*SHE LAUGHS!

                      harley’s slender finger tapped lightly against her flute of champagne as she eyed the man next to her . her husband had dragged her to this event : a gala at gotham’s museum of natural history , meant to raise money for research regarding mental illness and possible new treatments . 𝙰 𝙽𝙾𝙱𝙻𝙴 𝙲𝙰𝚄𝚂𝙴 , 𝚂𝚄𝚁𝙴 . but the more harleen eyed her surroundings , the more she became aware of all the big heads of the pharmacy industry looming around the museum , feasting on shrimp and alcohol , laughing while their expensive jewelry dangled from their necks ... they reminded her of vultures . this gala wasn’t for her patients , it was for rich folk to pocket a few more bucks while exploiting human misery . she had tried explaining the futility of attending the event , but her husband just didn’t get it .

                        the man next to her offered his insightful commentary after she mumbled something unpleasant about gotham’s golden boy , BRUCE WAYNE . there he was , shaking hands , looking all smug in his expensive suit ... harleen felt like tossing her glass at his head .    “                you know what the dictionary says a person is ?  ”   the doctor suddenly asked , turning to face the other guest with a small smile on her lips .   “  a human being regarded as an individual .   ”   harleen kopski arched an eyebrow at the englishman , leaning over a bit , as if she were about to share a secret .  “  now look around you . all these bozos , dressed up the same way , talking about whatever company they work for , as if a brand is a personality trait . all of them hoping that if they smile wide enough for long enough they’ll either close a business deal or get laid . nobody cares about any cause until it becomes all about them .  ”  harley slowly pulled away again , giving her chatting buddy some space .

                              harleen was fuming . the usual chit chat during lunch break had unravelled as usual : her colleagues babbled about their kids , about their sunday plans , about last night’s game or the game that was to follow after that ... but once the blonde had attempted to insert herself into the conversation , everyone seemed to cringe and pat her arm with a brand of sympathy she had not particularly appreciated . when harleen asked what was wrong she was informed of the latest changes in her schedule . everyone acted as if she was already supposed to  𝙺𝙽𝙾𝚆 𝚃𝙷𝙸𝚂 𝚂𝙷𝙸𝚃 . it had been humiliating getting caught that off guard by her colleagues . and harley didn’t handle humiliation well . sure , she managed to keep her composure in the break room  (  the extent of her emotional turmoil there was carefully limited to the furrow of her brow  )  . but as soon as good old dr. kopski reached the bathrooms she was  𝚃𝚁𝙴𝙼𝙱𝙻𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚆𝙸𝚃𝙷 𝙰𝙽𝙶𝙴𝚁 . one of her fists punched the paper towel dispenser until it left a crack on the plastic contraption and a nasty cut on her knuckles . the burning of a fresh wound helped her rise from the depths of her mind and reach the surface .                harleen took a deep breath , washed her hands and made her way towards the office of who she KNEW to be the main culprit of her current predicament .

                                  her heels clicked loudly against the floor , making each step echo throughout arkham . and , although harleen kopski looked nothing short of a serious professional , her white coat was unable to hide the palpable frustration radiating off of her . when she reached crane’s office , she didn’t bother knocking . instead , harley swung the door open and walked in , making sure to slam it shut behind her so that jonathan could NOT ESCAPE HER .    “   did you tell the board to shorten my sessions with fleck ?    ”   harleen’s icy blue stare dug into her colleague like 𝙰 𝚂𝙷𝙰𝚁𝙿 𝙱𝙻𝙰𝙳𝙴 . her eyes squinted at him as if trying to read whatever was going through the man’s head .  they weren’t friends per say , but they were friendly . dr . kopski liked to think both of them , at the very least , respected each others’ work enough .

                     “   sorry about the paperwork .   ”   harleen spoke in her most earnest tone . she was still capable of speaking a few truths                or at least what she believed 𝚂𝙷𝙾𝚄𝙻𝙳 𝙱𝙴 the truth . the man she had handed her former patient’s files to looked tired . not the i had a rough night kind of tired ; the tiredness that came as a result of a lifetime of misfortunes and bad timing . harleen eyed him carefully and reached the conclusion that she wasn’t actually sorry for the extra work they’d have with the booking of a new patient ; she was sorry that the fella in front of her was  𝚂𝙾 𝚃𝙸𝚁𝙴𝙳 𝚃𝙷𝙰𝚃 𝙷𝙴 𝙲𝙾𝚄𝙻𝙳𝙽’𝚃 𝙵𝙰𝙺𝙴 𝙸𝚃 .  harley didn’t miss those days of not being able to hide what she truly felt . being an open book often brought more bad than good .

                       “   he just didn’t belong in arkham , you know ?   ” the doctor still managed to sound sympathetic . all those years of listening to people’s issues had taught her how to be pleasant ... even if pleasant wasn’t in her DNA . a raspy voice at the end of the corridor shouted a few fuck yous and shove it up your ass , jerkwad as soon as harleen finished speaking , causing her to cringe a bit .  “  well . at least not anymore . ”  good old vittorio had lived a life of crime and excess until he decided to mess with hallucinogenics . the bad trip he experienced had ripple effects ; half of his life went down the gutter               ripped to shreds by chemicals in his brain that made the guy see things that weren’t really there .

