She smoothed the material of her red and black skin-tight suit as she stood on the stoop of Arkham. The building was so familiar to her, inside and outside, that it felt almost like a second home.
Her blue eyes slipped from one side of the large concrete porch to the other before she lifted her gloved hand and set her fingers on one of the handles of the large doors.
The other hand had found the grip of a large prop gun nestled in a holster on her thigh and she removed the fake weapon from its cradle. Lifting it up, she held the mechanism so that the corked barrel pointed at the sky.
With a giggle, Harley pulled open the door and marched expertly across the threshold, into the lobby. Her eyes moved as her feet carried her to the desk, and only when she reached the receptionist did she stop. It was toward the woman in which Harley pointed the prop gun.
She offered the woman a smile worth every drop of sweet syrup in the world and spoke with that Brooklyn accent of hers softly, "Is tha Doc in today? Tell him it's urgent. I gotta fevah and the only way ta cure it is if you're bleeding all ova tha place."
The receptionist flinched when Harley pulled the trigger. But the only thing that exited the barrel besides the cork was a white flag that bore the word BANG! in red letters.
Harley laughed and the receptionist notified Crane and security that there was a crazed woman standing in the lobby.
Oh this was about to get much more fun and Harley couldn't wait.
--
Jonathan rolled his eyes at his receptionists message. “It’s Arkham Asylum, there are crazy people every where, idiot,” he said dryly before slamming down the phone and heading for the lobby, buttoning his suit coat as he stood. He grabbed his lap coat on the way out, sliding it over his shoulders, feeling the weight of his needled gauntlet in the pocket. The other pocket held more...normal classes of sedatives.
He paused in the doorway to the lobby, simply staring at Harley, his mouth opening...and closing for a moment. “H-Harl?”
--
Harley tilted the gun, pressed the cork back into the barrel and shoved the mechanism back into the holster at her thigh.
When she heard her name, Harley turned and grinned, staring sweetly at Jonathan. Her pigtails bounced merrily and she placed her hands on her hips, "What's up, Doc? Ya act like you ain't seen me in a while."
Then she turned completely and approached Jonathan, her eyes sweeping the lobby as she moved, "Where's Mista J? This place is funny and I gotta figure out what's going on around here. I woke up in my apartment from Brooklyn, and I ain't been there in ages."
--
“I haven’t seen you in a while, Harl...two years in fact.” One year in Gotham while she was serving her latest sentence...and one year here in The City. “Joker...isn’t here, anymore.” That was the easiest way to put it at least, rather than ‘your ex has been turned into a giant statue.”
“Edward and his annoyance of a daughter are here though.”
--
Two years? What the hell was he yammering on about, two years? She had just seen him the other day. None of this was adding up and if she didn't start getting some straight answers, someone was going to start having a real bad day.
"Whaddya mean he ain't here? He practically lives here. I can walk Ya to his cell right now in fact." She needed her puddin'. This was starting to make her real nervous.
And the she proceeded to stop directly in front of Jonathan, a head shorter than him at least, narrowing her eyes, "Quit playing around, Doc. I couldn't care less about Eddie and his daughter right now. I don't have business with them. Just you."
--
“Harley, he. is. not. here. This isn’t Gotham and this isn’t the Arkham you know, and Joker is gone. He is a statue somewhere, I stopped caring once they moved it.” He reached out, placing his hands on her shoulders, sliding them up her neck to cup her cheeks. “I am sorry,”
Only in so much that he hurt her, he was certainly not sorry about Joker in any fashion.
“And if you have business with me, you have business with Edward seeing as how he’s my husband and I keep no secrets.”
---
He wasn't kidding. She could tell by the tone of his voice. Her brain was sharp and her eyes searched his face again despite it.
"Oh puddin'," she breathed, lip quivering as her blue eyes started to water. "What do I gotta do to get him back? You gotta help him, doc. Please? With lollipops on top?" Hopeful, Harley sniffled and batted her lashes at Jonathan.
"Then we all got business," Harley sighed, wiping at her eyes with a finger. "Shame you're off tha market." It was a playful tease in spite of her tears.
--
“Not even with you on top, Harl,” he said, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “I will not release that man on us again. Not to harm you, or I, or Edward.” Jonathan was tired of Joker after so long. The man wasn’t funny, or amusing, he was just a twisted freak like the rest of them that made it harder to get work done (especially when the clown was beating you to near death with a chair).
“Who said I was off the market?” he teased, smirking at her. Okay, so Edward might be more annoyed with Jonathan flirting with Harley than he was Jonathan flirting with Beauty, but he would just learn to deal.
--
Her shoulders slumped and her lips turned downward into a huge pout. This was the worst thing that had happened to her in quite a long time. She felt relieved and lost all at the same time and wasn't sure exactly why those two feelings were waging war in her heart.
