Harley was going to murder something, damn her parole and damn going back to Arkham someone was going to have to die for this. The first thing that had greeted her when she woke up was not the view of the building next store, but the image of her own face. It was the picture that had been in the paper the previous day but with a few alterations. Someone, she had her guesses, had scribbled a bright red smile over her mouth and black circles around her eyes. Like a mockery of the makeup she had worn once upon a time. It was enough to make her want to puke. She pulled her shade down with enough force that it almost snapped off its rod.

She pulled her knees to her chest, pressing her head to her knees. Of course, the universe was telling her right now that Harley Quinn wasn’t allowed a moment of piece. She was happy with Bruce and then he had gone off the deep end on her. Now when he had sent her flowers like he was trying to makeup, her past was coming back all in a rush at her. Harley took a deep breath in through her nose and out through her mouth like the therapists had taught her. Technically she knew what was happening, she had studied it enough, but it was hard to admit when you were having a PTSD flashback.

“Don’t you know you’re useless?” it felt like the voice was coming from everywhere in the room, that whine of a voice she had once wished would say I love you. Harley covered her ears with her hands, shutting her eyes as tight as she could. He wasn’t there, he wasn’t there, he could be there and she wasn’t going to let some stupid memory get to her like this. She was beginning to taste bile in her mouth, hinting to her that she was not okay and that she would not be okay for the rest of the day.

She groped for the phone, knocking it to the floor in the process. She didn’t want to look up to find the phone, just encase she saw the pictures again. Harley let out a choked sobbed, she didn’t have the energy to deal with this today. And she couldn’t even get out of bed to get away from the fucking pictures.

She almost wanted the cold white walls of Arkham again, at least then they might have been able to give her something to knock her out. Then she wouldn’t have to think, sometimes she missed that lovely cloud that the drugs would put her on. That or Ivy. She wanted Ivy so badly right now, Ivy could take everything away. Ivy would pet her hair and tell her it was all okay…

She could almost imagine the green hand against her head, warm breast underneath her head…but the breast was hard instead of soft…and the skin was pale rather than green. Bruce, she wanted Bruce. He should have been there petting her hair and telling her that it would be alright.

Harley wanted to vomit, just vomit and hope that would mean it would all finally be okay. Or maybe do something worse, there was always a knife in the—she nearly slapped herself at that thought, that was the PTSD talking. That was the Joker talking and he wasn’t going to take her life away without one hell of a goddamn fight.

*

Bruce felt his heart drop into his stomach, he always watched the news just encase there was something that his scanners hadn’t caught. This was not what he had expected after seeing the paper yesterday, but maybe he should have been. The screen showed the streets of Gotham littered with the article and photo of him and Harley, his eyes crossed out and her face almost covered with black and red. Apparently the Joker wasn’t pleased with the news that his ex-had found happiness with someone that wasn’t him. Not that she would have ever found happiness with that bastard.

He wrapped his hands around the remote, as the screen continued to show buildings, cars, even trees were covered in those god awful pictures. As the reporter spoke, Bruce could just barely hear what was being said but he caught one word. Joker. The Joker. Everyone knew that’s who had done it, but there was no way to prove it unless he took credit. Or there was a second half to the plan. Harley. Harley might not be safe.

With a word to Alfred, something about how he wouldn’t be going to work that day he excused himself to the garage, it didn’t really matter how mad or upset at each other they were right now. He was going to go be with her. And convince her that the safest place to be right now was in the mansion with him.

*

Harley had managed to call the school to inform them she wouldn’t be in today, of course, they understood they were closing the school anyways just encase the Joker was planning something that would involve the whole city rather than just her. At least, that was one thing she didn’t have to worry about. But now her stomach was twisting with the idea that her students might be in danger.

So she was sitting in her living room, where she could see the door and tackle anyone who tried to come through (not to mention the only room without a window). She had managed to calm down to a point, she was good at shoving her emotions down into nothing and pretending that everything was fine. It wasn’t so much that she was scared of another beating. She could take physical pain, she had proved that over and over again.

It was the psychological affects that she was worried about. The Joker had a way of twisting your thoughts, making you think that his ideas were your ideas. She knew that he could twist and break her until she was ready to be his little henchwoman again. Harley was strong enough to resist for an amount of time, but everyone broke. A master manipulator was coming for her and she didn’t know what the hell she was supposed to do right now.

Hell, maybe she could just beat the shit out of him until he was the one crying, the one in the full body cast who had to do months of therapy only to learn that he might not even have a full range of movement in some of his joints ever again.

