A/N "Open the double doors to reveal the most elaborate of settings and lights. Loud exciting music is playing and everyone's seat has their name on it." You guys ready? This is it, the last chapter for the arc. It's a long one, 35 pages long. I'm gonna state this now so there is NO confusion, the beginning is abstract, no complaining, it's supposed to BE CONFUSING.
Enjoy my loves, this one is going to be lots of performing while we move. Please find shatter me if you'd like some music to go with it. And I know we didn't get to double digits but I was so excited about posting this chapter I couldn't help it but please review
Chapter 15 – Rings on a tree
"Wakey wakey honey bun." Harley whispered to the almost three month old.
Eve's eyes blinked open and she smiled up at the beautiful angelic face of her mother.
Mommy!
The sun was shining and it lit Harley up from behind so she had a wonderful glow about her. Her mommy was perfect, her mommy was the most amazing person in Eve's little life.
She'd seen so many women in the past few weeks but still no one compared to her mommy.
She hadn't seen anyone else who looked like her mommy, she was the best thing in Eve's life. Only other thing that compared was daddy.
"I missed you and daddy so much honey bun." Harley cooed and walked her around the room.
They were in her nursery, the fantastical room she'd awoken to see her daddy staring down at her.
She didn't question why they were here, who cared? She was in mommy's arms and the wonderful world was around them.
"Is she awake?" a familiar voice asked and Eve's ears perked up and she turned her little head to see her daddy standing at the doorway. His green hair wet and hanging a little loose, he looked tired but he grinned at them and Eve squealed over at him.
Daddy!
"She just woke up. You've been asleep for a long time honey bun." Harley said walking over to him. "See my love, daddy followed you and that bad woman, he followed you to the magic man who gave you the present and then he followed you to the place in the big building. He found you there, he found you and he took you back and then, they told him where I was. In that terrible cage and he came and got me."
Eve smiled up at her, daddy had gotten them.
They were home, they were all home.
"You never have to worry again princess, I took care of all those bad people, I killed them all for you. I ended them just like I did that man who disrespected you. No one will ever take you away again."
He took her from Harley's arms and held her up in the air, Eve squealed in delight and when he brought her close, she found her spot on his chest and closed her eyes happily.
Safe, she felt safe.
A sound made her open her eyes and she saw kitty sitting on the purple couch, she was meowing and walking across the surface of the cushions, her soft stuffed animal fur clean, no blood caked on her, no oil, no mess.
She reached a small hand for her friend and the kitty looked up. She made a sound and kitty climbed off the couch and came forward to stand by J's leg.
J ignored the moving toy and walked Eve out of the nursery, Harley holding onto her tiny hand and following them down the corridor.
She saw some of her daddy's men in their costumes, they played with her before. She liked them all, she liked the way they entertained her and she hoped they'd play again.
She explored everything as she was carried into the living room to find Frost waiting for them, he took her from her daddy who sat down on the couch with her mommy in his lap and she was placed in her very favorite toy.
The swing that went up so high and so fast.
Frost turned it on and tapped her nose playfully and she giggled, waving her arms for kitty to come in.
She did, she jumped into the swing and curled up into her lap.
The swing started to go and the funny feeling in her belly hit her up and down.
"Are you having fun honey bun?" Harley laughed, curling into J's chest and waving at her.
J laid his head back and closed his eyes, Eve watched him as he relaxed and she cooed happily at that.
She'd only seen him do that once when they'd taken a nap, he'd relaxed and fallen asleep. She'd opened her eyes and seen him asleep next to her, completely at ease and unmoving. She liked seeing that, he looked very happy then.
For a while they just watched her swing and everything was alright with the world, kitty continued to purr in her arms and her daddy slept, her mama was smiling and there was no tears in her eyes, no sadness.
No one was sad and all Eve felt was love and power, sweet humming power of her parents. Soothing, protective, unbreakable.
No one could hurt them as long as they were with her.
They were her whole world, they were the things that mattered to her.
Only kitty mattered just as much.
Kitty that daddy had given her.
What else could she really need?
What should anyone want?
