Laugh Lines

Epilogue: Father - Daughter Bonding

A/N: this is it, I wrote this before I had even finished the story. I had the idea and it wouldn't leave me until I wrote it.

~You don't need directions, you know which way to go

And I don't want to hold you back I just want to watch you grow

You're the one who taught me you don't have to look behind

Oh yes sweet darling, so glad you are a child of mine~

~Carole King~

Peach was at the doctors office, which left Joker in charge of picking his daughter up from school. He didn't mind, it was fairly easy. He had done it several times before. So he had assumed today would be like the other times. Drive up, kid gets in the car and drive home. Sometimes they would even stop and get ice cream.

He was pulling up to the school, the stupid hanging placard having Kayla Napier and her grade; Kindergarten. Joker was feeling slightly antsy having to drive around without his usual face on. Thankfully, the line was moving fast. He pulled up and watched as his daughter moved to the car. She looked her usual self.

The school uniform looking pristine, her hair pulled into two fluffy pigtails. Then he noticed her face was tear streaked and her eyes red. She opened the back door and climbed into her booster seat, buckling herself in. Joker waited for her to get her sniffling under control. It took ten full minutes.

"You good?" he asked, eyes watching her.

She usually hated to show any kind of weakness, she hardly cried at all, so the sight had unnerved Joker. He wouldn't push her to talk but he wanted to know what had made her hurt enough to cry. The last time he remembered her crying was over a year ago.

He remembered she had come into the living room, tears almost dried on her face and sat next to Peach. He had just gotten in and was watching the news for any stories about him or the fun job he had pulled. Things had been almost too easy since Batman had vanished. He looked over and noticed her face.

"What happened?" he asked.

She looked up at him, miss matched eyes big and almost angry, stared at him. "I was playing with Dashy and he stopped breathing. Then I got mad and I stepped on him hard, and now he doesn't look like a fish anymore."

Joker had held in the laughter and looked at Peach. She was shaking her head and frowning.

"Oh Jellybean, fish don't usually play out of the water. They, uh, die."

"Die?"

"Yes, die, and go to little fishy heaven."

They hadn't talked with her about death, and he was curious to see if she understood what he was saying. She looked at him thoughtfully for a minute.

"So, he was dead when I stepped on him?"

Joker chuckled, "More than likely."

"Oh. Okay." the the girl seemed fine and skipped out of the room. It had been a strange encounter, but she took it well.

Her soft voice pulled him back to the present situation.

"I hate Cici." she said, eyes looking out of the window.

"Who is Cici?" he asked.

"The new girl in class."

He hummed his understanding. "Why do we hate Cici?"

Her eyes cut to his, "She called me a freak."

Joker tightened his grip on the steering wheel. "Are you a frea-k?"