"What am I gonna do now?" She knew she would want to see him. A glimmer of hope sat above everything that maybe it was some Disney Princess shit that could break her lover out. It wasn't logical, but she had to hope that there was some light left in the world.
"You're a married man, doll. Means you ain't on the market no more. And it's a damned shame, too. Where is that husband of yours anyway? Figured he would be part of the welcome party."
Another sniffle, and Harley took off a glove, rubbing her eyes. She smeared her makeup, revealing part of the skin beneath.
--
“You are going to get what you need out of the apartment, and you are going to return here, and take up your old office and rooms. You’re also going to clean the rest of that,” he said, pointing to her face. “Off your face and stop looking like one of Joker’s painted whores. Then you are going to have tea, with me.”
He rolled his eyes at her question. “Remember, I said his daughter was here? Well apparently he’s trying to be father of the year because he’s helpng her put together a new business...some sort of pawn shop cum fencing station. I stopped listening and zoned out.”
He pulled his handkerchief from his suit, offering it to her. “Now stop crying, we have things to do, don’t we?”
--
It didn't matter to her that everyone in the lobby was watching what they were doing. She had tuned everyone out. Her big sloppy, makeup-esque tears were still rolling but she nodded at Jonathan anyway.
"Gonna need my clothes and my teddy. Jack got it for me at a carnival once. Killed a guy for it. It's on my bed next to my pillow," she explained, as if Jonathan cared.
She continued to wipe at her face, smearing the grease paint though the handkerchief was doing a better job than her gloves at removing the clown makeup. "What kinda tea? Can we have peppamint? It's my favorite."
Then Harley pulled a lollipop out of her pocket, removed the wrapper and offered it to Jonathan. It was a red one, her favorite. "You ain't so bad. Thanks for takin me in. J will appreciate that."
--
“Wouldn’t you rather have a nice stuffed Scarecrow or a plushie Edward doll?” Jonathan asked, remembering vaugly that Enigma had both that she had made to taunt the men with. “You may have whatever tea you desire, Harl.”
The more she talked about Joker and what he would and would not appreciate, Jonathan struggled with the urge to shake some sense back into Harley.
--
"No!" She shouted, stomping a foot. The lollipop fell to the ground, an unaccepted offer of kindness, and the crazed looking female scanned the room again. "Guess I'll have tea instead."
Her pigtails flew, and she lifted a hand, curling her fingers almost desperately into Jonathan's lapel. "Come on, let's get outta here before they revolt and lock us both up. We got some catching up ta do, and I wanna see your office."
She waited to be led, almost like a lost child.
--
Jonathan took her hand, bending his tall figure to scoop up the lollipop and sliding it into his pocket, before leading her towards his office, quite sure she could figure out on the way that in their world, the path would lead to the office of Jeremiah Arkham, head of Arkham Asylum (when he wasn’t running around as Black Mask). “Scarecrow is gone,” he said softly, offering proof that he understood what she felt. Where she lost Joker...he lost half of who he was.
He turned the handle of the office door, waving her in.
--
Harley followed easily in step, watching the corridors and rooms that they passed. She was memorizing the way, and she never forgot something she truly needed to know. "Gone? Like...gone gone?" She inquired, looking up at Jonathan gravely.
That was like missing a piece of your soul. It was like being without the man you loved, at least to her. "Where'd he go?"
She stepped into the office, squeezing his fingers tighter, "I'm sorry about ya other half, pumpkin. He'll come back for ya. He's gotta." With that, Harley released Jonathan and sauntered to the desk, picking absently through the piles of things.
--
“I have no idea,” Jonathan said honestly, shrugging. “When I awoke after Christmas...he was gone. And I hope you are right...because I need him.” Then again, he had been without Edward for a moment as well, and the man had re-appeared, hopefully, the City would see fit to allow Scarecrow to return.”
“Nosey,” he said, watching her absently as he prepared the hot water for the ea, leaning against the counter of his kitchenette to watch her more, eyes traveling slowly across her figure.
--
"Ya can't live without all ya parts, Doc. He'll turn up sooner or later. They always come back one way or another." In her experience, even as rocky as her relationship with Jack was, they managed to keep it together and had for a long time. She kept going back to him and he kept finding his way back to her. It was inevitable, just like Scarecrow was with Jonathan.
"You know ya like it when I go through ya things," she replied, playful though she didn't look up from the stack she was browsing through.
Finally, she set down a folder, looked at him over her shoulder and smiled as sweet as sugar, "Someone else is bein nosy, too, Doc," Harley breathed, the faintest hint of flirt in her voice.
Then she turned and moved around the office, looking at everything she could find. "Whaddaya see in Eddie?" It was an honest question, one that could have and had been posed to her on many occasions about Jack.