Eve could hear the world now, she could see the colors, she didn't understand any of it but she could see the brightness of daddy's hair, the way his tattoos and her mama's looked so vibrant. She could hear the light breathing of her daddy and the laughter down the hall as the men worked.
Harley climbed off J's lap and crawled over to her swing, moving back and forward with it with a gentle laugh.
"We're home princess, didn't I say we would be? You'll never have to be afraid again."
Eve believed her, anything she said she would believe.
But...
"Sorry kiddo, it's only a dream." a voice spoke and Eve's little body tensed as the swing stopped on its own.
Harley frowned and looked up.
"No, don't."
"I'm sorry, I have no choice." the red haired woman said to the blonde and came around.
Eve started to cry, trying to get daddy to wake up, to get the boys or Frost to come and help them but her daddy didn't wake up, no one came.
"You don't understand the world yet little one." she told her as she crouched in front of her with her mother.
Harley turned to her and reached out, cupping her cheek. "Be brave my love."
Terry stared at her with bright, forest green eyes and shook her head.
"You've been touched by the grown up world kiddo, you dream like us but don't know why or how, you can't control these feelings. I'm sorry."
"Don't listen to her, you control the world. You can make this go away."
Eve, didn't understand.
She wanted J to wake up and make the bad woman go away.
Daddy, daddy help me.
"This is your worst fear child." a new voice spoke and Eve trembled in her swing.
The other man, the one who'd glared at her, the one daddy had taken her to who'd stuck things in her leg.
He wore a mask on his face but she remembered the mask, she remembered him.
No, she didn't want these people here, she wanted her mommy and daddy. No one else.
"You fear, fear itself. You don't know better yet, you don't know that we are things to fear."
"Don't be scared honey bun, you're fearless, don't let them make you afraid."
It was so frustrating, she didn't want to feel this thing. This monster with faces that she didn't like but her mommy kept talking to her.
Coming closer and protecting her, like she always did.
"Just forget them, just let them go Eveie. Let them go and we'll be here, your daddy will wake up, he will save you. Just ask him to wake up."
She didn't know how.
"I'm always going to be in your dreams honey bun, always. I'm always going to be here to be with you, you'll never be without me in you dreams princess but you have to be strong."
But what about daddy?
"You have to make him be here princess, wake him up."
She screamed.
She screamed as loud as she could, all of it aimed at him as the red haired woman rose to pick her up. To take her away. Harley reached up and hit the assassin hard in the stomach.
J jumped from his spot, his eyes opening at the sound of her loud scream and he saw what was happening. Crane stepped forward but Eve screamed again and J turned towards him, pulling his gun out of his jacket and shot him several times until he collapsed and fell to the ground.
Fear being killed instantly.
Harley fought against Terry and the red haired assassin grunted as she tried to pin Harley down but she wouldn't go down.
J walked up to them and grabbed Terry by the throat, the rage and fury he'd had when Terry took Eve away evident on his face.
"No one touches my girls." He growled and with one single snap, he broke her neck and the woman fell dead to the ground.
Harley reached out and picked Eve up in her arms. Cradling her lovingly and protectively.
"See honey bun, fear is nothing to be afraid of. We're never gonna let anyone hurt your mind."
"Chavi?" A different voice whispered and Eve turned in Harley's arms, looking for the new source of the voice.
She didn't understand anything, she didn't know what dreams were. She didn't understand that this couldn't be real.
"Chavi? Wake up." It was a boy's voice, she'd never heard the voice before.
She didn't want to leave though, here in this place, mommy and daddy were together and they were safe from all the monsters.
"Go honey bun, I'm always here for you." Harley whispered and Eve let her little eyes flutter open.
She was in a car, she was in a pink car seat that felt nothing like the one her daddy had for her. The material wasn't as soft and the pink was too light, it wasn't vibrant and colorful like hers was.
She blinked a few times, the sun getting into her blue eyes as she yawned. Waking up.
Being so young, dreams were something that faded to nothing instantly, her mind unable to comprehend the change of worlds, she was here now, this was real and that other place was not.
She saw a shadow block some of the sunlight and then the sound of the window being rolled up caught her attention.
"Hey chavi." the boy said with a smile.
