The Aster {Book 1 & 2} (Batman/Joker/Robin/Batgirl story)

2.20. Family Reunion

I wait anxiously on the bed, hugging my knees and anxiously rocking backwards and forwards.

It took me ages to settle Evelyn back down to sleep, now he's quiet again I don't know what to do with myself. Except wait. Wait for him.

The shower turns off and a few seconds later I look up to face the Joker. He's standing in the bathroom doorway with a towel wrapped around his waist, his green hair slicked back with the water. I look away, back out of the window, back at Wayne Tower. I have nothing to say to him.

"That looks painful."

He comes up behind me and brushes my hair aside and pulls open a rip in his shirt over my shoulder blade.

"It's old," I reach over and cover the swollen, dark bruise back up. "Happened the first night... at the mansion. You know."

I shake my head.

He sits down slowly onto the bed next to me, this time his fingers trace along the blood crusted tear down my chest. The fabric falls open, revealing the jagged slash across my chest. I don't even know how it happened.

I push him away, more than anything because his touch hurts.

"Why are you keeping me alive?" I ask quietly, keeping my eyes fixed straight ahead.

"Why do you spend so much time lookin' out of the window?"

I turn my head to face him. Neither of us are smiling.

There's something I've gotta say. Something I've got to get straight.

"I could never love you," I whisper, almost having to force the words out syllable by syllable. "Like her -Harley... if that's what you want... it's never gonna happen."

A small smile twitches up the corners of his lips.

"And that's why I like you so much."

I furrow my eyebrows. I don't get it.

He rolls his eyes.

"Love is such an overrated thing. People in love are such a pain in the ass. I know you..." he reaches out and pulls the tear in the shirt back together, "will never be a liability to me."

I shake my head and look back out of the window. No. I'll never be a liability to him.

Never in that way.

****

That night we sleep together again. Or rather sleep beside each other. I don't try to move away from him and he doesn't try to touch me. The only tears that are shed are ones of pain rather than fear.

When I wake up in the morning he's gone, I'm alone in the bed.

I'm not complaining.

I get up, feed Evelyn, and get changed into a fresh shirt. Every damn movement seems to hurt, I don't wanna look but I'm pretty sure under this corset I've got a few broken ribs.

Evelyn seems in a good mood thank God, so I decide to venture out into the rest of the apartment and look for food.

At first I don't see the man sitting at the end of the table, his light grey suit almost blends him into the skyline behind.

But then I realise he's there and do a double take. And then I realise who he is.

"Dad!"

I bite my lip.

Force of habit.

This man isn't my real Dad. John Essex. Dad is just a name I called him for seventeen years, this is the man who broke my Mom's heart a thousand times over and didn't even bother to attend her funeral.