Mad Love

Chapter 27

We pulled up to a familiar building, the place where joker and his men lived. I missed the old place even though it was a dump. Nick pulled up and let me out of the truck. I thanked him for getting me out of Arkham and then made my way into the building. The smell of metal and dust greeted me as I entered. I'm definitely a changed woman since I last saw the joker, he would be proud.
"Harley? Is that you? I could hardly recognize you! Haha!" The joker laughed as he descended down the stairs.
"That's what Arkham does to ya I guess." I shrugged, getting a chuckle from Nick.
"We have till tomorrow evening to move to our 'new' temporary location, so you'll get to spend one last night in this old place." Joker patted the stair's railing and smiled his usual unpleasant smile. It was sort of comforting in some ways, I don't know why though.
"Well, you'd better hit the hay, I need to talk over the plans with the guys. I'll be up in a while. Remember we're going to the chemical plant tomorrow to meet ol' batsy, dress accordingly. Not that you have anything else to wear, HA! Huh, it sounded funnier in my head... Oh well!" He exited the room, leaving me alone once again. I walked up the flight of stairs joker had walked down only moments ago. His bedroom was the third door on the right hand side. I pulled the door open and walked to the bathroom. It looked the same as ever, nothing looked different from the last time I was in there.
I washed off what was left of my white face paint and removed my costume, looking around the room for the old baggy t-shirt he gave me last time. I ended up finding it in the bathtub, that's kinda weird, haha! I pulled it on without hesitation and slipped into bed. His bed was softer than I remembered and a little bigger too. I snuggled in, it's been a long time since I was last in a warm cozy bed. I wondered what the joker was talking about downstairs.

Joker's POV:
"Boss, you can't kill her, I mean come on! We just got her out of Arkham. Hasn't she grown on you? Even a little bit?" My henchmen were idiots, especially Nick.
"This has been the plan the whole time! I've told you this from the very beginning. In fact she wasn't even supposed to be alive this long! I only needed her to get me out of Arkham, and the only reason I've kept her alive this long is because she amuses me. Her act is getting stale boys, we need to end this now." I growled, I was growing impatient. He's known this since the beginning.
"Hasn't she proven herself useful in any way? She's helped you with countless crimes, you need her on your team!" Nick was starting to get on my nerves.
"I don't care what she's done, because of her batman is on my trail, they know who she is and thanks to her they might actually find me. She knows too much and if any of you try to stop me I'll blow your brains out, got it!?" They all nodded and left the room. I headed upstairs, I needed Harley to continue to trust me until the time was right.

Harley's POV:
I heard footsteps in the hallway and joker entered the room.
"Settling in alright?" He asked, sounding more tired than usual.
"Yeah, it's kinda nice to be back." I replied sleepily. "What's the chemical factory like?"
"Oh, it's ah... Old, kinda run down I guess. Why do you ask?" He looked over at me. Something looked like it bothered him.
"What is it?" I grew concerned.
"What? Oh, nothing. Just glad to have you back! It hasn't been the same here without 'cha."
"Really?"
"Of course! Like I said, we're alike you and I. We see the world for what it truly is and it's nice to have someone like me around." He then walked over the side of the bed that I was laying on and sat next to me, leaning close to my face. I blushed and tried not to look in his eyes, but it was pretty hard considering he was THAT close. Our lips seemed only centimeters apart. I could feel his warm breath on my face.
"Um..." I was feeling very awkward and embarrassed.
"Did they treat you badly at Arkham?" He whispered. The joker was acting strange, did he like me? I was probably just overreacting.
"I-it was fine, I mean Frannie was a jerk towards me but that was 'bout it." He gave a slight nod at my response and hopped off the bed. I was a little disappointed that he wasn't going to continue but I reminded my self that THIS WAS THE JOKER, he was always going to be unpredictable. I guess I was going to have to be the one to make the first move, he's already hinted at liking me hundreds of times.
"So... How's ya' plans doin'?" I slid off the bed and walked towards him slowly. His back was facing me so I decided to take the opportunity of wrapping my arms around his neck. He flinched at my touch but didn't turn around.
"They're doing just fine, nothing to worry about." He then turned to face me but before he could say anything else there was a loud knock at the door.
"What now?! Can't you HEAR I'm in the middle of something? What do I pay you for?" Joker opened the door to reveal an out of breath Nick. He gasped for air and pointed at me, trying to say something.
"Good god man! Spit it out!" Joker spat.
"H-Harley, you have to g-go. Joker *gasp, pant* he's gonna-" Nick was punched before he could say anything else by the other henchmen who were just as out of breath as Nick was.
"Sorry boss, he just wouldn't listen to us." One of them said, hoisting up Nicks unconscious body.
"I'll deal with him later, just put him in the basement will ya? Make sure it doesn't happen again!" With that, joker slammed the door and turned towards me. "Now where were we?"
I took a step back, getting scared.
"What was Nick tryin' to tell me?" I asked quietly, knowing the joker was already on edge.
"What? Him? Oh nothing, he's just going a little crazy, he's been working for me over a year now. That's what happens when you do a job like this for that long." Joker brushed off my question, I couldn't tell if he was lying or not.
"He said you were going to do something, what?"
"Harley, the man's crazy, crazy men say crazy things. I should know, I am one! Haha!"
"Yeah, I guess." I muttered, feeling frightened.
"What can I do to make you trust me? How can I prove to you that I mean you know harm?" The joker sounded sincere. I guess I trusted him more than I should have because I decided that this was a good chance to get into a relationship with him.
"You could kiss me. Then I'll know that ya care for me and won't hurt me." I suggested, blushing at every word that came out of my mouth. I expected him to laugh and call me crazy and all of those things but instead he just walked right up to me without hesitation and kissed me on the cheek. He then waited a second to see my reaction, it was most likely a look of shock and after I made eye contact with him he kissed me on the lips. It only lasted for a few seconds but it felt a lot longer. I was probably bright red the whole time, but I doubted he cared. I was the one to pull away from the kiss, he smirked at me.
"There. Now do you trust me?" He then turned on his heel and walked towards the bed, taking off his jacket and unbuttoning his shirt until he was only in an undershirt and pants. This made me blush even further.
"Well, I'm gonna hit the hay. We've got A LOT of work ahead of us, you should do the same." He turned off the lights and got into the bed. I waited until I could hear his breathing get slower and deeper. Then I exited the room quietly, on the search for Nick so I could ask him a few questions about the joker. It would bother me all night if I didn't.