He was in a car seat next to her and he was leaned up against it, his hand holding onto hers.
He had dark long hair that was pulled back, amber hazel eyes that were closer to brown and green, not so blue but as the light changed, they seemed to change with it. He wasn't pale like her, though there probably weren't any children as pale as she was but he was definitely Caucasian. Thick dark lashes framed his eyes and his smile was sweet but mischievous.
Eve looked up at him curiously. She'd not seen one of these before.
Her life was full of grown ups, men and women of very strange professions and walks of life but very few children.
Until her trip to Gotham, she'd never even seen another child.
When Sarah had taken her to the hotel in the cab, she'd seen a stroller with another baby in it, it had been a new experience for her. To see someone as small as she was and before leaving DC, she'd met Kaden.
Her mind had already forgotten the details about him, she'd sat in a baby chair across from him in a lab for several hours. Utterly bored with him, he didn't do much more than cry and fuss. He didn't laugh or smile, he didn't make any interesting sounds and though she didn't know it, he was a whole month younger than she was and twice her size.
He'd fascinated Eve for five minutes but then, she'd grown utterly bored.
His sandy brown hair and his chocolate brown eyes were just so... ordinary.
This boy of three or four smiled, his eyebrows made movements she'd never seen anyone do. Daddy didn't even have eyebrows.
"Dragoste? Is she alright?"
Eve cooed, she knew that voice, a female voice that she hadn't heard for a few weeks.
"She okay mama." the boy said and went back to staring at the baby. "Hi chavi."
She smiled at him, she liked the sound of his voice, it was... different.
He glanced down at the kitty cat in her lap and picked her up, making a show of having her dance and meow for her. Eve giggled and smiled as her friend did a little dance for her. Why didn't she do that when they were alone?
Eve was nearly three months old now, she'd been two months old when she'd left for Gotham city.
Nearly a whole month away from Harley.
She'd been away from J for two weeks now.
Her time with her father had not gone in vain, she'd never understand what he did for her, what being with him changed.
Caroline glanced at her rear view mirror and smiled at her son and the baby.
To be so young and innocent, to make friends instantly.
They had a long drive and if he could entertain her for a while, then maybe the trip wouldn't feel so long.
Though...
Caroline still hadn't made up her mind which way to go.
She was running short on time though, she'd have to make a choice soon.
If I go south, we're going back to Belle Rev and Waller will never suspect a thing, if we go north... It would be the right thing to do. She thought and turned another street. Passing an embassy and biting her lip.
What should she do?
What if this is a trap? Waller has to know your involvement, isn't it strange that they want you here and not Logan?
Caroline had thought of that too.
Waller had summoned her by name, called for her to show up in the nations capital to retrieve the clown princess.
To come to the labs that were her temporary home and take her back down to Louisiana, back to her mother.
Before all this, Waller hadn't even known Caroline existed. She was just Logan's assistant, the RN nurse going to school to become more, to become a genetic engineer.
Because she wanted to help the world somehow.
It was hard to believe that now.
She still felt no guilt for helping Harley with sending Joker pictures and videos. That was a father's right after all, to know his child and she hadn't been wrong.
She'd dreaded he'd be a terrible father but when she'd set her eyes on Eve and seen how good and healthy she looked, even asleep. She had no choice but to believe he cared.
Maybe you want him to care.
I do want him to care. She thought sadly. Why else do what he's done?
She wasn't supposed to read the files but she hadn't been able to help it, she'd been skimming them every stop light since they'd left and already her stomach felt in knots.
Logan had messed up, god how could a man who was so damn intelligent be such a stupid baboon?
To give a baby an adult dose of the virus, when the same dose had killed all of their subjects. If it wasn't for the delay formula, the immune boosters that allowed the body to hold the virus as if it was frozen for a limited amount of time...
If Joker hadn't done what he'd done, which Caroline still couldn't understand. Eve would be dead and she'd probably be the one having to tell the queen of Gotham why.
It was fringe science at this point, impossible. The hand of god sort of thing because by any rational logical reason, dunking your two month old daughter in a vat of dangerous chemicals shouldn't suddenly make her immune to a very powerful old world virus which had killed many adults.
