A/N - Yet another old story that I found on my computer just waiting to be posted. Just as the others; this hasn't been proof-read or polished yet, so I apologize ahead of time for any typos or grammatical errors. I dedicate this to Blumenkasten.

Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Suicide Squad.

It had been weeks since he'd last seen his divine Harley Quinn.

Months, in fact.

And time was definitely beginning to take its toll on him.

Days were beginning to feel like weeks, and weeks like months, and months like years.

And with each second, each, and every passing day;

He felt more...

Broken.

Less...

Complete.

He'd thought he'd be able to handle it.

This...being apart from her.

But every second spent without her in his presence was driving him mad.

Or...

Madder.

Nothing occupied his thoughts, it seemed.

Or at least, nothing brilliant, anyway.

No robbery plans, or schemes. No thought to him seemed outstanding if Harley wasn't along for the ride.

The Joker was never one to keep a clean house, let alone bother to sort out his many belongings, but because his Queen wasn't around to do it, he could think of no other way to keep him occupied.

So he had taken to sorting.

Going through old clothes, old trinkets. Everything.

Even bothering to clean up a little, when necessary. And by "clean up" that usually meant stashing things under the bed and carpet, and occasionally using an old shirt that was torn to shreds from some heist or other, and wiping away at whatever soiled spot presented itself.

Over the days, he'd surprised himself with "cleaning" nearly half the building, until he came upon their shared bedroom and bath. That was something he didn't quite want to tamper with yet. So he avoided it for the first few weeks. Until he simply couldn't anymore.

As expected, there were still left out cosmetics of hers that were still spilled out upon her vanity mirror, and a few of her dresses were sprawled out on the floor.

There was a kiss-mark on the bathroom mirror that she'd left for him the night she was taken by The Bat, along with a short message written in lipstick that he absolutely refused to remove.

It read;

"'Keep Smilin' Puddin'!".

How ironic, he thought.

She'd written it because at the time he was feeling down about a failed heist from the day before and wanted to cheer him up. And now it seemed as if she wrote it knowing that she'd be taken from him, and didn't want him to feel down about it.

The Joker however, took her absent-minded scribble on the mirror to heart, and vowed to not let a single day pass without managing to let at least a small smile grace his face every once in a while.

Even though that vow was very hard-lived.

For after a mere seven days, he couldn't find it in himself to smile anymore. Not even a small, insignificant one.

But still, a vow was a vow, and if there was any vow worth keeping, it would be the one he inwardly promised to his Harls.

So, he'd resolved to painting a smile on his face instead of actually donning one.

And that, for a while, at least seemed to keep his spirits up.

Even though it killed him to have to pretend, no matter how much it pained him he had to keep his head. The most that possibly he could.

Because when his beloved Baby finally came back, Daddy had to be ready.