*J* (the continuation)

Part Thirty-Nine: Chapter 292: A Line Crossed

Home. For some that signifies a structural building. A roof, a floor, and walls to house ones self and their worldly possessions. A place to lay their head down at night. For others the idea is rooted more to a place, a city, a town, a mentally memorized landscape. A location that makes them feel whole. At ease. Safe. A place that always has a place in their hearts.

But the simple concept of the traditional sense of home didn't apply for the Joker. Or Jack Napier for that fact. He has spent a lifetime of never being in one place over a year at a time. His parents had bounced from one shitty apartment to another. After their deaths he was bounced from Arkham, to orphanages and bad foster "homes", and back to Arkham again. He had lived on the streets and ate from garbage cans. He had lived in mansions and high-rises, safe house after safe house. So a structural home, had no significant purpose to him. Because for the Joker, they rotate too often to form an attachment.

Gotham City had always been where he's resided. Where he's conducted his business. The place in which he unleashes his rage. But it wasn't a place that made him feel whole. It didn't welcome him. It didn't make him feel safe. To him it was just backdrop. Just a place he was bound to with a power he created. The location of his entire empire.

He had died and returned to a second life in Gotham. A life that had reflected his previous life, but this one was no longer only his. He was no longer just the solo act. Now he had a brother. He had a wife. A daughter. A family. A idealic, stereotypical, cliche family. A family that he knew weakened him, because he did love them. They were the only thing he had that could be leveraged by his enemies. He would kill for them. And if it came down to it, he would die for them.

It was because of them that the Joker now had a word like home in his vocabulary. But it wasn't the city or places of residence that he associated home with. It was his family. They were his home. An idea of a normalcy he's never known. Never even fathomed. They were whatever fragment of a beating human heart he had. They were the only thing real that he possessed. The only thing to ever begin to fill the holes in his soul.

They brought such simple things to his reality. Things some take for granted. Things that the Joker always thought didn't exist. Couldn't exist. Not for him. Things he laughed away like a joke without a punchline. Love. Family. Home. A connection. An extension of himself. A reason to fight. A reason to keep getting out of bed for everyday. His driving force that influenced his every decision.

But the Joker's actions, and the reasons behind them don't always make sense to the "normal" ones. Hell, they don't even always make sense to the Joker. But that in itself was the entire premise, the whole concept of the idea of the Joker. To prove validity through senseless acts. To be a think piece. To force people to see a broader picture. One that didn't always present itself on the surface. And never, never forget that the Joker is a bit lacking in empathy. Nor did he spend a lot of time regretting. He is impulsive. He is spontaneous. He lives his life in the moment. He never passes up an opportunity. He never leaves a trail of 'what ifs' behind. He takes it all, every experience. Good. Bad. Painful. Joyful. For it is only through experience that we learn. That we grow. That we evolve.

But, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction... Sometimes our actions don't affect just us. Sometimes it's others who are most impacted. Sometimes they get hurt. Which was precisely what occured several weeks ago when the Joker's family walked in on him with Bruce. The relationship between the hero and the villain didn't make sense to anyone. Not even the hero or the villain. But it was something that the two had no power over. It was like a reflex. Something that happens on its own, like the body's act of breathing, like blinking. You don't think about it, it just happens. Because it has to. Because it's supposed to. And the Joker will never apologize for his instinctual pull to Bruce. He'll never regret it. Never deny it. No. Matter. Who. It. Hurts.