Maybe reason and rationality weren't playing a part in this though, maybe this was something more... unpredictable.
They laughed at her, for being who she was. What she was.
How can you do the work we do and believe in god, go to church, pray at night?
Caroline did those things though, she believed.
She prayed every night for this baby, for god to watch over her, to take care of her and that she be safe.
Caroline spent so much time with her and Harley, she couldn't help but get attached.
Seeing her now with her son, it both tore her up and made her smile.
Eve giggling happily as he made her toy perform.
Where had she gotten that thing? Had Terry gotten it for her? Had someone else?
It looked older, not used, so it couldn't be a child's but definitely not brand new.
Could it have been his?
She felt that guilt in the pit of her stomach again.
Why was Waller trusting her?
The thought kept going through her mind as they drove, they'd be reaching the exit soon. She'd have to choose a path and once they got on that path, there would be nothing to do about it.
New Jersey? Or Louisiana?
What if they're following you? What if this is a test?
A test that she couldn't fail.
Her mother lived overseas now, she had no other family except her son...
What would happen to him if she went away to prison or worse?
She had no one.
He could protect you if you told him where Harley was. He'd take care of you both.
No, he would kill you for your part in this.
"Mama, chavi likes me."
"She's not chavi dragoste, though I'm happy she likes you."
"I like calling her chavi mama, she looks chavi to me."
He looked back down at Eve and ran his finger over her cheek. "You're pretty."
Eve smiled and grabbed his finger with her hand. Waving it merrily, not a care in her little world again.
Caroline felt torn in two, on one side was Eve and the other was her son.
Eve might look pale and her father was a crazy clown who'd thrown her in a vat of chemicals but he loved her, look at the devastation he was causing in Gotham. If Caroline took her back to him, the killing would stop, she'd save lives, many, many innocent lives but if she did that... Waller would destroy her and her son.
She saw the exit and licked her lips, taking a deep breath and getting in line to take it.
It was wrong what she was about to do and she hoped that both God and Eve could forgive her for it but she had to think of her son first.
"Okay guys, we're going to have a long drive, we're gonna have some fun and stop at some hotels and then Eve, you're gonna see your mommy."
"Hear that chavi? My mama is gonna take you to see your mama." the boy said in a whisper.
He grabbed her pacifier and stuck it in her mouth as she yawned. Then he turned to Caroline and stretched.
"Mama, can we have something to eat? I'm hungry."
Two days later. Belle Rev prison 8:00pm
Harley was sitting in the corner of her cell, she was sweating from the heat outside but inside she was freezing cold.
Where was Caroline with news of her baby?
She still came once a week to check on her, to tell her if she'd heard anything from Gotham
Not that the woman knew much but whatever bits she found out she told her but she was late.
She should have been here yesterday and she wasn't.
Maybe now that her honey bun was gone, she wasn't ever going to come back.
Had everyone just left her to rot in here?
Puddin, honey bun. Don't forget me.
Griggs had come in to her cell today, they'd forced the feeding tube into her nose and then they'd given her a bath. She was clean but felt absolutely dirty.
Her breasts hurt from the lack of breast feeding, she kept them from stopping up but still she swore that Eve was crying every time they started to leak.
Her hormonal levels were off the chart and her already unstable mental state seemed worse off.
Her voices were screaming or silent, the noises felt like bees in a hive, angrily buzzing around in her head and she was sure that if they let her, she might accidentally kill herself just to prevent herself from becoming too normal.
Because this sort of attitude was what normal women did when they lost their children. Not someone like Harley Quinn.
When her puddin pop had died, she'd lost it completely and she'd gone nearly catatonic with grief, that was the reaction someone should have to loosing a baby but the lose of Eve was different. She'd orchestrated it, she'd wanted it to happen so that she could be with J.
So shouldn't she be happy?
You miss your baby. Her mind whispered. We miss our baby.
"Harley?" A voice said softly from the bars of her cage.
Harley looked up suddenly confused as she saw Caroline standing there in normal street clothes, her hair pulled back in a messy pony tail and a baby car seat in one hand with a diaper bag in the other. "I think someone misses you."
