Jacky stared into the mirror before her, scrutinizing every inch of the makeup covered skin on her pale cheeks. They had finally healed, and the doctors had told her she could start putting makeup on again.

She'd actually been able to muster a real smile when they told her this.

The makeup was doing its job well; she'd experimented on how to put it on just right and now there was nothing for anyone to stare at anymore. Her mother tried to tell her that she didn't need it, saying she'd always thought it silly that young and pretty girls like Jacky were so obsessed with superficial things like makeup.

Jacky had taken to ignoring her quite completely.

She hadn't seen Matt in over a month, since that night apparently, though she still couldn't remember what happened. Dissociative amnesia; that's what they were calling it. She still didn't believe it. And even if Matt had been telling the truth, she thought it was his own fault for cheating on her.

He'd tried to get a hold of her, texting and calling her, leaving her messages about how he just wanted to talk, wanted to know if she was ok. What was with him, anyways; why would he be so worried about her when she'd supposedly gone psycho on him?

Nevermind the fact that, because of him, everyone's newest concern about her seemed to involve her being a bit mental. Whatever.

She'd started to notice some things, though, things that others – like her mother and Alfred – seemed to either not notice or ignore. And all of them involved her Uncle Bruce and his strange routines. At night, when she couldn't fall asleep, she'd wander quietly out of her bedroom, driven by a need to simply not be alone, thinking sometimes to find her Uncle Bruce. He wouldn't be in his room. For that matter, he wouldn't be anywhere in the penthouse, at all. On these occasions she would go back to her room, where sleep would eventually come, and when she woke up her Uncle Bruce would be back, sleeping, with Alfred telling her he 'didn't feel well'.

She'd come to two possiblities, the first being that perhaps her Uncle really was the big party boy everyone thought he was, in which case he was probably a raging alcoholic as well, what with all the times he 'didn't feel well.' She'd actually bounced this idea off of her mother before, and her mother had rejected instantly. Jacky was beginning to get the feeling her mother and Uncle were getting awful close…

The second possibility involved a certain tall and dark figure dressed like a bat, with peircing, familiar eyes. She didn't dare voice this idea to anyone. They might think her crazy. Er, crazier? And what would she say to her Uncle, anyways?

Needless to say, she'd taken to studiously avoiding most everyone, including her Uncle Bruce, as well as watching him like a hawk, just as he seemed to watch her.

Jacky forced herself to stand after a while of staring into the mirror blankly, lost in thought. She walked over to her closet and pulled out the item just inside it. It was a gown, long and gothic, a deep, blood red color covered in black lace.

A pair of shiny black stilettoes and a necklace and earrings made of pearls would complete her outfit for the night.

A combination graduation and 18th birthday party for her. Her Uncle Bruce really liked to do everything big, didn't he? She guessed that it was just his way of trying to take her and her mother's mind off of…things.

She got dressed, finished her makeup, rechecked it several times to make sure she looked perfect and as normal as possible, and then slipped out the door.

"You could, you know, be social for once. Talk to someone. Dance with someone. For goodness' sake, Jacky, this is your party." Her mother, as usual, wouldn't shut up.

"I don't recall ever saying I wanted one. Especially not back at this place. Whose idea was it to have another party at Club Ice, exactly?"

"You should feel lucky you didn't even have to! Your Uncle put all this together thinking you'd like it. Not to mention he's paying for you to go to college. I suggest you start being a little more grateful."

"Whoever said I was ungrateful, mother?" She tried not to sound too much like the stubborn teenager that she was. Didn't being 18 mean she was supposed to be more grown up or something?

"You don't have to say it with the way you're acting. Oh! That young man over there has been eyeing you for a while now. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think you should go talk to him. He's cute, isn't he?"

Jacky had noticed already. He was pretty cute, in an unconventional kind of way. Dark hair slicked back loosely. Big nose, but couple it with his full lips and brown eyes… he was actually pretty handsome.

"You know what, mother, if it will make you stop talking, I will gladly go and talk to…whoever that is." She stood up and tried to be as graceful as possible as she glided across the room.

"Well, hello, beautiful." He greeted her as she walked up. He was wearing a fine tux, she realized, looking him over. Bow tie and all.

"I'm guessing you say that to just about every girl you start eyeing like that, but thank you anyways. I'm Jacky and I'm only over here because my mother wouldn't shut up."

He laughed.

"I don't actually make a habit of eyeing girls, only the very pretty ones. You're welcome, anyways. I'm Jimmy."