While she was stewing in her rather comforting thoughts, there was a knock at the door. Harley almost jumped out of her skin, before she realizes that the Joker wouldn’t knock. Or if he would he’d yell something like, “Pizza delivery!” after words.

She got to her feet, holding a kitchen knife close to her thigh as she went. Looking through the peep hole, she breathed a sigh of relief. Not the Joker. Just Bruce. Maybe he wasn’t the first person she wanted to see (Ivy was high up on that list), it was definitely a step up from being alone. She opened the door, still holding the knife out of sight.

“Harley”, He didn’t come in just encase she didn’t want to see him but kept one eye on her face and one on her knife. He wasn’t sure how she was doing right now, but he didn’t want to risk any violence, on his side or hers. Without his suit, he could be in trouble against her.

“Come ‘on in, please”, she backed away from the door, keeping out of sight form the Hallway, “Not that I’m sure this is the safest thing for you to be doing right now”, she shut the door as soon as he was in, locking the door. Not that she was sure it would do much good.

“I have private security waiting if he tries anything you’ll be fine”, he reached for her shoulder, but took his hand away at the last minute, he didn’t want to evade her space if she didn’t want him there.

When she looked at him he was surprised at how upset she looked, scared and angry all at the same time, “Bruce did you send me flowers?”

He shook his head, he had been thinking about buying her some jewelry…or a new apartment, but no flowers had been sent form his office. Not with his knowledge. Her reaction surprised him, though, she stalked past into the kitchen. He followed her, only to see her glaring at a vase of roses.

“Did you think I—“ he started to ask before she picked it up and smashed it to the ground, water going everywhere. She was surrounded by a ring of roses and glass, just looking down at the ground like she couldn’t believe that had just happened, “…It was him wasn’t it?”

Harley stared at her legs, bared by her shorts that had a few drops of blood rolling down them down. Bright red against pale skin. A lot of memories had that color profile, painting her face, her own crushed hand, blood red lips on a pale white face. Her legs shook, and she lost all control falling to the ground despite all of the glass.

“Harley!”

* Her head hurt, hurt so badly. It did that ever so often despite her super healing abilities, apparently there were some things super powers couldn’t cure. Including serious head trauma. She must have hit her head again, something causing the pain that she was experiencing to reassure. That would explain why the idea of opening her eyes made her want to cry and her stomach rolled with bile.

She groaned, about the only sound that she could even think about making right now. Harley rolled over so slightly and did just about vomit straight on to the floor. Someone grasped her head, rubbing the back of her neck until the desire to vomit subsided, and her head was guided back to the pillow.

“Are you alright Miss Harley?” the British accent told her who it was, Alfred. Which meant she was in the manor. That explained why the bed was so soft and nice, though not why her whole body hurt.

“…maybe?” she managed, her tongue felt heavy in her mouth, like she hadn’t in a few days, “Water?”

A straw came in contact with her lips, and she managed to take a few sips before it made her stomach roll again.

“You’ve been out for two days. The doctor believes it was a stress reaction, the ah…”

She winced, she remembered what had happened two days ago. The pictures, the flowers, the cuts on her legs, Bruce. Where was Bruce? She wanted Bruce right now, she wanted someone that cared about her. Someone who wasn’t that fucking bastard, “Bruce?”

She could almost hear the smile when Alfred spoke, “He’s outside, and I think he was afraid that you wouldn’t want to see him. You did faint in his presence. He carried you out to the limo, I thought you might be dead. Gave both of us a terrible fright. I’m glad you’re doing alright Miss”

Footsteps out of the room, and then heavier ones into the room. A rough hand clutched here’s, making her feel just that much better about everything. It was stupid, but she did that. She formed bonds with people too quickly sometimes. Maybe she shouldn’t have relied on him so much, but at the moment, she didn’t have to psychoanalyze herself.

“Hey Big guy”, she squeezed his hand, feeling the warmth soak into her like she had been freezing, “Did you miss me?”

“Miss your voice for sure, I’ve begun to realize you talk a lot. Enough that without it…it’s been so quiet without you. All of this reminded me why I need you…this might be a lot. After what happened, but I wanted to kill him. For what he did to you. Before and after. I don’t want anyone to have that effect on you”

He knew what PTSD was, he knew what it felt like and how easy it was to fall back into those deep pits of memories and painful feelings, “I want you to be okay and I know that I can’t make you okay because that’s now how the world works. I know I can’t wish him away, or kill him”

“Legally”, Harley added in, pulling him down closer to her. She heard him as he adjusted himself so his head was right on her shoulder, she could smell the soft scent of leather that always followed him around, “Or at all. Other people have tried it. He’s a slippery bastard”