                        harleen had sat in her office for what felt like an eternity before walking into the therapy room where charlotte waited . her heavily-lidded eyes had stared at the numerous piles of paperwork sitting on her desk , unblinkingly , as she slowly came to terms with the overwhelming lack of interest that had been taking a hold of her for the last few weeks . arkham asylum was as dirty as all the other cogs keeping the monstrous machine that was GOTHAM CITY working . the little girl which had always wanted to help save people now laid dormant in some dusty corner of harleen’s mind , overwhelmed by the stench of rust around her . what was she doing there , really ? besides helping gangsters avoid getting sent to blackgate and prescribing outrageous amounts of medication to make the troubled numb and quiet ? how was she any different from her supervisors , who stuck their noses so far up the pharmacy industry’s ass they had become immune to the SMELL OF SHIT ?

                       “ oh ! no need to sit down , agent . this will be quite brief . ”   harleen warned with a dazzling smile .  she was the first image that popped to mind whenever a grown woman was branded as a “NICE GIRL” : soft-spoken , smiley , not smart enough to represent a threat to men , not pretty enough to be called a woman , not interesting enough to be worth any further inspection that might have earned her any other kind of adjective ;  just a nice fucking girl , that’s all . the good doctor had despised this title for so long . now she had learned to OWN IT .  being underestimated could often be a gift . harleen had learned that from one of her patients . blue eyes shifted along all of bill tench’s body . she wondered if anyone underestimated him nowadays .

                            he looked big . perhaps bigger than he actually was . something about the squareness of his jaw and the stiffness of his shoulders reminded harley of a retired football legend . the bravado of his youth still clung to his flesh but something about bill’s eyes was AWFULLY FRAIL . there was a yearn there that harleen thought to have seen in her reflection a long time ago .                harley guessed he , like so many others , might have had issues coming to terms with an absent father . harley’s assumption missed the target only by a few inches . the doctor’s heavily-lidded stare rose to meet agent tench’s again . her smile had softened into something more professional .

                             “ i was asked by the board to read through your ... request .  listen , your current project sounds really interesting and groundbreaking but i fear it jeopardises my own work here and , therefore , the well-being of my patient . ” 

                            the sound of an ambulance passing by rang somewhere outside the asylum . dr. kopski didn’t flinch . instead she marveled herself in the power that had been handed to her ; the mere thought of denying anything to an authority figure made it hard for harleen not to giggle .                 the joker was HER patient . meant for HER to interview and diagnose . did these bozos really expect her to just throw arthur onto their laps for them to use and abuse him as they pleased (  the nerve  ) ?! NO WAY , JOSE ! she tapped the bottom of her pen against her office’s desk , letting a moment of awkward silence last longer than necessary .  “ arthur fleck might just be a means to an end to you . but he also happens to be a person . and , as his doctor , i must look out for his best interest . ” harley furrowed her brow , feigning remorse . she was never good at it . “  sorry . ”

                           “ how’s the outside world treatin’ you , elliot ? ”  she asked, casually . the nonchalance of her posture made it seem as if she hadn’t stalked elliot alderson into that joint and lingered by the door for nearly twenty minutes ; like she hadn’t sat a bar stool away from him for a good while , watching the back of his head unblinkingly , expecting something interesting to spontaneously spill out of his scalp and onto her lap before she finally spoke up . could a gal really be blamed for being so fascinated ( yes , absolutely ) ? the time elliot had spent in arkham before his DARING ESCAPE had been so interesting . he had appeared to harleen frail and broken but still holding such savage wisdom ... dr. kopski had been terribly unprofessional , letting a patient of hers escape the asylum without putting up a fight , but it felt right . having elliot locked up in arkham asylum had felt as righteous as keeping a bengal tiger caged               sometimes , you just need to let nature take its’ course , no matter how horrifying the consequences may be .

                             “ still as shitty as you remember it ? ” harleen spoke through a dangling cigarette . nasty habit . her husband kept telling her she should quit . but guy had a lot of unprompted opinions to share about harley and WHO SHE OUGHT TO BE : stop going to protests harleen , cut back on the smoking harleen , no drugs in the house harleen , music’s too loud harleen , you sound like a child harleen , act like you’re my wife just for once in your god damn life harleen ... WHAT A PRICK . the psychiatrist lit her cigarette and blew smoke into elliot’s face , wrinkling her nose as she watched it dissipate from the man’s face only to find out there was still something quivering behind his large bulging eyes . he always looked kinda scared . a man that dragged the unbearable weight of fear on his back could never be free . harley remembered the clown on her TV screen . he had made it look so easy , LETTING GO . dr . kopski only wished elliot could understand ; absolute freedom was as simple as pulling a fucking trigger .