"Jimmy? Short for James, right?"

"That would be for me to know, and you to hopefully not find out."

"Whatever floats your boat." Jacky rolled her eyes.

They stood in a somewhat awkward silence for a while. A slower song came on.

"Would you like to dance, maybe? Give you something to do. Or just to make Mom over there happy. She's been watching us this whole time."

"Sure." She sighed, sending a death glare in her mother's direction. "Why not."

He went to place his hands on her waist, a harmless and innocent position really, but she flinched anyways. She flinched when it was anybody but her mom touching her.

He frowned, taking his hands back.

"I'm sorry, did I do something wrong?"

"No, no. I'm sorry. It's nothing personal." She grabbed his hands and forced herself to ignore the way her skin crawled at his unfamiliar touch, placing them back around her waist.

She wasn't sure why she got the feeling. It had started around the time she'd gotten her second scar.

Jimmy swept her across the dance floor, quite gracefully given that he wasn't the tallest, only just matching her in height.

"Wow, you can really dance can't you?"

"Maybe a little." He smiled. "So, Jacky Wayne. This whole party's supposed to be for you, I thought."

"It is."

"Well, you don't look too happy to be here."

"I haven't been in much of a partying mood here lately. Bad things seem to happen whenever I'm at one. And having it at this dump wasn't my idea, either."

"Ooooh, ouch."

"What?"

"My dad owns this place. I put a lot of work into it."

"Sorry." She snorted. "Didn't realize."

"Nah, it's alright."

"So, who is your dad?" She asked, and the slow song had ended by now. He led her off the dance floor – and out of sight of her mother. They headed over towards a table set up with all kinds of fancy food.

He didn't answer her question immediately.

"Sorry." She said again. "It's none of my business, I guess."

"Don't say sorry. It's just that my dad wants to keep things a little private for now."

She laughed and he gave her an odd look.

"Oh, haven't you noticed?" She said. "The only time anyone rich wants to 'keep things private' in this town is if their the mob."

"Right." He said, then shrugged. "I don't know about my dad, but it wouldn't surprise me if he is connected. Would explain why he suddenly moved us to this place."

"How long have you guys been here?"

"Oh, a few years now. This place didn't get built until just recently, though. We moved to this part of Gotham about a month after the papers started up about you and your mother moving in with Wayne."

"You fixed this place up quick."

"Well. Dad had plenty of boys willing to help." He shrugged. Silence took over again, though not as awkward this time. Jacky looked around and could see lots of at least semi-familiar faces, people she'd met through her Uncle, and people from her school that had been as friendly as she would allow them to be.

Her Uncle himself seemed to be making himself scarce, but this didn't surprise her anymore.

"This night has been…ridiculously anticlimactic. I'm actually getting bored." She said, turning back to her new friend.

"Bored, really? And here I thought I'd made it at least a little bit better."

She quirked and eyebrow at him.

"You'll have to try a little harder than that, cupcake."

"Alright. Come with me. I think the bars open. I'll buy you a drink."

"I'm eighteen, not twenty-one." She didn't really sound alarmed at his suggestion, though. Jimmy led her over to the bar anyways.

"Neither am I." He winked. "I doubt any one will notice if it's just one little glass of the champagne everyone else is drinking."

He pulled his ID (a fake one, Jacky guessed) and some money out of his wallet as he gave the bartender an order. A few moments passed and he walked back over to Jacky, handing her a glass.

"Fair warning, stuff's stronger than most people first think."

She smiled at him and tried to appear as grown up as possible as she sipped from the glass.

She could faintly hear someone call out to Jimmy from behind her. He looked over towards where it had come from and grimaced.

"Damn. Looks like the party's over for me."

Jacky turned to look and saw a man in dark clothing beckoning Jimmy over to him.

"What's with tall, dark, and creepy?"

"Friend of my dad's. Figures these guys can't ever give me a moment of peace." He grumbled, then cleared his throat, turning his attention back to her. "You'll have to excuse me, beautiful. I hope you enjoy the rest of your party at least a little bit." He took her hand and, to her disbelief, placed a gentle kiss on the top of it. He then gave her a slight bow before slipping past her and meeting up with the man, who lead him to disappear into the crowd of other people.

She looked back down at her hand and a small smile graced her lips at the piece of paper he had discreetly handed her. It had a phone number on it.