He wanted to laugh, but that was hard right now. He was just glad that her heart was still beating under that skin, that she was safe and with him now and that was all he could do right now, “I would. If I could if it would make you happy”

“You make me happy. Even if you did push me away….I get it…I think. I dunno I’m not supposed to psychoanalyse people without permission”

Maybe the fact that he could have lost her, or that he was full of so many emotions that he couldn’t deal with all of them right now, but he spoke, “I saw my mother that day I turned you away, that’s all I could see. Was her. And what happened to her. And it…hurt. It hurt to think that there was even the slightest idea that I could lose you again…her again, anyone that I love again”

Harley pressed her lips to Bruce’s hair, just ever so gently, “I understand, you don’t have to talk yourself into circles. I think we’re both a little bit too tired for talking about serious feelings…but I love you too Bruce Wayne”

He pressed his head into her collarbone, his mind a mess about everything, the very idea that he could confuse Harley and his mother, maybe that love was such a mess up thing. Maybe there was some kind of terrible Freudian subtext to all of it that he didn’t want to think about. Harley was alive. She was alive and she was with him.

And he was very tired, he hadn’t slept for the past two days attempting to track down the Joker. He wanted to make the Joker hurt, hurt and then throw him into a cell where he couldn’t get out of. Or maybe he should just catch the Joker and let Harley go to town on his ass. It would be more satisfying for her, to make him hurt like he had hurt her so many times over the years.

“I can hear your gears going, you should stop thinking so hard”, Harley’s fingers threaded in his hair now, “Maybe you should sleep”

 The paper was spread out before Bruce on his desk, it had appeared in his mail something that shouldn’t haven’t been there. Someone either thought that he should see it or was trying to be funny, either way he wasn’t amused. A large picture was spread across the paper, Harley’s head was leaning against his shoulder, her eyes closed as her mouth was spread into a wide smile.   a look that he had seen on her face many times. The look on his face wasn’t something he was used to seeing, though, he couldn’t   place the look in his eyes, but the headline had.

“Playboy finds love in former Inmate”.

He couldn’t decide which part he disliked more, the privacy of his and Harley’s relationship being interrupted by the media, or the fact they had to call her an inmate, like that, was the only part that mattered.

Bruce crumpled up the paper, tossing it into the trashcan. He would consider something to fix those idiots another day.

The telephone rang a sound that he was sure he would be hearing for the rest of the day. The reporters wanting to know just everything about his relationship with Harley. He scowled, picking up the receiver, “Yes?”

“Nice pictures Bruce”,   a reporter, but thankfully a reporter that Bruce could actually deal with. Clark Kent knew how to push a few buttons, but he wouldn’t print anything Bruce said to him.

“Trying to get the scoop on?” He leaned backwards in his desk chair, pressing his hand to his forehead, “Because I don’t have anything to say.  Even if it is you”

Clark chuckled, and Bruce could just see him shaking his head, “I just wanted to congratulate you. You look   happy though you couldn’t have found someone who doesn’t have a criminal record?”

Bruce grunted, shifting the telephone a bit as he turned around in his chair to look outside at the city skyline, “If I were ever arrested for the things I’ve done, I think we both know I would have a record as well”

“IS she   reformed then? I mean, I heard this started as a way to keep on eye on her, but you seem to have gone beyond that now…”, Clark’s voice held a tone of teasing in his voice, clearly amused with Bruce’s situation.

“I’m hanging up now”, Bruce pressed his fingers to his head, as good as of a friend as Clark was that didn’t make him any less annoying.

“Hey we should doub--”, Bruce didn’t let him finish that thought, just slammed the telephone down on the base.

He pressed his intercom, connecting with his assistant, “Hold all of my calls. Please. For the rest of the day”, he didn’t let her answer, just released the button. He would need some sort of quiet if he wanted to get anything done.

*

Ivy had been stuck isolation  for months before her  escape, a new way of keeping her powers in control until they thought she could be reformed. Reformed or depowered, whichever one was easiest in the end. She had no contact with the outside population, and only one doctor had been allowed any contact with her.

So when she finally broke out (they had underestimated how strong her powers were, the sewer under her cell had enough pond scum that she could use. Her cell no longer existed), she had plenty that she had to learn about what she had missed.

Her plan had been to get Harley and maybe get out of the city for a little vacation. Her thoughts hadn’t even went to the idea that Harley had been reformed. Ivy had still gone to find her, and find her Ivy had.

Just a little bit of watching, the flowers outside of Harley’s office were easy enough to speak with, asking if they had felt anything bad coming from the office. All they could say was that the pretty one gave them lots of water and she was very sunny. All good things according to plants, still she wasn’t convinced.

