Red Hood and Harley

A Year Later

The following year went by painfully slow. J and Lucy focused on training and patrolling with Damien. Jason took to long nights with a new fury that brought him home covered in blood and still feeling hollow and angry.

Harley wasn't leaving the manor and usually didn't leave her bed. Alfred brought her meals and tried to coax her out of bed, occasionally succeeding if only to shower. The destroyed blonde had taken Althea's teddy bear from her room and snuggled with it.

As the one year mark loomed over the broken family's heads they decided it was time for Harley to get out of bed and get back to life. Jason brought in Joan Leland under sworn promises to not tell her where she was.

Leland carefully entered the dark bedroom her eyes adjusted to the lack of light and finally sees the hollow shell of her former colleague. She swallows and speaks softly and carefully, in a depression or not Joan knew exactly what Harley was capable of, she seen it first hand after escapes.

"Harls? Remember me, Joan? I thought you might wanna talk?"

Harley rolled her eyes, "Ya mean Jason and Bruce felt like I should talk to an expert? Well thanks but no thanks. I'm a doctor too remember? I'm mourning my daughter's innocence, I'm trying to find sadness for the others she killed..." Harley stopped and shook her head as if conversing with herself,  "I have no sympathy for them. They trashed my kid, they hit my kid, they talked shit until she snapped and I had to lock her up? I had to put my fucking daughter in pain in a fucking glass box. I'm not ashamed of what she did, I'm impressed. I'm pissed at myself I let everyone else tell me how to handle my kid. I bet she hates me. So let's not talk about me, let's talk about my kid because I'm sure since you were Joker and my own doctor they gave you our child, right? How is she? Do let her see her Aunt Ivy?"

Joan sighed and nodded, "Ok, well she's not responding to therapy or meds. She's been sedated mildly, for myself and the orderlies. She's became extremely violent. Pamela comes to see her daily for meals. Althea seems to be schizophrenic Harley, she is hearing voices... One of which she claims is her biological father who tells her to be naughty. She misses you, she misses her family in general."

Harley looked thoughtfully to Joan, "Proper meds and a family support team can help drastically with schizophrenia. With monitoring, regular sessions with you and myself perhaps being home would help calm her?"

Joan narrowed her eyes, "Harley she killed hundreds of kids, she isn't just a mentally ill kid."

Harley sighed and quick as lightening was up and pinning Joan to the wall, "Okay listen old friend, I was trying to be polite. Now I'm telling you, my kid comes home today or yours won't make it home. You and I both know that I am fully capable of following through on that threat. So, you as head of Arkham are going to go and get my fucking kid and being her home with a signed certificate of sanity. In fact you're sending her and Ivy home today." Harley smiled darkly and picked up her phone as Joan stayed frozen to the wall.

She dialed a number, "Jesse baby do ya remember when I asked ya to keep an eye on those kids last week? Yeah, yeah, send Johnny yep. Love you kiddo. Bye." She hung up and looked back to Joan, "Now go get my fucking kid and my best friend and Johnny will simply watch Jonathan and Sarah leave school instead of picking them up. Oh and just in case you get any funny ideas, gimmie your phone and I'm going with you."

Harley was like a kid excited to go to the circus as she clapped her hands and grabbed her hoodie and sneakers, "Let's get going Doctor."

Once the women reached Arkham Harley had covered her bare skin with a normal skin toned makeup and contoured her face to look just different enough to get away with going in with Joan. They marched right to Joan's office where she sat down and began the process calling guards in to bring her Ivy and Althea.