Harley stirred to consciousness, fighting back the pounding in her head to find herself lying in a hospital bed. She blinked, trying to focus her vision. She lifted a hand to rub her eyes – but her wrist was suddenly stopped. She looked down. Handcuffed. Blue eyes widened in surprise.

"You're awake." A voice said, and she looked up; the sudden motion causing a sharp pain to ripple through her. Terror swept her as the dark form entered her vision. Her lips parted, a scream caught in her throat. The Batman approached her bed, a mournful look on his face.

"Don't be afraid, Harley. I won't hurt you."

Her heart was racing. She tried to find her voice; her words were cracked and raspy.

"Yeah, guess ya did enough of that already." She glowered at him as he dropped his gaze; hiding the shame he knew reflected in his eyes.

"You're safe here, this is Arkham. The doctors will take good care of you. They have access to all the best techniques and medicine-"

Harley began to laugh, cutting him off. He looked back up at her, eyes narrowed.

"What's so funny?"

Harley smirked. "I already got all the healing power I need. Jus' me and my Puddin'. After all, you know what they say – laughter is the best medicine."

The Batman regarded her with somber eyes; no hint of amusement there.

"You won't be seeing the Joker anymore." He said, and a feeling of dread swept over her.

"What? Is he… DID YOU-?!" She began, her voice growing in hysterics.

"He is alive." He said quickly, cutting her off and causing a wave of relief to crash over her.

The Batman stood silently, watching her with pained eyes. Slowly he turned to leave, but paused as he reached the door.

"I'm sorry I failed you, Harley." His voice was quiet, different. She almost thought she recognized the tone.

"You didn't fail me, Bats." She said suddenly, with a great sigh. "Some things are just meant to be." Her voice was soft and dream-like in a rare moment of insight and clarity. "If you went through all that trouble to keep me away from Mistah J and we still ended up together, that just proves it doesn't it?"

"What?" The Batman asked.

"That we're meant to be. You can't forget a lesson that's meant to be learned, or ya gotta learn it all over again." She gave him a sly smile. "The Joker and I, we got Karma together." She paused, and then in a more serious tone, "You got Karma with him too, ya know. I'm not even really sure which of us is more of his other half… Do I complete him? Or is it you?" She asked, her fierce blue eyed gaze locked on his own. Wordlessly, the answer to her question hung there, a dark truth neither of them wanted to admit.

The Batman turned then, and without so much of a goodbye he left, leaving Harley alone. She turned over on her side, handcuffed hand awkwardly outstretched in front of her. She closed her eyes, letting silent sobs soothe her and rock her gently back to sleep.

A week later she stepped into an office; the harsh lights of the small white room served only to irritate her bright blue eyes, and make everything seem a little more intense. She plopped down in a stiff blue arm chair and gazed across at the woman watching her nervously. She was pretty, though older, with wrinkles at the corners of her green eyes. Salt and pepper hair was done in a tight bun on her head, and a stern expression held her lips stiffly in place.

"Hello Harleen," The woman spoke softly. "Do you know why you're here today?"

Harley threw long legs up on the table, regarding the doctor with curious eyes. She knew this game.

A devilish grin crossed her lips, and she let out a little laugh.

"Yeah, you're gonna try and get inside my head, right doc?"

Thank you so much for reading!

If you enjoyed the story, please leave a review and let me know your thoughts/reactions.

If the feedback is positive enough, I may be inspired to bring to life another idea floating around in my head.

Again, thank you so much for your support. I hope you enjoyed the ride.

~ B.M.