So Ivy watched something that she found hard. She just wanted to speak with Harley, touch her or kiss her, just to show Harley that she still loved her. It might have been a little sad, to some people, the fact that she was watching a woman like this, but she just wanted to know.

Maybe she wanted to know that Harley wasn’t happy without her, that she missed the life of crime and excitement. Or just missed Ivy even. She didn’t find any indication of that, Harley was as happy as could be.

It was bizarre, seeing Harley living out such a mundane life when she had been the woman who thought that breaking into a department store was a great date. Now she was working a school, living in a shitty apartment and buying second-hand clothes.

Harley had gone from the clown princess of crime, to normal. Normal and happy. That part was what was rubbing Ivy so wrong, that the woman who had been so off the wall was so...like everyone else.

Or it was possible it was the man Harley was seeing was what was rubbing her the wrong way. It shouldn’t have mattered if Harley was happy, without bruises or broken bones, but Ivy was jealous. Jealous that, that man was touching her, kissing her, loving her.

Bruce Wayne didn’t deserve Harley, but Harley deserved to be happy. And that’s what she should have been concerned about.

*

The Joker did never reacted well to anything he didn’t want to hear.  One of his henchmen had brought him the paper, putting it on the desk with a smack. The Joker had taken one look at it and started laughing as hard as he could.

“I thought you’d want to see it, Boss…”, the man, whose name the Joker couldn’t even begin to care to remember said, as he began to back up, closer to the door. He had thought he was being smart, let the boss know as soon as possible, but apparently he had made the wrong choice in that regard.

The Joker cackled, slamming his hands down on the desk, “Oh of course I want to know! I want to know everything that idiot is doing! She left didn’t she, left everything behind because she couldn’t take a little joke!”

 never a mention that the joke he was referring to was beating Harley so badly that even with her metahuman abilities she had been put into a full body cast and need extensive physical therapy. To the Joker as long as he thought   funny, it didn’t matter what harm he brought to other people.

He removed a knife from his pocket, laying the paper flat against his desk. With as much precision as a surgeon, he began to crave the picture from the paper. The Joker held it up so that he could see it clearly, nearly a perfect square of paper.

“She went and got herself some damn pretty boy did she?” The Joker crooked his fingers, motioning for the henchman to come closer. The man hesitated a moment too long for the Joker, “GET OVER HERE”

The man in his fear scooted closer to the desk, his fingers tapping on his palm. The Joker looked at the man, leaning over the desk slightly before he pulled his gun out. The henchman didn’t have time to react before   a bullet between his eyes, his body slumping over the desk.

Picking up the knife again, he thrust it into the man’s neck, when he pulled it out the blood rushed forth just enough. The Joker stuck his fingers in it, dragging the blood soaked digits over the paper. When he was done both Harley and Bruce had large bloody smiles spread across their faces.

“Much better”, he leaned back, holding the still bloody piece of paper up the light. He laughed again like the picture was the funniest thing that he had ever seen in his life.

Joker stood up, slamming his hands and the paper onto the desk. Before he walked away from his desk, he took the knife slamming it into the paper and the wood of the desk. Right, straight through Harley’s face, between her now bloody eyes.

He strolled out into the main part of his hideout, where the rest of the henchmen were waiting, looking rather terrified at whatever it was that their boss might do.

“We’re going to need...some newspapers boys”, he threw his hands in the air, laughing. His actions made the henchmen draw a sigh of relief, he wasn’t going to be killing them tonight.

His plan didn’t make any sense to them, but the ones that lived long enough had learned there was no reason to question the boss if they wanted to continue to live. *

Batman landed on the roof, his boots making barely a thump on the rocky surface. There wasn’t any reason for him to be out, Nightwing was in town and even if he wasn’t, Batwoman or one of the others could have been working. Dick had even offered to take over his time tonight when he had heard about the fight. Batman had refused. He choose to come out when he had other options.

The picture was itching at the back of his mind, reminding him that despite what the headline said, he and Harley currently weren’t the happy couple in that picture. He had to wonder if Harley had seen the picture and was thinking the same thing he was. What had happened to the pair of them and could they get that back or were they done before they had even begun.

For most people, they wouldn’t have been able to hear Selina when she landed on the roof, but he had heard her so many times he would have known her anywhere.

“What do you want?” He didn’t even turn his head to look at her as she stepped ever so lightly over to him, “I’m not really in the mood for you tonight”

“I saw the picture”, she said, her hand touching his arm, in an attempt to be comforting possibly. He shook the touch off, turning away from her, “It’s not that bad, you have your picture plastered all over everything all of the time don’t you?”

