You're His Favorite Joke

You've gotta watch out for the quiet ones and they hardly come quieter than shy but pretty Harleen Quinzel. New to Gotham City, the fledgling psychiatrist is starting her career by assessing new intakes at the infamous Blackgate Prison, a place so dangerous and ugly it makes the rest of Gotham look like a garden in springtime. Clashing immediately with the head doctor, Joan Leland, doesn't help.

Let's face it-there's very little in her life to make her smile, let alone laugh.

However, on the upside, she is starting to meet people. There's her new neighbor, Slade Wilson, a handsome and mysterious older man-and he finds her just as attractive. Although they definitely have chemistry, he is kind of lacking in the sense of humor department-and then he's also so secretive about his profession.

Then on Christmas Day, like the best present ever, she meets someone new. Someone who makes her laugh. Someone who really cracks open her shell and brings her out of the grey, dismal mood it seems she's been in forever. So he's not conventionally handsome, with his green hair and his really, really pale complexion-what does that matter? He's got a wonderful sense of humor, he makes her pulse race, and is he ever a stylish dresser.

Only problem is, he's a new intake and a probable mass murderer. Is this some kind of a joke life's playing on her? And how can she believe he's serious?

And then there's Slade, who is not the kind to give up easily. He's been away, busy with a squad with suicidal tendencies, but he promised to come back for her.