked Harley, raising his face up to hers. "I love you, Mr. J. Just as you are. Don't try to be anything else for my sake. And don't ever change, not even for dinner," she added, adjusting his bowtie. "Now let's get going – I'm starved."

They drove to a very fancy restaurant, the kind where you gave the car keys to a valet to park. Harley had never been anywhere so expensive before, and she felt instantly that she wasn't good enough for a place like this.

"People are staring at me," she said, glancing around as Jack pulled out her chair for her. "And I feel so naked."

"Well, maybe the dress is a little too revealing, but I like it," chuckled Jack, kissing the top of her head before he sat down.

"Not naked like that," she retorted with a smile. "Just…like I don't fit in. Like everyone can see through me, and they know I'm just some poor college kid who doesn't belong here."

"They're probably staring because they're wondering how a guy like me got to be lucky enough to take out a young, beautiful gal like you," replied Jack, taking her hand and kissing it. "And I gotta say, I ask myself that same question every day."

"You ask that after what you did for me?" she murmured.

He poured her a glass of champagne from the bottle the waiter had brought to the table. "I hope you're not with me out of a sense of obligation about that," he murmured. "You don't owe me for saving you, not after I put you in danger in the first place."

"I'm with you because I love you," she retorted. "I told you."

He shrugged. "I just don't see that there's much to love about me. I think…you're seeing me as your heroic protector, someone who saved you from a fate worse than death, and that blinds you to the truth of what I am."

"Well, you're not quite a knight in shining armor, Mr. J," replied Harley with a grin. "They usually go around stabbing dragons rather than mobsters…"

"Keep your voice down!" he hissed, looking around.

Harley studied his face, which looked as anxious as hers as he scanned the crowd. "That's the difference between us, I guess," she murmured. "I'm not ashamed of what you are. But you are, and I don't understand why."

"Because I know what happens to guys like me," he retorted. "I've never had any illusions about the kind of life I'm leading, or where it's gonna end up. But all I could ask outta it was to have a little fun along the way, and I've had that. But this…this is serious, what we have. And I take it very seriously. And it makes me start to think seriously about what kinda road I'm headed on, which I never did before. It's not a road…you should go down with me."

Harley stared at him. "Are you trying to…break up with me?" she stammered.

"No, I could never do that," he said, clutching her hands desperately. "I wouldn't have the heart to do it. But if you were smart, you'd break up with me. You're just so young, kid. Too young. And too smart, to want this to be your life…"

"You ain't treating me like I'm smart," she interrupted. "You're treating me like I'm an idiot who doesn't know what I want. But I do know, Mr. J. And I may be young compared to you and Professor Crane, but I'm old enough to know what I'm doing. I'm old enough to know what I'm feeling is real. And I'm old enough to know that if I stopped seeing you, like both you and him seem to want, then I'll regret losing your love for the rest of my life. If I have to go to prison because I'm with you, if I have to die because I'm with you, I'd rather suffer that than life without you. Maybe it's not sane, like Professor Crane said, but it's true. I can only be who I am, and the girl I am loves you, and needs you, and would do anything rather than live without you. I couldn't bear it, Mr. J."

He sighed heavily. "That's the trouble with both of us, kid," he murmured, pouring himself a glass of champagne. "We're both down on ourselves, but too crazy about each other for it to matter."

"That's why we need each other," replied Harley. "To see how special we truly are." She raised her glass. "To us, Mr. J."

He echoed the toast, clinking his glass against hers. "To us."

After dinner, Jack finally took Harley out dancing. As he held her close, he was torn halfway between agony and ecstasy. This woman and her feelings for him were easily the best thing that he had ever experienced, but he knew they could never work out long term. For one thing, he wasn't sure how much longer he'd even be alive, with all three families gunning for him after he took down Batman. And if Harley truly loved him as much as she claimed, his death would break her. He couldn't ruin her life like that even after he was gone. He couldn't face his death knowing he had destroyed this young woman. He had done many awful things in his life, but he couldn't do that.

He tried to drown out the intrusive thoughts in the music, and it worked for a while. He kept them suppressed when they returned to his apartment, and he undressed her in the dark, his mind focusing only on her and her pleasure. Every sigh and moan and breath of hers kept his thoughts at bay, kept him concentrating on this precious creature in his arms. He savored her gasp of, "Mr. J!" as her breathing peaked, savored the warmth of her body's tight embrace of his. He would remember how beautiful she looked at that moment, her gorgeous smile, and her gorgeous eyes gazing up into his with such incredible adoration. He would remember it as long as he lived. However much longer that was.

"What are you thinking about?" murmured Harley, as she lay in his arms.

"How lucky I am," he murmured. "Most people go their whole lives without experiencing anything like what we have."

"Mmm, you see why I can't give you up," she whispered, embracing him.

He gazed at her. "I love you," he murmured. "I never knew what that meant before I met you. I do now."

"I guess we're both getting quite an education," she replied with a grin. Then she frowned. "Speaking of education, I guess I gotta switch classes or something. I can't stay in Professor Crane's class, not after what he did. I can't be mentored by someone I don't respect."

"But isn't he the most respected guy in his field?" asked Jack. "Surely it's better for your career if you forgive and forget."

"Forgive and forget?" repeated Harley, incredulous. "You were gonna beat the crap outta him earlier."

"So if I can do it, so can you," he replied, kissing her. "I don't like him, Harley, but I want the best for you. He can probably help you get a good job once you graduate – a man like that will have connections."

"I don't need his connections," retorted Harley. "I'll succeed on my own merits, or not at all."

Jack laughed. "And you say you're not young and naïve," he replied.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded, sitting up.

"Look, I'm not a respectable guy, but even I know that in the world of respectable jobs, you gotta network," said Jack. "You gotta network even in my profession – if you're not well liked, they try and bump you off, trust me. And the same is true in the white collar world – you need friends in high places to get ahead. You might think the best thing to do is never see Professor Crane again, and report his antics to the university, but if you do that, it's just gonna blow up in your face. You try to do the right thing, and you're gonna be punished for it, that's just how life is. You're young and idealistic and you think the world should work a certain way, but it don't. I wish it did, for your sake."

"You're saying I shouldn't do what I feel is right to secure a future job…" began Harley.

"I'm saying you shouldn't worry about right and wrong and be practical," interrupted Jack. "The world don't care about right and wrong. You should do what's best to survive in it, and leave these moral questions alone. You'll be a lot happier, trust me."

She studied him, and then smiled. "Well, you do look happy," she agreed, cuddling into his arms again. "I'll think about it. But I don't want to think about Professor Crane right now. I don't want to think about anything else but you."

He held her tightly, hoping it wouldn't be the last time.