Batman turned back towards her, his eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at her, “It’s different”

Catwoman put her hands on her hips, giving him a look that would have sent most men packing with their tail between their legs, “Because of her?” They both knew who she was talking about without referring to a name, “It’s that serious is it?” “This is not the time or the place for this conversation”, he hissed, squaring his shoulders back as he glared down at her.

She poked his chest with one finger, “Do not pull that Batman bullshit on me, I am not afraid of you. And I’m not jealous of her”

“Then what is this all about”, despite any romantic interaction they had shared, it wasn’t in his nature for him to open up to anyone, “Why are you so interest in something that doesn’t concern you?”

Catwoman pulled her hand away from his chest, putting her hands on her hips, “Harley is my friend, I’ve seen what she went through with him, I’m just trying to protect her. Having her face plastered all over everything is going to cause some issues”

He tilted his head, finally softening to her attempts, if only because Harley’s safety was concerned, “He’ll be coming after her, abusive and jealous that anyone else has her when he can’t”, He had been so concerned with his own feelings he hadn’t even considered what might happen if their relationship was that public.

“He’s going to be coming for her. And for you. I’d step up security, maybe keep her at the house with you”

“She won’t like that”, if not for his control he might have flinched. He would rather have her with him, but the chances that she would let him do anything at this point, “She’s…”

“Independent”, Catwoman finished with a sigh, “I can watch her, and I’m sure you have enough of a brood now that they can too. Especially if you two are fighting”

That time he did flinch, he had assumed that she couldn’t tell there was something going on with them, but apparently he was very wrong, “Disagreement. Not a fight”

Catwoman made a noise, rolling her eyes at him, “Fine. I’ll watch her, and you watch her and we’ll hope that one of us gets to him before he gets to her”

“Agreed”

*

Despite the fact his henchmen were the most inept people that he could have hired, he had a fantastic pile of copies or newspapers with the one picture he wanted. A practical ocean of the picture, the disgusting picture that he could barely stand to look at. But this was the first step, just the first step of his grand joke on Gotham and his disloyal henchwench.

The local university library wouldn’t be very happy to see how much paper and toner had been used during the night. Joker didn’t have any concern for them, he had the boys leave his card that would cover everything. His card being an actual Joker playing  card that was coated with a liquid version of Joker Gas. Now, why couldn’t he sees the look on whatever idiot’s face who grabbed his card that would most certainly be a gas.

Oh, how he cracked himself up, too bad no one else seemed to get his jokes. Maybe Batman did, but he just didn’t pay attention long enough to get the joke. He liked the pretend that he didn’t like the joke.

The first time Harleen Quinzel met Bruce Wayne, he was touring the Asylum, being a major donor he wanted to make sure his funds were going to good use. She was as charming as she could have been, but the whole time she looked at him all she could think of was how different he was from the Joker. She had already fallen under the spell of the man and wanted to understand what made him so different from everyone else.

When she looked at Bruce Wayne, she just say that he didn’t have that same spark that her puddin’ did. At the time she assumed that spark was creativity or intelligence, what made the Joker great. Now she knew it was cruelty and amusement that the little doctor thought she could understand him.

The first time Harley Quinn met Bruce Wayne she was shoving a gun into his face, demanding his wallet while threatening that no one try to be a hero. She didn’t see the same man that had been at the Asylum that first time. Then he was showing vague interesting in what was going on, but still managed to look like he didn’t care. Now there was something hard in his eyes, like he was daring her to try and hurt someone.

But it didn’t scare her. Not in the same way the Joker’s violent outbursts scared her. She knew Bruce was just trying to protect himself. He had a reason to lash out if it came to that.

He wouldn’t hurt her for no reason.

*

For some people the walk she was talking would have given them aching muscles and sore feet. Thankfully Harley wasn’t some people. Not so thankfully she didn’t have the pain to distract her from her thoughts.

Even after months of therapy her desire was still to assume that the fault laid with her. Maybe the issue was that Bruce didn’t feel he could open up to someone who had done what she had done in the past.

There was some part of her brain that wasn’t so broken down by the abuse of the past few years, was attempting to inform her that it wasn’t her fault. Bruce wasn’t the healthiest person mentally, there was no way to assume that he wasn’t trusting her because of her past. Of course the rational thoughts were shoved into a dark corner of her mind where she choose not to remember.

In some ways it was easier to blame herself then try to puzzle out what was going on in Bruce’s brain. She wasn’t his therapist or his doctor, she couldn’t do anything for him standing out here without anyway of talking to him.

