*J* (the continuation)

Part Forty-Five: Chapter 338: Mr. Know It All

Getting Jester up a flight of stairs to Julia's apartment was no easy feat. Especially not in the dark. But somehow Julia managed. She unlocked her door with Jester draped across her shoulders. She quickly gets him inside, praying that no one saw and thought that Jester was the Joker.

Julia tosses her keys on her coffee table and helps Jester stabilize before letting go of him, "I'll make you a strong pot of coffee," she tells him.

"Sounds good," he nods as she rushes into the kitchen. He takes the opportunity to give her apartment a once over. It was small, but quite nice for the Narrows. His eyes scan over the pictures hanging on her wall, "Is this you when you were little?" He asks.

"It is," she calls out.

"You were beautiful as a kid too," he comments. He staggers over to her couch and plops down on it with a wince. He gently sits back, minding the nineteen stitches in his back.

Julia puts on the coffee and returns to the living room. "Can I get you some Tylenol for pain?" She courteously asks.

"Heh-heh. I appreciate that, but it simply can't work in my drug stream...wait...I mean blood stream ha ha," he drunkenly says getting his words jumbled.

"Oh right, the chemicals are too strong, right?" She takes a seat next to him on the couch.

"Somethin' like that. Frankly, they're a scientific marvel. They have both benefits and flaws."

"Benefits?" She looks at him strangely, "Like what?"

"Well, they are illness and disease resistant. I'll never catch a cold, never get cancer, no STDs, perfect health I guess you can say. The also tend to make my wounds heal three times faster than normal," he tells her.

"Really?" She seems surprised.

"Oh that's not all," he continues, "tell me, have you not noticed that my identical twin and I don't look the same age? J looks much younger, yes? That's because the aging process slows once the chemicals are introduced. Which is why J and Jason both look twenty one and I look thirty three. I don't know if we'll ever age at all. Nor do we know how the chemicals will effect Lucy. So far she seems to be k
on track with any child her age, but we just really don't have any answers."

"So you're pretty much saying that those chemicals are the fountain of youth and the cure for cancer?" Julia raises a brow.

Jester smirks, "Yeah, I guess I am."

"No wonder so many of you went through the whole chemical thing. At first I thought it might have been something that the Joker forced on all of you, but he didn't, did he?" Julia asks him.

"No, he never forced us. It was ultimately our own choice," Jester confirms.

Julia examines his face closely for a moment, "Why did you do it?"

Jester sighs, his eyes drift away, "I guess it was mostly because I wanted to be more like J. Not the bad parts of him, but the good parts that I envied. Maybe I thought that if I looked more like him that I could somehow gain those things. I don't know, but in hindsight I see the error of my ways. But, it's too late to change anything now, isn't it?"

Silence wraps around them like a blanket. Then all of the sudden, Jester lays down and puts his head in Julia's lap. He smiles up at her, "I'm really drunk," he tells her.

She nods with a smile, her fingers finding their way into his hair, "I know. It's ok," she tells him.

"I don't normally get this way. I don't exactly enjoy being drunk or high in any way. I guess it's the doctor in me, you know. A doctor can't be half there. You must be focused and alert," he explains.