[2016] I am once again stuck on how to proceed present day. Sooooo … You guys get another flashback chapter!

[Now] I originally wrote this, intending for it as Chapter 8, but obviously, it's not. I was about ready to scrap it but I thought the content was just too good to get rid of so I finished writing it up as Chapter 9. Plus, it gave me an excuse to think of how to move forward with the story plot wise.

So, it's actually a bit of a treat since there isn't a lot of Joker seen in this story at the moment. Referenced and little flashbacks maybe but not a good amount to get a proper taste of his relationship with Elena. But I'm sure you got quite a bit last chapter.

Anyways, enjoy!

~.~.~

Early to Mid-July 2009 – Gotham City Hospital

The sound of a heart rate monitor still echoes in her ears as she stares blankly at a white wall of her hospital room. She had been transferred to Gotham's City Hospital soon after J escaped. Arkham isn't trusted with the care of the treatment patients at the moment. After one of Gotham's most infamous criminals escaped Arkham, it became the biggest news story the last few days. But that's not what has Elena lost in thought.

She pulls one arm out from under her hospital blanket and in front of her to look at her hand. Her very still hand. Her non-shaking hand.

When she first woke up in the hospital, she didn't notice at first the lack of something. The lack of action in her hands. It was only when her newest doctor went to check on her hands that she finally recalls her mystery problem hasn't reared its ugly head. Her fingers curl in and uncurl. She repeats this, her eyes riveted on her still hand.

Currently, her doctor is doing some extra tests to make sure that her tremors are truly gone. So Elena has to wait for the results. But her new doctor said that if everything's good then she'll be allowed to leave and return home.

She should have been delighted. She should have been glad that her tremors are gone. She should have been excited to finally go home and see her friends and family after almost two months. She should be relieved to leave Gotham City, one of the most corrupted cities in the United States. Her fingers stop moving, halting in a curled in position.

Leaving him, she thinks as her mind flashes back to J. Her Mister J. His bright green hair, his pale skin covered in tattoos, his face covered with thin scars and more tattoos, his dark red lips. Her eyes shut close, her lips parting as her thoughts revolves around him more clearly.

However long he's been locked up in Arkham, it's certainly been kind on the older man's build. His body is toned and just as pale as his face. Although he hasn't specified on his age, Elena first assumed he's in his early to late thirties. Imagine her surprise when she finds out that the man is in his forties. When she talked to one of her fellow treatment patients, who have lived in Gotham for most of their life, they told her that the man has been around for nearly as long as the city's heroic vigilante of twenty years. After finding out his age, she wasn't put off at the slightest even though she expected otherwise. Thankfully, when she and J had this conversation, she never released that last tidbit to him. Since the whole point of them talking to one another is to rid their connection.

She wishes she could say that she regrets making that offer to him the first time they talked. But she doesn't. She wouldn't take back it for the world.

Even though their actions had an undesired effect of elevating their connection rather than dissolving it, Elena sees that she doesn't feel guilty falling for a criminal. She doesn't care that the man is insane and likes killing and torturing people. It may be unprecedented and considered uncharacteristic of her to fall for such a man. Her relaxed hand clenches into a fist.

~.~.~

Early-August 2009 – "Joker's" Nightclub

Dimlights set the tone of the room. But the blaring music creates the chaos amongst the crowd. Gyrating bodies huddled in the center of the room. Servers walk around the room, holding tray to chest level done like that of a royal banquet. Elevated platforms contain exotic dancers costumed as court jesters; Each one performing on their individual stage but the focus is the beauty on the center stage of the room.

Glinting red hair whips around her face. Pale hands with painted black nails glide up from her tattooed legs. She continues to move her hands up her body, boldly lifting the skirt of her already short dress. Her underwear on display with a little peek of her stomach before her skirt flaps back down. Her hands swift up, slightly cupping her breasts then quickly threads her fingers in her hair.

She whips her head again and bends her knees to drop herself slightly. Throwing her arms out she grasps onto the chain hanging above her to slowly pull herself up. She raises her head to look straight across at darkened blue eyes staring back at her. The owner sits in his own private section of the club, shrouded in bead curtains. He holds a cane in his hands, facing in her direction.

Her rose painted lips curl up at the corner, pleased at the look he's shooting at her. A plan forms in her mind and she steps down from the platform with the help of one of J's nearby goons. But she doesn't release her hold on his hand and wraps her arm around the goon's waist to his own discomfort, aware of his boss' temper.

She sneaks a teasing smile at the seething green haired man and laughs at him, further aggravating him. She swings around the goon as if he's a stripper pole and disappears from J's line of sight. He tenses in alert once the woman is gone, even the goon looks around him in confusion.

However, J knows that she's trying to play with fire, attempting to spark another game of cat and mouse with him. Though the roles have reversed now.

"You're playing a dangerous game, Elena," he speaks gravelly to the presence, now standing behind him though he doesn't turn around.

"How's it dangerous if we both know who's winning," she throws back at him, opening the bead curtains to lean closer to the older man. "And my name's Lena now."

He opens his mouth in faux realization, letting out a small sound in hidden amusement. "Oh, that's right. My apologies, Miss Lena Queen." She scowls at him, hearing his sarcastic tone.

"It's a good name," she defends herself.