Harley wrapped her arms around herself, shivering slightly despite the fact it was a warm night. It just felt...a little bit like there was someone watching. Which in Gotham was always possible, but she could defend herself if she was forced to.

Walking by an alley the gleam of something in the back and little bit too much motion caught her attention. Just barely she could see the outline of someone, maybe two someone’s struggling in the dark. She dropped her arms to her side, stepping lightly so not to be heard. That was a talent that she learned form Selina, walk like a cat.

The closer she got the more she could see and hear, the almost quiet whimpering of someone in pain and a man grumbling at the other figure to shut up and just let him do what he wanted.

Something just snapped within Harley, she flew forward grabbing the man by the shoulder and ripping him away from the other woman. She could just barely see the skin where the woman’s shirt had been torn straight down to her stomach.

“Leave her alone”, Harley said, her hand still gripping into the man’s shoulder. His eyes were wide, and bloodshot, looking more red than white. He looked like he wasn’t expecting someone to stop him but when he managed to focus and realize it wasn’t the Batman, he just...sort of laughed.

His hand pulled up, the metal of the gun glinting in the moonlight. She stared like she couldn’t believe that he was about to do it, “Shut up bitch!” his hand came down, smashing into her cheek and eye, a bit catching above her eye, blood dripping down.

She blinked, it hurt of course but she had dealt with a lot worse with her time with the Joker. She had been beaten beyond this, put in more casts then she could count. That didn’t make her any less angry though, she had promised herself in the hospital that she wouldn’t let anyone beat her anymore. Including this lowlife bastard.

Harley pulled on his shoulder, twisting him around as her other hand grasped his arm. She didn’t give him a chance to react as she pulled and shoved his arm upwards. The pop of his shoulder coming out was what she was looking for, “I said leave her alone”, she flicked her head the blood flying a little bit.

“Let...go...of..me”, his voice was hoarse, clearly from the pain of having his shoulder pulled out. He wiggled against her hold, attempting to break free from her. Maybe if she was a normal human it would have worked but…

The hand that was on his shoulder moved up, grasping his hair. It only took her a moment for the quick movement, slamming his head straight into the wall before him with a heavy thud. Harley released the man, dropping him to the ground.

“Is...is he did?” the woman stuttered form her huddled position against the wall.

Harley pulled the back of her hand across her forehead, the blood was starting to dry against her eyebrow and eyelashes. Gross, “Who cares?” She muttered, but kneeled down pressing her fingers against the man’s neck. A pulse, just barely there, “He’s alive”

The woman gasped gently, a thump following the noise, “You would be in more trouble if he was dead”, the deep voice wasn’t one that she would forget easily so she didn’t even have to turn to see how was speaking.

“He’s lucky didn’t do more. He hurt her”, she pressed a hand to her cheek, wincing slightly at the pain and the shifting of the bone. She was going to have a seriously messed up cheek in the morning because of her healing. Harley turned on her heel, facing the Batman face on, or rather chest on since he was so much taller than her, “Like you haven’t done worse”

Batman didn’t say anything, his gloved hand touched her injured cheek, the other hand coming up under her chin, “That won’t heal right if you don’t let me fix that”

She snorted slightly, “DOn’t fuck up my pretty face Batboy”, Harley simply closed her eyes, she wasn’t sure what he was doing, it didn’t make much sense to her that he would care so much.

“The police are coming”, his hand moved to her waist, pulling her against him, “we’re getting out of here”

The sirens reached her ears only a moment later, apparently he had some kind of police radio or something, “What do you mean we’re?” She opened her eyes, looking up at him with her eyebrow arched as much as she could threw the pain.

The arm not holding her shot to the sky, something flying from his wrist. The damn grappling hook. The moment her feet left the ground she wrapped her arms around his neck, not fancying the idea of falling on her ass while flying in the air.

She wasn’t sure what he caught his hook on but they landed squarely on the roof. They stood there for a moment still wrapped around each other. Harley tilted her head up, looking at the man she had on more than one occasion had tried to kill.

Her mind leapt to Bruce, she had tried to kill him too. Harley put her hands against Batman’s chest, pushing him away from herself. She crossed her arms, taking a step back, “Shouldn’t you be tattling on me to my parole officer or something?”

Batman didn’t speak, his hands went to her busted cheek. His fingers moved gently, even with the thick gloves on to reposition the bone so it would heal straight. Harley winced, feeling the sharp pain of her bone being moved.

“I’ll take you home”, he told her, his hand still on her cheek.

“That’s not an answer!” she could have sworn that he smirked under that mask, just before a mist sprayed in her face from his wrist, “Wha..”, normally she wouldn’t feel the effects of anything that someone tried to use on her but this time...she was starting to feel a little whoozy.

