Descent

Chapter 21

A/N: I want to thank you all for waiting as long as you have for this next chapter. I started a new job in the middle of April and had to get used to the change. We have about 20 chapters left to this story. So please sit back and enjoy the ride.

Wednesday dawned bright and filled with birdsong, Harleen wondered what kind of omen that was. She was right in thinking a sunny day in Gotham was bad news. Because today was the day that Harleen learned some lessons.

She had been able to avoid having a session with the Joker for the last three days. Making sure she stretched out Edward and Pam's sessions. So desperate to avoid the man that plagued her thoughts she had even taken on Oswald Cobblepot better known around Gotham as the Penguin.

He owned and operated the Iceberg Lounge. It was a very upscale club in the heart of the city. The well to do were often seen going in and out. It really was a front for Oswald's racket business. The Penguin had a VIP lounge in his club where he did business with every mafia boss in Gotham and the surrounding areas.

Harleen had read his file and found him the oddest of all her patients. The man was obsessed with birds and poisons. Oswald didn't favor guns as the Joker did, no he used weaponized umbrellas.

She had her nose buried in his file as she walked into her office, an odd chill running down her spine had her glancing about the room. And that was when she saw it.

Her first lesson came in the form of a gift on her desk. A beautiful black box with a purple ribbon tied in a neat bow sat on her blotter. It looked innocent, just sitting there waiting to greet her. But Harleen knew better, she knew that anything from her admirer meant trouble.

"Fuck." She mumbled as she sat down behind her desk. "How the hell did he get in here?"

With trembling hands Harleen untied the bow and lifted the lid. Once again the tissue was bright green. Reverently she pulled it apart, and there nestled in more green paper was something shiny.

Pulling it out of the box she held the silver necklace beneath the light. It was a thin, chain. In the center was a small silver disc. Harleen squinted at the circle and noticed it was engraved.

J was in elegant gothic script in the middle of the circle.

It had been resting on top of a playing card. The image of a joker emblazoned on it. Elegant green handwriting ran around the white edges of the card.

It seems that other men don't realize you are off the market. This will help them understand who you belong to.

-J

Harleen was fuming, "No fucking way. He can't just proclaim I belong to him. He is nuts." She ran a shaky hand through her hair.

That's right. He is. And you don't want him any other way.

She wished that little voice in her head would shut up. It always seemed to point out her acceptance of his darkness. Illuminating just how breathless his open displays of possessiveness and dominance made her. Liking something like that had her wondering if she wasn't a little mad herself.

Harleen put the chain back in the box, closed it up and stuffed it in her purse. There was no way she was going to wear something that proved his ownership of her.

Besides the Joker didn't own her. He had no say in who she could and couldn't see. His odd fixation with her needed to stop before it got out if hand.

So accepting his gifts isn't out if hand?

"Oh shut up." Harleen hissed at the voice and for once it did just that.Besides she sure as hell wasn't going to leave it laying around for the nosy bastards that ran the asylum to see. That would spell an end to her career faster than a prison break.