"It's a dead giveaway," he quips, letting out a small giggle at his own joke. "A very shocking turn." He starts chuckling which transforms into a growl of irritation and anger.

A very upset Lena had grabbed J by the back of his neck, slamming his back against the couch cushion.

"Screw you, J," she hisses in his ear, her heart searing with a mixture of hurt and anger.

"Don't mind if I do," he tells her. Lena's taken by surprise when the green haired man easily hauls her over into his private lounge. Her back connecting with the couch seat as she shrieks in surprise whilst J hovers over her form.

He forces his lips on hers and consumed in the act, Lena responds to him pleasantly. She kisses him back with matching vigor and passion, snaking her hand between them to place on his neck again though gently this time. She runs her thumb over the skin behind his ear and feels his chest rumbling against hers, making her smile in turn.

Her Mister J likes to tease her choice of names, she thinks as said man lifts one of her legs over his hip.

He runs his hand up and down her bare skin before grabbing at her free arm to pin over her head. Lena twists her head to one side, leading to J to kiss and nibble on her neck. She giggles, opening her eyes to reveal a heated gaze.

But he understands why she chose Lena Queen, she believes it secretly pleases him to know that she chose to stay by his side as his partner in crime. His woman. His queen of Gotham.

After all, she has marks to prove it and J runs his hand down her harlequin diamond tattoo on her forearm.

~.~.~

Mid-July 2009 – Gotham's City Hospital

"Elena, are you sure you're okay? You sound," her Aunt Jenna trails off, searching for the right word, "different." She decides as Elena walks around her hospital room.

"I'm alright, Aunt Jenna. Just another patient acted out per usual and got sent to solitary," she answers the older woman over the phone. "But I wanted to talk about extending my stay in Gotham a little longer." She hears that her aunt is somewhat surprised. "My doctor says I'm doing better but she wants me to have more outside contact. I'd still have to visit her in Arkham for my regular appointments."

She hears silence for a moment, assuming her aunt is pondering her words.

"And is there another reason why you want to stay in Gotham or someone?" Jenna hesitantly prods and Elena pauses, her movement stilling. Her mouth pries open to respond but for some unforeseen reason, she couldn't speak. All she could hear is her heart pounding in her ears but distantly register's her aunt's voice. "Elena, I know things have been tough for you especially with your hand tremors but-"

"He keeps me sane," Elena confesses quietly, silencing the older woman. "Ever since Mom and Dad died, I've felt so angry. So distraught that I want to destroy everything in sight because it's not fair. I kept thinking that I should have died with them in that car." Elena was so absorbed in her thoughts that she missed her aunt's quick breath intake at her confession. "But he takes all that pain away." She laughs with an ironic smile. "You can say he's used to taking the pain." And causing pain, she keeps to herself. "He's like a hurricane that whipped me away and I don't think I want to escape. Jenna, he makes me feel alive. He's," she trails off as words fail to escape her.

A love that consumes her, she sums up out of nowhere. J is someone, who she can have passion and adventure and even a little danger. A lot of danger, if she thinks about the kind of business he's caught up in.

Ever since she woke up in the hospital, her head has been revolving on those words which only verified her stance on Mister J.

Jenna sighs in resignation, hearing how resolute her niece is about this guy. "Okay. If you stay safe in Gotham and keep up with your appointments with Doctor Quinzel, then I have no problems with your decision." Elena let out a relieved breath, she didn't know she was holding in. "But make sure to call often."

"I will," she promises her. "Thank you."

"Just you make sure to tell me everything about this guy that's got you so worked up over later and soon," her aunt teases her and Elena lets out a lighthearted laugh.

"Bye, Aunt Jenna. Give everyone my love," she tells Jenna with some guilt sparked in her gut, hearing said woman laugh over the phone.

"I will. Bye," Jenna ends the phone call, leaving Elena with a phone to her ear in silence. She carefully puts the phone down into her other hand and looks over at the window.

The sun just started setting over Gotham. Earlier she called a hotel that's in the city; she has no intentions of returning to Arkham. Not now when the man she wants is roaming the city.

She turns at the sound of her name and smiles at her resident doctor at Gotham City Hospital. He's a friendly older man with a wife and kid. It's too bad that he believes that she's heading back to Mystic Falls after a week and a half being hospitalized. She grabs her stuff and follows him out to the nurse's desk to fill out the remaining paperwork.

~.~.~

And I have formally introduced … Lena Queen!

I'll admit I was just about ready to go with some of your guys' suggestions or even doing Lena Quinn. But so much of it was harped on Harley Quinn that I felt that there needs to be a reason behind Elena's "Harley" name. So I thought that even though the Joker would never admit it, Elena is his heart and soul (his queen of hearts lol). But I didn't want that directly stated because I feel like that's a tiny bit too intimate and sentimental for a character like the Joker. So, something possessive yet commanding needed to fit Elena's "Harley" character and her relationship with the Joker.

Especially since their relationship is built on some level of equal partnership, cause there's definitely a fire to their relationship which can turn violent, passionate or even both. Someone always must be dominant and the other must submit. And it's not always Joker-Lena dominant, it's also Lena-Joker dominant.

Now that I'm done with my little spiel, I hope you guys liked this flashback chapter and I'll see you guys next time!