Her heart sped up as she rose from the ground. Her breathing becoming erratic as she ran across the cell.
It could be nothing more than a hallucination, a trick of her mind to taunt her but she didn't care. She fell to her knees in front of her and reached out to touch the baby in the carrier.
"Honey bun." She gasped at the baby who stared up at her with excitement.
Her baby was paler now, her hair and skin not so peach but Harley couldn't be told this wasn't her baby. Of course it was, that smile could only be her honey bun's.
She'd grown so much, she looked so much healthier, so happy to see her. Caroline had put her in a little green overall set with a blue shirt under it, revealing the two tattoos on her arms.
On one side the red tattoo Harley had given her before leaving and on the right, the one only Mr J could have given her.
"She ain't supposed to be touching the bars." the guard said but Caroline cut him off before he could call Griggs.
It was a Sunday, the boss wasn't here.
"Open the gate."
"Ma'am." the guard looked at her like she was crazy.
"Open the gate, bring this baby her things back and bring this woman her clothes and her mattress." she ordered with much more confidence than she felt.
The man swallowed and Caroline put the car seat down closer to Harley and turned, crossing her arms.
"Did I stutter?"
"Ma'am that's against procedure."
"I've driven a long way, it's been a very long few weeks and I am under orders to return this child to her mother. Now, would you like to go through the proper channels and get a hold of whoever you have to to make this happen, please hurry up. I have places to go."
The man shifted uncomfortably and nodded, turned and left to make the call.
Harley didn't listen to a word anyone said.
"Honey bun, I missed you so much. Look how beautiful you are. Daddy took such good care of you. Daddy couldn't help it could he? You made him love you." she was smiling wide, her hands touching the baby with adoration, trying to feel the changes. Her fingers running along the new ink on her skin.
DG.
"Daddy's girl." she breathed as she thought of what the letters could mean. "Oh honey bun."
She looked down and saw the kitty she'd given Mr J years ago, he'd given it to Eve. He must have, a tear fell down her face.
"They had to take her from him." Caroline said softly, she couldn't just not tell her what she knew. "They had to break into your home and take her."
Harley moaned softly but kept smiling, touching her baby through the bars. Wishing they'd hurry so she could hold her again.
"He took really good care of her." Caroline said softer still. "He made her a nursery, it was supposedly a wonderland."
"Of course he took care of you honey bun, he loves you."
Caroline had to agree, from the report she'd read, the Joker loved his daughter.
She glanced over her shoulder, the guards were out of view and she had a good idea of how far the camera's gave.
There was something Harley had to see.
She pulled her phone out and clicked on the saved video she'd found last night.
"Harley." she whispered and showed it to Harley privately.
The villain stared at the muted images as they went by.
It was her Joker, he was sitting in the club with Eve in his lap. She was playing with one of his rings as he spoke to The great white whale. He hadn't dared come in before but there he was, talking to her puddin like he already owned the place.
She watched the video to its end, her emotions unreadable as Caroline clicked to the next one.
It was chaos, people running for their lives as J and his men killed anyone who got in their way, it was a news report and Harley didn't need to see numbers to know that this footage was after they'd gotten Eve back from him.
The look in his eyes told it all.
She'd seen that look in him before.
When she'd gotten hurt, every time she got hurt she saw that look but this was a thousand times worse.
She glared up at Caroline as she tucked her phone back into her pocket.
"You hurt him." she breathed angrily.
"I just picked her up Harley."
"You should have taken her back to him." She hissed.
"She needs you Harley, she needs you." Caroline breathed anxiously.
"Didn't you see how happy they were?" she accused, rising from the ground and putting both hands on the bars. "Didn't you see how happy my honey bun was in her daddy's lap? How happy he was with her?"
"That was the first night there Harley. That's the only images we have of their time together, look at your baby, look what he did to her."
"She's alright, she was happy." Harley accused. "You stole their happiness. Look what you've done to him, all those deaths are on you."
Eve cried out, disliking the tension and wanting her mommy back.
Harley knelt back down and reached out her hands again. Cooing and soothing her daughter.