“Something I made just for you”, Batman wrapped his arms around her again. Harley could feel her legs go out from underneath her, almost glad that he was holding her. Almost, if he hadn’t just knocked her out so she wouldn’t fight him.

“D...ick”, she whispered, the dark closing in around her sight.

*

Bruce sighed, looking at Harley’s pale face, the bruises already blooming where she had been hit. He had been only following her to protect her, but she had ended up protecting another woman. At least he had her with him now, hopefully that would be enough to keep her from getting her more.

Alfred had asked him if he was planning on stalking Miss Quinn until they made up or only for this night. Bruce hadn’t answered that, but he had to admit, as he generally was, Alfred was right. He was following his girlfriend, just because he couldn’t talk to her.

Now he had knocked her out.

Harley would have a field day with that if she ever found out what he had done.

“I’m just trying to protect you”, he whispered, sliding his hand under her legs. That was something he tried to do with everyone he cared about. Maybe he didn’t do it always in the right ways, but at least he was trying.

Trying to make up for the other people he hadn’t been able to save in his life, or just trying to save everyone because he had to do something he wasn’t sure. That wasn’t something that he had time to think about, standing above of a crime scene with Harley in his arms.

He would get her home and to bed, so she could sleep. She would be safe for that night.

*

Harley groaned, pulling her covers over her head. Her face hurt, her head hurt, a greatly unpleasant feeling that she couldn’t totally remember where it came from. She had been walking home that night then…

“Ugh”, she pressed her  hands to her first, she had done something amazingly stupid in getting herself pistol whipped in the face, “Stupid Batman, stupid Bruce Wayne, stupid men”

The throbbing in her cheek didn’t go away with her complaining, though she could feel that it was hurting less than the night before. Thank god for increased healing, she wouldn’t have to explain why her face was black and blue to her students or her coworkers.

She swung her feet out of the bed, groaning as she got to her feet. The last thing she really wanted to do was be awake right now, but sleeping all day wasn’t the best option either. There was things that she needed to do.

Harley made her way to the front room, taking a moment to notice the piece of paper on the floor. It had been slid under her door, but she couldn’t see what it was. Bending over to pick up the paper she groaned again, the blood rushing to her face made her bruises throb.

It was a note from a flower shop, they had left something outside her door. She opened the door, a pot with one bright red flower, one that she couldn’t identify was standing in front of her. Harley picked up the pot, and stuck her face into the flower taking a deep breath of the scent.

A note was attached, a little white card with black writing on it.

Picking up the card, she read the writing, not a style she knew but it was possible the florist had written it.

‘For my doctor’, was all the card said.

“…this is awesome!” Harley squealed, clapping her hands together. In the past few weeks she had become closer to Bruce’s kids, or at least the ones that were around, and spent more time at the Wanye place, even without Bruce around.

“Isn’t it? Damian got good grades, and didn’t beat anyone up and we got this!” Stephanie spread her arms at the bounce house in front of them, “I mean he was a little confused at why we wanted a bounce house but Bruce doesn’t understand fun so”

Harley kicked off her shoes, scooting across the grass, “Brucey understands fun just fine kiddies”

“Ew”, Damian’s shoes nearly hit Stephanie with the force that he kicked his shoes off, racing towards the bounce house before Harley could get into it, “Me first!”

Damian slide into the bounce house, with Harley on his heels, nearly tackling him as she went in. She crashed into the wall, bouncing backwards as she did, giggling. Stephanie was right behind them, amused with the whole situation.

Harley tilted her head back, teetering to her feet, “Did you like rent this or”, she bounced a bit, the shock waves nearly made Damian fall, he crashed into the wall.

“WAH!” He steadied himself, “It’s a rental. For a week. Grayson said he’d be coming by when he heard. Also something about, ‘Needing to check out Stepmom’”

“Ninja moves there Dami!” Stephanie laughed, crashing herself into the wall, making her bounce into the other wall, and then into Harley.

She laughed, shoving Stephanie away from her, “What is with all of you guys trying to get me ta marry Brucie? We’ve only been goin’ a few weeks you know”

Damian and Stephanie exchanged a look before she replied, “He likes you though, like a lot. That’s why you’re still here. Even with the whole evil clown thing”

“I was a Harlequin. Not the same thing. Joker is an evil clown. And I was just weird not evil. It’s not my fault you are educated in clown culture”

“That’s ridiclious. Also I would like to see if our weight combined can make Brown go through the roof”, Damian smirked, winding his fingers together, “Are you for it? I know she’s rather heavy”

“I’m gonna put you both through the roof!” Harley jumped, making the ripple go through the whole house. Damian smacked into the roof, Stephanie nearly reached it, when they came down, Harley found herself flying through the air.