She hid it in the bodice of her dress, and was just about to make her way back over to her mother when she felt someone grip her arm. She turned to see a tall man dressed in a suit with a green tie. He pulled her out to the dance floor rather forcefully, and her skin crawled at the unfamiliar contact.

"Dance with me, gorgeous."

"What, no, let go -!" She tried to jerk her arm away, but his grip only tightened, and something rang a bell in her brain. The tone of the stranger's voice, the strange cadence. Dance with me, gorgeous.

Hellllo again, gorgeous…

Stalking, not really the right word, gorgeous…

She wasn't sure where or when the Joker had said that to her, but she was very sure that he had.

"You!" She hissed, eyes narrowing at him, more angry than afraid. It occurred to her, off handedly, in some strange, messed up part of her mind, that he was actually rather handsome, standing before her in a suit sans his creepy makeup. His scars were a little less noticeable, his hair brown and less greasy.

"Did yah miss me, hmm?"

"No, not a bit. Don't you have anything better to do?"

"Maybe you are my something better to do. You just get feistier all the time, don't you?" He let out a creepy, gleeful giggle.

"Are you going to kill me?"

"Kill you?" He seemed incredulous somehow. "Now, why on earth would I do that, gorgeous? You're far too much fun for that! No nononono, I've got something else in mind. I want you to come with me."

"Come with you? Come with you where? Why?"

"Because I'm lonely?" He replied flippantly, and it sounded half a question, as if he was seeing if she'd take it as an answer.

She snorted.

"Why not just take me then, why all these games?"

"Why all these games? Because games are so much fun! And I can't just take you, you'd be no different than the rest that way. I want you to want to come with me!"

"You want… are you crazy!"

His eyes narrowed. And she wasn't scared by it. Actually, she recognized the look to an extent. She knew what it was like to be called crazy.

That brought her to thoughts of Matt and what he'd done to her, and suddenly an idea came to mind. A crazy, fun, horrible, but wonderful idea.

"I'll come with you, if you'll help me with something, handsome." She said, lightly imitating him.

"Help you? Whatever could you need my help for?"

"Well, see, I've got a little problem in the form of an ex…"

"Let's get outta here, gorgeous." He told her, and just like that she found herself slipping, quite unnoticed, out of her own party with the most wanted man in Gotham.

He led her out to an old, nondescript white van, and told her to get into the windowless backseat. She obliged. He blindfolded her and used what felt like handcuffs on her – can't be too careful with a gal like you, eh gorgeous? –, and she forced herself to stay calm, reminding herself that if he'd wanted to hurt her, she'd be long dead. Within five minutes of leaving Club Ice they were gone.

"Bruce, have you seen Jacky? She went off to dance with one of these young men about an hour ago, and no one's seen her since."

"Where would she have gone?"

"I don't know." Vicky heaved a sigh. "The girls been so unpredictable lately…"

"I'm sure she's alright." He replied, managing to sound much more confident than he felt.

"Yes, but… Bruce, what if she isn't?" She looked like she was maybe close to tears for being so worried. Bruce led her over to a quieter corner of the large room with a gentle hand on her arm.

"Jacky's a smart girl, I believe she can handle herself alright."

"But after what happened last time she disappeared like this… and she hasn't been the same."

"After everything that's happened, it's probably to be expected that she close herself off a little."

"A little? She barely talks to me anymore!"

"Alright. The party ends in an hour anyways. Try to keep calm. I'll go look for her."

"But Bruce…" She paused as realization seemed to dawn on her face. "Oh, by look for her, you mean…"

He meant as the Bat. How Vicky had actually found out his little secret had been something of a mystery. She'd put herself in no small amount of danger, following him to the abandoned work sight that hid the underground bunker. He'd realized who was following him only just in time.

It was nice though, somehow, that she knew. And he'd found her to be more than trustworthy with his massive secret.

"Just be careful if you do find her. That girl's got twice the brains that I do and the only reason she hasn't figured you out yet is because she's hesitant to ask questions."

He paused a moment before saying what he did next.

"Twice the brains that you do. She must be quite the genius then."

Was it just him, or did Vicky's cheeks turn a rather becoming shade of red at that.

"Are you trying to tell me I'm smart or something?"

"That was the general idea." He offered her a small, genuine smile. "Don't worry, Vicky. I'll find her."

Wow, so, yeah, it's been a while. I have no excuse, really, just lost interest in this story for a while.

Review, please, and let me know whether you liked this chapter, so I know to keep going. There'll be some real action within the next two chapters at least.