"You're so beautiful, daddy must have never let you go. Look at you. Bet your aunty Shelly made sure you were taken care of too. She's a good nanny ain't she? Bet ya uncle Frosty made sure you were okay too. I bet everyone loved you so much."
Caroline looked away.
Harley was right, it was on her, at least every death that happened now that they were here. She'd chosen to come here because she chose her son over Harley's but how could she ask her to do anything else?
Harley wouldn't choose her son over Eve.
"Harley, where did that cat come from?" Caroline asked after a long silence.
"Didn't my honey bun tell ya?" Harley said with a smile to her baby. "Tell her Eveie, mommy bought that for daddy when they were different people, when mommy worked at Arkham and he was a patient there."
"You think he gave it to her?" Caroline asked quietly.
"Of course he did." Harley said just as softly. "Of course he did."
The guard finally came back and unlocked the gate.
Caroline stopped him from grabbing Harley as she ran out of the cell.
Caroline had no fear of the woman right now, she wouldn't try to escape. Not right this second.
Harley snatched the buckle of the seat and undid them, pulling Eve instantly into her arms and hugging her tightly.
Feeling the change in weight, she'd grown so very much, so very much but still she was small, delicate and petite.
"Oh baby, oh honey bun." She breathed as she held her tightly in her arms. Her beautiful princess.
The guard shoved her and Eve back into the cell, Harley didn't even feel his hand on her. The world had shrunk and all that existed was Eve.
Eve grabbed Harley's hair and nuzzled into her chest, the familiar smell of milk and Harley's natural scent making the baby coo softly in delight.
Mommy.
Harley could feel the change in her daughter's skin, its new softness, the way it had a natural warmth to it that others might think was cold. The softness of her hair and how it'd changed to a much lighter shade of blonde.
"You really are the clown princess now aren't you?" she whispered as the guards brought in all of Harley and Eve's belongings.
She glanced in the direction of the guard who'd made the call, whoever he'd spoken to, they'd obviously shared the shit out of him because they were moving fast.
When her mattress came in Harley moved to it and sat down, cradling Eve so she could feed her.
The baby greedily and anxiously latched on, a look of pure ecstasy as she nursed.
Formula sucked, nothing was as good as mommy's milk.
She looked up at Harley with adoration and love and Harley noticed the new flecks of green in her eyes, she smiled down at her, wishing she could talk so she could tell her everything. About how her puddin was, what it was like to be at home. Everything.
"Did he hold you close? Did he hold you at all? Of course he did, I saw that." she laughed to herself as she let Eve breastfeed. The experience as relieving to her as it was to the baby. "Look at Frost with you, holding you like he did. Bet you had them all wrapped around your fingers."
Caroline stared from the bars at the mother and baby. She grabbed the toy kitty from the car seat and put it inside the bag.
Harley would find a small present inside it later. The only things Caroline could get for her.
She'd been given the clothes Eve had been taken in and Caroline had stuck it in there. The necklace a voodoo priest handed her but Caroline didn't know that and a picture.
A picture she'd found by accidnt
The same way she'd found the video.
Someone at the club had posted the video and pictures online.
Caroline had printed the best one out on her computer.
It was a close up of J sitting in his booth with Eve laying on his chest, it was obviously after whatever altercation with guns had happened and she'd been changed out of her clothes. She was laying on his chest with her head on his heart. He had his hand on her back protectively and Caroline couldn't deny it, he loved that child.
"You got so big on me." Harley crooned happily, the madness that she'd felt for weeks finally seeping back into the depths of her mind, finally coming apart to allow the mother to come back up. "We're gonna need Carrie to get you new clothes."
"I will." Caroline promised as the last of Eve's things was brought in, her bed. "I'll see you Friday."
There was so much the woman should tell her but couldn't, so much that had happened but she had very few answers.
Harley would know how it was that chemicals could save a two month old, Harley would know how a monster like the Joker could fall in love with that sweet little face and kill life after life in agony.
Harley could tell her how a baby so small could captivate them so much and most importantly.
Maybe Harley was the only one to understand why Eve developed no powers, how it was possible that she was as ordinary as a child like Eve could be and still be thriving much better than another boy who was a meta by birth.
