Asylum Romance (A Joker Story [Sequel to Turquoise punchline])

8: Father Figure

“Does this chicken taste like death to you?” I frowned, poking at the squishy, microwaved piece of ‘chicken’ upon my dingy cafeteria plate. He sighed.

“It tastes like disappointment.” he threw his plate on the floor, laughing as the guards glared at him and cleaned it up angrily. “Whoops.”

I smirked, then sighed. “Babe, we should be going home soon.”

“Tomorrow night?”

“Why stay another day?”

“Because we could reek havoc.” he grinned happily.

I thought about it for a long moment. “Kellen.” I said suddenly. He raised his eyebrow.

“What about him?”

“He probably misses us.”

He went quiet, looking down at the ground. “Then you escape with Whitney, and I’ll stay for another day.”

“He’s going to want you, too.”

“My job is to be a villain. Not a normal parent.”

I frowned. “We could just come back another day, then!” I sighed. “Remember we still have to make the big appearance at the ceremony for all of the police officers that are retiring. That’s in two days. We have to be home tonight so we can start preparing for–“

“Fine, fine.” he took my fork and stabbed a piece of the chicken, taking a bite, slightly shuddering. “Then we could have someone cook us a decent meal.”

“I’ll go find Whitney.” I spoke and got up. He got up as well.

“I’ll go with you so I can see for myself how she is.”

“Uh, you saw today while she was kicking my ass.” I muttered angrily, not wanting him to come along. He was being weird again. I turned to walk away but he followed me.

“You’re not bouncy and happy anymore.”

“I’ll get right on it, your majesty.”

“I’m not trying to force you into acting in a way you don’t want to.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No, I’m not,” he ran his fingers through his hair. “Fuck, you’re so moody today.”

“Sorry that I don’t like it when you don’t acknowledge our child.”

“I have my reasons.”

“Which you have not told me.”

He groaned loudly. “Drop it. Okay? Christ! You’re difficult.”

“Could you stop insulting me and just fucking keep your eyes out for Whitney?”

“Looking for me?” Whitney walked out of a patient room we had passed, we hadn’t seen her because of our little argument. I turned to her and grinned. 

“Ah! Yeah. Joker, this is Whitney, Whitney, this is Joker.” 

“Nice to meet you,” she nodded. “You’re really cool.”

He laughed. “Yup, that’s what they normally say.”

“Besides ‘what the fuck are you wearing’,” I muttered under my breath. He glared at me, then looked back at Whitney. 

“You can’t be a nervous wreck when we break out. You need to be calm.”

“Why can’t I use the door?”

“Because if we kidnap you, you don’t get in trouble.”

“Wow, you guys really do care about your workers.”

“No no no, I don’t, she does,” Joker pointed to me. “I fucking hate the recruits.”

Her eyes widened in uncertainty. “But he doesn’t hate the ones I pick.” I spoke quickly, she nodded slowly. 

“Alright. . . .”

We only took five minutes to break out of Arkham and casually took our belongings back. Jack dialed the number of a henchmen who took us home. Funny thing was, no one even knew we broke out until an hour after we did. Whitney was calm during the whole breakout, meaning she had passed and she was trustworthy, and Joker knew liars when he saw them, so I made sure he approved of her before fully bringing her onto the team.

She turned to me and frowned curiously. “How do you know I’ll be good in my division?”

“Because I can tell,” I smirked. “I’m smarter than I look.” I started to walk upstairs to Gwen to see Kellen.

“I never thought you looked stupid,” she spoke as I walked away. 

No one thought of me as anything but stupid. Funny.

When I walked into my room, I saw that everything was exactly how I left it. Gwen was sitting in a chair next to the crib, reading, and she set her book down as soon as she felt another presence. She smiled and nodded before exiting the room, leaving me alone with my child.

I smiled and looked down into the crib, and Kellen looked up at me as soon as I did so. He smiled happily and reached his arms out, I held him close in my arms and cried softly.

“I am so sorry I left you for so long. . . .” I whispered, placing a little kiss on his forehead.

I heard a shift of shoes and looked up to see Jack leaving the room as soon as he entered. 

The only question I had in my mind was why he wasn’t ready to take the full responsibility as a father.