*

Harley giggled, dropping herself onto the bed, she panted slightly, “That was so much fun! Why don’t we have a bounce house all the time”

“You don’t live here”, Bruce reminded her, undoing his tie, “Or do you , I can’t tell anymore and I think Alfred has starting setting five places for every meal. Stop that”, he turned, with a smile on his face, to show that he was in fact joking, “I’m glad you and the kids had fun with the bounce house. I still have no idea why he wanted that…”

“Because you don’t understand fun”, Harley picked a pillow off of the bed. She threw it across the room, connecting with Bruce’s face with a smack, “Have you ever been in a bounce house in your life? Have you Brucie?”

Bruce removed his shirt, he tossed it over his shoulder, watching in the mirror as it hit Harley’s face. She pulled it off, wrinkling her nose, “How the hell do you sweat so much when all you do is sit in an office all day?” She was too busy glaring at his shirt to notice Bruce’s slightly grimace in the mirror, “You don’t sweat that much when you sleep. I would notice”

“Why are we talking about my sweat? Some women like when their men sweat”

Harley came up behind him, putting her arms around him, “Oh so you’re my man now are you? And we’re talking about it because you stink; you think Alfred likes how bad you smell”

Bruce smiled at her, looking back at the pair of them in the mirror. He could see the brown trying to push through the blond, she hadn’t dyed her hair in long enough that it was clear she was telling the truth about not being a true blond.

For a moment he could imagine how she looked without the blond dye, her hair brown hanging down around her face.  It wouldn’t change her looks that much, but somehow it reminded him of someone else.

His mind flashed back for a moment, to another day, so long ago. His parents had stood in front of their mirror, his father trying to pick a tie that he didn’t hate. His mother had been stuck to him, trying to convice him that the tie he had in his hand was perfectly okay. He had been sitting on the bed, watching them, thinking about the day he’d be allow to go with them whenever they went out.

“Bruce?”

For a moment all he could hear was his mother, calling his name, all he could see in the mirror was his father, his mother behind him, a smile on her face.

“Bruce!”

It took a moment for his eyes to readjust, and it was Harley and him there again.

“You weren’t there”, Harley stood in front of the mirror and touched his cheek gently, just brushing her fingers over the skin, “You…were someone where totally different. Are you okay?”

“F-fine” he stumbled over his words, still seeing his mother’s face laid over Harley’s. They didn’t look anything alike, but his mind was convinced there had to be some connection there, “I’m fine..Really I’m…”

“I can feel you shaking, the last thing you are is fine. You can tell me, you can trust me”, she twisted her fingers into Bruce’s, trying to transfer some of her warmth to him, “…is it your parents?”

As she held his hand, she felt a shiver go through him and Bruce tried to pull away, but Harley pulled him back.

“You can’t just hide from me. Just because it hurts doesn’t mean that you can’t tell me”

Bruce pulled away, detangling his fingers as he went, “It’s nothing. You worry too much about nothing”

“You think you can fool me right? Because I’m just Harley Quinn, nothing special”, she dropped her hand, forming them to fists by her sides, “Or do you not trust me because of who I am!”

“Harley”

“No, don’t Harley me, you don’t…you can’t just stand here and not tell me what’s wrong with you! I’m your girlfriend aren’t I? Or am I just really something to pass the time until you get bored of me?”

Bruce didn’t say anything, just turned away, rubbing his face in his hands, “I can’t explain right now. It’s not you…”

“It’s me”

He didn’t look up when the door shut behind her, with a small click rather than a mighty crash like he was expecting. It was stupid, to get so upset about something that he could have just told her about. Of course he couldn’t even get the words out for Alfred who knew so much already. And now Harley was gone.

There was really only one word for this, “Fuck”

The walk back to Gotham wasn’t pleasant, but she did it, glaring at anyone who dared honk their horn at her on the way. It might have been stupid or petty to run off like that, but she felt like there was something being held back.

Something she could have helped with. Of course it had nothing to do with her, she had her own issues to work out and she had lashed out at Bruce about them when she should have been helping him. He just couldn’t open up. Not even to her.

He had told her about the fact he had no desire to have sex,  about how much he had loved Damian’s mother, even when it had all gone wrong.

But he couldn’t just come out and tell her why looking at the pair of them in the mirror made him look like his whole world was falling apart.

Maybe they were just too messed up people, to the point where they weren’t going to work.

But at least they had to try.