Harley Quinn + Joker OneShots

He needs Her

Why would someone escape their cell in Arkham, but break into someone else's cell, instead of just escaping Arkham?
Because they wanted to see their "Puddin'" of course.
In cell 218, the clown couple were snuggling on their stone-like, cold bed. The Clown Princes' hands were gently, but tightly wrapped around his princess. The Joker was staring up at the ceiling, while Harley slept, holding him like a stuffed animal. She risked getting caught, and getting into severe trouble, just so she could see him.
He sighed and ran his fingers through her slightly wavy hair. He closed his eyes for a moment, and wished tomorrow wouldn't come. The floor creaked a little bit, and he opened his eyes again.
"Come out Batsy, I know it's you."
Batman stepped out of the corner, and slowly made his way over to the Clown Prince.
"Isn't it pretty late to be up Joker?"
"Ha! You're the one talking. Isn't this pretty early for you to be out Bats?"
Batman narrowed his eyes.
"I'm not here for games Joker."
Joker rolled his eyes, and said, "Then why are ya here?"
"I received an alert that someone from Arkham wasn't in their cells," he said, slightly motioning to the sleeping beauty herself.
"Well.....technically, she's in a cell."
"But not her own cell," he said with an emphasis on the word 'own'.
"I'm going to take her back," Batman said sternly as he got closer to pick her up.
"Don't."
Batman looked up at the Joker, confused slightly, "What did you say?"
Jokers' eyes slowly made their way up to make eye contact with the dark knight himself.
"Don't," he said a little shakily.
Joker continued, "Don't take her. She'll go back to her cell in the morning anyways. Just don't take her."
Batman looked at him suspiciously, "Why?"
"Because I said so," he said with an eye roll.
Batman narrowed his eyes again,"Real. Reason."
"Well, to be fair, we aren't doing any harm, so what's the big deal?"
"The big deal is you two always cause harm, especially when you're together."
"True, true, but I think it'll cause more harm if you split us apart."
"Is that a threat?"
Joker shrugged, "More like a promise."
Batman growled, "She's going back to her cell Joker."
"She needs me though," Joker fought back.
"What she needs, is less of you."
"And what the hell could you possibly know about what she needs?", he said angrily, but still quiet enough not to wake Harley up.
"I know she would be a lot better off without you," Batman snapped back.
Joker sighed, "That's probably true, but.... I'm the only one she has, and.....and she needs me."
"She needs better than you."
"You're wrong. Joker said softly, then continued, "I know she deserves better than me. I know she deserves someone that's always loving and caring, and someone that never hurts her emotionally, mentally, or physically, but what she deserves, and what she needs are two different things. She deserves better, hell even I know that, but I am what she needs, what she wants, and I've taken everything else away from her, but I'll never take away myself from her....I owe her at least that much."
"You're sick."
"And you're blind," Joker pauses, "You think you know her. You only see what everyone else sees. You see the criminal, the psycho bitch, 'Jokers' whore', the naive psychiatrist. You don't see who she truly is. She might be a criminal, but she has more empathy than you've ever had."
"Like you know anything about empathy."
"Nobody's perfect."
"But evidently, in Harley's eyes you are."
"Eh, maybe, maybe not."
"You disgust me."
"What else is new?"
"She gave up everything for you, and you don't even care about her. To you, an object is worth more."
Joker glared slightly, "Now, now, Batsy don't make me mad."
"Then tell me the real reason you don't want her to leave."
"For the millionth time, it's because she needs me."
"How do you know she needs you?"
"She just doesn't know that she does yet."
"What is that suppose to mean?"
Joker took a deep breath and sighed, "Do you know why she broke out of her cell?"
"I'm guessing to see you?"
"Yes, but not exactly. There's more to it than that."
"I've got time. Explain."
"Gosh, are you always in such a rush? You haven't even attempted in small talk. No, no, you just go right to the gossip."
Batman remained silent, with the same stoic expression.
"Fine, fine! I'll tell you. Look, as you probably know, Arkham doesn't always treat their 'guests' right..."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well.... Let's just say I'm scheduled for quite the beating tomorrow, and word got around to Harls, so she snuck out to see me. She wanted to be there for me as much as she could.....to comfort me. She feels terrible about what's going to happen to me tomorrow, but she should worry more about herself."
"Why?"
Joker sighed, "She doesn't know.."
"Doesn't know what?"
"Well, as you are probably aware of already, she used to be a doctor here....which that's fantastic, and all, except for the fact that the doctors that are still here now, hate her. I mean, yea, they hate all of us obviously, but they really...really hate her.....especially since when she was a doctor, she did a much better job than anyone else around here could ever do. Not the point, but they are often crueler to her than most other inmates. She doesn't know it yet, but she's scheduled for intensive electroshock therapy all day tomorrow, and a few other ways of torture."
Joker glanced down at Harley who was still sound asleep, and he gently smoothed her hair back, "They're going to hurt her, even more than me. I know she doesn't know, but even if she did, she'd still be more worried about me than her own self. That's why she needs me. Because she needs something to fight for, and goddamn she is a fighter. She needs this....this moment of just us, so she can get through her own personal hell tomorrow."
Batman didn't reply, and the two sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity.
"What's going to happen when the day comes when she realizes she needs better than you?"
"Then I guess that's when I'll need her," Joker said with a slight smile.
Batman started making his way out of the cell, when he paused, and slightly turned towards the clown couple.
"You know, someday she's going to know she deserves better than you, and she's going to find someone that is better, right?"
"Maybe...but she doesn't need to."