Eve started to fall asleep, she was safe again, she was so safe.
Mommy, her beautiful mommy had her again.
Milk, real milk was back in her belly and she felt that comfort only Harley could give her.
Her world had shrunk too, her world was only Harley as Harley's world was only Eve.
"I love you princess." Harley whispered as her blue eyes fluttered. "Did he tell you that he loved you? I bet he didn't but it's alright, he does, he loves you so much. I knew he would."
The same way J had touched her face, knowing she'd done the same, Harley now ran her fingers over her honey bun's cheek and arm. Knowing that her puddin had held this little girl in his arms and loved her completely.
Tomorrow things would go back to the way they'd been before all this, tomorrow they'd be prisoners of a cage and Harley would regret having her back, wishing that they hadn't stolen her away from her puddin but for now...
All she could do was be grateful.
Nothing else mattered right now, nothing at all.
Not the strangeness of it all, not the sudden compliance from the guards, nothing else.
Eve finally stopped nursing with a full belly of milk and Harley arranged them to lay down on the mattress, covering them up with a thin blanket.
No one knew it but Eve started to dream, dreams no baby should have.
She dreamed of her home in Gotham, of the room she never got to enjoy, of green hair and a wicked smile that was her daddy who loved her. Of her uncles and aunts, of a man with red eyes who'd blown smoke in her face and daddy had dropped him to the ground with a magic toy.
She dreamed of the funny little man who called her a princess and the scary man who'd hurt her but she wasn't afraid of him now because daddy was awake in these places and would always protect her.
She dreamed of flying, of flying in the air in the arms of the red haired woman but instead of it being Terry it was her mommy who jumped and spun with her in the air.
She dreamed of being under liquid that burned and Harley frowned as Eve whimpered in her sleep.
Eve dreamed of a dark skinned man who smiled at her and held a grand feast in her name and gave her a present that he said belonged to her.
She dreamed of a baby who bored her but somehow needed her help but she didn't know why and she didn't care either.
She had wonderful dreams of a kitty, her kitty who only danced here in her dreams. Except for in the hands of a little boy who'd become her friend.
She dreamed of his smile and his eyes, the way he called her chavi and the secret they held together.
Their mother's didn't know it but he'd done something, he'd given her something.
Eve sighed in her sleep as her mind worked the subtle dream that no one could understand.
They sat in a truck stop, Eve in a stroller and the boy in a booster chair next to her waiting for their meals. Caroline was distracted looking through her phone, she wasn't even looking in their direction.
He looked from his mommy to her and stuck his finger in the strawberry jam, reaching over to her and letting her try some.
It was the first solid thing Eve had ever tasted. He'd let her have three tastes of it and it had melted in her mouth.
No one saw.
She dreamed of the sweet taste and the way he put his finger to his lip as a sign to keep it a secret.
And then dreamed of one last thing as the night went on and her mother held her close, unable to sleep. Afraid that she'd wake up and find that she'd herself been dreaming.
She dreamed of going to the boy's house, she dreamed of being put down in the living room while Caroline made calls and unpacked their things.
She'd unbuckled Eve from the car seat and laid a blanket out for her to lay on so her body could stretch out.
She'd left the room to call a sitter for her son and the boy had wandered up to her and with a grin that could only be innocent he picked her up.
Eve cooed up at him, he was much larger and she was so light. He had no problems holding her in his arms.
"Hi." He said happily.
He held her close and started spinning her around the room with him, he had just enough sense to hold her head so she wouldn't hurt herself and Eve giggled happily as they spun around in circles.
He got dizzy quickly and fell onto his back with Eve on top of his chest. He giggled too and then laid her down on the blanket again, crawling up to lay next to her on his stomach.
Eve let her legs rise as high as they could and she made a sound at him as if to speak.
There was a moment of connection between them, something no laboratory could record or predict.
Eve dreamed of this the clearest, in full color and she smiled in her sleep. Turning her head to her mother's breast and yawning contently.
"What are you dreaming honey bun?" Harley whispered in the darkness. "Sweet dreams I hope. That's the only dreams you should ever have."
