Dr. Quinzel: And An Alternative Origin Story for a Miss Harley Quinn

Chapter 2: Can Nicknames Cause Attraction

Harleen woke from the sun shining in from the windows across from her dining room table, it made her yellow chair look golden and she sat up rubbing at her eyes. The plants by her window were flourishing in the sun and she slightly smiled picking up her canister to water them. She walked into her bedroom and glanced at her bed wishing she fell asleep there since she had a pinch in her neck from the couch. Harleen brushed her hair and teeth and headed to the closet to pick out her outfit for the day. Since she hadn't showered yesterday, she settled for a nude blouse with a pair of black dress pants, two-inch black heels and a navy blazer with small gold studded earrings. She pinned the top part of her hair back with a gold butterfly clip and let the bottom half down while adding natural makeup. Grabbing her purse, she headed back to Gotham General Hospital.

When she arrived, she changed into her navy-colored scrubs and headed to meet her residents at their morning rounds. Today she was working with her regular group of residents, Barnes, Chang, and Florez. The three of them were specializing in general surgery so they spent most of the week with Dr. Quinzel.

"Good Morning." Dr. Quinzel exclaimed walking to their first patients room with the three of them following behind.

"Good Morning Doctor." Florez stated.

Dr. Quinzel rolled her eyes, Florez was always a suck up to try and get more surgeries. But Dr. Quinzel remembered when she was a resident as well and could even recall herself trying to sleep with her colleagues for surgeries. The four of them entered the room and Dr. Quinzel grabbed the chart binder.

"Good morning, Mrs. Lumea, how are you this morning?" Dr. Quinzel smiled, as Mrs. Lumea reached for her husband's hand.

"I'm okay today, the soaps are on this afternoon." She stated glancing at the television.

"Careful, the soaps can be addicting." Dr. Quinzel laughed. "Dr. Chang can you please begin?"

"Camille Lumea, age 64, diagnosed with reoccurring benign tumors throughout her breasts." Dr. Chang smiled at Mrs. Lumea and continued. "We will be performing a Mastectomy and Dr. Everett will be performing a breast augmentation."

"Dr. Florez why do we think it is best to remove the breast completely and not just the tumors?" Dr. Quinzel asked.

"Because the tumors can come back and could eventually become cancerous." Dr. Florez replied.

"Do you have any questions about the surgery today Mrs. Lumea?" Dr. Quinzel asked walking to the table at the end of the bed and setting her chart down.

"No ma'am, you answered all of them in our last meeting." Mrs. Lumea replied, "I just hope I can wake up before the soaps come on."

"We'll we can probably make that happen," Dr. Quinzel smiled, "Dr. Barnes will you please see if we can switch the schedule around for Mrs. Lumea after rounds?'

"Yes ma'am." Barnes stated.

The four of them exited the room and Dr. Quinzel turned to the three residents.

"Barnes prep Miss. Hurengale for her appendectomy, you will be scrubbing in on that surgery. Dr. Florez please prep Mrs. Lumea for her surgery and instead of Barnes please see if we can switch the schedule with someone and let me know. Dr. Chang go to Dr. Everett and see if he can switch his schedule as well and help prep and assist him in what he needs you will also be scrubbing in on the surgery." Dr. Quinzel stated, the two girls walked way to do their task while Barnes stayed behind.

"Has he been awake yet?" Dr. Quinzel asked, knowing that he would have checked for her.

"No ma'am, he is still asleep. There was a bit of movement early in the morning but besides that nothing."

"Okay, thank you. Go prep." Dr. Quinzel said as she walked to the private room he was staying in.

The door was guarded by two men and there was a sign on the door required personnel only, she nodded at the guards. One had brown hair and the other blonde, when she walked in she noticed no windows in the room and no television either. Just a bed with a broken man and the machines monitoring his vitals.

Dr. Quinzel checked his vitals and IV, making sure everything was still in place. She stared at him sleeping and realized that he was actually handsome if you looked closely. Harleen had only ever seen him when he was terrorizing Gotham, when his face was contorted into a monster. But she was realizing that he was actually handsome and young, he looked like he was only in his late twenties, early thirties.

'He's my age'. Harleen thought, she glanced down at his arms and noticed that while he was tall he had a muscular build.

Turning her back she walked to the table at the end of the bed and started to read over his charts, someone had scrawled in the margins of the pages and she read one that stated, 'Appendicitis when 12 years old'.

"Did you see my notes?" He asked, startling her.

Dr. Quinzel jumped, she didn't think he would wake up any time soon and she especially didn't want it to be when she was there.

"You wrote the notes?" She asked, looking down at the one she just read.

"Yes ma'am, don't wantcha to go off and kill me, a detailed medical history is important." He responded chuckling a little afterwards. "Are you the surgeon who operated on me?"

"Yes I am." Dr. Quinzel responded, she hoped he wouldn't ask her who she was.

"Well thanks for not killing me doc, what's your name?" He asked, pushing his hair out of his face.

"Dr. Harleen Quinzel." She responded quickly, "I need to check your stiches, and I'll admit you're charming when you want to be I don't trust you. Will you be nice or do I need to call a guard in here?"
"You got nothin' to worry about from me Harleen, besides I'm cuffed to the bed." He stated, laughing afterwards. The noise that came from him was chilling and sent goosebumps all across Dr. Quinzel's back.

She walked to the side where his stab wound was and lifted his while cotton shirt to expose his abdomen. Removing the protective gauze they placed over the wound she monitored the stiches and changed out the gauze. Dr. Quinzel was astonished to see that the wound was healing much more quickly compared to someone else who would come in with a stab wound.

"So what do your friends call you Harleen?' He asked, looking at her while she cleaned his wound.

"They call me Harleen, I don't have a nickname." She responded, looking into his eyes. They were dark green like a forest with secrets hidden inside, she could have stared into his eyes all day.

"Well have you ever heard of a Harlequin?" He asked, a glimmer strode through his eyes but within the second it vanished. She assumed it was his emotions peeking through but he tried to push them down and not acknowledge them.

"No sir, I have not." She replied turning to grab new gauze that she pulled and set on the table next to her.

"Well you can be my Harlequin; you did save me after all." He laughed grabbing her wrist. "Don't you laugh, Miss. Quinzel?"

"No not normally, Joker." Dr. Quinzel stated while moving back to the end of the bed.

"Ack! That name is so formal, call me Jay." He stated drawling out the name.

"Well Mr. Jay, no I don't particularly laugh. I don't go out much anyways." She responded, "I will be back later with your lunch, and I will be taking your chart to read your notes. The nurses and other doctors won't be allowed in this room but there are guards outside."

"I'll miss you my little Harlequin, don't stay gone too long!" He called after her as she exited, she could hear his laughing all the way down the hall and while Harleen knew it was wrong she felt flattered that he had given her a nickname.

'Harlequin'. Harleen thought to herself, she smiled at the nickname and even slightly blushed.

She pushed the door open to her office and sat down, opening up to the first page she began to read his notes in the corners of the pages.