"How's your sandwich?" Adriana asked the Joker when she found him in the kitchen.
"Great," he said, seeing that she had put on a sportswear jacket. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Adriana said and retrieved her own sandwich from the refrigerator. "Are you staying for dinner? I might rotisserie a chicken."
"As lovely as that sounds," the Joker said. "I have an appointment with Dr. Kapoor."
"Mm," Adriana said as she stood at the kitchen island eating. "Right."
The Joker watched as she pulled her phone out of her jacket pocket while still chewing.
"Unknown number..." Adriana said, looking at the caller ID. "Yeah...I don't answer those."
She sat her phone down on the counter, smiled at the Joker and began eating again. He watched her look at her phone again as it rang again. After a few minutes it rang for a third time.
"Ugh.." Adriana said, finally picking it up. "I'll hang up if it's a telemarketer."
The Joker picked up his glass of water and took a drink.
"Hello?" Adriana said to the caller. "Bruce!"
The Joker raised his eyebrows and listened.
"Oh, sweetheart!" Adriana said. "The ID was saying it was an unknown number or something, sorry-"
Adriana smiled with glee as she listened to Bruce.
"He just got put down for a nap...should I wake him?....Okay...okay...maybe tomorrow.." Adriana said. "I'm so happy to hear from you...me too...I love you so much...I'm so proud of you. Is everything going well?...Really...That's great....Okay..."
The Joker finished his food as Adriana wrapped up her call with Bruce.
"That was Bruce," Adriana said, even though that had been obvious. "He's doing great."
"That's good to hear," the Joker said. "Although I am sorry Arsenio missed his call."
"Well, that wasn't your fault," Adriana said. "He takes a nap around this time every day."
"Actually," the Joker said. "It's usually a bit earlier. So Bruce probably thought he would be awake now."
"Hush," Adriana said. "He'll try again tomorrow. Don't worry about it,"
.
.
.
"Hello?" the Joker answered the unknown number on his phone.
"Hello, Jack," the Joker heard Bruce's voice say.
"Bruce," the Joker said, surprised. "I thought you were permitted to only call immediate family-"
"Are you busy?" Bruce asked, not commenting on the Joker's statement.
"Just got home and I have an appointment in ten minutes," the Joker said.
"Then you have ten minutes," Bruce deduced.
"Eh, sure," the Joker said after pulling off his jacket. "So...how is rehab going for you?"
"Just fine," Bruce said in a bland tone.
The Joker listened to the very short answer and got the feeling that Bruce was lying. He didn't know if it was because rehab was turning out to be more difficult than Bruce had anticipated or if he was lying for some other reason, but the Joker didn't pressure him for the truth.