The boy closed his eyes, obviously exhausted and he got up and grabbed his own blanket off the couch and covered himself up next to her.
"Nap?" He asked her with a smile. "My nap time."
Eve kept staring at him as he closed his eyes.
She reached out and hit his face lightly, trying to get his attention back. He opened his eyes with a frown but she giggled at the face he made.
"Not nice." he scolded but she kept smiling.
He sat up and crawled over to his mommy's bag, searching for the pacifier like they gave the babies at his daycare.
He found something in her bag, a necklace with a claw.
He crawled back with it and smiled.
"Look, pretty."
Mine! Eve's little mind declared. That's mine!
She giggled and reached for it and for a second, both their hands touched the claw.
They were children, they didn't know it was sharp and the carving of Eve's name left a small scratch mark on both of them. Only he winced, Eve barely felt it.
"Didn't it hurt?" he asked after he saw the blood on her hand.
Eve just kept holding her necklace.
He reached out and took it back.
"Mama will get mad at me." He explained and ran back to her bag and put it back in there.
Eve didn't cry because he grabbed kitty and brought it to her to hold.
In that second, something happened that shifted their small world.
In that small second of privacy, of innocent playing, Eve Lucie Quinzel would loose a level of her childhood innocence.
That moment now tied her every choice, that insignificant cut.
She'd become a criminal.
They searched for powers in her that did not exist yet, maybe they never would the way they wanted to but they'd forgotten one very important thing about Eve Quinzel. She was the child of chaos and chaos will do as it pleases and no one controls it.
Her blood was gripped by a virus that had destroyed nations once upon a time and she'd survived it. Because she'd been born special, because her mother and father were who they were. Because her father had loved her enough to seal her to their bloodline in a way no one could truly understand and that had given her a power only one person had realized.
Eve was immune to the virus now and she could pass it on.
The boy looked down at his finger and licked it in the way he'd been taught to do by an older child. As if to seal his fate.
Then he rested his head back on the blanket with his new friend and closed his eyes again, this time Eve let him sleep as she played with kitty. Both of them innocent of the thing that just happened.
Harley watched her daughter sleep and kissed her forehead, she could smell so many things on her now but none of it as strong as the vivid smell of how their skin changed. Had he jumped in with her? She didn't know but he'd done it, he'd taken her to that place and baptized her.
"Puddin, thank you." she whispered and finally closed her eyes.
Once upon a time there was a girl who was a princess and they gave her a monster to fight.
With help of her father she fought the monster with magic and defeated it and bound it to her forever, now the monster was trapped inside of her and to the world that didn't understand it, the monster was dead but the girl knew that the monster could never die.
She didn't want it to though, it was now her friend and it gave her magical power, special abilities that no one, not even her mommy and daddy knew about.
Once upon a time there was a girl who lived with a monster and that monster's gift was to awaken the world.
A/N Oh my god, we are done! The event is now OVER! I really enjoyed writing this arc for you guys, it gave you a small window into what I can come up with for original story lines and I hope you guys reading. Yeah I know you all probably have lots of questions about the things going on but... well if I told you the whole plot you'd know. It will all be revealed I promise but not just yet.
We have arrived at the end of the ride and ladies and gentlemen, we all survived the rough spots. I wasn't sure we were gonna make it at some points but we did. You now have a choice, you can head tot he paramedics station at the end of the hall get patched up and take your token tot he next door. The new ride is almost ready to go or... you can head to the paramedics and get patched up and then head out to the exit and grab your complimentary photo and stuffed toy dragon.
So you guys know, we're now entering the Suicide Squad movie arc, so next chapter we will have a time jump of a few months and we'll be diving right into that. As the event is over I'm going to be attempting to catch up on the other stories as quickly as possible but this one is still gonna be rolling. Don't worry, haven't forgotten about poor J.
thank you all for the support, thank you for not throwing up on the ride and for no law suits against the creatures. Please come back and see us, I love you all.
Please don't forget to review, I love them, they help me write!
Love you all.
PS, before you guys ask about that last bit with Eve dreaming... Yeah, it happened, no I'm not telling you what it means and you'll just have to wait and see!